DX LISTENING DIGEST FEBRUARY 2003 ARCHIVE HOME presents...
DX LISTENING DIGEST FEBRUARY 2003 ARCHIVE
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-024, February 12, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [note change] HTML version of all January issues: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3a.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.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 WORLD OF RADIO 1169: WBCQ: Wed 2300 7415, 17495-CUSB; Mon 0545 7415 WWCR: Thu 2130 9475, Sat 0700, Sun 0330 5070, 0730, 3210, Wed 1030 9475 RFPI: Fri 1930, Sat 0130, 0730, 1330, 1800, Sun 0000, 0600, 1200, 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900 Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WRN ONDEMAND from Fri: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 ONDEMAND AUDIO NOW: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1169.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1169.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1169h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1169h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1168.html [from Thu] ** AFGHANISTAN. LIST OF SHORTWAVE AND MEDIUMWAVE STATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN Thanks to extensive new information obtained by Internews and received from Bruce Girard, and thanks to a tip from Bernd Trutenau concerning a report on Afghan media, which led me to this information in the first place, I was able to compile a frequency list, which is now available at http://www.dxing.info/lists/afghanistan.dx I'd greatly appreciate corrections and other type of feedback. I'm also looking for a volunteer to maintain the list in the future. If you're interested, please email me (Mika Mäkeläinen, Feb 11, DXing.info via DXLD) Well, the only two ``SW`` stations so far: 1680 R Helmand, Helmand 5 0530-0630, 1230-1515 Dari/Pashtu 20/80 (Internews 10/2002) 8700 Information R, Kabul 0030-1530 (CRW 11/2002) (via gh, DXLD) ** ANGOLA. Amigos, o jornal português "Público", na sua edição de 11 de Fevereiro, publicou uma notícia com o título em epígrafe e cujo conteúdo transcrevo abaixo http://jornal.publico.pt/2003/02/11/Media/R02.html ------------- GOVERNO ANGOLANO ACUSA RÁDIO ECCLESIA DE TER "EMISSÕES TERRORISTAS" Terça-feira, 11 de Fevereiro de 2003 O governo angolano acusou ontem a Rádio Ecclésia, estação independente de inspiração católica, de difundir "emissões terroristas" por ter colocado em antena algumas críticas a oficiais das forças armadas do país. O ministro responsável pela pasta da comunicação social, Hendrik Vaal Neto, afirmou que o conteúdo de um programa da rádio Ecclésia era "inaceitável". A antena da rádio em causa é usada "como um veículo de ofensa, difamação e propaganda falsa e destrutiva contra figuras e instituições públicas do país", disse, segundo a agência AFP, o ministro em entrevista à Rádio Nacional de Angola (pública), embora não tenha dado exemplos de programas que considera ofensivos. Alguns dos mais populares programa da Ecclésia são preenchidos por chamadas dos ouvintes, o que leva a que vão para o ar as mais diversas opiniões do público, pró e contra o governo. Há um ano, o governo acusou a Ecclésia de ser "subversiva", e a estação, em protesto, cancelou a sua programação durante 48 horas (via 73 Fernando de Sousa Ribeiro, Porto, Portugal, radioescutas via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. HCJB Australia's new frequency of 11770 generated some headaches within two days of it coming on line. This was a replacement for 11755, for the Australia/South Pacific service 0700-1200, where co-channel interference from Radio Finland was causing lots of difficulties. 11770 was taken into use on Feb-02, but on Feb-03, the Voice of Nigeria, at Lagos, chose to commence use of the same channel for its External Service in the period 0500-1200, which caused havoc with HCA between 0700 and 1000. The Nigerian signal propagates into South Eastern Australia via the classical long-path. It is thought that VON has commissioned a new high-powered transmitter, and 11770 is a registered channel which had been inactive for many years. By Feb-06, VON had vanished from 11770 in this time period, and was noted using its regular frequency of 7255, parallel with either 9690 or 15120. As of Feb-11, it had settled on 7255 and 15120, yielding good signals here in Melbourne from 0500 until as late as 1000 on 7255 via longpath, 15120 via shortpath! HCA's frequency planning has thus become complicated, due to the irregular nature of the Nigerian operation on 11770. HCA's other frequency - 15480 - intended for Asia, 1230-1700, continues to provide excellent reception as well across all of Australia, and target zone signals are reported to be reliable. I note that 11770 is not very useful in Asia, due to co-channel occupancy by the Xinjiang Peoples Broadcasting Station at Urumqi. To assist HCA in assessing the effectiveness of 11770, I would like to thank these following Australian members for their signal reports, which have been passed on to HCA's Frequency manager: Michael Stevenson (Port Macquarie, NSW), Barry Murray (Cairns, QLD), Tim Gaynor (Oxenford, QLD), Don Rhods (Yarra Glen, VIC) and Ken Anderson (Mitcham, NSW). (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. VOICE INTERNATIONAL, at Darwin, continues to make schedule changes, and its daily output is now: English 12 hours, Mandarin 12 hours, Indonesian 14 hours, and Hindi nine hours. Due to irregular propagation from the Darwin station into India for the morning Hindi service, the leased relay in Tashkent continues to be used for three hours daily. This is on 11850, 0100-0400. The overall daily broadcast span from Darwin is 19 hours: three hours during the morning, 15 hours afternoon and evening (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** BELARUS`. Winter B-02 registered freqs for Belarussian Radio: 5970 0200-0400 MNS 250 kW / 250 deg to zone 27 not active 6010 0400-2300 BR 005 kW / non-dir to zone 29 registered 1600-2300 6040 0400-2300 MNS 010 kW / non-dir to zone 19 registered 1600-2300 6070 0400-2300 BR 005 kW / non-dir to zone 29 registered 1600-2300 6080 0400-2300 MNS 120 kW / 130 deg to zone 29s registered 1600-2300 6115 0400-2300 MNS 075 kW / 252 deg to zone 29 6190 0400-2300 MNS 005 kW / non-dir to zone 29 registered 1600-2300 7105 1400-1700 MNS 250 kW / 260 deg to zone 37n not active 7105 2000-2200 MNS 250 kW / 260 deg to zone 37n 7110 0400-2300 BR 005 kW / non-dir to zone 18 registered 1600-2300 7145 1600-2300 OR 005 kW / non-dir to zone 18 not active 7170 0500-0700 MNS 150 kW / 075 deg to zone 30,31 registered 0400-0600 7210 0200-0400 MNS 100 kW / 270 deg to zone 18 not active 7210 1600-1800 MNS 250 kW / 075 deg to zone 20,21 not active 7210 2000-2200 MNS 100 kW / 270 deg to zone 29n not active 7235 0500-2300 BR 020 kW / non-dir to zone 29 new frequency 7255 1700-1800 MNS 250 kW / 075 deg to zone 20,21 registered 1600-1800 7265 0400-2200 BR 020 kW / non-dir to zone 29 registered 1600-2300 11960 1000-1200 MNS 250 kW / 070 deg to zone 29-31 (Observer Feb 12 via Bernd Trutenau, DXLD) In reply to Observer #242, this is the actual frequency usage and location for the fulltime relays of Belaruskaje Radyjo according to available internal data: 6010 0400-2300 Brest 5 kW ND BR1 6040 0400-2300 Hrodna 5 kW ND BR1 & reg 6070 0400-2300 Brest 5 kW ND BR1 6080 0400-2300 Minsk 75 kW 130 BR1 6115 0400-2300 Minsk 150 kW 252 BR1 6190 0400-2300 Mahilioú 5 kW ND BR1 & reg 7110 0400-2300 Hrodna 5 kW ND BR1 & reg 7235 0400-2300 Mahilióu 5 kW ND BR1 & reg* 7265 0500-2200 Hrodna 2.5 kW ND BR2 *) not yet confirmed, would be ex-7145 BR1="Persy nacyjanalny kanal", BR2="Kanal Kultura" (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DGIEST) ** BENIN. I've been in Accra over the past week and can report the following from west Africa: Both 7210.2 and 5025.0 were heard regularly (more consistently than during my last visit in 2001). (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) continued below: BURKINA FASO, GHANA, GUINEA, MALI, NIGER, NIGERIA, TOGO ** BRAZIL. Hi Glenn, the Brazilian on 6020 kHz reported in DXLD 3-023 by Harold Frodge was, most likely, Radio Gaucha. I compared the programming between 6020 and 11915 during the window that Turkey is off at 2351 (on Feb 11) and before Sackville comes on at 2359 and it is identical. Although no ID was heard on 6020 due to the Sackville QRM, I stayed on 11915 and heard a clear Radio Gaucha ID. Up to the QRM, the various male announcers and the one piece of music I heard over the 8 minutes was the same on both frequencies. Regards (John Sgrulletta, Mahopac, NY, USA, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. After over a year back on the air, the shortwave has once again gone inactive. Nothing was heard on 4815, 5030, 7230 or 9515 (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 3300.12H, Emisora Ideal, Planeta Rica. Feb 2003 - 1055 UT. In // with the frequency 2200.08H kHz with strong signal. Harmonic from 1100 kHz (3 x 1100.04). 4359.73H, CARACOL, unknown QTH (Colombia). Feb 2003 - 0000 UT. For sure the same Caracol I have earlier logged on 2179.87H kHz. Harmonic from 1090 kHz (4x 1089.93). (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6140.52, HJQE Cadena Melodía, Santa Fé de Bogotá. Jan 31 0300 UT. Hello Thomas and all you happy DXers! Have been sitting here at my radio and with deep sighs many times the last days. Nothing happens on SW! So it is extra nice to report about this Colombian, not new, they are on MW and listed as inactive on 6140 kHz. I have not heard this station earlier. A big ID at 0330 UT: "Aquí Bogotá, la bella capital de Colombia, desde el moderno edifício de Cristal en la calle 45 epicentro de la radio les habla Melodía AM, 730 kcs HJCU onda larga con 100.000 vatios de potencia en antena y en la banda internacional de 49 metros HJQE (does not match with WRTH who says HJPT) 6140 kcs onda corta". Then "Últimas noticias" followed and then music with Luís Miguel. Before the news a long block with the fantastic singer Rocío Durcal who, like Luís Miguel, sings the best music, that is of course the Mexican music. Heard at the same time on quite decent on MW 730.00 kHz. The above info was sent out by mail Jan 31. Unfortunately the station was only on air for a few days. Just now off air. Was heard in Germany and Italy with good strength (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ** CROATIA. Winter B-02 schedule of Croatian Radio HS-1 in Croatian: 0500-1000 7365 DEA 010 kW / non-dir to Eu/NAf 0500-1800 9830 DEA 100 kW / non-dir to Eu/NAf 0500-2400 6165 DEA 100 kW / non-dir to Eu/NAf 1000-2200 13830 DEA 010 kW / 310 deg to Eu/NAf (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** CUBA. La emisora cubana Radio Rebelde ha sido captada el 08/02, a las 1650 UT, en los 9600 kHz, con comentarios sobre el Dìa de los Enamorados y las actividades "danzoneras" en Matanzas y otros lugares de Cuba. SINPO 25422. Música del espacio: danzón. Nunca la había oído en esa frecuencia (Adán González, VENEZUELA, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. The first part of DR Radio's night show is live in RealAudio/video from 23 to 02 UT. Go to http://www.dr.dk/natradio/ and click out right on 'Folg natradio live' Good luck. PS: The girl (Tanja) is usually on air Monday/Tuesday night (Erik Køie, DR, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. BM Bandscan from Quito, Feb 08, 2003 includes: 2340.10H, Emisora Central, Riobamba. Feb 2003 1900 UT. Relay of a news cast from "Radio Sonorama", who has a domestic chain with newscasts. There is also a "Radio Sonorama" in Riobamba on 1240. During a long period this station has been heard quite steady on its harmonic 2480.28H kHz. I have not noted this harmonic for a while. Maybe this is caused by the enormous explosion in a military weapon depot ("Brigada Blindada Galápagos") in central Riobamba. The explosion more or less damaged 18.000 (!) buildings and of course injured or killed many people. One of the many cousins of my wife, he is salesman in a drugstore, was in the building there the explosion took place just 20 minutes before (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ** GEORGIA. Radio Georgia, Tbilisi in Russian/English/German noted on Feb. 8/9: 0600-0730 on 11805.2 strong signal, but very bad modulation (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Glenn, By chance I was at the DW website today and downloaded the Summer 2003 schedule. Here is the link. It is well hidden. I did not find it on the main DW menu. I had to go to DW TV, reception, DW Radio and then reception. http://www.dw-world.de/dwelle/cda/detail/dwelle.cda.detail.download/0,3830,495466_47589,00.pdf Looking at the schedule it's, painful, to see the lack of broadcasts to the Americas. 73, (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) crane your neck ** GERMANY. New transmission for Bible Voice Broadcasting Network /BVBN/ via DTK instead of V. of Hope: 1530-1615 15775 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Daily to SAs En/Hindi 1515-1530 9860 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat to ME English 1530-1730 9860 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Daily to ME En/Ar/Fa 1730-1800 9860 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sun to ME English (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** GERMANY. New transmission for IBRA Radio via DTK instead of V. of Hope: 1400-1530 15775 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Daily to SAs En/Urdu 1530-1630 11905 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Daily to ME En/Urdu (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** GHANA. Radio 1 still on 4915 and Radio 2 on 3366/6130. The Radio 2 transmitter is still sending out many strong spurious signals. The WRTH 2003 reference to a mediumwave frequency is wrong. As far I know, Ghana has never used mediumwave (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. Heard regularly on 7125 (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. EXTRA SERVICE TO AUSTRALIA FROM RADIO BUDAPEST Radio Budapest tells WBM that it plans to introduce an additional morning transmission to South Eastern Australia on Mar-30. This 30 minute English program will supplement the existing one hour evening and morning Hungarian services. These broadcasts are planned for 2100- 2200 9625 Hungarian, 1100-1200 21560 Hungarian, and (new) 2100-2130 11920 English (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Frecuencia exacta de La Voz de Indonesia en 19 metros: 15149.86 kHz. Así lo constaté los días 08 y 09/02. 73's y buen DX... (Adán González, VENEZUELA, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. AUTHORITIES ATTEMPT TO STOP RECEPTION OF KURDISH TV STATIONS [and of US radio by the military] | Text of report by Iraqi Communist Party newspaper Tariq al-Sha'b on 11 February Patrols of the [Iraqi] ruling [Ba'th] Party and security bodies during the past weeks have regularly been storming into people's houses in the city of Kirkuk, searching for specific models of TV aerials, which were dismantled and confiscated whenever they were found. The aerials they were looking for are made in Turkey, and enable people to have a break from the three government TV channels - Iraqi TV, Shabab TV [Youth TV] and Iraqi Satellite TV - and receive Kurdistan TV channels [which are broadcast in the Kurdish-administered region]. The leadership of the ruling party's Kirkuk section on 18 December [2002] sent instructions to the heads of its branches in the city regarding this matter. They were written, as usual, in a very caricatured way. They state: "In order to safeguard the principles of the party and the leader [Saddam Husayn], and on the basis of the document issued by the Socialist Arab Ba'th Party Ta'mim [Kirkuk] Section No 2133, dated 14 December 2002, and as the reception of hostile TV channels, which are broadcast in the northern governorates by subversive cliques, has recently increased in the city of Kirkuk by using booster aerials, would you please inform all the citizens within your sectors not to purchase such aerials. They should make a written promise to do so, otherwise legal measures will be taken against them." In another development, six days earlier, the command of the First Army Corps circulated a document within its units, No 12633, dated 12 December 2002, saying: "All military officers and soldiers should be informed that they should not have a radio set in their brigade because of the hostile information broadcast by the enemy of the nation, the United States, regarding the anticipated outbreak of war. This may lower the morale of the military personnel and cause defection". Source: Tariq al-Sha'b, Arbil, in Arabic 11 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Re: Longwave from Ireland. Glenn, re your comment in DXLD 3-023, I believe you may have overlooked this item that we published last week, as I do not remember seeing it in DXLD. The press release doesn't mention specifically what the assets are, but another press report I saw specifically said that they include the transmission site. Since no details of the buyer have so far been disclosed, this could be another broadcaster. But it almost certainly isn't RTE. It was never "RTE's transmitter" as RTE never held more than a 20% shareholding in Radio Tara. Here's the item we published. The story's a bit complicated: RADIO TARA ASSETS SOLD: IS THIS THE END OF LONGWAVE FROM IRELAND? Ukbetting plc, the online gaming and sports content provider, has disposed of non-core assets associated with Radio Tara Ltd for a total of 1.35 million euro. The 80% interest in Radio Tara Ltd had been acquired by TEAMtalk for UK£2 million in December 2001 from former shareholder RTL. The station had a 500kW transmitter on 252 kHz longwave on the east coast of Ireland. It had been broadcasting a pop music format under the name Atlantic 252. TEAMtalk relaunched the station with an all-sports format as TEAMtalk 252, but it had few commentary rights and it could not compete with established sports networks BBC Radio 5 Live and TalkSport. Audience figures released in March 2002 showed that since the format change the station had lost approximately 60% of its weekly reach, and it was making heavy losses. Once ukbetting plc acquired TEAMtalk, the writing was on the wall for TEAMtalk 252. In July 2002, the board of ukbetting plc agreed in principle to dispose of TEAMtalk Media Group plc's indirect 80% shareholding in Radio Tara Limited for a nominal sum to Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE), which owned the remaining 20% shareholding. As part of the agreement with RTE, TEAMtalk 252 ceased broadcasting after less than 6 months on the air. But yesterday (3 February) ukbetting plc instead disposed of Radio Tara's land and property holdings for UK£418,000 and terminated operations. The name of the purchaser has not been disclosed (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 4 February 2003 via Andy Sennitt, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. I confirmed with Moshe Oren that the curtain which was supposed to be fixed this month, has already been fixed. Therefore, 6280 is back on for the 2000 UTC English broadcast. I actually noticed this a week ago Sunday - the followup took a bit... The other two totally destroyed curtain antennas are, for now, being replaced by log-periodic antennas, fixed at 341 deg and will cover only Europe. 9435 They are waiting for funding to replace those two curtain antennas. From http://www.israelradio.org "UPDATE ON RADIO SATELLITE RECEPTION IN EUROPE: From Feb 12, 2003 Listeners in Europe to Hotbird will have to retune to IBA Arabic TV " Audio 4 (all other details remain the same - frequency 12.220 GHz, Horiz, SR-6161, FEC=3/4) " (via Doni Rosenzweig, Feb 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. Tony Rogers of the BDXC-UK reported that he hears the Jammu station during the 0230 broadcast, albeit on 5990. So that sounds like API-8 is out. I'll rule out API-4 myself as I have heard 5080 and it is a mess. What I am hearing on 9790 [sic --- 9890] is much cleaner. Nor would it make much sense for Pakistan to air two services with their viewpoint at the same time. Given the report on program content we received, is there any chance this could be coming from India? Any comments from our AIR experts? (Hans Johnson, TX, Feb 12, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. Re 4050: Zacharias Liangas` informant might be right about Farsi. As I tried to explain, it seems that there are some missionary stations which broadcast in Farsi towards Afghanistan, because they expect that Farsi is understood there (which is quite correct), even though they ought to broadcast in Dari. These may be stations that have been broadcasting to Iran for some time and have a Farsi staff, and don't want to add a Dari department in this stage. Anyway it seems that there is quite a mix of programmes on 4050 now, with (at least) both Dari and Farsi in use. Now I have tried again my contacts in Kyrgyzstan, maybe I will get more details this time. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4050, Hit Shortwave, 11 Feb 1800. At the TOH there is a nasty RTTY- like ute on for several minutes, but there was a female announcer and then a song. Then a male with talk until 1822. Language was like Farsi or related to that. Easy talk, not like clandestine, could have been religious, tho no special key-words like "Amen" and "Hallelujah" were heard, neither could I pick up any contact address. I saw some DX report telling some programs over this station are religious, maybe this one too. Later there was gospel-like music. One local language song had "Hallelujah" words and also one song (at least part of it in English) was titled "What you gonna do when Jesus comes". One "Hit Shortwave" ID was heard. Sign-off at 1900. Hopefully someone hears contact info during these religious (?) programs, so we could request about the location of this station (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZSTAN. OPPOSITION TAKES ITS BATTLE TO THE INTERNET {sorry, no URLS in this story} Kyrgyzstan's opposition is making better use of the Internet than the official authorities, according to a report by Daniyar Karimov and published on the Kyrgyz newspaper, Vecherniy Bishkek, web site on 7 February. The report, entitled "Web agents", claims that modern dissidents use the web to disseminate their ideas and "meet" fellow- thinkers and there is little the authorities can do about it. What is happening, according to Vecherniy Bishkek, is "an information war ... without rules or propriety". The following is the text of the report; subheadings are the newspaper's own. Today's heroes are not wrapped in machine-gun cartridge belts and hand grenade cords. The weaponry of the new generation of fighters are personal computers. And the licence to kill is a modem for access to the world wide web... [ellipsis as published] More and more often now the future of mankind is connected with the development of electronic space. In Kyrgyzstan the future is murky and unpredictable. Anarchy rules in the national electronic network. Who will seize Kyrgyzstan's electronic space? Full matrix None of the experts can say for sure how many Internet sites there are in Kyrgyzstan. There are said to be more than 1,500. The reason for such "secrecy" is simple - a banal lack of information. According to information from the UNDP [United Nations Development Programme], roughly half the domestic sites have not been analysed and are therefore categorized as "varied". At the same time, experts are saying that domestic banks are the most advanced in terms of Internet use. Every single one of these financial organizations has free access to the world wide web. According to data from the Marketing Service Bureau, industry has fared much worse. The Internet is most used in the food industry - 22.5 per cent of all companies in this sector of the Kyrgyz economy have access to the Internet. Nevertheless, Kyrgyzstan is becoming ever more tightly entangled in the electronic web. The creation of the Public Administration Information System (PAIS) may be called a great achievement in the development of our republic's Internet space. It unites all the biggest ministries and departments of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan into a single computer network. And, as intended, it makes it considerably easier for citizens to access the resources of state organizations and to acquire information from them directly from the Internet or e-mail. About 50 ministries and departments in Bishkek and Osh are connected to PAIS. Almost all the remaining catalogues of Kyrgyz Internet resources are created, as a rule, by private Internet providers. The majority of Internet users (80.94 per cent) are residents of Bishkek. For the most part they are office workers or students. In the regions, with the exception of Osh Region, the Internet is a rare phenomenon, as are the miracles of electronic technology. According to the UNDP, there are 70 personal computers per 1,000 inhabitant of Kyrgyzstan! There are about four Internet access centres per 100,000 inhabitants. And only one in every 100 working persons in Kyrgyzstan uses e-mail. Far from everyone is able to have even an ordinary telephone. For example, according to the UNDP, two-thirds of Kyrgyz residents do not have access to this benefit of civilization. The underground Internet What is amazing is that until recently the political elite of Kyrgyzstan was very poorly represented in Kyrgyzstan's information space. The battleground for power began to be displaced to the Internet only at the end of the 1990s. Today, for example, the authorities' political opponents are represented in the Internet by official party sites. Either by electronic pages of the mass media or more often by pro-opposition sites. They contain a wealth of loud statements and exposes . Or by votes on political topics. It is interesting that materials which are displayed on opposition sites on the Kyrgyz Internet appear slightly later in Kazakhstan's electronic space. Indeed, and this is no surprise, they often appear on Kazakh opposition pages. Birds of a feather... [ellipsis as published] Incidentally, what is much more interesting is another phenomenon of domestic opposition on the Internet is the issue of "loners". These people specialize in forums, conferences and chat rooms. You can find the same signatures under messages on the most diverse Kyrgyz sites, where discussion of burning topics of the day takes place. "Loners" make use of tried and tested methods of the authorities' official political adversaries, criticizing the authorities and the government and appealing for other types of state order. There is only one aim - misinformation or the propagation of opposition ideas. The strategy of a typical "loner" is, it would seem, borrowed from manuals on the tactics of sabotage. He prefers, for example, to appear on enemy territory, in other words on the servers of the opposition's political opponents. Moreover, like experienced members of any underground movement, he always hides behind a pseudonym that he uses only on the web. "Internet saboteurs" leave no means of making contact. And can always unfailingly recognize like-minded people among other users of the Internet. It has been noted that many "loners" are linked by ties if not of friendship then of common values. It is not impossible, therefore, that several "sabotage" groups are at work on the Kyrgyz net. It is certain that some of the Internet opposition have an electronic meeting place - a "secret address" so to speak. The main way in which "loners" differ from the mass of Internet users is in the odd combination of a high level of education and - ill-bred vulgarity. There is no censorship on the Internet. As a result, it is often used for blatant mud-slinging that is not, as a rule, supported by argument or endorsed by facts. Basically, an information war has been unleashed on the Internet, without rules and without propriety. Sabotage or provocation? Kyrgyzstan's Internet is ideally suited to a war without rules since it is practically unprotected. The only threat to a member of the Internet opposition are the programmers who service the sites and forums of the "loners'" political opponents. True, the worst the natural enemy of the electronic "saboteur" can do is to destroy seditious articles. Even this harsh method, however, is no panacea. After a little while, a similar message will appear on Kyrgyzstan's Internet. For example, for more than a month now, several of the republic's electronic forums have been graced by a report of a plot against the president. The anonymous author of the message names well-known young politicians among those behind the coup that is allegedly being prepared. This "well-wisher" calls for support for the plotters and voices his own whole-hearted support for their ideas. It would seem to be disingenuous, however. The report can only be called an attempt at political provocation. Internet providers could be a tangible barrier in the war against Internet "saboteurs". According to some reports, these organizations have the technology to decipher the electronic address of any disturber of the Internet peace. Fighting dangerous political dissidence is not what they're about, however. For your interest According to some reports, in terms of Internet use Kyrgyzstan has outstripped neighbouring Kazakhstan and even Russia. More than a year ago, SGI CMA and the (?Public Foundation for IT Development) carried out a study of the country's electronic auditorium. This serious piece of research revealed that 10.6 per cent of the adult population of the republic's main cities could be said to be Internet users - that's 105,400 people. In Russia, for sample, maximum Internet use is only 10.3 per cent of the adult population and 9.5 per cent in Kazakhstan. Source: Vecherniy Bishkek web site, Bishkek, in Russian 7 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) What are the URLs, Kyrgyzstan? ** LIBERIA. Active on 6100 (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RLI ** MALI. Consistently heard on only two frequencies in the daytime - 7285v and 11960. Not heard on the other daytime channel of 9635. Heard in the evening on three frequencies - 4782.4, 4835.4 and 5995.0. So, it's not clear what the third transmitter is doing during the daytime (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCOS. Explanation of the four radio countries listed here: a) Morocco-French, includes Radio-TV Marocaine and VOA-Briech b) Morocco-Spanish, includes Radio Medi at Nador c) Morocco-Sahara, the station at Aaiun, on SW back about 1970-71 but short-lived d) Morocco-Tangier, VOA site prior to Briech, heard to the early 90s before close-down. This was in the International Zone, consisting of about 135 square miles. Transmitter was about one mile within the old boundary of this zone. Power ranged from 50 to 100 kW The Briech site is about 7 miles south of the former transmitter location (Tangiers) or several miles outside the boundary of the old Tangier I.Z. As a result, reception of the VOA Briech site would be counted as radio country Morocco-French. This from the Country List Committee Report by Don Jensen, NASWA. So unless you heard VOA in the early 50s to the late 80s then you can`t count this as Morocco-Tangier (Edward Kusalik, AB, QSL Album, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Buenos Aires, 5 de Febrero de 2003. Radio Nederland, la emisora pública holandesa que transmite al exterior vía onda corta, satélite e Internet, bien goza de independencia en su labor de contenidos, programas y editoriales. No es una emisora gubernamental según el modelo de medios que impera en ciertas regiones del mundo, se trata de una estación que funciona bajo el concepto de servicio público, es decir, es el Estado del Reino de los Países Bajos quien debe financiar a la estación pública sobre la base presupuestaria que se vota en el Parlamento. Pero, no hay intervención directa en el diseño de la programación. Tal vez el plan de reestructuración anunciado por la directiva de la emisora haya sido detenido pero no será detenido el anunciado recorte presupuestario que dispuso el gobierno neerlandés. Esa es una realidad incuestionable. Y es una indirecta intromisión en los asuntos de la emisora, porque al serle reducido el presupuesto no tendrá otro remedio RNW de achicarse. Y este es el punto. Si bien este tipo de medidas reciben un estudio antes de su implementación, nadie nos impide a los oyentes, radioescuchas y/o diexistas escribir a la emisora, a las autoridades de los Países Bajos en su país y en el exterior. No sólo no es malo expresarse sino que es un derecho que tenemos todos los ciudadanos de la aldea global, el derecho de peticionar a las autoridades cuando creamos que algo no está bien. Es un derecho constitucional de vieja data, no sólo en la Argentina sino en muchísimos países del mundo. Pero, también, es una garantía que nos otorgan pactos y tratados internacionales como el Pacto de San José de Costa Rica, la Carta Universal de los Derechos del Hombre, entre otros. Porque la peor opinión es el silencio no tengamos miedo de expresar nuestra voz de rechazo y defendamos a Radio Nederland en forma activa. NO se que va a suceder con esta historia pero, al menos, tendré la conciencia tranquila de haber hecho algo positivo para evitar algo que creo que es malo para mí, para su audiencia y básicamente para quienes trabajan en la emisora mundial holandesa. Nadie obliga a nadie a intervenir en esta movida de defensa de Radio Nederland, sólo que los que no quieran hacer nada que se corran del camino porque somos muchísimos más los que saldremos a correr en defensa de una de las emisoras más queridas de la onda corta. Por lo menos así lo veo. Suerte y adelante con la campaña. Atentamente (CLAUDIO MORALES, Feb 4, Conexión Digital via DXLD) A direção da Rádio Nederland informou que seus planos e prazos para o futuro não são definitivos e que toda pressão e protestos dos ouvintes devem ser enviados para a própria emissora. Informação, nesse sentido, foi enviada a Leônidas dos Santos Nascimento, de São João Evangelista (MG), por Martinus Felix Mertens, assessor da embaixada dos Países Baixos, em Brasília (DF). Acrescentou que a forma de resolver a situação "passa pelo diálogo com os funcionários", bem como Tarcísio Lage, que trabalhou na emissora, já havia anunciado para o Panorama (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** NIGER. No confirmed reception on 5020 or 9705 (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. The past two days at 2200-2300 UT English Voice of Nigeria has been back on the normal 7255 and 15120 (Harold Sellers, Newmarket, Ontario, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I was also monitoring Feb 11 before 2200 on 15120, large hummy carrier(s) and at 2200 weak RHC IS was mixing with weak VON re- opening, which was \\ 7255, and not heard on 11770-Mexico, 9690- Romania? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA: Transmissions from Lagos continue to be marred by interruptions presumably caused by power cuts. Radio Nigeria-Lagos was heard erratically on 3326. Radio Nigeria-Ibadan heard on 6050 kHz in the evening. Radio Nigeria-Kaduna heard with English service on 4770 and vernaculars' service on 6090. Voice of Nigeria heard at various times on 7255, 15120 and the recently reactivated 11770. However, only one or two channels were ever heard at once. The choice of frequencies was not consistent from day to day. For west African listeners it will be a great pity if 7255 is dropped in favour of the much less well heard higher frequencies. The schedule of language transmissions appears to be the same as that posted at http://www.voiceofnigeria.org i.e. NOT as given in DXLD 3- 020. If you can hear it, my recommendation is "Time for Highlife", Sundays at 1100-1130, which plays traditional Nigerian and Ghanaian highlife, rarely heard these days on the radio in west Africa (though still played widely by live bands in Accra) and not at all in east Africa. The many Accra FM stations are now mostly dominated by the more modern style known as hiplife (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Before KOMA in OKC dropped oldies for news talk, they were slowly morphing into being just another bland oldies station like the rest of them - last summer all the specialty programs were cancelled and that signaled a change of the guard. The WSAI sound is courtesy of the premier oldies consultant E. Alvin Davis who had WGRR as a client before they were bought out by Infinity. I really do miss my KOMA, although WSAI is a pretty solid listen for a few hours around sunset before the Mexicans slop into the mix! (Mark Erdman, Herington/Salina KS, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. BROADCAST LICENCES AWARDED BY GOVERNMENT The Pakistani government has awarded licences to six private TV and 22 radio channels "to create an atmosphere of competitiveness in the field of media in public and private sectors," the Associated Press of Pakistan reported on 11 February Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was reported by APP to say that the present government "believed in freedom of expression," and would "award a licence if some city, town or village wants to set up its own radio station". Source: Associated Press of Pakistan news agency, Islamabad, in English 1840 gmt 11 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK?? ** PERU. 5486.73, La Reina de la Selva, el distrito de Chachapoyas, la provincia de Chachapoyas, el departamento de Amazonas. Feb 2003 - 2320 UT. English program. Good to know that "the Queen of the Jungle" (what a nice name of a radio station) buys programme from VOA: "VOA Music Mix". Info from "Ventanaperú: provincia de Chachapoyas, cuya capital es Chachapoyas y cuenta con los distritos Balsas, Asunción, Chachapoyas, Chiliquín, La Jalca, Cheto, Chuquibamba, Granada, Huancas Leimebamba, Levanto, Magdalena, Mariscal Castilla, Molinopampa, Montevideo, Quinjalca, Olleros, San Francisco de Daguas, San Isidro de Maino, Soloco, Sonche; con una población total de 30,520 hab. (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Frequency change for Radio Romania International in Fr/Ge/En to WEu: 0603-0654 NF 7105 very bad modulation, ex 9625 \\ 756 9510 9570 11790 11940 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Frequency change for BSKSA Holy Kor`an Service in Arabic: 0300-0600 NF 9715*, ex 11820 and deleted 15435 \\ 15170 21495] * co-channel WYFR in English 0405-0500 and Radio Finland in Finnish 0530-0600 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [non]. NORWAY(non): Frequency change for Voice of Reform in Arabic via KVI 200 kW / 120 degrees: 1830-2127 NF 7590 (44333) + bubble jamming, ex 9925 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE TO CHANGE FREQUENCY From Mar-30, the weekly one-hour Sunday morning broadcasts of the South African Radio League via the Meyerton facility are proposed for the 16 metre band, 17815, vacating the long established 13 metre band occupancy of 21560. The program is also available in parallel on 9750, and repeated on Monday evenings in the 90 metre band, on the traditional frequency of 3215 (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** SPAIN [non]. 5845.05, Radio Nacional de España, unknown QTH. Feb 2003 - 1115 UT. I have heard this RNE-station several times but don't know their QTH. Relatively weak signal. Situated in Latin America? (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) Need to calculate differences between various combinations of Costa Rica relay frequencies at that hour. Hmmm, another unID, on 5835 at about the same time below (gh) {the answer in next issue} ** SWITZERLAND. Passport shows SRI on 11660 as via French Guiana. So does the paper B02 schedule that I recently received from SRI. It came along with a QSL that stated, "11660 Sottens." Can anyone shed some light on which transmitter site is actually used for the 2330 UTC broadcast? (Dan Srebnick, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`d go with the majority here. Of course SOT could back up MSY if necessary (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA [non]. Feb. 10th, 2003, 14940, Voice of Homeland, Arabic talk, 2 x 7470, 1608 until close-down at 1630 UT. vy 73 de (Juergen Lohuis, Germany, harmonics yahoogroup via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** TOGO. The transmitter on 5047 was heard in the early morning and during the evenings with strong signals. However, its extremely low audio level renders this an entirely pointless transmission. Regards, (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. In the current broadcasting period THE VOICE OF TURKEY are introducing some new feature programmes as follows: Selected Examples of Contemporary Turkish Stories, From Tale to Reality, Archaeology Settlements in Turkey, European Union and Turkey, Contemporary Turkish Thought, From Past to Present, Big Powers and the Armenian Issue, Culture Parade, Travel Itinerary of Anatolia, Road to Love, Turks in the Mirror of Centuries and the Hittite Sun are some of this years new programmes. In the Wake of a Contest is a programme in which we will enjoy together the essays sent in by the winners of 2002 as well as other entries. Such programmes as DX Corner, Lettterbox, Colours and Hues of Anatolia, Turkish Album, Turkey Bulletin, Republican Gallery and Pre- historic Addresses in Turkey will continue throughout 2003. VOT will also continue trying to keep abreast of whatever is taking place in all parts of the world in the news bulletins and commentaries. Feature programmes will again be sprinkled with Turkish music, which receives much acclaim from listeners and will broadcast a special programme titled Women in Turkish Music. The English section has a live programme on Tuesday nights with a view to having listeners participate in the phone-in segments as much as possible. [in the past 1st period has meant Jan-Jun, 2nd period Jul-Dec --- gh] VOICE OF TURKEY daily programme schedule. All transmissions start with a News bulletin and the Press Review followed by: 1st Period: Monday: Last Week, Hues and Colours of Anatolian Music, Selected Examples of Contemporary Turkish stories Tuesday: The Republican Gallery, Music, From Tale to Reality Wednesday: Review of the Foreign Media, Letterbox, Music, The Turkey Bulletin Thursday: Big Powers and the Armenian Problem, In the Wake of a Contest, The Culture Parade Friday: Archaeological Settlements in Turkey, Music, The Turkish Album Saturday: Outlook, The EU and Turkey/DX Corner, Music, Prehistoric Addresses in Turkey Sunday: Women in Turkish Music, Music, Contemporary Turkish Thought 2nd Period: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday as period 1 except for: Tuesday: The Hittite Sun replacing From Tale to Reality. Thursday: Music replaces In the Wake of a Contest. The second part of the schedule lists for 1st period the following: Monday: Last Week, Hues and Colours of Anato1ia, Music, From Past to Present Tuesday: Live from Turkey Wednesday: Review of the Foreign Media, Letterbox, Music, Turkey's Off the Beaten Track Sites Thursday: Big Powers and the Armenian Problem, In the Wake of a Contest, The Culture Parade Friday: Archaeological Settlements in Turkey, Music, The Travel Itinerary of Anatolia Saturday: Outlook, The Stream of Love/DX Corner, Music, Turkish Arts Sunday: Times Spanning Centuries, Music, Turks in the Mirror of Centuries The 2nd programme period is the same as the first except for: Thursday: in which music replaces In the Wake of a Contest. English can be heard at the following times until 30th March 2003. To EU 0400-0425 on 6020. 1330-1325 on 17815. 1930-2025 on 9890. 2300- 2355 on 6020 and 9655. To NAm 0400-0455 on 6020. 2300-2355 on 6020 & 9655. To Au 1330-1425 on 17690. 2130-2225 on 9525. To Af 0400-0425 on 7240. To As 0400-0425 on 7240. 1330-1425 on 17690. 2130-2225 on 9525 (VOICE OF TURKEY SCHEDULE via Edwin Southwell, Feb World DX Club Contact, edited by Alan Roe for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. NEW SERVICES TO AUSTRALIA FROM RADIO UKRAINE INTERNATIONAL Radio Ukraine International advises that from Mar-30, the Lvov transmitting centre is to be used for proposed transmissions for Australia. A massive 1000 kW is planned, for 11 hours daily, in three distinct segments - morning (22 metres), late afternoon (13 mb), and evening (16 and 13 mbs). Proposed frequencies are: 13755 1700-2000, 17555 0800-1200, 17725 0800-1300, 21510 0500-1200 (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** U K. Some BBC previews later in February: MADE FOR LIFE Our planet may be just the third rock from the sun, but it's the only place in the universe that we can be certain harbours life as we know it. And it seems increasingly clear from modern research that it was no accident that life has colonized this particular rock. Events way back in our geological past - even at the birth of our planet nearly half a billion years ago - seem to have conspired to make life happen here. Science Writer Gabrielle Walker joins experts at some of the oldest parts of the globe, to see for herself the evidence that earth truly was Made For Life. From Feb 26th: Americas | Thu 0206 rpt 2106, Fri 1506 Europe | Wed 2006 rpt Thu 0206, 1506 Fri 1006 West Africa | Wed 2106 rpt Thu 0206, 1406, Fri 1006 EVERYWOMAN British model, Sofie Dahl, is used to adorning the pages of Vogue magazine, but now she's embarking on a new career - as an author. Sophie's book, The Man With The Dancing Eyes, is a fairytale for adults. It tells the story of a lonely young woman who falls in love with a seducer. The tale is partly based on experience and partly on fantasy. "Writing," says Dahl, "is very different to having your photo taken. You are exposing yourself more, not physically but emotionally." Dahl speaks to Everywoman about the very different skills of modeling and writing, and following in the footsteps of a literary giant -- her grandfather, the children's writer, Roald Dahl. [no specific dates given] Americas | Tue 0230 rpt 2130, Wed 1530 Europe | Mon 2030 rpt Tue 0230, 1530, Wed 1030 West Africa | Mon 2130 rpt Tue 0230, 1430, Wed 1030 ON SCREEN A new series, I LOVE TV, examines our endless fascination with the small screen. From the USA to Uttar Pradesh, Samoa to Timbuktu, Ed Butler finds TV addicts everywhere forming their opinion about the world through television. News and drama, as well as emerging genres like music television and reality TV have become central to our many worlds, but how real are those worlds? In the age of cable and satellite, how far is television defining our tastes, our ambitions and our lifestyles? Who really holds the power? From Feb 24th: Americas | Tue 1406 rpt Wed 0106, 2006, Thu 0606 Europe | Tue 0906 rpt 1906, Wed 0106, 1406 West Africa | Tue 0906 rpt 1606, Wed 0106, 1306 (via Ivan Grishin, BBC Programming, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** U K. ARCHERS FANS AT RISK The Guardian, Owen Gibson, Wednesday February 5, 2003 The BBC has risked disabling the computers of more than 10,000 fans of The Archers after inadvertently sending them a PC virus. Every fan who had signed up to a daily email update was sent the virus, known as the Sobig worm, despite the BBC's own strict anti-virus systems. The BBC believes it caught the virus in time after alerting 10,500 individuals who take the electronic newsletter. But the blunder has caused alarm bells to ring at the BBC, which spends hundreds of millions of pounds on its online and interactive services, and has more computing expertise than most public service organisations. It is also is case of life imitating art. A current storyline has bar manager Jolene showing Joe Grundy how to send emails in a new internet cafe that has been set up in The Bull, the local pub in the radio soap's fictional village of Ambridge. When recipients of The Archers' email newsletter clicked on the attached file, it immediately began searching their hard drive, attempted to extract a list of email addresses and forward itself to all these contacts. "The Sobig worm first appeared in mid January. It has had quite a big impact since then, indeed it was the fourth most prevalent virus during January 2003," said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at software company Sophos Anti-Virus. "Most anti-virus vendors released protection against the Sobig worm as soon as it was detected, so Archers fans who have recently updated their anti-virus software would have avoided infection," he added. However, for the non computer literate, the episode is likely to have proved more heart-stopping than the most dramatic Archers storyline. Listening figures have soared recently on the back of interest over an affair between Brian, one of the show's longest serving characters, and Siobhan. A BBC spokeswoman confirmed a virus was "erroneously sent out" on January 29 "despite the BBC's stringent anti-virus protocols". She said steps were taken straight away: "Immediately we knew this happened, an email was sent out to those on the list apologising for the error and offering advice on deleting the virus. An internal investigation is currently taking place to ensure a similar incident does not happen in the future." She said that executives responsible for anti-virus action believed that damage was limited to "the tens, rather than hundreds or thousands." (via Paul David and Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Hi Glenn, FYI: BFBS on 5945 kHz is relaying the PM programme (news and analysis) from BBC Radio 4 on weekdays at 1700 UT. A rare chance to hear BBC domestic radio live on shortwave. The online schedule for BFBS2 indicates that this is preceded by The Archers at 1645 UT. I can't imagine many of the young service personnel on duty in the Gulf are interested in that :-) (Andy Sennitt, Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nor am I 5945, BFBS 1545 11 Feb; with good signal also in Milano, North Italy, in English with pop song, some talks and news at 1600. Many announcements as "on BFBS Radio Two". Also mentioning Radio One. Rx: AOR AR5000 ant: t2fd 15 m long (Giampiero Bernardini, Avvenire, Milano, Italy, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Dear friends, This afternoon, Feb 12, the BFBS was heard very strongly here in Denmark on 5945 from audio sign on at *1501 (in the middle of a newscast) until cut off at 1759:22*, all with British English programming of news, interviews and pop music. ID's as "This is BFBS Radio Two". SINPO 45444 until 1559 when the Voice of Russia signed on on 5940 with QSA 5 and programmes in German and French caused severe sidesplashes to the broadcast. Then BFBS was pressed down to 43443 - 52442 ! From *1454:40-1457* there were test tones on 5945 with intervals of six seconds of a tone and six seconds of a pause. This was repeated at 1549-1551 together with the BFBS programming, so I am not sure that this was from the same transmitter. At 1759:24 the same transmitter (without drop in signal strength !!!) continued with the ordinary ORF programme in German with ID and news at 1800. So to me, there is no doubt that the BFBS has rented the Moosbrunn transmitter for the period 1500-1800 ! Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unfortunately the rebuttal below not received in time for WOR 1169, nor has there been time for Anker to reply. I hope I have identified the participants correctly, as this was not made clear (gh) Reception here in Germany and England is much different, compared to incoming reports in DEN and SWE. We looked at 5945 channel since Feb 9th and never had a strong signal here in southern Germany. 5945 BFBS is never broadcast via Moosbrunn. The signals from Moosbrunn are always S=9 +60 dB - some 800 km from Stuttgart away, that's the experience of four decades! But the BFBS signal is coming more from the East - like a UAE or Oman relay signal, starts at 1500 UT with S=1-2 signal level, and increases here around 1535-1545. We - Noel, Olle, and Kai discussed that matter in past four days. And also looked to the RMS audio signals from the NE/ME monitoring sites. I guess the Greyline from UAE, CYP or OMA is much earlier towards Northern Sweden and Denmark these days, than to westerly Germany and England. But even at around 1758 UT the signal is much weaker here at my place, than the upcoming ORF Moosbrunn signal then. I guess it's coming from BBC Zyyi Cyprus near Limassol, but bearing towards North-East, not the favorite angle towards Stuttgart Germany. Guess on the BFBS transmission towards the Malvinas/Falklands war, was an easy task: all transmissions were broadcast via ASCENSION Islands these days (Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wasn`t able to listen yesterday afternoon, but have tried BBC-CYP in Serbian on 5875 and BFBS on 5945 today. At 1500, both signals were more or less identical in signal strength - weak - and propagational characteristics. By 1515 [when 5875 went off] it had increased in strength and audibility, but 5945 had not. But I would guess this is actually what should happen - 5875 is via 314deg - 5945 would surely be in the opposite direction if meant for eastern Turkey and the Gulf? (Noel Green, England, via Bueschel...) At 70 degrees from Zyyi Cyprus ... ? Before I left today [Feb 12], I checked both the 5945 and 5875 [BBC Serbian via Zyyi CYP] kHz channels at 1500-1515 UT. As expected: BBC Serbian via 314d eg was loud and clear at my place. But 5945 BFBS outlet had the same suffering signal, as on previous days, increase here from about 1535-1545 UT onwards. Yes, I agree that 13720 and 5945 could be via different sites, but Wolfie`s discovery that 13720 was inaudible at 0200 does suggest that CYP is the site, and that the signal is 'skipping' over ISR at that time. 13720 was useless on ISR monitoring post til 0245 UTC, then increased in strength. The afternoon service on 5945 kHz was much fluttery though ... (Kai Ludwig? via Bueschel...) . . . new txers and would guess all could be accounted for doing other services. The current WRTVH says Zyggi has two x 250 and 8 x 300 kW which could mean capacity is available from there. I hadn`t considered Seychelles --- there are only two x 250 kW there and I guess both are in use. And maybe antennas are not available for the Gulf area? (Noel Green, ibid.) SEY - They had a service towards Iran recently ... but I don't think they use an old 75 kW reserve unit for such a sensitive matter. CYP and UAE have much units on their disposal. I guess the reserve 100 kW units at Cyprus dismantled in past decade, when new 250/300 kW units erected there (Kai Ludwig?, ibid.) But I see already, Merlin has 2 x 250, 1 x 100, 1 x 75 kW at their disposal, and full in use. And the main power access on the Mahe relay base is also very limited... Has been published around Feb 9th, is a MNO - Merlin brokered operation, according to IBB monitoring. Coming --- for safety reasons --- from a BBC site, like from Ascension Islands during the ARG-UK Malvinas-Falkland war, a decade ago. I guess from Zyyi-Cyprus, or from further Easterly site like Al Dhabbaya-UAE or new Oman site SLA A'Seela. The service should cover the target from southern Turkey - Northern Kurdistan to the ships off the coast of Kuwait and Bahrain harbours, and area between Cyprus and Lebanon too. I listened at 1500-1530 on 5945; the signal was poor, but increased from 1535 UT at Stuttgart. The more Northerly broadcasts like BBC Thailand relay on 49 mb was much stronger (5975 290 deg, --- 324 deg would be better towards EUR), and Singapore on 6195 kHz too, on latter frequency, Skelton was underneath in Pashto co-channel. In comparison, I missed to monitor the BBC Cyprus Serbian outlet at 324 degrees, at 1500-1515 UT today; I'll check it tomorrow [Feb 12]. BTW: Seychelles is much too far away, they have only few transmitters, and have no 22 mb capability. I heard never a 49 mb outlet from the SEY here in Europa at 1500 UT. Nothing heard at 0200 UT start of transmission on 13720, when I listened to the Tel Aviv RMS files yesterday, so I guess Israel is too close to Limassol, Cyprus, and propagation increased from 0245 UT. The BFBS service is for personnel in an area from Northern Kurdistan near Dyirbakir, Turkey to marines off the coast of Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and Oman. || From *1454:40-1457* there were test tones on 5945 with intervals of six seconds of a tone and six seconds of a pause. This was repeated at 1549-1551 together with the BFBS programming, so I am not sure that this was from the same transmitter. || Anker, that's WRONG: Deutsche Welle starts via a Russian site - co- channel, and has been noted here under BFBS with the usual test tones opening procedure. RUSSIAN 5945 1500-1900 100 IRKUTSK 263 degr CIS (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 12, who forwarded the entire above thread, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A/SRI LANKA. Frequency change for Radio Farda via IRA 250 kW / 334 degrees: 1630-1730 Pashto and 1730-1830 Dari NF 7585 (45544), ex 15690 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. - RADIO FREE EUROPE/LIBERTY NOW USING 75 METRES FROM BIBLIS: As of Feb-10, RFE/RL moved on to 3980, via Biblis (Germany) for the Ukrainian service, replacing 6170. This is available at 1800- 2000, and 2000-2100 Su-Fr (ex 6170). Super strong signals as monitored by WBM here in Melbourne on Feb-11 (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Additional transmission for Voice of America in Kurdish: 0400-0500 on 7200 9705 15115. 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** U S A. Dear Glenn: Thanks for the story on WBCQ Radio's newly started Planet World News. Due to the overwhelming good response that we are getting about our news service, we are going to expand it. Planet World News will also be heard simultaneously Monday thru Friday at 3:50 p.m. EST [2050 UT] on 9.335, as well as on 7.415. Planet World News will also be heard Saturdays from 3:50 pm EST to 4:00 pm EST, but only on 7.415. In addition, beginning this Thursday, February 13, 2003, at 5:00 pm EST to 5:30 pm EST [2200-2230 UT] on 7.415, will be Planet World News Roundup featuring important stories of the week, plus other stories of interest contributed by our various news correspondents. This will include information on everything from new technology to preparations for the possible upcoming war and other unrests in the world. We are all very heartened here at WBCQ Radio to the wonderful positive reaction we are receiving from our listeners since we began Planet World News. We are doing our best to present the news in as clear and as unbiased {a way} as possible. Also, we have a brand new public affairs program known as The Last Roundup, which features news stories of interest, mainly focusing on public and governmental issues. The Last Roundup can be heard Tuesdays, 5:00 pm-6:00 pm EST [2200-2300 UT], Thursdays 5:30 pm-6:30 pm EST [2230-2330 UT] and Sundays 4:00 pm- 6:00 pm EST [2100-2300 UT]. Here at WBCQ Radio we have noticed the very significant increase in listenership and listener participation to this radio station. We are very happy to be able to bring unbiased news coverage to WBCQ. Sincerely yours, (Allan H. Weiner, WBCQ, Feb 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. From the "Internal Memos" web site: http://www.internalmemos.com/memos/memodetails.php?memo_id=1327 Clear Channel Communications COLUMBIA COVERAGE From: Mark Mays Hello CC Folks, CC Radio did an amazing job working together this weekend covering the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Despite email migration and WAN problems moving audio, they persevered, worked around it and blew away everyone (including the big networks) when it came to delivering a critically important information service coast to coast, from our largest markets all the way down to the smallest communities in our company. Our WireReady service became our consistent and reliable means of communication on Saturday, the system and team performed admirably. News was made available to al stations until midnight, we had reporters all over the country including at the press conferences. In fact, our CC coverage was a major element in ABC's coverage. Our AM stations were providing our FM stations with frequent, quality updates. We compiled a list of guest experts, sound bites, production elements, music beds, tribute songs and the material were used around the country. Stations across the country participate and individuals proved to be our heroes. Thank you to everyone! As Gabe Hobbs, SVP of Programming said, "Don't ever let anyone tell you that size is a bad thing. Thanks to our size we had access to incredible resources which allowed us to bring UNPRECEDENTED coverage to small communities and large cities all across the United States. We were still working hard and broadcasting to these communities long after the major networks had fallen silent. Last week when I wrote, I promised you an update on our visit with the Senate Commerce Committee... it was an interesting experience. Lowry did a great job explaining our company and telling our story. You will be pleased how he masterfully stressed that we work hardest to please our local listeners, making their local CC stations better and better. Don Henley did his best to paint a tainted picture of our business, but ultimately everyone recognized that artists do set the ticket prices of concerts and are ultimately responsible for the marketing of their music product. Needless to say, the debate will go on. We are happy to participate. The more people learn the facts, the better off we are. Clearly we were most proud to tell of your hard work serving your communities. If you want to read more, please go to http://www.clearchannel.com and the CCRC where you can find Lowry's testimony and our press release. If your clients and customers are asking you about this event, please get these materials so you are informed about our position. A consistent external message is very important right now and we appreciate your help. We have received inquiries from employees and shareholders asking "what can we do?" and saying "we want to participate in this process!?. We always want to encourage you to weigh in with your own Senators and Representatives, as well as Chairmen and Ranking Members of the committees of jurisdiction (Commerce and Judiciary in both the House and the Senate). We're told the most effective method: letters personally written and sent to home state Senators and one's own Representative. Say Feingold is wrong -- urge them not to cosponsor. Tell them all the great things we do within our community; how we are live, local and engaged in our markets. If legislation pops up elsewhere we will keep you posted. You can find these contacts and contact information on the CCRC. Thank you for participating in the American political process! One of the exciting topics we covered at the hearing is the success CC Radio is having with the CC New Music Network. If you haven`t visited, please do: http://www.clearchannelnewmusicnetwork.com --- we have over 2000 bands and artists registered and we have only promoted the project in some 20 markets. This project along with our new music radio shows, the work CC Entertainment does to bring new artists into clubs and venues demonstrates Clear Channel is CLEARLY doing its part to grow the music business and bring new music to consumers. On another subject, I am proud to report a Florida judge DISMISSED the frivolous and false SBS lawsuit last week. You may recall last summer when we had a mountain of press alleging CC and HBC were involved in anti-competitive practices intended to drive SBS out of business. As Lowry says, "Folks are making inaccurate claims about our company that have no basis in reality. We have risen above the chatter and proven that we are a good company, with ethics, integrity and sound business practices. We`ll continue to stay focused on our business and work hard for our customers and our communities. I am happy to report we were victorious. We expect appeals, but for now the court has ruled and we have prevailed. Be assured we will continue, along with your divisional leaders, to work to tell our CC story in court, in the press, in our industries and in Washington! Pinnacle Club winners joined us in San Antonio for food, fun and festivities last weekend. We were delighted to host this event and very proud to see this group of outstanding performers who represent dedication and commitment. Thank you to these folks and to all of you who help these folks succeed - behind every Pinnacle winner is a team of talented folks! Congrats to you too!! Later this month you will hear from me again, we will be releasing our 2002 final financial results. I look forward to that report. And finally, we have all experienced challenges with our email over the last months. I am very pleased CCIT has pulled us through a difficult period of migration, upgrading and we're almost finished. These improvements will increase our efficiency and speed and I appreciate your patience and CCIT's persistence. If you have continued problems contact the CCIT help desk. Folks, thank you again for the work you are doing! Stay the course! It's working! (via Harry Helms, AK6C, Feb 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. THE FRIENDLY BOGEYMAN OF LOS ANGELES RADIO By MIREYA NAVARRO February 9, 2003 [I`m not sure how he pronounces his real name but it is probably accented: Renán Almendárez --- gh] GLENDALE, Calif. ARRIBA arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba!" For years, that's how the top-rated morning radio show in the Los Angeles area usually began: "Up up up up up up up up up up up up!" yelled in Spanish at the crack of dawn, while a rooster crowed in the background. "Good morning the housewives! Those in construction! The truck drivers! The ones delivering newspapers and magazines! Those of the grape, the lettuce, the onion! The bakers! Those who make doughnuts! Greetings!" Those were the early-morning listeners Renan Almendarez Coello urged out of bed on "El Cucuy de la Mañana" ("The Morning Bogeyman") on the Spanish-language station KSCA-FM (101.9) here. They helped him dethrone the likes of Howard Stern in Los Angeles and become the closest thing to a national radio voice for immigrant Latinos. As the Mexican population that was once concentrated in the West and Southwest has spread east, so has Mr. Almendarez Coello's turf: over the last year, his syndicated show went on the air in Washington, South Carolina and New York City. A key question has followed him across the country: can Mr. Almendarez Coello's brand of humor, delivered in a Spanish drenched in Mexican slang, cross over from the Mexicans and Central Americans who are his core fans to the Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans and Colombians who dominate Eastern markets? Now another challenge looms. Mr. Almendarez Coello recently announced that after six years of early rising, he wants to sleep in. He cut his show by two hours and moved it, beginning last Monday, to the afternoon drive time of 3-7 p.m., gambling that his audience would follow him to "El Cucuy de la Tarde" ("The Afternoon Bogeyman") and perhaps even grow. "We've already made history in the morning," he told his audience in one of his last morning shows. "Now let's go to the afternoon." On his show and in an interview at his studio, Mr. Almendarez Coello, 49, said there were professional and personal reasons for the abrupt change. He said he was tired of getting up at 3 a.m. six days a week for the grueling morning schedule (the show was on from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m.), and he wanted to free himself up to entertain television and film offers and devote more time to his charity work. Taking such a gamble with a highly rated show is rare in radio, industry analysts said, and it has already cost "El Cucuy" its New York outlet. The show's ratings had suffered some erosion lately, but Mr. Almendarez Coello had held on to his No. 1 rank in Los Angeles, beating all competitors in both English and Spanish, and had a combined audience in syndication of several million listeners in a dozen markets. Valerie Geller, a consultant who has worked with both Spanish- and English-language radio companies, including Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation, the chain that owns KSCA, said "El Cucuy de la Tarde" had a good chance of success because of Mr. Almendarez Coello's personal drawing power. "Audiences are very, very loyal and Renan is very, very popular," she said. "He reveals who he is," she added. "He'd say the same thing to one person as he would to a million. All the great ones are like that. They all have this instant intimacy." Mr. Almendarez Coello arrived in the United States from his native Honduras in 1982 with a three-month visa he ended up overstaying. (He became an American citizen a few years ago.) A radio actor since his teens, he worked in construction alongside Mexican immigrants and picked up the accent that would become El Cucuy's. He found his way back to radio at stations in places like Fresno and Santa Ana, and came to KSCA in 1997. With "El Cucuy" he offers what he calls "a reality show" a mix of jokes, goofy contests, double-entendre humor, calls from listeners (which can develop into real-life dramas) and mobilizations to help hurricane victims and cancer patients. In his studio, glasses perched on his forehead, Mr. Almendarez Coello can be outrageous he was once host to an exorcism on the air but is more often mischievous, or even juvenile. He slaps buttons to produce canned laughter or the sounds of a toilet flushing (though his show is much tamer than the morning fare on stations like WSKQ-FM, the leader among New York's seven Spanish-language stations). He performs with a trio of sidekicks, La Tropa Loca, or the Crazy Troop, who sit across from him screaming, panting or speaking in child-like voices. But a recent week's worth of listening also yielded an exclusive interview with Laura Bozzo, the Peruvian talk show host who is ensnared in a political scandal and under house arrest. And in a long-winded drama, he kept a man in Mexico and a woman in Los Angeles on the line for more than an hour (with commercial interruptions), trying to get them to reunite. By the end of the show they agreed to do so, after El Cucuy found a buyer for her furniture among his listeners. Mr. Almendarez Coello's popularity is certainly tied to the large Hispanic population in Los Angeles, but also reflects the way he connects with his audience. This was in evidence when his car pulled up to the Libreria Martinez bookstore in Santa Ana, about 30 miles south of here, on a Saturday afternoon late last year and the waiting crowd of several hundred people erupted in screams and applause. He was promoting his book, "El Cucuy de la Mañana: In the Pinnacle of Poverty" (2002, Rayo), written with his manager, Fernando Schiantarelli. In it he details his rise from poverty and describes battles with alcohol, drugs and womanizing. (Mr. Almendarez Coello says he has been married four times and has 20 children, 16 born out of wedlock; he has been married for 17 years to his current wife, Virginia, with whom he has three daughters.) Inside the store, mothers asked him to bless their children and a woman showed him the open sores in her legs, asking for help. Fan after fan, both men and women, dissolved in tears in his arms. Dina Rossano, 56, remembered finding El Cucuy crass and tasteless when she first heard him on a Santa Ana station years ago, but then being won over. "I'm a fan because he's a humanitarian and because of the happiness he brings to people," she said. "He's still crass but now we love him." Being a man of the people can backfire. Last year Mr. Almendarez Coello was in the news here when three people whose services he had recommended on the air were arrested. Two faith healers were charged with involuntary manslaughter (their cases are pending) and a man known as Dr. Mystery was sentenced last month to more than nine years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a series of sex crimes, some involving minors. Mr. Almendarez Coello said the three were among the many people who offer their services after hearing the plights of callers. To avoid such problems in the future, he set up a foundation in November to create assistance centers where listeners can get referrals to institutions rather than individuals. In New York where the Mexican population ranked third among Hispanic groups in the 2000 census, behind Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, but was the fastest growing "El Cucuy de la Mañana" was starting to build on audience from 8 a.m. to noon on WLXE-AM (1380), where it began running in September. But WLXE will not be carrying the afternoon show. Juan Tapia, the station's programming director, said that it wanted to stick to its Mexican music format during the evening hours that the show would be on in the East. (Mr. Schiantarelli said efforts were under way to get the show back on in New York, with WXLE or a new station.) {sic -- this isn`t Eniwetok} Juan Moreno, a radio columnist for the Spanish-language daily El Diario/La Prensa in New York, said that success there would be difficult for "El Cucuy" under any circumstances. "If the themes don't have anything to do with us, they are not going to work," he said. "When you bring someone who doesn't know New York's reality, it stands out like a sore thumb and turns people off." Eleazar García, operations manager for the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation, said that New York was the only market so far that had dropped "El Cucuy." The company is replacing Mr. Almendarez Coello in the morning with the radio host Eddie Sotelo, known as Piolin, on KSCA and other stations it owns in California, Nevada and Arizona. "We expect huge ratings and more growth in the morning and more growth in the afternoon," Mr. García said. In Los Angeles, where he does commercials for department stores and car dealers, records CD's of comedy and poetry over languid music and has his picture on a billboard in the heart of Hollywood, Mr. Almendarez Coello is ready to tackle other challenges. Producers have been calling with offers for his own cable television show and for a movie based on his book, he said. He would like to play himself. "More than a radio host, I'm an actor," he said. "I came to Hollywood dreaming of acting." He was also dreaming of taking his daughters to school for the first time and of watching the sun rise. But how would he open his show now that his audience would already be wide awake? "Arriba arriba arriba!" he insisted. "They're probably going back home or are in the middle of their shift, feeling tired and dozing off. So arriba arriba arriba!" http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/09/arts/09NAVA.html?pagewanted=print&position=bottom Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. When I was at KPDN, in Pampa, Texas, 62-66 minus half a year in 63 in Fort Worth, we played [Billy James] Hargis' "Christian Crusade" and "Lifeline." I can't remember who the voice of Lifeline was in the early days, but Melvin Munn, of Pampa, took over later. I had talked with him on occasion, nice enough fellow, but some strange ideas. {it was Wayne -- something --- gh} They weren't strange in the Texas Panhandle, though, where the John Birch Society Blue Book was second in popularity to the Bible (or first, depending upon to whom you talked.) KPDN did try to live up to the Fairness Doctrine (any one else remember the Fairness Doctrine) and there was a most interesting weekly newspaper editor in Tulia, Texas, who taped a 15 minute show, "The Country Editor Speaks," that we carried as well. H.M. Baggarly was the "country editor" and he and another fellow who ran the weekly newspaper in Canadian, Texas, seemed to be the only liberals in the Panhandle in the early '60s. I had worked part-time at KTUE in Tulia in 1960-61 and got to know Baggarly, who did a daily 15-minute show on that station. One of my duties at KPDN was to write the editorials for the station owner/manager, Warren Hasse, one of the two best bosses I ever worked for. the other being Clint Formby at KPAN in Hereford, Texas, who's still going strong. Hasse leaned toward the conservative, but I wrote editorials with which I thought both he and I could agree. He never rejected an editorial I wrote. But I think both our viewpoints were a bit, uh, temporized. It was my time in the Panhandle that woke me up politically. Some of the things Panhandle conservatives believed were so outrageous, I studied a lot of material in search of "the truth" (if there is such a thing in political philosophy.) Later, of course, as I found myself in Cambridge, Mass., for three and a half years, I learned some of the things Yankee liberals believed were almost equally outrageous. It's a shame our public policy must swing from one side to the other instead of finding, like my editorials in Pampa, the middle ground. (The above is partly satire!) (John Callarman, Krum TX, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. ROY MILLAR Bruce Portzer reports: "From former NRC member Bart Cronin, I recently learned of the death of long time BCB DXer Roy Millar of Marysville, Washington. Roy passed away in September from an apparent heart attack. He had been a DXer since at least the mid 1950's, and had been a member of both the NRC and IRCA at various times. Roy had logged and verified all sorts of impressive DX, including some amazing Trans Atlantic catches during the low sunspot years of the mid-1960s From what I understand, he sent his large QSL collection off to the CPRV several years ago. I would have to rank him as one of all time greats in the hobby, especially from this part of the country." (IRCA Soft DX Monitor Feb 15 via DXLD) ** U S A. Dennis Gibson alerted us to a webpage that shows the geographical distribution of radio stations in the US; further, they are color coded as to K and W calls. The effect is quite striking, but it doesn't reproduce well in back and white. The best thing is to go to the site and see this for yourself. You'll find it at http://www.dobe.com/wts/uscallsigndist.htm (IRCA Soft DX Monitor Feb 15 via DXLD) ** U S A. This month's issue of QST arrived in the mailbox today. It features a four page article on IBOC called "Digital Audio Broadcasting Has Arrived- The Story of WOR". It's written by Steve Ford, WB8IMY. The article concentrates on explaining how IBOC works in a "Q&A" type format. It does provide some additional tests on skywave reception (receiver lock via skywave didn't work out on initial tests) They also reference the WOR IBOC test web site at: http://www.wor710.com/Engineering/iboc/hdindex.htm I love the clever marketing of calling the new service "HD" for High Definition. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, Helena, AL, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. LPFM site --- Check out this site: http://www.recnet.com Great LPFM info, and nice mapping of 'available' channels based on LP- 100 or LP-10, factoring in 2nd and 3rd channel adjacents. And how about the below application that the person who alerted me to this site first noted. (This is the same channel [96.7 MHz] that the current Old School soul pirate in St. Petersburg recently appeared on, operating Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays only.) FM Query ST. PETERSBURG FL US FCC Facility ID: 134194 Channel/Class: 244 L1 Frequency: 96.7 Coordinates: 27-42'57.60" 82-39'14.40" License Type: Low Power FM Status: Application Power: Horiz: 0.000 kW Vert: 0.000 kW Antenna Height: 0 m HAAT View location in FMMAP Additional Info from the FCC: Station Information | Application Details Application List Contour Shown on Map: 60 dBu (50,50) Default HAAT used for map - 30 m View Channel Report for this station Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html (Terry L. Krueger, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Aló Presidente volvió esta semana a las frecuencias de 17750, 15570 y 15230. Hasta hace dos semanas sólo podía ser escuchado en 11705 y 15230 [todas vía Habana] (Adán González, VENEZUELA, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. From Mar 30, Voice of Vietnam plans continuing use of leased overseas relays. Daily relay output will be Sackville (Canada) four hours, Moosbrunn (Austria) two hours, and Skelton (UK) 90 minutes. Planned frequencies are: 6175 Sackville 0100-0500 9725 Moosbrunn 1700-1900 9725 Skelton 1900-2030 (EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Latin on 5835.60 varied to .48 with YL and OM, 1120 fair signal, some music at 1152, transmitter unstable 1155 still there 1200 no ID heard (Bob Wilkner, FL, Feb 12, NRD 535D ICOM R 75, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4498.78, unID LA, unknown QTH. Feb 2003 - 0140 UT. Andean station heard now and then during a few weeks. All the time music program and a DJ with weakly modulated telephone. The music I think comes from Bolivia but Perú is not excluded. A very tough one (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED: 4890: Amigos, La UNID de los 4890 kHz continua. Sintonizo la emissora todos los dias, aunque las condiciones de recepción no son buenas en estos dias. El amigo brasileño, vivendo en Bolivia, Rogildo F. Aragão también está oyendo la emisora y ha enviado algunas informaciones : "Recebi esta resposta abaixo do meu amigo TIN; esta pode ser uma possibilidade. No ultimo informe do Glenn Hauser, pensan que pode ser na Bolívia, mas acho que não, pelo sinal e no domingo eles passaram uma historia do San Martin de Porres; é um santo negro do Perú, mas uma história diferente da verdadeira, puxando para o negativo. Por estes motivos acho que é mesmo do Sul do Peru. TIN me disse desde o Japão - "En cuanto a la estación de 4890 kHz, anteriormente transmitia Difusora Radio Huanta en 4890.9 kHz o 4889V kHz, la cual es oficialmente asignada en 4890 kHz. Cuando la visité en 1995, estaba fuera del aire y funcionaba solamente con FM. Por eso muy posible que ha vendido su transmisor para otra estación del sur peruano" Un gran Saludo desde Brasil (Samuel Cássio Martins, São Carlos - SP, Conexión Digital via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) 4890.00, religious SS, unknown QTH. Feb 5 2003 - 0120 UT. I have fallen over a ``mystery`` with this logging and hope with mutual help we can solve this problem. If you have any info re this station it is important you send me a mail directly. Those special items are only meant for SWB members. This mail is sent to TN as usual but this time also directly from Quito to CB, who has a lot of knowledge about religious stations both in Latin America and in the rest of the world. Yesterday evening at 2020 local time I stopped at the frequency 4890.00 kHz. Radio Chota was strong on 4890.26 kHz but an interfering tone made me stay checking out the frequency. On 4890.00 kHz there was a weak SS with religious programme and with very hard splash from Radio Chota, who thankfully closed down at 0136 UT. This religious station was stronger and stronger and finally reached QSA 3-4. A very professional and costly religious programme with prayers, religious music and a teaching programme about the Catholic church and their habits followed. This just continued and continued without the smallest hint of an ID and after 3 hours I gave up. Neutral Latin American Spanish and no clue whatsoever from where the transmission came from. I get up most mornings, except for Saturdays/Sundays at about 0500 local time and this morning the station was still heard with religious programme, this time in the form of an act, "radio theatre" dramatized from a part in the Bible. Faded away at local sunrise. So after 4 hours listening I have not the faintest idea about the name or QTH of the station. Could it be a new Central American? This info was sent out as a "BM preview" Feb 6. The station can still be heard with the same type of programme totally without any ID and I can`t hear any geographical names. It is incredibly boring to listen to this type of programme hour after hour. Sometimes it seems to be a relay of a TV channel (?) when it seems like what is said above about ``dramatising our Bible`` is aid to be a movie. I received the following mail from our member CB/ Christer Brunström, thanks Christer! Exciting, I promise to check the bands carefully for the new station in Honduras. "Hello! It took me some days te answer. I returned from Germany Thursday evening. I have been in Berne outside of Bremen with some colleagues and pupils. Hectic days but very nice. There has been some talk about a new Evangelic station in Honduras and probably on shortwave. I have nor yet seen any information regarding frequencies, etc. The transmitter delivered by HCJB. But you write that the program content was Catholic and this does not match at all. 73/CB". (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6760.15 UNID LA, unknown QTH. Feb 1 2003 UT. Listened for 5-6 minutes to Mexican music nonstop and then silent with only carrier. Only heard this date. [Guatemalan 2x harmonic? --gh] (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BROADCAST ENGINEERING PLANNING ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The new international season starts on Mar-30. This is the "long one" of seven months, and it will be interesting to see how the actual frequency allocations hold up, with the sunspot number predicted to fall to about 40 by October. This will virtually mark the conclusion of Solar Cycle 23. Recently, there have been very large excursions in the daily sunspot count, ranging from 150 in mid-January, to 75 on Feb-01, and up again to 180 on Feb-11! I would suggest that broadcasters would be very unwise to attempt to use 17, 18, and 21 MHz for long-haul transmissions across substantially darkness circuits during the A03 season, but operations in those bands would be reliable for shorter routes over totally daylight, or partially daylight paths. The High Frequency Coordination Conference has completed its work for the development of the A03 Master Schedule. Delegates met for a week in Sandton, South Africa, and the public (modified) schedule (about 100 A4 pages!) is expected to be available during the first week of April at http://www.hfcc.org You may see a selection of photos taken at the South African meeting at that Website (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) DIGITAL RADIO MONDIALE ++++++++++++++++++++++ With the assistance of DRM members the BBC and Voice of Nigeria, DRM was featured at Africast 2002 in Abuja, Nigeria in late 2002. The conference theme was Broadcasting and the Emerging African Union. The BBC World Service showcased DRM as part of its Africast 2002 exhibition stand. Various DRM members relayed live test transmissions to West Africa during the conference, which were picked up on DRM receivers at the booth. Andy Giefer of the BBC World Service presented a DRM paper titled "Digital Radio Mondiale: A Suitable System for Broadcasting in Africa". The presentation included information of particular relevance for African broadcasters - the DRM system provides Robustness Modes (C and D) that have been specially created for tropical conditions. The DRM system provides solutions for broadcasting in harsh propagation conditions, such as those that can occur with Near-Vertical- Incidence Skywave (NVIS) transmissions (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) This is Radio Havana Cuba, broadcasting in English to the world... I am Arnie Coro and here is item one in detail... Johannesburg, South Africa was the venue for a radio conference where I had the opportunity to hear the tests of the DRM system DIGITAL RADIO MONDIALE, a very promising modulation technology that may prove to be that will make possible short wave broadcasts that sound like a local FM station !!! The tests were made on the little used 11 meter band, on the frequency of 25.800 kiloHertz, and anyone listening to that channel would only pick up what apparently sounded like computer noise, as in effect it was a digital signal. The transmitter was located at the Sines, Portugal, site of Deutsche Welle, the German international broadcast station, running a 250 kilowatt transmitter, that when operating on the digital mode should have produced an output of about 45 kilowatts or so. NOW look at a map, and see the distance between Portugal and South Africa... a 747 leaving Lisbon will land in Johannesburg about 10 hours later !!! But the DRM digital signal made it all the way to the distant location producing an amazingly clear audio; in fact the frequency response was much better than the one you can normally expect from the 4.5 kiloHertz bandwidth that short wave stations normally put on the air. BUT, let me add that in yours truly humble opinion, the DRM system is not ready yet ... there is still much work to do; among other things, there is the need to develop the integrated circuit chipset for DRM radio receivers.... because so far, until now, all the receiving tests are done using a receiver with a special adapter connected to a laptop computer that is equipped with a special software to decode the DRM, Digital Radio Mondiale short wave broadcasts. This receiving software is not freeware, and that's something that may prove to be another big stumbling block for the popularity of the system. So now you know that the DRM tests from Portugal to South Africa were successful, and that the engineers used a computer sound card with a special proprietary software to decode the signal and play it back through a pair of loudspeakers... I am sure that during the coming months, tests will continue, especially during the upcoming World Administrative Radio Conference that will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, during the month of June... Tests will continue from the United Kingdom, Canada, Bonaire and Sines, but reception will only be possible for those that buy the rather expensive software and the special decoders, or build their own adapters !!! (Arnie Coro, RHC DXers Unlimited Feb 11 via Bob Chandler, ODXA via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ RE: DAYTIME PROPAGATION INTO MELBOURNE Glenn, As I mentioned in my story, complex summer LF daytime propagation modes specific to transmission from Asia into South Eastern Australia have long been discussed in professional circles, of which I am part. The phenomenon, due to its irregular and unpredictable nature, is not considered as a reliable platform for the planning and delivery of duplex voice or data communications over the circuits involved. In fact, it is believed that transmission reciprocity does not apply. Care should be exercised in publicly postulating unusual propagation processes, particularly where accepted engineering practice is generally based on the need for reliable two-way communications. The lower range limit of usable frequencies for conventional two-way communication is of course affected by many factors, including environmental noise, received signal/noise ratio, transmitter power, receiver sensitivity, antenna gains, ionising EUV and Xray radiation, solar zenith angle, the empirical ALF obliquity factor, oblique propagation, elevation angle, antenna design, antenna characteristics, geophysical activity, modulation parameters, and transmitter efficiency. The generally accepted conclusion favous what is known as he F(Es)F mode, where two refractions occur off the F2 layer and an intermediate "bounce" (with no ground refraction) off the top surface of Es clouds. We are not talking about VHF bouncing off the bottoms of Es clouds, or VHF/UHF ducting, which are totally different processes. Es clouds appear to move from east to west, and in Eastern Australia the effect is maximum during summer, intensifying at around local noon. Es by definition is "sporadic", and unpredictable, coincident with our midday reception of Asian transmitters on 4, 5, and 6 MHz over long distances. Reflection off the top surfaces of Sporadic-E clouds, yielding complex combinational mode transmission is discussed in learned (engineering) literature, for propagation on frequencies beow 9 MHz. Several years ago, detailed engineering studies were undertaken in New South Wales on MF, using ABC transmitters, but the results of these tests are not in the public domain. I am putting together a detailed engineering research paper on this subject for peer review in due course, and I would be happy to make this available for comment to persons with suitable engineering backgrounds, as the material is necessarily highly mathematical in nature. Regards! (Bob Padula, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 12 FEBRUARY - 10 MARCH 2003 Solar activity is expected to be mostly low with occasional moderate levels during the period. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected during the forecast period. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux is expected to reach high levels on 15 – 19 February due to recurring coronal holes. The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet to isolated major storm levels during the period. Minor storming with isolated major storm conditions are possible on 15 -18 February due to a returning equatorial coronal hole. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2003 Feb 11 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2003 Feb 11 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2003 Feb 12 135 8 3 2003 Feb 13 135 8 3 2003 Feb 14 135 12 3 2003 Feb 15 130 15 3 2003 Feb 16 130 15 3 2003 Feb 17 125 15 3 2003 Feb 18 125 15 3 2003 Feb 19 120 20 4 2003 Feb 20 115 20 4 2003 Feb 21 115 15 3 2003 Feb 22 115 15 3 2003 Feb 23 120 12 3 2003 Feb 24 120 10 3 2003 Feb 25 125 8 3 2003 Feb 26 120 12 3 2003 Feb 27 120 12 3 2003 Feb 28 125 8 3 2003 Mar 01 125 8 3 2003 Mar 02 135 8 3 2003 Mar 03 135 10 3 2003 Mar 04 140 20 4 2003 Mar 05 145 20 4 2003 Mar 06 150 10 3 2003 Mar 07 150 10 3 2003 Mar 08 150 8 3 2003 Mar 09 145 10 3 2003 Mar 10 140 10 3 (http://www.sesc.noaa.gov/radio Feb 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ### ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-023, February 11, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [note change] HTML version of all January issues: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3a.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.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 NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1168: RFPI: Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WWCR: Wed 1030 on 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1168.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1168.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1168h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1168h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1168.html WORLD OF RADIO 1169 first airings: Wed 2300 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB Thu 2130 on WWCR 9475 Fri 1930 on RFPI 15038.6 ONDEMAND AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL Hi Glenn: I trust you're well. I heard you for the first time in a long time in my car today. After three years without a shortwave car radio (DC-777), I just became a subscriber to Sirius Satellite Radio. Heard you on WRN (channel 115) at 10 am eastern (Sun) You sound pretty good in digital... (John Figliozzi, NY, Feb 9) ** AFGHANISTAN. There is meanwhile a large number of local radio stations on MW in operation in Afghanistan. For those who are interested in details, you may like to visit the webpage http://www.comunica.org/afghanistan - "The Potential for Community Radio in Afghanistan". You can download a pdf-file which contains an oversight on local broadcasting in Afghanistan as of autumn 2002, including a long list of stations. The name, location, band, power and schedule for each station is mentioned, but unfortunately not the frequency (these details might be available from the authors of the study). You may also sign on to a (professional) mailing list on local radio stations in the country (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 11, MW- DX via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 15820-L, RadioShow, Buenos Aires, 2140-2155, February 9. In parallel with 100.7 MHz. ID: "por RadioShow...", Listeners messages. Music program conduced by male and female. Message from an Internet listener from Canada and other from Mexico. TC: "18:42 minutos" 44444 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentine, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Here's something your readers might find of interest: On Radio Australia Fri. 0010 UT - HINDSIGHT - social history. This week [Feb 14]: "The Morscodians". A look at the rich history of the forerunner of today's wired world, the electric telegraph, invented by Samuel Morse in 1832. We hear from former telegraph workers who are anxious to uphold their legacy and to keep Morse's Code alive. [%] Best bet for east coast NA listeners would be to access the program either via the live stream or as an on-demand file. http://www.abc.net.au/rn That address is for Radio National, which is where the on-demand file is located. The live stream for Radio Australia is at http://www.abc.net.au/ra West coast NA listeners probably will be able also to hear this program on SW, Try 21725, 17580, 15240 (John Figliozzi, NY, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. BENIN: COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER ZOSSOU LAUNCHES NEW 10-KW TRANSMITTER | Text of report by Radio Benin on 6 February Communications Minister Gaston Zossou today launched a 10-kW transmitter in Abomey-Calavi area of the state. The new transmitter will improve the reception quality of programmes in five southern prefectures. Previously, there had been frequency interference from the Nigerian AIT station. Minister Gaston Zossou said the fact that the citizens could better receive stations from neighbouring countries made it imperative for the transmitter to be upgraded. He further said that it is an achievement that would make for national cohesion. The transmitter would improve both radio and television reception. The director general of the National Office of Radio Broadcasting and Television of Benin [ORTB] said that the launching of the transmitter is one of the efforts of President Kerekou to ensure a countrywide media coverage. Source: Radio Benin, Cotonou, in French 1930 gmt 6 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK?? AM, FM, SW?? ** BRAZIL. Um DXista yankee senhala Rádio Educadora da Bahia 6020 kHz. Alguiem em Brasil tive a amabilidade de confirmar que a emissora opera reaismente??? Muito obrigado (Dario Monferini (italia) radioescutas via DXLD) viz.: BRASIL: 6020 Rádio Educadora Bahia (p); 2350-2357+, 7-Feb; 2M w/lively tx in PP; might be phone call; hrd "do Brasil". Only hrd after Turkey s/off @2349. SIO=322/LSB helps; till covered by roar @2357, past 2400. (Frodge-MI) [MARE; roar = DRM BBCWS Sackville 6010] Dario, a Rádio Educadora da Bahia não está mais transmitindo em Ondas médias nem em Ondas Curtas, portanto o transmissor de 6020 está desativado. Não sei se é temporária ou definitiva essa desativaçào, mas ela ocorreu tem cerca de 2 anos. Posso dar uma corujada para você e dou uma posição melhor em breve, mas até onde sei, não está transmitindo nos 6020. Espero ter ajudado. Grande 73 (Antônio César Rossett, Salvador / BA, radioescutas via DXLD) Well, HF did say it was (p)resumed ** CANADA. This day`s Inuktitut lesson: see below ** COLOMBIA. Radio Melodía en 6140.4 ha estado fuera del aire, y a pesar de llamadas telefónicas no han querido darme información alguna (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, Feb 10, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Lástima lo de la emisora colombiana en 6140. Yo ni llegué a escucharla. Por acá no es sencillo sintonizar CPN Radio en esa QRG. Con decirte que la reporte en 1470 (onda media) y no en onda corta. Incluso hace un mes, cuando estuve en Salta, en el norte argentino y con excelentes condiciones de recepción para emisoras de la región andina, no pude cazarla, siendo que la busqué infructuosamente. Bueno amigazo, te mando un gran abrazo. Hasta cada momento (Arnaldo Slaen, BUENOS AIRES, ibid.) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. R. Prague English at 0400 on 7345 and 9435 are same program, but 7385 is different (Bob Thomas, CT, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Latter being WRMI relay; are you sure it`s not just a few seconds late due to feed route? Or maybe they tape it earlier in day (gh, DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC/SLOVAKIA. The two parties in any divorce often have vastly differing views of why it happened. I was curious to note, that the recent 10th anniversary of the `Velvet Divorce` between the former halves of Czechoslovakia was noted in two very different ways. Radio Prague devoted several programs and an large number of web pages to analyzing this event, why it happened, what led up to it, how it changed the two countries, who was behind it and how they have fared subsequently. Radio Slovakia on the other hand, was almost silent. I think that the events of 1992 were more traumatic to the Czechs than the Slovaks, the impression being that the Czech saw this as being traumatic, the end of something, whereas the Slovaks saw it as, perhaps liberation is too strong, but as a new beginning. Or at least that`s how they sold it. I must admit I found Radio Slovakia`s relative silence curious (Fred Waterer, Ont., Programming Matters, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) see also CZECH LESSON below ** ECUADOR. As informed earlier regarding closure of HCJB broadcast to India from Quito, Ecuador, still they are on air 0200-0400 on 12040 (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, Feb 10, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** GEORGIA. 11805.20v, Georgian Radio, Feb 9 *0633-0700+, Deutsche Welle until 0600, empty frequency until 0630 open carrier, sign on late at 0633, all news in English until 0650, when a "poppier" tune than what I heard on Feb 8 finished out the program, badly degraded by the time I heard the IS at 0700. Initial frequency of 11805.20 drifted down during the first five minutes to 11804.96 where it remained steady until tune-out (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, Drake R-8, longwires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11805, Georgian Radio 0638 Feb 9 in monotone English with vibes bumper music (Jilly Dybka, TN, Cumbre DX via DXLD) After VON, I was checking for this Feb 10. Parked on 11805, I could tell a carrier came on at *0630, weak with heavy flutter, but could not pull any audio in next 4 minutes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. TV piece about Jülich: For those with high speed internet access: A really nice Hessischer Rundfunk TV piece about the Jülich site is available as a 150 kbit/s stream at http://www.hr-online.de/fs/abenteuererde/ae030205-02.ram The footage includes "singing" transformers of the old plate modulation transmitters, the good, old fluorescent tube hold next to a PA stage (yes, it is forbidden to open the cabinet when the transmitter is on) and the DRM test set-up, not necessarily requiring to understand the narration. But one remark is worth to be quoted: The MD players and satellite receivers are commented with "until 1996 the duty on the station was quite easy, because there was only a single customer then". (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, very good report 7 minutes long, a lot of it about oncoming DRM (gh, DXLD) ** HONG KONG. Hi all, received Friday 6, 2003 very nice colour full {data?} QSL card from Radio TV Hong Kong on 3940 kHz for an e-mail report in return 97 days (Zdenek Elias, Jablonec n.N., Czech Republic, Feb 9, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** INDIA. Re Cricket cup on AIR: I was able to hear the first evening transmission Sunday Jan 9, 1920-2028* UT on the following AIR stations with varying reception here in Denmark: 3223, 3315, 3390 (very weak), 4760, 4830, 4880, 4895, 4910, 4920, 4960, 4970, 4990, 5040 and 5050! The new AIR Jammu 4830 was one of the strongest with SINPO 44444, but it lost the audio at 2013*. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Several AIR outlets were running late on Feb 8, on 60 mb, carrying live coverage of the South Africa vs. West Indies match. Noted in the period 1900 to closing around 2045-2100. The strongest was on 5040 Jeypore: others included 4990 Itanagar, 4895 Kurseong, and 4760 Port Blair. No doubt, there will be further late schedules or AIR for the many day/night games, offering interesting chances for monitoring/ reporting of some outlets which may be difficult otherwise. Regards! (Bob Padula, Melbourne, Australia, Feb 9, EDXP via DXLD) ** INDIA. NATIONAL DD, AIR STAFF POSTPONE STIR New Delhi, Feb. 9. (UNI): The Central Executive of the Programme Staff Association of All India Radio and Doordarshan today decided to defer the proposed mass casual leave agitation till March 10, following negotiations with the Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharati and Secretary (Information and Broadcasting). (from http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/02092014.htm via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is a `stir` 66.67% of a strike? (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. Sky Travel had a feature on Leh in Ladakh, India. I was searching for maps and found the following report. LADAKH REGION AIR TRANSMITTER HIT BY FIRE http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/01/23/stories/2002012305260900.htm (Mike Dawson, Reading, ENGLAND, Feb 9, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Over a year ago ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. SHUTTLE LOSS IMPACTING AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE The future of Amateur Radio in space --- at least in the near term --- could depend on how fast NASA pins down the cause of the February 1 shuttle Columbia disaster and fixes the problem. With shuttle fleet grounded until it does --- and further International Space Station construction on hold as a result --- attention is turning to the well- being of the all-ham ISS Expedition 6 crew of Commander Ken Bowersox, KD5JBP, Don Pettit, KD5MDT, and Nikolai Budarin, RV3FB. Three of the Columbia astronauts also were Amateur Radio operators. Under normal circumstances, a shuttle mission next month would have brought a fresh crew to the ISS and returned Bowersox and his crewmates to Earth. With a Progress 10 cargo rocket delivery February 4, the Expedition 6 team now has sufficient supplies to sustain the crew until late June or early July if necessary, NASA said this week. What happens beyond that remains up in the air, although NASA has said it would not mothball the ISS and leave the spacecraft without a crew. The extended stay could have an unintended consequence for Amateur Radio, however, since the temporarily stranded crew would be likely to have more spare time on its hands. NA1SS onboard the ISS represents the first permanent Amateur Radio station in space. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) International Team recently announced plans to expand NA1SS to include, among other things, separate stations for 2 meters and 70 cm and SSTV capabilities. ARISS is an international program with participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA. An ARISS contact set for February 6 with students at a high school in Germany was postponed, although the ARISS contact schedule is expected to resume later this month. "The German school QSO was postponed because of the Columbia accident and the re-planning taking place for ISS," said ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. Bauer said the crew's having to unload a ton of equipment from the Progress rocket also was a factor. He said he's expecting further clarification from NASA regarding future ARISS school QSOs. NASA reports that Bowersox, Budarin and Pettit paid a private tribute February 4 to Columbia's astronauts. NASA ISS flight controllers radioed the crew an audio feed from the memorial ceremony at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Additional information on the crew's activities aboard the ISS is available on NASA's Human Spaceflight Web site http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ The crippling of the US shuttle fleet has shifted formerly unanticipated demands on Russia and its meagerly funded space program, since Russian supplies the Soyuz capsules that now serve as emergency escape vehicles for the ISS crew. "If we have the money, we can build new [Soyuz] capsules," Russian space official and former cosmonaut Valery Ryumin assured this week. But, more money or no, Soyuz vehicles cannot carry cargo or experiments. The Russians also have temporarily scrapped their "space tourist" program, which they had been promoting to raise much-needed additional funds. Businessmen Dennis Tito, KG6FZX, and Mark Shuttleworth each paid an estimated $20 million to fill the third Soyuz seat and spend a week aboard the ISS. 'N Sync pop singer Lance Bass, KG4UYY, had been considered a possible candidate for an April Soyuz taxi flight. Now, the Soyuz could become the principal crew transport vehicle for the ISS, although no decision has been made on whether the April taxi flight now will be used to carry out the crew change (ARRL Letter Feb 7 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. NEW LIFE FOR OLD SPACECRAFT Ageing television satellites in orbit could become part of a European digital radio service for drivers... http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/technology/2732587.stm (Jilly Dybka saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you should see it, DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Clandestine, 9375, V. of S. Azerbaijan (?) 1752 Feb 9, man with Qur`anic verses, man with talks in language similar to Farsi. Signed off 1700 Signal S6-7 but very bad audio (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, R75 and 16m horizontal antenna (oldest), DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. Clandestine, per CRW125, 9750, V. of Iraqi People, 1822 Feb 9 with Arabic hit songs and ID as per Chabbane`s tip. Signal S9+20, 434x3 with many QRMers, VOA, R Japan plus from 9755 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, R75 and 16m horizontal antenna (oldest), DX LISTENING DIGEST) Electronic Iraq: see USA {so it wasn`t a fluke, tho later reported back on 9570} ** IRAQ [non?]. RADIO TIKRIT CARRYING PRO-IRAQI GOVERNMENT PROGRAMMING The radio station identifying itself as Radio Tikrit continues to be observed from 1900-2100 gmt on 1584 kHz. On 7 February the radio was heard carrying news and other programming instead of the continuous music and announcements which had been heard on previous days. The content of the programming focused on the activities of President Saddam Husayn of Iraq and senior Iraqi officials. It also included commentaries criticizing US policy on Iraq and saying that Iraq was "capable of facing aggression". The following is a summary of the full two-hour broadcast on 7 February: 1900-1903 gmt - Sign-on with an Egyptian love song. Announcement "This is Radio Tikrit" (Arabic: Huna Radyu Tikrit) repeated several times. "For all of Iraq and for all of the Iraqis, this is Radio Tikrit." The radio then gives a preview listing its programmes for the two-hour broadcast. 1903-1910 gmt - Kor`anic recitation followed by religious talk. [partly indistinct] "Man should not forget God and engage only in mundane issues. Man should avoid sins." 1910-1916 gmt - News bulletin: 1. Leader President Saddam Husayn chaired the fourth council of ministers' session. Ministers congratulated the president on the 8 February 1961 revolution, "wishing his excellency more glory and Iraqi Army jihad capabilities to entrench Iraq's victory." 2. Report on world media reactions to the Iraqi president's remarks during his reception of former UK MP Tony Benn. Reports says world media listened "with admiration" to Saddam Husayn's remarks. 3. Presidential adviser Amir Al-Sa'di responds to Colin Powell's allegations. 4. Husam Muhammad Amin says Powell's UNSC speech contained lies and fabrications on Iraq possessing WMD. He was addressing international delegations. 5. Military spokesman's statement on raids by the US and UK "ravens of evil". 1916-1920 gmt - Press review, covering Al-Thawrah, Nabd al-Shabab and Al-Zawra. 1920-1922 gmt - Weather conditions in Iraq. 1922-2000 gmt - "Open Dialogue" programme. It includes the following items interspersed with Arabic and Iraqi songs. a. Talk on the "Glorious 17-30 July revolution" and the nationalization of the oil industry. Praising "Saddam Husayn's Iraq." b. Summary of the news items listed above. c. Talk: The US Administration today is making the same mistake it made in the 30-state aggression. It wagers on brute force. Despite the large-scale destruction, Iraq was in fact victorious and Iraq now is more capable of facing aggression and consolidating the victory which marked the end of the Mother of Battles 12 years ago. d. Talk on the construction drive in Iraq. e. Partially indistinct talk. Urges extending assistance to citizens in emergency situations. "The sick-minded make an appearance in such a situation. Their tricks will not deceive the people for long. The Iraqi citizen is capable of distinguishing the good from the bad. We appeal to the official departments to take care of the conditions of the esteemed citizens and impose restrictions on those who tamper with the law and order so as to ensure for the citizens their full rights." f. Partly indistinct talk on sports. g. Signs of the Zodiac, an astrological forecast. 2000-2006 gmt - News bulletin: repeat of items in the 1910 gmt bulletin. 2006-2010 gmt - "Political Analysis": The US concentrations do not deceive anybody. The United States aims to kill Iraqi Arabs and Muslims. [indistinct] It thinks that the states in the region are its property. Iraq is different from Afghanistan. The Iraqi people are rallying round the wise leadership of leader president Saddam Husayn, may God protect and preserve him. Iraq abides by the ideology of the Ba'th Party. It has always defeated invaders. Americans do not care about other world nations calling for peace. 2010-2025 gmt - Songs 2025-2030 gmt - "Names to Remember". Largely indistinct talk on Michel Aflaq, founder of the Ba'th Party. 2030 gmt - News summary. 2030 gmt - Songs. 2045-2050 gmt - Talk entitled "Before It Is Too late". The United States is concentrating forces and is feverishly gathering support and forming an alliance that would share its losses. It is threatening Arab states and asking them to participate in sending forces and opening their airports for US planes. We in Iraq are prepared for war and are aware of its consequences. [indistinct] A state of mobilization is the best move to strengthen Iraqi defences. 2052-2058 gmt - News bulletin. Repeat of news items broadcast at 1910. 2058 gmt - Sign off. "From Tikrit Radio, we wish you good night." Soft music heard briefly and the radio goes off the air. Unlike Iraqi government radios, it does not play the Iraqi national anthem either at sign-on or at sign-off. It appears on the air with a well-known Arabic tune. Announcers, all males, speak in Iraqi accent. A female announcer appears only at sign-on to join a male announcer in identifying the station. The songs played by the station are both Iraqi and other Arabic songs. No songs in praise of Saddam Husayn were played. Pro-Saddam slogans or quotes from him were not observed. The radio was heard again on 1584 kHz at 1900 gmt on 8 February. The opening announcement this time stated that the radio was broadcasting on 189 metres, corresponding to 1584 kHz (previous broadcasts had announced 1557 kHz). A brief programme preview at 1903 gmt indicated that the 8 February programming was similar to the previous day's broadcast. Source: BBC Monitoring research 7-8 Feb 03 (via DXLD) Sounds like a `black` clandestine --- pretending to be on the other side, but one must listen closely for disinformation once the listener has presumably been tricked into believing the station be official. Or, maybe it really is sanctioned and in Tikrit? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. Hi Glenn, Just wondering whether there has been any news on the reactivating of RTÉ's 500 kW long wave transmitter previously leased to Atlantic 252 followed by Team Talk UK 252? The transmitter has been quiet since the summer of 2002 although a few suggestions have been made. These suggestions include transmitting RTÉ on long wave to UK (but RTÉ Radio 1 has already a excellent listenership in UK via the Tullamore Medium Wave transmitter (500 kW) and satellite broadcasts). Another suggestion was for a combined broadcast of RTÉ 1 and BBC Radio Ulster from Northern Ireland reflecting the new Ireland following the Northern Ireland Peace Process. However there have been few reports in the media of late and it is a pity that Ireland, with its limited resources looses out with this facility turned off. Also any indication of global listenership to RTÉ limited Shortwave transmissions? Kind Regards, (Paul Guckian, Ireland, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I believe the fate of the LW is still unknown. We`ll publish anything new. Well, RTE on SW gets good coverage with well-chosen sites and frequencies, but as for audience to the daily half-hours, I have no idea (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. JERUSALEM POST TEAMS UP WITH GLOBAL RADIO NEWS Jerusalem Post Radio has begun exclusive distribution of its extensive coverage of Israel and the Middle East via the Global Radio News network. Radio stations will be able to browse and buy from a range of reports and actualities. One week into the distribution arrangement, GRN has carried a full-length interview with Israeli opposition leader Yossi Sarid, as well as on the spot reports from the site of the latest suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus. With no let-up in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and with elections scheduled in Israel in January, Jerusalem Post Radio will provide exciting and informed material to GRN subscribers. Henry Peirse, Director of Global Radio News, says: Our distribution deal with Jerusalem Post Radio highlights the importance of turning to regional media for in-depth reporting and analysis. Its particularly significant, given that the Jerusalem Post is one of Israels oldest and most well-known publications. Global Radio News is a web-based audio content agency and distribution service with a network of more than 400 correspondents worldwide. GRN also distributes CNNRadio and Sky News Radio. http://www.globalradionews.com (AIB Newsletter, Feb, via DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. Radio Sadaye Kashmir [9890] 10 February 2003. Tuned into the frequency at about 0220 and found the test tone being transmitted. I was quite surprised by the signal strength, running about S-9. Very good audio also when the program started at 0230. It will be interesting to find out where this originates from (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZSTAN. Re Radio Salam in Batken: I have been in contact with UNICEF which is financing this local station. The office in Bishkek says that the quoted pressrelease has been issued too early, Radio Batken is going to get a new antenna for its FM transmitter in the next months which is expected to expand the station's coverage to the whole Batken province instead of the town of Batken. Since Batken is located not far from the Uzbek and Tajik border, the effect will be that the station will be heard on FM also on the other side of the border (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Les informo de los nuevos horarios de Encuentro DX en XEOI Radio Mil Onda Corta, 6010, cambios que obdecen a las interferencias recibidas por las pruebas de DRM y de La Voz de tu Conciencia. Viernes 1725 hrs. del centro de México (2325 UT) Sábado 0830 Hrs. del Centro de México (1430 UT) 1930 hrs. del Centro de México (domingo 0330 UT)[sic; 0130?] Domingo 0900 hrs. del centro de México (1500 UT) 1725 hrs. del Centro de México (2325 UT) 2305 hrs. del Centro de México (lunes 0505 UT) La página de NRM Comunicaciones está siendo remodelada y se está trabajando para que incluya información de la frecuencia de onda corta Saludos (Héctor García Bojorge, DF, Feb 10, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. At 0625 check Feb 10, and 0545 check Feb 11, VON was again on 7255 and 15120, not 9690 or 11770 --- three days in a row! Perhaps a trend *is* developing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [non] /UK. 15255, Salama R., 1935 Sun Feb 9, talks in Hausa with folk songs. Station name inside talks of man. A cappella singing of Alleluia. Signal level S9 /34423 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, R75 and 16m horizontal antenna (oldest), DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SOUTH AFRICA [non] ** PAKISTAN [and non]. ARABIC WORLD IN ADHA Today and tomorrow is the Adha [Hajj?], the Arabic Eastern [Easter?]. At 0955 UT I have heard an interconnection of several Arabic radio stations in the 21 MHz starting from R Pakistan on 21465 in parallel to 21495 // 21505 // 21600 // 21705 [all Sa`udi Arabia??] at least with prayer in very aggressive talks passing the TOH (1000) and till about 1020 closing with Qur`an preaches. Also most Arabic satellite TV stations were in parallel from on 1430 onwards except Libya and Iraq (Z. Liangas, inside Thessaloniki for 1000 using Kchibo KK 979. Personal in-house satellite TV system aiming Eutelsat, Greece 2/10/03, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {Yes, Pakistan is certainly not Arab} ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. RADIO BOUGAINVILLE BEMOANS FUNDS SHORTAGE | Text of report by Papua New Guinea Post-Courier web site on 11 February Radio Bougainville's preparation for the coverage of the autonomous government elections, reconciliation and other programmes may not become a reality. The radio station has been allocated a mere 50,000 kina in the Bougainville interim government provincial budget. In a letter to [provincial] Administrator Simon Pentanu, director of the provincial radio station Aloysius Rumina said the station needed substantial funding to effectively run its operations. "With this level of funding we are headed for trouble by the end of the first quarter," Mr Rumina said. He said the cost of spare parts and transmitter equipment were very high and could only be purchased overseas. In the letter, Mr Rumina asked for additional funding from the Bougainville interim government. He also said there was 30,000 kina still outstanding from the 2002 budget allocation. Source: Papua New Guinea Post-Courier web site, Port Moresby, in English 11 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK? The only way to match this in the WRTH 2003 is by name of station manager, the one on 3325, a.k.a. R. North Solomons, Kieta, no mention of Bougainville (gh, DXLD) ** QATAR. BATTLE STATION --- With its broadcast of Osama bin Laden's videos and exclusive footage of the Afghan war, the tiny satellite TV channel al-Jazeera made a huge name for itself. But not everyone approves of its controversial output --- and it struggles to survive. Brian Whitaker reports from its HQ in Doha Brian Whitaker, Thursday February 06 2003, The Guardian The show is over for another week and Faisal al-Qassem, the hottest property in Arab television, emerges from the basement studio with his guests. There is no hospitality suite at al-Jazeera television, so he commandeers the editor-in-chief's office, where there is just about enough room for three people to spread out and relax. Someone enters with a tray of coffee, trips and spills it. Long before the Qatar-based satellite channel scooped the world's media with its exclusive footage of the Afghan war and a succession of tapes from Osama bin Laden, it was Qassem's Tuesday night show, The Opposite Direction, that drew in tens of millions of Arab viewers. Qassem is an unlikely star. Wearing spectacles, and with his hair combed sideways to minimise the bald spots, he looks more like a university lecturer, and the formula for The Opposite Direction is so basic that most television stations would never dream of making it their flagship programme. For 75 minutes, Qassem sits at a table strewn with papers, while his two guests argue. But it is not what the BBC would call a studio discussion. The protagonists shout, gesticulate and try to drown each other out. On occasions, they have even stormed out. In the control room above the studio, it takes five people, working frenetically, to keep the flailing arms in shot. Viewers join in with phone calls and emails. The calls are not filtered and there is no time- delay to protect against abusive language. It's all live, anything can happen - and it frequently does. Qassem himself once remarked on air that all Arab leaders are bastards: the furore lasted for weeks. The secret of the show's popularity, he says, is that it breaks all the Arab world's taboos. "We tackle the most sensitive issues, be they political, religious, social, cultural or economic. We were the first to do a hot debate on secularism and Islam. "In the past, in the Arab world, you couldn't even talk about the price of fish, because that might endanger national security as far as the security services were concerned." The lengths some authorities go to in order to hit back are astonishing. In Egypt, they once dragged Qassem's brother --- a pop star --- out of his home in his pyjamas and bundled him on a plane to Jordan. "In Algiers," Qassem says, "they cut off the electricity supply so that people could not watch the programme because we were talking about the military generals and how they are wasting the money of Algerians." In the seven years since it was founded by a decree from the Emir of Qatar as the Arab world's first independent-minded news and current affairs channel, al-Jazeera has earned a reputation that inspires love and hate in almost equal measures. Its motto, emblazoned in Arabic on the station's publicity brochure, is "al-ra'i ... wal ra'i al-akhr" (opinion ... and the other opinion). That has not stopped critics from calling it the Bin Laden channel, although they forget that it also broke new ground in Arab television by interviewing Israeli politicians. Now, with war in Iraq looming, some are beginning to call it the Saddam Hussein channel. "Yes," says Mohamed Jasem al-Ali, managing director, "we are Bin Laden's channel, we are Saddam's channel. We are the CIA's channel, Mossad's channel --- all of them. "I mean ... we are following the news and the news is coming from Saddam Hussein and America at the moment." Al-Jazeera made its name in the west --- not to mention a tidy sum of money --- from footage of the Afghan war, and it's hoping to do the same in the expected conflict with Iraq. In Afghanistan, it was the only station with a permanent base in Kabul, but this time the battle for scoops could be tougher. "Our competition is the American TV news networks," Ali says. "Who's going to get the exclusive pictures?" Despite its scantier resources --- al-Jazeera has 755 employees worldwide against CNN's 4,000 --- he thinks the Arab station may still have the edge. "In Iraq we know the language, we know the mentality. It's very easy for us to find out things and move around there." The channel's reputation among ordinary Arabs, together with anti-American sentiment in the region, could, in theory, provide better access --- though in war reporting, much depends on luck and being in the right place at the right time. Al-Jazeera has also had discussions with the American and the British authorities about facilities to cover war in Iraq from a western viewpoint, as well as an Arab one. Some of its staff have taken part in official war training courses for journalists in the United States. This is part of a developing relationship with non-Arab governments that began, less than a month after the September 11 attacks, with a half-hour interview at Downing Street given by Tony Blair. The British prime minister was among the first to recognise the controversial channel as a perfect vehicle for talking directly to a large Arab and Muslim audience. American officials, notably Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld, quickly followed suit - though some of their appearances have been juxtaposed (balanced?) with hostile film clips or commentary. In the expected conflict with Iraq, while Arab governments may demur, Britain and the US will be making their case to the millions of al-Jazeera viewers at every opportunity. Hoping to get off to a flying start in Iraq, Ali and Qassem travelled to Baghdad a few weeks ago in search of a blockbuster interview with Saddam Hussein. Despite tales of visitors being washed in disinfectant and ordered not to shake hands, Saddam not only shook hands but hugged them. "You are making a lot of trouble," he told them, "but it's good." There was no blockbuster interview, however. After 15 minutes of filming, the Iraqi leader changed his mind and the rest of their two- hour talk continued off-camera - although he did give them some advice about political survival. "You can always benefit from listening to people," he said. "A shepherd with a herd of goats can give you many ideas. Listen to people. Any leader who didn't listen to his people would fall from power." Apart from being scooped by Tony Benn in securing what could be the last-ever TV interview with Saddam Hussein, al-Jazeera also faces logistical problems. Its offices in Kuwait and Jordan --- two crucial countries in any war with Iraq - have been forcibly closed by the authorities there. Saad al-Anisi, the Kuwait bureau chief, now wanders the Qatar newsroom looking a bit lost. He's forbidden to talk to the press, but a member of staff grumbles: "It's always the supposedly liberal regimes that do these things." It has happened so many times in different countries that Jihad Ballout, head of media relations, reckons he can now predict when a closure is coming. First the government plants nasty stories about al- Jazeera in the local newspapers, he says, then the secret police start tailing reporters, making it obvious that they're doing so. Besides facing the vagaries of Arab states, al-Jazeera is also fearful of what the Americans might do to it in Iraq. During the Afghan war, two supposedly smart US bombs hit its office in Kabul and many suspect the attack was no accident. It happened at a strategic moment, just two hours before the Northern Alliance took over the city. "We had put cameras on the roof to cover the whole of Kabul when the Northern Alliance took over," Ali says. "Later, we sent a letter to the Pentagon asking why they bombed our office and we got a funny reply saying they didn't know al-Jazeera had an office in Kabul. For the whole war, they knew it was there. It was the only source of information except for the CIA. This time, the station is taking no chances. "We're giving the Americans the coordinates of our office in Baghdad and also the code of our signal to the satellite transponder," Ali says. "We will try to give the Americans the whole information about where we are in Baghdad, so there will be no excuse for bombing us. But we are worried." For al-Jazeera, covering war in Iraq well is not just a matter of journalistic kudos. There are business considerations, too. The station was funded for the first five years by the Emir of Qatar but is now required to pay its own way. Sales of film from the Afghan war to other television channels have helped to keep it in the black and it needs more revenue of the sort that might be provided by a conflict in Iraq. One problem it faces is that, despite its huge audience, some major advertisers operate an undeclared boycott. "Advertising in the Middle East is not based on the commercial, it is based on the political," Ali says. He won't be drawn into giving details but others blame Saudi influence and moves by the Gulf Cooperation Council against the channel. While some of this is the result of its content, al-Jazeera's relationship with the Qatari government --- albeit along the lines of the BBC and the British government - also makes it a sitting-duck in squabbles between regional states. Another source of revenue that could be tapped is the al-Jazeera brand, probably one of the most valuable in the Middle East. There was talk of a tobacco company marketing al-Jazeera cigarettes --- although that idea has been dropped. Branded sunglasses might be a safer option, marketing staff suggest. Al-Jazeera's headquarters is pretty small. The squat, blue-roofed building in Doha is dwarfed by surrounding palm trees, satellite dishes and transmission masts. "All this trouble from a matchbox like this," the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, once exclaimed when he arrived to take a look. The main newsroom, with 70 or so workstations, measures just 45ft in each direction. On the far wall, for some unfathomable reason, between banks of TV screens, is a giant 18th-century map of the world with the unexplored parts of Canada and Australia missing. In the managing director's office, some 50 television award trophies line windowsills --- testimony to al-Jazeera's achievements over the past seven years and also, unfortunately, to the weakness of other Arabic channels. But managing director Ali's eyes are not set on his Arab rivals. There's a framed cover story from The Guardian's G2 section about al- Jazeera and the war in Afghanistan. Its headline says: "Who needs CNN?" Soon, he hopes --- later this year or early in 2004 --- al-Jazeera will launch an English-language channel to compete with the big guys. Not just translations, but "a totally English service with English reporters and presenters that can build a bridge between east and west". The Americans, he says, are watching only one perspective of the news. "What we will try to do is give another perspective." It's an ambitious --- perhaps over ambitious --- plan that will pit tiny al-Jazeera against the might of the BBC, CNN, ABC, Fox and others, and perhaps tame its wilder excesses in the process. The coffee spill has been mopped up and the two guests from Qassem's shouting match who, only a few minutes earlier seemed about to come to blows in the studio, are sitting side by side, chatting amiably and smiling. So why couldn't they just talk normally for the viewers? "When you are facing the television cameras, you are in the business of showbusiness," Qassem says. "I think the programme has been successful mainly because of its combative style. "We used to discuss politics in the Arab world in a very servile and frightened way. Now, for the first time ever, we can raise our voices and shout. Why not?" Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited (via Bill Westenhaver; also at http://theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/10/1044725732474.html via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** QATAR [and non]. RIVALRY FOR EYES OF ARAB WORLD NEW TV STATIONS TAKE ON AL-JAZEERA By Anthony Shadid, Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, February 11, 2003; Page A12 DOHA, Qatar -- From London to the Persian Gulf, Arab journalists and investors are gearing up to challenge the primacy of al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite TV channel whose professional if sometimes sensational 24-hour broadcasts have shattered taboos and created an appetite for unfettered news across the Arab world. The onset of competition in unbridled reporting marks one of the most far-reaching changes in the Arab world over the past decade, transforming news media that, in spirit if not letter, were shadowed by an 1865 Ottoman Empire law that required journalists to "report on the precious health of the sultan." It provides a striking window, too, on fear in Arab capitals over the impact on public opinion of a war against Iraq, and a sense that the conflict may be waged as much on the airwaves as on the battlefield. A Saudi-owned company plans to launch an around-the-clock satellite news channel to compete directly with al-Jazeera, in time, it hopes, for war in Iraq. One of the Arab world's leading newspapers and an influential Lebanese entertainment channel have begun merging their news departments, with talk of another all-news station. Other entrants, from Algeria, Britain and Abu Dhabi, could be joined in the months ahead by a 24-hour Arabic-language news channel from Iran and a second station in Dubai. Al-Jazeera, which gained fame after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by airing taped messages from Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants, has planned its answer to the competition: After managing to irritate virtually every country in the region in Arabic, it now plans to expand into English, providing an alternative to what its journalists view as biased Western coverage. It will unveil an English-language counterpart to its Arabic Web site next month and, by early next year, it plans English-language broadcasts designed to compete with CNN and BBC. "Everybody's trying to open a TV station now," said Nart Bouran, the news center director at Abu Dhabi TV, which has tried to challenge al-Jazeera's commanding popularity. "All of a sudden, a lot of people have realized that media [are] so important and a degree of freedom is the only way to attract an audience. If you don't open up, nobody's going to watch." But to succeed, journalists said, the new entrants will have to escape the inevitable tag that their funding will bring. All have ties to governments, through investment, advertising or facilities, including al-Jazeera. Whether those governments give the stations as long a leash as Qatar has granted al-Jazeera since its inception in 1996 remains a question. "Once they start the channel, you will discover who's controlling them immediately," predicted Ibrahim Hilal, 32, an Egyptian journalist who took over as chief editor of al-Jazeera two months before Sept. 11. The most ambitious endeavor to date is al-Arabiya, which plans to begin broadcasting Feb. 20. Based in a sleek, new headquarters in Dubai, an Oz-like city quickly becoming the unofficial capital of the Persian Gulf, it has spent heavily to hire the top talent from a pool that editors say is frustratingly small. Salah Nigm, a BBC veteran and chief editor of al-Jazeera until 2001, was hired to direct the news operation. Fifteen offers were made to al-Jazeera journalists, some at two or three times their current salaries, Hilal said. Five accepted. The Middle East Broadcasting Center, owned by the brother-in-law of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, will run the channel. Along with other Saudi, Kuwaiti and Lebanese investors, it will funnel $300 million into a news operation with a staff of 500 that will provide programming to al-Arabiya and two existing MBC channels, said Ibrahim Hedeithy, MBC's director general. "Al-Jazeera has dominated the scene for the last six or seven years," Hedeithy said in an interview. "We're trying to provide an alternative. There is only al-Jazeera, and we're trying to give them another choice." The choices are multiplying. Abu Dhabi TV already broadcasts eight hours of news and, until now, posed the strongest competition to al-Jazeera, with 25 correspondents. Other stations are beginning in Algeria and Britain. Al-Jazeera managers said they also expect competition from the Iranian channel and a rumored project in Dubai. In an unusual experiment, the Lebanese channel LBC and London-based newspaper Al Hayat, which is owned by Prince Khalid bin Sultan, Fahd's nephew, have invested $12 million a year in a joint venture called Newsroom Ink. Run by Jihad Khazen, a former Al Hayat editor and columnist, the venture has tapped the newspaper's 69 correspondents to supply news for LBC's three half-hour daily bulletins. Once a studio is finished being built, one of the bulletins will move from Beirut to London. Khazen said that if the venture succeeds, there are plans for yet another 24-hour news channel. But he called the project "uncharted territory" and acknowledged problems in merging television and newspaper cultures. One of his print reporters in the Persian Gulf refuses to appear on television for religious reasons. Then there are consultants, he said, who "are driving me mad with talk of synergy." And after decades editing four newspapers, the technology of television has proved intimidating. "They tell me things I've never heard in my life. I keep quiet and they think I'm wise," he said from London. Without exception, all the stations are seeking to achieve with a war in Iraq what World War II did for Time magazine, the 1991 Persian Gulf War did for CNN and the war in Afghanistan did for al-Jazeera. Abu Dhabi TV plans to begin around-the-clock news if U.S. forces invade. Al-Arabiya is racing to place 12 journalists and technicians in Baghdad for war coverage. Unlike al-Jazeera, which is barred from all Iraq's Arab neighbors, it also expects to send staff to Jordan and Kuwait. Al-Jazeera, which opened an office in Baghdad in 1997, has spent months laying the groundwork for war. Its managing director, Mohamed Jassem Ali, has traveled repeatedly to the Iraqi capital, winning a meeting with President Saddam Hussein. It plans to send 10 reporters to join four already there, said Omar Bec, the station's director of newsgathering and operations. "Iraq will be the real competition," Hilal said. Because of al-Jazeera's willingness to push the envelope, it has been expelled from Kuwait, Jordan and Algeria. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the State Department called its coverage "inflammatory" and complained to Qatar about repeated airing of a 1998 interview with bin Laden. In November 2001, U.S. forces bombed its Kabul office. The Pentagon called it an accident; al-Jazeera officials said otherwise. Its coverage, particularly on talk shows that give wide license to Arab nationalist and Islamic opposition figures and no-holds-barred call-in programs, has caused diplomatic problems between Qatar and virtually every Arab country. In December, Saudi Arabia boycotted a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Doha because of al-Jazeera's coverage. A month earlier, Bahrain's information minister accused the network of being "in the pay of Zionism." On a tour of the network's modest, one-story studio, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt once famously shouted: "This matchbox! All this noise is coming out of this matchbox!" Hedeithy insisted al-Arabiya would not be a watered-down al-Jazeera. With the changes al-Jazeera has brought, he said, no one can afford the secrecy of the past, such as when Saudi media delayed for two days news of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. "In this day and age, if you don't cover the news, if you try to hide things, you shoot yourself in the foot," he said. But Salah Kallab, a former Jordanian information minister who will serve as al-Arabiya's director general, made clear al-Arabiya did not envy al-Jazeera's role as a provocateur. His vision, he said, was far more sober. "We are not going to make problems for Arab countries," Kallab said. "We'll stick with the truth, but there's no sensationalism." To al-Jazeera's journalists, 55 correspondents in 35 bureaus, one person's sensationalism is another person's freedom. So far, that freedom has been guaranteed under Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Thani, the Qatari leader. Since taking power in the most undemocratic of ways -- he overthrew his vacationing father in 1995 -- he has allowed an Israeli trade office to remain open, fostered ties with Iraq, invited U.S. forces into a sprawling base at Al Udeid and subsidized al-Jazeera at $150 million over five years. Al-Jazeera's maverick quality has limited its commercial success. In 2001, the station received an estimated $53 million in advertising, out of a total of $714 million for all satellite stations broadcasting to the region. Of the total, three-fourths went to the Middle East Broadcasting Center, Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation and Future, all well connected politically, according to Naomi Sakr, author of "Satellite Realms: Transnational Television, Globalization and the Middle East." But Hamad plans to spend at least an additional $20 million a year on the English-language broadcasts, which the station wants to begin by February 2004 after hiring a new staff of 300, said Jassem, the station's managing director. Within two years, the goal is to go to a 24-hour service, targeting not only North America and Europe but also English-speaking residents of South Asia. "I take my hat off to Qatar," said Jian Yacoubi, an Iraqi Kurd who works as senior program producer at al-Jazeera. "No one can compete with us. Ask me why. Not because we are geniuses. We have only one secret weapon they don't have -- freedom." Correspondent Peter Baker in Kuwait City contributed to this report. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54040-2003Feb10.html (c) 2003 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** QATAR/USA. AL-JAZEERA EXPRESSED "EXCITEMENT" OVER PLANNED US ARABIC TV CHANNEL | Text of report in English by Qatari newspaper The Peninsula web site on 6 February Doha, 6 February: Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel (JSC) has reacted "with excitement" to reports about US plans to launch an Arabic channel that would be the "CNN of the Arab world". Reports from Washington said yesterday that the budget proposals presented by the Bush administration to the Congress on Monday [3 February] included 30m dollars for the Middle East Television Network (METN). The Arabic channel is said to be the brainchild of Kenneth Tomlinson, president of the US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) in charge of radio and television broadcasts targeting foreign audiences. In an official statement, he said a US state-run television broadcast via satellite was "an important step towards reaching the people in the Arab world with accurate news and the message of freedom and democracy". He said: "This institution's task [BGG] now is to draw upon our previous success in the Cold War, to go forward with the new war in ideas as we offer democracy, tolerance and self-government as the positive alternative to tyranny, fanaticism and terror." American media experts view the move as being part of a media counter- attack aimed at boosting the US image in the region and reducing the influence of Al-Jazeera, which has a daily viewership of 35 million. The US State Department has termed the proposal as part of the efforts related to the war on terrorism. However, media observers in the US have warned that if the channel becomes a propaganda machine, it is destined to fail. "We are excited by the news, even though it (US Arabic channel) is still at the planning stage," said a senior JSC official in Doha. Speaking to The Peninsula yesterday, he said: "We're least bothered whether this is an attempt by the Bush administration to further its policies in the Middle East. At Al-Jazeera, we're in the business of news, not politics." The spokesman said regardless of the motive, JSC welcomes all competition. "Competition is healthy. We don't want to get too relaxed. There is not just this one but other channels also being planned in the region. We welcome them all. At the end of the day, the viewers will decide. We have our viewers' vote of confidence which they've given us over and over again." The channel's success, he said, lies in its ability to communicate with the masses in a free and uncensored way, its understanding of the region and its access to the right places at the right time. Source: The Peninsula web site, Doha, in English 6 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [non]. Clandestine, 7590, Al-Islah (Reform) is back here 1845 Feb 9 man with continuous talks and audio problems. Also on Feb 10 at 1835 with short song. Audio in parallel (no delay) to satellite feed. Signal levels S9+20 to 30. Jammed both days (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, R75 and 16m horizontal antenna (oldest), DX LISTENING DIGEST) So they have stayed on 9750 ex 9570 (gh, DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. See CZECH REPUBLIC ** SOUTH AFRICA. VOICE OF APARTHEID ERA MAY VANISH FROM S. AFRICAN AIRWAVES --- Radio Pretoria is accused of violating antidiscrimination provisions of the constitution in refusing to employ nonwhites. By Anne-Marie O'Connor, Times Staff Writer, February 11 2003 PRETORIA, South Africa -- The days of apartheid are over, but listeners of Radio Pretoria can still wake up and sip their coffee to the strains of the apartheid-era national anthem, "Die Stem." The complete article can be viewed at: http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-afradio11feb11,0,5906989.story (via Harry Helms, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA [non]. Clandestine (Nigerian) 11540, Radio Kudirat, Voice of Democracy. Letter reply from Millingo Nkosi at Sentech, advised me that my report was to old for verification propose. As well, he indicated that 11680 Voice of Free Nigeria (FNM) never did broadcast via Meyerton. Oh well (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** TURKEY [and non]. Found yet another jammer, on 6015 splashing V. of Turkey English to NAm repeat on 6020 [i.e. 0400] (Bob Thomas, CT, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably BBC Sackville DRM from 6010 during that hour, as previously remarked here several times. Complain to Turkey, RCI, BBC (gh, DXLD) ** UKRAINE [non]. "Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko was ... reported to have told U.S. officials that a decision to cut Ukrainian-language broadcasts on the Voice of America and Radio Liberty was premature. He said the stations have a significant audience in Ukraine and are needed so that all political forces can have a voice." [Under BBG proposal, VOA will reduce Ukrainian from 2 to 1 hours per day and eliminate three broadcaster positions. RFE/RL Ukrainian will "reduce costs."] http://www.washtimes.com/world/20030211-4464782.htm [Moony] (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Re Powell speech at UN, DXLD 3-021: Resident in Durban, South Africa, I listened to the speech on BBC WS. at 1705 GMT BBC WS goes over to BBC African Service. The was no coverage of Powell speech. However I was able to follow it on 15310, being BBC WS India frequency. The BBC WS Indian Frequencies of 15310 and 17790 are both useful in Southern Africa for following the general service of the BBC, as opposed to the regional alternative. Regards (Adrian Jessop, Durban, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. WHY DOESN`T BBCWS USE THE 75 METRE BAND I've asked the BBC about 3955 twice during the last few years. No response. 3955 was an excellent backup for 6195. 6195 after 20 UT is often so bad so I'll switch to VOA or RCI. At 22 UT 5975 from Antigua is a good alternative and later during the spring, 17830 will be an alternative during the evenings. 73 de (Kjell-Ingvar Karlsson, Upplands, Väsby, SWEDEN, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non?]. Re BFBS: I would also understand that "their time" is 3 hours behind [ahead of] UT, and I also heard 5945 when checking around 1600, although I could not make out much more than the pop music typical for BFBS Radio 1 in all the local noise here. There is also a Windows Media stream of BFBS Radio 1 at http://62.25.96.7/bfbs1 which would have to be in // with shortwave. So far also the question about the transmitter site(s) remains. Let me throw in the speculation that Cyprus could fit for both frequencies (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BFBS heard on 5945 February 10th, barely audible at 1500 sign on but fair on clear channel at 1552 recheck, pop music, report on the Michael Douglas/Catherine Zeta Jones court case, identification as "Serving Britains forces this is BFBS Radio Two" 1600 followed by news bulletin. Relay site? (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yep, here BFBS on 10 Feb at 1623 with strong S9 plus 20 signals (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Just monitored on 5945 what should be BFBS with spoken word programming, pointing to BFBS Radio 2 rather than Radio 1 this time. At 1759 Moosbrunn signed on, overlapping the BFBS signal, so this must be another site. Quite weak signal here in Germany, so certainly not originating from the UK. Considering the audio characteristics a CIS site is quite unlikely either. Cyprus, Al-Seela, Al-Dhabbaya? (Kai Ludwig, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BFBS on shortwave to the Gulf - confirmed on 5945 kHz with "BFBS Radio 2 News" at 1600. At 1700 - pips then BBC Radio 4 News and "PM" programme //198 (but with half second delay). First time Radio 4 has been on shortwave in recent years? At 1600, fairly weak signal but clear if you can eliminate the splatter from 5940 and 5955 (Possible weak transmitter tones at 1500 - Russian/CIS site??) (Alan Pennington BDXC-UK, Caversham UK, AOR 7030+ / longwire, Feb 10, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Ciao! In their WEB http://www.ssvc.com/bfbs/radio/germany/index.htm They inform the schedule is 1500-2000 UT for gulf area. The e-mail given to send reports is : marina.haward@bfbs.com (Dario Monferini, PLAYDX, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yesterday and today (Feb. 11) I am hearing BFBS 2 on 5945 kHz from 15 UT (possibly earlier) - anybody having an idea from where, and why? 73, (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, EDXP via DXLD) As for the "why", check out http://www.dxing.info/news/index.dx#bfbs As for the "where", I asked them, but didn't get a decent reply yet - http://www.dxing.info/community/viewtopic.php?t=819 73 (Mika Makelainen, dxing.info, EDXP via DXLD) Viz.: Just got a reply from "Marina Haward" Marina.Haward@bfbs.com for my report on yesterday's transmission on 5945 kHz. No comment on the transmitter site, which is what I asked. ``Thank you for your interesting email. In confirmation, yes we are a radio station. We broadcast to the military serving abroad. Our headquarters are just outside North-west London in the UK, but we do have stations in many other countries where our troops serve. The actual broadcast you heard (afternoon on 2) was broadcast direct from our studios here in the UK. Thanks for listening. Regards, Marina Haward, Broadcast Administrator, BFBS UK`` Check out http://www.dxing.info/news/index.dx#bfbs for more info on the station and a sound bite at http://www.dxing.info/audio/uk/5945_BFBS.rm (via Mika, dxing.info Feb 11 via DXLD) ** U K [non]. Radio Caroline is being relayed on shortwave again, first noted 1010 February 9th on 7150 following a tip from Noel Green, still audible 1535 February 10th, good signals, rock music and frequent identifications, exactly on frequency but slight growling noise on the audio (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. We have been advised that the Short Wave test transmission will now be 3pm next Sunday. Frequency: 5935 Khz Date: Sunday 16th February Time 3pm to 4pm (1500-1600 UTC). Reception reports can be emailed to studio@mediasound.net Have you heard MEDIASOUND yet? http://www.mediasound.net (Paul David, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOICE OF AMERICA IS SEEKING FREE-LANCE JOURNALISTS The Voice of America is seeking free-lance journalists to work as contractors on the production of radio programs to be broadcast in the English, Shona and Ndebele languages to Zimbabwe. The following skills are required: English speakers must have broadcast journalism experience; must be able to write scripts, do interviews, cover news stories in fluent error-free English. Work must require little or no editing. Shona and Ndebele speakers must be able to write scripts, do Interviews in error-free Shona or Ndebele. Speakers must also be fluent in idiomatic English. Must be able to translate written material from English into Shona or Ndebele accurately. General information on these positions follows: Non-citizen applicants must have visa status permitting work in the United States and current valid work permit. Successful applicants must pass a security clearance process. Applicants must demonstrate knowledge of principles and practices of sound journalistic work; applicants must be able to work on computer equipment. Applicants are sought from within the United States only. All work will take place at VOA headquarters in Washington, DC. Send responses and resumes to zimbabweproject@voanews.com Subject line should read "Zim Response". (ICFJ via Georges Lessard, CAJ-List via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** U S A. Middle East Television Network: see QATAR ** USA/IRAQ. ANTI-WAR GROUPS LAUNCH "ELECTRONIC IRAQ" ONLINE NEWS PROJECT | Text of press release from the Chicago-based Electronic Iraq online news project dated 8 February 2003; subheading as published A brand new online news project, Electronic Iraq - found at electroniciraq.net - has been launched by veteran anti-war campaigners Voices in the Wilderness (founded 1996) and respected Middle East supplementary news publishers, the Electronic Intifada (founded 2001). Electronic Iraq was launched in February 2003 as the US government made clear its determination to go to war against Iraq. Based firmly on humanitarian foundations, the Electronic Iraq online magazine offers News and Analysis, Opinion/Editorial, Iraq Diaries, International Law, Aid and Development, Fact Sheets, and Action and Activism. The Iraq Diaries section offers eyewitness reports from Iraq, and Electronic Iraq's intention is to publish diary accounts from on the ground during any hostilities. The Electronic Iraq web site utilizes the latest in technology to publish reports from around the world, including from on the ground in Iraq, easily added to the site by nontechnical writers and editors of the Electronic Iraq team. Content from this web site can be easily syndicated on to other friendly sites by webmasters. Visit the site at http://electronicIraq.net More about Electronic Iraq's founders Voices in the Wilderness (VitW) VitW is a joint US/UK campaign to end the economic sanctions against the people of Iraq. Since March 1996, nearly 50 Voices delegations have travelled to Iraq. Today, as the United States makes new threats against Iraq, Voices is maintaining a constant presence in Iraq in solidarity with the Iraqi people. In the schools and hospitals, on the streets and in the homes of Baghdad, Basra, Mosul and other cities we have seen the effects of more than a decade of economic sanctions and frequent bombings. Now we see the anger and fear caused by new threats of violence. For more information, see http://www.vitw.org The Electronic Intifada (EI) EI, an online educational gateway to information about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, offering reference material, commentary and analysis, personal journals from the front lines of the conflict, media news and analysis and even satire. Launched [on] 23 February 2001, EI is independent of any political, factional, ethnic or religious affiliation, and bases its view of the conflict on the foundations of universal human rights and international law. For more information, see http://electronicIntifada.net Contact information: Electronic Iraq, 1507 E. 53rd Street, #500 Chicago, IL 60615, USA; Fax: +1 (775) 254-4323; E-mail: webteam@electronicIraq.net; Web: http://electronicIraq.net Source: Electronic Iraq press release, Chicago, in English 8 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. WWCR`s printed schedule as of 1 February is in, from which we make up our own Specialty Programs list: WORLD OF RADIO (30) Thu 2130 9475, Sat 0700 5070, Sun 0330 5070, Sun 0730 3210, Wed 1030 9475 MUNDO RADIAL (15) Wed 2200 9475, Fri 2215 9475 ASK WWCR (15) Fri 1045 9475, Fri 2130 9475, Sat 0945 5070, Sun 0045 3210, Sun 0315 5070, Sun 1115 15825, Sun 1830 12160, Wed 1/4/5 1815 15825 TECHNOLOGY HOUR (60) Sat 0300 3210, Sun 0600 5070, Mon 0100 3210 SPECTRUM (60) Sun 0400 5070, Wed 0900 3210 CYBERLINE (55) Sun 0505 5070 WORLD WIDE COUNTRY RADIO (60) M-F 1100 15825, 1400 15825, 1700 15825, Sat 1000 9475, Sun 0900 5070 ROCK THE UNIVERSE (55) Sat 1205 5070, Sun 0905 3210, Sun 1305 12160 THIS WEEK IN AMERICANA [folk?] (55) Sun 0705 5070 INTO THE BLUE [bluegrass] (55) Sun 0805 5070 OLD RECORD SHOP (30) Sun 1430 15825, Sun 2300 3210, Mon 1030 9475 KEN`S COUNTRY CLASSICS (30) Sun 2030 12160 COUNTRY CROSSROADS (30) Sun 1530 12160 MUSIC AND DANCING (30) Thu 2100 9475 MUSICA Y DANZAS Mon 2200-2230 9475, Wed 2230-2245 9475 LATIN CATHOLIC MASS (30) Sun 1700 15825 GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO (55) Tu/Th/Sa 0405 3210 A VIEW FROM EUROPE (05) Sat 1210 15825, Sun 1110 5070, Sun 1810 12160 PRESIDENTIAL RADIO ADDRESS/DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE (15) Sat 2130 9475 AMERICA`S GREATEST HEROES (55) Sun 1605 12160 (WWCR, excerpted by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MOUNT WASHINGTON BURNS Mark Erickson of WOKQ just called me to tell me that the former WMTW building on Mount Washington NH was completely destroyed in the fire this afternoon. Only the metal entranceway survives. Everything else is simply...gone. WPKQ 103.7 and WHOM 94.9 are off the air; WPKQ's transmitter (in the old Armstrong building) and antenna are intact; WHOM's transmitter (in the WMTW building) was destroyed and the status of its main antenna is unclear. Its backup antenna is intact. However, the loss of the WMTW facility means no generator power on the Rock. The Observatory staff were evacuated by Sno-Cat a short time ago. Mark says they'll try to haul a generator up there tomorrow (can you imagine - in this weather?), and WPKQ could be back on the air tomorrow. As for WHOM, its programming will shortly reappear on one of the WCYY frequencies in the Portland market (I'm guessing most likely WCYI 93.9 Lewiston), and the expectation is that a STA will soon be filed to use the WBLM 102.9 auxiliary facilities in New Gloucester as a temporary WHOM site until something can be done up on the mountain. The DX potential here is interesting, of course; one wonders, also, if whatever started the fire would have been caught - and quickly - if channel 8 were still up there and the building were still manned 24/7. Yikes. You can see some of my pictures here: http://www.fybush.com/site-020206.html There is a link there as well to Norm Gagnon's excellent Mount Washington material. Garrett Wollman got there on a SUNNY day when he could see the towers, and his pictures are here: http://www.bostonradio.org/radio/digicam/mtwashington/ -s (Scott Fybush, NY, Feb 9, WTFDA via DXLD) MOUNT WASHINGTON (NEW HAMPSHIRE) OBSERVATORY EVACUATED, POWER TO RADIO STATIONS CUT OFF http://www.boston.com/dailynews/041/region/Mountain_fire_evacuates_summit:.shtml While Mt. Washington is only about a mile high, it is the highest mountain in the East and holds many of the records for worst weather in the U.S. WMTW (TV) no longer transmits from Mt. Washington - I suppose they preferred better reception in Portland to marginal reception in Montreal - the two FM stations there, WPKQ in Conway and WHOM, Portland, are still widely heard, from time to time, throughout the Northeast. (even if you can no longer "Have a 'Gansett, neighbor", while listening to the Red Sox on WMTW-FM - not only is the radio station in the valley but the Narrangansett brewery is DOA) (Joel Rubin, NY, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PORTABLE GENERATOR RESTORES SOME POWER ATOP MOUNT WASHINGTON AFTER FIRE DROVE OUT STAFF --- The Associated Press, 2/11/03 10:23 AM MOUNT WASHINGTON, N.H. (AP) -- Partial power was been restored to facilities atop Mount Washington, where a fire forced the evacuation of the weather observatory on the peak known for its brutal weather. The generator building and a smaller backup building were destroyed by Sunday's fire, said Scott Henley, spokesman for the nonprofit Mount Washington Observatory. Power was partially restored Monday after a crew with a portable generator made an eight-mile trek to the summit by snow tractor. The power outage silenced three commercial radio stations that have equipment on the peak and left the four winter workers at the observatory without heat and lights. Dozens of state, federal and private agencies with transmitters on the peak, including state police, switched to backup generators. Some of the winter workers went back up Monday but there was no immediate word when all four would be back at work. The workers who took up the portable generator had a hard time getting around the 6,288-foot summit, officials said. "You couldn't see. The wind was blowing at about 50 mph and it was quite cold," said Pete Poulsen, an investigator with the state fire marshal's office. The temperature atop the tallest mountain in the Northeast warmed to 6 above zero Monday afternoon but the wind blew at 46 mph. Tuesday morning, the temperature was 23 below and the wind blew at 64 mph, the National Weather Service said. The peak was the site of the highest surface wind speed ever recorded -- 231 mph on April 12, 1934. The cause of the fire was not known. ------ On the Net: Observatory: http://www.mountwashington.org (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Three links of interest, updating the situation: http://www.whom949.com/extra_05.shtml http://www.wokq.com/ http://www.mountwashington.org/ (Charles Gauthier, St-Lambert, PQ, Feb 10, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. KB-1520 is great, but ... I've been enjoying WWKB-1520's new format. On Monday evenings, after an engineering night course I've been taking at UMass Lowell, I tune them in on the ride home between 9 and 9:30 p.m. local. Last evening (10 FEB), on my drive home in the snow, I listened as usual, but noted a substantial amount of interference, presumably from the Maryland station, with talk in an Oriental language, either Chinese or Korean. Are these guys supposed to be on this late and running enough juice to muck up KB in a substantial part of its skip coverage area ? KB ran a slogan "from Newfane (sp? local town ?) to Newfoundland, the big KB" or something like that. This would indicate that skip listening is expected. So what's with the ethnic thing being on so late, messing up KB's reception here? Normally KB booms in as I travel south on Route 38 from Lowell into Tewksbury. Last night, as on other nights, the signal takes a momentary 1 kHz het beating from the Saudi-1521 pre-sign-on open carrier when I drive near an open marshy area along the Shawsheen River on the south end of Tewksbury near the Wilmington and Billerica town lines. That, and increasing WWZN-1510 slop, are generally the most noticeable degraders of KB listenability on the last 10 minutes of my homeward drive. But the on-channel QRM of such competitive strength at 9:30 p.m. EST is new. KB should notify the FCC of this. Wouldn't a station in MD be getting spanked by WWKB QRM very close by anyway? When I went down to Baltimore on a business trip in 1983, then-WKBW was just about as strong there as it was here in metro- Boston. As far as WWKB's music goes, I'd say it needs a little more '50s doo- wop and '60s R&B and less of the 1970-1974 light pop junk. Mind you it's still better than local WODS-103.3 "Oldies 103" which has dumped almost everything pre-1963 and covers the entire '70s including disco. WODS is a big load of cobbler at this point. And what's with WWKB keeping those dafter-than-dogstuff preachers on after midnight ? I'm sick of hearing about how much misery lies ahead, how the US is going to be punished for its misdeeds, how the world is going to end, how the Branch Davidian Waco Wackos had it right, where to send your money, etc. All this after some great tunes a few minutes earlier. I don't need WWKB to be yet something else to get me depressed. How the !@#$ does this stuff fit in with a feel-good format? Same for WSAI-1530 ... they turn into a toad after midnight too. Wouldn't this cheese off the long-haul drivers and third-shift factory workers who are likely to be the main audience then? I like WSAI musically better than KB, though KB has the edge in personalities and classic DJ and jingle "feel". In the car, WSAI is not local grade here at night because of mediocre signal strength, occasional on-channel incursions by foreign and other domestic signals, and "crossfire" from the sidebands of WWKB "to the left" and WPTR "to the right". To its praise, WSAI isn't afraid to inject generous amounts of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and great NYC street- corner doo-woppers into its mix, whereas WWKB would rather blend in schlock like "My Baby Loves Love", "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes", etc. I'll take Chuck Berry, Solomon Burke, and Bobby Blue Bland over that crap-o-la any day. For that matter, I'll take '50s/'60s C&W crossover by Johnny Cash, Faron Young, etc. as well. I did in the '60s when a kid; still do today. All of these oldies stations should "think outside the box" once in a while and play great music that wasn't necessarily on the Billboard Top 10. Surprise us with goodies that many of us remember but which seldom show up on the radio these days ... songs that used to creep into the "Northern Exposure" TV show and into a handful of movies directed by those who really know their oldies. "It's Alright" by Adam Faith (in "Good Morning Vietnam") and "Walking Back to Happiness" by Helen Shapiro (in "4 Weddings and a Funeral") come to mind. Great early '60s British hits both ... KB are you listening? Radio stations should remember that they're competing with the CD collections of listeners. I've got compilations on the Rhino, Time-Life, Eric, Collectibles, Ace, and Collectors' Choice labels that totally smoke what most oldies stations have to offer. And I'm sure that I'm not alone in this. It is kind of fun to have three AM music stations in a row here in the Northeast: WWKB-1520, WSAI-1530, and WPTR-1540. All play different variations on "gold". You can extend that block up to 1570 if you include CBE-1550 (if doing music, as on Sat. evening), WQEW-1560 Disney, and our little local WNSH-1570. Is this just a momentary aberration or will music stay around on AM for a while? I say let's enjoy it while we can (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, NRC-AM via DXLD) WWKB is down to 90 minutes of preachers (11:30 PM-1 AM), after which they're carrying Joey Reynolds' talk show, which is a nice gesture toward one of their more famous personalities from their heyday. Rumor has it the preachers will be gone once their current contract runs out...we'll see. "Newfane" is indeed a town in Niagara County, part of KB's local coverage area --- and yes, they know they're getting a big skip audience at night. WTRI Brunswick MD is Korean...no authority I can find for them to be up that late! s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) 1520 WTRI MD is presumably on day facilities with Asian talk and music under a sermon. My latest 2003 Log shows them with a totally different format. Guess I missed a meeting. No dice on the Sa`udi on 1521 (Dave Hochfelder, New Brunswick, NJ, Feb 10, Sony ICF-2010 with Quantum QX Pro, NRC-AM via DXLD) Maybe it's not in keeping with the WKBW of the 1960s, but it does sound a lot like the Mexican borderblasters of that period such as XERF, XELO, etc.; I always thought it was hilarious the way they would abruptly switch from raw blues (like "Back Door Man" by Howlin' Wolf) and effortlessly segue into the pre-recorded rants of the Rev. Billy Sol Hargis. In fact, guys like the Rev. Asa A. Allen were often the most "entertaining" parts of border radio. When I was in college, there were times when my friends and I would listen to them and be on the floor doubled over in laughter (Harry Helms, AK6C, Ridgecrest, CA, DM15, ibid.) Actually it was Billy James Hargis --- one of the few gospel huxters I ever met. Later parodied by someone as Billy Sol, to be confused with Estes (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WHO WILL RESCUE MIGHTY MOX? Still No. 1 in St. Louis, KMOX's audience has eroded as rival stations, the Internet and cable TV have chipped away at its relevance BY DIANE TOROIAN Of the Post-Dispatch 02/06/2003 12:00 AM For about 25 years, KMOX-AM (1120) has been St. Louis' No. 1 station, a streak no other outlet in America can claim. Radio programmers across the nation call the storied KMOX one of the nation's best stations. And in New York, KMOX's owners, Infinity Broadcasting, consider the station to be a gem among its 186 properties. Still, whomever Infinity puts in control of the 50,000-watt powerhouse will face a daunting array of challenges. Although the station consistently delivers big bucks to its owners, its audience has dwindled.... [two versions found via:] http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/search.nsf/sitesearch?openview&ch=Home&type=1&query=Who+will+rescue+Mighty+MOX? (via Will Martin, MO, DXLD) STATIC FREEFALL CARROLL'S DEPARTURE FROM KMOX PACED BY STATION'S RATINGS DECLINE --- BY D. J. WILSON The lead-in to Karen Carroll's announcement last week that she was resigning as general manager of KMOX-AM had the usual promos about how the station had won the Edgar R. Murrow Award for best newscast and how listeners were tuned in to "Total Information AM." No mention was made of declining ratings, personnel problems and surprise financial audits of the station and its nonprofit charity or that maybe KMOX had been drifting in the wrong direction since Carroll took over the station five years ago... http://www.riverfronttimes.com/issues/2003-02-05/news.html/1/index.html (Riverfront Times via Will Martin, MO, DXLD) ** U S A. DAZZLIN` FOR DOLLARS By JIM FINKLE, The Orange County Register, Saturday, February 8 KCRW has first-class trips and laptops up for grabs in its hunt for donations during its winter pledge drive... http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=24439§ion=BUSINESS&subsection=BUSINESS&year=2003&month=2&day=8 (Orange County Register via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. ACACIA SAYS WEBCASTERS INFRINGING ON PATENTS http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/wire_story.html?uri=/dailynews/041/technology/Acacia_Says_Webcasters_Infring:.shtml (via Joel Rubin, DXLD) ** URUGUAY. Creo que este año, Emisora Ciudad de Montevideo no está efectuando en Onda Corta, la retrasmisión del Concurso de Agrupaciones Carnavalescas desde el Teatro de Verano, en Montevideo. Emisora Ciudad de Montevideo trasmite en 6010, en forma diurna, siendo este concurso en horas de la noche local (2300-2400+). El concurso ya ha comenzado, y durará hasta principios de marzo (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Feb 9, Conexión Digital via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4890: Los dias siguientes a que el amigo Samuel reportó esta frecuencia estuve chequeando la señal, pero acá sólo me llegó Radio Chota en 4890.3 nada en 4890.0 kHz; ayer que tuve una buena propagación desde Perú, no hubo nada, pero si por ejemplo CPN Radio en 6141 con tremenda señal. Si como comenta Don Henrik que de plano hay que descartar a Radio Chota y que ha sido escuchada en Brasil y Argentina, mas no ha sido reportada por Björn Malm desde Ecuador, me inclinaría pensar que pueda tratarse desde una estación en Bolivia pero la investigación queda abierta (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, Feb 10, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Yo también tengo mil dudas acerca de esta misteriosa emisora. Al principio, pensé que se trataba de Radio Chota, que había vendido espacios de aire a algún grupo religioso, pero la afirmación de Henrik da por tierra con esa posibilidad. No había pensado en la alternativa de Bolivia, aunque es muy plausible que así sea. Lo que me llama la atención es que no ha sido reportada desde ninguna parte del mundo e incluso el mensaje que envié a la Lista DXplorer informando al respecto no llamó la atención. No va a quedar otra alternativa que estar en sintonia aunque sus programas no son demasiado atractivos. De todas maneras, si solamente anunciaran la dirección de alguna iglesia o algún QTH adonde escribir para pedir material de lectura tendríamos una punta para avanzar sobre territorio más firme (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Feb 10, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ BROADBAND VIA POWERLINES (PLUS QRN) COMING REAL SOON NOW http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/2003/02/10/broadband.html (via Joel Rubin, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WiNRADiO DRM WiNRADiO has released the WiNRADiO G303i, which it says is the first commercially available radio that can receive DRM with no hardware modifications. Radio Netherlands has not yet had the opportunity to test this receiver. More information on the WiNRADiO Web site at http://www.winradio.com/home/g303i.htm (From Digital Radio Mondiale via Mike Terry, Feb 7, DXLD) KCHIBO RADIOS The previous weeks I have made a test of seven KCHIBO radios ranging from $8 to $60 as found in our local market (Thessaloniki Greece). It is a PDF file. For more info please visit my web page http://www.geocities.com/zliangas (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO SHACK AND ULTIMATE ELECTRONICS LOSE DOCUMENTATION RS is closing out the DX-398 SW radio at $99.97 each. I just got a demo model at my closest RS. They appeared to have lost the box and manual and soft case, but they took my name and number to let me know if it turns up. I already had one, of course, so I have the manual already form the original. I`m trying to think of the best way to configure the memories on them both to get the best, or at least most useful arrangement of loaded frequencies. It may not really matter. It is actually easier to just remember the frequencies and punch them in rather than use the radio memories. But then, as I get older, I may not be able to so readily recall such things, and to associate stations with their current frequencies. Unless it is an illusion, I think I am beginning to detect signs of memory deterioration with aging, so it wouldn`t be inappropriate to let the hardware memories supplement the failing organic memory bank... :-) I wonder how a Radio Shack would lose the accessories/box/etc. from a shelf-demo model? They have so many such items that I would think that keeping track of the ancillary items from the hundreds (?) of display items would be part of the standard configuration of operating an RS store or franchise. But I ran into a similar situation at an electronics outlet I was also just at a few days ago: Ultimate Electronics. It`s a relatively new chain that has a number of stores here in St. Louis area; don`t know how far they reach nationally [website shows stores in: AZ, CO, ID, IL, IA, MN, MO, NV, NM, OK, SD, TX, UT --- gh]. I was buying a replacement tape (cassette) deck, as my auto-reverse Sony ceased auto- reversing. Unfortunately, it seems like cassette decks are slipping off the commonly-available-product spectrum, and I had to get a dual- deck model for more than I really wanted to spend. There was a discounted floor model but the discount was only 10%, and when they checked in back for the box, manual, and accessories, most of that stuff was missing, so I got a new-in-box one. So there too, the system for keeping track of the stuff that went with the floor models fell down on the job (if they ever HAD a ``system`` to begin with...) (Will Martin, MO, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GRUNDIG S350 [non] The promised "First Looks" review of the Tecsun BCL-2000, soon to be released as the similar Grundig S350, is now posted online at http://www.passband.com/pages/receivernews.htm (Larry Magne via Harold Sellers, ODXA via DXLD) THIS DAY`S INUKTITUT LESSON +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Languages of Shortwave --- Inuktitut NUNAVUT SAYS INUKTITUT NEEDS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE PROTECTION IQALUIT - The Nunavut government says census statistics released this week will help it in its fight to get Inuktitut recognized as an official language in the territory. Statistics Canada released results for language, mobility and migration from its 2001 census on Monday. And for the first time Nunavut is identified as a separate jurisdiction in this category, since it became a territory in 1999. Statistics from the 2001 survey show that Inuktitut is the language used in most Nunavut homes. It's the mother tongue for more than 70 per cent of all residents of Nunavut - Inuit and non-Inuit combined. Jack Hicks, Nunavut's director of evaluation and statistics, says the data show the territory is a special case, and the only jurisdiction in Canada where English or French is not the dominant language. "This is the first time that we'll have a jurisdiction at the provincial or territorial level where, for example, a non-official language in national terms is dominant," said Hicks. Jack Anawak, Nunavut's minister of culture, language, elders and youth, says while Inuktitut is by far the dominant language in the territory, it doesn't get the same protection as French and English. Anawak says Inuktitut should also be recognized by the federal government as an official language in the territory, and the language statistics prove the point. "Inuit have been around for at least 4,000 years and therefore, with its own territory, there should be some special recognition whether it's the Constitution or some way of recognizing Inuktitut. It just has to be, I mean there really should be no choice about it." Anawak says while most Inuit speak Inuktitut, Nunavut is besieged by English programs and culture. He says national recognition of Inuktitut as an official language in the territory is needed to help preserve the language. Written by CBC News Online staff Last Updated Wed, 11 Dec 2002 ``To understand the nature of "Inuktitut", the word needs to be built from its roots. "Inuit" refers to three or more Arctic aboriginal persons, and an "Inuk" is one Inuit person. Consequently, "Inuk-titut" roughly translates as "in the way of an Inuk". Inuktitut is not just a language; it is a way of life. An Inuk not only speaks in Inuktitut, but he or she also acts, thinks and lives "in the way of an Inuk". As you can image, truly understanding Inuktitut might take non-Inuit a lifetime or more. Nevertheless, learning a few phrases and words can establish goodwill between visitors and Inuit, especially when dealing with a guide or other Inuit for several days. ``Pronunciation guides: Inuktitut could be called a vowel-based language. That is, every syllable ends in a vowel sound, unless there are two consecutive consonants. In this case, the syllables are split between the two consonants. For example, Inuktitut is pronounced "I- nuk-ti-tut" or "Ee-nook-tee-toot", not "In-ook-tit-oot". An exception occurs in words like "Pangnirtuq" because in Inuktitut "ng" is a single consonant. The pronunciation is "Pang-ni(r)-too(k)" which translates to "place with mature male caribou". Hopefully, you noticed the (r) and (k) which emphasize that the Inuktitut "r" and "q" are not pronounced like the English letters. In Inuktitut, "r" and "q" are released in the throat, not from the mouth or lips, and are hard for an English tongue to master. Apparently, they are sounds easier for Francophones to handle.`` -- http://www.tununiq.com/masters/iinuk.htm Inuktitut is one of the more interesting and unusual languages that can be heard on the CBC Northern Quebec Service (Fred Waterer, Ont., Programming Matters, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) THIS DAY`S CZECH LESSON +++++++++++++++++++++++ CZECH FROM HEAD TO "FOOT-FINGER" [08-01-2003] By Pavla Horakova The ABC of Czech - the Czech language series which followed the alphabet - reached the letter Z in December but in the New Year we are back to take you on a new journey around the Czech language - from head to toe. Hello and welcome to our new Czech language programme in which we'll look at the Czech language from head to toe. Now let me explain that. We are not going to list the vocabulary connected with body parts - that would be too simple. Instead, we will look at how the Czech language uses parts of the human body to create phrases and idioms. I am sure every language is full of them - just look at a few in English: "pay through the nose", "go hand in hand", "be head over heels in love", "get cold feet" or "give someone the cold shoulder". Czech is n-o exception in this respect and with some body parts, such as legs, for example, I could count more than two dozen idioms or fixed expressions. These will be in our focus during this new Czech language course. We will start next week with "head" and proceed all the way to the "toe" during the following weeks. Speaking of this very idiom - "from head to toe" - why don't we take a closer look at it right now. It is not as simple to translate as it seems. Matthew is a businessman from New York. He has been living in the Czech Republic for several years and still finds the language puzzling. For example the fact that there is no special word for "toe"... "The fact that you still call toes "foot-fingers" is really amazing, I think. You have thirty-seven cases for every noun and adjective and you have foot-fingers? Somebody is walking around limping and they say I hurt my finger? Which, when I carry it forward, means your ankle is your "foot-wrist", your knee is your "foot-elbow" and your hip is your "foot-shoulder" and I don't know where it meets. But it's a great language." So there you go, there is no special word for toe and that's why the idiom in Czech goes "from head to heel" or od hlavy k pate. And don't worry, it's not thirty-seven cases as Matthew said, but only seven. That's all for now but as I said we'll be back next week with the first handful of idioms using the word head or hlava. Until then you can try and find how many of them you can count in your mother tongue. Thanks for listening and tune in again, please (R Prague website) Can be heard UT Weds and Sats (Fred Waterer, Ont., Programming Matters, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ UPDATED VERSION OF LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC STYLES ONLINE This site is alive again. It contains some updates and changes, for instance a clickable Bolivian Aymara DJ, but there are also some new sound bites and rhythms included. Please amend bookmark if different from following: http://home.swipnet.se/gersnaes/henriks/lamusic.html (Henrik Klemetz, Feb 10, dxing.info via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ RE DXLD 3-022, Noon 6 MHz Australia Anomalous Propagation Bob Padula wrote, "Thus, after observing this midsummer phenomenon for some 40 years, the hypothesis survives, in that this form of propagation is directly associated with low sunspot activity, causing much lower absorption, in turn allowing refraction of signals not otherwise possible. "I do not believe that sunspot activity is the sole cause: the hypothesis is that the effect is also linked to reduced ground- bouncing, causing considerable less absorption off the earth's surface, due to the presence of Sporadic E clouds over the southern Hemisphere with refraction off the top surfaces of those moving clouds." I agree that the low D-layer absorption is part of the story. I agree that something else is at work; otherwise the effect would be noticed over a wider area. There was a geomagnetic storm in progress on Feb. 2 from an earlier coronal mass ejection from the sun. The geomagnetic disturbance supports the idea of a Sporadic-E layer cloud. Working against this theory is the fact that the stations heard cover a wide geographical distribution. Sporadic E-Layer clouds are normally concentrated such that moving the transmitter or receiver a few miles will cause loss of signal. To make the ionospheric duct work, the E-Layer cloud would have to extend over a very wide area to receive the widely dispersed stations logged. I throw out the following hypothesis for further study and experimentation. It is a long-path hypothesis that does not depend on Sporadic E-Layer to F-Layer propagation. As we approach the Vernal Equinox, the sun still illuminates the upper atmosphere above Antarctica 24 hours a day. The surface of Antarctica is no longer illuminated all day. Thus, the lower atmosphere becomes cooler than the upper atmosphere. A huge temperature inversion develops across the Antarctic continent. The height of the inversion is sufficient to cause a duct to be formed between the ice surface of the Antarctic snow pack and the inversion layer. Such inversions are common over the oceans and work well up into the UHF frequency range with low loss. 180 degrees in longitude from Australia it is midnight when it is noon in Australia. Signals from Africa and Southwest Asia could propagate one or two hops to the edge of Antarctica where they would be trapped in the duct. The duct would conduct the signal across Antarctica with very little loss. When the signal comes out of the duct it again propagates via the ionosphere to Australia. Food for thought. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ Fascinating theory, but I wasn`t aware HF signals could be subject to tropospheric ducting like VHF and UHF are. Has Bob directional antennas to determine whether the signals are coming over the pole or not? Besides, a lot of them are from SE Asia, surely short path (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {also, ducts -- at VHF/UHF anyway -- typically occur over lower latitudes at much higher temps, humidity} SWEEPING CARRIERS Dear Sir; Can you Please help me in understanding what the 'carriers' are that appear nowadays on shortwave that slowly drift up in frequency (either smoothly or a slight frequency zigzag effect) at seemingly consistent spacings throughout the band to MUF with all of them cascading along together?? I have observed them on several quality receivers / locations fixed and mobile. They seem to accelerate in their 'drift' as frequencies increase. IF this effect has been already explained, Please direct me to any relevant information so I can become enlightened. I have been a radio enthusiast for 20+yrs and this annoyance seems to have developed recently. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely (Frank Tangel, Tangel@vei.net Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Most likely these are ionospheric sounders, constantly measuring the maximum usable frequency and perhaps other factors, tho I have not noticed the acceleration, zigzagging and cascading you mention. Ideas? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ### ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-022, February 9, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [note change] HTML version of all January issues: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3a.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.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 NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1168: RFPI: Sun 0000, 0600, 1200, 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WBCQ; Mon 0545 on 7415 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WWCR: Wed 1030 on 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 ONDEMAND AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1167.html ** AFGHANISTAN. AFGHAN OFFICIAL ASKS FOR MORE FOREIGN HELP FOR MEDIA | Text of report by Afghan radio on 8 February The acting minister [of information and culture] and deputy minister for publications, Abdol Hamid Mobarez, today asked the countries and associations of the world to increase their assistance to the Ministry of Information and Culture this coming year. A correspondent of Bakhtar Information Agency reported that a meeting on the press was held in the hall of the Ministry of Information and Culture today. The meeting was attended by the chairman of UNESCO, an adviser of the Finance Ministry, representatives of the French, Italian and Japanese embassies dealing with press affairs and the representatives of some donor countries and NGOs that deal with the press and mass media.... The French representative said his country was interested in projects for the national museum and Radio Afghanistan. The Italian embassy's representative said his country would allocate 4m dollars to Radio Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Japanese representative vowed to repair the Afghan television equipment soon.... Source: Radio Afghanistan, Kabul, in Pashto 1430 gmt 8 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]/KYRGYZSTAN. Hi Glenn, the placement of 4050 under "Afghanistan" [non] with very little doubt was and is correct. First of all, if we presume that it is the Bishkek transmitter in question (which monitoring suggests), this transmitter does not propagate properly into Iran; there is no sense to use it for programs beamed to Iran (unless you have different antennas). Second, the identification of "Dari" I reported was referring to a specific spoken word segment; of course it does not exclude the possibility that other languages are used at other times, especially since new programme segments seem to be added all the time. Third, and that is especially interesting: if you look at the websites of missionary broadcasting stations, you will see that Afghanistan has become a very important target. Unlike Iran, Afghanistan is on the way to an open society with promising prospects for missionary works. But for some reason, these websites are very often referring to FARSI programs when they are talking about broadcasts to Afghanistan. May it be that they have problems to find speakers in Dari. Have a look for example at http://members.truepath.com/start which discusses missionary broadcasting in Farsi (and Dari/Pashto) towards Afghanistan. Some quotes (here about The Bible Radio, but other projects are mentioned also): "Thru The Bible Radio, http://www.ttb.org to feed your soul the Word of God, all 66 Books of the Bible and almost every chapter in a simple manner; on the radio in over 85 languages; many languages on the internet also; [...] A great missionary outreach the M-F program, 30 minutes a day, for the 5 year program, in over 85 languages. A dozen or so languages in India; in Farsi in Afghanistan, etc.. [...] "Thru The Bible Radio is super --- all 66 books and almost every chapter of the Bible in 5 years in a simple manner, and in over 80 languages, http://www.ttb.org many languages on the net, including Arabic, Farsi (Afghanistan, Iran, ect.), Cantonese, Mandarin(China); the Farsi or Persian broadcast is understood by many people in Afghanistan, I believe..." A fourth point which speaks against Iran as target area is the music selection of "Hit Shortwave": especially the Indian film music is a genre which is extremely popular in Afghanistan, while it is very little known in Iran. All indications so far speak in favour of Afghanistan as target for the programme mix on 4050 kHz (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA [non]. RADIO ECCLESIA SET TO EXPAND COVERAGE IN ANGOLA | Excerpt from report by Angolan Rádio Ecclésia web site on 6 January Father José Paulo, Deputy Director-General for Rádio Ecclésia, today became the executive director for this radio station. Sister Fátima Kavate, the new administrative director and Sister Ana de Carvalho Meneses as financial director, were also sworn into office. These changes to the management of the Catholic radio occurred because Father Antonio Jaka, the former director-general resigned following his appointment some months ago, to the position of provincial superior for the Missionaries of the Divine Word in Angola, that would clash with the work he does for the radio. Father Jaka, will however, continue to work for Ecclésia, but only in the project of expanding the radio to the provinces. At the moment Rádio Ecclésia already has offices in the dioceses of Malanje, Huambo, Benguela and Uije, where satellite broadcasts are received from Luanda and rebroadcast locally with some local transmission. Some technical obstacles delayed the start of broadcasts from these dioceses. The second phase of the project planned for this year will see Rádio Ecclésia branches opening in the other dioceses in the country... Rádio Ecclésia, which belongs to the Episcopal Conference in Angola, was founded in 1953. In 1977 the political regime closed down the radio that broadcast on FM, short wave and medium wave. In 1992, changes to the political situation allowed the radio to resume coverage, which was only possible in March 1997. Rádio Ecclésia broadcasts on FM to Luanda, and through the Internet, but will shortly be heard throughout Angola. Source: Rádio Ecclésia web site, Luanda, in Portuguese 6 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Listening to HCJB on 11770 from before 0700 did not reveal any QRM in this neck of the woods, in fact, from 0500 to 0700 there was no sign of any other stations on this frequency, HCJB gives 454 at 0700 and 0800 was 554, I shall keep listening as the evening progresses but so far they are loud, strong and clear (Michael Stevenson, Port Macquarie, N.S.W., Australia. Feb 8, EDXP via DXLD) as long as Nigeria begone, q.v. It's 0815 GMT. I've just tuned into 11770. HCJB has a good, QRM-free signal here in Cairns. I'm listening on my small portable with telescopic antenna (Barry Murray, Feb 8, ibid.) HCJB continues with a very good QRM free signal here in Port Macquarie, from 0700 on 11770; I cannot hear any other station occupying this frequency be it Nigeria or China, I guess propagation is completely different here in this part of Australia compared to Melbourne or in New Zealand (Michael Stevenson, NSW, Feb 9, EDXP via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. G'day Glenn. some items extracted off the Voice International website http://www.vil.com.au that may not have made it into DXLD FIRSTLY : Keep the Text Message coming to VOICE from your mobile/cell phone!!! posted Fri 07 Feb 2003 No matter where you are, you can contact us via your Mobile/Cell phone with text messages direct to your favorite On Air presenter or to the VOICE language department you listen to. Here is what you do: Start your message with the FIRST NAME of the On Air presenter, or Language Department code word you want to make contact with followed by your message. The Language Department code words are... CHINESE=SHENG ENGLISH=VOICE INDONESIAN=SUARA Once you finish your short message, send it to this number +61(0)416905877. (Note; the + is the call out number within your country. Also note that the +61 is not needed within Australia, but the (0) is needed if calling us within Australia, but not if your dialing us from another country.) Look forward to getting your Text Message. SECONDLY: NOW you can phone VOICE for free !!!! posted Fri 03 Jan 2003 VOICE offers listeners an international toll FREE number for you to chat with your favorite presenters and announcers in person. We love talking to you and now we are offering you the opportunity to talk to us! Feel free to tell us your thoughts, because as you know we love a friendly chat. The VOICE on air team would love to hear from you. If you are in China or the Phillipines call +800 5477 5477. If you are in Indonesia call 001 803 61 555. All other countries can call +61 7 5477 1555. (note that this call is at your own expense) THIRDLY : New Broadcast Times and Frequencies posted Thu 02 Jan 2003 Good news from Voice International. As you know, we broadcast live to greater Asia every day from Queensland Australia. We have just increased and are changing broadcast times and frequencies!!! Our Chinese broadcast starts at 06:00 Hong Kong time or 22:00 hours UTC on 15165 kHz, then later in the day we recommence at 17:00 hours Hong Kong time or 09:00 hours UTC on 17635 kHz, then continues from 14:00 till 18:00 hours UTC on 15150 kHz. Our English broadcast to China and the Philippines starts at 17:00 hours Hong Kong time, or 09:00 hours UTC on 13685 kHz. The English service for India and Indonesia will then continue on till 21:00 hours UTC on 13690, 11685 & 13770 kHz. Our Indonesian broadcast commences at 12:30 Indo west time or 04:30 UTC on 21680 kHz, then continues on till 01:00 hours Indo West time or 18:00 UTC on 17820, 15365 and 13660 kHz. FOURTHLY : Up-linking to Asia posted Thu 02 Jan 2003 A new $500,000 AUS satellite dish has been cemented down at VOICE International, confirming their long term commitment to broadcasting top quality programs into Asia. VOICE is set to become one of the largest radio networks in Asia and multi-lingual program providers in Australia. With the 6 metre dish VOICE can broadcast to a potential listening audience of 2.8 billion people living in the Asia Pacific region. Our broadcast footprint has expanded to cover one third of the globe and with the help of affiliate FM stations, VOICE has the potential to broadcast worldwide! FIFTHLY : Broadcast Schedule click here to use http://www.timezoneconverter.com Chinese 17635 0900-1400 15150 1400-1800 15165 2200-0100 English 13685 0900-1300 13690 1300-1700 11685 1700-1900 13770 1900-2100 Hindi 11850 0100-0400 13635 1100-1400 11750 1400-1700 Indonesian 21680 0030-0100 21680 0430-0500 21680 0530-0600 17820 0600-0900 15365 0900-1300 13660 1300-1800 11935 2330-0000 73s gd dx de (Sam Dellit VK4ZSS, Tamborine, Australia, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. A Rádio Caiari, de Porto Velho (RO), transmite, todos os dias, a partir das 0900, o programa Alvorada do Sertão, com apresentação de Jonas Felizardo. A Caiari está em ondas tropicais, na freqüência de 4785 kHz. A dica é do Saulo Gomes, de Porto Velho (RO). BRASIL - Atrasou a chegada do novo transmissor da Rádio Transmundial, que vai ser utilizado pela emissora em suas freqüências de ondas curtas. A Transmundial enfrentou problemas com a Receita Federal na liberação dos equipamentos. A informação foi repassada a Adalberto Marques, de Barbacena (MG), por Andrea Pavel, daquela emissora. BRASIL - Mais do que ouvir uma emissora de rádio, é preciso que o dexista faça leitura crítica do que recebe. Nesse sentido, é preciso denunciar a péssima programação que alguns concessionários de emissoras levam ao ar. É o caso de um programa apresentado pela Rádio Itatiaia, de Belo Horizonte (MG), após às 0200. Em 3 de fevereiro, sintonizei a freqüência de 5970 kHz, às 0255, e fiquei impressionado com o que a emissora transmitia. Um apresentador conversava com uma ouvinte, por telefone, e a todo momento baixava o nível da conversa. Diversas vezes ele insistiu que a ouvinte comentasse o fato de que "faltava perereca em Minas Gerais!". Se não bastasse isso, eram apresentadas gravações de sapos coaxando. Logo da Itatiaia! Que feio! {a few key words above: perereca = tree frogs; sapos coaxando = toads croaking. Sorry to disappoint you} BRASIL - A Rádio Educadora Seis de Agosto, de Xapuri (AC), foi sintonizada, em Porto Velho (RO), por Saulo Gomes de Souza, em 6 de fevereiro, no período noturno, pela freqüência de 3355 kHz. De acordo com ele, a emissora transmitia o programa Boa noite interior, que consiste na apresentação de músicas pedidas pelos ouvintes através de cartas (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** CANADA. MT-ROYAL TOWER: A HEALTH HAZARD Here are some translated excerpts from an article found in "La Presse" today: ||| There are too many radiofrequencies on Mount Royal, reports "La Presse" newspaper today. The broadcast tower of Radio-Canada/CBC which hosts most of the Montreal FM and Television transmitters, exceeds Health Canada norms on electromagnetic radiofrequencies. Until a solution is found, the CBC has hired security guards to patrol Mount- Royal park and advise people to stay away from the tower site. According to Gilbert Paquin of Industry Canada, electro-magnetic fields in the vicinity of the tower are too high, as stated by Security Code 6, which provides guidelines on human exposure to radiofrequency fields. The overloading might be explained by the growing number of broadcasters using the tower and their increase of radiated power. (No kidding!) For example, Radio-Canada's "La Première Chaine" on 95.1 has increased its power from 17 000 watts to 100 000 watts in may 2001. Health Canada has also modified its application of the Code after some related incident happened in the US (???). There are two solutions that could be used by the CBC in order to solve the problem: decrease power of transmitters (yes, please do!) or change the angle of transmission so that radiofrequencies will travel towards the sky instead of towards the ground. (??!!!) The CRTC is holding hearings this week in Montreal for applicants for new FM stations. Apparently, some of the applicants already aware of the problem are thinking of other transmitting sites. Such is the case with TVA which applied for an oldies format and would be looking at transmitting from the mast of the Olympic Stadium. ||| I will add that there are 8 TV stations and about 15 FM using the Mont-Royal tower site plus a bunch of public services as well. The example of 95.1 given in the article reflects one of the stupidest decision Radio-Canada/CBC has ever made, leaving the 690 and 940 kHz on AM and move to FM. On the English side, 88.5 is doing so poorly as far as coverage, that they have asked a licence to operate an LPFM on 104.7 to serve certain neighbourhoods that can't receive the signal on 88.5 at all! There were NO problem of that nature when they used AM. In any case, I don't know how serious this situation can be healthwise but it would be a blessing for this DXer if they implement what is said above: Decrease power and find new transmitting sites in Montreal. The original article in French can be found here (plus a picture of the tower): http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/article/1,63,0,022003,196552.shtml Soixante-Treize, (Charles Gauthier, St-Lambert, PQ, Feb 6, WTFDA via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Re Alan Johnson's comment in DXLD 3-019 about 9755 being missing for the 3 Feb RCI 0200 transmission, large sections of southeastern New Brunswick, including the Sackville area, were hit by severe ice storms beginning on Sunday 2 Feb. Tens of thousands of subscribers lost electricity, and some still are without power as of Friday 7 Feb. I would presume that the missing frequency was either because of electrical problems, of because of de-icing procedures for the curtain arrays. I had, a few hours earlier, noted that all the Sackville frequencies were missing for the 2 Feb. 2000 French and 2100 English transmissions. (Incidentally, the only frequency I was logging for the 2100 English transmission was 5995 via Skelton.) (Bill Westenhaver, Montréal, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RCI has now added a new frequency in French for Africa via Ascension, 11835 at 2200-2259 (on a 65 degree azimuth). This frequency takes the same feed as the 2200-2259 transmission to Asia (on 9810 Kimjae + 11705 Yamata), and does not include the same feed as the 2230-2259 French transmission to Europe/Africa + the Americas. Incidentally, I logged 11835 on 4 Feb at 2228, with a clear but not terribly strong signal. (Bill Westenhaver, Montréal, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. China Radio International has made its breakthrough in terms of its communication with listeners. Mr. Guo Shizhi, the Director of CRI Audience Liaison Department said, "In 2002, the numbers of mails we (CRI) received from our listeners was the highest in CRI's 61-year history. By last November it had exceeded 1-million". CRI English Service has received 1,68,000 letters alone. Here's a figure [sics] In 1993 CRI received 5,00,000 letters In 1995 CRI received 6,00,000 letters In 2001 CRI received 9,00,000 letters In 2002 CRI received 10,00,000 letters (Source: Listeners' Garden of CRI English Service via Al-Amin...) In order to get the real picture of reception condition China Radio International has appointed 23 Volunteer Monitor worldwide. Last year CRI asked the listeners to apply for the post. They received about 50 applications from all over the globe. These monitors asked to send their reports at least twice in a month. Regards, (Md. Azizul Alam Al-Amin, CRI Monitor, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 6009.84, LV de tu Conciencia, did not get ID but sounded like their programming, slipped down to this frequency --- religious talk, some HJ music; good signal at 0845-0930 Feb 1, but battered by dominant Mil-6010, and both under HCJB-6010 from their 0930 s/on with German kids program (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** CUBA. See COMMENTARY below: QSLs ** ECUADOR. 3380.07, C.R.I. Centro Radiofónico de Imbabura, Ibarra (Ecuador). Jan 3 2003 - 2320 UT. Idol hysteria may be nothing for the 55-year old BM but I have to admit that I still get "chicken skin" when listening to the Mexican group "Los Bukis" and their leading singer Marco Antonio Solís. In 1993 when I was staying in Guatemala I listened every day to a "Radio Galaxia", an FM-station whose programs were at least to 50% devoted to two artists: Vicente Fernández and my big favourites "Los Bukis". Nowadays I think Vicente is quite OK but back then I switched off immediately when he sang and turned on max volume when "Los Bukis" sang. One of my Spanish teachers, Álvaro, accompanied me in Guatemala City where we "vacuum cleaned" the record stores for CDs with Los Bukis. What in the whole world has this to do with "Centro Radiofónico de Imbabura"? Oh yes, at 2320 UT when I landed on the frequency 3380.07 kHz I got "chicken skin"! [goosebumps] They ran 7-8 tunes in a row with "Los Bukis", just the ones popular back then in Central America in 1993. In December 2001 C.R.I. very surprisingly started transmissions on shortwave and the SWB members received a special mail with info. Unfortunately the station was only broadcasting for a few weeks. I telephoned the station but the lady I talked to couldn`t help me but we agreed that I should telephone Sra. Rocío the next morning at 1000. Rocio is the same very nice lady I talked to in December 2001. She asked me about my favourite music and naturally I answered "Los Bukis"! Just imagine if she had remembered and deliberately put in my favourites ...... The station gives ID just as last time, for example "C.R.I. Radio - la diferencia en radiocomunicación" or "Superradio C.R.I.". After 0000 UT they changed to religious programming. You can read more about the previous reception of "C.R.I." in SWB issues 1474 and 1476. Regards Bjorn Malm in Quito (Translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Something in Spanish tonight at 0420 around 4781.35 Anybody know what this is? (Ryan Ellegood, Northwest Tennessee, Feb 8, SWLtalk mailing list via DXLD) R. Oriental in Ecuador. Nice ID "Ésta es Radio Oriental..." By OM at 0808 (Don Nelson, OR, Feb 9, ibid.) ** ECUADOR. O programa Aventura DX-ista vai ao ar em diversos horários e dias. Pode ser conferido, também, às 0230, das segundas-feiras, pela freqüência de [HCJB] 6050 kHz. O programa apresenta notícias do mundo das ondas curtas, no idioma espanhol (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. BAD RECEPTION AS A PR HAZARD (from YLE JNiinisto) Bad frequencies and bad reception are a tremendous public relations problem to an external service that has to compete with pay services available with mobile phones. The competitive edge of SW radio is the fact that listening does not cost anything. However, if the advertised signal is not there, the listener may rather pay for a mobile phone service than tolerate the non-availability of the signal. From the next schedule YLE will not include transmissions that are predicted to be risky in their main target area. And in an early application of the policy YLE asked (Jan 13) its SW service provider Digita Ltd to take off the air, for the time being, the 100 kW service on 6120 kHz between 18 and 23 UT. The service for 240 and 60 degrees was running parallel to a 500 kW service for 220 deg. While the 500 kW service was being received in Spain and further, the 100 kW appeared to getting nowhere in the winter propagation conditions and strong interference from TRT. Listeners to 6120, if any, were advised to use 963 kHz (312m) that is widely available in Northern Europe during winter evenings. 6120/100 kW continues to be available between 05 and 18 UT (Juhani Niinistö, YLE Radio Finland, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. Georgian Radio 11805.10, on FEB 8 tuned in at 0650 to choral music, IS at 0700 (fits the IS on the web "Interval Signals Archive"), mention of Tblisi (not sure how they say "Georgia" in German), news program in German with woman announcer, then music at 0709. Fair to pair in strength, but steady and no QRM. Although I have an old QSL from Radio Moscow with a Georgia transmitter site, this is more definitely from Georgia! (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, Drake R8, longwires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11805, R. Georgia 0605-0640 Feb 8. Talk by man in presumed Russian. Signal disappeared for a few minutes at one point. It returned quite strong and then deteriorated until change to English after IS at 0630. ID by woman, some talk, and carrier disappeared again for a brief period. Upon its return, signal was good for a short time with talk by woman, then faded down and out. This erratic signal behavior appears to be due to more than propagation, and it has been noted for the last couple of years (Evans, TN, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. If my memory serves me right, the WDR high power transmitter on 1593 had to be scrapped because it contained a lot of PCB, which is a big environment hazard, especially if there is an exlosion or a fire. PCB was popular as a liquid isolator. The WDR replaced 1593 by 720. For European DXers it was a day of rejoice when WDR left 1593. An April Fools joke in NRC's DX News had it that the Finnish DXers with their long Beverage antennas could use the power of the WDR signal to make their coffee. And yes ... it was on 1586 before the Geneva Plan (Olle Alm, Sweden, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, you remember correctly, Langenberg used to be on 1586 and moved to 1593 when the Génève schedule came into force, designating 1485, 1584 and 1602 as low power channels. By the end of 1993 the 2 x 600 kW transmitter at Langenberg had to be shut down due to PCB and asbestos contamination, leaving WDR only with a single 200 kW unit anymore. They decided to keep the 720 frequency already used by this transmitter because the groundwave coverage of 1593 was very poor, only 80 km even at 800 kW they said. Until then, WDR shared 720 with RFE, Langenberg used this frequency during daytime, Holzkirchen during the evenings. Now WDR and RFE (or the then responsible US agency, I think IBB was created later) arranged a frequency swap: WDR left 1593 to RFE, Holzkirchen moved from 720 to 1593, in return WDR got 720 exclusively, allowing them to use it 24 hours. However, there were some coordination problems and also trouble with the remaining mediumwave facilities, not allowing them to use full 200 kW; the last I heard about Langenberg 720 was that it churns out some 85 kW now, but this information could be obsolete. As well-known the mediumwave transmitter at Holzkirchen was shut down in the meantime, indeed leaving 1593 empty here in Germany. The rig was moved to Kuwait, but there should be hardly doubts that it is just coincidence that it settled down on 1593 again there. I do not know whether or not IBB returned 1593 officially to the German authorities in the meantime; anyway the Kuwait operation would not affect a use of this frequency here in Germany. From gossip there is indeed a commercial broadcaster who would like to use this frequency again at Langenberg, of course the one who already occupied most vacant mediumwave channels here in Germany. However, again 800 kW from Langenberg while WDR got the notorious Elektrosmog trouble already with 1/10 of this power? Time will tell (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re UK [and non], DXLD 3-021: And regarding Deutsche Welle 6075 which is still well audible within Central Europe when all other 49 metres outlets skip: It is not a mystery, it is a trick. At certain times 6075 goes out not only from Wertachtal but also from Sines. One can note the hollow sound typical for synchronized networks at times, and with Sines being the only signal while Wertachtal skips the skilled ear can still note the different modulation characteristics. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And see RUSSIA [non] ** GERMANY [non]. Pressemitteilung vom 10.02.2003 / Press release from the 10.02.2003 ********************************************************* During February and March we will test the shortwave outlet of Laser Radio based in Lithuania [sic – LATVIA] with 100 kw of power with own Marabu programs. Reception reports are highly appreciated and will be verified by a special QSL card. Also every person will get a free CD from our collection. Im Februar und März testen wir mit eigenen Programmen den angemieteten Kurzwellensender von Laser Radio in Litauen [sic – Latvia, not Lithuania --- Bernd Trutenau] mit 100 kW. Empafngsbeobachtungen sind sehr willkommen und werden mit einer speziellen QSL-Karte bestätigt werden. Darüber hinaus erhält jeder, der uns anschreibt, eine Gratis CD. Dates and Times are as follows: 16.02.2003 -- 02.03.2003 -- 16.03.2003 -- 30.03.2003 each day from 16.00 up to 17.00 hours UT with the Gittare X Radioshow Frequency for this special broadcasts is: 5 9 3 5 kHz ********************************************************* RADIO MARABU e.V. - Postfach 1166 - D 49187 Belm - Germany Tel.: 05406/899484 -- Fax: 05406/899485 E-mail: marabu@radiomarabu.de -- Homepage: http://www.radiomarabu.de Europe´s radio station for alternative music (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** HUNGARY. A língua espanhola ganhou mais um programa sobre o dexismo e as ondas curtas! É a Revista de DX-ismo, apresentada, aos domingos, pela Rádio Budapest, a partir de 2230. Confira em 7215 kHz. A dica é do Leônidas dos Santos Nascimento, de São João Evangelista (MG), e do Oséias Fantinelli, de Jacutinga (RS). (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD) ** INDIA. The Program Staff Association of AIR & Doordarshan TV has said that it would go ahead with mass casual leave program on Monday February 10, 2003 as part of its stir demanding filling up vacancies. ===== 73 (Jose Jacob, India, Feb 8, dx_india via DXLD) {NOT: 3-023} AIR will have extended broadcasts to cover the World Cup Cricket matches. These special broadcasts will also be available on 11620 kHz. Normal programs on this frequency will be cancelled then. According to advertisements given by AIR in the sports pages of Deccan Chronicle Newspaper, all stations of AIR will relay the live commentary of World Cup Cricket matches held in Southern Africa in Hindi and English as follows: From 0750 UT on February 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 23, 26, and March 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 23. From 1220 UT on February 9, 22, 28 and March 20. From 0720 UT on February 19, 2003. So the schedules of AIR stations will be extended then. On SW look out on 11620 for the running commentaries (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS/AT0J National Institute of Amateur Radio Box 1555, Somajiguda Hyderabad 500082, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7410 to Europe at 1745-2230 in English and Hindi which was cancelled for some time is now noted back on air. The Haj service to Saudi Arabia at 0530-0600 in Urdu is noted on 11730 rather than on 15770 as reported by me earlier. This is in parallel to 13620. AIR noted with running commentary of the Tennis match between India and Japan just now (0500 UT Sunday) on 15075. This replaces the External service at this time and is via Bangalore with 500 kw ===== 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS/AT0J, dx_india via DXLD) language? Nice opening to India on 25 meters tonight. Great subcontinental music on 11735 at 0305 UT. 11620 also strong --- both 500 kW out of Bangalore, but beamed to Asia. Reception is long {sic} path over the north pole. 11620 will be carrying the big cricket matches from South Africa Unfortunately I don't know whether any of the coverage will be in English. I am located in Halfmoon, NY using a Lowe HF-150/PR-150/AP -150 combo connected to an A/D sloper antenna oriented west to east (John Figliozzi, UT Feb 9, EDXP via DXLD) {would be short path} ** IRAQ [and non]. Now that it appears war in the Gulf is inevitable, and coming within 2 or 3 weeks, I'd like to start getting prepped with some probable frequencies for military and clandestine operations you might be aware of. Didn't someone on the list already post some intercepts for US intelligence psy-ops already being broadcast in Iraq? Anyway, I'd like to start putting some frequency lists together if anyone would like to offer. Webmaster: * ARP Odyssey Information Resource Page http://www.overacker.com/ody/index.html * Kenwood R-2000 Information Resource Page http://www.qsl.net/kc7bum/ Regards (Rob Williams, Portland, Oregon, Feb 8, hard-core-dx via DXLD) With the buildup to the Gulf lots of traffic being reported in other groups, 8122 and 11300 are some frequencies mentioned (Richard Jary, Feb 9, ARDXC via DXLD) A full list of English transmissions from the Middle Eastern area is available at http://www.shortwave.org.uk (Graham Powell, Wales, Editor of the Online DX Logbook, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. Just let you know, I heard R Tikris [sic] with s/on 19 UTC. Signal strength was S8 with my indoor loop. No doubt reception must be excellent in target area. Any ideas about transmitter location? 73 (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku FINLAND, RX: AOR 7030+ ANT: Wellbrook ALA 1530P-active loop Feb 7 hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. TRAFFIC REPORTS ON SHORTWAVE English language international broadcasts generally fall into two camps: 1) Broadcasts created specifically for consumption by an international audience (for example), and 2) Relays of domestic services. Claiming that one type is better than the other is, frankly, not relevant -- they serve different purposes. I personally enjoy both types --- because one gets a feel for current events impacting a country`s residents by listening to domestically oriented programming. Often domestic current affairs are not emphasized in broadcasts produced specifically for an international audience. This can get mundane --- as some domestic relays include weather and traffic information clearly intended for a domestic audience. Frankly, I get a kick out of traffic reports for Dublin and Auckland --- makes me feel like I live there! Following are two examples of domestic programs that are nonetheless interesting internationally: Five Seven Live, from Ireland`s RTE Radio 1: Anchoring the Irish evening with news from home and abroad is Five Seven Live - a solid selection of stories, features and reports from around the globe as well as around the country. Rachael English drives the show, responding as much to listeners requirements like drive time traffic as well as to stories that are breaking while the program is on air. The first half hour of Five Seven Live is aired to North America at 1830 UT on 13640 kHz; another half hour targeting Central America airs at 0130 UT on 6155 kHz and should be readily audible in North America (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, Feb NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** ITALY. Re UNIDENTIFIED. 4875, chirping bird (like Rai IS) at 0529, DXLD 3-021: It`s 11985 (in Somali) minus 7110 (in Romanian) from Roma Prato Smeraldo; I listened to it some times (Roberto Scaglione, http://www.bclnews.it DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Subject: Reception Reports/Rapporti D'Ascolti Dear Sirs, we're writing to inform you that all the QSL cards sent by Mr. Monferini c/ Radio Studio X were not authorized by our station. They have to be considered fakes because we have never had any job intercourse with him. The only original replies are those signed by Massimiliano Marchi or Luca Betti and posted from Firenze or Montecatini Terme. Following this unpleasant situation, we reserve the right to institute legal proceedings. Those who would like to get a QSL/reply from Radio Studio X, are invited to send their reception reports (along with a piece of recording of our broadcast) via e-mail to: studio.x@lycos.com or by ordinary mail to : RADIO STUDIO X Via Mammianese 687 51030 MOMIGNO (PT) ITALY P.S. We would be glad if you could forward this e- mail to other DXers for their knowledge (via David Hochfelder, NJ, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** JAPAN. NHK INTERNET PROJECT INTRODUCTION The 'Internet Project,' which is in charge of all of NHK WORLD's Internet services, is a unit of the International Planning and Broadcasting Department. Here is a brief introduction of the project. Beginning with NHK WORLD's PR Website, we take care of all sites concerned with public relations, news and education. Some examples include 'Radio Japan Online,' where you can listen to Radio Japan news in 22 languages on the Internet http://www.nhk.or.jp/rj/ --- 'Daily News,' where you can read news manuscripts in English (with video), Spanish and 4 other languages http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/ and 'Japanese Lessons,' where you can learn Japanese in 20 languages http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/ At the project we have four staff members in the office at all times, surrounded by several computers used to update, manage and develop these websites. Please take this opportunity to check out our Internet services. By the way, starting Feb. 3, 'Daily News' has also been available in Korean (Hangul). We hope you enjoy it! (Source : NHK WORLD e-GUIDE- Feb.7, 2003, No.43) Last year Radio Japan NHK-world has received nearly 8,000 letters and e-mails from its listeners (Source: Hello From Tokyo, Radio Japan) Regards, (Md. Azizul Alam Al-Amin, Technical Monitor of NHK World, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non]. Radio Sadaye Kashmir [9890]: Last few holidays I had opportunity to listen to this station. Understand little bit Urdu. The programme contents are not anti-India. Only Urdu songs and easy discussions between OM+YL. Every day at 0300 UT there is a commentary mostly about the Pakistani affairs. Initially I presumed it is originating from Pakistan itself but surprised when heard a commentary on nuclear weapons of both India and Pakistan on last Sunday. It was mentioned in the commentary that in Pakistan, nuclear weapons may go to the hand of Islamic fundamentalist while in India there is a democratic government. It caused more confusion. Any latest news regarding this unidentified station??? 73s (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9890, Radio Sadaye Kashmir, Feb. 4 & 8 *0230-0330*. Noted on both days as early as 0208 with test tones modulated. Sign-on by female announcer with clear ID for 'Radio Sadaye Kashmir' with references to 'amerika programa' followed with music and dialogues by two female speakers. Initially the signal at this location very strong, with a full s7-s9 signal, but by 0300 hours the signal was going and by 0230 [sic] was just audible at best. The music varied from light instrumental to vocals by singers with the distinctive sound of the violas and plucked strings. Interesting on what transpires from this as the program seems to be quite laid back in nature (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Hi Glenn, there are some phonetical misunderstandings here. TESUG (not DESUG) stands for (The) European Satellite User Group (TESUG), a "satellite information service" in the UK; you find a presentation at: http://www.mediazoo.co.uk/tesug/ Raimonds Kreicbergs, the man behind Radio Gold 945AM in Riga, is the representative of this information service in Latvia. The email address in question is tesug@parks.lv --- not desug@barks.lv (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UK [non] {and GERMANY [non]} ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, R. Malagasy, 0301-0336 fade out, missed opening but caught man with brief news in Malagasy followed by continuous vocals. At 0319 familiar whistling tune played before a man began talking. The feature ended five minutes later with more whistling by a man. I recall this interesting feature from prior logging. Programming returned to continuous music at 0323. Fair signal tonight (Rich D`Angelo, PA, date unknown, NASWA Flashsheet Feb 8 via DXLD) ** MANCHURIA [non]. Hi Joe, Saw your thread with Glenn Hauser regarding the Voice of Jinling in China. I was recently in Jilin in Manchuria for work and when scanning the SW bands I did not detect the Voice of Jinling on its usual freqs (if it was a local I would have expected to hear some groundwave), so you are correct in concluding that it is not from the Manchurian region. Regards, (John Fisher, Kingston, Ontario, Feb 8 via Joe Talbot, Alberta, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 1630, Tijuana, BCN, XEUT, 1/27 0602 UT. Good. About equal with KKWY. Radio Universidad slogans and call letters heard several times. Transmitter power and addresses were also given. Comments were slow by both man and woman with violin and orchestra music in between. Interesting (DOUG PIFER, Albany OR, DXing with Drake R8B, KIWA Loop, IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Checking VON on new 9690: Feb 8 before 0600 it was overshadowed by R. Free Iraq, Kavala on 9695, and even more so by RTI via WYFR 9680. Then DW came on 9690 as usual from 0559 with IS; 0600 an intriguing mélange of DW news theme and VON drumming. Hardly an ideal frequency for VON, but then they are relying on really old and long unused outlets, regardless of how they have been used by other stations in the past two sesquidecades. Then Feb 9 check at 0640, VON was back on 7255 and 15120, not on 11770 and nothing besides DW audible on 9690. Clearly it is pointless to assume the usage on any particular day is a permanent new schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, V. of Nigeria is there on 9690 // 15120, both weak here in central Ukraine at 1910-1940+ UT. Moreover, 9690 co-chanel VOA/English from Kavala (fortunately S=2 today, giving Nigeria some chances into my QTH). If I recall correctly they used this QRG many years ago (I guess somewhere in late 70s or early 80s). No trace on 11770 - clear channel. (I`d wish Mexico be there, hi..., tough catch here) 7255? CRI is blocking it. No way to say more. 73, (Vlad Titarev, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, R399, 80m, Feb 7, DX-plorer via DXLD) I have a VON QSL from 1966; guess what the frequency was? 9690 kHz! (Chris Lobdell, MA, DX-plorer via DXLD) 9690, Voice of Nigeria, Lagos 0458-0506 02/08. Tuned in to broadcast already in progress with day's program schedule. ID and GMT at 0500, News summary, program re Nigerian civil war museum. As was the case last night, a strong, clear signal. No sign of 7255, 15120 or 11770. Perhaps VON has settled in on this frequency? I assume they are on well before my listed time of 0458. I hope to check tomorrow evening if I get out of work at a decent hour (Scott R Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chris, after reading your message I forced myself to take out my earliest WRTH-65 from remote shelf; they were there already: 7275/9690 (10 kw) and 11900/15255 (100 kW) so 11900 corrected with pencil as 11915 (I could hardly do that in 65-66, most likely later, as I hardly understood what term 'dx' meant at all in those years; understanding came few years later, hi...) What I can say to the point, for sure, those early WRTHs were really masterpieces. Especially those IS musics. They look magic... Btw, 15120 is fairly strong now (-0800- UT), occasionally heard 11770 at around 0530-06, very weak comparing previous days (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, DX-plorer via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Re: gh`s noticing satellite delay on some OKC TV stations via cable in Enid: The Oklahoma City stations are not on C-Band, but they are on DirecTV and DISH Network (Jeff Kitsko, Feb 2, WTFDA via DXLD) ** OMAN. Good signals received today from Radio Sultanate of Oman on 15140 kHz at 1400 UT in English. Programme contained Pop Music and at 1430 Chimes, ID, Time Check and a bulletin of English News (Graham Powell, Wales, Feb 8, Editor of the Online DX Logbook http://www.shortwave.org.uk DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. El Asesor técnico de Radiodifusión América, Dom Mur anunció que momentáneamente la planta transmisora de Villeta está inactiva mientras se están realizando trabajos de mejoramiento en los equipos. Se espera aumentar la potencia en todas las frecuencias para regresar al aire las 24 horas. La emisora utiliza la onda corta a través de 7370, 7737 y 15185 kHz con una capacidad de 2.4 kW de potencia. Entretanto, Dom Mur aconseja a los oyentes captar la onda media de Radio América 1480 que emite desde sus estudios ubicados en Ñemby. Una QSL especial será remitida por cada reporte enviado a la Casilla 2220, Asunción ? Paraguay o a ramerica@r... [truncated] (Rubén Guillermo Margenet a través de "Antena de la Amistad" de R. Corea Internacional -8/02/03- via Conexión Digital via DXLD) As of? ** RUSSIA. A programação em língua espanhola da Voz da Rússia apresenta, nas quartas-feiras, às 0230, o programa Frecuencia RM. São levadas ao ar informações sobre as ondas curtas. A dica é de Oséias Fantinelli, de Jacutinga (RS). Confira! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. RUSSIAN STATE-OWNED RADIO STATIONS AGREE JOINT EXPANSION ABROAD | Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 7 February: Russia's largest state radio company, Voice of Russia, and the FM radio station Radio Russia have decided to join forces in pushing the nation's radio product outside the borders of Russia. The radio stations have signed an agreement defining the directions of their strategic partnership, an ITAR-TASS correspondent was told today at the press service of Voice of Russia. In particular, the two largest radio companies are planning to make joint programmes for foreign listeners and for Russian nationals abroad. The music and entertainment part of the programme projects will be mainly provided by Radio Russia, while the political and current affairs content will be provided by Voice of Russia. In addition, the radio companies intend, by joint efforts, to create the conditions for transmission in digital format in CIS and non-CIS countries. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1319 gmt 7 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK? ** RUSSIA [non]. Concerning Voice of Russia, a more detailed statement included an explicit mention of Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg as the body who issued the licence in question. In Germany broadcast supervision is exclusively in the responsibility of the individual states (you would have to go to the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation at Düsseldorf to apply for transmissions from Langenberg), so this statement leaves no any doubt that all the fuss indeed referred to the established 603 outlet. By the way, the 210 metres tall mast of the formerly used site within Berlin was blown up a few weeks ago. I just received this information from a guy who searched for pages about Abriß and found http://kailudwig.bei.t-online.de/dam.htm So it was really a good idea to walk out to the site last October, continuing an extended stroll which led me also to the Nalepastraße radiohouse as you can see at http://kailudwig.bei.t-online.de/nal.htm (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAO TOME. I thought you might like this sequence of photographs http://www.ydunritz.com/photosto.htm The antenna is the IBB/VOA two- tower 1530 kHz 600 kW array at Pinheira, São Tomé. The original towers were lightweight because of time constraints. They are being replaced with heavy duty new ones, but the old ones are not safe to climb, so are being toppled rather than dismantled. We will install a temporary mondirectional feed to the new, replacement NE tower and then the second one will be toppled and replaced, whereupon the directional operation will be re-established. These photographs were taken by Charles Lewis, who is IBB's station manager, and he gave me permission to pass them on to you. Both Charles and his wife Leslie are active amateur operators and so SWL's and other amateurs probably recognize the names (Ben Dawson in an email (7/2-2003), Ydun`s MW News via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Re Rota antenna, 3-021: "Its purpose is still a mystery to most people. What the antenna has accomplished and how exactly it works remain carefully guarded secrets." While some of the techniques, developed to implement the technology, may be classified, there is nothing classified about the theory. The antenna being described is called a Wullenweber Array. It is capable of forming multiple, independently-steered beams using computer controlled phase and amplitude weighting of the signal from each element. The number of beams that can be formed is one less than the number of elements. The theory is well known and is applied to unclassified programs such as NASA's Applications Technology Satellite program back in the late 1960's. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ ** TAIWAN. Os relatórios de recepção são valorizados pela Rádio Taipei Internacional. A remessa de dois ou mais informes, no mesmo envelope, para a emissora, são compensados com o envio de um brinde especial (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. TAIWAN TO ESTABLISH ENGLISH-LANGUAGE TV STATION BEFORE END OF JUNE | Text of report in English by Taiwan Government Information Office web site on 6 February Taiwan's first all English-language television channel is expected to begin transmission before the end of June. In an effort to promote an English-language environment here, the government plans to spend about NT dollars 100m (US dollars 2.9m) annually in an effort to provide funding for an English-language TV network. Existing television stations will make bids to produce programming for the channel. Minister without portfolio Huang Hwei- chen is heading the project. Premier Yu Shyi-kun said that in the next six-to-ten years, English will become the language used in Taiwan's official circles. He said that the establishment of a 24-hour English-language TV channel here is one measure necessary to help realize this goal. Officials at the Government Information Office (GIO) confirmed the urgency of the plan. Officials said that to avoid the long process in amending various laws, the GIO has decided to establish the English- language TV channel. Various government bodies are pooling nearly NT dollars 100m in resources, and programming will be awarded on the basis of bids by television channels already in existence. The channel will focus on real-time news. It will also have segments on the local economy and finance, tourism, human-interest stories, and culture. The GIO has already commissioned the Chinese Television System to produce English-language news, which began airing on 1 February. Several other channels have also begun to air English-language news, and more channels plan to follow their lead. Given current viewing habits and manpower resources, the inauguration of an English-only television channel should not be difficult, a GIO official said. Source: Government Information Office, Taipei, in English 6 Feb 03 (via DXLD) Note the incredible statement in the third paragraph above! (gh, DXLD) ** UKRAINE [and non]. Really nasty jammer on 7365 trying to mask R. Martí; sometimes it`s successful or marginal. In either case it severely affects RUI English to NAm on 7375 at 0100, due to splash. I`ve noticed increased jamming of R. Martí since the [acting] presidential SOTU address. There also seems to be a jammer co-channel 7345 behind R. Prague English to NAm. Now and then, I heard Dr. Gene Scott [Costa Rica] behind Ukraine 7375 (Bob Thomas, CT, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. UAE Radio from Dubai has moved frequency again for its English Broadcasts at 1030, 1330 and 1600 UT. The off channel frequency of 21597.64 that it has been using for some time now has moved to 21605.27 kHz (Graham Powell, Wales, Editor of the Online DX Logbook, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. A statistic: In 2002 the Radiocommunications Agency successfully carried out 1042 operations against 209 pirate radio broadcasters and successfully prosecuted 49 people arising from their involvement in pirate radio broadcasting. (from http://www.radio.gov.uk/ via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U K [non?]. OP TELIC GETS BFBS RADIO LIVE AND DIRECT To support our troops on Operation Telic, SSVC has supplied hundreds of portable radios to help keep them in touch with home. BFBS Radio are already broadcasting to the region and will be rolling out several new FM transmitters as more troops arrive. Already they can pick up BFBS on short wave from 5 til 8 in the morning on 13720khz and from 6 til 9 in the evening on 5945 kHz, their time (From http://www.ssvc.com/popup.htm via Kai Ludwig, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Their time? UT +3? So 0200-0500 on 13720, 1500-1800 on 5945. Those frequencies smack of Moosbrunn, Austria; or maybe UAE? HFCC has: 5945 1800 2315 18,27-29,37-39 MOS 100 0 1234567 271002 300303 D AUT ORF ORF 334 6155 --- But no current usage of 13720 at 0200-0500. So what IS Operation Telic? Another webpage never answers that question: http://www.ssvc.com/telic.htm Press release Saturday, February 08, 2003 SSVC SENDS TROOPS A TASTE OF HOME ToUK [sic] based charity, The Services Sound and Vision Corporation has boosted the morale of thousands of British service men and women, currently on deployment in the gulf by distributing over 1000 entertainment DVD's, a selection DVD Players, television sets and over 800 portable radios. Top feature films such as Lord Of The Rings, Austin Powers Goldmember and Spiderman through to popular TV shows and comedies including; The Office, Ali G, Footballers Wives and Sex In The City as well as a mixture of sport and football programmes will keep troops entertained whilst on operational deployment in the Middle East. The 800 portable radio sets have been donated through the SSVC's Operational Welfare Fund which finances recreational and welfare amenities for members of the Armed Forces who are serving on operational deployments. As well as providing the bumper entertainment supply, the main role of the SSVC over the coming weeks will be to provide the Armed Forces with entertainment and information through the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS Radio and Television). BFBS is currently preparing to provide BFBS Radios and the BFBS Television service to the deployment area as well as providing broadcasts to some Royal Navy ships. Preparations are underway to set up a mobile BFBS radio station within the deployment area that will broadcast news, dedications, messages and requests, music and special programmes for the troops based around Kuwait with links to families and friends back home. David Cryws-Williams, Managing Director of SSVC is spearheading the BFBS operation to keep the troops entertained and informed: "SSVC comes into its own at this time. Not only do we provide a vital welfare link by providing BFBS radio and television tailored for the forces audience, but along with our Combined Services Entertainment and video services, plus the grants from our Operational Welfare Fund, we hope we will make a significant contribution in boosting the morale and efficiency of the Armed Forces and their families. I have no doubt that this contribution will raise the spirits of a great number of service men and women and we are ready to give the Armed Forces the welfare and entertainment support they richly deserve." Ends For further PR Information on SSVC and BFBS Radio And Television please contact: Pearl Mina PR & Media Officer SSVC Tel: 01494 878 290 Mob : 07736 740 743 Email: pearl.mina@ssvc.com (via gh, DXLD) But from http://www.operations.mod.uk/telic/ we learn: UK military contingency preparations in relation to Iraq are being conducted under the name of Operation Telic. The Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon MP, announced on 6 February 2003 the deployment of an air package comprising some 100 aircraft. The Defence Secretary had previously outlined on 7 January the augmentation of Naval Task Group 2003 to provide it with a significant amphibious capability, to provide an effective maritime option. He also announced the mobilisation of a number of Reservists to support the operation. The deployment of a substantial land package was announced on 20 January (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) But what does Telic stand for??????? The European light information contingent? (gh) I assume "their time" is UT + 3? So 0200-0500 on 13720 and 1500-1800 on 5945? There is pop / rock music with announcements by a (British) English voice at 1650 on 5945. Side splash from VoR in German [then French from 1700] on 5940 and splatter from HOL 5955. Signal strength is increasing from about S5 now to 9+15dB, but fluttery. At 1700 came "This is BFBS the Forces station. Radio One." TC then news presented by a female voice until c1705 when more music. Best 73s (Noel Green, UK, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. Another week has passed - very quickly in my opinion - and here we are again with more new programmes from Laser Radio. Currently, on the net, we are repeating last week's shows up to 1300 UT, and then from 1500 our new set of shows goes out on the net and on short wave 5935 kHz [LATVIA]. Additionally, this week, we are very excited as our North American relay, via our friends at WBCQ on 9335 kHz, takes to the air from 2000 UT for 4 hours and will feature the best of our European programming and a *live* hour from 2100 to 2200 from London presented by Stewart Ross and myself. (All this is on our net feed as well, of course) We are also hosting the first of our paid relay customers with EMR - European Music Radio - returning for the first time since the 80s - this time as a non-pirate! Other highlights this week include the Media Show with part 2 of our interview with Radio Caroline's Peter Moore and our new presenter, Paul Goodwin, who has a fantastic taste in music. Don't miss any of it : European Schedule (5935 kHz) - 9th February 2003 (Times UT) 15h00 EMR - European Music Radio (Laserradio.net RELAY service) 17h00 Stewart Ross - with fine music and chat 18h00 Paul Goodwin - with the first of his eclectic musical journeys 19h00 England's England, a surreal experience with Christopher England (repeat) 20h00 The Media Show - featuring Part 2 of an interview with Radio Caroline's Peter Moore and more, with Julian Clover 21h00 Closedown ---------------------------------------------------------- USA Schedule (9335 kHz) - 9th February 2003 (Times UT) 20h00 The Media Show - featuring Part 2 of an interview with Radio Caroline's Peter Moore and more, with Julian Clover [we started listening, but there were numerous lengthy dropouts in audio feed --- internet? gh] 21h00 Welcome to LaserRadio.net - LIVE from London with Geoff Rogers and Stewart Ross 22h00 Paul Goodwin - with the first of his eclectic musical journeys 23h00 England's England, a surreal experience with Christopher England. 00h00 Closedown Programmes continue repeated on the web until 01h00 Tuesday next. ----------------------------------------- Happy listening, Geoff Rogers and the LaserRadio.net team ----------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this group, send a blank email to: laserradio-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com For a list of other commands, send a blank email to: laserradio-help@yahoogroups.com If all else fails, send a non-blank email to: laserradio-owner@yahoogroups.com (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. The BBG budget calling for cutting several VOA and RFE/RL languages is not final; subject to debate, and Congress could exempt some of the proposed cuts. This has happened in the past (Kim Elliott, VOA Main Street Feb 9, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. US STEPS UP MEDIA WAR FOR ARAB "HEARTS AND MINDS" - LONDON- BASED PAPER | Text of report by Ziyad al-Khuza'i in London headlined "Radio Sawa's success encouraged the administration to complete its media offensive; US television channel to attract Arab youths and confront hatred"; published by London-based newspaper Al-Hayat on 5 February; all quotation marks as published: Washington so far is fighting three wars in the Middle East: the war on terrorism that has entered a tunnel longer than the US administration wished for; the war on Iraq - whose drums are being beaten while one waits for its dust to cover everyone; and finally the war to win the hearts and minds of the region's youths - its weapon is the media, brainwashing and the targeting of moods and tastes. After the 11 September [2001] shock, the Americans asked: Why do they hate us? The administration's intellectuals answered: Because we have not talked to them enough. The relief came a year later when giant media structures were set up to broadcast the largest volume of "showbiz". Following the hasty arrangements for "Radio Sawa", which broadcasts its entertainment programmes from Amman [as published; Radio Sawa is relayed on FM in Amman and some other Arab capitals, but programming is produced primarily in Washington], the US government revealed its ambitious plan to allocate 30m dollars to finance the "Middle East Television Network" in the new financial year budget announced by President George Bush yesterday. We will probably wait only few months before the logo of this channel (METN) appears on TV screens in the lounges of Arab families, as American media figure Norman G. Pattiz has promised. He is the mastermind who fought ferociously to convince the US Congress of the importance firstly of the radio station and secondly of the new satellite channel. He is chairman of the Middle East committee in the US agency charged with broadcasting radio and TV programmes and known as the BBG [Broadcasting Board of Governors]. One of its tasks is to give media advice to the American "world" radio stations of a non-military nature, including the "Voice of America" and "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty". He was the person who established "Westwood One", the largest radio network in the United States. Pattiz told Al-Hayat: "The inclusion of METN financing in the president's budget indicates that this project is not just a good idea but is being implemented." He expressed his belief that Congress would approve this project "and we are ready to start our research as soon as it is approved in order to determine the type of programmes that we will broadcast". He added that this project would also depend on the success of "Radio Sawa, that has attracted a large number of listeners. We are hoping to achieve the same result and we will not disappoint the viewers in this important region." He went on to say that he personally started contacts several months ago with leaders of the media and entertainment sector in the United States and felt they were willing to provide this project with expertise and creative programmes. Asked about the reduction in the budget from 60m to 30m dollars, he said: "This allocation is in the year 2004 budget. We are still seeking to obtain a budget for this year from the supplementary budget. We know how much this project costs and believe that we will get the necessary and sufficient funding." Pattiz is seeking to remove the "traditional and onerous politicized networks" and establish a media consortium fortified by the preventive laws that were born after the New York and Washington attacks and the generous financial grants he succeeded in guaranteeing after "playing" on the "fears" of Congress and the administration in Washington when he referred to the Arab information ministers' resolution of June 2002 to organize a comprehensive media strategy and establish an Arab media centre "to monitor the Western campaigns of distortion against the Arabs and reply to them," and their allocation of 22.5m dollars for that purpose. On 8 October 2002, the agency [BBG] invited the leaders of "Paramount", "NBC", "FX", "Fox", "CAA", and "WMA" to a meeting in Los Angeles to discuss and support Pattiz's project. He was bolstered by the figures on "Radio Sawa's" brilliant success that were provided for him by the "Edison Media Consultations Office". The latter reported that 86 per cent of Arab youths aged between 17 and 28 listen to its programmes, 23 per cent of them consider its programmes modern and youthful and 19 per cent consider its news trustworthy. The White House took this seriously and backed Pattiz's project with half the amount he had proposed, that is, 60m dollars. Pattiz stressed in his statement to this publication: "There is a media war in the Middle East and its weapons include deception, incitement to violence, hostile propaganda campaigns and government censorship, in addition to the self-censorship that people in the media practise." He said: "The United States did not have a horse in this race before `Radio Sawa'." He expressed his confidence that these figures prove the loyalty to the radio and that will be the case with the satellite channel and its spread "because local governments will be unable to hamper its transmission if they disagree with its message," according to him. This media official believes that the United States needs to tempt Arab youths with whatever it has that attracts them. Source: Al- Hayat, London, in Arabic 5 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. ESTADOS UNIDOS: La Voz de América, Washington DC 20237. 2 tarjetas QSL con datos completos pero sin firmar. Una de las tarjetas muestra la estación retransmisora de Marruecos y la otra, antenas de satélite en Saipán. Demoró 269 días. Incluyó un bonito calendario de pared 2003-2004 con pinturas de museos de Wáshington (Ernesto Hernández, México, Conexión Digital Feb 9 via DXLD) ** U S A. VOA SITE RESTORATION A MAJOR HAM RADIO PROJECT FAIRFIELD, OH, Feb 5, 2003 --- Ham Radio operators north of Cincinnati, Ohio, are playing a key role in preserving a landmark element in the development in radio communications -- the main transmitter relay station for The Voice of America (VOA). For 52 years, until it was decommissioned in 1994, the major VOA relay station was located in Bethany (now West Chester Township). Hams traveling Interstate 75 to the Dayton Hamvention often found themselves distracted by the site`s vast antenna farm as they passed by. Plans are under way for the transmitter building, now owned by the township, to become a major radio technology museum that will key on the VOA`s mission to broadcast the truth to those living in countries that tried to suppress it. ``The VOA Bethany station represents a key time in the advancement of radio technology,`` said Gary West, K8DEV, of the West Chester Amateur Radio Association. ``We believe we are in a unique position to support the building restoration as well as the technical expertise to create museum displays.`` Plans call for more than $6 million in restoration and development-- funds now being raised through the work of township officials, ham radio club members, historical societies and veterans` organizations. In the meantime, Amateur Radio operators are making use of the building and the station there to promote ham radio and to spread the word about the project. The club`s membership is regularly on the air from WC8VOA (``West Chester Eight Voice of America``), an HF station at the site. ``We need to rag chew about the VOA—to talk up the facility and answer questions,`` said West. ``This helps direct people to the West Chester VOA Web site and other information on the Internet.`` Its regular use of the former VOA location has evolved into a major ham radio recruiting tool for the club. Recently, five Cub Scouts and their parents visited the VOA site where they received a brief background of the installation and a presentation on the future museum, built crystal sets and made QSOs from WC8VOA. ``It was a great recruiting experience,`` said West Chester ARA President Warren Reihs, WB6QKA. More Scout visits are in the works. The amateurs involved in the project also have put their technical skills and expertise to use to save the restoration project a huge amount of money. Under the leadership of Tom Baas, KD8C, two of the three remaining transmitters were removed and the remaining unit repositioned and restored for eventual display in the museum. ``These hams have invested hundreds of volunteer hours in restoring the transmitter,`` said Charlie Stinger, W8GFA, former VOA plant supervisor who was carrying out cables, amps, and power transformers as a member of the cleanup crew. ``They are committed to the project and came each day prepared to work hard.`` Club officials estimated that doing the work themselves has saved the project almost $600,000 that now can be spent elsewhere in the museum`s development. ``The remaining transmitter will not function, but museum visitors will have an idea of what these looked like and how the transmitters operated when we first opened the Bethany station in 1944,`` said Stinger. And it is a history worth the restoration effort. ``When I was serving in Italy at the beginning of World War II, I would listen to the VOA broadcasts,`` Stinger added. ``When I returned home it meant a great deal to be asked to work at the Bethany station. I knew many of my buddies were still listening to and relying on the broadcasts overseas.`` For more information, visit the West Chester Amateur Radio Association Web site. http://www.wc8voa.org/ --Joe Phillips, K8QOE Page last modified: 10:33 AM, 05 Feb 2003 ET Page author: awextra@arrl.org Copyright 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (ARRL web via John Norfolk, OKCOK, Bill Smith, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry, but Bethany was no longer ``the major`` VOA station once Greenville came on line, nevermind all the overseas relays. Well and good all the activity to preserve and remember Bethany, but historical accuracy should be maintained (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. NEWSMAN LARRY LESUEUR DIES By Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, February 7, 2003; Page B06 Larry LeSueur, 93, one of the pioneering CBS Radio newsmen who covered World War II with Edward R. Murrow and later became White House correspondent for the Voice of America radio service, died Feb. 5 at his home in Washington. He had Parkinson's disease. Mr. LeSueur, a third-generation journalist, joined CBS in 1939 and was a recognizable voice on the home front through his reports from Normandy on D-Day, the liberation of Paris and the Soviet side of the Eastern Front. He was one of the Murrow Boys, reporters known for their close association with the famed European news director. Considered one of the finest news teams ever assembled, it included Eric Sevareid, William Shirer, Howard K. Smith, Winston Burdett and Charles Collingwood. Of that crowd, Mr. LeSueur was closest to Murrow, said Stanley Cloud, co-author with Lynne Olson of "The Murrow Boys." Both were unpretentious, soft-spoken men who thrived in the war years on daredevil reporting followed by an evening of dining, drinking and female company, he said. After disagreements with CBS brass, Murrow became head of the U.S. Information Agency in 1961 and invited Mr. LeSueur, also languishing at the network, to work for Voice of America. Mr. LeSueur retired from VOA in 1984. In his long career, he considered one of his greatest moments landing with U.S. troops on Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He reportedly was the first correspondent to broadcast from the American beachhead. In the descriptive tone Murrow taught him, he told The Washington Post in 1984: "We were huddled in the prow of our assault craft. German shells landed in the water, but you didn't hear any noise -- just white geysers of water going up alongside. Other small ships were swamped, and several of the tanks that accompanied us foundered. There were quite a few helmets floating around in the water nearby, which increased our apprehension. "The Germans were firing from the ridge. I saw the first Americans killed by rifle fire crossing the inundated area. We knew Americans could get wounded, but we didn't know that they could actually expire. We thought that was only going to happen to the enemy. It was rather a sobering sight." He was made an honorary member of the 4th Infantry Division. Lawrence Edward Lesueur was born in New York; the "S" was not capitalized until he became a personality at CBS. After graduating from New York University, he was a private investigator's assistant, a department store floorwalker and a reporter for Women's Wear Daily and the United Press news service. In the 1950s, Mr. LeSueur contributed to the seminal magazine-format program "See It Now," which Murrow hosted. His main job was covering the United Nations, which he found increasingly dull. Mr. LeSueur wrote of his wartime experiences in the 1943 book "Twelve Months that Changed the World." His marriages to Joan Phelps and Priscilla Bruce ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 46 years, Dorothy Hawkins LeSueur, former fashion editor at the New York Times and The Washington Post, of Washington; a daughter from the second marriage, Lorna Vliet of Morris Plains, N.J.; a daughter from the third marriage, Amy Herrick of Washington; and three grandchildren. (c) 2003 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) See also VOICES OF WORLD WAR II, below ** U S A. Now and then VOA`s English on 7410/7415 gets jammed and this also affects WBCQ`s 7415. Sometimes VOA and the jammer takes BCQ totally out (Bob Thomas, CT, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Times? It`s real news if VOA in English is really being deliberately jammed. Current IBB schedule shows no usage of 7410, and 7415 is only the usual Botswana to Africa: 7415 0300 0500 VOA B ENGL BOT 03 010 7415 1900 2100 VOA B ENGL BOT 04 010 7415 2100 2200 VOA B ENGL BOT 04 010 7415 2200 2230 VOA B ENGL BOT 04 010 12345 We keep hearing Allan Weiner explaining that we have to live with the VOA clash, since no station has an exclusive worldwide right to any frequency. No we don`t --- only if both stations adamantly refuse to move! (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 700 WLW in Stereo with a steady pilot which has been missing the last couple of times I've done a band scan. 0428 5/Feb (Ken Zichi, MI, MARE via DXLD) I need to do some AM stereo bandscans to see what if anything be left (gh, OK, DXLD) ** U S A. 1530 WSAI Cincinnati OH, 1/24/03. Echo-machine on during overnight religion shows, did not used to be that way. Heard one show end, echo continued during WSAI taped announcement, continued on next religion program. They should not be adding echo to the pre-produced shows. I suspect they did this when they switched from Nostalgia mx to oldies mx. So everything must run through an echo-box. Bleah! (Larry Russell, MI, MARE via DXLD) ** U S A. This is great to hear, Paul, but I trust you'll consider and respect my request to check if KWKH [Shreveport] 1130 's night pattern is functioning as it is supposed to. In general, over the past couple of months, KWKH seems clearly too strong up here 35 miles NW of Chicago where I am supposed to be in their deep null which protects WISN. Thank You for your consideration (Neil Kazaross Barrington IL -- --to Paul Jellison, Clear Channel Engineering, NRC-AM via DXLD) Neil is right, Paul, KWKH is bad about leaving up non DA for substantial periods of times. Once for over 2 weeks @ high power. This is not uncommon for them. Something there needs fixing, or if they have to do it manually like WVOC did until I embarrassed the hell out of them (and pissed Gary Robison off!) as someone had to manually dial up the TX site and do it. It's automated now...at WVOC though (Powell E. Way, ibid.) Something is amiss at KWKH. I'm 194 miles west of them and according to the MW Viewer, their night signal is supposed to throw ~75000 Watts my way. Until, I'd say, about a month ago they would dominate 1130 with a little fading. But were always there. Now, they are barely audible, with an SS station dominating. I can't tell if a domestic or an XE. Wasn't KWKH's night pattern in effect before WISN's change to 1130? What was that . . . 1964? Early 1965? I remember sitting in my car in the parking lot at work in Elkhorn, Wisconsin listening to the changeover, but can't remember the date (Bill Hale in Fort Worth, ibid.) ** U S A. The FCC site shows NO PSSA or PSRA listings. IN FACT THE FCC LOST ALL OF THIS INFORMATION SOME TIME BACK AND DOESN'T HAVE THOSE RECORDS. As the Church Lady would say. Now isn't that just SPECIAL! (Powell E. Way, NRC-AM via DXLD) Post-sunset, pre-sunrise So far as I know, you can't find anything labelled as a PSRA or PSSA anywhere in the FCC info on the web. My last discussion with the person at FCC who would be ultimately responsible for such told me at the time (1-2 years ago) that it was something he wanted to do, but there were a lot of priorities ahead of it.... Actually the FCC records of this have been lost, so he can't. Only the stations that have their own authorization has it. I don't know, but I bet the FCC just buries their government heads in the sand! (Powell E. Way, ibid) I wrote to the FCC asking about PSRA's and PSSA's a while back. Here is what I received in response: From: "Dale Bickel" DBICKEL@fcc.gov Subject: Re: Pre-Sunrise/Post Sunset Authority Date: Monday, December 09, 2002 6:04 AM Unfortunately there is no database of these values. For many years the PSRA power or PSSA power was just authorized by telegram on a case-by- case basis, or added as a condition on the station's construction permit or license. There is no plan to collect all these various authorizations and put them into a database. If the station was recently granted a license, you can pull up the station authorization from CDBS. It these powers were authorized, it will be shown on the license. Dale Bickel dbickel@fcc.gov (via Bill Hale in Fort Worth, NRC-AM via DXLD) TEE HEE! They just CAN'T admit they lost the records (Powell, ibid.) ** U S A. Just back from a trip from West Palm to Miami Beach. There were so many pirates on practically every open channel, that it is truly difficult to determine the real stations from the pirates. They must run several hundred watts or on high antennas. They come in for miles and miles. Some are professional sounding and are in stereo. Others are terrible in mono with distorted or MP3 sounding audio. It's sick. Now is when we really need the FCC!! (Steve Solomon, Cape Cod, Feb 8, WTFDA via DXLD) Yes, we need the FCC to protect the public interest and quality programming provided to us by corporate radio. Heaven forbid someone actually program unique, independent radio to their community. This is America, why should we act like we have a first amendment? The above is not endorsing illegal activity, merely pointing out the hypocrisy of the FCC in regards to selling public airwaves far out of reach of normal Americans who therefore have little chance to use the powerful tool of radio for good. Use it for profit all you want, use it for creativity and public service at low power and we'll SWAT team you (D. Luke Steele, ibid.) And rightfully so. The corporations paid a lot of money to make things go their way. We have great politicians because when you buy them, they stay bought. The FCC is totally and absolutely worthless. They are truly the most useless and vestigial organ of the government that ever existed (Kevin Redding, Mesa, Arizona, ibid.) ** U S A. PROTESTS MOUNT AGAINST WJOB SALE TO STARBOARD; LOCAL MAYOR TAKES CAMPAIGN TO WASHINGTON Hammond, Feb 6 (CRU) --- The local opposition to the purchase of 75- year-old WJOB 1230 AM Hammond, Indiana, by Starboard Broadcasting from the bankrupt St George Broadcasting continues to mount, with the announcement that local Mayor Duane Dedelow Jr. is in Washington to attempt to block that purchase. According to an article written by Christine Harvey in the Northwest Indiana Times, the mayor's trip to speak to FCC officials followed his letter to the FCC last week. Mayor Dedelow is unhappy over the loss of the station`s community service, especially its emphasis on local news and sports. Most stations in northwestern Indiana in face operate as Chicago stations, aiming for a Chicago audience. The mayor argues that the sale of WJOB to Starboard for a 24-hour Catholic operation is not in the best interests of Hammond, that WJOB is the only station that provides listeners with news of school and road closings, weather, and local traffic reports. Mayor Dedelow also buys time on WJOB on Saturday mornings for a call-in show in which residents can speak directly to the mayor. News about the mayor's trip to Washington and crescendoing local opposition made the national radio trade press this week, items appearing on the M Street Journal Online, Radio Daily News, and Radio Business Report Online. According to the Northwest Indiana Times article, St George Broadcasting is owned by George W. Stevens, who bought WJOB and WIMS 1420 AM in Michigan City, Indiana in July 1999 for $4 million from M&M Broadcasting, owned by Northwest Indiana Forum head and former mayor Thomas McDermott Sr. and his partner Marty Wielgos. They had bought the station from Julian Colby`s Colby Broadcasting Co., which had bought the station in 1960, the same time the FM station, now WYCA 92.3 FM, was spun off and sold to Crawford Broadcasting, a religious operator. The previous owner had been North Shore Broadcasting Co. WJOB is not the original call sign; that was WWAE, but the station became WJOB not long after going on the air in 1928 (Catholic Radio Update #210, January 20, 2003). (Catholic Radio Update Feb 10 via DXLD) ** U S A. I finally got around to updating my home page (see URL below). Western DXers will find a ton of TIS/HAR info now; I've posted all my 2002-2003 TIS/HAR updates covering a good chunk of CA, NV, OR, UT, and AZ. Karen and I are hoping to return to Tombstone, AZ in April. DX was pretty good there last year. Also hoping to drive to Yellowstone NP sometime in May-June, this time with the full-size Kiwa Loop! (I just had the pocket loop last time). 73, (Tim Hall Chula Vista, CA http://www.inetworld.net/halls/dx/index.html amfmtvdx Feb 8 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. NO IDENTIFICADA: 4890 29/01 0725-0900. Programa religioso en español, sin ninguna identificación durante todo el tiempo de la escucha. 33422 (Samuel Cassio M., Brasil, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Siguiendo la sugerencia del querido amigo brasileño Samuel Cassio M. (quien la reportó varios días atrás), me puse a escuchar la emisora no identificada que opera en los 4890.19 kHz. Llegaba a Buenos Aires con señal 2 y QRK 2/3 con una larguísima charla religiosa por OM en español, sin identificaciones ni anuncios. Con Samuel nos preguntamos qué puede ser, ya que sería difícil de creer que Radio Chota, Chota, Perú, haya prolongado su emisión y ocupado todo el tiempo con programas religiosos, aunque no podríamos descartar esta posibilidad. Alguien tiene alguna idea?? (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Feb 8, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Amigos, otra fuente, cuya identidad no estoy autorizado a revelar, afirma que la mencionada emisora de programación religiosa se ha escuchado en los 4890.00 mientras que Radio Chota se oía, simultáneamente, en los 4890.26. Sería, por tanto, interesante dar con la identidad de la emisora, y que, desde esta lista, por ejemplo, salga a la luz pública, y para beneficio de todos, la identidad de la emisora en cuestión. Supongo que me castigarán por soplón los de la camarilla que todo lo quieren guisar y comer solitos, y cuya fuente cito sin permiso, pero como en este caso ni siquiera fueron los primeros, y ya que únicamente me anima la intención de contribuir al esclarecimiento de un enigma, me aventuro a pasarles este dato por el que, en todo caso, se puede descartar que se trate de Radio Chota... (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) [He knows, but can`t tell] Muchísimas gracias por el dato, Henrik! De a poco, y paso a paso comenzamos a develar el misterio. Recuerdo que a mediados del año pasado se habia conformado una investigación interesantisima por parte de un puñado importante de participantes de la Lista y que había facilitado la identificación de La Voz del Campesino, de Sipe Sipe. En todo caso, deberemos quedarnos en la frecuencia hasta que se identifique o bien podamos tomar datos que nos lleven a descubrir de qué emisora se trata. Saludos (Arnaldo Slaen, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMMENTARY ++++++++++ SO MUCH FOR QSLs I recently received a QSL from Radio Habana, even tho I didn't request one, in my correspondence. It was interesting to compare the rather plain card, however, to the one I received in 1963, titled "1963 The Year of Planification". I was in high school, and that was the first - and last - time I ever saw this word, planification. That card had an interesting design of the works of some kind of refinery, and was on regular postcard stock. Wish I still had it, along with the pennants and stuff I tossed since, including some of the booklets from Radio Peking excoriating China's capitalist roaders. Getting the QSL with no work reminded me of other QSLs I received, by merely writing and asking for a song title. No answer ever on the song title, and it seemed the station did not even understand my request. Some years back, I read an article, I believe in FRENDX, about D. X. King's unique approach, which didn't yield 100% results but did snag a few rare QSLs nevertheless: he simply wrote a "follow-up" reminder letter to the station, when in fact he had neither heard the station nor written a reception report in the first place. Nowadays, of course, if you really need a QSL, you can fly to the place, get the info, fly home, and mail the reception report from there. Let's rack up that QSL score, gang! (Hue Miller, WA, Feb 8, swprograms via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ VOICES OF WORLD WAR II: EXPERIENCES FROM THE FRONT AND AT HOME Have come across an interesting site that has a lot of old war broadcasts, some on SW from Europe to New York where correspondents would report to CBS listeners. The main site is: http://www.umkc.edu/lib/spec-col/ww2/main_txt.htm Here is an example of what is on one of the pages: We Interrupt This Program Caught between the lingering Great Depression and newfound international responsibilities, the late 1940s found America quickly and awkwardly developing into a genuine world power. Similarly, the nation's broadcasters evolved from what were essentially domestic news gatherers into true global journalists. However, even in the face of this maturation, not to mention the grim world events being reported, sensationalism and exploitation remained broadcasting basics. The five radio broadcasts presented here come from original studio transcription disc recordings in the Arthur B. Church - KMBC Radio collection and the J. David Goldin collection in the Marr Sound Archives. Broadcast #1 William Paley fell in love with broadcasting when his family began advertising cigars on a local radio station. In 1929 Paley bought the young 22-affiliate Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting Company for $400,000, changed the name to the Columbia Broadcasting System, and began building a radio powerhouse. Wanting to construct a solid news team, Paley hired former New York Times editor Edward Klauber and veteran United Press reporter Paul White in 1931. When world events interceded, Columbia's young news division found itself witnessing history in action. As a result Columbia developed an extensive international news bureau almost overnight, and pioneered broadcast journalism. On March 7, 1936, Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, beginning the Anschluss, Germany's expansion to its pre-World War I boundaries. That same year a young reporter named Edward R. Murrow moved to London and became Columbia's European news director. As the war unfolded Murrow, along with ex-newspaperman William L. Shirer, assembled one of the finest news teams in radio. The crew became known as "Murrow's Boys," and included Howard K. Smith, Eric Sevareid, Richard C. Hottelet, Larry LeSueur, Charles Collingwood, and others. Witnessing the war firsthand from the frontlines, the reporters then sent transcribed reports to Columbia's New York headquarters via shortwave transmission. To many Americans, these dispatches were the definitive eyewitness accounts of the world at war. One of Columbia's groundbreaking news programs was "The World Today," which debuted in 1940. In this January 31, 1941 broadcast, with America just a year from war, correspondent Harry W. Flannery reports on developments from Berlin (via David Onley, ARDXC via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ HARVEYTOWN MUSEUM HOSTS ONE OF NATION`S BEST COLLECTIONS By DAVE LAVENDER - The Herald-Dispatch HUNTINGTON [WV]-- Ask Bill Flowers if he has some radios, and he just laughs. "I got a few," said the Sissonville resident, smiling as he stood in the doorway of the Museum of Radio and Technology, 1640 Florence Ave.... http://www.heralddispatch.com/2003/January/05/LFlist1.htm I went to Marshall and most of my family still lives in this area. Believe it or not, I have never been to this museum. My loss (David Austin, KF4NDW, Columbia SC, WTFDA via DXLD) THIS DAY`S ARABIC LESSON -- War & Pronunciation ++++++++++++++++++++++++ It appears that the Iraqi leader's very name has become a weapon. During the special address to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, Mr. Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, pronounced it repeatedly in a way that rhymes with bottom and sounded very much like Sodom. The leader's full name is Saddam Hussein al-Majd al-Takriti, but he prefers his people call him Saddam; a name that has only one pronunciation: Sah-Dahm. ef dove-land (Eric Flodén, BC, NRC-AM via DXLD) Here's something on the considerably small amount I know about this subject. Arabic has about a half dozen sounds of letters that really have no direct cognate with Western letters; included are the emphatic forms of K (qaaf), H, S and T. Also are :ayn and ghayn, and the hamza (a glottal stop, viz. cockney saying of 'bottle' (bo'le)). There are 29 consonant sounds and three vowel sounds, ahh, ooh and ii, roughly (a, u and i) and each vowel can have a short form and long form. Yet there generally is no "p" and "v" with words using "b" and "f" as substitutes. The short form vowels are customarily not written out (except in children's readers, where they need to learn the words, and in the Qur'aan, where custom dictates that the words be exactly and unambiguously rendered; therefore in the Koran the short vowels are always fully rendered). Fortunately in Arabic each consonant has a standard way of being voiced. There is none of the nonsense we have in English where "..ough" can be said in multiple ways, e.g. bough, through, rough (remember "ghoti" who was really "fish" (Fischer in Nebraska)). As far as I have yet seen, the reference for pronunciation, if you ignore some regionalisms (the soft "j" is a hard "g" in Egypt, and so on) is to see the word in Arabic script. The transliteration of S.H.'s name appears as "Sdaam Hsyn" (emphatic S "saad", dal, long form of "a" shown by the alif, mim, emphatic H "haah", soft s "sin", yaa, nuun). (normally the reader is expected to have learned the short form vowelization of words, shown when needed by the tiny kasra, fatHa and dhamma marks). Therefore I would say that suh-daam (not saah-dum) is a good rendering of the name. (To be consistent, the English renderings _should_ spell it as "sadaam" and not as saddam). This agrees with what Eric said. But I have never seen "sadaam" used here. This would confirm the voicing of the visible long-A form, seen in the script. The reason that "Al-Qaeda" is sometimes spelled "Al-Qaida" is because of the presence of the letter ":ayn" (it looks like a backwards figure three when written in its free-standing form). The word, which just means "the base" (probably, as "the foundation") would properly be transliterated as "al-qaa:da" which would be value only to one who knows the meaning of the : character. Since few here do, it is just fudged, with some news organization stylebooks rendering it as an "a" and others as an "e". In truth it is strictly, untranslatable. Unfortunately, (for us) this letter :ayn is a common one, and is voiced deep from the throat. Remember also, there is no concept of capitalization or upper/lower case in Arabic for proper names. You will see capitalization of the H,S,T etc. forms to differentiate which exact letter is being used. From here on I am speculating that al-majd is a reference to his tribal affiliation, and I know that Tikrit is a reference to his hometown, both ancestral indications that often appear in full forms of names of individuals in Arab lands. It is probably "at-tikriti" since both T forms are so-called "sun letters" in which the definite article assimilates the first consonant of the noun, e.g. "ash-shams" (the sun) but "al-qamar" (the moon; no assimilation) Fourteen consonants are "sun letters". Another example, ad-dawha (the grove of trees, in one source I read) (Doha, the capital of Qatar), NOT al- dawha. Hmmm. Now you want to know how to pronounce "qatar". It is written simply as "qTr" (qaaf, Taa, ra) with the q and the T about evenly voiced. The qaaf, also, is voiced deeply from the throat with the tongue down. The similar-seeming letter k "kaf" is voiced normally e.g. al-kitaab, the book. In some pleces they use a "g" sound for the qaaf, these lead to the use of "gutter" as a transliteration instead of "qotter". None of these seem exact and I doubt very much I could say it nearly correctly. I hear Arabs on call-in shows with different versions of this word. Trying to learn this language is a great way to fill the otherwise many idle hours in your day you could waste watching television :-) Soon with any luck he will be in jail or under a deuce-and-a-half and you can forget all this (Bob Foxworth, Tampa Bay FL, Feb 7, NRC-AM via DXLD) Thanks for the Arabic mini-lesson. It's similar to Hebrew, and not just because Arabic also reads from right to left. In Hebrew the wowels are indicated by little dots or lines placed below the letters, but these vowel markers are usually not printed except in children's books, language learning texts and the Siddur (Jewish prayer book). I believe Hebrew has only 22 consonants. Don't know if there was a glottal stop, but there's not much I remember from my Hebrew school days, except parts of my Torah and Haftarah portions from my Bar Mitzvah 30 years ago. Saying "the al-Qaeda" is redundant, since the "al-" prefix means "the" (definite article) in Arabic. How different are the regional varieties of Arabic? i.e. would Arabic speakers from, say, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have as much difficulty understanding each other as Spanish speakers from Spain, Argentina and Mexico? If you think Bush mangles the pronunciation of Saddam, you should have heard him botch the name of the Indian-born astronaut killed aboard Columbia (Kalpana Chawla). 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ A small M class flare on 6 Feb is all to report on the solar flare front. The geomagnetic field was disturbed Feb 1-3 from an earlier CME. A coronal hole then began to affect us from Feb 4-6. All this made from pretty poor conditions with MUFs depressed up to 30%. Isolated M class flares remain possible, and the earth's geomagnetic field is expected to remain quiet to unsettled for the next few days. Propagation conditions should slowly return to normal over the next few days. Prepared using data from http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, Australia, Feb 8, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ASIA RECEPTION ON 6 MHZ AT NOON IN MELBOURNE The spectacular midday opening on Feb-02 noted here in Melbourne was represented by incredible signals between 0000 and 0400 UT from Asia and Africa, on frequencies in the 6, 7, and 9 MHz bands. This pattern is similar to what we had been accustomed to in earlier year during the bottoms of sunspot activity, such as occurred in January 1972, December 1984, and January 1998. Those years corresponded to the bottom parts of Solar Cycles 20, 21, and 22, with the Smoothed Sunspot Indices noted as between 20 and 40. On February 1 this year, the day day on which this magnificent propagation happened, the daily sunspot number had fallen to 75, the lowest for several years. It had been steadily decreasing for several days prior to them, from a level of around 120. Thus, after observing this midsummer phenomenon for some 40 years, the hypothesis survives, in that this form of propagation is directly associated with low sunspot activity, causing much lower absorption, in turn allowing refraction of signals not otherwise possible. I do not believe that sunspot activity is the sole cause: the hypothesis is that the effect is also linked to reduced ground- bouncing, causing considerable less absorption off the earth's surface, due to the presence of Sporadic E clouds over the southern Hemisphere with refraction off the top surfaces of those moving clouds. Since Feb 1, there has not been any further exotic propagation effects noted (apart from my neighbour's computers, motion sensors and light dimmers!). Predicted SS count for the remainder of February ranges from a low of 58.5 to a maximum of 84.5, average 74.5, so anything's possible! In review, some short-path distances may be useful, over which those daytime signals were propagated into Melbourne around our local mid-summer noon: Kuching (Malaysia) 5630 km Singapore 6061 km Hanoi (Vietnam) 7700 km Yangon (Myanmar) 7600 km Delhi (India) 10020 km Meyerton (S. Africa) 10287 km Al Dhabiyya (UAE) 11677 km Trincomalee (Sri Lanka) 8359 km Luanda (Angola) 11600 km São Tomé 14042 km A lot of fun! (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia Feb 7, EDXP via DXLD ### ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-021, February 7, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [note change] HTML version of all January issues are now at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3a.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.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 NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1168: RFPI: Sat 0130, 0730, 1330, 1800, Sun 0000, 0600, 1200, 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WWCR: Sat 0700, Sun 0330 on 5070; 0730 on 3210; Wed 1030 on 9475 WBCQ; Mon 0545 on 7415 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WRN: Rest of world Sat 0900; Eu only Sun 0530; NAm Sun 1500 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 ONDEMAND AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1168.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1168.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1168h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1168h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1168.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL Thanks, Glenn for DX Listening Digest. I read every number, but not all of it, e.g. International Vacuum and some of the items regarding US domestic, which is of no interest of mine. The rest of the stuff is often interesting (Lennart Weirell, Västerås, Sweden, Feb 6) ** AUSTRALIA. 11770, HCJB, 0915 4 Feb, Religious program, English, male voice, at 10 hours, identification: "HCJB Australia". Strong interference from Voice of Nigeria, on the same frequency. SINPO 22222 (Manuel Méndez, Spain, Cumbre DX via DXLD) HCJB Australia commenced using its new frequency of 11770 on Feb-02, 0700-1200, intended for Australia and the South Pacific. The move was made from 11755 to avoid Radio Finland there. 11770 was carefully chosen, with the assistance of the IBB's remote monitoring facilities sited in Melbourne (Kilsyth - HCJB Australia), at Darwin (Voice International), and at Wellington (NZ). The new channel was authorised by the Australian Communications Authority, and registered with the ITU in Geneva via the HFCC and the ABU's High Frequency Committee. Unfortunately, the Voice of Nigeria has now put on line what appears to be a new, additional, 250 kW transmitter for its external service, using its traditional frequency of 11770, for broadcasts in the 0500- 1400 period. This channel was used many years ago, and has been "dormant" ever since, until this week! As monitored here in Melbourne, the Nigerian signal is very strong in the period 0500 until past 1000, via long-path propagation, causing severe disturbance to HCJB Australia. 11770 is also used by the Xinjiang Peoples' Broadcasting Station for its Mandarin service 0300-1200 with 50 kW at Urumqi, azimuth 230 degrees, antenna designator 145. I would appreciate it if you could look at 11770 in the period 0700- 1200 and let me know the extent of interference from the Nigerian and Chinese transmitters. I would then link your findings to HCJB- Australia's frequency manager, with whom I am in close contact. If you are able to look at 11770 just before HCA starts up prior to 0700, this would be useful, to assess the signal strength of the Nigerian signal. Thank you for your coöperation! (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Vic, mainly to EDXP members in Austrlia, Feb 6, cc to DXLD) see also NIGERIA Hello Glenn, Received on 4th Feb a QSL from HCJB Kununurra, Australia on 11755 kHz for an e-mail report for the test transmission on 5th Jan 0956-1020 UT. The Verification Certificate was attached to an e-mail from english@hcjb.org.au signed Paulos and shows a scanned image of HCJB Australia QSL card with picture of diversion dam at Kununurra in the far northwest of Australia adjacent to which HCJB Australia's property is situated (Lennart Weirell, Västerås, Sweden, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. KUNUNURRA CALLING HCJB World Radio-Australia goes on the air, by Andy Sennitt, 7 February 2003 The small town of Kununurra (population 5000) in Western Australia has suddenly found itself on the world map. Sunday 2 February 2003 saw the start of regular programming to Asia by the world's newest shortwave broadcasting station - HCJB World Radio-Australia - from a 200 acre site near the town... [illustrated] http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/hcjb030207.html (RN Media Network Feb 7 via DXLD) HCJB Australia. I have just heard them in passing at 0830 UT on the new frequency of 11770. Not very strong, but clear of interference. They are still calling themselves "The Voice of the Great South Land". What pretentious rubbish that slogan is! I would have thought that something like "The Voice Of Australian Christian Fundamentalism Bigotry" would be more appropriate! (Barry Hartley, NZ, BC-DX Feb 3 via DXLD) Evangelic Fundamentalism on every corner, like from USA/CAN to Gospel and Bible Voice Network etc. (ed Wolfgang Bueschel, BC-DX Feb 7 via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. 17895, 1555-1600*, R. Africa International, Feb 3. Male announcer in English with news items, thick accent. S5 level. Difficult copy with rapid fades. VOA sign on at 1558 before R. Africa signed off. Possible R. Africa ID heard at 1559. VOA in English from Botswana continues about space shuttle accident (French Creek Dxpedition, Bob Montgomery, Levittown, PA, Feb 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BELARUS`. Parameters of one of the SW transmitters in Hrodna: Freq: 7265 kHz Prg: Kanal Kultura (ex BR2) Time: 0500-2200 Power: 2.5 kW Azimuth: omni Location: Hrodna (Sergei Alekseichik, Hrodna, Belarus`, Signal Feb 6 via DXLD) Freqs of Belarussian transmitters audible here in Kyiv on 19 Jan at about 1000: BR1 6010, 6070, 6080, 6115, 6190, 7110, 7235, 11960; in the morning BR1 is well heard on 7170; BR2 7265 (Alexander Yegorov, Kyiv, Ukraine, Signal Feb 6 via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4876.5, 2307-0100*, La Cruz del Sur Feb 3. Female announcer in Spanish with intro to some nice music. Male announcer at 2308 but in a different language with short comments. Female back at 2309. S 6 level with fades. Excellent audio. 4876.8, 1040-, La Cruz del Sur Feb 3. Male announcer hrd in SS with long talks under nasty QRM. ID is presumed due to difficult copy (French Creek DXpedition, Bob Montgomery, Levittown, PA, Feb 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Hi, received a QSL email from Canção Nova right now. Maybe of some interest for shortwave listeners! From: "Dado" web.english@cancaonova.com Dear Friend Eike Bierwirth It is a pleasure to confirm your radio report that makes us very happy about the possibility also Germany get our programming. We are studying the possibility to start a few program in English. Your report tells about Madrugada Amiga, a musical program. About our Radio Station, we are a Catholic Radio Station supported by Canção Nova - a Brazilian Community with no profit ends which work just for evangelization around the world. I would like to invite you visit our portal http://www.cancaonova.com and also the channel http://200.210.112.17/cnova/ing/pejonas/index.php where you could find some notes about us. We have a program especific for DX'ers every Saturday 2100 GMT (we are on daylight saving time until February 16); after that we will have our clocks back in a hour, then it will start at 2200 GMT. During this program we have a live chat. We have sent a QSL and a small souvenir for you. I hope you enjoy it. Best Regards Eduardo de Moura Além Fronteiras Program Rádio Canção Nova. (via Eike Bierwirth hard-core-dx via WORLD OF RADIO 1168, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. A Radio Caiari de Porto Velho, é uma emissora da Arquidiócese da mesma cidade; ela transmite em ondas tropicais na freqüência de 4785 kHz. Dois programas bons da emissora são: "Alvorado do Sertão" às 0900 UT com músicas sertanejas; o apresentador é Jonas Felizardo. O outro programa é ``Entardecer Sertanejo``, com músicas sertanejas também; seu condutor é o mesmo. Seu apresentador contesta as cartas dos ouvintes no ar. Endereço da emissora é: Rua das Crianças, Bairro Areal da Floresta - Porto Velho-RO 78.900.000. Em breve mais informações (De Porto Velho - RO, Saulo Gomes de Sousa, Feb 5, radioescutas via DXLD) ** BULGARIA [and non]. An interesting one in the BDXC bulletin this month: on 5796 kHz, Radio Horizont, Bulgaria 7 x 828 khz logged in the Netherlands; might be difficult to ID as there is also Voice of Russia on 5796 (7290-1494). Good luck all, regards (Tim Bucknall, UK, harmonics yahoogroup via DXLD) ** CANARY ISLANDS. 6715 USB, Full Gospel Las Palmas 2115 Feb 5 [Wed] Program in Korean, religious songs, comments and prays, male voice. Mentioned "amén" and "aleluya". SINPO 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Spain, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. What counts as MANCHURIA? q.v. ** CHINA. 4830, 2234-, China Huayi Broadcasting Corp. Feb 2. Male and female announcer with both English and Chinese with English lessons. S5 signal level with rapid fades. Noted // 4850 with better signal level. English lessons on yuppies, which was kind of funny. Not sure why they picked that to teach English (French Creek DXpedition, Bob Montgomery, Levittown, PA, Feb 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Hasta ayer estaba en completo silencio la frecuencia de 6140 kHz. No hay rastros de Melodía AM (La radio líder) desde hace unos días. Ojalá los colegas de la Hermana República puedan averiguar algo al respecto. 73's y excelente DX... (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So far I have missed catching it, on several random chex. One of Joe Valdés` recordings of it is on WOR 1168 now running (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. I haven't heard Cuba at 2030-2130 [English] on 11670, 13660 or 13750 for several weeks (Harold Sellers, Newmarket, Ontario, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chris Hambly and I noticed 11670 missing a few days ago (gh) ** CUBA. NEW RADIO AND TV TRANSMITTERS IN MATANZAS PROVINCE | Text of report by Cuban Rebelde radio on 6 February Radio Cuba workers are making important investments in Matanzas Province. They plan to install two modern mediumwave transmitters for Radio Rebelde and [Radio] Reloj in Colón Municipality by the first trimester of this year. Ernesto Becerra, director of (?Cuba aquí) radio division, stated that in 2003, two FM transmitters will be installed for Radio and Ciudad (?Bandera) stations of Cárdenas Municipality and Radio Llanura of Colón Municipality, in the eastern part of the Matanzas Province. The provincial station Radio 26 will also significantly benefit from the installation of a modern five-kilowatt transmitter in Jovellanos Municipality, where the [words indistinct], on FM as well as mediumwave. Television in Matanzas will be better this year thanks to a modernization program, which includes the replacement of the broadcasting system of Tele Rebelde and Cubavisión, as well as the installation of a modern transmitter for the Education Channel in a mountain in Jacay, at an altitude of some 300 metres, which will provide the signal to more than half a million Matanzas citizens who live outside the cities of Los Fuentes and Los Rios. Source: Radio Rebelde, Havana, in Spanish 0000 gmt 6 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK??? ** CYPRUS TURKISH. Cyprus (TRNC) 6150, R. Bayrak Int,. 1701-1738 Feb 5. Today with rather strong signal, but somehow distorted audio. Splatters from 6155 and at times a Chinese speaking station audible on 6150. Bayrak had English program with lady DJ, pop music and news at 1730 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Is there a new Latin American station on 600 this year? For the last 4-5 nights, I've been getting a Spanish music station, lots of rhythmic guitar, with an ID that's something like "Radio Capital, Caracol Santo Domingo", mixing in with WICC and Cuba (Rebelde). I didn't see anything like that in WRTH for the Dominican Republic, might be some kind of relay (Bob Rodríguez, Kingston, NY, Feb 6, amfmtvdx via DXLD) See DXLD 3-007 ** ECUADOR. HCJB Ecuador's final release to India will be Saturday Feb 8 0200-0400 UT (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, Feb 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1168, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So has overlapped more than planned the new service via Australia. 12040?? Has been useful in NAm (gh, DXLD) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo, 9700.45 at 2316 Jan 21, presumably in Arabic but so distorted, difficult to tell! SIO 242 (Alan Pennington, Caversham, Berks., Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. V. of the Tigray Revolution, 6350, Feb 1 *0355-0405+, sign-on with IS, 0359 into programming with local music and talk in language. Good, strong. No parallels heard, neither 7515 nor 5500 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Laser Hot Hits was heard daily Nov 18 to Dec 21 on 3970, such as at 1617 with oldies \\ 7465 in Chris Williams Show (Stuart Dobson, David Gascoyne, Tom Read, UK, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) From Dec 22 to Jan 19 heard daily on 4010, such as at 0818 with pop, I80s [?], laserhothits@hotmail.com (Alan Pennington, Stuart Dobson, Tom Read, ibid.) ** EUROPE. IRAQ CRISIS INSPIRES A NEW VOICE OF PEACE A group of volunteer broadcasters plans to re-create the Voice of Peace, the famous offshore station of the 1970's owned by Nobel Peace Prize winner Abe Nathan. Plans are for the new station to broadcast on shortwave from somewhere in Europe. Dutchman Jan van Jager, one of the four people behind the project, told Media Network that the station will not broadcast propaganda, just peace messages and music. "All we are saying to everyone is join together and make the governments listen to the people of each country about their concerns. Personally, I'm sick and tired of hearing the same claptrap about Saddam, Bush and Blair. I am taking this opportunity to do something I think is useful, not just to me but to everyone else around the world." The format of the station will be top 40, with other music from the 1960's to late 80's, 1960'/1970's album tracks, and easy listening music. This will be intermixed with peace and loving awareness jingles. The organisers are hoping to raise sufficient money to hire airtime on a European shortwave station. More supporters are needed to make the project work. There's more information on the following two Web sites: http://vop.uk.tripod.com and http://radio-rainbow.tripod.com The E-mail address is vop@easy.com (© Radio Netherlands Media Network February 2003 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Scandinavian Weekend Radio, 5990, Dec 25 at 1340, pop music, English and Finnish, SIO 222 (Robert Petraitis, Lithuania, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** FRANCE. unID station (presumably French or some African station like Algeria, also Ivory Coast was mentioned) was heard on Jan 1 & 2 on 25775 kHz with a constantly repeated 52-min program of an advertisement content talks in French and English intermitted with music numbers performed by such wellknown groups like Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. The signal strength varied from 0 to 2/3 (in average 25332) slowly like during Es-propagation. Modulation was good, like of professional type (Alexander Yegorov, Ukraine, WWDXC BC-DX Feb 4 via DXLD) TDF testing from Rennes, France, per DXLD last Oct 2 (BC-DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. VOR relay on MW? See RUSSIA {non] ** GERMANY. There are a few mistakes in the DTK broadcasts given by Observer. Bible Voice Broadcasting Network /BVBN/ effective Jan. 27: 0030-0100 9740 NAU 250 kW / 095 deg Mon-Sat to S As Hindi ex 7315 Language includes Bengali. The further changes given in this column are not for BVBN but apply to High Adventure Ministries: 0800-0845 5975 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg M-F to W Eu English ex 0700-0745 1900-1945 6010 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg Mon-Fri to E Eu En/Ru/En ex 5910 (Silvain Domen, Belgium, Feb 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4780, R. Coatán is back on, heard at 1230 Feb 5 (Hans Johnson, Rio Hondo TX, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR Home Service is now noted again on 9470 with relay of AIR FM II programs at the following times. 0130-0530, 0930-1230 Recently tests were conducted from the new 250 kW transmitter at those times and on this frequency. This is in parallel to 9425 via Bangalore with 500 kW. Note: 9425 and 9470 are also used as National Channel at 1320 to 0043 UT (Jose Jacob, dx_india Feb 4 via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR Shillong, 4970, early sign-on 2300 for India v NZ cricket commentary Jan 3 in English, \\ at least six other 5 MHz channels, SIO 443 (Nick Rank, Buxton, Derbyshire, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Hola Glenn... Saludos desde Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. Definitivamente, al parecer el único día seguro para conseguir a La Voz de Indonesia en 15150, es el domingo. Pude oírla el pasado 2/02, a las 1745 en español y con música "dangdut", hasta la despedida a las 1757. SINPO 3/3, el cual va mejorando (paulatinamente) hasta la emisión en inglés a las 2000, con un respetable 4/4, 4/3 (Adán González, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. Radio Iraq International. QSL-folder for my report sent to P. O. Box 8145, Baghdad, Iraq. Report has been written in English. 116 days. Besides QSL-folder, enclosed were two mint stamps with Saddam's face (MIDXB No. 303 - Igor Yaremenko, Novosibirsk, Russia, Signal Feb 6 via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. [1584 info previously filed under UNIDENTIFIED] Hi out there, especially Nordic DX-ers, Tonight (Feb 3rd) I heard an Arabic station on 1584 kHz between 1845 and 2030 UT, playing "oriental" music and identifying in Arabic. It sounded like a test programme with many announcements about "kHz" and like that. ID sounded like: "Radio Ciklin" or similar. Stress on last "i". Please help! 73 from (Björn Fransson on the island of Gotland, Sweden, Feb 3, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Sounds like R Tigris to me. Maybe another programme via Kuwait? 73, (Mauno Ritola Feb 5, RealDX via DXLD) Never be too sure! The Arabic speaking station on 1584 kHz, heard after Country Radio, Praha close down around 1800 is Radio Tigris, no doubt. Anybody out there who knows more about this new (?) station? Programming is very alike the VOA stations Farda and Sawa, so maybe they try to match the audience down there? I have a great recording of their identification. 73 from (Björn Fransson, on the island of Gotland, Sweden, ibid.) Wasn't this frequency of the VOA in Bahrain during/after the Gulf War I? Maybe that transmitter has been reactivated? (Risto Kotalampi, CA, ibid.) But didn't that particular transmitter go to Kuwait where it was adjusted to 1548? It would be interesting to know whether Al Mustaqbal 1575 and Twin Rivers Radio (Idha'at Rafidain) 1566 are on air in the same time with R. Tigris. Perhaps somebody is trying to crowd the whole end of AM band with various Arabic clandestines. And why not. There is yet the whole X-band vacant in Middle East. Who is listening, after all, except Nordic DXers, that's not their problem... ;-) (Jari Lehtinen, ibid.) 1584, unID Arabic-speaking with modern popular Arabic music seems to be addressing itself to Iraq, as this word is in the "slogans" of the IDs, before name of the station, which sounds like Radio Tacheen, stress on the long e-sound. At 1911 Feb 5, double ID by both female and male announcer. Just slogans, IDs and music here, no Radio Sawa- like news stories heard so far. But it is most likely a part of the US information and music offensive in the Gulf area. Any transmitter site will of course not be given away in the programs; perhaps some email address might pop up. Good for those who do understand Arabic; I am at loss here, I am afraid. Candidate countries for origin of signal? Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE... 73 (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, AOR AR7030 K9AY, ibid.) I write this for HCDX, because I know that you all read this fabulous list. Two of my Arabic students listened to my cassette recording and got quite excited and said: "It's Radio Tikrit!". In the ID they say something like: "Huna Radio Tikrit ("This is Radio Tikrit") - for all Iraqians". They also told me that the songs were from Egyptian singers. Tikrit is a town, situated north west of Baghdad, and is birthplace of Saddam Hussein! My students were quite sure that it was a station in opposition to Saddam Hussein. So my first presumed ID: "Radio Secret" (stress on last -e-) and the one from yesterday: "Radio Tigris" has now become "Radio Tikrit"! Not at all a bad mixing product of several DX-ers presumptions! So, what's next: Transmitter site, organisation, address, aims etc? 73 from a quite excited (Björn Fransson on the island of Gotland, Sweden, ibid.) Just had to check this station :) On 6 Feb at 1900 UT sign-on. Multi ID's which sure sound like R Tikrit. Arabic pops and some slogans with frequency announcement. Signal is super, much stronger than 1593 Farda and 1566 clandestine. Beats also Sawa 1548 as this 1584 has no other strong stations. Program style is "western" with echo-IDs etc. Just standing by for any web etc. announcements. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) Hi Mauno. Heh, I referred to 1566 signal just prior to 1900 UT. Yep, seems to be off now, India audible nicely. So 1584 could be the same transmitter as 1566. Thanks. 73 (Jari, ibid.) Saddam's home town on 1584 AM ... Hi, thanks a lot Björn Fransson and Mauno Ritola for the work done on pinning down the name of the station. Tikrit surely fits my recording from Feb 5, at 1911. The name of the town struck me as very familiar, and of course, it's Saddam Hussein's birthplace. And it has been in the news as a storage area for weapons of mass-destruction. Historically wellknown in many fields. I can only speculate about the real motives for the choice of name for this station. Another psychological tidbit in the war for minds ? Now we can probably only wait for what the BBCMS and other broadcast intelligence sources have to say about it. CRW? A Google search for Tikrit made me end up reading the Israeli weekly web-mag Debka. Quite a lot to consume. No wonder I get some huge phone bills from time to time. 73 (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, AOR AR7030, K9AY, hard-core-dx via DXLD) RADIO TIKRIT BROADCASTING TO IRAQ ON 1584 KHZ A new clandestine station broadcasting to Iraq has been observed on 1584 kHz. The station broadcasts in Arabic and identifies as Radio Tikrit, in reference to the town of Tikrit (located some 170 km north of Baghdad), where Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was born and where a large part of the ruling elite hails from. The power of the transmitter is not known, but it dominates the frequency even in parts of Europe in the evening, signing on at 1900 UTC. Radio Tikrit broadcasts popular Arabic music and brief announcements, and is obviously part of the US propaganda campaign against Iraq. The station was presumably first logged by Björn Fransson in Sweden on February 3. A sample station identification http://www.dxing.info/audio/clandestine/1584_Tikrit.rm (DXing.info, February 6, 2003 via DXLD) The ID says Radio Tikrit broadcasts on 192M - 1557 KHz !?? from 10.00 till midnight (that's Baghdad time of course), hope you enjoy our programmes. The other notice I have is that OM with the ID is the same man from Information radio --- just guessing. Is that another Commando solo project?? All the best (Tarek Zeidan, greetings from Egypt SU Land!, Feb 7, dxing.info via DXLD) Tarek's description is correct, they call themselves R Tikrit and say often "...kullima-al-Iraq" = for all Iraq. When Twin Rivers Radio signs off at 1900, this starts on 1584 kHz, so probably via the Kuwaiti transmitter (Mauno Ritola, Finland, BC-DX Feb 7) Harris 100 kW unit? (Wolfgang Bueschel, BCDX via DXLD) NEW IRAQI OPPOSITION BROADCAST "RADIO TIKRIT" OBSERVED What appears to be a new Iraqi opposition radio station has been observed by BBC Monitoring broadcasting on 1584 kHz mediumwave from 1900 to 2100 gmt. It identifies itself as "Radio Tikrit". Tikrit is the name of a town about 170 km north-west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad and is the birthplace of the Iraqi president, Saddam Husayn. On 6 February the radio was observed signing on at 1900 gmt with Arab music and the following announcement: "Huna Radio Tikrit" (English: This is Radio Tikrit). This announcement was repeated several times throughout the broadcast, by a man and a woman. The woman had a Lebanese accent. The announcement continued: "This is Radio Tikrit for the whole of Iraq and all the Iraqis, Radio Tikrit." This was followed by Egyptian and other Arab songs and the following announcement: "Dear listeners, Radio Tikrit greets you and broadcasts its programmes daily from 2200 to 0000 [Iraqi time, 1900 to 2100 gmt] on the following mediumwave frequency, 192 m 1557 kHz. We wish you the best of times." After Iraqi, Lebanese and other Arab songs, one of the announcers then said: "Expect our programmes from Radio Tikrit, daily from 2200 to 0000 [1900 to 2100 gmt] on the following mediumwave frequency: 192 metres, 1557 kHz; Radio Tikrit." This is followed by a Lebanese song and the announcement: "Very soon we will present to you news, reports and objective analysis from Radio Tikrit, the radio of all Iraqis." A modern Egyptian song follows. The remainder of the broadcast consisted of Iraqi, Lebanese and other Arab songs and repeats of the above-mentioned announcements. The broadcast ended at 2100 gmt. Source: BBC Monitoring research 6 Feb 03 (via DXLD) ** JAMAICA. 700, RJR Hague, FEB 6 0420 - fair to good at times in WLW null with what sounded like Caribbean-flavored house or techno music, occasional "RJR" mentions, and man in accented English saying they'd be "rocking the house 'til midnight." Rapid sub-audible het flutter on frequency, not sure who was beating against whom (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO; barefoot Sony ICF-7600G portable, NRC-AM via DXLD) 580, RJR, Baileys Vale, 2/6 0600 UT, fair. Reggae sounding music and announcer with accented English; clearly parallel to 720, but much better on 580. Spanish underneath, but unsure who. Also thought I heard "WIBW," but not enough for a logging. Auroral conditions. New (Dave Hochfelder, New Brunswick, NJ, Sony ICF-2010 with Quantum QX Pro, ibid.) ** KASHMIR [non]. Azad Kashmir R., 5990, presumably via Islamabad, Dec 16 0243 tune-in to talk in presumed Urdu with mentions of Islamabad and Pakistan; fair/clear until R. Ethiopia *0257, SIO 333 (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. CLANDESTINE from ? to SOUTH ASIA: 9890, Sadaye Kashmir: I have listened to the sign on sequence twice more and it sure doesn't seem like it is from a CIS site to me. Transmitter has come on at 0203 [Feb 6] and 0208 [Feb 7] and it might go off once or twice. After about 5 or 7 minutes one hears a het that is caused by spurs on 9889 and 9891. I don't hear the tones that one hears during a CIS transmitter warm up that go off and on. Programming starts at 0230. Noel Green, would Pakistan have an open transmitter to put this on? Can anyone understand Urdu and tell us what they are saying? (Hans Johnson, Rio Hondo TX, Feb 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) I had already thought about Pakistan transmitters at Islamabad: BUT, API-1 & 3 are in use for external services to Asia [on 11655 & 15625 around 0200]. API-2 is on air via 5915 until 0215. API-4 is on air from 0200 via 7105 and API-5 & 6 are on air until 0215 via 15485 & 17895. The use of Regional transmitters seems unlikely. I don't have a current schedule, but Quetta is/was on air via 5025[7] until 0404 [0345 Fridays]. Rawalpindi [10 kW at 68 deg] from 0230 on 4790 while Peshawar is/was in use only 1100-1400 on 7320. API-8 [Azad Kashmir via Islamabad] is on air until 0215 via 4790 [then on 5985 at 0230-0400 to carry V of Jammu & Kashmir Freedom Movements according to reports ?]. This is the current information I have, and I don't know of any changes to it, or the use of SW transmitters from elsewhere. However, API-4 has/had a fault which caused it to emit side-spurs, as heard when using 5080 between 1300 and 1800. I suggest you try 7105 to check if that is actually in use. 73s (Noel R. Green, Blackpool, NW England, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) {ultimately traced to India in 3-035 after many more observations in the interim} ** KURDISTAN [non]. Iraq Turkmen Sesi Radyosu (via V of People of Kurdistan, 4415.75 at 1711, Turkmen progrm, IDs ``Burse Iraq Turkmen Sesi Radyosu``. Later VoPK program \\ 4025; SIO 343 Jan 5. On Jan 8, 4125.83 at 1700, V. of People of Kurdistan, rhetoric including Taleban and Kurdistan \\ 4025.2, SIO 232 (Alan Pennington, Caversham, Berkshire, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN (?). Hit Music on Shortwave, 4940, Jan 11 1625 ID in English with Russian accent, closedown, NOT \\ 4050 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) A few days ago, Mauno Ritola sent me an MP3 recording from 4050 (Hit Shortwave) at 1804 onwards on 25.1.03 asking me if someone from our students knows Dari. As there is a Farsi student, I transferred Mauno`s MP3 recording into tape and gave together with my walkman. The guy together with his Kalash friend have responded as follows: Language is 100% Farsi, what I suspected listening to it. It is NOT Dari (I insisted for it). Programming was religious sponsored by an organisation in Philadelphia USA. Surely Protestant. No ID has been found from the 25 min recording, neither the name of the organisation Hope that this can demystify the programming (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So maybe we should not have put this recently under AFGHANISTAN non ** LATVIA. The Latvian Radio and TV Council is planning to announce licensing commercial radio stations on medium wave. One of the interested parties is Radio Gold which wants to start regular broadcasts on 945 kHz. Radio Gold also plans to broadcast Tourist Radio in foreign languages (Raimonds, TESUG, SCDX/MediaScan Feb 5 via DXLD) As R. Gold 945 announced their phone number (371 922 4105), I called and they gave me an E-mail address, desug@barks.lv for reception reports and also said hello to me on the air. They told me QSL cards would be sent out by May next year [meaning 2003 now?] as the station commences full-time operation, in connection with the Eurovision Soing Contest being held in Latvia (Ronny Forslund, via Steve Whitt, MWC via Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Desug?? I guess that means a well-known British radio entrepreneur is involved in this (gh, DXLD) {see next issue} ** LIBERIA. R. Liberia, 6100 noted with pop music at 0638 tune-in on Feb 5, then news in English, many mentions of Liberia, including "This is Liberia", and mention of 6.10 MHz. Only fair strength but all alone on the frequency. R. Veritas 5469.96 noted with news in English at 0647 tune-in, weaker than 6100, but several ID's noted before the top of the hour when I heard four pips. Heavy QRM defeated by using LSB. (Jim Renfrew, NY; Drake R-8, longwires, WORLD OF RADIO 1168, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Veritas, 5469.97, Feb 1 0635-0715+, tune-in to vernacular talk, 0644 into English with ID, 0645 local English news, 0700 VOA news, 0706 VOA News Now program. Fair-good. R. Liberia International, 6100, Feb a 0635-0720+, tune-in to vernacular talk, African folk music, 0659 into English, 0701 news, station promos, 0717 local community announcements. IDs as International Service of Liberia Communications Network, R. Liberia International, and ``R.L.I.``. Good-strong (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. [tentative] 6090: There was a carrier and continuous tone on 6090 Feb 3 at 0752 tune in, peaking to 9+30dB. Maybe a test from LUX? It went on past 0800, but was off when retuned c0845 (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX via DXLD) It was Tuesday when I heard the carrier on 6090. Nothing today. As Kai remarks, they would need to power up from time to time just to keep the thing in operational condition. It would have been nice to have heard audio - even if it had to be Mega Radio! (Noel R. Green, UK, BC- DX Feb 5 via DXLD) Interesting, maybe Monday is their maintenance day?? wb (Wolfgang Bueschel, BC-DX Feb 7 via DXLD) ** MALTA [non]. Using the form at http://www.cyberlobby.com/vomradiofp/qsl/reception_report.htm you may send a report to the Voice of Mediterranean, Malta (Dmitry Puzanov, Kustanay, Kazakhstan, Signal Feb 6 via DXLD) ** MANCHURIA [non]. China, People's Republic of (Manchuria), 5860, Voice of Jinling Broadcasting Station, full data "Three Headed General" card, no v/s, in 1 month, for English report and tape, rp, received schedule in Chinese and personal English letter (Joe Talbot, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, N: 52-16-18 W: 113-48-46, Rx: Rockwell Collins HF-2050; Antennas: 7 Slinky Antenna-28m, 14'(4.26m)x29'(8.83m) Flag Antenna, T2FD Centered On 90m, MFJ 1026 With Vertical 19.5m Tower, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Joe, This is in Nanjing [a.k.a. Nanking], which is not in (ex) Manchuria. Or do you have info to the contrary? I`m going by WRTH, PWBR listings and my atlas, not NASWA. 73, (Glenn to Joe) Hi Glenn: What's with "Glenn Yaozuh"? Yes, the Manchuria thing, the QSL from Manchuria? There is a great deal of confusing information on this "Nanjing"/"Jinling" topic on the I Net and then there is the NASWA Country List. Funny, George Maroti and I were just on the topic of Dhabbya UAE. Not slamming the NASWA Country List Committee; they have done a fine job, consider their "Policy", a very fair arrangement. At time there are countries and interpretations that need to be clarified. In the past I had seen the V. of Jinling accepted as Manchuria. Searching the net, the best I can come up with is this: "Nanjing" is/not the Provincial Capital of Jiangsu Province. And that "Jinling is/not in Shandong Province. Glenn, what I am going to do is turn this over to an expert! A Canadian woman, Ruth Lor Malloy who has traveled China on "a shoestring" and written a travel guide. I will ask her: 1) Where is Jinling? Is it a city? 2) What province is Jinling in? 3) What is Nanjing, a provincial capital? 4) What is Jinling Nanjing? 5) What past/present provinces make up what was/is "Manchuria"? (Joe Talbot, DXLD) Dear Joe, According to my Chinese atlas, there is a Jinlingsi in Liaoning province, and a Jinlingzhen in Sichuan province, neither of which is a provincial capital. Are you thinking about Jilin? This is a city in Jilin province of which Changchun is the capital and is in the area formerly known as Manchuria. Other provinces in Manchuria are Heilongjiang and Liaoning. Manchuria was so named because that was the area where the Manchu people originally lived, and these people became rulers of China as the Qing dynasty. I hope this helps. Regards, Ruth. Ruth Lor Malloy, author, China Guide, 570 Windermere Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6S 3L8, Canada (via Talbot) Hi Glenn: I am not sure where I picked up the idea that the Voice of Jinling (Nanjing) was considered part of Manchuria; it was on my hit list. You are correct Glenn, Nanjing Province is/was not considered part of Manchuria. Mrs. Ruth Lor Malloy, Chinese travel guide author, confirms the NASWA Country List and your statements that 3 provinces make up Manchuria, Heilongjiang, Jinlin and Liaoning. By the looks of things, you are the only one who noticed. I am going to have to listen for the 2 PBS that are in Heilongjiang Province, then no question. Sorry for any confusion Glenn, 73's (Joe Talbot, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Maori leaders angry at mainstream media coverage of past protests during New Zealand's national day have banned all non-indigenous media from covering this year's official celebrations. The Maori Ngapuhi tribe owns Waitangi, where the nation's founding document between Maori and Britain was signed, and can control who is allowed in. Maori elder Bruce Gregory said that tribal leaders felt the image of Maoris had been damaged by "adverse reporting" of protests at annual February 6 Waitangi Day commemorations. The event is often besieged by militant protesters, airing Maori grievances over the loss of their lands and destruction of their language and culture. Maori custom allows grievances, known as "taki" to be raised at such events. Gregory, a former legislator, said any non-Maori media representatives who approached people or took cameras inside Waitangi would be escorted out by Maori wardens. "There is nothing to stop people coming on (to the grounds), but once they start clicking their cameras, they will get the short shrift," he said. Reporters and photographers from Maori media would face no such restrictions, he added. Commonwealth Press Union chairman and New Zealand Herald editor-in- chief Gavin Ellis called the ban a "direct and obvious threat to media freedom". Prime Minister Helen Clark said the ban set an "unfortunate precedent". Gregory said elders could not help it if they had upset news organizations: "They've been upsetting us for years", he said. Maori Television Service chairman Derek Fox accused mainstream, white- dominated media of being "derogatory" and "disrespectful" toward Maori language and culture (AP via SCDX/MediaScan Feb 5 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. V of Nigeria was found on 11770 at c0820 in Hausa, and it continued at 0900 in English - I hear HCJB-KNX in the background at 0925. Yes, powerful here in Stuttgart at Feb 4 at 0700-0800 UT too, is prime time on this path, I had never problems to hear Gabon, Ivory Coast in the past, and Nigeria in our mornings (Wolfgang Bueschel, BC- DX via DXLD) Hi Glenn: The Voice of Nigeria seems to be evaluating 11770 vs 15120 at 2200-2300. On Feb 5th I heard 15120 with good signals, but today, Feb 6th, they were on 11770 with a poor to fair signal. Nothing was heard on other frequencies on either date (Harold Sellers, Newmarket, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also AUSTRALIA 9690: Voice of Nigeria, Lagos 0502-0532 Feb 7. Female announcer, in English, with news headlines, report on national ID card, investigation of Lagos bomb blast. Economic and sporting nx. ID, GMT at 0530. Program, "(Moving?) On" with drop in audio. Heard this while bandscanning, 02/07. Unsure if its a new frequency or an anomaly. Whatever the case may be, it was a strong, steady signal. Quality similar to signals beamed to the Americas. Tried to check //'s but 7255 was a mess of QRM; 15120 was silent and 11770 had a rough R. Mexico Int'l (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH, Sangean ATS 818, RF Systems MLB-1 kit, RS longwire w/ RDA balun, hard-core-dx via DXLD) That explains why I was not hearing them either on the other three frequencies when checked around that time. Now that you mention it, I vaguely recall VON may have used 9690 in the dim, distant past sesquidecades ago (gh, DXLD) V. of Nigeria seems to have reverted to 15120 kHz (cf post Feb 4: "V of Nigeria on new 11770 kHz"). Heard at 1005 today (7 Feb) on 15120 in English with scheduled programmes ("On the Bookshelf" to 1015 etc). Fair strength and clear on 15120. No parallel (7255?) audible at this time. (as a result, HCJB Australia weak but clear on 11770 at 1000) (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK, Caversham UK, AOR 7030+/ longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But what about tomorrow? ** NIGERIA. AFRICA INDEPENDENT TELEVISION LAUNCHES IN AMERICA VIA GLOBECAST The Nigerian satellite network Africa Independent Television (AIT) has launched its broadcast service in America via the GlobeCast WorldTV Direct-to-Home platform on Telstar 5. Africa Independent Television (AIT) is the first independent global satellite television service from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, broadcasting 24/7 live from Lagos. Established in 1996, AIT is a thematic channel whose purpose is to promote African values and traditions globally, while encouraging development to and within Africa. AIT`s multi-dimensional repertoire of programs includes news, sports, soap operas, cultural entertainment shows, musicals and documentaries. The network broadcasts in English, with selected programming presented in African languages Hausa, Igbo, Swahili and Yoruba (Feb AIB Newsletter via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. The SPORTS ANIMAL network of OKLAHOMA simulcasts based at WWLS-A/OKLAHOMA CITY adds another station in MUSKOGEE: KBIX-A flips from Oldies to the SPORTS ANIMAL programming, reports 100000WATTS.COM (Brock Whaley, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [non]. See USA, John Callarman`s article on moving stations into the DFW market ** PAKISTAN. See KASHMIR [non] ** PERU. R. Unión, 6114.95, Feb 1 0840-0910+ Spanish announcements, ads, jingles, IDs. A lot of DJ chatter; Spanish pops, ballads (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4775, 1119-, R. Tarma, Feb 3. Male announcer in Spanish with S5 signal level at tune in. Some QRM from sweeper but audio was fairly clear. Lots of fancy canned jingles and promos. One after another. Appears to be getting the adverts out of the way for some long music. Tentative ID at 1128 (French Creek DXpedition, Bob Montgomery, Levittown, PA, Feb 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Updated Winter B-02 schedule for RDP Internacional-Radio Portugal: Monday to Friday EUROPE 0600-0857 9 755 LIS 300 45œ 0600-1300 9 815 LIS 100 52œ 0745-0900 11 660 SIN 250 55œ 0900-1057 11 875 LIS 300 45œ retimed, ex 0900-1300 1100-1300 15 140 LIS 300 45œ ex 11875 1700-2000 11 740 LIS 100 52œ ex 11 800 1700-2000 11 960 LIS 300 45œ ex 13 585 2000-2400 9 880 LIS 300 45œ ex 11 860 (special broadcasts only) MIDDLE EAST/INDIA 1400-1600 21 810 LIS 100 82œ AFRICA 1100-1300 21 830 LIS 100 142œ 1700-2000 17 680 LIS 300 144œ may extend till 2400 NORTH AMERICA/CANADA {sic} 0600-0800 11 675 LIS 100 310œ 1300-2400 15 540 LIS 100 294œ special broadcasts only VENEZUELA 1800-1957 17 745 LIS 100 261œ 2000-2400 13 770 LIS 100 261œ special broadcasts only BRASIL/CABO VERDE/GUINEA 1100-1300 21 655 LIS 100 215œ 21 725 LIS 100 215œ 1700-2000 21 655 LIS 100 215œ may extend till 2400 but on NF 11905 21 800 LIS 100 215œ Tuesday to Saturday NORTH AMERICA/CANADA {sic} 0000-0300 9 715 LIS 100 294œ 11 655 LIS 100 310œ VENEZUELA 0000-0300 13 700 LIS 100 261œ special broadcasts only BRASIL 0000-0300 11 980 LIS 100 215œ 13 770 LIS 300 226œ Saturday and Sunday EUROPE 0800-1457 11 875 LIS 300 45œ 15 575 LIS 100 52œ 0930-1100 11 995 SIN 250 55œ 1500-1757 11 775 LIS 100 52œ ex 13 660 1500-1757 11 960 LIS 300 45œ ex 13 790 1800-2000 9 880 LIS 300 45œ ex 13 660 (may extend till 2400) 1800-2100 9 655 LIS 100 52œ ex 13 790 2000-2400 11 800 LIS 100 52œ special broadcasts only AFRICA 0800-1757 21 830 LIS 100 142œ 1800-2100 17 680 LIS 300 144œ may extend till 2400 NORTH AMERICA/CANADA {sic} 1300-2100 15 540 LIS 100 294œ may extend till 2400 VENEZUELA 1300-2100 17 745 LIS 100 261œ 2000-2400 13 770 LIS 100 261œ special broadcasts only BRASIL/CABO VERDE/GUINEA 0800-1957 21 655 LIS 100 215œ 2000-2100 11 905 LIS 100 215œ ex 21 655 (may extend till 2400) LIS=San Gabriel, Portugal SIN=Sines, Portugal (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 7 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. POST OFFICES GET WIRED. There are currently some 6,600 public-access Internet outlets in post offices across Russia, Prime- TASS reported on 28 January, citing Ilya Genkin of the postal-services department of the Communications Ministry. According to Genkin, this number represents a more than sixfold increase from the beginning of 2002, when there were just over 1,000 such outlets. Under a project launched in August 2001, Internet access is to be set up at all of Russia's 40,000 post offices, the agency reported. ("RFE/RL Newsline," 29 January via RFE/RL Media Matters Feb 3 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. VOR has been running an item on its news broadcasts that an agreement has been signed with Germany for MW broadcasts (for a period of 5 years) in several European languages for 18 hours a day, for reception in Europe. I presume this means the use of one (or more) former `domestic` transmitters. My hunch is that, at lest the 1593 kHz Langenberg (near Cologne) transmitter (400/800 kW) will be re- activated for this purpose. This will also make quite a useful propagation beacon if it is brought back into regular service (Ken Fletcher, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Not 1593 as that was owned by US government and moved to Kuwait for R. Farda (Dave Kenny, ibid.) Well, WDR Langenberg used to be on 1593, e.g. in 1991 WRTH, before Holzkirchen got the frequency. And before that, I think it was on 1586, when it was my most reliable European MW in Thailand, in 1969-70 (Glenn Hauser, ex-Nakhorn Ratchasima, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. I heard this week for several times an Arabic station on 9715 kHz before 0600 UT with Kor`an praying and at 0600 with the ID like "Mamlakai Arabia as sa`udia". So this must be the B.S. of the Kingdom of Sa`udi Arabia. The question is if this broadcast on this unlisted frequency is via its own transmitters or it is via Commando Solo which uses this frequency in the afternoon and evening hours for its "Radiyo al-Ma'ulumat" broadcast. The reception of this last one is also possible under QRM. However the modulation of these two programs sounds different (Erich Bergmann, Germany, BC-DX Feb 1 via DXLD) Erich Bergmann asked me about an Arabic station he noted on 9715 at 0500-0600 UT, not strong, but readable. Today [Feb 4th] I was up very early. Is 100% Djeddah only 50 kW unit (replaced either registered 11820 or 15435 kHz). \\ noted 15170 and 21495 superpower of 500 kW from Riyadh couldn't missed. On 9710 is IBRA Radio in Arabic from T-systems Juelich Germany with typical groundwave fluttering on my place. 115 degrees skips over my head. At 0530-0600 additional comes Pori Finland in Finnish to N Am accompanied to ARS co-channel. In the Michiel Schaay List of 1996 I can see 9715 as Iraq Mother of the Battles R and R Baghdad morning frequency too, but these have gone, due to bombardment of the installations or even lack of main power? (Wolfgang Bueschel, Feb 4, BC-DX via DXLD) This morning [Feb 5] around 0525 UT heard again ARS on 21495, 15170, and 9715 kHz, but no trace on 11820 or 15435 kHz. On latter heard an English program, but didn't recognize the station, UAE Radio Dubai in English scheduled from 0530 UT, and Arabic til 0530 UT (Wolfgang Bueschel, Feb 5, BC-DX via DXLD) This 9715 ARS is very likely substitute for 11820. I do monitoring 11825 VOA/English, so never noted ARS since the start of B-02. 9715 Djeddah ARS outlet. 0500-0600+ 9715 ARS with non-stop HQ'ing, nx at 0600, SIO 322, co-channel ?FIN in Finnish BTW, I don't see their 9580v BSKSA-2 recent days. Every evening "Commando Solo" in Arabic is there (9715), co-channel DW in Russian (heard at 1500-2000 UT). (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, BC-DX Feb 5 via DXLD) Possibly 9715 is used at 0300-0600, but could go until 0800 or longer, instead of either 11820 [or 15435]. I note that their HFCC registrations say 15435 is JED 50 kW 0300-0600 at 68deg and 11820 is also JED 50 kW at 315 deg. There's no registration for 9715. Yes ... I have a note that UAE Dubai has En 0530 on 15435, so probably that is the one you heard Wolfie. I suppose ARS could be "buried" underneath that and not audible sending at 68 deg? [has been heard underneath Dubai in previous years too, wb] What I did note this morning [Feb 5] was that there were no audible outlets on air on 17 MHz after 0800. The listed 17760 [registered JED 50 kW 315 deg] for Main Arabic 0600-0900 was not audible - only Ukraine on there - and nothing on 17745 either. From memory, I believe I have recently heard 17895 for Holy Koran until 0800, but there is no trace of 17620. Only 15380 was audible after 0800 today. 17620 is registered JED 50 kW 68 deg while 17895 is RIY 500 kW at 40 deg 0600- 0800 (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [non]. Upon a tip from a participant at the present HFCC Conference in S Africa, I am now on Feb 5 listening at 2005-2035- (2130* ?) to the Clandestine, Anti-Sa`udi V of Reform on 7590 which has replaced 9925. They broadcast the usual talks and phone-in programs in Arabic mentioning George W. Bush and Palestine, and are jammed by Saudi Arabia. I suppose this is still via Kvitsøy, Norway. 33443-34444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, BC-DX Feb 5 via DXLD) 7590, 2110-, Voice of Reform, Feb 3. Jammer not totally covering over station in Arabic. By 2118, station dropped down. Mostly that of a male announcer with long talks. ID not possible due to conditions and jammer. Sign off 2127 and jammers continued. It is possible this broadcast is out of Norway to Sa`udi Arabia (French Creek DXpedition, Bob Montgomery, Levittown, PA, Feb 7, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SERBIA-MONTENEGRO. SERBIA-MONTENEGRO GOVERNMENT TO FUND STATE AGENCY, RADIO YUGOSLAVIA | Text of report in English by Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug Belgrade, 5 February: Federal Information Secretary Slobodan Orlich said on Wednesday [5 February] that the future Council of Ministers of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro will partly finance Tanjug, as a state news agency. Orlich, who was a guest in a BK Television programme, said that in that respect a special working group will be formed on the initiative of the Democratic Party of Socialists. He added that Tanjug will undergo "some transformation", and that the news agency should remain national. Orlich said that the Council of Ministers (government) of the new state union would finance in full the short-wave information radio programme (Radio Yugoslavia), and funding from the budget will be secured to preserve the rich archives of Filmske Novosti. Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English 1520 gmt 5 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SPAIN. COLD WAR RELIC 'BULL RING' IS BEING DISMANTLED AT ROTA By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes European edition, Wednesday, February 5, 2003 NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain --- A Cold War relic that has been a base landmark for more than three decades will soon be history. A team of Defense Department workers began dismantling the naval station`s 90-foot-tall circular antenna array last week. The antenna - -- known as ``The Bull Ring`` by base personnel and Rota residents --- has been a part of the installation's landscape since 1964. Part of the military`s high-frequency direction finding system, the antenna once helped Navy code breakers track radio signals from aircraft and ships and intercept voice and message traffic from short- wave channels. The military has turned to more modern technology, making the double fence of interconnecting copper cables obsolete. ``Technology has gone past it in leaps and bounds,`` said Senior Chief Petty Officer Paul Zimmerman, assigned to Naval Security Group Activity Rota. The antenna was an important intelligence-gathering piece during the Cold War and is one of only two of its kind remaining in the U.S. Navy. The military will soon demolish the other in San Diego. The Defense Department has torn down most of the antennas because they are outdated and could become a hazard if not maintained. Rota`s antenna has not been used since the early 1990s. When it was operational, the Navy had a four-person crew to keep it ship shape. ``They were always busy,`` said Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Black, also of the security group. The antenna has a diameter of 850 feet --- nearly three football fields [what`s that got to do with it??? --- gh] --- and can be seen clearly from a road that travels around the perimeter of the naval station. It surrounds a small compound where hundreds of Navy cryptologists once worked. During the early 1980s, the command had more than 1,500 personnel. Today, the command has between 150 and 200 people and primarily serves Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Two, an EP-3 unit based in Rota. At one time, the Navy had about a dozen similar circular antennas scattered around the world in places, such as Japan, Iceland and Guam. They are often nicknamed ``elephant cages`` or ``dinosaur cages`` because the interconnecting wires look like some sort of fence out of Jurassic Park. Residents dubbed the antenna in Rota ``Plaza de Toros,`` or ``The Bull Ring.`` The secrecy of the work performed by the command led to widespread speculation in town that the ring was a high-tech security fence. Its purpose is still a mystery to most people. What the antenna has accomplished and how exactly it works remain carefully guarded secrets. Although the technology is old, cryptologists fear that going into detail would compromise some of the techniques used today to spy on adversaries. ``It did help win the Cold War,`` Chief Petty Officer Glynn Rodgers said. Workers estimate that it will take three weeks to take apart the antenna and haul it away, using cranes, trucks and metal crunching equipment. The team will tear down 81, 90-foot tall wooden poles and 120 shorter poles. They also will have to remove 20 miles of copper wire. The team removed 1,750 tie rods --- used to keep tension on the wires --- Friday. Workers expect to use as many as 80 truckloads to haul the wire, wood and other parts away from the site located on the northern boundary of the base. Most of the material will be recycled and sold as scrap. It cost $9 million to build the antenna, but the price tag to tear it down is much less --- between $800,000 and $1 million. Workers plan to complete the project in three weeks. The command is thinking about possibly cutting up pieces of the wooden poles that make up the antenna and saving them as keepsakes [illustrated:] http://www.stripes.osd.mil/article.asp?section=104&article=12908 © 2002 [sic] Stars and Stripes. All Rights Reserved (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) {what it really is: see 3-022} ** SWEDEN. Coming up on Radio Sweden: Thursday: In "Nordic Lights" Nordic film, alcohol taxes in Finland, and a smoking ban in Norway Friday: Our weekly review Saturday: "Sweden Today" Sunday: In "Sounds Nordic" Dungen's music and how do Swedes like to be kissed? (SCDX/MediaScan Feb 5 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Frequency change for Voice of Turkey in Arabic: 1500-1655 NF 6110*, ex 6120 to avoid Radio Finland in Finnish \\ 15195 *co-ch Brother Stair in En; VOA in En; Voice of Azerbaijan in Azeri on 6110.8 -- 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 7 via DXLD) ** TURKMENISTAN. Turkmen R., 4930, New Year, Dec 31, 1853 speech from their leader, Pres. Nyazov, 1900 bells, etc. \\ 5015, national anthem, SIO 444 (Rumen Paknov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U K. GBR RUGBY TO CLOSE? On http://tx.mb21.co.uk/rugby/index.asp you will find interesting information about GBR Rugby. But is the station to close? I quote: "Apparently, the BT Rugby station is due to close. In fact, I understand that it should have closed by now but is being kept open by OFTEL of all people - don't know why. I assume the NPL time signal will be kept on. Rugby is still home of the Navy VLF submarine service but has now lost all of its telephone, telex, marine and air HF services and I hear that there are only 3 people left on site." More pictures of this facility are on http://tx.mb21.co.uk/rugby/photos.asp The history of the station is described on http://www.alan.melia.btinternet.co.uk/rugbyrs.htm (Mike Terry, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Mike, and others. In fact, we covered the possible closure of the Rugby station on the list some time ago. I sought some "official" clarification from my brother, who works at the NPL main site in Teddington, regarding the MSF facility. There are certainly no plans to axe this invaluable service. BT are pulling out of the current site for purely financial reasons --- they can make more by selling it for brownfield housing --- but apparently there are plans to re-erect some facilities at a nearby site anyway (subject, I guess, to planning permission). There is a licence connected with this site, which remains in force till 2007 at least. Hope that reassures anyone who makes use of it! (MARK SAVAGE, Eastbourne, BDXC-UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. NATIONAL TALKING EXPRESS ON SHORT-WAVE There will be a test transmission by MediaSound on Sunday 16th February on 5935 Short Wave from 4 to 5 pm. [1600-1700 UT, following European Music Radio, before Laser Radio] This broadcast is a fully licensed operation using a 100 kW transmitter in Latvia. When conditions are good on the band the signal can be heard on a portable radio all over Europe. We have invited NTE to take part in this test transmission and I can confirm that an interview was recorded today with Phil Troll. We will give full details of NTE's involvement with Mediasound together with contact details and an appeal for funds. Please tune in if you can, Alan Maylin MediaSound Have you heard MEDIASOUND yet? http://www.mediasound.net (PAUL DAVID, Chair, Brent Visually-Handicapped Group Registered Charity No. 272955; Vice-Chair, National Talking Express Registered Charity No. 801993, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REPORT with Stefano Valianti WHY DOESN`T BBCWS USE THE 75 METRE BAND? For the second consecutive year, the BBC World Service has not reintroduced the frequency of 3955 kHz in the 75 metre band at the start of the winter season (B02 schedule) --- and I have met difficulties with reception on the lowest used frequency of 6195 kHz as early as 1930 GMT. For instance, while this part of SER is being jotted down at 1945 on the 6th of January the only frequency I can listen to the Charlie Gillett Show on is 648 kHz medium wave (with reception quality varying from fair to good). Apart from the fact that I don`t understand why the BBC left the excellent 75 m.b. frequency, one other thing is not clear to me. In the evening the Deutsche Welle broadcasts to Europe both on 6075 (in German) and on 3995 kHz (in various languages including English at 1800 and 1900 and German from 2200 on). They are both good to excellent. As 6075 is broadcast from Germany, I should think this should have more skip problems (from an Italian listening site) that 6195 from Britain. It`s not so, most December and January evenings I've completely lost 6195 around 1945, while 6075 is always good at this time and usually remains strong and steady for many hours to come, and usually throughout the night (Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U K. BBC online schedule, including Americas stream, for Feb 5 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/internet/usa_today.shtml did not show coverage of SOS Powell at the UN, when checked early UT 5th --- fortunately, they changed their mind and did carry it, e.g. on 15190 Antigua, and by then the posted schedule had been updated to include it (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K / U S A. BBC AND NPR STAGE A GLOBAL PHONE-IN PROGRAMME ON IRAQ BBC World Service and NPR have teamed up to provide a global forum for exchange of public opinion on the Iraq issue. Iraq - the World Speaks, a co-production between BBC World's Service's Talking Point programme and NPR News, will allow people from all over the world to give their opinions live on the phone, by email and SMS messages in a special two-hour phone-in at 1800-2000 GMT (1300-1500 ET) on Saturday, 15 February. Presented by the BBC's Robin Lustig and NPR's Neal Conan, the programme will seek answers to the questions which are of paramount importance today. Can war with Iraq still be averted? What role will the United Nations play in the diplomatic jigsaw and will the coalition of the US President Bush and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair be able to convince a public still largely opposed to war? What will be the implications of any military attack on Iraq, in the region and in the rest of the world? Questions can be emailed in advance to talkingpoint@bbc.co.uk (From BBCWS press office via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** UNITED NATIONS. UN Media - job opportunity The United Nations is seeking a high-level person to fill the post of Chief, Television and Radio within the Department of Public Information. Applications are invited from senior broadcast executives/producers who could develop and implement a strategy to enhance coverage in the broadcast media worldwide of UN goals and activities. Candidates should have: An accomplished track record in the news area; Extensive knowledge of international broadcasting; Strong leadership and managerial skills; Intimate knowledge of new broadcast technology; At least 18 years high-level experience; University degree in communications or a related field. Full information is available at: https://jobs.un.org/ Closing date for applications is 23 March 2003. (Feb AIB Newsletter via DXLD) ** U S A. VOA zip codes, old and new: The State Department mail room says it will no longer forward to VOA letters with the 20547 zip code. Those letters will be returned to the sender. In 1998, when the U.S. Information Agency was absorbed into the State Department, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors was created, State kept 20547, with VOA/IBB/BBG assigned the new zip code 20237. Oh oh, the 2003 World Radio TV Handbook still gives 20547 as VOA's zip code. Passport to World Band Radio has the correct 20237 zip code for VOA and IBB. 73 (Kim Elliott, DC, VOA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn, An illustrated article on how radio hams are helping set up a museum at the former VOA Bethany site is at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/02/05/1/?nc=1 (Andy Sennitt, Artie Bigley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ** U S A. 10 EASTERN EUROPE BROADCASTS TO END By Ol`ga Kryzhanovska THE WASHINGTON TIMES [Moony] The Voice of America will end its foreign-language service to 10 Eastern European countries under its 2004 budget, officials said this week.... http://washingtontimes.com/world/20030207-22290603.htm (via Ulis Fleming, DXLD) ** U S A. I figured WBCQ`s Planet World News is already scheduled too early for decent propagation here on 7415, 2050 UT. First chance I had to check it was Feb 6, and barely detectable tho conditions may have been subnormal. Fortunately, it was also on 9335-CUSB, tho this has not been publicized, and more or less readable there in USB; some other program was on 17495. Sounded straight and professionally done, concluding with a couple of minutes of worldwide high and low temps, but all in F. Newscaster was Michael --, I assume the WBCQ program director at Complex Variable Studios in PA. Surely WBCQ will work the newscasts into better propagational timings later in the evening, tho this may have been the latest 10-minute slot initially available across the board 6 days a week. Oh, oh, next afternoon, Fri Feb 7 tuned in late at 2055, but on 7415 just open carrier, then music, better reception than yesterday anyway, and nothing on 9335. So much for a reliable newscast... (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KXTR Kansas City KS 1660: v/s John Verlin, Sales, jverlin@entercom.com KXTR plan to start broadcasting in digital AM some time this year (Bjarne Mjelde, Berlevag, Arctic Norway, Feb 6, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Classical with non-streaming website lacking in detail ** U S A. CHARLES JACO JOINS KTVI By Gail Pennington and Jerry Berger, St Louis Post-Dispatch tv.spy.com Charles Jaco will join KTVI on Feb. 18 as a full-time reporter. Jaco, 52, was fired by KMOX radio in November. Feb. 18 is the first day he can legally work again in St. Louis media, after a no-compete clause in his contract with KMOX expires. The clause was reduced to three months from six after Jaco challenged his dismissal by the radio station. Before joining KMOX seven years ago, Jaco worked for CNN, reporting on the Persian Gulf War in 1990-91 from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait City. If another war with Iraq breaks out, Jaco will offer analysis and commentary for KTVI, news director Brad Remington said Tuesday. He will also cover state and local issues and provide several in-depth packages a week, primarily for the 9 p.m. newscast. Terms of his new contract weren't disclosed, but Jaco said he was "most happy with the whole package." He has been working for KIRO talk radio in Seattle, but said he never signed on formally with that station because he was reluctant to leave St. Louis. He grew up in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Jaco has also signed with KFTK-FM (97.1) as host of the morning show, 6-9 a.m. Monday-Friday. "There is no better time to bring Charles Jaco to our listeners than when we are on the brink of war in the Middle East," said John Beck, senior vice president of Emmis Communications. (Editor's Note: The GM at KMOX radio who fired Charles Jaco was dismissed by Viacom (i.e."left to pursue other business opportunities.") (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. URBAN RADIO RAGE: WHEN CLEAR CHANNEL BOUGHT KMEL, IT DESTROYED THE SO-CALLED PEOPLE'S STATION. NOW THE PEOPLE WANT IT BACK By Jeff Chang THERE AREN'T MANY visitors to Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s South of Market fortress these days, other than ad buyers, talent managers, and contest winners. The first floor looks like a tiny security bunker with silent music videos flickering on small wall- mounted TVs. So on Jan. 6, when a group of hip-hop activists showed up – a bunch of teens and twentysomethings, battle-hardened, some of them anyway, by campaigns against globalization and Proposition 21 – the gatekeeper alerted management before allowing them up to the fourth- floor waiting room.... http://www.sfbg.com/37/18/cover_kmel.html (San Francisco Bay Guardian via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. MEMBER OF FCC PUSHES OWNERSHIP DEBATE --- COMMISSIONER PLANS ADDITIONAL HEARINGS ON LAWS GOVERNING MEDIA CONSOLIDATION By Frank Ahrens, Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 6, 2003; Page E04 A member of the Federal Communications Commission said yesterday that he will hold additional public hearings on possible changes to the agency's rules on media ownership, saying that "most Americans are not even aware that this is teed up for debate." Commissioner Michael J. Copps also called on the FCC to establish a procedure to accept anonymous testimony from media and entertainment industry employees fearful of losing their jobs if they testify against media consolidation. The FCC already has scheduled a public hearing about the media rules for Feb. 27 in Richmond. Yesterday, Copps announced that additional, unofficial hearings would be held in early March at the University of Washington in Seattle and later in the month at Duke University in Durham, N.C. The FCC is reexamining its rules on media ownership as part of a regular, congressionally mandated review. Among other things, current laws place a cap on the number of affiliate stations a television network can own. "It has been a revelation to me that there are media professionals with strong feelings about the downsides of consolidation for the American people who are afraid to speak for fear of retribution," Copps said in an address yesterday at Fordham University in New York. "If this is true then we need to find a way for them to be heard without fear of retribution." The FCC has provisions for accepting anonymous testimony from witnesses who fear reprisals, but the specifics of Copps's proposal must be examined by the agency's lawyers, an agency spokesman said. Copps favors multiple public hearings to tap into expertise on media ownership in individual markets. FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell and others back the hearings in theory but say they believe input can more efficiently be compiled via e-mail, without using the agency's limited budget to ferry commissioners and staff around the country. The issue of the hearings has produced something of a Cold War between Powell and Copps. Powell, who hopes to have a vote on any rule changes before summer, said yesterday in a statement that the FCC has received 13,000 comments from the public on media ownership. "This record clearly demonstrates that in the digital age, you don't need a 19th-century whistle-stop tour to hear from America," he said. Copps responded: "To imagine that we can sit around and count on the Internet or new tools or technology without lifting a finger ourselves is to not live up to the outreach responsibility that I think we have." Media corporations are lobbying for the ownership rules to be lifted, saying that money-losing networks could benefit from buying additional television stations, for instance. On the other side are consumer groups, entertainment industry guilds and unaligned members of the public pressing to keep the ownership rules intact. They fear that lifting them would aid additional corporate consolidation that would diminish economic and creative opportunities for artists and create a sameness among media outlets. (c) 2003 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. FCC BUSTS OHIO AM FOR EXCEEDING OPERATING LIMITS During inspections on Jan. 16 and 17, 2002, FCC field inspectors determined that WCIN-AM/Cincinnati was operating at 828% of its authorized daytime power of 250 watts and 13,800% of its nighttime power of 15 watts. The station was operating under special temporary authority while station owner J4 Broadcasting searched for a new transmitter site. The FCC proposed a $5,000 fine against the station for exceeding the limits approved in the STA, and while J4 didn't deny that the violations occurred it asked the FCC to cancel the fine due to financial hardship. After reviewing J4's tax returns from 1999, 2000 and 2001, the FCC ruled J4 could afford the fine and upheld the penalty. http://www.radioandrecords.com/Subscribers/TodaysNews/homepage.htm (1480 kHz. I think they are running non-DA while they look for a new tower site. They were 5 kW day/0.5 kW night when they had a directional array. Different patterns day and night. Via Brock Whaley Feb. 7, 2003, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HAMMOND, IN. Mayor DUANE DEDELOW JR. has filed a letter with the FCC and is meeting with the area's Congressional representatives in an attempt to block the sale of WJOB-A/HAMMOND to Catholic station operator STARBOARD BROADCASTING, reports the NORTHWEST INDIANA TIMES. Station owner ST. GEORGE BROADCASTING went into receivership, and the station was sold to STARBOARD for $3.25 million; DEDELOW, also a Catholic, buys time on a bi-weekly basis from WJOB for a call-in show and is protesting the pending loss of local programming on the station. The TIMES syas ST. GEORGE owner GEORGE W. STEVENS has threatened in a memo to fire any staffer making negative comments about the proposed sale, supporting those fighting the sale, or even giving out the FCC's phone number. http://www2.allaccess.com/ (1230 kHz right next door to 1240 Chicago. Brock Whaley Feb. 6.2003. DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Memo to all radio listeners: why don`t we save time and pass a law requiring that all AM stations be news/talk. Let`s rid the airwaves of those few music stations which may be threatening national security. We`ve done a good job of wiping out public radio on the band; now let`s finish the job so that we may rest assured that if it`s AM it`s going to be good old right wing rant. Call your representative today! (Dave McDonald, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KRUMUDGEON COLUMN ON RIMSHOT RADIO IN THE DFW AREA by John Callarman, published in the Krum Star January 2: Krum now has a newspaper, obviously. Can a radio station be far away? Well, actually, that's not such a silly question as it seems.The Federal Communications Commission has granted a construction permit to an Oklahoma broadcaster to move one of its stations from its city of license, Healdton, Okla., to its new city of license, Krum, Texas. When the transmitter and antenna of this station and a few others with construction permits to move closer to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, plus one new station, there will be 49 FM and 31 AM stations vying for listenership in the fifth largest radio market in America. Broadcast industry observers who write about the media refer to the phenomenon as "rimshot" radio, where stations on the fringes of metropolitan areas broadcast for the larger market. Those writers, for the most part, attribute the trend to deregulation, which allows corporations to own a virtually unlimited number of radio stations and does away with most public service programming requirements. The Healdton station, KICM on 93.7, now serves the Ardmore market, along with its sister station, KNOR, on 97.7, which was moved recently from Pauls Valley. The 97.7 signal will continue to serve Ardmore/ Healdton when the 93.7 signal moves to Krum. Well, not exactly to Krum. Though Krum is the official city of license, the transmitter and antenna for its station will be in the very southwest corner of Cooke County, about halfway between Slidell and Forestburg. The tower dominates the skyline as one drives northwest on FM 455, and some people in the know about broadcasting tower sites nationwide say it is the tallest broadcasting tower in America. KICM will not be the only station with an antenna on the tower and a transmitter at its base. Already broadcasting from that tower are KMEO on 96.7, KKDL on 106.7, and KZMP on 101.7, each with a different city of license. KMEO is licensed to Flower Mound, KKDL to Muenster and KZMP to Azle. KMEO and KZMP, by the way, are move-ins, rimshotters, that used to program for the Sherman-Denison area. Dick Witkovski, the Dallas-based broadcaster who owns KICM, told the Krumudgeon on Tuesday that his station in Bridgeport, KBOC on 98.3, would also be moving to that tower. Pilot Point and Sanger also are cities of license for FM stations, but about the only time you'll hear those cities mentioned is at the top of the hour, when the legal identification consisting of call letters and city of license must be given. Pilot Point's station, KTCY on 104.9, carries Spanish language programming, with its antenna on a tall tower located three miles west of Collinsville. Sharing that tower are KSOC on 94.5, still licensed to Gainesville; KWRD on 100.7, now licensed to Highland Village after starting out at Bowie; and KESN on 103.3, now licensed to Allen after its owners bought the station in Commerce and moved it to the Collinsville transmitter site. The stations licensed to Sanger are KTPW on 89.7, a Christian rock station, and KTDK on 104.1, which relays The Ticket, KTCK, the Dallas sports station on 1310 on the AM dial. There's also a station licensed to Howe, KHYI on 95.3, which carries Texas-style country music for Dallas-Fort Worth. Stations are required to have a studio in the city of license, Witkovski says, and there will be a studio in Krum when the station makes the move sometime in August. Target date is Aug. 1, but it may be a few days later. Witkovski said he used to own the commercial station licensed to Sanger, and there is a studio in Sanger's Radio Shack store that still can link to the transmitter. Denton at one time was well-served by a locally programmed station, KDNT on 1440, and on FM at 106.1, not to mention the University of North Texas' station, KNTU, on 88.1. KDNT has become KTNO, a Spanish- language religious broadcaster, and has a construction permit to move its transmitter (and its city of license) to University Park to put a better signal into Dallas/Fort Worth. KDNT-FM eventually became KHKS (Kiss-FM), one of more than 1,200 stations owned by Clear Channel, the largest broadcasting chain, and its transmitter was moved some years ago to a forest of towers atop Cedar Hill, south of Dallas. The city of license is still Denton, but the transmitter is more than 40 miles from the county courthouse. Most of the FM and TV stations licensed to Dallas or Fort Worth have transmitters and towers on Cedar Hill. The other commercial FM station whose city of license is Denton is KHCK on 99.1, (Kick-FM), which airs Tex-Mex music from a tower 10 miles north of Decatur. Even KNTU changed its city of license, in a cooperative move that enabled some other stations to move. Though the transmitter and tower site did not move from its location near the UNT observatory north of town, its city of license somehow became McKinney. There once were two area stations on 107.9, one at Corsicana, the other at Gainesville. They combined, moved a single transmitter to a tall tower just south of Lake Ray Roberts, and changed the city of license to Lewisville. On the AM band, two medium-market Texas cities have lost stations to Dallas-Fort Worth. KMKI on 620, now licensed to Plano, and KCAF on 990, now licensed to Farmersville, used to be local or regional stations at Wichita Falls. The oldest station in Waco, which used to be WACO on 1460, has a construction permit to move to Burleson and serve the Dallas-Fort Worth market. Also, the Spanish station on 1600, KRVA, now licensed to Cockrell Hill, used to be McKinney's local station. There's an Oklahoma station that has been authorized to move into the northern part of the Metroplex. KJON, now on 850 at Anadarko, will build a three-tower directional array between Celina and Prosper, and its city of license will be Carrollton. An application for a new AM station on 700 has been filed with the FCC with Wylie as its city of license. So Krum will have a lot in common with these other cities of license. Cities whose names will be mentioned around the top of every hour on a radio station programming for the Metroplex. Local radio it is, but in name only. By the way, anyone interested in tower sites and broadcasting in the Metroplex can find pictures and narrative on the Internet at Fybush.com. Click onto the "Site of the Week Archives" and scroll down to Dallas/Fort Worth to find the four parts of a trip Scott Fybush of Rochester, N.Y., took to our area in October 2002. The Krum/Flower Mound/Muenster/Azle tower is pictured in Part IV (John Callarman, Krum TX, via DXLD) ** U S A. From an HDTV Discussion List Jay Leno originates in Burbank. I understand that recently they moved commercial integration and recording to New York. The home viewer in L.A., then, should see the show after the following. 1. Originate in 1080I 2. Encode for transmission to N.Y. 3. Decode to 1080I 4. Record (compress) 5. Play back @ 1080I 6. Encode for transmission to affiliates 7. Decode to 1080I at affiliates for local inserts 8. Encode to 19.39Mb/s for transmission 9. Decode in the home Are we perhaps approaching the practical limits of how and how many times we can manipulate the material? You've barely scratched the surface. CBS shoots a football game in 1080i. ABC asks to use the footage, so it's converted from 1080i to 720p. ABC distributes the show to its affiliates, one of which is WFAA-DT in Dallas, a Belo station. All Belo stations are 1080i, so ABC's 720p is converted to 1080i. Comcast is the local cable system. Back when it was AT&T, they said they would not carry 1080i because its harder to compress than 720p. The FCC doesn't say HD needs to be carried in its native format. So, hypothetically (and this is the only hypothetical), they convert WFAA- DT to 720p. A viewer watches using a Pioneer DTV receiver, which has only a 1080i HD output, so the consumer device converts 720p to 1080i. Then the user connects the same box to the same company's HD plasma panel, which can display only 720p. That's five format conversions, not counting any compression stages. Wheeeee! TTFN, Mark (via Tom Roche, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Ecos del Torbes, San Cristóbal, 4980, Dec 29 at 0240 OM & YL chat in Spanish, SIO 243 (Ron Easey, Wrentham, Suffolk, Feb BDXC- UK Communication via DXLD) Must have been one of their increasingly rare activations, perhaps prompted by holidays; or was there a definite ID? (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. GOVERNMENT TO BROADEN LEGAL ACTION AGAINST MEDIA | Text of report by Robert Rudnicki in English by Venezuelan pro- government VENews web site on 5 February According to Infrastructure (Minfra) minister Diosdado Cabello, the government will broaden its clampdown on TV and radio stations some time this week, as it launches fresh legal actions like those already taken against Globovisión, RCTV, Televén and a local TV station in Táchira State. "We are working on a large number of cases and they could be commenced later this week, eventually against TV and radio stations." Although the minister didn't name which stations figured high on his list, he did say that particular attention would be given to regional TV and radio stations, "but they will be notified accordingly". Among the measures that could be taken are fines and other economic sanctions, suspension of broadcasting licenses or the complete revocation of concessions. Venezuela's privately-owned media has angered the government by broadcasting only opposition advertisements, showing violent scenes during times when children are likely to be watching. Source: VENews web site in English 5 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) COMENZÓ CIERRE DE RADIOS EN VENEZUELA Anuncio de Diosdado Cabello. Gobierno prevé cierre de algunos medios de comunicación al retirar concesiones. El titular del ministerio de Infraestructura, Diosdado Cabello, anunció durante la celebración del décimo primer aniversario de la intentona golpista del 4 de febrero que no se descarta la revocatoria de algunas concesiones contra estaciones televisivas y radiales que a juicio del este público hayan incurrido en violaciones a las normativas jurídicas. De acuerdo a los señalamientos de Cabello, Minfra actualmente trabaja sobre el asunto y considera que es muy probable que para esta misma semana se determinen las posibles sanciones. El ministro fue enfático al advertir que la concesión es del Estado y que en todo caso no se les pretende quitar los canales, pero de determinarse la revocatoria no podrán seguir haciendo uso de dichas señales. Descartó cualquier posibilidad de que pueda haber un acuerdo entre los dueños de los medios de comunicación social y el Gobierno nacional. El ministro explicó que los procesos administrativos se deben a la transmisión de imágenes de violencia dentro del horario infantil y la acusación hacia personas sin existir fundamentos legales. En tal sentido explicó que una de esas acusaciones fue la presunta presencia de João De Gouveia en las inmediaciones de La Campiña alrededor del alcalde Freddy Bernal la jornada previa a los asesinatos que se produjeron en Altamira el pasado 6 de abril. Sostiene además que existe falta de coherencia en el mensaje mediático pues señalan que durante los últimos cuatro años se ha visto amenazada la libertad de expresión y hasta ahora no se ha cerrado ningún medio. Reconoce que los dueños de los diferentes medios que tienen procedimientos administrativos abiertos, como RCTV, Globovisión y Televén podrán acudir a los organismos internacionales que consideren convenientes, pero en todo caso sostiene Cabello que el Gobierno no viola ningún acuerdo internacional. Explicó que las normas jurídicas prevé 15 días para que los representantes de los medios se puedan defender y en tal sentido advierte que lo hagan bien, porque luego de ello el Ministerio de Infraestructura tendrá 120 días para emitir su opinión. Por último aclaró que no se trata de una retaliación del Gobierno por haberse plegado al paro. ALLANADA LA EMISORA 105.7 FM DE CARACAS En horas de la tarde de ayer Martes, fué allanada y confizcado parte de sus equipos la emisora 105.7 FM, por orden del Ministerio de Infraestructura y aplicada por funcionarios de Conatel. La razón se debió a una posible entrevista "que se le realizaría al Dr. Levi Benshimol, Presidente del Colegio Nacional de Periodistas", considerado por el gobierno como "golpista". Los funcionarios tomaron los estudios de la emisora y sin una orden de un juez, al mejor estilo de las dictaduras de vieja data pasaron a tumbar la señal de la estación y posteriormente apropiarse de algunos de los equipos necesesarios para su transmisión (Diario El Globo. 05/02/2003 via Jorge García, Venezuela, Conexión Digital via WORLD OF RADIO 1168, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Hola Glenn... Saludos desde Catia La Mar... El excelente programa del Presidente Constitucional de Venezuela, Aló Presidente de Hugo Chávez, ahora sale los domingos por 11705 y 15230 (vía Radio Habana Cuba). 15570 no ha sido vuelta escuchar en las últimas dos semanas. El horario de comienzo, como siempre, varia de 1400 a 1500 UT. 73's y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. CLANDESTINE: There has been a bit of monitoring of the Chan Troi Moi service as of late so I thought I would reprint what I previously wrote about this one: CLANDESTINE from GERMANY to VIETNAM: New Horizon 15750 or Chan Troi Moi in Vietnamese. Started listening on Monday, Aug 27. This is High Adventure`s Voice of Hope program in Vietnamese. It has been on since 1992, initially with a half hour a day and now an hour at 1330-1430 on 15750 [the Bulgarian Observer report of Aug 28 had a typo of this being the time/freq for VOH in Chinese.] I had Richard Lam, a fluent Chinese speaker, take a listen and he confirms that the language is indeed Vietnamese. So what is the big deal about Chan Tro Moi anyway? VietInsight Magazine in 1994 said that, "Chan Troi Moi, which broadcast news of democratic developments around the world, and more often, activities from overseas Vietnamese in support of Vietnam's democracy, as "reactionary, hostile" forces conducting the much-feared "peaceful evolution" against the communist regime." The program has also interviewed dissidents over the years and been involved in publicizing the blight of persecuted Buddhists in Vietnam. You'll also find its schedule published on Vietnamese dissident websites such as the National United Front for the Liberation of Vietnam and the Free Vietnam Alliance. Given the above description and links, perhaps this one should be classified as a clandestine. I don't see much difference between what it is carrying and what Vietnamese-exile programs such as Que Huong and Radio Free Vietnam carry. New Horizon is heard in Wyoming with open carrier a few minutes before *1330. 1330 instrumental, what sounds like ID as above by woman, then female vocal, and another ID by woman. Rest of program has been man and woman talking in Vietnamese. A variety of topics with many mentions of Microsoft today [Aug 29]. I have also heard actualities in English, but they were too short to give much additional information. The sign off pattern is similar to the sign on, same female vocal, same female with presumed ID. No sign of any jamming here. The address I find on the web for reception reports is P.O. Box 48 Nishi Yodogawa, Osaka 555- 8691, Japan (Hans Johnson Aug 27-29, 2001 via Johnson, Feb 7, 2003, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. MOROCCO, 17895, Studio 7 [for Zimbabwe] worth a listen as it is all in English. Good news and coverage of various aspects of Indonesia at 1735 Feb 5. Gave email address as studio7@voanews.com (did I mis-hear it, should be .gov, no?) Off at 1800 (Hans Johnson Rio Hondo TX, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Should be, but is really voanews.com (gh) I received an e-mail from the NGO Alliance Network Project in Zimbabwe. It announces the return of VOP Voice of the People on 7120 at 1900-2000 hours Zimbabwe time (1700-1800 UT) Daily. Snail Mail address is Radio Voice of the People, P. O. Box 5750 Harare, Zimbabwe (Scott A. Morgan, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The few `surrogate` services for Zimbabwe really ought to coördinate scheduling to avoid clashes. This has also been filed under USA (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 1584: see IRAQ [non] UNIDENTIFIED. 3870.5, drum and string music at 1622 29 Nov, YL singing, VV, off at 1630*, SIO 322 (David Gascoyne, Staplehurst, Kent, BDXC-UK communication via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4875, chirping bird (like Rai IS) at 0529 Jan 11, 0530 YL sign-on with announcements, possibly news, too weak to ID language; don`t suspect receiver spur (Nick Rank, Buxton, Derbyshire, ICF2001D/ALA1530, Feb BDXC-UK Communication) I thought it might be a semiharmonic of 9750, perhaps even Rai, but nothing listed there fits. Was it definitely not Rai, merely like it? Could be difference product between two other higher frequencies, as has recently happened with another Rai pair (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7160, Dec 22 at 1019, documentary about space exploration in English until 1110, then ``Ten from 1961`` followed by ``Ten from 1970``; before the 10 [songs?] were completed a brief ``Big L signing off`` recording at 1200, then off; CRI in Russian in background throughout. Unlicenced transmitter? SIO 433 (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) This station appearing from time to time with strong signal on 7160 is apparently Radio Coast FM. This has usually put out continuous music, although occasional IDs fo Laser Hot Hits have been noted --- I presume these must be tapes (Robertas Petraitis, Axel Rose, Dr Tim, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 10595, Nov 29 at 1708, YL re Kosovo, Mombasa, Al Qaeda. Off at 1727, VV, SIO 544 (David Gascoyne, Kent, BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) VV I suppose meaning vernacular/unknown rather than Vietnamese UNIDENTIFIED. 12503, frequency-hopper station, 1700 Dec 3, jammed by hopping jammer, YL with talk on Al Qaeda, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. VV. Between here and 12527.5 until 1713; SIO 3J3 (David Gascoyne, Staplehurst, BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ditto ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMMENTARY ++++++++++ ATTRIBUTION Hi Glenn, The difficulty with non-attributed reports is not only the issue of fairness with respect to the originator, but in helping those who get the report at the end of the "chain" know from where AND when it came from. The examples you gave in the recent DXLD would have been helped immensely by some mention of the timeframe, and this is all the more important with publications that have long lead times from composition to publication. It's simple: give the name of the original reporter, the source of the publication or distribution, and the date! Of course, one of my other peeves is e-mail alerts that give no mention of the reporter's location or the actual time. "R. Neptune is coming in right now", for example. You'd be surprised how many e-mail messages take many days to actually reach me! There are many occasions, also, when I get "It's coming in here, too" before I even get the first message! (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glen[n], You say "The very minimum in competence for any SW station or program is the ability to announce its own frequencies correctly (gh, DXLD)" I wholly agree but in this day & age I'd add "the ability to effectively use a website to inform listeners how to tune in and hear the station" Quite a few stations have web sites which are more like tabloid newspapers and give no help in tuning in their programme. An example in the UK is Talk Radio http://www.talkradio.net which fails to advise listeners what frequency to listen to in which town and which claims to be on satellite but then gives no further details. There are many more culprits. 73 (Steve Whitt, UK, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ GLOBAL BROADCASTING GUIDE The Association for International Broadcasting has published the latest edition of its twice-yearly Global Broadcasting Guide. Primarily aimed at consumers, the Guide is the definitive directory of international television and radio broadcasting in English, with extensive data on how to tune to broadcasts from around the world. Many professionals use the Guide to monitor the activities of competing broadcasters and to update their contact information as the Guide carries a wealth of detail about broadcasters worldwide. Copies are available at GBP3.75 including postage worldwide - to order, send your name and mailing address, along with your credit card details (number and expiry date) to Guide Orders, PO Box 990, London SE3 9XL, UK, or e-mail to register@aib.org.uk (Feb AIB Newsletter via DXLD) MEASURE THAT DX - HOW FAR IS IT? Here is a very useful web site that will calculate air miles between any two points in the world just by typing in the names of the cities. It's at: http://www.indo.com/distance/ It also provides Lat/Long, elevation, etc. It even gives beam headings so that you can point those loops or beverages right at them. Very nice! (Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ 'INTERNATIONAL' RADIO CONTROLLED CLOCK On the topic of WWVB clocks -- Seiko has released a single radio controlled clock that not only receives WWVB, but also the Japanese and German time standards. I happened to see it on the Magellans website Seiko AC 102 $49 http://www.magellans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?ruleID=4&iMainCat=0&iProductID=2876&itemType=PRODUCT&iSubCat=0&sSearch=clock&itemID=2876 I'm still waiting for a portable GPS clock, which can be truly used worldwide. Using a plain - always on - GPS uses too much battery power. If the unit checked once or twice a day... that would be good. Since GPS prices have really come down - I would think it should be doable at a reasonable price (Daniel Rosenzweig, Feb 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Previous discussion about WWVB clocks was under U S A CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES ++++++++++++++++++++++++= EUROPEAN DX COUNCIL MEETING IN FRANKFURT, GERMANY, AUGUST 2003 The next EDXC Conference as been announced for 15-17 August in Frankfurt, Germany. EDXC member club Rhein Main Radio Club has confirmed the location, at the Kommunikations und Trainingszentrum der Dresdner Bank in Knigstein/Ts, about 15 km north of Frankfurt, in central Germany. Please visit http://www.ktckoenigstein.de for details of the location. Participation has already been confirmed by Frans Vossen from Radio Vlaanderen International (finally fully recovered), Tropical Band DXing with Willy Passmann (Germany) and Anker Petersen (Denmark- DSWCI), and FM DX with Udo Deutscher and Michael Hornsteiner, DRM and many others. Harald Gabler, the organiser of the Conference, is planning site visits to AFN, Hessischer Rundfunk or IBB stations, all very near to the Conference centre. He would be please to send out further details on request to DrGabler@t-online.de The year 2003 is very important for Germany as Deutsche Welle will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Waldemar Kr mer from DW's Technical Department will be also at the Conference. My Radio Free Asia collleague, Andrew Janitschek, from Washington, has also signalled his intention to be there. The Frankfurt area has been chosen to help people from all over the world to come. Air and train links and the motorway net are the most extended in Europe and in Summer Hessen is really a nice place to go, so EDXC guru Luigi Cobini (Italy) tells me. The development of the Conference arrangements, and enrolment forms, are available at http://www.edxc.org Your crazy EDXP Convenor plans to be there - this will be a very tight timetable for me as I will be in New Zealand from July 1 until August 10, for some cross-country winter-skiing and related activities with colleague and EDXPer Mick Ogrizek, at Lake Wanaka and the Franz Joseph Glacier region! Regards (Bob Padula, Melbourne, EDXP, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ### ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-020, February 4, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [note change] HTML version of all January issues are now at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3a.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.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 NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1167: RFPI: Wed 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WWCR: Wed 1030 9475 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1167.html FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1168: Wed 2300 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB Thu 2130 on WWCR 9475 Fri 1930 on RFPI 15038.6 AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL Hi Glenn, just a note of appreciation for the hard work you do keeping shortwave listeners up to date. Thanks! (Jim Wishner, MN, Jan 31, with a donation) ** AFGHANISTAN. Since November 11, Radio France International (RFI) has operated an FM transmitter in Kabul on 95 FM following agreement with the Afghani Information Ministry (e-broadcast Asia via Richard Jary, Feb 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 95.0, or rounded off? (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. RADIO AUSTRALIA'S NEW SEASON If you're a regular listener to Radio Australia, you know that many regular programs have been on hiatus since mid-December. As of late January, several programs audible via shortwave during local weekday mornings in North America will be shuffled around. Here is the new weekday schedule: 1305 The Planet 1405 Margaret Throsby - a repeat of the 0410 UT broadcast 1605 Bush Telegraph 1705 Australia Talks Back - a repeat of the 0910 UT broadcast 1755 Perspective - a repeat of the 0855 UT broadcast Some folks might not be thrilled to see these changes, because the second hour of The Planet is lost. The Planet is regularly mentioned as a favorite world music program in shortwave programming discussions. The motivation for these changes is likely not Radio Australia; at that time of night, Radio Australia relays what airs on the domestic Radio National service, with the exception of the hourly newscasts -- they are specific to Radio Australia. While I'm not sure if Roger Broadbent and his colleagues have much clout, it probably doesn't hurt to contact them if you would rather hear different programming. The best E-mail address is english@ra.abc.net.au What we in North America hear as one contiguous programming block for The Planet (currently from 1320 to 1500) is really two different programs: the program from 1405 to 1500 is a repeat of the prior afternoon program. It appears this second hour will no longer air on Radio National as of January 27th. Other new programming debuted on Radio National as of late January, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some of it make its way onto the Radio Australia schedule. More on that as information becomes available; one program with an interesting subject line is The Ark. Hosted by Rachel Kohn (The Spirit of Things), this new program will be an interview with a knowledgeable guest discussing an inspirational event, person, artifact, practice or place in religious history (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, Feb NASWA Journal via DXLD) Unfortunately Radio Australia isn't running "The Ark", though it is available in Radio National's live stream and is available on demand from the Radio National website. "The Ark" is on the Radio National schedule Wednesdays 2:15 PM, which currently converts to Wednesdays 0315 UT while Australia is on DST. Live RealAudio version is at http://abc.net.au/streaming/RN.ram live WMP version is http://www.abc.net.au/streaming/RN.asx (Richard Cuff, PA, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Frequency change for HCJB in English to S Pac/Au effective from Feb. 2: 0700-1200 NF 11770* (43333) KHX 025 kW / 106 deg, ex 11755 to avoid Radio Finland *co-ch 0700-1000 Voice of Russia WS in Russian (irr.) 0700-1200 China National Radio 2 in Mandarin Chinese 0700-1200 Voice of Nigeria in English/Hausa/English (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria Feb 4 via DXLD) Oops, HCJB frequency management still leaves something to be desired. Possibly all this co-channel on 11770 is less of a problem in Pacific target than Finland was on 11755? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good reception in Bulgaria for HCJB in English to S Asia from Feb. 2: 1230-1730 on 15480 (44554) KHX 100 kW / 307 degrees (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria Feb 4 via DXLD) Dear Glenn, At last, HCJB Australia has started test broadcasts from 29th January 2003. First time heard by me in Chandigarh (North India) at 1305 till abrupt sign off at 1402 UT. On 30th January, again heard at around 1300 till sign off at 1420. They are asking for reception reports over phone no. +61891693565 or email english@hcjb.org.au Signal here is absolutely clear without any interference. Best 73 (Kanwar Sandhu, UNIVERSAL DX LEAGUE, PO Box 1128, Sector 15, Chandigarh 160015, INDIA, Feb 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Emmanuel Granado wrote from Edmonton questioning some of the area channels in my database. He also passed along two web addresses that may be of interest to those DXing Canadian stations. Check out Nelson Media on http://members.shaw.ca/nelsonmedia/ and CDN:TV on http://www.cdntv.cjb.net The latter site offers video clips and network IDs (Doug Smith, TV News, Feb WTFDA VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) ** CHECHNYA [non]. U S A(non): Frequency changes for Radio Liberty in Russian/Avari/Chechen/Cherkessi: 1800-1900 NF 7565 (55544), ex 11930 NF 9840 (45444), ex 12130 \\ 9615 (55444) 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria Feb 4 via DXLD) ** CHINA. Accusing China of jamming all its Voice of America and Radio Free Asia shortwave broadcasts into the PRC, especially Tibet, the Broadcast Board of Governors (BBG) in Washington went in front of Congress in December to press for a concerted effort by the U.S. to end the problem and to obtain equal treatment for US broadcasters operating in China on the same basis as China`s networks widely enjoyed in the US (e-broadcast Asia via Richard Jary, Feb 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6140.58, Radio Melodía, 1118 Jan 31, "Las últimas noticias", talk about President Uribe of Colombia and the ELN guerrilla group, ID at 1131; strong signal, but fading by 1140 (Ralph Brandi, Tinton Falls, NJ, Drake R8, AOR AR-7030 Plus, 250-foot mini- Beverage, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Re Voz de la Resistencia: Anthony, Many thanks for your valuable observations. Hope you will keep us informed on this from your vantage point. Did you mean the broadcast is at 1200, or the warm-up is at 1250 UT? 73, (Glenn to Tony Conte, Feb 1) Ooops! Warmup 1250, newscast promptly at 1300 GMT. Will be glad to keep an eye/ear out for Voz. Traveled to Ecuador in July 2001 and my first night in Guayaquil it boomed in. Subsequent evening became worse and worse. Quito, which I expected to offer a stronger signal was disappointing. I've always found that HF propagates far better on the coast than up in the mountains (Tony Conte, Panamá, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. The station run by Colombia`s Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia [sic] (FARC) --- the narco-guerilla [sic] group largely responsible for that country being in such turmoil --- appears to have resurfaced after a long silence. La Voz de la Resistencia has recently been noted using 6.175 around 1030. Ironically, this is the frequency the station has always announced, even though their transmissions usually floated around the area of 6.250 MHz. Another signal was found on 10.000 upper sideband around 2100. This appears to also be a FARC outlet, but is probably aimed at a different part of Colombia (Gerry L. Dexter, Bandscan America, Feb Shortwave Magazine via DXLD) Dexter manages to write a full page of material without ever mentioning the name of anybody who actually heard and reported the items covered. In this case, there was only a single report of 6175, on one date only, from David Hodgson. If you report an exclusive to the DX world, beware! Dexter will steal it without the minimum courtesy of a credit. As I recall, there was only a single report of 10000-USB as well, by Adán González. Both naturally appearing in DXLD, which Dexter is forbidden to use as a source due to his arrogant rip- off policy. Yet in other pages of SWM, all loggings are carefully credited to each individual who reported them. Why the disparity? He goes on to mention that La Voz de tu Conciencia settled on 6010 but lately has turned up on 6015. Would you believe 6010.5? Yet another single logging is made to appear a regular: R. Nacional de Colombia reactivated on 9635 in the evenings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Some DEUTSCHE TELEKOM (DTK) changes: Bible Voice Broadcasting Network /BVBN/ effective Jan. 27: 0030-0100 9740 NAU 250 kW / 095 deg Mon-Sat to S As Hindi ex 7315 0800-0845 5975 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg M-F to W Eu English ex 0700-0745 1900-1945 6010 JUL 100 kW / 060 deg Mon-Fri to E Eu En/Ru/En ex 5910 IBRA Radio effective from Feb. 1: 0500-0600 9710 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Daily to ME Arabic ex 0500-0530 Brother Stair /TOM/ effective from Jan. 12: 1600-1800 6110 JUL 100 kW / non-dir Daily to WEu English ex Sat only Voice of Hope/High Adventure Ministries effective from Feb. 1: 1400-1530 15775 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Daily SoAs En/Urdu new txion 1530-1630 11905 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Daily ME En/Urdu new txion 1515-1530 9860 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat ME English new txion 1530-1730 9860 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Mon-Fri ME En/Ar/Fa ex Daily 1730-1800 9860 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sun ME English new txion (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria Feb 4 via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. One of these days we may see a new station on the air in Honduras. Radio Bethel, which currently operates from Taujica on 1.160 medium wave, says it would like to add a shortwave facility on 60m (Gerry L. Dexter, Bandscan America, Feb Shortwave Magazine via DXLD) The only source for the HRHZ F.Pl. is Larry Baysinger, Cumbre DX, quoted in DXLD 2-130 way back on August 17, to give you an idea how stale the material in Bandscan America can be. Is he or Cumbre credited for this info? Of course not! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. The BBC World Service has brokered a 30 minute weekly segment on All India Radio's FM1 network to carry "BBC Extra" a lifestyle program. Domestic Radio program sponsorship is also used by other foreign broadcasters serving the Indian market. The BBC is reported to be paying 8000 rupees for each show, which do not carry commercials (e-broadcast Asia via Richard Jary, Feb 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. On December 19, 2002, the US launched Radio Farda, a unique Persian-language radio service designed to give Iranians additional news, information, reports on public affairs, and entertainment. The service is funded by the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors and jointly run by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America. Radio Farda broadcasts around-the-clock on AM 1593 and AM 1539 and digital audio satellite and 21 hours a day on shortwave. While BBG claims audiences like the new station, it replaced Radio Azardi [sic], a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty operation. The Iran authorities see Farda as a propaganda move against them (e-broadcast Asia via Richard Jary, Feb 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Very good reception in Bulgaria for V of Southern Azerbaijan in Azeri on Jan. 29/30: 1630-1700 Wed/Thu on NF 9375 (55544), instead of ann. 9570 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria Feb 4 via DXLD) The very minimum in competence for any SW station or program is the ability to announce its own frequencies correctly (gh, DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. CLANDESTINE from ? to SOUTH ASIA 9890, Sadaye Kashmir (presumed) already with an open carrier at 0208 Feb 5. Rather than a tone or set of tones, I heard a het on 9890 from spurs on 9891 and 9889. These went away when the program started at 0230. I don't recall such a long warm up period from a program coming from the CIS. Tones from the CIS operations I have heard usually go on and off prior to the program starting. Best I have ever heard them but still not too strong. Sounded like the first words out of the woman announcer's mouth were "In the name of God, the merciful and compassionate," the typical Islamic opening. Then a partial ID with the word "Kashmir" heard. Two female announcers were noted, usually just one talking. Mostly music. A bit of a fade by 0300 and didn't seem to switch over to a different language at 0310. Longer block of talk at 0300, some mentions of Pakistan. 0317 perhaps a different language at this point as a male announcer started. Hard to tell as fading pretty good by this point, but I did hear him mention Pakistan several times. Man ended shortly before 0330, woman returned for just a bit and then off at 0330. In Farsi, Sadaye means "voice," I presume that it means the same in Urdu and that the translated name is "Voice of Kashmir." An Internet search found a Pakistan TV program with this name and a weekly magazine that was banned by the Pakistani government last year. I think that it is also worth noting that this program is at the same time as Voice of Jammu and Kashmir Freedom in [if?] the latter's latest published schedule still holds true (Hans Johnson, TX? UT Feb 5, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. Re DXLD 3-019 item from UzReport.com: "KYRGYZ RADIO STATION SALAM TO START BROADCASTS TO UZBEKISTAN" Glenn - I suspect this may be only a new FM frequency re extract from UNICEF below. (Current frequency of R Salam, Batken is 105.0 MHz according to WRTH 2003) From: http://www.unicef.org/programme/highlights/cee/story/radio.htm "....Batken`s youngsters are fortunate enough to have the impetus that Radio Salam`s frequency modulations offer on a daily basis; other young people in more remote parts of the province are denied this for the time being. But UNICEF is now working to raise the necessary funds that would allow the radio's footprint to extend way beyond the current one covering the town and a few of the surrounding villages. The funds will be used to relocate the transmission antenna from its present location in the town to one of the nearby mountains. This would provide the station with coverage of the entire province, as well as enough spill-over into the border regions of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to enable the non-Kyrgyz youth to come together with their peers across the frontiers. This, after all, is what Radio Salam is all about." (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK, Caversham UK, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. RLI presumed on 6100, fair with English talk about church, J.C. at 0706 Feb 4; 5470 R. Veritas was also in with somewhat weaker signal and hardly any modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {6100 was clear of any QRM, however} ** LIBERIA. 5469.98, Radio Veritas, 0720 Feb 4. Relay of VOA's "Daybreak Africa" until 0727, ID "This is Radio Veritas, the Voice of Truth" at 0728, again "Radio Veritas FM is your watchdog on the radio dial", time check for 7:30 (Ralph Brandi, Tinton Falls, NJ, Drake R8, AOR AR-7030 Plus, 250-foot mini-Beverage, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 6100.03, Radio Liberia International, 0731 Feb 4, Afro-pop music, "Program is 'Wake Up Liberia'", anniversary of Episcopal church in Liberia, calypso music, close-down of program at 0801, ID "This is Radio Liberia International, the external service of the Liberia Communications Network" (Ralph Brandi, Tinton Falls, NJ, Drake R8, AOR AR-7030 Plus, 250-foot mini-Beverage, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Southwest DXers FYI -- The last 2 Sunday nights, I've noticed XEPRS-1090 off the air when I checked around 10 pm local time. They seem to come back on before midnight, judging by my tapes from 1080 on those nights. This may be a case of scheduling silent periods so as to avoid running "La Hora Nacional" at 9 pm? I can't get anything but noise and slop with XEPRS off. Mostly KRLD/XEDY on 1080 and KFAX/XENAS on 1100. 73, (Tim Hall, Chula Vista, CA, Feb 4, IRCA via DXLD) I thought LHN was at 0400 UT, or is it 10 pm local also in the western timezones? (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Saludos, grupistas, Como no sabrán sin leer DX Listening Digest, se ha retirado el plan de recortes en RN, para negociar un plan revisado dentro de unos dos meses. Además, oigo decir que escribir en defensa a RN a tantas embajadas, y órganos gubernamentales, bien pueda ser contra-productivo, que RN goza de su independencia de influencia politica... 73, (Glenn Hauser, Feb 3, Conexión Digital via DXLD) De excelentes fuentes vinculadas directamente con la emisora mundial holandesa me permito afirmar que la presión que podamos ejercer sobre órganos públicos y gubernamentales holandeses será esencial para conseguir torcer el rumbo de la decisión tomada. La emisora es pública pero su destino está en manos de las autoridades de los Países Bajos. 73's (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, ibid.) Cuento también con ``excelentes fuentes vinculadas directamente con`` RN (gh) ** NEW ZEALAND. Glenn, As I recall from last year, RNZI will carry much of the National Radio programming on Waitangi Day (which starts later today UT). Here's the National Radio programme schedule: Waitangi Day - Thursday 6 February 2003 [subtract 13 for UT] 12.04 All Night Programme Including: 12.06 Spectrum; (RNZ); 1.05 I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again (BBC); 2.05 Cadenza with Peter Fry; 3.10 The Carving (RNZ); 4.05 Mana Tangata (RNZ); 4.30 Playing Favourites; 5.10 Rourou (RNZ) 6.00 Early Bird 6.15 How the Kiwi Lost its Wings (RNZ) 7.08 Mrs Mafua's Hat (RNZ) 9.06 The Best of Kim Hill RR 10.06 Look Into My Eyes Dr Aric Sigman looks at how hypnosis affects the brain, how it appears to cure certain illnesses and whether anyone can really be hypnotised and made to do anything the hypnotist desires (NNC) 11.05 Schnackenberg of Kawhia An early European family's version of the story of the East Coast from the arrival of Kupe through to the 20th century - recorded in the 1940s (RNZ) 12.35 Off The Wire (RNZ) 1.06 Cadenza with Peter Fry 2.06 The Waitangi Rua Rau Tau Lecture: Encounters & Responses Justice Sir Rodney Gallen presents the inaugural annual lecture in a series aimed at monitoring progress towards a truly celebratory national bicentennial in 2040 3.04 Mahinarangi Tocker - Live in Concert (RNZ) 4.06 Fresh Off the Boat When a Samoan widow`s younger brother comes to New Zealand, a few adjustments need to be made on both sides to overcome cultural differences (RNZ) 5.40 The Night I Got My Tucki The idiosyncrasies of New Zealanders, their sounds and behaviours, seen through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl in Illinois. By Stepanie Johnson (RNZ) 6.07 The Secret Museum The story of how archeologists; unsure how to cope with a large quantity of sexually explicit artifacts, created a secret museum and might now be viewed as the unwitting founders of modern pornography (BBC) 6.45 Storytime (RNZ) 7.07 Drawl and Twang (F) Fed Up to the Back Teeth, featuring Dunedin's incomparable Marcus Turner and the Chaps band (RNZ) 7.30 Bookmarks RR (RNZ) 8.06 Whenua! RR People, issues, music and comment in Aotearoa (RNZ) 9.06 One Planet (BBC) 9.30 Bookshelf Day Out, by Barbara Anderson Three women have some interesting preoccupations as they engage in the ritual of going "over the hill" to visit (RNZ) 9.45 Mana Tangata RR (RNZ) 10.00 News at Ten 10.12 Pinky Pops In Wellington comedian Pinky Agnew spins a few yarns and shares some of the treasures in her biscuit tin (RNZ) 11.06 Pioneering Rhythm & Blues Labels The fourth of a 12-part look at the independent record labels that sprang up in the 1940s and early 50s (RNZ) 73, (Ivan Grishin, Ont., Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Caught this message on the rnzi.com webpage. The internet feed is available (I'm listening to it right now -- but it's only on until 2400) Haere Mai. Welcome! The RNZI short-wave service is off air at the moment due to a power failure. Normal service should resume at 0300 UTC [1600 NZT] 05 February, 2003. (via Ivan Grishin, DXLD) 17675 inaudible at 0450 (gh) ** NEW ZEALAND. RADIO NZ STAFF 'AT BREAKING POINT' From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3099259&thesection=news&thesubsection=general 04.02.2003 By MATHEW DEARNALEY Radio New Zealand news staff are sceptical about a damning consultants' report confirming what they already knew - that they are in despair over budget cuts and associated woes. The report, which the state broadcaster says it commissioned from accountants Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to investigate their concerns, has been presented to them as doubt surrounds the future of managing editor Lynne Snowdon. Pointing to a widespread belief that Radio New Zealand's Auckland and Wellington newsrooms are "at breaking point" and ready to "implode", the report cites high staff frustration and a lack of leadership. This has led to concern within the organisation about a reduced quality of news coverage and increasing mistakes, it says. Ms Snowdon, who has found herself at loggerheads with Radio New Zealand chief executive Sharon Crosbie, remains on extended sick leave despite her employer's expectation at the weekend that she would return yesterday. She could not be reached for comment, but an independent source told the Herald he understood efforts were being made to resolve a dispute between her and the management "through different legal means". Radio New Zealand spokesman John Barr would not comment on a suggestion that Ms Snowdon, who was head-hunted from the British Broadcasting Corporation in the mid-1990s, may sue for constructive dismissal. One insider suggested Ms Crosbie commissioned the report "into so- called problems in the newsrooms" to undermine Ms Snowdon's position, but another said that if this were so it overshot its mark because the top management had to bear responsibility for the findings. Mr Barr said the report was a direct response to staff concerns about staffing levels, career development opportunities and ways of working, and any actions taken over it would be discussed thoroughly with union representatives. Engineers' Union delegate and Radio New Zealand economics editor Brent Edwards would not discuss the Snowdon-Crosbie standoff, but said staff had tried to persuade the management the report would be a pointless exercise. "As soon as we heard there was going to be a report we said: 'Don't do it, it's a waste of money because you ought to know what the problems are'." Mr Edwards said his members resolved yesterday to work with the management on ways to resolve the highlighted difficulties, but only if the exercise was broadened into an examination of how many staff were needed to run a national public news service. The report comes after cost cuts of $225,000 from last year's news budget of $8.1 million resulted in a recall notice being given to Radio New Zealand's only overseas staff correspondent and a temporary reduction in its parliamentary gallery staff from five to four. Mr Barr said news was not the only division faced with budget cuts to cover rising transmission costs. But he acknowledged concern among news staff that the bulk of the most recent Government funding increase to the organisation as a whole, of $889,000 in 2001, went to new feature programmes under a directive of former Broadcasting Minister Marian Hobbs. Some of the money was earmarked for retaining regional news reporters, but staff earning markedly less than in other media organisations are seething over a failure to address high turnover in the main radio newsrooms. Despite the injection, New Zealand On Air's overall allocation of $22.29 million to National Radio and Concert FM remains more than 20 per cent below the $28.05 million Radio New Zealand received in 1990 from the old public broadcasting fee (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Frequency change for Voice of Nigeria - NF 11770*, ex 7255 as follows: 0500-0800 in English 1600-1700 in Arabic 0800-0900 in Hausa 1700-1800 in Fulfulde 0900-1200 in English 1800-2000 in English 1200-1300 in French 2000-2200 in Hausa 1300-1600 in Swahili 2200-2300 in English *co-ch 0500-1200 China National Radio 2 in Mandarin Chinese 0600-1000 Voice of Russia WS in English (irr.) 0700-1200 HCJB AUS in English 1430-1630 VOA in Pashto/Dari 1630-1830 RFE/RL in Pashto/Dari 1830-1900 VOA in Azeri \\ freq 15120 0500-1200 and 1900-2300 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria Feb 4 via DXLD) Not ex-7255 at 0700 as I heard them both Feb 4: Checking 11770 at 0700 Feb 4 for HCJB-Australia, I heard talk in unID language with lo-fi audio. After a few minutes my brain locked into the accent and realized it was English, but hardly Aussie. It was V. of Nigeria as recently reported on this long-inactive frequency, confirmed by \\ 7255, but not audible on 15120, as it sometimes has been even at this late hour. No sign of HCJB --- and no sign of Finland 11755 either. Wonder if VON has three or just two transmitters going now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I tuned to 11770 kHz this morning to check HCJB Australia to the Pacific on their new frequency (ex 11755) and found Voice of Nigeria in English mixing with HCJB on 11770 around 1020 UT. Both stations equal strength (S2) at this time with moderate fading, but by 1045 V of Nigeria was dominant on the frequency. Programming seems to follow schedule on their website http://www.voiceofnigeria.org/ e.g. "Women and Development" at 1030; "Soul Lift" at 1100 etc. Closed at 1158 but no schedule heard and no mention of 11770 on the website, just 15120 and 7255. Not sure if 11770 replaces either 15120 or 7255 (couldn't hear either of these) but presumably is used 0500-1200 (and also 1900- 2300? - will check later). 11770 was listed at the end of 2001 as one of the frequencies to be used by one of the three new 250 kW transmitters commissioned by V of Nigeria (see "The New Voice of Nigeria" on RN's Media Network site at http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/nigeria011101.html but as far as I know, has never been used until now? (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK, Caversham, UK AOR 7030+ / longwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, I can remember when 11770 was active many years ago, but despite constant listing of it on schedules, has just recently reappeared. This was reported as early as Jan 9 in DXLD 3-018, by Schulze in Philippines, UT evening. It`s supposedly for C & S Africa, so wonder what the azimuth really be. In our afternoons, will be yet another problem for XERMX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGESTS) Interesting! They have announced this one for years, but I don't think have actually used it for quite some time. My records show I QSL'd it for reception on 20/3/78 at 0635 UT (Craig Seager, Australia, ARDXC via DXLD) 11770, 0603 Feb 4, V. of Nigeria, poor-fair signal in English with news. Ex-15120 and in // with weaker 7255 (Paul Ormandy, New Zealand, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I tuned into Nigeria today and heard their 2200 UT ID in English where they announced broadcasting on 7255, 11770, and 15120 kHz to different areas. I could hear 11770 and 7255 only. 15120 had a strong signal covering it (Chuck Bolland, FL, Feb 5, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. One might hope that KOMA`s new format would lead to something more objective than Roy Masters, but he`s still on, noted closing at 0700 Feb 4. Now, how about Brother Scare? (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Subject: KOMA 1520 Tribute Program Kent, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you (and your great airstaff) for the incredible job that you've done over the years in keeping music (and especially the oldies format) alive on AM as long as you did. I moved to this part of the US a little over five years ago and KOMA-AM kept me company thru many nights on the road! Being in radio myself, I understand the decision to flip the AM to the new format early was an easy one given the magnitude of the Columbia disaster - it was indeed a news story for the history books. It did, however, deprive those who are classified as AM "DXERS" a chance to hear the history of KOMA that you had promoted so well. Was this recorded for posterity and is there any chance of getting a tape of it? Do you know anyone in the area who may have recorded it? I'll be traveling thru OKC later this year and will be looking forward to listening to KOMA again - this time on the FM side. Thanks again for sticking with almost full-time music on AM for all these years!! Sincerely, (Mark Erdman, Herington/Salina KS, Feb 3, to KOMA via NRC- AM via DXLD) For those who had really wanted to hear the tribute program that was to air on KOMA over the weekend, this response from their PD puts it all in the proper perspective. At least the airchecks are where everyone can hear them!! (Mark Erdman, Herington/Salina KS, ibid.) Hi Mark, Thanks for your sentiments. It was unfortunate that the Columbia tragedy caused us to change format early. The plan was to change the format on Feb. 3rd. So the tribute did not air. But a collection of the airchecks is posted at the following link: http://www.live365.com/stations/174431 Enjoy! And thanks for being a constant fan of 1520. I appreciate your understanding of the change. It was not easy to do. We are all fans of the glory days of AM radio and it was fun to relive it on KOMA-AM. But as things always change, we look forward to a new era for 1520. We intend to keep the station respected regardless of format. Best regards, (Kent Jones, Program Director, KOMA Radio, http://www.komaradio.com thegoodguys@komaradio.com via Erdman, ibid.) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Wantok, Radio Light 93FM, the country`s first Christian Broadcasting network hopes to raise 200,000 Kina to start a SW station in March this year. Late last year, the station also set up an agreement with state broadcaster, NBC to carry its 7 am and 7 pm news bulletins for its 300,000 strong audience (e-broadcast Asia via Richard Jary, Feb 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Additional changes for RDP Internacional-Rádio Portugal: to Europe Mon-Fri 0900-1057 on 11875 LIS 300 45œ retimed, ex 0900-1300 1100-1300 NF 15140 LIS 300 45œ ex 11875 2000–2400 NF 9880 LIS 300 45œ ex 11 860 (special broadcasts only) Full updated schedule for RDP Internacional-Rádio Portugal in next OBSERVER #241 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria Feb 4 via DXLD) ** PUERTO RICO. Just to let everyone know, the WBMJ/WIVV tests DID run, according to the Bert Johnson, Operations Manager at WBMJ-WIVV. He is anxious to hear from anyone who might have tried or heard the tests. You can reach him at bjohnson [at] cem-wbmj.org (Lynn Hollerman, Lafayette, LA, IRCA via DXLD) ** SAO TOME. SÃO TOMÉ. The VOA 600 kW transmitter on 1530 is currently using a non-directional pattern which may give more radiation toward the US than the usual directional mode. They should be in this mode for the next few weeks. Daily at 0300-0530, 0600-0630, 1600-1800 and 1830-2200; 0530-0600, 1800-1830, 2200-2230 Mon-Fri; and 0630-0700 Sat-Sun, English, Portuguese, Hausa, French (Jerry Berg, DX-plorer, via Harold Sellers, Newmarket, Ontario, Feb 4, ODXA via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. AL-JAZIRAH TV VIEWS ROLE OF SA`UDI OPPOSITION RADIO STATION | Text of report by Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV on 31 January [Part of an Islamic song that says Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem are pained by the injustice done to Muslims] With such songs, Sawt al- Islah [Voice of Reform] radio started its transmission from London via satellites and on shortwave. The radio, which is considered the mouthpiece of the Saudi opposition Movement for Islamic Reform [in Arabia - MIRA], broadcasts talk shows and analytical programmes. It also provides direct and live contacts with listeners in Saudi Arabia. Supervisors of the project hope it will succeed in attaining the goals of their movement. [Sa'd al-Faqih, head of MIRA - recording] The idea is not new. It may have been a good thing that it was delayed, because it now feels closer to the sensitive conditions in the country [Saudi Arabia]. Everybody is now talking about major crises inside the country. There are also major regional and international crises. All calculations and futuristic studies are talking about very hard difficulties facing the regime and the society in general. There is a likelihood of chaos in the country due to these challenges. It is good that we have reached the point of being able talk to the public at this time in particular and provide this tool to direct the public and tell them what they should do. [End of recording] While some Saudis in London try to monitor the radio, some observers doubt its ability to influence the political conditions inside the Kingdom, especially since it started at the time when the Kingdom and all its key figures and institutions are facing a fierce onslaught from the West. Many opposition figures inside the country joined ranks to maintain the cohesion of the home front. However, managers of the project believe otherwise. [Sa'd al-Faqih - recording] They want to join ranks behind those who want to surrender the entire country, their religion, identity and culture to the enemy. This is not called joining ranks. [End of recording] Al-Jazeera Television tried to obtain an official comment. It contacted the Saudi embassy in London. Despite repeated attempts, we have not been able to get any reply. Source: Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 1130 gmt 31 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SERBIA-MONTENEGRO. See YUGOSLAVIA [non] ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5019.9, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation 1226 Jan 31, music program "Sound Quality", // 9580 Radio Australia with delay of about 1 second, ID for Radio Australia at 1300, into RA News, then "The Planet"; airing RA instead of BBC today during overnight hours; still listenable an hour and a half past local sunrise here (1207 UT) (Ralph Brandi, Tinton Falls, NJ, Drake R8, AOR AR-7030 Plus, 250-foot mini-Beverage, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** UKRAINE [non]. RFE/RL will begin using 3980 kHz via Biblis, Germany, for the evening Ukrainian broadcast from February 10. 1800-2000 Daily ADD 3980 (ex 6170) 2000-2100 SU-FR ADD 3980 (ex 6170) (Dan Ferguson via SWBC@topica.com mail list Feb 4 via DXLD) ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE HIGHLIGHTS Fridays, 0130 UT: Because he`s been part of the BBC schedule since the 1960s, John Peel is regularly taken for granted. Peel has long championed innovative popular music talent from around the world, and his show is a fixture in the arts programming of the World Service. Thursdays, 0206 UT, beginning February 6th, repeated Fridays, 1506: In the three-part series titled Technology in South America, Discovery takes a look at Brazil, the most successful South American nation in its implementation of science and technology. The picture isn`t 100% rosy, as conflicts have developed over areas including genetically modified crops and generic pharmaceuticals. Saturdays, 1330 UT, February 8th and 15th: Andy Kershaw visits Timbuktu in West Africa to take part in Desert Blues, one of the world`s oldest music festivals. In the last few years, the festival has grown beyond its local roots and, this year, features the legendary Malian singer Ali Fanka Touré. Sunday, 0001 UT, February 9th: Play of the Week presents a special 90- minute installment featuring a play currently in its run from London`s West End --- second only to New York`s Broadway for English language dramatic production. As of this date, the title to be featured has not been posted on the World Service website. All Plays of the Week are available for on-demand listening for the week following the live airing, if you can`t be at your radio on Saturday evenings. Saturdays, 0406 UT, beginning February 15th: I`m Sorry I Haven`t a Clue, one of the most popular light entertainment shows on BBC Radio 4, makes its World Service debut after 30 years on the domestic service. The chairman/moderator, jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lytelton, gives four comedians silly things to do. Examples include singing one familiar song to the tune of another, giving misleading advice to visitors to Britain, a playing the game Morning Crescent – whose rules are a closely guarded secret and are subject to mysterious fluctuation. Fridays, 0230 UT, beginning February 21st, repeated Mondays, 1530: A Fresh Start for Africa is a new three-part 30-minute documentary series looking at the New African Initiative – a continent-wide development plan recently drawn up by African leaders. The program looks at the recent history of Africa since the independence movements of the 1950s and 1960s, the regional conflicts, and a guardedly optimistic viewpoint arising on the continent. Mondays-Fridays, 1345 UT, repeated Tuesdays-Saturdays, 0445: Off The Shelf features the first batch of winners from the World Service Short Story Competition during the week beginning February 24th. The first week`s stories hail from Connecticut, Vanuatu, South Africa, New Zealand and Italy. Wednesdays, 1406 UT, repeated Thursdays, 0106, beginning February 26th: Meridian Writing begins another World Book Club series, featuring Doris Lessing and her classic first novel The Grass Is Singing. Lessing was born in Persia (now Iran), moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and later moved to England. March`s feature is Jung Chang`s international bestseller Wild Swans, and you can send in questions for Chang (presuming you`ve read the book) to meridian.writing@bbc.co.uk or via mail to the usual Bush House address. Thursday, February 27th, 0230 UT, repeated Friday, 1530 UT: Sports International takes a look at the upcoming 2003 Formula One auto racing season. Like other international sports, Formula One gets little air time on domestic US stations – here`s one way to get a jump start on the year ahead. Saturdays, 0230 UT, beginning March 1st, repeated Tuesdays, 1530: The Giving Game is a four-part 30-minute documentary series looking at the growth of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) since World War II. There are now 40,000 international NGOs and millions of local initiatives. Their roots, and the reasons for their growth, are explored (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, Feb NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** U K. THE MEDIA COLUMN: THE BBC MUST ADMIT THAT IT HAS DONE WRONG ON A HUGE SCALE --- By Tim Luckhurst, 04 February 2003 There were people in London in the 1930s who believed that John Reith, the director general of the BBC, was a megalomaniacal lunatic. The postmaster general did. Ramsay MacDonald and Stanley Baldwin had their suspicions. But, as the cabinet papers on the abdication of Edward VIII have revealed, Reith proved entirely trustworthy when constitutional crisis came. The King wanted to do an unauthorised radio broadcast to the nation. Backed by his friend Winston Churchill, he was all set to stake his empire on a direct appeal to the people over the heads of ministers. As we now know, Baldwin vetoed that. When cabinet colleagues fretted that the king would go straight to Broadcasting House, the Prime Minister was confident. Reith was on side. He would not permit it. Would Greg Dyke have respected constitutional principle? There are people throughout Britain in the Noughties who doubt it. Consider the ratings opportunity: a monarch speaking exclusively to the BBC about sex and power would leave commercial stations viewer-free. Plugged relentlessly and presented by Jeremy Vine, it would screw the competition completely. Add repeats on News 24, and analysis on BBC4, and BBC Digital would outperform Sky Sports. Dyke would be more likely to ask if King Charles could speak at the same time as Arsenal vs Man United, and whether he would bring Camilla, too. Too cynical? In the first month of 2003, Barry Cox called the BBC a "cultural tyranny" and suggested that it should be funded by subscription. The Labour MP Derek Wyatt declared the corporation to be "in terminal decline" and suggested that it should be split up. Jonathan Dimbleby questioned whether the licence fee is still justified. So did Jeremy Isaacs. A New Statesman front page demanded that the Government "Kill the Licence Fee", and had a columnist describe it as a "poll tax that picks the pockets of the poor to fund the pleasures of the better-off". That is the view of the Opposition, too. And, to make it all official, the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, ordered the most comprehensive review of the BBC's remit since the Peacock report of 1986. She made it plain that the BBC's funding mechanism will be "tested to destruction". Granted, 1986 is not so long ago. To a casual observer, we have been here before and under less ruthlessly competitive leadership than Dyke's. But that is wrong. What was once the ideological perspective of the Thatcherite right has become the consensus. This is worse than the relationship between Harold Wilson and BBC News. It makes Tory fury over even-handed coverage of the Suez crisis look trivial. Dyke's BBC is under assault from sectors of opinion that have traditionally defended it. Of course, self-interest is involved. Commercial broadcasters resent the BBC's expansion into digital. ITV reviles the populist scheduling that has cut its share. But even in Broadcasting House, there is awareness that the BBC is losing the argument. Gavyn Davies worries about dumbing-down. Executives understand that renewal of the charter in 2006 is less certain than ever. This is a critical time in the history of the BBC. To survive as a global standard-setter, it's going to have to do something that has been anathema since Reith's day: to admit it has done wrong on an unprecedented scale. Dyke will deny it, but, from right to left, it is now accepted truth that his BBC has expanded into market sectors in which it has no business. Worse, that this commercialism has been exercised at the expense of licence-payers, many of whom don't want the new services for which they pay, and to the detriment of mainstream quality. It doesn't look good for the BBC to announce redundancies in news and current affairs as war looms. The case for a licence fee remains strong. Neither ITV nor Rupert Murdoch really wants the BBC touting for revenue in an already depressed, fragmented market. But they, with politicians and licence-payers, have decided that they do not want a BBC that seeks to dominate the airwaves, instead of strengthening them with a core of excellence. Dyke has made it plain that he intends to serve a second term. But in Parliament and among the public, the view is growing that the director general's strategy is a barrier to renewal of the licence fee. Like Edward VIII, he may need to be persuaded that the survival of an institution he claims to love is incompatible with his own ambitions (Independent Digital via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U K [non]. India: UK-based, Christian Voice International, in November launched a daily three-hour shortwave service in Hindi to India using World Radio Network (WRN) transmissions from its studios in West Bromwich, England (e-broadcast Asia via Richard Jary, Feb 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. BBCM quotes much of the BBG material in DXLD 3-019 and adds some analytical remarx: ANALYSIS: USA ENLISTS COLD WAR STATIONS FOR ANTI-TERROR WAR | Text of editorial analysis by BBC Monitoring's Foreign Media Unit on 4 February In the most significant set of changes to US external broadcasting ever seen, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all non-military US international broadcasting, is redirecting efforts from eastern Europe to the Middle East and Indonesia. It is adding new TV and radio output to its new key target areas. It has given details of its 2004 budget request to Congress. According to a BBG press release, "the president is asking for an appropriation of 563.5m dollars - a 9.5 per cent per cent increase" over the 2003 budget request. (AFP news agency puts the increase at 11.1 per cent over the 2003 budget of 507m dollars.) The BBG release states that programming increases are targeted at the Middle East and southeast Asia "to bolster efforts in the war on terrorism". ... As the US seeks new means by which to air its message and to circumvent regional media which resist or decline to accept US- supplied programming or paid advertising, it accepts that the role of surrogate media is largely complete in Europe. The BBG continues to expediently adapt the external media mix under its control to reflect US foreign policy as closely as possible. Source: BBC Monitoring research 4 Feb 03 (via DXLD) CZECH-BASED US RADIO FACES CUTS | Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Washington, 4 February: The proposed 2004 US budget calls for a reduction in funding for Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) causing the layoff of 46 people out of a total of about 600 RFE/RL employees in the Czech Republic. The reduction of 8.8m dollars deals with the broadcasts of RFE/RL and the Voice of America (VOA). RFE/RL will cease to broadcast in Slovenian, Latvian, Estonian, Croatian and Bulgarian. The VOA will cease to broadcast in Czech, among other languages, the US government reported on its web pages. The budget proposal, presented to Congress by President George W. Bush recently does, however, call for an increase of broadcasting to the Middle East and Asia. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1725 gmt 4 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) It`s pretty clear that VOA and RFE are being phased out by the BBG, which has been adding expensive staff such as budget analysts. The stations did their job in the Cold War, and now only certain `strategic` languages in the War On Terrorism matter. Thank you, and goodbye. There is even some pressure to make international broadcasting an explicit component of Homeland Security. This started under previous VOA Director Sandy Ungar and continues apace. Needed improvements have not been made, e.g. the outmoded newsroom is still in use, despite plans years ago to modernize it. The Smith-Mundt act, prohibiting VOA from broadcasting domestically, and consequently missing the support of the American people, most of whom do not realize they have a stake in it, hampers VOA from gaining public support. One Member of Congress remarked, ``we`re taking it apart``, tho s/he does not favor this. Some VOA staff fear that even English broadcasts will ultimately be eliminated. Many others are just trying to hang on until retirement (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) EDITORIAL: BEING WISE AFTER THE EVENT I admit it --- I'm old enough to remember the Cold War, and all that went with it. If you didn't hear lots of jamming when you tuned across the shortwave bands, you knew there was an ionospheric disturbance in progress. It was said that the Soviet Union spent more on jamming western broadcasts than the Voice of America spent producing them. But at least life was predictable back then. You more or less knew how the USSR was going to react to any international event. We now live in far less certain times. As recently as two years ago, the priorities reflected in the 2004 budget request for US international broadcasting would probably have been different. The world had heard of Osama bin Laden, but nobody imagined him capable of masterminding the atrocities that happened on 11 September 2001. For Cold War, read War on Terrorism. For USSR, read Middle East and Asia. We're back in the familiar scenario where international broadcasting, especially from Washington, has an overtly political role. It's interesting that the media in the US now regularly refer to the international broadcasting efforts of the Bush administration as 'propaganda'. Back in the days of the Cold War, propaganda was something produced by the 'bad guys'. The US, through Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, ran what were termed 'surrogate domestic services' for countries where the media was closely controlled by the authorities. But, according to the Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the fact that these countries are now democracies means they're not needed any more. Chairman Tomlinson writes that "the goal these services struggled and sacrificed for has been achieved, and they [the broadcasters] should take great pride in the role they played in this historic mission." Proud they may be, but an unemployed journalist needs more than pride to pay his mortgage. On a much smaller scale, the same kind of discussions are going on at Radio Netherlands, where efforts are being made to lessen the impact of planned changes on the personnel. Gone are the days when a job with an international broadcaster was a job for life. All of us must now face up to the fact that the world is far more volatile, and what's important today might be less so this time next year. We could simply rest on our laurels and boast about the awards we've won, while the rest of the world moves on. But we could hardly expect the Dutch taxpayer to finance such indulgences. The loss of specialist journalists is a blow to any international broadcaster, whatever its size. With every journalist who leaves, you lose years of accumulated knowledge and experience that can no longer be used to the benefit of the organisation. People don't produce programmes in a vacuum, they share ideas with each other. In retrospect, it was unfortunate that the 1994 reorganisation at Radio Netherlands eliminated our Arabic service. But we could not have foreseen then what would happen 7 years later. It remains to be seen whether the BBG's decision to eliminate 9 languages, all from the same area of the world, will turn out to be the right one. Of course, if it isn't, we won't know until it's too late. Andy Sennitt, Feb 4 This editorial represents the opinions of the writer, not those of Radio Netherlands. http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features_archive/html/030204.html (via DXLD) ** U S A. BUSH'S BUDGET BACKS MIDDLE EAST TV NETWORK By Pamela McClintock http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=597&u=/nm/20030204/tv_nm/television_mideast_dc&printer=1 WASHINGTON (Variety) --- President Bush on Monday threw his support behind an American-style Arab TV network that would replace traditional propaganda tools such as the staid Voice of America radio network with the latest in music and news. In his proposed budget for 2004, Bush set aside $30 million for the Middle East Television Network. The money goes to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which supervises the U.S.` nonmilitary international broadcast services, including VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The allocation was a major victory for radio mogul Norman Pattiz, a member of the BBG. Pattiz, the former Westwood One chairman who was appointed to the BBG by President Bill Clinton, has held numerous meetings in recent months with White House officials and Capitol Hill solons trying to raise support for the Arabic satellite network. "Now that we know we are in the president's budget and that chances are good this funding will be supported by Congress, we can start doing the research and lining up the programming. It puts us in a position where we've become real and not just an idea," Pattiz told Daily Variety. $30 MIL MORE NEEDED Pattiz estimated the BBG needs another $30 million to get the network up and running. He and the other governors will continue to press Congress for supplemental funding in the coming weeks. Late last year, a number of TV executives met with Pattiz in Los Angeles to throw around ideas for the Middle East Radio Net. "Hollywood and the creative community are well aware of what we are attempting to do," Pattiz said, namely, reach out to younger Arab audiences and try to promote the American side of the story. The BBG began doing that on the radio side with last year's launch of Radio Sawa, a music and news network. Pattiz played a key role in developing Sawa's format and securing funding. Not everyone in the media biz was enthusiastic about President Bush's proposed $2.23 trillion budget, which now goes to Capitol Hill for approval. Final budget takes effect Oct. 1, the beginning of the fiscal year. NO INCREASE FOR CPB President Bush recommended no increase in funding for the Corp. of Public Broadcasting (CPB), which distributes money to public radio and TV stations, and no special allocation of funds for the digital TV transition. Public broadcasters say the president's $380 million allocation actually represents a decrease, since he is suggesting the CPB use up to $100 million of the total funding for its digital transition. In each of the past couple of years, public broadcasters have received between $20 million and $25 million specifically for the digital conversion. "For 35 years, public broadcasters have met the federal mandate of providing universal service, meaning that every community in America has access to a wealth of independent, noncommercial programming and educational resources, as well as local services that are highly valued by their citizens. This service is deeply threatened by this budget proposal, as is CPB's investment in new national programming for TV and radio," read a statement signed by CPB president-CEO Robert Coonrod, PBS president-CEO Pat Mitchell, National Public Radio president-CEO Kevin Klose and Assn. of Public TV Stations president- CEO John Lawson. TAKING CASE FURTHER The public broadcasters said they would take their case to Capitol Hill, urging lawmakers to restore funding for the costly digital TV transition. Bush didn't snub either the National Endowment for the Humanities or the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA supports projects aimed at enriching the nation's cultural heritage. Bush set aside $117 million for the NEA, a slight increase from 2003. The NEH would receive a total of $152 million, with $25 million going to expanding the "We the People" initiative, designed to "promote the study of our nation's history, institutions and culture," according to the budget. Bush set the budget for the Federal Communications Commission at $281 million and once again called for broadcasters to pay taxes on unused spectrum. Clinton, too, suggested such a tax, but Congress has stiffly resisted such proposals. Bush proposes the FCC collect annual lease fees totaling $500 million for the use of analog spectrum by commercial broadcasters beginning in 2007. Individual broadcasters returning their analog spectrum would be exempt from the fee (via Brock Whaley Feb. 4, 2003, DXLD) ** U S A. Yet another new US religious broadcaster has been heard testing. This one is KIMF in Pinon [sic], New Mexico, operated by the International Fellowship of Churches. It`s probably fully active by now, with an initial schedule having it on 5.835 from 0000 to 1800 and 11.855 [sic] from 1800-0000. Mail goes to: International Fellowship of Churches, KIMF Radio, 9746 6th St., Rancho Cucamonga, CA 97130 (Gerry L. Dexter, Bandscan America, Feb Shortwave Magazine via DXLD) This is nonsense. No one has ever reported hearing it. The planned schedule merely emerged a few months ago when this was written, and it`s 11.885. BTW, if and when active on 5835, it will be overshadowed by super-splatter WEWN on 5825. Dexter also mentions WBOH 5920 and assumes it will be active by the time we read this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 26 MHZ IFB SIGNALS HEARD IN 2002 These are signals from cueing and monitoring devices at work in TV and radio stations. IFB (Interruptible Feed-Back) equipment plays back the station's normal audio feed and superimposes the studio controller's voice when required. Most IFB transmitters put out a 1 Watt signal. Those marked * are licensed for up to 100 Watts. Freq MHz Signal Origin No. of Hearings 25.870* WFLA (970 kHz) Tampa FL many 25.950* KGON (92.3 MHz) Portland OR 5 26.100 WIS (Ch10) Columbia SC 1 26.100 KRIV (Ch26) Houston TX 1 26.100 WREG-TV (Ch3) Memphis TN 2 26.100 U of T Ftb Net Tulsa OK 1 26.150 WSB-TV (Ch2) Atlanta GA 4 26.150 KOLN (Ch10) Lincoln NE 3 26.150 KARE (Ch11) Minneapolis MN 2 26.150 KWTX-TV (Ch10) Waco TX 1 26.200 WGCL (Ch46) Atlanta 1 26.200 KSHB-TV (Ch41) Kansas City MO 1 26.200 CJAD (800 kHz) Montreal 5 26.200 WTSP (Ch10) St Petersburg FL 1 26.200 WBMA (Ch33) Tuscaloosa AL 1 26.250 WVTM-TV (Ch13) Birmingham AL 1 26.250 KPRC-TV (Ch2) Houston TX 1 26.250 WISH-TV (Ch8) Indianapolis IN 1 26.250 WKXT-TV (Ch8) Knoxville TN 1 26.250 WESH (Ch2) Orlando FL 1 26.300 WGCL (Ch46) Atlanta GA 4 26.300 WTLX (Ch19) Columbia SC 1 26.300 WHBQ-TV (Ch13) Memphis TN 2 26.350 WSMV-TV (Ch4) Nashville TN 2 26.350 WTSP (Ch10) St Petersburg FL 2 26.400 KSBH-TV (Ch41) Kansas City MO 2 26.430 WDAF-TV (Ch4) Kansas City MO many 26.450 WBRC-TV (Ch6) Birmingham AL 1 26.450 KCRG-TV (Ch9) Cedar Rapids IA 1 26.450 KFXA (Ch28) Cedar Rapids IA 1 26.450* WLW (700 kHz) Cincinnati OH many 26.450 KCNC-TV (Ch4) Denver CO 1 26.450 KUSA-TV (Ch9) Denver CO 2 26.450 KMGH-TV (Ch7) Denver CO 2 26.450 WJXT (Ch4) Jacksonville FL 4 26.450 WHAS-TV (Ch11) Louisville KY 1 26.450 WECT (Ch6) Wilmington NC 1 All heard by Alan Roberts in St Lambert QC. (25 Plus, Jan CIDX Messenger via Sheldon Harvey, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. BACK TO THE BORDER In order to set the stage for a `hot` new story, a trip back to TV TIME TUNNEL in the July 1989 VUD will be helpful. Away we go! INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE This unusual chain of events began in 1961 when KCND-TV began telecasting on channel 12 in Pembina, ND, with a primary objective of drawing advertising dollars out of the half-million plus Winnipeg market (which had more people than the entire state to which KCND-TV was licensed). The tower was situated just south of the US/Canada border 55 miles due south of Winnipeg and one of the tower guy lines was anchored just a few *feet* away from Canadian soil. Thanks to tabletop flat terrain, the station put a good signal into the Metro Winnipeg area. KCND-TV was an independent, but did manage one major coup d`état! They carried the ``Tonight Show With Johnny Carson`` --- never before seen in Winnipeg. After ten years on the air, a lot of red ink, and some bad breaks regarding Canadian advertising, the channel went dark and remained off the air for better than 10 years. Shortly after KCND-TV bit the dust, CKND-TV (note the similarity in call letters) went on the air in Winnipeg. Meanwhile, the ex-KCND-TV tower remained in place at the border; tower lights blinking but no signal being transmitted --- for another 10 years! Eventually the tower (which was part of the KCND/CKND deal) was dismantled and shortly afterward re-assembled at Minnedosa, MB, where it serves as the `stick` for CKND-2, a re-broadcaster of CKND 9 in Winnipeg. The final chapter in this bizarre affair is that after being dark for so many years, channel 12 in Pembina has been reactivated and is now KNRR-TV, a satellite of KVRR-TV in Fargo. There`s a new tower at almost the exact location of the former KCND structure. There is also a new Winnipeg reception problem in the form of adjacent channel interference from CHMI-TV (13) with transmitter near Elie, MB; about 25 miles west of downtown Winnipeg. NOW --- THE ``HOT`` UPDATE! When KCND cranked up in 1961 the skimpy studio/office building was at the edge of the village of Pembina, and just a couple of blocks east of Interstate 29. The transmitter was about 10 miles west. The station went on the air in the fall, and experienced a relatively trouble-free startup. In mid-summer of the first full year of operation a problem cropped up. On very hot days, something happened to the KCND-TV video. ``Sparkles`` and occasional dropouts would begin at about 1 or 2 PM, worsen, and then begin to disappear about 8 or 9 PM. Remember, it can get mighty hot up there. 100+ isn't uncommon --- and along the 49th parallel, the sun doesn't set until after 10 PM. After a good bit of head-scratching, some sharp engineer locked onto the problem. Heat rising from the concrete surface of fourlane Interstate Highway 29 was creating inversions that were deflecting the STL signal and causing the dropouts. The microwave path was only 15 feet above the road surface. The problem was solved by building a lightweight 50 foot tower beside the studio building, and moving the STL transmit dish up to the top of it from the roof of the one story studio building. Amazing stuff; surely too good to be forgotten! [caption] This off-the-air photo of the KCND-TV test pattern reveals what may have been one of the crudest lettering jobs in circular test pattern history. It looks like the call letters and number were sketched onto the pattern template with a `magic marker`. (Tom Bryant, TV Time Tunnel, Feb WTFDA VHF-UHF Digests via DXLD) ** U S A. A wish list: I note that KVBC-DT-2 is now on the air in Las Vegas. If there's one I'm looking for on skip to log here, that is probably it. Other interesting targets for skip that NAB claims to be on air include: WBBM-DT-3 in Chicago WKYC-DT-2 in Cleveland WWMT-DT-2 in Grand Rapids WHP-DT-4 in Harrisburg PA WMAZ-DT-4 in Macon, GA KTVM-DT-2 in Butte, MT That's seven skip targets out there for any DTV DXer to be looking out for when skip fires up. Some of them strike me as very promising targets, free from nearby alternate signals (e.g., Macon, Butte and Harrisburg)... I think we'll learn a lot in 2003 about what is possible when it comes to skip. I fully expect at least one of us to log DTV skip in the next year. How hard will it be to get it to stay in long enough to lock? We'll see. Heck, a number of us, myself included, have seen the DTV snow of WKYC -DT via skip --- but I didn't have the DTV card installed yet. A closing thought: I look forward to the possibility of logging them - -- and there are more potentially that will be on air with those. In a way it's comparable to the pioneering efforts of earlier DXers on various other bands. We'll be the ones who will find out what is possible. Imagine if there was a massive skip opening and multiple DTV signals came in at once --- could we get instantaneous IDs on our skip, similar to RDS/XDS? The future may have some neat stuff for DXers! And while I certainly enjoy DX the way we've known it for years, I see that DTV is certainly a DX-able signal, and one I'll continue DXing! (Matt Sittel, NE, Feb WTFDA VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) I know many DXers are lamenting the high cost of DXing DTV. (They really shouldn`t. Hauppauge DTV tuner cards are now available on eBay for under $250, and DTV `set-top boxes` can now be had at Circuit City and similar stores for similar prices. The set-top boxes can be connected to regular analog TVs. (possibly through an inexpensive Radio Shack `RF modulator` if there isn`t already a video input jack) Many models will also allow you to connect a VGA computer monitor. Anyway, Bill has found a way of getting into DTV DX that`s even cheaper. Indeed, free. Provided you`re lucky. (So far, Bill isn`t.) The DTV stations in Green Bay have been running contests to give away digital TVs. Bill has been making a serious effort at winning a DTV from one of his locals. This has happened in other markets; give it a try! (Doug Smith, TV News, Feb WTFDA VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) ** U S A. FCC Experimental FM License FCC GRANTS "EXPERIMENTAL FM APPLICATION" FOR SUPER BOWL The first item under the heading of "Local Items from the FCC" in this newsletter shows that the FCC has granted an experimental authorization on 93.7 MHz for Global Radio, Inc. in San Diego. However, an inspection of the actual paper grant shows that the applicant had requested to use six frequencies in conjunction with San Diego's Super Bowl - 89.1, 92.9, 93.7, 96.9, 104.1 and 106.9 MHz - and that the FCC permitted it to use two - 93.7 and 96.9 MHz. "Event broadcasting stations" such as these are not ordinarily permitted by the Commission, so it is unclear why the FCC made an exception in this case. It is also unclear why the Commission allowed operations to occur on channels (93.7 and 96.9 MHz) that were second adjacent to existing San Diego County FM stations on 93.3, 94.1, 96.5 and 97.3 MHz. Are second adjacent concerns no longer important? The Global grant is disturbing in that it comes on the heels of an unrelated case where an alleged pirate operator was issued experimental authority by the Commission, and the added facts that the San Diego application described herein was not publicly announced until AFTER the Super Bowl, and a copy of the grant was only available in paper form, making it difficult to review. In short, the whole experimental grant process needs to be revised and brought into the daylight so we can all see what is being proposed - and have an opportunity to comment - long before a grant is issued. Finally, an informal report reaching our office indicates that Global's Super Bowl operations allegedly took place on all six frequencies requested, not just the two that were granted. The FCC has indicated that it is investigating. At least the call sign of the San Diego operation is easy to remember: It's WN3XFL, and just happens to rhyme with NFL. We understand that an experimental FM system was also authorized at the New Orleans Super Bowl in 2002, so a pattern is emerging (From CGC Communicator via Fred Vobbe, NRC FMTV via DXLD) What powers are involved? More than Part 15, apparently (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 ) In the Matter of ) ) File No.: EB-02-TP-463 Ian R. Walker ) NAL/Acct. No. 200332700006 458 Arlington Road ) FRN 0007-7679-73 Jacksonville, Florida ) FORFEITURE ORDER Adopted: January 29, 2003 Released: January 31, 2003 By the Chief, Enforcement Bureau: 1. In this Forfeiture Order (``Order``), we issue a monetary forfeiture in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to Ian R. Walker, for willful violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (``Act``). The noted violation involves Mr. Walker`s operation of a radio station on the frequency of 95.5 MHz without Commission authorization. 2. On November 5, 2002, the District Director of the Commission's Tampa, Florida Field Office (``Tampa Office``) issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (``NAL``) in the amount of $10,000 to Mr. Walker. Mr. Walker has not filed a response to the NAL. Based on the information before us, we affirm the forfeiture. 3. ACCORDINGLY, IT IS ORDERED THAT, pursuant to Section 503(b) of the Act, and Sections 0.111, 0.311 and 1.80(f)(4) of the Commission's Rules (``Rules``), Ian R. Walker IS LIABLE FOR A MONETARY FORFEITURE in the amount of $10,000 for willfully violating Section 301 of the Act. 4. Payment of the forfeiture shall be made in the manner provided for in Section 1.80 of the Rules within 30 days of the release of this Order. If the forfeiture is not paid within the period specified, the case may be referred to the Department of Justice for collection pursuant to Section 504(a) of the Act. 5. Payment shall be made by mailing a check or similar instrument, payable to the order of the ``Federal Communications Commission,`` to the Federal Communications Commission, P.O. Box 73482, Chicago, Illinois 60673-7482. The payment should note NAL/Acct. No. 200332700006, and FRN 0007-7679-73. Requests for full payment under an installment plan should be sent to: Chief, Revenue and Receivables Operations Group, 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554. 6. 1 47 U.S.C. § 301. 2 Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, NAL/Acct. No. 200332700006 (Enf. Bur., Tampa Office, released November 5, 2002). 3 47 U.S.C. § 503(b). 4 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.311, 1.80(f)(4). 5 47 U.S.C. § 504(a). 6 See 47 C.F.R. § 1.1914. Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 ) In the Matter of ) ) File No.: EB-02-TP-260 Josue Alusma ) NAL/Acct. No. 200232700022 4301 Rose Ave., #B ) FRN 0007-4959-97 Naples, Florida ) FORFEITURE ORDER Adopted: January 29, 2003 Released: January 31, 2003 By the Chief, Enforcement Bureau: 1. In this Forfeiture Order (``Order``), we issue a monetary forfeiture in the amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) to Josue Alusma, for willful and repeatedly violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (``Act``).1 The noted violation involves Mr. Alusma`s operation of a radio station on the frequency of 100.5 MHz without Commission authorization. 2. On August 6, 2002, the District Director of the Commission's Tampa, Florida Field Office (``Tampa Office``) issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (``NAL``) in the amount of $10,000 to Mr. Alusma. Mr. Alusma has not filed a response to the NAL. Based on the information before us, we affirm the forfeiture. 3. ACCORDINGLY, IT IS ORDERED THAT, pursuant to Section 503(b) of the Act, and Sections 0.111, 0.311 and 1.80(f)(4) of the Commission's Rules (``Rules``),4 Josue Alusma IS LIABLE FOR A MONETARY FORFEITURE in the amount of $10,000 for willfully and repeatedly violating Section 301 of the Act. 4. Payment of the forfeiture shall be made in the manner provided for in Section 1.80 of the Rules within 30 days of the release of this Order. If the forfeiture is not paid within the period specified, the case may be referred to the Department of Justice for collection pursuant to Section 504(a) of the Act.5 Payment shall be made by mailing a check or similar instrument, payable to the order of the ``Federal Communications Commission,`` to the Federal Communications Commission, P.O. Box 73482, Chicago, Illinois 60673-7482. The payment should note NAL/Acct. No. 200232700022, and FRN 0007-4959-97. Requests for full payment under an installment plan should be sent to: Chief, Revenue and Receivables Operations Group, 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554. 6. 1 47 U.S.C. § 301. 2 Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, NAL/Acct. No. 200232700022 (Enf. Bur., Tampa Office, released August 6, 2002). 3 47 U.S.C. § 503(b). 4 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.311, 1.80(f)(4). 5 47 U.S.C. § 504(a). 6 See 47 C.F.R. § 1.1914. (both via Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater, DXLD) ** U S A. USF TV, RADIO STATIONS LAY OFF 8 St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Feb 1, 2003; ERIC DEGGANS; Copyright Times Publishing Co. Feb 1, 2003 Citing the need to refocus its management and anticipating the possible loss of more than $600,000 in state funding, officials at WUSF have let go eight staffers from the public radio outlet and television station. Six employees' contracts were not renewed, including those of WUSF-Ch. 16 station manager Bill Buxton, TV membership manager Tom Wilson, WUSF-FM 89.7 news director Rick Stone and TV communications director Martha Cooper, who had worked at the station nearly 30 years. Two other employees were laid off from their current positions and offered jobs elsewhere at the University of South Florida, which holds the licenses for both WUSF-TV and WUSF-FM. Employees were told of the changes last week. JoAnn Urofsky, who serves as general manager of both the TV and radio station, said the changes would help merge membership operations for the two outlets and create a management team to pursue her goals for the station. She expects to hire replacements for both Buxton and Stone at the stations, which have a combined staff of about 60 people. "This was not done for financial reasons . . . It was done to transform the station," said Urofsky, who became general manager at WUSF-FM in 1994 and was confirmed in the same position at the TV station last May. "I hope we save some money, sure. But we have some big goals . . . I had to put together a leadership team I'm confident can fulfill our transformation." She said Gov. Jeb Bush's proposed state budget would end state funding for public broadcasting outlets across the state. That would cost WUSF-TV $557,000, about 15 percent of its $3.7-million budget. It would cost WUSF-FM $106,000, about 3 percent of its $3.8-million budget. The Legislature must approve a budget this spring and can accept or ignore Bush's recommendations. Additionally, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has announced cutbacks that could affect how much federal funding both outlets receive, Urofsky said. Buxton, 63, of Tampa, had worked at WUSF-TV for more than 33 years. He said the financial pressures were likely larger at the TV station than on the radio side. "I think JoAnn would like to see more operations of the TV and radio stations . . . merged into one unit," he said. "All state government is under a lot of pressure to cut costs." Still, Urofsky said the possibility of state funding cuts was not the sole reason for the changes. "The announcement of the governor's budget was made the night before the reorganization . . . (and) you don't make a decision like that overnight," she said. Stone, 52, of Forest Hills, said he felt no anger toward the station that let him go after 13 years. "I think they've got to take the place to the next level," said Stone, who plans to leave the radio industry and seek work as a writer. "I'm not really sure what expectation I was not meeting . . . (but) I don't think it was about (saving) money." - Times staff writer Lucy Morgan contributed to this report. (via Terry L Krueger, DXLD) ** U S A. WBBR/WEVD OUTAGE RESCHEDULED Hi folks, Bob Janney, CE at WBBR-1130, was kind enough to give me a call this afternoon to pass along word that the outage he'd planned a month or so ago has now been rescheduled. WBBR-1130 NY and WEVD-1050 NY will be SILENT from 0100-0400 (possibly an hour earlier for WEVD) ELT on Saturday, 8 Feb 2003 and Sunday 9 Feb 2003 (late Friday and Saturday nights if you're staying up!) WWDJ-970 NJ will also take *some* downtime during this event. Thanks to Bob for thinking of the NRC and letting us know about this! s (Scott Fybush, NY, Feb 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. 1580 low het: Somebody's off a bit here - a couple hundred Hz I'd guess - too small for me to measure in any useful way. I suspect it's local WGYM-NJ, but it might also be WPGC-MD, or perhaps someone else, but it's really annoying. Anybody else hearing this ? If not, I'll conclude it's WGYM (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, Feb 4, NRC- AM via DXLD) This is probably the Haitian pirate Radio Concorde, a.k.a. "WRCB" (assume Radio Concorde Boston). I can hear it locally on my Drake R8, and its frequency is definitely low (Paul McDonough, Medford, MA, ibid.) ** U S A. Has anyone ever heard a Clear Channel station cheating after sunset with day power? I can't think of one! (Pete Lee, NRC-AM via DXLD) If you ever hear of one let me know and it won`t happen long! Not to say we don`t have a time clock screw up or something like that. But if someone is doing it to make more money, I can tell you it will work. We will save who ever is did its salary. [sic] (Paul Jellison, Clear Channel, Feb 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. From Radio World Online: Communications consulting engineer Glen Clark, president of Glen Clark & Associates, has petitioned the FCC to reconsider its ban on AM stations using IBOC at night. The interference concerns that led to the ban can be addressed in ways that would allow the "majority" of 24-hour AMs to go IBOC immediately, states Clark in a Petition for Reconsideration filed at the FCC. It is true, he states, that "a minority" of AMs would cause "significant interference" to their neighbors if they went digital at night, however he believes the number is "small". The FCC already has a spectrum allocation guideline, the desired-to- undesired ratio, that can predict which AMs would likely cause interference to their neighbors with nighttime IBOC operation, so its unnecessary to ban all AM nighttime IBOC operation, he states. FCC rules require co-channel stations to have a D/U ratio of 20-to-1, meaning any interfering signal can be no stronger than 1/20th of the strength of the desired signal. First adjacent channel stations are required to have a D/U ratio of 2-to-1 or more at the periphery of the primary service area. These rules, he states, do not change from day to night. Expanded band stations are subject to a more stringent nighttime allocation standards, a 2-to-1 D/U ratio for first-adjacents. He proposes authorizing all expanded band AMs for nighttime IBOC operation immediately. He proposes the commission can identify AMs that could go IBOC at night with no significant additional 1st adjacent channel interference by asking: "What stations could satisfy the same standards at night as are implied to be adequate by the commission's approval of IBOC during daytime hours?" Or, "What stations could satisfy the current standards in Part 73.182 with reference to first-adjacent channel stations without drawing upon grandfathered radiation rights?" He's suggested a five-rule test to quickly assess which stations should go IBOC at night and plans to discuss his theory at the IBOC presentations on Sunday, April 6 at NAB 2003 (via Dennis Gibson, Feb 4, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. WWVB CONTROLLED CLOCKS Good Morning, I just noticed that my MFJ WWVB controlled clock has lost lock. More interestingly, it is now "fast" by 9 hours and some seconds, but also fast by SIX MONTHS! Apparently Ground Hog Day has had some perverse effect and it is now August! Any thoughts from out there? Thanks, (Ron Hunsicker, Feb 2, location unknown, swl via DXLD) I, too, received an MFJ WWVB clock for Christmas, and on occasion my clock will do the exact same thing! Like Ron, I put a new set of batteries in when I got it. I have the blue and silver wall clock which has the offset ability so that one can display U time. I have also mounted my clock near a sliding glass door. I have noticed that when the clock searches for a signal and locks on, it will reset to the correct time/date with no problem, but the problem that Ron and I are both having is bizarre. What I noticed with my clock is that it will search for a signal exactly when the directions say it will (between 2 AM and 5 AM). The only problem is that since I have the offset set up for UTC, the clock thinks 0200 hours (6:00 pm here) is a good time to search for the signal. I believe that the clock has set itself only a handful of times since I've gotten it, as it just searches way too early in the evening. If I press the button on the back to initiate a manual search at say 11:00 pm or 12:00 midnight Pacific time, the clock will usually sync. (John Beattie, Feb 3, swl via DXLD) This is actually more common than you might think. Any users out there remember Heathkit's Totally Accurate Clock? Remember what the biggest flaw was? The problem is that subcarrier protocol used by NIST to broadcast the time. It has no check sum or any other consistency check. In certain propagation conditions one had difficulty determining the difference between a long 100 Hz pulse and a short 100 Hz pulse. Sometimes the selective fading played tricks by being synchronous with a one minute cycle that you could read multiple minute messages incorrectly. Heathkit used a criteria of having to read three consecutive minutes in sequence before they'd decide that this was the correct time. But even that didn't work as reliably as I would have liked. I used to have one of these things keeping clock time for a wide area water distribution network. I have the battle scars to prove that this method for transmitting time needs a lot of improvement. Now we have all sorts of consumer clocks locked to WWVB. Unfortunately, WWVB uses the same scheme. The propagation is much improved and selective fading is less likely. But there still isn't any way to know you have received the time correctly. Thus, given the right propagation conditions, you can still observe this awful behavior. 73, (Jake Brodsky, AB3A "Beware of the massive impossible!", swl via DXLD) ** U S A. TEXAS AMATEURS AID IN SHUTTLE DEBRIS RECOVERY, CATALOGING QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 12 ARLB012 From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT February 3, 2003 To all radio amateurs Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and SKYWARN volunteers in Nacogdoches, Texas, have been assisting local emergency management officials and NASA to locate and catalog debris from the Columbia shuttle. The shuttle and its crew of seven, including three hams, were lost over Texas February 1. ARES and SKYWARN volunteers from the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club have been surveying the area in and around Nacogdoches looking for shuttle debris. Public Information Officer Tim Lewallen, KD5ING, of the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club said amateurs have been accompanying officials from both NASA and the EPA to expedite the search and clean up of area schools. Texas officials have cancelled school in most of East Texas because of fears that shuttle debris could pose a health hazard. ``Usually we just get the coordinates, take a photo and move on to the next site,`` Lewallen said, ``and someone from NASA will come along and pick up the piece later.`` He said the club had additional volunteers lined up for duty over the next few days, with amateurs coming from East Texas, Houston and Dallas. The ARES and SKYWARN volunteers have been working with emergency officials from Nacogdoches County, Texas Rangers, NASA, Texas Department of Public Safety, EPA and the National Guard. The ARES and SKYWARN volunteers also were following up on NASA-provided telemetry and radar information that indicates where debris might be found, Lewallen said. The search area includes densely forested areas. NASA has requested that those encountering debris avoid any contact with it and cautioned that persons found with stolen accident debris will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The Columbia crew, headed by Commander Rick Husband, included Pilot Willie McCool and Mission Specialists Kalpana ``KC`` Chawla, KD5ESI; David Brown, KC5ZTC; Laurel Clark, KC5ZSU, Michael Anderson, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon (via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. GERMANY 15715 Chan Troi Moi 1405 Feb 3 [Monday] with YL with presumed inspirational message in VT, hymn at 1415 (Jill Dybka, TN, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Well, there`s a log which doesn`t sound clandestine; cf 3-019 (gh) ** YUGOSLAVIA [non]. [note: as is, without proper Serbian accents, but we`re not positive where they should go in proper names. Since Serbian is written in another alphabet, it is nonsensical not to render it phonetically when transliterating into Roman alphabet. Names ending in -c are likely pronounced ch, as c with an acute; the letter c elsewhere should probably be respelt ts, e.g. Mitsunovich --- gh] COUNTRY DISSOLVES AS KOSOVO LAWMAKERS THREATEN INDEPENDENCE By Jolyon Naegele Yugoslavia's federal parliament today debated a new constitutional charter and accompanying laws that, once enacted, will result in the dissolution of Yugoslavia and its replacement tomorrow by a loose federation to be known as Serbia and Montenegro. But as RFE/RL reports, ethnic Albanian lawmakers in Kosovo, angered by the inclusion of the province in the new charter, are preparing a declaration of independence. Prague, 4 February 2003 (RFE/RL) -- The speaker of one of the chambers of the Yugoslav federal parliament, Dragoljub Micunovic, said in advance of today's joint session that adoption of the constitutional charter would be the final act in forming the new state of Serbia and Montenegro. "At any rate, I believe that, although some people might not vote for it, the majority of deputies will vote for the charter. After that, it will be proclaimed, and at that moment the state union of Serbia and Montenegro will come into being," Micunovic said. The republican parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro approved the charter last month after European Union foreign-policy chief Javier Solana brokered negotiations between Serbian and Montenegrin leaders. Once the charter takes effect tonight, with the proclamation of the new state, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will cease to exist and the name Yugoslavia will be consigned to the dustbin of history to join Austria-Hungary, the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia. The successor state, Serbia and Montenegro, will be a looser federation within the same borders as the former Yugoslavia. Some wags in Serbia are calling it "Solania." The two constituent republics will have the right to hold referenda on independence after three years. Montenegrin leaders have pledged to push hard for independence. The new state will enter the world without a flag, coat of arms, or national anthem. A joint parliament, yet to be elected, will have 60 days to resolve the flag issue and until the end of the year to adopt a coat of arms and an anthem. However, no dramatic changes are expected either in the pan-Slavic tricolor or the pan-Slavic anthem, "Hej Sloveni." Within 10 days after the new state comes into being, the republican assemblies of Serbia and Montenegro must establish the rules of election to the new state's 126-seat parliament. Within five days after that, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, in one of his last acts in that function, must set a date for parliamentary elections. But during the new state's first two years of existence, deputies to the new parliament will not be elected directly by the public but rather by the Serbian and Montenegrin assemblies. Once elected, the joint parliament will choose a speaker, deputy speaker, and president of the new state. Micunovic said: "At the following session, the president of the republic, who is simultaneously the prime minister, will have five days to come up with a council of ministers to present to parliament. Parliament will vote on the council of ministers and, if approved, it will be sworn in as the government. If not, there will be more time to come up with a new government." The new parliament will then proceed to establish government institutions and a court for the common state. Yugoslavia was founded in December 1918, just weeks after the end of World War I, but was known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes until 1929 and subsequently as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. From 1945, it was known as the Democratic Federation of Yugoslavia; from 1953, as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia; and from 1963, as the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. That, in turn, was replaced in April 1992 by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after the secession of four of the six constituent republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Meanwhile, ethnic Albanian politicians in Kosovo are preparing a declaration of independence. They are angered by inclusion of the province in the constitutional charter, as well as by renewed calls by Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic to the international community to allow Serbia to deploy up to 1,000 soldiers and police in the province. Bujar Dugolli is the parliamentary whip for Ramush Haradinaj's Alliance for the Future of Kosovo. "On the basis of the rules of the assembly, the 42 undersigned deputies request an extraordinary session of the assembly be held on 13 February with the purpose of adopting a declaration of Kosovo as an independent and sovereign state," Dugolli said. Dugolli said the initiative is a direct response to references to Kosovo in the preamble of the new constitutional charter as being a part of Serbia and a response to the EU's failure to condemn Kosovo's inclusion in the constitutional charter. Michael Steiner, the UN secretary-general's special representative to Kosovo and the head of the United Nations civilian administration in the province, UNMIK, has said he will block any attempt by Kosovo's parliament to declare independence. Steiner has also rejected Djindjic's call for a return of Serbian forces to the province. "The stance of the international community and [the NATO-led peacekeeping force] KFOR is that there is no return of Serb[ian] military and police forces to Kosovo," Steiner said. UN Security Council Resolution 1244 does not recognize Kosovo as part of Serbia but as part of the Yugoslav Federation. While some Kosovar Albanians have sought to interpret this as meaning that the dissolution of Yugoslavia would set Kosovo free, the international community has made it clear that while Kosovo remains an international protectorate, with a yet-to-be-determined final status, it will continue to be de jure a part of the successor state to Yugoslavia: Serbia and Montenegro. In part, that's because sudden independence for Kosovo would in all likelihood result in a declaration of independence by the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, followed by an attempt by that ministate to form a union with Serbia. That would leave the Bosniak Croat entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina in an even weaker, less viable position than at present. Out of necessity, this could lead to its forming a union with Croatia, which many Bosniaks could perceive as a threat to their identity. Montenegro, in all likelihood, would withdraw from the new common state with Serbia and declare independence. Dugolli expressed the hope that Steiner would not dissolve the Kosovo assembly, since, he said, such a move would be all too reminiscent of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's dissolution of the Kosovo assembly in 1990, when ethnic Albanian lawmakers tried to declare republican status for the province. (c) 1995-2003 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc., All Rights Reserved. http://www.rferl.org (via Ivan Grishin, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. MADAGASCAR: New schedule for Voice of People in English to Zimbabwe from Jan. 27: 0330-0427 Daily on 7120 MDC 050 kW / 265 deg cancelled 1700-1757 Mon-Fri on 7120 MDC 050 kW / 265 deg retimed, ex 1630-1757 Daily (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria Feb 4 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi Mauno and HCDX, Now I am quite sure about the identity of the Arabic speaking station I happened to listen to on 1584 kHz. Started today (Feb 4th) at 1900 UT with many IDs: "Huna Radio Secret" and talked about, as I presume, Iraq. Very good strength tonight. I listened also before 1900 and there was an unidentified station playing pop music, ending with "Dream" at 1858 and suddenly went off! Two minutes later the Radio Secret started with the same strength, so maybe it's the same. Yesterday Radio Studio X was very strong and mostly dominating over the Arab. I have very good recordings of the ID, but can't make audio clips, unfortunately. So, now remains an address to write to! 73 from (Björn Fransson on the island of Gotland, Sweden, Feb 4, hard-core-dx via DXLD) I don`t think that identifies it, just deepens the mystery. Must just be an Arabic word sounding like `secret` (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WRTH, SW GUIDE ON CD-ROM? Greetings; Is either the WRTH or the Shortwave Guide available on CD- ROM? That would be very helpful for people, especially us visually disabled shortwave listeners who have computers with screen reading programs. It would be nice to be able to look up stations on our own instead of having to beg a sighted friend to do that. Please let me know if there is a CD-ROM version of either, or both, publications. Yours in Christ's service, (Bruce Atchison, Alberta, to WRTH, cc to DXLD) BIERWIRTH ONLINE SW SCHEDULE After having had a continuous lack of time since December, my all- stations shortwave schedule is up to date now again, of 4 Feb 2003. It can be found, as usual, on http://www.eibi.de.vu/ Sorry for the delay! Hope it's of use to you. For example: AIR 15050 at 14.50 UTC, recently having been unid'd, could have been id'd here. ;-) 73, (Eike Bierwirth 04317 Leipzig, DL, Feb 4, hard-core-dx via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ UPDATED TABLE OF OPTIMAL WORKING FREQUENCIES The new table of February's FOT is online at http://hfradio.org/latest_chart.html (from http://prop.hfradio.org/ ) The chart is created using a SSN of 125 - the predicted smoothed number forecast for February 2003. 73 de (Tomas, NW7US // AAR0JA, Feb 4, SWBC via DXLD) FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 05 FEBRUARY - 03 MARCH 2003 Solar activity is expected to be mostly low with occasional moderate levels during the period. Region 276 has potential for M-class activity early in the period. There are also indications of new active regions rotating around the east limb in the next few days. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected during the forecast period. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux is expected to reach high levels on 15 – 19 February due to recurring coronal holes. The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet to isolated major storm levels during the period. Isolated active conditions are possible on 05-06 February due to a small recurring coronal hole. Minor storming with isolated major storm conditions are possible on 14 -18 February due to a returning equatorial coronal hole :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2003 Feb 04 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2003 Feb 04 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2003 Feb 05 140 10 3 2003 Feb 06 145 10 3 2003 Feb 07 145 12 3 2003 Feb 08 150 10 3 2003 Feb 09 155 8 3 2003 Feb 10 160 8 3 2003 Feb 11 165 10 3 2003 Feb 12 170 10 3 2003 Feb 13 165 10 3 2003 Feb 14 155 10 3 2003 Feb 15 150 12 3 2003 Feb 16 145 15 3 2003 Feb 17 140 15 3 2003 Feb 18 130 15 3 2003 Feb 19 125 20 4 2003 Feb 20 120 20 4 2003 Feb 21 120 15 3 2003 Feb 22 115 15 3 2003 Feb 23 120 12 3 2003 Feb 24 120 10 3 2003 Feb 25 125 8 3 2003 Feb 26 120 12 3 2003 Feb 27 120 12 3 2003 Feb 28 125 8 3 2003 Mar 01 125 8 3 2003 Mar 02 135 8 3 2003 Mar 03 135 10 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio Feb 4 via WORLD OF RADIO 1168, DXLD)### ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-019, February 3, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [note change] HTML version of all January issues now at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3a.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.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 NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1167: RFPI: Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WWCR: Wed 1030 9475 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1167.html WORLD OF RADIO ON MEDIASOUND New internet station is testing; WOR scheduled Saturdays 2100 UT, thanks to Alan Maylin, Station Manager. Have you heard MEDIASOUND yet? http://www.mediasound.net ** ANTARCTICA. ANTARTIC ARGENTINE: 15476.2, LRA36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Antártica Esperanza, 2014-2055, January 28. Spanish transmission. Commentary about the polar bear. Weather report: "la temperatura es de un grado, 8 décimas, sobre cero... la visibilidad de 200 metros reducida por niebla... datos suministrados por la estación meteorológica Base Esperanza, dependiente del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional". Folk music. ID: "...por LRA36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel... nuestro correo electrónico es LRA36@infovia.com.ar ...", 25552 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentine, hard-core- dx via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 15345 kHz, RADIO ARGENTINA AL EXTERIOR, full data QSL card in German; card is computerprinted and shows the RAE logo and the address, v/s Rayen Braun, Deutsche Redaktion & Marcela G. R. Campos, Directora de RAE. Also enclosed long friendly personal letter by Rayen Braun, reception report form and schedule. The delay in issuing the QSL (Oct 2002) was caused to work-overload by R. Braun, the delay in mailing the QSL (Jan 2003) is perhaps due to the fact that the 'directora' had to add her signature to the QSL? Or due to the fact that they had new money etc. in the new year? Envelope had 21 stamps (most self-adhesive, adding to a total amount of 12,5 $), all carefully cancelled at a special 'Filatelia' counter, in 345 days for a report with 1 IRC to RAE, Casilla 555, C1000 WAF Buenos Aires, Argentinien. (Not all return addresses already gave the new 'WAF'- version of the postcode.) (Martin Schoech, Germany, Jan 2003, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. HCJB Australia has made the move to 11770 today [Feb. 2], and heard at fair level 0915 past 1000, when ID heard. Has various American religious programmes. Four breakdowns noted during the time I was listening, and a weak Chinese speaking station can be heard co- channel. Maybe Xinjiang PBS, Urumchi? 73 (Noel R. Green [Blackpool - NW England] Cumbre DX via DXLD) Also HCJB heard in Jakarta too. Good signal with SIO 444 on 11755 khz at 1157 UT. Asked for reports to: HCJB Australia GPO Box 6918 [sic --- it`s 691-E --- gh] Melbourne 3001, Australia. (Lim Kwet Hian, Indonesia, Feb 3 hard-core-dx via DXLD) Date? As noted above, they moved to 11770 the day before this! Or did they? (gh, DXLD) Just heard the first regular broadcast from HCJB Australia on 15480 kHz. Program started at 1227 UT with IDs as HCJB Australia --- the Voice of the Great Southland. The first half hour was dedicated to the inauguration of the new site, including a speech of the station director and congratulations from the HCJB offices in the USA, Canada and the UK. Reception on 15480 kHz was good, also announced 11755 kHz was not audible. 73s and good DX (Franz Hailfingen/Germany, hard-core- dx via DXLD) They only have one transmitter going so should not be announcing two frequencies at once (gh, DXLD) HCJB-Australia to Pacific & India ----------------------------------- To Pacific: Changed freq to 11770 from 2nd Feb between 0700-1200 UT; nothing was heard over here in New Delhi as CRI occupies this channel up to 1200. To India: Test broadcasts started from 27th Jan '03 were heard as follows : 27th Jan - 1230 - 1321 UT 28th Jan - 1230 - 1402 UT 29th Jan - 1230 - 1359 UT 30th Jan - 1230 - 1419 UT 1st Feb - 1230 - ?? UT Test broadcasts consisted of music, short devotional talks and regular male voice announcements giving their phone number, e-mail and asking for reception reports. Also heard re-run of their old broadcast to pacific with frequencies announced as 11755, 15130 and 15135 and some old news bulletins. Signals were pretty good. Started regular transmissions from 2nd Feb between 1230-1730 UT. Well heard over here but after 1410 signals were weak due to poor propagation. They had some special programming for their first day of regular broadcast, between 1230-1300 greeting messages from HCJB directors in UK, Canada and USA. Also at 1514 there was an interview with Director of HCJB-Australia. Also heard on 3rd Feb at 1530 but better reception than 2nd Feb. QSL - HCJB Australia - 11755 kHz- 0900-1200 UT 5th Jan Received a f/d QSL letter thru e-mail after 25 hours from english@hcjb.org.au for an e-mailed report. Shows a scanned image of HCJB Australia QSL card with picture of diversion dam at Kununurra in the far northwest of Australia adjacent to which HCJB Australia's property is situated (V/s None). (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS`. Hi all - and Olle! Today, Feb 2nd, at 0645 I heard a Russian speaking station on 5256 kHz with quite good strength in USB. Lots of pop music played and a news bulletin and a weather report was heard around 0700. Lots of commercials. I think I heard "Radio Minsk" in the identification. Do you know anything about this "station"? 73 from (Björn Fransson on the island of Gotland, Sweden Feb 2, hard- core-dx via DXLD) Isn't this the same (PTP?)-operation that transmits Minsk local program Radio Stalica on 3345/3355 USB and used to relay R Roks on 4855, etc.? Jari Lehtinen Lahti, ibid.) See DXLD 3-010: Minsk utility ** BELARUS`. Re "Orsha": there are no SW transmitters in this town, this site name is a fake HFCC registration. The transmitters in question are located near Mahilioú, acc. to internal transmitter lists. As for R. Kultura on 7265 kHz, as far as I am informed, there is only the transmitter in Hrodna (2.5 kW) in operation (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 9830, 02/02 1458, Rádio Anhangüera, Goiânia-GO. Muchos anuncios comerciales de los estados brasileños de Tocantins, Goiás y Mato Grosso, música sertaneja, ID, programa "Domingão do Povo" 35443. Este es el primero [segundo] harmônico de la fundamental 4915 kHz. La transmission en esta frecuencia no és en paralelo con 11830, en esta, transmite la Anhangüera en la red CBN. En muchos horarios Rádio Anhangüera tine una programación regional en los 4915 kHz y ahora escuchado en su harmonico de 9830. Un gran saludo, 73 (Samuel Cássio Martins, DXCB, Sao Carlos SP, Brasil, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. R. Nacional da Amazônia booming in here on 9665 \\ 11780 at 2100, 2200, and 2300 UT. Not heard on parallel 6180 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Radio Clube do Pará on 4885 seems to start at 0700 UT (4:00 am [sic] local time) on weekdays except Monday (heard quite well at this time here in the middle of Europe). During weekend it seems to relay Radio Bandeirantes at night (heard on Sun 2 Feb before and after 0700). Maybe this schedule is not regular, I will keep an eye on it... GOOD DX, (Karel Honzík, redakce RADIO REVUE, Czechia, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. A Rádio Educadora, de Guajará-Mirim (RO), está no ar há 38 anos. Em ondas tropicais, transmite em 3375 kHz. Foi sintonizada, em Tefé (AM), por Paulo Roberto e Souza, nos dias 30 e 31 de janeiro, por volta de 0934, com a apresentação do programa Brasil Caboclo. Na oportunidade, a emissora não recebeu interferências da Nacional, de São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM), que emite na mesma freqüência. O Paulo conversou com o mais antigo comunicador da emissora, Wilson Charles, que passou o horário de emissões da Educadora em 3375 kHz: primeiramente, entre 0930 e 1300. Após um intervalo, o transmissor é ligado entre 2000 e 0300. E-mail: educadora@o... [truncated] BRASIL - A Rádio Canção Nova, de Cachoeira Paulista (SP), está de cartão QSL novo. A informação foi dada pelos apresentadores do programa Além Fronteiras, que é irradiado, aos sábados, entre 2100 e 2200, em 4825, 5955, 6105, 9675, 9685 e 15325 kHz. E-mail: radio@c... [truncated] BRASIL - A Rádio Bandeirantes, de São Paulo (SP), está prometendo, para os próximos dias, a divulgação de um concurso, entre seus ouvintes. A emissora irá sortear cinco viagens aos Estados Unidos, em parceria com a empresa de aviação Delta Airlines. A dica é do Oséias Fantinelli, de Jacutinga (RS). (Célio Romais, @tiviade DX Feb 2 via DXLD) ** CANADA. Glenn- Just a minor anomaly alert (or maybe I just missed a schedule change), but I'm not hearing RCI on 9755 kHz at the 0200 UT English slot on 2/3/03. 6040 is good with co-channel interference and 11725 is weak. Maybe just propagation or is someone asleep at the switch? 73, (Alan Johnson, Reno, NV, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANARY ISLANDS. 6715 kHz, Full Gospel Church, Las Palmas. Full data QSL letter signed by Mr Gyusub Chung. Mr Chung informs that the transmitter has 100 Watts and operates in SSB mode. The church is located in Altavista, the highest point in Las Palmas and the building is very beautiful because it used to be a nightclub 23 years ago. Mr Chung also sent me a pamphlet of the church written in Korean (parts in Spanish) where there is a photo of the church. I sent a CD with an audio clip and US$ 1. The reply arrived in 59 days (Marcelo Toníolo, Greenvale, NY (USA), hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** CHINA. Heard on Sunday Feb. 2, 2003, from 1243 to 1330 UT (sign off time) at 9575 with SIO 333, a Chinese program with full of Mandarin songs. I heard they mentioning 'chung yang den min guang bao dienday' (presume). Checked in WRTH 2002, 9575 not listed for CRI. Any ideas, all of you? (Lim Kwet Hian, Jakarta, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Hi Lim, is the typical China Mainland music JAMMING against foreign broadcaster like VoA, Radio Free Asia [Mandarin, Cantonese, Tibetan, Uighur], and others amongst the - US religious stations from the Pacific, and also AIR Delhi broadcasts in Mandarin Chinese and Tibetan [Nepali too??]. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Bueschel, ibid.) 9575 1200 1330 42S,43SW DEL 50 102 0 106 Tibetan IND AIR ** CHINA. THALES AWARDED CONTRACT FOR MORE 500-KW SW TRANSMITTERS | Excerpt from press release in English by French transmitter manufacturer Thales on 28 January Paris, 28 January: The Administrative Bureau of Radio Stations (ABRS) and China Radio and TV Co. (CRTV) of the People's Republic of China have selected Thales Broadcast & Multimedia to supply new shortwave transmitters and a complete rotatable ALLISS antenna broadcasting system. Following the highly satisfactory delivery and record time commissioning of two 500-kW shortwave transmitters type TSW 2500 ordered in December 2001, ABRS has now contracted Thales for the delivery of a total of thirteen high-power transmitters of the same power class, bringing the total number of Thales 500 kW SW transmitters installed in China up to 19 units. Since their introduction on the market, both the TSW 2500 and the powerful Thales ALLISS antenna system have become legends in their own time. All equipment is scheduled to be delivered and taken into operation in 2003. As 2002 was a successful year for shortwave worldwide (field tests, launch of the first consumer world band receiver) 2003 will mark a milestone for Digital AM with the beginning of DRM transmissions. Although the shortwave resurgence is occurring only months before the introduction of regular DRM, Thales already confirmed in 2002 its committed involvement in AM broadcasting with a world premiere showing a DRM-compliant transmitter in live exhibition at IBC 2002 and also with the launch of a DRM Starter Kit. "We are pleased to partner with ABRS on their shortwave programme," said Willi Tschol, Director of the Radio Broadcasting Business Unit within the Thales Broadcast & Multimedia Group. "With the introduction of digital AM in 2003, it is important to set milestones and have the commitment of large broadcasters. This historical contract documents the importance of shortwave for major nations in times of increasing needs in terms of global communications. Leaders at ABRS have confirmed their belief in the future of short-wave broadcasting." ... Contact: Thales Broadcast & Multimedia Veronique Mauduit Marketing & Communications Manager phone: + 33 1 34 90 36 87 Fax: +33 1 34 90 32 27 E-Mail: veronique.mauduit@thales-bm.com Source: Thales press release, Paris, in English 28 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) Whooppee!!! More crash and bang jammers! Thanks, France!! (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. QSL: World Falun Dafa Radio Ich hatte dies Woche Glück in der Form, dass mir Falun Dafa Radio eine teildet. K auf meinen Bericht vom 28.12.2002 schickte. RP war ein Dollar. Als anlage sende ich Dir die Karte. Teildet. Deshalb, weil die Frequenz auf der Karte fehlt. Ich hörte auf 9945 kHz. Parallel war auch auf 6035 kHz Empfang möglich (E. Röscher-D Jan 23, 2003 for CRW) The card be seen in the CRW gallery at http://www.schoechi.de/pic-cla.html Falun Dafa Radio, 5925, detaillierte Karte -allerdings ohne Frequenz- und Info in 23 Tagen. RR mit 1 US-$ an Adresse in City of Industry, USA (R. Sonntag-D Jan 26, 2003 for CRW) Falun Dafa Radio : Diese Station bereitet mir große Sorgen. Bereits mein 2. Versuch, einen Brief an diese Station zu schicken, ist gescheitert. Die Post kam als unzustellbar zurück. Meinen letzten Brief schickte ich an die neue Adresse, die ich im Kurier fand: P. O. Box 93436, City of Industry, CA 91715 USA. Die Adresse : Box 117 in Buford ist ja schon länger ungültig. Hat die Station etwa schon wieder eine neue Adresse ????? (M. Lindner-D Jan 30, 2003 in A-DX) Die Adresse stimmt! Steht auch auf: http://www.falundafaradio.org/contact.htm oder versuche mal die Emailadresse: editor@falundafaradio.org die auch dort steht. Für Deutschland und Österreich http://falundafa.de/ (P. Reinersch-D Jan 30, 2003 in A-DX, all via CRW via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. History of reactivated R. Melodía, 6140.5 is at http://donmoore.tripod.com/south/colombia.html (Don Moore, IA, DX LISTENING DIGEIST) ** EGYPT. Da programação emitida pela Rádio Cairo, em espanhol, destaca-se os seguintes programas: El Cairo Contesta, com respostas aos informes e cartas dos ouvintes; emitido, aos sábados, às 0145, e nas segundas-feiras, às 0115. Para os fãs da música, a emissora apresenta, nas quartas, às 0120, o programa Canción Árabe. Já nas quintas-feiras, às 0115, vai ao ar El Cancionero Egipcio. As emissões ocorrem entre 0045 e 0200, em 11680 e 11790 kHz. Alexandre Deves, de Viamão (RS), observou, entretanto, que devido a algum erro técnico, alguns programas podem ser captados, esporadicamente, em 9475 kHz. A programação em português da Rádio Cairo também pode ser ouvida em 11680 kHz. Mas é apenas por poucos minutos. Ao que tudo indica, devido a um erro técnico do operador, os 10 minutos finais da programação em português, entre 2320 e 2330, vão ao ar em 11680 kHz, freqüência que tem excelente sintonia no Sul do Brasil. Vale conferir! (Célio Romais, @tividade DX Feb 2 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Ready to listen Voice of Scandinavia! Scandinavian Weekend Radio once again on 5980, 5990 and 6170 kHz on 48 mb. 25 mb frequencies are 11690 and 11720 kHz on 25 mb. Transmission will began today, Friday 31st January at 22 hours UT. More detailed time, programme and frequency schedule is available on our web-page http://www.swradio.net Our Phone-line is open for calls and SMS`s [?] during transmission +358 400 995 559. New 2003 QSL-cards are now available for hunting! Send your reception reports with 2 EUR/ 2 US-$ or 2 IRC 's to: SWR Reports, P.O.Box 35, FIN-40321 JYVÄSKYLÄ, FINLAND. SWR- The Rock Machine!!!! (DJ Madman, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This one really snuk up on us, starting before UT February, and over by the time you read this. But those consulting our MONITORING REMINDERS calendar knew of it in time (gh, DXLD) ** GUAM. TRANS WORLD RADIO SAYS "'DEVASTATION' IN THE PACIFIC AS ITS TRANSMITTERS ARE DESTROYED" ... [somewhat exaggerated --- gh] Trans World Radio's work in North- and South-East Asia has suffered a severe setback following tropical storms in the region in December. Typhoon 'Pongsona' hit TWR's broadcasting station on the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday 8th December. Sustained winds of 150 miles per hour were recorded, with gusts topping 184 mph, essentially flattening parts of the island. According to eye-witness reports the storm 'shredded' the huge steel mesh curtains used to transmit powerful short wave signals from the island, putting three of the five transmitters out of action. Repairs are likely to take several weeks at least. The remaining two transmitters were also damaged but makeshift repairs have brought them back on-line to provide a limited range of programmes. Broadcasts from Guam touch most of the countries on the western rim of the Pacific Ocean and beyond- places like China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia. Chuck White, TWR's station manager on Guam writes in the TWR newsletter: .. The sound of a typhoon is much like a jumbo jet at full take-off power. It simply roars. And the power of the wind is unimaginable. A local pastor, just having completed a new home, had doors and windows implode, and had furniture sucked out of the house, including his kitchen countertops! Houses of tin and wood construction were mowed flat. Whole roofs could be found scattered across neighbourhoods. Multi-ton shipping containers at the harbour were tossed around like toys. In what proved to be a disaster of its own, the storm caused an inferno at the fuel tank depot at Guam's harbour. Four tanks of aviation and diesel fuel were lost and the fires burned for days causing 'black rain' from the airborne soot. Many gas stations were destroyed, and the rest were closed by lack of fuel. Recovery efforts, including those at TWR's site, were hampered because of transportation problems. Three main grocery stores and many other stores were lost, warehouses were destroyed, and the seaport was disabled. The power grid was smashed with poles and wires down all over the island. The airport suffered $100 million (£60 million) worth of damage, including miles of chain link fence flattened to the ground. The damage to TWR's antennas was breathtaking. Each one consists of a curtain of wires hung from heavy cables strung between two towers. The cables pass through pulleys on each tower and are attached to weights at ground level. The weights are designed to move up and down during high winds to relieve the tension on the cables. Many of the weights have never been known to move, but Typhoon Pongsona lifted them all to their limits. On Antenna 4 a 5000 pound weight was launched out of its track and swung wildly from its cable. This two ton concrete 'hammer' repeatedly smashed into the tower but thankfully the tower appears stable and the damage repairable. Salt water was driven into the transmitter buildings and the resulting damage was massive. Whole sections of the transmitters had to be disassembled to the bare chassis for cleaning, sanding, and restoration. We are accustomed to finding antenna parts scattered on the ground after a storm. After Pongsona, we found them in the trees 500 feet from the antenna field. The young people have been combing the surrounding area for antenna parts and recovered thousands of dollars' worth of parts from the trees, grass, ditches, and rocks around the station. We will reuse what we can, mixing and matching to repair the damage. We have ordered replacement parts but cannot say when they will arrive. It is usually 60 days but obviously we hope it will be much less (CHRIS J WILLIAMS and DAVID O FRENCH sent the TWR Newsletter, Feb World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) ** GUINEA BISSAU. RTP ALLOWED BACK INTO GUINEA-BISSAU Portuguese public broadcaster RTP is to resume its operations in the former Portuguese colony of Guinea-Bissau following high level diplomatic talks in Lisbon on Friday. RTP África was banned from Guinea-Bissau in December last year for "tarnishing" the country's good image abroad. On 30 November, RTP África had broadcast a programme marking the second anniversary of the death of General Ansumane Mané, the former head of a 1998 rebellion who was killed in November 2000, following an attempted coup d'état. Following Friday's talks, the Portuguese government anounced that differences with Guinea-Bissau have now been resolved, and RTP África's broadcasts in and from Guinea-Bissau are to resume immediately. The station broadcasts on FM 88.4 MHz (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 3 February 2003 via DXLD) ** INDIA. Glenn, That station on 15050 kHz that I asked about yesterday turned out to be AIR, India. Besides the broadcast on 15050, there's a parallel on 15770 kHz for a while (Chuck Bolland, FL, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Escucha la mejor música latina 24 horas en RADIO LATINA INTERNACIONAL con tus DJs Edgardo José, Alma Ivette, Julio Mario e Iván Soto http://www.live365.com/stations/84583 (Amateur Radio Station KD4NSJ Edgardo Reyes, Kissimmee, Florida, swl via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. FOREIGN RADIO: SEE THINGS ON A DIFFERENT WAVELENGTH From seattlepi.com Sunday, February 2, 2003 By L.A. HEBERLEIN GUEST COLUMNIST Recent polls around the world are reporting strong disapproval and distrust of the United States. Executive summary: People in the rest of the world think we're acting like punks. However confident we may be in our own righteousness as a nation under attack taking reasonable actions to protect ourselves, we might still be curious why they think that. I have heard the following explanations: They're jealous because we're so rich and powerful. They're lazy cowards who expect the United States to do their dirty work. They hate us because we're a democracy. They're just victims of propaganda. I suppose that one of these explanations may be true. But don't they all sound just a bit dismissive to you? They ignore the criticism without ever really having to listen to it. Because we know we are acting out of decent motives, anyone who questions us simply has to be mistaken. Our confidence brings to mind the proud mother who, seeing her son's marching band go by, exclaims, "Look, everybody's out of step but Johnny!" Or a less amusing and innocent picture: Family and friends sit in a circle, trying to make someone they love understand that he has a problem. He keeps shaking his head, wondering how they all could have turned against him. That might not be a fair image of the United States' current position in the world. But in case the rest of the world is seeing something it might benefit Americans to understand, perhaps we should spend some time listening to what the rest of the world is saying. Whether right or wrong, aren't you even a little bit curious about how everybody else in the world sees things? I spent most of last year listening to all the interesting radio stations I could find in the world, researching a book on Internet radio. I expected to find great cumbias in Colombia, hot dance music in the Caribbean, floaty mystical rhythms in the Middle East. And I was not disappointed. What I hadn't really imagined was the wealth of informational programming I would discover. Most countries offer an international service, and it is a matter of national pride to make this service in- depth, authoritative and comprehensive. From Germany, Deutsche Well offers news and documentaries on a wide variety of subjects. England's BBC offers more radio documentaries in a week than you have probably ever heard in your life. Radio Netherlands will inform you on subjects from the problems of gays in Nigeria to an in-depth study of melting Arctic icebergs. If you have an Internet connection, listening to the radio is usually as simple as browsing to the Web page of a radio station and clicking on the button that says "Listen Live Now." If your computer lacks the free software required, most stations make downloading it easy. Radio does not require much bandwidth, and spoken voice is even less demanding than music. Almost every country in the world has daily news available in English, and some of the news organizations have huge staffs and budgets that would surprise anyone used to U.S. radio. In Europe, after the three sources mentioned above, you might try Radio France Internationale or Radio Österreich International, the national service of Austria. In Asia, Radio Japan International [sic] has a short news program in English archived for listening any time, as does All India Radio. Radio Television Hong Kong offers a variety of news and public affairs programs, particularly on Radio 3. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. has 15 stations online with a variety of programs, including some of the best coverage you can get of Asia in English. Given current world events, the Korean Broadcasting System might be of particular interest. If you really want a change in viewpoint, tune into the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting World Service. But you don't have to go that far to see the world differently. Even Voice of Barbados seems to cover a different planet from the U.S. media. You can quickly get to any of these stations using a search engine such as Google; I've also put together an index of their addresses on my Web site, http://www.heberlein.net If you are interested in broadening your viewpoint, one free experiment is to get your news from somewhere outside the United States every day. I can't guarantee what you will find, but I guarantee you will find something you did not expect. Your understanding of the world will change. It's staggering how different the United States looks from the outside. And I can't help believing that if more Americans understood how their country looked to others, it would have to make things better for us all (L.A. Heberlein lives in Seattle) (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET [and non]. Ricky Leong is correct to note solar outages affect shortwave, but at least the listener can quickly deduce the bands are dead by tuning around for a minute or two and noting the absence of the usual power-house signals. It's a frustrating exercise to try to connect to the Internet, then try to reach sites, then try to find a newsgroup posting or wire service story explaining Internet outages are occurring. If radio propagation is poor, I can use the Internet to find out the details. If the Internet is not working, I can't use shortwave to find out why if broadcasters put all their eggs in the Internet basket (Mike Cooper, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. V. of IRAQI PEOPLE. 9750 kHz. 21/01/2003. 2305 UT. Arabic. Good signal, slight QRN. SINPO: 45444. I listened to a Message to Iraqi Soldiers to refuse Saddam's orders. The Station moved from the old frequency (9570), which suffers from QRM and noise, to a new 'quite' frequency (9750). For many years the station is broadcasting on 9570 in spite of the QRM and noise, and now, at this time, it tries to search for a better reception in Iraq. I wonder if it uses a more powerful transmitter for that. I think that the Sa`udi Government want that the station should play a better role in removing Saddam's Regime (A. Chaabane, Tunisia, Jan 22, 2003 for CRW via DXLD) Could this be a punch-up error, digits reversed? Have they stayed on 9750?? (gh, DXLD) 11715 Clandestine, Saudi Arabia, Voice of Iraqi People. 01/31/2003, 2013-2030. OM in Arabic sounding language with several mentions of "Iraq". ID at 2028 as "Voice of Iraq" or "Voice of Iraqi People" in EG and into news in Arabic sounding language. Off in mid sentence at 2029. A very good signal with no QRM, little QRN, and little fading- similar to a MW station at 50 miles (Wood, TN, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Radio Limerick One was causing serious interference all over the south of Ireland on 119.9 [MHz] from December 26th. I initially reported this to ComReg. Thereafter an announcement was put out on January 7th by the Commission for Communication Regulation (ComReg), the Irish State communications watchdog claiming signals from Radio Limerick One could cause a plane crash and these signals constituted the worst single interference with aeronautical communications ever observed by the commission. However a RLO spokesman said that no complaint by Cork Airport Control had ever been made to them about their signals. He went on to say that anvil grinders and mallets were used by the local gardai and a ComReg official to smash the RLO broadcasting gear during a raid which put the station off air. They were acting under a warrant obtained in the local court to seize equipment causing the interference. The station says it now operates legally on the internet and that independent relay operators rebroadcast their signal around Limerick (Des Walsh, Ireland, Feb World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) ** JOHNSTON ISLAND. Dia 01 de fevereiro de 2003. 18076 - 0446 - AH3D - CW, ham DXpedition, Ilha de Johnston, 579. Vide notícias abaixo sobre etsa mportante expedição. The following announcement comes from Bernie McClenny, W3UR, Editor of The Daily DX: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a plan to permanently close a chemical weapons disposal facility on Johnston Island. After the completion of the cleanup facility on Johnston Island is expected to close soon and an administration change will soon put the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in charge of the overall operations of this U.S. territory. Future DXpeditions to Johnston Island, KH3, may be much more difficult. On top of all of this the Johnston Island Club station KJ6BZ will be dismantled. Finnish operators OH2BH, Martti Laine, and OH2PM, Pertti Simovaara, along with DX editor W3UR, Bernie McClenny have obtained special permission to visit, document and operate from the club station for one week and just before the demolition, which is scheduled just days after the operation. In the spirit of "cleanup," the ham radio team is going to do its best to "clean up the demand" for KH3 for Europe, low bands and WARC bands. The AH3D crew will also "tidy up" on 6 meters and RTTY. The all band CW, SSB and RTTY operation is scheduled to take place from January 27 to February 4. The group will use proven sanitation materials, and the recently launched DXpedition grade Yaesu FT-857 and FT-897 radios with multiple amplifiers. They will use a variety of antennas to spray their signals across the airwaves including a TH11, 3-element 10 meter beam, duo bander for 12 and 17 meters and various wires for the low bands. To help manage the cleanup K6GNX, Dr. Bill Avery, will step in as the team's pilot station. He will act as a point person to relay news between the operating crew and the DX community. Bill can be reached via e-mail to bavery@t... [truncated] This may very well be the last big sweep from Johnston Island for a long time. Those wishing to fill their needed list should monitor the following frequencies: CW 1827.5, 3506, 7006, 10106, 14024, 18075, 21024, 24895, 28024, 50105 SSB 3795, 7082, 14195, 18145, 21295, 24945, 28495, 50105 RTTY 14085 or 21085 QSL via OH2BH, 2003 Johnston Atoll DXpedition, P.O. Box 73, 02380 Espoo, Finland. Mauro Pregliasco, I1JQJ/KB2TJM, 425 DX News Editor E-mail: i1jqj@4... [truncated] http://www.425dxn.org (via Ark, PY2ZX, Feb 2, radioescutas via DXLD) {more in 3-035} ** KASHMIR [non]. 9890, R. Sedaye Kashmir at 0230: This is an unofficial radio broadcast via transmitters in the CIS, probably Tashkent or Dushanbe. The test tone gives the source away -- the same as IBC Tamil, Democratic Voice of Burma, Voice of Tibet, etc. Since the name of the station is Sedaye Kashmir, Free Kshsmir, it should be anti-Indian. All based on circumstantial evidence! (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DX-plorer via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Pyongyang Blues (excerpt) By William F. Buckley, Jr., National Review, February 10, 2003 We read that an effort by the South Koreans, backed by the United States, is being made to penetrate North Korean ignorance by circulating radios that receive South Korean broadcasts. The radios currently in use in the north receive, like crystal sets, only pre- designated transmissions, in this case, authorized government broadcasters. This means hour upon hour of official propaganda aimed at stressing the need for strenuous military activity as a defensive imperative and as testimony to national integrity. Radios that are sent into the country are emasculated: Solder is used to keep the dial out of reach of external temptresses. I recall a train ride in 1970 from Moscow to Leningrad. We boarded at 7 P.M. and the radio in our private compartment was on. I reached to turn it off, but the knob was not functioning. I called "Ninotchka," who came in and through her surliness managed to convey that the radio station could not be turned off, nor the volume diminished, that it would cease broadcasting whenever it was turned off by the broadcasting station, which turned out to be about 10 P.M. But we discovered from the Orwellian USSR that penetration by external news, however important, could not be counted on to change fixed government policies. This was clearest of all in Berlin. In the Eighties it was estimated that 90 percent of East Berliners got their television news from West Berlin: It had become a practical impossibility to block transmissions from the West. But another decade was needed before glasnost set in, and the Wall came down. In North Korea there isn't that kind of time, and to disengage the North Koreans from 50 years of paranoia and internal terror is going to take more time than we can safely count upon... (via N. Grace, DC, Jan 30, 2003 for CRW via DXLD) CORÉIA DO NORTE - A Voz do Coréia, aos poucos, vai abrindo espaços para os ouvintes em sua programação irradiada no idioma espanhol. Conforme o filósofo Acir da Cruz Camargo, de Ponta Grossa (PR), a emissora acaba de lançar concurso. Para participar, basta pesquisar o seguinte tema: "os grandes feitos do Camarada Kim Jong Il com relação ao fortalecimento do aspecto militar da República Democrática da Coréia e da ideologia da independência". Podem ser enviados ensaios escritos e até mesmo gravação de própria voz em cassetes. De acordo com o Acir, os prêmios não são viagens para aquele país, mas sim "a simples leitura dos textos na programação". Já é um feito, para um país considerado o mais fechado do mundo!!! (Célio Romais, @tividade DX Feb 2 via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. KYRGYZ RADIO STATION SALAM TO START BROADCASTS TO UZBEKISTAN http://www.uzreport.com/eng/dispnews.cfm?ch=301&dep=34&vrec=8711 Residents of Uzbek regions bordering Tajikistan will be able to listen to broadcasts of the Kyrgyz radio station Salam. The station`s new frequency will allow to cover not only Kyrgyzstan`s Batken region, but also bordering regions of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Oshmedia.kg reported. According to Daniyar Sadiyev, the station's technical manager, radio Salam is one of the projects of Social Fund for International Tolerance. Its main donor is UNICEF (UzReport.com Posted 03.02.2003 00:06 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) So what is the frequency? Why are so many so-called journalists unable to comprehend that this is an essential part of any such story? (gh, DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 6100, Radio Liberia International, 0606-0632, 2/2/2003. Announcer, in English, with morning devotional, Up-tempo music with talk of day's programming. Continuous Afropop style religious music until 0629, ID and date, more music and talk. Strong signal tho speaker's audio a bit distorted (Scott R Barbour Jr, Intervale, NH, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6100, R. Liberia International, have heard this before but not at the level at 0725 Jan 26, fire-and-brimstone preaching by African-accented minister to program closing announcement at 0740, with pastor giving church address of P.O. Box 4347, Monrovia, then full station ID, including "You are tuned just right to the SW service of the Liberia Communications Network. This is R. Liberia International, we broadcast live and direct . . . Africa." Then TC and into light religious vocals with some inspirational talkover. Alas, talk audio not as good as music audio, plus "beach waves" background QRM throughout, and ruined by WYFR-6105 s/on at 0755. No sign of UNAMSIL on 6137-9 (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. KOMA-1520 had already converted to news format Sunday evening, after 0100 UT Mon Feb 3, from America`s News Channel, which I used to hear on Wichita 92.7 rimshotter, and seldom, I think on such a major station as KOMA. Remains to be seen what kind of local news operation they manage, but it`s about time KTOK had some competition (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saturday AM they had Dick Clark`s "Rock Roll and Remember". Someone was having difficulties with the breaks leading to extended periods of dead air. But there was _nothing_ else to be heard on the channel, except for that huge OC. Later on re-tuned in and heard the new news director with a long ID tape "you're listening to news-talk 1520, KOMA OKC. You first heard of the space shuttle tragedy here on news-talk 1520. KOMA was going to debut as news-talk on Monday morning at 6 am with (two anchors), but because of the breaking news we will run AP audio for the rest of the weekend. If you want to hear the 'previous programming' on KOMA you can tune to 92.5FM..." (Pete Lee, location unknown, Feb 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Are some of the OKC TV stations now up on satellite? Just noticed Feb 2 that Cox Cable in Enid is running ch 4, 9, 25 and 34 on delay of almost 1 second, which would be more than a single satellite hop, compared to offair reception with antenna. This explains why on the morning of Feb 2 when heavy tropo was in from KS to central TX, KWTV-9 did not have the usual snowy signal caused by WFAA-DT --- and why 5 and 13 OKC did have heavy DX CCI. Also not (yet?) on delay are OKC 14, 43, 52 and 62. I wonder what the routing of the satellite feeds is --- or could they be picking up DTV and converting it to analog. I look for but do not see any DTV snow from KOCO on 7 or KFOR on 27. If on Dish or DirecTV, is it unusual that Cox Cable would have access to those feeds? (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [non]. One of my most prized possessions is a QSL for a QSO I had with Owen Garriott, W5LFL in December 1983, who was onboard Columbia for the first "ham in space" mission. I also have a QSL for a contact in 1985 with Tony England, W0ORE , who was onboard Challenger for the second such mission. These cards are even more poignant mementos now that both of these shuttles have been lost under tragic circumstances. I can't recapture the excitement of making those QSOs without feeling a tinge of sadness, knowing what came later (Barry McLarnon, Ont., Feb 2, NRC-AM via DXLD) It was the mission of W5LFL that actually got me into ham radio. I'd been a MW DXer and SWLer for many years and had no desire to talk, until Owen made it up there and contacted a few hams in my area. I've now QSOd astronauts working base, mobile and even portable (1/2 watt) VHF. Never worked Challenger or Columbia, though. All my contacts were with Atlantis and Discovery (Brent Taylor in Doaktown, NB, ibid.) ** PHILIPPINES. CHRISTIAN RADIO STATION TO REOPEN IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES Tuesday, January 28, 2003, By Noel T. Tarrazona Southeast Asia correspondent, ASSIST News Service ZAMBOANGA CITY (ANS) -- A Christian radio station here that was temporarily shut down for six months will finally be on air starting March 16, this year with the new direction of not only strengthening the Christian Church through broadcast ministry but to bring the message of love to the marginalized sectors of four major provinces and five urban cities in the Southern Philippines. DXAS, one of the radio networks of Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) has started its test broadcast since December 2002 and Evangelical Christian communities and Pentecostal churches are looking forward to the full operation of the only Christian radio station in Southwestern Philippines, the region with the most diverse cultures and religion practices.... http://www.assistNews.net/stories/s03010126.htm (via Bruce Atchison, AB, DXLD) WTFK??? It`s on 1116 kHz, 5 kW per WRTH 2003 (gh, DXLD) Let's hope they broadcast messages about loving one's neighbour, no matter what religion he or she practices. Some people are willing to die for their religion. I'd rather live for mine. Yours in Christ's service, (Bruce Atchison, AB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. R. Romania International, February 1, 2003, 15365 kHz, 1400 UT broadcast to Europe. "This is R. Romania International, Bucharest, Romania" by OM. "Newsreel", news, "The Week", "Calendar", "World of Culture". SIO (until 1427 UT) 353. Also 17790 SIO 252. At 1427 DW ident signal began on 15360 causing severe QRM to 15365. While monitoring R. Romania International I was unaware of events of the shuttle Columbia disaster. Knowing what I now know I will, unfortunately, probably always remember listening to R. Romania International when the disaster occurred. 73, (-.. . Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, Annandale, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I take it RRI did not break in for a flash (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. A short list of meteo stations: Time in minutes of each hour: Mode USB. Frequency: 3117, 5691, 8861, 13267 kHz. Kirensk 00,30; Yakutsk 10,40; Khabarovsk 15,45; Magadan 20,50; Irkutsk 25,55 Frequency: 2867, 6693, 8888, 11318 kHz Syktyvkar 00,30; Kolsovo 05,35; Novosibirsk 10,40; Samara 15,45; Tyumen 20,50. Frequency: 2941, 6617, 8939, 11297 kHz. St Petersburg 05,35; Kiev 20,50; Moscow 10,40; not now audible Rostov 25.55. (VLADIMIR ROZHKOV, Feb World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. SRI LANKAN PM REPRIMANDED BY PRESIDENT OVER VOICE OF TIGERS Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has formally reprimanded Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over the importation of a new radio transmitter for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the granting of a licence to its Voice of Tigers radio station. The refurbishment of Voice of Tigers has angered India, and there have been reports that its FM broadcasts can be received up to 70 miles away, well inside India. President Kumaratunga has told the Prime Minister in a letter that in future both she and the Cabinet should be consulted on "sensitive matters", and that the LTTE cannot be given preferential treatment. Chandrika says that as head of state, she had to "keep in mind at all times, the totality of all the elements that constitute the national interest on any particular issue." Kumaratunga has sent a copy of the six-page letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. The Norwegians became involved when the radio transmitter was consigned via the Norwegian embassy in Sri Lanka, thus avoiding import duties. The President said she did not see why the Norwegians should have been brought into this matter, "unless it was to provide a cloak of secrecy, so that the public would never get to know that such equipment for the LTTE had been allowed secretly into the country." Kumaratunga told the prime minister that "I am unable to agree with you that the acquisition of an FM radio transmission facility would enhance the peace process. In fact, it may well have the opposite effect as widespread public agitation over the whole episode reveals. I understand that the LTTE transmissions which commenced on January 16 include LTTE songs and music, and eulogies of the LTTE's martial history. This could have a disturbing effect on the public mood for peace. We must also be sensitive to the legitimate concerns of our neighbours." (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 3 February 2003 via DXLD) ** UKRAINE/RUSSIA. On Jan 27 at 0208 I was listening to news from V. of Russia. Announcer Michael Steadman gave the following item: VOR transmitters will transmit R. Ukraine programs to VOR audiences, and RU transmitters will transmit VOR programs to Ukraine audiences. I am not fully aware of the involvement in this undertaking. I am going to write the stations for further verification of the facts. One of your CIDX Messenger readers, (Mike Parrish, Lexington KY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. CHARLES "GORDON" BENNETT It is with much sadness that we report that Gordon Bennett passed away at 0750 on 1st February 2003. Mike Barraclough writes: Gordon was a knowledgeable and dedicated listener and Dxer. Many members will remember his monthly column in Contact explaining hobby terms and techniques to newcomers and reviewing receivers. I know he also helped many members personally. He based his receiver reviews on hours of using the receiver for actual listening and DXing and often did side by side comparison tests of two receivers. Lowe and AOR lent Gordon receivers for review including prototypes of some Lowe and AOR models. Gordon would feed them back comments from a broadcast DXers point of view which resulted in modifications to their designs. Gordon had to retire from active pursuit of the hobby some years ago due to ill health but still kept in touch with many club members. His distinctive voice on the end of a telephone, generosity and good humour will be sadly missed (Feb World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) ** U K. MICHAEL MURRAY Mike Barraclough made early contact after last month's deadline with news from Michael Murray's mother that Michael was in hospital with what was a seemingly nasty setback. The latest is that Michael is now back home but uncertain as to when he might resume club duties. All readers, I am sure, will hope that Michael will regain strength as the months of hopefully better weather approach. (a.w.) (Arthur Ward, Feb World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) Michael has been a regular attendee at Kulpsville, ANARC before that, and quite a traveler (gh) ** U K. As for the BBC World Service --- what a lousy service on shortwave there is now. Very few frequencies to depend on, 9410 and 12095 are the only regulars. Gone are the good old 3955, 5975, 6195 for a lot of the time, 9920 was it [9915] on 31m, also 15070 and more --- what poor European coverage now ! Thank goodness for satellite but I have to add an FM oscillator (Veronica Kit, very good quality) to the satellite rig so as to hear it around the house and garden (and somewhat further if need be). (Des Walsh, Emerald Isle, Feb World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) ** U K. RADIO WAVES: PAUL DONOVAN: ANYBODY THERE? From The Sunday Times (more on web site): February 02, 2003 One candle on the cake. A year ago today, the first of the BBC's digital radio stations was born: Five Live Sports Extra, which by law is a part-time service acting as an overflow for the BBC's sports rights in football, cricket, rugby, tennis and Formula One, arrived with little fanfare. It was subsequently joined by 6 Music, 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network and BBC 7. But how many will be at the party? How many people are actually listening? Trying to answer that is almost impossible. Nobody knows, because nobody is doing any measuring and nobody wants to speculate. You can get estimates of casualties in a nuclear war more readily than estimates of listeners to digital radio, even though all five of those BBC stations were set up with and are run on public money (£21m this year). "It is just too early to say," says Rachell Fox, the BBC's expert. "Nobody wants to guess and then get it spectacularly wrong." The commercial sector's national digital radio stations - of which there are also five: Oneword, Planet Rock, PrimeTime, Life and Core, with its chart hits - are similarly shy. "While stations such as Core were claiming 100,000 listeners and more a year ago, they are now being quite coy because they expect to sign up to Rajar, the audience- measuring body, later this year," says Mandy Green, the spokeswoman for this company. "If Rajar shows they have only got 10,000 and they've been claiming 10 times that, it looks bad. All the national stations are being cautious." So the only reliable figures at present are for online use. Every week, for example, Core gets 7,000 text messages from listeners, and the BBC's digital radio output is listened to on the web on 220,000 separate occasions. But there will be some "robust" listening figures later this year. Oneword joined Rajar last month and its first ratings will be out in May, as they will be for two smaller digital outfits, Kerrang! and Smash Hits. There are now 135,000 digital radio sets in Britain - the £99 Evoke, car radios, hi-fi tuners, everything. When that has risen to 1m, which pundits expect around Christmas 2004, the BBC will submit its own five stations for ratings measurement and a new era will begin. Without such audience figures, things are hard for commercial digital stations, as they are unable to sell airtime to advertisers. "Our advertising revenue is negligible, and we are running at a loss of about £800,000 a year," reveals Ben Budworth, the managing director of Oneword. Two national digital stations (Bloomberg and ITN) and one London one (Ministry of Sound) closed down about two months ago. But digital radio is here to stay, and Radio Times has at last recognised that by carrying its listings... (more on web site) (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U K [non]. I just received this message from Tom Taylor at the European Music Radio on EMR@blueyonder.co.uk EMR had planned to broadcast a Sunday during January from IRRS, Milano, Italy, but that obviously failed. Now it seems that they are going to broadcast the February programme via Ulbroka, Latvia. Tune in and hear their own explanation! Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NEXT TRANSMISSION FROM EMR A DATE NOT TO MISS NEXT EMR BROADCAST IS THE 9TH OF FEBRUARY 2003 ON 5935 KHZ AT 1500 UTC TUNE IN AND SEND FOR YOUR NEW LOOK EMR QSL (VERIFICATION CARD) GOOD LISTENING 73s EMR (via Petersen, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Re Laser Radio on WBCQ 9335: Hopefully we will get to hear the DX segment that Laser Radio does (Petro G, Atlanta, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. STATEMENT BY KENNETH Y. TOMLINSON CHAIRMAN, BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS (BBG) ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S FY 2004 BUDGET REQUEST The budget process forces us to establish priorities --- and clearly President Bush`s FY `04 budget to Congress places the war on terrorism as international broadcasting's top priority. Thirty million dollars in start-up funds for an Arabic-language satellite television network represents an important step toward reaching the people in the Arab world with accurate news and the message of freedom and democracy. Communicating directly with the world's most populous Muslim state, Indonesia, makes the same good strategic sense. The budget will also allow us to expand audience development there, and in strategically placed countries where we will be placing programs on local stations and broadcasts on the channels our audiences use and move beyond shortwave technology. Considering the economic climate of the times, international broadcasting fared well in terms of the FY `04 budget request. The President is asking for an appropriation of $563.5 million --- a 9.5 percent increase over our FY `03 request. The landscape of U.S. international broadcasting was not left unchanged by the budget process. The budget means an end to most Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) broadcasting to the democracies of Eastern Europe where free speech is practiced and where the process of joining the NATO alliance is under way. The closing of these services, whose employees have so gallantly served the cause of freedom, will bring a moment of sadness to many of us who saw victory in the Cold War as a direct result of these radios. But we should remember at the same time that the goal these services struggled and sacrificed for has been achieved, and they should take great pride in the role they played in this historic mission. The budget will also require that we reduce spending in non- broadcasting areas. A 5 percent, or $3.9 million, reduction in management will result in administrative streamlining and cost reductions throughout the agency. The total loss of 36 positions for VOA and 46 positions for RFE/RL, as well as 16 positions in IBB and administrative positions in RFE/RL, will be accomplished, where possible, by retirements, reassignments, and abolishing vacant positions. Unfortunately, it appears we also will face reduction-in-force to achieve these budget goals. It is always difficult to accept significant change. September 11, 2001, changed the way we must approach international broadcasting—and the President's budget reflects that change. This institution's task now is to draw upon our previous success in the Cold War, to go forward with the new war of ideas as we offer democracy, tolerance, and self-government as the positive alternative to tyranny, fanaticism, and terror. An extraordinary challenge lies ahead. FY 2004 BUDGET FACT SHEET: BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS THE PRESIDENT`S FY 2004 BUDGET REQUEST The FY 2004 budget request to Congress includes $563.5 million for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all nonmilitary U.S. international broadcasting. Programming increases are targeted at the Middle East and Southeast Asia to bolster efforts in the War on Terrorism. - $30 million to initiate the Middle East Television Network – a new Arabic-language satellite television network that, once operational and fully funded, will have the potential to reach vast audiences in the region. - $3.4 million to double Voice of America`s (VOA) Indonesian radio programming (from 2.5 hours to five hours daily), and increase television programming to five hours a week. - $2.9 million to expand BBG audience development and placement efforts critical in our redirection to local media markets. Programming reductions are focused on Eastern and Central Europe as well as administrative and management costs. - A reduction of $8.8 million from the FY 2003 request level would eliminate BBG broadcasting in nine languages and make cuts in others. Staff reductions associated with these cuts would affect 36 positions at VOA and 46 staff positions at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). - VOA would no longer broadcast in Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovene, Slovak, Romanian. - RFE/RL would no longer broadcast in Bulgarian, Croatian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovak. - VOA Ukrainian radio will be reduced from two to one hour per day. A total of three positions will be eliminated. - VOA`s Armenian service will be reduced from six to two positions. VOA will provide content to RFE/RL's Armenian broadcasts. - RFE/RL Romanian broadcasting to Romania will be eliminated; however RFE/RL Romanian broadcasting targeted to Moldova will continue. - RFE/RL`s South Slavic Service will be reduced through the elimination of all Croatian broadcasting. - RFE/RL will reduce operational costs of its Armenian, Georgian, Serbian, and Ukrainian services. Management and administrative streamlining would result in a base reduction of $3.9 million. - The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) will reduce costs by $2.6 million and eliminate 16 positions. - RFE/RL will reduce operational costs by $1.1 million and eliminate six positions. - Radio Free Asia (RFA) will reduce operational costs by $230,000. (IBB Feb 3 via DXLD) And so, the abandon-your-friends trend moves along... (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. I've been checking the new WWKB [1520 Buffalo NY] this week. They're not going to give CHUM or CKOC any serious competition for the oldies market in Southern Ontario. Reception of KB here is very poor. In fact it's brutal. It's not only because of CHIN-1540 slop. You would think they would send some of their 50 kW this way. Who do they have to protect to the north? I get better daytime reception of Buffalo-area graveyarder WLVL-1430 than I do of WWKB. 73 (Mike Brooker Toronto, ON, Feb 1, NRC-AM via DXLD) They are DA-1 (U3) and the NRC pattern book shows why you are not getting a great signal. Toronto is near the western edge of their northern lobe. They do send a lot of juice to the north, but just not in your direction (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, ibid.) There's also an issue with groundwave/skywave cancellation - up there at the top end of the AM dial, that first skywave hop lands as close in as Buffalo and Toronto, and there's skywave as late as 10 AM and as early as 2 PM deep in winter on 1520. I expect KB to be a much more pleasant listen here in Rochester come summer... s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) ** U S A. I think that it might be common knowledge that Bob Bittner hosts a weekly show over AM Stereo WJIB 740 Cambridge, MA (prerecorded) Sundays about 10:30 AM Eastern, "Let's Talk About Radio". It's a 30 minute show. I enjoy listening whenever I'm back home in Massachusetts (Ron Gitschier, Jacksonville, FL, Feb 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) I'll have to add him to our list. Too bad it's not on SW or syndicated nationally in some form. Too bad the legal costs of starting a SW station are so prohibitive. When you put it to a spreadsheet, it's almost 68/32 in lawyer/consultant/FCC fees (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) Hardly cost effective in order to get a half hour weekly program on SW! There are several stations which would carry it for a small charge (gh, DXLD) Check in with The Steve LeVeille Broadcast on 1030 WBZ Boston. He often has in-studio guests covering the topic of radio, and would certainly be open to impromptu discussion about radio with phone callers during open forum segments most nights. The Steve LeVeille Broadcast is Monday - Friday mornings 12 - 5 a.m. And what about WJIB? Is the talk show about radio still running Sundays on 740 WJIB Cambridge? (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Off-frequency 1450.25 is KQYX Joplin MO. Caught a clear ID after a local ad from 2329-2330 EST. Oh well.. I was hoping for something more exotic, even though this is a new GY log for me and nothing to sneeze at. I also had an Oklahoma mention in an ad right on 1450 so perhaps KGFF again. There's also some C&W music in the mix and I'd swear I've heard bits of Spanish as well. 73 KAZ Barrington IL (Neil Kazaross, Feb 2, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Sunday, February 16, 2003 - WRCR-1300, Spring Valley, NY will conduct an equipment test from 12:00 to 1:00 am ELT [0500-0600 UT]. The station will broadcast Morse code IDs, station promos, and AC music. Power will be 500 watts, mostly NW, protecting WAVZ - New Haven, CT. Reception reports may be sent to: Alex Medakovic, Owner WRCR-AM Nanuet Mall, Suite 2126 75 West Route 59 Nanuet, NY 10954 (Arranged by the NRC CPC via IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) ** U S A. 1670 KHPY CA, Moreno Valley: according to phone call to station, they are on 1000 until 0100 [EST? So 1500-0600 UT]. Heard 1/16 at 0830 with ID and oldies music, mixing with Redding, CA then faded out as Redding took over. According to station they will be on till 0100 on a temporary basis (Gary Jackson, Sacramento, CA 95823, IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) Same, +1/18 2214 [EST] in fair with fading, song "Seasons in the Sun," called DJ at toll free 800-959-1670 and was told 1530 is silent. Thanks to RW in Azusa for tip that they're on. Daytime is poor, too much 1650 slop. Good to hear this, now a favorite with wide variety of rock oldies. Not sure of air date. Gave local request number 909-247- 1530 as well as 800 one. It's the only directional X-band station I've heard about. I think most of signal was from skywave (Gary Larson, Burbank, CA 91504, ibid.) Just called owner of 1670 KHPY, D. L. Van Voorhes and reported reception of a couple nites ago. Said airdate was 1/16 at 7 AM and was told to use Box 909, Moreno Valley CA 92556. They're still on Sunnymead Bl. And use 2 numbers of 909-247-1530 and 800-959-1670 for requests. Called air per. WD a nite or two ago to comment on oldies music. I asked where towers are and he said Redlands; I mentioned San Timoteo Canyon Rd and was told yes, it`s there. I figure it`s near that road and Frontage Rd. Was also told of possible sale of station. KHPY is in fair now at 6:57 PM as I write, with oldies. Spoke to Robby, DJ on air and asked for an add. Hollies song to play plus something by Gary Lewis & The Playboys from 60s (Larson, IRCA SDXM via DXLD) ** U S A. IS IBOC GOOD FOR ALL LISTENERS? By Frederick R. Vobbe, January 27, 2002 Audio: http://www.nrcdxas.org/audio/IBOC_Story.mp3 A couple weeks ago I had the honor of starting a two-week vacation, visiting family out of town, but I had the dishonor of doing some listening to radio in northwest Ohio. It wasn't the station's formats that was the problem, it was what one station was transmitting! That is, IBOC. It so happened that my travel plans took me south, right into a serious ice storm. I did what everyone in west-central does when you want to know what the weather is doing. I tuned to 1190, WOWO out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Unfortunately, I had to listen to the weather reports through a terrible hiss from 1200, WCHB in suburban Detroit. I'm pretty tolerant of noise, however my dear wife was clearly annoyed at the racket, so I had to turn off my car radio and winged it. Thanks WCHB for being a trashy neighbor. On my way back up later in the week, I though I would take out my radios and Sony mini-disc and give you a taste of what IBOC does. First of all, I used several radios for the tests. A stock GE Super Radio III, a Sony ICF-2010, a Radio Shack 12-604, and my in dash Delco car radio that came standard in a 2001 Buick Century. There was no difference on any of the radios. They all worked well when IBOC was not present, and when IBOC was on a station, the adjacent channels were trashed. This was exactly the same as when I was travelling to North Dakota and trying to listen to WGN in Chicago on 720, when WOR on 710 was testing IBOC. But that was when I was in La Porte, IN driving towards Chicago in the afternoon. The recordings you are about to hear were made at sunrise, and sunset, as WCHB only operated their IBOC during daytime hours, Detroit time. However, I suspect that the first night they were on well past daytime hours, as I recall that post-sunset hours start at 5PM local time. Let's establish a signal level. Here is how WOWO-1190 sounds in Lambertville, Michigan while WOWO is on night pattern, lower power, and WCHB has the IBOC off. [Audio Track: IBOC-01, :10 seconds] Now let's use the stock ICF-2010 and see if we can get WOWO during the day. I'm using this radio as I would to just listen for my entertainment. The radio is positioned so the back faces WOWO, and the front faces WCHB. Now let's tune the radio to 1200. [Audio Track: IBOC-02, :35 seconds] 1. This is WCHB on 1200. - Now, let's punch in 1210. 2. This is probably Philadelphia, as when I grew up in Toledo I could always get Philly. Let's see if narrow band helps us. Nope, I'm afraid not. 3. Now back to 1200. - and down to 1190 where we should hear just a trace of monkey chatter from WCHB due to sidebands, but WOWO should be clear. 4. Listen carefully for the man's voice. That is the mighty WOWO with 50kw daytime. 5. Now we're back on 1200. By playing with the position of the radio I was able to take down the level of interference from WCHB, and we could hear WOWO's basketball game. [Audio Track: IBOC-03, :10 seconds] Now let's hear what happens at sunset. We're still tuned to 1190, WOWO in Fort Wayne. You can hear the IBOC interference; listen what happens when WCHB goes to night facilities and dumps IBOC. [Audio Track: IBOC-04, :20 seconds] Simply amazing that a technology that will save AM radio does so much harm! The recording speaks for itself. As a 30-plus year engineer, and a citizen of the United States, I can't express how much IBOC trashes the AM band. Let's hope citizens complain, congress listens, and the FCC reacts, and puts IBOC in a tomb that it never will be reincarnated (Fred Vobbe, OH, NRC DX Audio Service Feb 2 via DXLD) ** U S A. NAB: 733 US TV STATIONS BROADCASTING IN DIGITAL The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in the United States says that a total of 733 US television stations are now broadcasting in digital. In a press release, the NAB says that DTV signals are now being transmitted in 179 markets that include 96.69% of US TV households. In addition, 70.76% of the more than 106 million US TV households are in markets with five or more broadcasters airing DTV, and 36.55% are in markets with eight or more broadcasters sending digital signals (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 3 February 2003 via DXLD) Misleading figures ** U S A. City of Dallas is accepting sealed bids today believed to be in the range of $40 million for the frequency of classical WRR-FM, 101.1. Results could be announced later today. WRR might then move to somewhere around 89 MHz (Mark Sills, TX, via George Thurman, DXLD) So I looked in the paper: NOTHING STATIONARY AT CLASSICAL STATION TALK OF DALLAS TRADING WRR-FM'S SIGNAL HAS MANY ASKING WHY? 02/02/2003 By AL BRUMLEY / The Dallas Morning News http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/columnists/abrumley/stories/020203dnartbrumley.3d1dc.html Here we go again. WRR-FM (101.1), the classical music station owned by the city of Dallas, once more finds itself the center of unwanted attention. This time the city's not talking sale, though. Instead, the idea is either to swap signals with another station or let another company run WRR in what is known as a "local marketing agreement" (LMA). The deadline for proposals was Friday. Among the companies that submitted applications are ABC Inc., Susquehanna Radio Corp., Service Broadcasting Corp. and Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. Make no mistake: the 101.1 frequency is about as juicy as it gets. It covers nine counties and reaches all the way down to Waco. You'd better believe Susquehanna would love to get "The Bone" KDBN-FM (93.3) on that frequency, as would Service Broadcasting with KRNB-FM (105.7). Dallas Mayor Laura Miller said in an interview last week, though, that she is firmly committed to maintaining WRR's reach should the City Council decide to swap signals. "We would never swap frequencies and have a lesser product," she said. Which raises the obvious question: What's the point of swapping equal signals? Well, there is no point, and the fact is, none of the signals that will be offered up will match WRR's coverage. But that's where Arbitron comes in. A panel recently formed by Ms. Miller to study WRR recommended in one of its first moves that the station subscribe to the ratings service so it could analyze where the majority of its listeners live. A source close to the panel, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if most of WRR's audience lives north, and the city swaps with a signal that's strong in the north, that would be considered equitable. Presumably, then, classical-music fans in South Dallas would have to get bigger antennas. Greg Davis, WRR's general manager, said he's worried that moving to a signal with less coverage would make it nearly impossible to increase the station's revenues. He also noted that WRR funds many grass-roots arts organizations in the city, which would suffer if the station loses money. Then there's the question of WRR's revenue performance and whether it could be improved under an LMA. Ms. Miller says the committee believes the station should be billing $7 million-$8 million a year. According to Duncan's Radio Market Guide, the station billed $4.5 million in 2001, the latest figures available. By comparison, KING-FM in Seattle billed $3.6 million, WCRB-FM in Boston billed $7.5 million, and WGMS in Washington, D.C., billed $10 million. All three broadcast classical music. As for the station's worth, it depends on whom you ask. Most industry people interviewed say it's worth at least $100 million. But of course that figure would be less if the city gets another signal as part of a deal. Ms. Miller insisted that if all the bidders try to low-ball the city, the deal's off. The good news in all this is that everyone involved seems committed to having a classical-music station in Dallas. What's confusing is why every few years the city gets itchy about WRR. The station pays its own way, it doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime, and no other city can say it cares so much about the arts that it actually owns a classical-music station. (And let's not forget that $1 million that WRR recently lent the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau.) Could WRR be making more money? Yes. But how about trying a little consulting first, before moving the station to a signal that effectively blocks out half the city? WRR-FM (101.1) is a precious commodity. If the city of Dallas dismantles it, people will look back on that decision with wonder and disbelief (Dallas Morning News Feb 3 via DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO STATIONS WANT PIRATES TO SAIL AWAY By Eliot Kleinberg, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Monday, February 3, 2003 http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/monday/local_news_e3d3edfde4a8113e1001.html DELRAY BEACH -- South Florida FM radio stations are being tormented by unlicensed "pirate" stations that illegally transmit on frequencies so close they interfere with signals. While the Federal Communications Commission won't confirm it, the stations say they have reported the pirates, and some have been shut down. But station executives and engineers complain they're up against the low cost of operating the stations, the unwieldy process of shutting them down and financial restraints that hinder the FCC's response. "The FCC has broadcasters jumping through so many hoops" to get a license, said Barbara Marshall, station manager at Port St. Lucie station WFLM-FM 104.7. "To have somebody just buy a piece of equipment and interfere with that signal whenever they feel like it is just unbelievable." The pirates have interfered with at least nine stations whose signals come into Palm Beach, Martin or St. Lucie counties: WFLM; WQCS-FM 88.9, Fort Pierce; WXEL-FM 90.7, Boynton Beach; WLRN-FM 91.3, Miami; WZZR-FM 94.3, Port St. Lucie; WTZA-FM 94.9, Miramar; WLDI-FM 95.5, West Palm Beach; WRMF-FM 97.9, West Palm Beach; and WHYI-FM 100.7, Hollywood. In all, 88 of the 400 pirate radio stations the FCC has shut down nationwide since 1997 have been in South Florida. An FCC spokesman would not give the stations' base locations or say which legitimate stations are affected. Possible reasons for South Florida's glut of pirates: the many ethnic groups that present untapped audiences, Florida's transient population and the state's reputation for attracting people who live outside the lines. Or it may simply be the region's flat terrain, which lets signals go all the way to the horizon. Some pirates actually operate in vans or move bases to avoid detection. "They're little transmitters that you can put up in your attic or apartment or home, and you're in business," WLRN general manager John LaBonia said. Some transmitters cost as little as $5,000, he said. The FCC seized equipment from three of the 88 South Florida operations shut down since 1997. Penalties can range from equipment seizure to $11,000 in fines for a first offense. Repeat offenders face up to $100,000 in fines and up to a year in prison. But before a pirate can be shut down, the FCC must bring in the U.S. attorney, a federal judge and, sometimes, U.S. marshals, Carr said. On top of that, the operator has to be caught transmitting. The FCC enforcement staff is often stretched thin, said Dennis Wharton, spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters, which represents about 7,700 licensed radio and television stations. "Unless you can get a judge that can appreciate the importance, often they slap them on the wrist and they're back on the air in days." One operator, James R. Leger of Lake Worth, was ordered in June to pay $10,000 for "willful and repeated operation of radio transmitting equipment without a license," an FCC order says. The agency would not discuss Leger's case nor say on which frequency he operated. Leger is unlisted and the telephone number for his attorney in the FCC case is disconnected. Since January, WLRN has had to contend with a "hip-hop" station somewhere in Delray Beach that operates at 91.5, compared to WLRN's 91.3. The Delray Beach station transmits mostly in morning and evening "drive time," the critical time when commuters are in their cars. The strength of the transmission suggests the station is operating at 500 watts or less, up against WLRN's 100,000-watt signal. LaBonia said WLRN has about 40,000 listeners from Boca Raton to Boynton Beach. Based on about two dozen telephone calls and e-mails from irritated listeners, the interference appears limited to the immediate Delray Beach area, LaBonia said. Interference may be minor but in some cases it drowns out WLRN altogether, he said. "These guys are so arrogant," LaBonia said. "They're saying, 'We're going to operate. Come and get us.' " Boynton Beach-based WXEL-FM 90.7 has wrestled for three years with a station in Fort Lauderdale, operating at 90.9, that mostly interferes with the southern end of its range, in central and southern Broward County. But station manager Jerry Carr said he's heard the station bleeding into WXEL's frequency in the station's own Congress Avenue parking lot. The station is also mostly hip-hop but appears to have switched in the last few weeks to Caribbean music. Carr said a separate pirate based in West Palm Beach operates off and on at the same spot on the dial. The station interfering with WXEL, called "the 9-0," employs 2,500 watts, a tenth of WXEL's 25,000 watts, "but it's enough," Carr said. Fort Pierce public station WQCS-FM 88.9 is dealing with a West Palm Beach-based pirate at 88.7, manager Jim Holmes said. "Ours is particularly blue," Holmes said. "It's 'F' this, and 'F' that. It's real hard-core street music." Public stations may be especially vulnerable only because they are traditionally at the low end of the dial, and many of the low-power transmitters operate on low frequencies, Holmes said. But WFLM-FM, at 104.7, has a pirate at 104.6. The station hasn't a clue where the pirate is operating. And WRMF-FM 97.9 has pirates on either side, one in Miami at 98.1 and one west of Fort Lauderdale at 97.7, engineer Rick Rieke said. The Fort Lauderdale station appears to favor Caribbean music, while the Miami one seems to be playing songs in Yiddish, he said. Rieke said he hasn't reported the two because "They've been there so long the FCC is (already) aware of their existence." The FCC uses "triangulation" -- selecting two known points, drawing a line between them, and mapping the angles at which a signal crosses that line -- to pinpoint the transmitter, WXEL's Carr said. The agency frowns on stations tracking down the pirates themselves. But last year WXEL got tired of waiting and sent Director of Engineering Michael Maville hunting with his own equipment. Maville traced the signal to a Fort Lauderdale home, even spotting an antenna tied to a tree, Carr said. The FCC later told him only that the person had been shut down and did not provide the operator's name. But he said it was back on in a week. Public station listeners, in particular, may tire of static and switch stations, sometimes during critical pledge drives. Or confused listeners believe the unseemly programming is coming from the legitimate stations. "There's not a day that goes by," Carr said, "that we don't get a call, (saying), 'How dare you use language like that. Why are you playing rap music?' " (Staff researcher Michelle Quigley contributed to this story). (via Mike Terry, Alan Pennington, Andy Sennitt, Artie Bigley, Terry Krueger, DXLD) No need to ask WTFK here!!! Wow, what a coincidence, five DXLD contributors all reading the Palm Beach Post today! (gh) ** U S A. On trying to get the FCC`s attention when it comes to stations violating the rules, good luck! I tried to get the FCC to do something a few years ago about a local AM of mine that was flagrantly violating several rules, including running day power/pattern at night, throwing out sidebands 50 kHz either side of their frequency, and generating spurs all over the dial (these were actually spurs generated by the station, not by my receivers). Basically, after several tries, the FCC told me, in effect, to shut up and leave them alone. The station was finally sold two years ago, and the first thing the new owners did was buy a new transmitter and get the night antenna pattern working again. I talked to the new engineer, who told me everything I had suspected about the previous owners` neglect was true. And the FCC didn`t care a whit (Phil Boersma, Spring Lake MI, NRC DX News Musings Feb 3 via DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO STATION BECOMES 'TALK OF TOWN' By Matt Moline Special to the [Topeka] Capital-Journal http://www.cjonline.com/stories/020303/kan_olsburg.shtml OLSBURG -- Olsburg's new radio station, KANV-FM 91.3, had folks buzzing Saturday at the Kaffe Hus restaurant. "It's been the talk of the town," said waitress April Burklund. "The comment was, 'Oh, where's it coming out of?' And nobody knew." Understandably, Olsburgians had reason to ask for a reality check. Although the station began regular broadcasts Jan. 7, folks in this tiny Pottawatomie County municipality are still looking for the tower and transmitter -- hard-to-hide objects in Olsburg, which has a population of 192. Nevertheless, KANV is no phantom of the airwaves. The 6,000-watt signal is getting into town just fine -- a new broadcast service of KANV's flagship station, KANU-FM, the public radio station headquartered at The University of Kansas in Lawrence. The Olsburg station was established to provide a reliable KANU signal to listeners in the Manhattan area, and to provide station coverage for the first time in north-central Kansas. KANU media manager Phil Wilke explained that KANV's tower and transmitter are in Junction City -- 30 miles southwest of Olsburg -- although the new station is officially licensed to Olsburg by the Federal Communications Commission. "When we made the application in the 1990s, we put the city of license as Olsburg," Wilke said. "But as the FCC license process moved forward, a new engineering study found a better transmitter spot in Junction City, which would boost the height of the tower and perhaps signal strength. But the license application still says Olsburg." KANV is the second KANU satellite station to go on the air this year, following on the heels of the April 27 debut of KANH-FM in Emporia. Both satellites are known as "repeater" stations, which rebroadcast the KANU signal originating from Lawrence and do not provide any original programming that would require local studio facilities or staff. Still, Olsburg is likely to get a civic boost every time a KANU announcer identifies the town as the official headquarters of KANV to the listening audience, estimated by station officials at 70,000 per week. "Well, Olsburg is really pretty famous already, famous for our Swedish supper the first weekend in December," said Burklund, whose own name sounds vaguely Scandinavian. On the other hand, Olsburg Grocery Store clerk Jennifer Frye says the town can use all the free publicity it can get. "Yeah, it was quite strange to me this morning when these two men came in discussing the radio station," Frye said. "I couldn't imagine a radio station in 'no man's land,' and one said he had read about it somewhere, and the other guy said, 'It must be a misprint.' And that was about it." Matt Moline is a free-lance writer in Manhattan (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. LOTS OF STATIC OVER RADIO By Roy Bragg Express-News Staff Writer Web Posted : 02/02/2003 12:00 AM While no one was looking, a global media empire was built behind the Quarry Market on East Basse Road. Now that it's in place, everyone has taken notice. All is calm inside the native limestone walls of Clear Channel Worldwide's corporate headquarters, where company founder Lowry Mays, along with sons Randall and Mark and a battalion of executives, has built a large and profitable company in a tanking economy. While ad revenues are tepid and stock prices are down, Clear Channel is poised to strike when the economy regains its footing. Outside, however, a growing number of people are worried about how the company exerts power over the radio and music industries. From Los Angeles to Washington, singers, songwriters, senators, concert promoters and music industry leaders fear the San Antonio company, calling it everything from "Cheap Channel" to "The Great Satan." .... [long, illustrated article:] http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=937884 [sidebar:] CLEAR CHANNEL TIMELINE http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=937977 (both via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. 65-YEAR-OLD RADIO TOWER TO BE REPLACED Thursday, January 30, 2003 CARLA SMITH ThisWeek Staff Writer http://www.thisweeknews.com/thisweek.php?edition=common&story=thisweeknews/013003/gvw/News/013003-News-221105.html As soon as the frigid weather breaks, construction will begin on a new radio tower for 820 WOSU-AM, located on the Ohio State University Golf Course at the corner of Tremont and Kenny roads. The new tower will replace the existing, now deteriorating, 65-year- old structure located near the golf course's club house, said David Carwile, station manager. An official start date of the project has not been set, but it's expected to begin in mid to late February. "We will be demolishing the old and the timing depends on when we have the new components in place," he said. "We will let residents know when we have notice." Carwile said a new tower is necessary because of the deterioration of concrete base piers holding the legs of the tower. After many repairs over the years, further patching of the base is no longer feasible, he said. "We looked at options for replacing only the piers, but the tower age and grant money availability for full replacement made it more cost- effective to build a new tower," he said. The new tower will be of the exact height as the one it replaces, he said, and will be located in the same area as the existing one in order to generate AM signals. In consideration of the nearby neighborhoods, the tower will not only look the same but retain the current low-intensity aircraft beacon system, rather than strobe lighting used on most new structures. Carwile said the construction will create disruptions in the station's daytime listening area and the station will be required to operate from its nighttime transmitter in the southwest corner of the city until construction is complete. "Because the signal from our nighttime transmitter won't be as strong in some areas, we know some listeners may receive poor or no reception during the construction period," he said. Carwile is asking residents to be patient when construction begins. He said the station will do everything possible to speed the process along. "A replacement is something we had to do," he said. "It's like putting a new roof on a house." (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. Six-year old ham: http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=56021 (Salem OR via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [and non]. La siguiente información aparece en el semanario Quinto Dia, cuya dirección es: http://www.quintodia.com.ve en la columna Sebastiana sin Secretos. Hay un avión de guerra R3 israelí, auspiciado por el gobierno venezolano, equipado con equipos de rastreo electrónico que permite capturar toda señal electrónica, incluyendo las de televisión y radio, aún las clandestinas en varias bandas. Ese material es llevado a la isla de Aruba donde es procesado (via José Elías Díaz Gómez, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** VIETNAM. VOICE OF VIETNAM PROGRAMME SCHEDULE Daily: News & Current Affairs Mon: Press Review | Vietnam Land & People Tue: Press Review | Culture & Society Wed: Letter Box Thu: Press Review | Talk of the Week | Vietnam Economy Fri: Press Review | Rural Vietnam | Literature & Arts Sat: Weekly Review | Music Sun: Sunday Show (via PATRICK TRAVERS - Schedules received on 7th January 2003, Feb World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. Program content of Chân Tròi Mói sounds clandestine Chân Tròi Mói by Wendel Craighead, Kansas, January 28, 2003 Chân Tròi Mói on 15,715 at 1330 to 1430 UT sure sounds like a clandestine to me. Their broadcast in Vietnamese on 20 January was typical: 1330 UT Instrumental theme music, and a woman spoke briefly. 1331 Vietnamese vocal (woman) and instrumental music. 1332½ A woman said, ``Day là daì phat thanh Chân Tròi Mói...``; and announced they were broadcasting on 19 meters, 15,715 kHz., at 8:30 to 9:30 PM. 1333 A man read world news, mentioning: Iraq; American forces to the Gulf; UN refused permission to search Sadaam`s home; chemical weapons; etc. 1340 A woman interviewed a Vietnamese man. He mentioned: the Vietnam economy is not good; the communist regime is bad for the people; human rights don`t exist in Vietnam; etc. The line between a clandestine station and a religious station --- just as between a clandestine and a pirate ---is sometimes blurred; some religious programs contain a lot of social and political comment. But I`ve listened to Chân Tròi Mói many times and have heard nothing ``religious``, nor have my Vietnamese friends who listened to my tapes of these programs --- no sermons, hymns, or gospel songs. It`s always news, interviews, and commentary from a definitely anti-Vietnamese- government position. I am not often able to listen after 1400, but when I have, the content has been similar --- usually a woman speaking about Vietnam. I may not have listened every day of the week, so perhaps it has a religious program on certain days (Wendel Craighead, KS, Jan 28, 2003 for CRW via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. Radio Zambia has been coming in from after 0345 UT on 6265 many evenings recently. Most recently; 2/3/03 0358-0420, American pop music, cock crow, ID and probable news headlines in vernacular at 0400. Very pleasant local music after 0400, as noted in earlier DXLDs (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi out there, especially Nordic DX-ers, Tonight (Feb 3rd) I heard an Arabic station on 1584 kHz between 1845 and 2030 UT, playing "oriental" music and identifying in Arabic. It sounded like a test programme with many announcements about "kHz" and like that. ID sounded like: "Radio Ciklin" or similar. Stress on last "i". Please help! 73 from (Björn Fransson on the island of Gotland, Sweden, hard- core-dx via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ KENWOOD R-2000 INFORMATION RESOURCE PAGE I'd like to invite everyone on the list to come visit my new Kenwood R2000 Communications Receiver Information Resource page. I have included the R2000 manuals (both owner's and service), schematics, parts, mods, accessories, email and newsgroups links, factory authorized service centers, sales links, etc. Find it all here: http://www.qsl.net/kc7bum/ Also, if you have anything you'd like to contribute to the page, please let me know. This page has been solely a labor of love, with no compensation for me at all. Regards, (Rob Williams KC7BUM, Portland, Oregon, Webmaster: * ARP Odyssey Information Resource Page http://www.overacker.com/ody/index.html * Kenwood R-2000 Information Resource Page http://www.qsl.net/kc7bum/ via hard-core-dx via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ PRIME TIME SHORTWAVE My Prime Time Shortwave website which has been existence over four years now has a new easy to remember URL, http://www.primetimeshortwave.com Here you will find up-to-date shortwave schedules for the international broadcasters. Schedules are available in country, time and frequency sorts. Schedules are available in ascii, html, DBase, Excel and Pilot-DB PalmOS formats. Daniel Lyddy provides the Pilot-DB files and Mickey Delmage of CIDX provides the DX media program guide files. You will also find links to the international broadcasters and other notable radio related websites. There is also a UT to local time conversion table for North America. Visually impaired users will find the ascii file for the time sort of English shortwave schedules at http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/time.txt and for the country sort at http://www.primetimeshortwave.com/country.txt Good listening, (Daniel Sampson, ODXA via DXLD) THE SECRET WIRELESS WAR A newly released video with two one hour films produced by Grindelwald Productions. The first film is entitled Beyond Bletchley Park It explores how the World War Two secret German wireless signals were intercepted, deciphered at Bletchley Park, acted upon by our own intelligence and subsequently dispersed back into the field in occupied Europe. This is done by interviewing some of the people involved and visiting the wartime sites used for the operations. Bob King was one of over 1500 radio amateurs from around the country who was a volunteer interceptor of morse transmissions and talks about his work and shows some of the radio equipment he used. He starts off with a poem written by a fellow interceptor: "I must go back to the set again to the superhet and the phones, And switch off the broadcast music, the announcers measured tones, And search again on the shortwaves with loud calls bleeding, For the dim sounds of the morse code that a far foes sending, I must go back to the set again for the time has come to seek, In the QRM and the QRN for my allotted squeak, And all I ask is a steady note through the ether speeding, At a fair strength, in a quiet spot, at a nice speed for reading." David White was another volunteer interceptor and shows us round the Bletchley Park Wireless Museum. Geoffrey Pidgeon talks about the production of MK7 Spy Sets for agents to transmit information back to the UK whilst Will Neal, and Maurice Richardson tell about the manufacture of the Special Liaison Units, vehicles built as mobile transmitter/receiver units which transmitted and received intelligence from and to Bletchley Park. Will was involved in relaying the intelligence to General Patten during the Allied advance into Europe. The second film in entitled Black Propaganda. This follows the development and content of the World War Two secret British black radio broadcasts against the Germans. Again the sites involved are visited including the studios at Milton Bryan where the broadcasts were recorded and one of the transmitter sites. Those interviewed include Phil Luck who worked as a transmitter engineer, Ingram Murray, whose father became a member of the Political Warfare Executive who ran the propaganda operation which used leaflets and newspapers to undermine German morale as well as both black and white propaganda operations and Stephen Halladay who was in charge of the Milton Bryan site. The story is told chronologically with translations of Sefton Delmar's Der Chef operations and recordings of his later Soldatsender West station as well as details of the installation of the high power Aspidistra site. The video ends with a short recording of a recent ceremony at Milton Bryan unveiling a plaque commemorating the work of the Political Warfare Executive during World War Two. The interviews and visits to the sites involved make this a fascinating video and piece of oral history. It can be ordered for 14 pounds 99 pence including post and packing from Grindelwald Productions, P.O. Box 38, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire HP27 9YL. It is available in NTSC format for the US and Canada at 20 pounds or 33 US dollars. Web: http://www.grindelwald.co.uk but there is no online ordering available (Feb World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ EUROPEAN DX COUNCIL CONFERENCE The 2003 European DX Council Conference will be held from August 15th to 17th at the Dresdner Bank Group`s Communication and Training Centre in Konigstein. The 750 years old city of Konigstein is 20 minutes from Frankfurt City Centre. Conference themes and panels will include: . Tropical bands DXing - Anker Petersen and Willi Passman . Shortwave Stations in Germany: Julich and Nauen . DRM and the future of DXing: Wolf Harranth . Low Cost Radio, DRM for everyone: Fraunhofer Institute . Internet Radio: Rudolf Sonntag and Markus Weidner . Free Radio, FM DX, Satellite DX and Worldspace. . A visit to the American Forces Network Frankfurt station is planned. Waldemar Kramer of Deutsche Welle, who are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, will be at the Conference. For further information contact Dr. Harald Gabler, Limburger Str. 3, 61462 Konigstein, Germany, email DrGabler@t-online.de (Feb World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Today was extraordinary for HF propagation into Melbourne across our midday period on 6, 7, and 9 MHz. After an absence of several years, many signals arrived from Asia and Africa in the period 0000-0300 UTC, marking the reappearance of the mysterious and enigmatic "Midday Asia and Africa Mode". Yes, they have been a long time coming, and as past years, they appear during the downwrds slope of a new solar cycle, like now! I will put up a report in a day or so, which includes many gems; 6050 Miri 0305 6175 Kuala Lumpur 0300 6190 Meyerton 0300 7215 Luanda 0145 6035 Al Dhabiyya 0015 7215 Meyerton *0330 9730 Yangon 0315 9530 Hanoi 0000 9750 Kuala Lumpur superb signal *0300 7270 Kuching 0045 Singapore 7170 7235 continuous 2300-0300; Singapore 6000 2300-0000; Kuala Lumpur 7295 continuous 2300-0300; Singapore 6150 0000-0100. Extraordinary propagation via daylights paths, believed to be multi-mode, no intermediate ground contact, via refraction from the top of Sporadic E clouds over Australia and Pacific, Es/F2 combined. Above noted from home here in Mont Albert, despite heavy power line noise! Regards! (Bob Padula, Melbourne, Feb 2, EDXP via DXLD) ### ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-018, February 1, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.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 HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [NOTE: these files will now contain one month each] For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.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 NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1167: RFPI: Sun 0000, 0600, 1200, 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WWCR: Sun 0330 5070, 0730 3210, Wed 1030 9475 WBCQ: Mon 0545 7415 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WRN: Rest of world Sat 0900, Eu only Sun 0530, NAm Sun 1500 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1167.html ** AFGHANISTAN. AFGHAN RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES HOLD MEETING IN SUPPORT OF CABLE TV BAN | Text of report by Afghan Herat TV on 30 January The religious authorities' council have organized an extraordinary meeting to express its support for the decree of Mr Shinwari, the head of the Supreme Court of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, on banning cable TV. The emergency meeting commenced with the recitation of some verses from the Holy Koran. Then some of the religious authorities made speeches expressing their full support for the decree issued by Mawlawi Shinwari, the head of the Supreme Court, on banning the cable TV system. In another part of this meeting the religious authorities issued a decree saying that: "Our people have suffered from 23 years of war and already lost everything, and the sustaining of all these losses was only to have the flag of Islam erected and to prove that Afghans are really devoted to their religion. Now we warn those inside or outside the country, for they are trying to mislead our people, in particular our young people; 99 per cent of our people are Muslim and follow the rules of the Holy Koran. As long as one of us is alive, we will not let anyone play with the destiny of our young people and our country. The ones who call our Mojahedin and devotees warlords or gunmen are the ones who are spreading other poisons. It is obvious to everyone that all their claims are untrue and baseless. We, the religious authorities, must stop spreading such nonsense and idle talk by preaching and passing on the facts to everyone so that they can shut them up. Once more we express our full support for the issued decree of Mr Shinwari the head of Supreme Court of Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan on banning cable TV, which is exactly based on the rules of Islam and the verses of the Holy Koran. The activities of the cable TV channels [audio and video] are contrary to the decrees of the Holy Koran and religious issues. Moreover, such deviationism and aberrance are regarded as paving the way for immorality and misleading society. The ones who asked the head of the Supreme Court of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan to resign, are on the wrong track and do not have the right to interfere in our country's internal affairs. Taking international principles into consideration, they must be courted. The mojahedin and the Muslim people of Afghanistan do no let anyone interfere in their country's internal affairs. The Religious Council of Herat supports the transitional Islamic administration of Afghanistan in all issues and urges the country's high-ranking officials to ban such immoral and misleading activities so that society, in particular the younger generation, will not become involved in such immorality and deterioration. Source: Herat TV in Dari 1630 gmt 30 Jan 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. AFGHAN PAPER CONSIDERS THE CASE FOR LETTING PEOPLE WATCH CABLE TV The main supporters of allowing cable TV in Afghanistan are expatriates, according to the Afghan newspaper Kabul Weekly. They see nothing wrong with the programmes and believe the networks may be educational. An editorial in the paper said the main opponents are clerics and traditionalists. The main watchers of TV are government officials and commanders, but they are afraid to oppose the clerics, the paper said. The following is the text of the English-language editorial, published on 30 January: There is a hot debate going on, at least in the media, about the permissibility of cable TV network in Afghanistan. On the one end, Chief Justice [Fazl Hadi] Shinwari believes uncensored and unbridled shows screened on the cable corrupt the morals of Afghan youth and therefore these ought to be banned. On the other end is Minister of Information and Culture Dr Sayed Makhdum Rahin, who argues that the law ruling media entitles any Afghan national who has been registered with the ministry and has got the official permit is allowed to operate. However, since the cable TV network is a new phenomenon, regulations about its operation have just been finalized and will soon be presented to the Council of Ministers for approval. This means, between the lines, that pending the approval or disapproval, the cable TV network, notably the Star TV, could continue but it should exercise enough caution not to screen anything objectionable. Then what is objectionable? Afghans in general and the clerics in particular deem anything objectionable which is considered against Islamic taboos or runs counter to national traditions. In some cases, when a tradition like paying for the hand of a girl is against Islam but has been accepted as a general practice, the clergy overlook it. At any rate, what counts more, at least to the broad-minded strata, is public opinion. Since there are no Gallup polls in this country, the only means to gauge the public opinion is the mass media. Most of the people have not yet any access to the cable TV network. Secondly, there is no dependable electricity, even if you have subscribed to the cable network. Therefore, the major subscribers are either senior government officials, who watch during the office hours or the former mojahedin commanders, who now comprise the bulk of high brass. But both categories arc scared to oppose the clerics, though they argue among themselves that the cable TV is less corrupting and more informative, if we overlook the entertainment aspects. The only category that raises its voice in favour of the cable network is the Afghan expatriates, who either participate in the VOA or Radio Liberty round-tables to answer the questions asked by the world-wide audience, or those who reflect their views if they get enough time. According to them, there is nothing wrong with the cable TV as it familiarizes the Afghans who have not been to Europe or America with the progress made by other people and how and to what extent they have raised their standards of living, the cable TV is not only harmful but it helps. If there appears a love scene exceeding kissing or necking, the parent changes the channel or sends children to their bedrooms. So the Afghan parents themselves are great censors and usually don't watch objectionable shows themselves. Meanwhile, the cable TV networks like the Star TV beaming to Muslim countries like Afghanistan usually show wild life, the life under the sea, travel, farming, fishing industry, etc, sugar-coated with Indian films which the Afghan public is so fond of. And these are normally screened in cinemas anyway but the cable network shows the new ones. That is the difference. When the Taleban had banned cinemas and audio/video cassettes, the general public used to rent blue films out of spite through underground channels. Source: Kabul Weekly in English 30 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 6000, Merlin via Al- Dhabbaya, 0200-0215, Jan 16, Continuous interval signal of "Afghan music", no announcement -- no satellite link from Kabul of R Afghanistan scheduled here 0130-0227, QRM R Habana Cuba. 44444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [NON]. CZECH REPUBLIC/USA: RFE CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF ITS AFGHAN BROADCASTING | Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 30 January: The US-financed Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) celebrated the first anniversary of broadcasts to Afghanistan today. The station broadcasts to Afghanistan in the Pashto and Dari languages 12 hours a day, compared to the original three hours a day. As part of today's celebrations, journalists Jaromir Stetina, Petra Prochazkova and their cameraman of Afghan origin Mohammad Yusuf Paikar, presented a half-hour documentary on the role of religion in Afghanistan and relations between Christianity and Islam. "Radio is of great importance, to a certain extent it substitutes television. People are hungry to receive news and information," Prochazkova said, describing the situation among people in Afghanistan. According to RFE/RL's data, about 5.8m people listen to the Afghan broadcasts. The station now has its office in Kabul and correspondents in eight other towns. The Prague desk comprises about 30 people, one third of them women. Andres Ilves, the head of the Afghan broadcasting, told CTK that the most difficult thing was to find qualified journalists. The broadcasting does not concern only politics, but also history, science, literature and other issues. The RFE/RL's broadcasting to Afghanistan was approved by the US Senate and House of Representatives in 2001, after the September terrorist attacks on the USA for which the Afghan Taleban movement was responsible. The broadcasting from Prague is considered part of Afghanistan's democratic renewal after the Taleban was supressed in the country. The RFE/RL already broadcast to Afghanistan from its then Munich seat in 1985-1993. Since the attacks, the RFE/RL building, located in the very centre of Prague, has been guarded by soldiers and police. Recently, the government has been trying to come to an agreement with the RFE/RL leadership about moving the radio out of the centre of Prague. RFE/RL was originally based in Munich and broadcast to the Eastern Bloc. After 1989, RFE/RL was almost cancelled because the US Congress thought it too expensive. The radio moved to Prague from Munich in 1995 in order to cut its expenditures and thus keep broadcasting. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1830 gmt 30 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 15480, HCJB Kununurra, 1205 Feb 1 with good signal S 9+10 but in LSB to avoid BBC 15485. Slow songs and music with some announcements giving address in Australia and e-mail. "This is HCJB Australia testing signal... Rx AOR AR5000 - Ant T2FD 15 meters long. Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Avvenire Milano, Italy, hard-core-dx via DXLD) As from Feb 2, HCJB Australia, Kununurra, will move to 11770 (ex 11755) for the English service to Australia/S. Pacific 0700-1200. This should clear co-channel Radio Finland. The alternative frequency of 11805 will not be used, due to its use by IBB(VOA) Kavalla with Arabic 0730-0830 which puts in a huge signal across Eastern Australia. HCA will issue its own specially designed QSLs from the Kilsyth (Melbourne) office. Note that antenna directivity is quite broad, with 11755/11805 notionally at 106 degrees (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia, EDXP via DXLD) Parts from the Africa antenna were used to repair the Asia antenna, so broadcasts to Ethiopia will be further delayed. However, tests in Oromo are most likely near the end of this week at 1730-1800 or 1200- 1230 (Dennis Adams, HCJB Australia, DX Partyline Feb 1, notes by gh for DXLD) Presumably on 15480, 11770 respectively ** BELARUS`. On Jan 15 I called the local Hrodna transmitter regarding your loggings in DX-Window no. 212 and got this information: BR-1: 6080: BR1 is broadcast for Ukraine with 150 kW, azimuth unknown to me. 6115: BR 1 is broadcast from Minsk with 75 kW, 252 degrees. 6010, 6070 - Brest (probably 5 kW), 6040, 7110 - Hrodna (5 kW), 6190, 7145 - Orsha (? kW) (transmitter at Mahilioú ? (Ed)), Low power transmitter in Hrodna s/on 0400 and s/off 2300. At 0440 - 0500, 1600 - 1640 - transmission of R. Hrodna (M-F), other times - relays BR-1 (till the end of that program). BR-2 is now called "Kanal Kultura" and broadcast on 7265 from Hrodna (2.5 kW), Brest (probably 10 kW) and Orsha (probably 5 kW). (Sergei Alekseichik, Hrodna, Belarus`...). So there are three transmitters! Sergei also sent us some photos of the Brest and Hrodna transmitter antennas which will be published on our website (Ed. Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Re: Maybe you can get it to open properly via: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=relampago (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For your info: The attached file is a Bolivian station's survey prepared by local-monitoring, realized from December 29, 2000 through January 6, 2001. When downloading the web system dumbly insists on adding a .BIN suffix, which then makes the downloaded file "unreadable" to yet another dumb piece of equipment, the PC. The file is still intact, and still readable if one removes the .BIN extension so that the PC's understands the file to be a Word document. Another way is simply to rename the file into any .DOC name. And yes, we are trying to figure out a proper solution, as attachments via a web server do have its merits (Hermod Pedersen, Web Editor http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, here`s some of it... ** BOLIVIA. POR LAS RUTAS DE BOLIVIA (Much abbreviated by your Ed. See full report on our website) From Dec 29, 2000 through Jan 06, 2001, I made a brief journey to Bolivia. The primary objectives of the journey were to visit some stations which made their debut on shortwave in these recent years and to study the broadcasting circumstances in Bolivia. In search of novelty and variety in the radio world, I stayed in Cochabamba, Sucre, Potosí and La Paz, realizing radio-monitoring and visiting several stations to glean the latest information. The obvious movements of the radio broadcasting circumstances, which I noted during the DX journey in Bolivia, were as follows: new commercial broadcasting enterprises bristle on FM; commercial stations trend on transferring their operations from medium wave to FM; and the newly merging religious organizations buy up old commercial broadcasters. By the development of a satellite relay system, Grupo Fides 2001, R Panamericana and R Cadena Nacional, three powerful commercial broadcasting networks, have installed their relay stations on FM in several of Bolivia's big cities in order to expand the service areas. The provincial stations of Grupo Fides 2001 have their own studios and offices as well as transmitting plants in order to broadcast the locally produced programs in addition to the national relay service. For the commercial and religious broadcasters, which have big commercial sponsors and plentiful program production expenses, it is not so difficult to get audience in the country and challenge the position of small local broadcasters. The small, privately owned commercial broadcasters ceased existing, owing to the decrease in profits made by selling airtime for commercial advertisements and personal message services. The radio stations of the mine worker's unions have gradually lost their significance due to the social situation change and some of these mining broadcasters have ceased transmissions because of the mining crisis. The railroad federations' broadcasters have also lost initial significance in the process of privatization. These have faced many difficulties to maintain the transmissions and have eventually sold their facilities to wealthy religious groups in recent years. Moreover, a remarkable trend was that frequency reassignment of medium wave and shortwave stations has been performed by government authorities as part of a countermeasure against interference due to an increase in the number of broadcasting stations in recent years. By this frequency reassignment, R. Nacional de Bolivia and R Baha'i, which were widely heard in different places of Bolivia at night and also have been logged by DX enthusiasts in European countries, stopped being easily tunable due to interference of other stations. Although I did not have time to visit the Supervision of Communications to know exactly from when this frequency reassignment has been carried out by the government authorities, some frequency reassignments on shortwave were observed by DX enthusiasts in 2001. Some examples are R Juan XXIII on 6055 (ex-4965), Radiodifusoras Trópico on 6035 (ex-4775; however it was measured in the vicinity of 4552) and R Centenario "La Nueva" on 4865 (ex-4855). [COCHABAMBA] 3310.0 CP--- R Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba; broadcast at 0750-1140 and 2155-0200 from Mo to Sa and at 0800-1200 on Su. The station transmits with an "Omnitronix Inc." brand OMNI-10000UA model transmitter which rates 10 kW (maximum output power) and a H type antenna (12 meters high above the ground). The station was officially founded by Pablo Bentley, Eldon Porter and Cameron Hurest, on May 8, 1999. (The first experimental transmission was realized at 1200 local time, on Apr 12, 1999.) The transmitting plant is installed at Cotapachi, Provincia de Quillacollo, Departamento de Cochabamba, Bolivia. The studio and the transmitting plant are connected by FM link on 934.4 MHz. Studio: Calle Abaroa No. 254, Cochabamba, Bolivia. 5974.1 CP200 R Nacional de Cochabamba, Cochabamba; has been off the air for many years. 6094.6 CP216 R Cosmos, Cochabamba; has been out of service for several years. [SUCRE] 3372.3 CP231 R Nuevo Mundo, Sucre; has been off the air since 1988. 5995.1 CP41 R Loyola, Sucre; was inactive during my stay in Sucre. The shortwave outlet is equipped with a "Petrick" brand transmitter of 1 kW and a 1/2-wave dipole antenna (20 meters high above the ground). 9717.1 CP21 R La Plata, Sucre; broadcast at 1400-1900 from Monday to Saturday and 1400-2200 on Su. [LA PAZ] 4795.2 CP73 R Nueva América, La Paz; has been off the air for many years. 4815.0 CP144 R Nacional de Bolivia, La Paz; has been off the air for many years. 4845.1 CP72 R Fides, La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 4875.1 CP75 R La Cruz del Sur, La Paz; operated at 0930-1200 and 2130-0030 from Mo through Fr. The SW outlet was not in operation on Sa and Su. 4945.1 CP7 R Illimani, La Paz; has been off the air for a couple of years. 5004.7 CP265 R Libertad, La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 5044.9 CP38 R Altiplano, La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 6025.0 CP5 R Illimani, La Paz; broadcast at 0930-0300 simultaneously with MW transmissions on 1020. 6085.1 CP229 R San Gabriel, La Paz; broadcast at 0900-0200 from Monday to Sa and 1000-0200 on Su. 6105v CP92 R Panamericana, La Paz; broadcast at 1100-0400 from Mo to Sa and 1100-2400 on Su. 6122.9 CP263 Rdif. Integración, El Alto de La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 6155.0 CP12 R Fides, La Paz; broadcast at 1000-1800 and 2100-0200 from Mo to Th, at 1000-1800 and 2100-0500 on Fr and Sa, at 1100-1800 on Su. 6196.2 CP145 R Metropolitana, La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 6185.0 CP9 R Batallón Colorados, La Paz; has been out of service for a long time. 9624.9 CP--- R Fides, La Paz; broadcast at 1000-1800 and 2100-0200 from Mo to Th, at 1000-1800 and 2100-0500 on Fr and Sa, at 1100-1800 on Su (Takayuki Inoue Nozaki, Japan, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** BOUGAINVILLE. CLANDESTINE, 3850, R Independent Mekamui, Bougainville, fade in 0925-1000, Dec 31 and Jan 06, local and international music, QRM from Indonesian radioamateurs (Roland Schulze, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC RADIO PERSONALITY BILL MCNEIL DIES WebPosted Thu Jan 30 13:56:37 2003 TORONTO --- Bill McNeil, a CBC radio personality who helped chronicle the lives of Canada's pioneers, has died. He was 78. Bill McNeil In 42 years at the CBC, McNeil worked as a reporter, on current affairs shows and as a host. He is best remembered as the voice of the weekend morning show Fresh Air , and Voice of the Pioneer. FROM CBC ARCHIVES: Remembering Bill McNeil: Those interviews with Canadians who remembered the early days of homesteading, gold rushes and world wars became the basis for some of McNeil's six books. In 1967, Centennial year, McNeil drove across the country recording conversations with Canadians. FROM FRESH AIR: A salute to Bill McNeil He retired in 1992. His fans filled Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall twice to hear his last shows. He died of kidney failure on Wednesday. Copyright © 2002 CBC All Rights Reserved (via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC RADIO HOST BILL MCNEIL DIES; KNOWN FOR FRESH AIR AND VOICE OF THE PIONEER MIKE FUHRMANN Canadian Press, Thursday, January 30, 2003 TORONTO (CP) - Bill McNeil, a veteran of CBC Radio best known for hosting the shows Fresh Air and Voice of the Pioneer, died Wednesday. He was 78. McNeil, also the author of six books, spent 42 years at the CBC before retiring in 1995. He died of kidney failure, the CBC said. Asked about his long car eer, the Sydney, N.S., native once said: "I didn't plan on staying this long. It's just that I was having too much fun to stop." Fresh Air, which catered to an older audience, drew up to a million listeners in Ontario and Quebec each Saturday and Sunday morning. When he took the job in 1968, McNeil recalled he was faced with an enormous challenge: "All they said was, 'Here's three hours, we want you to fill it.' We had no ratings at all in the beginning. I was just broadcasting to the birds and the worms." McNeil said he and co-host Cy Strange tried to make Fresh Air "an oasis in a mad world." It became a success because it "stirred the memory pot," said McNeil, whose gentle, resonant voice and quiet manner put both his subjects and listeners at ease. "People had a chance to talk about their youth, the Depression years, homesteading in the West." He hosted his final Fresh Air broadcast after 24 years in May 1992. For Voice of the Pioneer, carried on the national radio network, McNeil travelled across the country with a tape recorder to interview older Canadians about their life experiences. "These pioneers, as I like to call them, are closing out an era that is already almost gone," he said in a 1988 interview. "They are a generation that experienced changes . . . from the horse and buggy to the rocket ship and man walking on the moon. They are in a way reminders, all of them, of a much quieter, much softer time." The series led to four Voice of the Pioneer books. McNeil was also the author of Signing On: The Birth of Radio, and Mr. Canada: John Fisher. McNeil began his broadcasting career in Nova Scotia after lack of funds forced him out of university and into the coal mines of Glace Bay. Panicked at the thought of spending the rest of his life in the mines, McNeil would drive to Halifax or Sydney to apply for radio jobs, and finally he got on at the CBC affiliate in Sydney. He was later transferred to head office to work with Norman DePoe on News Roundup. McNeil subsequently took over that program as well as a news and current events show called Assignment. He stayed with Assignment for 15 years. Of his youth in Cape Breton, McNeil wrote in the book Bill McNeil Presents, Voice of the Pioneer: "The Depression left a mark on all of us who went through it, a mark that can never be erased. It shows most in the way we constantly attempt to instil the virtues of thrift and security into our children, much to their everlasting boredom." McNeil, whose wife of 52 years died in 1997, leaves two sons and a daughter. © Copyright 2003 The Canadian Press (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** CHECHNYA [non]. U.S.A. I found Radio Liberty on 7565, 1800-1900. Lots of Radio Svoboda IDs, items about Iraq, Dick Cheney etc... The IBB frequency list doesn't show this one, but it seems to be the Caucasus service in Russian, Avar, Chechen and Circassian. Couldn't check the parallel frequencies because of poor propagation (Silvain Domen, Belgium, 31 Jan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At c1827 I found RFE on 7565 with their program to Chechnya area - their sched lists 1800 Russian, 1815 Avari, 1830 Chechen and 1845 Cherkessi. None of the languages were recognised but I could hear the Prague ID given and announcement for Chechen 1830. It is // 9615, but I cannot hear listed 12130 or 11930 [Spanish on this frequency]. I suspect it's another IRA outlet [x 12130?] - signal very similar to 7585. I've checked today`s IBB sched, but 7565 is not listed - yet. Off with no ID 1900 (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Jan 27 via DXLD) [Later:] RFE service to Chechnya began using 7565 from a crash start c1800:15 just as the service had started - in Russian, accompanied by ME/Asian style music. The signal was very fluttery tonight --- as was the IRA[nawila, Sri Lanka] transmission on 7585 --- so I still think 7565 will be IRA when the IBB update their web site. It had not been included when last I looked this evening (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Jan 29 via DXLD) 7565 Maybe additional, or 12130 replaced by 7565. [was:] 12130 1800-1815 RFE RL-3 RU IRA 06 332 degr. 1815-1830 AV, 1830-1845 CH, 1845-1900 CI (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Jan 30 via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Dear Mr Hauser - I'm subscribed to MONITORING TIMES because of my interest in radio monitoring, SW, scanning, plus I'm an active ham. From time to time I see references to Voz de la Resistencia not being heard. I can assure you that they are on the air most days and are amazingly punctual. Their broadcast is at 1300 GMT every day. Normally, they play warm-up music about 10 min prior -- say {1250} onwards. Their broadcasts carry a sort of editorial and then they often air "war" bulletins and opinion pieces. The frequency I hear is 6.23980 MHz. They use AM but setting the radio to USB helps beat some of the interference. The nominal, announced frequency is 6.240 MHz. The station is usually jammed, except on Sundays when they carry mostly "cultural programming." The fellow hams I have asked have all heard the broadcasts. Seldom are signals very strong, but I've actually heard the station on a tiny Sony SW 20 radio, provided I am inductively close to any of my outside antennas. Reception in Panama City is usually not possible, but no so once out in the open or near the ocean. Yours truly, (Tony Conte/HP1KL, Feb 1, Panamá, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Hello to all; if you cannot find anything of interest in the tropical bands, have a look on 49m. On 6140.53 I could observe a new Colombian. Seems to be a local AM-station from Bogotá, which additionally opened a sw-outlet. A small sound file with ID (30 KB) is available in the audio clip section of my homepage: http://home.arcor.de/mschnitzer/ 6140.53, R. Melodía, Bogotá, January 31st, 2245-2400, Spanish, talks about sexual education, international news, sports talks, slogan: "Melodía, la radio líder", ID: "Aquí Bogotá, lider de ... Colombia desde moderno edificio de cristal (?) en la calle de 25, centro de la radio ... AM 730 kilociclos, HJCU onda larga, 11000 vatios de potencia en antena y en la banda internacional de 49 metros, HJQE, 6140 kilociclos, onda corta ..." SINPO 32422 vy 73 (Michael Schnitzer, Hassfurt, Germany, hard-core-dx via DXLD) 6140.57, R. Melodía, 0939, ID at 0940 Feb 1 with mentions of Bogotá and Melodía, then into ballad style music. Relatively noisy at this time (Don Nelson, Oregon, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 6140.6, Radio Melodia, 0130-0200, Jan 31, Nice romantic songs program with very strong signal with no interference till 0200. At 0157 "Últimas noticias" Announcements: "A toda hora y en todo lugar Cadena Melodía, la radio leader de Colombia". "Melodía presentò Otro Concierto Musical, gracias por seguir con Melodía". "Desde el moderno edificio de cristal en la calle 45, epicentro de la radio, le habla Melodia AM 730 ... Onda larga, ... En la banda internacional de 49 metros ... 6140 Kc en onda corta ... Melodía AM ... De la cadena Melodía de Colombia" (Giampiero Bernardini, Italy, hard-core-dx via DXLD) R. Melodía from Bogotá, is audible right now on 6140.63. The signal is fairly strong, but there is severe QRM from 6140 kHz. A sample ID can be found on http://www.dxing.info/audio/index_colombia.dx 73 (Mika Mäkeläinen http://www.DXing.info/ via DXLD) The reactivated Colombian, Radio Melodía was audible yesterday evening (31 Jan) here on 6140.5 around 2330-0000 with best reception on the quieter East-West short beverage (Alan Pennington, Caversham UK, AOR 7030+ / beverage, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Hola amigos, hago eco de esta noticia que publica el colega Adán González via DXLD, ya que hace algunos meses el amigo Martin Stendal de la Voz de tu Conciencia me comentó que conocía de otro proyecto para la onda corta y era precisamente Radio Melodía aunque tenían problemas con la antena. Como señala el colega desde Venezuela en la identificación mencionan la frecuencia de onda corta; pero ante una llamda que les hice, no quisieron informar nada. De todas formas sería una buena noticia que representaría el retorno de esta emisora luego de varios lustros (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Hola a todos. Ahora son las 0110 UT (01/02/2003) y les comento que esta estación, identificada como HJQE 6140 y HJCU Melodía 730, ha estado llegando muy bien por Caracas todos el día. Hoy la he estado escuchando desde las 1510 (31/01/2003) con muy buena señal, con algo de QRN a muy bajo nivel; en horas diurnas esta frecuencia está completamente libre de interferencias de otras estaciones y la recepción es excelente, SINPO 45444. Luego de las 2200 la señal va mejorando aún más hasta llegar a SINPO 55445; ya a esta hora la señal está interferida por otras estaciones. En los links de abajo encontrarán 3 archivos en Real Audio con la ID de esta estación y otros datos grabados a diferentes horas el dia de hoy. HJQE-6140-16:59-UTC http://www.venehost.com.ve/swl/hjqe_6140_id_31-01-2003_1659_utc.rm 31-01-2003 16:59 UTC 50 KB HJQE-6140-18:28-UTC http://www.venehost.com.ve/swl/hjqe_6140_31-01-2003_1828_utc.rm 31-01-2003 18:28 UTC 326 KB HJQE-6140-01:58-UTC http://www.venehost.com.ve/swl/hjqe_6140_01-02-2003_0159_utc.rm 01-02-2003 01:58 UTC 246 KB Espero los encuentren interesantes. 73/DX (José M. Valdés R. (Joe) YV5LIX 10 31 N 66 52 W Grid: FK60NM RX1: Sony ICF-2010 RX2: Icom IC- R8500-02 Antenna SWL: Sloper 120 meters long. P. O. Box 68195 Caracas 1062-A Edo. Miranda Venezuela, Jan 31, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. 7530, Voice of the Eritrean People, via Kvitsöy, *1700-1727*, Su Jan 19 and 26, Tigrinya talk mentioning Eritrea, Asmara and Somalia, Horn of Africa songs, abrupt s/off in the middle of a sentence. 44444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** GEORGIA. It has been confirmed from various official sources in the past years that the Radio Rossii/Sochinskaya GTRK/GTRK Kuban relays on 1350 & 9490 are originating from Suxum, Abkhazia. The signal of the Russian programs is apparently picked up by Ballempfang (off-air) at the border to Russia from the FM tx in Sochi on 71.93 MHz. That is the reason why there cannot be noted any time delay on 1089/1350/9490, because the transmitters in Tbilisskaya on 1089 and Sochi 71.93 receive the regional feed simultaneously by micro wave network (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, BC-DX Jan 23 via DXLD) ** GREENLAND. KNR: Not even a carrier was audible here on either frequency [3815 or 3947] on Jan 25, 2125-2225 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) {Well, it`s supposed to be on USB, so probably no carrier anyway} ** ICELAND. 12120-U, Rikisutvarpid, 2302-2310 Feb 1. Music followed by talk by man. Very difficult copy due to persistent and loud utility station. Only in the clear for a minute or so. SINPO 32332. Parallel 13865 not heard (Jim Evans, TN, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR TO LENGTHEN LIFE OF SHORT WAVE RADIO http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=27042 Nivedita Mookerji New Delhi: At a time when short wave analogue radio is on its way out all over the world, All India Radio (AIR) is all set for a relaunch of its National Channel on short wave. Surprisingly, even the working group on the information and broadcasting sector for the Tenth Plan had recommended that short wave should be phased out, citing poor reception quality. According to Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma, AIR's National Channel, which has been available during the night hours so far, can now be heard all through the day. But, the service will be available throughout the day only on short wave frequency, admits another official. Result: Wide coverage, but poor reception quality. However, the channel would be available on other frequencies during night-through medium wave (MW) transmitters at Nagpur and Delhi each, and a frequency modulated (FM) transmitter at Kasauli. On short wave, the channel will be available through a 500-kw transmitter in Bangalore and a 250-kw one in Delhi. So far, listeners in India have been getting the National Channel on medium wave only. The external service catering to listeners abroad, a short wave transmitter at Bangalore was being used. Why the transition from MW to SW then for the National Channel in India, in stark contrast to the world trend? Digital short wave radio of course is a new concept in the international scenario. Giving reasons, a Prasar Bharati official says wide coverage up to 1000 km all through the day is what prompted the shift to short wave. So far, only a radius of about 100 to 150 km could be covered through the medium wave transmitter located at Nagpur during daytime. At night, however, the entire middle India was receiving the channel. The difference in coverage is due to the medium wave that can be propagated through the ionosphere at night. But the official agrees that short wave listening is down internationally. ''Even AIR is phasing out short wave because of poor reception quality,'' he adds. But, in this case, short wave is being better utilised, with the existing infrastructure, for wider coverage of the National channel, he says. According to the report of the working group on the Tenth Plan, shortwave radio broadcasting services in analogue mode should be phased out (via Artie Bigley, Mike Terry, Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. From the middle of December till Jan 06 I was only able to hear the following stations here in the Philippines. They are heard during local daytime or from 1000 onwards: 2899.1 RPDT2 Ngada, regular, very weak. 3266.4 RRI Gorontalo, regular. 3325 RRI Palangkaraya, regular, late fade in. 3344.8 RRI Ternate, regular. 3905 RRI Merauke, sporadic, but active at present. 3960v RRI Palu, regular. 3976 RRI Pontianak, irregular, but active at present. 4000.1 RRI Kendari, regular. 4606.5 RRI Serui, regular. 4753.3 RRI Makassar, regular. 4925 RRI Jambi, regular. 9524.9 Voice of Indonesia, irregular. 9743.7 RRI Sorong, regular, but weak. Signs off at 0758* 11784.9 Voice of Indonesia, irregular (Roland Schulze, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. If you are listening to WRN in the USA via Sirius Satellite Radio on Channel 111, from 3rd February WRN will be on Stream 115, so retune to keep listening to WRN, the world`s radio station (WRN Newsletter, Jan. 31, 2003 via Sergei Sosedkin, IL, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Columbia disaster: see USA ** IRAN. V. of David: see ISRAEL [non] ** IRAN [non]. Re V. of Southern Azerbaijan: The SANAM web site http://www.cehreganli.com mentions its being at 9375 kHz: Showed faulty 9573 instead! See also a background report via BBCM: http://www.cehreganli.com/bbcrep.txt and U.S. assistance support and Pres Bush's statement of July 12, 2002, in which he said the U.S. will no longer attempt to engage the "reformers" and will only work with dissidents. See: http://www.cehreganli.com/csiscixisi.pdf (Center of Strategic & International Studies, Washington DC; CIS Caucasus Project Meeting Notes) [what means Caucasus Project?? -- is it an action to destabilize Iran's government?, ed. WB] Observed on Jan 30th at 1650 UT with solid signal strength in Europe, freq is even xx.00 and fine audio modulation noted (Wolfgang Bueschel, BC-DX Jan 30 via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. 5896.8, Voice of Iraqi People, Voice of the Iraqi Communist Party, Iraqi Kurdistan, 0430-0530*, Jan 25, Arabic talks about Iraq, frequent ID's: "Huna sawt al-Shab al-Iraq, idha'atu al- Hizb al-Shuju'i al-Iraq", Arab songs and more talks, closed with a short song, 34333 // 3899.9 (first 35444, but then fading out). No program in Kurdish (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. unID: There was something on 7560 today [Jan 28] at tune in 1730, already on air with a good signal, and I heard part of an ID given in English --- but unfortunately more or less "drowned" by background music. An ID in Arabic --- also covered by the same music at 1743, and one in a unknown language at 1756, also covered by music. There was no other speech heard - just Middle East sounding music - NOT Horn of Africa style. I tuned out at 1800 and returned c1827, but the station was off then (Noel Green, England, Jan 27 [sic], BC-DX via DXLD) [Later:] The station using 7560 is Voice of Mesopotamia. The carrier heard at 1645 began sending "Russian" style tones at 1656 and then stopped doing so at 1700 as music started - the same as heard yesterday - and ID's were given in four languages including Arabic and English..."...you are now listening to The Voice of Mesopotamia...". Frequencies, days and times were heard, but these were very difficult to copy due to the loudness of the background music. Is coming via Russia or one of the former Republics. Music was played after the sequence of ID's. (Noel Green, England, Jan 29, BCDX via DXLD) {see KURDISTAN below for another 7560 station} ** ISRAEL [non]. Re CIDX Messenger Dec, IRAN IRIB 21745 0700-0727 in Hebrew: I agree the above is a transmission of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. It does not identify as Iran. It calls itself, Kol Dah- veed, the voice of David. They say they are on 31 meters and on 41. They do not give frequencies. They do give 0700-0730 UTC. I have heard them twice, the last time being today 20 January, 21745 kHz, SIO 555. They gave fax numbers which are in Teheran, 0098(21)204-7076 and 0098(21)204-6397 Address given: Iran, Teheran, PO Box 19395-6767 Syria, Damascus, P O Box 9731 Lebanon, Beirut, P O Box 113-718 Bahrain, Manama, P O Box 26273 All of the above have no postal ties with Israel. They gave a web-site where you can hear the program: http://www.iribworld.com This is different than that given in PWBR and WRTH for IRIB. I have no computer so do not know if it works or not. They announce as if it was yesterday evening. Well, there you have an opportunity to get a QSL of a clandestine. They did not mention reception reports in the programs. Best wishes. Yours, (David Crystal, Ramat Zvi, Israel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non]. [unID origin], 9890, "Kashmir" R. Sedaye Kashmir 0027-0300 01/30. Test-tone until *0231. OM with ID; Hindi style music and chorus. OM and YL with radio drama/soap opera program. Music break at 0235; program resumes briefly at 0240; music again from 0242 to 0247. Back to program; mostly talk by OM. Hindi dance music at 0257. Rough copy, fading at this time; completely overtaken by VOA 9885 s/on at 0300. Good at tune-in. Anyone else hearing this? Due to my work schedule I can monitor this Tue/Wed only (Scott Barbour, NH, DXplorer Jan 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 3975, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan /PDKI. Received an e-mail confirmation from Canadian Representative from this e-mail address pdkicanada@pdki.org This was an old report on 4065 which they verified for 1992. Reply in 26 days stating apologizes for the delay due to heavy mail reply's. v/s PDKI Canada (Ed Kusalik via Dxplorer, Jan 14). 4065 has now been replaced by 3975 (Ed Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 7560, Voice of Komala via Kvitsöy, *1700-1757*, Su Jan 19 & 26, Fanfare and Kurdish ID: ``Eira dengi Komala, Eira dengi Komala, dengi Komala... dengi azadi... dengi (revat) kommunisti...``, ann, music, political talks, 1730 same fanfare and Farsi ID: ``In sade-ye Komala, In seda-ye Komala, seda-ye Komalei, seda-ye... Kommunisti Kurdistana.``, political talks. Sundays only. At 1659:30 to 1700:20 was noted a jump-over 'Overload' program of just nine seconds from ISDN feed at Kvitsoe, from nearby Voice of the Eritrean People program [of 7530]. 35434 (Bueschel and Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) {See IRAQ non above for another 7560 station} On Jan 20, I compared my recorded ID's from Jan 19 with the ID's on 3928.1 at *1656-1838* where the Voice of Komala can be heard daily. Both stations ID" Eira dengi Komala" in Kurdish and "In seda-ye Komala" in Farsi in the short version, but the long versions of their ID's are different. However, I think I recognized the Kurdish woman speaking on both frequencies as being the same. Two different stations were described by Robertas Petraitis in DXW no. 190 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. Voice of the People of Kurdistan in Al-Sulaymaniya, NE Iraq heard January 30th 1750 on 4415.8 ex 6995, parallel to 4025. What Now My Love tune 1756 then news 1800 in local (Mike Barraclough, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. 4050, unID via Krasnaya Rechka, Bishkek, *0225-0340, Jan 20, (Cf. DX-Window no. 212) Signed on with test tones and fade in of western pop sound ``Do you funk?``, non-stop pop songs from Europe and Central Asian (some similarities to Turkish folksongs). No announcements at all or Farsi talk this morning. At 0330 there was a 3 minute break and then another tape with similar pop songs was played. 34433. Same propagation characteristics as Bishkek on 4010. On Jan 25 the station was not heard at 0320. Also heard *1555-1750, Jan 22 and 27, mostly non-stop Central Asian songs with no announcement at all, 1742 song about Kurdistan! But at 1600-1606 Vernacular talk much disturbed. Shortly CWQRM and some QRM from Romanian (?) utility conversation, 24433 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 6100, R. Liberia International, 0650-0740, Jan 22 and 26, popular African style music. ID heard 0657 in English. News followed at 0701 then fire-and-brimstone preaching by African-accented minister to program closing announcement at 0740, with pastor giving church address of P.O. Box 4347, Monrovia, then full ID, including "You are tuned just right to the SW service of the Liberia Communications Network. This is Radio Liberia International, we broadcast live and direct . . . Africa." Then TC and into light religious vocals with some inspirational talkover. Good signal at first, but began to fade in England. Ruined by WYFR-6105 *0755 (Jerry Berg, MA and Noel Green, UK, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. At 0750 this morning I happened to come across a signal that might be interesting. On 5470, I was hearing what sounded at first like someone talking in low tones, then it went into music I can't quite classify. At the hour I heard a woman speaking in English and she identified the station as Radio Veritas. I have no idea where this is being broadcast from. My database says Liberia, but I thought that was no longer active. I did record this to a wav file and listened to the playback. She does say Radio Veritas. Maybe someone else can confirm this? Signal was 222 to 444 using RX320 and 23 ft vertical. Heard it best in USB mode (Chris DX'ing in Louisville KY, Drake R4A, R390, Ten Tec RX320, 90 ft dipole, 23 ft vertical, Feb 1, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Of course it`s Liberia, reported several times recently in DXLD (gh) Chris, Its Radio Veritas, Liberia. Has been on for about a few months or so. Was also reported this past summer. Best heard at 0600 sign-on, if nothing there wait a few minutes. I've noted them signing-on 15 minutes before or after 0600. I think they are on in the early evenings (EST) until 2200 also. 73 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. R. Dat for Kazkahstan, 9925, most likely is coming from Sitkunai, Lithuania facility. 1600-1700 UT. probably on their 79 degree antenna? Then transmitter to be switched from 9925 to 7.4 MHz, for R Barabari service in Persian language at 1701-1731 UT, probably on Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun only (Wolfgang Bueschel, Jan 25, BC-DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. 6010: No he sintonizado la interferncia de La Voz de tu Conciencia [COLOMBIA] el día de ayer y anteayer, pero entre las 0400 y las 0500 UT, escucho una interferencia, como jamming, que elimina a Radio Mil y a las emisoras que están 5 kHz de ambos lados (Héctor García Bojorge, DF, Jan 30, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Hector, En 6010 hay pruebas digitales DRM de la BBC através de Sackville, Canada, a las 00-01 y 04-05 como ya se informó en DX Listening Digest. He sugerido a la HFCC, pronto a reunirse en Sudáfrica, que reconozcan la existencia de Radio Mil en 6010! Desafortunadamente, no cuenta con la potencia para causar mucha interferencia a las otras emisoras; al contrario. Considero que las emisoras mayores internacionales deben proteger a los ocupantes de largo tiempo en tales frecuencias. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) El respeto a la frecuencia considero en opinión personal; debe darse en la medida que la estación mantenga emisiones permanentes que con lleven un continuo mejoramiento en la señal. Ya que por el hecho de haber obtenido una licencia hace muchos años no es suficiente; o si no se debería postular otras emisoras latinoamericanas para obtener este reconocimiento (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, ibid.) Estoy totalmente de acuerdo contigo, Rafael. XEOI, Radio Mil onda corta, tiene más de 50 años transmitiendo en onda corta continuamente, empezando con un transmisor de 250 watts, luego a 950 y hace 10 años que se consiguió un transmisor de 1000 watts; actualmente se irradia la señal las 24 horas del día, se han realizado mejoras técnicas en sus enlaces y antenas, se tiene planeado en un futuro subir la potencia a 10,000 watts. Nuestro destino es toda la República Mexicana y el sur de los EE.UU. saludos (Héctor García Bojorge, DF, ibid.) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI, 6095, surprisingly good signals here 1620 January 29th, I would expect this frequency will be used for extended broadcasts when New Zealand are competing in this month`s Cricket World Cup in South Africa (Mike Barraclough, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. 600, YNLD, La Nueva Ya, Managua, FEB 01 0432 - briefly got woman in SS with news // to the live 365.com stream which I was listening on my computer at the same time (with the sound of the computer speaker close to maximum as to keep the signal reach me up closer to my radio). Finally confirmed, nice ! Equipment: Sanyo MCD- S830 w/ ferrite bar antenna QTH: Pierrefonds-Est (Montreal), Quebec, Canada (Bogdan Chiochiu, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Have got an airmail letter from Roland Schulze, the Philippines. He tells me that he heard a 2nd channel from V. of Nigeria 11770 at around 2120-2245 UT. English news at 2245. Propagation varies from day to day, sometimes heard in // to 15120. Vernaculars. SINPO 24432 (Roland Schulze, Pangasinan, BC-DX Jan 9) Checked here in Stuttgart, but negative, wb (Wolfgang Bueschel, BCDX editor, Jan 30 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Just in case you haven't heard, KOMA-AM 1520 will be flipping format Monday morning to news-talk. This had been rumored for almost a year now with the addition of CBS news on the hour and the O'Reilly Factor. A retrospective saluting the top 40 years of KOMA will be aired tonight at 10 PM [UT Sun 0400] and Sunday evening at 6 PM [UT Mon 0000] -- all times are Central. In addition, historic clips from the KOMA jocks are being featured thru the weekend. If you're in the range of the 1520 signal tonight or tomorrow, you may want to listen and/or record this bit of history, and by all means try to hear the changeover Monday morning. Of course, this is all incidental given the tragic news regarding the space shuttle Columbia. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of all involved (Mark Erdman, Herington/Salina KS, Feb 1, NRC-AM via DXLD) No, KOMA does not stream due to the usual issues ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. On Dec 31 the following stations were audible from 1000: 2410, 3235, 3260, 3275, 3290, 3305, 3315, 3365, 3375, 3385 and 4890 (Roland Schulze, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** POLAND. The January 28th Media Magazine said that Radio Polonia would shortly hold an extensive conference with the TPSA transmitting company about problems with the quality of the shortwave broadcasts. They would present reception reports, articles they had found on the internet and radio magazines, and some MiniDisc recordings sent in by Erik Køie in Denmark and ask for the technical problems at the site to be quickly rectified (Mike Barraclough, UK, Feb World DX Club contact via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Pop goes St Petersburg. Radio Studio is one of the last 'independent' radio stations broadcasting from Russia on shortwave. Its sudden disappearance from the dial, only to reappear after a long pause in autumn 2002, puzzled many shortwave listeners. They've also been confused by on-air references to Radio Gardarika and Nevskaya volna, and the fact that the station doesn't seem to be on a regular schedule. So what's going on? Bernd Trutenau has the answers. http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/rus030131.html (Media Network Newsletter Jan 31 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. The VOICE OF RUSSIA has put out a radio series on Stalingrad. Joining forces with the city government there, it has also issued a CD with memories of Russian and German veterans of the great Stalingrad battle. See the details on our website (VoR's News Bulletin, Jan. 31, 2003) No details about the CD are found on the site. But one can still participate in the Battle of Stalingrad Quiz at: http://www.vor.ru/opros/v_st/index.php?lang=eng (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. ITAR-TASS NEWS AGENCY LAUNCHES NEW INTERNET PORTAL | Excerpt from report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 1 February: ITAR-TASS has launched a new Internet portal at http://www.itar-tass.com Access to some of its products is free. As they created the web site, the developers sought to take into account all comments from ITAR-TASS Internet resources users and make their work as convenient and productive as possible... http://www.itar-tass.com carries online news, stories and reviews by the agency's own and special correspondents, analysis, on-site photos, a photo archive, up-to-date graphics information and vast databases... Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 0726 gmt 1 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. The Voice of Tibet is registered at: 1215-1300 on 15400 15615 15645 21495 21525 21635 21760, and 1430-1515 on 11550 11975 12025 12145. The station uses CIS transmitter sites as Almaty, Dushanbe and Tashkent. It is always object of strong jamming from China mainland. But it is always noted on two channels only at 1215 which on Jan 13-15 were 15645 and 21525; and a single frequency at 1430 which on Jan 13- 15 was 11975. On Jan 17 it was heard at 1215 on 15645 and 21635; at 1430 on 12025 (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) On Jan 27 I heard it at *1215-1300* on 15615 and 21495 with Chinese music jamming on 21495 only. At 1430-1517:45* it was heard on 12025, but it was funny to note that the music jammer (QSA 3) started on the empty 11975 at *1430-1431* and then moved to 12025 *1432-1515* where it immediately drowned the QSA 2 signal the Voice of Tibet completely. However, this clandestine station somehow increased its power, so it could be heard from 1445 with 33443 through the jamming here in Denmark. The jamming station was not aware that the Voice of Tibet ran overtime 1515 after which it could be heard with 35444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** U K [non]. 9740, BIBLE VOICE, opening at 0030 with its English ID, then into Indian languages until closing at 0100. I am not sure of the transmitter site, but believe this to be Nauen, Germany. This service was listed for 7315 earlier in January, but the station is making many frequency and schedule changes and won't disclose the sites! Regards! (Bob Padula, Friday 31-Jan (Point Cook Coastal Park, Vic., Sangean ATS808A, 10 m random antenna) EDXP via DXLD) ** U K. I'm very sorry to have to tell you this but Charles "Gordon" Bennett Passed away this morning at 07:50. His Wife just phoned me. There'll be a private family only cremation. He'll be fondly remembered for his "Wavescan" programme on AWR but he was a kind generous man who greatly enhanced the lives of everyone he came into contact with. I personally owe him a lot for introducing me to the British FM & TV circle among many other things (Tim Bucknall, Feb 1, UK, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U K. The February edition of "Shortwave News" has been uploaded to the International Listener web site, featuring part two of A Visit to Bush House, our exclusive look inside the BBC World Service. Included are interviews with a senior producer from the African languages section, as well as Robin White, editor-in-chief of the quarterly BBC magazine Focus on Africa. And noting the BBC's interest in American news stories like Enron/Andersen, there are exclusive interviews with World Business Report presenter Roger White and business editor Martin Webber. http://www.internationallistener.com http://home.houston.rr.com/edmayberry (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U K. No kudos to BBC WS for covering the Columbia disaster. A sesquihour into the story around 1530 UT I checked the Americas stream, and they were still in the mandatory Saturday afternoon stupid ballgame coverage! Next stop, WBAP, which is again streaming with nothing but. BBC limited its coverage to news on the hour (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ASTRONAUTS PRESUMED LOST AS COLUMBIA BREAKS UP OVER TEXAS NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 1, 2003 --- All members of the seven-person crew of space shuttle Columbia are feared dead after the spacecraft broke up high over Texas today. Columbia was on its way to what had been considered an uneventful landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Three of the crew members on the scientific mission were Amateur Radio operators. NASA says communication was lost around 8 AM Central Time, and unconfirmed reports indicated that debris has been spotted on the ground in Texas. Aboard was the first Israeli to fly in space. ARRL Field and Educational Services Manager Rosalie White, K1STO, who's been closely associated with the Space Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) and Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) programs expressed shock and sadness over the Columbia disaster. "We sincerely regret this latest tragedy," she said. "We will be keeping the families of these astronauts in our minds and hearts." White is ARISS International Secretary and the primary liaison between ARRL and the ARISS program. No Amateur Radio gear was aboard the Columbia for this mission. The STS-107 crew, headed by Commander Rick D. Husband, also included Pilot William C. McCool and Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawlna, KD5ESI; David M. Brown, KC5ZTC; Laurel B. Clark, KC5ZSU, Michael P. Anderson, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon--a well-known Israeli Air Force pilot who had waited two years for a chance to go into space. Search-and-rescue crews have been deployed in Texas, although little hope exists that anyone survived the breakup. NASA has warned those on the ground to stay clear of any debris they might spot. NASA says shuttle debris may be contaminated with hyperbolic fuel, the fumes of which can be fatal if inhaled. "If you find debris, please do not touch it, and if you have photos or videos that you think will be helpful, please contact your local police authorities," NASA said in a statement. News video from Texas television stations --- now being replayed across the country --- apparently shows the Columbia disintegrating as it was approximately 207,000 feet (39 statute miles) above Earth. NASA said the first sign of trouble was a loss of radio and data (telemetry) contact with the shuttle. A surveillance satellite reportedly detected what's been called a "heat spike" in space as Columbia approached Earth which could indicate an explosion aboard Columbia. President George W. Bush has convened a crisis team that involves members of the military, but it was not believed there was any terrorist link to the Columbia disaster. STS-107 was NASA's 144th shuttle mission. Reminiscent of the 1986 Challenger disaster, which occurred as the spacecraft was going into space, the Columbia tragedy marked the first time a shuttle had encountered any problems during re-entry. The Columbia broke up while traveling 12,500 MPH and a mere 16 minutes from touchdown in Florida, where the crew members' families were awaiting their arrival back on Earth following a 16-day research mission. Their duty tour had been described as routine. The Columbia did not visit the International Space Station while in space. The mission had been subjected to heavy security, however. NASA has grounded all of its space shuttles, but there's no word yet that the Columbia tragedy will affect the current Expedition 7 crew's future aboard the International Space Station. More information may be available via the NASA Human Spaceflight Web page http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/ 11:58 AM, 01 Feb 2003 ET Page author: awextra@arrl.org (ARRL web via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO IN SPACE: EDUCATOR ASTRONAUT RECRUITMENT PROGRAM The National Aeronautics and Space Administration says that recruitment is currently underway for the Educator Astronaut Program. Applicants must be teachers who are U.S. citizens, certified to instruct Kindergarten through 12th grade with a minimum three years in-classroom teaching experience within the past four years. They must also hold at least a bachelor's degree in physical science, biological science, engineering or mathematics, or an education degree with a concentration in physical science, biological science, engineering or mathematics. An Amateur Radio license is not required. Applications are being accepted through April 30th. More information and the application package is available at http://edspace.nasa.gov (NASA via Amateur Radio Newsline Jan 31 via DXLD) ** U S A. NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 31, 2003 --- Utah's Amateur Radio antenna bill appears to be on the fast track. Just 11 days after its introduction, the bill has made it through the Utah House of Representatives. The vote today was 65 to 8 (with two members not voting). ARRL Utah Section Manager Mel Parkes, AC7CP, has been encouraging Utah amateurs to get behind the new measure, House Bill 79, which was introduced January 20. Sponsored by Rep Neal B. Hendrickson, HB 79, "Regulation of Amateur Radio Antennas," received a favorable recommendation from the House standing committee on political subdivisions earlier this month. HB 79 would prohibit municipalities and counties in Utah from enacting ordinances that fail to comply with the limited federal preemption known as PRB-1. The measure would require that local ordinances involving placement, screening or height of an Amateur Radio antenna that are based on health, safety or aesthetics "reasonably accommodate amateur radio communications" and "represent the minimal practicable regulation to accomplish the municipality's purpose." The bill now moves to the Utah Senate. A copy of the proposed legislation is available on the Utah State Legislature Web site. So far, 16 states have incorporated the essence of PRB-1 into their statutes. Bills are pending in several other states (ARRL via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. WBCQ is working on plans to add news to its schedule, from a non-corporate source, if the US goes to war. New on 9335-CUSB from Sun Feb 9 is Laser Radio, 2000-2400 UT (Allan Weiner, AWWW Feb 1, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, but news on the hour? would disrupt lots of existing programming which does not have a news hole built in (gh, DXLD) WBCQ-NEWS SERVICE - PLANET WORLD NEWS Dear Glenn: Some exciting happenings at WBCQ. We are pleased to announce that we are inaugurating our own news service to be known as Planet World News. This feature will be compiled by our staff as honest, sincerely presented, world news stories as truthful and as accurate as we can obtain. The service debuts on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 3:50 pm. EST [2050 UT] on 7.415. Planet World News will be broadcasted Monday thru Saturday at 3:50 p.m. EST on 7.415. As we get closer to a possible war and other unsettling events throughout the world, we feel it our responsibility to begin to establish a news department here at WBCQ. I am pleased to announce that a British group known as Laser Radio will be putting their highly popular music, information and variety program on our station beginning February 9, 2003 between 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM EST [2000-2400 UT] on 9.335. Everyone here at WBCQ - The Planet is dedicated to changing the face of shortwave radio. It is our goal to bring as much new and diverse programming to this very precious medium. As you may or may not know, the FCC is most likely going to deregulate all ownership restrictions on domestic radio and television stations in the United States. This will result in major corporate media coming in and buying up all of the media voices in all of the significant media markets in this country. Shortwave will become more of a trusted alternative voice for people wanting to get a non-corporate influenced view of the planet. Sincerely yours, (Allan H. Weiner, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI is still running classical music fill, at least on Saturdays, Copland around 1400 Feb 1 on 15725 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Winter B-02 VOA (with the exception of English). Updated on 30-01-2003 ALBANIAN 0600-0630 1215 6030 6125 9635 1700-1730 5970 9705 11905 1930-2000 1458 7115 9600 9850 AMHARIC 1800-1830 13675 15775 17640 ARABIC 0000-0400 981 1260 1548 0400-0600 981 1260 1548 5965 9665 11670 11815 11865 11875 0730-0800 981 1260 1548 6045 7170 9565 9615 11805 15140 15235 15440 17855 0800-0830 981 1548 6045 7170 9565 9615 11805 15140 15235 15440 17855 0830-1500 981 1548 1500-1700 981 1260 1548 1700-1800 981 1260 1548 7105 11855 1800-1900 981 1260 1548 7180 7280 9530 9770 11825 11905 11960 1900-2000 981 1260 1548 6040 7195 7280 9530 9615 11825 11905 17740 2000-2100 981 1260 1548 6040 6060 6150 6160 7195 7280 9530 9650 11825 11905 17740 2100-2400 981 1260 1548 ARMENIAN 1600-1630 11680 13865 (9815 deleted) AZERI 1830-1900 9750 9695 11770 BANGLA 0130-0200 11805 15210 17780 1600-1700 1575 7280 9855 15160 BOSNIAN 1600-1630 1197 Mon-Fri 2230-2300 792 1197 Mon-Fri BURMESE 1130-1200 1575 6140 9890 11850 15225 1430-1500 1575 5955 9720 11930 2330-2400 6135 7260 9865 CANTONESE 1300-1330 9705 11865 15160 1330-1500 1143 9705 11865 15160 CREOLE 1230-1300 9535 11890 15265 Mon-Fri 1730-1800 15385 17565 21540 2200-2230 9525 9670 21540 CROATIAN 0530-0600 756 792 1197 1395 6180 7165 9635 1930-2000 1197 6050 7245 7270 DARI 0130-0230 801 12140 15690 17595 1130-1200 15690 17595 19010 1200-1230 1143 15690 17595 19010 1530-1630 801 11770 15690 19010 FRENCH 0530-0630 1530 4960 5890 6120 7265 7370 9480 9505 11655 13695 15375 Mon-Fri 1830-2000 1530 9815 11775 12080 13735 15220 17580 21485 2000-2030 9815 11775 12080 13735 15220 21485 2030-2100 9780 9815 11775 12080 13735 15220 21485 Sat/Sun 2100-2130 5985 9780 9815 11775 12080 15220 17755 21485 Mon-Fri GEORGIAN 1530-1600 9770 11850 13645 HAUSA 0500-0530 1530 4960 6120 7105 9885 1500-1530 7135 9810 11680 2030-2100 4950 9780 9815 11775 12080 13735 15220 21485 Mon-Fri HINDI 0030-0100 5955 7135 11705 1600-1700 6060 9815 11730 INDONESIAN 1130-1200 7215 7255 9720 11930 15160 2200-2330 7130 9620 11805 15205 KHMER 1330-1430 1575 5955 9720 11930 2200-2230 1575 6060 7260 9535 13640 KINYARWANDA 0330-0400 7340 9785 11915 0400-0430 5995 7340 9785 11915 KOREAN 1200-1400 648 5985 7235 9555 11895 2100-2200 5995 7110 12065 KURDISH 1600-1700 7240 11875 15250 1800-1900 6115 11805 12030 LAOTIAN 1230-1300 1575 6030 7215 11930 MACEDONIAN 2030-2100 1197 Mon-Fri MANDARIN 0000-0100 6045 7190 9545 11925 15395 17765 21580 0100-0200 7190 9545 11925 15395 17765 21580 0200-0300 11925 15395 17765 21580 0700-0800 11855 11965 12010 13615 13650 13765 15515 0800-0900 11855 11965 12010 13650 13765 15515 0900-1000 9845 11855 11965 12010 13650 13765 15515 15665 1000-1100 9845 11855 11965 12010 13615 13650 13765 15515 15665 1100-1200 1143 6160 9530 9680 11785 11965 12040 15500 1200-1300 6160 9530 9680 11785 11965 11995 12040 15500 1300-1330 6160 7390 9680 9790 11785 11965 12040 15500 1330-1400 1143 6160 7390 9680 9790 11785 11965 12040 15500 1400-1500 6160 7390 9680 9790 11730 11965 15500 2200-2300 5905 6025 6045 7140 9545 11925 15395 OROMO 1845-1900 13675 15775 17640 Mon-Fri PASHTO 0030-0130 801 12140 15690 17595 1030-1130 15690 17595 19010 1430-1530 801 11770 15690 19010 1830-1930 801 PERSIAN 0300-0400 7200 9435 17855 1700-1800 6160 9680 12110 1800-1900 972 6160 9680 12110 1900-2000 6160 9680 12110 PORTUGUESE 0430-0500 1530 5890 5975 5995 6015 7145 7370 9480 9675 1700-1730 1530 7290 11775 13600 15545 1730-1800 909 1530 7290 9805 11775 13600 15545 17785 21485 1800-1830 1530 7290 9805 11775 13600 15545 17785 21485 Mon-Fri RUSSIAN 1400-1500 9615 11805 11895 11945 15130 15370 1800-1900 6105 7220 9520 9655 9725 11685 1900-2000 6105 7220 9505 9520 9655 11685 SERBIAN 0630-0700 1188 1197 1458 6035 6125 7115 1800-1830 792 1188 1197 6095 9695 11750 2030-2100 792 7180 9600 9810 2200-2230 756 1188 1197 7195 9540 9655 SPANISH 0100-0200 9480 9560 9885 11700 11990 1130-1200 9535 11890 15265 1200-1230 9480 9535 11890 13715 15265 15390 17875 SWAHILI 1630-1700 15580 17580 17705 21480 1700-1730 15580 17580 17705 21480 Mon-Fri TIBETAN 0000-0100 7200 7255 9555 12035 0400-0600 15585 17630 17770 21570 1400-1500 6015 7290 11790 12040 TIGRINA 1830-1845 13675 15775 17640 Mon-Fri TURKISH 1900-2000 792 6175 9770 11875 UKRAINIAN 0500-0600 6170 7190 7245 2100-2130 7190 9565 11875 URDU 0100-0200 6170 7175 9705 1330-1430 9510 11715 15320 1700-1800 11975 13680 15130 UZBEK 1230-1300 1143 15470 17555 17730 1500-1530 7295 9745 9890 15255 VIETNAMESE 1300-1330 1143 1575 9720 9890 15150 1500-1600 5955 7150 9725 9780 2230-2330 6060 7260 9535 13640 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 31 via DXLD) ** U S A. New VOA programme to Zimbabwe `Studio 7` heard January 29th; programme content consisted of a mix of Zimbabwean news and local music. Announced schedule as 1730-1800 on 17895 via Morocco and 13600 via Botswana, both of which I heard, plus 900 mediumwave. Email address studio7@voa.com (Michael Ford, Staffordshire, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO GIANT DEFENDS ITS SIZE AT SENATE PANEL HEARING January 31, 2003, By JENNIFER 8. LEE WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 - The chief executive of the nation's largest radio conglomerate faced pointed questions today about his company's business practices at a Senate committee hearing on the consolidation of media owners. L. Lowry Mays, the chairman and chief executive of Clear Channel Communications Inc., said that deregulation and economies of scale had allowed his company to make investments to offer more choices to listeners. "The industry is healthier and more robust than ever before," Mr. Mays said at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee. But several Democrats and Republicans and other witnesses, including Don Henley, a member of the Eagles who started the Recording Artists' Coalition, accused the company of using its size to intimidate competitors and coerce artists into promotional deals that benefit the company. They cited anecdotes they said illustrated advertising pricing policies that undermine competing stations, payment deals that skirt laws prohibiting payola, purchases of stations across the Mexican border to bypass domestic ownership caps and the strong-arming of artists to perform with Clear Channel's concert production arm. Mr. Mays denied that his company had pay-for-play practices or in any way coerced artists. He argued that his company was not anticompetitive. "The Justice Department has a lot of interaction with us, and they have approved every one of our applications," he said. Today's hearing was the first of several planned by Senator John McCain, the Republican chairman of the committee, on the radio, newspaper and television industries. Michael K. Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has indicated he wants to relax - or completely drop - several media- ownership regulations. Critics have said that the radio industry is a harbinger. Radio consolidation was spurred by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which significantly relaxed ownership limits to help the struggling industry achieve economies of scale. Since then, Clear Channel Communications, based in San Antonio, has grown to 1,240 stations from fewer than 40. The country's largest radio conglomerate and the largest concert promoter, it is one of the 250 largest publicly traded companies in the country with $8 billion in revenue. As a monolith in a formerly diffuse industry, the company has attracted increasing scrutiny. Senator Russell Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, has reintroduced legislation that is a thinly veiled attack on what some have called Clear Channel's practice of cross-leveraging its radio and concert division. Clear Channel has become acutely aware of its heightened profile in Washington. In November, it opened a Washington office and hired Andrew W. Levin, 40, as its top lobbyist. Mr. Levin had been the telecommunications counsel to Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, the ranking minority member of the House Commerce Committee. Just how big Clear Channel has become, or how concentrated the radio industry has become, was a subject of debate. Mr. Mays and Mr. Powell have argued that Clear Channel owns only about 10 percent of 11,000 stations nationwide, hardly a monopoly figure, they say. Clear Channel, however, takes in about 20 percent of the advertising revenue and attracts about 25 percent of total listeners nationwide - about a third of the population. Mr. Mays noted that radio was by far the least consolidated of any of the media industries, with the 10 largest companies taking in a smaller share of the revenue compared with movie studios, cable, television stations, newspapers or record studios. But Mr. Henley argued that comparing radio with other industries was misleading because airwaves are public domain. "The airwaves belong to the public, just like national forests belong to the public," he said. When examined market by market, the industry begins to resemble an oligopoly, said Jenny Toomey, executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, who also testified. In a recent report, the coalition said that four or fewer companies control 70 percent or more of market share in nearly all local markets. In New York City, the top four companies control 80 percent of the market. Media ownership has special resonance for all politicians because they depend on access to local media outlets to reach constituents through both advertising and news coverage. Two weeks ago at another Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Mr. Powell appeared to sympathize with the senators, saying he was troubled and concerned about the radio industry's consolidation. But in a meeting with reporters this week, Mr. Powell questioned the methods of measuring consolidation. He pointed out that the owner of the second-largest number of radio stations, Cumulus Media, is much smaller than Clear Channel, with fewer than 250 stations. In terms of revenue, Cumulus, which focuses on small and midsize markets, has only 1.5 percent of industry revenue, making it the ninth-largest radio company by this measure. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/31/business/media/31RADI.html?ex=1045032544&ei=1&en=e5371092a9ccefd5 Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company (via Bill Westenhaver, Mike Cooper, DXLD) Video of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the effect of deregulation and consolidation in the radio broadcasting industry, 30 January, is available at ... http://www.cspan.org/videoarchives.asp?Cat=&Code= 73 (Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HI-DEF LETTERMAN Steve McClellan, Broadcasting & Cable, 1/21/2003 11:50:00 AM The Late Show with David Letterman will go high-definition starting next September, CBS executives told stations at the affiliate-board meeting in New Orleans Monday. That was the good news. The bad news was that "March Madness" will wind up eating into station's access time periods this year. Letterman's studio is already in the process of being retrofitted for HD, CBS said. As for the long-term future of HD broadcasting on the network, that will depend on the programmers and tech types coming to some agreement on copy protection. Asked by one of the station executives whether Viacom Inc. president Mel Karmazin was serious about abandoning hi-def absent copy protection, CBS operations and engineering executive Bob Ross said Karmazin is "as serious as a heart attack." The Letterman news was well received. Less well received was word from the network that it was moving up the start times of four weekday "Road to the Final Four" NCAA basketball games to 7 p.m., pre-empting lucrative access time slots. When affiliates asked why, CBS responded that the network "needs the money" from the additional premium ad space. On the news front, the network made a pitch to work closely with the affiliates to create better transitions from local time into network news programming, capitalizing on that time as another cross- promotional opportunity. Bob Lee, head of the CBS affiliate board, said that all things considered, the meeting between network and stations was "quite positive." (via Tom Roche, DXLD) ** U S A. A poet of the airwaves (literally) From cnn.com MAN PROVIDES VERSE ON THE RADIO, Saturday, January 25, 2003 SPOKANE, Washington (AP) -- It was 7:50 on a Monday morning. Fog hung over the city and a drowsy voice sounding like a sleepy Winnie the Pooh crawled from the radio. It was poet Scott Poole reading his latest work. "I was at a bus stop "and suddenly wanted love. "But, there was only me "and the bus kiosk," the poem began. Poole is heard every Monday morning on Spokane Public Radio, and he may be the nation's only regularly scheduled radio poet. His poems are a sideways look at everyday life -- odes to garage door openers, naps and the Marvin Gardens square on Monopoly. His recitation is aired during a break in "Morning Edition." "As long as they'll have me, I'll keep doing them," said Poole, 32, associate director of the Eastern Washington University Press in nearby Cheney. Poole's poems have drawn strong reaction from listeners. "At first we got only compliments," said KPBX producer Marty Demarest. "But we've had a decent share of complaints. The fact that we regularly get commentary regarding poetry is a success." But the commonplace nature of his topics is the reason Poole will continue to get nearly two minutes of morning drive time every Monday, Demarest said. "He doesn't reference deities or philosophers or codes of belief," Demarest said. "It references garages and lawnmowers and everyday life. I love most of his poems, even when I don't understand them." A cuddly, comforting voice, Poole also wrote a couple of special poems to be read during public radio pledge drives, Demarest said, marking perhaps the first time "poetry made money for public radio." His poems air on Monday because "very little happens in the news on Monday," Demarest said. "Monday is the wasteland of the radio." But not generally a home for the likes of "The Waste Land," by T.S. Eliot. Radio is a rare venue for poetry, even though the two forms would seem to be made for each other. The only other poets Poole hears on the radio are cowboy poet Baxter Black, who does commentaries on NPR, and poets who appear on "The Writer's Almanac," a show hosted by Garrison Keillor. Poetry magazine in Chicago had no comment on the topic of radio poets. One of the most interesting aspects of the show is Poole's voice, which could be mistaken for a woman's or a child's. It's a cuddly, teddy bear kind of voice. "Scott's radio voice is unlike any voice in public radio," Demarest said. "It's disconcerting enough to know it is not 'Morning Edition' you are hearing." Poole is aware that his puckish voice is distinctive, and he calls it a blessing. "Everyone is trying to find their voice in poetry," he said. "I was forced into mine from the beginning." Poetry and marriage Poole, who was influenced by the imagistic poetry of Richard Hugo, William Stafford and James Wright, and by Eastern European poets, was drawn into writing poetry while trying to meet women as an undergraduate at Washington State University. Impressed by one coed, he took a piece of paper and burned the edges, then mounted it on black construction paper and "wrote a really terrible poem called 'Chambers of My Mind.' " Poole gave it to the young woman in the school library and she read it. "She burst into tears and gave me a big hug and said it was wonderful," he said. "It worked out really well because she ended up marrying me." He began writing short stories, but found they kept getting shorter until they evolved into poetry. When he went for his master's of fine arts at EWU, he decided to concentrate on poetry. A native of Vancouver, Washington, Poole moved to Spokane from Portland in 1996 to attend the creative writing program at EWU. After getting his master's, he became the only full-time employee of the EWU Press, which publishes six books a year. He also teaches some poetry courses. Now, he is on a mission to popularize poetry. He e-mails a new poem each week to 500 people who have registered on his Web site. He is creator of an annual literary festival in downtown Spokane called "Get Lit." "Spokane is becoming a poetry town," he said. His latest book, "Hiding From Salesmen," was recently printed in hardback, unusual for a poetry book. His first book was called "The Cheap Seats." It was Poole's weekly poems that came to the attention of Demarest, who decided to make him a regular fixture in August 2001. Poole records eight to 10 poems each time he's in the studio. "It's a nice experience," he said (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. SENATOR REINTRODUCES BILL ON COMPETITION IN RADIO From Billboard January 29, 2003, 11:00 AM Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) yesterday (Jan. 28) reintroduced his Competition in Radio and Concert Industries Act, which he says will help consumers, small and independent radio station owners, and indie concert promoters by prohibiting anti-competitive practices in the radio and concert industries, Billboard Bulletin reports. The bill's introduction comes as the Senate Commerce Committee prepares to hold a hearing tomorrow on the problems of radio consolidation. Insiders say committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R- Ariz.) is expected to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill soon. Feingold will be the lead witness at tomorrow's hearing. Others scheduled to appear include Clear Channel Communications chairman/CEO Lowry Mays, National Association of Broadcasters president/CEO Eddie Fritts, Recording Artists Coalition co-founder Don Henley, and Future of Music Coalition executive director Jenny Toomey. Says Feingold: "Since originally introducing this legislation in June 2002, I have seen a groundswell of interest both in Congress and among artists, consumers, independent radio stations, and local promoters in restoring fairness to radio. My legislation will reduce concentration and crack down on anti-competitive practices, such as the new 'pay to play' system." Feingold says the latter practice allows radio giants to "shake down the music industry." -- Bill Holland, Washington, D.C. (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. US APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS PIRATE RADIO LICENSE BAN WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld as constitutional a law that barred a pirate broadcaster from ever obtaining a license for a low-power FM radio station or from being involved with a station. The court, by a 7-1 vote, ruled the law and the government regulations implementing it do not violate free-speech rights under the First Amendment. The full court reversed a ruling last year by a three-judge panel of the appeals court that struck down the law. Acting on a mandate from Congress, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules in 2001 that banned anyone who had been a pirate broadcaster or currently was broadcasting illegally from obtaining a license for a new low-power station. No exceptions to the prohibition were made in the law. Greg Ruggiero, a former pirate broadcaster in New York City and elsewhere, challenged the FCC's rules because he was approached to be on the board of directors of a South Carolina low power station. The court, in a decision by Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg, ruled against Ruggiero and in favor of the FCC. He wrote that the law, "is a targeted response to the problem of pirate broadcasting, affects only those who violated the license requirement and does so utterly without regard to the content of, or any view expressed by, their unlicensed broadcasts." Ginsburg concluded there was a reasonable fit between the ban and the "government's substantial interests in deterring unlicensed broadcasting and further violations of its regulations." (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. The future of TA-MWDX acc. to WOR's CE This is what WOR's CE told about IBOC vs. TA-DXing to a Finnish DXer: "For the past several months we have been testing a new Digital transmission scheme by Ibiquity. This has reduced our analog bandwidth to 5 kHz, therefore we are much louder on the dial and now get out farther, which ends up helping far away listeners like yourself. We frequently get reports from the UK and as far away as Russia. This is due to the WOR directional antenna, which pushes about 250 kW ERP into the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. Our antenna is designed to cover the US eastern seaboard, and your reception is a by-product of the design of our antenna. With the internet, DX'ing is now becoming almost a thing of the past, and with the US getting into an In Band On Channel (IBOC) digital transmission scheme for AM broadcasters, you may have even more difficulty getting a lot of US stations. Right now we are not operating this system at night but we expect IBOC will eventually be on at night. There are digital carriers on each side of the analog signal, and sound like white noise, and presently go off at sunset and on at sunrise NY local time. Time will tell on this one. The new HD radios will be out here in the US this summer; we are excited about it because it allows us to deliver a stereo digital signal to our listeners. The new radios we have tested make WOR sound like FM. You can keep in touch via our website http://www.wor710.com Thanks for your interest in WOR." (via Mauno Ritola, Finland, NRC-AM via DXLD) This pretty well sums up the problem for ALL DXers doing ANY kind of (broadcast) DXing. It's only becoming "a thing of the past" because people like this in the broadcasting industry are *deliberately* marginalizing it, WANTING it to go away and leave them the hell alone. Shortwave listeners are also encountering major, grievous examples of this type of narrow-minded thinking: "Oh, we don't need to provide an over-the-air service anymore --- people can listen to us over the INTERNET"... bah! (Randy Stewart/Springfield MO, ibid.) Thank you for sharing this. I have rarely seen a more blatant claim that "the medium IS the message" than this one; there will be a printed copy in my files of things that went wrong and how they happened. It's about technology, not about delivering a service. The packaging matters, not the contents. I'll go out on my favorite limb about this: unless WOR can cause their listeners to run out and buy new radios on the first day of conversion, it'll reflect in the next ratings. How do things go wrong, btw? Being rushed, misunderstood, and certain participants wearing blinders, others having tunnel vision by choice. Oddly, the blame is usually assessed of individuals who were not in the decision chain, but the execution chain. In Mr. Ray's case, history tells us that if he's just the voice of IBOC, and not one of the great thinkers behind it, he'll be held accountable for any failure. That`s just life (Gerry Bishop, Nicedayville, FL, ibid.) I can tell you from personal experience that Tom Ray does not take criticism of IBOC very well, nor does he tolerate the voices of opposition. And yet he's basically a nice guy who doesn't appreciate being spat upon (not in Gerry's comments, of course, but in another online forum, and via very personal telephoned threats). Keep that in mind, guys, and be careful that when you debate this threat to DX-as- we-know-it (as you should) that you focus upon the issues, not the personalities involved (Paul Swearingen, KS, NRC-AM via DXLD) I'll second that! The engineers are only doing their jobs, and that`s testing IBOC and if possible getting the "bugs" out of the system. Don`t shoot the messenger (in this case...the engineers). If IBOC comes to be --- yes, AM radio will be taking on a whole new look, but with what someone described to me, one of the new HD-AM radios in the field that is not part of iBiguity, has some pretty amazing performance. Performance in the order of knocking out a major amount of the digital hiss in the analog mode, an analog bandwidth of something like 5 kHz (very tight to kill a great majority of adjacent channel digital sputter) and automatic analog to digital blend and possibly the ability to still receive C-QUAM (the C-QUAM part hasn`t been confirmed yet). Keep in mind the good folks over at WOR, Kerry and Tom have an open door policy and will take you on a tour of the WOR plant just by simply asking. I haven`t been personally but knowing a few buddies of mine that live and work close to NYC that have taken Tom up on seeing first hand of what they are doing; certainly adds some wealth of knowledge. Have some heart and open minds on this folks. Things have been said in the past that shouldn`t have been said by both parties. When things get busy and, depending on which end of the IBOC debate you`re on, you get no answers and you`re constantly bombarded by people whipping out statements that would send anyone to a state of aggravation and close to blood pressure medication, that would have a direct bearing on how information is given. You can`t blame them --- WOR knows about as much about IBOC as most of us do in the general since, it`s a new "game" for them with something new coming almost weekly --- but there is one difference here. If IBOC isn`t tested on WOR and the IBOC system is allowed to go on 1000's of stations right now, then that would be a major disservice. One thing for sure, since the start of the IBOC test, IBOC has undergone several changes and with each change it gets a little better. Maybe IBOC will reach perfection and along with high performance receivers with tight IF stages and frontends that aren`t as wide as the Atlantic Ocean. Stay tuned and let`s see what happens. Let`s just be calm and civil about it in the meantime (Bob Carter, Operations/Engineering--Max Media Radio Group: WGAI-NewsRadio 560 AM Stereo, WCXL 104.1 Beach 104, WQDK 99.3 Q-Country, WWOC 94.5 WaterCountry 94.5, NRC-AM via DXLD) We already knew that most larger broadcasters had ceased to recognize the hobby as having either validity or value, so this isn't news. We also knew that there were lots of people in the industry and elsewhere who have this quaint notion that internet broadcasting is somehow going to instantly make terrestrial broadcasting obsolete, in much the same way I recall my father believed that TV would make radio obsolete. Tom Ray can believe whatever he wants to believe, and he can say whatever he wants to say. Most of us will never know how much of what he says is what he believes, or what he has to say as either a designated or self-appointed apologist for the IBOC community. Given his position and his employer, he is professionally on the line, and probably under sufficient stress that he can be forgiven at this point for not taking criticism well. Time will tell, however, not only as to whose view of the future will prevail, as well, perhaps, as to how much of what he is receiving is in fact self-created. Most people don't react well to the type of arrogance and condescension which has been present throughout much of his internet correspondence since the testing started (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) I would agree Tom is in a difficult position; he's exposed to the slings and arrows from the public and also is likely receiving his orders about IBOC from the top. But there's still a right way and a wrong way to do things. Blatant corporate spin and incomplete presentation of the important facts won't get you anywhere. Granted, Tom has not been over-the-top bad, but it's been out of line as if Madison Avenue scripted it (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) Just a heads up to our DX Audio Service subscribers.... an IBOC story will appear in the February 2003 tape. Since the tapes are duplicated, and some of the highs are lost, you can get the "full fidelity" file from.... http://www.nrcdxas.org/audio/IBOC_Story.mp3 (Fred Vobbe, Feb 1, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Hola Glenn... Gracias por la información sobre la 6797.5 kHz [PERU]. Acá te envío una rareza... Peculiar transmisión: el juego más popular en Venezuela, luego del béisbol, son las carreras de caballos o "5 y 6". En onda corta pueden escucharse las narraciones de estas carreras en 5593.95 kHz, en Upper Side Band. Al menos así lo capté el 30 y 31/01. La frecuencia generalmente está en silencio hasta el comienzo de la carrera y el segmento sólo dura un PAR de minutos. Las carreras son de miércoles a domingo y aquí van algunos horarios: 0035, 0100, 0127, 0156 UT. Talvez sea un enlace para otras emisoras que reemiten las carreras en el interior del país o puede ser una transmisión para locales ilegales de apuestas. ¿Quién sabe? Saludos... 73 y buen DX... (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. GOVERNMENT INITIATES LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST TELEVEN TV STATION | Text of report by Robert Rudnicki in English published by Venezuelan pro-government VENews web site on 31 January The Infrastructure (Minfra) Ministry has initiated legal proceedings against privately-owned national TV station Televen [Channel 10], which now joins Globovision [Channel 33] and RCTV [Channel 2] in a group of three stations currently under investigation. The only privately-owned station not being probed so far is Venevision [Channel 4]. The notice was served by the Ministry's legal representative Carmen Carillo, under orders from Minister Diosdado Cabello. Televen now has 15 days to take relevant measures to defend itself against the investigation. Action was also commenced against Televisora Regional del Táchira (TRT) as the government begins to expand the range of its fight back against media companies it accuses of inciting Venezuelans to support the opposition's work stoppage and of broadcasting unsuitable programming during times when children are likely to be watching. Confederation of Venezuelan Workers' (CTV) president Carlos Ortega called on Venezuelans to defend the media companies, while other opposition leaders announced plans to hold marches across Caracas and the country to protest the government's crackdown. Source: VENews web site in English 31 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. 15715 Chan Troi Moi or New Horizon, High Adventure V. of Hope, Vietnamese, 1330-1430 (17555 on Dec 8) 15715 Jülich. Chan Troi Moi on 15715 at 1330-1430 UT sure sounds like a clandestine to me. Their broadcast in Vietnamese on 20 January was typical (W. Craighead, KS, Jan 28, for CRW) Details, see next CRW in coming week (Martin Schoech, CRW Jan 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Glenn, I have a weak Islamic signal on 15050 kHz. It's a man doing the Qur`an at 1450. Can't find any listing of that frequency, but I seem to remember it being mentioned a month or so ago? Have you any ideas? It went off the air at 1500. There were a few comments by a man, then the signal went off. It was a threshold signal, so I couldn't hear any details except for the Islamic reciting or whatever (Chuck Bolland, FL, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, All India Radio uses 15050, but apparently not at this time, and would not expect them to be Qur`aning (gh, DXLD) {Yes, AIR, see later} ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ FIND ALL PLC-INTERFERENCE VIDEOS HERE! See how Powerline-Modems are causing interference to HF-radio: you may download all sample videos and audio files of real PLC interference caused to HF-reception from following site: http://www.powerline-plc.info/video/ Please feel free to use the link above on your web-page! -Help to save shortwave-radio! (via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Since some activity from Jan 21-24 conditions have been relatively quiet on the solar flare front. A halo Coronal Mass Ejection on Jan 30 is expected to impact the earth late on Feb 1 with the geomagnetic field reaching possible minor storm levels. MUFs are forecast to be depressed by up to 15%. Coronal hole effects were also felt early in the week with elevated solar wind speed and disturbed conditions persisting until Jan 26/27. Another CME on Jan 27 caused aome disturbances here on Jan 30 & 31. Prepared using data from http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, Australia, Feb 1, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ###
