DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-111, October 9, 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 1429 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 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 1430] Wed 1130 WRMI 9955 [or new 1430] Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ALASKA [and non]. I just heard watching the Anchorage news that TV station KYES Anchorage has filed for Chapter 11. The reason, is they only get 12 hours a day of Network programming and they have to buy the other 12 hours and cannot afford it. They will stay on the air, but are looking at a bailout. So our economy is even affecting broadcasting. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Oct 7, NRC-AM, OT, via DXLD) Our economy is even affecting broadcasting? That statement comes a bit late. I don't mean to sound rude, but the economy has been affecting broadcasting for a while now! Companies are putting hiring freezes into effect for all types of staffers, some companies are only hiring for sales people. A lot of the broadcast job ads I've seen are for sales and promotions people. I don't know near as much about TV as I do about radio, but half the syndicated stuff on radio comes free, by way of barter. If a TV station can't afford their programing they need to re-evaluate their business model, and not look for a bailout, an easy fix (Paul Walker, Ord NE, ibid.) Paul, I should have said "TV Broadcasting", as few TV stations seem to go dark. That is what I was referring to. I believe KYES is the Fox station for Anchorage, if I remember right. With 300K in the market, I would think keeping a Fox station going should not be that hard. Anchorage is loaded with TV though. Tons of it. Not only the high power VHF, but lots of UHF, LPTV, and translators in the market. Maybe a bit much for the population too. [Later:] I checked and it is the MYTV station for the market. So not the most popular net out there. That could be part of the reason too (Patrick Martin, ibid.) KYES is MyNetwork, and it's an independently-owned station - I mean, KYES is the only station its owners own, except for a LPTV also in Anchorage. Some syndicated programming is sold on a "barter" basis, where the station gets the program free if it agrees to air commercials sold by the syndicator. However, most of the most popular programming must be purchased at a fee often determined through competitive bidding with other stations. Programming is generally one of the (if not the) biggest expenses at a TV station. I'm a bit surprised KYES didn't take advantage of FCC regulation 73.1740. A TV station that's been on the air for more than 3 years need only operate 28 hours a week (and a minimum of 2 hours every day). But I suppose if they went Chapter 11 it means they've already run up a bigger bill for programming than they can pay, (this is of course usually contracted for in advance) and it's too late for cost- cutting to save them. (73.1740 also has a section applicable to radio, and radio stations are required to air a much more extensive schedule. 12 hours a day, every day except Sunday, for full-time Class A, B, and C stations.) I forget if there was anything on this list about it, but WOAM-1350 Peoria is also reportedly silent (along with their FM on 94.3) for reasons directly related to the recent slowdown. As I recall the situation, they had an agreement to sell the station but the buyers were unable to obtain financing. Things are definitely slow in the business and have been for awhile. We [WSMV ch 4 Nashville] had a few layoffs (though only five in a site with about 120 employees) and are currently under an overtime freeze, there have been far bigger headlines over job cuts at various radio groups. But except for KYES and WOAM I don't know of any stations that have gone silent as a result. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) I'm surprised MY Network even produces 12 hours of daily programming for its stations! (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, ibid.) Doug, KYES is going to stay on the air, but according to the report on KTUU-2, the station does have serious money issues and are working out some deal to pay a percentage to the programmers they owe the money to. But Anchorage does have a lot of TV for their market size, 6 full power VHF's, several UHF's, LPTVs, and translators in the market. When I lived there in the 50s & 60s, Anchorage had two TV stations, Ch 2 (then KENI) with ABC/NBC nets and the CBS was KTVA-11. Randy, The report on KTUU-2 did not state if all 12 hours of free programmer on KYES, was all from MYTV. It just stated that they have to fill the other 12 hours with stuff they have to pay for. Of course, they could get a lot of paid 1/2 hour ads as many stations do. I guess that is better that shutting the station down for several hours a day. 73, (Patrick Martin, ibid.) That really isn't a problem. Why not use the 12 hours of network programing and then sign off the air at midnight like TV did in the old days. You don't need Television 24/7. In fact outside of the Dallas Cowboys and TVDX, you don't need TV at all. Use to do outside sales for KOSA-7, a CBS affiliate in Odessa, TX. We signed off at midnight and came back on at 0700. Why not?? (Willis Monk, Old Fort, TN, IRCA via DXLD) Willis, It is competition. People will tune out if the station is not on the air. The same reason 99% of stations are 24/7 today. 73, (Patrick Martin, ibid.) ** ALBANIA. Check of the Fllake MW services tonight Oct 9th. See the unusual big OFFSETS in frequency of minus 620, 200, and 350 Hertz: 1214.38 kHz at 1710 UT CRI Beijing in Romanian. Heavily disturbed by Voice of Russia, Bolshakovo 1215.00 even frequency 1457.80 kHz at 1720 UT CRI Beijing in Italian, slight QRM by co- channel Asian program from London U.K. 1394.65 kHz at 1840 UT TWR Serbian program, very strong even here in central Europe. Regards de Wolfy df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA. PMS, 6090, Oct 9 at 0545 with big hum. No such problem via // WWCR 5935, which still had a good signal at this late hour, so it`s a problem at Anguilla, not at LA or the uplink. Wiggle that patchcord! See also CUBA, NIGERIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. ANTARTIDA, 15476, LRA 36, Radio Nacional, Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza, 1901-1910, 08-10. Se escucha al cierre de Africa nº 1, canciones en español e identificación por locutora: "Desde Base Esperanza, sector antártico argentino, transmite LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel". 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 15345.17, RAE, 2154, Oct 8, they are back on the air again with a fair signal, loop of IS and RAE ID, had been off since late August (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RAE now is active again on 15345 kHz again, frequency checked by my DX friend, Norberto Pugliese at 2254 UT (Gabriel Ivan Barrera, Argentina, DXplorer Oct 8 via BC-DX via DXLD) Hola amigos de la Lista, Aparentemente estarían funcionando los transmisores de RAE en onda corta, frecuencias 11710 y 15345 kHz. Agradeceré chequear dichas frecuencias. En mi QTH no dispongo de antenas. 73s GIB (Gabriel Iván Barrer, Argentina, 2308 UT Oct 8, condiglist yg via DXLD) Is anyone hearing them later on 11710v? Not I at 0130, tho there may be a very weak carrier, whilst Chile 11665 is inbooming (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Lousy conditions tonight here in Europe, RAE 15344.91v only tiny S=3-4 about 1.5 uV. Better signals from Nigeria 15120 and ASC 15400 (Wolfgang Büschel, Oct 9, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. I am currently listening to R. Australia's "Asia- Pacific" (just ended) on 9560, with 55545 signals, at 1330z October 9. No detectable QRM (Steven Zimmerman, Ulsan, South Korea, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CRI English was there one day; I haven`t heard it since either (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. Re 8-110, gh hearing 6155 going from English to French at 0610: English and French news on "Oesterreich 1 International" were discontinued on Aug 31st, upon short notice. Moosbrunn only relays the 1st Program Home Service (=OE 1 domestic program), until further notice. Nobody is in charge at Vienna for the SW transmissions any longer (Gordon Brown, UK, NWDXC Oct 7 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** BELGIUM. RTBF AM news --- As I had conflicting information on the power output of RTBF's AM transmitters, I contacted someone inside the company with firsthand information. The information I received was very interesting: a. The 1125 kHz transmitter in La Louvière is a 10 kW transmitter but only outputs about 9.5 kW (Vivacité programme). b. The 1233 kHz for Pure FM is a 5 kW transmitter currently outputting only 4.1 kW. c. The 1305 kHz (also Pure FM) is a 10 kW transmitter which outputs 9.2 kW. In winter the transmitter output is reduced to 7 kW as it otherwise produces a kind of fading on the 1233 kHz transmitter. In the past few months people from Telefunken DRM have been equipping the AM transmitters with a DRM modulator. No news yet as to RTBF's plans with this. Naturally, the EMWG pages have already been updated with this information ;-) 73 (Herman - Boel, http://www.emwg.info - Your unsurpassed LW/MW resource, Oct 8, MWC via DXLD) I am sure it is not at all unusual for transmitters everywhere to be running a bit less than rated power like that, or even much less. In fact, the rule rather than the exception, but such precise info not normally availablized. Unfortunately, that makes miles-per-watt calculations rather pointless, unless one really has inside information (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non?]. You mentioned Frans Vossen in the lastest DXLD, and VRT. I received an e mail from Frans Recently, he is fine, I am happy to report. 73'S (Chris Lewis, England, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. NOW RADIO CULTURA SP JUMPS TO 9285 --- Pessoal, alguém mais ouviu a Rádio Cultura AM, de São Paulo, fora de banda e com sinal meio espúrio em 9285 kHz? Escutei esse sinal hoje na metade da tarde por um bom tempo. Ao contrário dos sinais de outras emissoras brasileiras que às vezes enfrentam problemas com transmissor, o sinal da Cultura era espúrio, mas nem tanto. Dava para identificar muito bem as locuções e as músicas tocadas. Bem que poderia ser um sinal de que a emissora vai voltar ao ar logo, e definitivamente, no seu devido lugar, que são os 9615 kHz. Essa é uma emissora que faz muita falta, pois a programação musical é ótima! O áudio vai estar no Trans-oceanic de sexta-feira. 9285, 07/10 2012 [local? = 2312 UT] Cultura AM, São Paulo-SP, fora de banda e com sinal espúrio, mas audível, ID, mx Luiz Melodia, YL w/ bloco de mxs com temas sobre preconceito 55444. 73! (Marcelo Xavier Vieira, Degen DE 1103, telescópica acoplada a longwire, Oct 7, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. RADIO NOVE [NOT SETE] DE JULHO GONE AGAIN FROM 9820 --- Olá Colegas, Nessa semana não tenho conseguido sintonizar a Rádio 9 de Julho em 9820 kHz em nenhum horário. Antes o sinal era muito bom e agora nem a portadora de longe. Alguém a tem conseguido ouvir? 73 (Jorge Freitas, SWL1023B, Skype jorge.freitas.fsa, Feira de Santana Bahia, 12º 15' 1.57" S 38º 58' 40.30" W, 1241 UT Oct 9, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) Ola amigos, aqui em Salvador, tem uns 5 a 6 dias que a SW da 9 de Julho ta fora. 73 a todos (Paulo Miled, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Horário de Verão está próximo --- Caros Senhores, Estou reapresentando a mensagem pois está chegando o momento, faltam pouco mais de 10 dias para isso. De acordo com o Ministério das Minas e Energia, o próximo horário de verão brasileiro começará dia 19 de outubro de 2008 e terminará dia 15 de fevereiro de 2009. Um abraço a todos, (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena - MG - Brasil, Oct 7, radioescutas yg via DXLD) DST about to start --- Will be UT -2 in eastern/southern/coastal, and presumably UT -3 in the northern, western areas where UT -4 now reigns the rest of the year. Or will some states opt out of it? (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. 6070, CFRX Toronto ON; 2014, 7-Oct; Not a trace; 1010 CFRB strong as ever (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 210' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Had been wondering if they were gone again, lacking usual traces here (gh, OK, DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Re 8-110: Glenn: -- " ...there are two CPs listed for 530 and 540, the former in Surrey and the latter in Vancouver..." -- It gets even worse. KARI/550 kHz in Blaine, Washington (just across the border) puts in a city-grade signal, day and night, over the entire Vancouver metro. I remember reading somewhere that the FCC database accounts for all once-and-present allocations ever granted, in bordering nations. Thus the numerous entries for "XENVA" stations in the Mexico section, adhering to "generic" call letters deemed by the FCC to fit any new Mexican CP issued (GREG HARDISON, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The 540 permit was issued years ago, and was essentially impractical to build for economic reasons. It was essentially replaced by the 1040 operation. The 530 Surrey permit was issued a few years later, but was not economically viable to construct either. In both cases, CRTC was very happy to issue permits which would, on Canadian territory, create substantial interference to 550 Blaine, because Blaine has always been a religious and specialty programming non-English pay-for-play operation with usable signal in metro Vancouver, providing service which would be difficult or impossible to implement from a Canadian licensed station. A border blaster, in short. And later the 550 licensee implemented the 1600 Blaine station, diplexed with the 550, which provides even further aggravation to the Canadian bureaucracy by broadcasting mostly if not entirely in S. Asian languages. But unlike the FM's which are first adjacent channel to nearby US stations and which are now proposed or in use in the lower mainland, the AM's proved to be so economically impractical that they were never built (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CJAD Montreal, heard 10 and 31 July on 25200 kHz. The two CJAD loggings are not by E-skip. This is “line of sight” reception from a 1 Watt transmitter in the football commentary box at Molson Stadium in Montreal. Its 10 inch antenna, inefficient at 26 MHz, is fine for communicating with the roving reporter, at field level, less than 200 yards away (Alan Roberts, St. Lambert QC, Oct CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6165, CNR-6, 1307-1401, Oct 7, scheduled for Hakka, ballads and traditional songs, fair-poor, QRM from VOV from about 1335-1400* and also adjacent splatter, // 9170 (fair) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. JAMMERS: 9355 Chinese Crash & Bang music jammer, 1938, 8- Oct. 9455 Chinese Crash & Bang music jammer, 1933, 8-Oct (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 210' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Per Aoki, both target R. Free Asia in Chinese via Saipan (gh) ** CHINA. CNR-1 13840 kHz off the air --- The special broadcasts after Sichuan quake were finished on Oct. 8. Cancelled transmissions from October 9: 13840 kHz CNR1 12015 kHz Sichuan PBS 1 9740 kHz Sichuan PBS 1 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, noticeably absent today (Oct 9) was Sichuan PBS-1 on 9740 at 1511. Was regularly heard here under BBC. Of course Sichuan PBS-2 was not affected, as heard today on 7225 // 6060 with indigenous Chinese music and signed-off at 1515, both with fair reception. Had only heard Sichuan PBS-1 on 12015 when I was visiting China just after the quake (Ron Howard, CA, ibid.) ** CROATIA [and non]. Re 8-110: They may register 3985 as 100 kW, but I seriously doubt that the power is anything close to it, the signal strength rather points at just a few kilowatts. Could be a 10 kW transmitter, using an antenna that can not handle higher powers (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I note only two stations on 75 mb at present 2215 UT Oct 8: 3965 1 kW RFI DRM test 4005 10 kW Vatican Radio No Croatia 3985, no DRM Sines 3995. [Later:] 3985 DEA Croatia --- Further 75 mb checks around 2225 to 2235 UT today reveal that Croatian Radio transmitter switched ON and OFF many times. Signal strength like a small 1 kW transmitter without a booster is in use. Signal strength on 3985 is about 0.8 uV to 1 uV, much less than the crowd of hams in 80 m band with maximal 750 Watt of power only! wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, if you register 100 kW instead of 1 kW, that helps keep other stations away from your very vulnerable frequency. Attention, CFRX! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC in English, 6140, UT Thu Oct 9 at 0547, ``Ed Newman`` with mailbag show, evading a question about what the qualifications are to become president of Cuba. He also said the listener correspondence office is across the street from RHC in another building, so when they bring the letters over (shuffling of papers), they have to be careful not to get run over. Big hum on this frequency, of slightly lower pitch than the hum on Anguilla 6090; no such problem on // 6000 or weaker 6060. Wiggle that patchcord! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Rechecking 11920, where VozAndes appeared the day before, nothing there Oct 8 at 1355, tho 11960 was on as usual. So 11920 must have been a mistake. BTW, I was going to mention this on WOR 1429 as in the headlines, but never got to it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Radio Cairo, 7270 kHz, very nice post card, 2 printed “papyrus like” bookmarks: One with Cleopatra and the other with Horus and Nefertari, a program guide; but NOT ANY TRACE of a QSL card or verification note even in the post card!! In 138 days for 3 Mp3 audio archives sent by e-mail (Julio Rolando Pineda Cordón, GUATEMALA, Oct CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** ERITREA. Eritrean Radio reported on Sept 29 *1355-1430* & *1455- 1730* on approx 8000 kHz ( \\ 7210 here jammed by Fana or Tigray program) and always under radio an itself as some like "Dimts Ertran Demokraty" (maybe Voice of Democratic Eritrea) but sometimes is used average jammer rumble-noise type. "DED" is with different program of any other Ethiopian radios on 5940, 5950, 5990, 6110, 7110, 7165, 9560, 9704 kHz etc. Eritrea noted on Sept 29 at 0400 UT on 7100 8000 kHz but Ethiopia was at same time on 5990 7110 7175 and on 9705 kHz was only Niger (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Oct 6 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Still hear a clutter of Ethiopian stations at 0300 UT – including this morning. 5950/6170 V. of Tigre Revolution. 6110 sounded like R. Fana, but I didn’t record that. This has more music than talk. National radio on 7110 in Amharic. I have occasionally heard this on 9704v and 5990. There are also Foreign Service programmes on 7 and 9 MHz. So I think Ethiopia must be running at least 6 x 50/100 kW HF transmitters at once some days. It is also possible to hear some of these in the evening due to reduced congestion on the 49 mb (Dr Derek Lynch, Ireland, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. Re 8-110, correcting a typo gh made when reproducing the 0600 UT entry: Observations on RFI English schedule since 6 September: 0400 M-F 9805, 11995 0500 M-F 11995, 13680 0600 M-F 9765, 15160, 17800 0700 M-F 13675 ?till 0730? 1200 daily 21620 announced but not heard 1600 daily 15605 (+maybe 17605, not heard) (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, Oct BDXC-Communication via DXLD) ** GABON. 9580: No surprise here except at 2000 on 09/07/2008 'Afrique Numero un' was a legitimate loud mouth on 31 meters. Except for some band noise, the transmission was armchair. Signal declined some by 2100. Recheck at 2130 found surprising jazz music program with DJ playing Stan Getz, Artie Shaw, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. The four time pips for 2200 were off by four seconds vs. WWV. Tune out as nx began (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA, NRD535D, longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. REPORT: DEUTSCHE WELLE WILL CONCENTRATE ON ENGLISH, CUT GERMAN The German Focus magazine reports about a draft of the Deutsche Welle plannings for the period from 2010 to 2013. The paper carries a remark by director Erik Bettermann himself that it is "not to be released to a public outside DW" [is this his way to cryptically say "please send this to the press"? SCNR]. This document states states that "important audiences can be reached only by considerably increasing the amount of English-language offerings". DW considers itself as a competitor of BBC World and Al Jazeera. A "very strained financial situation" is said to make rationalization measures necessary, and most of these cost savings will be done at the expense of German-language services. Thus DW employees already founded an initiative called "Pro Deutsche Welle" that calls these plans "a good-bye to our audiences". The Focus report also points out that DW is required by law to promote the German language. The complete report appeared in print only, I have not seen a copy yet. Quotations: http://www.digitalfernsehen.de/news/news_607007.html http://quotenmeter.de/index.php?newsid=30170 At least these excerpts do not cover the aspect of TV vs. radio. I suspect that radio could be especially affected. The days of DW German 24/7 on 6075 appear to be numbered (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Re 8-110: I would also think that the small variations in switching times of up to three seconds are not intentionally programmed but just the result of the installations needing this time after the switching procedure has been initiated. Concerning the audio: Probably Biblis and Lampertheim do not use the old analogue Optimod 9105A processors but some newer gear, i.e. current DSP processors. At least I did not see these big brown boxes on a Lampertheim station visit (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. 15495 at 1410 Oct 8 in apparent S Asian language, which per Aoki is Bondo on Wednesdays at 1400-1415 from Gospel for Asia via Wertachtal at 90 degrees. Of more interest was the interference, wideband noise I was hearing from 15490 to 15510. This buzz reminded me of the defective Saudi Arabian transmitter, but nothing such scheduled around here, and that has not been happening for several weeks where it used to. Nothing at all scheduled on 15500 at this hour; Kuwait on 15505, but not heard. By 1425 the noise was no longer heard, by which time 15495 was in Gamit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4052, R. Verdad: They have ordered the transistors they need from the USA and hope to have them within 10 to 12 days. This news via Dr. Madrid (Hans Johnson, Oct 8, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Does Guatamala - Radio Coatán 4780 need help getting back on the air? 73 (Bob Wilkner, ibid.) Oops, it`s GuatEmala, but whenever I see that mystyped, I revel that no one now makes it GUATTAMOLLA, as the Fly-By-Night Communications Club (FCC) guy used to do; what was his name? The next CAm country was HONDUROUS to him (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. OF SPECIAL INTEREST: 1130, KPHI, HI, Honolulu 10/2 0017 [EDT!] new facility noted on the air (which changed callsign from KRUD 9/25 per FCC) while in the car, booming in with Filipino pop music in English. However, when I got home signal was so weak I needed the loop to boost it (by comparison, KAOI-1110 on Maui was just fine without the loop). Noted at 0257 with JJ ad, woman talking over song “C’est la Vie” by Robbie Nevil, into AC J-Pop without an ID. Heard partial ID 10/3 0030 “AM 11-?? and FM 1-Oh-1-Point-5,” confirming that the programming of KORL had moved to 1130, leaving 1180 silent. FCC had approved switching of powers between 1130 and 1180, with 1130 rising to 1 kW and 1180 falling to 330/140 watts (necessitating 1180 to get a relay via an FM translator). (5P-HI) (Dale Park, HI, IRCA DX Monitor Oct 11 via DXLD) ** HUNGARY [+non]. Re 8-110: B08 --- I seriously doubt that these Wertachtal registrations are for Magyar Rádió! Yes, there are slots no longer in use by MR (in particular 3975), but obviously they remained after the closure of Radio Budapest only in use until MR was able to kill this booked airtime. To me it appears really unlikely that MR will again increase its shortwave transmissions. SW broadcasts originating in Hungary are on their last legs? Indeed, could be the case, now that IBB withdrew from Jászberény. Probably Antenna Hungária already regrets all the efforts they put in moving the Székesvehérvar transmitters to Jászberény and erecting new antennas for them just three years ago. Lost investments, I fear, unless new customers will appear (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 12025, AIR heard at 1710 on Oct. 8 in Hindi with OM/YL talks and modern music. Audio was horrible! The proverbial crap sandwich of the airwaves. Signal was not overmodulated, just the audio was extremely distorted. I can't believe no one is paying attention to the audio. Surely someone in Master Control must be monitoring this. Good sigs but moderate QSB. 73s de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 100m longwire, HCDX via DXLD) ** INDIA. Saw reports of Indian DRM for Europe in DX press lately. I cannot decode DRM myself but there is a big loud digital engine roaring away on AIR’s usual frequency of 9950 tonight. It’s just around 1910 UTC. English in analog continues on 7410 and 9445 kHz. 9950 was a good channel: it had less distortion on the audio than the others. BTW – is there *free* software for decoding a DRM signal fed through an ordinary audio cable into the sound card of a PC – like you get with those CW reading programs? I hate the DRM revolution – sounds like “searching” for Internet audio; takes the fun out of DXING and clutters the remaining HF dial, where once exotic stations can now be heard because others have gone off air. I am in no hurry to buy a DRM receiver but I wouldn’t mind getting free software – just to have a peek for curiosity’s sake (Dr Derek Lynch, Ireland, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes The only winner is the Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia AG, which delivered the DRM transmitter and modulator. I would rather prefer nearly 2 millions receivers on the market [from Chinese or Indian manufacturers], with combined AM, FM, DAB*, and DRM reception mode, in the Eton E1 or Sony ICF2001 quality level class ... OR ... new 250 kW AM TX units to replace AGEING Delhi Kingsway and Kampur units very soon (Wolfgang Büschel, BCDX Oct 9 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Hello, This email message is a notification to let you know that a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the dxld group. Description : Radio Republik Indonesia - 3897 khz - 1200 UTC. Regards, rbakisaturd , dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Where and when was this recorded? It`s an RRI ID introducing the news. Is there a local ID at the very end of the brief clip? No RRI normally on 3897. Could it be Merauke, Papua, down from 3905 to avoid PNG New Ireland? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, The actual "station sounds" file indicates the correct frequency: 3987, so 3897 is just a typo. It's RRI Manokwari, which is currently being heard on 3987. There is also an audio clip at http://www.peace-j.net/ (Ron Howard, ibid.) "N-1 Tuushinn" is active again. New "N-1 Tuushin 2nd" by A. Ishida in Japanese (partly English). http://n-1.at.webry.info/ (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Oct 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Lots of Indonesian logs and audio clips, SW and some MW (gh) ** INDONESIA. Al goed in de lucht 3976.050 kHz, hier vanaf 1415 UT; 4925 kHz, was iets later goed signaal maar zwakke audio. De 3325 kHz niets tehoren. In bijlage opname van de 3976.050 kHz, om aantetonen hoe de ontvangst hier is in de vroege middaguren. Vele groeten (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Oct 8, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 11785.97v, VOI, 1327, Oct 7, in English, weak, best in USB, QRM 11785.0; at 1438 assume Malay with fair signal, light CODAR QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) On another point, sorry if I have raised it before ---Indonesia can be heard in various European languages up to 1855 or so but is ALWAYS USELESS after that on 11785v, either because of Chinese Firedrake or poor propagation. They had nice clean audio and good reception a few years back. They really need to get their frequency choice sorted out if they want audiences for English and French here in Europe (Dr Derek Lynch, Ireland, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) & NAm VOI, 11786, Oct 8 at 1359 with ID in English; 1400 hets from Firedrake and VOA 11785 go off, but VOI signal only poor with IS, 1403 opening presumed Malay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Last year I bought a Nokia N810 Internet tablet. I chose it over the iPod Touch because the N810 can do streaming. At the time the iPod Touch could not (I don't know if an application has been released that can do this). I can walk around my house listening to just about anything and it's crystal clear, aside from some buffering when my son is hogging the bandwidth. There's now an application for the iPhone/iPod Touch that is location aware and can stream the nearest NOAA Weather Radio station and provide any police/fire/EMS feeds in that area. Whoa! That alone almost makes me want to go buy an iPhone. I figure it's only a matter of time before people are listening to the BBC and Radio Nederland on their iPhones. I was a shortwave bigot for a long time. I would not listen to online streaming and instead listened to my shortwave. But I've given in, particularly with podcasts. Why listen to a staticy broadcast from RNW on their time when I can just download it into my iPod or N810 and listen whenever I want in crystal clear stereo? I've long been intrigued by the 1930's. If the economy keeps on like it is we might get to revisit that decade. But I have this Rockwell- ish image of sitting around a large radio listening to a static filled broadcast from distant lands. My iPod isn't nearly as romantic, but it's so much more practical. Oh well (John Mayson, Austin, Texas, USA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. BBCWS silliness on XM --- A few days ago (and I forget the date/time/show) while listening to the BBCWS on XM channel 131, they inserted a promo for an upcoming program and stated the 2-3 times it would be aired in Eastern Time this day. The last time was 3 p.m. -- but the insert was just before 5 p.m. local! Unless they are assuming ECNA listeners understand the BBC is "thinking" GMT and that the listener knows it's airing the following day, no wait, 5 p.m. ET is still not the following day in the UK. Confusing regardless, and I didn't think to follow up the next local day to confirm. It's sad that the only reliable way I can hear BBCWS 24/7 (or pretty much any time these days) is via subscription XM (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. Does anyone know if the Coalition Maritime Forces still have any broadcasts regarding piracy off the Somali coast? If so, what times and frequencies? (Steve Lare, MI, UDXF yg via DXLD) According schoechi.de 6125usb/9133usb have been known to show traffic. Here's a good link on the subject: http://profitfromknowledge.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!CD652F91BAF358AF!791.entry `Course there are a LOT of sites with info on this subject. Sign of the times I suppose. Not to mention lawlessness. A few years back I logged an ARQ transmission that was not in English. It was fairly long & I wondered what was in it. I posted a piece of it to WUN to try & learn the language used & a fellow got back to me via email. Make a long story short: turned out to be from a ship that had just been boarded by "pirates" that robbed & assaulted the crew. They were talking to another boat & apparently knew each other. One of the best snags I ever got. Anyway your "pirate" post reminded me of it (Al Dudley, wash dc, aor-3030, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. ABRAHAM JACOB NATHAN, 1927-2008 --- A PERSONAL APPRECIATION BY CHRIS GREENWAY (Published in BDXC "Communication", edition 407, October 2008) [illustrated with this studio photo from 1989 --- http://www.offshoreradio.de/peace1.jpg -- gh] Abie Nathan's death in August was widely reported in the mainstream media, a recognition of his achievements as a peace activist and philanthropist over several decades. The basic facts of his life show Abie's cosmopolitan background. Born to a Jewish family in Iran, he went to a Jesuit school in British-ruled India and joined the RAF. After emigrating to Israel he joined the new state's air force, flew for El Al and opened a restaurant in Tel Aviv. He undertook his first peace mission in 1966, piloting a rented plane to Egypt. More visits to Arab countries and talks with Palestinian leaders followed, leading in 1989 to an Israeli jail sentence for meeting Yasser Arafat. But he will always be best known for his unique radio venture. In the early 1970s he bought an old Dutch freighter and sailed it to New York to be fitted out for broadcasting. John Lennon was among the celebrities who visited the vessel, renamed "Peace". The ship sailed back across the Atlantic and anchored just off Tel Aviv. Between 1973 and 1993, the "Voice of Peace" was a prominent fixture on the airwaves of the eastern Mediterranean, first on mediumwave and later on FM too. The effect, particularly in Israel, was similar to that of Radio Caroline and the other British offshore pirates of the sixties. The VoP offered a distinctive alternative to the old-fashioned Kol Israel (Voice of Israel). Its mostly English- speaking DJs largely played American and British pop music in a style that soon gained a large audience. Its success prompted Kol Israel to play copy-cat and set up its own pop music channel, Reshet Gimmel ("Network C" - as unimaginative a name as "Radio 1"!!). I was one of Abie's employees for six months, between September 1980 and March 1981, one of dozens of non-Israelis (mainly Britons) who worked for him over the years for little more than bed, board, a return air fare and a chance for a great adventure. Spending most of my time at sea, and with Abie based on shore, I only met him in person three or four times. But he was a constant presence in our lives. Understandably, Abie was a keen listener to his own station and liked to pass on his comments and instructions on a regular basis. He'd do this via a walkie-talkie radio (always referred to by us as the Motorola, after its manufacturer). Motorola transceivers were located in the ship's bridge and the studio, and we had to keep a constant watch on them in case the boss wanted to contact us. The Motorola in the studio was wired into the broadcasting desk, meaning that we could put Abie directly on the air, allowing him to sit at home or in the office with his walkie-talkie and have his voice transmitted across the region on 1539 AM and 100 FM ("in stereo", as our jingles made a point of saying proudly!!). (The VoP was also, briefly, on shortwave 6240, but that was after my time with the station.) Abie could decide to go on the air at very short notice and at any time of day (or night). Late evenings were a popular time. If you were the duty DJ you would hear the Motorola crackle into life and Abie would appear, asking us to play a certain record (the Beatles were a particular favourite) and then to put him on. He would launch into an off-the-cuff talk about the current news or anything else on his mind. We broadcast Abie-recorded as well as Abie-live. Every day at dusk we'd play a canned announcement from him ("as the sun sets...") which introduced a moment of silence to remember the victims of violence. Depending on the time of year (and hence the time of sunset), this silent spot would often fall within the station's most famous daily programme, Twilight Time. This was named after the 1958 hit by The Platters, which always introduced the show. Its opening line - "Heavenly shades of night are falling - it's twilight time" - became something of a cliché joke amongst the crew. The show featured soft ballads and tunes, often from the 1950s, which were also a favourite genre of music for Abie. Being such a flagship programme, it was always presented by one of crew's most silkily voiced DJs (so it was never me!). Although we were nominally broadcasting to the whole region, we knew that the great bulk of our audience was in Israel. All commercials were aimed at the Israeli market and at the top of most hours we relayed the Kol Israel news (we had an FM receiver hooked up to the mixing desk). But we always introduced the news with the VoP's own distinctive jingle (known to us as "the banner"), complete with seagulls. The station's "peace" message was a soft-sell - we left it to Abie. When he started the VoP I think he had the idea of using it to broadcast a stronger political message and have its own news service. But he soon realised that the best use of the station was to raise the profile of his campaign in general terms and to make money for good causes (especially in the early days, the VoP was a commercial success). I've always been proud to have met Abie and been a small part of history by working on the Voice of Peace during its heyday. During the eighties, it faced increasing competition from other stations and was already in financial difficulties by the time Abie decided to close it and scuttle the ship in 1993. Abie was not always the most sympathetic of employers, and we irreverent youngsters on board his ship had mixed feelings about this demanding, driven, boss (who always dressed entirely in black, as a political protest). But the Voice of Peace was a magnificent achievement. As his obituary in The Times said, Abie "pursued his goals with unconventional zeal, vision and exuberance... Although some viewed him as a crackpot, his actions were frequently vindicated by events". (Chris Greenway (Richard Grant on the Voice of Peace), via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. Hello. New to your group. Using a Realistic DX-160 and 100ft longwire predominately E/W orientation in central GA US. I have modified the radio so I can pick off the oscillator frequency and send it to a counter. Yesterday / Last evening I came across a repetitive signal on approx. 4547 kHz that varied once a second. I kind of liken it to running a wet finger around the lip of a wine glass and stopping for a bit, and repeating over and over. zing-zing-zing-zing... Very regular, except every so often there was some form of double zing zing. zing-zing-zing-zingzing-zing-zing. I thought it might be an airport beacon or something like that. Forgive me I may be using the wrong terminology here: Beacon. Anyway, as I listen more and more, i'm stopping more and more on these bizzare RXs, to have a listen. So my first question is this: Is there some backgrounder on the signals the members of this group hunt, and is there a database or collection of samples out there for people to listen to, preferably identified with time and frequency (and of course description of source) so that one can begin to educate oneself as to what is out there? Just getting the terminology down would be a start. UDXF for dummies. Obviously my written description: zing-zing-zing leaves a good deal of subjectivity in the problem. Thanks. (Samuel Ernst- Fortin, Georgia USA, Oct 5, UDXF yg via DXLD) Just an educated guess from what you've described here, it sounds like you're either hearing the CODAR signal (HF radar used to map ocean currents) or Link-11 (Tom Sevart N2UHC Frontenac, KS http://www.geocities.com/n2uhc ibid.) Hi Samuel, Based on what you're describing and the frequency, I'll take a guess and hazard that it's CODAR you are hearing. This is a HF radar system for determining wave heights offshore, and there are systems installed all around North America and other regions. There are quite a few transmitters for CODAR around that 4547 frequency and higher, and sometimes there are very interesting audio patterns (the "double zing") that occur when you hear more than one. The transmitters are low power, but there are a lot of them, which adds to the number of signals you can hear. It also sounds different as to what mode you are using: sideband is rather different from AM certainly. Try this site for more info: http://www.codaros.com/ Very audible here in North America during the late afternoon and night time hours, also very mind numbing if you listen too much! My 2 cents worth; you may indeed may be hearing something completely different of course. Also, try listening around 4800-4900 kHz, there are CODAR stations there as well. If they sound similar, then that's what you've got. 73, (Brendan Wahl WA7HL, west coast, ibid.) You people are wonderful. It never occurred to me to try SSB. That's a much more interesting signal than AM! As I was listening to it tonight, I heard a few triple zings! When my DX-160 is placed in SSB mode, it's almost like I can hear the pulse and its reflection. Like you hit a long wide strip of metal or beam or flexible pole, or you pluck a really long string of mass, and you hear it in its excited state both the wave propagating away and back. All in a second, every second. As it appears to rotate the signal goes from S3 to S10+. Frequency estimated tonight is 4544. I'm using a DX-160 with a Heathkit SM-2420 frequency counter, so the receiver freq is probably +/- 1 to 2 KHz. Thanks again (Sam, ibid.) Hi Sam, Thanks for the update. Yes, I'm getting it on 4544 as well right now, and that's CODAR for sure. Lots of that around certainly. You'll find most of the interesting signals out there using sideband as your primary setting, much more sensitive than AM too. 73, (Brendan, Washington state, ibid.) ** IRAN. 1512 kHz: As I enjoy my Yom Kippur break and as it nears darkness I checked the bands and at this frequency I expected that Crete might be coming through well as it did last year. Instead I have been clearly hearing Farsi speech and Iranian music from Radio Ardabil with a mere 50 kW. Heard with a clear 44444 from 1615 to 1630. 73's (Dan Goldfarb, Brentwood, England (NOT NY, USA!), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ``Mere``, ha ha, you Europeans, desde USA where 50 kW is the max on MW, except for Radio Martí (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Jammers noted on the number stations frequencies: at 1830 on 4880 kHz here also SWRA was and at 1930 on 6840 kHz on 29, 30 Sept. (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Oct 6, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Oct 9 via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Re 8-110: Payam-e-Doost: "What does USA have to do with it?" --- The programs originate there, at least they have a Virginia address, cf. http://www.lyngsat-address.com/or/Payam-e-Doost.html "No listing for it in WRTH 2008 under Clandestine section, Iran" --- Keep always in mind that the Clandestine and International Broadcasting sections of WRTH list only broadcasts that go out via shortwave. This way they are in fact incomplete. The problem is that satellite radio gets only little attention: The shortwave crowd does not care for them, and the satellite crowd on the other side does not care for radio (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. Re DXLD 8-110 Hot Country- CIMR ``This one is making quite a splash amongst European DXers. Why would `CIMR` pretend to be Canadian? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)`` I don't believe they are. C.I.M.R., which has full stops after each letter on their logo, stands for County and Irish Music Radio. Their website now has photos of the 549 transmitter and antenna. The homepage says they carry Dr. Gene Scott Saturdays and Sundays at 0900 though their programme schedule says Sundays only. http://www.countryandirish.ie (Mike Barraclough, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. Hi Glenn, I'm sorry that I have made scant contributions to DXLD; it has been due to poor condx and a move to Ulsan, South Korea, to teach English at an elementary school here. MW is interesting because the Korean Peninsula itself seems tough for MW daytime groundwave. Busan is only 75 km south of here, but their MW outlets are difficult or impossible to hear. Pohang MBC on 1107 (10 kW) does produce a listenable signal from about 80 km north of here. However, Ulsan is on the coast facing Japan, and daytime groundwave over-the-water signals from Fukuoka, on 1413 and 1278 produce local- strength signals approximately 250 km away; they are both 50 kW. Receivers: Sony ICF-SW7600GR and a 49m half-wave dipole on the roof, fed with a twisted-pair from cannibalized CAT-5 cable. It works well, and it's stealth to boot! For MW, I am using a GE P780 portable (Steven Zimmerman, Ulsan, South Korea, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZSTAN [and non]. Re 8-110: 6030. Thanks to Mauno Ritola's tip I tried Kyrgyzstan, R Maranatha on 7 Oct. Noted the buzzy/humming carrier under Chinese station around 1455. There was also a ute-rtty below the frequency and a nasty whining spur from some faulty bc transmitter nearby on 6033. Around 1530 the spur disappeared and I could hear the presumed Maranatha with talks and music similar to Mauno's audio clip. Too weak modulation to get any ID this time. The language sounds like Pashto or similar of that region. Around 1551 Oromiya switched on with interval-signal and that was it for today (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Oct 8, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1429, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio, 1411-1436, Oct 7, news in Laotian, 3-4 minutes of no audio, finally into "Hello. I am Elizabeth Moore. Welcome to Functioning in Business" (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Relays this weekend via 9290 kHz Sat October 11th Latvia Today 1000-1100 UT Radio Casablanca 1100-1200 UT Sun October 12th Latvia Today 1300-1400 UT Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, Oct 9, HCDX via DXLD) ** LATVIA [+non]. Re 8-110: No mediumwave transmissions go out via Ulbroka anymore, and the closure of the last outlet (945) had been reported in DXLD if I recall correctly. And it seems that the shortwave transmitter will go dark as well at the end of this year (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Some mornings XEXQ is just barely audible, or inaudible on 6045, but Oct 9 it was quite good at 1302, as YL announcer was identifying music with opus numbers and key signatures in the do-re-mi style, then unusual oriental-sounding piece with flute, chimes, gongs, narration, a companion to Firedrake on 6030; 1307 segué into more traditional classical music. No more announcements heard until 1345, but a one+ minute break in transmission at 1341. Was running about S9+10, and with weak rippling SAH from E Asian transmitter. Respectable modulation level too from San Luís Potosí, as heard on my main receiver, FRG-7 with E-W longwire, but surprised it was also audible on the DX-390 at the breakfast table which uses only the reel- out interior wire clipped to the whip (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Hi Andy, sorry to bother you, off topic, but what happened to the idea of reviving the Arabic section of RNW starting last September??? we have been waiting for that for some time now but no news on the Arabic website of RNW; do you mind shedding some light on that Please? Thanks a lot (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Oct 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Tarek, The radio broadcasts will start on Monday 27th October. They will be one hour Mon-Fri. I don't yet know the schedule (times or frequencies), but it will be on shortwave. Off-air trial programmes (what we call 'Dry running' in English) have already started, so by the time the service goes live they should have sorted out any problems. As soon as I have more information it will be published in the blog :-) But I am on vacation till 20 October, so it may be a while before I get the information. 73, (Andy Sennitt, RNW, ibid.) Arabic from Oct 26 in B-08 exotic via South Africa, Vatican Rome, and Issoudun-France. 11830 Mon-Fri 1859-1957 MEY 500 019 7385 Mon-Fri 1959-2057 SMG 250 114 5970 Mon-Fri 2159-2257 ISS 500 183 (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As per http://pdis.rnw.nl/werkman/amschedule.php (updated Oct. 03: A08 & B08) RNW Arabic from 10/26/2008: 1900-1957 Mon-Fri 11830 MEY 500kW/019 ME 2000-2057 Mon-Fri 7385 SMG 250kW/114 ME 2200-2257 Mon-Fri 5970 ISS 500kW/183 nAF (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Oct 8, dxldyg via DXLD) Yes, this is the official working schedule from my colleague Jan Peter Werkman, our frequency manager. It is updated as necessary while final adjustments are being made to the schedule, so could still change before it goes into operation. As I am on vacation until 20 October, I didn't know that he had updated it already (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Note the use of Santa Maria di Galeria. This is of course an airtime exchange, in return Radio Vatican will get a Bonaire slot, 0300-0400 on 9660. This way one hour of the airtime for English to NAm will be redirected to Arabic. What also caught my eye: RNW English 2300-2358 via Trincomalee on 1548. Has this transmitter ever relayed any non-DW programming previously? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not heard any other station using DW Trincomalee 1548 kHz transmitter yet (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, India, Oct 9, ibid.) So RN would rather broadcast English at 4:30 am local time to India, than in primetime to North America. I would dearly love to see the audience figures for that (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) See also INTERNATIONAL INTERNET ** NEW ZEALAND. Re 8-110, RNZI anomalies: Hi Glen[n], I can answer a few of your questions --- 4 OCT 1300-1550, 7145 RNZI DRM - whoops, that was an error; however there are test transmissions in progress on this and other frequencies this and in the next 3 weeks. 6 OCT 1600-1950, 9615 AM - Changes were required due to a fault on the AM transmitter which was locked on 9615 so we extended the period we usually use this frequency as it provides good general coverage in this area. During this period the DRM service was interrupted and the transmitter was used to cover for the advertised AM frequencies except for periods when it was required for DRM relays. It is usual practice for us to suspend the DRM transmission when possible to cover for the AM service. These decisions take account of priority times when we are being relayed by Pacific stations. Both transmitters are AM capable so are able to transmit on dual frequencies in AM mode when needed. It is not possible to keep the web site updated for short duration transmission issues. Regards (Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 6089.85, Radio Nigeria, Kaduna (presumed); 2125-2208+, 6- Oct; M in unknown language with long native chant with thumb harp; 2200 commentary by W in unknown language. SIO=2+22/roar QRM, improved by 2200, despite additional QRM from Cuba in Spanish on 6100. Nothing detectable on 4770. Covered by Rev. Barbi in mid-thump at 2208 via Anguilla. Got a het on 6089.33 at 2014 next day, but no audio (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 210' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Spanish on 6100 from *2205 is R. Canada Internal (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Re 8-110, KNID and KZLS: Strangely enough, the FCC thinks the calls haven't changed yet. Go to http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/callsign/prod/mainch.pl and put KNID in the box - it says the KNID calls belong to the station licensed to Mustang, OK (and have belonged to that station since July 2000) and with facility ID 37123. +-----------------+-----------+------------+--------------+ | station_channel | comm_city | comm_state | fac_callsign | +-----------------+-----------+------------+--------------+ | 259 | MUSTANG | OK | KNID | +-----------------+-----------+------------+--------------+ 1 row in set (0.62 sec) mysql> Channel 259 is 99.7 MHz. Repeat with KZLS, and you get a station in North Enid with facility ID 165312 which has held the calls only since January: +-----------------+------------+------------+--------------+ | station_channel | comm_city | comm_state | fac_callsign | +-----------------+------------+------------+--------------+ | 296 | NORTH ENID | OK | KZLS | +-----------------+------------+------------+--------------+ 1 row in set (0.63 sec) Channel 296 is 107.1 MHz (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Doug, Interesting, but that is not so unusual, is it, for the FCC info to lag behind what is going on? Or may we indeed assume that KNID & Co. are IDing incorrectly. Well, there has certainly been no station on the air on 99.7 in Mustang since 2000, and there still is not. I checked today. I don`t see how it could even have been licensed since then, as 99.7 Alva/Enid just went off the air last week. 73, (Glenn to Doug, Oct 8, via DXLD) The move of stations from Enid to Oklahoma City has been going on for a long time. I remember visiting my grandparents in Arkansas City, Kansas back in the 50s and watching KGEO-5 from Enid which had the best signal there of any TV station. As you know, they later moved to Oklahoma City to be KOCO-5. KGEO-TV as I recall was ABC as was KTVQ-25 in Oklahoma City. Their "local" stations were KOTV-6 and WKY-4 as I recall. I don't think channel 8 in Tulsa and channel 9 in OKC were on yet. NBC was KCEB-23 in Tulsa and KEDD-16 in Wichita. They were not set up for UHF and I don't think back then their UHF signals were strong enough to reach Ark City. I do recall seeing UHF antennas in Winfield, however. KTVH-12 was CBS in Hutchinson but I don't recall them being able to watch it on a regular basis. Of course, they had a rotor and a VHF antenna on a fairly high pole. My other grandparents in Dodge City lived on a hill and had WKY-TV as their local station. Grandpa was an early DXer often watching skip from all over North America. I remember channel 5 from Washington, DC was in frequently and he even watched Mexico City on occasion (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And that was the end of KTVQ-25, as an early UHF station. 25 came back in OKC a bit later as KOKH, non-commercial by the OKC public schools, an early secondary-instructional to main educational one KETA-13. Somehow KOKH morphed into a commercial station, retaining the original call letters and is now the Fox affiliate. OKC had some other early U`s which didn`t survive, KMPT-19 in the same era as KTVQ-25; and later KLPR-14, now KTBO. One of them tried scrambled subscription TV for a while; I think it was on 19. Ch 8 in Tulsa, KTUL was originally KTVX in Muskogee, another move-in like KGEO/KOCO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. Glenn, Re 8-110, In case you'd like to supply Phil Rafuse the current RDPi - R.Portugal schedule for N Am: Mo-Fri kHz Status 1200-2000 15560 special 2000-2300 13755 special 2300-0200 9715 regular Sat+Sun 1200-2000 15560 regular 2000-2300 13755 special "special" means special broadcasts, usually for sports, and may not last up to the indicated time, so it's all according to needs. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 5920, Kamchatka Radio via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, local programming from 0710-0800, Oct 8, pre-0710 and post-0800 had R. Rossii programming, ID: "programa Kamchatka Radio", interviews, news, more interviews, countless mentions of "Kamchatka", 0730 + 0737: "This is Kamchatka", ToH 5+1 pips, mostly fair, WBOH not much of a problem (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Oct. 7, 12015 kHz, 1203z, VOR in Dari to Afghanistan, (ARMavir) Krasnodar-RUS 105 degrees, YL reading the news. Received in back beam, very strong signal, but strong test tone on the same frequency! (First I thought the noise was from transmitter but, no way, the tone was too strong). -- Best regards & many 73s! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, SERBIA, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. Re 8-110: I note with interest that Radio Saint Helena is disappointed at the low response from North America. This is further evidence of the collapse of shortwave listening in the US - but, as Radio Saint Helena observes, the few SWLs and Dxers who are left are very vocal in their opposition to any cuts, as long as they don't have to pay for the continuation of the service! (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I heard Radio St Helena yesterday starting 1810 UT on 11092.5 kHz USB. For the first 15 minutes the signal was very distorted but they fixed it. Regards (Costas Krallis, SV1XV, Athens, Greece, Oct 4, UDXF yg via DXLD) The signal was pretty weak here in New Hampshire, but I managed to hear some of the music and speech. The audio seemed clear of distortions when I listened (Rik van Riel, ibid.) Nothing here in Atlanta currently 1817 UT on 11092 kHz. Sincere Best Regards, 73,s (Eric//KG4OZO// Atlanta, Georgia, Oct 4, ibid.) Perhaps because it was 24 hours earlier (gh) ** SAINT VINCENT & THE GRENADINES. Trans-equatorial FM DX: 107.5, NBC, Kingstown, EE, 0202, 02/10, OM, mx caribenha 35233. 103.7, Hitz FM, Kingstown, EE, 0205, 02/10, OM 33333 (RUBENS FERRAZ PEDROSO, BANDEIRANTES-PR, BRASIL, RECEPTORES: SONY ICF SW 7600GR E SONY ICF SW 7600G. ANTENA: LW DO DEGEN DE1103 COM APROXIMADAMENTE 10,62 METROS, @tividade DX via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA [non]. 7205, CLANDESTINE, IBC Tamil Radio, Heard with excellent signals and rapid-fire Tamil talk by YL at 0015 on Oct. 8. Long, talks with very little music until last ten minutes of program and sign-off at 0100. Not sure why this is a clandestine. Programming is very commercial and it appears to be a part of the IBC broadcast network in the UK. BTW, their website is under construction, but you can still listen live. WRTH email addy is correct; however don't send your emails until at least 0900 UK local time as the mailbox gets full overnight and your letter will be kicked back. 73s de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 100m longwire, HCDX via DXLD) ** SUDAN. Radio Peace was briefly back on the air, but is now off again. They are working to get back on 4750 and 5895 (Hans Johnson, Oct 8, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. VOA to Darfur - further confusion. 9650 was not a good choice as one of the frequencies for this new service as has been used in the past by Voice of the Tigray Revolution in Ethiopia. A quick check last night revealed Tigrinya on that frequency at 1800. An hour later, there was something in Arabic on 9650, but too poor for an ID. (Chris Greenway, England, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That's a SAWA transmission to Sudan, via Germany, Philippines, São Tomé, Sri Lanka, and Thailand: 0300-0330 4960 SAO 100 30 5995 LAM 100 132 11635 IRA 250 279 1800-1830 4960 SAO 100 30 9650 UDO 250 272 11635 IRA 250 275 1900-1930 5880 IRA 250 275 9650 WER 250 150 11635 PHL 125 270 (via Bulgarian Observer) AOKI list shows only Tigrinya at 1415 UT. 9650 V of Peace / V. Dem. Eritrea 1415-1500 Tigrinya 10 kW ND Mekele ETH 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) At 1800 UT I noted all three channels with very SAME program, sounds Arabic on my ears: 4960 SAO 100 30 S=4-5 3 uV 1/4 second ahead of IRA 9650 UDO 250 272 S=7-8 25 uV strongest signal here 11635 IRA 250 275 S=7 12 uV 1/10 second ahead of UDO UTE on lower flank. At 1900 UT also heard the very same program, despite 5880 channel suffers severe QRM by DRM BBC Kvitsoe Norway from 5875, up to 5881 kHz. 5880 IRA 250 275 heavy QRM of 5875 kHz. 9650 WER 250 150 S=5 3 uV due of dead zone in Wertachtal area. 11635 PHL 125 270 S=7-8 30 uV Tinang is 1/2 second behind Wertachtal. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via remote receiver in Europe. SITE? 11635, Affia Darfur. Thanks Kim Andrew Elliott tip, new IBB program for Darfur. News read by man and woman in Arabic, ID at 1810 Oct 9. Then more by the same. Fair reception (Hans Johnson, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) As above, site for the 18 UT broadcast is Sri Lanka, but at 19 it is Tinang (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SWEDEN. Extra SAQ transmission on Oct 24th 2008 --- EXTRA GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ TRANSMISSION --- There will be a transmission with the Alexanderson alternator on 17.2 kHz on “United Nations Day” October 24 2008 at 0930 UT. Start up and tuning from about 0900 UT. This time we do not require any QSL-reports and will not verify. Regards. SM6NM/Lars. P.S.: We intend to continue with our annual transmission on Christmas Eve (morning), Dec 24, at 0800 UT with tuning up from 0730 UT. D.S. (Lars Kålland via Hugo Matten, Belgium, BDX via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. Re 8-110: ? ``Tnx a lot! Why is it necessary to cancel the NAm broadcast on this occasion? What will WYFR fill with? Just more erratic behavior from RTI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` I imagine that the problem is a limitation on the number of parallel programme streams they can play out. If they want to broadcast a special programme it may be necessary to cancel one of the others. I also imagine that RTI, like other international broadcasters, is aware that it has a small audience in North America. This belief is strengthened by the fact that two of their English broadcasts to North America will be permanently cancelled from 1 November (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That really doesn`t make sense to me. If they are running the special program on 15320, why can`t they do the same on 5950 WYFR? Or at least have WYFR play back the last English broadcast from 2200 (gh, DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. Thanks to the tip from S. Hasegawa in Japan via DXLD, I can hear Tajik Radio every night here (between 1200 and 1500z;) on 4635. Their signals are consistently 33233 here, with presumed spy- numbers CW QRM at times, buzz in their audio which sounds like their transmitter, and some local line noise. Tajik sounds exactly like Farsi to my ears; they are closely related languages from what I understand. The music they play is fascinating, and worth a little line-noise degradation in order to listen to them (Steven Zimmerman, Ulsan, South Korea, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 15275, R. Thailand, *0200-0230, Oct 8, in English, chimes, "This is HSK9 Radio Thailand", national news with extensive reporting on the unrest in the country, Royal family news, global news, BoH into Thai, nice to hear this again with good reception, broadcasting to WNAm (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. Very poor DX night due to nighttime work on a neighbor's house with a generator and power tools which are apparently made from old spark gap transmitters. This produced some of the most interesting noise patterns I've seen since my crypto days with the Army! :-( 12005, RTT Tunis heard at 1702 in Arabic on Oct. 7 with station IDs, Arabic music and talk between OM and YL show host. Some telephone interviews including one at 1726 with some guy who was rapping in Arabic. I see now that this degenerate form of poetry has invaded the world of Islam as well. Booming signals - supposedly 500 kW - but some slow deep fades made me rate is only fair overall. 73s de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 100m longwire, HCDX via DXLD) ** U K. Re 8-110, BBC: The comment "AndyUK | 03.10.08, 09:46 GMT" hits the nail on the head: "So, where would this announcement come from?" Where is the underground shelter studio of the BBC? Photos? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Since I never got round to listening to the première of BBCR4`s new MEDIA SHOW of Oct 1, I am pleased to see that unlike most programmmes, they are keeping an audio archive available, not only the latest one, now Oct 8, but still the Oct 1, via http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/mediashow/ which I am listening to as I type. Unfortunately, any expectations of a world-orientated programmme are dashed, as it`s mostly about media developments within Britain so far, with an excursion to the USA for politix (Glenn Hauser, OK, Oct 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC REINFORCES ITS RUSSIAN ONLINE OUTPUT, CHANGES RADIO SCHEDULES BBC World Service has announced changes which will further reinforce its Russian-language output. The main thrust of the reprioritised investment is placed on strengthening the website, bbcrussian.com, which has become the key method for delivery of all BBC content in Russian. The website is having a significant impact in Russia where it is easier to access than the BBC radio services, and where demand for online news is growing and becoming increasingly sophisticated. In August 2008, at the height of the conflict between Russia and Georgia, the number of unique users of the website increased dramatically to nearly three million, and many of these new users have remained with the site in September. The audience is also accessing other platforms online: in August 2008, traffic to online audio content doubled while demand for video jumped six-fold to nearly 2,300,000 views. Use of news from BBC Russian via wireless handheld devices also more than doubled. Use of forums and interactive traffic has also grown and during the recent conflict was at record levels. Head of BBC Russian, Sarah Gibson, explains that the BBC wanted to improve its Russian-language offer to serve audiences whose media consumption habits are changing rapidly. She says: “Our aim is to deliver a fresher, more relevant service for our audiences in Russia and the wider post-Soviet market – a trusted, high quality website with the kinds of features the audience expects, and news and current affairs programmes at key times of day, available online as well as through more traditional radio platforms. “It’s clear that audiences like our multiplatform offer more and more, and our challenge now is to improve this offer and to give audiences more formats that they enjoy and engage with. That is why we are focusing resources where they will have most impact.” Resources are being focused to enable the BBC to improve its rolling 24/7 news offer on bbcrussian.com. The BBC will also increase the number of high-quality video reports, underpinned with original journalism from Russia. These, too, will be updated 24/7. The BBC is also strengthening resources for bbcrussian.com during the morning peak periods and is increasing the resources for interactivity round the clock. Reprioritisation also means boosting the Learn English section of bbcrussian.com – a tool which helps millions of Russian- speakers to master English in a simple and engaging manner. The BBC Russian radio also changes, with re-focusing of resources on peak listening times and with more investment in flagship news and current affairs programmes. Key daily radio programmes on shortwave and mediumwave will be expanded to make up a simpler schedule tailored for peak morning and evening drive-time audiences. The flagship morning weekday news and current affairs programme, Utro na BBC, will be increased by half an hour, to three-and-a-half hours each day. The afternoon weekday drive time news and current affairs sequence, Vecher na BBC – which includes the hour-long BBSeva hosted by Seva Novgorodsev – will be increased, by one hour, to four hours each day. New weekend editions of Vecher na BBC will be launched, on both Saturday and Sunday, to take the place of current short updates. There will be changes elsewhere in the radio schedule to fund these improvements. The production of some short news bulletins, which were designed for Russian FM partners, will cease as the BBC no longer has these agreements. Longer format feature programming will cease; their themes and issues will be incorporated into mainstream news and current affairs content. The reprioritisation also enables the BBC to develop extra newsgathering resources in Russia, resulting in increased reporting and analysis of Russian affairs. The BBC will also increase the current affairs reporting of British cultural and social affairs, as well as reporting on the former Soviet Union, for all programmes and platforms. Sarah Gibson sums up: “We believe that a fuller multimedia news offer will strengthen the impact of BBC Russian and that, as a result of these changes, BBC Russian will become the most trusted and influential international news provider in Russia, serving audiences in the global Russian-speaking community, across borders and platforms.” (Source: BBC World Service Publicity) 3 comments so far: 1 Jonathan Marks October 8th, 2008 - 19:37 UTC Don’t understand why this news is not reflected on the BBC’s own sitestats here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/siteusage/ The podcast numbers seem to show a vast difference between popular, [sic] and then the ones that only gather a couple of thousand a month. 2 David October 9th, 2008 - 7:08 UTC It appears they don’t include BBC World Service in Average Weekly Unique Users to the website (BBC WS is not listed in the “Total -by Network” section) but the download/podcast figures do include BBC Russian and other BBC WS podcasts. Perhaps there is a clue in the fact that the “corporate design” to the BBC WS podcast page is the same as for all other BBC Radio (and different from BBC WS pages):maybe BBC Network (UK) Radio provides the infrastructure to WS for podcasting but not for WS internet site. BBCRussian.com doesn’t seem to mention anything about podcasts in Russian, that might explain why the figures for Russian podcasts are low. (And the two podcasts offered in Russian are “only” about sports and business news.) 3 SRG October 9th, 2008 - 14:46 UTC Well, Russians don’t care much for podcasts to begin with. Most people are fine with just reading their news and occasionally posting short comments (forums and other interactive features). The younger people with a broadband access also enjoy watching those vids a-la YouTube. No wonder BBC plans to put a greater emphasis on the video reports production. To sum it up it seems to me that BBC Russian has a very good perception of the Russian media trends. The Brits are moving in the right direction. But personally I will miss those excellent longer feature programs (October 8th, 2008 - 16:05 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) That`s just how they ruined BBCWS English (gh) ** U S A [non]. EE.UU. Sucede, frecuentemente, que por deficiencias o errores técnicos en una frecuencia de la onda corpa aparezcan dos o más programas de canales satelitarios. Un ejemplo de lo anterior fue registrado el pasado 14 de septiembre en la frecuencia de 9815 kilohercios, frecuencia de la emisora “La Voz de América” emitido por transmisor situado en Botswana, África. A las 1830 el programa iba en francés, a las 1855 se comenzó a emitir en inglés y a las 1900 y hasta las 2000 hubo una señal en que se mezclaban los idiomas francés e inglés. El programa comprendía viejos éxitos musicales de los años 60 del siglo pasado, con comentario en francés y un programa docente, en inglés. Por Rumen Pankov. Versión en español: Mijail Mijailov (R. Bulgaria Espacio DXista, Oct 5, via Tomás Méndez, Spain, logsderadio yg via DXLD) VOA ran two languages at once for more than an hour (gh) ** U S A [non]. Oct. 7, 17565 kHz, 1045-1100z, VOA Turkish, IRAna Wila-CLN, 316 degrees, fair to good recepton; at 1059:31 open carrier; 1059:59 OFF. I'm wondering why carrier was not dropped at 1059:31? Meanwhile I checked // 15240 LAMpertheim, Germany 108 degrees but nothing there because I was in the skip zone. Oct. 7, 13830 kHz, 1110z, RFA Tibetan, Dushanbe-Yangiyul-TJK, 125 degrees: received in back beam, SIO: 343, good reception with weak Chinese Firedrake jammer in the background, phone interview OM with OM. Stopped listening at 1124z because too bored with this long interview. The signal was good and steady all the time. Best regards & many 73s! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, SERBIA, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. VOA Presidential Debate --- Looking around for the debate on SW. So far, I'm hearing 6080 (fair only), 15720 (very good), and 15595 (good/very good). Is 15720 RNZI? All this by 0120 UT (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, UT Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15720 sounds like regular RNZI to me, woman`s voice around 0140. Live coverage of the second presidential debate UT Oct 8: At 0135, 6040 just barely audible with het, 9820 inaudible, presumably unusually poor propagation from Greenville. 6080 from Africa also very poor, barely detectable with QRM. WBCQ confirmed with it on 5110-CUSB. REE Spain with Spanish translation on 6055. I expect the same will happen for the third and final debate, UT Thu Oct 16 from 0100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1429, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. DEBATE TRANSLATION Eds: Eric Olander of LA 18 can be reached at (310) 478-1818. LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Chinese -speaking Southlanders will be able to follow Tuesday's presidential debate, thanks to a planned Mandarin Chinese broadcast of the McCain-Obama showdown. According to an official at LA 18, KSCI-TV, the broadcast will mark the first time a presidential debate has been translated live into Mandarin Chinese. Portions of a 2004 presidential debate were translated, but not live. Station officials said they hope the simultaneous translation will boost participation in the election by the region's Asian-American voters, some of whom may be relative newcomers to the country with a limited understanding of English. ``With this live simultaneous translation of the presidential debate, our audiences will be able to watch coverage of the debate in Mandarin at the same time everyone else in the U.S. will,'' said Peter Mathes, chairman of LA 18 parent company AsianMedia Group. ``We hope that connecting our viewers directly to American politics like this will help increase their interest and participation.'' Roughly 900,000 registered Asian-American voters live in the Los Angeles television market, according to the station. The presidential debate coverage will air from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and will include commentary by the station's political analysts and a call-in segment to obtain viewer reaction. CNS-10-02-2008 14:49 (from (Los Angeles) City News Service via Dave Alpert, CA, Oct 3, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Family Radio seem to have started the Grigoriopol relay 1 hour later, at 2100 instead of 2000, 7430 kHz (Chris Lewis, England, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. For what it's worth, I actually *heard* WRMI this past weekend! This is the first time in many months that I picked up a listenable signal from them -- they've been so un-receivable here in the Central US that I seldom tried any more, but lo and behold, there they were on UT Sunday Oct. 5 with DX Partyline starting at 1448 and continuing to 1502 UT on 9955. (Note that this DXPL airing is not listed in the DX Programs file -- might have been a filler since it started at such an off-time.) A little minor fading but otherwise fine and clear (Will Martin, MO, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I finally had more time over the weekend of October 3/4/5 and was able to check out most of the DXing with Cumbre transmissions listed in gh's DX Programs file. The one reported by Ron Howard was the *only* one I could get (and it came in well)! (1430 UT Sat on 11785) ALL the others were basically just not there, including 1830 UT Sat also on 11785, 1930 UT Sat on 9495, any of the evening or night airings on 7315 or 5850, and I even managed to be awake near the time of the 7385 kHz one at 1000-1030 UT (but a little late) and that frequency was vacant too. This is pretty incredible, isn't it? I could expect getting poor reception on some, with the program being unlistenable but still identifiable, but not complete absence! Is WHR actually transmitting on those frequencies at those times? Just who is receiving them, if so? And why is the *one* that comes in here in the Central US the one that conflicts with something I find important on local NPR? Royally irked, Will :-) (Will Martin, MO, Oct 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1340 in Santa Barbara is now non-commercial --- California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA has an FM on 88.3 (KCLU). They bought KIST-1340 in Santa Barbara to simulcast. Their four watt FM translator (K272DT) above Santa Barbara doesn't make it into some buildings. Today must be the first day they're operating the station. 1340 was the usual liberal talk yesterday but is //KCLU tonight. They may have changed the FM call letters to KCLU-FM and the AM to KCLU. I'll check at the next TOH and report back. If you hear NPR or public radio programming on 1340 that's Santa Barbara. They used to have their own tower and they got out great. Now they're using the same tower as two other stations; the tower of KBKO- 1490. Neither one is logged much anymore. KZSB-1290 also uses that tower. Trimulcasts are pretty rare. Of course 1340 and 1490 are graveyard frequencies so they're non-directional. KZSB is also non- directional. Also a reminder that if you hear the BBC World Service on 1290 between midnight and 6:00 AM Pacific time that's KZSB in Santa Barbara. [Later:] It's official. 88.3 in Thousand Oaks is now KCLU-FM and 1340 in Santa Barbara is now KCLU (was KIST). Their TOH ID is "KCLU-FM and HD Thousand Oaks, KCLU Santa Barbara" (Dennis Gibson, CA, Oct 7, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. An excess of E-skip --- This May, when the season’s first E- skip propagation of FM band signals took place, who would have dreamt that as many as 20 similar events would occur and re-occur throughout late spring and early summer? Here’s a list, in chronological order, of far-away FM and 26 MHz signals heard here during that period. I’m situated in St-Lambert QC, about 3 miles east of downtown Montreal. For FM-band DXing, I use an Alpine CDE-9841R car radio (it’s not in a car; it’s on my desk) fed through 20 ft of co-axial cable from a rooftop vertical dipole antenna sized for the mid frequency of the FM band. The 25-26 MHz signals mentioned here were heard via a Lowe HF- 225 receiver, in narrow-FM mode, with co-axial feed from a horizontal dipole designed for 11m reception. 16 June 26130 WIBC Indianapolis (nFM) 24 June 25990 KSCS Arlington TX 25910 unID’d - 27 June 26130 WIBC Indianapolis 10 July 26130 WIBC Indianapolis 26100 KCCI-TV Des Moines 25990 KSCS Arlington TX 23 July 26130 WIBC Indianapolis 30 July 26130 WIBC Indianapolis 31 July 25990 KSCS Arlington TX 2 Aug 25990 KSCS Arlington TX 4 Aug * 25990 KSCS Arlington TX 25910 WBAP Arlington TX * Indicates evening (local time) signals heard at or after 0.0 hr UT. (Alan Roberts, St. Lambert QC, Oct CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** U S A. NBC UNIVERSAL SHUTTING DOWN WEATHER PLUS --- Three months after acquiring stake in The Weather Channel, NBC Universal pulls plug on its 24-hour local weather service By Marisa Guthrie and Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/7/2008 3:21:00 PM NBC Universal is pulling the plug on Weather Plus, the 4-year old digital venture between NBC and local affiliates that provided 24-hour local weather service on digital tiers. NBC and the NBC Television Affiliates Association Board unanimously approved the decision to dissolve the service, according to an announcement. NBC News chief Steve Capus informed the staff Tuesday that operations would be shut down. Ten NBC O&Os and 80 affiliates currently use Weather Plus. . . http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6602781.html. (Jeff Kitsko, Latrobe, PA, WTFDA via DXLD) Both KFOR-DT-27-2 and KJRH-DT-56-2 have it here. Gets a tad repetitive. Hope they put some of the MSNBC shows on instead (gh, OK) ** VIETNAM. 6165, Voice of Vietnam (presumed), 1335-1400*, Oct 7, indigenous chanting/singing (similar to heard via Son La on 4739.57v), in vernacular, first noticed fading in under CNR-6 about 1335 and improving till almost equal with China by sign-off; Oct 6 VOV was much stronger than China by sign-off. Have seen reports of AIR here, but I have not hear them yet (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. VOICE OF VIETNAM LAUNCHES REGIONAL H'MONG LANGUAGE BROADCASTS | Text of report by state-run Vietnamese news agency VNA [VOV launches another radio broadcast in ethnic language] The radio broadcast is being carried out by the Northern West correspondent centre of VOV, which is also celebrating its 10th founding anniversary today. The H'Mong language broadcast is to provide folk music and news to more than 800,000 H'Mong ethnic people mostly living in mountainous regions of northern Vietnam, said Vu Van Hien, General Director of Voice of Vietnam. The Northern West correspondent centre of VOV now broadcasts in the three ethnic minority languages of Thai, Dao and H'Mong every day, thus providing news and music for most minority people living in the north-west of the country. Source: VNA news agency, Hanoi, in English 0000 gmt 7 Oct 08 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK? Might possibly involve SW as in the past (gh, DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 13590, CVC; 1955-2008+, 7-Oct; Weekend program repeat; fundamentalist New Testament thumpage and rock music; One Africa spot at 2003; One Africa & CVC spot at 2005. All in English. SIO=4+54 with touch of QSB; awfully good if from Zambia (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 210' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Their 315 degree beam from Lusaka hits Nigeria, Azores, Cape Breton, Upper Peninsula, so you are only about 3 degrees away from that. And of course they have the trans-equatorial advantage (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. Re 8-110: From A-DX ng: Zanzibar Tanzania 11735 is back on air since Oct 8th. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) Viz.: Moin, gestern wieder da und aktuell in bester qualität zu hören. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Oct 9, A-DX, ibid.) Hi Wolfi. 11735, Radio Tanzania Zanzibar, 1903-, suahili, locutor con comentarios, SINPO 44343, captada el 9 de octubre desde Valencia. 73 Luego: Saludos cordiales, hoy 9 de octubre observo emisión en inglés a las 2000 UT por la frecuencia de 11735; me pregunto si se trata de Radio Tanzania Zanzibar, aunque está listada para las 1800 a 1810 UT. Lamentablemente está muy fuertemente interferida por la emisión Firedrake Dragon que emite en 11740 con la finalidad de atorar la emisión en chino de Radio Free Asia. Estariamos pues ante un cambio en la emisión de Radio Tanzania Zanzibar?? Quizás empezó más tarde. Atentamente (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTZ has occasionally before put the English news on at 2000 instead of 1800; maybe it`s a Thursday-evening thing? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 1710 kHz, 0434-0501+, 9-Oct; two stations mixing; dominant one is music with mix of Cubano & Spanish baladas, one was Spanish version of First Noël – no Caribe tunes, no French and no announcer. Possible break at 0500, but no copy. Music station seems to be at about 1710.05. Fair peaks, but mainly in the QRN. Other station is talk and has that religious sound to it. Radio Mosiach & Redemption, Brooklyn heard most often, but Radio Top End, Boston has also been logged here (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 210' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 8-110: 6215 kHz at 1830 --- Hi all, what's the strange sound on 6215 kHz heard all evening? Thank you, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Oct 5, UDXF yg via DXLD) Sounds like Thai or Chinese music --- most likely pirates (Kenny Plaetevoet, Koksijde, Belgium, ibid.) Still being heard? (gh, Oct 9, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 7712v. Oct 7th at 1801 noted an Arabic speaking station with oscillating and rapidly upwards drifting carrier on 7712v. Language is tentative as I had difficulties to stay tuned to exact carrier. Soon disappeared and when scanning around to find it, I noted it back on around 7720 with Arabic song. Soon they jumped again somewhere and I couldn't find it anymore. Needs more monitoring (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Oct 8, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1429, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder if your 7712v could be related to my unID of 11 months ago, which was never resolved. Possibly a semi-harmonic of 15428v? WYFR has now moved to 7730 of course during the night hours here (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: UNIDENTIFIED. On 7733.5 kHz, I encountered a big signal, Nov 7 at 0639 with ME music, slightly unstable carrier producing warble with BFO on, and seemingly mixed with utility QRM. 0643 song ends with birds chirping, applause, Arabic announcement mentioning akbar, M&W interchange, 0647 back to pop music in Arabic. Kept listening but unfortunately dozed off and missed hourtop ID if any; 0706 M&W news headlines punxuated by stingers, 0715 music. I often start my bandscan of 7 MHz downward at 7780 WYFR or 7811 AFN, and glad I did or would have missed this. Sounds like a major station, and too strong to be a likely spur; no // found lower on 7 MHz. Could it be a semi-harmonic? Not unless there is something on 15467.0. If this wasn`t a one-shot, should be easily audible in Europe, perhaps also in evening. BTW, there is one other station registered above 7.7 MHz, Emirates Media, Dhabayya UAE, on 7770 at 2200-0100, 500 kW at 300 degrees to NW Africa, but I have seen no reports of it (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1381, DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-135) Next night, Nov 8, did not stay up until 0700, but no sign of it by 0602 nor at earlier hours such as 2050 Nov 7. Nor heard on several chex since. Noel Green, England, also looked for it the following evening and morning, but not heard. We should keep patrolling this frequency range for a reappearance; next time it might well be on some other frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, Nov 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: I checked the frequency today (the 8th) at around 0715 but there was no trace of any signal on this or an adjacent frequency. All I heard was some sort of utility on about 7760 and a fair signal out of WYFR 7780 - nothing lower. I also tuned around the frequency during our local UK 'evening' (7th) but didn't hear any broadcast station. So the mystery remains. A BIG signal from the ME is unlikely at my location on 7 MHZ at 0715 - from further west along NoAF maybe. The only one I know of is Tunis 7190 (Noel R. Green, England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-135) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Glenn- I liked the way you added quite a few stories regarding Medium Wave stations on show #1428. Good job! (Mark R. Schmit, Senior Accounts Manager, WCIB~WXTK~WCOD~WRZE, 154 Barnstable Rd., Hyannis, MA 02601, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ NATIONAL RADIO CLUB AM LOG, 2008-2009 The source for info on AM radio stations in the US and Canada. The 29th edition contains 282 pages of data and cross references, and 18 pages of instructions in 8.5 x 11 inch size, 3-hole-punched, US loose- leaf format; fits nicely into a one-inch three-ring binder. The main list is in frequency and then geographical order by state and province, then city. Includes powers, antenna patterns, address, network affiliations, etc. Cross references by callsign and by city. Also a surprisingly long list of AM stereo stations, and a shorter one of IBOC. Absolutely essential if you do any MW DXing or listening. I`m constantly referring to it. Available on paper only! Just published, so get it while it`s hot. Ordering info here: http://www.nrcdxas.org/catalog/books/index1.html And below it, many other NRC publications (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ EDXC 2008 TRAVEL REPORT by DARIO MONFERINI Terve! I have compiled a detailed report about my travel in Finland and listenings adventures in the Forests; you may find the details and photos in my personal WEB : http://www.playdx.com/html/finland2008/finland2008.htm http://www.playdx.com/foto/finland2008/index.html I wish to thanks very much for the pleasant travel : Tarmo Kontro, Simo S. Soininen, Hannino Piirainen & Anker Petersen for the EDXC photos. Good Dxing hobby activities! (Dario Monferini, playdx editor, via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FORT HUNT GI`S SENT WWII POW`S CARE PACKAGES Just when it seems that all the secret radio-related stories of WWII have been told up pops another. A fascinating tale set here in North America in Virginia. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks to NPR’s Pam Fessler, National Public Radio, for her fine work. You can hear the complete three part series as originally broadcast at http://www.npr.org --- search ‘Fort Hunt’. (Robert Ellis, Worldwide Utility Forum, Oct CIDX Messenger via DXLD) Viz.: Silvio Bedini during World War II and later in life. Bedini worked at Fort Hunt on a coding system used to communicate with American POWs [caption] Secret Packages MIS-X, one of several top-secret military programs conducted at P.O. Box 1142, involved communicating with captured American soldiers to help them coordinate their escape. As part of the program, soldiers assembled packages that they sent to American prisoners of war to help them escape. The packages included items that were not what they seemed. Along with cribbage boards that received BBC broadcasts (see image below), they sent baseballs with cavities for money or transmitters, plus pipes with secret compartments for maps or tiny compasses. The packages were sent from phony foundations set up by military intelligence, so they looked like legitimate care packages, similar to those sent by the Red Cross. . . [and illustrated] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93640350 (via gh, DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hi Glenn, I read the item about Powerline adaptors in the latest DXLD. I have read about this before. I have had a big problem with what I think was a powerline adaptor. I was happy to wake up this morning to find that the horrible screaming interference had gone. This problem had been offending me for 4 months or so, and I feel for others who have fallen foul of it. Listening to the Voice of Vietnam, on the Letterbox program, a listener in Japan seems to have had a similar problem, with a nearby internet connection noise (Chris Lewis, England, Oct 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: BELGIUM; CROATIA; INDIA; NEW ZEALAND; SUDAN ++++++++++++++++++++ some of which are just QRM complaints LEGISLATION WOULD FORCE ALL NEW US RADIOS TO INCLUDE DIGITAL 'HD' By Scott M. Fulton, III, BetaNews September 29, 2008, 5:24 PM http://www.betanews.com/article/print/Legislation_would_force_all_new_US_radios_to_include_digital_HD/1222723257 More digital radios, especially those installed with new automobiles, include the capability to pick up digital "HD Radio" broadcasts over the air. But should the government mandate that satellite radio sets include HD Radio capability? Demonstrating that there actually were at least a few spare minutes for Congress after all, during the debate over the financial bailout plan, House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D - Mass.) introduced a bipartisan bill that will require all future AM/ FM radios or satellite radio receivers made or sold in the US to also receive digital HD broadcasts. HD Radio, though not necessarily "high-definition," refers to digital broadcasts in the "sidebands" that many US radio stations utilize to provide extra channels of programming. The effect is similar to new supplemental digital television channels, which enable alternate programs that can be picked up over the air. Currently, there's no requirement that HD Radio be built into new radio equipment, though more and more sets -- particularly in automobiles -- is including it. The big change, therefore, would be for Sirius XM Satellite Radio, whose plans for now are to continue producing some radios for Sirius subscribers and other radios for XM subscribers. This bill wouldn't force satellite functionality to be interchangeable, though it would force the nation's sole satellite radio provider to open up alternate channels for commercial digital broadcast radio. The language of the bill is very simple: It would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to "require that apparatus shipped in interstate commerce or manufactured in the United States that is designed to receive signals broadcast in both the satellite digital audio radio service and the terrestrial AM or FM radio broadcast service be equipped with technology that is capable of receiving and playing digital radio signals as transmitted by terrestrial AM or FM stations." In a statement over the weekend, Rep. Markey said his objective was to ensure that future radios are still capable of providing listeners with local news. "Millions of Americans today rely on local broadcast radio for news, public safety bulletins, sports, weather, traffic and other information," Markey stated. "As the broadcast radio industry migrates to digital broadcasting technology, this legislation will ensure that consumers are able to readily receive free service through consumer electronics systems that are otherwise receiving satellite digital audio radio and traditional AM or FM stations. Further, the recent merger of the only two satellite radio providers, XM and Sirius satellite radio, has underscored the importance of ensuring consumer access to a diversity of sources for digital radio content, in particular content originating in their local communities. My bill therefore simultaneously seeks to address the long-term competitive health of local radio while ensuring that their local, digital services are readily received by radio consumers." As anticipated, the National Association of Broadcasters voiced its support for the bill. In a statement this afternoon, NAB President and CEO David K. Rehr said, "In addition to providing 235 million weekly listeners with entertainment and music programming, free local radio stations have a long tradition of serving as a lifeline during times of crisis. This legislation will extend and enhance these services as radio stations embrace our digital future." Spokespersons for Sirius XM declined a direct comment on the matter, but instead pointed us to an article elsewhere that cites the fact that the Federal Communications Commission continues to study the possible impact of any HD Radio requirement on competition. Last month, the FCC opened up a 90-day comment period for the public to comment on whether it believes competition may be affected by the onset of more federal regulation. That comment period remains open, even though Markey's bill was introduced right in the middle of it. "As an initial matter, we seek comment on the extent to which the market is already making multi-functional radio receivers available to the public that include two or more of the following capabilities: SDARS, HD Radio, iPod/MP3, Internet, or any other technologies capable of providing audio entertainment services," reads the FCC's August 25 Notice of Inquiry (PDF available here). "How many of each type of multi-functional radio receivers are available today, including factory-installed receivers in automobiles and receivers later installed in vehicles in the so-called 'aftermarket?' How many multi-functional radio receivers are expected to be available in the near future without a Commission requirement? To the extent that multi-functional radio receivers are not available today and are not expected to be available in the near term, is this because of a lack of consumer demand for such receivers or some other reason? How does any lack of multifunctional radio receivers impact competition among SDARS, HD Radio, iPod/MP3, Internet, or any other technologies capable of providing audio entertainment services?" After the FCC issued an order approving the transfer of assets from XM to Sirius, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein issued a statement dissenting from that order, which included a warning about the HD Radio issue. "While some proposed that we require HD radio technology be incorporated into all new satellite receiver models capable of receiving analog terrestrial radio, I proposed we require it only in subsidized models. That way, if there were truly an open market for devices, as an independent process for certification would have ensured, the market would determine whether to integrate HD radio into the devices," Adelstein wrote (PDF available here). "Where the merged company sought to alter market dynamics through subsidies or other mechanisms, it would be prevented from discriminating against competing HD radio technology. Instead, the Order allows the merged company to avoid subsidizing models that include HD radio, thus using their market power to thwart the very competition the Applicants [XM and Sirius] cited as justifying the merger." (via Kevin Redding, TN, Sept 30, ABDX yg via DXLD) Yes, Ed "Cash and Carry" Markey is up to his usual tricks! Those of you with long memories will remember "Easy Ed" was the driving force behind the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) a couple of decades ago and the most enthusiastic Democratic supporter of broadcast consolidation in the 1990s. Now he wants to force receiver manufacturers and the public to contribute to Ibiquity's bottom line via mandated HD. Gee, I wonder which companies have been making campaign contributions to Ed lately??? Too bad we won't find out untilt he reports are due in a few months. I realize all politicians are prostitutes to some degree, but it's amazing that Ed hasn't worn out all of his available orifices by now (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, ibid.) I have been mostly "lurking" on this mandated HD thing for a quite a while. Summary of my thoughts regarding requiring HD in all radios goes something like this: Once upon a time, long, long ago, the guvmint mandated that all radios selling for over $15 be required to receive FM. Sounds familiar to today's situation. But FM didn't have all the interference and poor performance baggage that HD has. It sounded better than AM, it had a failure mode that I will call "graceful" in that as the signal strength went down the radio simply started to have some noise in the audio. If you went through a bridge or some place where the signal suddenly faded out, it didn't take eight seconds for you to regain the signal. It did not screw up the adjacent channels. At sporting events the audio was not delayed at all. Etc. etc. etc. To have such an obviously flawed system as HD be mandated in the receivers would be a really stupid decision on the part of our guvmint. In which case that's probably what they will do. Sigh. - JimT (Jim Tonne, ibid.) I'm pretty sure that mandate never made it beyond the proposal stage, actually; can you cite anything to the contrary? s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) While I would agree with Jim that HD seems to have too many problems to justify mandating, as an "old timer" I recall that FM had a couple of problems also, at least in some markets. In the early days, in many markets with populations less than 200,000, FM stations operated on very low power. In the 1950s, even a couple of miles away, it was sometimes necessary to install a rooftop antenna to get a clear, dependable signal. In addition, FM suffered from drift, and some of the cheaper radios didn't include AFC (automatic frequency control), with the result that the radio would drift quite a bit during the first few minutes of warmup. Interestingly, only radio people seem interested in HD radio. I have never heard a "civilian" mention it. (Dick W., ibid.) While, yes, they may mandate ALL radios eventually, he's only talking about mandating all SATELLITE radios. Not ALL radios. And, yes, it's a dumb idea to begin with. Right now HD is not portable so there's no way they could mandate it in ALL radios until that's worked out (Michael n Wyo Richard, ibid.) One huge difference: no one "owned" FM; it was an open technology that didn't require a licensing fee. HD is a proprietary technology owned by Ibiquity. To use it, broadcasters and receiver manufacturers must pay a royalty fee to Ibiquity (for receiver manufacturers, that's a per-unit fee). If there was no licensing fee for HD, if anyone could adopt or use HD/IBOC without coughing up some money to Ibiquity, I might be able to grasp a cockeyed logic behind Markey's bill. But this proposal is nothing more than a de facto tax to bail out Ibiquity and, in particular, Ibiquity's investors. They've poured a lot of money down that technological black hole and no doubt want to recoup something before finally being forced to write it off. It will be fun to examine Ed Markey's campaign finance reports for this election cycle! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ibid.) Not quite. GE wanted to charge the manufacturers to build stereo generators. Then they woke up and realized that a nickel a receiver would yield much better return. So that was how they did it. I learned this first-hand while talking to the GE fellows during the "Quad FM" development. Which is a kind of interesting story in itself. But, Harry, the rest of your letter is surely correct and I agree with those thoughts. - JimT (Jim Tonne, ibid.) Re Richard, above: That's not how I'm reading it. The money quote: "The Democrat House member from Massachusetts, who is also chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, has introduced the ‘‘Radio All Digital Channel Receiver Act’’ that, if passed, will require devices equipped to receive satellite radio and terrestrial radio also include the ability to receive HD Radio signals.” The Great Man continues: "As the broadcast radio industry migrates to digital broadcasting technology, this legislation will ensure that consumers are able to readily receive free service through consumer electronics systems that are otherwise receiving satellite digital audio radio and traditional AM or FM stations." From the above, it sure seems Markey is determined to ram HD down consumer throats (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, ibid.) I see what you mean, Harry. I stand corrected. I read "Satellite" I still think it's a long way off till they can figure out how to make this technology "portable" so that it can be put in to portable systems. Otherwise you'll be changing your batteries every 10 minutes! (Michael n Wyo Richard, ibid.) My belief is that the general scam of things (scam is a more appropriate term than scheme) is to piggy back on HDTV and ram HD radio down our throats by mandate within the next few years. It is amazing that I know absolutely no one who isn't connected with the industry or a DXer that knows what HD radio is. 73, KAZ, sickened that people like Markey continue to be elected by our clueless masses (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The geomagnetic field was at quiet levels 29 September through the end of the day on 30 September with solar wind speed values measured at the ACE spacecraft around 350 km/s. Activity levels increased to quiet to unsettled conditions through 01 October. This increase was due to a Co-rotating Interaction Region (CIR) with solar wind velocities near 500 km/s and the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) Bz component ranging between +/- 7 nT. Geomagnetic field activity increased to quiet to active conditions on 02 October as a coronal hole high speed stream rotated into a geoeffective position. Quiet to active conditions were observed through early 04 October when the geomagnetic activity increased to unsettled to minor storm levels. Solar wind speed values during this period also increased to around 750 km/s with the IMF Bz ranging between +/- 8 nT. Soon after the peak of the geomagnetic activity, levels slowly declined to quiet to unsettled for the remainder of 04 October, then mostly quiet conditions on 05 October. Wind velocities also began gradually decreasing, and ended the period below 500 km/s. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 08 OCT - 03 NOV 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 08 - 11 October, 13 - 15 October, and 30 October - 03 November. The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet levels on 08 - 10 October. A coronal hole high speed stream is expected to become geoeffective on 11 - 13 October increasing activity to quiet to unsettled levels with active conditions possible on 12 October. For 14 - 27 October activity levels are expected to decrease to quiet conditions. Another coronal hole high speed stream is expected to become geoeffective on 28 - 31 October increasing activity to quiet to unsettled levels with active conditions expected on 28 - 29 October. Quiet conditions are expected 01 - 03 November as the coronal hole rotates out of a geoeffective position. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2008 Oct 09 1512 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 Oct 07 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2008 Oct 08 67 5 2 2008 Oct 09 67 5 2 2008 Oct 10 67 5 2 2008 Oct 11 67 10 3 2008 Oct 12 67 15 4 2008 Oct 13 67 10 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 2008 Oct 28 67 15 4 2008 Oct 29 67 12 4 2008 Oct 30 67 10 3 2008 Oct 31 67 10 3 2008 Nov 01 67 5 2 2008 Nov 02 67 5 2 2008 Nov 03 67 5 2 (SWPC Oct 9 via DXLD) As happens every so often, and too often, SWPC info above was posted two days late on Thursday instead of Tuesday, so I had to go with Oct 3 Prague info for WOR 1429, even tho I was recording it on Wednesday instead of Tuesday (gh, DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re 8-110: SARAH PALIN, PHONY SPECTACLES? Hey, Glenn, don't forget when Goldwater mocked the need for his wearing his trademark thick-rimmed glasses by demonstrating on camera that the ones he wore for photo shoots and public appearances on TV, etc., had no glass in them at all. There's a famous photo of him sticking his finger thru the empty lens-hole from behind. So the right wing can view this with humor, too... 73, (Will Martin, MO, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, Sarah, how about it? O, for a Goldwater today (gh) ###