DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-031, March 8, 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 1398 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 [DST starts here, one UT hour earlier:] Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular] Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 7385 Wed 1130 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 ** ALASKA. TRANSMITTER PROBLEMS SILENCE KFAR AGAIN Talk radio station KFAR in Fairbanks, Alaska is off the air again as the station’s aging transmitter continues to require repairs, general manager Perry Walley said. “We apologize for any inconvenience,” Walley said. “It’s very frustrating for us as well.” A fire crippled the transmitter almost two weeks ago, and the station went off the air for five days. This time, the station stopped broadcasting at noon Tuesday due to a mechanical failure, Walley said. He did not know if the problem was related to the fire. Parts are on order to repair the transmitter, Walley said, adding that they hope to be back on the air by this afternoon. The station has also ordered a backup transmitter, Walley said. KFAR website: http://www.kfar660.com (Source: newsminer.com) (March 6th, 2008 - 13:42 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Re 8-030: RAE Japanese program is rather meant for huge Japanese nationality in Latin and North America??? (Wolfgang Bueschel) Number of Japanese descents in Americas in 2002 Brazil 1,300,000 USA 1,000,000 Peru 80,000 Canada 55,000 Argentina 32,000 Mexico 12,000 Paraguay 7,700 Bolivia 6,700 Until 1960's many Japanese emigrated to South America from their defeated and poor homeland. Since 1980's many immigrants have come from Brazil and Perú! There has been especially good relationship between Japan and Argentina, even in Worldwar time, like that between Japan and Germany. That is why RAE has a Japanese service. In Buenos Aires, you can find subway trains are all that were running in Tokyo some ten years ago! (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, March 6, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews March 8 via DXLD) ** ARMENIA. Re 8-030, BBG objecting to RFE/RL off the air here: SRG March 5th, 2008 - 17:36 UTC Just a few months ago the very same thing happened in Georgia. Somehow, I didn’t hear BBG’s strong statements back then. Of course, Georgia is more friendly with the US and Armenia is considered Russia’s ally in the region… 2 Kai Ludwig March 6th, 2008 - 0:47 UTC At least three Radio Liberty broadcasts are scheduled for the Armenian high power transmitter on 864 kHz, Turkmen 0200-0300 plus 1530-1600 UT and Uzbek 1500-1530 UT. Are they still on air? If yes it would be a quite bizarre and absurd situation. 3 SRG March 6th, 2008 - 1:09 UTC I’m pretty sure they are. Armenians don’t understand Turkmen or Uzbek so why should they care? I believe there are also RFA’s SW broadcasts coming out of Armenia. If I’m not mistaken MW/SW transmitters in Armenia are under Russian management. Alastair Bawden March 6th, 2008 - 22:36 UTC I am not a luddute and I do like the internet but this is another instance which tends to show that, at the end of the day, short wave will often reach the parts to which the new media sometimes fail to get through. It seems a practical reason for ensuring that there is always a short-wave back-up when broadcasting to authoritarian states. 5 SRG March 7th, 2008 - 0:41 UTC Alastair, first, Armenia isn’t an authoritarian state, per se. And second, not too many people have SW radios there anymore. For many years R. Liberty had relied on local FM-affiliates in Armenia. The station won’t be able to regain its audience unless it gets back on those affiliates. I’m afraid, BBG’s confrotational tone won’t be helpful in such endeavor (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. Classical music is so rare on SW, that I had to pause when I came across some on 9870, fair March 6 at 2343 – what could that be? O yes, Ö1 is scheduled here to SAm during this semihour only, in its complex mixture of English, German and Spanish. I must say, they have good taste, letting the music play, rather than chopping and hyping it up, like over on 15410 at the same time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 7250, Bangladesh Betar, *1228-1230, March 7, IS. Local music and opening ID announcements at 1230. Weak modulation and a lot of thunderstorm static. Signal just too poor to catch any further program details. Too much T-storm static (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. LITHUANIA, 7565, Radio Racja, Poland via Lithuania. March 3 at *1530-1600 in Belarusian. SINPO 34333. Sign-on with opening announcement and chorus. Talk (sounded like news) and telephone interview (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) 7565, R. Racja, Feb 26 *1530-1550, 33433-34433 Belorussian, 1530 sign on with announce by man, IS, ID and SJ, Opening announce, News (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, ibid.) ** BHUTAN. 6035, *0000-0030 07-03, Bhutan Broadcasting Service, Sangaygang. Dzongkha announcement, Horn, Monks intoning, 34443. From *0030 severe QRM from BVB, Wertachtal on 6030 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on the AOR AR7030plus with 28 m longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4781, R. Tacana, Tumupasa; 03/04 Spanish 2336-2343 ads, 2337 ID by male "está escuchando Radio Tacana", rock in Spanish, male announcements, local pop selections. It was off at 03/06 at time above, QRM presumably from 4780 RC Coatan; 32233 (LOB-B). 6025, R. Patria Nueva, La Paz; 03/07 Spanish, 0005-0013, male talks, outside reporting about popular manifestations, 0008 female "noticias es Patria Nueva", male and female talks. 33232 Short audio file containing ID of R. Patria Nueva: 80 kbt, 20 seconds: http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/eefibra/patrianueva6025khzooo8utc070308.mp3 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu, SP, Brasil (23 39 S, 46 52 W), Sony ICF SW40, dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4699.37, 0030-0200 06+07-03, R. San Miguel, Riberalta. Spanish talks and piano, closed with a hymn 35333 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on the AOR AR7030plus with 28 m longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 6039.60, Radio Clube Paranaense, Curitiba, 0707-0730, March 7, Portuguese announcements. Mostly US pop music but several Portuguese pop tunes. ID. Poor to fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 9645.2, R. Bandeirantes, 3-09 0115, W host, ballads (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. 9415, 1520-1530* Clandestine, Friday 07-03, Democratic Voice of Burma, via Gavar, Armenia. Kayan (as scheduled) talk, song 45333 // 17495, but Gavar was off at 1440! 17495, *1430-1510 07-03, Democratic Voice of Burma, via Talata- Volonondry, Madagascar. Burmese announcement, opened with half an hour of beautiful Burmese folkmusic and jazz, 1457 talk, 45444 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on the AOR AR7030plus with 28 m longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6250, Radio Canada International, Sackville spur, 0105- 0108, March 8, Good signal at tune-in but only heard for several minutes before fading out. Spanish programming. Leapfrogging spur of 6100. 6100 leapfrogging over 6175-Voice if Vietnam via Sackville and landing on 6250. 75 kHz separation between each frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Reminder - CKEC 1320 soon to be dark --- It`s only a very few days and then CKEC-AM will go dark [nominally March 11 --- gh]. Give 1320 a try and see if you can catch their 25 kW signal. I'd suggest trying each night - their last night or two they might very well go out as an omni. Possibly their Nautel might be cranked to the full 30,000 watts too. Also, 1070 CBA will be going dark in another month or so - give them a try with their 50 kW Class A signal (Phil Rafuse, PEI, March 7, ABDX via DXLD) ** CATALUNYA. Pirate: see EUROPE ** CHAD. 4905, 2005-2132* 07-03, Rdif. Tchadienne, N'Djamena-Gredia, French/vernacular. French debate about the present Government, personal messages in vernacular, 2030 Afropop, ID's: "Radio Tchad", 2100 French radiodrama. Back on the air after transmitter problems noted on Mar 02, 05 and 06. QRM Tibet from *2100. Before that 55444 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on the AOR AR7030plus with 28 m longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6280 kHz, Firedrake Jamming, 29-02-08, 2332-2335. Música para interferir a Voice of Hope, en chino. SINPO 34333; 7310, Firedrake Jamming, 29-02-08, 2340-2342. Música para interferir a Voice of Hope, en chino. SINPO 55444 (Javier Robledillo Jaén, Elche (Alicante) – España, EA5-1028, Sangean ATS909, Ant: Telescópica, via Roberto Scalgione, shortwave yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 5050, Guangxi FBS, 1133-1146, March 7, in Vietnamese, EZL Asian songs, weak, no sign of VOS, // 9820 (which was slightly better than CNR-2/CBR) (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CLIPPERTON ISLAND. Starting March 7 into UT March 8 I have periodically checked around all the nominal SSB frequencies 80-10 meters, but so far nothing as of 1530 UT March 8. http://www.clipperton2008.org/dxpedition/bandplan.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 8 March --- "Turns out it was very much yesterday today than it was the day before. The clouds that were present at dawn disappeared by 7 am allowing for the full force of the south Pacific sun to express itself. By 10:30 am, it was 110 degrees at our base camp and hotter at the CW station. The heat has compounded our work load and Arnie, N6HC had his hands full dealing with sunburns and mandatory work and water breaks every 30 minutes to ensure each team member's safety. By 1 pm the heat was so intense our work pace drew to a crawl. With safety being our main concern, we cut back our work loads until it was bearable later in the day to resume. By mid afternoon, some cloud appeared and we were able to continue erecting our antennas and complete our operating stations. Both the CW and SSB camp are very near completion. the few antennas remaining to be erected at daybreak. We are approximately 24 hours behind our intended schedule, but believe now that the majority of the work is behind us with the remaining antenna erection to be completed at daybreak while temperatures are bearable. We anticipate being on the air with both CW and SSB stations by midday. At 1800z, we're very close to coming on the air." http://www.clipperton2008.org/dxpedition/TX5C_dxpedition.htm http://www.clipperton2008.org/ Bandplan: http://www.clipperton2008.org/dxpedition/bandplan.htm (via Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checking the spots I found this per F6AOJ: sat phone call: mega storm, some ant down, will start at sunrise eu, with only a part of equip. 2114z (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I just received an email from Jeff, F6AOJ. Here is what he has to say: Hi Steve, 1 hour ago, I received a sat phone call from my old friend Mic FM5CD a member of the TX5C team. Around mid day, they had a big tropical storm, several antennas ready to run shut down, the camp has been saved from a fly to ocean (due to high wind); now they have to recover from damage. They expect to start with a part of equipment 3 or 3 [sic] stations only around EU sunrise 0500z. The temperature on the island is very high, average 43 c! Some members get sun burns and some others have difficulties with temperature. 73 Jeff F6AOJ (via Steve Lare, MI, 2231 UT March 8, ibid.) ** COLOMBIA. 6035.01, LV del Guaviare, 0225-0306*, March 7, Spanish announcements. Local music. IDs at 0227, 0300. Closing announcements at 0303. National Anthem at 0304. Fair to good signal but dropped down to a poor signal quality at 0230 when clobbered by strong splatter from Vatican Radio via Sackville 6040 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Got a recent report of Radio Guamá, the Pinar del Rio provincial network heard in Texas on 990 kiloHertz; their main station located near the city that has the same name of the province, Pinar del Rio. Radio Guamá is also on the air on FM, so I expect to see reports of their FM broadcasts when the spring-summer sporadic E season starts. Also about Cuban AM broadcast stations between 900 and 1000 kHz, right in the middle of the classic AM analog radio´s dials. On 900 kiloHertz Radio Progreso´s 50 kiloWatts located in Holguín province can be usually heard in the Caribbean, Central America ,the USA and Canada by nulling the Mexican station on the same channel XEW, that according to some sources runs a very high power transmitter on that frequency. Many years ago, the Chief Engineer of Radio Progreso Cuban National Network, Carlos Estrada, visited Mexico City to attend an International Radio Broadcasting Conference, and he came back very impressed by the XEW 250 kiloWatt transmitter that used a Doherty type linear amplifier. Doherty and Terman-Woodyard linear amplifiers are now part of broadcast history, because practically all if not all of today´s new transmitters are built using solid state devices that operate with rather low voltages. The solid state power output stages are modular, so in case one of them fails the transmitter still stays on the air at reduced power output, something broadcasters appreciate very much. Now, more about Cuban AM stations in the 900 to 1000 kiloHertz segment of the AM broadcast band: on 910 kiloHertz here in Havana, we have Radio Metropolitana, a local capital city station that is on the air 24 hours, and on that same frequency 910 kiloHertz we also have Radio Cadena Agramonte from Camagüey city, that can be heard very well all over eastern Cuba due to its transmitter´s excellent location. And here in Havana, on 950 kiloHertz we have the 10 kiloWatt Radio Reloj, the easiest Cuban station to identify because it sends out the letters R R on CW many times every day. You will hear a one per second pulse and the RR on CW from all of Radio Reloj´s network stations. Cuba is now using its national fiber optics cables backbone distribution network, as well as the several microwave radio relay systems, so many times you will notice that Radio Reloj´s signals on different frequencies have a slight time delay due to the coding and decoding process of the digital systems used by the fiber optic equipment. By the way, this last item answers a question sent by listener Jeff, from Toronto, who asked why he could hear on two radios slightly different audio from Radio Reloj on 950 and 1020 kiloHertz (Arnie Coro, Radio amateur CO2KK, Radio Havana Cuba, Dxers Unlimited´s weekend edition for 8-9 March 2008, dxld via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. The DentroCuban Jamming Command, for good measure, or in its customary sloppiness, was jamming nothing but poor Bolivia on 6135, March 7 at 0003, tho it was liter than the heavy jamming on R. República 6155, shortly after its switch from 6135. Say, what`s the problem with Radio República, anyway? Isn`t República de Cuba the current name of the country? More marxist than thou, yet never officially renamed a People`s Democratic Republic, or some variant thereof. Patria o suerte, ¡pensaremos! BTW, check out George Will`s latest column about Castro and Cuba http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/05/AR2008030502889.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns And a cartoon commemorating ``último territorio esclavo en América``: http://caglecartoons.com/viewimage.asp?ID={F4A6B41B-7B5E-4761-8BC1-E9BADFBEF9D2} DentroCuban Jamming Command, wall of noise centered on 15330 against Radio Martí, March 8 at 1405, was also putting out spurious spikes as far as 15305-15355, the latter audible under WYFR. Also same sounding spikes on 15495, next to HCJB DRM 15480-15485-15490. Recheck at 1537, the spikes had built up to more severity, bothering Morocco Arabic on 15345, also vs Saudi Arabia Arabic 15435-15445; and the upper set 15485-15495 vs HCJB DRM was matched by a lower set at 15165-15175, i.e. plus and minus 155-165 kHz from 15330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [and non]. It's 1800 UT and HCJB's DRM is still being crapped by an AM station on the same frequency. I thought I read that they were moving? (Mark Phillips, G7LTT/NI2O, Randolph, NJ, March 6, drmna yg via DXLD) Look for us on 15485 kHz tomorrow instead of 15275. It took us a bit to find what we think is a better frequency to North America. I am traveling to Nashville tomorrow and will take my "DRM radio" with me to monitor there as well (Doug Weber, HC7AW, HCJB, ibid.) Would someone at HCJB please insert a new CD. The previous one has finished and you have dead air. Anyone wishing to "black" their audio tapes should set up to record HCJB's "sound of silence" (Mark, 0236 UT Mar 7, ibid.) I'm about fifty miles southeast of Mark, and I'm getting about the same reception, 21-22 dB S/N and S9 on the meter of my replacement 7030+. I'm getting 100% decode of absolutely nothing. Funny that my first DRM reception since I got the radio last week is of silence. But hey, at least it's silence in parametric stereo and high quality AAC+. That's some good nothing I'm hearing. It's a lot quieter than analog nothing. ;-) (Ralph Brandi, NJ, ibid.) I did finally get some audio. They played time pips at the top of the hour. Then back to their scintillating program of silence (Ralph Brandi, 0302 UT, ibid.) Silence for me too on Himalaya 2009. But I see the rolling text as well as hear the "clock" on 0230 and 0300 AM. Their boombox must be broken (David, NYC, ibid.) Well Hmmmm... That would be our fancy French automation system playing all that silence. Sorry, I just read your comments and it is a little late to be able to fix anything tonight. :-( The automation system has been giving us fits lately, mostly on our DRM transmissions. I wonder how it knows which ones are DRM feeds??? By the way to answer an earlier question --- We are transmitting in parametric stereo, but I just figured out why it isn't in stereo at your receiver. We are using old English Language Service programs that we still have sitting around, but they were all recorded in mono (for analog short wave). You know, sometimes you just try your hardest and it still doesn't come out the way you planned it. (sigh) (Doug Weber, ibid.) I figured on the mono recordings. Perhaps you could try playing 2 mono shows; one on the left channel and one on the right :} (Mark Phillips, ibid.) A suggestion: Andean music CDs. :) d.m.f. (Dennis M. Falk, ibid.) The French analog station on 15275 is DW Kigali; in fact, DW has a rather extensive sked on 15275 now so am surprised HCJB decided to use it for these DRM tests. 1400-1555 Kigali in German 1600-1657 Sines in French 1700-1800 Kigali in French 1800-1857 Kigali in Hausa [not French] 1900-1957 Sines in something (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM buzz from HCJB on new frequency March 7 and 8 to avoid DW 14-20 via Kigali, Sines on 15275. Supposed to be on 15480-15485-15490 at 1400-2100, but already on at 1343 March 7, nominal 4 kW transmitter power, but quite a bit stronger than neighboring DRM from Vatican on 15510-15515-15520 which was scheduled only until 1400. Also checked the third special for the SWL Winter Fest, and it was on too at 1355, TDF Guiana French, 17835-17840-17845, which had also changed from its usual 17870-17875-17880 to avoid some interference. However, on Saturday, 17840 will collide with Lisbon from 1400, weekends only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15480-15485-15490 DRM, HCJB, 3/8 1403, Spanish language contemporary Christian music; S/N ratio of about 12-13 dB makes for tough sledding on this 16.5 kbps signal, lots of dropouts, maybe 75% audibility, complete loss of sync at 1409, 1412, 1413. Special broadcast for Kulpsville. Much better at 1450 retune, S/N 18 dB and 100% intelligible except for one loss of sync at 1452. Heard with an AOR 7030+, IF output via an Elad 45512 IF converter, Dream 1.10.3cvs on a Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.4.10 (Ralph Brandi, NJ, March 8, drmna yg via DXLD) 9730-9735-9740 DRM, HCJB, 0133, 03/07/08, English. Discussion about how Jesus was the first communist(!) and similar religious programming w/HCJB Australia IDs and a special HCJB DRM ID. One of several special transmissions to the Winter SWL Festival. 15-18dB SnR signal w/a few spotty audio dropouts, still quite respectable for 4 kW from South America (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 3280, La Voz del Napo, transmitiendo programación de Radio María ECUADOR, 0534 UT, Mar 6 08, 2-3/2/2/3/2 "Quinto misterio, la coronación de la Virgen María..." Rezando el Padre Nuestro, Rosario, palabras de Juan Pablo II... http://radiomariaecuador.redtienda.net/cat.php?id=34118&PHPSESSID=6041923433f680a911db5c24d103e982 (Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Jiutepec, Morelos, México, Sangean ATS 818, Antena V invertida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nadit even nog eens uitgeluisterd op de tropenband, kwam ik op 3279.93 khz LV del Napo, Radio Maria, Tena, Equador tegen om 0640 UT. Signaal was zeersterk met spaanse reg. muziek "Ave Maria" Gr. (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, March 8, bdx mailing list via DXLD) LV del Napo / R Maria,Tena, Equador. Verry strong and clear with the Ave Maria song, after ID . 3279.93 kHz, time 0640 UT 8/3. Nice weekend (Maurits Van Driessche from Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo, English to NAm, 9465, March 6 at 2315 with 4+1 timesignal 7.5 seconds late compared to WWV (so why bother instead of a simple time announcement?), `News from the North American Service of Radio Cairo``, news theme, and news read by YL, starting with shootings in Jerusalem. By concentrating with headphones I was able to follow most of it, but the audio level faded up and down. Engaging the hi-pass audio filter on the FRG-7 helped to minimize the bass. She wrapped it up at 2324, I think giving her name, but could not understand it. Then into at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted music, mostly Arabic songs by a woman. Recheck at 0000 UT Fri March 7, Arabic lesson, but signal was down a bit and now bothered by much stronger Portugal on 9460 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Radio Wadi el Nil (Nile Valley Radio) continues to be heard on 9250 from *1700 until approx. 2230 UT, in Arabic. Reception is best at the start (Dave Kenny, DX News, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) 9250, R. Wadi el Nile, Feb 19, 2218-2232, 44444-34433, Arabic, Arabic music, ID at 2230. 9250, R. Wadi el Nile, Feb 23, 2231-2244, 33433, Arabic, News and Arabic music, ID at 2241. 9250, R. Wadi el Nile, Feb 25, 2242-2252, 33433-34433, Arabic, Talk, ID at 2249 and 2251. 9250, R. Wadi el Nile, Mar 02, 2229-2242, 34433-33433, Arabic, Arabic music and news, ID at 2230 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. ERITREAN OPPOSITION RADIO STARTS BROADCASTING FROM ETHIOPIA --- Saturday 8 March 2008 01:51. By Tesfa-alem Tekle http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article26287 March 7, 2008 (MEKELLE, Ethiopia) - A coalition of Eritrean opposition groups backed by big supports in Exile launched anti-Isayas Radio broad cast. The Broad cast which has been on trial since January is based in northern Ethiopia Tigray region´s Mekelle city. Recently some 11 Eritrean opposition groups have launched TV broadcast in Ethiopia´s Capital, Addis Ababa. "The target of the new broad cast is to brain wash the ill-ideology Eritrean regime has inflicted over Eritrean people against the Ethiopian people" the man currently in charge of the Radio station, Hagos, who refused to tell his second name, told Sudan Tribune Today. "We are trying to bring together the two brotherly people and bury their enemyness one the other and make sure no more blood shed is repeated again as the result of rouge [rogue?] propaganda of Isayas Afewerki-led regime", Hagos said, adding "we, on be half of the people are assuring the Eritrean people that Ethiopia is in-foe only with the Eritrean leadership and not with the Eritrean people at all." The new radio station named WEGAHTA (Tigrigna translation- dawn) airs programs twice a day, for 3 hours beginning 6 Am in the morning and for 7 hours beginning 5 Pm in the afternoon for a total of 10 hours a day. [assuming UT+3, that`s 0300-0600, 1400-2100 UT] "The program is a major bridge to bring back on track the historic ties of the two brotherly people" Twelde Abai, a historian and resident in Mekelle town said. Currently the radio station airs programs to Ethiopia, Eritrea and partly to Arab nations. Hagos denied any Ethiopian Involvement on the broad cast. "Neither the federal government of Ethiopia, nor the regional government of Tigray has hands on the broad cast, he said, adding "But it is on the best and mutual Interest of the two neighboring people." (ST via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, March 8, DXLD) WTFK?? Could be SW Glenn, It's on 909 mediumwave only. Definitely no shortwave (at least, at present). It's the same station that was operating from eastern Sudan two years ago, also on 909 (see WRTH 2006, page 525, and WRTH 2007, page 505). At that time, it was being referred to in the DX press as "Eastern Radio". In Arabic, Al-Sharq can mean East or Dawn. It now appears that the intended name is "Dawn" rather than "East" (Chris Greenway, Uzbekistan?, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. 9820, *1700-1730 fade out, clandestine, Thursday 06- 03, Voice of Democratic Eritrea, via Jülich. Tigrinya announcement after typical HOA IS, talk, 21221, QRM Voice of Russia in Arabic (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on the AOR AR7030plus with 28 m longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. SENATOR FEINGOLD NOT SHRUGGING OFF ETHIOPIAN JAMMING OF VOA --- "Recent reports that the Ethiopian government is jamming our Voice of America radio broadcasts should be condemned in no uncertain terms, not shrugged off." Senator Russ Feingold speech to Senate, via his website, 3 March 2008 http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/statements/08/03/20080303.htm Posted: 06 Mar (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 15510, R. Mustaqbal via Meyerton, Feb 20 *0545- 0555, 34322 Somali, 0545 sign on with opening music, Opening announce, theme song, Somali pops and talk. 15510, R. Mustaqbal via Meyerton, Feb 25 *0545-0556, 34333-34322, Somali, 0545 sign on with opening music, Opening announce, Theme song, Somali pops and talk. 15510. R. Mustaqbal via Meyerton, Feb 25 *0620-0631, 33332-34442 Somali, 0545 sign on with opening music, Opening announce, Theme song, Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** EUROPE. PIRATE. 6925 USB, Spider Radio, 2130-2235, March 7, Tentative. Pop music. DJ chatter. Very weak in noisy conditions. [not North America? gh] PIRATE. 6882, Playback International, 2130-2150, March 7, Pop music by Queen, Paul McCartney, others. DJ chatter. Weak in noisy conditions. PIRATE. 6882, Playback International, 2305-2340, March 8, pop/rock music by Rolling Stones & others. IDs. Fair signal. PIRATE. Catalan, Spain, 6311.12, Radio Barretina relaying Radio l`Arboç, 2245-2350, March 7, Pop music. DJ chatter. Talk in unidentified language. ID. Poor to fair signal in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 2/3 1056, 6312 kHz (S500) prob. R. BARRETINA/L' ARBOÇ. "Don't cry for me Argentina". Segnale insufficiente-molto buono, QRM ute (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, playdx yg via DXLD) ** FRANCE [and non]. TDF changes of March 2nd: 7135 0600 0700 37W,46W ISS 500 204 French F RFI 7135 1700 1800 28-30 ISS 500 55 Russian F NEW? or 7315 7315 1700 1800 28-30 ISS 500 55 Russian F RTI 9630 1700 1800 28S,29S,39N ISS 500 88 Pasthu F RFI 9765 0600 0630 37E,38W,46E ISS 500 170 English F RFI 9790 0400 0500 37E,38W,47, ISS 500 155 French F RFI 9790 0500 0600 37,46 ISS 500 185 French F RFI 9790 1900 2000 37W,46W ISS 500 204 French F RFI 9800 0100 0130 7S,8S,10,11 GUF 250 295 Spanish F RFI 9800 1600 1630 18S,28N,29N ISS 500 55 Russian F RFI 9805 0600 0630 37E,38W,46E ISS 500 170 Hausa F RFI 11615 1900 2000 37,46 ISS 500 190 French F RTI or 11670 11670 1600 1630 28W,29S,30W ISS 500 80 Russian F RFI 11670 1900 2000 37,46 ISS 500 190 French F RTI 11700 0500 0600 37E,38W,47, ISS 500 155 French F RFI 11700 0600 0700 37W,46W ISS 500 185 French F RFI 11700 0700 0800 37W,46W ISS 500 204 French F RFI 11705 1900 2000 37E,38W,47, ISS 500 155 French F RFI 11995 0400 0500 38S,39S,47E ISS 500 120 French F RFI 11995 1600 1700 41,49 ISS 500 85 English F RTI 11995 1700 1900 37W,46W ISS 500 204 French F RFI 13680 0500 0530 38E,47E,48, ISS 500 135 English F RFI 13695 0500 0600 38S,39S,47E ISS 500 120 French F RFI 13695 1900 2000 37,46 ISS 500 185 French F RFI 15160 0600 0630 38E,47E,48, ISS 500 135 English F RFI 15300 0600 0700 37E,38W,47, ISS 500 155 French F RFI 15300 0700 0800 37,46 ISS 500 185 French F RFI 15300 1700 1900 37E,38W,47, ISS 500 155 French F RFI 15300 1700 1900 37,46 ISS 500 185 French F RFI 15315 0700 0730 37E,38W,46E ISS 250 170 Hausa F RFI 15315 1600 1700 37E,38W,46E ISS 250 170 Hausa F RFI 15530 1700 1800 37W,46W ISS 500 160 Portuguese F RFI 15530 1700 1800 46,47,52,57 ISS 500 204 Portuguese F RFI 15605 0700 0730 37S,46,47S ISS 500 170 English F RFI 15605 1600 1700 38E,47E,48, ISS 500 135 English F RFI 15605 1600 1700 37E,38W,46E ISS 500 170 English F RFI 17850 1600 1700 37E,38W,47, ISS 500 155 French F RFI (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 4 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. SRI LANKA/UK, DWL Arabic from March 1st to 29th 06035 0400-0429 300 SKELTON 125 ME 06035 0430-0459 500 RAMPISHAM 168 ME 06135 0430-0459 300 SKELTON 195 ME 07105 0400-0429 500 RAMPISHAM 110 ME (xWOF) 09755 0430-0457 250 KIGALI 325 ME 11925 0400-0430 250 KIGALI 030 ME 07280 1800-1959 300 WOOFFERTON 114 ME 07280 1800-1959 300 WOOFFERTON 170 ME 11605 1800-1958 250 TRINCOMALE 300 ME 11925 1800-1959 300 WOOFFERTON 114 ME (xKIG) 11925 1800-1959 300 WOOFFERTON 170 ME (xKIG) 13780 1800-1858 250 TRINCOMALE 285 ME 13790 1800-1857 250 KIGALI 030 ME addit DWL German from March 1st 12070 1800-1959 300 WOOFFERTON 160 ME/NE/EaAF DRM Various via Trinco from March 1st 12005 0800-0858 90 TRINCOMALE 345 SoAS (BCDX March 8 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. A08 frequency info for DW in English and German is now available at http://www4.dw-world.de It's the pocket schedule info that you can find by going to the DW- Radio box and click "Reception", then "Frequencies and Customer Service", and scroll down to the bottom for this info, along with frequencies for DRM transmissions. The full technical schedule for English, German and other languages, with transmitter sites, will appear shortly (Joe Hanlon, NJ, March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. 13585-13590-13595 DRM, PORTUGAL, Deutsche Welle, 3/8 1425, Occasional snatches of German language audio, <5% intelligibility, but name plate, two channel names, and rotating message area come through okay, time check "?? und dreissig in Deutschland" heard at 1430, into headlines; S/N about 9-10 dB, really marginal Heard with an AOR 7030+, IF output via an Elad 45512 IF converter, Dream 1.10.3cvs on a Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.4.10 (Ralph Brandi, NJ, March 8, drmna yg via DXLD) ** GHANA [non]. Re 8-030, contact with Accra ATC: --- You could (almost) hear the frustration in the guy's voice! (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. 17835-17840-17845 DRM, TDF, 03/07/08, 1422, French. DRM relay of RFO Guyane domestic programming with pop tunes and listener phone calls, a rare pleasure to hear back on shortwave (sort of). Third of three broadcasters with special DRM transmissions to the Winter SWL Festival, solid 20dB signal. Interesting to note that TDF's 150 kW provides only a few extra dB on the SNR as compared to HCJB's 4 kW (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ECUADOR I started at 1540 UT (7:40 am PST). Considering my threshold for clear decoding is about 10 dB MER... :) Not bad for out-of-beam, though. When I started recording, RFO Guyane got a call from an American speaking excellent French but with an obvious American accent. :) Got a kick out of that! :) One of the things I like about RFO FGuyane is the excellent selection of music, regardless of language-- I, for one, would welcome RFO Guyane as a regular DRM'caster fulltime. :) I wonder why no-one's using the 13 MHz band for DRM, at least audible to NAm? 15 MHz is best for Montsinéry, in my experience. Would be nice if they'd take up a channel at or above 15800, since this part isn't much used at all, AM or DRM. d.m.f. (Throwing spanners in the works? ;) ) (Dennis M. Falk, March 7, drmna yg via DXLD) TDF DRM test to SWL Winter Fest, 17835-17840-17845, March 8 at 1401. Only heard DRM noise and no AM from Portugal, which is scheduled weekends only on 17840; however 16m European reception was far below normal with e.g. Spain 17595 just barely audible instead of usual inbooming. Even from the east coast among DRM monitors I don`t see any mention of Portugal causing problems. Next I checked at 2028, 17835- 17840-17845 was DRM-free; I believe a DRM monitor said they closed at 2009. For those wondering, all my ``DRM`` logs are just of the noise, as I am not sufficiently motivated to try to monitor DRM as intended (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17835-17840-17845 DRM, TDF/RFO, Guiana 3/8 1336 Relay of RFO Guiana, special broadcast for Winter SWL Festival in Kulpsville; brief sketch involving animal noises in the background, DJ patter over wacky music; frequent dropouts on 16-17 dB S/N signal, 17.5 kbps signal. Marginal listenability, and by 1345, S/N dropping to 12 dB, making for about 1- 2% audibility. About the same at 1500 retune, IDs as "Radio Guiane" in programming, still losing sync occasionally. Heard with an AOR 7030+, IF output via an Elad 45512 IF converter, Dream 1.10.3cvs on a Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.4.10 (Ralph Brandi, NJ, March 8, drmna yg via DXLD) ** GUIANA FRENCH [and non]. Hello! received QSL letter and filled ppc from Cayenne Aero. The official report in French and sent 1 coupon. The address: Aerodrome de Cayenne-Rochambeau, 97351 Matoury. Email : michel.metzelard @ aviation-civile.gouv.fr 73! Yours faithfully (Vladimir Rozhkov, March 5 via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) CARIBBEAN B ROUTE includes Barranquilla, Boyeros [Cuba], Cayenne, Georgetown, Maiquetia, New York, Panamá, Paramaribo, Piarco, San Andrés 3455, 5520, 6586, 8846, 11330, 17907 kHz. Jean Antoine Philippe Email : jean-antoine.philippe @ aviation-civile.gouv.fr Fax +594 594 359 356 Jefe Centro de Control de Cayenne [in Spanish??] Servicio de Navegación Aérea Antillas - Guyana Aérodrome de Rochambeau 97351 - Matoury, Guyana [that`s French Guiana, not Guyana Guyana -gh] (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. Visit to AIR Puri - By Jose Jacob --- Dear Friends, Recently I had a chance to visit to All India Radio & TV, Puri during my stay at Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. Here's an article on the visit. The article can be accessed using this link : http://alokeshgupta.googlepages.com/Visit_AIR_Puri.pdf Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082 (via Alokeksh Gupta, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya (presumed), 1238, 03/07/08. Sustained vocal music with flute and string-instrument accompaniment, just one or two brief announcer comments, seemed to continue through 1300 but was mostly gone in the noise by then. Format/music was quite unlike recent PNG receptions, so doubt this was R North Solomons. Mostly poor (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. RRI was good on 60 meters, March 8; it helped a lot to tune in an hour earlier than I usually do, at 1304: 4605 Serui was best at S9+20 with warta berita, // 4790 Fak2, and at 1306 also // 4920 Biak when M&W were talking, still in news, I think. However at 1305, 4870 Wamena was in music not // the others. At 1308, 4605 heard mentioning ``RRI [pronounced air-air-ee]. . . warta berita``. At 1351, 4605 was still holding up well with music and more flutter than before, also 4790 with not // music, and CODAR worst there; also at 1351, 4920 was somewhat stronger than 4870. Missing was 4750 Makassar, even at the earliest 1304 check. There were also some Chinese frequencies audible, interspersed. VOI 9526 was missing this date before and after 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 7160, V of Justice, 3-09 0135, Kor`an, English program preview, news (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Re 8-030: IBA have been making such announcements at regular intervals for several years, but in the past there have always been last minute reprieves for SW. Maybe this time it`s for real (Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. UNKNOWNISTAN: 13855.04, 2110-2137+, 5-Mar; M announcer in unknown language (not English) with occasional discussion -- phone calls?; mixed with pop tunes including Byrd's Turn, Turn, Turn. Poor. Sounds like the sort of thing you'd hear on Galei Zahal, but not // 6973 -- even weaker (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 215' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Close; IBA`s Hebrew home service to South America is here, per EiBi: 13855 2100-2215 ISR Kol Israel HB SAm 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** ISRAEL. Galei Zahal, 15781.8, talk in Hebrew at 1443 March 7, poor signal, but better than an hour before when IBA was much stronger in Hebrew on 15760 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. Re 8-030, adding frequencies and sites: JAPAN/GERMANY --- Radio Japan plans to drop its Bengali, Hindi and Urdu afternoon transmissions to South Asia for A08. Cuts back 15 minutes of transmission time for all the three languages. NHK Radio Japan new times wef 30th March (Sun) Bengali 1300-1345 UT (17595WER) (x0630-0700 & 1230-1300 UT) Hindi 1345-1430 UT (17595WER) (x0700-0730 & 1300-1330 UT) Urdu 1330-1415 UT (11705YAM/11925YAM) (x0730-0800 & 1330-1400 UT) (Alokesh Gupta, India, dxld Mar 6 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. V. of Korea (Korean Central BC System, as listed in Aoki), Kujang at 200 kW/28 degrees, on 6285 at *1200 3/8 with IS, ID in Korean, anthem and into news; SIO 232 (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Shiokaze via JSR, Japan, 5985, in English once again on Friday March 7 at 1404, this time with chronology of news about NK, at this point Feb 20 on de-nuclearization, next item dated Feb 21; hard to understand due to accent; 34333 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. CLANDESTINES: 9630, North Korea Reform R., Feb 29 *1200-1211, 34333-33433, Korean, 1200 sign on with opening music, ID, Opening announce, Talk. 9630, North Korea Reform R., Mar 02 1202-1217, 44433-44444, Korean, Talk and music, ID at 1214. 9940, V. of Wilderness, Mar 01 *1300-1310, 22432, Korean, 1300 sign on with IS, Opening music, Opening announce, Chorus music, Talk. 9950, R. Free Chosun, Feb 24 *1200-1210, 44444, Korean, 1200 sign on with opening music, ID, Opening announce, Talk. 9950, R. Free Chosun, Feb 25 *1200-1211, 45444, Korean, 1200 sign on with opening music, ID, Opening announce, Talk. 9950, R. Free Chosun, Feb 29 *1200-1215, 45444, Korean, 1200 sign on with opening music, ID, Opening announce, Talk. 9950, R. Free Chosun, Mar 01 *1200-1209, 45333, Korean, 1200 sign on with opening music, ID, Opening announce, Talk (all: Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium March 8 via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. See LUXEMBOURG ** KUWAIT. Saludos cordiales, hoy he recibido otra carta de Kuwait; es la segunda de éste año. En ambas me envían unos bonitos calendarios del Ministerio de Información; en ella incluyen horario y frecuencias de emisión de Radio Kuwait en FM, Onda Media, Onda Corta y satélite. Lo novedoso es que en esta carta lleva incluída una preciosa Tarjeta Postal del State of Kuwait-Ministry of Information-Informative Publication Department. E-mail: kwtfrec @ media.gov.kw No es la esperada QSL en respuesta al informe de recepción enviada meses atrás, pero es la tercera carta recibida desde Kuwait en respuesta a un informe de recepción; no está nada mal. Atentamente (José Miguel Romero, Valencia, Spain, March 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. Re 8-030, new antenna: Meant for 1593 kHz installation? At present used by old-Holzkirchen Continental 150 kW unit, IBB Arabic to Iraq 350 degrees. See on page 2, far NW corner of the IBB KWT installation, 2 tower array? http://fs2.fbo.gov/EPSData/BBG/Synopses/5565/BBGCON3607S6415-KSH/Attachme.pdf Or is meant on new MW 1386 kHz installation, the former Harris 600 kW unit from Kavalla Greece site? See page 5, under C.1.3.3 Antenna System, approx. 55 degrees towards Mashad, Samarkand, Tashkent, on the NE corner: http://fs2.fbo.gov/EPSData/BBG/Synopses/5565/BBGCON3607S6415-KSH/Part_I_-.pdf (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The frequency of the transmission is a critical factor in the design and dimensions of any MW antenna, and should be known and specified from the outset (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also http://mediumwave.info/newsarchive_k.html 1386 kHz MW installation at approx. 55 degrees according my circle graphometer. Most likely meant for FARDA program to eastern part of Iran. Arabic to IRQ 1593 150 kW Continental unit from former Holzkirchen-GER site. 2 tower 350 degr. Arabic SAWA 1548 600 kW Harris former Rhodes-GRC site unit. 7 tower array in 323 degr. Persian? FARDA in future 1386 600 kW Harris former Kavalla-GRC site unit. 3 tower array approx. 55 degr. (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Mar 6, BCDX March 8 via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Relay on 9290 kHz Sunday March 9th Latvia Today 1400-1500 UT --- Good listening 73s (Tom Taylor, March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And nothing else this weekend ** LIBYA. 17725, LJB/Voice of Africa, 03/04/08, 1423, English. Afropop-type music, IDs and into news from the Great Jamahiriyah and the recent doings of the Leader of the Revolution. Strong het on the low side, but clear in USB. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. KBC 6055 --- 2228 March 8, Windy by The Association was heard with noisy signal from KBC while the Wolfman "returned" from the grave to do his thing. Transmission enhanced by 2255 with I Was Made for Loving You by Kiss... "The Wolfman loves you"... followed by an ad for K-PO WR 2001 World receiver (Has anybody around here tested one? If it performs as good as the leggy girl looks like, I won't any doubt!) Changing 6265 to 6050 maintains KBC signal into Tiquicia the same; problem here is the splatter we receive from HCJB Spanish on 6050 , slightly avoided with sync detection on USB (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sony ICF7600GR + T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. 1440, KBS World Radio kommt hier mit seiner ersten Relaissendung ueber Luxemburg mit SINPO 44444 herein, 1740 UT 1440 kHz. Die neue Sendung laeuft taeglich von 1730-1800 UT. Vor Beginn der Sendung wurde auch auf die Zusammenarbeit mit WRN hingewiesen. Gerade laeuft koreanische musik. Mehr auch unter: http://world.kbs.co.kr/german (Douglas Kaehler-D, A-DX Mar 1 via BC-DX March 8 via DXLD) KBS World Radio ist an Empfangsberichten via Luxemburg (und natuerlich auch via Skelton) sehr interessiert und werden schnell mit (schoenen) QSL-Motiven bestaetigt. Email-Adresse: german @ kbs.co.kr Die Sendung ist zunaechst auf 6 Monaten befristet (Willi Stengel, Germany, A-DX Mar 1, ibid.) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7130, Sarawak FM via RTM, Kuching, 1147-1214, March 7, // 5030 (under CNR-1), YL DJ playing pop songs, singing station jingle, before ToH started Islamic programming (Islamic music and also reciting from the Qur'an), fair-poor (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, Bamako, 0556-0630, March 7, tune-in to guitar IS. National Anthem at 0558. Opening French ID announcements at 0559. Kor`an at 0600. Local music at 0614 and vernacular talk. Fair but some splatter from Cuba 6000. Also heard at 0800 sign off with closing ID announcements. Poor signal at this time with co-channel QRM. 9635, RTVM, Bamako, *0803-0830+, March 7, abrupt sign on with vernacular talk. Local music. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Saludos, 1570 kHz, Radio La Poderosa, XERF. 0906 UT, Marzo 5 08, Señal buena. "X-E-R-F... Ciudad Acuña y su radio...", y continúo "servicios sociales"... Cd. Acuña, Coahuila, México. http://www.lapoderosa.imer.com.mx/ Correo electrónico: lapoderosa1570 @ imer.com.mx (Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Jiutepec, Morelos, México, Sangean ATS 818, Antena V invertida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I see that XERF now has a nice website as above, tho very slow loading, including program schedules for individual days of the month, with annoying rollover popups, including Sobre Ruedas, a trucker / automobilist show at 22-02 local, but not on weekends as if nobody drives then! And at 6-7 am daily, Al que Madruga, Dios le Ayuda, or ``God help those who get up early``. Axually on Sunday shows 7-7 am, I assume a typo. Sunday evening includes at 2115-2200 local, Hablemos de Chistes, and at 2330-2300 [sic] Media Hora Estatal. This appears to have errors in it, or deliberately omitted time segments, as La Hora Nacional, which is supposed to be at 2200-2300 local, is not mentioned! But the State Half Hour, whenever it really be, may refer to something put out by Coahuila. Logo on site is two eagles, alluding to Eagle Pass? Surely not, wrong border neighbor for Acuña. It will be interesting to note whether XERF programming really stays on CST until April 6, or shifts to CDT March 9; see WORLD OF HOROLOGY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEW 900: see CUBA ** NEW ZEALAND [non]. 9745-9750-9755 DRM, ENGLAND, Radio New Zealand International, 3/8 1414, Occasional snatches of audio, maybe 3-5% audibility, S/N about 10 dB on this 18.5 kbps broadcast. ID plate reads "VT Digital"; reporter has a New Zilland accent, though. Broadcast from Woofferton is a real dog here (in fairness, it's not aimed here). Heard with an AOR 7030+, IF output via an Elad 45512 IF converter, Dream 1.10.3cvs on a Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.4.10 (Ralph Brandi, NJ, March 8, drmna yg via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. PIRATE. 6925 USB, Relaxation Radio, 2320, 03/06/08, English. Easy-listening type tunes then a looped computer-generated ID and off at 2327. Heard several other times in the following hour or two with ~20 minute blocks of similar programming. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Re 8-030: OK, MO, PA and FL are the CW callsigns sent. Is MO really in OK? (gh) Ken Zichi found a site that put MO in OK (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Have been looking for the ``OK`` hifer beacon on 3450, as recently reported from as far away as Michigan, but must have been off or below my considerable local noise level. But heard March 8 at 1310 with nothing but A1 = CW ID ``OK`` ten times per minute, peaking S9+8, fortunately a bit above the current noise level, and a bit below 3450.0. It was still detectable at 1408, 1444, 1547, and 2031 UT. WHERE in Oklahoma is it, I wonder? I suppose this is secret since it is not exactly licensed. The website http://highfrequencybeaconsociety.bravehost.com/beacons.html gives no specific location, but claims it is 24/7, running 300 Megawatts! I should get it on my teeth. O, I`ll bet they mean millwatts, if not microwatts, since they don`t know their M/m/u metric prefixes. ``OK 3450 Khz solar power 300Mw end fed wire 24/7 Location: Oklahoma`` And there`s another one in state for me to seek next: ``MO 4077 Khz solar 200Mw 118ft end fed wire 24/7 Location: Oklahoma`` (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. I made a point of checking out the OU School of Music webcast of an organ recital on their calendar for noon March 6 --- but by 1810 UT, the Quicktime player never got beyond ``negotiating``. So much for that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Organ Concert Inaudible --- I was delighted to see that you are offering live webcasts of certain concerts, as linked on the calendar, as I am in Enid and it`s a bit too far to come to Norman for all of them. Not so delighted to find the first one I tried to listen to, the organ recital, today Thursday March 6 at noon, got nowhere beyond ``negotiating`` on the Quicktime player. I have refreshed it several times, on more than one browser, but nothing. What happened? Are you really offering this service, and should I bother trying to hear any more of them? Regards, (Glenn Hauser to OUSOM, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Unfortunately we do not record and therefore not broadcast the Noonday Concert Series or concerts in Pitman as of yet. The broadcasting is new and only done in one of the booths. I hope you will not be discouraged. Best, (Dan, OUSOM, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, the next ones are scheduled for 8 pm CDT March 10, 11 and 13, i.e. 0100 UT March 11, 12, 14 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. Re BBC QSL direct: ADDRESS: BBC Relay Station, P.O.BOX 40 AL ASHKARAH, PC 442, OMAN (Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. 1300-1400 UT, 5050 kHz. Radio Pakistan Pushto Service was monitored on March 3, 2008. Signal was strong but audio was distorted. SINPO rating was 44222. The service has finally managed to hire a female broadcaster; previously it was an all male show. But the female announcer seemed to be in a hurry on that day and made announcements without any proper pauses. Pushto is my mother tongue but at times it was hard to comprehend what she was saying. The news bulletin seemed to be a recording of home service Pushto bulletin instead of some Afghanistan related news bulletin. It makes me wonder what is "External" about this broadcast. Recording of domestic news bulletin and a lot of music is all what this has to offer. I think Radio Pakistan Music Service would be a proper title for such a broadcast (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. 4790.00, *0230-0240 06-03, R. Pakistan, Rawalpindi, Urdu announcement, Pakistani songs 24232. 4835, 0225-0235 06-03, R. Pakistan, Rewat, Islamabad, Urdu interview, mentioned Pakisten three times, jingle, 35333 . *0235 started jamming on 4840 on the Voice of Iranian Kurdistan (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on the AOR AR7030plus with 28 m longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7324.96, Wantok R. Light, Mar 02 0754-0805, 32432-33433 English, Music, ID at 0801 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium March 8 via DXLD) 7325, Wantok Radio Light (presumed), 1231-1345+, 03/08/08. A program of mostly talk alternating between announcers to theme music, then after that mostly continuous contemporary Western-sounding tunes with occasional brief commentary between songs, a very tentative ID heard around 1259. Mostly faded by 1345 though still going. On a couple of checks prior to 1230 male and female announcers were heard speaking clearly in Mandarin - i.e., IBRA Radio via Novosibirsk, which is listed as 1230* and would probably have been the source of any signal heard on this frequency before then (at least in N. America). Poor, often near noise floor. Wantok Radio Light had been only heard as a carrier at best since last log on 02/29, and assuming R Canada takes this frequency over on 03/09 as expected, it will be a while before they're heard here again. (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) gh was listening at same time, but got less: see UNIDENTIFIED ** PERU. 4746.8, 0040-0050 07-03, R. Huanta 2000, Huanta (presumed), Spanish talk, strong CODAR QRM 21331. 4790.00, 0210-0225 06-03, R. Visión, Chiclayo, Spanish preaching, no longer on 4790.2; 25232 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on the AOR AR7030plus with 28 m longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) And then see PAKISTAN ** PERU. 4775, Radio Tarma, 1109-1120 March 6. Initially noted a male in Spanish comments between blasts from CODAR every second. At one time, this band (4700 to 5000 kHz) was alive with DX catches from different areas around the world. However, this nuisance from CODAR has ruined the band to a point that most stations are blocked by it. This frequency is no exception. CODAR is right on top of Radio Tarma this morning blocking any chance of hearing any details or enjoying the programming. Consequently, the signal from Tarma was poor to nil. 4824.4, La Voz de la Selva, 1126-1135 March 6. Again copying the program between CODAR blasts, noted a male and female in Spanish language comments. Haven't heard this station for awhile. Not sure why? The signal was poor and fading out periodically (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, R-390A, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Short audio file containing ID of R. Altura, 89 kbt, 22 seconds: http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/eefibra/r.altura5015khz0001utc010308.mp3 73's (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu, SP Brasil (23 39 S, 46 52 W), Sony ICF SW40, dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. I recently pointed out that a Stewart MacKenzie log of Spain in Spanish on 11620 must really have been Portugal in Portuguese, as scheduled. However, March 6 just as I tuned across 11620 at 2249, it was in Spanish! Listening a bit longer, this turned out to be an interview with some silly ballgame figure from Spain. The interviewer spoke in Portuguese and the interviewee answered in Castilian, neither taking the trouble to speak the other`s language, and no translations were included, nor apparently were they thought to be needed. So you may indeed hear Spanish from RDPI under these circumstances. Also // on much weaker 11960 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I have a question but I don't know who to ask. So I thought that you may be the person to ask or tell me who to ask. I'm receiving a signal at 11620 in a foreign language today (March 7, 2008); it sounds like French they were talking, but yesterday it sounded like a (soccer game maybe) like it was in Spanish. The only problem, I can`t speak a foreign language. Passport to World Band Radio says it should be All India Radio (and in English) and Radio Exterior de España would be at 11625 to Africa. I appreciate your help. Thanks, (Warren Voorhees, Columbus, NE, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Warren, It so happens I have just published a log about this very thing [above]. It`s not in PWBR 2008 which is out of date by the time it`s printed. A subsequent frequency change by Portugal, as reported some months ago in DX Listening Digest, as we objected to it blocking India (Glenn to Warren, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PORTUGAL: 11280/AM RDP Int'l (t); 2218-2242+, 7-Mar; Game call to about 2225, then into 2M discussion; all in PP; ment. Portugal once. SIO=242, very fady & QRM is San Francisco ATC 0n 11282. //11825, only RDP // found. Spur or mixer?--mixing with what? (Frodge-MI) Aha, leapfrog, 11960 over 11620 at 340 kHz intervals (gh, DXLD) Nice Portuguese music on 15465, Saturday March 8 until 2000* Can`t imagine why RDPI did not have a silly ballgame running on a Saturday evening, but fine with me (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. Wonder what became of Radio PMR? No sign of anything on 6240, Friday March 7 at 2332 check, nor at 0023 recheck March 8. I remember hearing it as usual, but not bothering to log it, one day earlier after 0000 UT March 7 in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) However, 6240 was on the air as usual with VOR choral music at 0255 recheck (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) I now think this has always been the case at Friday 2300 and Saturday 0000 and that the schedule has just not been reported correctly in the past. I suspected this in early February (message 25554 dxld yahoo group) but never got round to checking it. I have also quoted Radio PMR as being Monday to Friday only (message 24852 dxld yg). I had a quick scan through dxld's from November 2007 to now and found no reports of Radio PMR being on at 2300-2345 Friday or 0000-0045 Saturday. http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/bib07.txt shows 6240 as 2300-2345 Monday-Thursday and 0000-0045 Tuesday to Friday http://www.bclnews.it/b07schedules/pmr.htm shows 6240 as 2300-2345 Monday-Friday and 0000-0045 Tuesday to Saturday with the source as http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/bib07.txt via Alexey Zinevich (ZAS), Minsk, Belarus and last update as November 29, 2007 http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/dx/freq-b07.txt shows 6240 as 2300-2345 Monday-Friday and 0000-0045 Monday to Friday I think http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/bib07.txt is correct with 6240 as 2300-2345 Monday-Thursday and 0000-0045 Tuesday to Friday Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, March 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I.e., it`s four days a week, not five (gh, DXLD) ** ROMANIA [non]. 6160 Registrierung Kvitsoe durch VTC-Merlin Provider - obwohl man um die AM Platzhirsche Moosbrunn 6155 und Deanovec 6165 weiss, registriert man einen 65 kW Sender mit einer 'verwundernden' Haupt-Keule von 220 Grad Richtung West-England, La Coruña, Porto, Lissabon. Letzteres wohl wissend, das eigene Signal in Europa so stark wie moeglich abzuschwaechen. Wahnsinn hoch Drei. Wann werden die Taten der DRM Spielzeugbenutzer endlich erwachsen. Nach 12 Jahren DRM koennte man das endlich erwarten. Aber darueber ist im letzten Jahrzehnt in dieser Liste auch schon massenhaft diskutiert worden. (73 wb Mar 1, BCDX March 8 via DXLD) Walter Eibl schrieb: Es faellt auf, dass in letzter Zeit einige Ausserband QRGs ganz still durch welche im eigentlichen Band ersetzt wurden ... ohne dass sich die Bedingungen nennenswert geaendert haben. Sowas nennt man wohl agressives Marketing. Reine Dummheit moechte ich nicht unterstellen. Man sollte dieser ganzen Digitalclique zur Pflicht machen, Amateurfunkkurse zu besuchen. Dann erfahren sie zumindest einmal in ihrem Leben etwas ueber den Sinn von Bandplaenen und ueber die nachbarvertraegliche Belegung von Frequenzen (Willi Passmann, Germany, A-DX Mar 1, ibid.) Re: Radio Romania International digital via Kvitsøy: 6155-6160-6165 has just been replaced by 7460-7465-7470, cf. http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showpost.php?p=46402&postcount=4 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA [and non]. March 7 at 1349 was getting 5 Hz SAH on REE via Costa Rica, 15170, as REE was ending Gallego news segment; some talk audible from the QRM; at 1444 recheck, REE had gone and was getting music and talk with continuous crackle/breakup in the modulation tho carrier was steady. Checking listings later, must be RRI Galbeni, in Romanian as scheduled, well-known for its audio problems, at 285 degrees, more or less toward Costa Rica! Great coördination (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Tho there was little doubt, on March 6 I made sure that the station taking over 6020 after Australia closes is Family Radio, as scheduled via Samara. At 1357, Russian marker tones periodically under RA, which played Waltzing Matilda 1358-1359*. Then sure enough, starting a few seconds after 1400, Family Radio trumpet theme. This is Telugu, a 140 degree beam across south India from the site at 50-15 East, 53-17 North, per Aoki. Checking Kuybyshev (its Soviet name) as on my old NGS globe, I find that the great circle to Enid heads about 153 degrees from Samara, not too far off; goes to 76 degrees south near McMurdo, and is all over water from S Asia to the SW coast of Mexico. How about the greyline? Set for 1400 UT March 6 at http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth we see that there is a lot more light on the short path across northern Greenland this time of year, tangent to 76 degrees north, than there is the much longer long path. This plus the fact that I am not hearing anything else from any part of Europe on 49m at the time, leads me to conclude that this reception is indeed long-path (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) YFR via Samara longpath, 6020, checked again March 7 at 1402: just buzz/hum, no modulation audible, but at 1406 recheck presumed Telugu talk mixing with hum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 6075, GTRK Kamchatka via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, 0815- 0835, March 7, their local programming with conversations in Russian, Russian ballads, BoH Russian and English IDs ("This is Kamchatka"), seemed to be a recorded interview, with several mentions of Kamchatka, fair to good reception (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another check for 8GAL, 6074 proved negative as it has been for the past week, but March 7 at 1400. R. Rossii 6075 timesignal closing after jazz was 5.5 seconds late compared to WWV! If you can`t do any better than that, you should not pretend to broadcast an accurate timesignal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 7320, R. Rossii via Magadan, 0815-0835, March 7, in Russian, songs in English ("You are My Destiny", etc.), R. Rossii IDs, bad case of clipped audio (like listening to a station with the hiccups!), fair to good reception (unusually good for them), parallel with 5935 also via Magadan (fair, mixing with WWCR). Still not sure what is happening on 7200 (Yakutsk). Almost thought I heard them for a few seconds, but if so, they are extremely weak, not their usual strength. If this is caused by poor conditions then why the good reception for the other Russians? (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RWANDA. 6055, Radio Rwanda, Kigali, 2040-2100*, March 8, vernacular talk. Afro-pop music. Phone talk. Abrupt sign off. Fair level but co- channel QRM from Iran in Spanish via Lithuania. Rwanda somewhat stronger than Iran (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 17660, March 7 at 1429 in French giving address for ``Club de l`Auditeur``, but couldn`t copy it, fading in and out; after 1430 mentioned Côte d`Ivoire several times. Consulting PWBR 2008 you will have no leads on this, but it`s the French service of BSKSA at 1400, beamed due west from Riyadh. This misses Ivory Coast, crossing sparsely inhabited northern regions of ex-French West Africa, Chad, Niger, Mali, finally not far from Bamako (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 29/2 (DE1103), 1651. 15205, Ronzio assordante sopra BSKSA Holy Qur`an. Jamming o problemi al trasmettitore? Lo stesso tipo di rumore, sempre con BSKSA Holy Qur`an, c'è alle 0900-1200 su 11935, mentre è assente alle 0600-0900 su 15380 (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, playdx yg via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. BUZZ - Seems it is broadcasting from BSKSA 1500- 1700 UT on 9640 kHz in ?Turkestani and some Arabic but the signal is with "buzzy" type Saudi. The original "buzzy" is now with this (almost) new schedule: 0300-0550 15170 0555-0850 9675 0855-1150 11035 [sic, must be typo? ---gh] 1155-1455 17820 1500-1550 ? 1555-1750 15250 1755-2308 11915 so the have already two such of signals? (Mar 5 & 6). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March 6, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 8 via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. A very small log --- 21740, BSKSA, Riyadh (3rd order IP of 21670 +21705) reaching very good levels on peaks 0956 7/3/08; 21635, BSKSA, Riyadh, details as above, very very poor, deep QSB, 1017 7/3/08. I noticed that 21670 carried the audio of 21705 in the background; it was very noticeable even when 21670 was modulated (Tim Bucknall, England, Icom R-75, Welbrook ALA 1530 outdoor loop, harmonics yg via DXLD) I haven`t even heard the Saudi fundamentals on 13m in months, but should check more often in case of an opening. This morning March 8, I was getting weak signals from Spain and Portugal on 13m around 1500, and better Ascension 21470 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. The Challenge and Show – Let’s Connect Europe Did it work – Yes ---- What did it sound like – GREAT How was it done – Skype, a laptop and the RTI Poprad Studios Who were the guests, listeners through to highly respected European broadcast experts. The programme lasted 2.5 hours and the final 10 minutes are here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsDyghCnPmE Regards (Eric Wiltsher, March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Video consists of flags and names of callers. Plus 53 related RTI videos, some of which look like they consist of more than stills (gh, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Split into two timezones? See WORLD OF HOROLOGY ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. FINLAND --- Hi Glen[n], Is there any hope for short wave here in Europe? While the withdrawal of so many stations here off the wave band is desperate in itself but with the dreadful replacement of Bro Stair will ensure it will become more difficult to attract new or existing listeners! Unfortunately the content of many US short wave stations here in Europe seem to be of the same nature. Awful! (Paul Guckian, Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Paul, Unfortunately, money talks, and the gospel huxters are the main group still interested in buying SW airtime. At least there are also some clandestine/opposition stations to make things more interesting tho usually not in English. There are still worthwhile SW stations to listen to from around the world, tho it may take a bit more digging to find them than just casual tuning. Stair has a record of hopping from one transmitter site to another, so perhaps he will move on from Finland in due course (Glenn to Paul, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Brother Scare on 15325, March 7 at 1455, barely audible in skirts of Martí Greenville 15330, but unmistakable hoarseness, and // WWRB 9385. This is Nauen 14-16, 100 kW, 165 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. Southern Sudan Interactive Radio, via Meyerton, 15675, at 1401 3/8 with teaching program in slow English announced by YL; SIO 454 (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was listening to this at exactly the same time: (gh) SSIRI, 15675 fair via South Africa, Sat March 8 at 1400, YL opening elementary English lessons with usual doorbells, etc. Not always audible, but scheduled Tue/Thu/Sat 1400-1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Geophysical Alert Message # Solar-terrestrial indices for 07 March follow. Solar flux 71 and mid-latitude A-index 2. The mid-latitude K- index at 1500 UTC on 08 March was 4 (48 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SWPC via DXLD) [and so was Anker a week earlier]: 15675, 1420-1430* clandestine [sic], Sat 01-03, Southern Sudan Interactive Radio, Instructions, via Meyerton. English language lesson: "12 divided by 4 equals 3" 55545 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on the AOR AR7030plus with 28 m longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. USA: 9355, Radio Taiwan International via WYFR Okeechobee FL; 2238-2300*, 6-Mar; Instant Noodles program with weird animal stories including: transplanting kangaroo stomach bacteria into cows to reduce methane in their flatus; how to get pandas to mate (wonder if Harold Camping approved this?). English/Chinese lesson, Chinese To Go at 2252; RTI ID and English sked at 2258; WYFR ID at s/off. SIO=544 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 215' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) It seems to me a receive-only random wire antenna is not `fed` in the center or the end, but is tapped --- the signals are coming out of it, not going into it (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. Happened to stop on 5950, RTI via WYFR, March 8 at 0257 as they were closing with English transmission schedule. Tho very strong signal as usual, the modulation was suppressed by an even stronger carrier which came on at 0258. There was an occasional SAH ripple when one took a brief fade. What could this be? RTI is in English via WYFR at both 0200 and repeated at 0300 on 5950. But from this, it appears that two different WYFR transmitters are involved, and they did not turn off the first one before the second one came on. Yes, there is a beam change from 355 to 285 degrees, but instead of switching antennas on a single transmitter, they just use two different transmitters –-- why not? They`ve got a dozen --- and not have to make a quick antenna switch. Surprised no one has noted this overlap before, as far as I know (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. !!!!Bangkok Radio QSL!!!!! Bangkok Radio Volmet 6676 kHz, Letter+QSL+ Schedule, 25gg, v/s Ms. Jantina Niyomchok, Meteorological Department, 4353 Sukhumvit, Bangna, Bangkok 10260, THAILAND. e-mail: tmd @ metnet.tmd.go.th Volmet Schedule 11378, 6676, 2965 kHz USB, time 24H 10-15-40-45 min Shipping schedule 6765.1, 8743 kHz USB, time 0000-0200, 0300-0500, 0600-0800, 0900-1100, 1200-1400, 1500-1700, 1800-2000, 2100-2300 UT. Facsimile schedule 7395 kHz frequency madness in EUROPE to listen!!!!! [sic] USB, time 00500 [sic], 0100, 0120, 0140, 0200, 0300, 0320, 0340, 0400, 0420, 0500, 0520, 0540, 0600, 0700, 0720, 0740, 0800, 0820, 1000, 1020, 1300, 1700, 1720, 2300, 2320 UT. Ciao e buoni DX!!! (Mauro Giroletti, Swl 1510, IK2GFT, JRC525Nrd, Lowe HF150, Filter PAR Electronics, BCST-LPF + BCST-HPF, Evasdropper SWL Sloper 11mt to 120mt Band, Lat. 45.42166 Long. 9.1248 Locator grid. Jn 45 Nk, Mar 7, playdx yg via DXLD) ** TURKEY. 15350 fundamental from Çakirlar produces some "oscillating" spurs in 19 mb: around 0800-0830 UT on 15280-15284, 15302-15305, 15324-15328, 15372-15375, 15395-15398 kHz. 0800-1400 UT Çakirlar 500 kW, 294 degrees. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. 21510: RUI will be possible to use 21510 kHz beamed to Australia and other "wooden" frequencies only if the finance to the National Radio Company of Ukraine is sufficient. So the Concern RRT, which is a communication operator for RUI's transmissions, usually submits such frequencies to HFCC database just in any case (Alexander Yegorov, Ukraine, March 3, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 8 via DXLD) ** U S A. KVOH spurs heard again, March 7 at 2308: having listened to R. Australia 17785 most of the previous hour without any problem from strong 17775, I tuned around 16m and found a noise blob very close to 17920 where KVOH spurs have appeared before. Mixed with the noise were modulation peaks, which I could // with 17775, talk interview with someone on phone, so that`s the source, plus 145 kHz. Then checked for a match on minus 145 kHz = 17630 and could hear the same pitched noise, tho quite a bit weaker against local noise level (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 4915, WWCR spur, 2320-2338, 3/8/08, in English. "Scriptures for America" & WWCR #1 (9985 & 5070) audio streams mixing together. Good. It has been a while since this was here in my location (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** U S A. WHRI, Sat March 8 at 1358, tuned in 11785 just in time to hear Marie Lamb`s ``take care`` closing, and then immediately the WHR announcer with frequency change announcement from 7520 to next frequency, 11785! But, but, this was already on 11785. He doesn`t even know which frequency he is really on! So had the axual QSY just been made a few minutes before hourtop, or was DXing with Cumbre totally on 11785 already from 1330? Furthermore, DST starting the next day will mess things up more. I expect Hmong Lao Radio to settle at 1300-1400 Sun & Sat on 11785 instead of 1400-1500 UT, so will DWC be at 1230 instead, and on which frequency? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. As feared, WORLD OF RADIO was missing from Area 51, WBCQ, 5111+v, at its usual Friday 2330 time, March 7. Did not check until 2355, but did not hear any modulation on the reduced carrier with USB; webcast was playing music. Nor has the March 7+ Area 51 schedule been posted on WBCQ Forums, another casualty I suppose of the Winter SWL Fest. Let`s hope things are back to normal from March 14, when, however, we assume everything will be one UT hour earlier due to silly daylight shifting time, thus WOR Fridays at 2230, immediately losing an hour of nighttime propagation in addition to the gradually latering sunsets (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. CVC A Sua Voz commits another cardinal sin in presenting classical music, ``Sem Limites``, on 15410 via Chile, March 7 at 2328: talking over the tail end of a piece and fading it out, in order to introduce a 3-minute break consisting of jarringly over- produced promotions for something or other with music that was anything but classical. Tune out in disgust. BTW, the audio processing is not suitable for classical music either, everything pushed up for minimum dynamic range, plus generally low fidelity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Just how early does WWRB start its big band prélude on 5050? Per FCC and HFCC B-07, 5050 is available to WWRB only from 0000 to 0500. There have been reports of it from before 2330, but on March 6 I found it already going at 2259 tune-in, lots of familiar tunes including American Patrol (jazzed up) at 2308. Very good signal. Checked other WWRB frequencies and found 6890 // 9385 with hymn, presumably the Brother Scare service, breaking for Dave Frantz lofi ID at hourtop, which I never heard, nor any other announcement, on 5050 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-030, LYQ 529 kHz: We checked several times during the DXpedition and heard no voice AWOS, just the code ID. This one can be tough around here due to 530 CIAO daytime, and the nighttime 530 mess (CIAO, Turks & Caicos, Cuba & Martí) (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7457, Friday March 7 at 1410, Air Force MARS net on SSB, NCS AFA2AJ, first ``calling all stations in Puerto Rico``, and asking for relays; then North Carolina, then Kentucky, Georgia with a few check- ins; constant RTTY QRM from 7455. Googling AFA2AJ, the top four hits (why??) were from the Russian bulletin World DX quoting other logs of this including 7457-USB, from Starchat/UDXF but not mentioning location. Searching on UDXF yg itself only got two hits on the callsign, one from Sept 2007, and another from Aug 2006, in fact the same logs picked up by World DX. A very seldom-reported station! Another Google hit had afa2aj as part of an e-mail address by someone participating in something to do with a Nuclear Regulatory Commission seminar in April 2005, ``Presentation by Dr. Norman Abrahamson and Dr. Lloyd Cluff on the new generation ground motion attenuation model and results for large magnitude earthquakes.`` Another hit led to this: ``TRAINING MESSAGES: AFA2AJ IS CERTIFIED AS ALTERNATE REGION TRAINER TO EXCHANGE TRAINING MESSAGES WITH TRAINEE STATIONS. THIS STATION IS AUTHORIZED TO AWARD OR DENY CREDIT FOR TRAINING TRAFFIC EXCHANGES.`` from: USAF MARS Virginia Communicator Region 2 Bulletin, http://usafmars.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/region-2-bulletin/ Another hit led to an image of the shack, but possibly disinformation, since it`s apparently the Air Force Academy, nowhere near Virginia; http://img311.imageshack.us/my.php?image=afa2aj.jpg See where a hard- to-copy SSB log can lead? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Air Force MARS net controlled by AFA2AJ was heard again on 7457-SSB, Sat March 8 at 1453. By this time they were in informal conversation, with NCS reminiscing about having served at Fort Dix in the 1950s; seems to have a New England accent, but refers to being in northern Virginia now. Some of the stations called used identifiers in other, tactical? format, such as 2-sierra-1, etc. Net closing at 1500. Will not be surprised if henceforth occurs one UT hour earlier. After my previous report a couple people explained that the Air Force Academy is in Colorado Springs --- yes, I know, and assumed everyone else did too; that was what I meant by ``nowhere near Virginia``. Then I tuned to 7302 and found another Air Force MARS net at 1502, this one controlled by AFA4MK, with the net callsign frequently cited, phonetically of course, as 4ECS1; calling for check-ins by e-com (not sure of spelling of acronym; meaning emergency communication?) stations, first in Louisiana, then Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas. Not many replies, but more from Oklahoma than elsewhere, including AFA4BW, AFA4VC, AFA4FH, AFA4TG, AFA4FX. Unfortunately, AFA4FO, somewhere in Texas, could not hear AFA4MK at all and kept transmitting atop him. Finally a relay was arranged. Late checkins included AFA4TB in Mississippi, AFA4CN in Arkansas, AFA4VO in Texas, AFA4FD in Texas, AFA4SJ in Texas (with an Asian? Or maybe Spanish? accent). By 1519 AFA4VC had a message as they were ready to open the net for informal conversation, but can`t do so since this is a closed net during March. At 1522 AFA4MK explained that to participate in net, Region 4 MARS emergency communications, must register first via mygroupregister4@yahoo.com --- I think that`s what he said, and note that most traffic passing is now handled by digital modes, but with certain software you can still use your old RTTY equipment. The net schedule is Saturdays at 9-10, i.e. 15-16 UT; since it`s in local time, must be going to 14-15 UT from March 15 (Glenn Hauer, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Sounds like WW1 [Westwood One] feed, not 100% sure. "The all new 1680" and "Legends 1680" slogans. KAVT's mouse droppings conspicuously absent so maybe them? Signal good at times but seems too fadey for KAVT (Tim Hall, Chula Vista CA, March 5, ABDX via DXLD) Tim, Did you ever find out who this was? I just got to it and will try for this one tonight (Kevin Redding, AZ, March 6, ibid.) No, I couldn't stay tuned long enough. All I got were slogans every 15 minutes or so, as usually happens with satellite NOS[talgia]. Will try again tonight on my way to Bible study. 73 (Tim, Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry, Hall, ibid.) I finally caught the ID - "You're listening to America's best music... legends 16-80... K(?)V(?), Fresno." For some reason their signal is substantially weaker than before. The calls might still be KAVT but they sounded a bit more like "KEVD" or "KDVD." The "Fresno" part was clear. Almost definitely WW1 NOS (Tim Hall, 0504 UT March 7, ibid.) They are still KAVT, just checked, along with the fact KEVD and KDVD are assigned to ships of the US Coast Guard (Paul B Walker Jr, SC, ibid.) Hey Pat, did your KAVT-1680 Fresno drop Radio Disney for some calmer music? (Don Kaskey, San Francisco CA, March 6, IRCA via DXLD) Apparently it did, someones reporting they've been hearing "The All New Legends 1680" ID'ing on KAVT (Paul B Walker, Jr., SC, ibid.) They're running what seems to be WW1 NOS now and using new slogan "Legends 16-80" as well as the usual WW1 NOS slogans like "America's best music." Signal is a lot weaker down this way now. 73, (Tim Hall, Chula Vista CA, ibid.) I gathered that by reading the ABDX list but I just wanted to see what the verification manager had to say on the subject :-) If I wasn't watching the UCLA-Stanford BKB game I'd have checked it out myself as Fresno is the dominant (altho not much of a signal) here on 1680 (Don K., ibid.) Yes, it looks like they changed to Adult standards all right, WW1. I did not know about it either. I'll ask about it. 73, (Patrick Martin, KAVT Reception Manager, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. TIS in Wrightwood, California --- I noted the following TIS information on http://tinyurl.com/2qm6gf (Wrightwood Forum): The Wrightwood Communications Group will begin testing for a AM "Travelers Information Station" the week of March 17. A temporary FCC testing license and rental of testing equipment has been ordered. Frequency reportedly will be 1620 kHz. The low power AM radio stations are known as "Travelers Information Station". These stations are licensed between 530 kHz to 1700 kHz AM. The low-wattage radio transmitter is 50 watts or less and used to alert motorists of upcoming events, road detours, public notices, abnormal traffic conditions, visitor information (noncommercial content). In an emergency or disaster the message can be amended to provide new information such as evacuation routes, mud/debris flow or wildfire updates. Fixed AM stations covers a 3-5 mile radius or about 28-78 square miles. I had the pleasure of DXing from the home of Jim and Karen Young, in Wrightwood, in 1976, along with the late John Clements (founder of the LWCA). The area was so RF quiet as to defy imagination. I recall Jim mentioning that he could tell when a neighbor in the next block turned on his TV! The elevation is about 6,000 feet. Beautiful DX spot --- well, it once was a quiet place. Sorry, Jim! (Mike Hardester, BC, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. SUPPORT LOCAL CONTROL OF OUR MEDIA --- Dear Friends and supporters of Local Media, Now's your best chance to stop media consolidation in Oklahoma. Keep control of our OWN local television choices!!!! The Senate introduced legislation earlier this week that would reverse the Federal Communications Commission's decision to let the nation's largest media companies swallow up more local and independent news outlets. Congress has just 60 legislative days to pass this bill. By acting now, you can help make it happen and veto the FCC's Big Media Handout SENDING A LETTER IS QUICK AND VERY EASY....JUST FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AT: https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=243 We have Big Media to blame for local news that's steeped in celebrity gossip, corporate hype and sensationalism. If the FCC gets its way, you'll see your local news get even worse. The FCC's decision further consolidates local media markets, taking away the independence and diversity that comes from local ownership. Simply put, this is a sweetheart deal for a handful of companies that have been breaking media ownership rules for years with impunity. In December, 200,000 people called on their senators to take action against the FCC. The Senate has responded with a "resolution of disapproval," (SJ Res. 28) a type of congressional veto that would throw out the new rules. Now we need to get another 50,000 citizens on the record supporting the Senate's action. Tell Your Friends: Veto Big Media Companies like News Corp. and Sinclair already have shown their willingness to abuse the public trust for political ends. During this election year, when diverse, quality and unbiased information is essential for voters, we cannot allow Big Media to silence even more independent voices. It's our turn to use our collective grassroots power to stop Big Media and make sure that our airwaves are used to better serve the public. THANK YOU! (Wendy Quarles, Executive Director, PEGASYS, Inc., 123 W. Maine, Enid, OK 73701, 580-237-0099, http://www.pegasys.org March 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** URUGUAY. Uruguay retorna a UTC-3 a partir de las 0400 UTC del día 9 de marzo próximo. Uruguay returns to UTC-3 at 0400 UTC March 9. No hay actividad actualmente en radiodifusión por onda corta dese este país. Currently no SW Broadcasting activity from this country. 73 (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, March 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Had been UT -2 in summer (gh) ** VATICAN CITY. 15510-15515-15520 DRM, Vatican Radio, 03/06/08, 1305, English. A roundup of Catholic news, including how the church is using Youtube. Text data noted this was a special broadcast to the Winter SWL Festival. Excellent dropout-free 20-22 dB SNR signal, by far the best European DRM reception here so far (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15510-15515-15520 DRM, Vatican Radio, 3/8 1314, Discussion of modern Latin, including words for things like pizza, and Papal sermons by Leo the Great. Latin "expert" speaks Latin with a distinct American accent. Crosstalk in the background, obviously from within VR, because DRM doesn't mix signals from different broadcasters like analog does. Program repeats starting at 1330; 20 dB S/N ratio on this 14.5 kbps AAC+ broadcast, about 95% audible but loses sync every couple of minutes. Heard with an AOR 7030+, IF output via an Elad 45512 IF converter, Dream 1.10.3cvs on a Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.4.10 (Ralph Brandi, NJ, March 8, drmna yg via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6060 kHz, Radio Nacional de Venezuela, 1059-1200 UT, one repetition of IS, then silence for about 2 minutes, finally repeated several times with sign on in Spanish at 1101. This particular day, other than IDs and addresses, most of the first half hour was in English. Items on how OPEC is supporting Venezuela in its fight against EXXON/Mobil. Also, how Venezuela’s current stance and movement of 10 battalions of troops to near Colombian border is not against the Colombian people, but against the US Empire. Great detail on Ecuadorian President Correa and his current tour of Latin America, including his petitioning support of President García in Perú, then on to Brazil, then further stops planned in Venezuela, Panama, Nicaragua, and Dominican Republic. Correa praised García of Perú for his stance that sovereignty of countries should not be broken, and also thanked President Chávez for his solidarity in favor of international law. After this was nice folk music, then Spanish up to 1159 UT. While their Spanish is well crisp and well pronounced, their English announcers, this morning a woman, had strange use of English, in pronunciation (ASS-em-bly), and in speaking of the Organization of American States as an “organism” vs. organization (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If those were the only mistaxe in a semihour, not bad (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Bandscan of 19m, March 7 at 2322 found a big gaping hole on 15250 where huge signal from RNV via Cuba normally resides during this hour. But it cut on at *2324 in the midst of their habitually outdated transmission schedule announcement, then ``Mari2`` folk song, and started ``Efemérides`` but cut off the air again at 2327* before date could be mentioned. Then checked // 13680 and it was also missing. Both came on again at *2330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 29/2 (DE1103) 1720, 11610 kHz, Jamming di suoni elettronici contro VOICE OF THE PEOPLE ZIMBABWE (in sottofondo). Sembra musica, ma in realtà è una mistura di note musicali a casaccio, per creare ovviamente solo disturbo (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, playdx yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4027, NUMBERS: Five-digit Spanish numbers by female 0337 UT March 8 in USB; very loud but also very distorted; it sounded as if the modulating signal was overdriving the transmitter. Come to think of it, every SSB five-digit Spanish station I've heard recently has had significant audio distortion (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) USB plus carrier, as usually the case? (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL: see RUSSIA UNIDENTIFIED. Getting a headstart on DST, March 8 started monitoring 7325 at 1254, and heard some very weak music, 1258 sounded like YL talking, but nothing copyable after that. 7330 QRM built up after 1300. Would like to believe this is Wantok Radio Light, which per Aoki is on until 1700, and not AIR FM Gold Mumbai, on Aoki sked but not others, from *1245, but believed to be inactive on this frequency. Can someone in South Asia confirm whether AIR is on 7325 or not? As previously reported, from March 9, RCI is supposed to shift from 7310 to 7325 at 1105-1405, putting an end to this WRL window after 1200-1230 IBRA in Chinese via Novosibirsk. However, from the standpoint of co-channel QRM, it should still be possible at least for the rest of B-07 = March, after 0700 when BBC Arabic Rampisham closes about an hour before sunset in PNG; EXCEPT 0930-1030 when RFI in Chinese via Taiwan is on 7325. So that means 0700-0930 and 1030-1105 for possible WRL reception in the clear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1/3 R7: 0747, 11980 kHz, Ucraino o russo, parlato maschile e musica. Portante ridotta ed ascolto possibile solo in LSB. Potrebbe essere R. DNIPROVSKA HVYLYA dall'Ucraina? Secondo EiBi dovrebbe trasmettere solo sabato e domenica, però il 2/3 non si sentiva niente. Segnale sufficiente- insufficiente (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, playdx yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 15152.5 at 1404 March 8, Spanish 2-way SSB intruding on broadcast band, usual suspects being poachers or drugrunners. This was quite weak but even when loud and clear I can barely understand their idiomatic poorly enunciated comments, so I wish some native speakers would give these a try and provide more details about their content (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM: see ECUADOR; GERMANY; GUIANA FRENCH; NEW ZEALAND; ROMANIA; VATICAN. For more reports of specials for SWL Winterfest, see: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/drmna/messages (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ CODAR RUINING 60 METERS: see PERU TELEFONOS SATELITALES DE ALTOS JEFES GUERRILLEROS PODRIAN HABER SIDO PROGRAMADOS ANTES DE SU ADQUISICION POR LAS FARC Por Ricardo Mazalán AP --- Infosearch: Máximo Tomás, Dept. de Investigaciones, La Nueva Cuba, Marzo 3, 2008 En tiendas de Miami, las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) adquirieron teléfonos satelitales y otros equipos de comunicación que fueron usados durante unos cinco años para coordinar intercambios de cocaína por armas, así como el desplazamiento de rehenes norteamericanos en poder de la organización, según un encausamiento revelado la semana pasada en Washington. La intervención de las llamadas a través de los equipos comprados en Estados Unidos habría permitido a las autoridades federales y de Colombia asestar lo que se considera que ha sido el golpe más duro a la red de apoyo logístico de las FARC. . . [mucho más] http://www.lanuevacuba.com/2007/notic-08-03-379.htm (via Óscar de Céspedes, FL, condiglist yg via DXLD) EARLY TV QSL ON EBAY Re 8-030: Glenn, When I attended Purdue in the late 1950's, the tower that was used to send those mechanically scanned images in 1933 was still erect and standing next to the football stadium. It was torn down shortly thereafter. The image transmitted I believe was a Felix- The-Cat doll on a rotating turntable. Not exactly Emmy Award material but historically interesting nevertheless (Joe Buch, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AMATEUR RADIO IRLP FEATURES IN BBC WORLD SERVICE PROGRAMME The Amateur Radio Internet Repeater Linking Project gets a mention in the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet. The IRLP item appears just after the piece on Googles Android mobile (cell) phone operating system. Richard Leach a UK Radio Amateur had contacted the programme following an earlier item on Voice Over IP (VOIP) and he told them about the work that Radio Amateurs do with VOIP and mentioned how he'd spoken with Radio Amateurs in the Antarctic using VHF radio and IRLP. The result was some useful publicity for Amateur Radio. A podcast of the programme can be downloaded from: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/digitalp/digitalp_20080304-1232.mp3 73 (Trevor M5AKA, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ DAYLIGHT SHIFTING TIME, HERE AND THERE As dreaded shifting time is almost upon us, I check http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2008a.html and find that Rep. Markey has dragged not only 48 states but several foreign countries into starting it early on March 9 --- even Denmark, France and UK --- well, the parts of them in or near North America, Greenland, St. Pierre & Miquelon, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos; plus Bahamas. However, Cuba refuses to coöperate, waiting until March 30, being Eurocentric? Let`s see what really happens March 9. And Mexico, not until April 6, which was the former US change date. This will cause massive confusion across the Florida Straits especially for R. Martí and its listeners; and along the US/Mexican border, where for commercial reasons, the adjacent Mexican states, if not the whole country, usually go along with whatever the USA does. Missing from this listing is Haïti, on any date, tho they usually go along with the USA too, and VOA dutifully shifts its Creole timings to match, unlike Habana. The accompanying page sorted by country http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2008.html says for Haiti ``No DST in 2008`` but `` Note that the list might not be final - countries and states sometimes make adjustments that are announced just days or weeks ahead of the change`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If you notice, even if Israel Radio stops broadcasting on March 31- Israel changes the clock on Friday, March 28 (Doni Rosenzweig, ibid.) See also URUGUAY DOES DAYLIGHT-SAVING SAVE MUCH OF ANYTHING? March 6, 2008; Page A13 Your article "Daylight Saving Wastes Energy, Study Says^1" (Personal Journal, Feb. 27) illustrates the problems associated with government-based energy-conservation programs. It is an excellent example of the blind sheep mentality of bureaucrats and policy wonks that this unscientific policy has endured as long as it has. The policy was implemented not based on scientific study, but rather as a result of shallow anecdotal conclusions. Obviously, it takes more energy per person to operate air conditioners than it does to produce artificial light. Give people extra daylight hours and, lo and behold, they do more outdoor recreational activities, which consumes even more energy for transportation fuel. Why hasn't the global warming crowd funded a scientific study on this? Where is Al Gore when we need him? Alan Cowan Visalia, Calif. URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120476902444215491.html (via Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO 1398, DXLD) STUDY: DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME ACTUALLY RAISES UTILITY BILLS See Comments (733) It's official: Daylight Saving Time is a bust. Designed (and recently extended) as a measure to save energy in a period of inflated electricity prices, an in-depth University of California study has now shown that DST doesn't save anyone any money at all. In fact, it's costing consumers extra, to the tune of $3.19 in extra utility bills per year. . . [more, and various crosslinx] http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/null/83073 (via DXLD) TWO TIME ZONES 'TO SAVE SOUTH AFRICA POWER' South Africans are getting used to using candles [caption] South Africa could be split into two time zones to ease a crippling energy crisis, a top official has said. This would stagger peak demand across the country, the director of public enterprise told parliament. Portia Molefe said the move could lead to an energy saving of about 200 MW but that the idea needed further study. Last month Minerals and Energy Minister Bujelwa Sonjica said South Africans should consider going to bed early to save electricity. Ms Molefe said having two time zones had been considered in the past but had been dropped because most of South Africa's industry was all in the same area - Gauteng. But she said there was now enough industry in the Western Cape to make it worth considering the option. . . http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7281166.stm (via Chris Greenway, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At least they aren`t thinking about instituting DST with twice-yearly leaps back and forth. South Africa extends roughly from 16 to 33 degrees east longitude, which means that the western quarter or so, including Cape Town, west of the 22.5 East meridian, should really be on UT +1. The article does not make clear just how clox might be adjusted, but if RSA were right with the world, it would have a UT +1/+2 boundary right through the country. As it is, the west is in effect on yearound DST of UT+2 like the rest of the country. Going back to UT +1 in Cape Town and the west, would make the sun seem to set earlier, if that would encourage people to go to bed earlier, not so likely any more in an urbanized society (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ AURORAS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT Imagine living on a planet where Northern Lights fill the heavens at all hours of the day. Around the clock, even in broad daylight, luminous curtains shimmer and ripple across the sky, mesmerizing anyone who bothers to look. News flash: Astronomers have discovered such a planet. Its name is Earth. "Our own planet has auroras 24 hours a day," says Jim Spann of the Marshall Space Flight Center, "and we can see them even in broad daylight." The trick, he explains, is picking the right wavelength. "If we look at Earth from space using an ultraviolet (UV) filter, we see there are auroras underway at all times. It is a beautiful sight." The rest of the story including pix is available at: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/06mar_polar.htm (Mark Coady, ODXA yg via DXLD) Hi amigos radioaficionados around the world and in space, you are all most welcome to the weekend program of Dxers Unlimited, coming to you when once again solar optical observations show a spotless solar disc!!! Zero sunspots during four of the past six days until March the seventh --- and nevertheless I see reports of 10 meters band openings between Namibia, callsign prefix V51 and Southern Europe, something that can be explained by the typical enhancement of trans equatorial propagation that happens as we approach the spring equinox of the Northern Hemisphere. So, Saturday and Sunday I will be keeping a close watch on both 10 meters and 6 meters for South American stations that are surely going to be coming in to the Caribbean from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia and Brazil. TEP, or Transequatorial propagation is one of the most interesting modes of Ionospheric propagation that incidentally was discovered by radio amateurs more than 50 years ago. Sí, amigos, sure, AM broadcast band DX season for this winter is about to come to an end, but if just gives way to the spring equinoctial DX season that brings in some very nice openings too, especially at just after local sunset. With the extremely low solar flux that we are observing nowadays, I expect a very nice AM band spring equinox DX season to be starting up by next week. Now here is our next item, a special for amateur radio operators that are getting ready for the spring equinox DX season. Don´t expect this season to be a record breaking one. Solar cycle 24 has not shown any more signs of activity after the tiny high latitude sunspot, and cycle 23 continues to provide many, many days of zero sunspots. Anyway, during the spring equinox HF propagation conditions will certainly improve, and I expect that the 20 and 17 meter bands take a turn for the better starting in about a week or two from now. HF PLUS LOW BAND VHF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Very low solar activity, zero sunspots, but due to the approaching spring equinox, we will be witnessing somewhat better propagation conditions especially around local sunset (Arnie Coro, Radio amateur CO2KK, Radio Havana Cuba, Dxers Unlimited´s weekend edition for 8-9 March 2008, dxld via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###