DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-020, March 3, 2009 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1450 Wed 0600 WRMI 9955 [or old 1449] Wed 1630 WRMI 9955 Thu 0630 WRMI 9955 Thu 1630 WRMI 9955 Fri 0200 WRMI 9955 Fri 1230 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Fri 2129 WWCR1 15825 [or 2130] Sat 0000 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 [irregular] Sat 0900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first Sat: March 7] Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 [or 0630 as DST starts; rest are DST-shifted:] Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 [confirmed March 2] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 [or new 1451] Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 [or new 1451] WBCQ is also airing new or archive editions of WOR M-F 2000 on 7415 [1900 UT from March 9 if continued] 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. Radio Solh, 6700 kHz, Kandahar airport: 31 30 12.01 N, 65 51 16.34 E (Wolfgang Büschel, Feb 26, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews March 2 via DXLD) ** ANGUILLA. 1610 - The Caribbean Beacon --- This station seems to have reinvented itself and is now reported coming in powerfully all over the world in previous weeks by many DXers. I have even received it here inland on my Eton E100 ultralight, so powerful was the signal. Yet WRTH lists it as only 10 kW. Can it be that they upgraded the transmitter to a more powerful level recently? Would be grateful for your thoughts. Regards (John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa, South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENNG DIGEST) Hi John, yes, it sounds stronger than before, so they must have boosted their transmitter. OTOH, I think it used to have less than 10 kW for some time. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) It`s now 25 kW, same non-direxional single tower antenna (George McClintock, consulting engineer and SW frequency coördinator, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTIGUA. Re 9-019: Glenn, If the 620 Antigua is still using the two-mast supported wire-cage "T" antenna that [epithets suppressed] Marconi evidently sold them along with the transmitter in the late '70's or early '80's, then they probably will have to replace it as well as the transmitter, since it undoubtedly has pretty limited bandwidth. I was shocked to see anyone install such a poor antenna at least 40 years after Lodge, Chamberlain, Brown et al demonstrated the superiority of simple vertical monopoles (Ben Dawson, WA, March 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. RA was not propagating on 9580, 9590 in Dec-Jan, and much of Feb, but by March 3 they are back up to good strength, 9580 until 1358 and 9590 continuing another hour or two, tho with much weaker signal here in the Alaskan service, requiring the longwire, not just a whippy portable. At 1436, a show featuring pow-wow music from Rapid City, and discussing the innovation of allowing women to sing. Per schedule grid at http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/programguide/universal.htm this was AWAYE, from Radio National, which airs on RA only at 1405- 1500 UT Tuesdays, this ep mainly about Lewis & Clark and the Blackfeet; audio available: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/awaye/stories/2009/2489541.htm This page explains the show and the presenter, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/awaye/about/ but never what Awaye means; is it an acronym? BTW, the Feb 7 AWAYE show, repeated from 2005y, was about CAAMA – and ought to have gone into the VL8 shower services: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/awaye/stories/2009/2482010.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) e.g.: 2325, VL8T Tennant Creek NT, 1124 March 3, the strongest signal of the NT three (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R8, NRD 535D, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. 7135, Radio Belarus; 2200-2211+, 2 Mar; Very young- sounding W with news in English to 2209+ M in English with sked. SIO=2+42+, QRN (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. BHUTAN KING APPOINTS RADIO HEAD AS PRESS SECRETARY http://www.abu.org.my/public/dsp_page.cfm?articleid=4286&urlsectionid=1061&specialsection=ART_FULL&pageid=247&PSID=3372 A Bhutanese broadcaster and journalist well known to ABU members, Dorji Wangchuk, has been appointed as Press Secretary to the King of Bhutan. Mr Wangchuk, who is also Managing Director of Bhutan's first private FM station, Centennial Radio, will be the country's first press secretary. He previously headed the programme department at BBS-Bhutan. Mr Wangchuk said the King had agreed to him continuing to oversee the operations of Centennial Radio for the time being. "The fact that an independent journalist has been asked to set up and head this post is the best thing that has come about for development of media in Bhutan," Mr Wangchuk said. "Bhutan is going through fundamental changes in politics, economy and social life - all initiated and driven by the King himself." Democratic elections were held for the first time last year in Bhutan at the initiative of the former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck. In November 2008 the King handed over his crown to his 28-year-old son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, as part of his plans to modernise the country and end the absolute rule of the monarchy. Friday 27 Feb 2009 (via Alokesh Gupta, India, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DXLD) So much for the verie-signer of BBS. Now what can we do? (gh, ibid.) ** BIAFRA [non]. Checking out Aoki listings involving Indonesia on 11785, I notice this: ``11785 WHRI VOICE OF BIAFRA 1900-2000 ...4... English 100 315 Furman-Noblesville USA 08108W 3241N VBIAF b08`` I.e. Wednesdays only at this time. Various times other than Friday 20- 21 on 15665 have been listed for VOBI but yet to be confirmed. WHR website is screwed up on March 2 as I attempt to check their current program schedule. BTW, as I have outpointed several times before, Noblesville no longer has anything to do with WHRI. It`s dead and gone as a transmitter site. Drive a stake thru it! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 3309.98, R. Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba, 1045 March 3 with local music (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, Drake R8, NRD 535D, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.35, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta 0310-0315 March 1, 2009. Fairly impressive signal and on late with Spanish male preacher. Presumed the one (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What, not the Guatemalan [q.v.] they think they are hearing in Brasil? Urge everyone to try to get definite IDs on this (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Re 9-019, the two stations on 4885, and apart-telling them: 4885, R. Dif. Acreana, 0328, 2/24/09. fair-good with man speaking in Portuguese; ad string with many mentions of Rio Branco (Jim Ronda, Tulsa, OK, NRD-545, R-75, E-1 + RF Systems Mini-Windom, GMDSS-2 vertical, several homebrew FlexTennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 4885, BRAZIL, R. Clube do Pará in Portuguese. 02/24/09 at 0650. Disco mix of Beatles songs with a beat box and a load of bass. Fair to poor signal with QRN (Phil Stremple, Folsom CA, AOR 7030+ with a 75 foot loop antenna, ibid.) 4885, BRAZIL, Radio Clube do Pará (Belém). 0703-0715. 28 Feb 09. Portuguese, OM in overdrive with Brazilian party music. VG (Joe Wood, Greenback TN, E1, DX 390; Flextenna, ibid.) ** CANADA. I had the opportunity to meet and communicate with Ms. Zimmerman on a number of occasions over the years, particularly during the lobbying years for Radio Canada International. It is safe to say that without the pioneering work of Ms. Zimmerman, RCI’s life may have been very short lived. Her drive, determination and courage are legendary in the history of broadcasting in Canada (Sheldon Harvey, March CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Wondering whether Sackville was still relaying VOT in Turkish instead of English at 0400 on 7325, I missed checking UT March 2, but on UT March 3 I could detect no signal at all on 7325. Either Sackville transmitters were down as the 6175 Vietnam relay was also inaudible, or more likely the MUF had plunged? Other North American signals on 6 and 7 MHz were poor, such as WRNO 7505 just barely audible; main European still making it was Spain on 6055, thanks to its southerly location, despite the fact that on the way to Enid it enters North America over Gander, which is about 2 degrees further north than Sackville. ``The skip was long``; meanwhile far- southerly signals such as Russia via French Guiana on 7335, Netherlands via Bonaire on 5975 were inbooming as usual. VOT via Sackville, 7325, was again audible with a good signal UT March 4 at 0445 --- and it was in Turkish again, not English! Discussion mentioning Dubrovnik. They know about the problem in Montreal and Sackville; now to do something about it, even if it is TRT`s fault in sending the wrong feed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [non]. WTOR-770 open carrier - where to complain? For the past several months (perhaps for more than a year now) WTOR- 770 has been leaving their carrier on all night after sign-off. Their open carrier is seriously hammering WABC from my location in mid-town Toronto. In particular, I like to listen to Imus in the morning before WTOR signs on, and can't hear the I-Man too well under the WTOR carrier. I would like to file a complaint, but where or to whom? The FCC likely will not respond to complaints from outside the U.S. Industry Canada and the CRTC have no jurisdiction over WTOR even if they maintain an office in Toronto and virtually all of WTOR's programming is intended for Canadians. Not much point in reporting the interference to WABC, as skywave listeners no longer count for anything to I-A clear channel blowtorches - they're just "radio nerds", beyond the range of potential advertising revenue. And I doubt WTOR, or their parent company Birach Broadcasting, would give a rat's hindquarters, if they even know what an open carrier is. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, March 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) Email WTOR's owner, Sima Birach, sima@birach.com and see where that gets you. Sincerely, (Paul B. Walker, Jr., Ord NE, ibid.) Mike, I think you should complain to WABC. WABC might not care that much about us Canadians listening to them, but they probably do care about people in central and upstate New York who listen to them, and if WTOR is on all night, they'll be interfering with WABC's signal in New York State as well as in Ontario. A report to the FCC might get some action too. After all, if WTOR is leaving their carrier on all night, they're breaking the FCC's rules, and the FCC takes a dim view of that. Best, (Greg Shoom, Ont., IRCA via DXLD) ** CANADA. Per local monitoring from a friend in Powell River and Luke Mills of Vista Radio, CHQB Powell River BC is off air. It was replaced with 95.7 Sun FM http://www.957sunfm.ca/ (Andy Reid, Ont., March 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was 1 kW on 1280. See NEWFOUNDLAND ** CANADA. The move of CKCR-1340 Revelstoke BC to FM (106.1 MHz, 800 watts) has been approved by the CRTC: CKCR Revelstoke – Conversion to FM band 1. The Commission approves the application by Astral Media Radio (Toronto) Inc. and 4382072 Canada Inc., partners in a general partnership carrying on business as Astral Media Radio G.P. (Astral) for a broadcasting licence to operate a new English-language FM radio programming undertaking in Revelstoke, British Columbia to replace its AM station CKCR. The Commission received interventions in support of this application. The terms and conditions of licence for the new station are set out in the appendix to this decision. The implementation of the station is subject to the notification by the Department of Industry discussed in the appendix. Simulcast period and revocation of AM licence 9. As set out in the appendix to this decision, Astral is authorized to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CKCR for a transition period of three months following the commencement of operations of the FM station. Pursuant to sections 9(1)(e) and 24(1) of the Broadcasting Act and consistent with Astral’s request, the Commission revokes the licence for CKCR effective at the end of the simulcast period. Terms --- Issuance of the broadcasting licence to operate an English- language commercial FM radio programming undertaking in Revelstoke, British Columbia. The licence will expire 31 August 2010. The station will operate at 106.1 MHz (channel 291A) with an effective radiated power of 800 watts. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, March 3, DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. CBC / Radio-Canada DTV reception news report Hello, I've just uploaded a video on YouTube about DTV reception in the Montreal area. The news report was broadcast both in English and French on the 6 o'clock news. I invite you to watch the entire thing including the French segment which is longer. Includes interesting views from the top of the CBC building where the CBC/SRC DTV transmitters are located for now. Also of interest, the discussion with the owner or the RAYBEL Electronics store who's seeing a huge sale increase in UHF antennas!! Who would have known that rabbit ears and outdoor tennas would come in style again! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUDDC2niMM 73, (Charles Gauthier, Brossard, QC, March 2, WTFDA via DXLD) You'd never see a presentation like that on CTV, since they also own the ExpressVu satellite service. Same with CITY, etc. that are owned by Rogers Cable. Nice to see them even mention about how the cable sigs are compressed (in Canada, we seem to squish 3 QAM HD channels in 6 MHz where there should only be 2.). CBC looks great in HD, but I notice that even CTV OTA HD looks compressed vs. the US OTA HD channels. wrh (Bill Hepburn, Grimsby Ont., ibid.) ** CHECHNYA [non]. Re 9-019: ``RUSSIA. R. Chechnya Svobodnaya has started using new name: "Programma Kavkaz Radiokompanii Golos Rossii" (Voice of Russia Caucasus Program). (WRTH domestic update Uploaded 19 February 2009 via DXLD)`` The above is not quite accurate. The service still uses the "Free Chechnya" identification at various times, though now referring to it as a programme rather than a radio station: "Radiokompanii Golos Rossii, Programma Chechnya Svobodnaya". When this ID was observed yesterday, it was immediately followed by a programme in Chechen. Presumably, the service now generally targets a wider area, although with some programmes intended specifically for Chechnya. The above observations were monitored on their live audio stream via their website at http://www.chechnyafree.ru A newly-recorded audio clip of the above identification announcement and the "Caucasus Programme" ID has been uploaded to the "Station Sounds" section of DXLDyg (David Kernick, UK, March 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I personally noticed this switched to a new ID around the time of Andrei Bystritskiy's taking over the Voice of Russia (October 2008). Now I found a comment on the station's forum dated Sept. 16 2008 saying that it was renamed. The comments seems to have been added by one of station's hosts (maybe a part-timer). I'm not a regular listener to this station but last October/November I spent a few hours monitoring its programming. I didn't hear any Chechnya Svobodnaya IDs, only "Programma Kavkaz radiokompanii Golos Rossii". Also, programming wasn't just about Chechnya but about wider region. Yet Dave managed to record both IDs. I also noticed that an audio link at chechnyafree.ru says: Live broadcast of Radio Caucasus and [Radio] Free Chechnya. Maybe they have two editorial desks. The security situation in Chechnya is much better today than when the station just started. However, there are new tensions in neighboring Ingushetia and Dagestan. I'm sure those areas have good coverage on 171 kHz (Sergei S., Moscow, ibid.) IIRC, the "Free Chechnya" ID was heard at 1400 UT (but possibly 1500). (Kernick, ibid.) ** CHINA. 4330, Xinjiang PBS, Urümqi, 0011-0014 March 3, 2009. Female in presumed Kazakh. Clear and weak. 4500, Xinjiang PBS, Urümqi, 0014-0020 March 3, 2009. Stringed solo instrument, presumed Mongolian service. Clear and weak (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 4940, Voice of Strait, 1516-1530, March 1. “Focus on China” Sunday program in English with news item about a high school conference held in China; ID “This is the Voice of Strait. If you want more information on China, please write to Box 187, Voice of Strait, Fuzhou, Fujian, zip code 350012, P.R.C.”; 1530 into Chinese; for the first time I heard a het here, assume caused by either AIR or VOS being slightly off frequency, best in USB to get away from the het (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 8400, Firedrake jammer 0008-0011 March 3, 2009. Clear and weak (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. CNR-8 "Minzu zhi sheng" largely expand, now sked from Mar 1: 2100-2400 Tibetan 9480, 7360, 6010, 1143 0000-0100 Tibetan 11685, 9530, 9480, 1143 0100-0200 Tibetan 15570, 11685, 9530, 1143 0200-0300 Korean 9610, 7120, 1143 0200-0400 Tibetan 15570, 11685, 9530, 1098 NEW 0300-0400 Mongolian 11815, 9610, 1143 0400-0500 Korean 9610, 9440 NEW 0400-0500 Tibetan 15570, 11685, 9530, 1143 0500-0600 Kazakh 15415, 15390, 13700, 12055, 11780, 11630, 1422, 1143 0500-0800 Tibetan 15570, 11685, 9530, 1098 NEW 0600-0700 Uighur 15415, 15390, 13700, 12055, 11780, 11630, 1422, 1143 0700-0800 Mongolian 11815, 9610, 1143 0800-0900 Kazakh 15415, 15390, 13700, 12055, 11780, 11630, 1098 NEW 0800-0900 Tibetan 11685, 9530, 9480, 1143 0900-1000 Kazakh 15415, 15390, 13700, 12055, 11780, 11630, 1422, 1143 0900-1300 Tibetan 9480, 7350, 9530/6010, 1098 NEW 1000-1100 Korean 9785, 7120, 1143, 1017 1100-1200 Uighur 13700, 12055, 11720, 11630, 9690, 9420, 1422, 1143 1200-1300 Mongolian 9610, 5955, 1143 1300-1400 Kazakh 9890, 9645, 9630, 9420, 7120, 6180 NEW 1300-1400 Tibetan 9480, 7350, 6010, 1143 1400-1600 Tibetan 9480, 7350, 6010, 1098 NEW 1400-1500 Kazakh 9890, 9645, 9630, 9420, 7120, 6180, 1143 1500-1600 Uighur 9890, 9645, 9630, 9420, 7120, 6145, 1143 1600-1700 Mongolian 9890, 9645, 9630, 9420, 7120, 6145, 1143 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Mar 3, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder if permanent expansion or just for the Party Congress, as discussed in 9-019? (gh, DXLD) CRI Kashi on 11785: see INDONESIA ** CUBA [and non]. Arnie must have seen my recent report that RHC is colliding with Romania in Spanish on 6140 at 0300-0357, because UT March 3 at 0448 I found RHC in English back on 6180, ex-6140 where it had been for several months. Such `quick` action is unusual. But now RHC is colliding with, altho atop, DW English via Rwanda in the 04 UT sesquihour. I don`t yet know for sure whether RHC is off 6140 at 0300, and/or earlier, but probably. Recheck at 0502, RHC still on 6180 and now seems less QRM from Rwanda where the sun is rising, which runs until 0530 with no change in facilities. 0650 recheck, still on with music, in the clear. If RHC stays on 6180 in A-09 it will again be colliding with VOA Greenville in English to Africa, from 0500 to 0700, which was the subject of a heated controversy last year as I complained about it for months and RHC finally moved to 6140, pretending it was for some other reason. {This also means the mixing product of 6060 leaping over 6140 to land on 6220 will have moved back to 6300, as 6060 leaping over 6180; fortunately still off by 0700 when Polisario starts, but good news for Mystery Radio et al. on 6220} (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, RHC is back on 6140 and colliding with Romanian folk music, March 4 at 0345 check during DXers Unlimited, nothing on 6180, where it was 23 hours earlier. And still on 6140 this night at 0445 recheck. What next? Guess they are trying to decide what to do, or 6180 was only a test. See what I mean about this being a ``dynamic medium``? Tip: in this era of overcrowded bands, and lots of stations using one frequency for one hour at a time, or less, trying to stay on the same frequency for a 6-hour span, or more, is not really viable. Ya gotta hop around like the competition, whack-a-mole-wise. Of course this requires an transmitter operation staff who are on the ball. Never mind (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA. Uherske Hradiste Topolna LW 270 kHz --- See also Somewhere I also saw photos from a station tour, also portraying the DRV 750 transmitters, but I just can t find them back. And to apply machine translation (I already see what appears to be a mention of jamming operations on 173 kHz): The old 2 x DRV 200 transmitters, same model was in use for 263/261 kHz at Burg-GDR until the late nineties and was quite liked for working reliably there: (Kai Ludwig-D, Feb 23, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews March 2 via DXLD) Thanks Kai, Yes, logged always TWO jamming transmitters against VOA Munich Erching 173 kHz, when checked with revolving ferrite rod receiver antenna, in the 1953 to 1962 era: - one at Koenigswusterhausen GDR, - the other in former CSSR ... but my guess was always PODEBRADY bc center from former Nazi occupation era... northeast of Prague. (wb, ibid.) 1287 Planned Tachov Kurojedy MW site. Puzzle about a planned and started Radio Prague 1287 kHz transmitter center in West Bohemia in 1988/1989 year. To be built then as a TESLA (2 x 750 kW) 1500-kW- station for the Foreign Service of Radio Prague on 1287 kHz towards western Europe. Do you know the exact location coordinates about this mysterious construction project? (wb, Feb 27, ibid.) The site is called Kurojedy (pron. Kuroyedi) in Tachov area. Kurojedy is a nearby village. Nothing much was build up, today it is completely in ruins including the operation building which looked like after demolition already ca. 10 years ago... For a potential visitor from Germany the place is very well accessible via the E50 motorway, there is an exit very close to the former TX site (Karel Honzik, Czechia, Feb 28, ibid.) ** DEUTSCHES REICH. GERMANY’S NON-STOP BROADCASTS TO THE WORLD – MAR 2, 1939 Telegraph.co.uk is publishing daily articles from the archive 70 years ago chronicling the build-up to the Second World War. One is about German propaganda broadcasts from the shortwave station at Zeesen: By night and day, with scarcely a break throughout the 24 hours, the German short-wave station at Zeesen – said to have cost £1,000,000 – is pumping out programmes to the world, with announcements and news in English, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and, of course, German. The scale of its ceaseless activity is matched only by Daventry, the BBC Empire station, with the difference that the BBC uses English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian and French. --- Read the article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/britainatwar/4864774/Germanys-non-stop-broadcasts-to-the-world---Mar-2-1939.html (March 2nd, 2009 7:58 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ERITREA. 7175, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea (Net 2) 0400- 0418 March 1, 2009. Spot check of this channel while listening to 7209.98. No carrier detected. But at 0400 recheck, the very same female in the local language for opening announcements as heard on 7209.98, but not in parallel (so presume Network Two), mention of frequencies, including one "F-M" (English phrase copy) and "Yeritrea" references. Good, with Horn of Africa vocal fillers later. 7209.98, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea (Net 1) *0354-0420 March 1, 2009. Carrier, with stringed interval signal up at 0354 which included looping ID's in presumably different local languages by male, all cycling until female ID that matched the WRTH-2009 just after 0400, and several subsequent "Yeritrea" references, local vocal and instrumental fills. Excellent signal. Presume Channel One network. Apparently floating around here of late per logs from others, despite Ethiopia service(s) listed on 7210 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 5980, Voice of the Tigray Revolution 0339-0350 March 1, 2009. Female language talk, Horn of Africa vocals (rather pop-ish, with cheap synths). Presumed the one, clear and fair. 9559.58, Radio Ethiopia, 1431-1450 March 1, 2009. Clear and fair-to- weak and quickly fading with definite Arabic talk, Ethiopian folk vocals (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. 6880, EUROPIRATE, Radio Playback International, 0223-0400 March 1, 2009. Tune-in to unidentified cover of oldies "Blue Skies" song (not Willie Nelson), then at 0236, US-accented male canned, "This is Playback" into 1940's clarinet instrumental and similar era songs on spot checks through tune-out. Clear and fair-to-good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also NORWAY R. Playback International, or just Radio Playback, in English: 6870.00, 0602 2210, rock, jingle ID, Take five, jazz, pops, jingle, 24432 6870.00, 0802 0920, rock, jingle, blues country, big band jazz, 35443 6880.00, 1402 2215, jazz, funky, jingle, pops 34433 6880.00, 1502 0630, rock, jingle 35443 6880.00, 2102 2035, live program, DJ chating, Johnny Pims, ELO song 35443 [chatting, or chanting?] 6880.00, 2202 0630, Hungry eyes by Eric Carmen, ID, JJ live, My generation 35443 [JJ == jazz? Japanese?] 6880.00, 2802 0650, jingle, funky, Perfect, ballad, ID 34433 6880.00, 0103 0748, swing, jingle ID, Big band jazz, piano jazz 24332 (Silveri Gómez, FRAGA, CATALUNYA NORTE OCIDENTAL, RX: R-2000 & ATS 909, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) dates: DDMM He`s the pirate-only, and piratish-only, DXer fan, including 6055 Lithuania. These are just the tip of the iceberg of his logs, on lower SW and MW X-band frequencies. Once again I find it hard to believe all of these pirates are on exact .00 frequencies. Please study the concept of significant digits (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There have been questions in recent DXLD's about both PBI (Playback International), now on 6880, and Mystery Radio on 6220, and their QTH's and output powers. I'm not sure of the power of PBI's transmitter, but I suspect rather low, maybe 100 Watts or so. As far as their QTH, quite a number of pirate listeners have put it in the mountains of northern Italy or southern Switzerland. One listener on the alfalima pirate forum said he had evidence it was in southern Switzerland, and the op of PBI all but admitted it in a reply. As far as Mystery Radio, it has also been said for quite a while to be in the mountains of northern Italy. From an e-QSL from the station for a live broadcast in December 2006, a phone call to the studio during a live broadcast this just past New Year's Eve, and info from other pirates using Mystery as a relay I have gathered a little bit of info. Apparently the transmitter can put out about a kilowatt, but usually runs at a lower power; I have heard anywhere from 300 to 800 watts. I hope this info helps (Alex Vranes, Jr., Harpers Ferry, WV, U.S.A., March 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Re 9-019: ``9605, Radio "Frieden Stimme" (it is in German) or Radio Peace Voice/or Voice of Peace (remember on Aby Nathan's VOPeace radio on ship) in Russian 1600-1630 with religious program and an address in Germany: Radio Frieden Stimme, P. O. Box 100638, 51606 Gurmbach(?)`` It´s Missionswerk Friedensstimme in Gummersbach. 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, March 2, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. Re 9-017, R. Amistad, Guatemala, San Pedro La Laguna Amigos, Estou com dificuldade de confirmar a escuta desta emissora; será que o engenheiro fez alguns testes no dia 7 e as reparações no dia 12/02/2007 [sic!], pois, segundo eles se fosse dia 17 poderia ter ouvido, leiam a troca de e-mails. 1 – E-mail que enviei === Subject: Radio Amistad URGENTE Prezado David Daniell, Sou radioescuta brasileiro, outro dia escutei o que me pareceu a R. Amistad em 4,999.30 [sic] kHz, por favor me infome se ela estava transmitindo no dia 07/02/2009 as 22:45 horas UTC nesta frequencia e com que potencia. Veja o que anotei. GUATEMALA 4.699.30 22:45 07/02/2009, R. Amistad, San Pedro La Laguna, SS, Om Talk "…eles necessitam de dinero…", 35333 - UG Muito Obrigado. Ulysses Galletti 2 – E-mail que recebi: From: DAVID DANIELL To: Ulysses Galletti (home) Cc: Isaac Batz Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 12:41 PM Subject: Re: Radio Amistad URGENTE 3 de marzo de 2009 Estimado Sr. Galletti: Soy asesor de comunicaciones para Radio Amistad, pero dudo que usted escucho a nuestra emisora aquella fecha - -el 7 de febrero de 2009 -- posiblemente el 17. No fue hasta el 12 de febrero cuando nuestro ingeniero hizo algunas reparaciones para devolvernos al aire despues de mucho tiempo afuera. Nuestra frecuencia -- como usted anota en la ultima oración de su carta -- es 4700 kHz. Radio Amistad Onda Corta duplica la programacion de Radio Amistad FM 90.3 FM, San Pedro La Laguna, Sololá, Guatemala. Usted puede comunicarse directamente con el director, el Pastor Isaac Batz. Su direccion de Email es isaac_batz@... [truncated by yg]. Radio Amistad 540 AM; 90.3 FM; 4700 kHz OC pertenece a la Iglesia Bautista Getsémani. Está ubicada en las orillas del bellísimo Lago Atitlán en Guatemala. La iglesia también opera una primaria y secundaria, el Liceo Cristiano Getsémani, con más de 400 alumnos. San Pedro La Laguna está en el corazón del área Tzutujil de Guatemala. Esta emisora transmite en español, Tzutujil y Cakchiquel. Que Dios le bendiga ricamente! Gracias por su sintonía. DAVID DANIELL Missionary Broadcasting, Inc. http://www.mbimedia.org http://www.missionarybroadcasting.blogspot.com/ 7401 Wesley Court Mobile, AL 36695 USA Muchísimas gracias por su informe de sintonía. Nos anima grandemente! (via Galletti, radioescutas yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DXLD) It`s still not clear if Ulysses is aware there is a much closer Bolivian [q.v.] on frequency that he must rule out, lacking a definite ID; but reply indicates the Guatemalan has been testing and plans to reactivate, so earkeep 4700v (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA-BISSAU [non]. GUINEA-BISSAU ASSASSINATIONS, AFTERMATH SPOTLIGHTED BY VOA Washington, D.C., March 2, 2009 – The Voice of America (VOA) is providing on-the-ground reports today from Guinea-Bissau, the impoverished West African country where the president and the head of the joint chiefs of staff were assassinated. Defense Minister Artur Silva, in an interview with VOA’s Portuguese Service http://www.voanews.com/portuguese early today, confirmed the attacks that left both President Joao Bernardo Vieira and General Batiste Tagme na Waie dead in Bissau, the capital of one of the five poorest countries in the world. The two men were rivals. Officials said a bomb blast at military headquarters killed Waie. Later soldiers assassinated Vieira, who first came to power in a coup in 1980. He was forced out after 19 years, but returned to win the 2005 presidential elections. A VOA stringer in Bissau gave accounts of the killings along with the aftermath in which military officials said there was no coup attempt. The capital is reported to be calm. U.S. officials have long been concerned with drug shipments passing through Guinea-Bissau en route to Europe. VOA’s Portuguese to Africa Service broadcasts 14 hours a week by shortwave, FM and AM to Guinea -Bissau, Sao Tome, Cape Verde, Mozambique and Angola (VOA press release via DXLD) ** GUINEA BISSAU. ALERT: RADIO STATIONS ORDERED TO CLOSE DOWN http://www.mediafound.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=299&Itemid=46 Guinea Bissau’s privately-owned radio stations were on March 2, 2009 ordered by the country’s authorities to cease broadcasting. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that the directive followed political disturbances in the country that have so far claimed two prominent lives including President João Bernardo Vieira and the country’s army commander. Several people have also been injured in the attacks which began on the night of March 1. The correspondent said the radio stations were ordered to cease broadcasting because they could spread false information about the mutiny. However, Samuel Fernandes, the army spokesman told the BBC that the closure was to ensure the security and safety of the journalists. Guinea Bissau has three privately-owned radio stations which run along the state-run Rádio Nacional. The stations are Radio Pindjiguiti, Radio Bombolom and Voice of Quelele. Prof. Kwame Karikari, Executive Director, MFWA, Accra Tel: 233 21 24 24 70 Fax : 233 21 221084 Website : http://www.mediafound.org Email : mfwa @ africaonline.com.gh (MWFA via DXLD) Que falta nos faz uma emissão em Ondas Curtas... Caros amigos, Vocês devem ter visto no noticiário internacional as ocorrências recentes, na Guiné Bissau, onde foram assinados o presidente, João Bernardo Vieira, e o chefe das Forças Armadas, general Tagmé na Waié. Os militares da Guiné-Bissau mandaram hoje fechar todas as fronteiras marítimas, terrestres e aéreas com o Senegal e com a Guiné-Conacri. Ocorre que não existem emissões em Ondas curtas desde a Guiné Bissau, e mesmo, por ser um país de colonização portuguesa, ter o idioma português como lingua oficial, não temos informações mais precisas sobre a situação do país, visto que as notícias que nos chegam são sempre de fontes indiretas. Radiodifusão Nacional da República de Guiné-Bissau, apareceu pela última vez no WRTH, na edição de 1987 e no ano seguinte já passou a constar como inativa nesta publicação. Esta emissora emitia inicilamente em 5040 kHz e ao final de sua existência em 5475 kHz. Vejam como faz falta uma emissão em Ondas Curtas. Um abraço a todos, (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena - MG - Brasil, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Then someone suggested BBC Portuguese for news re (gh) ** HUNGARY [and non]. Hi Glenn. I wonder if conditions are finally turning around. Last evening here, about 0255 on March 2nd, was listening to a strong, clear signal on 5995 kHz on a pocket radio (Tecsun R-919/Grundig 300PE), with a SINPO overall of 4. It was a multilingual ID of Radio Budapest, with one ID in English before they pulled the plug at around 0300. It was weirdly strong and clear, but still had the fast flutter/fade characteristic of many European signals here. Plus I was receiving only over the whip. Croatia on 7375 at the same time wasn't bad, but Greece on 9420 or 7475 (?) was nonexistent. A signal (Slovakia?) was barely there on 7230, and another weak one (Ukraine?) on 7440 (Eric Bryan, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST). ** INDIA. 4700, AIR (location?), 1330 + 1454-1517, March 2. Here again, with assume another error in entering the frequency, but by who? Suppose it could be AIR Hyderabad entering 4700 instead of 4800, but for me 4800 is covered by strong CNR-1, so I am unable to confirm their absence there. First heard on Feb 27 and not since then, till today. 1330 below threshold level. Checked again to find this steadily improving. Assume in Hindi talk, ToH music program of indigenous chanting/singing; 1512 switched over to New Delhi programming (series of ads, followed by the news in assume Hindi); after 1512 was // 9425 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Ron. Noted also here the AIR 4700 on 2 March 1530 till 1700 [sic; 1740?] sign-off. I missed the local ID at 1729 and after that it seemed to be network programming until sign-off, but sign-off ID was too weak. At a quick scan I didn't notice any "usual" AIRs missing from their nominal. Except 4760, where I could hear only one AIR station. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) A 6 could be mistaken for a 0 (gh) ** INDIA. 4920, AIR Chennai, 0055-0111, March 2, vernacular. Hindi ballads; announcer at ToH; M with lengthy talk from 0105 thru tune/out; poor. (Barbour-NH) 5010, AIR Thiruvananthapuram, 0113-0132, March 2, vernacular. M & W; various music bits - possible radio drama? Music tone followed by advertisement; pips and ID at BoH; program intro with piano/wind instrument and W announcer into Hindi music; poor-fair. This winter, Thiruvan` & Chennai are the only AIR regionals I hear on a regular basis here and only at night. Nothing like at the height of the last Solar Cycle, during my local winter mornings, when I could follow the greyline across the sub-continent and log AIR across 60m (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, NRD 545, RX350D, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Scott: Yes, I agree that the Indian regionals have all but disappeared from 60 m this season. I have heard Thiru on 5010 and Jeypore on 5040, but that's about it. I think last Fall was better than now. 4-5 years ago seemed to be the peak for these stations when I could hear just about everything there was on 60m except for Aizawl on 5050. I have some great recordings from Winter 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 including all 3 Kashmir sites but nary a QSL for any of them (Bruce Chruchill, Fallbrook, CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INDIA. 7191.03, AIR Mumbai (presumed), the UNIDENTIFIED in DXLD 9-019. Heard 1321 + 1349-1400 + 1516-1550, March 3. Thanks to Dave Valko’s tip. In vernacular; hard time deciding if subcontinent or Middle Eastern music/singing, but must be subcontinent. From 1400 to about 1500 was totally covered by very strong CRI in Japanese; re-checked at 1516 and found in the clear, in vernacular; more music/singing; seemed to sign-off about 1600; overall poor reception. The sign-off time, language and music would all seem to indicate AIR. Also others have noted them here, per http://dx-india.blogspot.com/2009/02/dxindia-air-mumbai-on-7191-instead-of.html Also thanks to feedback from Jari Savolainen (Finland) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. The AIR National Channel on 9425 surprises us with more English than expected, at least per Aoki listings, 500 kW, 18 degrees from Bangaluru, which shows 5 minutes of English [news] at 1430 and 1530, otherwise in Hindi at 1435-1530, 1535-1630, and the same pattern thru the night. (And EiBi shows 9425 entirely in Hindi.) Nevertheless, Monday March 2 at 1435 tune-in I was still hearing English, just mentioning 31 meters, so was this a special SW-only broadcast? A bit of music and at 1437 discussion between YL host and an OM about fossil fuel vs renewable energy; still going at 1445 and concluding at 1456 as having been some minister talking about global warming. 1457 the YL host says something about exams, so maybe this is an `educational` programme for credit? Music fill to 1500, Hindi announcement mentioning kHz and meter, traditional string and drum music; 1515 talk in Hindi, 1539 recheck back in English, this time about energy. At first I suspected there could be a feed mixup again at Bangaluru putting the AIR GOS in English on 9425 instead of 9690, but unseems, as that finishes at 1500; 9690 had a weak unreadable signal. Meanwhile, VBS was normal on 9870, mostly pop music. Unlike Monday, on Tuesday March 3, AIR National Channel, 9425, went back to Hindi at 1435 after the 1430 news in English, hard for an Okie to understand due to heavy accent and heavy flutter (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. All India Radio. Exceptionally good reception today, Tuesday, March 3, from tune in at about 1500 to 1740 UT sign off on 9870. Lots of very pleasant local music with few commercials (some part English). Presumably the full listed 500 kW was in force giving "arm chair" reception here. Reception on this frequency has been very good at this time during B-08, but today was the best yet. WRTH/09 lists it as the regional domestic Commercial Service (Vividh Bharati or Entertainment Channel). This evening (in India) transmission is from 1245 to 1740 UT and from a transmitter in Bengaluru (previously known as Bangalore). Signal started to weaken a little after 1650 and signed off at the scheduled 1740 after what appeared to be a news bulletin. All in Hindi (presumed). (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [non]. Altho Fri Feb 27 at 1400 I confirmed VOI on reactivated 11785.0 going from English to Malay, and totally blocked Sat and Sun by WHRI, when I check 11785 on Monday March 2 at 1430 I hear nothing but Mandarin Chinese on the frequency! Interesting show mentioning Taiwan and playing music ranging from solo to choral to American-Indian-sounding with drumming at 1445; a lot of flutter, and off abruptly at 1457* with no ID heard. But this is certainly not VOI! Not in Aoki or EiBi, but in HFCC we find CRI scheduled during this hour via Kashi, 308 degrees to Europe in Chinese. Meanwhile, no sign of VOI on 9525 or 9526 either, and did not check the third remote possibility, 15150. What next? Would others please monitor what frequency if any VOI is using for English at 1000 and 1300 and the intervening hours. VOI still MIA March 3 from 9525, 9526 and 11785, checked at 1330. Or I should say ``missing in inaxion``. The bands were-chock full of fluttery Chinese signals, except on these frequencies. Also checked 15150, but 19m below 15590 was virtually dead, not yet open, tho a few minutes later it started to bloom, still minus Indonesia. At 1359 CRI Kashi was again up on 11785 with vamping musical prelude, 1400 opening in Chinese, still no sign of VOI. 1436 recheck, still no VOI on any of its known frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Re 9-019: Solar transit blox CNN et al. I Have Comcast and this happens in the early evening on Movie Plex and it happens a lot on TNT, again only in the early evening about an hour after sunset and it goes on for at least 45 min or so before it comes back to normal -- blocking picture, freezing picture etc. It only happens on Movie Plex & TNT (Paul Armani, Denver, ABDX via DXLD) ** IRAN. 4870, jammer. 0331-0335 March 1, 2009. Strong swisher, presumably targeting Voice of Iranian Kurdistan somewhere in the kHz area. 9790, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kamalabad, 1420-1427* March 1, 2009. Located this after tuning to much weaker 9835. Presumed Urdu, off at 1427 after talk and filler music. Fair and clear. 9835, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kamalabad, 1416-1427* March 1, 2009. Weak with male talk in listed Urdu. Confirmed VoIRI by locating a stronger 9790 parallel. Audio off at 1427, but carrier seemingly remained through 1430 tune-out (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. 9510 kHz, DX Party Line via IRRS Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia noted on Sat Feb 21 at 0930-0945 UT with good reception in Israel. No doubt, I missed World of Radio before then. Too bad. Afterwards, there was a nice music program, not religious. IRRS went off air at 0959 (David Crystal, Ramat Zvi, ISRAEL, Feb 26, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews March 2 via DXLD) ** JAPAN. Radio Japan A09 in Indian Languages (Effective from 29th Mar to 25th Oct, 2009) Bengali 1300-1345 UT (1830-1915 IST) 15215 kHz Hindi 1345-1430 UT (1915-2000 IST) 9585 kHz Urdu 1430-1515 UT (2000-2045 IST) 9680 kHz Reports to: nhkworld @ nhk.jp (via Alokesh Gupta; and via Mukesh Kumar, The Cosmos Club, Muzaffarpur, INDIA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. On March 1, I sent an email to COMJAN, along with an audio file of a recent reception on 5985. My recording contained Myanma Radio interference in the background. I explained to them that Myanma Radio had been on that frequency for many years and was a government operated station. Mr. MURAO had recently indicated to me that “There are a lot of illegal radio stations in Myanmar”, which sounded as if he thought the interference on 5985 was coming from an illegal operation, so I set the record straight. On March 2, I received this response from COMJAM: “Thank you for your report on our SHIOKAZE. We feel easy there is no jamming from North Korea. Then, our director Mr. MURAO has the plan to research the situation of reception near the border of DMZ in South Korea next week. And he will get together with the escapee from North Korea who stays in Japan. I think it is very informative for us to manage the short wave radio to North Korea. Sincerely yours, Sadaki MANABE”. Would be interesting to know if he is told if there is any interference from Myanmar that is actually heard near the DMZ or in any other parts of Korea (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, March 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9690 with fair-good signal in Korean, March 2 at 1508; what`s this? Eibi: ``9690 1500-1530 CLA Nippon no Kaze K KRE /AUS-d`` so it`s via Darwin (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT [and non]. 13620-13645, Over-the-horizon radar pulses, presumed, this time strong enough to cause a lot of interference to Kuwait in Arabic on 13620, March 2 at 1511. Eibi shows a break in Kuwait`s transmission between 1305 and 1515, but Aoki shows the break 1310-1505, with the earlier transmission in DRM anyway. WRTH disagrees, not DRM and break 1315-1505. HFCC has the break at 1400- 1615 with DRM until 1400. PWBR shows 1315(?)-1600 with no such details. Nobody agrees on exactly what is going on here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7270.36v, Limbang FM and Wai FM via RTM, 1356-1433, March 2. All in vernacular; DJ playing pop songs; 2 pips at ToH; news, at the end of which heard ID for “Limbang FM”; after 1405 DJ playing pop songs, with many on-air calls; many IDs: “Wai FM” (pronounced “Why FM”); this time period is much better, due to less QRM before 1430, but with QRN. After BoH usual chanting (do not believe it was reciting from the Qur’an). Seems that Limbang FM is still being relayed via Wai FM, probably from about 1315 to 1405, but needs better confirmation as to the exact times. Audio streaming at http://www.rtmsarawak.gov.my/ Could not find the Wai FM website that was available in early 2008, the one that showed their schedule. Have posted an audio file to “Station Sounds” (IDs at the beginning and a clear one at 1:40) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7270.37v, Limbang FM and Wai FM via RTM, audio file posted to “Station Sounds” for end of the news at 1405, March 3, with IDs for both Limbang (0:39) and Wai (0:50). Have found the best reception is only between 1400 to 1430, otherwise too much QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO [non]. Monaco? log 6105 kHz. Moin zusammen! Wer haut denn da in Orstsenderqualitaet rein! S=9+20 dB! O=5 ! TWR via USA? Religioes in Englisch (Manfred Wallat-D, A-DX Mar 2 via BC-DX March 2 via DXLD) Re TWR 6105 kHz. Noehh, zwischenzeitlich aus Nauen ueber das kleine 100 kW Schaetzchen. Oder ist es eine kastrierte ALLISS Anlage von 500 auf 125 kW. Da liegt Manfred in Wuppertal direkt in der 285 Grad Keule nach Engeland. Aus der M&B/DTK Tabelle aus Koeln vom 9. Februar via WWDXC 6105 0742-0920 27 285 1...... 261008 280309 NAU 125 TWR 6105 0757-0850 27 285 .23456. 261008 280309 NAU 125 TWR 6105 0812-0850 27 285 ......7 261008 280309 NAU 125 TWR Michael Puetz MEDIA BROADCAST GmbH Order Management & Backoffice Josef-Lammerting-Allee 8-10 D-50933 Koeln, Germany Please send your inquiries and reception reports to: E-Mail: Internet: Zum Herunterladen: Es gibt die 6 TWR Sprachdienste, teilweise mit 2 Sendern \\ aus France-Monaco; English, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Albanian, Romanian. Meine Annahme: Bei M&B/DTK und TDF Brokerei gibt es nur verschiedene Preise bezueglich der Sendeleistung 500 / 250 / 100 kW. Das betrifft ISS, GUF, MC, POR, RSO, JUL, NAU, WER. Die anderen Standorte wie Moosbrunn, Albanien, Russland, Ascension, Rwanda, Suedafrika kauft TWR selbst ein? (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 2 via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 7470, RFA-Ulaanbaatar (Presumed), 1234, 2/24/09. fair- poor with man speaking in an unidentified Asian language; occasional songs but mostly talk; TS at 1300 and back to talk; still audible at 1311; similar program at same time on 2/25. Both Aoki and EiBi list RFA Mongolia in Tibetan at this time (Jim Ronda, Tulsa, OK, NRD-545, R-75, E-1 + RF Systems Mini-Windom, GMDSS-2 vertical, several homebrew FlexTennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) RFA won`t admit to MONGOLIA ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Now RNW is cutting off South America! When cutting off North America in English last year, RN claimed to still be getting huge response to its Spanish broadcasts on SW, which therefore would continue and take over hours that had been in English. But from A-09, transmissions to SAm south of the Amazon are being deleted (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Estoy escuchando Cartas a RN y anuncia el cierre de emisiones para Sudamérica, especialmente para Argentina, además de recortes en emisiones que tal ni les importa la emisión para Argentina (Ernesto Paulero, March 1, tecnodx, via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, condiglist yg via DXLD) ¿Es esto cierto? Saludos, Jaime! (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, March 2, to Jaime Báguena, RN, ibid.) Buenos días Horacio! Sí, es cierto. Lo que comuniqué en Cartas @ RN lo puedes transcribir y difundir entre los círculos de radioescuchas. Te puedes imaginar que mi buzón está abierto para recibir toda clase de reacciones. Recibe un fraternal saludo (Jaime to Horacio, ibid.) Impactante noticia, el fin de una era (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, ibid.) RADIO NEDERLAND CIERRE DE EMISIONES A SUR DE SUDAMÉRICA RNW clausura emisiones hacia el SUR de S. AMÉRICA, concentrándose en el área del Norte del Amazonas, Caribe, Centro America y Méjico: Acabo de escuchar Cartas@RN último http://download.omroep.nl/rnw/smac/sp_cartas.mp3 El cierre es hacia las trasmisiones para el Sur de América del Sur. Desde el 28 de Marzo en Sudamerica/ 29 de Marzo UT, Radio Nederland Werldomroep tendrá el siguiente esquema (transcribo Onda Corta): Norte de Amazonas, Centro América y Caribe (Cuba particularmente): 2 emisiones matinales: [see corrected version below; apparently this version has some things on the wrong lines] Via Bonaire 1100 6165 Caribe / Venezuela / Colombia / Cuba 1130 9715 Centro América/ Méjico 1200 9895 2300 9450 Cuba / Colombia / Venezuela [Greenville: see below] via Sines: 0000-0200 6165 Norte de Amazonas / Centro América 7325 / 9450 C. América / Venezuela / Colombia via Bonaire: 0200-0400 6165 Méjico / Centro América / Caribe (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, condiglist yg via DXLD) Regrettable, but what can they do? Costs keep rising but there's no money (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This concerns 15315 2300-2400 and 9700 0000-0200. Both will apparently be replaced by 9450, and I heard some bird chirping that this new 9450 is supposed to go out from Greenville (yup) 2300-2400 and from Sines 0000-0200. Greenville will be a shot down along the whole of South America anyway. And I understand that Sines has rotatable antennas, or is it not possible to point them at 220 degrees or so? I don't understand it. They do not save a single transmitter hour. Is there any need for an additional third frequency for the Carribean and northern SAm? Does audience research show that there are magnitudes less listeners in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay than in the still served areas? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So they could still claim to serve deep SAm on 9450 from Greenville if they wanted to (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DXLD) Hola: Después de la conmoción por la noticia del cese de emisiones para Sudamérica, no está de más ver como queda el nuevo esquema, tal como lo transmitió Jaime Báguena en su programa del domingo. El esquema sigue así: 1100- por 6165 hacia Caribe 1130- por 6165 hacia Venezuela 1200- por 9715 y 9895 Centro Am. Todas desde Bonaire 2300 a 0000 por 9450 hacia Cuba desde Greenville 0000 a 0200 por 6165 hacia Venezuela, Colombia, desde Bonaire y por 7325, 9450 desde Sines 0200 a 0400 por 6165 Centro Am-México desde Bonaire Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, El Prat de Llobregat-Barcelona, España, logsderadio yg via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Rechecked 15280, RN via Saipan in Indonesian, March 3 for two minutes at 2214, and did not hear any audio glitches, but did hear an ``Inilah Radio Nederland`` ID; still unusually good signal for a service beamed oppositely from Enid (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Happy Station UPDATE! SW Radio Draw! Well, some very good news. Today I met with the people from Sangean Radio here in Taipei. And they are giving two shortwave radios for a lucky draw. But you will have to tune in March 12, at 0100 for details. It will be open to those who listen on SW only. [WRMI 9955, UT Thursday] (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 3, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Happy Station Show UPDATE March 4, 2009 Hello Everyone, Something funny happened last night. Just as I was getting ready for bed I heard the tingle of a new email. So I thought I’ll check it in the morning, but since the dog wanted to play I got up walked to the computer and to my surprise was an email from none other than Deborah (Dody) Rey who hosted His and Hers on Radio Nederland from 1964 to 1987 with her then husband Jerry Cowan. Now Dody is a name I remember, but I only had caught the show a few times. She now lives in the South of France and read about the revival on a news blog. I was so shocked. Another development is the show will now be broadcast twice at WRMI: First transmission is March 12, at 0100 UT on 9955 Re-broadcast will be March 12, at 1500 UT also on 9955 For those outside the transmission region you can tune in from the WRMI website for the live stream at http://www.wrmi.net Also Sangean the makers of radio equipment in Taiwan is giving two shortwave radios to be used for a draw. The winners will be announced in the first program in June (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. Tuned 2598-SSB again March 3 at 0743 and found much better signal than last time with marine weather for Newfoundland and The Maritimes; 0747 concluded with ID ``This is Placentia Coast Guard Radio --- oot``. Just as Noel Green reported, the current occupant of this frequency, a.k.a. VCP-4 with a daily broadcast starting at 0737. He says per http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca this is at St. Lawrence- Placentia. St. Lawrence is on the SE corner of the Burin Peninsula, while Placentia is across the bay on the west side of the Avalon Peninsula. I finally found the schedule on page 15 of this document: http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/folios/00026/docs/part-2ae-2008-eng.pdf but referred to there as ``MCTS Placentia/VCP``. Several other stations broadcast on the same frequency in rotation, mostly starting at 7 or 37 minutes past different hours (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. From RNZI website 01 Mar, 2009 21:50 UTC http://www.rnzi.com/pages/whatsnew.php Transmitter Maintenance 4, 5 & 6 March --- On 4, 5, 6 March there will be interruptions to our short-wave services, between 1130-1800 NZDT (2230-0500 UT). Internet service will be available throughout the period (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) In today's DX programme of RNZI with Brian Clark, Myra Oh and Adrian Sainsbury they said starting March 6th 7145 kHz will be replaced with new 7285 kHz, maybe 1550-1750 UT or one hour later due to the end of DST there. 1130-1150 9765 Feb 23rd (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb 23, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews March 2 via DXLD) 7285 is the new 41 mb frequency, due of cancellation of 7100-7200 kHz range for international broadcaster from March 29th. Maybe also 7285 at 0700-1100 UT (wb, ibid.) ** NORWAY. Re 9-019, ``UNIDENTIFIED. 3905, ID in English "Radio Fox Forty Eight" at 1911, but only non-stop played pop songs between 1900- 2000 fade out on 15/2 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF-2001, Marconi), March Australian DX News via DXLD)`` Dear Glenn, Radio Fox 48 is a well-known Norwegian pirate station (I don't think it has any ties with its namesake, the American TV channel :)) 73! (Serghey Nikishin, Moscow, Russia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Fox 48 is pirate station from Norway. Postal address: SRS Germany, PO Box 101145, 99801 Eisenach, Germany E-mail: radiofox48 @ hotmail.com 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, March 2, DXLD) What does 48 refer to --- the 48 meter band, where it is not? There are surely some Fox affiliates on US TV channel A48 (gh, DXLD) 3905.00, 0502 2224, Fox 48? unID, talks, rock and roll 24332 (Silveri Gómez, FRAGA, CATALUNYA NORTE OCIDENTAL, RX: R-2000 & ATS 909, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Hi, Glenn, Re: Rumen Pankov's unID on 3905, this is a friend of mine, Mike, a pirate operating from Norway. As a matter of a fact, I just about a month ago received a very nice QSL-card with a picture of a fox (what else, hi!) on the front. His e-mail is radiofox48 @ hotmail.com and reports can be mailed to SRS Germany, Radio Fox 48, P.O. Box 101145, 99801 Eisenach, Germany (Alex Vranes, Jr., Harpers Ferry, WV, U.S.A., March 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. For the record, KEOR 1120, Catoosa/Tulsa/Sperry, which I visited last week when it was on the air, was off the air at 2043 UT check March 2, and also at 1630 March 3 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. On a caradio bandscan at 2039 UT March 2, 1600 dominated by nearest station, KUSH in Cushing OK, with a SAH of 3.5 Hz; could also hear Vietnamese underneath, surely KRVA in The Metroplex, TX. But that`s the station I am 99% sure is the source of the audible het on 1600, which at this time was barely detectable. So a third station was involved; by proximity, a likely possibility is the Kansan, KMDO in Fort Scott, which I have never logged for sure (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.53, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco, returned to the air after four days of silence. 1045 to 1100 March 3, same OM with rapid conversation in español. 4805, UNID/ Peru??? Carrier there at 1130 March 3, but no audio. Did LOB report Peru there months ago? 4824.40, LV de la Selva, Iquitos strong with music at 1115 March 3. 4826.37, R. Sicuani, Sicuani strong with OM at 1116 to 1130 March 3 4835.39, R. Marañón, Jaen, strong with music 1115 to 1130 March 3. 5039.21, R. Libertad, Junín, strong signal at 1100 to 1120 March 3 (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Drake R 8 NRD 535D, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 12005, March 3 at 1422 with hip hop, lyrix seemed English; what could this be? 1424, sign-off in Chinese with, what else? RRI website info, 1425-1428* IS. Also, 11940, March 3 at 1439, Romanian service was playing soul music, ``women and girls rule my world``. How eclectic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 5935, at tune-in 0728 March 3, talk in Russian, rudely interrupted by stronger Dead Gene Scott, who was merely in one of his lengthy pauses via WWCR, probably puffing on his ceegar. Identifying the Russian was not as easy as I expected. Aoki shows R. Rossii, Magadan but not at this hour. HFCC says it`s Chita, which I doubt. Lhasa is also scheduled except this was during its Tuesday-afternoon siesta. I`ll go with EiBi who does show R. Rossii, Magadan on 5935 at 1800-1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHECHNYA ** RUSSIA. Hola a todos: Adjunto ficheros con el escaneado de nuevas QSL de LA VOZ DE RUSIA, HAGO ESPECIAL mención a las que conmemoran los 80 años de radiodifusión que se cumplirán el próximo otoño... Por ahora han llegado seis modelos diferentes... Algunos tan sugerentes que me han devuelto a 1981 cuando cruzaba las míticas puertas del número 25 y compartía, durante varias semanas, mi vida con los personajes de la radio soviética de la época.... Después estuvimos radiando programas con mis impresiones de aquel viaje que me llegó por Moscú, Kiev, Tallinn y Leningrado. ¡Gracias amigos por volvernos a unos años inolvidables y una experiencia maravillosa! CORDIALES SALUDOS / GOOD LUCK / (JUAN FRANCO CRESPO, STAMP JOURNALIST (AIPET), SÀLVIA 8 (MAS CLARIANA), E-43800 VALLS-TARRAGONA (ESPAÑA- SPAIN-ESPAGNE-SPANIEN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Quite heavy buzz on Saudi Arabia's strong signal on 17805 this morning (time now is 1010 UT March 2). 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Covers 17801 to 17809 kHz at 0900-1200 UT. Arabic sce modulation and buzz portions: buzz 'grafting' the fundamental Arabic service like 30 to 70% (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX via DXLD) 15435, Sawt ul-Buzz, March 2 at 1513, big signal, terrible frying sound overriding Qur`an. This Riyadh transmitter is getting worse and worse. Erik Køie in Denmark was hearing the same problem earlier at 1010 on 17805. How can the engineers there be unaware of it? A total waste of 500 kW and an insult to the deity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is it possible they're in DRM? Let me know. Thanks! (Noble West, TN, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not DRM mode outlet, it's pure AM mode broadcast. Trace 15435 kHz channel at 1500 UT too: 15435 1500-1800 27,28,37N RIY 500 kW 320 degrees The failure of one of the nine 500 kW beasts at Riyadh site occurred past month again. Similar BUZZ tone failure occurred already in 2007 to 2008 years. Transmitter problem solved in July 2008, when Chris Greenway from UK complained at HFCC bureau in Prague. Accordingly Mr. Cip informed the technicians at Riyadh administration. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17805 is not a DRM transmission. It's a sort of 'rasping buzz' that's been heard on various of Saudi Arabia's frequencies for some time now, and appears to be due to a fault at the Riyadh transmitting station. It's audible now as I type this at 1045 (on 17805). And although the transmission in Arabic is strongly received, and can be followed, the noise makes for unpleasant listening. 73 from (Noel R. Green (NW England), March 3, ibid.) ** SUDAN [non]. RADIO DABANGA ADDS A THIRD FREQUENCY FROM TOMORROW Starting tomorrow, 3 March, Radio Dabanga will use an additional frequency of 9830 kHz from Wertachtal, Germany in parallel with 7315 and 13800 kHz for its daily broadcasts to the Darfur region of Sudan at 0430-0527 UT. Radio Dabanga: http://www.radiodabanga.org/ (March 2nd, 2009 - 17:33 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** TURKEY [non]. See CANADA, 7325 wrong language or inaudible ** U K. CUTS, STRIKES, TELEVISION AND RECORD AUDIENCES – FAREWELL TO MY WORLD Nigel Chapman, who stepped down as head of the BBC World Service last week, looks back on his tenure and tells Ian Burrell why his decision to cut 10 language services was the right one --- Monday, 2 March 2009 More than three years on and Nigel Chapman says he's still troubled by the anguished facial expressions of his staff, the victims of the most bloody cut backs in the history of the BBC World Service. When Chapman took out his sword and severed 10 language services, including those in Polish, Greek, Hungarian and Czech, he did away with 200 jobs. "I can still see the faces of the people right in front of me now, their sad faces, proud but sad about having to leave the BBC," he says of the moment he called a mass meeting in Bush House in October 2005 to announce that he wanted to take the budget from those services and spend it on plans for an Arabic TV channel. "I got quite a tough time from them, as you'd expect. People felt angry and upset and that would only be human wouldn't it?" Then again, he says, his decision was "strategically absolutely right". Chapman, without hesitation, embraces the suggestion that he has been a "radical" director of one of the most famous services in broadcasting and hopes to be remembered that way, after stepping down last Friday following five years in the post. . . http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/cuts-strikes-television-and-record-audiences-ndash-farewell-to-my-world-1634967.html (via Dale KA8KOD, DXLD) Chapman was also interviewed on this week`s Over To You (gh) Or see [same Independent story] http://snipurl.com/d03m1 (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** U K. OMAN. 12015. BBC: 1607-1624, MAR 01. Two OM in (?) language with presumed news program. Mentions of "Russia... Kabul... Afghanistan..." Also noted excerpt of English language political speech ("This is also a test for Europe...." etc.). Noted jamming (sounded like CW), which moderately interfered with an above average signal for this meter band/time of day. Checked PPWBR, and noticed that jamming was indicated for this broadcast (Ross Comeau, Andover, MA, Drake R-8 & 60-ft longwire, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) PWBR `2009` shows BBC with a jammed 30-minute transmission at 1600 on 12015 – trouble is, that is S=summer season only. For W-season it shows IBB Lampertheim at 1600-1700, you guess the language in each case. Aoki also shows V. of Korea in French to Europe during this hour. HFCC now has BBC, 90 degrees from Skelton at 1600-1630, the timing and target area pointing to the revived shortwave Azeri service, tho this frequency does not figure in the WRTH Feb update. As for the `jamming`, that is the persistent RTTY utility intruder I have been complaining about (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. POLICE TRACK RISE OF PIRATE RADIO --- Pirate radio stations are booming across the UK, but so are police efforts to catch the perpetrators. Some 707 stations were raided in 2007, with 881 targeted in 2008, and police say they have a 100% conviction rate. . . Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/uk/7920241.stm Another report on BBC News today: PIRATE RADIO 'PUTS LIVES AT RISK' By Daniel Emery, Technology reporter, BBC News website Page last updated at 06:02 GMT, Tuesday, 3 March 2009 Authorities have been increasing their efforts to crack down on pirate radio stations in the UK. Regulator Ofcom says the broadcasts can put lives at risk by interfering with emergency service frequencies, and can also block legitimate stations... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7919748.stm (via Dale Rothert, DXLD; and Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) This so-called "news" item positively reeks of political propaganda. There's lots of he says this and he says that but no real evidence. It's very similar to a story about weapons of mass destruction which wasn't what you could call 100% accurate. In the past I would have said that the BBC loses credibility by broadcasting stuff like this. I can't say that now because the BBC lost all credibility a long tome ago (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, ibid.) Have to agree with Harry on this one, especially the line:- ""They break down doors, smash windows, break the actual lifts erecting this equipment"" Normal vandals don`t do this sort of thing, do they? Pirate station staff deliberately break the lifts so they have to carry the equipment up the stairs!? Sorry - but that sounds a load of ........ Compare the quoted number of stations, (160), apparent raids (881), and the number of complaints (41) --- that just doesn`t sound very convincing (although there is probably some official [doc]ument saying them). Apart from that, having been involved in a minimal way with pirate radio some 40 years ago, I think with the multitude of stations we have now, they are more of a menace than a threat to society. The ethos of the 60's and 70's of providing an alternative to the BBC has disappeared (Keith, UK, ibid.) There's another longer piece by Daniel Emery at the link below, The pirates' view of pirate radio, includes two video reports different to the police raid one on the previous story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7920067.stm (Mike Barraclough, UK, ibid.) ** U S A. 5110 USA, WBCQ (Monticello, Maine) 0100, 2/21/09. “Allan Weiner Worldwide” show. Good, which is rare here in the West. Frequency actually measured 5109.83. 7415, USA, WBCQ (Monticello, Maine) 0100, 02/28/09. “Allan Weiner Worldwide” with talk about restoring vacuum tube television systems. Good, better than // 5110 (Alan Johnson, Nevada, Perseus SDR, Elecraft K3 with various antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 7415, WBCQ Monticello ME (presumed); 2318-2330+, 2 Mar; Glenn Hauser's World of Radio #1449 ending at 2328+; about a sesqui-minute [sic] of DA [dead air] and into religious program in progress. No break at BoH [bottom of hour]. S25 [25 over S9] sig[nal] (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Word on the street is that WWCR has a new chief engineer, who should be quite busy fixing various technical problems which had been allowed to build up, such as the 6430 harmonic last month, spurs, which may only be icebergtips (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. PUBLIC NOTICE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 445 12th STREET S.W. WASHINGTON D.C. 20554 News media information 202-418-0500 Fax-On-Demand 202-418-2830; Internet: http://www.fcc.gov (or ftp.fcc.gov) TTY (202) 418-2555 Monday March 2, 2009 IHF-00090 Report No. RE: ACTIONS TAKEN INTERNATIONAL HIGH FREQUENCY The Commission, by its International Bureau, took the following actions pursuant to delegated authority. The effective dates of the actions are the dates specified. For more information concerning this Notice, contact Tom Polzin at 418-2148; tpolzin@fcc.gov TTY 202-418- 2555. WINBIHF-RWL-20031209-00007 P Date Effective: 02/10/2009 Grant of Authority Renewal World International Broadcasters Application for Renewal of an International Broadcast Station License located in Red Lion, PA (via Benn Kobb, DXLD) Had been in limbo, renewal due in 2003 and not processed, seems (gh) ** U S A. Paul Harvey tributes, etc. http://www.abcrn.com/harvey/# (March CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** U S A. WHYL DX test --- I've emailed the DX test coordinators, and hope I'm not stepping on their toes by doing this, but I'm announcing the first DX test in many a year on 960 WHYL, Carlisle, PA Sunday morning (Sat nite) March 15 from 12 midnight till 2 am EDT [0400-0600 UT March 15]. A radio buddy of mine is visiting and we're gonna throw it to 5 kW DA E-W with a smaller lobe north and have a little fun. Hope to have Morse ID's and sweep tones as well. Listen for pop music, a little "peppier" than our Standards! Pat Martin, you got this one yet? Reports will go to WHYL, ATTN Bruce Collier, 1703 Walnut Bottom Rd, Carlisle, PA, 17015. Peace, BC (Bruce Collier, York, PA 722ft ASL, FM19px, MW setup: Drake R8B, Sony 2010, MFJ 1025 phaser, 375' E-W Bog, 250' Bog at 240 deg., 7' broadband loop w/10db DXEngineering preamp, March 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. 1670 Dry Branch GA. Question? The FCC still has this as WVVM. WFSA is not on the data base. Can anyone help with an explanation? Am I mis-hearing the call? The format is now Fox Sports ex Spanish. I heard 1670 WVVM Dry Branch this morning at 0100 Eastern [0600 UT]. Can any one help with the call letters? The FCC still has them as WVVM! /Barry /:-) 1670, WVVM, Dry Branch GA; Fox sports talk & "WFSA Dry Branch Macon Fox sports 16-70 and foxsports1670. com" W/F 0659 [sic] 2/3 (Barry Davies, UK, March 2, ABDX via DXLD) 100000watts.com says they've requested new calls WFSM. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) Many thanks for the answer, Scott. Sometimes the 3500 mile journey can mess things up this side of "The Pond" hi! BTW can a station use a call not yet authorised? (Barry :-) ibid.) Technically, no. As a practical matter, they're not likely to get busted for it (Fybush, ibid.) ** U S A. Regarding a station on 1710 kHz, I received the following information from Jeff Lehmann in Massachusetts regarding this station. He writes: "It`s a pirate station with a TIS type antenna located on an old furniture store building at the corner of Center and Main Streets in Brockton. They used to be on 1620 until the city of Brockton put a legal TIS station on that frequency. This website http://www.radiosoleilinternational.com/ mentions 1410 AM, but that is not the case, that stream link on there is what`s heard on the 1710 pirate." Jeff Lehmann, Hanson, MA (via Sheldon Harvey, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. FM rules, 1950 --- David Eduardo [Gleason] has posted a bunch of old radio magazines/listings on his website. From the 1950 *Broadcasting Yearbook* on: http://www.davidgleason.com/Broadcasting%201950%20Yearbook%20Page%20Range%20Guide.htm I've excerpted some of the FCC regulations relating to FM as they existed at the time. In particular: - Zones: Today, the country is divided into three zones - I, I-A, and II - which determine the classes of FM stations available and by extension, the maximum permissible power. In 1950 there were only two "Areas". Area I consisted of southern NH; all of MA, RI, and CT; southeastern NY as far north as Albany; all of NJ, DE, and DC; MD west to Hagerstown; and PA as far west as Harrisburg. Everything else was in Area II. (a footnote defined a further zone, in Area II, where "...applications be given careful study and consideration to insure an equitable distribution of facilities throughout the region." This zone included the remainder of MD, PA, and NY except the northeast corner; VA, WV, NC, SC, OH, IN; Michigan north to Saginaw; Illinois west to Rockford and Decatur; and southeastern Wisconsin as far north as Sheboygan. (didn't say how far west..) Today, much of that area is now part of Zone I, where FM powers are limited.) - Class A power limits: Today, Class A stations are limited to 6kw/100m. (for tower heights above 100m power must be reduced to compensate) For most of the life of the FM service the limit was 3kw. In 1950 the limit was *one* kilowatt, at 250 feet. (250' is roughly 75 meters) Class A stations were limited to twenty specific frequencies. (familiar to many current DXers as that limit lived until 1980) - Class B power limits: Today, Class B stations are limited to 50kw/150m. In 1950 the power limit was 20kw. (and the antenna height limit 500 feet, which is 152 meters) HOWEVER... "The use of greater power and antenna height will be encouraged in those portions of area II where such use would not result in undue interference..." In other words, THERE WAS NO LIMIT on the power of a Class B FM station in area II (except for the need to avoid interference to other stations). - Class C power limits: In 1950, there was no such thing as a Class C station..... - Principal-community coverage: Today, an FM station must provide a 70dBu signal across the entire principal community. In 1950, "upon special showing of need", the transmitter could be located such that as little as 47dBu is provided across the city served. I would imagine this and the lack of a hard-and-fast power limit allowed for some of the rurally-located *very* high-powered stations of the 1950s. Stations like WMIT Winston-Salem, NC (transmitting from Mt. Mitchell nearly 120 miles away) and WIBA-FM Madison, Wis.. (transmitting from what is now Blue Mound State Park, 40 miles away) - Multiple-ownership limits: It's probably no surprise to many current DXers that in 1950, one owner could not control more than one station "...that would serve substantially the same service area..." However, the 1950 rules also indicated that anyone wishing to control more than one FM station *period*, regardless of location, must show that controlling multiple stations would foster competition or provide additional service; and that it would not result in undesirable concentration of control. A hard-and-fast limit of six FM stations nationwide under common control existed. - Minimum operating hours: Today, FM stations are required to operate at least eight hours a day between 6am and 6pm, and at least four hours between 6pm and midnight, every day except Sunday. (of course, the vast majority of FM stations operate 24/7) In 1950 only three hours were required during the day, and 3 hours in the evening. (on the other hand, Sunday operation was mandated) - Legal IDs: Today, stations are required to identify as close to the hour as feasible. In 1950, *two* (or *three!* IDs an hour were required. One was required on the hour, as today. The other could either be made at 30 minutes after the hour, or at both 15 and 45 minutes after. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, March 2, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. WINDS TAKE OUT WSPA-TV TOWER [illustrated:] http://www.televisionbroadcast.com/article/75422 (March 2, 2009) SPARTANBURG, S.C.: High winds and ice have taken down the transmission tower of WSPA-TV, the CBS affiliate serving this South Carolina market. The tower, located on Hogback Mountain in the Blue Ridge, fell around 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, according to published reports. No injuries were reported. The main tower collapsed into the back-up tower as it fell. Both the analog and digital signals were knocked off the air. “Both towers are on the ground and a repair crew is scheduled to evaluate the damage today,” WSPA said on its Web site. “Our signal can be viewed on Charter and DirecTV and digital channel 62.2. We are currently working with Dish TV so they can acquire our signal. We will live stream our newscasts here.” Heavy snows began pummeling the Eastern Seaboard states over the weekend, closing roads and knocking out power in some areas. Up to six inches was said to accumulate in areas of Georgia; New York was looking at 14 inches; South Carolina, eight inches (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) When it fell yesterday afternoon, it also took the aux tower. They also own the CW "62" and have WSPA on the secondary. http://www.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article/live_stream_news_channel_7_at_600pm/15132/ (Powel E. Way, III, SC, March 2, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. I came down with a bad case of cabin fever today and just had to get out of the house. Went for a drive around my old home town and out into the countryside to the west. Along the way I came upon the largest log periodic antenna I've ever seen. Just guessing, but I'd say it was about 50' across at the largest elements and probably 40' long. I was going to snap a picture with my cell phone, but the blasted thing always comes up in video mode and by the time I pushed the 19 keys required to get it into still photo mode the light had changed and traffic was moving. Probably just as well. From where I was I'm sure the antenna would have looked like a tiny thing in the corner of the shot. As I drove by the antenna and looked at the building behind it, it finally hit me what it was. This was the air traffic control center for O'Hare airport. I'm sure the antenna was for the air band communications with the planes (Jay Heyl, IL, ABDX via DXLD) By air band, do you mean HF? A big LP would likely be for HF rather than VHF, perhaps even down to the 3 MHz band. Offhand I don`t recall seeing reports of O`Hare on HF; usually airports along the coasts are HF-capable due to long-range contax with trans-oceanic flites, but there must be a lot of trans-polar, or direct-from Europe/Asia flites incoming there. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Civilian aircraft voice communications are generally in the 118-137 MHz range. Military aircraft voice comm is 138-150 and 225-400 MHz. (These are the range listed in the manual for my scanner radio.) I've listened to civilian aircraft traffic and have picked up air traffic control in that range. A full wavelength antenna for 118 MHz would be a bit over 8 feet. Maybe that's all it was and it just looked bigger. One interesting thing that struck me today is that the antenna was on a mast that was mounted in the ground rather than on top of the building. I would have thought the added height of the building would be a plus, but maybe there were other considerations. There was clear area all around the antenna, so there might be a ground wire system that required mounting the mast on the ground rather than on the building. It's too bad I didn't have my scanner with me at the time. I'm sure the spectrum sweeper function would have gone crazy picking up active frequencies (Jay Heyl, ibid.) Air/Ground communications on HF are handled by ARINC. They have a communications center in New York and one in San Francisco. Their transmitters are in Bohemia NY, San Francisco CA, Molokai HI, Alaska and Guam. I have veries for NY and Molokai. I don't remember anything going back to the 1970's for the Chicago area. There was a site in New Orleans (Martin Foltz, ibid.) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Re Zimbabwe Community Radio, 9-019: Yep, 5935 was really noisy channel, heavy splatters. Anyway, at 2000 [March 1] there was a station in presumed Russian on the frequency and under it a female voice with ID "Zimbabwe Community Radio". I had to leave the radio after few minutes, better luck next time (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Z.C.R. is such an innocuous name. Why don`t they call it The Voice of the People`s Revolution Against the Bloody Dictator, or something to get a little more attention? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) "The broadcasts were scheduled to begin on shortwave 5935 kHz on 1 March 2009 but experienced technical hitches necessitating a switch to 5995 kHz on 29 March 2009." Undated press release, Media Institute of Southern Africa (via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Nonsense, as Dan Ferguson has also outpointed. 5995 is merely the next frequency coördinated for the start of the A-09 season, tho who knows, if they do find 5935 unsuitable, the might go there sooner (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There are shortwave transmitters for hire in the UAE. It is unclear where the studios are. I have not been able to find a website for this new station. Posted: 02 Mar 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 11745, OPPOSITION. SW Radio Africa via Talata Vololondry, MADAGASCAR, 1804, 3/1/09, in English. Long interview by “Geri” (Jackson presumably) with a man in Zimbabwe about political prisoners, ID. Fair (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satellit 800, Kaito 1103; 110’ random wire, Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) This is via Woofferton, UK. You must be thinking of the other station, V. of People, which uses Madagascar (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. DISCLAIMER FOR ALL LW/MW ITEMS: No portion of the below may be reproduced or redistributed by the National Radio Club, their editors or current members without my expressed written permission, which will then be swiftly -- and we do mean swiftly -- denied. Editors receiving this directly from me are excluded, provided this entire disclaimer is included once, where any of the below LW/MW items are first reproduced. 1610, UNIDENTIFIED, 0256-0448 March 1, 2009. Tune-in to Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" seguéd to an unidentified blues vocal. Female in unknown language (definitely not English or Spanish) at 0301, instrumental and talk over music beds. Gerry Bishop was at the house tonight during this log, and took my SRF-59 with headphones into the street for this one. He nulled the Tampa International Airport TIS, but still could not capture any ID. I rechecked at 0431 back on the NRD-535 to hear Stevie Wonder "Signed Sealed and Delivered" followed by a female in definite English with a long chat, but no local references pulled out of the mix. Who is this one? What's the format of CHHA, Toronto these days? Or -- presumably less likely -- CJWI, Montréal? [Later] 0142-0200 March 3, 2009. Under Tampa International: definite Spanish man and woman briefly (the Mexican?), but also The Caribbean Beacon with the lovely Mrs. Scott scratchy-voiced preaching, filler music (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1710, 0248-0315 March 1, 2009. Traces of non-ethnic music, AM mode, on spot checks. Seemingly gone at 0331 recheck. Not the Hebrew NYC station for certain; Undercover Radio here again? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 3905, 9-019, Radio Fox 48: see NORWAY UNIDENTIFIED. 4940, March 3 at 0729, fair signal in open carrier, helping to modulate CODAR swishing past every second. Unlikely to be any known 4940 broadcast station at this hour, China, India, Perú, São Tomé or Venezuela, so maybe just a ute (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. In DXLD 9-019, Blake in SC reported some `jamming` bothering WBCQ 5110 on the low side at 0150 March 2. At 0727 March 3, long after WBCQ is off 5110, I noticed noise centered about 5107, but I am sure it is some kind of utility, unsounds like jamming, especially with BFO on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6120, very strong open carrier, March 3 at 0723-0740*; had a little hum on it, and turning up volume to max, could hear weak talk in Dutch, which was RN via France underneath as scheduled during this hour. Only thing else on 6120 is TWR Swaziland, but this was far too strong for them at 9:30 am local. Prime suspects are Habana and Greenville, testing for some reason; bears watching (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9750, 1143-1210, March 2. M & W in unID language; music bit at 1154 and more talk; 5+1 pips & W announcer at ToH followed by M with Kor'an-like vocal chanting thru tune/out; fair-poor. Heard snatches of IS at 1200, presumably via V. of Malaysia s/on; both Aoki & Eibi list NHK/R. Japan in Japanese here; while Eibi also lists VOM 1000-1400 which is inaccurate based on recent logs. Sounded more Middle East than Far East to my ear (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, NRD 545, RX350D, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 13415-13440, presumed OTH radar pulses at 1404 March 3, mixing with CODAR at the top end (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 13620-13645, Over-the-horizon radar pulses, presumed, this time strong enough to cause a lot of interference to Kuwait in Arabic on 13620, March 2 at 1511. See KUWAIT, which some sources say is in DRM until 1300v or 1400 on 13620 --- that would be quite a collision of noises (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17300 - most likely Sound of Hope? Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH at 0840 UT March 2nd ... irgendein Kineser, wahrscheinlich Taiwan, der hofft, dem feuerspeienden Drachen zu entgehen? SIO 354 (Nils Schiffhauer-D DK8OK, A-DX Mar 2 via BC-DX via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Unfortunately, I don`t seem to be able to Download World of Radio on Dial Up any more. However your .txt format makes the Listening Digest, VERY easy to access (Ken Fletcher, UK, March 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There have also been problems getting WOR to update automatically on iTunes – WRN are working on correcting it (gh) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ The following have just been updated on the British DX Club web site: AFRICA ON SHORTWAVE MIDDLE & NEAR EAST ON SW SOUTH ASIA ON SW UNITED KINGDOM ON SW All of the above lists are compiled by Tony Rogers and have been updated for March 2009. EDXC CONFERENCE & BALTIC TOUR Reports on the 2008 EDXC conference in Vaasa, Finland and the post-conference Baltic tour by Alan Pennington (as published in BDXC Communication over the past few months) are also now online. All of these can be found on the BDXC web site at http://www.bdxc.org.uk - see Articles Index (BDXC-UK March 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ DAYLIGHT SAVING [sic] TIME BEGINS IN MOST OF THE U.S. AT 2 AM ON SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2009 This article at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/daylight_time.php (via CGC Communicator via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Amazing, actually. Here in Europe we change 3 weeks later, March 29 (Erik Køie, Denmark, March 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It gets even more bizarre. This current date range of DST was only for three years -- we are entering the last year of this trial period. Next winter the US Dept. of Energy is to report to congress on the amount of energy saved by extending DST for these three years. If congress is convinced that enough energy was saved, then the trial format becomes permanent and our DST will be from the second Sunday in March to the first Saturday in November. If congress decides the other way then we will revert back to the prior dates of first Sunday in April to the last Saturday in October. At least that is how I understand it. This is not a done deal and they could change the date ranges in some other manner. "No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session." 73, de (Nate >> Bargmann, KS, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1450) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ REALLY STUPID OCCURRENCES >From the public radio engineers' list... All radio hobbyists out there, especially those in the Omaha area: beware! If your antennas, etc. use PVC pipe, some idiot on the bomb squad may try to detonate it! (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, NRC-AM via DXLD) Subject: Re: [Pubtech] The Closing of --- and other high tech goofs Check out this news clip from Omaha where ham radio equipment was mistaken for a pipe bomb and detonated by the local bomb squad. It was apparently a PVC dipole balun. They really are a bunch of amateurs in Omaha. :-) http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S=9911221&nav=menu606_2 --Ira Wilner (via Randy Stewart, KSMU, ibid.) Remind me never to bring this: http://www.am-dx.com/ferrite_antenna.htm to Omaha. Maybe if I label it "Large Passive Ferrite Antenna" it will be idiot proof? Sheesh (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, IRCA via DXLD DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: KUWAIT; SAUDI ARABIA; UNIDENTIFIED 13620- ++++++++++++++++++++ DTV: see also CANADA DTV INTERFERENCE Hello Glenn, This may be more appropriate for Continent of Media, it's not about SW but it is about broadcasting. I live at the north end of the N-S approach and runway for the local AFB [Tinker]. I have noticed that whenever a plane passes overhead, and there are a lot of take offs and landings here, my DTV looses its signal. It returns a few seconds later after the plane has either passed overhead-going North or landed-South. Paying careful attention has shown that take offs have a more pronounced effect than landings. Is it possible that the plane is deflecting or somehow scattering the signal. I think the DTV signal is much narrower than the analog signal but I didn't realize the DTV signal was THAT fragile. I remember you writing about a recent storm affecting DTV reception. I wonder what else messes up this new wonderful technology? (Steve Cross, Midwest City, OK, March 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Steve, Very interesting. Looks like you have a good correlation there. I am not surprised, as there is something about DTV that makes it fail when the receiver is in motion (like people with TVs in their cars/limos), and signals bouncing off planes also involves motion. I am not sure `narrow` is the word, but it sure is fragile. Multi-path may also be a factor. We have loads of training flights from Vance directly overhead, but I can`t say I have noticed such a correlation here. Will have to be on the lookout for it. (Glenn to Steve, via DXLD) FREE BUT FICKLE, DIGITAL TV RECEPTION ELUDES SOME - USATODAY.com http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-03-02-digital-tv-reception_N.htm I knew this when I first tried DTV a couple of years ago! (Curtis Sadowski, IL, WTFDA via DXLD) Tell ya what, boyzngirlz --- Live at 722 ASL; I'm having issues with a ChannelBast, er, Master 4228 at 30 ft and a CM7778 preamp on the pole. Used to get fine analog DC, but 4, 5, and sometimes 20 are M.I.A. I watched the Steelers-Deadskins game on 20 last year in really decent analog, but the digital was/is spotty. With an indoor, I get ONLY 8 and 43, my hyper-locals. No 49 at 8 miles, no CBS21 or ABC27 or CW15 from Harrisburg --- which have always been clear in analog. All us radio broadcasters should take heed and abandon HDRadio now! It was nice of the FCC to send TV over the cliff first. 73, BC (Bruce Collier, York, PA 722ft ASL, FM19pxm TV/FM setup: TV=Sanyo HT32477 32" HD/Analog, FM=Pioneer SX750 Rcvr Antennas=Antennacraft CCS1843 V/U/F at 20 feet AGL, Channel Master 4228 8-bay UHF at 25 ft into CM7778 preamp, ibid.) What would've been smart would be an embedded minimal low-bitrate video & audio signal for TV's to fall back on during bad reception. A small bit of bandwidth sacrificed to at least provide something viewable (akin to a snowy analog signal - maybe a "youtube" look to it). Perhaps that could be added in the future as an ATSC improvement available on new TV's? Maybe? (William R. Hepburn, WTFDA, Grimsby, ON, CAN 43 10 59.44 N -79 33 34.45 W http://www.dxinfocentre.com [site down temporarily changing servers], ibid.) In a way, it will be; a lot of broadcasters are looking closely at a recent addition to the ATSC standards that incorporates just such a low-bitrate stream designed for mobile reception. I can't imagine any reason why conventional receivers couldn't be designed to decode that stream as well, and since that stream is explicitly meant to be much more robust than the main signal, it should do exactly what Bill suggests. Maybe Doug can chime in here if I'm missing something. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) YouTube - DTV Nightlight Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXvA2IYAyt8 After two weeks of seeing this on the air, I can only say - WILL SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE THIS STOP!!!!!!!! (Curtis Sadowski, ibid.) Youtube Video- WNDU 16 South Bend, Indiana when they transitioned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-doMdwWl6M&feature=related WNDU making use of the NAB video (Curtis Sadowski, ibid.) NEWSPAPER LISTINGS FOR DIGITAL STATIONS Are your local newspapers (if you have one left) listing the schedules for digital station multicast channels?? The Manhattan (KS) Mercury now includes WIBW-DT's channel 13.2 which is MyTV. The Kansas City Star and The Topeka Capital-Journal does not list it or any other multicast channel although some are available in both cities. I did notice a couple of years ago that the South Bend paper was listing two multicast channels (16.2 and 22.2). KCWE-DT 31 (29.2) just started airing "this" with movies and old TV shows this morning, but I can't find their schedule anywhere including on the website (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, March 3, WTFDA via DXLD) http://www.this.tv has the schedule, assuming KCWE-DT is running the straight network feed. What I'm seeing as I travel is that the newspapers bother to list subchannels only if they're carrying one of the major or semi-major networks (CW and My, but usually not This or RTN) and/or if they're on basic cable. So WHAM-DT 13.2 here - a.k.a. "CW16" on cable - gets in the paper. But it's an unusual case, since it was on cable (and in the paper) as a WB/CW affiliate long before it was on the DTV subchannel. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Neither of the Dallas-Fort Worth papers show anything but the primary listings. But then, I don't see anything worthwhile on the sub- channels here, except for the added weather channels (Bill Hale, Fort Worth, ibid.) Dave, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel started listing multicast channels for WMVT-36, WPKE-55 and WDJT-58 since they offer various programming at the same time. They don't list WTMJ-4.2 probably because all it is a 24 hour weather plus channel. Same with 36.5, 36.6, 36.7, and 36.8 because they specialize in 24/7 something, like classical audio music on 36.5, jazz audio 36.6, weather maps plus NOAA KEC60 on 36.7 and 24 hours of Milwaukee Freeway traffic cameras on 36.8. For WDJT-58 they list only 58.3 as that is THIS TV, but not 58.2 since it is a simulcast of WMLW-CA and WMLW-DT and that station has its programs listed as ch. 41. WPKE-55 is ION TV and that station is the same with all ION-TV stations. I guess a good many have 4 multicast channels. Most ION-TV stations are now offering HD on their main channel. John L., Muskego, WI, ibid.) My local paper does list the few digital sub-channels we have here: 21.2 (CW), 21.4 (Telemundo - KQRE), 3.2 (OPB SD), 3.3 (OPB Plus). "Standard" channels are: 3.1 KOAB (PBS) (Full power) 7.1 KBNZ (CBS) (-ld Low Power) 21.1 KTVZ (NBC) (Full power) 39.1 KFXO (Fox) (-cd Low Power) 51.1 KOHD (ABC) (Full power) KTVZ is also on 39.2. KFXO is also on 21.2. NOBODY has flipped the switch to digital only. KOHD is and always has been digital only since its sign-on in 2007. I still have analogs (mostly translators) on 3 4 5 7 8 16 19 21 23 27 29 31 33 39 41 42 44 46 48 50 52 53 54 66 (Dave, Bend OR, ibid.) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ IBM AND GOVERNMENT $$$ REVIVE BPL Looks like we've got to shoot it with a silver bullet and drive a wooden stake through its heart. FYI. 73, (Curt Phillips W4CP, Raleigh, NC USA, NASWA yg via DXLD) from URGENT COMMUNICATIONS magazine (formerly Mobile Radio Technology) Utilities turn to IBM for BPL solution Feb 25, 2009 12:48 PM, By Lynnette Luna Just when it appeared broadband-over-powerline (BPL) technology was going to die off, IBM and rural Internet service provider (ISP) International Broadband Electric Communications—with help from a $9.6- million cash infusion from IBM and $70 million in government loans—are deploying BPL networks for almost 200,000 rural customers served by seven electrical cooperatives in Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and Virginia. The move comes months after two of BPL’s highest profile deployments died out and as many BPL vendors have begun focusing on smart electrical networks rather than consumer broadband delivery. . . FULL STORY: http://urgentcomm.com/networks_and_systems/commentary/ibm-bpl-solution-0225/ (via Phillips, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Geomagnetic field activity was at mostly quiet levels during 23 - 26 February. Activity increased to quiet to unsettled levels on 27 February with minor to major storm periods at high latitudes. Activity decreased to mostly quiet levels during the rest of the period. ACE solar wind data indicated the increased activity of 27 February was due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). The HSS began on 27 February. Velocities increased to a maximum of 701 km/sec at 27/2000 UTC, then gradually decreased for the rest of the period (minimum 384 km/sec at 01/2340 UTC). Interplanetary magnetic field changes associated with the onset of the CH HSS included increased Bt (peak 11 nT at 27/0940 UTC), and brief, intermittent periods of southward Bz (minimum -7 nT at 27/1006 UTC). FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 04 - 30 MARCH 2009 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to increase to high levels during 14 - 18 March. Normal flux levels are expected during the rest of the period. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at predominantly quiet levels through 12 March. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to active levels during 13 - 14 March with a chance for minor to major storm periods at high latitudes due to a recurrent CH HSS. Activity is expected to decrease to mostly quiet levels during 15 - 30 March. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Mar 03 2152 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2009 Mar 03 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Mar 04 70 5 2 2009 Mar 05 70 5 2 2009 Mar 06 70 5 2 2009 Mar 07 70 5 2 2009 Mar 08 70 5 2 2009 Mar 09 70 5 2 2009 Mar 10 70 5 2 2009 Mar 11 70 5 2 2009 Mar 12 70 5 2 2009 Mar 13 70 12 4 2009 Mar 14 70 10 3 2009 Mar 15 70 5 2 2009 Mar 16 70 5 2 2009 Mar 17 70 5 2 2009 Mar 18 70 5 2 2009 Mar 19 70 5 2 2009 Mar 20 70 5 2 2009 Mar 21 70 5 2 2009 Mar 22 70 5 2 2009 Mar 23 70 5 2 2009 Mar 24 70 5 2 2009 Mar 25 70 5 2 2009 Mar 26 70 5 2 2009 Mar 27 70 5 2 2009 Mar 28 70 5 2 2009 Mar 29 70 5 2 2009 Mar 30 70 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1450, DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ I had a political argument last night. A friend was saying Obama this and Obama that and Obama is going to be the worst president in history. I had to say, Obama has only been in office for one month and 2 weeks. Do you really think he made this economic problem in 38 days? I think that this can be rested squarely on Bush's shoulders. He is a good enough fellow but he watches Faux Nooze and his brain gets filled with junk. I don't think I can undo it but at least I can tell him not to worry about the Fairness Doctrine so he can listen to Rush, and that Obama said he was against it. I have to tell him that Obama is not coming to take his guns and that Obama said he was not for that and that Biden said that he would not let Obama do it. I have to tell him all the time that Obama didn't bankrupt the country with two wars and cutting taxes during the war and that he wasn't the one that gave the jobs away. My friend always complains that Clinton forced the banks to give bad loans. I have to tell him that Clinton left in 2001 and that if Bush had the House, Senate, Executive and Judiciary for 6 years and then the Executive and Judiciary for 2 more and they didn't fix the problem, doesn't that mean the Republicans agreed with this and the problem became theirs for doing nothing? I see how brainwashed people can be from getting their brains filled from the trash at Faux Nooze, Republicans seem to be naturally fearful people, and the the people at Faux Nooze sure prey on their fears. Fox must have a big battery of psychologists to get the fearful, Republicans to fall for so many lies because they are very good at it. I am amazed that living here in the south, I hear this same thing from so many people all believing the things that are on the air from conservative sources. Its sad that they spout talking points and some never seem to check things out for themselves, bless their hearts (Kevin Redding, Crump TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###