DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-073, June 26, 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 SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1364: ** tentative Wed 2200 WBCQ 7415 Wed 2300 WBCQ 18910-CLSB or 17495-CLSB Thu 1430 WRMI 7385 Thu 1500 KAIJ 9480 Fri 0630 WRMI 9955** Fri 1030 KAIJ 5755 Fri 1100 WRMI 9955** Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 [irregular] Sat 2130 WRMI 9955 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1500 WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [reconfirmed June 25] Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 0530 WRMI 9955** Mon 0930 WRMI 9955** Tue 1030 WRMI 9955** Wed 0730 WRMI 9955** 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 ** ALASKA. Several news stories June 24-25 about a big fire on ``a scenic peninsula south of Anchorage``` --- hmm, what could that be? Kenai, maybe? Of course. Once that is settled, it takes searching thru several stories to find one giving any more detail. One we found was in of all places, Pravda.ru (which BTW has cheesecake now), mentioning the town of Clam Gulch. That`s on the west coast of the almost-island, along hiway 1, between Soldotna and Anchor Point. Looks like the area is about 40 miles from A.P. and KNLS. Are they praying away the fire at WCBC? Strangely enough, the Tahoe fire was bigger news in the Lower 48. KNLS still in operation despite approaching wildfire: June 26 at 1300 on 9780 heard TS, KNLS IS, but mixing with China in Chinese. KNLS better in the clear on // 9795, with IS running until 1302 switch to theme music and opening its own Chinese broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 530 kHz, 17/06 0510 UT, Rádio República, San Justo, música, slogan “La Voz de Las Madres”, alternando com R. Visión Cristiana, 33433 (MICHEL VIANI, OSASCO-SP, BRASIL, @tividade DX via DXLD) ?? República and Madres are two separate stations (gh, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 11710.61, RAE; 0015-0028 22 June, 2007. Portuguese service with female reading news on Argentine economy, tango tunes. Clear and good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASIA [non]. Re R. Free Asia`s reluctance to specify transmitter sites on QSLs, even tho their registrations are hardly any secret --- While I have no evidence this is so, it occurs to me that one of many tactix a jammed service might employ would be to switch transmitter sites around in case one would work better than another under prevailing propagation conditions and/or to keep the enemy confused. It could be that RFA would rather not specify a site, which might not be true anyway for a particular reception, since this could tip their hand, or later be proven lying about it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. QRM to RA from Cuba 9570 carrying CHINA: q.v. ** AUSTRALIA. Hi All, 15060 and 15260, both weak spurs from Radio Australia on 15160 which was 5x8 at 0612 UT on June 25 2007, so plus, minus 100 kHz. 73 (David Vitek, Adelaide, South Australia, Icom R75, G5RV North/South, harmonics yg via DXLD) Despite what I said recently about not calling other spurs ``harmonics`` it is understood that the harmonics yg also covers other kinds of spurs, no problem; just as swprograms also covers webcasting (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BAHRAIN. 6010, R. Bahrain, Jun 13 1855-1925, 34333, English, Dance music, ID at 1900, Thanks for tip from show. 6010, R. Bahrain, Jun 14 1757-1827, 34433-34333 English, Dance music, 1800-1810 News, ID at 1759, SJ [??] at 1810. 6010, R. Bahrain, Jun 15 1755-1825, 34333-34322, English, Dance music, 1800-1811 News, ID at 1800 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium June 22 via DXLD) ** BELARUS. Re DXLD 7-071, 7-072: monitoring the frequencies of the 1st National Channel of Belaruskaje Radyjo. Sat, 23 June: 0100-0158 6010, 6070, 6190, 7145 - BR-1 in its usual mix of Belarusian & Russian, discussing social defence & then playing pop songs. 7145 was barely audible under co-channel VOA Aap ki Dunyaa. There was usual break on 279. No Belarus on 6040, 6080, 6115 & 7110, too. 0158-0200 The program was heard also on 6040 kHz via Hrodna. *0200 Kalodzishchy on 6080 & 6115 switched on, as well as Hrodna on 7110 & Sasnovy on 279. There was no Mahiliou on 7145 kHz, but it faded in back after 0300. Mon, 25 June: 0100-0200 6010, 6070, 6190 - very poor; 7145 - inaudible, perhaps due to deadzone; *0159 6040 - poor to moderate; *0200 6080, 6115 - very poor; nothing on 7110 or 7145. So, it appears than SW transmitters in Brest & Mahiliou are now really operating 24h. Rx: Degen DE1103 (Serghey Nikishin, Moscow, Russia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. Re: ``6225. Starting 18 June, the Poland-based Radio Racja (broadcasting in Belarusian for Belarus) will be relayed via Sitkunai on 6225 (100 kW) from 1530 to 1730 UT (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, dxldyg via DXLD)`` Bernd, does this arrangement replace the R. Racja broadcast via Warsaw, or is it in addition to it? Although the Racja Warsaw transmission was at a time and frequency that we couldn't hear here in the U.S., the transmission at least kept Poland among the "active" SW countries (on the NASWA list). If the Racja transmission via Warsaw has been dropped, I think "Poland" becomes an inactive SW country, since all of Poland's own programs (Polskie Radio, or whatever it is called these days) are via relays on transmitters located outside of Poland (Jerry Berg, USA, DXplorer June 19 via BC-DX via DXLD) This is an additional broadcast; the transmissions via Warsaw (1930- 2130 UT on 6105 kHz) are unchanged (Bernd Trutenau, WORLD OF RADIO 1364, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL – Até o final do ano, a Rádio Inconfidência, de Belo Horizonte (MG), deverá reativar a freqüência de 15190 kHz, na faixa de 19 metros. A informação é do engenheiro da emissora, José Guilherme. Ele foi entrevistado, recentemente, pelo radialista e radioescuta Danilo Nonato de Paula, de Ouro Preto (MG). Os contatos com a emissora podem ser feitos pelo email: engenharia @ inconfidencia.com.br BRASIL – Amazônia Brasileira é o nome do programa que vai ao ar, de segundas a sábados, entre 8h e 15h, no horário oficial de Brasília, pela Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, em 6180 e 11780 kHz. Beth Begonha apresenta informações categorizadas sobre o Meio Ambiente, sob a ótica de quem realmente está interessado em preservar a vida e o planeta. As entrevistas são realizadas com quem também tem tal compromisso. Na Rádio Nacional da Amazônia o analfabeto ambiental não tem vez! BRASIL – A Rádio Itatiaia [sic], de Belo Horizonte (MG), acaba de concluir a instalação de seu novo sistema irradiante de ondas curtas. Conhecido como TRO 2/2/0,2, o sistema dispõe de antenas independentes com quatro dipolos horizontais de meia onda. Foi responsável pelos trabalhos a empresa ORF de consultoria de engenharia de radiodifusão, localizada em Goiânia (GO). Segundo o presidente da ORF, Otávio Lima, foi “gratificante concluir este trabalho com equipamentos de última geração em instalações de 1ª categoria”. O serviço de ondas curtas, segundo o engenheiro, é importante porque “complementa o serviço na faixa de ondas médias, fazendo com que a Rádio Itatiaia esteja presente em todas as possibilidades de transmissão disponíveis até então”. A propagação em ondas curtas atinge uma área de cobertura muito grande. “O fato de a Itatiaia valorizar a transmissão na faixa de ondas curtas é louvável. O público ouvinte da Rádio Itatiaia - especificamente através desta faixa - é muito expressivo. Como a transmissão vai longe, pessoas espalhadas por todo o Brasil e até em países da Europa têm a oportunidade de ouvir a emissora com bastante qualidade”, conclui Otávio Lima. As informações foram passadas pela direção da emissora ao radialista e radioescuta Danilo Nonato de Paula, de Ouro Preto (MG). (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX June 24 via DXLD) Não é Itatiáia? Sem acento escrito, pronunciado: Itatiaía? (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. MANY SAW TRETHEWEY AS 'A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY' --- By VERA OVANIN, SUN MEDIA While John Trethewey was talking on his radio show about the tragic death in St. Thomas of Jumbo the elephant, a colleague in the studio waved his shirt sleeve about like an elephant trunk, trying to get Trethewey to laugh on air. The unflappable pro didn't even chuckle. "My father didn't skip a beat. He never lost his composure. It's a testament of his professionalism," said his youngest daughter, Nora Trethewey. Trethewey died May 11 of congestive heart failure with his family at his side at University Hospital in London. He was 83. . . http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2007/06/24/4285829-sun.html (Via Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada; Dan Say, BC, DXLD) Later worked for CFPL London, RCI, Arizona`s reading service (gh) ** CHAD. Dirty blob was parked about 7288, June 25 at 0454 check causing multiple hets against 7290 broadcast, presumably BBC Portuguese via South Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. CRI jamming R. Australia Does anyone know, mind or care about CRI's Cuban relay on 9570 12-14 UT effectively blocking Radio Australia on three of its frequencies?! When the Cuban comes on 9570, white noise appears on RA's 9580. A spur approx. 19 kHz from 9570 makes a mess of RA's 9560 and 9590. Matters get worse when modulation starts. I have approached both stations to see if there is a solution. Since China and/or Cuba are unable to get this transmitter working properly, I have offered to find a replacement frequency for them. As it has for years, RA put in nice signals on 9580/9590 but when CRI comes on, listening becomes quite uncomfortable. I know there has been lots of discussion in the past about Cuban transmitters. Is this a battle that has been fought and lost? (Andy Reid, Ontario, June 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I doubt if RA cares, since none of these frequencies are intended for ENAm, not even for WNAm, merely overlap from Pacific. And we KNOW Cuba doesn`t care, nor China. One would have to convince them it is in their own best interest to fix the problem (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yeah, I think Glenn is right about this. For RA, it's "nice" that they can be heard on ECNA on 9580, but the frequency is really intended for the Pacific. I've contacted them about this before, but they're not about to lodge a complaint or move this frequency, as it works fine for the area intended. Probably don't have standing to complain either (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) Jamming is another term. 9560 to Western Pacific target at 005 degree ends at 1400 UT. 9570 to zone 8 at 10 degrees never put out tremendous signals towards Pacific. 8 = Eastern USA at Boston, Nueva York target. California target on 300 degrees of Cuba, is 70-80 degrees apart of the main lobe on 4800 kms distance. Switch your set to a limited bandwidth and use a Collins filter of 3.5 kHz for good. 9580 to Southern Pacific target at 70 degrees ends at 1400 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) And 9590 30 degrees until 1600. As I said before, 9570 does not cause such a problem here in CNAm, but I don`t doubt it does closer to the boresight (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I have been in touch with an individual at RA - in fact I sent him a CD of the problem. Problem is, I don't know what, if anything is happening. There were words of encouragement, even they would approach the ABU. They probably hit a stone wall. Wolfgang sent Glenn and me an email about the technical specs where each of these broadcasts are beamed [and thanks]. But that is not really the problem here. I have WRTH's that go back to the mid sixties showing RA broadcasting on 9580 in NAm morns. This is a long established frequency that by nature of the beast, almost always cuts a good signal into NAm. Over the years this transmission has or has not been *officially* beamed to NAm. We could take the view that 'well is not meant for us here'. Well where does that leave the listenership? This is what HF broadcasting is all about! The fact remains, when the Cuban CRI transmission comes on, it smashes 3 RA signals. We can all guarantee that they, [CRI/Cuba], are not transmitting to international HF standards. The noise that is created is terrible. We are losing enough broadcasters as it is. CRI is in the wrong and they should correct the problem they are creating. I for one who would like them to at least, solve this conflict (Andy Reid, Ont., ibid.) I`m 1000% with you in principle, but trying to be realistic. Keep pushing (gh, DXLD) Well, Andy, I admire the effort and at least agree with your complaint and analysis -- especially with the fact that some RHC transmitters seem to spread wider than they should, not to put too fine a point on it. Even when RA puts a gangbusters signal into NA, once that RHC transmitter relaying CRI comes up on 9570, more often than not there's all sorts of "monkey chatter" and such 10 kHz. up the dial. It's just been going on for so long, I don't think anything's going to change it, unfortunately (John Figliozzi, NY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Following Andy Reid`s complaints from Ontario of CRI via CUBA 9570 QRMing R. Australia on 9560, 9580 and 9590, I listened carefully to the conclusion of Late Night Live, about eugenix, June 26 at 1250, when 9580 was the only useful RA frequency, and could hear some ``scratching`` from the 9570 transmitter, which on its own frequency was somewhat undermodulated as usual. The scratching was axually worse when off-tuned slightly to the hi side of 9580 rather than the lo side. I can see how this would be much worse further east, where the Cuban signal is aimed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. NOTE, Glenn Hauser: It seems that Rebelde has left 11655 for parts unknown (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP Greenville, North Carolina, June 23, ABDX via DXLD) EiBi has 11655 as 12-14 and 17-19, both irregular. Aoki says 12-14 and 1700-1830, both 100 kW at 230 degrees for A-07. However, the last I noticed it, the midday broadcast was at 1600-1730, perhaps a DST shift. Did not get to check 11655 in time June 24. But at 1607 UT June 25 it was on, loud & clear (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. /ENGLAND: R República, 6135 at 2330 in Spanish. Good signal, no jamming on 23 June. On 24 June, heard on 6155 at 0120, jammed. At 0217 on 6100, not jammed. All via Rampisham, 500 kW 285 degrees 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 530, FLORIDA AIRSPACE (CLANDESTINE) Radio Martí­ (via presumed 193rd SOW's EC-130J); *2200-2210 22 June, 2007. Snapped on at precisely 2200, as usual, on this local Friday with the Martí theme, parallel 6030. Very weak and quickly drowned out under the Radio Rebelde blocker on 530 kc/s. Reliable sources tell me this remains a 193rd operation at least in part, despite the ``private`` firm contracted last year to take over this important task (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SOW = Special Operations Wing, Pennsylvania Air National Guard in this case (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. RADIO, TV MARTÍ DEBATE REVIVED June 23, 2007, By Tere Figueras Negrete, Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/149468.html U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt renewed his call for congressional hearings to examine the funding and content of Radio and TV Martí, visiting Miami during a week that included a passionate debate in Washington over federal funding of programs pushing for democracy in Cuba. The Massachusetts Democrat has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's policy toward Cuba, and advocates loosening the trade embargo and travel restrictions to the island. ''If we truly embrace freedom, we have to do it in a way that makes a difference,'' said Delahunt. He said an examination of Radio and TV Martí's operations and finances are part of an overall need to revamp attitudes toward U.S.-Cuba relations. ''Those who have stayed the course have not made a difference in 50 years. With all due respect to them, they are the indispensable allies of Fidel Castro,'' he said. Delahunt, who brought with him members of the congressional investigative staff, met with Radio and TV Martí officials including Pedro Roig, head of the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting. Alberto Mascaró, chief of staff for the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, said the congressman came at the behest of Radio and TV Martí officials. ''It's important to note that we actually invited the congressman to visit us,'' said Mascaró, who described the talks as ''cordial'' and said network officials were confident in the transparency and efficiency of the operation. ''He did mention some things he'd like to have hearings on,'' he said. ``That's the American system and the right of Congress to do.'' Delahunt singled out finances, content, and whether Cubans on the island are able to hear the broadcasts as reasons for the hearings. Delahunt also described the meeting as amicable, and said Roig was ``very forthcoming and pledged his cooperation. As a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the chair of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, he had promised congressional hearings last year shortly after Democrats won control of Congress. Delahunt, who previously said the hearings would take place by February, said Saturday there is no set date for the hearings, but they should take place ``in a couple of months.'' The Miami-based Radio and TV Martí, which in recent years has faced allegations of mismanagement and political cronyism, have cost taxpayers more than $250 million in the past decade. The anti-Castro television and radio stations, overseen by Office of Cuba Broadcasting, were created to beam pro-democracy messages to people on the island. Congress approved $33 million for the agency's budget last week, including $5 million a year for an airplane to broadcast TV Martí to the island, one of the tactics used to avoid Cuban authorities jamming the broadcast signal. Critics, including Delahunt, have long accused the network of airing one-sided broadcasts, awarding plum jobs to political allies, and question whether the TV broadcasts -- frequently jammed by the Cuban government -- are worth the money. Earlier this week, a draft report from the State Department concluded the broadcasts had improved significantly in recent years. The official report has not been released, but the draft noted that anecdotal evidence suggests the broadcasts were reaching a larger audience on the island, although it did not provide any concrete numbers. U.S. Rep Lincoln Díaz-Balart said Saturday he supported any congressional examination of Radio and TV Martí, but said the Massachusetts congressman's broader criticisms of Cuba policy were off-base. ''With regard to transparency, it's good to show these are important and effective programs,'' said Díaz-Balart, who said he hoped the review will help Radio and TV Martí improve their broadcasts. ``But with regard to Mr. Delahunt, he has become one of the most constant advocates of the same position shared by the Cuban dictatorship.'' Added Díaz-Balart: ``He really has become predictable in his extremism.'' Last week also brought a heated debate onto the House floor over the future of U.S. funding of democracy programs in Cuba. The vote was the first on Cuba legislation under a Democrat-controlled Congress. On Thursday, the House approved a major increase in money for U.S. programs that support dissidents on the island. President Bush requested almost $46 million for Cuba democracy programs for the 2008 fiscal year, five times the amount allotted for 2007. A group of Democrats had earlier cut the aid back to $9 million, arguing there was not enough oversight to justify the money would be well-spent. They noted a government report that cited abuse in the programs, such as the purchase of cashmere sweaters and pricey chocolates. But a successful amendment proposed by two Cuban-American congressmen -- Díaz-Balart, a Republican, and New Jersey's Albio Sires, a Democrat -- brought the dollar amount back to the original proposed by the president (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Update from Ecuador --- NASB meeting in Elkhart IN, 2007 The first speaker after lunch was Brent Weeks, missionary engineer at HCJB Global in Quito, Ecuador. Weeks explained that the DRM transmission from Quito was currently in the most robust mode that permits AAC operation. He said that there are lower bit rate, voice quality codecs that are even more robust, but they are not good for music transmission. Brent Weeks has worked at HCJB in Quito for six years. His responsibilities include managing the audio technology in HCJB's studios. He showed a slide of HCJB's transmitter building, which is in Pifo at an altitude of 8400 feet above sea level in a valley between two ridges of the Andes mountains, some 20 miles (about 30 kilometers) east of Quito. Mount Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world, could be seen in the background of the photo. HCJB has three HC-100 100-kilowatt transmitters at this location, plus two more at HCJB Global's shortwave site in Australia. The antenna field in Pifo includes an antenna directed to Brazil, another for South America and northwestern North America, another for 49-meter band regional broadcasts to the Andes corridor, a cubical quad antenna used for broadcasting to Europe in the 13-meter band and a steerable antenna with a parabolic reflective curtain which can cover 180 degrees almost due west to due east. The steerable antenna dipole rolls around on a track. Airplanes regularly fly by the site en route to the Quito airport, which is located in what is now the middle of the city. The Quito authorities have decided to build a new airport further from the city. "The location that has been chosen," Weeks said, "means that our antennas are too high. We've taken down 18 towers already, and we have more to go." The site will eventually have to be closed. HCJB has looked at various options for replacing Pifo. One option is to build another transmitter site in the mountains. But HCJB has its own power station nearby, and if it continues to use the power from that station, the options for a new location are limited. Weeks said that there has also been a change of philosophy in HCJB Global's mission in the last several years. The focus is now almost exclusively on transmissions to Latin America in Spanish, Portuguese, Quichua, Quechua and German for the Mennonite populations in Paraguay and Bolivia. Gone are HCJB's longtime broadcasts beamed to Europe, Asia and the South Pacific. The only transmission beamed outside of Latin America now is German to Europe. Broadcasts to these other regions have been moved to HCJB-Australia and rented facilities like VT Communications in the UK. "HCJB is now emphasizing more work in local radio rather than regional and international radio," said Brent Weeks. With a limited budget, the mission has reduced its shortwave transmissions. "The fall of the Iron Curtain was a big thing for us," he said. "We're doing radio work in Russia -- not ourselves directly, but helping others and helping local radio and satellite distribution in Russia." The mission's practice of "radio planting" helps other people and organizations get local radio stations started in various places around the world. He said the worldwide population movement from rural areas to urban centers has also affected this change in philosophy. At this point, Weeks went back to the live audio of the DRM transmission from Quito. The station had just made a switch, timed especially for the audience at the meeting in Elkhart, to 64 QAM, producing a parametric stereo signal. The signal-to-noise ratio was 16-17 dB. There were a few dropouts, but Weeks considered that the signal was doing fairly well considering they were only using between three and four kilowatts of power from a Siemens 10-kilowatt linear analog transmitter. After a few minutes, the signal went back to a 16 QAM mode for a more robust broadcast. HCJB had been changing the technical parameters of the DRM broadcast throughout the day. "You need agile scheduling of transmission parameters," said Weeks. "We'll go to a less robust, higher quality audio later in the day as propagation improves." Back to the slide show, Weeks showed examples of radio planting in Ecuador, such as a station located between Quito and the Ecuadorian coast. HCJB provides the local station with a satellite dish to rebroadcast its ALAS satellite programming -- a 24-hour service that HCJB offers local stations that can't produce 24 hours per day of their own programming. HCJB has been helping this and other stations with studio installation and transmitter maintenance, "like this one we've nicknamed Lazarus," he said, showing a slide of a transmitter. "He's been resurrected several times." This drew laughs from the audience, made up of both religious and secular broadcasters. Weeks said HCJB is also developing a new ministry called "sister stations," which are stations or networks in North America that work together with sister stations in South America and around the world. Meantime, a few of HCJB's engineers in Ecuador, including Brent Weeks, are working with the Global Technology Center in Elkhart on DRM development. One of those areas is the central control system that drives and tells the servo-motors what to do. "It needs to be upgraded for DRM," he said. The station has recently done DRM test transmissions for the SWL Winterfest in Pennsylvania, the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas, and the NASB/USA DRM meetings in Elkhart. Other tests are being beamed to Germany. "We are getting good reports for the middle-of-the-day broadcasts to North America," Weeks said (Jeff White, June NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 13830, Sagalee Bilisummaa Oromo, 20 June, 1720- 1740. First in Oromo, a man in studio and people phoning him. Language changed to Amharic at 1728: "..miterbends .. salyasa kilohertsi ..". Talk followed, with mention of Washington D.C. and Ethiopian Embassy at 1738 (Dmitry Mezin, Kazan, Russia, Signal June 24 via DXLD) ** EUROPE. PIRATE -- Spaceman Radio, 3297 kHz with DJs "Tom and Fred" June 24 at UT 2305-2343 s/off. Music from AC-DC. Stones, Twisted Sister. Dedicated AC-DC song to "Mika" in Sweden. Mostly English, but announcers also switched between Dutch and German, with Fred having a thick German accent when he spoke English. Announced frequency "on 76 mb" and that they were using 20 kW from south of Holland. Also mentioned fellow pirate broadcaster Orion Radio. Fair signal; SIO 343. "We're going to play a few more songs and then we're closing down here. We're going to try to sleep a little bit," announced Tom before abrupt s/off (Marty Delfin, Madrid, Spain, Sony ICF-77, telescopic antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Pirata: Radio El Dorado, Portugal: Noticia via SW Pirates. Hello! John from Radio Eldorado here! I will be making some transmissions today, tomorrow and after that. Schedule is as follows : 25 June - starting 19:00 GMT until 03:00 AM 6261 kHz 26 June - starting 16:00 GMT until 03:00 AM 6261 kHz 27 June - starting 18:00 GMT until 03:00 AM 6261 kHz Location is Center Portugal. Music is psychedelic rock, lots of 60s stuff, Free, Who, Jimi, many others, and electronic music, from house, to acid, to techno, many live sets and great tracks. Reports to my email: phoenixproject @ clix.pt Do enjoy. Tune In, Turn On and Drop Out. Johnny (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. Re: First Radio Budapest farewell [reply to item below under HUNGARY] The point is that the target audience of Gruß und Kuß were Germans who left Hungary at their own will. Greetings from the old homeland and the relatives still living there, some reports about current events there (basically material already broadcast domestically during the week) and lots of music. This is much unlike the situation with Czechoslovakia and Poland were the Germans were forced out of the country. Such a program like Gruß und Kuß was entirely unthinkable at Prague and Warsaw, already due to the simple fact that no German community remained in these countries. All bridges teared down, this country is not your business anymore. Hence all German-language foreign broadcasting from there aimed at a general audience, primarily in the FRG but not in the "brother country" GDR. It might be interesting here that after the martial law in Poland GDR citizens needed a visa to visit Poland. Not officially, but one needed a stamp and in my humble opinion it is merely nitpicking how the bureaucrats choose to call it, since it was in fact impossible to just walk over the Neiße river at Görlitz and Guben or the Oder river at Frankfurt (the east German one). It was just another Iron Curtain! And in summer 1989, when the border to Czechoslovakia had been closed as well, people just said "now they're entirely nuts", "enough is enough", and it was commonly felt that this move signals an imminent crash. Re. Hungarians living abroad: How many of them rely on the (already crippled, during the evening 6025 now carries Radio Budapest programming instead) shortwave relays of Kossuth Rádió? I only know about the Turks here in Germany: Their flats can be easily spotted by way of the satellite dishes aiming at Turksat (42 deg. East, easy to distinguish from Astra/Hotbird dishes). I assume that the vast majority of them does not know that such things like shortwave and Voice of Turkey exists at all (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. FIRST RADIO BUDAPEST FAREWELL --- Today the imminent demise of Radio Budapest has finally been mentioned on air: The Gruß und Kuß show for Germans formerly living in Hungaria bid his farewell after 47 years, reportedly closing with a short chronicle, cf. the enclosed posting. This programme originated from the studios of Radio Pécs, so perhaps one could have hoped for a survival in whatever way, but now it's clear that it will disappear as well. So only one thing remains to be seen for the moment: Will Magyar Rádió keep some Kossuth Rádió programming on shortwave, or will they abandon shortwave altogether? And if so, what will happen to the Jászberény transmitters? At present a single VOA transmission appears to be on air there as well (Russian 1300-1400 on 11725), which could become the only shortwave broadcasting from Hungary in just a week, unless Antenna Hungária shuts down the plant. Or will IBB step in and move more transmissions to Jászberény, perhaps even at the expense of other sites? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 24, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1364, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: -----Original Message----- Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2007 14:28:16 +0200 Subject: [A-DX] G+ K verabschiedet sich für immer From: "paul gager" To: "liste aliste" Laut Ansage von Radio Budapest ist heute SO (24.6.), nach 47 Jahren bei "Gruss und Kuss" Schluß. Im letzten Teil der Sendung soll ein kurzer Rückblick gesendet werden. Derzeit 6025 khz 444 Eingefleischte Radio Budapest Hörer werden auch die Sendezeiten/Frequenzen der Wiederholungen auswendig kennen. Paul :-( PS: Mein eingerahmtes Certificate vom "Radio Budapest Short Wave Club World-Wide" vom 30th January 1968 werde ich wohl am 1. Juli 2007 im WZ abhängen und zu den Certificaten von Radio Praha Monitorklub, BBC WS Club, Radio Kiew Klub etc., in mein privates Archiv am DB in eine Bananenschachtel entsorgen (via Ludwig, ibid.) Kai, thanks for bringing this up. I never knew that such programs existed... A real remnant of the WWII/Potsdam Agreement/Cold War times! They should have shut it down long time ago - esp., after joining EU. I wonder if Poland or Czechoslovakia ever carried similar radio programming for their former citizens of the German ethnicity... ``So only one thing remains to be seen for the moment: Will Magyar Rádió keep some Kossuth Rádió programming on shortwave`` My guess is that they would. Too many Madyars live outside of Hungary: Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine... It might be politically dangerous to shut down Kossuth Rádió SW relays (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, ibid.) See GERMANY [and non] above for Kai`s reply to this RADIO BUDAPEST DEFINITELY GOES OFF THE AIR! RADIO BUDAPEST English Program on Friday, June 22, 2007 at 1900 UT started like this: "Hello and welcome to another Radio Budapest program, just 8 days before we will be off the air. I'm Gyongyi [György?] Jakoby. You may have noticed that in the past one or two weeks me and my collegues try to bring you programs from our archive..." Source: http://real1.radio.hu/nemzeti/2007/06/22/2007-06-22-n21-00.rm Best regards! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, June 25, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1364, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It appears that their English broadcast is in full swing however: http://tinyurl.com/2bh2rf (Craig, N4CQR, shortwave yg via DXLD) For now. That`s the same page they put up three months ago. So the final week of R. Budapest. English to North America, UT daily: 0100-0130 6040 [inaudible in noise when I checked] 0230-0300 6195 Access to audio on demand and live streaming is not obvious from the main R. Budapest site, but via our DX PROGRAMS info we find it at http://real1.radio.hu/nemzeti.htm (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1364, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA [and non]. Re 7-072: CHINESE RADIO BLARES IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH --- Monday - Jun 25, 2007 Televisionpoint.com Correspondent http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2007/newsfullstory.php?id=1182780989 In the 60th year of India's independence, there are still places where AIR and Doordarshan can't reach out to people. If you thought that was bad, wait: People in border districts of Arunachal Pradesh have easier access to Chinese radio and TV than Indian. Such an occurrence in a state that shares international borders China, Bhutan and Myanmar raises serious questions about the priority that the Centre gives to a strategically crucial state. The two national broadcasters, Doordarshan and AIR, are confined to the capital Itanagar and the district headquarters, as there are no any relay centres beyond these hubs. AIR's problems are worsened by the fact that Chinese radio is far more effective in these areas. As a result, border villagers are accessing information and entertainment from Chinese radio with greater efficacy than AIR. "There is no question of Chinese transmitters jamming AIR programmes; the problem lies with AIR's weak transmission system in the state. If you go to border areas, one can listen to Chinese radio more clearly than AIR,'' said an official of the state government. [I assume this is admitting that China is NOT deliberately jamming AIR --- gh] After the Sino-India war in 1962, the Union government had distributed free radio sets to community centres across Arunachal. AIR programmes together with Hindi film music have been popular since then. But around 1965, the distribution of free radio sets was stopped. Interestingly, whereas Hindi isn't popular in the rest of northeast, the national language is the lingua franca of many Arunachalee tribes. The Arunachal Pradesh assembly is conducted in Hindi and English, unlike other northeastern states where regional languages are popular. It is the only state outside the Hindi belt to use the language extensively. Prasar Bharati is trying to set up FM radio transmitters and studios in the Northeast at a cost of Rs 164 crore within a span of three years. For seven Northeastern states, 1 kw FM transmitter will be installed in 19 places at the cost of Rs 64 crore. There are plans to set up about 100 FM transmitters between 50 and 100 watts in far-flung areas which are generally not reachable by road (via Alokesh Gupta, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 7289.86, RRI-Nabire, Jun 14 0818-0832, 34443, Indonesian, Jakarta news relay, 0825 SNSB [??], ID at 0826, Music, (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium June 22 via DXLD) Probably signs off shortly after from this daytime frequency. Google on SNSB for 69,300 hits on what SNSB could stand for (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. INTERNET RADIO TO FALL SILENT IN PROTEST ON JUNE 26TH Posted on June 23, 2007 in laws, bills, and policy by bean http://www.lawbean.com/2007/06/23/internet-radio-to-fall-silent-in-protest-on-june-26th/ Thousands of U.S. webcasters plan to turn off the music and go silent this Tuesday, June 26, to draw attention to an impending royalty rate increase that, if implemented, would lead to the virtual shutdown of this country’s Internet radio industry. In March, the Copyright Royalty Board announced that it would raise royalties for Internet broadcasters, moving them from a per-song rate to a per-listener rate. The increase would be made retroactive to the beginning of 2006 and would double over the next five years. After the announcement, a group of broadcasters spearheaded by National Public Radio petitioned the CRB for a rehearing, but a panel of judges denied the request less than a month later. Internet radio sites would be charged per performance of a song. A “performance” is defined as the streaming of one song to one listener; thus a station that has an average audience of 500 listeners racks up 500 “performances” for each song it plays. Many webcasters are planning to shut off access to their streams entirely, while other webcasters plan to replace their music streams with long periods of silence (or static or ocean sounds or similar) interspersed with occasional brief public service announcements on the subject. Internet-only webcasters and broadcasters that simulcast online will alert their listeners that “silence” is what Internet radio may be reduced to after July 15th, the day on which 17 months’ worth of retroactive royalty payments — at new, exceedingly high rates — are due to the SoundExchange collection organization, following a recent Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision. Jake Ward, a spokesman for Save Net Radio, said: “The arbitrary and drastic rate increases set by the Copyright Royalty Board on March 2nd threaten the very livelihood of thousands of webcasters and their millions of listeners throughout the country. “The campaign to save Internet radio - a genuine grassroots movement comprised of hundreds of thousands of webcasters, artists and independent labels, and Net radio listeners - has quickly brought this issue to the national forefront and the halls of Congress, but there is still more to be done before the approaching deadline of July 15th. On Tuesday, thousands of webcasters will call on their millions of listeners to join the fight to save Internet radio and contact their Congressional representatives to ask for their support of the Internet Radio Equality Act.” (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. GLOBAL JEWISH SATELLITE CHANNEL IN THE MAKING - Russian senator MOSCOW. June 19 (Interfax) - The world's first global Jewish satellite television channel is expected to go on air by the end of 2007, an author of the international project, Federation Council member Vladimir Slutsker told Interfax. "The project has progressed from the stage of ideas to the stage of business talks," Slutsker said. "A satellite television channel intended for the international Jewish community is absolutely necessary and timely now that religious and ethnic conflicts are spawning all over the world," said Slutsker, who was the Russian Jewish Congress's head in 2005-06. "The Jewish communities in different countries are relatively scattered. A Jewish information television channel could serve as a bridge between them," he said. http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=11771336 According to the Russian language version of this report, the new TV channel will broadcasts in English 24x7. It will carry news, religious, political and cultural programming. Of course, there was a similar project in the past but I'm not sure if they ever got on the air: http://www.jafi.org.il/agenda/2001/english/wk3-36/7.asp Their site is off: http://www.chaitv.fr/ (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 15777, Galei Tzahal, June 9, 1345 (entire daytime) Hebrew. A new frequency, instead of former 15785? That probably has been done in order to avoid the nearby DRM-like signal. (Germanas Politika, Vilnius, Lithuania, Signal via DXLD) As reported here, it varies up to 10 kHz either way. Nearby DRM in HFCC, all 1234567 and 250307 281007: 15770 0600 1300 18,27-29 SOF 100 306 N BUL NEW BUL 15521 Tentat 15780 0600 1200 27,28 MSK 200 240 N RUS VOR GFC 5434 15780 1200 1500 28,29,38-40 SOF 200 110 N BUL NEW BUL 15522 Tentat However, the DRM sked at http://www.baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/drmdx/main&sort=kHz,UTC shows nothing after 1200, only: 0800-0900 daily 15780 240 Europe 35 VoR RUS English Taldom Russia 0900-1200 daily 15780 240 Europe 35 VoR RUS German Taldom Russia (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15790, Galei Zahal, 2024-2030, escuchada el 25 de junio en hebreo a locutor con comentarios, programa con emisión de música pop, invitado con saludo “..Shalom..”, intervención telefónica de oyentes, referencias a Hamas, SINPO 45433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** JOHNSTON ISLAND [non]. KH3, JOHNSTON ISLAND (Delay and Update). Skipper of the USSV Dharma, Susan Meckley, W7KFI, who got sidelined from her trip to KH3-land because of her bad toothache, has informed OPDX that she had to have jaw surgery. The almost 73 year old grandmother states, "boy does it hurt today...anyway it was 1366.48 USDs....wow. " Susan states it will take her a week or so to recuperate, then she will be off for KH3 and V7 again. She indicated that she wants to (has to) "leave Honolulu well before August as the hurricanes start coming this far west in August." She estimates to look for her to be active from KH3 on 14036 and 14236 kHz during the last week of July or the first week of August (KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 June 25 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** KALININGRAD. See RUSSIA: long-delayed QSLs ** KASHMIR [non]. CLANDESTINE === 5102, V. of Jammu Kashmir Freedom, Jun 15 1348-1403, 44444, Kashmiri, Talk and local music, ID at 1400. 5102, V. of Jammu Kashmir Freedom, Jun 19 *1259-1310, 43443, Kashmiri, 1259 sign on with opening music, ID, Kor`an, Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium June 22 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9785, R Free Chosun, 19 June, 2000-2015+, in Korean. Started with a kind of anthem. News and/or commentaries all the time. 23432 at first, raised to 33433 then. Transmission goes via Taiwan. Splashed from both sidebands: music (presumed RAI Int) on 9780, RFI in French on 9790 (Dmitry Mezin, Kazan, Russia, Signal June 24 via DXLD) ** LAOS [non]. Re 7-071, USA: ``The TDP schedule website now shows 11655 for the religious "Suab Xaa Moo Zoo" program in Hmong (for SE Asia), ex 11650 (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, June 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11650 was via Taiwan, so 11655 probably is too (gh, DXLD) If this were clandestine I would have put it under LAOS [non]`` Meanwhile nobody mentioned the time, which is: daily 2300-2330 (gh) ** LIBYA [non?]. ??, 15550, Voice of Africa, 2001-2015, escuchada el 25 de junio en árabe a locutor con noticias, referencias a Libia, locutora con cuña, cuña de ID “Idahat al Jamaeriya al Ouzma”, tonos horarios, segmento musical, locutor con comentarios, titulares, SINPO 45444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Any relation to your unID earlier on 15650? See below ** MALAWI [and non]. Hi Glenn, Chris Hambly asked me to post this. 3380, 1800 UT. Chris thinks that Malawi has re-activated here on June 24 2007; that`s when he heard it, not sure when it actually started. He's pretty sure of it, and doesn`t think it`s medium wave break-thru, or other QRM. 73 from (Chris de Dave Vitek, Adelaide, South Australia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dave & Chris, However, BBC via South Africa recently moved to 3380, but only at certain hours, apparently --- 0430-0530 NF 3380 MEY 100 kW / 076 deg, ex 3390 M-F Portuguese to SoAf 2030-2100 NF 3380 MEY 100 kW / 076 deg, ex 3390 M-F Portuguese to SoAf (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 12 via DXLD) Then I checked the current SENTECH schedule and it does show 3380 in use for BBC only at these hours. Possibly Malawi figured they`d better get their transmitter back on the air if they want to keep the frequency. But are both now on colliding at the same times? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checked 3380 this evening June 25 at 1730. No signal heard - so unlikely that Malawi has re-activated here. Perhaps what may have been heard is Radio Zimbabwe on 3396 which is slightly further up the tropical 90m band but with similar African vernacular talk which could be mistaken as Malawi (David Pringle-Wood, Zimbabwe, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Doubt he could be 16 kHz off (gh) ** MEXICO. It looks like XEWO-2 Guadalajara is now relaying XHTV-4 (4TV) and covering the 4TV logo upper right with their own new logo. The logo is a red rectangle with a black border at the top and bottom. There is an eye in the rectangle, but it is not the Televisa eye logo. XHFM-2 Veracruz has been covering the 4TV logo for a couple of years. It has only been two or three years since XEWO switched from XEW-2 to XHGC-5. Signals from Guadalajara have not been strong lately, but they were at least long-winded Sunday morning and evening (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA June 25, http://www.tvdxexpo.com WTFDA via DXLD) ** MOROCCO. Following DXLD tip [7-071] from Moisés Knochen in Montevideo, Radio Medi 1 at 2230 UT with news in French and Arabic on 9575 kHz. SIO 444. News and weather about Morocco and neighboring African countries by woman (Marty Delfín, Madrid, Spain, Sony ICF-77, telescopic antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. VON schedule new or irregular, observed in past few days: 0500-0700 nothing 0700-0800 French 15120 0800-1000 nothing on 9690 or higher 1045...1230 English 9690 but also *1400 English 9690 *1600-1627* 9690 [language?] *1630 Arabic 15120 1700-1857 English 15120 1900-1930 French 7255 or 15120 1930-... Hausa 7255 2000+ nothing... (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, June 24, dxing.info via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6935-USB, USA (PIRATE), Grasscutter Radio; 0128-0140 24 June, 2007. Big signal with the usual redneck male and female announcers, what sounded like simply tracking BTO`s Greatest Hits CD, IDs. Good QSL package received from them a while back (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. Re 7-072, Vigra off air? --- Impossible to check for me, since at night 630 uses to be a mess of Scheppau, Romania and Tunisia here (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Norway on 630 confirmed 25 June at 2200 and 26 June at 0200. Poor reception due to around the clock daylight conditions here in the north (Olle Alm, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. [Someone in the East reported TVDX on channel 4 with –-] 4WARN Storm Tracker --- Not clear whether it is common knowledge that this is what KFOR-TV OKC uses, (and if you get it you are probably also getting OK weather maps) --- altho who knows, other channels 4 might too. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, WTFDA via DXLD) WIVB-4 Buffalo has 4 Warn Doppler (W. Hepburn (Niagara), Ont., ibid.) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7324.99, Wantok R. Light, Jun 14 0850-0859, 35343, English, Talk, ID at 0856 and 0858 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium June 22 via DXLD) ** POLAND [and non]. Greetings from Gdansk, Poland. While in Europe, I thought I'd check out the new Hebrew service from Polish Radio. Well I listened Saturday and Sunday and both days, all they had was the same program of Polish music. Not a word of Hebrew heard, just continuous music. This service may not fly, in hindsight! I'll listen a few more times to confirm. I don't have my notes with me re time and frequency being at an internet cafe. I did, on the other hand, enjoy the Yiddish service of Kol Israel. Great music! (Volodya Salmaniw, Gdansk, Poland, June 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also RUSSIA ** PORTUGAL. Pirate: see EUROPE ** RUSSIA [and non]. Remember when Voice of Russia\Radio Moscow was seemingly on its last legs with few transmitters? Well, they are back just like the bad old days of the USSR. Man, just about 24 hours a day here with very strong signals everywhere. The only other broadcaster coming close is CRI, believe it or not! Belorussia is strong as well (as is Radio Racja), while Radio Ukraine International's 100 kW Kharkiv transmitter doesn't put out all that well... it's OK, but not super strong. I'll issue more complete observations when I can (Walt Salmaniw, in Gdansk, Poland, June 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also POLAND I'm curious to know if European DXers agree with Walter's assessment. Unlike back in the 1980s, European Russia doesn't seem to be covered with the Voice of Russia signal very well. All kinds of Chinese stations (CRI, local SW radio, firedrake) occupy most of the spectrum (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, ibid.) I would say no, it's not like in the old days. Back then Radio Moscow, especially in English, was all day long audible on dozens of shortwave frequencies, during daytime the 19 and 16 metres bands were filled with Russian transmitters. Not so anymore, during daytime there is now a single frequency of Radio Rossii (250 kW transmitter at Taldom), for one hour only after 11 AM there are two frequencies of VOR in German (Bolshakovo and Tbilisskaya transmitters), and that's all you year of Russia on shortwave. During the evening various VOR services for Europe are on air, but without thinking much about it I would say on just one dozen frequencies or so ("just" compared with the number of installed transmitters). So it was absolutely no surprise for me to read on the website of the St. Petersburg branch of RTRS how grim the situation has become for their AM operations. But yes: Chinese signals are now all over the shortwave bands. 19 and 16 metres during daytime? You guessed it, it's full of CRI now. And I also remember the days when Radio Moscow was in limbo. I still recall this schedule for German from summer 1993: 1500-1700 on 1323 and 11980, 1700-2000 on 1323, 11980 and 12010. 1323 was of course the Wachenbrunn transmitter in Germany, the only thing that remained untouched. 11980 was Tbilisskaya, 12010 was Samara, actually supposed to go on air at 1500 as well (btw, in later years this Samara outlet carried Radio Maryja from Poland). This was all. No mediumwave from Bolshakovo, no shortwave from Moscow area sites, no nothing. At least once they also mentioned on air that their whole station was endangered. I also recall a remark like: Heating in our building has been limited to a minimum, it's just entirely irrelevant that we're sitting in coats here, but let's hope that our studio equipment will tolerate these conditions. Of course the situation of VOR is much better now. Probably Walter's assessment is related to the circumstance that T-Systems Media&Broadcast has meanwhile leased not less than six mediumwave outlets to them. This may be reminiscent to the USSR days, but in fact four of them are investment ruins from the Megaradio debacle, and it certainly is primarily successful marketing that they now relay VOR, whatever the conditions may be (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Dramatic reading by M&W with slight accents, mentioning Rasputin, very good signal I had not noticed before on 9515, but speech audio emphasizing the lower frequencies, UT Mon June 25 at 0437 on 9515. Must be Audio Book Club, from VOR. Yes, found // synchronized on 9860, and one sesquisecond behind the others on weaker 13630. A.B.C. outro at 0458 and wavelength announcements for European and Pacific services about to open, and for NAm to resume at 0100. I sure thought the last was 13630, but maybe I was sleepy, since 13635 is listed. Per http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&w=129&p= Frequencies at 0400-0500 are: 13775, 13635, 9860, 9435, 9515, 9880(till 31.7.07), 5900(from 1.8.07) But whence? Three different countries, Germany, Vatican, DV Russia per HFCC: 9515 0200 0500 7-9,27 WER 250 300 1234567 250307 281007 D D VOR TRW 9860 0100 0458 7-9 SMG 250 295 1234567 250307 281007 D CVA VOR TRW 13635 0100 0500 1,2,6 P.K 250 65 1234567 250307 281007 D RUS VOR GFC That Wertachtal is a winner (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA I recall there was a news item some time ago, that both or either Kabardino-Balkaria and Adygeya had stopped their shortwave relays for ME some time in 2006. I checked 7325 kHz very often in April this year and they were definitely off. Now they seem to be back (Mauno Ritola, Joensuu, Finland, Signal June 24 via DXLD) when? ** RUSSIA. QSL received; Sáb, 23 de Jun, 2007 8:59 pm KALININGRAD --- 15305 Radio Rossii, Kaliningrad (Bolshakovo), Saint Petersburg Regional Center, 3, Akademika Pavlova st., Saint Petersburg, 197022 Russia, Verification by a reception report dated September 04, 2001 for a Russian transmission for the Caucasus Region with 160 kW. Very nice QSL Card full data of Saint Petersburg Regional Center with five small pictures of: a) 311-meter high broadcasting tower of the Leningrad Radio & TV Transmitting Center (Saint Petersburg) b) Radio Center No. 11 (Leningrad Region, Krasny Bor): MW directional aerial system called “Bolshaya zarya” with 26 radio-towers (42 meters each) is used for long-distance MW broadcasting; c) Short Wave SGD-type (curtain) antennas of the Radio Center No. 11 (Leningrad region, Krasny Bor) d) 3TV Channel transmitter of the Leningrad Radio and TV Transmitting Center (Saint Petersburg) e) Technical room of high-power LW/MW transmitters of the Radio Center No. 11(Leningrad region, Krasny Bor) The station sent me a small and nice Saint Petersburg Regional Center´s stiker and a small and beautiful nice Saint Petersburg Regional Center´s pennant.- They sent the nice Saint Petersburg Regional Center current AM schedule. Delay: More of five years!!!! V/S: Mikhail Timofeyev-QSL Manager (Arnaldo Slaen, Buenos Aires, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) About St. Petersburg Regional Center QSL [in reply to Slaen`s report] Dear colleagues, First of all, I am very sorry about this delay with our QSLs. I already sent 57 QSL cards mostly for old reports. These QSLs include Kaliningard (Bolshakovo) reports that were dated till October 31, 2003 only (Kaliningrad is out of our structure after this date). Our current schedule (in Russian only at the moment) http://spb.rtrn.ru/info.asp?view=1553 If you have any old unverified reports for St. Petersburg (any date) and Kaliningrad (till October 31, 2003) please contact me via dxcorner @ yandex.ru or timofeyev @ sp.ru All new reports for our current St. Petersburg transmissions will verify by our QSL card, sticker and paper pennant (usual mail reports with one IRC or USD are more preferred than e-mail ones). Our address: Mikhail Timofeyev SPbRC Technical department St. Petersburg Regional Center ul. Akademika Pavlova, 3 Saint-Petersburg 197022 Russia 73 and good DX! (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, Russia, June 25, HCDX via DXLD) Below is some additional info about St. Petersburg Regional Center QSL (cf. Signal No. 172). Reception reports must contain the following: - date of reception - time (UTC) - frequency - listener's location - receiver type - antenna type - reception quality (SINPO or similar) - program details We'd appreciate comments to your SINPO value (modulation quality, source of interference, etc.) Return postage (1 IRC or 1 USD) is advisable. Our address: ul. Akademika Pavlova 3, St. Petersburg, 197022, Russia. Please add a note "PTO SPbRC, for Mikhail Timofeyev" on the envelope. The complete list of DXers whom we already mailed QSLs can be found at http://www.spb.rtrn.ru/info.asp?view=7007 If you have any questions related to reporting to us, as well as if your reports of previous years remain unanswered, please contact us at dxcorner @ yandex.ru (Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, Russia, Signal via DXLD) Many of the names are misspelt, including this one! --- ``Giovanni Bellabarda (I)`` --- It seems word about this notorious fraud has still not reached all QSLers. See http://www.schoechi.de/bellabar.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn, thank you for your information. His follow-up report was almost OK and therefore I QSLed it. It seems I am still too inexperienced QSL manager... (Mikhail Timofeyev, ibid.) Dear Mikhail, Thanks anyway for doing it. I know you are pleasing a lot of DX reporters. Fortunately Bellabarba is very much the exception. 73, (Glenn to Mikhail, via DXLD) Saint Petersburg Regional Center, Now they have a special DX corner (in Russian). http://spb.rtrn.ru/info.asp?view=7007 (Victor Rutkovsky, ibid.) And I find myself wading through their website while I had other things to do ... at least it should be translated what is portrayed in the photos: http://spb.rtrn.ru/info.asp First paragraph -- Leningradskiy radiotelevisionnyi peredayushiy tsentr; 313 metres tall (including antenna systems) transmission tower, put on air in 1963 with 50 kW Uragan model transmitter on channel R-3 (thus an ERP considerably above 100 kW on this low frequency; equipment similar to the R-1 and R-2 outlets often caught via Es skip); some of the current TV transmission equipment, in particular STU-42 transmitter (20 kW) for ch. 27 and OTV 1/25 AVB transmitter for ch. R-3. Second paragraph -- Radiocenter No. 11 at Krasnyi Bor, about 30 km south of St. Petersburg; shortwave transmitter hall No. 1 with Sneg transmitters upgraded to 200 kW; Bolshaya Zariya mediumwave antenna (1494 kHz). The radio transmission complex at Krasnyi Bor faces a challenge which is common amongst the branches of RTRS nowadays: Be prepared for not being able to sell much LW/MW/SW airtime anymore. In April 2007 the shortwave transmitters were on average busy for merely 2.55 hours a day, while only two of the four LW/MW transmitters are in use anymore, running on reduced power of 600 kW each for 9.25 hours (Mayak on 549) and 5.25 hours (Voice of Russia on 1494) a day, respectively. Third paragraph: 195/204.6 metres tall FM/TV tower at Vyborg. Further below: Radiocenter No. 1 at Olgino; established in 1947, originally responsible for LW/MW transmission of Radio Moscow programs 2 (Mayak; 198), 3 (Radio Rossii; 873) and 4 (Radio Orfeiy; 1125) with transmitters of 150 kW each (one of them in the photo; apparently two 75 kW blocks and in between them the combiner). During the late nineties a FM transmission complex has been added, with the antennas being mounted on the AMShP-205 mast (198 kHz). Bottom: Branch 3, responsible for St. Petersberg city coverage with eight 10 kW (one of them actually 12 kW) mediumwave transmitters, five 75 metres masts, four 50 metres antennas and two dipole-like antennas mounted on 75 metres tall towers. In the picture XL-12 (Nautel if I'm not terribly wrong; that would be the 12 kW) transmitter for 1053 and Tesla SRV-10 transmitter (stand-by). http://spb.rtrn.ru/info.asp?view=1548 First colour picture -- 50 kW Sneg transmitters at Krasnyi Bor as installed, i.e. before being upgraded to 200 kW. They are obviously identical to the shortwave broadcasting equipment installed during the sixties at Königs Wusterhausen, consisting of eight such transmitters, operational-wise treated as 4 x 100 kW (hence they were called like "Sender 4/1" and "Sender 4/2", respectively) and shut down together with the shortwave transmitter at Wiederau in autumn 1993 (after only 6115 was on air anymore already since 1991). Second colour picture: Yet another view of one of the SV 4+4 antennas at Bolshakovo (like the never completed one in Bulgaria). LW/MW equipment at Bolshakovo described here as 3 x 2500 kW, while other sources mention 1 x 2000 kW (Buran model) and 2 x 2500 kW (Tayfun model) instead. Third colour picture: AMShP-205 mast at Olgino with FM transmitter container. Last colour picture: LW/MW transmitter hall at Krasnyi Bor; either the complete equipment or two of four transmitters. I understand that these are all Buran units, probably three 2000 kW (234, 549, 1494) and the fourth 1000 kW (801). So much for now ... (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. AUSTRALIA, 7240, Radio Australia (presumed), 23 June, 1808, in English. Quite weak, SINPO 23232. Looked for listed broadcast of International Radio Serbia in Russian, but in vain. There was a low-pitched hum on frequency, as if slightly shifted carrier was present; but no audio other than Australian detected at all. Radio Australia goes via 100 kW transmitter in Shepparton on this frequency (Dmitry Mezin, Kazan, Russia, Signal via DXLD) Wolfgang Büschel measured Serbia on 7239.95, 50 Hz low, but it varies (gh) ** SLOVAKIA. Tried since Monday June 25, 2007 to access the English section of the R. Slovakia Int website. http://www.slovakradio.sk/inetportal/rsi/core.php?lang=2 Get XML parsing error with a mismatched tag. :( 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC Krist, June 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No problem with the link (JM Aubier, France, ibid.) It`s working; I just checked at 1100 UT. Regards, (Alokesh Gupta, India, ibid.) Still doesn't work on ENGLISH section at 1158 UT - with Firefox browser. XML - wrong 'equal' tag - day. But MS IE works well, that's the difference. Slovak, German, French, Russian, Spanish section sites working well. 73 wb 1200 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) Wolfgang, I agree, problem in FireFox 2.0.0.4 browser. XML Parsing Error: mismatched tag. Expected: . Location: http://www.slovakradio.sk/inetportal/rsi/core.php?lang=2 Line Number 168, Column 179: Interesting... 73, (Kraig Krist, ibid.) Above link worked immediately for me on IE (gh, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 11905, SLBC; 0102-0138 26 June, 2007. Clear and fair with Hindi female, presumed Hindi subcontinental vocals (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. 4989.98 kHz, R. Suriname [you mean Apintie?], Paramaribo, 23/6 2235 UT. I hear weak words and ballad music, typical for this station; from time to time QRM from CW. Poor, 22222. RX NRD545 Dif. Antennes. Gr. (Maurits van Driessche, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. New RTI postal address starting July 1st. PO Box 123-199, Taipei, Taiwan (as announced on air, twice now) (Ian Baxter, Australia, June 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. Last days I checked the radio of Turkmenistan. The two frequencies 4930 and 5015 are still active. I heard the programmes very weak, but the programmes of Turkmenistan are easy to recognize due to their language and instrumental music. 4930 was not audible in the evening until 2100 because of VOA on that frequency. So it was possible to hear from 2100-2300 when the night break begins on 4930, then from 0059-0150, when the station faded out. 5015 came in after 2100 and was audible until 0130 (fade out). The night break is before 2100. The programmes are not in \\, just some news at the beginning of the hour. 2100-2300, 0059-~0150: 4930 2100-~0130 UT: 5015 kHz (Udo Krueger, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX June 18 via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Despite the 100% increase of total RUI English broadcasting hours in April, number of original program airings remained the same. In order to fill the air, number of repetitions has been doubled. For instance, my monthly DX program "The Whole World on the Radio Dial" is repeated 31 times! New WWORD edition does not abruptly replace the previous one. There is a curious alternation pattern in program schedule: Saturday 1900 new 2100 previous Sunday 0000 new 0300 previous 0500 new 0700 previous 1100 new 1400 previous (Alexander Yegorov, RUI, Kyiv, Ukraine, Signal June 24 via WORLD OF RADIO 1364, DXLD) ** U K. DISMANTLING THE MEDIA WITH THE BBC'S NEWS DIRECTOR, RICHARD SAMBROOK By Dylan Tweney June 22, 2007 | 5:31:50 PM Categories: Podcast Series Richard Sambrook is surprisingly bloggy for the person who runs the BBC World Service. (His official title is "Director of the BBC's Global News division.") He blogged for years internally at the BBC, and then finally took it public at SacredFacts. In this interview, Sambrook focuses not just on the new content coming from the Web but on our new ability to organize content. After all, that's been a key part of the value of the news media. They decide what's important enough to make it into the newspaper or on air, and they decide which are the front page stories and which are stuck inside on page 23. But in the online world, readers have equal access to all the content, and are able to decide amongst themselves what's important and interesting. Is the editorial function migrating from the editors to the readers? If so, what effect does that have on the role and authority of the news media? This podcast interview is the eighth and last in a series of interviews by David Weinberger, author of Everything Is Miscellaneous. The series is sponsored by Wired News and the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Many thanks to David Weinberger for the interviews! You can use the player below to listen to the interview. Or, for a downloadable MP3 file and full transcript, continue reading. . . http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/06/news-in-the-onl.html (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** U K. BBC COMEDY HUT 33 Monday 25 June 2007 11:30-12:00 (Radio 4 FM) Sitcom by James Cary, set in Bletchley Park in 1941. Three code- breakers are forced to share a draughty wooden hut as they try to break German ciphers. Unfortunately, they hate each other. Charles ...... Robert Bathurst Archie ...... Tom Goodman-Hill Minka ...... Olivia Colman Gordon ...... Fergus Craig Mrs Best ...... Lill Roughley Joshua ...... Alex MacQueen http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hut33/pip/07yxn/ Audible online for 7 days (Fred Waterer, Ont., June 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Six episodes; I just listened to the first one, ha ha. I wonder how this will go over with English-speaking Germans? Above link got an error message, so went directly to the BBC Radio 4 Listen Again player and found it (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U K. MSF --- I've just received this message from NPL about MSF - note particularly the last paragraph. This overnight shutdown never happened with Rugby. Looks like they are paying for a cheaper service and now getting it. Rgds, (Gareth Foster, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Viz.: Please note that the MSF 60 kHz time and frequency signal broadcast from Anthorn Radio Station will be shut down during the period: From 09:00 BST, Tuesday 26 June 2007 until 18:00 BST, Wednesday 27 June 2007. The interruption to the transmission is required to allow maintenance work to be carried out in safety. The service will remain off-air overnight. ------------------------------------------ Time and Frequency Services National Physical Laboratory Teddington Middlesex TW11 0LW UK Tel. 020 8943 6880 Fax. 020 8943 6529 e-mail: time @ npl.co.uk (via Gareth Foster, UK, BDXC-UK June 22 via DXLD) Thanks for this, Gareth. 36 hours for maintenance! It doesn't say whether this is 'emergency' or 'planned', but as you say, it never used to happen with Rugby. I'll see if my brother can find anything out about this. He works for the DTI at Teddington, who ultimately own NPL, though all the science work including the time standard is currently carried out under contract by Serco, who in turn took their contract for MSF from BT to VT (I think). Things never used to be this complicated! (Mark, moderator [Savage], ibid.) ** U S A. NEW BBG CHAIRMAN RECONFIRMS THE AMBIGUITY OF U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING --- followthemedia.com 25 June 2007 Interview with James K. Glassman, new chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. "First of all, from my own professional background and experience, I know my way around a news room, and, at a basic level, that is essential to understanding what the BBG's broadcasting entities do: they are all journalistic organizations, so I know what they do and how they do it. I also understand and embrace the mission of U.S. international broadcasting, which is to broadcast accurate and objective news and information around the world. One of the essential pillars of freedom, here in the U.S. or anywhere, is a free press. Our broadcasters are themselves models of a free press. But in addition there is also an important foreign policy dimension to our mission. The 1994 International Broadcasting Act states, 'international broadcasting shall.be consistent with the foreign policy objectives of the United States.' It accomplishes foreign policy goals in two ways - first, by presenting the policies and values of the U.S. clearly and effectively, at the same time giving a 'balanced and comprehensive projection of American thought,' and, second, by broadcasting how a free press functions. I believe that fulfilling the mission of international broadcasting is critical to winning the war on terror and to meeting other policy objectives of the United States government." (More at New York Times, June 4) From Kim Andrew Elliott - Kim's comments on this article at http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/ (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Viz. Mr. Glassman tiptoes through this minefield without firmly coming down on the side of news or propaganda. If the "foreign policy dimension" means that the U.S. government will have some say in what languages U.S. international broadcasting transmits, and that USIB will cover U.S. foreign policy as part of its news and current affairs function, there might be some hope. But if it means that some information should be emphasized, and other news or newsmakers minimized, and U.S. policies advocated on occasion by direct appeals, U.S. international broadcasting will fail. The audience for international broadcasting is smarter than the experts and decision makers who formulate the strategies of U.S. international broadcasting (and those of us who comment on those strategies). The audience will detect, and will not be taken in by, attempts to mix "mission" into the reliable news they are seeking. More about this in my New York Times piece on 4 June. Posted: 25 Jun 2007 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Glassman`s Full interview: http://followthemedia.com/pubserve/glassman25062007.htm (via Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. Speaking of harmonics, I have gotten WDCD 1540 (past WPTR?,) Albany, NY on their harmonic on 3080, but cannot get their fundamental. Their contour plot on the FCC site shows directional to their Northeast away from me, but still you would think that if I can get their harmonic I could get their fundamental. Evidently the ground wave fundamental is indeed very directional, but the harmonic skywave propagates better down to me. Hmmm... directional to the NE of Albany gives them audiences deep in the Maine Woods (Dave Griffin, N2CHI, ABDX via DXLD) And a big TA signal in Europe (gh, DXLD) Dave, There will be directivity on 3080, but it well could be just the opposite of design directivity for 1540 kHz (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP, Greenville, North Carolina, ibid.) Hi Dave; yeah, the old WPTR threw a null right down the Hudson Valley, protecting the Bahamas station. 1540 is officially a Bahamas clear channel. The old joke around Albany, told to me Rich Place, WB2JLR, who worked at WROW, was that WPTR served 6 states, 3 Canadian provinces --- and some parts of Albany. In the southern part of Albany, not far from NYS Thruway exit 23, you could hear KXEL on top of WPTR at night. That's one heluva sharp null!!! 73, (Chris K4NHL, ibid.) ** U S A. KYW (1060 Philadelphia) took a break from the all-news wheel overnight this week, running a combination of promos and dead air as it tuned up its new HD Radio signal. From our somewhat skeptical vantage point where the AM HD system is concerned, we'll be following this particular sign-on with great interest, and here's why: KYW is tucked in to some of the tightest spacing of any big major-market AM signals in the country, 79 miles from first-adjacent WEPN (1050 New York) and just over 31 miles from second-adjacent WCHR (1040 Flemington NJ). The KYW null protecting WEPN falls over a big chunk of territory that's indubitably within the boundaries of the Philadelphia market (think Bucks County, for instance) - and we've long held that a good real-world test of the AM HD system would involve taking KYW, WEPN and WCHR all to digital. Even without WEPN or WCHR adopting the digital system, we'll still be interested to see whether the sidebands from KYW have any effect on its neighbors' analog signals (including WKMB 1070 in Stirling, NJ, too, come to think of it). And given that KYW is routinely one of the strongest distant signals here in upstate New York at night - and that there won't be anyone running HD right away on its first-adjacent channels - we'll be trying to pick up its digital signal once nighttime AM HD becomes a reality (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch June 25 http://www.fybush.com/support.html via DXLD) ** U S A. A CLASSICAL GAS, FOR NOW washingtonpost.com Sunday, June 24, 2007; N07 Classical music radio, virtually gone from commercial stations and increasingly shoved aside even on public radio, is refusing to die in Washington. WETA's return to classical this January after a two-year experiment with news and talk is looking like a ratings winner: The station (90.9 FM) saw its audience more than double in the first Arbitron report since the format change. And, equally important for perennially cash-strapped public radio, the size and number of listener donations to the station soared with the switch back to classical. But as elated as WETA executives are over the success of their new programming, classical's long-term future on the radio remains even more precarious than the medium's overall path through the digital era. . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062200386_pf.html (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. COMMERCIAL CLASSICAL IN MILWAUKEE A THING OF THE PAST An e-mail from Tim Noonan this morning reveals that WFMR 106.9 Brookfield WI changed from classical to smooth jazz at midnight this morning 6/26. This leaves Milwaukee without a commercial classical station for the first time in as long as I can remember, going back to when I got my first FM radio in the early '60s (WFMR was on 96.5 back then, later 98.3 and in recent years 106.9). Believe it or not, the only station carrying classical in the metro Milwaukee market is one of the HD channels of Wisconsin Public Radio's WHAD 90.7 Delafield. The analog carrier for WHAD is newstalk. 73 (Bill Dvorak, Madison WI, June 26, WTFDA via DXLD) And the website http://www.wfmr.com is now inaccessible; I wonder if they webcast. Never tried to get it. See also PUBLICATIONS: WHA (gh) SMOOTH JAZZ BACK AS WFMR DROPS CLASSICAL The Business Journal of Milwaukee - 4:39 PM CDT Monday, June 25, 2007 http://washington.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2007/06/25/daily12.html In the city of Milwaukee's second radio format change in a week, WFMR- FM (106.9) is dumping classical music in favor of the "smooth jazz" that WJZI-FM (93.3) dropped last week. The move marks a return to the smooth jazz format that WFMR said it pioneered in the mid-1990s. The station hit the air in 1995 with a playlist that included David Sanborn, George Benson, Kenny G and Al Jarreau, all of whom will be featured again at the station. Tom Joerres, president and general manager of WFMR owner Lakefront Communications L.L.C., said the decision by WJZI to drop the smooth jazz format opened the door for WFMR to return to its roots. WFMR was forced to drop the format in 1997 after WJZI hit the air in 1996 with a noticeably stronger signal. Last week, WJZI dumped smooth jaz for mainstream adult contemporary format that is expected to attract an "underserved" 35-54 female audience, a WJZI executive said. Joerres said the format switch, expected to take place Monday night at midnight, will double the station's audience. He noted that one of Wisconsin Public Radio WHAD's digital channels, which requires a special receiver to pick up, continues to broadcast 24-hour classical music. The station also said that the Federal Communications Commission recently granted WFMR a construction permit to move its antenna from its original Menomonee Falls location to its studio and tower location on McKinley Avenue in Milwaukee. The move will not only provide high- definition, but broadcasts will be centered in the metropolitan area. The new signal is set to debut in August and will be comparable in Milwaukee to other local radio stations (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. According to a promo item I heard earlier today on WLS, The Big 89 Rewind will repeat in its entirety on 4 July (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, June 24, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1364, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: http://www.wlsam.com/Article.asp?id=408961&spid= WLS would like to invite all listeners to 890AM on Monday, May 28th (Memorial Day) for the BIG 89 REWIND radio special. ALL DAY LONG, WLS goes retroactive --- back to the days when it was the nation's music leader, The Rock of Chicago. Hear Chicago's most legendary DJ's LIVE from 5 AM - Midnight on Memorial Day! This will be a true historic day in Chicago radio (via Steve Lare, ibid.) = 1000-0500 UT (gh) ** U S A. This from former IRCA member Jef Jaisun. It sounds like an interesting show (plus it's rather distinctive programming, in case anyone hears acid rock on 860, it`s probably them)... (Bruce Portzer, WA, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1364, DXLD) Viz.: From my Bay Area pal Mike Somavilla... *KTRB *860 AM in San Francisco is back playing SF based and related music from 7:00PM till 12PM on Saturday and Sunday nights [0200-0700 UT Sun & Mon]. Give them a listen, and if you are a musician and have a CD send them one, they are looking for some good music to play. Contact Kevin Barrett at KBARRETT @ KTRB860.com and let him know that I referred you. Address is 1700 Montgomery St. #490 S.F. CA. 94111 (via Jef Jaisun, via Portzer, ibid.) ** U S A. This is an article about KNLX-LP In Minturn, Colorado. It is a nice read; hope you enjoy. http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070622/AE/106220066 (Paul Armani, Denver, CO, ABDX via DXLD) WTFK? 107.9. Last story about R. Free Minturn was in DXLD 6-112 (gh) ** U S A. 1610, FLORIDA (TIS), WYZ235, Tampa International Airport; 2155-2158 22 June, 2007. Noted this day with a huge, nearly local signal at my Clearwater QTH, the usual looping male parking information with low level cocktail piano and percussion beat music bed (call sign never referenced in the script). Must be a new transmitter or some serious improvements made; and 2235-2306 25 June, 2007. Noted with only an open carrier; zapped by the storm that passed near the airport a little earlier?... 1400 26 June, 2007 check. Seemingly still off or carrier (no audio but I`ve got a lot of RF noise from computers etc. in the office parking lot which is near the St. Petersburg International Airport). (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html or: http://www.geocities.com/geigertree/flortis.html DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION CHANNEL WARNS AGAINST CLOSURE Closing down Venezuela’s last remaining opposition television station would be “the beginning of the end” of President Hugo Chávez’s rule, the channel’s head said in comments published today. ”It would be the beginning of the end because it would close the escape valve available to Venezuelans. Globovision is the only media where the opposition can take a stand,” station director Alberto Ravell told conservative daily Spanish newspaper ABC. Ravell said the broadcaster was the only station in Venezuela whose “editorial line is not set by the government.” Last month Chávez refused to renew the broadcast licence of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), which expired on May 27, on grounds the network was conspiring to overthrow him. Venezuela’s Communications Minister Willian Lara has since accused Globovision of inciting attempts to assassinate Chávez, citing as proof its airing of footage of the 1981 assassination attempt on former pope John Paul II accompanied by a salsa song whose lyrics included the line “have faith.” Chávez’s move against RCTV, a popular broadcaster of soap operas and variety shows, sparked days of clashes between police and protesters that left dozens injured and led to an international outcry. The Venezuelan president has said Globovision distorted reaction to the closure of RCTV. While Venezuelan state television has depicted the protesters as vandals Globovision has depicted the marches against the closure of RCTV as a battle for free speech and has blamed the police for the violence. (Source: AFP) (June 25th, 2007 - 15:51 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** YEMEN (?). 9780, 11 June, 1803. Arab music with female vocal, with unbelievable SINPO 45444. Male-female dialog at 1804 in Arabic (strange: if it was Radio Sana'a, it had to transmit in English at this time). "Kitab-ul-al-yaoum .. madinati .. ma'alumati-di-shakiril". Abrupt decrease of modulation at 1805, only strong carrier with some traces of audio remained. Good audio returned back at 1807, but disappeared after a few seconds (Dmitry Mezin, Kazan, Russia, Signal June 24 via DXLD) 9779.8, presumed Rep. of Yemen Radio, 2207-2210*, June 17, Arabic. Tail-end of transmission with vocal music cut-off at 2210. Poor/fair with QRM from 9775-DW, Rwanda (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, 18.6 1800, Voice of Tanzania Zanzibar med nyheter på engelska från Spice FM på sedvanlig tid. Vi får nu kolla om sändningen kl. 2000 var en tillfällighet eller ett nytt inslag på engelska. 3-4 CB. 11735, 18.6 1800, Voice of Tanzania Zanzibar with news in English from Spice FM at normal time. We have to check if the transmission at 2000 was a coincidence or a new element in English. 3-4 CB (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1364, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Clandestine SW Radio Africa targeted to Zimbabwe in English, 11810 [via RUSSIA], June 22 and 24 from 1700 to 1900 s/off with anthem and vernacular afterwards. Good signal here, SIO 433 with a report from a correspondent based in Washington, and Egypt's drive to help rid Zimbabwe of Mugabe (Marty Delfín, Madrid, Spain, Sony ICF- 77, telescopic antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1610 kHz, 0100-0103+ 26 June, 2007. Big IBOC-like digital hash, seemingly centered at 1610, as first reported by D. Crawford. Extending about +/- 5 kHz from 1610. Who? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`ve been hearing something like this sporadically for months. There is also someone audibly off-frequency from 1600, suspected WMQM Memphis but never confirmed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15650 NO ID, 1050-1558, escuchada el 24 de junio en árabe a locutor y locutora con boletín de noticias internacionales, referencias a Hamas y Afganistán, emisión de música árabe, a las 1558 comienza emisión de Family Radio y no deja escuchar a la emisora, SINPO 34443 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, Sangeant ATS 909, Antena hilo de siete metros, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Any relation to 15550 LIBYA, q.v., heard later the next day? (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ JKDI! [Just keep doing it] (Pete Bentley, NY, which a check to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) Enjoy your retirement! (gh) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ When I learned basic Spanish back in junior high school in the 50s, it was a given that names of days of week, months and languages, which we capitalize in English are NOT capitalized in Spanish. And this is still the case if you consult any dictionary. However, I can`t help but notice that more often than not today, native speakers (or rather writers) of Spanish do capitalize these words. So I find myself `fixing` these `errors` constantly in editing. Have the rules changed, or have they been unduly influenced by English or German? Perhaps I should be writing this item in Spanish if I really want any answers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Cuando comencé a aprender el español primario en la escuela secundaria, en los años 60, era obvio que no comienzan con mayúsculas los meses, días de la semana ni idiomas. Todavía es así, consultando cualquier diccionario. No obstante, hoy día la mayoría de escritores nativos del español sí emplean mayúsculas en esto casos, y me encuentro `corrigiendo` estos `errores` constantemente en redacción. ¿Se han cambiado las reglas, o estos compañeros muestran demasiada influencia del inglés o alemán? Talvez debiera escribir esto en español si quisiera ganar respuestas (Guillermo Glenn Hauser, Oclajoma, COMPENDIO DE ESCUCHAS DX) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ EXCELLENT BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF WHA I've been reading something called "9XM Talking: WHA Radio and the Wisconsin Idea[1]" by Wisconsin Public Radio chief announcer Randall Davidson. Fascinating! The book is a comprehensive history of Wisconsin's first [0] radio station. It doesn't go deeply into technical detail but it does provide enough engineering info to understand the station's myriad frequency changes over the years (*most* stations with a 70+-year history have had numerous frequency changes -- most station histories don't explain *why* they happened). It explains why, despite WHA being one of the first radio stations, it ended up a daytimer. Chapter 18 is dedicated to Wisconsin's forgotten public station, WLBL- 930. Today simply a repeater of WHA, WLBL has its own unique history. Photographs are always of interest in any book of radio history, and this book has plenty. (so why did I also post this to an FM list? Because there's also extensive information about the creation and operation of the network of FM stations that originally relayed WHA and has since become Wisconsin Public Radio.) ISBN 0-299-21870-8, available from the University of Wisconsin Press http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress or from Amazon.com. [0] the book addresses popular assertions that WHA was the first radio station period - the book claims WHA was the *second*. [1] "The borders of the University (of Wisconsin) are the borders of the state." In other words, the University seeks to enrich the lives of all the state's citizens, not just the students on the Madison campus. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN, ex-WI, WTFDA via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ HFCC News The B07 HFCC Conference will be held in Birmingham, England, August 27-31, 2007. It is being hosted by Christian Vision, assisted by FEBA and NASB member FEBC. More information is available on the HFCC website, http://www.hfcc.org NASB Vice President Mike Adams on FEBC will be our official representative at the conference, although other NASB members will also be participating. The HFCC-ASBU Steering Board, meeting in Prague on May 18, agreed that the A meeting each year (normally held in February) should be a joint meeting with the ABU-HFC (i.e. the Asia-Pacific coordination group). Because of travel distances and the costs of costs of traveling such distances, the HFCC SB feels the venue should alternate between the ABU-HFC region and the HFCC-ASBU region. No host or location has been chosen yet for the A08 meeting, but the likely dates are February 4-8, 2008. A review of HFCC membership fees is urgent to cover income vs. expenditure shortfalls. Options will be presented at the plenary meeting at the B07 HFCC Conference in Birmingham. NEXUS-IBA, Italy has applied for HFCC membership. They will be invited to attend as observers at the Birmingham conference in August. The HFCC is now a Sector Member of the International Telecommunication Union radio sector (ITU-R), so it can attend ITU-R meetings. The SB agreed that the HFCC should take up this opportunity, especially at WRC07, which is very important to the broadcasting service. The WRC07 will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from October 22 to November 17. The possibility of regular DRM transmissions on the 26 MHz band was discussed at the recent HFCC Steering Board meeting. This raises various regulatory questions, such as should they be coordinated on an international level or just a national level. There is also the question of how to protect international broadcasts on the 26 MHz band from local DRM broadcasts. It was proposed to divide the band into two portions permitting long distance international services into one segment and local services in the other segment of this band. National and regional administrations will need to be consulted on this. The Steering Board agreed that non-members' broadcast schedule requirements should be included in the HFCC database, but those non- members will not have access to the private portion of the HFCC website. The NASB has been acting informally as a liaison between the HFCC and various Latin American shortwave stations for a number of years now to submit their frequency requirements to the HFCC, and we have recently been contacted by two additional stations in Colombia which would like to be included in future HFCC databases. An issue was raised by Radio Canada International about the Canadian time-signal station CHU on 7335 kHz, which has had some recent interference issues with broadcasting stations. The HFCC Steering Board believed that this requirement should not be included in the HFCC database, but information about the transmission will be provided to HFCC members outside the database. Such fixed service transmissions can continue to operate in the 7300-7350 kHz range as long as they don't interfere with broadcast stations (June NASB Newsletter via WORLD OF RADIO 1364, DXLD) See also below DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC: see U S A, KYW+ DRM [see also ISRAEL] A great deal of the 22-page June NASB Newsletter deals with the DRM meeting in Elkhart and the outlook for DRM. Rather than copy all that here, I refer you to: http://www.shortwave.org/news/NEWSLETTER_0706.PDF Which BTW is not illustrated contrary to the link from NASB. In this DXLD, some excerpts are under ECUADOR; CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES. No audio of this has been posted, but there is a lot from last year`s meeting: Listen to MP3 files of May 2006 Annual Meeting of NASB and US DRM Meeting --- http://www.shortwave.org/audiofiles.htm WATCH Wandering the World with a Radio, presented by Adrian Peterson, AWR --- http://www.shortwave.org/downloads/NASB-AWR.wmv (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Audio and video to come of this year`s meeting? (gh to Jeff White) Yes, we'll have the audio and PowerPoints and photos on the NASB website very soon (Jeff White, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL RADIO MONDIAL DRM schedule effective June 25, 2007 (short waves only) 0000-0100 on 9790 SAC 070 kW / 227 NoAmEa TDP Radio Dance Music 0000-2400 on 5990 JUN 050 kW / non-dir to Europe RTL Radio French 0000-2400 on 6095 JUN 050 kW / 060 Europe RTL Radio German 0200-0300 on 9405 GUF 150 kW / 320 NoAmEa RNW English 0300-0500 on 11675 RAN 050 kW / 000 Pacific RNZI English 0300-0600 on 15735 K/A 090 kW / 250 SoEaAs VOR English 0400-0600 on 9780 MSK 040 kW / 261 Europe DW various langs 0400-0700 on 7440 KVI 050 kW / 190 Europe BBC English WS 0400-2205 on 6085 ISM 010 kW / non-dir to Europe BR-B5 Aktuel German 0500-0600 on 9815 QUI 004 kW / 037 Europe HCJB German 0500-0700 on 9890 RAN 050 kW / 035 Pacific RNZI English 0500-0800 on 6130 WOF 100 kW / 114 Europe DW various langs 0530-1030 on 6175 FON 010 kW / 330 Europe RMC French 0530-1630 on 5990 WER 090 kW / 270 France RTL Radio French Mon-Tue 0530-1630 on 5990 WER 090 kW / 270 France RTL Radio French Thu-Fri 0530-1730 on 5990 WER 090 kW / 270 France RTL Radio French Wed 0600-0700 on 7170 MOS 040 kW / 300 Europe DW various langs 0600-0700 on 7210 FLE 040 kW / 133 SoEaEu RNW Dutch 0700-0900 on 9620 MOS 040 kW / 300 Europe DW various langs 0700-1000 on 11895 FLE 040 kW / 133 SoEaEu RNW Dutch 0700-1200 on 9925 WAV 100 kW / 167 SoEaEu RTBF French Tue 0700-1300 on 7145 RAN 050 kW / 000 Pacific RNZI English 0800-0900 on 7275 WOF 100 kW / 114 Europe DW various langs 0800-0900 on 12060 MSK 035 kW / 240 Europe VOR English 0800-0900 on 15780 MSK 035 kW / 240 Europe VOR English 0800-1400 on 13810 SIN 090 kW / 035 Europe DW various langs 0815-0845 on 9655 WER 040 kW / 300 Europe BVBN English Sat 0900-1000 on 7275 RMP 040 kW / 095 Europe DW various langs 0900-1100 on 15715 SIN 090 kW / 050 Europe DW various langs 0900-1100 on 12060 MSK 035 kW / 240 Europe VOR German 0900-1200 on 15780 MSK 035 kW / 240 Europe VOR German 0900-1330 on 13620 KBD 120 kW / 310 Europe Radio Kuwait Arabic 0905-1000 on 7275 MOS 040 kW / 300 Europe DW various langs 1000-1100 on 11815 MOS 050 kW / 295 NoWeEu CVC English 1000-1300 on 9460 WOF 100 kW / 170 SoWeEu DW various langs 1000-1330 on 7240 FLE 040 kW / 123 CeEaEu RNW Dutch 1100-1200 on 9760 RMP 035 kW / 095 Europe NHK World English Fri 1100-1200 on 12080 BRN 008 kW / 010 Pacific Radio Australia English 1100-1200 on 13770 SMG 125 kW / 300 NoEaAm Vatican Radio various 1100-1400 on 15725 SIN 090 kW / 050 Europe DW various langs 1200-1230 on 5945 WER 040 kW / non-dir to Europe BVBN English Sun 1200-1300 on 9850 RMP 035 kW / 095 Europe RTI English Fri 1200-1400 on 5995 BRN 008 kW / 010 Pacific Radio Australia English 1300-1325 on 9850 RMP 035 kW / 095 Europe R.Prague German Fri/Sat 1300-1400 on 9450 MSK 035 kW / 260 Europe VOR Russian 1300-1500 on 9495 MOS 040 kW / 275 NoWeEu DW various langs 1300-2000 on 17875 GUF 150 kW / 308 NoAmEa TDF various langs Mon-Fri 1330-1355 on 9850 RMP 035 kW / 095 Europe R.Prague English Fri/Sat 1330-1400 on 7240 FLE 040 kW / 123 CeEaEu RCI English 1345-1745 on 9880 KBD 120 kw / 282 NoEaAf Radio Kuwait Arabic 1400-1415 on 7190 SMG 125 kW / 350 Europe Vatican Radio German 1400-1430 on 9600 WER 060 kW / 300 Europe RRI English 1400-1430 on 9770 RMP 035 kW / 095 Europe RNZI English Sat 1400-1500 on 7240 FLE 040 kW / 123 CeEaEu RNW Dutch 1400-1500 on 9450 MSK 035 kW / 260 Europe VOR English 1400-1500 on 13660 SIN 090 kW / 035 Europe DW various langs 1415-1430 on 7190 SMG 125 kW / 350 Europe Vatican Radio Polish 1430-1500 on 9770 RMP 035 kW / 095 Europe KBS English Fri 1500-1600 on 6015 ISS 035 kW / 060 Europe TDP Radio Dance Music 1500-1600 on 9450 MSK 035 kW / 260 Europe VOR German 1500-1600 on 9700 MOS 040 kW / 275 Europe DW various langs 1500-1600 on 13600 FLE 040 kW / 191 SoWeEu RNW Dutch 1500-1600 on 13790 SIN 090 kW / 035 Europe DW various langs 1505-1605 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm RCI English 1555-1850 on 7145 RAN 050 kW / 035 Pacific RNZI English 1600-1700 on 9450 MSK 035 kW / 260 Europe VOR French 1600-1700 on 9810 MSK 035 kW / 265 Europe VOR German 1600-1700 on 13645 FLE 040 kW / 191 SoWeEu RNW Dutch 1600-1700 on 13800 SIN 090 kW / 035 Europe DW various langs 1600-1730 on 6130 WOF 100 kW / 114 Europe DW various langs 1600-0600 on 3995 SIN 090 kW / 040 Europe DW various langs 1605-1635 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm RCI Russian Sat/Sun 1605-1705 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm RCI Russian Mon-Fri 1635-1705 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm RCI Ukranian Sat/Sun 1700-1730 on 5955 FLE 040 kW / 210 CeWeEu Radio Sweden English 1700-1755 on 13820 SIN 090 kW / 035 Europe DW various langs 1700-1800 on 9810 MSK 035 kW / 265 Europe VOR French 1705-1905 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm RCI English 1730-1800 on 5955 FLE 040 kW / 210 CeWeEu Radio Sweden German 1800-1955 on 3965 ISS 001 kW / 065 France RFI French 1800-2000 on 7420 KVI 050 kW / 190 Europe BBC English WS 1800-2000 on 17640 SGO 015 kW / 045 Brazil CVC Spanish Mon-Fri 1850-2050 on 9890 RAN 050 kW / 035 Pacific RNZI English 1900-2000 on 9690 FLE 040 kW / 191 SoWeEu RNW Dutch 1945-2030 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm Vatican Radio English 2000-2055 on 9480 FLE 040 kW / 123 SoEaEu RNW Dutch till August 31 2000-2200 on 5875 KVI 050 kW / 190 Europe BBC English WS 2030-2100 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm RNW English 2050-2150 on 11675 RAN 050 kW / 325 Pacific RNZI English 2100-2200 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm RCI English 2150-0300 on 13730 RAN 050 kW / 000 Pacific RNZI English 2200-2230 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm Radio Sweden Swedish 2200-0200 on 11675 KBD 120 kW / 350 NoEaAm Radio Kuwait Arabic 2200-1655 on 3965 ISS 001 kW / 065 France RFI French 2230-2300 on 9800 SAC 070 kW / 268 NoEaAm Radio Sweden English 2300-2345 on 9750 SMG 125 kW / 300 NoEaAm Vatican Radio English (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 26, via DXLD) I wonder how this compares to the 3 or 4 online DRM skeds (gh, DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ PLT NOT AN ACCEPTABLE SYSTEM WHILE INTERFERENCE TO HF IS POTENTIALLY HIGH Power Line Telecommunication (also known as BPL) is not an acceptable system to provide broadband connections while the interference potential to HF frequencies remains high. This was the message that the South African Radio League delivered to the Broadband Conference held at the Sandton Convention Centre during the past week. Proponents of 'PLT as the solution to bridging the digital divide' must think again, Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, told delegates. Bridging the digital divide is about access to Personal Computers and computer literacy and not about cheap broadband delivery. He said that the SARL is not against new technologies as long as these technologies are not at the cost of the HF spectrum, which is a scarce national resource. He said that in fact Radio Amateurs are embracing new technologies all the time. It is part of being an experimenter. With so many successful and more mature technologies, such as WiMAX and HSPDA available, it is difficult to understand why PLT is still pursued with such vigour. Currently there is no PLT equipment type approved by ICASA and no licenses have been issued. Source: The South African Radio League via http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2007/plt_not_acceptable.htm (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GEOPHYSICAL ALERTS EXPLAINED http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=9141 If you would like to understand the WWV geophysical alerts, the above URL is a great place to read up on what it all means and how it`s figured (Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) TRANSATLANTIC Es UP TO A6 25/06/07 Hi all, An excellent multi hop Es event last night with numerous carriers heard, the highest recorded one being A6 on 83.259.945. A3 and A4 signals were the clearest with A2 a mess of CCI from about ten carriers. 1955 UT I had an A3 signal showing the Simpsons, soon after there was a short promo announcing new series coming up in the fall on C??, typically the ID faded. On A4 at 2005 UT I saw a word guessing game show, a large board of letters that turned to reveal words. 2013z was when the A6 video faded up, it only reached S3 on the scanner so no chance of seeing anything. Just before 2030z a series of different images and people were seen with captions below and a globe or sphere with stars rotating around it and then the highlight with the A4 signal on 67.250.0 MHz as I caught the start of NTV Evening Newshour although I think it was announced as Newsline? I've made some recordings of last nights results as these are the best results so far for North American sporadic E. I've put them all on a webpage rather than making lots of separate links. http://www.ukdx.org.uk/tv/canada_es.htm As far as I've been able to work out so far these signals will be East Coast Canada/Newfoundland and around 5000 km from here on the south coast of the UK. Equipment used is a 20 element log periodic at 9m AGL, an HS publications D100 DXTV tuner and a Thomson multi standard television that auto switches to 525 Line NTSC. - Not content with last night`s opening the path was already there when I got in from work at midday local time (11 UT) A single A2 0 offset signal was seen showing a storyline cartoon, one of the characters was called George. Again, carriers were heard up to A4 but a very strong signal from RUV Iceland blocked any chance of seeing the N. Am signal even with the tuner in narrow IF. This is the best grab from the A2 signal, had to use narrow IF so it's quite smeared. It was taken at 1118 UT http://www.ukdx.org.uk/tv/grabs/a2_260607.gif The strength of the interfering RUV signal on E4, a test card is a rare event for us Europeans! http://www.ukdx.org.uk/tv/grabs/ruv5544.gif 73 (Paul Farley, Sussex, UK. IARU JO00, http://www.ukdx.org.uk June 26, WTFDA via DXLD) ###