DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-095, August 31, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1423 Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0530 WRMI 9955 [or new 1424] Wed 1130 WRMI 9955 [or new 1424] 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 [non]. Zusatzinfo von RNW-MediaNetwork BBC World Service launches today a special news and current affairs programme for audiences in the Southern and Eastern regions of Afghanistan. Stasu Narray, from the BBC Pashto service, will bring 30 minutes of news and in-depth analysis to Pashto-speakers, including those on the Pakistan border, every day at 1630 UT. BBC World Service broadcasts programmes in Pashto, Dari and Uzbek languages to Afghanistan. The news and current affairs programme Stasu Narray is available on 11 BBC FM frequencies in key towns across Afghanistan including Kabul 89.0, Kandahar 90.0, Lashkar-Gah 89.2, Jalalabad 89.0, Gardez 87.9, Ghazni 88.3, Khost 90.1, Kunar 87.5, Herat 89.2, Bamian 89.0 and Jabal os Saraj 92.2. *Audiences can also tune in on shortwave on 6100, 7295 and 9913 kHz.* 73, (via Paul Gager, A-DX via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Am Freitag, dem 29.08., gehoert: 1630-1700 utc analoge 7295 kHz SIO=444// a9915 kHz SIO=444. Am Samstag, dem 30.08., selbe utc, war das Programm nur auf analoge 9915 kHz zu hoeren. 7295 kHz brachte 30 Minuten Tonbandeinspielung "This is BBC; no service on this channel English and Arabic on SAT.. 24 hours service" (Gager Paul, ibid.) 9915 ist über BBC Zypern, die anderen beiden unbekannt, aber höchstwahrscheinlich Nakorn Pathom-THA oder Al Dhabbaya-UAE (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Appears to compete with VOA Deewa Radio, Pashto for the Pakistan frontier region, established on September 2006. See previous post. Posted: 31 Aug 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** ALASKA. CONSTRUCTION BEGINS FOR DRM ALASKA TEST BED Radio World by Leslie Stimson, News Editor and Washington Bureau Chief August 28, 2008 http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0121/t.15390.html The building season is short in Alaska so Digital Aurora Radio Technologies was happy to get started recently on construction of the antenna field for its Digital Radio Mondiale shortwave tests. The Federal Communications Commission recently OK'd the project we told you about a while back http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0049/t.14280.html consultant for the project Don Messer tells me the actual testing will be done next spring. DART has a two-year experimental authorization for coverage of Alaska with DRM signals in three of the lower shortwave bands around 5, 7 and 9 MHz. How much power it will take to accomplish that is unknown and something DART and the DRM Consortium hope to learn during testing. "We've done simulations to try to find the right frequency bands to use. My guess is this will work well and the power levels won't be high," although the group does have authorization to go as high as 100 kW, Messer said. He said people have asked him how much interference the DRM signal may encounter. "We should be able to find 10 kHz frequency slots within these bands with no problem," he tells me. The three antennas DART is constructing are large; the largest one is about 100 feet wide. They will be connected to the existing transmitter with rigid coax, built to withstand the -40 degrees Fahrenheit or below in the Delta Junction testing area some 130 miles southeast of Fairbanks. If the tests show excellent results for digital broadcasts to cover the entire state, the next step would be to obtain approval to use the DRM system and the transmission station for a regular broadcasting service, says the consortium (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) It will be interesting to see if this project survives since its principal sponsor, Senator Ted Stevens, is now under federal indictment for various corruption charges. Stevens managed to sneak funding for this project----a process known as "earmarking"-----into a Department of Defense appropriation. The people behind DART are the same people who have previously been training "certified miners"----- again under a Department of Defense earmark from Senator Stevens---- and, from what I have been able to determine, have zero background or experience in radio or wireless. I was able to discover this with a simple Google search and examination of non-profit federal tax returns, which are available for public inspection on-line. The entire process took about a half-hour. It's too bad the good folks at Radio World are too damn lazy to do a little research before reprinting press releases verbatim. (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, ibid.) ** ALGERIA. The ENRS transmitter at Tipaza has moved from 252 to 250, first noted yesterday, as reported at http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,616859 In this discussion it is speculated that this is probably not a malfunction of equipment but rather a big operational error, produced by an ill-advised engineer who set the exciter to 250 "instead of the strange 252". Sounds almost unbelievable, but the carrier is indeed remarkably exact on 250; Patrick Robic measured the frequency as 249.98, I'm just unable to make out a deviation from 250.0. Tipaza has two Tesla DRV-750 transmitters, identical to the Czech Topolná site (270 kHz) which is not known for any frequency deviations or other transmission quality issues (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36, Radio Nacional Arcángel, San Gabriel. August 29 [Friday]. Spanish, 1901-1917; at tune-in classic tango, 1902 YL introduction with ID, position coordinates of the base in Spanish, then shorter info in other languages, 1907 return to YL in Spanish, "desde Base Esperanza, al mundo", folk music selections. Clear 34433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Re 8-094: RAE, Radiodifusion Argentina al Exterior is not operating on shortwave. Unfortunately have been a problem with the radio valves. Two valves have been obtained and they are trying to obtain two more. It is not known with when it will return to the air. So far, RAE now is only via Internet (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, Japan Premium Aug 29 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Saludos Colegas Diexistas y Radioescuchas del Mundo !!! Hoy jueves 28 de agosto de 2008 escuché a las 2353 UT en los 5945 kHz (tentativo) música argentina y seguidamente la identificación de Radio Argentina al Exterior (RAE) conjuntamente con Radio Nacional Argentina (RNA) despidiendo sus emisiones en español, seguido de la señal de intervalo. Su señal era débil y con ruidos e interferencias y la sintonicé con mi receptor Grundig Mini 300 y su antena telescópica. La pregunta es la siguiente: esta es una nueva frecuencia de la RAE o en su defecto de la RNA? Según leí esta semana la RAE suspendió sus emisiones en ondas cortas y solo está disponible en Internet. Desconocemos las causas. Entonces, es esta una transmisión de prueba o es un feeder o es una señal espúmea? Alquien mas captó esta señal? Nota: Pudiera ser 5940 o 5945 pues el receptor utilizado aunque es muy bueno en recepción, pero noto que tiene una cierta desviación al captar señales distantes que llegan en forma débil. 73 y Buenos DX (Ing. Santiago San Gil González, Venezuela, http://diexismovenezolano.blogspot.com http://americaenantena.blogspot.com Telefono Celular 0414-2280616 DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello All, Unless I made some kind of confusion, I caught both frequencies in // (5940, 5945) at last nights, with RNA on air. 73 (Lucio, Embu SP Brasil, Aug 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I checked on 5945 at August 29, 2315 presumed by music and mentionings of "Argentina", seems RNA but on 5940 was saturated sounded-like signal, unlistenable content. 73 (Lucio, ibid.) ** ASIA [non]. New Radio Free Asia QSLs === Our friend A. J. Janitschek of Radio Free Asia (“RFA”) proudly announced the station’s 12th anniversary QSL card series which will begin on September 1; a total of 3-cards comprise this series. Each QSL card celebrates RFA’s 12 years of on-air broadcasting. The first RFA broadcast was in Mandarin on September 29, 1996 at 2100 UT. Each card will be used for one month before it is replaced by the next card in the series. Card 1 will be used for all valid reception reports dated Sep 1-30, 08; card 2 for all valid reception reports dated Oct 1-31, 08; and card 3 for all valid reception reports dated Nov 1-30, 08. The designs used are examples of many drawings made by the children of RFA personnel earlier this year and were inspired by the work their parents create daily at RFA. These cards not only commemorate RFA’s 12th anniversary but also help capture the youthful spirit of the RFA’s family and friends around the world and encourage the spirit of democracy and freedom. More information about Radio Free Asia, including our current broadcast frequency schedule, is available at http://www.rfa.org RFA encourages listeners to submit reception reports, which are valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card to the listener. RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at http://www.techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL REPORTS link) not only from DX’ers, but also from its general listening audience. Reception reports are also accepted by emails to qsl @ rfa.org and for anyone without Internet access, reception reports can be mailed to: Reception Reports, Radio Free Asia, 2025 M. Street NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036, USA. Upon request, RFA will also send a copy of the current broadcast schedule and a station sticker (via Rich D’Angelo, PA, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 4835, VL8A, 2203 Aug 19, Morning show with discussions by man and woman, talk about the Olympics, light banter and chuckling; pop vocal by woman at 2207. Somewhat weaker on \\ 4910 and barely audible on \\ 5025 under Cuba. The 4835 outlet still there at 2237 UT recheck with talk about solar power. Difficult to copy through CODAR, which seems to be getting steadily more obnoxious (Bob Hill, MA, DXplorer via BC-DX via DXLD) Agreed. Lately CODAR is dominating a sizable chunk of 60m here, from 4735 to 4835. It's a beautiful thing (unattributed editorial comment, ibid.) See also UNIDENTIFIED ** BANGLADESH. 4750, R. Bangladesh, 2358 Aug 19, test tone till 0000, when sign-on with flute IS and announcements. Into chanting at 0002. Moderate level, but CODAR and noisy conditions added up to poor readability (Bob Hill, MA, DXplorer Aug 19 via BC-DX via DXLD) 4750, 1257- Aug 29, Radio Bangladesh. Good reception with presumed Bangla programming and local music. Well over cochannel, probably RRI Makassar. 'Bangladesh Betar' ID at 1300. CNR1 noted at same time fading in. BD still dominating though. I continued to monitor them intermittently throughout the morning and they continued to dominate the channel past 1410, despite it being a very difficult channel with several cochannels. I did not hear any English news in the 1330 to 1400 time frame (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4750, R. Bangladesh: Shocked to hear the usual IS at 2359. Possible M announcer at 0000, and music bridge. Very weak amid QRM but definitely there. It was actually a poor subcontinental evening. (29-30 August) (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BELARUS. 28/8 0533 - 7265 kHz, BR2 R. KULTURA - Brest (Bielorussia) ID OM e mx jazz. Segnale insufficiente - sufficiente. Forte QRM RTA Qur`an 7260 (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, R7 Drake, Satellit 500 Grundig, 2 DE1103 Degen, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BENIN. 1566, 0500- Aug 30, TWR. Finally, a decent TA opening allowing for reception of TWR from Benin. Last night I heard more TAs in audio than any other evening this season. American style preaching in English with frequent 'Hallelujah's. At TOH for a few seconds, conditions faded, but I couldn't hear any IS or ID, just into a likely program intro with a rather strident hymn. Continued with a sermon. I know this station is common on the east coast, but I'm unaware of anyone on the west coast hearing this one (Walt Salmaniw, Masset QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. Re 8-094: Checked Bhutan BS 6035 Aug 28 at 1400, decent signal with their start of English program. Recheck around 1415 showed only carrier until s-off 1500. Problems with the tx/feedline?. 29 Aug was too busy to check the bands (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jari: I re-listened to my recording of Bhutan yesterday (8/28) and indeed their signal suddenly disappeared at 1410 and all I could hear on 6035 after that was the BBC relay in Singapore with what sounded like their Vietnamese program (Bruce Churchill, CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 6035, 1451- Aug 28, BBS. Noted today not to be in English, unlike all the other mornings I've checked (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Jari, Aug 31, BBS on 6035 continues to have problems. Their pre- 1300 (pre-QRM) signal was fair today, but there was no audio heard for their post-1401 English segment. Seemed to be their open carrier, along with a weak PBS Yunnan. It's easy for me to determine if it's Yunnan here or not, I just check the parallel with their regularly heard spur on 6043. My S-meter indicated a signal stronger than just Yunnan. (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4498, 4499 (sounded better on these), August 29, Spanish, 2253 noted a signal seems like a typical Bolivian station with a local pop sounded like music, 2256 YL messages service "servicio social de mensajes", 2309 ads "laboratorio de análises clínicas Santa Maria, lavandería San Joaquín", 2313 Spanish romantic music. Rechecked 2328 ads about political organization "Movimento Nacionalista Revolucionario, MNR en Guayaramerín" , s/off at 2332. I heard some possible ID`s but don`t succeed to copy well. Remembering that on 4498 from Guayaramerín, BOL was, one day, R Estambul, Guayaramerín. Partially readable, fady 23422 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 5952.490, Em Pio XII, Siglo Veinte, 30/8 2212 ID "Radio Pio Doce" in Spanish, fair (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, with new Marconi vertical antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6054.23, Radio Juan XXIII, San Ignacio de Velazco, 2125- 2138, August 30, Spanish, messages for Santa Cruz de la Sierra residents, ID by female as: "...Radio Juan XXIII...", religious program (Catholic), 32432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6104.7 kHz, Rádio Cultura Filadélfia. Aug. 25 at 1019-1040. SINPO 24332. Interview and song. ID with music at 1030, followed by Brazil pops (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. With new Marconi vertical antenna: 9645.270, R. Bandeirantes, São Paulo, 30/8 2111 UT. Talks by male + ID 9675.030, R. Canção Nova, Cachoeira Paulista, 30/8 2127 about São Paulo + ID "Paulista" good 5980.560, R. Guarujá, Florianópolis, 30/8 2145 Portuguese speech by male, fair 5969.960, R. Itatiaia, Belo Horizonte, 30/8 2223 female talks in Portuguese, noisy 6039.660, R. Clube Paranaense, Curitiba, 30/8 2248 about Brazil in Portuguese, noisy 6134.950, R. Aparecida, Aparecida, 30/8 2256 opera music and ID "Aparecida", fair Groeten (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL - 11734.9, R. Trans Mundial 1737-1810+ Aug 28. Contemporary religious music with occasional M in Portuguese; full ID at 1800:30 with these SW frequencies and calls given: 11735 (ZYE858), 9530 (ZYE859), and 5965 (ZYE857) from "Santa Maria no Rio Grande do Sul"; also mentioned MW stations in São Paulo estado on 810 and 1540 kHz; more music followed after some telephone numbers were given. VG signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Believe both Romania and Zanzibar are also on 11735 at this time, but masked from his angle (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 15325, R. Gazeta AM, São Paulo, SP, 1500-1505, August 30, Portuguese, Complete ID as: "...Sintonizam... 49 metros, 5955 kHz..., 31 metros, 9685 kHz y 19 metros, 15325 ...Rádio Gazeta...", announcements, 24432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) One that continues to elude us in NAm; always good to have it reconfirmed as active, but in what timespan? (gh, DXLD) ** CAMEROON. 26/8 2135 - 5803-USB, "...est une émission de Cameroun, destinée au regard de..." "Lundi, Mardi,...Dimanche" "301, 302,...310" "Janvier, Février,...Décembre" PC-OM tape loop, poi fade/out. Segnale buono-nullo! (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, R7 Drake, Satellit 500 Grundig, 2 DE1103 Degen, playdx yg via DXLD) Could it be a PTP marker, vestige of the past? Or the days, numbers, months just a way of making a test count (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. New CBC music streams --- I have links at for the new jazz, classical, and Canadian composer web streams from CBC Radio 2, all 192k MP3's, a couple of days ahead of their official launch on Sept. 2, which coincides with the Radio 2's format change and new weekday shows . A Canadian Songwriter stream is also forthcoming but I haven't found its link. (Kevin A. Kelly, PublicRadioFan.com, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA, Aug 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 91.5 Salmon Arm EZRock AM 580 --- Andy Reid has sent you a message via your contact form (http://www.salmonarm.myezrock.com/contact/683) at 91.5 Salmon Arm EZRock. Message: Hello Who can I contact via email or phone re the status of your AM 580 signal. Regards (Andy Reid, via DXLD) Hi Andy, you can contact me with questions (Larry King, AScT, Chief Engineer, Astral Media, Radio G.P. BC Interior, 300-435 Bernard Ave. Kelowna B.C. V1Y 6N8, direct 250-868-4733, cell 250-212-8866, Email: lking @ radio.astral.com http://www.astralmedia.com July 14 via Andy Reid, ibid.) Thanks, Larry. As you know, EZ Rock of Salmon Arm won approval to flip AM 580 to FM and have done that. Since the sign on, they have been forced to keep the AM signal on while coverage issues are corrected. I think they may have involved some additional repeaters? What I would like to know is if you have a date set for the termination of AM 580 or has it already left the air and if so when. Regards (Andy Reid, Canadian Country Editor, World Radio TV Handbook, http://www.wrth.com ibid.) Hi Andy, We will be shutting AM 580 down by the 31st of August. we have added repeaters at Enderby on 104.3 FM and are about to turn on Sicamous 102.1 FM (Larry King, July 15, ibid.) Yes, as of 7:39, August 27, 2008, Salmon Arm's AM 580 has been turned off. The end of a 40 + year era (Larry King, Aug 30, ibid.) 580 was CKXR, 10/1 kW (gh) ** CANADA. CURVE 94.3 HITS WINNIPEG AIRWAVES TODAY CHUM Radio welcomed CURVE 94.3 to the Winnipeg airwaves today as North America's first Pop Alternative station. The Pop Alternative format represents the merging of the "Pop" and "Alternative" genres to deliver a hip music format for Winnipeg music fans. "We're absolutely thrilled to introduce CURVE 94.3 to Winnipeg," said Andrew Long, Program Director, CURVE 94.3. "This station is a reflection of changing musical trends and we're thrilled that Winnipeg is leading the charge for the Pop Alternative revolution." CURVE 94.3 will feature Winnipeg's most eclectic playlist, featuring artists as diverse as Daft Punk, Nirvana, Pink, Coldplay, Kanye West, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Katy Perry, Pearl Jam, Jay-Z, Foo Fighters, Amy Winehouse, Notorious B.I.G., Weezer, No Doubt, Hedley and more. The Pop Alternative format is a result of extensive audience research and consultation with music fans. Winnipeggers told CHUM Radio they wanted a station that played cutting-edge contemporary music without the bubble gum pop or hard rock. Out of that research, CURVE 94.3 was born - a station that will have wide appeal, especially among the target audience of adults aged 25 - 40. CURVE 94.3 will offer listeners a highly interactive experience with compelling personalities, unprecedented community involvement and exciting contests. Plans of CURVE 94.3's web strategy and interactive platform will be rolled out in the coming months. The Pop Alternative format has been trademarked across North America by CHUM Radio. 73 and Best of DX (via Shawn Axelrod, VE4DX1SMA, Aug 29, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) Shawn, So what is the real callsign of this, or has Canada usurped Portugal`s prefices as well as Chile`s? 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** CAYMAN ISLANDS [and non]. Streaming radio site for listening in the Caribbean --- I found that the links into the affected area of the tropical storms are up and running especially Cayman Islands. Enjoy https://www.reciva.com/listen/locations (RON TROTTO - WDX-4KWI, Aug 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 9575, Firedrake. First found on this frequency, and found on 9780 while looking for KNLS, then did some bandscans for other frequencies. Between 1050-1200, found on the following: 7280, 7470, 9300, 9575, 9680, 9780, 11560, 11590, 11665, 11710, 11785, 11825, 11840, 11990, 12040, 13840, 14410, 15030, and 15255. At 1203, OCs were found on 9300 and 14410. Later at 1227, found on 15465 and 13710. Most all freqs were strong. Sounds like R. Moscow of old with their frequency usage. (29 August) 73 (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6034.980, LV [del Rio] Guaviare, S.J. Guaviare, 30/8 2234, Typ. Colombian music. Groeten (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, with new Marconi vertical antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. CARACOL RADIO HACE UN RECORRIDO POR SUS SESENTA AÑOS DE HISTORIA http://www.caracol.com.co/nota.aspx?id=661150 Caracol Radio continúa la celebración de sus primeros 60 años de historia noticiosa con la emisión de un programa de dos horas este sábado 30 de agosto de una a tres de la tarde. Más de 200 audios de momentos históricos para Colombia y el mundo, personajes de relevancia mundial quienes en su voz le dieron al mundo testimonio de los hechos que marcaron a la humanidad y enfoques que remitirán a los oyentes de Caracol Radio al instante mismo en que los titulares de la prensa replicaron los aconteceres. Sonidos colombianos tan antiguos como uno de los discursos de Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, del mundo como las palabras de José Stalin en el homenaje a Lenin en la Plaza Roja de Moscú, en deportes la narración en vivo del 4 a 4 en el juego mundialista de Chile entre Colombia y la Unión Soviética y en el entretenimiento la coronación de Luz Marina Zuluaga como miss universo en 1.958. A lo largo del programa se podrán escuchar los comentarios de Diana Uribe, Hernán Peláez e Iván Parra acompañados por la voces narrativas de Judith Sarmiento y Juan Manuel Rodríguez, todo bajo la investigación y recopilación de Rafael Pinilla y el equipo del archivo histórico de Caracol Radio, 60 años. [audio:] http://www.caracol.com.co/programa.aspx?id=539498&nprm=C4The5lSc3qVmGpGSRfCSbI9LjcHwyAUnA6FLCgM%2bw%2bpvbVAnWpMcrjkkIKw2VYI (via José Miguel Romero, and gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. Today`s discrepancy report on RHC --- I should be on their payroll for the services I render. Aug 30 at 1340, 13680 had usual big carrier, but hum and undermodulated. Wiggle that patchcord! Much weaker on 13760 but with normal modulation, so better to listen there, Agenda 21 program. At 1405, 13680 still the same and I was listening to 15120 when they were plugging the day`s Mesa Redonda show at 2230, or rather 6:30 Cuban time as they always give it only, on 6000 and 9820, which would be about preparations for dealing with H. Gustav. Then 15120 cut off abruptly at 1409, back on by 1412. It doesn`t take a hurricane for RHC to be interrupted by power failures, which like everything else can be blamed on the ``genocidal`` US blockade of Cuba. If Gustav does cross near Habana, it will be interesting to note if any of the usual jamming is knocked off. But the DentroCuban Jamming Command has priority over RHC for whatever power is available. Sat Aug 30 at 2013 checked 9955 to reconfirm new WORLD OF RADIO time on WRMI. Weak signal, but after a while I could recognize my own voice if not what I was saying. Still being jammed with pulses also weak at this absorptive hour, but enough to ruin reception. Thanks a lot, Arnie! Your show on RHC an hour later won`t be jammed, courtesy of the US government. Yes, at 2111 check on 11760, DXers Unlimited in the clear. How unfair. Try WOR again Sunday at 2030. {2055 UT Aug 31: too much jamming to tell what was under it; but WOR confirmed on webcast} Then made various chex as Hurricane Gustav was crossing western Cuba. At 2111 the secret 2030-2130 English broadcast existed on 11760, but no sign of // 9505. Neighboring Spanish service on 11750 was talking about Gustav. I wonder if RHC was simulcasting R. Rebelde for the occasion. Busy at the Ringwood OK watermelon festival during Mesa Redonda at 2230, so next checked UT August 31 at 0132: 11760 was normal, but // 11680 was just open carrier. Its modulation was back when rechecked at 0141. 9580 CRI relay normal with poor modulation. 9600 RHC Spanish mentioning Manolo de la Rosa, and special programming on the air at the moment. 9550 in French. At 0143, found Arnie`s DXUL, unjammed yet again, big signal on 6140 but undermodulated with hum. No signal on 6180 at 0143 which is supposedly RHC Spanish to CAm now, but that leaves XEPPM 6185 in the clear with Huasteca music, as well as Vietnam via Canada on 6175. Terry Krueger in FL enjoys the same anomaly, but I`m not so sure Gustav is responsible since all the other RHC frequencies are funxional. Absence of 6180 reinforced by the detexion nevertheless of the very weak leapfrog mixing product of 6060 RHC Spanish over 6140 on 6220, // 9600 at 0151. At 0213 compared the modulation of English on 6140 and 6000, and found 6000 even lower. Wiggle those patchcords! Checking some jammed frequencies, R. República, 6100 at 0207 in non- Cuban music show was VG with selective fades, no jamming audible but probably there and overridden here. At 0212, 6030 R. Martí béisbol over audible jamming, likewise 7365 at 0217. At 0245 on 9955, jamming over detectable WRMI, which per their August 1 schedule is supposed to be relaying R. Praga --- how sad; Cuba and Czechoslovakia used to be such good friends. Sunday Aug 31 at 1402 on 11760 caught a bit of RHC news in Spanish, mentioning that Gustav had been clocked at sustained winds of 240 kph as it crossed western Cuba, with gusts to 340 = 211 mph, which seems a bit too hi from other reports, but still plenty. Today`s Mesa Redonda at 2230 on 6000, 9820 will be about the Gustav aftermath. Here we go with today`s discrepancies: At 1407 on 21 mb, RHC 13760 had better signal strength than usual, but barely modulated! 13740 with CRI was at normal modulation level for it, which means inferior but adequate. Aló, Presidente service, separate from mainstream RHC 11760, at 1404 Sunday Aug 31, was underway on 11875, but running a show about the history of RHC which is hardly a Venezuelan topic. At 1407, 13680 was strong but undermodulated with hum. Wiggle that patchcord! Not on usual 13750. At 1413 found another scheduled A,P channel, 17750, inbooming S9+20 contrary to usual JBA: likely some sporadic E had kicked in. Not only that, but accompanied by ratchety noises at modulation peaks on center channel and splattering plus and minus 20 kHz, with worst peaks at +/- 10 kHz while playing a bit of ``Guantanamera``; 1431 recheck, 17750 had weakened somewhat and the splatter consequently lessened (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Hurricane is right on the island now and Dentrocuban is still jamming the 7365 kHz signal from Radio Martí although I can hear the station above the jamming from San Juan, Puerto Rico, even with my Grundig S350 using only the telescopic antenna. The signal at 6030 is another story. The jamming really hurts it. 73s (Guido Santacana, KP4FAR, 0230 UT Aug 31, swl at qth.net via DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC English stream mms://200.55.129.7:80/radiohabanacuba Heavily overmodulated! WMA-Stream mit 20 kb/s. Cuba si! Yankee no! ;-) :-) (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) Is this English stream still only at 0500-0700, as Arnie has announced repeatedly? (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. 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 provided this disclaimer is included where any of the below is reproduced. 550, CUBA, Radio Rebelde, Pinar del Río; 1150+ 31 August, 2008. This - - and all other audible Rebelde channels, including 5025 -- running "Programación especial" with long Meteorológica de Cuba remote reports on conditions and damage. Male and female host, occasionally breaking for Cuban vocals and the usual Rebelde theme sounder. Mentions of Cuba Visión, Rebelde and Radio Habana Cuba (but no shortwave parallels located -- 6000 with RHC Spanish programing at 1320 check). mention of a report from Radio Camoa (1490, so I guess that station still exists). Also, stated that the special programming will continue until 6 p.m. today. 530 Enciclopedia just running open carrier for hours now, 590 Musical Nacional off the air. But regarding the latter, who knows if Hurricane Gustav-related, as they are often off for a few hours at a time during 'normal' conditions (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. I was listening for stations in Cuba and New Orleans last night [UT Aug 31] to see how they were reacting to Hurricane Gustav. I listened from 0300 to 0400 UT/10:00 to 11:00 pm Central time. The Cuban outlet on 530 was apparently the source of a strong carrier on that frequency but there was no audio during the time I listened. I assume the studio-to-transmitter link was interrupted but the transmitter remained on the air. Radio Reloj on 570, Radio Progreso on 640, and Radio Rebelde on 5025 were in well and still operational with some of their normal programming. But they were frequently interrupted by a "programa especial." I heard one on Rebelde-5025 around 0315/10:15 pm that warned of flooding in Pinar del Rio province and that assistance was on its way. On Progreso at 640, the music was suddenly interrupted at 0345/10:45 pm for an announcement by a man, which seemed to be over a telephone line, telling residents of Pinar del Rio, San Cristobal, etc., to await relief by military forces and to obey their directions. The announcement lasted until 0347/10:47 pm. Reloj-570 continued with their time checks and "RR" ID in Morse on the minute but appeared to be discussing hurricane-related issues in between (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWL: see USA BTW, I was astounded to hear on BBCWS news, 0500 UT Aug 31 via KUHF, their correspondent in Habana referring to ``Piña del Rio`` instead of Pinar --- must be a real neophyte (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. No doubt the fueracubanos at R. Martí just want to help dentrocubano family members, but jamming is unrelenting, on 11930 Aug 31 someone was phoning into newscast about H. Gustav destruxion; 13820 was stronger and well atop jamming here, always Greenville NC site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I see some in MT are still obsessed about Cuban number stations and jamming, etc. Shame they don`t go to Cuba like 1000's of other Americans do via Mexico or Canada (Pat Carty, UK? Monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) And then it would be OK (gh) Re: ``Alex, I appreciate the support! Yet, our openness to freedom of expression must include Sr Coro, even tho not reciprocated. Is it our weakness, or is it our strength? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)`` Question: Glenn, Does the US government engage in jamming at the current time or provide financial support to any other radio organizations/stations that jam? If not currently, I imagine that it did at one time, so how recently? (Jim Renfrew, NY, ibid.) Jim, I really cannot think of any known instance of the USA engaging in jamming directly or indirectly, now or in the past semi-century. Of course there might be some that is entirely covert, involving clandestine stations on the `wrong` side. The USG certainly does not jam any SW broadcasts incoming to the USA to prevent the American people from hearing them, as Cuba and China do to such excess against their own people. 73, (Glenn to Jim, via DXLD) Thanks for the answer. I wouldn't have expected jamming to block broadcasts to the US, but as you note there are all kinds of surrogates out there engaged in all kinds of black and white clandestine operations; who knows if our government has a hand in them (Jim Renfrew, ibid.) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. DOMINIKANSKA REPUBLIKEN. Carlos Benoit meddelar att Radio Amanecer i Santo Domingo flyttat till 1580 kHz för att ge plats åt Radio Universidad UASD, Santo Domingo, på 1560 kHz. Intressant nog planerar Radio Universidad också att sända på 4720 kHz med 3 kW. Det skall bli intressant att se hur det går med dessa planer (Christer Brunström., Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 31 via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. The recent absence of the last remaining HCJB transmission to Europe, 0630-0730 on 9740, was an error and had been corrected once Horst Rosiak returned from vacation. However, at the end of September game will be really over because the antenna in use has to be gone by yearend. A special live program of HCJB German is planned for the last transmission on Sep 30. Still on air after that date will be the transmissions for the Americas. Expected schedule for German in B08 is 0230-0330 on 9780 to Mexico and 2230-2330 on 12040 to South America [those same as now --- gh]. Also DRM tests will continue via whatever antenna, presumably during late noon UT on 11625. HCJB German to Europe will still be on air by way of airtime booked by Media Broadcast, in B08 1600-1700 on 3955 [I think again Wertachtal or probably Jülich, no more Issoudun where recently the HCJB relay had been messed up a couple of times]. Every mentioned transmission contains Low German in the first and High German in the second half hour. This according to HCJB German yesterday (disclaimer: I still have to hear it by myself; I will post a follow-up in case quotations need to be amended). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT [and non] Wonder if R. Cairo is still on 11550 for European service including English 2115-2245? Aug 30 at 2148 could not detect it mixing with WEWN Spanish, which was not very strong. Other signals from Eurafrica were coming in well, English from Czechia with language lesson at 2145 on 11600, Equatorial Guinea [q.v.] on 15190 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes - I confirmed R. Cairo signing-on in English at 2115 on 11550 today (31 August). Virtually inaudible announcements and news, but music and (I assume pre-recorded) feature at 2125 coming in with reasonable strength (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Do you hear WEWN at all when Cairo is on? On Aug 31, it was stronger here and still no Cairo audible (gh, DXLD) Radio Cairo, 6290, good signal and decent modulation during Qur`an, Aug 31 at 0151; kept going past hourtop 0200, into Arabic announcement at 0204 which was very undermodulated by comparison, but not the horrible distortion which used to appear here. Recheck 0217, again in OK Qur`an. This transmission had been closing at 0200 UT due to DST in Egypt of UT +3 since April 25, but per timeanddate.com, that ended August 29, so now Egypt is back on UT +2, and the domestic relay transmissions on SW which had shifted one UT hour earlier should be back to their normal times, including 6290 Arabic to NAm closing at 0300. However, Ramadan is about to start and may throw another monkeywrench into the scheduling. But timeanddate.com thinx it won`t begin in USA until Sept. 2: http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/muslim/ramadan-begins (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello DXers, starting last Friday 29/8/08 00.00 Hrs. local time, Egypt is back to the normal GMT/UTC+2. We normally do that in the last week of September. but this year the holy month of Ramadan will start tomorrow (Monday 1/9/08) so we had to get things back to normal to manage the number of hours that we fast :) All the best my friends, yours (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Nacional, Bata, 2240-2301*, Aug 28, Afro-pop music. Hi-life music. Spanish announcements at 2256. National Anthem at 2259. Weak at tune-in but improved to a fair level by sign off. 6250, Radio Nacional, Malabo, 0507-0525, Aug 29, tune-in to National Anthem at 0507. Spanish announcements at 0508. Afro-pops at 0510. Poor to fair with occasional ute QRM. Also heard Radio Nacional 5005 with separate programming at 0517 tune-in (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 15190, R. Africa Bata, 2040-2100, Aug 25, English. M preacher with religious talk; program contact info at 2059 followed by Voice of Truth at ToH; poor-fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, USA, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Africa again active Friday Aug 29 at 2031 check on 15190, American- accented gospel huxter overshadowed by VOA Hausa 15185. Meanwhile, presumably due to lack of any E-layer propagation, no signal at all from WWCR 15825 while WOR was on. Sat Aug 30 I found R. Africa, 15190, at 2155 airing a Saskatchewan preacher I had heard before, closing Gospel Tidings with address, somewhat undermodulated and with worse distortion when YL started singing hymn at 2157; deep fades, and some QRM from YFR via Ascension playing music on 15195. At 2200 hymn ended and another program started immediately with no ID break, #640 by Pastor somebody. Now 15195 was off but WYFR itself had started up on 15190, theme audible way below R. Africa. At 2214 recheck, R. Africa still going with good signal, and no YFR cochannel audible, while its 15130 in the clear was also quite weak; meanwhile, REE 15110 Spain direct was at its usual VG strength. So the skip on this band is much longer than the 2 megameters to Florida (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7165.00, Voice of Peace & Democracy, via Radio Ethiopia transmitters to Eritrea, 0400-0430*, Aug 29, Presumed. Opening announcements at 0400 & talk in listed Tigringa. Local drums. Some Horn of Africa music. Poor with QRM from noise jammer at 0401. Better on // 9559.63v-drifting up to 9559.97 by sign off. According to WRTH this is Mon, Wed, Friday only at 0400-0430. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. ETHIOPIAN OPPOSITION STATION STARTS SEPT 11 Another Ethiopian opposition station launches on shortwave Sept 11 according to this item in the Ethiopian Review (a US-based Ethiopian on-line journal). [But I can't fathom out the times quoted as Ethiopia is UT +3. So 8 to 8.30 pm in which country?] GINBOT 7 RADIO TO BE LAUNCHED ON SEPT. 11 === August 29th, 2008 EMF - Ginbot 7 Dimits Radio, a radio broadcast of Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy (G7) will start on Thursday, September 11, 2008 (Meskerem 1, 2001 Eth. Cal.), the Movement's public relations officials told EMF. September 11, also known as Enqutatash, is Ethiopia's New Year. "It is a new-year-gift for freedom loving Ethiopians," the G7 officials said. The radio program will be transmitted at 21555 KHZ on 13 meter band and 17655 khz on 13 meter band every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday between 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM (2:00 to 2:30 Ethiopian time). The program will focus on the current Ethiopian situation and uses to mobilize people for the struggle for change in Ethiopia, according to the movement. Ginbot 7 Radio will start broadcasting in Amharic, but there is a plan to add other major Ethiopian languages soon. The broadcasting will have a signal strength of 500 KW and beamed to Ethiopia and its neighbours and will also be available on its web site http://www.ginbot7.org for the Diaspora listeners. http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/3649 (via Alan Pennington, Aug 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ethiopian and UTime giving is diffuse ... maybe means rather 8-8.30 p.m. ETH local time. Minus 6 hrs would fit with Greenland, Brazil, Argentina time zone. 17655 and 21555 and 500 kW of power would NOT fit to Samara's 250 kW units. Instead rather a DTK-"Media-Broadcast" transmission via Issoudun's 500 kW beasts. Previously similar broadcasts at 7 - 8 p.m. Ethiopian time: http://abbaymedia.com/News/?p=1606 Mr Abebe also would like all Ethiopians in the Diaspora to inform families and friends inside Ethiopia to listen to Addis Dimts radio, by tuning the radio at 17875 kHz 17mb or 21585 kHz 21mb every Sunday from 7pm to 8pm local Ethiopian time. For further information and access to radio program archives visit http://www.addisdimts.com (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) (Also for "World of Horology"!!) This does make sense - 8 to 8.30 p.m. Ethiopian time, i.e. 1700-1730 GMT. The reference to "2:00 to 2:30 Ethiopian time" also makes sense. As I occasionally point out on this list, east Africans start counting the hours at sunrise and sunset. So, in Swahili for example, "saa moja", literally "clock one", means seven o'clock. I think that starting counting the hours from a clearly observable event makes a lot of sense (Chris Greenway, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) According to Chris Greenway's posting both times mentioned are local time in Ethiopia then, 8:00 to 8:30 pm (= 2 hours after sunset time. OK in a country where sunset and sunrise are always at the same time each day). So 1700-1730 UT for anybody who might want to tune in anywhere else in the world (Alan Pennington, UK, ibid.) ** GERMANY EAST. Does anybody remember the special greeting programs of GDR radio for seafarers, broadcast once a month or so after the midnight (local time) news on 177 and, if I recall correctly, also 6115? I was just told about vague memories suggesting that these broadcasts did not originate from Berlin but were instead produced at Rostock (from there fed to Berlin for being put on the circuits to Zehlendorf and Königs Wusterhausen). Still needs to be confirmed by somebody who remembers for sure, but if so it would be quite interesting (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. Bad collision on 6075, Aug 31 at 0232 with RCI in Spanish about, what else, immigration from Chile to Winnipeg, and refugees in Victoria, within Reflejo Boreal program, atop DW in German which is on both Sines, Portugal, and Rampisham UK at 0200-0400 despite RCI Sackville at 0205-0305. DW aimed NE and SE, so cannot be a problem in CNAm, right? Well, DW succeeds in making itself unlistenable in NAm, just as it wishes, while no one in USA or Canada wants to listen to R. Canada Internal in Spanish either, making this a good share (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. 620, KHNU, HI, Hilo, 7/27 1959 [EDT?] following up last month’s report, finally noted with new identity “America’s Business” feature, Alert USA ad, announcement “The All New 62. You’re listening to the Talk of Hawaii, KHNU Hilo-Kona,” into ABC-E news. Per Honolulu Star-Bulletin I misheard the slogan, which is actually “The All New Honu.” (Honu pronounced ho-noo) is Hawaiian for sea turtle, which is a protected species around here. Station airs mostly conservative talk (Hannity, Savage, Doyle, Komando) and is still barely audible daytimes only in certain areas of East Honolulu when not barraged by images from other stations (Dale Park, HI, IRCA DX Monitor via DXLD) ** INDIA. 5040, AIR Jeypore, 1337-1349, Aug 29, in English and vernacular, sports program, "This program is brought to you by the Department of …, Government of India", poor-fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. SNAKES COME CRAWLING OUT OF AIR STATION CAMPUS, 44 CAUGHT 29 Aug 2008, 0756 hrs IST, K Praveen Kumar, TNN http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/Snakes_come_crawling_out_of_AIR_station_campus_44_caught_/articleshow/3419791.cms CHENNAI: All through Wednesday and Thursday, officials of the Velachery Forest Range camped on the All India Radio station campus in Thirumullaivoyal near Avadi on a snakecatching mission. At the end of the day, the officials, accompanied by three snakecatchers , had in their basket as many as nine adult snakes, 35 young ones and a few fertilised eggs. The exercise was undertaken following repeated calls of snakes being spotted on the AIR station campus that also houses the employees' quarters. "AIR station officials had written to us regarding the snake problem. They told us that the reptiles were found all over the campus. Many had crept into bedrooms and toilets. So we had sent a team to the place," Sathyamurthy, forest range officer, Velachery, told The Times Of India. "We found it very difficult to walk outside, especially at night. Our children could not play outside. Snakes were found in bushes as well as in open places. Many of us were shocked, on many occasions, to see poisonous snakes in the corners of our bedrooms and toilets. The number of snakes seems to have gone up in recent times. Almost all of us have spotted one or two at some point of time," Ratna, a resident said. The team from the forest range, in all, captured four adult cobras, 35 young cobras and 16 cobra eggs from the campus. The officials also captured a rat snake, a wolf snake and a green snake - all nonpoisonous ones. The residents sighed in relief when they saw the catch. "If we had not attended to their call now, the number of snakes in the campus would have tripled. There were 35 young cobras and more eggs to hatch. The reptiles do not have any other place nearby to go," said one of the snakecatchers . There is a lot of greenery on the AIR station campus, making it an ideal breeding ground for snakes. The captured snakes were taken to the Velachery Animal Rescue Centre and would be released into the wild later. "We have also brought the snake eggs to the rescue centre . They will be hatched here after which we will release them into the wild. We have well-designed hatching pits for this," Sathyamurthy said. The forest department officials now have to travel hundreds of kilometres to release these snakes. The fast-paced urbanisation has resulted in the loss of habitat for several reptile species. The captured snakes have to be taken to remote forest areas in the state and released (via Alokesh Gupta, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. VOI stream Livestream 128 kb/s on MS Media Player, VLC-Player, Winamp. On Firefox start Media Player by hand! On air lousy tiny signal on 11784.89 at 1830 UT Aug 28 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, via BC-DX via DXLD) The staff speaks fluent Indonesian (what else...) but speaks much slower in Malay language, which is of similar language family. I hope the Japanese DXer scene will check the whole VOI schedule soon. Wrongly today Aug 30th: Today noted German til 1704 UT announced French due to follow, b u t then English from 1705 UT, 1812 UT Japanese, 1905 Malay, 2005 Arabic, 2105 Indonesian. The operating staff muddled / get mixed various language sections today. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I also noticed French announced to follow but instead it was English. It doesn't matter who checks the schedule if it is as 'flexible' as now! WRTH update had it correct for some weeks (missing English 1500-1600), but let's see if this new order is to stay. At least the time announcements still reflected to the older July version: yEsterday the next German programme was said to be at 1830 the next day. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Mauno, today Aug 30th different schedule. 11784.85 and live stream, 1600-1633 Spanish, 1633:40 UT German, news at 1636 UT. Instead of 1600 Indonesian, 1633 Hindi. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Wolfgang, Yes, I also hear German now at 1655. The new schedule has had these irregularities, but although I monitored it very extensively when the new schedule was adopted I never heard Hindi from them at any time. 73, (Mauno Ritola, ibid.) Okay Mauno, maybe I heard a letterbox program with some Hindi language items then. Today noted German till 1704 UT, then English from 1705 UT, 1812 UT Japanese, 1905 Indonesian. I guess I recognize Indonesian and also Bahasa Malay well, due of few journeys to Georgetown, Ipoh, K-L, Malacca, SNG, Jakarta, Bali ... 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) I have never been there and I can't tell Indonesian and Malay from each other, so I listen to the ID's because they mention the language then. The schedule doesn't seem to be settled at all. 73, (Mauno Ritola, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Autumn brings changes in the sky above Extract from an article in The Kennebec Journal by Bernie Reim 30 August 2008 http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/sports/stories/5344154.html The nights are slowly getting cooler and some leaves are already changing color as fall starts this month --- whenever I observe Jupiter, I remember the radio sound waves given off by Jupiter that I have heard on two separate occasions. You could hear them for yourself with a fairly inexpensive antenna and receiver or you could just go online to hear a recording. Jupiter has the largest and most powerful magnetic field in our solar system. If you could actually see it, it would be the size of the full moon, or 50 times larger than the visible part of Jupiter. The source of the powerful bursts of natural radio waves that produce these exotic sounds is the moon Io passing through a giant plasma doughnut around Jupiter formed by the interaction of its ejected volcanic material with Jupiter's magnetic field. This sets up a huge electrical current flow between Io and Jupiter, which generates 2 trillion watts of power, making it the biggest DC electrical current in the solar system. As the planet spins, it generates radio laser beams of concentrated energy in the shortwave range of 15 to 40 megahertz, which is 1,000 times shorter than the human ear can detect. These beams sweep across the earth like a lighthouse beacon from the poles of Jupiter. Two distinctly different kinds of sounds can be heard. They are L and S bursts, which stands for long and short. The L bursts sound like ocean waves crashing on a distant beach and the S bursts sound like a staccato of rapid popping sounds (via Mike Terry, England, dxldyg via DXLD; also via Kim Elliott) Usually reported around 20-21 MHz. Axually, the semi-terrestrial autumn season has nothing whatsoever to do with DXing Jupiter (gh) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. 6640 kHz USB, 0346z: New York working "Teal 71" (WC-130, Keesler AFB 403W 53WRS Hurricane Hunter), on Hurricane Gustav mission, for position report, routing. (01Sep2008) (ALS). (AL STERN, Satellite Beach FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. "ABIE NATHAN - FROM RIGHT TO LEFT" From today's Jerusalem Post By Abe Selig http://www.jpost.com/ The man who founded the "Voice of Peace" pirate radio station and did jail time for visiting Yasser Arafat during his exile in Tunisia had plenty of critics, but even more fans. And as they were asked to speak about the man who some say was before his time in his brazen and often eccentric pursuit of peace, all of them spoke of someone who stood up for what he believed in and acted on what he thought was right. "I believe that he always meant well," said Pinchas Wallerstein, former head of the Binyamin Regional Council in northern Samaria. "And I was absolutely inspired by him and his tactics, just in the opposite direction. If it weren't for his radio station, we wouldn't have Arutz Sheva." Others praised Nathan's global charity work, spanning from Guatemala to China. "I was with Abie in Rwanda in 1995," said former Meretz MK Yossi Sarid. "We were there during the civil war delivering humanitarian aid, and Abie was told that a village full of sick children was out in the jungle. We made our way through the brush, and when we got there, the children were in their last moments of life - they were all suffering from cholera. "And I remember seeing Abie take them in his hands, bringing them to our field hospital for help. They were all treated and every one of them survived." "It's still unclear if the time he spent sitting in jail brought peace," said Meretz MK Yossi Beilin. "But that he traveled the world and helped so many different people, that can be said without a doubt. He made an enormous contribution to the world." Others said they had never personally met Nathan, but were moved by his efforts at starting dialogues between enemies. Rabbi Menachem Fruman, the rabbi of the Gush Etzion settlement of Tekoa, spoke of Nathan as he took part in the Sulha Peace Project at Latrun - a three- day gathering of Israelis and Palestinians that aims to begin the process of dialogue and reconciliation. "My children often say that I meet with all the crazy people in the world," Rabbi Fruman said. "But I never got a chance to meet Abie Nathan. That said, I think that what he did was an inspiration to all of us. Pursuing peace is not a natural desire --- It's truly a holy task." "I feel that I am following in his footsteps," said Jeff Halper, an Israeli professor who was on board one of the two boats that sailed into Gaza port last week to protest the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. "I don't compare myself to him, but I certainly draw from him as an inspiration." Halper made two correlations between Nathan's efforts and his own, the first regarding Nathan's own sea voyage to Gaza in 1972. "He sailed there in '72 to bring toys to kids in Gaza, and later he organized a summer camp in Ashdod for Israeli kids and kids from Gaza," Halper said. "The second thing is that he said in 1966 that Nasser wanted to talk peace with the Israelis, and no one listened to him. If they had, think of the countless lives that might have been saved and the terrible violence that might have been prevented." Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann, who works for Rabbis For Human Rights, called Nathan "a very positive figure. I'm a rabbi that belongs to a dovish group, and we're a bit of a minority. But something about Abie Nathan that is in contrast to Peace Now and other peace groups is that he was not anti-religious. "He seemed to rise above the divisions on the left and was a character that put his money where his mouth was. I think that's something that he was respected for even on the right, even if they didn't agree with him." (via Mike Terry, UK, Aug 30, dxld yg via DXLD) OBIT Glenn, Did you mention anything about the Voice of Peace being on SW?? It was on about 6240 from about 83-84 or so. The SW service was not on that long. I was able to log it a few times. Weren't they using about 200 watts or so? PS, SW QSL from the VOICE OF PEACE: http://www.antique-corner.com/SWLQSL/israel18.htm I noticed this reception (above) is from 1983. Also, the power is 400 watts and not 200 watts (Artie Bigley, OH, Aug 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [and non]. IRAN/PORTUGAL/U.K. 9544.95..94 und 9545.00 kHz. Das hat Horst Scholz von der DWL seit Ende Maerz nicht realisiert: Der Iran mit IRIB Albanisch aus Kamalabad - approx. 50 Hertz tiefer - stört sehr heftig die DWL in Deutsch aus Sines und Woofferton um 1830- 1927 UT, auch mit einem Brumm Heterodyne signal. Oder spricht man nicht mit den Boesen? (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 28, BC-DX via DXLD) ** IRELAND. 28/8 0523 - 5505-USB kHz, SHANNON VOLMET (Irlanda) English, wx PC-OM. Segnale sufficiente-buono (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, R7 Drake, Satellit 500 Grundig, 2 DE1103 Degen, playdx yg via DXLD) ** JAPAN. 6055, Radio Nikkei, 1025-1040+, Aug 29, Japanese talk. Brief English phrases. Radio-drama. Poor to fair. Threshold copy on // 3925 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KAZAKHSTAN. 9950, 1431- Aug 29, Golos Pravoslavya. Phone quality programming, back again on a Friday with ID in Russian after some church bells briefly. Into their usual religious programming. Very good reception otherwise (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KIRIBATI. From Norwegian DX-er Geir Stokkeland I received the following link: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200808/s2342309.htm Too bad if they have to close down MF operations on 846 kHz (Bjarne Mjelde, Berlevag, Arctic Norway, http://arcticdx.blogspot.com Aug 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: RADIO KIRIBATI STRUGGLING TO STAY ON AIR Updated August 21, 2008 11:11:28 Pacific Magazine reports the national radio station's acting manager, Tibwere Bobo, says the problem began two weeks ago, when Radio Kiribati's AM transmission was off-air due to a break down in the transmitter. "Our engineers after installing the spare parts would have to monitor it before they can declare that our problem had been solved," he said. "This could take a few days." The station is maintaining its FM transmission which only covers South Tarawa and the remote Line and Phoenix Groups. But money generated from this service on a daily basis is minimal and not enough to cover the daily expense of Radio Kiribati transmissions. The radio station is trying to cut costs, and has applied for an overdraft from the bank. Mr Bobo says more measures will have to be taken if the AM transmission is not restored soon (RA via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. JAPAN, 6015, 1426- Aug 28. Shiokaze, strongly jammed this morning (I haven't noticed this before) with sign-off announcements. Many mentions of Shiokaze. Not in English; I'm suspecting this is in Korean this morning. 6020, 1419- Aug 29, Shiokaze. Checked 6015 to encounter a loud jammer, but nothing else. Shiokaze has moved again back to 6020. Heard with English news about North Korea ending with an ID for Shiokaze. They then went into French! This must be new, as I've not heard this reported before. 'Ici Radio Shiokaze' at 1422:20. Cochannel with an Indian sounding station. Not sure who this is. Is AIR on the channel at this time? Very good reception otherwise. Back into English at 1425:20 with 'This is Shiokaze, Sea Breeze from Tokyo, Japan'. Started their canned ID by the usual YL from 1426. Continued with various contact details until transmitter cut suddenly at 1430:00. 6020 then in the clear, and it's much more obvious that this is Vietnam with their minority service. Quite good reception until 1500 when another cochannel signed on. BBC from Thailand? JAPAN, 11675, 1523- Aug 27, Nippon no Kaze. Noted the ID at 1523:24. Very strong this morning, with mostly Japanese talk, although did have a Japanese song sung by a YL at 1525. Sign-off announcements to just past 1530, then transmitter cut immediately (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6020, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata, Japan, 1420-1430*, Aug 29, ex: 6015, mostly in French (a new language for them), with French IDs, sign-off announcement all in English, good reception, no jamming. A little over a month ago they moved from 6020 to 6015 to get away from the jamming, but recently I noticed the jamming had followed them to 6015, so was time again to move (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You beat me to this one, Ron! I heard them this morning way up north on Haida Gwaii, BC. Sure enough, it was a mixture of English and French. 6015 still had lots of loud jamming. The first part of the program was in English, then a 5 or 7 minute segment in French. I could have sworn that they mentioned something along the lines that some French people may have been abducted many years ago? Perhaps I was wrong, ...I'll need to check the recording to verify that. Although reception is very good, the accent makes it difficult to follow. The French was easier --- "Ici, Shiokaze..." (Walt Salmaniw, Haida Gwaii, BC, Cumbre DX via DXLD) "Shiokaze" started French language service newly (probably irregular?). I received it from 1418 UT on August 29. http://ndxc.org/aoki/binews/ab/siokaze-20080829-1418_6020.mp3 Now sked: 1400-1430 6020 kHz 2030-2100 5965 kHz (Seiichi Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But not for entire half-hour, it seems (gh) CLANDESTINE - 6020 Shiokaze *1400-1430* Aug 30. First log of the season of this here as the morning DX window to Asia gets later day by day. Usual piano opening, then in Korean with talks by man & woman. Fair signal; should be excellent in a few weeks (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. KBS WORLD RADIO HANDOUT --- KBS World Radio KBS, 18 Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, 150-790, Korea. Contains shortwave Time and Frequency bar-chart and other services such as internet, etc. On the 19th July I received a package from KBS World Radio which contained a QSL card and booklet of radio history and a letter. First English broadcast was on August 15th 1953 as the Voice of Free Korea which later became Voice of Korea and in 1973 Radio Korea, then in 1994 Radio Korea International and finally KBS World Radio in 2005. KBS now broadcasts in 11 languages and provides 48 hours and 30 minutes of daily programming on 21 shortwave and one medium wave frequencies, 38 of which is directly transmitted from the KBS station at Gimje (Grant Skinner, Radio Topics, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** LAOS. 4412.57, 1227- Aug 27, Sam Neua. Presumed logging with fair to good reception with Lao talk, Not // to 6130 at this time. Marred completely by CODAR interference. At 1230 sounds like a NA sung. Lasted until 1231:30 and carrier off immediately (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Relays this weekend via 9290 kHz, Sunday August 31st Radio Victoria 1100-1200 UT Radio Joystick 1200-1300 UT Latvia Today 1300-1400 UT --- Good listening 73s (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) and in advance via the dxld yg ** LIBERIA. 6070, ELWA logged Aug 26 on 6070 from 2235 UT with seguéd slow gospel-type songs by female vocalist who sounded like Celine Dion. Sign-off at 2300 with Liberian National Anthem. Aoki says it's only 1 kW (Bob Hill, MA, DXplorer via BC-DX via DXLD) Ooh, more QRM for the always about-to-revive CFRX (gh, DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, RTV Malagasy, 0200-0230, Aug 30, variety of lite instrumental music, choral music, local ballads. Brief announcements. Weak but readable. Reduced carrier USB (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. Voice of Malaysia, Kajang, 6049.650 kHz, 1625 UT Aug 31. Met locale muziek, (karwei) Gr. (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) This is the cause of the perpetual het we hear earlier in the mornings here, e.g. against HCJB at 1200. I notice that MVD`s 3-digit frequency measurements all seem to end in zero so I wonder if that degree of accuracy is warranted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Altho XEPPM was in the clear on 6185, around 0145 Aug 31 tnx to absence of Cuba 6180, and Brasil for that matter, when I rechecked at 0618 I could not hear R. Educación, only a very weak carrier, Vatican? on frequency, but was also heavily splashed by VOA Greenville 6180. I am afraid that XEPPM is indeed no longer running all-night, as Harry Helms pointed out, apparently closing at 0500 UT, local midnight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. OAXACA: GOBIERNO SAQUEA RADIO COMUNITARIA INDÍGENA LA RABIOSA Hoy 29 de agosto por la mañana diversos cuerpos policiacos federales y locales saquean la radio comunitaria La Rabiosa en Huajuapan, Oaxaca de la organización CACTUS, adherente a La Otra Campaña. * Autoridades federales y oaxaqueñas asaltan y saquean radio comunitaria indígena en Oaxaca * Radio La Rabiosa, radio comunitaria mixteca transmitía desde el 103.5 FM * La radio comunitaria es impulsada por adherentes a La Otra Campaña * Continúa la escalada federal contra las radios comunitarias y las radios comunitarias indígenas . . . http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/08/29/18531053.php (with tower illustration, via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 12085, 1530- Aug 30, Voice of Mongolia. Rather good reception today after Tehran signed off at 1528. Distinctive IS at 1530 followed by the ID, 'This is the Voice of Mongolia'. A weak S2 signal, but in the clear with good modulation. Mostly Mongolian news items (Walt Salmaniw, Masset QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5985, 1532- Aug 28, Myanma Radio. Monitored this frequency non-stop from before 1:00. Nothing but non-stop music. At 1530 went into their English broadcast (the second and last for the day). Conditions had faded by this time, and subjected to strong adjacent splatter from BBCWS in English from Thailand (at excellent levels, by the way). 5985.0, 1533- Aug 27, Radio Myanma. Excellent reception with lovely local music for the past hour. Didn't notice any ID or IS at 1500, but when rechecked at 1534, English news in progress with local news --- General this and General that meeting with officers and presenting stationery, etc. ID at 1537, 'This program is coming to you from Myanma Radio', then into weather and news headlines. 9730.79, 1508- Aug 29, Minorities and Education service, Myanma Radio. Good reception with a chemistry lesson (with lots of chemical formulae). Off at 1530. Remained fairly strong throughout. Did not note any sign-off announcements, though (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 3935.07, 1426- Aug 27, ZLXA Reading Service just audible with English talk. Seems pretty rarely heard these days compared to years ago when I often had them at armchair level (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 9705, LV du Sahel, Niamey, 2215-2245, Aug 29, French talk. Variety of Afro-pops & French pops. Partially covered by India’s test tone starting at 2239 & their IS at 2243 completely covered Niger (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Radio Gotel Yola Nigeria 917 KHz --- Hi, This station is being widely heard as a heterodyne beat with 918 kHz in Europe which it "should" be on to conform with 9 kHz spacing. Very little information on it and no website/contact address. If you Google Radio Gotel Yola there's a reference to the transmitter having been stolen from elsewhere!! Clip attached, also on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALdaTpPAqLA ID is at 3:00 [minutes into file] (including their microphone hum!!) and then news in English at 1900 UT. Some QRM on the recording from Radio Benue, Nigeria on 918 kHz (beat note notched out). Recorded on 21st August. Benue can't be pleased with this 917 kHz station as it's close enough to cause them a lot of QRM. Station closes at 2300 UT each night but some E Coast DXers might hear it. Especially the whistle. Supposed to be 50 kW. It can sometimes be off air unexpectedly!! There's a weird phone in show from 2200 to 2300 before they close (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, August 31, WTFDA.info fora via Mike Bugaj, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) Must refer to this excerpt from page 2 of: http://allafrica.com/stories/200805070303.html?page=2 ``. . .In the few days running-up to the 26th April, 2008 elections, some night marauders, allegedly working for the Action Congress, broke into the transmitter station of the Adamawa Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), vandalizing cables and carting away some vital modules that forced the station to shut down for about twelve hours. The incident happened barely few hours after Admiral Nyako featured as guest in one of its popular Hausa programmes, "Taba Kidi Taba Karatu", where he made it explicitly clear that he will constitute an investigative panel to look in to some cases of impropriety by the Boni Administration. The theft of the cables and the modules were however linked in certain quarters to the desire by the Turaki to put on Air, his own radio station christened "Gotel". By some stroke of miracle co-incidence, (or was it?), Radio Gotel was test transmitting 48 hours later on Amplitude Modulation with a 50 KW capacity transmitter, similar to the state owned. That also brought about the million dollar question of how come that the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) continues to grant approvals to individuals or organizations other than the government as contained in the NBC regulation? Nagarta Radio, Kaduna, was the first. To the best of our knowledge, individuals and organizations are granted licenses to broadcast in Frequency Modulation (FM) only. The AM/MW radio is a dangerous tool for conflict in the hands of desperate politicians because of the range of its reach. Our nation's law makers should revisit the issue in a matter of urgent necessity. Then also came the allegation that the AM Transmitter operated by Radio Gotel was indeed the back-up transmitter to the one acquired by the Adamawa Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Yola, about two years ago by the Boni Government to which only one pair was installed, when in the actual sense, they are normally sold in pairs. Only a proper investigative panel may provide answers to these begging questions. . .`` More about it from Google: http://news.dailytrust.com/content/view/4804/27/ (via gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. On the road in OK, NM, AM and FM notes --- since NM and OK items are mixed in together by frequency, they are all in one list under USA below (gh) ** PAKISTAN [and non]. Pakistan will change their local time in November 2008 --- from DXAsia News Aug 29, 2008 (23 hours ago) The government of Pakistan has decided to postpone the change of local timings until the first week of November - so VOA Urdu service will continue to use the present timings and frequencies till the end of A08 schedule period. The current schedule is: MW 972 1539 kHz is available at 1300-0100 hrs SW service 0000-0100 on 7135 11755 kHz SW service 1300-1400 on 9340 15795 kHz (Alok Dasgupta via http://dxasia.info/news via Alokesh Gupta, Aug 30, dxldyg via DXLD) ** PALAU. 24/8 1334 - 9955 kHz, Canale libero/Free channel, Tests WHR probably Palau stopped? (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, R7 Drake, Satellit 500 Grundig, 2 DE1103 Degen, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PERU. 4826.40, Radio Sicuani, Sicuani, 0930 with música andina, improved signal, some fading but remained in till 1030. 30 August. Sicuani noted 2350 on 28 August. 4835.6, Radio Marañón, Jaén, off the air 0930 to 1110 on 30 August, very strong signal 1000 and 0000 rest of the week of 30 August. 4857.39, Radio La Hora, Cusco noted 2350 on 28 August with fair to good signal. Never noted 0900 to 1130 time period. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, US, Icom 746 Pro, NRD 535D, R75 Kiwa modified, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Decided to try a micro DXpedition last evening even though I wasn't expecting conditions to be very favorable. Turned out it wasn't too bad for LA. Unfortunately it was quite noisy. Used an Eton E1 and 315 foot BOG at 180 degrees. Here is what was heard. 4857.41, R. La Hora (presumed) 2315 M sounding like Spanish with what appeared to be a remote. Talk by M and W at 2339 with bird SFX briefly. Still going at 2352 M in Spanish and long live remote. Still going and QRMed at 0002 check, but gone when I checked at 0008. Noisy on the tropical bands. (29-30 August) 5486.6, R. Reina de la Selva (presumed) 2332 strong signal but almost no modulation. Was able to hear M talking in Spanish though. Would be easy if it was modulated at 100%. Gone by 2352 check. (29 August) 5470.68, R. San Nicolás (presumed) 2334 Definite LA pop music with drums prominent. Short canned echo announcement at 0022 check. (29-30 August) 5460.46, R. Bolívar, 2335 Also in here with music and just a bit weaker than San Nicolás. Still playing some lively LA Pops at 0009 check, M at 0012 with long announcement, then what seemed like deadair. (29-30 August) (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PERU. 6019.43, Radio Victoria, Lima, 0440-0507, Aug 29, Spanish preacher. Spanish announcements. Government mandated National Anthem at 0502. Spanish announcements at 0504 & Spanish ballads. Poor. Difficult copy with CRI via Sackville on 6020. In the clear but weaker on // 9719.97 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. The Romanian Radio Society SRI Your Station - as it was called in 1939 - broadcast its first radio programme on shortwave for those abroad. This event took place on February 12th at 1:30 pm. E.S.T. or 8:30 pm Bucharest time, when for 30 minutes, about 400 stations on two American sub-continents received and retransmitted the Romanian participation in radio programmes produced for the World Fair in New York. The live programme included a royal message and music was transmitted by cable to Geneva and relayed across the Atlantic Ocean in the 16 and 20 metre bands via the radio station of the League of Nations. This was a beginning for less than a year later, on January 1st 1940 the first Romanian short wave transmitter on 32,4 MHz [sic; meters? = 9213 to 9259 kHz depending on which conversion factor used -- gh] became operational and starting in 1941 Radio Bucharest began to broadcast one hour programmes in English, French, German and Italian. At the end of December 1947 there were five languages and about 1,000 hours of broadcasts and by 1957 there were 11 languages which covered 6,600 hours of broadcasts a year. After December 1989, broadcasts for abroad by Romanian Radio have been transmitted under the call of Radio Romania International, while broadcasting and journalist personnel have been enhanced to provide a programme policy which gives a fair and objective image of post- communist Romania. By 1991 RRI transmitted for 11.500 hours while in 1993 close to 13.000 hours, this means 55 daily programmes in 15 languages accounting for 35 hours aired on four channels. Feature built around station info released in 1994 on the station`s 55th anniversary dug out of the club's archives by Edwin Southwell (Radio Topics, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 12040, 1503- Aug 29, VOR World Service in English to Europe, at good to very good levels talking about the crisis in Georgia. No other // noted at this time (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 15510, Aug 30 at 1347 with pop songs by male singer in Russian, but 1350 announcement in a SW Asian language, 1358 VOR theme music. Per Aoki, at 12-14 this is Pashto/Dari, 250 kW, 140 degrees from Samara, so off-the-back here = 320 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15510, RUSSIA. VOR via Samara, 1332, 8/31/08. Pashto/ Dari service with both western style and ethnic vocals. Ethnic music featured plucked instruments. Fair signal with rapid fading (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8, Drake R8B, Microtelecom Perseus SDR, Alpha Delta SWL Slopper, Wellbrook 330S One Meter Loop, http://www.radiodx.net/wordpress/ Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SAINT HELENA. 11092.5, F/D 40th Anniversary QSL in 8 months from v/s Laura Lawrence. Card #188 dispatched from St. Helena on 080808. There seems to be a lot of 8's in this report. If I'm right, this is also my 8th QSL from this station (Mick Delmage, AB, Canada, DXplorer Aug 22 via BC-DX via DXLD) 11092.5, full-data 40th Anniversary QSL signed by Station Manager Laura Lawrence finally received in 251 days. Card is slightly different than previous cards with three photos of station announcers in lower right corner and 40th Anniversary of broadcasting and 10th Anniversary of SW broadcasts mentioned under the ZD7RSD call sign (Bruce W. Churchill, CA, DXplorer Aug 22 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** SAINT HELENA. Hello Mark, Radio St. Helena Day 2008 will be broadcast on 11092.5 KHz in USB on Saturday, 15. November 2008 as follows: ------------------------------------------------------------ Times UTC Target areas ------------------------------------------------- 2000-2100 Japan 2100-2230 Europe 2230-2330 North America Because of the very long "Revival" and "Double-Anniversary" transmissions in 2006 and 2007 and the especially heavy workload at Radio St. Helena during the entire second half of 2008, it was decided that RSD 2008 would be reduced to the above schedule. It is hoped that the times have been chosen so that reception in all areas will be acceptable. The QSL procedure is the same as in 2006 and 2007, and the QSL address is: Radio St. Helena, P. O. Box 93, Jamestown, St. Helena, STHL 1ZZ, South Atlantic Ocean Wishing everyone excellent listening conditions, Laura Lawrence, Station Manager Radio St. Helena (via Robert Kipp via Mark Nicholls, Chief Editor NZ DX Times, Aug 29, ripple via DXLD) ** SERBIA [non]. 6190. Tuned in at 0006 during news by YL who ended with a story about a new Monopoly game using Belgrade landmarks. Then usual multiple ID with "This is the international radio of Serbia. Stay tuned" repeated several times. Sign-off at 0029. Not very much logged this week because a recent thunderstorm virtually destroyed my 60-ft. sloper. Using a small longwire until I can get a new sloper up. Sorry there's nothing exciting. Maybe the new sloper will set me free when I can get it up. 73, (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA. Aug 29. Using a NRD 535D and a 30' longwire. Please stop laughing, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. 15650, IRRS, 1502-1545, Aug 29, tune-in to English news. IRRS ID at 1504 & into lite instrumental music. Program at 1515-1545 about medicine & drug development. Poor in noisy conditions. Lost in noise at 1545. Looking for Miraya 101 FM but only hear the normal IRRS English programming. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SUDAN [non] below ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. The Overcomer Ministry, 11520 presumably via Germany, Aug 31 at 2147 playing C&W tune, and not // WWRB 9385 which had Brother Scare talking, so initially not certain 11520 was same program, but previously determined it was some 2 minutes out of synch. By 2148 BS had started talking on 11520 too. See also USA: WWRB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. REE, 17595, Sunday Aug 31 at 1412 was playing an Egyptian male singer from years of yore. Nice, but does not match either program shown for domingos 1600 HOE+ at http://www.rtve.es/archivos/70-9383-FICHERO/ParrillaREE_2008_VERANO.pdf i.e. Tablero Deportivo and Corresponsales del Sur, so have they revamped their program schedule again without publishing an update? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Looks like a new schedule going into effect for RNE Radio 3, which has some great rock and electronic-music shows. http://www.rtve.es/radio/20080829/radio-pone-marcha-nueva-temporada/146171.shtml (Mike Cooper, Aug 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. IBB Iranawila, inbooming to OK on the other worldside; only wish SLBC could do as well. Like most relay hosts, they failed to demand access for their own broadcasts as a condition of IBB coming in --- or even to other sites in the same network. I refer to 15690 with R. Farda, 315 degrees toward Iran, Aug 30 at 1345 with a couple of IDs during music. 15790 with Aap ki Dunya, 332 degrees from SL for Pakistan, also very good at same time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Because they already demanded access to the 300 kW transmitters installed by NHK? What became of them now, with NHK gone? I understand that these transmitters are/were even property of SLBC. And what was the pre-Iranawila arrangement? In the past VOA sites used to locally insert s/on announcements "This is the Voice of America transmitter [location]". Not so here, in this case the announcement was "This is Colombo, broadcasting Voice of America program." A quite remarkable difference. And this matter also concerns Deutsche Welle; to my knowledge no local party is involved in any transmissions via Trincomalee, contrary to the situation on Malta (gone, but here even the whole equipment became property of the local authorities) and Sines (still in force; small airtime contingent for RDP, and I think Portugal also reserved some rights in regard to a use of the facilities for third parties, although they are arranged by DW via a Pro-Funk GmbH letter-box company because these are commercial activities). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. SLBC RE-LAUNCHES ENGLISH COMMERCIAL SERVICE Sunday, August 31, 2008 posted by Editor at 3:31 AM http://www.thecolombotimes.com/2008/08/slbc-re-launches-english-commercial.html A veteran broadcaster and Chairman of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Hudson Samarasinghe, instructed to re-launch English Commercial Service of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation to provide additional valuable hours for their listeners. According to Mr. Samarasinghe the re launching of the English service would commence from 1st of September. Earlier SLBC management has reduced local programmes of the English Commercial service and allocate more time belt for the BBC World Service. Mr. Samarasinghe has mediated with the BBC management and later reduced BBC time belt, which were used to broadcast BBC daily programmes. Due to this decision local listeners could listen to more programmes, music and other entertainment programmes. "It will once again resume its pristine glory. Programmes like Breakfast drive, Classic gold, Bright Spot, Your choice in music, Hits of the past will be aired, said Mr. Samarasinghe. Existing Programmes have been re-vamped and new programmes will be added to the channel. At present Sri Lanka has a number of English Radio Channels. However the English service has continued to receive a good response from listeners, he explained (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But does this have any bearing on SW transmissions? Of course they don`t bother to say (gh, DXLD) Andy Sennitt comments: This is a summary of a longer piece in the newspaper which is very badly written, apparently from a press release that is full of corporate gobbledygook. But the huge reduction in BBC material to make way for mostly entertainment programmes is certainly a major change of focus. Clearly SLBC wants to win back listeners who have migrated to the commercial stations in recent years (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. via SLOVAKIA. 15650, Miraya 101 FM, 1458-1515, Aug 30, tune-in to African tribal music. Time pips & IDs at 1501 followed by English news. Arabic talk at 1512. Weak but readable. Miraya 101 FM back today. Only the normal IRRS programming heard on this frequency yesterday (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. via Sines, Portugal, 17690, Sudan Radio Service, 1515- 1530, Aug 30, tune-in to English “Lets Talk” program about marriage and divorce. IDs. Into Arabic at 1530. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. RADIO SWEDEN SPECIAL 70TH BIRTHDAY BROADCAST LIVE FROM STUDIO FIVE http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/nyhetssidor/artikel.asp?nyheter=1&ProgramID=2054&Artikel=2278870 Ever since 1938 Radio Sweden has served as an important link between Sweden and the rest of the world. On Wednesday, September 3 we'll be celebrating our 70th birthday with special broadcasts, a panel discussion, and live music. Our first English broadcast of the day, at 1230 UT, will be a live program from Studio 5 at Broadcasting House in Stockholm. We'll be taking a look back at some of the major stories we've covered over the years, and talking with many guests, including some wellknown Radio Sweden voices from the past. That will be followed by a special panel debate in Swedish with a number of cultural and media personalities. The 1400 UT Swedish broadcast will also be live from Studio 5. The entire special program, from 1230 to 1630 UT, will be carried live in a special web broadcast. So don't fail to join us to celebrate our 70th, Live from Studio Five (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DXLD) So will English still be only half an hour at 1230, repeated at 1430, etc.? This is not clear (gh, DXLD) 2 comments so far: 1 SRG August 29th, 2008 - 16:38 UTC This press release is really confusing. What are the exact times for English and Swidish special live programming? 1230 to 1400 English and 1400 to 1630 Swedish? Wouldn’t it be better to have a live English program at 1430 when RS covers Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific? How long a 1230 SW English broadcast is gonna be? Usual 30 min. or longer? What about 1330 broadcast to Asia and the Pacific? Will it be live, as well? Just in case, here’s R.Sweden’s English SW schedule for a period of 1230 to 1600 UT: 1230-1300 15240 (290 } N.America 1330-1400 15735 (40 ) Asia and the Pacific 1430-1500 15240 (272 ) via Sackville N.America 1430-1500 13820 (100 ) Europe, Africa, M.East + Asia and the Pacific 1530-1600 11595 (120 ) Europe, Africa, M.East 2 Andy Sennitt August 29th, 2008 - 16:48 UTC It’s not a press release. The information is exactly as published on their website, except that I added the shortwave frequency. But the whole four hours is not going to be in English - some of it’s in Swedish. Unfortunately due to dealing with some breaking news stories, I did not have time to contact anyone at Radio Sweden, and I know they go home about 5 o’clock But at least we know something special is planned (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 12120, Radio Thailand, 0052-0105, Aug 30, still here with English programming. English talk to 0058. Gongs & National Anthem at 0100 followed by IS & programming in listed Thai at 0102. Poor under strong rtty station, but Thailand stronger than usual & able to make out some program details. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. I listened to almost the entire VOT Saturday Aug 30 broadcast, on webcast UT Sunday Aug 31 from 0305 to 0355+, when it is also via Canada 7325, and the fortnightly DX corner never appeared. They did have a talk for a special event Aug 30, the 86th (?) anniversary of some attack, which may have replaced it, or is it out of synch again, and DX Corner will be on next week and fortnightly thereafter? My DX/SWL/Media programs listing at http://www.worldoradio.com/dxpgms.html will have to be annotated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Dear Friends, Voice of Turkey is Turkey's resonant voice and it will continue serving as such in the forthcoming broadcasting term to start on July 1st, 2008. Your wishes and expectations are of great importance for us as they shape our programming, and we will do our best, in this term to comply with your views and not to make any concessions regarding our standards. As part of our mission to bring Turkey's vision to you we have some new programmes in the new broadcasting term which we hope you will find interesting: TURKEY AND ENERGY: This new programme introduces the energy policies and the work carried out in this field by Turkey, which is located right in the heart of the regional and global energy routes. It looks at the issue of energy throughout history and Turkey's relations with the neighbouring countries, all of which are rich in energy resources. TRAILING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR HERITAGE: The Turkish populace in the Caucasus is a neglected community an the programme accentuates this reality and sheds light on the common history of the Caucasus, Russia and Turkey on the basis of a Caucasian Turkish nationalist's life story, which is aimed at better understanding the developments and problems of the present day. THE BLACK SEA: The relations in the Black Sea, among them Turkey, the importance of the Black Sea in international relations, Black Sea organizations and Turkey's ideas and views in this regard are what this programme deals with. YET MORE LETTERS FROM MERYEM: Meryem is a name common both in Christian and Islamic cultures. Meryem speaks about herself and the environment she is living in. The programme has an approach of friendliness, providing an in-depth understanding of various aspects of Turkey in the format of letters penned by an imaginary person who goes by the name of Meryem. Internet address: http://www.trt.net.tr E-Mail address: englishdesk @ trt.net.tr TRT Voice of Turkey Radio PK 333 Yenisehir 06443 Ankara, Turkey TRT Voice of Turkey Radio, Tiiran Gunes Bulvan, OR-AN 06450 Ankara, Turkey (via Ray Barrett, Radio Topics, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Don`t forget the cedilla under the S of Yenisehir. It would have been nice if they had bothered to mention at least the days these programmes are broadcast if not the approx. times within the 50-55 minute transmissions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. It may be impossible to find any info on the VOA website about temporary programming and frequency changes, but at least they make announcements about it. Aug 29 at 0628 on 6180 Greenville, after the DemoCon was over, VOA African service plugged its live coverage next week of the RepubCon, which would be at 0100- 0300 on 15580 and 6080, Sept 1-4 --- in UT, that apparently means it starts on Sunday evening before the con, or did VOA lapse into local days mixed with Universal time? Also mentioned a special evening transmission on same two frequencies, but I was not ready to copy and missed the details. Anyhow, 6080 was previously reported on the air before its usual *0300 when it is São Tomé. As for 15580, seems unlikely that would be usable from an African site that early in the morning, so maybe from another site to the east in Asia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOA ELECTION COVERAGE VIA NEW WEBSITE AND (IF ONE WERE TO KNOW) VIA RADIO VOA's new election coverage website is http://www.usavotes2008.com Also additional times and frequencies for VOA radio coverage of the Democratic and Republic conventions. However, the added frequencies are apparently not publicized anywhere, so presumably listeners must happen upon them while tuning their shortwave radios. As the only IBB employee specifically prohibited from receiving IBB Engineering frequency change memos, I can't help in this regard. This prohibition stems from my past tendency of passing schedule information on to the audience. Doing that, of course, increased the risk of VOA transmissions being intercepted by listeners. In the post 9-11 world, we can never be too careful. -- See also discussion in DX Listening Digest, 28 August 2008 [as above]. Posted: 30 Aug 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Here are plans for VOA coverage during the Republican Con, Sept 2nd to 5th, 0100-0300 u.o.s., altho may be changed at last minute if the Reps change own sked due to Gustav: Botswana 9885 WAf/CAf 12080 Af Iranawila 9780 India/Pakistan/Afghanistan/Kazakhstan 0200-0300 Poro 12065 SEAs/SAs/ME/NE 15625 Malaysia/Indonesia/WAu São Tomé 6080 SAf/Madagascar 15580 SAf/Madagascar Tinang 13715 Hong Kong/China/Mongolia 15595 Taiwan/Korea/Japan 0130-0300 Udornthani 11705 India/Pakistan/ME/NE 0200-0300 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also PAKISTAN ** U S A. Hi, all! Fine reception last night here in St. Louis for Allan Weiner Worldwide (0000 UT Aug. 30) using three different portable SW radios (Sony 2010, Eton E1, & Eton S350DL) as I am cat- sitting this weekend at my next-door neighbors' (& indulging in cable- TV watching -- I don't have cable). Have no idea why last week's broadcast was completely undetectable here using my usually-best-SW- reception radio, a Grundig Satellit 800 with a random wire; that's why I had said it was not transmitted. Lots of discussion of the financial situation at WBCQ, and a confirmation that the relay of WBAI's "Off The Hook" was dropped due to the fact that they could no longer pay for the SW airtime. If any DXLDers who were SW listeners to the relay ever pledge to WBAI's fund drives, you might request that your pledge monies are directed to this expenditure. However, the 2600 people on that program seemed reluctant to ever mention the SW relay, or acknowledge the "free radio" aspect of WBCQ, which would eliminate the content restriction they have to suffer on WBAI itself. I tried to bring it up several times when I called into their phone-callers segment and was lucky enough to have my call picked up, but it was only one faint mention overshadowed by the mass of other content. 73 (Will Martin, St Louis MO, Aug 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks, Will! You brought three radios with you for a cat-sitting? Why don't you turn that cable TV off and call it a DX-pedition? :) I assume you were listening to Allan on 7415. Now his program is simulcast on 5110 which is a good thing as we are approaching the fall/winter season. An Aug. 29 Allan Weiner Worldwide makes for a good listen. An off-air recording can be found at http://johnlightning.com/wbcq/aww A first half of the program includes some programming updates. A new 30-min. program Sparky Vision will start on Mon. Sept. 8. (No exact time is given.) Allan mentions that his program is now re-run Mon.- Fri. at 3 pm EDT on 7415. This airtime is available for purchase. It takes 100 kW to run a 50 kW transmitter on 7415. So if there is more that one hour of unsold airtime the transmitter is turned off. As a result, 7415 is off Tue. and Wed. 5-8pm EDT (2100-2400 UT) and Thu. 5-7 pm (2100-2300 UT). On Sat. it starts at 6 pm EDT (2200 UT). Quote from the program: "It's [an airtime] buyers' market. It's tough! It's going to be very hard for WBCQ this winter. In November the local power company goes to what is known as 'winter rates' with a bogus fuel service surcharge that is linked to the price of fuel... [Listeners'] donations will be very much welcome. We are in the red, bills are piling up." But Allan doesn't want donations from people who live on a limited budget and cannot afford sending money to others. Also, free broadcasters who cannot afford buying airtime are welcome to apply to be be included in a daily Area 51 programming bloc 2300-0100 UT on 5110. And last but not least: on September 8, 2008 WBCQ will turning 10 (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, ibid.) AREA 51 SCHEDULE, AUGUST 31 TO SEPTEMBER 6, 2008 Area 51 runs daily on WBCQ 5110 from 7 to 9 pm Eastern time (2300-0100 UT). Comments can be directed to radio [at] zappahead [dot] net. Although we try to plan in advance, this schedule is subject to change without notice! Sunday 8/31, 2300: Radio Jamba International (live) Monday, 9/1, 0000: Sycko Radio (live) Monday, 9/1, 2300: Jean's Disco Show (live) Tuesday, 9/2, 0000: Jean's Disco Show (live) Tuesday, 9/2, 2300: National Cynical Network, Needle In The Red Wednesday, 9/3, 0000: National Cynical Network, Needle In The Red Wednesday, 9/3, 2300: Radio Free Euphoria Thursday, 9/4, 0000: Radio Azteca Thursday, 9/4, 2300: The Michael Ketter Show Friday, 9/5, 0000: You Are What You Think Friday, 9/5, 2300: World of Radio ************* Friday, 9/5, 2330: International Radio Report Saturday, 9/6, 0000: Allan Weiner Worldwide (live) // 7415 Saturday, 9/6, 2300: The Lumpy Gravy Radio Show (live) // 7415 Sunday, 9/7, 0000: Radio Timtron Worldwide (live) // 7415 Regards, (Larry Will (via wbcq.com), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 4910, WWCR Spur, 0005-0025+, Aug 29, very weak mixing product of 5070 & 9980. // 9980 with English religious talk. 9980 - 5070 = 4910. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`ve noticed that WWCR`s modulation has improved. It used to have quite a degree of distortion, but on checking WORLD OF RADIO on 5070 and 3215 UT Sunday Aug 31, it was pleasantly clear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KAIJ Frisco TX dismantled. Wondering if this was old news. I drove by KAIJ about a month ago to find their wire log periodic had been removed, leaving the towers (and the old towers of their previous corner reflector system). Drove up to the building to find the door swinging open, so I took a peek inside. All equipment has been removed, and the building apparently raided for its copper. Left behind were leavings of the live-in technician (and his family?). Also large amounts of trash and several waist-high oil-filled capacitors inside an old storage container (very nasty). (Pete, Aug 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yet KAIJ still coordinates B-08 frequencies (gh) ** U S A. 11740 had open carrier long before 2200 Sat Aug 30; at 2205 check WYFR was in English, an introductory philatelic discussion about topicals with a sub-official of http://www.stamps.org --- the American Philatelic Society. Host pronounces philately with a long A. I only listened for a few minutes, but during that time it seemed secular, no religious undertones! Turned out to be part 1 of a show called For the Record, from Family Radio; and part 2 from 2214 would be about Alzheimer`s Disease. I assume the stamp segment was just a fluke and not a regular repeatable feature. VG signal. See also EQUATORIAL GUINEA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-094, BBC News copy on WRNO: I don't know of other US- based commercial/religious SW stations that would bother themselves with producing such news bulletins. At best, they carry national news networks like SRN. So I guess we should give a credit to WRNO. Sure, their news aren't perfect but it's a start. Sounds like BBC is after a big buck in NA market. It's not so easy/cheap to become BBC's affiliate anymore. Maybe WRNO should consider relaying DW English news once they get tired of producing their own bulletins (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, dxldyg via DX LSITENING DIGEST) I wonder if the BBC knows about this? Not sure they would be took keen on BBC news being used in this way - especially if items are being re- edited and then attributed to the BBC (Dave Kenny, UK, ibid.) ** U S A. WRNO missing from 7505, Aug 31 at 0218 during their only scheduled 0100-0400 broadcast. Perhaps they have battened down the hatches in New Orleans or even dismantled the antenna in preparation for Hurricane Gustav? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Not everything on WWRB 3185 is Brother Scare; UT Sunday Aug 31 at 0223 the Bluegrass Gospel Hour was in progress, country-boy accented preacher giving address repeatedly of P O Box 3451, Hueytown /spelt/, AL 25023. Audio a bit muffled. Is this Mike Gibson, shown on the Global 1 schedule at http://www.wwrb.org/schedule/global_1/combined.pdf for 10-11 pm, timezone unspecified, on Saturdays? Meanwhile, BS was on two other WWRB frequencies, 5745 and 6890. He does not start on 3185 until midnight in some timezone or other and then runs 9 hours straight. Personally, I need much more than 9 hours straight to satisfy my craving for the revelations of the Last Day Prophet of God (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWL-870 is a daytime regular here due to the seapath across the Gulf of Mexico and is actually more difficult to hear at night due to skywave fading and QRM (for example, a Radio Reloj outlet was clearly audible under them last night). They were giving evacuation instructions and speaking with mayors of nearby cities (they were interviewing the mayor of Kenner during the time I listened). WWL's signal is, as usual, strong here today so I should be able to monitor the station as long as it is on the air. Fortunately, the projected intensification of Gustav has not happened so far this morning and it looks as if there is a good chance it will be only a category 2 storm by landfall. While a serious situation, it is short of the catastrophe that a category 4 hurricane would produce. (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, Aug 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is there any streaming audio from a radio broadcaster in the area that has a decent news format? (Chris Trask, AZ, ibid.) WWL 870 has been running continuous hurricane-related programming and news. http://www.wwl.com (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, ibid.) I was listening to it direct on 870 around 0600 Aug 31 (gh) Last night, other NOLA area Entercom stations (including several music-based FM's) were simulcasting with WWL as a long list station calls were given at the TOH ID for WWL (Fritze, KC5KBV H. Prentice, Jr., Star City, AR http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com Aug 31, WTFDA via DXLD) Live TV from New Orleans http://www.wwltv.com/video/?nvid=57429&live=yes (Andrew O'Brien, NY, ibid.) I was also watching this for a while online, interrupted by black screen during commercials, and also dropping off probably due to overload (gh) Here are four New Orleans TV stations, all on one page: http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/gustav.html (W5DRP, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. Checking my old bookmark for WWL via WHRI, which lasted several weeks following Katrina, I find the page http://www.whri.com/index.cfm/fa/wwl has nothing about that now, but leads to a neat zoom-in from satellite on each of the three WHR transmitter sites. What about Palau, q.v.?? WWL`s old page about SW relays is also gone; it was: http://www.wwl.com/Article.asp?id=114239 IIRC it was left up a long time after the relays ended. I suppose a repeat performance is unlikely unless WWL suffers a devastating loss of 870 coverage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. On the road in OK, NM, AM and FM notes --- {replies since original post have been inserted in brackets} Notes from my trip to Santa Fe NM and back to Enid for a week in August, Nissan Sentra 2004 caradio, a lot better than my previous ones. FCC AM and FM queries have been checked in most cases; also referenced NRC AM Log 2007, now one year old, and possibly some calls or other info outdated now. Latest FM Atlas sometimes consulted, now 3 years old. All dates and times strictly UT! Rearranged by frequency order, altho continuity would be better in chrono order --- 640, 2308 Aug 19, WWLS Moore OK was still audible into NE NM around Clayton, with call-in, probably sports talk, what else? Their IBOC was a nuisance further east but maybe not this far. 760, 2134 Aug 19, ID as ``Colorado`s Progressive Radio``, Randi Rhodes show but with constant picket-fence breaks in modulation! Is no one paying attention? That`s 50 kW KKZN Thornton, in NRC AM Log 2007 as ``Boulder`s Progressive Radio``; maybe they use both. Nice to be getting toward the end of OK where we can axually hear something other than the far right on commercial AM radio! Signal does not compare to 50 kW KOA (W of Guymon OK on US 412) 790, 2123 Aug 26, Roger Miller singing ``K.C. Star``, mixing with talk station at 152/minute SAH = 2.53 Hz. Music from K-XXX, Colby KS, talk from KFYO Lubbock TX (West of Boise City OK on US 412) 860, 2127 Aug 26, no doubt KPAN Hereford TX was the station bothered by IBOC from KOA-850 Denver, in the daytime (W of Boise City OK on US 412) 1040, 2130 Aug 26, medical talk or infomercial, 1-800-395-1904, Dr Pinkus` Ultimate Health Care, then closing show ``Discoveries in Health`` with Chris McKay, from the KCBR Info Center, 2132 ``Healthline Live``. This is Monument CO (Colorado Springs), another strangely powered 15 kW station. But to me, KCBR will always be ``the Voice of America station in Delano, California, signing off`` 1210, KGYN Guymon OK, we drive right past E of town on US 412, with its three towers in a straight line aimed at Philadelphia, but might as well be one for often running ND at night. At 2057 Aug 19 near the site, I was getting IBOC-like noise on 1140, and a match on 1280, but the latter obscured by Liberal KS on 1270. So KGYN puts out spurs plus and minus 70 kHz. For a few miles along US 412, KGYN also desensitizes the entire MW band on caradio with its 10 kW. It will be a relief if they ever manage to move this to OKC, but a loss of local radio for the Panhandle. A pickup was parked next to the shack with call letters on it. On the way back we passed it again and took a photo of the three towers and the shack. 1340, 2300+ Aug 19, at Clayton NM, we started looking for KSSR Santa Rosa NM, whose activity has been in question. It is not currently on NRC`s silent stations list, and FCC shows it still licensed. We were hearing at least two 1340 stations, one of which was KVOT Taos NM, another progressive station, now with Rachel Maddow show on Air America, the other ``Sports Radio 1340`` making a rumbling het, and fading up at 2305 as skywave may have been starting to kick in, west Texas forecast, 1-866-290-6868 ad about credit. KKAM Lubbock is the one that fits. Further into NM on US 412 kept looking for signs of KSSR, but KVOT improved as we got closer to it; at 2332 PSA for Albuquerque Museum i.a., mentioning Taos, more Maddow. (BTW, Rachel is getting her own show on MSNBC following Countdown at 0100 UT starting September 9. Can`t say we are surprised, as her star has been rising as a frequent contributor and sub-host on Countdown, but what becomes of Dan Abrams, Verdict? It`s already gone for elexion special Aug 30. And will she keep doing her Air America show despite the pay differential?) It turned out we did not make it to my old hometown of Santa Rosa on this trip, but the closest point was on I-25 near Las Vegas, US 84 exit at 1950 Aug 25, and there was still no KSSR to be heard, so I am confident it was off. Nor could I hear Santa Rosa on 95.9, but did not expect to from there as it has always been QRP along I-40, audible only within a few miles of the town. At 1934 Aug 25, 1340 bore ``Northern New Mexico`s progressive talk, KVOT, the Voice of Taos``. This frequency was reactivated in Taos a few years ago after several years of silence since KKIT closed (named for Kit Carson). See DXLD 5- 177 for our previous report about Santa Rosa and much more, under USA. {Glenn, Sounds like a fun trip. One of the highlights of any trip is DXing along the way. Concerning Santa Rosa, 1340 continues to be silent. The FM is on the tower at about 150' so they don't set the woods on fire. When we changed our day pattern last year we swung the northern lobe east about 20 degrees, with almost 1 mv we now put the strongest AM signal into SR and close to 2 mv into Fort Sumner. Few people realize they shot some scenes for the "Grapes of Wrath" in Santa Rosa. Beautiful little classic town. Hope all is well, (Jerry Kiefer, KCKN 1020, Roswell NM, DX LISTENING DIGEST)} 1520, KOKC, OKC, 2315 Aug 19, sports talk, uncertain if remnants of groundwave, or skywave had started. WWLS 640 also heard a few minutes earlier (W of Clayton NM on US 412) 1530, 2317 Aug 19, ``Legends 15-30, KCMN`` Colorado Springs. Live DJ with ``Forgotten 45s`` oldies such as Aznavour on ``your drive home`` (? I am nowhere near home and getting further away by the minute), long pauses between cuts. NRC AM Log 2007 shows this one with odd power of 15 kW. Another good station for oldies, tho probably syndicated, is 93.9 Ratón, KRTN (west of Clayton NM on US 412) 1550, 1951 Aug 19, norteña music featuring accordion, atop another station. 1957 announcement talking over music sounded like ``Está escuchando --- sucia`` or that`s what it sounded like, sucia meaning feminine dirty! No ID at TOH, no announcements at all until 2014 as I suspect the DJ had stepped out for a smoke break, then ``La Potencia, 15-50, KDCC``, i.e. Dodge City KS, and the other one with a SAH of about 6 Hz would be Canyon TX` listed KZRK. Both are only 1 kW. 1570, back in Enid around 2000 Aug 28, found new talking house at 1330 West Elm, low het but not sure if off-frequency or on their loop. Woman extolling house virtues, and like others we have heard here, also extolling the talking-house concept. Range 2 or 4 blox only, and by downtown Enid fortunately inaudible, so we can hear weakly standards from KZLI Catoosa. But the next-door neighbors are doubtless deprived of XERF at night until it`s sold. {Interesting for a couple of reasons, One that it's on 1570 home to local KNDY and second because I called 1909 West Elm home during my stay in Enid. I moved out eleven years ago so memories of the neighborhood are starting to fade a bit. I presume they're using some Part 15 device and that they look for some non-local "open" frequency to set up shop? Do they have a sign out front with the frequency posted? 73, de (Nate Bargmann, KS, N0NB, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)} {The sign in front of the house shows the frequency, or we might never have noticed it; refers to Smith Realty, phone 233-4040 and also to the agent on the recording, Samantha (Sam), Sabedra --- is that an anglicization of Saavedra? No Spanish accent, and she speaks quite slowly and distinctly, which is no advantage when idling in front of the house waiting for her to get around to mentioning the price again, $55,900, but helps readability vs the continuous big hum. Her own number is 580-554-7279. Abode has new electrical and plumbing featuring no galvanized pipes. In promoting Talking House sales method, claims she is the only agent in the area using it, and it is at no extra cost to clients. She has lived here for 20 years and has been realtor a hefty 2 years! Opens with ``Hi, neighbors!`` -- gh} 1590, 1950 Aug 19, a slow SAH of about 0.5 Hz between KWEY Weatherford OK, and KVGB Great Bend KS, the latter atop with ID as ``AM 15-90, KVGB, The Talk of the Town`` (W of Woodward OK on US 412) 1610, 2300 Aug 19 at Clayton NM, no sign of any TIS on this, 530 or any other MW frequency. I believe there had been some speculation that one was active here. 1660, 0038 UT Wed Aug 27, baseball game, and Royals mentioned, heard from near Woodward OK. Dominant signal and I figured it had to be KXTR Kansas City departing from its classical format, but not so sure after further research. Royals website says 610 is the flagship, except on Sundays 980, but I believe all these are commonly owned, so 1660 sometimes carries BB instead? KXTR website has no info about its own programming after the morning hours, but nothing about baseball. If not KXTR, must be KRZI Waco or maybe KQWB Fargo, both sports format. {Yes, it is KXTR! UT Sunday Aug 31 at 0032 on 1660 I was hearing definite KC ads, including mentions of Shawnee Mission, and then back to baseball. So how much classical format is left?} {Glenn: KXTR-1660 broadcasts Kansas City T-Bones baseball games. The T-Bones are an independent team in the Northern League. Occasionally their announcers deviate from the game and talk about the Royals. This weekend the T-Bones play the Red Hawks from Fargo-Morehead, not to be confused for the Oklahoma City team. Most nights KQWB-1660, West Fargo ND, dominates the frequency here northwest of Perry OK. They are an ESPN Radio affiliate who broadcasts Chicago Cubs games. If conditions aren't favorable, another ESPN affiliate, KRZI-1660, Waco TX, is heard instead. Good report, thanks (Richard Allen, OK, MWC via DXLD) 88.1 and 88.9, 2106 Aug 19 in Guymon OK, is occupied by a KHYM gospel- huxter network translator, and High Plains Public Radio translator is still on 88.9 with 250 watts. When KHYM gets its non-translator going on 88.9, HPPR will switch to 88.1 with 1 kW, but not yet. At 2106 Aug 19, we could not help but notice that during NPR ATC, the 88.9 translator was running 7.5 seconds ahead of KTOT 89.5; why? Probably one with a deliberate delay to match `HD`, and the other not. FCC shows licensee of some HPPR relays as Kanza Society, Inc., others as Top O` Texas Educational Broadcasting Foundation; why? 88.1: KGOU at OU in Norman has been planning a full-power relay at Woodward. I thought they had a CP, but FCC now shows an modified application 7/31/08 for 88.1, only 23.4 kW non-direxional. Still not on the air, and when it is, 88.3 may have to go: 88.3, 1930 Aug 19, Mission Network News, referring to Beaver OK, KHYM ID. Nearest station is K202DC, Shattuck, 230 watts, Great Plains Christian Radio, same owner as KHYM which is 103.9 Copeland KS, hub of a regional gospel-huxter network. I had previously assumed this was in Woodward. (W of Woodward OK on US 412) 88.3, BTW, I didn`t hear it, but I see in FCC FM Query that KTOT/HPPR now has a licensed translator in Elk City OK: K202AG 202 D FX 88.3 MHz LIC ELK CITY OK US BLFT-20060711ACQ - 72169 0.038 kW 0. m I only wish they would put one in Enid where we have NO local public radio, despite much larger population than many little towns with such translators. 89.5, KTOT Spearman TX, the full-power HPPR relay which reaches as far east as Woodward, and well past Guymon to the west. In many spots it was a toss-up whether it or a closer translator would provide best reception, or for that matter 91.1 Garden City, KANZ, the home station. In the fringe area of KTOT Spearman TX around Woodward OK, bothered by same NPR programming with an echo from a second 89.5 station, probably remnants of KHCD Salina KS. In Enid we have the same problem on 89.1 between KMUW Wichita KS and KYCU Clinton OK. 89.5, 2344 Aug 19, NPR ATC mixing with Radio Reader. Should be KENW Portales NM direct, and KTOT HPPR Spearman TX, no longer very close, but RR matches latter schedule at 6:30 pm. KTSC Pueblo CO ruled out as a student station (US 412 in NM, mile 45) 90.1, 2308 Aug 19 in Clayton NM I was hearing a KJIL translator – another gospel-huxter network originating in Kansas, but this must have been the one in nearby Felt OK, K211CM. They have a CP for another one on 90.1, the other side of Boise City at Keyes OK, K214CH. 90.1, 2142 Aug 25, religious station but audio cuts out irregularly about 10x per minute. Is no one paying attention? Heard from Philmont Scout Ranch, S of Cimarrón NM. First thought was KRDR Red River NM, not too far away crowflyingly but range very limited by mountain blockage, and not supposed to be gospel-huxtering. Apparently instead is AFA translator in Ratón NM, K211CE, 250 watts, minus 74m antenna. A Google search on mentioned `New Tribes Mission` 90.1 hit an Oct 2001 newsletter of Answers Update, showing its program Answers with Ken Ham carried on a translator on 90.1 in Ratón. Thought I heard a callsign like KFRG or something phonetically similar. KFRG is a CBS station on 95.1 in San Bernardino CA, so does not compute. 90.3, 2204 Aug 19, HPPR // 89.5 KTOT and synchro with it. K212EN, Elkhart KS, another border town, 250 watts with a CP for 205 (W of Guymon on US 412) 90.5, HPPR has a CP for a translator in Hooker OK, halfway between Guymon OK and Liberal KS on US 54, 30 kW, 123 meters. That should fill some gaps and make nearby translators unnecessary, including Guymon? 90.7, for months, KSFR Santa Fe NM, public radio, had been simulcasting on this its original frequency and 101.1 COL White Rock as KSFQ, acquired from a failing commercial broadcaster. Now KSFR is on 101.1 only, and 90.7 has a gospel huxter. Per FCC, 90.7 now has the KSFQ calls with 3 kW in Santa Fe, and same operator, so-called Educational Media Foundation also runs KQRI on 90.7 in Belén on the other side of Albuquerque. Inside the city of Santa Fe itself, 90.7 remains a better signal than 101.1, q.v. 91.1, KEDP, Las Vegas NM. On many previous visits, the station has been missing, perhaps silent summers, but this time it was heard around 1500 UT Aug 21. New Mexico Highlands University also has applications in for stations in other towns, some of which are MX. KEDP has never amounted to much as a little student station, but perhaps NMHU has plans for some more significant broadcasting services. FCC FM Query shows these: Class MHz City kW ERP HAAT m C 88.7 Milan 16.5 845 [near Grants] C2 89.3 Newcomb 0.65 698 [S of Shiprock on US `666`] C3 89.5 Española 5 180 A 89.9 Ratón 0.38 -86 C2 90.3 Romeroville 50 -41 [near Las Vegas] A 91.3 Clayton 4.5 116 A 91.3 Clovis 6 96 91.3: In Clayton NM I was hearing a religious station on 91.3. Per FCC FM query, it`s currently a translator of La Promesa Foundation, K217CM with 140 watts at 74m, but there are three MX apps for non-translators on the frequency, one by the same foundation, one by the notorious gospel-huxter network, AFA, and the other by NM Highlands University (HQ: Las Vegas; see above). Naturally, I am rooting for the latter. 91.7, before 2200 Aug 19, rock music, presumed the real KPSU at Panhandle State University, Goodwell OK, active (W of Guymon on US 412 closest to Goodwell) 91.9, HPPR has a CP in Guymon for 200 watts, in addition to 88.1. Surely this one would be ruled out due to 91.7 Goodwell? 92.7, KKBS Guymon OK, billboard in town shows second frequency 100.5: that`s K263AQ Liberal KS, 250 watts, and not audible in Guymon itself. 93.5: In Clayton NM, and for just a few miles around, one can hear the KENW translator on 93.5, K228DP, listed as 170 watts, but only 78 meters AAT, minuscule coverage compared to // 106.1 atop Sierra Grande, with lower power, and I would have thought the 93.5 range does not even justify the listed power and height. 93.5, ``Sunny 93-5``, classic hits, 2340 Aug 19, at mile 50 of US 412 in NM, W of Clayton, way beyond the range of the Clayton 93.5 KENW translator. The only ``Sunny 93-5`` anywhere in the west I can find is KSNN in St George, SW corner of Utah, but that`s way too far for groundwave across the Rockies, and too close for Es. Is there anything nearer? {Sunny 93-5 is KLMR in Lamar CO. Both myself and Saul [Chernos, Ont.] heard them via Es this summer and I ran into the same problem as you finding only the match in SW Utah originally, but this one was cleared up and is indeed KLMR, 100 kW. Their website http://www.myhometeamsports.com/KLMR.html has a single mention of the slogan (Chris Kadlec, Fremont, Mich., DX LISTENING DIGEST)} 95.7, 1959 Aug 25, at Las Vegas NM, was hearing LPFM station there, KLYN-LP, seems with rightwing talk mentioning http://www.myspace.com/KLYN957 which also calls it: The Voice of Las Vegas, and "Las Vegas' newest Christian radio station with Flare!" --- Male 100 years old, LAS VEGAS, New Mexico, United States. We are on the air 24 hours! Coming Soon: Friday and Saturday Night “Cruise Show” Las Vegas’ most diverse Radio Station, Playing: Christian Worship, Contemporary, HipHop, R&B, Rap, lots of Spanish, Rock, Alternative Rock, Ska, and Reggeaton [sic]! FCC shows: 0.003 kW 169.8 m THE ROCK CHRISTIAN OUTREACH, i.e. 3 watts. Solid signal in town. 101.1, KSFR White Rock-Santa Fe, ex-90.7. The move is now complete, and coverage S and W of Santa Fe is supposedly improved greatly, but it certainly is not any better to the N and E on I-25. Furthermore, in Santa Fe itself, trying to listen on a walkman, I found 101.1 breaking up and getting QRM from something else. I listen to it a lot more in Enid by webcast where the RF change makes no difference. See also 90.7. 105.7, 1938 Aug 19, classical mixing with talk, and // 89.5. This is the High Plains Public Radio outlet in Amarillo, KJJP, another of those fire-sale ex-commercial FMs snapped up by PR. 43 kW with a 1 kW backup, says FCC. Interesting that in OK and nearby TX we now have two public radios on 105.7, the other being KROU Spencer/OKC, relaying KGOU Norman, which have been relegated to the commercial band from their outset, since OU foolishly sold off its heritage WNAD 640. (W of Woodward on US 412) 106.1, the little translator of KENW Portales with a great site atop Sierra Grande near Des Moines NM (COL), K291AD, only 116 watts, but huge coverage from 611 meters above average terrain and 2670 m above mean sea level. We first hear it east of Boise City OK, where it is very much needed as we are losing access to HPPR via the various translators and relays in KS, OK and TX. Unfortunately, KENW still runs this `beautiful music` format until 4 pm weekdays, so none of the NPR newstalk shows, just news on the hour, and 2-minute features every quarter hour, such as Earth & Sky, etc., etc. Later from the rim of Capulín Volcano we had a clear shot for some photos at max zoom of the K291AD and other towers atop Sierra Grande across the valley. AFAIK none of the others are for broadcast stations. FCC TV Query does have an application for a channel 6 digital on Sierra Grande, http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=137605 KENW has an application for 3 kW on 88.5 from slightly different coördinates on Sierra Grande, I suppose eventually to replace 106.1. There is also a CP for an 82 kW commercial station, KHOD on 105.3, from exactly the same coordinates as 88.5. Did not know about 105.3 while in the area so did not check whether it is already on the air. In western Cimarrón County, OK, and just over the border in Union County NM on US 412, was hearing rapid clix on certain MW frequencies, obscuring weak broadcast stations, such as 1390, 1380, 1370, 1360, 1350, 1330 and various spots as low as 1070. These were no doubt harmonix of the Boise City OK LORAN-C station. Fortunately there were some open spots such as 1500 and especially 1340 where I wanted to hear KSSR Santa Rosa NM if it was on, q.v. above. All about LORAN-C at Boise City, except WTFK??? at http://www.loran-history.info/boise_city/boise_city.htm Including a satellite photo of it. The proudly displayed coordinates are 36-30-20.783 N, 103-53-59.487 W which puts it just NW of the very small town of Felt OK, rather than Boise City. The clix were no longer heard by the time we got to Clayton NM. {Thanks, Glenn, I was stationed at the now decomissioned LORSTA at Sitkinak Island, Alaska in the 1970's (Wayne Heinen, CO, Aug 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST)} A strange pole with antennas on it, not too high, and not of the usual cellphone appearance, on the N side of US 412, just W of mile 31 in NM between Clayton and Springer. Something to check closer next time. Near the wind farm west of Woodward, I noticed annoying whines on certain FM ranges extending 1 or 2 channels above and below: 91.3, 95.5, 99.4, 103.6, 107.3. The windmills are some distance from the road, so suspected this was coincidental, car-generated, and uncovered due to absence of local broadcast signals in this area. Whine still heard on 95.5 in Clayton NM area (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {I would not rule out the windmills as culprits, in particular their power converter systems. Reminds me on the Siemens-made trainsets mostly known as ICE: When listening to the radio on a train ride I get clear whines everytime such a trainset passes by on the neighbouring track. And listening within such a Siemens/ICE train is basically limited to local and local-like signals (on FM), anything else (and even local AM signals) gets drowned out by all the HF garbage. I fear I'm too lazy to take the radio with me now, so I can only add another own experience with big windmills (2 megawatts models): They produce annoying amounts of [sonic] noise. Here I mean not just the swooosh-swooosh-swooosh of the blades when running, also the equipment itself is quite noisy, audible over at least 300 metres, with fans appearing to be the major but probably not only source of the racket (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST)} {Hi Glen[n]. The trip across the dials in NM was especially nostalgic for me as I was born in Albuquerque in 1946, grew up and worked as a DJ gypsy in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Clovis, Roswell and Truth or Consequences at commercial stations. Moved east several years later and worked for VOA in Washington and now retired in Philly area. But man your trip sure brought back some fond memories. Thank you. (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)} {Nice reading Glenn. Most of stuff a pipe dream for this side of "The Pond" but never the less very interesting (Barry Davies, UK, MWC via DXLD)} {Hi Glenn, I enjoyed reading your account of your trip to Santa Fe via MWC list. I’m sitting here (near Hull, England) listening to a rather poor overnight recording of, at the moment, 1120 KMOX. On the advice of Martin Hall, when in London recently I bought a USA and Canada road atlas, so I thought it would be good fun whilst hearing mostly noise, to follow your trip on the atlas. I rearranged the list to chronological order and can see the route you took via Guymon, Boise City, Clayton and Las Vegas. As you pointed out it makes a lot more sense in this order than in that of frequency! Your account was pleasant reading, thanks for sharing it with us. 73 (Andrew Brade, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)} I only sent the MW portion to MWC and other MW-only lists, so you might also want to read the FM portion above (gh) ** U S A. 940, FLORIDA, (MIS), WPTI814, Pinellas County Emergency Management, Largo; 1715+ 29 August, 2008. The carrier blob that was DFed to this reactivation last Saturday has finally been fixed. Running nonstop NOAA KEC38 (162.45 MHz) relay, audio OK. Pretty much blocks anything DX on 940 now (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see disclaimer under CUBA ** U S A. Some comments by names you know have now been added to the Tom Kneitel obit in the Orlando paper: http://www.topix.net/forum/source/orlando-sentinel/T4JC1O9QT5LJNMN0M (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Hi Glenn, I think the three things that got my interest in the SW hobby rejuvenated in the early 80s are: #1. US Domestic stations going back on the air in the US starting in 82 with WRNO WW. #2. Hearing GH's WOR DX show broadcast for the first time on WRNO WW back in April of 1982. #3. Tom Kneitel's Popular Communications. Now, that was very exciting, seeing a monthly glossy magazine devoted to the DX hobby back then. Glenn, I heard about that on WOR. Kneitel seemed to live a pretty secretive life so I'm not very surprised that his funeral service was private (Artie Bigley, OH, Aug 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I met Tom once during his brief tenure in Oklahoma City, when he was working for Bob Cooper at CB Horizons. My vague recollexion is that I visited his office, complaining that DXing Horizons was on the way out to be replaced by CBH, whether subscribers wanted that or not, and he dismissed my comments rather rudely (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. TWO VENEZUELAN RADIO STATIONS TAKEN OFF THE AIR; EQUIPMENTS SEIZED Sunday, August 31, 2008 8:37 AM El Universal, Caracas, Tuesday August 19 , 2008 The National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) confirmed on Tuesday that the equipments of two radio stations in southwestern Guárico state were seized for allegedly using the radio spectrum without due authorization. "The enforcement of temporary precautionary measures to discontinue presumably clandestine operations was agreed, as well as seizure of the equipment and materials used by radio stations" Rumbera Network 101.5 and Llanera 91.3 FM, both in southwestern Guárico state, said Conatel in a press release. They added that the owners of the radio stations were given 15 days "to make their pleas (...) in order to safeguard the right to defense and due process," Efe quoted. State governor Eduardo Manuitt denounced on Monday the incident. "Under the president's direct order, Conatel officials, with more than 200 military officers, with long firearms," occupied the radio stations in an action "of a bad sort." (via Paco Alameda - Lackawanna, NY, DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. LV de la RASD, 6300 via Algeria, Aug 31 at 0612 with seemingly reverent recitations from Qur`an, but quite different from what we hear on other Islamic world stations in regular Qur`Arabic. Isn`t this rigidly supposed never to be in vernacular dialects? Or is this some other religious service not strictly Q. recitation, and thus allowed? Quite mesmerizing, and heard any day from opening around 0600. But at 0614 switch to YL announcement, then music involving voices, drums and wind instruments. Fair with persistent ute pulsing in background (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. David Goren in NY(?) says he was not hearing any CODAR at 0515 Aug 31 on the 60 m band, so I checked a bit later at 0621. Sorry, it`s still there; maybe David was in a propagational or operational anomaly. CODAR swishes of once per second audible around these frequencies: 5230, 4790-4770, 4550, 4430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. As a possible consequence of H. Gustav, no Cuban spy numbers, cut numbers or ear-splitting whines were heard on 5800, or any other frequency up to 5900 when checked UT Sunday Aug 31 at 0622 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi all, I have been listening to a station on 6390 kHz am for the past couple of days. It comes up around 0100z at least for me to hear it. The language is Spanish and there is a mix of talking and some good music. I have tried to get an ID but haven't had any luck, there is nothing in the Aoki listing or the LA SW logs for this frequency. I was wondering if anyone on the list may know who this might be. Thanks (Chuck Sayers, Harrisburg PA, WA3GSI FN10og, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Chuck, Very interesting. In a case like this, prime suspect is R. Habana Cuba, which produces leapfrog mixing products among it several frequencies within the 49m band (such as 6220 = 6060 leaping over 6140, 80 kHz beyond). However, I can`t get any Cuban combination to work out to land on 6390. Could be a more complex mix. Please check if RHC on 5965 is in // to 6390; or // any other Spanish-speaking station on 49m. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Hola. Desde las 1125 UT escuchando una emisión de música y cantos étnicos africanos con algunos cortes de emisión, en 7235.3. Burkina se oye por 7230 y Mauritania está en 7245 por lo que quedan descartadas (Antonio Madrid, Moraleda, Granada (España), Aug 31, playdx yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Though the prop conditions were LOUSY today, here are some logs of Aug 31: 11865.5 0625 UT - annoying high digital BUZZ tone, 7 kHz wide (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re the digital on 11865.5 - whatever their purpose, they don't appear to operate to a daily schedule or frequency, but seem to appear randomly within any SW bc band. Much the same as the recent number station heard by Wolfy on 9610. Usually they manage to avoid QRMing bc stations, so apparently know where they can operate in the clear. The mystery - to me - is why they use bc frequencies when there's MHZ of empty space nearby, outside of the bc bands. Or are they actually bc transmitters being used for other purposes? 73 from (Noel Green, England, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS [more following our OK/NM trip report above] ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hope your vacation was great! Like Raul and the others, I was a bit concerned; good to see you back. Don't work too hard -- it'll all get done anyway! -- and very 73 de (Anne Fanelli in Elma NY) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ THE TELEVISION CLOSE DOWN AND START UP BLOG Hi, I had my blog featured in DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-090, I am a listener of your show on mp3 weekly, but never expected to be featured in DX Listeners Digest, I Googled my blog URL and there it was. Yes, my Surname is Palmer. Thanks -- Patrick Palmer http://www.tvclosedownblog.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) MAGNA APPLICATION The Magna application has been updated with current data. In addition, a couple of new sort routines have been built. On the "Sort by Freq" routine there's a function that shows graphically, a time line when a radio station is faded in and faded out at YOUR location. You can download this free application at http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/IMAGE59.HTML There are no restrictions on the use of the Magna application (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LA SHORTWAVE LOGS Here's the new URL ... http://www.mcdxt.it/LASWLOGS.html 73, (Steve N5WBI Ponder, Houston TX, NASWA yg via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ RAMADAN - approx. 1 Sept - 30 Sept, 2008. Der islamische Fastenmonat Ramadan steht bald wieder an. Er beginnt in diese Jahr am 01. September und endet mit dem traditionellen Ramadanfest (Id-al-fitr) am 30. September. Der Termin kann je nach Land um einen Tag variieren. Viele Radiostationen in islamischen Staaten senden waehrend des Ramadan 24 Stunden lang, was die Empfangsmoeglichkeiten erhoehen kann (Michael Wlochinski, Germany, DE9MWL, A-DX Aug 22 via BC-DX via DXLD) As always, exact dates depend on sighting of New Moon by Islamic official in each locality. What if it`s overcast for several days? Previous item expected start on August 31. Also depends on timezone, just as calendars in NAm sometimes show moon phases one day off from those in Asia. Why don`t they just go by when the New Moon axually occurs, which is computed with great accuracy? The so-called ``New Moon`` sightings are inevitably a bit later when the crescent begins to appear. Furthermore, the NM is a purely Terra-centric phenomenon, which has no real significance in the Universe as a whole, over which Allah presides. But this says it begins in US not until Sept 2: http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/muslim/ramadan-begins (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also EGYPT! FOR THE TIMEZONE PERPLEXED I don't know if others know about this website, but this gives a graphical comparison of two timezones, including Daylight Saving Time changes. Of course, they mistakenly call it Daylight Savings Time... but they claim to keep the website up to date. http://www.daylight-savings-time.info/en/ For most time comparisons, I've been using http://www.timeanddate.com but the above website gives a quick and easy (or at least different) way of viewing things (Doni Rosenzweig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ACCURIST CALLS TIME ON SPEAKING CLOCK LONDON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - At the third stroke, the time will no longer be sponsored by Accurist. After 22 years and three billion calls, the watch-maker said it has called time on its sponsorship of the BT Speaking Clock. Accurist's managing director Andrew Loftus said the company had decided to launch its own online service instead. "The company feels it is time for a change to give the British public a time keeping service that is current, modern and useful," he said in a statement on Sunday. Its new Web site, http://www.britishrealtime.com will feature video clips of 4,620 members of the public announcing the time. It will go live on Sept. 5. Callers dialling "123" to check the time will stop hearing the name Accurist "imminently", Loftus added. A BT spokesman said the service would continue, although no decision has been made on future sponsorship. The value of the contract has not been released. The BT Speaking Clock has kept time since 1936, when it was also known as "TIM" -- the three-letter code short for "time" which callers dialled on old-fashioned alphabetic phones. Since its launch, only four people have leant their voice to the service (Reporting by Peter Griffiths, editing by Kate Kelland, REUTERS 08-24-2008 16:40 UT via Dave Alpert, ABC News, Los Angeles, Aug 24, DXLD) 86,400 SECONDS A DAY “Word on the street is that the National Institute of Standards and Technology is close to signing a Lease Management Agreement with Clear Channel Communications Inc. for its flagship Time and Frequency station WWV, Fort Collins, Colo.” Not really. But WWV lovers will enjoy this one. Audio production and voiceover provider Low Noise Productions has some fun with WWV — “all the time, all the time” — speculating what the station would sound like if it were reformatted by commercial radio programmers as “The Tick.” “WWV’s traditional modulation level of 50 percent for the steady tones, 50 percent for the BCD time code and 75 percent for the voice announcements was deemed ‘not loud enough.’ WWV’s Program Director Hickory Zeitgeist says that the station has already added some snappy new announcements to the rotation.” Website is: http://www.lownoiserecords.com/wwv_the_tick.html (Radio World, August 29 via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) The strange clox in ETHIOPIA: q.v. MUSEA +++++ BLETCHLEY PARK NATIONAL CODES CENTRE, UK Mention of Rasglosnia Polska Swit in July edition page 16, broadcasting from Bletchley during WWII coincided with a recent visit to Bletchley Park National Codes Centre. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon was spent with a guided tour for our party of 8, lasting 1 sesquihour, then the rest at leisure to view Enigma, Colossus Rebuild, old computer collection, WWII radio exhibits, amateur radio exhibit; if we had time there was an evening Polish gathering and a meal on offer. I strongly recommend this centre to readers; they will not be disappointed (Martin Price, Radio Topics, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) TINY TRAP +++++++++ TINY BELGIUM Rick Steves` Europe, on PBS Aug 31, introducing his show devoted to Belgium. OMG, and it`s right next to Luxembourg! His credibility as a travel guru just plummets. He`s IN Belgium and he still thinx it`s tiny. This was an old repeat from July 2004. No, I did not run into him in Santa Fe (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO-DETONATED MINES, FINLAND, 1941 Derek Knight recently moved to a new home and so that his collection of radio orientated items did not get misplaced he placed them in the stewardship of Edwin Southwell who promptly took the opportunity to see that some appeared in our magazine. Hereunder is an interesting story of the happenings during the Russo-Finnish War of the early 1940's. Finnish troops advanced to Viipuri on 30 August 1941 and were immediately faced with a thorny problem. A few days earlier two bridges had been destroyed by mines in areas which had already been in the possession of the Finnish army for a fortnight and no Russian saboteurs had been seen in the vicinity of those bridges. A careful search revealed that the bridges had been blown up using timing devices with a few weeks delay mechanism. At the same time wireless sets were found hidden in a railway truck. These had been tuned in to the 409-410 meter band which was the wavelength used by the Russian station at Tallinn. A captured Russian major general Vladimir Kirpitsnikov estimated that up to 300 radio operated mines had been left in Viipuri. Before the Finns could take effective counter-action, the railway station in Viipuri as well as some other buildings and bridges were blown up by similar devices. In order to stop radio operated mines from exploding radio transmitter vans were parked at Papula Sports Field in Viipuri and in Sortavala. In the following weeks these played continuously a well known Finnish polka - Sakkijarvan polka - using 420 metre band so that the Russian station could not detonate any more mines. The longest operating time of radio mines was two months. The detonator of the explosive charge was set off by sending radio signals from a radio station using a particular wavelength. The detonating devices were in two boxes, enclosed in a rubber bag and buried underground. One of these boxes contained a radio receiver and the other a battery. The radio signal acted on a relay in the receiver and this caused the primer of the charge to detonate. Courtesy Derek Knight (Radio Topics, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: IBOC: see OK/NM report: 640, 860 ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM: see also ALASKA! ECUADOR Re: Latest DRM capable receivers and DRM+ developments on display at IFA 2008 --- Sunday, August 31, 2008 [...] And the only new DRM receiver they have to show is the Technisat, with a hefty (to say the least) list price of 449 Euro, offered by one outlet for 381,50 Euro, not on stock and "will be ordered for you" (and can not be delivered at short notice): http://www.promarkt.de/item/2251/2211/0/580814/technisat-multyradio.html It appears that this set uses the same chipset (as presented on the legendary IFA 2005 press conference) than the other, already known sets. A particular issue is the circumstance that this set is not able to receive the so-called DAB+, the updated version of the Eureka-147 system with AAC audio coding seriously considered in Germany now. In other words, the rig is not future-proof. [...] Nils Schiffhauer and Martin Elbe tried the Technisat Multyradio set at a location 25 km northeast of Hannover: It did not pull in any DAB signal. Here it is hard to say to which extend the coverage of the transmitter network is to blame, but on the other hand there is little point in still discussing the performance of Musicam DAB anyway. So over to the interesting points: In DRM mode the set recognized on a search scan eight signals. Three of them were listenable, in particular Deutsche Welle, TDP Radio (the 6015 transmission from Issoudun) and Radio Kuwait, the latter with inacceptable audio quality due to using a very low bitrate. Bayerischer Rundfunk (6085) had lots of drop-outs, all but no pleasure to listen, Luxembourg (6095) produced audio for about 5 percent of the time tuned in, the remaining signals showing up on the search scan (BBC, Bulgaria, Langenberg-1593) remained silent at all. Using the set in analogue mode revealed strong interferences from the set's own electronics (Martin said "as if somebody forgot his calculator in the case"), so strong that the search scan stopped and saved them as if it were FM stations. The conclusion by Martin was that he is "really stunned" about such experiences to be made with a set priced at 429 Euro. Gist of an IFA report by Markus Weidner: Almost nothing about DAB+, despite the big plans announced for next year (probably it's just vaporware again). Basically nothing about DVB-H either (which seems to be already dead in Germany), DMB only presented by a few Asian exhibitors. DRM: On display is also a Russian car radio prototype, not expected to be out by Christmas (as the running gag goes). And the DRM press officer admitted that they will not have a booth at IBC (the upcoming broadcasting industry fair at Amsterdam), as can be read between the lines at http://www.drm.org/calendar (mentions "Speaker" but not "Exhibit"). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 26 MHZ DOMESTIC BROADCASTING The next Dan Lewis program on WBCQ and Radio Newyork International will be on Monday September 29, 2008 from 0100 to 0300 UT (Sunday September 28th in North America, 9-11 PM EDST) on 7415 kHz. The second hour of the program will feature an interview with Bennett Kobb, webmaster of 26MHz.us, who will talk about the potential of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) to create hundreds of local and regional broadcasters via unused spectrum at 26 MHz. 73, (Dan Lewis, Aug 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE END OF WORLD BROADCASTING? Dear Radio users. This is an update from UKQRM to let you know we have a new video on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAzUtN29h1A This one seeks to explain more about the problems facing shortwave radio and gives examples etc. Please consider rating it if you can as this helps us. Regards (Mike, http://www.mikeandsniffy.co.uk/UKQRM/ HCDX via DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ PRIEST POND, PEI DXPEDITION 14-18 OCT 2008 Many of you may be familiar with the Miscou Island DXpedition series that ran for several years until 2007. This year, elements of the same DX team are looking for new opportunities and will be assembling at Priest Pond, PEI; near the extreme eastern tip of the Island, from 14 to 18 October 2008. Priest Pond faces the Gulf of St. Lawrence and has an unobstructed shot over salt water to a 180-degree swath of the globe - including a 75-mile path due west over salt water towards Canada's west coast. Miscou had a 25 mile exposure in that direction, and we had a great opening in 2005 that delivered the whole continent out to Vancouver (CKWX 1130). The only direction with more than 50 miles of local land obstruction is SW, right on the path to the US Eastern Seaboard, which is perfect. We are hoping PEI's oxide-rich red soil, two EWEs, phasing, and an impressive array of battle-tested receivers and operators will combine to deliver some great DX in the middle of October to Canada's Maritime Provinces. There are NO local MW stations. Due to the virtual disappearance of AM stations in Atlantic Canada, the nearest broadcasters in the region will be Sydney on 1140 at 101 miles, Amherst on 900 at 108 miles, and Halifax on 780 at 146 miles. Overload will not be a problem. Due to accommodation restrictions at Miscou we were only able to get into the beginning of October in the past, which limited our grayline targets. This time, almost two weeks later, we'll have more dusk, dark and dawn; a differently-tilted grayline; and -- apparently -- a surprisingly low level of geomagnetic disturbance. The K-index is dawdling in the zero to 1 range, and we can only hope that continues. We'll barely miss Ramadan this year, but should still have lots of time to get the Middle East before local sign-off. At Priest Pond we will not be as limited on the antenna side. Miscou was a quasi-public place with four-wheeled ATVs and beachcombers in the vicinity. At the new site we're looking out over about a 30-foot cliff and our property will be totally private. If we do roll out a Beverage, it will likely still be there to roll back up at the end of the week. http://www.northshoredeluxecottages.com/ We'll not be able to stream live video as the Long Beach Island guys do, but we may be able to post loggings and updates as the week goes on. Feel free to distribute this notice, and we're hoping othera might have parallel efforts at around the same time for note-comparing later. 73! (Brent Taylor, VY2HF, Stratford, PEI FN86, 6M VUCC #418, AMSAT #33576 TS-680S, R75, R390A/URR, 2xICF2010, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ [non] Btw, have you also seen very brilliant, colourful dawns/dusks? We had a really stunning dusk yesterday, and the phenomenon is caused by ashes in the stratosphere, originating from an Aleutian volcano, cf. http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Kasatochi.php (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###