DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-063, August 26, 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 1475, August 26-September 1, 2009 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 1430 WRMI 9955 Fri 1900 WBCQ 7415 Fri 2028 WWCR1 15825 [15820 experimental] Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first Sat] Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Tue 1900 WBCQ 7415 Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 [or new 1476 starting here?] 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 DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD, which seems to be coming out less frequently? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ANGOLA. 11955, Radio Nacional Angola 1 (Presumed), 1944-2000, Aug 22, Portuguese, two men speaking to each other in what appears to be Portuguese. 1952 noise increased greatly. Off at 2000 and followed by World Adventist Radio [sic], Poor (Mike Rohde, Columbus, OH, Ten-Tec RX-340 with Sherwood Engineering SE-3, Wellbrook ALA 330s, and dipole tuned to 6925, NASWA Flashsheet Aug 23 via DXLD) It would be great news if Angola had reactivated 11955 after all these years, but --- BBC Ascension is now scheduled on 11955 at 1930-2000 in Hausa --- which sounds nothing like Portuguese. This fits neatly into a semi-hour break between two AWR languages via Austria, per EiBi: 1900-1930 Hausa, 2000-2030 Dyula. Where in the world is Angola still listed on 11955? Not even PWBR 2009! There it is in Aoki --- as 24 hours, 100 kW, 160 degrees from Mulenvos on 11955. Aoki unfortunately preserves lots of long-outdated info along with the latest new stuff. They should at least flag these as inactive. However, if this really was RNA in Portuguese, we may have some big news, and all the other 11955 stations are in trouble (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. See also USA: IBB/HCJB DRM 15475 15476, LRA36, RN Arcángel, 24/8 1935 UT, Spanish type music and talk, SIO 313, first time for me, will keep monitoring to see how good the signal gets or not as the case may be. 73's (Mark, 2W0MTD, Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476 at 1827 UT --- Dear DX'ers: I tuned my RX to hear or try for Base Esperanza broadcasting via LRA36 in Antarctica. I found amid the noise in sideband mode, YL announcer in what appeared to be Spanish, but could not hear much, although I thought I heard her say "Arcángel"; must be an ID. After many failed attempts in the past, I may have finally heard this station. I should remember this is weekdays only between 1900 til signoff around 2300 or so (If wrong, correct if needed) I wonder if they verify email reports via QSL? Anyone know. Thanks, 73's, (Noble West, TN, Sangean ATS818ACS, Radioshack 23 foot pocket SWL Antenna mounted on wooden pole, coax standoff, Aug 25, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just be sure it`s on 15476, not 15475, and that Gabon is not back on testing 15475 in French before 1900 as it was at least once recently. No, goes off at 2100 but currently blocked after 2000 by Greenville DRM test. An LRA36 QSL certificate was recently quoted in DXLD (gh) LRA36 Obs, Wed., August 26, 2009 --- Dear DX'ers: My quest to catch Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel (LRA36) on La Base Esperanza, was not heard, apparently due to several factors, mostly static, QRM, utility on one side of the channel of 15476 beginning at 1727 tunein. Although between 1828 and 1830 there were some kind of voice barely heard, not enough to confirm that I heard a definite ID for the station. Could they be off again? I notice the Greenville test referenced on WOR 1475 was also not heard today, at least not at my QTH in Tenn. Will keep trying and report back to you hopefully with better news. 73's, (Noble West, Clinton? TN, Sangean ATS818ACS, Radioshack Pocket SWL Antenna mounted to pole, Coax Standoff, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You may well be in the skip zone from the weak and close Greenville signal aimed away from you, so less of an obstacle. Aug 26 I check at 2052 UT on the DX-398 in the yard away from computer noise: at first nothing audible on 15475, but kept stepping 15470-15475-15480 back and forth, and soon the DRM noise fades in enough to detect it centered on 15475. And in LSB mode it shows on 15470-15475, USB mode 15475-15480 (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) Glenn: You may be right, though with the noise level about high at around 1837 UT, there was some hash and oscillating tone like that in RTTY. Hopefiully at this time tomorrow, I might have better chance for this somewhat of a challenge to catch at my QTH (Noble West, ibid.) ** ARGENTINA. The MW stations are fading in around 2145, with AM 16-20 in Mar del Plata being the strongest one. On some channels, Brasilian & Argentine stations compete (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 4835, VL8A, Alice Springs NT, 2152-2215, 19 Aug, English, chatter, "007" themes, ABC news 2203-2205, sports quiz, infos, phone-ins; 35322; better on 20 Aug at 2150. 4910, VL8T, Tennant Creek NT, 2153-2214, 19 Aug, English, cf. \\ 4835; 34321, adjacent QRM de Brasil 4915 + China 4920; better on 20 Aug at 2150. 5025, VL8K, Katherine NT, 2151-2211, 19 Aug, English, talks & interviews, ABC news 2201-2206, music; not parallel to VL8A or VL8T; 34322, QRM de CUBA; better on 20 Aug at 2150. Those 3 were observed on 20 Aug at 2150 all airing 3 different programs (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. Outstanding conditions --- Super reception to HOA and Mideast on the mid frequencies last night. 9745, R. Bahrain (tentative), tuned in apparently just after HCJB programming ended to find just a big open carrier, but something audible behind. 0504 HCJB cut carrier and weak behind it, man talk in Arabic. 0505, into modern Arabic music, mostly with vocals. Very weak, difficult but audible until about 0520, when it quickly weakened and soon faded out. First time in a VERY, VERY long while!! (Don Jensen, Kenosha WI, Aug 24, NASWA yg via DXLD) Hi Don, very nice reception! That is 3 hours after transmitter sunrise in Bahrain. I happened to have recorded 31 meters on the Perseus during that same time period last night and eagerly checked it just now after seeing your report, but not even the slightest carrier detectable. Alas, Bahrain is not meant to be for me. I have been trying for them forever without any success. 73 (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN USA, Microtelecom Perseus SDR, Wellbrook ALA100 4m x 8m delta loop, ibid.) ** BANGLADESH. 24th Aug 09, Bangladesh Betar 4750 & Bhutan 6035 both missing when I checked at 0100 UT (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Cumbre DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DXLD) Both Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) & Bangladesh Betar were back on their respective channels 6035 & 4750 kHz during my checking around 0624 UT on August 24th. But the in the early morning hour, indeed both BBS & Bangladesh Betar were absent on their respective frequencies. 73 & 55 (Gautam Kumar Sharma, Abhayapuri, Assam, India, via Alokesh Gupta, ibid.) 4750, Bangladesh Betar, 1334, August 24. Assume in scheduled Bengali; man with the news; ID at 1340 ("Bangladesh Betar"), followed by woman with the news; subcontinent music and singing at 1350. QRM from CNR-1 (Chinese) and RRI (non-stop reciting from the Qur’an); without the QRM would have been fair reception. Audio file posted to dxldyg “Files > Station Sounds” (ID 00:27) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, Dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just received this email from Senior Engineer, Bangladesh Betar Dhaka. "Dear Sir, Thanks for your mail. We are now transmitting 4750 kHz, SW from 05:45 to 13:00 (UST). With regards, -Sr. Engg. (RRC), Bangladesh Betar" n.b. I presume he means UTC. But I am quite certain that I heard 4750 kHz on Monday 24th August 2009 at 1400 UT with local Bangla news (Supratik Sanatani, India, Aug 25, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Supratik, Yesterday (August 24) I was also listening to them till about 1400 UT. The audio I posted (dxldyg “Files > Station Sounds”) was for 1340 UT, with a clear ID. Believe they have the time conversion wrong. Believe they are currently on Day Light Saving time (UT + 7 hrs.). (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, USA, ibid.) ** BHUTAN. 24th Aug 09, Bangladesh Betar 4750 & Bhutan Broadcasting Service 6035 both missing when I checked at 0100 UT (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Both Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS) & Bangladesh Betar were back on their respective channels 6035 & 4750 kHz during my checking around 0624 UT on August 24th. But the in the early morning hour, indeed both BBS & Bangladesh Betar were absent on their respective frequencies. 73 & 55 (Gautam Kumar Sharma, Abhayapuri, Assam, India, via Alokesh Gupta, ibid.) ** BOLIVIA. CP logs: 3309.98, Radio Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba 0930 to 1000 with good music, there every local morning [/local for here and/] 4409.8, Radio Eco, Reyes pops in every evening 0000 after local harmonic cuts power, pulsating signal that once was there gone. Very regular emisora, there each night. [local harmonic is 3 x 1470, WWNN, Pómpano Beach, 50 kW day, 2.5 kW night. During my two sesquiyears in Tamarac, S Florida, 1984-1986 under previous calls, it was my closest local, the tower less than a mile away, but long before the increase to 50 kW. Now FCC AM query shows the site as right next to Florida`s Turnpike where it makes a bend next to Lauderhill, an even more built-up area, but not in Pómpano Beach either. Daytime lobe peaks NE toward Pómpano, while nighttime lobe is more toward the ENE --- gh] 4451.19, Radio Santa Ana, Santa Ana de Yacuma 1030 to 1110 with CP music and one ID by OM, better signal that during the local evening. 23 August. In last fortnight, sign-off time has moved closer to 0000. 4699.26, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta 2330 on 21 August, has been signing on later 0950 to sometimes 1010 or later in the last fortnight 4716.60, Radio Yura, Yura 1015 to 1025 sign-ons, noted for excellent music, signing on later; noted off an occasional morning in the last fortnight. There from 2330 most evenings 4781.70, Radio Tacana, Tumupasa last noted 2330 to 2345 on 21 August, noted four times in last fortnight. No recent logs 1000. 4796.49, Radio Lípez, Uyuni both 1000 and 0000 logs, off on occasion in last fortnight 5580.2, Radio San José, San José de Chiquitos, noted return to frequency, at 2330 on 17 August after being off about a week. 5952.37, Pio XII, Siglo Veinte, 1100 to 1130 OM and YL en español, talk about local items, times and dates of upcoming event, with signal less troubled by co-channel 21 August. Generally there 0000 but with much co-channel [? Surely nothing else on 5952.37 but 5954, 5950, 5955? --- gh] 6075, Radio Kawsachun Coca, Lauka 1000 to 1100+ most local mornings, covered or off 0000. Provides good programs, OM and YL alternating in conversational pattern 6134.77, Radio Santa Cruz, 1105 21 August noted with strong signal, seemed off on 20 August? 6155.2, Radio Fides widely heard and reported regular. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, U S, Drake R8, NRD 535D Gilfer, Aug 24, WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11815, Rádio Brasil Central, Goiânia, 0955-1022, 25-08, noticias locales de Goiás, locutor, locutora: "Notícias de Goiás, bom día, informativo notícias de Goiás". A las 0700 identificación: "Onda Média, 1270 kHz, 50 kW, Onda Tropical, 10 kW, 4985 kHz, Onda curta, banda de 25 metros, 11815 kHz, 7,5 kW, Radio Brasil Central, Goiânia, Goiás". "Bom día, en Goiânia 7 horas, O Mundo em Sua Casa, agora por Rádio Brasil Central, o programa consagrado pela crítica como o melhor programa de notícias, O mundo em Sua Casa". Noticias de Brasil y del mundo. 44444 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros orientada WSW, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. CHU, 7850, at 1413 Aug 24 time pips mixed with some hashy QRM, and also 2-way SSB slightly on the hi side, language not determined. The hashy QRM I would have assumed to be coming from my VCRs or TVs, but has been reported by others as a CHU transmitter defect (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CHU 7850 at 0200 on 25 Aug with usual TOH silence, then buzzing time pips, a bit worse than usual. Moderate signal. On frequency // 3330 excellent, 14670 inaudible. CKZN, 6160.88 at 0132 on 26 Aug with CBC program. Strong het. CBC NQ, 9624.99 at 0136 on 26 Aug in Inuit. Excellent signal. 73/ (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Re 9-062: CIGM 790 Sudbury ON gone - almost CIGM 790 left the airwaves at 0000 EDT with a brief farewell, thanking its listeners for their support since 1967 and promising that "the memories will last forever." The transmitter is still on the air at 0058, with nothing but a tone. So if you're hearing a mysterious tone on 790 --- well, that's it. This is part of an interesting station swap: CIGM owner Rogers couldn't move the station to FM because it already owned two FMs in Sudbury, the legal limit. So it traded CIGM to Newcap for CFDR 780 Dartmouth NS, which Newcap couldn't move to FM because it already had two FMs in the Halifax market. CFDR went to FM a few weeks ago, becoming CKLT 92.9 under Rogers. The new Newcap-owned CIGM-FM 93.5 is on the air testing and will make its official debut soon. s (Scott Fybush, NY, Aug 23, ABDX via DXLD) Indeed, 93.5 heard testing with quasi-Chinese music and a man with fake Chinese accent saying something about chopsticks and Kung Pao radio, CIGM Sudbury, and Newcap (the owner). This at 0720 [EDT?]. I went to 790 and heard a strong tone mixing with Watertown NY (Saul Chernos, Ont., Aug 24, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) Glenn, et al: This is a regular here in CT when nulling WPRV Providence, RI. C&W or ESPN/hockey. As always winter-time the best, but makes it here even recently; last heard Thursday nite just before midnight EST [EDT?] using barefoot Grundig G5, G6, and Eton E100 clone. It was an alternative to Premiere Network overnight. Seeing this article makes me wonder if the Eastern USA will be allowed higher nighttime power ratings. There are perhaps ten stations running 100 Watts or less at night (Paul S., Cheshire, CT, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) US stations will likely not be allowed higher power because of CIGM leaving. Canada still has the location/frequency allocation and can use it if they so want. A recent example of an empty Canadian frequency coming back to life is 700. -- From the world's northernmost DX-er (Bjarne Mjelde, Berlevag, Arctic Norway http://kongsfjord.no http://arcticdx.blogspot.com dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not only that, but will still have to `protect` the missing Sudbury transmitter with direxional patterns. Most of the nighttime 790 stations in NE USA have nulls toward Sudbury unless they are very low powered (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) I just nabbed a new station, but close by - 93.5 CIGM Sudbury, an FM flip for 790 CIGM, is on and testing. It's pretty easy to ID, as is playing quasi-Chinese music, some with a flute, and a man speaking English with what strikes me as a fake Chinese accent. Kind of tasteless, and probably not all that amusing to any Chinese listeners, but easily identifiable. 790, BTW, was running a tone at 0730 EDT. I presume from this that it might go off for good very shortly (Saul Chernos, Burnt River ON, 1445 UT Aug 24, WTFDA via DXLD) I knew it! When I got in the car this morn, I heard that tone - 1110 UT. CIGM dominated here in Peterborough at night, so I will confirm in a few more hours (Andy Reid, Aug 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think 790 is still on air carrying the Kung Pao radio stunt. Hearing quite nice Chinese music under the slop sort of in // with http://www.kungpaoradio935.com They just announced on the web feed that the new FM launches Aug. 25th at noon (Andy Reid, 2301 UT Aug 24, ibid.) I'll be keeping a nighttime ear out for new catches on 790 kHz - I had logged CIGM a few weeks ago. I had caught them many times before, but hadn't stuck around to get an ID. I know some of the old time MW DXers refer to the 50s and 60s as the golden age of MW DX. For me and some other Canadians, right now is the golden age of DX. Even with IBOC. [thankfully, the Wellbrook 1530 is a pretty good IBOC fighter, as are my Icom twins, the R71A and R75, both very good at ECSS.] Essentially, MW here is a DX band, and FM is now the standard broadcast band. And, for reliable nighttime reception of the BBC, it`s 198 kHz on LW, not SW! (Phil Rafuse, Stratford PE Canada, ABDX via DXLD) ** CANADA. CHNC-610 SIMULCAST PERIOD EXTENDED; CBI MOVE TO FM DELAYED Applications by CHNC-610 New Carlisle Quebec (which has moved to FM) to extend its simulcast period to Dec 1, 2009 and by CBI-1140 to extend its deadline to move to FM to July 9, 2010 have been approved by the CRTC: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2009/2009-517.htm Coopérative des travailleurs CHNC, 2009-0592-9 1 May 2009 APPROVED – Extension to 1 December 2009 of the simulcast period for the undertaking authorized in CHNC New Carlisle and its transmitter CHGM Gaspé – Conversion to the FM band and addition of FM transmitters in Carleton, Chandler and Percé, Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2008-51, 3 March 2008. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2009-0704-0 20 May 2009 APPROVED – Extension of the time limit to 9 July 2010 to commence the operation of the English-language FM radio programming undertaking authorized in CBI Sydney – Conversion to the FM band, Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2007-222, 9 July 2007. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, Aug 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 7220, R. Centrafricaine, Bimbo, 1304- 1358, 20 Aug, French, news bulletin, talks; 15431; blocked by TWR in Russian until 1500 when in the clear again, but hardly audible. This is either reactivated (my belief) or being used at a very low power level which enables some reception whenever propagation is good (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. THE VOICE OF BEIBU BAY RADIO According to Chinese DXer Li Wang, Guanxi Foreign Broadcasting Station is planning to expand their broadcast and to change the name to “The Voice of Beibu Bay Radio” (BBR) (“beibu” means northern). The test broadcast of BBR began on August 18 at 1000 in Vietnamese, English, Thai, Chinese(Mandarin), and Cantonese, on 5050 and 9820 kHz. He confirmed it in Tianjin on August 23 at 1027 on 9820 with the new station name. The official announcement is given at http://news.gxradio.com/news/2009/0817/rdtj/190858.htm (in Chinese only) with some photographs. This is the joint project of Guanxi People’s Broadcasting Station and China Radio International. The official regular broadcast is expected to begin in October. They are also constructing 12 FM relay stations in the border area, and will send the broadcast also on FM directly to the bordering countries (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, Aug 24, WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks to Takahito Akabayashi of Japan (via dxldyg) for the heads up about the new name. Beibu Bay is more familiar to Americans as the Gulf of Tonkin. Their website http://www.gxradio.com/foreignradio/index.asp has audio streaming (“Live Broadcast”). The new ID is “This is Beibu Bay Radio” and often has “Learn about the world, get to know China”. Also has “BBR” IDs. So far heard in the usual Chinese and Vietnamese, but noted a CRI English program (Hot Pot show with host Duggy Day http://enpf.chinabroadcast.cn/TalkChina/photos/cri/picture71763.aspx Here on the West Coast, 5050 is regularly heard with decent reception, while parallel 9820 usually has heavy QRM. Should be fairly easy to ID this now on 5050, as they give frequent English IDs, not just at the top of the hour (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Aug 25, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "The Voice of Beubu [sic, also in subject line] Bay Radio" was confirmed also in Tokyo on 5050 and 9820 kHz. Signing on at 1000 with ID in English, then programs in Chinese, 1100 again ID in English, then in Vietnamese. The test transmission seems to be at 1000-1100 (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, Aug 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5050, Beibu Bay Radio, 1312, August 25. In Vietnamese with some announcements in Chinese; EZL pop songs; several IDs in Chinese, Vietnamese and English (“This is Beibu Bay Radio”); also heard “BBR”; announcers often heard with piano background music; mostly poor due to higher than normal QRN and light AIR QRM; // 9820, which was mostly covered by CNR-2/CBR. Sei-ichi Hasegawa of Japan comments: “I confirmed it at 5050 kHz at 1500 on Aug. 25. ID as ‘This is Beibu Bay Radio’ and ‘BBR News’. The name of Chinese is ‘Bei-bu wan zhi sheng - Voice of Gulf of North’” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5050, Beibu Bay Radio, 1322, August 26. Mostly in Vietnamese; EZL pop songs; BoH and at 1400 (after 5+1 pips) IDs in Chinese, Vietnamese and English (“This is Beibu Bay Radio”). English ID given by a native speaker of English. Also a mention of “BBR” and “Learn about the world, get to know China”. Continues to have below average reception. [and non]. 6035, PBS Yunnan/Voice of Shangri-La. Not on the air August 26, so of course no sign of the usual spurs on 6027 or 6043. Seemed to only have Bhutan/BBS with a below threshold level carrier (no audio) on 6035. Regarding IDs for Voice of Shangri-La: recent checks at 1300 and 1400 have found “This is the Voice of Shangri-La”, followed by a few more words in English (“presented by”?) and then “Yunnan Radio”. Reception varies greatly from day to day and is always bothered by adjacent splatter (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7280, Voice of the Strait - Fuzhow, 1253-1300, 8/25/09, in Chinese (probably Mandarin.) Female announcer, 1258 contemporary Western style music, announcement, 1300 5+1 time pips, ID. About 1300:00:05 an ARO opened on the frequency obliterating VotS. Good until then. Wish I had longer to listen this morning (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, Winradio G313e, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. 9750, Aug 25 at 1306, Japanese talk from NHK mixed with what sounded like SE Asian song, but must be NE Asian, as Ron Howard has recently pinned this on PBS Nei Menggu // 7270, with V of Malaysia inactive on this frequency. Still colliding at 1351 when both were talking (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake Aug 24: at 1340 good S9+18 signal with flutter on 10210, its favorite haunt lately, but just barely audible on 9000, and found nowhere else between 8 and 19 MHz, except parallelable mixed with CNR1 and VOA on 12040 at 1348. 10210 FD resumed at 1405 after open-carrier top-of-hour monitoring pause. Firedrakes were back in force on August 25: at 1237, good on 9000; at 1249 on 10210, and in the usual mix on 12040. At 1255 on 13970 and 14420 (ex-14430); at 1257 poor on 15755; at 1300 listening to 10210 as it went to open carrier at TOH; at 1337 still on 13970 and 14420 but poor; at 1342 poor and fluttery on 17470; at 1345 poor on 15150. Checked all the other known frequencies between 8 and 19 MHz, but no more heard. All the ones I did hear were // (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unlike the day before, not a single Firedrake was heard in 8-19 MHz bandscanning Aug 26 between 1400 and 1500. Nothing much else from Asia above 12 MHz, but some signals below (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have never heard nor reported FD on 8600, contrary to the incorrect listing in the NASWA Flashsheet Aug 23. Nor WWCR on 5825! Logs are converted to frequency order, risking errors (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. ECHO AND FIREDRAKE --- Some logs of Aug 24 and 25th. 0400-1000 Firedrake 15150 (against TWN ?) 0700-1000 Echo 13610(many echo) 13740(strong, from Urumchi or Kashi?), 17775 0700-1100 Echo 15250 0900-1000 Firedrake 15200 (?against whom?, normally KTWR Guam in Indonesian here), 17470 fair Firedrake. 0900-1100 Echo 15665 (VOA Mandarin) (underneath powerhouse CRI Kashi in Russian) 1100-1400 Firedrake 15375(RFA Tibetan), but noted also 0905-0912 UT s- off. 1600-1700 Firedrake 9350 9555 11785[11781.8-11787.7 wide buzz jammer additional] 1600-1630 Firedrake 11995(BBC Mandarin). 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ``Echo`` = CNR1 programming unsynchronized ** CONGO DR. A radio station in Democratic Republic of Congo says that one of its journalists was killed in a premeditated assassination. Bruno Koko Chirambiza was was stabbed to death in the eastern town of Bukavu. His employer, Radio Star, says that a group of killers followed him after he left a wedding party. There's speculation that Rwandan Hutu rebels carried out the murder. The rebels have been fighting government troops in eastern Congo for the past several months (from The RCI Cyberjournal via Noble West, TN, Aug 24, DXLD) ** CUBA. REBEL RADIO GOES EASY LISTENING --- Radio Rebelde was founded by Che Guevara in 1958. It has gone from bastion of youthful revolution, and playing Guerrilla Commander, to playing classic American songs and Cuban pop hits. If you listened to this morning's broadcast, instead of first-hand reports on the battles against the Batista Army, you would have heard back to back songs by Nat King Cole ("That's All" and "Mona Lisa") and the Lloyd Price tune "Personality." The latter was in Spanish. Like a 45 record spinning on a turntable, Che Guevara must be spinning in his grave. Guevara died in October of 1967, thus missing Woodstock by two years. 5025, RADIO REBELDE (Habana, Cuba) Sunday 23.08 at 1003-1015 Spanish, Heard Nat King Cole singing two of his hits. At 1012 music resorted [sic] to Spanish (Richard Bianchino, Las Vegas, NV USA, Kaito KA1103, 32' longwire antenna, indoor, Ripple mailing list via DXLD) ** CUBA. 6220, Radio Habana Cuba; 0338, 23-Aug; W in Spanish with cubanos. SIO=2+53- // 5965, SIO=533+; // 5980, SIO=3+33-; // 6060, S35; // 6120, SIO=443; // 6140, S35; 6000 was Arnie in English (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6220 is a mixing product, 6060 leaping over 6140 another 80 kHz upward. Note that 5980 is also a mixing product, 6140 leaping over 6060 another 80 kHz downward. With RHC you get four frequencies for the price of two (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) RHC observations Aug 25: the secretly extended mid-day broadcast at 1501 on 11760, 11690 and distorted 11800, live timecheck as 11 am in Habana, and announcer said this would be on until 5 pm = 2100 UT, and we were invited to listen to as much of it as we could. Strongest 11760 dropped off the air, but back on at 1503 with same signal level. Meanwhile I found it also // 13760, 5965 and 6000. Open carriers from the big transmitters on 13680 and 13780 were still on the air for a few minutes. At 1504, 5965 dropped off during music, but still audible on 6000. Compared to 11760, all of the others were an echo apart, except I did not check 13760 for that. At 1507 plugged RHC website, 1508 Efemérides = this day in history starting with 1871y when a poet was assassinated; 1510 `news` bulletin all about the woes of Obama and the USA, not Cuba. Anyhow, it seems that RHC is no longer replaying wholesale the 11-14 UT Despertar con Cuba show at 1500, Seldom heard leapfrog from RHC on 9540, Aug 26 at 1155, // 9600 with YL reporter outro in Spanish; the fulcrum is 9570, already on with open carrier prior to CRI relay. I vaguely recall Venezuela once used 9540 non-spuriously, so not to be confused with that, or taken as an activation of their own new SW site, which should be imminent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RHC 11690 at 0457 with IS on 25 Aug. Was looking for Okapi but no sign of it. 73/ (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Havana English observations --- As has been reported, Radio Havana language/frequency usage from 0500 is variable. I have noticed this week that English has continued beyond 0700. August 23: 6060 and 6140 heard in parallel at 0736 in Spanish, commentaries about Honduras and Venezuela August 24: 6060 heard at 0732 with English service August 26: 6000 and 6140 in Spanish at 0715, 6060 was in English and was still carrying English at 0840 recheck (Mike Barraclough, England, Aug 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Mike, You are certainly correct about their extended/varied schedule! On August 26, noted RHC signed off 6060 at about 1000. Had been in English with good reception. Heard 6000 // 6120 // 6140, in Spanish, continuing on past 1005. 6000 had severe QRM from the jamming of Echo of Hope (VOH) on 6003. Weak on both 6120 and 6140 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, ibid.) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Tonight the MW harmonic from Radio Anacanoa [sic], from the Dominican Republic, is exceptionally strong on 2280 (1140 x 2). Good signal here in New Hampshire, with bachata music and several station IDs between 2349 and 0004 UT (Rik van Riel, Aug 25-26, harmonics yg via DXLD) WRTH 2009 spells it Anacaona, HIRA, 5 kW from San Juan de la Maguana, 1100-0400 (gh, DXLD) ** ECUADOR [non]. Monitored the Aug 22 DX Partyline via WRMI, 9955, Wed Aug 26 at 1429-1444 atop the DentroCuban Jamming Command`s pulsing [see also USA]. This edition produced from Loja consisted of the monthly JSWC DX report; some items from Sheldon Harvey`s Radio HF Internet Newsletter; and some logs of Aug 18 from Stewart MacKenzie. It seems that Allen Graham makes no effort to check out those logs, as the second and third ones read were completely wrong: ``CRI in Spanish via Brazil on 9735 and 9665 at 0433.`` In reality, it is VOR in Spanish via Guiana French on 9735 and via Moldova/Pridnestrovye on 9665! The next item also wrong with ``RHC at 0414 on 11960``, not their frequency but really on 11690 at this hour. As soon as Stewart posted those logs, I replied with these correxions on a few listserves and directly to him, but he never followed up with correxions to his entire mailing list. The correct identity of the Spanish broadcasts and the relay sites used are readily available in accurate online references Aoki and EiBi, for starters. All you have to do is consult them. It would also not hurt to listen long enough to tell whether it is China or Russia, and proofread for transpositions. I cannot understand what the point is of circulating, and even broadcasting worldwide, routine logs which have not been vetted for accuracy, nor corrected later, once errors comes to light. This happens again and again. I am NOT happy about pointing out fellow listeners` easily avoidable mistakes, and I have overlooked MANY others, but someone has to stand up for accuracy, especially when they get quoted on a major broadcast. It appears the host is not an SWL himself, or he might know better. Nor am I happy about criticizing fellow DX programs. And it`s really not my job to make sure DXPL is accurate. Listener, beware, as I resume overlooking! At first I thought there was no `Tip for Real Living` on this edition but it`s there in the middle when I recheck the audio file: I mentally tuned it out without even trying (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. HCJB GERMAN TO USE RELAY FOR SOUTH AMERICA The German service of HCJB, no longer part of its Latin America region, issued a news release about their future plans: http://www.hcjb.de/index.php?id=196 Key points: The closure deadline for Pifo has been set to Sep 30. It is planned to continue the German broadcasts in South America also in future, by way of using third party facilities. HCJB chooses to shut down Pifo altogether to avoid the risk of heavy compensation claims after possible airplane accidents. It has so far not been specified which operator will be chosen. It also remains to be seen (since this is another business) if such arrangements will also be made for broadcasts in Spanish, Portuguese and/or Indian languages (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM tests: see U S A ** EGYPT. I don't actually believe it. I must be 14 years old again on 08-25-09. I am hearing Radio Cairo on 7540 at 0245 with absolutely CLEAR modulation. This must be the first I ever heard this since way back in the early 80's when their English service was on 9475 along with the Arabic service up on 9900 kHz. The signal quality is a nice solid S-20 and the modulation is easily understood and completely in the clear. My wife can even completely understand it, who has no experience with radio other than listening to FM. Program is on Ramadan. 6290 Arabic service at 0245, well, same ole, same ole powerhouse signal with unintelligible modulation. One out of two isn't bad. This is actually nice listening; just might tune in again tomorrow (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, 08-25-09, 0300 UT, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DXLD) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. Outstanding conditions --- Super reception to HOA and Mideast on the mid frequencies last night. 6090, Amhara State Radio (presumed). Many thanks to Brandon Jordan for the tip. Tuned 0300 to Anguilla, Caribbean Beacon with rock Gospel filler but when the late, great Scott began his slow, deliberate preaching, I could detect a signal through DGS, very weak at first, but quick fade up and fairly audible by 0312 with nice HoA vocals by man. Announcement by woman 0315, theme music with horns, and man beginning talk in what was surely Amharic. Man and woman alternately until 0328, Drumroll and several different males. Another musical segment with HoA vocals by female at 0335. Later more talk, including actuality, seemingly a brief section of an outdoor speech, then more commentary. Peaked around 0330-0340, but still audible at 0350 tune out. Surprising good at times, despite Dr. Gene and, later, Melissa's preaching. Quick checks in the 0350-0405 period showed: 6110, R. Fana, Ethiopia very strong, well over S9, with what sounded like a romantic Ethiopian soap opera. 7110, Addis Ababa very strong and clear 0356 with vocal HoA music. 7175, VoBM, Eritrea, quite strong, Ham QRM but otherwise excellent with pre-s/on theme. No jamming at 0358. 7165, V of Peace and Democracy, Ethiopian clandestine to Eritrea, even stronger, loud, with pre-s/on IS 0359. 7210, VoBM's other channel, much weaker, 0359 with normal IS and into man talking (Don Jensen, Kenosha WI, Aug 24, NASWA yg via DXLD) 6090, Ethiopia, the Amhara State Regional Station again is pretty good, through the late DGS. Some super HoA instrumental music, but now, 0320, into talk by man in what seems Amharic. And now back into music (Don Jensen, WI, UT Aug 25, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Re 9-062, R. Oromiya, 6030: I sent a reception report to this address back in late Feb. 26 weeks now and no reply. I guess it is time for a follow up, this time in care of Mr. Abarra Hailu (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN USA, Microtelecom Perseus SDR, Wellbrook ALA100 4m x 8m delta loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Radio Ethiopia, 7110 at 0444 on 25 Aug in Amharic, with HOA music. Moderate. Still going strong on 41m. 73/ (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9704.19, Radio Ethiopia, 2035-2100*, Aug 23, wide variety of Euro-pop, US pop & local pop music. Amharic talk. Sign off with National Anthem. Poor in noisy conditions. Fair on // 7110. Threshold copy on // 5989.62 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** FRANCE. Conditions were poor when I checked some of RFI's transmissions today - August 24 - and found: Hausa on air at 0600-0630 via 9805 (good) and 11995 (fair), and again at 0700-0730 via 11615 and 13685 (both poor). English on air at 0600-0630 via 11610 and 15160 (both poor) - 17800 was inaudible. And again at 0700-0730 on 13675 (poor) - both transmissions with latest news stories. Portuguese service 0600-0700 - 11830 via MEY was weak today, but I *think* the language was Portuguese. The transmission was not parallel/the same as the French service that I could hear via 9790 (good) 11700, 13675, 13695 and 15300 (all fair). (Noel R. Green (NW England), Aug 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON [and non]. Re 9-062: Hi Glenn, sorry, I caused some confusion. GABON should have read "back on 9580 last night and also this morning" (Aug 23) and "-1900+" (Aug 21). 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST via dxldyg) So is it heard on 17630 or 15475 today Monday? (gh, dxldyg via DXLD) There is a very weak signal audible in English at 1505 on 17630 - I assume this to be CRI via Mali. But there has been no trace of Gabon - neither this Monday morning or now. 15475 has been checked too this morning and now, but there is no signal audible. However, if this frequency sticks to schedule, it should come on at around 1600-1900 (Noel R. Green (NW England), WORLD OF RADIO 1475, ibid.) 1545 UT - I'm getting CRI English on 17630 - Fair to Good (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, ibid.) Yes, that must have been what I could hear. It's now almost 1700 UT and still no trace of Gabon on 15475. As remarked previously, my guess is that the previous transmission was a test. There's at least one station using 9580 currently, but no copy is possible due Medi #1 splash (Noel R. Green, (NW England), ibid.) 24th Aug'09 - 9580 - 1753 UT, Africa No. 1 noted with French talk by OM/YL, weak here buried under local noise. Here's an audio file : http://alokeshgupta.googlepages.com/gabon_9580_1753utc_24aug2009.mp3 (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, ibid.) Hi, Yes, 9580 Africa N-1 audible at 1830 UT, SINPO 34333, splatters from MEDI-1. Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, QTH: El Prat de Llobregat- Barcelona España, ibid.) ** GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. What appears to be an unofficial online stream of La Voz de Galápagos is available on the UStream TV platform at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/radio-la-voz-de-galapagos This was observed relaying Ecuador's Radio Católica Nacional overnight and most of the local morning, going into local programming some time between 1700 and 1800 UT - this was on a Sunday (23 August 09), so not necessarily applicable on weekdays. Local time on the archipelago is UT -6 hours, one hour behind the Ecuador mainland. La Voz de Galápagos previously broadcast on shortwave and mediumwave, but currently transmits only on 97.1 MHz FM. (David Kernick, UK, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Re: RFI German off Astra 1H It so happened that I yesterday sat in a train through Berlin at 1600, providing an opportunity to check out 106.0: Yes, German still on here, starting with a sudden audio source switch inmidst the TOH jingle, producing a break. It's stereo, unlike the defunct BBC-RFI in Saxonia, but with rather poor audio, hardly going beyond 10 kHz. They must be quite stingy, running the satellite feed with a rather small bitrate. Perhaps a deviation is of interest as well: My destination was Ostkreuz station, for a last evening on platform A which will be shut down on Friday. Sounds silly? Check this out: http://lostkreuz.de/tag/bahnsteig-a/ This is the track for trains from Schönefeld airport to the city (the third-rail trains, not the express trains pulled by AC locomotives), upstairs from the other platforms, once even hidden behind big trees. A unique oasis where one could watch the sun set behind downtown Berlin, leaving the hectic pace behind the stairway, but by no means entering a dead place (as some inscriptions on Flickr erroneously suggest), since, as mentioned, every 20 minutes a train calls here. Within a large reconstruction program the track layout will be changed and platform A disappear without substitute (the concerned trains will simply pass by Ostkreuz in future). It must be expected that the whole station will lose its atmosphere. Hence also the name of this website. This is Berlin, and it is not the only typical piece of Berlin that goes away (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. DENUNCIAN ATENTADOS CONTRA UN CANAL DE TELEVISION Y UNA RADIO AFINES A ZELAYA Tegucigalpa, 24 ago (EFE).- Ejecutivos de un canal de televisión y una radio afines al derrocado presidente de Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, denunciaron hoy que ambos medios sufrieron anoche un atentado, por lo que sus transmisiones fueron interrumpidas. Conductores de espacios de noticias de Radio Globo, que transmite desde Tegucigalpa, indicaron que desconocidos con el rostro cubierto llegaron anoche al sitio donde funcionan los transmisores de la emisora y los rociaron con gases tóxicos. Según la misma denuncia, el guardia de la emisora en los transmisores fue sometido por los atacantes, aunque no sufrió daños personales. La señal de Radio Globo fue interrumpida entre las 20:00 y 21:00 hora local (0200 y 0300 UT), aunque hoy fue restablecida parcialmente después de las 06:00 hora local (1200 UT). El propietario de Radio Globo es el empresario Alejandro Villatorio, quien fue funcionario del Gobierno de Manuel Zelaya. El Canal 36, propiedad del periodista Esdras Amado López, que transmite desde Tegucigalpa, también sufrió anoche un "atentado", según denuncias hechas a los canales 13 y 66, aunque se desconocen detalles al respecto. La señal del Canal 36 sigue interrumpida. Un portavoz de Radio Globo dijo hoy en la emisora que los responsables del atentado son los militares, extremo que fue rechazado por el portavoz de las Fuerzas Armadas, coronel Ramiro Archaga, informó la misma empresa. Tras el derrocamiento de Zelaya, Radio Globo y Canal 36 fueron militarizados y su señal estuvo fuera del aire durante unos pocos días, lo que fue condenado por diversos sectores. (Fuente: Agencia EFE, 24/08/09) Enviada Por Gabriel Ivan Barrera, Argentina via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** INDIA. From state of Meghalaya, AIR regional, 4970 at Shillong heard some evenings around 1130-1145. Shillong is the self-proclaimed rock music capital of India, not playing usual Indian music, at 1145 fair with news, music, announcements in Hindi (John Durham, NZ, RNZI Mailbox Aug 24, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4970, AIR Shillong, 1235-1315, August 24, in English with “Hit Parade” pop music show; TC (“The time on the studio clock has past 6:45 PM”); lecture on “Gender, Justice and Human Development”; another day of almost fair reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. NEWSCASTER’S MEMOIRS --- THIS IS ALL INDIA RADIO He was witness...and testimony. He was not prosecution. The reassuring baritone that rang out on the radio helped calm a fragile nation’s nerves. --- Anuradha Raman Profiles Surajit Sen [illustrated] A day after August 15, 1947, 22-year-old Surajit Sen walked into All India Radio and was offered a newscaster’s job. This young man went on to become the voice of radio, decades before the advent of TV, and later, the high-decibel entry of private television channels. In the old days when radio ruled the waves, it was Sen’s instantly recognisable voice that set the tone for national celebrations; and a wonderfully mellow tone it was, old-timers remember, soothing the nation’s nerves amid the uncertainties and upheavals of new nationhood. That young man is now all of 83, with a memory that often fails him. “Hello, I’m Surajit Sen and I can’t hear a thing,” he proffers by way of greeting. With four stray dogs for company in his Delhi home, including one quaintly christened ‘No Name’, Sen is a lumbering giant of a man. His voice has still not lost its timbre. “I think I still retain a bit of the voice,” agrees Sen. . . http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?261296 (via Alokesh Gupta, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. VOI check Aug 25 at 1303 on 9524.9: S9+18 signal, but very undermodulated; I could just barely recognize the voice of the OM in Banjarmasin with the YL in Jakarta for another of their weekly Tuesday co-produxions. It was also undermodulated the day before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Interesting programming on Southern Sudan TV & Indo-China TV (G19): saw an old episode of the American "soap" The Young and the Restless dubbed in French on RTS Sénégal the other day / (Loren Cox, Lexington KY, 16 Aug 2009, from white-outed p-mail, optically scanned and fixed up by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. WRN NOTES --- Driving on 8/23 at 1430, listening to Sirius 140, I noted KBS World Radio instead of usual Radio France Internationale where I hoped to hear Club 9516 show. On KBS I heard weekly news review followed by K-Pop Connection, a show that seems to be the one KBSWR show aired via WRN -- what about other news/feature programs KBS airs aside from K-pop? A more balanced KBSWR program lineup for Sirius/XM listeners would make more sense. I also wish WRN would give Radio New Zealand Int'l another spot on its daily schedule so Dateline Pacific could be heard -- some more content than just the 15-minute news at 1600 Mon-Fri (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Aug 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. On checking Radio Farda at 0630 UT Aug 24 all I could hear was 15690 17845 and 17545. Other listed frequencies 15475 17590 17630 17880 and 21715 were not propagating if on air. 7220 and 5885 would not propagate at this time (Noel R. Green (NW England), Aug 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR. R. Kashmir Srinagar noted with special Ramzan broadcasts as follows: 2220-2310 UT (3.30 to 4.40 am IST) on 1116 & 4950. Last year SW was not used. Also noted a relay of the same by AIR Kupwara on 1350 kHz. This will continue till around 22 Sept 2009 with slight variations in sign-on/off timings. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos http://www.niar.org Aug 23, dx_india via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 9650 VOICE OF KOREA (DPR), and KBS WORLD (S KOREA, via Sackville) at 1200 Aug 28 in a "Battle of the Koreas." Heard YL with news in English on KBS. The V of Korea came through in Japanese with military music and propaganda. Both channels registered a P-F signal with KBS being a tad ahead in reception (Richard Bianchino, Las Vegas, NV USA, Kaito KA1103, 32' longwire antenna, indoor, ABDX via DXLD) Yes, the Korears are extremely foolish to be using the same frequency. But in OK, Sackville is usually way on top, unlike in WNAm (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9585, OPPOSITION. Furusato no Kaze (presumed) *1333 (l) [what does ``l`` mean? ---gh]. Suddenly there at sign on time in seeming Japanese. Weak to fair and being squeezed from both sides (Gerry Dexter, Lake Geneva, WI, NRD 545, TenTec 340, "Mark” (MK- l) antenna, NASWA Flashsheet Aug 23 via DXLD) The sides surely being R. Australia and R. Australia. Never noticed this myself between them, but Aoki agrees that FnK runs at the strange minutes of 1333-1357 daily via Taipei, Taiwan, 100 kW, 2 degrees per JCI A09 schedule. This should be problematic for R. Japan 1345-1430 Hindi via Tashkent also on 9585; or did the Japanese frequency managers agree to this collision? Tnx to a tip from Gerry Dexter in the NASWA Flashsheet I looked for Furusato no Kaze on 9585 between strong R. Australia signals on 9580 and 9590, Aug 25 at 1352. Tuning between them I could barely hear 5 kHz hets, so knew there was a weak carrier halfway. With BFO on, I could make out some speech which sounded like Japanese. WRTH A-09 update has this clandestine as 1330-1400 via Tainan, TAIWAN, while Aoki says Taipei at the odd timing of 1333-1357 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. Re 9-062: Yes, I heard 11670-11675-11680 kHz in DRM after 2200 on Saturday. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Aug 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Mauno, Thanks for this. So it seems only the analogue service via 11675 has been dropped. HFCC says it was via 350deg to ciraf 6, 7 and 10 - but only til 0700, yet we know it was on air much later than that. RNZI in DRM is also on there, and BBC Arabic 11680 caused splash. 73 from (Noel Green, England, ibid.) Re 9-062: Peculiar: Kuwait on 7250???? 7250 was regularly in use in B-08. 7250 0800-1000 40 KBD 500 0 Persian KWT RKW MOI Zach, you should also check the 11685 channel at 1000 UT. 11685 1000-1200 50 KBD 500 84 Filipino KWT RKW MOI 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Yep, the transmission was received loud and clear in Cyprus in B-08. In terms of "quranic psalms" that were reportedly heard by Zacharias on R. Kuwait, here's what Wikipedia says: Psalms (Hebrew: Tehilim [garble] or "praises") is a book of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament), included in the collected works known as the "Writings" or Ketuvim. In Islam, it is called the Zabur of Dawud, or the Psalms of David (Sergei S., IL, ibid.) ** LIBYA. 17725, Aug 26 at 1400 in Swahili with strange accent, presumably Libyan-Arabic. Supposed to be in English. Finally at 1408 ID as ``Voice of Africa, from the Great Jamahiriyah``, drumming, opening English bihour. Signal was fading in and out, peaking only fair, and coupled with accents, undermodulation, hard to follow. I should like to have heard their take on the Lockerbie bomber controversy, if they ever deal with current events. Another brief reception peak around 1430. At 1445, riff from Beethoven`s Ninth introducing ``MQ`s Green Book``, still fading in and out. Beethoven had no use for Napoleon so he certainly would not approve of another megalomaniac co-opting his music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. Sitkunai site plans to add 9805 at 1630-1730 from Sep 1, 79 degrees, relaying what? Iran? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. The same panorama as days ago: both 4845 & 7245 remain silent (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non]. Interferencias contra XEQM --- A partir de mis últimas escuchas y consultas de horarios, le envío una lista de emisoras que interfiere a XEQM y que he podido identificar. * Radio Canadá, español, vía Sackville, 6100, 0205 UT, poca interferencia. * Radio Canadá, español, vía Sackville, 6100, 2205 UT, alta-moderada interferencia. * Radio Rumanía, español, 6100, 2300 UT, alta interferencia. * Voz de América, español, 6110, 2300 UT, moderada-poca interferencia, con severo jamming de origen desconocido [dentro-cubano, como no! gh] * Muy poca interferencia de R. Japón en 6120 en español y R. Canadá en 6100 en diversos horarios e en portugués e inglés. Eso se agrega a las observaciones que ya había hecho en un informe anterior sobre al escucha de una emisora al parecer en chino o similar y que resulta ser R. Taiwán en cantonés identificada por usted, aunque no puedo confirmar si el jamming contra la VOA sea de origen chino como Ud. menciona. De igual forma, hace algunos días durante algunas mañanas (1100 UT) hubieron moderadas y esporádicas interferencias de "bip's" sin poder identificar su origen. Espero le sea de utilidad esta información. Gracias. Atte: (Ing. Civ. Israel González Ahumada, M.I., Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. Radio Myanmar has been received regularly in Sofia after 16 hours on 5915 kHz with pop music, as well as after 0025 hours on 7200 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, R. Bulgaria DX Aug 21? Posted Aug 24, via DXLD) Their new 7200 ex-7185 is not heard in NAm as long as it is used only in local mornings. Aoki shows 0030-0230 (Sat/Sun -0330) with 25 kW and bidirexional 176/356 azimuths from Yangon, virtually N/S, in Burmese except English 0200-0230 daily (gh, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. I`m usually too busy bandscanning at 1330 even to remember to check RNZI Mailbox fortnightly Mondays on 6170, and instead listen later to the audio file. But I did get it Aug 24 on 6170, now holding up later, tuning in at 1329 to find John Durham`s DX news already starting, so the show started at 1328 as later confirmed by checking audio file which is only 17:59 long. His DX report was up-to-date and error-free, except for pronunciation of Villa as in Perú`s 4940 station. Included sound clips of that R. San Antonio and a few others: Saint Helena Day, Perú, Indonesia, India [q.v.], Thailand, Canada, Cuba, Papua New Guinea/NI, Spain, Vatican/Romania, Portugal. DX news lasted until 1338, i.e. about 9 minutes, followed by music fill segment, nothing else as Adrian Sainsbury was away, so no propagation and no ``mailbox``: you`d think Myra could handle those herself in a pinch (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNZI Mailbox/DX Program for 24th Aug is now available for download from this link : http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox.mp3 (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Same link is kept for whatever edition is latest, with a different link to the next-latest, and forget the rest (gh, DXLD) ** NIGER. 9705, La Voix du Sahel, Niamey, surely at increased power, 1440-1737, 23 Aug, Vernacular, talks & Koranic prayer, tribal songs followed by what seemed to be some news bulletin at 1730; 55444 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 23, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 4770, R. Nigeria, Kaduna, 1324-1420, 22 Aug, detectable carrier with audio, and a bit better later at 1400 with English program, football match report relay from the UK; 15341, and no better at 1600+. In the evening, it's either audible with very poorly weak audio or without any audio (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Another local image from VHF on FRG-7, I am filing here for own future reference: approx. 18562 NBFM, Aug 24 at 1401 mentioning Enid, and car registrations, so perhaps police. Nothing further heard next several minutes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Phasing is a huge help as I basically don't have to worry about back end QRM from anything except super locals, although on strong pests a little retweaking can be needed from time to time. As an example, Arizona's La Raza is in there on 1210 with WPHT phased down. It seems KGYN has actually switched to night rig tonite as there's barely a trace of them; however, SD came out of nowhere just after 10 CDT with some Twins show (they run day rig for sports sometimes). 73 KAZ 55 km NW of Chicago (Neil Kazaross, IL, 0357 UT Aug 25, IRCA via DXLD) ** OMAN. 15140, 1455 20/08, R. Sultanate Oman, hip-hop music, "Big- Ben" time signal (!), English. Very good. 73, (Michele D`Amico, ascolti estivi dalla casa in collina a San Marco la Catola (700 metri s.l.m.), in provincia di Foggia. Con me il Perseus, connesso ad una filare ad "L" invertita lunga circa 15 metri, - Receivers: Modern: Perseus, Drake R8E, Icom IC-R72, DE1103; Vintage: BC348R, Satellit 210, R326; - Antenna: just a random piece of wire, 7 [sic] metres long playdx yg via DXLD) ** PARAGUAY. [continued from SURINAME] I may also be on the verge of finally verifying R. Nacional del Paraguay, having recently received an email from the station director in response to a recent follow-up email for a 2003 reception. Her response unfortunately lacked any verification text, but rather that she had confirmed with an engineer that shortwave broadcasts ceased in 2003 due to transmitter malfunction. No response to my reply, yet (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN USA, Microtelecom Perseus SDR, Wellbrook ALA100 4m x 8m delta loop, Aug 24, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. The 13775 signal via Khabarovsk, the only VOR English frequency to NAm until 0600*, is beginning to lose out, as darkness grows over this northerly path; poorly audible Aug 24 around 0530. They need to move lower by Sept 1, if they refuse to use a Caribbean- area relay instead. The RUVR frequency schedule http://ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&w=129&p= is no longer full of asterisks denoting mid-season frequency shifts, so supposedly no changes until October 25, or will they put up a new one in September? Or so it seemed, but next night Aug 25 at 0426, VG signal again on 13775 concluding Moscow Mailbag, YL and an American-accented guy named John ???, who no offense, is no Joe Adamov. So the signal is getting more variable at least (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ZAMBIA [and non] ** SAUDI ARABIA. Registered two broadcasts daily. But only 9675 realized now. 9665 0600-0900 RIY 500kW 340deg TURKISH - only registered. 9675 1800-2000 RIY 500 340 TURKISH; but in B-09 1800-2100 UT I heard TRT Ankara in Chinese the other day on 15240 kHz. 15240 1100- 1200 42-44 EMR 500kW 62degrees, Emirler signal S=6-7 here in Germany, 1110 UT on Aug 24. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Riyadh in Turkish: Very strong here in France yesterday 23/08 on 9675 at 1805. Regards (JM Aubier, ibid.) ** SERBIA [non]. 9675, IRS loud and clear UT Aug 26 at 0030 with IS, which ran for a sesquiminute before opening English broadcast, ``on 6100 to Europe and 9675 to the USA``. Not only do they dis Canada, but the IS has changed from what it used to be; still a synthesizer tune, but the IS and opening theme are no longer the catchy music I used to enjoy. Why change it; some political significance obscure to the non- Serb? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Re 9-062, 5920 and 11840: Checked both channels today Aug 25 at 1330-1400 UT. Nothing traced so far on 11840 kHz on AOR AR-7030, Eton E1 and some Sony ICF 2010 sets, here at Stuttgart JN48OR some 805 kilometers away of Rimavska Sobota site in Slovak Republic, in 277 degrees azimuth. Usually on UK VTC harmonics like Skelton or Woofferton or Samara Russia, the carrier is detected even the signal is on so poor level. Robert, next time please inform Harmonics Yahoo newsgroup immediately at harmonics @ yahoogroups.com 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Aug 25, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Log Wed Aug 26: 5920, RSI Rimavska Sobota in German, 0810-0820 UT, S=9+20dB. At same time 11840 empty channel, nothing noted so far, no carrier. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** SRI LANKA. At 0250 UT 24 Aug, SLBC Hindi noted on 7190 & 11905, SLBC English on 9770 & 15745 (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 17745, Tue Aug 25 at 1514, F-G with fades, in Arabic dialect (doesn`t sound like regular Arabic), mentioning the English phrase ``Sudan Radio Service`` and again at 1516; meanwhile with inserts off phone/internet which sounded condensed/compacted with the pauses removed. This is via Sines, PORTUGAL, 250 kW at 114 degrees, 1500-1700. Aoki shows the first semihour in English daily, but obviously not the case. WRTH A-09 update shows English on this frequency is 1500-1530 Sat & Sun only. Most SRS Arabic broadcasts there are labeled ``Simple`` as opposed to Darfuri (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. Radio Apintie QSL --- After 30 years of sporadically sending reports, I am very pleased to have finally verified Radio Apintie 4990 kHz! Scan of a f/d letter dated August 19 on Apintie Televisie/Radio Apintie letterhead received in 6d after submitting an email follow-up for a Feb. 2009 report to apintie @ sr.net v/s Ch. Vervuurt, Director. In addition to numerous snail mail attempts over the decades, I have tried using this email address before without success. On this attempt I put "Attention Charles Vervuurt, Director Radio Apintie" in the email subject line. Perhaps that helped distinguishing my email from the spam? NASWA South American country #13 verified, qualifying me for the NASWA South American DXpert award. This is the first new South American country I have verified since 1983, that one being FR3 in French Guiana on 5055 kHz (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN USA, Microtelecom Perseus SDR, Wellbrook ALA100 4m x 8m delta loop, Aug 24, NASWA yg via DXLD) See also PARAGUAY ** SYRIA. 12085, Radio Damascus, 2117-2135, Aug 23, still here with low modulation & hum. Local pop music. English talk, but modulation too low to understand anything. 9330 not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** TAIWAN. 9735, RTI Japanese service running open carrier between the 11-12 and 13-14 broadcasts when checked at 1247 Aug 25; no spurs audible on 9730 or 9740. 1305 recheck, 9735 had resumed modulating in Japanese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. GERMANY: RFA 9885 at 0200 on 26 Aug w/stn and lang ID, then into Tibetan. Good signal but some QRM. Via WER. 73/ (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) V. of Tibet, 15408v: see UNIDENTIFIED ** TURKEY. I love SWL during the weekend for the variety of programs available, many of them music related. Particularly enjoyable listening comes from the Voice of Turkey, Their broadcasts are a pleasant blend of news, special features, and exotic Turkish music. 7325, VOICE OF TURKEY (via Sackville, N.B. Canada) at 0308 Sunday 23.08, English, YL announcer. News and music mix. RECHECK at 0320, Heard OM with report on the Euro Tunnel. VG signal (Richard Bianchino, Las Vegas, NV USA, Kaito KA1103, 32' longwire antenna, indoor, Ripple mailing list via DXLD) ** U K. 70 years of BBC Monitoring: BBC WS feature --- This week`s edition of Over to You on the BBC World Service, first broadcast 22/08/09, carried a 12 minute report on 70 Years of BBC Monitoring. It is available online, as well as all previous programmes in the series. The feature on BBC Monitoring starts at 7 minutes 45 following the feature on the media in Afghanistan: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsn8 (Mike Barraclough, UK, Aug 25, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re: IBB/HCJB DRM tests on 15475, 9405: Back in town, I've been missing out! But, big sigs here this evening SNR 32+ dB wow! Very little multi-path helps or maybe its just the music. Logging this one. :-) Note RNZI is very strong also.. so prop must be good (Mel Whitten, St Louis, 0218 UT Aug 22, drmna yg via DXLD) Good to see, Mel. Unfortunately, for DRM to become a commodity, it will have to be received with somewhat less than a 50 element log periodic at 175 feet.. ;-) Or transmitted with more than 8 kW and a rhombic. I must be in a propagation null, almost no signal tonight. Besides, having used a ham station with antennas at 150 feet, you pretty much do not hear the US at all above 40 meters to the east. First skip out is off-shore. We even had problem with the Caribbean stations. The 50 to 75 foot high horizontal antennas are much better to the east coast than something at 150 feet, above 40 meters (donver, ibid.) Don't get me wrong, I think it's great we are testing and stuff, but what's the point? This weak signal won't prove anything as far as mass audience is concerned. We already know that a few thousand watts can be heard a bit across the U.S. on 30m or thereabouts. Not a major breakthrough. Commit to a regularly scheduled broadcast on a specific frequency at serious power and maybe you'll get some traction. Otherwise, it's just geekplay. BTW, note to programmers: The music selection is horrible. Hip hop and rap kidz really don't have a clue as to DRM. Play some James Taylor or Ozzie (tedworld1, ibid.) This isn't targeted at a "mass audience" nor is it a broadcast intended for the general public or intended to generate any kind of regular audience. We are running some technical tests to specific locations and thought it would be helpful, as well as a courtesy (and fun), to let the SWL community know about it and participate. It is rare when we get to do something like this, and the transmissions will end when we are done with our tests. We certainly appreciate the reception reports that we have been receiving (Gerhard, K6XH, ibid.) Nice of you to let us know what you are doing with OUR SPECTRUM. If you were really concerned about the SWL community, you would not have callously chosen to block LRA36, which you have gone ahead and done even after I pointed out the collision. The 15475 DRM transmission cannot end soon enough (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) 15470-15475-15480, DRM check from IBB/HCJB Greenville, Aug 24 at 2030: yes, it`s still there, weak but plenty to disrupt any possible reception of LRA36 Antarctica 15476. The DRM testers kept to this frequency even after I reminded them of LRA36. They say it will stop at some unspecified time once their tests are completed; it cannot be soon enough for the poor Antarcticans and their would-be DX listeners (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ANTARCTICA Tonight heard well on various places in Germany: 2035 UT. SNR 11.5-12 db, max. 14 db. Others 19dB. 8 kW on rhombic antenna, at approx. 7-9 dB gain? towards Iceland and Europe at 45 degr. 15475drm SNR up to 29/30 dB at 2110 UT in Germany. Excellent (SF?) propagation tonight. Also heard many East Asians this noon, fine HF conditions the whole day on Aug 26 (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The broadcasts are operating at an average DRM power of approximately 8 kW using a rhombic antenna aimed at 45 degrees on 15475 kHz from 2000 to 2200 UT for reception in Europe and a log periodic antenna aimed at 306 degrees on 9405 kHz from 0000 to 0400 UT for reception in North America. Reception reports can be emailed to ibbhcjb @ gmail.com Please visit http://www.hcjb.org/tech for more information on the work of the HCJB Global Technology Center (Charlie Jacobson, HCJB Global Technology Center, Aug 16) (wb reminds of this, ibid.) Hello everybody! Yes, indeed! Very nice reception of IBB/HCJB tonight here in the northwest of Germany. SNR up to almost 30 dB and very nice audio quality at 14 kBit AAC+. Mode A works very good. Not a single dropout last half hour or so. If someone wants to listen I've set up a little Stream at http://schaa.dyndns.org:8080/stream.aac (with recoded Audio to 24 kBit). It`s providing an AAC+ Stream, so please use a capable Player linke Winamp or VLC. 73, (Stephan Schaa, 2125 UT Aug 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) A little bit early (10 minutes) signoff this evening with some seconds carrier only and than silence (Stephan Schaa, 2153 UT, ibid.) Tnx, Stephan; running silently when I first check at 2152, then back intermittently in German; is that something else? No, said Amen, and 2157 HCJB, Die Stimme der Anden ID. Then children`s round. 2200 sign off with addresses, still claiming to be from Quito! No credit given to IBB Greenville. Certainly VG reception, but what in the world is the US Government doing transmitting a sectarian religious broadcast, for any reason whatsoever? A clear violation of Separation of Church and State (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENINGN DIGEST) ** U S A. WTJC, 9370v with distorted FM spurs centered approximately 9397 and 9343 with preacher at 0422 Aug 25. Before 1300 Aug 25 I was not hearing 9370, but at 1302 it was on in IRN ``news``, plus spurs around 9395 and 9345. Meanwhile sibling WBOH 5920v with usual big het and collision from Russia around 1230 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI, 9955 has made another unexpected schedule change: WORLD OF RADIO no longer appeared Aug 26, UT Wed at 0500 but instead ``Your World, Your Way``, one of the `Cheetah Radio` infomercials, and another one at 0530 instead of Frecuencia al Día. So the first airing of new WORLD OF RADIO 1475 was Wednesday at 1530. Before then we were checking 9955 and observed: at 1425 no jamming as R. Prague`s yesterday program in English was upwrapping with a report from Rosie; 1427 into usual off-topic RP schedule announcement in French and then could hear DentroCuban jamming pulses building up! Looks like RHC has it in for competing DX programs, even those in English as at 1429 DX Partyline Aug 22 edition followed, above the jamming but still audible [see ECUADOR [non]], 1445 Aventura Diexista (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17775, KVOH already on at 1451 Aug 26, despite being authorized by FCC to start at 1500; norteño-style hymn, ``rezamos, señor, con todo corazón`` followed by applause. Fundamental signal yet too weak to audiblize its parasites around 17921 and 17631 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KSPN nee KMPC historic transmitter building is now history As I was leaving for work this morning, I saw that the bulldozers had made quick work of this project. There is now nothing left of this landmark but a pile of rubble. Here is what it used to look like: http://www.fybush.com/site-020327.html The new transmitter building is to the left of the driveway. It's a plain cinderblock building, with none of the character of the old brick one. Not that the old building was a marvel of post-war architecture or anything, but I remember that building from my childhood and will miss it. I'll try to get over there to snap some pictures, but there is not much to see from the street, since they covered the chain-link fences with green cloth when the construction project started (Brian Leyton, CA, Aug 24, ABDX via DXLD) I have some of the last pictures of the new building alongside the old, taken a couple of weeks back from inside the fence during a very rushed visit to southern California (during which it did occur to me that I should have given Brian a holler to say hello - sorry about that!). I'll try to get them posted soon. There were also some pictures on LARadio.com of the old building being bulldozed; it's behind a pay wall, but I'll see if Don will let me share some of them with the ABDX crew. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) I have a few pics (from the film and emulsion paper days!) that I took of the building in the 80s when they were actually operating as KMPC 710 (also have a few stereo airchecks from that time, too). They were one decent station (Darwin Long, CA, ibid.) ** U S A. THE LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY, [and non] MEDIA SCENE, by LOREN COX Was wrong (vide infra) about only one classical mx program remaining on WEKU's daytime schedule: there is one from 10 am to noon called (interestingly) MC2 [squared], the presenter being Michael Carter, who had previously hosted the 9 am to noon program / still run classical mx overnight so all is not lost via local wireless but with all of my great stuff on vinyl why do I bother with radio? too lazy I guess to go to the trouble of putting on records my Moses und Arron, purchased over 25 years ago, still in cellophane have no charlie dogs my late friend JKF passed away convinced of their sonic inferiority "Performance Today" the only classical mx program left on WEKU's daily schedule (10 am, repeated at 9 pm [sic --- see below]) following the format change (is Loy Lee turning over in his grave?) / some good programming, I guess, but nothing much of interest to me / OK, they're putting a classical mx stream "on line" (locally produced? I doubt it), but I don't have access to that / if Loy were around today w`d likely be an "on liner", as the rest of the world sans y t goes on in that mode / but I'm getting some pretty good classical mx services: the ones provided by Sirius XM (via Dish Net) Radio Clásica from Spain, WCPE the uplinked FM station in NC... a problem with what had been c-mx programming on WEKU was pieces of relatively short duration or only excerpts from longer ones - no complete symphonies, string quartets, etc. / interestingly I've come across a schedule book from WBKY (long before it became WUKY ["yucky radio" - "where Public Radio rocks"] and pre NPR days) AND what a great schedule of c-mx & other programming of a cultural nature / looking over the mx to be played on the evening "Masterworks" program it`s awesome - even some Stockhausen - well, that's the way it was (is quality & intelligence disappearing from everything these days, or is that just the way the elderly see things? Just passed my 81st birthday) [current WEKU Richmond KY program schedule at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/weku/guide.guidemain shows Mid-Day Classics, with Michael Carter (thus MC squared) is really M-F at 10 am-1 pm EDT but also has Performance Today 1-3 pm and again at 8-10 pm, plus Classical 24, overnight 10 pm-5 am weekdays, longer on weekends and a few classical shows then too --- gh] A new AM radio station on the air here in Lex / WTKH253, 1700 kHz, "The University of Kentucky parking and transportation service`s information station`` / parking at the damned place got so complicated & restrictive, direction by radio is required; gotten even more comp1icated due to parking garage renovations, even the one for the VA Hospital, which is a part of the complex - a great inconvenience for me. Too many automobiles, a consequence of too many people / Local newswiper has a new TV schedule booklet in the Sunday edition, but is still carrying (as did the previous one) the schedule of station WBLU(62), which has not been on the air for some months / owner went bankrupt but I understand the station's license has been acquired by a religious organization / (Loren Cox, Lexington KY, 16 Aug 2009, from typewritten white-outed p-mail, optically scanned and fixed up by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 9-062, DXer on `Millionaire` Sunday night --- Will this be available over the internet? (Mike Terry, UK, 2233 UT Aug 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, you can ``play along`` once you register; I doubt if any of the questions will be about SW/DX! http://abc.go.com/primetime/millionaire/index?pn=playalong It`s on the list of watch-full-episodes: http://beta.abc.go.com/watch Later, I think if not live. Need special plug-in. Have no idea if foreigners are banned from watching like BBC treats us --] We read Matt`s detailed account of his trip to NY on Amtrak, and behind-the-scenes at ABC, but only the first 5 pages; page 6 on The Big Night still not posted, so no spoiling as of Monday night. Anyone contemplating a train trip should read his experiences: seems it`s a bit better in the West than the East (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** U S A. Just got a WWL-4 QSL by Fed-Ex today. I finally caught this one when WIVB went off on June 12th, the transition day (though WWL stayed on for some weeks more with the loop). I had been under the impression that WWL was not a QSLer, so I am pleased with this one. They also sent a pen. Signed by Robert Goss, Director of Technology. He also mentions a report from Canada during the same period. Interesting title. Now that it's all digital, there must not be any engineering to direct! (Jim Renfrew, Holley NY, Aug 24, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. WRGB TV-6 & 87.9 analog audio http://insideradio.com/Article.asp?id=1470117&spid=32060 Not sure what this means for WNYZ/Pulse 87 (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Aug 25, WTFDA via DXLD) Viz.: FCC ORDERS TV STATION OFF FM Ever since June 12’s digital television conversion the digital signal of Freedom Broadcasting’s WRGB-TV, Schenectady , NY (Channel 6) has been broadcasting over analog 87.9 FM. But it was apparently without permission. Now the FCC orders that the plug be pulled. WRGB-TV general manager Robert Furlong says, “We do not have FCC authorization to transmit an analog signal. We only have authorization for a digital signal at this time.” Similar to the headaches faced by other Channel 6 stations, WRGB-TV has had a rougher conversion to DTV. Its coverage area has shrunk and the station had sought FCC permission to operate a separate FM station to cover New York’s Capital District. Furlong says options are being reviewed for getting the station back on FM (via DXLD) ** U S A. We have been sitting on the edge of a huge tropospheric DX opening across the Midwest the last few days, with FM/TV DX reported in the 800+ mile range between Ontario/New York and Missouri/Oklahoma. See the maps at http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html This explains the enhanced area reception I have been getting, despite antenna pointed at OKC, from Wichita`s RF channel 19, virtual label says 33, KSCW. I noticed it first on analog B&W set as `brighter snow` on ch 19, then switched to DTV. I get it only by punching in 19 which remaps to `33`, while on RF 33 itself we see OKC`s KOCB `34`. Aug 25 at 1521 UT during Wendy Williams show, KSCW decoding in and out, including at 1556 a promo for sibling station KWCH-12. Again 24 hours later, Aug 26 at 1520 during WW show, and after 1600 Dr Phil. This is very confusing, as checking the Kansas listings at http://www.w9wi.com/states/KS.html we find several entries for KWCH, the CBS affiliate, listed under Hutchinson on both channel 12 and 19, while KSCW, the CW affiliate, is under Wichita on channels 12, 19 and 31! (NOT 33). Multiple listings for each are because of different application and license status. Even further confusing is the recent news as in DXLD 9-062, that channel 31.1 is now on the air for Wichita from Derby with Univisión, KDCU, and RF 31 is occupied by Enid`s only local DTV KXOK-LP. W9WI also has that one listed on channel 31 at Derby KS. It seems that W9WI does not specify any virtual channels, which we really need to know to help unravel all this! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) While the FCC has deleted the obsolete analog records from their CDBS database, they haven't deleted obsolete pre-transition digital records. Hence the listings of KWCH and KSCW on more than one channel. KWCH was on 19 pre-transition; they handed that facility over to KSCW after transition. KSCW was on 31 pre-transition (the 33 comes from their pre-transition analog channel, which they are required to use as their virtual channel). They took over KWCH's pre-transition channel 19 facility (channel 19 has a higher antenna than channel 31, and thus better coverage). To further confuse the issue --- it looks like KWCH is unhappy with their results on VHF channel 12. They and KSCW have filed to swap post-transition DTV facilities. KWCH wants to move back to their pre- transition channel 19, the facility currently in use by KSCW; KSCW wants to take over KWCH's current channel 12 facility. The FCC has not acted on either request yet. The upside of channel mapping is that none of the viewers of these three stations needs to know about any of this. If they simply rescan whenever one of their favorite channels disappears, they will *always* receive KWCH on channel 12 and KSCW on channel 33. Without remapping they'd have needed to follow KSCW through four different channels! (33 analog => 31 pre-transition digital => 19 post-transition digital => 12 post KWCH-swap). Yep, the FCC reports today that KDCU-31 has filed for a license-to- cover. They are in fact on RF-31 and since they never had an analog signal, they are required to use 31 as their major virtual channel. If I may toss one more confusion into the ring, they were originally authorized to operate on channel 46! -- they switched to 31 when the ex-KSCW facility became available. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is a somewhat confusing one, so let's let Sunflower Broadcasting, which owns both KSCW and KWCH, explain it for us. This is from an application they made for Special Temporary Authority earlier this year: Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc., licensee of Station KWCH-DT, Hutchinson, Kansas, and Station KSCW-DT, Wichita, Kansas, requests Special Temporary Authority to exchange the channels on which these stations operate, so that KWCH will broadcast on channel 19 and KSCW will broadcast on channel 12. Sunflower requests authority to make this change, effective as of 9:00 AM, local time, on Monday, June 22, 2009. On June 12, 2009, KWCH transitioned from its pre-transition digital service on channel 19 to its post-transition authorized facility on channel 12. At the same time, pursuant to Special Temporary Authority (FCC File No. BDSTA-20090306ABY), KSCW began broadcasting on the channel 19 facility previously used by KWCH. To address numerous complaints from viewers that they were unable to receive the signal on channel 12, the Commission granted an emergency request for Special Temporary Authority for KWCH to increase its power to 33.2 kW. FCC File No. BDSTA-20090612AHQ. Although the increased power has resulted in improved service in some locations, viewers continue to experience difficulties in receiving channel 12. By contrast, Sunflower is unaware of even a single report of a viewer experiencing difficulties receiving the KSCW signal on channel 19. KWCH is the leading provider of news and weather information in Central and Western Kansas. Sunflower believes that the public interest would be better served by moving KWCH to the more reliable channel 19 signal, particularly during the current tornado season in Kansas; and it therefore requests authority to exchange channels. Sunflower proposes to operate channel 19 at its authorized 1,000 kW ERP and channel 12 at an ERP of 29.8 kW. As reflected in Sunflower’s June 12 STA request, that power would only cause predicted interference to an unbuilt and un-applied for allocation in Topeka. Sunflower believes that interference to a potential future facility should not prevent the Commission from allowing Sunflower to provide service to Wichita viewers today (via Scott Fybush, DXLD) Before the transition, KDCU did not exist, KSCW was on 31, and KWCH was on 19. On June 12, KDCU continued not existing, while KWCH moved to 12 and KSCW moved to 19. When this happened, as with many other VHF stations, reception of KWCH became problematic. They almost immediately filed an STA to swap KSCW to 12 and put KWCH back on 19, after having previously attempted a power boost. I don't think the FCC ever acted on the STA, but they filed to permanently swap the two stations and it will probably be approved within the week. In the meantime, KDCU has now signed on channel 31 using the old KSCW facilities. In addition, Schurz will be managing KDCU for Entravision. In short: KWCH is on 12 now, will be 19. KSCW is on 19 now, will be 12. KDCU is on 31. Was that sufficiently confusing? =) (- Trip, http://www.rabbitears.info WTFDA via DXLD) ** VANUATU. 3945, R. Vanuatu, 1003-1101 23 Aug, religious program with W host talking, mixed with soft instrumental music. Played religious songs on rare occasions. 1030 mention of "goodnight", Jesus Christ, God, etc. Studio M announcer at 1101 with what sounded like program outro, wind instrumental signature, then same M with 10-minute newscast ending with nice ID. Music briefly, M again, and local QRM started. Fortunately the noise waited until after the ID!! Best signal yet. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) 7260 kHz channel is much too high to serve the islands, 3925 [sic] kHz is not working well after sundown, so further tests on 3210 kHz are planned (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug-Sept WWDXC DX Magazine via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, ZNBC-Radio 1, Lusaka, 2133-2202*, 20 Aug, Vernacular, talks, phone-ins, national anthem at 2200 followed by a brief tone signal; 333432 [sic], adjacent QRM de VOR 5920 in Portuguese to Europe till 2200, then better reception despite co-channel QRM de VoA in English. 6165, ZNBC-Radio 2, Lusaka, 2115-2157, 20 Aug, English, African pops program, chatter; 35333; very strong splatter de CRI 6175 at 2157. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA [and non]. 13590, CVC Lusaka at 1253 Aug 25 in English about the AU, mixed with oriental language at slightly lower level. Per Aoki, it`s VOR in Chinese until 1300, 100 kW 110 degrees from Novosibirsk, followed except Sundays by an hour of Mongolian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar, 2040-2100:45*, Aug 23, local Mid-East style pop music. Swahili talk. Sign off with National Anthem at 2100. Good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Zimbabwe Community Radio, which was dissatisfied with coverage from faraway UAE on 50 metres, and then tested 3955 via South Africa at 1755-1855 UT, is now(?) testing 4865 via Meyerton during the same offset hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, Aug 24, WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aug 24 around 1752 noted on 4865 instrumental music loop (VT marker?) and ZCR started around 1755. There was some carrier cuts and audio level varied from zero to fair/good. Compared to 4880 SW Radio Africa at the same time, ZCR signal was somewhat weaker and audio quality/level was at times much poorer (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Aug 25, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5894.98, R Peace? 0352, Aug 24, carrier back again here today to early s/off 0357 after absence Aug 22 &23 (= Sat &Sun), cf. DXLD 9-061. Appears to agree with transmission sked in DXLD 9-050 which mentions Mon-Fri operation only. Unfortunately still no audio whatsoever. 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6130-6135, big roaring sound Aug 26 at 1208, interrupted at irregular intervals by three beeps. At first I was taking it for V rather than S, but the final dash morphs into a resumption of the roar. Not a chance of hearing Laos while this is going on! Is it jamming? No likely targets listed in Aoki or Eibi; Tibet is also on 6130. Utility intruder? Similar to the `bonker` around 11740 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7676.0 at 1418 Aug 24, Spanish SSB 2-way, instead of ``puta madre`` heard ``te quiero mucho`` twice or thrice, quite an improvement. One assumes these are from or around Mexico, never IDing and unlicensed narcotraffickers or poachers; but at least when in the fixed bands could be licensed and legal private commercial, military or government stations, still not bothering to ID. I wish Mexican DXers or other native speakers would monitor these for better clues, especially the ones inside SW broadcast bands where SSB stix out like a sorethumb, but I seem to be the only one reporting them (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11789.5, Aug 24 at 1342, SSB 2-way not in Spanish, but possibly Thai or Lao as I heard the word ``weela`` (way-lah) which means time, as about to read the clock. The stronger signal was a really slow talker, possibly half-asleep, but most of the next two sesquiminutes consisted of pauses; splash from 11785 China radio war (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. DW Rwanda 15410.0 often has a het on it one side or the other, and Aug 25 at 1339 a carrier was measured on 15408.4 while much stronger DW was in Hausa this hour. The only reasonable explanation is clandestine V. of Tibet, in Chinese via Tajikistan, known to jump around, and/or ChiCom jamming, but per Aoki Aug 24, VOT is now scheduled only at 1315-1330 on 15415. HFCC has Dushanbe available on 15410 between 1230 and 1400. However, the VOT schedule in the WRTH A09 update of last May covers what we heard, in Tibetan after 1330: VOICE OF TIBET (Clan) kHz: 15412, 15422, 17550, 17557, 17560 Summer Schedule 2009 Chinese Days Area kHz 1230-1245 daily CHN 17557dsb± 1300-1330 daily CHN 15412dsb± Tibetan Days Area kHz 1130-1230 daily CHN 17557dsb± 1245-1315 daily CHN 17557dsb± 1330-1400 daily CHN 15422dsb±, 17550dha 1330-1430 daily CHN 17560mdc Key: ± Frequency variable. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. On Aug 22 at 0036, Liz Cameron in MI was hearing a religious broadcast in Spanish on 15780 where nothing is scheduled. Kept meaning to check this but did not manage to do so until Aug 26 at 0030 and heard: nothing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. After hearing LIBYA on 17725, I made a routine check for the listed // 21695, which occasionally pokes thru here, but 13m dead today Aug 26 at 1446. However, I did hear a buzz around 21735, at the same familiar pitch heard after 1500 from BSKSA Saudi Arabia on 15435! SA is not scheduled on 21735; only one probably wooden registration for ADM/UAE. It`s not a periodic noise peak from one of my household devices, as nothing like it heard anywhere between 21 and 22 MHz, but as it was a steady unfading S6, most likely still of local origin (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ My continuing TNX to you for the FB service to SW listeners! 73 de (Jim Gershman, K1JJJ, with a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WRTH LIVES! Hi Nicholas, The demise(?) of PWBR has people thinking [e.g. Harold Frodge in the MARE Tipsheet] the same may be happening to WRTH. Perhaps it is time for you to issue a reassuring statement?! (Glenn Hauser, to Nicholas Hardyman, WRTH publisher, Aug 14, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Sorry for the delay in responding. I think we can follow Mark Twain's example and say that reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated. I was very sad to hear about PWBR, but we are now working hard on the 2010 edition of WRTH and it will be published at the beginning of December. New distribution in the US should solve some of the problems from last year although I cannot guarantee anything about how Amazon will perform. Best wishes (Nicholas Hardyman, Aug 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If it is possible -- or could be made possible -- to pre-order WRTH 2010 I would be happy to do so as a show of support. I have not purchased both Passport and WRTH in recent years and it may be that the marketplace no longer has room for two books. But, I am ready to buy both from now on if it helps the hobby (David, N5FDL, Coursey, ibid.) If you can't purchase the 2010 issue, why not purchase the 2009 issues I am sure that would help. You need them for your library anyway (Chuck Bolland, FL, ibid.) Amazon.com offers pre-orders on WRTH 2010 for $23.10. But Passport to World Band Radio 2010 isn't available for pre-order anymore. (It used to be just a few weeks ago.) So I guess its shutdown has been finalized :( Should you decide to buy your WRTH 2010 from Amazon, I'd suggest adding something of value to your order. Because if your total order reaches $25, then shipping is free. 73, (Sergei S., IL, ibid.) AUGUST SILENT STATION STUDY Dear Gle[n]n, Attached is the August edition of my study of U.S. radio stations that have gone silent. As always, if listeners want a copy of the study they can email me at alexhorton55 @ gmail.com (Alex Horton, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Separate lists of AMs and FMs based on FCC info without frequencies, Alex adding his remarx to some of them as to why they may be silent, etc. Alex says he will insert frequencies with the ones he remarx starting in September (gh) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ USPS Eliminates IRCs F Y I to all SWL --- I just spoke to my postal employee contact today. He had been working diligently to try and track down the International Reply Coupon mystery. He told me that the USPS stopped issuing IRCs as of May of this year. This was at the same time the cost to mail a letter increased. However, both of us could not find any official statement to that effect, not even on the USPS website which still states IRCs can purchased for $2.10 (Richard Bianchino, Las Vegas NV, Aug 25, ABDX via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ HAM FAIR 2009 Was held on August 22 and 23 at Odaiba Island, Tokyo. Japan Shortwave Club exhibited the “Perseus” receiver and “Delta Loop 7” antenna in the booth. On August 22, “Shortwave Lectures” were held. Mr. Risto Vähäkainu and Mr. Tuomas Talka, who attended from Finland, gave more than 50 Japanese DXers an interesting 1 hour lecture about “DXing in Finland”. Other lectures were “Loop Antennas for BCL”, “DXing with Perseus receiver”. At AOR-Japan booth there was no exhibit of AR7070 receiver, but Perseus receiver only. It seemed they did not know much about AR7070 (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, Aug 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SWLING FOR THE ELDERLY Who are today`s SWLs? Dedicated ``pros" using DSP-equipped rxs with freq readout to the Hz? This despite the fact that HF radio is just one in the bouquet of technologies available for receiving information & aural entertainment - & increasingly a minor one at that? But there remains a thrill in pulling thru what is left from faraway places that can be heard in no other way - tho SWLing now almost exclusively a hobby of the middle aged & elderly? - as is Amateur Radio. The young who were once using Sky Buddys to explore the shortwave bands now have presumably more exciting electronic devices with which to spend their time. It was during WW II that SWLing was a great & necessary activity for receiving war news AND keeping up with the propaganda. Looking at the old Truetone radio (same model as I was using back then) here on the desk I can stare at the dial that is locked with so many memories of radio both foreign & domestic from those days. If only I`d had a better radio & a disc recorder! Undsoweiter (Loren Cox, Lexington KY, 16 Aug 2009, from typewritten white-outed p-mail, optically scanned and fixed up by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) THE DAWN OF AMATEUR RADIO IN THE U.K. AND GREECE This is an interesting and historical document. http://www.skepticfiles.org/think/radio10.htm (John Babbis, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LONG; strange copyright rules (gh) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See ANTARCTICA; ECUADOR; KUWAIT; USA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Test del ricevitore UniWave DRM Ciao, ho avuto l'occasione di provare il nuovo ricevitore DRM della UniWave che sarà in vendita in autunno. Se a qualcuno interessa può leggere il post sul blog http://radiodxinfo.blogspot.com/ I could test the long time waited new Uniwave DRM receiver that will be on the market in Autumn. You can read a post on the blog http://radiodxinfo.blogspot.com/ [illustrated] 73 (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, Aug 25, HCDX via DXLD) It is written in Italian; you need to translate it with Google or another translator (Bernardini, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NEW TEST BACKS HD POWER HIKE The FCC is currently studying a proposal to increase HD Radio power by up to ten-times. Clear Channel engineers have performed what the company calls "extensive tests" in Connecticut which it says demonstrate the maximum power hike can be implemented without causing interference (Inside Radio August 25, 2009 http://www.insideradio.com via Mike Terry, Aug 25, dxldyg via DXLD) FM or AM or both? DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See also USA: Albany; Wichita ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DTV DX Log in Excel + 399 DTV Station photos The photos are a work in progress as far as labeling location and mileages of everything goes. If I counted correctly, there are 399 out of 402 staion pics. That`s not counting the extra PSIP images next to some of them from the Hauppauge DTV card. The 3 station photos missing are (ironically) locals WHOI-DT-40 and KIIN-DT-45, which have since changed channels, and KJRH-DT-56 in Tulsa. Since some of these were in for mere seconds, it took a quick trigger finger to freeze the image on quite a few of them. I was lucky to get anything in some cases. the DTV log is in Excel at http://oldtvguides.com/DXPhotos/DTVDXLOG2.xls The DTV pics are at http://oldtvguides.com/all_DTVs All are in order by Channel-Call sign. 73, (Jeff Kadet, Macomb, IL, Aug 25, WTFDA via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ HI-BAND VHF DTV WORKS VERY WELL IN THE RIGHT PLACES Re: "Overview of the VHF-to-UHF migration in the DTV arena: http://tvtechnology.com/article/85436 " (CGC #926). What is obvious is that high-band VHF is not good in large metropolitan areas. The issue is multipath. When making field measurements, pay particular attention to BER and SNR levels. You can have a strong incoming signal, but if BER and SNR are unfavorable or wandering, you're going to get dropouts, and doubling or tripling the transmitter power won't fix that. Here in "farm country," VHF high-band works very well, except where viewers use rabbit ears, halo, or pancake antenna. I pull Toledo VHF from 72 miles away, while viewers 12 miles away in the COL struggle. Fred Vobbe, WLIO-TV, Lima, Ohio, w8hdu @ wlio.com [Editor's note: Here in "farm country" Fallbrook, CA, VHF beats UHF. All San Diego UHF DTV stations are subject to summertime dropouts while the two high-band VHF stations (KFMB & KGTV) are solid on an outdoor V/U receiving antenna at our hilltop location.] (CGC Communicator Aug 23 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) BIG MIDWEST TROPO OPENING Both on Aug 24 and 25, WTFDA members reported record-breaking tropo DX distances of 800+ miles on FM, also TV, between Ontario and Missouri, or even as far as western New York and Oklahoma. May hold up a bit longer: see the maps at http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hey Glenn; I'm sure that you already know this but the dxinfocentre maps are the "predictions" ones. The live maps are the Mountainlake ones. Heck, the tropo was so intense that the DX Sherlock maps email notification thingy sent me an email alerting me to 1300+ km tropo on 2m and 70cm. I've never gotten one of those before. I got some new stuff but the main ducts looked to be just a bit further North of my QTH. 73, (Dave in Indy Hascall, Aug 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels during 17 - 18 August. Activity increased to quiet to active levels on 19 August, with a single minor storm period observed at high latitudes. Activity decreased to quiet to active levels during 20 - 21 August, with isolated active periods at high latitudes. ACE solar wind data indicated the elevated conditions were due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). Predominantly quiet levels returned during 22 - 23 August. Velocities at ACE increased from a low of 269 km/s at 17/0758 UTC to a high of 594 km/s at 20/2245 UTC before gradually decreasing to 421 km/s at the end of the period. Interplanetary magnetic field activity associated with the CH HSS included increased Bt (maximum of 12 nT at 19/1551 UTC) and southward Bz (maximum of -10 nT at 19/1135 UTC). FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 26 AUGUST-21 SEPTEMBER 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 to moderate flux levels during the period. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at mostly quiet levels during the period. Isolated unsettled levels are expected on 02 September, 09 September, and 16 - 17 September due to recurrent effects. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Aug 25 2221 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 Aug 25 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Aug 26 68 5 2 2009 Aug 27 68 5 2 2009 Aug 28 68 5 2 2009 Aug 29 68 5 2 2009 Aug 30 68 7 2 2009 Aug 31 68 5 2 2009 Sep 01 68 5 2 2009 Sep 02 68 8 3 2009 Sep 03 68 5 2 2009 Sep 04 68 5 2 2009 Sep 05 68 8 3 2009 Sep 06 68 5 2 2009 Sep 07 68 5 2 2009 Sep 08 68 5 2 2009 Sep 09 68 5 2 2009 Sep 10 68 5 2 2009 Sep 11 68 5 2 2009 Sep 12 68 5 2 2009 Sep 13 68 5 2 2009 Sep 14 68 5 2 2009 Sep 15 68 7 3 2009 Sep 16 68 7 3 2009 Sep 17 68 5 2 2009 Sep 18 68 5 2 2009 Sep 19 68 5 2 2009 Sep 20 68 5 2 2009 Sep 21 68 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1475, DXLD) ###