DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-118, September 29, 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 1375 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 Wed 2300 WBCQ 18910-CLSB or 17495-CLSB 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 ** ANTARCTICA. Re ILG : LRA36 azimuth: I asked Gabriel Iván Barrera about this. He doesn't know the azimuth, but says that the shortwave transmission is intended for Argentina and the rest of the world; because of this the name of the program is "De Esperanza al Mundo" and the IDs end with "para todo el mundo". There are no more than 20 radio receivers at the Esperanza base and the audience at the other Argentine Antarctic bases is also very limited. The international program is carried // FM, but the FM is on the air 24h. Consists of special programs Mon-Fri between 1330-1500 and 1800-2300 and non-stop music at other times. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: main lobe "Power listed as 10 kW feeding a 3-plane Rhombic antenna." "rhombica des tres elementos" but no main lobe of the rhombic antenna given. (wb) Antena Rómbica de tres planos linea abierta on http://xoomer.alice.it/dtambuc/Hobby/Radioascolto/lra36.html "...que transmiten con una antena rómbica de tres planos linea abierta y con una potencia de 10 Kw." See also http://www.oni.escuelas.edu.ar/olimpi98/Base-Antartica-Esperanza/actividades.htm http://www.nuevaalejandria.com/antartida/plano.gif http://www.ejercito.mil.ar/antartico/B_Esp_superior2.htm http://www.ejercito.mil.ar/antartico/albumes2.html http://www.ejercito.mil.ar/antartico/fotos/BaseEsperanza/index.htm and some vertical communication masts of local FM Esperanza: http://www.ejercito.mil.ar/antartico/fotos/BaseEsperanza/pages/Vista%20base4_JPG.htm http://www.ejercito.mil.ar/antartico/fotos/BaseEsperanza/pages/Vista%20base5_JPG.htm but no real easy rhombic antenna seen. http://www.ejercito.mil.ar/antartico/B_Esp_superior2.htm I guess wide main lobe of the rhombic is ARG, VEN, CUB and Washington USA, or more westerly PRU, INS ?? But some rhombic type can easily used in both directions? 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) One of their recent outages was allegedly caused by wind damage to the antenna, so the present antenna may not be the same one they had before (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar, 1525 23 August [correct] with a program in Hindi but OM mentioned Mena and Bangla. Headline news in English after ID “this is Bangladesh Betar “ , mentioning elections, analytical at 1532, and university quality. A commentary at 1540 (a delegation about destabilizing the country ). Résumé of weekly news and mention of Ramadan. About education institution. 34333 (Zacharias Liangas, visiting Fourka, Greece, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. TWR Africa videos. http://www.twrafrica.org/streaming/index.asp?video=projectbenin The first time I can see a new DX target before I can hear it ;-) (Harald Kuhl, Germany, DXplorer Sept 22 via BC-DX Sept 30 via DXLD) TWR Benin MW 1566 to be expected in Nov 2007 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030.01, Radio Burkina, *0559-0610, Sept 29, Sign on with National Anthem. Opening French announcements at 0601. French talk with brief music breaks. Afro-pop music. Good. Costa Rica 5030 not on the air. Also heard 18 hours later at 2400 signing off with National Anthem (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. DVB, 9490 via Wertachtal at 0010-0025 29 Sept in Burmese and possibly another language after 0015. Strong and clear signal. I have an old (over five years) language sked from Cumbre that says there is a 15-minute Kachin broadcast every Saturday. At 0015 I heard either a different language or a non-native Burmese speaker speaking Burmese-my guess is the first. Can anyone verify these languages? Their website says nothing. You can theoretically view the site in several non-Burmese languages but I got 404 messages for all of them. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DVB But here, TFK: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/?p=8842 Audio "bit" in fact means the PID (program identifier). This is a WRN channel, called "WRN Multilingual for Asia Pacific". So far the only thing it carried was a "daily Hungarian programme" from 1000 to 1100, unspecified but presumably from Magyar Radio (same hour-long Hungarian program they still transmit on shortwave), thus also the break for DVB during this hour (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Latest media news about Burma. "Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have doubled their broadcasts to Myanmar in response to the military- run government's crackdown on protesters." AP, 27 September 2007. For expanded VOA Burmese schedule, see VOA press release, 26 September 2007. No schedule of expanded RFA Burmese at the RFA website. "American broadcasters must step lively here. ... Lessons from Hungary and Poland remind us that it is one thing to keep the public informed, it’s quite another to give them false confidence that the United States is willing to take any further action." LeftEnd, MountainRunner blog, 28 September 2007. "Lines formed at stores in Yangon ... for shortwave radios, with people eager to tune into BBC, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America." AP, 29 September 2007. "The official English- language television station, MRTV-3, reported that people were being intimidated into joining the demonstrations. Screen captions ran scrolling messages saying: 'We favour stability. We favour peace. We oppose unrest and violence.' Another screen caption, also read by an announcer, said the BBC and the Voice of America were broadcasting 'a sky-full of lies'. Another said: 'Beware of destructionists, BBC and VOA.'" BBC News, 28 September 2007. Podcast interview with head of BBC Burmese. The Guardian organgrinder, 28 September 2007. "Pro-democracy dissidents are having their say and we've broadcast the comments of world leaders telling the military junta to stop its attacks. Let us know what you think of the push for democracy as people in Myanmar/Burma confront the military dictators. We'll publish your comments here on our Internet page. Please include your phone number too so we can call you back to record your comments as we prepare a special 'Shout via Short Wave' programme." Radio Netherlands, 28 September 2007. "Hundreds of people have been smuggling out pictures and eyewitness reports of the protests in Myanmar this week." Radio Netherlands, 28 September 2007. "A dedicated YouTube playlist with a collection of video material from the recent government attacks on monks in Myanmar now is available here on EUX.TV." EUX.TV, 28 September 2007. "The Burmese junta was last night desperately trying to shut down internet and telephone links to the outside world after a stream of blogs and mobile phone videos began capturing the dramatic events on the streets." The Guardian, 27 September 2007. Internet service providers "BaganNet and Myanmar Post and Telecom were shut down Friday, although big companies and embassies hooked up to the Web by satellite remained online." AP, 28 September 2007. In Battle Creek, Michigan, "some 400 exiles, particularly those from Chin, a state in northwestern Burma, have settled in the past 20 years. At the Asia Food Market on West Columbia Avenue, Joy Hrangthawng tuned in to a Burmese-language news report from Radio Free Asia on a laptop computer behind the counter." Battle Creek Enquirer, 27 September 2007. Aljazeera English story about Democratic Voice of Burma, via YouTube, 27 September 2007. Thanks to Mike Barraclough for this news tip. See previous post about same subject. Posted: 29 Sep 2007 (see http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/index.php?id=2409 for numerous linx to stories cited, via DXLD) ** BURMA [non]. RFA`s expanded Burmese service since Sept 27, mixed with VOA Burmese expanded since Sept 26: 2300-2400 VOA on 7430 Sri Lanka, 6185 Thailand, 11980 Tinang 0030-0230 RFA on 13820 Sri Lanka, 13865 Tinian, 17835 Saipan 1130-1230 VOA on 11965 & 15540 Tinang, 17775 Sri Lanka 1230-1330 RFA on 9320 Sri Lanka, 13645 Tinian 1330-1430 RFA on 9320 & 11540 Tinian, also 1330-1400 9455 Sri Lanka 1430-1530 VOA on 9325 Sri Lanka, 11910 Tinang, 12120 Tinian; also 1575 Thailand until 1500 weekdays, 1530 Sat & Sun (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hi Glenn, as you can see, ``So Montréal`` is the CBC slogan being used here. It`s actually been on some print publicity material for more than a year, but has only recently made an appearance on air 73 - (Bill Westenhaver, QC, DX LISTENING DIGST) Enclosed some publicity cards for CBC News at Six, and Daybreak, bearing that slogan I wonder if there is a comprehensive list in one place of the slogans for each CBC locality. Judging from CBC Radio One IDs, not every place has such a slogan on air (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Radio, al Qaeda, Politics, and Beer AFTER NEARLY 3 WEEKS OF PEACE... MADERA RETURNS Karol Madera has returned to shortwave radio, on the 20 meter band, after an absence of nearly three weeks. For the duration of his absence, there were no reports of jamming; threats; obscenity; or affiliation and support of Usama bin Laden's, al Qaeda. However, upon Madera's return he immediately launched into a tirade where he discussed U.S. involvement in the Middle East, saying, "I hope al Qaeda shoves your teeth out your assholes." Madera's hate-filled diatribe created an immediate backlash, with dozens jamming his signal. There is no apparent end in sight, since Industry Canada seems to have no intention of disciplining Karol Madera for his on-air activities, and the Crown has thus far declined to prosecute Madera, despite numerous allegations that Madera has broadcast threats and hate propaganda for nearly two years, via his radio station in Saanich, British Columbia. For more information, see http://www.ve7kfm.com (Brian Crow, PA, Sept 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. NOUVELLES FRÉQUENCES DE RADIO CHINE INTERNATIONALE Bonjour à tous, A partir du premier octobre 2007, RCI va inaugurer officiellement ses nouvelles fréquences vers Monaco : FM 96 khz [sic] 0900 à 2100. Ondes moyennes : 702 khz 0900-1400. Vers Niger : FM 106 khz [sic] (AM 0600-1100, PM 1900-2400). Tout est heure locale. Nos nouvelles émissions vous attendent sur ces fréquences : « Prise directe » : Nous vous emmènerons à la découverte des sujets chauds qui font l`actualité en Chine, des tendances auxquelles s`accrochent les jeunes Chinois, les derniers tubes, les nouvelles sorties cinéma dans les salles obscures, etc. etc. Et nous irons aussi à la rencontre des francophones présents en Chine qui participent, eux aussi, au quotidien de la société chinoise. Ils partageront avec nous leurs expériences, qui pourront peut-être vous aider dans vos propres aventures avec la Chine. « Carnet de route » : Dans cette emission, on partira à la découverte d`un site touristique ou d`une bonne adresse. Ce sera un site chinois, le plus souvent, mais on ne s`interdira pas, évidemment, d`aller faire un petit tour ailleurs ! On vous parlera aussi de la gastronomie, chinoise ou étrangère, des restaurants ou des hôtels, ou encore des magasins et des boutiques ...Objectif majeur de cette nouvelle émission, vous faire découvrir la Chine à travers le prisme du tourisme. « Classe Eco » : On continuera à dresser le portrait d`une entreprise ou de son patron dans cette émission, et développera en plat de résistance de chaque émission, un sujet économique majeur. Décryptage, interviews... On vous expliquera tout. - Et pour mieux décrypter le jargon économique, qui parfois peut être compliqué, et bien nous inaugurons une nouvelle rubrique. Son nom : la clé de l`éco. Pendant une ou deux minutes, explication d`un terme économique qu`on retrouve fréquemment dans la presse ou sur les ondes. - Et dans chaque émission, zoom sur le chiffre du jour, qui sera l`occasion, à travers une donnée chiffrée, de mettre en lumière une nouvelle qui a fait l`actualité économique de la semaine. « In Vivo » dans laquelle vous connaîtrez mieux les échanges culturels entre la Chine et les pays étrangers et aurez l`occasion d`apprécier des chef-d`œuvres classiques et contemporains chinois. Dans « Panorama », nous traitons tous les sujets, que ce soit dans le domaine sportif, éducatif ou scientifique, vous serez au courant de tous les actualités dans ces domaines. « On connaît la chanson » : c`est une émission musicale qui sera entièrement consacrée à la musique francophone et chinoise. Ce sera aussi l`occasion de découvrir certains instruments de musique traditionnels chinois, qu`on a assez rarement l`occasion d`entendre en Afrique ou en Europe. Vos avis et suggestions sont toujours les bienvenue et bonne écoute. (Service français de RCI, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This arrived full of garble on the accents, so I had to fix them all up (gh, DXLD) Noted also CRI French service on 702 kHz, Sept 26, at 2000 UT. Powerful in Germany. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Sept 30 via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Re DXLD 7-117: ``So SOH is on 7280 ex-7300? (gh, DXLD)`` Hi Glenn, No, this is not new or a change. For some time now SOH has been jammed 24 hours by Firedrake on 7300, while from 1100 to 1300 UT, SOH is jammed by CNR-1 on 7280. On Sept 29 heard Firedrake on 7300 at 0815 & 0853 & 1050-1100* and *1105 (their usual 5 minute gap, during which I could hear Chinese programming). While on 7280 heard Chinese pop songs at 1052, possibly Voice of Strait, till a very strong CNR-1 (// 5030) suddenly signed-on at 1100:15 (Ron Howard, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. MANOLO DE LA ROSA --- hoy 29 de septiembre del 2007, escuché la revista Despertar con Cuba de Radio Habana Cuba en la cual se anunciaba que Manolo de la Rosa se jubilaba y en su lugar quedaba el locutor Tony Barrios; también se informó que va a seguir colaborando con el programa EN CONTACTO. A Manolo lo empecé a escuchar en Radio Moscú Internacional con el programa para los diexistas con el cual obtuve una colección de tarjetas QSL que aun conservo (MIGUEL ANGEL REYES G., MORELIA, MICHOACAN, MEXICO, Sept 29, Onda Corta PR yg via Dino Bloise, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Manolo de la Rosa is retiring from RHC. His has been that very authoritative voice on Despertar con Cuba; he will continue to participate in the DX program En Contacto. Best wishes to Manolo (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA. Now, some information about RHC transmitter tests that will soon be on the air on the Tropical Band frequency of 5055, again the frequency 5055 kilohertz, and. Again the test frequency is going to be 5055 kilohertz and we may also be testing on another lower frequency on that same 60 meters Tropical Broadcast Band soon (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Sept 29, ABDX via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. A continuación informamos del resultado del juego de la pasada semana, se trataba de identificar dos errores: "en una de las grabaciones el locutor que identifica a la emisora comete dos errores". La respuesta correcta es que los dos errores están en la grabación de HCJB La Voz de los Andes. El primero es la confusión del locutor al anunciar la banda de 49 metros como de onda media local y el segundo está cuando anuncia la frecuencia de onda media, él dice que es la de 700 kcs, cuando desde Quito jamás emitió en esa frecuencia (José Bueno, about Historias de Radio, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. HCJB German has to cut back --- See enclosed posting: Today HCJB German announced on air that they are "in severe financial difficulties" and asked for feedback whether they should sacrifice 1/ shortwave to Europe via Wertachtal, 2/ satellite to Europe via WRN, 3/ their website, with the last one option hardly providing substantial relief (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) -----Original Message----- Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 09:17:39 +0200 Subject: [A-DX] HCJB-KW in Gefahr! From: "paul gager" To: "liste aliste" 29.9.2007 --- Wie ich soeben in der deutschsprachigen Sendung von HCJB auf 9740 kHz hören konnte "befindet sich HCJB in großen finanziellen Schwierigkeiten".. Rechnungen müßen bezahlt werden etc. (Kennt eh jeder) Nun soll der *Rotstift* angesetzt werden. HCJB bittet um "Feedback" wo man einsparen könnte. Deutsch @ hcjb.org.ec http://www.andenstimme.org Zur Auswahl stehen: A) KW für Europa über T-Systems wird eingestellt? B) WRN-Übertragungen werden eingestellt? C) Internet-Auftritt einstellen, bringt aber nicht wirklich viel. Eine Möglichkeit wäre natürlich auch eine kleine Spende zu überweisen! (Für diesen Weg habe ich mich vor ein paar Tagen entschieden) (Paul Gager, Austria, ADX via Ludwig, DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. WHRA adds more clandestine broadcasting: 1800-1830 M-F, Voice of Meselina Delina, by Tes Meharenna on 17690, says the WHR website. Proper spelling is Meselna Delina. It`s in Tigrinya. This was previously reported on 11765 in DXLD 7-062, 5/18 at 1700; and in 7- 057, DX Mix News, Bulgaria had this scheduled as M-F 1700-1730 on 11765 via Armavir, Russia, 100 kW, 188 degrees. Was that a TDP brokerage? Yes, started April 26. Checking the TDP schedules as of Sept 29, V. of Delina is shown at 1700-1730 M-F on 7335, no site ever given. However, their WHOSE page with logos still refers to it as V. of Meselna Delina, and linx to http://vodm.asmarino.com/ Address is in Cerritos, California. There the schedule is still given as M-F 1700-1730 on 15705! That is/was also WHRA. Audio files of past broadcasts are available, and an illustration for each, going back into last December when I quit looking. Accompanied by some contentious comments, many of them in English. TDP tends to leave in outdated info. So do the WHRA broadcasts replace 11765/7335, and are they axually at 17 on 15705, and/or at 18 on 17690? Both are 75 degrees, which misses Eritrea, but instead crosses southern Ethiopia, but close enough, they must think, and certainly closer than the other two azimuths available from WHRA, 45 and 90 degrees. Apparently 17690 replaces 15705. Tune in Monday to find out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) O, this recent item in the yg did not make it into DXLD: ** ERITREA [non]. V. of Meselna Delina (MF 1700-1730) moved to 7335 (ex-11765) according to the TDP schedule website (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, September 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. V. of Rev Tigre [sic] 5970/5980 / 6185! were all in parallel. 1652 with hilife songs. 5980 stopped at 1556. Recording here is on 5970 for 1 min till its sign off, then on 5980, 18/9/07 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You confuse us again. They were on both 5970 and 5980 for a while? Then continued on one of them? But which? (gh, DXLD) Yes, this is what I meant (5970 and 5980 and 6180 that time). When I recorded the station on 5970, after 1 minute it signed off, then I tuned to 5980 to continue the recording (Zacharias Liangas, ibid.) ** EUROPE. PIRATE? 6209.88, 2320-2355+, Sept 29, unidentified station. Probably a Euro-pirate. Threshold signal with polka type music. Some talk (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Possibly this one, I believe in Europe, not South America: (gh) Olá pessoal, Haverá hoje, dentro de poucos instantes, uma transmissão especial da emissora pirata Radio Borderhunter, às 2300 UT. A frequência de sintonia será entre 6200-6315 kHz. De acordo com informação, a emissora solicita informes de recepção para o seguinte endereço: borderhunter @ hotmail.com 73 (Antônio Schuler, Brasil, Sept 28, DX Clube PR yg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. Radio France International is to increase its English language programming later this year; no further details available yet (Allen Dean, UK, Oct World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ! ** GERMANY [non]. Re 7-117, DW Test: Nothing heard here at 1715 on 17610. 29 Sept. 2007 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Right now [1733 UT Sept 29] here in Germany, no trace of a signal on 17610 either. At least the carrier of a Sines transmission should appear, since at the same time Noblejas (Spain) comes in weak but readable on 17715, beaming away to South America. So it's not the propagation as one could believe, with the only other signal on 16 m being Ascension on 17830. What was this announced but apparently cancelled 17610 test at all? Looks like a purely engineering matter, like fieldstrength measurements, thus also the odd time, with some DW English merely meant as some modulation to put on. Btw, the very new Sines antenna mentioned by Wolfgang should be the one for 75 m, now used for 3995 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 28/9, 0340 UT, 4799.8 kHz, probably R. BUENAS NUEVAS, Huehuetenango (Guatemala), SS, riflessioni bibliche, mx country, avisos e s/off 0428. Segnale buono-sufficiente. EiBi/Aoki dicono che chiude alle 0230v ma evidentemente hanno avuto bisogno di trasmettere per altre due ore. D'altra parte intorno a questa frequenza di latino- americano (e religioso) c'è solo questa stazione (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, playdx yg via DXLD ** HAWAII [and non]. Re 7-117: Glenn: -- Very sorry to hear about the loss of Dr. Wood, especially at such a young age. You may recall his appearances for several years running, on our annual "DX Special" Ray Briem programs, heard over ABC Talkradio in the '80s & early '90s. His expertise added generously to each show, and his opinions, though sometimes controversial, were always well thought out. He will be sorely missed for some time to come...seems this is just more proof of 2007 being a lousy year for DXing in general (GREG HARDISON (Still L.A.), DX LISTENING DIGEST) OBITS Hello Glenn, Read in DXLD about the passing of Dr. Wood. I had the chance to meet him in Louisville at a National Radio Club convention in the early 80's. He brought some of his amazing QSLs and had some great stories to relate. He was very kind and patient with a teenager with a lot of questions. I remember talking to him out at the all- night DX session there. Definitely an irreplaceable part of DX history. Take care, (Eric Loy, Champaign IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was saddened to read of Dr. Wood's death. I always enjoyed his excellent DX reports from Hawai'i and in the very brief correspondence I had with him, he was helpful and patient (Dan Sheedy, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have an autographed copy of his 1972 book - Short Wave Voices of The World. That's about the era I really enjoyed Short Wave radio, QSL's pennants, great programming (Jerry WW0E, HCDX via DXLD) I just finished reading the latest edition (7-117) of Glenn Hauser's DX Listening Digest and was deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Dr. Richard E. Wood of Hilo, HI. He was mainly active from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s, and was truly one of the all-time great DXers. As a MW DXer, Richard made numerous extraordinary loggings from Hawaii --- like Florida stations at their morning sign ons. Yes, the AM band was much less congested back then, but that is still amazing DX. He also made the first MW loggings of Europe from Hawaii. He later left Hawaii for a college teaching career in the continental U.S., but returned to Hawaii and the Big Island in the mid-1980s. In the early 1970s, Dr. Wood lived in Baton Rouge while teaching at LSU and got into FM DXing. He again produced eye-popping DX on that band, including tropo reception from western New York. I think he may still hold the record for the most distant overland tropo FM DX in North America. He was also an accomplished SW DXer with a massive collection of station pennants. He authored the book "Shortwave Voices of the World" and numerous articles on DXing for the annual Popular Electronics Communications Handbook. He was a member of many clubs, and I believe he served as president of IRCA in the 1980s. I know recent years were not always kind to Dr. Wood. On my last visit to the Big Island in 2002, the late Chuck Boehnke (a good DXer and even better person) suggested that I not look up Dr. Wood because he felt Richard was going through a difficult period and might not be amenable to a visitor. In the last decade, Dr. Wood dropped in and out of the DX hobby and there were periods when he was a recluse. If Dr. Wood had any relatives, they must be back in his native England instead of Hawaii. It's heartbreaking to think he died so alone. Because of his relative inactivity over the past 15 years or so, many newcomers to DXing may not be aware of who Dr. Wood was and the role he played. Believe me when I say he was a giant of the DX hobby (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ABDX via DXLD) It is interesting that you also remember those language series Richard did, if they were the ones in the early 1970's time frame. I was at WCBS then and Richard was at Adelphi (or was it Hofstra?) in Long Island, and he travelled into NYC and came up to the WCBS studio where I sat him in an unused studio one night and started a couple of tapes going, and he knocked out the entire series in one sitting, I cleaned up the few edits and mailed the tapes up to Ian McFarland (RCI, Box 6000 Montreal). I wonder if they survive anywhere after about 35 years. I might have given away my copy after some time. He visited Kathy (my late wife) and I several times in 1973 or 1974. He could tune my GPR-90 which had excellent hearing but lousy dial readability, and ID the various SW stations on 11 mc/s by sound. JAC (QRM) mentioned his stint in Saudi, it was at a town called Abha, in the Ta'if region north of Yemen, in the mountainous area and he remarked on the cool weather there, compared to the desert. I remember his saying he heard Brazil on MW, probably R. Globo, from there. I had just seen some interesting clips in the New York Times about recording dying languages for posterity and was about to mail them over to him (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, IRCA via DXLD) Bob, I was wondering if anyone else remembered Dr. Wood's "Foreign Language Recognition Course" for RCI. I recall hearing it in installments as part of the Radio Canada DX Club as a teenager in the 60s ("start your tape recorder...NOW") and purchased a cassette several years back from the ODXA. Dr. Wood was a pioneer for so many of us in the hobby. May he rest in peace, and his memory live on. Very 73 de (Anne Fanelli in Elma NY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bob, indeed they are still around and have been resurrected in a CD set that Ian McFarland and Colin Newell produced as a fund raiser for a local food bank. Go to http://www.dxer.ca for the details. They've been quite popular again since the re-release, I'm told (Walt Salmaniw, BC, IRCA via DXLD) Right here - http://www.dxer.ca/content/view/40/88/ Ian McFarland has written a cheque of over 1000 dollars to a local food bank thanks to the enthusiasm for these CD sets over the last year. Ian and I are talking about a 3rd project currently in development and a possible update to a "Radio Canada SW Club" reunion broadcast in Podcast format (Colin Newell - Editor/Creator www.coffeecrew.com | www.dxer.ca ibid.) Richard Wood`s website : http://www.richardsfruitstand.com/ (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was very sad to hear of the passing of Richard Wood. Although I never met him, I remember his many IRCA DX reports from Hawaii in 1969-71, with astonishing catches like my local, KTNT-1400. Especially, I had interest in his foreign language ability, and have since tried hard in studying Japanese and Cantonese, perhaps in admiration. When I rejoined IRCA earlier this year, I received a friendly 2-page handwritten letter from Dr. Wood, simply because I mentioned his name in a Forum posting. He will be very much missed here. 73, (Gary, IRCA via DXLD) Greeting. WOW!! I am stunned! Richard Wood came to several SLIDX meetings in the late 1970s and early 80s here in my home mostly. He always had a great time at GTGs, and loved to talk radio! He went to teach in Saudi Arabia one year, and stored much of his belongings in my home, attic and a friend's attic!! He lived with me and my family one summer (1984), and woke up the children frequently tuning in Radio Australia or Radio Tashkent at 5 am local time! He showed me his British passport, and told me of his early years in Dundee, Scotland! He made me laugh, but not as often a I made him laugh!!! I am recalling many fond memories of Richard Wood right now with my autistic brain. I live with Asperger's Syndrome (high functional form of autism), and my mind records memories and events like movies that play in my mind as if they had just happened! RIP, Richard, we had some great times together! (Terry Klasek, Saint Louis, Missouri, IRCA via DXLD) Really sad, sad news. Richard was an absolute premier DXer, up there with GPN [Gordon P. Nelson, deceased] & only a couple others. In his hay day back in the 70s-80s he heard some mind boggling catches. He also was editor of the foreign dx column in one of the clubs. I never met him but I surely regret his passing. Someone should look into attempting to acquire all his QSLs. That would be a worthwhile project. Isn't Dale Park on Oahu a member of both NRC & IRCA? Plus, he travels around quite a bit. Maybe he could check it out? (Don Kaskey, CA, IRCA via DXLD) BTW, I too was sorry to hear of Richard Wood's passing. I recall meeting him at the 1971 convention in Toledo. 73's (David Faulkner, Albany (near Athens) Ohio, IRCA via DXLD) Was he a MWC member, Steve? A sad loss. This guy did some fine DX around Newcastle upon Tyne, if my memory serves me right, for the club (Barry Davies, UK, MWC via DXLD) When I was a young DXer in the 60s, I wrote to Richard Wood (or Richard E Wood as he liked to be) - I can't remember what about, asking his advice about something - and we corresponded for a couple of years after that, even after he moved to the USA. He was always extremely helpful and took a lot of effort to offer advice and encouragement. We never met. I remember he bought a National HRO-500 receiver, which was astronomically expensive and considered very futuristic back then. I was using a government surplus HRO-MX and envied him enormously. It's sad that he's died. He seemed a very nice man, and certainly one of the great DXers (Jack Weber, ibid.) I met Richard in the early 60´s. In the summer of 1961 he came hitch- hiking all the way to my place at Tvärålund in northern Sweden. He was amazed at the huge signals I was having from the Middle East on MW and shocked to see the postman deliver pennants from Latin America and souvenirs from Japanese MW stations. At the time, Richard was studying Russian at Trinity College in Cambridge. We spent a couple of days playing around deciphering languages and accents on MW and SW. REW, as he was later dubbed when enrolled by the Arctic Radio Club, showed me some unusual QSLs, and I particularly remember one from the Brazilian Nordeste, Rádio Espinharas de Patos, I think, with a lengthy letter where he was being addressed as “A Sua Majestade”, Your Majesty. Very keen on North American DX, Richard showed me a collection of weather maps from The Times with isobar graphs for the UK and part of the Atlantic. He believed that instances of peak NA reception coincided with areas of high atmospheric pressure in the order of 1010 millibars or more, stretching from East to West across the Atlantic. In Newcastle-on-Tyne, as well as in Cambridge, he was using a Marconi CR100 surplus receiver. I admired Richard for his linguistic skills: he was proficient not only in Russian but also in German, and so he was eventually capable of writing letters even in Swedish (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, MWC via DXLD) Sorry to hear about the death of Richard E. Wood - a master DXer. I thought his last round of medium wave DXing in Hawaii was first rate - I enjoyed reading his reports. He will be missed. 73, (Mike Beu KD5DSQ, Austin, Texas, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dr Richard Wood R.I.P. http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/wood.jpg I just learned via Patrick Martin on the Hard-Core-DX mailing list that DXer Dr Richard Wood passed away yesterday at the age of 67 following a heart attack. Dr Richard Wood was one of the most experienced mediumwave DXers in the world, and his was one of the names I heard most often in my early years as a DXer in the 1960’s. He was also a contributor to the World Radio TV Handbook and its offshoot, How to Listen to the World. A native of Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, Dr Wood taught at several universities in the United States, as well as in Norway and Saudi Arabia, and was a remarkable linguist, which helped him enormously in his chosen hobby. He later settled in Hawaii, from where he was able to log some very rare mediumwave stations, and remained an active DXer right up to his death (September 28th, 2007 - 15:55 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) I'd like to add my regrets at hearing the passing of Richard. I didn't know him nearly as well as many of you. During my stint as BTC, he sent beautiful handwritten QSL reports for the DX tests for Hawaii. They usually included postcards, maps, and other paper items from the islands, and always include details that went way beyond a simple reception report. I often had the feeling that I was sitting beside at the dials as he strained to pull in a weak test from the mainland. As other mentioned, I also remember his language series from Radio Canada as a teenager. To this day, the knowledge gained from listening to those programs still comes in handy, though more often with business than DXing. The world has grown much smaller since then, and with the help of people like Richard, perhaps a bit closer together as well. He will be missed (Les Rayburn, Birmingham, AL, NRC-AM via DXLD) I only met him once: at the NRC Convention at Enfield in 1983. We had a long talk about DXing foreign stations but it was most interesting. In later years I remember when he congratulated me on my logging of India-1566 which I thought was very nice of him. And just a few months ago he wrote me a long letter about my reception while on a cruise to French Polynesia. I had meant to answer him but never got arount to it! It was too bad he didn't have a computer - or at least didn't do E-mail. And I have always been most impressed at his great South American loggings from Hawaii. Obviously his language skills helped him a lot (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford, PA, ibid.) Glenn: I was sorry to hear about the passing of Richard Wood. A quick anecdote comes to mind. I saw him at the 1983 ANARC Convention in Washington, where I had just arrived from Curacao. Knowing of his linguistic skills, I jokingly said to him: "I know one language that I'll bet you can't speak." I told him it was Papiamento, the local language spoken in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. I thought I had him stumped. Well, he immediately spouted forth a slew of Papiamento which I didn't understand, but I could tell that he obviously spoke it fluently. An amazing gentlemen (Jeff White, FL, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I remember Richard E. Wood, REW very well; who wouldn't if one calls himself a DXer of any worthwhile calibre. When I started as a serious DXer, an unknown third world reporter to Sweden Calling DXers, NASWA, ASWLC and a few more, maybe late 1968 or so I wrote a letter to Richard and he replied, something exciting and great for me. We exchanged many letters over the years. I never even saw a picture of him. The memories of him are very affectionate indeed and of great respect as I love languages like most of us do. He contributed much to the hobby as stated by so many of you. I tried to contact him in recent years but couldn't. I wanted so much to get his book Short Wave Voices of the World, which I hope will surface somewhere some day. We pass through this way but once and it is our duty and pride to remember people such as Richard who have contributed so much to our own enrichment of the hobby. For those of us involved in linguistics as a profession, he showed a different perspective through radio and through the many Short Wave Voices we have heard. Though we say May he Rest in Peace, we know his memory and works will not just rest but be active as long as we are active in the area that we love so much to which he contributed much (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, 4S7VK, DXplorer Sept 29 via BC-DX via DXLD) I second John's [Callarman?] sentiment that Richard was one of the major SW DXing forces of the 1960s and 70s. There was a small handful of people, Richard among them, who brought important information on certain specialized subjects language (Richard's specialty), music, other cultures, propagation, etc. to the hobby. And that changed DXing permanently and definitely for the better!! Before them, we were casual, ill-informed listeners. . . After them, we knew about things like tonal languages and glottal stops, could tell a quena from a charango, knew you never referred to anyone as an "indio," and understood grayline was something other than a bus tour of New York City. Richard and a few others like him changed the SW DX hobby! In that sense, I don't think John overstates the case in using the term "giant." Richard, whilst at Indiana University, also produced, at least for a short time, an excellent, though small SW bulletin. My recollection subject to correction by someone, probably JB or Herk is that it was called something like the America Central DX Club. It was a first rate publication and I invariably learned something important with each issue! I had a smooth and very cordial relationship with Richard, though we were not really close friends. Richard was, indeed, outspoken, and that did turn some people off. He was an extremely intelligent person and had an industrial strength ego to go with it. And that turned off others. And further, he did not suffer fools or those he considered fools gladly. And that definitely did not earn him their friendship. This carried into his professional life. He taught at many universities, large and small, as John has noted. That was not necessarily by choice or simply because he had wandering feet. There were some institutions where he would have loved to stay, I know for a fact. But he could not get on a tenure track at any of them, and eventually, he left academia. The SW hobby was the loser when Richard shifted his interests to medium wave/BCB, then moved to Hawaii and fruit raising/selling. May he rest in peace! (Don Jensen, DXplorer Sept 29 via BC-DX via DXLD) Sorry to hear of the death of Dr. Richard E Wood. I remember him well from the 70's. He was, indeed a great DXer (Steven C. Wiseblood/ AB5GP, TX, ABDX via DXLD) This is really sad news. I've been a DXer for 35 years and Dr. Wood was always a big name in the hobby, both in Shortwave and Mediumwave DXing. His experience and expertise will be missed. An I agree with Don, that someone needs to make arrangements to acquire his QSLs and other DX related items so that they don't end up in the trash (Martin Foltz, IRCA via DXLD) Ginny Boehnke is checking into it and so far no funeral home has heard of Richard Wood. So, the body has not been transferred to one on the island as yet. Being without a will or any living relatives, this could be a mess. He had property, a van, plus his personal belongings. I think it will be difficult to claim something that you have no claim to. Hopefully someone will be able to save his QSLs, but who knows? I would have hoped that Richard would have made some contact to preserve the QSLs. Time will tell. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) Kim Andrew Elliott points out that REW re-introduced himself in http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld6009.txt Yes, under HAWAII (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA [and non]. Re 7-117, CYPRUS, the OTHR Pulses, I meant to point out that one of the frequencies ITU had this on was 10330, which might very well explain why AIR moved; and there was another log of something on 10330, and on 10335 from Cyprus, all from G BALDOCK: 10330.00 27 07 1550 0000 AIR IND BC 9K00E A3E 89 B ALL INDIA RADIO 10330.00 30 07 1755 0000 * CYP FX 20K0E P0N 115 C CYPRUS PULSE 10330.00 30 07 1800 0000 ? MS 340HE F1B 205 B 100/200 BD FSK/PSK 10335.00 30 07 1820 0000 * CYP FX 30K0E P0N 114 B This also brings home the point that the ``Finishing time of the observed emission`` column, all entered as 0000, is extremely misleading. The entire document is full of these, so it`s obvious that 0000 is a default entry when no ``finishing time`` is actually reported. IOW, just go by the first time and ignore the 0000. Guess what: in the 24-hour system, 0000 is a real time, not the absence of time. Tho there are some who do not believe that and insist on going from 2359 to 0001, skipping 0000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 3985, VOIRI, Kalamabad, 2257-2355+, Sept 29, Tune-in to lite instrumental music. Talk in unidentified language at 2300. Kor`an at 2302. Talk. Local music. Reception varied from poor to good depending upon the amount of HAM QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 7375 ** ITALY. RAI shortwave close to getting the boot. Notification of the termination, on 30 September, of shortwave broadcasts from RAI Italy is still not mentioned at the RAI International website. Nor has there been any story about this from a major news source. But see: Italradio.org, 27 September 2007, in English and Italian. Also: panem et circenses 2, 27 September 2007. Photos of the RAI shortwave transmitting site are available at mediasuk.org. The demise of RAI shortwave was first reported about two months ago. See DX Listening Digest, 28 June 2007. I was not able to hear the English service of RAI at UTC 0055 on 28 September (EDT 8:55pm on 27 September) on 11800 kHz. I don't think the frequency was inaudible due to poor propagation; rather, the transmitter did not seem to be on the air. Perhaps the RAI shortwave engineers have turned off the transmitter ahead of the announced 30 September termination of RAI's international radio broadcasts. On the RAI International multilingual stream, the announcer in Spanish said that RAI will no longer transmit in Spanish as of 1 October. In the Portuguese transmission, the announcer said that programs in languages other than Italian would no longer be broadcast. In the English broadcast, the news reader tersely stated (hear audio) that RAI shortwave broadcasts would no longer be heard after 1 October. That covers all the bases: it appears that shortwave and non-Italian radio broadcasts by any medium will end. As with previous impending shutdowns of international broadcasting services, the feelings of the staff seem to be transmitted more through the selection of music than through scripted statements. (I heard this most recently when Radio Budapest ended its foreign language programming.) After the Portuguese broadcast, the first tune played was George Michael's "Careless Whisper" ("I'm never gonna dance again..."). After the English broadcast, Led Zepplin's "Tangerine" ("Thinking how it used to be... ."). See previous post about same subject. Posted: 28 Sep 2007 (links to stories and audio: http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/index.php?id=2392 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Hi, Glenn-- Rai International might be going out with a whimper. Listening around 0030 UT Thursday Sept 27, the Italian program was booming into my Houston location on 11800 kHz, but had deteriorated to mediocre by the time English started at 0055. And after the recorded opening announcements, there was just music fill, no English newscast -- this has happened a number of times over the past couple of months. No signal detectable for the English transmission the next two days, although I suspect this has more to do with 25 meters crapping out on nighttime European paths as we head into Fall. I did faintly hear RAI in Spanish on 9840 at 0055 UT Friday Sept 28. Sad to see RAI International go, but it had to be one of the creakiest broadcasters on the shortwave bands, in desperate need of modernization of the transmission and programming sides. The "sleepy newsreader" was a running joke for decades, though my favorite was an elderly lady who years ago would occasionally fill in, sounding like Granny from the Tweetie and Sylvester cartoons. Good-bye, RAI International. I guess homophonous RAE Argentina now has the pronunciation all to itself (Stephen Luce, Houston, TX, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Da Millecanali RAI INTERNATIONAL: VICINO L'ADDIO ALLE ONDE CORTE Il 30 settembre dovrebbe essere il giorno della definitiva chiusura delle onde corte radiofoniche di Rai International. Il Centro trasmittente di Prato Smeraldo avrebbe già ricevuto l'ordine scritto di chiusura. Riunioni si sarebbero svolte presso le redazioni di Rai International, dove vengono preparati notiziari in 26 lingue affidati a una sessantina di redattori, di cui una metà con contratti a termine; sul loro futuro non pare esserci chiarezza, nel caso in cui la chiusura fosse confermata (come pare). La decisione di chiudere, sebbene improvvisa, sarebbe diretta conseguenza della nuova convenzione con lo Stato, che tuttavia non risulta ancora diffusa integralmente dopo la firma dello scorso 26 luglio. Nella seduta parlamentare del 19 giugno scorso, come già riferito da Italradio, il sottosegretario Levi aveva peraltro accennato ad un presunto superamento tecnologico delle onde corte. Fonti sindacali (soprattutto il Libersind Conf.Sal) segnalano che non è chiaro nemmeno il futuro delle trasmissioni via Internet. Il 17 settembre il Libersind ha presentato al Presidente del Consiglio, alla Commissione di Vigilanza e alla Presidenza della Rai una richiesta di convocazione, criticando duramente la situazione che si paventa per i sessanta collaboratori dei servizi esteri. Ma vediamo in dettaglio la nota sulle onde corte del Libersind: «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 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! È 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 notizia di una possibile chiusura del servizio in onde corte di Rai International era già circolata lo scorso anno. Quando una prima possibile data di chiusura era stata superata senza che accadesse alcunché, molti avevano cominciato a sperare che la decisione di chiudere si fosse insabbiata in una delle pieghe dell'italianissimo limbo dei progetti dimenticati. E invece tre mesi fa le brutte notizie sono tornate a addensarsi sulle onde corte della Rai, questa volta con un vago comunicato ufficiale. Poi pochi giorni fa arriva la notizia della sospensione delle trasmissioni dalle stazioni ripetitrici affittate a Singapore. E di nuovo c'è stato chi ha detto che si trattava di una sospensione momentanea. Oltre alla nuda cronaca, ovvero all'annuncio della chiusura dei programmi in onde corte della Rai, è opportuno fare un'analisi delle conseguenze che la trascuratezza nei confronti di questa programmazione, in particolare quella destinata ai Paesi balcanici e del bacino euromediterraneo, ha avuto su questi stessi Paesi. I programmi in onde corte della Rai raggiungevano, seppur in alcuni con qualche disturbo, in 26 lingue straniere le popolazioni dei 5 continenti, informando non solo gli italiani all'estero ma anche le popolazioni locali su fatti, politica, economia, cultura dell'Italia. Tra le popolazioni "locali" consideriamo in modo particolare quelle balcaniche, per tradizione, cultura e storia particolarmente vicine all'Italia, oltre che per motivi geopolitici. Un caso estremamente esemplificativo è quello dell'Albania di Enver Hoxha. Nell'Albania del dittatore, chiusa a qualsiasi stimolo e notizia esterna, l'ascolto clandestino del notiziario italiano in lingua albanese era diffuso e per mettersi all'ascolto venivano sfidate le spie di Hoxha, con il rischio di essere arrestati. Con la fine del regime totalitario, e con il cambiamento dell'offerta mediatica in generale, l'Albania ha avuto un calo d'attenzione nei confronti dei programmi italiani in onde corte, anche a causa di un'offerta d'informazione Rai qualitativamente inferiore a quella che si stava affermando da parte di altri broadcasters internazionali che hanno potenziato la loro presenza nei Balcani (sempre con le onde corte), come la BBC, Deutsche Welle o ancora Voice of America. La presenza di questi broadcasters è venuta ad assumere un ruolo sempre più importante e predominante nell'intera area balcanica soprattutto nei periodi critici come la guerra in Bosnia e nel Kosovo. A questo va aggiunto che l'Italia è uno dei Paesi che ha più stretti rapporti commerciali con la Serbia ed ha inoltre propri uomini nelle forze internazionali di stanza in Kosovo (del quale si deciderà lo status giuridico tra breve) e in Bosnia. Con la chiusura dei programmi in onde corte viene quindi tagliato un importante ponte tra Italia e i Paesi della "futura" Europa. (via Andrea Borgnino IW0HK http://www.mediasuk.org/iw0hk http://www.mediasuk.org/archive http://www.biciurbana.org Sept 28, bclnews.it via DXLD) Rai & Onde Corte Ciao, un notizia relativa alla chiusura delle onde corte di Rai, questo accordo va letto come la conferma finale della chiusura del 30 settembre, l'unico dubbio aziendale era infatti la ricollocazione dei dipendenti. Saluti, Andrea RAI: UGL, RAGGIUNTA INTESA PER DIPENDENTI ONDE CORTE ESTERO = (AGI) - Roma, 28 set. - I dipendenti della Rai che lavoravano alle trasmissioni radiofoniche in onde corte per l'estero, ora cessate, conserveranno il loro posto di lavoro. Lo rende noto l'Ugl Informazione: "Dopo un serrato confronto con la Rai - fa sapere l'Ugl - le organizzazioni sindacali hanno ottenuto la garanzia della conservazione del posto di lavoro attraverso una idonea ricollocazione in ambito aziendale". "La chiusura inattesa ed immotivata del servizio radiofonico in onde corte, concordata fra la direzione di Rai International e la Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri - afferma il segretario nazionale di Ugl Informazione, Fabrizio Tosini - oltre a segnare un ulteriore arretramento della Rai sul terreno che da sempre caratterizza la sua missione di servizio pubblico, rischiava di mettere in discussione l'avvenire di decine di lavoratori e delle loro famiglie". "Ancora una volta - continua Tosini - grazie al senso di responsabilita' dei sindacati si e' scongiurato l'irreparabile. La UGL Informazione denuncia ancora una volta che il continuo arrembaggio delle forze politiche sulla Rai, oltre a pregiudicarne irreparabilmente il ruolo istituzionalmente affidatole, ne condiziona pesantemente le scelte di politica industriale, facendo presagire per il prossimo futuro ben piu' foschi scenari".(AGI) Red 281142 SET 07 RAI: UGL, GARANTITA CONSERVAZIONE POSTO DI LAVORO = DOPO L'INCONTRO DI IERI TRA SINDACATI E RAI Roma, 28 set. - (Adnkronos) - "Garanzia della conservazione del posto di lavoro attraverso una idonea ricollocazione in ambito aziendale. E' questo il risultato raggiunto ieri dalle organizzazioni sindacali dopo un serrato confronto con la Rai, a seguito della cessazione delle trasmissioni radiofoniche in onde corte per l'estero. La chiusura inattesa ed immotivata del servizio radiofonico in onde corte, concordata fra la direzione di Rai International e la presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, oltre a segnare un ulteriore arretramento della Rai sul terreno che da sempre caratterizza la sua mission di servizio pubblico, rischiava di mettere in discussione l'avvenire di decine di lavoratori e delle loro famiglie". Lo afferma Fabrizio Tosini, segretario nazionale del sindacato Ugl Informazione. "Ancora una volta, grazie al senso di responsabilita' dei sindacati si e' scongiurato - conclude Tosini - l'irreparabile. La Ugl Informazione denuncia ancora una volta che il continuo arrembaggio delle forze politiche sulla Rai, oltre a pregiudicarne irreparabilmente il ruolo istituzionalmente affidatole, ne condiziona pesantemente le scelte di politica industriale, facendo presagire per il prossimo futuro ben piu' foschi scenari". (via Andrea Borgnino IW0HK http://www.mediasuk.org/iw0hk http://www.mediasuk.org/archive http://www.biciurbana.org Sept 28, bclnews.it via DXLD) ** JAPAN [non]. NHK Warido via Sackville 11705, is normally QRM-free, but Sept 28 at 1332 I could hear something under it, maybe in Portuguese as I thought I heard Brasil mentioned a couple times. But then checking EiBi, the only possibility is: 11705 1330-1530 Sa G BBC SWA EAf /AFS 11705 1530-1630 Sa G BBC SWA EAf /SEY BBC in Swahili via South Africa, on Saturdays only, which would explain why I haven`t noticed it on other days. From Oct 1 NHK will switch to English at 1400-1430 so that could also be a QRM problem on Saturdays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) JAPAN/GABON/UK. NHK World Radio Japan in German farewell program tomorrow. On Sunday Sept 30th at 0600-0630 UT on 11970 GAB 500 kW 350 degr 1100-1130 UT on 9850 SKN 300 kW 110 degr and 11710 SKN 300 kW 70 degr very last German service programm of NHK Tokyo to be scheduled. Hideichiro Yamakawa and Prof. Friedrich Greil started the very first Radio Tokyo German service program on 20th June 1937, three times a week, soon be extended to a daily program later in 1937 year. Test broadcasts started already in April and May 1937. Y.T. heard NHK Radio Japan in German for the very first time 44 years ago in summer 1963, when I used a Schaub Lorenz Touring T40 portable set then (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX Sept 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) More in BC-DX about the Axis years (gh) ** JAPAN. 3925, R. Nikkei (program 1), 0830-0900, Sept 29, "Let's Read the Nikkei Weekly" with Jeffrey Swiggum, in English and Japanese, talk about Japanese support for the war in Afghanistan, segment "key words and phrases", gives vocabulary. This half hour program is sponsored by Society for Testing English Proficiency. // 6055 & 9595, all fair to good. Website http://www.radionikkei.jp/LR/ (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 3945, R. Nikkei (program 2), 0830-0900*, Sept 29, EZL songs, fair. Parallel to 6115 (strong). After sign-off noted Voice of Strait (presumed) on 6115 with Chinese programming // 7280 (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JORDAN. 11690, Radio Jordan, 1540-1629*, Sept 29, wide variety of lite instrumental music, pop music, & techno-pop dance music. English news at 1600. Weather. Brief religious talk about asking for forgiveness from Allah. Fair to good but must use ECSS-USB to avoid RTTY station on low side (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Pyongyang BC in Korean to E Asia, 3320 at 1130z, with speech and anthems. Female announcer. Lots of background noise this morning (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, Drake R8B with sloper, Sept 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. October 1 begins a new USG fiscal year, and had been foreseen as the date for major cuts in VOA language services. However, at least one of them, Korean, is about to increase its SW output from 3:30 to 5 hours a day, and so is Radio Free Asia Korean, from 4 to 5 hours a day. The two services become closely coordinated, so one can hear one or the other straight through from 1200 to 2200 UT. Note the rather late hours, not starting until 9 pm local time in the DPRK, and running until 7 am, presumably since listeners tune in undercover when they are supposedly sleeping! 1200-1500 VOA on 5890 & 7235 Tinian; also 12-13 11625 Thailand, 13-15 11740 Tinang, plus MW 648 at 13-14 from Vladivostok 1500-1600 RFA on 5870 Sri Lanka, 7210 Irkutsk, 11660 Sri Lanka, 11660 switching at 1530 to Saipan 1600-1700 RFA on 5870 Tinian, 11660 Sri Lanka 1700-1800 RFA on 5870 Tinian, 7210 Sri Lanka, 11660 Saipan 1800-1900 RFA on 5870 & 7210 Tinian, 11660 Saipan 1900-2100 VOA on 6060 & 7125 Thailand, 9510 Tinang 2100-2200 RFA on 7460 Ulan Bator, 9385 & 9770 Tinian, 12075 Saipan (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. WHRI 11785, Sat Sept 28 around 1330 with that wonderful solo singing, leaping an octave up and down, from Hmong Lao Radio. Later, into rustic instrumental music with the barnyard background sounds. After OCS and ID, at 1400 switched to Hmong World Christian Radio. Presumably for a semi-hour only; I keep missing the 1430 break, but at 1455 recheck WHRI was back to gospel rock in English fill. Yes, as of Sept 29, WHR online schedule finally shows HWCR both Sat & Sun 1400-1430 on 11785 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Relays this weekend via 9290 kHz Sat September 29th Radio Six International 0700-0800 UT parallel 945AM Baltics, Riga 100.5 FMeXtra and http://www.radionord.lv Latvia Today 0800-0900 UT Sun September 30th Latvia Today 1900-2000 UT Good listening (Tom Taylor, Sept 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) in advance on the yg ** MEXICO. IRCA MEXICAN LOG, 12TH EDITION (WINTER 2007) The IRCA MEXICAN LOG lists all AM stations in Mexico by frequency, including call letters, state, city, day/night power, slogans, schedule in UTC/GMT, formats, networks and notes. The call letter index gives call, frequency, city and state. The city index (listed by state, then city) includes frequency, call and day/night power. The transmitter site index (listed by state, then city) tabulates the latitude and longitude of transmitter sites. This is an indispensable reference for anyone who hears Mexican radio stations. Size is 8 1/2" x 11". Prices: IRCA/NRC members - $9.50 (US/Canada/Mexico/sea mail), $12.00 (rest of the Americas/Europe airmail), $12.50 (Australia/Japan/New Zealand airmail). Non-IRCA/NRC members - add $2.00. Pay electronically with PayPal? add $1 to the above price. Go to http://www.PayPal.com then send your funds to phil_tekno @ yahoo.com (Phil Bytheway, IRCA, Sept 29, via DXLD) ** MONACO. Monaco radio 3AC --- Eccomi di rientro... Sono sato ed ho visitato Monaco Radio 3AC. Ho conosciuto anche il direttore che molto gentilmente mi ha permesso di scattare foto non solo delle antenne ma anche della sala radio! Sto per scaricarle e metterle On Line! Inutile dire che erano un po' giu' vista ormai l'imminente chiusura! Ho presentato loro il dispiacere di tutti gli SWL italiani e gli ho detto che comunque saranno molti i rapporti d'ascolto che giungeranno in questi mesi! Mi ha assicurato che in base alle loro disponibilita' di tempo cercheranno di rispondere a tutti. http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac001.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac002.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac003.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac004.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac005.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac006.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac007.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac008.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac009.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac010.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac011.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac012.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac013.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac014.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac015.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac016.jpg http://www.martialart.it/MyFiles/3AC/3ac017.jpg (Quirino Tirelli, Italy, Sept 28, bclnews.it via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. The Defense Forces Broadcasting Unit scheduled on 5770 kHz has not been heard these days. (I don`t remember when they were last reported) The other channels from Myanmar, viz. 5040 5986 7185 & 9730 are monitored as usual. Monitoring was done for the last two weeks while I was at Bhubaneswar in Orissa, Eastern Part of India (closer to Myanmar than my regular place viz Hyderabad). (Jose Jacob, Hyderabad, India, Sept 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes Jose, same monitoring results here. 5770 has been off for quite some time (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. DEATH ANNOUNCED OF DUTCH WAR HERO WHO WAS DIRECTOR OF RFE --- The death has been announced of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, considered the greatest hero of the Netherlands against Nazi occupation during World War II. Hazelhoff, who died on Wednesday at his home in Ahualoa in Hawaii, was 90. He was known as the “Soldier of Orange,” a reference to the Dutch Royal House of Orange, and was a close friend of the Dutch Royal Family. Among his broadcasting exploits, Hazelhoff served as a director of Radio Free Europe, and helped to create the NBC “Today” show. Read the obituary in the Star Bulletin http://starbulletin.com/2007/09/29/news/story12.html Official website of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema http://www.erikhazelhoff.com/ (September 29th, 2007 - 15:26 UT by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [and non?]. Speaking of Rai Spanish on 9840 [ITALY], what was the deal with Radio Netherlands on 9845 to North America on UT Thursday-Friday Sept 27-28? Very poor signal into Houston, and I wondered whether it was coming from Flevo instead of Bonaire. Back to usual blockbuster level on UT Sept 29. More technical trouble on Bonaire? Or are they now installing those new transmitters? Perhaps Andy Sennitt could give us an update, and finally let us know some details of the new units, such as power and manufacturer (Stephen Luce, Houston, TX, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Radio New Zealand International off air on 30th Sept for Antenna Maintenance --- From the RNZI website: Saturday 30 September, we regret further antenna repairs are required. Transmission on short-wave will suspended between 1035-1800 NZST [1035-0600 UTC] [SIC] http://www.rnzi.com/pages/whatsnew.php#210 (via Alokesh Gupta, Mike Terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wrong, wrong, wrong. RNZI is royally mixed up yet again. Sept 30 is Sunday, not Saturday. Apparently they are also not aware that summer time already started UT Sept 29 at 1400, so local time is UT +13. That would convert to 2135-0500 UT, presumably Saturday into UT Sunday. The incorrect UT conversion should have read 2235-0600. Experience also shows that such predicted downtimes are often only approximate and it may be missing beyond these times. Always beware of quoting RNZI website without explicatory, corrective notes such as these. Or: does NZST mean NZ Summer Time, or NZ Standard Time? If they already meant Summer Time, the UT conversion was still wrong (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNZI barely heard here on 13730 at 0007 UT on 9/30/07 (Bruce in Gresham, OR, MacGibbon, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If it was for repairs, not power upgrading, they paid great results for the signal I was getting after 2300 on 15720. But the same as Bruce, it was weaker at time signal for 0000 on 13730, altho there's always a tendency to improve while darkness is falling over the Pacific. 73s. (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) And I should add, it also may be on when it is supposed to be off, assuming we got the times straightened out correctly (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. OKLAHOMA PUBLIC RADIO KOSU NAMES NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM http://www.kosu.org/news.html Sept. 25, 2007 - Oklahoma State University has selected Kelly Burley to serve as Director of Oklahoma Public Radio KOSU while promoting station news director Rachel Hubbard to the position of Associate Director/General Manager. Burley and Hubbard will work closely to provide leadership in the future development and direction of the Oklahoma Public Radio KOSU network, a 501(c)3 non-commercial listening service that includes 91.7fm Stillwater-Oklahoma City; 107.5fm Tulsa and northeastern Oklahoma; 107.3fm south Tulsa and 101.9fm Okmulgee. "This is a dream opportunity to return to the station that has meant so much to me through the years," Burley said. "I look forward to working with our listener contributors and Oklahoma State University to create a one-of-a-kind radio gathering place for information, entertainment and the arts." Burley received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Communications from OSU. He served as KOSU news reporter, news director and program director from 1990-2003. The KOSU veteran has received numerous awards for broadcast journalism excellence, including three national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television News Directors Association and the National Journalism Award from the Scripps Howard Foundation. Burley returns to KOSU from AARP Oklahoma, where he served as Associate State Director-Communications. Hubbard graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2003 and began her career at KOSU as a student reporter. She later served as KOSU's State Capitol Correspondent and News Director. Hubbard is also a nationally recognized radio journalist, receiving awards from Public Radio News Directors Incorporated and Radio Television News Directors Association. "KOSU has been an important part of my life, first as a student and later a professional radio journalist, and I am committed to its future success," Hubbard said. "We will work diligently in the coming months to increase the value of KOSU to our listeners and our university partner." Under Hubbard and Burley's leadership, KOSU is committed to the creation of a listening service rich in thought and artistic expression. The station also will be more closely aligned with Oklahoma State University's mission of academic excellence. Among other things, KOSU will provide new opportunities for student involvement in station operations. "It is our goal to share the unique qualities and standards of public radio with OSU students who will serve as an integral part of the KOSU team," said Albert Colom, OSU Vice President of Enrollment Management. "Through this and other initiatives, KOSU will emphasize the public in public radio." KOSU also will create new opportunities to engage listeners and KOSU members. The station will pursue direct feedback about local and national program offerings from members and listeners while increasing the number of local voices on the air (KOSU via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. HS FB DX 9/28 includes: 1640, KNID, Enid, OK, "game of the week" with muddy audio but 8:42 pm CDT went to string of spots with much better audio, including one for Henniger Allen funeral home in Enid ("family owned and operated"). (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, http://topsecrettourism.com ABDX via DXLD) Did you really hear a KNID ID? That`s one of their FM outlets, 1640 being KFXY. Did it seem like 10 kW instead of 1? (gh, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. English Program of Radio Pakistan News Channel 5080 kHz 1600-1700 UT Hi Glenn, 5080 kHz, 1600-1700, Radio Pakistan News and Current Affairs Channel broadcasts English program under the title "English Hour" at 5080 from 1600 to 1700 UT. The program commences with the National News Bulletin followed by news commentary, sports and business news and a discussion program in English titled "Insight". For this broadcast the Islamabad 100 kW transmitter API-4 is used, which is reportedly of Russian origin and was installed in 1979. It developed some faults in 2001 which have now been rectified to some extent. The transmission of the English programme of News and Current Affairs Channel of Radio Pakistan is primarily beamed for the domestic listeners but it has been reported heard in Scandinavia and Far East on shortwave. The transmission frequently disappears from the designated frequencies, is inconsistent and the transmitter is unreliable, mostly produces buzz and noise. At times the audio resembles robotic voice. But the transmitter is not as bad as the one being used for External Services (API-3 100 kW). This transmission could be of interest to DXers trying to monitor radio transmission in English from Pakistan. Intersted DXers might not be able to hear the signal of External Service (API-3 100 kW) but the News Channel (API-4 100 kW) could be heard in many areas outside Pakistan. It has been getting SINPO ratings of up to 45333 from many regions. The problems of course are frequent disappearance, muffled audio and the transmitter buzz. Some listeners might find difficulty in understanding the English being spoken in South Asian accent. This English program is in addition to the one broadcast at 0830-0930 at 15100 and 17835 for World Service for Europe for which 250 kW transmitter is used. Glenn! Thanks for providing info that CRI broadcasts via skywave for transmission on medium wave in addition to their 600 kw medium wave transmitter (Ref:7-117). Regards (Aslam Javaid, 136/H Model Town Lahore Pakistan, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Lahore site: ONLY O N E tx at this site, only 1332 kHz. Nearby mosque behind the view from tx house to the mast/hut, - see Wasniewski photo. Mosque building which is NOT visible in G.E. at 31 24 07.14 N 74 09 18.99 E 1332 kHz is located midst in crowded Lahore instead? Definitely 630 / 1080 kHz N O T on this 1332 kHz site ! Latter maybe located near 31 24 07.14 N 74 09 18.99 E Peshawar - approx. 10 kms east PBC Peshawar 540 / 1170 kHz. 540 kHz at same place, two masts on that area, trap circuits built in to prevent interference of each other. Location near the street from Peshawar towards Islamabad, approx. 10 km eastwards from Peshawar, very near on the southern side of the main street. G.E. in low resolution area: approx. 34 01 03.24 N 71 38 41.84 E ?? PBC Peshawar bc house 34 00 56.18 N 71 34 02.53 E Quetta - I don't know Quetta Pishin station. [1134 should be at the southerly side direct at Quetta, wb] It's unlikely that also SW broadcasts are transmit from 'our MW 1334 station' site. Definitely NOT from same MW tx building. (Bernd Waniewski, Sept 25, BCDX Sept 30 via DXLD) WB: Still a puzzle ? Maybe the SW tx locate on the small houses seen westerly of main TX house at 30 08 25.52 N 66 58 48.84 E (via wb, wwdxc BC-DX Sept 25) Re: Lahore: I am not sure if I understand; if the Mosque is not yet visible here, how can the 1332 kHz mast be? But also acc. to Adrian Peterson's report there is another site. Re: Peshawar: approx. 10 km east PBC Peshawar 540 / 1170 kHz. 540 kHz at same place, two masts on that area, trap circuits built in to prevent interference of each other. Rather exact location for approx! ;-) But yes, must be somewhere around 34 01n 71 39e. Unfortunately low resolution everywhere. Re Quetta: I understand that the co-siting of MW & SW is confirmed. Maybe the new 1134 kHz tx building isn't yet visible in the GE pictures (Mauno Ritola, Finland, wwdxc BC-DX Sept 25 via DXLD) But MW and SW masts are seen at very same Quetta site, wb. (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** PRIDNESTROVE. I hear Grigoriopol now all evening on 549 until sign at 2100. They have a couple of half hour blocks with 15 minutes of Russian and 7 + 7 minutes in Ukrainian and Romanian. I never heard them use Radio PMR in the ID, only Radio Pridnestrovye in Russian and Ukrainian. Romanian programme has no identification. Between the blocks they carry Radio Mayak (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Oct World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** SIKKIM. GANGTOK ALL INDIA RADIO COMPLETES 25 YEARS OF BROADCASTING Gangtok, Sep 29: The All India Radio Station of Gangtok has completed 25 years of its first broadcast from Sikkim. To mark the occasion, The Gangtok Station of All India Radio will relay tomorrow a special programme to be aired starting at 3.15 p.m. on Sunday [IST = 0945 UT]. The only radio in Sikkim airs its programme on Frequency (mediumwave and shortwave in kHz) at 1404, 4835, and 6085 from Gangtok. The national All India Radio is the only radio station in the capital city of Sikkim although there are plans to open 3 FM radio stations in Sikkim by I&B Ministry of Government of India as per information released. At 9:49 PM Posted by The Sikkim Times http://sikkimnews.blogspot.com/2007/09/gangtok-all-india-radio-completes-25.html (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 4750, R. Peace, 1630 23 August [correct] with talks in African language. 1635 with children singing under a drum play. ``This is Radio Peace broadcasting on 4750 on the SW bands``. 1649 with children again singing. CNR [?] underneath (Zacharias Liangas, visiting Fourka, Greece, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. Estimado amigo Glenn, Registro a escuta diária da emissões em espanhol da RTI Radio Taiwan Internacional em sua frequencia de 3965 kHz originalmente dirigida para a Europa, mas que no QTR das 2030 até 2130 UT são captados com muito boa qualidade de áudio e sinal SINPO 43334 acredito que por estamos na Zona da Costa Nordeste do Brasil e a região mais próxima da Europa do Continente Latino Americano temos esta performance e facilidade (Cezar Pelzer - Recife - Pernambuco - Brasil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Emissão via França a 220 graus, bom para você, mas segundo Aoki, às 2100 vai ao alemão em 50 graus: [from 0159E 4657N a07] 3965 R.TAIWAN INT. 2000-2100 1234567 Spanish 250 220 Issoudun F RTI 3965 R.TAIWAN INT. 2100-2200 1234567 German 250 50 Issoudun F RTI 3965 CBS TAIWAN 2200-2300 1234567 Chinese 250 345 Issoudun F CBS2 73, (Glenn to Cezar, via DXLD) ** U S A. October 1 begins a new USG fiscal year, and had been foreseen as the date for major cuts in VOA language services. However, at least one of them, Korean, is about to increase its SW output from 3:30 to 5 hours a day, and so is Radio Free Asia Korean, from 4 to 5 hours a day. See KOREA NORTH [non]. And as reported, Burmese has also been increased, perhaps temporarily because of the strife there: see BURMA [non] (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I have been noting lately zero reception from WBCQ 18910- CLSB, especially when I check it Wednesdays 2300-2330 when WORLD OF RADIO is scheduled. However, Friday Sept 28 at 2130 it was coming in well with gospel rock, so propagation (or operation?) certainly does vary. Per WBCQ website http://www.zappahead.net/wbcq/main.php?fn=sked&freq=18910 this frequency is scheduled: Sun 13-21 M-F 17-23 [Wed -2330 with WOR] Sat 00-01 [AWWW] Sat 17-22 Except as indicated, all gospel-huxters. Allan Weiner tells me he would like to move this to 13 or 15 MHz band but can`t find any available frequency, since OOB authorizations have been cut back following 9/11. Seems to me some ought to be possible for segments, unlike fulltime on 7415 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 7-116, WQHM521: New Columbus TIS UPDATE This is INDEED a mobile unit. I called the number 614 645 7710 and told the manager that I picked up the station. He told me I picked up the first hour of their first day test transmission of the station. He told me that the vehicle will be deployed at the Columbus Air Show. They will broadcast Parking info, etc. Click here for more info on the air show: http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2007/09/23/MUSTANGS_IMPACT.ART_ART_09-23-07_D1_M57VBET.html?sid=101 He said he will send out QSL for correct receptions reports because he is a Ham Operator. Note, the call letters are temporary. The FCC will issue permanent call letters latter. Has any one else heard of a mobile TIS station?? (Artie Bigley, Columbus OH, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 7-117, One goes the other direction thread: Where I am, my complaint is with multiple competing religious broadcasters each with at least 4 stations or translators easily audible here and mostly running very similar programming. Religious programming, whether of the K-Love type or the "preach'n'teach" variety have their place on the band, and it doesn't matter which part of the band because here they're well-represented in both parts. I also grant there's an audience, as with any other format. But the market here can't possibly support in proportion to the number of frequencies occupied, and thanks to the relative cheapness of translators, that's what we have (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA,(15 mi NW of Philadelphia), WTFDA via DXLD) Easily audible if you have antennas like we do or easily audible on a car radio? (Rick Shaftan, ibid.) Car Radio (Russ Edmunds, ibid.) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Radio National Venezuela being heard with strong signal during English broadcast at 1500-1530 on 11680. News by women and then commentary. No schedule. Into Spanish at 1530. Strong interference from station broadcasting cochannel in Arabic. Relay from Cuba? Mainly propaganda (Tom Sliva, NYC, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No doubt; Turkey is on 11680 in Turkish until 1530, 310 degrees toward us. So RNV had a full semi-hour in English? That`s quite new. The only way to put together a schedule for it is by running across broadcasts like this, as neither RNV nor RHC will publish a complete up-to-date schedule. Thanks, Tom (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Tom and Glenn, Have heard a similar English program on 6060 back in August (see log below). This was the first and only time I have heard their English segment. CHINA. 6060, Sichuan PBS-2, Chengdu, 1042-1105, August 26, . . . . Re-checked 6060 at 1120 to find R. Nacional de Venezuela (via Cuba) mixing with PBS-2. They must have been rather late signing on. Heard segment in English about Venezuelan students, 1126 into Spanish programming and IDs (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have been a few other English bits (gh, DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. QSL: HAWAII, RADIO HOA MAI via KWHR, 12130 kHz to VIETNAM. Full-data except for frequency (but including transmitter site) personal letter listing, in Vietnamese, all the items included in the broadcast I reported. Most concerned the recent confiscation of homes and land by the government which then turned them over to loyal communists. This situation has received little coverage in the American media (I have seen none), however foreign news organizations have covered it extensively on the Internet, and presumably in the foreign press, with articles and photos of the demonstrations against the government. I have followed this situation rather closely since some of my friends in Vietnam recently had their home and land stolen by the Vietnamese government with no compensation. This in 1 month from Nguyen CongBang, Executive Director. There was an additional personal letter from Mr. Nguyen, and my dollar was returned. Address: Radio Hoa Mai, P. O. Box 842064, Houston, TX 77284. USA (Wendel Craighead, KS, DXplorer Sept 27 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. Re 7-117: VOICE OF ZIMBABWE: THE 24-HOUR STATION THAT BROADCASTS FOUR HOURS A DAY. Zimbabwe's information minister encourages the Voice of Zimbabwe "to increase broadcasting hours from four to 12 hours. He also discussed aspects on how the public can access shortwave transmission. It was noted that most of the people do not have shortwave receivers and hence mooted the possibility of importing these into the country most likely from China. ... Voice of Zimbabwe is available on shortwave on 5975 kilohertz in the 49-metre band during the day and on 4828 kilohertz in the 60-metre band at night. It broadcasts from 6 pm to 10 pm [16-20 UT, but reported non- music only until 1730 --- gh] and plays music throughout the remaining hours." http://allafrica.com/stories/200709290095.html (The Herald (Harare), 29 September 2007 via kimandrewelliott.com Posted: 29 Sep 2007 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Clandestine, 4670, unIDed with talks in Spanish (this way I heard on 24 and 26th). On 24th with mentions of Cuba. Nothing on 25th. On 26th at 0407 with Spanish talks and Arab music (??!) 22242 and on 27th at 0358 with S5 and military music (anthem?) passing 0400, with ID " radio de la ..... Kurdistan' and then folk Turkic songs (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. This must be the same one Chuck Bolland was hearing, but whether it is Madagascar is still open to question (gh, DXLD) --- MADAGASCAR?? 5011.5V, Studio M in Swahili-sounding language taking phone callers at 2328. Did hear several mentions of Africa. Answered the phone "Hello, hello...". Also phone tones, ringing, and busy signal SFXs. Finally into Hi-life Afro music at 2341. 2344 announcer mentioned "program", more Hi-life music 2346. Went over ToH with music. 0002 Dance song sampling Abbas "Gimme Gimme Gimme". 0004 M announcer returned. Faded by 0055, but was able to recognize a live version of "You've Got a Friend" at 0059. Still going at 0158 when the MD [minidisc] ran out, 23-24 Sept. Drifting down continuously. Madagascar on all night?? Have they been off frequency lately?? Haven't heard any sign of it since (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. UNKNOWN station???? 7375, 0240, Arabic, 333, Sept 26, OM with Kor`an type vocals plus a YL singing too (Stewart MacKenzie, WDX6AA, Huntington Beach, California, USA "World Friendship Through Shortwave Radio Where Culture and Language Come Alive", Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOIRI in Arabic on 7375 at 0230-0430 from Kamalabad site, 178 degrees, bad news for Pastor Melissa Scott. BTW, it`s not Kalamabad, as I often see it spelt: think camel instead of calamity (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. UNKNOWNIA: 7660, UNID. 1503-1528*. 01 Sept 07. Continuous Afropop music with some in French and some in vernacular. Off without announcements. Fair (Joe Wood, TN, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) semi-harmonic of 15320? No, no fit there (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Glenn, Remember the Over Horizon Radar we often heard a few years ago? Well, it is back in the saddle again. I heard it as follows: Radio Australia 17785 at 2300 on 26, 27 Sept BBC-WS 13640 at 2100 on 28 Sept Who in the world would be experimenting with OHR. Is it being used for another purpose? (George Poppin, San Francisco, Sept 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) George, Are you referring the the ``woodpecker`` sound or something else? Could you describe it? Was it just on these exact two frequencies or spreading more widely? Was it continuous or intermittent? Further monitoring needed. Tnx, (Glenn to George, via DXLD) Glenn, Those "machine gun like" (rat-tat-tat) interferences I noted were observed after one week of log reports to my six world broadcasters. If it is observed again I will notify you. Thank you (George Poppin, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hi Glenn - Thanks for a lotta years of consistently great DX info. Best regards from So. Cal, at 1020 UTC --- yawn@ (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, 23 Sept, with a MO in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ DX-Camp in Paimio, SW Finland DX-listening with longwires in countryside in Paimio, 30 km East from Turku, South Finland. Saturday, September 22, 2007 DX-camp house in Paimio burned down!! The hunting lodge (house) in our DX-camp in Paimio burned down between the night 16-17th of September 2007!!! We were just able to go there in the end of September after summer break. Local police of Paimio is investigating the fire but we have no news yet. The house burned so badly that it is improper for restoration. New house will not be up earlier than next autumn. So, the fact is that we have to find of a new QTH for our DX-camp! There are some other hunting lodges in that area and we hope to be lucky to have proper place very soon! Not so nice job to collect 5 km wires away and then build them again to a new place. Posted by Harri Kujala at 5:52 PM (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ How will radio change in future? I like this snippet, because it rings true for me: ``But while Mark Goodier, the ex-Radio 1 DJ who is currently at Smooth Radio in London, is sure radio will become more "timeshifted", he does not think this is necessarily progress. I'm hoping that in 10 years' time, people will have rediscovered the joys of making an appointment to listen. The successful stations will be the ones that achieve that." I personally find, both with radio and television, that I want to listen/watch a program "live" (i.e., as it is broadcast), especially for the first time I watch/listen to something. I may tape it (or find the .ra or .mp3) for subsequent listening/replay, but I still first of all like to see it/hear it as a broadcast. I like the idea of planning for a particular time on a particular day to listen to or watch a program, such as wanting to have my local Iowa NPR station on at 3 p.m. at work each weekday to catch their one hour of BBC Worldservice they air or at 6:30 in the evening while doing dishes to catch Marketplace. Or listening at 5 p.m. on Saturdays to catch a Prairie Home Companion, getting a boost and tingle when I hear the opening Minnesota Public Radio musical chimes and the PHC song that starts the program, knowing it live (most times) to an audience there at the same time in St. Paul. Or watching the local PBS television station on Sunday evenings to get Masterpiece Theatre or Mystery, or getting together with my wife every Friday evening at 7 p.m. as a date to watch the new Dr. Who episodes as they are provided on the SciFi channel. Or turning on Radio Taiwan International every evening when I go to bed, hearing voices that are familiar. There is a realness in life when one can enjoy the watching/listening at a particular time, and a very real sadness when you have missed a program. I would get frustrated very quickly if my only choice would be to respond to just RSS feeds for podcasts or following favorites on the web to find programs. Having said all this, I do make use of my VCR timer to tape a show I'm going to miss or to find a podcast if I need to, but I do this very judiciously and reluctantly, and as infrequently as I can ((Kevin Anderson, Dubuque IA USA, K9IUA, k9iua (at) yahoo (dot) com http://postoilgeography.blogspot.com/ swprograms via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ 26 MHZ DRM IN THE UNITED STATES A website has been set up promoting the use of 26 MHz DRM for local broadcasting in the United States. The site plays down the problems of co-channel interference that will occur at these frequencies regardless of the stage of the Solar Cycle. Radio Amateurs have shown that world-wide communications are possible using less than 400 watts on nearby frequencies such as 28 MHz, even at sunspot minimum. In addition to F layer propagation, which permits signals to travel around the world, 26 MHz is also subject to Sporadic E which can result in severe co-channel interference from stations 1500 km away. The 26 MHz US DRM website can be seen at http://klixie.textdriven.com/26mhz/ Toward a New Kind of Radio Station http://klixie.textdriven.com/26mhz/index.php?id=1 The DRM System in the 26 MHz Band http://klixie.textdriven.com/26mhz/index.php?id=1 The Mexico City Tests http://klixie.textdriven.com/26mhz/index.php?id=9 USA DRM http://usdrm.com/ (via Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org/news/september2007/26mhz_drm_in_us.htm via Mike Terry, dxldyg visa DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The Moore Report – TRANSPOLAR, TRANS-PACIFIC MW DX TO FLORIDA Japan is gone for awhile - typical for Far East stations to come to the end of a series of low A-index days and disappear. I thought for sure the carriers and perhaps audio would make it into the midwest but I believe that Neil Kazaross in Wisconsin was 1/2 hour too late as the carriers were fading fast here and almost gone by my local sunrise. NOAA shows the auroral oval very subdued at 1018 UTC on Sept 20 with hemispheric power at 3.5 GW, activity level 2. The next pass over the northern oval at 1158 showed a high level of activity across Alaska, which would cut off Japan signals, with hemispheric level of 24.8 GW and activity level of 7. I'm no expert and don't know exactly what hemispheric power and activity are exactly, but suspect higher numbers mean poorer DX. The next morning Sept 21 produced only 10 TP carriers, 3 of which were fair (693, 702, 1098) and one good strength (738) but buried under WWCN IBOC. Sept 22 better with 1098 good level and 567, 602, 693, 1008, and 1548 fair; all DU or island stations (Ray Moore, Ft Myers FL, homebrew receiver, 23-inch spiral loop, NRC IDXD Sept 28 via DXLD) We have just passed the Autumn Equinox, but unfortunately, the Sun has remained spotless for an extremely long period --- day after day with solar flux below 70 units and no sunspots have required scientists to readjust their forecasts for the minimum of cycle 23 several times now. Even though solar activity is at extremely low levels, HF DX enthusiastS continue to enjoy openings even with sunspot counts of ZERO day in and day out. You may also catch openings on the 40, 30 and 20 meter amateur bands, but, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters remained closed for DX most of the time due to the extremely low ionization caused by the extremely low solar activity we are seen these days. And now that I talk about 12 and 10 meters, let me say that we have already said good-bye to the F2 propagation on 12 and 10 meters until the next solar cycle generates enough activity to help the two higher frequency HF bands to make a comeback. No, I am not saying that 12 and 10 meters won't open up occasionally, what I'm trying to say is that due to the very low average solar activity that will still prevail for the next several months, chances that 12 and 10 meters will open up for DX via the F2 layer are extremely low !!! … And now just before going QRT, here is ARNIE CORO`S EXCLUSIVE AND NOT COPYRIGHTED HF PLUS LOW BAND VHF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Solar activity is now at very, very low level, with solar flux around 67 to 70 units, and according to the latest optical observations of the Sun there is a very small sunspot, a really small sunspot in sight --- a turn for the better after many, many days without a single sunspot. Trans equatorial VHF propagation on the SIX METER band from Argentina, Chile and Brazil to the Caribbean and the southern United States should be happening now on a daily basis, usually after local sunset. AM broadcast band and Tropical Band DXers will enjoy excellent propagation conditions for the next two weeks or so due to the low solar activity combined with geomagnetic disturbances that distort low frequency propagation patterns especially at high latitudes, making possible to hear some unusual AM broadcast band DX (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Sept 29, via ABDX via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Subject: **AN AUSTRALIAN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS Written by an Australian Dentist....and too good to delete.... TO KILL AN AMERICAN You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!) "An American is English, or French , or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian, or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan. An American may also be a Comanche, Choctaw, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans. An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God. An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness. An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country! As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans welcome the best of everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists. So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American (via John Babbis, MD, DXLD) ###