DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-008, January 27, 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 SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1445 Wed 0600 WRMI 9955 [or old 1444] Wed 1630 WRMI 9955 [or old 1444] Thu 0630 WRMI 9955 Thu 1630 WRMI 9955 Fri 0030 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0200 WRMI 9955 Fri 1230 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Fri 2129 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0000 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 [irregular] Sat 0900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [exc first Sat] Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1615 WRMI 9955 Mon 0600 WRMI 9955 Mon 2300 WBCQ 7415 [confirmed Jan 26] Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Wed 0600 WRMI 9955 [or new 1446] Wed 1630 WRMI 9955 [or new 1446] WBCQ is also airing new or archive editions of WOR M-F 2000 on 7415 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 or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org 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://podcast.worldofradio.org or http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ALASKA. Re 9-007, follow-up on KBBI 890 Homer AK having to operate at 2 kW instead of 10 kW: AM 890 Homer Alaska --- Where the Sound Meets The Sea KBBI Transmitter at Full Strength KBBI has been operating at full power since about 12:30 Friday afternoon [2130 UT Jan 23]. All lights at the transmitter are green and we feel confident the worst is behind us. We will not be able to broadcast a digital signal until a piece of equipment returns from repairs Outside. And there is more work to be done over the coming months to insure that the transmitter will operate properly during bad weather and power outages, without compromising the technical and operational integrity of the transmitter itself. This afternoon we met with HEA, our engineer, and Dave Mogar and son, who will be working with us to identify equipment and installation needs to provide backup power at the transmitter site. Researching technical specifics and costs in preparation of writing a grant to purchase a propane generator and automatic transfer switch for the transmitter site has been pursued over this winter. With what we’ve learned from recent events we will be expanding the scope of the project to include surge protection and power conditioning equipment. That installation will occur over the course of the summer as grant funds are awarded A digital radio station operates with many, many pieces of equipment working together to deliver a clean signal to your radio. Most equipment is expensive and not available in Alaska. When equipment fails, sometimes a workaround can be found to keep us on the air. When a critical piece of equipment fails and takes us off the air it can take time and money to return to the airwaves. We experienced all of the above this past month and our engineers did the best they were able to keep us on the air in any manner they could. I’d like to thank our engineers from Alaska Public Broadcasting Inc., Chuck and Ron, for their efforts to get us back on. Thanks also to our staff for helping get status reports out to our listeners utilizing email and KBBI’s website. We’ve learned a lot over the last month and as we pick up the pieces, will be better prepared for this kind of technical failure in the future. And thanks, once again, for your patience and understanding, support and encouragement these past weeks. It means a lot to all of us here at KBBI. Sincerely, Dave Anderson, KBBI General Manager (from http://www.kbbi.org Jan 26 via DXLD) Digital??? Geez, they think they ought to run IBOC on AM. Not clear whether they ever have yet (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ALBANIA. 6100 Radio Tirana; 0434-0438+, 24-Jan; English IDs, Albanian news & Press Review. SIO=3+53. 7510, Radio Tirana; 2109-2114+, 24-Jan; ID and English feature on an Albanian musician. SIO=453, //9345, SIO=353-. 13720, Radio Tirana; 1545-1558:06*, 24-Jan; English feature on an Albania pop group -- their chanting sounded a lot like the chanting at the orgy in the Cruise-Kidman movie Eyes Wide Shut! Closed with Goodbye from Albania. SIO=353 (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA [and non]. So who is this Melissa Scott? A daughter of Gene Scott? The old man was good entertainment to listen to, now and then, when he was alive, but this woman who seems to be trying to hold the show together isn't good entertainment and I never listen anymore (Steve Ratzlaff, OR, Jan 22, IRCA via DXLD) Believe she is his daughter. She seems to be on the Gene Scott Channel now (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) Melissa Scott is Dr. Scott's widow (John Cereghin, Smyrna DE, ibid.) As others have said, Melissa Scott is the late Dr. Gene's wife. Dr Gene. Scott used to own WHCT-Channel 18 in Hartford, CT many years ago, and my parents told me what a nutjob he was. They say they remember one time when he sat down in front of the camera and said "I`m going to sit here, smoke this cigar and keep doing it.. till someone calls in a pledge" (Paul Walker, NE, ibid.) 6090, University Network; 2242, 24-Jan; Rev. Barbi waxing about prosperity. SIO=4+44 with transmitter? buzz and weak co-channel QRM. Not heard on 11775 whole weekend -- money running low? I still think she needs to preach in her previous persona "garb". The money would roll in (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13845, University Network via WWCR Nashville TN; 1607, 24-Jan; Rev. Barbi pontificating with obvious audience noise overdub. SIO=333 with ute trill (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DGS/PMS, missing again from 11775, Jan 26 at 1528 check. This is getting more and more irregular, even tho they have two SW transmitters on site, the original one and the ex-KTBN one, and have restarted MW 1610. PMS/DGS, still missing from daytime frequency 11775, at 1446 check Jan 27; but night frequency 6090 was going as usual with constant hum, around 0700 Jan 27 (Glenn Hauser, OK, 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 my 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. 1610, ANGUILLA, The Caribbean Beacon; 0136-0145 January 24, 2009. Blowing in over the Tampa International Airport TIS. US-accented English female preaching, perfect, no delay parallel with massive 6090. Presume University Network brokered audio. Thanks David Crawford tipoff (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not brokered; 100% O&O by University Network; altho IIRC in past 1610 used to cut away from net feed at certain times, but SW never does, not even for an ID (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Does the Anguilla beacon have call letters or other official identification? What is the location of the transmitter? (Les Rayburn, Birmingham, AL 35216-3748, Jan 23, NRC-AM via DXLD) No call letters issued which is not unusual in the British Overseas territories the past 20 years. The transmitter is in an area of the island called "The Valley". The shortwave, 690 and 1610 are all co-located. What helped kill the operation of 1610 a number of years ago was the power cost. The previous owner (and founder) before Gene Scott, Bill Kitchens knew how to play the game. He took care of the maintenance and upkeep of the local service government station on 1510. As a result the Beacon got a favorable power rate. Things changed after the Dr. took control and the relationship became more "by the book". 1610 also dropped a lot of the "island gospel" programming that had endeared it to the local population in the Eastern Caribbean and the love was lost (Jerry Kiefer, NM, WORLD OF RADIO 1445, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 2310, VL8A Alice Springs; 1213-1218+, 25-Jan; M&W in English with C&W & folk music & talk about culture. Poor but occasionally copiable. As usual, best of // 2325 VL8T Tennant Creek & 2485 VL8K Katherine (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hallo allemaal, 1620 UT Jan 27: Op 2485 kHz is ABC al te horen, SIO 232 Op 2310 kHz is alleen een draaggolf te zien. Op 2325 kHz nog nix. Groeten, (Cornel van Ravenswaaij, Netherlands, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA [non]. CANADA, 13675, Radio Austria; *1600-1606+, 24-Jan; Buried audio till up suddenly at 1600:46 (engineer found the switch); Austrian news; intro to program "Greatest Hits" then in to comedy routine; all in German. S25 signal (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 3310, Radio Mosoj Chaski (tentative); 0111-0131+, 24-Jan; Camp'o tunes; Tentative ID promo at 0115; not in Spanish, so probably Quechua. commentary by a child 0122-30, sounded more like Spanish. SIO=352, best in USB. First time heard, if them. 4409.8, Radio Eco; 2305-2312*, 23-Jan; M in Spanish with IS and low- key Spanish baladas; off abruptly. SIO=242, need USB to kill ute, uncopiable otherwise. 4699.35, Radio San Miguel; 2316-2328+, 23-Jan; M in Spanish with low- key religious program to 2325+ then series of promos including "San Miguel" ID without "Radio" plus SID? SIO=2+52, best in LSB. 4716.7, Radio Yura; 2328-2336+, 23-Jan; ID with onda corta promo; long camp'o tune; all in Spanish. SIO=242, need LSB to avoid pescadores on 4719.7/LSB (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. 6000, Radio Varna, 2216-2250, Jan 25, Bulgarian talk. Many IDs. Local lite pop music. Poor with co-channel QRM from Russia. Poor to fair after Russia 2229 sign off but still with adjacent channel splatter & weak co-channel QRM. Sundays only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 9625, CBCNQ, still with problems, Jan 26 at 1510 with distorted modulation. By 1611 I was also hearing clicking noises spreading 9645-9660 which I fear were also from this transmitter as in previous breakdowns (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Distorted modulation on 9625 and upperside spur was noticed for the first time on 9640 after 0200, Saturday 24. Haven't heard this failure on local mornings (+/-1200). 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. RADIO VET SIGNS OFF AS CFRB CUTS BACK --- Parnaby leaves with 50 years under his belt, along with five others; Syrett's show cancelled Jan 27, 2009 04:30 AM, GREG QUILL, ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/577706 Award-winning reporter and commentator Tayler Parnaby, a 50-year news radio veteran whose pre-noon daily broadcast was the last link to NewsTalk 1010 CFRB's fabled past, is calling it quits. Parnaby and controversial shock news radio personality Richard Syrett were among six long-time news staffers whose positions were lost in a cost-cutting shakeup at the once-formidable Toronto radio station in the past week. They were among 23 jobs cut from Astral Media's English-language radio division. The specialty TV, radio and outdoor advertising company, which acquired Standard Radio in 2007 for $1.1 billion, released a statement citing the need to "maintain and enhance the competitive position of its 82 radio stations." The positions, which included four held by veteran CFRB news producers/writers David Bent, Jane Brown, Bill McDonald and John Elston, will not be replaced, station manager Steve Kowch told the Toronto Star yesterday. "Only one show, the Richard Syrett Show, has been cancelled, and that's because after two years it is not performing the way it should. This sort of thing happens in radio all the time." Parnaby's signature 11:50 a.m. newscast has been a fixture since the Star's Gordon Sinclair launched it during World War II. "It's been a hell of a ride," said Parnaby, 67, CFRB's chief correspondent since 1988 and a former mainstay at CKO, CKEY and CHUM. "I've been part of the Toronto soundtrack, I guess, since 1964," he told the Star yesterday from the Caledon home he shares with his wife of 43 years, Lynda. Parnaby had been semi-retired for the past 18 months, Kowch said. "He made the decision to retire for good this past weekend. He asked for two things: for (news director and Toronto at Noon host) Dave Trafford to do the newscast (announcing his retirement), and for no fuss to be made on air about his decision to step away." Based at CFRB's Queen's Park bureau, Parnaby enjoyed grilling politicians with an almost patrician formality that frequently gleaned more thoughtful responses than from other, less polite questioners. A tireless newshound, Parnaby reported on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York, the 2005 tsunami in Southeast Asia, the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles, and numerous federal, provincial and U.S. election campaigns. But he was most famous for his popular pre-midday newscast and commentary, which continued a tradition begun around 1942 by Sinclair, a famed Star correspondent fired for, among other indiscretions, daring to take his act to CFRB. "The `10 to 12' newscast, which Gordon Sinclair began, is being retired. I'm retiring, too," Parnaby said wryly. "It's clear, I think, that CFRB is suffering from a declining audience and, in these difficult circumstances, declining revenue," he said. "It's my understanding ... that CFRB will undergo a fairly substantial reformatting or refocusing in the coming weeks." Kowch said there were no plans for a new format, "just a readjustment in the newsroom and some staffing shifts." Kowch wouldn't say how many news staff remain at the station. But on the day the cuts were made, CFRB had a team of about six reporters and producers in Washington to cover President Barack Obama's inauguration, he said. "And we have a full team in Ottawa reporting on the budget and Canada's national political scene. We have more than enough people to do the job. These changes will have no impact on the Toronto radio operation." (The Star, via Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DXLD) Geez, this long story and they don`t even mention CFRX and how it broadens the CFRB audience! (gh, ibid.) ** CANADA. 6160, CKZU/CBC Radio One via Vancouver/Richmond; 0300-0321, Jan 27. Local news and weather; ID for "CBC One on 88.1 FM and 690 AM"; program "As It Happens" with phone interview with the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where the trial is being held for Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga; fair reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 8400, Firedrake jammer; 0134-0136 January 24, 2009. Threshold but clear with the usual looping ChiCom jammer music (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake against Sound of Hope at 1351 Jan 27, much stronger on 8400 than 9000. At 1504, 9000 was in open carrier, but soon resumed at 1505 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15050, Firedrake/jamming; 0350-0400*, with the usual 5 minutes off the air, *0405-0409, Jan 27. Good reception; // 13700 (fair) and 13970 (weak); all vs. Sound of Hope (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. CRI in English via Sackville, 6115, Jan 26 at 0655 with Chinese lesson about numbers I was kinda getting into when it was chopped off incomplete at 0659* Geez! Uncovering R. Nikkei in Japanese, with numbers too, but no doubt concerning stox (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 6035, HJOY, La Voz del Guaviare; 0210-0220+, 24-Jan; M in Spanish with mainly canciones de amor; LVdG ID at 0219+. SIO=222+, best in USB despite 6030 jammer & buzz QRM on 6039 (stopped about 0216). (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Do they ever announce callsign? (gh, DXLD) ** CROATIA. 3984.85, Glas Hrvatski, Deanovec; 0147-0208 January 23, 2009. Croatian mid-tempo pop and folk vocals. Slow time sounders from 0159:55, into net news feed, opening with "Hrvatski Radio" by man then the news presented by female in Croatian. Good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, FL, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC wasting its watts on 15370, Jan 27 at 1411 and still at 1417, open carrier with no modulation, unlike 15120, stronger than // 15360, with stale Castro speech (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WRMI; VENEZUELA [non] ** DIEGO GARCIA. 4319/USB, AFN/AFRTS (presumed); 2215-2231+, 23-Jan; NPR's All Things Considered. No break at BoH. SIO=2+33+, ute clatter QRM. About the best ever heard (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 6255, Radio Cairo; 2114-2122+, 24-Jan; Arabic music to pips at 2115:30 then ID & mentioned 6255 only; program notes; non-Arabic classical music, then English news headlines at 2120. SIO=453, audio a bit muted. 7535, Radio Cairo; 0304-0316+, 25-Jan; W in English with archeological items and peppy Arabic music bumpers between; off for 30 sec. at 0312:45 and back in English with local TC & Radio Cairo English service to North America, into news headlines. SIO=3+43, ute trill QRM. 9310, Radio Cairo (presumed); 2010-2038+, 23-Jan; Commentary in English and Arabic, music to 2026 English headlines, IDing as Voice of Africa! Pips at 2030:30, English closing announcement, Arabic chant and into French at 2037. SIO=342 with QRN and ute trill -- better toward end (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I believe Cairo used the V. of Africa slogan long before Libya did; so it survives at least on this service (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) EGIPTO, 6290, Radio Cairo ´El-Bernameg Al-Aam”, Abis, 1848-1855, escuchada el 26 de enero en árabe a locutora en conversación con corresponsal, probablemente en Palestina, constantes referencias a Israel. Según se lista en Aoki y en el EiBi, este servicio se anuncia de 1900 a 2400, probablemente horario ampliado, música de sintonía, nivel de audio un poco bajo, SINPO 45443. 9250, Wadi El Nile, Abu Zaabal, 1921-1923, escuchada el 26 de enero en árabe a locutor con comentarios, referencias a “Arabi..”, SINPO 35433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6258, Radio Cairo, Jan 22, 2116-2131, in French, time signals 2130; off frequency and bad modulation (Bill Bergadano, KA2EMZ Freehold, NJ, Kenwood TS430S; Icom 718; Icom R75; 170 foot longwire; MFJ VERSA Tuner II, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Nom. 6255; despite all their other problems I have never caught them so far off frequency (gh) ** ETHIOPIA. 9704.2, Radio Ethiopia; 2019-2032+, 24-Jan; W in unknown language with one brief anmt; Afro-pop songs. SIO=333- //7110-poor; nothing // audible on 5990, 7165 or 9560 (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I sometimes hear a het which must be from this, e.g. c. 1445 Jan 26 (gh, OK, DXLD) ** GREENLAND. 3815/USB, KNR (presumed); 2144-2212*, 23-Jan; Peter, Paul & Mary's Leaving on a Jet Plane and a bluesy tune; unknown language announcement at 2155+ then covered by strong tone; 2200 fanfare then M&W in unknown language to 2210 then pop tune and off at 2212. Poor with LSB traffic on 3814 (not this broadcast) and 3815. First time heard if them (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. It may come as news to some (as it did to me) that Radio Greenland used to have an external service! I've just uploaded a clip of this to Interval Signals Online, where you'll hear their "whaleboat Sonja" interval signal followed by a fanfare and brief sign-on announcements in Greenlandic, Danish, and the following in English: "Hello northern Canada, and good evening. This is Radio Greenland. You are listening to a broadcast especially for our kinsmen in northern Canada". The clip dates from 1961, not sure if they were on shortwave then or whether they were relying on mediumwave to reach the target zone. My oldest WRTH is the 1965 edition, which only mentions shortwave in the context of tests on a 1.5 kW SW transmitter in winter 1964, using 5960 & 5980 kHz. You can hear the clip on the ISO website at http://www.intervalsignals.net (David Kernick, UK, Jan 26, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DXLD) Yes, I remember that, but I don`t think I ever heard it. Another old frequency of theirs was memorable: 3999 (gh, DXLD) It also operated on 9575 opening at 1015 UT with the interval signal starting 5 minutes before at 1010 - Heard it in New Zealand in 1970? - Think also it was on 3990 or thereabouts - At that time I think it was relaying it MW service. Regards (Tony Magon VK2IC, Sydney NSW, ibid.) I've got most of the 1960's WRTH's and it seems KNR shortwave transmitters started 1964-65. In the early 1960's books there's no mention of English on MW. Only usual Greenlandic/Danish programs and some Norwegian and Faroese. WRTH 1960 mentions also interesting "Angmagssalik Radio" (OZL). A coastal station which also had programs 1400-1450 on 1500 kHz 0.75 kW and 7570 kHz 2 kW. This is the same coast station we nowadays know as Ammassalik Radio (Tasiilaq) which relays some KNR programs on 3815 kHz. I must add that KNR already had shortwave in the 1950's. For example WRTH 1957 and 1958 mentions 9526 kHz with 1 kW. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Jan 27, ibid.) ** GREENLAND. I heard it [AFRTS 1425] in 1975 in an apartment in Astoria [Oregon] using a 3 foot boxloop! I sent a report and got a letter back saying that AFRTS Greenland did not have permission to QSL I was disappointed at the time, but later in 1976, I got a form letter QSLing my report. Apparently in the few months that followed they got permission to QSL. They also sent a copy of the Thule News. I was sure thrilled with that one, running 1 kW. Never heard it since and years ago they moved to FM I believe. But I never logged another Greenland station. I used to sit on 700 and 720 looking for Greenland when the channels were clear years ago, but never a peep on either of those. Probably due?to a AU Zone. But I am happy to have gotten at least Thule 1425. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Jan 21, IRCA via DXLD) Patrick- Well, Thule-1425 was heard here in Mass in the late 60's / early 70's by Gordon Nelson & others. I was just never in the right place at the right time. But I'm sure you are correct that it is related to the Auroral Zone. I'm no expert but I guess The Zone has to be quite small in order to enable propagation from that latitude (Thule is at 77-40-22N) to the US (Boston is at 42-21-42N). Anyway, that window is open right now and we are enjoying it. Three of us here on Cape Cod have heard 720 during the past week and one, Roy Barstow in Falmouth, has heard Faroe Islands-531. I'm home sick from work today so I will try for 531 myself around local sunset. 73, (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA, Jan 22, ibid.) Thule is a long way from the 720, 570 stations (gh) I think it was 1978 or 1979 when I had a couple minutes of Xmas Carol from Thule 1425 fade up weakly hetted by 1424.7 which I think was a weak Ecuadorian split. This on the SSW 1300 ft Bev in Narragansett RI. I suspect more of those near the coast will log 720 and 531. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL, ibid.) Reading the thread on KOLD-1425 with interest. I'm probably one of the few NAm dxers who have heard this station nightly. In 1955-56 while stationed at Keflavik AFB, Iceland, KOLD was almost always there with a decent signal. Also heard another AFRTS station on 1594 from French Morocco with regularity. From California in the 1976-78 period I remember I had a good het on 1425 a few nights when others on the WC were hearing the station but I never had audio. We had a 250 watt AFRTS station at Keflavik, called TFK operating on 1484. Don't remember seeing anyone reporting that one (Don Kaskey, CA, ibid.) O yes, but was KOLD a real callsign? There was a time when some AFRTS stations used US-style calls. Then there was the `real` KOLD, in of all places, Tucson, ha ha (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII [and non]. 10320/USB, AFN/AFRTS (presumed); 1803, 24-Jan; Today's Best Hits -- non-Top-40 stuff. SIO=153-. Not // 5446.5, 7811 or 12133.5, all // via Key West FL with Sporting News Radio (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4910, AIR, Jaipur; 0136-0137 January 23, 2009. Threshold with subcontinental vocals. CODAR QRM. Pieces of something on 4775, maybe Imphal, and carrier on 5040 (just maybe Jeypore?). Very slightly better the next night, same time. 4920, AIR, Chennai; 0123-0136 January 23, 2009. Hindi female news, subcontinental bumper music 0125, abbreviated Hindi pop vocal 0128, talk and possible commercials from 0130. Very good except for CODAR. 5010-Thiru even better at the same time. Also, 0116-0132 January 24, 2009. Very good again with the same female news reader in Hindi, mentioning Pakistan often, Barack Obama, etc. Fill music 0124:57, male, short subcontinental vocal excerpt 0128:50, apparent commercial 0129:18. Talk from 0130. No time sounders either night at the 0130 mark (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15234.98, AIR - Bengaluru, in English, 1/18, 1000-1025 // 13709.98 Bengaluru (poor) - 17509.99 Delhi (poor) - 17799.97 Bengaluru (poor) - 17894.97 Aligarh, W ID, frequency quote and targets, other W ID and news till 1010 (mostly unclear), possible ID, into politic commentary till 1015, into Indian vocal music with M DJ, heard in SSB [receiving mode, not transmission --- gh] with light QSB, rustle and humming, poor with nir 12 (Giovanni Serra, Roma, Italy, JRC NRD 525, Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper-S, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** INDONESIA [and non]. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya; 1403-1421, Jan 26. In BI with local news and many IDs for "R.R.I. Palangkaraya". Played EZL pop songs, with fair reception. 1306-1311*, Jan 25; noted Radio Bougainville here with a better signal than RRI. 4750, the absence of both RRI Makassar and Bangladesh Betar continues through Jan 26. So it is now just CNR-1 and PBS Qinghai heard here (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4790, RRI Fak Fak; 1431-1437+, 25-Jan; W in language with lite vocal & instrumental music. ID'd by Karl few minutes earlier. SIO=322, USB helps with swiper QRM. 9525.9, Voice of Indonesia; 1400, 24-Jan; English news to 1402, then introed program in Malay which continued. SIO=143-, need LSB to avoid 9530 (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4925, RRI-Jambi (presumed); 1426-1526, Jan 27. This rarely gets above threshold level, but today was almost fair. In BI with numerous on-air phone calls, many "Hello, hello"; played some pop Indonesian songs. Had the best reception around my local sunrise at 1514 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Join me Friday & Saturday nights at 10 PM Eastern for the 'Friday Night Party' and 'Saturday @ --- Just go to http://www.radioscooterinternational.com and click on the listen link, follow the instructions and enjoy! (Bill Bergadano, Jan 26, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) They are doing a 'Help Cure Tay Sachs Radiothon' Feb 13-15 (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Amigos Net of yachters off the west coast of Mexico, 8122-SSB, Jan 26 at 1446. Altho I never heard Amigos Net mentioned by name; per previous logs. Signals were weak and barely audible vs noise level. NCS was calling ``long-range vessels``, and among those mentioned were ``Lovely Rita``, WDD9606 circa Acapulco; at 1450 WDB5505, R. Cappella --- it sounded more like R. than A. as you would expect, position 18-36 N, 103-42 W heading south. Mentioning flipping to ``4-bravo`` frequency on 4 MHz band, presumably 4149 as before, but that was delayed; discussion of where to get fuel and water at Zihuatanejo marina rather than Ixtapa. Net on 8122 seemed to close at 1456 but some stations such as WDD5638 continued contacting and were still going at 1503; NCS call sounded like ---7580. All calls and vessel names cited here are tentative! See DXLDs 7-159 and 8-005 for my previous reports on this with more detail, over a year ago. Have calls changed in the meantime? None then starting with WDD- or similar. Perhaps if I had intuned earlier at 1415, I would have heard Don Anderson with his comprehensive weather info; his participation in this and other nets, some of them ham, is detailed here, tho almost two years old now: http://www.pacsea.org/n6hgradio.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Re 9-007: Another check of VIRI Russian service on 31m at 1430-1530: Jan 27 at 1437, 9575 quite undermodulated in talk about Iran, almost synchronized with better-modulated 9735; both had a lot of flutter on near-polar paths, but much better signal on 9575 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn Hauser. Hi, it`s Al Parker from Danbury. This morning I picked up Radio Iran AT 1315 to 1322 UT. From 1322 to 1430, the signal was very noisy 5/3 due to skip. This is aimed at W. Asia & S. Asia. How can I pick up a signal not aimed at the Eastern N America. 73's (Al Parker, Danbury CT, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Easily. SW broadcasts are not tightly aimed unidirexional, tho some stations even think so in frequency planning. Considerable amounts of signal go out in many other direxions than the main one. This transmission is 500 kW, aimed 118 degrees from Kamalabad at 1300-1430 in Urdu (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Radio Farhang, 17.01.2009 UT 2230-2250, 1152 kHz, SINPO: 32232. RX: ICOM IC PCR-1000, Antenna: DE 31M, QTH: Moscow (South) (Andy Martynyuk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No country given, so I had to look this up. It`s the cultural network of IRIB, mostly on FM, but with three MW frequencies including this 100 kW one in Tabriz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 6973, Galei Zahal; 0208-0230 January 23, 2009. The usual fantastic blend of tunes by The Cure, The Smiths, etc. alternating with Hebrew rock. Very good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Jan 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15785, Galei Zahal (presumed); 1416-1432+, 24-Jan; W in Hebrew with HB pop tunes. SIO=253- Very weak at 1513 24th & at 1321 the 25th (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. 17725, Voice of Africa; 1514-1521+, 24-Jan; This is the Voice of Africa from the Great Jamahiriyah; M&W in English with feature on historic cities in Mali. SIO=253. 1416-1423+, 25-Jan; English commentary on African union; 1421 The Great Jamahiriyah presents -- English feature on Senegal. SIO=253 (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. The Antananarivo premises of the state TV and radio were trashed, looted and burned by rioters today. Radio Madagascar is off the air. See a picture at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012600499.html (Chris Greenway, UK, Jan 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: MADAGASCAR PROTESTERS SET ABLAZE STATE TV STATION Madagascar's state TV station burns, left background, in the capital Antananarivo, Monday, Jan. 26, 2009, as some thousands of opposition supporters went on a rampage through the streets of Antananarivo, setting fire to the state TV building during their demonstration to demand a new government. Thousands of people took to the streets after the radio station owned by opposition leader and Antananarivo Mayor Andry Rajoelina went off the air Monday. (AP Photo) (AP) [caption] The Associated Press Monday, January 26, 2009; 10:39 AM ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar -- Thousands of demonstrators demanding a new government in Madagascar took to the streets Monday and set the country's state TV complex on fire to protest the apparent shutdown of the opposition's radio station. Witnesses said protesters also set fire to an oil depot and a private TV station linked to the president. Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina said two protesters were killed, but did not give details and there was no immediate confirmation. President Marc Ravalomanana's office accused Rajoelina of promoting the government's overthrow and declared the government would act decisively to "restore order" on this Indian Ocean island off Africa's southeast coast. The opposition radio station went off the air soon after. Protesters poured into the streets of the capital, and a five-story state TV building downtown was razed and looted. Chairs, door frames and steel girders were stolen. One man walked away with a fan in his hand and his cell phone to his ear. Later, smoke billowed from a second building in the state TV complex. Police and firefighters were nowhere to be seen and did not respond to phone calls, leading to speculation they supported the protest. Over the weekend, Rajoelina had called for a general strike to begin Monday. He appeared at a central square in the capital Monday morning, criticizing the government. He was surrounded by supporters in orange jackets --- he has tried to model his campaign on Ukraine's 2004 pro- democracy Orange Revolution. Hours later, Rajoelina appeared on an independent, private TV station to call for calm. He said two protesters had been killed and two or three injured. Rajoelina pledged to speak publicly again Tuesday morning at the central square. Demonstrators demanded that ministers resign, shouted that they want a new government and called for the opposition radio station to be restored to service. Rajoelina, who is also the mayor of Antananarivo, has accused the government of misspending public funds and threatening democracy. He has called for Ravalomanana to step down and declared himself ready to take over leadership. Late last year, a television station Rajoelina owns was taken off the air. The mayor had since been holding rallies and using his radio station to air his criticism of the government (via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DXLD) The SW transmitter site, presumably elsewhere, could still be funxional, so please look for 5010 and the other frequencies. This story never mentions the NAME of the ``opposition radio station``, let alone WTFK?! Journalism 101: Who, what, when, where, why. If Ravalomanana goes, what becomes of WCBC`s new SW station due to go on air this year? He was their patron. Hey, the opposition could make good use of those transmitters. So did anyone hear, or try to hear, 5010, Jan 26-27? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OPPOSITION RADIO STATION BACK ON AIR IN MADAGASCAR Associated Press 2009-01-27 06:12 PM http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=849859&lang=eng_news# An opposition radio station is back on air in Madagascar a day after its closure sparked attacks on government buildings. Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina's Radio Viva began broadcasting again Tuesday. Thousands of demonstrators had taken to the streets after Radio Viva went off the air Monday and set the country's state broadcasting complex on fire. Witnesses said protesters also set fire to an oil depot and a private TV station linked to the president. Residents of the capital, Antananarivo, woke Tuesday to find shelves emptied and windows broken at several stores, but the looting did not appear to have been widespread. Rajoelina accuses the government of misspending funds. He is also Antananarivo's mayor (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Jan 27, DXLD) ** MAURITANIA [and non]. 4845 heard with indigenous music between 2030 and 2100z on 1/26z. Signal: 34243. This is a favorite of mine at home, so it was nice hearing them coming around from the other direction. Was hearing the Moscow "buzzer" (sounds more like a horn to me) on 4625 with an unusually strong (35444) signal, so decided to try some African channels. Also heard presumed Chad on 4905 during the same time frame, signal 23232. Regularly listen for them after China signs off, but never seem to get enough audio to make a real ID. The music sure seems to be right for them though (Steven Zimmerman, Ulsan, South Korea, Sony ICF-SW7600GR, 60m dipole on roof, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Me informa el Ing. Moreno, encargado técnico de Radio Universidad de San Luis Potosí, que actualmente estan emitiendo en los 6045 kHz con baja potencia, ya que, se averiaron unos transistores de potencia, y se encuentran en espera de las refacciones, lo cual se cree ocurra a la brevedad y de inmediato reinicién normalmente sus transmisiones con 250 vatios. 73´s (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, Jan 26, WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No trace of it here for weeks, including bandscans almost every morning in the 1330-1500 period (gh, OK, ibid.) ** MYANMAR. 5985.81, Myanma R., 1535-1600*, Jan 27. Assume they have switched back to the transmitter located at Yagon, as opposed to the usual transmitter at this time from Nay Pyi Taw, which has a steady frequency of 5985.00. The last time they switched over like this was in early Aug 2008, for about 6 days. This off-set frequency actually helps reception due to QRM from 5980. In English, playing pop songs, off with Anthem (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 7255, Voice of Nigeria, Ikorodu, 2105-2110, escuchada el 26 de enero en francés a locutora con boletín de noticias, SINPO 44433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So back on 7255. Was on 9690 instead recently when I heard it (gh) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925.0, USB, PIRATE (UNITED STATES), Maximum Usable Frequency Radio, 0314-0534, Jan 25, Unknown [unknown what?], 0314, signal coming up under the QRM, 0330 signal rock solid now. This broadcast started with the MUF ID, it evolved into a relay of Sycko Radio, RJI, and WBNY among others along with a bunch of independent programming. Lots of very good programming! Ran a series of religious parody announcements, Reverend Stinky. A great broadcast; knowing the source of this broadcast, I can say that the signal quality was the best I have heard in almost a year. And as I said, the programming was top notch as well. The propagation gods smiled on this broadcast as it was heard far afield. If you didn't hear it you really missed something. Off air 0534. Fair (Mike Rohde, Columbus, OH, Ten-Tec RX- 340, Sherwood Engr. SE-3, Wellbrook ALA 330s, Par Electronics EW-SWL (slopper [sic] config.), NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. RADIO SPREADS TALIBAN’S TERROR IN SWAT Monday, January 26, 2009 News Desk http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=159105 PESHAWAR: Every night around 8 o’clock, the terrified residents of Swat valley crowd around their radios. They know that failure to listen and learn might lead to a lashing or a beheading. Using a portable radio transmitter, a local Taliban leader, Shah Doran, on most nights outlines the newly-proscribed “un-Islamic” activities in Swat, like selling DVDs, watching cable television, singing and dancing, criticising the Taliban, shaving beards and allowing girls to attend school. He also reveals names of people the Taliban have recently killed for violating their decrees and those they plan to kill. “They control everything through the radio,” said one Swat resident, who declined to give his name for fear the Taliban might kill him. “Everyone waits for the broadcast.” Soldiers largely stay inside their camps and have not destroyed mobile radio transmitters mounted on motorcycles or pick-up trucks that Shah Doran and the leader of the Taliban in Swat, Maulana Fazlullah, have expertly used to terrify the residents. Being named in one of the nightly broadcasts often leaves just two options: fleeing Swat, or turning up headless and dumped in a village square. Meanwhile, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Maj-Gen Athar Abbas said the military did not have the means to block the Taliban radio transmissions across such a wide area. Recently, Shah Doran broadcast word that the Taliban intended to kill a police officer who he said had killed three people. “We have sent people, and tomorrow you will have good news,” he said on his nightly broadcast, according to a resident of Matta. The next day, the decapitated body of the policeman was found in a nearby village (The News, Islamabad, Jan 26 via DXLD) WTFK? PAKISTANI ARMY TO JAM TALIBAN RADIO IN SWAT VALLEY Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Athar Abbas yesterday said the military was acquiring the latest technology to jam the illegal radio transmissions of the Swat Taliban, a private TV channel reported. The ISPR spokesman told the channel that the Taliban’s FM radio transmitters were mobile and could not be destroyed immediately. However, Abbas said, the acquisition of the technology would help block the illegal transmissions. General Abbas said the Taliban were trying to create an atmosphere of fear in Swat and wanted to extend their presence to other parts of the country, the channel reported. He told the channel that the Taliban were trying to project themselves as a parallel government in the valley, but the military would control the situation soon. (Source: Daily Times)( January 27th, 2009 - 11:35 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** PALAU. 9965 had a gospel huxter in English around 1550 Jan 26, and at 1556 promo for SW as a ministry avenue, phone number in South Bend, then full ID as ``T8WH Palau, the international voice of LeSEA Broadcasting`` over Onward Christian Soldiers, until 1559* Fairly good signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALESTINE [non]. Is Al Aqsa still being heard on 5815, 5835? Or gone once things have settled down a bit, and if so, when was it last heard? (Glenn Hauser, Jan 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos Glenn, en el día de ayer pude comprobar que Radio Al Aqsa estaba emitiendo en 5815; hoy cuando son las 1942 capto una señal muy débil y no podría confirmar que estuviera activa (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) and shortly later: CLANDESTINA, 5835, Radio Al Aqsa, 1953-1956, escuchada el 26 de enero en árabe a locutor con comentarios, señal muy débil, se aprecia emisión de señal extraña emitiendo de forma irregular, ¿señal digital?, locutora con comentarios, emisión en paralelo por 5815 con señal inaudible, SINPO 22331 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello DXers, Glenn, I'm following them almost on daily basis; yesterday 26/1/09 I picked them up only on 5815 around 1830 UT, tried on 5835 but with Deewa Radio on the same frequency, no luck. Later on, around 1945 still 5815 is good with no trace of 5835, but that happens from time to time. Let's wait for today to see. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, http://www.tarekzeidan.tk Jan 27, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CLANDESTINA, 5835, Radio Al Aqsa, 1926-1940, escuchada el 27 de enero con emisión musical; me sorprende la inusual señal con que llega, se aprecia ligera interferencia se [desde?] señal digital emitiendo irregularmente, locutor en árabe con comentarios, saludo en árabe, posible boletín de noticias con referencias a “..Al Qarim... Arabía...”, reportaje con sonido de ambulancias y gritos de mujeres, emitiendo en paralelo por 5815, aunque la señal es mas pobre, SINPO 44343. Audio [7+ minutes]: http://valenciadx2007.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2009-01-27T11_58_50-08_00 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3315, R. Manus; 1333-1401*, Jan 26. Running past their usual sign-off time; seemed to be local program in Tok Pisin with DJ playing pop songs in English and acknowledging listeners correspondence; ID given with only one SW frequency (must have been a local ID); 1359 "You have been listening to the National Broadcasting Corporation, the Voice of Papua New Guinea" and long list of frequencies; Anthem; audio ended at 1401, but a strong carrier was still observed past 1425. While the transmitter was on anyway, would have been nice if they had continued with some type of programming, even a re-broadcast from an earlier segment would have been enjoyable (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, On Jan 27, at 1423, found they continue to just have an open carrier with decent signal, but with no modulation. As you pointed out with RHC, it's really a waste of transmitter time (Ron Howard, ibid.) With a little tropical transmitter, it might be deliberate to keep down the humidity, but surely not the case with a big ISWBC unit which is scheduled to be active (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3235, NBC West New Britain; 1247-1253+, 25-Jan; Peppier music than other PNGs, including a reggae tune; M in Pidgin mentioned Papua. SIO=333- with weak ute QRM. Not // 3325, 3335, 3385. 3325, NBC Bougainville; 1243-1303+, 25-Jan; Choral music; W in Pidgin with mentions of Papua & frequencies; Native anthem 1300-1301+, then M&W in English with address and e-mail and NBC spot. Fair and much better after about 1250. Not //3235, 3335, 3385. 3335, NBC Radio East Sepik; 1237-1240+, 25-Jan; Choral music; IDs in Pidgin and English, NBC National Radio, the Voice of Papua-New Guinea. SIO=3+33, USB takes out 3330 CHU splash. Not //3235, 3325, 3385. 3385, NBC Radio East New Britain; 1156-1204*, 25-Jan; M in Pidgin with choral tunes; English NBC spot at 1203+. Poor, best in USB. Not // 3235, 3325, 3335 (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4790.0, Radio Visión; 2340-2349+, 23-Jan; Series of Spanish baladas to RV ID at 2348. Not the usual religious programm and dead on 4790 (at first)-- moved up to about 4790.03 at 2345. Rare to hear an actual ID from them. SIO=322+, best in USB. (Frodge-MI) 4974.8, OAZ4X, Radio del Pacífico (presumed); 0138-0145+, 0340, 24- Jan; M&W in Portuguese with fuego y azufre preaching. Sounded more like Spanish at 0340, but same stuff. SIO=2+52, best in LSB (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The `Portuguese` was probably portuñol = españuguês (gh) ** PORTUGAL. Re 9-007: It is correct, Pro-Funk GmbH, the company that operates the DW relay at Sines, must "supply" a stipulated amount of weakly hours to the RDPi as part of the agreement whereby the station is authorised to be in the country. Whether it's Pro-Funk &/or DW that are pushing the system as Kai Ludwig puts it, I don't know, nor can we expect the RDPi itself to give the details about this, but one thing is certain and benefits Pro-Funk right from the start: they are saving power costs because the transmitter power is reduced from the nominal 250 kW on AM mode to about 90 kW in digital mode. For this reason alone, I suppose Pro- Funk/DW would be only too glad, if the RDPi would instruct them to use DRM for all their relays. And as far as the satellite being a good, 24 h alternative as Kai also says, well, the RDPi is being no different from other similar stations. As to DRM - not my cup of tea, thank you very much 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. Glenn, Greetings from cold and snowy central Alberta, a far cry from the old warm south but that's what happens when you and your spouse decide to move. Anyway, have my station (the short wave part) up and running. Have a question.... According to latest DX Mix News edition #557 the B-08 schedule of Family Radio lists the following: 1600-1800 on 7485 kHz via KCH (what site is this?) 300 kW / 116 degree beam to South Asia in Bengali. The signal comes in quite well with ID's for Family Radio/Oakland address at sign-off [sic] (1600 UT) Yet the winter B08 version of the EiBi shortwave schedules list this: 7565 1400-1600 USA WYFR Family Radio BE SAs /MDA OK, so what is MDA site? and what is the correct site: KCH or MDA ([n]either one is listed in my old 2007 WRTVH - still waiting for 2009) also DX MIX NEWS #557 shows: 1600-1800 on 7485 via this KCH site with Persian to Middle East yet the DXers Circle Nov. 27 via BC-DX via DXLD shows this site via Simferopol 250 kW, 131 degree beam as the same time period. Wondering which is the right site for this frequency and time period. Maybe a clarification on what is what would sure be helpful, from DX News or EIBC. Thanks for your reply on this (Edward Kusalik, AB, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Edward, KCH and MDA are the same site, also known by a third name, Grigoriopol. KCH = Kishinev, among other spellings; MDA = Moldova. Thank the Russians for trying to keep us all confused about this and other sites with multiple designations. Grigoriopol is also the site where Radio PMR/DMR comes from, that breakaway Pridnestrovye region of Moldova. Eibi uses a different set of abbrs for sites. If you go back to his homepage you will find a link to a readme page which explains this and all the other abbreviations. http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/readme.txt And Wolfgang Büschel has explained several times that there is no such site as ``Simferopol``; more like Mykolayiv, Ukraine. Would not help much to be no further south than OK, where it is quite frigid and we are getting freezing drizzle, rain, icing. Hope you are doing OK anyway in your new abode (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 12025, Jan 27 at 1448 song with a disco beat, lyrical language uncertain; 1450 announcement in S Asian language pronouncing website letters as in English: www.ruvr.ru. 1451 YL song with English lyrix; 1458 fading down, but still could make out the VOR IS. This is VOR in Urdu at 14-15, 140 degrees from Moscow (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** QATAR. As previously reported on various lists, at 2325 gmt this evening I heard Al-Jazeera's Arabic service being rebroadcast on 954 kHz via Al-Arish, Qatar. The broadcast positively matched Al-Jazeera's online stream, which is the only access I have to the service here. Reception quite impressive, SIO 343 with Onda Cero Radio (Spain) nulled out, using Sony ICF-7600 and internal ferrite rod here in North London. Regards, (Stephen Howie, England, Jan 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. BOSNIA: 6190, Int'l Radio Serbia; 0223-0229:34*, 24- Jan; English ID, program notes, then folk tune; 0227:30 closing with ID & addresses; IS tune in many different instruments from 0228 to s/off. SIO=3+33 with co-channel QRM (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. SLOVENSKY ROZHLAS CLOSES DOWN MEDIUMWAVE Slovakia is leaving the MW band. The last three transmitters (Presov 702, Rimavská Sobota 1017 and Nitra 1098 kHz) will be switched off for good on Sunday, February 1, 2009. Radio Patria, a program for national minorities, changes to FM (Karel Honzik, CZECHIA, mwdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DXLD) Following a news tip from Karel Honzik via MWC: Slovensky Rozhlas will be on air via mediumwave for the last time on Feb 1st. Since one year ago they were still using three transmitters, Presov/Haniska on 702 kHz (100 kW), Rimavska Sobota on 1017 kHz (50 kW) and Nitra/Jarok on 1098 kHz (50 kW; was supposed to be upgraded to 100 kW, but I think this would have required a new transmitter, and it is highly unlikely that one has been installed). All other transmitters were already closed back then, and high power transmitter were no longer in use since 2003/2004. So far mediumwave has still been kept for Radio Patria, the minority service. From Feb 2 its Hungarian service will be expanded to 12 hours a day (6 AM to 6 PM) and carried via seven frequencies along the Slovak-Hungarian border that otherwise belong to the networks of either the culture program Radio Devin or the youth station Radio FM. Listeners who will have trouble to get these programs on FM are being referred to satellite (Astra 3A) and the internet. The shorter minority broadcasts in other languages will be included after 6 PM in the program line-up of Radio Regina. Slovensky Rozhlas wants to get rid of mediumwave already since 2007. Closing Radio Patria turned out to be impossible, frequencies for a fifth FM network could not be found either, and so Slovensky Rozhlas now implements this solution. It appears to be a troublesome one: On one side SMK, the coalition of the Hungarians in Slovakia, already lamented that the Bratislava/Trnava area and the rural regions around Kosice will not be covered by Radio Patria anymore. On the other side ethnic Slovakians already criticized that Radio Devin and Radio FM will be taken off certain transmitters in favour of the Hungarian service. Slovensky Rozhlas announcement: http://www.rozhlas.sk/inetportal/2007/index.php?lang=1&stationID=0&page=showNews&id=62533 Report about SMK complaining: http://www.aktuality.sk/spravy/domace/smk-s-radiom-patria-sa-hra-hazardna-hra (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 27, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. PORTUGAL: 17745, Sudan Radio Service; 1523-1532+, 24- Jan; English feature on corrupt contractors & government officials. SRS IDs in various unknown languages at 1530 and continued in LL. SIO=153- (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. BOTSWANA, 9380, Affia Darfur, Selebi-Phikwe, 1911- 1915, escuchada el 26 de enero en árabe a locutora en conversación con invitado, referencias a Darfur, segmento en inglés y traducido al árabe por locutor, SINPO 45444. BOTSWANA, 5880, Affia Darfur, Selebi-Phikwe, 1920-1924, escuchada el 27 de enero en árabe a locutor con comentarios, cuña de ID; se aprecia ligera interferencia del servicio en inglés de la BBC vía Rampisham que emite desde las 1800 a 2000 por 5875, nueva cuña, locutor y locutora con comentarios, SINPO 43443 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 9335 [sic; must mean 9535] HSK9 Radio Thailand; 2040- 2101+, 23-Jan; RT News Hour, Global News in English; Completely off at 2044:30, back at 2044:54 with bells IS and into unknown language program. SIO=2+53-. 9725, HSK9, Radio Thailand; 1404-1212+, 24-Jan; English national & world news; ID as, This is the Radio Thailand English language service. SIO=353- (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Navigating the VOT website to hear Live from Turkey Jan 27, I was so pleased to see an ad for Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, featuring a YL with bare arms! Bare midriff! Breasts peeking out below her tank-top! Who says Islamists are stuffy about sex? Elsewhere on the page, in the news, to compensate, an overdressed Russian Orthodox OM with the big headdress (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4975.96, UBC R. - Kampala, in English, 1/25, 0400-0430. Musical pause; M reading news (mostly unclear mentioning Kenya, etc. till about 0415; brief anthem and music pause; M ID; other M enhanced [? how?] announcement on the road mentioned Uganda; W brief talk about agriculture etc. in Uganda; 0419 W / ID: "Good morning, this is UBC Radio" and talk about local topical issues with typical African intonation (till 0438); brief song pause; "Hallo listeners, Halleluja!"; very brief chorus song " Haaallelujaaaaa", then presumed religious slow song; heard in SSB [receiving mode, not transmitting -- - gh]; moderate fast QSB; rustle & static at times; increasing clear audio from about 0410; very poor / poor to fair with nir 12 (Giovanni Serra, Roma, Italy, JRC NRD 525, Alpha Delta DX-SWL Sloper-S, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** U K [non]. SOUTH AFRICA: 7260, BBC (presumed site); 2101, 23-Jan; English announcement, "This is the BBC. There are no programs on this channel at present." I certainly did appreciate this useful information (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Meyerton relay of weekday Portuguese 2030 ends at 2100, so another case of overrun, like I heard on 16m (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Re 9-007: ``COMEDIAN CHALLENGES BBC OVER RELIGIOUS BROADCASTS LONDON (AP) -- An atheist comedy writer presented Britain's first nonreligious alternative to the country's long-running series of theological broadcasts on Saturday." The British Humanist Association (BHA) has long campaigned for the inclusion of non-religious contributors in the ‘Thought for the Day’ slot in Radio 4’s Today programme. In December that campaign received a boost when BHA member Gavin Orland set up a Pledgebank page where people could pledge to email the BBC and urge them to open up the Thought for the Day slot to humanist contributors. Gavin’s target was for 100 people to sign up but 1,660 people actually did so, all of whom have been emailing the BBC this week to press for change. Full January 9th press release from the BHA: http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/204 You've been discussing Thought for the Day on the blog. The controller of Radio 4, Mark Damazer defends Thought for the Day in the statement below: I regard this as a genuinely difficult question. There may be a case for widening the pool of contributors on Thought for The Day by having someone with an avowedly non-religious perspective. However on balance the BBC's position is that it is reasonable to sustain the slot with believers. Let me set out the reasoning. Full statement and 501 comments as of Jan 26: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ipm/2009/01/thought_for_the_day_a_genuinel.shtml A famous old headline from Northern Ireland read: "Protestants and Catholics unite to fight ecumenism". I’d like to propose that Christians and atheists unite to kill off Thought for the Day. With, perhaps, the assistance of Jews and Muslims and any other “faith community” that is routinely patronised and misrepresented by the daily smugfest. Article by Telegraph leader writer and editor in chief of a leading Catholic newspaper Damian Thompson with 110 comments: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2009/01/10/christians_and_atheists_should_unite_to_kill_off_thought_for_the_day Platitudes of the Day A satirical parody of Thought For The Day http://www.platitudes.org.uk/platblog/index.php (Mike Barraclough, England, Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Re 9-007: BBC UNDER FIRE OVER GAZA CHARITY APPEAL 14 comments so far: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/bbc-under-fire-over-gaza-charity-appeal#comments (Media Network blog Jan 27 via DXLD) Kim Elliott sides with BBC (gh) ** U S A. MORE VOA BROADCASTING TO PAKISTAN'S NORTHWEST FRONTIER PROVINCE --- Trilingual program airs more news and information Washington, D.C., January 26, 2009 - Starting today, people in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, as well as the rest of the country, can listen to a six-hour radio program of news and information in Pashto, Urdu and English on FM, AM, shortwave and the Internet. The trilingual program will feature news packages, talk shows and in- depth analysis of events in the United States and Pakistan. It will be broadcast across Pakistan, with a focus on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, from 12 a.m. until 6 a.m. The format replaces an existing program that was exclusively on music. "This new program will give all Pakistanis, particularly those living in the remote region along the Afghan border, more opportunity to hear VOA's objective news coverage of what's happening in the world and in South Asia," said VOA Director Danforth Austin. VOA currently broadcasts six hours of radio news and information in Urdu daily to Pakistan, from 7 p.m.-12 a.m. and from 6 a.m.-7 a.m. VOA also broadcasts from 6 p.m.-12 p.m. to Pakistan in Pashto. In addition, VOA's Urdu Service produces a daily television show, Beyond the Headlines. Urdu and English are the official languages of Pakistan, a country with about 172 million people. But an estimated 40 million people in Pakistan speak Pashto, primarily those living near the Afghanistan border. VOA's broadcasting to Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province can be found online at www.VOANews.com, www.urduvoa.com and www.VOANews.com/deewa (VOA press release, 2027 UT Jan 26 via DXLD) The hot linx just above were totally wrong underneath, leading to an unfound page instead when clicked. The addition converts to 1900-0100 UT. WTFK? Altho SW is mentioned, the schedule at http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_u.cfm shows only MW 972 and 1539 kHz between 1500 and 0100, and nothing between 0200 and 1400; the only Urdu/AKD hours on SW are shown as 01- 02 on 9520, 9820; 14-15 on 7440 and 9390 each plus the two MW channels. And nothing about it being trilingual. Nor anything in that time period on the Pashto language schedule page. And nothing about this yet at kimandrewelliott.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, 1939 UT Jan 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, after I read this press release, I'm sure this format change is applying only to VOA URDU AAP KI DUNYA network. They say, in this press release, VOA Urdu has music only from 0000 to 0600 local Pakistan time [1900-0100z] AND THAT IS THIS NEW FORMAT! Since 1900-0100z is a night in Pakistan, MW relays are sufficient for coverage. So, the new trilingual format is on air: 1900-0100z on 972 & 1539 kHz only. [+internet & satellite; not on SW at this time!] Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The "12 a.m. until 6 a.m." is presumably local time in Pakistan, thus 1900-0100 UTC. I cannot find any information about the new broadcast at voanews.com, at least not in English. No VOA English or Deewa Radio transmissions to South Asia at 1900-0100 UTC are listed in the VOA frequency schedule. VOA Urdu (Radio Aap ki Dunyaa) is listed during these hours, but only on its medium wave frequencies of 972 and 1539 kHz, not the advertised shortwave or FM. Posted: 27 Jan 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Overlooked in all of the hoopla about VOA's coverage of the inauguration – I decided to pay a visit to the BBC to see how they were handling the parade. They had ongoing live video with numerous breakins from their own people along the route -- and Q&A with various folx, including American voices. This was accessible by clicking on the very prominent top of page inauguration section, in contrast to the small VOA icon stuffed low on its page. What was VOA doing during the parade? Country music from Music Mix around 2100 UT. Truly sad (Chon Presnous, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. VOA, 9760 via Tinang, PHILIPPINES, Jan 26 at 1518 with continuous Broadway/jazz music; 1524 suddenly cut to Business Dialogue in Spe-cial Eng-lish transmission. Must have lost feed; don`t they have backups which could be switched to instantaneously? This is aimed 21 degrees, also good for us, spelt U-S. 11765, other VOA programming at this hour, Border Crossings, 1527 Jan 26, DJ wrapping up first half from the VOA Music Mix Network, about to pause for commercials on affiliates; good signal but flutter. This is 96 degrees from Lampertheim, GERMANY, nowhere near usward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI, 9955, amid Studio DX, in Italian, UT Mon Jan 26 at 0645 check, fair signal, following WORLD OF RADIO at new time 0600. Next check at 1516, R. Prague relay in English, good signal at S9+18; Frecuencia al Día, still repeating last week`s edition, started at 1530, and at 1554 signal had built up to S9+20, and steady with hardly any fading. Looks like WRMI`s improvements to the NW antenna are working, as armchair copy even on the portable receiver. 1600 DX Partyline Jan 24 edition; I dispute Allen Graham`s assertion that ``It`s Saturday`` any more, and DXPL gets plenty of other non- Saturday airings. This one included DX news from JSWC; the mandatory gospel-huxter who always tries to tie in ``hearing distant voices`` with religionism --- o, I get it! And then logs of little interest from some Downunderite; 1616 Aventura Diexista. But at 1631 a full gospel-huxter show instead of WORLD OF RADIO which temporarily occupied that semi-hour a week before. No jamming noted except for some suspicious noises briefly at 1550. WRMI, 9955 observations: Jan 27 at 0649, jamming pulses over AWR Wavescan, as sked Tue 0630. Then was going to monitor switchover from S antenna to NW antenna at 1500 UT, but I was too late. Earlier in the hour, as usual, nothing audible except heavy DentroCuban Jamming Command blockading R. Cuba Libre, but at tune-in 1459, R. Prague relay in English was already started, mixing with jamming, but readable. By 1513 RP with S9+19 was well over the jamming pulses; slight fading, and a constant het less than 1 kHz. By 1518 the jamming was gone but the het continued, probably coming from YFR via Taiwan, which has a hard time keeping to exact frequency: 1500-1700 in Russian as listed on 9955 in Aoki. WRMI also broadcasts in French, i.e. nonsensically to fill the time after R. Prague English, 1526 with its IS, schedule and web address announcements. 1529 another repeat of last week`s Frecuencia al Día (what day of week do new shows start now?), 1600 DX Partyline; 1630 WORLD OF RADIO reconfirmed, Tuesday. I see Aoki also attempts to show individual WORLD OF RADIO times on 9955 as well as individual stations relayed from WRN: unfortunately this is mostly out of date in the file marked January 27! (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WEWN with music, Spanish on both 11520 // 11550, Jan 26 at 1607. A bit more frequency diversity would seem to be prudent, but these two overlap for one hour only, 1600-1700. Also risks mixing products on 11490, 11580, but none audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 6430, WWCR, 0218-0225, Jan 26, good, strong second harmonic of 3215. Thanks to Wolfgang Bueschel tip. Also heard a very weak spur still on 6414.42 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Others have reported WWCR on second harmonic 6430, but now it has become a fundamental! Jan 27 at 0703 I noticed that 3215 was missing, no trace of any signal, tho WWRB 3185 was in, so not a propagation problem. WWCR doing maintenance on #1 transmitter? But then at 0706 I found a huge S9+20 signal on 6430 during InfoWars with Alex Jones, GCN radio network as IDed at 0708. Some ute QRM; or rather, severe WWCR QRM to whatever ute has a right to be there. One must conclude that the WWCR transmitter was mistuned to the second harmonic of the normal frequency 3215, so all its power was going out on 6430. Also must have had a pipeline from TN, as the second harmonic of WWRB was also audible, but much weaker, only S9+10, on 6370 with Brother Scare, // 3185. Once again, WWRB fails to measure up to WWCR ;-\ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9330, WBCQ Kennebunk [sic], Monticello, 1918-1921, escuchada el 26 de enero en inglés a locutor con comentarios, emisión con problemas de modulación. Se aprecia sobre modulada y entrecortada, posiblemente Radio Damasco esté sin emisión; no se aprecia el molesto zumbido que se escucha cuando las dos emisoras están emitiendo, SINPO 34332 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBCQ has not had any connexion with Kennebunk, Maine, for a few years now, but some references are in no hurry to excise such outdated info (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) The Planet, 7415, 26 Jan 09 --- Monitored end of WOR 1444 twice today, both on 7415. First at 2035 UT, ending past the bottom of the hour and followed by other programming, and second from 2314-2328 UT followed by no programming or announcement of any kind - just an empty carrier until about 2340. Both readable with fair signal, fading distortion and interfering het (Terry Wilson, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hello Everyone. This week on QSO we have a real treat! Marie Esneault KF4FGN just got her general class license at age 82. She is the XYL of the Late Richard Esneault K4IJC Oscar 1 Pioneer! She tells her story and the story of her late husband. She will have you on the edge of your chair! Also Gordon West WB6NOA of Gordon West Schools. Hope everyone enjoys this QSO! Today at 5 PM EST on 7415 WBCQ. Program also available on the website for download. Thanks and 73’s Ted (WB8PUM) http://www.qsoradioshow.com Radio Disclosure, QSO Radio Show, http://www.tedrandall.com WBCQ 7415 kilohertz Monticello Maine Tuesdays on 7415 kilohertz 5 PM EST [2200-2400 UT] Target area the USA and Mexico WRMI Radio Miami International 9955 kilohertz Sundays 1-3 AM ET [0600-0800 UT] Target area the Caribbean and South America 615-469-0702 (Ted Randall, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST, in advance on the dxldyg) ** U S A. 7505, WRNO New Orleans LA; 0316-0328+, 25-Jan; Pastor Ray Bentley of Maranatha Radio; sez they want "partners" so they can thump in Bolivia; WRNO promo at 0328. SIO-544 with weak ute trill QRM (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRNO, 0200-0300 Jan 26 with Contemporary Hits music program. Asking for Email reception reports at wrnoradio @ mailup.net Strong signal here in Southern Mississippi (Darren, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KJES, 11715, Jan 27 at 1404, G signal but undermodulated, child praying; still same 1444 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The exclusive 31m SWBC band starts at 9400, but tell that to FEMA. SSB outstands like a sorethumb when tuning across a broadcast band in AM, and Jan 27 at 1422 found some sporadic transmissions on 9462.0. Mostly RTTY(? something digital) tests in between brief voice contacts; at 1430 call caught as WGY911, with 908 just as 911 decided due to a het, to QSY to ``channel 2-5``, wherever that is. Well, duh, of course there was a weak broadcast signal audible here on 9460, most likely CRI English via Urumqi, per Aoki. [NOT ``Urumqui`` --- get over the U-always-after-Q rule when dealing with Chinese! or Arabic.] WGY911 gets 18,500 Google hits, quickly IDing it as FEMA HQ Telecommunications Management in Washington DC, while WGY908 is in Denver. See my previous logs of FEMA on other frequencies, and follow- up research in DXLDs 7-154 and 8-028, which showed there is a lot of inter-agency communication involved, both federal and state. Here`s a 7-year-old report with a bit more about FEMA Washington: http://www.dxing.com/intrigue/intrg034.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. AN OHIO PUBLIC RADIO MERGER --- As in commercial radio, the Incredibly Awful Economy is starting to affect public radio as well. That's what ultimately prompted a big move at Oxford's Miami University, where the university's NPR affiliate - WMUB/88.5 - will lose its original programming on March 1st. Cincinnati Public Radio will operate it starting that date, and will program it as a repeater for its own NPR station, WVXU/91.7. The Middletown Journal and the Dayton Business Journal have more, as does the university itself. http://www.middletownjournal.com/hp/content/oh/story/news/local/2009/01/23/hjn012409wmub.html http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2009/01/19/daily54.html http://www.miami.muohio.edu/news/article/view/10802.html You might recall that CPR took over WVXU from Xavier University, the once quirky station acting as the original hub of the "X-Star Network" that reached from Southwest Ohio into lower Michigan. CPR's original station is WGUC/90.9, which is the classical music sister station to WVXU's NPR news and talk operation. There's some talk that WVXU and CPR may establish a some sort of a news reporting presence in the Oxford/Butler County area, but at first, it appears WMUB's mission will be to serve as a simulcaster for the Cincinnati NPR station. Quoting the Middletown Journal article: For at least the near-term, WMUB and WVXU will be simulcast, said Richard Campbell, Miami journalism director and chair of the WMUB Review Committee. "We just don't know how it will all end up," he said. "The piece not fixed (in the agreement) is the journalism piece. I can imagine us being a kind of bureau for them that does stories on southwest Ohio and special stories for Butler County." Though talk of Miami University letting WMUB go had been going on since 2007, the current worldwide economic crisis - and an expected large budget shortfall for the university - quickened the exploration. The deal between the university and CPR would save the school about $800,000 in direct and indirect costs, and result in jobs lost for 10 staff members - seven full-time workers and three part-time workers. The Middletown Journal also reports a detail we hadn't seen elsewhere...that Antioch University's WYSO/91.3 Yellow Springs had originally been courted to take over WMUB, but the deal fell through (Ohio Media Watch blog Jan 23, via Artie Bigley, WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DXLD) Local programming seems to be mainly a strip of talk/call-in shows M-F at 14-15 UT, repeated at 24-01: Interconnect, Help Desk, Sound Health, Free Advice, WMUB Forum --- which will presumably disappear; they have big audio archives, e.g.: http://www.wmub.org/interconnect/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. BUDGET CUTS MAY RESULT IN FORMAT CHANGES IN TENNESSEE In a TV interview last night, a Tennessee state official mentioned several programs that may need to be cut at the state's universities to meet budget shortfalls. He specifically mentioned radio stations associated with the state's colleges & universities. The stations in question would be: - WMTS-88.3 & WMOT-89.5, Middle Tenn. State University, Murfreesboro - WTTU-88.5, Tennessee Tech, Cookeville - WETS-89.5, East Tenn. State University, Johnson City - WAPX-91.9, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville - WUMR-91.7, University of Memphis - WVCP-88.5, Volunteer State Community College, Gallatin WAWL-91.5, Chattanooga State Technical Community College, Red Bank has already been sold to Family Life Broadcasting and flipped formats on Jan. 2nd. You can probably guess who the likely buyers would be for these stations. You can also probably guess that similar discussions are taking place in other states (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, WTFDA via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DXLD) I can`t believe how short-sighted some educational institutions are, to unload their broadcast stations ASAP (gh, ibid.) ** U S A. Nova M station's change of management & technical issues: http://www.airamericaplace.com/index.php?showtopic=28155&st=0&#entry253887 Here is the news from the NEW general manager, Sean Ryan, who asked me to pass this along. Sean has previously worked as the production manager. Everything is up and running as it should be for the network, so they can bring Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy on the air live. Art Mobley is no longer the general manager of the Nova M Radio Network, effective of January 2, 2009. So, the station - 1190 Nova M Radio - and the network is under new management (Will in Chicago, Air America message board, Jan 7, via Clara Listensprechen, Jan 27, DXLD) ** U S A. WOLY 1500 Battle Creek MI --- Hello NRC listmembers, My employer had me make a rare trip to Battle Creek Michigan today, and I can personally state that I heard a radio broadcast on 1500 kHz while in Battle Creek today - presumably WOLY. I then went to the FCC website to the AM Query subpage to search for licensed stations operating on 1500 in Michigan and the only listing that appeared was WLQV in Detroit. Unfortunately, I was with two other people and was not able to listen to the station long enough to get an ID, but it was a good strong signal into the downtown area of Battle Creek. 73 de (Joe Miller, KJ8O, Troy, MI -- Grid EN82 -- --- WOW! Homepage (http://www.wowway.com) --- Jan 23, NRC-AM via DXLD) Yes, you heard WOLY --- or rather the unlicensed operation of the facilities formerly licensed as WOLY. The license expired back in 2004, and the station has been ordered off the air several times since, but despite numerous FCC fines and warnings, it remains very much on the air. The most recent action was in December, and here's my writeup from the Jan. 14 issue of The Radio Journal (formerly M Street Journal): ``Reduced fine for a not-yet-dead deleted station. We’ve reported several times on the curious perseverance of WOLY, Battle Creek, MI (1500), which never filed for license renewal in 2004 and had its calls and license formally deleted in 2006. But the religious daytimer never went silent, and after multiple FCC visits in 2006 and 2007 found it still on the air, the Commission assessed a $10,000 forfeiture order in July 2008. Former licensee Christian Family Network appealed the forfeiture, saying it was unable to file its renewal application in the electronic format the FCC now requires, and that it’s unable to pay the $10,000 fine. The FCC rejected the appeal – it says the WOLY license deletion is now final – but it reviewed Christian Family’s financial documentation and has reduced the fine to $5,000. Meanwhile, more than four years after its license had expired, WOLY was still being heard on the air in south central Michigan in late December.`` BTW, the Radio Journal is available as a free weekly e-mail, and it's chock-full of FCC and CRTC news and such; sign up, if you're interested, at theradiojournal.com. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) ** U S A. Re 9-007, WJTJ call assigned near Kansas City: Maybe the FCC uses some Geographers from Indiana. :) I am actually a Geographer myself (not on my present career track) as that was my major in college. As an intern with the Geography Department, one of my assignments was to score a competency exam that was offered to all college freshmen who took entry level Geography classes in the state. This included such great learning institutions such as Notre Dame, IU, Purdue, Evansville and so on. One THIRD of them thought that the river that ran out by Terre Haute and further south divided Indiana from Illinois was the Mississippi River. Even folks from WABASH College thought that! Shees! The results were sent to the Indiana Department of Education to (hopefully) pump up Geography in K-12. I'd love to see the current results. So maybe some at the FCC thought that the river that runs through KC and Central MO is the Mississippi and not the Missouri. 73, (Dave in Indy Hascall, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. For those interested, below is a link to Rob Harrington's obituary. http://www.eagletimes.com/ET/obituaries/story/090114-obit-clmtHarrington (Mike Hardester, NC, IRCA via DXLD) ** VATICAN. 4004.6, Vatican Radio; 2232-2301+, 23-Jan; Chanting + church bells (not IS) -- seems to be church service in Italian; Vatican IS at 2259 and continued. SIO=342, minor ute trill (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Tuning by 11680 via Cuba a couple times in the 15- 16 UT hour Jan 26, I noticed RNV is STILL announcing the totally outdated transmission schedule, and STILL announcing the unreliable Apartado 3979 address; in between, segments both in broken English and unbroken Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. ARGELIA, 6300, Radio Nacional Saharaui, Rabouni, 1855-1903, escuchada el 26 de enero en hasanía con emisión de música folklórica local; se aprecia interferida por señal digital emitiendo irregularmente, locutora con comentarios, música de sintonía, locutor con titulares y boletín de noticias, SINPO 44444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. GREAT BRITAIN: 11745, Southwest [sic] Radio Africa (Zimbabwe, from presumed site); 1721-1737+, 24-Jan; English feature on the dollarization of the Zimbabwe economy; said that inflation was about 100% per day! Several ID spots, SWRA, Zimbabwe's independent news voice; 1731 Weekend news Roundup. SIO=2+53+. Not // 12035 in French (could be DW) & not // 11610 in unknown language (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No reason it should be // 11610, or ex-12035 (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Emisora de números captada en Valparaíso. Estimados: Entre las 0837 y las 0841 UT de hoy, 26 de enero de 2009, he escuchado una emisora de números en la frecuencia de 5895 kHz, con una mujer, sin acento (quizás voz robótica) transmitiendo un código numérico en español. SINPO de 25333. A las 0837 capté estos números: "...2 4 7 0...7 4 5 5 8..." y a las 0840 estos: "...4...4...7...7 4 7 4 4...8...9 7 4 4...1...". La escucha fue realizada con receptor portátil Brigmton [sic] BT-353, antena de carrete, en un sector urbano de la ciudad de Valparaíso, Chile. ¿Alguno de ustedes ha captado alguna vez una emisora numérica en esta frecuencia, o tiene alguna idea de a qué país, organismo, o algo pueda pertenecer esta extraña emisión? Cordiales saludos, (Eduardo Peñailillo Barra, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Eduardo, ¿Cierto de la frecuencia? Segun los horarios publicados por ENIGMA, el espionaje cubano utiliza 5898 los lunes entre las 08 y 09 horas. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn: Yo la tomé en esa, seguramente (a esa hora de la madrugada chilena no estaba en la plenitud de mis facultades) estaba mi receptor con las frecuencias de 5 en 5, y no de 1 kHz en 1; quizás en 5898 habría captado mejor. Saludos, gracias por los datos, (Eduardo, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6040. At 0420 on 1/23. Two M conversing in Arabic or similar. Occasional insert of 4 gong, then everything cut at 0430. Radio Japan listed as closing at this hour but in Spanish (Gerry Dexter, Lake Geneva, WI, TenTec 340, NRD 545, "Mark" (MK)-l, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) What list is that? Aoki shows DW in Arabic via Sines at 0400-0430 on 6040 and no R. Japan on 6040 at any time. DW does bang gongs, and has for years, a trademark (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6840, CLANDESTINE, Numbers station Echo Zulu India 2 heard at 0130, in RCSSB with YL in British-accented English repeating call sign over and over. I have seen this reported as probably Mossad throughout the 'Net. Perhaps there is still more to come in the recent saga. 73 de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7130, 1325-1341+, 25-Jan; Program, possibly Window on the World; talk about travel in Malaysia and many mentions of China. All in English except for one brief Chinese? announcement. Not // 5995 CRI. Maybe RTM Sarawak, Malaysia. Fair with ARO splash (Harold Frodge, Michigan Area Radio Enthusiasts DXpedition, Brighton MI, Drake R8B + 500' NE/SW unterminated beverage + 85 TTFD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More like CNR2, China Business Radio, which is mostly in English during this hour, while Sarawak is in Bidayuh with 1/15 the power, per Aoki, if sesquiyear-old-sked for latter prevails: 7130 CNR 2 1300-1400 1234567 English 150 257 Xianyang 594 CHN 10854E 3412N CNR2 b08 7130 RTM Sarawak 0900-1500 1234567 Bidayuh 10 61 Kuching-Stapok MLA 11020E 0133N RTM a07 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 8710, presumed OTH radar pulses, Jan 26 at 1444. Quite weak and if had been stronger probably could have detected the usual 30-kHz spread (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9060-9085, presumed OTH radar pulses at 1504 Jan 27. Fortunately these are normally quite weak here and seldom cause a major problem (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11532, big open carrier at 0645 Jan 26, and remained so except for a burst of one or two words at 0657, off about 0703. A well-known spy-numbers frequency, and correlates with VG signal from RHC on 11760, which is not always the case in the nightmiddle (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [later:] No, it is not a well-known spy-numbers frequency! I belatedly searched on it in the latest Enigma 2000 bulletin, the entire UDXF yg archive, and DXLD the last several years, and found nothing but my own previous similar log a few weeks ago in DXLD 8-132. Unfortunately I did not have the volume upturned so cannot even guess what language the words were in. Next night around same time, not there and WYFR in clear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO BEACONS SWITCHING FROM ANALOG TO DIGITAL The News Journal By Mark I. Johnson, Staff Writer January 26, 2009 Florida http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/newEAST01OUT012609.htm Television is not the only electronic media [sic] going digital -- the U.S. Coast Guard is embracing the same technology. Starting Feb. 1, the Coast Guard and other rescue agencies will begin exclusively monitoring emergency position-indicating radio beacons sending digital 406 megahertz transmissions. These devices, known as EPIRBS, send an alert from a downed aircraft or boat in distress that can be picked up by a satellite anywhere in the world, allowing rescuers to narrow the search area down to 100 yards. [or even meters? Does this really operate worldwide in English rather than metric units? --gh] "And when they are registered with (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) we will know who you are and information about your boat," said Sr. Chief Petty Officer Newman Cantrell, commanding officer of Station Ponce de Leon Inlet in New Smyrna Beach. He said the technology is not new, so he does not anticipate a large impact on commercial fishing fleets or charter boat operators, who are required to carry the devices. Capt. Bill Smitherman of The Hooker Sport Fishing in Daytona Beach said he hadn't heard of the changeover but it will have no affect on his charter service. "We have had several (406 MHz) types over the years," he said. "The most recent for about eight years." EPIRBs also come in 121 MHz and 243 MHz models but those will become obsolete come February, said Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson, a spokeswoman for the USCG's District Seven office in Miami. She said the reason for the switch is a tendency for those units to send false alarms. "About 90 to 95 percent (are false alerts)," she said. And the fewer times rescuers have to respond to an alert, the less it costs the taxpayers. Even with the new monitoring, Matt Girard, a sales associate with West Marine in Daytona Beach, a marine supply store, said he has not seen a rush to purchase the devices, which can cost from a few hundred dollars each to several thousand dollars (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Wow, 90-95% false made the old system ridiculously inefficient and wasteful (gh, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see PORTUGAL ++++++++++++++++++++ SHORTWAVE BROADCASTING: SSB VERSUS DRM VERSUS DRM "ITU [International Telecommunications Union] processes are involved and often long-winded. To arrive at decisions that affect the whole world is an arduous task and involves many experts assembled from around the world in study groups. The long-drawn out processes on the one hand ensure inclusivity but at other times result in decisions that are super[s]eded by developments. A classic example is in the case of broadcasters. A decision was made that shortwave broadcasters would adopt single sideband as a standard to reduce bandwidth and increase efficiency. Because of the need to give the world time to change over to a new technology, up to seven or more years will lapse before a new standard is implemented. SSB for shortwave broadcasting was super[s]eded by digital rights management (DRM), a digital service that has just been introduced by some of the larger broadcasters in Europe." Hans vd Groenendaal, MyBroadband.co.za, 25 January 2009. (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Digital rights management is the more famous DRM, but he meant to write Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), a system for transmitting digitally on long, medium and shortwave. Actually, it's unfortunate that single sideband was never implemented for shortwave broadcasting. That type of transmission would have eliminated selective fading, in which one sideband clashes with the other. Also, if all stations transmitted on upper sideband, much interference among adjacent channel stations would have been eliminated. The required bandwidth for SSB would be much narrower than the 10 kHz wide swath required by DRM. In contrast to DRM, for which standalone receivers are very slow to develop, synchronous-detection receivers capable of picking up reduced-carrier single sideband transmissions have been available for years. Their battery consumption is, for now, much less than the processor-intensive DRM receivers. Most importantly, SSB shortwave transmission would be robust, capable of trans-oceanic distances, and intelligible above many instances of co-channel interference. DRM is much less forgiving in the adverse conditions for which shortwave is infamous. Update: Thanks to George Woodard, who improves upon my oversimplified description of selective fading: "Selective fading is not 'when sidebands clash', but rather when a variable narrow bandwidth of frequencies undergo multipath propagation where two signals cancel each other. In AM, the terrible garbled sound that we all experience is when the carrier signal frequency gets cancelled, leaving only the sidebands." Posted: 26 Jan 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) SOME ANALOGS STILL PLAN TO SIGN OFF 2/17/09 New FCC filings indicate that some analog stations still plan to cease broadcasting as of 2/17/09, regardless of what Congress decides this week/next week. WTVF-5, Nashville (CBS) plans to end their analog transmission and switch their DTV from ch. 56 to ch. 5. http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101291297&formid=910&fac_num=36504 Also, WFWA-39, Fort Wayne, IN (PBS) plans to cease analog broadcasts as of 2/17/09. One reason listed is due to additional costs associated with operating the analog transmitter... "SINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT IN 2005 OF FEBRUARY 17, 2009 AS THE DEADLINE FOR ALL TELEVISION STATIONS TO TERMINATE ANALOG BROADCAST SERVICE, THE STATION HAS PLANNED AND BUDGETED TO TRANSITION AS OF FEBRUARY 17, 2009. CONTINUED ANALOG OPERATION BEYOND THE EXISTING DTV TRANSITION DEADLINE PLACES THE STATION IN FINANCIAL HARDSHIP, INCLUDING UNBUDGETED COSTS FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE ANALOG FACILITY AND ELECTRICAL POWER CONSUMPTION." http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101291377&formid=910&fac_num=22108 IMO, we'll see more comments like this, especially from small and medium market stations (Steve Rich, Indianapolis, IN, Jan 26, WTFDA via DXLD) SENATE AGREES TO MOVE DTV TRANSITION DATE MUST BE RECONCILED WITH HOUSE VERSION OF THE BILL By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/26/2009 5:00:16 PM MT The Senate Monday night approved unanimously a compromise bill (S.328) that would move the DTV transition date from Feb. 17 to June 12, but it must now be reconciled with a House version of the bill, and quickly point out backers of the legislation. Senator Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and the bill's co-sponsor, sought a similar vote on his original bill, which would simply have moved the date from Feb. 17 to June 12. That bill was blocked by at least one Republican, which is all it takes. Rockefeller then teamed with ranking Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson on a compromise bill that dealt with other issues, including unclogging the DTV-to-analog converter box backlog and access to reclaimed analog TV spectrum by industry and first responders. Most importantly, at least in terms of getting Republican support, the bill is revenue-neutral, meaning the cost of making the move will be underwritten by future FCC spectrum auctions. It was that bill that made it past the Republican gauntlet. The House is preparing Tuesday to mark up its own, similar, bill, but could conceivably engage in a game of legislative ping-pong with the Senate version that would preclude having to conference to reconcile the two. The bills are "virtually alike," says one Rockefeller aide. "The House bill actually contains funding number which we don't have in our bill." He said they may have to conference the bill, but it could also be a case of where "they amend it and pass it back over here and we amend it and send it back over there until we have a final bill." The Obama administration three weeks ago asked Congress to delay the transition date, prompted primarily by a slow-down in converter-box coupon distribution due to the combination of a funding ceiling and an accounting problem that prevented more coupons from being sent out before expired ones were redeemed (via Steve Rich, Indianapolis, Jan 26, WTFDA via DXLD) So come May 12 people will come out of the woodwork again and say, "NO ONE IS READY! WE NEED TO PUSH IT BACK!" (Jeff Kitsko, Latrobe, PA, ibid.) June 12, actually, and there's a provision in the bill that says this is absolutely, really, no doubt about it, the last time it gets pushed back. By June 12, it won't matter --- from what I'm hearing, a very significant number of analog stations will be long gone anyway. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) RYAN'S LOGO GALLERY MAPS This was a very useful reference, to help identify lowband VHF TV stations, based on the design of their ID logos (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) You know, I had a vague recollection of having mirrored Ryan's maps on my site a few years ago when he was having server problems, and lo and behold, they're still there, albeit rather out of date now: http://www.fybush.com/egrabow/ (Scott Fybush, NY, WTFDA via DXLD) I know Scott put them on his website, but I had the white maps and I put them up at http://www.wtfda.org. These are public, of course, and you can get to them from the menu on the left side of the page. I could never stand the black maps. http://www.wtfda.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=15&Itemid=74 (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT USA, ibid.) HOW MUCH DOES IBOC COST? [see also ALASKA: KBBI] How much are all costs associated with IBOC, including procurement and ongoing use? In particular, if this can be separated, how much does it cost to keep it running, say every month or year? (Saul Chernos, Ont., IRCA via DXLD) Don't the costs include a software license fee? I recall reading somewhere that a bunch of licenses will be coming up for renewal this year. Is that correct? If so, I'd be interested in what the fee is and/or how it's calculated. (Maybe it's the same for all stations.) I'd also be interested in whether a station could justify not renewing -- thus abandoning IBOC -- or whether that's tough to do because they've already sunk so much in the technology (Tim Kridel, ibid.) Are we talking AM specifically? The answer is a big "it depends." If an AM station has a fairly recent transmitter and a well-maintained transmission system (not just the antenna itself, but the phasor, transmission lines, etc.) that's already broadband enough to handle the wider bandwidth required by IBOC, the costs can be relatively minimal - low-to-mid-five figures for a new exciter and the license from Ibiquity. If more extensive work is required - say, a new phasor - the costs can go way up from there, though there's certainly an argument to be made that a lot of those costs would need to be incurred eventually, IBOC or no. Contrary to popular belief, there is no recurring license fee for IBOC. FM stations that multicast have to pay Ibiquity a portion of any revenues they get from multicast services. But the only ongoing costs for an AM station to run IBOC would be a slight increase in the power bill - which may go a long way towards explaining why it may linger on at many stations long after it's clear nobody's listening. It's the same deal as AM stereo - the easy thing to do is to leave it on the air until it breaks or the transmitter is replaced, but not to expend any energy on fixing it if something goes wrong. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) And I add: If the cost of loss of listenership is factored in to Scott's estimates, though --- the numbers in the equations may soon be all zeros. Are AM stations now really billing advertisers with rates that reflect a certain level of listeners, or are these stations simply maintained as tax write-offs until something breaks and they are forced to go off the air, or the real estate on which the studios and towers are located becomes worth more than the radio station and its "good will", which of course disappeared long ago when community service was replaced by babble from the bird? (Paul Swearingen, Topeka, NRCAM via DXLD) Agreed fully [with Scott]. I do think even the very modest upfront cost will, in this economy, greatly limit the number of new installations. As with AM stereo, we won't see existing IBOC installations go away unless the equipment fails, but we won't see many new installations. I wonder what the future holds for iBiquity's financial situation? It seems unlikely they're going to see much income in new-station installations in the foreseeable future. I also don't see any significant income from FM simulcasting revenues. I suppose the brightest spot in their balance sheet will be royalties on receiver sales - but even though they seem to have made some inroads in getting HD receivers offered as options in some cars, with the slow auto sales that's not going to help much either. I think it's very possible iBiquity will require an infusion of cash from its broadcasting-industry owners in order to stay afloat over the next couple of years - and I think it's very much in doubt whether those owners are willing (or even able) to provide that cash (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66 WTFDA via DXLD) Thanks for the answers received. I was thinking of AM. I couldn't help thinking, as I passed by WBZ on the dial last night and noted it and adjacent channels getting hammered by noise, that IBOC has cost these stations up-front costs, ongoing energy costs, and of course any impact from loss of signal quality (while signals of some stations are no doubt eroded within primary contours, I am not sure if advertisers really know, and if this has yet translated into lost ad revenue). So as I passed by WBZ I thought of the cuts their to local content, and pondered over the relative wisdom of decisions made there. I was wondering if the cost of IBOC electricity (and any other ongoing IBOC- related costs) might equal one host. Maybe? Maybe not? I know there would be variations between a large market versus a smaller one, and a big-name local host versus a small one (Saul Chernos, Ont., IRCA via DXLD) Saul; Advertising revenue? The pro-IBOC movement will contend that stations should not cater to listeners out of their signal coverage area. The pro-noise movement even mentions the shutdown of WJR and WABC as being because of complaints from Western PA, supposedly out of either's coverage area. Not sure if that is true. For the most part, us DX'ers are against nighttime AM IBOC. If you want to see the flip side of the IBOC coin, venture over to the AVS Forum and check out the HD radio forum. Us that don't favor the service are called luddites. :p 73, (Dave in Indy Hascall, ibid.) Thanks for the insights. Regarding FM, do you know what the percentage is? I'm interested in how multicast feeds are doing in terms of attracting advertisers. For example, do they typically drive enough ad revenue that the parent station/group can justify keeping them? Or are some considering dropping one or more feeds because they're not attracting enough advertisers? (Tim Kridel, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Geomagnetic field activity was at mostly quiet levels during the period. A single active period was observed at all latitudes early on 19 January. This activity was due to a recurrent coronal hole. A 12 nT sudden impulse was detected at Boulder at 25/2225 UTC. During the early part of the summary period, ACE solar wind velocities ranged from a high of 501 km/sec at 19/1931 UTC to a low of 265 km/sec at 25/1056 UTC. The Bz component of the IMF ranged primarily between -4 nT to +3 nT. At the beginning of the summary period, the Bz component varied between -10 nT to +8 nT. At the end of the period, the Bz component ranged between -7nT to +4 nT. The Bt varied from 0-13 nT during the entire summary period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 28 JANUARY-23 FEBRUARY 2009 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal levels. The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels on 28 January. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet levels during 29 January - 14 February. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels on 15 February, with isolated active levels due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). Activity is expected to decrease to quiet levels during 16-21 February as the HSS subsides. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels with isolated active levels on 22 February. Activity is expected to decrease to mostly quiet levels on 23 February. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Jan 27 2247 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2009 Jan 27 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Jan 28 70 8 3 2009 Jan 29 70 5 2 2009 Jan 30 70 5 2 2009 Jan 31 70 5 2 2009 Feb 01 70 5 2 2009 Feb 02 70 5 2 2009 Feb 03 70 5 2 2009 Feb 04 70 5 2 2009 Feb 05 70 5 2 2009 Feb 06 70 5 2 2009 Feb 07 70 5 2 2009 Feb 08 70 5 2 2009 Feb 09 70 5 2 2009 Feb 10 70 5 2 2009 Feb 11 70 5 2 2009 Feb 12 70 5 2 2009 Feb 13 70 5 2 2009 Feb 14 70 5 2 2009 Feb 15 70 8 3 2009 Feb 16 70 5 2 2009 Feb 17 70 5 2 2009 Feb 18 70 5 2 2009 Feb 19 70 5 2 2009 Feb 20 70 5 2 2009 Feb 21 70 5 2 2009 Feb 22 70 5 2 2009 Feb 23 70 5 2 (SWPC Jan 27 via WORLD OF RADIO 1445, DXLD) ###