DX LISTENING DIGEST 17-10, March 8, 2017 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 1868 CONTENTS: *DX and station news about: Albania, Antarctica, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi non, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Indonesia, International Waters, Japan, Korea South, Madagascar, New Zealand, North America, Oman, Romania, South Africa, Syria, Thailand, Tibet non, UK non, USA, Vatican SHORTWAVE AIRINGS of WORLD OF RADIO 1868, March 9-15, 2017 Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 6855 [confirmed] Thu 2130 WRMI 11580 [confirmed] Fri 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Fri 2230 WRMI 5950 6855 11580 [all confirmed except 6855 preëmpt] Sat 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Sat 0630 HLR 6190-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sat 1531 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio [not confirmed] Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sat 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Sun 0410v WA0RCR 1860-AM [confirmed from 0422] Sun 1130 HLR 9485-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio [confirmed Bulgaria] Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v-AM Area 51 [confirmed from 0402] Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 [confirmed] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 6855 Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 6855 Tue 2200 WRMI 9955 Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 6855 Wed 1315 WRMI 9955 6855 Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: Tnx to Dr Harald Gabler and the Rhein-Main Radio Club. http://www.rmrc.de/index.php/rmrc-audio-plattform/podcast/glenn-hauser-wor ALTERNATIVE PODCASTS, tnx Stephen Cooper: http://shortwave.am/wor.xml ANOTHER PODCAST ALTERNATIVE, tnx to Keith Weston: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GlennHausersWorldOfRadio NOW tnx to Keith Weston, also Podcasts via iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/glenn-hausers-world-of-radio/id1123369861 AND via Google Play Music: http://bit.ly/worldofradio OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DAY-BY-DAY ARCHIVE OF GLENN HAUSER`S LOG REPORTS: Unedited, uncondensed, unchanged from original version, many of them too complex, minutely researched, multi-frequency, opinionated, inconsequential, off-topic, or lengthy for some log editors to manage; and also ahead of their availability in these weekly issues: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser NOTE: I have *resolved* to make DXLD leaner, more selective, as I seriously need to reduce my workload, much of which has been merely editing gobs of material into presentable form. This makes it even more important to be a member of the DXLD yg for additional material which may not make it into weekly issues (gh) DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location, and say something about why you want to join. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN. 6100, R. Afghanistan, Kabul. Long talk in what sounded like Dari on this occasion, not Urdu as mentioned in some lists at 1605, clear channel (no KCBS heard), electronic Afghani song with a strong rap feel at 1610. Two clear IDs at 1615 and some mentions of Taliban in a talk that followed. Afghani pop ballad at 1624. Into the Arabic service at 1630. Fair to poor signal on 12/2. Great to hear it again after many years for me (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ- 1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), March Australian DX News via DXLD) And English supposed to precede, at 1530 (gh) ** ALASKA. Just curious if the attached audio file could be the HAARP station? Recorded 23 Feb 2017 at 0331z on 2800 kHz. For those that were monitoring HAARP, does this sound like anything that you heard? Thanks to those that listen. Regards, (George, NJ3H, Redmond, Oregon USA, March 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) A beep every two seconds or so (gh, DXLD) Almost certainly them, George. I listened, and there were all sorts of tones, but the clincher was when they played music, which you don't have there (like Pachelbel's Kanon). 73 (Walt Salmaniw, BC, ibid.) That was HAARP, no doubt (Don Moman, AB, VE6JY, ibid.) Walt and Don, Thanks very much for your replies. I don't think that I caught any of the music broadcasts. :-( Regards, (George, NJ3H, Redmond, Oregon USA, Perseus SDR, Elad FDM-S2 SDR, Wellbrook ALA1530AL-2 antenna, ibid.) George, That was the opening tone segment (2 sec interval) for each HAARP sequence; so yes it is indeed HAARP! (Bruce Churchill, ibid.) Thanks Bruce. I appreciate your reply! Regards, (George, NJ3H, ibid.) ** ALBANIA. [Re 17-09:] What this stream contains is just the studio output for the Shijak and Fllaka transmitters. As such it is of course mono, simply plugged into the stereo stream without mixing it down first. I think I noted already on earlier occasions that only the morning transmission in Albanian was a simple relay of the first program while the others are separate productions. The additional playouts of programming at times when no transmitters are supposed to be on air could, in theory, be a preparation of possible test transmissions on 1395 kHz, provided they are really considered and not mere wishful thinking. The shortwave frequencies are still being announced on other language services, too. Of course it appears to be less and less likely with every day, meanwhile four weeks after the (anyway completely useless) transmissions ceased, that the transmitter will ever be used again. (Just checked back: Again no signal on 7390 kHz right now.) (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 4, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear fellow experts, in reply to Kai's "I think I noted already on earlier occasions that only the morning transmission in Albanian was a simple relay of the first program while the others are separate productions.", I tend to disagree. On 2 March, for example, I explicitly noted that the morning programme was not in parallel with the stream on http://rtsh.al/radio-tirana-1 and noted anthems before 0900 and 1000 and the Radio Tirana IS at 0900. Kind regards, (Hj. Biener, ibid.) Compare these Shijak images of November 2005 year and the proper Chinese modulator design, with the very poor and distorted audio quality in 2016 year. Has a lot to do, with the technical incompetence of engineering staff. Balkan sloppiness. 73 (wolfie bueschel with 6 jpg attachments, DXLD) ** ALGERIA [non]. 2100, R. Algerienne, 9709 kHz March 7. Anthem followed by Qur`an and then what appears to be news by male and female. All received on Icom R-70 and a Vertical. Best 73 Doc W2MFT (Mark F Tattenbaum, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FRANCE, Really not 9710? (gh) ** ANGUILLA. 6090, University Network (presumed); 2218, 24-Feb; Unmistakable Dead Dr. Gene, distorted as ever. I see that no progress has made in Anguilla since I last checked over a week ago. The kilowastage continues. Same situation on 11775 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6090.002, still MUCH DISTORTED signal heard at 0603 UT, VERY BAD AUDIO QUALITY. S=9+30dB powerhouse 14 kHz wide band signal stated in FL-US remote post. HOW LONG WILL THIS BAD OUTLET HAPPEN? [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, sent 0725 UT March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. Friend Glenn, ANTARTICA ARGENTINA: 15475.95, 1815 UT, LRA36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza. Apertura de emisión con música en español. Baja señal con apertura de condiciones por momentos. 25332 (ce3BBC, Hugo López C., Santiago de Chile, 1828 UT March 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ANTARCTIC ARGENTINA, 15475.95, 1815 UT, LRA36 National Radio Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza. March 02. Opening of broadcast with music in Spanish. Low signal with opening conditions at times. 25333. It is best heard in USB mode. Yesterday Wednesday 01, it closed at 2106 UT. (Kenwood R-5000 "V" 20 Mts) [later:] ANTARCTIC ARGENTINA, 15475.95, 2102 UT, LRA36 National Radio Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza, closes transmissions today March 2, at 2102 UT. In summary, the broadcast was at times quite acceptable, audible, with low signal but with openings that let you listen to your music in Spanish with ease in USB mode. Opening at 1815 UT and closing at 2102. SINPO 25332. We must assume that their emissions will be from Monday to Friday. Remember that in our southern hemisphere we are closing the summer and the days, especially in Antarctica, are slowly with less sunlight. 73 (ce3BBC, Hugo López C., Santiago de Chile, South America, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) 15476, Fri Mar 3 at some chex between 20 and 21 UT, no trace of LRA36 here. Hugo López in Chile, who first discovered it back March 1, confirmed it was on 15475.95 again March 2 until 2102*. Keep trying M- F 18-21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ANTARTICA ARGENTNA, 15475.95, 1802, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza. 35433: Today, Monday, March 6, the reception is quite acceptable, audible and with identification of announcers, which makes presumed that they will continue to be in charge of the broadcasts, the wives of the staff of the base. They mention in the space "Hope to the world", that this afternoon there is enough sun. Also your email "lra36@hotmail.com" Last Friday, March 3, there was no broadcast, so we hope that this week there will be no interruption and programming will continue. I hope some distant listener can tune in and share in this list his experience of receiving Antarctica (ce3BBC, Hugo López C., Santiago de Chile, Hard-Core-DX mailing list WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) Yes Hugo, on March 3 nothing heard/visible in 15476 kHz range. But today I see a very TINY S=1 string here in Europe on exact 15475.972 kHz channel at 1905 UT on March 06, seemingly the Argentine Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza shortwave station signal. But LRA36 only deep under threshold level, sorry no chance in Europe tonight, to listen any program details. 73 wolfie df5sx wwdxc europe (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good tip, Wolfie, tnx. I see a very tiny carrier to the SE from here, very close to 15475.972. Only on the log periodic aimed that way, and very tiny - only visible on the Perseus screen with the rbw spread out to .95 Hz with a span of .782 kHz. 73 (Don VE6JY Moman, Lamont, Alberta, CANADA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quite good reception via the SDR receiver in Pardinho, Brazil. But the signal is only heard in either AM or USB modes. No signal at all in LSB. 15476.00 MHz 1954 UT http://appr.org.br:8073/ (Bruce (listening online in NY, USA), March 6, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Friends, just closed the program "Esperanza al Mundo" (Hope to the World), 2100 UT and the carrier, at 2101 UT of LRA36. Today the reception has been good in these latitudes of South of South America (Center of Chile), what I hope better for yours in the next days. 73 (ce3BBC, Hugo López C., Santiago de Chile, HCDX via DXLD) LRA-36 Mar 6. Bruce – tnx for heads up on this! Listened from 2025 to 2102 in AM and Narrow AM modes on 15475.97 using the KiwiSDR in Pardinho, Brazil. Program ended at 2100.5 in mid-song then open carrier until off at 2102. Very nice Argentinian song at tune-in, man at 2027 with station ID, more vocals, ID by woman at 2035 followed by program with women talking. More vocals at 2042. Woman again at 2053.5-2055 followed by vocals to end of program. Periodic QRM from approx. 15130 [? sic] that appeared to be ARO (probably local to receiver site) from the transmission timing and was broad enough to bury LRA-36 while on. Fortunately this was only about 10% of total listening time. Path distance is 2816 miles from Pardinho SP Brazil to Base Esperanza. SINPO 33343 with some periods of S4 (Bruce Churchill, CA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. In TWR broadcasts, there are programs in English: on Thursdays and Fridays from 1903 to about 1923 UT at 1377 kHz. A Christian program is translated in English and immediately, for each expression, a Farsi / Persian translation sounds. And every Sunday from 1817 to 1837 UT, 1350 kHz is also broadcast in English and Turkish respectively - both programs come with Leading the Way Ministries. Probably there are other such programs in translation and other languages, but we need to check their / [sic] (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Rus-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** ASIA [non]. RFA specially endorsed rooster QSL for NASWA, Fest: see U S A [non] (also via Mark F. Tattenbaum, MFA, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ABC BUDGET CUTS LOOMING MICHELLE GUTHRIE'S ABC SACKINGS TIPPED TO BE IN THE HUNDREDS News National 10:00pm, Mar 6, 2017 Updated: 10:51pm, Mar 6 Michelle Guthrie’s creative sackings at the ABC tipped to be in the hundreds --- Michelle Guthrie will on Tuesday reveal her restructure plans. Quentin Dempster @QuentinDempster Hundreds of redundancies at the middle and upper management levels of the ABC are to be progressively initiated by the national broadcaster’s managing director Michelle Guthrie on Tuesday. Ms Guthrie, appointed to the million-dollar-a year job last year, will unveil her board-approved “flattened management” restructure is calculated to free up $50 million in coming years, which is said to be for reinvestment in programs. After months of work by specially hired consultants and her executive, Ms Guthrie has invited all ABC staff to an internally-broadcast briefing at noon on Tuesday to hear “how we shape the ABC in 2017 and beyond”. “In my conversations with staff I have made it clear that 2017 will be a year of action and change,” she said in an all-staff memo on Monday morning. Having failed to secure additional money from the Turnbull government in the last funding negotiation, Ms Guthrie is finding that her primary task has been to manage the ABC’s decline. Hence the heightened effort to restructure the ABC’s organisation and management to cut non-programming costs as a first priority. And like commercial free-to-air broadcasters Seven, Ten and Nine, she confronts the theft or diversion of once-loyal ABC eyeballs to increasingly popular video streamers such as Netflix and Stan. To address the potential further decline in ABC TV audiences, her strategy is to renew and expand ABC programming content across the genres. Always dependent on cheaper, off-the-shelf programs from the BBC and other broadcasters for the ABC TV prime time schedule, Ms Guthrie is staking the success of her five-year contract as managing director on new and distinctive content she hopes to generate from what could be a brutal restructure for those affected. Because an estimated 70 per cent of the ABC’s operational budget goes on payroll for the 4200 full-time-equivalent workforce, the only way savings can be generated is through a body count of employees. As one insider told The New Daily: “$50 million is a lot of staff blood on the floor, whether it comes from management or the creatives.” Michelle Guthrie’s memo to ABC staff: Screen-Shot-2017-03-06-at-6.19 [see original, not text to copy, or:] http://1v1d1e1lmiki1lgcvx32p49h8fe.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Screen-Shot-2017-03-06-at-6.19.jpg If the $50 million figure is confirmed by Ms Guthrie on Tuesday, executive directors about to take their designated new places in the restructure will have to deliver the required body count in coming months. The last restructure in 2014 under then managing director Mark Scott resulted in 400 redundancies at the contentious cost of local TV and radio programs. At the time, Mr Scott said he needed to reshape the ABC to engage younger audiences increasingly accessing ABC content on mobiles and other portable devices. Exactly what new content is to be created in the latest Guthrie restructure will depend on the innovation and inventiveness of her hand-picked commissioning executives. Quentin Dempster is a Walkley Award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster with decades of experience. He was awarded an Order of Australia in 1992 for services to journalism. He tweets at @QuentinDempster +43 comments http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2017/03/06/michelle-guthrie-abc-cuts/ (via Tim Gaynor, NSW, March 7, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) [one of the comments:] Les Macdonald University of NSW I'm afraid I am losing interest in the organisation I have loved and defended all my life. The progressive decline in programming content and presentation, with a small number of exceptions, has left me pretty alienated from the once great broadcaster. Had successive managements set out specifically to destroy the brand they could not have done a better job than they have. SBS now leaves the national broadcaster in its wake for presentation of quality programming that covers the range of content that once was the heartland of the ABC. Whether the management strategy of trying to capture the fleeting attention of the young has been successful or not, I fear they are losing their glued-on audience in droves with the strategy they are pursuing. Vale the ABC!!!! (via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. SUBMISSION/S ABC/RADIO AUSTRALIA Radio Australia & ABC territory service. Please everyone if you can have a say there is a standing committee look at submissions! Link is here for the guidelines. [sic, with spaces?] http://www.aph.gov.au/ParliamentryBusiness/Committees/Senate/Environment and Communications / Shortwave Radio [sic, with spaces] So you can have your say about why the Radio Australia and ABC Territory Radio should be turned back on again. Now with that have a whinge to the ABC over all the mistakes and why they should turn shortwave back on again to reception.advice@abc.net.au AUSTRALIA POST The now former CEO left with his 5-million-dollar payout. The Prime Minster gets around 425,000 yet the head stamp licker gets 5 million, crazy. Well this clown put his final mark on Aussie Post by cutting out all the local accounts. This means that we have to pay as we go through the month, now as I have the debit card over two transactions a month and we incur bank fees. So, that makes my job a bit harder ad all we get is the small dockets, instead of a statement that I tick off. God help me (John Wright, March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA [non]. Re: WRMI on 11580 kHz Sunday Night (29-30 January) "23:00 Wavescan 414, first of two programs on the history of Radio Australia (podcast should soon be available) "Podcast of first program (414; 29/01/2017) available here: http://awr.org/program/engmi_wav-2/ (funnily labelled Track 7) "Second program hasn't aired yet." Second Wavescan episode featuring the history of Radio Australia aired this past weekend on WRMI (and, presumably, on the other stations carrying Wavescan at various times/days). This was episode 419. Podcast already available here: http://awr.org/program/engmi_wav-2/ In the program, Ray Robinson said there will be yet a third part to the Radio Australia story to come. (-- Richard Langley, NB, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 15340, March 2 at 1414, RBA English ID at S9-S7, 1415 into South Asian music and language. Why don`t they introduce in English which language it is? Aoki shows on Thursdays only, it`s Marathi. Simultaneously, RBA is on 11980 in English at S9+20/10. 15590, March 2 at 1417, another South Asian song is S9 to S9+10 here, and this turns out to be the third RBA transmitter, scheduled Thursdays only in Telugu during this quarter-hour. These are all aimed toward S Asia of course, but are some of the best signals on 19m now, so I wonder if they are arriving long-path without having to traverse much of the darkside (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Interesting Item on the Jindalee OTH (Radar) Upgrade http://aviationweek.com/avalon-airshow/lockheed-martin-bae-systems-vie-australia-radar-upgrade (-- Richard Langley, NB, March 2, dxldyg via DXLD) Viz.: LOCKHEED MARTIN, BAE SYSTEMS VIE FOR AUSTRALIA RADAR UPGRADE Mar 2, 2017 Bradley Perrett | Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Comments 4 GEELONG, Australia — Australia is close to choosing between Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems to upgrade the Jindalee over-the-horizon radar system by implementing technology developed by the country's defense department. Significant but undisclosed performance improvements to these giant radars of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) are likely to result from the program. The effort will cost at least hundreds of millions of Australian (or U.S.) dollars for implementation and will be followed by a sustainment effort of similar expense over the 35 years of intended operation, industry sources say. The winning contractor will initially undertake sustainment, though that work will be subject to periodic competition. The upgrade is due to begin next year and be completed by 2020. The department is in the comfortable position of having a choice between two major contractors that are each highly familiar with the system, because Lockheed Martin maintains two of the radars while BAE maintains the other. Both companies confirmed to Aviation Week at the Avalon Australian International Airshow that they were bidding. A decision may be only weeks away. The sensors, with arrays kilometers long, are placed in the Outback and peer thousands of kilometers to the north and west of the continent by bouncing high-frequency radio energy off the ionosphere. They detect targets by Doppler shift, the slight change in frequency caused by movement toward or away from the antennas, and are therefore most effective against aircraft. Although Jindalee development began in the 1970s and the system became operational in 2003, considerable improvements in performance are still possible, a program source says, declining to elaborate. As with earlier stages in the Jindalee program, the technology for the upgrade has been largely developed by the department’s Defense Science and Technology Group. The chosen contractor will further develop the technology for operational application and install it. The upgrade, Project Joint 2025 Phase 6, is coming hard on the heels of the previous improvement effort, Phase 5, which was done by BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin and increased the speed, sensitivity and precision of the sensors and knitted them into the RAAF’s command and control system. For Phase 6, low-power radio-frequency elements — the signal generator and the receivers — will be upgraded, while signal processing equipment and software is also renewed. Another change will be further improvements in command and control, to facilitate the tasking of the radars by operational commanders. The radars are controlled from RAAF Edinburgh, a base at Adelaide, where tracks are extracted from raw data. The tracks go to RAAF Williamtown, at Newcastle, where they are fused with other sensor information to create the national tactical air picture (via DXLD) BAE Systems Australia Supplying HF-Radio Sensor To U.S. Mar 6, 2017 Bradley Perrett | Aerospace Daily & Defense Report GEELONG, Australia—BAE Systems is supplying a high-frequency (HF) radio sensor to the U.S. government using technology originally developed for Australia’s Jindalee over-the-horizon radars. The U.S. sensor is passive, meaning it is not a radar, but BAE will not further describe it nor name the specific customer. Some of the know-how has come from the Defense Science and Technology Group (DSTG), the government home of much of Australia’s HF radio technology. “The technology exported to the U.S. was jointly developed by BAE and DSTG in 2001, with BAE continuing to independently invest in research and development to develop an export product which is now in its fourth generation,” says BAE’s Steve Wynd, whose main responsibility is Jindalee work. The sensor will be the third of its type that BAE Systems Australia has sold to the U.S. government, the company says, adding that more orders from that customer and other countries are possible. The same U.S. government customer has bought related sub-systems over the past 10 years, BAE says. As with the previous units, BAE is building the equipment at Adelaide, Australia. Among its Australian HF radio products, BAE lists multichannel receiver systems, digital receivers and a system called the Advanced Direct Digital Receiver or DDRx. The latter supports “demanding HF radar and intelligence-gathering applications,” according to BAE’s website. Australian expertise in HF radio stems largely from the Jindalee radar network and the decades of research by DSTG and contractors that underpinned it. Australia particularly values over-the-horizon radars, and therefore HF radio technology, because it has huge maritime approaches but a small population. It needs the far-seeing radars to cue the limited number of ships and aircraft that it can pay for. BAE discussed the sensor program at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon, Geelong. (via Richard Langley, March 5, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) WTFK? I then must have inadvertently clicked on this chilling advertising link from the first story: MISSION: SEIZE THE SPECTRUM. Turn the lights out on your enemy. Operate unimpeded in the modern threat environment. To do that, you need to control the electromagnetic spectrum. For more than 50 years, our jammers, decoys and other electronic warfare products have earned a worldwide reputation for performance and reliability. Today, we're pioneering new technologies, like gallium nitride, and giving our warfighters a strategic advantage by providing them with low risk, modular, open architecture that can be easily adapted and upgraded. These EW mission solutions have the ability to deliver an increasingly complex and effective set of techniques and affordably offset adversary A2/AD capabilities. Learn about our major programs: http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/ew/?WT.mc_id=aviationweek_wallpaper_sas_avalonairshow&utm_source=aviationweek&utm_medium=wallpaper&utm_content=sas_avalonairshow_seizespectrum&utm_campaign=sas_avalonairshow (via gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 1791.03, UnID AUSTRALIA. Poor, with Koran recitation at 1403 2/27 (Nigel Pimblett, AB, IRCA DX Monitor March 11, published March 7 via DXLD) Suspect typo as (legal) X-band in Au stops at 1701. And per WRTH, among 3 stations on 1701 is Islamic Voice R., 0.4 kW in Somerton, Vic but with a PO Box in Campbellfield Vic (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 3210, Unique Radio, Tamworth/Gunnedah. Presumed, but very weak – just audible, in fact with talks 1115. Only 6 hours up the road from here, so shouldn’t be so tough, 4/3 (Craig Seager, VK2HBT, Bathurst NSW (Perseus SDR, Preamp, Wellbrook feeder isolator, Icom IC- 746, Loop Skywire, Loop with LZ1AQ amplifier), March Australian DX News via DXLD) Presumably again in hiatus, deciding (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. 6155, ORF OE1 program from ORS site Moosbrunn, heard with interval signal in 0559-0600 UT this March 4 morning. S=9+10dB signal into remote SDR post in FL-US. At 0600 UT top news on recent Northern Ireland election, pro-British won by 1 seat. Predicted heavy weather storm in Austria today, up to 150 km/h storm, temperature warm stream up to +20 cC from the Mediterranean basin [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, sent 0725 UT March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6155, March 6 at 0701, legacy Ö1 with news in Austro-German, S9 and good modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AZERBAIJAN. 9677 UnID. In Azeri daily *0810-1410* with bad audio observed in February. Three names are circulating for that radio: Edaletin Sesi (=Voice of Justice), Ictimai Radio (= Public Radio of Azerbaijan) and Talyshistan Sesi (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF2001D, Folded Marconi ant, March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** BAHRAIN. Poor and weak signal of Radio Bahrain on March 7: 1400 & 1505 on 9745 ABH 010 kW / non-dir to N/ME Arabic CUSB http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/poor-and-weak-signal-of-radio-bahrain.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar. Program in English confirmed in period 02-20/2 daily at 1530-1545, on Thursdays till 1550, Sundays till 1558 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF2001D, Folded Marconi ant, March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** BARBADOS. 21383.3-USB, March 4 at 1925, ham with extremely quick contest contacts, ending with ``59-K``. I have a hard time copying his own call when he gives it. First sounds like ``yankee victor five alfa``, but later decide he`s saying ``thank you, eight peter five alfa``. If he`s in such a hurry, why not dispense with all the ``thank-yous`` which would add up to a lot more points in toto. One could easily assume everyone is thankful for each contact. So it`s Barbados, no longer able to start VP6- which has moved to Pitcairn. QRZ.com shows: ``8P5A Barbados flag, Tom Georgens, W2SC, QSL via NN1N, Bureau, direct, LoTW``. Strange on the split frequency, so you can`t demodulate him clearly in 1-kHz steps. See comment under JAMAICA. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. 3985.00, GERMANY. R Belarus via R 700, Kall-Krekel, 2345-2355, 1.3. German historical review, ID. 45344 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, NASWA Flashsheet March 5 via DXLD) That late should be audible in NAm (gh) ** BELGIUM. From RTBF for the reception at the MW received QSL, a postcard, stickers, floggle-blinkers in the form of rubbing, neatly folded into a Belgian purse. That neatness zenith in the defense at the last minute matches (about the first and I do not write) and was not enough in a match with anderlecht. VV = Victor Varzin, Leningradskaya oblast, Russia / "deneb-radio-dx" (Rus-DX 5 March via DXLD) Wow, really???? ** BOLIVIA. 5952.42, Radio Pio Doce, 0225-0228*, March 8. Start of the normal sign off format (whistling “Colonel Bogey March,” full ID and chimes); fair, with my local sunset at 0208 UT. 6134.82, R. Santa Cruz, 0142-0205, March 8. Pop songs; 0200 usual sign off format with series of IDs; 0203 "Santa Cruz" song ending at 0205, then dead air (open carrier); fair, but with very noticeable Brazil het (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOUGAINVILLE. Here in Maryland, Bougainville, 3325 kHz, put in a very good signal at 1155 this morning until sign-off a few minutes after 1200. Surprising, because the K-index was at 3, which is high enough that it usually means bad reception from that part of the world. If I had checked the index before I checked the frequency, I might not have listened at all! Solomon Islands on 5020 was also at the best level so far this year (Art Delibert, North Bethesda, MD 3/5/17, JRC NRD 545, Horizontal pennant with DX Engineering pre-amp, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Estações NDB marítimas --- Com a desativação das futuras estações NDB aéreas, ainda teremos algumas marítimas. No link abaixo na página 32 encontrarão relação destas emissoras. https://www.mar.mil.br/dhn/chm/box-publicacoes/publicacoes/lar/LAR-completa.pdf Abraço turma (Alexandre Deves Sailer - V**iamão - RS, (PY3CT - PY3057SWL), py3ct.blogspot.com.br March 5, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Cultural de Araraguara [sic], after months off the air, is reported back on 3365 kHz by Uender José Silva Marques in Brazil (via Santiago San Gil, 23 Feb, on WRTH Facebook group via March BDXC-UK Communication via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) It`s Araraquara SP, with a Q - wonder who misspelt it. And Cultura, not Cultural. See WRTH. No sign of it here eves; what hours? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4894.9, March 3 at 0209, not even a carrier from R. Novo Tempo, gone again or just very sporadic? Propagation is OK, with the best and most reliable ZY on 60m next door, 4885.022, S9 R. Clube do Pará (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. The programme called Com A Mãe Aparecida (= Together With Mother Apparition) in Portuguese is already on the air at new times as follows in UT: 2300-0100 on 5035, 6135, 9630, 11855 0100-0800 on 5035, 6040, 6135, 9630, 9725, 9819, 11855, 11935. The programme is also aired in part by several stations in Brazil like Radio Caiari on 4785 kHz. In February (or earlier) Radio Super was confirmed here only on 11765 kHz and not on 6120, 9565 or 9587 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Sony ICF2001D & VEF201, Ant Folded Marconi 16m, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) I.e. merely one-hour-later UT shifts due to end of DST on February 19, also affecting countless other programming. All frequencies are +/- away to varying degrees, as required in Brasil (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. [caption] Front cover: QSL from Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC). The card is intended to verify reports on Rádio Nacional da Amazônia which can be heard on SW 6180 and 11780 kHz, but EBC is also using the same card to verify reports on other Rádio Nacional services. In this case, it was sent to Dave Kenny to verify his report on Rádio Nacional Brasília medium wave 980 kHz heard on the Sheigra [Scotland] DXpedition last November. Reports can be sent either via e-mail to centraldoouvinte@ebc.com.br or by post. The full postal address printed on the card is very long! EBC - Empresa Brasil de Comunicação, Sector Comercial Sul - SCS, Quadra 08 Bloco B 60, 1 Inferior - Edificio Venãncio 2000, Asa Sul, Brasilia/DF, CEP: 70333-900, Caixa Postal 8640. Patrick Cody has received the same QSL from: Caixa Postal 258, 70359-970 Brasilia, Brazil (March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) 11780. Mar 2 at 1726, Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, Brasília-DF. It´s on-air? Yes, RNA it´s on-air, with awful transmission, barely audible. // 6180 kHz, sign-off [meaning NOT on air]. 11780. Mar 2 at 2028, RNA. Man talks about weather in Amazon region; RNA announcements; Man and woman present problems "Nossa Terra": decicated to agriculture. RNA with fair signal and modulation this afternoon, 35433. On 6180 kHz, sign-off (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) 6180, March 3 at 0018, RNA/RNB and its spurblobs are still missing tonight, while 11780 is nominal; JBA signal on 6180 would be CRI East Turkistan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6180v kHz, NOTHING heard of RNB Brasilia this March 4th morning [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, sent 0725 UT March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Time? 6180, March 7 at 0106, RNA/RNB is back on after missing a few nights, and no spurblobs detected below it, hopefully having fixed that problem in the interim. Modulation on 6180 itself is sufficient now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6180, Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, on air again, heard between 0659- 0720, 07-03, Brazilian songs. Strong interference from Germany, Deutscher Wetterdienst on the same frequency. 31331 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, 0744 UT March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ?? DWD is supposedly at 0600-0630v, not 0700 UT. Was that log in CET instead of UT? Or has DWD really been a UT hour later all during standard time? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 11735, Radio Transmundial (presumed), Santa María, 1800, March 8. Tuned in expecting to catch Zanzibar, with news in English, but instead heard only Portuguese; IDs for "Radio Nacional" and announcers chatting; almost fair; no trace of Zanzibar. Unusual propagation? (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11855.158, March 4 at 0716, R. Aparecida with rosary at S9- S4, audibly varying and quite higher than its previous landings. 11855.266, March 5 at 0739 check, R. Aparecida appears to be here, even further off-frequency and wobbling, with what else, rosary at S9. 11855.18V, March 5 at 2348, R. Aparecida is S5 and just barely modulated, frequency audibly varying. 11855.26V, March 7 at 0120, R. Aparecida is up to here, still wobbling, and still JBM (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 15190, Radio Inconfidência, Belo Horizonte, 1735-1850, 04- 03, Portuguese, comments, songs, ID. "Você esta sintonizando Rádio Inconfidência", at 1836: "15 horas 36 minutos, Jornada Esportiva, Campeonato Mineiro, pela Rádio Inconfidência", soccer comments. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol and Lugo, Tecsun PL-880, Sangean ATS-909X, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. SECRETLAND SPL another test transmission of From the Isle of Music, March 5: 1500-1600 on 9400 SCB 100 kW / 030 deg to EaEu English Sun, videos later today -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, 1515 UT March 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Test transmission of From the Isle of Music via SPL on March 5: 1500-1600 on 9400 SCB 100 kW / 030 deg to EaEu Eng/Spa Sun + 2nd harmonic 18800 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/test-transmission-of-from-isle-of-music.html (Ivo, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) Thanks Ivo for, info! Great copy in Poland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfDPhu5Uc98&feature=youtu.be Best 73 (Adam Grzenia, http://dxadam.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also received well in western Europe, at least with the U. Twente WebSDR receiver. Didn't make it across the pond though at least not to NB (Richard Langley, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURUNDI [non]. 15420, Saturday March 4 at 1857, the SSOB on 19m is this! Radio Itahuka on its weekly hour via MADAGASCAR --- S9+10 but just barely modulated in African language, presumably Kirundi. Refund from MBR? Itahuka is cut off still talking at 1900*. With 250 kW at 315 degrees from Talata, much stronger signal (but less modulated) than 15710 WHRIBS which normally inbooms but is now only S6-S4; than 15500 & 15390 Spain; than 15770 WRMIBS; than 15580 VOA; than 15825 WWCR. WWV reports: ``Solar-terrestrial indices for 03 March follow. Solar flux 78 and estimated planetary A-index 22. The estimated planetary K-index at 1800 UTC on 04 March was 3. Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 332 kHz, March 6 at 0654 UT, beacon QE and long dash (a Canadian characteristic). Can`t find any listed at dxinfocentre.com but think it must have been QT in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I was debating whether the second letter was a T or an E, since the ID was sent so slowly, but opted for E, and again seemed to center on 333 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 2748.99-CUSB, March 5 at 0202 UT, marine weather by French YL, including Madelaine, avis aux navigateurs. CCG website shows VCS Halifax via Chebogue NS site starting at 0140 in English, then French. S8, better signal than usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 3330-CUSB, March 2 at 0720, no signal from CHU again, while 7850-CUSB has a JBA carrier; yet relatively near SW station WBCQBS 7490 is propagating at S9, better than usual in the nightmiddle. 3330-CUSB, March 3 at 0045, CHU is still/again AWOL from here, but OK on 7850-CUSB; inaudible, maybe off too, from 14670-CUSB. 3330-CUSB, March 5 at 0159 check, still no CHU, but OK on 7850-CUSB. Following my previous note, Richard Langley, NB, reported March 3 to the DXLD yg: ``I reached out to my contacts at NRC. Here is the reply: `Hello Richard, The 3330 kHz transmission system has been malfunctioning recently and is currently off. We hope to have it up and running next week. I will ask Bill Hoger from our team to give you a more detailed update. Thank you, Marina Gertsvolf` I'll pass along further info when I get it`` (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6069.991, CFRX Toronto, S=9+10dB strength signal in FL-US remote post. Talk on Canadian Screen Award in 2017, Academy awards nomination. About 1970'ies Yoko Ono show ... - Nice audio quality noted in remote SDR at FL-US at 0608 UT on March 4th [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, sent 0725 UT March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6160v kHz. CKZU Vancouver mainland site has gone. It sounds pretty definite that CBU's Shortwave repeater is off the air and will not be returning to the airwaves. Only thing that I can think of that would change that would be the CRTC, as they did, about 10 years ago, when they forced the CBC to abandon a plan that would have eliminated CBU-AM and gone all FM. But that would require some pretty solid numbers on a significant number of people in Canada who could no longer hear the CBC (via DX League Member Jon Pearkins in Edmonton- Alb-CAN; with thanks to Bryan Clark-Mangawhai-NZL, via NZ DX Times March 2017 via BC-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** CANADA. 15034-USB, March 3 at 1526, Trenton Military with ``no report received`` from Winnipeg, Edmonton; usual 61-minute-slow wrong timecheck for 1425Z, but succeeds in getting a report next from Cold Lake (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Don Moore: One of my all-time favorite radio programs was Nightfall, a sci-fi/horror drama series on CBC back around 1980. It used to be on for the last half hour of As It Happens on Fridays. Brett Saylor passed along this link. The entire series is available online for download. Nightfall-CBC Radio Program cid:part2.01000307.02050504@gmail.com ``The address wasn`t understood`` [gh] (Don Moore, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 3 via DXLD) Apparently goes to Wayback Machine, https://archive.org/web but have to search it out from there (gh) ** CAYMAN ISLANDS. 21342.333-USB, March 4 at 2111, ZF2MJ, fonetikally with contest contacts: QRZ.com shows ``ZF2MJ Cayman Islands, Daniel Craig, 200 Barcelona Cir, Fullerton, CA 92835, USA, QSL: Home call N6MJ``. So WHERE in the Caymans? Doesn`t even say which island. This is the third 15m station on a .3 split frequency --- is my R75 out of calibration? No, still within 3-6 Hz of WWV, a correxion factor I apply in measurements. With only the usual JBA carrier on 13m from 21675 WRMI, I wondered if 15m would be open from hams anywhere; 12m and 10m were dead. Also got BARBADOS, JAMAICA on 15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. [Re 17-09:] WRTH 2017 now shows: Radio Maïngo (Rlg.), Bangui, but SW site Boali, 6030, 1 kW. D.Prgr. in French, Sango, Bayaka and Fulfulde: Mon-Sat 0600-1100, daily 1400-1700 on 6030 kHz. [originally Radio ICDI] Also, Radio Ndeke Luka, FM station, UNDP program is carried on Boali 6030 at 1700-1900. These are NEVER reported by DXers, and we can only wonder if they really exist. 6030 of course is a very bad frequency at night in North America with Cuban jamming and Radio Martí. Otherwise, propagation from CAR should be barely possible at *0600. One would think Eurafrican DXers would be able to pick it up also in evening (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1867, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmmm, the entry for Radio Ndeke Luka for these times is very old and probably very wooden. So, guessing from the sporadic messages of the station's owner I would expect them to sign-off earlier, 1700 at best, and on 6030 only. I do not believe it would be easy to catch them in Europe then even if they were active, as Radio Oromiya is there also. Radio Oromiya does sign-off often between 1700 and 1730 and returns later at 1930, but never heard anything in this timeslot. 73 (thorsten hallmann, germany, March 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. 6925-AM. RCW. Marzo 2. 0137-0153 UT. ID, informaciones y música bailable latina de los años 60’s. SINPO: 35343. 6925-AM. RCW. Marzo 2. 2300-2315 UT. Noticias del servicio en español de Sputnik Mundo. SINPO: 45433. 7550-AM (Test). RCW. Marzo 2. 0204-0214 UT. ID y música bailable de los 60’s. SINPO: 45444, aunque desde las 0210. SINPO: 45422 (Claudio Galaz, RX: TECSUN PL 660; ANT: Hilo de 40 metros de largo, QTH: Ovalle, Chile, condiglista yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. 6145, CNR1 apparently jamming Radio Taiwan International, 1616–1633, February 28, 2017. Very strong signal. // 7300, also affecting RTI, and // on 7305 and 7365 with the same programming, but not affecting RTI there. M commentator and MX mix, excellent and strong signal, but I’d rather have heard RTI clearly. What I suspect was RTI was just detectable underneath this strong signal, but not anywhere near strong or clear enough to overcome CNR1 for identification. 7300, CHINA, Firedrake type music jamming, probably of RTI, 1640–1645, March 4, 2017. I could detect another station, that was likely RTI, with a M commentator, underneath the very strong Firedrake MX signal, but could not hear it well enough for an identification of any sort (Vince Henley, Anacortes, WA, equipment currently in use: Tecsun PL- 380, JRC NRD-525, Drake R8B, Sony ICF-2010, Ten-Tec RX-340. Antennas are half-meter whip on PL-380, 1.2 meter whip on ICF-2010, and Alpha- Delta DX-Ultra installed broadside east-west, NASWA Flashsheet March 5 via DXLD) ** CHINA. 7315. CRI. Marzo 5. 2218- UTC. Servicio en Esperanto. Informaciones sobre el Partido Comunista Chino, luego reseña de una traducción de poemas de Pablo Neruda junto a una descripción de los criterios para traducir conceptos en español al Esperanto. SINPO: 55444. // 9860 SINPO: 55555 (Claudio Galaz, RX: TECSUN PL 660; ANT: Hilo de 40 metros de largo, QTH: Ovalle, Chile, condiglista yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 7415 // 9455 // 9860, Firedragon (music jamming), 1818, March 8; all to block RFA; all fair (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7435, CRI (Shijiazhuang) 1440-1446 5 March. Good signal from CRI with "radio Khitaya, express informatsiya" -- news briefs, apparently (Dan Sheedy, Moonlight Beach, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Russian ** CHINA. 7540, March 5 at 2326, VP S6 signal with talk echoing, maybe long/short path? More likely double CNR1 jamming against RFA Tibetan ``bod`` dialect via KUWAIT as scheduled this hour only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 11685. Mar 2 at 0233, China National Radio 11, Baoji- Sifangshan, in Amdo language. Man talks with very short music space between talks; News?? Broadcasting with fair signal, noises and poor modulation, 35332. 13700. Mar 2 at 0341, China National Radio 13, Lingshi, in Uyghur. Man talks and talks. Broadcasting with fair signal and modulation, 35443 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 5910, ALCARAVAN RADIO. Marzo 3. 0342-0414 UT. Predicación sobre el amor de Dios. A las 0354 música de salsa. A las 0358 hora local y vallenatos, luego boleros. Identificación a las 0412 y canción de Juanes - A Dios le pido. SINPO: 35343, desde las 0356, SINPO: 45444 (Claudio Galaz, RX: TECSUN PL 660; ANT: Hilo de 40 metros de largo, QTH: Ovalle, Chile, condiglista y g via DXLD) 5910, Alcaraván Radio, Puerto Lleras, 0650-0750, 04-03 Latin American songs, Spanish, religious comments. 14321. Also 0521-0710, 05-03, Latin American songs, "boleros", ID at 0628: "1 hora con 33 minutos, 5910, Alcaraván Radio, 6010, La Voz de tu Conciencia, señal de Colombia para el mundo", Martin Stendal, religious comments. 34433. (Méndez) [so that ID mentioned both stations, but not //?? -gh] 6010, La Voz de tu Conciencia, Puerto Lleras, 0701-0750, 05-03, Latin American songs, Spanish, Martin Stendal religious comment. 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol and Lugo, Tecsun PL-880, Sangean ATS-909X, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010.129, More than fair signal of S=8-9 level of Colombian Voz de tu Conciencia, very nice Latin American female singer canciones heard on Florida remote SDR unit. Frequency is NOT stable, wandered 10 Hertz up and down, between 6010.129 and x.139 kHz. At 0620 UT little BUZZ heterodyne of the co-channel Brazilian low power on 6010.023 kHz noted so far. At same time and at 0720 UT noted much stronger S=9+10dB Alcaraván Radio with sermon on measured exact 5910.183 kHz [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, sent 0725 UT March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5910.217v, March 7 at 0650, Alcaraván Radio, finally caught a canned YL ID, then a song in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CRIMEA [and non]. UKRAINE --- The authorities of the Crimea have launched radio broadcasting to the border areas of Ukraine, told RIA Novosti the State Duma deputy from the Crimean region Ruslan Balbek. In particular, according to him, we are talking about the Crimean- Tatar radio "Vatan sedas" ("Voice of the Motherland"). The radio station earned in February this year. Earlier on the peninsula, a private Crimean-Tatar television channel ATR and the radio station "Meydan" operated, which stopped broadcasting, as they did not undergo re-registration under Russian law. "Additional transmitters are installed in Dzhankoy, what a call! It will broadcast the signal to the border areas of the Kherson region of Ukraine, where Crimean Tatars also live in compact form. The voice of the Crimea will now sound for residents of the south of the Kherson region, which will allow our compatriots not to distance themselves from the cultural and socio-political life of the Republic, "Balbek said. At the same time, the deputy stressed that coverage of the Kherson region will be increased after installing another transmitter in Krasnoperekopsk. According to him, "Vatan sedas" also expands broadcasting in the territory to The Crimean peninsula. "By the end of June, the radio will cover 60% of the population of the peninsula, which is almost six times more than before the radio station Meydan," Balbek said. http://crimea.ria.ru/society/20170302/1109333141.html (Rus-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** CUBA. 6060, March 3 at 0019, RHC Spanish is VG at S9+45 except for the modulation which as usual is rough on this frequency. 5025, March 3 at 0049, R. Rebelde is off, while 5040 RHC is S9+45; see UNIDENTIFIED (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5025, R Rebelde, Bauta in Spanish at 0530 UT March 04, NOT ON AIR. 5040, RHC Bauta proper 20 kHz wideband signal, S=9+25dB or -50dBm signal on remote unit SDR installation in Florida-US, East Coast North America [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) How do you know these both are/would be Bauta site? (gh, DXLD) 5025.02, March 5 at 0712, R. Rebelde is back on the air at S9+20. Measured as closely at possible, compared to WWV 5000.000, it does seem to be slightly off to the hi side like the JBA carrier I was hearing earlier at 0155 and presumed to be R. Quillabamba, Perú. Still inconclusive, another factor being possibility that more than one Cuban transmitter is employed on 5025. One of them could be on .02 and JB audible with exciter only. And as to why it`s been missing in the evenings but heard after 0700 --- that`s when numerous RHC transmitters become available; maybe the main Rebelde one is out of order (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 11840 and parasites 11850, 11830, Sunday March 5 at 2351, `En Contacto` DX program from RHC seems to be relying more and more on Prof. Arnaldo Coro Antich. This segment is a `new` one called `Frecuencias del Mundo`, as Arnie finally tries to provide some real DX info rather than going on and on about propagation, Cuban stations, home-brew equipment. He used to denigrate the competition for giving out so many numbers, i.e. frequencies where one might really hear something other than RHC. Not off to a very good start, as the only ones he mentions are 6180 Brasil and weaker 6185 Mexico, clueless that 6180 has been off the air for several days (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OBTW --- Arnie was back on 6270 last night (Harold Frodge, MI, March 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6060, March 6 at 0437, RHC is off, so no leapfrog across 6165 on 6270 either, which someone has reported hearing again. 5025, March 6 at 0437 check, R. Rebelde is back on. I wonder if a transmitter shortage accounts for this: when 5025 is on, 6060 is off and vice versa? March 7 at 0102, 5025 is off again, and 6060 is on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) March 6, intermodulations of Bauta broadcast center site: 0550 UT on March 6, fundamentals S=9+25dB in Florida-US. intermodulation signals on S=6-7 signal level. Fq difference apart each other measured 14.9975 kHz. Heard at 0610 UT: 5010.0065 intermodulation 5025.0030 R Rebelde 5040.0005 RHC (but mixture! of Spanish, and English program by Arnie Coro) 5054.9980 mostly Radio Rebelde intermodulation At same time RHC English program on \\ 6000 kHz mixup of English Coro and Spanish program underneath, S=8-9 6100 kHz English ID at 0620 UT, Arnie Coro program, S=9+5dB 6165 kHz English S=9+15dB [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Monday March 6, 0540 UT til 0659 UT, logged in remote SDR unit in Florida-US east coast North America, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5025, March 7 at 0656, R. Rebelde is back on after absence at previous check 0102; also on is 6060 with RHC ending English, so much for my theory about transmitter swapping. 6060 and all the other English frequencies are soon in dead air well before 0700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 7435, Radio Martí, US Spanish service to Cuba {and Latin America?} S=9+25dB strong signal at 0643 UT on March 6. Underneath much weak tiny noise jamming signal, not effective in central Florida SDR post [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Monday March 6, 0540 UT til 0659 UT, logged in remote SDR unit in Florida-US east coast North America, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. From the Isle of Music, Week of March 6-11 And probably every Sunday via SPL Secretbrod: 1500-1600 on 9400 to EaEu, videos on March 5 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/test-transmission-of-from-isle-of-music.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via DXLD) No, not March 12 says Ivo (gh) ** DJIBOUTI. RADIO DJIBOUTI GOES LIVE ONLINE --- Horn of Africa government broadcaster Radiodiffusion Television de Djibouti has restored the online live streaming of Radio Djibouti 1 (RD1) and Radio Djibouti 2 (RD2). Streaming was first introduced in late 2007 but ceased after a few months. Both services are broadcast on various FM frequencies domestically, and in the case of RD1 also irregularly on 4780 kHz shortwave. These and three Tele Djibouti TV streams can be accessed from the organisation's website at http://www.rtd.dj (David Kernick, Interval Signals Online, March 2, dxldyg via DXLD) 4780 has not been reported for many months now (gh, DXLD) ** EAST TURKISTAN [and non]. 3990.00, CHINA, Xinjiang PBS, Urumqi, 2315-2325, 1.3. Uighur talk, local music. 44333 // 4980 (25232) and 6120 (35333). (Petersen-DNK) 3990.02, CHINA, Gannan PBS, Tianshui, Hezon [sic; it`s Hezuo per WRTH], *2252-2300, 28.2. Opening melody, 2255 Tibetan ann by man and woman, "The East is Red", music, 2300 news. 35233 // 5979 (23232) (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, NASWA Flashsheet March 5 via DXLD) Yes, there are two ChiCom stations on 3990, but apparently 20 Hz apart. EiBi shows skeds, with lots of overlap: 3990 2300-2400 China National Radio 11 TB CHN he 3990 0000-0100 PBS Gannan TB CHN he 3990 0350-0650 PBS Gannan TB CHN he 3990 0950-1400 PBS Gannan TB CHN he 3990 2248-2300 PBS Gannan TB CHN he 3990 1135-1200 PBS Xinjiang UI CHN uc 3990 1200-1230 PBS Xinjiang UI CHN uc 3990 1230-1800 PBS Xinjiang UI CHN uc 3990 2310-0300 PBS Xinjiang UI CHN uc (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 6050, March 3 at 0620, very surprised to find Spanish here, and it`s a heavily produced gospel huxter, sounds like Ministerio En Contacto, California. What could it be but HCJB? For many years they signed off at 0500*, but recently cut back to 0230v*. Revived or a mistake? I didn`t think they were on the air at all at this hour, and MW 690 was recently turned off forever. Maybe FM 89.3 programming is available, running 24h. I keep listening for the tell- tale half-hour timesignal, and there it is right at 0630, and into song, so I`m confident it really is HCJB. Can`t find any plain old program schedule at http://radiohcjb.org No sign of ELWA Liberia which should be on 6050 after 0530 now in English, but I would never hear it in HCJB`s absence, anyway. 6050, here`s why I was hearing HCJB in Spanish circa 0630 March 3: Horst Rosiak, the German who runs HCJB in Quito, notified his mailing list, including EuroGermans and Rudolf Grimm in Brasil that a new transmitter had been activated on Mount Pichincha, testing 24 hours a day. He said the thin air at high altitude, 4 kilometers, was causing the thermal control to cut it off the air for 5 minutes at a time, but I didn`t hear any breaks during my monitorage. Also says German- language broadcasts may be resumed when audible in Europe. What`s the power, antenna? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Horst]: Well, let's say: The 6050 transmitter. Not the FM operation. The old, now replaced transmitter was a 10 kW, rescued from Pifo to avoid a permanent closure of 6050 kHz. HCJB had distributed a chunk of fixed-frequency radios amongst indigenous people in Ecuador, thus it was highly desirable for them to keep this very frequency on air with no major breaks. Possible further German broadcasts would, I assume, come from Germany. Horst himself stopped producing German-language broadcasts at yearend 2016 because the workload was no longer bearable. He was the only remaining user of one of the studios, which all still exist but are largely abandoned now, with all the international broadcasts gone. (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6050, HCJB checked via remote SDR unit in central Florida, east coast North America at 0612 UT on March 4. New transmitter equipment on Mt. Pichincha close to Quito capital. S=9+10dB or -62dBm signal, fluttery signal though, small audio modulation, "... palabra cristiano - Cristo ...". [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (wb df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews March 4) ECUADOR On 02 March 2017 at 02:19 hrs wrote The Andean Voice: A warm hello from Quito-Ecuador, Today a new transmitter was put into operation on Mt. Pichincha, the Now runs 24 hours a day. It still lacks air in 4000m sea height, so that the thermoswitch between him and-off and then turns off (about 5 minutes) again. If the signal reaches Europe, I can still put some German consignments from the cans. Your Horst Rosiak, Quito, Ecuador (Via Wolfgang Gargitter-AUT, A-DX ng March 2, via Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD)) New Shortwave transmitter 6050 kHz. Basically a very gratifying message. {I'll} Watch the frequency in the near future, and am anxious, Which penetrates Europe. Until about 5 clock UT it is still present here dark. For how long is the 24-hrs test operation planned before returning to the regulatory dispatch at 2:30 pm [sic: am] UT is passed? - Applies to the Test phase is the regular broadcast schedule in Indian languages, or is increased in English, Spanish, possibly even German, sent, test announcements? - RRs - Can you send by the end of 2016 via the online form? Have noticed that the transmitter is currently silent. - At least bother also the station from China to 6050 khz around this year and day time no more. I wish you every success in the commissioning of the new station in Airy height. Greeting from Tyrol, (Wolfgang Gargitter- AUT, A-DX ng March 2, via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) 6050, HCJB Pichincha on air, 0509, 05-03, Spanish, religious comments and songs. 24322. (Méndez) 6050, HCJB, Pichincha, 0509-0850, 05-03, Spanish, religious comments: "Todos necesitamos un salvador...", "Instituto Bíblico", "No olvides visitar nuestro sitio web", at 0530: "0 horas 30 minutos", religious songs, ID at 0642: "HCJB", religious comments, at 0800: HCJB, son las 3 de la mañana", "HCJB, 89.3 FM." 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol and Lugo, Tecsun PL-880, Sangean ATS-909X, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6050, March 6 at 0703, S8 Spanish religious talk, so HCJB is still testing here all-night. And we thought they were deferential to coreligionist ELWA. Will eventually contract to old 0500* or 0230*? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9900, Radio Cairo (presumed); 2206, 1-Mar; Extremely distorted talk & chant. EiBi listed as English (no possible way to tell) and not listed in 3-1 Aoki at this hour. This kilowastage makes distorted Dead Dr. Gene & Rev. Barbi from Anguilla sound downright listenable by comparison; checked 6090 and distorted Rev. Barbi there (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow- tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) March 7, 2130, 2150, Radio Cairo, 9900, English about an S5 on the meter with a heterodyne from someone but no audio on the other signal. R Cairo audio was much improved from the past; I could actually understand what they were saying. Female ID at 2150 followed by male talking about happenings at Luxor. Still strong at 2240. All received on Icom R-70 and a Vertical. Best 73 Doc W2MFT (Mark F Tattenbaum, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EL SALVADOR. 1630, YS--, R Elohim, San Salvador; religious program, announcements, ID "Misión Cristiana Elohim", National Anthem, 232, 0600 13/2 (Saverio De Cian, Sedico (Belluno), Italy. Perseus SDR, DKaz + FLG100LN, March MW News via DXLD) We already had the callsign and more info about it in DXLD. No North American logs yet?? (gh, DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Bata now on air, 0545, 05-03, songs, very weak. 14321. 5005, Radio Nacional, Bata, 0546-0604, 05-03, songs, Spanish, comments. Very weak. 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol and Lugo, Tecsun PL-880, Sangean ATS-909X, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5005.0, RNGE, R. Bata (presumed), at 0539, on March 6, with announcers in Spanish; poor, but any day that I can make out what the language is, that is actually a good day for me (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. 6090. Mar 2 at 0422, Amhara State Radio, Addis Ababa, in Amharic. Man talks in Amharic language and woman talks in English, preaching. It´s a collision between Amhara Radio and Caribbean Beacon (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** FINLAND. 6170.00, Scandinavian Weekend R, Virrat (100 watts), 1030- 1055, Sat 4.3. English ID and ann, Finnish talk, pop music - very deep fades! 25211 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, NASWA Flashsheet March 5 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Why Is Finland Able to Fend Off Putin’s Information War? Helsinki has emerged as a resilient front against Kremlin spin. But can its successes be translated to the rest of Europe? By Reid Standish March 1, 2017 With elections coming up this year in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and perhaps Italy, European intelligence services across the Continent have been sounding the alarm about Russian attempts to influence the outcome though targeted disinformation and propaganda, as they appeared to do in the U.S. presidential election. That brand of information war can range from pushing fake news stories and conspiracy theories to fanning the flames of existing problems — all serving to undermine public confidence in governments and institutions. Elsewhere in the Baltics and former Soviet Union, Russian-linked disinformation has worked to stoke panic and force local governments into knee-jerk, counterproductive responses that have boosted Kremlin goals across the region. But in the face of this mounting pressure, one of Russia’s neighbors has emerged unusually resistant to the wider information war waged by Moscow across Europe: Finland. . . http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/01/why-is-finland-able-to-fend-off-putins-information-war/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EP%203-1&utm_term=%2AEditors%20Picks An interesting article about Finland and YLE --- Found this article particularly interesting, especially in this age of alternative facts! 73, (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, dxldyg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. 11945, Issoudun. With so called “frog“ faulty transmitter (already for many years!) on 19/2 at 1700-1800 when evergreens played by NHK in Japanese were listened to together with “kwa–kwa” Sound (by the way they have one more frog at the same time 1700-1800 on 9800 where is RTI in Russian (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF2001D, Folded Marconi ant, March Australian DX News via DXLD). ** GABON. A feature on the Moyabi shortwave transmitter, which was on the air from 1983 until 2013 with Africa No. 1 and various international broadcast relays, has been brought up to date by Tony Rogers with new information added for its last few years on the air and bringing the story up to its conclusion. The Moyabi Story can be found, along with many other interesting articles, at the BDXC website Articles Index http://www.bdxc.org.uk/articles.html and http://www.bdxc.org.uk/moyabi.pdf (Webwatch by Chrissy Brand, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Radio Amrum, from Amrum Island in the German North Frisian Islands, has broadcast annually on SW since 2006 - always on 21 February. This is a very important date for Amrum Island, when the Biakendai is celebrated; a great bonfire is lit to dispel winter and people blacken each other's faces with soot (March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 6070, Hobart Radio Internatonal, Rohrbach, 0920-0930*, 04- 03, English, comments, "Special show Hobart Radio International", "Hobart Radio International signing off, good bye". 14321. (Méndez) 6085, Radio Mi Amigo, Kall Krekel, 1720-1735, 04-03, pop music, ID. "Mi Amigo". 24322. (Méndez) 6150, Europa 24, Datteln, 0727-0740, 05-03, pop songs, German, ID. "Europa 24", news. 14321. (Méndez) 6180, Deutscher Wetterdienst, Pinneberg, 0610-0630*, 04-03, German, weather report. Rádio Nacional da Amazônia out of air. 45444. Also 2010-2030, 04-03, German, weather report. 33433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol and Lugo, Tecsun PL-880, Sangean ATS-909X, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. Germany / Armenia / Tajikistan --- Christian Milling informs that the programme Radio, Menschen & Geschichten will replace its Sunday 5.3.2017 transmission via Armenia 19-20 on 6145 kHz with 1800-1900 on 7465 kHz via Tajikistan. http://www.radiomenschenundgeschichten.de/ statt 05.03.2017 von 19-20 UTC auf 6145 kHz via Armenien Richtung Europa ... jetzt 05.03.2017 von 18-19 UTC auf 7465 kHz via Tadschikistan Richtung Europa (Mauno Ritola, Finland / group «WRTH - World Radio Tv Handbook», via Rus-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** GREECE. Dear Wolfie and others, I went up this night around 0200 UT and without doubt found Wolfie's unknown station: 4863.21 kHz, 0150-0235 UT 28 Feb, Harmonic of a Greek Pirate. Greek annouoncement and frequent mentions of "Saloniki" and "Athinai", typical Greek folksongs, 35232 \\ 1620 kHz (45333). I did not get an ID, but in the last SWN Carlos Gonçalves heard R Fonokomation, Greece on 1620 kHz on 5 Nov 2016. AP-DNK (Anker Petersen, Denmark, BC-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** GREECE. There is no order or current schedule for Voice of Greece. Here is an example of their transmissions monitored between 0410-0450 UTC on SW and MW recently: 7 Feb: 1st Home Service in Greek was on 9420 // MW 729, 1404, 1512 (1008 not heard); 18 Feb: Voice of Greece in Greek was on 9420 // 9935 with 1st Home Service programme on MW 729, 1008 and 1404. Programmme called “Kosmos”(=Space?) on MW 1512. 17 Feb: Four different programmmmes were confirmed at 0110-0140: VOG on 9420, 1st program on 729 and 1008 kHz, Kosmos on 1404 and jazz on 1512 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Sony ICF2001D & VEF201, Ant Folded Marconi 16m, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** GREECE. Random reception of Voice of Greece on 9420 kHz, March 7 1115-1315 9420#AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek*tx#3, and off air # co-ch 9420 LIN 100 kW / 298 deg to EaAs Uighur China Natl Radio-13 * news Polish/Albanian 1150-1200; First program 1200-1301; English 1301-1306 UT http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/reception-of-voice-of-greece-in-english.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) EXCELLENT reception of Voice of Greece on 9420 kHz this afternoon (2138 UT March 8 as I enter this). // 9935 kHz not as good. Very nice Greek music. I get home from campus early on Wednesdays and look forward to tuning in (Richard Langley, University of New Brunswick, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. TWR (Trans World Radio) needs to raise $65,000 as quickly as possible to replace the Antenna 3 reflector screen at our transmitter site on Guam. Here’s a Q&A to help you understand the need: What is a reflector screen? A reflector screen is a series of aluminum-coated steel wires strung with reflectors that focus a shortwave antenna’s signal. Why does it matter? Without reflector screens, the signals from shortwave antennas would be greatly weakened, affecting their reach. Reflector screens also keep us in compliance with our FCC permits, ensuring the broadcasts go only [sic] where they are licensed to go. Losing a screen would disrupt broadcasting, while a falling screen will also damage the antennas around. The Guam transmitter site is TWR’s major broadcasting site into Asia, speaking hope in 23 languages to people from Indonesia to China and North Korea to India. Many people in the regions reached by KTWR have no other source of sound, biblical teaching. How was the Antenna 3 reflector screen damaged? The screen was installed in the ’90s. A typhoon in 2002 caused some initial damage. Subsequent storms have further stressed the screen, while the salty ocean air quickly corrodes the steel wires anywhere the aluminum is rubbed off. Our technicians have been able to keep it in working order with a series of patches, but the most recent maintenance inspection proved that there is now too much damage to patch and a complete replacement is needed. How quickly can it be replaced? Our trusted supplier can have a new screen to Guam in three to six months. However, due to our commitment to operate debt-free, we can’t order the screen until we have the entire $65,000 cost in hand. So, the answer depends on how quickly the necessary funds can be raised (TWR Global Update via March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** GUAM. 9880.026, March 2 at 1220, Christian hymn, YL talking in Korean, S9 fading to S5. KSDA is scheduled this hour, so another station significantly off-frequency; amid 9880 usage by other stations, China, Romania before and/or after (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non] re 9880 kHz. CHINA 9880-even, CRI Kunming Burmese service, S=9+35dB powerhouse in eastern Thailand at 1154 UT on March 4. CRI final annmt til 11.57:02 UT TX Kunming off air. Channel empty during 20 seconds, 1157:30 UT TX unit full carrier came on air on 9880.024 kHz, at 1200:05 AWR interval signal played, station ID and Frequency 9880 kHz given in English and Korean language, 10.4 kHz wideband signal, excellent audio quality, S=9+15dB signals noted both in eastern Thailand, and in Tokyo Japan remote SDR units. No QRM, no other signal on 9880 kHz heard on March 4, 1225 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17880, March 3 at 0004, JBA carrier here is the only signal on 16m besides Cuba very strong on 17730. HFCC shows it`s KSDA at 00-01, 315 degrees NW in Chinese (or jammer? Probably the ChiCom do not bother with this) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. Radio Verdad --- Really nice reception tonight. In fact, one of the best evenings I've ever received them into Victoria. Quite nice Christian vocals. 0540 UT on 4055. 73, (Walt Salmaniw, BC, UT Mar 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably English that hour (gh) ** GUINEA, 9650, Radio Guinea, Conakry, 0646-0701, March 6. In French; fair to good; series of nice IDs ("Radio Guinée"); 0659 seemed to be light QRM from the start of assume R. Sonder Grense (South Africa). 24 hours later had poor reception (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7 March 2017, 2030-2050, Radio Guinea, 9650, Native music followed by lots of talk in French. All received on Icom R-70 and a Vertical. Best 73 Doc W2MFT (Mark F Tattenbaum, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 5009.99, AIR Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai. Phone-in talkback programming at 1324, very good signal, 13/2 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** INDIA. March 7, 2200, 2216, All India Radio on 9445 in English. Music and a story about Lord Vishnu, ID 2216 by female. BIG SIGNAL. All received on Icom R-70 and a Vertical. Best 73 Doc W2MFT (Mark F Tattenbaum, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 7550 DRM, AIR, 2202 on 2/20/2017. Audio 1: YL in English News – intermittent. Audio 2: Hindi music and OM sings – intermittent. I was not aware there could be two separate audio channels. A nice surprise! (Kris Field, Edgewater, FL, Perseus, Elad SW2, Wellbrook 1530, Par End fed Zep, NASWA Flashsheet March 5 via DXLD) ** INDIA. ALL INDIA RADIO STARTS ADDITIONAL TRANSMISSIONS IN PURE DRM MODE (Digital) during pause period by MW transmitters in addition to existing simulcast operation. These transmitters will operate in pure digital mode on their respective frequencies (of Analogue transmission) during 1530-1630 hours IST and will carry two channels as per the details given below: Pure DRM operation in pause period (1530-1630 Hrs IST)* by MW Transmitters: 1. Ahmedabad 846, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: Rainbow India 2. Ajmer 603, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: Rainbow India 3. Bengaluru 612, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: FM Gold 4. Barmer 1458, First: FM Gold, Second: VBS Mumbai 5. Bikaner 1395, First: Rainbow India, Second: VBS Mumbai 6. Chennai-A 720, First: FM Gold Chennai, Second: Ragam Channel 7. Delhi-A 819, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: FM Gold 8. Dharwad 765, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: Rainbow India 9. Guwahati-B 1035, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: Rainbow India 10. Itanagar 675, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: Rainbow India 11. Jabalpur 801, First: FM Gold, Second: Rainbow India 12. Jammu** 990, First: Jammu, Second: Rainbow India 13. Kolkata-A 657, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: FM Gold (Kolkata) 14. Kolkata-B 1008, First: DTH Bangala, Second: FM Rainbow Kolkata 15. Lucknow 747, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: FM Gold 16. Mumbai-A 1044, First: FM Rainbow, Second: Mumbai DTH Hindi 17. Mumbai-B 558, First: FM Gold Mumbai, Second: DTH Marathi 18. Panaji 1287, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: FM Gold 19. Patna 621, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: Rainbow India 20. Pune 792, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: Rainbow India 21. Rajkot 810, First: VBS Mumbai, Second: Rainbow India 22. Siliguri 711, First: FM Gold, Second: Rainbow India 23. Trichirapalli 936, First: Ragam, Second: VBS Chennai 24. Varanasi 1242, First: FM Gold, Second: VBS Mumbai 25. Vijayawada 837, First: Ragam, Second: FM Gold * Transmitters will operate in Pure DRM mode on all days except Sunday ** Jammu will operate in Pure DRM mode during 1030-1130 hrs ---- (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, March 8, dx_india yg via DXLD) No signal on 819 kHz at 1040z via Delhi remote receiver. Regards, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, March 8, ibid.) ** INDIA [non]. 6055, AWR (Talata-Volonondry) 1436-1500* 2, 3 March. Breaking through RN1 with Malagasy chat, uplifting songs/hymns, canned closing ID "Adventist World Radio--the Voice of Hope". Also heard as (Presumed) 1 March 1501-1506* with IS, and opening (?) remarks in Indian sub-continental language, hymn followed by more chat. Possibly a transmitter site mixup, as the next AWR BC via Talata is on 15680 at *1530-1600* in Malayalam (Dan Sheedy, Moonlight Beach, CA, PL380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9524.942, March 3 at 1534, carrier here must be VOI, along with a JBA one closer to 9525.00 (CRI English via Kashgar), but nothing toward 9526. As recently as Feb 21, VOI was on the other(?) transmitter close to 1 kHz higher: ``Good signal of Voice of Indonesia on Feb 21: 1300-1400 on 9525.9 JAK 250 kW / 010 deg to EaAs English (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Atsunori Ishida, http://rri.jpn.org/ shows it went back to ``9525`` on March 1 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9524.941 Voice of Indonesia powerhouse signal S=9+40dB signal strength in eastern Thailand SDR unit, thanks Uwe's installation. 1150 UT March 4. 73 wolfie (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Weak/fair signal of Voice of Indonesia on "new" 9524.9, March 5 1300-1400 9524.9*JAK 250 kW / 010 deg to EaAs English, ex "old" 9525.9 * strong QRM 9530.0 PHT 250 kW / 349 to EaAs Chinese Voice of America http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/weakfair-signal-of-voice-of-indonesia.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM & INTERNET. Welcome page at WRN --- Glen[n] and Gilles: Guess what webpage is back: World Radio Network. It’s almost a miracle! I cannot get the audio to stream from the WRN website even though I have updated Adobe and restarted my computer. A situation worth keeping an eye on. Best. Charlie. http://www.wrn.org/listeners/ (Charles Harlich, NJ, March 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, it`s been back for a while. Even found 2016 program schedules but maybe one hour off and not sure they are up to date (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. 1650, GULF OF MEXICO Presumed "The Beacon Formerly Known as SAC" oil rigger. 0030 March 3, 2017. Short dash and long dash, fair on peaks, LOB is WNW like SAC was. Thanks David Crawford discovery and tip. Also noted by David Potter in north central Florida, same LOB. Not sure if this is a malfunctioning characters send or intentional (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater FL, NRD- 535, IC-R75, longwires, active loop, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. Voice of Peace Memories book now online --- In 2006 Hans Knot published Voice of Peace Memories and Abie Nathan's work. The book has more than 30 chapters which were written by several people involved in the station’s history as well as by Hans. It has been out of print for some time. Hans has now made the book freely available online at http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/VOP/vop_all.shtml (MW Barraclough, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** IRAN. 7420, March 5 at 0144, Southern Cone Spanish accent in discussion of Argentine national sovereignty; why, is there some threat to that? It`s VRII, 500 kW due west from Sirjan achieving S9+15 here. That beam is really centred on Belém, Cobija, Riberalta, Ayacucho, i.e. right across the middle of South America, mostly sparsely populated Amazonian Portuguese-speaking Brasil, missing Argentina almost as much as it is missing us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAMAICA. 21261.33-USB, March 4 at 2107, rapid contest contacts by 6Y1LZ. I was expecting 6Y5, but it seems there are also 6Y1s now. His accent made it hard to tell 5 from 1. QRZ.com shows: ``6Y1LZ Jamaica, KRASSIMIR PETKOV, 4 MARC RD, Medway, MA 02053, USA, QSL: K1LZ``. Where in Jamaica? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See comment under CAYMAN {I wonder if he`s Bulgarian, so fond of -LZ calls} Glenn, I find not posting QTH information on QRZ.com is annoying too; you sometimes question the legitimacy. Today, all 6Y is now recognized as Jamaica. After all the years of ham tourist visits, I think they ran out of 6Y4 calls to pass out. I have heard or worked 6Y1 TO 6Y6, all Jamaica. 73 (Art KA5DWI, Dewey AZ, ABDX via DXLD) ** JAPAN. U.S. REPORT CITES GROWING POLITICAL PRESSURE ON MEDIA IN JAPAN http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2017030400427 Washington, March 3 (Jiji Press) -- The Japanese media are facing growing pressure from the country's government, the U.S. Department of State said in its annual global human rights report on Friday. The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016 also referred to heightened attention in Japan to the issue of "karoshi," a Japanese term for overwork-caused death, in the wake of a high-profile karoshi case involving a young female employee of major advertising agency Dentsu Inc. <4324>. In Japan in 2016, "several incidents gave rise to concerns about increasing government pressure against critical and independent media," the department said. Among the incidents, it cited communications minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks mentioning the government's right to shut down biased broadcasters. The department also noted that a U.N. special rapporteur said press freedom is under "serious threats" in Japan. (2017/03/04-14:58) To read a full story, please click here to find out how to subscribe (via Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) ** JAPAN. Hi Glenn, March 8, indeed found 9760 back on the air with strong signal 0357, with song by Styx, "Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto" and IDing as "RN2, Radio Nikkei"; clearly // 6115, which was very poor. 6115 will be off the air for maintenance April 5 through May 2, except for April 8, 9, 15 and 16 (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non]. 4870.26, CLANDESTINE, R Sedayee Kashmir, via Kingsway, India, *0208-0240, 28.2. Constant tone until sign on at 0230 with ID in Kashmiri: "Radio Sedayee Kashmiri", ann, short female song, talk by man in Kashmiri, 0232 another song. 35233 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, NASWA Flashsheet March 5 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 7615, Voice of Wilderness, Tashkent. S/on at 1330 with two blasts of a trumpet, ID and talk with gentle flute music in the background. Then what sounded like a religious pop song at 1335. Fair signal, no jamming, but the audio was indistinct and rather muffled, 13/2 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), March Australian DX News via DXLD) Not YHWH ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 5935, Thursday March 2 at 1325, Sea Breeze from JAPAN still here, barely audible in English, and with tone pulse jamming. Expect them to QSY soon, maybe escaping jamming for a few days (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 6015, KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1, 0637-0714 March 7. In Korean with no jamming; 0700 time pips and news; several "KBS" IDs. Very nice to catch this without the normal white noise jamming. My audio at http://goo.gl/zrUQFX While Voice of Freedom (clandestine), on 6135, was jammed as usual (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Very much appreciate the following feedback from "Amano," with excellent details of the ID I recorded for KBS Hanminjok Bangsong Ron "Hello! Ron-san . . . Regarding your audio KBS Hanminjok Bangsong, on 6015 kHz from California, that sounds good! and nice catch & timing of not jammed! . . . 0700 UTC time pips is 1600 KST(JST) time pips. (4 pm afternoon). KST is South Korean Standard Time, and it's same as Japanese Standard Time (JST). I was able to confirm that ID in your audio. The ID of Korean language is 'KBS Hanminjok Bangsong e nyuseu ip nida.' by male voice after the time pips. This Korean language mean 'This is KBS Hanminjok Bangsong's news.' " (Ron Howard, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 11810. KBS. Marzo 1. 2240-2300 UT. Servicio en inglés. Programa “Sounds of Korea” dedicado al Arirang. Salida abrupta a las 2247. Vuelta a las 2248. 2259, avisos de la emisora. SINPO: 55444 (Claudio Galaz, RX: TECSUN PL 660; ANT: Hilo de 40 metros de largo, QTH: Ovalle, Chile, condiglista y g via DXLD) [and non]. KBS World Radio English will carry out test transmissions from March 6 to March 9 ahead of the A-17 shortwave frequency adjustment 1400-1600 9525 KIM 250 kW / 264 deg to SoAs English March 6-March 7 1400-1600 9880 KIM 250 kW / 264 deg to SoAs English March 8-March 9 2300-2400 11810 KIM 250 kW / 304 deg to WeEu English March 6-March 7 Very bad frequency selection of 9525 and 9880, before start of A-17 1400-1500 9525vJAK 250 kW / 010 deg to EaAs Indonesian V of Indonesia 1500-1600 9525vJAK 250 kW / 010 deg to EaAs Chinese V of Indonesia 1400-1500 9880 NNN 100 kW / 200 deg to SEAs Khmer China Radio Inter 1500-1600 9880 NNN 100 kW / 200 deg to SEAs English China Radio Int 1500-1600 9880 XIA 500 kW / 292 deg to CeAs Russian China Radio Int http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/kbs-world-radio-english-will-carry-out.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11810. Mar 6 at 2300, KBS World Radio, Kimjae, in English. 2300 ID; Man and woman announcers in conversation; 2303 announcers present a musical program: variety songs and rhythms: pop, rock, rap, etc.; 2315 announcers in nice conversation and next, more songs; 2324 announcers talks; 2326 rap song; 2330 more songs. KBS has a fair signal and modulation, slight noise in this new sked time test at 2300-2400 UT, 35533. Notice: In normal B16 KBS sked, on 11810 kHz, at 2200-2300, in English, it´s better than new sked test 2300-2400, with a SINPO evaluation 45444 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) 11810. Mar 7 at 2259, KBS World Radio, Kimjae-KOR, in English. Woman announcer talks: ID and frquency; 2301 Songs; 2310 Man announcer talks and woman talks; 2315 Very short music spaces between talks. KBS, today, on 11810kHz, english service, it´s a awful transmission and no SINPO evaluation. Mar 8 at 2200, KBS World Radio, Kimjae-KOR, in English. Man and woman announcers talks and talks; 2222 Talks continues. KBS presents, today, a very poor signal and barely audible audio, with a SINPO evaluation 25331 (sometimes, 35332). 11810. Mar 8 at 2305, KBS World Radio, Kimjae-KOR, in English. Test transmission to next A17 Period. Sign-off and/or unlistenable, till 2330. Listening a slight spur interference by Radio Brasil Central on 11815 kHz, only. (IR) UK, 11810. Mar 8 at 2103, BBC, Ascension Island-UK, in English. Men announcers talks BBC News; 2105 ID: BBCWS; External reporter participation; Broadcasting with very good signal and modulation, 45544 (DXer: Jose Ronaldo Xavier (JRX).Location: Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, RX (s): Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 11600, March 2 circa 1300, no signal from Denge Kurdistane; but recheck at 1409, now S9+10 during big audio buzz, soon fixed with Kurdish talk mentioning Istanbul. Aoki shows site as Moldova (Pridnestrovye) at 0600-1500, but a beam switch at 1300 from 130 to 116, why? Then to Bulgaria at 1500, but Ivo has been saying it`s then France instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ??? why ??? 130 degrees is the great beast 4horizontal x 8vertical dipoles curtain, maybe freed for further usage on other customer, IBB? TWR / AWR request? 116 is the 2horizontal x 4vertical dipoles curtain. 73 wolfie (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 5004.16v, R. Madagasikara, Ambohidrano. Some seriously bad stuff going on this day (24/2)! Well down from its usual 5007-5013 frequency range, and I haven't heard them down this far before. First noted at 1755 with horrible audio. Malagasy talks and boppy music. Suddenly switched to a tuning tone at 1758 for around 30 seconds (there's nothing like a good tune-up in the middle of programming!!). Frequent short breaks in transmission, between 1759 and 1804. The usual and characteristic wobbly carrier heard when listening in SSB mode, but even more so on this day. Some hum on the audio (probably transmitter fault rather than a studio audio issue). More short breaks (5-10 seconds) in audio at 1820. Looks like the technicians had their hands full for this broadcast! Don't mistake this as the highly irregular and only occasionally heard R. Bata! (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), March Australian DX News via DXLD) Which at least stays close to 5005.0 (gh) 5005.08, R. Madagasikara (tentative), 1422-1446, March 6. Hovering around threshold level audio; seemed to be French, but not positive; via long path; my sunrise at 1430 UT; Antanarivo sunset at 1511 UT. No drifting noted today, consistent with Dave Valko's observations of March 2, of an UNID on "5009.95 from about 0245-0315+," as he also found a steady signal. Possibly was also Madagascar? (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yep! That's an interesting point. I also observed a weak signal on approx 5009.9 on several days till just after 1900. This one not drifting in a typical Madagascar manner, but not exactly on same frequency every day. So times would be fitting perfectly to Madagascar. Couldn't match it to any of the Europirates on 1670 which do of course often put out a 3rd harmonic and may cause confusion. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, March 8, ibid.) ** MADAGASCAR. 11868.5 & 11351.5, March 3 at 2106, spurblobs from 11610 MWV in Chinese are still audible; trying FM mode on them is no help. 17640, March 4 at 1854, MWV with African music is the OSOB! Also a JBA carrier on 9570, which could be their other transmitter in Russian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BURUNDI [non] 11530.6, March 6 at 2232, once I find MWV Arabic, Radio Feda quite strong on 11790, I go looking again for a spurblob like accompanies 11610 in Chinese during previous hour, plus and minus 258.5 kHz from that frequency --- and here it is, but 259.4 kHz below 11790. Eventually manage to match enough // modulation to the fundamental. Opposite should be on 12049.4, probably there but can`t detect it, far too close to the bigsig from 12050.0 WEWN (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11790, World Christian Broadcasting (KNLS) at 2159 in Mandarin with OC to 2200 and IS then opening music and into a man with talk with website and into Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty” at 2202 then a man with talk from 2206 – Very Good Mar 7 – Someone was asleep at the switch as this was supposed to be in Egyptian Arabic not a repeat of their 2100 program (Mark Coady, Selwyn, Ontario, Kenwood TS440S 40 and 80 meter off centre-fed dipoles, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) 11868.4 & 11351.6, March 8 at 2130, spurblobs from MWV 11610 Chinese at plus/minus 258.4 kHz approx., still here (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAWI. 50 NEW MALAWI RADIO STATIONS GET MACRA LICENCES Director of Information Gideon Munthali has commended the Malawi Regulatory Authority (MACRA) for reviewing its broadcasting licensing framework, a development that has seen 50 radio stations getting licenses in the country. Munthali: Commends Macra Speaking Monday in Mzuzu during commemoration of this year’s World Radio Day, Munthali said the review has eased the way people that want to establish radio stations get licenses. In the past people would wait for MACRA to put adverts in the media calling upon them to apply for the licences. “This time MACRA is going to allow people to walk into [their offices] and express interest that they would want to participate in the development of setting up a radio. . . http://www.nyasatimes.com/50-new-malawi-radio-stations-get-macra-licences/#sthash.RIf5qXyC.dpuf (Info via Steve Whitt, (March MW News via DXLD) WTFK? I bet they are on FM only. What`s the C in MACRA? (gh) ** MALI. 5995.000, March 3 at 0615, carrier from R. Mali is spot-on, not 9 Hz high like the unID I had almost 4 hours earlier; and only one carrier now, so that remains a mystery (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) just now: 0015z, 6040 kHz KBC // 6145 kHz KBC, SINPO 35333, SINPO 32332 (co-channel QRM) Skipzone Nauen, ~ 90 miles (roger, UT March 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) HFCC shows the CCI on 6145 would be: ``6145 0000 0430 41N ALG 250 282 0 146 1234567 301016 260317 D 6075 Urd IND AIR AIR 2900`` [Aligarh] But not audible over here in the target zone of Mighty (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 660, XEEY, La Kaliente, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes. 1158 March 5, 2017. Male mention of "Grupo Radiofónico" into truncated anthem, lots of "La Kaliente 102 punto 9" mentions from 1200, into Mexi-tunes (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater FL, NRD-535, IC-R75, longwires, active loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 830, XEITE, Radio Capital, México, DF. 1140 March 4, 2017. Pink Floyd "Comfortably Numb" then promo mentioning radiocapital.mx and Radio Capital 830 AM. Parallel delayed audio on player.listenlive.co stream (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater FL, NRD-535, IC-R75, longwires, active loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6185even! frequency - spot on, XEPPM Radio Educación Mexico City, strong S=9 carrier visible on SDR screen, but very low only 5 percent modulation at 0550 UT March 4. Mariachi music on tiny level heard underneath deep background. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, sent 0725 UT March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. RADIO WIXÁRIKA SE PREPARA PARA SALIR AL AIRE EN MÉXICO 03/03/2017 Jalisco será el primer estado del país en tener una estación de radio con contenido en Radio Wixárika, esto, a través del Sistema Universitario de Radio, Televisión y Cinematografía (SURT) de la Universidad de Guadalajara (UdeG). Resultado de imagen para Radio Wixárika [capción] Lo anterior se concretó luego de que el comisionado presidente del Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (Ifetel), Gabriel Contreras Saldívar, hiciera entrega de una concesión más a la UdeG para echar andar Radio Wixárika, que transmitirá en la zona de Mezquetic a través de la frecuencia 89.7 de FM. También se hizo entrega de otras dos concesiones para ampliar la señal de televisión de Canal 44 para llegar a Zapotlán el Grande y Lagos de Moreno. “Con la transición de permisos a concesiones, esta universidad, al igual que otras instituciones públicas, será beneficiada por tener mayor certidumbre jurídica para su operación, condiciones regulatorias uniformes en los títulos de concesión y mejores condiciones para acceder a recursos”. El encargado del Ifetel resaltó la labor que ha hecho la Máxima Casa de estudios para a través de su canal público para cumplir con los requisitos en beneficio de las audiencias como “que tengan condiciones de independencia editorial, la autonomía de gestión financiera, garantías de participación ciudadana, defensa de sus contenidos”, entre otros. En tanto, el Rector General de la UdeG, Tonatiuh Bravo Padilla, agradeció al Ifetel por el otrogamiento de las concesiones que le permitirán el fortalecimiento del sistema universitario. “En función de que ampliará su conertura y alcance. Se diversificará sus contenidos con la participación de nuevos actores y entidades de la red universitaria (…) hasta el día de hoy contamos con estaciones en Puerto Vallarta, Autlán de Navarro, Colotlán, Ocotlán, Ciudad Guzmán, Lagos de Moreno, Ameca y Guadalajara”. En la ceremonia de entrega, que se realizó en el Museo de las Artes (MUSA), las autoridades universitarias tomaron protesta a Gabriel Sosa Plata como el nuevo defensor de las audiencias del Sistema Universitario de Radio, Televisión y Cinematografía (El Occidental via GRA blog via DXLD) I thought maybe that odd name signified broadcasts in a native language, but nothing about that in this story. So where does it come from? (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. RAYMIE`S MEXICO BEAT this week [including DTV = TDT] I made two tweets about the award of Radio Siltepec last night --- and I must have given the Sistema Chiapaneco a scare, because they deleted tweets referring to Radio Siltepec from 2014. No matter. Their old FB page is still up, and with it, a reminder of this, which I'm also preserving. Radio Siltepec launched on August 2, 2012. It took 1,665 days for the IFT to approve giving it a concession. Sure, 4.5 years is nothing compared to the nearly 18 of Ké Huelga Radio, which began with the 1999 UNAM strike, or the nearly 12 of Radio Plantón which came to life May 23, 2005 (and may have moved to 92.3 from 92.1 recently). But Radio Siltepec is exceptional. It is in a state network and will hold a public concession. It's not the only pirate in the SCHRTyC fleet; there's 101.5 San Cristóbal de las Casas, a combo with XERA 760 AM, which launched in 2013 or so. Besides the exceptional Radio Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, the only other public pirates all stem in some way from expired permits. Gargadon did remind me that XHCUA-FM came to air in 2007 http://nuestragentecampeche.com/universidades/radio-uac-celebra-sus-22-anos-de-fundacion/ but was not permitted until 2013. http://rpc.ift.org.mx/rpc/pdfs/0902526480037a27.pdf Last edited by Raymie; 03-03-2017 at 12:07 AM. (Raymie Humbert, Phœnix AZ, originally March 2, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) It's time to dig into the modified 2017 PABF! http://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5474185&fecha=03/03/2017 TDT Public: Some very curious new stations whose coverage area is an entire state are up for grabs! These are: Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Cintalapa de Figueroa, Pichucalco, Palenque, Benemérito de las Américas, Pijijiapan and Marqués de Comilla (Chis.); Tepic, San Juan de Abajo (Nay.); Tlaxcala and Atlangatepec; Xalapa-Enríquez, Huayacocotla, San Andrés Tuxtla, Ixhuatlán de Madero and Orizaba (Ver.) These seem tailor made for a few state networks... There are also allotments for Culiacán (i.e. the U de O's second chance) and a few other areas. There are only two that look like SPR bait. Social: Durango is the largest city added (alongside allotments for Puebla, Oaxaca and Villahermosa that existed). FM Commercial: The big prize might be a Class A at Gómez Palacio, though some other major markets sneak in. Santiago Papasquiaro appears too, and it currently has just one radio station. Only two B1s, Papasquiaro and Guadalupe y Calvo, Chih. Public: All new allotments, including potential migration-combo targets for the CDI system at San Quintín, Xpujil, Guachochi, Santa María de Ocotán and Jesús María. Atlamajac (Gro.) is next to Tlapa and appears to also be very close to what seems to be the XEZV transmitter site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQyX30HdGGs There are some stations conditioned on pending renewals, which should raise some eyebrows. I've added calls. "17 Disponibilidad sujeta a la resolución de la prórroga de la estación 105.3 MHz de la Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. (XHRU-FM) 18 Disponibilidad sujeta a la resolución de la prórroga de la estación 105.5 MHz del Gobierno del Estado de México. (XHATL-FM) 19 Disponibilidad sujeta a la resolución de la prórroga de la estación 99.7 de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México. (XHUAX- FM) 20 Disponibilidad sujeta a la resolución de la prórroga de la estación 91.7 MHz del Gobierno del Estado de México. (XHGEM-FM) 21 Disponibilidad sujeta a la resolución de la prórroga de la estación 96.5 MHz del Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León. (XHARR-FM) 22 Disponibilidad sujeta a la resolución de la prórroga de la estación 102.1 MHz del Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León. (XHQI-FM) 23 Disponibilidad sujeta a la resolución de la prórroga de la estación 95.1 MHz del Gobierno del Estado de Querétaro. (XHQJAL-FM. Has this operated on FM?) 24 Disponibilidad sujeta a la resolución de la prórroga de la estación 97.3 MHz de Desarrollo Comunitario y Cultural MA NGHUE, A.C (XHDCC-FM) Social: A lot of new stations, including notable B1s at Mazatlán, Acapulco, and Valladolid. AM Public: I smell permit discontinuities! New stations at Escobedo, Nuevo León; Tultitlán, Edomex; and Jalpan de Serra, Qro. match some of the curious discontinuities. There are also social AMs and commercial AMs. You can also see all the applicants here. http://www.ift.org.mx/sites/default/files/anexo_ii._valoracion_de_solicitudes_presentadas_por_los_interesados_para_el_programa_2017_y_sus_modificaciones.pdf They turned away a bunch that would have required FCC coordination. Last edited by Raymie; 03-03-2017 at 03:44 PM (Raymie, March 3, ibid.) So Radio Siltepec will get a concession, but last year, a new 6 kW transmitter joined the Chiapas state network at 98.3 FM in Villaflores. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQyX30HdGGs It is known as Radio Frailescana. Yarrrrr! Meanwhile, speaking of Chiapas, XHCTTH now appears in the RPC (Tapachula-Huehuetán). No new information on it, though. Last edited by Raymie; 03-03-2017 at 05:11 PM (Raymie, March 3, ibid.) C'mon, Ver! The newest social wolf (Radio Cultural Monver, A.C.) will be howling from Boca del Río, Veracruz, on a potential new DX target: XHMBR-FM 100.1 (coords 19 06'20", -96 06'28"). ——— Finding XHOMA-FM XHOMA-FM (Comala-Colima) has been on the air for a little over three years now. Yet it already has a complicated station history that makes it hard to find where its transmitter might be. So let's start. Four Wolves On January 11, 2012, Gaia FM, A.C. received four permits for radio stations on both coasts, at Puerto Vallarta, Colima (by way of Comala, though the station has basically no connection to the Pueblo Mágico), Cancún and Playa del Carmen. Gaia FM was headed by Roberto Márquez Pizano, who had a history of directing various radio stations, working with some of the programmers and airstaff of the former Radio Pirata in Cancún. (Pirata, at one point the ratings leader in Cancún had been made to walk the plank when the owner of XEQOO-XHQOO, Comunicación Popular del Caribe, sold to Grupo Imagen in 2004.) The first of the stations to sail the airwaves was XHCQR-FM 99.3 Cancún, which signed on October 1, 2012; it was soon followed by its sister down the Riviera Maya, XHLAYA-FM 106.3. In 2013, Gaia turned its attention to the west coast. Its launch of XHGAI-FM 105.9 in Vallarta was quickly followed by XHOMA-FM 102.1, coming to air November 1, 2013. Four pirate ships now roamed the radio airwaves. Down a New Path In October 2014, Pirata FM Colima announced it was coming into shore and taking what was described as a "pause". What happened next, however, suggested not a pause but essentially a station sale. 102.1 FM was off air for potentially as long as 10 months. In August 2015, however, XHOMA-FM appeared on the dial of Colima radio once more. Everything except the callsign, permitholder, frequency and transmission facilities had changed. -The station had taken on the name Recuerdo 102.1 and a romantic/oldies format. -It had moved its offices from the Plaza Zentralia enclosed mall to Plaza Chelsea, a small office building just 700 meters away. -The station's operations had become part of Grupo Radiofónico ZER, the second station of theirs in Colima (behind XHMZA-FM Manzanillo/Cihuatlán Jal., and ahead of the IFT-4 station they won at Armería). Its new newscast was the...ZER Informativo Colima. The Twitter account for the new newscast, @Zer_Colima, joined the service in September 2015. We all know that Grupo Radiofónico ZER is the operator par excellence in the world of social wolves — it has nine of them in operation, plus a TV social wolf still unbuilt in Zacatecas, and it almost got a 10th in Culiacán, Sinaloa. Arnoldo Rodríguez Zermeño, his wife and his son (Rodrigo Rodríguez Reyes) have used wolves to establish and expand their radio presences, especially in Zacatecas, Jalisco and even in Mexico City. The operations of XHOMA-FM have remained the same since ZER took them over. The question of why the pirates opted to come ashore in Colima, in my opinion, has two answers. -XHOMA was a black sheep in Gaia FM's portfolio from the get-go. Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Puerto Vallarta are tourist destinations with more people that speak English, higher disposable incomes and valuable knock-on opportunities, even for a social station. Perhaps Gaia might have been better served entering in Manzanillo or Acapulco. -Capital Media bought Pirata FM, essentially, sometime in 2015. The stations are now Capital Pirata FM. Of the four Gaia FM cities, Capital already owned in Colima — XHTTT 104.5. Capital does not operate duopolies anywhere, and perhaps they figured shedding XHOMA was for the best. Where's the Stick? All of this activity in just three years of broadcasting makes it hard to discern a location for the transmitter. It's very hard to get good Street View or other imagery of the Plaza Zentralia, which is where I sort of suspect it is. It's not at Plaza Chelsea, and it's not in Comala. In Puerto Vallarta, Pirata FM set up shop in the Plaza Caracol — another mall. Their stick is most definitely at the mall. But that's a beefy, unmistakable stick. https://www.google.com/maps/@20.6406766,-105.232092,3a,29.5y,274.63h,108.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2P6WcpsXE3HPdZ9LEOfvgQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1 The result is that I cannot locate, of all the radio stations in Colima, this one. Where could its transmitter possibly be? Postscript I learned in preparing this piece that there's another son of Arnoldo Rodríguez Zermeño and Josefina Reyes Sahagún: Arnoldo Rodríguez Reyes. Now, I hadn't heard of him because he doesn't hold any concessions, but he actually might be more important: he was elected Municipal President of Zacatecas in 2010 as the PRI candidate, had previously been a local deputy for the PAN http://zacatecasonline.com.mx/noticias/local/51192-embargo-arnoldo-rodriguez (2007-10) and currently serves as the delegate of PROFECO to Zacatecas. His current Twitter account? @arlupe933. Hmm... It's also worth mentioning that Rodrigo heads the Patronato of the Zacatecas National Fair (FENAZA). One local deputy from Morena slammed his management of the fair as opaque in 2015. http://pagina24zacatecas.com.mx/local/2015/09/24/con-impunidad-y-opacidad-se-han-manejado-rodrigo-y-arnoldo-rodriguez-reyes-luevano/ Last edited by Raymie; 03-05-2017 at 12:28 AM (Raymie, March 4, ibid.) When you're so eager to move to FM you have the antenna set up even before you have an FM station... https://www.google.com/maps/@25.347447,-101.024954,3a,22.9y,314.37h,103.56t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2d-jpg7J0He19oCAhKlEMg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1 (Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Saltillo, Coahuila) (Raymie, March 5, ibid.) New. IFT. Tables. For the first time since March 31, 2016! http://ucsweb.ift.org.mx/vrpc/visor/downloads They are now available only in .xlsx format, and unfortunately, there have been several downgrades... -ERPs are no longer listed, and neither are coordinates for TV. -FM combos no longer appear in the FM page. Neither do stations whose AM is still listed as primary in the RPC. One tip is that the "Folio Electrónico" string is useful if you want to go to the RPC and find those things. You'll want to just to get ERPs and stuff. It's also missing anything not in the RPC (XHCTAG et al, looking at you). The fact that my research is RPC-based makes these files far less useful than they used to be. It's basically a printable report of the RPC, which explains all of its shortcomings. This is a real step back. But hey, we now know XEFCSM-AM was authed to stay on 680 in 2014...no 1700 for you! http://rpc.ift.org.mx/rpc/pdfs/81476_170131210742_1256.pdf (Raymie, March 6, ibid.) Seems like the Michoacán state network finally began promoting its digital broadcasts --- and by finally, I mean February 25 (Raymie, March 8, ibid.) There was some bad news on the road to IFT-6: 72% of the entrants did not continue. Just 24 parties remain in the running for the 148 stations of IFT-6. http://eleconomista.com.mx/industrias/2017/03/05/se-reduce-72-cifra-interesados-licitacion-tv The other parties didn't bother to provide the IFT with information. ——— Meanwhile, RadioNotas put out another doozy of an article http://radionotas.com/2017/03/06/862802/ about what should be a snoozeworthy news story: the fact that the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana got its permits transferred. But this one butchers the facts... "Debido a la pasada reforma a la Ley de Telecomunicaciones, los permisos que se otorgaban a las radios universitarias perdieron su validez, puesto que la figura legal que los ampara desapareció." Permits did disappear, but all permitholders had to do was ask for a transition — and the new concessions they got, in most cases (unless tied up with a renewal or an older indefinite permit) run for the same term as the lost permit. Then there's this: "Después de la adquisición de 5 frecuencias en la reciente licitación, la universidad se prepara para una nueva etapa de su proyecto radiofónico." ...Did I just see licitación? Oh dear. The original permits were picked up more than 7 years ago. That is not an auction (Raymie, March 8, ibid.) The head of the Universidad de Guadalajara radio and TV system made some unexpected news today https://twitter.com/RadioUdeG/status/839663342746800133 while speaking at a journalism conference at the Centro Universitario de los Lagos, in San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco. Aside from announcing the 44 Noticias subchannel to start on Monday and that engineering work was already beginning for XHPBZG, he mentioned two things we haven't heard yet: -The university wants to put a TV transmitter in at Puerto Vallarta. While Vallarta was in the 2016 PABF, that allotment went to the SPR — and none was placed for 2017. Not sure how this will go down. -Additionally, the university is on board with the idea from the CULagos people to bring the Radio U de G network there in 2019. No proposal made the 2017 PABF for a station here. The transmitter would be built on top of a new library being built there. Lagos currently has just one FM station of its own along with two ghost stations (one of which is in the Article 90 reserved band; the other is 91.9 MHz). Este programa es público, ajeno a cualquier partido político. Queda prohibido el uso para fines distintos a los establecidos en el programa [tagline] (Raymie, March 8, ibid.) ** MOROCCO. 9575. Mar 2 at 0244, Radio Medi 1, Nador, in Arabic. A musical program with variety songs: Traditional Arabic and modern English songs. Medi 1 is on-air, with very good signal and poor modulation, 45532 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) 9575. Mar 7 at 2015, Radio Medi 1, Nador, in Arabic. Man announcer talks. The transmitter problem continues: good signal and poor modulation, 45442. At 2057, man talks in French, 45442 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5985, Myanmar Radio, 1530, March 6. Start of English; ID and news/weather (start of this weeks Women’s Empowerment Forum at the Kempinski Hotel in Nay Pyi Taw, marking International Women’s Day, etc.) (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5985.00, *2300-2305 5.3, MMR, Myanma R, Yegu. Opening with string music, female ann in Bamar, indigenous choir singing, ID, frequency ann, 2303 religious talk by man, who was partly singing! 35343 AP-DNK (Anker Petersen, Denmark, heard in Skovlunde on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, wbradio yg via DXLD) at 0015 UT: 5914.989 MR Nay Pyi Taw 5984.999 MR Yegu Yangoon 6029.997 Thazin Radio 6129.974 Laotian Radio [non Myanmar] 6164.993 Thazin Radio Checked in eastern Thailand remote SDR post at 2335 UT March 8, but March 9 locally in East Asia target, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. 6040, UT Sunday March 5 at 0026, The Mighty KBC via GERMANY, new experimental frequency in addition to // 6145. 6040 is a few dB stronger on the PL-880 meter, but has the lite Brazilian het I expected, yet 6145 sounds a bit louder: both with considerable fading and storm noise. The QSY is unnecessary as long as the continuously-farting Brazilian blob circa 6145 and its source, the 6180 transmitter, remain off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) People further south are having great reception. No so for the NOVA area. Good news: No QRM on 6040 or 6145 kHz. Bad news: Weak signal and poor propagation on both 6040 and 6145. Did hear a peak of S9 +20 dB on 6040 from approx 0030 to 0043 UT. No such peak heard on 6145 kHz. Difficult understanding with deep fades at times. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Manassas, `Lost Song`, Krist, VA, 0105 UT March 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This week the conditions were worse also here in the F2 skipzone. The audio signals sounded smeared, and slightly lengthened by an echo. KBC sent the same image in the radiogram, which means identical data were transmitted like last week. This was a good way to compare the impulse length of the data tones, especially the RSID. In fact, these were somewhat "smeared", also optically, this weekend: http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2017-03-04.htm#KBC In the VOA radiogram yesterday there was again a transmitter failure, this time of 38 seconds. (17580 kHz at 1606z) However, it was back in time to send the image for the first article - but it was the wrong picture - part of the second article: http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2017-03-04.htm#VOA (roger thayer, germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. CANADA, 6159.975, CKZN St. John's from far eastern Canada, noted at 0552 UT, S=8-9 fluttery signal into eastern coast remote installation in Florida-US. Talk by two presenters on Syria and Barcelona matter. Final program announcement at 0559 UT of CBC Radio One program. Start of adjacent ORS Moosbrunn transmission splatter on 6155 kHz [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, sent 0725 UT March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 9700, March 2 at 0714, VG S9+20 signal with news of Solomon Islands, typical RNZI sounders. Yes, surprised to find them back on this frequency. Online schedule still shows 11725 until 0758, then 9765, with 9700 supposedly only at 1059-1258 on the NNW antenna, a recent change from 11610. Maybe this explain the anomaly which may not recur: ``NB: Every month on the first Wednesday is Maintenance day at our transmitter site from 2230 to 0600 UT (Thursdays 1030-1800 NZST) During this period there may be interruptions to our programmes``. That period should have just finished (altho NZST is not in effect now, rather NZDST of UT +13 until April 2). (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, this does seem to be the current situation. Frequency 9765 does follow on from 11725 at 0800, and I have just heard 9765 closing at 1057 with announcer advising listeners to re-tune to 9700. This duly came up with the bird call at 1058+ and the service started promptly at 1100 UTC after time pips. Both 9765 and 9700 were peaking to about S-7 but with the usual fast fading...really fast today, and unusable in AM mode. A few words can be understood using either USB or LSB (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) 11725, March 4 at 0718, RNZI back here, VG S9+10 with music, despite having been caught on 9700 two nights before. Noel Green in England says it was also back on 11725 March 3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Will be 7245 kHz probably in 3 weeks time in A-17 season then. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, March 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 7254.939, Voice of Nigeria in Hausa language program, S=9+15dB fluttery, talk by two men about Nigeria, Abuja, Africa at 0624 UT on March 6, drums music played at 0626 UT [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Monday March 6, 0540 UT til 0659 UT, logged in remote SDR unit in Florida-US east coast North America, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [non]. 7415. Mar 2 at 0500, Dandal Kura Radio, Ascension, in Kanuri. IS, ID. Woman talks and talks; Man talks. Station with fair signal and modulation, 35433. 12050. Mar 2 at 1836, Dandal Kura Radio International, Ascension, in Kanuri. Man talks, conversation with a man; 1841 Woman talks; ID: Dandal Kura Radio, only. Comments about the Boko Haram, a radical islamic group in Nigeria; 1859 ID and frequency by female. Dandal Kura has a very good signal and modulation, 45544 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S-2000, Hard- Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) 7415 kHz Program Babcock FMO, "Dandal Kura Radio" via Ascension Island relay site, Kura mentioned over and over again, S=9+5dB at 0640 UT on March 6, fast like machine gun spoken speed presenter voice [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Monday March 6, 0540 UT til 0659 UT, logged in remote SDR unit in Florida-US east coast North America, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. YHWH gone? I haven`t run across Station YHWH lately, nor seen any other reports of it. My last log was Feb 20 at 21+ on 15530-. Last log on 7 MHz band was Feb 17 at 0243 on 7615. I did several scans of the 7 MHz band and also 5790-5792 tonight March 3 until 0230 and didn`t find him. Most usual timespan was roughly 02- 04++ UT. Is anyone hearing him now, or has heard him anywhere since the above catches? Searched HF Underground and found no logs there since Dec 31, 2016 (Glenn Hauser, OK, 0311 UT Mar 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 22-9 MHz bandscan with special attention to 19m on 15530 and 15300 where I (alone) previously captured him, 2100-2109 UT March 3, still no trace of Station YHWH. 5790 & 5792, March 5 between 0240 and 0244 I search for Station YHWH on two favorite frequencies, as well as the entire 7300-7700 range, with no signs of Martin K Elliott. Busted again? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) My records show YHWH last heard Feb 20, at 0233 + 0306, on 7615-AM. Will check again tonight, if I have a chance (Ron Howard, Monterey CA, March 5, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Received the YHWH pirate last night on a Sony portable while in the Phoenix area on my spring break. 7620 kHz at 0315 UT. Religious rant. Regards, (Mark Carlsen, Massachusetts, Sent from my iPhone, March 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And later on 7615 again (gh & Ron) I forgot to mention that I might have been 5 kHz off with the Sony ICF-7600, so YHWH could have been on 7615 kHz out there the other night. This portable only tunes in 5 kHz increments (Mark Carlsen) ** NORTH AMERICA. U.S.A,: 5129.9, WBCQ Monticello ME; 0310-0325+, 26- Feb; Radio Free Euphoria with Beatles’ tunes; “yeah man”. SIO=4+54- Also being relayed on 6935! (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 92.1-FM, March 7 at 2050 UT check, KAMG-LP Enid is off, and may have been for a few days, after having provided carrier but dead air for several days before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. RF 48 NTSC, March 2 at 1455 UT, KOCY-LP OKC is weakly visible in analog, with a little morning tropo enhancement; remains without cutting off the air for a few minutes before fading (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 15140 - Radio Sultanate of Oman - Extended English broadcast at 1518. YL interviewing another YL author of work “Book of Memory” regarding history of Oman & author’s observations on life in Oman over her lifetime. Brief announcement of call to prayer at 1527, listeners outside of Muscat will need to observe local time adjustment. But then went into ad for Oman Tel. cell company. ID for 94.8 FM then back to interview (Stephen Wood, Harwich, Mass., Drake R8B, 25 x 50 terminated superloop antenna, March 6, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5024.9, Radio Quillabamba (presumed), 0118-0125, 05-03, comments, songs, extremely weak, barely audible and understandable, best on LSB. Radio Rebelde out at that time. 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol and Lugo, Tecsun PL-880, Sangean ATS-909X, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5025.02, March 5 at 0155, JBA carrier, from presumed Radio Quillabamba, as R. Rebelde is still/again AWOL. 0240 recheck, even this is gone. I re-ask, can anyone confirm this off-frequency for Quillabamba, which used to be as far to the other side of 5025.00? Only other possibility I can think of is R. Rebelde on exciter only, but I had not noticed whether it was exactly on frequency before. Most Cubans are good about that if little else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA, UNIDENTIFIED ** PERU. 5980. R. CHASKI. Marzo 5. 0005-0016 UT. Música instrumental. A las 0013 identificación de Red Radio Integridad, avisos de la emisora y de reuniones en iglesias bautistas de Lima, Perú. A las 0015 himnos protestantes en español. SINPO: 43343 con heterodino de una emisora tibetana en 5979 (Claudio Galaz, RX: TECSUN PL 660; ANT: Hilo de 40 metros de largo, QTH: Ovalle, Chile, condiglista yg via DXLD) 5980, March 5 at 0101, JBA carrier from R. Chaski until autocutoff at 0103:27.5*, which is 46 seconds later than last check a week ago, Feb 26 at 0102:41.5*, or averaging 6.57 seconds later per 24 hours, slippage right on the mark. 5980, March 7 at 0101, JBA carrier from R. Chaski until cutoff at 0103:42* approx., which would be 14.5 seconds later than two nights ago, March 5 until 0103:27.5*, or averaging 7.25 each. Tonight`s reading is not as accurate, fighting huge S9+20 storm noise level, from a lightning band from OKC to Tulsa and beyond, tho nothing around here. It could have been more like 0103:41, exact cutoff obscured by staticrash, which would fit with the usual slippage rate circa 6.75 seconds/24 hours (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. RADIO NACIONAL LANZA “NACIONAL MEMORIA” Viernes, 3 Marzo, 2017 http://www.irtp.com.pe/institucion/novedades/radio-nacional-lanza-nacional-memoria Radio Nacional del Perú es la estación más antigua del país y hace poco cumplió 80 años de vida institucional, un tiempo que le ha permitido conservar miles de horas de grabación que contienen una buena parte de la historia del Perú. Y como la historia se comparte, este miércoles 8 de marzo a las 11 a.m. los invitamos al lanzamiento de http://www.radionacional.com.pe/memoria la primera web dedicada exclusivamente a mostrar los archivos de sonido que marcaron un hito en la historia. Esta valiosa recuperación ha sido posible gracias al esfuerzo de restauradores, digitalizadores y programadores, que mostrarán un logro impecable en materia de sonido, fotografía y videos, pero también en información periodística y clasificación catalográfica, esto como un avance de lo que será la puesta en valor del total de los archivos de Radio Nacional y de TV Perú. Con esta propuesta buscamos estar a un click de distancia, con voces emblemáticas como Chabuca Granda, Jesús Vásquez, Luis Abanto Morales, Los Romanceros Criollos, Alicia Maguiña, Carlos Gassols o Humberto Martínez Morosini; así como también conciertos de colección, publicidad de época, entrevistas y discursos de expresidentes como Manuel A. Odría, Juan Velasco Alvarado, Fernando Belaunde y muchos otros personajes que marcaron la historia del país. Radio Nacional Memoria es un regalo de los 80 años de Radio Nacional, porque ninguna otra estación podría mostrar con orgullo su acervo documental y compartirlo de manera libre y gratuita (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener 5 March 2017, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. 15640. Mar 2 at 0316, Radyo Pilipinas, Tinang, in English. Man talks; ID; A song. Very poor transmission, 35332. Parallel logs on 17700, 35332 and 17820 kHz, barely audible. These 3 frequencies arrive very bad, here, in my location. When [they do] arrive! (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) 15640 // 17700 // 17820, R. Pilipinas, 0220-0240, March 6. In English with PBS news (Sunday morning a 5.9 quake hit Surigao City, etc.); 0240 start of program "DFA On-line, news and events from different Philippine embassies and consulates around the world"; fairly readable on all frequencies. 15640 // 17700 // 17820, R. Pilipinas, 0229-0234, March 8. Very readable English on all frequencies; PBS regional/provincial news; "From the news center of Radio Pilipinas. This is the PBS news"; spot about ASEAN; promo for PBS ("70 years of broadcasting"); 0234 start of "DFA Online" 9925 // 12120 // 15190, R. Pilipinas, 1735-1758, March 8. News in Filipino (good number of English words); 1757 business news; all signals started out fair, but went downhill (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PITCAIRN. Glenn, I hope you heard Pitcairn Island during the DX Contest ( VP6EU ) or the last couple of weeks. It was the first DXPedition there in a quite a few years. The resident Ham on the island became a Silent Key a few years ago. I did work them this weekend, my first QSO with Pitcairn Island in 17 years. I worked Ducie Island 9 years ago. The DXPedition ended today. 73 (Art KA5DWI Dewey, AZ, March 6, ABDX via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. 7325 // 5960, UT Sunday March 5 at 0140, RRI with `DX Mailbag` right on time per our DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS schedule starting with a response from India (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7345even frequency, RRI Bucharest English service, feature on "Romanian Naval Marine in Constantsa habour report", S=9+10dB at 0637 UT on March 6, "This week in our shows..." [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Monday March 6, 0540 UT til 0659 UT, logged in remote SDR unit in Florida-US east coast North America, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Subject: [vhfskip] RRI spur --- I'm currently receiving four spurs from Radio Romania, 30620 (second harmonic of 15310 kHz) and also weaker spurs on 30.50, 30.45, 30.745 and another weak AM signal on 30.38 MHz which is likely to be same RRI source. These are peaking on a direct heading to Romania so not backscatter. [other fundamentals would be 15250, 15225, 15190, but 30745 doesn`t work out to be a likely harmonic --- gh] What makes this unusual is the complete absence of any other prop above 25 MHz; I even checked these on the Icom just in case airspy is producing images from the HF signal. (Paul, Sussex Coast. JO00, Blaggard, 1530 UT March 5, Icom IC-R8500, Airspy & RTL 820 SDR. HS Publications D100 TV-DX receiver. Sony XDR F1HD and XDR-GTK interface. Sony 920, RDS Spy, CCW Multicoupler. W4KMA 24-100MHz custom Log Periodic. Wellbrook ALA1530AL1 active HF loop. Triax MTH-13 BIII, Korner 15ele BII. 1.8M Precision dish, C-Band 66E-58W. 1.2M Gibertini dish, KuBand 70E-63W. 2.4M FortecStar dish C-Band 49E-58W. http://www.ukdx.org.uk http://www.youtube.com/Aceblaggard vhf-skip yg via Tim Bucknall, Congleton, UK, UK Director @KresySiberia, harmonix yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Moscow ------ AMERICAN SHAREHOLDERS OF ECHA MOSCOW WILL REDUCE THE OWNERSHIP IN THE CAPITAL OF RADIO STATION http://www.radioportal.ru/news/radio/amerikanskie-akcionery-eha-moskvy-vtroe-sokratyat-vladenie-v-kapitale-radiostancii US co-owners of Echo of Moscow, EM Holdings, will triple the ownership of the station's share capital in order to meet the requirements of legislation on foreign media ownership. This was reported to RNS by the editor-in-chief and shareholder of Ekho Moskvy, Alexei Venediktov, according to which the minority shareholders of Echo prepared a program for restructuring the ownership structure and already sent it to Roskomnadzor. American co-owners see this as a partial expropriation of their property, Venediktov stressed. The largest shareholder of Ekho Moskvy is Gazprom-Media with a share of 66%. The remaining shares are distributed among the minority shareholders of the radio station. "In fact, EM Holdings had 19.92% in the founder, and now it will be 19.92% in the company that owns 34% in the founder of Ekho Moskvy. That is, 19.92% of all Ekho Moskvy shares, and as a result of reorganization will be 19.92% of 34% of shares in the founder of the radio station. That is, their possession, as I believe, is reduced threefold. And this happens not through buying and selling, but by exchanging shares of other enterprises of participants in this transaction. What do they get in return? And this is not important, it does not concern the "Echo of Moscow", "he said, stressing that as a result of the restructuring, American co-owners cease to be founders of the" Echo of Moscow ". Earlier, Roskomnadzor sent a letter to the director general of Ekho Moskvy, Ekaterina Pavlova, warning of a possible closure of the radio station on February 15, if Ekho Moskvy does not eliminate violations of the law on foreign ownership. Rns.online (via Rus-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** SAIPAN. 9790.031, March 3 at 1540, YL in Chinese, piano music bit, S9, significantly off frequency. Yes, it`s IBB, Agignan Point, Saipan, again, RFA scheduled this hour only; but no jammer audible closer to 9790.0 or anywhere around. Note my previous log of Saipan 38 Hz high: ``11850.038, Feb 24 at 1426-1430+, bandscanning in 1 kHz steps with BFO, anything a bit off- frequency raises a red flag`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 1521.0, March 5 at 0218, quite a het upon Kim Komando, 1520.0 KOKC. Loops NE/SW, not SE/NW, so surely it`s the 2- megawatt BSKSA, Duba, Saudi Arabia, rather than a ZNS spur. No other TA carriers noted in cursory check of a few frequencies on MW & LW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SIKKIM. 4835, AIR, Gangtok. Weak signal at 1327 and difficult to identify the language in the noise (Hindi? Nepali?….). 13/2 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), March Australian DX News via DXLD) Hindi. Heard on the ex NT ABC frequency for the first time. From 1135. Poor to begin with but improved with grey line. Battling local atmospheric noise here. 24/2 (Phil Brennan, Darwin NT (JRC NRD 515, CommRadio CR1, Icom IC R75, Yaesu FRG 7, SDR RSPlay. EF SWL, Wellbrook ALA1530 LNPro), March Australian DX News via DXLD) Fair level, 1254 with local music, lower level during talk segments. Not one of the better AIR signals, but perhaps slightly more exotic, 1/3 (Craig Seager, VK2HBT, Bathurst NSW (Perseus SDR, Preamp, Wellbrook feeder isolator, Icom IC-746, Loop Skywire, Loop with LZ1AQ amplifier), March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, Wantok FM relay, via SIBC, 1406-1420, March 6. Another day of extended broadcasting (now daily?); non-stop songs (Bette Midler - "From a Distance [God Is Watching Us]," etc.); with usual brief IDs ("This is Wantok FM 96.3. Good times, great music" and "Listen to the hottest sounds . . . with the hottest DJs, 96.3"); fair (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5020 - SIBC, 1118 - Quick check on my way out to work brought in a good signal from here this morning. Island music with a YL announcer in pidgin. Time check and apparent messages to listeners. Signal was a solid S7. Static crashes were persistent but not to severe. Best reception of them in quite a while. Wish I had more time to listen but I had to leave after a couple of minutes (Stephen Wood, Harwich, Mass., Drake R8B, 25 x 50 terminated superloop antenna, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It is still here, strong on the west coast at 1512. Lite music, no static here (Jim Young, CA, March 7, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. New MW station being built --- In an era of station closures it’s nice to celebrate a new addition to the airways. Over the last few weeks LM Radio has been building a new 126 metre high MW mast for 50kW transmissions on 702 kHz from Gauteng, in South Africa. Thanks to Gavin Buckle for this atmospheric tower image via MWC Facebook page (March MW News via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 828 kHz, Magic 828 AM, Klipheuwel/Blaaw Blomme Kloof Farm. FEB 20 2225 – songs by Diana Ross "I'm Still Waiting" and "David Bowie "Ashes To Ashes", ID – "Magic's Hits All Night" (by man) followed by "Magic 828 AM" by woman. Eventually signal lost to splatter from WCRN in Massachusetts. Country # 117 heard on Medium Wave (AM) radio from Newfoundland (Allen Willie, VOPC1AA, Carbonear, Newfoundland, Canada, ICOM R-75 with 183m random wire to SE at 135 , Sony SRF-M37W Ultralight barefoot, IRCA DX Monitor March 11, published March 7 via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. SABC REPORT ‘READS LIKE A HORROR STORY’ https://www.techcentral.co.za/sabc-report-reads-like-a-horror-story/72338/ The report of the parliamentary ad hoc committee into the affairs of the SABC reads like a horror story. By James Selfe. Added by James Selfe on 7 March 2017. The report of the parliamentary ad hoc committee into the affairs of the SABC reads like a horror story. It is a story of maladministration and corruption; of fear and intimidation; of nepotism and of abuse of power. At the centre of this story sit two malignant individuals: Hlaudi Motsoeneng and the minister of communications, Faith Muthambi. Like so many public institutions, the SABC has failed the public. Viewed cumulatively, the report portrays an SABC that is indistinguishable from that which existed under apartheid: biased, partisan, irresponsible, profligate and unaccountable. As MPs, to whom this institution reported, we need to introspect about how we allowed it to happen. Ultimately, it was left to the public protector to expose the rotten state of the SABC in her report, When Governance and Ethics Fail. This report was released in February 2014. When we realised that the government and parliament would not implement the public protector’s remedial action about him, the Democratic Alliance approached the courts in a two-part application: first, to suspend Motsoeneng and subject him to a disciplinary hearing, which had been ordered by the public protector; and secondly, to declare that his appointment as the SABC’s chief operating officer was irrational and therefore illegal. On 24 October 2014, we got an order compelling the SABC to suspend Motsoeneng and to subject him to a disciplinary hearing. He and the SABC sought leave to appeal. On 23 April 2015, Motsoeneng was granted leave to appeal, but the SABC was ordered to implement the disciplinary hearing pending the appeal. He and the SABC appealed again. The case was adjudicated by the supreme court of appeal on 8 October 2015, and the appeal was dismissed. On 27 November 2015, the Western Cape high court reviewed and set aside the appointment of Motsoeneng as COO. He and the SABC appealed. On 23 May 2016, leave to appeal was dismissed. The SABC and Motsoeneng petitioned the supreme court for leave to appeal. In September 2016, these petitions were dismissed. The SABC convened a sham disciplinary hearing against Motsoeneng in December 2015, which predictably exonerated him, as key witnesses were not called. The DA again approached the courts to review and set aside this disciplinary hearing. The SABC, in turn, applied for a stay of these proceedings. That application for a stay was dismissed on 14 June 2016. Judgment in the DA’s case was delivered on 12 December 2016. The disciplinary hearing of December 2015 was set aside and a new one ordered, and Motsoeneng’s appointment as group executive for corporate affairs was set aside, and the court ordered that he could not occupy any senior position in the SABC until after his disciplinary hearing. Motsoeneng and SABC CEO James Aguma were ordered to pay our costs personally to demonstrate the courts’ displeasure. Guess what? The SABC and Motsoeneng applied for leave to appeal. On 7 February 2017, this application was dismissed. At every stage, the SABC and/or its executive directors were ordered to pay the DA’s costs, which run to millions of rand. We hope that the new board will root out this culture of impunity. This is an edited version of a speech that was delivered in parliament by DA federal executive chairman James Selfe on 7 March 2017 during the discussion on the adoption of the final report of the ad hoc committee on the SABC board inquiry (via Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 7284.991, Radio Sonder Grense in Afrikaans language, via SenTec Meyerton center, at 0625 UT on March 6, S=6-7, unstable fq, hopped 3-5 Hertz up and down [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Monday March 6, 0540 UT til 0659 UT, logged in remote SDR unit in Florida-US east coast North America, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AMERICA. As the ARRL phone DX contest enters its final semihour, March 5 from 2329 to 2334, I find ``15`` meters open from all over S America --- (yet not a single SW broadcast station on the continent cares to use adjacent 13m --- in fact, as of 1991, there were no SAm stations except HCJB on 21480, just foreign relays in French Guiana and (almost SAm) Bonaire {both long defunct now}. If the hams can do this with 100 or 1000 watts, think what a full power high-gain SWBC station could achieve!) Here`s what I quickly log in 5 minutes from Uruguay, Venezuela, Brasil, Argentina, fortunately all giving calls fonetikaly, and I won`t bother looking up their own details or copying contacts` calls: 2329 on 21381-USB, CX2DK 2330 on 21360-USB, YV6YV 2330 on 21307.5-USB, PY3PA 2331 on 21282.5-USB, PX2B 2332 on 21246-USB, ZV2C (100 watts), with CF7XNL, British Columbia 2333 on 21230-USB, PS2T 2334 on 21227-USB, LU5FF 15m is just right, while 20m is full of pileups every few kHz; forget it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. GERMANY: 9465, Overcomer Ministry; 2044, 25- Feb; Unmistakable gravel-voiced Bro. HyStairical buried in the QRN (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow- tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sez who? Ivo says it`s BULGARIA (gh) 7570, WRMI Radio Miami Int’l (presumed); 0150 25-Feb; Bro. HyStairical said that the Illuminati are actually using drugs & technology to live longer; then a few seconds later ragged on medical science for killing people left & right with their chemotherapy. S9 with transmitter hum & wind whistle QRM/N. +++ [same] 2332, 25-Feb; B.S. ragging on Methodists, Bush, Trump, war, etc. S25; // 7730 S9 & 7780 S8, all via WRMI (presumed). Does B.S. get a bulk band discount from Bro. Jeff? (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non non]. 9840, WHRI Cypress Creek SC (presumed); 2205…2221, 24-Feb; Bro. HyStairical ragging on Obama(nation) & Trump(et) & how hated he (not they) is & extolling about how pointless it it is to plan for the future or to try to make a good life for yourself (and people buy this crap!). B.S. ran some bits from a different gasping religihuxter. S25, // 9330 via WBCQ (presumed) which was several seconds behind WHRI (presumed). +++ [same], 2208, 1-Mar; Bro. HyStairical asking for “offerings” to “sustain the prophet”. “It is your obedience that activates your faith.” Segued into a Bush bash about starting WW3; 8+ year old program? S30 (not in either 3-1 Aoki or EiBi at this hour; // 9505 via WHRI(p), S10, In EiBi but not Aoki at this hour; // 9330 via WBCQ (presumed) S9 & 7780 via WRMI (presumed) S7 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, ----- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) God, this is fun! 9955, WRMI Radio Miami Int’l (presumed); 1649, 5- Mar; Bro. HyStairical on another Glenn Hauser rant (10-11 months-old program per GH); noted the GH refers to him as Mr. Scare & Bro. Hystairical; B.S. then noted a report from one of the overcomers (who apparently reads DX Listening Digest; B.S. said he doesn’t read DXLD) about an item that appeared in one of Glenn’s DXLDs; it was a log from me noting that B.S. said that Napoleon ruled the known world. In my log, I pointed out that Napoleon didn’t rule Michigan, which B.S. mentioned. I didn’t get credit from B.S.! I want a good lawyer. Oh, to be chastised by name on air by B.S.—a highlight of a DXing career. B.S. said that WBCQ was testing on 3250 & that he might just take over the whole frequency. SIO=353 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 11750, SLBC, Trincomalee. City FM music programming with telephone call-ins at 1712 in Sinhala, Good signal on 12/2. I have a short YouTube clip of this transmission at https://youtu.be/omJeUxQddx4 SLBC recently celebrated its 50th anniversary (on Jan 5). A short news article on this milestone can be found at http://www.slbc.lk/index.php/slbc-news/slbc-local-news/3028-slbc-turns-50-today (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), March Australian DX News via DXLD) ** SUDAN. 7205. Mar 2 at 0412, Radio Republic of Sudan, Al Aitahab, in Arabic. Open carrier and barely audible; 0414 sign-off and returns on- air; Man talks. Station with good signal and barely audible audio, 45431 (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** SWAZILAND. Trans World Radio has inaugurated a new 100 kW transmitter on 1170 kHz; it replaces a 50 kW unit. It is used daily from 2000 to 2135 UT for broadcasts in English to Southern Africa. The transmitter was being taken out of service in Germany and was offered by the manufacturer at about one tenth the price of a new transmitter. It was inaugurated at TWR’s Swaziland station in a ceremony on 27 August 2016. (above [caption]: TWR President Lauren Libby prepares to cut the ribbon at TWR Swaziland) (TWR news via March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) 9585, TWR (Manzini), 1510-1523 5 March. Presumed TWR loud in French (Sunday-only according to Aoki) with inspirational chat and contemporary-sounding religious songs. The French sounds a bit of a mix with some W African words [Malagasy is sked here Mon-Sat). (Dan Sheedy, Moonlight Beach, CA, P380/6m X wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. Recent programmes of the different foreign language services of Radio Damascus can be found at https://soundcloud.com/SyrianForeignRadios (Dr Hansjoerg Biener, 3 March 2017, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. Nakhon Sawan, Thailand, Transmitter Complex --- Did all transmissions from Nakhon Sawan cease on 1 January? See: http://swling.com/blog/2017/03/bbc-cuts-broadcasts-from-thailand-transmission-station/ -- (Richard Langley, March 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: BBC CUTS BROADCASTS FROM THAILAND TRANSMISSION STATION (Source: Malay Mail Online via R. Lewis ) BANGKOK, March 8 — The BBC World Service has stopped broadcasting from one of its major global transmission stations situated in Thailand, AFP has learned, after talks broke down with a junta riled by its uncensored coverage. Sources with knowledge of the negotiations said the BBC’s Thai- language output impeded discussions about renewing the 20-year lease on the complex, the network’s main shortwave broadcast station for Asia. The centre’s large red and white transmission towers in Nakhon Sawan 240km north of Bangkok beamed local language news into tightly- controlled countries such as China and North Korea, and into places where many still rely on radio like Pakistan and Afghanistan. – See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/bbcs-thai-transmission-towers-fall-silent-as-junta-talks-falter 1 comment: James Watson March 8, 2017 at 8:52 am First IBB Sri Lanka then BBC Thailand --- I spent a very happy year working on the antenna construction and commissioning at this site. We were working up to the deadline and working two shifts a day so that we could avoid interference from the adjacent MF site which was swamping all of our test gear when making measurements. The last antenna was commissioned on Christmas day, a week before the Hong Kong handover. This was a wonderful site to work on, well engineered and a terrific team (swling.com via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) Yes, per this story, over two months ago and no one in the DX world noticed? Other sites took over; yet public HFCC as of Feb 28 is still full of NAK registrations effective until 0326! They must be jittery at IBB over Udorn --- (Glenn Hauser, DX WORLD OF RADIO 1868, LISTENING DIGEST) BBC'S THAI TRANSMISSION TOWERS FALL SILENT AS JUNTA TALKS FALTER === By AFP | Published: 08th March 2017 04:08 PM | Last Updated: 08th March 2017 04:08 PM | A+A A- | http://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2017/mar/08/bbcs-thai-transmission-towers-fall-silent-as-junta-talks-falter-1579106.html A pedestrian walks past a BBC logo at Broadcasting House in central London. | File Reuters [caption] BANGKOK: The BBC World Service has stopped broadcasting from one of its major global transmission stations situated in Thailand, AFP has learned, after talks broke down with a junta riled by its uncensored coverage. Sources with knowledge of the negotiations said the BBC's Thai- language output was an obstacle in discussions about renewing the 20- year lease on the complex, one of the network's main shortwave broadcast stations for Asia. The suspension comes as the World Service rolls out its largest foreign-language expansion for decades. The centre's large red and white transmission towers in Nakhon Sawan 150 miles (240 kilometres) north of Bangkok beamed local language news into tightly-controlled countries such as China and North Korea, and into places where many still rely on radio like Pakistan and Afghanistan But it went off air on January 1 following the expiry of the lease. "Despite extensive negotiations, we have been unable to reach an agreement to re-commence transmissions," the BBC said in a statement. The BBC World Service, part-funded by the British government but editorially independent, currently produces uncensored news in 29 languages. The Asia transmission station moved to Thailand from Hong Kong in 1997 after the city was handed back to China. The BBC did not give details of why the talks broke down. But two sources said its Thai-language service had become a sore point. Thailand's royalist establishment was incensed by a profile of new King Maha Vajiralongkorn which the BBC Thai service published following the October death of his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej. - Unvarnished reporting - Thailand's monarchy is protected from scrutiny by a ferociously enforced lese majeste law, forcing media inside the kingdom to heavily self-censor. The unvarnished profile was published out of the BBC's London office. It went viral in a country unused to seeing unfiltered reporting of its monarchy. A dissident student leader was charged with royal defamation for sharing the profile, the first prosecution under Vajiralongkorn's reign. Sansern Kaewkumnerd, head of Thailand's government Public Relations Department, confirmed discussions had faltered but did not say why. "It is still unclear whether the contract would be extended or not extended," he said. But foreign ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee said there were "no sticking points" and that the BBC had made a "unilateral decision to terminate the negotiating process without consulting the Thai side". Thailand's 2014 coup brought to power a group of ultra-royalist generals who stamped down on dissent and cramped media freedoms. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a Thai politics expert at Chulalongkorn University, said Thailand had become a "more problematic place for media companies", a trend that has worsened under the latest military government. "The longer the military regime is entrenched, the more damage we'll see to basic Thai freedoms," he said. It its statement the BBC said it had been able to absorb the fallout of the closed Thai station by "transmitting non-English services via shortwave from other locations". Within Asia, the network owns transmission sites in Singapore and Oman. The timing of the closure comes as the World Service plans to increase its output to 40 foreign languages, near its post-World War II peak of 45. After years of slashing funding, the British government announced an additional $352 million for the 2015-2020 period. The move was partly a response to the huge expansion of state- sponsored media competitors in countries like Russia, China and the Middle East. The extra money is aimed at increasing local-language broadcasts to countries like North Korea, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Russia. The cash injection also went towards hiring extra BBC Thai staff, both in Bangkok and London (via Artie Bigley, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) Report on France 24 including a BBC spokesperson saying they "had been able to absorb the fallout of the closed Thai station by "transmitting non-English services via shortwave from other locations". http://www.france24.com/en/20170308-bbcs-thai-transmission-towers-fall-silent-junta-talks-falter Posted by: (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DXLD) Same AFP story as above (gh) Glenn, all HFCC and US RMS logs of VoA/RFA/IBB monitoring have STILL all NAK BBC Thailand entries now at present. Maybe the Thai / British Foreign Office negotiations has been still not ended, maybe to get a special agreement late? or the contract will end sometime later in 2017? So, they have to look out to Yamata-JPN and Tinang-PHL facility rent broadcasting hours. And maybe via two SLBC Trincomalee relay transmitters too, but need to built up new Satellite net receiving equipment of the African/Indian Ocean IBB satellites (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BBC ENDING SHORTWAVE TRANSMISSIONS FROM THAILAND By GRANT PECK Associated Press MIAMI HERALD Nation & World March 8, 2017 11:13 AM http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article137146248.html BANGKOK --- Britain's BBC announced Wednesday it is ending its shortwave transmissions from Thailand after 20 years of operation because it failed to reach agreement with Thailand's military government on a renewal of its operating permit. The British Broadcasting Corp. said in a statement that the transmitters have been off the air since Jan. 1 after the previous agreement expired. "Despite extensive negotiations, we have been unable to reach an agreement to re-commence transmissions. Given the financial constraints faced by the whole of the BBC, we have reluctantly decided to shut the site," it said. The decision to shut the site may cause 45 staff members to lose their jobs, it added. East Asia was the primary area served by the transmitters in Nakhon Sawan in central Thailand. The BBC moved its East Asia relay station to Thailand from Hong Kong after the handover of the British colony to China in 1997. Thailand's government has publicly criticized the BBC's online Thai language service, which covers political developments more frankly than local media. "We regret that we have not been able to reach an agreement with the Thai government which would allow us to continue using this facility to bring accurate and impartial news to audiences in the region," the BBC said. "We are continuing to develop other ways for people to access the BBC, including internet and mobile streaming, as well as FM radio and TV broadcasts." Last November, the BBC announced it would beam regular Korean-language broadcasts to North Korea, but it was not clear whether the loss of the Thai transmission site might affect those plans. The U.S.- government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Asia already target North Korea. Many international broadcasters have cut back or eliminated their shortwave services in recent times, supplanted by satellite television transmissions and the internet (via Artie Bigley, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) U.K. (non) From January 1 BBC World Service has stopped broadcasting from one of its major global transmission stations situated in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand. All of NAK frequencies are transferred to other transmitter sites as follows: 0000-0030 on 5875 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg to SEAs Burmese, ex NAK 0030-0100 on 5875 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg to SoAs Bengali, ex NAK 0100-0130 on 9560 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg to SoAs Hindi, ex NAK 0100-0200 on 9410 SNG 100 kW / 315 deg to SoAs English, ex NAK 0100-0200 on 12095 SNG 100 kW / 013 deg to SoAs English, ex NAK 0130-0200 on 9560 SNG 250 kW / 340 deg to SoAs Bengali, ex NAK 0200-0230 on 7485 SNG 100 kW / 340 deg to SEAs Burmese, ex NAK 0200-0230 on 9560 SNG 250 kW / 340 deg to SEAs Burmese, ex NAK 0200-0230 on 15755 SNG 100 kW / 315 deg to WeAs Pashto, ex NAK 0230-0300 on 15755 SNG 100 kW / 315 deg to WeAs Dari, ex NAK 0830-0900 on 17720 DHA 250 kW / 045 deg to WeAs Dari, ex NAK 0900-0930 on 17720 DHA 250 kW / 045 deg to WeAs Pashto, ex NAK 0930-1000 on 17720 DHA 250 kW / 045 deg to WeAs Dari, ex NAK 1000-1030 on 17720 DHA 250 kW / 045 deg to WeAs Pashto, ex NAK 1030-1100 on 17720 DHA 250 kW / 045 deg to WeAs Dari, ex NAK 1200-1300 on 11895 SNG 100 kW / 013 deg to EaAs English, ex NAK 1300-1330 on 15510 DHA 250 kW / 020 deg to CeAs Uzbek, ex NAK 1330-1400 on 5855 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg to SoAs Bengali, ex NAK 1330-1400 on 7565 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg to SoAs Bengali, ex NAK 1330-1415 on 7485 SNG 100 kW / 340 deg to SEAs Burmese, ex NAK 1415-1500 on 7485 SNG 100 kW / 340 deg to SEAs Burmese M-F, ex NAK 1500-1600 on 9920 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to SoAs Urdu, ex NAK 1545-1600 on 7600 ERV 100 kW / 125 deg to SoAs Tamil, ex NAK 1630-1700 on 5875 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg to SoAs Bengali, ex NAK 1630-1700 on 7600 ERV 100 kW / 125 deg to SoAs Sinhala, ex NAK 1700-1730 on 5875 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to WeAs Dari, ex NAK 1700-1730 on 9810 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg to WeAs Dari, ex NAK 1730-1800 on 5875 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to WeAs Pashto, ex NAK 1730-1800 on 9810 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg to WeAs Pashto, ex NAK 1800-1830 on 5875 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to WeAs Dari, ex NAK 1800-1830 on 7560 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to WeAs Dari, ex NAK 1830-1900 on 5875 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to WeAs Pashto, ex NAK 1830-1900 on 7560 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg to WeAs Pashto, ex NAK In HFCC Database are still registered these frequencies as NAK, but all are cancelled, according to IBB Monitoring: 0000-0100 on 7465 NAK 250 kW / 290 deg to SoAs English 0000-0100 on 9410 NAK 250 kW / 275 deg to SoAs English 0200-0300 on 15310 NAK 250 kW / 290 deg to SoAs English 1000-1200 on 9740 NAK 250 kW / non-dir to SEAs English 1000-1200 on 11895 NAK 250 kW / 045 deg to EaAs English 1000-1100 on 17760 NAK 250 kW / 025 deg to EaAs English 1100-1200 on 9740 NAK 250 kW / non-dir to SEAs English 1200-1400 on 5875 NAK 250 kW / 025 deg to EaAs English 1300-1400 on 15310 NAK 250 kW / 290 deg to SoAs English 1430-1800 on 5845 NAK 100 kW / 290 deg to SoAs English DRM 2200-2300 on 5840 NAK 250 kW / 025 deg to EaAs English 2200-2300 on 5905 NAK 250 kW / 045 deg to EaAs English 2300-2400 on 5840 NAK 250 kW / 045 deg to EaAs English 2300-2400 on 5840 NAK 250 kW / 025 deg to EaAs English 2300-2400 on 7490 NAK 250 kW / 025 deg to EaAs English http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/from-jan1-bbc-world-sce-has-stopped.html (Ivo Ivanov, Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) BBC East Asia services, despite Nakhon Sawan relay is silent now. Checked in eastern Thailand remote SDR post at 2335 UT March 8, but March 9 locally in East Asia target: 5840 and 7490 kHz nothing heard of BBC English, empty channel, despite some S=7 usual WHITE NOISE scratching jamming coming from Mainland China: Jamming network on China mainland: Urumchi, Kashgar, Xinjiezhen Baoji, Shijiazhuang Pingshan Hebei, Xingyang, Qiqihar Heilongjiang, and Hainan Island. Also from March 9 at 0000 UT: 0000-0100 7465, 9410, nothing heard of BBC English, empty channel, despite some S=8 usual WHITE NOISE scratching jamming coming from Mainland China, and underneath also odd 9410.009 kHz Taiwanese Mandarin service from Fu Hsing BC from Kuanyin Taiwan, scratching up to S=9 or -72dBm signal logged in eastern Thailand. 0000-0030 5875 TAC 100 kW 131 deg to SoEaAS Burmese. Yes, 5875 kHz Burmese on air, S=9+10 in Eastern Thailand. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, March 8 / 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 13745, Radio Thailand - Ban Dung, Udon Thani Province, 0014-0030*, Feb 28. English Service news program with usual assortment of ads, promotional items, world news and IDs (“The morning news hour brought to you by Radio Thailand.”) hosted by a man and woman announcing team. Fair signal but program seemingly cut in mid-sentence (Rich D'Angelo, 2216 Burkey Drive, Wyomissing, PA 19610, U.S.A, Ten- Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet March 5 via DXLD) Despite near transpolar path, this one seems to do better in target ENAm than it does here, especially with RHC ACI from 13740 (gh) ** TIBET [non]. 11508, Voice of Tibet, Dushanbe. Tibetan service at 1248. Strong signal and only very light jamming noted on this evening. Hi-pitched het from 11505 CNR 1 jammer, easily resolved with the receiver's notch filter and listening in USB. VoTibet then moved to 11513 kHz at 1305 with more side jamming starting up from CNR 1 on 11510 kHz. 13/2 (Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, Mount Evelyn, VIC (Yaesu FTDX 3000, Kenwood TS2000, Yaesu FRG100, Kenwood R5000, Tecsun PL-680, Double Bazooka antennas for 80, 40 and 20 metres, Par EF-SWL End Fed antenna, BHI NEIM1031 Digital Noise Eliminating Module, MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Module, ATU), March Australian DX News via DXLD) TAJIKISTAN, Frequency change of Voice of Tibet on March 5: 1330-1400 NF 9517 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan, ex 9508 [later:] Frequency change of Voice of Tibet on March 5: 1330-1345 NF 9512 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan, ex 9508 1345-1400 NF 9517 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan, ex 9508 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/frequency-change-of-voice-of-tibet-on.html (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg viai WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) TAJIKISTAN, More frequency changes of V of Tibet Mar 8 1245-1300 NF 11512 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan, ex 11508 1300-1330 NF 11518 DB 100 kW / 131 deg to CeAs Tibetan, ex 11513 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/more-frequency-changes-of-voice-of.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. You want to broadcast in the Ukrainian air - stick to the language quotas, or else you will be fined, or even will be removed a license. The punishment was the Odessa radio company "Glas", which gave the programs in the state language 30.9% of the air per day, and at least 50% is needed. Thus, Glas violated the law in part about quotas. In this regard, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council imposed a fine of 5% of the license fee or 40 thousand UAH on the Voice. http://odessa1.com/news/radio-nakazali-za-russkiy.html (via Rus-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** UKRAINE [non]. 11580, Thursday March 2 at 1330, RUI via WRMI, VG signal. News until 1335, nothing but about Russian military axion in eastern Ukraine, and remaining resistance to takeover of Crimea, for which Feb 26 will be the third anniversary. 1335 `Ukrainian Perspective` continuing anti-Russia news, shelling on Ukrainian positions. Why haven`t we heard about this hot axion, if really current? Or so ordinary it is not news any more. Refers to a Thursday February 23 press briefing, so I conclude this program is one week old, NOT from today! As previously noted, day-by-day file setup on WRMI server will replay an old one if a new one has not overwritten it in time. Others have noted outdated RUI programs on WRMI, from more than a week. In fact, I found the upload dates on the System D server for the Saturday and Sunday RUI broadcasts still showing as 7/2/2016! Listen whether they really sound that old from last July? And therefore always the same from one weekend to the next? At 1341 today, item about Ukrainian arms producers participating in an exhibition in Abu Dhabi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. RSGB SAYS REGULATOR OFCOM IS NOT RESOLVING INTERFERENCE COMPLAINTS --- ARRL March 3, 2017 http://www.arrl.org/news/rsgb-says-regulator-ofcom-is-not-resolving-interference-complaints Britain (RSGB) has taken issue with assertions by telecoms regulator Ofcom that the agency “advises and assists spectrum users to help resolve harmful interference.” RSGB said that, while Ofcom does advise complainants from the amateur community and elsewhere, it is “usually only to the extent of advising that they can do nothing and have no further interest in the case.” The regulator rarely uses its statutory powers to assist, RSGB said, responding to Ofcom’s proposed 2017-2018 Annual Plan. The situation in the UK somewhat mirrors that in the US, where the FCC has dialed back the number of personnel available in the field to handle complaints. RSGB noted that when Ofcom took over responsibility for UK spectrum management in 2003, there were 100 field staffers dealing with interference and enforcement work, supported by other enforcement and engineering personnel. “Several commentators felt that was insufficient for the challenges facing the threats to the radio spectrum,” RSGB said. “Since then, the spectrum has become steadily more polluted as the number of non- compliant and faulty pieces of electronic apparatus and equipment has risen, coupled with Ofcom’s reluctance to act against them, while spectrum use has continued to grow. Instead of rising to the challenge, Ofcom has in fact constantly reduced staff until it now claims to have just 30 field engineers for the whole UK. In our view, this is short-sighted and inadequate.” Ofcom has masked this inadequacy, RSGB contended, by raising the noise threshold for technical assignments for commercial licensees, something it cannot do for the Amateur Service. Meanwhile, the sources of interference to radio amateurs “are manifold and increasing,” RSGB said, citing more recent developments as wind farms, domestic solar arrays, and VDSL as the cause of “severe problems.” RSGB said Ofcom’s typical response “is to merely check that the individual components are CE marked” and don’t acknowledge that the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) regulations require that apparatus must be compliant when it’s first placed into service. “Over many years, the RSGB has been urging Ofcom to update their interference Regulations, which can be used to stop interference from a wide range of apparatus when it is in use,” RSGB said. “While we welcomed the updating that took place in 2016, we pointed out several flaws in the Regulations. These were not accepted by Ofcom.” RSGB said it hoped that Ofcom would reappraise its proposals with respect to interference resolution, “taking a more positive line and promising to increase resources.” The RSGB said its EMC Committee is ready to help in any way it can. Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. 7465, SINGAPORE, BBC World Service in English, 1530– 1615, February 28, 2017. Excellent signal that I enjoyed for nearly an hour. Extensive sports discussion including the movement of soccer players and their contracts, in particular involving China, which is apparently making an effort to become a major factor in World Cup Soccer, and spending money to do so. Formula One road racing news, discussion of state-sponsored doping by Russian athletes, and their introduction of a supposedly drug-free training program. Cricket news at 1554 with a commentary on cricket and terrorism, especially in Lahore, Pakistan. Station ID at 1558, “This is BBC World Service.” The Joe Fitzer (sp?) show announced, time pips at 1600, followed by BBC News, including more Trump news, news of Russia in Syria, Israel news of internal politics and dealing with Hamas, the sentencing to death by Algeria of an assassin, and a Chinese show of force against the Uighers. This was followed by a telephone interview with someone from Raleigh, North Carolina, apparently an immigrant or at least a foreign resident or student, about people like him not speaking their native tongue (Talegu) on the street, but to speak English to avoid confrontation. Discussion of the wisdom of this approach. Great signal. No QRN or QSB whatever. All SW experience should be this good (Vince Henley, Anacortes, WA, equipment currently in use: Tecsun PL-380, JRC NRD-525, Drake R8B, Sony ICF-2010, Ten-Tec RX-340. Antennas are half-meter whip on PL-380, 1.2 meter whip on ICF-2010, and Alpha-Delta DX-Ultra installed broadside east-west, NASWA Flashsheet March 5 via DXLD) ** U K. Sources from the BBC spread various information. For example, that from the end of March the Internet page will be closed in Russian and the Uzbek language will be closed for short waves? (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Rus-DX 5 March via DXLD) Are those true? (gh, DXLD) ** U K [non]. New schedule of BBC in Farsi from March 22 0230-0330 on 5985 WOF 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Farsi 0230-0330 on 6095 TAC 100 kW / 236 deg to WeAs Farsi 0230-0330 on 7230 WOF 250 kW / 086 deg to WeAs Farsi 0230-0330 on 7300 KCH 300 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Farsi 1500-1600 on 9540 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg to WeAs Farsi 1500-1600 on 13660 WOF 250 kW / 092 deg to WeAs Farsi Current shortwave schedule of BBC Farsi until March 21 0330-0430 on 6095 SLA 250 kW / 355 deg to WeAs Farsi 0330-0430 on 7305 DHA 250 kW / 045 deg to WeAs Farsi 0330-0430 on 7445 KCH 300 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Farsi 1600-1700 on 7530 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Farsi 1600-1700 on 11690 WOF 200 kW / 092 deg to WeAs Farsi http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/new-shortwave-schedule-of-bbc-in-farsi.html (via Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) One hour earlier presumably to compensate for DST in Iran with the New (spring equinox) Year; note that all but one frequency change too (gh) See also THAILAND!!! ** U K. UK/Serbia: BBC TO ADD ONLINE NEWS SERVICE IN SERBIAN Date: 06.03.2017 Last updated: 06.03.2017 at 14.59 Category: World Service http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/bbc-world-service-serbian The BBC will extend its expansion of the World Service by providing a digital-only service in Serbian, it said today. This follows last year’s announcement of a major expansion to the BBC World Service, with services in 11 new languages and enhancements to existing services. Director of the BBC World Service Francesca Unsworth says: “I’m pleased we’re able to bring our independent, impartial journalism to even more people around the world. This will also benefit our UK news services, giving us more capacity to report news from the Balkans and Eastern Europe.” The BBC World Service previously provided a radio service and a website in Serbian, both of which closed in 2011. Notes to Editors At the end of last year the BBC World Service announced its biggest expansion since the 1940s, with services in 11 new languages and enhancements to existing services. Funding for these services, and for the new Serbian digital service, will come from the UK Government (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener 6 March 2017, DXLD) ** U K. BBC Radio 2 Country is a temporary pop up station digital radio station running from midday to midnight from Thursday 9th – Sunday 12th March inclusive only on digital radio, online http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02jxzfq and via the iplayerradio app. [...] BBC Radio2 Country is a temporary digital radio pop up service centred around three days of live coverage from the C2C: Country to Country festival in London. Eleven of the world’s hottest country acts take to the main stage and BBC Radio 2 Country will be broadcasting their performances live. Artists across the weekend include: Reba McEntire, Brad Paisley, Zac Brown, Marty Stuart, Chris Young, Darius Rucker, Dan & Shay, Hunter Hayes, Jennifer Nettles, Maren Morris and Brothers Osborne. As well as broadcasting the live performances, Radio 2 Country will be backstage talking to the performers and catching up with the fans. [...] (from http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/news/item167 via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, 4 March 2017, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 198 kHz, March 6 at 0658 UT, beacon DIW with long pause. I`d rather hear BBC Radio 4. Dxinfocentre.com shows this is in Dixon, NC, class HH which means HIGH POWER HOMING BEACON (2000W / 200 NM or more) and W meaning Without Voice Facilities. Why not DIX? There are no beacons listed with that call; maybe someone typoed on the paperwork. Dixon is between Jacksonville and Surf City, slightly inland, with 0 population per Rand McNally (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1860.00-AM, March 5 at 0208 UT, WA0RCR with ham news from ARRL, plugging book ``Ham Radio for Dummies``. Remarkable that ``for dummies`` is considered a successful marketing strategy. Axually, we don`t need any more dummies. I would immediately dismiss any such book since, well, I am not a dummy. From 15m logs earlier in the day I know there is some kind of DX contest in progress, but the 160m band is not chock-full of stations as usually happens. I do find one lonely guy calling CQ Contest on 1854-LSB, K3LR, but no one is answering from 0210 past 0213, not even after he slides up to 1855-LSB to get a bit of splash from WA0RCR-AM. Remarx, ``the band is terrible``. I tune around and hear no other contesters, just rag-chewers. Suspect the 160m band is off-limits for this contest? NO, it IS included: http://www.arrl.org/arrl-dx It`s for W/VE to work DX stations only and vice versa. See also WORLD OF RADIO monitoring (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 13565-CW, March 8 at 1432, ID from K6FRC beacon, JBA vs CODAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 17655. Mar 2 at 1741, Voice of America, Santa Maria di Galeria, in Portuguese. Man talks News: Next French elections, Trump, Syria, Islamic State, etc.; ID; Announcement for program "Angola fala Só", on Fridays. VOA presents a good signal and fair modulation in this CVA relay frequency, 45433. After 1800, 17655 relay Pinheira-SAO TOMÉ, 35433 (sometimes, 35432). (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. RADIO FREE ASIA COMMEMORATES 30TH WINTER SWL FEST MARCH 2017 RFA commemorates the 30th anniversary of the NASWA Winter SWL Fest held every year near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. In a combined design with our Year of the Rooster QSL card, this will be our 64th design since we issued our first QSL card in 2002. 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 SWL Fest for a weekend of radio and camaraderie. At the fest, attendees finds sessions and presentations on everything from shortwave; mediumwave (AM), FM, scanning, satellite TV, pirate broadcasting and more are among the topics the Fest covers. This QSL is used to confirm all valid RFA reception reports from March 3-9 2017 only. Created by Congress in 1994 and incorporated in 1996, RFA broadcasts in Burmese, Cantonese, Khmer, Korean to North Korea, Lao, Mandarin (including the Wu dialect), Vietnamese, Tibetan (Uke, Amdo, and Kham), and Uyghur. RFA strives for accuracy, balance, and fairness in its editorial content. As a ‘surrogate’ broadcaster, RFA provides news and commentary specific to each of its target countries, acting as the free press these countries lack. RFA broadcasts only in local languages and dialects, and most of its broadcasts comprise news of specific local interest. More information about Radio Free Asia, including our current broadcast frequency schedule, is available at http://www.rfa.org RFA encourages listeners to submit reception reports. Reception reports are valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card to the listener. RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at http://techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL REPORTS link) not only from DXers, but also from its general listening audience. Reception reports are also accepted by email at qsl@rfa.org and by mail to: Reception Reports Radio Free Asia 2025 M. Street NW, Suite 300 Washington DC 20036 United States of America. (via Rus-DX 5 March via DXLD; also via Juan Franco Crespo, DXLD) ** U S A. 5850, RMI, Okeechobee. Wavescan program. Very good reception with program looking back at the history of Radio Australia. Followed by G. Hauser World of Radio program. 1000. 01/2 (Phil Brennan, Darwin NT (JRC NRD 515, CommRadio CR1, Icom IC R75, Yaesu FRG 7, SDR RSPlay. EF SWL, Wellbrook ALA1530 LNPro), March Australian DX News via DXLD) Meaning 1 February, Wed. Glad it comes in so well, as 315 degree azimuth is pretty far off. Another WRMI antenna beam, 285, should be much better, right on Honolulu, and only 4 degrees off Darwin (289); it`s currently via the 6855 and 7730 frequencies (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 7490.08, WBCQ Monticello ME; 2215-2231+, 1-Mar; Glenn Hauser’s World of Radio #1866; YHWH heard on 15530 during 2100; 2229 into Champs’ Tequila; BoH ID by the Goddess Irena. SIO=454- (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, --- -- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1867 monitoring: confirmed Thursday March 2 at 2130 on 11580, good. Also confirmed UT Fri Mar 3 at 0030 on WBCQ 9330.05v- CUSB, S9+30! Hope this improvement continue as we have less and less night on the path. Next: Fri 2230 WRMI 11580 to NE, 6855? to WNW, 5950 to S Sat 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0730 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB to WSW 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 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, 6855 to WNW Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE, 6855 to WNW Tue 2300 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 to NW, 6855 to WNW Wed 1415.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE, 6855 to WNW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1867 monitoring: confirmed Friday March 3 at 2230 on WRMI 11580, S9+10, JBA carrier on presumed // 5950 --- yes, by 2251 I can make out a poor // there. But not // on 6855 where it was originally, rather some music announced as ELO at 2251; maybe // the new rock fill on 9395? NO. Anyhow, Jeff tells me that 6855 may return in a week or two to the previous // pattern. Apparently it was disrupted last Friday by the KIYU relay and has yet to be restored. WOR 1867 also confirmed UT Sat Mar 4 at 0030 on WBCQ 9329.9v-CUSB, JBA. NOT confirmed Sat Mar 4 after 1530 on HLR 7265-CUSB, via UTwente SDR --- only audible is S Asian music from CRI Kashgar, with CCI from something else, unme, presumably the other China station listed. Nor anything toward the end of the hour, 1557-1600 when CRI Russian blasts in as usual. Also confirmed Sat Mar 4 at 2330 on WBCQ 9329.9v-CUSB, good. Next: Sun 0410v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND Sun 1130 HLR 9485-CUSB to SW 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, 6855 to WNW Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE, 6855 to WNW Tue 2300 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 to NW, 6855 to WNW Wed 1415.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE, 6855 to WNW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1867 monitoring: confirmed UT Sunday March 5 at 0428 on WA0RCR, 1860-AM, about 8 minutes into show so started circa 0420. Good S9+20 and no QRM from contesters, since foreign DX was evidently scarce, unlike 160-m-only domestic contests. Next: Sun 1130 HLR 9485-CUSB to SW 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, 6855 to WNW Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE, 6855 to WNW Tue 2300 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 to NW, 6855 to WNW Wed 1415.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE, 6855 to WNW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GERMANY, Poor signal of HLR relays on 9485-CUSB, March 5 PCJ Media Network Plus 1100-1130 on 9485 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg to CeEu English World of Radio#1867 1130-1200 on 9485 GOH 001 kW / 230 deg to CeEu English http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/poor-signal-of-hlr-relays-on-9485-khz.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRMI on --- your telephone? Yep, that’s right. Remember AudioNow, the service I’ve mentioned in the past that makes audio available via a phone call? WRMI’s 9955 kHz programming is now available over your phone, if shortwave conditions aren’t cooperating. Dial (1) 712-432- 8868 to tune in. Nowadays, with many landline and cellular service providers giving away unlimited minutes as part of their subscription packages, what the heck; take advantage of those free minutes. When I dialed in just now, Glenn Hauser’s World Of Radio was on (0443 UT Monday). As a side note, remember when you felt good about paying only 25 cents per minute for night & weekend long distance rates? How times have changed (Rich Cuff, Easy Listening missing in the March Journal, March 6, NASWA yg via DXLD) WORLD OF RADIO 1867 monitoring: confirmed UT Monday March 6 at 0030 on WBCQ, 9330v-CUSB, JBA. Also confirmed UT Monday March 6 starting at 0403 on Area 51 webcast, and at 0426 check on WBCQ 5129.82-AM, S9+10. Also confirmed UT Mon Mar 6 at 0430 on WRMI, 9955, VG S9+20! But 0458 recheck has diminished to VP only averaging S4. Note, from next Sunday March 12 all the above will radiate one real UT hour earlier but at the same Eastern times, once DST is imposed. WOR 1867 also confirmed UT Tuesday March 7 at 0030 on WRMI 7730, but unusually fluttery; same six seconds later on WBCQ, 9330.0v-CUSB, with high OK storm noise level from just east of here. Next: Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE, 6855 to WNW Tue 2300 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 to NW, 6855 to WNW Wed 1415.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE, 6855 to WNW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15770 at 2130, WOR Not Available --- Glenn: I was unable to hear WOR on 15770 at 2130 UT. Best (Charlie Harlich, Central New Jersey, Sent from my iPhone, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But here: WORLD OF RADIO 1867 monitoring: confirmed Tuesday March 7 at 2130 on WRMI 15770, poor, and on 6855, JBA carrier presumably WOR. Also confirmed Tue Mar 7 at 2300 on WRMI 9955 vs wall of noise jamming, tnx a lot, Arnie; but by 2326 diminished, 100% copy. Also confirmed UT Wed Mar 8 at 0030 on WBCQ, 9329.90v-CUSB, fair. Also confirmed Wed Mar 8 at 1415.5 on WRMI, 9955, S9, no jamming, and 6855 poor. Also confirmed Wed Mar 8 at 2200 on WBCQ 7490, fair, and webcast. Also confirmed UT Thu Mar 9 at 0030 on WBCQ, 9330-v-CUSB, poor. WORLD OF RADIO 1868 ready for first SW airings March 9: Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 to SSE, 6855 to WNW Thu 2130 WRMI 11580 to NE Fri 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Fri 2230 WRMI 11580 to NE, 6855? to WNW, 5950 to S Sat 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Sat 0730 HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB to WSW 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 DST shifts one UT hour earlier start here for some but not all: Sun 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0300v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE Mon 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 to SSE, 6855 to WNW Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE, 6855 to WNW Tue 2200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 to NW, 6855 to WNW Wed 1315.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE, 6855 to WNW Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Wed 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reminder of the DST shifts in SW scheduling on WBCQ and 9955/6855 WRMI, including WOR as above, from March 12 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I have a question. What happened to True News on WRMI? Is it a case of another religious broadcaster not paying the bill?? I have been hearing rock and Pop music for several days (at least) and then I almost threw up hearing Brother scare (thankfully it wasn’t all day). All received on Icom R-70 and a Vertical. Best 73 Doc W2MFT (Mark F Tattenbaum, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see 17-09 and below 9395, March 2 at 0717, this WRMI is playing classic rock, Dylan, not // World Music on 5850, 6855, 7730. TruNews is gone! Until end of Feb, had been 24/7 on WRMI-6, 355 degrees, since Global 24 crashed a couple years ago. TruNews was initially on two more frequencies, then cut back to this one. TruNews still shows on the WRMI web schedule. Rather, Flowing Streams Ministry of which TruNews is/was the flagship program. Nothing on the TruNews website now about SW, or any radio broadcasts, but plenty of far-right extremist un-true slanted ``news``. Has Rick Wiles fallen out with WRMI, or simply a financial decision, SW no longer worth it?? 9395, another check March 2 at 1421 finds more classic rock, ``Stairway to Heaven``; 1423 break at odd time for WRMI ID by Bob Biermann. Never announces the music so I have to identify it: then ``It`s My Party`` by Leslie Gore; 1430 a WRMI ID mentioning 9395 specifically; 1434 ``Desiderata`` (you are a child of the universe) -- - NOT the parody, shux. 1438 ``Little Green Bag`` by The George Baker Selexion; 1440 ``The Monkees``; 1443 some doo-wop; 1446 ``Smile a Little Smile For Me, Rose Marie`` by The Flying Machine, etc., etc. All the announcements are by Biermann, and suspect he is programming this now. Biermann`s regular hour is ``Your Weekend Show`` which started on TruNews, then expanded to various times (including mid- week) on other WRMI frequencies, so he has survived the sinking ship of TruNews. Surely a temporary filler until another full-time client for 9395 can be found. A golden opportunity to get some journalistically legitimate Public Radio service on SW!! I look for anything about this on WRMI`s FB, but nothing found; rather this new show: ``Mirka Pratts February 22 at 3:12pm --- "LAS NOCHES CON MIRKA" a partir de mañana jueves a las 8:p.m en WRMI Radio Miami Internacional, vía Facebook donde grabaremos el programa que saldrá el viernes a las 5:00 p.m en América y el Caribe y a las 11:00p.m en Europa. Los esperamos!!!! 14 Likes2 CommentsLike Comment Share`` WTFK? Geez. 6-hour time difference anyway implies 2200 UT Fridays. Of course, both Europe and America have more than one timezone! So ¿de qué se trata, Mirka?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) V. BELOW I discovered around 1300 this morning that WRMI 9395 kHz was playing nothing but music instead of airing TruNews. I contacted TruNews about this and they said they are no longer airing any programming on shortwave. WRMI is still running music at this time so it remains to be seen what will ultimately air on 9395. 73, (Jim K5JG, Gerke, Carrollton TX, March 2, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Okeechobee, Florida. 9395 kHz, March 2nd, from 1710-1800 UT. Radio Miami International. We were expecting to hear Un-Tru News from Son Power Radio. Instead WRMI was playing golden oldies from the late 50's, 60's and 70's (no 80's songs yet). Signal was S9+S10. Between every two one or two songs, the WRMI ID was given. So what? No more TruNew from Sun Power Radio on that frequency? We say GREAT!! (JK and Josh, near Atlanta, GA, March 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) - - - - posted to WRTH Facebook, by Mauno Ritola, on March 2: "According to info received by Jim K5JG (ptsw list) from TruNews, they have stopped transmission on shortwave." (Ron Howard, CA, ibid.) If you'll remember, Rick Wiles finally got the license for that station in St. Kitts and it was said that it also had a TV studio on the grounds and Wiles implied that they would be moving equipment to the site (John Carver, IN, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) St. Kitts should be safer than Florida when the apocalypse or New World Order hits! (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) In my post from yesterday about TruNews going off shortwave, I forgot to say that I heard Rick Wiles mentioning on his program late last week that he was getting ready to go all-in with streaming the programming to digital devices rather than via radio. He said they would continue radio broadcasts only on an FM station that his ministry owns, located in Ocala, FL, I believe. There was no hint in that broadcast that he would be exiting S/W so soon as he had mentioned the new effort would launch around May 1st. 73, (Jim K5JG, March 2, ptsw yg via DXLD) ** U S A. 6855, March 3 at 0002 & 0220 chex, no signal from this WRMI. It`s been rather irregular lately. Hope it`s funxional tomorrow night, for the Winter SWL Fest special at 0300-0600 UT Saturday March 4. If not, maybe WRMI can spare a backup transmitter elsewhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) With 6855 WRMI absent early UT March 3, I asked Jeff White: ``Jeff, 6855 is off this evening, so I wonder if there is a problem with that transmitter and whether it will be on tomorrow night for the SWL Fest special? Do you have a backup alternate frequency for that? I`m also wondering whether the Fri 2230 WOR on 11580 & 5950 will still be on 6855 as well, since programming content seems to be changing there and not fully published. While I`m at it, I`ll ask what`s the story on TruNews departing? 73, Glenn`` ``Glenn: We've been doing maintenance and some upgrades to 6855, but it will be on for the SWL Fest broadcast tonight. We are also probably going to simulcast it on 9395 kHz. TruNews decided to leave shortwave at the end of February (going all Internet it seems), so 9395 is available for the SWL Fest broadcast. By the way, I think the former 2200-0100 UT programming on 6855 will return in a couple of weeks or so. We have had some special programs and have changed things temporarily. Jeff`` (Glenn Hauser, March 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9955, Friday March 3 at 2201, checking WRMI for the new show `Las Noches con Mirka`, in case it is on at this UT and on this frequency, which were not specified in Mirka Pratts` publicity on WRMI FB, starting last Friday. Apparently that is she I am hearing mixed with wall-of-noise jamming, off to a great start, but what should she expect, at a time formerly occupied by a prepeat of Radio Libertad?? It`s extremely informal chat with some musicians for the next hour, just a bit of a music break around the half-hour. One topic was a Lecuona music festival coming up in April. Heavy Cuban accents and they talk and laugh over each other, even yell, in an echoey venue, all of which make it hard to understand, so I never hear the hostess nor any of the guests explicitly identified --- despite having soon switched to the webcast to evade the jamming, which at 2300 goes to Media Network Plus. Radio Libertad is still playing at its original jammed time of 0000 UT March 4 (but not weekends) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SHORTWAVE SHINDIG -- SHORT WAVES/LONG DISTANCE BROADCAST Hi Glenn: I wanted to let you know that I will be doing a live Shortwave Shindig broadcast again from the Winter SWL Fest on Friday 3/3/17 from 10 pm to 1 am EST Saturday = 0300-0600 UT Saturday 3/4/17. It will be on 6855 khz via WRMI The first hour will be the usual sort of Shindig. Live shortwave inspired music from our resident folk singer, Saul Broudy, interviews and audio features including a live archival smackdown with Thomas Witherspoon and Mark Fahey who will be playing rare shortwave gems from their collections. 0400-0600 will feature the top 15 entrants of Short Waves/Long Distance, an open call for shortwave inspired audio works co-sponsored by NASWA and Wave Farm, a media arts organization. The open call commemorates the 30th Fest, and Wave Farm’s 20th anniversary. https://wavefarm.org/ta/calendar/vgckss https://wavefarm.org/calendar/xbccx5 We had 68 submissions from all over the world. The top 15 feature works from 7 countries. There will be a web based repository of a broader selection released in early March. I’ve made a special Short Waves/Long Distance QSL card for those sending reports. Reports can be sent to david@davidgoren.net Finally, I’d like to ask if you’d record a greeting to the Fest crowd and worldwide audience on the occasion of the 30th annual Winter SWL Fest. Brother Stair has made one, so the pressure’s on! 8*). I’d be grateful for your contribution. All the best, (David Goren, Feb 24, WORLD OF RADIO 1867, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I did, as on WOR 1867 (gh) NOTE: Jeff White tells me this will probably also be on 9395, which should have a better signal in most of North America (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) streaming: Wavefarm.org/listen Here’s the other streaming link. http://cast2.servcast.net:2199/tunein/rdcuffpa.pls (via David Goren, DXLD) Shortwave Shindig coming in Fair to Good on 9395 at 0322 UT but 6855 sounds like it`s being jammed and much weaker to WCNA (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook, CA (San Diego County), UT March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9395 & 6855, UT Sat March 4 at 0307, `Shortwave Shindig` special is underway via WRMI, live from the Winter SW Fest, David Goren hosting. After confirming this, I admit to listening to the webcast direct from Plymouth Meeting, which was apparently the feed to WRMI. And then two hours of WaveFarm`s Short Waves / Long Distance, which was really a treat! If you missed it, look at all the radio art contained; maybe it will be availablized ondemand?? https://wavefarm.org/ta/calendar/vgckss It was uninterrupted until 0600*, but Richard Langley in NB says the feed was lost to WRMI at 0435, and never came back, default to World Music; poor to no reception anyway in that direxion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, reception on 9395 kHz varied from fair to non-existent for me in N.B. And 6855 kHz was completely inaudible. Furthermore, the broadcast ended up being much shorter than intended. Reception started out fair at 03:00 UTC but after about 15 minutes, the signal was buried in the noise. The signal came back to an audible level at about 04:30 UTC during the Wave Farm segment but after about 5 minutes there was an audio feed problem and after that the Shindig show was replaced by the World Music filler. Shindig never came back. Perhaps the show was recorded and will be rebroadcast like it was a couple of years ago. By the way, 9395 kHz usually provides a very good signal for me during daylight hours. Nighttime reception on this frequency is not reliable. (Richard Langley, NB, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn: Thanks for your kind words about Short Waves/Long Distance, and also for your report in WOR and greetings to the Fest attendees. They really appreciated it. We will rebroadcast the entire three hour block again this Friday, same time and frequencies: 10pm-1am ET. 6855 and 9395 kHz [UT Sat March 11 0300-0600]. There were some transmissions issues and propagation condition were poor as you note. We will also be broadcasting all 37 of the Repository works in the early hours (12-6 am) of Wednesday March 8 [05-11 UT] on Wave Farm Radio and WGXC 90.7-FM at https://wavefarm.org/listen You will find the details of the broadcast here: https://wavefarm.org/wgxc/schedule/wj64zq The Repository works will be available in early April at wavefarm.org. I’ll keep you posted on that. We will QSL for SW/LD (with a nifty custom card) and the first hour Shindig program as well. 73, (David Goren, March 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Repeat was on 9395 only, not 6855 (gh) ** U S A. 6855, Sunday March 5 at 2309, WRMI-5 with jazz, `Jazz from the Left` at unsked time? No, just part of `World Music` since staple `Chariots of Fire` is playing at 2320; not // 5850 or 11580. 11580, Sun Mar 5 at 2310, WRMI in `Wavescan`, Jeff White speech urging ME nations to broadcast internationally on SW again, preferably in English, apparently his welcoming address at HFCC A-17 secret meeting in Jordan at a hotel on the Dead Sea, I think he said, rather than Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba)? More to come. HFCC website still restricts any info about the Jordan meeting to members only. Recheck at 2358, 11580 with digibeeps during DigiDX, I suppose with VOA Radiogram still substituting. [Correct. Same as at 2030 UT. Yes, Dead Sea. He said it several times. There are several hotels/resorts on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. Sorry for slow response. Just reviewing my Sunday recording now. -- Richard Langley] 5850, Sun Mar 5 at 2321, WRMI with Mideast music, not // 7730. 6855, UT Mon Mar 6 at 0000, WRMI succeeds in airing [Countdown 2] `Xmas Radio`. No program intro after ID, just right into recitation of `Night Before Xmas`. Recheck at 0006 now DJ is on phone apparently taking a request which may also be made via request@c2c.audio I get far too much Xmasmx during the last three months of the year, so will not be deliberately listening to this much, but some questions arise: so far, nothing Sacred has been heard; is the program partial to Secular Xmasmx? How about variety? They could fill a lot of their 24/7/365 time beyond SW with classical music connected to Xmas, like oratorios, cantatas, even Mannheim Steamroller, but would they? Website is all about secular music, and reveals Canadian base, but no address, and phone number is AC 614, which is circa Columbus, Ohio. Hmm. 11580, Monday March 6 at 2230, `Christian New Age Radio` episode 2 appears yet again during this weekly bonus slot on WRMI, as Rev. Moe reasserts that he doesn`t like the sound of his own voice. I find it quite pleasant. 5850, March 7 at 0108, this WRMI is off, no BS, but 7730 is still on. 9395, March 7 at 0113, talk show has replaced classic rock filler which had been running here for several days since SonPower Radio quit; one world currency coming after the dollar fails; mark of the beast on credit cards and RF ID chips. Not // 6855 or 9955 --- but it is // 7730, soon confirmed by Brother HyStairical interrupting one of the many clips he filches off who knows what, and then interrupting himself. So as some of us feared, the 9395 opening has been filled by more BS, maybe also 24/7?! Still not on the Overcomer website sked, yet lots of deleted frequencies. 5850, March 7 at 0640, WRMI is back on here with World Music as usual this hour most nights, after absence at 0108. 9395, Wed March 8 at 0646 check, WRMI again with classic rock here, while March 7 at 0113 it had Brother HyStairical on. Who knows what hours for each, not shown on schedules. More music March 8 at 2050 check, good. 11580, Tue Mar 7 at 2139, WRMI with clip of R. Santa Cruz, Bolivia, recorded last July, and a log of Radio Educación also from July. I guess these are part of `Frecuencia al Día` scheduled now; old episode? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. VORW Radio International Test Broadcast March 9th 12085 kHz at 1200 UT [1 Attachment] Dear DXLD Members, As mentioned last week, there will be a test transmission of VORW Radio International via ShortwaveService. The transmission will take place at 1200 UT on March 9th on the frequency of 12085 kHz. The transmitter will be a 100 kW unit via the Tashkent transmitting station in Uzbekistan and target of the broadcast will be East Asia, with a focus on Japan and the Korean Peninsula. It is likely that the transmission will be received elsewhere, perhaps throughout Russia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and maybe even Europe and Australia if conditions permit. The transmission will be the same program heard on the usual frequencies, featuring a mixture of commentary and listener-requested music. As usual, if you hear the broadcast, comments and reception reports are welcome at vorwinfo@gmail.com E-QSL's will be promptly sent out. Transmission Schedule: Thursday 1000 UT - 5850 kHz - To Pacific Northwest / Northeast Asia Thursday 1200 UT - 12085 kHz - To East Asia [March 9th ONLY] Thursday 1300 UT - 6070 kHz - To Europe Thursday 2000 UT - 6070 kHz - To Europe Friday 0100 UT - 7490 kHz - To North America Friday 1130 UT - 3210 kHz - To NSW Australia (John Jurasek, FL, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. New Program From Tilford Productions Invades the Airwaves -- Tilford Productions, which brings you From the Isle of Music, is launching a second program, `Uncle Bill's Melting Pot`, a half-hour musical variety program on WBCQ 7490 kHz, perhaps best described as indescribable, or as host Bill Tilford states, "from the ridiculously sublime to the sublimely ridiculous with genres from A-Z". The inaugural broadcast is Friday, March 3, 0000-0030 World Date/UTC (Thursday, March 2, 7:00-7:30 pm EST in North America) (Bill Tilford, IL, Feb 28, WORLD OF RADIO 1867, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So I make a point of listening UT Fri March 3 at 0000 on 7489.94-AM. Yes, an enjoyable show, wide variety of music, starting with banjo and a polka. No Spanish announcements. Good signal so far. 0030 UT Fri is when `Broad Spectrum Radio` from OKC had been running, but not for a few weeks now and no update on the BSR website except trying to fundraise to continue in 2017y. Instead again this week is `Furthermore 29-54` with Ramsey from the other Monticello, including extended anti-TV clips of Howard Beale from movie Network. Ramsey also plugs plenty for WBCQ program time sales. Signal has faded way down by 0055. 29-54 had previously been occupying the open slot half an hour earlier. After 0100, `Voice of the Report of the Week` with no WWCR QRM. (Tnx to Ramsey for WOR support this week) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7490, UT Sat Mar 4 from 0115 on WBCQ webcast since I`m at the computer, `Allan Weiner Worldwide` without AW. It`s soon obviously live from the 30th annual Winter Fest, hosted by Larry Will with Jane, and several other voices I don`t recognize, nor are they identified. Just informal and irreverent chat. Seems AW himself is not in attendance, to the disappointment of someone who wanted him to autograph his book. Larry said there would be more from the Fest during his Saturday night show, i.e. `Lumpy Gravy` at 0200-0300 UT Sunday on 5130v-AM. I thought this might go on past 0200 tonight, but no, back to BS on 7490. There might be more from the Fest on Saturday/UT Sunday via 7490 or even 9330 but no info about that. At 0010 UT March 5, John H Carver, Jr, in mid-north Indiana tells me, ``Broadcast live from the Fest on 5130 right now``. And at 0014: ``Now they are playing something taped at the Fest eleven years ago. Will be back live in about an hour.`` How about `Atlantic Oldies 2NG Radio`, which was appearing Saturdays in Feb at 2200-2300 on 7490? No more, per website http://2ngradio.com/ ``2NG ON SHORTWAVE --- Our shortwave broadcasts for February have now concluded. We hope to [be] back in April or May. In the meantime please enjoy our internet stream by clicking to the left. eQSL acrds will be sent in the next few weeks. Thank You for all your feedback``. He might have got more had this ever appeared on the WBCQ schedule. I publicized it only because I ran across it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re your logs. Main people on the air from the fest during the AWWW were Larry and Jane, Brad Read and his wife Val of GRITS Radio. Brad was the one that wanted his book signed by Allan and Tony Straka. Those were the only ones that I recognized. Fest is back live on 5130 and should be live till 0300 or so (John H Carver Jr., Mid-North Indiana, 0120 UT March 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5129.83-AM, UT Sunday March 5 at 0123, WBCQ with variations on ``Mr Tambourine Man`` by The Birds and Bill Shatner, seems before a live audience with cosmikdebris hosting `Lumpy Gravy Radio Show`, normally not starting until 0200, and so shown on this weekend`s worldmicroscope.com schedule, but Larry Will must have coöpted time from Timtron, for this is occurring at the Winter SWL Fest. 0147 mentions that this ``Radio Free Mount Airy`` is in stereo at the Plymouth Meeting venue on approx. 87.9, and ``a good chance also on the Becker Broadcasting System, 106.7 in Kiowa, Kansas`` (Hmm, I`ve never heard that, 53 miles away; and WTFDA DB has no such station; the only Kiowan is KQZQ 98.3, 97 kW which I can hear. BTW, this evening there are no real pirates to be heard on the 43mb.) 0152 plugging Aussie Mark Fahey`s multi-media Guide to Propaganda and Media of North Korea which is about to be published as an Ibook in multiple parts; he was one of the speakers. See http://BehindtheCurtain.Asia 0227 still going mostly about old songs, 0232 Tiny Tim; 0240 commercial for Miller High-Life Beer --- wow! A modest SW show with a national advertiser --- or maybe not; seems this is just another classic from the past, recorded from a Jean Shepherd show in 1965. He also played it last night during the AWWW hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5129.851. WBCQ TOM BS sermon, poor tiny S=4-5! -94dBm signal in remote Florida SDR unit. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews March 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) time? 7490, UT Tue March 7 at 0101, WBCQ with `From the Isle of Music`, marred by storm noise too close in OK; first check about 7490.02, at 0125 more like 7490.04 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Episode 2 of Uncle Bill's Melting Pot, a musical variety program that features genres from A to Z, will air on WBCQ the Planet, 7490 kHz, Friday, March 10 from 0000 to 0030 UT (Thursday March 11, 7:00-7:30 pm EST in the Americas). Brought to you by Tilford Productions, which also brings you From the Isle of Music. (We aren't showing on the WBCQ website yet, but we'll be on the air.) Check us out, and let us know what you think! Episode 2 will acknowledge the 100th anniversary of the first commercially-released Jazz record (and the first copyright lawsuit regarding a commercially released Jazz record), there will also be some Cambodian style rock and other odds and ends. Promo graphic attached (William "Bill" Tilford, Owner/Producer Tilford Productions, LLC 5713 N. St. Louis Av Chicago IL 60659-4405 email: bill@tilfordproductions.com phone: 773.267.6548 website: http://www.tilfordproductions.com March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11520, March 2 at 0711, no signal from WEWN overnight English frequency, which is normally weak but audible. 5810 Spanish is inbooming as usual. On 25m, 11580 WRMIBS is good, while it is normally JBA at this hour. Strange reversal, due to propagation, or is 11520 really off? Also a JBA carrier on 11870 which used to be WEWN`s other overnight Spanish transmitter, and now nothing is scheduled there per HFCC and Aoki. 11520, March 3 at 0016, WEWN English is on now, after missing late last night, but poor-fair; a diocesan from Gallup IDs the program as `Catholic Answers Live` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9475, WTWW Lebanon TN (presumed); 1626, 26-Feb; Petunia- Pushing Pastor Pete Peters, Paragon of Pompous Pontifications & Puffery said that women are weaker of mind & more susceptible to deception. He mentioned that he has been chastised for this, but said “This man of God will not be taken down.” S9 + xmtr hum (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, --- -- All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! -----, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9930, Thu Mar 2 at 1949 on BST-1 caradio, WTWW-2 is very distorted as Ted is plugging programming including `Dave Ramsey` weekdays at ``1 pm Eastern`` --- no, it`s from 1:06 pm Central like right now during a break. Also `Theater Organ from the Ozarx`, at 1 pm Saturday, which in this case is approximately correct if Central. 9930, Sat Mar 4 at 1903, NO signal from WTWW-2, for `Theater Organ from the Ozarx`. 9475 is loud with QSO show; 12105 is on but VP. Maybe 9930 came on shortly, for at 1920 recheck it`s S9+20 as Bob Heil is introducing ``From Paris Skies`` --- same tune heard last week and before that, so seems Ted is playing same episode over & over! Ends at 1935, quick WTWW ID, and ANOTHER repeat episode we recognize from weeks ago, from the Lincoln Theatre in Belleville IL. Sometimes `Amateur Radio Newsline` plays after TOFTO instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5935, March 3 at 0021, WWCR is VG with non-DGS guy ridiculing a UN program concerned with water security --- why worry? ``Our world is three-fourths water``. (OK, you drink the saltwater, not the rest of us.) Of course, it`s the `James McCanney anti-Science Hour`. DGS is still going weakly on 13845. Originally, 13845 & 5935 were from same transmitter, but now 5935 is #2 and 13845 is #3 paired with 4840 at night. I see that WWCR has already posted their DST schedule effective March 12 involving shifted frequency spans, at http://www.wwcr.com/transmitter-sched.html Including 3215 starting at 0100 instead of 0200, so if WWRB still exists, will have to do their QSY to 3195 a real hour earlier, lest they collide with WWCR again. Moving a 90m frequency to start a real hour *earlier* when the sun is setting *later*, plus spring storm noise worsening on lower bands, makes no sense propagationally (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5980.006 kHz, S=8 intermodulation spurious outlet of WWCR noted, - as mixture of the sermon? 5935.006 kHz / BS TOM prayer of 5890.006 kHz fundamentals channels, BUT NO INTERMODULATION SIGNAL on lower side of symmetrical 5845 kHz [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, sent 0725 UT Mar 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Time? 5980 Commonly heard here (gh) ** U S A. 9265, Sat March 4 at 1939, WINB in African language --- or is it English with heavy accent? I hear ``immortality for life`` [sic] more than once. Only S5-S4. WINB has already put up a schedule effective March 5! And with correct EST/UT time conversions for one more week. Shows 1930 Sat is `Gospel Distribution` with no further info --- not on the by-program list. I vaguely recall this may have been a multi-lingual thing. 9265V, March 7 at 0112 check, WINB gospel huxter on really wobbly carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Updated schedule of WINB Red Lion effective March 5 1200-1400 on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm English Sun 1400-2100 on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm English Sat/Sun 2045-2100 on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm Eng/Spa Mon-Thu 2045-2100 on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm English Fri 2100-2330 on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm English Daily 2330-2400 on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm Spanish Mon 2330-2400 on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm English Tue-Sun 0000-0400 on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm English Daily 0400-0500 on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm English Mon http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/updated-schedule-of-winb-red-lion.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #997 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, March 07, 2017 via DXLD) ** U S A. 3215, UT Sunday March 5 at 0123, WWRB is extant, despite absence a week ago, S9+45 of gospel huxter. By 0201, QSY to 3195 has been accomplished to avoid collision with WWCR, as Exodus III: 14, 13 and 12 are being referenced. 3215, UT Tue March 7 at 0107, WWRB is on with far-right gospel huxter; 0126 offering free Qur`ans for listener requests to tableoftruth@loomis.net --- or something like that, fableortruth@rumors.net ? He didn`t speak clearly or spell it. Evidently to see for yourself how evil he thinx the Moslems are. But listeners may have a problem interpreting all those squiggly lines; and if a translation, how to be sure it`s accurate? First, let`s learn Arabic! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Just happened to be at the dial at 0531 and noticed 7505 (actually 7504.954) on late with Mandarin programming. Is this new, or a regular feature? I know WRNO had some Mandarin programming, but at earlier times. 73, (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, UT Thu March 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) - - - - Ron wrote: ``7505v, WRNO, 0424, Thursday (Feb 23). In Chinese, with "Praise for Today," already in progress; poor-fair (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Feb 24 (Friday), had WRNO (7505v) again in Chinese; 0440-0500*; formerly was Thursday & Saturday; suddenly went off the air without ending announcements/IDs; noted drifting frequency. A permanent change or an anomaly? Much better reception today than yesterday. Ron`` Hi Glenn, March 8 (Wednesday), on 7505v (drifting up in frequency), noted WRNO in Chinese at 0404 UT, through subsequent checking till cut off at 0501*. At 0458, still in Chinese, with station ID for "WRNO," followed by WRNO ID and contact info in English; followed at 0500 with program ID for "Praise for Today"; after the program ended, final ID for WRNO, but cut off before finishing. So just what is the current Chinese schedule? (Ron Howard, California, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. US SPORT RADIO CHANGES --- One of the big changes in sports television over the past few years has been a move away from highlights, and now we may be seeing the start of a similar move away from updates in sports radio. As Jason Barrett writes at Sports Radio PD, San Francisco’s KNBR is doing away with updates entirely, and has parted ways with two update anchors in the process: Due to the change in strategy, update anchors Matt Kolsky and Joe Hughes are no longer working for the station. Hughes and Kolsky each thanked the station and their former colleagues on Twitter and acknowledged that although it’s tough to lose an opportunity, they understood the station’s decision and the way listener habits had changed in recent years. Both talk in there about how they’ve seen a decline in the value of updates, with Kolsky saying “To be honest, if I was running a sports radio station there would be no sports updates” and Hughes saying “In an age where people get instant updates from phones, there isn’t a need for me to let people know what happened in yesterday’s news…damn smart phones.” That’s in line with some of the talk we’ve seen in recent years about the diminishing value of traditional highlights on TV, with Fox first drastically reducing the highlights on Fox Sports Live when they turned it into a late-night show and then cutting the show entirely, and ESPN emphasizing personality-focused editions of SportsCenter with more interviews and recurring segments and less standard highlights. Given how widespread this line of thinking is becoming in the sports media world, it’s possible we could see other radio stations go away from updates entirely. Of course, many would argue there is still some value to updates. For one, there are still plenty who listen to radio in their cars, and if driving, they’re not able to look through their phone for important scores or news. Beyond that, there are still some who appreciate big sports news and scores being brought to them rather than having to seek it out. Like most of the sports media world, the sports radio landscape has changed dramatically over the last few decades, and it looks like further changes may be afoot. The KNBR move is significant given the prominence of that station, and it’s also significant as part of a possible trend. It seems likely that plenty of other stations are re- evaluating if and how they do updates as well, and it will be well worth watching to see how the update model evolves over the next few years (Source? via March MW News via DXLD) ** U S A. 820, March 2 at 1304 UT, another talk station with WBAP nulled as much as possible. Think I hear a traffic report mentioning Gary, 1306 UT into a show from Washington DC. Must be the Bill Press show as scheduled on WCPT, 820 for Chicago which is now Willow Springs IL, 5800/1500 U2 per NRC AM Log, ``Chicago`s Progressive Talk``, yet affiliated with Fox, among other networx! Other Chi stations are still in, including 780, 1000 and 1200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I'm guessing this was a product of WCPT's daily carriage of the late Alan Colmes, who is and will be sorely missed by forward-thinkers. Alan's show was itself a product of the Fox News-Talk Network (to their credit); personally I can't think of any talk-host with whom I agreed more closely, or often, than Mr. Colmes (GREG HARDISON, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, The Fox network listing for WCPT and some other Progressive Talk stations will be removed as I identify the stations in the database; Indeed the passing of a greatly admired talk show host, regardless of the many listeners leanings. 73 (Wayne Heinen, Aurora CO, Editor AM Radio Log, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry I missed him, embedded with the far-right extremists (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 840, TEXAS, KVJY, Pharr. 1131 March 5, 2017. 1131 March 5, 2017. Spanish gospel vocals. Recently ex-Spanish but English pop format (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater FL, NRD-535, IC-R75, longwires, active loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. [Re 17-09, gh 1020 log]: Glenn, From owner NRG media, also monitors Carl Mann, Rick Dau report no change to KMMQ. 73 (Wayne Heinen, Editor AM Radio Log, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ``Hi I'm the editor of the National Radio Club's AM Radio Log a listing of AM Stations in the USA and Canada --- http://www.nrcdxas.org for more info on the club --- I am trying to confirm whether or not KMMQ is now ESPN Desportes format. I have had recent reports to that effect emailed to me… Thanks Wayne Heinen Editor NRC AM Radio Log Re: KMMQ ``No, same format. Regional Mexican. Thanks, Andy Ruback 402-210-4303`` (via Wayne, DXLD) Wayne, Tnx for checking. I sure thought they mentioned ESPN Deportes, but just in passing. Is there an ESPN-D station in Omaha market, perhaps sibling, they might have referred to? (Glenn to Wayne, ibid.) Glenn, Not that I see: http://nrgmedia.com/stations.aspx 73 (Wayne Heinen, Editor AM Radio Log, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1200, March 2 at 1314 UT, romantic music in Spanish over WOAI. No doubt it`s WRTO Chicago, maybe still Univisión América but not their new sports network as allegedly in the offing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1350, March 5 at 0222 UT and 0229 UT, partial IDs amid music as ``La Nueva 13-50 AM y la 97.9 FM, los éxitos``. That`s now a match in the WTFDA FM Database for KZTD in Cabot AR, for ``K250BT, 97.9, Jacksonville AR, 250 watt translator // KZTD-1350, FIESTA MEXICANA 1350, REGIONAL MEXICAN``. I logged this last September with very confusing FM connexions to 105.5 Baton Rouge LA, and 98.7 Wichita Falls TX. See http://www.bclnews.it/2016/09/28/glenn-hauser-logs-september-27-28-2016/ BTW, power is allegedly 2500 watts day, 73 watts night and this is the latter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Martin Foltz of Mission Viejo CA sends along the following dated February 18 2017: Another change for 1510, KSPA, Ontario CA, now Vietnamese language programming (IRCA DX Monitor March 11, published March 7 via DXLD) Was SS:REL, Guadalupe RN, R. Católica Mundial. Could still be Catholic; or Buddhist now? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRRD 1510 Waukesha WI change to Talk --- Meanwhile, WRRD seems not to have the same problem. Michael Crute, co-host of the Madison WI based syndicated talk show “The Devil’s Advocates” has announced the purchase of Spanish Sports “ESPN Deportes 1510” WRRD Waukesha/Milwaukee from Good Karma Broadcasting. WRRD flipped to Liberal Talk on Wednesday, February 1 with a lineup including his Devil’s Advocates in afternoons plus Bill Press, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, and Free Talk Live. WRRD operates with 23 kW daytime, but no nighttime authorization (Radio Insight via Ray Browell, UK, March MW News via DXLD) ** U S A. 1630, March 5 at 0216 UT, ``La Mexicana, --- FM y 16-30 AM`` --- must be the name KRND Fox Farm WY is going by now. Numerous search hits show it`s really ``La Jota Mexicana, 94.7 FM y 16-30 AM``. 94.7 is of course, nothing but a translator (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Why the WNKU deal happened: The Bible pays When it comes to radio formats, the Bible pays the bills. . . http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/06/why-wnku-deal-happened-bible-pays/98541600/ (via Artie Bigley ** U S A. Re: WHY YOU SHOULD CARE THAT ALL FCC SETTLEMENTS MUST NOW GO THROUGH FULL COMMISSION VOTE I think the recent election will have a far larger impact on the wireline companies - and to a somewhat lesser degree, the wireless providers. Broadcast will be affected but not nearly as much. FM translators are an easy answer for AM operators, and for the Commission. The AM operators clearly want them, and they can be created without causing any additional interference on FM. (in official terms, anyway. Yes, the translators are interfering with DX but officially, any station delivering less than 54dBu doesn't exist. The only way in which FM interference standards have been relaxed lately are in terms of 2nd and 3rd-adjacent separations, and modern receivers have been very much able to handle the relaxed separations for a long time.) The other elements are more difficult. I suspect Pai, and the rest of the Commissioners, are fully aware of the noise floor issue. It's politically impossible to fix. The group that would be negatively economically affected by a fix is far larger than the group that would benefit. As for the Public Interest thing, that ship sailed a LONG time ago. 35 years? - probably something like that. Abolishment of the FCC does come up from time to time. If you read the proposals, almost without exception they don't actually propose to totally eliminate the Commission. They propose to leave the FCC with the power to assign frequencies & powers to avoid interference. What they want to eliminate are the power to regulate non-technical aspects of radio and wireline communications. Yes, we could see a MUCH smaller FCC - but I see very little chance the Commission will vanish altogether. == (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66 March 7, WTFDA gg via DXLD) Mr Pai is apparently a nice guy (I don't know since I've not met him, but I get that from those I know who HAVE met him) HOWEVER, he is a "Small government" fixated type. That is, after all, how he got the appointment in the first place. He believes (sincerely believes, mind you, please don't read anything sinister into this!) that the government has no place regulating anything and the FCC shouldn't really exist. At the same time, I am told, he believes AM radio is an important 'legacy' service and deserves protecting. Or at least the owners of the AM broadcasting licenses deserve protecting, if I read between the lines appropriately. As noted, despite the public comments zeroing in on the 'noise floor' problem, the ONLY solution he's been behind 100% is increasing FM translator licenses for AM station owners. At least the only one so far. We'll see. *I* still want to know when having a license became an 'ownership' issue?! The POINT (I thought...) of an FCC license was that the airwaves were owned by the public at large, and the government was there to insure they were used for the Public Interest Convenience and Necessity. Yes, I know it has been a dog's age since anyone in officialdom has talked about PICaN but still ... what is the point of having an FCC if the public interest will be subverted by commercial interests? Maybe Mr Pai is right, and the FCC should just go away, and everyone can fend for him or her self. You want to broadcast? Buy a transmitter and have at it. If that creates interference, well why should the government care — let those interfering stations duke it out between themselves until one of them wins or they all go bankrupt. Seems fair to me. -- (KV Zichi, J.D., March 7, ibid., via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) ** U S A. "SHOCKED AT WHAT I HEAR ON HF" (I thought this might be of interest - Mike) e.Ham, Bryan Beam (W4HLD) on February 16, 2017 View comments about this article! http://www.eham.net/articles/38315#comments Recently I decided to get back on HF. I put up a dipole and turned on the rig. I scanned 40 meters and the first QSO I heard was full of profanity and the topics being discussed should not be via ham radio. I was first ashamed and then angry that ham radio has come to this. I was last on HF about three years ago. I had noticed some of this activity on 75/80 meters. Evidently it's spread. Some will say, spin the dial or turn off the radio. I get it and don't disagree. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic but I'm afraid as the years go on this type of behavior will become more and more common. I've been a proud ham for over 40 years. I hope I continue to be proud of our hobby. I want to be comfortable to introduce ham radio to my grandchildren and not be worried about what they may hear. The reason for this post is to ask those that may use profanity on the air and discuss vulgar subjects to not do so. Please be respectful of the audience and the great (clean) hobby. Don't lower yourself. Anyone who earned their ham radio license should have enough pride in themselves to not stoop to this level. Bryan, W4HLD http://www.eham.net/articles/38315 Posted by: (Mike Terry, March 3, dxldyg via DXLD) HF? Is he implying everything`s much nicer on VHF? Why? Also, I wonder if CW ops bother to swear as much? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. IN MEMORY OF ROBERT J. HILL November 28, 1937 - February 27, 2017 Obituary Robert J. Hill, Jr., formerly of Littleton [MA], passed away peacefully under hospice care in Salem at the age of 79 on February 27. The beloved son of the late Robert Joseph Hill and Virginia (Walters) Hill, Bob is survived by his sister, Virginia N.H. Dodge, and brother-in-law, Dexter A. Dodge, of Swampscott, and his brother, Gregory W. Hill of Somerville, as well as several cousins and many friends. He was a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Class of 1964, and served in the United States Air Force as a Russian language and intelligence specialist, finishing first in his class at Army Language School in Monterey, CA. After college and military service, he became a public relations guru and skilled marketing writer for many years in and around Boston, Connecticut and the San Francisco Bay Area. As a teenager, Bob qualified as an amateur ("ham") radio operator and throughout his life enjoyed staying in contact with other "hams" throughout the world through his call sign, W1ARR. He developed a passion for contract bridge and participated in many tournaments throughout New England, ultimately achieving the rank of Gold Grand Master. With the advent of today's technology, Bob became part of a very special network on Facebook and will be missed by his many Facebook friends. He was an accomplished wordsmith with a deep love of the English language in all its variety and will be remembered for his sharp wit and keen sense of humor. Family and friends are invited to a memorial gathering to share their own words, stories and memories, spoken or written, of Bob at the Eustis & Cornell Funeral Home, 142 Elm Street, Marblehead on Wednesday, March 22 at 10:30AM. Interment will be private. The family wishes to express our deep appreciation for the skilled, compassionate care afforded Bob by the Hawthorne Wing staff at Grosvenor Park Health Center in Salem. Donations in Bob's name may be made to Thayer Academy, 745 Washington Street, Braintree, MA 02184, Care Dimensions, 75 Sylvan Street, Suite B-102, Danvers, MA 01923, or the charity of your choice (via Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) We had not seen any DX from him for a few years. Searching the archive, here is the last report found --- he was a regular MW contributor to NRC DX News` International DX Digest: ``1610 ANGUILLA Caribbean Beacon, The Valley FEB 7 [2014] 0314 - Female preacher parallel 6090; fair in a mix with presumed CHHA. [Hill-MA] (Bob Hill W1ARR, Littleton MA; Sony ICF-2010 with Kiwa filters, AOR LA390 active loop)`` (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) From a fellow DXER, Bob was an icon. He was always held in awe by those just a little younger. Rest in peace, Bob (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC-CAN, March 3, BC-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** U S A. MARE Don Hosmer passes along the following concerning long- time MARE Steve Lare’s obituary; https://dykstrafuneralhome.com/obituaries/steven-lare.115635 A memorial service will be held Saturday April 1. The cemetery is Graafschap Cemetery, 32nd Street & Graafschap Road. Barb and I will be there. I am hoping that a few MARE members might also show up for the graveside service at 1 PM that day. Maybe we can all get a bite to eat afterwards and share stories & memories of the early days of MARE. I know Steve drifted away from MARE and from people, too. But he was part of the founders from over 30 years ago. Once I get the photos re-scanned, I'll send that website address. It'll include people from old ANARC & MARE meetings/DXpeditions (MARE Tipsheet March 3 via DXLD) Viz.: Life Story / Obituary Steven Robert Lare, age 63, died at his home on January 30, 2017, of natural causes. He was the first child of Richard C. Lare and Phyllis J. Pressel Lare, born in Ft. Wayne, IN. Steve was raised in Holland and attended West Ottawa Schools. After high school he joined the US Navy and sailed on the U.S.S. Richard L. Page and was later assigned to NAVCOMMSTA at Diego Garcia, Indian Ocean. While overseas, he began collecting artwork that he later assembled into a gallery, called SRL Gallery, located in downtown Holland, MI. Except for his years of service, he was a resident of Holland, MI his entire life. Steve earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Grand Valley State University. He worked periodically at Heinz, Hart & Cooley and Sligh Furniture. He maintained his hobbies of ham radio and had a keen an interest in Military History. Steve was very active in the Amateur Radio community and built his first ham radio at the age of 8. Steve was a licensed amateur radio operator: W6SWL, formerly N8KDV. He was a member of NASWA (North American Shortwave Association) for over 35 years and had earned numerous awards. His is best known for earning his Master DX Centurion award (220 country endorsement). He was also a founding member of the Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts back in 1983 and wrote their QSL verification column for many years. He spent decades communicating with Ham Radio operators all over the globe. Steve is survived by a sister, Kristine Lare (Mary Burton), of Ypsilanti, MI and a half sister, Linda Young of Kendallville, IN. He was preceded in death by his parents. A graveside service will take place Saturday April 1 at 1:00P.M. in Graafschap cemetery. Memorial Donations in Steven’s honor can be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Holland, http://www.bgch.org/ The Family was served by the Dykstra Funeral Home - Mulder Chapel (via DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. On Saturdays from 1400 to 1415 at 6260 kHz (Tashkent) is the program "Time of Reason Ministry" in English (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Rus-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** VANUATU. 7259.95, R. Vanuatu, 0610-0643, March 6. In vernacular; series of ads; 0627 & 0629 clear "Radio Vanuatu" IDs; 0636 weather; pop songs. 24 hours later the signal was unusable (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. Vatican Radio listeners are badly upset. After leaving the medium wave band (they had four frequencies active, 526 then 585, 1260, 1530 and 1611) and almost completely [sic] the short wave band, the new management has targeted FM. Vatican Radio also had four FM frequencies for the Rome area: 93.3, 96.3, 103.8 and 105. 105 was used for the Studio A programme, later Radio Vaticana Italia, the others for services in various languages. The first to go was 96.3, which broadcast InBlu Radio, a network service for Catholic stations. Not a religious station, really one with excellent information programmes in the morning and good selection of music. In January, 93.3 was rented to new network Radio Zeta l’Italiana, in exchange, it is rumoured, for continuing DAB service throughout Italy via the Eurodab multiplex (which, as Radio Zeta, belongs to the same RTL 102.5 group). Finally, on 15 February, 103.8 also stopped relaying Vatican Radio’s overseas programmes and started broadcasting the Italian programme in parallel with 105 (actually, reception on 105 is not satisfactory over the entire Greater Rome area). Many Vatican Radio listeners don’t understand how come that the voice of the Catholic (that is, Universal) Church is now heard (except for DAB in Italy) in just one city, though the Eternal one [Vatican Radio], just like an ordinary parish station with its home-made aerial on the bell tower (Stefano Valianti, Southern European Report, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** VATICAN. 7410, March 5 at 0143, English in S Asian accent, about Adam & Eve, ~S8. Vatican Radio aimed due east from SMG, but still makes it over here to the NW, 0140-0200 being the English segment. Rumors keep flying that SW is on the verge of being abolished by the Holy C. And press recently implies that the very name ``Vatican Radio`` has already been deleted. I`ve yet to listen closely enough to confirm that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Actually not. To put these elaborate church critic rants in plain words: Vatican Radio is no institution of its own anymore, being absorbed into the newly created communications department of the curia effective 1 Jan, as suggested by a pope-appointed commission led by BBC-Patten. So "Vatican Radio" is now merely a media brand. This has also, at least potentially, implications in regard to editorial independence. The head of this communications department, a certain Dario Viganò, intends to shut down the Santa Maria di Galeria facility. Responsible staff tries to change his mind, but at least so far to no avail. Viganò is determined to get rid of it, and so apparently the question is not *if* but only *when* the plug will be pulled. One argument raised by the transmitter people is that the SMG facility could even be a source of revenue if transmission of third party programming would be offered as a service. They quote a new transmission of NHK World (English 1930-2000 on 9485) as proof. With airtime not being offered for cash but only in exchange for airtime elsewhere this must be a complex cross-swap arrangement with MGLOB. (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. AS VATICAN RADIO ENDS SHORT-WAVE BROADCASTS, OTHERS EXPAND March 03, 2017 Catholic World News https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=30922 As Vatican Radio closes an era by ending its short-wave transmissions, other broadcasters are stepping up their involvement in the short-wave field, notes Sandro Magister of L’Espresso. Msgr. Dario Vigano, the prefect of the Vatican’s new Secretariat for Communications, has cut off short-wave broadcasts — long the heart of the Vatican Radio operation — in a move to cut costs and move toward emphasis on communicating through the internet. But Magister observes that short-wave transmissions retain their “unique ability to arrive as a free and true voice even in the most geographically and politically inhospitable places of the world.” The Italian Vatican-watcher reports that other broadcasters are expanding their short-wave offerings. BBC has invested £85 million (almost $105 million) in a drive to expand its short-wave capacity. And Japan’s NHK network has inquired about purchasing the broadcasting station at Santa Maria di Galeria, just outside Rome, that Vatican Radio will no longer use. References: Vatican Radio. The End For Shortwave, A Terrible Deal (L'Espresso) (via Artie Bigley, Mike Cooper, DXLD) Viz.: VATICAN RADIO. THE END FOR SHORTWAVE, A TERRIBLE DEAL L'Espresso 3 March 2017 http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2017/03/03/vatican-radio-the-end-for-shortwave-a-terrible-deal/?refresh_ce There was a big stir over the post from Settimo Cielo on February 20 about the precarious situation of Vatican Radio now that it has ended up in the hands of Monsignor Dario Viganò, prefect of the newly created secretariat for communication. In particular, the cutting of shortwave broadcasts and the announcement that the transmission station at Santa Maria di Galeria will be closed have plunged into dismay the supporters of this radio broadcasting system that was the glory of Vatican Radio, because of its unique ability to arrive as a free and true voice even in the most geographically and politically inhospitable places of the world. It was useless for competent voices to inform Monsignor Viganò that closing the center at Santa Maria di Galeria makes no strategic sense. This closure would come, in fact, precisely when some of the most powerful radio networks of the world are not reducing but increasing their shortwave broadcasts. This is the case of the BBC in England and of Japan’s NHK. One year ago the British government allocated 85 million pounds for the BBC to reach millions more listeners by shortwave, in addition to the current 56 million, especially in Russia, North Korea, the Middle East, and Africa. As for NHK, it has already asked Vatican Radio for permission to use its facilities at Santa Maria di Galeria to enhance its shortwave broadcasts to Africa, since it is already at top capacity at its broadcast center in Madagascar, which it has relied upon until now. The center in Santa Maria di Galeria is universally recognized for its excellence and would be a sure-fire source of revenue if, in addition to continuing its own broadcasts, Vatican Radio were to rent out its facilities to other broadcasters. [It already does, DUH, notably to IBB of America, violating Separation of Church and State --- gh] And then there is another misconception that Monsignor Viganò employs when in order to justify the shutdown of shortwave he appeals to the environmental encyclical of Pope Francis, “Laudato Si’.” He said in an interview with the magazine "Prima Comunicazione": “I think of the emissions of carbon dioxide that shortwave produces. We cannot proclaim ourselves outside of the magisterium of the Holy Father.” In reality, this consideration of his does not have the slightest scientific foundation, as was promptly explained to Viganò not by one but by several experts. On the specialized portal Italradio, for example, the prefect of the secretariat for communication could have found the explanation that analog radio broadcasts release much less CO2 into the atmosphere than the digital technologies with which he would like to replace shortwave. And there are those who have calculated that a shortwave transmitter with its antenna plus a receiving radio consume, in total, no more than 6 kW of electricity, equal to two domestic consumers. Twenty times less than a streamed broadcast, with all the technological apparatus that this involves. (English translation by Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.) Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) 6 kW total consumption for transmission and reception? How in the world did they come up with that figure? Typically 250 kW transmitters for starters (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. 660, YVNA, Ondas de los Medanos, Coro off the air 1350, YVTJ, R Falcón, Puerto Cumarebo off the air (Max van Arnhem visiting Curaçao via Mauno Ritola, ARC via March MW News via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. I am pleased to report that RNV El Informativo 1310, Barcelona, Estado Anzoátegui and Radio Deporte 1590, Caracas have been reactivated. Also back on the air is Radio Centro 610 in Cantaura, Estado Anzoátegui. But Unión Radio 640 has been off the air for more than two weeks and Radio Barcelona 1080 for three months. Hopefully they will also soon be reactivated (José Elías Díaz Gómez, WRTH fb group, translation Christer Brunström, ARC, via March MW News via DXLD) ** VIETNAM. Noted again on Uwe's SDR unit in eastern Thailand: Two symmetric spurious audio signals some plus/minus 13.390 ... x.790 kHz kHz frequency away distance ... of fundamental Daclac / Dak Lak - 'Buon Me Thuot' site transmitter installation in Vietnam. Observed on both domestic Vietnamese 4th domestic program service on 6020 kHz, and VoV 1st service on 7210 kHz program outlets at 0040-0100 UT on Feb 27. Nearby spurious accompanied from Daclac Vietnam 6020 kHz 4th domestic program transmission, 13.39 kHz distance apart on 6006.613 and 6033.387 kHz. S=9+20dB or -56dBm signal in eastern Thailand remote SDR post. Xylophone music heard at 0038 UT on Feb 27. 7210even, VoV 1st program at 0052 UT on Feb 27, from Dac Lac - 'Buon Ma Thuot' site, S=9+25dB powerful signal level in neighbouring Eastern Thailand SDR unit post, rough voice little distorted. But as always the Dak Lak (Daclac) station produced two wider spurious signals of 4 kHz wide bandwidth each, 13.79 kHz distance apart on 7196.211 and 7223.789 kHz. Latter on S=9+5dB signal level in Thailand receiver installation. Vietnam bc sites: CK2 = Xuan Mai DAL = Dac Lac, Buon Ma Thuot HRI = Cypress Creek SC-USA MET = Hanoi, Me Tri. VN1 = Son Tay OMO = Can Tho, Thoi Long. location 10 07 11 N 105 33 57 E [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Feb 27, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, BC-DX 5 March via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. Holy Dead Air, Batman; The Voice of Vietnam had some technical glitches today! Very brief audio drop-outs seem to be common for them, but as I said, they're quick, and they always come right back. Well, today the 7315 kHz broadcast at 0100 UT via World Harvest Radio in South Carolina was littered with technical issues. Right after the news started, the audio dropped out for a few seconds and came back to the news. Not long after, it dropped out again for a bit longer and a World Harvest Radio promotional announcement started playing in mid sentence. Voice of Vietnam news then abruptly interrupted the World Harvest Radio promo. After another minute or two, the VOV program feed dropped out, and stayed out. After about 5 minutes, contemporary christian filler music from World Harvest Radio popped on mid song and VOV didn't return. (Not complaining necessarily, just wondering what in blazes goes on that these many glaring technical issues happened today, way more so then they usually have.) Yes, I'm well aware of the issues KIYU had when broadcasting on WRMI 6885/15770 kHz last week. I know that caused that: satellite internet! (Paul Walker, AK, UT March 4, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. ALGERIA, 1550, Radio Nacional República Árabe Saharaui, Rabuni, 2016-2022, 04-03, Arabic, comments. 32432 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol and Lugo, Tecsun PL-880, Sangean ATS-909X, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN [non]. 11860. Mar 2 at 2006, Republic of Yemen Radio, Jeddah, in Arabic. Woman talks. At 2011, abruptly, the Rádio Aparecida strong spur signal on 11855, arrives! Could it be that at 2006 I was listening to Radio Sana'a (Radio Republic of Yemen)? (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo-PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S- 2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, R. One/ZNBC, 0458, March 6. Normal format of promo for the "Zambia Bureau of Standards"; music & call of fish eagle; "One Zambia, one nation"; news & sports (Vice President Inonge Wina has arrived at Kotoka International Airport [Accra, Ghana] for independence celebrations there, etc.); 0514 weather and another promo for the "Zambia Bureau of Standards"; 0515 into vernacular; somewhat readable, even with QRN (static) (Ron Howard, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. TANZANIA, 6015. Mar 2 at 0304, Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation, Dole, in Swahili. Man and woman announcers talk. Today, ZBC with a presumably moderate to severe jamming. It´s a noise similar to the engine of the helicopter (helicopter motor). Impossible to SINPO evaluation this time (DXer: José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo- PB, Brazil, Degen DE1103 & Tecsun S-2000, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) Let`s be more careful about asserting ``jamming`` which implies DELIBERATE interference. With no obvious reason why anyone would try to block Zanzibar, it could be unintentional, or even a local source. Looking at the Aoki skeds, I don`t see anything on 6015 or adjacent frequencies at this hour which would draw jamming, except: N Korean noise starting at 0255 vs 6015 S Korea --- but that`s noon over there, hardly propagable (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Harmonic audible on 3250 kHz at the moment (1930 UT 6/3). Stronger than 1625 kHz with me. Presume Netherlands. 73s (Nick, Buxton, Rank, Sent from Samsung Mobile on O2, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Can also hear weak signal (music) on 3426 kHz. Drifting wildly. Started on 3422 (1952 UT 6/3). Just as I sent the message they cut the carrier! 73s (Nick, Sent from Samsung Mobile on O2, 2000 UT March 6, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Very weak signal on 3465 kHz at the moment (2152 UT 4/3) playing pop music with announcements. Too weak to copy. Possibly a harmonic but can`t hear anything on 1732 kHz. 73s (Nick, Buxton, Rank, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) At 2300 UT nothing heard on 3465 kHz in all European remote stations, but in Hungary, Italy and Greece remote units heard Greek language pirate station varying 1729.994 mainly, up to 1730.002 kHz. On 3459.9 kHz heard a fair strong French ham [sic] operator in SSB. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 5025.02, March 3 at 0049, R. Rebelde is off (and so are the 5010 & 5055 leapfrogs with 5040), but there is a JBA carrier still here definitely on the hi side. Certainly not VL8K Australia, and the only other known 5025 station is R. Quillabamba, Perú but until now was slightly on the lo side; so can anyone confirm it`s up to here now? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also PERU; CUBA UNIDENTIFIED. 5995.009, March 3 at 0226, surprised to find a JBA signal here, or two, as (except for imaginary Algerian in HFCC at 04- 06) MALI is the only one ever listed, but supposed to be in a 6-hour break from 00 to 06. Either there is a second signal or there is one which is wobbling. Mali is easy after 0600, except it`s like 1 percent modulated. Maybe I can match the precise frequency then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. EGYPT [sic], station with Egyptian music on March 8 0855-0900 on 9400 unknown tx / unknown to UNID, test tone 0900-0920 on 9400*unknown tx / unknown to UNID, very poor *til 0903 QRM 9399 unknown secret tx site to Eu E11 Oblique USB http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2017/03/unidentified-station-with-egyptian.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9777.77-USB, March 8 at 1411, 2-way intruders in Spanish, one with ``engine noise`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9810.056, March 3 at 1543, JBA carrier off-frequency. And another even weaker one close to 9810.00. Aoki shows at 1520-1620, VIRI Sirjan eastward in Urdu; and also at 1500-1600, BBC Oman northeastward in Pashto. Iran should be the one that`s off; but HFCC shows since Feb 12, BBC has switched to the UAE site, which is also capable of such skewage, fond of lax accuracy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11415-USB, March 7 at 1459, Indonesian? pirate talk, 1501 weaker station with music, JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11435-USB, March 6 at 1448, competing demented singers, presumably the Indonesian QSO pirates, some talk also QRMing each other, Indonesia mentioned. 1452 one guy says something like ``Rahdio Love`` over and over. Sometimes there have been a lot more of these almost every 5 kHz in the 11.4`s, but not now. Nothing on 11435 at 1454 check, but at 1520 someone weaker is ululating again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11995, March 7 at 2141, hilife music, good signal, break at 2142, a little more, then cut off at 2143*. What`s this? Registered 19-22 is RFI Issoudun, French to Africa. Wasn`t this once an Africa Number One, Gabon frequency? Dream on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 12014.576. March 7 at 2147, open carrier at S9; O, it`s that pervasive RTTY intruder which resumes shortly, but whence? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1868: Hi Glenn, Kindest thanks for including my Iceland DX reports, and here's to you and your hard work with thanks - Steve McGreevy, Keeler, CA, with a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED FUTURELY: Thanks to Kevin Crouch, Northridge CA for a check in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 Thanks Glenn for your reports and SW schedules. They are much appreciated. Thanks again, (Frederick Duncan) See also USA: SWL FEST PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ UPDATED AS OF MARCH 12 FOR DST SEASON: DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html WORLD OF RADIO SCHEDULES http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html RADIO`S ROLE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES – free E-book La radio nei Paesi in via di sviluppo: ebook gratuito La radio e la sua importanza nei Paesi in via di sviluppo. È questo il tema di un eBook edito da RadioWord International Edition scaricabile on line gratuitamente Clicca qui: Radio’s Role in Developing Countries https://nbmedia.wufoo.com/forms/zbobrua16184ka/ e compila il formulario con la tua email (sotto state metti uno state a caso e sotto country Italy) Il sito di RadioWorld: clicca qui http://www.radioworld.com/ Pubblicato da (Giampiero Bernardini a marzo 07, 2017, playdx blog via DXLD) I assume the book is really in inglese (gh) PERSEUS USERLIST2 UPDATE A new Userlist2 is ready. To download the file, go to: https://app.box.com/s/17azcbv16rpeap0x0d75rn854w20vn91 Userlist2 for Perseus is a cumulative list of the DX logs in MWN. This is a cumulative list of "DX Loggings", so Europe is not included. Please, let me know if you find errors, 73 (Max van Arnhem, The Netherlands, March 9, MWCircle yg via DXLD) Might be of some reference use, but as displayed here, the 35 pages at 181 kb are in frequency order, strictly one line per log, and every line has the right half(?) missing! Do others see it this way? Time column for every single entry shows 0000-2400 altho specific times are further right within the logs. These MW-only logs are all(?) from Europe, but amazing number of USA and Latin Americans included. Cumulative, how far back? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE 30TH ANNUAL WINTER SWL FESTIVAL Held in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania on 2-4 March 2017. Rich Cuff and John Figliozzi coordinated another terrific event with 128 radio hobbyists in attendance. An extra day was featured to help the celebration process. The FEST ends with the Saturday evening banquet and all the FESTivities surrounding the final activity. I had the pleasure of announcing at the banquet that Bob Brown, Harold Cones and Kris Field were selected by Executive Council as recipients of this year’s William P. Eddings awards as NASWA members of the year. The original gang of three were the founders of the Winter SWL Festival and ran the event for the first dozen years. During that time Bob served as the club’s Executive Director for much of the 1990’s. Kris served as Assistant Executive Director during that time period. Harold served the club for almost twenty years as Executive Editor responsible for all editorial matters. Their combined efforts were worthy of recognition for several years of service above and beyond. Congratulations! By the way, Bob was the winner of the grand prize in the raffle, an Icom IC-7000 transceiver (Rich D'Angelo, 2216 Burkey Drive, Wyomissing, PA 19610, U.S.A, Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet March 5 via DXLD) See also USA LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ Re: ``6130 1850 TWR via Swaziland. VV, “Radio Trans-mundial” ID, hymn 333 18/02`` ?? Vietnamese? Or vernacular, which is not a language and not worthy of being abbr`d VV --- nor capitalized; it merely means ``a local language I cannot identify or understand`` (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ PROOF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME IS DUMB, DANGEROUS, AND COSTLY The case against changing the clocks keeps getting stronger. by Ben Steverman March 10, 2017, 6:00 AM EST [sic: ``SAVING`` thruout: the very name is a misnomer, as daylight cannot be ``saved``, only ``shifted`` according to a clock --- gh] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-10/proof-daylight-saving-time-is-dumb-dangerous-and-costly If you hate daylight saving time and all the confusion and sleep deprivation it brings, you now have solid data on your side. A wave of new research is bolstering arguments against changing our clocks twice a year. The case for daylight saving time has been shaky for a while. The biannual time change was originally implemented to save energy. Yet dozens of studies around the world have found that changing the clocks has either minuscule or non-existent effects on energy use. After Indiana finally implemented daylight saving, something that didn`t happen until 2006, residents actually used more electricity. Daylight saving time isn't just a benign relic of the 1970s energy crisis. The latest research suggests the time change can be harmful to our health and cost us money. The effects are most disruptive in the spring and fall, right after the time changes occur. Clocks in the U.S. will spring forward this year on Sunday, March 12. Most of Europe moves to daylight saving time two weeks later. The suffering of the spring time change begins with the loss of an hour of sleep. That might not seem like a big deal, but researchers have found it can be dangerous to mess with sleep schedules. Car accidents, strokes, and heart attacks spike in the days after the March time change. It turns out that judges, sleep deprived by daylight saving, impose harsher sentences. "Even mild changes to sleep patterns can affect human capital in significant ways," two Cornell University researchers, Lawrence Jin and Nicolas Ziebarth, wrote (PDF) last year. Some of the last defenders of daylight saving time have been a cluster of business groups who assume the change helps stimulate consumer spending. That's not true either, according to recent analysis of 380 million bank and credit-card transactions by the JPMorgan Chase Institute. The study compared Los Angeles with Phoenix in the 30 days after the March and November time changes. Arizona is a natural test case since it`s one of the two states, along with Hawaii, that doesn't do daylight saving. In the spring, according to the consumer transaction data, the additional hour of evening daylight in Los Angeles managed to slightly boost card spending per person, compared with that in Phoenix, although by less than 1 percent. That spending uptick is swamped by the negative impact of the November time change, which sees the darkened population of Los Angeles spend 3.5 percent less at local retailers. After the autumn time change, shoppers made far fewer trips to the store, especially during the week. Grocery stores, discount stores, and other retailers bore the brunt, while restaurants and service businesses were mostly unaffected. In other words, daylight turns out to be a surprisingly large factor in how often workers stop at stores on their way home from their jobs in the evening. "At the end of the day, it's either dark or light, and [people are] going to make an impulse decision at that point," Diana Farrell, president and chief executive of the JPMorgan Chase Institute. One possible explanation for the sharp spending decline, Farrell said, is that the extra hour of darkness could push more people to shop online rather than in-person. The study looked only at transactions via local retailers. Daylight saving time may threaten our health, hurt local retailers, and otherwise disrupt our lives. But can anything be done about it? As Hawaii and Arizona show, the U.S. government gives states a choice as to whether to adopt daylight saving time. But states aren`t currently allowed to switch to daylight saving time year-round. Last year, 19 bills were pending in state legislatures around the U.S. to end the biannual time change, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. None passed. Daylight saving is "an example of how sticky policy can be," Farrell said. Since the beginning of the year, state legislators have introduced an additional 20 bills on the topic, according to the NCSL. Eleven bills, including proposals in Texas and California, would put states permanently on standard time; nine of the bills aim to make daylight saving time permanent, many of them by urging lawmakers in Washington to change the rules. That looks unlikely. In a search of bills pending in the U.S. Congress this year and last year, none mention daylight saving (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME IS JUST ONE WAY STANDARDIZED TIME ZONES OPPRESS YOU --- How calendar engineers took control of our lives. By Ryan Hagen By Ryan Hagen March 10 Follow @alltheshapes https://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/posteverything/wp/2017/03/10/daylight-saving-time-is-just-one-way-standardized-time-zones-oppress-you/?outputType=accessibility&nid=menu_nav_accessibilityforscreenreader Ryan Hagen, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Columbia University, studies organizations and the sociology of science, knowledge and technology. A century-old clock in Clay Center, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) [caption] Daylight saving time, which takes effect this weekend, seems innocuous: a trivial harassment, an annoying vestige of an earlier age, a pointless hardship imposed on us by technocrats. It is all of those things. The measure was introduced to solve a problem created by the shift from local solar time to standard clock time -- as daytime shortened in winter, more productive activity was locked into nighttime hours, in an era when artificial light was far more expensive than it is today. President Woodrow Wilson formally introduced the United States to daylight saving time in 1918, justifying it as wartime thrift. Over the following century it was variously resisted, overturned, reintroduced and modified, reaching its current dimensions with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Amid all that effort, nobody has been able to demonstrate conclusively that adjusting clock time to the waxing and waning of daylight hours saves energy as intended. (In fact, the opposite seems to be true.) As a rational policy, daylight saving time may be ineffective. But as a social ritual, it retains real value. Our biannual clock-tuning is a slip of the mask, a glitch in the matrix that reminds us that clock time is always artificial and arbitrary. Standardized clock time is immensely useful. It is no exaggeration to say that the modern world depends on it: Ships once required it to navigate. The GPS systems that guide our cars, planes and farm combines count on standard time to calculate their positions. If you think setting up a phone call between Washington and London is difficult now because of differing time zones, imagine if local time varied by a few minutes between Washington and Pittsburgh, a few degrees of longitude west. In a society dependent on just-in-time supply chains and automated trading that works in microseconds, accurate, precisely calibrated time is as important as electricity. But standardized time can be, and has been, used against us. Whether you get more out of clock time than it gets out of you is largely a function of your economic security. Almost 90 years after John Maynard Keynes's prediction that the future would hold 15-hour workweeks and lives of leisure, we feel increasingly time-starved. Sociologist Judy Wajcman, in her book "Pressed for Time," calls this the "time-pressure paradox": Standardized time -- in which DST is an archaic wrinkle -- contributes to a world of labor-saving innovations. But the time they free up is immediately filled by demands for more work, and greater and more varied demands on our attention. * * * * * * * * We can sketch out three distinct eras of time reckoning between antiquity and the present. The earliest calendars were linked to the movement of the sun, moon and planets. An enduring legacy of this: Within the days of our week are encoded the names of the sun, moon and five planets visible to ancient Babylonian astronomers. The story of social time since then has been a gradual decoupling from natural reference points. First the seven-day week broke free of the lunar cycle, becoming, sociologist Eviatar Zerubavel argues, the first "major rhythm of human activity that is totally oblivious to nature, resting on mathematical regularity alone." As such, he writes, the week "ought to be regarded as one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of human civilization." With the Industrial Revolution, clock time liberated the workday from solar time and established labor routines organized by schedules -- the 9-to-5 job being the ultimate expression of this. In the 21st century, work has escaped the bounds of the 9-to-5 schedule, organized instead around what media scholar Robert Hassan calls "network time." Under network time, we're expected to do our jobs whenever the task demands it, no matter what our local time is. If time can be used to command our attention and impose order on our lives, then the ability to set it, and ultimately to decide how others use it, is a source of tremendous power. When clocks became fixtures in 19th-century British factories, workers complained that their bosses unfairly set the clocks ahead in the morning and back at night, to squeeze more labor out of the day. Workmen, historian E.P. Thompson noted, feared carrying their own watches, since it was "no uncommon event" for managers to fire any worker "who presumed to know too much about the science of horology." In 1880, Britain adopted Greenwich Mean Time as legal standard time. Four years later, an international conference named GMT as the global prime meridian, against which all other times would be set. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich became a key tool of imperial administration: The time of day in any given place would now be dictated by technocrats in London, rather than by the position of the sun overhead, as it had been for thousands of years. In this way, postal routes, train travel, workdays, markets and meetings could be coordinated. But many found the idea alienating. In 1894, Martial Bourdin, a 26-year-old French anarchist, died in London after a homemade bomb he was carrying exploded in his hands. Police speculated that his target was the Greenwich observatory. It would have been, in the language of modern counterterrorism, a highly symbolic soft target for an anarchist. In the United States, the adoption of standard time was pushed by the progressive movement as a civilizing project, but it was also championed by railroad titans and business interests for whom coordinating economic activity across large distances was a major advantage. Standard time met opposition from laborers who worried "that their time of recreation would be curtailed," the Detroit Free Press reported. Others, worried about economic expediency superseding traditional local control, protested the substitution of railroad tycoon "Jay Gould's time for God's time." Time clocks remain a site of battle between workers and employers. In 2013, warehouse workers at Amazon (whose owner, Jeff Bezos, also owns this newspaper) sued over rules that required them to clock out before waiting up to 25 minutes for a mandatory anti-shoplifting screening on their way out the door. The Supreme Court sided with Amazon. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, as part of a long-running campaign to curb the power of academics, has proposed a rule requiring professors to report the number of hours they spend teaching, as opposed to conducting other activities such as research. Employers, for their part, worry about hourly employees committing time-clock fraud -- for example, by taking breaks while clocked in or clocking in for a worker who hasn't yet arrived. In a move that would complete the decoupling of social time from natural rhythms, economist Steve Hanke and physicist Dick Henry think we should abolish time zones altogether, in favor of a single global time. Noon in London would be noon in Beijing, regardless of whether it was night or day. That would ease global commerce. But the interests it would serve are mostly those of people who, by advantage or by necessity, carry out work over great distances, regardless of their local temporal context. * * * * * * * * Sociologist Georg Simmel wrote that the major problem of modern life was how to preserve one's individuality and independence against the overwhelming pressure of society -- everyone's individual struggle to avoid "being levelled, swallowed up in the social-technological mechanism." Standard time, with all the devices and people that make it possible and rely on it, is part of that mechanism. We've come a long way from Bourdin and the Royal Observatory. The war for time is over. The anarchists and localists lost. It's telling that these days our major complaint about daylight saving time is that it fouls up standard time, when standard time is the reason we tend to feel rushed in the first place. Complaining about the clock springing ahead or falling back is like grousing about Apple's stupid headphone dongle you absolutely need for your iPhone but will immediately lose. It provides a good excuse to gripe about the near problem as a way of avoiding the far problem -- the fear that we're frittering away our lives into a black mirror. Or a ticking clock (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See VATICAN ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See INDIA; THAILAND ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See also MEXICO ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ATSC 3.0 AND THE PERENNIAL TRANSITION 3/3/2017 by John Hane | Pillsbury - CommLawCenter As someone who has been deeply involved in planning for the rollout of ATSC 3.0, I get a lot of questions about the next generation broadcasting standard. By far the two most common questions are “When will the transition start?” and “When will it end?” My answers — which often lead to quizzical looks — are “Very soon. And never.” The visible transition to 3.0 in the United States will begin almost immediately after the FCC approves use of the new technology. Transmitters being built today are 3.0 ready, and many hundreds (perhaps more than a thousand) of these transmitters will be installed as a necessary part of the post-incentive auction repacking process. Broadcasters are already discussing how to provide ATSC 1.0 simulcasts in many markets so that some stations can begin transmitting in 3.0. Korean television stations will launch ATSC 3.0 broadcasts beginning in May of this year, accelerating the availability of 3.0-compatible receivers. So, the transition will begin soon. I would argue it is already underway. When I say the transition will never end, I don’t mean the broadcast industry is entering its groundhog day. Quite the opposite. I mean that ATSC 3.0 provides enormous headroom for broadcasting to continue to grow and evolve long after all stations have made the initial conversion. And that’s the beauty of ATSC 3.0. It will bring a foundational change to the capabilities of our national television broadcast infrastructure. Most important, it allows broadcasters to continually expand, enhance and improve the services they offer, even after all stations have converted to 3.0. That’s why I say the “transition” will never end. Though we can’t put a date on the end, we do know what the first steps are. Step 1 – Upgrade to 3.0. Within a matter of years, most or perhaps all stations will have completed the transition to ATSC 3.0, in the sense that they will be broadcasting 3.0 signals. But the services offered, and the networks and systems behind those services, can evolve to meet the changing demands of the incredibly robust and dynamic marketplace in which broadcasters must compete. Step 2 – Deployment of Single Frequency Networks. Broadcasters in many markets will deploy single frequency networks. SFNs are not translators, or even translators on steroids. They are as fundamental to the promise of next generation broadcasting as is ATSC 3.0 itself. The ATSC 3.0 toolkit operating on SFNs will allow broadcasters to provide uniform, consistent, reliable quality of service through large geographic areas—a truly essential feature of advanced radio communications services. Step 3 – Growth and Expansion. ATSC 3.0 was designed to be flexible enough to be in use for decades. But broadcast service won’t be static for all those years. Broadcasters will finally be able to upgrade and extend their signals to cover areas that have been unserved for decades. Because SFNs are far more efficient users of spectrum, things that seemed impossible or impractical with older technology are attainable with 3.0. Over time, SFNs may allow broadcasters to extend coverage to the edges of their markets in many cases, and provide service between population centers along major traffic corridors. . . http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/atsc-3-0-and-the-perennial-transition-48536/ (via Jeff Kruszka, (IIRC), Baton Rouge, SE LA DXer, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ RADIOSHACK'S SUCCESSOR PREPARING TO FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY, SOURCES SAY Yes, this time it looks like the “real end” for Radio Shack stores. Nationwide going out of business sale starting very soon I would think (next week)?? End of an era. I have to wonder who still could pick up the name for some on line business?? See Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-03/radioshack-s-successor-said-to-be-preparing-bankruptcy-filing Regards, (Dave Zantow N9EWO, Janesville, WI, March 3, also see: http://webpages.charter.net/n9ewo2/news.html DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: RADIOSHACK'S SUCCESSOR PREPARING TO FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY, SOURCES SAY by Lauren Coleman-Lochner, Jodi Xu Klein, and Scott Moritz March 3, 2017, 2:35 AM GMT March 3, 2017, 1:34 PM GMT General Wireless could seek court protection within days Struggling company operates co-branded locations with Sprint General Wireless Operations, the RadioShack successor created by a partnership between Sprint Corp. and the defunct retailer’s owners, is preparing to file for bankruptcy, according to people familiar with the matter. A filing could happen within the coming days and will probably result in liquidation, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process isn’t public. The beleaguered company, which does business as RadioShack, operates outlets that share space with Sprint’s retail locations, as well as franchising the name to other stores. The bankruptcy would deal another blow to the RadioShack brand, an almost-century-old source of electronics that struggled to compete with online merchants and big-box retailers. The General Wireless venture was designed to help the RadioShack name live on following the demise of the original chain. But pressures on the business, including sluggish foot traffic at shopping centers and a shift to e-commerce, have persisted. RadioShack Corp. filed for bankruptcy in 2015. The company closed about half of its 4,000 stores and sold 1,700 to creditor Standard General LP, which teamed up with Sprint to form General Wireless. The deal created 1,400 co-branded locations with Sprint, plus several hundred franchised units. Sprint, the fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier, declined to comment. Standard General, an investment firm that previously backed American Apparel, didn’t have an immediate comment. ‘Ambitious Plans’ When the venture was rolled out in 2015, Chief Executive Officer Ron Garriques said he had “ambitious plans for the new RadioShack.” The business renovated locations and updated inventory. The Sprint partnership also was meant to give the stores an edge. At the time, the business lined up a financing package that included a $50 million asset-backed credit line, led by RBC Capital Markets, as well as a $25 million term loan from Great American Capital Partners. But the company has been working against a broader pullback in brick- and-mortar retail. Best Buy Co., the largest electronics chain, delivered a disappointing outlook this week, a sign that even the biggest retailers are struggling to adapt (via Dave Zantow, DXLD) “Radio Shack” update: Text from my updated web page today and for the latest (also for the source links not given here) please keep my “Radio News” web page bookmarked. Many “unknowns” at the time I’m typing this. 73 Dave Zantow N9EWO Janesville, WI http://webpages.charter.net/n9ewo2/news.html "Radio Shack - Is the end near?" : "RadioShack's Successor Preparing to File for Bankruptcy". "Clearance" sale at all "USA" Radio Shack locations, signs up or not. I was told that some stores (marked with "Store Closing" signs) may close on Friday March 10th? No more "dealer franchise" stores?? This time it's probably not coming back at least like it has been for decades if bankruptcy happens (then likely headed to total liquidation)? [these ? may be ASCII artifacts not originally] UPDATES: Reported that Sprint backed out of the contract in late January and "General Wireless terminated its buying, inventory management, marketing operations and franchise management teams in a Feb. 3 bloodbath; shut its Illinois fulfillment center; and stopped paying its vendors". Information from a internet posting (believe it if you wish) : "They are trying to gain capital with this clearance mode. If funds are there they will be able to maintain only 600 to 900 locations. Plus, Standard General will be backing, while General wireless does file on debt. "We will be restructuring, if all goes to plan. Sprint pulled out, thus we were not able to maintain all those leases, since Sprint was paying the rents."...." (Updated : Mar 06) (via Dave Zantow, via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) So I checked out our one and only RS store today. The Sprint shelves have been cleared out, Sprint expelled. ``Everything`` in the store is on sale, at least 20% discount, some 30%. The mgr isn`t sure what will become of this store. I can`t believe some of the shelf prices on cables, adapters, etc. Looks like they hiked up prices before the ``sale``. A $39.99 AM-FM-SW `travel` portable shelf price rang up as $44.99 on sale for $34.99. No tnx; anyway apparently without an external antenna jack (Glenn Hauser, March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The prices will drop, based on the last round of liquidation sales about a year or so ago. I'm waiting until everything is 50-60% off. (James Branum, Oklahoma City OK, ibid.) On the other hand, The Source, Radio Shack's successor in Canada (after some ups and downs), seems to be doing quite well under the Bell Canada umbrella https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Source_(retailer) (-- Richard Langley, NB, dxldyg via DXLD) NEW PERSEUS RECEIVER IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Just put my Perseus server (V5) on-line last night (3/6) – location is Fallbrook CA, about 50 miles N of San Diego. Please report any abnormalities with its operation. This will not be on continuously (most local nights from approx. 0800 to 1600 UT) - but trying to address shortage of Perseus sites in WCNA. 73’s (Bruce W. Churchill, 2491 Palo Vista Rd., Fallbrook, CA 92028-9690, Tel: +01 (760) 731- 9707, Email: brucechurchill61 @ gmail.com SWDXer since 1952, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SOLAR MINIMUM NOT UNTIL 2020 We've been tracking a 3-month moving average of sunspot numbers for several years now. The peak was centered on February and March 2014, when the 3-month averages were 146.4 and 148.2. The average centered on the end of 2014 was 107.8, and a year later was 55.4. At the end of last year the average was 21, and the average centered on January 2017 was 20.6. The cycle will probably reach minimum in 2020 (QST de W1AW, Propagation Forecast Bulletin 9 ARLP009, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA March 3, 2017, To all radio amateurs, via DXLD) GEOMAGNETIC INDICES – Compiled by: Phil Bytheway E-mail: phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary February 1 2017 through February 28 2017 Tabulated from email status daily (K @ 0000 UTC.) Flux A K Space Wx 1 76 29 5 minor, G1 2 75 32 5 no storms 3 75 18 3 no storms 4 74 11 3 no storms 5 73 15 2 no storms 6 73 13 4 no storms 7 72 7 2 no storms 8 73 5 2 no storms 9 73 6 2 no storms 10 74 8 3 no storms 11 76 5 1 no storms 12 76 3 1 no storms 13 75 4 2 no storms 14 75 2 1 no storms 15 75 3 1 no storms 16 74 9 2 no storms 17 75 20 4 no storms 18 77 16 3 no storms 19 78 10 1 no storms 20 81 10 2 no storms 21 83 4 2 no storms 22 83 10 1 no storms 23 83 11 3 no storms 24 82 20 3 minor, G1 25 80 7 2 no storms 26 79 2 0 no storms 27 82 8 3 no storms 28 82 8 3 no storms Gx – Geomagnetic Storm Level; Rx – Radio Blackouts Level; Sx – Solar Radiation Storm Level (IRCA DX Monitor March 11, published March 7 via DXLD) :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2017 Mar 06 0431 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 27 February-05 March 2017 Solar activity was at very low levels. The strongest flare of the period, a B9, was produced by Region 2641 (N15, L=041, class/area Cao/100 on 28 Feb). A ten degree long filament, centered at approximately S21W35, erupted from the solar disk around 27/1421 UTC. A subsequent CME was observed in SOHO C2 imagery. Analysis and modeling of the event suggested no Earth-directed component was present. On 05 Feb, coronal dimming was observed in SDO/AIA 193 imagery near the location of N10E33 around 05/1200 UTC. SOHO C2 imagery displayed a faint, slow-moving eruption that appeared to be associated with the dimming. At the time of this writing, analysis is ongoing to determine if the likelihood of an Earth-directed component. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal background to moderate levels on 27 Feb and normal background levels on 28 Feb. From Mar 01-05, an increase to moderate to high levels was observed in response to the onset and persistent influence of a negative polarity CH HSS. Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to unsettled levels from 27 Feb through the beginning of 01 Mar. Unsettled levels transitioned to G1 (Minor) storm levels, with a peak activity level of G2 (Moderate) by the end of the day on 01 Mar due to the onset of southern polar connected, negative polarity CH HSS. The CIR enhanced total magnetic field strength to maximum value of 21 nT by midday on 01 Mar. Solar wind speeds steadily increased from around 390 km/s at the beginning of the day to 750 km/s by the end of the 01 Mar. As the CH HSS persisted, unsettled to G1 (Minor) activity was observed on 02 Mar, quiet to G1 (Minor) activity on 03-04 Mar, and finally quiet to active conditions were observed on 05 Mar. Solar wind speeds were still elevated, mostly between 600-650 km/s, by the end of the period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 06 MARCH - 01 APRIL 2017 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels throughout the outlook period. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 06-13 Mar, 19-20 Mar, 24 Mar, and 29 Mar - 01 Apr due to influences from multiple, recurrent, CH HSSs. Normal to moderate levels are expected on 14-18 Mar, 21-23 Mar, and 25-28 Mar. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to G2 (Moderate) levels over the next 27 days. Unsettled conditions are likely on 09-10 Mar, 15 Mar, 18-19 Mar, and 24 Mar. Active conditions are likely on 06 Mar, 17 Mar, 23 Mar, and 01 Apr. G1 (Minor) conditions are likely on 16 Mar and 30-31 Mar. G2 (Moderate) conditions are likely on 28-29 Mar. All enhancements in geomagnetic activity are due to the influences of multiple, anticipated, recurrent CH HSSs. Mostly quiet conditions are expected for the remaining days of the outlook period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2017 Mar 06 0431 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 2017-03-06 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2017 Mar 06 73 8 3 2017 Mar 07 73 5 2 2017 Mar 08 73 5 2 2017 Mar 09 73 8 3 2017 Mar 10 72 8 3 2017 Mar 11 72 5 2 2017 Mar 12 74 5 2 2017 Mar 13 74 5 2 2017 Mar 14 74 5 2 2017 Mar 15 74 10 3 2017 Mar 16 74 20 5 2017 Mar 17 76 15 4 2017 Mar 18 78 10 3 2017 Mar 19 78 8 3 2017 Mar 20 78 5 2 2017 Mar 21 78 8 3 2017 Mar 22 78 10 3 2017 Mar 23 78 15 4 2017 Mar 24 76 8 3 2017 Mar 25 75 5 2 2017 Mar 26 75 5 2 2017 Mar 27 75 5 2 2017 Mar 28 75 35 6 2017 Mar 29 75 30 6 2017 Mar 30 73 20 5 2017 Mar 31 73 18 5 2017 Apr 01 73 12 4 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1868, DXLD) KNAU SOLAR OUTAGE THIS WEEK It's that time of year again. This week KNAU listeners may experience some brief program interruption because of solar interference. A solar or sun transit out is an electromagnetic phenomenon wherein a station downlink is temporarily unable to receive a satellite signal due to interference from the sun as it passes behind the satellite. For a few minutes, mainly Tuesday and Wednesday [March 7 & 8, 2017], morning at about 11:40 [MST = 1840 UT], we'll be literally deafened by the sun. Sometimes we get lucky and we have recorded programming during these times. Not this year. Still, our satellite-delivered stations in Page, Prescott and Grand Canyon will experience a brief loss of signal no matter what. Learn more about Solar Outages from NPR http://www.prss.org/solar-outage-rules and at this site. http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/satellite/solar-effects/sun-solar-outages-basics-tutorial.php Also, here's a fancy calculator for the northern hemisphere so you can amaze your friends. http://www.satellite-calculations.com/Satellite/suninterference.php Thank you, (Brian Sanders, Program Operations Director, KNAU, PO Box 5764, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, March 5, via DXLD) I experienced such interrupted signals and freezing images in bursts at that exact time while I was having lunch at my Mom's house and watching cable TV (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, dxldyg via DXLD) That must have been coincidental, as alignments and exact times vary greatly, geographically even within a single country (gh, DXLD) GLENN`S PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FOR MEDIA NETWORK PLUS AS OF MARCH 9, 2017 Keith, From IPS in Australia, the global HF propagation forecast thru March 11: normal at all latitudes. But minor to moderate MUF depressions and degradations are expected in high latitude regions. From Spaceweather South Africa thru March 11, magnetic conditions unsettled to quiet, shortwave fadeouts unlikely, MUF unstable. From Met Office UK, thru March 12: solar activity to remain very low, with no sunspots on the current disc and none forecast to return from the far side. RSGB says, as we are now into March, users of propagation prediction software like VOACAP and VOAProp should be using the new smoothed sunspot number, 28. ARRL predicts the solar cycle will probably reach minimum in 2020. From F K Janda in Prague, the Geomagnetic field will be: mostly quiet on March 10 - 11, 13, 15, 25 quiet on March 12, 14, 26 quiet to active on March 16, 18 - 19, 23, 27 active to disturbed on March 17, 28 quiet to unsettled March 20 - 22, 24 From SWPC in Boulder: Geomagnetic field Active on March 17, 23 and April 1. G1 (Minor) conditions are likely on Mar 16, 30 and 31 with A and K indices of 20 and 5; G2 (Moderate) storm conditions are likely March 28-29 peaking at 30 and 6. Lowest As and Ks of 5 and 2 on March 11-14 and 25 to 27. Solar flux peaking at 78, March 18 to 23. William Hepburn`s VHF UHF DX maps call for extreme tropospheric ducting, all week around Cabo Verde off the west coast of Africa. March 9 and 10 off Yemen and Oman. March 10-11, 13 and 14 along the coast of Namibia. March 11-13 off Western Australia. March 12-14 off Baja California and the southern coast of México. March 12 and 13 west of Luzon and in the Gulf of Thailand. March 13 east of Vietnam. March 14 south of Vietnam (via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ TRUMP: NOT SO SMART --- By Gene Lyons http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/trump-not-so-smart/Content?oid=5465703 You know, along with having the impulse control of a 7-year-old boy, it's becoming increasingly clear that Donald J. Trump just ain't real smart. He's a cunning self-promoter, but dim. He did manage to go bankrupt in the casino business, you know. That's really hard to do. Trump showed losses of close to a billion dollars operating his grandiose gambling dens in Atlantic City. In the process, he stiffed investors and contractors alike, right down to the guys who installed the toilets and slot machines. Around the same time, Trump Air — his personal airline — also went bust. U.S. banks basically quit lending him money. So he turned to the Russians. But I'm getting ahead of the story. Trump eventually made good playing a tycoon on a scripted "reality TV" program, dabbling in professional wrestling on the side. If he hadn't inherited a fortune, odds are he'd have ended up a sideshow barker luring hayseeds to see the bearded lady. Instead, with a little help from Vladimir Putin, they made him president of the United States. Anyway, let's keep it real simple. A smart person, if he wanted to accuse his predecessor as president of the United States of a serious felony — such as an illegal wiretap against Trump himself, which would constitute the worst crime against American democracy since 1860 — that person would assemble an airtight case before opening his mouth. Only an impulsive fool would blurt out such an incendiary charge with no evidence whatsoever. A man not fit to lead the Mayberry PD, much less the U.S.A. Yeah, yeah, I know. You think that Obama, that two-faced Muslim pretender, maybe did it. Fine, show me the proof. Not some desperate rationalization cooked up to convince yourself Trump's playing with a full deck. Face it, he's not. Meanwhile, ever wondered what it must be like for the White House flacks — Spicer, Conway, Sanders — tasked with explaining away Trump's overnight Twitter-storms? Here's something I wrote a few weeks ago: "The whole country is learning how exhausting it can be to live with a seriously mentally ill person: the constant feeling of apprehension and unease over what kind of manipulative, delusional nonsense is coming next. The uncertainty about how to react ... .Will calling the police make things better, or worse? Is it too early to seek order of commitment? Or too late?" My fellow Americans, we're there. So am I saying Trump's mentally ill? Not in the sense of having a treatable brain disease, no. Nor am I a psychiatrist, although I spent years writing a book ("Widow's Web") about a couple of characters like Trump, one a politician who eventually sabotaged himself by making wild allegations he could never prove. Most professionals who have weighed in on Trump's mental health mention Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Here's what the Mayo Clinic's website says about it: "If you have narcissistic personality disorder, you may come across as conceited, boastful or pretentious. You often monopolize conversations. You may belittle or look down on people you perceive as inferior. You may feel a sense of entitlement — and when you don't receive special treatment, you may become impatient or angry. You may insist on having 'the best' of everything — for instance, the best car, athletic club or medical care. "At the same time, you have trouble handling anything that may be perceived as criticism. You may have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability and humiliation. To feel better, you may react with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make yourself appear superior." So did you read about President Trump screaming and cursing at White House aides last week before flying off to his Florida castle to launch a bizarre Twitter-storm against Obama? Or as the inimitable Charles P. Pierce put it, "Ensconced in Camp Runamuck, the president is a voracious consumer of angry paranoid junk food. We are all now living in Talk Radio Hell." So now what? Writing in Columbia Journalism Review, Lee Siegel put it this way: "We don't need to be told by a doctor that the guy who is coughing and sneezing at the other end of the train car is probably sick. ... All we know is that the safe thing to do is to stay away from him. "When someone is compulsively lying, continuously contradicting himself, imploring the approval of people even as he is attacking them, exalting people one day and abusing and vilifying them the next, then the question of his mental state is moot. The safe thing to do is not just to stay away from him, but to keep him away from situations where he can do harm." Barring some unpredictable (if quite likely) disaster, it's basically up to the Republicans, who have it in their power to keep the presidency while saving the nation from Trump. I am not holding my breath (via DXLD) ###