DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-014, February 3, 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 2008 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 1393 **flexible times 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 ** AFGHANISTAN. 6699.996, 25.1 1450, Radio Solh tillbaka?? efter en lång tid av ohörbarhet, åtminstone hos mig. Typisk musik. 2 SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Feb 3 via DXLD) ** ALGERIA [non]. GERMANY/U.K. A-08 season price skirmish? DTK-TDF- DIG against MER-VTC England? RTAlgiers tests in Arabic / Holy Qur`an service from Jan. 28 till Jan. 30 via DTK and MER: 0600-0800 on 17660 DHA 250 kW / 270 deg 0800-0900 on 15605 WER 500 kW / 210 deg 0800-1000 on 15750 SIN 250 kW / 170 deg 1800-1900 on 7210 SKN 300 kW / 195 deg 1800-1900 on 7260 WER 500 kW / 210 deg 2300-2400 on 5915 RMP 500 kW / 190 deg (from BUL via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 28) I missed hearing the tests on Monday evening but have heard DHA 17660 today (the 29th) with a faint signal at 0730 UT but improving slightly before close. WER 15605 is heard after 0800 UT peaking to about 4 on the S meter, and not improving before off at 0900 UT. SIN 15750 is weaker, so not too much signal (or is it propagation?) is coming out of the back of the antenna. At my location these frequencies are currently too high for best propagation, but will probably be better heard further south. Does anyone know what the purpose of the continuing tests is? The beams used by the different transmitters suggest that the programme is not aimed exclusively at Algeria. I would have thought by now RTA - and others - should know what works and what doesn't (Noel R. Green, England, UK, Jan 29, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 1 via DXLD) ** ANGOLA. 4950, R. Nacional Angola, Mulenvos, 02/03, PP 0025-0039 African music, 0030 ads, 0031 announcer discussions with some listeners by phone about Carnival aspects, people involvement, financial, announcer questions: "o Carnaval une a pátria, une as pessoas?". 33223 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil (23 33 S, 46 51 W), Sony ICF SW40, dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 15344.48v, R. Nacional, 0207-0222, Feb 2, excited live sports coverage, fair, // 6059.93 (poor/QRM/6060.0). 15344.40v, R. Nacional, 2148-2207, Feb 3, jazz music, pips, IDs and announcements, more jazz, good reception. The upper bands are doing very well today (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. Ö1, 13730, Feb 1 at 1400 going from English to German, just as QRM from CRI via Cuba`s dirty 13740 transmitter starts modulating. Needlessly complex English/Deutsch language schedule from Austria at 1305-1400 per EiBi: 13730 1305-1320 Mo AUT Radio Austria Int. E Eu 13730 1305-1320 Tu-Fr AUT Radio Austria Int. D Eu 13730 1305-1330 SaSu AUT Radio Austria Int. E Eu 13730 1320-1345 Mo-Fr AUT Radio Austria Int. D Eu 13730 1330-1335 SaSu AUT Radio Austria Int. D Eu 13730 1335-1400 SaSu AUT Radio Austria Int. E Eu 13730 1345-1400 Mo AUT Radio Austria Int. D Eu 13730 1345-1400 Tu-Fr AUT Radio Austria Int. E Eu Otherwise at 0500-1830 it`s all in German. Per HFCC, 13730 switches from a 160 degree antenna to 0 degrees (or non-direxional?) at 1200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 7250. Bangladesh Betar with 1228 to 1245 carrier on, time pips and then into English news. Hum of the transmitter, yl and om with English news. Didn't count the time pips and didn't hear them yesterday. Could pick out a word or two but generally in the mud (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, 746 Pro, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7250, presumed Bangladesh Betar, 1228-1242, Jan 29, English. Strings and wind instrument IS. YL with talk at BoH, able to note occasional English. Hindi-like music bit at 1237 followed by YL, "...now the news in ...". Lost the signal at 1242. Poor, listening in ECCS-USB (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. Radio Belarus: http://tvr.by/ or http://www.radiobelarus.tvr.by/ Radio Belarus is the national broadcaster of Belarus, although formally it’s “The National State Teleradiocompany of The Republic of Belarus”. By typing the short URL listed above into your web browser, you’ll get automatically redirected to the Russian-language version of the overall (Belteleradiocompany) site, so click ENG in the top left corner for English (oddly, the other option, Belarussian (BEL), is not the default). You can click on the Welcome box (beneath the clock) to get to the external radio, or simply enter the long URL above to go directly to the Radio Belarus website. The default is English this time, with German and Polish options in addition to Belarussian and Russian. The home page provides direct access to internet audio (in Windows Media format), updated daily to present the latest programming in each language broadcast, as well as internetcast and aircast schedules (accuracy not confirmed; last year, several problems were noted). Of note, Radio Belarus supplements its two-hour weekly shortwave broadcasts in English with a further ten hours of internet broadcasting. Other main links from the homepage include Radiostation (a brief history), News, Air (schedules), Projects (information about programs and their hosts), and Contacts. While not without a few quirks, the Radio Belarus website is comprehensive and very easy to use (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** BELARUS. 7360, R. Belarus, 2155-2210, Jan 31, English. Pop-like music in native language at tune-in. ID at ToH followed by news; signal too weak/fluttery to detail. Poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. Radio Racyja via Lithuania heard on 5815 from 1537 tune in January 24 with good reception, again on January 25 and 26 signing on 1530 to 1728 off, programme of news, talk, pop and jazz music (Edwin Southwell, England, Feb WDXC Contact via DXLD) ** BENIN [and non]. THE BENIN TRANSMITTER IS ON AIR! The Lord has done GREAT things for us whereof we are GLAD? GREAT celebration surrounds 01 February 2008 in Africa gospel broadcasting as Trans World Radio`s first live broadcasts took place from their new station in the country of Benin. Recent test broadcasts from the 100 kW medium wave (AM) facility resulted in response from as far away as Abidjan, Côte d`Ivoire and even Portugal - 3,200 km away, surpassing the expectations of the engineers. Broadcasts can be heard on 1566 kHz in 14 languages. The vernacular programmes are produced, where possible, within the country of the listener. Many months, even years, of preparation have now culminated in programmes of listening pleasure and challenge such as: Bible storytelling, Bible studies, women`s and children`s programs, praise music and more. http://www.twrafrica.org/0127.asp (via Steve Whitt, Feb 2, MWC via DXLD) 1566 watch: UK here instead of TWR Benin --- Information posted on MW Circle indicated that 1 FEB (UTC) is to be the first full day of operation of TWR Benin on 1566 kHz. Operating times have been listed as 0200-0430 and 1600-2030 UT. I monitored 1566 just after UTC: 1 FEB at 0200. Dominant signal here in Billerica, MA had fair strength pop / oldies music and a British DJ. A quick survey of northwestern European DXTuners receivers showed this to be County Sound, UK. On some of the tuners it was mixed with another British station (a BBC 5 Live outlet) that wasn't competing with it here. On none of the European DXTuners did anything sounding like TWR Benin make an appearance (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, USA, NRC-AM via DXLD) Hi Glenn, (Tentative), TWR Benin. I noticed a station on 1566 medium wave last night and also tonight around 0237 UT with gospel sounding African vocals at good levels for a short time. I noticed your mentions of this new TWR station from Benin testing and then starting Feb 1. I was unable to get an ID before usual fade out but presuming this was it as I haven't heard a thing at all previously on 1566 from here that I can recall (Allen Willie, St. John's, Newfoundland, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6079.8, Radio San Gabriel, La Paz, 1340+ , January 20, Aymara, talk, 24442. 6165, Radio Logos, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 1353-1400!!!!!, January 21, Spanish, religious program, talk by male about the Bible, 25342 (Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Potrerillos in the "Valle del Sol", 70 km west of Mendoza City (1200 km from Buenos Aires), with DXers Miguel Castellino & Hector Goyena, Sony ICF2010 (2 receivers), Degen DE 1103, longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4409.79, R. Eco, 0218-0230*, Jan 27, Spanish. Easy- listening Spanish music. Announcer at 0024 with distorted audio; music from 0226 until pulled the plug at 0230. Poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4409.8, Radio Eco, Reyes, Beni, 2312-2328, 02-02, canciones, música de flauta, locutor presentando el programa: "Muy bien, muy bien por nuestra música". 25322. (Méndez) 4699.3, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta, 2305-2322, 02-02, locutor, español, leyendo cartas de los oyentes con saludos para familiares. 25322. (Méndez) 4865, Radio Logos, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 2252-2310, 02-02, locutor, locutora, español, comentarios religiosos. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 3235, Guarujá FM, Guarujá Paulista, 0045+, January 20, Portuguese, many identifications, 24332. 6082v, Radio Novas de Paz, Curitiba, 2239+, January 22, Portuguese, program: "Correspondencia Marumbi-Novas de Paz", 24442 (Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Potrerillos in the "Valle del Sol", 70 km west of Mendoza City (1200 km from Buenos Aires), with DXers Miguel Castellino & Hector Goyena, Sony ICF2010 (2 receivers), Degen DE 1103, longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Áudio da Guarujá em 5045 kHz --- Eu que sempre critiquei a qualidade de áudio da Guarujá Paulista em 5045 kHz e em outras frequências de 49m e 90m, até pouco antes de a Globo ter direito às ondas médias, posso dizer, agora, que melhorou sensivelmente depois da reforma de seu TX em 62m, que retransmite a Guarujá FM. Estive escutando a Guarujá em 5045 kHz, (ondas tropicais), com reprodução em caixas de som amplificadas ligadas ao meu rádio de sintonia digital de HF (IC718) e constatei que existe, agora, boa qualidade como "manda o figurino". Apesar de a programação não ser de meu gosto, fiz questão de prestar atenção no ribombar do contrabaixo nas músicas tocadas lá e percebi uma boa equalização. Agora,sim... Valeu o investimento. Emissora de rádio é isso, tem que investir, nem tanto na potência, ou também, mas principalmente na qualidade do áudio que é o maior "cartão de visitas" para quem a escuta. E não é fácil!! Valeu negociar as ondas médias com a Globo. Valeu (Luiz Chaine Neto, Brasil, Feb 2, radioescutas yg via DXLD) A Globo que fique bem feliz e realizada por ter comprado mais uma emissora AM, pois é o forte deles. Sabe-se que as Ondas Curtas nunca foram o forte deles, especialmente de alguns anos para cá. O maior exemplo é a inatividade e abandono da canaleta de 6030 Khz do Rio de Janeiro e os problemas técnicos enfrentados pela emissora paulista nos 9585 Khz, que por vezes, fica fora do ar, sem falar no àudio que está sempre "estourando" e distorcido. Já nos 11805 Khz, também acontece de ficar sem sinal por breves períodos ou portadora baixa (Édison Bocorny Jr., Brasil, Feb 2, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. I would have preferred to hear CMBF`s classical music, but 6060 cut off at 0702 Feb 2, uncovering R. Tupi, Curitiba, with full ID mentioning a ZY-call on MW, plus SW frequencies 9565, 11765 and 6060 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. 6000, presumed R. Varna, 2220-2234, Jan 27, listed Bulgarian. OM between lite pop music and ballads. Wiped out by RHC carrier at 2234. Weak/poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sundays only ** BURKINA FASO. 7230, R. Burkina, Ouagadougou, 02/03, dialects, 0817- 0828 local music alternating male talks, 0822 male talks. CNR QRM, 33433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil (23 33 S, 46 51 W), Sony ICF SW40, dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. 4905, 1 Feb, 0530 Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne - efter diverse patriotisk militärmusik kom ett antal kommunikeer angående det kritiska läget med rebellstyrkor som närmar sig N'Djamena. 3-4 CB (Christer Brunstrom, Sweden, SW Bulletin Feb 3 via DXLD) Rebel forces entered Ndjamena on Saturday. President Idriss Deby is said to be holed up in the presidential palace. Watch 4905 tonight!! (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4905 appears off air tonight - only Xizang audible on 4905 here in Caversham at 2115 (Alan Pennington, England, Feb 2, BDXC-UK via DXLD) I cannot receive Chad at 4905 kHz after 1800 when Lhasa was finished. 6165 kHz are blocked by TRT-Turkish, cannot confirm it (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Feb 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not heard this morning on 4905 kHz (my local time) in Australia - usually is (Ian Baxter, 2212 UT Feb 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That would before normal sign-off 2230 or 2300 on UT Sat (gh) Hi Glenn, We should still probably check on 4905, but seems they are now off the air. This per: REBELS PUT CHAD RADIO OFF AIR Chad state radio went off the air as rebels advanced into the capital, opposition leader Ibni Oumar Mahamat Saleh said. He made the claims in a telephone call from the central African nation's embattled capital, N'Djamena. Saleh said rebels had entered the city and shooting that had erupted in the morning appeared to have died down. He said there were no soldiers in his neighbourhood and the state broadcaster had gone off the air in the morning. . . http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jS6eJgA5L8ruiFMp0YUtBY5YxlzA (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DXLD) On Feb 1st (1800-2200 UT), I've heard some unusual type of official music like military and hymn, far away from what can be usually heard (traditional music, African chat, message service, etc.). The following day (Feb 2), no transmission as expected (Eric Cordier, Rennes, France, Feb 3, http://radioafrique.site.voila.fr ibid.) Dr Derek Lynch, Ireland Says: February 2nd, 2008 at 8:00 pm CHAD 4905 SILENT --- Radio Nationale Tchadienne’s new SW transmitter went silent today. I was unable to hear its French newscast at 1930. The frequency was totally blank - it’s not a case of poor reception. But this transmitter was putting in an excellent signal here, both mornings and evenings, since its recent inauguration. DL (Media Network blog via DXLD) Being lately the strongest African signal on 60 m. after 0500, not a trace of Chad for the last 3 to 4 days in a row (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Feb 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The national radio station was destroyed today by fires and looting as fighting raged between rebels and government forces in Chad's capital (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, 1544 UT Feb 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Including SW transmitter site, presumably elsewhere? (gh, ibid.) Glenn, The situation is very confused at the moment. Currently the fighting is concentrated in central N'Djamena. There are reports that the government still controls part of the city - obviously the rebels deny that, though they have admitted to "pockets of resistance." I think it is very unlikely that the shortwave transmitter site has been attacked - the rebels will need that to explain to people in other parts of this vast country what has happened. But clearly there was a battle in and/or around the headquarters of RNT. What the word "destroyed" actually means is impossible to say at this stage. It may just have been put out of action, not totally burned down. The impression I had from looking at the videos on YouTube was that the rebels are only interested in taking control of the city, not inflicting unnecessary casualites. Obviously in any action of this kind, where there's resistance there will also be collateral damage (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, 1659 UT Feb 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) YouTube videos of fighting in Chad In the absence of TV reports from Chad, I came across some videos posted on YouTube by members of Stop Genocide Now, who were at a hotel in N’Djamena, Chad, as the rebel forces entered the city. The group have now been evacuated. These are very high quality videos. Fighting in N’Djamena Part 1, 2, 3 (February 3rd, 2008 - 16:24 UTC by Andy Media Network blog, linked at http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/youtube-videos-of-fighting-in-chad via DXLD) Unfortunately the transmission center is located right midst the suburb houses, not easy for army troops to defend. 4904.97 60mb masts near 06'52.76"N 15 04'40.25"E CTCD N'djamena MW 840, SW4904 6165 7120 12 06'45.39"N 15 04'28.49"E MW reserve mast ? 12 06'42.84"N 15 04'39.93"E MW 840 kHz 12 06'44.50"N 15 04'25.20"E 7120 / 6165 kHz antenna ? 12 06'40.70"N 15 04'15.17"E Unid old poles ? 12 06'31.17"N 15 04'19.15"E (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 3, ibid.) NATIONAL RADIO DESTROYED IN CHAD - AFP Published: February 03, 2008 10:41 AM http://www.smartmoney.com/news/on/index.cfm?story=ON-20080203-000172-1041 NDJAMENA (AFP)--The main market in Ndjamena and the national radio station were destroyed Sunday by fires and looting, witnesses told AFP, as fighting raged between rebels and government forces in Chad's capital. One witness said: "The public market was partly set on fire in the morning after a helicopter (belonging to government forces) fired a rocket at rebels." "The start of the fire triggered a panic, after which the crowd came back to ransack the market," he said, as another witness reported that the radio station had been pillaged by a mob that smashed broadcasting equipment and made off with computers. (END) Dow Jones Newswires (via Alokesh Gupta, India, Feb 3, dxldyg via DXLD) That indeed suggests that the station has been put out of action rather than destroyed. Computers and equipment can be replaced if the building itself is intact. Although we (RNW) subscribe to AFP, it appears to me that the English-language reports are some hours behind those in French. I'm sure the translators at AFP are working under great pressure (Andy Sennitt, 1817 UT Feb 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BBC World Service has spokesman for the Chad rebels stating "We have secured the national radio..." 2140 GMT (Robert Wilkner, FL, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE [non]. VOLODIA TEITELBOIM, COSECHA PRÓDIGA DE UN INTELECTUAL COMUNISTA --- Falleció anoche el notable escritor y político chileno, entrañable amigo del pueblo cubano y su Revolución SANTIAGO DE CHILE.— El destacado político e intelectual comunista chileno Volodia Teitelboim murió este jueves a los 91 años, tras permanecer hospitalizado de gravedad varios días por una crisis respiratoria y un cáncer linfático. Teitelboim, uno de los rostros más emblemáticos de la izquierda chilena, se incorporó cuando era adolescente al Partido Comunista, del que fue secretario general, y durante la dictadura pinochetista (1973-1990) estuvo exiliado en Moscú. . . http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2008/02/01/cultura/artic04.html (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) OBIT EL EJEMPLO DE UN LUCHADOR COMUNISTA: VOLODIA TEITELBOIM categorias: Cultura - Nacional El gran dirigente comunista, el intelectual y escritor vivió su exilio en Moscú, desde donde dirigió el programa radial "Escucha Chile" que miles de chilenos y presos políticos oíamos en onda corta. Leído 145 veces Escrito por Domingo Cadin Hablar de Volodia es recordar a Salvador Allende, Víctor Jara, Pablo Neruda, entre otros importantes personajes de la vida política chilena, comprometida con el pueblo izquierdista en la recordada experiencia de la Unidad Popular, y es hablar también de la traición desembocada en el Golpe sangriento del 11 de septiembre de 1973 en que la ambición soldadesca y civil se impuso con el genocidio nunca visto en la nación de Lautaro y Gabriela Mistral. . . http://www.elmorrocotudo.cl/admin/render/noticia/13764 (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) OBIT ** COLOMBIA. Glenn, For the many on the group who read Spanish, the article listed here on FARC and programs for the hostages in Colombia was quite interesting. http://valenciadx2008.blogspot.com/2008/02/noches-de-radio-para-los-rehenes-de-las.html I would also like to commend José Miguel for the quality and detail on his various loggings that he posts several times a week from Spain (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. 6210, R. Kahuzi (tentative). Set the receiver and recorder to start at 1930, 1 Feb. Weak audio with a lot of talk by M. Discussions also. Music at 2000 and M announcer later. It usually goes off after 2000, and true to form, it went off at 2008:10. Right at threshold. Oddly never got any worse or better. Running out of time to get an ID on this one (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Have you ruled out V. of Greece, mixing product reported several times on 6210, 15630 minus 9420, as 15630 nominal closing is 1950? There has also been a Russian mix reported on 6210 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. The 40 kW ELCOR transmitter testing at Guápiles, as Raúl Saavedra has found out, is still being heard on 5954, Feb 1 at 2320 check with music, but too much Okeechobee 5950 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. DX'ers Unlimited Reruns --- The question is, where's Arnie? The last new edition of the DX program was 01/19/08, the Saturday weekend show. Since then the show has either been missing altogether or the January 19th show has been rebroadcast. The announcers that start off the English broadcast programming mention that Arnie will have his DXer's show but never let us know that is a rerun or not broadcasting a show at all. On 01/29/08 during the 2030 UT English broadcast on 11760 the announcer mentioned that Arnie is out of the country. Nothing new since then. Checking tonight at 0344 UT Sunday, Saturday night February 2 here in Oklahoma, the same rerun was on, still with no explanation of why. This is not the first time in the years I have monitored the DX show that Arnie has been missing without any explanation or a rerun of a previous show has been used to fill the time slot. Always without any explanation. Not earthshattering by any means but still a curiosity (Steve Cross, Del City, OK, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I thought that show sounded rather familiar, but then even the new ones do (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Another try to hear something else after RHC 0700* on 49m: Sat Feb 2 on 6060, heard R. Musical Nacional, CMBF network opening ``Por Primera Vez`` apparently newly acquired classical recordings, giving program address of Apartado 6659, Zona-6, but transmitter cut off at 0702*, uncovering Brazil, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. More network feed/frequency mixups at RHC, if their published schedules are to be believed: Sunday Feb 3 at 1440 found the Aló, Presidente service on unscheduled 12000 with one of the lead-up fill programs, Entre Cubanos; at 1440 said A,P would be coming up in 20-25 minutes on 13680, 13750, 11670, 11875, 17705; at 1443, 12000 had Somos Jóvenes, // 11875, weak 11670. Meanwhile, at 1444, main RHC separate musical program was axually heard in // on 11760, 11805, 13680, 13750. 1604 recheck, A,P was on 11670, 11875, 13750, 17750, but not audible on 13680. Later Feb 3 at 2233, found RHC in Creole VG on 17705: must have been sporadic E opening rather than weak F2 skip, and was // 9505 and 5965, the two scheduled frequencies for the 2230 Creole service while 17705 is supposed to be in Guarani! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. New Cubans this week are 590 CMHI R. Musical Nacional, usually competing with R. Rebelde and domestics, plus an even weaker 930 R. Musical Nacional parallel, unknown location. On 1220, R. Caribe faded up several times recently. On my normally "clearest" channel, 1090, I logged 1.5 kW R. Cadena Habana plus the stations listed in my report. Also new, 1440 CMJP R. Surco, occasionally rises to the top. 1100 R. Cadena Habana (parallel 1080, 1020, and 1040) repaired their unstable signal. It sounded good for a week, but is wobbling again. The 1100 and 1120 Cadena are the strongest here, often dominant and as loud as the strongest "Three Todopoderosos." Interestingly, the Cuban Dirección de Radio website does list 4 Cadena Habana AM stations without referencing frequencies, but when you go to the Radio Cadena Habana website only 3 AM frequencies are listed: 1080, 1090, and 1120. Go figure! Here are the strongest "Todopoderosos" here, all usually dominant - R. Progreso: 640 and 900; R. Rebelde: 670, 710, and 1180; R.Reloj: 570, 790, 820, and 1020. Needless to say, when you find one, the parallels are much easier to find, and this is particularly true for R. Reloj where I've heard the di dah dits on 950 under my strongest local (Doug Allen, K4LY, Inman SC; Kenwood TS-850, Flag antennas, 53-ft vertical, 80 meter dipole, 130-ft inverted V, NRC IDXD Feb 1 via DXLD) As with his last posting, these are not new as he claims. The only anomaly is his reported Musical Nacional on 930. I've not heard them there, nor do I have any previously reported logs of it on my list. But I'll try to check for it from here. There are more RCH channels than he reports, so I guess I can claim they are new. (The FM is purely based on web or other sources and not confirmed, except for 99.9 which I have heard in Clearwater on tropo ducting.) What is his source for confirming 1090 is "1.5 kW" -- I would like to see attribution. 1020 R. Cadena Habana CMCH unknown La Habana 1140 R. Cadena Habana CMCH Pastora Cd de la Habana 1080 R. Cadena Habana CMCH Güines La Habana 1090 R. Cadena Habana CMCH San Antonio de los Baños La Habana 1100 R. Cadena Habana CMCH unknown La Habana 1120 R. Cadena Habana CMCH Artemisa La Habana 99.9 R. Cadena Habana CMCH Marianao Cd de La Habana 100.7 R. Cadena Habana CMCH unknown Cd de La Habana 104 R. Cadena Habana CMCH unknown Cd de La Habana The Surco channels below are also on my list. I've heard all three, though it's been quite awhile from Clearwater. A Keys trip is needed, though it's going to be quite awhile till I'm back down there. 930 R. Surco unknown Ciego de Ávila 1430 R. Surco Morón Ciego de Ávila 1440 R. Surco Ciego de Ávila Ciego de Ávila Some Rebelde channels sporadically patch Rebelde FM audio (a completely different feed), thus one cannot assume paralleling audio to a matching frequency will confirm. Oh, and Morse on Reloj is two R's (.-. X 2), not "di dah dit" (Terry Krueger, Clearwater FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) He probably meant new – to him (gh) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, Radio Nacional-Malabo, 0535-0610, Feb 1, Spanish talk. Hi-life music. Radio Nacional ID at 0603. Radio Malabo ID at 0604. Fair but occasional rtty QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Nacional, 6250, presumed, Feb 3 at 0705 in hilife music; reported active lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6250, R. Nacional, Malabo (presumed). Nothing but nonstop dance music 3 Feb over 0700 ToH and also Afro Hi-life music after about 0710. Did hear talking around 0740, but it was too late then. Typical west African fade. Will have to try recording sign-on (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Such as: EQUATORIAL GUINEA ECUATORIAL. 6250, Radio Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial, Malabo, *0600-0640, 03-02, inicio del programa, canción, locutor: "Informamos de lo que le interesa, Radio Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial", "Saludos desde Malabo, así iniciamos tiempo de noticias", locutor, locutora, noticias de Guinea Ecuatorial y del mundo. "Las 7 de la mañana con 9 minutos aquí en tiempo de noticias en Radio Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial". "Las 7 de la mañana con 11 minutos, hora oficial de la República de Guinea Ecuatorial." 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 7099.98, VOBME, Asmara, program 1, *0355-0425, Feb 1, IS/opening announcements. Talk at 0359. Some Horn of Africa music. Fair. Program 2 on 7170/7175 not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7110, Radio Ethiopia, *0259-0325, Feb 1, sign on with IS on electronic keyboard. Amharic talk at 0300. Horn of Africa music at 0303. Fair but some adjacent channel splatter. No //s heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7165, 1555-1630 Wed 30-01, R Ethiopia, Geja Jawe, English Music from Horn of Africa, 1600 news, possible interview of DSWCI- member Maarten van Delft, weak signal with strong adjacent QRM and covered totally from *1625 21441 // 9560 even worse 21321 fading out 1635 AP-DNK. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) So MvD tipped you on this, and why would he be on this station? (gh, DXLD) ** GABON. On the lookout for resurgence of the Africa Numéro Un harmonic on 19160 --- Feb 1 at 2023, I could get a weak carrier slightly above on about 19160.3, but no audio. There seemed to be a second carrier slightly above that --- and nothing much else in this frequency range. Is the fundamental also off-frequency to the high side? Hilife music on 9580.1 or so, did not seem as much as needed to match but maybe within the margin of error of my indirect frequency estimating system with the DX-398. Further chex needed. In case you think 20+ UT is a bit late for 19 MHz from Gabon, last year during good openings it was being heard even past 2200, as I suppose the higher frequency was propagating well enough to escape the tropical night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 01 February follow. Solar flux 71 and estimated mid-latitude A-Index 16. The mid-latitude K-index at 2100 UTC on 01 February was 4 (50 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SPWC via DXLD) ** GABON [and non]. 15475: Africaaa...eeeh eeh!!! Just before the Ghana and Nigeria line-ups for the quarter final match at 1900 this Sunday 3rd, Africa #1 gave us real welcome to the football party of Cup of Africa Nations on 15745 with this celebration song, coming with a clear and strong signal. Oh Africa! A continent full of contrasts: while there's a football party in Ghana; Congo and Rwanda are shaken by a 6.0 earthquake and the celebrated return of Chad's huge signal, is suddenly silenced. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica. Sony ICF7600 + T2FD, Feb 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. [ABKHAZIA] 9494.6, Apsua Radio, heard weakly here from 0415 UT with talk and some choral chanting to 0430 on Jan 26, with man and woman ID in Russian at 0430-clearly as "Apsua Radio" from both the man and woman announcers. First time in years that I have heard this channel as clear for at least 20 minutes. Better grab it during the winter. Much obliged to Rumen Pankov for the tip on this one. Nothing heard on \\ 9535 kHz here- channel covered (Dan Henderson, MD, DXplorer Jan 26 via BC-DX Feb 1 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. ALEMANIA: Radio Santec “La Onda Cósmica” HORA UTC DIAS KHZ 0150-0200 Lun a Vie 5900, 6195, 7170, 7330, 7560 Hola colegas. Ya recordaba yo que había visto esta información sobre Radio Santec en Condiglist. Lo que me llamó la atención es que la recepcioné anoche por 7170 a las 0250, Viernes 1 Febrero, lo que parece ser su horario de invierno, a diferencia de la hora adelantada de verano en Europa Central, con la cual presumiblemente aparece aquí apuntada. Escasos diez minutos de programación en español pero bien aprovechados, tocando tópicos sobre el medio ambiente global. A las 0300 apareció locutor hablando en alemán. SIO 242. Señal algo ruidosa que no permitía comprender al 100%. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica. Sony ICF7600 GR + T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Photos of the Wertachtal station have been posted here: http://www.4shared.com/dir/5562399/91f91408/Sender_Wertachtal.html It appears that this trip did not take the full round, since only old SV 2500 transmitters are featured. The gallery starts with a collection of interesting items like an old control console (008, 009) and a plaque remembering the inauguration of the station, signed by the director of Deutsche Welle and the federal minister for postal office matters (013). A plate explaining that this station transmits Deutsche Welle was still there when these photos were made (059), and in case somebody wonders what has been written on the tube containment (031): "5002 from transmitter 1, tube exhausted, sort out" (Kai Ludwig, shortwave sites yg via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 3340, HRMI, 0205-0217, Jan 31, Spanish. Rapid fire announcer with lite, pop-like music. Tentative ID in passing at 0213. Weak but clear with mild fades (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3339.97, R. Misiones Internacional (presumed), 31 Jan, 1109 two soft songs, 1118 several canned Spanish announcements by M, portions with echo. 1119 back to music. 1129, 1139 more canned announcements, heard what sounded like FM IDs as "Estéreo Luz". Went off suddenly in mid- song at 1140:05. Audio a bit too bassy. Been hearing this off and on in both the mornings and evenings lately (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) 3340, 2/2 0420 R. Misiones Int. - Comayagüela, SS predica, suff (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli - Italia, via Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, shortwave yg via DXLD) 3339.99, Radio Misiones Internacionles, 0235-0345, Feb 3, Spanish pops/ballads. Spanish announcements, promos. Religious talk at 0303. ID. Contemporary Christian music. Fair-good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3340, La Voz de Misiones Internacionales, Comayagüela, 0531-0540, 03- 02, canciones religiosas, locutor, comentarios, español. Señal muy débil. Mejor en LSB. 15321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. See SIKKIM ** INDONESIA. 3578.732, 26.1 1425, Radio Siaran Pemerintah Kabupaten, Ngada, också den på ön Flores. Musik men QRM från amatörer. 2 SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Feb 3 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI Jakarta, RE: DXLD 8-012 – KGRE Jan 27 preempted: Back to normal schedule, 1001-1021, Feb 3 (Sun.), mostly in English, program #5805 with Kevin, Sue and Maggie, program all about food, played some pop songs, fair-poor, moderate QRM/WYFR in French (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non?]. NASA TO BEAM BEATLES' 'ACROSS THE UNIVERSE' INTO SPACE http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/across_universe.html 01.31.08 An estimated 10,000 galaxies are revealed in humankind's deepest portrait of the visible universe ever from the Hubble Space TelescopeCredit: NASA For the first time ever, NASA will beam a song - - The Beatles' "Across the Universe" -- directly into deep space at 7 p.m. EST on Feb. 4. [who cares in Deep Space what time it is in eastern US?? That would be 0000 UNIVERSAL TIME Feb 5; and WTFsK??? gh] The transmission over NASA's Deep Space Network will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the day The Beatles recorded the song, as well as the 50th anniversary of NASA's founding and the group's beginnings. Two other anniversaries also are being honored: The launch 50 years ago this week of Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite, and the founding 45 years ago of the Deep Space Network, an international network of antennas that supports missions to explore the universe. The transmission is being aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth. The song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney expressed excitement that the tune, which was principally written by fellow Beatle John Lennon, was being beamed into the cosmos. "Amazing! Well done, NASA!" McCartney said in a message to the space agency. "Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul." Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, characterized the song's transmission as a significant event. "I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe," she said. "Amazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens." [caption] -- Sir Paul McCartney It is not the first time Beatles music has been used by NASA; in November 2005, McCartney performed the song "Good Day Sunshine" during a concert that was transmitted to the International Space Station (› Related Story). "Here Comes the Sun," "Ticket to Ride" and "A Hard Day's Night" are among other Beatles' songs that have been played to wake astronaut crews in orbit. Feb. 4 has been declared "Across The Universe Day" by Beatles fans to commemorate the anniversaries. As part of the celebration, the public around the world has been invited to participate in the event by simultaneously playing the song at the same time it is transmitted by NASA. Many of the senior NASA scientists and engineers involved in the effort are among the group's biggest fans. "I've been a Beatles fan for 45 years – as long as the Deep Space Network has been around," said Dr. Barry Geldzahler, the network's program executive at NASA Headquarters, Washington. "What a joy, especially considering that 'Across the Universe' is my personal favorite Beatles song." (via Clara Listensprechen, DXLD) It's not looking very good. Yes, there's a headline for it on www.nasa.gov and when you open it up http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/across_universe.html they have a good, but basic article about this special event. However, the key to it all is that it will be made over NASA's "Deep Space Network". I'll admit, I never heard of it either, but doing a little more digging, I found http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/deepimpact/tech/dsn-article.cfm which explains that the frequencies are about 100 times those used for FM radio stations. Since FM broadcasters use 88 to 108 MHz, 100 times that would be in the neighborhood of 10 GHz. I don't have any 10 GHz receivers, nor do I plan to acquire any in the near future. But I have to admit that it is an interesting idea. I hope it goes well for NASA. 73 de (Joe Miller, KJ8O, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Re the questions about power level and reception of 252 in DXLD 8-013: In 2007 a new Transradio TRAM 300L transmitter was installed at the Summerhill station. So the highest possible power for 252 is 300 kW now, since the old Continentals are no longer there ("The installation of the new solid-state transmitter was done within 4 month after order, including demolition work of the old transmitter."): http://www.broadcast-transradio.com/html/drm_lw_summerhill.html Here in eastern Germany usually the Algerian Tipaza transmitter (2 x Tesla DRV 750, said to be using 750 kW "only" at night) dominates this frequency or is the louder signal in the mess. However, 567 is not much better. It is the dominant signal now, with the co-channel Slovak transmitters being gone, but it still suffers serious interference from co-channel Italy (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 1625-1730 program in Russian on 9390 (from 1725 switches to 6985 and 7545 kHz) - heard all days Jan 22-25. Another in Russian as in the schedule 2000-2055 6985, 9345 and sometimes 7545 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Jan 25, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 1 via DXLD) ** JORDAN. 11690 Jordan back - here this Sunday afternoon UT, Jordan is back with their usual French program. English is expected at 16 UT. A 9+20-30dB signal in Copenhagen. 73, (Erik Køie, Denmark, Feb 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for the heads-up. Jordan is coming in with an excellent signal, still in French at 1538, here in Gahanna, Ohio (just east of Columbus). (Larry Cunningham, R5000, random wire antenna, Feb 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11690, Radio Jordan, 1525-1635+, Feb 3, Back on the air with French programming featuring a variety of local pops, French/Euro-pop music. French talk. Phone talk. Into English at 1603 with local pop music. IDs. Many canned "96.3 FM" announcements. Pop music program featuring local pop music. Very good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Re 8-013, Open Radio for North Korea: I received ORNK 9930 kHz via KWHR on today at 1100 to 1200. Addition service from 2100-2200 on 7510kHz ? de S. Aoki (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze (JSR) via Yamata, Japan, *1400-1430*, Feb 1 (Fri.), in English, piano IS, request for information about abductees, gives e-mail address, mailing address and three phone numbers (depending on where one is calling from), program "News on North Korea Issues", reading news items from Associated Press, NHK, etc., this must have been a repeat of an earlier program as the items were all dated from Jan 14-19, IDs "This is Shiokaze Sea Breeze from Tokyo, Japan", the very last ID given at 1429:30 was "This is JSR, Shiokaze Sea Breeze from Tokyo, Japan", piano IS till off, fair. RE: DXLD 8-013 (Japan) – discussion about change of antenna direction: Did not notice any real change today in my reception than from my recent receptions on Jan 14, 19 and 26 (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CLANDESTINE - 5985 Shiokaze Two *1400 Jan 28. Noted this day and next (Monday & Tuesday) in Japanese with "Kochiwara Shiokaze Des" ID's and usual talk (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. V. of Kurdistan: Website gives the KDP Washington address as 7115 Leesburge [sic] Pike # 110 A, Falls Church VA 22043. KDP Europe address is P. O. Box 301 516, D-10749, Germany. Voice of Kurdistan 6335 heard here in English January 31 from 1635 tune in, poor to fair with local and utility interference, interview, music at 1657, presumed identification, more music then into Kurdish talk at 1700 (Mike Barraclough, England, Feb WDXC Contact via DXLD) 6335, Voice of Iraqi Kurdistan, 0337-0355, Feb 1, Mid-East type music. Talk in unidentified language. Koran at 0341-0350. Lite instrumental music at 0350. Poor. Weak under rtty station (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. Until Jan 31, V. of Mesopotamia was via the Kishinev, Moldova transmitter site, 500 or 300 kW at 116 degrees, but as from February 1 moved to ``Simferopol``, Ukraine, on same frequencies as follows: 0500-1500 on 11530, 500 kW, 129 degrees 1500-1900 on 7540, 500 kW, 129 degrees 1900-2100 on 7540, 300 kW, 129 degrees I often check 11530 before 1500, and not much was making it Feb 1, but reception is quite variable depending on propagation. It will be interesting to see whether the site move improves overall reception here or not (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. 1251 kHz, at 1920 ID "This is Voice of Africa" and news in English till 1926 UT, followed by long list of times and frequencies and addresses, phones, etc. in Arabic. No news in French. All on MW 1251 kHz Jan 23 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 1 via DXLD) ** LLIVIA. ANOTHER NEW DXCC ENTITY? According to reporting from the DXCC Desk, they are finalizing the last details to put up a new entity for DXCC - “LLivia”. As we all know, this is a Spanish enclave within French territory. [K1XN & The Golist]. Llivia is a Spanish enclave in the French Pyrenees. It remained Spanish because of its city-rights obtained in the past. Llivia is demarcated by 45 bordermarkers. In August 2002 we photographed the fi rst half of these bordermarkers. In 2004 and 2005 the survey was completed. Three bordermarkers couldn’t be found: no. 24, 26 and 27 but their absence couldn’t be fully established. With special thanks to Marcel Miquel for his background information. Llivia is situated 1 km from the Spanish border about 20 km east from Andorra. Its size is 12 square km and the village of Llivia has 1200 inhabitants. Hugh Wallis’ report on his bordermarker trip in Llivia: http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/Llivia/ [4Z4DX] [ICPO Bulletin January 03-11, 2008] (via QRZ? Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010.0, Radio Madagasikara, 2235-2330+, Feb 2, On late again [Sat] with Malagasy talk, jingles, ID, promos. Wide variety of local styles of music including lite pop, country style, folk, & religious. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5009.97, R. Madagascara [sic], 2050 27 Jan, high-life music, M at 2052. Sounded like a live round-robin talk over ToH. More talk and Hi- life music. Was listening to this on the Web receiver at the same time and caught a nice R. Madagascara [ID] by W during apparent promo by M and W at 2153. Back to music over ToH. Went over the 2300 ToH with music as well. Still doing well at 2318 when the minidisc ran out (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** MALI. 9635, R. Mali, Bamako, 02/03, French, 0913-0923, male announcements "l`actualité" with outside talks. 33323 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil (23 33 S, 46 51 W), Sony ICF SW40, dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6010, Radio Mil at a nice level 6:40 am [1240 UT] with "Música de Mexico" program and female announcer, into music like that played in better Mexican restaurant chains like El Torito, Chi-Chi's, etc. (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, Feb 2, ABDX via DXLD) 6010, XEOI R. Mil, 1318, 2/3/08. Ballads with long ad strings and jingles. Mention of "música romántica." Very commercial sound. "R. Mil" ID at 1325. Signal reached S4 (Strawman-IA). 9599.3, XEYU, R. UNAM, 1418, 2/3/08. Classical music at S6 rising to S9 by 1430. Still S8 at 1756 with some fading. Lengthy announcements, news at 1755 through TOH until 1802. "R. UNAM" ID at 1802. Long talk by OM about local politics (Jerry Strawman - Des Moines, IA, USA, Perseus SDR - AOR AR7030+ - Wellbrook 330S Loop- 70' Inverted-L, http://www.radiodx.net/wordpress/ Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. XERTA, presumed, 4800, Feb 3 after 0700, music in quick check, heavy CODAR QRM. Have not had much sign of this before, so maybe improved antenna and/or power (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4800, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América (probable), México DF, 0725-0734, 03-02, canciones, locutor, comentarios. Señal muy débil, mejor en LSB. 14321. (Méndez) 6010, Radio Mil, México DF, 0805-0833, 03-02, canciones latinoamericanas, locutor, comentarios, identificación: "En Radio Mil, vive la música de México". Señal muy débil. No interferencia hoy de LVTC. 14321. (Méndez) 6185, Radio Educación, México DF, 0710-0845, 03-02. Identificación a las 0713: "Radio Educación, 1060 AM, transmitimos con 100.000 watts de potencia desde Colonia del Valle, México Distrito Federal". Canciones. 34333.A veces interferencia de CVC La Voz [CHILE], en la misma frecuencia. 33333. (Méndez) 9599.2, Radio UNAM, México DF, 0825-0935, 03-02. Música clásica, locutora presentando el programa. A las 0855 identificación: "Transmite Radio UNAM, 860 Kilociclos de Amplitud Modula y Onda Corta, 9600 Kilociclos, banda de 31 metros, Adolfo Prieto 133, Colonia del Valle, México, Distrito Federal". 34433 deteriorarse al final a 24422 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9599.27, R. UNAM, 0940-0950, Jan 29, Spanish. Classical piano music. Brief YL at 0958. Poor, fading in and out (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6185 kHz, Radio Educación, at 0103 UT with light flute music and strings, in Spanish, SINPO 21322 overall. Though fairly clear at first, Radio Havana Cuba came up suddenly at 0107 in English with strong interference on 6180. February 2 (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Grundig YB 400 PE with long wire, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** MOLDOVA. Radio Moldova with problems with 1494 kHz noted first time here on Friday, Jan 11th at 1800 UT when there was an usual weekly program in Bulgarian language. I found them on 1486 kHz and just 5 spurs in range 1455-1510 kHz. So whether RM is drifting or is via Ukraine has to be checked more (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Jan 25, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 1 via DXLD) see also KURDISTAN [non] ** MONACO. Monte Carlo: Trans World Radio noted on 9795, not regular 9800 kHz, 0815 UT, no frequency changed announced on website, so probably just a mistake (Christopher Lewis, England, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I see they are scheduled Sat only at 1100 on 9795, in Romanian, per HFCC: 9795 1100 1130 28 MC 100 85 7 281007 300308 D ROM MCO TWR TWR (Glenn to Chris, via DXLD) Glenn, I will check again tomorrow to see if TWR is on 9795 again, if not, I guess it was a mistake. I did e mail the TWR Office in Vienna, and informed them the transmitter was putting out spurs on the 31 meter band, maybe this is connected some way (Chris Lewis, ibid.) ** MONGOLIA. Voice of Mongolia, 0930-1000, 12085 kHz, good in English, but maybe "Multi-Path" (?) reception producing an echo, good over past 3 days (Christopher Lewis, England, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5040.6, Myanma Radio (presumed), 1350, 2/2/08. Steep filters in Perseus SDR made easy work of separating from Jeypore on 5040. Very weak at listed 25 kW. Burmese chatter and ethnic music heard, but too weak for more details. Overtook Jeypore by 1423 when signal peaked and then declined (Jerry Strawman - Des Moines, IA, USA, Perseus SDR - AOR AR7030+ - Wellbrook 330S Loop- 70' Inverted-L, http://www.radiodx.net/wordpress/ Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Some more details about Radio Maria on 675, obtained from the material posted at http://www.radiomaria.nl/pers.php (which includes a demonstration of the poorish AM reception of many current radios; the terrible quality of this aircheck is really not representative for the actual modulation): The take-over had been officially announced by Arrow and Radio Maria just three days in advance. In their press release they emphasize that no details about the deal will be revealed (just like was the case when Grootnieuws Radio obtained the 1008 licence from Radio 10 Gold). First the plan was to launch simply an internet radio, but then they got to know that 675 was for sale and stepped in. An on-air studio has been set up in a former church building (whatever this means, aerial images just show "ordinary" buildings) at Waaltstraat in 's-Hertogenbosch, founded by the mother organization in Italy. Real programming is expected to start in about three months, until then just music will be broadcast (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI, 17675 analog, holding its own against unnecessarily close neighbor CVC Chile 17680, Friday Feb 1 until 2055 with ``Spectrum`` interviewing a yacht builder, then into latest advisory about Cyclone Gene battering Futuna with 945 hektopascals of low pressure. See: http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=37783 Strangely, this does not seem to have been making world news. 2058 Vanuatu music break, 2100 timesignal, World & Pacific News. I was wanting to confirm Mailbox at 2035, but this was an off-week for that fortnightly show (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT PLANS TO REINVIGORATE FRCN STATIONS The Nigerian Federal Government is considering a masterplan to revive the services of Radio Nigeria, Kaduna, toward the effective pursuit of the country’s foreign policy. The masterplan, which is to cover other sister FRCN stations, would transform the archaic infrastructure of the stations into a state of the art status. A memo made available to journalists shows Nigeria as not having utilized public broadcasting as a platform for foreign policy advocacy. “In June 2007, the American Senate voted 1.8 billion dollars to fund public and private broadcast services in the Third World mainly to propagate US interests,” it said. The document complained about the neglect of the Hausa language as a tool for mass enlightenment, particularly the Hausa Service of FRCN Kaduna. “Nigeria, which is the home of the Hausa language and with the highest number of Hausa listeners in the world is yet to accord it the importance that it rightly deserves. Foreign stations are now setting the pace in the utilization of the Hause language to reach the target audience for influence,” it said. The memorandum suggested that national radio stations be revived to match the international reach. (Source: The Tide) Andy Sennitt comments: There is no mention in this story of the external service, Voice of Nigeria, which has been re-launched several times but apparently has little or no impact on Nigeria’s image abroad. The masterplan has probably been instigated by the recent launch of Radio France International’s Hausa service, which is based at the Voice of Nigeria amd is probably gaining much more attention than Nigeria’s own external broadcasts. I can well imagine that the politicians in Lagos find this an embarrassing situation. (February 2nd, 2008 - 12:26 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 0855-1030 UT Hausa then English at 1000, Voice of Nigeria 9690 kHz SINPO: 35333 (Tim Marecki, Tallahassee, Florida, Feb 3, ptsw yg via DXLD) Unclear whether heard Feb 2 or 3, probably 3 (gh) ** OMAN. 15140, Radio Sultanate of Oman, 1408-1500, Feb 1, tune-in to Euro-pop/US pop music. Chimes/gongs at 1430 and into English news at 1431-1440. ID. Back to pop music at 1440-1500. Weak modulation but better than usual (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. R. Pakistan, English news still noted January 26 at 1100 on 15100, strong but over modulated and distorted so very difficult to follow (Mike Barraclough, England, Feb WDXC Contact via DXLD) ** PERU. 3234.8, Radio Luz y Sonido, Huánuco, 0936+, January 20, Quechua, Andean songs, announcements by male in Quechua, 24432. 4886.4, Radio Virgen del Carmen, Huancavelica, 1116+, January 21, Spanish, Christian songs, religious short talk by male, 25432. 4940, Radio San Antonio, Ucayali, 1045+, January 21, Spanish, Complete ID as: "Radio San Antonio, en los 95,5 FM, en la onda corta 49-40... Radio San Antonio, una radio diferente", announcement: "Voces del Peru-CNR: estás escuchando a la Coordinadora Nacional de Radio"; other ID as: "Estás escuchando Radio San Antonio", TC as: "son las 5 y 46", 24432. 4990.9, Radio Manantial, Ancash, 1055+, January 20, Spanish, religious talk b male, ID as: "...Manantial Radio", 24432. 5039.2, Radio Libertad (presumed), Junín, 1122+, January 21, Spanish, huayños, TC, 15441. 5460.4, Radio Bolívar, Bolívar, 0033+, June 29, Spanish, tropical songs, 34333. 5486.7, Radio Reyna de la Selva, Chachapoyas, 1135+, January 21, Spanish, local ads, tropical music, 24332. 5949.5, Radio Bethel (presumed), Arequipa, 1105+, January 21, Spanish, long religious talk by male, 23432. 6047.2, Radio Santa Rosa, Lima, 0111+, January 20, Spanish, "...saludamos a ... los invitamos a escuchar este bonito tema musical...", 24432. 6539.6, Radiodifusora La Voz del Rondero, Huancabamba, 0105+, January 20, Spanish, many identifications: "en el campo y en la ciudad... sintonizan Radiodifusora La Voz del Rondero... Radiodifusora La Voz del Rondero, AM, FM y onda corta", other ID as: "estás escuchando Radiodifusora La Voz del Rondero", huaynos, 24432 (Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Potrerillos in the "Valle del Sol", 70 km west of Mendoza City (1200 km from Buenos Aires), with DXers Miguel Castellino & Hector Goyena, Sony ICF2010 (2 receivers), Degen DE 1103, longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.61, Ondas del Huallaga. Canned ID by M at 1108 31 Jan during ad block. Difficult to separate from CHU and had to do a lot of receiver control manipulating. 5939.23, R. Melodía, 1040 2 Feb, discussion by several people at tune- in. Mentions of Arequipa, Cusco, política, Perú. Took some phone-in reports. W announcer every minute with voice-over TCs and IDs. 1055- 1057 finally ad block, then program ontinued. Fading and QRMed by 1100. 3329.61, Ondas del Huallaga. Heard again 1111 2 Feb with huayño music. Canned M announcement between songs. Fading pretty quickly and local noise started as well. Could still barely hear it at 1130. 6173.83, R. Tawantinsuyo (presumed), 3 Feb, OC as early as 0819. Program start up at 0910:08 with campo music. Unfortunately no official sign-on. 0920 M with TC, Buenos días, back to music. Continued with more music and occasional announcements by same M. Too bad that there was so much slop QRM from another station on an adjacent frequency. Then at 0958, yet another station came on completely wiping it out. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. I would like to have links to Peruvian radio stations found on internet sending programs in Quechuan language. I have a friend in Finland who is studying that language and planning to go to Perú to work there. Thank you in advance for your help, (Esko, France, HCDX via DXLD) This issue of DXLD has a lot of web links for Lima AM and FM stations. Mostly Spanish, surely, but maybe some Quechua. http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld8009.txt 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hello Esko (and Glenn), Streaming audio in Quechua is hard to find online. However, the ALER site at http://www.aler.org/noticias_rks.php might be of interest to your friend (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) My 87 year old father in law grew up speaking Quechua in the mountains of Perú; he now lives in Lima and has forgotten most of it. I recently visited there for three weeks, also used to live there and couldn't help but think of all the DXers who try to DX Peruvian radio. I wish I had investigated it better while I was there during 2002 for a year. I don't think there are any Quechua AM or FM stations in Lima; I never heard any. I'll ask my wife though who is still visiting her family; I think most or all of the broadcast stations there are relatively low powered (Bob Young, Analog, MA, KB1OKL, ibid.) Here's an interesting link I found about Quechua radio. http://www.quechua.org.uk/Eng/Main/i_RADIO.HTM (David Goren, ibid.) ** RUSSIA. 7200, NVK, R. Sakha - R. Rossii (tentative), Yakutsk, 02/03, Russian 0842-0900 long segments of eloquent and humored female talks with short canned announcements, 0859 maybe ID, 0900 time pips. 33323 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil (23 33 S, 46 51 W), Sony ICF SW40, dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Voice of Russia World Service, 11615 DRM news in English, broken decoding, but audio good when stable. Via Taldom (Christopher Lewis, England, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) time? {DRMDX: 0700-1000} ** RUSSIA. 5780 --- intermodulation of fundamentals 5920 and 6060 from St. Petersburg, Feb 1st: 5780 kHz is an Intermodulation at 1800-2000 UT. Nothing on symmetrical 6200 kHz. When 5920 kHz is alone on air, nothing heard on 5780 kHz. When 'empty' carrier starts on St. P 6060 kHz at 1746:35 UT, the carrier on 5780 kHz also occurs with S=4-6 today Feb 1st. Arabic audio carrier starts at exact 1800 UT on both 6060 a n d 5780 kHz. 5780 intermodulation, of 5920 / 6060 kHz both Arabic. Very strong VOR S.P. outlet in Arabic 1800-1900 UT today Jan 31. Noted on three separate receivers. 5780 started at same time when 6060 started carrier at 1746:35 UT. Regards (Wolfy Büschel, Stuttgart Germany, Jan 31/Feb 1, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Mistransmission on VOR-Komsomolsk --- I received VOR-Hindi on 630 kHz at 1505 UT and Bengali from 1530. Usually broadcasted with VOR-WS in Russian. India is far from the Far East in MW ! VOR-Komsomolsk na Amure on 630 kHz 1505-1530 UT Hindi 1530-1600 Bengali 1600- English (normal) Usually broadcasted at 1500-1600 with VOR-RMR in Russian. (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC-HQ, Feb 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I can receive VOR-Southern Asia service on 630 kHz today (3 Feb). 1200-1300 UT Urdu 1300-1400 Hindi 1400- Urdu (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, ibid.) ** SERBIA [non]. Huge signal --- no other thing I can define --- tonight, 0100, from Serbia in English on 7115. Remarkable the laziness to speak of this poor woman that must have been forced to wake up in the middle of the wee hours to fill the schedule, leaving you with the impression she was reading the script from her bed in the studio. Now we know the RAI announcers were not alone on this. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, UT Feb 2, Sony ICF7600GR + T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I figured they would just replay the earlier English broadcast. Does she sound like that then too? (gh, DXLD) ** SIKKIM. INDIA, 4835, All India Radio, Gangtok, 0106+, January 22, vernacular, talk by male, very nice local music at 0110+, 25232 (Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Potrerillos in the "Valle del Sol", 70 km west of Mendoza City (1200 km from Buenos Aires), with DXers Miguel Castellino & Hector Goyena, Sony ICF2010 (2 receivers), Degen DE 1103, longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4835.000, 19.1 1445, AIR Gangtok. ”This is All India Radio. You are listening to a programme of Western music” 3-4 SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Feb 3 via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. 9825, Miraya FM, via IRRS, *1459-1515, Feb 1, sign on with African music. Time pips, ID & English news about Africa at 1501. Canned "Miraya 101" ID. Fair level but poor, difficult overall copy due to co-channel station in at equal level. No sign of any jammers today (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 3320, Radio Sondergrense, 0352Z Feb 1, music show with US country song, mixed talk/music in Afrikaans. News at 0400 with short interview in English, SIO 343 (Chuck Zabriskie, Houston TX, Drake R8B and both a homemade loop 2' x 2' and pre-amp and a 40m dipole. Loop typically outperforms, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Scare, 13810 via Germany, with big produced opening at 1400 UT Feb 1, music mixed with bits of Alex Scourby`s Bible readings, and R. G.`s dire declarations. See also USA: WWRB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 4750, Feb 1, 0410Z African music. 0419 OM announces "Radio Peace" 4750 kHz in American English. 60m has been outstanding lately as you no doubt know. Have heard several countries at S7, S9 and +10 that often don't appear at all or barely rise out of the band noise (Chuck Zabriskie, Houston TX, Drake R8B and both a homemade loop 2' x 2' and pre-amp and a 40m dipole. Loop typically outperforms, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWITZERLAND. CHIUDE LA RADIO SVIZZERA ITALIANA IN ONDE MEDIE? Secondo quanto postato su un NG, non citando chiaramente quale sarebbe la fonte, sarebbe la fine di un mito: sembra infatti confermato che la sera del 30 giugno 2008 verrà definitivamente spento il trasmettitore in onde medie di Monte Ceneri che opera con una potenza di 300 kW sui 558 kHz utilizzando, come riporta Andrea Borgnino sul suo Archive, un'antenna a traliccio verticale strallato dell'altezza di 220 metri isolata da terra. Nelle vicinanze dell'antenna principale è presente un'antenna "di riserva" di tipo Marconiano a T usata utilizzabile con una potenza massima di 150 kw. Lo spettacolare impianto sarà probabilmente smantellato, contro un risparmio annuo un milione e seicentomila franchi, per fare ancora più spazio alle mucche che pascolano da quelle parti (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Feb 2, playdx yg via DXLD) ** SYRIA. Similar problem - like Moldova - with Syria - today the program in Russian was heard here 1830-1900 UT on exact 781 kHz instead of 783. (Jan 24). Radio Damascus heard today as follows: 1600 Turkish 9330 1700 Russian 9330, 12085 1800 German 9330, 12085 1908 (s/on) French 9330 (till 1930), 12085 2007 English 12085, 9330 from 2030 UT. 1800-1830 Hebrew, 1830-1900 Russian, 1900 Arabic on MW 781 kHz, Jan 24 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Jan 25, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 1 via DXLD) Nominally and originally on 783, the standard 9-kHz-spaced frequency in that worldpart. For last few months had been on exactly 782, causing big het in Europe. Now slipped down one more kHz! (gh, DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. 6225, YFR, 1425-1500*, Feb 2, call-in program "Open Forum" in English, poor-fair (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also audible here around 1425 Feb 3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Voice of Turkey, noted at 2300 on 1 Feb with music till 2308, then abruptly into middle of news cast on 5960. 6050, new frequency as of 26 Jan, good here in England at 1930. I just received the TRT program schedule for 01-01-2008 to 01-07-2008. The frequencies remain the same, but I have spotted some new programs, such as the Women of the Sultans and the Turkish Scientific Journal. Best Wishes (Christopher Lewis, England, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. 6245 / 6075 / 5905 / 5735 kHz. Am 26.1. habe ich zwischen 0330 und 0400 UT (mit beiden Empfaengern) die DW in Deutsch auf 5735 kHz mit O=3 "gehabt". Nun ist - meinen Unterlagen zufolge - in der Zeit nur die fq 6075 \\ aus POR und G in Verwendung (Herbert Meixner, Austria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 1 via DXLD) Ist ganz einfach Rampisham in Engeland. 170 / 340 kHz Differenz. Auf 6245 muesstest Du aber dann das Programm von 5905 hoeren: DWL in Russisch. Mit 500 kW laesst es sich ja auch vorzueglich "stinken". 6075 0200-0357 39,40W RMP 500kW 95Grad GERMAN G DWL 5905 0200-0400 29E,30,31W RMP 500 76 RUSSIAN G DWL 6075 Sines Portugal beginnt erst um 0400 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) [später] 6245 / 6075 / 5905 / 5735 kHz. Um 0250 UT sowohl auf 5735 die DW in Deutsch und wie Du (natuerlich) richtig geschrieben hast, auf 6245 kHz die DW in Russisch. Dort nur schwer zu hoeren aber eindeutig 'da' mit Programm \\ 5905 kHz. Die VoR aus MDA auf 6240 kHz fast mit Anschlagsignal, hatte aber grossen Einfluss (Herbert Meixner, Austria, Jan 27, ibid.) ** U S A. RUMSFELD CALLS FOR A NEW VERSION OF USIA (updated again). The new USIA would advocate U.S. policies and must be in lockstep with those policies. Its overseas personnel would work at, or at least in concert with, U.S. embassies. All their movements and significant activities would require ambassadorial approval. So why the need for an "independent" agency? A big reason would be its boondoggle value. The new USIA would have a director, deputy director, and several associate directors, along with senior advisers and special assistants to the aforementioned. One thing that the old "independent" USIA did do was to keep its subsidiary VOA from being independent enough to achieve the credibility that would have allowed it to compete more successfully in international broadcasting. When the new USIA is created (the idea is so bad that you can bet on it happening), the Voice of America and perhaps other elements of U.S. international broadcasting would likely be brought under it. This would allow for "coordination," as in coordinating the content that will probably still be referred to as "news." Posted: 01 Feb 2008 http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3219 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Seems CVC Chile has got back on frequency 15410.00; Feb 1 at 1407, Radio Farda via Morocco was dominating, but no audible het as in previous few days; maybe a lite SAH, hard to tell with propagation fading too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-013, new SW station in Tennessee: Yes, I'm certain the dozens of listeners to "WLOF" could certainly be decisive in the 2008 election! ;-) Seriously, I wonder what the audience is for stations like WWCR, KAIJ, etc. I'd be surprised if the audience for most of their programs ever gets above the low triple digits. I suspect most programs are driven more by the ego of the hosts --- like getting a book published by a "vanity press" --- or the need to show some expenditures to the IRS to maintain tax-exempt status than it is by the ability of those stations to reach a significant audience (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess congratulations are in order, especially if they won't be 100% religious. Speaking of which, is WRNO on yet or are they gonna sell that thing off? I remember listening to it in the mid-'90s & it had talk on. During Rush they'd play the whole feed including funny bits when most stations would take news. I know WRNO also had the Saints & I think L.S.U. It'd be great if it returned to programming that instead of yet another religious broadcaster. Just curious / reminiscing. 73, (Jay, N1WVQ/V31VQ/WQBI410, ABDX via DXLD) WRNO was sold long ago to some gospel huxters in Ft Worth. Still no sign of it returning despite the big cover story a few months ago in Monitoring Times. If it ever does get back on the air it will be nothing like the original WRNO, so forget about silly ballgames from Nawleens. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) They may not be all religious, but I'll betcha the other programing will be political wackjobs and hippie health nuts that couldn't get on the air. "You pay, We Play.... if you don't pay us, you aren't getting on the air at all" is their motto. It's not like they care who they put on the air, as long as your check clears, that`s all they care about. KAIJ will be not much different from WWCR except in terms of programming (Paul B. Walker, Jr., SC, ibid.) Remember "border blaster" stations like XERF-1570 and their wacko religious/political programming in the 1960s?? That's what WWCR, etc., are today. They're great fun if you approach them with the same mindset that you approach a professional wrestling match or a debate between presidential candidates of either party --- it's all a fraud, and the real entertainment lies not in the performance itself but instead in the reactions of the yahoos who take it seriously (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ibid.) Now, before Pedantic Powell chastises me, I should mention to be fair --- the station I Manage/Program/Break DOES air paid time. We do have colon cleansing, weight loss and energy infomercials. I do ALSO carry Brother Stair. I DO NOT let on just ANYONE who wants in nor do I fill up the entire day with brokered programming, and probably wouldn't even if I could (Paul B Walker, Jr., SC, WABV, ibid.) ** U S A. Jeff White tells me that WRMI is making a number of schedule changes in February, some affecting WORLD OF RADIO, such as cancelling the Sat 2230 broadcast on 9955; details awaited, and grid update awaited at http://www.wrmi.net/images/wrmichart.xls (Glenn Hauser, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Brother Scare still going on WWRB 3185, Feb 1 at 1334 check, not yet on 9385. FCC B07 and HFCC B07 show WWRB on 3185 only until 1300 UT, then 9385, both 100 kW at 340 degrees. Barring unpublished changes, it would not be the first time a US SW station has overstayed its welcome on a certain frequency. Oh oh, the WWRB Global 3 schedule at http://www.wwrb.org/schedule/global_3/combined.pdf shows the transition at ``9:00 am`` which would be 1500 UT. Timezone is not specified on the WWRB schedules! But Manchester is well within the Central zone west of the boundary with Eastern (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also UNIDENTIFIED 9385 ** U S A. Tuning across WBCQ 7415, Friday Feb 1 after 2000 UT, I was quickly informed that FDR, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were all ``communists`` --- Enough of that crap. Per sked, it`s Money Talk, ``Started in July 2004, as a spin off from Financial Survival 2000. Hosted by Jim and Eric Cedarstrom, a.k.a. Patriot Trading Group.`` Pushing gold is their thing for the gullible. Checking WORLD OF RADIO 1393 on Area 51 show, Friday Feb 1 at 2348, I found that frequency had varied up to 5111.4-CUSB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Checking WBCQ webfeed of WOR, after 0030 UT Friday Feb 1, I find it skipping every few seconds -- not always notice of rebuffering, but a few syllables left out as if the program had been edited that way. And then it starts rebuffering every few seconds, unusable. Are others getting WBCQ this way? (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The audio sounded a bit rough, ever so slightly distorted, but 100% readable. I didn't hear the skipping here. I caught the end of the webcast when you mentioned the skipping on the list. I don't know what might have happened earlier, but I had at least a good solid 5 minutes with no skipping that I could detect (Rick Kunath, K9AO, ibid.) OK, here is the story, We have terrible broadband service. Sometimes it just does not work well. It skips for everyone. We are in the middle of nowhere and are lucky to get anything. Computers are just not dependable. Listen on shortwave (Allan Weiner, WBCQ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. First PIRATE Station on SONY ULTRALITE --- 1710 LUBAVITCHER RADIO Brooklyn, NY --- Hi Guys: Just got finished logging my First PIRATE station on the Sony SRF-T615; well, at least we'll call it an "UNOFFICIAL" Station but I guess if you're Unofficial, you're a Pirate!! The Station is located in Brooklyn, NY, and is a the Jewish Voice of the Lubavitcher movement. 1710, Radio Lubavitcher, Brooklyn, NY, PIRATE Feb/01/08 0010-0015 EST, HEBREW FR Long talk by a male in what sounded like the Hebrew Language, maybe Yiddish??? No English noted during this reception. Religious references and Talk. Nice signal Peaks but up and down with QSB. This station is also sometimes known as Radio Mosiach (Robert S. Ross VA3SW, London, Ontario CANADA N6A5K1, IRCA via DXLD) I'd guess this station is about 100 watts. It is known for very compressed and usually distorted audio of preachers kvetching loudly in Hebrew and English. I think they are probably a computer playing back pre-loaded long audio clips. There is no recognition of starting on the hour. Attribute their coverage to skywave and being near water. I'd be surprised if they were over 100 watts (Karl Zuk N2KZ, ibid.) Several thousand watts (Paul B. Walker, Jr., SC, ibid.) They don't have enough punch to be a full kilowatt. Take a drive around Brooklyn and Queens. You'll see what I mean. They get out just a little bit better than your basic TIS station. Their biggest advantage is skywave. If they are 1 kW, they are wasting a lot of power in their antenna system. Their biggest challenge is creating a ground plane on the roof of a house in East New York Brooklyn. This is not great terrain for AM broadcast. Case in point: WQXR-AM's lossy site using 1560 AM in Maspeth, Queens. This station could go on for decades. No one will formally report them. They don't interfere. Still, Pat Martin will eventually log them. There isn't a medium wave station on earth that can hide from Pat's amazing antenna farm and DXing skill! (Karl Zuk N2KZ, ibid.) Thx. 100 watts. No wonder all I have gotten is a carrier at this distance. What amazes me if the FCC allows these NE pirates to continue to operate (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, IRCA via DXLD) Unless a complaint is made by a member of the media and that member or their station(s) are being directly affected by the pirate, in most cases, the FCC won't touch it. They (the FCC) doesn`t like to touch ethnic pirates either, for fear of claims of racial/ethnic discrimination (Paul B. Walker, Jr., ibid.) But, but, illegal is illegal --- o yeah, same goes for immigrants (gh) It's been discussed here, I believe more than once, and by those more knowledgeable than I. Unfortunately the collective memory of mail lists remains surprisingly short. The FCC doesn't carry "muscle" with them when they move to shut down one of these operations. In Fla. there is a *state* law against pirate activity, and the FCC FO [Field Office] gets the FDLE to ride along and do the takedown, and they seem to be happy to help. In New York the Lubavitchers have a great deal of influence, and the local police agencies are reluctant to get involved and look bad. It's probably a jurisdictional issue as well. Someone has to make a complaint and the use of 1710 seems to assure that no legitimate broadcaster will be around to complain. I would not be surprised to learn *IF* it happened that they were quietly told to park themselves up there, and they would then be left alone. You would think more pirate operators would pick up upon this. Not to mention it is a "clear channel" in the true sense of the word. But it remains IMHO that few, if any, pirate operators are MENSA members. I know this has been talked about before now (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, ibid.) ** U S A. Station News: 1560 WMBH MO Joplin. (John Tudenham has kept us posted on this often-silent station in past DDXD-W columns, and updates us on the situation in this one. Ed.-WI) Now running the transmitter off a generator as power company shut the station off for non-payment. No regular hours -- usually on from about 8 AM to shortly after sunset, sometimes off in middle of the day if out of gas. Just urban music from CDs with few adds or voice IDs. Noticed lately on 1560 we get strong signals by skywave from 50-kW KGOW 1560 in Bellaire TX before and after sunset and sunrise. A friend in Carthage MO 15 miles from Joplin tells me KGOW often takes out WMBH when WMBH is on its 250-watt day power (AM Switch, NRC DX News Feb 4 via DXLD) ** U S A. 1500, KBRN, Radio Poderosa, Boerne TX --- "KBRN, Boerne, Texas" ID in English at top of hour. Slogan is "Radio Poderosa, La Emisora de los Grandes Eventos" and "Radio Poderosa Ventigo [sic] 24 horas." Asks for correspondence to P. O. Box Ocho cero ocho (808), Boerne, Texas. Plays lively, almost tropical ritmo music with Christian lyrics in Spanish. KBRN Boerne has been shown as silent, but its daytime CP is for 1900 watts with a north-northwest/south- southeast kidney bean signal. If it uses this signal after sunset, it's going to make XEDF much more difficult here. CP Night Power is 15 watts, non directional (John Callarman, Krum TX, Feb 2, ABDX via DXLD) http://www.radiopoderosa.com/ There's a live video camera in the studio which brings up a combined video/audio stream. -- Sincerely, (Paul B. Walker, Jr., SC, ibid.) Nice "R. Poderosa" slogan noted 2248 CST 02FEB08 [0448 UT Feb 3] here in Tulsa with KSTP phased. New one for me. Thanks, John Callarman for the tip! (Bruce Winkelman, Tulsa, OK R8, Quantum Phaser 2 - 50 foot wires, ibid.) Boerne = just NW of San Antonio (gh) ** U S A. A BIT OF INFO OLD RADIO SHOWS, MELVIN MUNN "LIFELINE" Hi Glenn, Just to let you know I have up loaded five of the old "Lifeline" radio commentaries by Melvin Munn. These ones are from the 1973 period (a.k.a. Vietnam era). I have noticed in years past that these old broadcasts were mentioned by others in your fine news letter and I have done a search of the web to find some of this material but I only found a few documents and none of the broadcast material. I have placed them on my domain as studies of history only; I haven't found much of anything about copyright so that is still up in the air but I will take them down if that becomes an issue. I haven't checked to see who has control of the H.L. Hunt estate as Mr. Hunt was footing the bills on this project. There were also rumors of CIA involvement but I believe these rumors were bogus. These are excellent study items if only for the vocalizing of Mr. Munn as he has a really good speaking voice. http://vincewerber.org/political.html Thank you for your time. Have a good day and a better tomorrow! (Vince Werber, ka1iic, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I used to listen to that right-wing program as a teen, but someone else was doing it before Munn, Wayne – something. Previously mentioned in DXLD 3-024 by John Callarman, reminiscing about his days at KPDN in Pampa which carried Life Line with Munn (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Googling around I found this book ``Race and Class in Texas Politics`` by Chandler Davidson, in particular a chapter called Rise of Right Wing Republicanism, which also deals with the John Birch Society, Kennedy Assassination, Rev. W. A. Criswell, founder of KCBI which is now KAIJ: http://tinyurl.com/29pmzv starts the chapter, which you may want to read from the top, down to page 210 where Life Line is mentioned (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I hope you heard the Democratic presidential candidates’ debate in December by NPR. Good solid debate, great public radio. Sorry to tell you that we won’t be offering the same from the Republican candidates. That’s because the Republicans have cancelled on NPR. Twice. The Republican candidates declined NPR in Iowa last December. On January 10, 2008, NPR’s Vice President for Communications Andi Sporkin said, “Ultimately, not enough candidates were willing to participate. We look forward to working with them through other NPR News programming over the coming months and during the general election.” KUNM planned to carry the Republican debate (Richard Towne, GM, Feb KUMN Zounds via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6060, R. Nacional de Venezuela via Cuba, *1100- 1114, Feb 3, Spanish ID, program schedule in English ("Welcome to our international shortwave outlet"), brief ID in Spanish, segment in English (news and analysis about Organization of American States, etc.), back to Spanish, political speech, poor, mixing with Sichuan PBS-2 (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aló, Presidente: see CUBA ** ZAMBIA. 4965, The Voice, 0430Z Jan 28, great copy in English, SIO 343. Came in like a regional MW signal. Best regards (Chuck Zabriskie, Houston TX, Drake R8B and both a homemade loop 2' x 2' and pre-amp and a 40m dipole. Loop typically outperforms, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. TANZANIA. 11735, Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1800-1830, Feb 1 [Fri], Still no English news. Swahili talk only. Distinctive local music. Fair to good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11735, Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1759-1817, Feb 2 [Sat], local drums at 1759. Time pips & English news at 1800-1810. "Spice FM" ID. Swahili talk at 1810. Local music at 1816. Good. English rarely heard lately from this station (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 3396, ZBC, 0149-0202, Feb 1, vernacular. Usual format of announcer between easy listening Afropops. Presumed phone number given at ToH. As usual, no discernible ID noted. Weak but clear (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Via Madagascar, 11610, Radio Voice of the People, *0400-0430, Feb 1, Still on this frequency. Sign on with vernacular talk. Short music breaks. Occasional IDs. Poor. Weak. Fairly well covered by the music loop jammer which did not start until 0420 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Dawn patrol DX --- If one of your dogs awakens you at 6:25 am Central because it has to go outside and pee, at least see what you can hear on the radio. . . . 530, UNID Fading up around 6:57 am [1257 UT Feb 2] --- almost sunrise here --- with male voice counting from one to fifteen followed by a 1000 Hz tone lasting about 10 seconds, then repeating. Lost shortly after 7:00 am, and not audible here in daytime even on my 900 foot NQAB (not quite a beverage) longwire. Suspect a Texas DoT road construction station, although given Clear Channel's budget cuts this could be a new format they're trying out (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, Feb 2, ABDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. UNKNOWNIA: 0330+, 2-Feb; 4640/USB, Arabic chanting & talk; any ideas? 0343 sounds like a 2-way now, so presume one just decided to break out in song. Scratch the 2-way; sounds like intense commentary by one dude. Joe Wood in TN sez he's clear there. 0349 UT Feb 2. 4640/USB, 0334-0402+, 2-Feb; Arabic chanting at tune-in; then into Arabic commentary beginning. I give up (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. UnID and Unknown language on 6030. I received on 2 & 3 Feb. at 1735(end of CNR-1)-1759* UT. Audio file: http://ndxc.org/aoki/binews/ab/6030_0202_1758.wav by S.Aoki on 2 Feb. at 1758 de S.Aoki and S.Hasegawa (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sounds like Amharic. Perhaps V. of Tigray Revolution, Ethiopia, listed in Tigrinya until 1900* by Eibi; a recent new frequency reported in DXLD; Aoki apparently missed it (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Dear Glenn, Today, the 2nd of Feb, since 2030 UT I am listening to what sounds like Firedrake Radio. The frequency is odd: 9000.03 kHz. Now at 2052 the signal is completely lost by first a strong carrier, followed by a noisy jammer (?) between 8971 and 9019 kHz (Max van Arnhem, The Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Unknown transmission – any ideas? 9385, 2250-2335 UT, Feb 3. Language? -- 'Benny Goodman'-style hot jazz, unending. Test Transmission? No voice announcements, just music (Dave Askine, Pasadena, TX 77504, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Typical behavior of WWRB. If it`s a WWRB frequency and you hear big band music, you can be pretty sure it is WWRB (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Hola: Extraña señal de intervalo que no logro reconocer en 11665 kHz. Solamente la BBC tiene emisión en esta frecuencia y horario desde Chipre, pero esta señal llega extremadamente fuerte (45444) llevando desde las 1610 cuando empece a escuchar y continua hasta 1631 en adelante. ¿Alguna idea? Cordialmente (Tomás Méndez, Spain, Feb 3, logdsderadio yg via DXLD) That frequency is currently scheduled via Skelton, not Cyprus. Was it by any chance the `cello music VTC plays when the program feed is lost? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. The rapid clicking sound I have been hearing mainly in the 5-7 MHz range in the mornings, thought to be Chinese OTH radar, was also heard Feb 1 at 1414 on 15080-15105, when East Asia was not propagating on that band. I wonder if the British one in Cyprus sounds the same? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks, Glenn for your work and insights both online and on the air. Hope Cycle 24 puts the pedal to the metal. Best Regards (Jim Wishner, St Paul MN, with a check in the p-mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ AU REVOIR MISTER FRANGLAIS --- By Neil Hallows The British are notoriously bad at learning foreign tongues. But with Franglais, the late Miles Kington showed anyone could get by on holiday with just a petit peu of effort. If there is one foreign language that English speakers always seem to crack, it's Franglais. Its rules are simple. Insert as many French words as you know into the sentence, fill in the rest with English, then speak it with absolute conviction. . . Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7221918.stm Published: 2008/02/01 11:25:37 GMT © BBC MMVIII (via Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ENTRE ONDAS BLOG OF MAGDIEL CRUZ RODRIGUEZ, MORELOS Cordiales saludos; una invitación a mi blog. Cordiales saludos amigos del Playdx. Por medio de estas líneas les invito a ver mi pequeño blog, espero que encuentren por lo menos algo interesante en él. Hoy lo actualicé con mucha información fotográfica. http://entre-ondas.blogspot.com/ Saludos de su amigo, diexista y radioescucha Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Jiutepec, Morelos, México Mi dirección postal es: Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez Apartado Postal # 22 CIVAC, Morelos 62571 México (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Lots of QSLs illustrated, mostly from the 1990s; photos of DX meetings; some audio clips (gh, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see IRELAND; RUSSIA ++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SILICON LABS SHORTWAVE Hi Glenn, Still some corporate interest in shortwave. From Silicon Laboratories Q4 2007 Earnings Call Transcript: "The AM/FM receiver ramped into production as expected in a variety of applications in Q4, a high end cable radio, a portable radio and an iPod entertainment system. And recently, the first handsets offering AM radio were announced, validating the demand for this functionality in cell phones. These examples illustrate the broad applicability of the AM/FM product line to a number of large markets. In addition to the success we`re having with the current portfolio, we`ve also announced several new additions, including support for weather band emergency service broadcasts and short wave and long wave frequencies, popular in Europe and Asia." Here, the receiver is probably a chip, with other companies adding the chassis, cabinet, and interface (Kim Andrew Elliott, DC, Feb 1, DXLD) SCRAPPED BY OTTAWA, HIGH-TECH RADAR SOLD OVERSEAS SYSTEM DESIGNED TO PATROL B.C. COAST David Pugliese, Canwest News Service Published: Monday, January 28, 2008 http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=3a853b61-62cd-449a-9537-3bae9565a2a2&k=73075 A high-tech radar intended to monitor small boats operated by drug dealers and terrorists on B.C.'s coast and developed with Canadian tax dollars is being installed in Sri Lanka after the federal government decided it couldn't use the system. The high-frequency surface wave radar, developed at a cost of $39 million by Ottawa defence scientists and Raytheon Canada Limited, had been hailed several years ago by federal officials as the only one of its kind in the world and a major boost for domestic security. The federal government set aside $43 million to build and operate eight radar sites on the East and West coasts as part of its push to improve security in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But the government has shut down the existing experimental radar sites in Newfoundland, and the program has been cancelled. The project was derailed after one complaint was received that the radar interfered with civilian communications. The experimental radars had been operating for 10 years without a complaint. But Raytheon Canada, which builds the high-frequency surface wave radar, is pushing ahead with marketing the system to other nations. It has sold the radar to Sri Lanka with the help of the Canadian Commercial Corp., a Crown agency that helps companies market their products overseas. Other international customers are being lined up, said Raytheon Canada vice-president Denny Roberts. "The technology works," Roberts said. "Other countries don't seem to have a problem with it." The radar is unique in that it can track ships at much greater distances than regular surveillance systems. It can detect objects as far away as 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from Canada's coasts. The information gathered by the network was to have been fed into the navy's surveillance centres in Esquimalt and Halifax and shared with various federal agencies. Canada has been leading development in the area of surface wave radar technology. The British government built a similar system during the Second World War, but it had limited range. With recent advances in computer processing, scientists from Defence Research and Development Canada's Ottawa laboratories decided to revisit the idea. The system transmits high-frequency waves that follow the curvature of the Earth to detect and track objects hundreds of kilometres over the horizon. Regular radars are restricted to objects in their line of sight on the horizon. The Canadian navy had hoped the radars would cut down on surveillance costs, in particular the flying time of Aurora maritime patrol planes. © Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008 (via Walt Salmaniw, BC, dxldyg via DXLD) cf. 8-013, SRI LANKA! Read this in our local Victoria paper on Monday. Note that apparently a single person complained --- the power of one! (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, ibid.) This is the same OTH Radar that clogs a portion of 60 Meters? (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, IRCA via DXLD) No it's not, Colin. 60m is clogged by CODAR, which is a civilian application used for research purposes studying the oceans/waves, etc. It's fairly narrow in spectrum using 15 to 20 kHz at a time. I suspect that the Canadian radar was much more sophisticated. When it was operational, there were those who suspected that they heard it, but this was never confirmed (on either east or west coasts). I think that it was likely spread spectrum and frequency agile, therefore not causing a lot of problems to spectrum users, except perhaps in the immediate vicinity. It sure would be interesting to hear the individual who complained and got the thing canned in the first place! For sure this was no Russian woodpecker! (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) A customer years ago leased part of his transmitter site to a military OTH activity. Our customer was most impressed by the 'intelligence' of the system, in that upon sensing RF activity on a given freq, it would quickly qsy or not emit there at all. Interesting, in light of the wreckage created by CODAR, HD, and other grains of sand which forsook the beach and took up residence in the human eye. Another fine example of how bureaucratic thinking - now there's a picture - lags technological progress. z (pv zecchino, manalog key, fl ibid.) RFI FROM ELECTRIC BLANKETS I’d like to poll the Helping Hand readers to see if anyone knows what brands of electric blankets are RF-quiet. Those currently sold in the U.S. have a switching-type DC power supply which has harmonics into the HF range. (DC is supposed to be less likely to give the sleeper cancer… or insomnia worrying about it.)” (John Schmelzer, KZ5ZE, in St. Louis, Missouri, Helping Hand, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) Anyone out there have any ideas concerning QRNfree electric blankets? Please let me know and I’ll post it in this column and send John a message with the replies (Helping Hand ed. Joe Robinson, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ NEW RADIOWAVE PROPAGATION EMAIL REFLECTOR For those interested I have founded a new radiowave propagation email reflector, "LF/MF/HF/VHF Frequency Radiowave Propagation". You can sign up at http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/kn4lf It is hosted by Risto Kotolampi, W6RK, founder of the HC-DX website and more. This reflector has been created as a vehicle for hams and SWL's to be able to ask questions about and become better educated concerning solar, space and geomagnetic weather, as well as radiowave propagation. Posts on any topic that involves Radiowave Propagation from DC to daylight is welcome. I will also be posting my free KN4LF Daily LF/MF/HF/6M Frequency Radiowave Propagation Forecast here instead of on the ad free Braveheart emailing list. Forecast #2008-05 will be published on both e-lists today and then the Braveheart emailing list will be terminated. So all currently subscribed to the Braveheart emailing list will want to sign up for the new radiowave propagation email reflector ASAP. 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Lakeland, FL, USA kn4lf @ arrl.net KN4LF Daily Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data Archive: http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm KN4LF Free Daily LF/MF/HF/6M Frequency Radiowave Propagation Forecast Subscription Site: http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf6.htm KN4LF 160 Meter Radio Propagation Theory Notes: http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNUSUAL PROPAGATION CONDITIONS Hi All, Have any of you heard unusual propagation conditions on the various short-wave bands over the past twelve to sixteen days? Now when I say "unusual", I mean very atypical! I have been in radio, in one form or another, since about 1958. However, due to the overall length of a full solar cycle I have never listened throughout an entire one. Now I know that several of you have. So please help me out here. I am observing very odd propagation in the high frequency bands. The QSB is almost instant. The band will suddenly change from medium long to very long skip in less than one minute. This may happen several times over the course of ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes. The strength of a stations signal may be higher than I have ever logged it the past ten years, then it will drop off the scope in seconds. It does not return. In terms of linear distance, the pattern generally has a radius of about 300 miles on forty meters. I call this the "Zone Of Death". The twenty meter band has a zone of about twelve hundred miles. However, it will suddenly change to twice that or more! One minute I can copy the panhandle of Florida, the next it is South Africa! This is the most unstable that I have personally evr heard any of the HF bands. Have any of you observed any like oddities from your listening points around the planet? (Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO, MI, Feb 2, dfischer @ usol.com HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International http://www.w9wze.net HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project http://hhrp.w9wze.net swl at qth.net via DXLD) ###