DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-054, May 7, 2007 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 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1357: ** tentative Tue 1030 WRMI 9955** Wed 0730 WRMI 9955** FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1358: Wed 2200 WBCQ 7415 Wed 2300 WBCQ 18910-CLSB or 17495-CLSB Thu 1430 WRMI 7385 Thu 1500 KAIJ 9480 Thu 2200 NASB 9795-9800-9805 DRM Sackville [special this week only] Fri 0630 WRMI 9955** Fri 1030 KAIJ 5755 Fri 1100 WRMI 9955** Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL SCHEDULE: 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 For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** AFGHANISTAN? 6700: this station has been heard again at 1957 May 6 with a marginal signal. Sporadic maximum level to S2. Also audible at 1846 on 7th with up to S1 and songs (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. 6890, KNLS, 1019-1030 May 6. Noted a man in English comments until 1022 when singing is presented. Signal wasn't very good during this period. It had that Pacific type echo from coming in out of phase, if that is the correct description? However, it was at a fair level (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Azimuth is 285 degrees (gh, DXLD) ** ALBANIA. 13750, Strong and powerful English service of R Tirana observed again today in 1300-1329 UT time slot: S=9+15dB signal here in Germany. No disturbance at all. B u t : English program details given still in CEST - Central European Summer Time - which stated the female announcer WRONGLY, -- instead of UTC. Please subtract 2 hours and state as UTC ! 73 - regards (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 6215, R. Baluarte (Armonía?), Puerto Iguazú, PP, 21/04 1016. OM: pregação cristã, 35543 (Rudolf Grimm, Brasil, Conexión Digital May 6 via DXLD) 6214v, Radio Baluarte, Puerto Iguazú/Iguazu Port is off air in the last days (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 15820 LSB, Radio Continental, Buenos Aires, 1103-1140, 06-05, programa de música, noticias y comentarios: locutora: "Ocho cero cinco, aquí estamos otro domingo", a las 1130 identificación: "Información pura, hasta las 9 de la mañana por Continental" 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Connect Asia --- Radio Australia continues to sharpen its focus on the Asia with programming specifically designed to target an Asian audience, versus the traditional Pacific target audience. Radio Australia now offers a separate Asia-focused shortwave service that airs different programming from the Pacific-focused shortwave service that propagates best to North America. However, some of this Asia-focused programming airs in both services; one example is Connect Asia, airing Sundays-Thursdays at 2300 in both the Asian and Pacific services. Connect Asia is a newsmagazine format; it differs from the longstanding Asia Pacific program in that the topics tend to run a bit longer in Connect Asia than in Asia Pacific, and there is a greater emphasis on current events analysis, with frequent utilization of interviews with analysts and other observers, versus the more dispatch-oriented approach taken by Asia Pacific. If you are interested in perspectives of Asia from a different viewpoint than we have in North America, you may find the program an interesting listen. A recent edition included perspectives of Buddhists regarding Thailand’s new constitution; and India and Pakistan discussions surrounding Kashmir. Connect Asia airs on shortwave at 2300 on Sundays through Thursdays; this corresponds to 6 AM Mondays-Fridays in Thailand and elsewhere in the region. A live webcast, podcast, and on-demand MP3 listening are options that may be handier than the 2300 UT shortwave airtime (Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** BENIN. 5025, Radio Benin, Parakou, 1859-1909-05-05, comentarios, locutor y locutora, identificación: "Radiodifussion TV du Benin". 34333(Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. See INDIA [and non] ** BOLIVIA. 6134.83, Radio Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, 0020-0030, May 2, Spanish, comments by man announcer, 33333 (Nicolás Eramo, Argentina, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL - A Rádio Itatiaia, de Belo Horizonte (MG), deve voltar a transmitir em ondas curtas em breve. A informação é do Danilo Nonato de Paula, de Ouro Preto (MG). De acordo com ele, a emissora está adquirindo novos equipamentos para voltar à ativa em 5970 kHz. Não foram poucos os ouvintes que notaram a ausência da emissora em ondas curtas. Tradicionalmente, o canal em 49 metros da Itatiaia serve para que os ouvintes do interior de Minas Gerais acompanhem a emissora da capital do estado. BRASIL - A Era do Rádio é o nome de interessante programa que a Rádio Cultura AM, de São Paulo (SP), leva ao ar, aos domingos, às 20h, no horário oficial de Brasília [Sunday 2300 UT]. Conhecida como a Rainha do Baião, Carmélia Alves conta a sua vida e a de outros personagens que fizeram a história do rádio no Brasil. A série é reprisada também nas sextas-feiras, às 17h, no horário de Brasília [Fridays 2000 UT]. Na próxima sexta-feira, Carmélia e Cauby Peixoto irão lembrar de muitos colegas e bastidores das rádios Nacional, Mayrink Veiga e Tupi de São Paulo. A Rádio Cultura AM pode ser sintonizada, em ondas curtas, nas freqüências de 9615 e 17815 kHz. Recentemente, a Cultura revitalizou seu parque tecnológico, com a compra de novos transmissores (Célio Romais, http://www.romais.jor.br/ May 7 via DXLD) +webcasts ** CANADA. Chris Hambly (Melbourne) phoned to tell me that he heard the low-powered Canadian, CFVP, Calgary on 6030, 0700 on 30/4, and asked me to post it on the newsgroup. Commentary in progress at that time, apparently, in English. Martí isn't active here on Mondays, so that is our only chance. I'm never home that early during the week to check, but others might like to take a look. All of the low-powered Canadians on 49mb have been heard from our eastern states in the past, but not all are currently active. Rgds (Craig Seager, May 7, ARDXC via DXLD) Only that plus the two CBCs on 6160 (gh) ** CANADA. RCI on semiharmonic 4877.5: see UNIDENTIFIED ** CANADA. Calling DNTO Fans --- DNTO is the acronym for Definitely Not The Opera, a long-running CBC series that graces the CBC Northern Quebec shortwave service on Saturdays at 1700 UT. Quoting the CBC website, DNTO “…takes listeners on a fast paced trip through the cultural landscape of Canada and around the world, [and] is the ideal audio guide to the fast-changing world of popular culture.” The team behind DNTO is producing a summer series for CBC Radio One entitled Hidden City; the series will explore the hidden things - unwritten rules - behaviors - and activities that most of us don't notice but are integral to life in the city. It is about exploring the life of that unique human creature known as the “urbanoid.” One of the episodes is about noise in the city, and the producers are interested in exploring it at the micro-level - as in, the noise that drives neighbors crazy. If you have some ideas, e-mail Sara Tate, one of the producers, at sara_tate @ cbc.ca with the subject line "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!!" Nothing says we CBC fans located south of the border can’t contribute (Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** CANADA. This is a media massage to assuage all the complainers out there. In Vancouver, I've found that people who formerly listened to Radio Two have moved to the Chaîne Culturelle (Espace musique) of SRC the French side of CBC. 'Orrible changes to Radio Bugaloo And more changes to come. Jennifer McGuire must destroy CBC Radio for its privatization --- And their vague promise to put world music on "Dispatches" to replace "Global Village" was a lie. They could run a full network on "Global Village" correspondents and musicians (Dan Say, BC, May 7, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Viz.: CBC RADIO RECONSIDERS ITS AUDIENCE Chris Cobb, CanWest News Service Published: Saturday, May 05, 2007 http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/weekend_extra/story.html?id=edfafa4a-2314-4347-a88d-4adaa37d2464 OTTAWA -- Listeners were more than willing to pitch in when CBC radio, in the throes of change, was searching for a name for Jian Ghomeshi's new afternoon show. Suggestions ranged from the bland ("State-of-the-Arts in Canada") to the slightly risqué ("Afternoon Delight") to the amusing-but-unusable ("Smells Like Canada") and to the obscure ("Full Duplex Repeater"). Some bright spark even suggested "Ghomer's Pile." Ghomeshi, being of Iranian extraction, got the biggest kick out of "Royal Canadian Air Farsi" but there was no way that was going to fly. So they rejected all the listener suggestions and settled on Q, which is just a letter and has no connection at all with either James Bond's gadget-maker (full name Quartermaster) or Star Trek's enigmatic character of the same name. Q is Q. It doesn't mean anything. "A couple of the listener suggestions came close," said Ghomeshi, former front man for the eclectic but now resting Toronto band Moxy Frvous. "Naming the show reminded me a lot of naming a band -- it's something you defer because you want consensus. But when someone mentioned 'Q' there was a pause in the room and we went 'yes, that's it.' It felt like the right name. It's an enigmatic letter we hope will become associated with the show." Q launched in April and is the main plank in CBC Radio One's re- shuffle which also includes an extension of the international evening affairs show Dispatches and the dispatching of Shauna "Promo Girl" MacDonald whose contract expired last month. Her replacement is a Promo Guy, Jeremy Harris, who performs double duty on Radio One and Radio Two. The Radio One changes follow a refurbish of Radio Two's evening programming, which is the start of a push to attract a younger audience -- younger, that is, than the current 65-plus who comprise almost half the station's audience. More changes are coming the way of Two but nothing CBC radio management is ready to talk publicly about. What they will happily talk about are ratings, which, given current trends in radio, are impressive. While commercial radio listening is down across the board in Canada, CBC has held steady and its listeners have remained faithful: Nationally, CBC radio commands about a 10-per-cent share of the radio audience with larger chunks in some areas -- most notably in the Ottawa region where a quarter of the adult radio listening population is all CBC all the time -- either One or Two or a slice of both. The remaining three-quarters is scattered among the myriad of commercial stations. Nationally, those CBC percentages mean that approximately 2.75 million adult anglophones listen to Radio One each week while about 850,000 tune in to Radio Two. The numbers are approximate because CBC only calculates data in areas of the country where it owns stations. Another way of looking at it is that about one in seven radio- listening Canadians regularly tune in to Radio One and about one in 20 listen regularly to Radio Two. That share of the audience hasn't changed significantly for many years but data shows that CBC listeners are tuning in for longer periods and listening less to other stations. Barry Kiefl, a ratings specialist and president of Ottawa-based Canadian Media Research, says it's difficult for non-CBC listeners to appreciate the loyalty that CBC radio commands. "When you tell people outside of that one-quarter group that CBC radio is No. 1 in Ottawa," he says, "they don't believe you because they never listen to CBC." As with most radio, commercial or public, CBC gets its biggest audiences in the mornings. Anna Maria Tremonti, host of The Current, is the most listened to morning radio host in Canada. The CBC says it is now in the top three in 14 of the 18 markets in which it has stations. So if it wasn't broken, why fix it? Challenging what appears to be an obvious conclusion, Jennifer McGuire, chief of CBC radio programming, says the Radio Two changes were implemented not to attract a younger audience but a "sustainable" one. "The Radio Two audience is good and very important to us," she says, "but the reality is that no new audience is coming in and any new audience that does come in is in the 65-plus demographic. So there are no 50-, 40- or 30-year-olds coming in. Long term, that is not sustainable. But we're targeting the service to adults; we're not going after teenagers." There were two other considerations also, she says: To widen the musical selection of CBC to better reflect the homegrown musical output and to make Radio Two relevant where it currently has no impact -- especially in the Maritimes where its audience is tiny to non- existent. "Radio Two does well in Vancouver but does badly in the Maritimes," says McGuire. "And that matters." Two, she hastens to add, is still 88-per-cent classical but has broadened its jazz content and, with Canada Live, will carry more "regional" music. McGuire's decision to shorten news content on Radio Two is forcing news junkies to flip channels and, according to listener reaction, is a major irritant. Changes at Radio One, adds McGuire, are also being driven by the results of a massive arts and culture study the CBC launched across the country three years ago. "It had implications for Radio One around comedy, arts journalism and drama," she says. Which is why there will be more drama in morning prime time and more comedy and arts journalism across the schedule. For better or worse, the changes mean that some programs have bitten the dust, including Radio One's trailblazing Global Village that featured world music and mini-documentaries from around the globe. The rest of the CBC schedule simply caught up with Global Village, says McGuire. "Global Village was a phenomenal success story," she says, "but we found that a lot of the musicians it was bringing to CBC radio are now part of our mainstream. It's the same thing with the stories -- many you'll be hearing on The Current. So the need that created Global Village has morphed into something that's more mainstream." Faithful listeners exact a price for their loyalty and reaction to the changes -- especially on Radio Two -- has not been universally warm. Listeners communicate through Internet discussion groups and blogs -- including the CBC's own blog, which has featured much discussion. Friends of Canadian Broadcasting spokesman Ian Morrison says he hasn't been inundated with complaints but has had "a few e-mails" every day since the changes began. "The writers aren't in cahoots but you notice certain patterns," he says. "These people seem to feel that Radio Two belongs to them and it's part of their life. If someone mucks around with it, it really pisses them off and they say it's going to the dogs. I'm sure it's not going to the dogs. It's changing and if it didn't change over time it would end up becoming totally irrelevant. Some people really like the changes, I'm sure, but they don't send e-mails to Ian Morrison saying 'what the hell is happening?' " Although CBC radio runs relatively cheaply -- Radio One costs about $100-million a year and Radio Two $10- to $12-million -- the publicly funded broadcaster runs a risk, however small, of irritating influential decision-makers. "CBC is clearly making a determined effort to reach certain demographics," Morrison says, "but in the process they are annoying a lot of very important Canadians -- judges, CEOs, politicians etc. I don't know how to quantify that elite thing but there could be a political implication -- you're annoying people who are the decision- makers or who talk to decision-makers. But in a month or two I think it will settle down and people will be used to it." (Ottawa Citizen via Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. If anybody is still interested, the NW Broadcasting Recent News strip reporting on AM Stereo Broadcasting on stations in Van and Vic is not totally accurate by saying that CKNW 980 and CHMB 1320 activate stereo lights when the signal is mono. They are in fact still stereo according to my Sony WMF-16 FM-AM stereo cassette player and my still good ears. Don't believe everything you read, even if it's a direct copy of what should be accurate info. Correct me if I'm wrong, go ahead (Bill in SW BC, May 6, IRCA via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Do Canadians care about CHU? I have posted several items originally in DXLD about WHRI arrogantly taking over CHU`s 7335 frequency for 5 hours a day at 0600-1100 UT, and registered with FCC to use it the entire 24 hours; and suggested courses of action to prevent this. AFAIK, this has been met with a resounding silence on this list. Is it just general apathy, or am I wasting my time trying to defend a Canadian institution against American intrusions? 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, ODXA yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I believe that CHU, specifically the NRC, are the ones that should be logging a formal complaint, as they are the licensed user of the frequency. If they don't complain, then know matter what we do or say, will be meaningless. The last time I checked, CHU only has a limited broadcasting license for 7335. For all we know, "limited" might be a time issue or maybe on of those "must accept interference" type things. 73 de (Dave - VA3DBJ, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada (FN03pw), http://www.va3dbj.info/ http://www.scannerdesk.com/ ibid.) NRC I hope is doing that, or will be as the wheels grind slowly, as they are certainly aware of the problem. A bit of moral support, at least, might be expressed by Canadian hams & SWLs, unless of course, they really don`t care. I brought it up on this list for obvious reasons, but maybe I should try some others. I realize a lot of members of the ODXA yg are no more Canadian than I am. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, USA, ibid.) I think it would be helpful if American users of CHU would file comments on this to the FCC. The FCC exists to serve Americans, not Canadians. They probably don't really care how this affects listeners in Canada, but if they get complaints from listeners in the United States, they may take it more seriously (Greg Shoom, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ibid.) Purposefully playing the skeptic: What service does CHU provide Americans that WWV and WWVH do not? I'll admit that I'll tune there first when I'm setting a watch or a radio's clock, but most of the time I can also receive one of WWV/WWVH's frequencies as well. Does that fact that CHU's license is now a *broadcast* license instead of a *fixed service* license mean that the typical rules of the road - - i.e. that stations interfered with must do the complaining -- now apply? (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) According to their own site: "CHU has been granted a limited broadcast licence to continue operations on 7.335 MHz as well as on 3.330 MHz and on 14.670 MHz." I have also sent emails to all parties from the ODXA regarding our 'concerns' over the matter. Not sure if that will do any good but you never know. Here is a response from CHU. Please email the people below and let them know your not at all happy with the situation. Also, please pass this email along to other groups and continue the fight. Brian Smith Ontario DX Association Board of Directors, am740 @ rogers.com ---------------------------------- viz.: Hello Brian, I am aware of this situation. CHU has a licence to broadcast on 7.335 MHz and this frequency has been registered with ITU, HFCC, FCC and other broadcast authorities. This, however, does not guaranty that we own this frequency, for all international purposes. We must now fight for it, with the FCC. I have sent several letters to WHRI, but their chief engineer has not replied to me. I have also sent a letter to the FCC stating the use of our service on this band and our long standing service at this frequency. They have yet to respond. We must now go through all politically correct channels to resolve this dispute. But the members of your association can use other mean declare their dissatisfaction with the interference from WHR. Have your interested members send email to WHR lsarkisian @ lesea.com and the FCC thomas.lucey @ fcc.gov This may have more impact. Regards, Raymond Pelletier ============================================ Frequency and Time Institute for National Measurement Standards National Research Council Canada M-36, room 1026 1200 Montreal Road Ottawa, Canada K1A 0R6 (via Brian Smith, ODXA, ibid.) Everyone's favourite Canadian radio station is CHU http://inms-ienm.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/time_services/shortwave_broadcasts_e.html (via Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Sez who? ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrakes: 15150, very weak at 2333 May 5; *0000 -0010 May 6, VOA (Thailand) in Chinese, fair reception, well on top of weak Firedrake and unidentified station under them, VOA singing jingle in English at 0007. On 18160, 2355-0000* May 5, *0005-0010 May 6, with good reception, presumably against Sound of Hope (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I also noticed FD May 7 at 1415, rather weak on 15150. Here is the explanation: (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear OM, 24 hrs type Firedrake. Now operating on 9200, 10300, 13970, 15150 (ex. 14500) and 18160 kHz. Cf. Bi List A07 * mark: http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/bia07.txt de S. Aoki (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, UT May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: 15150* VOICE OF AMERICA 0000-0200 1234567 Chinese 500 30 Udon Thani THA 10245E1725 IBB a07 15150* Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH 0000-2400 1234567 Chinese 10 325 Tanshui TWN 12125E2511 SOH a07 May 5- 15150 VOICE OF INDONESIA 0030-0100 1234567 Spanish 250 318 Jakarta- Cimanggis INS 10651E0612 VINDO b06 15150 VOICE OF INDONESIA 0100-0200 1234567 English 250 318 Jakarta- Cimanggis INS 10651E0612 VINDO b06 . . . . . . and VOI listings continue on. So VOI is now out of luck if they use 15150 at any daypart. This also bears on the Firedrake 15150 entry April 27 at http://shortwavemusic.blogspot.com/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems Chinese jammer on 15150 is now a 24 hrs operation, thanks to Ron Howard. Also CNR echo word program jammer (3 times time shifted by half second or so ...) noted on other channels. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. See SPAIN [non] ** CUBA. Re pop-ups on new RHC web link: No pop-ups when I access the website. Are you sure it was triggered by this URL? Apart from that, http://rhc.cu is just an additional name for the "old" http://www.radiohc.cu Both websites have the same DNS: 200.55.129.3, i.e. when you type "rhc.ru" what you actually get is the "traditional" website radiohc.cu, nothing changed except the URL you type (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, I tried it twice and exactly the same thing happened (gh, DXLD) No-Pop ups when I access. Even its English portal http://rhc.cu/ingles/portada.htm (Ashik Rajshahi, Bangladesh, ibid.) I just tried that URL, and my Firefox browser blocked a pop-up. When I bypassed the pop-up blocker, I was subjected to a screensaver ad from ilead.itrack.it, which reportedly is a marketing company that serves ads. See http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1081991813 for more information. So RHC might be turning capitalist! :) (--Larry Cunningham, ibid.) Perhaps this only happens to users in the US (gh, DXLD) I haven't been to RHC's site this year, but I have been seeing strange pop ups and mysteriously-multiplying windows on normally benign sites in the past 10-12 hours as we speak (since about 0400 UTC May 6). A couple have evidently caused minor ops system crashes. Perhaps the Polyesteroids of Promotion Pod People are finally taking control of it all (GREG HARDISON, ibid.) I disabled my Firefox popup blocker and got an ad for some freebie software. Firefox does an amazing job of blocking popups. 73/Liz (Liz Cameron, MI, ibid.) This is interesting. Definitely no pop-ups over here with IE6 from a European ISP, and I can't find anything "unusual" in the code of the raw text, unless I missed it. There are two notable links included in the script: one for Google (which is the search machine on the site) and one for Webstats. Actually there are now three URLs for the same website: http://www.radiohabanacuba.co.cu http://www.radiohc.cu http://www.rhc.cu (all work with and without "www"). Do the pop-ups appear with these, too? Looks like something gets added "on the way" when accessing from a U.S. ISP? The next question would be, by whom? To me this looks almost like "sabotage", trying to annoy deliberately and consequently to prevent visitors from accessing the site (Bernd Trutenau, ibid.) On IE, I get the screensaver popups on the first two but not the third. However, other popups have been intercepted. On Firefox, I do not get any popups, even when I allow the main website to fully load. Have not opted to allow webstats4u.com which is also prompted (Glenn, ibid.) ** CUBA. 6180 kHz, Radio Nacional de Venezuela signing on at 0958 UT in Spanish, good reception. From about 1053, a carrier nearly covered it, then with Radio Havana Cuba IS signing on in Spanish. Venezuela poorly heard underneath until 1100. May 7th. Grundig YB400 PE with random long wire (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, ODXA yg via DXLD) Lack of coördination between two different Cuban sites? (gh, DXLD) ** CYPRUS TURKISH NORTHERN. Bayrak International heard on 6150 Monday 7 May tuned to 6150 after 0200 sign-off of R. República on 6155, which effectively blocks 6150. DGS via Costa Rica again off for at least the last 3 evenings, and hearing non-stop nice pop/rock music with surprisingly decent signal, though nothing heard last few nights this time period. 0217 recognized Lenny Kravitz tune. I pulled up their website, and pulled up live stream of Bayrak International, and sure enough songs are matching up, including the Kravitz tune. Audio keeps dropping out on the live stream, for some reason, and keeps coming up with a Buffering xx% complete message on bottom left, so only hearing little bits and pieces of songs, but when I can it matches up with what's on the air. Too bad there's no announcements, though, as I have seen others have reported in this time period. Will lose it 0300 when R. Romania Intl. comes on in English for an hour. Wonder if will still be able to hear Bayrak International after RRI goes off 0400? Would be nice, as I believe they're live then, which is 7 a.m. TRNC time. First time ever heard by me, and still surprised at nice signal level, varying S-8 to S-9 on FRoG-100B's S-meter, as it seems this one is rarely reported heard in North America. C/H# 215 for me. [Later:] 0258 RRI did come on, but not as strong as usual, and 0300 could still hear Bayrak playing what I think is called 'La Vida Loca' (is this Ricky Martin?) underneath. 0306 still hearing vocal by W underneath with still fair signal. Can't believe how well Bayrak is coming in, after years of not hearing a thing from them. Hope still coming in 0400, but as that's 0700 local, might be a little late after sunrise for them to still come through on 49-m.b. frequency. Will keep my fingers crossed though (Alex Vranes, Jr., Harpers Ferry, WV, Yaesu FRG-100B and 200-ft. (60.9-m.) dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [non]. WRMI is not always audible on 9955, jamming or not, but Monday May 7 at 1832 without jamming, some station in English, poor signal. Per WRN schedule during this semihour it`s Radio Prague. Why isn`t this defacto relay on RP`s transmission schedule? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENIN DIGEST) ** ERITREA. Missing from 7100 --- A friend in East Africa who listens to Eritrea every day says that the 7100 signal disappeared at the end of last week, although 7175 continues on air. It might just be a simple technical problem, though amateur "intruder watch" reports often complain that 7100 is in their band, so I wonder if the Eritreans have decided to move it to an in-band channel. Any observations welcome (Chris Greenway, UK, May 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. See GERMANY, a QSL report filed under site ** FINLAND [non]. See GERMANY [non non] ** GERMANY [non non]. Now I went through the complete schedule of Family Radio via Germany, effective May 10: Maximum transmitter occupation at Wertachtal will be *nine* ones simultaneously, all at full 500 kW, in detail 1600-1700 on 11680, 11730, 11870, 12020, 13620, 13630, 15650, 15705 and 15750. First I was wondering if the old SV2500's will see much use anymore after DW abandoned the Wertachtal plant. This fully answers my question: Yes. The latest schedule update for TSI M&B also shows 7140 at Nauen as on air from March 25. Now it dawns to me why I heard it with such a poor signal on this and the subsequent days, much weaker than Pori at 220 degrees used to be here: No "return to air" whatsoever, apparently 7140 was never on air from Pori at all and instead run by Nauen from the first day. Yes, I noted a delay to // Wertachtal, but Wolfgang already reported this for the other Polskie Radio transmissions via Nauen as well. Scenario: Wertachtal is equipped to pick up PR's internal audio distribution on Eutelsat W3A (7 deg East), but no such equipment has been set up at Nauen so far, thus they take the public Hotbird signal instead which is delayed due to the additional multiplexing etc. involved here (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Then how and why did the Pori story get started? (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Random Program Recommendations -- Deutsche Welle “Insight” There was much talk before the March 2007 seasonal changes that Deutsche Welle was going to be shifting more to a “rolling news” format, and dropping its feature programming. This turned out to be a false rumor – while “Newslink” is now updated more often each day (11 times) than it had been (6 times), the basic approach to the schedule – news and current affairs in the first half of each hour, feature programming the second half of each hour – has not changed. This is good – because Deutsche Welle continues to produce some decent feature programs that are worth listening to via shortwave / live audio / on- demand audio. One of these is “Insight” – a weekly 15-minute gem that offers perspective on the news by looking at the big political picture while paying special attention to the everyday lives of people on the ground. “Insight” also provides background information in the run-up to major international conferences and treaties. A recent edition profiled Islamists of Bosnia and articulated how they rejected radical Islamic motives and initiatives; this single topic comprised all 15 minutes of the program. “Insight” airs on Saturdays and Sundays; shortwave airings that are likely audible, though inconvenient, in North America include 0430 and 0630 Saturdays. Listeners to CBC Overnight on CBC Radio One hear “Insight” Wednesdays at 5:30 AM local time (Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 11640, Freie Volksmission Krefeld via DTK-Wertachtal transmitter. Confirmation e-mail response letter for an e-mail report to: Walter.Brodowsky @ t-systems.com Reply in 6 days. v/s: Walter Brodowsky. See DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-046, April 15, 2007 for the unidentified logging which was later confirmed as this station per schedule and information supplied (Edward Kusalik-Alberta, CANADA, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13630, Voice of Democratic Eritrea via DTK Jülich Transmitter. E-mail verification response for a e-mail report to: Walter.Brodowsky @ t- systems.com Reply in 2 days v/s: Walter Brodowsky (Edward Kusalik- Alberta, CANADA, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GHANA. GHANA off 4915 --- A friend in Ghana has confirmed that the GBC is definitely not on shortwave at present (this has been the position for a while, as Jari says). (Chris Greenway, UK, May 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Note how the proposal to revive transmissions via the Kavála station speaks about ten transmitters. Apparently IBB took away the mediumwave unit as well as the two ex-Glória 419F transmitters, just as it had been reported last year. I gather that the ten 419D transmitters from 1973 and the complete antenna system had been left untouched when they finally handed over the station to the Greek authorities in March (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think that this is the A. Mina mentioned in the May 5 Glenn Hauser report [about reactivating Kavala to sell time to gospel huxters]: Continental Electronics' Mina Named Chairman of USA DRM Dallas - Jul 17, 2006 - Adil Mina, vice president of business development for Continental Electronics, has been named chairman of the USA Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Group. Founded in May 2004, the USA DRM Group is an organization of broadcasters and manufacturers who joined forces to promote the introduction of DRM in the United States. The previous chairman of DRM USA was Jeff White, who stepped down to become president of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB). Mina began his career with Continental Electronics in 1966. His experience includes design engineer, installation supervisor, project engineer and program manager on transmitter products up to 2 MW. He was responsible for the design and development of the Continental Electronics 500 kW high-frequency transmitter and the high-efficiency solid-state modulator, which is found in installations around the world (via John Babbis, DXLD) A Continental press release? ** GREECE. Voice of Greece, 9420, 0240 May 2, English, 433, Vocal folk music. YL announcer and more folk music. // 7475, 333 (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That was UT Wed; another previously unknown English segment? Playback of Sunday 2305 Greek in Style? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA [and non]. Friday's Es [sporadic E TV DX May 4; see also MEXICO] --- YSR-2 El Salvador (logo), TGSS-2 Guatemala (Trecevisión logo upper right). TGSS-2 is new. Their Website is not working, but the logo is on the Identifying TV DX from Latin America site (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, May 5, WTFDA via DXLD) ** HAWAII. AMENDMENTS TO CONSTRUCTION PERMITS 870, KHNR, HI Honolulu - Licensed for U3 50000/50000, KHNR has a CP to move to 880 kHz with U1 10000/10000, sharing the tower with co-owned stations KHCM, KGU, and KZOO. This amendment requests U1 2000/2000. A special condition of the KHNR construction permit limits the field strength that may be present at the FCC’s Waipahu, Hawaii monitoring station, which limits the KHNR antenna input power to approximately 2600 Watts. So the licensee has reduced the requested power to 2000 Watts (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News May 16 via DXLD) However, we recently had a report they had already moved to 880 (gh, DXLD) Glenn, Both 870 and 880 are silent at this time. I don't think they have been diplexed (quadplexed?) into the 690, 760, 1210 tower yet. Funny that they have to reduce power to 2,000 watts, as both 690 and 760 run 10,000 watts on the same tower. It could be because of the FCC monitoring station, but it could also be a reduction to protect mainland stations on 880, without having to run a directional antenna, as it is a change in frequency, and a whole new set of protected contours on 880 comes into play. Regards, (Brock Whaley, HI, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3340 kHz, HRMI, R Mi, Comayagüela, 0335 UT 5/5, Spanish pop songs, good reception and clear 34333. RX 545 antenne Kaz +lw100meter + ala1530 Gr (Maurits van Driessche, Belgium, BDX via DXLD) ** HUNGARY. Problemas en Radio Budapest??? Saludos cordiales: Este semana es la tercera vez que repiten el programa de "Revista del Diexismo" en Radio Budapest. El del pasado domingo, al menos tuvieron la delicadeza de anunciar que se trabaja de la repetición del mismo programa del domingo anterior; esta semana no comentan nada, ni siquiera nombran a Sergio Pérez que es el que lo realiza. El resto de programas son repeticiones de los emitidos con anterioridad. Cabe la posibilidad de que se estén avecinando los problemas que nos comentaba Sergio Pérez desde este programa. http://real1.radio.hu/nemzeti.htm Un cordial saludo (José Bueno, Córdoba - España, May 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Respecto a la situación de Radio Budapest según comenta Sergio Pérez la situación es la siguiente: Los trabajadores no saben nada de nada, no existe comunicación entre los trabajadores y la dirección; todavía no saben cómo y cuando se realizarán los despedidos, ni quienes se verán afectados. Por otra parte solicitan nos abstengamos de realizar ningún tipo de campaña de protesta, ya que la dirección está algo nerviosa tras el cierre de la redacción italiana y las cartas de protesta recibidas por tal medida. Sergio Pérez, locutor de la sección española de Radio Budapest, solicita por el momento nos abstengamos de enviar cartas de protesta. (No lo entiendo, pero así están las cosas). (José Miguel Romero, Spain, May 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA [and non]. Hello friends: I listened today at 1312-1330 to a Chinese program, 17705 kHz. Abrupt sign-off at 1330. Possible AIR- Bangalore but station frequency schedule shows 1145 to 1315. Sorry, neighbouring or Indian SWL's, I hope you help me about this log. Thanks & 73's, Saludos cordiales, (Tomás Méndez, Spain, May 7, Rx: Grundig Sat 700, Sony ICF SW7600GR, Icom IC-R2, HCDX via DXLD) China jams Chinese-language broadcasts from AIR. Perhaps it was the jamming you heard, running a bit over for good measure. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Equivocación --- Sorry, but you muddled up with the accompanied China Mainland jamming 'Firedrake' program also in Mandarin Chinese, which last longer in duration than the AIR program. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) Since he said it was in Chinese, I supposed he meant there was spoken word, not just music, so not Firedrake (gh, ibid.) Hello: Is OK, not Firedrake typical songs, Chinese talk by female, I am confused. Possible jamming using CNR relay? really AIR?? Tomorrow I will try to listen to it for the second opportunity. Thanks (Tomás Méndez, ibid.) I heard the programme on 17705 kHz a few weeks ago over the weekend. Excellent signal here in Germany, no interference or fading at all. There was programming in Chinese listed for AIR, but this was much too strong for an Indian station. I could not figure out where it came from. Could it be a transmitter site somewhere in Europe? Regards, (Jürgen Fenn, Germany, ibid.) ** INDIA. Report on DRM Workshop in New Delhi Dear friends, The DRM ABU AIR Showcase Project - Digital Radio Transmission Workshop commenced in the Conference Hall of Directorate General, All India Radio, Akashwani Bhawan, New Delhi today 7 May 2007. Various aspects of DRM was discussed there by the specialists from the field. It was attended by Mr. Alokesh Gupta and myself. There were delegates from NBC Papua New Guinea, Radio Brunei, Bhutan Broadcasting Service, TWR etc. of special interest to us. Also there were Suptg. Engineer from AIR Panaji SW, Station Engineer of AIR Bangalore SW and officials from several other AIR stations. We were told that AIR Bangalore SW is interested in reports from Malaysia & Singapore for their Tamil broadcasts. Similarly AIR Panaji SW is interested in reports of their transmissions to the Middle East. We also got info that the 100 kw SW transmitter of Bhutan BS was damaged in transit but it is hoped that they will put it on air by the end of this month. As part of this workshop a new 100 kw Thales TMW 2100 transmitter operating on 666 kHz at Delhi was put on air yesterday. DRM transmissions is tested on this transmitter. Antenna installation is in progress for another new Hitachi TS 1102 SW transmitter and it is expected to be on by tomorrow. They are scheduled to test DRM on 26100 kHz with 500 watts during local day time and on 3315 kHz with 2 kW at night. The workshop ends on 12 May 2007. DRM Tests are also noted on 6100 kHz from a 250 kW transmitter. Today afternoon there were field visits to different transmitter sites of AIR Delhi which was the highlight for me and Alokesh. Some more details are in the official AIR website: http://www.allindiaradio.gov.in/schedule/showcase_project1.html (Jose Jacob, May 7, dx_india via DXLD) Dear friends, Upon visit to AIR HQ, it is learnt that the new Director, Frequency Assignments of AIR is Mr. V. P. Singh. He replaces Mr. Y. K. Sharma who was transferred. For the record, it is Director, Frequency Assignments who signs on all QSL cards issued by AIR HQ. For a sample AIR QSL please click: http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos/qsls/Aligarh_SW.jpg 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI Jakarta, 1005-1020* May 6, KGRE program #5508 presented by Sue & Kevin, idioms "Cannot teach an old dog new tricks", etc., song by the Little River Band "Cool Change", fair, off in mid- sentence, they had not return by 1030. VOI not heard today on any frequency (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15150 blocked by Firedrake against Sound of Hope: see CHINA ** INTERNATIONAL. SCOUTING'S SUNRISE INTO THE NEW CENTENARY On August 1, 2007, a vast network of amateur radio stations around the world will support Scouting's Sunrise into the new Centenary. The Sunrise Ceremony will take place on August 1, 2007 at 8:00 AM local time in each country. Starting in the East and continuing towards the West as time progresses, several countries will organize a get-together and ceremonies in the morning. We are aiming at transmitting sound and possibly images from the "sunrise zone" to GB100BI at Brownsea Island and to GB100J at the 21st World Scout Jamboree site in Chelmsford, UK, using short-wave amateur radio and / or the Echolink system. As time evolves that day, Brownsea will have a growing overview of the Scouting Sunrise activities around the world, starting e.g. with Kiribati in the East and ending 24 hours later in Samoa in the West. A general overview of the Sunrise Ceremony, is presented here http://eng.scouting2007.org/activities/sunrise/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Smax of Easter, but seemingly secular, tho we know the Scouts are axually a religionist group. However, 8 am local is long after sunrise in the N Temperate Zone, even in August with DST; rather imprecise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Internet Tip of the Day: Searching the Public Radio Fan website via Google I frequently use Kevin Kelly’s Public Radio Fan website for program information; you can use Google’s Advanced Search feature to very quickly navigate to specific program pages on the Public Radio Fan website. In the main Google search box, simply type in the name of the program in quotes, then add the text site:publicradiofan.com afterwards. For example, entering “newshour site:publicradiofan.com” will then bring you to the information page for the BBC’s Newshour program, complete with live webcast air times on the various streaming outlets available, along with, optionally, XM and Sirius airtimes and a link to the Newshour webpage on the World Service website. I find this search method much, quicker than following the menu tree on the Public Radio Fan website; this approach will work fine unless Kevin changes the organization of the website, which did happen earlier this year; Google caught up with the changes within a month. That’s all for May; best wishes for good listening, no matter how you listen! 73 DE Richard (Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** IRAN. IRAN ORDERS ALL TV DRAMA TO FEATURE PRAYER The conservative head of Iran’s state-run television has said all homegrown drama programmes should feature scenes showing characters praying or they will be denied airtime, the ILNA news agency reported today. ”In the current year, television productions that do not have prayer scenes will not be allowed to air,” said Ezatollah Zarghami, who is appointed by the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The new directive appears to apply to drama series and television films but it is not clear whether it also includes programmes such as game shows and sitcoms. Citing a scene in a popular Iranian series where a murder suspect is shown praying, Zarghami said: “Prayer scenes should not be confined to positive and leading characters, the elderly and the clean-living types.” He said children’s programmes should also seek to teach the young about praying, which mature Muslims are required to perform five times a day as one of the five pillars of Islam. All television and radio broadcast in Iran is state-controlled and the six national TV channels air a wide range of homegrown programmes as well as foreign documentaries, series and films. Though conservative in its overall policy, Iranian television has experienced some relaxation since Zarghami took over two years ago, showing recent Hollywood films and controversial talk shows putting politicians and celebrities in the hot seat. Religion also plays a conspicuous role. Programming is interrupted for the broadcast of the daily prayers, newsreaders invoke God before each bulletin and there are frequent readings from the Kor`an. Officials have sought to make domestic television programmes more appealing in the past years to compete with satellite television channels which are banned in Iran but watched by many Iranians. (Source: AFP)( May 7th, 2007 - 13:55 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Could this ever happen in the USA? You bet, if the religious right gains more power (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** IRELAND. Random Program Recommendations --- RTE Radio 1 – “Sound Exchange” RTE – the national broadcaster of Ireland – has recently had a shortwave presence that largely consists of a portion of the evening drive time news program, “Live At Five”. However, there’s much more than “Live At Five” that’s worth listening to on RTE Radio 1, and, thanks to live and on-demand streaming options, it’s easy to sample some of this programming diversity. “Sound Exchange” is a six-part documentary series that began in April, and highlights the sounds of everyday objects, and how those objects play an important role in our lives. This is a series tailor-made for radio (versus TV), as the listener has to visualize these objects and reflect on the role they have in the listener’s life. The first edition aired April 12th, and focused on the telephone, including its history in Ireland and the general history surrounding the invention of the phone. As another example, the April 19th program focused on clocks. Even though you’ll read this column after four of the six installments have gone to air, the previously-aired editions are available for online streaming at the RTE website, http://www.rte.ie/radio1 highlight soundexchange (no space, one word) in the Find Your Show Here text box. By the way, the RTE Radio 1 website contains a treasure trove of archived programming for series that have left the air; click on the link labeled Previous Shows (Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Galei Zahal Israel still wandering, varying around 15794.12 kHz at 0718 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Stuttgart Germany, May 6, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Glenn, I've been contemplating sending a reception report to Voice of Korea for quite some time, but I doubt that it would ever get there no thanks to inspection from the authorities here in Canada or there in South Korea. Would it be easier to send the letter through a middleman in a country with good relations with DPRK or should I just send it direct from Canada? (Jon Pukila, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jon, Other Canadians have had no trouble, as I recall, such as Sue Hickey in Newfoundland. Americans used to have trouble, but as recently pulished, reports are also getting thru from here. (Altho the item we had did not explicitly say whether it was sent direct.). Suggest you try it anyway. I don`t see why South Korea should have anything to do with it (Glenn to Jon, via DXLD) QSL from Ross Comeau [Massachusetts?]: North Korea: Voice of Korea/Radio Pyongyang: 9335, F/D cd in 106 days. Also received a station pin, pennant, program schedule, three brochures from the Korea Stamp Corporation including one for the "140th Anniversery of Sinking down of the US Aggressive Ship 'General Sherman," a small colorful 3D calander, and a magazine entitled "Foreign Trade of the DPRK," which included an ad for a company selling a UHF marine radio sets. Very interesting QSL package! I have been trying to verify this station many times over the years, usually with no reply. When sending through a Japanese intermediary, I received a letter from a person claiming to be a North Korean dissident working at Radio Pyongyang. My last attempt resulted in a similar package from this station, including a letter referring to an enclosed QSL, but the QSL was missing! Thanks to some friends in Canada who facilitated this for me, I received the QSL this time. Some other notes of interest: both the QSL and letter still refer to this station as "Radio Pyongyang," adespite the name change that has been in effect on air for a few years now, and the trade magazine was a stark contrast to the "Dear Leader" propaganda material that was typically sent until recently (NASWA Flashsheet May 6 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Dear Mr. Hauser, please one info from today for the famous WoR Program: DPRK or North Korea: Starting from today at 0700 UT radio Voice of Korea is using the new own A-07 schedule. Here are the 1-hour transmissions in English, heard here and announced on V of Korea: NAm 1300 and 1500 on 9335 and 11710 Euro 1300 and 1500 and 1800 and 2100 on 13760 and 15245 and 4405 SEAs 1000 on 11735, 13650, 3560 and at 0200 on 13650, 15100, 4405 C&SAm 1000 on 11710, 15180 ME&NAf 1600 on 9990, 11545, 3560 and at 1900 on 9975, 11535, 3560 NE Asia 0100 and 0300 both on 7140, 9345, 9730, 3560 CAm 0100 on 11735, 13760, 15180 SAf 1800 on 7100, 11900 So same as in A-06. 73s, with respects, (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. The name of Social Education Service, called 'KBS Sahoe Gyoyuk Bangsong' in Korean, will be changed to One-Korea Network, called 'KBS Hanminjok Bangsong', from August 15th. * KBS : Korean Broadcasting System ('Northeast Asian Broadcasting Institute' in Seoul Korea, http://www.neabi.com May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. 9290 kHz Relay this Wednesday May 9th Radio Mi Amigo 1900-2100 UT Good Listening (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. Construction progress on the Mahajanga SW site: http://www.sscofc.org/family/bulletins/V_24_07_Feb_18_07.pdf Sunday, February 11 - WCBC Special Contribution - $7,845.09 World Christian Broadcasting - Update from Mahajanga, Madagascar (Madagascar World Voice) - The third shipment carrying antenna earth anchors arrived in Madagascar. The projects that we have completed include building the security fence, drilling a water well, the guard house, miles of road and foundations for other buildings. The earth anchors will be placed over the next few months. Kevin and Nancy left Alaska and are headed back to Madagascar to oversee more construction. The loading of the containers to be shipped from Houston in February includes all the towers, some expensive rigging equipment and $100,000 of building supplies. This is a very expensive shipment, and most is paid for already. Everything will be paid before it is shipped. Our excellent December and January income was extremely helpful in making all of these payments, and our bank has been helpful in providing an open account to us to use as needed. Our prayer is that we will seldom need to use it, and that it will be replenished quickly. The transmitters will be ordered soon. This is a $7 million project. We have raised about $3 million. Madagascar Staff: Kevin and Nancy Chambers and workers from Madagascar (via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, May 7, dxldyg via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Friday's Es [sporadic E TV DX May 4] IDs from XHFM-2 Veracruz (logo), XHGV-4 Las Lajas VER, XHTAU-2 Tampico news (circle-7 logo and Tamaulipus news, weather, and ads), XHQRO-2 Cancun (upper right 1138 CT), XHTAA-2 Tapachula Chiapas (upper left continuously), XHCH-2 Chihuahua (local ads), XHQ-2 Guamuchil ("XHQ TV" and Grupo Pacífico logo), and XEFB-2 Monterrey ("TELEACTIVA" logo uper right). XHTAA is a relayer of a government educational station on channel 10. The tiny text looks like this: CANAL 10 XHTAA Canal 2 Tapachula Chiapas (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport LA, May 5, WTFDA via DXLD) See GUATEMALA ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RE: [dxld] Former Media Network contributor dies David Rosenthal visited us two or three times, during Ray Briem Show "DX Specials", on ABC Talkradio in the 1980s, emanating from Los Angeles. He was always a welcome surprise addition to the entourage, although as I recall, we only had the time within programs to put him on the air once. I remember sputtering profanities to myself because of that fact --- one could not stand next to Dave for :30 seconds without winding up in a fascinating conversation cascading through any number of topics. I'm all for preserving his contributions on the Net for as long as possible, and send my sympathies to Donna. Also appreciated, is Wade Smith's circulation of this "previously reported" piece of news, as I had heard absolutely nothing about this (GREG HARDISON, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OBIT ** NEW ZEALAND. Random Program Recommendations Radio New Zealand International / National Radio: “Spectrum” Radio New Zealand International (RNZI), like Radio Australia, has long incorporated programming from affiliated domestic spoken-word public broadcasters. In RNZI’s case, its national partner is Radio New Zealand National Radio. Approximately half of RNZI’s 24-hour broadcast day consists of relayed programs from National Radio; like Australia’s Radio National, National Radio is a high-quality, mostly spoken-word service with a variety of documentaries, current affairs, interviews, seasoned with some music programming. Radio New Zealand’s domestic services dramatically enhanced their website in 2005, launching 24/7 live streaming audio and providing on- demand editions of most spoken-word programming. One example of National Radio programming that also airs on RNZI is “Spectrum”, a long-running weekly documentary / interview program that, according to the National Radio website, “…captures the essence of New Zealand through stories, landscape and people. [“Spectrum”] is the place for the quirky and colorful, for character and personality; for the portrayal of events and places. It tells a story rather than questions an issue.” I sampled a recent edition that consisted of a one-on-one interview with someone who was a member of BLERTA, an artistic and musical cooperative from the 1970s. The on-demand version I sampled was lacking in that there was no real “setup” for the program – the audio simply began with an interview, without any setup or introductions. If you are interested about New Zealand through stories of and by its people, it’s worth a listen. “Spectrum” airs on RNZI Sundays 0009 UTC; currently, RNZI uses 13730 kHz at that hour, which is probably dicey for North American reception. That timing is also when the program airs on the domestic National Radio service; both RNZI and National Radio offer live streaming, so you have two online choices for audio at that time. Spectrum’s first National Radio airing is Thursday 0730 UT, available outside New Zealand via streaming audio. For more information and past audio, visit the program website at http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/programmes/”Spectrum” [with the quotation marks??]{no, and not capitalized either:} http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/programmes/spectrum Radio New Zealand / National Radio – “Checkpoint” “Checkpoint” is analogous in concept to National Public Radio’s All Things Considered: It’s the afternoon news and current affairs program that reviews the day’s news and provides analysis of current events of interest to New Zealanders. However, what’s unique about “Checkpoint” is the fact that New Zealand is a smaller place than the USA, Canada, or Australia – New Zealand is about the size of, say, Colorado. That means that stories we’d consider regional news in the USA become national news in New Zealand, which offers a cozy feeling you won’t get from other country-wide public broadcasters. Sure, the UK – roughly the size of Oregon – is similar in size, but the BBC considers itself more of a global broadcaster and offers a more-global story mix than New Zealand’s National Radio. As a result, you’ll get weather and even traffic updates on “Checkpoint” woven right into the story mix. If you are interested in the Kiwi perspective on regional and international affairs, “Checkpoint” will serve you well. Like most current affairs programs, “Checkpoint” is a bit dry – which means it would likely be boring for a USA-based listener to tune in day after day, but if you’re like me, and want an occasional dose of current affairs from a different viewpoint than you get in North America, “Checkpoint” is worth your time (Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL TE REO IRIRANGI O AOTEAROA, O TE MOANA-NUI-A-KIWA P O Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand Phone: +(64 4) 4741 437. Facsimile +(64 4) 4741 433 E-mail address: info @ rnzi.com Web Address: http://www.rnzi.com Monday, April 30, 2007 FREQUENCY SCHEDULE Effective from 7 May, 2007 ANALOGUE SERVICE UTC NZ Time kHz Primary Target 1300 – 1550 0100 – 0350 6095 Pacific 1551 – 1850 0351 - 0650 7145 Fiji, Niue, Tonga Samoa, Cook Islands 1850 – 2050 0651 – 0850 11725 Pacific 2051 - 2358 0851 – 1158 15720 Pacific 2359 - 0458 1159 – 1658 13730 Pacific 0500 - 0658 1700 – 1858 9615 Pacific 0700 - 1058 1859 – 2258 6095 Pacific 1059 - 1258 2259 – 0058 9870 NW Pacific, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, Timor DRM SERVICE - A DRM Capable Receiver is required for this service UTC NZ Time kHz Primary Target 1200 – 1300 0000 – 0100 7145 Pacific 1300 - 1550 0100 – 0350 NO SERVICE 1551 - 1850 0351 - 0650 6095 Fiji, Niue, Tonga Samoa, Cook Islands 1851 – 2050 0651 – 0850 11675 Fiji, Niue, Tonga Samoa, Cook Islands 2051 – 2358 0851 – 1158 13730 NW Pacific, Solomon Islands , Vanuatu 2359 - 0458 1159 – 1658 15720 Pacific 0500 - 0658 1700 – 1858 11675 Pacific 0659 - 1158 1859 – 2358 {7145} (via Wolfgang Büschel, May 7, DXLD) Cf version from their website a few days ago in 7-053, which of course, this does not match. That said the DRM no service period would be 1300-1455, and had a one-hour gap in both at 2258 UT; also mixed in Analog and DRM, making it harder to follow each (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. Weakish Es on channel 2 brought another new one at about 1045 CT [1545 UT]: YNTC-2 Nicaragua, with the logo on a promo! The distance to Managua is about 1475 miles (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, May 5, WTFDA via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. OK tornado coverage --- Altho 3, sometimes 4 of the Oklahoma City TV stations are covering the tornado threat continuously, it seems that only one of them is streaming http://www.koco.com/video/13264674/index.html In case you would like to see how close this gets to Enid. Currently at 2000 UT Sunday about 150 km to the NW, and not moving in our direxion. KFOR-TV seems to have the edge with reporters on the scene, including David Payne, who gets much too excited and yells into his poorly- funxioning cellphone, but all of them have plenty of video of the aftermath. [Later:] Around 2040 UT KOCO went back to SBG, and the live streaming stopped. Tornado warning still applied to Woods County; when things heat up again in coverage area, no doubt will resume. It then came back sporadically, including bits of the ballgame just before and after, and even off-camera cuing, ``get ready``, etc. But then in the evening, when continuous tornado warning coverage occupied channel 5, there was no streaming. Might have to access from different link on homepage http://www.koco.com/index.html Look for a link on a red band at the top, not just to NEXRAD. The 13264674 page above still appeared the next day and video streaming tried to launch with no success. 4, 5 and less so 9, don`t hesitate to blow away their entire primetime network schedule in such situations. KSBI-52, which makes much of its weather coverage, since it is owned by a meteorologist, Brady Brus, ex-KWTV, really can`t compete, but it does have remote cameras installed in lots of towns, especially where it has translators, and also goes to continuous tornado coverage when things get really bad. KOKH-25 rarely does but warning maps in the corner and streamers are duplicated on its co-owned KOCB-34 (CW). KAUT-43 (MyTV) is owned by KFOR-4, and runs early news at 9 pm with the 4 crew; I haven`t really noticed how much if any live weather breaks also go on it, but doubt much. OKC TV station websites, the ones who do news/weather, some of which have video news archives if not live streaming: 4 [NBC]: http://www.kfor.com 5 [ABC]: http://www.koco.com 9 [CBS]: http://www.newsok.com [KWTV, soon to divorce from joint website with The Daily Disappointment] 13 [PBS]: http://www.oeta.onenet.net/ 25 [Fox]: http://www.kokh.com/ 30 [TM] : http://www.ktuztv.com 52 [Ind]: http://www.ksbitv.com/ According to Spanish newspaper ads, Univisión also does local news in OKC, but the channel situation there is very confused, low-power, and we don`t get it in Enid; Univisión on cable is the national satellite feed, not thru OKC. Wikipedia tries to explain it, but is somewhat ambiguous and contradictory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KUOK (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SCARBOROUGH REEF. Scarborough Reef 1997 Dxpedition on YouTube With the latest Scarborough Reef Dxpedition in the news at the moment a video of the 1997 Dxpedition has been posted on YouTube. It's amazing acheivment to operate from such a small lump of rock. Well worth watching see, http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may2007/bs7h.htm 73 (Trevor M5AKA, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) BS7, SCARBOROUGH REEF. The [2007y] BS7H DXpedition went QRT as scheduled at or about 0001z, May 6th. As this bulletin was being prepared, their Web page announced that the BS7H team made "NEARLY 45,000 QSOS". The team is probably very exhausted and glad to be out of heat and the salt water sea breezes. The reports throughout the week indicated that Scarborough Reef is an extremely hazardous location to operate from and team members were showing signs of it with fatigue and coral cuts. OPDX would like to thank the BS7H team for their hard work under the harsh conditions they had to endure over the past week, providing many in the DX community with a new DXCC entity which has put many on "Top of DXCC's #1 Honor Roll". QSL via KU9C. For updates, visit the BS7H Web Page at: http://www.bs7h.com Don, N1DG, BS7H's Webmaster, stated on one of the DX mailing lists that online logs will be available around May 15th. ADDED NOTE: Listen to an interesting interview with James Brooks, 9V1YC, made via sat phone from BS7H with Wolf Harranth, OE1WHC, at: http://www.dokufunk.org/upload/BS7H.MP3 It gives a good description of what the operators of BS7H had endured. (KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 May 7 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** SERBIA. Dear DXers! International Radio Serbia has a new interval signal, which is totally "Serbian", no more old Yugoslavian tune. If you want to hear it, just right click on the following link and choose "Save Target As": http://www.geocities.com/dlekic_dx/audio/INTL-R-SERBIA-interval-signal.wma Best regards! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, May 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dragan, So what is the name of it and what makes it totally Serbian? And what was the previous one called and what made it Yugoslavian? (Glenn, ibid.) The new interval signal contains initial tunes from the national anthem of Serbia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo%C5%BEe_pravde Best regards, RS (Ruslan Sakaviec, Minsk, Belarus, ibid.) ** SPAIN [non]. I didn`t realize that REE was running Cariari all day long on 11815, but that had to be the source of muffled Spanish, only fair signal, with auto timesignal on the half hour at 1830 May 7: yes, per HFCC: 11815 1000 2300 12 CRI 100 110 1234567 250307 281007 D SPANISH E REE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. Re: a question posed in a recent DXLD; which is the oldest transmitter still in use on shortwave? It may well be the 9770 transmitter used for the English language service of SLBC. Saturday Morning Show presenter Roshan Abhiseka mentioned that the transmitter, usually operated at 100 kW is presently on the air at just 10 kW due to a faulty transformer that dates back to the year 1941! The transmitter is to be retired later this year and will be sent to the Marconi museum. A new 100 kW unit will be put into service. The 15745 kHz transmitter, frequently off the air, is to be replaced by a 300 kW donated by NHK Japan. Some spares are being purchased before this transmitter can be put into service. A second, donated 300 kW is currently being used for the Hindi service in the 25 metre band. And spares costing 8 million SLR are being purchased to improve the performance of the 35 kW transmitter (presumably 6005 kHz) which is also frequently off air. Roshan also mentioned that the English language evening transmission, suspended a year ago, is to resume (David Woollan, Kathmandu, Nepal, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. Voice of Tibet --- Hi Glenn, re. ``Was the original connexion with FEBA ever made public before? (gh)`` (DXLD 7-049): See http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld1084.txt http://www.evrel.ewf.uni-erlangen.de/pesc/peaceradio-TIBET.html http://www.rsf.org/rsf/uk/html/asie/rapport/tibet.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here`s the pertinent part of the long RSF article: ``Initially hosted by Feba, a Christian radio station based in the Seychelles, VOT was forced to set up its own transmitter in Kazakhstan, central Asia, when the Chinese threatened to jam all Feba's programmes in September 1996. Then in 1997, the Chinese used the programmes of Easy FM, produced jointly with an Australian press group, to block out VOT's broadcasting frequency. The jamming stopped after the Australian station protested. In December 1998 it was the turn of Radio Canada Internationale to be used by the Beijing authorities to jam the Tibetan station. Officials of the state-run Canadian radio complained to the Chinese, and the jamming stopped the next day.`` ``Set up own transmitter in Kazakhstan``??? Really? Surely just hired time from existing transmitter(s). Dr Biener`s article mentions just `Central Asia`. DXLD 1-084 item is under CHINA/VIETNAM (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Skelton spurious splatter --- 9870 Skelton Cumbria site. KBS Korean service at 0700-0800 UT noted with terrible wide signal splatter of 34 kHz, from 9853 to 9887 kHz on May 6th. Observed on three different rx. 73 (wb df5sx, Stuttgart, Germany, 127 degrees from Skelton, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** U K. BBC World Service Highlights For Richer, For Poorer is a two part series, beginning Wednesday, May 16th, that looks at billionaires and those who live on less than a dollar a day, to discover how inequality affects them. The first program looks at India and China to look at how globalization has helped the poor in those two countries; the second program in the series talks to highflying and well rewarded bankers, and those who clean up after them, in the world’s financial districts to find out if all employees get a fair share of the profits. For Richer, For Poorer airs in the Wednesday Documentary time slot in a two-part series from Wednesday 16 May. Best shortwave airtimes in North America are probably those to West Africa: 1406, 2106. The program will no doubt be archived on the Web for on-demand listening and podcast listening; live webcast times at the BBC website include Wednesdays 0806, 1106, 1906, and 2306, plus Sundays 0906. Other live webcast times can be found at http://publicradiofan.com/cgibin/program.pl?programid=707 One Planet, the World Service environmental program, features a three- part series entitled Japan and the Whales; although Japan is firmly allied to the West on virtually every significant international issue, it continues to hunt threatened species of whale in the name of scientific research. Japan and the Whales looks at the political and cultural reasons underlying Japan’s whaling industry. Japan’s global image, the research alternatives, and Japan’s relations with the International Whaling Committee are all discussed in the series. African shortwave airtimes include Thursdays, 1432, 2232, beginning May 17th. Live webcast times include Thursdays 1132, 1532, 1932, and 2332, plus Saturdays 0732 and Sundays 0232. Global Perspectives continues in May, in the Friday Documentary timeslot. Entries include The Lucky Secret to Success, a documentary about the role of superstition and luck in the business doings of Hong Kong; The Lucky Secret. . . airs May 11th and is produced by RTHK, Radio Television Hong Kong. May 18th sees A True Brother, a documentary on the relationship of two brothers – one an evangelical Christian minister, the other in a long-term gay relationship; A True Brother is produced by Canada’s CBC. Shortwave air times include Fridays 1406 and 2106, targeting West Africa. Live webcast times include Fridays 0806, 1106, 1906 and 2306. After the conclusion of Global Perspectives, the Friday Documentary features an installment in the World Stories series. World Stories features documentaries produced by members of BBC’s non-English language services. May 25th sees the documentary Medellín Transformed, produced by Colombian- [something omitted?] Following decades of violence, much of it linked to the cocaine trade, Medellín in Colombia has now become a popular, safe tourist destination. Colombian-born journalist Luís Restrepo explores how this has been achieved. Restrepo discovers how Medellín’s Mayor Sergio Fajardo, a former mathematics professor, has used law, order and investment to help the city shed its overwhelmingly negative image. Different hours, different versions of Newshour The BBC World Service news and current affairs program, Newshour, remains one of the programs that receives plenty of BBCWS management attention and interest; Newshour now airs at 1300 UT on many US public radio stations, right after NPR’s flagship Morning Edition program. However, the version targeting the USA in this 1300 release is different from the version airing over shortwave at 1200 UT. The story selection for the American (1300) edition is different from the “world” edition at 1200, particularly in sports story selection. The 1200 edition features a specific block of time carved out for sports news of interest to expat Britons and those living in those countries whose sports heritage is derived from that of Great Britain. By comparison, the 1300 edition does not include this sports report, as many Americans have their own sports traditions and couldn’t care less about sports such as cricket and soccer. The story mix in the 1300 edition is selected to appeal to a North American audience and n bypasses most sports-oriented reporting. This tidbit was recently discussed in an edition of Over To You, the listener feedback program (Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** U S A. SHORTWAVE CENTER for May 2007 This month, we turn over this space to a topic that should be of utmost importance to stateside SWLs and DXers --- the continuing diminishment of the U.S.’s well-regarded and acclaimed international broadcaster, the Voice of America. In the following pages, you will find a series of statements by a number of commenters from a range of quarters assembled to bring you “up to speed” on the current dire straits in which the VOA finds itself. This series of statements are presented here without editorial comment, save for this one. It is the considered opinion of this writer that, while there are valid questions regarding effectiveness, distribution platforms and competing priorities facing international broadcasters, the current hostile policies of the BBG (the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees U.S. international broadcasting) and some in the U.S. government toward the VOA have been undertaken principally because the VOA is the only U.S. international broadcaster operating under a Congressionally granted charter that guarantees its journalistic independence. Not one of the other broadcasting entities created in recent years by the BBG is compelled by law to adhere to this nation’s most cherished principles. The current BBG and its sponsors apparently prefer a propagandistic approach toward this nation’s official communications with those overseas. To my mind this betrays a certain lack of confidence both in U.S. ideals and the ability of the international audience to discern the truth when given the facts, despite the incontrovertible evidence that it was the VOA’s (and RL/RFE’s) approach to international broadcasting in keeping with these ideals that were instrumental in gaining a successful completion to the Cold War. The current BBG policy is a dangerous and corrosive departure from longstanding American principles upon which the VOA first stood during the darkest days of the second world war and has continued to stand for sixty-five years now: “The news may be good, the news may be bad; we will tell you the truth.” It is my hope and that of others who are standing with the VOA in its hour of need that what you read in these pages will compel you to also stand with the VOA by contacting your representatives and key leaders in Congress. Tell them that we and they need to preserve what has worked best for this country for decades in its public diplomacy— the VOA and its strong dedication to reporting the truth wherever it leads. In order to overcome today’s challenges and those to come, we will need to embrace our most cherished principles, not undermine them. And, moreover, we need our public diplomacy to demonstrate the we believe in what we say (John Figliozzi, Shortwave Center, May NASWA Journal via DXLD) [most of the material which followed has already been in or linked from DXLD] ** U S A [non]. WYFR, many new relays: see GERMANY ** U S A. WUG-231 and Armed Forces Day Communications Test 2007 This is a reminder of this event coming up next weekend. For those who may not be familiar with it, here is some info in a nutshell: The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are co- sponsoring the annual military/amateur radio communications tests in celebration of the 57th Anniversary of Armed Forces Day (AFD). Although the actual Armed Forces Day is celebrated on Saturday, May 19, 2007, the AFD Military/Amateur Crossband Communications Test will be conducted 12 May 2007 to prevent conflict with the Dayton Hamvention (18-20 May 2007), which is the same weekend as the actual Armed Forces Day. The annual celebration features traditional military to amateur cross band communications SSB voice tests and copying the Secretary of Defense message via digital modes. These tests give Amateur Radio operators and Short Wave Listeners (SWL) an opportunity to demonstrate their individual technical skills, and to receive recognition from the Secretary of Defense and/or the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise. QSL cards will be provided to those stations making contact with the military stations. Special commemorative certificates will be awarded to anyone who receives and copies the digital Armed Forces Day message from the Secretary of Defense. I am the QSL manager for and will be one of the operators for one of the stations participating in the event: WUG-231. Here are the details of our operation: STATION: WUG-231 (12 May 1300Z - 13 May 0200Z) Frequency Emission Amateur Band 4032.9 kHz LSB 80M 7360.0 kHz LSB 40M 6826.0 kHz LSB 40M 14486.0 kHz USB 20M 14663.5 kHz USB 20M 20973.5 kHz USB 15M We will be operating from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers W.G. Huxtable Pumping Plant near Marianna, Arkansas. As an added "extra," I will be providing special QSL cards that will only be available for SWL reports. No return postage is necessary and you may send them to me at the postal address below, or via e-mail at jpogue @ midsouth.rr.com The postal address is: Jim Pogue AFD Test 2007 P. O. Box 3777 Memphis, TN 38173 USA Finally, here is the link for full details on the other stations participating in this year's tests. http://www.netcom.army.mil/mars/docs/ARMEDFORCESDAYFinal.doc Thanks, and I hope to get lots of reports from my fellow SWLs. 73s, (Jim Pogue/KH2AR, May 6, HCDX via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Re 7-053, DX-PEDITIONS: Glenn, John Bryant's report from Easter Island is absolutely fascinating! His observation re KFBK is very interesting, but possibly explainable. Generally, MF skywave propagation in N. America and between N. America and other locations is considered to be better the higher the MF frequency, according to the usual references (PoKempner of NTIA and others). Further, KFBK's antenna is located in a very flat high conductivity area N. of Sacramento and the Delta, and therefore is very favorably situated for low angle propagation to the south. Portions of the San Joaquín valley have conductivity that actually exceeds 1/R in some cases, so one might even see an effect similar to sea gain. And, the KFBK antenna system is a pair of full wavelength tall sectionalized radiators with modified figure 8 side-fire patterns. The day pattern in particular has what I believe is the highest horizontal plane RMS efficiency of any Region II station, over 500 mV/m/kW/km. That, combined with the directional pattern gain, the favorable site, and the high frequency all seem like a good explanation of Mr. Bryant's observation. The only other California station I can think of right offhand with an antenna that produces very high radiation to the south from a quite favorable site is KCBS, 740 kHz, San Francisco, and it, of course, is on an octave lower frequency and the antenna and site conditions are arguably not as good. XETRA 690 Tijuana has high gain to the south in the night pattern and its location at Rosarita is very near the sea, but of course is also on a low frequency (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. AM Antenna Performance Verification Glenn, Here is the URL for the filing made by the AM Antenna Performance Verification Coalition: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6519409263 It's only been 17 years since the original group of "elitist conspirators" filed our first request on this subject with the Commission! (Ben Dawson, WA, May 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. SPECIAL BROADCASTS: ON THE OCCASION OF THE VISIT OF THE HOLY FATHER TO BRAZIL (9th-14th MAY 2007) http://www.radiovaticana.org/CoorPro/entrasmisspec.htm I found this from VR`s Portuguese page, following Célio Romais` mention of this upcoming. Strangely enough the info about special broadcasts is presented in English! Most of the special broadcasts are not in English. Most of them concern MW and FM to Romans; no special SW transmissions mentioned, unlike Easter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Dear Glenn, I learnt that Apartado 3979 bounces back as reported by DXers. So I tried with the Miami address and got a reply from Venezuela. The signer of the card informs that he retired recently and given his home address in Venezuela. For full data I meant there is station stamp and signature, on the card. Incidentally no mention of R Havana relay. I mentioned in the report that relay via Havana although not asked to mention it in card (T. R. Rajeesh, Kerala, INDIA, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RHC QRMs RNV! See CUBA ** ZIMBABWE. ZBC PURGE BACKFIRES AS COURT ORDERS REINSTATEMENT OF 400 WORKERS Lance Guma reports: A 2002 purge by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) which saw the retrenchment of 400 workers, backfired at the Labour Court when the state broadcaster was ordered to reinstate them. Lawyers for the workers applied for the execution of a judgement made in March 2005 but had been on hold after ZBC, now called Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH), filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. Labour Court Judge President Euna Makamure upheld a decision by an arbitrator who ruled that the workers were still employees of the ZBC until their retrenchment was completed. The broadcaster apparently did not comply with the conditions of a retrenchment agreement that it had set out with the workers. The ZBC has filed a fresh appeal against the latest decision. Read the full story from SW Radio Africa http://www.swradioafrica.com/news040507/ZBC040507.htm (May 7th, 2007 - 11:30 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. [SWRA on 11775, 11810, 12035] All three channels quite good at 1745 on 7 May (in The Netherlands, Alexander Koutamanis, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Stumbled on station Sat. 5/5 on 4877.5 at 0256 with definite Spanish talks, not Portuguese. 0258 seemed program theme music, not NA, then off around 0300. Fair signal at best, and moderate static crashes, and moderate QRM from that stupid CODAR, so couldn't make out ID. Just remembered about it Sun. 6 May at 0245, and signal a little weaker, but can make out M speaking in definite Spanish. Not the Brazilian, as I heard it yesterday after this one went off. seemed good evening for Bolivians yesterday, as Yura on 4717v was good earlier than this one yesterday, and after it went off was hearing nice Latin American music on 6155, around 0315, which I would imagine was Radio Fides. So could this be La Cruz del Sur? I'd thought their s/off was earlier, but are they even still active on SW? I haven't seen a really definite logging of them for quite a few years, though I've seen some loggings of stations on 4876 that I suspect are the Brazilian. This one is dead on 4877.5, and EiBi lists them on 4877 to 0115*. If indeed La Cruz del Sur, this is the first I've heard them in probably 15-20 years. Anyone else hearing this, and can make out ID through the CODAR QRM? (Alex Vranes, Jr., Harpers Ferry, WV, Yaesu FRG-100B and 200-ft.(60.9-m.) dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4877.5, Radio Canada International - Sackville, 0247-0259* May 4, noted with Spanish programming and ID in unusual place at poor to fair level with USB needed to avoid serious het from Brazilian just below. // fundamental 9755 which was at a good level. First time I noted this sub-harmonic and reminiscent of a Saudi Arabia sub-harmonic from years past (Rich D'Angelo, PA, DXplorer via Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg; and NASWA Flashsheet via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. (BURKINA FASO?). 5030 kHz, 0159, May 7: African pop until 0200, then OM ID "... radiO" followed by OM/YL talk in a vernacular language. After 0235 the station began to fade away. Radio Burkina is listed in the schedules as signing off at 2400 and signing on at 0600. So, it's another African mystery... (Serghey Nikishin, Moscow, Russia, dxldyg & HCDX via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. The extremely distorted spur(?) is still there between 7310 and 7315, but we are sure getting tired of trying to pull out a definite ID, when hardly a word can be comprehended. Such as UT Monday May 7 at 0457 check, causing more of a problem to WHRI 7315 than Flevo 7310 due to relative strengths and frequency variation at the moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Glenn Re 7-053, 17870 --- Frequency actually reads 17670 kHz as per Communication. Regards (Tony Rogers, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oops, my mistake in retyping it, so make it: (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 17670, 1135 14 April, Tamil/S Asian language, S Asian- type music/songs, talk, refs to Sri Lanka, ads including ``the number one bank in Sri Lanka``, time pips at 1330, news(?), talks, music, SIO 343. Not heard following two days (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, England, May BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hi Glenn; Re 7-053: Isn't it funny (or maybe I should say sad?) how those on the far right apparently don't think anyone else is entitled to an opinion if it differs one iota from theirs? (And before anyone starts with the "Lefty" or "Leeeberal" nonsense, I consider myself a moderate or perhaps Libertarian, and have no use for either the far right or far left.) There seem to be hundreds of far-right ideologues cluttering the airwaves, cheerleading for one particular political party and condemning anyone and everyone else with childish and idiotic name-calling, but let just one person have an opinion just a tad toward the center from them, and it seems to be a felonious and treasonous act. And how can this one say "I'm sure that's not possible?" Do the far- righties now presume that they know what everyone else can think and is capable of? This kind of "thinking," and I use the term VERY loosely in this case, disgusts me. To quote comedian Ron White, I say to those with similar "thoughts," "The next time you have a thought, let it go." If you disagree with someone else's opinions, like Glenn's, then just agree to disagree. Don't presume that your opinion is the only one that counts. The only person you'll be fooling is yourself. I really wish people would engage brain before engaging mouth, but "I'm sure that's not possible." I will now step down off of my soapbox, hi, hi! (Alex "I'm the Decider" Vranes, Jr. Harpers Ferry, WV, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I thought he was being somewhat sympathetic or understanding, and does not deserve such a hot response. He was probably put off by my referring to Bush as ``Acting President``. Another complainant to me tried to make the case that Bush had really been elected! FYI, my position is that since Bush & Co. stole the 2000y elexion, EVERYONE he has appointed is also serving illegitimately, and so is he now EVEN IF he really won the 2004 elexion, so referring to him and them merely as ``acting`` is a kindness on my part. It`s sort of like ``allegedly`` which ought to be used much more by the mainstream media than it ever is, especially when reporting about politix or religion (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM: see WORLD OF RADIO; GREECE; INDIA; NEW ZEALAND THE FUTURE OF `HD` In my professional opinion, the iBiquity AM IBOC/IBAC/HD system is an appalling travesty, and if it offends the tender sensibilities of some broadcast professionals to hear that, tough. Methinks the reason they're so touchy about criticism is that they realize, in their heart of hearts, that the system really is a very bad idea (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, IRCA via DXLD) There are only two things which can derail it - 1) massive public apathy ( to which I contribute by refusing to buy an HD Radio ) and 2) suits - potentially international and domestic. I know, the 'rules' say that complaints must go to the FCC and try to ban suits, but since the FCC won't be doing anything constructive with complaints, and since it's nearly impossible to keep things out of the courts, that will happen. Either, or both, will result in major financial hard times for iBiquity and also for its large broadcaster owners (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (360' ASL) [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], ibid.) HD Radio Is Big Hit at NAB2007 If you didn't attend NAB2007, you missed out on two great HD Radio workshops. The first session focused on the nuts and bolts training on everything from the licensing and equipment to where to buy it and how to find the money. . . http://www.nab.org/xert/corpcomm/newsletters/radioweek/2007/050707/default.asp (via Svenn Martinsen, MWC via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ MUSÉE DES ONDES EMILE BERLINER The Musée des ondes Emile Berliner is dedicated to the heritage of the audio industry. Open to the public since January 24, 1996, the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner is different from most of the other Museums in Quebec in that it is one of the rare institutions dedicated to the history of the technology of sound. Note that this is a bilingual English/French webpage. http://www.berliner.montreal.museum/site/ (via Sylvain Monfette, Montreal, Quebec, Radio HF Internet Newsletter, April, via DXLD) Not really much about Berliner himself, it seems (gh) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ DAYTON HAMVENTION TRIP You may have watched us the past couple years. We broadcast live streaming video and audio of the world’s largest hamradio convention. It is the Dayton Hamvention in Dayton, Ohio. We are looking forward to broadcasting again in May. For now we have recorded video running on our website. There is also a chat room for hams all over the world to chat and have fun. The site is active now and you may check it out. The address is http://wa5kub.com When we get close to hamvention we will switch over to live broadcast: http://tmedlin.com/dayton.html (via Tom Medlin, Corvus TN, May Radio HF Internet Newsletter via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ THE OFFICIAL U.S. TIME This public service is cooperatively provided by the two time agencies of the United States: a Department of Commerce agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and its military counterpart, the U. S. Naval Observatory (USNO). Readings from the clocks of these agencies contribute to world time, called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time maintained by both agencies should never differ by more than 0.000 0001 second from UTC. Be sure to check out the “Time Exhibits” section of this page. http://www.time.gov/ (via Elmer Standish, Courtenay, British Columbia, May Radio HF Internet Newsletter via DXLD) ###