DX LISTENING DIGEST 2-201, December 22, 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 1161: WWCR: Wed 1030 9475 RFPI: Mon 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 7445 and/or 15039 WJIE: M-F 1300, daily 0400 -- maybe; Sun 0630, Mon 0700, Tue 0630 7490 ONDEMAND http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/worldofradio.html [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1161h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1161h.ram [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1161.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1161.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1161.html QUARTERLY ARCHIVE UPDATED: As of Dec 22, all issues through DXLD 2-198 are now at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd02.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS Glenn, as they say downunder, thanks for an awesome effort, consolidating the international radio scene for us through your digests. As someone who currently gets limited time for DX, I particularly value the ability to stay current with what the active DX community are hearing. We are just about to acquire 5 acres in the country for a retirement project and antenna farm, so I will return to the active ranks eventually. Your efforts are very much appreciated! (Bryan Clark, Auckland, New Zealand, Dec 22) Logs, AOR 7030, 20m wire at Musick Point, Auckland, New Zealand: USA 3210, 0741 22ND December, WWCR, good with Glenn Hauser World of Radio 1161, and pointing listeners to" world of radio.com" website (David Norrie, Cumbre DX) Thanks to you for another year of great information, more than any of us could possibly absorb. All the best for the holidays and 2003, (Kim Andrew Elliott, DC) Glenn, Thanks for your invitation to EDXP members. I read DXLD every now-and-again and find much useful material in it. Certainly, I would encourage others to investigate if they have not already done so. I have to say, however, that sometimes the sheer weight of material in DXLD is overwhelming. Much of the stuff on radio programs, historical radio station facts, and US MW/FM stations is of little use or interest to us here in OZ. So, wading through all that to get to the good stuff is tiresome at times. I wish there was some way you could present it so that we could go directly to the things that interest each reader, rather than scrolling through thousands of words to get the stuff you really want. If you could improve the layout, I'd visit more regularly. Also, I reckon a little more editorial discretion wouldn't go astray. Some of the guys waffle on too much - increasing the output of useless words even more. The "red pen" should go through some contributions so that the newsworthiness of the material is not lost in a wash of words. However, having said all that (in probably too many words!!) thanks again for drawing our attention to your column. Cheers! (Rob VK3BVW Wagner, Melbourne, Australia, EDXP) I could divide it up into different categories, but there would be inevitable overlap and even more cross-referencing required. The objective is to be comprehensive, in contrast to so many other `specialist` DX publications (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. I have just received information that states that HCJB Australia will commence 0700z January 5th on 11755 from Kununurra WA. Presumably there will be test broadcasts prior to that and the final HCJB broadcast from Pifo will be on the 4th commencing at 0700 and s/off at 1059z (Robin Harwood, VK7RH, Norwood, Tasmania, Australia, swl via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 1620 2KM SOLD FROM RADIOINFO -- 19 Dec 2002 As predicted here on radioinfo last month, an Arabic broadcasting group has paid a record price for a Section 40 AM 'off-band' radio licence bought from the NSW Labor Council. The Labor Council sold its AM station 2KM 1620 to World Media for $2.1 million last week. World Media provides ethnic content to Pay TV, including a feed of the controversial Al Jazeera TV channel. The current music format, which plays "all time favourites" from the 1930s to the 1960s, will be dumped and replaced with Arabic programming. Three 2KM staff will be sacked. The station operates under a Section 40 commercial radio licence and, as such, is subject to regulation by both the ABA and the ACA. The Labor Council originally paid $30,000 for the licence five years ago when Barry Unsworth spotted the licence opportunity. The Labor Council sold racing AM station 2KY earlier this year to Sky Channel for $25.3 million. (via Tim Gaynor, Australia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 9630.16, R. Aparecida, 2255-0015+ 12.21. Catholic programming in PT; many mentions of Sao Paulo, Palabra de Dios, etc. No ID's or ads the entire time, although there were possibly some anmts of upcoming religious & Christmas events. Good signal and // to 6135.05 which was fair and improving (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. 5054.4, Faro del Caribe, trouble again on this transmitter. Just a buzz when checking this morning Dec 22; 31 mb outlet was fine (Hans Johnson, Rio Hondo TX, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** CUBA. The RHC sked I gave in EDXP 278 was designed to stimulate some sort of feedback, to illustrate my point about broadcasters failing to publicise there actual schedules, either on-air, on the Web, or anywhere else! The RHC Website is heavy on self-agrandisement and tells us that it is one of the best! Sorry, but I beg to differ. The winter schedules for RHC published in WRTH and the Klingenfuss SW Frequency Guide differ, but both show 13660 and 13750 for French 2000, English 2030. I suspect that 13660 has been changed to 11670, due to SRI-Julich on 13660 at that time slot. For the Spanish service at 2100, WRTH shows 13605 11705 15230 and 15120, whilst Klingenfuss shows 13680 11705 11760 and 15230. I am greatly confused! (Bob Padula, Dec 21, EDXP via DXLD) See also FREQUENCY MANAGEMENT [non] at bottom. Would Arnie Coro deal with this issue? Of course not!::: (gh) ** CUBA. 41 years on the air and soon they will be 42, when on the 24th of February Cuba will celebrate the first day on the air of what was our first short wave broadcast from the Radio Havana Cuba transmitting center... From that date until May day of 1961, the station ID was Onda Corta Experimental Cubana, or Cuban Experimental Short Wave, then on May Day of 1961 the station became known by the name of Radio Havana Cuba .... yes I remember very well when our first just one kiloWatt Gates short wave transmitter running a single 4 dash one thousand in the final modulated by two 833's went on the air using just a dipole antenna that was supported by two power company wooden poles that we had obtained from the local utility!!!! What a difference from today's 4 by 4 and 8 by 4 curtain arrays amigos!!!! Now here is item five of today's weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited... Our ever popular you have questions and Arnie tries to answer them section of the show... QUESTION, sent by a listener in Jamaica.... Neville wants to know why he can sometimes hear our 9820 kiloHertz frequency and sometimes not, while he ALWAYS is able to pick up our 6000 kiloHertz frequency... Well dear amigo Neville near Kingston, this has to do with propagation... Short skip on the 31 meter band is only available under certain propagation conditions, while it seems to be ever present on the 49 meter band via what is known as NVIS or near vertical incidence skywave propagation. Our big 4 by 4 curtain array that I helped to design about ten years ago, does have a small high angle lobe, that is what makes possible for you to hear us every evening so well on 6000 kiloHertz!!!! Although the main beam of the antenna is pointing at 010 degrees azimuth, as registered with the International Telecommunications Union frequency registration .... So keep listening to 6000 kiloHertz amigo, and thank you very much for the nice comments about the program !!! (Arnie Coro, RHC DXers Unlimited Dec 22 via Bob Chandler, ODXA via DXLD ** CUBA [non]. DUDAS E IRRITACIÓN POR CAMBIOS EN RADIO MARTÍ RUI FERREIRA, El Nuevo Herald, Posted on Sat, Dec. 21, 2002 El director de noticias de Radio Martí, Lázaro Asencio, fue despedido hace dos días de sus funciones al cabo de un año en el puesto, una decisión del director de la Oficina de Transmisiones hacia Cuba (OCB), Salvador Lew, quien no quiso hacer ayer comentarios al respecto. El despido, reveló Asencio a El Nuevo Herald, surgió en forma sorpresiva por medio de una carta donde se le aduce su presunta incompetencia para separarlo del cargo, pese a sus 40 años de experiencia profesional. ''Mi despido se produjo el 18 de diciembre con una carta de Lew cesándome en el cargo de director [de noticias] y como empleado de Radio Martí'', dijo Asencio, de 75 años. En marzo de este año, en una entrevista con El Nuevo Herald, Lew, de 73 años, defendió el profesionalismo y la calidad de Asencio, en un momento en que la emisora era blanco de críticas en Washington por parte de congresistas y senadores. ''Puede ser, pero no tengo las pruebas'', dijo el periodista, interrogado sobre si su despido puede estar relacionado con esas críticas. Según Asencio, él ha tenido diferencias con Lew, pero no han sido relevantes. ''Hubo diferencias porque él estaba llevando a cargos importantes a personas que habían puesto demandas contra él. Incluso trajo a un nuevo jefe de personal, Fernando Rojas, que ha asumido distintas posiciones que no corresponden al cargo'', dijo Asencio, refiriéndose a uno de los directores del grupo de exiliados Consejo por la Libertad de Cuba. De todos modos, ''para mí, esto es algo irracional, que no tiene ninguna explicación. Yo tengo las pruebas de que en mi gestión aumentaron las audiencias en Cuba'', añadió Asencio, quien en la década pasada dirigió el departamento de noticias de la emisora por años. Contactado ayer por El Nuevo Herald, Lew se excusó para no comentar el despido, limitándose a confirmar el hecho. La decisión fue, a todas luces, sorprendente para Asencio, quien ayer estudiaba si podía o no cobrar algún subsidio por desempleo. ''Estoy estudiando a ver qué hago'', dijo. Asencio y Lew se conocen desde sus tiempos de estudiantes en la provincia de Las Villas. La amistad siguió cuando ambos vinieron al exilio, y se prolongó durante los años que trabajaron juntos en emisoras de radio de Miami. Lew fue nombrado director de la OCB el 26 de julio del año pasado, y en octubre trajo a Asencio de vuelta a Radio Martí como director provisional de noticias. En enero de este año, el veterano periodista ganó un concurso interno para ocupar el puesto permanentemente. Tras el despido de Asencio, Margarita Rojo, quien trabaja en la estación federal desde sus orígenes en 1984, lo ha sustituido interinamente. Según escribió Lew en un memorando anunciando el nombramiento, Rojo ``por años ha demostrado un firme compromiso en la implementación de la misión de Radio Martí''. Lew ha estado bajo fuego de críticas por el modo en que ha conducido la administración de la OCB. De hecho, el modo como se procedió al cambio en la dirección de noticias de Radio Martí es, en lo mínimo, ''profundamente irregular en el ámbito federal'', según fuentes del Capitolio. De hecho, Rojo fue nombrada al puesto provisionalmente el 5 de diciembre, pero fue el 18 cuando Lew despidió a Asencio. Mientras, el departamento de noticias de Radio Martí tuvo oficialmente un director de noticias fijo y una directora provisional. Lew no quiso comentar sobre el detalle, ni siquiera sobre insistentes rumores, dentro y fuera de la emisora, de que se prepara para abandonar el cargo en enero. ''Yo me voy de aquí cuando me boten, y aún así y todo lo voy a pensar'', dijo Lew a El Nuevo Herald. 73's (via Oscar, Miami, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. CLANDESTINE from USA to CUBA. 9955, WRMI,1105 Dec 20, still enjoying above-jammer reception of the Cuban clandestines via WRMI. Long Spanish talk about Cuba by man, sounded like the Junta Patriótica Cubana program. Ended at 1124 with address, telephone, and fax numbers. Filler music till 1129, then start of Entre Cubanos program, but (Presumed) as jamming had gotten worse by this time and I heard no clear ID. Latest WRMI schedule, dated Dec 15, shows: 1100-1130 La Voz de la Junta Patriotica Cubana (español) 1130-1230 Entre Cubanos (español) Both are Mon/Wed/Fri (Hans Johnson, TX, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CYPRUS. 6959U, "Lincolnshire Poacher" spy station; 2106-2125 Dec. 22, fair with UK-accented female five-digit numbers, "Lincolnshire" calliope theme a couple of times between numbers group (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, Tocobaga DX via DXLD) ** CYPRUS TURKISH. Had a tentative log here this afternoon (12/22) at 2200 UT of Radio Bayrak on 6150. Playing English language pop music. Very poor signal, along with all the other QRM on the frequency (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Glenn, I've got a Dominican on 5009.8, have had for the last three days. Trouble is, I can't get an ID. No doubt it's DR, too much talk about the major league baseball players in Santo Domingo to be from anywhere else. I'd love to call this Radio Cristal and be done with it, but truth is that I can't get an ID. I've logged this at 2300 on Dec 19, 20, and 21, past 0030 each night. And I was searching for HRMI. 73s and Happy Holidays! (Gerry Bishop, Niceville FL, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. NEW SWEDEN-BASED OPPOSITION RADIO UNHEARD ON 22 DECEMBER | Text of report by Monitoring research on 22 December Please note that BBC Monitoring could not hear the Sweden-based new Eritrean opposition radio, Radio of the Voice of the Eritrean People, on Sunday, 22 December, on 15735 kHz. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 22 Dec 02 (via DXLD) ** GUADELOUPE. 640, Radio Guadeloupe, Pointe-à-Pitre, DEC 22 0317 - Near-excellent signal level with apparently a live program of Christmas Zouk song (one had a repetitious refrain about "Père Noël" - Santa Claus in French). The announcer seemed to speak French Creole, as very little was understandable. At 0321, Venezuelan QRM became intense, and by 0335, WNNZ Massachusetts was strong too, but during the excellent peaks with no QRM, some reception could be had even on a very cheap and very poor Panasonic Dx-D14 (with much poorer and very weak signal, of course), not all the cheap portables are good DX machines, especially considering the very short length of its internal ferrite bar antenna! (Bogdan Chiochiu, DXing from Pierrefonds, Quebec, Sanyo MCD-S830 w/ internal ferrite bar antenna, also using a Panasonic Dx-D14 with a very short ferrite rod ant.! Hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** GUAM. HAM RADIO HAS ROLE IN GUAM RELIEF, RECOVERY After a supertyphoon struck the Pacific Territory of Guam earlier this month, an opportunity for hams to step in and provide emergency communications never materialized, mostly due to a lack of fuel on the stricken island. Nonetheless, ham radio is playing a role as Guam residents get back on their feet. "Most of the guys are trying to get themselves back together," said Dick Manns, KH2G, "but one of the main problems immediately after the typhoon was fuel for generators, as the tank farm was burning and no fuel could be brought out and what little was available was being reserved for emergency vehicles." The Marianas Amateur Radio Club has discussed setting up emergency communications systems, he said, but insufficient funding has hampered the effort. Supertyphoon Pongsona hammered Guam December 8. Manns says FEMA, the US military and the nongovernmental relief organizations have been helping a lot in the typhoon's aftermath. But, it would have been nice, he suggested, if local hams had been able to reciprocate with some communications help using portable repeaters and packet radio. Another problem: The storm pretty much devastated amateur antenna systems, he said. Duncan Campbell, KF6ILA/KH2, was one of the few hams able to get on the air in the first few days after the storm hit, felling the island's lone 2-meter repeater tower in the process. Island hams used 2-meter FM simplex as a major means of communication, Campbell said. The repeater reportedly is back up. He was able to make several stateside HF to relay needs, but fuel to run emergency generators for radio use became scarce, and he had to shut down after December 10. Manns said electrical power remains out for most residents and that only about a third of the electrically powered water wells on Guam were functional. Telephone service remains out "pretty much island- wide for varying amounts of time" due to the power outages, he said. It's expected to be several months until electrical power is fully restored on Guam. At one point, despite an active listening campaign, Amateur Radio operators on the air from Guam were simply not to be found. "We have six amateurs engaged in this, almost our entire complement of HF operators," said ARRL District Emergency Coordinator for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Tim Hayes, NH0H, December 15. Amateurs on Saipan monitored the agreed-upon emergency frequency of 7085 kHz almost continuously for a week without hearing a single Guam signal, he said. The Pacific Inter-Island Net on 14,320 kHz also made a special effort to listen for Guam stations. Meanwhile, the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and 28 US Government agencies have combined to provide relief and recovery services. Reports say 1750 homes were destroyed or left uninhabitable by the typhoon. The Salvation Army is operating 12 temporary shelters and housing an estimated 3000 residents left homeless. Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) Coordinator Pat McPherson, WW9E, said SATERN this week established contact between Guam and the SATERN national office in Chicago via an EchoLink connection --- a marriage of Amateur Radio and the Internet. McPherson credited Al Paja, WH2Z, on Guam with helping to set up the EchoLink connection. Campbell, Manns and others have been able to maintain communication to the outside world via the Internet after December 11. The fiber optic line between Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands survived the storm, and local Internet Service Providers were able to reconnect to the backbone. With semi-reliable cellular telephone service available, Campbell was able to post updates on local conditions to several Internet bulletin boards. The Guam Pacific Daily News Web site http://www.guampdn.com/ also has remained active and current. It continues to provide a major conduit for those outside the island to leave messages for friends and relatives on Guam. Amateurs affiliated with the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Emergency Response flew to Guam. "We're very active here with disaster relief and have two sites operational on HF," said Steve "Sid" Caesar, NH7C, the team's communications officer. Others on that team include Satoshi Manabe, WH6CTO, and Jayson Kohama, WH6BXK. Caesar has been in regular contact with amateurs in Hawaii over the past week (ARRL Letter Dec 20 via John W. Smith, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4799.77, R. Buenas Nuevas, 21 Dec 1100, Noted back down here with nice strong signal. So obviously they fixed the transmitter, whatever was wrong with it. Central Americans doing well this morning, but conditions very poor on the whole (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ICELAND. 8 Dec, 1200 - 13865 kHz. Rikisutvarpid, 35443. Schedule gives the following data: 1200-1300, 13865 and 15775 kHz. But in reality 13865 kHz has been suddenly switched on only at 1211, ant there was nothing at all on 15775 kHz. Transmission ended at 1300, as scheduled (Sergei Alekseichik, Hrodna, Belarus, SIgnal via DXLD) Sergei Alekseichik is presumably referring to the HFCC entries, but those are only coordination slots. The noon broadcast was always 1215- 1300, and during this season only one frequency (instead of two) is in use for the RÚV relays, at 1215-1300 it is 13865 kHz. This is a live relay of the RÚV main noon newscast which actually starts at 1220. The "odd" start time has a long tradition and goes back to the time when people went home from work for the noon break, and RÚV (which until 1985 was the only broadcaster in Iceland) was waiting 20 minutes with the news so that everybody would have time to reach home, sit at the eating table and switch on the radio. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Cumbre DX via DXLD) How quaint ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. From Radiowaves SUNDAY 22nd DECEMBER 2002 EUROPE: Radio Caroline available via satellite again Radio Caroline can once more be picked up via satellite, this time from one of Eutelsat's Hot Bird fleet at 13 East. Tune to 12597 GHz; vertical polarity; symbol rate 27.5; FEC 3/4. The station have also confirmed that from early in January they will broadcast on a full-time transponder from a 28.2 East satellite, but without a Sky EPG placing. The frequency, which can be added via the other channels menu on the Sky Digibox, is 11661 GHz; horizontal polarity; symbol rate 27.5; FEC 2/3 (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** IRAN. IRAN IN FERMENT II --- By Jackson Diehl Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2002. Page 12 After an Iranian court sentenced the reformist academic Hashem Aghajari to death last month, the largest and most sustained student demonstrations in years erupted in Tehran. As they grew, day after day, U.S.-operated Radio Azadi, or Radio Freedom, was their favorite medium. Every day, student leaders would call by cellphone from the roiling campuses to the radio's headquarters in Prague and narrate the latest developments live. Each night the radio would broadcast a roundtable discussion, patching together students and journalists in Tehran with exiled opposition leaders to discuss where the reform movement was going. So instrumental to the rebellion-in-the-making did the radio become that pro-regime counter-demonstrators recently held up a placard reading "Who does Radio Azadi talk to?" -- a taunt taken by the station's staff as a badge of honor. more at http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2002/12/17/006.html (via Fred Waterer, DXLD) Most stories about R. Farda/Azadi are filed under USA ** IRAQ [non]. NPR's Weekend Edition had an interview on Dec 21 with BBC Monitoring about the new Information Radio broadcasts to Iraq. Asked if there was anything unusual about the broadcasts, BBC Monitoring replied: While the broadcasts are in Modern Standard Arabic, the announcers (man and woman) are native-Lebanese, not native Iraqis. Given that this is a PSYOPS station, BBC Monitoring didn't understand the selection of some of the music being played, particularly some of the Western tunes (Hans Johnson, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Here`s the 7-minute item; has actualities off the air, and an ID at the very end: U.S. RAINS RADIO BROADCASTS, PAMPHLETS ON IRAQ Starting Dec. 16, the U.S. military has been broadcasting "information radio" to the people of Iraq, from a special-equipped transport plane outside Iraqi air space. Scott Simon discusses the messages -- similar to those transmitted to Afghanistan in Fall 2001 -- with Mike Linstead of BBC Monitoring, which intercepted the broadcasts.... http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/wesat/20021221.wesat.04.ram (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISLE OF MAN. RADIO MAST FIGHT GOES TO HIGH COURT From http://www.iomonline.co.im/fullstory.asp?storyid=2 SUN DEC 22 2002 A BRIDE resident's petition against the decision by the Communication Commission to award a broadcast licence to the firm proposing a long- wave radio station in the north of the Island will be heard in the High Court. Nick Cussons, of Lambhill, filed a petition of doleance in May seeking an order to have the licence to Isle of Man International Broadcasting quashed and the decision by the commission declared null and void. In a 16-page judgment this week, Deemster Cain decided to allow the petition to proceed to a hearing. IMIB's original proposal to site a radio mast on land at Cranstal, Bride, was foiled by an independent inspector but in December last year the firm unveiled plans to site it five kilometres off the coast of Cranstal. Bride Commissioners and residents have objected to the new plan claiming it will have a detrimental impact on both the view and environment in the area, both of which IMIB contest. An earlier petition from the commissioners against the decision by the territorial sea committee to give IMIB approval to site the mast offshore was heard in November and the judgment is awaited. Mr Cussons says there will be a directions hearing for his petition on February 17 next year (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. Season's message from IRRS/NEXUS-IBA Dear friends of IRRS, For the first time this year we will not be running any special transmission via IRRS-Shortwave around Christmas and the new year. This is to save resources in order to be able to continue to serve our audience in the coming year. However, our regular operations continue Mon-Fri at 0630-0730, and Sat & Sun at 0900-1300 UT on 13,840 kHz. IRRS-Shortwave is run by NEXUS-IBA, http://www.nexus.org a non-profit association which has elected to do something different in the world of broadcasting. Our Shortwave station is built on the premise that profits are not the be-all and end-all of broadcasting. We are an all- volunteer cooperative with less than 15 people giving their spare time to keep us alive. They do this largely because we are a free radio station with no political or religious ties, and because of the free access policies of our operation. Since 1979, when all this began via FM in Milan, anyone with anything halfway sensible to say has been able to access our microphones, even if it meant having to run the risk of criticism. In fact, ours is one of the very few experiments in genuinely free media-accessing in Europe. In addition to Shortwave, we are now also on the Internet, with various services for our members, including live MP3 and ogg-vorbis streaming at http://mp3.nexus.org and http://www.nexus.org/IRN We also offer airtime at a small fee to non-profit, small program producers via IPAR (International Public Access Radio, http://www.nexus.org/IPAR Needless to say, all this is very expensive in time as well as money. We carry no advertising on our stations, and there is no commercial sponsorship except the active support of our volunteers, our Association members, and our listeners. We at IRRS-Shortwave want to continue to provide our services to the global community, and that's why for Christmas this year we're asking for your support by subscribing to NEXUS-IBA. Help and support can be sent online via our secure server at https://secure.nexus.org . Also if you would like to make yourself or a friend a BIG Christmas present, please visit http://www.nexus.org/txsale.htm [not found --- gh] Proceedings from this sale will help us keeping on the air. Stay tuned, and take care until the new year, With best season's greetings from all of us here, 73 de Ron / IRRS & NEXUS-IBA. -- (Ron Norton, NEXUS-IBA support, PO Box 11028, 20110 Milano, Italy e-mail : ron@nexus.org Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Website includes propagation maps, but only for obsolete 3985 and 7120 kHz. Showing them for 13840 would give away where this current transmitter actually be located. Nothing shown in current program schedules (gh, DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. VOICE OF THE STRUGGLE OF IRANIAN KURDISTAN reported recently by Rumen Pankov and Dave Kenny. This radio station broadcasts 0300-0400 and 1700-1800 in the frequency range 4260-4290 kHz; the station doesn´t have a constant frequency at present (noted on 4260, 4277, 4281, 4286 kHz). The latest frequency I heard was 4286 kHz for both transmissions on 16/12. Seems this is the same station which was active in 1988-1996: the format of the programmes is identical - 45 min. in Kurdish and 15 min. in Farsi. ID in Kurdish is also the same: "Aira dangi Khabati Kurdistani Irana". A shorter version of the ID is: "Dangi Khabati Kurdistan". (Robertas Petraitis, Lithuania) This station had been on and off throughout the 1990s, my files show it inactive since April 2000 (MK) (who`s MK? Via Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Laser Radio: see U K [non] ** LIBYA. I just heard Libya (Radio Jamahiriya) IN ENGLISH on 11635 from 2100-2130 GMT 12/20/02. Much huffing and puffing about the revolution, etc. A positive ID just before sign off, then into Arabic at 2129, then abruptly off the air. Signal only pretty fair here in the NW, so I cleaned it up through my Sherwood gizmo which made it very intelligible (Bruce Lindner, Portland OR, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) a full half-hour in English? Usually it`s just 5 minutes or so of news (gh, DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. Re. Sitkunai testing 1557: ``That I have no clue, why they carry Chinese programming is another story.`` -- Well, in light of what goes out on 1440 [CRI via Luxembourg] I could offer a possible explanation why they used this signal, especially why they bothered to obtain it from whatever source. Actually an interesting question from where they got the audio, had they to use a telephone/ISDN codec (would be really interesting!) or is it available on any satellite which can be received in Europe? By the way, Harald Kuhl added that the recording I posted includes an ID not only for CRI but also for Hubei PBS (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. 15335, RTV Marocaine, 1402-1430+ 12/22. Nonstop Arabic music to 1428, then brief announcement by M and back to music at 1429. Fair and improving; was // to 15340, which was fair/poor with nasty splatter from VoTurkey on 15350. Both frequencies off by 1500, having switched to 15345, VG here. Don't know why they use 2 frequencies just 5 kHz apart at the same time (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot random wire, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Adjacent-channel operation is sometimes done, giving a station a seemingly `wider` signal and thus greater presence on the band, especially on cheap receivers. Current HFCC shows two different sites are used for these, Tangier and Nador, 27 and 110 degrees respectively. It probably wouldn`t work if they were at the same site, producing mixing products, etc. In that case it would be better to run two transmitters/antennas on the same frequency. Better not have a feed/satellite delay between them, either, lest echo. 15335 1100 1500 27SE,28N,28SW TAN 250 27 1234567 271002 300303 D MRC 15340 0900 1500 28S,37E,38 NAD 250 110 1234567 271002 300303 D MRC (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5985.00 even! R. Myanmar --- this week they have been off their usual v5986. Noted 1530-1600*, music, sign-off announcement, anthem, weak (Ron Howard, CA, DXplorer Dec 19 via BC-DX via DXLD) 4725, Radio Myanmar once again heard on this channel which was left last summer for 5040.6. What is interesting is that they are still on 5040.6. Weak to fair, but in // at 1243 Dec 20 with music. Not sure if this is a new or fixed transmitter or a readjusted frequency on 4725. Hummy transmitter still on 5040.6, cleaner audio on 4725. Not sure if the 'new' 4725 is ex-5985.8. I can't hear 5985.8 this morning, but I am too far away to hear it consistently and it carries a different program as well. Any additional observations would be welcome (Hans Johnson, TX, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 5040.59, R. Myanmar, 1245 Dec 21, quite a good signal here, Asian talk by woman, music. Nothing on 4725. MP3 file through top of the hour if any one wants to hear it. Thanks Hans for the tip (Dan Ziolkowski, RX- 320, 100 foot wire Franklin, WI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 4725, Radio Myanmar. Heard at 1110 UT Dec 22 with what sounded like local Christmas carols into talk by OM/YL. Parallel 5040 kHz. I agree with Hans' observation that the transmitter previously used for 4725 is now used to carry the program on 5040. The hum on that later can hardly be missed. 5985 is still there carrying the regular Myanmar program (not parallel 4725 and 5040) - at this time, it is heard underneath VOA in English (Richard Lam, Singapore, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Had heard 4725 during the 1200 hour Dec 22. By 1300 this one was off but 5040.6 was still on (Hans Johnson, Rio Hondo TX, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Tuned in this morning Dec 22 at about 1225 UT. Had signal both 4725 and 5040.6. Both weak, but in clear and in parallel. Checked again at 1235 and 4725 was gone. So perhaps 4725 sign off at 1230? I did have a very weak signal on 5985 at 1243, but too weak for any details (Dan Ziolkowski WI, ibid.) I agree with your observation, but 4725 was on air earlier in the evening around 1005 on 21 Dec with the usual poor audio, parallel to 5040.6. 5985.0 kHz was audible in the late evening with the main service in Burmese/English, but not in the early evening. Possibly the same transmitter is used for 4725 and 5985 now but this needs further checking. It's possible that 5040.6 comes from the transmitter that is usually 600 Hz or so above channel on 9730 -- formerly it was also on 5985.6v throughout the evening. Regards from Sengigi, Lombok, Indonesia (Alan Davies, Dec 22, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. I received QSL letter from R. Miskut. 5770 kHz Radio Miskut 57 days for $2. f/d friendly letter, signed by Sr. Lic. Evaristo Mercado Pérez, Director de R. Miskut. The letter was written about [by?] Mr. T. Hirahara (Y. Uemura, Kanagawa, Japan, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. From http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=460430 Officials of the popular radio station known as "P4" claimed over the weekend that they will stay on the air, even though they lost a lucrative government concession to operate Norway's only nationwide commercial station. Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, Norway's Minister of Culture, has been the target of public fury since yanking a popular radio station's government concession. The P4 executives are also threatening to sue the government for billions of kroner after Culture Minister Valgerd Svarstad Haugland handed their concession over to a rival bidder on Friday. Svarstad Haugland has been the target of public fury since announcing that she effectively was pulling the plug on P4. Its concession was up for renewal and she chose another operator, called "Canal 4," which is backed by several Norwegian newspaper including the Christian-leaning Vaart Land. Svarstad Haugland herself hails from the Christian Democrats and claims Canal 4's programming will be "better" than P4's. Seven out of 10 of P4's roughly 1 million listeners disagree, according to two separate public opinion polls. They're big fans of P4's fast-paced, contemporary format that largely mimics American commercial radio stations. Canal 4, by contrast, promises to feature more programming aimed at children, that a full 35 percent of the music it plays will be Norwegian and that it will emphasize news and documentary. P4's managing director, Rune Brynhildsen, who is furious over Svarstad Haugland's decision, says his station has a digital concession that runs until 2010. "No one can take that away from us," he told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK). "We will give the Norwegian people their favorite channel for 10 more years, no matter what it costs." (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** PERU. 9504.9 kHz, Radio Tacna, at 1004. After logging this tentatively from Dec 16 thru 19, finally ID'd them on this date with exceptional signal that was still above threshold an hour later (doesn't seem possible power is either the 500w or 180w as listed in WRTH and PWBR respectively). Radio Record not noted at this time but something is very weak on frequency before Tacna signs on- possibly Record fading out being much further east? 1005 time check then two OA songs to 1011 when a barking dog was heard. Then long string of ads and/or personal messages (such as Centro Electrónico in Tacna and Balion Italiano) to a Radio Tacna ID at 1015. Many mentions of Buenos Dias Perú, so possibly the name of the program. Of the 5 days I listened, they were already on by 1005 on 3 of them and signed on 1020 and 1030 on the other 2 days (John Sgrulletta, Mahopac, NY, JRC NRD- 515/K9AY & A/D Sloper, Dec 20, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. What I presume is Radio Gaderica is putting in a pretty good signal here at 2110 UT on 5920, probably same site as 6235 VOR which also seems to be around. The Signal is choppy, probably due to disturbed conditions at present, but I suspect the High Solar Flux is bringing it through. Many Thanks to Glenn Hauser for the 'alert' WOR 1161; also to check propagation see http://www.trsc.com http://www.SpaceWeather.com With acknowledgements to NOAA, Tom Sundstrom Mr Alvestead (sorry can`t remember your first name) for the 'propagation'. Yes, Identifying now (2117 UT). The station is expected to continue nightly 2000-2300 UT until 31st December 2002 (Ken Fletcher, 2122 UT 21st December 2002, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5920, Radio Gardarika, 2000 Dec 22 with IDs in English and Russian. Giving address in St. Petersburg, telephone number. Fair reception but I had enough of this loop by 2004 when I tuned out the Javaradio in Sweden (Hans Johnson, Rio Hondo TX, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** RWANDA. 6055, R. Rwanda 2057 12/21. Tail end of s/off and NA after Slovakia s/off. During the past several years Radio Rwanda has stayed on well past its usual 2100* on 12/24 to broadcast a Christmas eve party. Carols in English, French and (presumed) Kinyarwanda language, great local music. At local midnight (2200 UT) there's a countdown, sounds of a big celebration, and Xmas greetings in several languages including English. Good opportunity for NA listeners to hear this station, if the same broadcast is on this year (George, MA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [non]. CLANDESTINE from NORWAY? to SAUDI ARABIA. 7590, Radio Al-Islah (Presumed) *1859 Dec 18 with jamming already in progress. Started suddenly with audio difficult to understand and frequent breaks. All in Arabic, but nothing sounding like an ID or opening sequence; via Sweden Javaradio (Hans Johnson, TX, Cumbre DX via DXLD) "In an effort to overcome the current jamming, the following frequency shift and extended transmission is applicable starting Sunday Dec. 22; 9930 *1830-2130* ex 7590 *1900-2100" end. The above is V of al-Islah translation of announcement ...Developing (Mahmud Fathi, Germany, Dec. 21, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Sawt al Islah noted on the new channel of 9930 (9929.96m) kHz at 1854 with a much stronger signal than on 7590, though the bubble jammer has followed them. Still has audio breaks. Cheers, (Paul Ormandy, New Zealand, UT Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I also heard the same station (Voice of Reform) Dec 21 on new 9930 at 1833-1857* and again at *2058:53-2127:00*. The same man continued talking in Arabic on the usual 7590 at *1858:50- 2058*, so it is rather obvious that the same transmitter is used, just switching between these two frequencies. Best 73 and season greetings to all of you, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. INDIA EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER BROADCASTING FACILITY FOR TIGERS India has expressed its serious ``concern`` to Sri Lanka over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam acquiring modern equipment for its clandestine Voice of Tigers broadcasting station via Norwegian diplomatic channels, the Sunday Times newspaper reported yesterday. Quoting diplomatic sources, the newspaper said that India`s Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, who was on an official visit to Colombo last week, raised the matter during a meeting with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Despite Sri Lankan government claims that the radio station had only a limited range, India`s ``concern`` has been heightened by the distinct possibility of the equipment being upgraded to reach areas in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Exacerbating these ``concerns`` of the government of India, the newspaper said was the apparent cloak of high secrecy over the transfer of six tons of broadcasting equipment. Although one of the Sri Lankan government`s peace negotiators, Minister Milinda Moragoda, regularly visited the Indian capital before and after every round of peace talks with the rebels in recent months, no mention had been made of the transfer of the broadcasting equipment. India had learnt of the move for the first time only from the opposition party in Sri Lanka. This was after Parliamentarian Anura Bandaranaike, who was a member of a three-member People`s Alliance delegation, briefed Indian leaders late last month. The Sunday Times stated that the questions on how the broadcasting equipment, said to be worth millions of rupees, was procured and handed over to the LTTE without payment of any import duty have become a subject of concern not only for the government of India, but also the opposition. Several questions are being raised. Who raised the funds to procure the broadcasting equipment? Were diplomatic norms and procedures not violated when an embassy in Colombo imports such equipment, clears it without duty and hands it over to a private organisation? Since diplomatic cargo is not subject to Customs inspection, was the container with the broadcasting equipment examined? These were among the many questions that are being asked, the newspaper said in its front-page story (via D. Prabakaran, India, Cumbre DX via DXLD} LTTE`S FM RADIO STATION Sri Lanka has issued a license to LTTE to set up a broadcasting station in the northern town of Kilinochchi and assigned an FM frequency, a weekly newspaper said today. The license was issued to the rebel group`s `Peace Secretariat` ``to maintain and operate a private broadcasting station for which equipment worth more than $100,000 was imported by the LTTE last month, the Sunday Leader said. The newspaper said the Tigers were keen to legalise their clandestine `Voice of Tigers` and had sought a license to ``disseminate news to Tamil people on the ongoing peace process.`` In a communication to LTTE `peace secretariat`, which was reproduced in the weekly, the Mass Communications Ministry secretary has said the ``licensee shall provide broadcasting programmes in accordance with the norms, standards and code of ethics followed by the state-owned Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. The import of the equipment had raised concerns in India as to whether the group, outlawed in India, would use it to broadcast propaganda in Tamil Nadu to gain support for itself. However, India has taken the view that it will not be unduly worried as long as the broadcasting facilities were only for FM transmission, which are only specified frequencies with limited range. An LTTE cultural wing functionary had recently said the rebel radio had expansion plans to cover South India and Singapore (PTI via D. Prabakaran, India, Cumbre DX via DXLD} ** TAJIKISTAN. 4940, Voice of Russia, 1257 Dec 22 with tones, 1300 sign on in language after short music piece. Sounded like woman gave VoR website address. A bit of talk and then music. Mixing throughout with co-channel presumed AIR Guwahati (Hans Johnson, Rio Hondo TX, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** THAILAND. The Bangkok Post Saturday, December 14, 2002 Army refuses to relinquish media units The army plans to maintain control over its most popular TV channels and radio stations despite an article in the constitution requiring the media be handed over to the National Broadcasting Commission for frequency changes. http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/Weekly2002/12.10.2002/Thailand5.htm ARMY REFUSES TO RELINQUISH MEDIA UNITS The Bangkok Post Saturday, December 14, 2002 The army plans to maintain control over its most popular TV channels and radio stations despite an article in the constitution requiring the media be handed over to the National Broadcasting Commission for frequency changes. For the sake of safety and security in military operations, the army would not allow civilians to work at broadcasting stations located within its compounds, army chief Gen Somdhat Attanant said yesterday. "The army must maintain control of media that is crucial to national security,'' he said. "To ensure the public is kept aware of military operations, the major stations must not be affected.'' The army runs a total of 126 radio stations, as well as TV channels 5 and 7. Stations that recently begun airing would be returned to the panel, as required by law, Gen Somdhat said (via NASWA Flashsheet Dec 21 via DXLD) ** THAILAND/VIETNAM. A further example of atrocious frequency coordination is the use of 7285 by Radio Thailand and the Voice of Vietnam, both operating on that frequency to the same target area from 1100-1130. Thailand carries Vietnamese and Khmer Vietnam carries English Thailand formerly used 7260 during A02, but moved to 7285 to clear the channel for Radio Netherlands (Petropavlovsk Kamchatka) 0930-1130. Vietnam has used 7285 for many years but does not appear to be represented at the HFCC. There is ample clear spectrum space available on 7 MHz to eliminate this clash. I believe that IBB in Washington manages the Thailand scheduling, with transmissions coming out of Udon Thani. Regards! (Bob Padula, Melbourne, Dec 21, EDXP via DXLD) ** TIBET. The Lhasa daytime frequencies are now audible at times. 11950 in Chinese is regular here from 0259. This one is beamed to the west. The eastern beam on 11860 is very weak but has been confirmed repeatedly. The Tibetan channel on 9580 suffers much interference but has been confirmed repeatedly - this transmitter is the one that is well heard on 7385 mornings/evening. 9490, also beamed to the east, is weak, but can be confirmed days-evenings (Olle Alm, Sweden, Dec 20, BC-DX via DXLD) ** U A E. As sometimes happens with BC-DX, a frequency I did not report was inserted when picking up my recent item on Dubai at 1330, ``21597.64`` -- I have not tried to measure it that closely lately, and just say 21598v, but thanks for the precision, however it got there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. SIR JIMMY'S RELUCTANT FAREWELL From BBC News Friday, 20 December, 2002, 14:17 GMT Sir Jimmy Young turned on his BBC bosses in his last lunchtime programme on Radio 2, telling listeners "it wasn't my idea" to leave the show. Young, who is 81, has left his show on Friday after half a century in broadcasting. But his anger at leaving Radio 2, his home since 1973, showed during his final programme, as listeners sent messages to the studio saying how sorry they were to see him go. It's the last programme - it's not what I want but that's what's been decreed so that's what we have to do. "Just so that we're all singing from the same hymn book, it was not my idea to go - I didn't want to leave you at all and I know from your messages that you don't want me to go either," he said. According to the BBC's media correspondent Nick Higham, Sir Jimmy feels humiliated at the way he has been sidelined by executives at Radio 2, who are looking for a younger image for the station. A Radio 2 spokeswoman said: "We were disappointed that Sir Jimmy Young had a change of heart about presenting a new show for the BBC. "We thank him for his great contribution to BBC radio over many years and send him warm wishes for every happiness and success in the future." The veteran broadcaster still manages to achieve ratings of around five million listeners. He had five months off recently after a hip operation, and only returned to his show two weeks ago. As his show finished, he told listeners he was writing his autobiography, and had received offers to appear in a one-man stage show. "There is life after the BBC, of course," he said, before playing his last track - his own 1955 version of Unchained Melody. He ended the show by saying: "The song's fading away and indeed so am I. "It's the last programme - it's not what I want but that's what's been decreed so that's what we have to do. "I'm looking forward to hearing you and seeing you at the theatre. Thank you very, very, much for the last 30 years - I've loved it all. "God bless, take care, and for the very last time I fear, bye for now." Sir Jimmy started working at the corporation in 1949, and was one of the first broadcasters on Radio 1 in 1969, moving to Radio 2 four years later. Sir Jimmy's retirement had been mooted for some time, but the DJ had always extended his contract. He had agreed to leave his 12 to 2pm show to do a weekend programme at the beginning of the year, but then changed his mind and decided to retire from the BBC altogether. On Friday, fellow Radio 2 DJ Terry Wogan said on his breakfast show: "Dear Jimmy Young is leaving us - or so he says. We don't have to believe it if we don't want to." He then read out a poem from a reader: "Goodbye to Sir Jimmy Young/ He's leaving us today/ Broadcasting to us the nation/ On Radio 2 each day/ We're really going to miss him/ But he'll be back somehow/ So all we say is BFN - byebye for now." When he announced his departure, Sir Jimmy said: "I know that my many listeners will understand. "This decision has nothing to do with my recent stay in hospital. My hip is fixed and I am not retiring, far from it - I will be pursuing a number of other interests." Sir Jimmy was replaced by Brian Hayes during his five month break, and the show will feature a new host, former Newsnight stand-in Jeremy Vine, from the new year (uk-radio-listeners yahoogroup VIA PAUL DAVID Chair, BVHG, DXLD) ** U K [and non]. FROM TELEGRAPH TO 3G TECHNOLOGY http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ December 21, 2002 By Dan Sabbagh AFTER a nerve-wracking week of checking and cross-checking, on December 21, 1902, Guglielmo Marconi was sure. Exactly 100 years ago, his Wireless Telegraph Company confirmed publicly that four telegrams had been successfully sent from Canada to Cornwall, across 2,000 miles of ocean. The first one was from Lord Minto, the Governor-General of Canada, "To his Majesty the King, London". It said: "May I be permitted by means of this wireless message to congratulate your Majesty on the success of Marconi's great invention connecting England and Canada." Buckingham Palace replied with a telegram the next day. On behalf of the Edward VII, Lord Knollys wrote: "The King has been much interested by your experiments, as he remembers that the initial ones were commenced by you from the Royal Yacht Osbourne in 1898." The applications of Marconi's inventions changed the face of the new century, heralding radio, television, radar and the mobile phone. But, ironically, radio never succeeded in displacing cables - the first of which was laid in 1866 - as the principal means of transmitting data across the Atlantic. Today 60 per cent of BT's transatlantic telecoms traffic is handled by fibre-optic cable, which offers virtually limitless capacity; the rest is handled by the successor to Marconi's technology, satellites. A report of Marconi's historic transmissions followed in The Times on Christmas Eve. Tucked away on page three, below news of Venezuela's "arbitration question", was an article headlined "Wireless transatlantic telegraph", which reproduced the telegraph messages that were sent and received. The Times played a central role in Marconi's famous experiments. With an eye for publicity, the Italian inventor invited the newspaper in October of that year to take part in his latest round of transatlantic experiments. "I shall be glad for the first Press message transmitted by wireless telegraphy from America to England to appear in your columns," Marconi wrote to the Editor. The previous year Marconi had proved it was possible to transmit radio signals across the Atlantic. On December 12, 1901, he received in Newfoundland a three-dot signal - Morse code for the letter "s" - 1,800 miles from where it was transmitted in Cornwall. It wasn't meaningful communication but it did show that it was possible to communicate without wires far beyond the horizon. The radio waves he used bounced off part of the Earth's atmosphere, the ionosphere, meaning that wireless communication could overcome the curvature of the planet to reach the New World from the Old. Marconi's offer was accepted by The Times, and the newspaper sent George Robert Parkin, its Canada Correspondent, to watch the inventor at work in Glace Bay. Indeed, it was Parkin who actually composed the first message sent across the Atlantic. Marconi, based in Glace Bay, started work in mid November 1902. But the signal strength was poor and it was not until December 14 that the inventor felt confident enough to start proper communications. He invited Parkin to write to his newspaper. "Have honour send through Times inventor's first transatlantic message of greeting to England and Italy," the message read. Over the next week Marconi, who after five years of radio demonstrations was a celebrity, sent three other messages to Edward VII and the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III. They were all released after they had been cross-checked on December 21. The transatlantic success increased the demand for Marconi's services. Its military and, in particular, naval applications were obvious. But The Times was interested, too, and in March 1903 persuaded the Marconi company to launch a news service for both itself and The New York Times. Unfortunately, that service lasted only a few days: the antenna at the Canadian station broke under the weight of ice in early April. A commercial service was not launched until 1907, and while it was a great success in terms of the amount of traffic carried, it ran at a loss amid heavy competition - a situation that today's telecoms companies, and in particular the successor to Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Cable & Wireless, would recognise as all too familiar. Even so, radio quickly became the technology of choice when mobile communications were essential. The Times's War Correspondent of the time, Lionel James, used a wireless telegraph to file reports from the front of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. In what was a mainly naval conflict, James was able to file from a steamer he had chartered, which was out in the Yellow Sea, speeding up the delivery of battle reports vastly. The story of the next hundred years of communications is largely one of increasing proliferation, falling cost and the occasional technological shock. Broadcast radio came in the 1920s, television in the 1930s, the mobile phone in the 1980s and the internet in the 1990s. Fortunes were made and lost as companies either under or overestimated how much money they could make from the changes in technology. Long-distance communications that were barely available to the elite 100 years ago are carried around in the pockets of virtually every adult in Western Europe. Next year, mobile phone operators hope to launch "third generation" services, which will allow two-way video calls on the move. (more on web site). (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Latvia 5935: World Bible Radio Network 5935 1700-1759. Nonstop choirs, carols and instrumentals, with ID and frequency given in between. Laser Radio started at 1800. Familiar 60-ies offshore pirate tune. "Well here we are at long last..." program introduced by Jeff Rogers... then Beatles-All You Need Is Love. Info about Latvia and Ulbroka transmitter. Unfortunately at 1800 also start of R. Prague on 5930 (Silvain Domen, Belgium, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LATVIA 5935 World Bible Radio Network heard at 1745 tune-in, hymns and choral music with one identification given. 1800 Laser sounds and Man of Action theme tune, start of Laser Radio transmissions with DJ Geoff Rogers, into All You Need is Love by the Beatles. Strong signals but some adjacent channel splatter (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, UK, December 22nd, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Already audible here in New York at 1835 UT tune-in. Talk by OM DJ, then music with OM vocals. Website audio stream is approximately delayed by one minute. SINPO only 23332 at the moment, should definitely improve as darkness approaches (George Maroti, NY, R8B/100 foot long T2FD, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U K [AND NON]. IRISH REPUBLICAN BALLAD NAMED WORLD'S TOP SONG By Sinead O'Hanlon LONDON (Reuters) - The Irish republican rallying cry "A Nation Once Again" was named Friday as the world's all-time favorite song, after a global poll by the BBC. The ballad performed by the staunchly republican group The Wolfe Tones, was among a minority of Western songs in the list and only narrowly triumphed over Indian patriotic song "Vande Mataram," the BBC said in a statement. Group leader Brian Warfield told Reuters from Dublin, "It's marvelous news." "We're absolutely delighted that this song, which has become such an anthem for the Irish people, has got such recognition all over the world. "The song was written to give the Irish people back a bit of spirit and support the fight to overturn (British rule) so I am very happy to see it is still giving us spirit the world over," he said. The poll of BBC World Service listeners attracted 150,000 votes from 153 countries and revealed the diversity of the world's musical tastes. Among the rest of the top ten was a Bollywood movie song, a love song from Nepal, a Tamil Tiger film song and a pop song from Hollywood singer/actress Cher. "A Nation Once Again" was written by 19th century Anglo-Irish army surgeon Thomas Osbourne Davis to support the fight for an end to British rule. It includes the refrain "And Ireland, long a province, be a nation once again." Many famous names contributed to the voting with Bianca Jagger choosing Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door" rather than anything from ex-husband Mick Jagger's band the Rolling Stones. Former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos chose Handel's Hallelujah chorus, while Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey opted for Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife." The BBC said some artists suffered in the voting stakes because so many of their songs were nominated, splitting the vote. The Beatles had 55 songs nominated and Iranian artist Googoosh had 40. Reggae legend Bob Marley had 29 songs nominated, with "No Woman No Cry" topping the list. Europe's favorite song was "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions, a song many associate with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The United States went for "Girl from Ipanema" by Antonio Carlos Jobim while Latin Americans voted for "Solo le pido a Dios" from Argentine singer Leon Geico. Swahili classic "Malaika" was Africa's No. 1 while Australians and New Zealanders voted for both Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC. The final top ten list is: 1. A Nation Once Again -- The Wolfe Tones. 2. Vande Mataram -- various artists. 3. Dil Dil Pakistan - Vital Signs. 4. Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu - Ilayaraja. 5. Poovum Nadakkuthu Pinchum Nadakkuthu - Thirumala Chandran 6. Ana wa Laila - Kazem El Saher. 7. Reetu Haruma Timi - Arun Thapa. 8. Believe - Cher. 9. Chaiyya Chaiyya - A R Rahman. 10. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen. Reuters/Variety 12/20/02 23:59 ET (via Fred Waterer, DXLD) I tuned in near the beginning of this show, only to hear some disgusting lyrics, so promptly tuned out (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WWRB IS NOW TESTING TRANSMITTER GLOBAL FOUR Press Release 12/21/2002 For Immediate Release POC: Peter J. Taggart This morning (December 21, 2002) Radio Station WWRB began low power testing of its fourth transmitter, Global Four. This transmitter, built by Harris, is easily capable of running a full 150 Kilowatts power AM. So far, it has performed flawlessly in tests, far exceeding our specifications, and we are confidently optimistic of adding it to our official transmitter lineup within a few months. With the beginning of broadcasts utilizing this transmitter, we expect to significantly enhance our capabilities and coverage, offering services far exceeding our current capabilities. Radio Station WWRB's management has not yet determined the operational frequencies for this transmitter, however, the low three megahertz is considered an excellent candidate for nighttime operations. WWRB FACILITIES DESIGNATED AS AERONAUTICAL ENROUTE COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY Press Release 12/21/2002 For Immediate Release POC: Rei Hino Recently, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration designated and licensed the parent company of Radio Station WWRB as an Aeronautical Enroute Communications Facility. Radio Station WWRB's transmitter site in Manchester, Tennessee and our receiver site McCayesville [sic], Georgia are equipped with extensive antenna systems perfectly suited for long and short range communications (point to point, ground to air, secure voice, data, and aircraft reservations.) This new venture is in the initial stages of development, we are beginning to receive frequency assignments, and rapid expansion is anticipated as time goes on (WWRB via Dave Frantz, DXLD) That explains the sign on the gate seen months ago claiming WWRB was an aero facility (gh, DXLD) Thought you would like to know the radio call is : "Nashville Radio " (Dave Frantz, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7354.5, WRNO: started checking to see how early they come on. 2348 on Dec 18 there was preaching in English here. Ended at 2351 and then dead air past 0000. On Dec 19 at the same time I heard nothing, not even the hint of a carrier (Hans Johnson, TX, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. The Charlotte Beers speech at the National Press Club is available on demand at ... http://video.c-span.org:8080/ramgen/ndrive/ter121802_beers.rm (Kim Elliott, DC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. NEW ZEALAND. 107.1 FM: Radio Farda's new Persian Service has made a surprise appearance on the FM band here in Auckland New Zealand. While driving around the eastern suburbs of Auckland doing some last minute Christmas shopping yesterday (21 December), I discovered an unidentified Middle Eastern broadcaster on 107.1 FM in stereo. The language wasn't Arabic and the identification sounded like "Radio Fardough". Not having heard Radio Farda before, but given the number of references to Iran, I tried http://www.radiofarda.com and compared the webcast identification with the local FM signal to confirm they were the same, though programming was not in parallel. Then today 22 December I have tracked down a couple of Radio Farda's shortwave frequencies (15290 and 17675 at 0800 UTC) and established that our local FM broadcast is running 1 to 2 seconds behind the shortwave audio. It`s interesting to speculate as to the source of the local signal. Here in NZ, the edges of the FM broadcast band (88.0 to 88.5 and 106.7 to 107.3) are known as 'guardbands' and can be used by enthusiastic microbroadcasters with a maximum transmitter output of 300 milliwatts, that is, less than a third of a watt. Is this just an initiative of a young Iranian living in Auckland, or is there a desire by the organisation behind Radio Farda to entertain the worldwide expatriate Iranian community ? I checked the NZ Immigration Service statistics online and these show 149 Iranians have been accepted for NZ residence in the 6 months ending December 2002, compared with 300 in 2000/01 and 350 in 2001/02. So not sure there's a big Persian-speaking audience around here, and the 300 milliwatts probably has a range of 10-15 miles. Anyone else hearing Radio Farda on local FM? (Bryan Clark, Auckland, NZ, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I listened to 1539 early this morning and was able to sort out R Farda from the Spanish station. R Farda was on 1539.08, so most likely they are using the Sharjah facility, at least for the time being (Olle Alm, Sweden, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Isn`t it odd that R. Farda is running 24 hours on the two MW frequencies 1539 and 1593 from UAE and Kuwait. These could not penetrate very far into Iran in the daytime, at the high end of the band (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Interesting to see they are using 1539 too - maybe the 2 x 50kW at Sharjah? (Noel R. Green-UK, BC-DX Dec 20 via DXLD) IBB frequency table shows DHA = Al Dhabbaya location anyway. I had a look into new WRTH '03, which arrived yesterday at Stuttgart. I guess maybe they-{Americans} made a deal with Sharjah/UAE authorities to use that channel straight northwards at 10 degrees, but with 500 kW of power. I don't believe that the US power would use a 50 kW unit from Sharjah towards Iran! (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, BC-DX via DXLD) The distance from Sharjah to the nearest major city in Iran is at least 200 km, so the 2 x 50 kW would be of little use. I have not seen a coördination for a higher power. We'll have to wait and see what it sounds like. Sharjah has usually been a little off channel, so if we get to hear a loud signal spot on channel, then it's not Sharjah but Dhabbaya (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX, Dec 21, via DXLD) Radio Farda: I asked about the 7165 and 9835 frequencies, beaming the former Radio Azadi to Europe. Done; they were cancelled, confirmed on Dec 20 check. Re the frequency lists, I understand that VOA Farsi will continue. Otherwise it appears that the FRD outlets replace the RFE circuit 12 transmissions completely since they contain most of the former RFE Farsi (Radio Azadi) frequencies (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "{(Dan Ferguson, IBB, Dec 18, SWBC via DXLD) Not quite identical to: ... " (gh, DXLD 2-199) But nevertheless correct (Dan Ferguson, IBB, SWBC via DXLD) Meaning the other version is incorrect ** U S A. Just reviewed a phone message from one of the churches in Jamestown ND, which is a "heavy contributor" to the local WAFR *88.3 Tupelo MS translator. They plan to bring up my charges against the American Family Association (translator W214AX *90.7 there) at a meeting of the local ministerial association. I have no intention at this time to capitulate to the AFR's attorney's demands that I be silent, lest I be sued for slander. In fact, I may be willing to travel the 800 mile round trip to testify at the group's meeting. I might also mention to you that my son-in-law is a pastor in Jamestown, and probably a member of the ministerial association. (He may or may not agree with me; hence my feeling that I should travel to Jamestown to be personally present.) If I go, wish me luck! The problem of a neglected station ID is so sacred to me as a DXer I am willing to go to great expense to protect this right. I hope other DXers agree (Bruce Elving/FM Atlas, Dec 21, amfmtvdx via DXLD) ** U S A. I thought you might want to see this one. The American Free Press, the source of this story, has their own particular bias, which I don't much care for, but I assume the information here is valid. The old saying is coming true more and more that a free press is for he who owns one (John Wesley Smith, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Rense.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Media Giants After ABSOLUTE Control Exclusive To American Free Press By Michael Collins Piper 12-19-2 Some populist critics of the major media giants in America say that "The Media Is the Enemy," Well, if other people have their way, the wealth and power of the mass media and its concentration in increasingly fewer hands will be greater than ever before... If you think that the masters of the American media --- men such as Edgar Bronfman, Sumner Redstone, Rupert Murdoch, S.I. Newhouse, Mortimer Zuckerman, Lawrence Tisch and others --- are rich and powerful now, just wait till you see what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has in store for them. The FCC is considering loosening or doing away entirely with regulations that limit the number of newspapers and radio and television outlets that a single company can own. Americans have until Jan. 2 --- no later --- to register their opposition with the FCC. (See accompanying information on how to contact the FCC on page 20.) Although all of this is being proposed in the name of "the free market," this would be a major boon to the increasingly smaller number of global corporate media giants that are swallowing up once independent local newspapers and broadcast outlets across America and around the world. Such a move would also give expanded political clout to the already immensely powerful lords of the media allowing them-for example-to own a major television station and newspaper in the same town or city, thereby effectively having a monopoly on local news coverage. Advocates of "deregulation" say that because so many Americans now have access to the Internet and can thereby call up many news sources-literally, worldwide-that there is no longer any need for "out of date" regulations. In addition, advocates say that because of the expansion of satellite and cable television, previous concerns about the concentration of media ownership are no longer valid. While it is true that the Internet has provided a communications/ outreach explosion of unprecedented proportions --- just in the last several years alone --- most Americans get the bulk of their news and information from their local "mainstream" newspapers and television and radio which are themselves increasingly being grabbed up by major media monopolies. For example, in the small city of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, the New York-based Newhouse family controls the major daily newspaper, The Patriot. The Newhouse family's Advance Communications also controls a number of smaller weekly newspapers in both suburban and rural "bedroom" counties surrounding Harrisburg. Most of those people have no idea that their "local" newspaper is actually owned by a national media conglomerate held tightly in the hands of a super-powerful billionaire family. Americans who use the Internet for "other" information tend to frequent the web sites of "major" widely-publicized and "fashionable" newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times. However, what many of those who fancy themselves to be "in the know" because they access multiple "big name" newspapers do not realize is that the owners of The Chicago Tribune, for example, are also the owners of The Los Angeles Times and New York's Long Island-based Newsday and The Hartford (Connecticut) Courant, to mention several in the Tribune Co.'s stable. So many readers who think they are getting "alternative" information from other news sources are victims of the growing media monopoly that prefers to keep its concentration of elite ownership out of the realm of public understanding and discussion. As one would expect from an appointed bureaucrat with high-level political connections, the FCC's chairman Michael Powell --- son of Secretary of State Colin Powell --- is taking a non-committal position on the controversial issue. Unfortunately, the issue is only "controversial" to those who are aware of the issue, since the matter has been largely relegated to the business pages of the major metropolitan dailies. The concept of media ownership and control being increasingly taken into the hands of fewer and fewer families and financial groups is not widely debated or understood. There is something you can do about it: make your voice heard. You have until Jan. 2 to contact the FCC and tell the commissioners that you are opposed to all plans to loosen current ownership restrictions. Urge the commissioners to tighten current standards and restrict the growth of the media monopoly in America. http://americanfreepress.net/12_11_02/Media_Giants_Crave/media_giants_ crave.html MainPage http://www.rense.com (via John W. Smith, DXLD) ALTERNATIVE MEDIA CENSORSHIP: SPONSORED BY CIA's FORD FOUNDATION? by bob feldman The multi-billion dollar Ford Foundation's historic relationship to the Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] is rarely mentioned on Pacifica's DEMOCRACY NOW / Deep Dish TV show, on FAIR's COUNTERSPIN show, on the WORKING ASSETS RADIO show, on The Nation Institute's RADIO NATION show, on David Barsamian's ALTERNATIVE RADIO show or in the pages of PROGRESSIVE, MOTHER JONES and Z magazine. One reason may be because the Ford Foundation and other Establishment foundations subsidize the Establishment Left's alternative media gatekeepers / censors. PACIFICA / DEMOCRACY NOW / DEEP DISH TV Take Pacifica / DEMOCRACY NOW, an alternative radio network with annual revenues of $10 million in 2000, whose National Program Director was paid $63,000 in that year. In the early 1950s--when the CIA was using the Ford Foundation to help fund a non-communist "parallel left" as a liberal Establishment alternative to an independent, anti-Establishment revolutionary left--the Pacifica Foundation was given a $150,000 grant in 1951 by the Ford Foundation's Fund for Education. According to James Ledbetter's book MADE POSSIBLE BY..., "the Fund's first chief was Alexander Fraser, the president of the Shell Oil Company." Besides subsidizing the Pacifica Foundation in the early 1950s, the Ford Foundation also spent a lot of money subsidizing many other noncommercial radio or television stations in the United States. According to Ledbetter's MADE POSSIBLE BY..., between 1951 and 1976, the Ford Foundation "spent nearly $300 million on noncommercial radio and television." In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pacifica relied primarily on listener-sponsor contributions to fund the operations of its radio stations. And in the early 1970s, Pacifica also began to accept funds from the U.S. Establishment's Corporation for Public Broadcasting [CPB], according to Rogue State author William Blum--who worked as a KPFA staffperson in the early 1970s. But in the early 1990s, some Pacifica administrators decided to again seek grants from the Ford Foundation and other Establishment foundations. As former Pacifica Development Director Dick Bunce wrote in the appendix to the "A Strategy for National Programming" document which was prepared for the Pacifica National Board in September 1992, entitled "Appendix Foundation Grantseeking National Programming Assumptions for Foundation Fundraising": The national foundation grantseeking arena has changed enough in recent years to make activity in this arena potentially worthwhile—for organizations prepared to be players and partners in the same field as NPR, APR, maybe some others...The foundation funding of interest is in gifts of $100,000 or more a year, for several years...Three of America's six largest foundations (Ford, MacArthur, Pew) have begun to fund public broadcasting, public radio in particular, and evidently intend to continue doing so. Pacifica requested meetings with each of these foundations earlier this year and was treated seriously enough in subsequent meetings to give us some hope of securing funding possibly from all three. A `Report Sheet' on this work is included in Appendix 3. "Beyond these three foundations there are no others among the country's 100 largest which have made substantial grants to public broadcasting. So the second tier of foundation prospects look substantially different from the first tier requiring more work on our part to open doors, establish `standing' and find a workable `fit.' "There are nonetheless a number of interesting prospects--in some cases only because of particular people who are currently involved, or because of formal criteria which we could try to fit. The second tier list includes several from the top 100 --- Rockefeller, Irvine, Surdna, George Gund -- Nathan Cummings -- and a number of smaller foundations, but still capable of 6 figure grants: Aaron Diamond, Revson, Rockefeller Family & Associates, New World, Winston Foundation for World Peace. "Once we drop to the $35,000 to $75,000 grant range, the list enlarges, but these take as long to cultivate as the bigger ones, so it makes sense to start from the top. "Foundation fundraising at this level has extraordinary payoffs--but it takes senior staff time, not `grantwriting' but in communicating. It is therefore expensive, and not successfully done as an afterthought to everything else in the day. It also requires `venture capital visits' to the foundations to open doors and conversations that lead to partnerships. "In initiating three top level contacts in April, May and June, and attempting to capitalize on the opportunities apparent to us, we have already been stretched beyond our capacity to really interface effectively with these funders --- although admittedly much of the problem to date has been due to the fact that we don't yet have a clear business plan for national programming. "Foundation grantmaking will most likely proceed as short-term funding. Funders will want to `fund projects, not operations.' We should presume that we can succeed in raising serious money to launch or establish new programs, etc. but not to sustain them beyond start- up. The standard of self-sufficiency will be required for many proposals we submit, and our own planning will be most successful if we relate to this funding source accordingly. "Short-Run Strategies for Developing a Foundation Grantseeking Program "Seek Development Committee leadership in planning for Foundation grantseeking. "Pursue 3 `anchor' grants to acquire funding beginning in FY'93 from the Big 3 foundations we've already begun to work with. "Long-Range Strategies for Developing a Foundation Grantseeking Program "Initiate an informal `feasibility inquiry' of foundation support for Pacifica's objectives by requesting visits with the dozen top prospects to shape proposals and establish relationships... "Foundation Grants Summary: Late this spring we began our first efforts in national foundation grantseeking on behalf of national programming. We have a good chance of securing six figure grants in the coming fiscal year from any or all of the 3 foundations we're working with, but our approach is still dependent upon our own organizational progress toward a business plan that we are committed to following through on. "The second tier of foundation prospects is more challenging, and will require increased staff resources, a modest feasibility inquiry and active planning with the Board Development Committee. By 1995, billionaire speculator George Soros' Open Society Institute had given the Pacifica Foundation a $40,000 grant. And in 1996, the Carnegie Corporation of New York gave Pacifica a $25,000 grant to launch its DEMOCRACY NOW show. In 1997 came a $13,000 grant from the J.M. Kaplan Fund to Pacifica to provide support for DEMOCRACY NOW. And in 1998 came a $25,000 grant to Pacifica from the Public Welfare Foundation "to report on hate crimes and related issues as part of its `DEMOCRACY NOW!" public-affairs radio program and an additional $10,000 grant to support DEMOCRACY NOW from the J.M. Kaplan Fund. That same year the Ford Foundation gave a $75,000 grant to Pacifica "toward marketing consultancy, promotional campaign and program development activities for radio program, DEMOCRACY NOW." In 1998 and 1999, two grants, totalling $22,500, were also given to Pacifica by the Boehm Foundation, to support its DEMOCRACY NOW show. In early 2002, an additional Ford Foundation grant of $75,000 was given to Deep Dish TV "for the television news series, DEMOCRACY NOW, to continue incorporating the aftermath of the September 11th attack into future broadcasts." Besides being presently subsidized by the Ford Foundation to air Pacifica's DEMOCRACY NOW show, Deep Dish TV, with an annual income of $158,000 in 2000, was also subsidized by the MacArthur Foundation in the 1990s. Between 1993 and 1998, $190,000 in grants were given to Deep Dish TV by the MacArthur Foundation. And one of the members of Deep Dish TV's board of directors in recent years has apparently been a WBAI staffperson named Mario Murillo. Another Ford Foundation grant of $200,000 was given in April 2002 to the Astraea Foundation, whose former board finance committee chairperson, Leslie Cagan, is presently the chairperson of Pacifica's national board. Three other grants have been given to the Astraea Foundation by the Ford Foundation since 2000: two grants, totalling $75,000, in 2000; and a $200,000 grant in 2001 "for general support and subgrants to community-based organizations addressing social, political and economic justice, especially those focused on lesbians and other sexual minorities." The former finance committee chairperson of the Ford Foundation-sponsored Astraea Foundation recently signed a $2 million "golden handshake / sweetheart contract" with the Ford Foundation-sponsored, soon-to-be-privatized DEMOCRACY NOW producer (who has apparently been receiving a $90,000/year salary from Pacifica in recent years for her alternative journalism work). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- original URL for this article: http://www.questionsquestions.net/feldman/feldman01.html (via John W. Smith, DXLD) So? Fortunate that foundations hand out money to public broadcasting (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. I haven't seen anything about WWRC using IBOC, but with us heading out of the testing phase and into the real usage phase I assume there's no media splash for many stations. So who knows of a way to track IBOC stations? Are they still required to get a STA or whatever for IBOC? If so, will that be accessible over the web? iBiquity isn't giving names of individual stations (Chuck Hutton, WA, NRC-AM via DXLD) The FCC has added categories "AM Digital", "FM Digital", "FM Translator Digital", and "FM Booster Digital" to their CDBS application search page on http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_sear.htm They seem to be only testing though. Selecting *all* "AM Digital" stations returns only three STAs. (KXNT-840, WSB-750, WKDL-730). Selecting all "FM Digital" stations returns seven FM stations -- and the three AMs. Likewise if you select the FM translators - you get the ten full-power stations (Doug Smith, TN, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. 87.9 MHz FLORIDA (PIRATE) unidentified, Tampa (presumed); I continue to hear this one sporadically since first discovering in early November. The latest reception began on local Friday, Dec. 20th around 8 p.m. and all day/eve the 21st, and still noted Sunday, Dec. 22nd at 11:40 a.m.+. So -- when active (weekends, mostly)-- it is 24- hours. Format continues to be automated with mostly early 60's bubble gum pop, soul and Motown, with a little early 70's pop/rock. Still noting occasional reverbed "nonstop music" singing drops, no slogan "ID" heard yet though. Stereo. In Pinellas county, a better signal in the Countryside area than my central county location. Need to go on another DFing mission, though I'm pretty sure I know who it is (formerly another format and another channel). (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, Tocobaga DX via DXLD) ** U S A. Your digest #2-099 lamented the deterioration of WWLG (calling itself WLG) Baltimore, on 1360 kcs. At this instant I'm copying the station on 1370 via my well-calibrated TenTec RX-320 in Reston, Virginia. Moved 10 kHz? (Charles Gillen, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. 640, YVQO Unión Radio, Puerto-La-Cruz (Anzoátegui state) DEC 22 0323 - One segment of their continuous newscast ended; then man repeating over 20 times "unionradio.com" (their new web-site) and the slogans "Unión Radio, La radio de noticías", "24 horàs de informacíon" and simply "Unión Radio Noticías"; then back to news. At 0343 again this repetitive promos, mention of "mil-noventa AM" which is their Caracas frequency (I tried to get this one which would have been a new one for me, but without luck, as WBAL was huge and alone), as well as several FM frequencies - one of them was 90.3 in the (Falcón?) state - back to news again. At 0351 gave 2 items about the Hugo Chávez manifestation. Good to very good reception; often way atop Guadeloupe/WNNZ QRM. I could get trace of this even on a poor Panasonic Rx-D14 portable, just to get an idea of how strong this 10 kW Venezuelan was at my QTH (Bogdan Chiochiu, DXing from Pierrefonds, Quebec, Sanyo MCD-S830 w/ internal ferrite bar antenna, also using a Panasonic Dx-D14 with a very short ferrite rod ant.! Hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Baseball games are suspended for the time being, due to the present political turmoil. As soon as things return to normal, nightly ballgame commentaries will be heard on the AM band. There are two interesting pages showing a list of the Circuito AM Center stations covering all Los Tiburones de la Guaira games http://www.tiburonesdelaguaira.com.ve/circuito.php and a list of the Circuito Radio Venezuela stations covering the Aguilas del Zulia games http://www.aguilas.com/circuito.html Not many of the CRV outlets can be monitored live on the Internet right now, but this morning I was pleased to have a go at "las grandes canciones de navidad" on Mara 900, which can be found at http://www.radiovenezuela.com.ve (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Dec 22, dxing.info via DXLD) ** YUGOSLAVIA [non]. Radio Yugoslavia: Wasn't there already rumours about possible CRI relays via Bijeljina some time ago? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5079.8 kHz - 16 DEC 2002 - 1515 UT. Sounded like Radio Pakistan in Dari (Karel Honzik, Czechia, Dec 21, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Hi Karel, If it is Pakistan on 5079.8 I think it will be their Current Affairs programme which is on air at 1300-1800. They have another transmission at 0200-0400. This is via a 100kW transmitter at Islamabad and was using 7105 - or thereabouts. The Dari service at 1515-1545 should be using 5860 and 7375. It was still heard there a few days ago (Noel Green, England, hard-core-dx via DXLD) 5080.3: Reports of Radio Pakistan in this range. Talk here at 1310 Dec 22 in language, carrier heard before 1300, any help most appreciated (Hans Johnson, Rio Hondo TX, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Dec 14 [Sat] 1325, 27735 kHz. Private church station (Ireland?). Songs by children, with piano accompaniment. Long breaks between songs, announcer was not there. S value varied from 1 to 3, and there was much QRM by CB operators. Dec 15 [Sun], 0900, 27335 [sic -- which is it?] kHz. Church sermon in English (Alexander Yegorov, Kyiv, Ukraine, Signal via DXLD) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FREQUENCY MANAGEMENT [non] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Bob Padula's hard-hitting, "take-no-prisoners" style of editorial on frequency management in the latest EDXP World Broadcast Monitor was right on the ball. Indeed, when international stations use non-technical bureaucrats to plan their schedules, you can be sure that we are in for chaos on the shortwave bands. Surely, with all the technical know-how at their hands, the three major bodies (ABU, ASBU and HFCC) could have sorted out their plans, even before their five day junket in Bangkok began!! Sophisticated propagation modeling software exists, and frequency management software is probably also available for use by the three organisations. For God's sake, even a simple Excel spreadsheet setup would suffice!! However, what Bob does not say in his editorial is that this mess is largely a result of political motivations within and between each organisation. Each group has to appease their own member countries broadcasting aspirations and demands. At the same time, each body is pushing their particular geographical region's broadcasting rights, obligations and desires. In particular, the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) has its own agenda and interests. On the surface, there is harmony and co-operation between the parties. Underneath, I believe, each group is trying to get "its pound of flesh". Add to this the DRM experiments, with their 20 kHz bandwidth signals, plus a few other countries who refuse to coordinate with anyone, and you have a recipe for disaster on the shortwave bands. I have felt for some time now that DRM testing should be allocated to a separate frequency range, well away from the existing analogue service, to minimise interference. This would also allow more realistic analysis of how DRM signals co-exist with each other when every station (......every???) switches over to DRM during the next 10-15 years. Once again, we have the wealthy broadcasters using their muscles to stomp all over the SWBC bands with wide bandwidth DRM signals, and to hell with everyone else. Unless broadcasters in general and frequency management bodies in particular begin to coordinate their activities better, the dwindling SW listener market will give up rather quickly bothering with this mode of broadcasting. Within a short time, the stations could end up talking to themselves! (Rob VK3BVW Wagner, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 20, EDXP via DXLD) 2002 CLANDESTINE ACTIVITY SURVEY ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ During the year 2002 the activity of political clandestine stations broadcasting on shortwave has increased by 21 % to 1732 Weekly Broadcasting Hours (WBHs). This is the highest level of activity since 1994 and the third year with increased activity in a row. The clandestine activity now has increased already by more than 50 % from its recent low in 1999. Clandestine activity to target areas on the Asian continent has increased by 20 % to 1312 WBHs and on the African continent by 15 % to 242 WBHs. On the American continent activity has dropped by 8 % to 162 WBHs. In Oceania, which was not active last year, activity is now at 16 WBHs. The number of active target areas (countries) worldwide has increased by one to 22. While Sri Lanka and Colombia are thought to be no longer active; Kazakhstan, Syria and Papua New Guinea are new or reactivated target areas. The three most active target areas worldwide are Iraq with 496 WBHs (+129 when compared with last year - the highest activity to a single target area ever since this survey was started back in 1986), North Korea with 217 WBHs (unchanged from last year) and Iran with 193 WBHs (+43). (unattributed via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX Dec 22 via DXLD) I assume this be the work of Mathias Kropf, as he does every year (gh, DXLD) TIP FOR RATIONAL LIVING, SOLSTITIAL GREETINGS +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2002 WINTER SOLSTICE GREETINGS FROM AMERICAN ATHEISTS Today at 8:14 PM, Eastern Standard Time, the Sun reaches its southernmost point in its annual apparent journey across the sky. Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere know this as the Winter Solstice, marking the official beginning of winter. There is nothing supernatural or mystical about this event. Our planet's axis is tilted slightly with respect to the orbital plane around the Sun, which accounts for our seasons and variations in the length of day and night. Solar rays strike the surface of our hemisphere at a pronounced angle, resulting in less heating. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is summer. The term Solstice derives from the Latin, "solstitium" which combines "sol" or Sun and "stitium," stoppage. This is the longest night and the shortest day of our year. As the months roll by and we head into spring and summer, the days begin to grow longer in their duration. It was no wonder, then, that the ancients perceived all of this as an event laden with profound significance. Solstice events became the nexus of religious and communal rituals throughout the world, and during this time of the year, many of our ancestors celebrated the slow rebirth of the Sun. As Sky & Telescope Editor Alan MacRoberts notes, the Winter Solstice could well be humanity's oldest holiday. It certainly predates the Christian era, as societies and tribal units found cause to celebrate this time of year. Neolithic people knew something of the Winter Solstice, and a number of monuments throughout the world reflect the profound ceremonial significance of this period. New Grange in Ireland, Maes Howe in the Orkneys and other monuments were oriented toward the rising sun on the Solstice Day. The theme of solar rebirth carried over to later Pagan holidays which commemorated the births of numerous god-men and saviors -- Dionysius, Helios, Apollo, Hercules, Horus, Mithra, Osiris, Perseus and others. Under the Roman Emperor Aurelian (270-275 BCE), these were combined into the "Feast of Sol Invicta," or birthday of the unconquered Sun on December 25. This cultural residue with roots in ancient human history survived even into the so-called "Christian era" and the alleged birth of Jesus Christ. Some early Christians celebrated the nativity feast in the spring. The Puritans later eschewed the holiday altogether, considering (rightly) that it was rooted in Pagan sensibilities and practices. Not all Atheists may choose to celebrate the Winter Solstice. For those who do, however, it is an event firmly entwined with the natural world and the motion of our cosmos rather than blind faith and superstition. It is a rational alternative to the often dreary and religion-saturated miasma of the Christmas time, redolent in its themes of blind submission and abandonment of the intellect. Besides, it is also a wonderful and fitting period to party with friends, exchange gifts and celebrate the human experience with all of its potential! And what a year it has been... So, on behalf of all of us at the American Atheists Center, the President, Board Members and Officers of our organization wish each and every one of you a happy Winter Solstice! The Winter Solstice Occurs on Saturday, December 21, 2002 at 8:14 PM EST -- Good Cheer and Good Wishes For the New Year! For more information: http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/seasons.html ("The Solstitial and Equinoctial Seasons," by Frank Zindler) http://www.americanatheist.org/supplement/wintersol-ej2000.html ("What I Want For Winter Solstice," by Ellen Johnson) http://www.americanatheist.org/supplement/wintersol-sun-moon.html ("Winter Solstice: Sun, Moon and Worship," by Conrad Goeringer) http://www.skyandtelescope.com (Web site for Sky & Telescope magazine -- click on December 16, 2002 Press Release link: "December Solstice Signals the Start of a New Season," by Alan MacRoberts) (AA Newsletter Dec 21 via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ A few M class flares have been noted since the 16th, and combined with a coronal hole has raised the earth's geomagnetic field to active/storm levels today. The week started quietly but flare activity and coronal holes led to some degradation over polar paths. The current disturbance was originally forecast to hit earlier in the week but appears to have been delayed. IPS Geomagnetic Warning 45 was issued on 20 December and is current for interval 21-22 December. Coronal hole induced geomagnetic activity observed over past 24 hours. Further actviity expected first half of today particular if southward interplanetary magnetic field persists. Minor storm (Major storm periods) expected 22 Dec due to recent mass ejection associated with M2.7 flare. Activity could be extended to 23rd due to M6.8 event, effects expected to be less due to relatively impulsive nature of flare. Prepared using data from www.ips.gov.au Merry Christmas to all (Richard Jary, Australia, Dec 21, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ###