DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-010, January 24, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1392 **flexible times Thu 0700 WRMI 9955** Thu 1530 WRMI 7385 Fri 0030 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0730 WRMI 9955** Fri 1200 WRMI 9955** Fri 2130 WWCR1 15825 [not expected 7465] Fri 2330 WBCQ 5110-CLSB Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sat 2230 WRMI 9955 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1200 WRMI 9955 Sun 1615 WRMI 7385 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular] Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 0930 WRMI 9955** Tue 1130 WRMI 9955** Tue 1630 WRMI 7385 Wed 0830 WRMI 9955** 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: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD, which seems to be coming out less frequently? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ALGERIA [non]. 6025, Radio Algerienne (presumed) via Woofferton, 0522-0600*, Jan 24, must be the RTA Algeria Qur`an Service in Arabic, Islamic programming (Islamic music, reciting from the Qur'an, talking about Islam), started out fair and slowly went downhill. First time I have noted them here (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. 4950, Radio Nacional, Luanda, 0050-0110 Jan 25. In here with local type music in Portuguese. Signal is very good at this time (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGST) ?? But this was posted at 0053 UT and received a minute or two later (gh, DXLD) Good signal here also, with laid-back contemporary vocals at 0120 on 4949.97 kHz. Best level I have heard them in a quite a while. 73, (Brandon Jordan, TN, ibid.) Hi Chuck, Indeed you are correct. They are even making it through to the Central Coast of California with a decent signal, Jan 25, at 0100. This is the best I have heard them here. Thanks for the heads up! (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, ibid.) 4950, Radio Nacional, 0050-0110 Jan 25, Steady local music until the hour when at that time, four ticks and a tone. On the hour, ID by male followed with news in Portuguese. Another ID at 0106, "...Radio Nacional" followed by promos. Signal was good (Chuck Bolland, ibid.) Chuck: Ditto yesterday (1/24) from Southern CA – I was surprised to find a nice S2, building to S3 signal here from 0044 to 0149 (my recording time – it went on well past that) with mostly Western pop music, and few, if any anmts during this interval (I have not yet listened to the entire recording). Later in the evening, post-0400, I hrd a man in African Portuguese, but didn’t listen long enough for an ID. SINPO 35433. In previous days, could only hear a carrier here and was hoping it would turn into AIR Srinigar (Kashmir), but no such luck! E-W propagation to Africa was very good on 1/24 (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. R Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel off air. I checked a few days in the past weeks with bad results (Arnaldo Slaen, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jan 15, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. R Baluarte off air. I checked a few days in the past weeks with bad results (Arnaldo Slaen, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jan 15, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 15344.62v, RAE, 2227-2255*, Jan 24, concert of ballads sung in Spanish, sounds of the audience clapping, BoH pips, at 2254 IS and "RAE, Argentina" loop till off, fair (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 5050, ARDS, NT. An E-mail from Dale Chesson indicates that the HF station is still off air due to transmitter issues but they hope to be on air by the end of January 2008 (Dan Henderson in DXplorer, via DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** BAHAMAS. 4045-USB, Rum Cay, 1200 23 Jan discussing trip to Mayaguana. "Rum Cay, first known as Mamana by the Lucayan Indians, is a small, sparsely populated island, located 20 miles southwest of San Salvador, and 185 miles southeast of Nassau (Lat. N23 42’ 30” – Long. W74 50’ 00”). It is approximately 30 Sq. miles in size, 9.5 miles long by 5 miles wide, and mainly flat, but has a few rolling hills rising to about 130 feet". 4045-USB, Black Point, discussion of long motor sailboat schedule 1215, 23 Jan. "Black Point, Exumas, Bahamas, is the largest and most traditional native village in the northern and central Exumas, located about 85 miles southeast of Nassau." 4045-USB, Water Cay, 1215 23 Jan, discussing position and sailing information. "Water Cay is named for the abundant supply of fresh water to be found here. This small island lies in northern Grand Bahama Island, almost in the center of the island. It was settled, about 100 years ago, by seven shareholding families....." (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach - República de Florida :-), NRD 535D, 746 Pro, R8, R75, Elliptic Low Pass Audio Filters, Noise reducing antenna, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A regular Caribbean net he monitors (gh) ** BENIN. Hello from Michael Hoover in Southern Portugal. Whilst not actually a member of the MWC thought you might be interested to know TWR on 1566 have now started testing with a tape loop in various languages (English not heard yet) + music advising start of transmissions on 1st Feb & asking for reception reports to be sent to 1566 @ twr.org or a PO box in Guinea. Have heard French, Portuguese and some African language(s). Signal strength here goes up to 10dB above S9 on a K9AY loop & an AOR 7030 & it is there on my car radio. They went off air at 2000 GMT by then peaking around 20dB above S9. (As a reference, weaker than VOA São Tomé 1530) Regards, Michael Hoover (Jan 21, via Steve Whitt, MWC via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4732. Radio Universitaria, Cobija, Pando, 0800 23 Jan, only RTTY till 1020, recheck at 1105 good signal; but fading out. 4781.40, Radio Tacana, Tumupasa, 1000 23 Jan, poor with CODAR dominant; recheck 1017 improved signal, into music with locutor ID at 1021 as "Radio Tacana", flauta andina stayed in with decent signal till 1105. Best signal in months. 4875.9 XXX Radio Estambul, Guayamerín, Beni. Not being heard here, 0930 to 1100 or 2300 to 0100 Jan 23 (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach - República de Florida :-), NRD 535D, 746 Pro, R8, R75, Elliptic Low Pass Audio Filters, Noise reducing antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. DX Clube do Paraná - Brasil - Lista de emissoras OM/OT/OC atualizada Olá amigos, Acabamos de atualizar a nossa lista de emissoras no formato excel: http://www.dxclube.com.br/arquivos_lista_br.html Versão 20080122.01 com alterações Incluído mais links da WEB de emissoras; já são mais de 800 links Breve atualizaremos a lista on-line DB http://www.dxclube.com.br/db/login.asp que compreende VHF Maritimo, NDB Brasil, Lista de emissoras OM/OT/OC completa e resumida, Banco de log´s e prefixo de marinas. Um abraço a todos (Marcelo Vilela Bedene, EQUIPE DO DX CLUBE DO PARANÁ Jan 23, http://www.dxclube.com.br noticiasdx yg via DXLD) ** BURKINA FASO. 7230, R. Burkina (tentative), 0813-0830 fade, 20 Jan. Thanks to tips in DXLD, heard breaking through usually-dominant CNR1 with local language yak, choral songs, mention of Radio Burkina at 0821, and French announcements mentioning Ouagadougou to 0830 fade. Checking for Gabon-7270 same time had presumed PBS Nei Menggu all alone (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. RNW from RCI 9800 kHz has no audio --- Good to see that the engineers are on top of their game :} I'm listening to 25dB's worth of nothing. Not a hum. No blips. Nothing. Very good it is too! Pictures to prove it are here: http://www.g7ltt.com/drm/RNW-9800KHz-20080123-2140UTC.jpg http://www.g7ltt.com/drm/RNW-9800KHz-20080123-2140UTC-2.jpg http://www.g7ltt.com/drm/RNW-9800KHz-20080123-2140UTC-3.jpg Perhaps the media server isn't getting its audio stream? (Mark Phillips, G7LTT/NI2O, Randolph, NJ, Jan 23, drmna yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re CFRX: ``Apparently CFRX had suffered two big blows - transmitter problems and a bobcat knocking down the little tower. Not the feline type of bobcat, rather the kind owned by a landscaping company.`` Well, the landscape company needs to cough up the cash to fix it (Powell E. Way III, SC, ABDX via DXLD) A new tower was installed in November 2007. Once the new transmitter arrives and the testing and tweaking has been done, they should be back on the air. I am amazed that Astral actually has addressed getting CFRX back on the air. The typical chain would have used it as an excuse to leave the SW business (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ibid.) Bobcats can be dangerous, especially in the hands of an amateur. I knocked down my own fence while using a bobcat to dump some dirt. The bystanders had a good laugh though. My sympathies to the landscape guy (Jerry Lenamon, TX, ibid.) I discussed this further with Richard and his engineer --- whose name I've forgotten --- during the first commercial break, and they were both surprised that I was able to hear CFRX when I lived in California (Harry Helms, W5HLH, TX, ibid.) ** CANADA [and non]. Re 8-009, WINS & CFRB --- Glenn, Prior to occupying 1010, CFRB was on 860. It was moved to 1010 to vacate the lower non-DA allotment for CBC. The first NARBA (from the station list dated 1941) shows a 1 kW unlimited time class II station in Toronto on 1010, CBY. It shows WINS as a limited time 1 kW class II (limited by WCFL) on 1000 kHz. WINS had earlier been on 1180 as a 500 watt limited time station (limited by KEX and KOB, which were supposedly synchronous during night hours). By the time of the 1950 NARBA, both CFRB and WINS are shown with 50 kW unlimited time, CFRB as DA-2 and WINS as DA-1, both class II. Cuba also had a class I-B allotment on this frequency, subject to a skywave signal limitation "west of Manitoba." WINS had actually not yet commenced nighttime operation with 50 kW, being shown in a footnote with "present operation 10 kW N, 50 kW D, DA-1." (DA-1 in the international agreements means the same radiation pattern day and night even if with different power although domestically the FCC has used DA-2 for allotments with different powers day and night even if with identical radiation pattern characteristics.) Some sort of quid pro quo undoubtedly happened, and it's probably described in some document buried in a file in the International Branch of the FCC. Occasionally one needs to know the exact history of this sort of thing in order to make some change in an allotment, and I'm pretty sure that the recent changes to both stations' operations were carried out with that as a part of the rationale (Ben Dawson, WA, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBU asks for support for move to FM --- I received this note from an arts group I belong to. I can't say I support the idea, frankly. For one thing, they say AM is poor in many parts of the Lower Mainland. True, perhaps. But then so is FM. It all depends on where you are. Help CBC Move to FM If you have sent in your support to the CRTC to move Radio One from the AM dial to the FM dial in the Greater Vancouver area - we really appreciate it! If you have not had the opportunity yet, I’d like to emphasize that our application is NOT a "sure thing". We do not have 1000 letters of support yet, so here`s a reminder of why we feel this is such an important move for the future of CBC Radio: 1. AM reception is very poor in many parts of the Lower Mainland. Making the move to FM is the only way to ensure that all of the people of Vancouver are able to receive Radio One's unique and distinctive service. 2. Tuning to the AM dial is in decline and has been for years. Four out of ten Vancouver radio listeners do not listen to the AM dial at all. Many products like new cars, cel phones, ipods and more no longer include AM radios. How can you help? By sending your written support by email, fax or mail to the CRTC by January 23, 2008. The message doesn't have to be long, but it does have to be individually written. The CRTC dismisses the "cut and paste" copying of form letters. A few sentences explaining why you value Radio One's programming and how you would like it to be on the FM dial so you can hear it consistently wherever you are in Metro Vancouver is all that's required. To email your support, go to http://www.cbc.ca/bc/making-the-move-to-fm/ and follow the instructions under "Here's How You Can Help". (CBC actually has three applications in for various improvements in BC, but these instructions specifically support the move of CBU to the FM dial.) Also, because of the large amount of traffic on the site for all the applications being considered by the CRTC at this time, if you have trouble getting through their site, we`ve also attached a fax example that you can customize and fax to the CRTC. The deadline is next Wednesday - January 23, 2008. Thank you again for helping us reach more listeners with a stronger, more consistent Radio One signal! (Dave Bennett, Aldergrove, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) New cars without AM radios? Is this true? In USA too? Would it be too much to ask for CBC/CBU to be on BOTH AM and FM??? Like --- (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. CBR-1-FM power increase, height decrease --- This relates to CBC Radio One's so-called "drop-in" FM channel in Calgary, simulcasting with CBR 1010 AM: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2008/db2008-14.htm CBR and its transmitter CBR-1-FM Calgary – Technical change 1. The Commission approves the application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to change the authorized contours of its transmitter CBR-1-FM Calgary, by increasing the effective radiated power (ERP) from 1,100 watts to an average ERP of 2,800 watts and by decreasing the antenna height. 2. The CBC submitted that shortly after CBR-1-FM became operational, it received a number of complaints, mostly about poor reception in apartment buildings, from residents of downtown Calgary. According to the CBC, the proposed changes will improve the signal reception in the city core. (...) (Better service to the city core was the whole point of the application in the first place) (Ricky Leong, Calgary, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Just about all hourly China Radio International broadcasts start on the hour, with exceptions for many broadcasts in Asian languages such as Indonesian, Malay, and a few others; there are some languages that only offer half-hour blocks, and one English broadcast, using the Mali relay, is only for 30 minutes in length -- there was a 30-min. English broadcast relayed from Switzerland many years ago if you recall that. Now I see in the NDXC CRI listings, dated Jan. 8, that there's an English broadcast starting on the half-hour, 0030-0127 on 11730 and 9730 from Kunming, 100 kW/225 deg., the only half-hour start on the entire English schedule. Does this broadcast start with a feature as is the case with other // English broadcasts (especially given that CRI has a satellite link to its relays and is heard live via the web), or does it open with news? (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Noted another strange setup w/language services on the NDXC CRI listings, from 1/8: 15435, from Xian, has Pashto at 0200-0227, then goes into English at 0228 (in progress?) until 0257 (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Jan 24, ibid.) ** CHINA. 9750, PBS Nei Menggu, 0743-0802, Jan 24, // 7270 (fair), in assume Mongolian, played variety of music (traditional Asian music, modern Western orchestra music, indigenous chanting/singing, etc.), unusually good reception till strong *0755 of NHK. Under 7270 heard a station sign-on at about 0800, in French (Radio Gabon?), but Nei Menggu dominated (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Radio Nacional de Colombia announces a new web address: http://radionacionaldecolombia.gov.co Andrew Brade via MWC e-mail news 27.12.2007. 860, HJNJ, LV del Cañaguate, Valledupar - identified by Henrik Klemetz on a clip sent in by Pekka Kostiainen, Finland, the refurbished La Voz del Cañaguate, now a Caracol affiliate. The station reportedly uses a Continental-Lensa K5A12 transmitter with 12 kW of power supplied by Kappa Ltda. Henrik Klemetz via MWC e-mail news 17.12.2007 (Both: ARC SOUTH AMERICAN NEWS DESK Jan 2008, Tore Larsson, ed., via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. Re 8-009: Terry, Few chances you've got any signals the last couple of days, as that one you call Radio Casinública has been absent on 5954. Apart from that, I noticed they signed off at unusual 2315, instead of 2400. I reported last Friday found them on the air before 2300. So they must have been "testing" for nearly an hour in advance. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. After wrapping up my CFRB guest shot at 10:30 pm Central last night, I quickly checked for "The Swisher" using the Eton E5. It was heard from about 1165 to past 1200 kHz, with three very strong peaks on 1170, 1180, and 1190 --- it was punching through those stations and really interfering with reception of them. It was even audible on 1200 through WOAI's analog primary! This is a very interesting operation. It sounds like an OTH radar, but why put a system like that in the middle of the AM band? Where is T. X. Thrush when you need him?? (Another DXing reference from the 1960s thrown in for my fellow old- timers on this list. . . . ) (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX, EL19 Jan 23, ABDX via DXLD) Interesting. When I was listening last night, it seemed that the sweep had tightened up to cover only 1180 kHz, as I couldn't hear it on the other frequencies. Actually, it sounded like someone was playing with the sweep deviation knob on the signal generator, as the sweep sometimes seemed wider, giving a "swishy-swishy" sound, while other times seemed narrower, resulting in a lower pitched "wobble-wobble" sound. That's my highly technical analysis of the signal, anyway. It was a bit earlier in the evening when I was listening, about 8:00 pm Mountain. -- Mesa Mike LA de NM (Mike Westfall, Los Álamos NM, ibid.) I've got something curious in - what sounds like a sweep jammer tearing up from just above 1160 to just below 1200 kHz. Have Los Cubanos obtained a new toy to play with from our dear friends the Chinese? I'm certain this isn't local interference, I ventured out to mail a letter carrying a small Sony and there was no difference in intensity or direction at all (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton IL, 0835 UT Jan 23, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) "The Swisher" is again "The Het!" --- Checked tonight around 7:00 pm Central Jan 23 and "the Swisher" was going strong with peaks on 1170, 1180, and 1190; very good signals. Checked back tonight at 8:55 pm Central and now "The Het" is back on 1181! "¡Es muy weirdass!" as our friends in Nuevo Laredo might say (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ABDX via DXLD) I was sitting on 1170 wondering who the open carrier there was when the sweeper detailed in my last night's posting kicked on at 1852 Central. Frequency range is 1162-1197 according to my DE1103 and it is STRONG; even the simplest radio should be able to get it in (Curtis Sadowski DX'ing at Champaign, Illinois, Jan 23, NRC-AM via DXLD) The 1170-1180-1190 sweeper has been noted here in northern New Mexico for that last couple of nights. It's quite strong at times, sometimes wiping out KFAQ. It's probably a reincarnation of Radio Nibi Nibi. Mesa Mike LA de NM (Mike Westfall, Los Álamos, ibid.) So I'm sitting on 1170 at 8 pm ET listening for it on the R75 and it shows up at 8:03 pm on 1170 as a short "pulse" every second. Your range of frequencies is about right. I heard it above 1180 up to about 1200 kHz but not higher. It's not strong, but it's definitely there and Curtis you are not hearing things (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, Jan 23, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) I'm not hearing anything from 1160 to 1210 (Saul Chernos, Toronto --- at 0815 EST [sic], ibid.) ?? Posted at 2014 EST (gh) Hello Mike, It was in the DX Digest for 01/22 (which I just read tonight) so it's apparently been kicking around for about three nights now. Off list, one other DX noted hearing something like it last night. From what I can figure out with the DE1103, it's on a heading slightly East of South, just about right for Dr. Coro's home turf (Curtis Sadowski, IL, Jan 23, ibid.) I am hearing it very clearly on 1170 where it is the strongest (Jeff Rostron, Springfield MA, Sangean HDT-1, 0122 UT Jan 24, ibid.) The Sweeper pauses now and then like a technician is stopping to make an adjustment. Sweeper off at 1937 Central. Duration of broadcast was exactly forty-five minutes. I expect they'll pop up again this evening (Curtis Sadowski 0154 UT Jan 24, ibid.) 1180, Rebelde FM, Ciudad de la Habana; 0050-0104 24 January, 2008. Instantly noticed this was not parallel 5025, and indeed up with the very cute Rebelde FM chimes interval signal, followed by canned "Rebelde F-M" by male at 0100, into Cuban pop vocals. After all these years, the WRTVH has yet to pick up on the fact that there is a separate Rebelde FM network and appropriately list it. How about it, guys? Please? Good signal, with the slick new format Cuban jammer not really all that much of a problem when sitting spot-on 1180. 1180, jammer; 0050-0104 24 January, 2008. I am hearing the new jammer audio that others have reported before me, the one that apparently replaced the 1181.00 carrier, or so it seems. Quite loud here. The swisher/clicker audio was present between 1162.5 and 1200 kHz. This should piss off the NAB (at least one can only hope). I haven't DF'ed this one yet (but surely it's the same site as 1181 -- just a retro- fit on the jamming methodology). Kudos to Arnie on this one; I truly have a little more respect for you now! Seriously. No, seriously (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CUBA, 1181 jammer; 0110-0125 25 January, 2008. Big signal, as always (when on). No trace of the wideband swisher heard last night (and not this night). All this over a huge pile of Cuban audios ("Rebelde FM" with Cuban pop music, and "standard" Rebelde with indoors sports -- maybe basketball -- and canned "Happy Birthday Rebelde" in Spanish bumper music, however old Rebelde claims to be). But no wideband clicker tonight. Which would maybe indicate it was malfunctioning (maybe?) and it's back to 1181 and clean? Or two different jammer tests alternately going on here? The latter is my guess (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Cuba logs - "Baseball has been very good to me." All times/date in GMT. 1050, Radio Victoria, Las Tunas; 0104-0115 24 January, 2008. Baseball, unidentified but seemingly Santiago de Cuba vs. definite Las Tunas teams, Jorge Martínez apparently the big star player tonight, though not sure which lucky team he is on. Live ID by the play-by-play announcer at 0113. Fair-to-good signal, telco feed audio. Victoria remains the only Cuba station on 1050 per my list and the lack of anything to contradict it, supposedly at least. 1060, Radio Veinteseis, Matanzas; 0104-0318 24 January, 2008. Baseball (Las Tunas vs. I think a Matanzas team -- not parallel Radio Victoria). At 0236, a canned promo for baseball networks with a long list of local and provincial station affiliates. Play-by-play announcer with a "Radio 26" ID at 0244. Female announcement at 0251 during a 30-second break, back to the game. Excellent except for a few brief minor mixings with screaming psycho-Afroblack gospel preacher (WLNO, New Orleans, which ID'ed at 0244). Telco feed audio. 1100, Radio Cadena Habana, La Habana; 0018-0025 24 January, 2008. Presumed the one (it normally dominates here, day and night) with -- shockingy -- baseball! Not parallel any of the other games on other observed stations, but didn't stick around to try to see who was playing or get an ID during any possible break. Good, and no wobbler audio as is typically present here. 1140, Radio Rebelde, unknown site; 0325-0330 24 January, 2008. Baseball, yep. Didn't try to parallel to any of the other observed stations carrying baseball. However, this was parallel 5025 (a fraction of a second delayed), and not parallel 1180, which tonight was airing Rebelde FM instead. Fair. 6000 / 6180, Radio Havana Cuba; 0330-0345 24 January, 2008. Whew! A breath of fresh air. I had to tune to RHC for no baseball from the island, albeit this was canned programming vs. all the live audio on medium wave. Both channels equal level and excellent. News by my personal cult favorite old-timer Ed Neuman (Newman?). You rock, Eddie, deadpan delivery and all! (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Checked the new RHC 11760 kHz test frequency for the first time tonight. But unfortunately we suffer very LOUSY condition tonight. Also the regional PLC interference covers the 5030 to 13935 kHz range here in Germany, an annoying BUZZ occurs every 30-31 kHz -- like a garden fence. One of these BUZZ sounds 'seats' right on 11760 and covers the RHC signal totally (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. DentroCuban Jamming Command, 5980, Jan 23 at 0638, grinding away, despite fact that R. Martí does not start here until 0700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. INSULTOS EN LA FRECUENCIA. Saludos cordiales, queridos colegas diexistas. Espero se encuentren muy bien. En la frecuencia 7210 kHz en LSB he seguido escuchando en horas de la mañana las peleas e insultos entre radioaficonados cubanos que están en Cuba y otros que están en los Estados Unidos; igualmente se escuchan a otros radioaficionados de otros países intervineindo en estas discusiones pero cambiando la voz para no ser reconocidos. Agradezco el dato del colega diexista Braulio Hernández desde la Isla de Margarita. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, Jan 23, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) What? They`re axually talking to each other, without the dentroCubans jamming the fueraCubans? Progress! (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Saludos, No sé porqué tienen que pasar estas cosas; nos agotamos hablando de tolerancia, pluralidad de opiniones y nada. La vida sigue igual, como dice Julio Iglesias. Espero que algún día los radioaficionados SOLO hablen de radioafición sin ofender ni censurar a nadie. Saludos cordiales desde Cuba (Ing. Yandys Cervantes Rodríguez, WebMaster, Sede Universitaria Municipal, Buey Arriba, Granma, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) ** DJIBOUTI. Since the agreement made with the US government concerning the R Sawa broadcasts from this little country, the usage of 1170 MW was stopped – a good decision because 1170 is blocked from the Sawa station in Al-Dhabbiya / UAE all day long anyway nowadays. The broadcasts are aired in Arabic on 1116 MW in // to 4780. When signing on at 0300 there is Qur`an in // with 1539 MW which afterwards has Afar programme. I cannot say anything in regard of the programme during the day, but in the afternoon both channels have Arabic until 1600 when 1539 MW goes into Afar again and 1116 MW remains with Arabic. I did not make out any trace of the French programme listed, but this might be on the air later on, because due to local power supply shortage, I was not able to listen at 1615-2100 (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** ERITREA. 837 and 945 MW. These are both active. The schedule is slightly different however, because the morning sign off is at 0400 instead of the 0330 listed in EMWG and WRTH. This makes it even harder to catch these stations in Europe due to propagation (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** GAMBIA. GAMBIA CUENTA CON UNA NUEVA RADIO ALTERNATIVA afrol News, 15 de Enero - Un grupo de profesionales gambianos de los medios de comunicación acaban de lanzar una radio on-line ['Alternative Voice of Gambia' (AVG)] en la capital senegalesa, Dakar. El fin último de la radio, cuya dirección es http://www.radioavg.com es proporcionar cobertura a los asuntos que afectan particularmente a Gambia. Ofrece programas en inglés y dos lenguas locales comunes, Wolof y Mandinga. Con la atmósfera política actual en Gambia, que se caracteriza por una oleada de arrestos, amenazas, detenciones ilegales, cierre e incendio de medios de comunicación, escuchas por parte de los agentes de seguridad, supresión de la información y un sentido general de miedo, los periodistas establecidos en Dakar, con sus homólogos en Banjul, consideran que es necesario crear un medio de comunicación on-line que proporcione a los gambianos medios alternativos de acceder a una información imparcial e independiente. . . http://www.afrol.com/es/articulos/27704 (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GERMANY EAST. Post nuclear broadcasting: Prenden, north of Berlin (note the typical Tuchel audio connectors, besides the obvious tapes): http://www.bunkertours.co.uk/studio.jpg Already mentioned in DXLD a while ago: http://nva-fuchsbau.privat.t-online.de/fbz044.htm http://www.zgs14.de/waz.htm This facility was connected with the main control room of GDR radio by an audio circuit (usual broadcast standard), a remote control circuit and a reverse talkback circuit. A signal would have been send on the control circuit, automatically switching all outgoing program feeds to this incoming audio circuit, then they would have made their announcements and finally released the switch again. However, first the system would have to be activated by the engineers on duty, of course they all were instructed what they would have to do (plugging some patch cords) if they got such an order. And an air raid shelter with two studios exists under Block E, the Nalepastraße studio and office buildings from 1965 (as opposed to Block A, the former furniture factory where RBI and Stimme der DDR had their offices and studios), as well. Selected audio engineers had to rehearse there time and again. Meanwhile these cellar studios have been vandalized (lamps smashed, soundproofing torn off the walls), just like most of this building. Just one of many intriguing, so far untold stories about East German broadcasting. Good night (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. Re 8-009, I can't really make out why Dario's offensive utterances ("dementi" mean idiots in Italian) have to be uncritically relayed. FYI, "Mr. Boing Boing" real name is Walter Mola, based in Turin, a frequent contributor to Radioascolto.org tips section. Dario is apparently referring to a recent tentative reception of KNR 3815 reported by Walter. As usual, Dario declares it was not possible, that the HF relay "is no more active" (but what are Dario's sources?). That poor Walter must have had one glass of Barbera wine too much and so on, and so on. As far as I know, Greenland has been reported a couple of times in Europe as of lately. Moreover, if Dario has any doubt, why on earth must he resort to expletives? Really, how long are we going to bear his tantrums? 73s (Andy Lawendel, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I believe Walter used to be a playdx contributor, so here is some more animosity between the Italian DX faxions. My apologies for publishing that, but of course I did not know who Mr Boing Boing was. Now to make something worthwhile out of this, everybody please try to hear Greenland until 2215v* in Europe or North America, before sunsets get any earlier (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. NEW HARDWARE WILL ALLOW GUAM PUBLIC RADIO TO RELAY RADIO AUSTRALIA AND RNZI "KPRG [Agaña, Guam] recently took advantage of advancing computer technology and replaced the old double-satellite link with a less costly and more flexible broadband connection. The move frees up the KPRG satellite dish to receive programming from other sources such as Radio Australia and Radio New Zealand International, in order to add a Pacific regional focus to KPRG's existing fare of news programming from NPR, BBC and other sources." Marianas Variety, 23 January 2008. Posted: 23 Jan 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** HAWAII. WWVH NEW INNOVATIVE ANTENNAS http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/factsheet/wwvh_antenna.html Radio station WWVH in Hawaii, operated since 1948 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to broadcast time, frequency and other announcements, recently powered up innovative replacement antennas. In a seven-year project to adopt a technology used on Navy ships, NIST has installed new antennas encased in fiberglass rather than traditional steel supports, to resist corrosion from the salty ocean air. The fiberglass design will reduce maintenance and repair costs. The new design also enables the flexible, lightweight antennas to be easily lowered to the ground for maintenance, reducing safety hazards to staff who previously had to climb the towers, which are up to 98 feet tall. The improved antennas should reduce signal downtime for WWVH users. From its location on the island of Kauai, WWVH broadcasts on four different frequencies. Each frequency requires a different antenna; including backups, the station has a total of eight antennas, seven of which are made of fiberglass. NIST erected and powered up the last fiberglass replacement antenna in October 2007. NIST staff believe the project is the first demonstration of high-powered, high-frequency fiberglass antennas on land (via Bennett Z Kobb, DXLD) High-powered?? 10 kW per WRTH, 5 kW on 2.5 MHz (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 11785, VoI, 0831-0854, 20 Jan. Apparently last day before going back to 31M, heard clear & fair in English with program of weekly news items from around Indonesia (ASEAN economic development program, Malaysia/Indonesia mass media to collaborate for more freedom, Australian/Indonesian human rights/immigration ministers meeting in Djakarta), "Listener's Mailbag" at 0842 with letters read from England, USA, Malaysia, Finland, Australia with a nice greeting for each letter writer: "Hello! Mr.-----, how are you, dear?" and closing with "We are looking forward to receiving your reception report soon, all the best from the Voice of Indonesia in Djakarta", a couple of current Indo pop songs in the mix as well, an enjoyable program! (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525/9526 VOI Jakarta today, not on 11785v. When RRI Bucharest ends at 1957 UT, I could hear a very low signal level on 9525.97 kHz from Jakarta tonight. At 2000 UT CRI Russian started again on 9525 and covers INS totally. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9526.0v, Voice of Indonesia, 0803-0846, Jan 24, in English, 15 minutes of news, talking about languages, segment on technology, into "Music Corner", started out poor, with continually improving signal, ended up with good reception. From 0943-0955 heard clearly parallel with 11784.87, which was weak but in the clear, program of Asian music (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOI still on 9526, Jan 24 at 1439 in Indonesian music, which was sticking for a full minute until 1440. I did not hear a click or pop, so maybe it was a digital rather than vinyl problem. There followed 4, four minutes of dead air --- well, not quite dead, as it allowed us to appreciate the hum and het unimpeded. Finally resumed programming, and played NA earlier than usual at 1456 --- it`s by a soprano with a beautiful voice. Tune in for that if nothing else. 1504 recheck, still on with carrier, hum. Around 1415, 4750 and 4790 were in much better than usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4750, RRI-Makassar (presumed), 1008-1042, Jan 24, in BI, pop songs, segments of reciting from the Qur'an, holding up well against CNR-1, has been a while since I last hear this above threshold level (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. 846 MW, as from 1830 on Jan 14, this station is only in DRM. Listeners report identification displays: "RAI WAY ROMA, Stazione di ROMA SANTA PALOMBA...DRM". Signal is in Mode A, 23620 bps, 16QAM 64QAM (Luigi Cobisi, Italy, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** JORDAN. Hi Glen[n], Greetings from England. I was trying to find out if Radio Jordan has quit shortwave. Do you know anything about this? I don't know if I missed any item about this in the DXLD. Any info would be very much appreciated. Cheers (Chris Lewis, England, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chris, Not that I am aware of. Are you not hearing them now (until 1730) on 11690? Reception here is spotty, anyway (Glenn to Chris, via DXLD) Hi Glen[n], I cannot hear anything, not even the faintest signal. It usually comes in real strong here in the UK. They are definitely not on air. I will phone the station and find out what the situation is, or at least I will when the phone company fix my line. Cheers (Chris Lewis, ibid.) How about their Arabic service? Is this still being heard? WRTH 2008 shows: 0445-0815 & 1145-1300 11810, 1845-2115 9830. Plus several inactive* transmissions (gh, DXLD) I last heard this during the second week of January. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, Jan 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Meaning 11690? (gh) ** KENYA. All frequencies checked when in Uganda. Programmes, times and usage of frequencies a listed in the WRTH and in EMWG. The one and only exception is the General Service in English from the city of Garissa on 639 kHz which is off the air at present. During the whole period of time by the beginning of January 2008 the programme format seemed not to be effected from the actual crisis in this country. It was only once on a Sunday morning when a discussion programme in English with youngster participants was aired for 60 minutes around midday talking about the political situation (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) Can I suppose that 4915 also was heard? (DSWCI Ed. Anker Petersen, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH. Jammer Gone! Dear DXers, I was amazed that the jammer on 6350 has suddenly gone. I was trying to record it to add into the DX Extra but it just was not there yesterday. I will try again and hope to add it to the next DX Extra show. I think maybe it was not there due to Echo of Hope on 6348 not broadcasting? Cheers (Robb Wise, Manager. Hobart Radio International http://www.hriradio.org Jan 23, swradionews yg via DXLD) ** LIBYA. 17725, Voice of Africa, 1432 Jan 24 with the start of the news in English, but with a time check for the half hour. (I guess the feed is quite delayed.) Good signal. End of news at 1444, then program on problems of democracy. This was a repeat of a previous program that I heard a few weeks ago (DX Tuner Sweden via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 6049.64, Asyik FM via RTM, 1043-1132, Jan 24, in vernacular, program of indigenous chanting/singing, "Asyik FM" singing jingle, after ToH DJ playing pop songs, mostly fair, usual light het, best in LSB (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAYOTTE. 1458 MW, RFO Mayotte. This was the only one from these little islands in the Indian Ocean which I managed to log. I just heard a Qur`an programme on Jan 04 and 05 just prior 0100, but did not pay to much attention to it. But on Jan 06 there was RFI in French at 0035 on the same frequency – as listed in EMWG. This relay stopped at 0040 and without further announcement, they went into Qur`an recitations. This lasted until 0100 when they went into local programming in French simply ID-ing as “Radio Mayotte” (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 6185, R. Educación, 0545, 21 Jan. Noted strong with "un mundo ancha de frecuencias, Radio Educación onda corta" --- "a wide world of frequencies" has a nice ring to it, if my escuela segundaria Spanish translated it properly (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4800, XERTA (presumed), 0340-0502, Jan 23, non-stop slow tempo, soft religious music & choir singing, signal improving after 0415 to almost fair, at 0435 brief announcements in Spanish by OM and YL, did not seem like an ID, then back to music, usual CODAR QRM. The best I have heard them in many years, but then the overall reception conditions were very good (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4800, XERTA, 0920 23 Jan, excellent signal with music; recheck at 0955 off the air. Period of testing? (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach - República de Florida :-), NRD 535D, 746 Pro, R8, R75, Elliptic Low Pass Audio Filters, Noise reducing antenna, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. GRUPO ACIR CHANGES 1590 IN THE DF: The Mexican all traffic station heard in the US on 1590 has changed format to Christian. Now known as Luz 1590 (A G Furst, TX, UT Jan 25, ABDX via DXLD) XEVOZ; were there pileups all over the DF? Wait a minute; religious formats aren`t allowed, are they? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) There are several stations in México that have, in the 21st century, shifted to religious formats. XEM-850 in Chihuahua is Radio Renacimiento, the Guadalajara station on 920 is Radio María with a Catholic-oriented format, just a couple off the top of my head. For XEVOZ, this is the third format shift since they dropped Grupo ACIR's mariachi-dominated format, "Bonita." They went "Radio Reloj" before becoming "Radio Tráfico" after IMER countered the RR format by reverting XEQK-1350 to its long-time, traditional "La Hora Exacta" format. Not quite so many format changes as XEUR-1530, which is now doing "ColorínColoradio," a Disney-like format using kids whose voices haven't yet changed, when I heard the format streamed on XEWF-540 on the web (John Callarman, Krum TX, ABDX via DXLD) ** MOZAMBIQUE. When I was in Uganda I could make record of three stations only: R Moçambique Manica, via Chimóio (1026 MW? Ed) presumed only (50 kW), R Moçambique Zambézia, via Quelimane on 1179 MW (50 kW) and R Moçambique Niassa, via Lichinga on 1260 MW (50 kW). I never heard these stations ID-ing as “emissora provincial”, but “Rádio Mocambique” + State / Department instead i.e. “Rádio Mocambique Niassa”. I wondered why the other stations did not show up. The Niassa station just by the way radiates a very powerful signal and they were audible until 0430 UT = 0730 local time, what is perfect daylight in Uganda already (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Radio Maria will indeed take over 675 as of February 1, as rumoured recently: http://dutchmedia.nl/blog/?p=1278 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DUTCH RADIO MARIA TO START TESTS ON 675 KHZ FROM 1 FEBRUARY The repeats of old programmes from Dutch commercial broadcaster Arrow Classic Rock on 675 kHz will cease at the end of January, to be replaced from 1 February by test transmissions from religious station, Radio Maria, based in Italy but now active in various parts of the world. An official start date for Radio Maria, which will be based in Den Bosch, has not yet been announced. (Source: DutchMedia Weblog) Radio Maria website http://www.radiomaria.org (January 23rd, 2008 - 16:13 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Most of the time available by the beginning of January I invested to check the MW frequencies from Nigeria. I scanned the channels between 2115 (after sign off from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) until 2330 and again in the morning at their listed sign on time 0430. The result was very poor – only one station came through: Borno State Broadcasting on 756 MW at around 2245 until sign off at 2300, quality was fair. Afterwards the other station listed from Niger State (to sign off at 2330) was not there. The time to check frequencies when in Uganda was limited to one week, to short to have evidence, but I am still of the opinion, that a number of these stations are either silent or work on very much reduced powers and not on their nominals 25/50/100 kW. This might also explain, why a investment plan for re- organizing the MW usage along with a Japanese company was decided from the Nigerian government recently as reported in MWN (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Re 8-008, USA – FCC: ALTERNATIVE BROADCAST INSPECTIONS Check your ABI certificate! Is it time to renew? Protect your station from random FCC inspections by scheduling or renewing an alternative broadcast inspection. Click here for request forms. http://www.oabok.org/documents/ABI_Inspection_Request.pdf (via gh, DXLD) Prices range from $200 to $600 per station. Lots of detail there on what is involved (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Our E-mail address has been changed. The new address is cfmpbc @ isb.comsats.net.pk This may please be noted for the future correspondence. Regards, Iftikhar Hussain Malik, Engineering Manager, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, 303 Peshawar Road, Rawalpindi, Pakistan (via Alokesh Gupta DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. Radio Pakistan Hindi Service 1030-1130 UT at 7445 kHz Hi Glenn, I monitored the Hindi Service on January 19, 2008 from 1030- 1130 UT at 7445 to verify the improved program content as claimed in the press release dated January 05, 2008 by Radio Pakistan. During the broadcast no such improvement in content "in line with international broadcast partners with more emphasis on news and current affairs" was noted. The program fare was as insipid as it used to be, short news bulletin, stereo type News comment on Kashmir which is being broadcast every second day from last many years and the rest was devotional music. Coming to the signal strength, the transmitter API-3 was as bad as it used to be. From 1030 to 1040 UT, only carrier wave could be heard with no audio. Later on when audio managed to get through; it was poor and wobbly. Several studio-transmitter link breakdowns of one to two minute duration occurred during the rest of transmission. There was a very apt comment from Olle Alm from Sweden on 17-01-2008 that without improving the signal, any improvement in the program content will be a hit into the air. He may note that no reorganization in relation to program content has taken place as claimed by them. When it comes to making tall claims it is hard to beat Radio Pakistan. While monitoring the Hindi broadcast on 20th and 22nd January it was noted that owing to switch-in error, Radio Pakistan Islamabad Urdu program, which was being relayed from World Service on 15100 and 17835 kHz was also being relayed on the frequency of Hindi Service, i.e. 7445 kHz. It is happening quite frequently from last few months that when three or more transmitters are simultaneously on air from Islamabad; some absent-minded engineer posted there does not bother to confirm whether the studio feed is reaching the right transmitter. Hence on both these days, no Hindi Service was heard on 7445. I am sure it will also take ages for external services engineers to identify or rectify or such technical errors (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 4960, Catholic Radio Network (now known as Radio St. Gabriel) heard from 0925 tune to 1300 with one of the better signals I've heard from this station - S2 at beginning but some improvement after 1100 to about 1230 to an occasional S3. After 1230 started fading somewhat in increasing noise. Usually CRN is at or near the noise threshold with only a carrier audible. From 1100 there was a woman announcer but couldn't tell the language - probably vernacular as it sounded like a local program, not Vatican R relay. Man at 1111. Instrumental music at 1112 followed by woman again to 1115. After 1200 most programming was devotional songs with occasional short announcements. Occasional 2 sec RTTY bursts, but not a real QRM problem. SINPO 2/34333. Would like to see a QSL from this station someday! (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, Jan 23, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PERU. Saludos cordiales, queridos colegas de Ciceron YV. Espero que se encuentren muy bien. Hoy martes a las 0140 UT, estoy escuchando en muy buena forma la transmisión del Radio Club Peruano en frecuencia de 7100 kHz en modo LSB, desde Lima Perú. Se identifica de la siguiente manera: ``Desde Lima Perú, transmite la OA4O Radio Club Peruano.`` En esta oportunidad estaban transmitiendo su boletín radial de los martes, el numero 1 correspondiente a enero del año 2008. Escuché mucha información sobre Amsat Argentina y Lusat, primer satélite argentino. Como dato curioso, pude notar que el operador estaba muy confundido con el año, a cada instante decía 2007 y en una sola oportunidad le escuché decir 2008. atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, UT Jan 23, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) ** PERU. 4790.20, Radio Visión, Chiclayo not heard 0750-1100 23 Jan. 3329.53, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco, 1100 to 1110 drum based exotic music, very good signal, "...ay caramba... en el ....Ondas del Huallaga..." 23 Jan. -- Orquesta juventud yacus - huanuco - peru http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvXPUgma-no (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach - República de Florida :-), NRD 535D, 746 Pro, R8, R75, Elliptic Low Pass Audio Filters, Noise reducing antenna, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Subtext: gorillas, and affair between a crane and a harp (gh, DXLD) ** QATAR. BRITISH STAFF TIFF AT ALJAZEERA. "In a tiff that speaks volumes about the naiveté with which they ventured into the Arab world, the largely British staff at Al Jazeera English is in an uproar over cuts in salaries and benefits and the sense that, as one anonymous insider posted on the Dubai media blog, 'despite many members of staff putting in over 70 hour weeks and not taking leave for over a year, Al Jazeera doesn’t really seem to care.' With some employees quitting and others talking of a strike, the blogger wrote, there is an overwhelming sense in the newsroom that 'we are being used.' Journalists in the Arab world being used? Perish the thought." Lawrence Pintak, Arab Media & Society, January 2008 Posted: 22 Jan 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Re 8-008, R. Tikhiy Okean, Vladivostok, off the air? Live audio streaming of Primorskiy Radio-Vladivostok on 810 kHz reactivated on 23 Jan. http://www.ptr-vlad.ru/tv&radio/listen/ Direct links: http://www.ptr-vlad.ru/tv&radio/Radio810(16).m3u http://www.ptr-vlad.ru/tv&radio/Radio810(24).m3u http://www.ptr-vlad.ru/tv&radio/Radio810(48).m3u http://www.ptr-vlad.ru/tv&radio/Radio810(96).m3u I'm born 1948, DXing since 1960. Rx which I use now ICOM IC-R9000, JRC NRD-535, NRD-345, NRD-515, SONY CRF-1 with Narrow Ver. and VHF ICOM IC-R7100. Ant.: ALA100 + shielded element and ALA1530+ (S. Hasegawa, NDXC-HQ, Jan 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Could not get the 96 to run; perhaps the parentheses are confusing? But when I clicked on same link http://www.ptr-vlad.ru/tv&radio/Radio810(96).m3u at /listen page it connected, just to continuous tone at 1941 UT Jan 24. But operatic baritone at 2049; 2100 nice chimes and R. Rossii novosti from Moskva. I thought I heard the English word ``businessman`` mentioned. Could that be? How do you spell that in Cyrillic? Indeed, the Tikhiy Okean audio archive just below the lisenlive linx stops on Oct 21 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5960 and 7330, R. Tikhiy Okean, Vladivostok, Jan 24, continues to be off the air from *0935-1000* (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. Radio St. Helena has a "limited amount“ of RSH 40th Anniversary Memorabilia available. Products and prices are as follows in Sterling: Tee-shirt (in sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL) £4.00 Magnet £1.50 Key ring £1.50 Bottle opener style key ring £3.00 Coaster £3.00 Postage is £2 for one T-shirt to post airmail. The other smaller items would cost £1 postage (for one item). If you order more than one of the small items (like key rings), it would cost £1 for the first small item plus an additional 20 pence per 20 grams for the other small items ordered. Shortwave listeners MUST e-mail Laura Lawrence, RSH Station Manager at Station.Manager @ helanta.sh saying when and how they have sent the money, then RSH can confirm this with the Bank, and then RSH will post the items. Note: The Buyer MUST be certain to pay all charges involved. Possible charges may include charges for: -- conversion of his money to Pounds Sterling and -- transferring the money to the United Kingdom. ---------------------------------------------------- If sending money from INSIDE the United Kingdom: ---------------------------------------------------- Receiving Bank: Lloyds TSB Bank, 39 Threadneedle Street, LONDON, EC2R 8AU, UK UK Sort-Code: 30-00-09. Beneficiary Account Name: Bank of St. Helena. Beneficiary Account Number: 02936318 Reference: SHNMS, A/C No: 20619002 with your Name. Note: This reference MUST be included; otherwise payment will not be made. Be sure to include your name. ---------------------------------------------- If sending from OUTSIDE the UK please include: ----------------------------------------------- BIC Code: LOYD GB 21013. IBAN Code: GB29 LOYD 300009 02936318. Note: It is advisable not to mention that the funds are for onward transmission to St. Helena, as this may cause confusion at your sending bank (Laura Lawrence via Robert Kipp, Langen, Germany, Jan 09 and 19, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** SAMOA [and non]. SAMOAN PUBLIC RADIO SALE The script of our recent [RNZI Mailbox, January 21, 2008] radio documentary on the future of public radio in Samoa and reflections on past experience of privatization in the Cook Islands and American Samoa is now online at http://www.radioheritage.net Plans to sell the SBC's AM, FM and TV stations have been heralded for some 20 years, and, finally, in the station's 60th anniversary year, privatization seems likely. "Samoan Radio Sale" considers the state of SBC, its competition on the Apia airwaves, and similarities with the contemporary radio dials in Pago Pago and Avarua. It also looks at the importance of maintaining the expensive but vital AM transmitters for cyclone and other natural disasters. With the arrival of bright and breezy public radio from Radio Australia on the FM dial in both Apia and Avarua in recent months, perhaps local public radio in Samoa and other islands is now being replaced by free radio services coming from outside the region. The Pacific Plan suggests that new radio services are needed across the region as part of a digital future. The BBC, Radio France International, China Radio International and Radio Australia all provide free public radio via local FM outlets in more and more islands as discussed in the article at www.radioheritage.net. Radio broadcasting across the entire region is fragile in many ways, and whether the sale of Samoa's SBC to private commercial operators will highlight this fragility even more in the coming months remains to be seen. Public, commercial and community broadcasters together face major technology, content, economic viability, media freedom and audience challenges, similar to those facing stations in Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. "Samoan Radio Sale" is one of a series of articles about contemporary radio issues across the region being released by the Radio Heritage Foundation during the coming months. A Pacific Radio Conference organized by the Radio Heritage Foundation to consider the challenges ahead is in preliminary planning. This will be held in Wellington, New Zealand on September 28-30, 2008. You can listen to a podcast of the documentary by visiting Radio New Zealand International http://www.rnzi.com and click on the audio for the Mailbox program for January 21 2008 (David Ricquish, NZ, RHF, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Man oh man!!! If you have any interest in modern AM broadcasting in the Pacific, this is the article to read. Very well done and with beautiful pictures, BUT very depressing from a DXer's point of view. We've been wondering of late how come we hear so very few DX signals from the islands "out past Hawaii." Well, here is why.... My QSLs from out there are even more precious to me, now.... Highly recommended! (John Bryant, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA, IRCA via DXLD) John, You are so right. The World has changed. Part of the issue with hearing Pacific DX, is the conditions are not what they ere 25 years ago. Even though I have the same EWE antenna (different wire of course), I have had 27 years, it still runs to the same tree and branches, the Pacific DX is no longer there. I am glad I was so avid at the dial for many years going after the flea power Pacific stations. A few I have missed out, never hearing like Niue Island on 594, Norfolk on 1566, but I have been fortunate to hear and QSL most of them through the years. Fiji has been one of the easiest, with the old 891 (before that 890), frequency of 2 kW, later 10 kW, booming in night after night. Later on they ran the Hindi programming on there (Net 2). The logging of Radio Cook Islands on 630 back in 1982 with 500 watts during extreme auroral conditions, after a typhoon destroyed their transmitter site and they were operating at low power for a time and catching the earlier Western Samoa on 1062 and 1404 kHz. Then Wallis on 1188 back in 1984. Palau on 1584, and Guam on 567, 612, and 801. I was fortunate to log and QSL them all. It was a blast, night after night, tuning in to lots of voices from the tiny islands in the Pacific. Going back farther to the 70s, listening night after night to WVUV American Samoa with 10 kW and their Top 40 Rock show and even AFRTS Marshalls on 1220 with 1 kW. I could write a book on all of the fantastic years I have at the dials logging the great stations of the Pacific. Those days are missed, but I have it all on reel to reel tape, if I ever get around to getting one of my machines fixed. But we do have our QSLs and the adventures around how we logged the stations. Great memories. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) ** SINGAPORE. 7235, R Warna/RIA, 2325-2340, Jan 15, Bahasa Malaysia talks by man and woman with a strong signal. IS 2330 by a Swiss cuckoo-clock! ID as "RRW" just with letters, 43443 (Kaj Bredahl Jorgensen, Greve, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. Re 8-009, Slovakia closes MW, but not 1098 --- But 1098 is off after 1700/1800/1900 now, so it's no surprise I did not hear it... It appears that the Regina relays on mediumwave ceased already on Jan 7: http://www.rozhlas.sk/inetportal/2007/index.php?lang=1&stationID=0&page=showNews&id=46333&lang=1 Officially the new arrangements came into force on Jan 14, so did some of the now silent transmitters stay on air for a few days more? http://www.rozhlas.sk/inetportal/2007/index.php?lang=1&stationID=0&page=showNews&id=46833&lang=1 1017 from Rimavská Sobota is in fact a reactivation, it had been switched off in November 2003, leaving only 567 on air which in turn they now took off and fired up 1017 again. Nitra planned 100 kW -- which site? Currently in use on 1098 is the "old" Jarok site, until 2003 active on 927 with 50 kW. But there is also another Nitra site, Velke Zaluzie, with an SRV 750 (or maybe SRV 751) transmitter, closed down in summer 2003 after some years of reduced power (260 kW) operation in favour of Jarok. The 750 kW beast does not appear to be a candidate for 100 kW operation, so maybe a new 100 kW solid-state rig will be installed at either site? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 6120, Channel Africa, *0255, 0355*, 20 Jan. Swahili/English ID loop with bird call/instrumental IS, log drums/pips at 0300 into presumed news, heard much better at 0355* with French/English ID loop & bird call/instrumental IS (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [non]. Hi Glenn, Does Radio Exterior de España 1200-1400 11910 still relay from Beijing? There is no signal these days, I turn to it in Tianjin. Lenfant Lee --- Please pay a visit my QSL album at http://picasaweb.google.com/lenfant.lee/QSL (Li Meng, 401-6-4, No. 7 Yuhong Road, Hebei District, Tianjin 300240, China, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Lenfant, I vaguely recall a report a few months ago that this transmission was off the air (temporarily?), but can`t find it now. Aoki says the site is Xian, but HFCC says Beijing (Glenn to Lenfant, via DXLD) ** SUDAN. From my listening post next to Kampala, I checked the frequencies of the Sudanese Radio as well. Reception in Kampala is of course “local-like” and I did not pay to much attention to these stations. The EMWG is accurate, I found all stations active, sometimes being a bit “off channel”. Worth mentioning: R Peace in Arabic on 963 MW from Khartoum with a 100 kW, I checked if there is a English Programme as it was on SW (no longer active there) in the 1800-1900 time span, but only Arabic programmes aired. Southern Sudan R is a station from Juba. They broadcast in local African languages, not Arabic or Sudanese Arabic at least at the time I listened. They have English news along with messages to NGO people etc. aired 1430-1445, the English sounds a little bit “Pidgin”-like though (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) I think he has things confused. WRTH 2008 says 963 is General program from Khartoum. This may be the one recently in the press as being renamed by the central government ``Radio Peace``. WTFK the Juba station he refers to? WRTH says 693 kHz there – not 963 --- was reported in English at 1800. There is another ``Radio Peace`` on 4750, SS private missionary outlet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. SLOVAKIA, 9825, Miraya FM, 1508 Jan 24, News in English and ID. After the news there was programming in what they call simple Arabic. I did hear a few announcements giving the shortwave time and frequency schedule. Some co-channel interference but get better as the hour went on (DX Tuner Sweden via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. 972 MW, Orzu radiates a signal towards south / south- west and I was never able to pick it up when being in Denmark. Over there in Uganda it is a standard station. I doubt that the programmes from various stations as listed in the Asian-Pacific-Log are still aired via this station. From afternoon until around 0400 I got R Aap ki Dunyaa (VoA Urdu programme) only (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** TANZANIA. The situation regarding the usage of the MW seems to be quite stable, transmitters from almost every site are active like listed in WRTH and EMWG. Only exception is the FS frequency 1035 MW which is not in use. I doubt that there is any FS any longer at all. The Radio One channels 1440 MW in English and 1323 MW in Swahili are also there and both very powerful even just radiating 10 kW (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** THAILAND. R. Thailand, Udon Thani (Presumed) 2110-2114 UT, January 24, 2008. SIO 444. Talk by man in Thai? Language, 2113 singing by man, abrupt signoff at 2114. Per PWBR signoff time is 2115. My VOA Prop software said that the propagation path was open short path, heading 353 degrees, distance14407 km and long path, heading 173 degrees, distance 24598 km. 120-11 meterdipole and Icom IC-746 Pro (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF Lakeland, FL, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTFK? Must be 9535 as scheduled, transmitted azimuth 313 degrees, and also reported a semihour earlier from Michigan: (gh) 9535, Radio Thailand; 2035-2044:20*, 24-Jan; M&W in English with RT News, National News; 2044 English closing and off abruptly in mid- sked; back on at 2044:50 with bells IS. SIO=3+53 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) European service ** UGANDA. Being in Kampala, I checked the Ugandan MW frequencies of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation. While almost all of the neighbouring countries, Kenya and Tanzania’s station are active, the situation in Uganda is totally different. From the listed transmitters only two are active which are as follows: Butebo 729 MW Blue network (listed as Red network 100 kW), but irregularly, and Kampala Red Network as listed (20 kW) (909 MW ? DSWCI Ed) in // with 7195 (daylight) and 4976 (evening and mornings). This might explain that there is a investment plan existing with a Japanese company to reorganize the usage of the MW and invest in new transmitters as reported in MWN recently (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, visiting Uganda, DSWCI DX Window Jan 23 via DXLD) ** U K [non]. WHYY-FM [Philadelphia PA] news and notes --- I checked up on BBC World Service hours via WHYY's (90.9) HD-2 stream per http://whyy.org --- it's M-F at 7 am-noon and 1-6 pm ET [1200-1700, 1800-2300 UT], with mostly music or feature programs on weekends, including BBCWS' entertainment show, "The Ticket" on Saturday mornings at 10 am. Classical or opera music dominates the 6 pm-6 am slot. Also, if you listened to WHYY at midnight ET on Jan. 24, expecting to hear BBCWS as they would normally do, instead they aired a show about the history of anti-Semitism in America, titled "No Dogs or Jews Allowed" -- something to get some beg-a-thon $$$ rolling in? They then went to BBC from 1 am. This ought to rankle some listeners around Philadelphia who depend on hearing some BBC news before sleep -- especially when one depends on a good stereo signal when SW channels aimed at Africa are not always reliable (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Jan 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Radio Miami International in italiano --- A partire dal 4 febbraio WRMI parla in italiano: il lunedì alle 1530 UT su 7385 kHz e il martedì alle 2300 su 9955 l'emittente di Miami trasmetterà una versione personalizzata della trasmissione Studio DX (Roberto Scalgione, who produces the program, Sicily, Jan 22, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** U S A. Outdoing VOI, WBCQ 9330 was heard with open (reduced) carrier for at least 4 minutes from tune-in 1512 Jan 23. Quite an improvement over Radio Weather (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WYFR, 5745, with Camping, Jan 23 at 0640 overridden by open carrier and then brief tonetest before going off. Typical behaviour of IBB, probably testing transmitter to be used later by R. Martí, tho not scheduled until *1000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Friends, In the next DX Radio program, I will answer questions. I suggest those who are starting to practice the hobby, listen, record the program and send your questions about the hobby, however basic they may seem, to our e-mail: py2uaj @ bol.com.br DX Radio is a program that addresses the world of short waves! It goes on the air, from Radio CVC, on Fridays, at 16 hours, Brazilian summer time [1800 UT], on the frequency of 15410 kHz, in the range of 19 metres. It is reprised on Saturday morning 9 am [1100 UT], the same frequency, and midnight [0200 UT Sunday] on 11745 kHz. And on Sunday, at 22h [0000 UT Monday] on 11745 kHz. The production and presentation of the programmes are by are members of DX Club of Brazil, with the technical coordination and production of Célio Romais. QRV (Ulysses Galletti, Member of DX Club of Brazil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I assume it`s entirely in Portuguese, tho Ulysses asked me to publicize this with a machine translation to English, which I have improved (gh) ** U S A. KOOP TO RETURN TO AIR AFTER BLAZE, WITH HELP FROM KVRX AREA RADIO STATIONS TEAM UP TO HELP EAST AUSTIN INSTITUTION By Sarah Wilson 1/24/08 Media Credit: Jeffrey McWhorter [caption:] History sophomore Willie Burnett spins metal records in the KVRX radio station Wednesday morning. KVRX has taken over the airtime vacated by KOOP until KOOP recovers from the intentionally-set Jan. 6 fire that severely damaged the station's studio and put them off the air. Radio listeners will once again be able to tune their stations to KOOP FM 91.7, after its brief absence due to a Jan. 6 studio fire. The station will not to have to wait to resume broadcasts for studio repairs because Entercom Communications Studio, which runs Magic 95.5, Mix 94.7 and Talk Radio 1370, will allow KOOP to borrow a studio beginning Jan. 25, according to KOOP's Web site. Since the fire, however, more than 100 student volunteers from UT's KVRX radio station have been broadcasting 24 hours a day to fill KOOP's program time, said Wayne Wenske, spokesman for the office of the vice president for student affairs. Stephanie Bonham, KVRX student manager, said deciding to fill KOOP's air time after they asked for the favor was an instinctive decision and that she knew students would be willing to take on extra hours. "KOOP is a community station like us, and we have a very close bond," Bonham said. "We share the 91.7 frequency, and we have to take care of it for each other." Staffing the studio for an additional 76 hours per week has been difficult, but volunteers have done their best to appeal to KOOP listeners, she said. KOOP DJ Lace DuRant normally broadcasts her show, "Ear Candy," through KOOP on Saturdays, and KVRX has accommodated her music every weekend, Bonham said. KVRX also mimicked KOOP's Sunday morning "Jamaican Gold" show by playing reggae and ska genres during the same slot. The fire, which the Austin Fire Department deemed an arson attack, is the station building's third fire in two years but the first that started in the studio, said Andrew Dickens, KOOP president. The studio's damage totals $300,000 for the building and equipment, he said. Bonham said KVRX will always be willing to help its partner station, and Dickens praised KVRX for its support. "We're very grateful to KVRX and appreciate their effort to keep our presence on the air," Dickens said. "We really deeply appreciate it and hope we can do something similar for them in the future." (Daily Texan, UT, via Artie Bigley, OH, DXLD) I heard something on KOOP`s webstream which did not match their previously scheduled programming; maybe KVRX (gh) KOOP RADIO TO RETURN TO AIR, HOST BENEFITS By Deborah Sengupta Stith | Wednesday, January 23, 2008, 04:10 PM 91.7 KOOP Radio will return to the airwaves Friday morning at 9 a.m. after being off the air since a fire took down the station’s Airport Boulevard studio on the weekend of Jan. 5. The Austin Fire Department has ruled that the fire was intentionally set, and a reward has been offered for any information leading to the arrest of those responsible. This is the third fire in two years that KOOP has suffered. The first 2 were ruled accidental. KOOP officials estimate it will take 3-4 months to get the Airport Boulevard studio back up and running. In the interim, KOOP will broadcast from a vacant studio donated by Entercom Communications, home to Austin radio stations Majic 95.5, Mix 94.7 and Talk Radio 1370. The fully equipped studio has been idle since Entercom sold The Beat 104.3 last year. (The Beat, now owned by Border Media, currently broadcasts on 104.9.) Entercom approached KOOP last week about donating the studio and adjoining office space to the community radio station to use free of charge until the necessary repairs can be made to the Airport Boulevard location. In the interest of full disclosure I have to note that I’m not a casual observer in the goings on of KOOP Radio. I’ve been programming the local music show “Around The Town Sounds” on the first Thursday of each month since early 2004, when the show’s founder Charlie Martin contacted me after stumbling across my self-produced Web site dedicated to local hip-hop and club culture. I began my stint at KOOP in the old downtown location with its quirky hot pink and mint color scheme, faulty air-conditioning and diligent crew of cockroaches. I worked in the interim KMFA studio following the 2006 fires and like the rest of the KOOP family, I was thrilled (if somewhat astonished) when the Airport Boulevard studio opened and I suddenly found myself broadcasting from a real honest-to-god modern radio station. And like the rest of the KOOP family, it truly hurt my heart when I found out that the fire that did an estimated $300,000 in damage to the new facility was intentionally set. Like many KOOPers, my enthusiasm for the station waxes and wanes. The station is a collectively organized, volunteer-run effort. Like most volunteer work, it sometimes becomes exhausting and like most collectives, the bureaucracy can be frustrating. But at its heart, KOOP is an organization of passionate people who come together out of a very sincere love of music and community. And I’m proud to say I’m a part of it. Photos: KOOP Radio through the fires [linked] The following benefits have been organized to help KOOP. . . http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2008/01/23/koop_radio_to_return_to_air_ho.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. ARKANSAS BUSINESS STORY ON KATV RESUMING ANALOG BROADCASTING KATV (7) broadcasting analog signal via auxiliary analog transmitter of KTHV (11) Little Rock (Shinall Mountain site in west Little Rock) http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=102477.54928.114600&view=all&link=perm (Fritze, KC5KBV, Prentice, Star City, AR Grid: EM43aw http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com Jan 22, WTFDA via DXLD) Following collapse of its own 2000-foot tower (gh) ** U S A. Our visit to New York last week found lots of work in progress on two of the city's AM sites. Construction is now in full swing on the daytime 50 kW power increase at Salem's WWDJ (970 Hackensack NJ), where a new Nautel transmitter and phasor are in place in a trailer at the transmitter site the station shares with WWRV (1330 New York). The new daytime signal is expected to be on the air by late March. Meanwhile, a few miles to the south, there are now eight towers up at the shared site of WKDM (1380 New York) and WWRU (1660 Jersey City NJ), where WKDM has boosted its night power from 5 kW to 13 kW, using its original three towers and a new tower that's been added to its array. (Lots of pictures coming soon over at Tower Site of the Week!) (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch Jan 21 via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1757-1812, Jan 24, non- stop African music and singing, yet again no Spice FM news today (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 4828, Voice of Zimbabwe (presumed), 0238-0325, Jan 24, non-stop soul/gospel type singing in English, seemed to be the same singer for all the songs, not the usual African high-life music, mostly fair, CODAR QRM, no announcements of any kind (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6775-6820, presumed Chinese OTH radar, Jan 23 at 1433 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ GEOGRAPHY FOR DXERS http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq?ba75=7fb6 An enjoyable challenge regarding geographical knowledge. (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach - República de Florida :-), NRD 535D, 746 Pro, R8, R75, Elliptic Low Pass Audio Filters, Noise reducing antenna, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FALL 2007 TA LOGGINGS Hello to all of you, I just finished compiling my last fall Trans- Atlantic loggings. The highlights are two Russian longwave stations, 1548 Moldova who was coming like a bomb over Kuwait. I had my first catch of Portugal (2 stations) Holland and Belgium at least. I wish that the conditions could remain forever as they were the first two weeks of November. I've tried to animate a bit those logs with a couple of mp3 clips. Enjoy. http://pages.globetrotter.net/esnaud/2007_fall_loggings.pdf (Sylvain Naud, Portneuf, QC, Canada, mwdx yg via DXLD) Axually several nice mp3 clips are linked from his pdf file, including longwave (gh) CJOY INTERNET RADIO My website is now handicapped accessible. I am still running your program. Check us out at: http://www.cjoyinternetradio.com [also linx to BlindTreasures.Com for electronics, house-wares, and other merchandise]. (Pastor Darryl Breffe, CJOY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NUEVO GRUPO “RADIOMERCADO” Se ha creado un nuevo grupo denominado "radiomercado" y estará dedicado al COLECCIONISMO DE RADIOAFICION Y DX, al intercambio y venta entre colegas de: equipos de radio, antenas, QSL's, pegatinas, banderines, fotografías, boletines DX, libros, grabaciones, recuerdos de emisoras, y un largo etc. de material relacionado con la radioafición y el DX. Los interesados pueden inscribirse en: http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/radiomercado/ Un cordial saludo (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) SORTING EIBI PROGRAM Dear Friends, I just installed a Zipped file on my Home Page http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com for download. It is free and with his permission, consists of the B07 Shortwave Schedule that our friend Eike Bierwirth created earlier last year. The file is in Zip format. Once it is downloaded, unzip it and run the program entitled "setup.exe" which will load the database onto your computer in a Directory called C:\Aconvert. The database uses the QBE (Query by Example) method to sort the records that Eike created. It is very fast and easy to use. It sorts by Frequency, Station Name, Time, Language, and Country. You can update or enter new files by the way. Drop me an email with any comments or problems. Thanks (Chuck Bolland, ka4prf @ peoplepc.com Jan 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If you downloaded the free database I advertised the other day and ran into problems, please try it again. There were a few loading problems which have been corrected (Bolland, Jan 24, ibid.) Eike updates the whole thing periodically, so you used an old version from last year? Last update: January 4 (Glenn Hauser, to Chuck) Glenn, I used the one that was available when I started building the program. It took me a month or more to get that thing working. But if I have time in the near future, I will update it. Incidentally, the present program can be updated by the user if he wants just by creating or editing a record (Chuck Bolland, ibid.) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ LAST ALASKA LANGUAGE SPEAKER DIES A woman believed to be the last native speaker of the Eyak language in the north-western US state of Alaska has died at the age of 89. Marie Smith Jones was a champion of indigenous rights and conservation. She died at her home in Anchorage. She helped the University of Alaska compile an Eyak dictionary, so that future generations would have the chance to resurrect it. Nearly 20 other native Alaskan languages are at risk of disappearing. Ms Jones is described by her family as a tiny chain smoking woman who was fiercely independent, says the BBC's Peter Bowes in Los Angeles. "To the best of our knowledge, she was the last full-blooded Eyak alive," her daughter Bernice Galloway told the Associated Press news agency. "She was a woman who faced incredible adversity in her life and overcame it. She was about as tenacious as you can get." She believed passionately in preserving the Eyak language and wanted a written record of it to be kept so for future generations, our correspondent adds. 'Tragic mantle' The Eyak ancestral homeland runs along almost 500km (300 miles) of the Gulf of Alaska. With her husband, a white Oregon fisherman, Ms Jones had nine children, seven of whom are still alive. But none of them learned Eyak because they grew up at a time when it was considered wrong to speak anything but English, her daughter said. According to Michael Krauss, a linguist and professor with whom she worked, "she was very much alone as the last speaker of Eyak" for the last 15 years. "She understood as only someone in her unique position could, what it meant to be the last of her kind," Mr Krauss said. "It's the first, but probably not the last, at the rate things are going, of the Alaska Native languages to go extinct. She understood what was at stake and its significance, and bore that tragic mantle with grace and dignity." Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7206411.stm Published: 2008/01/24 10:56:02 GMT © BBC MMVIII (via Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA., DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see CANADA; ITALY ++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FRAUDFINDER The "FraudFinder" was a brainchild of C. M. Stanbury II, a legendary and controversial DXer. To put it mildly, I look normal and conventional compared to "Stan"! The FraudFinder was a vertical antenna, a horizontal antenna, and a switch to select between the two. That was it. Oh, you needed to use a shielded lead-in with the two antennas, but Stan never got around to explaining how you connect a shielded lead-in (like coax) to a random length antenna. Stan's theory was that you would see the same signal variation between the two antennas if stations were in the same general area. For example, all 49-meter stations from Venezuela or Colombia would show the same signal difference --- say, two s-units stronger on the horizontal antenna --- and this would let you determine where a station was. If a station showed the same strength variation as a station from Venezuela, the unknown station was supposedly also in Venezuela. There are so many things wrong with Stan's cockeyed theory I don't even know where to begin. The remarkable thing is that Electronics Illustrated magazine printed the article; it says a lot about the technical "expertise" of their editorial staff! Stan was often a sucker for pseudo-technical gibberish, and his "FraudFinder" is perhaps the textbook example of that weakness. (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, Jan 23, ABDX via DXLD) NOISE REDUCTION HELPS FIGHT CODAR Hi all, I like to DX on the 4.7 to 5.0 MHz band, but as you may already know there's a lot of interference there which is caused by the CODAR signal that is all over the place. I have found if I set my Noise Reduction function to 50 or below a little, it cuts off the intensity of that CODAR somewhat. What do you use? (Chuck Bolland, ka4prf, Jan 24, http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com to NRD-545 yg, cc to DX LISTENING DIGEST) REVIEWS OF THE ICOM 746 PRO http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1951 WRTH and PWBR both avoid reviewing this receiver/transceiver. Feels like tuning a Drake R7, good IF notch, PBT and filter selection. -------- R75 MODIFICATION KITS FROM KIWA http://www.kiwaelectronics.com/ Note the new **R75-12 may not be able to be modified for AM synchro. **The R75 is sold new as the ICOM IC-R75-12 http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr/0175.html (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach - República de Florida :-), NRD 535D, 746 Pro, R8, R75, Elliptic Low Pass Audio Filters, Noise reducing antenna, Jan 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Read the following in DXLD 8-009, GAMBIA: "When, o when will these international broadcasters ever learn that the way to go is SW, which can`t be ``banned`` (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)" Only when people with actual experience/knowledge make the plans and decisions. Unfortunately, as long as we have "educated idiots" making decisions these stupid things will get worse. In my life, seems we've become a nation of educated idiots. Gone are the practical decisions. Gone are the knowledgeable decisions. Also seems a lot of the dumb decisions are made by political appointees. The appointees are given positions due to friendships or $ contributions. These unknowledgeable, based on the subject (look at the FEMA scandal), people make wide ranging decisions touching many aspects of our lives. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, VA USA, Jan 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###