DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-078, July 5, 2007 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1365: ** tentative 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 DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD, which seems to be coming out less frequently? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Like the day before, again July 4 the Solh Theme played at 1427 on 17700 via UK; no woodpecker this time. We are dying to find out the name of this music, performers, etc., if it and its companion music is available on CD or download, but have no way of contacting Radio Solh to ask them. Can anyone help, or find a web or satellite feed which could enable good quality recording of all this Solh music? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. Foreign broadcasts in Armenia escape restrictive legislation. "The Armenian parliament has failed to pass a bill that would have placed severe restrictions on foreign broadcast media, particularly RFE/RL. The legislation would have banned foreign broadcasts on Armenian public television and radio and heavily taxed their retransmission on private stations." Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty News, 3 July 2007. See also A1+, 4 July 2007. See previous post about same subject. Posted: 04 Jul 2007 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** ASCENSION. ASCENSION GOES WIND POWERED Among the various interesting snippets in the BBC World Service's Annual Review - published on 3 July at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/annual_review/2006/index.shtml - is that the Ascension Island shortwave relay station is being converted to run on wind power, which will save 500,000 pounds a year. (Chris Greenway, July 4, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Wow, Ascension Island must be a very windy place indeed, Chris! Thanks for that fascinating snippet, though I do wonder if they have any back-up just in case the islands is ever becalmed! (Mark Savage, moderator, ibid.) Hard to believe that wind could generate the many megawatts constantly needed, but it would sure beat shipping in all that diesel to this very remote location (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. "I've been doing Late Night Live for 16 years. It goes to air twice a day on 300 ABC stations and repeaters and pulls in one of Radio National's biggest audiences, far exceeding the circulation of many newspapers and light years ahead of mags such as The Bulletin. However, the audience size has stayed pretty steady, not shifting much up or down. LNL is also broadcast via Radio Australia, but I have no idea how many listen in. However, what we now know is that my little wireless program is a big hit via the web and podcasting." . . . http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,22005645-12272,00.html?from=news (Phillip Adams, The Australian 3 July 2007. Posted: 04 Jul 2007, via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** BELARUS. 6115/7110, Belaruskaje Radyjo 1st Channel; 0215-0227 4 July, 2007. Belarus or Russian female, definitely parallel but both very weak and presumed the one(s) as per Serghey Nikishin's observations from Moscow in DXLD #7-073 June 26, 2007. Music in parallel at 0227 recheck. Sites per same source: 6115 Kalodzishchy and 7110 Hrodna. No trace of other channels 6010, 6070, 6190 and 7145. 6115 blocked 0231 recheck by Radio Tirana in English (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. Benin TWR update - on air delayed till October BENIN TRANSMITTING STATION PROJECT UPDATE The exciting and challenging Benin project of broadcasting the gospel from within West Africa continues. Following the signing of the license agreement last year we have faced delays regarding the ordering of equipment, arrival of containers and finding the right programme producers. The construction of the high power medium wave station in central Benin is making slow but steady progress and has not been without its challenges. It was with thankfulness and great excitement that the Cox family arrived in Benin in May to help with the project. Paul is a broadcast engineer and will be taking care of the installation of the transmitter and all that technically goes along with this. Garth Kennedy and his team have all but completed the transmitter building. The building is looking great now that is has been painted and just waiting for the transmitter, the power generators and antenna equipment to arrive. There are four containers on their way to Benin for this project. All are needed for the station to go on the air. This has been a long and challenging process - getting all the necessary equipment and paper work in order. The progress for the pre-inspection of the shipping containers has not been straightforward as all four containers are in various stages. One container, with the transmitter in it, should arrive from Canada any day now in the port of Cotonou. The pre-inspection of the container with the power generators is in progress and the third container coming from TWR in Cary [North Carolina], with essential parts for the antenna, is awaiting an import permit after which the pre-inspection can be arranged. The last container from TWR in South Africa has just had its pre-inspection done and is on its way to the port of Durban. This container has air conditioning equipment in it, amongst other things. Another challenge faced is the surprise construction of a new high voltage power line through the west side of the transmitter site. Much wisdom is needed in order to resolve this challenge. With the delay in getting the MW license, the delivery of the equipment and the challenges with the shipping of the containers, a new on air date of the end of October this year has been set. The programme schedule for this station is coming together. Much research and thought has gone into this. The languages being considered for broadcast are Hausa, Twi, Baatonum, Fongbe, Yoruba, Kanuri, Pulaar, Dendi, French and English. The radio programme production of these languages is in progress. Published 3 July 2007 (source? via Steve Whitt, MWC via DXLD) WTFK? Not worth mentioning, they think – 1566 kHz (gh) ** BOLIVIA. 5952, R. Pio Doce, 2130 Spanish ballads then program of noticias with municipal announcements and funeral notices, id’s, very good signal 5/20 (Wood-Lima) 6025, R. Illimani (Patria Nueva) 1240 OM with municipal announcements mentioning school projects & Bolivia, fair signal 5/25 (Wood-SV) 6105, R. Panamericana, 1215 very strong signal with news report re local corruption investigation in Potosí, ad for local music concert, continued news items with mentions of Bolivia & Cochabamba to id 5/25 (Wood-SV) 6155, R. Fides, 1205 good strong signal with OM talking about elections mentioning Santa Cruz, also mentioned R. 25 de Janiero ? [that would be enero in Spanish -- gh], telephone interview with YL 5/25 (Wood-SV) (Steve Wood Vacationing in Lima, Perú, or SV = in Ollayantatambo, Perú, Radio Shack DX-399 with the whip antenna, July CIDX Messenger via DXLD) See also PERU ** CANADA. Radio Shalom 1650 AM --- Has anybody been listening to this station? It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be for an all Jewish station. They got Finnigan's old producer Howie on in the morning and in the evening, he's kinda entertaining in a train wreck sort of way. He seems to be the kind of guy who foams at the mouth a lot. He's always ranting about something, today it was something about the Jewish hotel in St Adolph de Howard - I think his show would probably be entertaining however, if he took phone calls. It would be fun to hear the way he handles callers. He's so bad the station put a disclaimer before his show insisting the opinions he expresses are his and not the stations. My old teacher Stanley Asher does a great show at 9 am, actually it's different every day, one day travel, one day montreal, really interesting stuff. The French stuff on during the day is interesting, but I find it's the same everyday. All they do is rehash Israeli politics, as I know it's a Jewish station, I figure there must be other stuff to talk about in Judaism than Israel. It gets tiresome quick. I caught this Jewish heavy metal show with some rabbi screaming, strange arabic sounding music at night. The station is definately ecklectic, but probably worth a perusing. All that said, I still enjoy their programming much more than the commercial radio stations in town today; they just annoy me. Anybody have any thoughts? This is a radio discussion board (Charlie Arsenau, July 4, radioinmontreal yg via DXLD) I have to admit that regarding Radio Shalom, until now, all I have done is to Passover it! Sorry, I just couldn't resist! I really haven't tuned in to the station yet. I should give it a listen. Your posting here has peaked my curiosity (Sheldon Harvey, QC, ibid.) I`ve listened a bit to the klezmer music show, via webcast of course. A little of that at a time is an enjoyable diversion (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) CJRS ** CANADA. Move of CHVO-560 Spaniard's Bay (Carbonear) NL to FM approved --- The move of CHVO-560 Carbonear (offical city of license per industry Canada Spaniard's Bay) NL to FM (103.9 MHz, 14 kW): http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-211.htm CHVO Carbonear – Conversion to FM band The Commission approves an application for a broadcasting licence to operate a new English-language, FM radio programming undertaking in Carbonear, Newfoundland and Labrador, to replace AM station CHVO Carbonear. Introduction 1. Newcap Inc. (Newcap) filed an application for a broadcasting licence to operate a new English-language, FM radio programming undertaking in Carbonear to replace its AM station CHVO. The proposed station would operate at 103.9 MHz (channel 280B) with an average effective radiated power of 14,000 watts. 10. As set out in the appendix to this decision, the licensee is authorized to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CHVO for a transition period of six months following the commencement of operations of the FM station. Pursuant to sections 9(1)(e) and 24(1) of the Broadcasting Act, and consistent with the licensee’s request, the Commission revokes the licence for CHVO effective at the end of the simulcast period. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. PBS Yunnan V. of Traffic --- 6937, putting out spurs on 6905 S3, 6913 S3, 6921 S4, 6929 S5, 6937 S8 ute QRM, 6945 S4 with Chinese radar QRM, rather ironic that they are jamming themselves !! 6961 S3 and finally 6969, so heard every 8 kHz from 6905 to 6969, with the fundamental under QRM. Heard June 29 1355z. Not heard this before, sounded rather strange !!! Been looking for Chad Long-path, as WB has heard in Europe, but nothing heard, Long-path Africans on 41 Metres have been poor this year, Chad is leaving PBS Yunnan in the dust as far as spurs are concerned. 73 (Dave, Adelaide, South Australia, Vitek, Icom R75 G5RV North/South, swl call vk5001swl, July 1, harmonics yg via DXLD) Chad not reported anywhere around this frequency- ? (gh, DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [non]. Re 7-077: WRMI relay of R. Prague in English at 1400 on 7385 was missing from the latest DX Mix News A-07 schedule, but reconfirmed on webcast at 1426 UT check July 5. And yes, it is still the previous day`s show, in this case Wednesday since at closing they said the Thursday and Friday shows would be repeats (oops, specials), since those are holidays in the CzR. Also reconfirmed WOR at 1431 Thursday, new 1365 edition (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, Radio Djibouti; *0250-0315 4 July, 2004. 1 kHz (or a little higher) tone brought up from 0250 into a nice, though short orchestral anthem from 0300:15, Afar (or whatever) male ID and opening announcements, flutes and talk atop. Into Qur`an recital 0303-0313, then more talk and filler music. Very good and clear (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. La Voz de los Andes sets aside the evangelizing for a morning newscast, a part of which I monitored July 4 at 1146 on very strong 11960. Ecuador is protesting to Colombia over clandestine broadcasts being heard in northern Ecuador`s bordering provinces, something to do with FARC and Gran Colombia, and an FM station also mentioned. Apparently this is viewed as a threat to Ec sovereignty. HCJB has quite an archive of news stories on their website, but could not find this one. There are no dates on the stories! And the filtro search apparently only applies to the headlines, not the content. It seems that FARC has previously made incursions into Ecuador, and suspected of growing coca there. [see also PERU] It`s been far too long (April 3 in DXLD 7-042) since my last check of HCJB Spanish in the morning to see if they are still announcing the wrong frequencies more than a year later. July 4 at 1159:30 there was no canned ID, but live announcements after the news, going into timesignal and missionary program. But at 1259:40 I retuned in a few seconds too late to 11960, hearing them say ``9745``, while they are really on 11690 and 11960, so the misinformation continues unabated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reminds me of the time I told Ian McFarland that he was announcing the correct frequencies during the weekend broadcasts of RCI to Europe, but they were carrying his voice announcing old ones at s/on and s/off. He kept telling me "I've made new tapes with the correct frequencies", but for whatever reason they were not playing out the new versions. It was *three years* before that was corrected. The fact is, most frequency announcements are not live, and the people at the studios don't understand how important it is to play out the correct information (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dirty little secret: many SW broadcasters never listen to their own station (gh, DXLD) see also UNIDENTIFIED 1752 Well, as international broadcaster you wouldn't exactly hear much in the bc house when you tried to listen to your SW broadcasts that are directed to other parts of the world, would you...;) (unless you have a tx nearby and get the groundwave signal). (Bernd Trutenau, ibid.) I won`t let them off the hook so easily. Broadcasting houses should be wired to monitor their own broadcasts off the air, using remote receivers if necessary. Beyond that, people who work at SW stations could listen to their own station off-duty at home; imagine that. With so many relay stations, being in the skip zone is hardly an excuse in many cases. Furthermore, `listening` could also be done by satellite or internet feeds, altho wrong frequency announcements would not be apparent that way (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don't know how it works at other stations, but at Radio Netherlands the only thing that goes out from the transmitter site is a short burst of interval signal. Everything else goes out from our Network Operations Centre in Hilversum. But in any case, there's also a worldwide network of remote receivers available to HFCC members so we can monitor virtually any frequency, except during a Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance :-) (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But do the program-makers, announcers, rather than engineers, bother to do so? (gh, DXLD) The Deutsche Welle building at Cologne was indeed wired this way, i.e. their output was available on the internal cable net. This cable net did bleed so much that the signals could still be picked up in the parking lot where I found out about this system by way of playing a little bit with the car radio. It appears to be an educated guess that such a distribution had been set up at DW's new headquarters at Bonn as well. What makes not much sense here is to make a point of listening off the air. Which air, in the times of varied distribution platforms and multiple transmitter sites for one of them (shortwave) being the standard? In my opinion the relevant fact for programming / studio operations is that their output leaves the building OK. Anything else is beyond their control anyway. Of course technical monitoring is an entirely different story, and one can only hope that every broadcaster checks the quality of the service from their transmission providers. Dirty little secret #2: Don't necessarily expect the audio engineer in the studio to listen to his output. Of course they are supposed to do, and it were quite embarrassing situations when a tape run out and the engineer did not notice until the main control room called him up (result: two minutes of dead air and yearend bonus cancelled) or when in an ARD institution some boss found Radio Luxemburg blaring out of a studio. However, it must be added here that it becomes less and less common to have somebody babysitting the studio while recorded programming is played out. Talking about tapes running out: Recently an audio engineer told me that this is the subject of a night-mare that scares him time and again. His last tape runs out and he discovers that he has nothing left to play on the other machines. Flap-flap-flap. Variant: Not being able to return to the studio after going to the toilet or whatever. For announcers: Script vanished into nowhere, can't remember anything of what was intended to be said. Have a good night and pleasant dreams ... (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** ETHIOPIA. 5990, R Ethiopia, 1800, July 04. Amharic surfaced after co-channel LUX DRM had been switched off that same minute. To my great surprise DRM did not reappear until 0527 the next morning so I could also hear ETH opening on a clear frequency 0300 on July 05 (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Other logs of this and various others grouped under LUXEMBOURG [non] ** ETHIOPIA. Radio Fana is a political radio station operated by the opposition groups in Ethiopia. The station was founded in November 1994 and started broadcasting on short and mediumwave frequencies. In the beginning the station was not approved by the ruling party, and it was operated in secrecy. Later the Ethiopian government sanctioned a license to Radio Fana. The main objective of Radio Fana is to provide a forum of pluralistic view and critical voice. They critically evaluate the performances of public offices and formulate a public opinion. The grass root listeners participation is ensured through phone in programmes in all broadcast languages and such participatory shows are highly popular in the country. Nowadays Radio Fana airs lots of informative and educational programmes to sensitise and mobilise the society to fight against poverty and to provide support for democratisation. The station says that its programmes enhance economic development , good governance and tolerance in a multicultural federal system. Radio Fana broadcasts in four local languages, namely Amharic, Afan Omoro, Afar and Somali. The station operates on medium wave frequency 1080 kHz with a 3 KW transmitter for covering Addis Ababa and neighbouring areas. They also broadcast from 0330 to 2000 UT on two shortwave frequencies, 6110 and 7210 kHz using 2 x 10 KW transmitters to ensure the coverage throughout Ethiopia and neighbouring countries. The main content of Radio Fana broadcast include major international and local news, Current Affairs, talk show and entertainment programmes reflecting the diverse reality of Ethiopia. Radio Fana can be heard in many distant countries during favourable conditions. But verifications from this station are very rare. Listeners interested in contacting the station may write to: P. O. Box-30702, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They can also be contacted via e- mail to: rfana @ radiofana.com (Compiled by T. R. Rajeesh for World DX Club, Report from India, July, via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Re 7-077, Exiled Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Amharic: 1600-1700 on 15260 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to EaAf Mon, new from July 2 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 2, via DXLD) Missed it this week. Anyone confirm whether it was on? (gh, DXLD) Forgot to check if it appeared on air, but late on Monday 2 July an audio file of the broadcast appeared on the organization's website at http://www.eotcholysynod.org/ Regards, (Dave Kernick, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. 6220.12, ITALY (PIRATE), Mystery Radio; 0439-0450 1 July, 2007. Clear and fair with the usual Euro pop/disco. Seems to be either not regular or not propagating, as only occasionally heard here now. Not noted in a couple of checks since this log on July 1st, in fact (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. SWR 7th Year Celebration!! Hello friends, Scandinavian Weekend Radio launching nice transmission again 21 hours UT Friday 6th of July 2007.... Full Partytime whole 24 hours of time!!!! We shall have MORE power, maybe around 500 watts in use on both 25 mb and 1602 kHz and on 48 mb changed antenna position, so perhaps some improvments of propagation also there to Europe. PLEASE check all bands and join with! ALL Messages, reports and calls welcome: Call.... or send SMS's to +358 400 995559 e-mails to info(@)swradio(.)net SWR Reports P. O. Box 99 FI-34801 FINLAND PROGRAM SCHEDULE Local Time Frequency - Taajuudet Program details - Ohjelmatietoja 48 25 MW 00-01 6170 11720 1602 Continental nightshift, R&R with RJ. 21-22 UT 01-02 6170 11690 1602 Continental nightshift cont. 22-23 UT 02-03 6170 11690 1602 02.00 Hukala.net News. 02.05 Midnite Dynamite by Dj Madman. 23-00 UT 03-04 6170 11690 1602 Midnite Dynamite cont. 00-01 UT 04-05 6170 11690 1602 Happy Birthday 7 Year Old SWR by Dj Häkä. 01-02 05-06 6170 11690 1602 Happy Birthday to 7 Year Old SWR cont. 02-03 UT 06-07 6170 11690 1602 Happy Birthday to 7 Year Old SWR cont. 03-04 UT 07-08 6170 11690 1602 Info not available. 04-05 UT 08-09 6170 11690 1602 Golden Morning Oldies By Dj Madman. 05-06 UT 09-10 6170 11690 1602 Lauantailuotain: Lentokapteeni Arto Pellinen Finnairilta esittelee MD-83 liikennelentokonetta, sekä kertoo liikennelentäjän työstä. Uusinta. 06-07 UT 10-11 6170 11720 1602 Proge-aamu by Esa. 07-08 UT 11-12 6170 11720 1602 Pena-Sedän Osaamiskeskus. 08-09 UT 12-13 6170 11720 1602 12.00 Hukala.net News. 09-10 UT 12.05 Onneksi olkoon, 7-vuotias SWR by Dj Häkä. 13-14 6170 11720 1602 World Radio Roulette. Latest DX Radio News and MadSummer Contest by DJ MadMan. 10-11 UT 14-15 6170 11720 1602 14.00 Hukala.net News. 14.05 SWR kesäterassi. 11-12 UT 15-16 6170 11720 1602 Tricky Trev Show part 1. 12-13 UT 16-17 6170 11690 1602 Peevelin Piinapenkki. Taiteilija maestro Härski taiteilee Peeveliä. 13-14 UT 17-18 6170 11690 1602 Radio news by Rick Random. 14-15 UT 18-19 6170 11690 1602 Tricky Trev Show part 2. 15-16 UT 19-20 5980 11720 1602 Synttäri-kesäterssi by Dj Häkä. 16-17 UT 20-21 5980 11720 1602 Lauantaiehtoota, mihin matkalla Suomi-neito? Madman ryömiskelee Suomineidon ryntäiltä hameenhelmoihin saakka. Pahinta Mad- 17-18 UT roskalaatikkojournalismia synkästi ja syvältä. 21-22 6170 11690 1602 SWR wine review - White wines & Blue cheeses by SWR wine tasting team. 18-19 UT 22-23 6170 11690 1602 SWR wine review cont. 19-20 UT 23-24 6170 11690 1602 Closing ceremony by SWR crew. 20-21 UT Cheeeeers!!!! (Alpo Heinonen, SWR, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Re 7-077, IBB closing Ismaning station: Andy Sennitt comments: The Voice of America longwave relay on 173 kHz was the first international broadcasting station I ever heard when I first became interested in radio in the early 1960’s. It was from VOA Munich on 1196 kHz that I listened to VOA’s coverage of the aftermath of the Kennedy Assassination on 22 November 1963. BBC coverage was restricted to brief news updates. So that site played an important role in introducing me to international broadcasting, and showing me the advantages of being an international radio listener. Radio Rob Says: July 3rd, 2007 at 20:29 e … and for many UK teenagers in the 60s (well OK then, for me), Willis Conover’s Music USA and Jazz Hour were compulsory late night listening on 1196. Kai Ludwig Says: July 3rd, 2007 at 22:00 e Actually 173 kHz was administration-wise "VOA Munich" as well but in reality another site near Erching, north of Ismaning; it was a constellation similar to the Lampertheim and Biblis twin sites. Erching had been shut down in 1973 but reactivated in 1979 by the German side (leased from the USA by the postal office) for Deutschlandfunk on 209 kHz. In 1988 Erching had finally been replaced by the current Aholming site near Deggendorf due to the construction of the new Munich airport. Here are pictures of the Erching site or rather what remains of it today: http://www.lostplaces.de/cms/fernmeldeaufklarung-eloka-sigint/langwellensender-erching.html The Holzkirchen site south of Munich, shut down by yearend 2005, is featured on this website as well (photos taken when the transmitters were already dismantled, hence the feed-lines out of the building are already gone): http://www.lostplaces.de/cms/fernmeldeaufklarung-eloka-sigint/senderstation-radio-liberty-holzki.html No big photo collection about Ismaning at hand, but this link should lead to footage of the mediumwave masts coming down in March 2006 (can’t check it on the old PC here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKPr2SE2onQ And some audio. Willis Conover on 1196 kHz, presumably from local tape playout: http://www.radioeins.de/meta/sendungen/apparat/050326_A1.ram 1197 kHz in February 2002: Kim Elliott has an announcement … http://www.radioeins.de/meta/sendungen/apparat/040327_A1.ram The last gasps of 1197 kHz on 26/27 March 2005: Carrier on at 2230 UT into VOA Music Mix, trailer/talk at 2250, audio source switch to RFE Serbocroatian at 2300, wrapping up at 0057, at 0100 audio off and carrier off for good into co-channel Virgin Radio. http://www.radioeins.de/meta/sendungen/apparat/050326_A4.ram Radio Rob Says: July 4th, 2007 at 13:13 e Great links Kai. That snatch of the signature tune for Music USA really brings back waves of memories. It’s "Coral Reef" written by Neal Hefti. Does anyone know which version did Willis use on the programme? I’ve searched all the high street shops in London! (Media Network blog via DXLD) See also ECUADOR ** HUNGARY. Radio Budapest program schedule Dear DXers, I've monitored Radio Budapest new program schedule, and I can tell, the feed is same for shortwave, satellite, and for the webcasts. Here it is. All times UTC; on the weekends, there are probably some variations in the schedule. 0000-0100 "Szülöföldünk" ("Our Birthland"/“Our Homeland”) 0100-0130 Magyar zene (Hungarian music) 0130-0230 "Szülöföldünk" ("Our Birthland"/“Our Homeland”) 0230-0300 Magyar zene (Hungarian music) 0300-0400 MR1-Kossuth Rádió (relaying of domestic Kossuth Radio) 0400-0420 Vatikáni Rádió (relaying of Vatican Radio in Hungarian) 0420-1800 MR1-Kossuth Rádió (relaying of dommestic Kossuth Radio) 1800-2300 "Szülöföldünk" ("Our Birthland"/“Our Homeland”) 2300-2320 Vatikáni Rádió (relaying of Vatican Radio in Hungarian) 2320-2400 Magyar zene (Hungarian music) - "Szülöföldünk" is a program originating from Radio Budapest; it lasts only 58 minutes. Constantly repeated. - MR1-Kossuth Rádió are the live relays of domestic Kossuth Radio - Magyar zene is a various Hungarian music program, which were recorded from Kossuth Radio in the earlier period - Vatikáni Rádió is a recording of Vatican Radio at 1710-1730 UTC P.S. By the way, Hungarian Radio domestic programs have a new program format as of June 01, 2007. MR1-Kossuth has a totally new program schedule with new modern jingles. MR2-Petofi now has a logo "NAGYON ZENE" (very music), and has only music 24/7 with short interviews. MR3-Bartok is a classical music program, now with extended music program in the morning and in the afternoon. Many 73s from (Dragan Lekic! Subotica, Serbia, July 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another sad closure; I've been listening to Radio Budapest nearly 45 years. When I roam the bands and notice such cornerstone stations missing, it's the same feeling as when I revisit the neighborhoods in which I grew up and all the familiar places are gone (Al Quaglieri, NY, NASWA Listeners Notebook via DXLD) ** INDIA. 5010, AIR Thiruvanantha; 0038-0114 4 July, 2007. Tune in to English net news feed with male reader, generic net AIR ID, into female subcontinental vocals from 0040. Weak, though improving slightly by 0100 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4790, RRI Fak Fak, 0955-1005 July 4. Since this frequency is clear lately, noted Fak Fak with Qur`an type program of singing by a male up to the hour and through the hour. No break for ID or anything at 1000. Signal was fair during this time (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD535D, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. FREQUENCIES FOR HURRICANE SEASON These frequencies can be considered as a best-guess. The best advice is to go directly to the bottom of the page and read the notes there before using the listing. Bear in mind that many of these utility frequencies are used on a regular basis by the military, coast guards and others. Thanks to Popular Communications for their fi ne work. http://www.popular-communications.com/hurricane.html (Robert Elliss, UTE - The Worldwide Utility Column, July CIDX Messenger via DXLD) Yeah, where are all the hurricanes, anyway? Every June or so we link to other sources for hurricane info; see DXLD issues last year (gh) ** IRAN. IRAN'S PRESS TV, JUST TWO DAYS ON THE AIR, GETS ANALYZED "It is interesting that the name chosen has no direct link to the Islamic Republic." Inter Press Service, 4 July 2007. "Analyses are one sided, the entire regime’s official propaganda." Iran Press Service, 4 July 2007. See also Alvin Snyder, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, 3 July 2007. Posted: 04 Jul 2007 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) q.v. for 3 linx ** IRELAND. IRISH ENGINEER PROPOSES DRM SERVICE ON SHORTWAVE Enda O’Kane is a former RTE engineer on TV transmitters and latterly a Reception and Investigations Representative. He is active in the research group Irish Overseas Broadcasting and Emigrant Advice Network, having a focus on improving radio links to Irish emigrants in the digital age. In a recently published proposal, Mr O’Kane puts the case for RTÉ to invest in DRM shortwave transmitters. According to Mr O’Kane: “An Irish radio service into the heart of Europe would help fuel our tourism industry and would serve to call back Irish emigrants, as well as inciting [sic] visits from those foreign to our country…. it would provide a badly needed travel information service to our business community that is otherwise unavailable. The Internet cannot provide a listening experience to people on the move. Neither is the RTÉ Astra service receivable by motorists, or accessible in hotels and apartments across the EU.” Mr O’Kane continues: “A digital radio service across Europe would give complete independence, enabling broadcasters to further Irish interests in both programming and advertising. RTÉ already owns the critical broadcast infrastructure. For a mere €4 million, the former Athlone mediumwave site could be adapted to digital shortwave and so provide a service to our citizens across the EU.” Read the proposal http://www.ean.ie/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/travel_broadcasting.pdf Andy Sennitt comments: I find some of Mr O’Kane’s statements puzzling. For example “World band short wave radio is seeing a renaissance internationally. A survey in 1999 revealed that 97% of regular business travellers listen to international short wave.” I don’t recall seeing any such survey, but even supposing it was correct, the intervening eight years have seen a massive shift away from shortwave listening in Europe. I would be interested to know what readers make of the proposal, which contains other information that appears to be some years out of date. (July 4th, 2007 - 9:42 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Proposal is only two pdf pages altho numbered 42 and 43! I am also puzzled as to why it would be preferable to make this DRM at this point in DRM`s (lack of) development with very few receivers, and a lot of justifiable hostility from SW listeners who find it wiping out analog signals, instead of just a new analog SW service from Ireland. It appears O`Kane has bought into DRM hype LS&B [lock, stock & barrel or should I say HL&S = hook line & sinker] Altho at a corner of Europe, whence lower frequency analog SW would offer good coverage of most of the continent due to skip distances, it would still be advisable to use transmitters a bit further away and a bit further south aimed back at Europe. There is no law (is there?) that one must SW broadcast only from one`s own country, when it is often advantageous to transmit from elsewhere, as RTÉ used to realise at least with its sports specials (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5 Responses to "Irish engineer proposes DRM service on shortwave" Joe Says: July 4th, 2007 at 10:51 e This is puzzling as I don’t know of any vehicle that currently puts a shorwave radio into their cars let alone a DRM shortwave receiver! I drove a Vauxhall Nova many years ago that had a shorwave radio installed but the idea didn’t catch on. So shortwave for a "listening experience on the move" seems a non starter. David Says: July 4th, 2007 at 11:11 e Almost exactly the same claims are mentioned in a press release from 2002: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2002_Dec_30/ai_95905952 : Recent surveys revealed that in 1999, 97% of regular business travelers listened to international shortwave." The increase in the shortwave audience, says Merlin, is "spelt out dramatically by just one factory in China that is frantically producing 300,000 shortwave radio sets per month just to support demand. Grundig in America report growth each year on their sales of shortwave receivers. There are at least 600 million shortwave radio sets worldwide." But I’m having trouble finding the research apparently being quoted. The closest I could find was from the VT communications website. (They appear to be the parent company of Merlin) http://www.vtplc.com/files/296.pdf: "…in 1999, 97% of regular business travellers listened to international short wave." The .pdf is dated December 2000 But I agree with Andy, even if it was true then, it’s difficult to imagine it being true now. As an Irish citizen living in Europe, I would have nothing against listening to Irish radio on DRM in Europe. It seems a pity though that Mr. O’Kane undermines his argument with apparently old information. Apart from the example Andy cited, Mr. O’Kane also mentions having to "pay a subscription, to receive RTE Radio from WorldSpace." WorldSpace no longer sells subscriptions in Europe. Mr O’Kane states also "An Irish radio service into the heart of Europe would help fuel our tourism industry and would serve to call back Irish emigrants, as well as inciting visits from those foreign to our country. As already stated, it would provide a badly needed travel information service to our business community" I think this is wishful thinking on his part. (It’s also not a good sentence. What’s the difference between " fuel our tourism industry" and "inciting visits from those foreign to our country."?) I think the strongest argument in the piece is that license payers don’t have easy access to Irish radio when abroad, so in some sense they’re paying for something they can’t receive. But whether that really means that those people not in Ireland but paying license fees really want to hear Irish radio is a different matter. (One could suggest that they stay in the country if it was so very important.) If I recall correctly there was a suggestion to change the law in Ireland in February to allow RTE (the public service broadcaster in Ireland) to broadcast television directly to the UK. It would be interesting to know if RTE is under any legal requirement to service audiences outside of Ireland. Andy Says: July 4th, 2007 at 11:34 e Yes, VT Communications took over Merlin several years ago. The name Merlin is officially not used any more, though colleagues (out of habit) still refer to it as such. It looks as if the proposal was also written several years ago, but the inclusion of references to DRM on 252 kHz shows that it must have been updated, at least partly, in the past year. In any event, it has just been added as a news item on the official DRM website, which is how I found it. Richard Says: July 4th, 2007 at 13:16 e "This is puzzling as I don’t know of any vehicle that currently puts a shortwave radio into their cars let alone a DRM shortwave receiver!" The Mercedes S class has a radio fitted which receives short wave. It would not be a big problem to incorporate DRM into a car radio, a module already exists. DRM on long wave looks promising for offering reliable wide area coverage for cars, unlike short wave there would be no problem with ionospheric disturbances. You could achieve signal coverage over a large part of the UK and Ireland with a single transmitter. Which broadcaster is first going to take up the idea though? Mike Barraclough Says: July 4th, 2007 at 16:13 e Longwave is susceptible to electrical interference though and 252 has interference on the channel from Algeria at night. Contrary to the article the problems of fading, interference from other stations and appliances has not been solved, you either get the DRM signal perfectly or if the interference/fading gets too much the signal drops out though you can drop the bit rate to make the signal more robust. There’s so many errors in this article I can’t see why the DRM consortium chooses to link to it (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Hoy 4 de julio a las 2015 se observa inactiva a Galei Zahal tanto en 6973 como en 15785 y frecuencias adyacentes; la última vez que conseguí captarla fue el pasado 2 de julio en 15787 a las 1750 UT. Inactiva o al menos desde Valencia en España no se capta (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes,-- was inactive also this morning July 4th, normally around 15785 ... 15787 these days. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) 6964.81, Galei Zahal; 0315+ 4 July, 2007. Wow, down around 10 kHz now, with the usually strong signal, Hebrew male DJ, Hebrew pop and Euro/US rock album tracks. Noted way earlier, around 2330-0000 I think, but weak and wrote it off as something Asian or a pirate (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15787.00 exact, Galei Zahal Israel at 0735 UT on July 3rd. Inactive on July 4th. 15786.71 active again on Thur July 5th at 0800 UT. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15787, Galei Zahal, hoy 5 de julio se aprecia activa a las 1805, también 6973, emisión en paralelo con programación musical, tema de los años 50, SINPO 45343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Hola, Un amigo italiano me ha informado que la RAI cerrará muy pronto sus transmisiones en OC, incluso dice que antes de que acabe julio. ¿Alguien puede confirmar o desmentir esta noticia? Basta recordar que la emisora internacional italiana emite desde hace 72 años y que lo hace en dos docenas de lenguas, tanto por OC, como por satélite e internet. Un saludo (Pedro Sedano, Madrid, España, COORDINADOR GENERAL, AER http://aer-dx.org/ Noticias DX via DXLD) I.e., can anyone confirm the rumor that Rai will be closing down its SW broadcasts before the end of July? (gh, DXLD) Traduzco el ultimo mensaje que me ha mandado el amigo italiano: "El cierre de las emisiones de la RAI en OC es casi una certeza. Tengo unos amigos en RAIWay http://www.raiway.it que me han confirmado la noticia. El Gobierno italiano solicita a la RAI un servicio de acuerdo a un contrato y la RAI recibe el dinero del Gobierno. La RAI produce los programmas y paga RAIWay que gestiona los transmisores. RAI Way enciende solo los trasmisores a petición de la propia RAI. La RAI transmite de acuerdo a un contrato de servicio acordado con el Gobierno italiano que ha sido recientemente renovado, y en cual no se menciona la difusión por OC. Sin un contrato que mencione expresamente las trasmisiones en onde corta la RAI cesará en breve sus emisiones. Esto mismo ocurrió cuando la RAI cerró todas las emisoras de onda media del segundo y tercer canal, porque en el entonces nuevo contrato de servicio se indicaba que en onda media debía haber un sólo canal nacional. Lamentablemente los políticos vencen." Un saludo (Pedro Sedano, Madrid, España, Noticias DX via DXLD) Hola de nuevo El amigo italiano que me dijo que la RAI cerraba las emisiones en OC, me ha dado algo más de información: la dirección donde hay más detalles que parecen apuntar a que está renegociandose ciertos aspectos entre el Gobierno y la RAI que dejarían fuera de del aire las emisiones en OC por ser una antiguaya. A continuación, os reproduzco dos textos... Habrá que esperar la firma del nuevo convenio Gobierno- Rai y ver si finalmente qué pasa con las emisiones. Mal asunto si otra emisora internacional, de gran calado como RAI, deja la OC. Un saludo STAVOLTA POCHI DUBBI: RAI SPEGNE LE ONDE CORTE --- 27 giugno 2007 http://radiolawendel.blogspot.com/2007/06/stavolta-pochi-dubbi-rai-spegne-le-onde.html#links Le onde corte della RAI saranno presto un ricordo del passato. Sono in linea con Andrea Borgnino, che ha appena confezionato la notizia allegata. Provo a cercare qualche altra fonte per un successivo approfondimento. Stay tuned (almeno qui le convenzioni non preoccupano): «La notizia circolava da mesi.. ma adesso sembra essere arrivata, nella nuova convenzione tra Presidenza del Consiglio e Rai International non ci sono più le trasmissioni in onde corte. Leggendo attentamente le agenzie si scopre infatti che nella convenzione, che verrà presentata ufficialmente nei prossimi giorni si parla della diffusione di un nuovo canale di news, la visibilità del segnale Rai International in Italia e in Europa e la prospettiva di un canale sportivo. Delle onde corte si parla solo quando si analizzano le risorse finanziare, ecco che cosa ha dichiarato il sottosegretario Levi all'agenzia AdnKronos: Per le trasmissioni all'estero, la Rai ha infatti "finora percepito 38 milioni di euro": 20 per la ex convezione con Rai International e 18 per le trasmissioni Rai in onde corte dedicate ai Paesi dell'est europeo, che si è deciso di abolire perché erano ormai un retaggio anacronistico dei tempi della 'guerra fredda'. "Abbiamo in sostanza riversato i finanziamenti fin qui dedicati alle onde corte sulla nuova convenzione con Rai International, applicando un piccolo taglio di 3 milioni di euro", ha sottolineato Levi Insomma le onde corte sono state abolite perché troppo antiche, altri particolari ancora non sono stati diffusi e spero di recuperarli presto ma tutti le notizie che ho trovato mettono in chiaro lo stesso punto, la convenzione "onde corte" è stata abolita per recuperare risorse finanziare per nuovi canali tv via satellite. Qui, http://quomedia.diesis.it/news/4383/rai-international-vicina-alla-nuova-convenzione c'è un articolo di approfondimento su questo tema.» RAI INTERNATIONAL VICINA ALLA NUOVA CONVENZIONE --- 20/06/2007 11:47 http://quomedia.diesis.it/news/4383/rai-international-vicina-alla-nuova-convenzione Si sta avvicinando la data della firma della nuova convenzione fra la presidenza del Consiglio e Rai International che assicura 35 milioni di euro l’anno all’emittente, escluso quello corrente coperto da 30 milioni. Il sottosegretario alla presidenza del Consiglio con delega all’editoria, Ricky Levi, ha annunciato la diffusione di un canale di news, la visibilità del segnale Rai International in Italia e in Europa e la prospettiva di un canale sportivo. “Siamo a un passo dalla firma - ha affermato Levi - e la nuova convenzione sarà unica, sia per le trasmissioni tv sia per quelle radiofoniche internazionali. Si tratta di un testo condiviso, approvato nei giorni scorsi dal cda Rai”. “La nuova missione di Rai International non è più solo di fornire trasmissioni per le nostre comunità all'estero, ma proporre sul mercato televisivo internazionale un prodotto di maggiore qualità possibile per portare la voce dell'Italia nel mondo”, ha aggiunto Levi. Si prevede l’avvio di “forme di controllo con cui la Rai sarà tenuta a dare informazioni sulla diffusione, la ricezione del segnale e sulla programmazione. Abbiamo previsto quindi l'istituzione di una vera e propria commissione di controllo di cui faranno parte funzionari della Farnesina e rappresentanti delle comunità italiane all'estero, mentre la Rai si è impegnata a utilizzare anche per Rai International i nuovi strumenti di controllo messi a punto col nuovo contratto di servizio”. Quanto alle risorse, il sottosegretario ha spiegato che, dopo l'unificazione delle due precedenti convenzioni, una per Rai International, cui spettavano 20 milioni di euro, un'altra in onde corte per l'Europa dell'Est e in 26 lingue, cui erano destinati 18 milioni, ora si avrà una razionalizzazione dei contributi, "per un totale di 35 milioni di euro, che derivano dai 20 di Rai International sommati ai 18 del canale in onde corte, decurtati della stessa percentuale prevista per le agenzie”. (via Pedro Sedano, Madrid, España, ibid.) I.e. they plan to put their megalire into TV rather than SW (gh) ** JAPAN. DAVID CRYSTAL [Israel] says he has now received a proper reply from Radio Japan after two months. (This would seem to be an acceptable wait. – WDXC ed.) David adds, "for a Japanese, English is just as difficult to learn as Japanese is for me. I know that Japanese are taught English at school but I do not believe most Japanese know English. So, Radio Japan must pay extra for reading reception reports in English, and the readers may avoid reading my letters because they are so long." // lesson to be learnt here is to keep correspondence to the point and not to ramble on (Arthur Ward, ed.) DAVID CRYSTAL says that according to their schedule the frequency schedule of Radio Japan will change on October 1, 2007 at 11 o'clock Japan time. David continues by adding that "I suspect that Radio Japan does not give us a true picture of Japan. Around 1970 Japanese music was very hard to bear; you had to be Japanese to like it. Today according to Radio Japan, Japanese music is western music with the words in Japanese. I can't believe them. Many years ago Radio Japan presented programs telling us how the Japanese had a different life- style from westerners. Different opinions and different behaviour. This was to help us in relations with Japanese. The difference is still there, but the programs are no more. Finally I must say I do have Sony products, all made in Japan, IFC-SW77, three copies, ICF- 7600D and ICF-7600A (Making Contact, July World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. July 4 I had a chance to listen to Open Radio for North Korea, via KWHR 9930. In English at tune-in 1127, I first did not realize what it was. Woman with some news of S. Korea, then same item translated into Korean read by a man (not merely a voice- over, but entire items each). This went on for several minutes, always with music bed, potted up between items for dramatic stingers; something about Arroyo and the Philippines, 1131 on the World Series of Poker 2005! As if that could be news a biyear later? And at 1133 about Mariah Carey`s comeback with her alter-ego ``Emancipation of Mimi`` number 4 on the Billboard chart. When did this happen, really? Google search points to April 2005 when it was released. So ORNK is passing off two-year old stuff as news? Well, sure, they are a bit behind in Korea North with what is going on and have a lot of catching up to do thanks to ORNK. It`s unclear why they are doing the English. If they gave the items in Korean first, and English second, the latter might be useful for English learning. The English/Korean alternation was over at 1135 when a YL Korean announcement, ID? aired, then 1136 a long discussion in Korean recorded in an echoey room; by 1143 the signal was much weaker, and at 1157 Pomp & Circumstance was interrupted by KWHR ID and frequency change announcement. However, after 1200 I could not hear anything on 12130 when Hoa Mai Radio in Vietnamese was scheduled to air via Hawaii on Wednesday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non?]. Tuned in new 15550 at 1205 July 4 to hear news in English just ending with ID for V. of Africa from the Great Jamahiriyah, 1206.6 into French, 1212 to music. Audio was good; fair signal with deep fades. Hard to decide if this were direct or via France. Not much was making it from Europe or Africa on 19m at this hour; Sweden audible on 15240, poor. English news must have started close to 1200; would there be more at 1300? No, still in Arabic, but now with QRM. That would be VOR Moscow site to S Asia at 12-15, which I used to hear without Libyan interference (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non]. LIBIA, 15660, Voice of África vía Issoudun (Francia), 1745-1755, escuchada el 2 y 5 de julio en francés a locutora con comentarios; curiosamente los dos días mencionados terminan con un fragmento musical cantado en francés sobre una versión del concierto de Aranjuez de Manuel de Falla. Después un locutor con repaso de los titulares y cortan bruscamente la transmisión sin que termine el locutor, SINPO 45343. Esta transmisión es recogida en el WRTH como servicio en francés de 1600 a 1800 UT; sin embargo en Aoki anuncian de 1700 A 1800 en Hausa; Eibi también recoge el servicio de 1600 a 1800 en francés. Sin embargo anuncia un servicio de 1800 a 2000 sin especificar idioma; sin embargo a partir de esa hora no se capta señal (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG [NON!]. Forty-Nine metres --- Since the Luxembourg DRM noise is now switched off in our evening period on both 5990 and 6095, we are able to hear some real radio signals on these and adjacent frequencies once again. On July 4 I heard what is assumed to be Radio Ethiopia with some nice Horn of Africa music at 1900 (thanks to a tip from Martien Groot [see ETHIOPIA]). 5995 had BBC news in English via Oman. There was no trace of Radio Congo 5985 at this time or later at 2200 (as also mentioned by Martien). However, at 2155 I heard a loud signal in Brazilian Portuguese (S9+15dB) on 5990. I assume it was a debate from the Senate, and background murmour from many voices was also audible. The man doing most of the talking often mentioned the word "Senado", perhaps unwittingly identifying the station. At 2200 the talking was faded and an announcer introduced the programme "A Voz do Brasil" (not heard by yours truly for a looooong time). And I didn't hear it for long this time tonight, as the transmitter dropped off air at 2203. It will be interesting to find out what time this one fades in. On 5995 meanwhile was Mali, also with a good signal in an unknown language and parallel 4835.35 (or thereabouts) with a strong het from a 'open' carrier on 4835. At around 2210 I noticed that the BR DRM was off air on 6085, but there was a unknown buzzing noise using USB only on this frequency - using LSB there was no buzz or signal audible. 6080 was Belarus // 6115 while 6090 had Chinese (probably CNR-2 via Ge'ermu) and also a lady with an American accent, who sounded like Melissa of the Dr.GS network via Anguilla. And on 6100 there was a talk in the Spanish language - I assume via RCI Sackville (Noel R. Green (NW England), July 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Noel and All, I discovered last night that 5995 was clear and I received ORTM from Mali in French until 2200 UT. I will spend more time on this band --- without this DRM . 73 de (Vincent Lecler, Poitiers, France, ibid.) ** MEXICO. Somewhat surprised to hear XERF 1570 Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, past 8 am local at mid-summer, until one realizes that 1300 UT is only 6:28 am local mean time, altho still well after sunrise which was at 1119 UT, or 4:47 am LMT. It was still dominating 1570 on skywave July 4 at 1309 with news from the Sistema Nacional de Noticiarios, initially quite steady signal, 1312 interviewing BBC guy about the release of correspondent Alan Johnston. 1318 plugged BBC Mundo, IMER, and Antena Radio, the latter being the current program, which we used to hear on IMER`s defunctified SW station XERMX; still audible past 1330 but with some fadeouts. Fortunately, there are no 1570 daytimers around here; the two Okies in the NE and SW corners are seldom heard and too far for daytime groundwave. Altho Spanish is fine for me (I only wish I had a complete program sked for XERF), I maintain it is a pity that IMER is not putting any English on this powerful (100 kW now?) transmitter to make it a true external service which would have a much greater audience than XERMX ever did on its puny, ailing SW transmitters (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Desde hace un par de semanas vengo escuchando con muy buena presencia a XEUACH "Radio Chapingo" o "Radio Universidad Autónoma Chapingo" en los 1610 kHz de onda media. La Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo es una Universidad agrícola ubicada en Texcoco, Estado de México, (unos 20 km al este de la Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal) Nominalmente transmite con 250 vatios desde su campus en Texcoco, Estado de México. Capté a "Radio Chapingo" en los 1610 kHz por vez primera en el 2002 con un SINPO de 2; posteriormente fué muy difícil escucharla aquí en el centro-sur de la Ciudad de México hasta hace un par de semanas en que se escucha con un SINPO en ocasiones de 5. Muy probablemente han aumentado su potencia, ya que, también la capté en Cuernavaca, Estado de Morelos (60 km al sur de la Ciudad de México) con un SINPO de 2. 73´s (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) He says it is putting out a better signal now. ! I had forgotten (if I ever knew) that this station exists; could explain some unID LAs reported on 1610. I don`t recall it ever being reported in IRCA or NRC by North American DXers. Maybe by Richard Wood in Hawaii? Not likely before 0200 UT = 1600 HST, roughly a sesquihour before earliest sunset. Since it`s not on in the mornings, obviously the best/only time to DX it is just before signoff, much more likely in winter. It`s in the WRTH at least as far back as 2005. Here`s what WRTH 2007 has on it: XEUACH 1610 0.25 kW, Radio Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo, ``R. Chapingo``, Chapingo, 1800-0200 UT. Address: CarrCarr. [sic] México- Texcoco km 38.5, 56235 Chapingo, Estado de México. Tel (595) 952-1610. It`s also in the 2002 IRCA Mexican Log, at only 30 watts. Via Fred Cantú`s list, here is a program schedule dated Dec 2006-Jan 2007, showing them on the air at 12-20 local time, but with DST now that would be 17-01 UT, not 18-02: http://www.chapingo.mx/cultura/archives/category/radio/ And in John Callarman`s Mexican list compiled earlier this year: 1610 MÉXICO XEUACH “Radio Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo” Chapingo. (250/250*) 1800-2200 [sic], Carretera México Texcoco km 38.5 http://www.chapingo.mx/cultura/subdir-difusion-cultural/radio/ Cantú: “Radio Chapingo” Not in FCC data base. Estimated, via MapQuest N 19- 31-00 W 98-53-00 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 250w? That indeed sounds possible. With the improvements on my antennas I have made, this might indeed be possible. Thanks for the tip. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. ROB GREENE’S NEW INSITE BLOG IS NOW ONLINE Although the design still has to be customised, the new blog of former RNW personality Rob Greene has been launched, with his first commentary “But The Greatest Of These Is Love.” Rob retired from RNW nearly two years ago, but there’s an archive of some of his commentaries on our website http://www.radionetherlands.nl/specialseries/insight/ His new blog is an entirely personal venture, and has no connection with RNW, but a number of people asked us whether we could persuade him to come out of retirement. Actually, he didn’t take much persuading, so if you’re interested the URL is http://insite2out.wordpress.com Do send Rob some comments and let him know you’re out there. An RSS feed is available. (July 4th, 2007 - 15:32 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. RNW 60TH ANNIVERSARY DEBATE SERIES BLOG NOW ONLINE As part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, RNW is organising a series of global debates entitled “Who Can We Trust?”. The general theme looks at the often sensitive relationship between politics, broadcasters and the public. It also comes at a time when many countries are looking at the future role of public service broadcasting. We’ve asked former programme director at Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Jonathan Marks, to help organize these debates. He is working alongside Arjen de Wolff to help get the shows on the road. This blog will be their diary of their travels - plus interviews with interesting people they meet along the way. It’s a work in progress. Make a note of the URL: http://blogs.rnw.nl/rnw60debates/ It’s also listed under “Useful Links” on the right hand side of the page. Related item: Special series of worldwide debates http://www.radionetherlands.nl/specialseries/RNW60/debates/ (July 3rd, 2007 - 14:17 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. The Crystal Ship was coming in well here in St. Louis, MO, July 4th night. I tuned in 6875 at 0115 UT 7/5/07 and there was a clean strong signal with the "Electric Avenue" song. There was some local storm noise. Other music (that I cannot ID) followed and there was a TCS ID at 0130 with a female voice, citing "6875" and another frequency -- that other one was never clear enough that I could identify the number, even though it was stated again several times. (I tried tuning some of TCS's other reported frequencies and what I thought the ID said on another radio but never got a signal parallel to the one on 6875 kHz.) More music followed, including the song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", the only one I recognized (I'm not familiar with most pop music... :-) I heard & noted TCS IDs at 0148, 0215, 0233, 0304 (that one mentioning the "Blue States Republic" slogan), 0324, 0349, & 0406 UT (That last one also mentioning BSR). The signal was much weaker after 0300 UT. I was getting TCS on a Kaito 1103 and a DX-398 with the whips only, and a Grundig 800 with both the whip and a short random wire. This was the only pirate I heard on July 4th, but I had sadly forgotten to tune the pirate frequencies earlier that day. Thanks to John Poet for transmitting in the evening! An e-mail from him that I just saw states that the other frequencies used were 12471 kHz and 5385 kHz after 0200, but I did not tune those since I didn't know about them at the time. Regards & 73, (Will Martin, MO, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Crystal Ship --- Thursday, July 5, 2007, 0148, 6875 am. "Broadcasting on 6.875 and 5.386 megahertz" female computer voice, and into Pat Benatar's "Treat Me Right." Parallel 5386 sounds about the same here. Hell is for children at 0154. Duran Duran "Please please tell me now" at 0157. "Rio" at 0202. Crystal Ship ID into Men at Work's "It's a mistake" at 0207. Another Men At Work song at 0212. ID at 0214. Music by the Kinks at 0218. 0224, Rick James "You dropped a bomb on me." The Firm "Radioactive" at 0228. Lots of 80s music followed, e.g. "Sweet Cherrie Pie" at 0249. SIO 423 s9 on both (Posted at 9:48PM on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 in hf and pirates, RFMA via DXLD) ** PERU. Morning of July 4 either on VOA or BBC Spanish news --- I forget which --- there was an item about a state of emergency in several provinces in the departments of Huánuco, San Martín and Ucayali in the Peruvian Amazon, due to Sendero Luminoso activity; many of the names were familiar from SW stations. Here`s a current story about that I found: http://www.rpp.com.pe/portada/politica/85331_1.php (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ECUADOR ** PERU. 4748, R. Huanta 2000, 1255 OM announcements, ads for ministerio de trabajo, tc’s, into program “Perú Antena Información” 5/25 fair (Wood-Lima) 4755, R. Tarma, 2110 in Spanish with traditional Latin music, OM tc’s and cerveza ads, IDs, very strong 5/21 (Wood-Lima) also heard 5/25 at 0320 with strong signals (Wood-SV) 4790, R. Visión, 2220 chorus music, OM making excited announcements during song; this style of music was noted on several Andean stations, distorted audio but strong signal, 5/20 (Wood-Lima) 4828, R. Sicuani, 1255 OM talking with YL over the phone, fair signal 5/25 (Wood-SV) 4857, R. La Hora, 1305 tc at end of song then news and interview with official at university in Cusco, 5/25 good (Wood-SV) 4950, R. Madre de Dios, 1240 talks in Spanish mentioning of fiestas and cultural events, (today was the day of national kindergarten appreciation in Perú), fading signal 5/25 (Wood-SV) 4954, R. Cultural Amauta, 2210, Asian style music with announcers in presumed Japanese; signal was strong but suffered from modulation problems, definite mentions of Jesucristo, 5/20 (Wood-Lima) 4975 tentative, R. Del Pacífico, 0315 Latin ballads, apparently some type of religious concert, Fair 5/25 (Wood-SV) 5015, R. Altura, 0305 Lively Andean music program, tc’s and id’s by OM, good 5/25 (Wood-SV) 5025, R. Quillabamba, 2105 lively shouting Andean music, YL announcements with tc’s, fair with some fading 5/21 (Wood-Lima) 5120 tentative, Ondas del Suroriente, 2112 weak signal with lots of ads, mercados mentioned but not much else heard 5/21 (Wood-Lima) 5940 tentative, R. Melodía, 2125 very weak signal with Latin music coming thru the QRM, also heard 5/21 (Wood-Lima) 6020, R. Victoria, 2135 OM announcements mentioning Lima and some pending religious events with mentions of Pastor Pablo Gómez, very good signal 5/21 (Wood-Lima) 6090, R. Universal, 1225 ad string including travel company and graphic arts company, both in Cusco fair signal with low level audio 5/25 (Wood-SV) 6175, R. Tawantinsuyo, 2150 powerful signal with slight distortion lively huanyos, programa musical announced by YL, announcements of hospital admissions, id’s 5/21 (Wood-SV) (Steve Wood Vacationing in Lima, Perú, or SV [meaning what?] = in Ollayantatambo, Perú, Radio Shack DX-399 with the whip antenna, July CIDX Messenger via DXLD) See also BOLIVIA ** RUSSIA. 26.6.07 || R. Rossii, Selenginsk has moved from 3955 to 6195 kHz (WRTH Monitor via DXLD) And local programming? (gh, DXLD) ** SAINT PIERRE & MIQUELON. After attending a conference in Niagara Falls we flew on to Newfoundland, somewhere we’ve been planning to get to for a few years. While there we also popped over to St. Pierre & Miquelon for a couple of days. Staying on the FM theme of this month’s column I thought I’d list their FM stations (there are no AM stations, with the closure of RFO St. Pierre’s former 1375 kHz MW outlet back in 2003), as they are legitimate E-skip targets if you happen to be the right sort of distance from the islands. On St. Pierre: Archipel FM 103.3 MHz (1 kW) Radio Atlantique 102.1 MHz (1 kW) Radio Oxygène 103.7 MHz (unknown power) Radio St. Pierre et Miquelon 98.9 MHz (50 watts) On Miquelon: Archipel FM 98.5 MHz (200 watts) Radio St. Pierre et Miquelon 99.9 MHz (500 watts) All broadcast in French of course. Francophones will have no difficulty distinguishing the French from that spoken in Québec, but others will have to be careful not to assume you’re hearing a Quebec station. If you’d prefer to hear St. Pierre & Miquelon an easier way, both Radio Atlantique and Radio St. Pierre & Miquelon (RFO) broadcast on the internet. The sign below, in a basement window, was about the only evidence of the studios for Archipel FM in St. Pierre. I ran across their studios by accident, and I didn’t have time to look for the others. The phone book in the hotel room, being of a 1999 vintage, wasn’t a great help! [`Archipel FM / sur 103.3 / La Radio Musicale`] (Nigel Pimblett, AB, Broadcast Band Column, July CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** SERBIA. GERMAN PROGRAM OF RADIO SUBOTICA, SERBIA As we chatted last week about German language programs in Europe, I can give you the link for Radio Subotica, Serbia webstreaming for German language programs. But first, here is an explanation of a current situation. Radio Subotica started broadcasting on November 29, 1968 on mediumwave, and later on FM frequency. One program was transmitted in Serbian and Hungarian (sandwich program) on AM 1089 kHz and FM 91.5 MHz. Mediumwave transmitter was located in Palic, operating with 10 kW. From December 21, 1998 the third language - Croatian was introduced. German language programs on Radio Subotica started on December 25, 1998 with 30 minutes per week. That is also today the case. All 4 languages (Serbian, Hungarian, Croatian, German) were transmitted on AM and FM. In May 1999 NATO bombers destroyed the mediumwave transmitter in Palic near Subotica, so since then Radio Subotica transmits only on FM. On May 1, 2003 Radio Subotica separated the program into two slots: FM 89.6 MHz Hungarian and German programs FM 91.5 MHz Serbian and Croatian programs Last year Serbia accepted a new FM/VHF/UHF plan: http://www.ratel.org.yu/editor_files/File/PLAN%20RASPODELE.pdf [748 KB] so the Republican Broadcasting Agency http://www.rra.org.yu started a public tender for issuing broadcasting licenses. First for national range, then for regional and locat coverage. By the way, the new law says that one station must have a one program, so in the very near future, Radio Subotica will broadcast all 4 languages on one program (sandwich program). On May 21, 2007 Republican Broadcasting Agency (RRA) has decided who will get a license for broadcasting on regional coverage. Radio Subotica loses its frequency. When at the beginning of August RRA will decide about local licences, probably Radio Subotica will have just a local coverage on a new FM frequency. It is expected that Radio Subotica will leave 91.5 (licence given to Panon Radio, Subotica) and 89.6 (planned for Radio Novi Sad 3 in Slovak, Romanian, Romani...), and will move to 90.7 or 100.6 or 103.0 or 104.4 or 106.3 MHz, as planned for local licences in Subotica. Current ERP of Radio Subotica is 37.0 dBW, and in the future it will be only 24.8 dBW. Probably Radio Subotica will get a frequency of 90.7 MHz and it is expected to begin transmitting on that new frequency in September. So, FINALLY, in July and August 2007 you can hear a GERMAN program of Radio Subotica, Serbia on FM 89.6 MHz and live on the internet: http://onlineradio.hu:8010/magyar_adas.mp3.m3u The airtime is FRIDAYS 1700-1730 UT (1900-1930 local CET). Radio Subotica website is as follows: http://www.radiosubotica.co.yu Best regards! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, SERBIA, July 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALILAND [non]. SOMALILAND'S PRO-OPPOSITION HORYAAL RADIO BACK ON AIR | Text of report by Somaliland independent daily newspaper Haatuf on 4 July Radio Horyaal, which was off air for a bout a year, today resumed its work. The station, which is also available via satellite, is the only radio station that is heard throughout Somaliland. Most of the programmes aired by the radio are debates on the work done by the Somaliland government and its weaknesses, that which has led to the accusation that the station supports, or airs the opinion of the opposition. The country requires a station that can be heard in every corner. However, Radio Horyaal is expected to give a balanced news to its Somaliland listeners. Hadhwanaag website is encouraging the government to respect the independence of the media and to allow the different views of the Somaliland people heard equally. The website congratulates Horyaal, and wishes success in the hard task that lie ahead which it's doing for the nation. The website said that it is sure Horyaal will air balanced reports that are in the interest of the Somaliland people. Source: Haatuf, Hargeysa, in Somali 4 Jul 07 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK?? (gh, DXLD) Andy Sennitt comments: The Home Page of the website http://www.horyaal.net/index.asp mentions the shortwave frequency 11830 kHz and the time 8.30 - 9 pm, presumably local, which is 1730- 1800 UT. The 2005 World Radio TV Handbook listed a transmission at this time, on 7560 kHz via Arman in Russia (Media Network blog via DXLD) And certainly also now from abroad (gh) Saludos Glenn, desde Valencia en España no se capta señal alguna en 11830 a las 1740 (Jose Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) Apparently the info I saw on their website yesterday was out of date. Bernd Truteau alerted me to the fact that it has now been completely updated, and the reference to 11830 has disappeared. And another thing - 7560 was via Armavir, not Arman. Sorry for misleading you. I have now deleted the comments from the blog. I guess I was little too quick :-( (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Yes, now they don`t say anything about SW, but in the rather interesting FAQ page, say due to funding they come and go. Audio files are available in RM or WMA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [and non]. Stair is ordered to pay $731,679 Glenn, mention of Brother Stair in Contact led me to check about his ongoing court cases, found this which I don't think you have had in DXLD: OVERCOMER MINISTRIES MISLED ITS FLOCK, SAYS COLLETON COUNTY JURY The Press and Standard, South Carolina/April 27, 2007 By Jared Goyette Full article: http://www.rickross.com/reference/rgstair/rgstair22.html (via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) Viz.: A jury has found that minister Ralph G. Stair and his Overcomer Ministries misled 11 former members concerning how their donations were to be used. If a planned appeal fails, the verdict will cost Stair $731,679.64. The jury unanimously awarded the plaintiffs $274,163 in actual damages and charged Stir another $457,516.64 in punitive damages. "Every single one of them is a liar," said Stair when asked about the verdict. "It's all in the Lord's hands." Stair and his lawyer Mathias Chaplin, who has offices in Columbia and Walterboro, plan to appeal the decision. The donations in question were not of the kind that are dropped into offering plates during your typical Sunday morning service. Overcomer Ministries, which is based in Canadys, is a religious community where members live, work and raise their children. According to the organization's rules, new members can only move to the community after they accept Stair as the "last day prophet," take a vow of poverty and donate all their property and financial assets to the ministry. The former members allege that they donated their money because they were told that it would only be used to fund Stair's internationally popular [sic] evangelical short-wave radio program. After leaving the church, the former members say, they realized that the money had been directed to other purposes, and filed suit in 2002. Several of the plaintiffs left Stairs' ministry after he admitted to committing adultery in 2001. At the time he was charged with raping two women, but the charges were later dropped, and Stair pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. In the case at trial, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Sip Utsey of Walterboro submitted stacks of documents obtained from the church's financial records. Ins testimony on behalf of the plaintiffs, a forensic accountant said that the documents showed that money that had been donated to the church was used to pay for Stair's legal fees, speeding tickets, the construction of another religious community in Tennessee, and financial investments. To prove that the former members had been misled about the destination of their donations, Utsey submitted into evidence letters that Overcomer Ministries had sent to its congregation. One letter, received by former member Kevin Nevin, was dated June 1996 and read, "If the Lord wills, do send an offering to pay for the cost of radio and remember that God doth love a cheerful giver." Another letter, dated December 1, 1997, read, "Thank you for your offering, as always it will be used to pay for outreach onto all the earth." In the trial, Chaplin said that the members had chosen to join Overcomer Ministries of their own free will, and should not be allowed to ask for their money back. "There are some disgruntled people that came to Walterboro looking for a particular lifestyle and they believe that it hasn't been afforded them," said Chaplin in the closing arguments. "And the reason it wasn't afforded to them is that they believe that their leader has fallen and their leader isn't perfect. But it was their choice to believe that, it was their choice to come to Walterboro." Chaplin also argued that the trial was about religious freedom, particularly the right of churches to govern themselves. "Traditionally, churches have handled their own disputes internally, and haven't attempted to bring matters such as these to a court of law for obviously constitutional reasons -- separation of church and state," said Chaplin in an interview. "Mr. Stair was not able to pull the wool over their (the jury) eyes like does with a lot of people," [one plaintiff named] Pearl said. "We stood up to the man, and told him, 'You're not going to control us no more, you have no control over us, you're doing wrong, and we're going to tell you that you're doing wrong." The defense attorney, Chaplin, said that the jury had done "its best" but that he, along with co-counsel Paulette Edwards, would soon file an appeal on "numerous grounds." To see more documents/articles regarding this group/ organization/ subject click here. [linx to numerous other older articles, photos] http://www.rickross.com/groups/rgstair.html Also see: http://www.rickross.com/disclaimer.html (via gh, DXLD) I'm a regular reader of DXLD and thought this might interest you: I don't know if anyone has passed this information on yet but Brother Stair is now being relayed by European pirate Laser Hot Hits on 6275. The Overcomer Ministry was heard on July 3 at 0905 on 6275 with a weak signal here although reports I've seen suggest the signal was getting out better in mainland Europe. Brother Stair has been announcing his new service on air. It is not daily (yet). He was also heard on Sunday July 1 on 6245 at 0920 - possibly being relayed by another pirate, Jolly Roger Radio in Ireland, which also carries Laser Hot Hits relays on Sunday mornings. It looks like Br Stair is now trying to convert free radio fans in Europe. 73s (Paul Watson in Swindon, England, July 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [and non]. 7200, SRTC; 0232-0300 4 July, 2007. First noted what is still tentatively Sudan on 1 July at 0250, and again 3 July, 0253. Between 0255 (1 July) and 0258 (3 July), Radio Bulgaria is up with 1 kHz tone, interval signal and into Bulgarian (?) at 0300. This night, 4 July, nothing here through 0229 monitoring, but recheck at 0232, already on with very indigenous vocals (not quite Somali- sounding), then Arabic male at 0235 with clear reference to "kiloHertz" and possibly "Omdurman" then a couple of words by a female, chatter atop music, vocals at 0242 (again, rather unique- sounding), female talk over reeded instrument. Bulgaria tones up at 0257, interval signal at 0259. If Sudan, now on at least a half-hour earlier than old sign-on. And I haven't heard them anywhere on shortwave in awhile for that matter. Clear and fair level with all three loggings, until Budapest comes up, that is (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWITZERLAND. SWISSINFO SI CONFERMA LA VOCE DELLA SVIZZERA ALL'ESTERO Il Consiglio federale ha concluso con la SSR SRG un accordo di prestazioni per i suoi servizi all'estero. La Confederazione verserà 20,6 milioni di franchi l'anno in favore di swissinfo e della collaborazione televisiva con TV5 e 3Sat. Con tale decisione, il governo conferma che alla Svizzera occorre una voce credibile e competente anche sul piano internazionale. Attraverso un accordo di cinque anni, il Consiglio federale ha confermato mercoledì le sue aspettative in merito all'offerta internazionale della Società svizzera di radiotelevisione (SSR SRG idée suisse). Per swissinfo e per le collaborazioni televisive della SSR con le emittenti internazionali TV5 e 3Sat - si legge in un comunicato dell'Ufficio federale delle comunicazioni (Ufcom) - il governo metterà a disposizione 20,6 milioni di franchi all'anno. Grazie al finanziamento, la piattaforma informativa online destinata agli Svizzeri dell'estero e a un pubblico internazionale sempre più interessato, potrà così mantenere l'offerta attuale. «Dopo lunghe discussioni in parlamento sulla voce internazionale della Svizzera, il dibattito è finalmente concluso», ha reagito il direttore di swissinfo, Beat Witschi. «Con la sua decisione, il governo conferma ufficialmente che la Svizzera vuole questa voce». Si tratta di presentare e spiegare la Confederazione, così da «abbattere gli stereotipi e costruire un'immagine moderna del paese», ha aggiunto Witschi. Multimediale e interattiva Nel 2006, rileva l'Ufcom, le pagine di swissinfo - che fa seguito a Radio Svizzera internazionale dopo l'interruzione delle trasmissioni a onde corte nel 2004 - sono state consultate oltre 130 milioni di volte. Il mandato di swissinfo è stato definito in un nuovo contratto di prestazioni: multimediale e interattivo, il portale internet deve presentare la Svizzera ad un pubblico all'estero e migliorare le condizioni per meglio capire il paese. Deve inoltre favorire i legami tra gli svizzeri dell'estero e la loro patria. La produzione in nove lingue (tedesco, italiano, inglese, francese, spagnolo, portoghese, cinese, giapponese e arabo) si basa sulla missione di informare gli Svizzeri dell'estero e tutti coloro che, da ogni angolo del pianeta, sono interessati alla realtà elvetica. Tra le priorità figurano notizie di attualità, approfondimenti, magazine e dossier speciali che riguardano la politica (votazioni ed elezioni), l'economia, la società, l'ambiente, la cultura, la formazione e la ricerca. Swissinfo volge poi uno sguardo particolare ad argomenti quali la democrazia diretta, i diritti umani o i valori e le tradizioni elvetiche. Collaborazioni televisive Nel settore della televisione, la Confederazione sosterrà la collaborazione della SSR con TV5 per il pubblico francofono e con 3Sat per quello germanofono. «Grazie alla sua diffusione a livello mondiale, TV5 rappresenta una piattaforma ideale per la Svizzera», segnala l'Ufcom. Questa convenzione tra la Confederazione e la SSR corrisponde alla volontà del parlamento che esige dal Consiglio federale che disciplini regolarmente con la SSR l'offerta editoriale destinata all'estero e assuma almeno la metà delle spese totali generate (via RadioTV Italia, July 4, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) SWISS INTERNATIONAL WEBSITE SWISSINFO GET SWISSFRANCS, STAYS ONLINE The Swiss cabinet will "contribute more than SFr20 million ($16.5 million) for the next five years to swissinfo and to support agreements between the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) and international broadcasters TV5 and 3Sat." In swissinfo: "Particular emphasis will be placed on topics such as direct democracy, human rights, Swiss values and traditions." swissinfo, 4 July 2007. Swissinfo.org is the website successor to Swiss Radio International. Posted: 04 Jul 2007 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. New RTI postal mailing address http://french.rti.org.tw/Others/ContactUs.aspx RTI Web Site http://www.rti.com.tw Adresses postales --- en Allemagne Radio Taiwan International - Section française, Postfach 309243, D- 10760 Berlin, Allemagne Adresses postales --- Taiwan Radio Taiwan International - Section française, BP 24-38, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. Nouvelle adresse effective ` partir du 1er juillet 2007: Radio Taiwan International - Section française, BP 123-119, 11199 Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) Unlike on the original webpage, the c-cedilla in français came over as a g. That`s almost as bad as a sigma, as recently mentioned. Was someone using an optical scanner? (gh, DXLD) ** U K. HOW THE WORLD SERVICE HELPED ALAN JOHNSTON THROUGH HIS ORDEAL Kate Connolly Thursday July 5, 2007, Guardian http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2118867,00.html As he emerged yesterday from his 114-day kidnapping ordeal, few people were celebrating the freedom of Alan Johnston more than BBC World Service journalists and listeners. Throughout his imprisonment, Bush House had doggedly sent him a crackling lifeline of messages and tributes from across the globe. From journalism students he had met in Kazakhstan more than a decade ago to Terry Waite, Brian Keenan and John McCarthy, who themselves experienced lengthy imprisonments in Lebanon, the communiques never stopped coming. On the phone-in show World Have Your Say, listeners from Adelaide to Gaza itself also sent messages of support. It was heartening to hear yesterday that Johnston had indeed heard the broadcasts on a radio his captors had given him, and that these had provided him with the strength to keep going. One of the first things he did on his release was to thank BBC listeners for the "huge amount of support". Johnston's gratitude should put paid to repeated threats by the foreign office to cut the station's already modest budget of £350m, or even to scrap it altogether. For many people in Britain who have little occasion to tune in, the former "Empire Service" might easily be dismissed as rather dated and arcane. Speaking as a foreign correspondent, I consider it to be a valuable well of information, more "human" than the internet, and the best way to start the day. To recognise its importance you just have to recall Mikhail Gorbachev's opinion that the World Service was the "best of all" for keeping him informed while incarcerated in his dacha in August 1992. It has sometimes been said that the World Service wields more influence than the United Nations. Four years ago in Iraq, I met a man who had dug a cell beneath his mother's kitchen and lived there for 21 years to escape the Ba'athists who were threatening him. Besides the Koran, he told me, he was sustained by the Arabic-language version of the World Service, which kept him up to date with world events, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to reports of the end of Saddam's rule, which he trusted enough to know he could leave his self-imposed prison. These and the other estimated 150 million listeners around the world don't need convincing of the importance of this often undervalued gem (via Dan Say, DXLD) See also RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** U K [non]. Another transmission to LAm with FE QRM: BBC 11825 in Spanish via Guiana French at 11-12 only, July 4 at 1152. That is at 305 degrees, not far from usward, and the QRM ChiCom jamming and/or VOA Tinang, Philippines in Mandarin at 09-13, 349 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. I see last weekend`s 5-hour Concert for Diana is not only audible from BBC Radio 2 but visible in three segments from BBC1 TV coverage via http://www.bbc.co.uk/concertfordiana/?focuswin Or would be, if I could get it to connect either on the imbedded or stand-alone Real player. I wonder if we abroaders are excluded from accessing the video. If so, a discourtesy message to the effect would have been nice, rather than just failing linx. Or maybe it is someothing to do with a needed plug-in but no specific prompt about that either. Non-starting Real Player clip info insists: http://www.bbc.co.uk/concertfordiana/media/nb/part1_16x9_nb.ram ``Rights Summary: There are no rights or restrictions associated with this clip`` Evidently 16x9 means HDTV aspect ratio format. Do any non- UKOGBANIans get it to play? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Checking VOA Spanish, 7370, July 4 around 1115, I could hear some Russian in the background. That would be KNLS, per HFCC at 315 degrees, while Greenville is at 172 degrees, considered an acceptable collision since we`re not supposed to be listening to either, in between them. Later VOA announced other frequencies are 9535, 13790 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ESTADOS UNIDOS, 15385, KJES Vado, 1944-1955, escuchada el 4 de julio en español a locutor en programa religioso, SINPO 22332. Es la primera vez que consigo sintonizar esta emisora; sin embargo se anuncia de 2000 a 2100 UT. ¿Se trata de algún cambio de horario? EiBi lo anuncia con emisión en inglés, Aoki también anuncia este servicio en inglés aunque menciona un servicio en español a las 2000 UT, el WRTH también anuncia este servicio a las 2000 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A- 108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Como le expliqué en inglés en el grupo DXLD, KJES en realidad transmite una hora más temprana que aparezca en casi todos los horarios actuales, debido a hora de verano, es decir: en español: 15-16 TU en 11715, 19-20 en 15385. 73, Glenn Hauser; Viz.: Did it stay on the air after 2000 UT? I hear nothing at 2030, but it often skips over here less than 1 megameter away. This station makes a one-hour-earlier shift in all its transmissions during DST in the USA, now from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November. So the broadcasts on 15385 should now be 18-19 in English, 19-20 in Spanish. I see that in all the online schedules for A-07 -- WRTH, EiBi, Aoki, HFCC and FCC, these changes are NOT shown, still the winter timings of 19-21 for this frequency, 02-0330 on 7555, and 14-17 on 11715 --- but these are also really one UT hour earlier. PWBR does get it right with their arrows showing one-hour-earlier shift at midyear. I suggest that the compilers of all these schedules make good note of this item, and enter the real times instead of the theoretical times! Are you saying that KJES itself on the air actually announces the time of the 15385 Spanish broadcast as 2000-2100 UT? Since even FCC does not show the shifted times, it may well be that KJES is not authorized to make the shifts, but does so anyway, perhaps not understanding that they are supposed to operate according to UT, rather than the local MST/MDT clock (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Muchas gracias Glenn por la aclaración, hoy 5 de julio como suele ser habitual, no consigo captar a esta emisora. 73 (José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Besides propagation, it seems KJES is not necessarily regular on the air every day without fail (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. One is no longer surprised to hear languages like Vietnamese on the US AM dial. July 4 at 1331 UT on 1600 kHz, skywave still not quite gone 2.2 hours after local sunrise here, something in Vietnamese topped the channel, 1332 pedicure ad (unless there is a Vietnamese word that happens to resemble that), ; at 1337 mentioned VAB = Vietnamese American Broadcasting. That`s based in Houston on 1320 (ex- KXYZ?), homepage http://www.vabhouston.com/ Found this player running, but silently at 1707 UT check July 4: http://www.vabhouston.com/phatthanhtt.php But this player for 1600 in Dallas worx: http://www.vabhouston.com/phatthanhdallas.php So over 400 km away I was hearing KRVA licensed to Cockrell Hill, per NRC AM Log 2006-2007, with 5 kW daytime, CP for 25 kW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ART BELL RETIRES FROM COAST TO COAST RADIO SHOW http://downtowneastsideenquirer.blogspot.com/2007/07/art-bell-retires-from-coast-to-coast.html Art Bell announced last night that he is retiring from his popular Coast to Coast radio show. Knowing that his listeners have heard him retire on previous occasions, Bell said, "This time it's for real though. (chuckles) It's for real." Bell explained that this time he was retiring not for some tragedy or emergency, but to be with his wife and infant daughter. Married a little over a year ago to Airyn (Ruiz) Bell, roughly 40 years his junior -- he married her a few months after his wife, Ramona, died suddenly -- daughter Asia Rayne Bell was born just a few weeks ago. Bell's voice sounded emotional at times during the announcement, as if he was holding back tears: "God has blessed me with love in my life at a time, frankly, when I thought I had lost any reason to live following Mona's death: my wonderful wife Airyn and now our daughter Asia. I really want what time the Lord has left for me to be with them." Bell commented that on June 17th, he became eligible for Social Security. Then he laughed as he reflected on that fact. He turned 62 on that date. Bell explained last night that he had needed to return to the air after Ramona's death because his audience was what was "familiar", they were "family" in a way. "All I had left at that dark time in my life was all of you." Being a private person, he had a very small circle of close friends, "and that's about it." But he now needed to go off the air as he entered a new phase in life. He added that it's not often that a person gets such a "second chance" in life. So listeners can no longer expect to hear Art Bell's relaxed but upbeat voice on Saturday and Sunday nights announcing that it is "my privilege to escort you through the weekend.” But he will still be associated with the Coast to Coast show he helped found, he says, and will be back occasionally to fill in or do a special. Bell says listeners can still reach him at his two e-mail addresses on the Coast to Coast website. POSTED BY RELIABLE SOURCES AT 11:48 AM (via Kevin Redding, July 2, ABDX via DXLD) I get the feeling this time his retirement will stick. Doing a late night radio show forces you into a vampire-like lifestyle, and that isn't compatible with having a new wife and child. And, at 62, I suppose he's asking himself "why am I still doing this??" He was great to me both times I was a guest on his show. I was really impressed by the amount of pre-show prep he put in with his guests; unlike most radio talk show hosts I've dealt with, Art did his homework and knew his guest and the subject matter cold before airtime. (Believe me, nothing is worse than a doing a radio interview where the host has no idea who you are or what you are there to talk about.) Art Bell built upon the late night talk show tradition established by people like Long John Nebel and took it to a much higher level. You won't see someone like him again for a long, long time. (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://topsecrettourism.com ABDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re DXLD 7-077, 1752 kHz, etc.: Glenn, Beacon "PUN" possibly in Ecuador: I downloaded the audio recordings in the W8JI website, and definitely I hear "Pista Las Peñas". Googling around for this name shows that it is a landing airstrip in Ecuador (see report of a landing accident at http://www.dgac.gov.ec/pdf/accidentes/1999/piper_PA-34-200.pdf Also found several logs from hams. 73, (Moisés Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, July 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It seems that HP1AC had already identified it as Pista Las Peñas as early as April 15, altho no country mentioned in an IARU Region 3 (yes, 3), intruder Monitoring Report for April I found at http://www.jarl.or.jp/iaru-r3/ms/ms-2007-04.pdf and this is not reflected on the W8JI page previously referenced http://www.w8ji.com/PUN.htm which has apparently not been updated since Feb., altho HP1AC almost had it then as Pista las Piñas which is in Darién, Panamá but no known beacon there. The DF map does not go far enough south to show it. HP1AC also has a recent correct log of it in DX Summit: Jul 2 2055Z 2007 DX de HP1AC-@: 14015.0 PUN Pista Las Penas-Ecuador which would put the fundamental on exactly 1751.875 if 14015 is the eighth harmonic, so the real fundamental may still be in question. And per the accident report above, which mentions Pista Las Peñas, and the island it is upon, the callsign PUN comes from the island! ---: Isla Puná --- island off the coast of southern Ecuador, at the head of the Gulf of Guayaquil, opposite the mouth of the Guayas River. It is flanked by two channels, the Jambelí Channel on the east and the Morro Channel on the west, and has an area of approximately 330 square miles (855 square km). (Britannica.com via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Searching later the UDXF yg we find; note date: Anyone still hearing PUN? I have a strong suspicion this mysterious beacon is on Puná Island, south of Guayaquil, Ecuador (Hugh Stegman, Feb 20, UDXF yg via DXLD) 5256.8 kHz, cw, PUN, repeating. Very weak signal. 0907:44 UT (2007-06- 03) (Jon-FL in Florida, USA on ZIRC#wunclub) -- End Of Loggings These are the loggings from the NSA logbot on several IRC channels (UDXF via DXLD) That would put the fundamental at 1752.2666 kHz, rather far from the 14015/8 division above. But if it is so dirty in producing harmonix, why not also unstable in frequency? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ EUROPEAN COMMISSION WANTS MORE HF BROADCASTING SPECTRUM TO ACCOMMODATE DRM [DRM: see also ETHIOPIA; IRELAND; LUXEMBOURG] The European Commission has published its final position on spectrum policy in preparation for the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2007. It says that “Shortwave broadcast radio is poised to embrace the benefits of digital technology and should be supported by sufficient spectrum capacity. New broadcasting services based on digital technologies such as DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) technology offer the prospects of reviving long-distance radio and contribute to the dissemination of European culture and perspectives on the global scene. “Further HF spectrum for broadcasting will assist the successful uptake of digital radio broadcasting technologies. Key HF maritime services are also gradually switching over to digital transmission. WRC-07 should address the spectrum needs of this sector in a timely manner while ensuring appropriate continuity with critical analogue services.” It isn’t clear from this statement whether the Commission wants DRM and analogue services to occupy specific and separate parts of the specctrum, which is what most shortwave listeners want, or if they are content with more spectrum space. It seems likely that WRC-07 will address the problem of interference to analogue services caused by DRM transmissions, but I would like to see interested parties make their policy on this issue absolutely clear. Read the full document: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/radio_spectrum/docs/ref_docs/com/com_2007_371_en.pdf (July 5th, 2007 - 16:07 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ CFB (Compact Florescent Bulbs) - Revisited This past April and May, there was a discussion about Compact Florescent Bulbs. At the time, I thought that I recalled something about the possibility of a medical issue regarding florescent Bulbs, but I was unable to locate anything in my medical books. However, I recently had an opportunity to talk with a neurologist (M.D.) whom I have known for years, and an EEG (electroencephalograph) technician ? this is used to measure brain activity, or lack thereof). I specifically asked about Compact Florescent Bulbs AND old-style florescent bulbs (ones found in classrooms, grocery stores, etc.). The incidence of a reaction to the old-style florescent bulbs has been documented over the years; the new CFB style has virtually no documentation on which to make a comment. In talking with them, the following was confirmed: * Florescent light bulbs "operate" at a very low frequency in the less than 100 Hertz range - a frequency which the human eye can detect, but not see. The brain, however, receives the eye's report and can "see" the light * A VERY SMALL number of people can react to the bulb's operating frequency by: o Having a seizure - VERY, VERY few - the neurologist could recall of hearing of only a single case; o Headaches may occur with varying levels of discomfort; and, o Some may go into a trance-like state: simply staring at "nothing" (deer in headlights reaction) Getting old(er) and more rebellious, I'm tired of the government dictating to me. That said, I'll either need to stock up on incandescent bulbs or go the LED route. Wonder if my XYL would get upset if I maxed out the credit card on incandescent bulbs? Gulp? Although I do have a medical background, including some neurology, I can honestly say that I understood only a little of what the Doc and Tech told me. Fortunately, they subscribed to the Voice of America method of presentation: "This is the Doc and Tech. The following program is in special English." Very 73 de (Mike Hardester, IRCA via DXLD) A long thread ensued RADIO'S MAIN STRENGTH: PORTABILITY From James Cridland's blog; James was formerly Director of New Media at Virgin Radio and has just started work as BBC's Head of Future Media and Technology, Audio and Music. "It’s probably no exaggeration to say that the BBC World Service saved Alan Johnston’s sanity. It’s a slight exaggeration, but probably justifiable, to claim that it may even have saved his life. And it did it on old-fashioned AM radio. No whistles, no bells, no internet, no DTV. Radio futurologists like me (I just made that up, it sounds good) are forever saying that radio is going multi-platform. It is. But. The bedrock of radio - and still the place where most listeners are - is old-fashioned, portable, analogue radio. Radio broadcasters forget that at our peril." Full blog entry, and an interesting blog overall to follow: http://james.cridland.net/blog/2007/07/04/radios-main-strength-portability/ (via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) Yes, James is a great catch for the BBC. I hope they let him continue to run MediaUK - his was the first website to carry Media Network RSS feed. A useful BBC contact for us, too :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) ###