DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-091, August 11, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1421 Wed 2100 WBCQ 15420-CUSB Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1430 WRMI 9955 Thu 2330 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 0800 WRMI 9955 Fri 1930 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1130 WRMI 9955 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** AFGHANISTAN. TALEBAN TARGET NATO-BACKED RADIO'S TRANSMITTER IN AFGHAN NORTHEAST | Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website Faizabad, 9 August: A transmitter of the ISAF-run radio was attacked in the northeastern Badakhshan Province, wounding a guard and damaging a guard room. Sayed Abrar, a police official of the counter-terrorism department in the province, told Pajhwok Afghan News five rockets were fired at the Radio Saday-e Azadi [Radio Voice of Freedom] of NATO forces in outskirts of the provincial capital Faizabad last midnight. Only one rocket hit the target, wounding a local guard of the transmitter and damaging the guardroom, said Abrar. Other rockets missed the target and did not cause any damages. Abrar said the attack was the act of the Taleban who sporadically launch rocket attacks at night-time mostly targeting local military bases of foreign forces. A Taleban spokesman, Zabihollah Mojahid, said the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) radio based in Kabul with local offices in northern provinces was stopped after the rocket attack destroyed its transmitter in Badakhshan. Radio Saday-e Azadi mainly airing music and news with publicity against militants has local transmissions in northern provinces in ddition to its main transmissions in Kabul. Source: Pajhwok Afghan News website, Kabul, in English 1548 gmt 9 Aug 08 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK? ** ALBANIA. CRI German program lost its broadcast at 1600-1642 UT via Cërrik-Albania relay on 5970 and 7155 today, probably due to main power loss on the Albanian net. Cërrik is operated totally by Chinese Nationals ... maybe will bear down in severe consequences? 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. LRA36, Arcángel, 15476, 1938 UT Aug 8. Poor, Spanish music and talks by female. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) Friday ** ARGENTINA [and non]. It`s back to business as usual, R. Nacional colliding with Morocco and off-frequency causing a het. Sat Aug 9 at 2027, Arab music was the modulation I was getting from 15345 Morocco, and the het was on the low side, approximately 15344.6 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. RAE started with IS around 1753 UT today, on 15343.90v (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. R. Australia was the only major SW broadcaster audible here with live coverage in English of the Olympic opening ceremonies Aug 8, best on 6020 and 9580, but the latter cut off abruptly at 1358, as nothing will get in the way of scheduled frequency changes. It was rather banal, however, with basic geographical facts about each country, and rather lacking in visual elements. They did at least pre-empt regular programming, so we wonder if RA will have more live stuff from Beijing. BBC had a bit of the ceremonies after 1305 during Olympic Sportsworld, via 11750. VOA, CRI and RNZI were all in normal programming, which for CRI means a lot about the Olympix, but not live coverage. Do we get to see it live in the USA? Of course not! NBC-TV holds it until 2330 UT prime-time. Since it`s a produced playback, maybe their commercial interruptions will not blot out certain nations marching in as the recording could simply be paused. [no; see U S A below] RA seems to be our source for Olympic coverage on SW. Aug 9 at 1258 on 6020, there was swimming commentary, identified at 1302 as women`s 4 x 100m freestyle --- yes, this pre-empted news on the hour, but at 1302:30 there was one minute of news headlines. This was on the ABC Local Radio network, which RA already relayed at certain times. What`s ``Local`` about goings-on in Beijing? Said there would be one more hour of the day`s Olympic events. What about megadollar exclusive rights purchased in various countries? Tnx to SW and RA we don`t have to depend on NBC Universal inside the USA, tho of course RA/ABCLR skews towards events of interest to Strines. Is this reflected in the RA program schedule? http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/programguide/universal.htm Of course not! Shows Saturday Night Country. RA, 11660, which is favorable for us, 70 degrees from Shepparton at 20-22 UT, heard Aug 9 at 2035 with promos for Olympic coverage, said something about not heard in Asia due to contraxual obligations, except for short bulletins --- but would have a fuller Olympic report at 1:30 pm Suva time on the Pacific service. That`s 0130 UT, long after this frequency closes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 6020, R. Australia, Shepparton VIC, *0900-0956, 07 Aug, IS for Pidgin to PNG..., but they kept on playing it and no program was aired; ditto re // 9710; 35432, QRM de RNW in Dutch at *0930 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA [non]. Hi all, Great reception today of Radio Austria on 13775 at 1505 UT. Many letters today in the Post Box program about sad listeners as Radio Austria English will cease by the end of the year. It is indeed sad to hear all these stations either leaving shortwave, or ending English broadcasts (Gilles Letourneau, Montreal, Canada, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Sackville. So there has been a formal announcement of termination date? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. 5025, ORTB, Parakou, 1409-1428 (no, time is not wrong), 07 Aug, French, talks; 15331 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also EQUATORIAL GUINEA ** BHUTAN. BBS AND DEBATE OVER DZONGKHA AS THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE Posted to Kuensel online forum by "sangdor" on Monday, June 9: http://kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=5688 A look at the current BBS schedule for this past Wednesday (Aug. 6) in fact shows a live Parliament session (assume in Dzongkha) listed during the scheduled time for Sharchop (Ron Howard, CA, Aug 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. 6035, BBS, 1414, Aug 8, clearly heard at the end of the news: "news from the Bhutan Broadcasting Service", still tough to get much out of this (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6035, BBS - Thanks to ongoing tips from Ron Howard in Monterey, finally able to log Bhutan on 8/10 from 1401 to 1501* with English program. News by a man to 1410, then public service announcements with instrumental music by a man to 1415. Then into a call-in program with occasional request songs including "Knocking on Heaven's Door" at 1427-31.5, a vocal by "Shakira" at 1438-40.5, vocal by Shawn Gibson 1447.5-50.5, vocal "Follow Me" 1457.5-1500 with short sign-off announcement by man at 1459. Traditional program of instrumental music to 1501, then carrier off. Steady S2 signals with SINPO 25532. Signal levels seem to be about an S-unit or so higher in Northern CA than here in SoCal. In general, however, reception steadily improving over the past week (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook, Cumbre DX via DDXLD) 6035, BBS --- Bruce Churchill, in southern Calif., also heard the same English programming that I did today from 1401-1501*, Aug 10. His reception was slightly better, as he had more program details (or his knowledge of pop songs is better than mine, hi). The only point of interest was the slight change in their scheduling: this past week always observed 15 minutes of news (two announcers), 5 minutes of announcements and at 1420 into whatever was scheduled for that day, but today only had 10 minutes of news with just one announcer, 5 minutes of announcements and at 1415 (5 minutes earlier than scheduled) they started their call in program. Also from 1244-1300 I was clearly hearing BBS with fair reception, in assume Dzongka, with on-air phone conversations (conforms to the schedule at their website) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4451.2, R. Stª Ana, Stª Ana del Yacuma, 2225-2237, 07 Aug, Castilian, talks, Indian songs; 15331. 4796.4, R. Mallku, Uyuni, 2211-2220, 04 Aug, Aymara, talks; 13341, adjacent QRM de China 4800! (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 3390.13, Emisoras Camargo, Camargo. irregular Bolivian noted from 0000 12 August. 73, (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 2380.64, R Educadora, Limeira, SP (tentative), 0836-0845, Jul 22, music, signal is too weak to glean any details (Chuck Bolland, FL, DSWCI DX Window Aug 6 via DXLD) In DX-Window no. 355 I asked which station had a harmonic that caused interference (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Ed.) Answer: Both signals are weak and I cannot get the ID for the harmonic. At one time 2380.3v a Colombian harmonic, but do not know that this is the case now. At 0900 on Jul 24, 2389.8 was stronger; some music. The 2380.3v signal is very strong (Bob Wilkner, FL, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Amigos, ouvido há pouco: 3365, BRASIL: R. Cultura, Araraquara-SP, PP, 09/08 2228. Retorno da emissora às ondas curtas, programação local, sinal de excelente qualidade, mx orquestrada. Jingle: 'Cultura, a rádio da cidade', 45554 (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo-SP, Brasil, Rx: Kenwood R-1000 Ant.: Horizontal 22 m Compl.: Tooner TEB STA-1, http://www.radioways.cjb.net radioescutas yg via DXLD) 3365, 09/08 2245-2255, Cultura, Araraquara-SP, programa religioso católico, pastoral solicitando alimentos, roupas etc. para os moradores de rua, ouvintes pedindo que a oração de são Francisco seja "tocada" na emissora, otimo sinal - 43433 - (Marcelo Bedene, SWL1000B - DXCPR, Curitiba-PR, Sony ICF-6800A, Antena fio longo cordoalha 15m, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Marcelo e colegas, Também está chegando aqui a Cultura de Araraquara, mas com um sinal mais fraco e propagação com mais falha. 3365, 2346, R. Cultura de Araraquare SP, programa religioso citando a passagem em que Pedro pede a Jesus para ele também andar sobre as aguas do mar, 35433 (Jorge Freitas, SWL1023B, Feira de Santana Bahia, 12º 15' 1.57" S, 38º 58' 40.30" W, Degen 1103, Antena Long Wire 10 mts direcionada NE/SO, Balum 9:1, ibid.) Pois é Jorge, fazia tempo que ela não "pintava" no meu dial, imagino que a freqüência da OT esteve "apagada" temporariamente (Marcelo Bedene, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Eldora ESPN em 5745????????? Pessoal, Estou com um problema e tanto. Primeiro foi com a Globo em 12085 e hoje em 11935. Agora, às 2341, em 5745 estou sintonizando a Radio Eldorado ESPN. O sinal forte e o som completamente distorcido. Confirmei a escuta ouvindo a Eldorado AM pela internet. Alguém pode explicar?????????? Tenho as gravações em mp3, se alguém quizer posso enviar. 73, (Jorge Freitas, SWL1023B, Feira de Santana Bahia, 12º 15' 1.57" S, 38º 58' 40.30" W Degen 1103, Antena Long Wire 10 mts direcionada NE/SO, Balum 9:1, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL - Muitos colegas radioescutas e dexistas estão captando a emissora religiosa Voz Missionária, que emite de Camboriú (SC), na freqüência de 5870 kHz, já faz algum tempo. Ocorre que, no site da Anatel, não consta nenhuma autorização para que tal estação ocupe o canal, conforme muito bem ressaltou na lista Radioescutas o jornalista Lucio Haeser. Afora isso, 5870 kHz é uma freqüência que não está inserida no plano básico de radiodifusão do Ministério das Comunicações, que inicia, na faixa de 49 metros, a partir de 5950 kHz. Estaria a emissora atuando de forma irregular? (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Aug 10 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5990, R. Senado, Parque do Rodeador, near Brasília DF, 2139-2201*, 05 Aug, senate session, A Voz do Brasil at 2200 but abruptly halted at 1 minute past 10 PM. 6010, R. Inconfidência, Belo Horizonte MG, 0836-f/out 0935, 08 Aug, folk songs, talks; 15331. 6080, R. Novas de Paz, Curitiba PR, 2145-2213, 09 Aug, cf. parallel 9515, then religious propaganda program at 2207; 33432, QRM de Brasil + China + adjacent channels. 9515, R. Novas de Paz, Curitiba PR, 2139-2150, 09 Aug, songs, talks; 33442, QRM de CUBA; parallel to 6080 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No Cuba on 9515; surely not QRM from 9505 or 9550? (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. RNA se perdendo no sinal e no dial! Foi o que constatei agora no início da tarde. E para completar, o sinal está cada vez pior tanto no alcance como na qualidade. Sabe-se que a RNA há algum tempo, já fugia de QRM´s em pleno Brasil por uma emissora lá dos Estados Unidos [must be referring to VOA Greenville, only at 05-07 --- gh], migrando por vezes para 6185 kHz. Mas em 6189 kHz é demais! Enquanto isto, países vizinhos mais pobres e de dimensões bem menores como a Venezuela, constróem um prédio novo e moderno para sediar a nova Rádio Nacional ou exterior da Venezuela, além de trazer suas antenas de Cuba para o seu território, e não duvido que será tudo novo e de última geração para cobrir todas às 3 Américas. Já aqui no nosso Brasil, a RNA não se sabe até quando ficará nesta situação de sinal pobre com transmissores em situação de canibalismo, trocando apenas algumas pecinhas e repondo outras usadas, fazendo com que esta emissora não tenha sintonia regular e sem QRM, sequer no extremo norte e nos estados ao norte da região nordeste (Édison Bocorny Jr., Aug 8, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Édison, Pude constatar na terça-feira, quando estive em Alto Paraíso de Goiás, que a RNA estava em 6185. É realmente lamentável. Acabei de avisar a responsável pela rádio para as devidas providências. A propósito - uma coisa é falar, outra coisa é fazer - mas já ouvi aqui na EBC, empresa que incorporou a Radiobrás, que a nova diretoria tem a intenção de colocar novamente os 600 kW da Rádio Nacional de Brasília (980) no ar, assim como os 250 kW das duas emissoras de OC da RNA. Resta esperar para ver se isso se concretiza. Abraços (Lucio Haeser, Brasília, Aug 8, radioescutas yg via DXLD) 6188.95v, Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, Manáus, AM, 1040-1100, August 09, Portuguese, many Brazilian songs, announcement: “tudo sobre nossa terra… um programa da calidade…”, ID as: “…Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, brindando alegria, música, e prestação de serviço… Rádio Nacional da Amazônia….”, 33322 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ? Are you sure this originates in Manáus? Transmission is certainly from Brasília. Wow, seems they really are drifting, rather than jumping from 6180 to 6185, and the precise measurement above contradicts the report below that it is on 6190 (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Caros Amigos, Nos ultimos dias a Radio Nacional da Amazônia tem alterado a sua frequência para 6185 kHz, nos 49 metros. Acabo de fazer um contato telefônico com o pessoal dos transmissores (Roteador), que me confirmou a mudança na frequência. Telefone dos Transmissores: 061xx3500-6454 (falar com Zé). (George Henrique Cunha, - Brasília/DF, 2225 UT Aug 9, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Estou ouvindo a Radio Nacional na freqüência de 6188 kHz. Está bem fora da freqüência divulgada que é a 6180 http://www.radiobras.gov.br/estatico/radio_nacional_amazonia.htm Portadora "batendo" exato nos 6188 kHz. LOG : 6188, 10/08 0015, Rádio Nacional, Brasília-DF, ID, programa Central do Ouvinte, divulgando o e-mail de contato: centraldoouvinte @ radiobras.gov.br 33433 (Marcelo Bedene, SWL1000B, DX Clube do Paraná, http://www.dxclube.com.br Curitiba-PR, Sony ICF-6800A, Antena fio longo cordoalha 15m, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) Caro Marcelo, Na verdade a Rádio Nacional da Amazônia está transmitindo em 6190 kHz em vez da sua QRG tradicional que é 6180 kHz. O motivo desta mudança talvez seja por causa da forte interferência da Rádio Nacional da Venezuela em 6180 kHz. Em rádio analógico não se percebe a mudança. Só no digital. Eu tinha enviado um e-mail já faz algum tempo alertando a Rádio Nacional a respeito da tal interferência. Não sei se foi atendendo ao meu pedido ou é algum erro de operação de quem colocou o TX no ar, vá saber... A QRG é mesmo de 6190 kHz. Até o áudio melhorou um pouco. Estava, como se diz chulamente, pigarreado... OK? É o que há. 73- e bom fim de semana (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira SP, ibid.) Olá Luiz, Obrigado pela informação. Acabei de enviar um e-mail faleconosco @ radiobras.gov.br para lá solicitando maiores informações. Espero que respondam. Um abraço (Marcelo Bedene, ibid.) Pois que fique em 6185 kHz se for melhor, mas não em canaletas como 6189 captado na sexta-feira e 6188 de hoje à tarde e coloquem aqueles transmissores de uma vez para trabalhar com potência máxima de 250 KW como era pra ser e está autorizado (Édison Bocorny Jr., Aug 9, radioescutas yg via DXLD) 6190, or 6189v for that matter, will QRM Serbia [non], which we got to move from 6185 a few months ago. Need to check the situation 2330-0130 in NAm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) done so further down 6185, R. Nacional da Amazónia, Parque do Rodeador, near Brasília DF, 2206-, 5 Aug, A Voz do Brasil national newscast; 24432, adjacent QRM de Germany 6190 + CRI 6175 (!). 6188.1, R. Nacional da Amazónia, Parque do Rodeador, near Brasília DF, 2223-2245, 9 Aug, listners' mail; 44433, adjacent QRM; parallel to 11780. Still on 6188.1 on 10 Aug at 1010 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6188.18, Rádio Nacional, 0407-0427, Aug 10, in Portuguese, long phone conversation, pop songs, IDs "Clássico Nacional" and "Nacional", fair. Far enough away from Mexico on 6184.94 to not cause them any problem (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see CHINA [non], So it looks like there is a correlation as the two are exactly the same offset from presumably intended frequencies 6185 (ex-6180) and 9665. Same transmitter? Or was 6188.18 on before 0400? Off-tuning these deliberately would make absolutely no sense (Glenn, ibid.) 6188.18, Rádio Nacional, 1001-1010 Aug 10. At tune in, noted a female in Portuguese language religious comments. Every once in a while the audience responds in unison "Amen's". Signal was at good level. Thanks to Ron Howard's earlier report of this (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida - NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surprising that this public station would be evangelizing; sure about that? (gh, DXLD) Estou em La Paz, Bolivia e aquì o sinal entra forte na hora do por-do- sol nos 6188 kHz. Serà que eles vao ficar com esta frequencia "shifted"? (Rocco Cotroneo, Aug 10, radioescutas yg via DXLD) O local dos transmissores é "Parque do Rodeador", Distrito Federal. Para ver uma foto de satélite de boa qualidade, eis o link: http://tinyurl.com/685xvk As antenas da Radiobras no Parque do Rodeador ficam em 15.60 S; 48.12 W (notação decimal). --hg (Huelbe Garcia, Brasil, Aug 10, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Huelbe, A uns dias atrás eu tirei uma foto das antenas da RNA. Foi no caminho para o serviço, nesse dia levei a câmera só pra ter uma recordação dessas antenas. A foto não ficou muito boa porque eu estava muito longe delas, uns 10 km em linha reta (aproximadamente), eu tirei essa foto as margens da rodovia BR080. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thpm/2642507331/sizes/o/ 73's!! QRA: (Thiago P Machado, [PY2002SWL] QTH: Brasília-DF, Brasil [GH54XC] http://www.bsbdx.blogspot.com ibid.) Então, Parece uma foto do calvário, e tem sido realmente um calvário a falta de verbas para os engenheiros da Radiobras, :-) (Jorge Freitas, SWL1023B, Feira de Santana, Bahia, ibid.) ** BRAZIL [and non]. Following reports of RNA varying from 6180, some saying 6185, others 6190, yet others 6188: When I checked Aug 10 at 2342 I measured it on 6188.12, using the 40-Hz-per-click method on the DX-398 compared to WWV, Portuguese obscuring a weak signal on 6185, Mexico? Also hetting and stronger than Serbia [non] on 6190. IRS had moved from 6185 to 6190 a few months ago to escape QRM, and now this! Maybe a further move to 6195 will be necessary. However, at 0105 recheck Aug 11, 6188+ was gone and 6190 English in the clear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. 9490, CLANDESTINE, Democratic Voice of Burma via Wertachtal, *0028-0055 Aug 4, open carrier and suddenly on with local music followed by a woman announcer with ID in Burmese and opening announcements. Program consisted of telephone interviews and brief segments of Burmese vocals. Fair to good (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6160, CKZN, St. John's, New Foundland, 0850-0900, Aug 01, Goose Bay Radio One relay in English, regional reports. Japanese DXers are hearing this station well. I usually can hear "Vancouver Radio One" on 6160 (Tomoaki Wagai, Wakayama, Japan, DSWCI DX Window Aug 6 via DXLD) ** CANADA. CKZU 6160 KHZ, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA by Harold Sellers DURING our vacation in July we spent several days in Vancouver. Before departing for the West Coast I had determined to try to locate the transmitter site of the CBC’s shortwave outlet, CKZU, which has operated on 6160 kHz for many years. This would complement a similar successful search I conducted a number of years ago, when CKFX also operated on 6080 kHz from Vancouver. A Google search found a number of reports of the location and coordinates of the site. These confirmed what I knew from DX reports over the years; that the site was in the City of Richmond. Richmond is built on the Fraser River delta, south of Vancouver. It’s very flat land. It’s also where CKFX had been located until its closure (although the actual sites had been several miles apart). Google Earth was used next to try to spot the antenna towers from space. Knowing that the site was in the old town of Steveston, which is now part of Richmond, I simply entered Steveston, BC into the search criteria and then scanned the landscape west of the town, beside the ocean. Quickly I spotted the shadows of the towers (see illustration at right). The towers of CBU, 690 kHz, were easy to see and there were also some shorter towers. I suspected these were for CKZU. The coordinates were 49 08’21”N and 123 11’44”W. On one of the many sunny and warm days of our vacation we drove through Richmond to Steveston Road and headed west. Steveston Road ended at a small parking lot serving an adjacent cycling trail built upon a berm. Climbing the berm, we could see a building and several antenna towers a few hundred meters to the north. Walking to the building, the photographs on this issue's cover show what we saw. The transmitters are housed within the building shown. The antennas are located on the flat floodplain running from the berm to the ocean. Cattle graze on the grasses growing here and there are numerous old logs lying about, signs of past floods, which swept them ashore. To the east of the berm lie the subdivisions of modern-day Richmond. Again, you can see all of this urbanization in the Google Earth image. CBU uses four tall guyed, metal masts. Raised wooden walkways carry the feedlines and allow technicians to walk to the towers. The CKZU antenna is located a short distance from the building and can be easily walked to, if the ground is not flooded. The antenna is a folded dipole supported by two wooden poles. A passive director is strung between two identical poles. The dipole is obviously a halfwave in length, which for 6160 kHz would be in the neighbourhood of 75 feet. Folded dipoles have a high impedance, thus the radiator is fed by open-wire twin-lead. This feeder rises from a short pole below the antenna. 75 ohm coaxial cable comes from the transmitter to a balun on this pole. The radiator and director elements of the antenna are broadside to a northerly direction. Thus the antenna was constructed to radiate the signal up the coast of British Columbia. The passive director element concentrates the signal even more so in this direction. It was apparent to me, that over the years, the antenna elements have sagged a bit. Some of the guy wires on the wooden poles are very loose. This, plus the passage of time and the soft ground have probably resulted in some leaning of the poles. The sagging antenna may actually help some signal from CKZU radiate off the sides, benefiting listeners to the east. Pictures taken and the walkabout completed, my mission was accomplished and we returned to our car. Keep an ear out for CKZU 6160 kHz and report it to Mark Coady's column if you hear it. Remember that CKZN St. John's shares the frequency and is also a CBC outlet (Harold Sellers, Aug ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** CANADA. It seems that CBC Radio One streaming has not been suspended, as in previous Olympix. There are Olympic reports scheduled just about every hour at 7 minutes before, :53, however, which means the previous programs get truncated, e.g. Age of Persuasion, Sat Aug 9 at 1453 via CBH webcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. It`s understandable that a network made up of both radio and TV would have some cross-promotion, but lately I am noticing a lot of promotion for CBC TV shows on CBC Radio (not just Olympic stuff). Such as just before news on the hour. I can`t help but wonder if CBC Radio gets as much promotion on CBC TV! Or is CBC trying to drive its radio audience to TV? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CHWO AM740 --- On July 23, 2008, CHWO AM740 in Toronto officially became CFZM AM740 Zoomer Radio. Moses Znaimer, the iconic broadcasting legend bought the station and added it to his new media group which includes Classical 96 (now CFMZ-FM) and the publishing and web activities of CARP (the Canadian Association of Retired People) including http://www.50plus.com What’s a Zoomer? As Moses defines it, “a Zoomer is a Boomer with zip; the body of a 65 year old, the mind of a 45 year old, the libido of a 25 year old and the heart of a teenager.” Zoomers also control one half of all Canadian wealth. It’s fascinating to watch this development. Fascinating and saddening because many longtime favourite shows and presenters have been dropped from the AM 740 schedule. Details are still pending in some cases, but Barry Morden and Bob Sprott, longtime on air staff, have been dropped. As have most of the evening specialty shows. New shows are being added, however. I’m going to give them a chance. But it seems like the same old story in radio. You find a station you can listen to 24/7 and enjoy, and then they come along and blow it up. I’ve “given my heart” to four radio stations over the years. 1050 CHUM (the nifty 1050) as a youngster, Rock 102 (WBEN 102.5) as a teenager, FM 108 (CING 107.9) as a young adult, and later AM 740. Perhaps I’ll come to enjoy this new “Zoomer Radio”; if not, I guess I’ll be “playing the field” again, and “zoom” up and down the dial (Fred Waterer, Programming Matters, Aug ODXA LIstening In via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Warning to all CFRB-1010 listeners --- I'll be back on Richard Syrett's show on CFRB-1010 this Thursday evening at 10:00 pm Eastern [0205? UT Friday Aug 15]. As you might guess, I'll be shamelessly promoting another book of mine that's hot off the press: http://www.lulu.com/content/3094907 (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ABDX via DXLD) i.e. ``40 Lingering Questions About The 9/11 Attacks`` ** CANADA. Some Canadian Notes --- I just got back from a week in Greenwood, Nova Scotia (and missed the Es from last week). I did some FM bandscans while there. Notes are below [excerpt]: CVCR, 101.1, Aylesford NS. I don't see this station on a lot of Nova Scotia lists. It's run by Aylesford Baptist Church, on route 1 in Aylesford and IDs as "The Valley's Good News Station" or :Valley Christian Radio". Runs Christian Contemporary Music (John Cereghin, Smyrna DE, Aug 9, WTFDA via DXLD) Note John that the official call sign is VF8023. "CV" isn't an official Canadian prefix. A lot of low power stations use phantom calls (Bill Hepburn, Ont, ibid.) Bill, They were IDing as with those "calls" and had it on the sign in front of their church, advertising the station. They never used the VF calls and I listened to them off and on for about a week. Knowing little about low-powered Canadian FM operations, is that legal? They gave what sounded like a TOH legal ID as CVCR, Aylesford, but I guess it was anything but "official". Do Canadian low-powered FMs have to ID with the VF calls at all? I guess CVCR is just the slogan, then, as I didn't think Canadian stations used "CV--" calls (John Cereghin, ibid.) A lot of our 100,000 watt full power FM's don't even give legal ID's, hi - although they are supposed to. Examples : CBL, CBLA, CILQ, CKFM, etc., etc. Most of our TV's don't either (although the DT versions do show calls in the PSIP). Of the analogues in my area, CKVR, CBLT, CFTO, CFPL, CKCO, CICA, CBLFT, CIII and CKXT never use call signs vs. CFMT, CJMT, CITY, CHEX and CHCH (at newstime only) which do. Canada has lots of rules but no enforcement. The result of neglect and cutbacks by previous governments. All radio stations in Canada - high power, low power, broadcast, non-broadcast are required to ID at least once per hour (except rebroadcasters for which it's once per day). http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/smt-gst.nsf/vwapj/bets-11.pdf/$FILE/bets-11.pdf http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/smt-gst.nsf/vwapj/ric15e.pdf/$FILE/ric15e.pdf (Bill Hepburn, ibid.) ** CHAD. Good to hear RNT, 4905, as late as 0529 with latening sunrises, call and response music Aug 8, 0530 into French announcements about chef d`état, président de la république, who I suspect was the next speaker. No coup there today, I assume (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. It will be interesting to see if there is any reduction in Firedrake jamming transmissions from China during the Beijing Olympics. Although it`s unlikely that jamming of any political opposition broadcasts such as Sound of Hope will stop, there might be a suspension of jamming of international services such as BBC and VOA Mandarin (Chris Greenway/Dave Kenny, Aug BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) It`s 08-08-08 --- do the Chinese really believe that numerological nonsense about lucky numbers?? And still plenty unlucky for victims of Chicom jamming, Olympix or not, with Firedrake found at 1305 on 9300; at 1333 also on 7310, 7445, 9605, 9680, 9780, 9845, and at 1338 on 17565 --- and this was not an exhaustive search by any means (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. OLIMPIADI: NIENTE VISTO D'ACCESSO PER GIORNALISTA 'RADIO FREE ASIA' L'emittente americana 'Radio Free Asia' (Rfa) ha denunciato la decisione presa dalle autorita' cinesi di non rilasciare il visto d'accesso ad un proprio giornalista. A 24 ore dall'inizio delle Olimpiadi di Pechino 2008 la Rfa ha fatto sapere di non aver ricevuto il permesso d'accesso per Dhondup Gonsar, cittadino americano che si occupa dei servizi sul Tibet, e ha chiesto al Cio (Comitato Olimpico Internazionale) di appellarsi alla Cina affinche' rispetti gli impegni presi sull'atmosfera di apertura. ''Ci opponiamo a questo ostruzionismo mostrato dalle autorita' cinesi'', ha detto il presidente dell'emittente RFA, Libby Liu. (ASCA-AFP) (via Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Surprise, surprise! And yet RFA honors the Beijing Olympix with its current QSL card, etc. Why is all this happening at the last minute? Should have been worked out months ago. Typical Chicom tactic (gh, DXLD) More Olympic items: see also AUSTRALIA; U S A ** CHINA. CLANDESTINE FM RADIO BROADCAST TODAY IN BEIJING BY REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS, HOURS BEFORE OLYMPIC OPENING CEREMONY http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=28100 Members of Reporters Without Borders today broadcast "Radio Without Borders," China’s only independent FM radio station, in Beijing just hours before the start of the Olympic Games opening ceremony. In a programme lasting 20 minutes, Reporters Without Borders secretary- general Robert Ménard and Chinese human rights activists called on the Chinese government to respect free speech. "The Chinese authorities refused to issue visas to ten of our members but this has not stopped us from making ourselves heard in Beijing by means of a clandestine radio broadcast using miniaturised FM transmitters and antennas," Ménard said. "Reporters Without Borders devised and carried out this protest in a spirit of resistance against state control of the media." The press freedom organisation added : "This is the first non-state radio station to have broadcast in China since the Communist Party took power in 1949. Only international Chinese-language radio stations broadcasting on the short wave would be able to break this news and information monopoly, but they are jammed by the authorities." The Radio Without Borders broadcast began at 08:08 local time on 08/08/08, exactly 12 hours before the start of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. The programme, in English, French and Mandarin, was heard in on 104.4 FM in different districts of the Chinese capital. Listen to the program. Right click and "save target as..." to download the files: In English http://www.rsf-persan.org//chine/ANG.mp3 In French http://www.rsf-persan.org//chine/FRA.mp3 In Mandarin http://www.rsf-persan.org//chine/CHIN.mp3 In his introduction, Ménard described the broadcast as a "gesture of defiance towards the Chinese authorities, who are still keeping dozens and dozens of journalists and Internet users in prison." Addressing the authorities, Ménard said : "Despite everything, there are people who are going to be able to speak out about things you don’t want the public to hear, in the very heart of Beijing. Regardless of the measures you take, you will not get rid of free speech." Ménard then urged the Chinese authorities to release prisoners of conscience and stop jamming the frequencies used by international radio stations broadcasting in Chinese. "You banned us from going to Beijing, you expelled us from China. But despite all that, we are here, making our voice heard peacefully, in a completely non-violent fashion. It is a way of saying censorship just won’t work." The broadcast included interviews with Chinese human rights activists who have found refuge abroad. A former journalist talked about the censorship and self-censorship that is imposed on her colleagues still in China. A human rights activist described the crackdown on Chinese activists in the run-up to the Olympics. A former political prisoner described the appalling conditions in which he was held. "External pressure is essential to improve the situation of political prisoners," Yang Jianli said. Finally the director of Boxun, a US-based, Chinese-language website that is still blocked in China, talked about what motivates the site’s volunteer contributors inside China who, despite the risks, post reports on the social and political situation. Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has representatives in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has more than 120 correspondents worldwide. © Reporters Without Borders 2008 (via gh and Dr Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) "In different districts of the Chinese capital" implies either one transmitter powerful enough to reach more than one district, or several transmitters, each in different districts (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandfrewelliott.com Aug 9 via DXLD) "It’s hard to tell whether any [Beijing residents] were actually listening. The Wall Street Journal called stations in the city including Beijing Radio, Central Radio and China Radio International to see if they noticed this hijacking of the airwaves. It turns out that none of these stations broadcast on the 104.4 FM frequency. So would any listeners have been tuned into that frequency this morning?" (Andrew Batson, Wall Street Journal, 8 August 2008. Posted: 09 Aug 2008 via ibid.) That`s not the point. Of course you have to pick a clear frequency for such a stunt. Hit and run, apparently without advance publicity which might have ruined it. Did WSJ really expect Chicom government radio stations to be listening to the all-too-brief competition? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Two more have picked this up with reports. REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS MAKE PIRATE BROADCAST IN BEIJING http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4482707.ece http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/china/radio-broadcast-beijing-olympics-2366.html [Albert Speer, the son of Hitler's architect and the designer of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, designed the master plan for the Beijing Games.] (tribby2001, dxldyg via DXLD) Is this true? (gh) ** CHINA. BEIJING OLYMPIC GAMES ONLINE VIDEO STREAM GUIDE By Thalia Kwok, Posted in Olympics, Video Bookmark this page and you can watch the Olympic Games without a TV. Especially useful for catching the events that get little to no airtime — equestrian dressage, anyone? The first section of this page is dedicated to Chinese resources. Good for overseas Chinese who want to hear Chinese commentary on their favorite events. The second section is for non-Chinese language. Feel free to add good resources for your language/country in the comments below and we will keep this list updated. . . http://cnreviews.com/video/beijing_olympic_games_online_video_stream_guide_20080807.html (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Live coverage from Beijing Olympics [opening ceremony] in German free TV took 4.15 hours from 1200 to 1615 UT, also \\ coverage on EUROSPORT sports channel, and the Spanish version on RTVEspaña International satellite channel too could be accessed. Enthusiastic Latin reporter on RTVE program - I like that -- but rather "dry commentaries" on German TV, let`s say rather a human rights program. President Bush stood up only during US sports team ovation parade, but not on Guam or Puerto Rico team. 08-08-08 - 17.000 couples married today in China (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See USA for our comments on NBC coverage (gh) Re AUSTRALIA: If that is true, Glenn, so sorry for you and your neighbors. You should have seen The Olympics Opening Ceremony. Simply one-of-a-kind. I was thinking they would hardly defeat that apotheosic Barcelona Opening some years ago. Well, this one, if not better, was something completely "unbeatable" and different. Of course, with technology at its best. As far as I can say, here in Tikizia only two local channels, 6 and 7, showed the complete ceremony without any interruptions, so we ticos had our day. Got to tell you that even CCTV Channel 4 from China was presenting local pop videos at that time, as if the Olympics were taken place in some other planet (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) We did see it, only delayed ** CHINA. 4900 // 4940 // 5050, Voice of Strait, Fuzhou 1255-1302, Aug 8, live coverage of the Olympic ceremonies with no announcements (no radio announcers). Not // CNR-1, which at the same time had the same coverage, but the CNR-1 announcers were constantly talking over the event. RE: 5050 - This confirms what I suspected, the dominant station recently heard here is VOS, mixing with much weaker Guangxi FBS. 6060 // 7225 // 9740, Sichuan PBS-1 & 2, 1327, Aug 8, relay of CNR-1 with live coverage of the Olympic ceremonies, about a 5 second delay. 12015 continues to be unheard. 6065 // 6155 // 7130 // 7140 // 7150 // 7335 // 7375 // 9820, CNR- 2/CBR, 1304, Aug 8, heard with their usual programming ("English Evening"). No Olympic coverage. 4830, CHBC, 1351, Aug 8, heard with their usual programming. No Olympic coverage. 3280 // 4950, Shanghai PBS, 1339, Aug 8, with their usual programming. No Olympic coverage. After the quake this was reported as Shanghai PBS (or relaying Shanghai PBS?), but was that a permanent change, or are they back to being the Voice of Pujiang? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also TIBET 6060 // 7225 // 9740, Sichuan PBS-1 & 2, 1225-1230, Aug 10, relay of CNR-1 with live coverage of Olympic events, about a 5 second delay. 1230 ends CNR-1 relay; 6060//7225 into PBS-2 programming in Chinese (no Yui today), 9740 into PBS-1 programming in Chinese (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non], 9668.18, CRI via Brazil (presumed), 0329-0400*, Aug 10, in Spanish, Olympic results for some LA countries, pop songs, Chinese language lesson, traditional Chinese music, audio not too bad but not perfect, no clear ID, but believe it was them, fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So it looks like there is a correlation as the two are [cf BRAZIL] exactly the same offset from presumably intended frequencies 6185 (ex- 6180) and 9665. Same transmitter? Or was 6188.18 on before 0400? Off- tuning these deliberately would make absolutely no sense (Glenn, ibid.) ** CHINA. 7280, Voice of Strait, 0930-1007 Aug 11. Noted a steady program of Chinese language comments from male and female with EZL type music in Chinese. This is parallel on 6115 which was at a fair level earlier, but has degraded since. Currently on 7280, signal seems to be fading in to a fair level, but before was very poor (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But beware: when I tune in 7280 later all I hear is Firedrake; per Aoki, Sound of Hope is on there at 11-13 via a 300 kW Taiwan transmitter. It also shows VOS on 7280 until 1200, a one-hour overlap? (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CRI via Sackville, 15260, Aug 10 at 1319 [not 1219, typo in original post] news in English had Chinese announcer referring to Haiti as a South American country. So geographical ignorance is not confined to the West (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 6010.00, La Voz de tu Conciencia, Lomalinda, 0000-0045, Jul 24 and 26, Spanish religious talk, hymns, 24232. I asked Rafael Rodriguez (station QSL manager) about the status and he replied on Jul 24: "Really do not off the air, but it is operated at power 50% or less. The idea is remplacement of some transmitter tubes. The transmitter was manufactured decades ago. Also continue to have problems with electric current and some daily hours it is off." (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 6 via DXLD) ** CROATIA [non]. Late A08 changes: GERMANY HRT Croatian Radio via DTK Media Broadcast replaced 11690 from Wertachtal 125 kW 270 degrees, by: Nauen 100 kW, 265 deg, 0600-1000 UT to zones 58-60 (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC, 6000, Aug 8 at 0522 in English had extremely low modulation with hum. Had to turn the volume all the way up to hear it. At least WYFR is no longer colliding on 6000 this season (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 530: see UNIDENTIFIED ** CUBA. RHC, 11760, opening Sunday-only Esperanto, Aug 10 at 1501 giving full schedule for that language, including a new frequency for the 2330 Sunday broadcast to Central America. But I missed it. So checked at 2330 and found it on 5965, not 6140 as on the RHC website, nor on 9600 to SAm --- not found on any second 49, 31, 25 or 21 m frequency. 9600 just bore Vatican direct in Vietnamese. 5965 (and 9600) were already on the revised RHC sked in DXLD 8-084 of July 23. BTW, Esperanto also heard at 1937 when I turned the radio back on still tuned to 11760, as scheduled Sundays at 1930. Looking for info on the Esperanto pages of the RHC website is frustrating, as you are directed right off to stuff about the Cinco Héroes and other lame, overworked talking points. Esperanto is getting coöpted by default by the Commies, China being the other major SW broadcaster, much more so in fact, in that language five hours daily. RHC has shown up on two new frequencies in the 19 m band. As usual, only time will tell whether these are deliberate changes, tests, or some kind of mistake. Will Arnie explain it all on this week`s DXers Unlimited? Or course not! So my observations Aug 11: On a bandscan around 1350 I noticed RHC missing from 9550, tho CRI relay was on with usual crummy modulation on 9570, and after 1400 same on 13740. At 1409, next to the usual strong RHC Spanish on 15370, found a much weaker signal on 15360, and producing a het with something else, which per online skeds could only be TWR Swaziland in Urdu, but only until 1415. Could not determine which one was off-frequency [see SWAZILAND]. At first might think 15360 was a spur from 15370, and Voces de la Revolución audio was synchronized, but nothing on 15380 to match. And 15360 was audible on three different receivers. Checking the rest of 19m, found another new RHC frequency with same programming, 15120. This channel has been used for a long time by Habana but only for CRI relay in Spanish at 00-01. 15120 was a much stronger signal than 15360. I then checked for all the scheduled RHC frequencies: 13760 weak and echoing with the others; 13680 VG; 12000; 11805 missing; 11760; 6000 inaudible and probably off as usual after 1400; 5025 Rebelde was JBA not //. So the transmitters missing from 9550 and 11805 account for the new frequencies 15120 and 15360. Need to catch frequency announcement at 1402 to hear what channels they now claim to be using, but I bet they don`t know about the new ones in the studio. Monitored sign-off at 1455 and as usual they only mentioned the frequencies to be used when they come back at 8 pm hora de verano de Cuba, = 0000 UT: 13760, 11760, 11680, 9550, 9600, 5965, 6000, 6060, 6140, 6180. Like R. Moscow, RHC sees no point in listing the frequencies in order. BTW around 1450 after Formalmente Informal, I heard an editorial from RHC that Cuba sides with Russia against Georgia. Editorial? Everything they say is an editorial, and that position hardly a surprise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 650, Radio Progreso, unidentified site; 1910-2010 9 August, 2008. Weak 1 kHz test tones noted on/off around 1910 GMT. While checking in with Paul Zecchino a little later on various topics via cell phone, we found out he just discovered a new Progreso on 650 a little after we heard the tones. We rechecked around 2000 and indeed had a weak Progreso, parallel strong 640. At the home QTH in Clearwater, 650 Progreso faded up to audible level by 2337. Recheck 0130 (now Sept. 10), WSM alone on the channel. Zecchino reports the LOBS are east of Habana, between Cadenas & Chambas, possible Ciego de Ávila, Cienfuegos, etc. vicinity. (Bishop/Krueger, FTDE) see unID 530 900, Radio Progreso, Cacocum, Holguín; 0746-0750 3 August, 2008. Spanish ballads, parallel 880, 890 etc. Fair-good. (Krueger) 1020, Radio Guamá, Bahía Honda, Pinar del Río; 0757-0802 3 August, 2008. Fair, parallel 990 with Cuban vocal, male announcer, chimes time check 0800, female Esta es Guamá..." over instrumental bed. Reloj underneath (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See USA for restrixions ** ECUADOR. 6050, HCJB, Quito; 1920-1931 9 August, 2008. Great signal and alone, but only audible with the 200 foot longwire on the ICF- 7600GR and ICF-2010 with low key Spanish female Christian talk. Listed as 1900 sign-on. (Bishop/Krueger, FTDE) (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See USA ** ECUADOR. The German (high) programme of HCJB was heard back on air at around 0710 today (Aug. 11) via 9740. I hadn't noticed it previous days but could have missed hearing it till today. The programme appeared to be a Letterbox, and one letter being answered referred to a South American antenna, the flughafen and various frequencies. I didn't hear 9740 mentioned, although all was being spoken too quickly for me to follow in greater detail. And how nice to hear some wonderful Andean music once again! (Noel R. Green (NW England), Aug 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) We had thot this transmission 0630-0730 was cancelled as unheard since Aug 1 (gh) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo, 11550, still in the clear, Aug 8 at 2115 with time-signal 26 seconds slow, so why bother? Do not rely on this for navigation! Opening English with usual undermodulation. 2130 news theme, but just not enough there to get anything out of it. Little did I know that WEWN`s silent period for maintenance was about to end; see U S A Altho it was QRM-free Aug 8, sure enough, on August 9, R. Cairo`s European service on 11550 is colliding once again with the reactivated WEWN [see USA]. At least Cairo has normalized its frequency very close to WEWN so there is no longer an audible heterodyne, and barely a subaudible one. But the two signals are roughly equal level here, first checked at 2033 with WEWN in Spanish and Cairo in French. Cairo`s deficient modulation levels make it the loser, however. Retuned at 2114 and found them still about even as Arab music concluded, timesignal 26.5 seconds late compared to WWV, and opening in English, under kidchoir from WEWN. K index at 21 UT was way up to 4, per WWV at 2118 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, R. Nacional, Malabo. August 10, Spanish, 0612-0643, news program OM " conferencia internacional del SIDA... vamos repasar los titulares...", 0617 hi life music, OM talks, necrology notes, 0623 vernacular talks, YL "campaña para ministración y vaccinación del vitamina A, mujeres embarazadas y niños menores de 1 año... no se pagan nada... previene muchas enfermidades...", 0629 maybe local music in Spanish mentioning E. Guinea, 0634 long voice and guitar music. Constant signal quality, sometimes some reverb from studio inside, 43433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I looked for it at the very same time, 0619 UT Aug 10, when I was getting Sahara very well on 6300, but heard nothing on 6250, and assumed it was off again! RNGE, 6250, quite weak, but made out some Spanish, Aug 11 at 0606, much inferior signal to Sahara 6300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, RNGE ("R. Bata"), Bata, not heard all these days. 6250, RNGE ("R. Malabo"), Malabo, 1412-1432 (no, not mistaken about the UT!), 7 Aug, western music & songs, African pops; 25331 but improving at then rated 55444 at 1930! (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Late A08 changes: Sagalee Bilisummaa Oromoo program to ERI/ETH 13830 kHz 1700-1800: Wertachtal 500 kW 135 deg to zones 38E,39S,48 SuTuWeFr til July 31 Juelich 100 kW 125 deg to zones 38E,39S,48 SuWe from Aug 1st (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. emcom.net and Mystery Radio --- Hi Glenn, I just made a search on my company and I was really surprised to see my company mentioned in one of your articles from 2005! Perhaps you may know by now that I had no link to this Mystery Radio which I believe is an operation by Chris Ise of Crazy Wave Radio. Somehow someone spread the address as the official one for this station, but there was never any truth in this. I never had any link to this station, although I know Chris very well (I have visited him in Germany a couple of times). I did receive some reception reports back in 2005 of which most of them I have returned. Unfortunately I am not an active DX-er any longer, I used to run Pirate Connection back in the 90’s. I think the last issue was in 2001 or something. Can’t remember. I bought a professional FM-transmitter in Holland a few years back in connection with a visit to my friend at Radio Torenvalk, so one of these days I just might turn it on… ;) Best regards, (Stefan Printz, emcom.net AB, p.o. box 4580, se - 203 20 Malmö, Sweden, web http://ww.emcom.net DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FAROE ISLANDS. Is this Akraberg? I'm hearing a strong station on 531 kHz in a Nordic language. Is this Akraberg, Far Oer already activated again? This was planned for the beginning of October. Can anybody confirm? 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, 2209 UT Aug 8, MWC via DXLD) Very nice signal here, Guido and it is // to the Internet. http://www.listenlive.eu/faroe.html Cheers (Dave Onley, Netherlands, ibid.) See 8-075 of July 1: it was expected back in August: Re 8-074: New transmitter on Akraberg 531 kHz to come. Since May 6th Kringvarp Faroya has been silent on this frequency. Old transmitter went down due to technical problems caused by old technology, and was irreparable. It was considered that the best and cheapest solution was to install a new transmitter. This will come into temporary use during August, and installing new transmitter will be completed during last quarter of 2008. Source: Hans Andor Johannsen, Kringvarp Faroya via mediumwave.info (25/6-2008) (via Ydun Ritz, DXLD) ** GABON. R. Gabon has not been heard on 4777 or 7270, let alone the 7270 harmonic of 14540 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. AFRICA N 1 ADVERTISING SHORTWAVE AIRTIME FROM MOYABI Africa N 1 has added to its website a comprehensive slide show of its shortwave facilities at Moyabi, along with coverage maps and contact information for broadcasters who wish to hire airtime on the station. You can view the presentation on this page. http://www.africa1.com/diapo_moyabi.php For the past few years, Africa N 1’s website had omitted details of its shortwave broadcasts, and there is still no schedule indicating the existence of these transmissions (0500-2300 UTC on 9580 kHz, 0700- 1600 on 17630 kHz, 1600-1900 UTC on 15475 kHz). (August 11th, 2008 - 11:51 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Claims 13 distinct target areas available, or rather ``privileged coverage spots``, not including N America. Also has quite a machine shop, and 10 MW generators. Abysmal resolution on the charts and photos (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** GEORGIA. UTILITY ======= GEORGIA / SOUTHERN OSSETIA. The information of the competent expert is found. Taking into account events in Georgia / South Ossetia, it is recommended To pay attention to frequencies on which it can conduct Service radio communication in this region (everywhere kHz): 5145, 8750, 8610, 5545. And daily groups of frequencies of armed forces of Georgia (on to the data for 2007); frequencies workers, objects constantly are marked in communication(connection), probably will pass something interesting. - 7415.0 7033.0 6523.0 6451.0 6341.0 5672.0 5415.0 5321.0 5131.0 4721.0 4605.0 4555.0 3824.0 3723.0 3652.0 3541.0 - 7425.0 7045.0 6583.0 6551.0 6351.0 5780.0 5425.0 5351.0 5320.0 5235.0 4735.0 4645.0 4625.0 4545.0 4535.0 3745.0 3645.0 3565.0 - 7780.0 7725.0 7705.0 7580.0 7500.0 6950.0 6855.0 6695.0 6255.0 5530.0 5335.0 5290.0 5200.0 4970.0 4780.0 4505.0 4015.0 3785.0 3755.0 3700.0 - 9125.0 7255.0 7125.0 7000.0 - 6995.0 6650.0 5455.0 5430.0 5425.0 5400.0 5335.0 5330.0 5290.0 5125.0 4970.0 4780.0 4550.0 4505.0 4500.0 4015.0 - 11235.0 11110.0 10470.0 10273.0 10173.0 9305.0 9137.0 8210.0 8123.0 7673.0 7555.0 6305.0 6283.0 6210.0 5465.0 5235.0 5120.0 4235.0 4123.0 4075.0 - 6203.0 5203.0 5103.0 (Pavel Mikhaylov, Moscow, Rus-DX Aug 10 via DXLD) ** GEORGIA [and non]. Linx to MANY stories on the conflict at: http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=4577 (via gh, DXLD) See also USA ** GERMANY. A colourful QSL card, sticker and station info was received on their broadcast via Wertachtal (100 kW) Jul 12 within 11 days, signed by Bernd Frinken, Chief Editor of Programs. Postal address: Funkhaus Euskirchen, Radio 700, Kuchenheimer Str. 155, D- 53881 Euskirchen. My enclosed IRC was used. The 1 kW transmitter is located at the Kall-Krekel hills SW of Euskirchen which is a city west of Bonn. I have passed it many times by car in the 1990'ies. They announce on Sat Sep 27 a live broadcast "From the Rock" - the Gibraltar Song Festival on 6005 and internet: http://www.radio700.eu By the way, they broadcast on this internet channel 24 hours a day! The station is operated by volunteers on a non-commercial basis and has the slogan "Das Europaradio". They relay many European German- speaking broadcasters. E-mail address is info @ funkhaus-euskirchen.de (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 6 via DXLD) The R 700 transmitter location was advised to me by Christian Milling. Too modest antennas are visible in the forest at 50º28' 42.85'' N, 6º31' 21.59'' E on Google Earth picture (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) ** GERMANY. A-08 of Media Broadcast(ex DTK T-Systems). Part 3 and 4: Voice of America (VOA): 0230-0330 on 9695 WER 250 / 105 Daily WeAs Persian 1700-1800 on 9760 WER 250 / 105 Daily WeAs Persian 1800-1900 on 7105 WER 250 / 105 Daily WeAs Persian 1600-1930 on 6040 WER 250 / 105 Daily WeAs Persian 1430-1500 on 15115 WER 250 / 105 Daily WeAs Pashto (R.Ashna) 1500-1530 on 15115 WER 250 / 105 Daily WeAs Dari (R.Ashna) 1530-1630 on 15115 WER 250 / 105 Daily WeAs Pashto (R.Ashna) 1700-1800 on 9780 WER 250 / 090 Daily SoAs Pashto (Deewa R.) 1730-1800 on 13870 WER 250 / 150 Mon-Fri EaAf Afan Oromo 1800-1900 on 9875 WER 250 / 150 Daily EaAf Amharic 1900-1930 on 9875 WER 250 / 150 Mon-Fri EaAf Tigrigna Adventist World Radio (AWR): 0300-0330 on 5915 WER 250 / 135 Daily EaAf Tigrigna 0300-0330 on 9545 WER 250 / 135 Daily EaAf Oromo 0330-0400 on 9815 WER 250 / 135 Daily EaAf Amharic 0400-0430 on 9735 WER 250 / 120 Daily ME Arabic 0500-0600 on 6185 WER 100 / 120 Daily EaEu Bulgarian 0700-0800 on 11980 WER 100 / 210 Daily NoAf Arabic 0800-0830 on 11980 WER 100 / 210 Daily NoAf Kabyle 0800-0900 on 15260 JUL 100 / 200 Daily NoAf French/Tachelhit 0900-1000 on 9790 NAU 100 / 180 Sun SoEu Italian 1200-1300 on 15435 WER 250 / 090 Daily SoAs English/Bangla 1300-1330 on 15320 NAU 250 / 070 Mon-Fri EaAs Chinese 1300-1330 on 15320 NAU 250 / 070 Sat/Sun EaAs Uighur 1330-1500 on 15320 NAU 250 / 070 Daily EaAs Chinese 1500-1600 on 15160 WER 250 / 090 Daily SoAs Nepali/Hindi 1500-1600 on 15225 WER 250 / 075 Daily SoAs Punjabi/English 1630-1700 on 17575 ISS 250 / 130 Daily EaAf Somali 1700-1730 on 11660 WER 250 / 120 Daily ME Arabic 1730-1800 on 11780 WER 100 / 210 Daily NoAf Kabyle 1730-1800 on 17575 ISS 250 / 130 Daily EaAf Oromo 1900-1930 on 15205 JUL 100 / 200 Daily CeAf Fulfulde 1930-2000 on 15205 WER 250 / 165 Daily CeAf Ibo 1900-2000 on 11730 WER 100 / 210 Daily NoAf Arabic/Tachelhit 2000-2030 on 11730 WER 100 / 210 Daily NoAf French 1900-2000 on 15260 JUL 100 / 200 Daily NoAf Arabic 2000-2100 on 11755 WER 100 / 180 Daily WeAf French/Yoruba 2030-2100 on 9430 NAU 125 / 210 Daily NoAf Chinese Radio Netherlands 0500-0555 on 6015 NAU 500 / 220 Daily Europe Dutch 0500-0555 on 9895 NAU 500 / 140 Daily Europe Dutch 0500-0555 on 6120 NAU 500 / 180 Daily Europe Dutch 0600-0755 on 5955 NAU 500 / 220 Daily Europe Dutch 0600-0755 on 9895 NAU 500 / 210 Daily Europe Dutch 0700-0755 on 6035 WER 100 / 300 Daily Europe Dutch 0700-0755 on 11935 WER 500 / 240 Daily Europe Dutch 0800-0955 on 6120 WER 250 / 255 Mon-Fri Europe Dutch 0800-1055 on 9895 NAU 250 / 210 Sat/Sun Europe Dutch 1000-1055 on 9895 NAU 250 / 210 Mon-Fri Europe Dutch 1000-1055 on 13700 WER 250 / 240 Daily Europe Dutch 1100-1655 on 5955 WER 500 / 210 Daily Europe Dutch 1100-1555 on 9895 WER 250 / 225 Daily Europe Dutch 1200-1555 on 9595 WER 100 / 300 Daily Europe Dutch 1600-1655 on 9895 NAU 500 / 210 Daily Europe Dutch 1700-1755 on 5955 WER 040 / 210 Daily Europe English DRM 1800-1955 on 15535 WER 500 / 150 Daily Africa English 1900-1955 on 15335 NAU 500 / 183 Daily Africa English 2000-2155 on 6125 NAU 500 / 210 Daily Europe Dutch 2100-2155 on 5930 WER 500 / 210 Daily Europe Dutch Hamburger Lokalradio 0900-1000 on 6045 WER 100 / non-dir 1st Sun CeEu German Trans World Radio (TWR): 0645-0820 on 6105 WER 100 / 300 Sun NoEu English 0715-0750 on 6105 WER 100 / 300 Sat NoEu English 0700-0750 on 6105 WER 100 / 300 Mon-Fri NoEu English 1400-1430 on 7220 WER 100 / 060 Mon EaEu Belarussian 1400-1430 on 7220 WER 100 / 060 Tue-Sun EaEu Russian 1430-1500 on 7220 WER 100 / 060 Daily EaEu Russian 1530-1600 on 7345 JUL 100 / 100 Sat EaEu Romanian 1530-1600 on 9440 WER 100 / 090 Mon-Fri CeAs Armenian 1630-1700 on 9505 WER 100 / 090 Daily CeAs Persian Christian Science Sentinel: 0900-1000 on 6055 WER 100 / 090 Sun CeEu German 1800-1900 on 9585 JUL 100 / 070 Sat EaEu Russian Evangelische Missions Gemeiden: 1030-1100 on 6055 WER 125 / non-dir Sat/Sun CeEu German 1100-1130 on 13710 NAU 250 / 020 Sat FE Russian 1500-1530 on 11955 WER 250 / 060 Sat EaEu Russian Missionswerke Arche Stimme des Trostes 1100-1115 on 5945 WER 250 / non-dir Sun CeEu German Mecklenburg Verpommern Baltic Radio: 1200-1300 on 6140 WER 100 / non-dir 1st Sun WeEu German European Music Radio: 1200-1300 on 6140 WER 100 / non-dir 3rd Sun CeEu Music Radio Gloria International: 1200-1300 on 6140 WER 100 / non-dir 4th Sun CeEu Music Radio Traumland: 1300-1400 on 5945 JUL 100 / non-dir Sun WeEu German Radio Huriyo: 1630-1700 on 11640 JUL 100 / 140 Tue/Fri EaAf Somali Voice of Oromiya Independence: 1700-1715 on 15650 WER 125 / 135 Sat EaAf Oromo 1715-1730 on 15650 WER 125 / 135 Sat EaAf Amharic Voice of Democratic Eritrea-Ethiopian Forum for Democracy 1700-1730 on 13820 WER 125 / 135 Thu EaAf Tigrinya 1730-1800 on 13820 WER 125 / 135 Thu EaAf Arabic Voice of Ethiopian Unity-Ethiopian Liberation Forum: 1700-1800 on 13820 WER 250 / 135 Wed/Fri/Sun EaAf Amharic Voice of Oromo Liberation (Sagalee Bilisummaa Oromoo): 1700-1800 on 13830 WER 500 / 135 Su/Tu/We/Fr EaAf Oromo Radio Reveil Paroles de Vie: 1830-1845 on 15675 JUL 100 / 160 Tue/Thu SoAf French Pan American Broadcasting (PAB): 2000-2030 on 9515 WER 250 / 150 Fri NoAf English 1930-2030 on 9515 WER 250 / 150 Sat NoAf English 1930-2015 on 9515 WER 250 / 150 Sun NoAf English 0030-0045 on 9640 WER 100 / 090 Sun SoAs English 1400-1415 on 15205 JUL 100 / 090 Sat SoAs Persian 1400-1430 on 15205 JUL 100 / 090 Wed/Sun SoAs English 1415-1430 on 15205 NAU 100 / 090 Mon-Sat SoAs English 1430-1445 on 15205 JUL 100 / 090 Sun SoAs English 1400-1415 on 15205 JUL 100 / 090 Tue/Thu CeAs Armenian 1600-1630 on 13830 JUL 100 / 100 Thu ME Persian 1600-1630 on 13830 JUL 100 / 100 Sun ME English Bible Voice Broadcasting Network (BVBN): to West Europe 0745-0815 on 5945 WER 100 / 300 Fri English/Urdu 0700-0815 on 5945 WER 100 / 300 Sat English 0700-0900 on 5945 WER 100 / 300 Sun English to East Europe 1800-1830 on 6130 WER 125 / 055 Tue/Fri Russian 1815-1830 on 6130 WER 125 / 055 Mon/Wed Russian 1815-1845 on 6130 WER 125 / 055 Thu Russian 1800-1845 on 6130 WER 125 / 055 Sat English 1800-1930 on 6130 WER 125 / 055 Sun English/Russian/English to South Europe 1800-1830 on 9435 JUL 100 / 220 Sun Spanish to North Africa 2000-2030 on 9635 WER 250 / 135 Thu Arabic 0900-1000 on 17535 WER 125 / 135 Fri Arabic to West Africa 1930-2000 on 11830 WER 125 / 195 Sat French/Ajda to Central Africa 1830-1845 on 11830 JUL 100 / 160 Sun Swahili 1845-2000 on 11830 JUL 100 / 160 Sun English to South Africa 1900-1930 on 13710 WER 500 / 165 Sun English to East Africa 0430-0530 on 11635 WER 250 / 120 Mon-Thu Arabic 0430-0545 on 11635 WER 250 / 120 Fri Arabic 0430-0530 on 11635 WER 125 / 135 Sat Amharic 0430-0500 on 11635 WER 125 / 135 Sun Amharic 1630-1800 on 13810 JUL 100 / 130 Mon/Tue/Fri Amharic/Tigrinya/Amharic 1600-1800 on 13810 JUL 100 / 130 Wed/Thu Amharic 1800-1900 on 13810 JUL 100 / 130 Fri Somali/Amharic 1600-1630 on 13810 JUL 100 / 130 Sat-Mon Oromo 1630-1800 on 13810 JUL 100 / 130 Sat Amharic 1800-1830 on 13810 JUL 100 / 130 Sat Somali 1630-1900 on 13810 JUL 100 / 130 Sun Amharic/Somali/Amharic 1430-1530 on 15470 JUL 100 / 145 Daily Nuer/Dinka 1530-1545 on 15470 JUL 100 / 145 Fri Fur 1530-1600 on 17650 WER 100 / 135 Wed Tigrinya to Middle East 1545-1700 on 9430 JUL 100 / 130 Mon/Wed Arabic 1615-1700 on 9430 JUL 100 / 130 Fri Arabic 1700-1800 on 9430 WER 100 / 120 Sat/Sun English 1830-1900 on 9430 WER 250 / 120 Fri English 1800-1830 on 9430 WER 250 / 120 Sat English 1800-1900 on 9430 WER 250 / 120 Sun English 1800-1830 on 11875 JUL 100 / 105 Mon/Wed/Fri Persian 1800-1900 on 11875 JUL 100 / 105 Tue/Thu/Sun Persian 1800-1815 on 11875 JUL 100 / 105 Sat English 1530-1730 on 12140 JUL 100 / 100 Daily Persian 1625-1715 on 13580 ISS 250 / 115 Tue/Fri Arabic 1625-1730 on 13580 ISS 250 / 115 Mon/Wed/Thu Arabic 1545-1600 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Mon/Wed English 1545-1700 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Tue English 1700-1800 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Tue Hebrew/English 1545-1645 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Thu English 1545-1615 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Fri English 1730-1800 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Fri English 1545-1730 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Sat English 1730-1800 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Sat Tagalog/Hebrew 1800-1830 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Sat English 1530-1815 on 13590 NAU 100 / 125 Sun English to Far East 2245-2330 on 7255 WER 250 / 075 Fri Vietnamese, cancelled from July 4 2300-2330 on 7255 WER 250 / 075 Sat Vietnamese, cancelled from July 5 to South Asia 0030-0100 on 9490 WER 250 / 090 Mon-Thu Hindi 0030-0100 on 9490 WER 250 / 090 Fri-Sun English 0030-0045 on 9815 WER 250 / 075 Daily Bengali 1500-1600 on 15390 NAU 250 / 087 Mon Hindi 1530-1600 on 15390 NAU 250 / 087 Tue/Thu Hindi 1515-1600 on 15390 NAU 250 / 087 Wed Hindi 1500-1530 on 15390 NAU 250 / 087 Thu Tamil/Telugu 1500-1600 on 15390 NAU 250 / 087 Fri Bengali/Hindi 1500-1530 on 15390 NAU 250 / 087 Sat English 1500-1530 on 15390 NAU 250 / 087 Sun Bengali 1400-1500 on 15680 ISS 250 / 085 Sat/Sun English 1515-1600 on 15680 JUL 100 / 090 Tue/Wed Urdu 1515-1530 on 15680 JUL 100 / 090 Thu Urdu 1530-1600 on 15680 JUL 100 / 090 Thu English 1515-1530 on 15680 JUL 100 / 090 Fri Punjabi 1530-1600 on 15680 JUL 100 / 090 Fri/Sun Urdu 1530-1600 on 15680 JUL 100 / 090 Sat English (Aug 10 & 12 DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Aug 11 via DXLD) ** GRENADA. VOICE OF GRENADA --- By Robert Kipp, Germany On 21. May 2008, just before our "Lagoon 380" catamaran was due to leave Port Louis Marina, in The Lagoon area inside St. George's Harbour, to sail northbound back to Martinique via St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Mustique, Tobago Cays, Union Island, and Carriacou, the northernmost island of the Grenadan Grenadines (i.e. the Spice Islands, the Windward Islands, I had the pleasure of visiting the Voice of Grenada, VOG and interviewing Mr. Roy T. Jones, Senior Air Personality / Producer, in the studio, while he was on-the-air leading up to the 8 AM news. Voice of Grenada building [captions] Voice of Grenada entrance VOG is a radio and TV station. The radio station has four live presenters, a staff of eight, and uses the reporters of the TV station, which has a staff of about ten. Roy T Jones works the early shift from 0600 to 1000 (local time). He has been with VOG for 9 ½ years, has been in broadcasting for 21 years, and learned the trade at WHCR (90.3 FM; The Voice of Harlem) in New York City. Ray T. Jones [caption] Roy told me that VOG transmits 24 hours a day seven days a week on 88.9 MHz (1 KW transmitter at Grand Estang in the mountains northeast of St. George's), on 103.3 MHz (800 Watts; TX at Grand Estang), and 95.7 MHz (500 Watts; TX at Fort Frederick on Richmond Hill overlooking St. George's). Note: The QRG of 88.9 MHz is not listed in the WRTH 2008. The QRG 103.3 MHz is listed in some literature / Internet as being on Carriacou. VOG has live programming from 0600 to 0000 local time, uses computer generated programming from 0000 to 0600 local, and relays the BBC from 1100 to 1130 local. VOG, according to Roy, has about 45% of the radio listener market on the main island of Grenada and is one of 7 FM stations there. Grenada and its Grenadines have two AM stations: one on Carriacou (1400 KHz) and one on Grenada (540 KHz). VOG's web URL is http://www.VOGFM.com and their motto is "Your family FM radio station". Since 21. August 1996, VOG has streaming audio in Internet, and this leads to what appears to be a new trend regarding reception reports and QSL-cards. When I asked Roy whether VOG would issue me a verification for a reception report, I received a negative reply with the explanation that there was no way to prove that I heard the radio signals rather than the Internet programming. After the interview, I chatted briefly with the VOG office staff before leaving their building and rushing back to our ship. Thank-you to everyone at Voice of Grenada FM. [caption:] VOG office staff: from left to right: Pettrula, Deloris, Errol (Aug DSWCI SW News via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 810, TGEND, San Marcos, 0118 19-Jun-08. Yes, on this frequency, instead of 800 kHz as reported by WRTH ´08. Interference from local 10 kW “Radio Internacional” on 820 khz. Nice “bolero” music, commercial ads and romantic verses told by announcer. 1040, TGP, Jalapa, GUATEMALA 1700 28-Jun-08. I went to Jalapa that weekend; pop music in Spanish during mornings; local news, marimba music and ads at noon and “norteña” music at evening. Impossible to hear this station from Mixco as it broadcasts with only 1 kW. ID: “Radio Oriental” (Julio Pineda, Mixco, Guatemala, Kaito KA1102 & Sony ICF-SW7600GR, Aug CIDX Messenger via DXLD) WRTH 2008 does show TGEND on 800, as R. Constelación, Guatemala [state], no mention of San Marcos, while R. Internacional 820 is presumably in Guatemala City proper. As for 1040, WRTH shows it as TGJP both under Guatemala and in the MW frequency list (gh, DXLD) ** GUINEA. A few days ago I heard an UNID language on 1386.05 kHz around 2114 UT: http://webdisk.planet.nl/mvarnhem/publiek/album/1386%20UNID%20lang.MP3 It sounds like an African language, mentioning "...colonel...". Herman Boel lists Kenya in English till 2110 UT. Normally I hear Radio Rurale, Guinea on a lower frequency. Anybody an idea? (Max van Arnhem, Netherlands, Aug 10, MWC via DXLD) It's definitely a language which borrows words from the French language. At the end the announcer states "Washington États-Unis". Does not argue for Kenya. -- 73+55, (Michael Wlochinski, DE9MWL, Mönchengladbach, Germany, ibid.) Rurale sometimes shifts a few Hz up 1386. Hrd nightly here in Rio. (Rocco Cotroneo, Brasil, ibid.) Thanks Rocco, Michael and Andrew for your help. Yes, I think it is Radio Rurale, (Max, ibid.) ** HAWAII. KWHR, Aug 9 at 1321 as I tuned across 12130 had a screaming pro-Jesus, anti-Buddhist preacher in English. What`s wrong with Buddhism? Buddhists don`t reject Jesus, do they? Clearly this block is no longer something so relatively innocuous as LeSEA music fill shown on the Angel 3 schedule Saturday at http://www.whr.org/customcf/dsp_schedule_read.cfm?Search=Angel3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also PALAU ** HONG KONG, VR2. Special Event. Members of the Hong Kong Amateur Radio DX Association (HARDXA) continued to be active as VR2008O until August 31, to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Operations are from 40 to 10 meters and 6 meters, using primarily SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL direct only to VR2XMT: Charlie Ho, PO Box 900, Fanling Post Office, Hong Kong. There will be no e-QSL or LoTW (ARLD033 DX news, QST de W1AW From ARRL Headquarters, Newington CT August 7, 2008, To all radio amateurs, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 5010, AIR, Thiruvananthapuram; 0052-0101 6 August, 2008. Male with no instruments accompanying as if religious poetry-type recital, then man and woman in language 0054-0055, into subcontinental vocals. Good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Just now 0330 UT 8 Aug 08 AIR Chennai is noted on 7270 (instead of 7360). Normally they are scheduled as follows on 7360 at this time: 0000-0045 Sinhala, 0045-0115 Tamil (Sri Lanka), 0115-0430 HS On 7270 they are scheduled as follows: 1000-1100 English, 1115-1215 Tamil, 1300-1500 Sinhala (Sri Lanka) 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) Air Chennai noted back on 7360 today morning. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, UT Aug 9, ibid.) Right now I am trying to figure out what the AIR spur around 1000 is on 7050 kHz. Its not Thiruvanaththapuram from 7290. After the Olympics I will have a better look. Hi! 73 (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, Aug 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear All, The intermod product on 7050 is from Chennai, (2 x 7160)- 7270=7050 kHz around 1035 UT. The other one on 7065 is from Mumbai, (3 x 7195)-(3 x 4840) = 7065 around 0235 UT. 73s, de (Arasu vu2ur, ibid.) ** INDONESIA [and non]. 11785, THAILAND/ CHINA/ INDONESIA. VOA/ Firedrake/ VOI jumbled together, 1242 Aug 7, 08. VOI was about 11784.94 causing low het on 11785. VOA and Firedrake took turns dominating frequency. VOA clearly ahead by 1300 when VOA went into news (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Drake R8B, Microtelecom Perseus SDR, Wellbrook 330S One Meter Loop, 70' Inverted- L http://www.radiodx.net/wordpress/ Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) That was a Thursday, but on Sunday Aug 10, 11785 dominated by WHRI Hmong Lao Radio after 1300, could not even hear a het from Indonesia before 1300, and not on 9526 either. It was quite a poor FE morning VOI, 11784.9, making usual slightly varying het against 11785.0 stations, Aug 11 at 1355 with music, then closing English. VOI was somewhat stronger than the others so had the advantage. Recheck at 1453, no het and no QRM from 11785.0 stations, more music but surely VOI due to off-frequency. Indonesian (?) announcements and off abruptly at 1500:38*. Eibi says 14-15 in Indonesian, Aoki and WRTH July update say Malay[sian]. VOA Chinese via Thailand concludes at 1400, so VOI`s 1400 UT hour should be clear, unlike when it was on 9526, with CRI Russian on 9525. Except on weekends when WHRI is on 11785 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voice of Indonesia, Jakarta, 11784.86, 1727 Aug 11. Program in Arabe, strong and clear. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. CLASSICAL MUSIC ON INTERNET, ICEBERG RADIO Hello Glenn, I've been enjoying this site Iceberg Radio http://new.icebergradio.com/ and didn't know if you'd seen it. It has several different music channels on it, including several different Classical options (the Baroque and Bach are my favorites). Anyway, though you'd might want to check it out. Take care (Eric Loy, IL, Aug 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx; I wonder what the business model for this is. Supported only by advertising on the site? Or are there commercials mixed with the music. Obviously I haven`t listened yet. Who`s really behind it and where does the music programming come from? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) I don't know about their revenue. Looks like they have an Amazon link. I've never heard a commercial in hours of listening to them. I DO think they are based in Canada (Eric Loy, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Under the terms to the "open source window," about which I do not yet have full details, BBG's access to Eutelsat W5 provided protection to NTDTV's access to W5. Recall that Eutelsat maintains that the elimination of NDTV from W5 was caused by the "loss of the use of one of the spacecraft’s two solar arrays." (See previous post.) Eutelsat's detractors say this is not true. Would it be good for Eutelsat's business to be caught in a whopping, brazen lie? If China is the main customer, perhaps. So far, I have no reason to doubt Eutelsat's official explanation. Satellite anomalies such as these happen all the time. However, if after the Olympics, that second solar array suddenly works again, and the 20 transponders are restored, red flags may be raised, so to speak. Posted: 10 Aug 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kkimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. IBA: Reshet Bet continued --- I emailed The Israeli Connection radio show kesherisraeli @ yahoo.com to ask if they are still on the air, considering the Jerusalem Post says that they are - but they're not on the current schedule. It turns out that the show is on Summer Vacation until August 17. I'm guessing this is the reason why I didn't see Ben-Yehuda's show in the current schedule either (Doni Rosenzweig, Aug 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. RJNHKWN, 11705, Aug 11 at 1420 with what might have been an interesting feature about Japanese in Brasil who grow lacquer trees (er, whatever kind of wood they use for that --- never could catch the name), but marred by pre-echo direct from Yamata whenever the Sackville relay faded a bit, and it got worse as the semi-hour progressed. A triumph of reality over theory that the two could not possibly interfere with each other. If they insist on running two sites on one frequency, they should at least introduce a delay into the Yamata feed to match the satellite-delay feed to Sackville. As usual, closing announcement cut off at 1429 sharp for a minute of RCI IS and IDs, while Yamata could be heard underneath completing the sign-off until 1430* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KIRIBATI. Radio Kiribati, 9810 kHz. Friendly verie letter and programme schedule from Tarataake Angiraoi, acting Station Manager in 3 months for mint stamps and CD with follow-up report for 1997 reception. The v/s said he was the news reader on my recording, being a junior staff member at that time (Nigel Pimblett, AB, Verie Interesting, Aug CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** KUWAIT. Re: strong Spurious (Intermodulation) on 14125 by R. Kuwait Dear Intruder Busters, On 3 August 2008 Wolf Hadel DK2OM found a strong IM product of Radio Kuwait on 14125 kHz. There were two programs at the same time. The fundamentals of the spur are 11990 kHz and 9855 kHz. During the following days, when I monitored 14125 kHz, the spurious had gone, however the "fundamentals" were still there with S9+40dB. But yesterday (7 August 2008) the spurious signal on 14125 kHz was again here: It was S9+15dB with my 3 element beam. It was DARC Bandwatch contributor OM Wolf Bueschel DF5SX who informed us, that the signal is "composed" by the fundamentals 11990 kHz and 9855 kHz. See file attached! The German telecoms. authorities Bundesnetzagentur BNetzA were informed by me again yesterday, and they took a fix of the signal. It pointed to Kuwait. So, dear friends, will you please also monitor the frequencies 14125, 9855 and 11990 kHz. The signal usually starts at 1815 UTC, and s/off is at 2100 UTC. Please do inform your national telecoms. for a complaint with the Kuwaiti telecoms. attachments: voice021.wav carries the ID of Radio Kuwait on 9855 kHz voice020.wav is a recording from 14125 kHz and 9855 kHz switched both QRGs back and forth by me. Thank you very much for your good work yours, (Uli, DJ9KR, Bilhmayer, Aug 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes Uli, these intermod of two transmitters from the same site is rather common. We've had them from the Radio Netherlands sites, DW, VOA, BBC and many more. Of course it doesn't mean that every time there are two transmitters operating that the intermod spuri will be there and are inevitable. When the transmitters are properly tuned or an arching antenna is remedied the intermod goes off. Kuwait will I am sure be only too happy to look into the problem and thankful if we bring it to their notice. Not so much complain but tell them it is happening as its totally unintentional. There should be some British or US engineers there in charge I think. 73 (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also INDIA Hello all, The signal on 14125 kHz is not heard here, presumably due to poor propagation. 73, (Ted 5Z4NU, Nairobi, Aug 8, ibid.) Not here in India also whenever I listened with a SteppIR antenna (Gopal Madhavan, ibid.) Dear Uli, Yes, this the intermodulation product of (2 x 11990)-9855 = 14125 kHz. Thus, it must be quite strong at your location. Best 73 de (Arasu, vu2ur, India, ibid.) ** MADAGASCAR. HCJB in Madagascar --- Does anyone know just what is happening regarding the proposed HCJB shortwave facilities which were to be established in Madagascar? Some time ago this had quite a lot of publicity but haven't seen or heard any more for a long time now (Ian Cattermole, New Zealand, Aug 9, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) It`s not HCJB, but KNLS (World Christian Broadcasting) that is building a station in Madagascar. We have had update reports periodically about this in DXLD. Should be close to completion, but no specific news lately. see http://www.wcbroadcasting.org/ http://www.wcbroadcasting.org/Updates/LatestNews/updates.php In late 2006 they said they were looking to be on the air in 2008, per a Media Network item. The RNW relay in Madagascar carries several religious stations, but not currently HCJB. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) see also NETHERLANDS [non] ** MALAYSIA. 5964.93, Klasik Nasional FM via RTM, 1314-1336, Aug 10, in vernacular, interesting to hear live coverage of the Bintang Klasik Nasional competition for traditional Malay songs (item by Sharmila Billot: "The Blintang Klasik Nasional 2008 final will be carried 'live' tomorrow at 8:30 [1230 UT] from Angkasapuri in Kuala Lumpur. Hosted by Dia Fadilla and Sofia, the competition is RTM's effort to promote traditional Malay songs" http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/Features/20080807153306/Article/indexF_html fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. Glenn, re my Mali log of 17 July in DXLD 8-090 --- 7285.5 was a typo on my part; Bamako's 41m frequency is consistently about 500 Hz low - on approx 7284.5. 73 (Dave Kenny, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. No sign of 4845, Aug 8 at 0530, as I was getting Chad well on 4905. Still off after coup, I guess, altho some skeds show 4845 not supposed to be on the air until 0630, a bit late for me (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 783 is the sole active outlet these days, so if any news mentioned, as at least some did, that radio and TV had been silenced because of the military coup d'état, that is not entirely true (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) MTN is still silent on 4845 & 7245 albeit active on 783 as heard every evening since 31 Jul (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, 2135 UT Aug 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 8-090, webcasts, Glenn Hauser wrote: ``Radio works here but not Tele`` --- Found an updated Tele Mauritanie stream link: http://asx.abacast.com/tvm-free_tvm-100.asx Also the station's web site is at: http://www.tvm.mr/ Right now at 0115 UT on 9 August, the stream is broadcasting a movie or drama, not anything related to the coup. – (Kevin A. Kelly, PublicRadioFan.com, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6010, Radio Mil, México DF; 1931-1935 9 August, 2008. Clear and fair, only audible on the ICR-7600GR coupled to the 200 foot longwire. Spanish ballads. No other 49 meter Mexicans audible (Bishop/Krueger FTDE) (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEXQ, 6045, presumed, with vocal classical music, Aug 8 at 1327, deep fades ranging from S5 to S9+5 on the generous FRG-7 meter. Wish I had tried a sesquihour earlier. Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla heard from the station this week that they have improved their antenna location. XEXQ, R. Universidad de San Luís Potosí, 6045, very weak Aug 9 at 1258 check but heard occasional Spanish words such as ``cincuenta y ocho minutos`` timecheck. This time QRM from a second very weak carrier, causing a low rumble, both before and after 1300. Like on Aug 8, XEXQ was slightly on the low side of 6045; previous reports have put it on 6044.94 which seems about right, i.e. 60 Hz off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. MEXICO AUTHORIZES HD IBOC IN US BORDER ZONE Radio Magazine is reporting today that Mexico has approved HD IBOC for AM & FM stations within the 200 mile US border zone. This was done to allow stations in the border zone to have equal competition with US technology. The stations must first request permission from the authority and must then promise to assist the authority in ensuring proper rollout of the technology. Patrick Griffith via DXLD 9.7.2008 See this column in MVE 49/1 – 970 XEEZ La Super Z, Caborca is already IBOC -ed (ARC CENTRAL AMERICAN NEWS DESK 4 Aug 2008, Tore Larsson, ed., via DXLD) We had this before as above, but I couldn`t remember which 970 station that was (gh, DXLD) A new AM HD Radio station along the U.S./Mexico border is on the air. Broadcast Electronics said XEEZ at 970 kHz is based in the town of Caborca, Sonora. "The station is one of the first AM stations in Mexico to broadcast with HD Radio technology since Mexico's Federal Telecommunications Commission (CoFeTel) announcement in May authorizing radio stations within about 200 miles of the Mexico/U.S. border to begin HD Radio broadcasting," BE stated. The manufacturer's Deb Huttenburg described CoFeTel's support of HD Radio for border stations as "a huge step forward in radio's worldwide digital conversion." The company noted that two thirds of stations in Mexico are AMs. XEEZ 970 adapted a BE AM 6A solid-state transmitter for linear transmission and added a BE ASi 10 exciter. It purchased the gear through Distribuidora E Importadora de Radiofusion, S.A. (DIRSA) http://www.rwonline.com/dailynews/index.cgi (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via Aug DSWCI SW News via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Quite a substantial number of changes in Michoacán, including two major frequency changes --- XEKN from 1490 to 720 and XEI from 1400 to 1070, both targetable from at least some parts of the United States. The North Texas station on 700 has cut off this DX'er's likelihood of getting more good tape from XELX, the only Michoacán station I have heard, but as more Mexican stations move below 1150, we get more stations to sort out. I spent quite a bit of time today monitoring streaming audio of XEURM- 750 and XEIP-1050 in Uruapan, because several sources have continued differing versions of which station is on which frequency with which slogan. Unless they're lying in their ID's on the air, 750 is XEURM "Fiesta Mexicana" and 1050 is XEIP "La Poderosa." Don Moore, when he was in Guadalajara, heard XEURM "Fiesta Mexicana" on 750 in November 2001, and these two sister stations have maintained the status they held then for nearly seven years. XEIP has long commercial blocs, five to seven minutes, between nearly every musical selection, so perhaps it's just as well that XEG blocks them here! (John Callarman, Krum, TX, Aug 9 with his updated Michoacán MW list, DX LISTENING DIGEST) One interesting frequency (and slogan) change in Nayarit finds XELH moving from 1400 to 670 with 5,000/100 and slogan "La Zeta 670." With Nayarit on Mountain time, that could mean power change at 0300 UT, unless, like some stations south of the border, there's no time change at all. FCC data base did add this notification, which by itself would mean very little, but XELH's website confirms the move. XELH's sister station, XETD-1450 MAY have a frequency move in its future. FCC data base, since early 2007, has added 5,000/1,000 for XETD on 570, but XETD's website still shows 1450 (Qal R. Mann, Aug 10, ibid.) ** MEXICO. XEG-1050 knows it's DX --- I'm currently reading a book titled "Narcocorrido" by Elijah Wald (published by HarperCollins in 2001, ISBN 0-06-621024-0). It's a fascinating look at the Mexican phenomenon of "narcocorridos" (drug ballads) and the performers, drug kingpins, record labels, and radio stations behind it. On page 186 appears the following about XEG-1050 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, which Wald refers to by its slogan of Radio Ranchera: "Heading south, it is a couple of miles to the center of town, and it was on my walk there from the hotel that I passed the doorway of XEG, Radio Ranchera. As it happened, the station had a corrido show that afternoon, and the deejay, José Jaime Zavala, invited me to come up and listen. Radio Ranchera is one of the most powerful stations in northern Mexico; a sign of the wall of the broadcast booth has a map showing radio waves fanning out over pretty much all of Mexico and half the United States, with the caption, 'Be careful what you say --- Look how far away you are heard.' " Some of the titles of the narcocorridos Wald hears played over XEG during his visit include "Pistoleros Famosos" ("Famous Gunment"), "Dinastía de la Muerte" ("Dynasty of Death"), and "Asesino a Sueldo" ("Paid Assassin") performed by groups with such names as "Grupo Exterminador and Los Invasores de Nuevo León. I recommend the book; it's fascinating reading. Not only is payola alive and well sur del Rio Bravo, but some of the drug lords lionized in a certain narcorrido might send some of his pistoleros to visit your station if you don't play "his" narcocorrido! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ABDX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. HISTORIA DE LA RADIO EN MÉXICO http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldehidalgo/notas/n807149.htm (El Sol de Hidalgo, 10 de agosto de 2008, via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** MOROCCO. 711, RTM-"R", Lâayoune, observed twice in different situations, viz.: 1225-, 6 Aug, Arabic, soap opera, not channel 1 as listed; parallel to 91.8 MHz Dakhla; 44454, splatter de POR local (Faro) 720 & extremely low modulation. And: 2135-2303, 9 Aug, Castilian (every Saturday 2130-2300 as announced), western pops, news magazine, c&w, local ID in Arabic, news 2301; 54444, fair modulation this time; parallel to 91.8 MHz Dakhla which was like a local. 1187.9, RTM-"R", Casablanca, 1240-1410, 10 Aug, Arabic, phone-ins, songs, news at 1400; 35453, and better on parallel 94.1 MHz (Safi?). 1593, RTM-"R", Marrakech, 0813-1845, 5 Aug, cf. parallel 1640 still with FM like modulation; 15452. 1640, RTM-"R", site?, 0811-1910, 5 Aug, Arabic, Arab songs, interviews, chatter, phone-ins in progress at 1830; 35453. The FM outlets have a typical 2 second feed delay relative to the parallel MW outlets (precisely the opposite here in mainland Portugal re the RTP whose MW network is about 2 seconds behind the VHF-FM). (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5985.77, 1300-1335 Aug 7. Presumed with instrumental music and occasional YL announcer; usual IS (I think) of regional music, followed by chimes; YL with possible music at BoH. Fair/poor and fading. Had been off since the June (May?) typhoon (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ?? There have been a number of reports of it since then in DXLD, mainly by Ron Howard, CA (gh) 5985.78, Myanma R., 1355, Aug 8, still off frequency and seems to have settled here (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BURMA, 5985.8, Myanma R, Yegu, 2249-2314, 8 Aug, carrier on till IS at 2300, Burmese, ID + frequency announcement, chanting; 34332, adjacent QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Have been experimenting with recording via my iPod at the beach. The following audio clips have been added to the DXLD yg files section: "Station Sounds". 5770, Myanmar Defense Forces BC (presumed) via Taunggyi, 1332 UT, Aug 6, a typical BoH (ToH their local time) format: indigenous music, followed by a more traditional military marching band (similar to a retreat ceremony?). Sorry the audio level is low. (276K) 5985.78, Myanma R., 1330 UT, Aug 10, typical BoH (ToH their local time) format: indigenous music (almost like an interval signal, but I think of it as their signature music, as I hear it so often) and chimes. (220K) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RNW heard with English at a new time 0300+ UT August 9 on 7245, this week`s Global Perspective program about illegal immigration from Ghana to Europe. This may be a temporary test, but why, via Madagascar? It is not on the RNW transmission schedule at http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/080330-rnw-summer-schedule No sign of RNW`s unscheduled English broadcast on 7245, 24 hours later, August 10 at 0300 or 0350 check. Propagation NVG but should be adequate. Anyone else hear it? Seems a little early in the morning for RN to be contemplating a new English broadcast to Africa, altho it`s 6-7 am EAT. Keep an ear on 7245 for a possible new relay client, clandestine or religious (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Radio New Zealand International (RNZI): http://www.rnzi.com/ As noted last year, RNZI’s website is simple and effective, displaying black text on a white background with just a hint of coloured text and a few small, tasteful graphics. Because of this (and a Site Map), it’s easy to find what you’re looking for. The centre of the page features Pacific News Headlines, Audio, and What’s New sections, each with its own more button. On the left, you’ll find links including How to Listen, Schedules, Programmes, QSL – Contact, and About Us. How to Listen includes all the particulars needed for shortwave reception, plus information on DRM, World Radio Network, and Radio Australia streams, a link to internet audio, and a list of Pacific island rebroadcasters (well over a dozen of them). A variety of programming is available for download or podcast in MP3 format, and RNZI streams their broadcast in Windows Media format (no more Real Audio, apparently), 24 hours a day. And for the RNZI fan who has everything, you can even buy polo- and t-shirts! (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB, Click!, Aug ODXA Listening In via DXLD) I`m surprised that other reviewers don`t find the annoying things about the RNZI website that I do --- the main linx on the left margin are NOT the same on the home page and other pages, so you have to keep going back to the home page, an extra step, instead of navigating directly from one page to another. And the first three linx are confusingly and ambiguously named: How to Listen --- this is the one starting with the SW frequency schedule grid, then rebroadcasters, WRN, etc. Schedules --- this one has the program schedule but NO frequencies. Many of the boxes are unspecific, ``Relay of National Radio`` which means you have to find what you want in the NR pages, a link for which is hard to find at the bottom of the homepage, indirectly: Radio New Zealand, then go to National, then go to Today`s schedule. Programmes --- list of RNZI-produced programs and the times they are on the air, but no linx for further info about them or audio archives, which do in fact exist, but those linx are back on the home page. Not up to date --- e.g. still shows Mon 1530 UT for Mailbox, tho it moved to 1630 quite a while ago; at least, so says the grid (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. VON, 15120, Aug 9 at 2030, not bad signal or modulation in English news; recheck at 2050 and barely found a carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See CUBA, now on 15120 also, we hope never at the same hours Voice of Nigeria: http://www.voiceofnigeria.org/ This year’s version of the Voice of Nigeria website works better than last year’s version, although they may have gone overboard with the links. At the top are four links (three of which are broken), then the VON logo and name, and then a place to select one of eight languages (English is the default). Below this is a scrolling feed with news headlines. Below this is a typical media homepage, with about 20 links on the left, seven news stories with links in the middle, and more news stories (33, in this case) on the right – these are all for Nigerian news. Keep scrolling and you’ll find a similar layout and number of links for African news. Scroll even further and you’ll find the same again, this time for world news. In total, well over 100 links on the homepage, which makes for a sea of blue text. Near the top, on the left, you’ll find a link to Live Broadcast, which is in Windows Media format (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB, Click!, Aug ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 917 kHz, R. Benue (presumed), Makurdi, 2248-2304*, 6 Aug, English, phone-ins, Kor`an prayer at 2302, then national anthem; 23341, QRM de España 918. [WRTH 2008 has Makurdi on standard 918 -gh] 4770, R. Nigeria, Kaduna, 0850-1430, 7 Aug, English (presumed), talks, fadeout at 0945, then "resurfaced" again, English at 1400 when stronger; 15341. 6089.9, R. Nigeria, Kaduna, 2236-2249, 8 Aug, Vernacular, talks, many names being announced (=obituary?); 43432, QRM de US religious propaganda station (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. ANGUILLA ** NORTH AMERICA. Hi Glenn, I have one interesting pirate logging from this past weekend: National Lampoon Radio – 8/9/08 6925-USB, 0157 to 0228. Program of music, including long electronic piece from 0159 to 0209! Funny ads heard for the USPS, rodeo and the Home Shopping Network. ID’d as “You are listening to the National Lampoon Radio Hour,” by a female named Gracie. Also heard a remake portion of The Doors “WASP,” classic “Texas Radio and the Big Beat,” with male announcer saying lyrics: “out here in the perimeter, there are no stars…” ID at 0228 as “National Lampoon Radio” and “no portion of this program can be rebroadcast or reproduced.” May be an old show rebroadcast and carried by another station. SIO=454. Putting an excellent signal into northern New Jersey! 73’s, (Ed Insinger, Aug 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. Radio Sultanate of Oman: http://www.oman-tv.gov.om/ Typing the URL given above will lead you to a Flashbased intro page, which can be slow to load. From the graphics that follow, click English under “Oman Radio” to get to the home of Radio Sultanate of Oman (or “Sultanate of Oman Radio”, as both are used on the page), which features photos of people working in the broadcast studios, several links, and a few small ads. Links across the page include Channels & Frequencies (last updated for 2003-04), Arab Radio & TV, with a basic list of broadcasters in the region, and Contact Us, which simply links to your email program. My favourite link is still Trends (on the left side of the page), which appears to be a bad translation. Clicking on it opens a new window, which is the Ministry of Information’s Tenders Online – interesting opportunities for equipment suppliers and general contractors alike! (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB, Click!, Aug ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** PALAU. UNIDENTIFIED. 3/8 1330-1500* - 9955 kHz, WORLD HARVEST RADIO INTERNATIONAL - transmitter? English, music non-stop, ID "P. O. Box 12..." 1359. Segnale insufficiente-buono. QRM s/on WYFR TWN 9955.6 kHz *1459. Sembrano tests (Luca Botto Fiora, bottoluca @ tele2. it (no ADSL), SITO RICEVENTE Rapallo (Genova), Italia, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21. RICEVITORI R7 Drake, Satellit 500 Grundig, 2 DE1103 Degen, playdx yg via DXLD) Nothing in FCC schedule for WHR on 9955; however, KHBN Palau has been registered on 9955 at 0800-1700 and 2200-2300 but I think has not been active. 9955 0800 1700 KHBN 100 280 41,49-50,54 1234567 300308 261008 9955 2200 2300 KHBN 100 318 43-44 1234567 300308 261008 Now it appears they are on, carrying WHR programming! Perhaps KWHR is just not close enough to Asia. This is obscured around here by the DentroCuban Jamming Command against WRMI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Luca also reported this earlier in DXLD 8-085: ``22/7 1242 - 9955 kHz NF? WORLD HARVEST RADIO INTERNATIONAL, English, music country live e ids OM. Segnale insufficiente - buono; KWHR ex 12130? (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, playdxyg via DXLD)`` ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3204.97, R. West Sepik, 1231-1245 Aug 8. Island and pop music hosted by male; talk segment at 1240; was fair but starting to fade by 1245 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) There`s a man who knows how to format his reports, putting the dates next to the times! (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. SAVERIO DE CIAN DXNIGHT PIANCADA 26-27 JULY 2008 --- Ciao, dopo una pausa, due ascolti in quel di Piancada (Udine) tra il 26 e il 27 luglio. Un caro saluto a voi e ottima estate, Saverio ------------ --------- --------- --------- ------- ------------ ----- RX: JRC 535, ANT: beverage da 750m a 240 QRG UTC DATA DETTAGLI 1499.9 0358- 27/07 OBX4I, R. Santa Rosa, Lima, Px religioso in S 2 1620 0215- 26/07 R. Victoria, Lima, Mx, ID, predica concitata in S 2 (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 1620 not in WRTH 2008 --- is this // SW 6020v, 9720v? As in logs below (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. Hola amigos, Hace algunos minutos (1730 TU) pude escuchar aunque con baja señal la emisora peruana Radio Bethel, operando en los 5949.6 kHz presentando música góspel en español. Mencionan una frecuencia en FM que no puedo entender y entre cada par de Canciones "Radio Bethel". Hago esta reseña ya que hace varios meses no la escuchaba, y creía que habían dejado la onda corta. Buen DX, (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogotá, Colombia, Aug 9, condiglist yg via DXLD) Hola Amigos DX: Aprovecho la oportunidad para avisarles la nueva dirección página web: http://www.bethelradio.fm La dirección de la emisora en Arequipa es: Bethel Radio Unión 225 Miraflores Arequipa Cordiales 73 (ALFREDO BENJAMIN CAÑOTE BUENO, DXSPACEMASTER, Lima, Perú, ibid.) Previous posts about this in same group were all dated Sept 11, 2006 (gh, DXLD) Hola, mi viejo!!! La escuchamos unos días atrás, justamente, con el amigo y colega Hector Goyena, en una zona montañosa de la provincia de Catamarca, en el oeste argentino. Buena recepción con himno peruano y programas religiosos en vivo a las 11 UT. 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Aug 10, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** PERU. 4975, R del Pacífico (very tentative), Lima. August 10, Spanish, 0555-0608 OM and YL seems religious talks and musical bridges, "...luego estará con Cristo...". Very short pieces readable, heard nothing to be certain about ID. In a battle against Brasilian station, generated het, 22422. 73 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4974.8, R. del Pacífico, Lima, 2233-2247, 7 Aug, Castilian, religious propaganda program from IPDA; 34332, QRM de B 4975 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) IPDA = Pentecostal Church God Is Love (gh) 4974.8, Radio del Pacífico, Lima, 0504-0610, 10-08, locutor, comentarios religiosos, español. 15321. (Méndez) 6019.6, Radio Victoria, Lima, 0601-0645, 10-08, comentario religioso, programa "La Voz de la Liberación", identificación, locutor: "Desde sus estudios centrales de Lima, para todo el mundo, transmite Radio Victoria". 34433. (Méndez) 9720, Radio Victoria, Lima, 0530-0550, 10-08, locutor, comentario religioso, programa: "La Voz de la Liberación". 35433. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND. Polish Radio (External Service): http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica From the Polish-language page, click English Section near the top left. The subsequent English-language website is large and comprehensive, with a huge array of links to news items, features, and much, much more. Audio is available Live, On demand, or as a Podcast, in a mix of Windows Media and Real Media formats. I didn’t spend much time with the Polish Radio website (as it’s not part of our World English Survey group), but it’s certainly impressive and well worth a visit (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB, Click!, Aug ODXA Listening In via DXLD) Why not? ** PORTUGAL. RTP Internacional: http://www.rtp.pt The RTP website looks fantastic, with lots of content including multimedia. That said, it appears that Portuguese is the only language on offer (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB, Click!, Aug ODXA Listening In via DXLD) So, what`s wrong with that? Includes detailed program schedule for each specific date, something you seldom find on SW broadcasters (gh, DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Rádio SIM is a new service of Rádio Renascença, the Portuguese Catholic radio. This service began broadcasting at 2300 on Sun Aug 03 (At 0000 Lisbon time, Mon Aug 04). R SIM presents oldies, mainly Portuguese. Website: http://www.radiosim.pt/ MW frequencies: 576 Braga, 594 Muge, 927 Évora, 963 Seixal, 981 Bragança, 981 Coimbra, 981 Guarda, 981 Vila Real, 981 Vilamoura, 1251 Chaves, 1251 Porto and 1251 Viseu. FM-frequencies: 88.6 Vila do Conde, 92.6 Rio Maior, 95.1 Fátima, 95.1 Leiria, 99.8 Elvas, 99.5 Rio Maior, 101.1 Braga and 103.6 Viseu (Fernando Ferreira, Leiria, Portugal, DSWCI DX Window Aug 6 via DXLD) Does SIM stand for something unlike Sudan Interior Mission, or just denote ``YES``? (gh, DXLD) NO, no answer to that below either Dear friends, There was a change in the Portuguese radio: Rádio Renascença left the medium waves, having been replaced by Rádio Sim. Renascença, the Portuguese Catholic radio group, has just created a new channel, called Rádio Sim. It is targeted to the elder listeners and plays music from the 1940s, '50s and '60s. It is already "on air" and uses the MW frequencies that Rádio Renascença was using until now, besides some FM frequencies. So, from now on, the "flagship" channel of the group, Rádio Renascença, will be absent from the medium waves. The MW frequencies that are now used by Rádio Sim are the following: 576 kHz - Braga; 594 kHz - Muge; 891 kHz - Vilamoura; 927 kHz - Évora; 963 kHz - Seixal; 981 kHz - Bragança (Braganza in English), Coimbra, Guarda and Vila Real; 1251 kHz - Castelo Branco, Chaves, Porto (Oporto in English) and Viseu. The website of Rádio Sim has the following address: http://www.radiosim.pt/Default.aspx 73 (Fernando de Sousa Ribeiro, Oporto, Portugal, via hcdx via Steve Whitt, MWC via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Glenn, in 8-090 of 7 Aug, re 21655, I think it would be appropriate to tell Thomas Giella, that "Rádio Nacional Portugal" is just something he did not hear at all; most probably, "RDP Internacional" or "RDP Internacional - Rádio Portugal." 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Radio Romania International (RRI): http://www.rri.ro/ Revised in 2007, the RRI website is formatted in a similar way to many other broadcasters’ websites, with links across the top and left side, news and features in the centre, and links to audio and major features on the right. Headings on the top include The English Service, Today in the News, What’s on This Week, Forum, Reception Report (appears broken), and QSL, featuring RRI’s printed QSL cards, which appear to change every month. On the left you’ll find Contact Us, How To Listen (featuring current frequencies), histories of both RRI and Romania (fantastic content here), Contest, Things to know, Media Partners, and Interviews. The latest contest invites listeners to submit essays on the subject(s), “why are you listening to the radio? Why are you listening to RRI?” Your homework is due 15 October, 2008. On the right side of the website are links to three different RRI audio streams, now in Windows Media format (last year they used Real Audio and MP3 formats). The quality of these streams was excellent during my listening. Below this is a listing of twelve languages used by RRI, and here’s the twist – when choosing a different language, the news and features in the middle of the page are also different! Even the photos change. It appears that each of the RRI language versions has been tailored to a specific listening/viewing audience, and while the amount of content varies by language, the results are excellent. Below the language section there are numerous Features and Reports, which make for interesting reading. I would highly recommend a visit to the RRI website (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB, Click!, Aug ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. NOTÍCIAS DA RÁDIO ROMÊNIA INTERNACIONAL - Quem escuta as emissões em ondas curtas, pode ser considerado um privilegiado por ter um leque imenso de programações para degustar. Em 9 de agosto, na emissão em espanhol que a Rádio Romênia Internacional levou ao ar entre 2100 e 2200, no Tempo Universal, o colunista acompanhou uma interessante edição do programa Horizonte Cultural Rumano dedicado à música clássica, com diversas composições de autores de renome internacional. Portanto, fique a dica para a sintonia de tal programa, que pode ser sintonizado em 9775 e 11965 kHz, nos sábados. A 1ª freqüência tem excelente sintonia no Sul do Brasil. Confira! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Aug 10 via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Re: I also monitored the [23-24 UT] Spanish broadcast I missed the night before: Aug 7 at 2342 check: 9655 was slightly stronger than // 9745, nothing on the others --- originally 9655 was Galbeni at 280 degrees, 9745 Tiganeshti at 247 degrees, so if the azimuths hold true, that would explain the difference now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ### Yes, same observation in Stuttgart last night. 9655 is stronger here on the more northerly lobe. Galbeni - Stuttgart 288 degree path. 73 wb Google Earth imagery: Galbeni 46 45 04.39 N 26 51 16.40 E Hier ist der letzt beobachtete Sendeplan von RRI. Morgen am Sonntag gibt wieder die Morgensendung Curierul Romanesc. mhg Wolfgang RRI schedule of August 4th. Refurbished Galbeni TX site now. Also via remaining Saftica tx: # Observed via new 300 kW Continental tx Galbeni on Aug 4/5. * Old Saftica 20/50 kW unit. logged further registrations/not on air yet. [signal comments below apply to the preceding frequencies marked #] ROMANIAN "Curierul romanesc" Suns only 0700-0756 9700 15260 11970 17720 0800-0856 11875 11970 9700 15450 0900-0956 11830 15380 11925 15250 FRENCH 1000-1056 15380# 11830# 15250 17785 both S=9+20dB QRM CRI Beijing on 15380. GERMAN 1100-1156 9525# 11775# both S=9+20dB ENGLISH 1200-1256 15220# 11875 S=9+40dB powerhouse ROMANIAN 1200-1256 7160*!!! 11920 15195 S=6-7 on 7160.00 instead ! Registered on 7165 (Aug 4) 7165# S=7 on Aug 8 + 9. No audio, just carrier. CHINESE 1300-1326 9790# 11795 15435 S=9+10dB RUSSIAN 1330-1356 9790# 11855 S=9 ARABIC 1400-1456 11945# 15160 S=9 QRM BBC Kranji in Burmese. ROMANIAN 1400-1456 11965# 9760 S=9+20dB ITALIAN 1400-1426 7170* AROMANIAN 1430-1456 7170* UKRAINIAN 1500-1526 7210* RUSSIAN 1500-1556 7325# 9760 S=2-3 weak SERBIAN 1530-1556 6135* ITALIAN 1600-1626 9620* FRENCH 1600-1656 9680# 11950 S=9+30dB powerhouse ROMANIAN 1600-1656 9690# 7205 S=9+20dB 9690 - On Aug 7th noted Number station program underneath with Russian language counting numbers like tschetiri(4), dwa(2), pjet(5) in 1609 to 1613 UT slot. AROMANIAN 1630-1656 7135* ENGLISH 1700-1756 11735# 9535 S=9+30dB powerhouse UKRAINIAN 1700-1726 6135* ROMANIAN 1700-1756 11865# 9625 S=9+30dB powerhouse SERBIAN 1730-1756 6105* ITALIAN 1800-1826 7130* till Sep. 6. 1800-1826 5955* from Sep. 7 GERMAN 1800-1856 7160# 9775 S=9+40dB ROMANIAN 1800-1856 9625# 11945 S=9+40dB powerhouse AROMANIAN 1830-1856 7130* till Sep. 6. 1830-1856 5955* from Sep. 7 SPANISH 1900-1956 9775# 11715# S=9+30dB S=9+40dB powerhouse UKRAINIAN 1900-1926 7205* 5910 SERBIAN 1930-1956 6130* 7215 [ex 6065* 7140] <<<<< FRENCH 2000-2026 9655# 7215# S=9+20dB both 9655 suffers little Chinese domestic station on 9655 from Lingshi: 9655 CNR 1 2000-2400 Chinese 100 298 Lingshi#725 ENGLISH 2030-2056 9515# 11940 11810 15465 S=9+20dB SPANISH 2100-2156 9755# 11965# S=9+10dB S=9+20dB missing both totally on Aug 8th. 9755 switched on many times between 2100 and 2120 UT, but antenna automatic forced down the transmitter automatically within a third [of a] second. ENGLISH 2200-2256 7185# 9790# 9675 11940 7185 powerful S=9+30dB here in Germany. Firedrake on 7180 kHz. 9790 only S=7, latter signal skips over my head. SPANISH 2300-2356 9745# 9655# 11880 11935 S=3-4 S=9+10dB QRM from odd 9744.58 kHz. R. Bahrain Abu Hayan? or Voice of Han Kuanyin? ENGLISH 0000-0056 11790# 9775 S=6-7/9+10dB ROMANIAN 0000-0056 9525# 11960 S=6-7 ROMANIAN 0100-0156 9525# 11960 S=6-7 FRENCH 0100-0156 6130# 9515; 6130# logged by Glenn Hauser, Aug 7th. SPANISH 0200-0256 5975# 9520 9645 11945; 5975# logged by Glenn Hauser, Aug 7th. ENGLISH 0300-0356 6150# 11895# 9645 9735 S=9+10dB S=9+10dB CHINESE 0400-0426 Nothing 11790 15215 RUSSIAN 0430-0456 9555# 7190 9555 S=2-3 tiny in Vienna by Herbert Meixner. FRENCH 0500-0526 9655# 7180 S=9+20dB ENGLISH 0530-0556 9655# 17770 11830 15435 S=9+20dB GERMAN 0600-0626 9740# 7125# S=9+20dB, S=9+10dB ARABIC 0630-0656 9700# 11730# 9685 11790 S=9+10dB, S=9+20dB At present RRI Tiganesti transmitter site is on refurbishing procedure. RRI broadcasts still now on limited basis. RRI program also be heard via Hotbird 13.5 satellite. Freq 11623V, TP GCP/HB6/156, SID 10752, NID-TID 261, 27500V, Audio sound nearly 2 seconds behind Galbeni signal on my satellite receiving equipment. \\ 15380 French 1000-1056 UT (Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 9) 11940 from Galbeni tonight on service instead. ENGLISH 2030-2056 UT, 9515# 11940# S=9+20dB both in Germany. 9515 missing today Aug 9th, RCI Sackville French instead S=5-6. Wb 9515 with excellent signal // 11940 at 2045 UT. Regards (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, Aug 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Merci Jean-Michel, RRI Galbeni operating procedure is very "irregular" these days. Other abnormal handling: Often Romanian language program like at 1200, 1400, 1600, or 1800 UT starts some minutes later, irregularly at xx.08, xx.12, or xx.14 hrs. No one takes care of the missing audio (Wolfgang Büschel, compilation of reports thru August 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It's a fact that RRI Bucharest 9655 in Spanish at 2300, 280º is the azimuth favoring Tikizia with clear and very good signal but with moderate fading. //9745 is weaker and seems more aimed to South America thanks to its 250º (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sat. 9 August, ibid.) Aug 10: But now at 0950 UT second tx on 15380 joined 11830 kHz \\ channel. French at 1000-1056 UT also on 11830 and 15380? 0900-0956 11830# 15380 11925 15250 > S=9+30dB to western Europe 15380 joined \\ 11830 someone between 0930 and 0956 UT. ENGLISH 1200-1256 15220 -- S=9+40dB powerhouse, the most powerful Galbeni signal here in Germany. ROMANIAN 1200-1256 11920 also noted for the first time Aug 10th. S=9+30dB. Sunday only transmission, observed Aug 10: ROMANIAN "Curierul romanesc" Suns only 0700-0756 9700# 15260# 11970 17720 S=9+10dB S=9+30dB 9700 to SYR, KWT, ARS, JOR, LBN. 15260 to IRQ, IRN 0800-0856 11875# 11970 9700 15450, S=9+10 to EGY, SDN, LBY 0900-0956 11830# 15380 11925 15250 S=9+30dB to western Europe Also only a single transmitter on air, no trace of second channel today (Wolfgang Büschel wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 10 via DXLD) 6150, Radio Romania International (presumed), *0300-0310, Aug 10, seemed to be in English, hovering at threshold level, poor. What happened here? My Aug 5 reception was mostly fair and I was able to enjoy most of the programming. Today was only able to guess that it was in English. Just propagation? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re Ron Howard's comments on Romania, I heard them on 6150 at 0300 Aug 11 with OK signal. Not a peep out of 11790 at 0000, however, which had been good a couple days before (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, Manitowoc WI, 1721 UT Aug 11, NASWA yg via DXLD) Hi Sheryl, Thanks for your input. Believe it was just propagation, as I also heard them on Aug 11. Reception was poor to fair. Much better than the Aug 10 reception (Ron Howard, CA, ibid.) Peepless here too at 0030 UT Aug 12 check on 11790; maybe still not regular transmission (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 5920, Radio Rossii, 0826-1020 Aug 8. With a beautiful signal here at this time, noted a female in Russian language comments. Sounded like a story being related with background music etc. No sign of WBOH at this early hour? At 0831 Ident given by woman, "Radio Rossii". This is followed with various Russian language promos and discourses by male and female personalities. At 0836 popular music presented. Signal continued to stay at a good level while WBOH remained absent the entire period to 1020 (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WBOH 5920, Radio Rossii, 1010-1035 Aug 9. Just at tune in, noted a canned ID by a female as "Radio Rossii", then two males talk together in Russian language for the rest of the period. No sign of WBOH this morning for the entire period. Maybe they gave up on this freq? Radio Rossii on the other hand, is at a good level this morning (Chuck Bolland, ibid.) Temporarily off; see U S A ** RUSSIA. VOR Italian service noted on an additional outlet 13750 at 1700-1800 UT, closing by wonderful Italian voice Laura announcer !!! 13750 1700-1800 28S,37,38 S.P. 200 kW, 215 degrees \\ 12000 12040 15465. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RWANDA. DW, 15205 kHz, F/D QSL card “DRM Digital Radio Mondiale” correctly confirming a reception report sent as 3 Mp3 audio archives by e-mail in 62 days. QSL signed by Horst Scholz of Transmission Management (Julio Rolando Pineda Cordón, GUATAMELA, Verie Interesting, Aug CIDX Messenger via DXLD) But was not in DRM, right? ** SINGAPORE. Hola a todos. Como ya hablamos, R. Singapore International cerró el 31 de julio. Los mandé un mini CD con grabaciones varias e informes que nunca contestaron. Aún alucino con la respuesta. 7235 kHz, 8 dic 2006 (nuestra segunda DXP a casa de Ignacio Sotomayor) 1240 UT, tarjeta QSL con datos. A eso añado que han vaciado sus existencias en un sobre y me han mandado 1 Kg de cosas. Sobre acolchado y lleno por fuera de pegatinas y dentro: Emotiva carta firmada por Sakuntala Gupta. 13 pegatinas 1 pegatina para coche 1 alfombrilla de ratón 1 estuche para 12 CD. 2 minipuzzles con fichas magnéticas. 7 tarjetas QSL distintas para rellenar con impresionantes fotos del país, 4 de ellas de edición reciente No entiendo por que editaron tarjetas QSL y desde hace tres años no han verificado informes. A seguir disfrutando del verano (Juan Antonio Arranz, Spain, Aug 9, playdx yg via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Scare encountered on 13570, which is WINB, Aug 9 at 2032, running 13 seconds ahead of WWRB 9385. The ``graphical`` schedule, via http://www.overcomerministry.org/content/view/347/107/ is, as always, full of misinformation, e.g. still showing WBCQ 5110 and 9330 in use, which were axually dropped at Julyend; and ``WINB`` at 5-6 pm = 21-22 UT on 11520! Which as we reported weeks ago was really DTK/MB Germany relay. I think it has been canceled too; WINB has never used this frequency. However it does show WINB on 13570 at 2-3 pm (EDT), but not when I heard him there, two hours later. O, the companion ``printable`` schedule, which never matches the other one, specifies this is until 5 pm (2100 UT) on Saturdays, so that covers it. God may be perfect, but not His Last Day Prophet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. REE, as usual good signal and modulation direct from Noblejas on 17595, Sat Aug 9 at 2018 with some Vivaldi in a classical music hour, way over co-channel reactivated WEWN; certainly not the scheduled program, Tablero Deportivo, all the way from 16 to 22 UT on Saturdays. I assume Olympic rights are lacking so had to fill on SW with something else, an unexpected benefit. Not only Saturday afternoons, but Sundays, REE has replaced stupid ballgames with great music, this time folk, as noted Aug 10 at 1939- 2000. Said it came from a world music festival in Barcelona last year, usual VG reception direct on 15110, while 17595 collided with WEWN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola Glenn y colegas: Acerca del comentario sobre "stupid ballgames" en REE, lamento informarte que el campeonato de fútbol comienza el día 31 de agosto, aparte de la posible retransmisión de algún torneo veraniego, por lo tanto queda poco tiempo para que puedas disfrutar de la programación "alterada". Resulta poco probable que la emisora cambie de política en cuanto a las retransmisiones del fútbol y más para lo poco que les queda en la onda corta. El tema levanta pasiones y su audiencia tradicional no lo entendería. Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, El Prat de Llobregat-Barcelona España, dxldyg via DXLD) Well, that`s quite a good long respite from the SBG, anyway (gh) ** SRI LANKA. SLBC, 9770.0 kc, 0225-0247 UT, SIO 444. Talk by man in English then into American pop music. 0230 ID 'This Is The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation" by woman, then into news with man and woman. Signal fadeout at 0247. Signal was undermodulated. 08/09/2008 (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Lakeland, FL, Icom IC-746 Pro, 90-11 meter doublet up at 35 feet, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. Cf. CUBA, 15360: Usually TWR Swaziland produces hets on various frequencies like 6130, 9475, 9500, 9525 in past two years --- sometimes 70 or 110 Hertz down, sometimes also 40 Hertz plus. Never solved that problem yet. Today TWR SWZ noted 6129.93 and 9500.04 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN [non]. Bill Schiller with closing item on R. Sweden via Canada, 15240, Aug 10 at 1455, prompted by China`s celebration of 08- 08-08 etc., explained that Stockholm is referred to derisively in the rest of the country as ``08`` since that`s its telephone area code; also some musical excerpts, never enough time to play even a pop music piece all the way thru (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 8743-USB, Bangkok Meteo, 1251-1310 Aug 6. Usual IS, followed by English ID at 1252: "This is Bangkok Meteorological Radio..." followed by sked and frequencies (6765.1 and 8743 announced) and English weather; the same sequence followed in two other languages, presumably Thai and Khmer, at 1257 and 1302, respectively, then back to English at 1309. Good signal, // 6765.1U which was fair but fading (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Dave Walcutt`s QSL reply, see 8-085, said explicitly that they broadcast only in Thai and English. A 1 MB jpg scan of The Bangkok Radio QSL ``card`` -- really a paper folder, and this is the front and back, showing ``Manee Mekhala an Angle [sic[ of the sea and lightning`` has been added to the files of the dxldyg. Tnx to Dave Walcutt, OR (Glenn Hauser, August 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 4905 // 4920, Xizang PBS, 1334, Aug 8, live coverage of the Olympic ceremonies with no announcements (no radio announcers). Not // CNR-1. 6200, PBS-XZDT, Lhasa, 1334, Aug 8, live coverage of the Olympic ceremonies, the usual relay of CNR-1 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) MORE under CHINA ** TURKEY. Re Romania and TRT - there is a clash on 11730 between the two stations. Romania has Arabic on this frequency at 0630-0700 // 9700 only at present - i.e.- 9685 and 11790 are not on air. TRT has listed Azerbaijani on 11730 at 0700-0800, but usually starts up their IS sequence at least 10 minutes before the service begins. There are many alternative 11 MHz frequencies available at this time slot - don't the stations ever monitor what they are broadcasting these days? (Noel R. Green (NW England), Aug 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [re 8-090] Hello dear Noel, I sent a complaint letter already to Mrs. Somaltin at TRT, the HF frequency manager. Today, I [find] missing CAK at 0900 9560 Romanian, 1030 7295 Greek, same transmitter. So the technician at CAK was aware of the 11820 disaster today. 73 de (Wolfy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) viz.: Subject: Fw: TRT distortion from faulty Çakirlar Transmitter Dear Mrs. Somaltin, for your information about very distorted transmission from 250 kW unit in Çakirlar this week, August 5th to August 10th. Kind regards, Wolfgang Bueschel, Stuttgart, Alemanya TURKEY 11820 Noted a terrible distorted signal of TRT Cakirlar today. 0800-0830 UT Macedonian language segment. S=9+10dB signal. Also broad sideband distortion in 11797 to 11853 kHz range. wb Aug 10 Dear Mr. Bueschel, Thank you for your e-mail. The TX Dept. is informed and they are investigating. Could you please kindly inform us if the situation (out of band) [is] continuous or from time to time. If it will occur again please keep us informed. Thank you for your kind cooperation. Best regards. Sedef Somaltin, Chief Engineer - TRT (via Büschel, DXLD) ** U S S R [and non]. The Exile Returns --- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn posed such a threat to the Soviet Politburo that it exiled him after the publication of “The Gulag Archipelago,” but for twenty years the West was also a reluctant audience for his uncompromising views. Now, having completed his historical opus, the author is going home, to seek a role in the new Russia. --- by David Remnick As the General Secretary droned on, the object of the Politburo’s fury was at work, writing in a small extra room of a friend’s dacha in the village of Peredelkino, about a half hour’s drive west of Moscow. As he had been doing since his prison days, he wrote in a tiny scrawl, in small notebooks, the better to conceal his notes and manuscripts in the event of a search; after a day’s work, he would go into the garden of the dacha and burn his early drafts. --Solzhenitsyn had always been an avid listener to foreign radio stations on shortwave, and when he heard the news that “Gulag” had been published abroad he allowed himself just a moment’s satisfaction.-- (via Bob Wilkner, FL, DXLD) Yes, much is being made of references to his SWLing, but here is the entire 17-page New Yorker article from 14.5 years ago on one page: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1994/02/14/1994_02_14_064_TNY_CARDS_000367428?currentPage=all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RUSSIAN NOVELIST ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN DIES AT 89 By Peter Heinlein, 04 August 2008 Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn has died in Moscow at the age of 89. Mr. Solzhenitsyn's greatest works, The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich stunned the world, providing irrefutable proof of the horrors of Soviet labor camps. Historians credit his work with playing a significant role in the eventual collapse of communism in Russia and throughout Eastern and Central Europe. Former VOA Moscow correspondent Peter Heinlein reports, Solzhenitsyn stands as perhaps Russia's greatest and most influential 20th century author. The voice of Alexander Solzhenitsyn crackled out over Voice of America frequencies beaming to the Soviet Union, a powerful Cold War symbol to millions of people behind the Iron Curtain. No one knows how many Soviet citizens huddled around short wave receivers, battling Moscow's frequency jammers, to hear the legendary author read his latest banned novel. But this we do know. It had an impact, a huge impact. Former Soviet dissident Semyon Reznik - writing about what he called "The Solzhenitsyn Effect" - said, "you had to have lived in Russia [at that time]. You had to have hunted blind carbon copies of his manuscripts. You had to spend hours and hours with the short-wave radio trying to catch a couple words about him through the jamming - only then might you have an idea of how much Mr. Solzhenitsyn inspired an entire generation of the Soviet intelligentsia to reject communism."... http://www.mediaforfreedom.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=10726 (via Bob Wilkner, FL, DXLD) ** U S A. SILENCING VOA RUSSIAN http://www.freemediaonline.org/silencing_of_voice_of_america_russian_23072008.htm (via DXLD) AMERICA'S VOICE ABROAD SILENCED AS RUSSIA CONTINUES ITS MILITARY ACTION IN GEORGIA http://www.bloggernews.net/117189 (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DXLD) ** U S A. VOA DOUBLES BROADCASTING INTO THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA PRESS RELEASE - Washington, D.C., August 8, 2008 – The Voice of America (VOA) is doubling its Georgian language broadcasts in the wake of fighting between Georgia and Russia in the breakaway province of South Ossetia. VOA's Georgian Service will produce a 60-minute program daily, up from 30 minutes, with news, information, interviews, analysis and reaction to the crisis in the former Soviet Republic. News is also available on the Internet at http://www.VOANews.com/georgian/ "We want to make sure Georgians are fully informed about what's happening in their country," said Steve Redisch, VOA's Executive Editor. The Georgian broadcasts are carried nationwide on a FM network as well as on shortwave frequencies 11945 and 15460 from 1530 to 1600 UT, and on 11965 and 15460 from 1600 to 1630. Reporters and stringers on the ground are providing VOA with reports from inside the country, which is slightly smaller than the state of South Carolina and has about 4.6 million people. The crisis began when Georgian troops launched a military strike on the province of South Ossetia early Friday, seeking to end the region's bid for autonomy. In response, Russian troops entered the border province (VOA press release Aug 8 via DXLD) At 1530-1600, 11945 has been via Sri Lanka, but after 1600 that frequency is already in use for R. Farda via Lampertheim, so the expanded VOA Georgian at 1600-1630 has to use another frequency. But: 11965 is already CRI via Kashi before and after 1600. Online skeds show the 19m frequency for VOA Georgian at 1530-1600 as 15475 via Lampertheim, but apparently this is just now being changed, to 15460 before and after 1600, since after 1600, 15475 would collide with Africa No. One, Gabon (Glenn Hauser, Aug 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Looks like VOA has made some changes in Georgian transmissions: From the VOA website: 1530-1600 UT 11945 12130 15460 1600-1630 UT 12105 12130 15460 This is different from what was there yesterday. (Dan Ferguson, SC, ex-IBB, August 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) KIM'S COMMENTS ON U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING AND THE GEORGIAN CONFLICT --- http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/?id=4576 Of the various VOA services scheduled for cuts by the end of fiscal year 2008 (see previous post), only VOA Georgian would be eliminated altogether. The others would keep some internet and/or television presence. If VOA Georgian had already been eliminated, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Georgian Service would still be on the air. Audiences in the affected areas would want to hear, in rapidly descending order of interest: 1) accurate, timely, credible news about what is happening in their region, 2) world reaction to what is happening in their region, and 3) other news about the rest of the world. For news about the region, RFE/RL definitely has the advantage over VOA. In theory, VOA does not even provide news about the regions to which it transmits. In fact, it does: otherwise VOA would not have an audience. I have no doubt that the doomed VOA Georgian Service is heroically gathering and reporting as much news about the region as it can. For reaction about the conflict from Washington, this, in theory, would be VOA's job, and VOA Georgian is no doubt focusing on this. But, when VOA Georgian is gone, RFE/RL will be able to gather Washington reaction through its Washington studios. In fact, Matt Bryza, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, was interviewed by RFE/RL, as cited by America.gov, 8 August 2008. VOA's coverage of Washington reaction would be through reportage, which enhances credibility, but also through the required editorial, exercises in propaganda that strain credibility. RFE/RL would report on Washington reaction only through reportage. So, arguably, RFE/RL may have the advantage in this aspect of content. For world news, VOA, with its global network of bureaus, correspondents, and stringers, has the upper hand. When and if VOA Georgian is eliminated, RFE/RL Georgian might use the world newsgathering resources of VOA. However, as competing stations, U.S. government funded VOA probably would not provide such content to RFE/RL, and U.S. government funded RFE/RL might not be inclined to accept it. In any case, for world news, RFE/RL can rip and read AP and Reuters, and thus provide adequate coverage. As for VOA Russian, its radio broadcasts have already been taken off the air. After its television content is eliminated in a few weeks, VOA Russian will be an internet-only service. (See previous post.) Internet coverage in the affected area, such as it was, might be spottier than usual. Jukka Kinkamo in Finland writes that "Russian targeted air campaign has damaged some C4I infrastructure of Georgia, including fiber optics ... Luckily VOA has the extended one hour Georgian language broadcast on shortwaves. Unfortunately the VOA Russian is not present on radio and I assume in South Ossetia where the Russian is widely spoken they do not have good enough web access or web access at all." RFE/RL Russian, however, is still on shortwave, and in fact has added many of the VOA Russian shortwave times and frequencies to its own schedule. Finally, it should be noted, the absence of a BBC Georgian Service increases the importance of U.S. international broadcasting in the South Ossetian conflict. Posted: 10 Aug 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) See GEORGIA for link to many more stories re ** U S A. A U.S. DOG IN THE MUSLIM IDEOLOGICAL FIGHT? [this is just an idiom, really has nothing to do with dogs and whether they are to be admired, despised, or consumed --- gh] "Nearly seven years after the 9/11 attacks spawned the question, 'Why do they hate us?' and made the repair of America's poor international image a top foreign-policy pursuit, the Bush administration is taking a new tack in the 'war of ideas.' Out, or at least de-emphasized, is the effort to explain America and its widely disdained foreign policy. In, on the other hand, is a focus on defeating terrorism and in particular radical Islam by largely leaving America out of the equation. The plan, instead, is to promote alternatives to radical violent extremism and nurture the local forces deemed best suited to countering it." Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor, 7 August 2008. (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Recommended reading, because it deals with public diplomacy at the theoretical level. It should stimulate thought experiments that will keep some of us awake at night. Can the United States really involve itself in any debate about moderate versus radical interpretations of Islam? Would U.S. support discredit any Muslim who advocates moderation and non-violence? (See previous posts on 20 May 2007, 20 June 2007, 2 December 2007, and 12 January 2008.) That support could be covert, but such schemes are eventually revealed, compounding any such discredit. Perhaps U.S. public diplomacy should leave "the effort to explain America and its widely disdained foreign policy" to U.S. international broadcasting. The latter, separate from U.S. public diplomacy, can report and explain without advocating. Propaganda advocating unpopular policies, adding insult to injury, may just make those policies even more unpopular. Indeed, the best outlet for Muslim moderates might be the BBC World Service, with its aggressive reporting from the Muslim countries and its interviews with personalities representing many points of views. When radicals and more reasonable minds are juxtaposed, the radicals are usually the worse for it. U.S. international broadcasting usually gets into trouble if it gives airtime to persons U.S. policy makers consider insalubrious. Recall the outcry after VOA's interview with Mullah Omar, or Alhurra broadcasting a speech by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah that led to the exit of Alhurra's news director. On the other hand, Radio Free Afghanistan often interviews Taliban spokesmen, and is probably considered a credible news outlet because of it. As for U.S. public diplomacy to the Muslim world, its best avenues may be shopping interviews with U.S. spokespersons and officials to the domestic media in those countries. And precise statements of U.S. policy at websites such as http://arabic.usinfo.state.gov and http://persian.usinfo.state.gov (These sites apparently have not been renamed America.gov as in the English version.) U.S. public diplomacy should also monitor the activities of moderates in the Muslim world. It may be determined that those activities are self sufficient, in which case the United States should consider leaving well enough alone (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid. Posted: 09 Aug 2008 see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=4569 for linx, via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. In order not to let China R International or Iran jump in on the free SW frequencies of Singapore, the IBB have already jumped in on some of those very useful frequencies for VOA English: 6000, VOA via Tinang (250 kW), 1500-1600. 6000, VOA via Tinang (50 kW), 2200-2400. 7235, VOA via Tinang (50 kW), 1300-1400. Asian languages will follow (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window Aug 6 via DXLD) Tinang has 50 kW units? Yes, WRTH 2008 says three of them, plus twelve x 250 kW. These started already Aug 2 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Surprised to hear VOA concluding Music Time in Africa, Sat Aug 9 at 2059 on 11720. The sign-off announcement referred listeners to an American Cultural Center or ``US Information Service in your country`` --- do those still exist? And there was no Yankee Doodle or any other music; carrier stayed on until 2102:30* I had assumed this transmission was in French Sat & Sun, coördinated with Hausa M-F on same channel, but French at 2030 Sat/Sun is on 5 other frequencies, not this one, per VOA by-language schedule which under English to Africa does show 11720 at 2030-2100 Sat/Sun. So it pix up the last half of MTIA, which is better than nothing. On Hausa weekdays the site is Greenville, with the expected strong signal, but this was pretty good too and I doubt it was São Tomé (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOZ DA AMÉRICA, WASHINGTON! Nas emissões dos domingos universais, entre 0130 e 0200, no Tempo Universal, a programação em espanhol da Voz da América dedica tempo para o contato com sua audiência e também para a música country norte-americana. Mercedes Antezana comanda o Club de Oyentes, respondendo as cartas clássicas e mensagens dos ouvintes. Por volta do minuto 45 da emissão, Luis Alberto Facal leva ao ar o segmento Música Campestre de los Estados Unidos. A emissora pode ser conferida na freqüência de 9885 kHz. Na foto, Antezana é a 1ª que aparece à esquerda, seguida por Facal, em imagem do ano de 2001 [caption] (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Aug 10 via DXLD) ** U S A. WEWN`s downtime for maintenance lasted less than two weeks. See DXLD 8-086, had been off since July 28. It was still off Aug 8 at 2115 leaving Cairo in the clear on 11550 [see EGYPT], but UT Aug 9 at 0546, 5810 was back with unctuous Luz de la Luna show; however, badly marred by Cuban spy numbers transmitter on 5800 with wide-spreading whine, as reported previously! WEWN also reactivated on 7425 with music at 1253 Aug 9. And on 17510 at 1328 Aug 9, ``de ahí a tu madre``, natch with Ave Maria theme, // 7425 but stronger on 17510, which was still with lite continuous squeal of its own. So that wasn`t fixed during the downtime. But not all may be lost yet --- I`ve yet to hear WEWN on all three transmitters at once. Aug 9 at 1551 check, Spanish on 17510 // 11550, but nothing on English 15855. [Later:] Altho earlier on Aug 9, only two WEWN transmitters were back on, at 1758 check I found the English frequency 15855 also on the air. And at 2115, 11550 was back on clashing with Cairo; see EGYPT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRNO New Orleans, 7505.0 kc, SIO 555. In English 0331-0355 UT. 0331 ID by Mrs. Mawire "This is WRNO Worldwide". Variety of Christian rap songs and one not so Christian rap song (spelled out the F word). Then into 70's and 80's pop songs including Stevie Wonder. Transmitted audio still a bit pinched for an AM broadcast station. I looked back in my old paper SWL log which began in 1965 and ended in 2005. I first logged WRNO on 08/23/1983 at 0431 UT, on 6185 kc, on a Sony ICF-6500W, SIO 555, antenna was a folded dipole cut for 90 meters. (08/09/2008, Thomas F. Giella KN4LF Lakeland, FL. Rig Grundig S350DL. Grove TUN 4 Preselector. Antenna 90-11 meter doublet up at 35 feet, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5920, WBOH, 0900-1030+ Aug 10. Nil heard on this station for the third day on this frequency. They may have QSY'd somewhere else, but as of now they aren't heard here? Radio Rossii is using 5920 as usual with a good signal. Tried to go to WBOH's web page as listed in the WRTH http://www.fbnradio.com to see if they might have left a message, but the page will not come up (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBOH 5920, normally 24 hours, also absent here, e.g. at 0614 check Aug 10, but sister station WTJC 9370 was on and audible as usual. Surely 5920 just broke down; no word of any QSY, unless unintentional, in which case there could be a distorted signal somewhere nearby off- frequency as has happened before. Website comes up here with usual mention of both frequencies 5920 was back at 0113 check Aug 11, and stronger than // 9370 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also RUSSIA ** U S A. 5110.0 AM, WBCQ (The Planet), 2300-0110, Aug 3, English, Sycko radio area 51, yes area 51 is back! (Mike Rohde, OH, NASWA Flashsheet Aug 10 via DXLD) Sundays only into UT Mondays; AM? Used to be reduced carrier USB or LSB, and slightly off-frequency (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WORLD HARVEST RADIO relayed by PALAU: q.v. ** U S A. New stuff on 1680 kHz --- I monitored 1680 last night and noticed a weak signal with dance hall style reggae music and Caribbean-accented DJ. A lucky peak in signal at 0327 UT gave me a phone number 407-290-1600 which on a Google search is that of a request line for a 4 hour show called Caribbean Connection aired on WOKB on Saturday afternoons. I guess the programme has been moved or repeated overnight. Luckily 1680 was clear of European signals (no mil data, or Greek pirate) (Steve Whitt, UK, Aug 10, MWC via DXLD) I.e. Winter Garden FL, WOKB having swapped with 1600 WLAA (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Heard on today: 1100, WZFG, MN, Dillworth, 08/08 /0800 [CDT?]. Heard testing on air with a loop of cuts from various talk shows they will carry. Also announced Fox news. ID'ing as AM 1100 The Flag. Announced they will begin full time on Monday Aug 11 at 08:00 local time [1300 UT]. Good signals on my car radio going to work. 73 and Best of DX (Shawn Axelrod, VE4DX1SMA, MB, REMEMBER ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN HEAR FOREVER, ODXA yg via DXLD) New 50 kW station last reported testing in April, DXLD 8-045 and 8- 046, but as WZFN. Here`s the FCC info all about it: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=135930 Callsign changed to WZFG on May 22, 2008. Yes, as discussed in 8-045, a NEW W-call in Minnesota far west of the Mississippi, and axually serves Fargo ND market. It`s 50 kW day, 5 kW critical hours, only 0.44 kW night, 2-tower direxional with different patterns (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I have a "local" station that is off frequency. Bill might not even notice this, but WQTQ 89.9 in Hartford is off frequency on the low side. I cannot hear it on my Sony XDR-F1HD. At first I thought my Sony was defective, but then I put narrow filters in the Harmon Kardon TU-920 and I can see it's off frequency. Even with the narrow filters in the HK tuner I can hear it on the HK, but not the Sony. I'd guess that WQTQ is on 89.875 MHz. On the Sony I can clearly hear anything on 89.9 (Springfield, etc) with just a tad of slop from WQTQ. I hear nothing on 89.8. Just thought I'd mention this (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT USA, Aug 9, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. All times/dates are in GMT. Frequencies are in kHz unless otherwise stated [see also CUBA, ECUADOR, INDIA, MEXICO, UNIDENTIFIED] DISCLAIMER: No portion of the below may be reproduced or redistributed by the National Radio club, their editors or current members without expressed written permission, which will then be swiftly denied. Editors receiving this directly from me are excluded. Logs designated FTDE were made at Ft. DeSoto county park at the southern tip of Pinellas County early through mid-afternoon August 9th by Gerry Bishop and Terry L. Krueger. Equipment used at Ft. DeSoto: ICF-7600GR, ICF-2010 and 200 feet of longwire atop the sand/scrub. All other logs made at the Clearwater QTH. 580, FLORIDA, WWPR, Bradenton; 1808-1904 9 August, 2008. The unidentified station I initially logged at Ft. DeSoto on May 31 while trying for the Mexican XEYI "Mix AM" from Cancún has been IDed. We were on this from 1808 in the null of WDBO, Orlando. Format was the same type of soft gospel Spanish preachers and Tex-Mex songs with Christian lyrics as with my original logging. Mention of doctors, medical services and prices quoted in dollars. Also, mention of "Myakka" several times, causing us to think this could actually be a pirate in Manatee or Sarasota County ("Myakka" as in the Myakka River), no commercials. We placed a call to Paul V. Zecchino on Manasota Key, who could not hear this due to WDBO in the line of bearings. Finally at 1901, a quick canned ID by female as "WWPR, Bradenton..." So, this is some sort of spurious signal from WWPR, which is located across the Tampa Bay shipping channel from this monitoring site. The 580 frequency is 910 kHz below fundamental of 1490. There is a Tampa station on 910, but it's nowhere near Bradenton, so presume no correlation. See primary lobes in relation to our Ft. DeSoto location at: http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WWPR&service=AM&status=L&hours=D Hispanic Christian portion of the Saturday lineup per the station website: 1:00PM-3:00PM Pastor Roberto Mancillas (Cristiana); 3:00PM- 4:00PM Prog. Cristiano "Javier Martinez" (Cristiana); 4:00PM-5:00PM Pastor Cutberto Medina (Cristiana). Spurious signal noted on both the ICF-7600GR and ICF-2010, and with as well as with the 200-foot longwire and barefoot. (Bishop/Krueger, FTDE) [later: Brock Whaley has the answer for the 580 logs: Re: 1490 Bradenton on 580. At your location at the Fort, you have a huge salt water path signal from 1490 even if it is only one kilowatt. Both your receivers have at least one I. F. frequency of 455 kHz even if they are dual or triple conversion. Even though your receivers are selective, the front end is wide open. They select a frequency through filtering, and not through a good old fashioned L/C, Coil/Variable capacitor tuned circuit. This filtering method is used almost universally today, and is more prone to overload, and more importantly, letting other frequencies into the mixer circuit. Now, you have a 455 kHz I. F. When you tune to 580 kHz, a local oscillator is generating a signal above 580 kHz at 1035 kHz. 1035 minus 580 equals 455 the I. F. Frequency. So, we have a signal inside you radio that is being generated on 1035 kHz. When you mix two frequencies, you get both the sum, and the difference of the two mixing frequencies. What is Bradenton on? 1490. 1490 minus 1035? [sic: means 1490 minus 910 --gh]. Bingo! 580. Same effect. You, my friend have a "mixing product." There is enough signal on 1490 reaching the mixer, that it will be mixed down to 455 kHz, (thanks to the 1035 oscillator) and passed on to the I. F. stages when you are tuned to 580] Terry, I was going to tell you the same thing, basically, and if you were using receiver with 450 kHz IF the image would surely appear on 590. You don`t really need to go thru all the manipulation above, just add 910 or 900 kHz to the image to find where it`s coming from. Or be immediately suspicious if you find a station 910 or 900 kHz below its correct frequency. 73, (Glenn to Terry, via DXLD) Back to Terry`s report: 1530, FLORIDA/UNKNOWN, WYMM, Jacksonville mixing with unidentified; 1121-1140 10 August, 2008. Kreyòl male talk over unidentified and presumed domestic Spanish station (male talk). Kreyòl man referenced "Arlington" (as in the Jacksonville street) and "downtown Jacksonville" so presumed the one with a brokered program. By 1134, the Spanish station was lost, leaving the only other 1530 Florida station I'm aware of, WENG, Englewood, the presumed one underneath and weak with English talk (listed as News/Talk format). (Krueger) 27255, UNIDENTIFIED; 1935+ 9 August, 2008. The same packet-type data bursts from seemingly various sites (different frequency levels and possibly slightly different frequencies) noted on both radios at Ft. DeSoto, whatever this is. Strong at the Clearwater QTH where first noted. (Bishop/Krueger, FTDE) 99.9 MHz, FLORIDA "WECX" Eckerd College, St. Petersburg; 1748-1754 9 August, 2008. Running only stereo open carrier as heard on the Chevy Suburban radio while passing by the campus entrance on Bayway en route to Ft. DeSoto. (Bishop/Krueger) (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. SENATE OKS DTV BORDER FIX ACT Hey, it looks like analog TV will not be going away entirely. See the story about TV broadcasting at the US-Mexico border. Link follows below (Dan Ramos, Huntington Beach, CA, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) Shortcut to: http://broadcastengineering.com/RF/senate-dtv-border-fix-act-0807/ The Senate last week passed the Digital Television Border Fix Act of 2007 (S. 2507) that would set up a way for broadcasters along the U.S.-Mexican border to continue broadcasting in analog and digital after the Feb. 17, 2009, DTV transition. The measure would establish a means for border stations to apply to the Federal Communications Commission to seek permission to stay on the air with their analog transmissions for years following the nationwide DTV transition deadline. The act, introduced last year by Senator Kay Bailey Hútchison (R-TX), passed the Senate by unanimous consent. Companion legislation, H.R. 5435, has been introduced by Rep. Hilda Solís (D-CA) in the House. The Senate approved the bill to give broadcasters along the border the ability to effectively postpone the completion of their DTV transition “so border residents’ access to important public safety information is not threatened,” Hutchinson said in a press statement announcing the measure’s passage. The bill would allow stations within 50 miles of the border to seek FCC permission for continued simulcast of analog and digital transmissions for up to four years after the DTV deadline. According to Hutchison, research shows the number of DTV converter box coupons requested and redeemed by border residents is “extremely low.” Without the legislation, slow uptake of converter boxes “could pose an unnecessary and avoidable public safety risk,” she said in the statement. A report from the “El Paso Times” quotes Kevin Lovell, general manager of KVIA-TV in El Paso, TX, as saying most English-language stations along the border oppose the legislation. In the case of KVIA, simulcasting in analog and digital — something many English-language border stations would feel compelled to do for competitive reasons if the measure becomes law — will cost “well into the six figures,” according to Lovell (via D. Ramos, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) Well, at least it appears to be optional, up to the stations to apply for it. I wonder which station(s) prevailed on Hutchison to do this (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. The Olympix opening ceremony was indeed quite a spectacle, which we got to see in the US 12 hours late, thanks to the greed of NBC [prime-time ad rates versus morning rates]. While ``harmony`` was the theme of the event, I could not help but think of ``regimentation`` as thousands of people performed in unison, near-perfect coördination. This is the image China wants to project? Some comments on NBC`s coverage: contrary to my earlier hopes, they did not simply pause the tape during commercials, but cut away from the parade of nations. However, instead of consigning those poor countries to oblivion, after each break they did show brief clips of the half-dozen or so countries missed, as catch-up. Not good enough. Co-anchors Bob Costas and Matt Lauer, shame on them, still haven`t learned how to pronounce Beijing, saying ``bay-zhing`` instead of ``bay-djing``. Nor did the opening announcer at 2330 UT. However, another announcer giving the sponsor lineup at 0008 UT got it right. It should be amusing to keep a tally of which commentators get it right and wrong over the next fortnight, and if any of them make any progress while they are there. Megabuck network starts don`t have to be educated in the least. {While no expert in Mandarin myself, I have the impression that the j in Beijing is pronounced not exactly like English j, but somewhere between that and French j --- however, it`s still closer to English than French. This is not the only instance of consonantal phonemes not being exactly equivalent from one language to another! As of Aug 11, Costas was still saying bay-zhing.} Tom Brokaw also appeared in the introduxion, and misspoke, saying the importance of this to the Chinese people ``cannot be underestimated`` instead of overestimated! Costas also admitted without a trace of embarrassment that he did not know where Tuvalu was before this. Plus several other remarks condoning ignorance of foreign countries among Americans, who could not be expected to know any such nonsense --- well, not unless they are DXers, SWLs, AROs or philatelists! Also said something about Malaysia being south of the north coast of Borneo! Axually, Malaysia *is* the north coast of Borneo, and the rest of it is west of there. This was apparently done at the request of Malaysia, to explain where it is, and he screwed it up (and had 12 hours to fix it.) Altho Costas & Lauer alluded to a bit of current news when mentioning Georgia, Mauritania, etc., not a word was said about all this: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080809/ap_on_re_eu/oly_world_protests So is NBC self-censoring for its own good or for the good of the CCP? [later:] However, the well-produced intros to prime-time coverage, e.g. 0000 UT Tuesday Aug 12, with beautiful aerial footage of China, the glorious music of John Williams, and Costas verbally setting the scene for the day`s competitions, are compelling (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Did you hear the song "Sing a Song of Praise to the Motherland" which they identified as Hymn to My Country or something like that. That song is the one you hear before the 10 O'Clock News in China. Wuzhou or Wuchow? NBC prefers Wuchow! (Bruce MacGibbon, Gresham OR, Aug 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You mean, pronounced chow as in food? (gh, DXLD) Yes sir! (Bruce, ibid.) ** U S A. Almost daily sporadic E openings at least to 60 MHz are holding up well into August. At 1701 UT Aug 9, during NBC Olympic coverage which did not break for a proper ID at hourtop, I was fortunately looking directly at the lower left corner of the TV screen tuned to 61260 kHz, video of channel 3, 60-66 MHz and saw a split- second supered ID for WSAV-TV, which is exactly what I expected it to be, a common catch here from Savannah, in the Georgia safe from Russian invasions. Their DTV is on channel 39 and will stay there post-transition, as we bid goodbye to a prime TVDX skipper, one sesquimegameter away, seen countless times since 1961. WCBD-TV, channel 2, 55260 kHz, Charleston SC, ID break in NBC Olympic coverage, Aug 10 at 1702 UT with news plug, http://www.counton2.com which merely forwards to their pop-up-infested homepage http://www.wcbd.com Another sporadic E regular here since the 1960s, originally WUSN-TV, for quite a while during the WCBD years with ABC affiliation instead of NBC, and which will be gone for good when it stays on DTV channel 50. Remapping to 2 is just pretending and of no use to the sporadic E layer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. 4939.7, Radio Amazonas, Puerto Ayacucho 1020 to 1035 Aug 11 with clear ID by OM as"... Radio Amazonas ...Venezuela..." with time check. Using wide FM on the 746Pro. Also noted distorted in AM mode (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Southeast Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4940v, Radio Amazonas (Puerto Ayacucho). 0403-0442. Spanish. Techno music with OM announcer. Poor (Joe Wood, TN, NASWA Flashsheet Aug 10 via DXLD) Date? Presumed? ** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV, 11680 via Cuba, Mon Aug 11 at 1501 tune-in with English announcement, listing names of staff, and topix to be covered. Announcer`s own name sounded like María Eugenia Acer. RNV`s English is so stilted as to be laughable, obviously much-too-literally translated from Spanish. OK, we`re going to listen anyway. And then what? 1503 switches to Spanish for report on latest antix of Hugo Chávez, l’état, c`est lui. A sure way to lose the monolingual audience, who are given no idea of when English will resume, and why should they keep listening to incomprehensible Spanish in the meantime? VG signal, anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. 4739.58, Son La Radio (presumed), 1200-1225 Aug 4. Man chatting to 1205, then a bit of instrumental music, followed by more talk at 1208. Not very strong and about gone by 1225 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. LV de la RASD, 6300, best heard in a long time, Aug 10 at 0619, easy listening with music sort of fusing western and local styles, and no sign of RHC mixing product, not even a SAH, tho its sources, 6060 and 6180 were on as usual. 0620 wakeup YL announcer with salaam-aleikums, etc., then OM talked a while, and 0625 back to more local music. Also looked for 6250 Equatorial Guinea, but no sign of it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 530: I hear this from my QTH in east Texas quite strong, but cannot understand the rapid fire Spanish by the female announcer. It is a very strong station mostly coming in after dark and plays easy listening instrumentals. and ID's every 15 minutes or so. I simply cannot understand the rapid Spanish. I would appreciate any assistance. I can find no listings in the WRTH or any other sources for this station. Mexico does not list anything as low as 530. I am using a 80 meter dipole running west and north in a "V" configuration at 30 feet into an Icom R75. Assistance would be appreciated in ID'ing this station. Thanks, (Greg Dome, KE5LDO, Aug 9, IRCA via DXLD) This might be Radio Habana, Cuba or Radio Visión Cristiana from Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. Both are widely heard over Eastern North America and also the Southwest. Perhaps you will be able to look out for either of these slogans as you listen (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ), ibid.) Likely you're hearing Radio Enciclopedia, http://www.radioenciclopedia.cu QTH Habana. Well heard nites into northern USA, well heard days in FL & upper Gulf. Format exactly as you say, SS FF & instrumentals. Enci's been on 530 since mid-DEC '07, previously R. Rebelde, prior to that, R. Cadena Habana, but Enci's been a constant here longer than the rest. Enci previously heard here on 1260 thru OCT '06, when fido pulled plug. During periods of extended telco, power, & computer outages due to summer lightning & flooding, locals here rely upon R. Enciclopedia for their daily recommended allowance of easy listening instrumentals, piano solo rumbas, & indispensable 70s lounge music, without which life would simply be unbearable. z (PV Zecchino, Manasota Key, FL, ibid.) No listing in WRTH? 2008 edition shows 530 in Cuba as R. Rebelde, but that should be a start. Its only raison d`être is to jam sporadic broadcasts of R. Martí airborne from Florida Keys, which used to be reported on some Saturday evenings, so mox nix which particular network they decide to put on the same transmitter. And it was never R. Habana Cuba, the external SW service, but R. Cadena Habana, a completely different station (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Russ, Enci's website offers live feed as well, for verification purposes. DXFLorida members also report intermittently hearing another Enci outlet, lower in strength and to the east, possible qth Santa Clara. Habana site strong, DF'ed from various points in FL & BHS. z (Paul Vincent Zecchino, FL, IRCA via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4850-USB; 2002-2005 9 August, 2008. Huge simplex USB signal Spanish male communications. Mexican military comms? (Bishop/Krueger, FTDE) (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5953.5; 1932-1936 9 August, 2008. Weak carrier audible on both the ICF-2010 and ICF-7600GR using the 200 foot longwire. No audio. A kHz below where the seemingly inactive unidentified ELCOR Costa Rican operated, so who knows (Bishop/Krueger, FTDE) (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. A transmission has been heard on several days recently at around 0630 past 0700 on 9555.00 exactly as far as I can tell. Most times it can only be detected, but today (Aug. 11) I could hear music and either speech or singing, but still too weak to obtain any further details. I don't find anything listed at this time - and think any thoughts of Indonesia [9552] can be discounted. The WRTH shows a listing for WYFR on 9555, but their latest sched doesn't show it. Ethiopia was adjacent and using about 9559.75 with carrier at 0640 and programme clearly in Somali from 0700, and Cuba was weakly audible on 9550 til 0700 (Noel R. Green (NW England), Aug 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GRAPHIC GAFFES & AUDIBLE ATROCITIES +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Russia has invaded Georgia [South Ossetia] Earlier today the page http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpNRP9ysixHH3P9izLJRjYT1ATkA had a google map showing Georgia, the U.S. state. I just checked again, and now the map shows part of Central Europe. df (Dan Feguson, SC, Aug 8, ABDX via DXLD) All is not lost; you can still see it at: http://valleywag.com/5034988/google-news-informs-us-that-the-russians-are-invading-the-south (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, ibid.) see also CHINA DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: GERMANY; NEW ZEALAND; RWANDA ++++++++++++++++++++ DTV: USA IBOC: MEXICO PROPAGATION +++++++++++ PERSEID METEOR SHOWER PEAKING Meteor scatter enthusiasts attention. The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks on Tuesday, August 12th. The best time to see them and make contact by bouncing signals off their ionized tails is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday morning when forecasters expect 50 to 100 meteors per hour. The source of the Perseids is Comet Swift-Tuttle, which has littered the August portion of Earth's orbit with space dust. The dusty zone is broad and Earth is already in its outskirts. As a result, even before the peak on August 12th, you may see some "early Perseids" streaking across the night sky (Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1617 - August 8, 2008 via VHF Reflector via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ###