DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-002, January 3, 2009 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1441 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Mon 2300 WBCQ 7415 [confirmed December 22] Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Wed 0630 WRMI 9955 [or new 1442] Wed 1230 WRMI 9955 [or new 1442] WBCQ is also airing recent archive editions of WOR M-F 2000 on 7415; except on Wednesday or Thursday this should be the latest edition. Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** AFGHANISTAN. Re 9-001: Hi Glenn, I read with interest Ben Dawson’s comments regarding the appearance of harmonics. From what he describes, the harmonics should appear when there is arcing. Following this postulate, there would be constant arcing, because the harmonics are constant, and, in that case, any engineer worth his or her salt would have the defect corrected by now. RTVA are now spewing our spurious garbage across the bands as well. This entire thing indicates a mistune, Harris Corps’ excellent technology notwithstanding. I also notice on everything, including the fundamental, that there is ever couple of minutes or so a “click” during which the signal is briefly interrupted. This may be a result of the arcing of which Mr. Dawson speaks. The main factor in all of this, unfortunately, is probably “Afghan maintenance,” which is a dichotomy and both words cannot be used in the same sentence. Everything that has been turned over to the national and/or local government in this country is held together with bubble gum and bandaids. For example, the Ministry of counter- narcotics has three generators and experiences a 4-8 hour power outage from city power every day. The reason? Two generators are broken and they have no fuel for the third. If one were to take a spectral snapshot of the occupied bandwidth of RTVA’s 1107 kHz fundamental, one would see that there is much hash and garbage on the signal, and that it far exceeds the 9kHz occupied bandwidth allotted here. Obviously, this did not come from Harris like this. This is poor maintenance (usually due to the local techs being clueless) and mistuning. It’s enough to make this old broadcast engineer cry. Best 73 de (Al Muick, Kabul, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1107 kHz, RTVA, seems to have cleaned up its act. Monitoring last night indicates that its modulation problems have been fixed and it's now well within its allotted occupied bandwidth of 9 kHz, and the spectral display no longer looks like mush. The harmonics are also gone except for a slightly detectable 3rd harmonic which can just barely be seen. Gone too are the spurs. I hope someone else had a chance to log this. It started snowing and raining yesterday morning and continues. While this may be responsible for damping arcs between its antennas, I truly believe that the issue was tuning. We'll see what happens when drier weather returns. It's a rather curious coincidence that this got fixed after a write-up in Glenn Hauser's DXLD. Perhaps someone in charge at RTVA is a reader or had the info forwarded to them. No time for DX last night as I took delivery of my completely overhauled genset and had to oversee its installation and wiring. I did some brief scanning and everything seems quiet, however a newly commissioned city power transformer a couple of blocks away (only for the politically higher-ups though) is causing some hash on MW and LW. Perhaps I can persuade one of these Taliban types to rocket the thing so I have some quiet on those frequency ranges. Best 73 de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, Palstar MW-550P Mediumwave Preselector, UT Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN. EDWIN SOUTHWELL sends another item from his archive ... this time a letter from Radio Afghanistan. From the photocopy, I am guessing that it was originally a stencil/duplicated letter, with the Times and Frequencies columns typed later onto the duplicated sheet, and that it dates from the 1980's (Alan Roe, Jan WDXC Contact via DXLD) Viz.: Dear Sir! In reply to your letter dated we send you this letter containing the schedule of our External Services as will as Borne basic information about Radio Afghanistan and the country . In Afghanistan as other developing nations radio is unique in the capacity to reach the largest number of people for more than the printing press. In Afghanistan experimental broadcasting began as early as 1925, when 2 small broadcasting transmitters were imported to Kabul. Regular broadcasting began in 1940 with a medium wave transmitter. Later on the station was equipped with more medium and short wave transmitter. Until 1963 the broadcasting station in Afghanistan was called Radio Kabul but due to its expantion assumed the name of Radio Afghanistan. Radio Afghanistan has a weekly domestic service of 96 hrs and a weekly external service of 28 hrs. Its externa1 services are as follows: Language Time (GMT) Freq Meter-band Zone Russian 1030-1100 15195 19 Europe German 1100-1130 15195 19 '' English 1130-1200 15195 19 '' Pashtu/Dari 1200-1300 15195 19 '' Urdu 1300-1400 4775 62 Neighbour English 1400-1430 4775 62 countries We send QSL Card to those, whose reception reports be according to the international system and include International Reply Coupon. Otherwise we mention about it only in the listeners programme, broadcast once a week. In this programme we answer also questions. Afghanistan At Glance: Situated in the heart of Asia Afghanistan is a landlocked republic, occupying an area 700,000 square kilometer and a population of more than 17 million. It is bounded on the north by USSR, on the northeast corner by China, on the east and south by Pashtunistan and Baluchu[i]stan and on the west by Iran. Afghanistan was so named in 18th century. In ancient time it was known as Aryana, in the Middle Ages as Khorasan. The o1dest records of the Aryans, the Rig Veda (1500 B.C.) refers clearly to the land of Aryana (present Afghanistan). This land has been an ancient cross-road and a melting pot of different cultures and civilizations. Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan. The city has been in existence for over 3500 years. The Rig Veda refers to this city by the name of Kubha. The city is dominated by 2 high hills with the ancient city walls still to be seen on its spurs. Kabul is full of historical relics. Afghanistan is a land of sunshine with an extremely healthy c1imate. It has four well-defined seasons. General speaking, it is cold in winter and dry hot in summer. But almost any gradation of climate can be found from place to place even at a specific date of a season. Say, in the height of summer, when the plain of Jalalabad (552m) is extremely hot, the Afghan Mont Blanc (Speen Ghar) lifts its head covered with perpetual snow (source? Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) For a while, external services were relayed via USSR; was that the case with 15195? (gh, DXLD) ** ALBANIA. Re 9-001, R. Tirana modulation problems, Christian Milling`s comments: So it's not the audio circuit to Fllaka but a problem with the studio installations, including the switching room. Meanwhile we read that Serbian 1900-1915 was reported as being clean, too. Perhaps a pattern starts to emerge when considering which studio (including mere playout rooms, if there is such a difference, as opposed to production studios) are used for either playing out or running live these two broadcasts? I had an opportunity to check Albanian 2130-2300 on 6005: It was just as distorted. Actually I referred specifically to the webstream only because clearly the problem is located prior to the point where it is hooked up to the program feed. So the transmitters itself could be ruled out from the start. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 2 via Drita Çiço, DXLD) Perhaps the following test would be interesting: To monitor one language on both ways of distribution: medium- and shortwave. If it is not the production studio that has a fault, it may be the playoutcenter. If mediumwave sounds different from shortwave with the same program there must be a problem with a distribution amplifier / taperecorder etc. in the mediumwave/stream outlet. Kai, I guess the Serbian program is on shortwave from 1900-1915 at 6010 kc/s? If yes, and if it sounds clean, this would lead more and more to the idea that there is something wrong with one outlet. Can anybody check if there is a sound difference between MW and SW on the same program? Best regards, (Christian Milling, ibid.) Dear Drita: Dear administrative and technical leading persons of Radio Tirana: First I want to repeat my wishes for the New Year 2009 (in case our Christmas card sent on December 14 has not arrived as it should) But now I am afraid I must join in the alarm calls you have already seen, with regard to the audio quality of Radio Tirana. I have checked both on shortwaves and the internet, and the audio is really awful! Especially the music is a suffering to listen to! With extreme regret I must say that it is not possible to endure listening to the broadcasts - I must go back in my memory to Radio Kukësi in the early 1960's to find something similar! But there they had a transmitter put together by technical students in Tirana, under rather primitive conditions. You have got the expertise to take care of the problem. Really, to speak drastically: Without improvements you will not have listeners to these broadcasts! Everybody at Radio Tirana must take this problem very seriously. All efforts to produce good programmes will be in vain! So those responsible for the technical maintenance must make as it was said in the past "nje goditje te perqndruar" - a united effort - to get rid of this situation. I am not qualified to give you an analysis of the audio problem and its possible causes, but you already got such an analysis. What I wanted to do was just to underline the seriousness of the situation! Enough said, I think. I hate to send such a message right at the start of the new year, but if I care, if I am your friend, if I have a conscience, I must add to the alarm. So, as the old Romans said: DIXI ET SALVAVI ANIMAM MEAM - I have spoken and saved my soul! Your (very old) friend in Sweden (Ullmar Qvick, via Drita, DXLD) ** ALBANIA. Odd channel noted today Jan 2nd: 7464.981, R Tirana in Italian, 1800-1830 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. Wer sich zu dieser Stunde [0000 UT Dec 31] noch am RX aufhaelt, moege doch mal auf 7216.75+- kHz drehen und eventuell RNacional Angola aufnehmen. Hier in Mitteldeutschland mit Wort -und Musikprogramm und 25433 aufzunehmen (Thomas Lindenthal, Germany, A-DX Dec 30 via BC-DX Jan 2 via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. 14243, 0031- Jan 1, KC4AAA. Interesting diversion. Fair reception of this South Pole station calling stateside amateurs. Been a few years since I've heard them! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Radio Australia mentioned that there was an online survey about their future (Edwin Southwell, England, Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) It's a wide ranging survey, the ABC and Australia's future, as part of the consultations on ABC's 2009-2012 funding. One of the questions is: Should the ABC expand its international services and if so, in what form? Later it says: The national broadcasters use a mix of platforms to deliver their international services: shortwave broadcasts, FM retransmissions, direct-to-home satellite, cable and online. In light of rapid changes in technology it is reasonable to consider whether this platform mix remains the most efficient and cost- effective way of projecting Australian values and perspectives to overseas audiences. For example, in relation to Radio Australia, it may be useful to consider whether shortwave radio will still be relevant in 2020, or whether resources would be better directed toward FM retransmission, online delivery or satellite distribution. The survey page is http://tinyurl.com/axyj4e (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. RA, 7240, Jan 3 at 1505:30 after news, reverting to ``Overnight on ABC Local Radio``. We are hearing a lot of this instead of the usual RA/ABC feature programs before and after this hour. That`s because RA gives up for several weeks each summer and just plugs into a misnamed ABC network, which even without this SW relay, is still a national, not local service, i.e. not originating at each local station as you would be entitled to expect (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. 7325, 0016- Jan 1, Radio Austria International. Open carrier noted at 0010. I was expecting the final English program to start at 0030, but when rechecked at 0016, it was already in progress with talk about the death of a right wing Austrian politician [Jörg Haider, not Heider as I had spelt it --- gh]. Good reception, with minor splatter from very powerful Radio Rossii transmitter on 7320 (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AZERBAIJAN [and non]. AZERBAIJAN WON'T RENEW THREE LICENSES http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/30/Azerbaijan_wont_renew_three_licenses/UPI-38961230669058/ RFE/RL LISTENERS IN AZERBAIJAN ANGRY OVER CLOSURE OF AZADLIQ http://www.rferl.org/content/RFERL_Listeners_In_Azerbaijan_Protest_Broadcasters_Closure/1365897.html (Jan 2 both via Dale Park, HI; second one also via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) AZERBAIJAN TELEVISION & RADIO COUNCIL TO IMPOSE FINANCE SANCTIONS ON TV CHANNELS VIOLATING RULES === 03.01.09 13:16 http://news.trend.az/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1386833&lang=en (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 7250 is clear channel from 1330 when Vatican Radio Italian signs off, Bangladesh Betar Nepali service audible December 30 to 1345 off, local music then closing announcement, fair strength, modulation low but you could follow the programme (Mike Barraclough, Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Odd channel noted today Jan 2nd: 7249.993, tentative Bangladesh at 1720 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. 7135, 2346- Jan 1, Radio Belarus. Fair reception with Russian broadcast. Unable to hear anything on 7360 and 7390, though. At 2358 there was a Christmas carol, identical to the one I used to sing as a child in Ukrainian! 'Syn Bozhyi, Narodyvsia', i.e., The Son of the Lord is Born! Sign off announcements at 2359 to 0000, and carrier off immediately after (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. Other mid morning to post noon observations: 5025 also detectable, and stronger than NIGERIA 4770, at mid day; I don't know what they're doing with the audio though - strong carrier evenings but useless signal after all (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, 1915 UT Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. 6035, 0025- Jan 1, Bhutan Broadcasting Service. Very good reception of Buddhist chanting for several minutes and then much lower modulation talk. I was surprised to hear them as well as I did, although during the summer and early fall, they were very well heard in our local mornings. 6035, 0001- Jan 2, Bhutan Broadcasting Service. At tune in at 2350 [Jan 1], there is a test continuous test tone. When checked at 0000 there's talk by a male with an interesting horn in the background that must be Bhutan. The chanting that's usually reported as starting at 0025 in fact came on at 0002:30! Unmistakable! As my location approaches darkness (sunset is in another 36 minutes), the signal has improved to quite good. Most interesting for sure! Conditions not as good as last night, when Bhutan was coming in at superb levels. Much weaker tonight, but still perfectly readable (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOTSWANA. 4930, 1625-1633 Dec 30, VOA, Woman announcer with African news highlights and mentions of VOA and Washington DC. 'This is African News Tonight, on the VOA' ID at 1630. Into 'The Sunny Side of Sports' program about Togo soccer team's success. Good to very good signal, via longpath on PA0RDT Mini-whip antenna. This trip to Grayland Beach State Park was a real challenge with the weather. I encountered high winds and rain, and occasional, nearly- sideways hail that pounded the yurt wall so hard I had to crank up the volume to the headphones considerably. I also had the din of the nearby roaring Pacific Ocean to contend with. At least last week's snow had melted, and I had brief periods of calm and almost no rain while erecting and dismantling the antennas--thankfully! It was also the first time I've been c-c-cold in the Grayland yurts; the wind and chilly temps found their way easily around the door edges, and the yurt's built-in heater couldn't keep up (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, DXing at Grayland Beach State Park, Perseus SDR X2 / Wellbrook Phased Array antenna (proto) / PA0RDT Mini-Whip at 30 ft. high, http://www.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. AND WHAT ABOUT DIGITAL RADIO? A RESPONSIBLE ANALYSIS *Dec. 21, /2008 * By Hélio Costa, Minas Gerais State Digital radio, even in its countries of origin, still has a lot of problems that need to be solved before we can make a decision that will have a direct impact on our communications. The article by Nair Prata (Dec. 3) about the digital radio project which is being studied by the Ministry of Communications (Minicom), deserves correction because of the innumerable mistakes committed by the author. The first error is not recognizing that only 18 months has passed on the schedule for digital TV, and that, in barely a year since its launch on December 2, 2007, almost 46% of the Brazilian population, including Belo Horizonte and the region, already has digital TV coverage. It took the United States ten years to arrive at this level in a country that is approximately the same territorial size as Brazil. Unlike TV, digital radio continues to confront serious problems in its countries of origin. In retrospect, when we arrived to the Ministry of Communications three years ago, some of the principal Brazilian stations were already testing the North American IBOC digital radio system, without observing technical standards. The work group that we created to supervise the decision about digital radio grew out of the performance of rigorous official tests with IBOC and also with the European standards. Our objective was to find the basic tools of a system that transmitted on the AM and FM bands so that a digital radio receiver could receive the present analog transmissions on both AM and FM, and then automatically switch to digital when the technology was available. Otherwise, we would need three different receivers: one for analog radio, which you have in your home or in your car, another for the FM digital transmission, and a third to pick up the AM digital transmissions. The North American and European digital radio standards have fundamental differences. While IBOC transmits on the same channel in AM as well as FM without using new space in the electromagnetic spectrum, the European DAB system (Digital Audio Broadcasting) needs different frequencies to transmit on medium wave (AM)*** and doesn't transmit on frequency modulation (FM). The DRM system, on the other hand, only transmits on AM and requires new channels, making it impossible to use their system in the principal cities of Brazil. Just recently the European DRM standard announced that it is studying a frequency modulation system, transmitting on the same channel using their digital system. The company iBiquity, patent holder of the IBOC or HD Radio system, quickly brought the equipment for the tests that were being conducted in Brazil by Mackenzie University, supervised by the Ministry of Communications, National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) and the Brazilian Association of Radio and TV stations (Abert). The Europeans, on the other hand, up until now have not shown us the apparatus necessary to make field measurements, which is fundamental for a scientific and correct evaluation of their standards. Another question that the three systems need to resolve is the transmission at low power, which is still not defined, so that digital radio in Brazil does not exclude the authorized community radio stations which are the principal instruments of interaction in the neighborhoods and small communities. In reality, we hope that the USA and Europe will resolve the problems that they encountered in the implementation of digital radio and which have impeded, until now, their popularization. Look at these examples: the Wall Street Journal on November 4 carried an article by technology editor Sarah McBride which says that "in spite of the millions of dollars spent in the development and promotion of HD digital radio, consumers until now don't have sufficient information and still have not demonstrated any enthusiasm for the new technology." The magazine Radio World, edited by radio engineers, in an article by Paul J. McLane, states that only 0.0015% of North Americans listen to digital radio, which is being tested commercial by 1,800 radio station out of a total of 13,000 stations in the country. The FCC, the North American regulatory agency, informs that HD Radio presently covers only 1.5% of North American territory and has only 450,000 users among a population of 300 million people. The magazine Radio World, also criticizes the price of digital radio receivers in the USA: US$ 80 (R$ 170), or less. Imagine the price that this radio would sell for in Brazil. In Europe, the implementation of digital radio also has enormous problems. The respected publication Communications Rights Observer, on February 22 of this year, made a critical analysis of the question under the title "The transition to digital radio is still in check in Europe". The article describes the "relative failure of digital radio on the AM bands, reaffirming that tests demonstrated that the audio quality of the DAB system in digital radio is worse than the quality of analog FM." The English newspaper The Guardian was even more incisive in its technical observations, and repeated the comments of European broadcasters: "We (digital radio operators) are afraid to say this publicly, but if we could we would all return our DAB licenses (to the government) tomorrow." Richard Menzies-Gow, a media analyst for Dredner Kleinwort, added, "The costs are high and the format doesn't generate any earnings". As can be clearly seen, digital radio is not proven even in the United States or Europe. Brazil is aware of all of this and will only make a decision when it is technically correct and meets the public interest. The delay is not because of this. Digital radio, even in its countries of origin, still has a lot of problems that need to be solved before we can make a decision that would have a direct impact on communications, on the electronics industry and principally on the public policies of digital inclusion. On the other hand, as we did in the digital TV decision, the Brazilian government will not choose "a digital radio system before the end of 2008", as the author of the article incorrectly stated. We are just going to indicate the tools which must compose the digital radio architecture. In reality, among other requirements already widely publicized, the system will have to allow for transmission on AM and FM, on the same channel, covering all the shadow areas of analog radio, give access to Brazilian industry to the technical details of the standard, promote technology transfer, and not have any cost for the radio listener. So, contrary to what was said in an email sent out by the Radio and Media Nucleus Survey and cited by Nair Prata, the author of the article in Minas Gerais state, the Ministry of Communication does not propose to establish any partnership with the American company iBiquity. What it has suggested is that the Brazilian electronics industry should seek out the patent holders of the North American and European systems to discuss a technology transfer and usage rights, especially of the U.S. IBOC system, which is a proprietary system having several exclusive tools that require the payment of royalties. The most recent tests of digital radio, performed in the city of São Paulo by Mackenzie University, concluded last June that IBOC, on the AM band, has serious propagation problems, with shadow areas that are greater than those seen in the analog system. The European DRM system, on the other hand, has only just now announced that it is working on the possibility of transmission in the FM band on the same channel. Further, to the contrary to what was stated in the article, the Ministry of Communications did not and will not defend the adoption of any of the systems that have been studied if the Ministry and Anatel engineers are not satisfied with the tests that are being held in Brazil, and after critically evaluating the experiences with digital radio in the USA and in Europe. Certainly, we need to modernize radio, but only when the systems are working satisfactorily in accordance with the technical standards required in Brazil and other countries. (source? translated, via Ben Dawson, DXLD) ***Correcting a correxion: DAB does NOT transmit on MW at all; requires separate VHF channels; IIRC, occupies vacated Band III TV channels (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) "The Register" carries a thought provoking article on DAB Radio by Grant Goddard. The article says that in 2007, out of 2.4 million new vehicles registered only 20,000 were fitted with a DAB radio. Read the article 'In the ditch with DAB radio' at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/29/grant_goddard_drwg_analysis/ (via Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2009/in_the_ditch_with_dab.htm via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Radio Tupi Curitiba has changed its name to: SUPER RADIO DEUS É AMOR - 1210 kHz , 6060, 9565, 11765. The New web link is: http://www.superradiodeuseamor.com.br Áudio ID : http://www.dxclube.com.br/db/LISTA_COMPLETA_download.asp?field=AUDIO&key1=3354 73 (Marcelo Vilela Bedene, DX Clube do Paraná, Curitiba-Brasil, Jan 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11765, Super Radio deus é Amor, 2350-0010, Jan 2-3, ex-Radio Tupi. Portuguese religious sermon. Announcements. Several IDs at 0004. Back to religious sermon at 0005. Good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 9625, 1745- Jan 1, CBC Northern Quebec Service. Countdown of best Canadian songs of 2008. Very good reception without many of the problems Glen[n] Hauser has recently reported (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RCI Sackville tell me they are diligently working on the 9625 transmitter problem, but it has to be on the air in order to troubleshoot. Meanwhile it was back in whack at 1453 Jan 2, if not exactly back on frequency 9625, producing a rumbling lo het with BBC and/or Channel Africa. Also OK around 1400 Jan 3. Believe it or not, RCI is really on the air in English on 9755, but only fair signal here at 0053 Jan 3, interviewing a magazine publisher. I can see how this would be skipping over points closer to Sackville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 5745, 6390, Sackville leapfrogging spurs, 0335-0400, Jan 3, fair to good 5745 leapfrogging spur of 6175-Voice of Vietnam via Sackville. Good 6390 leapfrogging spur of 5960-Radio Japan via Sackville (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Celebrate CBC Radio One on 88.1 FM! CBC Radio One Vancouver officially launches on FM: http://www.cbc.ca/bc/features/881fm/ Note the AM & FM freq. in the logo (Andy Reid, Ont., Jan 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But 690 is demoted to smaller type than 88.1 (gh) ** CANADA [and non]. CJOR 600 Vancouver --- Station was simulcasting with its new FM station (new rock Muzak format replacing golden oldies-Frank Sinatra period) up to midnight Dec. 31, then went off the air. I haven't heard anything at that dial point that the local station would have been masking. (The Muzak reference is particularly apt as the 'OR owner was also the local Muzak supplier) (Ron Keillor, Canada, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 600 kHz in Vancouver is now silent http://www.radiowest.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4784&sid=2286f71d4c43e1fc5ed1077f238e04fd "I had CJWW 600 in Saskatoon in before 5PM PST with the Canada/USA junior hockey game. On 610, CKYL in Peace River was loud and clear." (via Dan Say, BC, Jan 2, DXLD) With 600 Vancouver now gone, the frequency is very interesting. I set the timer during the night and recorded :58-:02. 600, KCOL CO, Wellington, fair above jumble briefly at 0700 EST and again 0900 EST with "News Talk Radio, KCOL Wellington" and "News Talk 600, KCOL Welington, Ft Collins,...Loveland...." Into Fox News.1/1/09. 600, KGEZ MT. Kalispell, Good at times at 0500 EST with woman announcer "This is KGEZ Kalispell" into IRN News 1/1/09. 600, CJWW Canada, Sask, Saskatoon, good on top at 0100 EST 1/1/09 with "Your information station CJWW". Drake R8, 1500 foot Eastern beverage (Patrick Martin, IRCA via DXLD) Pat, CWJJ [sic] 600 has very good news coverage with TOH news, weather & sports. 30 past the hour another news report. I was impressed with their news coverage (Dennis Vroom, Salmon Creek, WA, ibid.) ** CANADA. 6070, 2305- Dec 30, CFRX Toronto, ID for CFRB at 2306 at poor to fair level, but in the clear. They used to be an easy catch on the west coast, but these days, since their return, they're much more difficult. The frequency is usually covered by CVC Santiago as well (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since their latest return in mid-Dec, they ought to be much easier with good modulation and strength. 23-24 is a clear hour after Romania and Liberia, before Chile (gh, DXLD) 6069.96, CFRX Toronto, 0527-0606, Jan 2, the Ben Mercer "Year in Review" show with a recording of his past program when he made himself a personal challenge to gain 5 lbs during his 2 hour show from Toronto's Corso Italia on West St. Clair, many "Newstalk 1010 CFRB" IDs, ToH news, sports, traffic, weather (-2 degrees C), started out poor but slowly came up to fair to almost good reception, light QRM from CVC Chile. Nice to be able to hear this with decent reception! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 7850, 2346- Dec 31, CHU Ottawa. I was having trouble hearing 7335 after 2300, so decided to check 7850, and alas, they're already there at this time. Not sure whether 7335 is off with certainty or propagation is not allowing signal to reach here. There is someone else on 7335 now weakly. Fair to good signal with the same announcement telling of the impending change on 1 January! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7335 is and was gone by then; they could not be on both. I do miss having 7335 as a beeping marker when I tune around (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Amigos, em férias na bela Santa Catarina (São José, a 6 km de Florianópolis), com o DEGEN DE-1103 captei sem dificuldades a nova frequencia da CHU. Esta deixou de tx por 7335 kHz, uma frequencia que usou durante décadas, e a partir de 01.01 transmite por 7850 kHz (acredito estarem ainda em teste...). Um sinal aceitável, sem QRM, com os mesmos sinais-horário dos antigos 7335 kHz. Em //, estava com bom sinal a mesma tx em 14670 kHz. Pagam QSL para IR enviados via e-mail. O endereço da CHU para informes de recepção está no site da mesma, que pode ser levantado por recursos do google. 73, (Rudolf Grimm, Brasil, Jan 2, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** CHAD. 4905, 1550-1645 Dec 30, Rdiff. Natl. Tchadienne. Surprised and pleased to find this 3rd longpath African signal of the morning of the 30th, thanks to a tip from Walt Salmaniw on a faint signal in the background of Tibet's English service on 4905. I replayed the Perseus WAV file a number of times and heard drums and Arabic-sounding talk up to a distinctive balofon interval signal at 1630:25. Based on the terminator position, drums music, and Arabic language I suspected it was northern Africa. I checked http://www.intervalsignals.net and found that the IS matched one of the sound files for Rdiff. Natl. Tchadienne! The final nail in the coffin was finding that 4905 is a current domestic frequency for Chad, via the British DX Club's 'Africa on Shortwave' January 2009 guide. The schedule for Chad indicates French, Arabic, and vernaculars 1030- 2230 UT. This makes three longpath Africans heard past sunrise on Dec. 30. Thanks to Walt Salmaniw for the initial tip. What fun to have both Chad and Tibet dueling it out on the same tropical band frequency! (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, DXing at Grayland Beach State Park, Perseus SDR X2 / Wellbrook Phased Array antenna (proto) / PA0RDT Mini-Whip at 30 ft. high, http://www.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com HCDX via DXLD) 4905, 1955-2232* 29+31.12+01. 01 R Chad, Gredia, N'Djaména. French reports, conversation about N'Djaména, ID's, Afropop, closing announcement, National Anthem, 45434. From *2050 QRM Tibet. Extended service on New Year's evening with announcement in Arabic 2254-2257, then French again: "Il est trois minutes jusque vers [sic] le Nouveau An", 2300 National Anthem, speech by the President (presumably), 2310 National Hymn and close (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) No, it didn`t close; see my log, stayed on another dekaminute for Arabic translation (gh, DXLD) 4904.97, RNT, 0510-0545, Jan 2, on the air at approximately 0510 with Afro-pop music. French talk. Normal sign on time is 0430. Very weak at 0510, but improved to a good level by 0528. 4904.97, RNT, 2222-2231*, Jan 2, Afro-pop music. French announcements. Sign off with National Anthem at 2230. Good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Other mid morning to post noon observations: 6165 meets trouble only around 1300 due to co-channel HRV (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, 1915 UT Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) = Croatia ** CHINA. 3990, 2305-2340 28+29.12, Gannan PBS, Tianshui Tibetan announcement, music, talk - no longer relays CNR-8 (heard on 6010); 34443, QRM Croatia 3985 until strong Xinjiang open carrier signed on *2315, but Gannan could still be heard underneath. 3990, *2330-2340 28+29.12, Xinjiang PBS, Urumqi Uighur IS, ID: "Sinkiang khalk radyo stanshi", string music, talk 44444 // 4980 (35434) (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6190, 0103- Jan 2, Xinjiang PBS, Urumqi. Very good reception in Mongolian, while looking for International Radio Serbia (which is probably there weakly cochannel). Mentions of Mongolian Radyo or similar. Parallel to 4500 (good) as well. Best time of the year to listen for them, as it's darkness all the way (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 9690, "Firedrake" jammer; 0131-0156 2 January, 2009. Fair with the usual ChiCom music cycle. Presumed target is Radio Free Asia via the UAE. Blocked from 0156 by (how ironic) China Radio International with carrier, into Chinese programming 0200 from presumably Spain. Ripping in at great level the following night, 0103+ 3 January (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 8400 still bearing Firedrake, at 1451 check Jan 2. The day before, Firedrake vs Sound of Hope was on 8400, but Jan 3 at 1426 check it was back on 9000 instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. The silent TIRWR SW facility in Cahuita is still in limbo. All the transmitting tubes need to be replaced, which would cost around $80,000, plus other repairs to get it operational, and there is no sign that Pastor Melissa Scott is prepared to spend what it takes to bring it back on the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. 5031 kHz, Intermodulation of Zagreb Deanovec site. Das kroatische "Mischprodukt" empfange ich gerade um 2000 UTC mit Nachrichten auf Deutsch auf 5031 kHz. Die Formel 6165 minus 5031 kHz fuehrt zu 1134 kHz. War das frueher nicht 6165-1125 = 5040 kHz ? Die 1125 kHz waren aus Deanovec (16e29/45n42) und wurden geschlossen. Die 1134 kHz kommen aus Zadar (Nin/Rasinovac, 15e14/44n14). Die 6165 kommen doch aber aus Deanovec. Wie kommt denn bei dieser raeumlichen Entfernung das Mischprodukt zustande? Die 6165 hoere ich uebrigens nicht, vermutlich bin ich in der toten Zone (Guenter Lorenz, touring ITALY, Perseus/ALA1530SSB+ QTH: naehe Pavia, Norditalien; A-DX Dec 26 via BC-DX Jan 2 via DXLD) Guten Abend und saluti nach Italien. Das WRTH 2009 zeigt nur noch 594 kHz in DRM tagsueber und allein Zadar auf 1134 kHz, sowohl im nationalen Teil, als auch im MW Tabellen Anhang. Alle anderen MW Anlagen sind ausser Betrieb genommen (Deanovec, Pula Buje, Split, Hvar Mala Grcka, Osijek Josipovac etc.). D.h. nach der Formel wird heute in Deanovec auf 6165 und a u c h der Ersatzsender 1134 kHz eingesetzt, letzterer ein umgestimmter 1125 kHz Sender. Danke Guenter. Jetzt darf geraetselt werden, ob in Zadar Nin Rasonovac die 1134 kHz Mannschaft Weihnachtsferien macht, oder dort schon der neue angekuendigte DRM Sender von RIZ (Radioindustry Zagreb) installiert wird (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 26, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 2 via DXLD) I.e., since there is a mixing product on 5031, the 1134 kHz transmitter must now also be coming from Deanovec like 6165. Remember that 1134 is to be converted to DRM ASAP; will it still produce mixing products with AM SW transmitter next to it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6165 QRM : see also CHAD ** CUBA. RHC again running way past nominal sign off of 0700 for English, still going at 0724 Jan 2 on 6000, but not 6060 or 6140, `Ed Newman` with year-end summary of USA woes. Why not let the transmitter op snooze? It`s before midnight in the PST, AST and HST zones. DentroCuban Jamming Command with heavy attack on 9785, Jan 3 at 0054, versus nothing, since R. República quit this Sackville relay frequency a few weeks ago. {Also makes it impossible to tell whether Ukraine is still on this extra frequency.} At same time big open carrier on 9820, presumably remnant of RHC Mesa Redonda service or more special revolutionary programming. I see that CSPAN ran Raúl`s speech from last night, translated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Again ran across that Cuban exile ham who pontificates in Spanish with anti-communist polemix, on 7210.0 SSB, Jan 2 at 1434. This time I caught his call, N1NR, and he was in contact with W4NNN, I think, but never a trace of the latter, who was either imaginary or duplex on a different unfound frequency as I later tuned around 40m. Initial subject was whether glasses were half-full or half-empty. This really sounds like a one-way broadcast, just like you might hear on Radio República or Radio Martí. ARRL lookup shows N1NR is: ROIG, NELSON, N1NR (Extra), 41 PHEASANT RUN, BUSHKILL, PA 18324, Previous call sign: WQ3N. And W4NNN is: CARTER, ROBERT V, W4NNN (Extra), 2595 ABBEY RIDGE RD SW, CONYERS, GA 30094 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. While scanning the AM-BCB, I came across Reloj on an unusual frequency of 860 kHz. My last logging of this frequency was January of 2005. I've had a few barefoot spotters since then, and this early morning I caught the familiar clicks and minute tones, but no Morse ID (RR). This was heard 0812-0815 GMT under CJBC Toronto in Quebec French language. My log has this 860 kHz station unnamed at 10 kW 2225 km distance. Reception poor to fair tones heard well, though. 32233 SINPO. Has anyone else caught this one lately? (Paul L Shaffer Cheshire, CT using Grundig G6 and Tecsun PL200 barefoot, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Paul, 860 Reloj has been active for a long time. Bearings put it in the Arroyo Arenas area of Ciudad de la Habana (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DISCLAIMER FOR ALL LW/MW ITEMS: No portion of the below may be reproduced or redistributed by the National Radio Club, their editors or current members without expressed written permission, which will then be swiftly, and we do mean swiftly denied. Editors receiving this directly from me are excluded, provided this entire disclaimer is included once, where any of the below LW/MW items are first reproduced. 1000 kHz, Radio Cadena Habana, unknown western Cuba site; 2228-2235 January 1, 2009. Tune in to male canned Radio Cadena Habana ID, female talk, good and parallel 1080. First time I've heard Cadena Habana audio on 1000, normally Radio Guamá, Pinar del Río is alone daytimes here. Surely the same transmitter. Maybe an anomaly, since this was the 50th anniversary of Fidel's rise (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 6850, 2315- Dec 30, Radio Cairo. Difficult to follow, with muffly audio in English, about the most recent crisis in Gaza. Clearly undermodulated as the signal is not very strong compared to the carrier (as always for Cairo!). Time pips and into English news at 2315:30. 6255, 2115- Jan 1, Radio Cairo. Time pips at 2115:30, followed by English announcement, 'It's exactly 21:15 hours...'. They announced the 'World Service'. I never heard Cairo announcing this. 'Here in Cairo', so it's the right station. Music is very well modulated, but the voice is weakly modulated. Went on to announce the program line- up. Good S7 signal (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. Radio Bana on air --- Hola. 02-01-2009, 5100 kHz, 1750 UT. Radio Bana, Asmara, programma musicale, fine 1800 con inno - Buono (Mauro Giroletti, -Swl 1510- -IK2GFT- -JRC525Nrd - Lowe HF150- Filter PAR Electronics - BCST-LPF + BCST-HPF -Eavesdropper SWL Sloper 11mt to 120mt Band- Loop LFL1010 -Lat. 45.42166 Long. 9.1248 -Locator grid. Jn 45 Nk- playdx yg via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. ETHIOPIA. 7165, Voice of Peace & Democracy, via Radio Ethiopia transmitter, *0357-0430*, Jan 2, sign on with Horn of Africa music. Echo ID announcements. Talk in Tigrinya at 0400. Occasional local drums. Some Horn of Africa music. Fair signal. // 9556.2v - on the air at approximately 0413 with a fair signal. Listed for Mon, Wed, Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 9556.1v, Horn of Africa songs, talks by OM in possibly Amharic, sudden sign off 1834 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ERITREA [non] ** ETHIOPIA. 9704.18, Radio Ethiopia; 2056-2100* January 1, 2009. Amharic man and woman, group choral anthem from 2059-2100:25. Clear and fair, parallel slightly stronger 7110, but 5990v not making it here. Thanks Brian Alexander log via DXLD. Also audible around 1420 January 2, but low level audio (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. MV Baltic Radio is on this Sunday the 4th of January 2009 at 1300 UT On 6140 KHz. MV Baltic Radio is on the air from the transmitting station in Wertachtal. We will be using a non-directional antenna system (Quadrant antenna). Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, Jan 2, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 6189.990, DLF Berlin Britz on odd frequency noted at 1100- 1200 UT, Dec 30. On 6189.978 kHz 110 [sic] UT on Dec 31 (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart,, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 2 via DXLD) Odd channel noted today Jan 2nd: 6189.985, DLF Berlin Britz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. If it`s DW, it can`t be from Germany: Jan 3 at 0055 found German talk on 9775 stronger than // 9655 except 9655 was running about three words, or two compound words, ahead of 9775. 9655 is Rwanda, 9775 is Ascension (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815 (USB) 2105-2208 fade out 29.12, KNR, Tasiilaq, Greenlandic/ Danish. Deep fades often of 10 minutes duration! Greenlandic talk and news, music, 2200 KNR jingle, news in Danish (?), poor modulation, 25212 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GUAM. 9975, Sat Jan 3 at 1420, sounds like a vintage Billy Graham sermon, with his peculiar accent, over a PA system. Trouble is, EiBi and Aoki say KTWR uses 9975 after 1400 on M-F only, but nothing else scheduled. WWCR 9980 was still weak before daily buildup to super- strength (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4780, 1259-1303 Dec 30, Radio Cultural Coatán. Flute music to 1300 with male announcer in Spanish and mentions of Coatán. Prayer or devotional message voice-over folk music at 1302. Fair signal at half hour past Coatán SR. 4799.8, 1258-1302 Dec 30, R. Buenas Nuevas, Presumed. Romantic song in Spanish beneath strong CNR1 signal, and into a talk or announcement in Spanish. Poor to fair (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, DXing at Grayland Beach State Park, Perseus SDR X2 / Wellbrook Phased Array antenna (proto) / PA0RDT Mini-Whip at 30 ft. high, http://www.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com HCDX via DXLD) ** GUINEA. Other mid morning to post noon observations: 7125 seems to be a little better audio/modulation wise, but still too weak (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, 1915 UT Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7125, R. Conakry. January 3, French, 0850-0944, tribal xylophone sound-like music selections, short OM announcements, 0908-0915 male talks segment returning music which was always as described above. Low modulation level, progressively deteriorating until near dead at 0943, at peak 24322. Happy New Year for all! 73 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS: 3340 HRMI (Tegucigalpa). 0715-0720. 30 Dec. Spanish/ English. Operatic inspirational music in English. OM speaking on the Good News in English with YL translating into Spanish. Very faint but clearly readable (Joe Wood, TN, MARE Tipsheet Jan 2 via DXLD) Had not heard it lately around that time in usual bandscans, but I too did hear presumed that one around 0700 Jan 3 aside CHU. Music kept playing thru hourtop with no ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DXLD) ** HONG KONG [and non]. 6679, 1344- Dec 30, Tokyo VOLMET at very good level, with Japanese sounding computer generated voice, somewhat difficult to follow. Off with 'Tokyo, out'. 30 seconds of dead air, then Hong Kong met. British accented Chinese computer generated voice much weaker, but easier to copy until 1549. Thanks to Glen[n] Hauser for pointing this one out (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. It's been a while since I've encountered this many interesting signals on 60 meters. A and K indices were low, and I'm sure it helped the India DX audible from over the polar route. 4775, 1645-1700 Dec 30, AIR Imphal. Slow Hindi singing by woman with percussion accompaniment; brief announcement by man, and into another slow subcontinental music selection with tabla and flute. Various subcontinental music styles to 1659:35 ID as 'Akashvani Imphal' with sign-off announcements including mentions of 'kilohertz'. Plug pulled at 1700:30. Good signal. 4820, 1730-1735 Dec 29, AIR Kolkata. Woman announcer in English, with commentary or talk on Asian politics. Good level but buried beneath a strong Xizang PBS music program. Parallel to 4920 Chennai (also good), but also beneath a different Xizang PBS music program. 4860, 1659-1701 Dec 30, AIR Delhi. Messy, noisy signal with possible Delhi at low level. Language sounded Hindi. 4880, 1250-1302 Dec 30, AIR Lucknow. Continuous subcontinental flute music to female announcer at 1300 with at least two mentions of All India Radio. Weak level. 4895, 1635-1644 Dec 30, AIR Kurseong. Subcontinental music of singing and tabla, and later Hindi film music. Fair level, but deteriorating towards 1700 sign-off, which was nearly inaudible. Plug pulled at 1700:45. 4920, 1736-1738 Dec 29, AIR Chennai. Good level with an Asian politics commentary by woman in English, but co-channel with Xizang PBS music program. Parallel to 4920 AIR Kolkata. 4940, 1653-1701 Dec 30, AIR Guwahati. Male vocalist with Hindi singing, sitar, and tabla. Sign-off announcements and ID by female announcer at 1700, and then carrier off at 1701:20. Good signal. Also heard earlier at 1300, with Guwahati dominating Voice of the Strait (China). 4970, 1629-1632 Dec 30, AIR Shillong. Percussive music selection with gongs and tabla to female announcer in English. ID at 1630 'This is the end of our program tonight. This is All India Radio, broadcasting from Shillong'. The same announcer repeated the sign-off in Hindi, and then Shillong's carrier was gone at 1632. Fair signal. 4990, 1629-1631 Dec 30, AIR Itanagar. Hindi film music, then female announcer in Hindi with sign-off announcements. Poor to fair level. 5010, 1659-1702 Dec 30, AIR Thiruvanathapuram, Presumed. Threshold signal of subcontinental music to male announcer at 1700, and into tabla and flute music at 1701. Very weak signal (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, DXing at Grayland Beach State Park, Perseus SDR X2 / Wellbrook Phased Array antenna (proto) / PA0RDT Mini-Whip at 30 ft. high, http://www.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com HCDX via DXLD) 5040, 0037- Jan 1, AIR Jeypore. Good reception with Indian music. Also heard were AIR Bhopal at fair to good level (didn't seem //), 4820 easily heard but totally dominated by Xizang PBS, Lhasa. AIR Mumbai on 4840 at poor/fair level. AIR Lucknow 4885 at good level. 4910 AIR Jaipur at fair level, // to 4920 AIR Chennai (very good, but with cochannel Xizang PBS again, but Chennai dominating). 4940 AIR Guwahati, Assam at fair/good level. 5010 AIR Thiruvanathapuram (poor). By the time I rechecked 5040 at 0055, it had pretty much disappeared. Wonderful conditions on the tropical bands so far this evening, and it's just getting dark now locally. 4920, 0015- Jan 2, AIR Chennai. Good reception well over CNR8 with AIR ID and into unusual kazoo-like sounding instrument. I was just getting things set up for a 0025 sign-on of most of the AIR stations, when I realized that Chennai signed on earlier. Conditions down from yesterday, though (which was a fantastic night for Indians!). 4895, 0055- Jan 2, AIR Kurseong, West Bengal. Quite easy to see the transmitter for this AIR station coming on about a minute before the sign-on at 0055. The AIR IS is clearly audible under the dominant Mongolian HS 1 transmitter. The distinctive Indian music is easy to follow, but not any of the talk (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4970, AIR Shillong, 1615-1631*, Jan 2, their usual excellent program of non-stop western classical music, fair, sign-off announcement in English and vernacular, fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4840, AIR, Mumbai; 0203-0235 2 January, 2009. Man and woman talk in Hindi, Hindi filler vocals from 0208 and lots of talk by the two with Hindi vocal fills, possibly some commercials. Time sounders 0230, male and female talk. Clear and fair to good, but slowly fading from 0225. 4910, AIR, Jeypore, 0042-0103 3 January, 2009. Presumed the one with subcontinental vocals at tune-in, presumed Hindi man 0044, filler music, more subcontinental vocals. Very poor and threshold by tune- out, and listened to in LSB to avoid CODAR. Presumed AIR, Chennai in at the same time, also poor, on 4920 but LSB didn't work against CODAR here. 4920, AIR, Chennai; 0112-0128 2 January, 2009. Hindi man, into apparent commercials from 0114, then at 0115, a clear "All India Radio" by female (though all following talk was in Hindi), apparent news until 0125, followed by man and woman talk, subcontinental filler music (maybe more commercials, hard to tell). Clear but fairly weak. No idea if truly other AIR outlets were in, but carriers on 4840 (Mumbai -- but see later definite log); 4910 (Jeypore -- last logged in early 2006 -- but see subsequent log); and a definite but weak 5010 (Thiru'puram) with audio. 9690, AIR, Bangalore; 1425-1443 2 January, 2009. Huge signal but with bad (as opposed to good) 50 cycle hum. English service with nonstop, boring monologue by some professor type about resource management, nearly impossible for me to really understand what he was lecturing about due to the accent. Parallel weak 11620. Presumed site per PWBR- 2009 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9705, Terrible audio quality of AIR Delhi's GS general service to East Asia which started 2245- UT, S=8-9 signal (Wolfgang Buschel, Jan 1, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 2 via DXLD) Debit where debit is due: site is, you guessed it? Panaji, GOA, per Aoki. Most of those transmitters have big problems (gh, DXLD) 9945-9950-9955, 2107- Jan 1, AIR Khampur. Not quite able to decode this DRM transmission to Europe from India, but have come close. The dialog window shows 'HPT AIR Khampur'. My SNR is about 7 dB at best. I`m frequently getting 2/3 windows 'green' in the DReaM window. 9425, 2119- Jan 1, AIR. Very powerful clean [analog] signal with Indian music. National Service on this channel (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. 4750, 1258-1302 Dec 30, RRI Makassar. A real mess on this frequency with two Chinese stations (CNR1 and PBS) dominant, and RRI Makassar in the background. Female and male announcers in Indonesian up to 1300 and into presumed news. None of the stations were exactly on 4750, and it was driving the synchronous AM detector crazy! Best in LSB to avoid CODAR swisher. Fair level. Rechecked WAV file from 1400 UT and Makassar was much clearer. The WAV for 1500 revealed them in the clear, with Song of the Coconut Islands up to RRI network ID and into Warta Berita (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, DXing at Grayland Beach State Park, Perseus SDR X2 / Wellbrook Phased Array antenna (proto) / PA0RDT Mini-Whip at 30 ft. high, http://www.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com HCDX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. First meteor shower of 2009 Space Weather News for Jan. 2, 2009 http://spaceweather.com FIRST METEORS OF 2009: The annual Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on Jan. 3rd when Earth enters a stream of debris from shattered comet 2003 EH1. The timing of the encounter favors observers in western North America and across the Pacific Ocean who could see dozens to hundreds of meteors during the dark hours before sunrise this Saturday morning. Visit http://spaceweather.com for a sky map and more information. SOMETHING NEW: For the new year, Spaceweather.com is pleased to announce a new service: Space Weather Radio, broadcasting live "sounds from space" around the clock. Today you can listen to the Air Force Space Surveillance Radar in Texas. When a meteor passes over the facility -- ping! -- there is an audible echo. (Activity should be high during the Quadrantid meteor shower this weekend.) In the near future we'll be adding broadcasts of solar radio bursts and VLF signals from the ionosphere. The streams are punctuated by Daily Space Weather Updates from Dr. Tony Phillips. Click here to begin listening: http://SpaceweatherRadio.com (Via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) WTFK? Geez! These are scientists and they don`t even tell us the frequency(ies) they are monitoring? By radar, do they mean they are only monitoring bounce-backs of their own emanations? The meteor probably isn`t passing directly *over* the facility. FM DXers, of course, manage to identify a fraxion of these bursts on the FM band originating at broadcast stations a megameter, more or less, away. Of course when the meteor is low enough to ionize, it is no longer in full space vacuum, but you wouldn`t want to try to inhale at that altitude (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) E.g. MS DX: Two hits on KNOX 94.7 ND, one with RDS on the Sangean ATS909, POWER947; two audio on 96.1 KGPZ MN, one on KCLH MN 94.7. One or two are new. Just nailed 96.1 Hudson IA KCVM with an ad: "Waldon Photo, we develop memories for you." And the web mentions them as in nearby Waterloo and Cedar Falls and using that same slogan (Saul Chernos / Burnt River ON, Jan 3, WTDA via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. 6996-USB, CARIBBEAN; Russian Navy vessels 0036-0045 December 23, 2008. Per David Crawford tip, fair to good level with random ship-to-ship simplex Russian chatter (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Russian Navy has recently been visiting Cuba (gh, DXLD) ** IRAN. 6120, 0129- Jan 2, Voice of Justice. Piano medley, followed by announcement: 'This is the Voice of Justice', then presumed Iranian NA sung by a choir. Very strong, with presumed Chinese station in background (Urumqi). Went on to announce schedule, which included quite a few satellite feeds. Also, Internet feed from 1130 to 1230. Into Kor`an recital at 0132:45. Parallel 7160 is just barely audible here. Sign-on reminded me of several Clandestine stations from years ago! At 0136, began the English translation (God, the Merciful and Compassionate). They then wished congratulations to all Christians celebrating Christmas (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [and non]. /ISRAEL Two Iranian jamming peaks against Kol Israel in Persian, Suns extended at 1500-1630 UT. 9983.990 and 9985.960 kHz in Perseus (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 28, wwdxc BC- DX TopNews Jan 2 via DXLKD) ** IRAN [non]. 7460, 0201-0236, MOLDOVA, R. Payem e-Doost (Bahai), presumida, em persa, desde Kishinev-Grigoriopo[l], com 500 kW (azimute de 116, direção para o Irã, talvez por isso chegue com esse sinal apesar da potencia) OM Talk, as 0240 música moldava que parece musica árabe, às 0243 o que parece o hino nacional uns 3 segundos sem portadora e volta com OM Talk, 33343 (Jorge Freitas - Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 12º 15' 1.57" S 38º 58' 40.30" W, Degen 1103, Antena fio longo com 20 metros e balum 9:1, HCDX via DXLD) 116 is nowhere near your direxion so on the contrary I would say you are getting it because of the power in spite of the azimuth. As for Moldavian music, I would find that unlikely since Moldova is merely the transmitter site for this service which has nothing to do with Moldova otherwise. I assume your opening time is supposed to be 0231, not 0201, since per Aoki and HFCC this starts at 0230 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Later: looking at the format of his other logs with a slant, I see that 0201 must have meant 02/01, i.e. 2 January (gh) Olá Glenn. Poxa! Que confusão eu fiz, estou realmente tonto com tanto dx desses dias, rsss!! O horário realmente está correto, 0201 é a data e a hora de inicio da escuta é 0236. Eu consegui sintoniza-la novamente e o sinal está pior que no dia que fiz a primeira escuta, fiz uma gravação do sinal inicial da transmissão e a primeira fala do locutor. Observe que inicalmente existe uma forte interferência que lembra o antigo pica pau russo. Muito obrigado pela correção. A propósito, não consegui mais informações sobre essa emissora, de onde ela é mesmo? Um abraço, Jorge Freitas, SWL1023B 7460 0401 [= 4 January], 0228, MOLDAVA, R. Payem e-Doost (Bahai), em persa, desde Kishinev-Grigoriopo[l], com 500 kW, sinal inicial da transmissão e as 0230 UT a ID por YL, logo após OM e YL Talk com pequenos interludios de mx arabe, 24232, gravado (Jorge Freitas - Feira de Santana BA - Brasil) MOLDAVIA, 7480, Radio Payam e-Doost, Kishinev-Grigoriopo[l], 1835- 1845, escuchada el 2 de enero en persa a locutor con comentarios, cuña de ID, locutora presentando tema musical interrumpido por otra cuña de ID, locutora con comentarios acompañada de música clásica, despedida con música de sintonía, SINPO 44444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. Zenith Classic Rock has a temporary licence from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland Frequency is 1584, C-Quam AM Stereo, 1 kW into a 1/4 wave vertical antenna, also on 103.8, broadcast dates are Friday, Saturday, Sundays until February 22. Reception reports and recordings appreciated (Andy Green, Radiowaves forums via Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Zenith Classic Rock heard here from 1615 tune in December 28 on an Eton E5, could null out virtually all of the foreign interference, fair but with occasional deep fades. Website with three online streams is: http://totalbroadcast.net/zenith Address: Zenith Classic Rock, Total Broadcast Consultants, City Enterprise Centre, Waterford Business Park, Cork Road, Waterford, Ireland, email zenith @ totalbroadcast.net Total Broadcast Consultant's directors are Andy Green and Andy Linton. They are a professional company providing and maintaining studios and transmitters for lots of stations in Ireland. A poster on Digital Spy says that they are perhaps better known to some as presenters Andy Ellis (former Voice of Peace) and Dave Hunt, from the 80s Irish pirate in Waterford ABC Radio, and that Andy Green operated a shortwave pirate Radio Zenith from the UK in the 70's. On Digital Spy, Andy Linton says the AM stereo is for them to do their own real world research into how the system works under local groundwave and distant skywave conditions (Mike Barraclough, England, ibid.) ** ISRAEL. 6973, Galei Zahal; 0022-0036 2 January, 2009. As is so often the case, a brilliant set list: The Cure "Love Cats" into unidentified vaudeville-ish French vocal, a perfect way to come out of the vaudville-ish "Love Cats"; The Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour"; segued to George Harrison's "Blow Away"; and then (I think) a Jakob Dylan track (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also IRAN [and non] ** JAPAN. Tokyo Volmet 8828 kHz bestaetigte einen Empfangsbericht ueber eine Testsendung via Kagoshima innerhalb von 20 Tagen mit det. Karte, Brief und Bild vom Equipment. Auf der Karte wurde auch der Standort Nazaki durchgestrichen und durch "Kagoshima Test (31.19N / 130.31E)" ersetzt. Adresse: Japan Meteorological Agency JMA, Information and Telecommunication Division, Forecast Department, 1-3-4 Otemachi, Chiyodaku, Tokyo 100-8122, Japan (Patrick Robic, Austria, A-DX Dec 29 via BC-DX via DXLD) As reported in November, Nazaki, Honshu transmitter site will close, to be replaced by one in faraway Kagoshima, Kyushu, and tests from the latter were scheduled already (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. RWANDA, 6055, 2042- Dec 30, Radio Rwanda. An interesting frequency, with Rwanda clearly audible in the background, but at 2041 church bells are heard (an IS?) at strong level. Who are they from? They must be Radio Nikkei, as a Japanese announcer came on at 2045, but further checking into this needs to be done. I find it difficult to believe that Radio Nikkei would have church bells as an IS (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR. GOVT TO BOOST TV, RADIO COVERAGE IN J&K TO COUNTER PAK 2 Jan 2009, 2210 hrs IST http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Govt_to_boost_TV_radio_coverage_in_JK_to_counter_Pak/articleshow/3928248.cms NEW DELHI: Troubled by aggressive Pakistani propaganda along the border areas of Jammu and Kashmir, the government has mooted a Rs 389 crore proposal to broaden its television and radio coverage in the higher reaches of the state and near security establishments. The proposal - of immense strategic importance - is in the final stages of approval. It comes at a time when India and Pakistan are caught in a diplomatic impasse over the Mumbai terror attacks. The Centre had in 1999 pumped in Rs 430 crore under a special package for J&K to strengthen Doordarshan and AIR network services. The new proposal is expected to bolster the existing infrastructure even as instability continues to mark the Indo-Pak relationship. According to sources, there has been growing concern over propaganda from "hostile neighbours" and a need was felt that border coverage by the strong signals of radio and TV was important to provide information to people in the sensitive J&K area. An inter-ministerial committee headed by I&B secretary Sushma Singh has narrowed down on 17 sites situated at higher reaches and close to establishments of security forces. The proposal is two-pronged - setting up of high power TV and FM transmitters in the border areas of J&K and low power FM transmitters in uncovered areas of the state. This is likely to cost up to Rs 307 crore while strengthening of existing AIR/TV network in border areas of J&K and installation of mobile TV/FM transmitters for moderation of radio and TV signals will cost Rs 82 crore. Sources said many of the sites were in remote areas characterised by difficult terrain and additional forces would have to be deployed for the security of men and material (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. KOREA D.P.R., v7179/7180 heavily wandered between 7179.654 and 7180.211 kHz ... 2300-2350 UT Dec 27. Kim Il's KCBS oszillate again close to 9665.172 kHz, but drifted around, 2300-2400 UT Jan 1. Usual morning music, shrill ladies chorus (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 2 via DXLD) Die Genossen scheinen dem grossen Fuehrer heute keine stabile Stromversorgung zu garantieren. Zwischen 2300 und 2335 UT schwankt die Wanderung des Schaetzchens von Voice of Korea in Kujang von 7179.654, ueber .664, .986, dann 7180.172, .208, .211 kHz; und rauf und runter again und again [sic]. Programm in Koreanisch, die ueblichen schrillen Damengesaenge in Darbietung (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 27, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. JAPAN, 6045, 2031- Dec 30, Shiokaze. Not often reported, but perfectly audible in the clear at S5 level with either Japanese [or Korean?]. Usual sign-on with many mentions of Shiokaze and Tokyo. Not as strong as the 1400 broadcast, but then again, it's 12:30 pm local here. JAPAN, 6045, 2030- Jan 1, Shiokaze. Strong signal this afternoon of their second, less commonly reported frequency. Transmitter came on only 30 seconds before start of transmission. Japanese today. Yamata transmitter site (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. Empleo en KBS World Radio --- Hola, La sección española de la emisora internacional coreana, KBS World Radio, necesita cubrir un puesto con las siguientes características: Sexo: Hombre Estado: Soltero Edad: 25 y 40 años, preferentemente Experiencia: periodismo, radio o prensa escrita Idiomas: español y buen dominio del inglés Sueldo: aprox. 2 mil dólares (aunque la moneda coerana, el won, está muy inestable) y residencia Gastos: Pasajes de avión a cargo de la emisora Duración: 1 año con posibilidad de prolongar Inicio: marzo de 2009 Lugar: Seul, Corea del Sur Contactar con: Sonia Cho; teléfono: 82-2-781-3679; sonia@kbs.co.kr Un saludo (via Pedro Sedano, Madrid, España, COORDINADOR GENERAL AER, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) ?! Seems in South Korea you can still get away with the correct gender being the number one job requirement. And the number two requirement, marital status. What business is that of theirs? And $2000 per WHAT? That`s like saying `kilocycles`. Note that speaking Korean is not a requirement, but English is --- probably means their Spanish programs are translated from English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. 1188 kHz of FEBC-HLKX relay VOA - Korean for North Korea from 1330 to 1500 from Jan. 1. de T. Yamashita, ABI. I was able to receive it well at 1400 to 1459 on Jan 3. Slight QRM on NHK- JOKP and unID Korean station (Jam?). (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unholy alliance between gospel huxters and the secular(?) US government, another parting shot by W to erode Separation Between Church and State: for HLKX is owned by Far East Broadcasting Co.; per WRTH 2009, 1188 kHz had been scheduled in Chinese at 1230-1700. It`s not all bad: Koreans gain a sesquihour per night of worthwhile programming. 1188 has not yet been added to the schedule at http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_k.cfm but they are on another MW frequency, 1350, coming all the way from Choibalsan, Mongolia, so nearby 1188 should be quite an improvement (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FEBC-HLKX now sked at 1100-1230 English, 1230-1330 Chinese and 1330- 1500 VOA-Korean; other time is Korean. Live: http://newfebc.febc.net/aod/vod.htm?code=seoulam (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. V. of Mesopotamia has extended another hour on 11530 in 2009y, as predicted in Aoki, instead of closing at 1400, still going at 1456 check with ME singing, but audio breaking up. That quintuples its audible time after WYFR closes at 1345. This station is suspected of being pro-Commie, as Al Muick heard them playing the Internationale at another time. Presumably the other frequency via Ukraine, 7540, now opens at 1500 instead of 1400. Yes, sunsets are about to get later, but this is jumping the gun, propagationally (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. Via UAE, 7115, Suab Xaa Moo Zoo, in Hmong: Dec 29 *2329-2344 34332-34433, 2329 sign on with opening music, Opening announce, Talk and song. Dec 30 *2329-2343 35333-35433, 2329 sign on with opening music, Opening announce, Talk and music. Jan 02 *2329-2344 34433, 2329 sign on with opening music, Opening announce, Music and talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** LAOS [non]. 11785, WHRI, Sat Jan 3 at 1459 after rustic music from Hmong Lao Radio, no break, no legal ID, and right into next program, Hmong World Christian Radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. 9290, 1300- Dec 30, Rhein-Main Radio Club. Surprisingly good reception of this final broadcast from the venerable 100 kW transmitter. German noted at poor/fair level. I suspect things will continue to improve towards our local dawn. I was wrong about that. Second hour pretty much non-existent with barely a het [carrier?] audible, if at all, at 1423 (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9290, LATVIA, Rhein-Main Radio Club Ulbroka, 1416-1430, Dec 30, English. Lite pop music, M with promotional info re RMRC; program ID & RMRC URL at 1427; fair; beginning to fade by BoH (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, RX350D, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Strange how many widely- dispersed monitors all found it fading around 1430 (gh, DXLD) 9290 *1300-1500* 30.12, RMRC, via Ulbroka German/English Last special program from Ulbroka, announcement, many pop songs, interview with Robert Kipp, 25232 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. Hi Glenn, Happy New Year to you! The same goes to all readers of DXLD. I have noticed that for two days now, Radio Vilnius Lithuania has been absent from 9710 kHz at 0930 UT. Maybe this is a transmitter fault. I hope they have not ceased shortwave. I have not heard anything to this effect, though. Have you heard any info? Best Regards (Chris Lewis, England, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [I sent him the info from 9-001 which he had not yet seen.] Hi Glenn, Thanks for the info regarding Radio Vilnius. Disappointing, yes. I used to listen on Shortwave, but I will not be tuning in on the web, if you can call typing on a keyboard tuning in (Christopher Lewis, England, Jan 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Vilnius, SW canceled: I checked their website; they had 80 archived English programmes. The announcement says that the English programme will be broadcast live on the internet at 1900 as well as on National Radio Programme 1 on FM; the programmes will also be available as a podcast. (Mike Barraclough, Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Shortwave outlets of Radio Vilnius to 720,000 Lithuanian nationals in North America and to emigrants in Western Europe ceased totally on Jan 1st, 2009. English programm at 1900 UT remain on local FM + Internet: Racja shortwave service in Belarussian via Sitkunai stopped once again. SW transmissions via Lithuania were temporarily suspended on 1 January due to other budget priorities, but are expected to be back on the air latest during spring (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 2 via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5009.94, 2330-2400 ??? 31.12, UNID too weak to identify language, man and woman presenting a lively New Year Show with pop music, 15221; disappeared 2400, maybe R Cristal, Dominican Republic? (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) may be RTV Malagasy on new year extended schedule as past year (Monferini`s inserted comment?) Another one I also heard and thot not DomRep (gh) 5009.93, RTV Malagasy, 0250-0320, Jan 2, Malagasy talk. Familiar whistling theme music at 0300 & Malagasy talk. Wide variety of instrumental music, ballads, and local Afro-pop style music. Fair signal. Slightly off frequency & in full AM mode. Not in the usual reduced carrier USB. And not usually off frequency. Different transmitter? (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 9750, Suara Islam via RTM, 1506-1523, Jan 2, many thanks to the tips from Chuck Bolland and Zacharias Liangas, heard this here for the first time. In the past was always NHK and PBS Nei Menggu here fighting it out to see who would dominate. Today just QRM from NHK (fair). Clearly // 6049.60 (strong), IDs for "Suara Islam" and pop songs. 6175 is impossible for me to hear Suara Islam on, as CNR-1 (// 5030, 6030, etc.) is strong every day and I have never heard any QRM under them (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. Other mid morning to post noon observations: MLI 7284.8 & MTM 7245 both like locals in mid day (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, 1915 UT Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Odd channel noted today Jan 2nd: 7284.874, RTM Bamako-MLI at 1725 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALTA [non]. SLOVAKIA, 9510, RADIO JOYSTICK tomorrow morning on new frequency. 1985, RADIO JOYSTICK began via Radio Milano International; 2009, it will return to Milano, Italy! It's the "Italian Radio Relay Service (Nexus International Broadcasting Association)" which will transmit RADIO JOYSTICK every first Saturday of each month, on 9510 kHz (in the 31-m-shortwave band). The transmitter site is near Rimavska-Sobota (in German the name is "Grosssteffelsdorf"; in Hungarian it's called "Rimaszombat"), 150 kW of power are used. Tune in on Saturday, 10 hours Central European time/CET; additionally you can hear a live stream via [0900 UT -- until when? Apparently one hour until 1000 per: http://www.nexus.org/NEXUS-IBA/Schedules/sat.htm --- gh] RADIO JOYSTICK will continue to inform about the small island Malta (because the Republikka 'ta Malta has no external radio services anymore) - and play carefully selected music! But the style of the music will expand: from nice tunes of the 70s up to great actual remakes! As an example here's the playlist of the new show produced during Christmas: CHIC Hangin? Atlantic Jody WATLEY Real Love MCA Isaac HAYES Use Me Stax KID CREOLE I'm Corrupt Island LOOSE ENDS Slow Down Virgin Malcolm McLAREN First Couple Out Virgin Lisa CAPERS J o y UNID DOE MAAR Sinds Een Dag Of Twee Killroy Aretha FRANKLIN Jimmy Lee (ext.) Arista SPLIFF Das Blech CBS Evelyn KING Love Come Down RCA Bob MARLEY vs. FUNKSTAR DE LUXE Sun Is Shining (Club Mix) Edel [does any of this music really have any connexion with Malta?? gh] You may listen NOW via or download via Have a wonderful new Year - with RADIO JOYSTICK! Member of NEXUS International Broadcasting Association. Listen to us each 1st Saturday of every month on 9510 kHz. Vy 73s, (Charlie Prince, RADIO JOYSTICK, Postfach 10 08 12, 45408 Muelheim an der Ruhr, GERMANY; Fax: +49 1212 511301202; Cell.: +49 179 3615394; Jan 2, BC-DX via DXLD) And in advance on the dxldyg SLOVAKIA. 9510, Radio Joystick via IRRS, 0902-0930, Jan 3, pop music. Talk. ID. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Doe het berichtje maar even in het Engels, want zag vanmorgen een wat verknipte vertaling van een bericht van mij die hier op de server heeft gestaan in het Nederlands bij Glenn Hausers DX nieuws staan. Wie sluist die eigenlijk door?? (is geen probleem, maar dat vertaal engels v/d pc..... ) This morning on 9510 kHz, 03/01/2009, 0900 UT Radio Joystick with German presentation and music from the '80s. This comes via IRRS Milano Italy; TX site is Rimavska Sobota, SVK. There was an ID from IRRS at the start from the program (Johan, PE9DX, Netherlands, BDX via DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. Other mid morning to post noon observations: MLI 7284.8 & MTM 7245 both like locals in mid day (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, 1915 UT Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6044.93, XEXQ Radio Universidad, San Luis Potosí; 1419-1424 2 January, 2009. Classical chamber-like strings and piano, clear and fair. 6010 loud, 6105v not on at this time, 6185 presumably already off for the morning (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6104.75, Candela FM, Mérida,. 0235-0245 Jan 3. Noted a male in Spanish comments between USA pop music selections. Signal was good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They are no longer relaying Candela FM, so should not be called that. Instead, at night XENK-620 DF, as reported several times here (gh, DXLD) Looking for XEQM, 6104.8, no trace of even a het Jan 3 before 1500 with strong VOA Chinese on 6105, but after that went off at 1503, could barely detect het against remaining pileup (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. RADIO MEXICO INTERNACIONAL: Todos, Les recuerdo que todos los días emitimos: La síntesis informativa se emitirá a las 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:30 y 21:00 horas, tiempo del centro de México, 1700, 1900, 2100, 2330 y 0300 tiempo GMT; espero contar con su sintonía. Por favor acompáñenos. Saludos Fraternos (Ing. José Antonio Martínez Sánchez, XE1A, Jan 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 4895, 0047- Jan 1, Mongoliin Radio 1st Program. Very good to excellent reception with talk by a male in presumed Mongolian, and // to stronger 4830. Amazing reception for sure! 7260 also. I rechecked at 0205 (daytime in Mongolia) and all the transmissions were gone or very weak (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. Warm greetings! In case you weren't aware, Medi Un is streaming live. You can check out their live stream by visiting http://www.medi1.com/ and choosing the listening live option. However, the audio is ridiculously low. On SW 9575 which is coming randomly right now, sometimes good / often poor-fair, the sound is more powerful and on LW they weren't too far from local strength the past evening, here in the Montreal area. The stream is almost annoying, as you really can't enjoy the sound. So one more reason to DX Medi 1, instead of listening to them over the web. May the good DX keeps you in good mood through 2009! (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, Jan 3, HCDX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. 5785, 6355, Radio Netherlands-Bonaire spurs, 0405-0415, Jan 3, good 6355 leapfrogging spur of 5975. Weak 5785 leapfrogging spur of 6165 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Other mid morning to post noon observations: Also absent is 7275 which I haven't been able to trace during many, many months. 4770 has its carrier detectable even during day time on occasions (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, 1915 UT Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. If you enjoy classic Highlife music from Nigeria, I recommend the program "Time For Highlife" from the Voice of Nigeria in Lagos. I have been receiving this show on Saturdays at 1930 UT on 15120 kHz. Their signal has been better lately and the audio problems which used to plague this show have been corrected. I believe they have stopped playing old tapes and have been producing new shows, thus the better quality of audio. The content is all good music with commentary which provides some history on the artists. The show is 30 minutes long. Tune in "Music Time in Africa" on the VOA right after this, starting at 2000 UT on 13710 or 11975 kHz, and you have a total of 90 minutes of good afropop music with some education thrown in. Enjoy. (Scott Walker, New Cumberland PA USA, Jan 3, swprograms via DXLD) Continued at U S A ** OKLAHOMA. KEOR, Catoosa/Sperry/Tulsa OK, 1120, had kept on with nothing but music tests for weeks and weeks, but missing Jan 3 at 1937 check, allowing KMOX to just barely be heard as its skywave was starting to build. We shall see if KEOR be off for good again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALAU. 9930 T8WH Palau, 100 345 Koror PLW, *jammed. KWHR Hawaii ist seit Mitte Oktober Geschichte. Die sind 7000 km nach Westen umgezogen, nach T8WH Palau bei Guam im Pazifik. Um die PHL, KOR, JPN, CHN besser zu erreichen. Palau WHRI 0800-0900 123456. English Preparing For Jesus 0800-0900 ......7 Japanese Palau WHRI 0900-0915 .23456. English La Palabra de Vida 0900-0930 1...... Spanish Gospel Treasure 0900-0930 ......7 Japanese Midnight Cry Ministrie 0915-0930 .23456. English Palau WHRI 0930-1000 .23456. English Revival Sound 0930-1030 1.....7 Chinese Preparing For Jesus 1000-1100 ..3.5.. Japanese Palau WHRI 1030-1100 1.....7 English From Death to Life 1100-1130 ......7 English Palau WHRI 1100-1200 .23456. English Life's Answers Today 1130-1200 ......7 English Jack Van Impe Presents 1200-1230 1...... English Living The Bible 1200-1230 ......7 English Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH 1200-1300 .23456. Chinese* Palau WHRI 1230-1300 1.....7 English Palau WHRI 1300-1400 1.....7 English Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH 1300-1400 .23456. Chinese* Palau WHRI 1400-1500 1.....7 English Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH 1400-1500 .23456. Chinese* (Aoki list JPN, Dec 28) (BC-DX Jan 2 via DXLD) ** PALESTINE [and non]. ISRAEL INTERRUPTS ITS RADIO, TV BROADCASTS IN GAZA: HAMAS http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hFjHD4gSPfb4lPEcyIyXQclnnTbg GAZA CITY (AFP) — Hamas on Saturday accused Israel of interrupting its radio and television broadcasts in Gaza as the Jewish state's deadly offensive on the Islamists entered its second week. "The enemy is trying to break our frequencies... do not listen to this," said a broadcast on Al-Aqsa radio. Earlier the radio's programme was interrupted with a man's voice speaking in Hebrew-accented Arabic: "Hamas leaders are hiding in the tunnels and are leaving you on the frontline of Israel's Defence Forces." "Hamas leaders are lying to you and they are hiding in hospitals," he said. "Launching rockets puts civilians in danger." Meanwhile a broadcast on Al-Aqsa television was interrupted with an image of a ringing phone that no one was answering. "Hamas leaders are hiding and they are leaving you on the front line," says a voice in accented Arabic. The Israeli army did not have immediate comment. On Friday, Hamas's political supremo Khaled Meshaal was calling on Palestinians to rise up against Israel when his picture suddenly disappeared from the Al-Aqsa TV broadcast. "Hamas has misled you and abandoned you," a man's voice said in Arabic. "If you call any leader of Hamas, nobody will answer." An Al-Aqsa official said the Israeli army was behind the spoiler interruption, which was repeated several times during the broadcast of what appeared to be a pre-recorded speech (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** PERU. 6195.83, Radio Cusco; 0010-0019 2 January, 2009. Weak but clear when in USB mode with Spanish man and woman chatter (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9730, FEBC Manila noted with IS and English announcement again and again from 2250 UT before regular service scheduled time start 2300- UT. S=7-8 on Jan 1 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 2 via DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. GERMANY, 9450, 1337- Dec 30, Radio Polonia [sic]. Good reception with English programming which I recall from the overnight CBC WRN feed. Parallel of 7325 covered by a Chinese station. GERMANY, 7345, 1840- Dec 31, Polish Radio with letterbox program at fair to good level in English. 6015 is in DRM that's audible, but not able to decode (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. MOLDOVA, Radio PMR is now asking for listeners to send correspondence via ordinary mail and no longer announcing their email address. Address is Radio PMR, Rozy Lyuksemburg 10, MD-3300 Tiraspol, Moldova. They also request an envelope with your address and a stamp on it if possible. I don't think this will be of any use unless they intend to post mail from the country of the sender (Edwin Southwell, England, Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) If they can afford their high-power transmitter, why can`t they afford e-mail? (gh, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. 9610, 2319 Dec 30, Radio Romania International. Absolutely armchair copy with a very pleasant folk song, then an ID as, 'This is Radio Romania International', then into a program about anniversary of Romanian broadcasting (80 years old as of November 1, 2008). Parallel 6115 heard at poor/fair level only. 6115, 0407- Dec 31, Radio Romania International. What a pleasure it is to hear such superb transmission quality. Very strong and totally clear on 6115 with English to WCNA. Looking for the personality of the year. Listeners are asked to fax in a form, by email, or regular mail. I sure wish that more broadcasters would go to the effort of providing decent transmission quality! Parallel of 9515 not heard. 9610, 2310- Dec 31, Radio Romania International. Amazing reception on 9610, and only a little weaker on 6115 in English to ECNA. Hope the great reception continues into the future. My observation has always been that reception starts extremely good, and then deteriorates over the next months to years. For example, I recall Wantok Radio Light at armchair level using my Kaito 1103 portable and only its whip. It soon became a difficult station to hear. The same has occurred numerous times with many stations (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As their own transmitters decay, lose power? (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 6085, 0220- Dec 30, GTRK Krasnoyarsk. Very good reception with Russian broadcast. Much better than Petropavlosk-Kamchatskiy on 6075. Variety show. Radio Rossii only ID at 0230, so not sure that it's a local program. 5935, 0235- Dec 30, GTRK Magadan. Excellent reception with local program in Russian, // to equally strong 7320. Lots of mentions of Magadan heard. At end of program extensive weather forecast for the region (very cold!). Back to Moscow feed at 0300. 6075, 2334- Dec 30, GTRK Kamchatka. It's fun trying to sort out the various local programs of Russian radio. Kamchatka has local programming (over a ?German speaking cochannel) at very good level, with many mentions of 'Kamchatka' and 'Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy'. 'Radio Rossii Kamchatka' ID at 2337 into 'Pogoda', meaning weather --- wet snow. 6075, 2309- Dec 31, GTRK Kamchatka. Network news at TOH at excellent level. Into weather at 2309. Radio Rossii ID at 2309:50. Ad for program at 2310 (mentioned Moscow time, so not a local ad). Music at 2311. Not a local program as the same feed is heard on 7320, and 5935 (Magadan frequencies). Clearly this is a special New Year's program, as there were many mentions of the New Year holiday and best wishes. Noted a local program here at the same time yesterday. ABBA song, 'Happy New Year' (at least I'm pretty sure it's ABBA) in English at 2351 (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6085, 0210- Jan 1, GRTK Krasnoyarsk. Network Radio Rossii programming until 0210. This transmitter seemed to stay with the network feed, while 7345, 7320, 5935, and 6075 all were in parallel with a music program. No ID on any of them whether local or national program. Confusing! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7320 kHz AM, GTRK Magadan 0100, 2008-12-30, 7325 splatter ruined prior to 01Z but decent sig. 01Z bells, Radio Rossii ID into Vesti, Russian, W news. 0110 "Literaturniy Serial" program with "Proza Pushkina" ("Puskin's Prose"), some other author readings. 0130 "Ot Pyervova Litsa" ("In the First Person") with chik-chat. 0156 new years spot with fish recipe. 0200 bells and Vesti again with Russian woman. News was // with web feed but after :10 Radio Rossii programs were editioned to Magadan local time (GMT+11 = MSK+8) and thus running 8 hours ahead of the Radio Rossii web sked. Thus, aside from news, Radio Rossii is confirmed to have multiple editions not unlike former All Union Radio "Orbita" and "Dubl" editions. The question becomes: how many? 0209 Vesti wrapped up with weather. 0210 keyboard music, into "govorit Magadan" with program summary, local weather, techno bumper music, into talk about local business, China, etc. 0220 interview with Russian woman. 0225 folk music. 0232 happy new year to Magadan Oblast' cart by cheerful M&W, Russian vocal song. 0237 Russian M again, but signal getting pretty weak at this point plus some Cuban jammer spur splatter, into Russian W actuality of some sort. 0242 weakened to unreadable. Tnx Ron Howard tip on DXLD (David E. Crawford, Indian River City, Florida via DXFlorida-yg via Ron Howard, DXLD) 7320, Radio Magadan; 0055-0220 December 31, 2008. 7325 [AUSTRIA] spatter until 0058, then in the clear and fair-good with singing Radio Rossii jingle, Russian female, another singing jingle, five short and one slightly extended final time sounders 0100 and into Vesti news by man until 0110. Another Radio Rossii canned ID by female over music bed, into discussion program with female host through 0115. Recheck 0153, George Michael (or was it Wham! -- OK, who cares) Christmas song, chatter, 0200 time sounders, Vesti news, then piano filler and into local programming with clear "Govorit Magadan" by female at 0210, brief talk by the same female, semi-techno filler music and talk by her, then female pop vocal from 0218. Signal slowly fading but still quite readable at tune-out. Thanks Crawford, as per Ron Howard via DXLD originator (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. 12030, 0413- Dec 31, Voice of Russia World Service. Mailbag program in English at good level, with occasional deep fade. // 9855 good, 9840 (very good), 7150 (best frequency), 6155 (poor, via Wertachtal) and 6240 (Moldova) at good level, with minor transmitter hum (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voz da Rússia, 11605, Brazilian service with NY greetings to and from listeners, UT Sat Jan 3 at 0040. The YL announcer`s accent sounded sort of mid-Atlantic, but more Brazilian than Lusitanian; classical and big band music was constantly playing in background, periodically brought up to full during pauses; concluded with ruvr.ru website, but at 0047 plugged discredited `thief` URL, http://www.vor.ru in order to reach live webstream of this during 00-01 UT hour. 0048 new program, Mundo da Ciência e da Tecnologia, and the OM doing this was definitely Luso. G signal, best I`ve heard VOR in Portuguese in a long time, but some fading. That`s because it is the GUIANA FRENCH relay even tho I am getting it off the back/side of the 181-degree azimuth. Off already at 0057 recheck. VOR still has another hour in Portuguese to Europe at 2200, so they probably mix the accents in duplicated programming. I assume the Brazilians and Portuguese are more tolerant of that than the Arabs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. 7270, R. Liberty/R. Svoboda via Thailand, 1459-1515, Jan 2, tuned in to multi-language IDs, into Russian, fair with CNR-1 QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. 7230, 0120- Jan 2, Radio Slovakia International. Good reception with Roma songs, a large minority in Slovakia. English program to North America. No sign of 9440 to South America (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also MALTA [non] ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9541.53, SIBC, Honiara; 2110-2115 January 1, 2009. Presumed. Essentially no audio, but what else could it be at this measured frequency? Radio Australia 9500 in English very weak at the same time, and a weak carrier on 9526.51, maybe Voice of Indonesia, Cimanggis (though listed as 2100*, if in fact active this time slot or maybe they left they for got to turn it off). Grayline running through western Irian Jaya at this time (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9541.53, SIBC, 0750-0855, Jan 3, surprised to come across this with local island music. Some reggae style music. Talk at 0755 in Pidgin or vernacular. ID as “this is the SIBC”. Possible news at 0800. Local island music at 0811. English news program at 0830-0840. English announcements/ads at 0840. Country style local music at 0843. Poor to fair signal but with occasional bouts of strong QRM. Some talk slightly distorted. Very difficult copy after 0850 due to strong adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ¿Islas Salomón? Este 03/01 a las 0754 UT, en los 9541 kHz, he sintonizado una estación con música que parece tropical o de islas. A las 0800, una mujer haciendo comentarios en lengua no identificada y por un largo período, es decir, más de 10 minutos. El SINPO 24322. ¿Se tratará de las Islas Salomón? Creo que ha estado inactiva por un largo tiempo en esa frecuencia, ¿no? Estaré vigilándola bien de cerca para lograr un buen informe de recepción. ¿Tendrá la dirección postal a la mano el amigo Glenn? Muchas gracias de antemano. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 7200, Omdurman, 1620+ Jan 1 with news in Arabic. Talks about Saudi Arabia, Israel, Sudan including reports. ID Huna Omdurman followed by a song horn of Africa style referred or emphasized on Sudan, and followed by a cappella song. I liked the very professional looking structure of their news program including their audio (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. 4760, 1644- Dec 30, TWR, African hymn, followed by TWR IS, and mention of Trans World Radio. Pretty much dominates the channel at this time with fair/good reception. Presumed AIR Port Blair is just audible underneath (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. 9330, R. Damascus, Dec 31 2217-2235, 45444-45433, Spanish, Talk and Arabic music, ID at 2230 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) And the modulation was OK?? (gh, DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. 4765.07, 0248- Dec 30, Tajik Radio 1st Program. Excellent reception (quite startling!) with light banter in presumed Tajik. At 0249 into middle eastern sounding music. No time pips, IS or ID that I could hear at 0300. Ads noted at 0305 with the Russian term 'Reklama' heard several times. Gradual fade as dawn approaches. Only fair by 0323. Rechecked at 1348, and once again, reception is good to very good. Must have something to do with the A/K indices both at zero, allowing for trans-Polar propagation without any issues. Middle Eastern sounding music again. Rechecked on the 1st at 0205 and signals again were excellent. Nothing special at the TOH noted (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. 9819.767, Very ODD signal noted on this channel. V of Russia, Orzu from Tajikistan relay noted in Arabic, scheduled 1600- 2000 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 29, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 2 via DXLD) 9819.762, V of Russia via Dushanbe on odd frequency, though very seldom noted on CIS stations. Arabic service at 1600-2000 UT on Dec 31 (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 31, ibid.) Brasil is off-frequency low too (gh) ** TIBET. 4905, 1629- Dec 30, Holy Tibet. Very strong reception with slightly overmodulated transmitter. Parallel 4920 (strong but with cochannel AIR), 5240 (good), 6110 (very good), 6130 (poor/fair), 6200 (very good). I also note a cochannel under 4905 sounding like a central Asian/Middle Eastern station. Any ideas? (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CHAD! q.v. 4905, 1630-1635 Dec 30, Holy Tibet. Thanks to Walt Salmaniw (whose Dec. 30 logging reminded me that what's listed in some sources as 'PBS Xizang' on 4905/4920 is more accurately Tibet, not China), I was able to log this one 'retroactively'. Having just returned from Grayland, I had Perseus recorded files of the 60 meterband that happened to be from the same date and timeframe when Walt was DXing. I had skipped over 4905 // 4920 initially, not realizing the frequencies were from Tibet and that English was scheduled for 1630- 1700. After I read Walt's logging I checked the portion of my Perseus WAV file for 4905 kHz at 1630, and there it was. At 1630:40 I heard a female announcer say 'Holy Tibet is the means by which you may visit the roof of the world', and she and a male announcer talked briefly about listening to the station to learn more about 'the terrain, the people, and the culture of Tibet'. Good signal, but modulation could be better (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, DXing at Grayland Beach State Park, Perseus SDR X2 / Wellbrook Phased Array antenna (proto) / PA0RDT Mini-Whip at 30 ft. high, http://www.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com HCDX via DXLD) 6200, Xizang PBS - Lhasa, 1633-1646, Jan 2, "Holy Tibet" English program, news about Tibet, canned ad for the medical massage clinics in Lhasa (they speak English, Tibetan and Chinese at the clinics), segment "Eyes on Tibet" talking about the importance of Buddhism to Tibet, Tibetan chanting/singing, fair, but audio quality not the best, which is not uncommon for them (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Odd channel noted today Jan 2nd: 6119.987, TRT Çakirlar in Turkish. 1700 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKS & CAICOS. I can vouch for Caribbean Christian Radio, 1020 Turks and Caicos, being friends with one of the principals of the operation. I wouldn't count on their 1020 or 1570 on T&C coming on anytime soon. They have a utility transformer that blew on the power pole when they did their last DX test coming out of being dormant. I think they suffered some tower damage to one of their two towers, if memory serves either this summer or the summer before from a passing hurricane. It's located on an old Naval Base on the northerly part of the island if memory serves. I once served as QSL Manager for them. They would announce my name and residential address on the air to send reception reports. I still have many of them. If anyone requested a QSL from Superpower Ten Twenty CCR, let me know. Spare parts from the then-1550 WNZF (WAYI) Bunnell, FL old phasor and antenna tuning unit became part of the 1020 operation (we ended up using all new equipment from mic to tower for WNZF). The manager of that operation is now the manager of KCKN 1020 Roswell, NM [Jerry Kiefer]. He was the engineer of the original licensee and part owner of 1550 then CP WAYI Bunnell, FL. A couple of years ago he ran a 10 kW ND Experimental hours test on 1020 KCKN Roswell NM; I got on my DX 398 and on my car radio here in Palm Coast, FL. He used to live one county south of me and we'd visit different stations or go tower hunting up and down NE and Central FL. It was nice to have a great radio friend nearby. Memories (Ron Gitschier, WNZF, Palm Coast, FL, Jan 3, ABDX via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. 7285, 1345- Dec 30, Radio Ukraine International. Modern Ukrainian female vocal in a dedication program. Surprisingly good reception with some weak cochannel interference. This is one of the extra transmitters on the air, which may or may not continue past the end of the year. 100 kW listed from Mykolayiv. 5830, 0324- Dec 31, Radio Ukraine International. Another difficult to hear frequency with a listed 100 kW from Kharkiv directed to Russia. Good signal in Ukrainian with a mailbag program. Parallel to 7285 (also 100 kW listed from Mykolaiv) at very good level. No sign of the super power transmitter from Lviv to North America on 7440 which should be on until 0400. Wonder whether they changed frequencies? Actually there's someone there at very weak level, which is probably them. 7285, 1408- Jan 1, Radio Ukraine International. I can confirm that the 100 kW Mykolayiv transmitter that had funding guaranteed to 31/12 only, continues on the air. Heard with mailbag program in Ukrainian at fair to good level this morning. Transmission directed to Russia. 5970, 2000- Jan 1, NRCU Home Service. Heard usual RUI IS and into Ukrainian home service programming at poor to fair level. At same time, I can hear RUI in English on 7510, also at poor/fair level. Listed // of 9785 not heard (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As for Radio Ukraine International, yes, they are still on the air. I heard them at 1000 UT on 9950 kHz, and this evening at 2200 on 5830. However, 15635 was missing at 1000 this morning. I will check tomorrow morning for RUI on 15635, but am not sure if this will be back for a while. Best wishes (Christopher Lewis, England, Jan 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But not the extras: Aleksandr Egorov NEWS of Home Service of Ukraina I wish to you happy New Year, I wish successes in life and radioreception! Unfortunately, not all is good from the very beginning of 2009. In connection with limitation of budgetary financing this year the National Radio company of Ukraine is compelled to reduce volumes of the transmissions again : Radio programs. In this connection following changes are made to work Transferring means: Frequency, kHz; the Program; the Transmitter; Change 549; ??2; Nikolaev (Beam); Reduction of capacity up to 150 kW and reduction Operating time to 0400-2200 549; ??2; Lvov (??????); Reduction of Operating time to 0400-2200 810; ??1; Lutsk (????????); the Termination of transmissions 936; ??1; Lvov (??????); Reduction of capacity to 600 kW 936; ????/RUI; Lvov (??????); the Termination of transmissions at 2300-0300 1431; ??3; Nikolaev (Beam); Reduction of operating time to 0400-2200 1530; ??1; Vinnitsa (????????); the Termination of transmissions 1557; ??1; Putyla (Chernovtsy region); the Termination of transmissions 6020; ??2; Nikolaev (Beam); the Termination of transmissions 1800- 0200 7285; ??2; Nikolaev (Beam); the Termination of transmissions 0600- 1300 9785; ????/RUI; Nikolaev (Beam); the Termination of transmissions 15635; ????/RUI; Lvov (??????); the Termination of transmissions 73's ! (Alexander Egorov, Kiev, Ukraine, Jan 1, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Cyrillic turned into ???? ** U A E. Odd channels noted today Jan 2nd: 15519.981, YFR via Al Dhabayya in Hindi 14-15 UT. 9575.040, NHK R Japan via Al Dhabayya-UAE, 1700-1900 UT. (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are most of the Al Dhabayya transmitters significantly off-frequency? (gh) ** U K. ARTHUR WARD writes: MIKE BARRACLOUGH sent the list, of mostly American, titles to be found on the 3 CD set of "This Record is Not to be Broadcast" which he bought some time ago and was later noted in a press review by Edwin Southwell and subsequently mentioned in this column. Here is the full publicity that comes with the CD package. "From early in the life of the BBC, the Corporation's senior management operated a system of unofficial censorship, whereby before records could be played on the air, they had to be approved for broadcast by the Dance Music Policy Committee (or other similar incarnations over the years), and their decision endorsed by the Head of Light Entertainment. Records were banned from broadcast for a variety of reasons - risque innuendo, religious references, mention of commercial brands, over-sentimentality, bad taste, and (a particular obsession of the BBC's Director of Music in the 1940s, Sir Arthur Bliss) the fact that a tune was borrowed from classical works. As a result, a large number of records, of widely disparate style and content, found themselves with "Not to be broadcast" stickers on them. Among the bizarre decisions was the restricting the playing of Bing Crosby's "Deep In The Heart Of Texas" during working hours on the basis that the infectious rhythm would encourage workers to bang their tools on machinery in time with the music. This collection brings together 75 recordings which fell foul of the BBC's red pencil up to the year 1957." So, the CD set had a cut off at 1957 when the "pops" era began. As for this author, a fading memory relates below what might have been included from earlier times. "What Have You Got On Tonight Matilda Darling" - not a kit-check, just a heavy date with her favourite boyfriend. Maybe heard on Luxembourg as it would be passed a youngster's bedtime when such music was played on the BBC. "She Had to Go and Lose it at the Astor" - played by many bands, notably by Billy Cotton whose ensemble chanted the lyrics of searching here, there and everywhere to find the fashion lady's fluffy pet dog which socialites, so we were told, used to tow around on a long piece of string. Nat Gonella recorded a number of saucy songs although he was stranded in Sweden when war broke out in 1939. Stella Moya kept the band together at this time and later when he was in the army before being discharged unfit. "South of the Border" - the story of a gringo who crossed the river under twinkling stars and came upon a village holding a party where he flitted with a Mexican beauty but left when the festivity was over. On saddling up and returning he found that she was some sort of a holy woman dedicated to praying in the mission. Religion and romance was not a BBC favourite mixture. Sang by Frank Sinatra, over there, and Denny Dennis, over here and a hundred others in between, including the aforesaid Nat Gonella. The next three songs were all Nat Gonella classics. . "South with the Boarder" - could this suggest to Broadcasting House that someone was off to Brighton for a weekend with the Girl in the Upstairs Flat? "Howdy Cloudy Morning" - 'whatcha gonna do today, I'm alright, feeling bright as the girl friend has come to stay' - might suggest embarrassing shacking up c 1939?" "The Man Who Came Around" - 'to our house when Poppa went away. When Poppa came home in the evening the man had gone away'. sung by Stella Moya in an innocent child's voice. "?" Early spring 1940 with some third of a million young adults already called for national service and tens of thousands of others living away from home was the time when the events were told of what happened on - "Moonlight Avenue" - where they met, they loved, and parted leaving the poor girl broken-hearted on Moonlight Avenue. Censored! Talking of dance music, the 10 o'clock Sunday night half an hour record show of seven or so 1930's songs on BBC Radio 2 has been withdrawn after a run from 23rd August 1973 by a management that says you listen to what we want you to listen to, not what you want to hear (Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U S A. [Re: NIGERIA] Tune in "Music Time in Africa" on the VOA right after this, starting at 2000 UT on 13710 or 11975 kHz, and you have a total of 90 minutes of good afropop music with some education thrown in. Enjoy. (Scott Walker, New Cumberland PA USA, Jan 3, swprograms via DXLD) You might also try the back signal of VOA en français from North Carolina and other Atlantic points for good afro-pop. The French service is so much more listenable than the English VOA. Not any more reliable, but more pleasant. Linkname: VOA News - La Voix de l'Amérique en Français - Musique URL: http://www.voanews.com/french/music.cfm (Dan Say, BC, Swprograms mailing list, via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. New VOA MW 1188 relay in KOREA SOUTH: q.v. ** U S A. Some background on the Milton FL, SW application from a knowledgeable source: it was originally on behalf of Smyrna Baptist Church, but under a new pastor the church decided not to spend their money on it, after a consulting engineer explained to the congregation what was required to make it a 50 kW SW transmitter on AM. The person who was spearheading the project then applied to build the station himself. The lack of a power on the paperwork makes us suspect that he`s trying to slip under the supposed 50 kW minimum; and what kind of audience can he possibly reach with a pure SSB signal of maybe 10 kW at most? If and when on the air, will money start flowing in from pastors and listeners? Hardly. Maybe it`s just another pet project (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) maybe to be WJHR ** U S A. 5935, WWCR Nashville TN; Rev. Barbie begging for money and threatening to 'pull the plug' if people don't send her money. She mentioned that they have raised only 1/4 of what she needs to keep going & then revealed that "I have to raise money and that is disturbing to me". RIGHT. She also mentioned that Dead Dr Gene would get angry when people wouldn't contribute and just get up and leave, then said "But I won't" and then lamented that "I've tried everything I know how to do and it isn't enough" to get people to send money. Now, Barbi, really, I have it on good authority you know how to do something to raise money you haven't done recently --- I can tolerate a lot, but I cannot tolerate lies. Let's see you REALLY try to raise $ :) I heard her calling people who disagree with her "Self righteous mental midgets" as I was typing this. She has potential to get snits almost as good as the dead Dr Gene! I'm interested now -- we'll see if she really does pull the plug. No deadlines mentioned, but she's not been talking about anything but money lately. THERE, NOW I'm done! :) (Ken Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** U S A. 5109.85 0050-0100* 29.12, WBCQ, Monticello, ME, English announcement, pop songs, 25333. Transmitter off at start of Dan Lewis Show from R New York International 0100-0400 including interview with Glenn Hauser (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Despite published Area 51 schedule for this date, first monitoring webcast, then 5110v, UT Sat Jan 3 from 0000, no WORLD OF RADIO but instead the WBCQ show with a phone number for a title. 0051 faux record offer; I did not realize until 0057 during comedy skit instead of International Radio Report, that this was running // 7415. Maybe that`s the default if separate Area 51 programming isn`t arriving for some reason (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Marion`s Attic on WBCQ, 7415, Sat Jan 3 at 2200 featured music boxes, and I believe she said there would be more of that next week. I really enjoy their tinkles, but at 2258 something went very wrong as show was upwrapping, bits of audio looping over and over, but progressing syllable by syllable. Fortunately, it was almost over anyway, unlike a few weeks ago when this happened for some 15 minutes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7505, 0135- Jan 2, WRNO (non). No sign of WRNO for some time now. I've been checking regularly, but no luck since they were last on their slightly off frequency after the hurricane struck New Orleans again in the Fall (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The have been on a lot since then and see my log: I haven`t looked for it much lately, but some question whether WRNO has been active. It was there on 7505, UT Jan 3 at 0156 open carrier, only fair with fades, 0200 some modulation starting but I was distracted. Later in the hour, 0236 with music, some talk later, but hard to copy with weak signal in the noise level. How is it doing at a longer skip distance, and closer to the 20-degree azimuth, such as Michigan? Supposed to be on air only at 0200-0500. That explains why Walt Salmaniw in the QCI was not hearing them at 0135 Jan 2; the *0100 UT start was DST timing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRNO pretty good up here. Decent signal, off frequency at 7505.25. I can copy it from 0200 to 0500 UT, and I see that's all it's scheduled for (Terry Wilson, MI, UT Jan 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Make that WRNO on 7505.26 at 0230 GMT. Solid S9+10 signal, no interference. I can actually listen to it in AM mode and open the filter up to 8000 Hz. Most of my SWL is done in ECSS with a filter of 3900 to 900 Hz. Good mix of contemporary Christian pop rock. Over-the- top preacher with perhaps Dominican accent speaking over Vangelis' theme from Chariots of Fire (Terry Wilson, MI, UT Jan 4, ibid.) ** U S A. 3940/lsb, Someone reading a political article about fascism in America. Some sort of net, only calls heard were K3OW, a John Owens in Vero Beach FL, and K5AH an Ed Hoffman II from Ponchatoula, LA. Mostly in pretty well with lots of right wing socialist commentary. (We gotta put the greedy Ponzi scammers in jail, and we can't really own property because if we don't pay our taxes the guvrnmnt takes it away. -- what would you call it?) Including such goodies as after the NEXT terrorist attack they're going to come and confiscate our radio gear. But gollll--eeee, I sure do love this country. And we wonder why we're in trouble. This net was kinda like a train wreck -- just had to listen! 0424-0524 1/Jan (Ken Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) see also CUBA [non] ** U S A. [see CUBA for disclaimer] 730, GEORGIA. WSTT, Thomasville; 2239-2301* January 1, 2009. Great level around local sunset with black Southern gospel vocal, "Bill Jones on the all gospel, WSTT..." into a long string of spots, including Lightfoot Painting in Tallahassee, FL; a church in Havana, FL; the Tabernacle Free Will Baptist Church in (I think) Cairo, GA. Male canned "All day long, all day strong, 730, the gospel giant, WSTT" and canned sign-off announcement, "... Thanks for listening to WSTT, 730 on your radio dial..." Their URL states power at 25 kW, but the FCC dB lists as 5 kW day, 0.027 nights (despite clearly having signed off -- is that pre-sunrise power?). WRTH-2008 lists wrong (old?) call letters. Nice to actually hear a sign-off announcement, something fairly rare these days. Also heard at 1449 January 2 with black gospel, but much weaker. 1650, VIRGINIA, WHKT, "Radio Disney", Portsmouth; 2053-2056 January 1, 2009. Alone and very good at 1553 (3:43 p.m.) local time with Radio Disney programming, lots of Radio Disney promos, parallel my local 1380 affiliate. Presume these are still the call letters (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The 84WHAS HD transmitter failed last week, and is being repaired. 84WHAS will return to HD service when repairs are completed. Thanks for writing and for listening (Kelly Carls, 84WHAS Radio, Jan 2, to John Persolja, via Artie Bigley, OH, DXLD) 84 myriaHertz = 840 kiloHertz (gh, DXLD) And according to a radio-info post (SEE WBAP IBOC), WBAP is back on IBOC. That sounded too good to be true (Artie Bigley, OH, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. On 25 Dec, local station KWTO 560 celebrated 75 years on the air. I missed their anniversary broadcast, but was able to attend the open house on 27 Dec. They had a lot on display, including antique radios and tubes, photos, sheet music, and many other items. They also played recordings of music programs from the 1950s. Nowadays KWTO is a talk radio format, but 50 years ago it was really something. Enclosed is a commemorative issue of The Dial, a paper the station used to put out. This is a gift for all that you`ve done for DXers. Best wishes in `09 (Bill Wilkins, Springfield MO, 29 Dec, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, Bill! Yes, a very nice 19-page booklet with many photos, repros of articles from the past and a full week`s program schedule from August, 1950: lots and lots of mainly ABC network radio shows lasting 15, 30 or 60 minutes, an inconceivable format today. A sample for Saturday night; what in the world were the 8 and 9 pm shows about? 7:00 Dixieland Jazz Band 7:30 Million Dollar Ballroom 8:00 Norman Brokenshire 9:00 The Martinique 9:30 Saturday at the Shamrock 10:00 Newscast 10:15 Tops in Sports 10:30 Popular Orchestra 11:55 News [and off the air until 6:30 am Sundays; 5:00 am Otherdays] Perhaps those interested in radio history and/or KWTO in particular could get a copy of the 75th Anniversary Commemorative Edition Dial on request from KWTO. We are on the margin of KWTO`s daytime coverage area and can barely hear it when noise is minimum; but who needs another Rush Limbaugh affiliate? However, Jim Bohannon is an alumnus, and I believe was back there for the anniversary. The NRC Pattern Book shows quite a complex direxional antenna array, similar but not identical day and night: main lobes to NW and WSW, with nulls toward Denver, Chicago, Memphis and Beaumont. It looks like not a single US station on 560 is non- direxional at night (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I was near Springfield over Christmas. The 75th anniversary of KWTO was quite an event- local TV talked it up the whole time I was there (Todd Brandenburg, K0KAN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. It`s another Orgy month at webcasting WHRB Harvard! Full details at http://www.whrb.org/pg/JanFeb2009.pdf Meanwhile, I am getting my bluegrass fix on the regular show Hillbilly at Harvard, Saturday morning (Glenn Hauser, OK, Jan 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RADIO MOAB LOOKS LIKE IT COULD BE A SITCOM 'SOUTHERN EXPOSURE' --- AT KZMU THE TOWN'S PERSONA SHINES THROUGH By Christopher Smart, The Salt Lake Tribune Updated: 01/02/2009 10:56:30 AM MST Click photo to enlarge Volunteer DJ Meg Flynn looks through the new music... If this iconic southeastern Utah town is both enchanting and quirky, then its local radio station, KZMU FM, is a good mirror of the place. Reminiscent of Northern Exposure -- the 1990s CBS TV series about an eccentric Alaska town and the radio station that measured its pulse -- Moab's off-beat persona comes out in music and banter at 106.7 FM. Call it Southern Exposure -- powered by a slew of solar panels and 80- some-odd volunteers. Station manager Jeff Flanders, a.k.a. "The Guy Next Door," actually lives next to the KZMU studios. His year-round uniform is baggy Hawaiian-style swim trunks and a T-shirt. He's been known to show up in nothing more than a bath towel when gremlins invade the station's 500-watt signal. . . http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_11355495 (Salt Lake Tribune via gh, DXLD) Glad to be reminded of this; own website with schedule, webcasting is: http://www.kzmu.org/ViewSchedule.cfm?mode=fullweek (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. SUMMIT COUNTY SPANISH-LANGUAGE RADIO GETS GREEN LIGHT Summit Public Radio Board votes yes to bring KQSE to county BY Rory Moulton, summit daily news, Summit County, Colorado On Monday night, Summit Public Radio voted to bring a Spanish-language radio station to Summit County. The station, which broadcasts out of Eagle County, will produce original Summit County-specific programming and may incorporate Ayala’s show. Summit Daily/Mark Fox [caption] SUMMIT COUNTY — The Summit Public Radio Board voted yes Monday night to bring an all Spanish-language radio station, KQSE, to Summit County. The transmitter station broadcasts out of Eagle County on Castle Peak and is run by NRC Broadcasting, which operates the Summit County FM stations KSMT 102, KTUN 101.7, KSKE 104 and KSPN 107.5. The Latino program has been running for seven years. Moving the antenna to Castle Peak boosted the signal’s capabilities to reach most of the Interstate 70 corridor. “Summit County was a big missing piece to the puzzle, so we’re thrilled to be coming,” said Steve Wodlinger, vice president for mountain operations at NRC Broadcasting. After the holidays, Summit Public Radio, which operates a nonprofit transmitter system, and NRC Broadcasting will sign the agreement and develop technical and marketing plans. Papers also must be filed with the FCC, which takes about two months to process. The groups hope to launch the station this spring. The major obstacle preventing an earlier launch is the technical difficulty involved in installing a receiver and transmitting antenna on Bald Mountain. All of the recent snow has made working on the summit dangerous. . . http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20081224/NEWS/812239929/1078&ParentProfile=1055&title=Summit%20County%20Spanish-language%20radio%20gets%20green%20light (via Artie Bigley, OH, DXLD) ??? This articles glosses over the fact that NRC is a COMMERCIAL operation, so this is an unholy alliance with supposedly noncommercial public/community radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re: The Story of Bootleg Radio 1610 --- I really enjoyed that story. The harmonic stuff is interesting, although I'm not sure how a harmonic from 1610 could be interfering with 1070, unless --- Suppose that there were another transmitter nearby operating on a low frequency (AM, low band shortwave, etc). It is possible that an intermod product between the two transmitters could cause the interference. Given the era of the incident, I wonder if the local police department was still using the old police band just above AM? Given the proximity to the police station, that's a possibility. Or, some other nearby transmitter could have produced a spur. Let me give you a real life example. When I was Chief Engineer at WBBR (1130 - 50 kW) in New York City, I got a call one day from an inspector at the New York field office telling me about complaints that they were getting from ham operators who were hearing WBBR on 160 meters - 1830 kHz to be exact. The complaints were coming from all over the east coast. It made no sense. The second harmonic of 1130 is 2260. I had done the annual NRSC and harmonic measurements about a month earlier and there was no sign of any spurs or harmonics. I knew the station was legal. Then a couple of nights later I was driving home and tuned my Icom 706 in the car to 1830, and there it was! Just like the field engineer told me. I headed to the transmitter, got out the spectrum analyzer and found nothing. For sure, I could hear it on my 706, but looking at the 160 meter band showed nothing. I grabbed a field strength meter (FIM-41) which can tune up to 5 MHz and drove about five miles from the transmitter. And there it was on my field strength meter. Loud and clear: WBBR on 1830, with about 5 mV/m at five miles from the site. I was puzzled to say the least. Then after driving in an arc around the transmitter site at a radius of about three miles, I noticed at one location that the signal on 1830 was not coming from our towers. I could see the towers, but the field strength meter showed that the 1830 signal was coming from north of our transmitter site. A little bit of triangulation and - bingo! Cause discovered. The WBBR audio on 1830 was not emanating from our transmitter, but was coming from WZRC 1480's 5 kW transmitter site about four miles north of us. We called the engineer at WZRC the next day and made arrangements to meet him at his transmitter. After a little bit of investigating we found that a capacitor in the output network of the WZRC transmitter was bad. The bad capacitor was somehow rectifying WBBR's signal in the WZRC transmitter's output network. Then it was mixing the difference in frequency between the two stations (350 kHz) and transmitting the combined intermod product and fundamental 1480 carrier into its antenna system. 1480 - 1130 = 350. 1480 + 350 = 1830. WZRC installed a replacement cap for their transmitter and that cleared the problem. In so far as I can tell, based on the field strength measurements, WZRC was transmitting WBBR's audio on 1830 at about 200 watts! No wonder hams all over the east coast could hear it. So, bottom line, the FCC inspector who checked out K-town Radio may have been mistaken about the whole second harmonic thing, but there may very well have been some intermod going on somewhere. 73, (Rene' Tetro, PA, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Hello from Scotland, there are seemingly 2 and maybe 3 stations heard last night here on 1710, but I have not the faintest idea of their identity or location. Does anyone fancy having a stab at this recording 0130 3rd Jan. http://193.63.162.100/downloads/mw_dxing/clips/090103_0130_1710_unid_2_stns.mp3 It would be nice to know exactly what we are hearing over here. Last night was certainly the best I have heard it, but there was more than 1 station being heard!! (Ken Baird, Scotland, Jan 2, via Barry McClarnon, Ont, IRCA via DXLD) I had a listen, and I believe it's the same two stations that I normally hear on 1710. One is located in the Brockton MA area, and programs in French for the local Haitian community. They ID as Radio Soleil International, and they have a website: http://www.radiosoleilinternational.com They even have streaming, so you can check to see if it's // to what you're hearing, if you're DXing live. The other station is programmed in Spanish, IDs as Radio Celestial, and is said to be in the Bronx (NYC) area. Some more info can be found at: http://www.inspiracioncelestial.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1022 Both stations are pirates, of course! Lubavitcher Radio, the widely- heard Jewish pirate station on 1710 in Brooklyn NY, has not been heard here lately, but I haven't heard anything about whether they've shut down, changed frequency, or whatever (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) ** VATICAN [non]. CANADA. 9795-9800-9805 DRM, 2114- Jan 1, Vatican Radio. Perfect copy with 17 dB SNR, in English from Sackville, NB (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, QCI, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. CANAL INTERNACIONAL DE RNV COMIENZA PRUEBAS EN 9 MESES Estimados colegas de la lista, aprovecho esta oportunidad para hacerles llegar mis mejores deseos para este 2009 que comienza, en especial al amigo Glenn Hauser. El día 02/01 escuché una entrevista a Hindu Anderi, directora del Canal Internacional de Radio Nacional de Venezuela, en la cual también participaban técnicos de la estación. Según Diógenes Machado y John Páez, encargados del área técnica, los trabajos en el Centro Internacional de Onda Corta "Simón Bolívar", se encuentran bastante adelantados. El mencionado complejo se encuentra en Calabozo, estado Guárico - región ubicada al sur de Caracas - y el edificio que albergará las instalaciones del Canal Internacional tendrá tres pisos. En un período de 6 meses se pondrán en marcha los transmisores y un mes antes se desplegarán las antenas. En la primera fase del proyecto, se instalarán dos transmisores: uno de 100 kW y otro de 50 kW. El primero estará dirigido a la parte norte de América y el segundo será para la banda tropical, con la cobertura de Venezuela y el Caribe. No se mencionó la frecuencia, pero lo más seguro es que sea uno de los anteriores canales utilizados por RNV en el pasado. Se estima que para septiembre de 2009 se hagan las primeras pruebas al aire. Es importante destacar que para desarrollar la obra de infraestructura del Centro, se ha contratado mano de obra de la zona y se han organizado cooperativas, con lo cual se ha beneficiado a más de 40 familias de Calabozo. Hindu Anderi reconoció - durante el desarrollo del programa especial - que RNV, efectivamente, alquila horas de transmisión a Cuba, lo cual se puede tomar como una declaración formal y definitiva acerca de un asunto del que se había especulado muchísimo. Tenía que venir un gobierno revolucionario y patriota, para que al fin Venezuela se pusiera a valer en la Onda Corta. Muy pendientes habrá que estar de las emisiones de prueba del nuevo Centro Internacional de Onda Corta "Simón Bolívar", sin duda, todo un hito en el campo de la radiodifusión criolla. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, Jan 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. Ayer 02/01 me enteré de que la frecuencia 1090 kHz, en Caracas, ahora se identifica como Unión Radio Deportes y sólo se dedica a informar sobre esa materia. Desconozco desde hace cuánto se efectuó el cambio, pero no debe tener mucho tiempo. Con mi radio de onda corta fuera de combate, quizás me he perdido de muchas cosas. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. 4739.61, 1258-1303 Dec 30, Son La RTV, Presumed. Distorted and poorly modulated signal with male announcer in Vietnamese or tribal language (may have been a phone patch); primitive-sounding vocals by woman with screechy stringed instrument at 1259. Announcements by woman at 1301, but couldn't make out an ID. Poor signal (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, DXing at Grayland Beach State Park, Perseus SDR X2 / Wellbrook Phased Array antenna (proto) / PA0RDT Mini- Whip at 30 ft. high, http://www.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com HCDX via DXLD) VIETNAME, 4739.64 R. TV Son La, Dec 31, 1152-1208, 35443 Vietnamese, IS, Opening music, ID, Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** YEMEN. 9779.82, YRTV San'a, 1741-1812, Dec 30, Arabic. M & W with brief Arabic music bits; continuous except for quick "Radio San'a" ID at 1801; fair-poor & rapidly deteriorating after ToH. Been a while since I've logged this one. Does Yemen no longer have English at 1800? (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, RX350D, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Republic of Yemen Radio, San'a, audible on both 6005 and 9780.15 kHz at 1630 UT on 2 January 2009. Arabic music, announcements, ID in Arabic heard at 1633. Better here on 6005 kHz (Tony Rogers, Birmingham - UK, AOR 7030+ / LW, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Yesterday Sana'a noted on 9780.144 kHz around 1200-1300 UT. Tonight til 1700 UT on 9780.137 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9780.12, R. Sana'a (tentative), 1526-1613, Jan 2, in Arabic, some Middle Eastern type music and singing, half hour non-stop conversation between two men, into what sounded like 10 minutes of news, more M.E. type singing, weak, but with some gradual improvement. Unable to tell anything about 6005, due to QRM from 6003 (Echo of Hope) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9780.14, Rep of Yemen Radio, 1845-1903*, Jan 2, Tentative with Arabic talk. Some Mid-eastern music. Abrupt sign off. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. SOUTH AFRICA, 4880, 1645-1705 Dec 30, SW Radio Africa. Talk in unID African language by various speakers to 1700, then change to male announcer in English language with mentions of Africa, time pips, and into headline news including Israel military action. Fair signal, with some weak co-channel interference from presumed AIR Lucknow prior to 1700. Another African via morning longpath (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, DXing at Grayland Beach State Park, Perseus SDR X2 / Wellbrook Phased Array antenna (proto) / PA0RDT Mini-Whip at 30 ft. high, http://www.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com HCDX via DXLD) All schedules show this not starting until 1700; are they sneaking in additional airtime? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Mystery Station: The All New 1470, KWID AM On December 30, on 1470 kHz at 1400 UT (8:00 AM local time here in Oklahoma) I logged a "pop-up" ID that was as plain as day, at a decent level. After the ID, a TOH news program began and things deteriorated rather quickly, never to return. The other two of the Three Okies have each listened to the recording independently and we all three hear exactly the same thing: "Today's Hits, Today's ------, The All New 1470, KWID AM....." and then the news starts. Its possible that the announcer said, "KWYD" but otherwise we are pretty sure that is exactly what was said. The only problem is that we find no record of such a station. The FCC shows a KWID FM in Las Vegas, NV, owned by Lotus Communications. Lotus owns a Texas TV station.... but the announcer CLEARLY says "KWID AM" The FCC shows no records for a KWYB, either. I should add that there is a KWRD-1470 in Henderson, TX. All three Okies have heard that station in the last ten days. It generally uses the slogan "The Heartbeat of East Texas" and IDs as KWRD. I've not kept up with CPs and new stations going on the air and suspect that the FCC database is not 100% up to date, but I just don't have any other ideas, and the "All New 1470, KWID AM" kind of hints at a new station. Could that be it? HELP! Outta ideas on North Central Oklahoma (John Bryant, Stillwater, USA, Rcvrs: Hotrodded NRD-535, Slider e100's, Antennas: Wellbrook Phased Array, Jan 2, IRCA via DXLD) John, Do you have an mp3 recording of this that you can hear? KWRD was recently sold so some changes could be coming, who knows.. just a possibility. What kind of music did you hear? You have KWAY 1470 in Waverly, Iowa.. 1 kW Day/2 towers and 61 W Night/2 towers, directional NE away from Des Moines (Paul B. Walker, Jr., Ord NE, ibid.) Seems to me an `I` can sound a lot like an `R`, especially southern dialect (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DXLD) The latest NRC log, with many copies now in Victoria, BC, is generally considered pretty up to date, and shows only KWRD as a possibility on 1470 for this. I would have thought "R" would be fairly easily mistaken as "I", John, yet Gerry Thomas' article "Perceptual Confusions Among Letters of the Alphabet" (IRCA reprint G021, available from Lee Freshwater) shows only a few percentage likelihood of confusion between the two letters (though "I" has the highest likelihood after "Y" for a misreading of "R") As Paul says, maybe let a few others try their ears on it. Of course, if someone is located close to KWRD, maybe they can verify whether a new slogan is being used (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, BC, Canada, IRCA via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 9-001, 5010: ``something there with lowly- modulated talk, Dec 31 at 2246. Suspect it was Madagascar on late, as the signal did not improve as it should have in the following hour if it were Dominican Republic. 2311 detectable but very poor (Glenn Hauser-OK-USA, dxld Jan 1)`` Yes, also noted here in Europe around Christmas and NY (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Jan 2 via DXLD) See MAD- UNIDENTIFIED. EURO-PIRATE. 5801.0, 0320-0345, Jan 3, pop music. Talk. Very weak-threshold copy. Too weak to ID. I see Pirate Music and Playback Int have been reported on this frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, another log of 8GAL V/CQ marker, this time, Jan 3, it started to early before Russia 6075 quite modulated. In fact, it was just ending when I tuned in at 1359:30 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. TAIWAN/PALAU, 9954.660 very odd. UNID station in Chinese, S=9+10dB at 2300-2400 UT. Either RFI relay via Tainan-TWN, or WHR broadcaster via T8WH station (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 1, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 2 via DXLD) We often hear such a het on WRMI 9955, during this hour, at least when the DCJC relent. I believe VTC is responsible for this broadcast, whichever site they may really be using during this hour. Recall last summer when WRMI had het on other side and another hour: U S A [non]. Summer A-08 WYFR Family Radio Relays. Part 2 of 2: to East Europe 1500-1700 on 9956vTNN 250 kW in Taiwan Russian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 3 via DXLD 8-076 via 9-002) AND: June 2 at 1500 a het appeared from a carrier on 9956, detracting further from WRMI reception. What could this be? Aoki already has the answer, which I had not noticed before: 9956 FAMILY RADIO 1500-1700 1234567 Russian 100 352 Tainan TWN 12038E 2311N WYFR a08 This is certainly not the frequency published in YFR`s A-08 Taiwan schedule as in DXLD 8-027, ``9955``. Why in the world did they shift one kHz? The signal is too weak here to be noticeable against WRMI if it were on 9955. At 1502 it sounded like a prayer in Spanish from WRMI, not sure how that got in there; ID, then 1503 DX Partyline. Recheck at 1608, WRMI weaker and unreadable, but the 9956 carrier was still detectable too, gone at 1724 recheck, as scheduled. I at first thought the QRM must be KHBN Palau which is known to share 9955, and HFCC has it on the air at this time, instead of YFR/Taiwan. FCC May 6 update also shows KHBN on 9955 at 08-17. HFCC also has KHBN on 9955, not YFR/Taiwan on 9955 or 9956, so those going by HFCC may not be aware of it. EiBi May 29 update has neither KHBN nor YFR/Taiwan on 9955. There have been indications recently that KHBN/T8BZ listings include a lot of wooden registrations, so this may be another case of that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-067 via 9-002) UNIDENTIFIED. 13830 NO ID en colisión con Radio Solh. 1325-1331, escuchada el 3 de Enero en idioma sin identificar, parece asiático, en colisión con Radio Solh; se escucha la música afgana inconfundible, por otra parte comentarios de locutor y locutora. No he encontrado referencias a esta emisora ni en Aoki ni en el EiBi, SINPO 33443 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ A lot has changed about the world of shortwave broadcasting between the time I left the hobby in the mid-90s and the time I came back a few years ago, but one of the few indisputable changes for the better has been the rise of WOR podcasts, DXLD and the DXLD yg (Mark Schiefelbein, MO) Re: Glenn Hauser logs Dec 30-31, 2008 The only crap I hear is from Glen [sic] Hauser's filthy anti-religous [sic] bigotry [sic]. He should move to Cuba and keep Fidel and Raul company (David Brown, Springfield, Jan 1, ptsw yg via DXLD) Huh? Is that accusation really true? (Danny Jimenez, ibid.) Character assassination is not permitted on this email group. We are here to discuss shortwave radio. It's preferable that no political or religious comments be posted to the group. It will be necessary for me to moderate this group for the time being which will slow down the posting of messages (Daniel Sampson, ibid.) I will not reply to this on that group. Brown is obviously not paying attention or he would know I am anti-Castros, duh. I am not bigoted; I am rational. I recently added ptsw to the mailing list for my logs, since I felt most of the posts there were incredibly boring. If my own opinionated logs are moderated or censored, I will promptly withdraw any further contributions to that list. I had originally thought that group was to deal ONLY with pure facts, schedule updates, the sole purpose of PTSW itself, but the moderator wanted to broaden the group to general loggings, etc. (gh) Sounds fair to me; it will slow down the posts, but sometimes moderating is necessary as I moderate for 1 yahoo group and some accusations are unfounded and cause rifts among members. So I think it is a good idea, Daniel. I am interested in monitoring freqs from Voice of Korea, not someone's personal religious beliefs or lack there of (Danny Jimenez, ptsw yg via DXLD) My rationale for feeling free to express my opinions in SW reports: A huge fraxion of SW broadcasts exist to further someone`s or some country`s political or religious beliefs. Therefore I will not muzzle myself, and critique as needed (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Mr. Sampson, I agree in general with your decision to moderate comments. I'm certain that most members here do not want this group to become a "free-for-all" place to post off-topic messages. That said, may I respectfully suggest that you do NOT moderate Glenn Hauser and one or two others who have always posted useful loggings and information here. Especially regarding Glenn Hauser, I find his posts to ALWAYS be of great use and interest. Frankly, I cannot understand why any serious shortwave listener would not like his information, but I guess it takes all kinds. So please do moderate my and most others' comments - but it is my request that you let Glenn Hauser's posts appear immediately. Thank you for considering my suggestion (Joe Analssandrini, ptsw yg via DXLD) Happy New Year to you Glen and hope all is well. My curiosity has been piqued by the recent posting of your loggings on the PTSW message service. You are well within your rights to tell me that your posting of loggings are none of my business. However as you have been listening to SW and logging for years without posting, the recent change has made me nosey. It may be as simple as you've always been posting and are only now are they being sent out. If so great. Your information has always been top drawer, useful and I enjoy reading it. The attitude expressed by the one gentleman? about your personal beliefs has no place in a forum like PTSW and I add my apologies for poor behavior and manners. I also am saddened by the perceived need for moderation of the site. Adults should act like adults, and never confuse rights with beliefs. Unfortunately the ability to distinguish between the two is growing less and less. Anyhow, I just wanted to add my two cents worth. Please keep up the great work and post away! (Steve Cross, Del City, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx for a year of good sermons. It`s time to send all the bread to the pulpit. Time to empty the wallet for Glenn Hauser. Good health in 2009. Be sure to keep a sensitive analog TV in shape after 17 February 2009 (Frederic Jodry, New Rochelle, with a generous MO to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ For those reporters and editors who never use semicolons, but instead ungrammatical comma splices, herewith a supply; now, you have no excuse: ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Even more will be availablized upon request ;-( (Glenn Hauser, editor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ OLD TIME RADIO SHOWS Here's a massive collection of OTR shows: http://www.archive.org/details/oldtimeradio And here's the page of old Orson Welles shows I've been maintaining: http://museumoforsonwelles.blogspot.com/ Nothing like the sound of 1930s AM recorded on vinyl (except when it is squished into an ugly little 16 kbps mp3, that is.) (Terry Wilson, MI, Jan 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) MIKE'S DX ARCHIVE - UPDATE I have uploaded the following Ogg Vorbis format (.ogg) clips at http://www.box.net/shared/fuue3o65ku SW: "Argentine Annie", Falklands War propaganda station, April 1982 Voice of "Free" Chile-15150, Aug. 1977 - propaganda from the Pinochet era Uganda Broadcasting Corp.-15325, Oct. 1978 Radiodiffusion Nationale du Mali-7110, Jan. 1978 Radioduffusion Nationale du Burkina-4815, July 1985 - Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta Nigerian Broadcasting Corp., Lagos-4990, June 1977 Federal Radio Corp. of Nigeria, Enugu-6025, Aug. 1981 - counts as Biafra, as Enugu was part of the breakaway republic Radio Canada International - portion of special "DX Digest" program for ANARC convention in Montreal, July 1978 CKZN-6160 - CBC-Newfoundland shortwave station, June 1987 Radio Sandino, Nicaragua-7318, July 1979 - clandestine Sandinista stationZeppelin RadioWorldwide-7425, Feb. 1985 - one of many US shortwave hobby pirates MW: CBL-740 Toronto, ON - signing off 740 for the last time ever, June 1999 WKIS-740 Orlando, FL - Nov. 1978 KOAM-860 Pittsburg, KS - June 1977 KRVN-880 Lexington, NE - Oct. 1978 WKMC-1370 Roaring Spring, PA - April 1978 KNBI-1530 Norton, KS (test) - March 1978 WLIJ-1580 Shelbyville, TN - Nov. 1978 KA2XAU-1620 Richland, PA (CPC test) - Oct. 1994 - what happened to this station? They never made it to air with regular programs. WFAT-1620, Jan. 1978 - pirate station from New York City area Voice of Tomorrow-1616, March 1985 - white supremacist pirate broadcaster 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, IRCA via DXLD) IRCA REPRINTS ON CD The IRCA maintains a large file of articles that have appeared in past issues of DX Monitor. These articles cover a wide variety of topics, including: antenna theory and construction, tips for the foreign BCB DXer, how to improve your DXing skills, history of DXing and broadcasting, lists of stations by subject, construction projects and receiver modification, receiver reviews, medium wave propagation, and more. Copies are available for a nominal charge. Price for the complete list is $1.00. New from the IRCA reprint service. “IRCA REPRINTS ON CD”!!! 648 Reprints. The entire set, now on one CD. Only $10.00 (US/Canadian IRCA members, overseas contact Lee.) Categories include: Antennas, Domestic, Foreign, History, DX Lists, Receivers and Receiver Modifications, and Technical. Check out the table of contents at: http://geocities.com/amlogbook/newmembers/reprint.htm For a complete list of reprints, or to purchase the CD send to: IRCA Reprints, c/o Lee Freshwater, 414 S.E. 3 RD ST, Ocala, FL 34471. Allow 3-4 weeks for delivery. (Make all checks and money orders out to Lee Freshwater.) Pay electronically with PayPal-add $1 to all prices above. Go to http://www.PayPal.com then send your funds to phil_tekno @ yahoo.com (Phil Bytheway). (via Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, BC, IRCA via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ From William Hassig; Note to pirates: put a timer on your equipment in case something bad happens to you during broadcast such as stroke, falling down stairs, etc, or have other people around who can turn equipment off and know why it must be turned off (Free Radio Weekly Jan 3 via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING IBOC: see BRAZIL; USA: WHAS/WBAP. DRM: BRAZIL; ++++++++++++++++++++ CROATIA; INDIA; POLAND; VATICAN WTIC-1080 Hartford CT: Their iboc has been off all day. Makes me wonder because on Wednesday, WTIC canned Diane Smith from the morning show with Ray Dunaway and canned Colin Mcynroe from the afternoon show because of financial problems. It's been in all the newspapers. I wonder if they also shut off the IBOC. I'll check tomorrow and see if it returns (Mike Bugaj, CT, Jan 1, WTFDA via DXLD) The one shouldn't have anything to do with the other. Contrary to popular belief, radio stations don't pay an annual license fee to run IBOC. There's a one-time licensing fee that's paid at the start of the agreement with Ibiquity, and fees (calculated as a percentage of revenue) that are paid for FM multicasting and datacasting, if it's turning a profit. There are also fees for new releases of the Ibiquity software, but nothing to stop a station from continuing to use an older version if it so chooses. There *is* a licensing key in the HD encoder that has to be updated from time to time. Perhaps it expired and they didn't have anyone around on a holiday to call the manufacturer and deal with the issue. Or maybe they're on the backup transmitter, which doesn't run HD. But it's not as though there's a monthly "HD bill" that has to be paid, or any budget savings to be had by turning it off. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) Unlike FM, for AM I don't think there's a noticeable added expense in utility power/cooling load for running IBOC. It has to be inserted at low level - unlike FM, high-level insertion is not possible - so the inefficiency of high-level insertion isn't a problem. Now, if the IBOC exciter suffered an expensive hardware failure, I can certainly see a station choosing not to bother to fix it in this economy. Actually, it's probably powered by a Zune (grin)... – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) Think you're being funny, do you? :-) Truth is, it's my understanding that many (most?) HD exciters are in fact powered by Windows, and the engineering lists have been rife with reports of less-than-perfect reliability. So it's no great surprise to see some station groups without much in the way of engineering manpower (like the Red Zebra stations in the Washington, DC market) deciding that the AM HD installs they inherited, at no cost, when they bought Clear Channel's AM stations are still not worth the hassle of maintenance. But WTIC still has a respectable engineering staff, last I heard, which leads me to think this was something else - maybe they were running on the Continental (no HD) instead of the Harris DX50 main transmitter, or maybe the license code for the exciter expired (they have to be renewed annually, even though there's no recurring license fee) and nobody was reachable to renew it. Thanks in large part to their corporate director of engineering, who left for a while to work for Ibiquity before returning to the company, CBS has been as staunch a supporter of AM HD as they come - even keeping it running at night on WINS, KDKA and WBZ when there's clear evidence that it's harming analog reception in-market - so I doubt they'd be in any hurry to turn it off on WTIC. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) You're probably right that it's something else. Though I would suggest that even the best engineering staff these days is not capable of manufacturing parts if something expensive were to fail (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) There were also several reports that WBZ-1030 IBOC had gone off, but that was because they had to switch to their backup transmitter at a different site which is not IBOC-capable (gh, DXLD) WBZ-1030 does seem to have the IBOC off this evening. 1040 is completely in the clear. The audio on WBZ still seems to be limited to the 5KHz bandwidth which is a symptom of a transmitter set for IBOC. I wonder if there was some settlement with WYSL-1040? I certainly hope there was, though it's an odd time for that to happen. The FF country station on 1040 is quite listenable, CJMS I think. If this stays off I can check with one of the engineers there who is an acquaintance to get the story as to why. In that frequency neighborhood, IBOC does appear to be on KDKA-1020 though it shows as being quite low level. Same with WINS-1010. May just be propagation, though the carrier levels are pretty good. I also can see an IBOC sideband from 1000, probably Chicago. The IBOC sidebands from WOFX-980 in Troy, NY are also quite strong. Maybe, just maybe we're seeing the withdrawal of AM IBOC. I would think the cost/benefits ratio of iBiquity licensing can't be very good right now. It'd be *far* better to shut IBOC off than lay off people. For every listener with an HD Radio, there are probably hundreds with older wideband AM radios like what Chrysler used some time back. Those are wide enough to pick up the hiss and it ain't pretty. Local WPRO-630 hasn't run IBOC in a long time. WDDZ-550 and WHJJ-920 run it days only. Local WRNI-1290 runs it 24 hours and it does affect local WARL-1320 on some radios. I'm really waiting for a simple to use internet-capable car receiver that can pick up streams. That in itself will make IBOC moot. Better quality and far more varied content (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, Jan 3, IRCA via DXLD) IBOC ON CARRIER FREQUENCY Early this morning I posted that 700-WLW was so strong I could hear their IBOC signal on their carrier frequency in LSB mode (2.3 kHz filter). Apparently, not everyone can receive IBOC on their radios on- carrier in sideband mode. So, I recorded an example using local 850- KOA and posted it at the bottom of http://sites.google.com/site/dxaudioclips/ You can clearly hear the IBOC digital signal between speech. Stations that don't use IBOC are clear of this noise. And, let me tell you there aren't many AM BCB stations locally that don't use IBOC. I counted 13 the other day using IBOC on AM BCB. 13!!! *gags* 73, (Chris Knight, Fort Lupton, Colorado, (Receiver is a Drake R8), Jan 3, IRCA via DXLD) I have noticed this too on our OK IBOC stations WWLS-640, KTOK-1000 and KFAQ-1170 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ NASA: IONOSPHERE NOT WHERE IT SHOULD BE by Staff Writers Washington (UPI) Dec 17, 2008 http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Ionosphere_not_where_it_should_be_999.html The U.S. space agency says it has discovered the boundary between the Earth's upper atmosphere and space has moved to extraordinarily low altitudes. The finding was determined by National Aeronautics and Space Administration instruments aboard an Air Force satellite launched in April. The instruments, including ion and neutral sensors, make measurements of the variations in neutral and ion densities and drifts that can result in disruptions of navigation and communication signals. But the first discovery was that the ionosphere was not where it had been expected to be. During the first months of the satellite's operations, the transition between the ionosphere and space was found to be at about 260 miles altitude during the nighttime, barely rising above 500 miles during the day. Those altitudes, said NASA, were extraordinarily low compared with the more typical values of 400 miles during the nighttime and 600 miles during the day. NASA said the discovery by the satellite -- subsequently determined to have been launched during the quietest solar minimum since the space age began -- is providing a unique opportunity to study the connection between the interior dynamics of the sun and the response of the Earth's space environment (via Kim Andrew Elliott, DXLD) That could explain the poor or at least unusual propagation we have been having. Could also affect skip distances, MUFs, etc. (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###