DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-109, October 1, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1428 Wed 2100 WBCQ 15420-CUSB Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1430 WRMI 9955 Thu 2330 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 0800 WRMI 9955 Fri 1930 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Fri 2300 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sat 2000 WRMI 9955 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 [temporary, reconfirmed Sept 29] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0530 WRMI 9955 [or new 1429] Wed 1130 WRMI 9955 [or new 1429] 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 ** ALBANIA [and non]. R. Tirana, 13640 to NAm, 1431 sign-on with English schedule, 1432 news, but too undermodulated to follow, and adjacent QRM from much better modulated 13645 in Slavo-Turkic language, i.e. per Aoki, Uzbek, R. Liberty, 100 kW at 80 degrees via Lampertheim, Germany at 14-15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non] Radio Algeria Holy Qur'an sce in Arabic from Oct. 1: 0400-0500 on 5905 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf 0500-0600 on 5905 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf, alt. 6170/7115 0700-0800 on 11615 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf 0700-0800 on 13570 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf 0800-0900 on 13570 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf, alt. 13650/15360 0800-1000 on 15230 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf 1700-1800 on 15165 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf, alt. 13570 1800-1900 on 13570 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf 1800-2000 on 11880 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf, alt. 12025 1900-2100 on 9390 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf 2000-2200 on 7210 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf 2200-2400 on 5910 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf, alt. 7295 Registered frequencies for B-08 from Oct. 26: 0400-0500 on 7295 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf 0500-0600 on 5960 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf, alt. 6170/7295 0600-0700 on 9390 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf 0600-0700 on 9430 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf 0700-0800 on 9435 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf, alt. 11625 0700-0800 on 11625 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf, alt. 13570 0800-1000 on 15230 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf, alt. 15320 0800-1100 on 15615 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf 1600-1700 on 15165 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf 1700-1800 on 13570 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf 1700-2000 on 9390 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf 1800-2100 on 9825 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf, alt. 9835 2000-2200 on 7175 ISS 500 kW / 162 deg to CeEaAf, alt. 7375 2100-2300 on 7295 ISS 500 kW / 194 deg to NoWeAf (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 30 via DXLD) ** ANTIGUA. 97.1, ANTÍGUA, Liberty Radio, Saint John's, English, 0225, 27/09, OM, música caribenha, 45333 (RUBENS FERRAZ PEDROSO, BANDEIRANTES-PR, BRASIL, SONY ICF SW 7600GR, LW DO DEGEN DE1103 COM APROXIMADAMENTE 10,62 METROS, @tividade DX Sept 28 via DXLD) Trans-equatorial propagation season a bit late starting this equinox? See also TRINIDAD & TOBAGO (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. TP conditions were not so good Oct 1, but at 1219 check, all three VL8 stations were audible in //, 2485 best (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. LITHUANIA. Test transmission of Radio Racja in Belarussian on Sep. 25/26/27: 1530-1730 NF 3955*SIT 100 kW / 079 deg, ex 6145. *strong co-channel WYFR Family Radio in German from 1700 via WER 100 kW / non-dir. B-08 tentative frequencies: 3960/7380 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 30 via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DXLD) 3955 was on Sept 25 - 27 only. It came too late to my attention, sorry. In B-08 on 3960 at 1430-1530 in Russian, 1530-1730 in Belarussian (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Oct 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 3985, BOLÍVIA, Radio Virgen de Remedios, Tupiza, SS, 0008, 21/09, OM, nxs 45333 (RUBENS FERRAZ PEDROSO, BANDEIRANTES-PR, BRASIL, @titivade DX Sept 28 via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DXLD) Jumps all around, but first time have seen them below 4 MHz, on 75m band, ex-4111, 4555, etc. He also had Iran in Spanish at 2031 on 3985, so I hope this was not a mistake. [Later:] No mistake, as he then reports it several more times, tho I have yet to see anyone else report it on 3985 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3985, BOLÍVIA Radio Virgen de Remédios, Tupiza, SS, 0203, 24/09, YL, nxs 25232. 3985, BOLÍVIA Radio Virgen de Remédios, Tupiza, SS, 0024, 25/09, OM, id OM: “Radio Virgen de Remédios” ????? 3985, BOLÍVIA Radio Virgen de Remédios, Tupiza, SS, 0059, 26/09, OM, nxs 25232 3985, BOLÍVIA Radio Virgen de Remédios, Tupiza, SS, 0023, 27/09, OM, relg 35233 3985, BOLÍVIA Radio Virgen de Remédios, Tupiza, SS, 0123, 28/09, mx local 35233 (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso; Bandeirantes – Paraná – Brasil, Receptores: Degen DE1103 e Sony ICF SW 7600GR. Antena: LW do Degen DE1103 com aproximadamente 10,62 metros, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6075, Radio Causauki [sic] Coca, 0919-0935 Sept 30. With the usual political talk in Spanish from a number of individuals including a female. This over background music. Didn't hear any ID, but signal was booming in at 0929 UT. Hearing words, "Companeros" and "nostros pueblo" "patrio" [sics] in comments. Signal was good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6075, Radio Kausachun Coca, 0915 to 0920 Sept 30, numerous mentions de Santa Cruz, time checks, lists of numbers after cities. Similar listing of cities with numbers from 6134.7 Radio Santa Cruz at 0954 to 1000. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, US, 746 Pro Drake R8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AUDIOCLIP: RADIO KASHACHUN COCA BOLIVIA, 99.7 Mhz FM, 740 kHZ AM, 6075 KHz SW 49 metros, "que emite su señal desde Lauka Ñ, Provincia de Chapare, Región Trópico, Depto. de Cochabamba, Repl. de Bolivia" is available here: http://digilander.libero.it/swli05639/RADIO_KAUSACHUN_COCA_740_KHZ.mp3 73's (Francesco Cecconi, playdx yg via DXLD) Recording by Rafael Rodríguez in Colombia, not Bolivia (gh) ** BRAZIL [and non]. BRASIL – Ao que tudo indica, o monsenhor Jonas Abib, da Rádio Canção Nova, de Cachoeira Paulista (SP), adotou o mesmo método do misionero Davi Martins Miranda, da Igreja Pentecostal Deus é Amor, em suas emissões radiais. Em 28 de setembro, captamos, por volta de 15h40min, na hora de Brasília, [1840 UT] a Rádio Canção Nova levando ao ar, em 9675 kHz, um discurso do religioso com tradução simultânea para o idioma inglês. A diferença é que o católico tem tradutor mais qualificado. BRASIL – O sinal da Rádio Bandeirantes, de São Paulo (SP), tem chegado, no Sul do Brasil, na freqüência de 9645 kHz, em 31 metros, sempre entre 9h e 15h30min, na hora de Brasília [1200-1830 UT]. A partir deste horário, entra, a todo vapor, a Rádio Internacional da China, no mesmo canal, transmitindo em francês. BRASIL – No domingo, 28, a Rádio Congonhas, de Congonhas (MG), por volta de 19h, na hora de Brasília [2200 UT], transmite a missa católica celebrada naquela cidade mineira. A emissora foi sintonizada, aqui em Porto Alegre (RS), pela freqüência de 4775 kHz, quando o padre distribuía a santa ceia. BRASIL – Nos domingos, quem quiser ouvir o Programa Brasileiro da Rádio Vaticano um pouco antes da sua emissão habitual que é às 21h, na hora de Brasília, pode conferir a Rádio Aparecida, de Aparecida (SP), às 19h30min, no nosso horário [2230 UT], que é quando a emissão da “Rádio do Papa” é retransmitida na íntegra pela emissora paulista. A Rádio Aparecida tem sido captada, no Sul do país, com regular sintonia, neste horário, em 5035 e 6135 kHz (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Sept 27 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 9820, R. Nove de Julho, São Paulo SP, 1902-1910, 26 Sep, talks, mass in progress at 2039 when rated 43342; 33341, QRM de POR (RDPi). Also 0919-0955, 27 Sep, talks; 24332. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. Due to a technical fault at one of Radio Bulgaria’s transmitter antennas at Plovdiv/Padarsko, our transmissions are now on one frequency, instead of two. Changes effective from 0300 UT Oct. 1 until 1100 UT Oct. 26 2300-2400 on 11700 PLD 500 kW / 306 deg NoAm English, deleted 9700 0000-0100 on 11700 PLD 500 kW / 306 deg NoAm Bulgarian, deleted 9700 0100-0200 on 11700 PLD 500 kW / 306 deg NoAm French, deleted 9700 0200-0300 on 11700 PLD 500 kW / 306 deg NoAm English, deleted 9700 0400-0500 on 7200 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu Bulgarian, deleted 9400 0530-0600 on 7200 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu German, deleted 9400 0600-0630 on 7200 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu French, deleted 9400 0630-0700 on 7200 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu English, deleted 9400 1000-1030 on 15700 PLD 500 kW / 306 deg WeEu Bulgarian, deleted 11700 1030-1100 on 15700 PLD 500 kW / 306 deg WeEu German, deleted 11700 1100-1130 on 15700 PLD 500 kW / 306 deg WeEu French, deleted 11700 1130-1200 on 15700 PLD 500 kW / 306 deg WeEu English, deleted 11700 1200-1400 on 15700 PLD 500 kW / 306 deg WeEu Bulgarian, deleted 11700 1500-1600 on 13800 PLD 500 kW / 126 deg WeAs Bulgarian, deleted 15700 1630-1700 on 7200 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu German, deleted 9400 1700-1730 on 7200 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu French, deleted 9400 1730-1800 on 7200 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu English, deleted 9400 1900-2000 on 5900 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu German, deleted 9700 2000-2100 on 5900 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu French, deleted 9700 2100-2200 on 5900 PLD 500 kW / 295 deg WeEu English, deleted 9700 (Radio Bulgaria Sept 30, WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So it seems that the Russian service is not affected by this glitch? R. Bulgaria's Russian service uses Plovdiv site only to broadcast into Central Asia/Siberia. And it's always one frequency at a time. RB's numerous Russian programs for Eastern Europe come from a site near Sofia, always on two parallel SW frequencies with an occasional addition of MW 1224 (Sergei S., IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Sergei, the Sofia site 50/100 kW units made in USSR in 70ties, are in very bad shape, final tube, audio, modulation - wise. So, it's not a highlight to listen to 35 years old equipment. And even the newer Plovdiv equipment lost their audio quality in past 2 - 3 years. So I guess the Bulgarian engineers have a lot do to repair and remove some old equipment on the shortwaves in near future. Regards de Wolfy df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) ** CANADA. Here in Canada the NTSC transmitters can be kept on the air until August 2011. Here in Calgary AB all nine stations are NTSC only at the moment - but CFCN-3 has applied for a digital transmitter on Ch. 26 (Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, Sept 30, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. As if CRI were not causing enough interference already to other broadcasters by excessive frequency usage, another hour in English has been added on 9560, Sept 30 at 1311, news item about water on Mars, colliding with R. Australia which has been on this frequency for ages, also in English until 1400. Until now, CRI had waited until 1400 to start its English on 9560 via Kashi. Usage before 1400 must have just started, as not noted before in morningly bandscans, and not yet in any of the online schedules (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I agree, too much English from China; why don`t they spend that $$ on cleaning up their 16 of the world`s 20 most polluted cities instead! 73, (Chris Lobdell, MA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. On Oct 1 I was getting more on 60m from China, than from Indonesia. At 1226 on 4900 YL song in English, then to announcement in Chinese. Also signals on 4830, 5050 and strongest on 5030 but always with SAH and QRM from Malaysia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Caros amigos, 11925 kHz é uma frequência, onde sempre ouvia a R. Bandeirantes-SP, na parte da manhã, mas agora os chineses colocaram um firedrake nesta canaleta, e somente se pode ouvir aquela musiquinha enjoada. Como o sinal desta emissora não chega em 6090 kHz e nem em 9645 kHz no período matinal, estou sem poder ouví-la (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Time? Aoki shows VOA Chinese via Tinang at 22-03 on 11925, automatically Firedraked, but in our mornings too? (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. 3303 (USB), Zhoushan Maritime Meteorological Radio, *1401-1411*, Sept 30, on with EZL Kenny G instrumental music ("Forever in Love"), woman in Chinese with assume the maritime weather conditions, poor to fair. Sept 29 noted 1412 sign-off. Believe this might be a new time for them. Dan Sheedy had been monitoring them in early Sept. around the 1100-1112 time period. website: http://220.189.205.5/default.asp (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. REE Cariari, 3350, Sept 30 at 0556 check past 0558 was mixing the REE IS with regular programming which also included some music, until both went off at 0600. Is no one paying attention? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. Another check of the RHC 13680 situation, Sept 29 at 2125 found it in music, presumably ending the English hour, and this time // 11760 seeming synchronized to within a reverb rather than 3 minutes and 9 seconds apart as the day before. At 2128 on 13680, the music cut off, carrier remained, and the music continued on 11760. About 2129:45 modulation on 13680 resumed in time for IS, again // 11760, opening Kriyol, but just after 2132, 13680 lost modulation again, carrier stayed on until 2142:30* At 2134, 11760 dropped off the air for a couple seconds, then right back. I left the BFO on tuned 1 kHz away to notify me if and when 13680 came back on for scheduled RHC English at 2200. This happened at *2147:25, but I did not listen closely until 2202 and what did I hear? Japanese! NHK is also scheduled here from *2000 per PWBR ``2008`` but that is wrong; as in Aoki really starts at *2200 at 240 degrees for S Asia, ergo 60 degrees off the back toward us. I think RHC was underneath in French, so I don`t know which one turned on carrier at 2147:25. Evidently the Kriyol heard after 2130 on 13680 Sept 28 and 29 was just runover from the previous scheduled English hour. So sloppy. After 2300, 13680 from Cuba was at usual big level for Venezuela relay, blowing Japan away. Sept 30 at 1340 found big open carrier on 15370, as RHC was transmitting, but without any modulation, altho from other site 15360 and 15120 were OK. Wiggle that patchcord! Monitor your own signals off the air for discrepancies! This continued to be the case at further chex as late as 1444, but at 1401 YFR theme could be heard clearly underneath, then S Asian language, which Eibi and Aoki say is Telugu via Wertachtal, but via Nauen per Sept M&B sked update, still at 1429. 9955, DentroCuban Jamming Command mixing with R. Prague in English via WRMI, Sept 30 at 1416. The jamming was still there but reduced from the full force employed before 1400 against R. Cuba Libre (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn: I must have missed it but what does Dentro mean when referring to Cuban jamming? 73, (Chris Lobdell, MA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Chris, Dentro means inside, or within. It`s just a name I made up, since we don`t know what the Cubans actually call their jamming organization. I am also drawing a distinxion between the DentroCubans, inside Cuba, and the FueraCubans, exiles outside Cuba. 73, (Glenn to Chris, via DXLD) Never a dull moment from the RHC transmitters. Oct 1 at 1255, 11705 which is supposed to be RNV relay, instead sounded like random tuning among various satellite downlinx, in English. Fragments heard included ``messing with divine justice``, bells, ``have to know the truth``, ``sun god in Egypt, Seth`` like Jesus. Finally at 1259 cut to a bit of Spanish, music, and off the air at 1300* sharp (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. En Contacto é o nome do programa da Rádio Havana Cuba que fala do mundo das ondas curtas e da radioescuta. Apresentado por Manolo de La Rosa e Malena Negrin, uma das edições pode ser conferida, nos domingos, às 19h40min, na hora de Brasília [2240 UT --- used to be at 2150 or 2155, also on 11750, 11800? 13760 --- gh], em 9550 kHz, em 31 metros. No domingo, 28, Manolo confessou que, infelizmente, acredita num fim próximo para as emissões em ondas curtas como elas ocorrem atualmente. Manolo foi, durante muito tempo, locutor dos antigos programas em espanhol da Rádio Central de Moscou (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Sept 27 via DXLD) Manolo foresees the end of SWBC soon as we know it! Generally, or re RHC?? (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Cuban move from 1070 to 1020? R. Trinchera Antiimperialista, CMKS, Guantánamo, noted on 1020, at 0500 on Sept 13. Used to be on 1070 (Henrik Klemetz, listening to audio clips sent in by DXers, Sept 29, MWC via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Re ``Good bye HCJBs steerable antenna. Last transmission on Tuesday Sept 30th at 0700-0730 UT German on 9740 kHz.`` Woke up shortly before 0700, turned off the radio's timer set to just a few minutes later. But then I did something I hardly ever do in this situation: I plugged in the antenna wire and headphones, turned the radio on and punched up 9740. And there it was: A faint signal, with occasional fading peaks making the program content momentarily audible, even making it possible to recognize the typical Pifo audio processing. Music, in next fade peaks somebody wished a good reception, so apparently opened the programme in High German, featuring some preacher. Had no time to put on the headphones one more time at 0730, thus I did not witness the final carrier cut. It brought up memories from fifteen years ago: I'm on daytime duty on the block post gloriously called Abzweigstelle Kahla/Oberlausitz (because it was due to heavy line occupation equipped like a real junction, but it was just an industry access that branched off there), My First Shortwave Radio sat on the window-sill, behind it the sun was just getting up, the radio was tuned to 6205 and there was a DX show in German, with interspersed missionary content, a bit weak and fadey, but I was well aware why. Well, these were 500 kW, and the big curtain (already removed a couple of years ago) probably also brought some decibels more gain than the famous eggbeater. And now this is really history as well, although the programs themselves will still be produced, even still be transmitted on shortwave to Europe, coming in better than ever before. But it will never be the same again (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, R. Africa, still sounds like Tony Alamo, talking about victory, over his current travail? Over/under WYFR Portuguese at 2216 Sept 29 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, Radio Africa, 2200-2209, Sept 29, usually the pastor Tony Alamo program started exactly at 2200, but today it was already in progress, read letter from a convict who wanted more bibles to hand out, reception not as good as the last few days, moderate QRM today (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 7999.4, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea (presumed), Asmara, 1635-1750, 20 Sep, Vernacular, talks, music; 33442, jammed by ETH on 8000 airing regular programs. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 5990, R. Ethiopia, Geja Dera, 2055-2101*, 26 Sep, vernacular, music, short newscast at 2058, ID, national anthem; 45433; \\ 7110, 9704.2. 7110, R. Ethiopia, Geja Dera, 2056-2101*, 26 Sep, cf. \\ 5590; 42431, QRM de CRI. 7210, R. Fana, Addis Ababa, 1632-1650, 27 Sep, Amharic as listed, talks, tunes; 34332; \\ 6110 at 2030+. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. GERMANY. New transmission for Voice of Oromiya Independence via Media Broadcast: 1730-1800 on 15650 JUL 100 kW / 125 deg to EaAf Amharic on Fri from Sep. 19 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 30 via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DXLD) ** FALKLAND ISLANDS. FIRS, Islas Malvinas (530 kHz) es una emisora que busco con cierta asiduidad luego de haberla escuchado por primera vez hace más de un año. Hoy 30 de setiembre a eso de las 0430 UT la pude escuchar como nunca antes, con una señal muy intensa y sin QRM. La señal estuvo muy estable durante un periodo extenso. No se escuchaba LV de las Madres [Buenos Aires] que, o bien estaba fuera del aire o bien saliendo con potencia reducida. Se podía escuchar muy bien usando apenas la DE1103 sin ayuda, pero mejoró mucho usando además una antena sintonizada pasiva a nucleo de ferrite. En el attachment encontrarán un fragmento grabado durante los mejores momentos. Como verán la programación es del BBC World Service. 73, (Moises Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, Sept 30, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. On 15160, Oct 1 at 1316, novelty chanson in French, followed by announcement in Russian; 1327 hard rock in French, until abruptly off at 1330* without announcement. This is the RFI Russian service at 1300-1300, 55 degrees via Issoudun (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Will today be the last day of Radioropa? In regard to the story from just two weeks ago in 8-104: Now the situation becomes completely unclear. Since eight hours ago anonymous postings state that all freelancers working for Radioropa have been told that all scheduled work shifts are terminated, effective October: http://www.radioforen.de/showthread.php?t=38615 If this is true (and the postings have no obvious smack of a fake) it must be expected that Radioropa closes down today. If so the satellite channel plus DVB-T and FM 90.7 in Berlin will either go silent or, who knows, switch to something else. And it remains to be seen what will happen on the Dresden/Pirna/Leipzig/Chemnitz frequencies. Developing... For now somebody has uploaded a compilation of the last hours of the former incarnation of Radioropa, closing with the Burg transmitter cutting off at 00:10 local time on Jan 1 2001 (on satellite automated music playout continued well into New Year's Day by mistake, anything from the Technisat spot was not supposed to go out at all): http://www.shareplace.com/?823F1DC011/Ende-Radioropa-261--31-12-2001-mp3.html (The file name should of course read 2000 rather than 2001.) (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Answer: Yes. The plug has been pulled at 14:30 local time (1230 UT) or thereabouts after playing Frank Sinatra's "My Way". This song was the only indication of the station going off air, there were no announcements, no good-byes, no nothing. All other satellite channels of the same operator (Technisat) have been terminated as well. Within a few hours the service ID's disappeared from the ch. 59 DVB-T mux in Berlin. The 90.7 carrier has been switched off shortly after 14:30, too. Now it remains to be seen what will happen in Saxonia, provided that the Sächsische Zeitung report was correct. 91.1 still carried as always the 64 kbps feed from Paris, at this time with RFI Service Mondiale, when my train left Dresden at 21:10 CE[S]T (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. R. Verdad still missing from 4052.5 at 0546 check Sept 30, following a lightning strike earlier in Sept, the date of which I have been unable to determine. Nothing received from their mailing list, and cannot find anything about this situation on the website, but checking their News page, I see that Dr. Madrid had another setback earlier this year when an arch he built was torn down, illustrated: http://www.radioverdad.org/noticias.html Since RV has been such a friend to DXers, perhaps someone with technical knowledge or access to parts can help get them back on the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4799.9, R. Buenas Nuevas, 1002-1007, Sept 28, Spanish. Instrumental music at tune-in; full ID at 1003; music and talk thru tune-out; poor-fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) XERTA 4800 too? (gh) ** HUNGARY. Winter B-08 schedule of Hungarian Radio in Hungarian: 0200-0300 on 6135 JBR 250 kW / 306 deg to NoAm 0500-0600 on 3975 JBR 250 kW / non-dir to WeEu 1100-1200 on 6025 JBR 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu 1700-1800 on 6025 JBR 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu 2200-2300 on 3975 JBR 250 kW / non-dir to WeEu (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 30 via DXLD) IBB October 1: All JBR Hungary relays ceased by IBB yesterday Sept 30. Mostly replaced by Biblis and Lampertheim outlets (Wolfgang Büschel, Oct 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. All India Radio will be conducting tests on DRM (Mode B) from October 2, 2008 as follows: India : 6100 kHz 0430-1130 UT Europe : 9950 kHz 1745-2230 UT All via Delhi Khampur. Reception reports appreciated and may please be sent to: spectrum-manager @ air.org.in 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad 500082, India, Sept 30, dx_india yg via DXLD) i.e. 6095-6100-6105 and 9945-9950-9955 ALL INDIA RADIO REGULAR DRM TESTS FROM HPT, KHAMPUR, DELHI WITH EFFECT FROM 2ND OCT, 2008 Service : GOS-IV/ HINDI/GOS-V Time : 1745-2230 UT (2315-0400 IST) Allocations for DRM Transmission : D17/NW 9950 kHz (HRR4/4/0.75) Target/ Coverage Area : UK & WEST EUROPE Parameters : POWER: 50 kW (7dB below the original analog power) MODE: B QAM: 64 INTERLEAVE: L PROTECTION RATIO: 0.6 Service : VIVIDH BHARATI SERVICE Time : 0900-1200 UT (1430-1730 IST) Allocations for DRM Transmission : D17/DD 6100 kHz (H 2/1/0.2) Target/ Coverage Area : Within 600 Km range Parameters : POWER: 50 kW (7dB below the original analog power) MODE: B (NVIS) QAM: 16 INTERLEAVE: L PROTECTION RATIO: 0.5 Reception reports to: spectrum-manager @ air.org.in (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi via Rachel Baughn, DXLD) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1430-1456, Sept 30, in English, "This is the North Eastern Service of All India Radio broadcasting from Shillong on 60.36 meters on shortwave, corresponding to 4,970 kHz.", "Good evening. Hello listeners in the North East", gives phone number to call in, bubbly woman DJ, on-air phone calls for music dedications, played songs by John Denver, Celine Dion, etc. Very enjoyable program! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4604.86 tentative, RRI Serui 0946 noted with threshold signal Sept 30 (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, US, 746 Pro Drake R8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4925 RRI-Jambi (presumed), 1326-1341, Sept 30, in BI, Islamic singing/chanting, weak. Usually I only hear a carrier here below threshold level, so is rare for me to actually catch any audio, but with the improving reception conditions we should be seeing more reports of this. 3976.04, RRI-Pontianak, 1340-1355, Sept 30, good reception, // 3325 (weak), after 1355 not // (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Re: What's up with VOI language schedule --- Hi Ron, I don't think there is a fully fixed schedule; it seems that they often run another language than at the same time previous day, even against the English announcement between the programmes. English at 1500 is carried on the web; usually not on SW, but exceptions have occurred also in this respect (Mauno Ritola, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Re 8-108 UNIDENTIFIED 3980: Dear Glenn, I cannot receive KCBS 3940 kHz now. 3980 kHz s/on at 2000. Probably it seems that QSY (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Sept 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. WOLFMAN JACK ON SHORTWAVE VIA KBC RADIO [MEXICO non?] Just as in Britain in the 1960s, when teenagers would listen to pirate radio stations broadcasting from ships at sea, so in the United States youngsters would tune their new personal transistor radios into powerful signals beamed from across the border in Mexico. King of the Airwaves on these Border-Blasters was Wolfman Jack, who between records from The Beatles and The Beach Boys would howl, grunt, and tell some seriously good jokes. He also built a loyal following that made the name Wolfman synonymous with Rock'n'Roll. He kept his true identity secret until 1973 when at last his audience could see him in person in the George Lucas film American Graffiti. Although Wolfman Jack (real name Bob Smith), died some ten years ago, his fans are still loyal, and for aficionados of 60s music, radio stations across America are rebroadcasting some of the old shows, and American Forces Radio features some of the best. Now a Dutch company, KBC Productions, which trades in communications equipment has bought the licence to rebroadcast the Wolfman across Europe. So now, you can tune into a powerful shortwave transmitter in Lithuania on 6055 kHz from 2130 to 2230 UT each weekday evening and relive the halcyon days of pop radio, complete with the fading and whistle characteristic of listening to a distant transmitter! About The Mighty KBC KBC started back in the summer of 1974 as a Dutch FM pirate station called K-PO. A year later K-PO switched to mediumwave for a short period using the name Radio Salerno, however that station was raided by the Dutch authorities several times and returned to FM until the late 70s, when the name K-PO was used again. In the early 1980s K-PO could be heard on both medium and shortwave. In 1983 following another raid by the Dutch authorities the name was changed to KBC radio. In total KBC and K-PO were raided by the Dutch authorities around ten times. Pirate broadcasts ended in 1989 when KBC Productions was set up as a legal a company making audio productions. KBC received the weekly American Top 40, first hosted by Casey Casem, then by Shadow Stevens. After some editing, this four hour American radio show was broadcast on a legal Belgian station 'FM 107'. The same programme could also be heard on the Dutch service of Radio Caroline and via several other land based stations in the Benelux. On 23rd December 2006 KBC, which had been off the air since 1989, returned as a legal broadcaster using hired airtime in Lithuania. The Mighty KBC initially broadcast from Lithuania with 500 kW on mediumwave 1386 kHz adding shortwave in 2007. The broadcast is now entirely on shortwave (Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. Greetings! Former Dutch Pirate KBC Radio which broadcasts tapes of the 1960s WOLFMAN JACK show on 6055 kHz each day from 2130 to 2230 UT from a legit 100 kW transmitter in Lithuania, is now broadcasting a halfhour test transmission on SATURDAYS only on 9770 kHz from 1030 to 1100 UTC. Last Saturday`s signal was heard in China, Japan, New Zealand. The 6055 kHz transmission has been heard on the Pacific coast of Venezuela. More info from http://www.kbcradio.eu Best 73s (Dag Crawford http://www.butehotel.com Oct 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmmm, Venezuela doe not have a Pacific coast. Remarkable (gh, DXLD) Another frequency change starting October 5. Transmission to North America will be broadcast on 6145 kHz instead of 6110 kHz. This affects our broadcasts on October 5, 12, and 19, at 0200-0259 UT (Eric // Sep 27, 2008 at 10:58 am (KBC Radio forum as above via DXLD) Strangely enough, Arnie Coro`s DXers Unlimited scripts have also been posted there by Nick, but none since August (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. Re 8-108: Via remote receiver in Australia: 15295, Voice of Islam, 0716 Sept 30 with Joni Mitchell song. Right into the next song, then quick canned ID by man as "Voice of Islam." (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. 783, R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 2205-, 21 Sep, Arabic, prayer; 34443, QRM de España, \\ to 4845. A noisy carrier from the east, surely SYR, persists almost every evening; no content but some AC like noise. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. 90.7 MHZ GOES DARK IN TIJUANA "Excellency One" (XLNC1) in Tijuana went dark on 90.7 MHz last week after simulcasting on 90.7 and 104.9 MHz for a long period of time. The 90.7 frequency never worked well because of strong co-channel interference from KPFK in Los Angeles. KPFK operates with grandfathered facilities of 110 kW ERP and is the most powerful FM station on Mt. Wilson - and in southern California for that matter. Victor Díaz, owner of XLNC1, had repeatedly expressed his desire to vacate 90.7 MHz and KPFK is delighted to see this wish come to pass. KPFK is once again heard in San Diego County (CGC Communicator Sept 29 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) XLNC1, not a real callsign, has classical format, bilingual, also webcasts (gh) ** MYANMAR. Via remote receiver in Australia: 9730.1v, Myanma Radio. Once again with news at 0700 Sept 30 read by woman. Fair reception, with a bit of splash, best in LSB. Weather report started at 0706. ID's before and after the news, sounds like Myan Ma Radio (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. I'll try to get one last QSL before the end of the month. I may include a note in my RR, but I don't think it will make a difference even if all of us wrote or emailed. I think the decision was made and the deal was done long before it was announced. What bothers me most is we won't be hearing vast spaces of empty spectrum, but that quality programming will be replace by religious kooks, right-wing conspiracy nutjobs, alternative medicine and precious metals hucksters, and racists posing as legitimate preachers for a paranoid audience that doesn't trust the "main-stream media" and who think the end is near. Well, it's gotta be if a black man is running for president, eh? Rant over (Dan Malloy, ODXA yg via DXLD) Sadly this is probably exactly what's going to happen. I wonder if it bothers anyone in the U.S. government that these are the sorts of stations that are now acting as the de facto "Voice of America" on the shortwave bands? I'm showing my age, but I remember a time, in the late '70s and 80s when the real VOA was everywhere on shortwave and I was actively searching for some of the U.S religious broadcasters because I'd never heard them and wanted to add them to my log. In those days, American broadcasting on shortwave meant the even-handed coverage of the Voice of America, or the popular entertainment carried on the AFRTS stations. Now American broadcasting on shortwave consists of these religious/racist/ conspiracy theorist wackos. This is not the direction things should have gone. I think this might also be another reason for the decline of interest in shortwave listening among newcomers. It's not only that there are many fewer stations to hear, but also that many of the ones that are easily audible are carrying nothing but garbage (Greg Shoom, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ibid.) Last week's announcement that RNW English Service would be ending their shortwave broadcasts to North America sparked quite a few angry responses. Head of the English Service Andy Clark responds, and we answer more of your questions. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/feedback/feedbackarchive/080929-feedback (via Sergei S., dxldyg via DXLD) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. Thanks to Colin Newell for pointing out that CKZN is coming in very well right now at 0300 UT on 6160 with local ID for 990 Cornerbrook and one other and into CBC news. It's been years since I've heard them, but as I recall it was this time of the year and audible day in and day out, so go for it! No sign of our local CKZU (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, UT Sept 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via a remote receiver in NY: CANADA, 6160, CKZN, 0834 Sept 30 with CBC overnight ID. Rechecked at 0900 when they had CBC program, World Report. Co-channel with another UNID station so poor. Sounded like they switched to local programming at 0912. Thanks Walt's tip (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Great long distance DX conditions continue. Already at 0125, I'm hearing CKZN once again from Newfoundland on 6160 (actually slightly low, closer to 6159.98) with the "Q" program. Possibly CKZU is barely, just barely audible underneath. Good reception, and it's still another hour until sunset (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, UT Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. FUTURE OF SW IN THE PACIFIC Hi Glenn, Radio New Zealand is celebrating 60 years of international shortwave broadcasting and as part of their observances, they have an informative program by David Riquish, regarding the future of SW radio in the Pacific, audio at http://www.radionz.co.nz/specialfeatures/RNZI60th#live which I heard on September 30, on 15720. I found the second half of the program to be the most interesting, as David was talking to a frequency manager. Found out that they no longer need reception reports from listeners, as they have remote monitoring receivers on various island that they can tune in via the Internet/computer to hear firsthand how their signal is heard and they will be adding even more of these monitoring receivers to different new locations in the Pacific. They also are part of the partnership with IBB, a branch of VOA, which provides access to even more remote controlled receivers in even more distant locations around the world. The comment was made that SW was still needed for maybe 15-20 years in the Pacific, until the Internet is more firmly established. The observation was made that "crisis radio" was still very much needed in the event local radio stations went off due to cyclones. Overall an excellent presentation! (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 6089.9, R. Nigeria-Kaduna, 2151-2200, Sept 28, listed Hausa. M with lengthy talk; sounded like a speech of sorts; short, Kor`an-like vocal bit at 2153; more speech into studio announcer at 2200 when signal immediately crushed by co-channel DGS-Caribbean Beacon; poor-fair using USB to avoid DRM hash (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Just after local midnight, 0500 UT Sept 30, lost signal on Suddenlink cable, Enid, from KFOR-4 during Bill Maher appearance on Conan. Checked antenna feed, and KFOR-4 analog was still on but KFOR- DT-27 was off the air. Then checked other OKC stations and found more DTVs missing! KWTV-DT-39, KAUT-DT-40, KOPX-DT-50, KSBI-DT-51 all missing, but KWTV-9 analog was still on air; did not check the U analogs. Suddenlink has been picking up the DT feeds off the air of KFOR and KWTV, and putting them on its analog basic cable channels; thus when those went off the air, it was unprepared to switch instantly to the analog channels as backup, a luxury which will of course no longer be possible after the transition completes! Previously, Suddenlink was supposedly getting a fibre-optic feed of some of the OKC stations, so not dependent on transmitters. KOCO-5 and KOCO-DT-7 were still on as usual, cable and air, as were the other OKC DTV channels. But surely it cannot be coincidental that at least five OKC DTs were all off the air at the same time. Have not researched which ones share towers, but there may well be some overlap, not including KFOR and KWTV, arch-rivals. Probably still installing some more DTV equipment, but viewers were not warned there would be an outage and to be prepared to go back to analog channels. Since the analogs of the same stations were on but the DTVs were off, cannot be explained as a power outage in part of the OKC Antenna Farm. When next checked at 1450 UT, all back in business. It seems the DTV stations are still funxioning as if they are a toy no one is really depending on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Re 8-108: It's interesting that again today the "KOKC Oklahoma City" ID appears in the few seconds of WWKB silence on 1520 at toth at 0600! - louder than yesterday. I've added the clip to an old geocities address I have http://www.geocities.com/paulcrankshaw/1520kokc2.wav (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, Sept 29, MWC via DXLD) Interestingly KOKC appeared here too this morning in the same WWKB gap of silence at 0600. http://www.skywaves.info/mw/1520-KOKC-0600-29-09-08.mp3 (John Faulkner, ibid.) ** PALAU. ``KHBN``, 9965 at 1417 Sept 30 with instrumental inspirational music, the station now scheduled here, and same music also audible on a carrier at 9995. I suspect the latter was a receiver-produced leapfrog over supersignal from WWCR 9980, 15 kHz apart, as no station should be overtly on 9995, too close to WWV. However, WWV is blasted away most of the day here by another Coloradan, Pastor Pete Peters, who fancies himself a singer, on WWCR, 20 kHz away, not far enough, splattering and de-sensitizing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3335, R. East Sepik, Wewak, 1034-1108, Sept 28, Tok Pisin. M with lengthy, animated talk thru ToH; ballad at 1104; brief W at 1107 followed by island music; fair-fading by ToH (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4826.44, Radio Sicuani, Sicuani 1010 to 1030 Sept 30, music bridge into locutor with atenciones, time checks - cinco y diez- , more atenciones, good signal in AM using Ecliptic Amplified Low Pass Filters to clarify audio. Atenciones heard less often in the age of cell phones and the internet (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, US, 746 Pro Drake R8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. VOA English news at 1441 Sept 30 poor on 7430, soon confirmed by // 9760; 7430 is Tinang due west (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. MOLDOVA. Frequency change of Radio PMR Mon-Fri from Sep. 7: 1400-1445 NF 7370 KCH 250 kW / 295 deg to WeEu in En/Fr/Ge, ex 12135 1445-1530 NF 7370*KCH 250 kW / 295 deg to WeEu in En/Fr/Ge, ex 12135 1530-1615 NF 7370 KCH 250 kW / 295 deg to WeEu in En/Fr/Ge, ex 12135 1615-1700 NF 7370 KCH 250 kW / 295 deg to WeEu in En/Fr/Ge, ex 12135 *strong co-ch FEBA Radio in Bangla 1500-1530 via TAC 100 kW / 131 deg (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 30 via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Tuned in 7185, Sept 29 at 2222 to hear sports roundup, so figured it was VOA, which runs sports around this minute in News Now - -- but they kept referring to Romanian names and ``nils``. Yes, RRI, no doubt one of the new Galbeni 300 kW Continentals. 2225 beep, busy- music and into Network Europe for the next semihour, with stories about far-right getting 29% of the vote in Austria as protest to the two major parties; Belgium where illegal immigrants are on hunger strike; France following some American trend; show is ``in the Euronet partnership``. Good signal, very good modulation and SSB hams stayed away from it, tnx very much. 2255 sign-off mentioned only one frequency each, coming up on the 0000 and 0530 English broadcasts to North America and Europe respectively (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 13855 at 1433 Sept 30, Russian folksong with a Hebrew-sound to it so first guessed Israel, but 1433 R. Rossii ID, not // 15430. Some distortion. No sign of Israel really scheduled in Persian on 13850; guess they were taking the day off. R. Rossii, Magadan, nice signal totally in the clear on 5940, Oct 1 at 1230 with pianist playing counterpoint, and // 5920 Pet/Kam which was colliding with WBOH producing a fast SAH. 1232 drums and synthesizer added, then off-key singer in English. 1233 Russian announcement and classic rock tune including lyrix: ``Time to get your boppin` shoes Before the jukebox blows a fuse`` Refrain: ``Boppin` at the high school hop``. Sounded like Jerry Lee Lewis singing and pounding the keyboard, and Google immediately confirms that`s him, from ``High School Confidential`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. The following information has just been received from Robert Kipp re a Test Transmission of Radio St Helena (Mark Nicholls, Editor NZ DX Times, NZ Radio DX League, ripple via DXLD) Viz.: Dear RadioClubs and DXers everywhere, ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Radio St. Helena TEST Transmission on either 03. or 04. October 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On either 03. October or 04. October starting at the earliest at 1800 UT, Radio St. Helena will broadcast a TEST transmission on 11092.5 kHz in USB. It is assumed that the TEST will last for one hour. It is assumed that the antenna will be aimed at Europe. As is usual for TEST transmissions, Radio St. Helena will NOT issue QSL cards. However, RSH would be interested in short emails describing the audio quality of the various parts of the broadcast (music, presenters voices, interviews). Thank-you and good listening, Robert Kipp (via Mark Nicholls, ibid.) RADIO ST. HELENA : PROCEDURE FOR HANDLING QSL PROBLEMS The following information has just been received from Robert Kipp concerning some Radio St Helena QSL problems (reports sent to the station but not received - lost in the mail, etc.) (Mark Nicholls, Editor, NZ DX Times, NZ Radio DX League, DXLD) Viz.: Due to the recent flood of emails from DXers (mostly in USA) asking about their RSD 2007 reception reports and QSL-cards that have not arrived, I have written a new "standard reply text", which I am now sending to everyone asking me about their QSL-problems. Regarding your problem with your RSD 2007 QSL card, I would suggest the following. PLEASE send RSH a copy of your reception report by email. PLEASE tell them what you included the envelope to pay for return postage and anything else that you included (as souvenirs, used stamps, pictures, ........ ). PLEASE tell them whether you had several special / very pretty stamps on the < outside > of the envelope which might have attracted special "attention" at some post office along the way to St. Helena. RSH will then TRY to find your report and TRY to issue you a QSL. Send your email(s) to: radio.sthelena @ helanta.sh Write in the "Concerning" area of the email title: ---> RSH Office : RSD 2007 QSL Problem (your family name) (your country name) Example : RSH Office : RSD 2007 QSL Problem Kipp Germany If you wish, you might send me a COPY of your emails to Radio St. Helena.That way I can follow the situation. Thanks and with best greetings from Germany, Robert Kipp ZD7PU (via Nicholls, ibid.) Today, 1st Oct postman delivered a nice QSL-card from R St Helena of their 2007 broadcast. My original reception report was lost on its way to St Helena and Robert Kipp helped me to get verification for e- mailed report. Envelope postmarked 20 Sep, so quite fast postal delivery. Thanks again to Robert (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 17895 with Qur`an, Sept 30 at 1406, lite reverb unlike heavier reverb via Iran, and this singer not as impressive as the 15150 one which was inaudible today. No // to 17895 found on 17 or 15 MHz bands. 1419 recheck, in non-musical talk on 17895. This is the Holy Qur`an service at 12-15 from Riyadh, 500 kW at 290 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. I had thought that Brother Scare via WWRB was on one transmitter, switching around 1300 UT from 3185 to 9385 --- but Oct 1 at 1216 I found two different B.S. programs running, and both frequencies on at once. Our cup overfloweth (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. The show I have been hearing on REE in the 1300 UT hour Mon/Tue/Wed, replacing Clásicos Populares, ``is La Vuelta al Mundo en 80 Libros``, which is running during Sept and Oct, originally aired in the summer on Radio 3. That explains bits of Don Quijote, Animal Farm and Peter Pan (I guess, character Wendy) heard here and there, such as on 17595 Oct 1. Webpage all about it: http://www.rtve.es/radio/20080707/como-puedo-escuchar-descargar-vuelta-mundo-libros/112952.shtml (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. RADIO NACIONAL SUPRIME LOS BOLETINES INFORMATIVOS LOCALES PARA AHORRAR COSTES: la medida no ha sentado bien en la emisora pública http://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/Articulo.aspx?IdObjeto=17960 Radio Nacional de España (RNE) ha decidido prescindir de los boletines informativos locales que podían escucharse en toda España. La razón que ha dado la dirección de la emisora a los trabajadores es el ahorro en costes de producción. Se acabó escuchar en RNE Radio5 la actualidad de Baleares o Extremadura desde Madrid o Barcelona. La casa ha decidido suprimir las desconexiones locales que se emitían a nivel nacional a las horas y cuarto y menos cuarto. El personal de los Centros Territoriales de RNE ya ha mostrado su indignación ante la desaparición de las desconexiones. Fuentes de uno de estos centros consultadas por El Confidencial Digital aseguran que este movimiento “es una muestra más de cómo los actuales gestores de RTVE quieren acabar con las delegaciones regionales”, indican. Por su parte, fuentes sindicales de la emisora pública también han manifestado a ECD su desconcierto con la decisión tomada por la dirección. “ Trabajadores de RNE consultados por ECD aseguran que “la dirección ha comunicado que el motivo es el ahorro de costes de producción en tiempos como los que corren” (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SPAIN [non]. FALLECE JOKIN INZA, PROMOTOR DE RADIO EUSKADI EN EL EXILO http://www.eitb.com/castellano/noticias/noticia.asp?id=468230 Histórico militante nacionalista, fue una persona de relevancia en la lucha contra el Franquismo, lo que le supuso tener que exiliarse en Venezuela. Desde allí hizo una gran labor impulsando las emisiones de Radio Euskadi. Nacido en Bergara en 1924, desde su más temprana juventud estuvo comprometido en la lucha por la causa vasca. Su labor en la Resistencia vasca, luchando en la clandestinidad contra la dictadura franquista, le supuso tener que abandonar Euskadi. Pero lejos de ella, en Venezuela, Jokin Inza El Gordo se convirtió en un luchador aún más valioso en su defensa. Asimismo, fue promotor de Radio Euskadi en Venezuela y su actividad le proporcionó uno de los principales sustentos del Gobierno Vasco en los años más difíciles de su exilio. Estrecho colaborador de Sabino Arana Fundazioa, el 20 de junio de 2006, se presentó en su pueblo natal, Bergara, un libro con sus memorias Hombre libre sin Patria libre. A lo largo de las páginas de este libro, Inza se revela como exponente de "honestidad, laboriosidad, seriedad, tesón y, sobre todo, resistencia". (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. Re 8-108, Radio Darfur --- ``And if the radios can be so small as to be `hidden in the hand`, they can`t have much of an antenna either.`` How about a telescopic antenna? I would not take the descriptions in this Sudanese press report too seriously and thus conclude that just some small shortwave radios, whatever standard model, are meant. People who so far knew only radios in ghettoblaster size could be quite fascinated by such sets. And in case Press Now rings a bell: They also run Radio Zamaneh, a station for Iran, launched in September 2006 and for some time also carried via the Ukrainian Kopani site. Meanwhile they have dropped shortwave again (is it really irrelevant for reaching Iranian audiences now?), but they are still on Hotbird, at least still listed there (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 30, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN [non]. Frequency change for Radio Sweden International to NoAm: 1300-1330 NF 11640*SAC 250 kW / 272 deg, ex 15240 in Swedish 1430-1500 NF 11640 SAC 250 kW / 272 deg, ex 15240 in Swedish 1500-1530 NF 11640 SAC 250 kW / 272 deg, ex 15240 in English *strong co-ch CMI Voice of Wilderness in Koraen via IRK 250 kW / 155 deg (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 30 via DXLD) No problem here. Oops, English is at 1430, not 1500! (gh, OK) ** TAIWAN. RADIO TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL IN CRISIS OVER GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE The Taiwan government denied yesterday that it was facing a rebellion at its international radio station over orders not to offend China. Independent board members of Radio Taiwan International were about to resign en masse in protest at the government’s interference, the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported yesterday. Cabinet spokeswoman Vanessa Shih said the government had told station management to propagate the country’s new image, but she denied that was an order to abstain from criticism of China. Dissatisfaction about repeated government advice about RTI broadcasts was likely to break out into the open at a board meeting scheduled for today, the paper said. Opposition Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Tsai Huang-liang accused the government of attempting to launch a purge at the radio station. (Source: Taiwan News)(October 1st, 2008 - 12:52 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. RADIO TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH SERVICE - FREQUENCY CANCELLATIONS Starting November 1st, 2008 following frequencies will be cancelled. 1) from 0200 to 0300 UTC on 9680 KHz to North America 2) from 0700 to 0800 UTC on 5950 KHz to North America 3) from 0300 to 0400 UTC on 15215 KHz to South America 4) from 2200 to 2300 UTC on 9355 KHz to Europe (from RTI website via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Sept 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Those are all Okeechobee relays, so apparently will leave only the 0200 and 0300 hours on 5950 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As of the B-08 season, three of the five frequency-hours RTI broadcasts to North and South America are disappearing. The remaining broadcasts: 0200-0300 5950 kHz, 0300-0400 5950 kHz. Meanwhile, there are two new programs offered via webcast only: "Chat Room", a weekday informal magazine program, and "Soundwaves", the latest in English and Chinese language popular music. Archives of these go back to August 19th, which appears to be the date they started. Thanks to Alokesh Gupta via the ODXA group for the notice regarding the frequencies. For details see http://english.rti.org.tw/default.aspx (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprogams via DXLD) Estimados oyentes, Les informamos que a partir del 1 de noviembre Radio Taiwán Internacional dejará de emitir a través de las siguientes frecuencias: 15190 kHz (UT 2300-2400) y 17845 (UT 0200-0300). El motivo de tal decisión es la mala calidad de la recepción a través de esas frecuencias, además de para ofrecer una major recepción a nuestros oyentes en los otros diales con un nivel óptimo. Lamentamos cualquier molestia que les haya podido ocasionar. Atentamente, Sección Española, Radio Taiwán Internacional, P. O. BOX 123-199, TAIPEI, 11199, TAIWAN, R.O.C. (via Jean-Michel Aubier, Francia, dxldyg via DXLD) A partir de 1º de novembro, a programação em espanhol da Rádio Taiwan Internacional não mais irá ao ar, entre 2300 e 2400, no Tempo Universal, em 15190 kHz. Da mesma forma, será suprimida, entre 0200 e 0300, em 17845 kHz. Motivo: a péssima propagação que assola as ondas curtas nos últimos tempos. O esquema atual da emissora permanece assim: entre 0200 e 0300, em 9500 e 15215 kHz, para a América do Sul; das 0400 às 0500, em 11855 kHz, para a América Central; das 0600 às 0700, em 5950 kHz, para a América do Norte; das 2000 às 2100, em 3965 kHz, para a Europa; das 2300 às 2400, em 17725 kHz, para a América do Sul (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Sept 27 via DXLD) ** TRINIDAD & TOBAGO. Amigos, em 27/09 começaram a aparecer por aqui as primeiras emissoras de Trinidad e Tobago. Para minha sorte, minha irmã não estava em casa e o PC dela estava desligado, o que me permitiu fazer algumas escutas interessantes. Além das emissoras listadas abaixo, ocorreram escutas ainda em 94.1, 94.7, 105.1, 96.1, 96.7 e 98.7, todas com sinal fraco e sem possibilidade de identificação. Porém, com o passar dos dias espero identificá-las, já que ontem não teria sido o único dia em que elas aparecerão. Haverão outras oportunidades. (Dias e horas em UT) 91.9, 28/09 0116, TRD (tentativo) Soca 91.9 FM, Port of Spain, mx chutney, cantora de soca com ID e dizendo algo como "Legacy Frontline", várias IDs como 91.9 FM 35232 99.1, 28/09 0149, TRD, Next FM, Port of Spain, ID e chamada do px Soca City 22222 90.1, 28/09 0157, TRD, WACK, Port of Spain, YL com chamada de algum programa da rádio menciona claramente WACK, ID também como "91.1 FM", ID com vocais bem ragga, OM cantando de 25232 para 35333 em cerca de 5 minutos. Enquanto ouvia essas frequências e procurava por mais rádios, aconteceu algo bem interessante, entrou a CBN Curitiba em 90.1, coisa que nem sempre ocorre. Já tinha percebido esse tipo de coisa há alguns nos, acho que em 2002. Às vezes apareciam emissoras que só pareceriam no dial devido à tropo (todas brasileiras) depois que os sinais das caribenhas enfraqueciam. Acontecia isso também com relação às emissoras nordestinas. Assim que saiam as caribenhas, elas entravam. No caso das nordestinas, acredito que não chegavam pela tropo... Talvez por E Esporádica... Sei lá, pois o sinal delas era bem distorcido (fading muito rápido), como o das caribenhas. De qualquer forma, alguém sabe se há relação entre esses dois, ou esses três mecanismos de propagação (Tep, tropo e Es)? (MARCELO XAVIER, ITAMBÉ- PR, BRASIL, @tividade DX Sept 28 via DXLD) See also ANTIGUA ** UKRAINE. Good DX conditions continue. Radio Ukraine International for the second evening on 7440 is coming in at a very strong level with Ukrainian programming. Excellent, strong modulation. My guess is that TA (more accurately Trans-Polar) MW DX will be good again tonight! (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, UT Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Winter B-07 [sic] for Radio Ukraine International: 0000-0500 on 7440 LV 600 kW / 303 deg to NEAm 0100-0600 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 055 deg to RUSS 0600-0900 on 7440 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu 0900-1400 on 9950 KHR 100 kW / 277 deg to WeEu 1400-1800 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 055 deg to RUSS 1800-2100 on 5840 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu 2100-0100 on 5830 KHR 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu English to NEAm 0100-0200, 0400-0500 English to WeEu 0600-0700, 1000-1100, 1200-1300, 2000-2100, 2200-2300 German to WeEu 1800-1900, 2100-2200, 0000-0100 Ukrainian on all other times and frequencies (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 30 via DXLD) ** U K. "HINDI AUDIENCES ARE CRUCIAL FOR THE BBC" Posted By: Anita Iyer 29 Sep 08 http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/hindi-audiences-are-crucial-bbc MUMBAI: The BBC recently rolled out a two city campaign including print advertising and on-ground activation for promoting its three infotainment shows - BBC Ek Minute, Ek Mulaqat and BBC Take One. Talking about the reach of the medium, BBC India Business Development Manager Vineeta Dwivedi avers, "There are places where there is no electricity, no cable, no TV but radio has its presence and only form of entertainment and information for the villagers. Radio is a mass medium and reaches about 97 per cent of the masses. BBC world service is broadcasted in 33 languages of which Hindi is one of the most important languages and gets one of the maximum audiences from all over the world." BBC provides its capsules in all the stations of Radio One, BBC provides content to regional FM stations like Radio Choklate (Bubhaneshwar, Rourkela), Radio Chaska (Gwalior), Radio Tadka (Udaipur, Jaipur), Radio Tomato (Kolhapur) and Radio Misty (Siliguri). BBC has been providing sports, news and entertainment news to 11 cities in Tamil, Hindi and English. "We are doing FM specific programmes meant for Indian audiences in the local languages, so these are not the programmes packaged abroad and given to India and other countries. As news is not allowed in the FM space, we provide more infotainment news comprising sports, entertainment and soft stuff produced by our Indian team." "We have our reporters in various cities and we do our news collection from various parts of the city and package them in our bureau in Delhi. The news is packaged in our studio and then given out to our content seekers." BBC World Service had recently announced its tie up with a Chandigarh- based community Vivek 90.4 FM. "It is not the first community radio to have our content on air, we earlier had Delhi based Jamia Millia Islamia University, Chandigarh based university, Chennai based University among others. In case of colleges and universities, the focus is more on educational and developmental programmes." Stressing on the acceptability of Hindi as a common language across most stations, Dwiwedi says, "Most stations today play Bollywood tracks, Hindi has become a common lingo in India and many RJs throughout are using Hindi as a language of conversation. The language used in our capsules is simple Hindi, the kinds used across entertainment channels and not the clichéd bookish language. We might however increase the number of language if the need arises." BBC offers differentiation in content in both the SW and FM space. "By doing the FM specific programmes, we are focusing on youth who are not used to listening to AM and for them FM is synonyms for radio. AM radio is traditional radio so the style is different and does a lot of speech radio. FM is mainly music, so we have to do what the market demands. For FM, we package small programmes where the style of programming and content differs from AM." BBC is planning to explore options in all existing platforms of communication available, including FM, broadband, DTH channel distribution system, mobile phone and satellite radio. "We have been thinking of launching mobile services, the plan has been to launch news services in audio format where people can dial and listen to BBC programmes. We are working on that and would be launching soon." "BBC sees India as an important market," says Dwivedi "Hindi audiences are crucial because there are loyal listeners for our Hindi programmes. BBC has 19 million listeners on its short wave band in India who listen to the BBC World Service regularly as also the services available on WorldSpace satellite radio." (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DXLD) ** U S A. Those who missed the VOA Hindi final transmission on 30th Sept, can listen online using this link : http://www.voanews.com/real/voa/sca/hind/hind1600a.ram OR, can download using this link http://www.voanews.com/hindi/audio_archive.cfm Regards (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dx_india via DXLD) ** U S A. Re: ``VOA Restructures Bosnian, Hindi, Serbian, Macedonian, Russian Broadcasts`` -- A misleading headline, again. Reminds me of a recent RN's press release that we discussed here earlier. Note how the anonymous author tries to shift the blame for shutting down of VoA's Russian radio service on --- uncooperative Russian authorities! Clearly, it's a logical breakthrough that should be helpful once BBG decides to shut down VoA's Chinese, Korean and handful of other radio services. Meanwhile, VoA's affiliate station in Moscow is now stuck with playing pop-music most of the day. This AM station is trying to compete with over a dozen FM stations that work in a very similar format. The only difference is that FM stations broadcast in Russian and provide local news, weather and traffic reports (Sergei S., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Some changes of IBB: Radio Free Asia in Uyghur from Oct. 1: 0100-0200 on 9490 SIT 100 kW / 079 deg, ex BIB 100 kW / 088 deg Radio Liberty in Tatar from Oct. 1: 0300-0400 on 9635 SIT 100 kW / 079 deg, ex LAM 100 kW / 055 deg 0500-0600 on 9635 SIT 100 kW / 079 deg, ex BIB 100 kW / 063 deg Radio Liberty in Russian from Oct. 1: 1300-1400 NF 9530 BIB 100 kW / 063 deg, ex 15130 1400-1500 on 9530 BIB 100 kW / 063 deg, cancelled Voice of America in Ukrainian from Sep. 27, all cancelled: 2000-2030 on 7170 BIB 100 kW / 088 deg 9715 BIB 100 kW / 088 deg Voice of America in Serbian from Oct. 1, all cancelled: 0530-0545 on 9460 BIB 100 kW / 105 deg 1930-2000 on 7105 BIB 100 kW / 115 deg 2100-2130 on 7255 BIB 100 kW / 126 deg Mon-Fri Voice of America in Kurdish, new transmission from Oct. 1: 1300-1400 on 9720 BIB 100 kW / 105 deg 13680 LAM 100 kW / 108 deg 15130 SAO 100 kW / 052 deg 15180 LAM 100 kW / 104 deg Voice of America in Kurdish, cancelled transmission from Oct. 1: 1900-2000 on 7520 UDO 250 kW / 300 deg 9695 MEY 250 kW / 019 deg 12030 LAM 100 kW / 104 deg Voice of America in Sudanese Arabic? Darfur, new transmissions from Sep. 29: [SEE BELOW; Sawa?] 0300-0330 on 4960 SAO 100 kW / 030 deg 5995 LAM 100 kW / 132 deg 11635 IRA 250 kW / 279 deg 1800-1830 on 4960 SAO 100 kW / 030 deg 9650 UDO 250 kW / 272 deg 11635 IRA 250 kW / 275 deg 1900-1930 on 5880 IRA 250 kW / 275 deg 9650 WER 250 kW / 150 deg 11635 PHT 250 kW / 270 deg Voice of America in Portuguese, cancelled transmission from Sep. 29: 0430-0500 on 6095 SAO 100 kW / 124 deg 7340 MDC 250 kW / 270 deg + 1530 MW (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Sept 30 via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DXLD) Could somebody please check if these [Ukrainian] frequencies are really off air? I'm too close to Biblis for confirming such 41 or even 31 metres signals three hours after local sunset now, already in autumn. It is understood that VOA will continue to produce Ukrainian programs at least until yearend, but will they still be on shortwave as well? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The last radio program on the SW was scheduled for Sept. 26 (Sergei S., IL, ibid.) Serbian noted as cancelled : http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_s.cfm but not Ukrainian http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_u.cfm (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, ibid.) IBB Monitoring audio confirms VOA Ukrainian NOT CANCELLED: http://europe.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Sounds/2008_09_30/UKRA/VOA/KIEV/0809302016@KIEV_7170VOAUKRA.MP4 http://europe.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Sounds/2008_09_30/UKRA/VOA/KIEV/0809302016@KIEV_9715VOAUKRA.MP4 (VOA Ukrainian recorded in Kiev, Ukraine on Sept. 30 on 7170 & 9715 kHz at 2016z). (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.) Thanks, Dragan! This is a pretty amazing development. Note a rather low quality of VoA's reception in Kiev - particularly on 7170 (Sergei S., ibid.) Dear Sergej, You are absolutely wrong. I'd ruther say that reception is very good! Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.) Very subjective? LAST VOA SHOWS IN SERBIAN, BOSNIAN AND MACEDONIAN VOA Serbian programming 1930-2000z was an ordinary show, except at the end there was a 5 minute interview with Kim Elliott, VOA researcher. Kim talked about a current situation of the short wave, the future of international radio (he mentioned DRM and even RNW English cuts to North America) and he also spoke about a past. The show ended with an editorial, which reflects the US Government's policy, news headlines, special announcement (#), and then the host started to say good-bye and POOF! Carrier dropped! I was listening to this show on shortwave frequency of 7105 kHz, tx in Biblis, Germany. At 19.58.59 Biblis turned off a carrier, to move before TOH to another frequency... # VOA Serbian announced that as of 1 October it will introduce a special 15 minute audio (mp3) program which could be downloaded every day at 1900 local time (CentralEuropeanTime) from VOA website, as a podcast. They announced even some radio stations will download this show [mp3, 128kbps, 44kHz, stereo] and will transmit on their FM frequencies! VOA Bosnian last radio show was a really special edition. Entire Bosnian Service's staff were interviewed live about their life at VOA, how they came to VOA, and the history of radio. VOA Macedonian show was same as usual, but with a pre-recorded announcement that they will end the radio shows on September 30 (Dragan Lekic from Serbia, Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5880, unID station repeating pop instrumental music bed 30.09.2008 over and over from 1910 until tx'er off at 1929 GMT. Not a single listing for this freq in WRTH. Someone's testing, but who? SINPO 35433 here in Kabul. Bohica (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept 30, HCDX via DXLD) Hi Al, this is Radio Sawa to Sudan, but it seems to have had a feed problem yesterday evening on both transmissions (1800-1830 and 1900- 1930) and also today 0300-0330. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Hey Mauno, Thanks a lot for the info! Where do you find their SW sked? Their website doesn't list it. :-( (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, ibid.) See above from DX Mix, ``VOA Sudanese Arabic for Darfur?`` not identified as Sawa, however, which has not been on SW for years now. Perhaps reaching Darfurians requires such extreme measures. Al used to work in Sudan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. IBB October 1: All JBR Hungary relays ceased by IBB yesterday Sept 30. Mostly replaced by Biblis and Lampertheim outlets. SIT Lithuania relays came into effect today Oct 1st, instead of announced[early stage] date March 30. Today: 9320 VoA Bangla via Tinang-PHL 1600-1700 UT, S=5-6 in Stuttgart 7505 TIN S=9+10, 9305 IRA poor S=5-6 RFA Burmese 1630-1730 (nicht 9300 1800-1830 UT) Hindi ceased, 7430 Udornthani in Tajik instead 1600-1700 UT, S=9 9520 ex JBR, now Biblis 1700 UT S=7, 1800 UT S=5-6 R Liberty, Russian All additional Zimbabwe specials ceased, except 1700-1800, and weekdays 1800-1830 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17565 with open carrier already at 1332 Oct 1. Greenville warming up for 1400-1415 broadcast in Spanish. Probably on briefly and then turned off until continuous warmup starting around 1345, the usual pattern (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOA giving way to more gospel huxters: see NETHERLANDS ** U S A [non]. AFN via Guam, 5765-USB, Oct 1 at 1237 with string of mini-features. This is a great service as no other station bothers to strip the commercials if any and aggregate them in a row, and at exactly the same times day after day. ``Loh-Down on Science`` was running, about a device mimicking mosquito bites for drawing blood; see http://lohdown.org as produced by KPCC. I have also run across this dropped into various public radio programs. At 1238:30, Pat Carrollton CBS feature ``Raising Our Kids`` and what to do if a head gets bumped. Then privacy-is-important-in-the-armed-forces, so don`t- eavesdrop-on-your-roommate PSA. 1241 ``Golf Minute`` which quickly lost my interest (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WINB Founder Dead --- DCRTV.com is reporting the following today (Oct 1): Reverend John Harden Norris, the co-founder of Red Lion Broadcasting, died Sunday in York PA. He was 88. His Pennsylvania company, which owned religious WGCB, operated an AMer, FM, and TVer. He also owned religious shortwave outlet WINB, which was at the center of a landmark "Fairness Doctrine" case involving a journalist being given equal time to rebut allegations from an evangelist carried by the station (via John Cereghin, Smyrna DE, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) OBIT WINB has been rather irregular, but on the air, 13570 when checked at 1513 UT Oct 1, interfering with CODAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Tony Alamo on WWCR, 15825, Sept 30 at 1326, poor reception in mostly-skip-zone, but was able to make out that he was interviewing females with leading questions about his alleged crimes, and they assured us they were unmolested. So he has been able to produce new programs since the law went after him. Also fan mail from Natasha, a non-Russian listener via R. East Africa. See also EQUATORIAL GUINEA; PALAU (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WEWN, 11550 in Spanish, VG at 1412 Sept 30, barely perceptible whine. That reminds me, have not heard lately the annoying squeals which used to infest at least one of their transmitters on various frequencies, so maybe the defective modulation modules have finally been replaced? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-108: MEGA COMMUNICATIONS is selling Spanish Adult Hits WMGG-A 820 (LA PRECIOSA)/LARGO-TAMPA to GENESIS COMMUNICATIONS for an undisclosed price. GENESIS, which owns Talk WWBA-A and Sports WHBO-A (ESPN 1470) in the market, is taking over under an LMA immediately, with a new format planned. "This purchase adds to our portfolio of great stations in the TAMPA BAY market. WMGG will provide us great regional coverage on both the analog and the new digital radio band. This gives our company the opportunity to super serve our audience and advertising clients. We thank MEGA's ADAM LINDEMANN and ERAN SCHREIBER for this opportunity," said GENESIS Pres. BRUCE MADURI (allaccess.com via Brock Whaley, HI, DXLD) "The new digital radio band" --- I guess in the case of WMGG that would be 805 to 835 kHz (Brock Whaley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KFI SIGNAL STRENGTH READINGS DISAPPOINTING KFI's switch to its new Main tower (CGC #858) in La Mirada gave disappointing field strength measurement results. It now appears that for some reason KFI was not operating its La Mirada Aux tower right before the switch, but instead used a different and far-removed tower (the "Aux-Aux" tower as we'll call it). This means that the before-and-after field strength data submitted by our readers varied considerably depending on where each observer happened to be located with respect to the La Mirada Main tower and the Aux-Aux tower. The full story is here, and our readers even helped us decipher the location of the mysterious Aux-Aux tower: http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/KFI_New_Tower.htm KFI BEGINS OPERATION ON ITS REBUILT MAIN TOWER (As referenced in CGC #859) FIELD STRENGTH RESULTS ARE DISAPPOINTING BUT VERY INTERESTING KFI, 640 kHz, Los Angeles, is considered to be one of the finest AM broadcast facilities in the United States. As many of you know, its Main broadcast tower collapsed on December 19, 2004 after being struck by a private plane (see first URL below). During the almost four year period that the tower was down, KFI operated almost exclusively on its short auxiliary ("Aux") tower that is located just a few hundred feet from its Main tower in La Mirada, CA. KFI has been authorized by the FCC to run up to 25 kW into the Aux tower (second URL, footnote 1). On September 25, 2008 at approximately 5:10:20 PM PDST, KFI resumed broadcasting on its new Main tower that, for aviation safety reasons, had been shortened a bit relative to the old main tower. (The new tower is equipped with a capacitive top-hat to improve radiation efficiency to compensate for the decrease in height.) Marvin Collins, retired Chief Engineer of KFI, invited our readers to take field strength measurements when KFI switched from its auxiliary tower to its new Main 50 kW tower. We had of course assumed that KFI would be switching from its 25 kW Aux tower to its shiny new 50 kW tower right next door. Unfortunately, the switch did not come off as expected. The field strength readings were "all over the map" and therefore disappointing. It now appears that for some reason KFI elected to operate from a far- removed auxiliary tower (the "Aux-Aux" tower as we'll call it) instead of from the La Mirada Aux tower just prior to the switch. So, the field strength data varied considerably depending on where each observer happened to be located with respect to the La Mirada Main tower and the mysterious Aux-Aux tower. One observer, apparently close to the Aux-Aux tower, reported a decrease in signal strength when the switch was made (and that was a very important clue) while all of the other measurements showed signal strength gains. So, just where is the Aux-Aux tower located? Although our efforts to reach KFI's current Chief Engineer have been unsuccessful, the evidence suggests that KFI was broadcasting from the old KTLK (1150 kHz) site just before the switch occurred. In fact, KFI probably used the SW tower in that array (see the second URL below, page 2), and one reader pegged the power level at 10 kW although that figure has not been confirmed by KFI. The KTLK site is also known as the Montecito site, perhaps because it is accessed via Montecito Drive, and the site is located just a bit east of Dodger Stadium. So, the Montecito site is almost certainly the mysterious Aux-Aux site mentioned above. Why did KFI establish the Aux-Aux site in the first place? Two good reasons come to mind: (a) to protect the erectors of the new Main tower from excessive RFR exposure and (b) to serve as a backup in case the La Mirada Aux tower failed. Thanks to everyone who submitted signal strength data or even informal listening reports. Good job! http://www.bext.com/_CGC/2004/cgc664.htm http://tinyurl.com/KFIauxiliary ****************************************************************** YET THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE KFI TUNNEL "Hi, I happened to be listening on a pocket radio when the change was made. Immediately the background noise ceased, and KFI sounded like it ought to!! I imagine old Earle C. Anthony stirred in his grave and gave a shout!! Regards, George Tokar [Marv Collins says, "This is the best signal strength report I have received. George Tokar worked at KFI in the early to mid forties. I believe George lives in the Santa Ana area (and) is well in his nineties now."] (all from CGC Communicator Sept 29 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DXLD) ** U S A. SEPT. 29, 1920: RADIO GOES COMMERCIAL Wired. By Randy Alfred, September 29, 1920 1920: The Joseph Horne department store in Pittsburgh advertises ready-made radio receivers that can pick up a local broadcast station. Commercial radio is just weeks away. Frank Conrad was assistant chief engineer of the Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh. He'd been interested in radio since 1912. To settle a $5 bet (about $110 in today's money) about the accuracy of his $12 watch, Conrad built a radio receiver to hear the time signals transmitted by the U.S. Naval Observatory. Conrad won the bet, but that's not the point. Notice that he had to build his own receiver. Just like the days of home-brew computers later in the 20th century, that's what aficionados of the emerging technology had to do in those days. If you didn't want to start from scratch, you could -- and this, too, should sound familiar -- buy a kit with all the parts and all the instructions. They were advertised in magazines that appealed primarily to ... guys. Science magazines, the Boy Scout Handbook, cheap fiction, detective rags, and the kind of stuff you'd find in the barber shop. In any case, Conrad was on to bigger things than building a receiver. Like building a transmitter. Under license 8XK, he started broadcasting from the second floor of his garage in nearby Wilkinsburg in 1916. In fact, Conrad was a pioneering in using the word broadcasting. It was borrowed from agriculture, where it means spreading seeds far and wide. Radio in those days was conceived of mainly as a two-way point- to-point medium. The idea of using one radio transmitter to reach a broad audience equipped only with receivers was something new. Conrad tested and tweaked his equipment for hours on end in his spare time. But his voice got tired making constant announcements of his call letters and location, so he started playing gramophone records to give it a rest. Sure enough, those with their own transmitters started radioing requests for specific music. Those who had only their own scratchy receivers phoned or wrote in. Conrad was radio's first DJ, and he was building an audience. Horne's department store had something new in 1920: the first shipment of ready-to-use radio receivers. Nothing to build, just plug-and-play. The store placed an advertisement in the Pittsburgh Sun heralding the miracle that you could listen to music over the air: Air concert picked up by radio here. The music was from a Victrola in the home of Frank Conrad. Mr. Conrad is a wireless enthusiast and puts on these wireless concerts periodically for the entertainment of many people in this district who have wireless sets. Amateur wireless sets are on sale here $10 and up. The signal was building a demand for the hardware. The hardware was marketing itself with the signal. Harry Davis, Conrad's boss at Westinghouse, saw some big commercial possibilities in broadcasting. With Conrad's consent, Davis applied for a commercial license to supplant 8XK and was assigned the arbitrary call letters KDKA in mid-October. The new station went on the air Nov. 2, just in time to broadcast the results of the Harding-Cox presidential election over its mighty 100- watt transmitter. In 1922, 30 radio stations were in operation in the United States, and 100,000 consumer radios were sold. Just a year later, 556 stations were on the air and half-a-million receivers were sold. Radio was on its way, and the commercial broadcast model would reign essentially unchallenged for eight decades until the advent of satellite radio and podcasts. Source: NPR, KDKA http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/09/dayintech_0929 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. WUND TV in Portugal --- WUND TV Ch 2 NC coming in at the moment. "Almanac Gardener" has just finished & then they told me I'd better buy a DTV converter if I want to watch next year (Hugh Hoover, 4:23 pm August 9, WTFDA Forums via DXLD) I've just put a video of the reception up on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IbOtdtJa9Q Starts with the end of "Almanac Gardener" going on to station ID & advice to buy a converter box. The Almanac Gardener show is their 25th Anniversary one and there are weaker voices under the main ones - The people on screen are watching an old tape of the show and the audio is running underneath. Probably my last ever analog USA TV reception here in Portugal on 9th August (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, Sept 21, WTFDA forums via DXLD) ** VANUATU. Hi David [Ricquish], thank you for the tip [of Sept 23]. Some audio also here in Finland at 0645 on 7259.98 kHz. Mongolia signed on at 0655. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Sept 30, HCDX via DXLD) Via remote receiver in Australia: 7260, VTBC, tentative, 0729 Sept 30, man in Pidgin English, pop music at 0730, weak and fadey. Gave up at 0734 (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** VATICAN. Surprised to hear VR IS on 7335 mixing with CHU, Sept 29 at 2229, 2230 opening English I think, but talk was undermodulated compared to IS. VR is NOT scheduled on 7335 at this hour per any of the online references, just at 0025-0520. Another screwup of their automation programming, or deliberate change in anticipation of CHU`s QSY to 7850? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, ZNBC Lusaka, 0244-0307, Sept 29, vernacular. Fish Eagle IS; NA at 0250 followed by sign-on and music, poor with occasional 5920-WBOH splatter (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. ZNBC IMPROVES OPERATIONS http://www.znbc.co.zm/media/news/viewnews.cgi?category=12&id=1222780855 Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) will soon commission new short wave antennas for both radio one and two. The installation of the new transmitters by a South African contractor at shorthorn in Lusaka started in July at a cost of K2-billion. ZNBC Director General Joseph Salasini accompanied by the director of programmes Maxwell N'gandu and Public Relations Manager Mirriam Tonga visited the site where the antennas have been installed. He said ZNBC will be more consistent in reaching out to the general public, particurlary in outlying parts of the country once the antennas are operational. Mr. Salasini thanked government for funding the project through its budgetary support to the corporation. And ZNBC Principal Engineer for Planning and Development Frank Mushota said the new antennas will boost reception for both radio channels. The new antennas are able to withstand all weather patterns and seasonal changes without affecting the quality of radio reception. OLDER: MORE HERE: http://www.parliament.gov.zm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=700&Itemid=86&limit=1&limitstart=2 Mr Chairperson, over the past 7 years, efforts have been made to improve both radio and television reception. Substantial progress has been made in the case of television, with the installation of transmitters in fifty-nine districts and up linking of signal to satellite under rural television project. In 2007, my ministry also managed to purchase two shortwave antennas for ZNBC to improve radio reception. Installation and testing of antennas will be done in May and commissioning in June this year. I can assure the House that once the two antennas are commissioned, radio reception will be greatly improved in all the rural areas. A long-term solution, however, is a replacement of a shortwave with FM transmitters as provided for under the Fifth National Development Plan. Funds permitting, this process should start next year (via Artie Bigley, OH, DXLD) Upper story is not dated either. ``seasonal changes`` affecting SW radio reception take place in the ionosphere, where, I daresay, antennas new or old have no control. Just how will they ``boost reception`` --- are they of a different design, with higher gain? Incidence more vertical? Same old transmitters, then? This notice fails to provide any significant detail. BTW, two gigakwacha converts to 568,993 US Dollars per one online resource as of Sept 30 (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Andy Sennitt adds: According to the 2008 edition of the World Radio TV Handbook Radio 1 is on the air at 0245-0515 and 1555-2205 UT on 4910 kHz and 0515-1555 on 5915. Radio 2 is listed at 0245-2205 on 6165. Both transmitters are 100 kW. Dave Kernick October 1st, 2008 - 14:11 UTC For several years now ZNBC’s website has been stating that live radio audio streams are “coming soon”, however Zambian ISP Coppernet Solutions does have live streams of Radios 1 and 4 available from their website at http://coppernet.zm (Media Network blog via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re dxld 8-108: ``4864.980, 22.9 1620, unID in unknown language with closedown at 1623. Bad modulation so I couldn't recognize anything. 2 SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 28, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Most probably clanny Voice of Iranian Kurdistan, bad modulation and s/off time points to that direction (Jari Savolainen, Finland, Sept 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. The het against undermodulated CFRX 6070, Oct 1 at 1249 was around 6068-6069 and went off promptly at 1250:25*, probably Korea North (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9530, Sept 30 at 1314 with hets and noise. I certainly hope the Russians have not decided to resume jamming R. Liberty, which may or may not be on 9530 this hour via Germany, per conflicting listings. Axually, DX-Mix News, Bulgaria, says this hour is indeed added for RL Russian via Biblis effective October 1, ex-1400. But another possibility is defective V. of Vietnam home service relay transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see INDIA; NIGERIA; USA VOA; IBOC: USA WMGG ++++++++++++++++++++ DTV: see CANADA RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FCC ACTS ON COMPUTERIZED PROOFS FOR AM DIRECTIONAL STATIONS The Commission has "further reduced the regulatory burdens on AM broadcasters by permitting the use of computer modeling techniques to verify AM directional antenna performance," but only for series-fed radiators. The FCC is also seeking comment on new rules regarding tower construction near AM stations. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-08-228A1.doc http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0121/t.15513.html (Background) (CGC Communicator Sept 29 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) The Commission issued the text of the new rules regarding performance verification (usually called "proof of performance") for AM directional antennas, which had been adopted the previous day. This is one of the most significant changes in the engineering approach to technical matters regarding AM broadcasting that the Commission has made during the 50+ years I have been observing (often with disbelief!) the behavior of the agency, and came almost 19 years after the original Petition for a Notice of Inquiry filed by five engineering firms (2 of which no longer exist) in December of 1989 (Ben Dawson, DX LISTENING DIGEST) One of which was Hatfield & Dawson PROPAGATION +++++++++++ LONG HAUL TRANS-EQUATORIAL FM DX, CARIBBEAN TO SOUTHERN BRASIL: see ANTIGUA, TRINIDAD SPOTLESS SUN: BLANKEST YEAR OF THE SPACE AGE NASA September 30, 2008 http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30sep_blankyear.htm?list1066509 Astronomers who count sunspots have announced that 2008 is now the "blankest year" of the Space Age. As of Sept. 27, 2008, the sun had been blank, i.e., had no visible sunspots, on 200 days of the year. To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go back to 1954, three years before the launch of Sputnik, when the sun was blank 241 times. "Sunspot counts are at a 50-year low," says solar physicist David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. "We're experiencing a deep minimum of the solar cycle." (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Geomagnetic field activity was at mostly quiet levels during the period. ACE solar wind measurements indicated minor changes during the period. Velocities ranged from 245 - 395 km/sec during the period. IMF Bt ranged from 01 - 07 nT and Bz ranged from -07 nT to +07 nT during the period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 01 - 27 OCTOBER 2008 Solar activity is expected to be very low. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels during 02 - 14 October. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at active to minor storm levels on 01 October due to a recurrent coronal hole high- speed stream (CH HSS). Activity is expected to decrease to unsettled levels during 02 - 05 October as the CH HSS subsides. Quiet conditions are expected during 06 - 11 October. Activity is expected to increase to active levels on 12 October due to a recurrent CH HSS. Activity is expected to decrease to unsettled levels on 13 October as the CH HSS subsides. Quiet conditions are expected during 14 - 27 October. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2008 Sep 30 2122 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2008 Sep 30 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2008 Oct 01 67 25 5 2008 Oct 02 67 10 3 2008 Oct 03 67 8 3 2008 Oct 04 67 8 3 2008 Oct 05 67 8 3 2008 Oct 06 67 5 2 2008 Oct 07 67 5 2 2008 Oct 08 67 5 2 2008 Oct 09 67 5 2 2008 Oct 10 67 5 2 2008 Oct 11 67 5 2 2008 Oct 12 67 15 4 2008 Oct 13 67 8 3 2008 Oct 14 67 5 2 2008 Oct 15 67 7 2 2008 Oct 16 67 5 2 2008 Oct 17 67 5 2 2008 Oct 18 67 5 2 2008 Oct 19 67 5 2 2008 Oct 20 67 5 2 2008 Oct 21 67 5 2 2008 Oct 22 67 5 2 2008 Oct 23 67 5 2 2008 Oct 24 67 5 2 2008 Oct 25 67 5 2 2008 Oct 26 67 5 2 2008 Oct 27 67 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1428, DXLD) ###