DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-009, January 29, 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 ** AFGHANISTAN [non!]. Radio Solh has vanished! Jan 28 at 1423 check no trace of it on 13830 where it used to inboom via Rampisham. Not even a carrier; and 13840 YFR via Wertachtal was well heard, so propagation OK. Nor was 13830 audible the day before, but I was hoping it was just due to poor propagation then. Before 1500 looked around for Solh on previously used frequencies, but not heard on 17700; something was on 15265 at 1450 but talk unsounded like them, and R. Liberty, Georgian via Biblis is now using that. Nothing on 9875 either after 1506, but Solh was not usually heard there anyway. We can only wonder if this PsyOp be a casualty of the new administration in Washington, altho it seems unlikely that would be much of an Obama priority; but saving our taxpayer money is called for. This was the most redundant service on earth, playing exactly the same content day after day. Might cost less to give every Afghan a CD of it. Please check out the rest of its previous schedule: 02-03 5925 UAE 03-12 11675 UAE 12-15 13830 Rampisham 15-18 9875 Rampisham Never mind: VTC has deleted all these transmissions as of Jan 27 with no replacements! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn, Actually, I also checked the R Solh frequencies via VTC today in Denmark and came to the same conclusion as you: During 1200- 1600 it was off the air on 9875, 13800 [sic] and former 17700 kHz! Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, Jan 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, after reading your info about Radio Solh, I immediately visited IBB Monitoring website. After I carefully viewed frequency scans & listened to the R Solh sounds, here is my conclusion: RADIO SOLH'S EXISTENCE ENDED AT 1800 UTC ON JANUARY 23, 2009! If you want to listen to some very last R Solh sounds from Jan. 23, I chose some 19 second recordings from IBB Monitoring website: http://nea.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Sounds/2009_01_23/DARI/TE8/ALMA/0901231315@ALMA13830TE8DARI.MP4 http://nea.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Sounds/2009_01_23/DARI/TE8/ISLA/0901231511@ISLA_9875TE8DARI.MP4 http://nea.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Sounds/2009_01_23/DARI/TE8/ALMA/0901231546@ALMA_9875TE8DARI.MP4 http://nea.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Sounds/2009_01_23/DARI/TE8/ISLA/0901231608@ISLA_9875TE8DARI.MP4 http://nea.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Sounds/2009_01_23/DARI/TE8/ISLA/0901231639@ISLA_9875TE8DARI.MP4 http://nea.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Sounds/2009_01_23/DARI/TE8/ISLA/0901231709@ISLA_9875TE8DARI.MP4 http://nea.ibbmonitor.com/RMS_Data/Sounds/2009_01_23/DARI/TE8/ISLA/0901231739@ISLA_9875TE8DARI.MP4 Best regards & many 73s! (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Jan 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. So, it seems we may never hear from Radio Solh again. According to Glenn Hauser's logs for 28 January, Solh has disappeared from Rampisham, and it could well be that new policies from Washington have closed it down. I have not heard them on 6700 in days, but if they have shut that down, perhaps there is still some infrastructure left on Kandahar to be seen. I've gotten another new generator and this one is quite nice, hardly any hash, and has to be one of the quietest gensets I have ever heard. On the other hand, city power is slowly but surely winding its way into my neighborhood, courtesy of Uzbekistan. No idea of when our guesthouse will be wired back into the grid. Harmonics and spurs from RTV Afghanistan and BBG on 1107/1296 have been almost non-existent in recent days; however, it has been a snowy, rainy, muddy mess here, so the true test will be when everything dries out. I have full confidence that the guys at BBG are on top of any issue that might exist. Other than that, nothing much happening here, except there is a city- wide alert for more IEDs. 73s de Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, Palstar MW-550P Mediumwave Preselector, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA. Caribbean Beacon daytime frequency 11775 still absent around 1415 Jan 28, but still humming away on 6090 around 0700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 2540 (harmonic), AM 1270 (1270 x 2), Radio Provincia, La Plata, BA, 0256, talks by W, ID in passing giving tel nr. Jan 14 (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, DX Trip 2009 Barra de Valizas, Rocha, Uruguay, Degen DE1103, short wire 10 meters, two meters high, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Hi Glenn, I just received a letter and QSL card for my English report to RAE from 22 June 2008. The personalized letter was dated 2 December 2008, signed by two members of the English Team and Oscar Sgro [sic; is that a Serbian name?], RAE's Director. The personalization was the fact that it mentioned: "We sincerely appreciate your being a listener of RAE's English Language Service. It is always interesting to receive information which gives a deeper insight into just how we are being heard so far away." Also gave Internet site http://www.radionacional.gov.ar and e-mail address englishrae @ radionacional.gov.ar Alas, they are heard quite poorly here and I did mention to them that many evenings, their English language broadcast is inaudible at 0200 UT on 11710 kHz. 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Ed, Tho it may not make much difference in reception, the English broadcast is at 0100-0200 UT while they are on DST until March 15. 73, (Glenn to Ed, via DXLD) Thanks for picking up that correction, Glenn. Just for fun. I will try them tomorrow evening at 0100 on 11710 and sometimes slightly off frequency as well. 73's, (Ed Insinger, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. For those that lament the recent loss of "The Media Report" carried on ABC Radio National and Radio Australia, this week starts a new series in its place titled, "Future Tense". http://www.abc.net.au/rn/futuretense/ "We live in a world of perpetual change. Making sense of new developments and trends amid all the hype and spin is often difficult. And that's where we'll come in. Beginning this Thursday (29 January) join us for a brand new program, Future Tense. We'll introduce you to cutting edge technologies, new approaches and creative thinkers across a whole range of subject areas." The first installment this Thursday is entitled "The Internet President" and is the first of a two-part look at e-government and e- democracy. Antony Funnell, who last chaired The Media Report, is the weekly host of the new program. On ABC Radio National, it's broadcast at GMT Wed. 2130, repeated Thu. 1330. On Radio Australia, it's broadcast at GMT Thu. 1031 and 1530. Written transcripts of each program are available from the web site, as are podcast and on-demand listening options (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Jan 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. I finally had a chance to outcheck OE1`s token non-German SW broadcasting which has not yet been abolished, to NAm on 7325, UT Thu Jan 29 from tune-in 0003, with multilingual IDs and Blue Danube IS --- but these five minutes are overtly supposed to contain Spanish, so is that gone, or just short? 0005 into Journal program spoken in Austro-German; English news segment ran from 0013:30 to 0016:15 when turned over to French. Yes, these are obviously replays of the 0700+ UT wake-up news on the domestic service and 6155. 8.5 minutes after German started correlates nicely with the original airing of English starting at 0708:30, so I guess the German preceding it be that old, too? I noted the topics mentioned in English: Israel, Obama, Spain, Updike, Iceland, Afghanistan, octuplets. Not a word about Austria, tho some effort went into the cast, with a couple of axualities, including an Updike clip. And weather forecast, presumably for the day already expired by now; no date mentioned. Presumably all repeated again a semi-hour later, but I also missed checking at 0030 whether Spanish appeared then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. 6010, 0000-0010, BHR, 25.01, R Bahrain, Abu Hayan. English announcer/ment, pop songs - audible when CNR-8 signed off -2400* 34232. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BELARUS. Radio Station Belarus, 7135 kHz, 2155-2211, 1/25/09. Music from 2155 to 2200; ID at 2200; news from 2200-2211. Reception was fair to poor with moderate ham interference. Reception on // 7360 kHz was also fair to poor with weaker signal than 7135 kHz but at least no ham interference. EiBi reveals the target for these English language broadcasts is Eu (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA, Kenwood R-2000, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BIELORRUSIA, 7135, Radio Belarus, Minsk-Kalodzicy, 1814-1819, escuchada el 28 de enero en ruso a locutora con comentarios, posible traducción de bielorruso o moldavo a ruso, mujer con comentarios de fondo de forma intermitente, referencias a Moldavia, segmento musical, sin señal en 7360, señal muy débil e interferida en 7390, SINPO 54554 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non]. RUSIA, 5960, Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal, St. Peterburg-Popovka, 1846-1850, escuchada el 28 de enero en holandés a locutora con una niña en conversación telefónica con un hombre, “..Papa??..”, segmento musical; sufre interferencias intermitentes del servicio en vietnamita de la Voz de Vietnam que se emite de 1830 a 1930 vía Moosbrunn en Austria, SINPO 43543 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A- 108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 2380, BRASIL. R Educadora, Limeira 0252 religious program with male preacher. Some QSB, noisy band. Jan 14 (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, DX Trip 2009 Barra de Valizas, Rocha, Uruguay, Degen DE1103, short wire 10 meters, two meters high, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. CRI splatter --- Not only the CBCNQ transmitter [9625] is giving problems. I just heard the 0300 Spanish service from CRI via Brasil on 9665 with distorted audio causing splatter on 9640. Nothing detected 25 kHz up. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, UT Jan 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Radio Canada International, 1800-1818, 1/28/09. I have not heard the 1800-1900 English language broadcast of RCI on 11805 kHz for over a week now (including 1/28/09). You may recall 11805 kHz was first noticed operating in early December of 2008 (reference DXLD 8- 126). Perhaps it is in hibernation for the remainder of the winter. Most of the other Sackville frequencies where I regularly hear the 1800-1900 broadcast appear to be active. For example, on 1/28/09, I monitored the English language broadcast of RCI on 13650 kHz and 15365 kHz from 1800-1818. The broadcast included ID at 1800, news from 1800 to 1805, information regarding the Canadian economy from 1805 to 1816, and music 1816 to 1818. Reception on 13650 kHz was fair to good with some noise, a buzz, and fading. 15365 kHz had a very strong signal but the audio quality was somewhat distorted at times. I received no signal on 17790 kHz but that was probably due to propagation conditions on the 16 meter band at that time. EiBi indicates the target for these broadcasts is WAf (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA, Kenwood R-2000, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hi Glenn, I'm listening to CFRX 6070 at the moment (1626 UT January 28). I haven't been trying for them for a long time so I don't know if they've been back on shortwave for a while or just resuming. On my Sony 2010 with just the whip they're clear but not lighting any signal strength lights, on my Icom R-75 with a random wire up about 20 feet they're S 7-9. We're currently getting rain following 13 hours of freezing rain. I'm in Ohio about 100 miles east of Columbus or about 60 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Much of the time CFRX goes "over the top" of my location and they can't be heard (Dale Rothert, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CHLT 630 to FM --- I knew that they were about to move to FM but listening now, it seems that they've done it! Unlike CHLN 550, they didn't leave a loop recording for weeks advising their audience that they were already on FM. It appears that they've just done it abruptly. Sadly, as for CHLN, I didn't found any related info on their website. The good thing is that it opens a new channel for me and others to new DX. For you guys across the pond, unfortunately I would guess that 630 doesn't appear to be an easy destination. So no big changes for you. Maybe on late afternoon, I could have a chance for Norway or Romania since I don't hear any strong domestics. CHLT 630 has been on AM since 1937. [Later:] I'm really puzzled here. I'm hearing CHLT but much weaker than usual. Directional pattern or power? It is blended with a few more stations. I'll sure monitor this one in the following days as they are about to switch to FM (Sylvain Naud, Portneuf QC, http://www.quebeddx.com 0155 UT Jan 29, MWDX YG via DXLD) Sherbrooke. NRC AM Log says AM // FM approved until 2/28/09 (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. United Christian Broadcasters has applied for a new AM station in Toronto ON on 1480 (the old CKAN Newmarket ON frequency) with 1 kW days, 0.5 kW night: 26. Toronto, Ontario, Application No. 2008-1480-8 Application by United Christian Broadcasters Canada for a broadcasting licence to operate an English-language AM commercial radio programming undertaking in Toronto. The new station would operate on frequency 1480 kHz (class C) with a transmitter power of 1,000 watts day-time and 500 watts night-time. The applicant proposes a Christian music service. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, AB, Jan 29, DXLD) ** CANADA. CBE-1550 Windsor ON has reapplied to the CRTC to move to FM, using 97.5 MHz, 3.2 kW, 130.1 meters for its Windsor transmitter as well as using 91.9 MHz, 5.3 kW, 73.6 meters for a transmitter at Leamington ON: 31. Windsor and Leamington, Ontario Application No. 2008-1352-8 Application by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to convert the radio programming undertaking CBE Windsor from the AM band to the FM band. The applicant also proposes to establish a new FM transmitter in Leamington. The new station would operate on frequency 97.5 MHz (channel 248B) with an average effective radiated power (ERP) of 3,200 watts (maximum ERP of 19,000 watts with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 130.1 metres). The applicant’s Leamington transmitter would operate on frequency 91.9 MHz (channel 220B1) with an average ERP of 5,300 watts (maximum ERP of 10,450 watts with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 73.6 metres). The applicant indicates that, within 30 days of the implementation of the proposed FM radio station in Windsor, it will apply for the revocation of the authority granted in Broadcasting Decision 2008-101 for a nested FM transmitter on the 102.3 MHz frequency in Windsor. The applicant indicates that it will launch both the Windsor radio station and the Leamington transmitter within one year of approval, where, at which time, it will operate in simulcast mode for three months. The applicant also requests, pursuant to sections 9(1)(e) and 24(1) of the Broadcasting Act, the revocation of the licence for CBE Windsor effective at the end of the simulcast period. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, AB, DXLD) another: NEWFOUNDLAND This one was refiled to change the Leamington FM frequency. They'd filed for 91.5 but that was somehow considered unacceptable. (I'd guess it would wipe out CJAM-91.5 Windsor!) The new frequency also specifies an antenna about 50 feet higher. – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) ** CHINA. Firedrake, Jan 28 at 1351 good on 8400, much stronger than 9000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. PALAU?? 9930, T8WH, Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH?? Koror, 1430-1445, presuntamente, escuchada el 28 de enero en idioma chino a locutor y locutora con comentarios, sin poder confirmar que se trate de esta emisora. No he encontrado emisión por Internet de ningún servicio de CNR que corresponda con la emisión de onda corta; tampoco he escuchado música jammer china típica para esta emisión, música de sintonía y posible cuña, SINPO 35433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA [non]. 5555.00, *2300-2400, 22+23+24+26+ 27.01 R Juventud, Pasto (tentative), Spanish talk by man and woman with phone-in reports, a few words perceived: "la patria", "para", "importantes" , "próxima", 2328 jingle and a song, no time signal at 2330, but exactly at 2400 "la hora", 2330 a program of jazz selections; carrier signed on at *2300, audio was heard from 2303, deep fades after 2340, best in LSB due to digital QRM, 23222 - 12211. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Have you looked yet for a // on 49m or from RNE Spain? (gh, DXLD) Identified! Dear Glenn and Rafael, 5555.00, the UNID Spanish speaking station heard extremely weak (SINPO 12211 - 25332) on this frequency every night on one of the frequencies of R Juventud, Pasto, Nariño at *2300-0157* has been identified! It is a spurious signal caused by two transmitters of R Exterior de España in Noblejas which broadcast in Spanish at these hours to South America: 11680 - 6125 = 5555 kHz! 11680 is heard with a fair signal and 6125 with a very strong signal here in Denmark. On Jan 29 they were heard // 5555 including the short musical interludes and the half hour time signals. In the years up to 2007, we had a similar case with the spurious signal from Hrvatski R on 5040 kHz caused by a faulty transmitter at Deanovec: 6165 - 1125 = 5040 kHz. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, Jan 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO. Hi Glenn, Have positively ID'ed the African UNID station on 6115. R. Congo, Brazzaville, 1801-1822, Jan 28, French announcement "Il est exactement 19 heures à Brazzaville... Bienvenu a cette première edition...", into presumed news. Sandwiched between YFR 6120 and BBC 6110. No definite ID but have no doubt it's them, re DXLD 9- 007, 9-006 & 9-004 (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. Several RHC frequencies were running with low modulation Jan 28 at 1413, which implies the studio feed wasn`t turned up to proper volume, too bad for those itching to hear what Fidel had to proclaim in 2003. First noticed on 12000, much softer than neighboring Chinese on 12005 aimed 67 degrees from well-modulated Romania. Then found undermodulation also on RHC 11760, at 1425 13760, 13680, 15370, but somewhat louder on weaker 15360, still inadequate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Re WOR 1444 summary, *HCJB has removed tallest antenna towers at Pifo, but lower ones remain and will continue broadcasting from there until April 1, 2010. But note the exact wording of their press release. I gather from it that this is the latest deadline and transmissions could cease already before that date (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. CONATEL SUSPENDE FRECUENCIAS DE RADIO http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/macroeconomia/noticia/archive/macroeconomia/2009/01/29/Conatel-suspende-frecuencias-de-radio-.aspx Las radios Atalaya de Milagro, Estereo de Esmeraldas, Sensación 800 de Quito, Radio Nacional del Ecuador,Mega de Quito y Sucre de Portoviejo son las sancionadas. 690, Radio Sucre, Portoviejo. 800, Radio Sensación 800, Quito. 810, Radio Atalaya, Milagro. 4940, Radio Nacional del Ecuador, Quito. 95.9, Radio Central FM Stéreo, Esmeraldas. 102.9, Radio La Mega, Quito. Quito --- El Consejo Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Conatel) decidió no renovar las frecuencias de una serie de radios por no cumplir con las obligaciones económicas con el organismo regulador de las frecuencias de radios. Las radios Atalaya de Milagro, Estereo de Esmeraldas, Sensación 800 de Quito, Radio Nacional del Ecuador, Mega de Quito y Sucre de Portoviejo. Hasta esta tarde las administraciones de las radios sancionadas no se pronunciaron sobre la decisión del Conatel (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, Jan 29, dxldyg via DXLD) Like what economic obligations, paying license fees? R. Nacional has been off 4940 for many years. Hey, it was the government station, so why should it be economically obliged? But are the others still on the air? Or is this really some politically-motivated measure (gh, DXLD) ** EGYPT. 6860, R. Cairo, in Turkish, with song program, noted from 1730z onwards. Fair modulation, no hum detected. SINPO 34333 Jan. 28 (José Turner, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. 9559.7, CLANDESTINE (ETHIOPIA), Voice of Democratic Alliance, heard at 1536 on January 28 in Kunama with some rapid-fire talk, reggae music and many mentions of Eritrea. Reception was fair and peaked to just better than good quite often. Frequency drifting +/- 600 Hz from nominal 9560. Website is http://www.erit-alliance.com and NOT .org as listed in WRTH 2009. Email addresses are on the website, however the first one listed needs to have "www." dropped from it. 73s de Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 9680.00, *1730-1740, CLANDESTINE, Friday 23.01. Voice of Oromiya Liberation, via Juelich (100 kW) Amharic Fanfare, talk, comments 34232. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** EUROPE. 6585.00, 25/01 1020, R. Torino Express, Italian; Italian pops, jingle, hotline of RDS!! On LSB, 24332 6870.00, 23/01 2220, R. Playback International, English, jazz, talks, On Broadway, Big band songs 24432 ex-5800 !!!!!!! 6870.00, 24/01 0740, R. Playback International, English, relay of KILF [sic; KLIF? Dallas, ex-?] 1190, ID, news, Goodbye to the world, Jingle PBI, Jazz, Japa 35443. 6870.00, 25/01 0715, R. Playback International, English, USA relay, jingle, You don't have to say you love me, pops, country (Silveri Gomez, FRAGA - CATALUNYA NORTE OCIDENTAL, R-2000 & ATS 909, playdx yg via DXLD) Lots of other Europirate logs from him on lower frequencies, but RPI may also make it to NAm, and 6585 is another ``out-of-pirate-band`` frequency to watch. It`s also rather remarkable that these pirates should be able to, or even want to, control their frequencies to two decimal places, and so are all the others he reported on MW and SW. In fact, I don`t believe it, and assume that he or his logging program adds the two zeroes to everything whether justified or not. Please study the concept of significant digits (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** FAROE ISLANDS. 531 kHz, fair, mostly atop second TA 2128-2145+ with hymns in English and presumed Faroese interspersed with phone calls in Faroese. The DJ plays one minute of a hymn and then yaks with a caller for 3-5 minutes. Now, at 2149 UT, up to good level and alone. LSS here today is 2151 UT (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Mass., Jan 28, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) Re 9-007, "I gather that in Europe it is a pest" --- Not really, as far as Central Europe is concerned. Here 531 is now usually an incomprehensible jumble of all the transmitters in Romania, Spain and Algeria, with Romania providing the audio that can be recognized best in this mess of fast SAH. Akraberg is still a true DX catch here, although it perhaps contributes to the described jumble now. Btw, the Arabic described as Iran was certainly the mentioned 600 kW transmitter in Algeria. This is indeed a pest here, so much that it prompted Switzerland back in the seventies to use another frequency (1566) for nighttime coverage, which in turn lead to the arrangement that Leipzig-Wiederau can use 531, too (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) My remark was recalling a report that 531 transmitter was putting out spurs up to 100 kHz away or so (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. Labor unions say Radio France Internationale is eliminating 206 positions, or about 25 percent of its permanent staff, according to a Jan. 15 report by the French Associated Press. The four unions say the plan end broadcasts in six foreign languages and impose "massive" cuts in all other areas. Patrick Bloche, the Socialist party's media secretary, was quoted as saying that he regrets that putting TV5 Monde, France 24 and RFI in the same organization "weakens the voice of France for the rest of the world." The unions say management blames the cuts on a budget deficit. The labor organizations say bad management is to blame (Mike Cooper, Jan 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Both RFI Monde and RFI Africa carry French/English/Portuguese music with an occasional French and Russian (!) station ID. Good luck finding SW frequencies for RFI's French services on rfi.fr! (Sergei S., Moscow, Russia?, 1010 UT Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFI AFFECTED BY FRENCH GENERAL STRIKE http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/pages/001/accueil.asp Radio France Internationale's website and broadcasts will be disrupted on Thursday, due to staff participation in a general strike called by trade unions. Normal service will be resumed on Friday. For more information on the strike, see our Focus on France feature. 2009-01-28 16:28 TU (via Sergei S., ibid.) JOURNALISTS' STRIKE LEAVES FRENCH TV AND RADIO IN TURMOIL Gwladys Fouché, Thursday January 29 2009 guardian.co.uk French journalists and other media workers went on strike today over president Nicolas Sarkozy's reform of public service broadcasting, causing major disruption to TV and radio services. Radio news channels were forced to play music, 24-hour news websites had fewer or no updates, and TV bulletins carried fewer news reports. Hundreds of media professionals at Radio France and France Televisions are staging a day-long work stoppage to protest against ongoing government reforms championed by Sarkozy, that have reduced French public service broadcasters' reliance on advertising revenue. Several radio stations ? France Inter, the Gallic equivalent of Radio 4; France Info, a 24-hour news radio station; and France Culture, dedicated to arts coverage ? were unable to broadcast their usual programmes, playing music instead. . . To see this story with its related links go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/29/france-strike-sarkozy-turmoil (via Dale Park, HI, DXLD) ** GERMANY. 6140, 1340-1400*, Sunday 25.01, R Gloria Int., via Wertachtal, English announcement, ID, jingle, address, Italian and English songs. Next broadcast Sunday Feb 22 55555. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. ADIÓS A UNA RADIO PARA LA INTEGRACIÓN La primera emisora multicultural de Europa, la mítica Radiomultikulti de Berlín, nacida en 1994 con el objetivo de integrar a la creciente comunidad extranjera y crear entre la población autóctona un clima de respeto e interés hacia los inmigrantes, apagó sus micrófonos por problemas de presupuesto. Con una retransmisión 24 horas al día en 20 idiomas, además de en alemán, la emisora, que fue inaugurada por todo lo alto en una fiesta con más de 2.000 invitados, prometía mucho y pronto se convirtió en un modelo a seguir en varios países europeos. "Nosotros ofrecemos a los alemanes la parte del mundo que no conocen y damos a los extranjeros lo que ellos desearían tener de Berlín: un trocito de patria", explicó a DPA la periodista argentina Pía Castro, que reside en Alemania desde 1993 y trabajó por diez años en Multikulti. En Berlín, una ciudad en la que cerca del 25% de la población es extranjera o tiene orígenes extranjeros, esa radio facilitaba "la vida a mucha gente porque la ayuda a identificarse con Alemania", continuó la periodista, que está casada con el nuevo presidente del partido ecologista alemán Los Verdes, Cem Özdemir, hijo de un matrimonio de inmigrantes turcos y primer líder de raíces turcas de un partido de Alemania. Por otra parte abría "la mente a los alemanes, que siempre estuvieron un poco cerrados en temas de integración y que recién ahora empiezan a decir que son un país de inmigración", añadió Castro, de 36 años. Era, además, una plataforma clave para la comunidad extranjera de Berlín, pues ofrecía una oportunidad a mucha gente que en otros medios de comunicación no podría trabajar por no hablar un alemán perfecto. Su variada programación, con música e informaciones de todos los rincones del mundo y con un acento especial en los temas de integración e inmigración, reportó a la radio varios premios, como uno de la UNESCO por su contribución al desarrollo cultural. Sin embargo, pese a la amplia y diversa oferta - que incluía la organización de conciertos y cientos de eventos culturales - y a que no sólo transmitía vía AM y FM sino también por cable y satélite, los niveles de audiencia nunca alcanzaron las cuotas soñadas. Sólo una media de 30.000 personas sintonizaba a diario Multikulti, de acuerdo con los datos de su matriz, la radio pública de Berlín y Brandeburgo, RBB. Claro que es cierto que los oyentes no alemanes no entran en ese cómputo, aunque Radiomultikulti fuera su radio y pese a que pagan rigurosamente los impuestos correspondientes. Según los cálculos de RBB, en los próximos cuatro años la radio multicultural le reportaría pérdidas de 54 millones de euros. Por el contrario, cerrarla les ahorraría entre 12 y 15 millones de euros. En verano (boreal) la noticia llegaba como un jarro de agua fría: RBB, que tiene siete canales de radio y uno de televisión, había decidido silenciar Radiomultikulti a finales del 2008. La comunidad turca y judía, varias asociaciones culturales y miles de alemanes y extranjeros han protestado acudiendo a todas las instancias posibles hasta llegar al alcalde de Berlín, el socialdemócrata Klaus Wowereit. "Siempre estamos buscando gente que nos apoye en nuestra lucha por la radio... ¡porque no nos daremos por vencidos hasta el último sonido! ¡Porque no aceptaremos que nos quiten esta radio a la que tanto queremos y necesitamos! Hay que luchar por las cosas que nos importan, con todo el corazón", animó Marisol, una latinoamericana que dejó su voz en un blog que desde internet intenta concienciar de la importancia de salvar la emisora. Las iniciativas para lograrlo son numerosísimas: desde recogida de firmas hasta protestas, ventas de discos e incluso de un "helado Multikulti" en varias cafeterías y heladerías de la ciudad. "Multikulti no es sólo una radio, es una forma de vida", nuestro mundo es "transcultural" apuntó Castro, furiosa con la decisión, que según ella es "política", pues RBB cerró la única de sus siete emisoras que es atípica en Alemania y que va dirigida a minorías. También la delegada alemana para temas de inmigración e integración, la cristianodemócrata María Bohmer, está en claro desacuerdo con ese cierre que en su opinión representa el fin de 14 años de esfuerzo social. "El cierre va en contra del objetivo de la radio pública (alemana) de fomentar la integración y la diversidad cultural", dijo a DPA. "La variedad cultural de Berlín no sólo ha de quedar reflejada en el Carnaval de las Culturas en Pentecostés, necesita un medio diario, consagrado en Berlín y que hable todas las voces de la ciudad". Todas las protestas han sido en vano. La decisión de RBB resultó inamovible, como recalcó a DPA su portavoz, Ralf Kotsch, quien insistió en que el cierre no es tan dramático porque la emisora ya tiene una sustituta: la Funkhaus Europa, fundada en Colonia en 1998 siguiendo el modelo de Multikulti. Funkhaus Europa empezó a retransmitir desde Berlín el 1 de enero en la misma frecuencia que Radiomultikulti, de la que según el portavoz de RBB asumió casi toda la programación informativa y cultural. "Creo que se hará el mismo trabajo desde ahí. Será casi el mismo programa cultural, musical y de integración. Radiomultikulti trabaja desde hace años con la Funkhaus Europa y yo creo que será una buena sustituta", agregó el portavoz, quien sin embargo lamentó que RBB no tenga dinero para mantenerla. "Si lo tuviéramos, no cerraríamos", aseguró. Su opinión choca de frente con la de la argentina Castro. "Funkhaus es totalmente diferente. Es mucho más rígida, es un tanto ochentosa... La nuestra era una forma más sensual de hacer radio, sobre todo en temas tan delicados como la inmigración". "Funkhaus viene de Colonia y no conoce la región, le han regalado la capital alemana, tiene el dinero pero no el conocimiento", protestó. "Funkhaus Europa no quería asumir esa función, le vino impuesta por parte de la directiva". "Su nombre mismo lo dice todo, seguro que se centrarán en Europa. Para nosotros el objetivo era el mundo, intentábamos reunir todo el globo en una emisora", recalcó. "Radiomultikulti nació hace 14 años en un momento muy necesario porque los neonazis alemanes estaban quemando a los turcos en episodios como Solingen o Mölln, por ejemplo. Hoy, 15 años después de aquello, se cierra sin que Alemania haya evolucionado mucho en ese tema. Todavía existe una xenofobia desbordante", lamentó. En internet: http://www.multikulti.de ROSA ARANDA (DPA) (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, Jan 5, dxldyg via DXLD) I believe I looked for an English version but unfound, so left it as was, in the yg only (gh, DXLD) This Deutsche Presseagentur article from a few weeks ago extensively quotes Pia Castro from Argentina who had worked for Radio Multikulti, but it leaves open what became of her: She is now one of the hosts of the drivetime show on Radio Eins, another RBB station. This is remarkable in as far as her German is quite heavily accented, and some observers think that hereby RBB takes the risk of listeners with any negative opinions about foreigners tuning away. It's a risk since one has to admit that this could be a significant number of listeners, especially when keeping in mind that Radio Eins also broadcasts for the rural regions of Brandenburg, not just for Berlin. Anyway this could be considered as real integration (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Re: BBC-RFI and DAB in Brandenburg Update to this report from 12 weeks ago: SLM, the media authority of Sachsen, now took the former BBC-RFI frequencies in Leipzig and Dresden off the market by way of allocating them to existing commercial broadcasters. 98.2 at Leipzig has been allocated to R.SA, something that makes sense in as far as 97.6, their primary Leipzig frequency, is also used by Radio Mephisto, the station of the Leipzig university. Radio Mephisto refused to give up its slots on 97.6 for the much weaker 99.2 frequency from Leipzig-Connewitz that not even covers the whole of Leipzig, thus needs two additional fill transmitters on 89.2 and 94.4, respectively. So R.SA got rid of the citizen station Radio Blau but still gets interrupted for four hours a day on workdays by Radio Mephisto. 91.1 from Dresden-Gompitz and 96.4 from Pirna have been allocated to Radio Dresden, and this will be a mere duplication of their main frequency 103.5. I do not see any point in using these frequencies too (and pay the transmitter fees to Media Broadcast), other than a vague hope that an omnipresence on the FM band could boost the listeners figures. Earlier there were some hints that the former BBC-RFI frequencies could be used for DRM+ tests. However, the announcement of these allocations does not mention such tests at all and also gives no any explanations for them: http://www.slm-online.de/psk/slmo/powerslave,id,156,nodeid,156,a_id,1108.html DAB: In Hessen the mono relays of Planet Radio and Harmony FM have been taken off, thus this ensemble is now limited to Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur only. Reportedly some transmitters in rural Hessen have been switched off, so this remaining service does not cover the whole of the state anymore. And for Brandenburg there are indications that the DAB transmitter network outside the greater Berlin area has been switched off completely. It's hard to find out for sure, since the number of DAB set owners in rural Brandenburg is apparently very close to zero, so some vague reports from a single individual are all that appeared (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815, 2103-2213* 21+25.01, KNR Tasiilaq (USB). Greenlandic talk, ann [sic], Greenlandic pop songs, 2130 KNR news jingle and news in Greenlandic, pop songs, 2200 KNR newsjingle and news in Danish, deep fades and utility QRM, including voice calls from Russian Airports at 2133-2135, 24312. Not audible on 22 and 27.01. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GREENLAND. Re: I don't see calls reported much during Greenland DX reports, but for those wondering, here they are: 570, OXI Nuuk 650, OZM Godhavn 720, OXF Simiutaq 810, OYN Upernavik 900, OYJ Umanaq wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., WTFDA-AM via DXLD 9-006) Hi all! well, these call signs seems to be the assigned ones to the Coast Radio stations placed at these sites instead of those of the broadcasting stations. In fact, the broadcasting stations seem to have not assigned call signs at all. I have in my hands some old ITU-UIT publications (the 1948 & 1958 summer editions of "Alphabetical List of Call signs of the radio stations appearing in the service documents published by the General Secretariat of the ITU" and the Feb.-1967 of the "International Frequency List drawn up by the I.F.R.B."). The 1948 & 1958 call signs (c/s) list does not show all the broadcasting stations c/s but OXI, OXF, OYJ, OYN and OZM are only registered for the fixed and coastal services. In the 1967 Int. Frq. List, the c/s field of the Greenland broadcasting stations (570- Godthaab, 650-Godhavn and 820-Frederikshaab) is empty. Does not have a c/s assigned for anyone. In a non-exhaustive search I have found some of the operative freqs. of this stations (FX: fixed sce., FC: coast sce., FA: aeronautical sce.): OXI-Godthaab Radio: 1615 (FA), 2057 (FX,FC), 2780 (FX) OZM-Godhavn Radio: 428 (FC), 3160 (FX to Godthaab) OXF-Julianehaab Radio: 3236 (FX to Frederikshaab), 3276 (FX) OYN-Upernavik Radio: 464 (FC) OYJ-Umanaq Radio: 420 (FC), 3280 (FX,FC) The old 3999 SW frequency broadcasting the KNR programming could be the same case that actually the 3815 one (the coast station relaying the official BC station) because it is registered with the c/s OXI23 for Fixed sce. between Godthaab and Julianehaab. But, I repeat, the MW stations have their c/s field empty in the 1967 ITU register. There are more curiosities about radio stations call signs that I will try to post in the future. Saludos! (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Greenland AFRTS callsigns. WRTH 1956 lists KOLD Thule 1425 1 kW WXLS Narsarssuak 850 1 kW WXLC Sondrestrom 1420 250 W WRTH 1957: Both Thule and Sondrestorm are given as WXLS WRTH 1960: 850 moved to 900 kHz No callsigns anymore WRTH 1963 and 1964: Thule 1425/1 kW plus 1210/250 W Sondrestrom 1420/250 W WRTH 1965 dropped 1210 kHz I was in southern Greenland in 1973 and heard 1425 and 1420, one of these frequently had a slogan "From (on?) the top of the world... AFRTS..." I wonder if someone has gathered the listing of all AFRTS/AFN stations that have been on the air during the decades in various parts of the world. The total must be in hundreds? 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) ** IRAN [non]. MOLDAVIA, 7480, Radio Payem e-Doost (Baha`i), Kishinev- Grigoriopol, 1826-1831, escuchada el 28 de enero en idioma persa a locutor con comentarios; se aprecia un hombre mayor, casi anciano, segmento musical a modo de separador entre segmentos interpretado por guitarra española, SINPO 45444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [non]. Re 9-008, RTE test: 28 Jan at 1930 on 6220 nice signal of Ireland's RTE Radio 1 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) AM, Desde Valencia en España, 6220 RTE Radio 1, 1950-, escuchada el 28 de enero en inglés a locutor y locutora con comentarios, SINPO 44444 Test de emisión en Onda Corta de RTE Radio 1 de Irlanda por 6220 kHz el 28 de enero 2008 de 1930 a 2030. Audio: http://valenciadx2007.podomatic.com/entry/2009-01-28T13_08_51-08_00 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Excellent reception of RTE here at 1950 tune-in on 6220, not sure what the programme channel is, it seems to be recorded features from previous days. It is not in parallel with LW 252 kHz. Anyone know what the transmitter site is? (Dave Kenny, Caversham, UK, AOR7070+ 25m LW, bdxcuk yg via DXLD) Excellent reception here as well of the RTE test on 6220 kHz from tune-in at 1955 UT. The programme was the 17th January 2009 edition of "Playback" (as available on demand from the RTE website) (Tony Rogers, Birmingham - UK, AOR 7030+ / LW, ibid.) Heard the last 20 minutes of it over here as well, pretty good strength, with the usual background buzzing at that hour. What would the WRN connection be? (Jerry Berg, Lexington, Mass., USA, ibid.) 6220 - very weak signal here in Germany. Like a 1 kW pirate station, much noise, just above threshold, not even the language could be identified. What's the aim behind this test? Another football and Hurling finale transmission of RTE this week? That's never an international broadcaster site relay... Comparison: DWL Rampisham on 6180 kHz at 2015 UT nearby on S=9+30-40 dB level superpower. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, DXLD) Arriva benissimo la Radio Telefis Eireann su 6220 kHz (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Anthony, January 28th, 2009 - 7:31 UTC --- Is this transmission to gauge reaction for an eventual pan-European DRM transmission of RTE using DRM Shortwave as a carrier? Or is it a revival of a similar Europewide and beyond SW transmission they did years ago to cover expats listening in the UK, Europe and beyond i.e. remember the SW project in RTE’s early years? BrianB, January 29th, 2009 - 15:03 UTC --- Yea, was good in London - SINPO 45544 with telescopic antenna on my Eton E5. Giles, January 29th, 2009 - 21:43 UTC --- Have they changed the rules then? I always thought the 49m broadcast band ended at 6200 kHz. Why the choice of 6220? Is it one rule for (inter) national broadcasters to do what they like, and quite another for perfectly legitimate stations from international waters? I remember when Radio Caroline used 6215 a few years back; they were treated to a ”visit” from the Dutch authorities for the privilege, who proceeded to get drunk on board, smash up all equipment on the ship, and batter most of the crew. A wholly illegal act of piracy in international waters. I wonder if RTE can expect the similar treatment albeit on land. No I thought not. Andy Sennitt January 29th, 2009 - 22:32 UTC --- Giles, how do you remember? Were you there? Or are you simply quoting what you have read on one of the anorak forums? According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Caroline “The legality of the raid (as well as accounts of what actually took place on board that day) is still hotly disputed between the Caroline Organisation and the authorities.” Unless you were there, you cannot possibly know what actually took place. In any case, this happened 20 years ago, and has very little to do with the subject under discussion. As it happens, 6215 is actually a maritime distress frequency under ITU rules, 6220 isn’t. Rogaland Radio in Norway is still registered to use 6218, but only runs traffic lists twice a day, and I suspect is rarely used as all Norwegian vessels now have satellite technology. The world has moved on since 1989 (Media Network blog via DXLD) 29 Jan at 1914 on 6220, instead of yesterday`s RTE test, Mystery Radio booming in with CW "mystery" and voice IDs. Disco music (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If there was no Mystery clash during the RTE test, perhaps they heard about it and QRXed. OTOH, they might not be pleased if `their` frequency were overtaken permanently; and how about the mariners? (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN [and non]. Interesting to hear two Japanese next to each other on 9750 and 9760, Jan 28 at 0659; 9760 of course JOZ, R. Nikkei, so 9750 must be NHK. What does PWBR `2009` show? Nothing at this hour, but instead V. of Malaysia in English, of which there was no trace. 0700 on 9750, 3+1 timesignal, and more Japanese talk, seemingly from an arena, sumo? In fact, NHK Yamata is currently registered on 9750 at 0700-1700, 300 kW, 290 degrees. NHKWNRJ English at 1415 had severe pre-echo on 11705, first from Yamata, and then from Sackville. I would say the proportion was about 35-65. Since E Asian signals were above average this date, we could also hear NHK direct on 9875 without any echo; and on 11780 via UK but that had Brasília QRM. BTW, in A-09, NHK plans to keep right on colliding with itself on 11705 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Alô Glenn, Sobre a escuta que você mencinou: Realmente a emissão que você mencionou como a Rádio NHK-Radio Japão, é ela mesmo, pois recebi pelo correio, hoje, a schedule deles, e lá está uma emissão que fazem para o continente Asiático, em Japonês, de 0700 ás 1700 UT em 9750 kHz. Esta diferença de 0659 do seu LOG para o 0700 da Schedule se refere aquelas pequenas diferenças normais que ocorrem no momento das transmissões. Um abraço, (Adalberto M. Azevedo, Conselheiro do DX Clube do Brasil, Barbacena-MG, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Adalberto, The point was not the one-minute difference but that PWBR does not show NHK on 9750 at 0700 either, but from 0800, incorrect. I should have made this clearer (Glenn to Adalberto, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Jan 28 at 1402 with YL speaking Mandarin slowly and distinctly but did not really help my comprehension, over continuous piano music bed, i.e. Shiokaze from Japan. At 1405 spelled something out in English letters including c-i-r-c-u-s, an address? I seldom hear it in Chinese. Has anyone caught them in a French segment lately? No QRM audible from jamming or Myanmar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5985.0, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata; *1400, Jan 28; scheduled *1400-1430*. Glenn, what you heard spelled out was the COMJAN email address < chosakai [at] circus.ocn.ne.jp >. The French segment started in early Sept 2008, as a portion of the English broadcast and was last heard in mid-Oct. My question is has anyone actually heard English recently? Glenn, you noted on Jan 9 (Fri.) that there was no English broadcast, which had been their schedule for a while. Jan 26, 27 and 28 were all non-English days (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, RE: Shiokaze – This week I have been checking for any English broadcast and have not paid much attention to the actual language used, so I was surprised to read your log indicating Chinese today. Played my recording and of course you are correct, clearly in Chinese, which for them is very rare. Attached is their IS and sign-on with "JSR" ID. I am sure that on some days the off-set Myanmar frequency will indeed help Shiokaze reception here at my location. Thanks again for all your invaluable comments and observations (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Jan 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9365, 1345-1400, CLANDESTINE, 26.01, North Korea Reform R, via Orzu, Dushanbe, TAJIKISTAN. Korean talk, 1356 Korean song, closing ann and music. Thanks to J. M. Romero for tips! 35233. 9970, *1545-1600, CLANDESTSINE, 25.01, R Free Chosun, via Gavar, Armenia. Korean opening ann, ID: "Sayu Chosun Pansong im nida", talk - fighting with RTBF, Wavre 43433. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9880, CLANDESTINE (JAPAN), Furusato no Kaze, heard at 1435 on January 28 in Japanese with talks by male/female announcers and some piano music with a choir. Positive station ID by female announcer at 1442. Very weak signals. 73s de Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Darwin, AUSTRALIA, 250 kW, 3 degrees (gh) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. ARMENIA, 7530 kHz, Free North Korea Radio, via Gavar at 2020z with 2 OMs talking. Perhaps interview. Heard a faint signal under which could be a jammer. SINPO 44333 Jan. 29 (José Turner, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. CLANDESTINE (TURKMENISTAN?), 3930, Radyoy Dengi Kurdistana noted, in progress, at 0255z with songs until ToH when OM ID followed by martial music. National Anthem? ID as "Erah (?) Radyoy Dengue Kurdistana" or so it seemed to me. From 0304z jammer started. SINPO 34343, Jan. 29 (José Turner, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZSTAN. TWR/Kyrgyz R mix --- 28 Jan at 1445 noted on 4010 and 4795 not only Kyrgyz Radio but also TWR starting in English. That TWR program was also audible on 1467. Some kind of audio leak or mixup in Bishkek. R Rossii program on 4050 was alone on the frequency (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. Re 9-008: SE EXTIENDE LA REBELIÓN MADAGASCAR http://www.revistaecclesia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8217&Itemid=60 ANS-Antananarivo) - La situación en la capital de Madagascar todavía es confusa. Después de los episodios de violencia ocurridos en Antananarivo, la crisis se ha extendido a las provincias como Mahajanga, Fianarantsoa y Tuléar, según informan misioneros a la Agencia Info Salesiana.Image Las noticias son confusas. La única radio que transmite es Radio Don Bosco, emisora de los Salesiano, único canal de información para todo Madagascar, preservada del vandalismo de la muchedumbre. Por el momento transmiten todavía Radio Antsiva y otras pequeñas emisoras, las redes televisivas han sido oscurecidas, en la capital Radio MBS, la Radio y la TV Nacional han sido cerradas. El mismo Presidente de la República ha intervenido en Radio Don Bosco, con un comunicado. En la ciudad todos las grandes tiendas están cerradas, pocos negocios al por menor permanecen abiertas. Han sido saqueados e incendiados los centros comerciales, sobre todo los de propiedad del Presidente Marc Ravalomanana. Algunos bienes de primera necesidad como aceite y harina, no se consiguen. En los distribuidores de carburante, ya vacíos, la gente hace cola para los últimos abastecimientos, poca gente por las calles, y han sido reducidos los turnos de los medios públicos. Por las calles de la ciudad no hay policías ni militares, sólo algunos agentes del tráfico. En el curso de la noche se ha difundido la voz de que el agua del Jirama, la sociedad nacional de distribución eléctrica e hídrica, habría sido envenenada, pero las comprobaciones efectuadas han garantizado la potabilidad. Han sido hallados los cuerpos de 37 personas carbonizadas , se teme que otros cuerpos puedan ser descubiertos en las próximas horas. 5 son los muertos en Tuléar, entre los cuales una mujer embarazada, pisada por la muchedumbre que hacía razia en un supermercado. El Cardenal católico Mons. Armand Razafindratandra y el Obispo de la Iglesia reformada de Madagascar, ambos ya jubilados, han lanzado un llamamiento a la calma. En la noche de ayer, 27 de enero, ha sido establecido el toque de queda hasta el alba. Las autoridades están empeñadas en custodiar la sede del Jirama y los depósitos de los carburantes (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) MADAGASCAR REVOLT SPREADS [quick & dirty Google translation] Written by Ecclesia Digital Thursday, January 29, 2009 The situation in the capital of Madagascar is still unclear. After episodes of violence in Antananarivo, the crisis has spread to the provinces and Mahajanga, Fianarantsoa and Tulear, as reported by missionaries la Agencia Info Salesiana. The news is confusing. The only radio that is transmitting Radio Don Bosco, the Salesian station, the only channel of information for Madagascar, preserved from the vandalism of the crowd. For now still transmit Radio Antsiva and other small radio stations, television networks have been obscured in the Capital. Radio MBS, Radio and National TV have been closed. President of the same Republic has spoken on Radio Don Bosco, in a statement. In the city all the big shops are closed, a few retail businesses are open. Have been looted and burned shopping malls, especially those owned by President Marc Ravalomanana. Some essential goods such as oil and flour, are not achieved. As distributors of fuel and empty, people queue to make the supplies last, few people in the streets, and have been reduced shift the public media. On the streets there is no police or military, only a few traffic officers. During the night has spread the voice of the water in the Jirama, the national electricity and water have been poisoned, but the verifications have guaranteed portability. They were found the charred bodies of 37 people, it is feared that other bodies may be discovered in the coming hours. 5 are killed in Tulear, including a pregnant woman, step by Razia the crowd was in a supermarket. Cardinal Armand Razafindratandra Catholic Bishop and the Bishop of la Iglesia Church Madagascar reformed, and both retired, have launched an appeal for calm. On the evening of yesterday, January 27, has been established curfew until dawn. The authorities are committed to guarding the headquarters of Jirama and fuel tanks. ------- ------- Fco. Javier Valiente Communications Officer C/ Marqués de la Valdavia, 2. 2. 28012 Madrid. Tel: 91 527 14 44 / 661 36 72 52 http://www.salesianos-madrid.com (via gh, dxldyg via DXLD) FRANCE TO HELP MADAGASCAR REHABILITATE DAMAGED NATIONAL TV, RADIO http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/28/content_10730594.htm ANTANANARIVO, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- France has promised to rehabilitate Madagascar's national radio and television buildings which were badly damaged during the mass protest on Monday, Madagascan president Marc Ravalomanana announced here on Wednesday. During his inspection of the damaged buildings, which were looted and set on fire by protesters, Ravalomanana told the media that he would make his best efforts to restore security in the capital city and the whole island country. This was his first public appearance since Sunday, when he cut short his visit and returned home from a summit meeting of the Southern African Development Community. Accompanied by Prime Minister Charles Rabemananjara, National Assembly President Jacques Sylla and senior government officials, Ravalomanana said the buildings would be rehabilitated as soon as possible. More than 10 supper [sic] markets and shops were destroyed in fire following the mass looting and robberies on Monday. No one has claimed responsibility for all the lootings and damages (Xinhua via Zacharias Liangas) From Xinhua so not necessarily true. See also VATICAN [non]! ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7130, Sarawak FM via RTM; 1427-1447, Jan 28. Three stations heard here; believe strongest was tentatively Taiwan; under that was CNR-2 (// 6065) and at the bottom of the pile was Sarawak FM playing a distinctive indigenous music and was in vernacular (it helped that the other two stations had just non-stop talking, in Chinese). Clearly parallel to 5030, which of course had the usual strong CNR-1 on top of them, but again was lucky that CNR-1 was also just non-stop talking, so the music came through fairly well. Sarawak FM is only occasionally heard when conditions are good (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) also see UNIDENTIFIED ** MALI. 9635, RTV du Mali Jan. 28, 2009 *0800-0830. S/on with flute, drums and strings followed by OM in continuous talk in French until 0830, then into African pops. This broke from usual format of DJ and lots of music at s/on (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA; NRD535-D, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5985.80v, Myanma R., 1504-1532, Jan 28. Still heard off- frequency via assume Yagon; in vernacular with music program till English started at BoH. What is of interest is that I heard an unidentified station on 5985.0, with very poor reception, with QRM from 5980 and Myanmar; non-stop talking in unidentified language, BoH woman gave URL but unable to make it out. Who? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Radio Netherlands drops English via Orfordness 1296 kHz --- Hi all, Just to let you know that I received confirmation earlier today that Radio Netherlands has dropped its English transmission to Europe at 1600 UT on 1296 kHz. Today (26/1/09) and Friday (23/1/09) I tuned in between 1600 and 1700 UT to be greeted by RNW's Dutch transmission. I telephoned RNW and spoke to a producer on the Network Europe programme who told me that the English transmission had indeed been cancelled and that I could continue listening online, which I shan't be doing. The producer was pleased that someone was listening and seemed disappointed also that the MW transmission was gone. Congratulations once again RNW. You've just lost another listener, and quite a few others, I suspect! (Darren Rozier, 26 Janaury, via Dave Kenny, 28 January, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Why? I suppose the Dutch and English departments struggle over available airtime and you know who has upper hand (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RNW English language broadcast on 11805 kHz via Meyerton, AFS on 1/29/09 had carrier only from 1900-1940; program/modulation began at 1940 and continued until signoff at 1957. Incidentally; // RNW broadcast on 11655 kHz via Talata-Volondry, MDG had normal programming and modulation from 1900-1957 (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA, Kenwood R-2000, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Vatican Radio by mistake instead of R. Netherlands via Madagascar: See VATICAN [non] ** NEWFOUNDLAND. CFLN-1230 Goose Bay NL and its relay CFLW-1340 Wabush NL have both applied to the CRTC to move to FM. CFLN has applied for 97.9 MHz, 1kW at 25.4 meters, and CFLW has applied for 94.7 MHz, 1kW at -26.4 meters (yes, a negative EHAAT): http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-36.htm#22 22. Goose Bay and Wabush, Newfoundland and Labrador Application Nos. 2008-1513-6 and 2008-1601-9 Applications by Newcap Inc. (Newcap) to convert its radio programming undertaking CFLN Goose Bay and its rebroadcasting transmitter CFLW Wabush from the AM band to the FM band. The new station at Goose Bay would operate on frequency 97.9 MHz (channel 250A) with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 1,000 watts (non-directional antenna/effective height of antenna above average terrain of 25.4 metres). The new transmitter at Wabush would operate on frequency 94.7 MHz (channel 234A) with an ERP of 1,000 watts (non-directional antenna/effective height of antenna above average terrain of -26.4 metres). The applicant requests permission to simulcast the programming of the new FM station and transmitter on CFLN and CFLW respectively for a period of three months from the date of implementation of the new FM station. The applicant also requests, pursuant to sections 9(1)(e) and 24(1) of the Broadcasting Act, the revocation of the licence for CFLN effective at the end of the simulcast period. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, AB, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Hi Doug, Was just trying to look up some info in your http://www.w9wi.com database (new). KLHO-LP 17 OKC is in weakly with local area tropo, fog. Strangely, it is doing a slow vertical roll downward on my screen. And I have no vertical hold (what`s that??). Maybe caused by DTV QRM? Something about en vivo in the UR corner but audio not making it. Guess it is Spanish. What does HTVN mean for programming/network on that station? I could not find any key to abbrs. in your old or new list. If there is one, please refer me to it (Glenn Hauser, UT Jan 29, to Doug Smith, TN, via DXLD) No, I don't think it has anything to do with DTV. Sounds like they have a vertical sync issue at the station. Hispanic TV Network. May not still exist (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, to gh, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) KLHO-17 later strengthened a bit and quit rolling. Program was TV Alabanza en Vivo as in constant UR superbug. Seemed to have some local OKC elements, so not sure if this was really from a network. But that could be the name of the network rather than individual program. I see you still have KXOK-32 Enid as A1 network. I thought I informed you long ago that they left that for the sportsman/outdoor network, whatever it is called. Ditto digital on 31. 24/7 about hunting, etc. And what does ||||| mean in the programming column? (Glenn to Doug, ibid.) Darn it. Probably lost that update, sorry! I'm just going to call it "Sportsmen Ch." for now. ||||| means there are no subchannels. The | separates each subchannel, allowing for six. (I'm afraid I'm going to have to add some as WMVT-DT has *eight* subchannels.....) I could program it to drop the | if there are no further subchannels to separate, but there have been cases where there are gaps. (there might be a 31-1 and a 31-3 but no 31-2) (Doug to Glenn, ibid.) Axually, KXOK is not 24/7 hunting, etc. I have been keeping an eye on it and they do break away for other important stuff such as shows about OU and OSU sports. Also promos carrying Outdoor Oklahoma, which is also on OETA et al., from state govt. But they default rest of the time, such as now, is this: http://www.thesportsmanchannel.com/ Search for local access? They don`t know about KXOK, only showing DirecTV for 73701 inhabitants (Glenn to Doug, ibid.) Suddenlink cable here in Enid replaced OETA-13 analog OTA pickup some weeks ago with digital, and crop it most of the time rather than letterbox all that wide PBS programming, grrr. But I am still wondering how they get the signal, since they are a block away from KXOK-DT-31 whose 40 watts are surely plenty to block KETA-DT-31 as they are at my place a mile away. Thought maybe they were getting KOED-DT OTA from Tulsa instead, but I don`t see any antennas at their headend aimed toward Tulsa, which would still be a bit of a long haul for reliable reception. The customer service people know nothing, and try to keep customers from talking to engineers or managers who might possibly know something. Now tonight, with fog, KETA via Suddenlink has gone into digital lockups, unusable. Suspect enhanced QRM due to tropo on whatever channel they are picking up. KETA OTA on 13 has no such problems into my antenna. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, 0554 UT Jan 29, to Doug, ibid.) I'd bet KETA-DT is being picked up OTA at some point much closer to OKC and then microwaved or fibered to Enid. Around here, Comcast picks up the Nashville DTVs OTA on an antenna in Bordeaux, about two miles north of downtown. It microwaves those signals to their headend downtown -- and to their system in Murfreesboro, 30 miles away -- and to Charter Communications who uses them on their system in Clarksville, 40 miles in the other direction. I think it's used on a few more Comcast and Charter systems as well - quite possibly as far away as Cookeville, 70 miles away. Most stations are asking that cable center-cut (crop) their 16:9 signals for analog customers. To be honest most viewers I've met prefer it that way (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, to gh, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also occurred to me S/link might pick up KETA closer to OKC, but given many years of OTA pickup in Enid of KETA-13, including DX QRM, KERA, etc., I doubted they would go to the trouble. Maybe they are getting more than one station that way to make it worthwhile. Cropping: well, PBS isn`t in on it, with subtitles, etc., cut off at the edges of the screen (Glenn to Doug, ibid.) ** OKLAHOMA. As of Jan 27, OETA is still running explicit announcements that they WILL turn off their analog transmitters Feb 17, i.e. KETA-13, KOED-11, KOET-3, and KWET-12. After that, viewers will not only need DTV converter boxes but will those already watching DTV will need to rescan (as they will be moving to new permanent DTV channels, i.e. KETA from 32 back to 13). This I have urged them to do --- not go with the delay to June 12 even if permitted, and I can only hope that is the real intention, rather than automatically continuing to run old announcements (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Subject: Don't delay DTV!! I am not sure what OETA`s policy is, but as I understand it, you may go ahead with the Feb 17 date, even tho it may be delayed until June 12. Please do it in Feb as originally planned. We in Enid can`t get OKLA and are itching to get your DTV signal back on unblocked channel 13. Please let us know unequivocally whether you will observe the Feb 17 date. Thanks, (Glenn Hauser, Jan 27, to OETA, via DXLD) Dear OETA Viewer: OETA will shut off our analog broadcast on Feb. 17th at 1 pm in the afternoon. At that point the new digital Channel 13.1 and 13.2 (Okla) should be available in the Enid area. OETA has requested special permission from the FCC to terminate on Feb. 17th at 1 pm even if the deadline is extended for some stations. As of yesterday all the extension bills had been rejected at the Federal level so all stations should be switching on Feb. 17th. (Mark Norman, Deputy Director Oklahoma Educational Television Authority P.O. Box 14190 - 7403 N. Kelley Avenue Oklahoma City, OK 73113-4190 mnorman @ oeta.tv http://www.oeta.tv 405-841-9246 office 405-841-9252 fax Jan 29, to gh, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALESTINE [non]. 5815, 2120-2125, CLANDESTINE, 22.01 Al-Aqsa R, Gaza, via ? Arabic political comments, 25332 // 5835 (44434). Both off at recheck 2157. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) CLANDESTINA, 5835, Radio Al Aqsa, 1905-1915, escuchada el 28 de enero con emisión musical, piezas revolucionarias. A pesar de la buena señal la modulación no es buena; no consigo captar nada en 5815. Se sigue captando la extraña señal digital de forma intermitente, SINPO 44333 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note: these were initially filed under UNIDENTIFIED, which they really still are, despite having outfound the programming source (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. 5025, R Quillabamba, 2314, talks by M in Quechua, QRM R Rebelde, Cuba, causing low pitch het (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, DX Trip 2009 Barra de Valizas, Rocha, Uruguay, Degen DE1103, short wire 10 meters, two meters high, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unimaginable here on the other side of Cuba to hear any trace of this vs Rebelde (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. Re 9-007: DRM --- Cf. http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/rdp-internacional-launches-drm-transmissions-on-31-january "in cooperation with Deutsche Welle" (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. Radio PMR, 6240 kHz, 2233-2245, 1/27/09. From 2233 to 2242 a male announcer read news and sports in English; 2242-2244 station contact information; IS at 2244 which was immediately followed at 2245 by the French language broadcast of Radio PMR. Reception was good (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA, Kenwood R-2000, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** QATAR. Re 9-007, "WTFK?" --- Very good question. I see two possibilities: Either it will be for 954, as an option to run it omnidirectional at times (especially during daytime). Or it will be for another frequency, perhaps 1233, replacing the Al Khisah site that perhaps could be closed. Of course in the latter one case somebody else will have to deliver the transmission equipment (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Again note the Moscow Lesnoy spurious signal of 6130 kHz French service on varying 6239.41 at 1930 UT Jan 28, and 6239.08 kHz at 2030 UT, warbling and wandering down. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, harmonics yg via DXLD) RUSSIA, 6130 fundamental. Again note the Moscow Lesnoy spurious signal of 6130 kHz French service on vary 6239.41 at 1930 UT, and 6239.08 kHz at 2030 UT, warbling and wandering down. Also symmetrical around 6020.14 kHz, and two 15 kHz away spur peaks like on 6114.78...81v and 6145.22v kHz. On Jan 29th at 1940 UT noted also on 5911.68 and 6348.27 kHz. At 2200 UT close-down (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 28/29, via dxldyg via DXLD) ** SPAIN. see COLOMBIA [non]: 5555 mixing product ** SPAIN [non]. THE HISTORY OF RADIO ESPANA INDEPENDIENTE New book of Luis Zaragoza Fernández. Infos, pics and clip here: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/6394241.html 73's (Francesco Cecconi, Jan 28, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) Includes look at REI pennant; and QSL of Picasso design (gh) ** SRI LANKA. Lanka bans LTTE's FM radio 'Voice of Tigers' 1/27/2009 10:22:23 PM http://www.timesnow.tv/NewsDtls.aspx?NewsID=27841 After cornering the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the thick jungles of Sri Lanka's north-east, the Government has banned the official radio of the rebels' -- "Voice of Tigers" -- two weeks after it proscribed the militant organisation. The Government on yesterday (January 26) banned the Voice of Tigers (VoT), the mouthpiece of LTTE, Director General of the Media Center for the National Security Lakshman Hulugalle said. The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission yesterday terminated the broadcast license granted to the radio during the tenure of the United National Front Government headed by Ranil Wickramasinghe. The ban on VoT became mandatory after the Government proscribed the LTTE, Chairman of the TRC told 'The Island' newspaper. “This (ban) was discussed very much during the last couple of weeks, but decision was only taken on Sunday,” he said. The Lankan government banned the LTTE on January 7, five days after its army captured the rebels' de-facto capital of Kilinochchi, accusing it of holding the civilians in areas controlled by it against their will. The Army had on Sunday claimed to have captured the last rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu, considered as the headquarters of 'Sea Tigers', the coastal wing of LTTE. (With inputs from agencies) (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) This might lead to resumption of SW clandestine broadcasts from outside, if LTTE have enough resources or resolve left, and if they can find a host, triply iffy (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 5975, RWANDA. Sudan Radio Service, via Kigali, 0311 English, talks, news read by W mentioned Sudan several times. ID by man. Jan 14 (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, DX Trip 2009 Barra de Valizas, Rocha, Uruguay, Degen DE1103, short wire 10 meters, two meters high, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. TAIWÁN, 9745, Han Sheng, Voice of Kuanghua, Kuanyin, 1409- 1423, escuchada el 28 de enero en idioma mandarín a locutor con comentarios, fragmento musical, locutora con comentarios. Estación listada tanto en EiBi cómo en Aoki; no he encontrado emisión en paralelo por Internet para confirmarla. Emisión de música pop local, SINPO 35343. En Internet he encontrado una web de Voice of Han: http://www.voh.com.tw/ --- en ella no se menciona emisiones por Onda Corta, sí por FM y AM. Taipei 684/1116 Taoyuan 693/936 Taichung 1287 Yunlin 1089 Tainan 693 Kaohsiung 1251 Hualien 1359/792 Ilan 1116 Penghu 1269/846 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. Radio Taiwan International, 11850 kHz, 1746-1758, 1/27/09. 1746-1755 two female announcers discussed various topics (a portion of their discussion included Mt. Jade, the highest peak in Taiwan); 1755-1758 music; abruptly signed off at 1758 during an announcement of their English language frequency schedule. Reception of this English language broadcast was fair to good with moderate fading. EiBi indicates the transmitter is located in Issoudun and the target is SAf (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA, Kenwood R-2000, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. Radio Thailand, 12095, 0040, English, 444, Jan 26, OM with an ID 0040, YL interviewing a YL 0044. OM with an ID 0045. YL with comments on the Chinese New Year in Thailand in the Year of the Ox. Into the Thai language at 0100 (Stewart MacKenzie, WDX6AA, Huntington Beach, California, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good to have this reconfirmed as seldom audible here, tho intended for ENAm (gh) ** U K [non]. The BBC World Service relay via Meyerton (South Africa) on 6155 kHz in English to West Africa has been observed over past three days (26-28 January 2009) going off promptly (mid-sentence) at 2313 UT each day, past its scheduled sign-off time of 2300. Offers good reception here in the UK at 2300 of the World News (Tony Rogers, Birmingham - UK, AOR 7030+ / LW, Jan 28, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Mis-set clock timer, or computer programming? (gh, DXLD) ** U K. BBC SCRAPS BONUSES AND FREEZES PAY FOR SENIOR MANAGERS Leigh Holmwood, Tuesday January 27 2009, guardian.co.uk More than 400 senior managers at the BBC, including the controllers of BBC1 and Radio 4, have been told their salaries will in effect be cut by up to 12% next year as the corporation axes bonuses and freezes pay in a move that will save it ?20m. In a series of briefings today, BBC managers including all the main TV and radio service heads ? including BBC1 controller Jay Hunt and her Radio 4 counterpart Mark Damazer ? were told their annual bonus, which can total up to 10% of their salary, would be axed, while there would also be a pay freeze for senior executives. The BBC said the bonus hiatus and pay freeze for senior staff will not be reviewed until at least July 2010. The BBC's executive management board, including director general Mark Thompson, deputy director general Mark Byford, and director of vision Jana Bennett, have already forgone their bonuses for 2009 and will also now be subject to the pay freeze. By scrapping bonuses and freezing senior management's pay the BBC said it hoped to avoid having to make any further large-scale redundancies on top of about 7,000 job cuts in recent years. . . To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/27/bbc-scraps-bonuses-freezes-pay-for-senior-managers [with a portrait of a worried-looking Mark Thompson] (via Dale Park, HI, DXLD) ** U S A. VOA HAUSA SERVICE CELEBRATES 30TH ANNIVERSARY Washington, D.C., January 29, 2009 - Voice of America's (VOA) Hausa Service celebrated its 30th anniversary today at the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters. Nigeria's Minister of State, Information and Communications, Alhaji Ikra Bilbis, participated in the festivities and represented Nigeria's First Lady Hajia Turai Yar'Adua. On behalf of the First Lady, Minister Bilbis said: "We recognize and appreciate the vital role the VOA's Hausa Service plays as a vehicle of mobilization and development....We are also particularly thankful for the tremendous attention that the VOA Hausa Service gives to issues affecting women and children." Several other Nigerian dignitaries traveled to Washington for the event, joining diplomats from the embassies of Nigeria, the Niger Republic and Zambia. "Since the Hausa Service first went on the air in January of 1979," VOA Director Danforth Austin said, "it has been one of the most popular international broadcasters in Africa-providing relevant news and information about Nigeria, the United States and the world." The day's activities included a presentation on The Role of International Radio in Promoting Democracy by Howard University's Dr. Bolaji Aluko, followed by a panel discussion. The celebration also featured a special performance by a local Nigerian cultural dance group. The VOA Hausa Service reaches over 20 million people on shortwave, medium wave and affiliate stations in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Ghana. In Nigeria alone, VOA Hausa enjoys a weekly audience of over 47 percent. Its programs are also available on the Internet at http://www.VOANews.com/Hausa (VOA press release Jan 29 via DXLD) How about that: a VOA service axually welcomed by the target country`s government. It`s also one of very few languages left that are still transmitted directly from the USA. Current A-Z language schedule shows: 0500-0530 UTC 1530 4960 6045 9600 0700-0730 UTC 4960 11985 13775 1500-1530 UTC 7155 9450 11705 2030-2100 UTC 4940 6040 9780 12080 15185 M-F Of which 15185 is Greenville, inbooming here off the back (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR still transmitting by mistake on 6430 instead of 3215! 24 hours after first heard, Jan 28 at 0704, VG except for ute QRM, and zero signal, not even a trace of a carrier on 3215. I have not checked at other hours, but I suppose this is happening during the entire span of the scheduled 3215 transmission, 0200-1000 UT. WWCR back on 3215, UT Jan 29 at 0415 check, and again at 0700, after having been only on its double, 6430 for at least two nights. Probably still putting out a weakened harmonic on 6430. BTW, the previous report by Brian Alexander of a spur on 6414.2 UT Jan 25 and 26 can now be explained more likely as a spur of 6430 when that was axually a fundamental, than as the harmonic of a spur of 3215 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWCR heard here on 3215 at 0750 check with a good signal. Also noted on 6430 down in the QRM. Jan. 29, 2009 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Juergen served the SDR software defined radio recording ...: 6430 also observed in Germany around 07-10 UT. "Um 09:03 UTC kam die Ansage: "Two-W C R international short wave radio". Damit ist der Urheber eindeutig identifiziert (Juergen Martens-D DF5TY, A-DX / wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 28 via dxldyg via DXLD) Just wonder if this is a mistake. 2x original and no signal on original frequency suggests a serious problem in transmitter or same in operating personnel (Jari Savolainen, Finland, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since the WWCR-1 transmitter on 3215 has been putting out 6430 instead, it occurs to me that if a faulty component is causing this, and yet to be fully repaired, it could also happen to the other frequencies from same transmitter. Please check whether 7465 is up to usual strength at 22-02 UT, and/or audible on 14930. That`s Spanish during the first hour on weekdays. Even if putting out on doubles, propagation may make them hard to hear, much more so the other two, unless unpredictable sporadic E help out: 19970 instead of 9985 at 10-11 31650 instead of 15825 at 11-22 (Glenn Hauser, 2153 UT Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But 7+ minutes later, 7465 was inbooming and nothing audible on 14930; however, 13845 was JBA, so propagation on 14930 certainly unfavorable (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI, 9955 still going well on NW antenna, Jan 28 after 1500 with Prague in English; by 1559 I was monitoring the webcast instead to hear Frecuencia al Día ending, so fill in another blank in the schedule, Wed at 1530; 1601 DX Partyline. This date, Jan 29, I intuned 9955 earlier to monitor WRMI`s transition from S to NW antenna and from Spanish Cuban to English Czech programming. At 1456, nothing but DentroCuban Jamming Command roaring away. But no sign of a change at 1500. Finally at 1502:40 WRMI flipped on with ID and into relay of yesterday`s R. Prague program. WRMI immediately dominated the jamming and Prague could be copied without a problem, tho with annoyance. Presumably the jamming dwindled during the next quarter-hour as per usual behavior, as if the Cubans want to be absolutely sure this isn`t going to revert to exile programming. It`s good that WRMI correlates its antenna change times with axual breaks between programs, which often run late, rather than chopping something off incomplete at a set time no matter what, like some more major broadcasters do. 1530 program on this Thursday was Frecuencia al Día, as quickly rechecked at 1545. O, I see that WRMI has another schedule updated Jan 23, now filling in all the blanks at http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=94 as to what programs appear M-F at 1530-1700 UT, 10:30 am-noon local: 1530 Studio DX (Mon), Frecuencia al Dia (mar-jue), Wavescan (Fri) 1600 DX Party Line (Mon-Thurs), World Baseball Today (Fri) 1615 Aventura DXista (lun-juev), DX Party Line (Fri) 1630 Reality in Jesus (Mon), World of Radio (Tues-Thurs), Frecuencia al Dia (viernes) Since the NW antenna is working so much better in covering NAm, I wonder why they don`t stay on it at 1700-2200 M-F during the WRN relays, all in English; nothing audible except weak residual? jamming at 2100 check Jan 29 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. AFN (AFRTS), 7811.0 kHz (USB), 2207-2228, 1/27/09. Broadcast was NPR's "All Things Considered". Reception was good. Reception on // 5446.5 kHz was fair with substantial background noise; reception on // 12133.5 kHz was poor due to declining propagation conditions in the 25 meter band. AFN website http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/ShortWave.aspx reveals the transmissions are 24/7 and from Key West, FL. The AFN website lists a frequency of 7812.5 kHz, however this is incorrect and should read 7811.0 kHz (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA, Kenwood R-2000, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But as Terry Krueger will remind us if I don`t, the FL site is actually on Saddlebunch Keys. What do they know at DOD? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Re WRNO asking for reception reports --- Has anyone received a QSL or other response from them? (Bill Harms, MD, Jan 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I have received an email from them when I sent in my reception report about a month ago. I used their online form at their website. http://www.wrnoworldwide.org and they responded by the email wrnoradio @ mailup.net Dear Sir: Thank you so much for your reception report of WRNO Worldwide 7505 kHz. We are excited that you were able to pick us up loud and clear. We hope that you will become a regular listener to our station. From WRNO Worldwide Staff (via Blake, ibid.) ** U S A. Earlier this month I could not hear KGNO 1370 Dodge City KS in the daytime, as I used to, and figured it must have been silent. But it`s back now, altho heard via skywave, Jan 28 at 0720 UT with ID as ``AM Gold Radio 1370, KGNO``. And enjoyable music such as a 1960s version of Carole King`s ``Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow``; ``America`` by Simon & Garfunkel; ``Expressway to your Heart``, ``Gimme Some Lovin``` and something by The Temptations. Lots of QRM, but generally dominating the channel. Also presumably same heard at 1514 UT still with heavy skywave CCI --- sounds like a regional channel, which it is. Now playing Ray Stevens` ``Ahab, the A-rab``, 1520 ``We May Never Pass This Way Again`` by Seals & Croft. New format, no longer sports/talk as in 2008-2009 NRC AM Log. Night power supposed to be only 230 watts vs day power 5000, non-direxional day and night, which is a bit of a rarity. Maybe grandfathered; it is an old station. Here`s Ernie Cooper`s 1933 QSL: http://www.nrcdxas.org/ERC_Veries/KS/KGNO.pdf Can`t find a KGNO website (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I Googled "KGNO" and found this ... http://www.rockingmradio.com/kgno.htm According to the website, KGNO belongs to "Rocking M. Radio" out of Manhattan, KS. Their coverage map states that they are News/Talk/Ag, so my discovery may be stale based on what you heard. The website lists a corporate phone number as 785-565-0406, VP's name is Christopher D. Miller. I QSL'ed them back in 1983 when I lived in Bossier City, LA. The individual who signed my verie letter at that time was named Bob Kirby, their GM. Hope this helps! 73, (Steve N5WBI Ponder, Houston TX, ABDX via DXLD) Tnx; that site is only a coverage map. Interesting that despite ND one-tower, the pattern is sort of degraded to the WNW; ground conductivity decreases, Ogalalla updrying? Certainly still plains, no mountains (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1540 kHz, Jan 28 at 1513 UT station in Spanish with 214 area code, therefore the 32-kW KZMP, licensed to University Park, the suburb named for SMU in The Metroplex. But more significantly, it was bothered by IBOC (boo, hiss), and so was KOMA-1520 OKC, at this late hour. AFAIK, this could only be coming from WCKY 1530 Cincinnati (or whatever the calls are this week), and there was a strong AM talker on 1530 I did not try to ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1690, WVON Berwyn IL, Jan 28 at 1511 UT running opinion disclaimer, then the Santita (sp?) Jackson Show, and she IDed it as ``The Talk of Chicago, 1690, WVON``. I would think that one of the bigger stations would have locked up that slogan in that market. This in the bright sunlite on our ice and snow, but solar angle still plenty low for strong skywave from over a megameter away on the X- band. This station must also be the source of IBOC hiss I often hear on 1680, altho not at this moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: -- Your spelling of "Santita" is correct; and your 1680 IBOC could possibly be another fine Disney-generated crap globule from Denver, no?? (GREG HARDISON, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) IBOC hiss on 1680 during a fade of KRJO 1680 Louisiana, Jan 29 at 1434 UT, which soon came back up with gospel music. At this time, the dominant 1690 station was R. Disney, i.e. KDDZ Arvada CO, with teeny- bopper music (or is that term passé?), Radio Disney ID, so not only WVON IL but KDDZ are outhashing from 1690, as Greg Hardison outpoints. I had overlooked another `I` symbol for the latter in the NRC AM log; and BTW they both are also shown as $=stereo, so C-QUAM plus IBOC? The two are not mutually exclusive bandwidthwise? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WCKL 560.86 --- Yes, you're reading correctly. WCKL Catskill NY is easy pickin's on 560.86 USB, clear as a bell there, safely away from anything else on 560. Putting a huge het on 560. IDing as "98.5 Lite FM" and playing a mix of pop music. If they keep at it they'll soon be on 98.5 (Saul Chernos, Ont., 0053 UT Jan 28, IRCA via DXLD) And in order for me to hear them here in WFIL's back yard, they might need to ! (Russ Edmunds Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ), [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], WTFDA via DXLD) Maybe that's the answer to an increasingly crowded band. 1 kHz separation. I had WCKL separate and distinct from a mix of CFOS and WIND, and could listen to both channels without any significant QRM to each other. I wonder what WCKL is up to. Maybe they laid off their engineering staff (Saul Chernos, ibid.) 2043 [EST Jan 27 = 0143 UT Jan 28] 560.86, "Dice dot com, weather, 98.5 Lite FM, now showing CD wobble with Beegees (I think) tune. Relog. Thanks to the ever-vigilant Saul Chernos (Jim Renfrew, Holley NY, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Guys: Thanks to a DX tip from Saul Chernos, I just logged a New ULR Station on 560.8!! For some reason they are not on frequency and are throwing a wicked het on 560 kHz!!! I had to use the E-100 Slider and the closest I could tune was 561 but Saul was measuring them on 560.86. They were mixing with WIND out of Chicago. 560.8, WCKL Catskill, NY Jan/27/09, 2009 EST, EE, FR-GD. Mixing with WIND Chicago. Pop music and soft rock selections from 2009 to 2025 EST. Ad at 2025 for a "PreInventory Sale". ID as "98.5 Lite-FM" sung out by females. Into Rod Stewart Song "Downtown Train" 2026 EST. More soft rock/pop music. 1 kW/43 Watts nights (Robert S. Ross VA3SW, London, Ontario CANADA, ibid.) This one is still there tonight, and worth a try for folks out west. The carrier is FM'ing badly, and the het against 560 is noticeably wobbly. If you're looking with a spectrum display, you won't see a distinct peak - it's very fuzzy, spreading over 5 Hz or so (Barry McLarnon VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, 0154 UT Jan 29, ibid.) I'm hearing the carrier, 560.867 kHz, with the narrow audio filter, medium strength, 0226 utc. Easy to hear the carrier varying, sometimes sounds almost like morse code in narrow filter. Very odd! (Steve Ratzlaff, NE Oregon, 0228 UT Jan 29, ibid.) Hearing occasional brief fadeups of pop music now in USB mode. Maybe it will fade up better as the evening progresses. 0245 utc now. No music heard on the adjacent channels (Steve Ratzlaff, NE Oregon, 0247 UT Jan 29, ibid.) Steve, I've got it here too, with very weak music fade ups. Drake R8, 1500 ft. Eastern beverage (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, 0311 UT Jan 29, ibid.) ** U S A [and non]. NPR Announces Cuts To Staff, Programs --- While this is not uniquely germane to shortwave (after all, what is, nowadays?) what's potentially interesting to this group is that one of the programs that is filling up the slot created by the ending of "Day to Day" is the BBC's "World Have Your Say" http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98095326 (Richard Cuff, Allentown PA, Jan 28, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) This is not news; appeared Dec 10, but you may want to read some of the 150+ comments appended to it which have uppiled (gh, DXLD) As part of saving measures, NPR also stopped its overnight AM relays in Moscow, Russia from January 19. I wish they could take over a few hours at VoA's AM frequency as it's mostly VoA Music. But I'm sure it's impossible due to all the legal stuff on both ends (Sergei, Moscow, swprograms via DXLD) I agree, Sergei -- The fact that VOA and NPR don't work more closely together is something I have long wondered about as well. Yes, I know about the Smith-Mundt rules (at least I think that's the relevant Federal law) but in 2009 those rules are largely outdated (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) ** U S A. The podcast on Jan 23 about WMUB is interesting... http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wmub/.jukebox?action=viewPodcast&podcastId=16291 (Artie Bigley, OH, Jan 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) in three parts; the end of a broadcasting era in the Miami Valley, sad (gh) ** U S A. Boyd Matson on the PBS program Wild Chronicles from National Geographic, and/or his senior writer Gayle Young, need some educating – even about geography. Via OETA, the UT Jan 28 show`s penultimate segment was about the bush meat problem in the ``Republic of the Congo``, as referred to at least twice, audibly, whilst a brief glimpse at a map showed the DEMOCRATIC Republic of the Congo, and labeled correctly as the ex-Zaire, ex-Belgian Congo, capital Kinshasa one. The REPUBLIC of the Congo is a totally different country next to it across the river, ex-French, capital Brazzaville. Even the NGS doesn`t know enough to keep these two separate! Another mistake earlier in the show was referring to temperature increases in global warming. I have yet to hear or read anyone in the popular media get this right, something I learned in freshman physics at Washington University in 1963. A temp DIFFERENCE, should be expressed as ``Centigrade degrees`` (or Celsius or Fahrenheit). An actual temperature, should be expressed as ``degrees Centigrade,`` etc. Yet the latter is mixed up constantly to express temp differences rather than real temps. Think about it: this is entirely logical and a very useful distinxion, not only for the climatologist but anyone with a brain (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. In one of the final episodes of *Boston Legal* they addressed the issue of there being little of quality on television and almost nothing of interest to those on the high side of 50. Despite the over-50 group making up a large part of the audience and a majority of the disposable income one would assume the advertisers are after, the networks act as if this group does not exist at all. It was pointed out that the only show willing to have starring cast members over the age of 50 was, "*Bost*... Oh, I can't say that without breaking the walls in here." (It always cracked me up when they made reference to the actors or past roles they played. The first time I recall hearing it was when Shatner said, "I used to captain a ship, you know.") It was also pointed out that much of the audience is doing other things -- talking on the phone, dealing with the kids -- when watching TV, so they purposely dumb down the plots so people can still follow with only one eye on the screen. One of my other passions is poker. I read a lot about it online. One of the questions raised whenever a new movie about gambling comes out is why gambling movies almost always seem to suck. *Cincinnati Kid* and *Rounders* are the only two good poker movies that come to mind, and *Rounders* is one of those that did better in DVD sales than at the box office. You've probably not heard of many of the very bad gambling movies because they died at the box office and disappeared in a matter of weeks. I regularly read a blog written by someone who used to do script reviews in Hollywood. She wrote about this issue and pointed out that it isn't just poker or gambling movies that seem to be of poor quality. The vast majority of scripts submitted to the studios are just plain bad, regardless of the topic. There simply aren't that many truly talented writers out there. This would obviously apply to television the same as the movies. I find I'm watching many more things on the cable-only channels than on the big networks. I think it's because they're willing to take a few more risks than are the networks. They don't seem to be programming more for the people who are actually paying attention. Not everything is dumbed down (Jay Heyl, FL, Jan 26, ABDX via DXLD) ** URUGUAY. 6125, SODRE (R. Uruguay), 1040, talks and music, good carrier but very low modulation, also heard 1915. Jan 15 (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, DX Trip 2009 Barra de Valizas, Rocha, Uruguay, Degen DE1103, short wire 10 meters, two meters high, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Única activa es SODRE. 6125 retrasmitindo Radio Uruguay 1050. Potencia inferior a 350 watts neste momento com muito baixa modulaçao (Horácio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguai, 1643 UT Jan 29, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** VATICAN [non]. Surprised to hear Vatican Radio on 15595, VG Jan 28 at 1429 IS, 1430 Italian talking about Gesù, then Amazing Grace sung in English; 1503 had switched to German, translating some guy in Italian, probably the current pope; 1525 recheck in Polish, 1530 back to Italian after IS, still loud & clear; 1555 operatic singing cut off with no goodbye at 1556:45. 15595 is a VR frequency at other times, so figured they had merely extended, maybe one of their special broadcasts, altho nothing seemed special about the content. Wait a minute! 15595 is supposed to be English to South Asia from Radio Netherlands via Madagascar --- yes, that is still scheduled at 1359-1557 per http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/081026-rnw-shortwave-schedule Therefore, this was a colossal feed mixup, no one noticing in Hilversum or Talata that they were broadcasting VR instead of RNW. Current VR sked for the European service supposed to be only on 5885, 7250, 9645 matches for 1500 German, 1515 Polish, 1530 music/Italian, but shows Portuguese until 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Yes, we put this on specially for your benefit as we know how fond you are of religious programmes :-) I have passed this on to our Programme Distribution Department, and will forward any response. Oddly enough, I was talking with Ehard Goddijn less than a hour ago, and he said that operations are "normal" at Talata despite the ongoing political crisis. 73, (Andy Sennitt, RNW, Jan 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Weird. What ended up on 15595 was apparently the Radio Vatican output that RAI puts on Eutelsat Hot Bird 8: http://www.radiovaticana.org/ted/E_ing.asp It's on Hot Bird 8 only, with a footprint not covering Africa (except its Mediterranean shore), thus Hilversum must have forwarded it to Talata Volonondry. What makes this incident weird is the circumstance that the RAI signal can not be the source for the Talata transmission of Radio Vatican, unless RNW records something for it. Presumably the same programming than 9660 0300-0400 is on one of the Radio Vatican feeds via Intelsat 904: http://www.radiovaticana.org/ted/I2_ing.asp Maybe Talata Volonondry picks up the Intelsat 904 feed directly. Trouble is that both Radio Vatican channels there carry between 1430 and 1600 other programs than heard on 15595. One Intelsat 904 channel runs // the shortwave frequencies to Europe then, thus with Spanish and Portugues instead of Italian until 1500, and the one with the African programming at 0300 has completely unrelated programs for Asia during the afternoon. So it's not just a simple switching error at the transmitter site either, thus I suspect that Talata Volonondry got this signal from Hilversum. Perhaps Andy will have a moment to find out about this mystery? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Rocus de Joode has forwarded your message to Talata. He commented that the phrase "collosal feed mix-up" is a bit over the top, since Talata receives the satellite feed from Vatican Radio directly and the audio does not go anywhere near Hilversum. I guess someone just forgot to switch from one satellite feed to another. 73, (Andy Sennitt, RNW, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, it seems fairly colossal when the wrong station is put on the air for at least a sesquihour, probably a full bihour. But under the circumstances, one can certainly understand how the Talatans would not be paying full attention to their work, with the riots spreading from the capital; see MADAGASCAR. Hope the RNW facility is not in jeopardy, or cut off from fuel as it has been in past disturbances (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. 9550, Voice of Vietnam, heard at 1559 on January 28 with the sign-on of their English service to Africa, into news. Good signals and no QRM. 73s de Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Quite an uneventful month, I'm afraid, apart from unID carrier on 6104.75 in the clear at 0233 this morning which I would like to think is XEQM? (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UNIDENTIFIED. 7130: Re 9-008: Glenn is correct, the station that Harold Frodge heard was undoubtedly CNR-2/China Business Radio, with their "English Evening" program on Chinese New Year's Eve (as reported in DXLD 9-007). CNR-2 parallels that I have heard recently are 6065, 6090, 6155, 7140, 7150, 7245, 7315 and 7375. Regarding reception of Sarawak FM via RTM: see my log under Malaysia/Sarawak (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Jan 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11835, 1710-1730 fade out, CLANDESTINE Sat 24.01, UNID, via Nauen, Germany. Vernacular talk like a speech without audience, 1717 song from Horn of Africa, more talk 25332. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 12500-12520, presumed OTH radar pulses, Jan 28 at 1423 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ITU MONITORING FILES UPDATED At the ITU Monitoring website: http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/terrestrial/monitoring/ you can fimd the following updated files: SUMMARY (ZIP DBF format) SUMMARY (PDF format) Monitoring Period Date of last update 320 320 01.10.08 - 31.12.08 21.01.2009 319 319 01.07.08 - 30.09.08 21.01.2009 318 318 01.04.08 - 30.06.08 21.01.2009 317 317 01.01.08 - 31.03.08 21.01.2009 (Dragan Lekic, Syria, Jan 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So they updated previous ones even when there were later quarterly ones in progress, apparently. These are tough to wade thru, huge files in frequency order with fine print, but potentially useful, especially by searching on unID frequencies, broadcast or utility. However, it`s all hit-and miss, seemingly random tuning, or perhaps when ordered to check out something; altho we have found that some of their `professional` monitoring is not up to DXer caliber (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MUSEA +++++ BROADCASTING IN THE 1920S I just read this article posted by a Facebook friend. It swerves into broadcasting, the author posits that radio in the 1920s was the internet of its day. Interesting little history snippet. The New Republic The New New Media by Tim Wu Post Date Wednesday, December 31, 2008 The Future of the Internet (And How to Stop It) By Jonathan Zittrain (Yale University Press, 352 pp., $30) (snip) Broadcasting was another of the early twentieth century's "new" media, and in its infancy it, too, had a structure somewhat akin to today's Internet. Radio stations in the 1920s were cheap and easy to set up, and they were free from direct government regulation. (The FCC had not yet been established.) Radio manufacturers such as RCA and Westinghouse ran many stations to sell sets. But others were run by amateurs, radio clubs, churches, hotels, poultry farms, newspapers, the Navy, and at least one motorcycle company (the Excelsior Motorcycle Co. in Seattle). While it sounds surprising, there were probably more broadcast radio stations in the 1920s than there are now (excluding satellite). A guide to the nation's stations in 1922 declined to provide listings for New York City, because "a list of all that can be heard with a radio receiver anywhere within three hundred miles of Greater New York would fill a book. At any hour of the day or night, with any type of apparatus, adjusted to receive waves of any length, the listener will hear something of interest." And early radio, like the early Internet, was aggressively non-commercial. At a radio conference held by the Commerce Department in 1922, all agreed that "direct advertising in radio broadcasting service be absolutely prohibited." Herbert Hoover, speaking at that conference, declared that "It is inconceivable that we should allow so great a possibility for service, for news, for entertainment, for education, and for vital commercial purposes to be drowned in advertising chatter." (snip) http://www.tnr.com/story.html?id=3cb8eb63-e509-461f-8c62-46c996248638 To those of you who seek lost objects of history, I wish you the best of luck. They're out there, and they're whispering. - Clive Cussler (Fred Waterer, Ont., http://www.doghousecharlie.com ODXA yg via DXLD) Entire article well worth reading, also dealing with movies (gh, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DAB: see also GERMANY; DRM: see below ++++++++++++++++++++ NATE opposes DTV DELAY http://www.betanews.com/article/The_DTV_Delay_Act_might_not_delay_DTV_for_some/1233071310 At least one organization, the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) [no relation], has come out against the DTV delay. In a statement this morning, NATE argues that the businesses of its member contractors who work on broadcast transmission towers, depends on the current itinerary not being messed with: ``The livelihoods of small businesses nationwide and their employees depend on plans that have been made around the February 17, 2009 DTV transition. For years, leases on tower space and special broadcast operations have been scheduled around the February 2009 analog sunset. By delaying the transition further, many millions of dollars will be wasted in unnecessary additional costs while simultaneously damaging our industry and increasing the potential for job losses in an already fragile economy. ``Broadcast infrastructure support companies were severely impacted when Congress enacted the first delay in 2002. Overnight, contracted work was halted and entire companies folded or merged with others, just to survive. Throughout our industry, specially trained laborers, technicians, and project managers lost their jobs. The industry feels that this conversion can be completed safely with the ample time that remains before the February 17 deadline. During these difficult economic times, an action to postpone this deadline would create more financial stress and uncertainty, while doing significant -- and avoidable -- harm to the many small businesses that provide essential supplies, materials, equipment and labor to the television broadcasters. ``The transition has been carefully planned for years. Congress mandated this change and broadcasters have responded. Now is not the time to second guess the plans that have been made, plans that hardworking small businesses have staked their livelihood on. The entire industry is ready to help make this transition happen. DTV is the way, don't delay.`` (via Scott M. Fulton, Betanews, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DTV DATE-CHANGE FAILS In a surprising turn of events, the House today failed to pass the DTV date-change bill, putting the move of the DTV transition date in doubt after all of the momentum seemed to be moving toward a four-month delay to June 12. Therefore, February 17 remains the official transition date. Only 61% of the House members voted in favor of the date change whereas a 2/3 majority (66.66%) was required for passage. John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable has more: http://tinyurl.com/DTVVoteFailure (CGC Communicator Jan 28 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) HOUSE DEFEATS OBAMA ADMINSTRATION BILL TO DELAY DIGITAL TV TRANSITION http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/01/28/2009-01-28_house_defeats_obama_adminstration_bill_t.html (via L. J. Rooney, Jan 28, dxldyg via DXLD) This is NOT necessarily over. The House can bring this back up under its own rules, and if so, it will pass. The previous vote managed a simple majority, but not the needed supermajority needed for passage in THIS vote. If brought up again, a simple majority would suffice. I can tell you, though, that broadcasters are secretly cheering this. One engineer I know says his station really, really wants to shut analog down. I do not know if they plan to sign off early if February 17 is optional (Peter, N4LI, Baskind, J.D., LL.M., Germantown, TN, Jan 28, WTFDA via DXLD) CREATIVE ION TACTIC TO GET MORE CABLE CARRIAGE OK, enough for this will-we-or-won't-we-go-digital stuff --- Here's another weird one: As you probably know, the Ion (Pax) stations are running four subchannels on their DTV signals. You may or may not be aware that under current regulations, cable systems are only required to carry one subchannel of any DTV station. Ion has come up with a truly creative way of getting a second channel of must-carry. Now, to see if it works...: A new company, Urban Television LLC, has been created. Ion owns 49% of Urban. Urban has filed for permits for 42 new DTV stations – one using the facilities of each Ion station. The Urban station on any given channel and the Ion station on the same channel would share time, as provided by FCC regulation 73.1705(a). Now, normally “sharing time” means each of two or more stations on a channel operates for several hours a day, then signs off and hands over the channel to another station (in practice, there's usually only one transmitter, with two or more licensees sharing use of that transmitter). For example, AM stations WRLL and WCEV share use of 1450 kHz at Cicero, Illinois. WRLL operates from 11 pm to 2 pm [sic] weekdays and Sunday nights, and 9:30 Saturday night to 6:00 Sunday morning. WCEV uses the remaining hours. Urban/Ion's plans are radically different. In digital television, what is transmitted is a stream of short data packets. Each packet may represent part of the picture, part of the sound, or part of the “metadata” - virtual channel table, “text ID”, program guide, etc... When multiple subchannels are broadcast, each data packet is associated with one subchannel. Only one data packet can be broadcast at a time. So maybe you see where we're going here? Yes, it looks like what Ion/Urban have in mind is to share time in units not of hours, but of 188-byte transport stream packets (each of which lasts a tiny fraction of a second...). The Ion station and the Urban station would be continuously switching back and forth in their use of the channel – completely transparently to the viewer. Each station is entitled to designate a “primary” subchannel which may elect must-carry protection on cable. The Ion station would be one station – the Urban station would have a different license – the theory is that both can elect a subchannel to be guaranteed carriage. It's certainly an interesting idea. Ion/Pax has tossed strange ideas at the FCC before, asking permission to move their analog operations from existing out-of-core channels to their new in-core DTV assignments, and then flash-cut to digital. That would, for example, have left them with an analog channel 12 facility in the Washington, DC market for several years. The FCC didn't buy that one. Since I'm sharing my gut feelings all over this month's column, I'll tell you my gut feeling is the FCC won't buy this one either. But this month, stranger things have happened (Doug Smith, Feb WTFDA VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) THE COST OF IBOC Scott - While I understand that many stations will "Leave it on until it breaks," why do some stations take their IBOC down temporarily and then put it back on? I understand having to go to a non-IBOC backup like WBZ did but WLW had their IBOC off for like a day and a half and then put it back on. Same boat as WBZ or were they actually working on the IBOC? (David Hascall, IN, IRCA via DXLD) I don't know why this happens. I know WLW has several 50 kW transmitters that they can use, and I assume only the newest (a Harris 3DX50) is IBOC-capable; if they were doing work on that transmitter and using one of the others (probably the Continental 317C) as a backup, the IBOC would have been off during that time. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) I live about 40 miles from WBZ's transmitting towers. I bought a highly vaunted IBOC receiver on sale (of course, they all are) to see how wonderful this IBOC was, I can barely receive WBZ IBOC during the day with a tunable C Crane Twin Coil Ferrite antenna and it is wide enough to receive it, forget the little loop that comes with it. I can receive no AM IBOC at night. I also live less than 10 miles from WTAG 580 and have never received their IBOC which is only on during the day. I have written to Marc M at WBZ and he is a cheerleader all the way. I think these guys who were on the frontlines such as him and Tom Ray are just too proud and stubborn to admit that this system is a complete failure. The IBOC whooshy sidebands will travel a thousand miles at night but the carrier? It's lucky to go 20. BTW if you actually can pick one up and hear AM IBOC it sounds terrible as the highs are artificially recreated by what the IBOC system thinks should be there and it is full of artifacts and dropouts. It is unlistenable after about 5 minutes the first time and after that it's an instant station changer. Its only saving grace is that the noise floor drops right out. My iBOC radio, a Sony XRD-F1HD has been gathering dust now for a month and this radio has many (relatively speaking) fans, a few of whom I am sure will speak up soon. FM is a little better but you still need a roof top yagi unless you actually live within about 10-20 miles of the towers and it doesn't really sound much different. All in all a failed experiment that is splitting radio in two, same in Europe, no matter what you read, DAB is also failing. I think part of the costs of IBOC are unseen: all the people who turn on an AM radio and think, wow this band is even noisier than I thought, time to turn on the FM or even I'm getting Satellite (Bob Young, Analog, MA, NRC-AM via DXLD) UK'S DIGITAL ACTION PLAN UNVEILED --- BBC News 29 January 2009 The Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, has just outlined the interim findings of the Digital Britain report to the House of Commons. These are the comments on BBC News re radio: "Future radio --- The report also examined the future of radio. The Culture Secretary said that digital audio broadcasting (DAB) will become the "primary distribution network", potentially giving notice for the end of traditional FM analogue radio. The government will also look at how the digital switch-over scheme - introduced for TV - could be expanded to help the radio transition." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology.stm [no; see below] No doubt there is much more detail to emerge (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Mike`s link was missing a bit - it should be http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7858498.stm But where they are going to finance this from is anyone`s guess!!! The Adventure starts this year! The Countdown is on! (Keith, UK, ibid.) ASCOLTI DRM COL MULTYRADIO 1 DRM: see also GERMANY; IRELAND; PORTUGAL In questi ultimo due giorni ho provato il ricevitore Multyradio 1 della tedesca Technisat, predisposto anche per il DRM. Me ne ha parlato tempo fa Claudio Re, il costruttore di CiaoRadio H101 e H102. E' una radio molto lontana a quelle a cui sono abituato, ma devo dire che mi ha permesso diversi ascolti, anche nella tradizionale AM o in FM (ha un RDS discreto, piuttosto veloce). Copre dalle onde lunghe ai 26 MHz. Inoltre riceve anche il DAB in banda III e banda L. Devo dire che l'audio è molto buono, è infatti pensato come radio da salotto per l'easy listening. Ecco qualche ascolto in DRM (antenna t2fd sul tetto) ONDE CORTE 3965, 28/1 0043 RFI, Issodun, Francia, fading e buchi nell'audio 6085, 27/1 1135 BR-B5 akt, Germania, audio ottimo 6095, 27/1 1140 RTL Radio, songs, audio ottimo, pochi gap 9545, 27/1 1145 BBC & DW, Woofferton, UK, DW reports, ottimo audio, pochi gap 11900, 27/11 1200 BNR Digital, Sofia, Bulgaria, news, buono con qualche buco audio 13760, 27/1 1204 Voice of Russia, tx Taldom, buon audio pochi gap 13810, 27/1 1208 BBC & DW, tx Sines, Portogallo, EE reports by DW, audio perfetto 15810, 27/1 1212 HCJB Global Voice, Ecuador, in Tedesco, audio ricevibile solo di rado. [?? HCJB is on 15275-15280-15285 per current DRM schedules; maybe copied by mistake last 3 of frequency above it --- gh] IN ONDE MEDIE 693, 28/1 0032 RAI Siziano OFF air 846, 28/1 0030 RAI Radiouno, Roma, audio buono a lungo, fading lento 1575, 28/1 0036 Oldiestar Radio, tx Burg, Germania, audio con molti buchi 1593, 28/1 0039 WDR Langenberg, Germania, NO audio, inutilizzabile (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, MW blog: http://radio-dx.blogspot.com/ playdx yg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SKIP ZONES I try to DX some broadcasts in English from UK sites like Rampisham, Skelton, Woofferton etc. I know most of these broadcasts are intended for targets outside of the UK but I would have thought I would get at least some sort of signal on shortwave from them as I am in the same country where they are beamed from. I would be interested to know why this is not always the case? Does this happen to you in your country as well folks?? (Gary Drew, England, Jan 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Try reading about propagation, and target areas. Target Areas: BBC External broadcasts to places outside the UK, usually beaming the transmission in a certain direction, and different transmitter sites are better for particular target areas. Propagation: Using Skywave to bounce the signal to the area intended - no ground signal for local audience. Then there is the user side of quality of radio and aerial. This is just a short answer - you should read up on the on the above - try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DXing as a starter (Keith C. Bradbury, ibid.) Hi Gary, You don't mention your location but you're probably too close to the transmitters for sky wave but not close enough for ground wave (usually about 50 km or less). The high gain curtain antennas in use for the BBC have very low angles of radiation for optimum long distance use. Your best bet would be something on 49 or 41 meters during hours of darkness (Jerry Lenamon, TX, ibid.) What you experience is a phenomenon knows as "skip zone" or "dead zone". Above a certain frequency shortwave signals bounce back from the ionosphere only if the angle under which they reach it is not too steap. An old textbook suggests to imagine what happens when a bullet hits a plate: When this happens at a shallow angle the bullet bounces back, otherwise it passes through the plate. Whenever a shortwave signal that goes straight upwards does pass through the ionosphere a dead zone arises. Within the dead zone the transmitter can, as this name already indicates, not be heard, away from so-called backscatter that could bring in a faint signal. The angle at which the signal no longer passes through the ionosphere determines at which distance the concerned transmitter becomes audible again (that's also known as "skip distance"). The size of the dead zone varies much between summer and winter and even more between day and night, besides the frequency of course. Some rough figures: 75 metres -- not used during daytime due to too much D layer absorption, no dead zone at night. 49 metres -- in midsummer no dead zone day and night, in winter no dead zone during daytime but often more than 1000 km skip distance at night. 49 metres -- not much different. 31 metres -- about 500 km skip distance during daytime, more than 1000 km in summer nights, hardly usable at all in winter nights. And the higher the frequency becomes the greater is the skip distance. Thus English-language transmissions via the three shortwave broadcasting sites in the UK will be hardly audible at home, because most of them aim at target areas outside Europe and thus go out on frequencies usually skipping over the UK. About the only exception is the English transmission of Korean Broadcasting System via Skelton, 2200-2230 on 3955. This broadcast indeed aims at audiences inside the UK (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) LONG HAUL TROPO NEW ZEALAND TO AUSTRALIA - approx 2200 km. There was a nice long tropo opening from New Zealand overnight (29 Jan/30 Jan 2009) which peaked between 1:00 - 3:00 AEDST. [14-16 UT Jan 29] Most stations were at intelligible levels. Some even reached stereo on the XDR-F1HD. New Zealand tropo is rare for me, the last opening in 2001. Loggings: 91.4, Concert-FM - beautiful stereo signal with usual Classical music 94.6, Life FM - usual pops - higher distortion than the other stations 95.4, Tainui FM - with a mix of English & Maori pops & canned IDs "R. Tainui" 98.6, ZH-FM - just tipping stereo with "Classic Hits" network 101.0, National Radio - with news & ID "Radio New Zealand National" then weather 103.4, Nui-FM - stereo. relaying "531 PI" (well, that was the ID heard) Maori program (Geoff Wolfe - Bombala NSW - Sony XDR-F1HD tuner - 12 element FM yagi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###