DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-114, September 20, 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 Extra 77 Fri 0630 WRMI 9955 Fri 1030 KAIJ 5755 Fri 1100 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 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 [irregular; not 9/10/07] Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies to 0500] Mon 0830 WRMI 9955 Tue 1030 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 7385 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 ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. More evidence that R. Solh, 17700 via UK, is playing exactly the same program every day: Some days before, we had noticed the CD skipping during music at 1346 UT, and exactly the same thing happened on Sept 19 and Sept 20. Altho we still haven`t found a new time for the old ``Solh theme``, we enjoy especially the call-and- response tune at 1416 and the one which follows at 1421, Sept 19 and presumably every day. Reception has equinoxially improved lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, me ha llamado mucho la atención la captación de Radio Solh; hoy cómo todos los días de esta semana he intentado captarla a partir de las 1200 hasta las 1330, sin resultado. Es probable que empiece emisiones más tarde de la hora normal que tiene listada a las 1200 UT. (José Miguel Romero, Spain, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. USA: KNLS B-07 sked effective from 28 October 2007 English 0800-0900 7355 1000-1100 6150 1200-1300 6150 6915 1400-1500 6150 Mandarin 0800-0900 9615 0900-1200 7355 1300-1400 6890 7355 1400-1500 7355 1500-1700 6915 1700-1800 6915* or 9920** Russian 0900-1000 6150 1100-1200 6150 1500-1700 6150 1700-1800 6150* or 7355** * or ** indicates freq as shown on the Chinese(*) and English(**) web pages respectively (KNLS web site via Alan Roe, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. Re 7-113: R. Tirana coming in well on 13750, Sept 18 at 1301, but in Albanian instead of English! 1315 abruptly switched to English with ID, 1317 music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, this was because of blocked radio/relay on Dajt mountain. Sorry (Drita Çiço, R. Tirana, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. ANTARTIDA, 15476 kHz, LRA36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, 19-09-07, 1932-1943 UT. Locutora con comentarios de arte y música de Gloria Estefan, en español. SINPO 33222. Después de varias tentativas, por fin he conseguido escuchar esta emisora. Seguiré intentándolo en los próximos días para ver si se repite la escucha y consigo además escuchar la identificación (Javier Robledillo Jaén, Elche (Alicante) - España, Rx: Sangean ATS909 Ant: Telescópica EA5- 1028, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. The 10 kW DRM from Brandon, 5990-5995-6000, was enough to QRM RHC on 6000, Sept 20 at 1247 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 5952.46, Radio Pio Doce, Siglo Veinte, 0220-0234*, Sept 20, Spanish talk. Sign off with River Kwai march at 0232 along with closing announcements. Usually signs off with the River Kwai march. Difficult reception with strong splatter from 5950-Okeechobee, Florida (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. EMISSORAS ATIVAS EM ONDAS CURTAS NA AMAZONIA --- Desde Tefé-AM, Paulo Roberto e Souza nos envia informações ricas em detalhes das emissoras da região amazôniza brasileiras ativas em ondas curtas. [as you will soon see this covers not only Amazonas proper, but also AC, AP, PA, RO and RR --- but not R. Nacional da Amazônia which transmits inward from Brasília, without --- gh] Rádio Rio Mar Endereço: Rua José Clemente, 500 69010-070-Manaus-Amazonas-Brasil Correio eletrônico: decom @ click21.com.br Fax: + 55 92 3232-7763 Telefone: + 55 92 3633-2295 Superintendente: Martin James Lauman ZYE 245 6160 10 KW potência 10H00 / 21H00 UTC 9695 kHz (7,5 KW) 10H00 / 21H00 UTC Rádio Educadora Endereço: Praça das Bandeiras, s/nº 68600-000 - Bragança-PA-Brasil Telefone: + 55 91 3425 1295 Fax: + 55 91 3425 1702 Correio eletrônico: fundacaoeducadora @ uol.com.br Diretor: Maurício de Souza ZYG 364 4825 kHz potência 5 KW 08H30 / 03H00 UTC Rádio Alvorada Endereço: Rua Governador Leopoldo Neves , 516 69151-460-Parintins-Amazonas-Brasil Correio eletrônico: radio-alvorada @ uol.com.br e sistemaalvorada @ jurupari.com.br Telefone: + 55 92 3533 2002 e 3533 3097 Fax: + 55 92 3533 2004 Diretora: Raimunda Ribeiro da Silva ZYF 275 4965 kHz 22H00/02h00 potência 5 KW Rádio Municipal Domingo 10H00/01H00 UTC Endereço: Av. Álvaro Maia, s/nº 69750-000-São Gabriel da Cachoeira - Amazonas-Brasil Telefone e fax:+ 55 97 3471 1768 Correio eletrônico: rmunicipalsgc @ yahoo.com.br Diretora: Rosane da Conceição Rodrigues Neto ZYF 276 3375 kHz 5 KW potência Segunda à sábado 09H00/13H00 y 21H00/01H00 UTC domingo 10H00/13H00 y 21H00/01H00 UTC Rádio Globo Manaus (antiga Rádio Baré) Contacto: Kátia Cilene Correio eletrônico: adm @ radiobare.com.br e manhadaglobo @ radiobare.com.br Endereço: Av. Tefé, 3025 Japiim 69078-000 - Manaus-AM-Brasil Telefone : + 55 92 2101-5500 Página: http://www.radioglobomanaus.com.br ZYF 274 4895 kHz 5 KW 20H00 /04H00 UTC Rádio Difusora do Amazonas Página: http://www.difusoramanaus.com.br Endereço: Av. Eduardo Ribeiro, 639 20º andar 69010-001-Manaus-Amazonas-Brasil Correio eletrônico: fesinha @ uol.com.br Telefone: + 55 92 3633 1001 Fax: + 55 92 3234 3750 Diretor: Josué Filho ZYF 273 4805 kHz 09H30/13H30; 15H00/18H00; 20H00/01H00 UTC potência 10 KW (dia) e 5 KW (noite) Super Rádio Alvorada domingo 09H00 a 03H00 UTC Endereço: Av. Ceará, 2150 Jardim Nazle 69900-460 - Rio Branco – AC - Brasil Telefone: + 55 68 3226 2301 Correio eletrónico: seve @ jornalatribuna.com.br Diretor: José Severiano ZYF 204 2460 kHz potência 1 KW 10H00 / 22H00 UTC Rádio Educação Rural de Tefé domingo opera até 0100 UTC Endereço: Caixa Postal 21 69470-000 Tefé - Amazonas-Brasil Correio eletrônico: rert @ osite.com.br Telefone: + 55 97 3343-3017 Fax: + 55 97 3343-2663 Diretor: Thomas Schwamborn ZYH 282 (4925 kHz) – potência 5 KW 1000 / 1530 y 2000 / 0200 UTC Rádio Caiari Endereço: Rua das Crianças, 4646 Areal da Floresta 78912-210 - Porto Velho-RO-Brasil Telefone / fax: + 55 69 3210 3621 Correio eletrônico: comercialcaiari @ gmail.com Página: http://www.radiocaiari.com.br Diretor : José Maria Gonzáles ZYG 790 4785 kHz potência10 KW 09H00 / 14H00 y 19H00 / 03H00 UTC Rádio Educação Rural de Coari Endereço: Praça São Sebastião, 228 69460-000-Coari-Amazonas-Brasil Correio eletrônico: radiocoari @ hotmail.com Telefone: + 55 97 3561 2474 Fax: 97 3561 2633 Direor: Cícero Marques ZYF 272 5035 kHz Potência 5 KW 10H00/01H00 UTC Rádio Educadora Endereço: Praça Mário Correa, 90 78957-000-Guajará Mirim-Rondônia-Brasil Página: http://www.brasilcatolico.com.br/cursos/radiohome2.htm Correio eletrônico: radio.educadora @ uol.com.br Telefone e fax: +55 69 3541 6333 Diretor: José Hélio ZYG 792 3375 kHz 5 KW potência 09H00/13H00 e 21H00/01H30 UTC Rádio Verdes Florestas Endereço:Rua Mário Lobão, 81 69980-000-Cruzeiro do Sul-AC-Brasil Correio eletrônico: verdesflorestas @ yahoo.com.br Telefone/fax: + 55 68 3322 3309 y 68 3322 2634 Diretor: José Graci Soares Rezende ZYF 203 4865 kHz potência 5KW 10H30 -14H00 e 23H00 / 03H00 UTC Rádio Difusora Acreana Endereço: Rua Benjamin Constant, 1232 69900-161 - Rio Branco - AC - Brasil Telefone: + 55 68 3223 9696 Fax:+ 55 68 3223 8610 Correio eletrônico: comercialdifusora @ ac.gov.br Diretor: Antonio Washington Aquino ZYF 201 4885 kHz potência 5 KW 09H00 / 04H00 UTC Rádio Educadora 6 de agosto Telefone + 55 68 3542 2975 Correio eletrônico: raimari.cardoso @ hotmail.com Endereço: Rua Coronel Brandão s/nº Bairro Aeroporto 69930-000-Xapuri-AC-Brasil Coordenador: Raimari Sombra Cardoso 3255 kHz 1 KW 1000 / 0100 UTC Rádio Rural Endereço: Av São Sebastião, 622 Bloco A 68005-090-Santarém – Pará - Brasil Correio Eletrônico: edilrural @ gmail.com Página: http://www.viamazonica.com/radiorural Telefone: + 55 93 3523 1066 Fax: + 55 93 3523 2685 Coordenador: Edilberto Moura Sena ZYG 363 4765 kHz 08H00/03H00 UTC 10 KW potência Rádio Clube do Pará Endereço: Av. Almirante Barroso, 2190 3º andar 66095-000 - Belém-PA-Brasil Telefone e fax : + 55 91 3084 0112; 3084 0111; 3084 0100 Página: http://www.radioclubedopara.com.br Correio eletrônico: clubedamanha @ radioclubedopara.com.br Diretor: Nonato Cavalcante ZYG 362 4885 kHz potência 2 KW Transmite 24 horas Rádio Difusora de Macapá Endereço: Rua Cândido Mendes, 525 - CEP 68.900-100 - Macapá-AP-Brasil Correio eletrônico: difusoramcp @ yahoo.com.br Telefone: + 55 96 3212 1133 Fax: + 55 96 3212 1111 Diretor: Carlos Luiz Pereira Marques ZYF 360 - 4.915 kHz Transmite 24 horas potência 10 KW y 25 KW Rádio Roraima Endereço: Av. Cap. Ene Garcez, 860 - São Francisco 69301-160-Boa Vista - RR - Brasil Telefone e fax: + 55 95 3623 2259 Correio eletrônico: i-rico @ hotmail.com Página: http://www.radiororaima.com.br Diretor: Barbosa Júnior ZYG 810 4875 kHz potência 10 KW 0800 / 0400 UTC (@tividade DX Sept 16 via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. R. Bulgaria, 15700, Sept 20 at 1325 was accompanied by ratchy spurs at roughly 15685 and 15715 during talk modulation peaks; and 15700 itself had a ringing sound in the background. Recheck at 1344 during music, no spurs heard, perhaps modulated just enough less to avoid them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. URGENT CHWO AM740 News! Station Sale September 18/07 --- It was announced this morning that this radio station, AM 740, has been sold. AM 740 has been purchased by MZ Media Incorporated, the operators of radio station CFMZ-FM Classical 96.3 in Toronto. MZ Media Incorporated is headed by legendary Canadian broadcaster Moses Znaimer, who purchased CFMZ - formerly CFMX-FM -- last year. Znaimer was the co-founder of CITY TV, and later, in partnership with CHUM Limited, was responsible for the success of such CHUM Television properties as Cable Pulse 24, Much Music, and Bravo. Michael Caine, president and general manager of AM 740 Radio says Moses Znaimer is one of the most respected broadcasters in Canadian history, and says he's pleased that Znaimer will carry the station forward, and make it bigger and better than ever for the 50-plus listener. AM 740 is the number one 50-plus radio station in Canada with one of the largest listening areas on the continent. The sale is subject to approval by the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission (Brian Smith, ODXA yg via DXLD) Hey Brian - I know quite a few guys locally (near Albany, NY) who absolutely love the station and literally cannot wait until its nighttime skywave signal makes its way to these parts (John Figliozzi, ibid.) This is one of those rare cases where the sale of a radio station actually sounds like good news. Moses Znaimer is one of those rare broadcasters who actually tries to give each of his stations a distinct and individual identity, so this should be good for CHWO. If anything, he may well have bought it because it already has a distinct identity. I hope the people at AM 740 see it that way too (Greg Shoom, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ibid.) Here is the follow up story: ZNAIMER TAKES CONTROL OF TORONTO'S AM 740 GAYLE MACDONALD - Globe and Mail / September 19, 2007 Former CITY-TV czar Moses Znaimer rolled out the red carpet yesterday at a Toronto press conference where he announced that he has bought radio's golden-oldies gem, AM 740. Znaimer told a crowd in the lobby of his other Toronto radio station, Classical 96.3 FM, that he will bring the two stations under one roof but operate each independently. The deal was eight months in the works, with Znaimer (through his MZMedia) approaching Prime Time Radio, controlled by the Caine family of Oakville, Ont. No dollar figure was disclosed, but the feisty, 65- year-old Znaimer said the marriage of the two cements his goal to cater to the 50-plus radio market. "Society has tended to devalue the mature person," he said. "Youth is overvalued. What the hell is [youth] anyway? Hell, they have no money and they're living in the basement. The world is ruled by 50-to-70- year-olds, and it's time we got a little respect." Znaimer added that the two stations are a good fit because both are proudly - and unabashedly - all about catering to the 50-to-70-year- old crowd, a high-spending demographic, which nevertheless gets the short end of the stick when it comes to arts/entertainment offerings. News of the acquisition capped a speech Znaimer delivered at an all- day party he hosted to celebrate the changes he has made to 96.3 since taking over the station in August, 2006, from Martin and Truus Rosenthal (Trumar Communications) . He paid $12-million for Classical 96.3 FM, whose programming slate in the past 12 months has been injected with more spunk. The takeover of AM 740 will require approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Yesterday, Znaimer coined a new word - zoomer - to describe the demographic he is after with both stations: boomers who still have loads of zip. Just over six years old, AM 740 boasts one of the largest coverage areas of any station in Canada, reaching from Maine to Minnesota and the Carolinas north to Thunder Bay, and is ranked as the No. 1 age-50- plus station in Canada and second in North America. Its program is a wide range of everything from fifties crooners to folk singers. At the press conference, Michael Caine, AM 740's president and general manager, congratulated Znaimer. "I look forward to you looking after my baby and taking the zoomers out of the wilderness and into the light," said Caine, who described himself as a "reluctant vendor." (via Brian Smith, ibid.) That it hasn't been bought out by some faceless conglomerate and instead by Moses Znaimer is very good news. Znaimer is one of the few genuine "innovators" in private broadcasting in Canada. A lot of the things he did at CITY-TV have been copied all over the world. By the way, the former owner of CFMZ (Marty Rosenthal) also owns Electrosonic, Canada's largest distributor of electronic components, and is well known in the amateur radio community as VE3MR or with his Aruba callsign P40MR. (That's why you see the big triband yagi on top of Electrosonic' s warehouse!) 73 (Bob VE3SRE Chandler, http://www.ve3sre.com ibid.) ** CANADA. Iqaluit pirate radio continues as CBC brings Gothe and Radio TWO to North --- Nunatsiaq News September 14, 2007 http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/iqaluit/70914_503.html PIRATE CLASSICAL SIDELINED BY CBC RADIO TWO ``I got pissed off and bought a radio transmitter and a satellite dish.`` [Caption?] by JOHN THOMPSON As the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. celebrates with great fanfare the opening of its CBC Radio Two station in Iqaluit this week, some residents must be left puzzled. After all, Iqaluit's fans of jazz and classical music have listened to CBC Radio Two for years by tuning to 90.1 FM, although the music may come in faint, or cut out when it rains. Don't thank Jurgen Gothe, the host of Discdrive, who is broadcasting his show from Iqaluit this week. Thank Bryan Pearson, owner of the Astro Theatre, and operator of the city's only classical music pirate station. "It all came about 12 or 13 years ago," Pearson explains, when CBC cut Saturday Afternoon At the Opera from its AM broadcast. "That's the only show that I listen to religiously. So I got pissed off and bought a radio transmitter and a satellite dish," he said. For several years Pearson broadcast from his home. Then, to improve the reach of his tiny transmitter, he moved the station to the roof of a building in the West 40, where it remains today. CBC's new frequency, 88.3 FM, picks up with crystalline clarity compared to Pearson's pirate broadcast. He only broadcasts with 1.8 watts of power, while he estimates the new station must use 300 to 500 watts. "They once gave me a licence for 1/600 of a watt, which is the same as your toaster," he said. While his broadcast is technically illegal, Pearson says he did it to provide a public service to the community, and has never been hassled about it. The new station makes Pearson's broadcast redundant, but he says he plans to leave his station plugged in anyway. "It's no skin off my nose. It just chugs away." Pearson has received some thanks over the years from classical music fans in town, although "people generally don't realize it's me, a pirate." He says he's just happy to help other classical music buffs out there. "Help yourself, please." (via Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Hmm, who else is going to provide microbroadcasters if we hate the CBC's progamming? (Dan Say, BC, ibid.) ** CANADA. CBR 1010 is ``Completely Calgary``. The Thunder Bay ID heard just before hourtop, all on webcast of course, was standard without any such slogan (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CHINA. BRIEFING -- COUNTDOWN TO THE BEIJING GAMES In less than a year, the eyes of the world will be on China, as the 2008 Summer Olympics get under way. How is China’s authoritarian regime approaching the challenge? http://www.theweekdaily.com/extras/general/161/briefing_countdown_to_the_beijing_games.html (The Week via DXLD) Good wrapup of the situation. See also the opening page of http://www.rsf.org (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. AFN WÜRZBURG TO CLOSE IN FISCAL YEAR 2008 All US military facilities at Würzburg will be closed in 2008. It was suspected from the start that this will affect AFN Würzburg as well, and I just found an official confirmation. It's the very last item in this document: http://www.hqusareur.army.mil/news/releases/2007-04-019_FY08_USAREUR-Transformation-English.pdf I could imagine that the Würzburg transmitters will be turned off when the studios there will close down. Contradictory information circulates about the site of these transmitters, but it appears that at some point the own US forces transmitters at Leighton Barracks were replaced by the Frankenwarte site of T-Systems Media&Broadcast where in late 2003 some obscure tests of 1386 (ex. Megaradio, shut down on in April 2003) with AFN audio took place, especially strange because reportedly it was AFN Bavaria from Vilseck instead of AFN Würzburg, so not just // co-located 1143, cf. http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld3217.txt It appears that all US military bases served by AFN Würzburg will finally close, including Ansbach-Katterbach where a new FM transmitter for AFN Würzburg on 107.3 had been put on air only in last March, replacing the 107.4 relic at Fürth which until then lingered around with a poor quality feed from Vilseck which had replaced AFN's Nürnberg studios already in 1994: http://www.br-online.de/bayern-heute/thema/truppenabzug/standorte.xml (Illesheim is not shown here but mentioned in other publications as part of the closure list.) However, apparently this will happen only later, so presumably all remote AFN Würzburg transmitters will for the time being stay on air with other AFN programming, with AFN Bavaria being the natural choice of course. Btw, recently it has been disputed if a 1143 kHz transmitter at Schweinfurt exists at all, arguing that Würzburg and Bamberg would already put a sufficient signal into Schweinfurt, but what I saw so far does not really confirm this theory. Anyway the Bad Kissingen transmitter is gone (no US forces there anymore), as is the AFN Bavaria transmitter at Regensburg --- however, 1485 is still on air at Hohenfels, cf. http://subscribe.ru/archive/radio.worlddx/200704/10111404.html On the other hand AFN transmitters can stay on air even if no US facilities are left. The Chiemsee hotel has been closed in 2004 and replaced by a new one at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but surprisingly the AFN transmitter at Prien on 90.3 is still on air. This is a Media&Broadcast facility, so they still pay for it, but who knows if they thoroughly check the bills? Elsewhere in Germany it appears that the vast majority of the US military facilities in Hessen will close, with Darmstadt and Hanau being due in fiscal year 2008 after Gießen has already been abandoned and 1143 kHz there shut down. Not that anybody would care for the 873 transmitter, but the FM side would be a good field for attempts to strike a deal like a frequency swap with Deutschlandradio (Großer Feldberg 98.7 ./. Wiesbaden 103.7). Anyway AFN Hessen no longer broadcasts to Baumholder. This really large base, about 40 km northwest of Kaiserslautern, got an own over- the-air AFN service only in January 2006. At this time AFN Hessen went on air via a new transmitter on 106.1 because the Baumholder garrison belonged to the 104th Area Support Group at Hanau. But that's meanwhile a thing of the past, thus 106.1 carries AFN Kaiserslautern now instead (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. NEWS MAY BE ALLOWED ON PRIVATE FM RADIO UNDER A WATCHDOG’S VIGIL IN INDIA It’s looking brighter for the Indian private FM radio players who were fighting hard to get approval to air news and current affairs on their channels. The Government of India has given a lease of hope to them, with Union Minister for I&B and Parliamentary Affairs Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi observing that the Government is not opposed to news being aired on the medium, with a watchdog in place. The existing FM policy in the country does not allow private radio broadcasters to air news and current affairs. Inaugurating SIMCON-XXVI, Dasmunsi observed that there has been a great demand from radio players for news and current affairs on the medium. “There has been a great demand for allowing news and current affairs in the private FM channels from the existing FM broadcasters. The Government did not allow news and current affairs since there is no effective and established system to monitor the FM stations,” he explained. “We do not straightaway oppose the broadcast of news and current affairs in the FM Radio, but we may have to find a selective monitoring mechanism. The matter is presently under consideration and we would like to have the views of the State Governments also on this particular issue,” Dasmunsi continued. The Government's stand is of importance against the backdrop of a stern warning issued to certain FM stations a fortnight ago for their attempts to air news and current affairs programmes. Source: http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/Radio/RadioNews.asp?section_id=7&news_id=27816&tag=22721&pict=5 (via Jaisakthivel, Chennai-600106, India, and via Mukesh Kumar, Bihar, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INDIA [and non]. JAMMING OF TRANSMISSION OF RADIO PAKISTAN LAHORE 630 KHZ BY INDIA FROM 1330-1400 Hi Glenn, 630 kHz Medium Wave, 100 kW, 1330-1400 UT, Radio Pakistan, Lahore Channel 1 broadcasts half hour transmission titled "Punjabi Darbar" in Punjabi language for the Sikhs (a religious minority) in the Indian state of Punjab. The transmission consists of well researched talks and commentaries primarily aimed at inciting discontentment against the Indian Government. The program has developed wide listenership in rural areas of Indian Punjab .The program team has arranged the programs as per listeners` interest and is quite successful as compared to pathetic standard of programming of other external services of Radio Pakistan. In view of growing listenership, the Indian Government has initiated jamming of the special broadcast and a transmitter from India starts noise signal at the commencement, i.e. 1330 till 1400 UT at the frequency of 630 kHz. The jamming transmitter muffles the audio at times and the moment transmission of the Punjabi Darbar concludes at 1400 UT, the jamming transmitter also goes off air. Regards (Aslam Javaid, 136/H Model Town, Lahore, Pakistan, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 6205.91, VOIRI, *0027-0125*, Sept 20, Sign on with lite instrumental music. Opening announcements & Iranian National Anthem at 0030. Kor`an at 0031. Talk in unidentified language at 0033. Variety of Mid-east music, lite instrumental music. Kor`an at various times throughout broadcast. Abrupt sign off. Good. Strong (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) IRIB's Bengali service scheduled at this time slot. A07: 5950 and 7135 (alternate 7325) kHz. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. ISRAEL BROADCASTING AUTHORITY MAY "CUT WORK FORCE BY HALF" The Jerusalem Post had an article on Sept 17 - unfortunately, I don't have the URL right now. Here is part of the beginning of the article. "Negotiations between union representatives, the Israel Broadcasting Authority management and Finance Ministry representatives are due to begin on Wednesday [19 September] after the cabinet approved a series of reforms in principle which call for cutting the work force by almost half, while investing in infrastructure to modernize its broadcasts. ... The cabinet also approved granting the IBA 800m shekels [195m US dollars] for its rehabilitation. Reacting to the calls for mass dismissals of some 850 workers through early retirement or firings, Moshe Friedman, who is on the board of the Jerusalem Journalists Association and is both a former chairman of the National Union of Israel Journalists and a former Israel Television employee, declared that "nothing has changed in the past 20 years," taking management to task for not taking! responsibility for the IBA's fiscal problems over that period. "The workers are always to blame," he said. "It's never the director-general or the management committee. If you have a budget, you have to work within the framework of that budget, and it's the job of management to ensure that this happens..." (via Doni Rosenzweig, Sept 19, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. IBA / CHANNEL ONE TV - FINANCIAL SITUATION The current issue of the Jerusalem Report, has an article about the IBA's Channel One TV financial situation. Here is an excerpt - you need to pay $3.95 if you wish to read the entire article http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jrep/access/1336569711.html?dids=1336569711:1336569711&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Sep+17%2C+2007&author=Ina+Friedman&pub=The+Jerusalem+Report&edition=&startpage=14&desc=Moribund+Medium Prof. Tamar Liebes, chair of the Communications Department at the Hebrew University, largely endorses this criticism but places the onus on the public regulator of the commercial stations, the Second Television and Radio Authority. Though run by private franchisees that are subject to market forces, she says, the commercial channels were likewise conceived as "public stations," insofar as their content must be approved by the Second Authority. "They're required to supply a certain amount of quality programming," she notes, including original dramas, documentaries and other "serious contributions" to Israeli culture. "But these rules have evaporated," Liebes laments, "and instead of meeting the regulator's demands, they broadcast a lot of nonsense." Yet [Gabi Weimann] argues that the issue is more complex. The conventional explanation of why Channel 1 is in such bad shape is that it must compete with the glamor, celebrity and rating cultures of the commercial channels. "And all that is true," he says, "but not the station's main problem, which I sum up in one word: research. Can you believe," he asks rhetorically, "that the IBA doesn't monitor or survey the public to find out what it wants to see?" The commercial channels have research departments that "keep their fingers on the public's pulse and tastes," he stresses, "but the IBA hasn't a glint of an idea what these are." The government's failure to approve the reform, [Moshe Gavish] has warned, would result in one of two consequences: Either the IBA will continue to operate in its current format, with its "low-level content" and on "a government subsidy of 1 billion shekels [$235 million] over the next five years"; or, as it seems unlikely that the Treasury would be willing to "throw good money after bad," as he put it, the IBA will close down. But the latter option, he stressed, would require the Treasury not only to shell out severance pay to all the agency's 1,900 employees but to assume the IBA's debts. Though Gavish says that he has a commitment from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On to implement the reform, it has yet to be approved by the cabinet. In the meanwhile, [Shklar] tells The Report, he is still waiting for "bridging funds" from the Treasury to pay the next months' salaries on time (via Doni Rosenzweig, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. JOE JACOBS, 83, SERVED FOREIGN MINISTRY & IBA RADIO http://reka.iba.org.il/index.asp?classto=RekaInner&entity_code=228576&lang=English Joe Jacobs, a vereran of the Foreign Ministry and Israel radio's English news department, has died at the age of 83. His funeral will be held at 3 o'clock Wednesday afternoon at the Etz Haim cemetery near Beit Shemesh. Joe Jacobs was born and grew up in Shanghai and immigrated to Israel in 1948. He served the Foreign Ministry at the United Nations as well as in Ottawa, London and Washington. Jacobs worked in various capacities in the English news department, and after his retirement from the Foreign Ministry, worked as an announcer. He was renowned for his impeccable, faultless presentation of the news. 19.09.2007 14:14 (via Doni Rosenzweig, Sep 20, DXLD) OBIT ** ITALY. RAI SW to close down on 30 September? Glenn, according to a local workers' union, Libersind, RAI International is going to lay off 17 employees and 28 translators, as the likely consequence to the closing down of its shortwave services. 73s (Andy Lawendel, Italy, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ____ Il 12 u.s., la Segreteria Nazionale Libersind Conf.Sal, insieme alle altre cinque Organizzazioni Sindacali rappresentative in RAI, è stata convocata per avere informativa, su decisione della Presidenza del Consiglio, sulla chiusura del servizio Onda Corta. Il servizio, figlio diretto di Guglielmo MARCONI, è nato negli anni trenta, gestito direttamente dalla Presidenza del Consiglio per passare, in convenzione, nel 62 in RAI ed a metà anni settanta inglobato in quella che oggi è RAI INTERNATIONAL. L’idea era e rimane geniale, grazie alle modalità di propagazione delle onde corte, si sono raggiunti paesi dall’altra parte del globo già prima della diffusione del satellite e di internet. L’ascolto è alla portata di tutti, non necessita di grandi investimenti o conoscenze tecnologiche, basta una radiolina. Ecco perché i paesi sviluppati e quelli in via di sviluppo, ancora oggi, investono in quello che l’Italia abbandona. Vorremmo solo ricordare che l’onda corta si è occupata non solo di seguire le comunità di emigranti, ma di diffondere l’informazione italiana in varie lingue, stimolando turismo e commercio. A chi afferma che il servizio è ormai datato e di nicchia perché seguito solo dai radioamatori, replichiamo che nel mondo vi è una miriade di associazioni di radioascolto e tanta gente comune interessata al palinsesto internazionale. Certo una cosa francamente non riusciamo a comprendere, come sia possibile che la Presidenza del Consiglio tagli i ponti con gli Italiani all’estero, mentre i loro primi rappresentanti che siedono in Parlamento garantiscono la stabilità del Governo in carica. In merito all’aspetto meramente sindacale, il LIBERSIND Conf. SAL non può accettare che gli organi deliberanti in indirizzo abbiano, a cuor leggero, deciso di tranciare una sessantina di posti di lavoro senza preventivo confronto con il Sindacato. Chiudere una attività lavorativa può significare anche attivare procedure di licenziamento! E’ questo il modo in cui il Centro-Sinistra intende tutelare i lavoratori? Nel settore da chiudere sono oggi impiegati 17 dipendenti di Rai Way e 28 annunciatori traduttori di madrelingua, più i relativi Td per sostituzioni. La scrivente Segreteria Nazionale, fortemente preoccupata per le sorti dei lavoratori interessati, chiede una sospensiva sulla data del 30 settembre per la chiusura del servizio, al fine di permettere i dovuti incontri con gli organi deliberanti. La Segreteria Nazionale LIBERSIND Conf.SAL, nel rigettare le scelte unilaterali che mettono in discussione una sessantina di posti di lavoro, chiede un incontro urgente con quanti in indirizzo per meglio precisare quanto qui per brevità succintamente descritto. LA SEGRETERIA NAZIONALE Roma, lì 17.09.07 ore 14.00 For our English reading friends. According to the broadcasting sector workers' union "Libersind Conf. SAL", a delegation of representatives from Libersind and other organizations met with representatives of the Italian government for a briefing related to the imminent closing down of RAI International shortwave services. RAI SW programmes were initiated in the 30s. In 1962 their management was transferred to RAI, only to be conferred to RAI International some 15 years later. 17 employees and 28 translators are currently working for RAI Int. shortwave dept. Libersind asked for a suspension to be agreed upon next September 30th, apparently RAI's final day on SW. http://www.newslinet.it/ http://www.libersind.it/public/ultimissime http://www.radiopassionil.it (via Lawendel, ibid.) ** JAPAN. Hi Glenn, I'm very glad to say that NHK will continue its English broadcasts to North America and Hawaii this fall. We should all send them an email thanking them and encouraging them to continue. Schedule: http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/freq/all_e.pdf email: nhkworld @ nhk.jp (Tom Kirvaitis, Los Angeles, CA, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. Auf der Homepage von Radio Japan habe ich folgende Zeilen der deutschen Redaktion gefunden: Liebe Hoerer und Hoererinnen von Radio Japan NHK World! Wir moechten Ihnen an dieser Stelle fuer Ihr langjaehriges Zuhoeren danken. Wie bereits angekuendigt, wird das deutsche Programm von Radio Japan nur noch bis zum 30. September dieses Jahres ausgestrahlt. Infolge des Fortschritts und der Diversifizierung in der Rundfunk- und Telekommunikationstechnologie ist die Zahl der Hoerer, die internationale Rundfunksendungen mit analogem Kurzwellenradio empfangen, in den letzten Jahren stetig zurueckgegangen. Entsprechend sind die weltweit fuehrenden Sender dazu uebergegangen, ihr Angebot an Kurzwellenprogrammen zu reduzieren. Nach einer Ueberpruefung des Programmangebots von Radio Japan hat sich auch NHK - obgleich mit grossem Bedauern - dazu entschlossen, vier Abteilungen zu schliessen, darunter auch die deutsche Abteilung. Einhergehend mit der Einstellung des deutschen Programms wird auch die deutsche Website geschlossen. Wir danken allen Zuhoerern des deutschen Programms nochmals fuer Ihre langjaehrige Treue und wuenschen Ihnen alles Gute fuer die Zukunft (via Jan Balzer-D, A-DX Sept 10 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** JAPAN [and non]. R. Nikkei, 6055, JOZ2, plays some classical and other good music, and is well worth listening to, despite being in Japanese --- except Wed Sept 19 at 1315, there was a discussion with a segment every so often in English! Perhaps it was just being translated into Japanese, but each segment was fairly long and not faded under as for voice-over. 1329 sign-off announcement with frequencies, callsigns, powers, 1330* Also listened Thu Sept 20 to some classical music but it was interrupted at 1244 for Japanese announcements and ID. The radio was already tuned to 6055, since we had been enjoying the music on La Bañera de Ulises from Spain until 0555 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. R. Kuwait 11990 at 1832 20 Sept in English. Moderate. Also mentioned in DXLD 7-110, dated 9 Sept. 73/Liz Shortwave Obsession: http://www.geocities.com/alera1/ Radioblonde Blog: http://radioblonde.blogspot.com/ (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. Forum on reception of Mighty KBC, Holland via 6255: http://www.k-po.com/radio/forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=5fac981f29d36133ed08c373b1215ddf Most of which are from one Robin Banneville, Guernsey, including his latest catch with a wet string (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Keeping track of when XEYU is active: Sept 19 at 1333, Spanish discussion about Mexican history, poor but readable on 9599.2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. Canada - tip re local IDs on VOCM network -- I noticed in last two days truly local IDs on 620 and 710 VOCM network stations. These take the form of promos for local daytime shows. At 2252 18/9 620 was carrying a promotion for the "VOCM 620 Homebrew Show" and at 2316 on 19/9 710 carried a promo with numerous references to "listen to 7-10 VOCM" Also a proportion of adverts are local to one transmitter and not network-wide. Hope this helps. 73s (Steve Whitt, England, Sept 20, MWC via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 6089.85, presumed R. Nigeria-Kaduna, 2126-2040, Sept 18, Vernacular. Hi-life music, announcement at 2130 followed by brief Kor`an chanting (call to prayer?) and OM until signal wiped out by 6090 DGS-Anguilla carrier. Poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. While bandscanning for IBOCh, Sept 16 at 0558, I noticed on 1020 kHz ``CBS Radio Networks, channel 45`` loop announcement with tones. Went right thru 0600 with no local ID break, and still going at 0611. From strength and direxion, this was obviously my semi-local KOKP Perry OK, an all-too-common example of AM stations running with no human oversight whatsoever. Automation mistuned to wrong satellite channel. Chances are good, especially late at night, that if you tune thru the entire MW band, you will hear the same loop running somewhere (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. THURSDAY MORNING 13TH SEPTEMBER --- The Brazilians are powerful again, but some U.S. stations are coming through. I get 1520 with a lot of references to Oklahoma and I am quite bucked, but frustratingly the only ID they keep giving is "AM 1520" and nothing else. Then 1520 is taken over by a more common station WWKB Buffalo, and later that is taken over by WLAC Nashville [sic: 1510], so my great Oklahoma catch vanishes into thin air before I can get a positive ID. Truly like the old proverb of the big fish "that got away"! (John Plimmer, Seefontein's DXpedition, RSA, September 11-14, 2007, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See DX-PEDITIONS for full report ** PAKISTAN. Re this part of Aslam Javaid's report, 7-113: ``It may further be noted that the time mentioned for Pushto Service in the External Service schedule of Radio Pakistan website is 0500-0545 GMT, which is incorrect. The correct time is 1500-1545 GMT. This might be a typo error (Aslam Javaid, 136/H Model Town Lahore, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Two 100 kW transmitters (API-1 and 2) at Rewat are no longer in use. Therefore at 1500-1545 UT there is no free transmitter to carry the Pushto external service. The current Frequency Schedule lists the remaining API-3 in Dari on 4835 at 1515-1545, API-4 has Current Affairs on 5080, API-5 & 6 (high power 250 kW) have World Service to the Gulf & ME until 1530 on 9380 & 11570 while API-8 has Rawalpindi III (Azad Kashmir) on 4790. The domestic 10 kW unit at Rawalpindi is not on air at 1500-1545, but it seems unlikely this would be used to reach Afghanistan, or even Peshawar 10 kW if that's still on air. The Pushto programme is listed at 0500-0545 on 6235 via API-3 on the PBC Frequency Schedule and also at the same time within the PBC programme booklet and web-site. Would Aslam Javaid be kind enough to monitor what he actually hears and let us know accordingly? And re new frequencies via DX Mix News, Bulgaria - there is no change to World Service at 0500-0700 UT which continues to use 11570 (and not 17835) // 15100. And re the two new 100 kW units at Karachi - does Aslam Jarvaid have any information about what they will be used for? Will they transmit the External or Internal services? 73 from (Noel R. Green (NW England), Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And here are the image coordinates of these sites: Lahore tx site coordinates hasn't be discovered yet in Google earth. Karachi Landhi site at 24 50 57.54 N 67 13 02.02 E http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=24.850828&lon=67.217418&z=17.2&r=0&src=yh http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=24.850828&lon=67.217418&z=17.3&r=0&src=ggl Peshawar 33 59 57.75 N 71 30 10.87 E http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=33.999375&lon=71.503019&z=18.6&r=0&src=ggl Quetta 1134 100 kW, 7155 10 kW 30 08 25.52 N 66 58 48.84 E Quetta Pishin 756 kHz 150 kW 30 29 23.71 N 66 56 48.51 E (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The recent information of Javaid from Lahore is very helpful. May you can ask him, in which suburb of Lahore the present MW site is located, or maybe he can find out the exact coordinates via Google Earth, Google Maps, Live search software or similar. Mauno and Yours Truly searched for the Lahore transmitter site many times on Google earth, but without success yet. Thanks, 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel) see also INDIA [and non]: jamming ** PERU. 3172.62, R Municipal, Panao returned, noted 1040-1100, Sep 10, Spanish talk mentioning Municipal and news items, noted most days since then, frequency varies to 3175v [?] on various days but cannot confirm this as R Municipal. It has been off for two weeks. Two other DXers noted similar (Robert Wilkner, FL, DSWCI DX Window Sept 19 via DXLD) 4790.15, R Visión, Chiclayo. They verified a postal report with an electronic reply in 10 days from Pastor Francisco Córdova Rodriguez. The reply also contained photos of the pastor preaching at the pulpit and a picture of the outside of the station. In his letter the pastor noted that he is 60 years old and that he and his wife, Carmen Tafur Palm, have 7 children. They operate R Visión on 1350 MW and 4790 on SW. The pastor mentioned that the station plans to increase power in approximately 15 days, which would be close to the end of September, and that he would like reports on the improved signal. They have Andean evangelical and musical programming. He provided the website for listening online http://www.visionradioperu.com (Rich D'Angelo, PA, Sep 12, DSWCI DX Window Sept 19 via DXLD) ** PERU. To my surprise, I noticed that Radio Libertad de Junín from the Peruvian Andes has a website, launched earlier this year. There's not much yet at http://www.rlibertadjunin.com/ but in theory you can listen to the station online. I wasn't able to make the internet feed work though, and other than that, there's just a couple of ads and links, not even contact information. Anyway, it was nice to see that they do have a website to develop. Coming across the website reminded me of my visit to Radio Libertad in 2000, which I wrote an article about, posted at http://www.dxing.info/articles/peru.dx - wonder if Mauro Chaccha Guere is still head of the station. This inspired me to check out a couple of other Peruvian stations, and I found that Radio Oriente from Yurimaguas is now webcasting at http://www.radiooriente.org/leer.php/10 - although again, it didn't work when I tried. I used to host and design the Radio Oriente website for a couple of years when they first wanted to have one, but I'm happy to see that they got a URL of their own, and with a much more sophisticated design than I ever could have done (Mika Mäkeläinen, McLean VA, Sept 19, dxing.info via DXLD) ** PERU. LOCAL RADIO FORCIBLY SHUT DOWN, ANOTHER HOUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23682 Sept 17 Reporters Without Borders today protested at the brutal closure of Radio Orión in Pisco, southwestern Peru, using a bogus administrative reason to mask an act of censorship after the government made serious accusations against its proprietor. It also condemned pressure and threats made the same week against the community radio Cutivalú in Piura, in the northwest of the country, for refusing to broadcast an advertisement for the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the content of which was contested by editorial staff. In both these cases, the justice system should remind the authorities involved of the need to respect freedom of the press, the organisation said. Some 100 police officers, accompanied by a magistrate, raided the premises of Radio Orión on 13 September 2007 and seized its entire broadcast equipment, claiming that the radio’s licence had expired four years ago. In fact, the local and national authorities were angry at criticism aired by Radio Orión about aid and compensation to victims of an earthquake which destroyed almost 80% of the city of Pisco on 15 August. The governor had accused the station’s owner Eloy Yong Meza, of having incited the earthquake survivors to revolt. He has appealed against the closure to the courts, but under the law it will remain closed until the case is settled. “The argument that the licence was not valid, which was used to justify the closure of Radio Orión is just an administrative subterfuge to mask an act of censorship,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “Assuming the station’s licence had expired in 2003, why was it allowed to broadcast for four years? If, as we believe, Radio Orión was sanctioned because of its editorial line, such reprisals are a serious violation of press freedom. We hope that the appeal lodged by the station will rapidly be decided in its favour.” “We also hope that agreement will be reached between the authorities and radio Cutivalú, which has a right to supervise advertising it broadcasts, even if it is official. The media is not there to be given orders”, said Reporters Without Borders. The Jesuit-run and founded radio in Piura, Cutivalú, recently refused to broadcast a message from the Ministry of Energy and Mines, in relation to exploitation of new deposits in the region. The radio disagreed with statements in the advertising in relation to a public consultation exercise, planned for 16 September. The editor of Cutivalú, Rodolfo Aquino, who has been bombarded by telephone and email threats, has asked for protection. Despite his offers of dialogue, the government has made it known it reserves the right to take legal proceedings against the station (Reporters Without Borders via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. Re: 17590, R Mustaqbal, via VT Communications at Dhabbaya, UAE (250 kW / 225 degrees), Mo/Tu/Sa 0620-0650 Somali to East Africa since Sep 03. (Ivanov via BC-DX Sep 11) Heard *0620-0647*, Mo Sep 17, Somali announcement and conversation, songs from Horn of Africa, ID in closing announcement 0647: ".. ... Mustaqbal." Ex 15455 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Sept 19 via DXLD) ** SOMALILAND. Radio Hargeisa cuenta con una nueva página web. Se desconoce si emite por onda corta. http://www.radiohargeysa.net/ (José Miguel Romero, Sept 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Hargeysa may not have a QSL, but it does have a JSL, illustrating its tower! http://www.radiohargeysa.net/photos/RH.jpg The latest Aoki, now at a new URL http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/bis07.txt SOM, 04403E, 0933N, V. of Somaliland: 7530 R. Hargeisa 0300-0600 1234567 Somali 5 ND Hargeysa 7530 R. Hargeisa 0900-1200 1234567 Somali 5 ND Hargeysa 7530 R. Hargeisa 1500-1900 1234567 Somali 5 ND Hargeysa 7530 R. Hargeisa 1900-1915 1234567 Arabic 5 ND Hargeysa 7530 R. Hargeisa 1915-1930 1234567 English 5 ND Hargeysa 7530 R. Hargeisa 1930-2000 1234567 Amharic/Somali 5 ND Hargeysa But this does not necessarily mean it is currently active. Is anyone hearing Hargei/ysa, despite collisions, with Pakistan, Israel, Ukraine? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 7445, Radio Taiwan International, Paochung, 1125-1200, Sept 20, English programming with radio-drama. ID at 1147. Closing announcements at 1157 with ID & schedule. Fair signal strength but poor, muffled audio (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 4905, PBS Lhasa, 1635-1705, Sep 14, the English programme ”Holy Tibet” started with ID ”This is China Tibet Broadcasting”. The talk mainly treated tourism in Tibet, and construction of railways. A few Tibetan folk songs could also be heard, 55444, // 4920 with excellent reception. They are heard regularly in Japan (Nobuya Kato, Fujisawa-city, Kanagawa, visiting Katsurashima, Miyagi, Japan, DSWCI DX Window Sept 19 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. VOT, 15450, Live from Turkey, Thu Sept 20 at 1250-1320, was propagating much better as we get into equinox. The two hosts were gabbing as usual, without any phone calls. They mentioned not having heard from former regulars Christopher Lewis and David Crystal, and also that they were getting so many calls that the phone lines were jammed and could not put them on the air. I assume they were joking. Someone allegedly called but did not want to reveal name or location; maybe on next week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE: NEW MUSICAL SOUND FROM MONDAY From Monday we're introducing a fresh musical sound to the BBC World Service. Including new programme music, new indents and other branding elements heard through the day, this new sound is designed to make our musical identity contemporary and easily recognisable. Like any radio station the BBC World Service is constantly adapting to the changing needs, and means of consumption, of listeners in the many markets we serve. More and meet the composer: http://er.bsysmail.com/go.asp?/.pages.070920.behindthescenes/bBBC001/uT4547/xW5D341 Preview of station sound (of course there will be a ringtone!): http://er.bsysmail.com/go.asp?/.pages.070920.sneakpreview/bBBC001/uT4547/xW5D341 (BBC WS email newsletter via Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DXLD) The new sound is scheduled to debut next week. The new BBC World Service sounders and themes sound to me more like something CBC Radio One uses. Interestingly, the term "BBC World Service" did not appear in any of them. This was contained in the BBCWS weekly promotional e- mail received today. See http://er.bsysmail.com/go.asp?/.pages.070920.sneakpreview/bBBC001/uEFXH4/xK2M341 Alas, no evidence of "Lillibullero..." (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) The new tones sound very ‘vanilla’ to me. Gone are the days when the distinctive Lillibulero could be recognized as ‘THE’ BBC WS identifier. I still smile when I hear the phrase ‘this is the BBC in…’ when it should really say ‘this is the BBC if you happen to have access to a computer and broadband internet access’ (Mr. Sandy Finlayson, ibid.) Yawn – bring back Big Ben, Lilliburlero (which I note even Brits have trouble spelling), and Imperial Echoes! The very term ``branding elements`` reveals a pervasive and disgusting commercial mentality infesting the Beeb. The demo page has a link to SW changes, which in turn leads to the remaining SW frequency schedules. The one for Caribbean, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/internet/800/radio_frequencies_caribbean.shtml STILL shows 9480 at 1100-1300, even tho this was changed months ago to 9465 to accommodate KAIJ! Geez, if they can`t even convey their own frequencies correctly, can we trust BBC for accurate news? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Amen, brother. Amen (John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) Well said, Glen[n], and apologies for my misspelling of Lilliburlero! (Mr. Sandy Finlayson, Philadelphia, PA, swprograms via DXLD) I went looking in four different places for the spelling. Two showed it as "Lillibullero", but there are a variety of spellings in play. Wikipedia was one of the sources that used "Lillibullero", also the BBC Northern Ireland website; yet the WS site uses "Lilliburlero". A Google search reveals that the tune has a storied history, with numerous lyrics being set to the music. Just for fun, I went listening to several MP3s of the "traditional" WS rendering of Lillibu_lero and the more recent version, and in both instances the songs seemed incomplete until I added the top-of-hour time pips at the end... "Lilli-whatever" has a martial, imperial history in its use on the WS, and I am sure the thinking is purposefully to soften the sound somewhat. I would imagine focus group testing on this type of change must be agonizing -- given the diversity of world cultures, how would one ever reach consensus on the appropriate "sound" for the BBC? I am not "right-brained" enough to be able to add value to that type of process, I'm afraid (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) I'm sure your analysis is correct Richard. It is another example of out with the old and in with the politically correct vanilla. My main point is that I don't think these new tunes will connect with people in the same way the old ones did (Sandy Finlayson, ibid.) Tough to say; the people they're seeking to connect with are not the same people they connected with in the 1940s, or even in the 1990s. There is a comfort level we subliminally appreciate when we hear repeated sounds; that's why KYW has sounded largely the same since the 1960s. Anytime any "sounders" are changed on any station, there's bound to be a big "dust-up" unless the station emphatically wants to sound different (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) Hmmm. I wonder how much money was squandered on this frivolity? I'm sure a lot of people listen to a station like the BBCWS because of its jingles. Forgive me, but whenever I hear "focus group" in a context like this, it sounds like something very close to that but with a difference which also lends the phrase a radically different meaning. (Use your imagination, but not too hard.) I will say this. At one time, the BBCWS really had a distinctive "sound" and style. The minute I tuned them in (and this was on receivers of old that didn't have the convenience of digital readout; you had to actually listen for the station) I knew it was the BBC without the benefit of jingles, IDs, signature tunes, etc. Over the past half decade or more, even when I tune in the BBCWS on a digital readout receiver, I have doubts about what I'm listening to and need to wait a while to confirm that it is the BBC. So much for their *branding* efforts over the recent past (at least as far as this particular "focus group" is concerned). Of course, on my Sirius and XM receivers, I know it's the BBC because the display tells me so (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) Not least, you could depend on the BBC speaking the Queen`s English. Now you are more likely to hear it on DW or RN or even VOA (at times). (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Well said, John. I think in its desire for relevance, the BBC has lost its way (Mr. Sandy Finlayson, Philadelphia, PA, ibid.) Or the BBC believes that its notion of "relevance" is different than our notion of "relevance" for it. Listening, during "Over to You", to the person responsible for redesigning the website last week - Kelly Shepard - she made it clear that the BBC believes its audience -- and how that audience "consumes" the BBC -- has changed dramatically in just four years' time -- the time the BBC last did a major overhaul of its web presence. So, the BBCWS that we were PO'd at in 2001 for exiting shortwave to North America is different from the BBCWS that exists today, as (it believes) audience needs have changed. I found it quite amusing, when I filled out the demographic profile for my participation in the website development effort, that they had a half-dozen age categories listed that I could select, but only *one* for "45 and up". By comparison, I suspect the, uh, demographic profile of the swprograms group is heavily skewed towards that "45 and up" slot (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) Well then, they should get it over with and just "re-brand" themselves for pop culture lovers with little more than a cursory interest in how the world works. There's only about a million or so stations in the world chasing that demographic. P.S.: Web site design is such a fluid thing that when and how it's done may have a purpose behind it; but it's usually inscrutable to the user anyway and hard to discern whether the result actually serves the intended purpose. P.S.S.: And stop telling us we're too freakin' old to matter. (John Figliozzi, ibid.) That reminds me of dear old Andrew Piper. On a visit to Bush House in the 1980's, he told me excitedly that the World Service was experimenting with "something new" and putting music under the voices in some of its trailers. He wanted me to listen and tell him what I thought. I hadn't got the heart to tell him that some stations had been doing that for decades :-) Actually there was a serious side to it, as if you don't get the levels right it can be a big problem on shortwave (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. BBG 2006 Annual Report has been published at: http://www.bbg.gov/reports/06anrprt.pdf It has many nice pictures, but nothing new for DXers... Best regards! (Dragan Lekic from Serbia, Sept 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Including on page 21, AeroMartí in flight, but no transmitting antennas visible. Don`t they have to hang a big TV antenna from it, and trail a longwire for MW? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. WBCQ advises us that from Sept 27, the Wednesday 2200 UT broadcast of WORLD OF RADIO on 7415 will be replaced by Thursday 2330 on 7415. This should improve propagation, being a sesquihour closer to darkness, but at 24+ hours later, will no longer be the first airing anywhere. The Wednesday 2300 on 18910-CLSB remains unchanged. We have been unable to hear any trace of this for months, just not propagating if really on the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. LYQ Beacon, 529 kHz, Manchester TN at WWRB: Glenn: Can you hear the 529 kHz LYQ beacon at your QTH?? (Dave Frantz, LYQ, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dave, Haven`t tried yet. Is it 24h? Surprised you got such a frequency as there are broadcast stations in Ontario, Cuba, Florida/airborne, Turks & Caicos on 530, as well as TIS stations all over on 530. (Glenn to Dave, via DXLD) Yes, The Beacon is on 24/7; soon as Runway & VASI lights are installed the Runway will get used day / night. I understand that Aviation has primary use over the band: NDB Beacons can operate to 535 kHz (Dave Frantz, ibid.) Looked for it around 0430 and 0530 UT Sept 20, both indoors and outdoors, but could not hear it besides broadcast station on 530 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: I can get (daytime) SOLID repeatable points on the aircraft`s RMI indicator out to 300 miles at 41,000 feet (line of sight at 41 K). Overlaying the GPS derived bearing to the Beacon coupled to RMI pointer #1 and the ADF coupled to RMI pointer #2 they match exact! Perfect for navigation no wandering good solid points! At night it's worth noting using the SAME aircraft 15 miles away from the beacon you can hear the ground wave and skywave 'dueling' warbling in and out as you get farther away from the Beacon you can hear the ground wave fade out (25 NM miles or so), then skywave! I was just down to Orlando the other night and on the Ramp I could hear LYQ loud and clear at KMCO airport. Regards! (Dave Frantz, LYQ, Sept 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Those of you with any interest in beacons might want to give a listen for a new beacon in Tennessee, LYQ-529. It's a tough one, being so close to Turks & Caicos on 530. I made good use of my new 6.4 Hz audio filter. I'm a lot closer to T&C than most of you and it really blasts in here on a nightly basis. I also get another SS station on 530 that's about 90 degrees away from T&C [CUBA], so it's virtually impossible to get them both nulled. The best I could do was shoot for an average minimum and wait for both stations to stop playing music for a bit. I was eventually able to get a clear copy on LYQ. Glenn made mention of this new beacon a short while back in DXLD. It was still awaiting FCC final approval so had not gone on the air at that time. They've been on the air for at least a few days now. I was not able to recover the USB signal. The LSB signal is at an offset of 1000 Hz, putting it right on 528. Give it a shot. You could be one of the first few to log this new station. I also picked up ZLS out of the Bahamas right in the same vicinity on the dial. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- YYYY-MM-DD UTC kHz Call LSB USB Cyc New Location ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2007-09-19 03:59 526 ZLS 1044 990 10.2 Stella Maris, Long Island, BAH 2007-09-19 03:38 529 LYQ 1000 Y Morrison, TN, USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (Jay Heyl, Orlando, FL, AR7030+/Quantum QX Pro/DSP-599zx/Ratzlaff 6.4Hz audio filter, Sept 19, ABDX via DXLD) Jay, I managed to nab LYQ-529 this morning at 0921 UT with several nice clear IDs at a minus 1006. I had to phase null RVC Turks and Caicos. I also use the Steve Ratzlaff audio filter and it really makes a difference. By the time I thought to get it on Spectran, it was down in the noise (Chris Cape Cod Black, Sept 20, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. CLASSICAL PROGRAMMING --- We're thrilled to announce that Iowa Public Radio has launched its second statewide service, the Classical Network, on September 10. From this date forward, KHKE-FM in Cedar Falls, WOI-FM in Ames/Des Moines and KSUI-FM in Iowa City will carry the same classical and cultural programming presented by the same on-air hosts. We're proud of our work creating a statewide public radio service that's greater than the sum of its already impressive parts, and we're grateful for your support and encouragement during our evolution. Give us a listen! Meet our new network of classical hosts http://iowapublicradio.org/people.php?group=Classical (from http://www.khke.org/ via DXLD) I was looking for a successor series to the Cedar Falls-Waterloo Symphony broadcasts, but going onward to http://iowapublicradio.org/programSchedules.php Slow loading; then why are there separate schedules as linked? -- View the new schedules! KSUI, KHKE WOI-FM KOWI, KTPR, KWOI On KSUI/KHKE we find that Symphonies of Iowa, no further details, airs third Thursdays at 8-10 pm, i.e. UT Friday following third Thursdays at 0100-0300. Well, Sept 20/21 is it, and we`re hearing lite jazz at this time on both stations! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN STATE / ITALY. On 27 Sep the Santa Maria di Galeria SW Centre of the Vatican R will celebrate its 50th anniversary (Luigi Cobisi, Firenze, Italy, Sep 17, DSWCI DX Window Sept 19 via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. The planned shift of timezone (back) to UTC -4.30h will be implemented on Sunday 23 September. Cf. http://www.eltiempo.com.ve/noticias/default.asp?id=124820 (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, September 20, dxldyg via DXLD) Correcting 7-113, which said 24 September --- unless they change their mind again in the meantime (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Saludos cordiales queridos colegas diexistas. Espero se encuentren muy bien. Leyendo el diario Meriadiano de Venezuela, me encuentro con esta información relacionada con Radio Rumbos: SIXTO MARTINEZ --- le ha devuelto a Noti-Rumbos aquel sabor emocionante y de variada información que lo convirtió en el informativo estelar en Latinoamérica. Acompaña Martínez, hombre de radio y apreciado amigo a Alexander Freites Segovia, quien como director de Radio Rumbos tiene el timón de la emisora en sus manos. Les deseamos mucho éxito al reemprender el camino de este histórico medio radiofónico. ¡Ah! Y Freites Pulido, la voz que hizo famoso al más famoso de los informativos radiofónicos ha regresado a Rumbos después de 29 años. RADIO RUMBOS 670 AM (Caracas) quiere volver a sus "años de gloria". Hay cambios en todo: Propietarios, locutores, periodistas, y parece que también sede y equipos técnicos. "Notirumbos" ha vuelto con sus tres emisiones diarias, y el slogan "el periódico impreso en la radio". La primera información aparece en la columna SIN PARALELO, escrita por el periodista Victor José López "El Vito". La segunda información aparece en DIALOGANDO, escrita por el periodista Nelson Padilla. Nota: Es agradable oir a Radio Rumbos informando sobre todo y no escucharla como estaba antes: ARRODILLADA [on its knees] Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, Sept 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [and non]. LEGISLATION WOULD COMBAT VIETNAMESE JAMMING House passes Vietnam Human Rights Act of 2007, 414-3. It includes "over $10 million to help stop the Vietnamese Government’s jamming of Radio Free Asia." http://chrissmith.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=74152 Rep. Chris Smith press release, 18 September 2007 (via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) VOA Vietnamese appears not to be jammed. It also broadcasts news about Vietnam, but proportionately less than RFA. Posted: 19 Sep 2007 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) I fail to see how $10 million can ``help stop jamming`` --- unless this implies: 1, Paying off the Vietnamese government to stop it (has this ever been tried anywhere?) 2, Military axion against the jamming facilities (equally unlikely) $10 million might be applied to combat jamming by stepping up transmission hours, frequencies and/or powers, but this would hardly `stop` it. Smith does not understand? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 4880, SW Radio Africa, Meyerton, 1839-1858*, Sep 14, talk programme in English related to Mugabe regime of Zimbabwe, 1853 a popular song, 1858 a brief closing ann, 32442-35443. QRM by music jammer during the talk, but strange to say, it suddenly ended just when the talk with criticism ended (Nobuya Kato, Fujisawa-city, Kanagawa, visiting Katsurashima, Miyagi, Japan, DSWCI DX Window Sept 19 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re: 12055. 1327, 9/15/07. Russian speaking station. Possible ID at 1331, but not able to make it out clearly. Listened until 1340 with no ID at BoH. Nothing in lists I consult showed Russian on at that time. Thanks to Jim Ronda with this log. Anyone have ideas? (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, R75, Satellit 800; 110' longwire, Eavesdropper, Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Well, Vatican is scheduled in Vietnamese 1315-1400 on 12055 via Novosibirsk per WRTH update; via Chita per Aoki; maybe a feed mixup or S-07 change not yet known (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Hi Glenn, yes, VR Vietnamese 1315-1400 on 12055 kHz should have been marked to be until September and is now on 6140 kHz. VoR Russian now on 12055 kHz. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 18960, weak 1 kHz tone test fading in and out, Sept 19 at 1335; what could it be? The only known broadcasters on this band are 18910, 18930, 18980, 19010. 18 MHz band is also subject to second harmonix from 9 MHz, but in this case I doubt it came from 9480 [not 9980 as I said in original post] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks for financial support from Gerald T. Pollard, NC, on the occasion of the autumnal equinox (gh) Glenn, I read with interest the series of comments about the High Def Television in the recent DXLD. I just purchased a HD TV about three weeks ago. I didn't know how to program the channels until just Monday, so I missed a lot of football using Analog which was broadcast in HD. Anyway, I'm really enjoying the reception that I am getting; where the Analog Channels are sometimes accompanied with a HD channel broadcasting parallel (so to speak). For example, a lot of the analog channels out of Miami are barely readable some evenings, but if I tune in the HD channel, they are as clear and perfect as a "bell". The HD channels are in or out, there's no in between. But that's okay. The only way I knew of tuning in the HD channels was by running a Channel Search which automatically tunes in and stores all the analog and HD channels that the TV sees. However, I wasn't sure how to find and store an HD channel until I read the description of that small RCA HD TV in DXLD. The author said to punch in the channel followed by a number i.e. 12.1 with a period separator. Unfortunately my remote does not have a period button so I was unable to try it out. But it did have a dash - button so when I punched in 12-1 I got my HD channels setup. Fabulous! (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ J. PLIMMER : SEEFONTEIN5 DXPEDITION LOGS FROM SOUTH AFRICA Qui trovate le foto del recente Dx Camp organizzato in South Africa. Seefontein5 DXpedition held in South Africa. Report at: http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/seefontein_2007_09.dx - From my catch of a lifetime on this DXpedition, audio clip of CFUN Vancouver, Canada at: http://www.capedx.blogspot.com/ John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods Drake SW8 & ERGO software Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100 BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A. GE circa 50's radiogram Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270 Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Wow, how does he do it? CFUN heard in e.g. nearby Florida would be a monumental achievement (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ILG-TYPE DATABASE BACK UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT To all users of the ILG Frequency Database: TAKEN FROM: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.radio.shortwave/browse_thread/thread/f75b148f40e79114/399bb2bc403a98b3#399bb2bc403a98b3 As all of you know, A full-featured radio control program allows for scanning and a host of other functions and, in particular, integration of shortwave databases in real-time, like a "TV-Guide" type capability. This is particularly helpful in locating all transmissions on all frequencies of a particular broadcaster, at any given time. The most widely used free shortwave database was provided by a German company at ILGRadio. As of late 2006 they suspended the public broadcast database project and it is uncertain if they are going to resume it. Since I and several friends of mine are Racal 6790/GM users, we have used the ILG Database for some time to help control our receivers. With the ILG project now closed to the public, we figured it was time to re-establish a public database that uses the same format as the ILG database. Myself and others jumped into the project and have created a web accessible ILG compatible database and have made it available to the public for free. We have also made a few interesting updates. First of all, if one signs up for the automatic distribution (again free), you have now the ability to make entries on your own findings for others to share. Also you have voting rights on the frequencies logged in the database. That means, it takes five votes to remove a listing from the logging database. This is a user created and user controlled ILG type database. You control it, you make it grow and keep it updated, and you get to use it for free for doing so. The members then can remove bogus or invalid listings by voting on the listing. The database is also made available to the public even if you do not sign up; however, you will not have voting or entry rights and most importantly you will not be able to receive the automated distribution. Yes, that`s right, through a special arrangement between us and Docuchannel.net we have provided a free automated distribution of the database as it is updated and is then sent directly to your PC for your software to read and use. To get more information or to sign up go to our website http://www.ioc.com and select the Ham database. From there you can see the database or you can sign up. When you sign up, you will also automatically be given an account on DocuChannel. net and your user login information will be emailed to you. NO CHARGES and nothing to purchase. Then all you need do is sign in to Docuchannel.net and run the receiver software. Nothing to install, nothing to purchase, just enjoy the new discoveries as others log them. I hope you will use the system that we developed and that you find it useful as we have. Good listening!! (Steve Brant K8VII, Owner ioc.com sbrant@ioc.com (via Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Sept 19, dxldyg via DXLD) I guess we should welcome this, but why is it called Ham Radio, when it deals with SWBC stations?? How current is the info? The third entry (and the fourth) are XEJN, R. Huayacocotla on 2390, which as any active DXer would know, has been off SW for several years. And there are some inactive Brazilians shown on 120 m. Spot checking higher up: 17875, no listing for TDF DRM from GUF at 13v-20v, which you could hardly miss if you turned on a radio. Nor is Libya shown on 17870 for English at 14-16, just French (as R. Tripoli --- do they ever call themselves that?) at 16. I am afraid I could find much other missing and outdated info like this if I wanted to spend the time. A list such as this should at the very least be updated with HFCC A-07 info, but I am afraid it is not, and thus must be approached with considerable suspicion. If it is just based on the last available ILG database, for A-06, that is outdating fast. We can only hope users will get busy and ``vote out`` the chaff. But is democracy the way to go with a database like this? When I checked, 2325 ABC-NT had one delete vote tallied, even tho it should not be deleted; while there is no listing at all for 2310 ABC-NT! Frequencies are displayed to two decimal places, but this is very misleading. I checked 4790 and found two Peruvians allegedly on 4790.00, R. Visión, which everybody has been reporting lately from 4790.1 to 4790.2, and R. Atlántida which we know is still inactive. Radio Verdad, Guatemala is shown on 4052.00, even tho its nominal, which varies only slightly, is 4052.50, so despite the two decimal places, it seems they are not used even when nominal listings call for them! 3350, Radio Exterior de España --- since countries are not shown in the main list(!) you would think this was Spain. Only by clicking on details do you see Costa Rica mentioned, but the entries are in the wrong fields. Alajuela is mentioned, which has nothing to do with this station, but instead the old TIAWR studio location. I see that Huayacocotla has status: C, whatever that means, but it`s the same as 2325 Australia. Yet there is no entry for XEYU on 9600 (or 9599! Or 9599.20. Or 9599.30) at all, despite its having been heard and reported, on and off for some six months. A detail for 15476 LRA36 is that its azimuth is 180 degrees. Really? So they are aiming at the South Pole, instead of back toward Buenos Aires and the rest of the world? No wonder it`s so hard to hear. I could amuse myself endlessly picking out all the obvious mistaxe in this thing, but must restrain myself from wasting any more time on it; GIGO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FINALLY AN ALTERNATIVE TO DX TUNERS! Many of us would have made use of Kelly Lindman's DXTuners until it's close down of March this year. Since then the only alternatives were a few web controlled receivers here and there. Now there is a new free to use site for the remote control of receivers worldwide, it's called RemoteHams and can be found at, http://www.remotehams.com/ There are currently 15 radios available worldwide including, Europe, North America Africa and Australia. You can even share you own computer controlled radio if you want! More info and supprt about sharing your radio can be found at http://www.remotehams.com/index.php Hope you all find this site as useful as I have so far (Dave Martin, UK, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) THE SECRET LIFE OF THE RADIO Whilst searching on YouTube I came across The Secret Life of the Radio episode from the Channel 4 series The Secret Life of Machines which I fondly remember watching: http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=secret+life+of+radio&search=Search Googling further I find you can stream or download all episodes of the series at this site: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/SLOM/ (Mike Barraclough, Sept 15, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) STATE OF RDS IN ATLANTA All the FMs in Atlanta run RDS. But one has decided to carry advertisements on it. WZGC is carrying an ad for Brandsmart on their RDS display. I thought "Oh goodie, Brandsmart has RDS radios in stock. I'll check them out." Nobody else in town has any RDS radios in stock. When I arrived at Brandsmart I was not only surprised that they had none in stock but shocked that the salesmen knew nothing about RDS. So the moral of the story is that if you want to see Brandsmart's ad on the RDS of WZGC, you'll have to buy your RDS radio elsewhere. I use a Cadet PC radio card in my computer to as an RDS FM tuner. I got it off Ebay for $19.95 (Lou Johnson, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AM AUDIO ON TV CH 24? I was trying out my new used Icom PCR-100 this morning on ch 24. I picked up WNWO out of Toledo off of a rear side lobe and the audio was 75% AM. I had to switch from FM to AM to understand the voices. Can FM be twisted into AM through the airwaves? I really like the Icom. It picks up the audio for stations when a strong DTV signal is present. (Mike Glass, Indianapolis, WTFDA via DXLD) No, but it can be twisted into AM in your receiver. FM comes in different "deviations". Of course, "FM" stands for "Frequency Modulation" - the frequency of the transmitted signal is varied in step with the audio you want to transmit. For *Amplitude* modulation (AM), there is an optimum *amount* of modulation. You want to vary the *strength* of the signal enough that you just cut the signal all the way to zero (and amplify it to double) on the very loudest sounds you want to transmit. It's physically impossible to go any further; modulate it any less, and your audio won't override the noise as well as it could. But there is no corresponding optimum value for FM. Optimum depends on a number of factors that in turn depend on the purpose of the signal. Different radio services choose different amounts of modulation, different "deviations". On the one hand, greater deviations result in better man-made noise immunity, and accurate tuning of receivers is less important. On the other hand, greater deviations don't provide as much coverage for the transmitter power, and they occupy more spectrum (so you can fit fewer stations into a given space). Two-way radio services like police and hams generally use something on the order of 3 kHz. Analog TV sound uses 25 kHz; FM broadcast radio is 75 kHz. Analog satellite TV signals use figures on the order of several thousand kHz (several MHz). The "FM" mode on your PCR100 is probably designed for two-way radio services; it's expecting 3 kHz deviation. If you try to tune in a 25 kHz signal like TV sound, it is probably going to be deviating WAY outside the passband of the Icom receiver. If the sound being transmitted by the station is anything but really quiet, it will get "smashed" by the filters. Severe distortion will result (try tuning an FM broadcast station. It will get much worse!). According to http://www.strongsignals.net/access/content/rr_ic-pcr100.html your PCR-100 also has a "WFM" mode which is specifically designed to receive wider-deviation broadcast signals. You might try that. Why AM mode works: Again, with a FM signal, the *frequency* of the transmitter is varied, not its *amplitude*. So in theory, if you tune in an FM signal on an AM receiver, you should hear *nothing*. But only if you tune the AM receiver to the center of the signal. The filters, which reject unwanted signals on adjacent frequencies, are not perfect. It's not like a signal on 71.76000 MHz gets through without attenuation but one on 71.76002 MHz is completely and totally rejected. Rather, the off-frequency signal is reduced in amplitude. And the further off-frequency it is, the more it's reduced in amplitude. As you might guess, this characteristic might be useful in receiving FM signals! If you *intentionally* mistune the signal a bit, as the frequency varies, the degree to which the signal is attenuated by the receiver's filters will vary. That signal, with its *amplitude* varied by the filters, can then be passed to an *AM* receiver - which will detect the amplitude variations, and pass a (hopefully) intelligible signal to the listener. It's called "slope detection". That's probably more than you wanted to know (grin). (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) Thanks, Doug. I was hoping you would respond. I apologize for using "twisted" to describe a signal characteristic. I do have a very general understanding of electronics (general class license since 1976) and appreciate the details so as to learn more about this stuff. I do understand about the different filters on the Icom which include wide filters for FM broadcasting. However, the Icom was set on wideFM and I tried all the filters up to 230 kHz? I have tuned in other weak TV signals just fine. Anyway, I don't want to belabor the point. I am glad to learn more about the various FM deviations (Mike, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ GAO: NO ONE IN CHARGE OF DTV TRANSITION (Multichannel News) _ Washington -- Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin rejected charges made Wednesday on Capitol Hill that his agency and the Bush administration have failed to take command of the national conversion to all-digital TV broadcasting in early 2009. "There is no confusion at the [FCC]. We are committed to putting polices in place to ensure a smooth transition," Martin said through a spokeswoman. "Last week, the [FCC] unanimously adopted rules to ensure that analog cable subscribers can still view broadcast stations after the transition." The DTV transition will have a direct impact on an estimated 20 million broadcast-only homes with analog TV sets incompatible with digital signals, and with millions of analog TVs in cable and satellite TV homes not connected to either pay-TV service. . . http://animators.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=185615 (via Ken Kopp, DXLD) DTV Consumer Notice I see that DXLD has now had some DTV-discussion content, so this isn't too off-topic. I just noticed this week a bit of fine print in a local (Saint Louis, MO) store ad for TVs -- this is the first time that I saw it (but maybe others have seen this in other ads before). It's in a "Value City" ad (a chain that sells all sorts of discount merchandise and reconditioned electronics) and this note is referenced by each of the ordinary TVs shown in their weekly flyer: CONSUMER ALERT This television receiver has only an analog broadcast tuner and will require a converter box after February 17, 2009, to receive over-the- air broadcasts with an antenna because of the Nation's transition to digital broadcasting. Analog-only TVs should continue to work as before with cable and satellite TV services, gaming consoles, VCRs, DVD players, and similar products. For more information, call the Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (TTY: 1-888-835- 5322) or visit the Commission's digital television website at http://www.dtv.gov ******** I am guessing that this exact wording is mandated by some statute or regulation and we'll begin seeing it on all the US electronics- retailers' advertising. Has anyone seen a "converter box" for actual retail sale yet? 73, (Will Martin, MO, Sept 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was just shopping for a plain old VCR, and that notice looks just like those seen on TVs and VCRs now at Kmart, Walmart, RadioShack, etc. I want a plain old VCR (or several) because I have lots of VHS tapes I need to be able to play in the Digital Age. I only wish I had stocked up (and kept in box until really needed) on my favorite multi-featured VCR of a few years ago. Now you are lucky to find one which even has a tuner in it! Beware of ``line in`` (or even ``in-line`` recording on the box, as if that were a selling point). And you WILL buy a DVD player along with it (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Well shucks. I was hoping the whole DTV conversion date would go unmentioned to the masses. I was soooo looking forward to congress getting their phone system melted down the next morning. ;-) 73, de (Nate >> -- Wireless | Amateur Radio Station N0NB, ibid.) IBOCh MONITORING AT NIGHT The MW lists have been full of IBOCh reports, channels now suffering this self-destructive interference. I have not been tracking it in detail, but here`s what I found in a MW bandscan Sept 16 around 0600: 1210 & 1190 especially bad (from WOAI); 1130 thru 1100 from KMOX and KFAB; 1050 & 1030 from WHO; 900 & 880 from WLS; 770 & 750 from WJR; 730 & 710 & 690, from WGN & WLW (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) THE LAST STRAW This is the last straw. WBAL is getting clobbered by IBOC hiss from WTAM 1100 no matter which way I position my antennas or adjust my phaser. They are getting clobbered on my portables as well. I am well within WBAL's NIF contour, so this is not even close to a fringe reception. The reception of WBAL with the IBOC hiss is at 9/19 at 2300 [EDT = 0300 UT Sept 20]. It should be noted that turning the radio to get rid of interference is not a possibility because WTAM loops in roughly the same direction as WBAL from here. Enough said. [Later:] In all fairness I have to report that WBAL seems to be faring a bit better now (9/20 0420) There is not as much hiss when I have WBAL with the strongest; it is just barely detectable now. I am sure that this has to do with the signal strength of the offending station. Or are the stations playing games and something was out of adjustment? (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, Sept 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I trust you're going to let the good folks at WBAL know about this??? (Jim Pogue KH2AR/WPE9HLJ/KG6DX1A, Memphis, Tennessee USA, ibid.) Indeed, I sent off an email to them already (Bill Harms, ibid.) Furthermore, it should be pointed out that most AM radio listening is supposedly in cars, which have (more or less) non-direxional antennas so nulling out the IBOC is not an option there. Altho I`ve heard that cars no longer using vertical whip antennas (is that all of them now?) are inadverently direxional, tough (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Help the non-engineer here: wouldn't all car antennas be directional? Mine is directional on FM, a bit on MW and it's a vertical whip. My magnetic vertical whip CB antenna isn't directional. Wouldn't this be because the latter isn't wired somehow thru' the car? I may be hearing things but Bill said it right --- last straw (Liz/Cameron, MI, ibid.) Aside from GM's experiment with in glass antennas in the '70s and early '80s, the automotive world has gone back to fender mounted whip antennas. As Liz points out, there is some (unintentional I'm sure) directivity on FM, but the various vehicles I've been in over the years seemed quite omni-directional on AM. Last night I monitored 1100 WTAM for a while and noted some instance of IBOC presumably from 1110 KFAB which is within 150 miles of my QTH. I'm just far enough from KFAB that I can experience deep fades and distortion during the night time hours. I'm not sure what IBOC would do to fix or improve that. 73, de (Nate -- Wireless | Amateur Radio Station N0NB Bargmann, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was on the lookout for IBOC hiss tonight. There are a three local IBOC channels at night. IBOC on WJR blocks out adjacent WSM and WOR [you must mean WSB and WABC – gh]. WFDF 910 blocks out whatever floats in on 900 and 920, which also happens in the daytime. WWJ 950 is the third station. WXYT 1270 sometimes has IBOC on during the day, sometimes not, so my guess is that they might be on/off at night, too. I also heard a hiss on 1030 equal with WBZ, so I assume this originates with KDKA. KMOX is producing has an annoyingly loud hiss. I don't see the point of buying a new radio so I can hear Radio Disney in digital (Liz Cameron, MI, Sept 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Observations 21 September UT at 0030 are the same as for 20 September except 560 WRDT cranked up the hiss, obliterating Buffalo on 550 and Youngstown on 570. Also, KMOX obliterating 1130 WDFN, unlike last night. Hiss hear on 1020, 1030, and 1040. WBZ hiss over 1020 and 1040, but I assume KDKA is responsible for the noise on 1030, altho' I'm only hearing presumed CFRB on 1010. Great: who need OJ news in analog, much less digital? 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, Sept 20, ibid.) Living 20 miles South of WTIC 1080, its simply a bug-squash. 1070 CBA and WBAL 1090 are censored for many minutes to a sesquihour. The whole area of 1070 to 1120 is blown away by the noise tornado. Local station 1120 WPRX at 500W 20 miles NW in Bristol is almost completely gone. If this keeps up, we'll have to divvy up the AM-BCB: 530-850 Analog 860-1450 Digital, and 1460 to 1790 Analog (not a typo, we'll need the extra deci-megahertz) just to offer relief. I hope the Mexicans stick it to the FCC and the iBOC group, it looks like Canada would rather fade into the FM sunset (Paul Shaffer, Cheshire, CT, Grundig G5/Tecsun PL-200/R.S. Extended Range/1-transistor homebru, Sept 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note: there has been a GREAT deal of reporting and discussion of this on the MW lists, so overwhelming in quantity that I may not get caught up with it in DXLD, publishing mainly direct contributions (gh, DXLD) DRM VIDEOS Starwaves DRM Truckbox on the road, 4 minutes 44 video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuWAdaSKReY More here with embedded video, photographs, text in German, mp3 file: http://knallfunke.de/drm/empfaenger/truckbox/index.htm GERMANY Funkerberg Königs Wusterhausen - Wiege des Rundfunks in Deutschland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMpVRWoru_0 (via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) DRM: see also AUSTRALIA; PUBLICATIONS POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIRECTV TO OFFER BPL INTERNET SERVICES, BEGINNING IN DFW Link available to Wall Street Journal subscribers: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118714676340798244.html?mod=sphere_ts The outfit developing the BPL networks - Current Group LLC - is also building out a BPL network in Cincinnati. DirecTV says the service will be "competitive" with other providers, but I wonder if that will be good enough. Here's the press release itself: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=127160&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1040569&highlight= or http://snipurl.com/1qy4e Odd note --- this PR was issued August 15th. Wonder why the WSJ waited so long to publish it?) (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Sept 20, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Is not Direct TV at least partly owned by Murdoch's News Corp? Is not Murdoch about to buy the WSJ? Maybe the WSJ had to get clearance from Mr. M who has vowed not to interfere with editorial matters. The plot thickens (Joe Buch, DE, ibid.) Just some idle observations from a skeptic: There's a lot of money being made available by local and state governments to just about anyone who puts together an even half-as*ed proposal that *promises* to provide broadband to the masses. (This despite the fact that upwards of 90% of the masses have it available to them in one or more forms already.) This has served to bring *investment* money into the picture which further encourages doomed ventures like these. On top of that, we have power companies claiming to clueless regulators that they *need* BPL so they can implement remote metering (failing to mention that technologies already in place can accomplish this at far lower expense). Then we have another aspect of the regulatory community that never met a potential competitor it didn't like. (i.e.: Got to be seen doing everything they can to promote competition... Not supporting even bogus proposals may look to the ideologues like unfriendliness to the marketplace.) Too bad the technology has proven to be an out and out failure in every place it's been tried thus far; not to mention all the business plans. What's that Murphy's Law corollary? Ah yes! "Every man has a plan that will not work." Oh, and didn't Ben Franklin say, "A fool and his money are soon parted." (Trouble is, a lot of that money is yours and mine.) (John Figliozzi, NY, swprograms via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ RECORDINGS OF PROPAGATIONAL INTEREST Hi everyone. I've just had this year's MWDX uploaded to Chris Mackerell's website for you to hear. This includes the often confusing XEJCC 1520 (which took some detective to work out who it was). The site also includes all of my other DX going right back to1993. All files are in mp3 format. Enjoy! - Just click on the 2007 directory for this year's stuff. http://www.owdjim.gen.nz/chris/radio/DXSoundBites/amcd2004/andromeda.php For all you Meteor Scatter FM enthusiasts, my Leonid Highlights from 1998 - 2006 can be heard at: (note some of these files are large at 320k bitrate) http://www.owdjim.gen.nz/chris/radio/DXSoundBites/leonids/andromeda.php Feedback is always welcome at "dxer2_2000 at hotmail dot com" (Geoff Wolfe - Bombala NSW Australia - Kenwood R-5000 - 300m Beverage - various FM tuners - Icom R-7100 - 12 element FM yagi, Sept 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 160 METER PROPAGATION NOTES As some of you may know, there is a major league ham radio expedition underway from St. Brandon island, northeast of Mauritius (some atlases show these islands as Cargados Carajos) in the Indian Ocean. Their web site http://www.3b7c.com today shows the following notes (the web site operators in England get reports back by satphone): "160 meters SSB at the start of each hour worked reasonably well (freq is 1821 kHz) until Sept 17/2300z. At this point signals on CW became so weak, relative to QRN, that SSB ops were impractical. Many stations in Europe (and later, North America) were audible calling, but not strong enough for a long enough time to make a [contact]. Every 5 - 10 minutes a few stations would get 15 to 30 seconds of signal enhancement, just enough to get a call[sign] and exchange reports. But many times we would hear a call, or part of a call, and not hear any further response. A few stations experienced signal enhancements several times but were unable to copy us well enough to complete the [contact] despite multiple calls". On 80 meters they are finding an opening to WCNA in the 1700-1900z period with different propagation paths noted when comparing the 3500 kc CW range to the 3800 SSB range. The 160 meter SSB signal was heard in Zone 3 around 1800Z. Click "latest news" on the website home page. These 160m CX sound just like what we have on MW with signals bubbling atop and then fading back out, but that is just on one hop. So the fade mechanism for these multi-hop paths seems basically similar. Interesting (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, Sept 19, IRCA et al., via DXLD) LF/MF/HF PROPAGATION OUTLOOK Just a general FYI. On September 28, 2007 I'm going to begin publishing the "Daily LF/MF/HF Frequency Radiowave Propagation Forecast" via paid subscription. The website link is at http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf6.htm 73 (Best Wishes), (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Retired Space Plasma Physicist, Lakeland, FL, USA, kn4lf @ arrl.net KN4LF Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive: http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm Sept 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ PHILLIP ADAMS, ATHEIST BY DEFAULT Caught an excellent interview with the host of Late Night Live --- this time he was the interviewee, on RA during the 1300 UT hour Sept 16: finally found the webpage for this, with audio on demand: http://www.abc.net.au/sundaynights/stories/s2034218.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###