DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-043, April 6, 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. [THIS IS PART II of a rare 2-part issue; starting as DXLD 8-042] ** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. RNZI, new 11725 doing very nicely, good but some deep fades, April 3 at 0629 with song by Sara Brightman, as back- announced, 0632 timecheck for 28:8, into Spectrum program about Greenpeace. That time reminds us that NZ is still on DST of UT+13 until April 6, the latest date ever, I think. Thenceforward, programs from domestic RNZ will be one UT hour later. 11725 is now scheduled 0459-0658. The second-best signal on 25m was RHC on 11760, but given a choice between Sara Brightman in maximum SW fidelity, and Arnie Coro in deliberately degraded fidelity, with so-called ``news``, which would you choose? The RNZI `A08` schedule effective 30 March to 28 September, circulated widely in mid March and appearing in DXLD 8-035 of March 17 is not correct; in fact, it may never have been correct, as I was hearing RNZI very well April 3 at 0630 on 11725 as in my latest log report, while in that schedule it`s shown on 9615 at that hour! It may have been a preliminary tentative version for the start of A-08. If you look at the RNZI website now, you find a schedule dated 30 March to 07 September, so the out-date has changed but not the in-date! RNZI changes its schedule every few weeks, but unfortunately when they update it on their website, it always keeps the original season start date, so unless you analyze it in detail, you don`t know whether it`s the same one you saw last time. And you can bet it will not last as shown for 2 months, let alone 5 months. Anyhow, here`s the one displayed as of 0145 UT April 4, with the usual tidying up by gh, removing the redundant clutter of meter bands and the word ``daily`` after every entry, abbr`ing some islands so they all fit on one line, from http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php --- A reminder that DST of UT+13 ends in NZ on April 6. This will shift some domestic service program times one UT hour later. It may also require some adjustments in frequency change times to avoid making them in the middle of a programme, so it would be a good idea to check again next week for further changes. 30 Mar 2008 - 07 Sep 2008 UTC kHz Target Azimuth 0459-0658 11725 AM & 9890 DRM Pacific 0 0659-1058 7145 AM & 6170 DRM Pacific 0 1059-1258 9655 AM & 6170 DRM NW Pac, Bougainville, PNG, Timor 325 1300-1550 6095 AM Pacific 0 1551-1850 7145 AM & 6170 DRM NE Pac, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands 35 1851-1935 9615 AM & 9890 DRM NE Pac, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Is 35 1936-1950 9615 AM & 11675 DRM NE Pac, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Is 35 1951-2050 11725 AM & 11675 DRM Pacific 0 2051-2235 15720 AM & 13840 DRM NW Pacific, Vanuatu, Solomon Is 325 2236-0458 13840 AM & 15720 DRM Pacific 0 (from RNZI, via Glenn Hauser, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I had been checking for 9615 before 0700 UT but had been unable to hear it - but when I read on the "new" schedule that 11725 was actually the frequency in use I found it right away, so I tend to agree that the original sched sent out may not have been utilised. And today (April 4) I've been hearing a very nice signal on 7145 after 0700 - but with the always present flutter - and I could even hear DRM noise (nothing measuring on the S-meter) on 6170 same time which I guess will be RNZI. And about 10 kHz below 7145 was a nice signal from VK7GC running 400 watts from Tasmania. He's been a fairly regular signal of late around this frequency working Europeans. What a pity that there are now no more Pacific broadcast signals to listen for on 7 MHz. A check for PNG 7325 revealed no signal present, though DRM hash from a powerhouse on about 7310 was spreading widely (Noel R. Green (NW England), April 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Adrian, I try, but I sure have a hard time keeping up with your latest SW frequency schedule. One from mid-March effective 30 March was widely posted on the DX groups, but I find it is not correct, as it showed 9615 in use at 0630, while I was hearing RNZI very well April 3 at 0630 on 11725, which is in fact the frequency now shown on your website, schedule dated 30 March to 07 Sept. I suppose 9615 was a tentative frequency which you probably have never used in the last few days since A-08 began. Since you keep showing the original season start date on your website schedule, even when you have made changes after the season started, it`s not clear when any change has been made, without analyzing every entry. I would like to ask you to change the effective date each time you really make any change to the schedule, so we know when a new one is there. I also don`t understand what the point of an out-date 5 months ahead is, when you will surely make several further changes before then. I believe you are about to go off summer time this Sunday, so will that entail any adjustments in your frequency changeover times, perhaps to avoid doing so in the middle of a program? Thanks and 73, (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO, DX LISTENING DIGEST, to Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI, via DXLD) Hello Glenn, 9615 is going to be used for our A08 schedule; it will come in to use next month. Regret there is little that can be done about the web site as the template for entering the frequency info is primitive. Any change of start date means rewriting the whole schedule. With the lack of resource I guess we are fortunate to have what we have. There are no changes to frequencies when we move to UTC +12 on Sunday. Interruptions to programmes at frequency changes will happen at times because our domestic service does not provide convenient breaks for switching. Regards (Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was listening to RNZI on 7145 and at 1058 they indicated that they were switching to 9655. I went to 9655 and they never came up so I went back to 7145 and still there at 1102. Must not have their automation set correctly as this conflicts with their published sked. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php RNZI left 7145 just prior to 1300 and then came up on 6095, April 4, 2008 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And as reported earlier, DRM - assumed to be RNZI - was heard on 6170 at 0700+ (as listed on their current on-line sched) on April 4. I did check 9890 but there was no audible DRM on that frequency. This must partly replace 9890 and 6095 (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) Radio NZ International. Tuned in to 7145 at about 1145 UT, Friday, April 4 (1245 am Saturday, NZ local time) to hear RNZI with a selection of music and with a very strong signal. Supposed to be on 9655 according to the latest schedule and the website stated that they were currently on 9655. So is this an error or another change? At 1200 UT into "News at 10" (repeat from RNZ National, 10 pm Friday, NZ local time) for 15 minutes followed by "Late Edition and Dateline Pacific" for the remainder of the hour. Excellent reception all this time; the best I have heard form RNZI for a long time. At 1300 UT, change of frequency to 6095 as per schedule with "News at 2" from RNZ National (2 am Saturday, NZ local time). Reception on 6095 not nearly as good as on 7145. Reminder: New Zealand goes back to standard time on Sunday April 6, i.e. from UT +13 to +12 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNZI. Back to proper schedule 1100 to 1300 UT, Saturday, April 5 on 9655 instead of 7145 as heard on April 4. At 1145 UT tune in RNZ National's "Sounds Historical with Jim Sullivan" was in progress (a repeat). At 1200 UT, "News at one o'clock" followed by church service / music. Reception poor after 1200 with splash from KBS English on 9650 (Sackville, 1200 to 1300). At 1300 change to 6095 with "RNZ News at two o'clock" followed by news from around the Pacific (a RNZI program). Hoped to hear at 1400 UT "News at two o'clock" again but reception faded out. Back to Standard Time at this time in NZ (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Rangitaiki good on 9655, 1230 UT April 5 with choirsongs and ID. With the new SDR Perseus receiver (works great !!!) Gr. (Maurits Van Driessche from Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNZI, 6095, can be good if the spring T-storms are far enough away. They were, April 5 at 1333, enough to detect very weak Firedrake underneath. BBCWS via South Korea is scheduled here at 1300-1530, 290 degrees, and I bet it`s in Chinese requiring jamming by the unelected Chicom regime. Those two likely cause RNZI much more problems in the Pacific than in Oklahoma. RNZI were starting a nice segment of Pacific Island choral music, then at 1353 a soloist with ``We Are the Children of Vanuatu``, to a reggae beat, reminiscent of Tom T. Hall`s ``One Hundred Children`` Marching Along. RNZI, 15720, fair ending ``Mediawatch`` program at 2134 UT Saturday April 5, from RNZ National, saying it would repeat tonight. This one qualifies for listings as a DX/Media program, so what are its exact times, now that DST is over from local April 6? It appears nowhere on http://www.rnzi.com/pages/schedules.php but so many blox are just labeled ``National Radio``, not very informative. So we have to hunt thru the National Radio schedules, most convenient in full week format at http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/schedules/whole_week which show it as a sub-program, Sunday at 9:10 am = UT Saturday 2110 and a real program Sunday at 10:12 pm = Sunday 1012 UT. It appears to be 24 minutes long, so current SW schedule is: Sat 2110-2134 on 15720 Sun 1012-1036 on 7145 BTW, looking thru the RNZI program schedule in this format: http://www.rnzi.com/pages/schedules.php?type=all&format=day I was surprised to see fortnightly Mailbox at some different times than I had thought: Mon 0730 and 1630 instead of 0830 and 1530 as had been previously listed. Yet, other airings were the same as before, Mon 1130, 1330, Tue 0330, and Fri 2035. Note than one of the shifts was an hour later, the other an hour earlier, so were they really caused by DST? And are they about to change back? RNZI missing from 6095, April 6 at 1313, clearing the frequency for Firedrake, which I had heard the day before way under RNZI. Recheck at 1412, RNZI was back on 6095. A couple days and a couple hours earlier, people were reporting RNZI on the wrong frequency compared to its schedule. Maybe that happened again, but I did not have time to search for it. DXLD contributor Bernie O`Shea in Ontario has the answer: they did stay on 9655 an hour too late until 1400, probably confused by the resumption of UT+12 after a summer on UT+13 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: RNZI stayed on 9655 at 1300 UT, Sunday, April 6 instead of moving to 6095. Poor reception with much fading and gone by 1340. Lots of splash from CRI English (1300 to 1400, from Sackville maybe). Back on 6095 at 1400 with time pips and news. Very weak reception. I bet they got mixed up with changing back to standard time (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Pirate, 6700.11, The Crystal Ship, 0010-0025, April 7, pro-marijuana talk & music. ID. Good signal. // 5385.48- fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. Re 8-040, DRM for ROMANIA by WRN registered from SVEIO: Re Norway, Sveio registrations: BUT, does this site still exist at all? So far it was my understanding that Norkring had dismantled it after the NRK/DR transmissions ceased. The transmitters (an S4005 and an S4105, the latter being the only one besides the four Nauen units ever built) were moved to Kvitsøy and tested there by relaying NRK P1 in USB mode on 7360. The possibilities for transmissions to western directions at Kvitsøy are limited, probably certain azimuths are entirely out of range there. Thus the separate Sveio site had been built, to my knowledge with not more antennas than a single high/low curtain pair. Please correct me if necessary. [Later:] one correction to be made already from my side: Besides this curtain pair Sveio also has (had?) a rotatable LP antenna. http://www.dxlc.com/rni/RNI-Sveio.jpg Neither Google, Yahoo nor Microsoft have aerial images of this area with sufficient resolution, it's not even good for guesses where the (gone?) transmitter site could be (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Contrary to ``the new KOSU`` schedule, Frosty Troy commentary Friday April 4 still appeared at the previous time of 2144:37 UT Friday, and not at 2130 --- yet? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Apr 5, 0000Z-2359Z, Tulsa, OK. Tulsa Health Department Amateur Radio Club, K5THD. Celebrating World Health Organizations World Health Day 2008. 14273 7273 14070 14230. Certificate. Dave Cox, Tulsa Health Department, 5051 S 129 E Ave, Tulsa, OK 74134. http://www.tulsa-health.org/k5thd (via QRZ? Ham Radio Corner, April ODXA Listening In via DXLD) Posted early UT April 5 on the dxldyg; too late now, but interesting website (gh) ** OMAN. 15140, R. Sultanate of Oman, Mar 28 1404-1440, 35333-35433, English, Music and news, Gongs at 1430 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. Hi Glenn, Updated position regarding English language broadcasts on SW from Radio Pakistan is as follows: Time(UT) Frequency (kHz) Content & Station 0300-0400 5940 News & Comments R. Pak Current Affairs Channel 1100-1104 15100, 17835 News. World Service, West Europe 1600-1615 9380, 11570 News & Comment, World Service Middle East 1600-1615 11625 News & Comment, World Service East Africa 1600-1645 4835 News & Comments R. Pak Current Affairs Channel (Aslam Javaid, Lahore Pakistan, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also KASHMIR [non] ** PERU. As of 1999, according to the CIA Factbook, Perú had 189 shortwave stations! Nearly 10 years later that number has declined considerably but there are still many low-powered shortwave stations to receive from Peru. One thing to keep in mind is that many of the listed frequencies should be treated as nominal frequencies. Many times the station may be off frequency – sometimes slightly off- frequency and sometimes quite a bit more! Don’t expect to hear 250 kW powerhouses operating from Peru as most stations will be operating with 5 kW or less (more than likely less!). Frequency Time of Operation Station (and Location) Language(s) (kHz) (UTC) S = Spanish Q = Quechua 3172 0900-0400 Radio Municipal, Panao S 3234.9 0900-0300 R. Luz y Sonido, Huánuco S 3330 0930-0400 Ondas del Huallaga S 3375 1000-0130 Radio San Antonio S 4484 0930-0415 Frecuencia VH, Celendín S 4532.5 ? Radio Superior, ? S 4655 1000-0200 R. Centinela del Norte S 4747 0900-0230 Radio Huanta 2000 Q 4775 1000-0300 Radio Tarma S 4790 0930-0500 R. Visión-LV Salvación S 4824 1000-0300 La Voz de la Selva S 4826.5 0900-0300 Radio Sicuani S 4835 0930-0240 Radio Marañón, Jaén S 4856 1000-0315 Radio La Hora, Cusco Q 4887 1030-2310 Radio Virgen del Carmen Q 4890 2230-0330 Radio Chota S 4940 1000-0200 Radio San Antonio S 4950 1030-0330 Radio Madre de Dios S 4955 0930-0150 R. Cultural Amauta, Huanta S 4975 0000-2400 Radio del Pacífico S 4990.8 0000-2400 Radio Manantial S 4996 0930-0300 Radio Andina, Huancayo S 5006 0900-0200 Radio LTC, Juliaca S 5015 0930-0350 Radio Altura S 5020 0930-0130 Radio Horizonte S 5025 0700-0300 Radio Quillabamba Q 5030 1000-0140 Radio Los Andes S 5039 0930-0205 Radio Libertad, Junín S 5120 1000-0330 Ondas del Suroriente S 5324 1030-2400 Radio Municipal Anta S 5460 1000-0310 Radio Emisora Bolívar S 5471 1000-0200 Radio San Nicolás S 5487 1000-0010 La Reyna de la Selva S 5545 0130-0400 Radio San Andrés S 5603 2230-0200 La Voz de los Andes S 5678 0900-1300 Radio Ilucán, Cutervo S 5678 2200-0245 Radio Ilucán, Cutervo S 5700 2100-0200 R. Frecuencia, San Ignacio S 5980 ? Radio Chaski S,Q 5939 0900-0500 Radio Melodía, Arequipa S 6020 2145-1200 Radio Victoria S 6047 1800-1230 Radio Santa Rosa, Lima S 6115 0200-1300 Radio Unión S [long inactive? --- gh] 6173 1000-0300 Radio Tawantinsuyo S 6188 0900-1200 Radio Oriente S 6188 2230-0030 Radio Oriente S 6193 0800-1230 Radio Cusco S 6193 2130-0200 Radio Cusco S 6250 0945-0200 R. La Voz de Andahuaylas S 6520 1000-0300 Radio Paucartambo S,Q 6536 1000-0230 LV Rondero, Huancabamba S 6819 1000-0230 La Voz de los Huaringas S 9505 1000-0005 Radio Tacna S 9675 0000-2400 Radio del Pacífico S 9720 2145-1200 Radio Victoria S 10354 ? Radio Wilkamayu, Cuzco S Sources: Eibi Database http://www.eibi.de.vu/ DX Listening Digest http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html Shortwave Central http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/2008/02/peruvian-radio-manantial-and-radio.html http://finndxer.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/peruvian-radio-stations-active-on-shortwave/ I was also able to find the existence of Radio Chaski which is a station operated in Cuzco by the Baptist Mid-Missions. The shots of the antenna farms and studio are very interesting http://home.att.net/~greatcommission/RadioChaski/photos.htm However, I can find nothing concerning the current status of the station. I guess that when I get to that part of Peru I can try and listen with my mighty 7600GR! A visit to the station just might be in order (Dr John Barnard, who is planning to visit Perú, Signals Unlimited, April CIDX Messenger via DXLD) I should add that while it`s handy to have the hours of transmission there by each frequency, they are also likely to be highly variable; and without re-researching all this, I am pretty sure a good number of these are not active (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4790.2, RADIO VISION. Chiclayo. 0835-0850 Abril 6. Música pasillo ecuatoriano. Promo de la Iglesia Pentecostal La Cosecha. "...Usted escucha diariamente Radio Visión en los 135 [sic] kHz de la ciudad de Chiclayo en cadena con Radio Moderna 930 kHz de la ciudad de Lima para el Perú y el mundo..." (Rafael Rodriguez R., Winradio PC G303I, JRC - 525, Sony 2010. Antenas Varios hilos, de diferentes longitudes y orientaciones, Bogotá, Colombia, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. Hi, Glenn -- Nice surprise from The Philippines late this afternoon (4/6.) Very solid reception of Radio Netherlands in Indonesian via Tinang at 23 UT on 9475 kHz. Almost certainly longpath; plotting the signal path it appears the 200 degree azimuth for this beam is actually very favorable for longpath reception in North America. I've heard FEBC Manila via apparent longpath around this hour on 31 meters before, but that was closer to the Winter solstice than Summer (Stephen Luce, Houston, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES [and non]. Vatican Radio Peterbells and IS on 6020 at 1312-1313* QRMing R. Australia at roughly equal level, a perpetual collision neither station thinks matters in their respective target areas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [and non]. WHY RADIO CAFÉ? Reasonable question. Well, our restaurant is not only a place serving delicious, we hope, and reasonably priced meals from 7.30 a.m. until 11.00 p.m. It is also the Club of former employees of Radio Free Europe in Munich. In case you are too young to remember, or have been luckily living on the right side of the "Iron Curtain" (right being, of course, left as you look at the map) allow me to explain. Radio Free Europe was founded in 1952 under the Eisenhower administration which wisely considered that the word may be as effective or more effective then the arms race. It became an instant success with listeners in Eastern Europe, eager to hear something besides the local floods of propaganda. From 1952 until 1956 ten year prison sentences were often imposed on Poles who listened to RFE. I worked for the station in 1955/1956. The Polish section of the Radio was closed shortly after Poland became independent. Once a month we have conferences which are later broadcasted by the First Program of the Polish Radio. The conferences are organized by Mrs. Alina Grabowska who worked for RFE. Among the speakers we had Foreign Ministers Prof. B. Gieremek and W. Cimoszewicz, Prof. L. Balcerowicz and other leading personalities of Polish political and cultural life. (Stanislaw (Stash) Pruszynski, http://www.radiocafe.pl/index.php via Mark Palmer, Webwatch, April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Illustrated, also in Polish and French; it`s in Warszawa (gh, DXLD) ** PORTUGAL [and non]. Once again this A-season, we have two Portuguese-language services colliding on 15770, as noted April 4 at 1432, WYFR on top with Bible lesson, over music and talk from RDPI, and a slow SAH between them of about 75/minute. WYFR is 160 degrees to Brazil at 12-16, while RDPI is 82 degrees to ME and S Asia [as in Goa?] at 13-15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. Radio PMR on new 12135 for Europe but checked here April 3. At 1410 some talk audible, presumably English, with heavy QRM from 2-tone CODAR (so two overlapping transmissions?), more of a problem than AFN 12133.5-USB. CODAR ranged from 12100 to 12255. 1452 recheck, a little better in English with the same QRM. English quarter-hours are reported by José Miguel Romero as 1400, 1445, 1530 and 1615. Now the question is whether they are 4, 5, 6 or 7 days a week, so please check on Fri, Sat and Sun. The 12135 transmission, which is 250 kW at 295 degrees, originally 1400-1600, has been extended to 1800. Does that mean more repeats of English/French/German quarter-hours, or something else? And are these now on 7 days, as permitted in the scheduling? The 6040 transmission of Radio PMR at 2200-2400, is 500 kW at 309 degrees. Did anyone notice whether 12135 or 6040 were on the air Friday? And how about Saturday? These were previously Mon-Thu only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos cordiales Glenn, desde Valencia en España, hoy 5 de abril a las 1525 no se capta emisión alguna en 12135; espero hasta mas allá de las 1535 comprobando ausencia de emisión, busco en frecuencias adyacentes una posible emiisión de reemplazo sin exito. 73 José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Glenn, 12135 is missing today. So the European service seems to be Monday to Friday (or Thursday ??) 73 (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, Saturday April 5, ibid.) 6040, MOLDOVA Radio PMR at 2220 with man discussing Moldovian neutrality and associated Russian policies. 2229 closing announcements with schedule. 2230 into French with ID. Good Apr 4. 6040, MOLDOVA (PRIDNESTROVIE) Radio PMR at 2304 with same program as heard at 2220. Man discussing Moldovian foreign policy. Good Apr 4 (Harold Sellers, ODXA Shadow Lake Radio Camp, Stouffvlle, Ontario, Eton E-1, 200 ft wire northeast, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FRIDAY!, so M-F? ** QATAR. DAVID MARASH DISCUSSES HIS DEPARTURE FROM ALJAZEERA ENGLISH. "Over the last nine months, in particular, bureau autonomy has almost completely disappeared and rather than being a multivoiced, multipolar news channel, I think Al Jazeera English is now an authentic regional voice, much in the manner of Al Jazeera Arabic, although they are in no way a translation of each other." . . . http://www.cjr.org/the_water_cooler/dave_marash_why_i_quit.php?page=all Columbia Journalism Review, 4 April 2008. Posted: 05 Apr 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Voz de Rusia, español A-08, nueva actualización. Voz de Rusia A-08 Español Para América. 0000-0100 7155, 7200, 7300, 9630, 12010, 11510. 0100-0200 5975, 7155, 7200, 7300, 9945, 9630, 12010, 11510. Para Europa. 0100-0200 603. 2000-2100 5920, 7310, 9480. Estimado amigo: Adjuntamos a la presente el horario y frecuencias de nuestras emisiones en español para la nueva temporada. Quisieramos que nos escriba su opinión sobre la audibilidad y la calidad del contenido de nuestros programas. ¿En qué frecuencias se escucha mejor? Deseándole una buena sintonía, le saluda cordialmente, Elena Nikoláeva, Redacción de emisiones en español de La Voz de Rusia, Vía Dino Bloise, also via José Miguel Romero, April 3, dxldyg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. VOR in English, from 1400 April 3 on 15660 to S Asia, but like yesterday missing from scheduled // 15605. Reception on 15660 not so good today. There are no good offbeam frequencies for us in the 15- 16 hour, but found again at 1612 on 13855, which is to Africa, about a book fair involving Chekhov. 13855 is a Moscow site, 200 kW, 190 degrees at 1400-1800, the scheduled English segment being 16-18. To save you the trouble of looking up the English programming during these hours at http://ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&e=152&p= where you have to be careful to downsize the page so the times line up with the titles! On Firefox; won`t change on IE --- 1400 Mon-Sat News & Views; Sun: Sunday Panorama, A Stroll Around the Kremlin, Legends of Russian Sports [all, or alternating?] 1430+: Mon Moscow Yesterday & Today Tue Kaleidoscope Wed Russian by Radio Thu VOR Treasure Store [from audio archives, maybe?] Fri Moscow Yesterday & Today Sat Timelines Sun Folkbox 1611 Mon Science Plus Tue Moscow Mailbag Wed Science Plus Thu This is Russia Fri Moscow Mailbag Sat Encyclopedia ``All Russia`` Sun This is Russia 1630+ Mon Guest Speaker, Spiritual Flowerbed [what`s that?] Tue Guest Speaker Wed Guest Speaker, Spiritual Flowerbed Thu Guest Speaker Fri Guest Speaker Sat VOR Treasure Store Sun Timelines Earlier, I was checking 13855 for Israel`s Persian service, but at 1526 this fair frequency was in Arabic, and at 1526 Sawt al-Rossiya (sp?) ID; I had misremembered Israel`s frequency, really 13850. Even earlier at 1437, 13855 VOR had whistling music. VOR WS Moscow-area transmitter for Arabic from 1400, 13855, was already on the air April 4 at 1349 with warm-up tones, on for 7 seconds, off for 6 seconds --- or maybe 6.5 seconds each (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unfortunately for us on the east coast, Voice of Russia is drowned out by strong DW-Amharic signal on 15660 per check at 1400 4/5 (Joe Hanlon, NJ, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See GERMANY [non] Is there a change/update to the Voice of Russia English Service (to North America)? I received the VoR on 15425 at 0100 UT Saturday 4/5/08, and could not find it listed on either version #1 or version #2 of the A08 schedules on the PTSW web page (Denny Dollahon, ptswyg via DXLD) Not according to the VOR website, but 15425 is in HFCC as toward NAm, language not specified. Could be another program feed mixup, as I heard Russian on one of the 13 MHz frequencies after 0200 supposed to be in English. Did this repeat on UT Sunday+? 73 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glen[n], This did repeat again on Sunday 4/6/08 (local date PDT) on 15425 at 0100 UT. The program was the Voice of Russia World Service (in English). The program started with news at 0100, followed by "Moscow Mailbag" at 0110 [0111?]. This also did not seem to me to be a repeat of Saturday`s (04/05) program. The receiver used both nights was a Drake SW8 with the whip antenna. Signal strength Sunday night was from S-4 to S-9 on the meter (sorry I did not note the signal strength last night). Any chance this could be regular scheduled programming at this time (0100 UT) on 15425, and if so could it be noted on the PTSW A08 schedule update? (Denny Dollahon, ibid.) ** RUSSIA. 5920, Kamchatka Radio via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, 0710 (change in time due to DST, ex: 0810-0900 UT), April 4, switched away from R. Rossii programming over to "programa Kamchatka Radio". Before 0710 heard with the usual R. Rossii programming (// 5940, 7200 and 7320), poor with QRM (assume WBOH). I miss the ex-6075, which was a clear frequency! (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA Holy Qur`an Service must be the source of the huge raspy buzz on 15205, April 3 at 1559, as the only station on 15205 at 16-18 per PWBR `2008`. It`s absolutely incredible that the Saudis keep turning on this totally defective transmitter, Riyadh, 500 kW, 320 degrees toward us, which also has a full schedule on several other frequencies at other times. S9+20, about the same level as Call of Islam program on 15435 which had no such problem, the latter // much weaker 15225 when checked earlier at 1502 with muezzin, but there was muezzin again close to 1600. As for 15205, contrary to PWBR, some other station was detectable under the buzz. What masochist could that be? Or maybe mix of Saudio. BTW, totally by coincidence, I found my VCR flashing that it had finished timer recording, put weaker pulses on 15205 until I cleared it at 1501, long before BSKSA came on. BSKSA, 15380, April 4 at 1354 with reverby Qur`an recitation. Is that real from an enclosed plaza around the minaret, or enhanced in the studio? It`s Riyadh HQS, scheduled 12-14, 500 kW at 310 degrees toward us. Splatter from much stronger Cuba 15370 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15250, Riyadh in English, very weak in Europe. 1000-1230 UT towards W Africa (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, April 6, undated A-08 logs so sometime since March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 21640, Riyadh, BSKSA Riyadh, Apr 3, 1231 - em árabe, OMs com falas; som de motor; fala de criança; suponho tratar-se de uma novela. 35333 (Antônio Laurentino Garcia, PR7BCP, João Pessoa-PB, HCDX via DXLD) Only 21 MHz: ARS Riyadh 1st program on 21505, 21600, and best 21640. 12-14 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, April 6, undated A-08 logs so sometime since March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BSKSA Riyadh 13m outlets and mixing products logged: 21495, 0856 7 March, music, SIO 333 21635, 1017 7 March, 3rd order intermodulation product of 21670 and 21705, SIO 222 21640, 1238 7 March, SIO 333 21670, 0855 7 March, Audio // 21705 in background, SIO 333. 21705, 0906 7 March, // 21670 but later split programmes, SIO 555 21740, 0956 7 March, 3rd order IP of 21670 and 21705, SIO 454 (Tim Bucknall, Congleton, Cheshire, HF Logbook, April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** SERBIA [non]. 6185, BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA, International Radio Serbia 0000 music, woman with sign-on ID and into news till 0008. Poor Apr 5. 6185, BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA, International Radio Serbia at 0105, woman with news till 0008. Poor Apr 5 (Harold Sellers, ODXA Shadow Lake Radio Camp, Stouffvlle, Ontario, Eton E-1, 200 ft wire northeast, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SICILY. 4895, unID 1750 Italian, talks and music, transmitter on for couple of seconds, then off for a while and back again. AM. Continued until 1820 tune-out. No signal on about 1632 kHz heard here (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, April 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) that being 1/3 = possible harmonic It's from Sicily; relay random Sicilian FM stations now. New Italian pirate??? 4895 kHz, relay FM stations from Sicily (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, 2039 UT April 6, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE. 6185, RSI, 1305-1325 6 April, External Service in Chinese heard well with closing news items, clear "Xinjiapo guoyi guangbo diantai" ID, DJ chatting then gave RSI/Chinese URL, more chat and singing "Xinjiapo guoji guangbo diantai, R-S-I" jingles at 1317, 1319 then BM/English pop song "My Girl", // 6000 heard fair-good with QRM from 6003 (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. R. Slovakia English to NAm: 0100 on 5930, hindered by [WWCR] 5935 but good; 9440 poor (Bob Thomas, CT, April 1 via P-mail, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. A Somali opposition group, the Alliance of the Re- Liberation of Somalia (ARS), says it will start broadcasting under the name Radio Freedom on Friday 21 March at 1330-1400 and 1730-1800 on 7175, Tuesdays and Fridays only. 7175 means the use of the VOBME (Eritrea) transmitter on that frequency. This is jammed by Ethiopia. ARS is fighting Ethiopian forces in Somalia (Chris Greenway, England, DX News, April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Any further news on this by now? (Glenn Hauser, April 5, DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. New UN broadcast for Somalia. "The Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) has launched direct broadcasts via short wave radio of Somali news and information at: Frequency 9665 kHz, 31 meter band, daily from 1730-1745 GMT (2030-2045 EAT)." Somalia Situation Report, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, via ReliefWeb, 4 April 2008. Competes with VOA Somali, at 1600-1800 UTC. Posted: 04 Apr 2008 (kimandfrewelliott.com via DXLD) This was in the SENTECH A-08 schedule as published earlier, but for some reason only now getting attention; what about other broadcasts?: IRIN RADIO 1730 1745 9665 100 1234567 Somalia Unknown 0600 0700 11830 250 1234567 West Africa Portuguese 0700 0800 15170 250 1234567 West Africa French 1100 1200 17525 250 1234567 Central Africa French 2000 2200 7160 250 1234567 Central Africa French (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) IRIN Radio is now broadcasting news and information in Somali directly to listeners in Somalia and the Somali-speaking region. From 1 April 2008, find us on frequency 9665 kHz on the 31 metre band, every day of the week at 2030-2045 local time (1730-1745 GMT). The programme will bring you a mix of news, features, music, drama and announcements. Write at feedback @ IRINnews.org telling us where you are and if you can hear the programme clearly, with any other comment. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77592 (via Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Apr 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) SUDAFRICA, 9665, IRIN Radio, 1735-1747, escuchada el 6 de abril en somalí, comienza emisión muy tarde; observo transmisor encendido desde antes de las 1710, comienza con música de sintonía, locutor con presentación y boletín de noticias. Se aprecia de fondo a REE en español con programa deportivo, referencias a Somalia, anuncia E-mail, locutora con comentarios, referencias a Somalia y Nairobi, fin de emisión. Se aprecia unos tonos cada ocho segundos, ``Di Du Di Du``, a las 1746 parece que se reanuda pero se corta la emisión a los pocos segundos, SINPO 44454 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909 Antena Radio Master, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi, I heard it in my QTH on the island of Gotland too. Bad interference from REE, but sometimes good. Seemed like a test transmission? 73 from (Björn Fransson, Sweden, April 6, HCDX via DXLD) ** SOMALILAND. See UNIDENTIFIED 7120 ** SOUTH AFRICA. 7390, Channel Africa (Meyerton) *0358-0403 5 April, English/French ID loop, bird call IS, 5+1 pips, opening announcements in French. into news. 9735, Channel Africa (Meyerton) *0457-0503 5 April, local song in English/vernacular, 5+1 pips, "7 AM, South Africa time", opening announcements/ID in English, then news. Listed // 7230 unheard (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA. Re WBCQ 15420 report: OK, I don't know much about Shortwave so PLEASE forgive the stupid questions. Who transmits from South Carolina, WBCQ or someone else on 15420? I'm pretty sure, or thought, WBCQ transmitted solely from Monticello, Maine along with WCHX 780 and what will become WCXH-FM 94.7. I know ALL about Brother STAIR's history, I've had him on the air here at WABV, but I think you could at least show him a small amount of respect by Calling him Brother Stair instead of "scare". Calling him "Brother Scare" just makes you look silly and stupid. I've listened to the man before for an hour or two online just to see what kinda stuff he'd say next. I don't necessarily believe him, but it's interesting to listen to, hearing what he believes and all. (Paul B. Walker, Jr., SC, ABDX via DXLD) Paul, It`s South Carolina [NON], which means it originates there but is not transmitted from there. Axually, the `Brother Scare` nickname was originally a slip(?) by Allan Weiner, one of his greatest admirers(?). You may think I am silly and stupid, but R. G. is the one who really is. Would you really respect him if he were not a source of revenue for you? I have to listen to him in as small bits as possible, for monitoring purposes, and the nickname is MOST apt. He is trying to scare us that the end of the world is coming. He is utterly unworthy of respect, for his wacky religious ideas, let alone his cult transgressions against his followers, and consequent prison time, etc. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I will say one thing for Stair, he is a real huckster royale. And yes, he did go to prison. I am amazed that people listen to R. G. Stair. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Stair --- 2002 Arrest On May 16, 2002, Stair was placed under arrest and charged with sexual misconduct towards several underage members of his commune. Among the allegations that emerged from Stair's arrest and criminal trial: Stair provided herbs that caused miscarriages and stillbirths to several women he had impregnated, including some that were underage. He had also obtained a large collection of pornography over an Internet connection that only he was allowed to use. Married couples in the commune were forbidden from having sex unless approved by Stair himself. Stair spent over two months in prison as part of a plea bargain to settle the charges. Charges/Lawsuits Stair's overall following and ability to purchase radio airtime have decreased following the embarrassing allegations, and his troubles with the law have continued: In 2004, Stair pled guilty to charges of assault and battery after fondling two female members of his organization. The following year, police responded to a 9-1-1 call placed by Stair's wife Theresa who stated that her husband was locking her in a room and preventing her from using the toilet. Brother Stair could be heard screaming in the background before forcibly hanging up the phone. No charges were filed as a result of this incident. Also in 2005, Stair faced a civil suit filed by several ex-followers seeking over $177,000 in damages. On April 24, 2007, Stair was ordered by a Colleton County jury to pay $731,679 total in damages, a verdict that is now currently in appeal but the money has been impounded by the county. If left to stand, the ruling would render Stair unable to continue his practice of purchasing radio airtime. As has been the case, most of his stations are 50,000 watt AM stations and shortwave radio at the expense of thousands of dollars per month. For each station, this verdict could potentially spell the end of the ministry. Acknowledging some of his failings, while denying some of the charges pressed against him, Stair has pleaded for forgiveness on his show, but most of his religious teachings and beliefs remain unchanged. He has also lashed out repeatedly against his ex-followers on the air, calling the verdict excessive, and now has claimed that the ministry is under attack not just by "agents of the Devil," but by "the Devil himself." (via Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Looking for WBCQ on reactivated 17495, April 4 at 1503, found Brother Scare on 17485 instead, saying he is 75 years old and his ministry could end at any moment; so has WBCQ shifted down 10 kHz? This had equal LSB and USB, so must not be WBCQ. In fact, it`s ``Jew-lick``, Germany, as BS pronounces it, where TOM is scheduled during this one hour only, at 160 degrees. 17485.0 ran 2.5 seconds behind WWRB 9385. Nothing on 17495 as WBCQ operation is sporadic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WWRB; WBCQ ** SPAIN. 9665, Radio Exterior de España at 2102, woman introducing “Radio Corner”, but at 2103 they suddenly went off the air. Very good Apr 5 (Harold Sellers, ODXA Shadow Lake Radio Camp, Stouffvlle, Ontario, Eton E-1, 200 ft wire northeast, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [non]. REE via Costa Rica, 15170, extremely strong S9+27, April 4 at 1355 with a bit of Bachianas Brasileiras, interrupted for a minute of dead air, then came back asking for phone calls to their answering machine at 34-91-396-10-34; 1357 into singer in Brazilian just before closedown (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [and non]. The A-08 program schedule of REE, in UT+2 of HOE http://www.rtve.es/archivos/70-9383-FICHERO/ParrillaREE_2008_VERANO.pdf shows the classical music show is now Clásicos Populares from Radio Uno, Mon, Tue and Wed only at 1305-1355, altho there is alternative programming on some unspecified frequencies at 1330. The entire frequency list during that hour: 5970, 15170, 17595, 21540, 21570. Also maybe involving such music is Nuestro Fichero, = Our Archive, UT Sat 1430-1455 on 15170, 15385, 17595, 17755 UT Sun 0430-0455 on 3350, 5965, 6055, 6125, 9535, 9630 Best here are 17595, 15170, 6055 (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. The new sked of SLBC Sri Lanka is 0020-0300 Hindi 7190 11905 0100-0330 English 6005 9770 15745 0830-0930 Telugu 7190 11905 0930-1030 Malayalam 7190 11905 1030-1230 Tamil 7190 11905 1230-1530 Hindi 7190 11905 1545-1900 Sinhala 11750 (Jose Jacob, India, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA [non]. IBC Tamil, via WRN, which was originally listed for A08 by MB/DTK on 7320 at 0000-0100 daily via Wertachtal, 250 kW, 105 degrees, is now reported to have changed from 7215 to 7205, same parameters, as of 3 April (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 4750, R. Peace off? According to info I received on 3 April from Persecution Project, 4750, Radio Peace in South Sudan has technical problems. They are either totally off or running very irregularly. They're trying to have things up and running in the near future (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, April 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So take it away, Dunamis! ** SUDAN. 7200, Republic of Sudan Radio (Omdurman), 0400-0430, 4/3/2008, Arabic. Time pips on the hour followed by fanfare and news by man. Occasional mention of Sudan. Soon joined by a second, possibly field reporter. Relatively good signal (SINPO 34333) until 0422, when a strong unmodulated carrier appeared. Sudan could still be heard under it, but was lost when Radio Bulgaria signed on at 0430 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, RF Space SDR-14, 90' Random Wire, 60' PAR EF-SWL, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 15675, Southern Sudan Interactive R Instruction (SSIRI) Project sends Email QSL with good verie statement, and offer to return a signed prepared card for broadcast from Dubai during their evening transmission; in 2 months, from Tom Tilson, Chief of Party of EDC. I have not seen another QSL from this service in many years (Dan Henderson, Laurel MD in DXplorer via DSWCI DX Window April 2 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. 9745, Voice of Han, 1025-1151, April 5, in Chinese, mostly talking, some songs/ballads, ToH sound of phone ringing - "Wei." (traditional Chinese phone greeting), long segment of conversation between 2 YL, mostly fair, clearly the online audio streaming matched the SW programming, but about 25 seconds slower, fair-poor. http://www.voh.com.tw/ audio: http://www.voh.com.tw/?page=003 The one that I listened to was the third one down, below "AM", picture of satellite dish (brown), but believe the fourth one down (satellite dish - blue) is actually labeled for shortwave, but it did not work (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. 4635.05, Tajik R., Mar 24 1339-1410, 35443, Tajik, Music and talk, ID at 1408. Also Mar 25 1403-1424, 35443-45444, Tajik, Talk and music, ID at 1418. Also Mar 29 1350-1405, 35443-45444, Tajik, Music, ID at 1359. Also Mar 31, 1407-1420. 35443. Tajik, Music and talk, ID at 1414 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) Each log was on exactly same frequency 50 Hz high (gh, DXLD) ** TANZANIA. 1323 MW, R One, Dar-es-Salaam, ex 1440 MW! As I always state my e-mail address, I got an e-mail reply from Radio One via their site “in Kilimanjaro Region” as they state. There was some e- mail exchange with Mrs. Joyce Maville / Managing Director when she asked what to do and to whom she should donate my USD I sent along with the letter. The e-mail address is: itv @ ipp.co.tz (Stefan Schliephacke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, DSWCI DX Window April 2 via DXLD) See also ZANZIBAR ** THAILAND. R. Thailand, 9805, weak English at 1414 April 3 presumed this. Propagation from SE Asia was poor today unlike April 2; no QRM, so should be usable in NAm when conditions improve. R. Thailand, 11625 via Udorn, April 4 at 1330, HSK9 bells and ID in Thai, fluttery. 11625 is on from 12 to 14, but changing among 3 different azimuths ranging from 46 to 54 to 30 to 54 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12120, R. Thailand, Mar 31 *0030-2349, 45444, English, News, ID at 0035 and 0042 and 0048. Also Apr 01 *0030-0040 45444 English, 0030 sign on with News, ID at 0038. 15275, R. Thailand, Mar 31 *0200-0209, 43443 English, 0200 sign on with IS, ID, National anthem, News, (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) I=5 in SINPO for 12120 means there was no RTTY QRM audible there as there was in Pennsylvania during the ENAm service. But what was the QRM at I=3 level on 15275 to WNAm? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** TIBET. 5240, Xizang PBS, Lhasa, 1648-1700, Mar 23, English programme, local songs, ID at 1651, Letters from listeners, end of the English programme at 1700, 33333 (Franck Baste, St. Bonnet de Rochefort, France, DSWCI DX Window April 2 via DXLD) Do they still call the show ``Holy Tibet``? Should be ``bloody Tibet`` (gh, DXLD) ** TIBET [and non]. Another superb program from R. Australia, Rear Vision, Thu April 3 at 1330 on 9580, 9590, 9560, recounted the history of Chinese claims to Tibet. Very enlightening. Transcript and audio: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/rearvision/stories/2008/2200921.htm This is axually a Radio National program, but at 1354 outro, host said `Rear Vision on Radio Australia`, so they repackage it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [and non]. TIBET EXILE RADIO SAYS CHINA JAMMING IT By DOUG MELLGREN http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hXfXmEgP_CEoPo9KkTiMbLPQV5ugD8VPSGF01 OSLO, Norway (AP) — China has intensified its jamming of a Tibetan exile radio network's news broadcasts into Tibet during a crackdown on anti-government protests there, the network charged Wednesday. The Chinese use radio stations inside Tibet to block the shortwave frequency used by the Voice of Tibet, said Oystein Alme, a Norwegian who runs the nonprofit foundation's business office in Oslo. The jamming signals contain music, drumming and noise. Most of the Voice of Tibet's 13 staff members work at its main editorial office in Dharamsala, India, with Alme handling administration and funding in Oslo. The network started broadcasting in 1996, and has daily evening newscasts about Tibet in Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese. The station says its mission is "to provide a channel for unbiased information and news to the Tibetans living under Chinese oppression in Tibet." Alme said the Chinese government started jamming its broadcasts almost as soon as they began but now is using two or three signals instead of one to make sure that the signal can't be heard. "They have been stepping it up in connection with the demonstrations," Alme told The Associated Press. "There has been enormous focus on journalists not getting free access to Tibet. The other side of the coin is that information from the outside is not getting into Tibet." The Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing had no immediate comment. Tibetans have been protesting and rioting in Tibet and nearby provinces in the longest challenge to China's rule in the Himalayan region since 1989. The crackdown by Chinese authorities has focused international attention on the country's human-rights record in the run-up to the Beijing Games in August. The jamming also affects those trying to listen in India, Nepal and Europe, Alme said. On the Net: Voice of Tibet: http://www.vot.org Example of jamming: http://www.diantai.org/jamming.html (via Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, April 4, dxldyg via DXLD) ** TIBET [and non]. The CRI English website is a whole different story with countless stories about Tibet. In a bit of overkill (poor choice of words, perhaps) CRI English devoted a whole page, featuring no less than 45 articles with the Chinese government’s spin, to the Tibet issue alone, under the title “Lhasa Riot”. Checking on March 23, CRI broadcasts were missing from the World Radio Network audio archives. Remarkably little coverage of Tibet on Radio Taiwan International; in fact, over the weekend I heard nothing about Tibet from Taipei. Perhaps they were focused on their own political issues (Fred Waterer, Programming Matters, April ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** TURKEY [and non]. VOT/TRT, 2200, 6195-fair, noisy and fade; 0300 5975-fair, QRM 5965 [Cuba], 7265-poor. I don`t hear 7325 at 0300, via RCI relay (Bob Thomas, CT, March 30, by P-mail, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Did anyone monitor 7325 at 0300 UT March 31, April 1 or 2, and note whether it was on the air and in what language? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Dear Mr. Hauser, Thank you very much for your monitoring report. We contacted with the RCI and waiting their answer. Could you please provide us monitoring about transmissions targeted to N. America from time to time. Do you have some news about George Poppin? Thank you for your kind cooperation. Best regards (Sedef Somaltin - Kiymet Erdal, TRT via DXLD) Dear Sedef and Kiymet, I will be glad to bring to your attention any further problems with TRT transmission or reception. Hope you can get 7325 corrected soon. 15450 is heard pretty well here on the 1230-1325 transmission, and you might consider adding it to the North American schedule, as it is aimed our way like the other English broadcast at 2200 which is for both Europe and NAm. (And 5975 at 0300 if anyone is awake in UK at 4 am). (Glenn to TRT, via DXLD) Sedef and Kiymet, It is a pleasure to send you this reception report on 7325 kHz. It has been a long, long time since we heard you on the West Coast. Congratulations!! 7325 ex SACKVILLE, 444, Strong signal, faint noise, good reception (George Poppin, San Francisco, April 4 to TRT, cc to DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOT, 15450 to WEu and consequently also aimed at NAm, doing well here for the 1230 English broadcast, including Live from Turkey on Thursdays from 1250; April 3 tuned in at 1305 and found only one guy in the studio with monolog about poetry, reading some Poe; said his co-host was busy buying a new house (and BTW, it`s easy and cheap to find accommodations in Ankara unlike Canada). No call-ins or -outs, of course, the rule rather than the exception. Host said he too had been overworked by helping hire new staff, auditioning them, etc. After our report that the Sackville relay was not in English, UT April 3, glad to note that the correct English broadcast was carried UT April 4 at 0300 on 7325. It was running 5 seconds behind the direct broadcast on 5975, and this time 7325 held up with a quite strong signal past 0330, tho with considerable fading. Sometimes the broadcast runs almost 55 minutes, but this time it wrapped up at 0350, so we were treated to the VOT IS piano variations until 0359* interspersed with some IDs in French in the last two minutes. From a schedule received in the P-mail by Kraig Krist, here is the current program schedule; since it does not explain its intricacies, it must be annotated by gh from monitoring experience. The `later` programs are in a column headed II Term, meaning the second quarter of the year, which has just begun. Full English SW schedule: 1230 15450 13685 1830 9785 2030 7170 2200 6195 0300 5975 7265 7325-Sackville N.B.: the 0300 UT broadcast is the NEXT UT day after the day shown in this schedule, i.e. the final repeat of the previous day`s lineup. Daily: News, and Review of the Turkish Press; then Mon Diplomacy Agenda Hues & Colours of Anatolia Turkish Music Tue Agenda Live from Turkey on 1830 broadcast only; otherwise: The Economic Bulletin In the Wake of a Contest; later Disputed Island [Cyprus, of course] Wed Review of the Foreign Media Turkish-EU Agenda The Middle East Through Turkey`s Window Letterbox Thu The Balkan Agenda Live from Turkey on 1230 broadcast only; otherwise: Economic Bulletin [axually called Economic Weekly] In the Wake of a Contest; later Disputed Island [confirmed UT Fri April 4 at 0330] Fri Agenda Armenians and the World; later Turkey and Energy Turkish Album Sat Outlook Hues & Colours of Anatolia DX Corner As Foreigners Have Put It/Turkish Scientific Bulletin [the / presumably means alternating week to week; the lack of a slash by DX Corner means it is now every week???] What Tunes Say Sun Blue Voyage; later Atatürk Through Lines The Women of the Sultans Turkish Rock and Pop Music There are two other mini-features appearing most days toward the end of the hour, but ``may be withdrawn for time issues`` -- Did You Know That? and Question of the Month. Other fillers are multi-lingual IDs and promotion of essay contest (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6195. At 2200 I monitored a 55555 signal blasting in with the start of an English broadcast. During the intro they announced 6195 to Europe from 2300. No English should have been broadcast from Turkey at 2200. What is going on? Perhaps I have missed something on a previous DXLD. 73's Dan Goldfarb,Brentwood,England. Yes, you did, and so did VOT apparently. I haven`t paid much attention to their schedule announcements but if they say 2300, they haven`t updated it in the past week since they moved everything one UT hour earlier, so English is really at 2200 on 6195. Glenn This is in accordance with the HFCC registration: 6195 2200 2300 5,8,9,11N,17,18,27,28W EMR 500 310 1234567 300308 261008 D English TUR TRT TRT Andy Sennitt 6195, Voice of Turkey at 2200 sign-on, ID, program lineup, headlines, news. Good Apr 4 (Harold Sellers, ODXA Shadow Lake Radio Camp, Stouffvlle, Ontario, Eton E-1, 200 ft wire northeast, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOT ENAm service in English on 6195, April 5 at 2200 was inaudible at the start, and just barely audible at the conclusion 2249 UT with recognizable announcer giving schedule, and 2250 unmistakable IS. It`s only the beginning of April shortly after equinox, and this can only get worse as we transit thru solstice, with more and more light on the path, and more and more T-storm noise. It`s already long before local sunset. Shouldn`t they be on 7 or 9 MHz? Fortunately we now have the repeat at 0300 via Sackville 7325, or even 5975 direct, better than this in CNAm, and also the 1230 broadcast to Europe on 15450 can be quite good, tho variable from day to day. Monitored the VOT 0300 UT Sunday April 6 transmission on 7325 via Sackville, to determine exactly what would actually be broadcast after the news, when compared to the published schedule for Saturdays which reads: Outlook Hues & Colours of Anatolia DX Corner As Foreigners Have Put It/Turkish Scientific Bulletin What Tunes Say Outlook ended at 0317, but there was no H&CofA this week, so it may really be alternating with DX Corner, despite the lack of a slant, which did follow at 0318-0325. Some very familiar DX tips were read with lots of stumbling over unfamiliar names and numbers, concluding with Dan Goldfarb`s CBCNQ 9625 report recently [only?] in DXLD, with exactly the same wording mentioning trans-Atlantic conditions, but they were NOT credited! Before that we had Sri Lanka`s new language schedule, which should have been credited to Jose Jacob; and a substantial portion of FEBA`s new schedule in non-English languages. The latter is the kind of thing I would never spend time reading out on WORLD OF RADIO. Some other DX programs in English really think there is enough interest to justify broadcasting the schedules of obscure religious broadcasters in non- English languages! Announcer did say at the end that DX Corner would be back in two weeks, or was it one? He was mumbling and I missed it. Hurriedly brought up slightly delayed webcast but missed it there too. Only 9 of VOT`s programs are on the podcasting list at http://www.trt.net.tr/wwwtrt/podcasting.aspx?dil=12 and not all of those are currently on the air; not including DX Corner, of course. 0325-0331 Turkish Scientific Bulletin, which would be back in 2 weeks, --- so As Foreigners Have Put It must be on alternate weeks. 0331-0338 What Tunes Say 0338-0339 essay contest promo 0339-0341 multilingual ID filler 0341-0347 music fill, unannounced 0347 headlines, announcer going lickety-split. SLOW DOWN!! And then sign-off announcement 0350 interval signal Another odd thing about VOT, is that they play exactly the same announcement and music at the beginning and end of each program. So when you hear that if you just tuned in, you don`t know whether it is starting or ending. Sure saves on the production time, but unprofessional (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4976, Clear signal with American sounding Religious stuff? Also broadcasting beyond 2110. 3333 [sic] (Dan Goldfarb, Brentwood, England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SUDAN ** UKRAINE. RUI English to NAm, 1 hour at 0000 & 0300 on 7440 (Bob Thomas, CT, April 1 via P-mail, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 04 April follow. Solar flux 73 and mid- latitude A-index 8. The mid-latitude K-index at 1800 UTC on 05 April was 5 (77 nT). Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred. Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level are expected (SWPC via DXLD) re following log with K=5! ** U K [non?]. Re 8-041: Radio Fax 20th anniversary: You've credited the wrong Mike :). (Mike Barraclough instead of Terry, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. Surprised to find adequate signal from BBCWS in English on 13865, April 5 at 1813 with documentary about China, human rights. A time I am not often bandscanning; not // 17830. Per BBC Whatson schedule of BBC streaming/Euro it`s: ``John Simpson Returns to China 1 of 2. As the world's eyes focus on China before the Olympics, BBC journalist John Simpson recalls the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.`` At closing 1829 they plugged Over To You coming up in 10 minutes. Nominal time for that is 1840, but it used to really start 2 minutes later; I couldn`t stay tuned to find out, even tho there was to be a discussion about BBC`s SW cutbacks. Must get that later or ondemand. Rechecked frequency on portable radio in the car at 1850, and audible even thus, but not an hour later, so probably went off at 1900. What could the site be? Surely nothing in the W Hemisphere any more. Looked up later, it`s Rampisham, one of those remaining SWBCs to ``Western Russia``, but Ramp has a way of giving us usable signals off the back of the antennas way over here in CNAm, despite BBC`s best efforts to keep us from hearing WS on SW: 13865 1700 1900 29,30SW,40W RMP 500 62 1234567 300308 261008 D G BBC MER And even in WNAm! In a delayed report, 13865 was also heard by Stewart MacKenzie in CA the first day of A-08 until 1900*, with even better SIO 444 there. So nice to hear anything at all on 13m; noted 21630 in French was by far the strongest signal on band and the only readable one, April 5 at 1818. That`s BBC via Ascension, 1800-1830 at 65 degrees. English on 21470 is now 13-17 at 114 degrees. 13865 was quite good again April 6 at 1730 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ENGLAND, BBCWS, 13865, 1848, English, 444, March 30, OM with comments on Colombia. Also interviewing an OM on Latin America. Also an item on Boxing in Mexico. OM with BBCWS ID at 1854. Evita music vocals at 1858. Suddenly off the air at 1900 with no ID (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. New look for VOA website --- Glenn, Have just logged onto the VOA website at http://voanews.com (at 1525 GMT Friday) - it has quite a new look. On the VOA homepage, there is a link to a message from VOA Director Dan Austin, introducing the new look thus: "We've spent many months learning what you like about our site and what you wish we should add. We've tested our new design with Internet users like you to see how well it works. Our new site brings to our portal page news headlines in five languages: click on the tab of the language you want and explore our worldwide news coverage. You also can access content in 40 other languages more easily by clicking the language you want to view. We also added tabs that take you directly to the content you view most. We hope you like our new portal; we'll be launching many new pages over the next few months. So enjoy your visit and tell us what you think. E-mail us at newdesign @ voanews.com Dan Austin, Director, Voice of America" Worth a look! (Marc Cawthorne, Norwich, UK, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 6180, Strong VoA English from Greenville site at 05-07 UT. Reminds me on old days some 3 to 4 decades back, when Greenville was a daily guest, even on SSB mode to feed Tatsfield England or VOA Munich Ueberacker receiving stations (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, April 6, undated A-08 logs so sometime since March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So you don`t hear RHC colliding as we do? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Cuba`s powerful but unregistered frequency of 6180 to NAm collides not only with 250 kW from Brasília much of the time, but now also VOA Greenville, scheduled 0500-0700 in English to Africa. After 0500 April 3 and any other night, it`s a big mix between the two. Since as an outlaw nation, Cuba refuses to participate in HFCC, despite claims to be holier than thou in abiding by ITU regulations unlike the USA, RHC must take its lumps when it picks a frequency not on the books and thus also open to use by others --- if they are willing to take their lumps, too. Maybe in VOA target Africa, RHC is no big problem on 6180, but it`s plenty to ruin RHC reception inside NAm. French talk April 3 at 0621, on 6095, uncovered by Anguilla missing from 6090. That`s VOA 0530-0630 M-F via São Tomé. 13620 at 1440 April 3, ``You are listening to VOA music. . . turn it up!`` But next announcement at 1443 was in Indonesian, as sked via Tinian 14-15 Thu/Fri/Sat only (why?), 250 kW, 255 degrees. VOA English, 13570 São Tomé, 1443 April 3 mixing with WINB and topping it periodically, also with CODAR QRM ranging 13375-13605, and at 1450, CODAR even heard as far up as 13670 bothering Tirana 13640 et al., q.v. VOA seems to be juggling transmitter sites in the first week of A-08, jockeying for position. 17530 is listed for English at 1400-1430 from Greenville eastward, and in one schedule version switching to Bonaire at 1430-1500, but another version shows a switch to Thailand westward at 1430, both Greenville and Thailand with exactly the same target areas, i.e. all of Africa except the northern tier of countries. How`s that for a drastic change listeners are not supposed to notice? Would it not have been better just to use nearby Morocco for the whole hour?? Tuned in at 1406 as a panel discussion about Iraq was starting, VG signal, best on band, surely Greenville, but it faded down to virtually nothing at 1417, and at 1432 recheck could not even find a carrier on 17530. I had not noticed VOA 17530 at all in bandscans earlier in the week. On April 5 conditions overall were quite poor (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 04 April follow. Solar flux 73 and mid- latitude A-index 8. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 05 April was 4 (43 nT). Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred. Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level are expected (SWPC via DXLD) Re 8-041, ``NETHERLANDS ANTILLES [and non]. Checked the Bonaire relays to Africa at 2000 UT April 2: 17810 with RNW in English quite weak, but it`s our only chance at this hour; however, VOA French on 17895 was quite a bit stronger, why? I suspect it`s Greenville instead. What has become of the RNW/IBB relay exchanges? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Due to some kind of mixup, VOA programs to Africa on 17895 were going out from Greenville in English or French and simultaneously French via Bonaire in the 1730-2030 UT period or parts thereof. That was as of April 3; not sure if this has been resolved yet and how (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ZIMBABWE [non] VOA via Philippines, 9760, Sunday April 6 at 1316 with Alice Coltrane harp music on Jazz America, a treat. Must try to catch this show more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. After yesterday`s fiasco colliding with DW and BBC on 15420, looked again for WBCQ on that new frequency starting at 1400 April 3: no trace of it, just DW in Russian via UK, also when rechecked at 1420, 1427; DW broke for a semiminute at 1459 during which WBCQ could not be heard either; then DW came back a little weaker as they switched from 500 kW Rampisham 62 degrees to 250 kW UAE 345 degrees. Had a German lesson at 1548 // better 15690 which from 1500 is Rampisham 62, probably the same transmitter as on 15420 the previous hour. Finally at 1553 I noticed that WBCQ was back on 17495, with BS! And at 1608 with non-BS citing Luke V:33. I kept Allan Weiner and George Jacobs informed of my April 2 monitoring on 15420, but got no replies; however, it seems they are reassessing the situation while resuming the previous frequency with no such interference problems (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, We are back on 17495 while George sorts out all this co channel interference. We had the frequency but then DW and BBC fired up. We had it first. Time will tell. May move to another frequency Thanks for your time and reception reports (Allan Weiner, WBCQ, April 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not exactly; BBC has used 15420 for sesquidecades, altho I couldn`t say about the exact times. DW used 15420 the same way last A-07 season, but not in B-07. One can hardly blame them for doing so with the wooden WBCQ registration on 15420 for all these years, but I don`t see how they can live with each other, let alone WBCQ/`WRNO` (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Yes, we are back on 17495 and will stay there till this is all sorted out. Everyone professes the end of shortwave - just try and find a good clear inband frequency!! Thanks, Allan Weiner, WBCQ, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The problem is finding a single frequency available for 10 hours straight (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) 5109.9, WBCQ Monticello ME (presumed); 2213-2230+, 2-Apr; Mumbling M in English talking about receivers and antennas; seems to be astounded that no one is calling in. SIO=3+53; new xtal off frequency already! (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** U S A. Checking WRMI webcast, Thu April 3 at 0525, heard Spotlight, the same especial-English show as on HCJB, talking about some health issue in third world, nothing overtly evangelical; nominal start 0515, but as usual, running late. Glad to hear new WORLD OF RADIO 1402 starting at 0534. Would also be on 9955, and as a rule the first SW airing anywhere now. The WRMI programming grid has now been updated as of April 1, in EDT/UT -4: http://www.wrmi.net/images/wrmichart.xls See also CUBA [and non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The self-absorbed Pastor Pete Peters, on WWCR 9980, April 4 at 1518 was wanting calls to 307-745-5913 from people who were hearing him evenings on WWRB 5050 but not on other frequencies; IOW, is the additional expense of 5050 worth it? ``Our radio bill is huge.`` Also mentioned that KAIJ is off the air, but he was surprised and how many new listeners he got there. Announced on WWCR-1, 15825, April 5 at 1359: Effective April 5, WWCR-3 will use 7465 from 6 to 11 am CDT = 1100-1600 UT. That`s ex-12160, which was not propagating well, at least not here a megameter away, but 7465 still holding up well at 1430 UT check. This is great for music shows, Sat 1105 WW Country Radio, 1200 Rock the Universe, 1300- 1330 Country Crossroads, the latter also Sundays 1230-1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4910, WWCR Spur, 0130-0158*, April 5, spur from 5070. Poor to fair with deep fades. Some kind of mixing product between 5070, 7465 & 5935. 4910 off the air when 7465 went off the air. WWCR 5935 in bad shape with loud hum & weak, slightly distorted audio (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4910 = new 9980 minus 5070, so 7465 and the others would not really seem to be involved. 9980 also goes off at 0200, tho presumably not at the same instant as 7465. Ex 4915 was 5070 from 9985, no longer in use (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 4910, WWCR spur, 0145-0200, April 7, two separate WWCR programs from 5070 & 9980 mixing together on 4910. Tnx to Glenn Hauser for figuring this one out: 9980 - 5070 = 4910. Poor to fair. I am also hearing 9980 bleeding into 5070 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9495, WHRI, 1937-1959, April 5, tune-in to DXing With Cumbre. Good signal. New Frequency for Cumbre (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ex-17640 Regarding the collision on 15710 previously noted, ARMENIA = KOREA NORTH [non] with EGYPT, and the absence of WHRA despite daily scheduling here: WHRA was certainly on Saturday April 5, strong over weak bubble jamming (?), just as WHR promo aired and at 1358 QSY announcement to 15195, then 15710 off immediately. WHR frequency usage varies a great deal on weekends and it`s not always shown as such in schedules (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15710, WHRA on Sundays ONLY, 1300 UT, S=9+10 dB, and remaining 3 other stations, like EGY, Wilderness Korean from Gavar-ARM, -- and Unid KRE jammer? Tentative (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, April 6, undated A-08 logs so sometime since March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also Saturday as I reported above (gh) See also HAWAII ** U S A. WWRB is still running 9385 past FCC-scheduled 2300 closing, April 3 at 2307 caterwauling as respite from Brother Scare screaming. Albania was audible on the side at 9390, but too close for comfort (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ALBANIA ** U S A. WEWN on new 15855, April 3 at 1402 but marred by intermittent ute noise bursts overriding. Some utility transmitter is pissed about this further incursion into the fixed band. The tactic among US SW broadcasters is to try it, and see if anyone objects. A more formal protest will probably be required for any axion to be taken (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Collision with Cairo 11550.1: see EGYPT ** U S A [and non]. 17595, WEWN totally OVERMODULATED audio signal level, 2040 UT. REE Noblejas to S America at 1345-1515 UT, but suffers from NHK Wertachtal relay in Bengali (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, April 6, undated A-08 logs so sometime since March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KTBN with its 100 kW transmitter in Salt Lake City, Utah, carried Christian programming from the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in Santa Ana, California. It first came on the air on 24 Dec 1987 as Superpower KUSW before being taken over by TBN in 1990 (Dave Kenny, April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) And QRT 3/30/08 (gh) ** U S A [non]. Looked for El Mundo del Arte con Marisol Popovitz, on CVC via Chile, 17680, which had been running Sundays at 1300-1330, but at 1324 April 6 instead heard gospel rock song. Checking the 2008 program schedule at http://www.cvclavoz.com/prog2008.htm indeed CVC`s sole concession to the arts in its 24/7 Spanish schedule has disappeared from this semi-hour but still shows at 0000-0030 UT Sundays --- day of the week not explicit as there is another column labeled Miami time showing 2000 Sunday, which would be 0000 UT Monday! It`s still on 17680 until 0100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. One of the excellent reading services has been Radio Reading Service of the Rockies, with three different but sometimes parallel streams. I was listening to The Economist, UT Thu April 3 0430 via Boulder, when they announced they have a new name: Audio Information Network of Colorado! But at least for now the RRSR URLs remain in use via http://www.rrsr.org/ This page linx to many other reading services, many of them with unrestricted webcasts: http://www.iaais.org/hearservices.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Almost missed this quarter`s Capitol Steps comedy special, Politics Takes a Holiday, April Fool`s Edition; just ran across the last part of it airing on KOSU at 1700 UT Saturday April 5. Their schedule shows an awful lot of stations, most of which don`t inform them of the airtimes, but three webcasters are left, here converted to UT: Sunday April 6 at 0400, KCHU Alaska Sunday April 6 at 2200, WMUB Ohio Sunday April 13 at 1200, WFDU, New Jersey [why delay? Pledge drive?] Fortunately it`s also ondemand, downloadable via http://www.capsteps.com/radio/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The beacon LYQ on 529 kHz from Manchester, Tenn, appears to be fully functional now. There is a slow morse code LYQ followed by complete location and now with weather data and a aircraft frequency given for incoming flights. First noted with new complete format a few weeks ago but was good again this morning before sunrise (Tom Jasinski, Shorewood, IL, April 5, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. KARN-AM920/FM102.9 OUTSOURCES STORM, WEATHER COVERAGE Little Rock News-Talk station KARN 920/102.9FM (COL for FM, Sheridan AR) according to KARK-TV is relaying their wall to wall storm coverage. Several tornadoes have hit Central Arkansas tonight (my immediate area is unaffected at this writing). A quick check of the portable radio on 102.9 FM confirms that KARK audio is being transmitted on KARN. This brings to mind the sorry state of modern radio broadcasting. Clusters of stations have gone automated, and except for morning drive, many have limited on-air talent. KARN once had a full news department, and on-air staff. Now it`s limited to two news readers in the morning, one local talk host (in afternoon drive). The remainder of air-time is devoted to right-wing talk (Glenn Beck is the latest on the schedule) mostly, and a regionally syndicated daily sports-talk show (the AM carries the first 2 hours 4-6 pm, FM only carries the final 2 hours). Time was even in my short life when radio had a place in storm coverage. During an outbreak of bad weather in Central Arkansas on Feb 5, I was in the local Subway and an out-of-town delivery driver for Schwanns was almost frantic asking for the local radio station with best storm coverage. When told by that most of the stations were automated, usually "on the bird", he was a bit, shall I say, not happy. I referred him to KARN 102.9 at that time. Using a local TV station to do what local radio should do is a disservice to listeners of KARN, because the TV dialog doesn't always translate to the radio medium (Fritze, KC5KBV, Prentice, Jr., Star City, AR. Grid: EM43aw http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. 11790, CVC, 0206, 04/05/08, English. Upbeat pop music with chatty announcer commentary between songs. Rapid flutter made it tough to make out what was being said despite relatively good signal strength. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN [non]. 15330 BBC Uzbek, heavy Firedrake interference 1300-1330 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, April 6, undated A-08 logs so sometime since March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. Saludos cordiales, base de datos de emisoras en AM y FM de Venezuela, última actualización el 25 de febrero del 2008: http://www.camradio.org/asociados/browser/homepage.htm 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6060 kHz, Radio Nacional de Venezuela via Cuba signing on at 1101 UT, with bilingual programming, item on controversy over the recent capture of computers supposedly “proving” links between Chávez and FARC. SINPO 44444. April 3. Grundig Yachtboy 400 PE with an external long wire (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13680, CUBA, Radio Nacional de Venezuela at 2308 in English, woman with Venezuelan news. 2310 gave credits to production and technical personnel. Spanish ID, then into profile of a Venezuelan company visited by President Chavez and translation of his speech. 2318 another Spanish ID and then into Venezuelan vocals. Good, //15250 very good Apr 4. 11680, CUBA, Radio Nacional de Venezuela at 1525 in English, woman translating speech by President Hugo Chávez. 1530 Spanish with schedule. Good Apr 5 (Harold Sellers, ODXA Shadow Lake Radio Camp, Stouffvlle, Ontario, Eton E-1, 200 ft wire northeast, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4-years out of date schedule, no doubt. If anyone ever hears a schedule announcement including e.g. the 1500 transmission, notify us, as this will be bulletin news. RNV CI via Cuba, 11680, Thu April 3 at 1519 had YL speaking haltingly in English, but co-channel QRM in Spanish ---- wait, it`s a voice-over translation, with the Spanish undercurrent always there; who could that possibly be speaking originally? At 1555 recheck, in Spanish only. RNV CI via Cuba, 15250, April 3 at 2306 in English, YL quoting Chávez in too-literal translation. It seems like RNV CI via CUBA is devoting more and more time to English. April 4 at 1511 on 11680, found YL reporting on the government having acquired the Lácteos Los Andes dairy in SW Venezuela, turning it into a socialist enterprise, visited by Chávez. What has become of ``Aló, Presidente`` via Cuba? Looked for it Sunday April 6 and unfound on any of the usual frequencies. Checked at 1414, 1433, 1506 and 1553. FWIW, not much, it`s still on the RHC schedule at http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/frecuencia/frecuencias-espanol.htm --- ALÓ PRESIDENTE (domingo) América Central 13680 14 Caribe 11670 14 América del Sur 11875 / 17750 14 América del Norte 13750 14 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA ** VIETNAM. 4739.63, R. TV. Son La, Apr 01 1251-1302, 34433, Vietnamese, Talk and song, ID at 1259 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) 9840, V of Vietnam (Hanoi), 2335, 04/04/08, English. Vietnamese and world news, then a couple of longer features. Fluttery. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9839.9, VOV (presumed), 1218, 4/5/08. Presumed the very weak signal with SE Asian vocals. Poor overall (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA Drake R8 - JRC NRD-545 - Perseus SDR 70' Inverted L - Wellbrook 330S Loop, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. ARGELIA, 1550, Radio Nacional de la República Arabe Saharaui, 0701*-0705, 06-04, inicio de la transmisión, himno y cánticos del Cor`án. 23322. En paralelo con 6300, con buena señal en esta última frecuencia. 45444 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escuchas realizadas en casco urbano de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems the SW had been off for a while; had no reports of it (gh, DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, ZNBC, 0340, 04/06/08, Vernacular. Male DJ playing Afropop tunes and chatting with an in-studio guest between songs. WBOH was off on 5920, providing nice splatter-free reception for once, though Zambia was not as strong as they've been on other recent occasions. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar, 11735, drum interval signal, followed by news in English from Spice-FM at 1800 Saturday April 5. News in English at 1800 seems to not be a daily occurence as none was noted here on Thursday or Friday (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. SW Radio Africa,12035,1700-1900 via Norway. 12035 1700 1900 53NW,57N KVI 500 155 1234567 300308 261008 D A08 HFCC 2-Apr-2008. 73 (David Pringle-Wood, Zimbabwe, April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. USA (non.) 4930 - Special late running of Studio7 / VOA Africa heard as late as 2130 April 5. Different stream from 4940 (Dan Goldfarb, Brentwood, England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Botswana and/or São Tomé relays. Studio 7 normally 1700-1830 (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. That mystery station is coming in again since 2300z on 1520 kHz. Just plays light classical music continuously with no announcements and TOH ID. Anyone else hearing it and have any idea what it is? I suspect it is South American, but a most unusual format for that part of the world (John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa, April 4, mwdx yg via DXLD) Can`t you get a bearing on it for starters? (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Is WRCR testing on 1700 kHz? I have a log entry that doesn't quite fit. Since no one else checked in, I'll report it late. 03-31-2008 at 0625 GMT (0235 EDT) on 1700 kHz was heard Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack. This was over the weak and fluttery WEUP Af Am Gospel. Some digging revealed one possible source: a test of WRCR's newly assigned frequency. CP is dated 10/2007 and the locator shows the tower positions for day/nite at the fcc amq pages. WRCR is based at Ramapo College (Spring Valley, NY is license) and broadcasts from a local mall. Considering the move from 1300 kHz to 1700, and the nice power increase, looks like a good Eastern US catch. Reported power is full X-Band 10 kW day and 1 kW nite on 1700 kHz (Ramapo, NY new license) and WRCR is rated 500 W day and 83W nights on 1300 kHz. Wondering if anyone else has heard. Might be on again after midnight tonite. I'll call this a test reception for now 32233 with fades and static, and WEUP under (Paul Shaffer Cheshire, CT, April 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Could be, but beware of pirates in the northeast UNIDENTIFIED. 3200 ALMOST NIL --- Glenn, I have been sitting on 3200.12 for the last couple of mornings, and although I can hear the signal, it's not audible enough to catch anything. I guest the other morning was an exception when I got the recording? Anyway, as long as I have time to do so, I will continue to monitor that frequency (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, 1041 UT April 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5330, 06-Apr. heard from 0925 to 0947 presumed Chinese music (percussion solo session apart of well elaborated instrumental and melodic session, beautiful contrast in the same music; next violin followed by percussion) none talks. Strong 55434. 73's (Lucio Otavio Bobrowiec, Embu SP, Brasil, Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) --- Surely Firedrake, jamming something; another variant for Sound of Hope? (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 6026.7v, 0140-0227*, April 4, talk in unidentified language. Koran at 0203. Weak, unstable, wobbly carrier. No //s found. Perhaps Iran? Did Iran move their unstable transmitter from 7 MHz to 6 MHz? Separate Iranian program heard on a stable 7105 during this time period. On March 30 & 31 Iran was wobbling (varying) around 7106.8-7111.8, but not tonight (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, TenTec RX-340, 100 foot longwires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See IRAN too To give reasons. IRIB Tehran Arabic program around 2300 UT on 6026.62 b u t oscillating and not stable. 6025 1630-0330 UT 37-39 MAS Maschad 500 kW 255 degrees Most of the Telefunken 500 kW beasts at Kamalabad or Sirjan nead a general overhaul these days. Western economic embargo against Iran state shows an impact now. But copied 150/300 kW shortwave gear is available in China these days (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6130 (Laos? Tibet?), 1154-1236, 4/2/2008. 1154 Asian music with short comments by man at 1157. Instrumental music at 1159, more upbeat and of anthem/theme variety. Talk by man through 1200. Talk by man and woman at 1201, possibly news. Poor signal (SINPO 23222), deteriorating after 1220, much weaker by 1230. Recheck at 1233 found music, then comments by woman at 1236 tune out. Language was oriental, but not Mandarin. One possibility is Lao National Radio, but all published logs indicate seven gongs on the hour, which were not present. Second possibility is Xizang PBS (Tibet), which lists this frequency, but has not been reported here recently. Checked listed Xizang parallels, and found only a poor signal after 1205 on 4920, man and woman talking, but not in parallel with 6130. Also changed to music on 4920 at 1225, further indicating not in parallel. Any ideas on this, especially any logs of Laos without 7 gongs on the hour? (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, RF Space SDR-14 90' Random Wire, 60' PAR EF-SWL, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) [Laos] Always had gongs and then news at this time on any log I ever had of them (Hans Johnson, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. No es mi fuerte, pero me pareció singular la escucha de esta emisora de números --- 6768 USB, Cuba??? 0137-0142* Abril 4 Usual voz femenina con bloques de 5 números; pero lo singular es que no era una grabación; parecía una transmision en directo, con sonidos de fondos como de una sala de redacción, voces masculinas con acento cubano, inclusive música tropical. Amigos, hasta pronto (Rafael Rodriguez R., Winradio PC G303I, JRC - 525, Sony 2010; Antenas. Varios hilos, de diferentes longitudes y orientaciones, Bogotá, Colombia, condiglist yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 7120, re 8-041, searching for SOMALILAND: What's about Chad 7120 kHz which is reported by Carlos from downunder Portugal, approx. 15-16 UT? Exact time known, when do Chad regular move to 4905? Ask Vashek in South Africa, the only reliable DXer left on Africa continent these days, except Tarek of course. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7120, today April 6 again around 7120.3, s/off 1700. Was noted already around 1515. Mostly only carrier, just seldom pieces of audio (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seeking Somaliland of course (gh) Chad not heard on 4905 kHz after 1800, so maybe, as Jari suggested in another mail, they have moved back to 6165 kHz altogether? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Now Chad back on 4905 kHz. 73, (Mauno, 2117 UT April 6, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 7697.00 even - male voice English Number station at 1840 UT, S=9 powerful (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, April 6, undated A-08 logs so sometime since March 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. I logged it as 11830, April 5 at 1811, something in German, with a fast SAH from another carrier, but looked up later in HFCC, nothing at all scheduled on this frequency at this time. I suspect I was really on 11835: my FRG-7 dial is a bit off in the 800`s, and I have to be very careful to line up the parallax properly or confirm the frequency on a digital readout YB-400 or DX-398 next to it. Because on 11835 we find in the ADDX listings by language that Die Stimme der Türkei has German on 11835 at 1730-1830, and Issoudun is also on the frequency --- unless they both really moved to 11830, which I doubt (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11835, April 5 at 2144 with ME music, lyrix ``Allah akhbar``, G signal, still on at 2206 in Arabic talk, but weaker. Nothing listed, but I suspect this is Algeria`s Qur`an service, perhaps an extension from the 1800-2000 listing for Issoudun on 11835 for southern Algeria and West Africa. It`s sure hard to keep up with the correct current schedule for this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 12260, Russia?? While looking for Wrekin R. International, found an Asian-sounding signal here from 2236 to 2300*. Audio was extremely weak but it was definitely a broadcast station. Checked 6130 but if there was anything there, it was overpowered by an adjacent strong station. Who would this have been?? (Dave Valko, PA, 5 April, HCDX via DXLD) Harmonic? ?? Moscow not registered on HFCC table in A08 yet. 6130 kHz registration happened always late by Russian authorities. But had harmonic in B07 - 1600-2100 UT Moscow tx site: 12260 hx (2 x 6130) VOR Moscow in French produces an S=7 harmonic, noted on Eton E1 and SONY ICF2010, signal strength 8 of 10 diodes shining ! 1700-1800 UT Mar 24 (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 24) Laos 6130 also from 2200 UT co-channel (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 15710, April 3 at 1404, het of almost 1 kHz. Can`t sort this out here, but Egypt likely involved; Wolfgang Büschel has found a bad 3-way clash before 1400 on 15710 among Egypt, Armenia and WHRA [?] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see KOREA NORTH [non]; USA UNIDENTIFIED. 17436, big S9+20 open carrier, where Cuban spy numbers are often reported, April 3 at 1609 so I left a receiver on it, but never heard any modulation, and gone at 1630 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 21735, 0908 7 March, possible 3rd harmonic of 7245, SIO 222 (Tim Bucknall, Congleton, Cheshire, HF Logbook, April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Beijing listed or more likely Dushanbe (gh) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ My 3-hour monitoring session the morning of April 3 was a lot of fun, and I hope the information collected is of use to others. Trouble is, it took me another 3.5 hours to compile the report, rather than more monitoring! Similar time is spent compiling vs monitoring on other days (gh) I enjoy your reports and DX Listening Digest. It is one of the few constants in a rapidly changing hobby. Whether I am actively listening or on a break from listening (like I have been recently), you and your contributors make it easy to stay current with the news of this interesting medium. Sincerely, (Jason R Gardner, ABDX, via DXLD) Before he saw my HCJB comments, q.v. Glenn, thanks for your excellent show. I download every week from WRN, load on my Ipod and listen in my car. Have you considered increasing the MW DX portion of your show? Thanks again (Mark Schmit, Cape Cod MA, with a check in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS page has been fully updated as of April 6 for A-08 times and frequencies: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html (Glenn Hauser, April 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PRIMETIME SCHEDULES ON MOBILE - wap.dxinginfo.com Dear Friends, It's my pleasure to inform you the beta launch of DXinginfo Mobile site, at http://wap.dxinginfo.com Here you will find current hour ongoing English broadcasts, and also you will be able to search the broadcasts in English by country / station or start UTC time or end UTC time, even by frequency also. Now a searchable index of almost all the sw English broadcast frequency & times are under your finger tips on the move. Just you need a GPRS enabled GSM Mobile phone set or Internet enabled CDMA mobile phone set to browse it. Your feedback and suggestions are highly appreciated for this project. We are also trying to add more features to it. Send your suggestions. Thanks & Regards, Partha Sarathi Goswami, El Niño Electronics DX Club, Siliguri, West Bengal, India, DXingInfo.Com (via Swopan Chakroborty, India, April 4, DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ SOUTH AFRICAN DXPEDITION ON YOU TUBE My DX pal Gary has posted a You Tube video of our March DXpedition to Jongensgat at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LBJUoyyN0w On it you can see the magnificent scenery and beautiful setting at this remote coastal site and the two comfortable cottages we DX from. Some highlights of catches are also noted including Japan which is nearly 9000 miles / 14,000 km away. The report and full log of the DXpedition can be read at: http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/jongensgat_2008_03.dx Have fun and good DX (John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx mwdx yg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: also DENMARK; GERMANY; NEW ZEALAND; NORWAY ++++++++++++++++++++ NEW ELECTION INSIDE THE DRM CONSORTIUM BBC World Service Has Been Appointed Chair of the DRM Consortium BONN, Germany, March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- http://www.presseportal.ch/de/pm/100014777/?langid=2 - Every two years, the Digital Radio Mondiale (TM) consortium holds elections. Yesterday the members of the Steering Board, the key players of the DRM Consortium, were elected. After 10 years as Chairman of DRM Peter Senger retired from both DRM and his position as Deutsche Welle's Director DRM. His successor comes from another well known and respected international broadcaster, the BBC World Service in London. Mrs. Ruxandra Obreja, Controller Business Development, BBC World Service has been unanimously elected as new Chair of the DRM Consortium and DRM Association. The voting took place in Bonn at the premises of the long time DRM member and well known broadcaster Deutsche Welle. There was a great round of applause from the members of the Consortium for Mr. Peter Senger who, as Chairman of the Consortium, for the past ten years made an enormous contribution to the development of the DRM standard. The new Chair Mrs. Ruxandra Obreja introduced her vision to the members in a short presentation. She stated that: "DRM is on the threshold of a new era. Thanks to the brilliant work of our technical colleagues over the past ten years, the DRM standard is now mature. The challenge for all of us is to ensure that in the next few years the DRM standard is taken up on a mass scale. I see this as both the biggest challenge for the consortium and me personally." The DRM consortium greatly appreciates the offer of the BBC to take the lead in this enterprise announcing that it is ready to host the DRM Project Office in London. Contact: Fanny Podworny, DRM. Tel.: +49-228-429-31-05 E-Mail: pressoffice @ drm.org Internet: http://www.drm.org Distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, March 28, dxldyg via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ Webricevitore RAI Ciao a tutti, vi segnalo che il Webricevitore di RadioRai e' di nuovo online, l'indirizzo per usarlo e': http://www.webradio.rai.it/ Il sistema utilizza un ICOM IC-718 collegato ad un'antenna filare di 30 metri installati nel centro Rai di Saxa Rubra. 73 de (Andrea Borgnino IW0HK, April 2, bclnews.it via DXLD) 41 METERS SHRINKS FROM MARCH '09 The new A08 shortwave schedule has just started, but just under a year from now there will be an adjustment to the lower end of the 41 meter broadcast band, which is used outside the Americas but has been a problem with US amateur radio users: From March 29, 2009, 41 meters will begin at 7200 kHz, which means that shortwave broadcasters must vacate the 7.1-7.2 MHz range so it can be used exclusively for hams. There's a note about this change in PWBR-'08', in the pages that explain the shortwave broadcast bands and their best times to be heard throughout the day (Joe Hanlon, NJ, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Defacto 41m broadcast band extends up to 7600+ already, shifting rather than shrinking (gh, DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ On April 2, from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM PST, we will be conducting emergency planned maintenance on the Groups site. During this time, some groups will become unavailable for up to 30 minutes. Mail to some groups may also be delayed for up to 60 minutes. Thanks, Yahoo! Groups Team (via bclnews.it yg via DXLD) PST, what`s that? If they mean PDT, it`s 21-22 UT. if they really mean PST, which is not observed anywhere, it`s 22-23 UT. Glenn [Later:] Axually, PST UT-8 is in use somewhere, Baja California Norte, as per a previous report, until Mexico goes on DST April 6. Glenn Parts of BC (Fernie and NE BC stay on PST as well. Cheers ef (Eric Flodén, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Meaning all year, so they become horological appendages of Alberta in summer (gh, DXLD) ###