DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-082, November 24, 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 1488, Nov 25-Dec 2, 2009 Wed 0800 WRMI 9955 [sometimes first airing] Wed 1630 WRMI 9955 Wed 1930 South Herts Radio 3935 Wed 2000 WBCQ 7415 Thu 0630 WRMI 9955 [sometimes first airing] Thu 1300 WRMI 9955 Thu 2000 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0100 WBCQ Area 51 5110-CUSB Fri 0200 WRMI 9955 Fri 1230 WRMI 9955 Fri 1530 WRMI 9955 Fri 2130 WWCR1 7465 Sat 0900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [Dec 5, 12, 19 only in 2009] Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1430 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sat 1900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 6170 [NEW] Sat 2000 WRMI 9955 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1230 South Herts Radio 5835 Sun 1615 WRMI 9955 Sun 2000 WRMI 9955 Mon 0600 WRMI 9955 Mon 2300 WBCQ 7415 Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Tue 2000 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://193.42.152.193/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN: http://www.wrn.org/wrn-listeners/world-of-radio/ 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/ NOTE: altho not ready for publication until Nov 25, cutoff date for most info herein is Nov 24, e.g. omitting gh`s log report dated Nov 24-25, and much other info in the dxldyg held until next issue. ** AFRICA. The special for Ears To Our World is now online at: http://www.radio4all.net/files/kperron@gmail.com/3101-1-etow_show_broadcast_version.mp3 The page on the PCJ site for Other PCJ Show is being updated. The ETOW program will be there in the next 2 days. If you want to catch the special edition of Happy Station with David Monson you can go to: http://www.pcjmedia.com/Archive_shows.html Regards, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, 0018 UT Nov 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi, Glenn, Keith Perron has given me an mp3 recording of the PCJ Media special about Ears To Our World and radio in Africa. I have placed it on our website in the following post: http://earstoourworld.org/?p=342 This link is near the bottom of the page after the broadcast schedule. Cheers & Happy DX, (Thomas Witherspoon, Executive Director, Ears To Our World http://earstoourworld.org tel- +1 828 419 0770, 1312 UT Nov 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. Frequency change of KNLS New Life Station in Russian: 1500-1800 NF 7320*NLS 100 kW / 315 deg, ex 6890 *co-ch TWR in Punjabi/Hindi til 1545 + Voice of Russia in Serbian from 1600 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** ALBANIA [and non]. Radio Tirana is making some frequency changes as of November 20/UT 21 to resolve interference or propagation problems, all 100 kW Shijak, UT: 2001-2030 Italian 6000 ex-6155, Mon-Sat, non-direxional 2100-2130 English to Europe 7430 ex-7520, Mon-Sat, 300 degrees 0000-0130 Albanian to North America 6130 ex-6110, daily, 300 degrees 0130-0145 English to North America 6130 ex-7425, Tue-Sun, 300 degrees 0245-0300 English to North America 6130 ex-7425, Tue-Sun, 300 degrees Reports will be welcome, especially from North America (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Tirana on new frequencies: 7430, Nov 20 the 2100-2130 English broadcast fairly good on portable and in the clear with music at 2122 check. Stronger than whatever is on 7425. Should be fine with an external antenna, escaping R. Farda usurpation clash on 7520. Weaker on // 9895. UT Nov 21 at *0000 the Albanian sesquihour to NAm now on new 6130, escaping the Habanic usurpation of 6110. R. Tirana theme music in the clear. Adjacents 6125 and 6135 no problem (the latter with het between presumed VOR via Tajikistan in Portuguese to Brasil, and off-frequency R. Santa Cruz, MUCH closer to the destination, in Bolivia.) And no TADIL-A bonking between 6130 and 6135, thankfully, now. Propagation from Europe poor overall tonight, and R. Tirana // 7425 alternative needed; at 0040 check a bit better than 6130. English at 0130-0145 is also on 6130 ex-7425, poor but still in the clear with not yet updated frequency schedule announcement. Repeat at 0245-0300 also on new 6130, fair reception at 0248 check in news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7435, R. Tirana, Shijak, at 2200 in Albanian, Nov. 20. Albanian folk vocals up to TOH, YL with ID, into long talk by man, too slow and dramatic to be news. Good. 6130, R. Tirana, Shijak, at 0045, in Albanian, Nov 21. Lively Albanian vocals, W with clear ID, into talk. Good, better than // 7425 (R75 / E1, M W Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Tirana November 21, 2009 0245-0257 UTC 6130 kHz. Program of "News Bulletin", "Press Review" and song. SIO 433 with moderate to slight interference from Spanish Foreign Radio on 6125 kHz in Spanish to Latin America. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, Virginia USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The new frequencies --- Huntsville, November 21. Hello, Drita, I want to report on the new frequencies. True, I have only heard them for one day, and I shall continue to check them, but, this is my first observation. I thought it might help you, and the engineers, if I tell you what I am listening on. I have two radios, a Sony ICF-2010, and an Eton E-1. My antenna is not good at all, it is only about three meters of wire, strung on my balcony. It is the best I can do. Carrie Hooper, in Elmira, New York, has a Sangean ATS-505, which I gave her last year, and no outside antenna. So, what we have is not especially good, but, I think it is probably typical of what a lot of SW listeners have. 1. 21:00, moved from 7520 to 7430. This was definitely a good move. Radio Farda is still on 7520, with a fairly strong signal. 7430 is only fair to moderate in signal strength, but, there is no other station on the frequency. There is a weaker station on 7425, I think it is broadcasting in Russian, I could not hear it very well. Interference from that station is very little, but, the Tirana transmitter on 7430 is somewhat undermodulated. 9895 is much weaker, even though your announcement says that 9895 is for North America. Carrie has not tried these yet. 2. 6130 is better than 6110 at 0000 UT. 6110 was completely covered by Radio Havana. In the evening, the 6 megahertz (49 meter) band is very crowded in the USA, no matter what frequency you pick. There appears to be nothing else on 6130, but, there is a little interference from nearby stations. Radio Havana, on 6140, is very strong here, so, it splatters over a bit, even though it is ten kHz away. There appear to be two stations on 6125, both rather weak, and I have not found out what they are. The sign-on frequency announcement in Albanian was loud, but, a little distorted. Then, when the news came on, modulation went down a bit. If the audio on this transmitter could be improved, the ability to listen would be much greater. Carrie also tried 6130 last night at 0000. She is trying to see how much of the Albanian she can understand. She reports that she understood a lot, but, sometimes the signal went into the noise. At almost 0100, there was a program about Albanian music, which she tried to hear, but, reception got a little worse. One possible way for Radio Tirana to improve reception on the Albanian program at 0000, and the two English programs, at 0130 and 0245 might be to select a frequency just outside of the official 49 meter band. I am thinking of 6210. I know a couple of other stations have used 6200 and 6210. I will check several evenings this week, to see if 6210 is clear. I do not know if the Radio Tirana transmitters and antennas can use 6210, since it might be just a little outside of their range. As for 7425, at 0000, it is much weaker here in Alabama. The two English programs, at 0130 and 0245 have about the same reception as the Albanian program at 0000. The signal is moderately strong, despite some interference from nearby stations. Sometimes the modulation is low, making it harder to hear them. 3. At this time, the very best transmission is English at 0430 on 6100. Drita, I wil continue to check these new frequencies, and so will Carrie. Please let me know if there is any specific information which you want. All the best, (Tim Hendel, AL, Nov 21 to Drita Çiço, R. Tirana, via DXLD) Hello Drita, Last night (Sunday morning UT) the two English half hours on 6150, at 0330, and 6100 at 0430 had the best modulation I have ever heard from Radio Tirana. I recorded the 0430 program for Carrie. I enjoyed the news, and the program about Albanian food, and I recorded the folk music selections for Carrie. Indeed, the modulation is very very much better. Regarding the programs in Albanian and English on 6130, between 0000 and 0345, I told you that reception was fair, there are no interfering stations exactly on 6130, but, there are stations which do interfere a little, especially Havana, on 6140, which is very strong here (Tim Hendel, ibid.) Second night of new frequency from R. Tirana, UT Nov 22: about the same as first night, i.e. 6130 from 0000 in Albanian in the clear, with minimal adjacent interference instead of heavy head-on QRM from the DentroCubans who usurped ex-6110. 6130 also clear for English at 0245. Semihour 0430 English however was even better on unchanged 6100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Tirana, November 22, 2009 0129-0141 6130 kHz SIO 444 with QRM from Spanish Foreign Radio on 6125 in Spanish to Latin America. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Manassas (BPL free territory of America), Virginia, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Tirana, Nov 23 at 1531 on 13640, fair signal, opening English with updated transmission schedule including new 7430 at 2100, 6130 at 0130, 0245 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. Frequency change of Radio Tirana from Nov. 19 Albanian to NoAm Daily 0000-0130 NF 6130 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg, ex 6110 to avoid RHC in Spanish English to NoAm Tue-Sun 0130-0145 6130 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg, ex 7425 / 310 deg 0245-0300 6130 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg, ex 7425 / 310 deg English to U.K. Mon-Sat 2100-2130 7430 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg, ex 7520 to avoid R. Farda in Farsi Italian to Italy Mon-Sat 2001-2030 NF 6000 SHI 100 kW / non-dir, ex 6155 to avoid R. Belarus German (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) As already in DXLD ** ANGUILLA [and non]. 11775, PMS inbooming S9+20 at 0606 Nov 20, while 6090 is supposed to be the night frequency for Caribbean Beacon. Transmitter must be stuck again, or neglected by the frequency- changer. Not surprising it`s well-heard this night, as Cuba also inbooming on 11760. At 0622, nothing on 6090 but seems DRM spreading from hi side, 6100? By 0633 the DRM was coming from the lo side, 6085 and DGS had replaced PMS on 11775, as she takes turns with The Dead. Luckily, running 11775 during the hours it is supposed to be on 6090, 22-10 UT, does not cause too many problems; only R Free Asia via Tinian is scheduled at 22-24. In fact there are more collisions during the time CB is supposed to be on 11775, 10-22, which were not avoided in coordination, i.e. AIR 1215-1430, +ChiCom jamming, and VOA 1530- 1830. Next check at 1500 found 11775 missing, so are they running the schedule in reverse? By then could not be sure whether 6090 was on, but could detect a carrier at 1704, and 11775 still off at 1712. Further SE, 6090 should be audible in daytime as CFRX 6070 and RHC 6110 are all-day, weakly, even here. As for the QRDRM, DRM-DX.DE shows Romania on 6100 until 0626, while BR Ismaning, Germany is on 6085 before and after. 6090, DGS on the air Nov 21 at 0009, so no clear channel for Ethiopia / Nigeria / Brasil likely tonight nor occupancy of 11775 instead like the night before past 0700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASIA. 7440, interesting pile-up at 2210, Nov. 20. VOA-Udorn in Chinese is identifiable by its bridge music and doing good, another Chinese station, probably CRI-Kunming, is underneath. CRI-Beijing, in Japanese, also presumed (R75 / E1, M W Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Band Scan 15 November to 23 November 2009 2310, VL8A Alice Springs NT 0930 2325, VL8T Tennant Creek NT 0930 2485, VL8K Katherine NT 0930 4835t, NT, 0750 very weak, also similar weak 4910 on 20 November. 73s de (Bob [Robert Wilkner], Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R 8, Icom 746Pro DL, Sony 2010XA, noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. As RA in English was incoming well on 13630, 15160 and 15240, I could also hear it but much weaker on 15415, Nov 20 at 0603. At first thought it was Tok Pisin, but then registered as scheduled Indonesian with which it bears some similarity; 329 from Shep, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. 17610, AWR Afar service via Moosbrunn at 1430-1500 continues to be a regular here, far from the target; Nov 24 at 1448 with heavy quick echo which I can only assume was longpath/shortpath simultaneously. It`s aimed 145 degrees, which is close to oppositewards, so a lot of signal is pushed the far way round, while plenty of the 300 kW signal also reaches us off the back (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, Bangladesh Betar, 1343, Nov 22. News in assume Bengali; at 1350 they normally have a segment with music, but today had a long speech instead; 1402 sign off announcement; 1403*. So they no longer are broadcasting their recently extended schedule? Mixing with CNR-1, but no hint of RRI (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INDIA [and non] bandscan ** BELARUS [and non]. RUSSIA. 261, R. Rossii, Taldom, 1931-1944, 20 Nov, talks; \\ 5905 (under a stronger station that was also airing a program in Russian); 23441, QRM de BUL (the usual station I receive here) (little interference) + strong splatter de ALG 252. 261, ditto, 2147-2200*, 20 Nov, classical music; 34443 (not usual at all), adj. QRM de ALG, light QRM de BUL. 279, R. Rossii, Ekaterinburg (presumed), 2152-f/out 2158, 18 Nov, talks, songs; 23341, QRM de BLR which s/off at 2200 after playing the natl. anthem. I felt a little bit intrigued on why the faded Ekaterinburg (?) signal vanished and did not emerged again, so I tried my luck the following day, 19 Nov: This time, Ekaterinburg was putting a stronger signal than on the previous evening, did not fade out, but vanished when Sasnovy BLR switched the transmitter off. So, if this is not the Luxembourg effect, then what? 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. 15665, V. of Biafra International, reconfirmed still here for the Friday 19-20 broadcast via WHRI, Nov 20 around 1910 with English news in usual broad African accent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Band Scan 15 November to 23 November 2009 3309.98v, Radio Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba 0930, 0000 4409.85, Radio Eco, Reyes 2300 4451.2, Radio Santa Ana, Santa Ana de Yacuma 2300 4700 [?], Radio San Miguel, Riberalta seems silent last few days 4716.64, Radio Yura, Yura 2300, 0950 4781.49, Radio Tacana, Tumupasa. 2310 when active 4796.49, Radio Lipez, Uyuni 2300, 1000 5580.2, Radio San José, San José de Chiquitos 2330 5952, Pio XII, Siglo Veinte 0000, 1030 73s de (Bob [Robert Wilkner], Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R 8, Icom 746Pro DL, Sony 2010XA, noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.846, Radio Santa Cruz, 0950, Spanish, local time check by man and back to music at 0954. Best in LSB to escape weak het on high side after 0900. Seemed to drift up to about .88-ish (David Sharp, NSW Australia, FT-950 and NRD-535D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6135. R. Santa Cruz at 2340 in Spanish, Nov. 20. M ID, Latin music with high-pitched percussion instrument, M talking over spooky- sounding music. Weak, but clearly distinguishable above the noise (R75 / E1, M W Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe nothing there to het it before 0000, but when I check after that time all I have heard lately is the het RSC causes by being off- frequency about 6134.8 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6165, Radio Logos – Santa Cruz (Presumed), 2209, 11/21/09, in Spanish. Man with low key talk, 2213 dead air for one minute then he continued, 2229 dead air for about 3 minutes, then he continued. The signal did not change on the g313e’s video spectrum scope during the dead air periods. I wonder if there were brief musical sections which didn’t propagate (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satllit 800, Kaito 1103; 2 Flextennas, EWE, attic mounted Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Band Scan 15 November to 23 November 2009 2379.93, R Educadora, Limeira, SP 0930, 0000 3375.34, R Municipal São Gabriel da Cachoeira 0900, 0000 4805, R Difusora do Amazonas, Manaus, 2230 Jazz 19 November. 4825, R Canção Nova, Cachoeira Paulista, São Paulo 0006 4845.2, R Cultura Ondas Tropicais, Manaus 4985.0, R Brasil Central, Goiânia, Excellent signals 0000, 0930 music sports. One of strongest on the band. 73s de (Bob [Robert Wilkner], Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R 8, Icom 746Pro DL, Sony 2010XA, noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Checking for more possible WWCR tests, on 4755 Nov 24 at 0037 heard instead weak signal in Brazilian Portuguese, M&W mentioning ``bendita`` (blessed), etc. This is surely R. Imaculada Conceição, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, which per Aoki is 10 kW non- direxional. WWCR is certainly capable of totally overriding it in NAm, but also with 100 kW also capable of damaging RIC within Brasil over a night-path (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4885.023, Rádio Clube do Pará, Portuguese, 0750, fading-in with nice ballads, talk by man with occasional announcements by a woman (those sounded pre-recorded). A regular here. 23 Nov. 4905.000, Rádio Anhanguera, Portuguese, 0942, tune-in to talk by a man, into nice local music. Good despite some t-storm QRM. 23 Nov (David Sharp, NSW Australia, FT-950 and NRD-535D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4885, 20/11 20.20 R. Clube do Parà - Belem PP talk OM suff. 5045, 20/11 20.25 R. Cultura do Parà - Belem PP talk OM suff Qualche esperto di propagazione potrebbe spiegarci perchè le due radio di Belem arrivano già alle 20.15 UTC, quando su Belem non è ancora tramontato il Sole, facendo pensare a chissà che favolose successive aperture mentre, in realtà, più tardi non si ascolterà pressochè nullaltro? Io una ipotesi ma la sono formulata, ma è solo un' ipotesi buttata in aria, sarei lieto di vedere se altri, non conoscendola, mi danno la stessa spiegazione rendendomela cosi più plausibile. Grazie!!! (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli / Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Local sunset at 48.5 degrees west on Nov 20 was about 2104 UT, so this was less than an hour before SS, certainly close enough for 60m propagation to set in eastwards, e.g. as we easily hear 60m stations more than an hour before sunset or an hour after sunrise (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 9615, R. Cultura at 1504 Portuguese, OM announcer. P-F signal. Tue 17/11 (Richard Bianchino, Las Vegas NV, Kaito KA1103, 32' longwire antenna, indoor. Balcony Listening Post, ripple via DXLD) He does not say BRASIL but must be referring to the listed São Paulo station; good news as I think this had been inactive for quite a while. Skeds indicate there is a 2-hour gap at 14-16 when major broadcasters are not using 9615; he was also getting RCI on 9610, and here, that would be a sideblocker. I just wish R. Cultura would resume 17815 as they were promising to do early this year. But watch out for the AIR Sindhi/Baluchi service at 1215-1600, reported in 9-077 as off frequency 9618 from 9620. Looking for R. Cultura, São Paulo, reported active on 9615 after 1500 a week ago by Richard Bianchino, NV: Nov 24 at 1355 no trace of a carrier, nor at 1455 when 9610 has big splashy signal from RCI in Chinese. Skeds indicate 9615 itself is free of major broadcasters at 14-16, but there could be even more opportune windows without the adjacencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNA vs XEPPM: see MEXICO [and non] ** BRAZIL. 10000, Obeservatorio Nacional, 2310, 11/16/09. Hiding in the shadow of WWV, distinct tone time pips and weak but regular announcements several times a minute, started with "Observatorio Nacional...". Decent copy when WWV was not running a continuous tone. Fair/poor. (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11925.2, R. Bandeirantes, best heard in a long time, Nov 22 at 0612 with station promos, 0614 ID as ``AM 840, FM 90,9, Rádio Bandeirantes``, no mention of any SW frequency! Loud signal, but rather distorted audio. After that I expected to hear the other 25m Brazilians, but nothing on 11815 from RBC, and at first 11780 RNA seemed absent. Then I was able to detect 11780 // 6185, but masked by RHC 11760 huge S9+25 signal desensitizing receiver as far as 20 kHz away! Same situation at 0638 check. Seems like we had a pipeline from São Paulo excluding Brasília and Goiânia, or maybe 11815 just off the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BRASIL, 11780, Radio Nacional da Amazonia, Brasilia, 0950-1010, 22-11, locutor, locutora, portugués, noticias y comentarios. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable 8 metros Escucha realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also MEXICO [and non] ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, Radio Burkina, 2320-2359*, Nov 19, rustic tribal music. Vernacular talk. Vocal rendition of National Anthem at 2358 and off. Weak but readable at 2320. Improved to a fair signal strength by sign off. Stronger than usual. 5030, Radio Burkina, *0529-0555, Nov 21, sign on with vocal National Anthem at 0529. (test tone at 0520-0529). Opening French announcements at 0530. Local African tribal music at 0531. Fair to good signal. Much stronger than usual (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX Listening Digest) 5030, 2255-2335 21.11, RTVF, Ouagadougou, French phone-in programme, Afropop, 45434 after CNR-1 closed 2300* (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdxyg via DXLD) What does RTVF stand for, or typo? (gh) BURKINA, 5030, Radio Burkina, Ouagadougou, 0715-0735, 22-11, francés, locutor, locutora, comentarios, música vernácula. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable 8 metros Escucha realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Re 9-081: "They (VT) are calculating the credit memo now." I seem to recall that transmitter site staff at Sackville did not care in earlier cases, saying that they simply put on air what Montreal feeds to them and that anything else is not their business? Will some controller wake them up now, explaining that it are their very own job positions they put at risk with this attitude? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [non]. GERMANY, Frequency change Bible Voice Broadcasting Network from Dec. 14 1500-1600 NF 11880 NAU 250 kW / 087 deg to SoAs ex 11895* as follows: 1500-1600 Mon in Hindi, Fri in Bengali/Hindi 1530-1600 Tue/Thu in Hindi 1515-1600 Wed in Hindi 1500-1530 Thu in Tamil/Telugu, Sat in English, Sun in Bengali *to avoid BBC Chinese (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Re Kazaross comment in 9-081 --- Many years ago when I was in Ottawa working on a project under contract to (then) DOC out of their headquarters (300 Slater St.), for mostly social reasons I visited a local AM station in company with an engineer from the supplier of that station's transmitting equipment. I noted that they were operating during nighttime hours with double the authorized night power, and with the day antenna pattern. The station technician told me that they didn't worry as the DOC monitoring station was in the minimum of the antenna pattern and that they had operated that way for years. The next day I queried the head of AM technical regulation at DOC, who told me that the agency was aware of this kind of situation by a non- trivial number of stations, but that it had no really effective enforcement methodology. I don't know if this is still the case, but it's hardly a unique situation in many countries where they actually authorize different day and night operations. Much more recently, about 10 years ago, I was told by the director of the "Radio Authority" in the U.K. that his agency would not authorize different day and night operations, as I had suggested for a U.K. client station, because they did not trust their licensees to follow the rules and change operation modes as might be authorized, and had no effective means of monitoring or enforcing such a requirement (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Something strange on 11232.0, Nov 24 at 1509: seems like a repeater, with intermittent 2-way conversations on AM, carrier stays on in between. Sounds like US military net, discussing GPS devices. One side IDed as ``radar maintenance``, and the other sounded like ``Century`` something. Short transmissions in lingo, always asking how copy? Copy. 1514 something about clearing RAM, PPI screen. One of them has background noise as if in a craft. From the FRG-7 I switch to the DX-398 and find the voices are on USB only, so what really must be happening is that another transmitter is running open carrier zero-beat, to assist demodulation?? At 1519 interrupted for an unrelated contact, Atlas 341 calling Trenton Military which said to change (not `QSY`) to 9007, so now we know it`s Canadian, not American, I beg your pardon. No tell-tale Canadian accents had been detected. 1519-1525+ more contacts between ``Century Art(?)`` and ``radar maintenance``, the latter being weaker, with instruxions on jumping antenna modules, or something like that. Probably a training exercise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANARY ISLANDS [non]. http://www.lanuevavozdecanariaslibre.tk/ ¿CUÁNDO comenzó a preocupar Canarias al Gobierno de Madrid? Cuando Cubillo, desde Argel, con una emisora de onda corta, Radio Canarias Libre, lanzó sus filípicas políticas, que eran muy escuchadas en las Islas y en el mundo entero, aquí con los aparatos de radio muy bajitos, por razones obvias. Cubillo sufrió un horrible atentado, perpetrado por el Estado, como lo demostraron los tribunales. Sabe mucho de ello el ex ministro Rodolfo Martín Villa y, naturalmente, sabía mucho del asunto el extinto comisario Conesa. Antonio Cubillo vive hoy en Canarias, arrastrando las secuelas de aquel crimen, que pudo acabar peor si no hubiera sido día de fiesta, si no estuvieran transmitiendo por televisión un importante partido de fútbol y si la ambulancia, en vez de demorarse tres cuartos de hora en llegar al hospital, no hubiese tardado seis minutos, por las razones apuntadas anteriormente. Cubillo fue indemnizado con una miseria por el Estado español como una víctima del terrorismo de Estado - algo así como 25 millones de las antiguas pesetas -, pero arrastra secuelas gravísimas que le causan serios dolores y no puede caminar sin la ayuda de muletas. Cubillo tenía la idea de una Canarias libre de ataduras de un Estado que jamás comprendió a las Islas, desde la conquista. Si España hubiera atendido a estas islas como a Cataluña, como al País Vasco, como a Andalucía, el clamor habría sido menor. Nos acostumbramos a sufrir, vivimos la malicia, la condición intencionada de hermano pobre del Estado. Y no hay derecho. Para detener la labor de Cubillo ante organismos internacionales, el Gobierno de España sobornó a un secretario general de la OEA (Organización de Estados Africanos), el señor Kodjo. Lo compró el CESID para que metiera en un cajón las pretensiones de Canarias. Esto retrasó un proceso descolonizador que ha sido aceptado, incluso, por las Naciones Unidas, como norma de carácter general: los canarios deben decidir su futuro. Y no hay más. Todos los movimientos de Canarias hacia la independencia han de ser pacíficos, intelectuales. Deploramos la violencia y amamos las palabras. El hombre va a cualquier parte con las palabras, con las palabras colmadas de razones. Nadie nos podrá acusar de que preconizamos métodos espurios o ilegales; no. Siempre con la palabra, que es el mejor dardo para combatir al adversario, o al discrepante. Nosotros amamos a estas islas porque hemos nacido en estos peñascos tantas veces olvidados, tantas veces reivindicados, tantas veces negados. Cuando Cubillo hablaba desde Argel, el Estado español se preocupó de su movimiento, que no hay duda de que tuvo errores y aciertos. Los tiempos han cambiado. Cubillo está aquí, luchando por su tierra. Sin ninguna causa pendiente (nunca la tuvo realmente). Su voz es una más, y muy importante, en la nueva Canarias del futuro. Nuestra tierra amada tiene que redimirse ante la historia y ante sus hijos. Con la palabra. Fuente: El Dia.es http://www.eldia.es/2009-11-24/CANARIAS/3-palabra.htm Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia Más.... LA NUEVA VOZ DE CANARIAS LIBRE Radio Canarias LibrePodcast * / Radio Canarias Libre.- La Voz de Canarias Libre, que desde Radio Argel supuso el motor propagandístico del MPAIAC, ha sido refundada a través de Internet por medio de podcast, bajo el nombre La Nueva Voz de Canarias Libre. El secretario general del MPAIAC, el abogado Antonio Cubillo, junto con otros colaboradores, ha puesto en funcionamiento un servicio de radio por Internet. Se trata esta vez de “una tribuna a la libertad” puesta al servicio del navegante para contrarrestar “las duras trabas” que ponen los medios de comunicación convencionales a la causa independentista. La Voz de Canarias Libre, supuso en el siglo XX un soplo de aire fresco a los canarios, que además de “sometidos al yugo de la metrópoli” se encontraban asfixiados por la vorágine franquista. Es ahora, cuando nuestros compatriotas, iluminados bajo el color de la esperanza del año libertador 2010, fijado por las Naciones Unidas como fecha máxima para descolonizar los últimos territorios, pueden escuchar la realidad de este archipiélago africano. Es un proyecto en el que se han invertido muchos recursos y que nace para quedarse. La Nueva Voz de Canarias Libre, como medio de comunicación independiente, responderá a los ataques de los enemigos de la patria canaria con fuerza, marcará un antes y un después en la historia con la publicación de exclusivas informativas, desde políticos corruptos pasando por los atentados contra el patrimonio cultural canario, hasta la exaltación de los valores de nuestro noble pueblo. Además es un medio participativo con el navegante, pues cada programa de radio puede ser descargado, gratuitamente, en su PC, o escucharlo o n-line, además de facilitar la posibilidad de contribuir a la causa patriótica con comentarios y opiniones libres. Sintoniza Radio Canarias Libre: http://www.lanuevavozdecanariaslibre.tk/ (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) Is this really any serious separatist campaign now, or just for show? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CHAD. 6165, RNT, 2220-2230*, Nov 19, Afro-pop music. French talk. Sign off with National Anthem. Poor to fair with co-channel QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) N'Djamena, 6165 at 2145z with regional music and French. 250 kW at 65 degrees, aimed very close to Mecca but I'm guessing it's a broad beam to cover the Chadean outback. (22 Nov 09) (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, Drake R-8B, sloper or ALA330s, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7650-7700, OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, Nov 24 at 1411; no broadcasters harmed in this range. I know this is rather boring, but feel this stuff should be documented; yet I admit there are a lot more instances I don`t bother to log (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 4220, Qinghai PBS, 2350, 11/17/09, listed Tibetan. Central- Asian sounding music with a male announcer taking calls between songs, cutoff in mid-song for time pips at 0000 and ID with echo effects. Always glad to see this one make an appearance this time of year. Some utility QRM. Fair/poor (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 4940, Voice of Taiwan Strait, 1500-1530, Nov 22. Broadcasting to Taiwan, with a distance from Fuzhou to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, of only about 240 km. Pips; briefly in Chinese; into English with ID: “This is Voice of Taiwan Strait”; first heard this ID back in February. “Focus on China” theme music; believe their old canned introduction: “This is the Voice of Strait, Fuzhou, China”, “Hello everyone. Welcome to our program Focus on China. This is Gary . . . for the next half an hour we are going to bring you some important news”; news about China with musical bridges between items; “This is the Voice of Strait. This is Focus on China . . . For further details of China, please write to PO Box 187, Fuzhou, China. The zip [sic] code is 350012”; light QRM from AIR Guwahati. Very pleased to now be able to make out many of the news items on this program that is only broadcast on Sunday. Audio posted at dxldyg “Files > Station Sounds” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is a station that no one in Taiwan has ever heard of and the people that may have don't even listen. The PRC has a few stations on air directed to Taiwan including the Taiwan service of CRI, but one has to wonder who listens. Out of a population of 22 million the amount of people that listen to SW can be counted on one hand. Just like CRI Taiwan Service. If you think TV Martí is a white elephant, this service is the same. Just like radio in Taiwan. The last census found that fewer than 10% of the population listen to radio once a week (Keith Perron, ibid.) ** CHINA. 9820, Beibu Bay Radio, 2258-2330, 11/17/09, Vietnamese. String-music IS to time pips and tri-lingual Vietnamese / Chinese / English ID at 2300, presumed newscast and then into a blend of Eastern/Western pop, including a little Michael Jackson. A big mess here, with CNR-1 underneath on freq (& whose time pips were about 2 seconds off from Beibu's, or vice versa!), het from presumed Radio 9 de Julho on 9819.7, and ample splatter (even in USB) from jamming vs. R Republica on 9810. Beibu still mostly atop the QRM party, // 5050 interference free but barely audible. Fair and improving with time (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re 9-081: Hi Anker, Glad to see you heard CNR-2/CBR with their program “English Evening”, broadcast from 1430 to 1500, but it is on for more than just the weekends, I observe it seven days a week. Best regards, (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INDIA [and non], 4600-5100 bandscan ** CHINA [and non]. On a whim, thought I would check my favorite Firedrake frequencies much earlier than usual, Nov 20 at 0610, and there they were! 8400 JBA, 9000 barely audible, and much better achieving fair reception on not // 10210. These are probably all 24 hours a day, tied up by tiny SOH ham transmitters on Taiwan. BTW, Alokesh Gupta forwards a new (? dated Nov 18) article about Sound of Hope from the Epoch Times: Sending Shortwaves of Hope from Manhattan to China By Matthew Robertson, Epoch Times Staff http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/25385/ which claims: `` SOH later boosted its signal strength and broadcast hours, and their signal now is mostly free from disruption.`` Make that: disrupted to the point of inaudibility. Firedrake Nov 21 at 0024: poor on 13970, fair but fluttery on 10210; unfound in the 14 MHz band. Firedrake Nov 21 at 1418: nil on 8400, good on 9000 // 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15070, CNR-1 jamming, *1500-1530*, Nov. 21. Noted jamming of an UNID station in Chinese; // 5030. Could not detect the echo effect today (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see UNIDENTIFIED Glenn. Escutei hoje 22/Nov, as 0045 UTC em 7520 kHz um firedrake chinês nunca antes ouvido, pois varro os 40 metros por inteiro. Será imagem? 7520 + 900 = 8420, mas o firedrake é em 8400 kHz. As 0052 UT ficou apenas a portadora, mas em 8400 khz o firedrake musical continuava. Um abraço (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jorge, Sound of Hope moves around, so Firedrake follows it wherever it goes. Doubt it is an image. See this from Aoki list: 7525*Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH 2200-2230 1234567 Chinese 100 131 Dushanbe-Yangiyul TJK 06848E3829N SOH b09 7500-7550 7525*Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH 2300-2330 1234567 Chinese 100 131 Dushanbe-Yangiyul TJK 06848E3829N SOH b09 7480-7570 Altho that is more than an hour earlier, but could also have extended broadcast or Firedrake stayed on later than necessary. 73, (Glenn to Jorge, via DXLD) Firedrake Nov 22 at 0620: BA on 8400, JBA on 9000, NA on 10210. Firedrake Nov 23 at 1405 cutting back on after open carrier hourtop monitoring pause: about equal fair levels for a change on 10210, 9000, 8400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Jamming on Nov 23. 5810, CNR-1 echo jamming against scheduled RFA, with strong signal and strong echo. Noted at 1517. 5930, Firedrake (FD), along also weak CNR-1 echo jamming, against VOA; scheduled from 1500 to 1530; in Uzbek. Noted here at 1505 + 1515; FD // 8400 and 9000. 15070, CNR-1 echo jamming against unidentified station underneath. Heard at 1510 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 24 at 1412: fair on 8400, nothing on 9000 or 10210 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. PERDIMOS NUESTRA VOZ: FALLECE EL LOCUTOR YANFENG El profesor Jia Yanping, conocido por nuestros oyentes como Yanfeng, uno de nuestros locutores estelares con un dominio perfecto del español, falleció el pasado 18 de noviembre en Beijing por una enfermedad grave. Siempre lo recordaremos en nuestros corazones como el gran profesional y el cálido ser humano. Le deseamos que descanse en paz. A manera de homenaje, queremos recordar al colega y profesor Jia Yanping, conocido por nuestros oyentes como Yanfeng, uno de nuestros locutores estelares con un dominio perfecto del español, y quien recientemente ha fallecido. El profesor Yanfeng falleció el pasado 18 de noviembre en Beijing por una enfermedad grave. Fue un gran maestro del Departamento de Español de Radio Internacional de China. Comenzó a trabajar en la emisora en 1972. A partir de ese momento su vida quedó vinculada para siempre a las transmisiones radiofónicas para el exterior. Desde 1980, año en que pasó del Departamento de Quechua (lengua indígena precolombina) al Departamento de Español, nunca se apartó de su puesto de trabajo, lo que significó grandes sacrificios para él y su familia. Yanfeng tuvo grandes experiencias profesionales. Trabajó en Guinea Ecuatorial como miembro de un grupo chino de asistencia técnica, fue corresponsal de Radio Internacional de China en México y cursó estudios en Radio Exterior de España y en la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Por eso siempre fue un excelente redactor, traductor y locutor. Además, fue un hombre sincero y amable, que ayudó a muchos colegas jóvenes a desarrollar su capacidad profesional. Yanfeng amó su profesión. Él decía: "Tengo la profunda sensación de que la Radio, como si fuera un arco iris, nos une con los oyentes de diversas partes del mundo y lo que estamos haciendo es promover el intercambio y la comunicación entre personas que viven en contextos culturales diferentes. Es un honor para mí poder dedicarme a este trabajo. " Y aunque el profesor Yanfeng se fue, siempre lo recordaremos en nuestros corazones como el gran profesional y el cálido ser humano. Le deseamos que descanse en paz. Fuente: http://espanol.cri.cn/741/2009/11/20/1s188715.htm (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, & via Dino Bloise, FL, dxldyg via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 5910, Marfil Estéreo missing, during my 06-07 UT monitoring session Nov 20, but on the air with typical peppy music Nov 21 at 0005 check. Are they voluntarily non-24 hours now? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5910.037, Marfil Estéreo, 0934, Spanish, Fair, with contemporary ballads, 0939 brief talk by man and into more traditional music. Good signal (David Sharp, NSW Australia, Nov 24, FT-950 and NRD-535D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Date? ** COLOMBIA. Radio Nacional de Colombia - Nuevo Diseño de página web Vistarlos en: http://www.radionacionaldecolombia.gov.co/ ESCUCHAR: http://www.radionacionaldecolombia.gov.co/templates/radionica/player.html#LETio-Streaming/?gs=7122&ap=1&rt=1&day=&elp=&t=&station=Radio Nacional de Colombia (via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. 2859.8, R. San Carlos harmonic, 2 x 1430v, Nov 21 at 0003 fair at peaks in Spanish; same for music 0026, and at 0031 rapid DJ with ID in passing. Nothing there at 0248 check; reported to close awfully early around 0200, 8 pm local (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. After hearing Spanish music from Romania instead of Spain on 15170, I checked the other Cariari relay frequencies Nov 21 at 1614: 9765 open carrier S9+12 and at first could hear no audio except WWCR 9980 overload, but finally JBA classical music apparently in a soft passage making the undermodulation worse. 17850 much stronger at S9+20 and undermodulated music JBA there // 17595 direct but after satellite delay. At 1623 the other Cariari transmitter audible on 15125; all grossly undermodulated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [and non]. 3985, Croatian Radio, 0445, 11/22/09. Pop music until presumed Croatian news at 0500. Fair signal with some HRO slop (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Par Electronics 45' Wire, Wellbrook 1.1M Loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bandscanning on the way home from an Enid Public Schools 6-band concert and fiesta dinner (i.e. taco salad), UT Nov 20 at 0115, I was hearing tell-tale hets on the caradio 10-kHz-only tuning, indicating Trans-Atlantix were in on 1215, 1134 and 756 kHz, so ahome I quickly switched to the direxional DX-398, set-to-9-kHz-on-MW, and on battery power to minimize line noise. 1134 immediately provided musical and talk audio at 0120 and // 7375 via Germany, so Hrvatski Radio, the number-one TA, is a definite. Monitoring on a single receiver, I could not evaluate the delay. Also // at some further chex, 0139, 0150. However it faded in between, leaving nothing but IBOC noise, presumably from KMOX 1120, tnx a lot! Between 0120 and 0200 I repeatedly scanned the MW band and detected many more TA carriers, but no audio. I could make educated guesses about the most likely sources, but will refrain. I will put them in frequency order here, not the order heard, most more than once: 549, 621, 639, 693, 711, 819, 855, 882, 891, 909, 972, 999, 1089, 1179, 1215, 1251, 1269, 1341, 1359, 1431, 1521 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also JAPAN [and non] 23 hours after all those TA carriers I found, including definite audio from Zagreb on 1134, just some carriers, no audio, Nov 21 at 0048-0052 in 9-kHz bandscan: 945, 1134, 1179, 1521 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 6140, Nov 20 at 0622 check was in RHC English instead of Spanish; the other 49m outlets nominal. See also ALBANIA; VENEZUELA [non] RHC language usage check UT Nov 21 at 0009: 6000 in Spanish as expected. At 0058, 6140 was already on // 6120, 6110, 6060, 6000. O, 6140 in new official schedule is supposed to start at 0000 now, but so is 11760, which was not on during this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thursday 19.11.09, 6060, R. HABANA CUBA at 0849 English, OM with "music for social change" featuring John Lennon. Heard the Plastic Ono Band's "Give Peace A Chance." F-G signal (Richard Bianchino, Kaito KA1103, 32' longwire antenna, indoor. Outdoor DXing - Pueblo Park Las Vegas, NV, ripple via DXLD) Note late hour, not on RHC sked (gh) GH: I just noted Radio Habana Cuba with dead air/open carrier on 6000. This was at 0224 UT Sunday, November 22, 2009. Is it possible there is a breakdown in the feed going to or coming from there, or does RHC have nothing to say? I bet this has happened many times under El Presidente Fidel's tenure! I recently noted Ed Newman reading the news with the "Phone Ringing" sound, which to me was funny! I will keep checking and maybe Havana will FINALLY have something to say on 6000 Khz! 73's, (Noble West, TN, Sangean ATS818ACS, Radioshack Pocket Reelout Antenna (Noble West, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 9620, RHC mix of two Spanish programs weakly at 2209 Nov 23, a leapfrog of main RHC 9660 over Mesa Redonda 9640. Why am I not surprised? BTW, 9660 is one of several RHC channels with degraded narrowband rough modulation. Is this caused by the program feed circuit, or the transmitters? Yet another instance of rapid clix above a DentroCuban Jamming Command frequency, which I believe to be jammer spurs: Nov 24 at 1416 on 13882, i.e. 62 kHz above Martí jamming on 13820, and this one interferes with RHC leapfrog spur on 13880, i.e. 13680 over 13780, DentroCubans vs DentroCubans! Others have been about 52 kHz apart, which seems to be a favorite offset in Cuba, also for the two dozen spurs generated by the 11760 transmitter, now in its twenty-first day of not doing so, i.e. almost as long as the period they were doing so thru Nov 3. BTW, the DentroCubans are celebrating Thanksgiving Nov 26-29 with war games in anticipation of the next US invasion, per press reports via Yimber Gaviría; might make for some interesting utility if not spy and broadcast DX listening (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ** CUBA. REALIZARÁ CUATRO DÍAS DE EJERCICIOS MILITARES EN PREPARACIÓN DE UNA EVENTUAL AGRESIÓN DE EU MATRIMONIO ESTADOUNIDENSE SE DECLARA CULPABLE DE HABER ESPIADO PARA LA HABANA Reuters, Dpa y Afp Periódico La Jornada, Domingo 22 de noviembre de 2009, p. 21 La Habana, 21 de noviembre. Cuba realizará la próxima semana cuatro días de ejercicios militares con acciones en campos de tiro y movimientos de tropas, tanques y cañones, en preparación para una eventual agresión de Estados Unidos. Las maniobras militares, denominadasBastión 2009, están planeadas del 26 al 29 de este mes en todo el país y serán las primeras previstas por el gobierno de Raúl Castro desde que Barack Obama asumió en enero pasado la presidencia de Estados Unidos. . . Fuente: http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/11/22/index.php?section=mundo&article=021n1mun (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) So might lead to even more radio anomalies, especially on the spy and military frequencies. Same story deals with the latest Cuban spies in the US, pleading guilty and accepting life in prison in his case, less for her (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. TWO INTERNATIONAL RADIO LISTENERS PLEAD GUILTY "A former State Department official and his wife have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from their roles in a 30-year conspiracy to provide classified U.S. national defense information to the Republic of Cuba. ... During the time frame in which Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers were serving as clandestine agents for Cuba, the CuIS [Cuban Intelligence Service] often communicated with its clandestine agents in the United States by broadcasting encrypted radio messages from Cuba on shortwave radio frequencies. Clandestine agents in the United States monitoring the frequency on shortwave radio could decode the messages using a decryption program provided by CuIS. Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers communicated with CuIS by this method. The shortwave radio they used to receive clandestine communications was purchased with money provided by CuIS. The shortwave radio was later recovered by FBI." FBI/Department of Justice press release, 20 November 2009. http://washingtondc.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/wfo112009a.htm (via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** CUBA. 6855/AM, W/SS 5d #s, Cuba; 2131-2148+, 20-Nov; #s ended just as I tuned in; but resumed at 2137, ending at 2141 with repeated "Final". Very strong transmitter hum (has gotten worse); also hear the phone ringing; audio feed also there which I finally found // 5025 Rebelde (after hearing a "Rebelde") with Spanish game call (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. US SENATOR WANTS TO ELIMINATE RADIO/TV MARTÍ US Senator Russ Feingold, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, yesterday announced the launch of his “Spotlight on Spending” series to highlight actions Congress can take to reduce the deficit. The first featured provision is the elimination of Radio and TV Martí. “This relic of the Cold War attempts to broadcast radio and TV signals into Cuba that virtually no one tunes in to,” Senator Feingold said. “Government studies show that Radio and TV Martí are riddled with problems, and fall short of journalistic standards. As we progress toward a more modern and constructive relationship with Cuba, Radio and TV Martí no longer have any real diplomatic or fiscal purpose. I plan to bring up this issue when the Senate takes up President Obama’s recently announced nominees to the Broadcasting Board of Governors. ” A January 2009 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that Radio and TV Martí broadcasts face jamming by the Cuban government. According to the GAO, the best available research suggests that the audience for Radio and TV Martí is small, and its effectiveness uncertain. BBG’s International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) also found that Radio Martí fails to meet certain journalistic standards, “particularly in the areas of balance and objectivity.” During a June 2009 hearing before a House Foreign Affairs Subcommitee, a GAO official testified that there is “limited information to help assess the relative success on a return of investment for each of the transmission methods.” During the same hearing, John Nichols, a Professor of Communications and International Affairs at Penn State University testified that “…even if (Cubans) are opposed to the Castro government…they are going to look for more credible sources of information and entertainment.” Senator Feingold argues that the political environment has changed significantly since the inception of Radio and TV Martí, and President Obama’s commitment to international diplomacy and dialogue offers a more effective way to engage with the people of Cuba. The Obama administration has already loosened restrictions on Cuban Americans’ visits to Cuba, and the White House and Congress are considering easing travel restrictions and other ways to normalize relations. (Source: Press Release by Senator Russ Feingold) (November 24th, 2009 - 16:26 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) See also USA ** CYPRUS. 15250-15275, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Nov 23 at 1425. No broadcasters bothered except at the very edges, well- selected segment? But should not be in the SWBC band at all! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [and non]. Re 9-081: Everything matters, but some things are prone to be counterproductive. No "detailed reception reports", no "SWL", no "DX", no "SINPO". All this stuff should be avoided. What matters are notes that one appreciates the programmes and that shortwave is the most convenient way to tune in. It can not be said often enough (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [non]. PORTUGAL/CZECH REP, 9805. After 4 weeks on 11690 kHz at 1630-1657 UT slot, Radio Prague in German replaced now to 9805 kHz channel, also via TransEurope Sines relay [DWL/VTC], but on originally time slot 1730-1757 UT, which is also printout primarily on their RPR operational schedule. Signal strength on AOR AR7030 rx at 11 of 14 display segments luminous, on Eton E1 S=9+15 dB in peaks, here in Germany. TX sign-on at 1729:45 UT, two seconds of VTC `Cello interval signal of London control room, then 17.29:47... :59 UT fanfare of Radio Prague. Tiny interference on adjacent channel 9800 drm kHz from Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Nov 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) /PORTUGAL, Frequency and time changes of Radio Prague in German 1730-1757 NF 9805 SIN 250 kW / 040 deg, ex 1630-1657 on 11690 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** DEUTSCHES REICH [and non]. Re 9-081: Re: THOSE BEHIND NEO-NAZI RADIO STATION FACE JUDGES Yes, it seems that they talked German on their stream ("radio station" appears really to be an exaggerated description). Btw, the whole thing was hosted on servers in the USA, by a certain ThePlanet.com Internet Services company. But in the end this did not help, contrary to a popular myth. Concerning English words in German, it must be noted that there are many false anglicisms, with "Handy" being the most widely known one. And then there is this management blabbering, with nonsense like "who does the doing". It makes one cringe, because all this makes a mock of German *and* English. Sometimes it is also plain fun: The "Bad Shop" had to close. Yeah, no surprise! The annual events in Berlin-Istanbul, errr, I mean Berlin-Kreuzberg are no clash of left and right people, at least not in the first place. Basically it is just a traditional riot. The circumstance that the main person behind this web radio is an agent of the internal secret service is relevant, because the Nazi party NPD is run by such agents to an extent that it makes banning them impossible. A first attempt failed for this very reason, but at the same time the interior guys refuse to "switch off" these agents. And some still want to risk a second try under these circumstances, although another failure would of course be disastrous. And you think that some well-known talk host can be caught with statements that would constitute a crime in Germany? If yes, it perhaps is worth to monitor AFN a little bit. They are not exempt from German law (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another newspaper report is even headed "Did Verfassungsschutz run a Nazi radio?" http://www.taz.de/1/politik/deutschland/artikel/1/betrieb-verfassungsschutz-nazi-radio/ It quotes the lawyer of this Sandra with a statement that it was a "misunderstanding", believing that Verfassungsschutz (the internal secret service) approved this web radio and paid 300 Euro per month for running it. Interesting that DW editor Kyle James left out this aspect completely (Kai Ludwig, Nov 22, ibid.) ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, Radio Djibouti, *0300-0335, Nov 21, sign on with National Anthem followed by Qur`an. Arabic talk at 0312. Local Horn of Africa music at 0327. Good. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 4780, R. Djibouti, 0330, 11/22/09. Continuous Arabic talk by OM. Good on peaks (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Par Electronics 45' Wire, Wellbrook 1.1M Loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EAST TURKISTAN. CHINA. 9600, CRI via Kashi, 2100-2157* 11/19/09, English. News and Reports, then a long interview with an American entrepeneur who's opened a string of restaurants in Beijing. Abruptly off at 2157 in the middle of a language lesson. Usually one of the toughest domestic CRI relays here, but near-armchair signal with minimal flutter, S9+10 on peaks. Good (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Really? We are running into Kashgar site all over the bands, altho not usually with big signals here (gh, OK, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Las frecuencias se reasignarán --- Las frecuencias de radio y televisión que fueron entregadas sin cumplir los requisitos establecidos en la Ley de Radio y Televisión serán revertidas al Estado ecuatoriano. . . Fuente: elcomercio http://ww1.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=317589&id_seccion=3 (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Band Scan 15 November to 23 November 2009: 3279.6v, La Voz del Napo, Tena, 1000, 0100. 73s de (Bob [Robert Wilkner], Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R 8, Icom 746Pro DL, Sony 2010XA, noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. MINISTRY CONTINUES DESPITE POWER LOSS Mission Network News, Ecuador, 19 November 2009 http://www.mnnonline.org/article/13519 As lights go out across Ecuador, evangelism continues. HCJB Global says that despite the nationwide power shortage, they're still able to present the Gospel through radio broadcasts. The mission also maintains emergency generators at its hospitals in Quito and Shell; the Quito hospital is operating at full strength except for the CAT scan machine. "Honestly, it's been pretty seamless," says the hospital's assistant director, Steve Wilson. "The electricity goes off, the generator comes on." The worst drought experienced by Ecuador for 50 years is a major contributor to the ongoing lack of power. Ecuador depends on hydropower to produce electricity for their nation. Because of the drought, power generation was halved from one of Ecuador's largest hydroelectric plants. On November 5, electricity rationing began, and authorities have arranged for more energy acquisitions. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said the power outages could continue for "some months," according to HCJB Global. Some reports say the power to residential areas was cut by up to 10 percent. HCJB Global ministry in Latin America includes radio broadcasts, healthcare in various forms, and leadership development programs. You can pray for electricity problems in Ecuador to be restored soon. Pray for the lives reached by HCJB Global broadcasts to be impacted and changed for Jesus Christ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Not a word about HCJB's own hydro-electric plant at Papallacta... It was constructed to power Pifo transmitters (which made HCJB's broadcasting very affordable). In the past HCJB would sell its surplus electricity to Ecuador. If Papallacta is still operational most of its output should be fed into national grid I guess. A few pics of the power plant, antennas, etc.: http://www.kkn.net/gallery/main.php/v/k5tr/n6zz/main.php?g2_itemId=6694&g2_imageViewsIndex=1 (Sergei S., IL, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. HCJB via Chile, 11920, Nov 21 at 0023 in Brazilian with typical predication, ``crucify him, crucify him!`` Get over it. Seems produced with reverb/echo on the audio, surely not long / shortpath. Retune 0044 to see if they sign off as per some schedules: yes, and mentioned they were radiating via CVC in Chile, ``despedimos; boa noite,`` 0045 to open carrier a few sex and off. Did not say when they would resume, and I`ve yet to find if or when the Kulina first-nation- language quarterhour now outgoes. Closing timecheck was 21:45 as HCJB is still not up to speed with Brazilian DST making it 22:45 in most of the country including Brasília. Months ago, last summer, we also heard HCJB giving one-hour- off `local` timechex for Brasil. So out of touch with their audience. Or, they deliberately refuse to acknowledge stupid DST? In that case, Right on! HCJB`s service in declamatory Kulina-as-a-second-language remains at 2245 UT on 11920 post-switch to relay via CVC CHILE, as confirmed Nov 21 at 2256, then Brazilian 2300-2445. Did not notice any spurs around 11920 as some have (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: 11940, 22/Nov 0018, A spurious signal of HCJB Portuguese coming in the frequency of 11920 kHz, with regular distorted signal. Distorted and spurious signal is also found in 11900 (Jorge Freitas, Brasil, HCDX via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 3810 LSB, HD2IOA, 0126, 11/18/09. Single time pips every ten seconds with voice announcements of the time in Spanish between. Not heard here in a while, thanks to Steve Lare tip. Fair/poor (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Listening here for the past 15 minutes or so to 3810 LSB and I'm hearing a weak 'pip' every 10 seconds. Could others perhaps closer give a listen to see if it is perhaps HD2IOA which seems to have been somewhat missing of late (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, 2350 UT Nov 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At around 0100 I'm also hearing some Spanish comments interspersed between the 'pips'. I'm assuming that it is HD2IOA, but is different it seems from their previous time pip every second format. Has not been heard here as usual around 1100 or so, but I'll give a listen in the morning (Lare, 0109 UT Nov 21, ibid.) A little difficult copy here, but they seem to be running a ten second loop of announcing the current time in Spanish with a single pip at :10, :20, :30, etc. Too weak for me to tell if it's UTC or local time, and I can't remember from previous loggings of HD2IOA which one they used (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I listened for a while around 0250, but could only hear a ham right on 3810-LSB (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 6270. R. Cairo, Abu Zaabal, at 0250 in English, Nov 22. W with discussion of modern art museum in Alexandria, great-sounding ME music. Muffled audio, not present on music. SIO-454. 6290. R. Cairo, Abis, at 0305 in Arabic, Nov 22. Recitations, very strong, but distorted modulation (E1, M W Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Nac, Bata, *0504-0520, Nov 21, sign on with local African music. Spanish announcements. Weak but readable. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) GUINEA EQUATORIAL, 5005, R. Bata on 11/22 with sudden sign-on in mid- song 0510. Carrier strong from 0506 tune. Into local highlife vocals to 0527.5. Then shifted to what sounded like church service with organ hymn, man announcer in Spanish and male vocal hymn at 0530. Weak QRM from WWV. SINPO 34543 at peak from 0515 to 0540. One of the best nights for this station I have heard in several months (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, Nov 22, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Nov 21 at 1624, fair signal, preacher screaming about Jeezus, no doubt R. Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GUINEA ECUATORIAL, 15190, Radio Africa, 0801-0810, 22-11, inglés, locutor, comentario religioso. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable 8 metros Escucha realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 7175, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, 1950-2001*, Nov 22, Horn of Africa music. Talk in unidentified language. Sign off with vocal anthem. Fair to good. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** ERITREA. 7209.98, VOBME-1, Asmara, 1923, Nov 23, Tigrinya? announcement, US pop songs including personal favourites like Linda Ronstadt "All my life" and Evanescence "My Immortal" so I quite enjoyed myself. Clear frequency but sandwiched between 7215 CRI Cantonese and 7205 VOIRI Russian. Carrier off 2004 after sung NA? and 3 minutes of dead air, obviously running late. 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ESTONIA. QSL UTILITY: 3310 kHz USB MODE, Station Manager, Estonian Maritime Communications Centre, Hobekuuso 8, Tallinn 12111, Estonia. WEB : http://www.riks.ee e-mail: info @ riks.ee or tallinnradio @ riks.ee QSL Folder in 11 months. Andrei Skorodumov http://groups.yahoo.com/group/open_dx/ (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Message archives in this group are, appropriately, open altho of course mostly in Russian (gh, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 6890, Radio Fana, 1950-2100*, Nov 22, Horn of Africa music. Talk in unidentified language. IDs. Fair signal. // 6110 - weak under several other stations. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** ETHIOPIA. 9704.33, R. Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, 2008-2025, Nov 13, vernacular. HoA music with announcer between selections; f-g; // 7110- fair (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N. H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. PIRATE. 6870.01, Radio Playback, 0350-0445+, Nov 21, wide variety of jazz music and pop music, including an ABBA tune. ID simply as “Playback”. Poor to fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) EURO-PIRATE. 7610.05, Radio Amica, 0245-0305, Nov 21, wide variety of lite pop music, Euro-pop music. Rod Stewart tune. IDs. Italian announcements. Weak, but fair to good signal strength on peaks. Possible transmitter problem with hum in audio. Hum quite strong at times (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** EUROPE. FRS Holland Sunday 22nd November --- Hello SW Friends, Sunday November 22nd sees a full repeat of last week's broadcast. The broadcast will start at 1052 UT / 11.52 CET sharp and close down will be at 1540 UT / 16.40 CET. Of course we do hope propagation will be satisfactory that day. That was certainly the case last Sunday and we were happy about the results. 5810 was doing fine and 7600 was excellent at various locations throughout Europe. Next Sunday we have chosen to start 3 hours later than on the 15th to find out how the 7600 signal 'behaves' later in the afternoon. And there's another important change: instead of 5810, we will be on 9300 kHz / 31 metres. Of course we are very curious how the 9300 signal will do, especially in those areas where 7600 is only poor/ fair. Radio entertainment on a Sunday. Tune in 7600 kHz / 39 metres and 9300 kHz / 31 metres (low power only). Info about the internet stream: On Sun Nov. 22nd FRS will be again active with an Internet stream. Surf to http://radio-freeform.de:8290/listen.pls We will most likely start at 1400 UT / 15.00 CET. 73s, Peter V. on behalf of the FRS staff (via Alan Pennington, Nov 21, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Too late now, but keep those frequencies in mind next weeks Latest logs, testing a TTFD antenna: NETHERLANDS, 9300 FRSH, English, at 1515, with OM announcer, and 70's songs. 34443. // 7600 noted only after UNID (presumed AIR) close down, at 1529. 2009/11/22 (Greetings from Gondomar, Portugal, Pedro Turner, Nov 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No AIR on 7600; instead, it is BBC Urdu via Thailand, which just started the same day, per Aoki: ``7600 BBC 1500-1530 1234567 Urdu 250 305 Nakhon Sawan THA 10004E1503N BBC b09 Nov. 22`` (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. The former RIAS mediumwave site at Hof has been put up for auction. The leaflet explains that the transmitter building has later been used by the police for training: http://www.immobilien-auktionen.de/de/naechste_katalog/pdf/katalog_63.pdf (This was, after using other frequencies in the pre-GE75 era, a 40 kW daytimer on 684. The original tube transmitter had been replaced by a new Nautel in 1989. The site closed down permanently on 30 Sep 1994, the antenna masts were in bad shape and have been demolished shortly afterwards. I don't know where the almost new transmitter went to.) (Kai Ludwig, Nov 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. ALEMANIA, 6140, Radio Gloria Internacional, *1000-1100*, 22-11. La transmisión de Radio Gloria Internacional tuvo lugar entre las 1000 y las 1100 UT, y no entre las 0900 y las 1000 como había sido anunciada. Programa de música pop con comentarios por locutor en alemán y en inglés. Identificación: "Radio Gloria Internacional. P. O. Box 460143, DE - 01246 Dresden, Germany, e-mail address: radiogloria @ aol.com ". 45444 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable 8 metros Escucha realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Confused by DST/ST? (gh) ** GERMANY. Hamburger Lokalradio (HLR) will conduct a series of shortwave test transmissions on a frequency of 5980 kHz in the 49- meter-band, with a power of 1 kilowatt. These transmissions will be broadcast from the Kall transmitter site that is already in use for Radio 700. Hamburger Lokalradio will transmit daily throughout December between 1000 and 1200 UT. Longer broadcasting hours, 0600-1200, will be on December 24th, 25th, and 26th. A full programming guide will soon be published on their website: http://www.hamburger-lokalradio.de HLR is looking forward to receiving feedback and reception reports, either via e-mail redaktion @ hamburger-lokalradio.de or by postal mail: Hamburger Lokalradio, c/o Michael Kittner, Max-Eichholz-Ring 18, D-21031 Hamburg, Germany. As the station is operated on a non- commercial basis, return postage is highly appreciated (Thomas Voelkner, Berlin, Germany, Nov 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hamburger Lokalradio announces test transmissions on 5980 kHz, running 1 kW from the privately owned transmitter plant (a former utility site) at Krekel, in the municipality of Kall near Euskirchen, i.e. the site that since last year transmits Radio 700 on 6005 kHz with 1 kW, too. As of Dec 1st Hamburger Lokalradio will be on 5980 daily between 1000 and 1200, on Dec 24, 25 and 26 from 0600 to 1200 which appears to be the maximum airtime authorized by the German telcom regulation authority (Bundesnetzagentur) so far. According to various reports in the A-DX mailing list and the Mysnip forum 8773 the transmitter has already been tested during the last days, with borrowed modulation of Radio 700. I understand that besides this low power relay the 100 kW transmissions via Wertachtal, every first Sunday of the month 1000- 1100 on 6045, will continue. At least no cancellation has been announced so far. Of course this tiny low power outlet can not adequately replace a professional broadcasting transmitter with 20 dB more juice (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 22, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. FILIA RADIO – 665 AM --- Through its successful European course, Greece – from a sending country of migrants in the 1960s – became a recipient country for workers from all corners of the globe. The radical changes in the country’s cultural and social map took place in a very short period of time and constituted a challenge for everyone. Hellenic State Radio (ERA) decided to respond decisively and creatively to these new challenges. Based on an idea by the former General Director of ERA, Giannis Tzannetakos, and with the already existing framework of ERA-5’s Foreign Language Department, a pilot program in 12 languages was created, with the aim of broadcasting to foreign workers in Greece. Today’s autonomous FILIA program – broadcast on 665 AM – is the natural continuation of that successful venture. Its aim is to allow migrants from a total of 121 countries to maintain ties with their countries of origin and be updated daily, in their own language. FILIA also helps to eliminate prejudices and xenophobic attitudes, which frequently lead to racist phenomena, as has occurred in many European countries. FILIA (the Greek word for “friendship”) seeks to cultivate mutual feelings of acceptance and solidarity between locals and migrants through news bulletins and, of course, music, adding yet another stone to the structure known as friendship among peoples. In this era of globalization, language is one of the basic elements of people’s existence and their cultural diversity. Radio may not be able to influence drastically the complex conditions that cause the migrant phenomenon, but it can contribute positively to an environment in which racism and xenophobia cannot thrive. FILIA broadcasts in 12 languages: English, French, German, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Rumanian, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian Bulgarian, Albanian and Polish. It presents news bulletins from the countries of origin and national news from Greece. Its programs also include on- the-spot reports from the source of the news, as well as analyses and comments, highlighting the objective views of Hellenic State Radio. Collaboration with the BBC World Service, RFI, and DW is another important feature of our programs, as well as cooperation with volunteer non-governmental organisations, such as “Doctors Without Borders” and “Doctors of the World”. FILIA also broadcasts on shortwave, from 08.00 to 12.00 Greece Time, (0600-1000 UT), on 12105 kHz (source? Via John Babbis, MD, DXLD) RADIO FILIA B-09 PROGRAM SCHEDULE Dear Glenn: I thought that you might be interested in the Program Schedule of Radio Filia, the Friendship Station in Athens. Back in the days of Kavala, Voice of Greece carried the afternoon language programs also, but now with only two short-wave stations available, something had to go. Regards, John Babbis GREECE: RADIO FILIA B-09 PROGRAM SCHEDULE 665 AM: 0000-2400 UT 12105 SW: 0600-1000 UT only (Effective October 25, 2009 to March 28, 2010) --Greek unless otherwise specified-- UTC MONDAY THRU THURSDAY PROGRAM 0000-0500 Connection With Kosmos 0500-0600 Connection With NET 105.8 0600-0700 Albanian Program With BBC Coverage 0700-0759 English Program With BBC Coverage 0759-0900 French Program With RFI Coverage 0900-1000 Spanish Language Program 1000-1030 German Program 1030-1100 Russian Program 1100-1200 With Rhythm (With Maria Koutsimbiri and Al. Pontikakis) 1200-1300 News Without Discrimination (Issues Concerning Migrants) 1300-1348 Road Taken, Road Left (A Crossroads and Meeting Point Program) 1348-1400 Greek Lessons (In Cooperation With Hellenic-American University) 1400-1430 Arabic Program With BBC Coverage 1430-1500 Serbo-Croation Program 1500-1530 Bulgarian Program 1530-1600 Polish Program 1600-1630 Rumanian Program With BBC Coverage 1630-1700 Turkish Program With BBC Coverage 1700-1800 ERA 5-Network Without Borders 1800-1900 Radionewspaper 1900-1912 Greek Lessons 1912-2000 ERA 5-Network Without Borders 2000-2005 News In Greek 2005-2015 Athletic Panorama 2015-2200 Live Line 2200-2400 Connection With Kosmos UTC FRIDAY PROGRAM 0000-0500 Connection With Kosmos 0500-0600 Connection With NET 105.8 0600-0700 Albanian Program With BBC Coverage 0700-0759 English Program With BBC Coverage 0759-0900 French Program With RFI Coverage 0900-1000 Spanish Program 1000-1030 German Program 1030-1100 Russian Program 1100-1200 International Migration Organization (Issues Pertaining to Migrants) 1200-1300 News Without Discrimination (Issues Concerning Migrants) 1300-1348 Road Taken, Road Left (A Crossroads and Meeting Point Program) 1348-1400 Greek Lessons (In Cooperation With Hellenic-American University) 1400-1430 Arabic Program With BBC Coverage 1430-1500 Serbo-Croation Program 1500-1530 Bulgarian Program 1530-1600 Polish Program 1600-1630 Rumanian Program With BBC Coverage 1630-1700 Turkish Program With BBC Coverage 1700-1800 ERA 5-Network Without Borders 1800-1900 Radionewspaper 1900-1912 Greek Lessons 1912-2000 ERA 5-Network Without Borders 2000-2005 News In Greek 2005-2015 Athletic Panorama 2015-2200 Live Line 2200-2400 Connection With Kosmos UTC SATURDAY PROGRAM 0000-0600 Connection With Kosmos 0600-0700 Albanian Program (Music And Special Features) 0700-0800 English Program (Music And Special Features) 0800-0900 French Program (Music And Special Features) 0900-1000 Spanish Language Program (Music And Special Features) 1000-1030 German Program (Music And Special Features) 1030-1100 Russian Program (Music And Special Features) 1100-1200 With Rhythm (With Maria Koutsimbiri and Al. Pontikakis) 1200-1300 Bangladesh (Program By The Bangladesh Community) 1300-1400 Radio Kaibigan (Program By The Filipino Communities) 1400-1430 Arabic Program (Music And Special Features) 1430-1500 Serbo-Croation Program (Music And Special Features) 1500-1530 Bulgarian Program (Music And Special Features) 1530-1600 Polish Program (Music And Special Features) 1600-1630 Rumanian Program (Music And Special Features) 1630-1700 Turkish Program (Music And Special Features) 1700-1800 Tranzit (With Sveta Karaspiliou) 1800-1900 Radionewspaper 1800-2000 Connection With Kosmos 2000-2005 News In Greek 2005-2245 Live Line (With G. Tzouanopoulos) 2245-2400 Good Luck/It's All Greek To Me UTC SUNDAY PROGRAM 0000-0600 Connection With Kosmos 0600-0700 Albanian Program (Music And Special Features) 0700-0800 English Program (Music And Special Features) 0800-0900 French Program (Music And Special Features) 0900-1000 Spanish Language Program (Music And Special Features) 1000-1030 German Program (Music And Special Features) 1030-1100 Russian Program (Music And Special Features) 1100-1200 Program By The Pakistani And Indian Communities 1200-1300 Praxis Humanitarian Organization (Doctors Give Information In Health) 1300-1400 Cyprus, A Sweet Country (History, Civilization, And Tradition Of Cyprus) 1400-1430 Arabic Program (Music And Special Features) 1430-1500 Serbo-Croation Program (Music And Special Features) 1500-1530 Bulgarian Program (Music And Special Features) 1530-1600 Polish Program (Music And Special Features) 1600-1630 Rumanian Program (Music And Special Features) 1630-1700 Turkish Program (Music And Special Features) 1700-1800 Good Luck/It's All Greek To Me (Interviews With Distinguished Greeks) 1800-2400 Connection With Kosmos (Compiled by John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815, 2155-2214* 20.11, KNR, Tasiilaq (USB) Greenlandic / Danish Orchestral music, news, closed with orchestral music, 15222. Not audible on 21.11 (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdxyg via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. Radio Cultural Coatán es una emisora religiosa que se solía escuchar durante la noche en la frecuencia de 4780 khz, banda de 60 metros, además de buena confirmadora de informes de recepción. Ahora ya lleva tiempo fuera del aire. Puesto en contacto con responsables de la emisora, vía e-mail, sobre los motivos por los que no están transmitiendo, ésta es su respuesta, así que, lo más probable es que hayamos perdido a otra emisora en las bandas tropicales. "Es un gran placer poder saludarte desde aquí, San Sebastián Coatán, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. La respuesta a tu pregunta sobre el transmisor de onda corta, es que ya no estamos en el aire por cuestión de que se han estropeado unas piezas del transmisor y no hemos encontrado repuesto. Si encontramos las piezas dañadas saldremos de nuevo en antena por onda corta, pero lo más probable es que no las encontremos, y entonces sólo saldremos por 103.3 FM y por nuestra página de Internet http://www.radiocoatan.com Que Dios te bendiga y hasta luego." (Manuel Méndez, Spain, Nov 21, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Off the air because they can`t find replacement parts for SW transmitter. Says they would resume SW if they could find the parts. So there`s an opportunity for the DX World to help out a needy station and incidentally get a SWBC country back on the air. But first, what about Radio Verdad? Still silent on 4052.5 for the same reason. They have a new website, comments solicited, but nothing much about SW plans any more. The last part of their history page says they have been shafted in efforts to get an FM frequency, so not on the air at all, just webcasting? Their `complete` history does not even mention their unique ex-frequency 4052.5! Viz.: ``Ahora, estamos haciendo todos los esfuerzos por obtener una frecuencia de FM, para la cobertura local. Pero, de nuevo, ha sido casi imposible. La hemos solicitado varias veces, y nuestras solicitudes no han prosperado. Habíamos solicitado una buena frecuencia de FM, 92.7 MHz, con cobertura departamental, y pagamos los derechos del trámite, Q.7,000.00, pero nuestra frecuencia fue vendida debajo de agua a un canal de televisión, y ni siquiera nos informaron de dicha venta sucia. El gobierno nos ofreció devolver el dinero, pero nunca lo hicieron, a pesar de que lo hemos solicitado varias veces. Nosotros continuaremos nuestros esfuerzos hasta obtener finalmente nuestra frecuencia de FM, porque es para servir al desarrollo socioeconómico de la gente más necesitada de Guatemala.`` ``Now, we are making all efforts to obtain an F. M. frequency for the local coverage. But it has been allmost impossible again. We have applied for it several times, and our applications have not prospered. We had applied for a good FM frequency, 92.7 Mhz, with a departamental coverage, and paid the tramit fees, Q.7,000.00 Quetzals, but our frequency was sold undeground to a TV channel, and they did not even inform us about the dirty sale. The government promised to give our money back, but they never did, even though we have applied for it several times. We shall continue making all our efforts to finally get our FM frequency, because it is to sirve the social and economical development of Guatemala's most needy people.`` (from http://www.radioverdad.org via Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM Sobre Radio Verdad, Chiquimula Hola Glenn, en relación al mail que me enviaste el otro día, estuve viendo la página web de Radio Verdad, Chiquimula, y, efectivamente, ya no hacen mención a la onda corta. Por ese motivo me puse en contacto con el director de la emisora Édgar Amílcar Madrid, pues siempre me había manifestado su deseo de no abandonar la onda corta, y esto es lo que me contestó, tan amable como siempre. Según él siguen luchando de forma desesperada para poner el transmisor en funcionamiento. Recibe un cordial saludo, (Manuel Méndez, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "Muchas gracias, Don Manuel, por sus expresiones de simpatía hacia Radio Verdad. Ya puede imaginarse la tristeza profunda que me embarga, al haber cumplido ya como un año y dos meses de estar fuera del aire en onda corta. Por supuesto, NO TENEMOS PLANES DE ABANDONAR LA ONDA CORTA, porque la misma es MARAVILLOSA, y la Internet, NO LE LLEGA NI A LOS PIES A LA ONDA CORTA, EN RESULTADOS. Le voy a explicar lo que nos está sucediendo, y espero que, al fin, logremos triunfar sobre algún "enemigo invisible". Cuando se nos quemó el transmisor, pasé primero un mes buscando un técnico que nos quisiese hacer la reparación. Quien nos había trabajado antes, muy bondadosa y eficazmente, había fallecido. Un ingeniero que nos había trabajado últimamente, se le había paralizado la mano derecha, y me dijo que no podría hacernos la reparación. Al fin, en una radio amiga, me recomendaron a un técnico que vive en Chimaltenango, Guatemala, y le entregué a él los dos módulos quemados. Después de mucho rogarle, reparó uno de los dos módulos, pero, tan sólo le conectamos la energía eléctrica, el módulo estalló, y los daños fueron mayores. Se lo volvimos a enviar pero, mientras tanto, se habían terminado todos los transistores que teníamos de reserva, y de esos transistores no venden en ninguna parte del mundo. Comenzamos a hacer gestiones para que nos fabricaran los transistores en los Estados Unidos (gastamos mucho dinero en eso). A los varios meses, llegó un buen lote de transistores y se los entregamos todos al técnico, para que hiciera el trabajo de reparación (eso hace muchos meses). Luego, comenzamos en una dura y larga tarea de convencer al técnico de que nos hiciera la reparación. De la Empresa que nos trajo los transistores, le insistieron en que debía atendernos, pero, no se lograba nada. Hace como 4 meses y medio, me informó el técnico que ya había reparado un módulo y, desde esa fecha, hemos estado rogándole que venga a Chiquimula para instalarlo, porque no queremos que vaya a estallar otra vez. Es necesario que él revise la base del transmisor, para ver si hay alguna causa que lo haya hecho explotar anteriormente. Yo he revisado la base varias veces, y no le encuentro ningún daño. Hace unos años, nos sucedió lo mismo con un módulo que estalló, y tuvimos que ordenar la fabricación de un módulo nuevo, a un costo muy elevado, pero funcionó bien. Ésa es la razón por la cual creemos que es necesario que el técnico venga personalmente, pero, desde hace 4 meses y medio, nos está engañando de que va a venir "ese fin de semana", y jamás logramos que venga. Ya conseguí un amigo mío que lo vaya a traer a su casa y volver a retornarlo, pero, aun así, NO QUIERE VENIR. Cada vez que lo llamo por teléfono (infinidad de veces), me dice muy amablemente que ese fin de semana va a venir, pero JAMÁS VIENE. Nuestro problema se agrava en el hecho de que él tiene en su poder nuestros dos módulos, y todos los transistores nuevos que nos fabricaron, de los cuales dice él que hicieron falta 10 (muy caros). Para este fin de semana, nos aseguró otra vez que vendría, pero NO LLEGÓ. No sé qué hacer, más que seguir teniendo paciencia, esperando que, alguna vez, lo logremos. Referente a nuestro Sitio Web, nos cuesta hacerlo todo, porque, también, el experto que nos lo mantiene, casi no nos atiende (aunque hace muy buen trabajo, y es muy amable). Pero, ahora, ya vamos a poder introducirle nosotros algunas informaciones, porque, nos acaba de habilitar una forma de introducir informaciones nosotros mismos, aunque sea en forma sencilla, y ya hice la primera prueba. De nuevo, le agradezco mucho el gran interés que usted siempre ha mostrado por Radio Verdad, al igual que otros amigos de todo el mundo que constantemente me escriben sobre el mismo tema. Tan sólo salgamos al aire (aunque sea con un solo módulo), vamos a enviarles un correo electrónico a usted y nuestros muchos amigos en todo el mundo, par informarles al respecto. Que Dios le bendiga y guarde. Con todo cariño. Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, Director y Gerente" [Manuel supplies this English translation:] Manuel, Thank you very much for you expressions of friendliness towards Radio Truth. You can already imagine the deep sadness that I have, because one year and two months of being off the air in short wave have already passed. Of course, WE HAVE NO PLANS OF LEAVING SHORT WAVE, because it is WONDERFUL, and the Internet, IT DOES NOT HOLD A CANDLE TO SHORT WAVE, IN RESULTS. I am going to explain to you what is happening to us, and I hope that, in the end, we should manage to triumph over some 'invisible enemy'. When the transmitter burned, I spent first one month looking for a technician who wanted to repair it. The one who had worked earlier, very kindly and effectively, had died. An engineer who had worked lately, had his right hand paralyzed, and he said to me that it might not do the repair. Finally, a radio friend recommended to me a technician who lives in Chimaltenango, Guatemala, and I delivered to him two burnt modules. After many requests, he repaired one of two modules, but, when we connected the electrical energy, the module exploded, and the damages were major. We sent it to him again but, meanwhile, all the transistors that we had in reserve had been used up, and these transistors are no longer sold in any part of the world. We begin to do negotiations to have the transistors fabricated for us in the United States (we spent a lot of money on that). After several months, a good lot of transistors came and we delivered all of them to the technician, so that he could start doing the repair work (that was many months ago). Then, we began a hard and long task of convincing the technician that was doing the repair. The company that brought us the transistors, insisted that he had to attend to us, but, nothing was achieved. Four and a half months ago, I was informed by the technician that he had already repaired one module and, from this date, we have been asking him to come to Chiquimula to install it, because we do not want to explode again. It is necessary that he check the base of the transmitter, to see if there is some cause that it has made it explode previously. I have checked the base several times, and do not find any damage. A few years ago, the same happened to us with a module that exploded, and we had to buy of a new module, at a very high cost, but it worked well. This is the reason for which we believe that it is necessary that the technician come personally, but, for 4 months and a half, he is deceiving us saying that he is going to come 'this weekend', but he never comes. I got a friend of mine to pick him up at home and take him back, but, nevertheless, HE DOES NOT WANT TO COME. Whenever I call him by phone (infinity of times), he says to me very kindly that this weekend he is going to come, but HE NEVER COMES. Our problem worsens in the fact that he has with him our two modules, and all the new transistors that we bought in the USA, because he says he needed 10 (very expensive). For this weekend, he assured is again that he would come, but DID NOT COME. I do not know what to do, any more than to keep on having patience, hoping that, one day, we should achieve it. Regarding our Web site, it is difficult for us to do everything, because, the expert who supports it, hardly attends to us (although he does very good work, and is very kind). But, now, we are already to be able to introduce some information ourselves, because, a way of introducing information by ourselves, has just been enabled, although it is in simple form, and I already did the first test. Again, I am very grateful to you for the interest that you have always shown in Radio Truth, like other friends of the whole world who constantly write to me on the same topic. If we can get on the air (although with only one module), we are going to send an e-mail to you and our many friends in the whole world, to inform you on this matter. May God bless and watch over you. Best regards. Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, Director and Manager, Radio Verdad (translation refined by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST, WORLD OF RADIO 1488) ** GUINEA. 7125, Radio Guinee, 2145-2218*, Nov 20, local African music. French talk. Abrupt sign off. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** HAWAII. 10320-USB, AFN has been missing for about a week now, at various chex, such as Nov 23 at 1406. Hope it`s not gone for good as 6350 appears to be (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. Band Scan 15 November to 23 November 2009 3250, Radio Luz y Vida, San Luis 1130, 0100 3340, Radio Misiones Internacionales, Comayagüela 0100 73s de (Bob [Robert Wilkner], Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R 8, Icom 746Pro DL, Sony 2010XA, noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4850, AIR Kohima, from 1351 till sign off at 1401, Nov. 21. Local news in English; ID “This news comes to you from All India Radio Kohima”; sports news (“Football. In the city where the final match of the 18th . . . Gold Cup, in Kohima . . .”). Disappointed they did not continue on with their nice music program that usually follows after the news. Their schedule now varies a lot from day to day. INDIA: Today 22/11 beautiful Eastern Indian choral singing with a box guitar strumming the three basic chords 1200-1230 from AIR Kohima, I just couldn't move away, so haunting. Absolutely lovely. -- (G. VICTOR A. GOONETILLEKE, 4S7VK, "Shangri-La," 298 Madapatha Road, Piliyandala. Sri Lanka, Nov 21, dx_india yg via DXLD) 4850, AIR Kohima, 1259, Nov 23. Back again after being off the air yesterday. Lists frequencies and detailed program schedule; local singing/chanting; 1340 news in Hindi followed with same news in English, with items about happenings in Nagaland (Kohima is the capital city of Nagaland); 1400 into program in English with hard rock music; local IDs; tuned out at 1427 and was off the air at 1442 re- check. Poor conditions today, but this was still the best AIR on 60m. I hope they will continue broadcasting into December, as I would think they might carry special coverage of their Hornbill Festival (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4850, AIR Kohima, 1301-1406*, Nov 24. Better reception today. Heard with the usual format; 1400 popular music program; DJ said for some reason he had not received any letters or emails with requests, so he would play songs he liked; suddenly off. (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4895, AIR Kolkata, 1305, 11/15/09. Fair signal was stronger than CODAR sweeper. Song of India theme at 1311:11. Signal peaking good by 1324 (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Par Electronics 45' Wire, Wellbrook 1.1M Loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4895, AIR Kolkata, 1305, 11/16/09, Hindi. South Asian pop music with brief chat from a female announcer between songs. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1437, Nov 24. In English; congenial young woman with live on-air phone calls for music requests and dedications; had callers from Delhi, Calcutta, etc.; asked the callers about their weather (both Delhi and Calcutta were cold); played songs by Bertie Higgins, Celine Dion, ABBA, etc.; short break for news headlines; 1511 said she would be back next Tuesday evening at 8 PM (1430 UT); switched over to programming from Delhi; mostly fair. Modulation was much better today, but still with a hum. Very enjoyable to listen to her sparkling voice! 4990, AIR Itanagar, 1415-1420, Nov. 21. News in Hindi; 1420-1425 local news in English which starts with local ID; poor reception due to QRM from PBS Hunan. 5050, AIR Aizawl, 1415, Nov 22. Talk in English; mixing with Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio; 1430-1435 news bulletin in English; 1435-1440: “This is All India Radio. The sports news read by . .” (IBSF World Snooker Championship in India; World Chess Cup being held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia; etc.); 1440 into subcontinent music and Hindi. Probably the best reception I have had for AIR against BBR. Nice it was during an English segment! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR Vividh Bharati program heard from tune in around 1030 UT Nov 23 on 6090. It`s very strong at my location. DRM of the same program is noted on 6100. Vividh Bharthi via Bangalore on 9870 also noted but with several seconds delay compared to 6090. Maybe some AIR station testing. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) Here are some observations on AIR DRM on 6100 : Nov 11 - DRM 6100 at 0930 not heard today; 12005 DW 0800-0900 English perfect reception Nov 16 - Came on late at 0852 today, before that signal was there, but no audio Nov 20 - No audio, they were on and off several times and signal was too weak. Nov 23 - There is co channel QRM on 6100 when check 1100-1130; maybe this is degrading DRM reception? (Raman, VU3DJQ, Delhi, via Alokesh Gupta, Nov 23, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. The AIR Bangalore transmission in Urdu to Pakistan on 6155 at 0015-0430 is 320 degrees as per their official schedule. Hope you find these information useful. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad, India, Nov 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 20th Nov 2009 1200 UT, AIR Jaipur right now on 7325 kHz instead of 4910. Regards (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) i.e. on day frequency, supposed to quit at 1115, and FM Gold, Mumbai to start 7325 at 1230. Were Jaipur off by then? (gh) ** INDIA. AIR Aligarh 9470 distortion blob Nov 19 at 1425: 9475-9500, peaking on 9485 against something, but RA 9475 almost unscathed on the edge of today`s range. 9485 during this hour is YFR in English via Irkutsk, due south for Indonesia, so everybody there dying to hear Brother Droning is no doubt cursing the Indians, i.e. no one. Congratulations! Nov 20 at 1507 check, 9470 back to normal frequency and modulation // AIR music on much stronger Bengaluru 9425; ditto at 1700 recheck. But we know better than to assume the blobmitter has been fixed or replaced for good. AIR Aligarh blobwatch inconclusive Nov 21: at 1423 there was a bit of a mess around 9460, but not sure that was it; also a very weak carrier detectable on 9470 and could not // it or 9460 to 9425, itself rather weak. 9470 could well be VOR Moscow as sked after 1400. For best results one preferably chex at *1317. Checking for AIR 9470 Aligarh distortion blob Nov 22 at 1450, could not find it, and could not be sure weak signal on 9470 was that or Russia. Earlier on Nov 22, I heard from Jose Jacob in Hyderabad: ``Dear Glenn, Information received from AIR officials state that the Aligarh transmitter on 9470 kHz carrying National Channel (1320-0041) is set right two days back. During the last two days I monitored them on exactly 9470 with proper audio (and properly on other channel used by this transmitter, viz. 9910 0215-0345). You may please check it up. I wanted to check it up properly before informing you, hence the short delay.`` We need to check at *1317, which I have not managed to do the last few days, but so far it seems at later chex that the problem is over. Checking for AIR Aligarh blob Nov 23 at 1340: not found. A weak signal on 9470 but could not make it // 9425. At 1350, 9470 had Russian tune- up tones atop anything else. At 1404 I could barely make some normally modulated music on 9470 // but not synchronized with 9425, which is the nominal situation. Both poor, with adjacent QRM stronger. AIR blobcheck Nov 24 at 1333: very poor reception today on both 9425 and 9470, weak plus adjacent QRM, but listening on two receivers finally decided they were // but offset by a few Hindi words. In any event, modulation seemed normal, and no blob instead from 9470 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9595 kHz scheduled AIR Delhi Kamphur as 0015-0430 in Urdu 702(J) 6155(B) 7340(M) 9595(Kh) towards Pakistan. Totally distorted audio of the final modulation stage tube. Minor distortion noted on 9566 to 9634 kHz range, terrible strong disturbtion on 9578 to 9611 kHz range. Indian radio engineers should get a penalty of the ITU monitoring at Geneve ... as award to put such a terrible audio on air. (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Nov 20 via DXLD) ** INDIA. 9870, AIR-Delhi, 0428-0435*, 11/19/09, Hindi. Usual fare of south Asian pop music to a newscast by a female announcer at 0430. No- fanfare signoff at 0435 as audio disappeared, followed a few seconds later by the carrier. Surprised to find this still propagating this late after sunrise in India. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9870, AIR VBS, Nov 21 at 1610 averaging S9+18 and not too much flutter in Indian pop music, announcements in Hindi, ads, no QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9950, AIR-Delhi(?), 2205, 11/19/09, English. A female newscaster with Indian news in English, running // to much stronger signal on 9445. Eibi/Aoki show this as DRM, but it clearly wasn't, nor was there any DRM signal underneath. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11620 with Indian pop vocal music, Nov 20 at 1713, fair with flutter. Aoki says it`s the Russian service at 1615-1715, 335 degrees from Bangaluru, and thus also USward. Should have kept listening another biminute to confirm language in sign-off. 11620, at 1612 Nov 22 continuous tone, 1613:30 to AIR IS, and 1615 fluttery opening Russian hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 21st Anniversary of BCDX Net The weekly BCDX Net operating on the 40 Meter Amateur Band in South India is celebrating its 21st anniversary this year. This Net was started on Sunday November 27, 1988 by a small group of Amateurs viz. Shanmughasundaram VU2FOT, Victor Goonetilleke 4S7VK, Jose Jacob VU2JOS and some SWL's. The whole concept of this net started when these hams used to meet regularly on the band and exchanged DX news at various times. This later transformed into a regular net which benefited many people. This net is conducted on Sunday mornings for the advantage of those who are keenly interested in broadcast band DXing. The unique thing about this net is that is helped hams to become SWL DXers and SWL's to become hams! The BCDX Net has been very regular all these long 20 years, thanks to the dedicated net Controllers. Nowadays it is conducted on Sunday mornings at 0830 IST (0300 UT) on 7085 kHz LSB on 40 meter amateur band which covers South India & Sri Lanka. Occasionally it was also conducted on the 20 Meter Band 14150 kHz at 2130 IST (1600 UT). Currently the regular net controller is Sanil Deep VU3SIO and assisted from time to time by VU3BGK & VU2JOS etc. The postal address of BCDX Net is : Box 211, Kozhikode 673001, Kerala, India. Congratulations to BCDX Net on its 21st anniversary! Listen to the 21st Anniversary BCDX Net special program on 22nd Nov 2009 at 0300 UT. --- Jose Jacob, VU2JOS National Institute of Amateur Radio Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India Tel: 91-40-6516 7388 Telefax: 91-40-2331 0287 Cell: 94416 96043 http://www.niar.org (via Alokesh Gupta, Nov 21, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA [and non]. A scan between 4600-5100 --- Just for interest did this survey on 19/11 between 1200-1300 for those who like to know what is heard here in Sri Lanka. 4750 1200 BGD Bangladesh Betar s-on 1130? it appeared to 1400 s-off. Bangla 444 4750 1200 CHN Nanning Hailar under BGD is clear when BGD off. 4760 1200 IND AIR Port Blair Andamans strong, Indian vernacs, also at 0100 4775 1240 IND AIR Impal fair signals vernaculars. 4800 1230 IND AIR Hyderabad fighting with CHN CNR1 both 433 4810 1230 IND AIR Bhopal usual format of local language 333 fading. 4820 1230 IND AIR Kolkata mixing with Lhasha Tibet. 433 4820 1230 CHN Tibet Lhasa Chinese language service. 433 4835 1245 IND AIR Gangtok fair/weak signals 333/232 4840 1245 IND AIR Mumbai strong a bit scratchy modulation. 1230 s.on 433 4850 1200 IND AIR Kohima devotional type Eastern Indian Nagaland singing 19/11 4860 1245 IND AIR Delhi distorted carrier, modulation at 1215. This TX having problems 4880 1240 IND AIR Lucknow audio breaks though carrier stable. 333 19/11 4895 1247 IND AIR Kolkata listed (AIR format) 333 4905 1249 CHN Tibet // 4920 4910 1230 ??? weak carrier 4920 1249 CHN Tibetan // 4905 4920 1230 IND AIR Chennai, strong China underneath giving a good fight. 19/11 4940 1250 IND AIR Guwahati 333 usual Indian vernacs. 4950 1252 IND R. Kashmir Srinagar fair level with CNR underneath weak. 4950 1252 CHN V of Jujian Shanghai listed. 4970 1245 IND AIR Shillong English songs and service 433, hum from txer 19/11 4980 1246 CHN Xinjiang Urumqi Inner Mongolia [sic] Uighur 444 4990 1250 IND AIR Itanagar usual Indian language format 444 19/11 5000 1258 HWA WWHI [sic] Time Signal fading in 232 can read time announcements. 5000 1259 CHN BPM China 333 5005 1245 NPL Only carrier, no mod. 5010 1248 IND AIR Thriwananthapuram 555+ One station I wish would go off the air, messes the whole band throwing hash and mod all over. 19/11 5030 1245 MLA RTM Sarawak Kuching slow Malay songs. ID 1300 333 232. 5040 1235 AIR Jaypore strong 444 5050 1248 AIR Aizawl eastern Indian ballads under Gwanxi China. 1630 s.off. 5050 1248 CHN Gwanxi China mixing with Aizawl 5060 1250 CHN Chinese Service. Xinjiang. 5075 1255 CHN Pujian Shanghai listed Receiver used: Icom IC R71A Antenna : 80 metre dipole at 45 feet off the ground. (G. VICTOR A. GOONETILLEKE, 4S7VK, "Shangri-La," 298 Madapatha Road, Piliyandala. Sri Lanka, Nov 21, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Quick RRI bandscan at 1025 UT on 23 Nov found the following: 3344.968 Ternate 3976.068 Pontianak 3995.028 Kendari 4749.955 Makassar (*) 4869.923 Wamena 4920.000 Biak (*) All in the clear except those with (*) suffered co-channel QRM (David Sharp, NSW Australia, FT-950 and NRD-535D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9525.89, Voice of Indonesia, 1025-1030, Nov 20, tune-in to English news program. ID. In the clear but low modulation making signal unusable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** INDONESIA. 4750, RRI Makassar, presumed, Nov 23 at 1429 YL talk in Indonesian over slight SAH, China? Then long period of mostly slow romantic music, still 1440; 1454 weaker but still audible with YL announcements. The other station on 4750, Bangladesh, is reported to close around 1400; it might make it here if and when RRI be missing, but still has to contend with China. Then I tuned to 9680 for RRI Jakarta, much better signal at 1459 with Indonesian music continuing past hourtop and 1506. VOI is still on 9525.9 for 1300 English, 1400 Malay, but weaker or softer than neighbors on 9520, 9530. 9525.9, checking VOI Nov 24 whether they are still excursing Tuesdays to Banjarmasin? Just as I tuned in at 1344, ``Welcome to another show from RRI Banjarmasin``, then YL talk seemingly about royal succession 1251 years ago (or was it in year 1251?). Fair modulation but still requires extreme concentration to try to follow. Recheck at 1457 when CRI comes on 9525.0, but only producing a very weak het today from Kashgar, East Turkistan, and could still listen to the end of the Malay hour on VOI, music from which ran thru hourtop, 1502 restarting English, and just barely got a ``sound of dignity`` slogan out before cut off the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN http://www.wrn.org/wrn-listeners/world-of-radio/ Can anybody get this to download automatically each week please? (Mike Terry, Nov 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not me. The podcast has not been working for a few weeks at least (Benn Kobb, DC, ibid.) Dear Glenn, the podcast function on the new WRN website is currently not working. The new WRN website is a beta release and there are a number of bugs which are being worked. The podcast issue is an urgent one and it has top priority. We have no idea at this stage how long it is going to take to fix, but rest assured it is being addressed. In the meantime we suggest that users manually download programmes. Our apologies for this. Regards, (WRN website team, Nov 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [and non]. Problemas con señal de La Voz República Islámica de Irán --- Escuchando la programación, hoy a las 2109 por la frecuencia 5950, esta quedó fuera del aire repentinamente; cambiándome enseguida para los 6055 por donde pude seguir la programación de hoy. Hice varios monitoreos de los 5950 y esta señal no regresó al aire. Cabe destacar que la señal por los 5950 era mucho mejor que por los 6055 kHz. Un abrazo para todos (José Elías, Venezuela, 18 Nov, noticiasdx yg via DXLD 5950 is Kamalabad, direct; 6055 is via LITHUANIA (gh) ** IRAN [and non]. IRAN “TRYING TO WAGE MEDIA BATTLE AGAINST US” - VOA The Iranian parliament is considering a new media outlet in response to US efforts toward Iran, reports the Voice of America. It says Iran’s new media apparatus may be placed in the hands of the hardline Revolutionary Guard, strengthening that already powerful body. According to state-run Press TV, a three-member parliamentary committee has been set up to work out the details. The original bill allocated $20 million for that purpose, but legislators decided to raise the amount to $50 million after hearing the US Congress voted to set aside $50 million for broadcasting to Iran. Read the full story http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2009-11-16-voa44-70423772.html (November 20th, 2009 - 12:30 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 1 Comment on “Iran “trying to wage media battle against US” - VOA” #1 SRG on Nov 20th, 2009 at 15:54 --- Thanks for uncovering this bizarre report! It sounds like a self-righteous commentary from old Radio Moscow or something. No evidence that this ‘media battle’ will be against the US is provided. Both Texas and Vermont do have fringe secessionist movements (MN blog comment via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Frequency changes of IBB: Radio Farda 0400-0500 NF 9760 LAM 100 kW / 104 deg, ex 9585 Farsi 1500-1600 NF 7520 BIB 100 kW / 105 deg, ex 11750 Farsi 1600-1630 NF 13615 SKN 300 kW / 095 deg, ex 11885 Farsi 1630-1700 NF 13615 SKN 300 kW / 095 deg, ex 11670 Farsi 0400-1100 NF 13615 IRA 250 kW / 299 deg, add.freq Farsi 1500-1600 NF 7580 IRA 250 kW / 315 deg, add.freq Farsi 0330-0400 on 9585 LAM 100 kW / 105 deg, deleted Farsi 0400-0530 on 11740 IRA 250 kW / 324 deg, deleted Farsi 0530-0600 on 17840 IRA 250 kW / 324 deg, deleted Farsi 1600-1730 on 9310 PHP 250 kW / 283 deg, deleted Farsi 1730-1900 on 9310 UDO 250 kW / 305 deg, deleted Farsi 1630-1700 on 11885 BIB 100 kW / 105 deg, deleted Farsi 1700-1730 on 9320 LAM 100 kW / 075 deg, deleted Farsi (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** IRELAND. 3910, Atlantic R, 11/13 via Global Tuners UK from 2302 to 2333 with predictably nice signal. However 6960 was not heard, even in the UK. A QSL e-mail from Stephen Prendergast explained why: "We broadcast from the west coast of Ireland, we have a 80 ft vertical tower that supports a inverted V for our 6960 kHz transmitter (currently 10 watts) and we have a inverted L antenna for 1251 kHz MW. Our 1251 kHz transmitter will not be fully up and running till Christmas, and will operate on 300 Watts. The 3910 kHz transmitter is located at a different site not too far away, it`s a horizontal dipole, the transmitter was running at 150 W from 2000 to 2210, and then 500 W from then till close at 2333. This has been our second broadcast, and first on 3910. We hope to return during the Christmas season as we need to make improvements to our 6960 transmitter. our link was dropping due to water logging in the coax." 10 w is not likely to travel far! 6960 could be an interesting target for the Christmas broadcast (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, Nov 22, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ISRAEL [and non]. Re DXLD 9-081, Galei Zahal MW change --- Galei Zahal was noted 22 Nov at 1815 on their new 945 frequency // 1224, 1305, 1368 and sw 6973. The 1287 transmitter is running the info loop which apparently tells listeners to switch from 1287 to 945. Terry and Doni, thanks for a tip (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1287 kHz frequency change - reason for? Speculation: channel could be freed for IBB Kuwait's new 600 kW MW propaganda mouthpiece against Iran: KWT - Radio Sawa or Farda, Kuwait City (600 kW - moved 3 x 200 kW Harris units from former Kavalla-GRC relay site) - planned first to start in end 2008, then in August/September 2009 ...). IBB Kuwait registered with ITU Geneve on channel 1386 kHz, but latter covered by strong Iranian RIB 1/VO Rebbellious Iraq, Ahwaz (400) - VO Rebellious Iraq: ID "Sawt al Iraq al tha'ir" wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** ISRAEL. As I was outchecking the WEWN spur on 13845 instead of WWCR, Nov 24 at *1446 continuous tonetest started on 13850, presumably Kol Israel`s Persian service from 1500, with 250 kW to burn an additional quarter-hour. BTW, Kol is not an acronym or an initialism, but simply the Hebrew word for Voice, so should not be in all-caps (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. 6170, SLOVAKIA, IRRS Rimavska Sobota, 1903-1933, Nov 13, English. News re Obama in Far East; Russia; Fort Hood shooting; presumed listed "Free Speech Radio News"; abruptly cut-off at 1913 for acoustic ballads & AOR music; news headlines at 1931 re Guantánamo Bay; 9/11 trial in NYC; poor-fair (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N. H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That was Friday, first day on new frequency, ex-7290. On Saturdays, WORLD OF RADIO appears at 1900 (gh, DXLD) Hi Ron, just to let you know that reception is EXCELLENT here tonight on 6170 kHz - almost SINPO 555555 [sic] !! I've just been listening to World of Radio from 1900 to 1930 with perfect reception. This is a vast improvement over 7290 which had been practically inaudible here in the evenings since the change to winter time. 73s (Dave Kenny, Caversham, UK, AOR7030+ Long wire, Nov 14, via Ron Norton, IRRS, Nov 21, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. /SLOVAKIA, Updated winter B-09 of IRRS Shortwave from Milan, Italy: 0300-0600 9835 RSO 150 kW / 160 deg EAf/Sudan MIR Eng/Ara, not active 0530-0630 5990 RSO 150 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NAf EGR English Mon-Thu 0900-1000 9510 RSO 150 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NAf JOY Eng/Ger 1st Sat 0900-1000 9510 RSO 150 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NAf WOR+DXPL 2nd/4th Sat 0900-1000 9510 RSO 150 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NAf CIT English 3rd Sat new 1030-1300 9510 RSO 150 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NAf EGR English Sun 1500-1800 15650 RSO 150 kW / 160 deg EAf/Sudan MIR Eng/Ara Daily 1900-2200 6170 RSO 150 kW / 060 deg Eu/ME/NAf EGR English Fri, new 1900-2100 6170 RSO 150 kW / 060 deg Eu/ME/NAf EGR English Sat/Sun new CIT=Radio City DXPL=DX Party Line EGR=European Gospel Radio JOY=Radio Joystick MIR=Miraya FM Radio, Sudan WOR=World of Radio [Sat 1900, why don`t you specify? And Sat 0900 broadcast is really supposed to appear Dec 5, 12, 19, only in 2009] (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** JAPAN [non]. UZBEKISTAN Frequency changes of Radio Japan NHK World: 1300-1345 NF 5960 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg, ex 15215 in Bengali 1345-1430 NF 6115 TAC 100 kW / 163 deg, ex 9585 in Hindi 1430-1515 NF 5985 TAC 100 kW / 170 deg, ex 9795 in Urdu (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** JAPAN [and non]. After detecting all the TA carriers the previous evening --- see CROATIA [and non], I was motivated to look for Trans- Pacific MW the morning of Nov 20. Again with the DX-398 set on 9-kHz spacing, and on battery power inside the house with some noise but in the quietest spot I could find, too cold outside, I stepped thru all the channels with BFO on, and could hear the same pitch het on most of the appropriate frequencies, except as noted, but too weak for any audio, except as noted. (The LSB/SSB is slightly offset on this receiver, which is convenient for this purpose, altho I could zero it by taking off the faceplate and adjusting a pot.) It helped to switch between LSB and USB to minimize QRM from the NAm 10-kHz-spaced stations. In two or three scans between 1230 and 1245 UT, all these carriers were looping NW/SE more or less, using internal ferrite antenna only, just as the TA ones had been NE/SW: 558, 567, 576, 594, 603, 648, 666, 693, 702, 711, 729, 738, 747, 756, 774, 828, 846, 855, 873, 882, 891, 945, 972, 981, 1008, 1044, 1053, 1134, 1143, 1179, 1242, 1251, 1323, 1475, 1593. The strongest ones were on 774 and 972, so I went back and listened to those for a while to see if I could pull any audio. Now I have plugged in the AC adapter, since the batteries are getting weak. 747, at 1252, yes! Bits of clearly enunciated English by YL, apparently language lesson, mixed with Japanese, and music riffs, cues to speak in the lessons. 972, at 1254, some audio, think it was Korean as expected but not positive. 1098, circa 1300 add another frequency with a carrier. 855, at 1308, stepping thru the scan with BFO on, this one was a different pitch, obviously off-frequency, not sure which side. 774, at 1310, definitely in Japanese. The big 500 kW NHK Radio 2 stations on 747 and 774 were expected to be the easiest catches here in deep NAm, as they have been before. This is the educational network which includes some foreign languages, altho WRTH 2009 does not mention LL: English. 747 is JOIB Sapporo, Hokkaido and 774 is JOUB Akita, on the far side of northern Honshu. 855, the off-frequency one is surely KOREA NORTH, as in http://www.myradiobase.de/mediumwave/mwoffset.txt ``855.055 KRE KCBS Pyongyang Pangsong (Sangwon) 2100-2030 [855.0454-] 20090110``. WRTH 2009 lists this as 500 kW in the Asia/Pacific list; not in the domestic sexion page 253-254, but in the international sexion page 446, as apparently for S Korea and // SW 3250, 3320, 4405, 6250, 6285, 6400, 9325 and several MW frequencies. 972 is surely the 1500 kW KBS station HLCA in Dangjin, KOREA SOUTH. 1475 (definitely not on-channel 1476) is surely the 700 kW RTM Labuan, in Tuaran, Sabah, MALAYSIA which per WRTH is only on air at 1100-1330. Could make educated guesses about many of the others, but I`ll stop there. Local sunrise was 1314 UT (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) We noted NHK2 Japan running Spanish and (I think) Portuguese, in addition to some English and Japanese. So if you have Spanish on 774 etc in the morning, it might not be a lingering Spain (Saul Chernos, DXPedition in Newfoundland, Nov 16, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. INDIA. 6101.00, R Sedayee Kashmir, via AIR Delhi, 1447, Nov 21, Kashmiri (listed) talk, subcontinental songs to 1530 carrier off. Exactly 1 kHz off frequency, poor, barely holding out against DRM splatter (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yep, they've been on 6101 for past few months (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Shiokaze - Sea Breeze via Yamata, 1419, Nov 24. In Chinese and mixing with strong N. Korea jamming and Myanma Radio (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Some VT Communications changes: Open Radio for North Korea in Korean 1400-1430 NF 7550*ERV 300 kW / 065 deg to KRE, ex 1300-1330 on 11640 *co-channel BBC in Bengali Sun only (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, V. of Mesopotamia, Nov 23 at 1410, good but with flutter, so enjoyed the Kurdish music, and they do play a lot of it. Via UKRAINE. I wonder if the source of this is common knowledge in Kurdistan? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 4412.904, Sam Neua, 1038, talk by a man and into great local music. Best signal from this one, I've had in weeks. 23 Nov (David Sharp, NSW Australia, FT-950 and NRD-535D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 7295, Traxx FM, via RTM Kajang, 1000, Nov 21, English 3-minute news after pips at TOH, then into pop songs. In the clear at first but got blocked 1009:44 by Xinjiang PBS Mongolian opening here earlier than 1030 Kyrgyz service mentioned in latest schedule. 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 15295, V. of Malaysia, Kajang, 1126-1150, Nov 14, Mandarin. Indo pop music; news at BoH with several mentions of Malaysia; English "Voice of Malaysia" ID & jingle at 1141; ballads & lite pop music; good (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N. H. USA, NRD- 545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) For SW buffs, Radio Malaysia is absolutely armchair around 0800 on 15295 with their Voice of Islam program. Voice of Malaysia at excellent level at 0945. English, into Chinese at 1000 20 Nov. Armchair copy. // 6175 with fluttery signal, and nothing on 9 MHz listed channel (Walt Salmaniw, visiting Samoa, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15295: Voice of Malaysia at excellent level with a music program from SE Asia from 0720 to 0747 Nov 22. This is a Sunday only program. Very enjoyable, armchair level. Shows how SW can still produce excellent audio on a single hop, mostly water path. Filler music until 0758:30 when an announcer mentioned, “Do stay tuned to the Voice of Islam coming up next”. No IS, just “This is the Voice of Islam” at 0800. Announced also 9750 (not heard), and 6175 (also not heard). Cold and wet in Kuala Lumpur. They then went into the Kor`an, followed by translation into English (Walt Salmaniw, aboard the cruise ship SS Amsterdam, north of Samoa, en route to Honolulu circa Equator, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Azimuth is 133 degrees, which explains why it`s so armchair in Pacific, and nochair in N America (gh, DXLD) 5030 SARAWAK: see INDIA [and non] 4600-5100 bandscan ** MEXICO. As I was MW-bandscanning for TA carriers, I was distracted by some Mexicans on even frequencies which further east are dominated by Cubans. 710, Nov 20 at 0143, atop the het from 711, quite an adstring, phone numbers, typical Mexican addresses --- street names such as Reforma, Cuauhtémoc, Obregón appear in every Mexican town so are of no use at all in local IDing below the country-level. Never could get anything more definite. 0145 to live announcer who talked for a few minutes. I thought I heard an ID go by just as I tuned in, last letter of callsign being -M (or maybe -N), but that doesn`t fit. Direxion roughly SW from OK, which points to one station each listed by Callarman in Chihua2, Sonora, Sinaloa. XEDP Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua is closest, and I was also getting that state on 1180, but 710 is supposed only 100 watts at night; not enough to go on. Another one on 1180, atop the het from 1179, where it`s nice to hear neither Cuba nor Cuba [non], Nov 20 at 0131, timecheck for 6:31, temp 18 grados centígrados, so it`s in the MST zone. At 0156, ``Romántica 11-80`` slogan, 0200 YL DJ. Callarman 2008 list shows the only 1180 with that slogan is XEDCH, Ciudad Delicias, Chihuahua, which is in MST, and the temp is credible for that area SE of Chihuahua city. WRTH 2009 upbacks these assumptions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 1700 XEPE is not in Tecate! Details tomorrow. Epost QSL just in from CE.. The transmitter was moved some time ago to Tijuana next to 1630 XEUT and close to the airport. Amend your log book OMs. This is also confirmed by the current list at http://mexicoradiotv.com/listbaja.htm (Barry Davies, UK, Nov 9, MWC yg via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Band Scan 15 November to 23 November 2009 4800, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental, weak, 1000 irregular? 73s de (Bob [Robert Wilkner], Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R 8, Icom 746Pro DL, Sony 2010XA, noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEQM 6105 en Mérida, Yucatán, el 22 de noviembre UTC a las 0010 sin interferencia programación de XEMQ con música de un grupo de la región e identificación de la emisora. A las 0040 con música, identificación de emisora y tema musical “Siquiriqui” con el grupo musical yucateco Los Auténticos y luego anuncios en maya y español. A las 0055 con el tema musical “Qué rico el mambo” por Alfredo El Pulpo, luego identificación de emisora seguida por cambio abrupto (sin cierre con el himno nacional) de emisora conmutando la programación a XEMH con anuncio del locutor Poncho Castillo que presenta la última petición musical de su programa y luego una cadena de anuncios. A partir de las 0100 ligera interferencia de Radio Canadá Internacional, total ausencia de Radio Habana Cuba (¿estaría probando 6110 KHz el domingo anterior?). Envío archivos de audio. http://rapidshare.com/files/311088003/SW6105KHZ-23NOV2009-0010UTC.WAV.html http://rapidshare.com/files/311088480/SW6105KHZ-23NOV2009-0040UTC.WAV.html http://rapidshare.com/files/311088805/SW6105KHZ-23NOV2009-0055UTC.WAV.html (Ing. Civ. Israel González Ahumada, M.I., Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. Finally on Nov 20 I managed to tune in XEPPM 6185 a bit earlier to check QRM from Vatican which nominally closes at 0620, much more reliably than when Brasília opens on same. At 0614 I was hearing XEPPM on top, instead of music, historical narrative about Obregón punxuated with gunshot SFX. A rippling SAH from CVA since XEPPM is off-frequency. VR and the SAH just disappeared around 0619, leaving Radio Educación in clear as they had moved on to a burrito recipe(!). Where`s the eclectic music? Did not get back to frequency until 0632 by when jazz piano; 0636 RNA starts cutting on and off a few times and then stays on ruining XEPPM. 6185, XEPPM check Nov 24 vs RNA Brasil: at 0630, XE in the clear with Spanish announcement and soft guitar music, but quite undermodulated. Confusingly, at *0649 guitar music became loud as RNA cut on the air, coincidentally playing similar music, then Portuguese announcement // 11780 also on by then. This time RHC 11760 not strong enough to desensitize up to 11780, tho plenty signal on 11760 itself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5770, DFBS, 11/13 via Global Tuners UK from 0027 tune-in for new morning transmission. Myanma instrumental music at 0029 and woman in Myanma at 0030 to start program. Started with traditional Myanma music, then shifted to more contemporary vocals with man announcer (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook CA, Nov 22, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Confirm my earlier assumptions that the Defense Forces Station is operating *0028-0230* (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, Nov 23, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** NEPAL. 5005.000, Radio Nepal? Someone here at 1032 with S9+20 carrier, but almost NO audio. Barely perceptible talk by a man, and that's it. Best in LSB with a carrier, about 980 Hz on the high side (measured on the FT-950). 23 Nov (David Sharp, NSW Australia, FT-950 and NRD-535D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don`t quite understand why you list it as 5005.000, then. See also INDIA [and non] bandscan (gh) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. 21525 BONAIRE. R Netherlands, 2050, 11/21/09, English. An interview with a blogger who was offered a bribe by a certain company that pays "Cash 4 your Gold" to remove a negative blog entry from his site. Pulled the plug amid promos at 2057. Solid signal. Good. (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non. The Nov 19 Happy Station show with my guest David Monson can be found at: http://www.pcjmedia.com/Archive_shows.html Regs, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, Nov 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Propagation, something is moving. 6170 22/11 1430-1505 Radio New Zealand Int., Talks science, songs, ID, reports fair/good. Rx: Yaesu FRG 7 - Drake R8 Ant: T2FD, Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, dxldyg via DXLD) Must be short-path; interesting, as hereabouts we either get a mixture or VOR Chinese on top; no QRM in Europe? (gh, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Re [A-DX] unid 11770khz, (+9690) Heute um 10:30 UT war nix zu hören. vy73 Ralf Ladusch, Germany, Nov 24 hmmmm, werde morgen da mal reinhören: ``Auf 11770 kHz habe ich heute (23.11.2009) nonstop (0900-1032 UT) Softpop, HipHop, R&B mit O=3 gehört. Die Texte waren Englisch und tent Arabisch. Bis 1032 UT erfolgte keine Ansage bzw. ID.`` [unclear who is being quoted here] ...also wenn ich auf dieser frequenz etwas testend erwarten würde, dann Nigeria. Ganz total und völlig unwahrscheinlich ist das nach der beschreibung nicht, und dann: alter oder neuer sender? Auf jeden fall ist Nigeria heute nicht ganz im normalbetrieb: durchgehend Musik bis 1637* auf 9690 (gute Signalstärke, mäßiges audio), danach 15120 (schwach, später noch schwächer) 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, A-DX Nov 24 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Thorsten, der Kandidat hat 100 Punkte. Abuja - Nigeria. Natürlich, - Bodo DL3OCH der deutsche Funkamateur aus Paderborn?, der für Thomson Thalès dort die neue Kurzwellenanlage mit einrichtet, die müssten jetzt zum Ende kommen und z.B. auf 11770 kHz die 3 neuen Sender und die zwei Antennen dazu, testen, wie von Ralf vorgestern gehört. ``Bodo has asked me to make contact again in October. He tells me that he is very busy [at present]. In the transmitter building, there are currently three TSW2300 from Thomson (250 kW, 5.9-26 MHz). They are full DRM ready. Currently they have "only" the curtain antenna. Its a 16-dipole array with azimuth of 0 and the other 16-dipole array with azimuth of 285 . The beam can be switched to +15 , +30 and -15 , -30 . There is another antenna in work. It will be a rotatable antenna. It`s a huge antenna with 32 dipoles, 16 for high and 16 for lowbands.`` 7255, 9690, 11770, 15120 und 17800 kHz sollte man beobachten. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17800 inactive a long time, currently used mostly by DW (gh, ibid.) ** NORWAY. RADIO CULTURA DO PARA' 5045 kHz ASCOLTATA IN NORVEGIA 01/11/2009 - 16:26 By Carlos Henrique Gondim Last Friday (November 13th), the Portal Cultura website received an e- mail from a inhabitant of Norway, reporting that, the night before, he had heard the Radio Cultura do Pará tropical band. With the experience of who has already listened between 2,000 and 2,500 radios from all over the world, the Norwegian Tore Vik was impressed that the radiosignals from Radio Cultura tropical band could have been listened in his country, located more than 9,000 km from Brazil. Check the interview we did with Tore Vik: Jornal Web - Pará http://www.portalcultura.com.br/?site=1&pag=conteudo&mtxt=12785&cabeca=Interview:%20Tore%20Vik (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) illustrated ** OKLAHOMA. Logs - a profitable morning --- Heard on an Eton E1 and Space Magnet 2 on 11/21: 1640, KFXY Enid, OK, 0918 SNR about Ole Miss and then J. K. Harris ad. Slogan "The Score." NEW (Kevin Redding, Crump TN, ABDX via DXLD) I assume you had to get a sharp null on WTNI Biloxi MS, but at a good angle close to 90 degrees to do that (gh) ** OKLAHOMA. Since my last observation Oct 16 as in DXLD 9-077 that KGYN Guymon was very weak to inaudible in the daytime here in Enid, contrary to usual adequate groundwave signal on non-direxional 10 kW pattern, I have continued to check 1210, mainly on the caradio when aroundriving, especially in western Enid, and it had remained the same. But Nov 22 at 2045 UT it was back to its old self, with country music and 2053 ID as ``serving five states … US Country, KGYN 1210``. So I am even more convinced that in the interim they had been stuck on the direxional night pattern westward, null eastward, even in the daytime, and/or at much reduced power. Signal quite steady and I don`t think skywave had kicked in yet, nor on other frequencies north/eastward, tho it would also have been weaker that way while direxional-daytime. BTW, from the middle of No Man`s Land, it would be hard *not* to serve five states. But that sounds a lot more impressive than KGWA-960, Enid, Garfield County, proudly but too modestly asserting ``serving 5 of the greatest counties in Oklahoma``. Wouldn`t you know it, I spoke too soon about KGYN 1210 Guymon being back to normal with daytime groundwave signal reaching as far as Enid, as heard Nov 22. 24 hours later, Nov 23, also monitoring on caradio in western Enid, at several chex around 1945-2115 UT, nothing heard at all. Except a very weak SAH from who knows what marginal signals. KGYN could have been off the air. Something is certainly going on there with its transmission problems. 1120, KEOR, Nov 23, several chex 1945-2045 UT, back to playing album cuts, sometimes with long pauses, old jazz songs, Billie Holliday? No more DJ or highly-produced 1340 simulcast. By 2115 KMOX was dominating frequency altho KEOR carrier still seemed to be there. What`s next? (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. DJ TO BUY OK CITY STATION, FLIP BACK TO MODERN ROCK November 20, 2009 In an interesting turn of events, FMQB has confirmed that Citadel is selling off Spanish Sports KINB (105.3)/Oklahoma City to a group led by DJ Ferris O'Brien, who plan to flip the station back to its previous Modern Rock format. The station was formerly "105.3 The Spy" until its flip in June 2004. . . http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=1596787 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** OMAN. 17632.39v, Radio Oman Thumrait in Arabic is still odd frequency, and approx. 2000 Hertz heterodyne against CVC Darwin on adjacent 17635 kHz, poor to fair S=4-5, 0840 UT, Nov 21 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Frequency change of Radio Pakistan in English to WeEu: 1600-1610 NF 7535 ISL 250 kW / 282 deg, ex 7510 to avoid RFA in Uyghur (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) [as already in DXLD] ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3260, Radio Madang at 1347 with songs and Tok Pisin. Best of the PNGs this morning. 1359 man giving frequencies and meter bands, 1400 instrumental national anthem and off at 1401. Poor Nov 16 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, BC, Canada, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quick NBC bandscan at 1000 UT on 23 Nov found the following: 3275, 3290, 3315, 3325, 3364.989, and 3385 kHz. All others were off the air (David Sharp, NSW Australia, FT-950 and NRD-535D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Re 9-081: 7324.95, Wantok Radio Light, Port Moresby, 1234, Nov 24, English preaching and praise songs, weak but improving. To my utter surprise co-channel VOR DRM & CRI Japanese were off today, or at least I couldn't hear them, so WRL had this frequency all to themselves until they were finally pushed out by CRI English 1400. 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Band Scan 15 November to 23 November 2009 3329.53, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco 2300, 1000 IF Notch for CHU 4746.94, Radio Huanta 2000 Huanta Ayacucho 2300 4774.9, Radio Tarma, Tarma 2300 4790, Radio Visión, Chiclayo 0900 , 0000 4824.49, La Voz de la Selva, Iquitos 0930, 0000 4835.42, Radio Marañon, Jaen 0000, 0940 4857.37, Radio La Hora, Cusco 2250 5059.92, La Voz de las Huarinjas, Huancabamba, 2300 to 2350, music en español y locutor. 19 November. 5120 XXX, Ondas del Suroriente, Quillabamba, no logs, silent? 5459.728, Radio Bolívar, Cd. Bolívar 2350 on 18 November 6019.65, Radio Victoria, Lima 0750, 0000, 1000 73s de (Bob [Robert Wilkner], Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R 8, Icom 746Pro DL, Sony 2010XA, noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4835.46, Radio Marañón, Jaen, 1036-1051, Nov 20, Peruvian music. Spanish announcements. ID. Weak but readable. CODAR QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** PORTUGAL [and non]. 15560, RDPI, strongest signal on 19m band, // much weaker 15520, Nov 21 at 1625 with fado, other music. During pause lacking any intentional modulation, continuous whine on the 15560 transmitter clearly audible. Only expect to hear this active on weekend mornings. RDPI really screwed up: big signals on two unscheduled frequencies, 9455 and 9855, first heard on the latter Nov 24 at 0613 giving full schedule for this hour, but only SW frequency mentioned was 7345, normally on the air 06-07 only, to Europe, but nothing there now; plus all those satellite channels, which do we really need to hear about on SW? 9855 was blocking one of only three VOR English to North America frequencies, the one via Vladivostok, with a SAH of approx. 215/minute, while the Russians themselves were blocking another (see RUSSIA and previous reports), 9840. RDPI programming mostly music, then at 0621 found // 9455 fortuitously not colliding with anything. But 9455 transmitter was putting out a noisy spur on 9430 interfering with CVC Zambia which is now scheduled there from 04 to 07 instead of just one hour previously. At 0627 the FRG-7 metered 9455 at S9+25 and 9855 at only S9+20. Recheck at 0659, still nothing on 7345 as per their announcement they were moving from there to 9815, where nothing heard either after 0700, while 9455 and 9855 continued, the latter now clear of VOR which had just closed. Now, when is RDPI REALLY supposed to be on those two frequencies? 9455 is registered as 00-03 Tue-Sat to NAm, also 17-20 M-F, 17-21 Sat/Sun to Europe. And 9855, 00-03 Tue-Sat for Mexico down to western Brasil and northern Bolivia. So a theory: the transmitter op fell asleep and failed to turn them off at 0300, oops! Or can we blame the automation if no human was really present? In that case, we blame a human somewhere in charge of the automation. Let`s hope this was a singular event. Was also listening to RDPI on 15690, Nov 24 when it suddenly dumped off the air at 1442, and not back in next couple minutes. This one eastward is supposed to run 14-16 weekdays (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 15170 with songs in Spanish, tangos, Nov 21 at 1442. Don`t you believe it`s REE since Cariari has Saturday off from 15170, and not // REE 17595. Instead parallel 11940 RRI in music-culture show announced in Romanian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Finally managed to get away from the noise and do some listening: 1692, R. Podmoskovje, Noginsk (2 x 846), 1700 18/11/09 cuckoo clock effect at t.o.t.h. Hopefully I'll find some more harmonics on the recordings in the coming weeks (Tim Bucknall, listening to Perseus SDR files recorded in Matlock Forest, Derbyshire, 300m Beverage @ 30 degrees, UK, Nov 21, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 6075 check Nov 24 until 1400* for 8GAL CW marker on 6074: nothing from that, but did note that R. Rossii, Petropavlovsk / Kamchatskiy transmitter has been cleaned up, no longer a big rumbler, but with BFO on, still slightly unstable carrier. Jazz right up to timesignal; they never say good-night, or anything, at sign-off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. As I tuned across 9840 early in the 0600 UT hour Nov 20, I was hearing VOR in English unimpeded // weaker 9855 both from DVR sites, but at 0640, 9840 was in Russian, R. Rossii way over barely audible VOR. As complained before, Russians vs Russians, ruining reception of VOR English to NAm by using same frequency circa Moscow. See also RWM log. Poor VOR, or rather poor would-be English listeners in North America, favored with only three weak direct frequencies instead of one strong French Guiana relay like the Latin Americans get, until 0700*. As previously noted, 9840 collides with R. Rossii in Russian, this time making a SAH of about 105/minute at 0613 Nov 24, but even worse, 9855 was totally blocked by PORTUGAL [q.v.] which was running slightly overtime past 0700 instead of ceasing at scheduled 0300*. Also VOR listed from Pet/Kam until 0700 is 12030, which may or may not be propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 4996, Nov 20 at 0627 binary timecode signals, maybe at the rate of 10 per second? Seems transmitted in straight CW, 0630 into solid carrier, quite weak but separable from WWV. Surely RWM Moscow. 9996, Nov 20 at 0658 found same binary signals as a semihour earlier, and stronger here, also less QRM from weaker WWV/H 10000. Format also matches with solid carrier from 0700 to 0708, and did not detect any minute markers, but surely there was something. Nothing audible 0708- 0709, but 0709-0710 sent RWM ID multiple times on CW – just ``RWM``, no V, CQ or DE. 0710 finally started conventional timesignals with second-pips, but some of them were double just before bottoms of minutes, continuing past 0713 when I quit. This reception correlates well with R. Rossii Moscow-area site on 9840 at same time. WRTH shows both RWM frequencies as 5 kW, 24 hours; also 24h on 8 kW 14996 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 66.6/4996/9996/14996 and Radio Rossii on shortwave are in fact the very same site, Taldom, about 100 km north of Moscow. Previously the time signals originated from another site, Kupavna near Svetliy, together with mediumwave broadcasting on 918 and 1305. But this site has been closed down, and it appears that one can meanwhile explore the transmitter rooms, or are they better locked than the transformer cells and generator rooms? http://photofile.ru/users/shattl/432776/ (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Do you have any idea when the RWM time signal station switched sites? If I'm not mistaken, under the NASWA station counting rules, this just might count as a new 'station' due to the site change (Steve Lare, MI, ibid.) These NASWA rules never cease to amuse me. Use every possible trick to count as much "countries" and "stations" as possible, because the dire situation of shortwave requires such practices... Anyway: The site switch was announced for the first quarter of 2008. I have not seen follow-ups on this matter, but it seems that it has been done and the Kupavna site is completely closed now. More material: [illustrated] http://www.radioscanner.ru/forum/topic14827.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) 4996, RWM, 1250, 11/16/09. Continuous time pips in different formats every 10 minutes, eventually including one minute with a string of R- W-M IDs in Morse code. // 9996 also heard with better signal. Fair with QRM from WWV (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAMOA [and non]. Pacific DX Report for 20 November 2009: From Tonga to Samoa --- Well we’re into UTC November 21st, having left Samoa bound for Hawaii, which is 4 or 5 days of open ocean or about 2600 miles or so…our longest stretch by far. When I came out to my usual perch on the aft end Lido deck, there was a tropical monsoon with the wind and rain and somewhat churning seas, and rather muggy on top of all that. Let me back up a moment and tell you about Samoa. If there’s a single island nation to visit in the South Pacific, then it has to be Samoa (with it’s charming capital, Apia). Robert Louis Stevenson came here seeking a cure for his tuberculosis, fell in love with the place, built a lovely home up in the “mountains” and died there five years later. He’s buried on top of the hill overlooking his home. I can sure understand why he loved this place so much. It’s very lush and green, and the coastline is equally beautiful. Overall, it’s a stark contrast to Tonga, which is a very flat country, and much poorer by contrast. Here, the roads are very good, and the homes very attractive. Each one also has a structure, roofed, but completely open on the sides which is used on hot nights to sleep, and as I understand it, to house relatives who come to visit. We hired a van for the day, working out to $30 each and saw all of the sights and sounds of the place, and even went sliding down a series of waterfalls, and later swam in a freshwater cave on the coast with a connecting tunnel to another cave (not for the claustrophobe!), perhaps 5 feet deep and the tunnel itself about 2’ in height and 10’ long. Of course I had to try it, trusting our very knowledgeable guide to count to 5 and be through to the other side…He was correct, and I’m still here to report on things. Samoa, previously known as Western Samoa, gained its independence from New Zealand in 1962. It had been a German colony until after World War I, before being ceded to the Kiwi’s after the war. American Samoa is only about 90 miles away. On a radio related note, I did check for their AM stations, and failed to hear any at all (I tried 630, 648, 720, and 900). American Samoa suffered the effects of the tsunami recently much worse than did Samoa, although the north shore was hit and destroyed some resorts on that side, opposite to Apia. I saw no evidence of damage on our long day on the road. 2AP on 540 sits prominently just off the downtown core of Apia, with it’s large single tower perhaps 75 meters from the water’s edge. Reception, of course, is excellent throughout the island and perhaps a few hundred miles around. There are no other AM transmitters on the island nation. Last night I monitored for a while and noted many more North American stations audible, especially in the 1100 to 1200 range. I also listened to the sign-off of 2AP, and my results are listed below. 540: 2AP, Apia Samoa with English news at tune-in at 0808 until 0811:30, announcing “Radio 2AP news”, which I initially didn’t understand due to the Samoan accent. Into Christmas carols. Excellent reception. Retuned at 0959 to hear the NA, then OC was left on. Under this, I could clearly hear the CBC news until 1004:30, and then this went into BBC Outlook program. Perhaps the transmitter’s location can be ID’d from these details, but my assumption is that this is from Winnipeg (I think). Not a bad catch! (Walt Salmaniw, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You mean, Regina. Walt`s full reports of mostly MW DX heard on his trans-Pacific cruise, and visits to stations appeared in the dxldyg (gh) Hi Walt You'll almost be in Honolulu by now. Fascinating to track your listening across the Pacific. As you've found, it's a bit of a wasteland in terms of signals originating within the islands themselves. You heard nothing from American Samoa because nothing is on the air. KJAL has been silent for about a year, and the recent photo I have of the tower shows it's heavily rusted after a few short years and is too short for lower frequencies so has no value for the planned KKHJ and WVUV AM outlets. Wonderful to catch up with you in Wellington, and most enjoyable to see the results of your cruising DX as well. Interesting to see that CBR, CBW, CBU [old friends from my 70's DX] are still reaching towards NZ; we just have too much local QRM these days to really hear them any more. Cheers (David Ricquish, Wellington NZ, Nov 24, IRCA via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 11785, BSKSA buzzer stronger than usual Nov 23 at 1407 over anything else; remained audible, weaker at 1529. Still not heard on 21505 before 1500 but not sure if gone or due to propagation. 11785, buzz Nov 24 at 1415. Still can`t detect any Arabic mixing, and this time no Chinese audible underneath either. At 1450, 13m was barely open and could hear Qur`an very poorly on 21460, a carrier on 21640, the other Riyadh frequencies, but no signal on 21505 which used to be the big buzzer until 1500. As I have previously outpointed, BSKSA did use 11785 in the B-08 season but it is yet to appear on any B-09 schedules (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. UK (non), Frequency change of FEBA Radio: 0200-0300 NF 7315 DHA 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 7335 as follows 0200-0230 Daily in Urdu; 0230-0300 Sun in Urdu; 0230-0245 Mon-Wed in Baluchi and Thu-Sat in Sindhi 1430-1545 NF 6185 ARM 200 kW / 104 deg, ex 7275 as follows 1430-1530 Daily in Pashto/Dari 1530-1545 Sat-Tue Uzbek, Wed in Turkmen, Thu in Farsi, Fri in Hazaragi 1500-1530 NF 7365 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg, ex 7370 in Bangla Daily (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** SIERRA LEONE [non]. via UNITED KINGDOM, 11875, Cotton Tree News, *0730-0745+, Nov 22, abrupt sign on with English news. Announced “…news comes to you from CTN Freetown”. English and vernacular talk. Poor to fair but English difficult to understand due to thick accents (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) QSL: Radio Cotton Tree, [ex-] 15220 kHz - Fondation Hirondelle - P.O. Box 766 - Freetown - Sierra Leone con QSL in 151 giorni. Si 1 IRC. Rapporto già confermato con e-mail (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli / Italia, Nov 18, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. 6040, 20/11 0100 SLOVAKIA RADIO SLOV. INTERN. BRATISLAVA s/on id yl ee nx 34343 (IVANILDO GONÇALVES DANTAS, MT PF76AC ANTENA T 25M, NAVEGANTES SC RUA JOSE TOLEDO DOS SANTOS 509, BAIRRO SAO DOMINGOS 2, dxclubepr yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) Tnx to tip from Ivanildo Gonçalves Dantas, Brasil in dxclubepr yg, RSI heard on new 6040, fair signal UT Nov 23 at 0123 check in mailbag with Slavic accent, and references to RSI, finished at 0126, then into IS and IDs but no frequency announcement heard. Already scheduled on 6040 is RCI in English via Skelton at 0100-0200, but could not hear RCI underneath here; they may be colliding in Europe and eastward. RSI started the B-09 season on 7230, where I had heard it. Have RSI finally got religion and evacuated from the 40m Region 2 hamband, or is this just for better propagation? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Frequency changes of Radio Slovakia International: 0100-0227 NF 6040*RSO 150 kW / 305 deg, ex 7230 in En/Slovak/Fr NAm 0230-0257 NF 6080 RSO 150 kW / 265 deg, ex 7200 in Spanish to SAm *co-ch 0100-0157 Radio Canada International in English to SoAs via Skelton (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. Solomon Island sound bytes from Kona Hawaii On an Eton E1 and a Wellbrook ALA100M antenna Waterside at the Hale Kona Kai in Kona Hawaii http://www.dxer.ca/file-area/cat_view/84-soundbytes-classic-and-current-mp3 (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, HCDX via DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, SIBC, 1337, 11/15/09. English news from BBC. Fair signal (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Par Electronics 45' Wire, Wellbrook 1.1M Loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. After several years the medium wave DRM broadcast of RNE (Arganda 1359) has passed its testing phase and has become a regular one on the air 24 hours a day. The ID is "E7C238" and the program is labeled as "RNE DRM Arganda". I think the power isthe same: 10 kW (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, Spain, Nov 3, MWC yg via DXLD) Does this also mean there are no more analogue transmissions from Arganda Del Rey on 1359 kHz? (Herman Boel, ibid.) Who listens to the DRM transmissions? (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, ibid.) Only the proud engineers as you may suppose! (Mauricio, ibid.) No-one (Mark Hattam, ibid.) Things seems not to be very clear at RNE about the Arganda-1359 operation. After starting the 24h. DRM operation recently, the whole past week they were broadcasting in noise mode only from 1900z to about 0700. During daytime the frequency was empty. This morning (Nov. 23rd 2009) they switched off the DRM at 0657z and in some moment along the day they started in AM again. Now, at 2034z I can hear the Arganda transmitter in AM. The past week the DRM operation did not contain the scrolling text announcing 24h. operation but only "RNE DRM ARGANDA- 1359 Khz". 73s (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, Spain, Nov 23, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 7200, SRTC, *0245-0400+, Nov 21, abrupt sign on with Arabic talk. Qur`an at 0246. Talk. Short breaks of local music. Chirping birds. Fair signal but some occasional HAM QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** SUDAN [non]. via Sines, Portugal, 17745, Sudan Radio Service, *1459-1530, Nov 21, sign on with lite instrumental music & African music. Opening English ID announcements at 1500 with IDs, contact information, phone numbers and into “Lets Talk” drama program about Sudanese elections. Talk about elections being free and fair. Into Arabic talk at 1529. Fair to good. According to the WRTH, English is scheduled for Sat & Sun only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 17745, SRS via PORTUGAL, Sat Nov 21 at 1530 tune-in, English talk by M&W, heavy accent and heavy echo but not during the music breaks. Same date, Brian Alexander was hearing them in English from *1459 but Arabic at 1529, as per WRTH saying English is Sat/Sun only. But back in English when I intuned. 17745, Sudan Radio Service via Sines, PORTUGAL, Sunday Nov 22 at 1537 with Q&A in English about the advantages of democratic elexions. At least on the local level; not much chance of that on the national level, but got to start somewhere. Sounds like something out of Washington, tho with true African accents. Woman posed questions, man explained. At conclusion I think they mentioned elexions coming up in July 2009, so a repeat? Still with introduced echoing on the talk, otherwise good signal. 1544-1545 multiple Sudan Radio Service IDs, then into vernacular (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. Band Scan 15 November to 23 November 2009: 4990, Radio Apintie, Paramaribo, 0730 Dutch OM, 20 November. 73s de (Bob [Robert Wilkner], Pómpano Beach, Florida, Drake R 8, Icom 746Pro DL, Sony 2010XA, noise reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, Nov 24, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. 783 kHz, R. Syria 1, Tartus (34 55'N 35 52'E) NOV 10 0250 - Traditional Syrian music (different from 4845 Mauritania and different from Lebanese music as well). Fairly good and splittable from 780 WBBM using both the Sanyo and Sangean with the PK AM Loop. Later, after 0300 when Arabic talk was heard, they were down in the mud and fading out with transmitter site sunrise. The catch of the week, probably my best mediumwave DX ever! (Bogdan A. Chiochiu, QC, NRC IDXD Nov 20 via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) NOV 20 2300 - Presumed; Middle Eastern orchestra music through the hour. Listen for interval signal at 0300 (Bruce Conti, NH, ibid.) ** TAIWAN. According to letter from Voice of Kunghua, Taiwan, their new mailing address is P. O. Box 1700, Taipei, Taiwan. P. O. Box 12329, listed in WRTH 2009 is no longer used. They are continuing to issue 3 pieces QSL puzzle (not card!) forming the Taiwan island (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, Nov 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. See INDIA [and non], 4600-5100 bandscan ** TIBET [non]. Some VT Communications changes: Voice of Tibet in Tibetan 1330-1400 NF 13695 DHA 250 kW / 070 deg to CeAs, ex 15430 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** TUNISIA. 4660 harmonic/spur. Tunis 1938 with Arabic songs (old) 1938 OM with "idaatu wataniya ke tuinisi" Sudden poweroff though still heard with S2 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, 18/11, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not harmonic; no divisors work out to a MW channel. However, 4660 = 12005 minus 7345, two well-known Sfax channels, which must both have been on the air tho 7345 supposedly does not start until 2000. Please check them both next time (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 15350, TRT Ankara in Turkish produces two 'unclean spurious' on 15284.5 - 15288.7 and 15410.7 - 15415 kHz. Scheduled 15350 to EUR and 15480 to AS, both at 0700-1400 UT, Nov 21. Noted on AOR AR7030 and Eton E1, as well as some SONY ICF2010's (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Zaporozhje. Dneprovskaya Khvylya. SSB. 11980 kHz : 300 Watt. 0900-1200 (Alexander Egorov, Kiev, Ukraine / 'open_dx" via RusDX 22 Nov via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) Meaning, it is known to be active on the air? (gh, ibid.) ** UKRAINE. Friday, November 20, 2009 1400 UTC received prearranged telephone call from Tetyana Stechak, editor in chief of the RUI English Service. We spoke for about 17 minutes on topics on "What do you do apart from shortwave listening?", "My website project", "History of being a Radio Ukraine International listener", "How has international shortwave broadcasting changed over the past several decades" and "The future of shortwave". My interview will be broadcast during "Hello from Kiev" on November 28, 2009. I thank Radio Ukraine International for giving me such a unique opportunity. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, Virginia USA, Nov 20, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kraig, Very good. I hope they get their websteam going in the following week in case SW reception is bad. Today 21st I am not able to get any of the RUI linx on this page to connect: http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=308 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: I downloaded the program on thier site. It Worked fine with no problems. 73's, (Noble West, TN, ibid.) Good, glad that worx especially since the live stream does not (gh) ** U A E. Some VT Communications changes: Gospel for Asia in SoEaAs langs 2330-2400 NF 6160 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAs, ex 6040 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** U K [non]. BBC morning on 12070 --- Due to interference BBC World Service in English is now using 12070 (via Thailand relay) at 0100- 0200 replacing 11955 (Alok Dasgupta, Kolkata via dxasia.info via Alokesh Gupta, Nov 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. 9740 via Singapore, BBCWS in a rare music show, Sunday Nov 22 at 1450, African this time. Same heard an hour later on 17640 and better 17830 both via Ascension, at 1535 drumming and chanting, 1541 Charlie Gillett announces a duet by unknown Burundi girls, matching playlist at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0053fd0 for this edition of his World of Music show. 9915, BBCWS in English, Nov 23 at 2151, interview featuring Indian accents first brought to mind AIR GOS, but not on 9915, which also had tell-tale ``generator whine/hum`` which inflicts various Ascension relay frequencies, which this is at 21-23. BBCWS also uses 9915 at various times between 04 and 21 but in Arabic, via Cyprus, Rampisham, or even Austria (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. New Frequency changes of BBC: 0100-0200 12070 NAK 250 kW / 275 deg English, x 11955 1345-1430 7205*SNG 250 kW / 340 deg Burmese, ex 7395 1400-1500 7395 NAK 250 kW / 280 deg Hindi, x 7205 avoid VOR Russian 1500-1530 7600 NAK 250 kW / 305 deg Urdu, ex 7205 avoid VOR Russian 1800-1900 7505 NAK 250 kW / 300 deg Dari, ex 7550 avoid AIR English *co-channel VOR in Russian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** U K. RADIO 4 MAKES SHIPPING FORECAST BLUNDER The Independent By Chris Green 24 November 2009 "Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth, Biscay: south-westerly gale eight to storm 10, occasionally violent..." The problem with this particular shipping forecast was that it warned of a tempest which took place the day before. For almost 90 years, the forecast's familiar rhythmic strains have been broadcast on BBC radio. But at 48 minutes past midnight on Sunday 15 November, the wrong one was read out. The error escaped the notice of most people listening to Radio 4 at the time, the vast majority of whom would have been tucked up in bed rather than battling the high seas. But one sharp-eared listener, David Newton from Easter Ross in Scotland, realised that the forecast - which predicted storm force winds in south-westerly areas - was exactly the same as one read out 20 hours earlier. "The storm force 11 winds forecast for south westerly areas were announced, but by this time they had clearly been and gone," he told Radio 4's Feedback programme last Friday. "The entire transmission was a repeat from nearly 20 hours earlier. Was I the only sad person to spot it?" . . . [and sidebar:] HOW THE SHIPPING FORECAST HAS ENTERED MODERN CULTURE - The band Radiohead referenced the mysterious names used in the shipping forecast in their song "In Limbo", on the album Kid A: "Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea / I've got a message I can't read". . . http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/radio-4-makes-shipping-forecast-blunder-1826750.html (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K [non]. 6230, UK special football program towards China in Chinese, Nov 21. Before they transmitted at 1724 was a FDM stream that seemed suddenly stronger. Reception was nearly marginal on the USB side but later UK program gained readability over FDM channel. 1900, FDM channel stopped leaving the UK feeder in clear with signal S7 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s the WRN relay via UZBEKISTAN, weekends only (gh) May soon be more football on shortwave in other languages (WRN) ** U S A. OBAMA TAPS FORMER BUSH AIDE FOR BBG POST President Barack Obama has tapped a former top aide of his predecessor George W Bush to a key post on a board overseeing government-sponsored international broadcasting. Dana Perino, the first Republican woman to serve as White House press secretary, was appointed late yesterday to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). “I’m honoured by the president’s announcement and I’m looking forward to serving on the bipartisan board, if I’m confirmed,” Perino said. She currently serves as chief issues counsellor for the United States at international public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and as a contributor to the Fox News Channel, which has sparred with the Obama administration over the past several months. Mr Obama also nominated Walter Isaacson, president of the Aspen Institute leadership group and former CNN chief executive and Time magazine editor, to serve as BBG chairman. He was one of eight people tapped to serve on the board, including Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Michael Lynton, Susan McCue, Michael Meehan, Victor Ashe, Dennis Mulhaupt and S Enders Wimbush. All nominees must next be confirmed by the Senate. (Source: AFP) (November 19th, 2009 - 16:42 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) FINALLY: PRESIDENT OBAMA NAMES HIS NOMINEES FOR BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS. President Obama has announced his intention to nominate a chairman and seven members of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, replacing the four remaining Governors. Walter Isaacson, designated nominee for chairman, "is President of the Aspen Institute and serves as chair of the board of Teach for America. He is the former Chairman and CEO of CNN and former editor of Time Magazine." As other Democratic members of the BBG: "Michael Lynton is the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. He is the former CEO of AOL Europe and Chairman and CEO of Pearson plc's Penguin Group." "Susan McCue is President of Message Global, a strategic advocacy firm she founded in 2008 for social action campaigns. She was the founding President and CEO of The ONE Campaign to combat extreme global poverty, and before that was Chief of Staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from 1999 to 2006." "Michael P. Meehan currently serves as President of Blue Line Strategic Communications, Inc. and as Senior Vice President at Virilion, a digital media company. For over two decades, Meehan served in senior roles for U.S. Senators John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Maria Cantwell and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, two presidential campaigns, two U.S. House offices and congressional campaigns in 25 states." The White House, 18 November 2009. Nominated as Republican members of the BBG: "Victor H. Ashe recently served as United States Ambassador to Poland from June 2004 to October 2009. He also previously served as a Tennessee State Representative and was the longest serving Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee." "Dennis Mulhaupt is founder and managing director of Commonwealth Partners, Inc., providing advisory services to philanthropic institutions and families. He previously served as Executive Vice President at KCET in Los Angeles, a west-coast flagship public broadcasting and media company." "Dana Perino is the Chief Issues Counselor for the United States at Burson-Marsteller and is a Fox News Contributor. She is the former White House Press Secretary to President George W. Bush - the first Republican woman to hold that position." "S. Enders Wimbush is the Senior Vice President for International Programs and Policy at the Hudson Institute. He previously worked in the private sector with Booz Allen Hamilton and Science Applications International Corporation, and served as director of Radio Liberty in Munich." The White House, 18 November 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) For the most part, these future senior managers of US international broadcasting have no experience in international broadcasting. We assume they are quick studies. If they understand that the audience for international broadcasting is seeking credible news, and if they, as the firewall, protect the independence of that news, US international broadcasting can succeed. If they think that US international broadcasting is a conveyance for messages supporting US foreign policies, and assume that an audience will listen to, let alone be swayed by, such messages, US international broadcasting will fail. The years that the nominees' term will end are listed at The White House, 19 November 2009. The BBG members' terms are staggered so that no one president names all the members at one time. It didn't work this time, due to delays, for various reasons, in replacing the present members of the Board (Kim Andrew Elliott, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, ibid.) "[S]he’s been quite a vocal critic of the current White House. But he nominated her anyway. President Barack Obama nominated his predecessor’s press secretary, Dana Perino, to the bipartisan Broadcasting Board of Governors. We asked Perino about it, and she told us that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell put her name forward for the position. 'I was honored that Senator McConnell recommended me, and humbled when I found out it was accepted. I look forward to meeting the senators and to hopefully earning their support for confirmation.'" Tabassum Zakaria, "Front Row Washington blog, Reuters, 19 November 2009. See also The Hill, 18 November 2009, and (another) The Hill, 18 November 2009. Posted: 20 Nov 2009 (see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=7806 for linx, via DXLD) Perino, the one who didn`t know what the Cuban missile crisis was; and A Fox `news` contributor i.a.: (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-names-bush%e2%80%99s-former-spokeperson-to-broadcast-board.html/print/ 73, (via John Wesley Smith, KC0HSB, DXLD) ** U S A. VOICE OF AMERICA EXPANDS AUDIENCE Washington Post, By Juan O. Tamayo, Miami Herald, November 24, 2009 Facing a group of presidents loudly critical of Washington, the U.S. government's Voice of America broadcast is expanding its audience in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, VOA officials said. VOA's Spanish-language division also will step up its use of Radio/TV Marti's production facilities in Miami because of budget pressures on both broadcasters, the officials added. . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/23/AR2009112303863.html (via Dale Rothert; Mike Cooper; Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. 15580, VOA News Now in English, Nov 20 at 1710, VG S9+20, too strong to be anything but Greenville, which we thought in B-09 was being employed on this frequency only for Music Mix at 21-22. Now it`s also 94 degrees at 17-18, ergo 274 degrees offbackward too. 7407-7408 or so, distorted FMy blob in Cuban Spanish discussion, Nov 21 at 0018. No sharp carrier to downpin. Not // VOA Spanish 5890, 9885; República 9810, nor RHC Spanish all over 49m, so presumed Radio Martí, 7405 transmitter very out of order. Is no one paying attention at Greenville? Heavy jamming on 6030, so without a second receiver handy, hard to be certain of // and nothing much on 9825. However, uplooked later, 7405 is taking a Martí-break at 0000-0300, with 7365 scheduled during these two sesquihours instead; not remembering that, I did not check it, but surely jammed too as it was when finally tuned at 0140. What I was hearing on 7407-7408 must have been a spur from 7365 instead, or 7365 way mistuned. Even so, it was the `best` signal audible from Radio Martí, unjammed! Next check 0131: 7405 normal with VOA Special English as scheduled and no more 7407-7408 to QRM that. Propagation was outdropping during the 00-01 hour, but checking VOA Spanish on 5890, 9885 a few times therein, both were poor but 9885 somewhat better and DentroCuban jamming if any not definitely audible. VOA Greenville, 13725, 2159 Nov 23 with YDD sign-on, bit of unrelated music at 2200, bad switching, and opening in Creole. Bandscanning upwards, I came to // 15390 at 2205 but it was open carrier. Then Creole audio cut on, off, back on but at very low level, they turned up level. Don`t know if it was all silence until 2205, but such things have happened at IBB. After a transmission starts is not the time to mess around with the modulation input or output (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 7575, NORTHERN MARIANAS. VOA via Tinian, 1355, 11/22/09. Full S9 signal. Audio & transmission cut without announcement at 1358. Weak carrier back at 1359:44. 1400 transmission listed via Udon Thani. This signal was threshold. If 1 degree difference in bearing, why extreme difference in strength? (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Par Electronics 45' Wire, Wellbrook 1.1M Loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 279 degrees from Tinian, 280 from Thailand, both of them almost due west nowhere near our direxion, so we are getting back/sidelobe. The difference is that Thailand is much further west, and the direct great-circle path from there to us goes much further north into the absorbing auroral zone than the direct signal from Tinian in the western Pacific. It could also be that we happen to be in more of a null from the Udorn pattern than from the Tinian. But things change:: VOA on 7575 per latest schedules is supposed to switch from Tinian to Thailand at 1400, but remain in English. I think this has truly been the case on recent occasions, but not Nov 24: at 1410, good S9+18 signal on 1410, but in Chinese – didn`t sound like Mandarin, tho, so probably Cantonese. Same at 1451 recheck. Per the VOA A-Z language schedule, Cantonese is at 13-15, but the only 7 MHz frequency is 7390, while Mandarin is supposed to be on 7525. A mixup in program feeds, or deliberate site/language-switching to confuse the ChiCom jammers, not to mention the would-be listeners? Too, signal level now makes Tinian or Tinang site more likely than Thailand (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Next day, 7575 absent after 1400: see my next report ** U S A [non]. Frequency changes of IBB: Voice of America 1730-1800 NF 15545 BOT 100 kW / 350 deg, ex 15445 Portuguese Radio Liberty in Tatar, test frequencies 0400-0500 on 9585 BIB 100 kW / 065 deg, Nov. 24, 25, 26 0600-0700 on 11730 BIB 100 kW / 065 deg, Nov. 24, 25, 26 2000-2100 on 7470 LAM 100 kW / 055 deg, Nov. 24, 25, 26 Radio Liberty 0400-0500 NF 5840 BIB 100 kW / 063 deg, ex 5940 Russian 0400-0500 NF 5940 LAM 100 kW / 055 deg, ex 5840 Tatar (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) See also IRAN [non] ** U S A. CHILD RAPIST AND ANTI-CATHOLIC CULT BOSS GETS 175 YEARS Posted in Anti-Catholic by Larry Keller on November 13, 2009 Cult evangelist Tony Alamo was ordered today to spend his remaining years in a place that nobody will confuse with heaven. A federal judge in Texarkana, Ark., sentenced him to 175 years in prison for transporting young girls he called his “brides” across state lines for sex. Before being sentenced, Alamo, 75, testified briefly and praised God. “I’m glad I’m me and not the deceived people in the world,” he said. The anti-Catholic, pro-polygamy, gay-bashing evangelist — whose birth name is Bernie LaZar Hoffman — was convicted in July on 10 counts of taking girls across state lines for sex over a period of 14 years. His stepdaughter, Christhiaon Coie, wasn’t among them but, in an earlier interview with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report, said she was raped by Alamo when she was in her teens. “I want to thank [the SPLC] for demanding justice when so many others turn a blind eye to so many pathetic cowards who hide behind Bibles, sheets and children,” she said in an E-mail today as she awaited news of Alamo’s sentence. Alamo met and married Coie’s mother, Edith — a name she soon changed to Susan — in 1966 and the couple began Tony Alamo Christian Ministries three years later in California. Followers say they were punished with beatings and food deprivation, and threatened with losing their spouses and children. Among other things, Alamo blamed the Catholic church for communism, Nazism and the two world wars. The Alamos moved the cult’s headquarters to Arkansas in 1975. When Susan Alamo died of cancer in 1982, her husband kept her embalmed body in the dining room of their home for several months in the expectation that she would rise from the dead. Her casket eventually was interred in a heart-shaped mausoleum. Alamo served four years in prison in the 1990s for income tax evasion. He resumed his ministry when he got out. Last year, federal agents raided his 15-acre compound in the town of Foulke, Ark., near the Texas state line, looking for evidence of sexual activity with underage girls. One teenager told the FBI that Alamo “married” and had intercourse with her when she was 9. An informant told agents that she saw Alamo sometimes take more than one girl at a time to his bedroom, where he kept candy bars and a Barbie doll collection. Three of Alamo’s child brides testified at his sentencing hearing. One, who said she became a “bride” at age 8, asked Alamo, “What kind of man of God does what you have done?” U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes told Alamo that one day he will face a higher judge than himself, adding, “May God have mercy on your soul.” Alamo will remain in Texarkana for now, pending a Jan. 13 hearing to determine whether he should pay restitution to his victims. Then the judge will have him sent to a federal prison with hospital facilities. SOURCE: Southern Poverty Law Center URL: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2009/11/13/child-rapist-and-anti-catholic-cult-boss-gets-175-years/ NOTE: Make sure WINB cancels this scarefest (via Eric Bueneman, MO, DXLD) Six days after evangelist Bernie LaZar ``Tony Alamo`` Hoffman was sentenced to 175 years in prison for multiple child sexual abuse, WINB breezes along like nothing has happened, still broadcasting him Nov 19 at 1620 check on 13570, no doubt one of three weekdaily hours devoted to him. Not distorted this time, but carrier as usual is slightly unstable, obvious with BFO on. Eleven days after being sentenced to 175 years in prison for child sexual abuse, ``Tony Alámo`` is still welcome to ``evangelize`` on WINB, 9265, Nov 24 at 1340. Perhaps he has an ironclad contract for airtime? More likely WINB doesn`t give a damn what creeps they put on the air, much less serving the public interest in any way whatsoever. At the moment he was rambling, ``didn`t go to the beach and get a corn dog today,`` which would seem slightly off-topic, to Amens from a YL apparently named Susan --- one of his victims? No telling how old this recording is. She then read mail from an alleged fan in London who wanted a CD of something Alamo said to listen to over and over. Then quoting Mark IV:20, interrupted for annotations by Bernie LaZar Hoffmann. O, Susan must be his long-embalmed wife, Susan Lipowitz, as in the incredible long story here, http://www.tonyalamonews.com/3027/112109-remember-the-alamo-tony-alamo.php who died in 1982, so a fairly old show, unless another Susan has come along since. It`s not all over yet; various associates are facing charges, and the above story says: ``Alamo must return to court on January 13, 2010, for a hearing to determine whether five women who testified about sexual abuse will be paid up to US$2.7 million in restitution." (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Worldwide Christian Radio (WWCR) is currently testing on 3240 at 0100 UT and invites reports. I am now monitoring it on this channel on the Grundig YB500 receiver and putting in a whopping signal ALL FIVES! This is as of Thursday, November 19, 2009. 73's, (Noble West, TN, Grundig YB500 On Batteries, Built-in Broken whip, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4910, WWCR difference mix at 0012 Nov 21, 9980 minus 5070 with music and talk respectively. Poor signal QRMing CODAR. By now, 9980 itself fading down, no longer the daytime supersignal, making 4910 more likely to be a genuinely transmitted mixing product rather than receiver overload, and many others have reported WWCR 4910. No sign of 4755 lately. Seems to be regular on 3240 now, tho maybe still experimental as some have heard them asking for reports on that. BTW, WWRB now wants to use 3240 after WWCR shifts to 3215 at 0200, since some receivers don`t tune down to 3185 or 3145. Wouldn`t it be less confusing if each one used the same frequency thruout rather than swapping back and forth? But WWRB as usual is trying to take advantage of a channel pioneered by WWCR if it proves to be suitable for NIB usage, on its coattails opening that up to all other US SW stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Greetings: We have asked the FCC to allow WWRB to use 3240 after 0200 UT. This move is to allow WWRB shortwave to move to the 'In band' portion of the 3 MHz tropical band. Some inexpensive shortwave radios on the current market do not tune below 3200. WWRB see this as an opening to allow more listeners to discover WWRB shortwave booming signals & and our 'clean cut' line up of wholesome worthwhile compelling Christian programming. We are inviting various ministries to join WWRB shortwave in our CAUSE to bring the Gospel to the world: Our original goal. The FCC has asked WWRB to wait on its request to use 3240. WWRB agreed to wait for a reasonable time before making the request official. It's worth noting, frequencies that have been cleared by the NTIA & FCC are open to ALL U.S. domestic shortwave stations if the frequency is not being used (Dave Frantz, WWRB, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hearing nice classical piano music on 10140 this morning. Deep fades at 1105 UT with possible English language, presentation style was evangelical (hard to make out words but tone was "preachy" with voice rising and pausing like a preacher). (Andy O`Brien, NY, Nov 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Check WWCR 5070 x 2 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid., gh, DXLD) Surprised to hear Martha Garvin`s ``Musical Memories`` Sat Nov 21 at 1407 on 7490, i.e. following ``Rock the Universe`` at 13-14 on WWCR-3. Per the current pdf program grid dated Nov 1, the Sat 1400-1430 program is supposed to be Country Crossroads. MM has Martha accompanying herself loudly on piano, belting away hymns and somewhat secular songs on a theme: this week, what else, Thanksgiving, with ``We Gather Together`` as I intuned, and after some comments, next on to Irving Berlin`s ``Count Your Blessings``, and at 1414 ``Great Is Thy Faithfulness``. MM is on the WWCR grid as follows: Sat 1530 on 15825, Sun 1100 on 5070, Tue 1830 on 15825, Wed 1330 on 15825 --- so this week at least, she`s on a frequency with a big signal, and at a waking hour! However, 7490 had massive distortion from selective fading on top of WWCR`s audio processing, not ideal for music in the first place. MM is missing from the program linx page at http://www.wwcr.com/pgm-links.html but googling soon finds her website http://www.musicalmemoriestv.com/ ``OLD SONGS OF THE CHRISTAIN [sic] FAITH!" with portrait where several of her shows are available online and by DVD. Google also reminds us that she is or was also on WINB but her website gives no SW schedule. 13845, WWCR with PMS, Nov 21 at 1434 and QRM from WEWN 13835 parasitic hash which always accompanies at least one of its transmitters plus and minus 10 kHz. We have been outpointing this for months, but it goes on and on. Perhaps a direct complaint from victim adjacent stations WWCR, and in other cases WYFR, would get something done about it, unless nobody really cares! Not that I am dying to hear PMS, DGS or BS on 13845 nor anything from WYFR e.g. 11530, 15600. Catholix vs Protestants, or whatever they are (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWCR Nashville is putting a killer signal into the Albany, NY area on 4775 kHz at 2220 UT. The program is rock music interspersed with frequent announcements by a male describing the transmission as a test and asking for reception reports to 4775 @ wwcr.com At my location, the signal is a solid S9+30 with only a minor infrequent fluctuation down to +20 (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Rcvr: Eton E1XM, Ant: Alpha Delta DX Sloper, Nov 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST WWCR is 10 over S9 here at 2230 on 4775 with music and announcements with ID's, e mail and postal mail addresses (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, ibid.) Hopefully they will go somewhere else; that's Radio Tarma's frequency. (Chuck Bolland, FL, ibid.) And they were apparently testing previously on 4755 which was the frequency of the now missing for two years Pacific Missionary Aviation Radio out of Micronesia (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, ibid.) Oh how wonderful. just another local broadcaster ruining what is left of the tropical bands. No wonder the hobby is dying (Steve Price, ODXA yg via DXLD) WWCR 4775 also heard with strong clear signal in UK at 2300 tune-in. I can currently also hear WWCR on 5070 and 9980, but have no reception here on listed 3240 or 13845 so I presume 4775 is instead of one of those channels? (Dave Kenny, Caversham UK, AOR7030 + 25m long wire, dxldyg via DXLD) 13845, 12160 and 9980 remained on when I checked at 2234. I assume 12160 switched to 5070 at 2300. And of course, that brings up the other 60m frequency, 4910 which is 9980 minus 5070 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Mark: WWCR heard here on 4775 with good signal and occasional fluctuations due to broken whip on YB 500 receiver used for monitoring the test. Tuned in at 2308 UT after tip received from Dave. 73, (Noble West, TN, Receiver: Grundig YB500, Antenna: Builtin whip, ibid.) New 4775.00. 2315-2325 21.11. WWCR, Nashville, TN testing English announcement, asking for reception reports, pop music 45333. Also heard 0525-0550 22.11 same program, 35434 (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire here in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdxyg via DXLD) With a portable indoors in Germany it is just a carrier, with no modulation poking through the noise. But this is typical for WWCR here. At the same time WHRI on 5850 is OK, also quite noisy but usable. That's the whole of USA on shortwave here (Kai Ludwig, Germany, 2326 UT, ibid.) [4775] Receiving here with a killer signal - S40+. Nice to listen to a shortwave broadcast at 15 kHz. Sounds fabulous! (John Schneider [where?], AR5000A+3 w/ Collins at 6 and 3, Alpha-Delta DX-LB+, DXtremeLogging, 2356 UT Nov 21, NASWA yg via DXLD) 5/9 in Boise (Frank N7SOK Aden, ID, 0116 UT Nov 22, ABDX via DXLD) 4775, WWCR testing this frequency instead of 4755 [see BRAZIL]. Tnx to tip from John Figliozzi, Nov 21 at 2233 with announcement asking for reception reports, back to music; Not so big a signal here but certainly plenty adequate. On here instead of 7465, which means it`s the #1 transmitter; still going past 2300, now instead of 3240. VG signal here, so goodbye to Radio Tarma, Perú on 4775. Did not check more thru the evening, as assumed they would go back to 3240/3215 by 0000, but when I did retune at 0630 Nov 22, 4775 was still/again on the air at S9+22 with hard rock music (gospel?), and test announcement at 0632. So much for Nigeria on 4770, and Guatemala`s Radio Coatán on 4780, currently inactive but willing to reactivate if they could find a needed transmitter component, as Manuel Méndez found out. See GUATEMALA. Despite the huge signal from Nashville, could hear TADIL-A bonking underneath. Assuming that is a legitimate USG/military user of the 4775 bandwidth, WWCR`s stay there may be short. Did anyone notice whether WWCR went back to 3215 by 0730 when WORLD OF RADIO is scheduled on Sundays? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX WORLD OF RADIO 1488, LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, WWCR was using 3215 Sunday and today Monday at 0730 when checked. I tuned 4775 first and heard no signal there. 3215 was unfortunately poor on Sunday but back to near normal good strength today. WWRB also similar on 3185 but no trace of any broadcast on 3230 or 3240 around this time (Noel R. Green (NW England), England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4775, UNID, Based on earlier reports, this must have been WWCR at 0315 on 11/19. Interview with some woman who wrote an inspirational book. Off abruptly in mid-sentence at 0325. We do NOT want or need WWCR on 60 meters! (Gerry Dexter, Lake Geneva, WI, NRD-545, Tentec 340, Parker balanced doublet, Mark (MK-1) antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Note that was 3 evenings before all the other reports of 4775 above. Perhaps they were at least deferring to TWR Swaziland, getting off 4775 before it starts at 0340? (gh, DXLD) And, not incidentally, another religious broadcaster already on 4775 at certain hours: SWAZILAND: 4775 Trans World Radio (presumed). 0353-0405. 14 Nov. Vernacular preaching by OM in unID language. Very strong signal with little QRN until 0400. Signal dropped to almost nothing at 0400 with presumed switch to German service. Good to Poor. Not listed in EiBi (Joe Wood, TN, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Aoki shows a switch to 233 deg. at 0400 from 3 deg.; at same power. You'd think that the latter would be more favorable. PrimeTimeShortwave shows nothing till 0430. HFCC & the 2009 Passport shows them 0342-0800. HFCC shows the 3 to 233 deg. switch at 0400 (MARE Tipsheeet ed. via DXLD) 4775, 21/11 2300, WWCR - Nashville English ID e MX ottimo (ma anche??? Ciao Tarma, ciao Congonhas) (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli / Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) WWCR back on 3240, Nov 22 at 2345 check, while 24 hours earlier they were testing transmitter-1 on 4775. Have not tried to outfigure it, but test hours are probably during unsold time, or at least with the approval or even urging of certain clients. 9980, WWCR-4, PPP service off the air Nov 23 at 2149 and further chex next dekaminute. Nor on nite frequency 5890. Nor on recently tested frequencies 4775, 4755, 3240. Other transmitters heard normally on 7465, 12160, 13845. Possibly #4 was testing some completely different channel as I did not scan the entire SWBC spectrum, but not on 31m. Also checked WWCR frequencies at 2355 and found 3240 running, no testing on 4 MHz band now, leaving TADIL-A bonker in the clear on 4775. In case WWCR-4 would also be missing from nighttime channel 5890, checked that around 0235 Nov 24, but it was back on, so never mind looking for R. Peace, Sudan on 5895 if it is really active at 0300- 0400. One WWCR transmitter was down on Nov 23, and another one on Nov 24: nothing from PMS/DGS audible on 13845 around 1430 tho 15825 was propagating, and 7490, 9980 inblasting as usual. At 1445 switched on BFO and confirmed that WEWN 13835 spur now had 13845 to itself (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More WWCR below under WWRB item ** U S A. [more about WWRB above within WWCR thread, wants to use 3240 after 0200 --- gh] 18770, WWRB on 2 x 9385 with Brother Scare service, Nov 22 at 1545, peaking S7 or so. Had not been deliberately looking for this harmonic lately, but as a matter of fact, the usual tipoff, WWCR on 15825 was enhanced by HF sporadic E at the time with insane screaming preacher who views the extreme modulation distortion he causes as an asset, and still going at 1607 check, i.e. scheduled 1530-1630 ``A Temple Of Jesus Christ`` with Cleveland Waters. By then, however, 18770 no longer audible. The intentional 18 MHz channels then: YFR Spanish only poor on 18930, and too weak to tell language on 18980. Both start at 1600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI inbooming on 9955 in the nightmiddle, S9+20, no jamming audible, Nov 20 at 0608, W&W in Wirelight talk, no doubt on the reactivated NW antenna this UT Friday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ``Ears to Our World``, the PCJ Media special about radio in Africa, was repeated at 1400 UT Sat Nov 21 on WRMI 9955, but DentroCuban jamming was at about the same level, sometimes on top. Tnx a lot, Arnie! I only heard the first quarter on the first airing UT Fri Nov 20 at 0200 when it pre-empted WORLD OF RADIO, so hope the entire file will be availablized at http://www.pcjmedia.com/Other_PCJ_Shows.html but not yet as of 1945 UT Nov 21. Yes: See AFRICA far above 9955, WRMI Sunday Nov 22 at 1614, closing the only(?) Cuban exile program in English, ``CDHD Brigade`` announcers named Carla Ferrera and Segundo Miranda; WRMI ID and into WORLD OF RADIO 1487 at 1615, VG signal over jamming if any (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBCQ: to combat the high commercial electricity costs, 20 cents per kWH, we plan to install a low-compression Diesel generator next summer, which could run on corn oil waste from a nearby food processing plant, or other waste as long as it is well filtered. Wind power is helping already but not sufficient. Diesel could eventually supply up to 250 kW of the 500 kW needed to power all the transmitters and equipment (Allan Weiner, WBCQ, Nov 22, gist of comments to gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. We have recently been discussing the demise of WHRA, the other SW station in Maine. It`s not in B-09 schedules, but how long has it really been off? Hard to tell with identical WHR programming coming from South Carolina, and some WHRA frequencies taken over by WHRI; the WHR website never up to date, no help and self-contracitory (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I noticed that their website did not mention WHRA in their transmission schedules any more in A09, when I collected the new season's data. Same in B09. Their frequency schedules are a mess otherwise, and they were late in updating Hawaii to Palau, so I'd presume WHRA's final broadcast was earlier than or in March 2009. Btw, could one of your contacts please convince WHR to provide a useful frequency/programme schedule on their website?? It continues to be self-contradictory and they (WHR) have ignored feedback emails. So like yourself I am now "assuming" that they finished at the end of B-08 period in late March 2009. I noted a Jan 2009 logging in dxld this morning for WHRA. Hopefully they update their website soon. (Eike Bierwirth-USA, SW TXsite Nov 17 via BC-DX via DXLD) History: ``I was not up late enough to check at 0630 March 29, but anyhow that monitoring needs to be done in Europe. I did, however, note at 0459 on 7390, it was WHRI signing-on, NOT WHRA, contrary to registrations. (And not in B-08 listings either as I first assumed they may have still been operating on the previous season's schedule.) [...] (Glenn Hauser, to R. Tirana, via dxld March 2009)" And: "Note that the WHR website does not list the callsign WHRA any more. Angel 5 is now also called "WHRI". It is still listed at the Greenbush, Maine, location on the "Technical Information" page - but that same page lists T8WH as being in Hawaii, which is so obviously wrong (as long as you know your callsign prefixes). And their frequency table STILL contradicts itself, listing the SAME frequency from different transmitters, with different programs, at the SAME time. I notified them about that at the beginning of A09, but they still couldn't fix it." [my mail to dxld yg on 3 June 2009] (Eike Bierwirth-USA, SW TXsite Nov 17, ibid.) WHRA was included in the initial FCC A-09 schedule dated 31 March, but was gone from the next revision dated 30 June, and the final one dated 18 Sept, tho we did not notice this at the time. WHR should have via FCC withdrawn the WHRA registrations from HFCC schedule as of a specific date, but did they? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Could it be that the mentioned observation from last January was one from yours truly? I recall coming across one morning or rather night transmissions from both Furman-SC and Greenbush-ME, comparing the audio processing, noting that the WHR transmitters are the only US shortwave outlets sufficient for regular reception in Europe etc. But perhaps this was sometime in last year, since I think both signals were around 7.5 MHz. Anyway I can't find it back now. So how many and which transmitters are now operational at Furman, the site registered as WHRI nowadays? It seems that one of the 100 kW transmitters from their closed Noblesville-IN site has been installed there, but has somebody a complete, real schedule at hand to confirm this? The tables on the WHR site are just useless, with apparently outdated frequencies and referring to satellite channels ("Angel" 1...6). And what happened to the equipment from Greenbush? Installing the transmitter at Furman would make particularly sense in as far as it appears to be an identical Brown Boveri rig, facilitating the spare parts supply of course. Perhaps they even already did it and have now 3 x 500 kW transmitters, run at 250 kW, simultaneously when feasible (or did they expand the antenna farm, too? I guess not, considering how expensive this would be). As well-known, the Christian Science Church used to call the site of what was then registered as WCSN "Scott's Corners". Does anybody know what this referred to? I think I heard somewhere that this is the crossing from where the access to the transmitter site, called "Towers Road", branches off? Greenbush, used by WHR to specify the site, is the nearest-by town/village of just 1,500 inhabitants, eight km southwest of the transmitter site and its remote location in the forest. Here are two photos of the site, one of them the well-known night shot that perfectly shows the antennas, just one high/low pair of slewable curtains for transmissions to Europe and Africa (beware, it seems that the previous owners published this photo mirrored): http://www.garlinger.com/whri/whri.html Some more photos, in particular the stamp-size one of the control room and the transmitter behind it that has now been removed from the WHR website: http://zephdaniel.com/BROADCASTING.html The end of the former incarnation of this transmitter, as "World Voice of the Historic Adventism": http://lists.bostonradio.org/bri/v01/msg02988.html The closure is regrettable in as far as it would have been an alternative for transmissions to Europe in winter nights, when large skip zones are a big issue and VTC tries to make do with Al-Dhabbaya although it just does not work (insufficient signal levels). But apparently this niche application can not sustain such an installation (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 20, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) 9615, where there is normally no significant signal, instead huge S9+22, Nov 22 at 0617 with YL(?) preaching about how Jesus was baptized. Also some hum/frying sound, from the recording rather than transmitter? Figured it had to be a new frequency from a US gospel huxter. 0628 switch to studio announcer outro of show as Hour of Dominion, http://www.gracejohnsonministries.org plus address in South Bend, a hefty clue, and sure enough, 0629 WHR promo, ID, 0630 to Christian music. Then I see 9615 in FCC B09: 9615 0600 0700 WHRI 250 57 38-39 1234567 251009 280310 which means 7 days a week, but surely not, or I would have found it before in nightly bandscans during this hour, apparently really Sunday only, another case of a frequency whose registration is 86% wooden. CIRAF 38-39 means Libya, Egypt, Turkey and all points south to Oman and Yemen. The client no doubt wanted to broadcast to The Holy Land once a week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17775, KVOH, Nov 20 at 1706 at S9+22, enough to bring with it signs of the spur circa 17920 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi Glen[n], I noted a recent message of yours referring to incorrect listings of WMLK, KTMI & WBOH in USA FCC listing. I think I recall WMLK being inactive. Do you know the true status of this station? That is: Is the SW station closed, inactive?? Since when?? If closed, do you know when the last SW transmission was? Any info appreciated (Ian Baxter, Australia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Has been inactive for a few years, maybe 5? Would take a lot of hunting thru past DXLDs, other bulletins to find the final real log of it (and rule out an mislogs for WINB on same frequency at other times). I suppose one could try by googling 9265 but that would also bring a lot of irrelevant hits. Only Elder Jacob O. Meyer may know whether it is ever coming back. You can look at their website where they act like they will be doing so. I suppose they are not formally `closed` as long as they hold an FCC licence and continue to register an imaginary schedule. As far as finding old/final logs of it, you could try searching on WMLK on each of my older dxldmid pages, one year`s worth each, linked from the current one http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html That`s one reason I compile the contents for each issue (Glenn to Ian, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Great! I'll keep that in mind. Looks like WMLK "should" (?) be returning from their website & thus (for the moment) I'll keep them in 'inactive' status in the Excel pages of the Current TX site List. Currently I'm only interested in start & end dates for SW TX sites. But so many times we never hear of when a site permanently terminates its SW broadcasts, so that's where your annual DXLD summary with LOGS should prove very helpful when I have time to search later. Cheers (Ian Baxter, Australia, ibid.) ** U S A [and non]. Re 9-081: WYFR, 9355 in Italian, Nov 20 at 0609, with no underlanguage audible even at long pauses, after three nights of such transmitted crosstalk, and one night not checked. YFR is getting to be as bad as CRI, showing up everywhere and dashing hopes for something more interesting, but keeps VTC et al. in business: 9530, Nov 20 at 1701 choral music sounded Russian style, but then www.familyradio URL, and ``Mighty Fortress is our Bog`` theme music. However, this hour is scheduled as Arabic via Rampisham. Having rapidly lost interest, did not stay with it any further to determine which language would axually be used. The same can be said of 17505, some African language, VG S9+15 signal Nov 20 at 1708, along with some hum. But this is Aoki-listed merely as English YFR via Ascension, 250 kW, 102 degrees. They often start a new transmission with English until they are ready to inaugurate a new exotic language, but which? Target area is Zambia/Zimbabwe/Botswana. This transmission is not listed in any language in the seemingly comprehensive YFR schedule via DXLD 9-079, nor in EiBi. 9355, WYFR in Italian, Nov 24 at 0625, again with Harold Camping in English audible underneath. While I am convinced the previous 3-day run of this I monitored was produced at Okeechobee, this time it was produced at Enid, i.e. receiver overload from the very strong WYFR English frequency 9680. Unlike previously, I could get rid of it by attenuating or detuning the preselector. Just an example of how a seemingly same fluke can happen for totally different reasons (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Location change of YFR's Arabic language service to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt: 2000-2100 9630 NAU 250 kW 210 deg. Ex ex 2000-2100 UT 5960 Nauen site. Ex 6140 Wertachtal site 250 kW 210 deg. 2100-2200 6010 WER 250 kW 210 deg. Ex 2100-2200 UT 5960 Nauen site. Additional YFR English to Near East and East Africa: 1600-1700 11995 NAU 500 kW 139 deg. Delete YFR English to Gabon, Congo, Zaire, Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malagasy on 9630 kHz at 1700-1800 UT from Nauen 500 kW 160 deg. Delete YFR Cambodian on 15750 kHz at 1200-1300 UT from Nauen 500 kW 80 deg. Replaced by 17505 kHz at same time 1200-1300 UT via Al Dhabayya-UAE 250 kW at 090 deg (Media&Broadcast, Nov 18, BCDX Nov 20 via DXLD) Some VT Communications changes: WYFR Family Radio in English, additional txion 1700-1800 on 11850 RMP 500 kW / 120 deg to N/ME (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) Frequency changes for WYFR Family Radio via Media Broadcast: 1200-1300 on 15750 NAU 500 kW / 080 deg to SEAs Khmer, delete, now 17505 DHA 1600-1700 NF 11995 NAU 500 kW / 139 deg to N/ME English, additional 1700-1800 on 9630 NAU 500 kW / 160 deg to SoAf English, cancelled 2000-2100 NF 9630 NAU 250 kW / 210 deg to WeAf Arabic, ex 6140, re-ex 5960* 2100-2200 NF 6010 WER 250 kW / 210 deg to WeAf Arabic, ex 5960* *to avoid China Radio International in English via CER/ALB (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via DXLD) ** U S A. WWZN-1510 noted today at 0700 [EST] with "Revolution Boston AM 1510" slogan and website promo. Visit to http://www.revolutionboston.com/radio/ confirms calls are still WWZN. This station has been through too many call and format changes to count. Last time I heard them I think they were "ESPN Deportes" SS sports talk. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, Nov 2, IRCA mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) Viz.: WWZN-Boston is a 50,000 watt radio station with a signal to reach the greater Boston area, west to Worcester, south to Brockton and north to Concord, NH. Boston’s New Voice of Change provides great local talk in the mornings with Morning Host Jeff Santos from 6-10a, followed by the biggest names in progressive talk radio. Here is the new line-up for AM 1510: [EST = UT -5] The Jeff Santos Show 6am - 10am Stephanie Miller 10am - 12pm Ed Schultz 12pm - 3pm Thom Hartmann 3pm - 6pm (via gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) The "Revolution Boston" talk programming is leased time, running 6 AM- 6 PM for now. WWZN leases the rest of the day to a variety of other programmers, including Lowell Devils AHL hockey at night. The official WWZN website is still 1510thezone.com, though I don't think they use the "Zone" slogan on the air anymore. The revolutionboston.com site belongs to Jeff Santos, the programmer who leases the daytime hours. s (Scott Fybush, IRCA via DXLD) WWZN 1510 - They are progressive talk during the day and change to sports in English at I think 7 pm ET (Bob Young Analog, MA, ibid.) Over in UK they were hearing Revolution IDs as early as late September. Also some reports in MW Circle that WWZN inadvertently broadcast some IDs for WWKB 1520 Buffalo, apparently programming originating there, and admitted it, lest you not believe your dial or yourears (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Dear Mr Hauser, I would like to write to you about a station I heard on Nov 11 at 9:45 pm on my Grundig FR-200. It is a classical station, 1660 in HD format and it is also heard on FM 98.1 out of Kansas City, Missouri. I listened to a Mozart piano concerto but it faded in and out and could hardly identify the call letters, KXBR – is the B a D or T? Years ago remember in the evenings AM classical was from Canada. Hope you hear 1660 because of your love of the classics (Vincent Kusek, Chicago IL, by p-mail postmarked 18 Nov, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, it`s KXTR, and I often do hear it. The `HD` in their ID refers to the way they are carried on as digital sub-channel on 98.1, not 1660 itself. Originally they had a full-power FM transmitter of their own until banished to the X-band (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KHFM, Albuquerque`s classical station, which in a corporate rearrangement was banished a few years ago from its original full- power, full-elevation frequency 96.3 atop Sandía Crest, where most of the city`s FM stations remain, now has this notice on their website; how many other stations would offer such personal service to listeners having reception problems? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Ways To Improve Your Signal KHFM now has a translator on Sandía Crest – 102.9 FM. This translator serves the Albuquerque area and is specifically designed to augment coverage in the far northeast heights of the city. You should be able to get clear reception from either 95.5 or 102.9, or both! If you are still having difficulty getting a clear signal… Results will vary depending on where you are located, terrain between you and the transmitter sites (Peralta Ridge in the Jémez Mountains or Sandía Crest for the newest translator), the nature of your radio or stereo, and the antenna you’re using and where it’s located. Our chief engineer, Dave Anderson, recommends a Grundig radio S350DL, which can be purchased at radio shack [sic]. He will also come to your home to inspect your situation and give you expert advice. Translators --- You can hear KHFM in several communities around New Mexico by the following translators: In Ruidoso you can hear us at 95.9 FM from K 240 CN, Ruidoso, thanks to the Friends of KHFM, Ruidoso. Also, in the Albuquerque Heights you can hear us at 102.9 FM (from http://www.classicalkhfm.com/default.asp?pid=10678 via DXLD) KHFM used to have a couple other translators in outlying areas, but those too were lost in the corporate shuffle and/or inaccessibility to the new main transmitter site on the wrong side of the mountains (gh) ** U S A. Classes of AM stations --- The whole "clear/regional/local" distinction referenced in James' article more or less went away the last time the AM allocations system was revised. The old "class IV" local stations ("graveyarders") remained substantially unchanged, though they're now known as "class C." They're still the only operations you can have on the six graveyard channels, and are still limited to 1 kW, usually ND. But the rest of the dial changed, quite dramatically. The old class III stations that we thought of as "regionals" - no more than 5 kW, usually DA-N - were merged into an international "class B" that also includes some of the stations that used to operate as class II facilities on the "clear channels." There is *no* regulatory distinction anymore between those two groups of "class B" stations - if you can squeeze a 50 kW signal on the dial, you can do it at 1320 just as easily as you can do it at 780 nowadays. Because the dial was already pretty densely packed before the rules changed, most of the class B stations that were able to increase power from 5 to 50 kW on the former "regional" channels are on or near the coasts, aiming most of that extra power out to sea or out of the country. The first such station was WTMJ 620, about 15 years ago. The stations we once knew as "clear channels" are today's class A stations, and what distinguishes them from the 50 kW class B signals is this: the class A stations enjoy interference protection for their nighttime skywave service, while the class B stations are protected only for their groundwave coverage. There is no longer any regulatory distinction between the old "I-A" and "I-B" clears. The I-As used to be protected from essentially *any* interference to their nighttime skywave, allowing them to run 50 kW ND-U. The I-Bs generally had to protect at least one other co-channel station at night (think WBT/KFAB or WKBW/KOMA). (Scott Fybush, NY, Nov 22, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. WWVA transmitter site --- Folks: Would someone please confirm that the transmitter site for WWVA is really in Ohio? Serving Wheeling, yes, but located in Ohio (- JimTonne, Nov 20, ABDX via DXLD) Draw a straight line between St.Clairsville, OH and Barton, OH, it's a shade closer it seems to Barton. That's the best I can do for you on Google Earth. Three night towers, single tower for day ops. Directional at nite to protect 1170 (ex: KVOO) KFAQ Tulsa, OK (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast, FL, ibid.) Jim, Yes, the WWVA transmitter is located just NE of St. Clairsville, Ohio, about 10 miles west of the Ohio River. 73, (Rick Dau, Omaha, Neb. (where it's impossible to hear WWVA thanks to KOIL!), ibid.) I can confirm it. I jocked there in the 70s. The site has been in the same place forever. It throws almost all the power east at night. On nights they'd take it down at 4am for maintenance KVOO (now KFAQ) Tulsa would come booming in (Allan Furst, TX, ibid.) So what is the rule (or custom) for log purposes? Should it logged as WV or Ohio? (Jerry Lenamon, TX, ibid.) Jerry: Interesting question! But since we see that some "New York" stations are in New Jersey, I think that we will call WWVA a West Virginia station. Don't want to "change the rules" at this point. What made me ask the group is that I was working on BCmap and noticed that WWVA seemed to be in Ohio according to the BCmap mapping routine. I have great faith in that routine but this seemed to be a new one on me. After I sent the request for input, I indeed saw the site on Google Map. Should have looked there in the first place. - (JimTonne, ibid.) But, but, if a station is known to be somewhere, how can one possibly pretend it`s somewhere else, and what`s the point? Signals emanate from transmitters and antennas, not from studios (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) That could become REALLY confusing if you tried to log where the actual transmitter is. I guess since DXing started, it's always been that you log by the City of License. Usually (or at least it used to be) the transmitter site isn't that far away from the COL. Nowadays especially with FMs and rimshots it's common to have the actual transmitter many miles away and sometimes in another state. Here in my neck of the woods we have this "power booster" situation going on with stations putting their transmitters on a hidden peak high in the mountains so that the signals can't make it in to the Salt Lake City metro --- which in turn gives them permission to put up boosters in the metro. These are stations licensed to towns as far as 100 miles away from the metro but the studios are in SLC. Check out KYLZ-FM Lyman, WY. Transmitter is in the mountains. Boosters in the SLC metro. Studios in Salt Lake City. COL is Lyman, Wyoming, 93 miles away. Even more interesting, I could tell you "Hey I picked up stations from Woodruff UT, Coalville UT (2 of them), Evanston WY, Lyman WY, and Oakley UT." As impresive as that may sound, they are all transmitting on the same peak. All on the same tower as a matter of fact. Interesting, eh? (Michael n Wyo Richard, ABDX via DXLD ** U S A. WSRY-1550 Elkton, MD DX Test Date: Sunday morning (late Saturday night) November 29, 2009. Time: 0001-0100 ELT [sic; means EST] (0501-0600 UT). Mode of Operation: 1000 watts directional to north-northwest (daytime pattern). Programming: Tune in and find out! QSL and other information to follow shortly. Many thanks to Dan Oetting for organizing this test! (Saul Chernos for the DX Test Committee http://www.dxtests.info/ via Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) ** U S A. Nick Barraclough tells the story of US DJ Alan Freed, the Pluggers and the Payola scandal. This BBC Radio 4 programme is available on Listen Again. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00nwyqn/Payola_The_Pluggers_and_the_Father_of_Rock_and_Roll/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. PIRATE CAT RADIO FIGHTS THE FEDS San Francisco Chronicle November 21, 2009 If you've ever been flipping through the stations on your radio and stumbled upon some homespun punk blaring from a low frequency, or a late-night British radio drama, or someone speaking in Tagalog or Volcan [sic] then maybe, just maybe, you discovered Pirate Cat Radio. Run entirely by volunteers and commercial free, Pirate Cat Radio is a low power, unlicensed community station that has been serving the Bay Area and beyond for the past thirteen years. However, its traditional frequency of 87.9 FM may go silent thanks to a hefty $10,000 fine from the FCC. "I'm surprised," says Monkey, Pirate Cat's founder and station manager, about the FCC's actions. "The Telecommunications Acts of 1934 [the founding document of the FCC] is tasked with this responsibility of helping communities build stations like ours. Instead they're fining us." ... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/culture/detail?&entry_id=52075 (via Mike Terry, Nov 21, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. STAYTON RADIO STATION IS SIGNING OFF TODAY Statesman Journal, Oregon, By Denise Ruttan, November 21, 2009 After Stayton High School plays Baker City this afternoon in the Eagles' first playoff game since 1970, the signal of Stayton's community radio station is cutting off. Ken Cartwright, founder, owner and operator of KENC, a low-power AM community radio station serving Stayton and Sublimity, is shutting down the station at 5 p.m. After an inspection by the Federal Communications Commission in October, Cartwright was found to be violating FCC code. To comply with the FCC's order, Cartwright said, his broadcast range would be reduced to a one-block radius. Otherwise, his station might be faced with shutting down its three transmitters, a $10,000 fine and forfeiture of all of his equipment. . . http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20091121/NEWS/911210332/1001/news (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) With all of the AMs that are cheating with their Daytime powers running at Night, What is it with these FCC guys chasing down a 100 mw station that you can hear for 1/2 Mile instead of 1/4 Mile? WHO CARES? Let's see them bust the REAL trashers of the AM Band instead of bothering some poor slob with a Hamilton. -- 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ, ABDX via DXLD) The FCC probably had to investigate because someone turned them in. There is a certain pirate very close to me, and the commercial broadcasters know he is there as does the FCC, but they are not interfering with anybody and are not selling ads. He has been on the air for years, and has been left alone. Florida has a State anti pirate law that makes it a felony, with a five year prison term. So not just the FCC can shut a pirate down here. The Florida Dept of Law Enforcement can, and has shut down pirates. If you are stupid enough to interfere with another signal, or sell ads, you are gonna get shut down sooner, rather than later. If he was hurting no one, he should be left alone (Juan Gualda, Fort Pierce, FL, ibid.) ** U S A. PROLIFIC AMATEUR RADIO AND SWL AUTHOR HARRY HELMS, W5HLH (ex-AA6FW) (SK) http://www.arrl.org/news/images/nms/fullsized/1285.jpg Harry Helms, W5HLH (ex-AA6FW) and his wife Di. Helms passed away from cancer on November 15, 2009. [caption] After a long bout with cancer, Harry Helms, W5HLH (ex-AA6FW), passed away Sunday, November 15. He was 57. Known for his witticism and geniality, Helms was known for his many books -- such as _Shortwave Listening Guidebook: The Complete Guide to Hearing the World_ http://p1k.arrl.org/cgi-bin/topdf.cgi?id=87367&pub=qst All About Ham Radio, How to Tune the Secret Short Wave Spectrum and Handbook of Radio Communications Servicing and Maintenance -- and his monthly column "You Should Know: Interesting Thoughts and Ideas for Enjoying the Hobby" in Popular Communications. In an _April 1992 QST article_ http://p1k.arrl.org/cgi-bin/topdf.cgi?id=87744&pub=qst Helms told the ARRL that that he tried "to make it clear in my work that I'm a ham radio operator and that ham radio played a major role in getting me where I am today, and I always enjoy pitching ham radio to people who ask what those letters and numbers after my name stand for. If it wasn't for Amateur Radio, I wouldn't have had the career I do -- as I can't think of anything else I could do instead. I'd like others to be as lucky as I was to have Amateur Radio play such an important role in their formative years." In that 1992 article, Helms predicted that no one would be able to recognize Amateur Radio in 2012: "Most amateurs will be codeless hams. A substantial minority of hams will never even touch a microphone, but will communicate only via keyboard... Bottom line: I feel that we're on the verge of a revolution in the mix of the ham population and operating styles that will be equivalent to the SSB and FM repeater revolutions -- and then some – rolled into one! The 'good old days' are still in the future, and I'm looking forward to 1993 and beyond." Since his teens, Helms enjoyed an all-out fascination with the radio spectrum. He told the ARRL that in 1986, he was touring the then- Soviet Union when the nuclear power plant Chernobyl exploded. "With the small, portable shortwave receiver I had taken along, I was able to keep informed as to what had really happened, thanks to the BBC and VOA," he told QST. "Even our official Soviet tour guides were discreetly asking me what the Western media was saying. This incident typifies a fundamental notion of mine that in a world where satellites and fiber optics are the hot buzz words, there's still a place -- and need -- for the simple, but reliable shortwave communications radio amateurs pioneered and still practice." Helms -- who with his wife relocated back to his childhood state of South Carolina earlier this year -- wrote in his _last blog entry_ http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/greetings-from-fort-mill-south-carolina.html that he was "just a few miles from the graves of my parents and grandparents; while it sounds illogical, I find this comforting. My journey began here, and it will soon end here. Physically, I am declining fast. I can't walk more than a few steps before becoming exhausted... But I am happier than I have been in a long time. I'm not going to live any longer here, but I will die surround[ed] by people who truly love me. That means a lot." Helms is survived by his wife, Di. Funeral arrangements are pending. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/18/11201/?nc=1 (via Steve Lare, dxldyg DXLD) ** U S A. REPORT FROM THE TRI-STATE AREA By Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, Oct 31 Hastily written note --- I got back return mail mutilated copies of articles of transmitter site and frequency swap of what was NY Times classical station 96.3 [WQXR] and a Spanish station (NJ) on 105.9, WCAA. NY Times (in financial woes as most pulp news outlets) years ago leased/sold their AM 1560 to Disney. It`s been Radio Disney kids` fare since. Still in money issues, NYT swapped frequency with a Spanish outlet. 96.3 is atop the Empire State Bldg. 105.9 is on the Chrysler Bldg. WCAA listeners very pleased with new signal via 96.3. (NY area had and still has QRM from a station adjacent frequency). Furthermore, NYT is out of classical music radio, format changed a bit under NYC public radio. There`s stll classical music, but more NPR programming eves and off-hours. Meanwhile, WFUV 90.7, the very popular station on the campus of Fordham University, in the Bronx, will be off the air 8 am - 4 pm weekdays for at least next two weeks. You`ll recall a few years ago writing in MT about the controversy WFUV had with Bronx Botanical Gardens on the issue of the unsightly looming tower that degraded the auster [luster?] of foliage and flora. It was finally resolved when WFUV struck a deal to have their main antenna built atop a building off-campus. This helped their signal (50 kW ERP) quite a bit. Well, as of 11/5 Thursday, WFUV-FM will be off the air 8 am - 4 pm while their main antenna gets an upgrade. Announcement on air says two weeks. For the last two months or so, WFUV --– besides annual fundraising --- has sought additional listener contributions to improve signal in the hollows of Manhattan. I don`t know if they`re adding an aux atop the array on the Condé Nast Building (the Clear Channel O&O are up there since the WTC is way off schedule, and ESB has little, if any, space left), or going elsewhere. I don`t have I-net but I`m sure you`d find info at the WFUV.org web site. HDTV a bit of a sore point tri-state for those who don`t have, don`t want or don`t have means for cable and/or satellite. Some HDTV sets don`t get the signals. Some add-on converter boxes for old sets are not reliable. Signals vary, picture breakups, get 4-10 channels one day or part of a day and then you`re down to 1 or 2 at best! Some top of set rabbit ears work. Some don`t. Passive models more reliable than ones with built-in amps. There are issued of QRM/QRN via in-house computers or those nearby. Some older folks don`t want antenna(s) on the house, maintenance issues. Also the headaches(?) of a rotor/rotator with freeze-ups, wind-snapped control wires, etc. Broken dipoles due to wind and icing, another issue. Towers may be an issue with zoning, small lots, neighbors, trees and shrubs (removal may cause flooded basements, exposure of unwanted sunlight or howling wind and privacy concerns) and maintenance (masts bend). Even those small towers – tripods – on roof have a few negative issues. Shortly after the switchover to HDTV, letters to the NY Daily News editor appeared. Cheap systems, moderate systems and even high end with either converter or actual HDTV set were (still are) deficient. Viewers *can see* the ESB, but can`t get more than 1-3 stations! The Connecticut Post had an article on people spending big $$$ for antennas, towers, etc. Converter boxes overheated, cases melted! Oscillating fans were put next to them for cooling!! Some converter boxes worked. Some didn`t. Some marginal. Some changed day-to-day or during the day (Robert E. Thomas, II, Bridgeport CT, Oct 31, photocopy of all-caps hand-printed letter on lined (yellow ledger?) paper, not mailed until 10 Nov, typed by gh in upper and lower case for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** URUGUAY. Re: 49m 6045 R Sarandí, Montevideo --- A más de diez dias del reporte como activa de esta emisora, la misma continúa emitiendo, pero de forma tan ineficiente que su trasmisión es una mezcla de Banda Lateral con portadora reducida y FM. 10 days after first monitoring this station resuming, they're still on the air, but with substandard transmission quality. It seems a mixture of reduced carrier SSB and FM. 73 (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Nov 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV CI, 11680 via CUBA, missing as I tuned in at 1517 Nov 19. Hmm, I had heard it earlier in the hour. And again when it popped back on at 1518. Start calculating the refunds, RHC. Nahh, RNV not likely to notice, as they don`t even know this broadcast exists: just listen to their totally outdated schedule announcements in every transmission. Next day Nov 20 I was listening to 11680 at 1500 when RHC Spanish frequency announcement started, abruptly cut to RNV in broken English YL. The official RHC B-09 schedule we have received still claims Aló Presidente: Chicago 13750 / 22 m 1400 - 1800 Centro América 13680 / 22 m 1400 - 1800 Antillas 11690 / 25 m 1400 - 1800 Chile 12010 / 25 m 1400 - 1800 Río de Janeiro 17750 / 16 m 1400 - 1800 But neglects to specify Sunday only, and very irregular, at the whim of el caudillo. Nov 22 around 1510 no sign of it. Nor at 1759 recheck, none of those channels on, except 11690 which normally carries RHC itself, // 11730, 11760, 11800 mid-day. The A,P schedule happens to be nominally the same as in A-09, but we know that when Hugo Chávez is on, it has really been starting between 1530 and 1600, and running past 1900 on most of the channels. The B-09 RHC schedule as in DXLD 9-081 still has not been put up on RHC`s own website which automatically displays the current date, http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/c_frecuencia/frecuencias.htm (Glenn Hauser, OK, Nov 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ALBANIA ** VIETNAM. 9635, V. of Vietnam HS-1 Hanoi, 1149-1202, Nov 10, Vietnamese. M & W announcer talk between music bits until ToH ID followed by presumed news; fair over weak, co-channel CVC-Chile (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N. H. USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9839.9, VOV, 2329, 11/17/09. Theme song & ID into English news by YL at 2330. Also very good at 2330 on 11/21/09. Becoming a regular here (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Par Electronics 45' Wire, Wellbrook 1.1M Loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. V. of Tanzania, Zanzibar, 11735 at 1800z, 50 kW ND. Apparently no English on weekends, into music immediately. (21 Nov 09) (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, Drake R-8B, sloper or ALA330s, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Some VT Communications changes: Zimbabwe Community Radio/Radio Dialogue in Ndebele/English/Shona 1755-1855 NF 5865 MEY 100 kW / 000 deg to ZWE , ex 3955 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 23 Nov via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has launched a public broadcasting report on issues surrounding the sector in the country. The report is based on a survey entitled "Public Broadcasting In Africa Series" commissioned by Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project(AFRIMAP), Open Society Initiative Southern Africa(OSISA), Open Society Institute Media Programme(OSIMP) and MISA- Zimbabwe. Addressing delegates, including diplomats, journalists, government officials, parliamentarians, civil society and media stakeholders, the PM impressed on the need for the media industry to regulate itself as opposed to statutory regulation. "I am a strong proponent of the view that due to its very power, and the inalienable right of freedom of information and freedom of expression, the state should play no role in its regulation. Instead, the media, like so many other professions, should operate largely on the basis of self-regulation," said the Prime The PM's position on the state of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holding (ZBH) resonates with MISA- Zimbabwe's position that there is an imperative need to transform ZBH from a state broadcaster into a genuine public broadcaster. ". let me say that I'm in favour of moves to transform our state broadcaster into a truly public broadcaster," Tsvangirai insisted. Tsvangirai called for editorial independence within the media, saying this would lead to the public making informed decisions on a day to day basis. "I look forward for a day when the coverage of events attended by political leaders is decided by editors who have only one consideration - what is in the best interest of their reading and viewing public," Tsvangirai said. MISA-Zimbabwe's National Vice Chairperson Njabulo Ncube applauded the launch of the report as timely and critical given the stagnancy which defines broadcasting industry in Zimbabwe. "In the last ten years, there has been little to no change in the regulation of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, which has functioned more as a state broadcaster than a public one. Neither has there been any granting of television nor radio broadcasting licenses to interested media players. Instead, the general tendency has been that previous governments have promised to free the airwaves only in word, but not in deed," said Ncube He, however, pointed out that the formation of the coalition government presented opportunities for policy reforms which are critical in the realization of the right to freedom of expression and the media. "We must however qualify our optimism with caution. This is because we are worried that Article19 of the Global Political Agreement recognizes laws that have been used to repress the media in Zimbabwe, namely, the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). And it is our fervent hope that in the current round of negotiations between the three political parties, this particular concern be recognized, in tandem with the fact that there are no new newspapers in the country," argued Ncube. The meeting was chaired by MISA-Zimbabwe board member Faith Zaba, with a panel of discussants consisting of Ozias Tungwarara, Director of AFRIMAP, Chris Mhike, a lawyer and nominee to the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) and Andrew Chigovera, a former Attorney General. Tungwarara said the survey was aimed at citizen participation in decision making, based on research findings carried out in a framework guided by international and regional standards. Chigovera said the survey was a positive step towards media freedom and as a reference point for the media stakeholders and further research in the field of broadcasting. He added the research was compiled in accordance with international and regional treaties such as African Charter on Broadcasting (ACB), African Charter on Human Rights and People's Rights (ACHPR) among others. (Source? Via David Pringle-Wood, Zimbabwe, Nov 21, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. via MADAGASCAR. 11610, Radio Voice of the People, 0405-0457*, Nov 21, tentative ID. Vernacular talk. Short breaks of African music. Tentative. Weak. Very poor in noisy conditions. Just too much noise. This station now scheduled to be on this frequency. ex-9895. via MADAGASCAR. 11610, Radio Voice of the People, *0400-0415+, Nov 22, sign on with opening English and vernacular ID announcements and into vernacular talk. Short breaks of African music. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions. English usually heard around 0440 but too much noise to stick around (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 6074, 8GAL, CQ/V ID marker from 8GAL just barely audible, Nov 21 at 1400 following grossly out-of-synch timesignals between R. Rossii, 6075, Pet/Kam signing off, and CNR1/Taiwan radio war already in progress. While I hate to `lose` the all-too-brief, 8GAL signal, with the BFO originally zeroed on 6075 audibilizing the CW, I did downtune quickly to reconfirm it`s really on 6074 as the pitch of the CW decreased to zero. 6074, no trace of 8GAL at 1400-1402 check Nov 23; instead noted the motorboating Pet/Kam transmitter on 6075 concluding with timesignal which was about 2 seconds offset from the China/Taiwan radio war timesignal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7660 approx., Nov 21 at 1416 someone singing distortedly as I tuned across. Not AM, and not SSB either as I switched on BFO, so maybe NBFM, but soon gone and did not come back in next few minutes, to downpin frequency which could be +/- 5. Possibly 2 x 3830 or so, some ham around-playing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9465-9555 rapid pulsing, with several peaks in this range atop any broadcast signals, not the same sound as from OTH radar Cyprus or China previously reported on numerous other ranges, Nov 23 at 2152, still going at 2210 when some broadcast signals could be heard thru it. Possibly spurious from DRM transmitter on 9450? Also running at 2152 i.e. the HCJB/IBB Greenville test, which has been absent from the DRMDX schedule, and still is. However, the sound is quite different from the 10-kHz intentional DRM spread. These wideband DRM channels can be confusing to downpin on analog receivers: on the YB-400 stepping up and down 5 kHz, I would have been sure it was centered on 9455. But on the FRG-7 it was 9450. Or something completely different? Since yahoo group searching doesn`t funxion, I looked thru the last month+ of reports on the DRM NA yg and the latest mention of HCJB/IBB 9450 was on Oct 13: ``The current test release to NA is airing from 1600 to 2000 UT on 9450. This has done much better in the Midwest than the evening release did. I've been able to push the bit rate up the maximum in mode B and still get virtually 100 audio decode. I can switch to stereo or parametric stereo but since the source at Greenville is mono it won't gain us anything. We will be testing on Mode A later this week. Charlie Jacobson`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX ISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9820 with at least two stations at 0035 Nov 21 including hum/buzz. The three possibilities per Aoki are Voice of Beibu Bay Radio, Nanning; CNR2 Xianyang 594; and of course Brasil`s R. Nove de Julho. Odd one out is probably 594 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glen[n], 9820 is identified here as Beibu Bay radio, and we are trying to listen at 0800. Regards (Alex Wellner, Australia, 0431 UT Nov 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11435, huge carrier at S9+30 or so, mostly open, but every 5 minutes would transmit some kind of digital data noise, Nov 20 at 0604, 0609, 0614, 0619, 0624. This was even stronger than RHC on 11760, only S9+25, and presumably from CUBA too. 11435 was enough to desensitize several dekakHz around it by its mere presence. It went off at 0628:30. Nothing was on 11532 while 11435 was on, but at next pass thru 11 MHz at 0652, 11532 big open carrier was hetting WYFR 11530, but 11532 went off at 0653*. Theory is they are same transmitter, or at least both from the DentroCuban spy centre. Similar huge signals with numbers in voice or cut numbers in code, and data bursts are heard around this time in the 5.8-5.9 MHz range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15070, at 1457, Nov. 21. In Chinese with English language lesson; accent sounded British; ToH into Chinese till sign off at 1529. Unable to dig out an ID due to strong CNR-1 jamming from 1500 to 1530. Could this be the BBC? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15148.5, at 1515 Nov 22, intruding 2-way Spanish, but only one side of conversation heard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15382, the center of some rapid clicking bothering Spain 15385, Nov 23 at 1537. I think this is spur from DentroCuban Jamming Command against Radio Martí on 15330, same 52-kHz displacement as heard around 6082 when jamming 6030 at night. But neither has a match on the lo side. Can it be coincidental that approx. 52 kHz was also the displacement of the multiple RHC spurs from 11760 et al.? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Letter to Editor of MT --- Hi Glenn; I miss your column in MT. Below is a copy of the letter I sent to MT. 73, Joe Wood 21 November 2009 Ms. Rachel Baughn Editor Monitoring Times 7540 Hwy 64 West Brasstown, NC 28902 Dear Ms. Baughn; I have subscribed to Monitoring Times since the mid 1990’s, and certainly look forward to receiving my issue each month. The magazine has been an invaluable source for news on broadcast and pirate shortwave radio. I always read the “Broadcast Logs,” “Outer Limits,” and “”Global Forum” columns by Ms. Van Horn, Mr. Zeller and Mr. Hauser. All three of these columns were well written and contained information that I could not find or was not available from other sources such as the internet. In the December issue, I read the notice of “The Outer Limits” being discontinued and I presume that “Global Forum,” and “Broadcast Logs” have been eliminated, since I have seen neither in the last two issues. Please reconsider the elimination of these three columns. For me, it is much more enjoyable and easier to read a magazine article or column than to read a website, or to use a search engine to find information on the internet. 73 (Joe Wood, Greenback TN, via DXLD) Please put the enclosed to good use in your ``ministry``. Read about you leaving Monitoring Times --- where is the best place to get the same information that you put into your column at Monitoring Times? Hopefully, the format will be close to the one you used in the magazine (Jan R Schrader, Republic MO, Nov 19, with a check in the p- mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702, WORLD OF RADIO 1488) Referred him to DXLD --- more or less same format except *not* condensed (gh) Keep up the great work you do. I listen to your show every week. Sincerely (Vincent Kusek, Chicago IL, following KXTR item, see USA) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ SHORTWAVE LISTINGS PER HOUR/ PER LANGUAGE/ PER STATION Hello, I'm proud to present the following site: (direct links) http://users.fulladsl.be/~spb13810/radio/swlist/ for languages, click on an hour for tx in that hour & language (here you can fetch CSV data for (Open)Office if you click the language for the complete list)) http://users.fulladsl.be/~spb13810/radio/txlist/ for stations, click on an hour for tx in that hour & from that station (here you can fetch CSV data for (Open)Office if you click the station for the complete list)) Use of the (previous and) following list: It's 3 PM, where's VOA now?? Where can I hear Spanish at 19 UT?? http://users.fulladsl.be/~spb13810/radio/timelist/ complete hourly lists of sw tx (with crosslinks to language/ station) The source for this data is Eibi. I put Aoki here;: http://users.fulladsl.be/~spb13810/radio/swlistaoki/ for languages http://users.fulladsl.be/~spb13810/radio/txlistaoki/ for stations Space limits made me decide to drop hourly lists for Aoki. There are more than 700 stations, more than 300 languages, that makes about 24 hours x (300 + 700) = 24000 files on the site. I also made a comparison of the 2 sources: aoki and eibi: (frequency order) http://users.fulladsl.be/~spb13810/radio/indexsrc.htm (I think about integrating HFCC data too) PS: these are shortcuts: http://whatsonshortwave.tk/ (table of lists at the site). (I hope I manage to do complete uploads in the future, I try to automate the complete process of Aoki/Eibi donwload up to the upload) -- What's on Shortwave guide: choose an hour, go! http://shortwave.tk 700+ Radio Stations on SW http://swstations.tk 300+ languages on SW http://radiolanguages.tk Enjoy listening! (Marc Coevoet, Nov 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Your links --- Glenn, If you want a better system for viewing EIBI and AOKI database, check out my MAGNA.zip file at http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/IMAGE59.HTML You can search for English, French, Hindi and other languages with just one click. Say you want to view a certain transmitter site's transmissions, you can do this too. What about viewing all of the shortwave broadcasts from a certain country? This is easy and possible with just one click. The reason I am writing you is I saw your email with those links described for someone. My application is a QBE (Query by Example) datafile. Enter a frequency and the database immediately brings up all the records on that frequency. Or maybe you want to check out a time frame. Enter the time, and the application immediately brings up all of the transmissions for that time frame. Hope you`re interested. I often see you referring to AOKI and EIBI and often wondered if you ever tried my application. It's much easier (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Those are not my links, but Marc`s, who sent me a notice about his setup. Glad to publicize that just as we have your MAGNA numerous times. Personally, I prefer to check the original sources directly. Do you update the Aoki portion in Magna every day as Aoki does? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Folks, I just uploaded an updated version of MAGNA at http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/IMAGE59.HTML Enjoy (Chuck Bolland, Nov 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ACTUALIZACIÓN LISTA EN ESPAÑOL Hola a todos, La AER anuncia que ya está disponible la 8ª actualización de 2009 de la LISTA MUNDIAL DE EMISIONES EN ESPAÑOL que se ofrece GRATUITAMENTE en forma de listado PDF así mismo dispone consultas dinámicas con criterios como horas, días, paises o emisoras que facilita una búsqueda y fácil impresión. La dirección exacta es http://aer-dx.org/listas/lmee.php Un saludo cordial ------------------------------ (Pedro Sedano, Madrid, España, COORDINADOR GENERAL coordinador @ jd.aer-dx.org ------------------------------ AER http://aer-dx.org/ general @ aer-dx.org NOTICIAS DX yg Nov 21 via DXLD) UNION OF ASIAN DXERS I am thinking of re-launching the Union of Asian DXers as a monthly E-newsletter with in depth study of radio in South Asia and DX possibilities in South Asia. This is also a means of sharing long years of DXing experiences, radio listening, propagation and DX- possibilities from South Asia. It will not be a reflector like DX India but like DX-window of the Danish SWC. We should have some on this list who were members of the UADX before we stopped printing in the pre Internet era. Anyone interested, please contact me. Thanks. (G. VICTOR A.GOONETILLEKE, 4S7VK, "Shangri-La," 298 Madapatha Road, Piliyandala. Sri Lanka. Tel: +94 11 2614098; Mob: +94 771953106; E-Mail: victorg @ slt.lk gmail: victor.goonetilleke @ gmail.com Skype: Victorgoonetilleke dx_india yg Nov 23 via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO DAY AMSTERDAM 152 pictures and all audio files of the day can now be found at http://www.radioday.nl Enjoy, Martin van der Ven (via Mike Terry, Nov 19, dxldyg via DXLD) TINY TRAP +++++++++ It must be catching. Now the other anchor on PBS` World Focus, Martin Savidge, demeans Denmark as ``tiny`` in introducing another report about energy conservation, Nov 24 at 2217 UT via OETA OKLA. Wind power piles up too much electricity to store conventionally, so they are experimenting with hydrogen fuel cells in homes. Only 50% efficient, but with a surfeit of renewable power, a good solution (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ HELP FOR STRUGGLING SHORTWAVE STATIONS Dear shortwave friends: Pardon the interruption of the usual discussions on this list. I am trying to gauge the interest level in an idea I have had for a few years. As a shortwave listener/dx'er I am particularly fond of the small domestic broadcasters heard in the tropical bands, and on other parts of the shortwave spectrum. These stations have gone off the air in recent years at an alarming rate. The world of communications is going through great change, and it's understandable that shortwave is being supplanted by other modes. However, I hear from time to time, that certain domestic shortwave broadcasters have gone off prematurely or involuntarily due to technical difficulty, or lack of funds for electricity or other station related necessities. I would like to develop a portfolio of stations that have a strong desire to continue broadcasting on shortwave, but are lacking for a certain part, or technical knowhow. If you would like to be part of this effort, please contact me. I am looking for those who have knowledge of stations that are going through difficulties, but would like to be on the air serving their local community. I would also like to hear from those who could support the effort in various ways, through contributions, technical, monetary or otherwise. I am partly inspired the great monetary and organizational efforts expended by amateur radio operators to transmit from a rarely heard territory. In this case, my primary interest would be to empower domestic shortwave stations to serve their local audience with a secondary benefit being continued audibility for shortwave listeners and dxers. Thanks for hearing me out, and 73, (David Goren, http://www.shortwaveology.com Swprograms mailing list Nov 22 via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) Coincidentally, see GUATEMALA (gh) It was your earlier item about Manuel Méndez and R. Coatán in your log post saying they would come back on the air that made me take the plunge. As you say, do we need more missionary stations? No, I don't want more, and have written several notes to WWCR requesting them to stay off of 4755/4775. The Guatemalans seem to be somewhat of a hybrid though, with local based programming, and involvement in the station as opposed to some of the others. I guess the stations I have in mind are ones like Ecos Del Torbes, Radio Táchira, R. Quito. They seemed to be relatively strong and somewhat reliable (in their erratic way!) before they disappeared. It frustrates me when I read of all the money and effort that ham dxpeditions put forth to broadcast from a pile of rocks in the middle of an ocean, whereas SWL's seem more passive about the comings and goings of the tropical stations. What if we could pair up a savvy technical traveler with station engineers and fix the low modulation on R. Mauritanie, and R. Cairo? Or pay the electrical cost of running a SW transmitter for a Peruvian or Bolivian. A pipe dream? Tilting at windmills? Too little, too late?. Probably all of the above. However, despite the waning of shortwave stations, and how it feels inevitable at times, I still feel that there are stations that are leaving the air prematurely, before alternative means like the internet/FM etc. have reached the areas they serve. If SWL's could band together and help retain, or reactivate certain stations, that would be worth doing. 73, (David Goren, DX LISTENING DIGEST) David - One person you should connect with is Robert Kipp, who is the driving force for Radio St. Helena's shortwave presence, brief that it is. Two other names I would suggest you connect with -- Steve Canney, of the ODXA, who has for years volunteered his own effort to encourage CFRB management to keep CFRX on the air; their situation is different from domestic tropical broadcasters but could provide some ideas into how to encourage a broadcaster to stay on the air using shortwave; when its heart may not be in it. I would also think that HCJB's Allen Graham might also be a worthwhile contact. Part of Allen's focus in recent years has been to support local radio in Latin America...he might have some ideas. You might also want to connect with members of some of the more DX-oriented lists --those members who are the most enthusiastic when it comes to dialoguing with stations (even if for just a QSL). They might have some technical contacts at various stations that would be good places to start. My two cents on the idea (Rich Cuff, swprograms via DXLD) YOU HAVE TO LAUGH I'm writing this in an attempt to find humor in a rather unfunny situation. For years my closest neighbours have been making periodic complaints about my radio usage. They are fine people and I get along with them ok, but they just don't understand the wires and moving antennas. Not many do. The funny thing is, all the interference around is coming from THEIR house and two new sources have arrived in the last weeks making TA reception very difficult. I usually have a conti loop in my back yard but its now being clobbered by these two new sources - one sounds computerish the other good old time buzz. Anyway, a walk around with a portable locates them guess where... To a degree they can be killed using phasing but this isn`t much good for wideband recording with a Perseus. My other antenna is a random wire in trees outside my property and there is no chance of putting up a loop out there. Anyhow, feeling like giving up I thought I'd compile a list of their previous complaints for my and your amusement. After reading this you will understand why approaching them over THEIR RFI would imho be pointless. Enjoy :-) 1. Your radios are causing interference to our TV Actual cause: Their faulty childrens games console 2. Your radios are causing interference to our TV Actual cause: Their literally rotten coax cable to TV antenna 3. Your radios are causing interference to our TV Actual cause: Their poor quality wideband amplifier, picking up RF from my HF transmissions / passing taxis. Replaced by me for better quality UHF only amp - problem solved. 4. Your radios are causing interference to our satellite reception Actual cause: Their dish was too small, replaced, problem solved 5. Your radios caused our satellite box to die ("Someone that we phoned at Sky said this could happen") HO-LY-EFFING-SH** Actual cause: Their old box died; that`s what happens with disposable technology, replaced by satellite company. 6. Your satellite installation is causing interference to our TV Actual cause: F*** knows and I don`t care! 7. Your satellite installation is causing interference to our digital TV picture Actual cause: Poor coverage from local transmitter, substandard antenna. Uh you have Satellite, WTF! 8. Your satellite installation is causing interference to our digital TV picture Actual cause: changes at local transmitter rendering some set top boxes virtually useless. Do you ever just feel like giving up!? This is why ultralighting is so good, your entire set up in a coat pocket and you can walk away from all the local RFI. And to the person who wrote on one of my youtube videos "I guess Northern Ireland is an RFI free environment". Yeah, that`s right, mate, we all live in thatched cottages free from the gadgets that everyone else has. Oh and my broadband is hamster powered. Duh, Listening Homepage: http://band2dx.webs.com/ Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/radiofotos/ Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/yogi540 (Paul Logan, Lisnaskea, N. Ireland, Nov 16, MWCircle yg via DXLD) Hello Paul, I'm sorry to hear about your neighbour problems. I have had one experience like that, but no more, thanks goodness! Another thing we need be watching out for is wireless/inductive charging! A whole range of products seem to be coming onto the market where the consumer doesn't actually have to connect the product to a power supply. The power is transmitted between the charger and the device at RF frequencies. I'm having difficulty in getting anyone to tell me what frequencies are being used, but you can bet your bottom dollar that whatever they are, this unnecessary development will cause us problems. All the major players are involved so it is going to really take off very shortly. Just imagine every household having at least one of these things! Take a look at these rechargeable candles http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000JP4M6O/ref=s9_sima_gw_s3_p79_t1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1H8VFNK60XFFAZFBTBEY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294 (Tracey Gardner, ibid.) Hi Tracey, I have used an inductively charged toothbrush & this is clearly a useful invention. There are dozens of products now using this ranging from the obvious (medical, wet-environment) to the lazy (i.e. for people who cant be bothered to plug in a charger http://uk.gear..ign.com/articles/977/977418p1.html or http://www.splashpower.com/ I'm not sure that RF frequencies are used because the higher the frequency the poorer the coupling of energy between the primary & secondary windings of the transformer. Of course a higher frequency means a smaller transformer is needed - same arguments as in switched mode power supply design. I suspect these systems will not be designed for coupling efficiency (who cares of the base unit consumes 10 watts to put 2 watts into the battery?) which implies that some energy will radiate as QRM. I suspect these devices will operate in the 50-200 kHz range but I could be wide of the mark. I have only found one reference on-line which refers to 90-250 kHz. I haven't seen them discussed in the RSGB EMC column so don't know how big a problem they will be. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_charging http://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com/technology/how-it-works.html 73s (Steve Whitt, England, ibid.) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ The BPL War continues [sic] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1684 November 20 2009 The Manassas City Council is saying goodbye to BPL. Inside Northern Virginia reports that the council is in the process of deciding whether to abandon its broadband over power line project now, or to let it die at the end of the city's fiscal year. BPL was Manassas' attempt to bring the Internet into the homes of every resident by providing low-cost broadband service. Subscribers were told that they could access the Internet through the regular electrical outlets, but for a number of reasons it never caught on with the public. First, the connection proved to be slower than cable or DSL. It was expensive to maintain and caused massive reception interference to those using the spectrum it shared. This included the Manassas ham radio community which was highly vocal in its opposition. The end result was that the project only garnered about 670 subscribers while costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in ongoing maintenance. It also faced a strong challenge from Comcast cable which claims the potential to serve the entire city and Verizon which has rapidly been expanding its FIOS service in the Manassas area. And now like a bad dream it will shortly be fading away. (InsideNoVa.com) (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See also ANGUILLA; CZECHIA; INDIA; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ KASHMIR; NIGERIA; PAPUA NEW GUINEA; SPAIN; UNIDENTIFIED 9450 UNIWAVE DI-WAVE 100 DRM SW RECEIVER NOW AVAILABLE Received this info from UNIWAVE Marketing division today... Uniwave distributors in Germany : 1- Alan Electronics GmbH Dovenkamp 11 D 22952 Luetjensee/ Germany +494154849149 http://www.alan-electronics.de 2-Charly H. Hardt Edelhoffstraße 70 42857 Remscheid Tel.: 02191 / 80598 http://www.charly-hardt.de 3-THIECOM Herbert Thieking GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft Communication * Distribution * Import-Export Schwaneweder Str. 193 D-28779 Bremen/Germany Tel.0421-6009098 Fax.6007566 http://www.thiecom.de Also received an email from Michael Cratt, Project Manager at Av-Comm Pty Ltd confirming that they have Uniwave Di-Wave 100 DRM SW Receiver in stock. Here's the link for online ordering: http://tinyurl.com/ylq8lwv Prx : 499 AUD Contact : Michael Cratt Project Manager Av-Comm Pty Ltd 24/9 Powells Road P.O. Box 225 Brookvale NSW 2100 Australia Tel: 02 9939 4377 fax: 02 9939 4376 Mobile: 0432 747 715 (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DXLD) In other words, distributors of equipment for hams and shortwave enthusiasts. Not the smallest step to get the system out of the DX ghetto (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DAB transition date [UK] R4's "Today" on Friday had a piece on analogue switchover. For those who have been following the story, it didn't tell us much new, except that DAB lobbyists now seem less certain about the 2015 date for ending all national analogue radio in the UK. Andrew Harrison of the Radio Centre admitted that DAB radio doesn't work very well "in cars, indoors or in rural Britain". You can hear the piece at http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8369000/8369748.stm - scroll down to 0835 (Chris Greenway, England, Nov 20, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Not seen this report anywhere else yet. The devious bit is in paragraph 6 of the story. The Govt can fix the switch-off date without further legislation. And as we were warned in the past in Monitoring Monthly, the radio industry dictates what the listener will get. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6616161/Digital-Economy-Bill-No-date-for-radio-digital-switchover.html (Dennis Pepler, monitoringmatters yg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL TV AUDIO, MOBILE? Yesterday, Carol and I tried to get digital TV audio in a moving automobile. It was sort of a repeat of an experience three years earlier trying to get IBOC (HD radio) in a car. I set up a TV digital converter box along with a TV audio radio and powered them using an in-car inverter. The results were disastrous! Digital TV audio did not carry at all well, compared to digital FM. My wife and I were trying to hear local KBJR-TV (Superior WI-Duluth MN) with the news, and we only picked out a few words here and there. At the smallest underpass, the signal went completely blank. I even tried sitting in the back seat, adjusting the antenna which was on the shelf, against the car's rear window glass. Usually, the system went to total silence, even when close to the station. I may include this info and another picture I hope to take to amend an article, which "Popular Communications" is interested in. Anyway, at 74, I am still trying to invent! Anybody else with experience hearing mobile digital TV audio/and or watching digital TV on the go? (Bruce Elving, MN, Nov 18, AMFMTVDX mailing list via DXLD) See also: PROPAGATION +++++++++++ DOES SUN DEGRADE DTV SIGNALS? I am curious if DTV signals degrade in sunny weather? It doesn't seem to matter what the temperature is here - early in the mornings (roughly 8-10 am) many times I have the Colorado Springs DTV signals at 108 miles showing up on the signal meter. By 11 am and on until late evening, the signals are gone. Later in the evening sometimes the signals will return, whether strong enough to decode or not. This scenario seems to repeat itself whether the temps are in the 60s- 70s (or above) or are below freezing and barely make it above freezing by noon. But perhaps its just localized tropo that doesn't seem to care what the temperature is. ????? (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, (40 miles north of Denver) 40 18.642'N 104 52.566'W Nov 17 WTFDA via DXLD) Jim, My guess is that the RF noise generated by the Sun causes the DTV signal to get sort of swamped. I have a recording somewhere I made when a solar flare hit the Earth, the background noise on analog really, really shot up and got quite loud. I bet that would cause DTV service range to get short indeed - like barely making it to the outskirts of a major city (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton IL, Nov 17, ibid.) I wonder if it's some kind of thermal inversion. FWIW, when we have heavy fog here, that's when both channel 8 and channel 35 get the most calls about pixelization of picture, or loss of signal. We had such an event last week, and some people were reporting that rotating their antennas 30 degrees or more helped! Can't figure that out at all (Fred Vobbe, WLIO-TV, Lima OH, ibid.) The DTV signals and analog signals used the exact same frequency bands - so whatever diurnal variations were noted with the analog signal strengths should also be noted with the DTV signal strengths. wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) Fred, was the heavy fog day last week the day when your local viewers couldn't receive WOHL-LD 35 but I could in Indy at 119 miles?? That seems to be the way those tropo days work, and it worked the same way in the past with analog TV. BTW, your comment about rotating the antenna about 30 degrees off the true azimuth worked for me just last night. I noticed that WISE-DT-18, Ft. Wayne at 94 miles was stronger when I aimed the antenna toward South Bend (358 degrees) than when it was aimed directly toward Ft. Wayne (31 degrees). Directional WANE-DT-31, Ft. Wayne always seems to be that way for me. It's like their strongest signal beam heading northeast bounces off the tropospheric layer and comes back to the southwest at slightly different angles. Although sometimes that indicates the presence of co-channel interference, and by misaiming the antenna it helps to null the interfering signal (Steve Rich, Indianapolis, IN, ibid.) I strongly suspect it was indeed tropospherically-related. We've had a BUNCH of that down here the last few weeks. I'm telling viewers to try rotating their antennas all the way around -- don't assume that pointing your antenna at Nashville will yield the most reliable signal. What I think is going on... Especially on VHF channels, there's likely to be co-channel interference from some other DTV station. In our case, WBIR-Knoxville and/or WMAB-Mississippi State. In Fred's case, WJW-Cleveland and WWMT- Kalamazoo? Consider this link to the pattern of a 10-element Yagi antenna: http://208.112.70.144/2006/images/Understnd_fig4.gif Yes, it receives considerably better due north than it does due south. But note also that it receives VERY poorly due east and west! If you point one of these directions of REALLY POOR reception at the interfering station, you may improve the desired-to-undesired ratio, even if you do make the desired signal weaker (Doug Smith W9WI, [WSMV- TV Nashville], Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) Hi Jim; You have some good answers on your query - I just thought that this was normal late morning "tropo" burnoff. I call it tropo but not vast distances (50-150 miles) but still enhancement. Example - from about 10 PM until about 9 AM, 95.1 from Fort Wayne (99 miles) is almost always in on my Accurian HD with just rabbit ears. After about 10 AM, nothing. I think that it's just the humidity levels dropping. The sun may have an impact, by drying out the atmosphere. Just my two cents. 73, (Dave in Indy Hascall, ibid.) It certainly could be that, but I learned decades ago when taking flying lessons that the wind frequently increases after 10AM and goes calm at or near sunset. So maybe winds are stirring the air eliminating a tropo type duct (Allan Dunn, K1UCY, ibid.) Hi Allan; Now I've not heard that universally, about the winds, unless we're talking sea / land breezes. I just looked for the last week at Indy's NOAA site and looked at the Hourly observation and forecast weather graphs. The RH *always* fell, or was predicted to fall at or about 9 AM and rise back up after about 9 PM. This even happened yesterday, when it was rainy almost the entire day, although not to the dramatic effect on days when it wasn't raining. I also checked Denver - same drop off curves. Wm. Hepburn, Chris, can you comment? 73, (Dave Hascall, IN, ibid.) On any typical night when it gets dark, the surface temperature drops. In fact it usually drops at a faster rate than the air aloft which can result in an inversion (warmer as one goes up instead of colder). This is due to the fact that most solid objects transfer (gain/lose) heat faster than gas. As you all know, inversion boundaries tend to refract V/U signals. As the temperature drops, it gets closer to the dew point, and so relative humidity increases eventually forming dew or fog. Dry air aloft and moist air on surface further strengthens the refraction. Under the inversion, the prevailing winds aloft get "cut off" and thus the wind speed on surface diminishes. Once the sun rises, it usually takes an hour or two to "burn off" the inversion as surface temperatures rise - eventually exceeding the temperature of the air aloft and thus eliminating the inversion. Temperatures rise, humidities drop, wind speeds increase. Here is my definition of TrE from my website... _Tropospheric Enhancement_ (TrE) (a.k.a. Tropospheric Refraction)... is common under normal conditions. On most clear nights with calm or light winds, the ground radiates and the air near the ground cools. Eventually, an inversion is formed and signals begin to refract off the inversion. Stations that normally fade in and out via tropo scatter come in continuously, with increasing strength. Also, weaker tropo scatter stations that are normally not heard (because their signal strengths never cross the background noise threshold signal level) also begin to appear. When the sun comes up, the ground & air heats up, the inversion breaks down, and the enhancement disappears. The enhancement is subtle on some nights, and very obvious on other nights. Distances are no different than with tropo scatter; it's just that the signals are stronger and interference is more intense. Tropo enhancement is greatly influenced by terrain, with valley and coastal paths favoured. ("Fog-prone" areas are also "tropo-prone" areas). From any one receiving location, multiple directions usually are enhanced at the same time. Wrh (Bill Hepburn, ibid.) My guess is that tropospheric refraction (the bread-and-butter of UHF DX that us DXers know and love) is the culprit in this case. Ground fog often accompanies tropo, likely because foggy air is usually "slow air" (speed of light/refractive index) and the dry air above is "faster" air. However, one can, and often does, get trop without fog and fog without trop. How this fits into which way the viewer must point the antenna is more complicated. Under normal conditions, WLIO may be all alone on 8 in much of Western Ohio. The best signal may be found by aiming the receiving antenna directly at Lima. However, when trop is in, one may also be getting a very strong signal from, say, WJW or WWMT, that may interfere with reception of WLIO. Now what matters is not whether the major lobe of the receiving antenna is on WLIO, what matters is that a deep -null- is aimed at the interfering station. At this point, it may not matter that the lobe is not directly on Lima (the same tropospheric enhancement may be making WLIO so strong that the peak gain of the receiving antenna is not needed). For channel 35, substitute WNIT and WLWT for WJW and WWMT in the last paragraph (Robert Grant, ibid.) IONOSONDES In the Southern Hemisphere, which gets more solar radiation this time of year, you can see a pronounced effect on the foF2 reading in the afternoon (local time is UTC + 6.5 hours) on the web site http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/iono_day/Cocos_Is_iono.txt This is a measurement taken with an ionospheric sounder on Cocos- Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean, 12.5 degrees South latitude and 96.8 degrees East longitude. The instrument sweeps a radio signal across the HF spectrum, beamed straight up to the ionosphere overhead, and it measures the strength of the signal bouncing back to determine optimum frequency. You can see during mid-day foF2 is going above 10 MHz. Of course, your results may vary. The effect was pronounced from 0600 to 1400z on November 19, and not quite as enhanced on November 20, 0700-1000z. Unfortunately, these ionosonde records don't go back but a day or two. You will see less effect this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere, as seen at a record of ionosonde data in Italy on the http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/iono_day/Rome_iono.txt site. On the http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/iono_day/Chilton_iono.txt site see similar data taken in the UK. At http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/iono_day you can check a list of links for 68 different locations, but some of them seem inactive. For instance, after months of checking, I have never seen a bit of ionosonde data from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, in the file "Eglin_iono. txt." Another interesting tool to see varying MUF around the world, updated every five minutes, is at http://www.spacew.com/www/realtime.php The contour lines show the MUF over that particular area. During the day recently some areas over Africa are going above 30 MHz (Propagation Forecast Bulletin 47 ARLP047, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA November 20, 2009, To all radio amateurs, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) The geomagnetic field was predominantly quiet during the summary period. There was a small increase to quiet to unsettled levels on 21 November. Solar wind observations from the ACE spacecraft showed a sector boundary change from towards (negative) to away (positive) early on 18 November, followed by a change back to towards (negative) on 19 November. A co-rotating interaction region was observed around 1600 UTC on 19 November (peak density ~16 p/cc) which was followed by a gradual increase in solar wind velocity from 340 km/s up to 575 km/s between 0200 UTC on 20 November through 1900 UTC on 21 November. Solar wind velocity slowly declined through the remainder of 21-22 November. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 25 NOV - 21 DEC 2009 Solar activity is expected to be predominantly very low with just a slight chance for brief periods of 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 background levels through the period. The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet for 25 November. An increase to quiet to unsettled levels is expected on 26 November due to recurrence. Activity levels are expected to be predominantly quiet for the remainder of the outlook period from 26 November through 21 December. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Nov 24 1951 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 Nov 24 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Nov 25 75 5 2 2009 Nov 26 75 7 2 2009 Nov 27 73 5 2 2009 Nov 28 71 5 2 2009 Nov 29 70 5 2 2009 Nov 30 70 5 2 2009 Dec 01 70 5 2 2009 Dec 02 70 5 2 2009 Dec 03 70 5 2 2009 Dec 04 70 5 2 2009 Dec 05 70 5 2 2009 Dec 06 70 5 2 2009 Dec 07 70 5 2 2009 Dec 08 72 5 2 2009 Dec 09 72 5 2 2009 Dec 10 72 5 2 2009 Dec 11 75 5 2 2009 Dec 12 75 5 2 2009 Dec 13 75 5 2 2009 Dec 14 75 5 2 2009 Dec 15 75 5 2 2009 Dec 16 75 5 2 2009 Dec 17 75 5 2 2009 Dec 18 75 5 2 2009 Dec 19 75 5 2 2009 Dec 20 75 5 2 2009 Dec 21 75 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1488, DXLD) ###