DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-046, June 4, 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 2009 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 1463, June 3-9 Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1900 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0000 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 1130 WRMI 9955 Fri 1900 WBCQ 7415 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 [or 2029] Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first Sat: June 6] Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 [suspended] Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Tue 1900 WBCQ 7415 Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 [or new 1464 starting here?] Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://podcast.worldofradio.org or http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ALGERIA [non]. 7295 // 9535, June 2 at 0537, RTA with Qur`an; later in the hour sounded reverent but not Qur`an pe se. 7295 is 194 degrees from Issoudun, FRANCE, and 9535 is 162 degrees during this hour. 9535 was slightly better, tho with some flutter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA. Caribbean Beacon still hasn`t fixed the double audio, not only The University Network, but also local 1610 programming mixing in on 11775. June 2 at 1202, DGS speaking, but could also hear a Carib- accented preacher with prayer, greeting listeners. At 1222 PMS was speaking along with hum and a 1610 preacher. At 1402, as PMS was trying to explain something in Greek, distracting hymn singing. It seems the mix is now slightly lower audio level than TUN audio, but still totally unacceptable. Does PMS [née Barbie Bridges] ever tune in her own SW broadcast in LA? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1463, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11775, Caribbean Beacon local programming from 1610 kHz still mixing with The University Network, June 3 at 1203: PMS on the latter, an OM preacher on the former prompting responsive readings. At 1349 a hyper preacher was QRMing PMS. At least she is not a screamer, I`ll say that for her. At 1402, local YL announcer was sending (birthday?) greetings to people in The Valley, from The Caribbean Beacon, then music from 1403 to last until 10:30. 11775, Caribbean Beacon audio from 1610 still mixing with The University Network, June 4: at 1330 PMS had music underneath her, then undermodulated live announcement by OM announcer for a change, apologizing for audio difficulties (but I assume not this particular problem), program summary for the rest of the morning, back to gospel music QRMing the Bossette (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, R. Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel (presumed) 1804, soft LA music as I type this. First time to get any kind of a signal here in a while. Picking up possibly due to recent increased solar activity. (2 June) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. RA, 9580, June 2 at 1352, caught last few minutes of Australian Bite, interviewing woman who has written new lyrix for Advance, Australia Fair, acknowledging Aboriginal heritage, unlike the original, which was whites-only, and the indigenous feel alienated. I thought they were going to play the whole new version, but only a fragment of second stanza before program ended at 1357 for QSY announcements. Looking for it on website, no alfabetical listing for Australian Bite! Instead, it`s under T for The Australian Bite: http://blogs.radioaustralia.net.au/australianbite/?p=350 An updated Aussie anthem? National anthems are meant to inspire, be instantly recognisable, and even bring a tear to the eye. But many in this country find Australia’s national anthem, ‘Advance Australia Fair’ somehow lacking. One such person is former member of the Seekers, and Australian singing legend, Judith Durham. Many of the lines in our national anthem troubled her, so she’s written and recorded some new ones with the help of some friends. Judith Durham speaks with Fran Kelly. You can read Judith Durham’s alternative lyrics on her website: http://www.judithdurham.com/lyrics/advance_aust_fair_lyric.pdf And the audio starts 15:45 into this, but you can`t advance the file unless you download it first; they do play the first stanza of the new version at the outset: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/ra/podcast/australianbite/australianbite_20090530.mp3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13690, R.A. - Shepparton, 0416-0442, June 3. “In the Loop” with pop songs; cricket matches being held in Port Moresby; “Port Moresby 101.9 FM”; Pacific news headlines; fair; // 15240 Shepparton (good), 15515 Shepparton (good) and 12080 Brandon (fair-poor with VOA QRM via Madagascar in English) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RA has changed its programming: temporary anomaly or permanent? 9580 and 9590, the two best frequencies in accidental NAm target beyond the Pacific, are normally //, but June 3 at 1148 they were separate. 9580 had live sports coverage of some kind, but since my ears glaze over immediately, did not determine what, possibly something involving machines; while 9590 had a talk about how highly NZ ranks on the Peace Index. 9580 was // weaker 9560, while 9590 was // weaker 9475. At 1213 the two pairs were still separate, 9580/9560 with dead air for a while until announcer mentioned a ``problem in master control``, 1215 promo RA FM frequencies in various Asian cities, as ``Connect Asia``; promo podcast for ``Nightlife`` which is apparently the program in progress, live timechex for 10:16 in the east, 8:16 in WA, and ``now welcoming listeners on Radio Australia``, so this domestic program is aware that RA is carrying it and apparently it is out of the ordinary. At 1237 on 9580, more promos for Nightlife and RA. Meanwhile, 9590 and 9475 were in what we used to hear on all the RA English frequencies during the 1200 hour, ``Late Night Live`` (LNL for short), which of course is also originally a domestic program, from a different ABC net, National Radio, while Nightlife is on so-called Local Radio, and the topic I was hearing matches this: ``Wednesday June 3 Centrelink General Manager Hank Jongen will bring us up to date on the recent changes to our welfare system.`` More surprises: rechecked at 1300, 9590 went into Chinese from RA, still // 9475, whilst 9580/9560 stayed in English. Another check at 1353: 9590 still in Chinese; 9580 with YL interviewing a guy in a helmet, which turned out to be ``Rural Reporter`` at a rodeo. 1357 QSY announcement by Roger Broadbent on 9580 said these were about to close: 6020, 9580, 9560, 5995; and these were about to open in two minutes: 7240, 6080, 5995. Note that 5995 was both closing and opening! And no mention of 9590, but it was never mentioned anyway despite the fact it used to continue beyond 1400. Monitoring 9590 across hourtop 1400: music kept playing, and then more announcements in Chinese. Are these changes accounted for on the RA website? Of course not! The undated frequency guide (for English only) at http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pdf/frequency_guide.pdf claims 9590 is still in English until 1600. WRTH A09 update shows RA Chinese only at 1300-1430 on Shepparton 9475, 11660; Tanshui, Taiwan 11760; Darwin 11825. Everything back to normal at RA June 4, 24 hours after we observed two separate programs on 9580/9560 and 9590/9475, even with Chinese by mistake(?) on 9590 at 1300 --- First checked at 1127 June 4, all four in English and //. Ditto at 1305 for Asia-Pacific, with report on the Beijing Massacre 20 years ago --- certainly the station to listen to for news about China, unlike CRI, where I bet any mention of this whatsoever was verboten, so I wasn`t going to waste my time. But did anyone listen to the complete CRI English hour on June 3 or 4 and hear anything about it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. 9745-USB, presumed R. Bahrain Abu Hayan, 0026-0059, May 31, Arabic. Call to prayer-like chanting with pause at BoH; different style chants thru 0050 with pause at 0040; M & W announcers between percussion/wind instrument bits until blown out by 9750-RFI via French Guiana crash-start at *0059; poor/weak; no ID noted (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200'Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. Bangladesh will become GMT+7 (currently GMT+6) on the night of 19-20 June. This is a permanent change (i.e. not a summer / winter exercise (Chris Greenway, 3 June, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unless they change their mind. More details at WORLD OF HOROLOGY below ** BOLIVIA. Panamericanal --- hola amigos, en los 5870, con señal bastante buena, escuché una emisora boliviana que dice llamarse Panamericana. Escuché música tipo carnavalito y el locutor que repite en la identificación 'Red Panamericana'. Parece ser una emisora o del Estado Boliviano, o de un sector alineado con el gobierno, por los comentarios. La emisora llaga bastante fuerte en la mañana; la registré a as 1040 UT. No la encontre en los manuales habituales. ¿Alguien la ha sintonizado y sabe algo más? A lo mejor ya estuvo en la lista este tema, pero como yo no entro muy seguido por aquí, me lo perdí. Si aguien me da una mano, se agradece. Un abrazo (Victor Castaño, Uruguay? June 4, condiglist yg via DXLD) Amigo Victor, Eu conheço a Rádio Panamericana, de Lapaz, Bolívia, somente que ela transmite, em SW, mas na frequência de 6105 kHz. Mas como é comum estas emissoras bolivianas mudarem frequência sem muita informação, existe a possibilidade de ser esta a emissora que você ouviu, em 5870 kHz. A web page dela está no endereço http://www.panamericana-bolivia.com/ Como ela possui audio ao vivo na página, isso poderá lhe ajudar na identificação. Um abraço, (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena - MG - Brasil, ibid.) ** CANADA. Yet another anomaly from R. Canada Internal: the 1405-1504 UT hour on 9515 to NE USA is supposed to be in Russian, per their own schedules, but June 3 at 1435 it was really in Portuguese (Brazilian) with French lessons! A narrative about Mic-Mac and other Indians, with occasional translations in a child`s voice of common words like oiseau and enfant. 1500 recheck, still in Portuguese, but now the kid interjexions in English. What is going on and what is the point of all this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RCI monitoring station at Stittsville, Ont.: see RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** CANADA. With cutbacks by governments to radio stations – and that means cuts to Internet, as well – we’re seeing our favourite SW broadcasters have been chopped way back. It’s being more important than every to file our reception reports and show our support for them. Here in Canada, we all know what’s happening to CBC, thanks to Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. This is part of an article from http://www.HarperIndex.ca --- “PUBLIC BROADCASTER IS STARVED OF FUNDING BY A GOVERNMENT WITH A VENDETTA AGAINST IT.” by Ish Theilheimer OTTAWA, May 27, 2009, HarperIndex.ca: Despite cuts that have left the CBC struggling to maintain programming, public support for the public broadcaster is at a record high, and Canadians are saying they distrust the government’s motivations in making those cuts. “There’s just about nothing Prime Minister Harper has ever said about public broadcasting that we haven’t tracked,” Friends of Canadian Broadcasting spokesperson Ian Morrison said in a telephone interview. “He tends to say very little about it,” because Harper knows CBC is popular with Canadians, although indications of his true feelings slip out from time to time. “For example, in an unguarded moment, as opposition leader in 2004, going into the election, he said you could look at putting commercials on CBC Radio 2 or privatizing the English television network. Harper’s people “would be aware that they are offside with the majority of public opinion on this subject, which is why they are so cautious about it,” said Morrison. “I’m pretty sure they’re aware there’s a clash between their electoral interests and their ideology.” While Morrison doesn’t kid himself that the CBC itself is a vote- determining issue, the Conservatives’ attitudes toward it contribute to a negative view of the party. “It’s a loser issue,” he said. “Broadcasting and culture have risen” as public concerns, “possibly because of Harper’s incautious statement [in Saskatoon] on culture funding.” * 70% agree that “Canada’s level of public broadcaster funding is indicative of the federal government’s treatment of the cultural sector overall.” * Only 25% of agree that “privatizing and commercializing the CBC”, as Mr. Harper had mused, “is the right thing to do” while 62% disagree with this idea. * 68% agree that the CBC’s current funding is insufficient * 74% believe that annual funding to the CBC should be increased. * 63% agree that “the CBC provides value for taxpayer money”. * 66% of Canadians are “concerned that recently announced cuts to the CBC budget will reduce the amount of local news and regional news coverage.” ‘Til next time. 73. (Sue Hickey, CIDX Forum, June CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** CANADA. Tuned in to The National 6/1 to find Peter Mansbridge warning that the broadcast might look a bit weird, due to a "massive" computer outage at CBC, "clear across Canada." He even had to don his reading glasses to read some raw, typed copy on occasion. The broadcast went off without much of a hitch, but probably with a lot more screaming off the set (Chuck Albertson, Seattle, Wash., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Thanks to satellites, what goes on in the Arctic is now only a second or two away from our television sets. Yet before satellites and less than 50 years ago, the northern regions were isolated and totally dependent on themselves during the long winter months. As an indication of just how isolated they were, in the 1950s and '60s the CBC's shortwave service's 50-kilowatt transmitters in Sackville transmitted a regular northern shortwave service to all northern communities such as Rankin Inlet, Pangnirtung, Igloolik and Cambridge Bay. Part of that service included current news and other events. Yet, since mail only arrived in early summer with the supply boat, those who grew up in southern Canada and were now living and working in the north were often desperate during those long winter months for news of their loved ones in the south. At that time the CBC did indeed have a heart, to the extent that part of the northern shortwave service transmissions included the announcer reading letters from those in the south to their relatives and friends in the north. This included news such as births, deaths, who had gotten married, had an accident, found a job, what mom and dad or sister were doing, who was in hospital, etc., all very much appreciated by those in the far north who were clustered around their shortwave receiver sets. But times change and much is forgotten that should not be. (from http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/sports/article/686291 Northern way of life is ancient, Published Tuesday June 2nd, 2009 by Everett Moshera, via Kim Elliott, Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** CANADA. FEAR OF LOSING CBC RADIO AM FREQUENCY HAS YUKON RESIDENT SINGING THE BLUES --- By Chuck Tobin, Whitehorse Star, THE CANADIAN PRESS WHITEHORSE, Yukon — Lake Laberge, Yukon, resident Pete Beattie has been a fan of CBC Radio One AM for almost 30 years but fears he may now lose the frequency. The service has provided him with a link to the outside world and matters of public concern, even while he’s attended to his remote traplines. Beattie and others are circulating a petition to save the AM service and expect to deliver it to the House of Commons on Friday. They are also planning a second petition to be delivered to the Yukon legislature this fall. Beattie said even though CBC will be replacing the AM service with a new FM signal, the new service will not come close to the number of rural Yukoners who now receive the AM signal. “There is going to be quite a few people affected by not having that AM service anymore,” he said. CBC Whitehorse is switching to an FM signal after the city of Whitehorse insisted it move its radio tower and associated infrastructure from the site of a new subdivision. The city rejected CBC’s offer to downsize its footprint on the Porter Creek area from 19 hectares to three hectares. City hall said the broadcaster had no options but to move and make way for the Whistlebend subdivision, which will be occupied starting in 2012. The CBC has said it cannot financially justify relocating the AM service, particularly when FM infrastructure already exists on Grey Mountain to supply the corporation’s Radio Two service. Beattie said FM signals are not nearly as strong as AM signals and do not cover anywhere near the same area. He said that while rural residents will be able to pick up the new FM feed, they’ll quickly lose it quickly on their way out of town. The petition to the House of Commons asks “that Parliament permanently maintain AM transmission from Whitehorse, Yukon (one of Canada’s 13 capital cities) so that every rural Yukoner will be able to tune into CBC. John Agnew, CBC’s managing director for the North, said the corporation recognized there would be implications with the switch to the FM service but that the city had made its decision. He said it’s not financially feasible to relocate the AM infrastructure, with its requirement for a large area of underground cable, for example. Agnew said the existing CRTC broadcasting licence requires the Whitehorse station to provide a signal strong enough to reach residents within a 20-kilometre radius of the broadcast tower. The fact that the signal currently goes well beyond the licence requirement means it’s a fringe benefit, not a requirement, he said. CBC Whitehorse is planning to kick off its new 570 FM service [sic] in August, while maintaining the AM service, Agnew said, adding the AM service will go off the air in October. (Whitehorse Star) 19:07ET 03- 06-09 (via Ricky Leong, AB, DXLD) ** CANADA. RAVENS' NEST ATOP CBC TOWER CREATES HEADACHES IN AKLAVIK Some of the CBC's sharpest technical minds north of 60 are trying to outsmart some persistent bird-brains: ravens that have built a huge nest atop the broadcaster's transmission tower in Aklavik, N.W.T. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2009/06/02/ravens-cbc-aklavik.html (via Ricky Leong, AB, DXLD) ** CANADA. LOW POWER STATION LISTINGS ADDED Some of you are no doubt familiar with my Canada/US AM Station Info site at http://topazdesigns.com/ambc/ I've had a few requests to include the Canadian low power transmitters in the listings, and I've finally gotten around to doing this. In order to reduce the clutter for folks who aren't interested in seeing them, the default is to not show the LP stations in the listings; however, in the "station search" function you'll now see a checkbox to select inclusion of these stations (if you don't see it, try clearing your browser cache or doing a -reload to get rid of the old version). After doing the update, I was curious to see what the current stats are on AM stations in Canada. Here's the current number for each province and territory - the first figure is "full power" stations (100 W or more day power), and the second is low power stations (under 100 W): AB 24 9 BC 36 43 MB 16 3 NB 5 4 NL 22 4 NS 7 0 ON 46 27 PE 0 0 QC 20 24 SK 18 0 NT 3 8 NU 1 1 YK 3 8 Grand total is 201 full power stations and 131 low power stations (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, June 4, ABDX via DXLD) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. A reminder of the DX station no one can hear, Radio ICDI on 6030, general info from their illustrated website http://www.icdinternational.org/radio.html also with a coverage map showing part of CAR, and bits of neighboring countries only. Co-channel Ethiopia, DentroCuban jamming and Martí don`t help at all on this frequency, nor does the lack of specific schedule info for ICDI. Short-Wave Radio Communication technology in the Central African Republic is decades behind most of the world. In the capital city of Bangui there are a few opportunities to connect to the outside world through internet cafés and cell phones. With little telephone, no television, no newspaper, and no mail service outside the capital city, the general population receives practically ALL of its information via radio. It is interesting to note that every village has a radio --- most have more than one. Radios purchased from countries like Nigeria and Niger are very affordable. They cover FM, shortwave, and mediumwave bands. Prices starting around $6 make this method of communication affordable for a large percentage of the population --- everyone listens to the radio! Until the end of 2005 there was only one government-owned shortwave station and six FM stations run by private organizations. In December 2005 ICDI was granted permission to open the first privately owned shortwave radio station—“Radio ICDI.” (Several shortwave stations outside of the country [BBC, France One, and a few Arabic stations from northern Africa] are also heard satisfactorily by listeners in the CAR.) Radio ICDI is also the first privately owned station transmitting in Sango (the trade language) as well as in French. In the future, ICDI plans to include special programming for some of the people groups in the country who have difficulties understanding both French and Sango. Early in 2006 ICDI purchased an eight acre portion of land on the plateau above the town of Boali. During that year, two containers were moved to the property, electricity and a road were run to the site, and a fence and a guard house were constructed. In February 2007 a team of HCJB engineers from the HCJB Engineering Center in Elkhart, Indiana made a three-week trip to Boali to install a one kilowatt transmitter, shortwave antenna, transmitter studio, and two satellite antennas: one for accessing the Internet and the other for accessing French program sources via Trans World Radio. Radio ICDI was commissioned and started broadcasting at a dedication ceremony February 22, 2007 and is currently transmitting programs on 6.03 megahertz. Radio ICDI can be heard by villagers across the country, giving ICDI the perfect means to communicate information on AIDS prevention, orphan care, well repair programs, and many other community development initiatives. Already, Radio ICDI is regarded by many in the country to be “the people's radio station” --- the people of the Central African Republic have expressed a real ownership in ICDI and its programs (via gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Dear Ham Friends, yesterday, 1 Juni 09, I have stumbled over the Hainan [sic] Firedrake Music Jammer: I heard it with an S9+ signal on 7130 kHz. Also, very faintly, I could hear the jammed BC. Most probably this was Sound-of-Hope or another BC from Taiwan. For a long period PR China had stopped jamming with the Firedrake Music Jammer on 7130 and 7185 kHz. Instead it had used the program of CNR-1 (CHN) to jam with. Pse will you also monitor the QRGs 7130 and 7185 kHz for jamming and report to your intruder watch and to your National telecoms. authorities (Uli, DJ9KR / DL0IW, Vice Coordinator of IARU-MS Region 1 and, Coordinator of DARC-MS Intruder Watch, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake check June 2 at T minus 1: audible but not good enough to `enjoy`: at 1150 on 9000 better than 8400; at 1408 poor on both 15600 and 13970 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake (non-stop Chinese music jamming) scan from 7100 thru 19000, from 1220 to 1240 + 1320 + 1409, June 3: 8400 // 9000 both with good signals. During the gap at 1400*, noted that 8400 kept their transmitter on, while 9000 was off-the-air. 8400 FD came back on at 1404, while 9000 was *1405. 13970 and 15600 both off-the-air. At 1409 noted FD on 15150, not // and not heard earlier. So assume there actually was a slight decrease in the activities of the Sound of Hope, which is what FD is directed against. Just as Wolfy reported earlier, heard numerous frequencies with CNR-1 program echo-jamming (operating more than one jamming transmitter and out of sync, causing echo) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake observations June 3: at 1417 poor-fair on 8400 and 9000. But at 1321 very good on 14420, absent from 13970. In honor of those massacred in Beijing 20 years ago, I kept listening to 14420 until 1339, and considered it a funeral dirge. I suggest that whenever we hear Firedrake, we remember that day, and that today China remains the World`s Largest Dictatorship, contrary to those optimistic, idealistic, young demonstrators who imagined Democracy was a real possibility. 15760 had heavy CNR1 echo jamming, June 3 at 1425. Absolutely nothing in WRTH, HFCC, Aoki or EiBi as a possible target, so perhaps a new frequency for Sound of Hope (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Echo / Firedrake jamming, June 3rd --- LOUSY SW conditions this morning, only transmissions from nearby sites - like Issoudun some 600 kms away, or Litomysl-CZE and Rimavska Sobota-SVK - came in unfortunately strong this morning. No Firedrakes heard this morning. ECHO jamming compared to CNR1 BEI 17605 kHz. In 06-08 UT slot noted on 13610 13740 15250 15615 15635 17510 17615 17780 17880 21500 21550 21690. From 0800 UT on 13610 13740 15250 17775 17855, and 21705. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake check June 4: at 1325, 14420 good // weaker 13970, and also audible on 9000 (Glenn Hauser, OK DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AUSTRALIA: RA 9580 at 1305 for Asia-Pacific, with report on the Beijing Massacre 20 years ago --- certainly the station to listen to for news about China, unlike CRI, where I bet any mention of this whatsoever was verboten, so I wasn`t going to waste my time. But did anyone listen to the complete CRI English hour on June 3 or 4 and hear anything about it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here's what I found: 9570, via Albania, at 0100 UT on June 4 had a short news bulletin. Items on mourning the loss of a research fellow at the Academy of Sciences (apparently on the missing Air France plane), the opening of domestic oil reserves for foreign and domestic companies, and world news. China Drive at 0105. Drive time talk about rain, national news, sports news, etc. and a movie review of X Men Origins: Wolverine. A quick check of 9580 via Cuba at 0130 UT on June 4 featured Voices from Other Lands, this week a discussion with the founder of a network of hospitals in China (Jon Pukila, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada, June 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RECALLING RADIO BEIJING BROADCASTER...ELECTRONIC COUNTERPART TO TIENANMEN "TANKMAN" --- Perspective w/ Documentary Audio (June 4, 2009) -- We provide on-demand access below to the work of a courageous broadcast journalist. It aired almost exactly twenty years ago today. It's not exclusive here. It was reported at the time by others. It's been cited in several accounts of the events it describes. Like many news consumers, this writer spent much of June 3-4, 1989 watching CNN's live coverage of events in Beijing's Tienanmen Square. That night, I was interested to hear how Radio Beijing's English language shortwave radio service (in its nightly one-hour program beamed to North America) would describe the events. At 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time, tuned to the 25 meter shortwave band, I recorded what you can hear now. Because it's on shortwave (bouncing off the ionosphere on sometimes slightly differing paths), you'll hear occasional fading and phase distortion. For reference, the text is transcribed below. Try to imagine what it must have been like for this man to sit down at a microphone in a government broadcasting center amid martial law, knowing what has just taken place...and to speak the following: To launch audio, click here [text below already quoted in 9-036] http://www.lbreport.com/sounds/rbeijing/jun389.mp3 This is Radio Beijing. Please remember June the third, 1989. The most tragic event happened in the Chinese capital, Beijing. Thousands of people, most of them innocent civilians, were killed by fully armed soldiers when they forced their way into the city. Among the killed are our colleagues at Radio Beijing. The soldiers were riding on armored vehicles and used machine guns against thousands of local residents and students who tried to block their way. When the army convoys made a breakthrough, soldiers continued to spray their bullets indiscriminately at crowds in the street. Eyewitnesses say some armored vehicles even crushed footsoldiers who hesitated in front of the resisting civilians. Radio Beijing [sic] English Department deeply mourns those [sic] died in the tragic incident and appeals to all its listeners to join our protest for the gross violation of human rights and the most barbarous suppression of the people. Because of this abnormal situation here in Beijing, there is no other news we could bring you. We sincerely ask for your understanding and thank you for joining us at this most tragic moment. In our opinion, this man is the broadcast journalistic counterpart to the Tienanmen "Tankman." Twenty years later, it remains for journalists worldwide with the resources to do so to find out who he is, to speak with him if possible --- and whether or not that's possible, to find out what happened to him and on whose orders. The perspective above is by Bill Pearl, publisher, LongBeachReport.com (via http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=6704 via DXLD) The clip above includes the R. Beijing IS and sign-on. It is a different recording off the air than the one used on WORLD OF RADIO, HAPPY STATION, and KSCO, which came from the Talking History website, as we previously acknowledged. It has a bit of extraneous beeping at the start and music fading up at the end, inserted by the producer of that piece for dramatic effect, as if any were needed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: R. Netherlands` New Website --- Myself, I like the new site. It has some teething problem, but is normal with almost every radio or TV station when they launch a new site. Trust me, I remember when CRI launched its new site, it was the same. Even with a net department of 43 people, it was hell in the first two weeks to work out all the bugs. At least I have a feeling the RN staff knew about it, not like at CRI. We found out two days later, because no one took the time to inform us. LOL (Keith Perron, Taiwan, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 11680, Radio Nacional de Venezuela; 2215, 4 June; ID and Spanish program Cossa [¿Cosas?] de Venezuela; feature on government projects; sez capitalism exploits the Venezuelan people. SIO=4+34; grinder QRM! Habana studio bleed? 11800, Radio Habana Cuba; 2209, 4 June; Spanish commentary re SAm & Hugo. SIO=3+53-, copyable but some distortion, somewhat like picket- fencing. // 11770, SIO=534-, QRMing and QRM'd by Dead Dr. Gene on 11775, putting out an S20 sig. (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Re 9-045: Glenn, That piece about life in Cuba at RHC was a real eye-opener. Many thanks for publishing it. Cheers, (Martin Gallas, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC TRANSMITTER SITES --- Hi Wolfgang, RHC does supposed to have new Rhombic antennas - as of within the last 5 years. Perhaps the MW arrays you refer to???? At Quivican still visible 16 curtains; and two 2 x 4 mast directional MW arrays. 22 49'37.76"N 82 17'29.45"W Cheers (Ian Baxter, Australia, JANUARY 3, 2009, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Quivican arrays: 22 49'24.93"N 82 17'47.47"W 22 49'21.65"N 82 17'24.15"W Nobody uses 'new' rhombics these days, this is outdated gear of the 40ties, 50ties, or 60ties. [tell that to WWCR, WWRB --- gh] China helped Cuba to erect new curtains and corner-reflector quadrant antennas especially for Rebelde 5025 kHz. Some 2-3 years ago ... when also CRI relays appeared on air, and also better audio quality of RHC outlets in 3-4 directions. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) tagged UPLOAD? at August 2006: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15224483 DigitaGlobe tag says 2003 at Bauta, but wounds around the transmitter house visible rather after DISMANTLING action in 2007/2008. Quivican installations but of 2006 year. 73 (wolfy, Jan 4, ibid.) Hi Wolfgang, Thank you for locating the Panoramio image. NOW I am a little perplexed. I have checked the individual Digital Globe image square over the region and it is dated November 18, 2003 and this image doesn't show the towers/masts that the Panoramio image dated August 10, 2006 does. NOW assuming these dates are correct & Panoramio photo location is correct (?), can one assume that the site had its antennas removed and rebuilt? That would be a possible explanation, especially when you consider that RHC has incurred hurricane damage to its SW TX facilities in the past, although perhaps one might have expected to see some evidence of fallen towers, etc. and rebuilding of towers. I thought Bauta was an old site, but perhaps NEW curtain arrays have been installed there since 2004! Remember the document about 3 SW sites being upgraded in the early 2000 period maybe sometime around 2002-2004! Something to ponder? But I don't know anything about your comments: "..after DISMANTELING action in 2007/2008" What can you you tell me about this Wolfgang? I'm puzzled. I didn't hear about this. Regarding Rhombics. Well I distinctly recall hearing Arnie Coro on Radio Habana Cuba mentioning perhaps a few years ago now, for DXers to write in regarding a particular transmission on a particular frequency/time for a special QSL for this transmission which was via their new rhombic antenna (site not disclosed of course) with the special QSL showing the rhombic antenna. Don't now if a reconditioned or new, but that's what Arnie said on his DX program. Maybe transcripts still exist?? I wonder if a newer image exists of the Bejucal area - anything new there. It sure would be good to solve some of these puzzling questions. Feel free to open this topic to other DXers or radio folk. BTW I am going to rename the Bauta site to: Bauta - Corralillo I think this is more accurate than Bauta - Cayo la Rosa (as in the Excel File) Cheers (Ian Baxter, January 4, ibid.) Terra Server to the rescue: Bauta CUBA Revelations Hi folks, After seeing comments in the latest DXLD about CUBA SW TXer sites. I decided to do some further research into the topic and my suspicions about the old Bauta site NOT having been 'all but dismantled' have been CONFIRMED from two date stamped images. One from a photograph reference that Wolfy provided and the other from my own research today via Terra Server. RHC Bauta - Corralillo: 22 57 00N 82 32 44W (International Transmission Centre No.1) First Evidence: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15224483 (clearly showing high gain curtain arrays from image dated late 2006) Second Evidence: Terra Server clearly shows the high gain curtains arrays still in situ in a part clouded image dated Feb 2008. N 22 57' 12.7" W 82 32' 45.3" I believe confusion surrounded the Bauta site from a Google Earth image dated 2003, that shows what looks like, from ground patterns a typical resemblance of past curtain arrays in place. I figure either: a) old arrays removed & new ones installed OR b) ground prepared for installation of new high gain antennas. Either way Bauta appears far from dismantled (as of images last year). NOW: I can't recall what rough coordinates we had for the RHC International Transmission Centre No.2 at Bejucal and the date of the Google Earth image around the area. I recall we found nothing there apart from what looked like remnants of a military base. I wonder if anyone would care to go looking with Terra Server (recent image) to see if such a SW site does indeed still exist???? Regards (Ian Baxter, Australia, JUNE 3, 2009 shortwavesites Yahoo Group via Büschel, DXLD) Back to more historical stuff:: Bejucal, 17 km east of Bauta site, halfway to Titán Quivicán, mentioned in 1999: CUBA -- China installs two communication bases in Cuba. "The transmissions of CRI are now originating from Havana on 9570", asserted an internal report from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC located CRI's transmitter at 22.56N/82.23W, near the town of Bejucal, southeast of the city of Havana. I could have told them it would be south of Havana, but at least they got some DF practice. On a high frequency band identifying themselves falsely as "OPEC21", a US C130 military plane flight, stated the report. OPEC like most of these oil-related callsigns is a tanker. More likely a KC-10 than a C-130 fitted for refueling. In Lourdes, province of Havana, that Russia has continued to operate since the disappearance of the Soviet Union and for which Cuba receives $200 million annually. [refers to electronic spying site] All of this tends to explain some of the Morse numbers that Camilo Castillo is hearing in Panamá. While signals sound Cuban, formats are more Russian. (Hugh Stegman-USA, via A.Erbe-D, July 31, 1999) I am hearing R Rebelde on a new freq 9600, opening at various times between 0958 & 1001. (Barry Hartley-NZL, bc-dx Aug 4, 1999) and 2001: CUBA RHC --- A listing of txs gives this breakdown: at Bauta, 2 x 100 kw, 1 x 75 kW, 2 x 20 kW, 2 x 10 kW. At Bejucal, 3 x 50 kW, 1 x 100 kW. At Titán, 2 x 250 kW, and 1 x 250 kW planned (RHC via Volker Willschrey-D, excerpted from an inconvenient xls spreadsheet by gh for DXLD, Mar 22, 2001) Titán means Quivicán high power site. And 2004: CUBA/VENEZUELA: Just let you know, this evening 2005 UT I was able to hear Radio Nacional de Venezuela via Radio Habana Cuba on 15230 kHz with pretty weak signal but clear ID 2013 UT. This transmission is beamed to Buenos Aires (Jouko Huuskonen, Finland, hcdx Apr 23, 2004) I've noticed improved reception of R Havana, Cuba recently, although none of their English broadcasts are specifically targeted at Europe - this article in Granma International gives details of improvements in their transmission systems: NEW TRANSMITTERS WILL ALLOW RADIO HABANA CUBA TO RECOUP AUDIENCE. With respect to short wave (a basically international radio service), Justo Moreno García, technical director of RADIOCUBA, announced that this year, six transmitters located in international transmission center No. 1 in Bauta --- west of the capital --- are being automated. This will allow Radio Habana Cuba (RHC) to recover the spaces that this station had lost in diverse regions of the Americas where its signal used to reach. In this same center, a seventh transmitter is being installed for Radio Rebelde, and an antenna system is being assembled. Moreno said that credits granted to Cuba by China for telecommunications that allowed work on the installation in Bauta to begin in 2003. The credit for $200 million was granted to the Cuban Electronics group by China's Import and Export Bank (EXIMBAK) via an agreement signed during President Jiang Zemin's visit to Cuba. It has mainly been used to improve short and medium wave radio sces. On a tour of the Bauta installation with Juan Carlos Pérez Pérez, its director, Granma International was able to corroborate the total change in technology in situ. Pérez especially emphasized that "of the 45 days anticipated, we were able to reduce service problems to two or three." As an interesting fact, Pérez commented that it was precisely from there, and on RHC waves, that the program Aló Presidente, produced in Venezuela, is transmitted throughout Venezuela, live and direct via the national television channel. Moreno informed that work is also underway in international transmission centers No. 2 in Bejucal and No. 3 Titán in Quivicán. The situation in those centers and the one in Bauta had been critical, he admitted: the equipment was "very old and inefficient," and the antenna systems and buildings were "very deteriorated." During the second semester of 2004, 20 new medium wave transmitters with digital technology will be installed, substituting the old and inefficient Czech TESLA equipment, Moreno reported. Those will add to the 17 that have already been installed, which provide services in 12 totally remodeled centers. Likewise, he added, 10 installations will be restored, the majority of them in the eastern provinces of Holguín, Granma and Guantánamo. These transformations will facilitate "a better quality signal, greater stability in services, improvement in the coverage areas of these centers and an increased level of energy efficiency," he affirmed. Work was needed to reverse the accumulated "profound deterioration" in the transmission networks of television and short and medium wave and FM radio, further affected by the disappearance of socialism in the Eastern European bloc. Added to that was the collapse of 14 radio towers and 4 TV towers in the wake of Hurricane Mitchell; RADIOCUBA was one of the enterprises in the country most affected by that hurricane. During the second semester of 2004, 20 new medium wave transmitters with digital technology will be installed, substituting the old and inefficient Czech TESLA equipment, Moreno reported. Those will add to the 17 that have already been installed, which provide services in 12 totally remodeled centers. Full article at: BY LILLIAM RIERA - Granma International staff writer - (Granma International, Apr 26, via Alan Pennington-UK, BDXC-UK and via Sergey Sosedkin in swprograms mlist; B. Trutenau-LTU, DXplorer Apr 27, 2004) [all via Wolfgang Büschel, June 3, 2009, DXLD] Back to the present: RHC Bejucal site discovered? Hi folks, I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I think(?) I may have discovered that ever so elusive Radio Habana Cuba Bejucal shortwave transmitter site. With some luck, logic and a couple of hours of searching I present:- GE coordinates: 22 52 00.84N 82 20 03W maybe a STL at 22 52 29N 82 19 51W How many years have we been trying to find this site Wolfy & Mauno? I hope this is their site & not something else. Across all 3 of RHC's sites there are certainly a lot of antennas. It would be wonderful if radio amateurs or other radio professionals within Cuba could do some precise direction finding to match RHC frequencies to transmitter sites, with all three sites so close together it would be next to impossible to match sites to frequencies outside of Cuba. Anyway, enjoy :-) Regards (Ian Baxter, Australia, June 3, shortwavesites yg via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) 12 curtains visible. GREAT work - Ian. That's the site we are looking for - and discussed so many times in past two decades. All three sites so CLOSE together ... Located 8.5 kilometers away of the previously mentioned SAM missile military base close to Bejucal, the mast design is Russian, I guess. Also large distance between transmitter house and antennas of 960 meters reminds me of design of Gavar site in former USSR; the latter transmitter house is also 800 meters away, see at 40 24'22.20"N 45 11'09.18"E [now Armenia]. Similar when compared with Tbilisskaya site. 6.2 kilometers distance to latest and most modern Titán Quivicán - latter which is real China Made design. What a capital waste for such a small pure country, put three proper transmission centers on their territory. Another mast is visible also at Bejucal No. 2 site at 22 52'28.83"N 82 19'51.42"W Maybe a communication or small MW transmitter mast ??? 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) "6 x 100 kW and 1 x 50 kW" for Bauta are statements repeatedly made by Arnaldo Coro some years ago, saying that these are brand-new, just installed transmitters with pulse-step modulation, i.e. the well-known Chinese rip-offs. The 50 kW unit has been described as is use for 5025 kHz. In general Bauta appears to be the pride of Cuban external broadcasting. It seems that it was their first shortwave site, and it still appears to be the only one they admit to exist at all. More than ten years ago a German managed to get to the door of the transmitter hall, and what he saw confirms the information in the TDP table. The Funkwerk Köpenick transmitters and maybe the Siemens units as well were originally meant for PTP services. They later had been used for the SSB transmissions of Radio Habana Cuba when the era of PTP shortwave technology was over. Anything else is basically a mystery. It's entirely up to anyone's guess if he want to believe the statement that new PSM transmitters have been installed at Bauta. I seem to recall that also some curtain antenna usage had been mentioned for the first test transmissions, for what it was worth. But it appears that 250 kW transmitters are nothing new. Such an output power had been mentioned for at least 6000 kHz already during the nineties, and I never found any explanation of the circumstance that this just does not fit all the information about Bauta installations. My theory: Quivicán is a facility with Soviet equipment the Cubans wanted to keep secret from the beginning, leaving people to believe that their beloved Bauta site is the origin of all Cuban shortwave broadcasting. It could be indicative how much frequencies used to be on air from Cuba during the late eighties, of course for both RHC and Moscow relays together. More than four ones, without signals from utility transmitters? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Depends on how you define new. It could mean new Chinese copies. Newly made from old parts. Or say new for people listening outside of Cuba. LOL (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ex-Cuba, ibid.) ** EGYPT. Re 9-045: >> I`m glad at least someone at R. Cairo is concerned about the lack of modulation, as without it, all their work is futile! But if they need Brazilians or any other listeners to keep telling them about it, they are totally incompetent, still don`t get it << Apparently here a clear distinction between programming and engineering must be made. It looks as if asking listeners is the only way for the programming people to get to know what's going on, since the engineering department obviously doesn't bother (and certainly deserves such harsh bashing). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. Re: DX mailbag from Equatorial Guinea Sunday eves [5005] --- Japanese DXer receive Mailbag program in same time of Apr. 26, too. http://from-tone-river.blogzine.jp/river_breeze/2009files/090427_BataLongMP.mp3 (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 37 minutes ** ETHIOPIA. NEW STATION --- Radio Wegahta, Mekelle heard in Finland. I succeeded in identifying Radio Wegahta on AM 918 kHz, haven't seen any info about this so this seems to have some news value as well. This station can be heard sometimes here in Southern Finland even though Slovenia and Syria dominate the frequency. Last year some news bulletins mentioned Radio Wegahta on AM 909 kHz, no idea when they have moved to 918 kHz. At first I presumed that this is a new Eritrean broadcaster because most of the talks dealt with Eritrea. Audio sample can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=876B5eGQbL4 According to Sudan Tribune http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article26287 this is an independent station and not related to the new services of Radio Ethiopia. I have tried to contact them via http://www.sallina.com for more information (they seem to have a connection with this station) but no reply yet. Anyway it was awesome to hear radio signals from this charming city where I and another Finnish DXer Mika Palo visited back in 1997. My 5th African station heard on 918v kHz (Ilpo Parviainen, Finland, June 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Ilpo, kiitos tiedosta and congratulations! This operation has been reported a couple of years ago by Chris Greenway and also listed in the WRTH; by Eritrean opposition operating now from Ethiopia, first mentioned as Eastern Radio, then Voice of the Dawn due to the double meaning of the word wegahta in Tigrinya, both east and dawn. Chris reported hearing unid Ethiopian music transmission on 918 kHz in December and on 3rd January at 1600 I could hear the same Ethiopian (test?) music on both 1044 and 918 kHz, so that may have been the month when the frequency change has taken place. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, June 3, ibid.) ** FRANCE [and non]. RFI strike must still be underway, as instead of Spanish on 13640, June 2 at 1214 via GUIANA FRENCH, there was music fill which I could only describe as reggae with Brazilian lyrix about Africa, mentioning Sénégal, and with intermittent audio dropouts, even during an RFI Musique (?) ID at 1217 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1463, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Warm greetings! You said you caught an RFI Musique mention out of RFI. Well, RFI Musique is a satellite feed of RFI playing French speaking music from all over the world, including France, Africa and the West Indies or even the French-speaking Arab countries such as Liban. It is usually NOT relayed on shortwave. However, some local FM relayers such as RFI Romania on 93.5 MHz (former Radio Delta which is one of the many great Bucharest FM broadcasters to pass away turning into a fulltime relayer of Radio France International both French and Romanian service - I think they occasionally relay the English service as well, though I'm not sure) late at night are relaying the RFI Musique satellite feed. As far as RFI Musique goes, we had almost 100% musical snippets from RFI lasting about an hour each during our Paris-Montreal flight and as radio reception was impossible (I was even told to hold down the radio which wasn't picking up ANYTHING anyway), I listened closely to the RFI Musique feeds. The one playing French Caribbean ZOUK music was particularly exciting. Under the "Musique des Îles" file description. But RFI Musique is not only about World Music performed in French- speaking countries. You can enjoy hundreds of Nouvelle-scène or of famous oldschool French and even French-Canadian singers such as Jean Leloup. Look for the RFI Musique biographies on Google, many are part of the http://www.rfi.fr website. Hope this helps! May the good DX be with you! (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, ABDX via DXLD) Not just in French (gh) 13640, RFI via GUIANA FRENCH, June 3 at 1206 with strike fill music, ``Cry Me a River`` in English instead of scheduled Spanish, but a few sex later the transmitter dumped off the air. Did not get around to rechecking before scheduled 1230 closing. Yes, the strike keeps being extended day by day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFI workers voted again on Tuesday to continue their strike for another 24 hours, AFP reports, quoting Maria Afonso, secretary for the employees' committee. She says unions are asking for a moratorium on the plan announced in January to layoff more than 200 employees. The strike, now in its fourth week, continues to affect most RFI programming, though I note that an effort is being made to provide major newscasts directed to Africa (Mike Cooper, GA, Jun 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FOURTH WEEK OF STRIKE AGAINST REDUNDANCY STARTS AT RFI Text of report by French news agency AFP Paris, 2 June 2009: The “indefinite” strike at Radio France Internationale (RFI), which began on 12 May in protest at a social plan envisaging 206 job losses, entered its fourth week on Tuesday [2 June] and continues to disrupt broadcasts, a union source told AFP... http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/fourth-week-of-strike-against-redundancy-starts-at-rfi (June 3rd, 2009 15:41 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Re: VOA TO HIGHLIGHT PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH IN CAIRO President Obama began his five-day trip on Tuesday, June 2, with a visit to Saudi Arabia. From Egypt, he will travel to Germany to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel (from a VOA press release) Does US media plan extensive coverage of this short stay at Dresden? I ask because to my surprise somebody booked this large HD outside broadcasting truck, otherwise used for really big shows and sports events: http://www.wige.de/hd1.html For German TV coverage HD production is just pointless. Regular HD services will not start until next year, away from some pioneers of which Arte (the German-French culture channel) is the most noteworthy one. If there will be coverage ny US networks as well you can presumably expect reporters to talk in front of the Neumarkt, with the Frauenkirche in the background. At least a long platform has been set up for exactly this purpose. One crew was already rehearsing, without their HMI lights I would perhaps have missed the TV compound at all, including the beer tent for the crews. In less than a hour from now all this will be off-limits to ordinary people. If you want to see how much of Dresden will be blocked off until Friday (officially local midnight, in practice until Obama has left): http://www.dresden.de/obama/de/wissen/sicherheitszonen.php Excessive. Merkel and Obama could meet at some USAF airbase and leave people alone. Just my personal opinion (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. News from All India Radio Headquarters : a) Mr. H. R. Singh, Engineer in Chief, All India Radio has retired. Mr. H. R. Singh was the overall Head of all engineering operations in the entire AIR network. He was also the Chief Technical Adviser to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt of India in matters relating to broadcasting. b) Mr. R. K. Singh, Chief Engineer (Development), All India Radio has retired. b) Mr. V. P. Singh, Director, Frequency Assignments, All India Radio has also retired. Mr. V. P. Singh was responsible for coordination of frequencies with other broadcasting and telecommunication organisations, assigning frequencies to AIR stations & liaison with international agencies on broadcasting. c) Mr. M. S. Ansari, Deputy Director Engg, R & D Dept, All India Radio has been appointed new Director of Frequency Assignments, All India Radio. He is the person responsible for the testing & development of DRM services for All India Radio. d) Mr. S. C. Pachauri, Asst. Director Engg, Frequency Assignments, All India Radio has been transferred to AIR, Leh (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 9425, AIR Bengaluru - National Channel, 1431-1500, June 3 (Wed.). In English; news bulletin; National Channel ID with frequencies; program “Vividha”(sp?) with interview with a professor about urban planning and management. The Mon., Wed. and Fri. schedule continues for this English program (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. NIAR HYDERABAD TEAM REACHES KOLKATA FOR POST AILA RELIEF Members of the National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR) reached the city on Monday night with equipment to assist the relief workers. "They are on standby and we would take their help according to the situation. We are moving along with the medical team in the affected areas like Dhaniakhali, Dulduli, Nebukhali, Hathgacha and also in various places in Sandeshkhali-I and II," said Ambarish Nag Biswas, one of the coordinators keeping track of the situation on the HAM radio network. --- Read the full story here : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata-/Relief-workers-bogged-down-by-fatigue/articleshow/4610733.cms Meanwhile I received a message from Jose Jacob that today morning he is moving to a place called "Kalitala", Hingalgunj in South 24 Parganas (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, June 3, dx_india yg via DXLD) Good work. This article insists on putting ham in caps, HAM as if it were an acronym or initialism (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 4750 at 1132 June 3 with music, talk in Indonesian, so RRI Makassar is active if you listen soon enough at earliest sunrise, now 1114 UT here. CODAR QRM and also another carrier slightly off- frequency, Qinghai, Hailar or Dhaka? (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4749.96, RRI Makassar. Fairly readable this morning around 1000. Kor`an over ToH. (1 June). 9680, RRI Jakarta, 1034 studio M talk with reporter by phone mentioning Jakarta, Indonesia, Guinea, and Africa. 1044 dead air as they lost the feed from the reporter. Then a canned promo with dialog, nice RRI ID at 1046, then continued with reporter. Probably about the Airbus AF 447 disappearance into the Atlantic. Full ID routine at 1059. Co-channel QRM from English station, but couldn't ID who. (2 June) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Can`t find anything else, in English or otherwise listed on 9680 at that hour (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Flight frequencies Does anybody know on which frequencies and with which stations a plane from Rio de Janeiro to Paris operates on / having short wave contacts with? Could it be Shannon, Gander, Stockholm? 73, (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here's the link for MWARA HF Frequencies : http://www.canairradio.com/hf.html Also try : http://www.scanaustralia.bigpondhosting.com/planes/icoa.html (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, ibid.) Not ICAO? While listening to Brazilian Search & rescue frequencies for last AF447 crash I learned in globaltuners, from other fellow listeners there, that some frequencies worth checking were those days were Canary Is. and Dakar, so I assume Rio, Canary Islands, Senegal, are among the airports concerned, that's the Atlantic route. It's not my specialty, though. 73 (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, June 4, ibid.) AIR FRANCE RIO-PARIS FLIGHT, HF RADIO VS. SATELLITE Most of what I've read in the media talks about the role that satellite communications have played in terms of communicating plane status with ground control. However, HF is still used for voice communications over the oceans, right? It appears there was no voice communication from the plane that it was in trouble. When aircraft are over the oceans and out of range from ATC dialogue over FM, how often do they communicate using HF? Only in case of emergency? Or more regularly to report position & speed? I would think an interesting angle for the news media would be the role that utility enthusiasts play in monitoring / documenting aircraft communication. Just a thought: I remember enjoying the Gander and New York VOLMET stations over the years, and it struck me I have read more about satellite communication than HF communications in coverage of the crash (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, June 3, ODXA yg via DXLD) It [HF] will gradually fall into disuse, just as Loran C has with the advent of GPS. The last Red and Blue airways in North America, which use LF beacons, were dismantled years ago. HF communications with transoceanic flights is commonly to give position reports. You call a station, give your last reporting point and when you passed it, and then your next reporting point and an estimated time of arrival. Which HF facility you call is not an absolute, and depends a lot on wheat conditions are like. When I flew C-130's across the Atlantic, I might talk to as many as a half dozen facilities depending on where I was and what the propagation conditions were like. And I always had one of the ADF receivers tuned to a LF station on Iceland in case something happened and we needed to land quickly. Fortunately, we never had to make use of that. Some of the Great Circle routes will keep you in VHF range with no break in coverage (Chris Trask / N7ZWY, Principal Engineer, Sonoran Radio Research, Tempe, Arizona 85285-5240, ibid.) C-130`s – military? They have a separate comms network (gh, DXLD) AIR FRANCE AF 447 FLYING AN ETOPS FLIGHT PLAN !!! Dear amigos: AF447 Airbus A330-203 was flying an ETOPS flight plan ETOPS means "Extended Twin Engines Operation" An ETOPS flight plan requires the aircraft to fly a route that will keep it at a certain limited flight time from an alternate landing site, AKA airport, with one engine out. Now I believe this has been extended to 3 hours, but at the beginning of the use of the fuel saving big twin engine jets it was less. If the Captain of AF447 filed, as he must had done, the ETOPS flight plan, he was in a really compromised situation when having to deal with a bad weather system ahead of him, and still comply with the ETOPS so far into the route. Several hypothesis have developed so far about the loss of the aircraft, and one of them deserves to be considered, that is not only impact from one or more atmospheric electrical discharges from a very charged cloud top of a thunderstorm, and the other closely related, also to be considered is that the aircraft was flying at near Mach 0.81 or .82 and did not reduce its speed to deal with the turbulence. If the crew was flying on the autopilot, and no one was looking carefully at the radar screen, or if the radar was not operational, they could had hit the area of extreme turbulence without even having time to put the hands on the throttles and reduce airspeed, switch off the autopilot and fly the plane manually. Another element is that if they saw how bad the area of thunderstorms really was --- like a sort of brickwall, and appraised the situation properly, they could have decided to turn around 180 degrees and go back to Brazil, something that would had generated a lot of problems for the flight crew --- having to explain their decision to a very angry group of airline executives that will be asking many questions and that will have to pay for all the expenses of the detour of the flight. My own personal experience with such bad weather systems include a number of 180 degree turns and returning to the airport of origin, and once, receiving a direct hit from a lightning strike that left the 4 engine turboprop Bristol Britannia BB 173 with a hole in the wing tip and all the inverters from 28 V DC to 115 V AC 400 cycles, out of service. We were able to make it to Havana in a what may be described as a miracle flight, in which we had to replace electrical circuit fuses and connect the only inverter that came back after that to the engine control circuits. The Britannia glided for about 5 minutes with the 4 Rolls Royce Proteous turboprops idling, until we regained control of the throttles. Also we lost all the HF radios, the ADF, VOR DME and had just one VHF radio working to contact Havana's José Martí International MUHA to declare, as expected, the in-flight emergency. The plane was flying at 18,000 feet en route from Santiago de Cuba to Havana --- I usually celebrate that day of the year as my "born again day Happy Birthday". 73 and DX (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, June 3, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. Re 9-045 RTE via South Africa at 1930-2030 moving from 6220 to 6225, but still on 6220 as of June 1: How about June 2? (Glenn Hauser, 1930 UT June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still 6220 (Jari Savolainen, ibid. via WORLD OF RADIO 1463, DXLD) Move to 6225 on June 3 at 1928 (S. Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And June 3 at 2000 check they are on 6225 (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos cordiales, desde Valencia en España, RTE por 6225 a las 2011 UT. Sin señal de Mystery Radio en 6220. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) ** JAPAN [and non]. R. Japan, 6010, June 3 at 1126 with IS, 1130 opening ID in Russian mentioned `severniy` or the like, so is this considered a `northern` service? It is indeed aimed 30 degrees from Yamata for DVR, and onward to NAm with a good signal. Aoki says it`s at 1100-1200, so why the IS in the middle? Because it`s really only 1130-1200 per WRTH A-09. Another semihour XEOI is blasted away by co- channel blockage. NHKWNRJ, 9625, June 3 at 1212 with news in English, atop both WYFR in Portuguese and CBC Northern a poor third; NHK // better 9695, azimuths from Yamata respectively 165 and 240 degrees, so directly off the back from the latter is 60 degrees usward. By 1352, CBCNQ was on top of a SAH, phone interview (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 7140, Voice of Korea (presumed), June 4. Noted a good signal here in passing by at about 1240, in Korean. Checked back at 1252 and they were gone. Scheduled for 1250*. Overall very poor Asian reception. Unable to hear many of my regulars: Myanmar, Laos and some China stations (Sichuan PBS-2, etc.). (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I heard 7140 about the same time as you; it really stix out in the middle of the hamband now (gh, OK, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 11560, June 3 at 1345, very distorted signal but seemed to be based on program modulation of some kind, could not tell whether speech or music. Transmitter out of order? No, it`s juche jamming against NK Reform Radio, scheduled 1330-1400 via Tajikistan; and it went off at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 11710, VOK IS with KCBS relay, June 2 at 1200, and also with SAH, QRM in Chinese. Per Aoki, RTI is also on 11710 until 1300, and so is CNR1 jamming. How uncoördinated! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH KOREA. 11770, V. of Korea, 1015 commentaries on, what else, their rights to nuclear power and also post war economic reconstruction. ID at 1032. Strong but seemed to be fading after 1030. Oddly on freq. (2 June) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Oddly, indeed. I guess you mean 11710? Where scheduled. I guess you mean in English? As scheduled at 1000 (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata, *1400- 1430*, June 3 (Wed.). In English with specific personal data about abductees; fair-poor, no jamming. Format different from their Friday English program (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Some VT Communications changes effective June 1: Voice of Free Radio to North Korea in Korean: 1600-1700 on 7520 TAC 100 kW / 060 deg, ex 1600-1630 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 2 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. NK Slams US "Reptile Broadcasting Services" First read excerpts in Kim Elliott's, then found the whole thing via http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm I guess the message is getting through. Such comments are usually a good sign in this sense (Sergei S., Russia, June 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: KCNA SLAMS U.S. ADMINISTRATION'S INVARIABLE HOSTILE POLICY TOWARDS DPRK Pyongyang, June 1 (KCNA) -- U.S. President Obama was reported to have markedly increased the spending for overseas broadcasting in the budget for the fiscal 2010 submitted to Congress the bulk of which is to go to those broadcasting services that specialize in the anti-DPRK propaganda. This indicates that the present U.S. administration remains unchanged in its hostile policy towards the DPRK. "The Voice of Free Asia" [sic] operated by the U.S. started its Korean language programs in March 1997. The U.S. has since increased the time for broadcasting by steadily boosting its financial disbursement for the reptile broadcasting services. It allotted 2 million U.S. dollars for its anti-DPRK operation in the fiscal 1998. A huge financial allocation was made for this purpose until 2008 according to the "North Korean Human Rights Act." The Obama administration's huge spending for smear broadcasting against the DPRK indicates that it is little different from the preceding regimes in the hostile policy towards it. What should not be overlooked is that the U.S. rulers asserted that the important role of the broadcasting services for overseas listeners to meet U.S. interests is reflected in the new budget. It is, indeed, a base and mean act to deceive the world. The main objective of "the Voice of Free Asia" and the Voice of America is to disseminate the American-style "freedom" and "democracy" and corrupt bourgeois way of living to the DPRK and other Asian countries. Most of the contents of their broadcasting programs are a whole string of vituperation against the top leaders of those countries, stories finding fault with their policies, interference in their internal affairs and reactionary propaganda. It is needless to say that the activities of the above-mentioned broadcasting services are designed to bring down the DPRK and other countries which do not meekly follow the instructions of the U.S. or incur its displeasure. The U.S. is sadly mistaken if it calculates the above-said media's spread of "freedom" and "democracy" would help eliminate the ideology and system chosen by the people of the DPRK themselves. They cherished the ideology in the DPRK as their faith in the course of a protracted and arduous struggle and regard the most advantageous Korean-style socialism centered on the popular masses as more important than their own lives. The U.S. is keen to bring down the dignified and inviolable system in the DPRK and looks forward to any "change" there. This is nothing but a day-dream of those who know nothing of the single-minded unity of the leader, the party and the masses. Intolerable is the U.S. attempt to do harm to the DPRK by increasing the funds for the reptile broadcasting services and enlarging their broadcasting hours. The new U.S. administration has run the whole gamut of accusations against the DPRK over its satellite launch for peaceful ends and put the sanctions against the DPRK into force. And it succeeded in plugging the south Korean puppets into the PSI. The reality goes to clearly prove that the U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK will remain unchanged no matter who takes presidential office in the U.S. The DPRK will bolster up its nuclear deterrent to protect its ideology and system as already clarified (via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 11884.66v, Voice of Malaysia (Suara Malaysia) via RTM (presumed), 1227-1229*, June 3. In Chinese; pop music; noted during Firedrake scan; fair-poor, with poor audio quality (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7270, Limbang FM and Wai FM via RTM, 1308-1335 + 1405, June 4. In vernacular; “RTM” news; DJ playing pop songs; singing “Limbang” jingle; poor-fair with PBS Nei Menggu QRM. At 1405 caught the change over to Wai FM programming; singing “Wai FM” jingle (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. El día de ayer recibí un amable correo del Ing. Orlando Balam, encargado técnico en RASA Yucatán, preguntando si se había escuchado a XEQM en los 6105 kHz; le respondí que al menos yo no había escuchado rastro alguno en meses. El día de hoy a las 0030 UT (19:30 horas del Centro de México) pude escuchar con un SINPO hasta de 4 a XEQM en los 6105 kHz transmitiendo un programa musical así como anuncios comerciales diversos, todo en castellano. Mucho agradecerá el Ing. Balam informes enviados a tecnico @ rasayucatan.com 73´s (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, 0050 UT June 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So it`s really on the air this time as JSDB just heard it (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 4800, XERTA presumed the station in Spanish, but with a big hum on the carrier, also CODAR QRM, June 2 at 0529 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. Noted RTM off-frequency in Arabic at 0945, June 3 -- it's on 15341, fair level (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nom. 15340 at that hour; later 15345 (gh) ** MYANMAR. JUNTA ALLOWS MORE FM RADIO STATIONS by Mizzima News Thursday, 04 June 2009 20:01 Rangoon (Mizzima) – A domestic company, Zaykabar, is all set to launch a Frequency Modulated (FM) radio broadcast in Taungyi town, capital of Shan State in mid-June, a company official said. The official at Zaykabar said, the groundwork has been completed and audiences will be able to tune-in to the programmes when it first go on air on June 15. Initially, the range will be receivable from Taungyi and Rangoon. The ‘Cherry’ FM Radio station will be headed by Zay Zin Latt, daughter of Zaykabar Company’s boss Khin Shwe and daughter-in-law of Gen. Thura Shwe Man, the third in the junta’s hierarchy. “We have planned to go on air on June 15. We have completed recruiting and training of staffs. Some are experienced staffs from the Rangoon and Mandalay FM. We will add some novelties in our programme, which will be different from other FM stations,” a staff of Zaykabar Company told Mizzima. The main broadcasting station, however, will be based at Rangoon’s Hmyaw Sin Kyun, where the headquarters of Zaykabar Company is also based. Similarly, Shwe Than Lwin Company is also planning to launch its ‘Thazin’ FM and ‘Ramanya’ FM radio programmes in Loikaw of Kayah State and Mawlamyine of Mon State respectively. Meanwhile, the ‘Forever Group’ of Company, which broadcasts the government’s MRTV4, has taken over ‘Pyinsawaddy’ FM programme from the Rangoon-based ‘Myanmar Radio and Television’ (MRTV) Studio. The Pyinsawaddy FM launched its programme on March 27, the Anti- Fascist Resistance Day, this year in Sittwe, capital of Arakan State. The FM airs a daily programme from 7 a.m to 7 p.m and can be received within a radius of 25 miles from Sittwe. Sources in MRTV4 broadcasting station said authorities are planning to expand the MRTV4 broadcasts in Thandwe (Sandoway), Ann and in the Irrawaddy Division. Burma’s military rulers have privatized eight FM Radio stations to its business cronies, most of whom the United States and European Union have blacklisted on its economic and financial sanctions list and imposed travel ban. The junta has allowed setting up of several FM stations with entertainment programmes, after its Information Ministry announced that it will “Counter Media with Media”. (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. R. Netherlands` New Website --- Looks good. But I'm not sure why radionetherlands.nl doesn't work any more. Instead, you are transferred here: http://www.rnw.nl/english (Sergei S., Russia, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If you are transferred, then it's obviously working :-) You can use either address, and will end up on the same page :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Why isn`t there any link to your complete shortwave frequency schedule? O, who cares about SW? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) It's at http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/rnw-frequency-schedule-summer-2009 but a link would be nice (Dan Ferguson, ibid.) There is one on the temporary Media Network home page, and I have also added it as a response to Glenn's comment. As soon as possible it will be linked more prominently. Actually very few people, apart from shortwave hobbyists, use it. So it's not considered a priority :-( (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) The site does look better at first glance - mostly due to large pictures --- But try reading any of the articles. You'll notice that the font is very small and - what even worse - the text lines are way too long. Do they really expect people to read that?! The Media Network blog in its old form is much better for reading. Unfortunately, it sounds like the Media Network section will also be switching to "the new format." (Sergei S., Russia, ibid.) Where on earth did you hear that? The Media Network blog is staying exactly as it is. The new website font is too small for me too. But these are teething troubles. Even the BBC, with all the staff at its disposal, had some problems in the early days of its new site. We will make changes when we get feedback from users, as well as our own experiences. I should add that I had zero input into the design of the new site. BTW, complaining to each other on this group instead of using the comments facility on the website itself will get you nowhere. I read this group, but nobody else at RNW does - although our Programme Distribution Department reads DXLD :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Andy, Thanks for clarifications. I guess I misinterpreted your words stating that "the Media Network section is not yet available in the new format". I thought that implied that you'd switch to a new format soon. I believe the font can easily made bigger. But I'm not so sure about those long lines of text as they seem to be part of the new design... Note that popular English websites use much shorter text lines. That makes for easier reading - esp. for those with reading disabilities such as as dyslexia, etc. I think it's time for EU to start regulating this issue! :) In terms of comments about new design - you turned them off in the Media Network section. I took that as a strong hint that users' feedback wasn't welcomed (Sergei S., Russia, ibid.) Sergei, You misunderstood me. I was referring to the Media Network section on the main website, not the blog which continues as normal. It's on a separate server using different software. I turned off commenting in the blog, because we want comments on the main RNW website, where they will be seen by everybody. I don't want a lot of comments in the Media Network blog that actually refer to the RNW website, because they're two different things. Yes, I take your points about the design. I will discuss that with my colleagues (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Radio Nederland con Nueva Pagina Web http://www.rnw.nl/es/espa%C3%B1ol Muy bien lograda, en hora buena ! 73, (Dino Bloise, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, with all that garble instead of a tilde Hola Dino: Muchas gracias por el enlace, visito la página casi todos los días y justo hoy que no la he visitado van y la cambian. Estéticamente ha quedado muy bien, pero creo que quizá se han olvidado de un detalle: son una emisora de radio y no un diario de noticias. Les he escrito haciendo esta observación, pues salvo que vayan incorporando los contenidos más adelante, ahora mismo carece de las páginas web de los distintos programas, donde podías estar en contacto con los responsables de tus programas favoritos y ni tan siquiera aparece el listado de frecuencias y horarios de emisión. Saludos (Jorge Trinado, Spain, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) See also CHINA ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Tuned in RN`s reactivated Spanish to SSAm on 9495, just in time at 2356 June 2 before sign-off to confirm GUIANA FRENCH was indeed relaying RN in Spanish, from 2300, rather than VOR in Portuguese by mistake, as was reported the day before. Poor reception here in CNAm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. The latest edition of the Happy Station show by Keith Perron (June 4) is available for download [MP3, 49.6 MB]: http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/33726 Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, June 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The DXers Special; also refers to Stittsville by coincidence ** PAKISTAN. FM MULLAHS SPREAD THE TALIBAN'S WORD By Mukhtar A Khan The scenic Swat Valley is thundering with aerial bombardments and fiery Taliban FM radio sermons. In a large-scale military operation dubbed Operation Rah-e-Raast (Operation Straight Path), the Pakistani army is hitting Taliban targets with helicopter gunships while the Taliban respond with AK-47s and their powerful propaganda radio broadcasts. More than a million people have fled the scene of the battle and millions more are trapped inside the valley. While the government has asked the local people to help the military in identifying Taliban hideouts, the Taliban have been broadcasting warnings against supporting the military. Through their pirate FM transmitters, the Taliban have demanded that local parliamentarians, security forces and other government officials resign from their positions as a mark of protest against the military operations; otherwise they should be prepared for a jihad directed against them. The Taliban radio broadcasters, popularly known as "FM Mullahs", continuously transmit anti-American and anti-government sermons, calling democracy "un-Islamic" and those practicing it "infidels". . . http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KF04Df02.html (Asia Times via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) WTFK? You won`t find any in this long article, except for this strange graf --- police and security run their own broadcast stations, or is he referring to two-way comms taking place inside the FMBC band?? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) viz.: Jamming the Taliban's FM transmitters can provide temporary relief but it is not a solution, owing to the very nature of these channels. Jamming could interfere with the intelligence system, as some of these FM transmitters illegally use the same frequencies allocated for the police and security agencies, ranging from 88.00 to 108.00 MHz. Confiscation of equipment is also not a permanent solution (via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. All these channels/stations in // with presumed English news by W at 0940; 3905, 3365, 3345, 3335, 3315, and 3260. Also had a few remote reports. Don't usually hear that many PNGs in //, and not at that odd time. (1 June) 3385, R. East New Britain, 4 June 0955 pop music, 0956 program promo mentioning the NBC and "weekend", into Bee Gees song. 1000 M in Pidgin mentioning "Thursday night" and date, NBC native music signature, then M with news in English starting with ID and the first news item seemingly about the NBC`s transmissions (network upgrades or NBC returning to SW??). Unfortunately the signal wasn't quite good enough to copy all the details. Nothing was found on their Website. Hopefully I'll get an answer to my e-mail (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. 4857.39, Radio La Hora, 2330-2355 June 3, Just tuning around the 4 Meg band and found this starting to fade in. Noted a male in Spanish comments describing what seemed to be a soccer game. Signal was still at a poor level, so couldn't make out much of what was being said except for a few words here and there. (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4857.39, Radio La Hora seems on occasionally 2300 to 0030 but seldom heard in 1000 to 1100 (Robert Wilkner, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. IBB burning up 250 kW for nothing on 9760, open carrier June 2 at 1147, prior to VOA English at 1200, 21 degrees from Tinang (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. See USA: WRMI ** RUSSIA. 5920, Radio Rossii via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, 1242-1300*, June 4. In Russian; pop Russian and English songs; IDs; pips; carrier off at 1302; fair but audio had moderate warble. Parallel to 5940 via Magadan (fair), 7200 via Yakutsk (weak) and 7320 via Magadan (weak). Audio was fine on the other three frequencies. 7200 is the only one continuing on past 1300 (scheduled 1500*) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 12000, VOR Chinese via Khabarovsk, still distorted and atop RHC at 1209 June 2; with carrier only at 1400, about to go off, upclearing RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Re 9-045: Announcements of possible advertisement arrangements had been broadcast by the German service (of at this time still Radio Moscow International) already some 15 years ago. No such ads heard since, but quite a lot of paid religion (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 17895 fading in at 1425 June 3 with Qur`an. This is BSKSA Riyadh at 295 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9541.53, SIBC/R. Happy Isles, 1031 3 June, job opening announcement at the SIBC including requirements. Sounds like they need a journalist/reporter. 1108 ID "You are listening to the news broadcast from the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation in Honiara". Still in at 1135 but it sounded like there was audio present at 1456. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) 9541.5, SIBC on the air June 3 at 1220 producing het with China 9540; only traces of audio which unseemed // or at least unsynchronized with BBC Singapore 9740 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. Some VT Communications changes effective June 1: Somali Interactive Radio Instruction Program (ex Mustaqbal) to EaAf in Somali 0545-0615 on 15200 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg, cancelled 0620-0650 on 15200 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg, cancelled (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 2 via DXLD) ** SUDAN. Got a notice that the Persecution Project Foundation newsletter "Africa Messenger" is now posted on their website in response to an inquiry if they could verify my reception of R. Peace [4750]. E-mail to Pete Stover still unanswered (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. SEEKING ARABIC-LANGUAGE RADIO PRODUCER FOR NEW BROADCAST TO SUDAN. "For its new radio programme Facing Justice Darfur IWPR [Institute for War and Peace Reporting] is looking for an Arabic- speaking radio producer. The role of the radio producer is to create a stream of radio programs on peace and justice issues related to Sudan that will be directed at internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other vulnerable populations in Darfur. Programming will be broadcast via a new independent shortwave radio channel in the Netherlands and to the Sudanese Diaspora by webcast. IWPR will produce an Arabic radio programme entitled Facing Justice Darfur in conjunction with local Sudanese journalists either in the region and/or outside." journalism.co.uk, 29 May 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) There are no longer any shortwave broadcast transmitters in the Netherlands, pioneer nation of shortwave broadcasting. Perhaps the studios will be in the Netherlands, and/or maybe the station will use Radio Netherlands' relay transmitter in Madagascar. Posted: 03 Jun 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) But, but, RN is already involved in a Darfur service, Radio Dabanga; is this really something else? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. 11715, RTI concluding English hour at 1159 June 3, then 5+1 timesignal and into Chinese with ``Chungyang`` ID. Axually Amoy per Aoki, and beam switches from 180 to 145 degrees via Tainan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. TIBET LAUNCHES ONLINE BROADCASTING SERVICES IN THREE LANGUAGES A website for southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region launched online broadcasting services in Chinese, Tibetan and English yesterday. The website, set up by the Tibet People’s Broadcasting Station, offers programmes on Tibet’s culture, music, tourism and news. “The main purpose is to further enhance the mass communication capability of Tibet and make full use of the Internet to make people worldwide know more about true Tibet,” said Liu Changjiang, head of the station. Currently, the programmes in Chinese and Tibetan run almost around- the-clock. English audio programmes just last for one hour every day because of a limited workforce. (Source: Xinhua)(June 4th, 2009 - 9:11 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Some reports of VOT 9830 from NAm at 2200 indicate there is no interference, so I check again June 3: heavy RTTY, and if Turkey is there, it is totally buried. I was going to record a sample to send to VOT, whom I notified about this problem weeks ago, but would prefer for there to be *some* signal from them to prove my case. Must keep trying (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: HEAR THE SEVERE INTERFERENCE ON 9830 Dear Serife Telliel: I notified you some weeks ago since you started using 9830 kHz for English to North America at 2200 UT, that there was severe interference from radioteletype already on that frequency. Yet nothing has been done about it. I have been keeping track of reports from other listeners in North America and I know that in some areas on some days there is little or no interference. However, most of the time it is severe here in central North America (Oklahoma) making it absolutely impossible to hear your broadcast. Yesterday I was going to record a sample, but your signal was so weak compared to the RTTY that I could not tell it was there. Today your signal was a little better. I have attached a clip of a little over one minute at 2221 UT June 4. At some point you may be able to recognize the intonations of one of your English-language announcers, underneath the teletype. For the first part I stayed tuned exactly on 9830, then I rocked slightly up and down to show that it made no difference, as the RTTY is on exactly the same frequency. Then toward the end I switched on the BFO to show what that sounded like altho it made no difference either. I repeat my previous suggestion that the easiest solution to this problem would be for you to shift up 9835. I hope you will do something soon so that your transmission on this frequency will not be wasted in this part of the world. Regards, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, Oklahoma, USA, WORLD OF RADIO, to the TRT Chief Engineer, via DXLD) ** U S A. One of the interviewees on the ``DXer Special`` Happy Station June 4 was Bill Whitacre, identified as with the PR department at VOA --- no longer running IBB Monitoring??? Keith put to him a point I have raised, why don`t IBB respond more aggressively to ChiCom jamming, e.g. by shifting frequencies? Bill said that would lose more listeners than it would gain, as most of the few SWLs left are using old radios and they would be afraid to shift the analog dial lest they never find the station again. I was suggesting only a 5 or at most 10 kHz shift to evade jamming, at least temporarily; if they are old analog radios, their selectivity isn`t that great either, and might well just require a touch-up of retuning. Besides, who leaves their radio on only one frequency all the time? On an old analog dial, they would surely find something when returning to a known frequency area if it is only 5 or 10 kHz off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Re 9-044: ``Voice of America noted on 6120 May 20 signing on 1900, Facebook Africa program to abrupt sign off 1927. News and News Now heard at same time on May 22 and 23, on May 23 continued at 1930 with Special English (Edwin Southwell, England, DX News, June World DX Club Contact via DXLD) The frequency has been added to their online schedule, site currently not known (Mike Barraclough, ed., ibid.) Too good a frequency to go to waste (gh)`` It`s Meyerton RSA at 19-20, 250 kW at 335 degrees since April 28 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1463, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. VOA, World News Now, June 3 at 1416:30 via Greenville 17585 with sesquiminute Earth & Sky daily feature, 1418- 1423 weekly Wednesday feature Wordmaster, this one interviewing Pat O`Connor about her book ``Origins of the Specious``, e.g., using `they` to avoid gender in singular pronouns, the only way to do it in English, and goes way back many centuries. 1423 sports and I tune out. 1428 Today in History, but as expected, chopped off at 1429:30 for sign-off of the Greenville site. So strong this time, I could not hear the other site it is now handing off to, Botswana, and the GB carrier stayed on a few minutes after modulation finished at 1430:30; at 1439 was off, and still no BOTS audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI, 9955, just barely audible and could not even be sure of the language, June 3 at 1153, but there was NO jamming, unlike after 1200 when Radio Cuba Libre comes on. 24 hours earlier, Tuesday around 1150, I had tuned across 9955 with a good jamming-free signal during a DX program in English which I thought was DX Partyline, but the WRMI schedule at http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=94 not updated since March 14, says it`s supposed to be Wavescan. BTW, don`t you believe the DXPL page at WRMI http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=13 which still shows winter non-DST timings and even 7385, which was abandoned years ago! Many other individual program pages on the WRMI website are far outdated. WRMI back on the air on a weekday afternoon, first time heard in many weeks, June 3 at 2002 with Polish Radio External Service via WRN, on the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in 1989. Fair signal and no jamming. So is WRMI back with full 40-hour-per week WRN relay at 1600-2400 M-F? Altho WRMI was back on the 9955 air June 3 at 2000 with Polish Radio via WRN, it was off the air again two hours later at 2203, as confirmed by Jeff White, probably still undergoing maintenance. It`s not certain whether WRMI will resume full-time broadcasting with WRN at 16-24 UT M-F, but in case they do, or for any part of it, the current WRN schedule shows: 1600 RNZI, Korero Pacifica - Recorded in RNZI’s Wellington studios, this 15 minute programme includes a news bulletin covering the Pacific region including Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Samoa and New Zealand, followed by a short current affairs feature 1615 Vatican Radio, World News - a daily bulletin of international news from the team at Vatican Radio 1630 Deutsche Welle, News and Features 1700 Polish Radio External Service, News and Features 1730 Radio Netherlands, News and Features 1800 RTE Ireland, Drivetime - A round up of the day's top news stories in Ireland [part 1 of a one-hour program? See 2100] 1830 Radio Prague, News and Features 1900 Radio Sweden, News and Features 1930 Radio Australia, News and Features 2000 Polish Radio External Service, News and Features 2030 KBS World Radio (Korea), News and Features 2100 RTE Ireland, Drivetime - A round up of the day's top news stories in Ireland [part 2 of the one-hour program starting at 1800?] 2130 Radio Romania International, News and Features 2200 Radio Netherlands, News and Features 2300 Voice of Russia, News and Features 2330 Israel Radio, News - a round up of the day's news and current affairs from Jerusalem (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was afraid that the web schedule would not be current. I listened a couple times to the webstream, which is supposed to parallel what's on SW, and clearly the schedule didn't match what was on air. One of those times was when WRN was supposed to be relayed - roughly 2015 UTC; instead of WRN there was a series of Latin-sounding songs without any announcements between. I'll see if I can coax an updated schedule out of Jeff White (Rich Cuff, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Yes, those are the hours [WRN]. Whether all of that will be on the air all the time, I can't say just yet. Our engineer is doing some work. We have just started using a new automation system which means that everything will start exactly on time from now on. Programs that are too long will automatically be faded out, and if they are too short there will be automatic fill material. (Don't worry; I've allocated 29:00 to WOR.) There is still a delay of 90 seconds on the Internet stream (Jeff White, WRMI, June 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWRB spurs from 9385 detectable as carriers, 9453 and 9317, hets against 9455 and 9320 stations, June 3 at 1410. Altho WWCR was strong on 15825, no 18770 second harmonic of WWRB was making it this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Updated summer A-09 schedule of World Harvest Radio from June 1: [theoretical: many of these ARE NOT really on the air --- gh] WHRI Angel 1 0100-0200 on 5850 Mon-Fri 0100-0200 on 7315 Sat/Sun 0200-0500 on 7315 0500-1100 on 11565 1100-1400 on 7315 1400-1600 on 15195 1600-1700 on 17520 1700-1800 on 17520 Sun-Fri 1700-1800 on 9495 Sat 1800-1900 on 17520 1900-2000 on 15665 Mon-Thu Demitse Tewahedo in Amharic 1900-2000 Mon 1900-2000 on 17520 Fri-Sun Voice of Biafra International in Igbo Fri 2000-2100 on 7520 Mon-Fri 2000-2100 on 15665 Sat 2000-2100 on 9495 Sun 2100-2300 on 11885 2300-0100 on 7315 WHRI Angel 2 0000-0400 on 7385 0400-0500 on 5850 Sun-Fri 0400-0500 on 9825 Sat 0500-0600 on 7390 Mon-Sat 0500-0600 on 7365 Sun 0600-0700 on 7365 0700-0800 on 7390 0800-0900 on 11565 0900-1000 on 9425 Sun-Fri 0900-1000 on 7465 Sat 1000-1200 on 9425 Deutsche Welle in German 1200-1300 on 9410 BBC in Spanish Mon-Fri 1300-1600 on 9840 Sat/Sun 1600-1700 on 9840 1700-1800 on 9840 Sun-Fri 1700-1800 on 17520 Sat 1800-2000 on 9840 2000-2100 on 15665 2100-2200 on 15665 Mon-Sat 2100-2200 on 9690 Sun 2200-2300 on 11885 Sat/Sun 2200-2400 on 17820 Deutsche Welle in German Mon-Fri 2300-2400 on 9615 Sat/Sun T8WH Angel 3 [PALAU] 0700-1500 on 9930 Sound of Hope R.in Chinese 1200-1500 Mon-Fri 1500-1800 on 9905 Radio Free Asia in Chinese 1800-2200 on 9905 Radio Free Asia in Chinese 1900-2200 T8WH Angel 4 [PALAU] 0100-0300 on 15710 0300-1200 on 15700 1200-1300 on 12130 Hoa-Mai Radio in Vietnamese 1200-1230 Tue/Thu/Sat 1300-1400 on 11685 Democratic Voice of Burma in Burmese 1400-2300 on 9965 Nippon no Kaze in Japanese 1530-1600 2300-0100 on 15550 Suaab Xaa Moo Zoo in Hmong 2330-2400 WHRA Angel 5 0000-0500 on 7385 0500-0700 on 7390 0700-1100 on 11565 1100-1300 on 7315 1300-1600 on 15195 Sat/Sun 1600-1900 on 17520 1900-2000 on 9840 Demitse Tewahedo in Amharic 1900-2000 Mon 2000-2100 on 15665 2100-2300 on 11885 2300-2400 on 9615 WHRI Angel 6 0700-1300 on 7385 1300-1400 on 11785 Sat/Sun, Hmong Lao Radio in Lao Sat/Sun 1400-1500 on 11785 Sat/Sun, Hmong World Christian Radio in Lao 1400- 1430 Sat 1500-1600 on 11785 Sat/Sun 1600-2300 on 11785 2300-0700 on 5875 DXing With Cumbre: [please confirm if ANY are really on the air -- gh] WHRI Angel 1 0130-0200 on 7315 Sat/Sun 0330-0400 on 7315 Sun/Mon 0430-0500 on 7315 Mon-Fri? WHRI Angel 2 0200-0230 on 7385 Sun/Mon KWHR Angel 4 1400-1430 on 9965 Sat/Sun 1930-2000 on 9965 Mon-Sun? WHRA Angel 5 0130-0200 on 7385 Sun 0330-0400 on 7385 Sun/Mon 0430-0500 on 7385 Mon-Fri? WHRI Angel 6 1000-1030 on 7385 Sun 1430-1500 on 11785 Sun 1530-1600 on 11785 Sat/Sun 1830-1900 on 11785 Sat (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 2 via DXLD) Note that the WHR website http://www.whr.org does not list the callsign WHRA any more. Angel 5 is now also called "WHRI". It is still listed at the Greenbush, Maine, location on the "Technical Information" page - but that same page lists T8WH as being in Hawaii, which is so obviously wrong (as long as you know your callsign prefixes). And their frequency table STILL contradicts itself, listing the SAME frequency from different transmitters, with different programs, at the SAME time. I notified them about that at the beginning of A09, but they still couldn't fix it. Someone at WHR is really not paying attention. With such faults you just can't trust any information on their website. All the best, (Eike Bierwirth, Boulder, CO, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Summer A-09 of WEWN Global Catholic Radio: English 0000-0900 on 11520 EWN 250 kW / 085 deg to WeAf 0900-1200 on 11640 EWN 250 kW / 355 deg to SEAs 1200-1500 on 11530 EWN 250 kW / 355 deg to SEAs 1500-1700 on 15610 EWN 250 kW / 040 deg to WeEu 1700-2000 on 15610 EWN 250 kW / 040 deg to NoAm 2000-2400 on 15610 EWN 250 kW / 040 deg to N/ME Spanish 0100-1100 on 11870 EWN 250 kW / 155 deg to SoAm 1100-1500 on 12050 EWN 250 kW / 155 deg to SoAm 1500-1700 on 11520 EWN 250 kW / 155 deg to SoAm 1700-0100 on 17510 EWN 250 kW / 155 deg to SoAm Spanish 0500-1300 on 7555 EWN 250 kW / 220 deg to CeAm 1300-2200 on 11550 EWN 250 kW / 220 deg to CeAm 2200-0500 on 5810 EWN 250 kW / 220 deg to CeAm (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 2 via DXLD) As I was checking out the N Korean jamming on 11560, could not help but notice that WEWN was missing both from 11550 and 11530, June 3 at 1346. On weather maps it looks like there were storms around Birmingham, so that could explain it, deliberate avoidance of Thor`s wrath. I know WEWN was on 11530 a couple hours earlier along with its raspy spur on 11520. Next check at 2000, all three transmitters were on, 11550, 15610 and 17510 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Programa Radio DX entrevista com o dexista Jorge Freitas --- O programa Radio DX deste final de semana, dias 05/06 e 07/06/2009, apresentará entrevista com o dexista Jorge Freitas que participou do Primeiro Concurso de Sintonia de Emissoras Norte Americanas de Baixa Potência, elaborado e coordenado pelo experiente dexista Adalberto Marques de Azevedo e obteve o primeiro lugar. Contará para os ouvintes como foi participar do concurso, os equipamentos utilizados, antenas, técnicas utilizadas. Dará recomendações de como proceder para se obter bons resultados nas escutas, conseguir bons DX e importantes informações para os que estão iniciando no hobby da escuta em ondas curtas. Rádio DX é um programa que vai ao ar, pela Rádio CVC, nas sextas- feiras, às 18h UT, na freqüência de 15410 kHz, na faixa de 19 metros. Também é reprisado no sábado, às 12h UT, e aos domingos as 21h UT, pela mesma freqüência. A produção e apresentação são de membros do DXClube do Brasil, com a coordenação técnica e de produção do jornalista Célio Romais. QRV (Ulysses Galletti, PY2UAJ, Itatiba - Brasil, June 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This week`s show is about a DX contest to pick up low-power US SW stations in South America (50 kW or less, I think). Another time to hear it, webcast only is UT Sunday 0200 via http://www.radiocvc.com/ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Heard some SSB on 6990, June 2 at 1415, so switched on BFO: axually 6989.5, MARS net. Strongest signal, calls always rendered fonetically, from AAN5TNC in Little Rock AR, in highly struxured contact with much weaker AAN4EOC in Chattanooga(?) TN. Not a single hit on either call in Google search or in UDXF yg; I think the callsign format recently changed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7290, June 3 at 1319, KX5JT calling ``CQ AM Phone``, but no immediate replies. This is a favorite hAM frequency. He`s John D. Tate in Maurice, Louisiana per ARRL callsign lookup (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. He Was My Disc Jockey – DON DILLARD By Ben Stein on 6.1.09 @ 6:08AM Saturday Sad tidings from my pal, Ronnie Oberman, like me an early fan of rock and roll and rhythm and blues in Silver Spring, Maryland. Our hero, our paragon, Don Dillard, disc jockey of my youth, has died. He was 75 and went of a stroke, from what Ronnie heard. . . http://spectator.org/archives/2009/06/01/he-was-my-disc-jockey/print (via Brock Whaley, Oahu, DX Listening Digest) obit ** U S A. Inviting GH to do a radio show --- Hi Glenn: Would you be available tomorrow at 1400 or 1500 PT to talk about Chinese jamming and related issues and to introduce the audio of the Radio Beijing announcer that was in last week's WOR? This would be on KSCO 1080 (Santa Cruz/Monterrey/San Jose, CA). Thanks! (David Coursey, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, for Wednesday June 3 at 1400 PT = 2105 UT (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Here is a listen link for the station: http://ksco.com/ksco.m3u (David Coursey, ibid.) Calls himself the token `liberal` on that station, more like moderate. We did it June 3 at 2105-2155 UT or so, and a 64-minute audio file is available via the Our Current Audio archive http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html Tnx for the invitation, David, enjoyed it (gh) ** U S A. NATIONAL CONFERENCE CALL ON COMMUNITY RADIO LEGISLATION Members of Congress, public interest advocates and community organizations held a national conference call to discuss the reintroduction of the bipartisan "Local Community Radio Act." The bill would create opportunities for hundreds of low-power, community radio stations in cities, towns and suburbs across the United States. Listen as Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) explain the details of this bill, HR 1147. Artist: Free Press Title: National Conference Call on Community Radio Legislation Length: 24:41 minutes (5.65 MB) Format: Mono 44 kHz 32 Kbps (CBR) Download audio file http://www.freepress.net/audio/download/48448/LPFM+Call.mp3 (via Zacharias Liangas, June 4, DXLD) ** U S A. POST-TRANSITION DTV CALLSIGNS The FCC has just released a policy on -DT suffixes on callsigns after the transition next Friday. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-1253A1.txt "At the beginning of the digital transition, almost all full power television stations were assigned a paired digital channel to operate in conjunction with their incumbent analog facilities. During the transition, stations retained their existing analog call sign (i.e., WFCC or WFCC-TV) and were assigned the same call sign for their associated digital facility with the suffix ?-DT? to differentiate the digital from the analog signal (i.e., WFCC-DT). " Post-transition, DTV stations' callsigns will be changed to their pre-transition *analog* callsign. WSMV-DT becomes WSMV-TV; WNBC-DT (whose analog station doesn't have the -TV suffix) becomes WNBC. Stations may *request* the -DT suffix if they wish. DTV-only stations which never had an analog signal will receive the - DT suffix by default, but may ask to have it removed (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, June 4, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. KRXQ 98.5 -- Suffer The (Transgender) Children --- I saw this posted to a local Eureka Springs AR message board (non-radio hobby) about Sacramento CA radio station KRXQ 98.5 (98 Rock) and comments made by its morning show, "Rob, Arnie, And Dawn In The Morning" on May 28, 2009. These comments were about children whom were transgender and what the two male hosts would have done if they had been the parents. Geekfest message board (Eureka Springs AR) http://www.geekfest.com/showthread.php?p=826662#post826662 Gay And Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation comments on program http://www.glaad.org/Page.aspx?pid=730 GLAAD linked the following audio file from the show's website itself. http://robarnieanddawn.com/newsite/audiofiles/05.28.09%20Transgender%20Children%20In%20America.mp3 Personally, I'm very disgusted by this type of programming. Another example of what corporate radio has done...pandering to misogynistic, bigoted listeners for ratings (Fritze H Prentice Jr, KC5KBV, Star City, AR, EM43aw, http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com http://www.twitter.com/KC5KBV June 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. AFP reports that for the first time since its creation 80 years ago, Vatican Radio will carry commercials. Its director, Father Federico Lombardi, said electricity producer Enel will be the first sponsor -- with commercials in five languages (Italian, English, Spanish, French and German) broadcast on FM radio between June 6 and September 27. The move will bring 100,000 to 200,000 Euros for the "papal radio," which "needs resources" to develop "new initiatives and new programs," Lombardi said. AFP noted that many local radio stations around the world rebroadcast Vatican Radio. The AFP report noted that Vatican Radio was inaugurated February 12, 1931. Its administrative and technical director, layman Alberto Gasbarri, also organizes the Pope's trips (Mike Cooper, GA, May 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry, this item got sidetracked while we meanwhile had some other stories about it; which said ads start July 6; but on FM only? (gh) ** VATICAN. As I was tuning around 31m Thu June 4 at 0507, I came upon someone in Swedish with a DX report on 9645 --- mentioning R. Thailand, WRNO, RHC, R. Guarujá Paulista, LRA36! That must be Christer Brunström`s regular item on Vatican Radio. Then a YL continued, mentioning DX-Parliament. 0517 played a bit of Swedish Rhapsody, which used to be the theme of R. Sweden. Fair reception with fading and atmosferix. So why has VR never had a DX program in English?? We have discussed this `Scandinavian language` transmission recently in DXLD. EiBi shows: 0500 0520 Mo,Sa CVA Radio Vaticana FI Eu 1611 1260 7335 9645 0500 0520 Tu CVA Radio Vaticana NO Eu 1611 1260 9645 7335 0500 0520 3457 CVA Radio Vaticana SWE Eu 1260 1611 9645 7335 But the language usage appears to be more flexible. Christer Brunström himself explained May 27 in DXLD: ``Dear Glenn, Vatican Radio broadcasts in Swedish at 1840 UT on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The programme is repeated the next day at 0500. On Mondays there are frequently contributions in Norwegian. There are no regular programmes in Danish but Vatican Radio's Swedish Section has many listeners in Denmark. I produce a short DX-report which is broadcast as part of the Mail Bag programme on the first Wednesday of each month. It was begun in 1995 if I remember correctly. When not broadcasting in Swedish, programmes can be heard in Finnish and Estonian. Kind regards. Christer Brunström, Halmstad, Sweden`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV, 6060 via CUBA, June 3 at 1141 in English about the Aló, Presidente show and how it is interactive with viewers, not just a monolog (like Fidel?). Well, the YL presenter was speaking broken English but with extensive clips in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA UNIDENTIFIED. I continue to check 1710 Russian signal. I frequently hear it at TOH/BOH and have never heard anything sounding like a break for a station ident. The programming never seems to be tied to our local time. A man/woman drama was going on at 1124 UT, continuing through BOH and afterwards. 1200 had vocal music before and after TOH. Missed it at BOH but still weak at times at 1243 with vocal music. Was man "preaching" before that (Steve Ratzlaff, [Bend], NE Oregon, 1246 UT June 1, IRCA via DXLD) 1710, Russian occasional to weak levels, man with what sounds like preaching, 1230-1253 UT. Who's going to be the first to knock on the trnamitter house door and inquire about the station? (Steve Ratzlaff, [Bend] NE Oregon, R75, longwires, Conti loop, June 3, IRCA via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Yesterday, due to good condx on 24 and 28 MHz, Wolf Hadel and I were able to hear our "old friend", the CODAR Ocean Wave HF Radar on 24 MHz. It was stretching from 28480 - 24950 [sic] kHz. I heard it, after an "alarm call" from Wolf Hadel, from 1600 - 1611 UTC. At 1611 UTC it switched off or condx broke down. Wolf H. presumes that the CODAR is located somewhere in Italy, probably in the lagoon in front of Venice, ITA. Please listen to the "shrub shrub shrub shrub ..." on the recording. Regards, (Uli, DJ9KR / DL0IW, Vice Coordinator of IARU-MS Region 1 and, Coordinator of DARC- MS Intruder Watch, June 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As per pictures found at the CODAR Homepage, there seems European sites at: Ancona (maybe offshore) Venice Naples Croatia All more or less in a similar direction from Switzerland/Germany http://www.codar.com/images/WorldWide_map_10-2007_lg.jpg Informed today the Swiss authorities. 73 (Peter Jost / HB9CET, USKA Radio Monitoring, Member of IARU Monitoring System, ibid.) Shows SeaSonde locations all over the world in low-resolution; 80 watts peak; 40 watts average per another info sheet; MUCH more info: http://www.codar.com/ (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ WORLD OF RADIO Tienanmen Square episode 1462 Hi Glenn: I posted your show http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1462.mp3 re: Tienanmen Square Massacre to my Facebook account and to Twitter using #Tienanmen ; plan to post the show crediting you to my blog. Thanks so much for the show! Best Regards, (Christian Tyrrell KA1TEF, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ BANGLADESH CLOCK GOES AHEAD BY AN HOUR JUNE 19 MIDNIGHT --- Staff Correspondent http://www.newagebd.com/2009/jun/02/front.html#3 The cabinet on Monday decided to advance Bangladesh Standard Time by one hour from midnight June 19 to save electricity during evening peak hours. ‘From midnight June 19 the new Bangladesh time will be GMT plus 7 hours instead of the current GMT plus 6 hours. The new BST will virtually be permanent standard time for Bangladesh if the time change does not make any major negative impact,’ prime minister’s adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury told New Age on Monday. The weekly cabinet meeting, chaired by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, approved the new BST based on a proposal of the power and energy ministry to introduce daylight saving time by advancing clock by one hour for saving electricity and gas during evening peak hours. Clocks will be set at 1:00 am at midnight June 19 and the sun will effectively set at around 7:50 pm instead of 6:50 pm last year. ‘All times, for prayers or office, schools or flights and shops and farming, will have to be advanced by one hour. Because of the time change, we will get more daylight and work in every sector could be finished during daytime reducing power consumption during evening hours,’ said Tawfiq. As per the ministry proposal, 250-300 MW of electricity and 10-20 million cubic feet of gas could be saved during evening peak hours when the DST is introduced as there will be more daylight during evening hours and less consumption of electricity. Although the ministry proposed that the DST could be introduced from June 15 to be effective till September 30 this year and again for six months every year beginning from April 1, 2010, the cabinet felt that it would be hazardous for people to get used to clock change every year, said sources present at the meeting. ‘The energy ministry’s original plan was to continue DST till September 30 and go back to GMT plus 6 hours time in winter. But the cabinet felt that GMT plus 7 hours time should be continued as the demand for electricity during winter is relatively low,’ said a source. He said although the initial plan was to introduce the DST from June 15, the cabinet decided to start it midnight Friday (June 19) so that there was no confusion during the Jumma prayers on June 19. Tawfiq, however, said that they would observe and assess what benefits the time change would bring before thinking about whether to go back to the original time. When asked how the government would let the countrymen know about the new time, Tawfiq said that a campaign would be launched. ‘We ask for media support in this regard.’ Sources in the energy ministry said it would hold a meeting today to devise a mechanism for informing people about the new time. Briefing reporters, prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad earlier said that many countries, including the United States, Canada, most European countries, Brazil, and a few Middle-Eastern countries had introduced DST and introduction of DST would reduce power crisis in Bangladesh. At present there is a daily demand for 5,000MW of electricity while around 3,800MW power is generated (via Chris Greenway, DXLD) SHORTWAVE AS MUSIC ++++++++++++++++++ More shortwave as music (updated) Jason Molina, frontman for Magnolia Electric Co.: "'I'm definitely a shortwave freak. I tune to West African radio and stuff from Russia — I love it. Get yourself an old thrift store shortwave and tune it to the world! Sure, you can get everything online, but it's kind of, like, manicured; you don't have to work with it.' Plus, it doesn't come with all that static and wow and flutter. 'Right, it doesn't have all those screaming sci-fi Theremin sounds,' Molina evangelizes. 'You'll be listening to something for 20 minutes, and you'll be just engaged beyond belief, and then you'll lose the signal! And you're never gonna catch who the artist is because, even if they do announce it, it's in a different language.'" Bill Forman, Colorado Springs Independent, 21 May 2009. Marc Leclair, a.k.a. Akufen's "debut full length, My Way, released on Force Inc. at the dawn of the millennium, created a stir with its unique micro-sampling technique (microscopic samples of short-wave radio broadcasts built into beats and melodies) and infectious house undertow." Meg Hewings, Hour (Montreal), 21 May 2009. Mungolian Jetset's album We Gave It All Away...Now We Are Taking It Back will include Glitches n Bugs, a "psychedelic meetings at the mixing desk with The Shortwave Set." Altsounds, 21 May 2009. In Theo Bleckmann's Twelve Songs by Charles Ives, "Songs My Mother Taught Me" "is given an interesting baseline of media noise (almost inaudible short-wave radio transmissions) over which it is performed." C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz, 20 May 2009. "Recently in this magazine, Holger Czukay recalled attending the first performance, in Bremen in 1968, of Kurzwellen ('short waves'), Karlheinz Stockhausen’s work for piano, electronium (an early monophonic synthesiser), tam-tam gong, viola and four short-wave radio receivers. He remembered how, as the musicians used the radios as instruments, Stockhausen sat centre-stage, 'mixing the audio like a DJ'." Jonathan Derbyshire, New Statesman, 21 May 2009. Update: Daniela Gesundheit "plays small percussion toys, loops her vocals, plays a short wave radio and sometimes sings through a wine glass." Hour (Montreal), 1 June 2009. Posted: 03 Jun 2009 (see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=6599 for linx, via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See INDIA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See also USA: -DT callsigns ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ CURIOUS THOUGHT ABOUT THE DEMISE OF ANALOG TELEVISION Re: ``From an FM DXer`s perspective, the IBOC debacle is more of a hindrance than that of losing the full powered analog TV signals.`` As some lament the demise of analog television some June 12th and the lack-luster effect it will have on the TV DXers` pursuits, one has to stop and ponder - YES, we will be without all of those high-powered TV signals. BUT - how do the 6 meter operators (DXers) manage to keep going and keep interested. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that amateur radio operators run with nearly the kilowatt capacity of a modest commercial or educational VHF TV venture. And yet they - amateur radio operators - seem to really jump on it when there is an E-skip opening. I do believe that what will happen for VHF TV enthusiasts is - in all your craftiness - you will develop the desire and tenacity to log even those tough LPTV analog signals, along with the easier to snag, Mexican, Caribbean, and Canadian VHF TV signals. And even though there won't be as many to pick and choose from, there will be a handful that will become known as 'pests'. I think we will adjust (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, (40 miles north of Denver), 40 18.642'N 104 52.566'W, WTFDA via DXLD) [several replies pointed out that hams can work Es with only a few watts since they use very narrow bandwidth compared to TV] I agree - especially because there will likely be some new, and very interesting, targets out there to log. Doug and Trip can speak to this better than I can, but it seems like the low-V channels, especially in larger markets, will start filling up with new LPTVs pretty quickly after transition day. So Washington, for instance, will still have a channel 4 to log - just not 100 kW WRC. My hope, meanwhile, is that there might be enough demand within the hobby for someone to develop a DX-friendly DTV tuner, using the commercially-available (and relatively inexpensive) latest-generation tuner chips as a base. Imagine a box (or a USB stick?) that can be programmed to ignore remapping, so you can set it on RF channel 2 and leave it there to see what comes in...sort of a DTV version of the Katruud RDS box? Such a device might even have a commercial market beyond the small DX community, if it could replace or supplement the expensive transport-stream analyzers that broadcast engineers now pay thousands of dollars for. I don't have the electronics skills to design a device like that...but if someone does, I'd sure buy their product in a heartbeat! s (Scott Fybush, Rochester NY, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ++++++++++++++++++++++ NEW RADIO CHIP MIMICS HUMAN EAR Engineers have built a fast, ultra-broadband, low-power radio chip, modeled on the human inner ear, that could enable wireless devices capable of receiving cell phone, Internet, radio and television signals. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090603131441.htm (via Benn Kobb, June 4, DXLD) Re 9-045: THE MEASURING AND MONITORING STATION AT BOCKHACKEN The description sounds similar to the antenna system the US Navy used at Imperial Beach (San Diego, CA) Receive Station and at other stations also. The Navy calls it a Circularly Disposed Antenna Array or CDAA. I believe it was based on a German "Wullenweber" system. A very rich DX'ers dream. A Canadian company, Hermes Electronics, built a smaller system using an array of 18 one meter diameter loops, arranged around a 50 meter diameter circle. Phasing networks allowed independent beams around the compass. A rich DX'ers dream (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, June 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I believe this setup is also at Stittsville, Ont., the CBC/RCI monitoring station, visited by ANARC DX conventioneers years ago. Or WAS; is it still there and funxional? (Glenn, ibid.) I'll be watching to see if a location is posted -- I'll be back in Stittsville in a couple of days (Earlier this week I had to do a u- turn and did it in the access road to CHU, nearby, and noted they changed the frequencies on their signage...) ef (Eric Flodén, Canada, ibid.) Eric, I took a quick look on Google Earth to see if I could see a likely spot near Stittsville but found nothing. Needle in a haystack. In case you're interested, the Navy's CDAA is at: 32 35 36.64N, 117 07 44.96W Maybe some of the locals in Stittsville can point you in the right direction (Jerry Lenamon, TX, ibid.) The Adcock system was used prior to the Wullenweber being developed for the U.S. Navy. The Adcock was found in Puerto Rico, Azores and Imperial Beach among other stations, prior to the Wullenweber/CDAA's replacing them. The Adcock antenna system was used during the fifties and early sixties. The Wullenwebers were built around 1964 or 1965 onward. I think the first was put in Scotland and the second possibly in Rota, Spain. The Air Force had one in Italy. I don't know when the NSG began building the Wullenwebers in the Pacific, possibly around the same time. I know there was one in Okinawa and Japan when I was over there (anon., DX LISTENING DIGEST) German Frequency Control - FNA Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur, Konstanz-Germany) 47 41'16.68"N 09 11'59.40"E http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14467022 http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=+47%C2%B041%2716.68%22N++09%C2%B011%2759.40%22E&sll=51.316881,10.415039&sspn=20.602859,57.128906&ie=UTF8&ll=47.687967,9.199832&spn=0.001351,0.003487&t=h&z=19&iwloc=A http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=ryf5zvhrzzmq&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=10753648&where1=%2047%C2%B041'16.68%22N%20%20%209%C2%B011'59.40%22E&encType=1 Ladelund, Germany Navy direction finding 54 51'25.84"N 09 04'02.01"E http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=54.857178&lon=9.067225&z=17.8&r=0&src=msl http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=54.857231~9.067006&style=h&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&where1=%2054%C2%B051'25.88%22N%20%20%209%C2%B0%204'1.22%22E&encType=1 Augsburg Gablingen D/USA former US AirForce NSA Echelon; now German Army CDAA antenna 48 27'04.40"N 10 51'45.78"E http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=48.451222&lon=10.862717&z=17.1&r=0&src=msl http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=48.451255~10.862717&style=h&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&where1=%2048%C2%B027'4.40%22N%20%2010%C2%B051'45.78%22E&encType=1 TWN CDAA antenna Taipei, close to Lin-Kou 25 05'41.93"N 121 23'39.78"E http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=25.094981&lon=121.394383&z=17.8&r=0&src=msl http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=25.094898~121.394248&style=h&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 Wullenweber/CDAA antenna Rota Spain To be Decommisioned 30 Sep 2006 look to Google Earth images of Aug 30, 2002 Mar 1, 2003 Apr 6, 2003 ESP USA former US Navy CDAA antenna, at Rota marine base; atomic bombs airbase etc. 36 39'23.50"N 06 21'54.14"W http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=36.656528&lon=-6.365039&z=18.3&r=0&src=yh ESP Spanish Navy CDAA antenna, between Arucas and Teror, Gran Canaria Island 28 05'17.99"N 15 31'48.20"W http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=28.088331&lon=-15.530056&z=17.9&r=0&src=msl http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=28.088331&lon=-15.530056&z=17.9&r=0&src=yh http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=28.088337~-15.530205&style=h&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 USA Navy CDAA antenna Imperial Beach, Coronado (San Diego CA) Wullenweber/CDAA - Decommissioned 30 Sep 1999 32 35'37.00"N 117 07'45.00"W wonderful image at http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=pdz17b5759bx&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=6336339&encType=1 http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=32.593612~-117.129192&style=h&lvl=16&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=32.593611&lon=-117.129167&z=17.9&r=0&src=yh http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=32.593611&lon=-117.129167&z=17.9&r=0&src=msl http://www.panoramio.com/photo/10332875 Pakistan Frequency control? PAK CDAA Wullenweber antenna; FCC High Frequency Direction Finding facility 30 11'07.68"N 71 24'34.62"E http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=30.185442&lon=71.409869&z=17.99&r=0&src=yh http://www.navycthistory.com/WullenweberArticle.txt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLR-9 RAF Chicksands, England, UK (1st) (USAF) (1962-1996). Dismantled in 1996. 52 02 38.65 N 00 23 20.49 W http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=52.044069&lon=-0.389025&z=17.9&r=0&src=msl http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=52.044106~-0.389006&style=h&lvl=18&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 Clark AB, Pampanga Province, Luzon, Philippines (USAF) (1964-1991). Decommissioned in 1991. Converted into a 35,000-seat fabric-covered amphitheatre in 1997. 15 12 17.65 N 120 31 38.34 E 15 12 16.87 N 120 31 41.42 E http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=15.204903&lon=120.527317&z=17.99&r=0&src=yh http://www.clarkab.org/faq.htm http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=123305 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5414611 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/17791220 http://www.panoramio.com/photo/17791215 Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, Alaska (USAF) (1966- ) The Elmendorf site may still be operational. 61 15 51.64 N 149 51 03.81 W http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=133391 http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=61.264344&lon=-149.851058&z=17.99&r=0&src=msl http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=61.264291~-149.850769&style=h&lvl=16&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1 CDAA Karamursel, Turkey, Karamursel AB, Izmir, Turkey (USAF) (1966- 1977). Dismantled in 1977. http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=526983 40 42 34.86 N 29 31 39.11 E http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=132180 Misawa AB, Aomori Prefecture, Honshu, Japan (USAF) (1964- ) 40 43 22.61 N 141 19 44.09 E http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3429064 http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/3429064.jpg Camp Ramasun, Ban Nong Soong, Udorn, Thailand (Army) (1970-1975). Decommissioned in 1975. Dismantled in 1976. Rather Ban Non Sung 17 17 31.68 N 102 52 08.48 E but only in very low resolution map http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:ggPW2972Fs4J:us-seasia.tripod.com/id6.html+Ramasun+Thailand&cd=4&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=de San Vito dei Normanni AS, Brindisi, Italy (USAF) (2nd) (1962-1994) Operational in 1963. Deactivated in 1994. Still standing in 2001. 40 38 50.87 N 17 50 24.70 E http://www.terraserver.com/view.asp?cx=740154.857795789&cy=4503506.6197735&proj=32633&mpp=0.75&pic=-1&prov=-1&stac=-1&styp=CO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Vito_dei_Normanni_Air_Station http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15004927 http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/15004927.jpg KRUG direction finding antennas in former USSR, Kiselevka, south of Moscow 55 27'50.69"N 37 22'11.28"E KRUG direction finding antennas in former USSR, Promyshlennyy, north of Workuta 67 38'25.85"N 63 54'31.00"E http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=679838&filename=1144330-CommunicationEntities.kmz 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, June 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) AM STEREO Warm greetings to everyone! I just found this thanks to Google http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/kevtronics/usa.htm which sounds very appealing to me, since it was last updated LESS THAN A YEAR AGO !!!!! However how accurate is it? I know WOON-1240, it was my best domestic catch of 2008-2009 thanks to the DX test they had shortly after I joined ABDX upon Kevin Redding's invitation! Is WICC- 600 still in stereo today on the ower [?] of the summer of 2009? What about WIKE-1490 which is easily heard around sunset before the other graveyarders throw this channel into a chaotic jumble? I have some WIKE-1490 on tape from 2001 when I tried to DX the graveyard channels more or less successfully (didn't had the NRC Domestic log then, hope to get it soon)? Is someone that worked with WOON-1240 able to confirm they are indeed stereo? Where I live, they should be one of the few stations to rise above the mush at least from time to time! Also, I think WSKI is also on 1240, right? Then WSKI should be destroyed by switching from mono to stereo? I heard that turning the stereo pilot on helps with the C- Quam signals on a jumbled frequency, why? Sorry for so many questions, but C-Quam DXing is the only aspect of mediumwave DXing to which I'm just a beginner! May the good DX be with you! (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, ABDX via DXLD) You might be able to get more information by checking out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amstereoforum They are a group dedicated to AM stereo (Dick W., ibid.) I like a different AM stereo group, because its always kept on topic. Juan Gualda on this list runs it. You can find it here. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/amstereo/ (Kevin Redding, ibid.) Re: CHICAGO LPTV (FAUX FM STATION) 87.7 MHZ Heard at a loud strength here in Paxton tonight via tropo. Seriously distorted, overmodulated sound to it. Now, you can hear my audio: http://www.archive.org/details/AircheckWlfm-lp87.75Fm06-03-09 (Curtis Sadowski, IL, WTFDA via DXLD) This is interesting. Analog TV audio has a nominal deviation of 25 kHz as compared to the 75 kHz of an FM station. So the TV audio should not have sounded overmodulated on an FM receiver. Instead the audio would be much lower in volume. It could be they were distorting it in the chain before transmitting, or that the AFC of your receiver does not correct for the 40-60 kHz difference in the tuning. A third possibility is that they are trying to get a 75 kHz deviation from a TV aural transmitter designed for only 25 kHz (Allan Dunn, K1UCY, ibid.) *That* would make sense. I heard from the operator of one of these "LPTV-6 operated as radio station" operations out west -- he pointed out that the definition of 100% aural modulation that applies to full- power TV stations (and limits them to 25 kHz deviation) is NOT among the regulations incorporated by reference into the LPTV regulations. IOW, a good point can be made that there *is no limit on the aural modulation of an analog LPTV* (beyond that necessary to comply with the limits on out-of-channel radiation - but you could run 75 kHz deviation without risking violation of that). So it's my understanding most of these are running 75 kHz aural deviation and the FM stereo standard (which again is legal). Now, you would expect that to be badly distorted when monitored on a TV set. But as Curtis says, he was listening on a FM radio, where it should have been fine. But as you suggest, if they're trying to use a TV transmitter at 75 kHz peak deviation, it may well not be capable of doing so without severe distortion. They may need to shut down the aural side of their TV transmitter and install a separate FM transmitter instead (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) Curtis, it sounds worse here, near Chicago! Perhaps the tropo attenuation removes some of the horrible gritty edge? I was wondering how they could be getting away with this, and how long it would last (John Hanna, KC9HZC, Brookfield, IL EN61bu http://www.kc9hzc.com ibid.) Never mind the audio - that music is enough to make anyone pull their hair out! (John Cereghin, ibid.) Hi John, It sounded much worse on the car radio. If they've spent THIS much money to try a thing like this, you'd think they would try to get it to sound pleasant enough to listen to, even with the terrible music they broadcast (Curtis Sadowski, IL, ibid.) It could just be that if your radios are very selective, the problem isn't that the audio is too loud, but off frequency. You're tuned to 87.70, where the station is actually broadcasting on 87.75 (or whatever their offset is). I know this problem has been reported with WNYZ in NYC (Jeff Lehmann - N1ZZN, Hanson, MA FN42NB, Sangean HDT-1X, Yamaha T-85, APS-13, ibid.) Hi Jeff, The car radio was tuned to 87.7 MHz, but the portable I used to make the recordings was tuned to 87.75 MHz. In terms of its ability to receive things, it isn't much different than most consumer-grade gear. I'm inclined to think it's a problem with trying to do something with a TV transmitter not designed to do FM audio. If you listen to the clips, you can hear that there is distortion in the sound of the music. If I recorded something from Chicago on FM via tropo, say WXRT 93.1 or WDRV 97.1 they would sound a lot better. Hmmm... now that I've said that, I think tonight I'll be wandering around the alley again with my radio (at two in the morning) to try that, for a comparison. Curtis Some of us happen to enjoy that "terrible music", even despite the fact it's being relegated to spots like LPTV stations lol (Nick Langan Florence, NJ, ibid.) Hi Nick, no accounting for taste, is there? Here's a podcast you might like, even if it is light on the WLFM kind of jazz: http://www.thespinoramahour.blogspot.com/ Esther from Spin-O-Rama could show those LPTV guys a thing or two about music selection (Curtis Sadowski, ibid.) All the stuff; dance, etc., that has been mentioned the past few days - there's a reason it's not on mainstream radio - because it can't be sold. I have to deal with a lot of listeners that want their specific niche to be filled on a day to day basis and expect local radio to do that for them; but that's not how it works. Yes, local radio is repetitive, but it works as both an advertising tool and a community service in many instances (Adam Rivers, APD/MD/Nights, WILI- FM/Willimantic, CT, Weekends, WMAS-FM/Springfield, MA http://www.adamrivers.com ibid.) Hi Adam, Well, it does sell, as seen by how some of the stations here in Illinois do it - WGCY, WFAV, WPXN, WWHP all have niche formats and are heavily local - and well listened to. Problem is, the bean counters find it easier to pluck a feed off a satellite and drop in automated spots and announcements. That business model has worked- until the advent of the Ipod. Listening to the radio is something my teens don't do, except as a last alternative. Will they ever listen? Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it (Curtis Sadowski, ibid.) Comparing traditional jazz and smooth jazz is apples to oranges though --- for a 15-20 year period the past two decades Smooth Jazz existed in almost major market on the commercial FM dial. I never liked the fact AC and Urban AC vocals were mixed in frequently but that helped make it marketable, which brought in a lot of people that ordinarily wouldn't be listening to contemporary jazz. And it did well in a lot of those markets so obviously some people enjoyed it. And not to say people don't enjoy traditional jazz also, but there are reasons why the only place you can find it is in the non-comm band (Nick Langan, Florence, NJ My DX page: http://www.wnjl.com/dx/ ibid.) Traditional jazz was one of the staples of early FM along with classical. Today both are niche formats. Smooth jazz was simply a commercial hybrid of jazz, some AC, and some EZL - broad enough to cover more people, bland enough not to offend many. As Curtis pointed out, that's how a lot of stations operate, but the audience is getting older. Niche formats are the only ones likely to attract people who otherwise rely on CD's, iPod, etc. (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Down here in Southeast Arkansas, it`s Country that rules the dial. Mostly bird-fed country hits, although there are couple of "classic country" stations, one bird-fed from Dermott (KXSA 103.1), and the other under Clear Channel "The Wolf" branding (KJMX 105.1) from Little Rock. Rock is mostly mainstream/classic with one station running a "active" rock format. Nearest Indie rock OTA are from non-coms in Monroe LA via University of Louisiana-Monroe's KXUL 91.1 (which reaches Ashley and Southern Drew Counties in AR) and Hendrix College's 8 watt KHDX 93.1 Conway AR (i've actually tuned that in the car driving through Conway). As smooth jazz goes, its not available 24/7 in Little Rock except as an "HD-2" stream from KHLR 94.9. Adult R&B station KOKY does "Smooth Jazz Sundays" from 10am-6pm. The radio station of HBCU University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) formats such music regularly on KUAP 89.7. The only local venue on the radio for "Traditional" Jazz is various programs on KUAR 89.1 the NPR station from Little Rock (and translator K233AD 94.5 Monticello AR--btw one of the few non-religious translators within 50 miles). (Fritze H Prentice Jr., KC5KBV, Star City, AR, ibid.) Hi Russ, I think you can add web radio to that list of broadcast radio alternatives. It's at the point now where radio-like computer devices can be readily bought on Ebay. Niche format stations abound there, you name it, someone is streaming it. Once someone makes a system to broadcast internet access via satellite where it can be used from a moving car, radio will take one hell of a knock. I'm not big on technical limitations, but I doubt that will happen for a few years at least. As for traditional jazz, one station this way does it well- WGLT 89.1 FM from my Alma Mater, Illinois State University. Have a listen at: http://www.wglt.org (Curtis Sadowski, ibid.) The iphone makes for a great internet radio. I listen in car, bus, and subway...at least until it goes underground (David Goren, ibid.) Hi Dave, There we go, given the popularity of the iphone, I would expect millions of people to do what you do. I see trouble ahead for broadcast radio (Curtis Sadowski, ibid.) Sony XDR-F1HD curiosity --- SOFT MUTING Is it just me or does the XDR-F1HD NOT handle tropo and weak signals very well? I've been using one for a few months now and the one thing it seemed to be lacking was the ability to pull up weak signals - or maybe - it actually supresses them! I have two modified tuners I had packed away last winter when I got the Sony - a Pioneer TX-9500 and a Mitsubishi DA-F20. After I was developing the feeling that the Sony would not pull out the marginal weak signals, I got the Mitsubishi tuner back out of the box and hooked it up. I started checked frequencies where I know I have always heard those fringe signals - ones I couldn't hear on the Sony. Sure enough - they are still there on the Mitsubishi tuner. As an example, I have a Nebraska NET station on 91.7 that I could never hear on the Sony - however, it is in and out quite regular on the Mitsubishi. I think this is the first NEGATIVE thing I have discovered about the Sony. I love the selectivity the Sony has. BUT - I have a feeling the Sony engineers assumed listeners would not be interested in weak signal situations and have some type of suppression of the signal until it hits a certain threshold. Case in point - on 93.9 I regularly receive via TrS [tropo scatter] - KSWN McCook NE "The Prairie" at 200 miles & KZRD Dodge City KS "The Buzzard" at 300 miles. I can be parked on 93.9 with neither one of them in, then I'll start hearing a little noise, and all of sudden - a station's audio just pops in. They will stay in for a little while, then I can hear the signal getting weaker - then all of sudden, the audio just disappears. The Sony has taken away the element of the fade in and fade out - its almost like the DTV situation where the signal is all or nothing to hear it. To me, it`s kind of weird. Given that situation, I'm not sure if I'm going to be using the Sony for DX very much. I can see the Sony being used alternately, but I've decided it won't be my primary receiver anymore (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, (40 miles north of Denver), WTFDA via DXLD) Jim, You are describing the soft muting that I have noticed also with the Sony tuner. I have more detail on my review here: http://home.comcast.net/~dlp85x/review.htm under the Analog FM Reception section (6/8 update heading.) I have found the soft muting great for Ms because its easier to 'see' the signal in a waveform editor like Wavepad, but I hear the same stations more or less on both the Sony tuner and Denon TU-1500RD, at least with my setup. However, with regular tropo, my Sony doesn't exhibit the same 'all or nothing' that you described--it just is quieter until the signal reaches a certain threshold to make it full- volume. I still hear the audio before it gets louder unlike (I assume) you do. I hope I helped! (David P. Woodbridge, VA, ibid.) My Sony seems to exhibit similar behavior as Jim described. I've noticed that prior to a signal scattering in, the noise level will increase but there is no distinguishable audio until the signal reaches a certain threshold, at which point the elevated noise level will yield to something audible. This happens for me in almost any situation where a weak signal fades up - it is almost always preceded by noise of higher levels than usual. For me this is an acceptable trade off, as there are usually only two frequencies where weak signals are possible, and only the Sony can partially filter out the splatter from the adjacent local enough to hear anything on them (Bryce - KG6VSW, Foster, Whittier, CA, ibid.) A few months back, there were some threads on the ICDX list about this feature. Supposedly the tuner can be "tricked" into working normally by the addition of a low gain preamp just before the antenna input. The reasoning was that the amp delivers just enough signal to keep the rx from muting. I read that it works. I haven't tried it. It's not on my important-things-to-do list (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, ibid.) I can almost guarantee that this will work. Here is why. I live in RF hell. When connected to my APS-13 I never saw this problem everyone has been complaining about. Most likely because the gain on that antenna presents so much RF to the tuner it never has a chance to mute. However, when connected to an FM dipole in the attic I do in fact get the soft muting effect. It doesn't really bother me much as it still seems the tuner is extremely sensitive and the most selective tuner I've ever seen. And for under $100, not a bad deal either. I still prefer my Yamaha T-85 for the best sounding (ie no muting when modified) DX tuner ever. I hate the Sangean HDT-1X analog audio (but like the display). (Bill Nollman, ibid.) Mike: There were lots of threads on this subject on *this list* as well. Even though I do not yet own one of these radios, it seems that, for DX'ers, this issue falls into one of two camps: it is either or a major pain for you or it is not a big deal at all. I would probably use rabbit ears, so I would most likely need something to boost it a bit, from what I remember. 73, (Dave in Indy Hascall, ibid.) Subject: [Tvfmdx] Sony XT-100HD car version Compared to my previous Sony car radio, the HD doesn't receive any of the semi-locals I used to get from Coos Bay, Bend & Eugene (150 mile range). Even the stations from only 50 miles away, Klamath Falls amd Tulelake come in poorly. Of course there hasn't been a single Es opening here this year so far, so it's still to be determined how the Sony HD does on adjacent channels. The strong locals do not seem to bleed onto adjacents, so this is a good sign. I can't remember the last time there was absolutely zilch the entire month of May. So if you think the Sony engineers assumed that home HD tuner buyers are not interested in weak signals, even more so for car stereo buyers (Lenny Goldberg, Ashland, OR, ibid.) One of the reasons I returned mine last year was that. I wanted to use the dipole, and that made anything beyond semi-locals weak signals which resulted in muting. On stronger signals, it didn't do anything that the tuners didn't except for the display functions. It's a nice tuner and a good value, but if you're in a strong signal major metro area you may have problems because you can't really use a pre-amp on the weak signals and not get intermod from the stronger ones when you're close in (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, 40:08:45N; 75:16:04W, Grid FN20id, FM: Yamaha T-80 w/ Conrad RDS Decoder & Onkyo T-450RDS; APS9B @ 15' ibid.) JAMMING SAMPLES Listen to the best - world summit - recordings at http://www.radiojamming.puslapiai.lt/sound.htm <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_jamming Listen to the MP4 examples at http://monitor.ibb.gov/jamming/ http://www.laughingpoliceman.com/jammers.htm http://www.voacap.com/documents/jamming_radio_broadcasting_VKL.pdf http://www.radiojamming.puslapiai.lt/article_en.htm http://cbc.am/jamming.pdf Regards de (Wolfgang Büschel, for David Coursey, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels at all latitudes during most of the period. However, activity increased to unsettled levels on 28 May with a brief period of active levels at high latitudes. The increase followed a sudden impulse at 28/0520 UTC (33 nT, as observed by the Boulder USGS magnetometer). ACE solar wind measurements indicated an interplanetary shock passage at approximately 28/0418 UTC. There was no obvious source for the shock. Solar wind changes associated with the shock passage included a jump in velocity (284 - 338 km/sec at 28/0418 UTC), increased interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bt (peak 12 nT at 28/0722 UTC), and intermittent periods of southward IMF Bz (minimum -8 nT at 28/0857 UTC). FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 03 - 29 JUNE 2009 Solar activity is expected to be very low. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal flux levels. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels during 03 - 04 June. Mostly quiet conditions are expected during 05 - 28 June, with unsettled periods possible on 10 June. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled levels on 29 June. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Jun 02 2021 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 Jun 02 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Jun 03 72 8 3 2009 Jun 04 72 8 3 2009 Jun 05 72 5 2 2009 Jun 06 72 5 2 2009 Jun 07 72 5 2 2009 Jun 08 74 5 2 2009 Jun 09 74 5 2 2009 Jun 10 74 8 3 2009 Jun 11 74 5 2 2009 Jun 12 74 5 2 2009 Jun 13 74 5 2 2009 Jun 14 72 5 2 2009 Jun 15 72 5 2 2009 Jun 16 72 5 2 2009 Jun 17 72 5 2 2009 Jun 18 72 5 2 2009 Jun 19 70 5 2 2009 Jun 20 70 5 2 2009 Jun 21 70 5 2 2009 Jun 22 70 5 2 2009 Jun 23 70 5 2 2009 Jun 24 70 5 2 2009 Jun 25 70 5 2 2009 Jun 26 72 5 2 2009 Jun 27 72 5 2 2009 Jun 28 72 5 2 2009 Jun 29 72 10 3 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1463, DXLD) ###