DX LISTENING DIGEST 2-147, September 20, 2002 edited by Glenn Hauser, wghauser@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/dxldtd02.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn WORLD OF RADIO 1148: FIRST AIRINGS ON RFPI: Sat 0130, 0730, Sun 0000, 0600, Mon 0030, 0630 on 7445, 15038.7; webcasts also Sat 1330, 1800, Sun 1200, 1830, Mon 1230 BROADCASTS ON WWCR: Sat 0500, Sun 0230 5070, Sun 0630 3210, Wed 0930 9475 BROADCAST ON WBCQ: Mon 0415 on 7415 BROADCASTS ON WJIE: Plans to be back on 7490, 13595 shortly; see USA BROADCASTS ON WRN: Rest of world Sat 0800; North America Sun 1400 ONDEMAND http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/worldofradio.html (DOWNLOAD) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1148.rm (STREAM) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1148.ram (SUMMARY) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1148.html INFORME DX DESDE NORTEAMÉRICA POR GLENN HAUSER, SEPTIEMBRE 2002 GUION: http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0209.html ESCUCHAR: En segmentos por Radio Enlace en Radio Nederland, viernes y domingos durante septiembre. La mayor parte escogida para Mundo Radial, en WWCR 15825, los viernes 2112 y miércoles 2059 a partir del 20 de septiembre. A pedido: Parte I (corriente) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0209a.ram (bajable) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0209.rm Parte II (corriente) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0209b.ram (bajable) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0209.rm ** AFGHANISTAN. 8700-USB, Information Radio. Still here, noted September 17th 1705 with continuous Afghan music, weak but steady signal on clear channel (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, UK, WORLD OF RADIO 1148, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN? Re Liangas` report, 6100 Information Radio? Maybe, but note that R Nepal (parallel 5005) has been here until 1715 (earlier closed down at 1545). Also P`yongyang at this time on the frequency (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Definite IDs of ``Information Radio`` or some equivalent in Dari and Pashto are sorely lacking concerning both these frequencies, and have been for many months!! We are only making assumptions based on the frequency and other factors (gh, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. This from NZRDXL member Martin Hadlow, who is working in Afghanistan for the UN. "In passing, I have just come back to Kabul from Bamiyan in the north of Afghanistan. A radio station is now on the air there. Radio Bamiyan broadcasts with 400 watts on 1500 kHz. What a catch that would be! " Cheers, (Paul Ormandy, NZ, Host of The South Pacific DX Report http://radiodx.com Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) We recently had a story on this one neglecting to give frequency (gh) ** ANTARCTICA. LRA36 noted on [Monday] 9/16 from 2045 UT on 15475.5 kHz with music; s/off at 2112 with ID; fair (John Cobb, Roswell, GA, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15475.5, R. Nac. Arcángel San Gabriel Sep 16 2028-2105 25322-35322 Spanish, Music. ID at 2029 by man (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 15820-LSB, R. Diez Sep 18 0646-0705, 35443, Spanish, Talk. ID at 0656 and 0658 and 0700 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. On Sunday 9/15, LTA heard on 29810 kHz LSB from 2200 UT tune-in with fair signal until after midnight UT, when propagation rapidly collapsed and took it out, but still detectable after 0030. Relay of Radio Continental with fútbol, news bulletins, and music. Not heard on 20276 or 15820; all frequencies seem less active since the onset of the country's economic crisis (John Cobb, Roswell, GA, Sept 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1148, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 6215, RADIO BALUARTE, se encuentra actualmente inactiva, tal como lo noté el pasado fin de semana. De acuerdo a informaciones de la propia emisora, su transmisor fue enviado a reparar a Buenos Aires, y probablemente mañana o el jueves a más tardar, esté nuevamente en el aire, si no ocurre algún inconveniente. 73's (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Sept 17, Conexión Digital via DXLD) 6215, Radio Baluarte, Puerto Iguazú, 0109-0118, Sep 20, Spanish, man announcer, gospel music, ads "Centro de Evangelización", SINPO 34333 (Nicolás Eramo, Argentina, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. R. Australia, Friday Sept 20, 2105: FEEDBACK* - listener letters, features and news about RA. Last weekend Digital Radio Mondiale was one of the many participants at the International Broadcasting Convention held in the Netherlands. The consortium's presence in Amsterdam was another milestone in the development of DRM with the unveiling of a production-ready world-band consumer receiver and a preview version of its first publicly available receiver, the DRM Software Radio. Now safely back at his Headquarters at Deutsche Welle in Cologne, DRM's Chairman Peter Senger tells Roger Broadbent what went on at IBC and how you can become involved in DRM's Software Radio project (John Figliozzi`s previews via DXLD) Repeats UT Sat 0005, 0605, Sun 0305; don`t depend on it being archived ondemand ** BELIZE. Found this in Belize paper in June (Mike Cooper, DXLD) BELIZE ASSERTS INDEPENDENCE, By Alberto Vellos Belize City, June 12th Belize rejects U.S. proposal to beam Radio Marti signal, was Miami Herald`s news report dated June 11, 2002. The report continued, Belize has flatly rejected a U.S. proposal to convert a Voice of America relay station to beam U.S.-operated Radio Marti signals toward Cuba. It might have come as a blow to the chin to some of Uncle Sams political hawks but Belizeans took the rejection of Radio Marti as an act of patriotism. For over two hundred years Belize was under the thumb of the British. Belize achieved independence in 1981. Belize is an independent, sovereign country that no longer dances to the tunes played by colonial masters. Belize composes its own music and its own dances now. Belize was not going to trade one master for the next. Since Castro`s revolution in 1959, the U.S. has worked tirelessly to establish various forms of pro-U.S., anti-Castro modes of information exchange to Cubans in Cuba. Their latest attempts have come in the form of radio and television stations that transmit American propaganda over the air waves to Cuba to undermine Fidel Castro. TV Marti is their established anti-Castro television station and Radio Marti is their pro-U.S. radio station. Ever since Belize successfully attained independence in 1981, Radio Martis beginnings can be traced. In 1981 US President Ronald Reagan declared that it was his administrations intention to establish a Radio Free Cuba. However, in order for the Reagan administration to see the station begin, its budget had to be passed through the US Congress, and in 1982 the Senate voted down the proposal. A year later legislation took a turn and gave the okay for the Reagans scheme. In October 4, 1983, Ronald Reagan signed the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act Public Law 98-111. Radio Martí signed on the air on May 20, 1985 on 1160 kHz with 14 1/2 hours of programming from Voice of Americas transmitters in Marathon Key, Florida; and on short wave from Greenville, N.C. and Delano, California. Since then the station has been transmitting anti-Castro propaganda to Cuba. Reports from exiles, defectors, and even journalists within Cuba support the station and give credence to the fact that Radio Marti is the most-listened to radio station on the island. But, U.S. efforts have been cut short since Castro found a way to block Radio Martis signals. Miami Herald reports that, In late 2000, U.S. officials began scouring the Caribbean looking for alternative broadcast sites to send the signals of Radio Marti toward Cuba from a different latitude, making it more difficult for Cuba to block its signals. U.S. officials apparently scoured the Caribbean and finally Noticed the Belize facility. That facility lies on the outskirts of Punta Gorda where the United States operates two AM radio transmitters. Each sends both English and Spanish Voice of Americas broadcasts throughout Central America each evening. According to the Newspapers Report, the U.S. State Department sent two diplomatic notes to Belmopan, which were both turned down and backed by reasons which stated that Belize has good relations with both Cuba and the United States, and Belize does not want to get involved. Since 1999 Belize has hosted an increasing number of professional Cuban physicians and nurses working in remote villages, and more than 100 Belizeans students are in Cuba on full scholarships, some of them studying medicine. The Miami Herald report was the lead story on the evening news Tuesday in Belize. Some pundits worried that Belize was in some kind of danger for standing up for its moral beliefs. Not so. Belize has a good relationship with U.S. as well as Cuba, and she has no intention to sour either one. We have no comment at this time, stated Edgar Embrey, available spokesman for the United Sates Embassy in Belize while Ambassador Russell Freeman is out of the country. We cannot issue any comment until the U.S. State Department has released a statement or has authorized us to do so, Embrey continued. Not only did U.S. Embassy spokesman say that they have nothing to comment on, but he held that no one in Washington has officially made a commentary in relation to the matter. Contrary to the T.V. stations that juiced-up the news, and erroneously added that Cubans in Belize are already adversely affected by Belize`s decision, we found out that it was total yeri-so. The BELIZE TIMES spoke with Cuban Ambassador to Belize, H.E. Regla Díaz Hernández who highlighted that she, her government and her people in Belize and Cuba have a great amount of respect for the nation of Belize, and our government and people, We respect the position Belize has taken. It has truly exercised her right as an independent and sovereign nation. The Government and Embassy of Cuba appreciate the independent and sovereign position of Belize, as it has decided not to take part in any manner whatsoever in U.S. brutal and violent war against Cuba. © Copyright 2001-2002 The Belize Times Press Ltd. All rights reserved. (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Caro Glenn, Com o objetivo de saber mais detalhes da Rádio Ternura, telefonei para o diretor do Centro Paulista de Rádio e TV, que engloba as rádios Ibitinga, Meteorologia Paulista e Ternura FM. De acordo com Roque da Rosa, a programação distribuída em 4845 kHz é a da Ternura FM. Segundo ele, é uma programação musical, mais adequada para tal freqüência. As emissões ocorrem das 0800 às 1300 UTC. Depois de um intervalo, os transmissores voltam a ser ligados das 1900 às 2200 UTC. Para 2003, pretendem dobrar a potência do transmissor, que agora é de 2,5 kw. Também pretendem transmitir por mais horas, durante o período noturno. Enviei um relatório de recepção e texto explicando o que é o dexismo e, para minha surpresa, Roque disse ser dono de um Transglobe, da Philco, e ouvinte de emissoras internacionais. De quebra, disse que estaria confirmando o meu relatório. Os contatos podem ser feitos da seguinte forma. Por carta: Rádio Ternura, Rua Capitão João Marques, 89, CEP: 14940-000, Ibitinga(SP), Brasil. Por fax: (16) 242.5056. E- mail: radio.ibitinga@ibinet.com.br . 73s! (Celio Romais, Porto Alegre, Brasil) Caro Célio, Muito bem. Uma pergunta: não tem interferências de Manáus? Acha que não funciona a certas horas ou com muito menos do que 250 kW?? 73, (Glenn to Célio via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Rio Mar: Tendo por lema "Uma Potência no Ar" a Rádio Rio Mar de Manaus, atinge uma grande parte da Amazônia, e tem uma papel muito importante na integração da capital com o interior do Amazonas. Uma das mais antigas emissoras amazonenses, está há 47 anos no ar. Emissora católica, pertencente à Fundação Rio Mar, além da estação de AM (1290 kHz), possui duas estações de ondas curtas (6160 kHz e 9695 kHz) que estão no ar entre as 1000 e 2300 TU. A emissora é afiliada também ao Bandsat (Rede Bandeirantes de Rádio) do qual retransmite programas jornalísticos e jornadas esportivas (Paulo Roberto e Souza via Jornalista Célio Romais, September 18, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Dear Glenn, Greetings from NH. I logged a couple of Brazilian stations this evening that you might be interested in. R. Ribeirão, 3205, 2320-2333 9/18 in Portuguese. Talk with crowd noise in the background, presumably futebol pre-game. Positive IDs "Radio Ribeirão" with "rolling" R on "Ribeirão". Teams announced at 2330; visiting team from "Bogotá, Colombia" Poor, weak signal. [not Ribeirão Preto? gh] R. Canção Nova, 4825, 2350-0015 9/18 in Portuguese. Very nice mix of Portuguese ballads. ID at 2358 over piano music; Ads/jingles until 0004 when music resumes. Weak signal with periods of fading. 73 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4914.98, Rádio Difusora Macapá, 20 Sep, 0912, First time logged with Portuguese pop vocals, canned ID's, 0916 live announcer. Mixing with presumed R Anhanguera which in the past has been the powerhouse here (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. GUN-TOTING MUSICIAN FORCES DJ TO PLAY HIS ALBUM http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=humannews&StoryID=1470133&fromEmail=true Don Thornton-NJ tipped me off to this. (And...did they give the frequency? Of course not!) 73- (Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** BURMA [non]. KAZAKHSTAN: B-02 schedule for Democratic Voice of Burma in Burmese: 1430-1530 5905 Almaty 200 kW / 132 deg (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27 tho some may already be in effect) Among other transmissions and sites? ** CANADA. CBC/RCI Previews: WEEKEND HOT SHEET, SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22 THE SUNDAY EDITION: This week on The Sunday Edition, Iraq and the UN: an analysis of the internal politics at the UN after Saddam Hussein agreed this week to UN arms inspections. Also, the Season of Schadenfreude: that great German word describes the guilt delight we take in the misfortunes of others - Martha Stewart, Kenneth Lay, O.J. Simpson and others. Michael Enright moderates a panel on the subject. Also, a look at Salman Rushdie's new book, a collection of essays called "Step Across This Line." That's The Sunday Edition, right after the 9 a.m. news (9:30 NT) on CBC Radio One. [and 1311-1600 on RCI] SAY IT WITH MUSIC: This week on Say It With Music...Broadway 2002/2003. Join Richard for his annual preview of what's coming up in the musical theatre world season. Learn about the revivals of "Flower Drum Song," "Man of La Mancha" and "Sweet Charity." All this, and Bernadette Peters too. Who could ask for anything more? Say it With Music, Sunday at 4:00 p.m. (4:30 NT) on CBC Radio Two. CROSS-COUNTRY CHECKUP: Sunday on Cross Country Checkup...Canada the peacemaker. This week, Canada tried to influence the machinations at the UN between the U-S and Iraq. It's role that Lester Pearson claimed for Canada years ago, but many say has been lost since those day. What do you think? Can Canada still cut it as a diplomatic broker? Join host Rex Murphy Sunday on Cross Country Checkup, Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on CBC Radio One. [2005-2200 UT in all zones] THE WORLD THIS WEEKEND: Sunday on The World This Weekend...September 25th marks the 70th anniversary of the birth of Glenn Gould. One of the greatest pianists of all time, Gould remains an enigma. To mark the occasion, CBC Radio Two will devote next Wednesday to Variations on Gould - music, memories and more. Get a preview this Sunday as The World This Weekend invites five musicians to talk about how they were inspired by Glenn Gould's last recording - Bach's Goldberg Variations. That's The World This Weekend, with Lorna Jackson, Sunday at 6:00 p.m. (7:00 AT, 7:30 NT) on CBC Radio One and Radio Two. Hear that report Sunday on The World This Weekend at 6 pm (7 AT; 7:30 NT) on both CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two (CBC Hotsheet via gh, DXLD) CBC Radio 2 can, with a clear conscience, offer "Variations On Gould," 14 hours of programming next Wednesday [Sept 25], co-hosted by Shelagh Rogers and Tim Page, that offer music, anecdotes, facts, fancy, lots of guests including Petula Clark and Christos Hatzis and observations by listeners. It will start with Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of Bach's monumental work and there will be listener requests (call 1-800-205-8553), extracts from the pianist's radio documentaries, Peter Tiefenbach's drama of imagined conversations between Gould (played by Andrew Pifko) and other composers, results of a Gould short story contest, a documentary on the Variations themselves and a live concert of them from the studio performed by Quebec's delightful Les Violons du Roy conducted by Bernard Labadie (Toronto Star Sept 17 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. Greetings Mr Hauser. I am a loyal WOR listener, and a great fan of your work. Anywho, here's my question; Am I on somethin'? or am I imagining things? I've noticed that 1050CHUM is back to playin' oldies from being the flagship station of The Team, Canada's sports Network. In some ways it makes a little sense, with the possible popularity of "Prime Time Radio" CHWO on 740, I wonder if that's the reason, to offer a little competition? or is it that the revenue wasn't as good bein' a sports radio station? So many questions. Check out http://www.1050chum.com for details. Take care, and best of success to you (Dallas Robertson, location unknown, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Site is all about the oldies; no explanation found of the format change. We had a number of stories about it here a few weeks ago: basically, the sports format was tanking, but remains on a few stations they own in other cities (gh, DXLD) ** CHILE [non?]. 6880.1, Andino Relay Service. 0240-0320 September 19. LSB mode. Very nice Andean music, Announcement and ID in Spanish: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 .....atención, atentos en sintonía, probando equipos. En unos instantes comenzará la transmisión del Andino Relay Service, transmitiendo desde algún lugar de los Andes sudamericanos". Afterwards, identification in English. S/on at 0300 UT. Andean music. Other IDs as: "Sintoniza el Andino Relay Service"; "envíen sus informes de recepción a la Casilla 159, Santiago 14, Chile", "Está transmitiendo Andino Relay Service. Escríbenos. Envíanos tu informe de recepción a......". Ann. electronic address in ARSSW@yahoo.com [SINPO?] 3.4.4.4.3 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentine, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Andino Relay Service, 6880.1 LSB UT 0018, SIO 444, música andina, ID, ann (Enrique Wembagher, Bs.As., Sept. 19, ibid.) 6880.1-LSB, Andino Relay Service, +0300-0346+, 19/9, ID y música andina, a/t [??] con música de Violeta Parra 'Gracias a la Vida'. ID's "Andino Relay Service, 6880 khz" y ".... Aqui el Andino Relay Service. Aquí Sudamérica. Aquí una voz libre sudamericana en la onda corta..". SINPO: 34343. 73's GIB (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Henrik Klemetz wrote to clarify some facts in the Christian Shortwave Report from last week about La Voz de Tu Conciencia. Although some reports quoted Henrik as saying that Russel Stendal had been imprisoned by the Colombian FARC guerrillas for two and a half years. Stendal was actually held for 142 days. He also mentions that Stendal wrote down his experiences in the guerrilla camp so he would have a record of it. Some 20 years later, Stendal's diaries became the book "Rescue the Captors," which has a theme of reaching the guerrillas with a message of peace and love. The book is available in both English and Spanish through this address: Ransom Press International ** 3555 Grove Road ** Pluiston FL 33440 ** U.S.A. The Spanish version is also available through an address in Colombia, where reception reports for La Voz de Tu Conciencia may also be sent: Colombia Para Cristo ** Calle 44, No. 13-69 ** Bogota D.C. ** Colombia. The station is having QSL cards printed, and all correct reception reports for their shortwave transmission on 6060 will receive a QSL. More information is also available by e-mail at: gstendal@aol.com (HCJB DX Partyline Sept 14, notes by Marie Lamb for W9WZE via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. RADIO OKAPI JOURNALIST STILL IN DETENTION A journalist working for Radio Okapi, the UN's radio network in the Democratic Republic of Congo, remains in detention in Gbadolite 7 days after his arrest, by order of the authorities of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC). According to the MLC´s own radio station in Gbadolite, Franklin Moliba-Sese is accused of having interviewed child soldiers without obtaining the authorization of the military hierarchy. Questioned on the Voice of America, the MLC Secretary- General Olivier Kamitatu claimed that the journalist had revealed certain defence information, but that he will be released without delay. Radio Okapi says that the report in question concerned the difficult living conditions in Gbadolite of child soldiers waiting to be demobilised. One child soldier complained of being deprived of food and maltreated. These assertions have not to date been contradicted by the MLC authorities. The immediate release of Moliba-Sese is being sought at the highest diplomatic level by the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC). On his arrival in Gbadolite yesterday afternoon, MLC President Jean-Pierre Bemba told Radio Okapi he had no knowledge of the matter (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 20 September 2002 via DXLD) ** CUBA. 4200.01, Radio Rebelde (harmonic 6 x 700), 20 Sep, 0902, Spanish talk and vocals // 3600 and 5025. Very weak (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. GOBIERNOS BUSCAN CENSURAR PAGINAS DE INTERNET http://www.lanuevacuba.com/nuevacuba/notic-02-9-1503.htm (via Oscar, Miami, DXLD) Mainly about Vietnam, China, Arabia, etc. See also BELIZE, USA for R. Martí items ** CYPRUS. I haven't managed to read everything lately, so this may have appeared already --- The Cyprus transmitter which came up on 981 kHz a week or so ago should be moved to 990 kHz in the next few days (Dan Ferguson, VA, IBB, Sept 17, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. RFE closes Czech service Sept 30: see USA [non] ** ECUADOR. HCJB has another historic QSL card available on request for a correct reception report. The 1968-E card shows the arrival of three RCA 1-kW transmitters in October 1967 via a special airlift. The report may be sent to: HCJB English Service ** Casilla 17-17-691 ** Quito ** Ecuador (HCJB DX Partyline Sept 14, notes by Marie Lamb for W9WZE via DXLD) ** EGYPT. Radio Cairo in Turkish at 1630 on 6235 instead of 6230 as scheduled. Very bad modulation (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Sept 19, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** EL SALVADOR. 17833.16, R. Imperial, Sep 17 2310-0051* At tune-in, heard a ballad in Spanish with male vocals. Audio was noticeably distorted, and due to QRM from 17835, LSB plus sync was required. The signal would fade in and out, but at peaks the SINPO was 23332. These "ballads" continued for the next half hour or so, but one was definitely religious in theme, as "Dios" was repeated several times. The signal then completely degraded, and I almost tuned them out. Then, around 0036 the audio faded back up, and remained steady, almost at the levels when I first tune in. At 0039, there was a canned ID by a male: "Sintonícenos en la ... Imperial, 810 AM, un mensaje a seguir en su vida" (Tune in to us on .... Imperial, 810 AM, a message for you to follow in your life.) (Thanks to Henrik Klemetz for listening to my audio clip, and extracting the ID.) A program hosted by a female followed, with more vocal music. At 0051 it sounded like someone literally, "pulled the plug" on them. I ! should add that they were only audible on my 45 meter dipole antenna (George Maroti, NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) See also UNIDENTIFIED below 17833.4v, YSDA, R Imperial, Sonsonate, (presumed), 2339, Sept 19th, Uptempo LA music, with YL at the mic. Good carrier strength, but barely modulated. Audio detected only when signal strength neared full quieting. Unable to pull station ID. Thanks to George Maroti for the tip. I am wondering why such an upper SW band was chosen. The skip zone on this frequency exceeds the borders of El Salvador. Is this an attempt at international broadcasting? [Later:] I just answered my own question. I found the explanation in Glenn Hauser's DXLD #02-055. April 5, 2002. This is apparently a medium wave harmonic with a fundamental frequency of 810 kHz. That means this is the 22nd harmonic!!!! Remarkable. I was not DXing from March through June, so I missed this one. I wondered if it were some sort of spur, but couldn't make the math work for an HF spur, and didn't think it was possible that a signal would radiate on the 22nd order (David Hodgson, TN, Cumbre DX via DXLD) However, subsequent reports indicate it is not a harmonic, but a little-known deliberate 16m SW outlet. Index shows EL SALVADOR entries are in DXLD 2-057, 058, 062, 069 and 102, some of which may concern this, in http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtb02.html 73, Glenn Hauser Glenn: Very interesting. I wonder what the impetus is for broadcasting on such an upper band, which would put any regional audience in the skip zone. Perhaps religious agenda? Just in case, I will check some lower harmonic frequencies of 810.4 between 13-16 MHz today, if I hear them on again. Has anyone else bothered to try this? (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17833.15, R. Imperial, Sep 19, 2315. Again, I'm hearing them with ballads; no announcements thus far. The signal strength seems stronger and steadier tonight, however the modulation is a bit low (George Maroti, NY Cumbre DX via DXLD) I tried this station again today, and was able to ID it. Here is some additional info: El Salvador, 17833.3v, YSDA, R. Imperial, Sonsonate, 2200-2350 Sept 19th. Carrier on at 2200. Adjacent channel QRM from station on 17835 gone after 2330. Near perfect greyline path between El Salvador and here in TN around 2345. Signal peaked both yesterday and today to nice level at 2345. Caught two nice clear station IDs given by male announcer at 2347. Checked lower order harmonic frequencies, and found no trace of signal (David Hodgson, TN, Sept 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17833.19, Radio Imperial, 20 Sep, 0043-0105, upbeat pop and campo vocals some with religious themes. 0045 Ad for religious school, 0054 canned ID "...Radio Imperial, ocho cientos diez A-M", followed by live announcer with talk. Faded out by 0105 and apparently signed off sometime after that. Fair signal with occasional good peaks (S-7) and deep fades. Het from above (17835.0?). Also low growl on the signal from another apparent very close carrier. After 0105 only a single carrier was heard, minus the growl so I assumed they signed off then. Thanks to tips from George Maroti and David Hodgson (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, NRD 535D, V-Beam 140m @180 deg., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Luigi Cobisi of the European DX Council reports that the recent EDXC conference in Finland was a success, with 130 people attending from 16 nations. A Finnish DXer who also studied theology, Mika Pallo (not sure of spelling of his name), told how he tied his field and DXing together through a study of Radio Voice of the Gospel, the now-defunct Christian shortwave station in Ethiopia. He came to Ethiopia three years ago in search of the station's archives. This station was started by a Swedish Lutheran mission, and was given permission by the late Emperor Haile Selassie to set up facilities around 40 years ago. Radio proved to be quite important in East Africa. Although the station was evangelical, it also allowed broadcasts by the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which increased the station's standing among Ethiopians. However, after a revolution in the mid-1970s, Radio Voice of the Gospel was closed down and taken over by the local government. The transmitters are still working despite 30 years of no maintenance, and Mika fund the station's archives intact in a small building in Addis Ababa. They include many documents, photos and tapes of broadcasts, and they are now catalogued so that researchers can make use of them. Other topics discussed at the conference will be mentioned in later programs (HCJB DX Partyline Sept 14, notes by Marie Lamb for W9WZE via DXLD) ** EUROPE. DIGITAL RADIO TO COME TO EUROPEAN AM BANDS BY 2007 From http://www.electronicstimes.com By Nick Flaherty, EE Times, 19 September 2002 (1:41 p.m. GMT) A consortium of 75 European companies aims to replace current long, medium, and short-wave radio transmissions with a digital system by 2007. Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) demonstrated its first receivers at IBC with prototype software for a PC receiver which will released to enthusiasts at the end of the year. DRM is also going ahead with production of its first consumer receiver, due to reach the market in 2004, in a venture backed by Coding Technologies, the BBC and manufacturer AFG. Hans Linkels, chairman of the DRM system evaluation group, said: "We have to make medium and short-wave more attractive so that it will survive — it is not developed to compete against anything. Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) was developed to replace FM broadcasting, and both it and this technology could live very well together." DRM uses 10 kHz channels in the existing MW and SW bands to carry MPEG4 data and, unlike DAB, would have one radio station per channel. Such a system also has a longer range than DAB: a demonstration in Amsterdam featured a station from Canada. DRM allows data rates between 6 and 34 Kbit/s, and channels can be combined to give up to 70 Kbit/s. The channels use the AAC+ coding format which gives a stereo audio channel in 14 to 20 Kbit/s (via Mike Terry, DXLD) Duh, SW has a longer range than MW, I understand. I`ll bet they didn`t pick up a Canadian MW station in Amsterdam for this (tho of course it can be done on a DX basis) (gh, DXLD) The DRM Consortium will unveil a production-ready world-band consumer receiver, made by Coding Technologies together with the BBC and German device manufacturer AFG, and a preview version of its first publicly- available receiver, the DRM Software Radio made by Fraunhofer IIS-A, in a special preview with live transmissions at IBC 2002. At the same time, DRM will open the doors to radio enthusiasts who want to be the first non-members to access its transmissions when the DRM Software Radio Project, managed by VT Merlin Communications, begins this December. More details from http://www.drm.org (Mediazoo via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** FINLAND [non]. I'M NOT DEAD YET --- Associated Press Rome --- The Roman poet Ovid may have put it best when he said "Rident stolidi verba Latina". Fools laugh at the Latin language. Indeed, after centuries of decline and declarations of being dead, Latin as a living, spoken language is making a comeback of sorts. Take the recent scene in the mountains near Rome, where 30 Latin aficionados cavorted together, chanting odes by Horace in their original and pouring wine into a stream. Before them was their guru, Rev. Reginald Foster, a papal Latinist and a Carmelite monk from Milwaukee who was barking commands in English and Latin. Father Foster, 63, is a professor at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, where he takes the unusual approach of teaching Latin as a living language. He also runs a separate intense eight-week summer session for advanced students, which included the recent romp in the Roman hills at Horace's villa. While Latin has not been spoken casually for more than 1,000 years and only its grammar and literature are typically studied today, the sounds of Cicero and Virgil are resurging among an increasingly wider audience, largely because of schools like his. "I don't like certain methods, memorizing and jamming it, treating the language like a dead frog, or something like that," Father Foster said. Instead, his students learn sight reading, listening comprehension and Latin conversation. Other schools using a similar approach include the University of Louvain in Belgium, a high school in Campania, Italy, and the University of Notre Dame and the University of Kentucky in the United States. Dirk Sacre, a professor and neo-Latin expert at the University of Louvain, said spoken Latin is growing in popularity. He said an increasing number of high school teachers are signing up for courses. "I don't think there's a general tendency to say that we're talking in Latin these days in schools or universities," Mr. Sacre said. "But, it's an acceleration, certainly. Seminars are happening more and more in Europe and the U.S., and there are more and more people trying to teach Latin as a living language." He added, however, that "hostilities and repugnances" still exist among traditionalists. Among Latin fans, however, expressions slip their way into everyday conversations, said Nicholas Sylvester, an undergraduate at Harvard who studied with Father Foster this summer. "Hello" becomes "salve," "I don't know" is "nescio" and "don't worry is "ne fle" (literally, "don't cry"). Still, it isn't for everyone, and Father Foster's classes do attract a diverse group. This summer's group included Gretchen Triulzi, 62, a mother of six who decided to return to a language she loved studying as a child, and Sophie Hanina, an 18-year-old medical student from London who could not imagine being a doctor without first studying Roman epic writers. "It's the most eccentric bunch I've ever met," Mr. Sylvester said. "People are exaggerations of themselves. Think about the person who leaves their kids home, their family, their job, their lives. Think about people who come to Rome on their honeymoons to study Latin. That is the type of person in this class." For newlyweds Sarah and Patrick Miller of North Carolina, Father Foster's class was a natural culmination of their courtship. They met while studying Latin in college. Spoken Latin peaked in the second century, when the Roman empire spread from modern-day England to Iran. After the empire fell, local languages developed and then completely displaced it everywhere but in schools and universities. Although for centuries Latin found refuge in the Roman Catholic Church, its decline there began after the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, which allowed the use of the vernacular in place of Latin in the celebration of Mass. Mr. Sylvester said that today, chatting in the language of ancient poets is "very pretentious" but that the method brings him closer to understanding the texts he wants to read. "There's no need to justify to the hoi polloi," Sylvester said. "The world wouldn't be interesting without academics." Frequently Asked Questions on Foster: http://www.latin.org/latin/foster/FAQ.html Kentucky Classics: http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/aestivumeng.html A brief history of spoken Latin: http://humanities.byu.edu/classes/ling450ch/reports/latin.html Copyright 2002 | Bell Globemedia Interactive Inc. (Globe & Mail Sept 18 via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) Amazing: An article on using Latin today that DOESN'T mention Radio Finland's Nuunti Latini!! 73 (Bill Westenhaver, QC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [and non]. B-02 schedule for Radio France International in Pashto and Persian: Pashto 1600-1630 6035 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg |||| new relay 11665 ISS 500 kW / 080 deg 13580 ISS 500 kW / 080 deg Persian 1800-1857 6140 DHA 250 kW / non-dir |||| new relay 7350 ISS 500 kW / 090 deg till March 1, 2003 9430 ISS 500 kW / 090 deg 11650 ISS 500 kW / 090 deg from March 2, 2003 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27) SNG = Singapore; DHA = Abu Dhabi; ISS = Issoudun, France ** GUATEMALA. I received an email from the folks in Guatemala saying that a technician from TGN got the replacement capacitor that I sent via a visiting volunteer team - and installed it in the old Gates transmitter. They got back on the air yesterday morning and I heard them just after sunrise here with a pretty good signal - but dirty audio. This morning they signed on with a very nice signal and plenty of clean audio. I understand that they are only going to run at about 2.5 or 3 kW for fear that something else will break down in the old rig! (Larry Baysinger, Kentucky, Cumbre DX Sept 14 via DXLD) ** HAWAII. NARRATOR: WORLD WAR 2 MEMORABILIA - HAWAII ON SHORTWAVE Exotic Hawaii! It never fails to fascinate. If you are travelling from Asia to North America, Hawaii will give to you your first taste of the American scene. If you are travelling from North America to Asia, Hawaii will give to you your first taste, literally, of Asian culture. During the Pacific War, Hawaii played an important role in spreading shortwave programming across the Pacific. In reality, during this era, there were just three major shortwave stations in the Hawaiian islands. These were the RCA station at Kahuku (KAH-WHO-KOO), the communication station for the American navy at Pearl Harbor, and the Voice of America relay station at Maili (MAH-EE-LEE), all on the main island of Oahu. The RCA station at Kahuku on the northern edge of Oahu dates back to the year 1914, when it was established for Morse communication with California. At the time, it was described as the largest wireless station in the world. From about 1935 onwards, the RCA station was often heard on shortwave with a relay of radio programming, sometimes outward and sometimes inward. The most famous of all of these program relays was ``Hawaii Calls`` which was a live tourist broadcast from a major hotel in Waikiki. The broadcasts of ``Hawaii Calls`` usually originated with the two main mediumwave stations in Honolulu, KGMB or KGU. The relay was picked up in California and fed to a major mediumwave network for nationwide coverage in the United States. During the Pacific War, the RCA station was frequently noted in Australia and New Zealand with an onward relay of programming for the Voice of America and the Armed Forces Radio Service. Many three letter callsigns were noted, including for example:- KEQ, KHE and KRO. On one occasion, the callsign KRCA was noted with a test transmission on 6860 kHz. During the climactic years 1944 and 1945, the American navy station at Pearl Harbor, NPM, was noted occasionally with the relay of radio programming, usually for the benefit of local army stations in forward areas of the Pacific. Actually, this navy station, NPM, was on the air from three different transmitter locations on Oahu, all operated remotely from the main facility at Pearl Harbor. On Christmas Day 1944, a big new shortwave station was inaugurated at Maili as a relay station for the Voice of America. This new facilty was located in an armed forces base just off the highway on the western edge of Oahu. The 100 kW KRHO propagated a strong signal throughout the Pacific rim with its programming in English and Asian languages. Five years later a sister transmitter, KRHK, was installed at the same location. After a quarter century of service, this facility was dismantled in the year 1969. There was another shortwave station in Hawaii noted on one occasion in Hawaii. This was station WTV with a relay of AFRS programming for the famous Pacific Ocean and Mosquito Networks. Although not stated, it is probable that this was a communication station operated by the American army and diverted as a temporary program relay. Over the years, all three shortwave facilities in Hawaii have issued QSL cards. The RCA station used a generic QSL card with the callsign inserted by typewriter. The broadcasts of ``Hawaii Calls`` were acknowledged with QSL cards from both KGMB and KGU, and the card from KGU showed the shortwave service. QSL cards for the VOA station KRHO were issued in both Honolulu and Los Angeles, and the Honolulu card is these days a valuable collectors item. Station NPM has also issued its own QSL card. Currently there are two shortwave stations on the air in Hawaii. One is the chronohertz facility WWVH with its several outlets on exact frequencies and the other is the Gospel station KWHR with its two transmitters at 100 kW. Both stations verify with attractive QSL cards (Adrian Michael Peterson, AWR Wavescan Sept 15 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. A tropical storm is forming South of Cuba and Jamaica, and very soon we will be hearing the hurricane emergency amateur radio nets on the air... Try tuning to 14325 kiloHertz, the Hurricane Watch Net, and pick up part of the action, as the storm moves towards the Gulf of Mexico... Again the frequency is 14325 kiloHertz and you will be able to pick up traffic from the affected areas in case the new tropical cyclone makes landfall... One of the most interesting aspects of listening to the Hurricane Watch Net is picking up reports from yachtsmen sailing in the vicinity of the storm that provide very valuable information to the weather services. Cuba's national weather service has now an amateur radio station installed at their national headquarters with a group of highly qualified operators that will keep the station on the air all the time that an emergency will require... (Arnie Coro, RHC DXers Unlimited Sept 17 via Bob Chandler, ODXA via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. ISRAEL RADIO FOR ALL OF ISRAEL By Israel Harel [Op-ed? or editorial?] About two weeks ago, in mid-broadcast, journalists from Israel Radio burst into the studio of the current events program "Hakol dibburim" (It's All Talk) and stopped the broadcast. This was a protest action against the inclusion of Uri Dan, a close associate of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in the list of presenters of the program. Now, in the wake of the intention to bring three of those who burst in to disciplinary trial, the journalists are threatening to go on strike against Reshet Bet (Israel Radio's "second station"). On the principle: It is not good that a prime minister intervenes in appointments at the Israel Broadcast Authority (IBA). Who, then, will make the appointments? Simple, ostensibly: the directors of the IBA. But who appointed the people who are now in key positions in editing, presenting and every other central role? Politicians. However, as opposed to Sharon, who is from the Likud, the people who did the appointing in the past belonged to the correct political parties. When the government that caused the sharpest public debate Israel has known, the Oslo government, came into power, its education minister Shulamit Aloni decided to appoint Mordecai Kirschenbaum as director general of the IBA. A concerned citizen sent a file to the Yesha Council (the representative body of the Jewish settlers in the territories) containing articles Kirschenbaum had published in the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. "His opinions are to the left of Meretz. Prevent the appointment." Even though I did not believe that Kirschenbaum, albeit a talented journalist, would rise above his opinions, certainly in those crucial days (I was then chairman of the Yesha Council), I suggested that we refrain - and the Yesha Council does have, as it is considered to have, a certain amount of influence in this country - from taking action. The appointment, I realized, was in the framework of "the laws of nature." Kirschenbaum, who is no longer IBA director general, has been for the past two years a regular participant on political radio and television programs. He might get insulted, but his firm opinions are anathema to many listeners, and they cause reactions that are no less severe than the rash caused to listeners of a different species by Uri Dan's statements. Have IBA journalists burst into the studio of the 7:30 evening news program on Channel One, on which he has appeared countless times as a guest? Or into Reshet Bet broadcasts, on which he has also been a guest to discuss almost any political and media issue? Geula Cohen can present a spot only when alongside her there is, as a permanent balance, a partner from the left. Lawyer Yehiel Guttman, a Labor Party activist, was recently given a political spot on Israel Radio. Solo. Elie Goldschmidt, until recently a Labor Knesset member, has been allotted a program on Channel One. Now he has also won an additional program, on Channel 33. Have the journalists burst into Guttman's studio, or Goldschmidt's studios? In their day, did they burst into the studio of Hakol Dibburim when Sheli Yachimovich, ostensibly a journalist committed to the ethics of public broadcasting, made her program a political spearhead against the continued presence of the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon, including a permanent and open microphone for the Four Mothers movement? Yachimovich, Kirschenbaum, Guttman and Goldschmidt are, after all, "professionals;" members of the brotherhood that decides what is fit to be broadcast in its realm. They are from the same cultural, political and for the most part also social environment as most of the editors, presenters, correspondents and administrative directors - who have continued, through giving slots to Guttman and Goldschmidt, to bring coals to Newcastle. Another example: "Inyan aher," Dalia Yairi's controversial current events program. After many years during which she has been expressing her own political opinions, attempts are being made, in the wake of swelling public criticism, to replace her with another presenter. But her colleagues in opinions and in profession are threatening to strike - just as they are threatening to do in the case of Uri Dan, who has been parachuted in (and they are not concerned by his lack of radiophonic qualifications), continues to be one of the presenters of Hakol Dibburim. A large part of the public attributes to public broadcasting a bias to the left. This is the reason Sharon is succeeding, despite a general outcry in the media, in increasing his influence there. The one- sidedness and the one-dimensionality of public broadcasting are the main factors in its weakness and its loss of influence. Therefore the employees of the IBA should first remove the blinders from their own eyes before they accuse the prime minister of politicizing public broadcasting. The public, in any case, does not believe in their purity of spirit (Ha`aretz Sept 19 via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. ISRAELI REGIONAL RADIO RESUMES BROADCASTS AFTER JAMMING BY LEBANESE STATION | Text of report by Israel radio on 20 September Voice of Israel's educational radio station, Qol Hagalil Haelyon [Voice of the Upper Galilee], is back on the air after it ceased broadcasting two months ago due to jamming by a Lebanese radio. The station has been assigned a new frequency, 106.4 FM. Our correspondent Doron Golan reports that the station is used for communications studies and to issue instructions to the population in times of emergency. The station also airs regional news programmes. Source: Voice of Israel, Jerusalem, in Hebrew 1200 gmt 20 Sep 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** KAZAKHSTAN [non]. 9925, Radio DAT, 1505 Sept 19. Man with long commentaries in local, many mentions of Kazakhstan, brief incidental music and identification 1515, ex 9775 (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also at 0100? I think not. Sept 20 at 0110 check something is still behind VOA 9775, and 9925 is fully occupied by Croatia in English via Germany, 0114 into Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non], B-02 schedule for LJB via ISS [France]: 9415 1800-1900 17695 1100-1130 11635 1800-1900 till March 1, 2003 17695 1500-1600 11635 1900-2130 17880 1700-1800 11715 1800-2030 21640 1100-1130 15220 1600-1800 21640 1500-1600 15615 1600-1900 21675 1100-1500 15660 1700-1800 21695 1000-1400 15660 1800-1900 from March 2, 2003 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27) ** NETHERLANDS. Hello FRS Friends, Summer is over and that means that the Free Radio Service Holland will become active following a long period of inactivity. FRS-Holland has planned a 24 hour broadcast tomorrow Sat September 21st and Sunday September 22nd. At this moment we cannot give you the exact time of commencing trms, it will be sometime in the Saturday afternoon. FRSH will run 4 hour blocks (repeated over and over again) including FRS Magazine, FRS Golden Show, Off Beat (German) and not to forget a 60 min. FRS Goes DX edition. Enjoy it and make sure your radio is tuned to 7450 kHz/ 41 metres!! We are looking forward receiving your snailmail via our Herten maildrop. * Next broadcast is planned for October 27th when we would like to celebrate 22 years of Free Radio Service Holland. * The latest edition of the FRS Newsletter is out now. If you are interested in getting a sample copy, then send one English pound , two US dollars or two Euro to our mailing address. As a bonus you will receive the June edition for free. An annual subscription only costs 6 Euro/ 4 pounds/ 6 US dollars. * We would like to inform you that Radio Borderhunter and Radio Brigitte have moved to a new address: P.O.Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten, the Netherlands. Have a nice weekend, 73's, on behalf of the FRS team, (Peter Verbruggen, via BDXC-UK Sept 20 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA [non]. U.K.(non): B-02 schedule for Salama Radio in Hausa/Ndebele/French/Arabic: 1900-2000 15365 SAC 250 kW / 105 deg till March 1, 2003 Sackville!! 15365 RMP 500 kW / 169 deg from March 2, 2003 Rampisham (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27) ** PARAGUAY [non]. I monitored the frequencies of 7300 kHz and 7370- 7375 and I found on 7300 a Russian program (I presumed that is The Voice of Turkey) and on 7374.98 I listened to Gene Scott program [Costa Rica]. 73s (Nicolás Eramo, Argentina, Sept 19, no times given, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Sobre la misteriosa Radio América de Paraguay. Esto ya parece una leyenda: emite las 24 horas segun algunas fuentes y emails de la propia emisora, pero por aqui, en paises limitrofes, nadie conocido hasta hoy la ha escuchado concretamente: ninguna señal, ni siquiera la mas minima indicando una portadora en sus frecuencias. Eso al menos, hasta hoy.... 73's GIB (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, Sept 20, Conexión Digital via DXLD) [Continues to cause consternation: GIB says despite its claims to be on the air 24 hours, no one in neighboring countries has heard anything concrete –-- no signal, not even a trace of a carrier on its frequencies, so far; a `legend`] ** PERU. 3172.61 RF, 1010-1025 18 Sept., weak Latin with "música andina" on Radio Municipal frequency; no sign at 2330. R75, Drake R7, NRD 535D modified, Sony 2010 (Robert Wilkner, Margate, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5384.32, R. Huarmaca, 1023, Sept 19th, Folk music between announcer's comments in Spanish. ID given at 1023 and 1025. Good signal strength and modulation (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Hello guys, I got a very nice QSL by email - have been looking for this one since many years! (Tor-Henrik Ekblom, Esbo, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tacna, Perú 5 de Setiembre 2002 Señor Tor-Henrik Ekblom Esbo - Finlandia [original was ALL CAPS:] Estimado amigo oyente, recibí su atenta carta via e-mail y con gran satisfacción debo comunicarle que los datos consignados son correctos por lo que le comfirmo su sintonía efectuada en la fecha indicada; a esas horas emitimos programa informativo deportivo pero ese día fue suspendido por programa especial con los contenidos que nos escribe. Nuestra señal en baja porque nuestra potencia es muy baja, solo 200 watts; imagino que la otra emisora de Brasil emite con mucho más potencia en la misma frecuencia, de alli la interferencia; de igual forma me informan desde Argentina. Agradecido por su amable reportaje. Tenemos varios amigos oyentes en Finlandia que nos remiten sus cartas y le respondemos ahora via e-mail solamente por ser más práctico, rápido y económico. Saludos cordiales. (Ing. Alfonso Cáceres, Gerente de operaciones, RADIO TACNA, Tacna, Perú via Ekblom, Esbo 18 Sep, DXLD) i.e. on 9505v ** POLAND [non]. Dear Glenn, In your DXLD 2-145 you have a comprehensive article on Radio Maryja. The schedule mentioned there and on their quoted website is, however, wrong. At present they are on 15455 kHz 0500-0715 UT Mon-Sat and 0600-0800 Sat + 1400-1700 on 12010 kHz and 1700-2200 on 7380 kHz. They have ID with (correct) frequency info in Polish and English at the start and end of each transmission (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Sept 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. In order to prevent any misunderstanding caused by fake HFCC data: the reported transmitter on 6160 kHz is located in (near) Arkhangel`sk and is run with 40 kW (2 x 20 kW). It carries Radio Rossii and the regional programs from GTRK "Pomorye" from Arkhangel`sk (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAMOA AMERICAN. WDJD: Vickie Haleck vickiehaleck@hotmail.com is interested in reports for WDJD and wrote in August: ``We have been getting reports from different people about getting us on 576 in their cars, some 580 around the island and some on 585, and we are having our engineers looking into the matter. We are broadcasting 24 hours. Greetings and Talofa from American Samoa`` (Sept NZ DX Times via DXLD) What is there to look into? They are transmitting on 580, as previously reported. If someone has a car radio set to 9 kHz steps, it would display one of the adjacent frequencies, unable to tune exactly to 580; however, the reason for dispensing with its authorised frequency 585 was to put it on the more common 10-kHz spacing in American cars (gh, DXLD) ** SEALAND. --- In RadioAnoraksUk@y..., "andrew_yeates" wrote: This evening the London edition of the BBC TV programmme 'Inside Out' featured Sealand: http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/insideldn/insideout/vote.shtml If you missed the report, it can be seen via this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/realmedia/insideout/insideout.ram (Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) It`s the first 9:20 of the 31-minute programme; may not be available for long, or are previous programmmes archived? (gh, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 567, Cape Talk is my only local daytime MW station, but only comes in on the DX 1 Pro and not my portables. The station is supposed to be 50 kW, but often I suspect it is a lot less. I am surprised you [Rocco Controneo in Rio de Janeiro] get R. 702, the sister station to 567 Cape Talk, as although it is a full strength 100 kW station, it has a very effective curtain [sic] antenna that beams South. So although 567 Cape Talk is only 200 kilometers away, the R. 702 station comes in much more clearly and powerfully in the evening, even though it is some 1400 kilometers distant. Whilst these two stations are sisters, they carry separate programming - all talk show format, but at night the programming is sometimes the same. R. Islam is going strong on 1548 from its near Johannesburg transmitter site, and regretfully blocks R. St. Helena and Capital R. London, which I used to enjoy before R. Islam blocked them. R. Today on 1485 is an interesting station, run and owned by a group of aged retired broadcasters. The format is some talk and lots of "golden oldies" type music in English. Incidentally, I seldom get any MW catches other than Brazil from South America, and these mainly come in with the greyline just before sunrise. If conditions are good though, I can also sometimes get Brazilian MW in the evenings at around your sunset at 2100 UT. (John Plimmer, MONTAGU. Western Cape Province, Republic of SOUTH AFRICA, Sept 18, mwdx yahoogroups via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. SABC UNABLE TO AFFORD BROADCSTS IN ALL OFFICIAL LANGUAGES | Text of report by South African news agency SAPA via AllAfrica.com The SA Broadcasting Corporation [SABC] would not be able to remain economically sustainable if it fulfilled its constitutional requirements to broadcast in all official languages, the SABC board's financial head Peter Matlare said on Tuesday. Matlare was speaking during an SABC presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Communications on amendments to the broadcasting bill. Among the many difficulties the SABC had with the amendments was the proposed provision of regional television stations by the Department of Communication. He said that although the SABC supported any measures that would provide services in languages that had been marginalized, the move would have severe implications for the SABC. "While we aware of our responsibilities in terms of the constitution, it would be almost impossible to provides services in all languages and remain economically stable at the same time," he said. Among the problems the SABC had were constitutional concerns, the financial viability of regional stations, and how they would be funded. He said he could not comment fully on regional stations because a detailed feasibility study had not been carried out. "However at this stage we have some initial concerns about the impact the move will have on the viability of the SABC," he said. The SABC's constitutional concerns were addressed by Matthew Chaskalson who told the committee that the establishment of regional stations would require huge infrastructure development and start-up financing. He said the provisions in the bill on regional stations could by struck down by the Constitutional Court resulting in huge losses to the SABC. Committee chairman Nat Kekana, said he could not see how the establishment of regional stations would conflict with the constitution because the provision of services in all official languages was contained in the founding clauses of the constitution. The executive chairman of the Freedom of Expression Institute, Jane Duncan, told the commission in her submission to the committee, that she was concerned the bill would undermine the accountability and the independence of the SABC board, She said both were crucial for the operation of the broadcaster. "The two are a package deal. You can't have accountability without independence and you can't have independence without accountability," she said. She also proposed that the public service broadcaster element of the SABC should be relieved of all advertising. "This will free up advertising for the commercial stations who were in need of more income," she said. Referring to the establishment of regional stations, she said there had been rumours that SABC3 was due to be privatized. "If this is so, then I cannot understand why they would want to set up new stations while disposing of an existing one," she said. Kekane said he knew nothing about the privatization of the channel and thought it was no more than a rumour. Source: SAPA news agency, Johannesburg, in English 18 Sep 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) COSATU TO MARCH ON SABC OFFICES; URGES MEDIA "TRANSFORMATION" | Text of report by South African news agency SAPA web site Johannesburg, 19 September: The Congress of SA Trade Unions will march to SABC [South African Broadcasting Corporation] offices around the country on Heritage Day, Cosatu Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi said on Thursday [19 September]. "We will also march to the offices of City Press and Media24 in Auckland Park to hand over a memorandum calling for the broader transformation of the entire journalistic media in South Africa," Vavi told a press conference in Johannesburg. He accused the City Press newspaper of gutter journalism and said the SABC failed dismally to deliver on its cultural, language and human dignity mandate. "It is our belief that the SABC is not adhering to the spirit or even the letter of its charter." He said Cosatu chose Heritage Day (next week Tuesday) to stage the march because the working class and African society was not served by the public broadcaster. "We felt that our heritage as a working class, African society was not being served by our publicly owned broadcaster which does not set an example for private, profit-driven media institutions." Cosatu would demand better coverage of labour from the SABC, the promotion of the cultures, values, ethics and norms of African people and would call for an end to the massive broadcasting of Western programmes on television. Source: SAPA news agency web site, Johannesburg, in English 1030 gmt 19 Sep 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 9770, SLBC heard with All Asia service September 20th, fair on clear channel, news bulletin to 1512 then programme of early 60s pop music to closing announcement 1530, Hindi religious style chanting, anthem and off 1536 (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. CLANDESTINE from UK to SUDAN. 21550, Millennium Voice. I read with great interest a recent Observer report that this one had left the air. It took a few days to reach him by phone, but a source at the Voice of Eritrea newspaper in Germany says that the station is still on the air, albeit on a reduced schedule. He claimed that they are just on Mondays and Fridays now from 1330-1430, instead of daily as before. This one can be tough in the USA with co-channel Christian Voz so any help in confirming this would be appreciated (Hans Johnson, Sep 19, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 21550 Millenium Voice, Sawt al-Qarn Heard September 20th opening 1330 with identifications including one in English, Koran recitation, lady in Arabic with transmission details and email address,incidental music and into commentaries in Arabic. Weak to fair with fading on clear channel. Reported Mondays and Fridays only now per Voice of Eritrea newspaper via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. U.K.(non): B-02 schedule for Millennium Voice in Arabic: 1330-1430 21550 Woofferton 250 kW / 140 deg ||||| Mon/Fri only, ex Daily (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27, tho some may already be in effect) Millennium Voice heard opening at 1330 on Friday Sept. 20th on 21550. Clear English ID then into Arabic language programming (N. R. Green, Blackpool, England, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. RADIO SWEDEN -- Coming up on Radio Sweden: Thursday: "HeartBeat" looks at sensors for emotional touch and the Superwoman syndrome Friday: Our weekly review Saturday: In "Spectrum" international film meeting in Öland Sunday: "Sounds Nordic" (SCDX/MediaScan Sept 18 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. FRANCE(non): B-02 schedule for Radio Taipei International in French: 2200-2300 12060 ISS 500 kW / 190 deg (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27) ** TIBET [?]. Report is in to Holy Tibet for 1100 UT English broadcast on 9490. Signals have improved with the season. But WRTH lists this frequency as Xi`an; does anybody know the transmitter QTH for sure? 73, (John Cobb, Roswell, GA, Sept 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PWBR `2002` says it is Baoji; HFCC site list shows: BJI Baoji CHN 34N30 107E10, which is just west of Xi`an and well outside Tibet, but no China listings at all on 9490, a `traditional` Tibet frequency for sesquidecades. Of course due to skip distances, it makes some sense to site higher `domestic` frequencies for Xizang outside it, not to mention maintaining control over them in case of insurrexion (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1148, DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. B-02 schedule for Voice of Tibet in Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese: 1215-1300 15400 TAC 100 kW / 130 deg Tashkent 15645 DB 100 kW / 117 deg Dushanbe 15655 DB 100 kW / 115 deg Dushanbe 15680 A-A 100 kW / 132 deg Almaty 1430-1515 11975 TAC 100 kW / 130 deg Tashkent (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27) ** UNITED NATIONS [non]. U S A(non): B-02 schedule for United Nations Radio via MERLIN transmitters (Mon to Fri) with kW, azimuths: Arabic French 1830-1845 9850 RMP 500 / 115 1700-1715 7170 MEY 100 / 076 13775 SKN 300 / 180 17595 SKN 300 / 180 21535 MEY 500 / 342 English Portuguese 1730-1745 7170 MEY 100 / 005 1715-1720 21535 MEY 500 / 342 15495 SKN 300 / 125 1725-1730 7170 MEY 100 / 005 17580 ASC 250 / 065 [Rampisham, UK; Skelton UK; Meyerton, South Africa; Ascension Island] 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27) ** U S A. VINTAGE 1AW QSL BRINGS RECORD PRICE OF $2,125 !!! From http://www.arrl.org/ (where this a photo) Sep 18, 2002 We're not certain if ARRL co-founder and first president Hiram Percy Maxim would have been proud or surprised to know that one of his old 1AW QSLs apparently set a price record for the sale of a single QSL card. A 1923-vintage HPM 1AW card recently went for $2125 on the eBay auction site. Neither the seller nor the buyer have been identified, but ARRL member Paul Cassel, VE3SY, of Petersburg, Ontario, Canada, acted as the sale agent and posted the card on the auction site. "The winning bidder is in California and is a very serious QSL collector," he said after the auction closed. Cassel pledged to donate half of his sale commission to the W1AW Endowment Fund. The 1AW card appears to verify reception of 9CTR on a wavelength of 193 meters rather than a two-way contact. "You were calling another 9," Maxim wrote in the card's "Remarks" section. Although the card proclaims "American Radio Relay League Station 1AW" across the top, the now-famous call sign was Maxim's own personal call sign at the time, not the League's, and Maxim operated from his home on Hartford. Until the 1AW card sale, Cassel says the highest known price paid for a single QSL card was more than $1100 for an AC4YN QSL from the Tibet DXpedition of Sir Evan Nepean, G5YN, who died last March at age 92 (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. Dear Glenn, WJIE has had some transmitter problems with a recent storm, but new updates should have the facility up and running full strength again 9/20. We plan to have Transmitter 2 up and running as well by the end of the month on 13.595 MHz. Thanks for your service to the shortwave community (Doc Burkhart, WJIE Shortwave, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 50mhz topica reflector: About two weeks ago, I was searching for the MUF during a band opening on a Sunday night and ran across a very strong short-wave broadcasters third harmonic on 45.990 MHz. I found their fundamental frequency to be 15.330 MHz. Tonight (Sunday, 16 Sept, 2002 ) at 0244 Z until their carrier dropped at 0300 Z, I copied this same station again. They were broadcasting in Spanish and S9 + on their fundamental frequency of 15.330 MHz and about S6 on their third harmonic at 45.990 MHz. This time I got their ID several times and identified them at Radio Martí, a USA mainland based series of stations broadcasting to Cuba on several SWBC frequencies, including 15.330 from Greenville, N.C. and on 1180 kHz in the medium wave band from Marathon, Florida. According to their frequency chart at: http://www.ibb.gov/marti.frec.html The 15.330 MHz frequency is used for only two hours per week on Sunday nights from 1700-1800 EST [sic] and 1800-1900 EST which fits the time window that I have now heard them two times. [no, it doesn`t...] To me these are not problems but another tool to check MUF/radio conditions, but, due their limited on the air time on this frequency, it severely limits its use for that. If anyone reads this who lives within ground-wave range of Greenville, NC, please give a listen next Sunday night and re-confirm what I have heard, as I can only hear it when the band is open. The receiver used is an Icom 756 PRO II. 73, Sam Neal N5AF EM-20 50 miles North of Houston, Texas ----- Visit the Six Club web page at: http://6mt.com/club.htm (via Wayne Heinen, CO, DXLD) Au Contraire; the schedule allegedly updated daily at http://sds.his.com:4000/fmds_z/schedules/cur_freqsked.txt shows greater usage, every day, of 15330, from Delano, not Greenville: 15330 0000 0300 OCB LARM SPAN DL 01 100 15330 2200 2400 OCB LARM SPAN DL 01 100 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RADIO AND TV MARTÍ BROADCAST MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TO CUBA Washington, D.C., September 10, 2002-- The Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), which operates Radio and TV Martí, is broadcasting select baseball games to Cuba for the remainder of the 2002 season under an agreement with Major League Baseball. Already, Radio Martí`s listeners have heard play-by-play coverage in Spanish of several games, including match-ups between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees. The agreement gives OCB the right to broadcast two games a week over Radio Martí, as well as the division and league championships and the World Series. TV Martí will broadcast the division and league championships, the World Series and a weekly program known as ``A Taste of Baseball,`` or ``Sabor a Béisbol.`` Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all U.S. international, nonmilitary broadcasting, praised the agreement. ``It`s good news for the Cuban people. It`s good news for Americans,`` he said, adding, ``I`m sure President Bush could not be more pleased.`` Bush was a former managing general partner of the Texas Rangers. ``We are extremely excited to provide Major League Baseball programming to Cuba,`` said Paul Archey, Senior Vice President of Major League Baseball International. ``Cuba has a great passion for baseball and we believe that expanded exposure to Major League Baseball will only heighten that level of passion.`` Salvador Lew, OCB`s director, said the broadcasts are ``another major step in providing our audience in Cuba with news and events that are denied them by the Cuban government`s state-controlled media.`` He noted that baseball is the most popular sport in Cuba. In 1999, Major League Baseball and the Cuban Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation staged two historic exhibition games between the Baltimore Orioles and the Cuban National Team. The Baltimore Orioles traveled to Havana to play the first exhibition game on March 28, 1999, which marked the first time a Major League Baseball team had played a game in Cuba in 40 years. The Cuban National team visited Baltimore for a rematch against the Orioles on May 3, 1999. Eleven Major League teams have Spanish language feeds. For cases in which a Spanish language version of a game is not available, Radio and TV Martí will use an English language feed from which to dub a Spanish language broadcast (BBG Sept 10 press release, Sept 20 via DXLD) ** U S A. PANGLOBAL WIRELESS COMING TO WBCQ! Perhaps you heard the original pirate broadcasts of the mid-1990's. Maybe you were there when TTN pulled the plug on a rebroadcast of the "Sloppy Sex Extravaganza" on PanGlobal Wireless. Or maybe you don't know what on Earth I'm talking about. Anyway, you'll get an experience unique to broadcast listening if you tune in to WBCQ - The Planet on shortwave! Premières 27 September 2002. Fridays: 2100-2130 UT on 7.415 MHz, Saturdays at 1900 UT on 17.495 MHz Tune in to the music, commentary, bad Spanish and worse comedy! Hey, it's a half hour...what have you got to lose? PanGlobal Wireless is not the pirate broadcast of days gone by; we've simply stolen the name because we liked the show. Honest. Really. Sh-h-h! Don't tell Allan H. Weiner what we're up to! (Paul at Secret Studio, Sep 18, rec.radio.broadcasting via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. RADIO FREE EUROPE CZECH BRANCH TO END BROADCASTING ON 30 SEPTEMBER | Excerpt from report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 19 September: The Radio Svobodna Evropa (RSE), the Czech version of the RFE/RL, will definitively end its broadcasting after 52 years on 30 September since the US council of governors for foreign broadcasting refused its further financing, RFE Czech desk head Olga Kopecka told CTK today. The date was already announced by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) head Thomas Dine in July. He said the USA needed money to extend broadcasting to other countries in connection with its fight against terrorism... The United States paid 650,000 dollars (19.5m Czech korunas) annually for the Czech broadcasting, while the public Czech Radio 6 station provided the equipment, frequency and broadcasting time... Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1617 gmt 19 Sep 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. 660 (KTNN) AZ, Window Rock. This has been off for at least a week (Bill Nittler, Mancos CO, undated!, IRCA Sept 21 Soft DX Monitor, Sept 19 via DXLD) ** U S A. 1260 KVSF - SANTA FE, NM KTRC; 1400 KTRC - SANTA FE, NM KVSF. 1260 KTRC - SANTA FE, NM TALK; 1400 KVSF - SANTA FE, NM TRAD. C&W - ABC (NZ DX Times Sept via DXLD) I.e. these two have swapped calls; why bother? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. I too have doubts about AM in the long run. The real issue is that even without IBOC, most AMs are coverage crippled, and cannot compete even with other AMs that have better signals. Take a market like San Diego. Only 2 AMs really cover the entire county, which is the metro. And KOGO uses an FM repeater to cover NE SD County better. The rest of the AMs are going to continue to slide and eventually, some will go away or find other sues... maybe datacasting. Ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner! David, perhaps inadvertently, has tipped the industry's hand here: so much of the fight to make TV and now radio digital is not about the "main channel" programming. It's all about whatever data can ride the stream as well. From the dawn of the DTV conversion, station owners and networks have had stars in their eyes about the riches to be made from leasing out some of their data stream into the home. That's 6 MHz per station, and I'm not yet seeing much in the way of a viable business model for DTV datacasting. Will 10 kHz worth of bandwidth, in a frequency band highly subject to atmospheric and man- made interference and unpredictable propagation effects ("DX: it's a bug, not a feature") and requiring very large, land-gobbling antennas, be any more relevant for datacasting than they would be as "unusable" audio services? My crystal ball isn't too optimistic... -s (Scott Fybush, NY) Well if Clear Channel knows as much about AM radio as they say ...why then did they start dropping the stereo operations of most of their AM stations? Even though the receivers are not out there in huge numbers, if it helps make the station sound BETTER, then why defeat it? (same goal as digital right?..better sound?..that`s what I thought too!) Now with the talk of IBOC...the mass interference generator that it will be is only taking us back to the early days of radio. The analog will be met with a narrow sound, the digital more than likely will have a hard time keeping up coverage wise compared to the analog signal. All of this for what? CD quality sound? ...stick with fixing the content on the stations... ....satellite fed radio stations just doesn`t cut it. I can tune in at least 5 easily receivable stations that carry Rush, Neal Boortz, The Savage Nation, Art Bell, various Jones satellite music networks and I could go on and on ...but back before this age of radio, you didn`t have that to worry, you had something DIFFERENT on all stations. Each station had its own personality which made that station a strong part of its community. Today, that just isn`t anywhere close to being any of that. Digital is suppose to save radio? Yeah, right and we are going to be taking a ride on the next UFO to planet Zorto where life is just perfect and dandy! {Oh me!... too much Art Bell!} (Bob Carter, Operations/ Engineering, WGAI-NewsRadio 560 AM Stereo, AM Stereo Radio list moderator----- amstereoradio-subcribe@topica.com KC4QLP Amateur Radio Skywarn monitor-AKQ-Wakefield Va http:// www.kc4qlp.cjb.net Your memories don't go far enough back. Up into the 50's, nearly all radio of interest came through national networks, and was the same all over the country. National radio programs or formats should be looked at no differently than TV and cable. Cable is almost 100% national, TV is about 90% national. Most TV stations do nothing local except for news and Public Affairs shows. CCU dropped AM stereo for the same reason many of the rest of us did. When I pulled it from the HBC AM's in the 1995-1997 period, it was because very few of our listeners and potential ones had AM stereo receivers, very few would likely have them, and the harm AM stereo did in the nulls of our stations was not worth the risk. When we took CQUAM off KTNQ, in the next book we had considerable listening in ZIP codes to the East of the array, where we had none previously. It also removed a piece of equipment that was unnecessary from the "failure chain" at the transmitter (David Gleason, CA; all: NRC-AM circa Sept 15 via DXLD) ** U S A. I believe WTOP may be testing IBOC again tonight... at any rate, I have an angry buzz on 1510 that seems to be minimized when I null WTOP. Check it out... (Barry McLarnon, Ont., Sept 19, NRC-AM via DXLD) Re noise heard on 1510: Check out this recent article: http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/iboc/04_rw_iboc.shtml It says, among other things, "Ibiquity planned to use WTOP(AM) in Washington to test the impact of a digital signal on local stations at night." The WLW tests are also mentioned. It would be nice to get a schedule for the tests, but somehow I doubt if that will be forthcoming. :-) (Barry McLarnon, Ont., Sept. 18, NRC-AM via DXLD) WTOP-1500 IBOC buzz definitely being heard on 1495 and 1510 and especially 1515 at 2355 EDT here in Central NY. RX=Sony ICF 2010 w/low noise longwire antenna. It sounds similar to what WLW iboc on 700 side-bands. It definitely was interfering with the 1510 stations in the NE (Fred Nordquist, Sept 19, ibid.) [However, several others who checked did not hear any such noise] ** U S A. "Save Internet Radio" From eworldwire.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WEBCASTERS` LAST MINUTE APPEAL TO CONGRESS - ``Save Internet Radio`` St. Louis, MO/EWORLDWIRE/September 18, 2002 --- Just 4 weeks prior to the first payment of a sound performance royalty fee by nonsubscription Internet Radio Stations, a united group of webcasters will visit Congress this week (Sept. 19-20) to ask for immediate Congressional help for relief from this excessive royalty fee. Webcasters will be asking their representatives to support the Internet Radio Fairness Act (IRFA), which was introduced by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA), and George Nethercutt (R-WA), in an effort to protect smaller webcasters from unfair royalty obligations arrived at through a process which excluded their participation. The royalty fees were determined by a June 20, 2002 decision by the Library of Congress* implementing provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. The DMCA required the payment of fees for sound recordings played on the Internet since its adoption, although the rate of such payment was unknown until the June 20 decision. The October 20 payment is for four years of back royalties covering the period from October 1998 until August 31 of this year. The rates established for Internet use of sound recordings has been consistently decried by webcasters as being far too high in comparison to royalties that have traditionally been paid to songwriters. In many cases, the new royalties will be as much as 3 times more than the total revenues earned by certain independent commercial webcasters. One recent report from Jupiter Research predicted that the rate would lead to Internet radio becoming dominated by news, talk and sports stations, as music programming would be prohibitive because of the high sound performancy royalty. A recent BRS Media report (09/12/02) shows that nearly one third (31%) of US webcasters have already closed their doors since the sound performance rate was announced, and for the first time ever, there were more foreign webcasters than US webcasters. ``Without immediate relief – before the October 20 payment deadline – most of the US small webcasters will have to either close down their businesses or severely curtail their operations,`` said Mike Roe, President of IO Media Partners, owner of Internet radio station radioio. ``If most US small webcasters have to close or cut back on their operations, it opens the way for a very few large corporations that can afford to subsidize their internet operations and for foreign webcasters to own the Internet Radio market. We don`t think this is what Congress intended when they passed the Digital Millenium Copyright Act in 1998.`` ``We think that passage of the Internet Radio Fairness Act is essential at this point,`` declared Gary Dobek, from Digitally Imported Radio. ``The musical diversity of US webcasters, and the free access to that diversity, will pretty much disappear if Congress doesn`t respond immediately to support the Act.`` *Determination of Reasonable Rates and Terms for the Digital Performance of Sound Recordings and Ephemeral Recordings; Final Rule, 67 Fed. Reg. 45240 (July 8, 2002) (to be codified at 37 C.F.R. pt. 261) (``Final Order``). CONTACT: Jim Atkinson, Media Contact, 3WK, 5217 Lansdowne, St. Louis, MO 63109. PHONE: 314.481.4711. FAX: 314.481.4000. EMAIL: jim@3wk.com (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. Re NY Times story about Louisiana, et al: "Religious and Public Stations Battle for Share of Radio Dial" ::: This doesn't just affect NPR. College radio stations will also be flooded out by more powerful religious signals. College radio listeners tend to be off-campus, either in outlying dorms or in nearby communities. The problem can't be solved with just a "full-power license". The area covered is a strong function of both effective radiated power and antenna height. That may mean building a new transmitter facility at a more strategic (and higher-rent) location. "Effective" radiated power requires a sophisticated antenna system to focus the power at the horizon over the target area. These antennas are rather large for 3- meter wavelengths in the FM band. Going head to head with another station also means larger electric bills -- over $6,000 per yr. per 10 kW added. All of this cost comes out of educational content, for stations barely able to subsist as it is. The problem is not just that Congress 'stepped on' public radio by passing this new law. The FCC proposed that law to Congress, because of 'new thinking' at the FCC. Until very recently, the FCC was supposed to MINIMIZE interference between stations, by not licensing the same frequency twice in the same geographical area. Channel space has always been scarce, but the solution was to auction channel space -- or for potential station owners to buy each other out. The only thing that's different today is the variety of content available to educational stations, versus the desire to hype religion from every tower -- even though the SAME religious messages are readily available on local cable, local commercial radio stations, and local commercial TV stations. Many local broadcasters have turned to religious audiences to replace listeners lost to cable. The original FCC policy (of avoiding interference) was actually developed for AM radio, and for AM video signals. When AM signals interfere, even weakly, the result is a piercing howl (or in the case of TV, visible heterodyne). Early FM signals were also vulnerable to interference. Most receivers built since the 80's, however, lock on to the stronger FM signal and ignore the weaker one, using what are called phase-locked loops. This same principle applies to narrow-band FM signals used by most police and fire depts. -- the stronger signal dominates completely. That's especially true in the UHF bands, since UHF follows line-of-sight, and doesn't cause problems over the horizon. There are several reasons NOT to allow competing signals on the 'regular' FM band. Unlike the UHF bands, FM signals travel over the horizon somewhat, and are more subject to atmospheric reflection, causing problems farther away. When stations compete, uneven coverage is exacerbated -- whether caused by uneven terrain or by intervening objects. A listener may hear 'the wrong station' as planes fly over or as trucks pass by. The FCC and Congress aren't worried about what that will do to lower- power NPR and college-radio stations -- the tacit assumption being that public radio will be forced off the air, and cease to be a political problem. It's also a case of "wattage talks, content walks." Until fairly recently, the FCC could also weigh "operation in the public interest", i.e. how much a proposed licensee (or class of licensee) could contribute to the public good, through variety of educational content, or pursuant to informed democracy. College stations, obviously, could contribute a great deal educationally. Another rationale was also that academic speech couldn't be excluded from the dial merely to favor commercial-speech brokers able to bankroll a higher wattage. The FCC has long sought a way to avoid value-judgments on whether diverse educational programming is 'valuable enough' for a protected place on the dial, compared to, say, a plethora of carbon-copy religious stations. The FCC's role is fast-changing, because the real future is seen in new technologies. Cell phones for example 'channel hop' as needed. Packet-switched radio networks accommodate several users on the same frequency. Spread-spectrum devices of competing brands can all share the SAME bandwidth, spreading their individual signals across many channels. (While traditional superheterodyne radios modulated a simple sine wave, this is not technically necessary. The carrier wave can be anything -- including a broad-band signal that sounds like faint noise without a matching demodulation.) The FCC is now happily licensing spread-spectrum devices such as personal radios -- with the caveat that the user and manufacturer agree to "accept any interference" caused by other devices. If several people in the same building use spread-spectrum devices, the better devices are smart enough to route around each other's signal. At first glance, spread-spectrum SEEMS like a magical eventual cure for crowded airwaves, but it's not. Finite bandwidth is still finite. While some spread-spectrum LANs are blazingly fast for example, performance decays and range decreases as the bands become crowded, and the background noise increases, making it hard for such devices to receive each other accurately. The FCC has also been talking up "Internet appliance" -- including wireless 'radios' supporting delivery-on-demand of music, video, gamies and whatnot. These supposedly will replace both radios and PCs, and have the commercially desirable feature of taking control away from the user, and giving it to the vendor -- who can then control how often a song or game is played, bill in realtime etc. There's just one problem, and that's lack of wireless bandwidth. The tacit assumption is that bandwidth-hungry "Internet appliances" will simply make content with a fiber-optic network, via matchbox-sized cell nodes as common as phone outlets in today's buildings. The only problem with that rosy future is that many cable companies lied like rugs about how soon they'd wire the country for 2-way digital cable, IF municipalities would only grant exclusive franchises, which they did. Customers ended up getting one-way "broadband" cable, with the assurance that the high prices they were paying would go to improve the network -- somewhere else where the franchise wars were hot. So it seems that the FCC, and Congress, are throwing away the future of public radio, on the vision of new wireless technologies that are still vaporware. The message is in essence "We don't care what educational networks people have built -- we're forcing a new paradigm on everyone through the Miracle of Social Engineering", driven by the vast arrogance of Congress. There's also been a political shift between Congress and the FCC. The power to protect public radio was also the power to protect public morals, and the power to require equal time for opposing political viewpoints. The Supreme Court has largely eliminated the FCC's powers of content control, while wired networks bypassed the FCC's power over the airwaves. The result has been a push to use purely objective criteria in granting licenses. A maximally powerful station is thus "better" at serving a wider area, regardless of what it serves up. There's also a growing belief among religious empire-builders that the public doesn't really NEED diverse educational offerings and liberal arts. In a post-9-11 world, the public need learn only to hate foreigners, be willing to kill foreigners, and to understand that a world war is necessary to defend Our Religion against the Great Satan The futility of World War III is irrelevant, because Jesus will come in the nick of time to exalt those with blood on their hands. If that's said often enough, on enough stations drowning out skeptical voices, people might even believe it. Jim Kutz (South Shore Skeptics) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.skeptic, rec.radio.broadcasting (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. U.K.(non): B-02 schedule for WYFR via MERLIN txs: 1400-1500 15520 DHA 500 kW / 085 deg Hindi UAE 1500-1700 15520 DHA 500 kW / 085 deg English UAE 1700-1800 21680 ASC 250 kW / 085 deg English Ascension 1700-1900 9595 WOF 250 kW / 070 deg Russian Woofferton, UK 1900-2000 9590 WOF 250 kW / 114 deg Arabic Woofferton, UK 2000-2100 15195 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg English Ascension (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27) ** URUGUAY. 6155, Banda Oriental, Sarandí del Yí, Dpto. de Durazno, is active: *0140 Sept 17. Opening ID by YL: "A partir de este momento inicia su transmisión CWA155, Banda Oriental, en la frecuencia de 6155 kilohertz con estudios en calle Sarandí 328, Sarandí del Yi, Durazno, Uruguay, código postal 97100, correo electrónico norasan, arroba, adinet. com. uy", followed by folk music. Another ID: "En la frecuencia de 6155 khz, desde Sarandí del Yí, Durazno, Uruguay, estamos transmitiendo a través de la banda de 49 metros, en 6.155 khz, Banda Oriental, desde Sarandí del Yí, Durazno, Uruguay, con nuestros estudios en calle Sarandí 328, Sarandí del Yí, Durazno, Uruguay, código postal 97-100. Nuestro correo electrónico es norasan@adinet.com.uy -- compartiendo nuestro encuentro con la música folklórica de nuestro país, Uruguay, con todos Uds. que nos están sintonizando a través de la banda de 49 metros" (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. RUSSIA(non): B-02 schedule for Voice of Khmer Krom Radio in Khmer: 1400-1500 11560 Vladivostok 250 kW / 230 deg ||||| Tue only (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Sept 20, via DXLD; note: all Observer items in this issue concern advance info for B-02 season starting Oct. 27) ** YUGOSLAVIA. RADIO YUGOSLAVIA TO RESUME SHORTWAVE BROADCASTS Radio Yugoslavia has announced that it is to resume its shortwave broadcasts after a long suspension during which its programmes were only available on the Internet. Following an agreement between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Ministerial Council of Bosnia- Herzegovina, the Central Regulatory Agency for Communications (CRA) has issued a long-term permit to Radio Yugoslavia to broadcast its programmes again via its shortwave transmitter site in Bijeljina, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The date of resumption has not yet been announced (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 18 September 2002 via WORLD OF RADIO 1148, DXLD) {Already started Sept. 20; see Anomaly Alert page} UNIDENTIFIED. 4050. For last two weeks or so, I have heard a station on 4050 during UT late afternoons (best 1700-1800). Program is pop music (local, Russian and EE) and I have not managed to hear any announcements. They sign-off around 1800 without any id. 4010//4795 has different program. This used to be Kyrgyz frequency in the past. Anyone heard proper ID of this 4050 outlet? (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Sept 18, dxing.info via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 17837v. First noted last spring and still hearing this weak station which fades in around 1500 or so on 17835v and slowly drifts up at the rate of about 300 or 400 Hz per hour. Is audible for several hours and usually has news by female announcer at top of hour. Still there at 2000 UT. Can't pull out ID or language. Is nobody else hearing this? Am also hearing the [El Salvador?] het on 17833.2, no audio yet. This is different from the 17837v unID (John Wilkins, CO, 9/18, Drake R-8, 100-foot random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PROPAGATION Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 18 September - 14 October 2002 Solar activity is expected to be low to moderate. Activity is expected to be at moderate levels through 21 September, due to the Region 105/114 complex. Continued moderate conditions may accompany the return of old Region 95 (N08, L=061) after 23 September. A slight chance for a proton event exists in association with any significant flare activity from the Region 105/114 complex, until it rotates beyond the west limb on 21 September. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geo-synchronous orbit may remain at event thresholds on 18 September, due to the coronal hole effects of the past few days. Recurring electron events are possible on 02-03 October and 09-10 October, due to expected rotation of persistent coronal holes. The geomagnetic field may reach active levels on 19-20 September, in response to potential transient effects from recent CME activity observed on 17-18 September. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected for most of the remaining forecast period, with the possibility of isolated active conditions on 01-02 October and 08-09 October in response to recurrent coronal hole effects. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2002 Sep 17 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 2002 Sep 17 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2002 Sep 18 180 12 3 2002 Sep 19 175 15 3 2002 Sep 20 165 12 3 2002 Sep 21 155 12 3 2002 Sep 22 150 10 3 2002 Sep 23 145 8 3 2002 Sep 24 150 8 3 2002 Sep 25 150 10 3 2002 Sep 26 160 10 3 2002 Sep 27 165 10 3 2002 Sep 28 170 8 3 2002 Sep 29 170 10 3 2002 Sep 30 170 12 3 2002 Oct 01 170 12 3 2002 Oct 02 170 10 3 2002 Oct 03 175 10 3 2002 Oct 04 175 8 3 2002 Oct 05 185 8 3 2002 Oct 06 195 8 3 2002 Oct 07 195 8 3 2002 Oct 08 195 10 3 2002 Oct 09 195 12 3 2002 Oct 10 195 10 3 2002 Oct 11 195 8 3 2002 Oct 12 185 8 3 2002 Oct 13 185 8 3 2002 Oct 14 185 10 3 (from http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1148, DXLD) ###