DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-007, January 12, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldta03.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn WORLD OF RADIO 1164: RFPI: Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 7445 and/or 15039 WBCQ: Mon 0545 on 7415, first airing having been Wed 2300 7415 17495-U WJIE: M-F 1300, daily 0400 -- maybe; Sun 0630, Mon 0700, Tue 0630 7490 WWCR: Wed 0930 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://www.wrn.org/ondemand/worldofradio.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1164.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1164.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1164h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1164h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1164.html ** AFGHANISTAN. PIRATE AFGHAN RADIO BROADCASTS From http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-2312605,00.html Saturday January 11, 2003 8:40 AM KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A pirate radio station operating in eastern Afghanistan is broadcasting appeals to overthrow the fragile central government and attack U.S.-led coalition forces, area residents said Saturday. The broadcasts have been picked up sporadically by residents of Paktia province around the area of Khost, said a local businessman reached by satellite telephone. The area is a hotbed of anti-government activity linked to remnants of the extremist Taliban militia, who are being hunted by troops from the United States and its allies. The station's signal often fades in and out and can be received in different places at different times, possibly indicating it is being operated from a car or a van, said the businessman, who asked not to be further identified. Such low-wattage stations require little equipment beyond a transmitter and a power source. It wasn't clear if the broadcasts were live or had been prerecorded. Afghan state radio earlier reported that a station calling itself ``Voice of Afghanistan's Resistance'' was broadcasting anti-government messages irregularly in parts of Paktia, which lies about 90 miles southeast of Kabul. The broadcasts are an indication of continuing resistance to the efforts by President Hamid Karzai's interim government to expand its influence beyond Kabul. Much of Afghanistan remains in the hands of local warlords who maintain private armies and offer mere lip service to Kabul's authority. Accused of sheltering the al-Qaida terrorist organization blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Taliban were driven from power in late 2001 by U.S. bombing attacks and ground forces led by a coalition of Afghan resistance groups based in the country's north. U.S. and Afghan authorities have blamed Taliban remnants, al-Qaida terrorists and supporters of former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar for attempting to destabilize the government, including launching rocket strikes on Kabul and U.S. installations in the country. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003 (via Mike Terry, DXLD) REPORTS: PIRATE AFGHAN RADIO BROADCASTS By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A pirate radio station operating in eastern Afghanistan is broadcasting appeals to overthrow the fragile central government and attack U.S.-led coalition forces, area residents said Saturday. The broadcasts have been picked up sporadically by residents of Paktia province around the area of Khost, said a local businessman reached by satellite telephone. The area is a hotbed of anti-government activity linked to remnants of the extremist Taliban militia, who are being hunted by troops from the United States and its allies. The station's signal often fades in and out and can be received in different places at different times, possibly indicating it is being operated from a car or a van, said the businessman, who asked not to be further identified. Such low-wattage stations require little equipment beyond a transmitter and a power source. It wasn't clear if the broadcasts were live or had been prerecorded. Afghan state radio earlier reported that a station calling itself ``Voice of Afghanistan's Resistance'' was broadcasting anti-government messages irregularly in parts of Paktia, which lies about 90 miles southeast of Kabul. The broadcasts are an indication of continuing resistance to the efforts by President Hamid Karzai's interim government to expand its influence beyond Kabul. Much of Afghanistan remains in the hands of local warlords who maintain private armies and offer mere lip service to Kabul's authority. Accused of sheltering the al-Qaida terrorist organization blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Taliban were driven from power in late 2001 by U.S. bombing attacks and ground forces led by a coalition of Afghan resistance groups based in the country's north. U.S. and Afghan authorities have blamed Taliban remnants, al-Qaida terrorists and supporters of former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar for attempting to destabilize the government, including launching rocket strikes on Kabul and U.S. installations in the country. AP-NY-01-11-03 0340EST Copyright 2003, The Associated Press (Austin American-Statesman via Artie Bigely, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. FEEDER: 15820-LSB, FM Vivir, San Miguel, Buenos Aires province, // 87.5 MHz, 0955-1004, January 12. This is a station non authorized from Ministerio Caudal de Vida Church. It's the first occasion I heard this station on SW! Spanish transmission. Gospel Music. Announcement religious activities in church headquarters: "...El Dia de Gloria está aquí, en 4 reuniones... del Ministerio Caudal de Vida... a dos cuadras de la Plaza San Miguel...". Complete ID as: Radio Vivir...87.5...". At 1005 s/on Radio Diez (// 710 kHz) in this frequency and transmission mode. The station address is: Domingo Faustino Sarmiento 1840, San Miguel, Buenos Aires province, Argentine. SINPO: 34433 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentine, hard-core-dx via DXLD) So the Argentine military/government is propagating one particular religious viewpoint --- another country badly in need of the concept of separating church and state. Not to mention apparently endorsing an illegal station. But they have bigger problems... (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ASTRONOMERS ANGRY ABOUT LOSS OF SHORTWAVE TIME SIGNAL http://www.abc.net.au/brisbane/stories/s753457.htm Presenter: Spencer Howson, Tuesday, 24 December 2002 There's a radio station broadcasting from Llandilo, west of Sydney, that you've probably never heard of. From New Year's Day, it will be no more. It's called VNG, and is a time signal broadcasting 24 hours a day on shortwave. Amateur astronomers, like Peter Anderson from the Astronomical Association of Queensland, are angry about VNG being taken off air. Why? Because Peter, and others like him, use VNG to record the exact time that astronomical phenomena occur. Peter Anderson speaks with Spencer Howson... (Audio in RealMedia format) http://www.abc.net.au/brisbane/stories/m522534.ram (via Jilly Dybka, NASWA Flashsheet Jan 11 via DXLD) ** BELARUS`. The reduced schedule for the low power relays of Belarusian Radio in the 41 and 49mb (BR1 on 6010/6040/6070/6190/7110/7145, BR2 on 7265) with s/on at 1600 is no longer in effect. It was introduced in early 2002. Now these transmitters are on the air daily 0400-2300 (BR1) resp. 0500-2200 (BR2). (Bernd Trutenau, Vilnius, Lithuania, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Nacional Amazônia, huge signal on new 9665, Jan 12 around 0700 with mile-a-minute announcer, at least on weekends, \\ weaker 11780, no 6180 any more. Anyone in the way on 9665 would be well advised to evacuate, as Habana apparently already has. Wonder if ramping up government SW broadcasting is on Lula`s agenda. Fidel could use some borrowed transmitters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And what has become of Marumby? (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 12 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 9695, 11.1 2205, Rádio Rio Mar med programmet "Brasil Caboclo" i vilket man presenterade genuin brasiliansk folkmusik och lokala poeter. 3 CB (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 12 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 6813.60, UNID Brazil. Jan 6 2003 - 1104 UT. Only heard this date with strong signal and distorted audio. Probably located in Amazonas and ID sounds like "Radio Macará", but uncertain (from Quito /Bjorn Malm, SW Bulletin, Jan 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 4530.00 harmonic, HKJ93**, La Voz del...., unknown QTH. Jan 2003 - 0000 UT. Decent strength with ID: "La Voz del..., HKJ93 1510 kHz AM, La Voz del.....". I am sure of the prefix and "LV del....." but the prefix is not listed in WRTH. Close down 0100 UT. Harmonic from MW 1510.00 kHz. In "Emisoras Mundiales Católicas de Onda Corta" at http://www.aciprensa.com/radio/colombia.htm you find the following information: "Mutis: HKJ93 103.2 FM (200 wats). Parroquia Nuestra Señora Mercedes. Mutiscua L.C. Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de la Mutiscua". So maybe a new station on MW? (from Quito /Björn Malm, SW Bulletin, Jan 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) In 1995, from my Bogotá listening site, I used to tune in to La Voz de La Unión, in La Unión (Antioquia), on their 3rd harmonic, 4532.1. I have also visited the station, which is owned by the Catholic church. They never used any callsign on the air or even on their stationery, so Malm´s unid appears to be something new. The location he mentions is in Norte de Santander, which is in the NE, next to the Venezuelan border (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Arnie tells me that his wife Olguita is coming along okay and is resting at home with medical personnel visiting on a daily basis. (Unlike in many parts of the world Cuban doctors still make housecalls!). Arnie tells me that he is at home playing "substitute nurse" looking after Olguita. I'm sure I speak for all of us in being happy that she's okay. 73 de (Bob VE3SRE Chandler, Jan 11, ODXA via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC [and non]. Hello Glenn! Thank you very much for your help as the meringue music was a new Dominican on 600 and not Nicaragua which was barely in over Rebelde et al for 20 or 30 seconds // Internet twenty minutes later, at 0154 UT JAN 10 and meringue (the HI, I would think) at 0128. Here is a report I received this morning from Dave E. Crawford in Florida: Here on the east coast of FL I've been receiving a Dominican IDing as "Seis Cientos A-M, desde Santo Domingo", no ads, callsigns, or additional ID noted, local nights, mostly merengue and bachata, good signal peaks. WRTH 2002 lists only RTVD El Seybo. So, this may be a new one. No sign of Radio Ya here yet. Have been sitting for weeks on another UNID Dominican on 930.08, mostly merengue, no clear IDs, best around 0400 but difficult through Reloj blobmitter. Maybe Ondas del Yaque. Radio Puerto Rico is usually strong co-channel (David E. Crawford, Titusville, Florida via Bodan) It seems like 600 is the most interesting LAm channel here these times. That's it for now ! 73 and good DX, (Bogdan Alexandru Chiochiu, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also NICARAGUA ** ECUADOR. When I looked for information about "Radio Virgen del Carmen" at: http://www.aciprensa.com/radio/emisoras.htm I found this interesting notice: 3300 kHz, HCJX6, La Voz del Santuario in Baños, Ecuador 0500-2000. I visited the station about 5 to 6 years ago and asked the question if there were any plans to start transmissions on shortwave. The answer at that time was the same as when I the other day telephoned them on number 03 740-962: nothing on shortwave and no intentions whatsoever. It would have been natural that the small town of Baños has got this frequency. LV del Santuario is the only MW-station on 960 kHz and FM 98.7 MHz. Some years ago the whole population of 20000 people in the area escaped in panic when the volcano "Tungurahua" was very near an explosion. If so, the most charming town of Ecuador had ceased to exist. Three brave vicars were the only people who stayed preaching in the church "Iglesia de la Virgen de Agua Santa de Baños" - LV del Santuario has their office and studio in the same church. High mountains and deep valleys are not the best when transmitting so a SW transmitter should be of great help in an emergency. So perhaps the friendly man is not aware that they have got a SW license already! (from Quito /Björn Malm, SW Bulletin, Jan 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BRAZIL, COLOMBIA, MEXICO, PERU This station has been inactive on shortwave for some 30 years. In the mid-60´s where they operated a tiny shortwave outlet on 2470, which was later moved to 3300 in parallel to mediumwave 955. From then on they used to identify themselves as La Voz del Agoyán. I first visited the station in the mid-70´s and again some ten years later, during the construction of the Agoyán power plant. DXing from the CEA (Consorcio Escandinavo Agoyán) camp, where I was living, was truly fascinating. It was actually at that time, and by way of World of Radio, where one of Don Moore´s Peruvian travelouges was read verbatim, that I started to dig deep into Andean DXing on the tropical bands. No QSL has ever been reported to Scandinavia – there is no record in the LA QSL List, issued by the Swedish DX Federation - and visiting the station, which is inside the town Cathedral, I did not see any reports either, though they may have been heard outside of Ecuador when active. For an impressive overview of the town of Baños, see http://www.disaster-info.net/andino/volcanes.htm The Cathedral is at the left at http://www.hoy.com.ec/iconos/guaga/banos08.gif (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT [non]. Heard today (Jan 12) another 'buzzy engine type jamming' against Radio Cairo in Arabic towards West Africa on 15220 kHz, scheduled 1300-1600 UT. Radio Cairo transmitter performed well; that's NOT a failure of Cairo's transmitter. The jamming was a separate operation. 73 (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Who would? ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. WMLK claims program relay via Africa WMLK's "The Sacred Name Broadcaster" 11/2002 lists in its "Radio Log" section a broadcast to "West Africa, Radio Africa, Equatorial Africa (sic) 7190 SW Sunday 6:15-6:30 p.m." I suppose that is local time in target area (Larry Russell, MI, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Haven`t seen that frequency reported in a long time; is it really active? Or 15185v for that matter? Not sure this `relay` is anything new (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. NEW SWEDEN-BASED OPPOSITION RADIO UNHEARD ON 12 JANUARY | Text of report by Monitoring research on 12 January 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, 12 January, on 15735 kHz. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 12 Jan 03 (via DXLD) KVITSØY 9990 VOICE OF THE ERITREAN PEOPLE 9990 - came a little bit late; switched on the receiver at 1646 UT Sunday Jan 12, and Tigre program was already in progress. As Chris Greenway said in his e-mail of Jan 3rd: Voice of the Eritrean People "at 1630-1700 on 15735 (to Af and the ME)" -- is really Suns at 1630-1700 UT via Kvitsøy, Norway, on different frequency of 9990 kHz. Audio quality is different; the presenter in the studio performed a fine audio signal. But in contrast there was a guest speaker, fed in - I assume - via an Internet phone service or via .MP3 audio file of very extreme exceeded audio on the sound card. At 16.57:10 UT cut off midst in sentence, transmitter down. Then I checked all Radio Norway domestic service frequencies. Only Sveiø 13800 and 18950 came in on the clear with very strong signal. But 9980 and 7490 missed at 1700 UT. (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) continued under IRAN [non] ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA [nons]. UNITED NATIONS/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: 21715 Radio UNMEE, Al Dhabayya, 0932-0952, January 12. English. Commentary about Nigeria and other African countries. Complete ID at 0946 with transmission`s days, hours and frequencies. Announcement and ID as: "...the news from Radio UNMEE...". Very nice African song. 34443 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentine, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** FRANCE. French magazines Telerama and TeleSatellite report that RTL [LUXEMBOURG] (the French-language service that used to be available on SW on 15350) is no longer the top radio station in France, ending a 20-year run. NRJ, a more youth-oriented station, became France's No. 1 radio station on November 18 because of rating service Mediametrie's decision to begin including ages 13 and above in its surveys. Previously, only those 15 and above were considered (Mike Cooper, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Estimado Glenn: Aquí te envío una buena noticia que me remitió mi amigo KARL MICHEL, de Reims-Francia. ALEMANIA: El colega Karl Michel de Reims, Francia informa que el anunciado cierre de las transmisiones por onda corta de la Bayerischer Rundfunk (6085) ha quedado sin efecto. La noticia la recibió directamente de la emisora, a fines del pasado mes de diciembre, a través de un mensaje electrónico. Antes del 31.12.02 en 6085 kHz se transmitieron los diferentes canales según el siguiente esquema, con algunas variaciones el sábado y el domingo: 0700 - 0900 Bayern2Radio 0900 - 1000 B5Aktuell 1000 - 1200 Bayern2Radio 1200 - 1300 B5Aktuell 1300 - 1400 Bayern2Radio 1400 - 1800 Ballén 1 1800 - 1900 B5Aktuell 1900 - 2000 Ballén 1 2000 - 2200 Bayern2Radio 2200 - 2400 B5Aktuell. Referencias: BAYERN 1 = Canal Popular BAYERN2RADIO = Canal Cultural B5AKTUELL = Canal Informativo Pese a lo que había sido anunciado, las transmisiones en 6085 kHz continuarán en 2003 con la reserva de que ya no se transmita el programa "mixto" (ver Referencias) sino únicamente el canal informativo B5AKTUELL; además, la potencia de la emisora en Ismaning cerca de Münich (actualmente 100 kW) podría ser reducida. La programación mixta, dice Karl, "era algo único y excepcional para la OC ... con frecuencia escuché uno u otro de los espacios, muy variados y sumamente interesantes. Actualmente, y desde el 01.01.2003, se transmite solo el canal informativo B5Aktuell, y lo siento, aunque sea mejor que nada". (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Argentina, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY EAST. Hi Glenn, a few further notes on the OPS programmes from RBI: For my knowledge these broadcasts were listed in the FF dabei program schedule magazine amongst the other RBI services, so they are hardly a clandestine operation. The mediumwave transmitter was the same one at Berlin that carried also other RBI services. The shortwave frequencies were the usual ones for RBI European services, and perhaps it is also of interest that 9730 originated from the Wiederau site near Leipzig then, carrying not only RBI stuff but also Radio DDR 1 during daytime. Probably of less interest for people abroad but something we were not able to find out so far: The FM frequency used for OPS at Berlin. My suspect is the former 95.05 outlet (better know for being the cradle of DT64), others think 99.7 (then carrying Berliner Welle, a special program for West Berlin, discontinued in the early seventies, too) is more likely. Re. Deutscher Soldatensender 904: These programmes were indeed first transmit on 904. If I remember correct they started on 904, then moved to 908, probably later back to 904 despite the resulting hets. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. You may be interested in knowing that the VOG is currently using the unusual off-band channel of 5865. Noted here with excellent signals from s/on at 1858, carrying Greek programming to Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. The "Interprogram" service, in various languages is currently 1400-1800 on 15725 [sic -- see below], 1800-2000 on 7475, to Europe. English is 1930-2000. The only other English service from VOG is 0930-0945 on 9420 and 11630, for Europe and the Atlantic. I believe that this may also be carried on 11900 (via Delano) within the two-hour Greekl block to Australia and Japan, 0600-0800. Rarely reported anywhere, the Macedonia Radio Station, Thessaloniki, currently uses 9935 1100-1650 and 7430 1700-2250, for Europe, Greek programming. Noted here at good level on 7430 around 2200. This station responds directy to good DX reports. Regards! (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia, Jan 12, EDXP via DXLD) As discussed here two+ months ago, Greece moved off 15725 early in the season due to conflict with WRMI (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. Your Greenlandic seems in need of a slight brush-up, referring to a recent WoR. Kalaalit is pronounced galaashlit (like SHIT with an extra L) Nunaata - almost as it is spelled, just the t is a d. Pronounced: nunaada Radioa - like it is written, more or less. I was at the KNR in Nuuk several times in the 1980's, and attached please find the opening (sign on) at 7 o'clock local time. First their interval signal, then 'nellanargudak' meaning 'the time is', syv nul nul (which is Danish: seven zero zero). Then the ID Kalaalit Nunaata Radio, followed by announcement saying in Greenlandic and Danish that now follows the weather forecast for Wednesday, April 17 (1985). Good luck! (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. SPECIAL HAJ BROADCASTS. Dear Friends, Every year thousands of Muslim pilgrims from India visit their holy place Mecca in Saudi Arabia for Haj. At this time AIR broadcasts special programs for those pilgrims. This year's special broadcasts are as follows: Dates : 14 January to 14 March 2002 Time : 0530 to 0600 UT kHz : 13620 (Bangalore) & 15770 (Aligarh) Language: Urdu 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS/AT0J, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, dx_india via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. GOING GAGA FOR ONLINE RADIO --- If the Archers bores you, tune in to US police departments, writes Paul May Paul May, Thursday January 9, 2003, The Guardian Is the audio card in your PC pulling its weight? Unless you're a committed gamer, it's probably only being used to emit the odd "ping" when a piece of email arrives in your box. But that modest card can be your gateway to a whole new world. Audio feeds in RealAudio and Microsoft Windows Media format can whisk you to the police patrols of American cities and even bring you the "singing" of the earth itself. You might want to exhaust the traditional stations before you sample the web's odder audio feeds. BBC radio listeners will know they can catch up on their favourite shows via the BBC's website. Radio-Locator lists 2,500 audio feeds from radio stations around the world at http://www.radio-locator.com There's every kind of music, as well as Bible-belt talk. Radio-Locator was "formerly the MIT List of Radio Stations on the Internet" and sells its own branded merchandise, so don't expect anything too way out. As the home of DIY enthusiasts, the web offers a vast selection of amateur internet radio stations. Live 365.com has a cute brushed-metal tuner as an interface, though it also has annoying pop-up ads. But $4.95 per month will eradicate them. If you have a spare $6.95 a month, you can become a broadcaster. But top of the list for anyone bored with traditional radio must be the police and other emergency service channels. Many such frequencies are now patched into the net. The majority are based in North America, where it is legal to listen to emergency channels - and where no one will laugh if you say "10-4". Choosing a police scanner for your tastes and mood can be as difficult as finding the right piece of music. For early afternoon listening, I enjoy tuning in to the good people of the Naples, Florida, police department as they cheerfully query addresses, issue descriptions and - sometimes - laugh at the latest circulars handed down from the top brass. The department also broadcasts short bursts of modem fire, so you might be able to analyse some of the data flying around the city's early morning streets at http://www.naplesnews.com/special/crime/crime.html Other good value channels include the Cincinnati, Ohio police at http://wcpo.com/video/policescanner.html, and the Manhattan Fire Department at http://www.thebravest.com There's an excellent list at http://bobc_3.tripod.com/live.html maintained by a former member of the Sarasota, Florida, PD. Now for something a little more challenging. The time difference between the UK and Sydney is the only factor likely to affect the would-be aviator's enjoyment of air traffic control at the city's Bankstown Airport. But for an insomniac interested in flying, http://www.basair.com.au/ is the place to be. Not only can you hear the radio traffic between the tower and the aircraft, complete with authentic Oz g'day's, you can also study maps of the approaches and weather and windspeed data. More sedate thrills are on offer at live auctions. DoveBid runs industrial auctions around the world, and lists them all at http://www.dovebid.com/ If an auction is in progress, you can listen live as the items go under the hammer. Each auction's catalogue is also shown. Listening to a professional auctioneer in full stream is a treat - especially when there's no danger that you might accidentally buy a factory by wriggling your nose at the wrong moment. If you want to bid then you have to register first. I was impressed with the courtesy that the auctioneer offered to newbies bidding by phone in a two-day sale of distressed computer equipment held in Birmingham. The web is good at bringing far-flung places to your desk, and audio can further your understanding of how people live in other places. The governor of Alaska is regularly aired by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, via its gavel to gavel Alaska feature at http://www.ktoo.org Mindful that many citizens vote by post, Governor Murkowski recently reminded voters that they can vote at "most larger airports". He likes to complain good-naturedly about the traffic, too. Working at home, with a fast connection to the net? You can use audio feeds to create the feel of a work environment. Try listening to the drivers and signal personnel talking incomprehensibly on the railways around Vancouver, Washington at http://www.live365.com Or for a baffling but atmospheric white-collar backdrop, head over to the live and archived hearings of the Texas Commissioner for Insurance at http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/commish If your tastes lean more towards the amateur, then you can eavesdrop on radio hams from your PC. Bill, Bob and their friends in the Dallas, Texas area have rigged their amateur band scanners to the net and unleashed them at http://www.3819khz.net/listen.htm After the frenzy of live conversation, why not relax with the Earth's "songs"? The Inspire VLF (Very Low Frequency) radio receiver at Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, broadcasts the hidden sounds of our planet around the clock at http://spaceweather.com/glossary/inspire.html These sounds are variously known as sferics, tweeks and whistlers, but they all derive from lightning. Dusk and dawn are the best times to catch the Earth singing to herself, though to this untrained ear, much of it sounds like a rodent munching on a forgotten floppy disk. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003 (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Posted WRN schedule for English to NAm makes no mention of DW, despite newsletter statement cited earlier this month in DXLD that "January 1st 2003 saw the launch of Deutsche Welle Radio on all WRN English language networks." I do note that R Vlaanderen International has replaced YLE Radio Finland in the 1030 UT (5:30am EST) slot. Times listed for DW airing on WRN to NAm are currently filled by Swiss Radio International, so maybe SRI will disappear from WRN when DW is added (Mike Cooper, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. [continued from ERITREA non]. On 7490 a very strong Diesel engine type jammer from Iran was/is still in progress against Persian Clandestine CHA, scheduled at 1730-1830 UT. Now at 1742 UT Jan 12, CHA Persian program is well in the clear, but the Iranian jammer is now silent. 73 wb (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now, what`s CHA? (gh, DXLD) ** ISLE OF MAN. More on this story from Caroline Central at http://www.carolinecentral.com 2003 is set to be the year of MusicMann 279, the working title of the Long Wave radio station set to give complete coverage to the UK and Ireland. The final hurdle has been overcome, and a Summer launch is now being planned. MusicMann 279 will broadcast from a sea platform anchored four kilometres away from the Island, using a specially constructed aerial system. Programmes have not yet been revealed but a number of well-known names have been drawn in to help put them together. The project was first mooted over ten years ago, and during the last five years Paul Rusling, the main driving force, has faced a constant battle to keep it on track. Rusling, famous in anorak circles for his book 'The Lid Off Laser', and his appearances on the 1970s Radio Caroline, feared that the whole project might be destroyed when an objection was made to the final site-plans for the floating aerial platform. However, the High Court dismissed the objection, which leaves the station free to come on air as soon as it is ready. "It is good news for Ramsey and excellent news for the Isle of Man," said Paul Rusling. "We can at last get on with building the facility and get the radio station on the air. Its coverage of the entire British Isles, and beyond, will put the Island firmly on the map and enhance its international profile." (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Due to ongoing negotiations between A.K.U.M (The songwriters and performers guild) and the Army Radio stations Galei Zahal and Galgalatz, which are taking place at a slow pace, the Ministry of Defence has asked to postpone the enforcing of an injunction of playing music protected by A.K.U.M, which was due to go into force today (12/01/03). According to the Army Radio's management, A.K.U.M are being " very stubborn " and they are refusing any compromise that is being offered. The Tel-Aviv District court has agreed to postpone the injunction until Tuesday (14/01/03), to give the two sides a little bit more time to reach a solution. Meanwhile on the airwaves, the two Army Radio stations are broadcasting pleas to its listeners to call a phone number, and there, to leave a message of support against the impending closure of Galgalatz (the traffic and music station), and the severe restrictions that could be put into force on the main Army Radio station - Galei Zahal (Mike Brand, radioanoraksuk yahoogroup via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** ITALY. Please visit my web site: http://www.radiomagazine.net Until November this program were broadcast from AWR Europe, but now it is out of AWR. On the page "ascolta in linea" you can listen my program with real player. Also from the page: http://www.radiomagazine.net/trasferimenti/riversare325.htm In MP3 mode, studio quality, for the radios who have interests to rebroadcast my program. Special greetings from Naples. Thank you. (Dario Villani, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 3249.564, 1300 Pyongyang // 3319.995, upphetsat tal och högstämd fosterlandsmusik. Hörs ofta. SA (Stig Adlofsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 12 via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. Hola Glenn: La Jefa de la Sección Española de Radio Corea Internacional -Sonia Cho- me ruega redifundir la noticia de la nueva dirección en Argentina: KBS - RADIO COREA INTERNACIONAL Casilla de Correo 950 2000 Rosario ARGENTINA La primera carta recibida es de BRASIL !!!; la remitió Leónidas Dos Santos Nascimento de São João Evangelista - MG. El cierre de la programación diaria de Radio Corea Internacional ya incluye la mención de la nueva dirección en Argentina en la voz de Francisco "Pacho" Bermúdez. Se espera con esta decisión se incremente el número de correspondencia tanto de los oyentes argentinos (que no pueden resistir el impacto del excesivo aumento en las tarifas postales) como así también de los demás países latinoamericanos que se ven beneficiados con un costo de correo mucho menor. Te solicito emitas un resumen a través de RadioEnlace. Gracias Glenn! 73 (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. ELWA GETS NATIONALIZED The NEWS (Monrovia) November 19, 2002 Precious S. Seboe, Monrovia The Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA), a Christian institution which runs a radio station and a hospital in addition to the preaching of the Gospel, has embarked on a "National Initiative." In a statement at a press conference yesterday, the General Manager, James Kesselly said prior to 1996, the ministries at ELWA were run by SIM (Serving in Missions) International, based in North Carolina, the U.S.A. He however said due to the repeated evacuation of missionaries during the nearly seven years of civil war and the destruction of its facilities, Mr. Kesselly said SIM pulled out. However, he added that shortly after the April 6, 1996 fracas, former Liberian employees returned to salvage and secure what was left of the facilities for the return of SIM personnel. Since then, the ELWA has been undergoing the nationalization process in close collaboration with its mission partners, SIM and its national partners, the Committed Liberians for Christ (CLFC) working out of the United States. The medical ministry of ELWA offers maternity, laboratory, out patient consultation, hospitalization and other related services. The media ministry resumed its broadcasting on FM in October 1997 and by March 2000 had resumed its short wave broadcast. At the moment, the ELWA Radio broadcasts in nine Liberian languages. Since the late 1950's and until the civil war, radio ELWA broadcasts its programs as far as parts of North and Central Africa, and all of West Africa. In addition to its long-range media outlet, the ELWA operated one of the most reliable referral hospitals in the country. According to the current Liberian management team, one of the major challenges being faced by the nationalization initiative, is raising funds for the operation of the various facilities. "Many people are not aware that ELWA is now being run and funded by Liberians," General Manager Kesselly said. Mr. Kesselly then said, "We are challenging the Liberian Christian Community to join forces with us in rebuilding the ELWA Ministries, considering the fact the 'leadership torch' has been passed on to the Liberians," adding that, "The Management Team desires to keep this torch burning, but will need the collective efforts of the Liberian community to make this a reality. (from http://allafrica.com/stories/200211190348.html via Jilly Dybka, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. LIBYA/FRANCE, 15660 & 17880, Voice of Africa/ Libyan Broadcasting Service. A nice surprise came in the form a multi-colored envelope covered with Libyan stamps. Enclosed was a stamped and signed Date only letter (no transmitter site indicated per my request) along with a plastic coated reception report form(!) and a folder postcard depicting Libya's riches, in 58 days. v/s illegible (Edward Kusalik, CANADA, Jan 11, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 6010.02, Radio Mil, Ciudad de México. Jan 2003 - 1044 UT. I have not noticed this station for a very long time. I don`t know if that depends on relatively low effect or inactivity. ID as "Radio Mil 4-47". Who can give info what ?4-47" means? (from Quito /Björn Malm, SW Bulletin, Jan 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) UT -6 timecheck, three minutes off. Usually blocked even here by Conciencia, Colombia, 6011v; was that not on at that moment? (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO [mostly non]. STATIONS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING XTRA By Jim Carlisle, January 10, 2003 XTRA [sic](690 AM) finally merged this week with KXTA (1150 AM) and it's up to listeners now to figure out if, after all that stirring, the finished product is worth tasting. The problem is -- to extend this already tedious cooking analogy even further -- the pot isn't big enough to hold all the combined ingredients. The end result is that listeners may find the stew needing a little more of this or a little less of that. Frankly, I'm not much of a fan of talk radio. As far as I'm concerned, you could take all the sports talk radio stations in the world, toss them into the ocean and, except for the resulting oil slick, the world would be better off. Ninety percent of sports talk shows aim right for the lowest common denominator and I don't know about you, but I don't like to be thought of that way. The new lineup on the stations -- or "superstation," as they now like to refer to themselves -- consists of Tony Bruno from 5 to 9 a.m., Jim Rome from 9 to noon (once again airing live on 690), "Loose Cannons: Steve Hartman and Bill Werndl from noon to 3 p.m., Lee Hamilton from 3 to 7 and JT The Brick from 7 to 10. Late-night and overnight slots are filled with programming from Fox Sports Radio. Gone are the "Vast Morning Wasteland" program with Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith from XTRA, the midday "Kiley and Booms" show with Kevin Kiley and Chuck Booms on KXTA, John Kentera at night on XTRA and Chris Ello on weekends on XTRA. XTRA is moving its operations to Los Angeles. Both stations are owned by radio giant Clear Channel Communications. San Diego area newspapers have had numerous accounts of how Clear Channel management kept its on-air talent dangling right up to the end of the year before finding out officially if they would be retained or fired. Why the change in the first place? Because XTRA, the San Diego station with the 77,000-watt transmitter booming out of Tijuana, is too big for its own good. It beats the pants off the competition, even in the L.A. market and even its own sister station, KXTA. According to North County Times TV-radio columnist John Maffei, XTRA has topped KXTA in every rating period. In the 51/2 years the stations have competed for listeners in L.A., Orange and Riverside counties, KXTA has lost somewhere between $50 million and $60 million while XTRA has been profitable. As an example, Maffei says XTRA bills nearly $21,000 an hour in advertising for Hamilton's afternoon drive-time show. KXTA has nothing anywhere close to that. The merger means that Clear Channel will be able to attract more L.A. advertising dollars onto the 690 and 1150 dial settings. "Absolutely," said XTRA program director Bill Pugh. "X amount of advertising dollars in San Diego are worth more in L.A. We as a company are beholden to our shareholders to give them the best return we can for their investment." The stations now have much more of an L.A. feel, right down to the traffic reports. Pugh said the merger was done for more than just financial reasons. "It's maximizing what we have as far as our properties in Southern California are concerned," he said. "That means finances, ratings and product, everything that is part of the Clear Channel world we need to maximize." For listeners, it means fewer choices, saying farewell to some familiar voices and a hard lesson of how the broadcasting business works (Ventura County Star Jan 10 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** NICARAGUA [and non]. I still haven't found the identity of the unID meringue station on 600 [see DOMINICAN REPUBLIC]: it is NOT Nicaragua, which was also in occasionally but very chopped among LA's/WICC and nulled CKAT (country music), and was also new, but tentative because of the huge QRM; I did copy the word Ponce (a city in Puerto Rico) in // with the www.live365.com/stations/clickaya Internet stream of La Nueva Ya (Ya en la noche), but there was too much QRM to be really sure of it. So I can say I hear Nicaragua, mixing with Radio Rebelde, WICC and the merengue station. But who was playing meringue? Maybe our friends in Venezuela can help here... Into the logs now: 600 Nicaragua, YNLD, Managua JAN 10 0154 (+/-) - talk about Ponce during sports segment. // to Internet broadcast in (Rebelde/unID/WICC) mess. This is the first time I really heard it. Thanks to Henrik Klemetz for pointing to me their web-site! (Chiochiu-PQ) 600 unID, JAN 10 0126 - Meringue music. Fair-poor with QRM mainly from Cuba. Not // La Nueva Radio Ya Internet. Jumped back and fourth between the basement and my radio to give tips to Latin MWDX, so maybe I missed some possible IDs on this one? What kind of music the Colombian on this freq. in Barranquilia (HJHJ Radio Libertad) do play? (Chiochiu-PQ) 600 Cuba, CMKV Radio Rebelde, Urbano Noris JAN 10 0138 - overtaking the unID meringue music station with "Deportivamente", // 1180 (Bogdan Chiochiu, Pierrefonds-Est-Montreal, Québec, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORWAY. Due to lack of electricity in Norway (!) the Kvitsøy and Sveiø transmitters will be on half power, approx. 200 kW, from January 15 to March 15 (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ERITREA [non], IRAN [non], UK [non]. Bad for biz? ** PAKISTAN. 5027.20, PBC Quetta (Presumed) 1334 Jan 12, talk by man, in clear, very weak. Occasional flute like music. Weakened a lot by 1353. Just past sunrise greyline (Dan Ziolkowski, RX-320, 100 foot wire, Franklin, WI 53132, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PATRIA. Patria's state-owned broadcasting corporation and counterpart to the BBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada, Australian Broadcasting Corp., or All India Radio, is Ramrajyavani, Sanskrit for "Voice of Ramrajya". The network, popularly known as "R-vani" or "RV", is heavy on Hindu devotional broadcasts (e.g. "Back to the Gita", "Radio Yoga Class"), Sanskrit chanting, on- air hatha yoga classes, etc. The Hindu programming on Ramrajyavani's television network (Doordarshan, to use the Sanskrit term) stops dead in its tracks at 8 p.m. on Saturday nights to make way for "Hockey Night in Patria". Voice of Dharma, the international shortwave service of Ramrajyavani, broadcasts in English, Sanskrit and many other languages and is a welcome relief from HCJB and the many other high- wattage mostly U.S.-based right-wing fundamentalist Christian Bible- thumpers crowding the SW bands. Of course, it's not all dharma and karma on Patria's airwaves. Continue down this page for a glimpse of Patria's thriving private, secular radio broadcast industry.... [Question of the week: ``Other than DXing, describe one or more hobbies or interests you have that compete with the DX hobby."] Micronationalism: Since 8th grade I have created a "micronation" or virtual country that exists only on paper or on the web, that I call the Inner Realm of Patria. http://www.geocities.com/patria1818 This is apparently almost exclusively an adolescent boy's activity (like DXing was, when I first got into it also as an 8th grader) Doesn't really compete with DX, but if you want to see a few logos and a 1978 survey chart from some of Patria's radio stations, go to http://www.geocities.com/patria1818/popcult.html The Patrienish Hockey League page http://www.geocities.com/patria1818/phl.html has the flagships for the PHL teams (Mike Brooker, Toronto, Ont., NRC-AM via DXLD) Great fun, and well-done, imaginative, and artistic. This led me to... (gh) ** PERU [and non]. FUN FACTS TO KNOW AND TELL ABOUT QUECHUA http://www.zompist.com/quechua.html (via gh, DXLD) ** PERU. 4886.63, "Radio Católica Mundial" I take for granted that it is "Radio Virgen del Carmen", Huancevelica. Jan 2003 - 1030 UT. ID as "Radio Católica Mundial" as usual but also in the form of a singing- ID. Who have information? [relaying WEWN?? --- gh] 18060.66 harmonic, Radio Victoria, Lima. Jan 2003 - 2340 UT. 3rd harmonic from the station 49 mb frequency: 3 x 6020.22 kHz. Info from "Ventanaperú": LIMA se encuentra dividida en las siguientes provincias: [file for future reference] 1. .- Provincia de Barranca, cuya capital es Barranca. Sus distritos son: Barranca, Paramonga, Pativilca, Supe, Supe Puerto; con una población total de 114,051 hab. 2. .- Provincia de Cajatambo, cuya capital es Cajatambo. Sus distritos son: Cajatambo, Copa, Gorgor, Huancapón, Manas; con una población total de 9,475 hab. 3. .- Provincia de Canta, cuya capital es Canta. Sus distritos son: Arahuay, Canta, Huamantanga, Huaros, Lachaqui, San Buenaventura, Santa Rosa de Quives; con una población total de 10,996 hab. 4. .- Provincia de Cañete, cuya capital es San Vicente de Cañete. Sus distritos son: Asia, Calango, Cerro Azul, Coayllo, Chilca, Imperial, Lunahuaná, Mala, Nuevo Imperial, Pacarán, Quilmaná, San Antonio, San Luis, San Vicente de Cañete, Santa Cruz de Flores, Zuñiga; con una población total de 152,378 hab. 5. .- Provincia de Huaura, cuya capital es Huacho. Sus distritos son: Ambar, Caleta de Carquín, Checras, Huacho, Hualmay, Huaura, Leoncio Prado, Paccho, Santa Leonor, Santa María, Sayán, Végueta; con una población total de 163,174 hab. 6. .- Provincia de Huaral, cuya capital es Huaral. Sus distritos son: Atavillos Alto, Atavillos Bajo, Aucallama, Chancay, Huaral, Ihuarí, Lampián, Pacaraos, San Miguel de Acos, Santa Cruz de Andamarca, Sumbilca, 27 de Noviembre; con una población total de 126,025 hab. 7. .- Provincia de Huarochirí, cuya capital es Matucana. Sus distritos son: Antioquía [N.B., unlike the Colombian department which does not have an accent on the I --- gh], Callahuanca, Carampoma, Casta, Cuenca, Chilca, Huachupampa, Huanza, Huarochirí, lahuaytambo, Langa, Laraos, Mariantana, Matucana, Ricardo Palma, San Andrés de Tupicocha, San Antonio, San Bartolomé, San Damián, San Juan de Iris, San Juan de Tantarache, San Lorenzo de Quinti, San Mateo de Otao, San Pedro de Huancayre, Sangallaya, Santa Cruz de Cocachacra, Santa Eulalia, Santiago de Anchucaya, Santiago de Tuna, Santo Domingo de los Olleros, Surco; con una población total de 59,057 hab. 8. .- Provincia de Lima, cuya capital es Lima. Sus distritos son: Ancón, Ate, Barranco, Breña, Carabayllo, Cieneguilla, Comas, Chaclacayo, Chorrillos, El Agustino, Independencia, Jesús María, La Molina, La Victoria, Lima, Lince, Lurigancho, Lurín, Magdalena del Mar, Miraflores, Pueblo Libre, Pachacámac, Pucusana, Puente Piedra, Punta Hermosa, Punta Negra, Rímac, San Bartolo, San Borja, San Isidro, San Juan de Lurigancho, San Juan de Miraflores, San Luis, San Martín de Porres, San Miguel, Santa María del Mar, Santa Rosa, Santiago de Surco, Surquillo, Villa el Salvador, Villa María del Triunfo; con una población total de 5'706,127 hab. 9. .- Provincia de Oyón, cuya capital es Oyón. Sus distritos son: Andajes, Caujul, Cochamarca, Naván, Oyón, Pachangara; con una población total de 17,279 hab. 10. .- Provincia de Yauyos, cuya capital es Yauyos. Sus distritos son: Alis, Ayauca, Ayaviri, Azángaro, Cacra, Carania, Catahuasi, Cochas, Colonia, Chocos, Hongos, Huampará, Huancaya, Huangascar, Huantán, Huanec, Laraos, Lincha, Madean, Miraflores, Omas, Putinza, Quinches, Quinocay, San Joaquín, San Pedro de Pilas, Tanta, Tauripampa, Tomas, Tupe, Vinac, Vitis, Yauyos; con una población total de 27,746 hab. 73 (from Quito /Björn Malm, SW Bulletin, Jan 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Tacna, 10 de Enero 2003 [resend of Dec 29]. Señores Conexión Digital, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Estimados señores: Al hacerles llegar mi saludo, desearles hayan pasado una feliz navidad y augurarles un nuevo año 2003 de éxitos en esta encomiable labor de editar virtualmente los informes dominicales de Conexión Digital, la cual sigo número a número en mi servidor. Esto lo vengo haciendo desde hace varios meses desde que comencé a recibir sus despachos. Como Gerente de Operaciones de Radio Tacna en Tacna - Perú, tengo a mi cargo a parte de las actividades administrativas, el mantenimiento técnico de los equipos de transmisores de la emisora. En varias oportunidades he leido reportajes de sintonía de nuestra señal en onda corta que opera en la frecuencia de 9505 kHz banda de 31 metros, aunque nuestra potencia es limitada, solo 200 watts, sin embargo en condiciones faborables somos sintonizados en diversos países de Europa del norte en países como Noruega, Finlandia, de igual manera de Italia, Alemania, en el Asia con mayor frecuencia en Japón; en el ámbito latinoamericano la cobertura durante el día está centrada en el norte de Chile, norte argentino, Bolivia oeste de Brasil e interior del territorio peruano. Radio Tacna tiene una antigüedad de 62 años y el horario de operaciones de la onda corta es de 5 Am. a 7 Pm. hora de Perú [1000-2400 UT]; también transmitimos en OM en 1470 con 1000 Watts y en FM en 104.3 con 250 Watts. En varias ocaciones hemos recibido reportajes de sintonía en el mismo Bs. Aires y sur de Chile; hace una semana nos llego un E-mail desde Nigeria en Sudáfrica [sic] y una de U.S.A., lo que nos llena de satisfacciones y siempre que encuentro en sus informes alguna escucha desde alguna parte del mundo, nos alegra sobremanera. Por el momento el correo electrónico de la emisora es el que estoy empleando y al que ustedes remiten sus informes, es probable que sea cambiado, para lo cual se los haré conocer en su momento pues no me pierdo ninguno de sus boletines. Estamos en estos montos en tratar de reactivar nuestra página web en la que incluiremos servicios como noticias locales y nacionales y lo más importante, colocar el audio en tiempo real de la transmisión que efectuamos en AM. Los estudios se están efectuando para definirlos a mediados del mes de enero. Al agradecer la atención a la presente y hacerles llegar mis felicitaciones y desearles un buen año nuevo, me despido cordialmente su fiel lector (Ing. Alfonso Cáceres, Gerente de Operaciones, RADIO TACNA, Tacna - Perú, Jan 10 via Nicolás Eramo, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** RUSSIA/C I S. FOREIGN RELAY VIA SHORT WAVE TRANSMITTERS OF THE COUNTRIES OF CIS 27/10/2002 - 29/03/2003 kHz UTC kW Radiostation Armenia 5855 1655-1840 100 TWR 6240 1200-1215 100 TWR 7475 1400-1500 100 RFA 7550 2300-2400 500 RFA 7560 0100-0300 500 RFA 9365* 1100-1400 500 RFA 9920* 1400-1600 500 RFA 11520** 1400-1600 500 RFA 11590** 1100-1400 500 RFA 11790 1400-1500 100 VOA 17540 0600-0700 500 RFA Moldova 7460 0230-0315 500 RPD 7480 1800-1845 500 RPD 11530 1300-1700 500 MSP Kazakhstan 5905 1430-1530 200 DVB 7530 2230-2330 200 RFA 7550 1300-1400 200 RFA 9355 1630-1700 200 VOO Tue, Fri 9490 2330-2430 200 RFA 11510 1230-1330 200 RFA 11535 1400-1500 200 RFA 11570 0030-0130 200 RFA 13830 0000-0100 200 RFA 15680 1100-1200 200 RFA 19m*** 1215-1300 100 VOT Tajikistan 4760 0100-0200 100 RFE 4760 1630-1700 100 RFE 4995 1500-1700 100 RFE 5035 0200-0300 100 RFE 6035 1600-1630 100 RFI 6150 1900-2000 100 RFE 6160 0200-0300 100 RFE 7415 2300-2400 200 RFA 7455 1800-2100 500 RFA 7470* 0100-0300 200 RFA 7485 0100-0200 200 RFA 7495 1500-1600 200 RFA 7515 2330-0030 200 RFA 7515 1600-1700 200 RFA 7530 1600-1700 200 RFA 7540 2300-2400 500 RFA 7540 1500-2200 500 RFA 9355 1300-1400 200 RFA 9365 0100-0200 200 RFA 9365 1400-1500 200 RFA 11535 0030-0130 200 RFA 11540 1100-1400 200 RFA 15660** 0100-0300 200 RFA 17495 0300-0700 500 RFA 17515 0600-0700 200 RFA 17525 0300-0700 500 RFA 19m*** 1215-1300 100 VOT Uzbekistan 6210 1710-1740 100 VAT 7375 0200-0230 200 BBC 7430 1330-1445 200 BBC 7430 1500-1530 200 BBC 9445 2315-0200 200 TWR 9445 1130-1630 200 TWR 9865 1430-1600 100 VAT 11850 0100-0300 100 VIN 12070 0100-0200 200 HLR Fri 12070 1330-1625 100 RNW 15675 0500-1300 200 MSP 17690 1200-1230 100 RVI 21780 0800-0830 200 BBC 25m*** 1430-1515 100 VOT 13m*** 1215-1300 100 VOT * Till 01/03/2003 ** From 02/03/2003 *** Various frequencies in the specified metre band BBC = British Broadcasting Corporation DVB = Democratic Voice of Burma HLR = Hmong Lao Radio MSP = Voice of Mesopotamia RFA = Radio Free Asia RFE = Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty RFI = Radio France Internationale RNW = Radio Nederland Wereldomroep RPD = Radio Payam-e Doost RVI = Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal TWR = Trans World Radio VAT = Radio Vaticana VIN = Voice International VOA = Voice of America VOO = Voice of Orthodoxy VOT = Voice of Tibet (via Nikolay Rudnev, Belgorodskaya oblast, RUS-DX Jan 11 via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. MOGADISHU-BASED RADIO HORNAFRIK GOES OFF AIR AFTER GUNMEN STORM STATION | Excerpt from report by Somali Radio HornAfrik on 11 January Radio and TV HornAfrik was off air for about six and half hours last night. It resumed broadcasting at about 1015 [1915 gmt]. Ilmi Usman Farah Bonderi has details: [Bonderi] TV and Radio HornAfrik went off air after gunmen stormed their premises in Mogadishu yesterday afternoon. The gunmen forced radio and TV transmissions to go off. The gunmen... did not cause any destruction to the equipment nor harm any of the staff at HornAfrik other than forcibly switching off the transmission. The militiamen later left the premises peacefully. The TV and radio staff apologized to all listeners in Mogadishu for the period they were off air. It is said the incident will not in any way affect the programmes and schedules of the station. Source: Radio HornAfrik, Mogadishu, in Somali 0500 gmt 11 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U K. VETERAN DJ ATTACKS BBC, By Sherna Noah, PA News Sir Jimmy Young has used his new career as a newspaper columnist to launch a stinging attack on his former employer, the BBC. Insisting he has "no axe to grind", the veteran DJ accused the broadcaster of having a "frightening" and "brutal" history. In a bitterly-worded column for the Sunday Express, he also asked readers whether the BBC's licence fee should be scrapped. The 81-year-old described his 50-year relationship with the BBC as "loose" and "semi-detached". He added: "I was going to write that I had enjoyed that relationship but that wouldn't be true. "Sometimes enjoyable, often not, would be a more accurate description." Sir Jimmy, who presented his show on Radio 2 for 29 years, thanked his loyal listeners for their messages "ranging from dismay to outrage, at the BBC's decision to axe my enormously successful, award-winning programme". He presented his farewell show on Radio 2 last month, telling listeners it was not his idea to go. In today's column, Sir Jimmy goes on to chart what he calls "one of the BBC's many instances of brutality" when a producer cut short the career of an unnamed pop group because he had lost an argument with its manager over the treatment of a song. "Back in 1949 the BBC was a virtual monopoly and its power was frightening," he said. "Benevolent if it liked the cut of your jib, brutal if it didn't. "I could quote many instances of its brutality, just one will do." He went on to describe the Old Boys' Club that he says existed 50 years ago, calling BBC bosses of the time amateurs "who relied on their subordinates ... to get things done". He said: "Things have changed a very great deal over the past 54 years. "People no longer automatically tune to the BBC as the authoritative voice of the news. "ITV changed that when it proved it could mount news programmes just as well and sometimes better than the BBC. "Consequently I wonder whether the BBC licence fee can still be justified ... As it has moved increasingly into the commercial world, is the BBC trying to have its cake and eat it?" (via Mike Cooper, Jan 10, DXLD) ** U K [non] / NORWAY. Reports in DXLD 3-001 and 3-003 mention Norwegian shortwave broadcasts of NRK Alltid Nyheter, a domestic news service that often relays BBCWS in English. The same relay arrangement allows BBCWS to be heard via Norway for many hours a day through MP3 and Windows Media streams. The best of these streams is 128K MP3, faster than any stream offered directly by the BBC. http://media.hiof.no/streams/m3u/nrk-alltid-nyheter-128.m3u BBCWS European stream is carried Mon-Thu 2100-0500 UT; Fri 2003-0800; Sat 1106-1130, 1206-1300, 1406-1500, 1506-1600, 1847-0800; Sun 1006- 1030, 1106-1130, 1206-1300, 1406-1500, 1506-1600, 1706-1800, 1847- 0500. Note that these hours include the entire European overnight (evenings in NAm). (Kevin Kelly Arlington, Massachusetts, USA PublicRadioFan.com Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. GREECE. 15290, R. Farda via Kavalla 0705-0730 Jan 11. Fair strength but usually OK, occasional periods of what sounded like data transmission interfering. Mix of English and ME pops, IDs and occasional talk including soundclip from Tony Blair (Richard Jary, SA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Hi Richard, jammed on few channels, suffers by Iranian BUBBLE jamming, on others NOT, also both MW are free of jamming. The Farda change from the quiet 21475 to the noisy 21575 is official, both in the Farda and the IBB websites. Jamming on 15290, 13680 and 9435. I've been noting jamming on such as 13680 and 9435 of the Iranian bubble ype. Heard strong BUBBLE jamming today at 0600-0800 on 15290, and after 0800 on 13680, well ahead of FRD. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, ibid.) ** U S A. BROADCASTING BRITNEY SPEARS TO YOUNG IRANIANS MAY GET THEIR EAR. BUT WILL IT CAPTURE THEIR MINDS? BY DAN GILGOFF From usnews.com Millions of Iranians flooded the streets to torch American flags and chant "death to America" last winter after President Bush implicated their country in his "axis of evil." So you might not expect those same folks to welcome a new radio station that mixes contemporary Persian songs with western pop from the likes of Britney Spears and Enrique Iglesias --- and that's funded by Uncle Sam to boot. You might be wrong. Since beaming its AM signal into Iran last month from two nearby transmitters, Radio Farda (Farsi for Radio Tomorrow) has tallied more than a thousand E-mails from its fans. "It has been really nice to hear a radio which is nonstop music," writes a 19-year- old from Tehran. "Our young Iranian generation is tired of these hellish politics [that have] made a black Iran, full of sorrow." Hellish politics were a mainstay of Radio Azadi (Radio Freedom), a U.S. government-sponsored service launched in 1998 and replaced in December by Radio Farda. While Azadi pumped five hours of original news, analysis, and cultural programs into Iran each day, Farda offers a round-the-clock diet of pop music sprinkled with hourly 12-minute newscasts and two half-hour daily programs of news analysis. The broadcast hopes to attract 20 percent of all Iranians-up from the roughly 2 percent who tuned in to Azadi --- by targeting listeners under 30, fully 70 percent of the population. "We wanted the largest possible audience," says Norman Pattiz of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the presidentially appointed panel that supervises U.S. broadcast efforts abroad. "So we had to marry our mission to the market." The strategy has met with stunning success in the Middle East, where Voice of America's talk-heavy Arabic service was replaced last March by a musically inclined broadcast called Radio Sawa. The information- driven VOA model didn't work there, says Pattiz: "If listeners don't like our policies, you can't lead with them." Instead, Radio Sawa relies on weekly audience research to hone a playlist of Arabic and western pop tunes. News reports are kept short and punchy-and the result has been a shot in the arm for listenership. In a recent survey from Jordan, 39 percent of young people cited Sawa as their most trusted news station, about double the number who picked state-run radio. No escape. But because anti-Americanism runs so much lower among Iranians than among Middle Eastern Arabs, Radio Farda has come under fire for playing more music than necessary to retain Iranian audiences. Azar Nafisi, an Iranian literary scholar and author of the forthcoming Reading Lolita in Tehran, would prefer a combination of Farda's snappy pop-culture sensibility and Azadi's hourlong public- affairs shows. "We don't want the music to be just an escape for Iranians," she says. "We need to explain why the act of choosing to listen to music is vital to the creation of a democratic society." But Farda steers clear of didacticism. It seeks to give the people what they want and has canvassed Iranians outside their country to gauge their tastes, a total departure from the Azadi model. "We aimed for Iranian elites-professors, activists, even some reform-minded members of the clergy and government," says Stephen Fairbanks, Radio Azadi's former director. "These were people who were more effective in bringing about change in the country." Farda management holds that the intelligentsia still listen to its hourly news reports and to VOA's Farsi service. But a University of Tehran political science professor who requested anonymity doubts that elites listen to either. "Radio Farda is going to lose a very influential audience" to international broadcasters like the BBC, the professor says. "And youth are going to enjoy the music and ignore the news." So far, Radio Sawa's surveys in Jordan suggest otherwise. And Farda news director Ali Farhoodi cautions that bopping to western pop in Iran isn't as mindless as it may seem, with the vice police enforcing bans on much western music and restrictions on women singing in public. "Listening to pop in Iran isn't like listening to American FM," he says. "It's a political statement with a risk involved." Which makes Britney and Enrique sound downright subversive (via Mike Terry, Jan 12, DXLD) ** U S A. LOU GENTILE SHOW Glenn -- The Lou Gentile paranormal show will not be aired on WRMI because, as you noted correctly, we don't have airtime available at the time the show is on the air. I believe there was some discussion about it being carried on WJIE, but I don't know for sure if that deal was finalized, or if it has begun yet. Coincidentally, we will begin airing a paranormal show during a weekly five-hour block of time being purchased by an organization called Jupiter 400 (see http://jupiter400.net for more info). This is UT Mondays from 0500-1000 on 7385 kHz, beginning Jan. 13. The paranormal show will be on sometime during that five-hour block, and will be hosted by Dr. Wayne Haley. Here's a bio I've been given: Biography Dr. Wayne E. Haley, Host of Dr. H's "EDGE OF REALITY" Dr. Haley has been a professional psychoanalyst and paranormal researcher for over thirty years. Recently retiring from the University of California system, Dr. Haley now works exclusively on research in the area of the unusual and bizarre. He is presently the Director of HRL, Inc. a not-for-profit scientific research organization. Over the past twenty years he has written books, screenplays and various professional articles. He is still practicing analysis in the State of Washington where he specializes in UFO abductions and with patients that have had unusual encounters with the paranormal. His current late night radio program is designed to introduce listeners to the strange and unusual world as well as the enigmas that surround us all (Jeff White, WRMI, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FEDS CONTINUE INVESTIGATION OF IMPRISONED MILITIA LEADER http://www.dailypressandargus.com/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=44413?news The question of whether charges will result from the November raid on imprisoned militia leader Mark Koernke's home remains to be seen as federal agents continue their investigation. Firearms and an assortment of radio broadcasting equipment were taken from the Webster Township home [Michigan] by agents from the U.S. Marshal's office and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Nov. 6. The short-wave [sic] radio station and Web site "Patriot Broadcasting Network," operated by Koernke prior to his imprisonment and later by his family, were shut down during the raid. A warrant obtained through the Federal Communications Commission maintained Koernke had no license to operate the station. The issues of the firearms and the broadcasting equipment are being handled separately. According to U.S. Attorney's Office spokesperson Gina Balaya, the defendants must file a claim for the seized radio equipment by the end of this month or it will be permanently retained by the government regardless of the results of the litigation. Meanwhile, the ATF is continuing its investigation of the weapons that were taken from the home based on a warrant. "We don't know if this will have an outcome with any charges -- that would be a determination based on evidence," said ATF spokesperson Vera Fedorak. "Any evidence seized on that property is being examined as to whether or not any firearms were illegal in and of themselves." Nancy Koernke, Mark Koernke's wife, said some of the weapons belonged to her husband and had been brought into the home from a leased storage facility recently for the purpose of cleaning and appraisal. She said she planned to sell them so her husband could return to the home if released on parole. The weapons were shotguns, some of which were semiautomatic, she said. Nancy Koernke believes the raid on her home represents a ploy by the federal government to extend her husband's prison term unjustifiably. "It's come back to me through the grapevine that there are some people in the FBI who would really like to seem him in (prison) for a long time -- as well as the state police," she said. Mark Koernke was convicted in 2001 on a list of charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon, resisting and obstructing a police officer and fleeing a police officer. He was sentenced to three to seven years at Kincheloe's Chippewa Correctional Facility. The charges stemmed from a 2000 incident in which Koernke was involved in an hour-long police chase in Livingston and Washtenaw counties and down Interstate 94 after reportedly being mistaken for a bank robber. Prior to his arrest, Koernke made a name for himself as "Mark from Michigan," broadcasting a short-wave antigovernment radio show called "The Intelligence Report" on a frequency from the family's home. The so-called "Patriot Broadcasting Network" could typically be heard within a three-mile radius of the residence on station 92.7 FM, Nancy Koernke said. Koernke will be eligible for a parole hearing Sept. 11, 2003 (By Kasey MacAllister, LIVINGSTON COUNTY DAILY PRESS & ARGUS Jan 3 via Jilly Dybka, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** U S A. The WKQV pirate from S FL has been active on 1610 the past couple of nights; pulled plug at 0108 tonight, on well past 0400 the previous night though. Dominates the frequency here when it's on. (David Crawford, LatinMWDX via Bogdan, DXLD) ** U S A. SALEM COMMUNICATIONS ANNOUNCES DENVER AM FORMAT CHANGE SALEM'S KBJD 1650 CHANGES TO KNUS II CONSERVATIVE NEWS/TALK DENVER, Jan. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Salem Media of Denver, a division of Salem Communications (Nasdaq: SALM), the leading radio broadcaster focused on religious and family themes programming, announced today the addition of a full-time conservative talk format on KBJD 1650 AM. The programming change will now be a companion format to Salem Media's 710 AM KNUS conservative talk station, adding its new moniker of KNUS II. The programming change features the addition of live conservative talk shows from nationally recognized hosts G. Gordon Liddy (8AM), Michael Medved (2PM), and Michael Savage (5PM). An emphasis on business and financial news will be highlighted with programs from Dave Ramsey (12PM) and Bruce Williams (8PM). Plus local news, traffic and weather will be featured each morning with veteran local news anchors Bill Jones and Chris Sealy. KNUS II Operations Manager, Kelly Michael commented, "With the growth of 710 KNUS over the past few months and the demand for more news and talk information during these changing economic and political times, we felt this was a natural programming choice, and a great compliment to our Denver cluster." Additional programming content beginning on KNUS II (1650 AM) includes the addition of regular SRN News, local sports, and Dow Jones Business reports each hour. SOURCE Salem Communications -0- 01/03/2003 Web site: http://www.salemcommunications.com (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A: WFUV is tightening up on its compliance with DMCA restrictions limiting how frequently songs from the same album or artist can be played over its web stream. DJ's apparently have the option of making their song selections fit the rules, or blocking their shows from the web stream. The first casualty, effective immediately, is Vin Scelsa's famously eclectic Saturday evening program Idiot's Delight. Besides vanishing from the live stream, the archive of 80+ shows will be withdrawn imminently. For further details: http://www.wfuv.org/streamdmca.html (Kevin Kelly, Arlington, Massachusetts, PublicRadioFan.com Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. SPRINGDALE [ARKANSAS] PUPILS HIT THE AIRWAVES Sat, Jan 11, 2003 By Jeff Smith The Morning News/NWAonline.net SPRINGDALE -- Evan McCarville was bored in class and looking for something to do. Now he wants to build a radio empire from a small office in his elementary school. The Elmdale Elementary School fifth-grader hopes the school's small radio station, which is designed to provide information to patrons, will grow to broadcast throughout Springdale. A small group of pupils huddled in the back corner of the principal's office Friday and patiently listened to their teacher give directions. Following a slow count to three, the pupils burst into gleeful unison: "This is K-E-E-N radio, 91.7." And with that, they signed on to the school's low power, FM radio station in northwest Springdale. The pupils air school announcements through a small antenna atop the school that only transmits about two city blocks. School officials hope to extend the antenna 10 feet so the news can reach the entire Elmdale attendance zone. The best part of the radio station, officials said, is that the information is broadcast in both English and Spanish. The pupils make most of the content decisions and even decide the order of the stories. After a short discussion, the 10 students chose Friday to lead with a story about an upcoming parents' night at the school. Rachel Hornback read the announcement into a small recording device that eventually will be played into a digital recorder for broadcast. The recorder allows the announcements to play repeatedly throughout the day. After Hornback finished, she handed the recorder to Silvia Pena, who translated the script into Spanish. Pena said she wanted to inform parents who do not know English. "I wanted to help parents know everything that is going on at Elmdale, and I wanted them to know it in Spanish," she said. Jim Robinson, the radio club's sponsor, said the station allows the school to effectively communicate with parents while teaching students strong communication skills. Pupils who achieve proficient or advanced levels in their writing are allowed to broadcast their work as a way to motivate the students, he said. "Who doesn't want to hear their voice on the radio?" asked Robinson, who has taught 20 years at Elmdale. He said the station did not have to be licensed with the FCC because of its low power. Officials chose 91.7 FM because it had the most static between commercial stations in the area and would provide the least interference. The Elmdale Eagle's Nest broadcasters work twice a week -- once a week before school -- and record on Fridays. The school's Parent Teacher Association paid $3,500 for the radio equipment. Elmdale Principal Don Johnson said the station builds school pride and self-esteem in the pupils and helps bridge cultural and ethnic differences. "It helps them feel good about themselves when they hear themselves on the air," he said. "It's just one more opportunity and maybe a few more dreams." (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. I am still hearing WA0RCR near St. Louis with ham radio news, on 1860 kHz AM, UT Sundays, around 0630-0730, including Amateur Radio Newsline. Could be mistaken for a broadcast station, slight propagational fading but no SAH as on every other MW frequency, as nothing is co-channel. What is the entire schedule? From http://www.wa0rcr.com it is Sat 1900-0800 UT Sunday: WELCOME TO THE GATEWAY 160 METER RADIO NEWSLETTER ON 1860 WEB SITE North America's most Comprehensive Voice Bulletin Service; The Gateway 160 Meter Radio Newsletter, Saturdays on Top Band 1860 KHz. Serving the Amateur Community on 160 Meters for the past 21 years. Serving 42 states and 6 Canadian Provinces Saturday nights from Wentzville, Missouri on 1860 KHz AM. ON THE AIR Saturday afternoon 1pm, until 2am Sunday (Central time) on 1860 KHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. IBOC, here we come http://www.radioandrecords.com/Subscribers/TodaysNews/homepage.htm IBiquity announced today not only that Greater Media would convert all 19 of its stations to HD Radio technology early this year, but also that Clear Channel, Infinity, Entercom, Radio One, Cox, SBS, Hispanic Broadcasting, Susquehanna, Bonneville, Beasley, Journal and other groups - as well as a handful of colleges and individually owned stations - have licensed the new digital-radio technology. iBiquity says stations in 40 markets throughout 26 states plan to launch HD Radio broadcasts early this year in most of the nation's top markets - including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas - along with many mid-sized and small markets (Jan. 11 2003 Brock Whaley for DXLD) Tom Ray has new samples up on the site. I listened to the delliberately restricted analog and then the IBOC. I think the analog was far less annoying to listen to. These are new samples. He seemed proud of them. I think he needs a hearing aid. The artifacting was UNacceptable. http://www.wor710.com/Engineering/iboc/audio_samples.htm Powell @ WKDK (Powell E. Way? Jan 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) I listened to them, and I have to agree with you... quality is awful. If this is an improvement, I would start questioning more and more of the claims (Fred Vobbe, OH, ibid.) To be fair, they should offer a comparison of the digital audio with the best that can be done with analog AM, not with the stripped-down analog component of hybrid IBOC. But of course, this process is not about fairness, it's about selling new stuff to broadcasters and consumers (Barry McLarnon, Ont., ibid.) More excerpts from the IBOC thread on the NRC-AM list, dating from December 15-16::: They'd rather all terrestrial MW die than let IBOC die. Just watch, IBOC ***WILL*** be mandated on all radios made after a certain date, and then analog will be deleted. I still stand by my contention that it will eventually be ILLEGAL to own a radio capable of analog reception! I expect that there will be a quick mandate for receivers, and analog will have a less than 5 year turn off date after that receiver mandate. But as some of us have said, these folks care not-a-whit for the consumer, just that they get their money from the manufactures of transmitting and receiving equipment, and of course the broadcasters will have to shell out money to Ibiquity yearly as licensing fees. I don't expect them to be mamby-pamby about it (Powell E. Way, Dec. 15, NRC-AM via DXLD) There are a small number of radio groupies and DXers and other radio related hobbyists who do immeasurable harm to al the rest. I've seen fake reception reports, nasty DX letters, demanding requests for bumper stickers (that we don't always have) and so on. Were I not a DXer, I'd think, as so many station staff does today, that DXers are nutcases and part of the lunatic fringe. As to answering questions, all I can say today is that none of the people at the station level like me know what will happen with AM IBOC. There may be a reduced night injection level, there may be a station by station process, or they may just open the floodgates. What I do know is that stations have multiplied nearly 20-fold from the time when rural coverage and out of market coverage was useful, actually used by the listener, and practical within man made interference levels. Today, stations serve their local metro or community. Nearly none care about anything more than a few miles away. Losing that coverage beyond the trading area would not hurt, because the FCC has licensed so many stations that those areas are already covered by other stations anyway. Just as the 1-A clears have adapted to covering part of a state instead of all of the nation, a few broadcasters will have to adapt to a new situation. Remember again... radio is not a uniformly profitable thing. The oldest financials I found are 1962. Over half the stations lost money or barely broke even. Roll to the different studies of the 80's and early 90's. Nearly 60% of stations lost money. Now, how much community service and altruistic programming does a money-gushing station do? Answer: damn little. The famous full service stations and the ones that win the awards are nearly always possessed of a uniform quality: they are successful and they put back money into the market or community. Remember, with today's urban sprawl, consolidation of rural market areas and consolidation in the retail and distribution fields, probably 70% of US AMs don't fully cover their own market day and night today... maybe more. IBOC won't change the fate of these stations for the better or worse. It just may change the timetables, and that's all (David Gleason, CA, ibid.) I'm sticking by my prediction: IBOC will only hasten the demise of the AM band by driving more listeners to FM (where skywave IBOC QRM will be a non-issue except for DXers) and satellite services. AM's problems have nothing to do with the technology, and everything to do with the execrable level of programming. AM IBOC is a doomed attempt to fix a content problem with a technical solution (Harry Helms AK6C, Ridgecrest, CA DM15, ibid.) The bottom line is this. The stations have tried everything they could, for many years, to stop skywave on AM. They tried all kinds of antennas and things because they want the signal to be loud and stay put in their market. I understand why and it`s financial. The signal can't be kept in one place with analog and antennas, so they are ready to accept whatever interference they get in fringe areas to get max signal in the market. The people outside the major cities do not count. Period. They don't bring in enough money to make it worth the station`s time to send them a signal. If you are not in a major city, you are useless to the station. The government has given up on caring for its own people who don't live in the major metropolitan areas because there isn't enough of them to vote someone into office. With the last presidential election where the red and blue map show, it can be seen that by next election, 51% of the votes will come from the metro areas and they will increasingly abandon any help for the people outside the population centers. This attitude will cause, at least for a time if not forever, major disruption and possibly the end to DXing on MW and VHF broadcast bands as a hobby. That`s about it in a nutshell (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) See http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/sf01844e.html Reports of actual interference to Canadian stations would normally to go to the nearest district office (and to the station affected, of course). For comments about IBOC in general, I guess you could try the contact email address on that web page (Barry McLarnon, Ont., ibid.) ** VENEZUELA. E-Mail de Radio Nacional de Venezuela Saludos colegas diexistas. Espero que todos se encuentren muy bien y ya dispuestos a disfrutar de un buen sábado. Escuchando en la madrugada de hoy la señal 1050 AM de Radio Nacional de Venezuela, logré captar la siguiente información que debe ser muy buena para los colegas diexistas que han reportado la señal Onda Corta de Radio Nacional de Venezuela. Hay una promoción que dice: "La Onda Corta de Radio Nacional de Venezuela, cuenta ahora con una nueva dirección de correo electronico, agrademos tomar nota para que nos reporten nuestras emisiones diarias y así poder hacerles llegar su merecida tarjeta de QSL. Nuestro nuevo correo electronico es: ondacortavenezuela@hotmail.com -- nuevo correo electrónico de radio Nacional de venezuela, Antena Internacional. Y gracias por su reporte. Colegas diexistas, si han enviado informes de recepción anteriormente y no han recibido respuestas. Traten ahora por esta dirección de correo electrónico. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Jan 11, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. CHÁVEZ AMENAZA A MEDIOS PRIVADOS CON REVOCAR CONCESIÓN OPERATIVA --- EFE 12 de Enero, 2003 El presidente Hugo Chávez amenazó, en su programa dominical radial y televisivo "Aló, Presidente``, a los canales de televisión y emisoras radiales privadas con revocar las concesiones estatales para su funcionamiento si siguen "apoyando" a la oposición "fascista y terrorista". "Si no recuperan la normalidad (los medios) en la utilización de la concesión y siguen utilizándola para tratar de quebrar el país o derrocar el Gobierno estaría en la obligación de revocarles la concesión para que operen los canales", advirtió el mandatario e informó que ya ordenó revisar el "ordenamiento jurídico" a través del cual se les otorgó la concesión a algunos medios, sobre todo a las cuatro principales estaciones televisivas. "Ellos tienen una concesión que igual como se les dio se les puede quitar", dijo Chávez, desde la aduana de La Guaira, litoral central venezolano, desde donde se transmitió su programa. Advirtió a los dueños de los canales y las emisoras privadas que de continuar "en su empeño irracional por desestabilizar" al país y "darle pie a la subversión en este caso fascista" podría revertir el permiso de funcionamiento dado por el Estado. Chávez nombró individualmente a los dueños de las principales televisoras, Marcel Granier (Radio Caracas Televisión), Gustavo Cisneros (Venevisión), Omar Camero (Televen) y Alberto Ravell y Guillermo Zuloaga (canal de noticias Globovisión). "El principal apoyo que tienen los golpistas y fascistas son los cuatro jinetes del apocalipsis", dijo en alusión a los cuatro canales de televisión privados. Chávez acusó públicamente a Cisneros de intervenir en el golpe de Estado del pasado 11 de abril, que lo separó por 48 horas del poder. "Cisneros fue uno de los cabecillas del golpe de abril. Lo acuso públicamente ante Venezuela y el mundo. En el canal 4 (Venevisión) se fraguó el golpe de Estado del 11 de abril", afirmó Chávez. Insistió que "Cisneros ha dicho delante de presidentes del mundo que él está resteado (decidido) y que usará todo su poder para que Chávez se vaya de la presidencia", relató. Chávez señaló que de revocar las concesiones a algunos medios radioeléctricos privados abría que buscar a otras personas para que los operen. "Hay muchos dispuestos", advirtió. El mandatario pidió a los opositores "democráticos" los que "tienen ideologías" salir a la palestra pública y dirigir a los opositores hacia "canales democráticos" e impedir que sigan siendo liderados por "fascistas y terroristas". Desde el pasado 2 de diciembre el Gobierno de Chávez enfrenta una huelga general y petrolera, liderada por la liga opositora Coordinadora Democrática que presiona para el llamado a elecciones o la renuncia de Chávez al poder (Union Radio, Venezuela, website Jan 12, 2003 via Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Hola amigos. Durante esta mañana desde las 1410 y continúa en el aire la señal de Radio Nacional de Venezuela a través de los 15570 con música venezolana, mensajes contra la "Descordinadora Antidemocrática" o "Coordinadora terrorista", además con llamados a no sintonizar los medios de comunicación facistas y terroristas (un medio oficial no debería llamar al libre flujo de la información que garantiza la constitución ??); además de mensajes de Fé y Alegria. Creo que debe ser a través de Cuba ya que mencionan la proxima transmisión del programa Alo Presidente No. 135, pero hasta el momento no ha empezado. "...usted escucha el Circuito RNV por su variedad de estilos, canal clásico 91.1 FM con lo mejor de la música selecta, 1050 más que una señal, con lo más destacado de la música folclórica venezolana; antena internacional con información de lo mejor de nuestro país para el resto del mundo y RNV informativa definitivamente la radio de la información con 24 horas de noticias y comentarios, Circuito RNV contenido para todos los gustos, somos la radio de Venezuela..." Luego de escuchar esta emisora recuerda más a emisiones propagandísticas clandestinas que a un medio oficial de radiodifusión nacional (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, Jan 12, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Amigos de la la Lista, Esto es increíble!; después de casí 3 años de indolencia por parte del gobierno de Hugo Chávez hacia Radio Nacional donde el Canal Internacional de RNV ha permanecido en silencio por la "falta de recursos, ya que muchos saben de lo mudo que ha permanecido la frecuencia de los 9540 kHz, ahora resulta que de ser cierta esta noticia de Rafael Rodríguez, de la noche a la mañana [sic] están probando por los 15570. Será acaso que es ¿una ayuda "desinteresada y humanitaria" de Radio Habana Cuba, en pro de nuestra "Revolución"? Qué lindo son ellos! Gracias! (Jorge García, Barinas, Venezuela, Jan 12, ibid.) This is nothing new unless it extends beyond the usual Sunday morning hours (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Rafael Rodríguez, in Colombia, in ConDigList reports hearing a station announcing itself as Circuito RNV (Radio Nacional de Venezuela) on 15570 from 1410 onwards, Jan 12, where listeners in Venezuela are warned from tuning in to "fascist and terrorist communications media". In other messages warnings are issued against the anti-governmental Venezuelan "Coordinadora democrática", which is labeled "Descoordinadora antidemocrática" and "Coordinadora terrorista". Rafael says that the aggressive tone of this broadcast surprises him. It is different from what you would expect from an official or public broadcasting station which is the case of Radio Nacional de Venezuela. It rather sounds like a clandestine station, he says. He thinks the signal may be an authentic RNV broadcast relayed by Radio Habana Cuba while waiting for another "Aló Presidente" broadcast (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Tässä uusi UNID pähkäiltäväksi. Reilu tunti sitten uuvuttavan iltavuoron jälkeen päivääni elävöitti UNID ARABI 10000 kHz 1915 UT. Sekä kieli että mx oli arabimaailmasta ja kuuluvuus sanalla sanoen aika surkea. Aikamerkkiasema ja kiinalainen (!) numerotäti 1930 UT vaikeuttivat kuuntelua. 73´s JKH (Jouko Huuskonen, Finland, Jan 10, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Olisiko clandestine -asema 'Voice of Sudan' aktivoitunut? Lähetteli takavuosina tässä. Tietoa asemasta täällä: http://www.clandestineradio.com/archives/inactive/sudan.htm 73 de PUL (Pentti Lintujärvi, ibid.) Yesterday evening 1915 UT I heard an UNID ARABIC station on 10000 kHz. Pentti Lintujarvi suggested it could a re-activated clandestine The VOICE OF SUDAN. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Could also be mixing product from Jordan, reported many times before here, or similar cases such as India (gh) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ New group about SW for French speaking swl: http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/ondescourtes 73 from (French SWL F-14368, Frank Parisot, France, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://swlcontest.homestead.com RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ WIRELESS NETWORK QRM ON MW I was wondering whether anyone else on the list has experienced this: I recently installed a wireless network in the house, so I can use the laptop downstairs to access the Internet and check E-mail. It's a 3Com 11 Mbit system. Since then, I noticed that on mediumwave 909 kHz (which I use to listen to BBC 5 Live) it emits what I at first thought was a beacon signal of some sort, but later realised was a warbling sound of varying pitch, exactly in sync with the flashing green light on the device :-) It's not a major problem, as I can turn it off, but I wondered if this is a commonly encountered phenomenon. I find it quite irritating, even though it's probably only about S2. (Andy Sennitt Jan 7, hard-core-dx via DXLD) In North America, there have been a wide array of new Wireless LAN devices in the marketplace and some discussion as to the impact on radio enthusiasts. Unfortunately, there has been little regard as to the consequences of dumping a lot of this activity right in the middle of the shortwave bands, since, according to industry, there is nothing in those "wavebands" that anyone uses, other than amateur radio. As a person who works in the Computing and Network services division of a large University, I see an interesting push on from Industry to get everything wireless as soon as possible with little worry about security or potential interference issues. Perhaps most of us have heard of the activity called "war-chalking", in large cities, like London, England and Washington D.C., where people roam the business districts of these cities with their laptop and wireless ethernet receivers looking for free network connections. The fall-out for the average listening enthusiast is the ever increasing cacophony of digital noise that will pervade the broadcast bands, particularly in the U.S. of A. where bands are not really "allocated" but "bought" in auction by the highest bidder. In Victoria, B.C., Canada, one can cruise around in their car whilst tuning the medium-wave broadcast band and listen to variety of whoops and swoops as one passes through various neighborhoods. Progress is a wonderful thing! (Colin Newell, editor - http://espresso.ts.uvic.ca http://www.coffeecrew.com in hard-core-dx via DXLD) MORE ON DAB RECEIVER Hi Glenn, Just did some net searching for the product I saw at Radio Shack, and discovered that the radios I previously describer are made by a company called Perstel. Their products can be found here: http://www.perstel.com/frame_product_dab.asp (Product numbers DR 101 and DR 201) They appear to be the only portable DAB receiver being sold in Canada. Regards, (Ricky Leong, QC, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VANU BOSE DREAMS OF SOFTWARE RADIO From http://news.sify.com/cgi-bin/sifynews/news/content/news_fullstory_v2.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1594947338.1042336951@@@@&BV_EngineID=dadcgeeifedkbemgcfkmcgedng.0&article_oid=12384454&category_oid=-20608&page_no=1 The New York Times has this to say about Vanu Bose, son of Amar Bose, a MIT professor: "It is too soon to describe the Bose family as an audio-world version of the Bush and Kennedy clans in politics, but they are off to a good start." Quite a heady compliment from the adjective-stingy newspaper. But Vanu, who founded Vanu Inc, deserves every word of the accolade. In 1964, Amar Bose, a MIT professor, created a sound system company that bears the family name. Now, Vanu is gaining recognition for radio-design technology every bit. He is a prominent innovator in the effort to use software rather than hardware to control how radios, cellphones and wireless communications devices recognise and manage signals. Early versions of such software radio are being used by the military. Alright, but what is the objective? In simple words, it is to develop software that recognises various radio wave forms and chooses the right application to process them. A single device could provide cellphone service irrespective of format or frequency, exchange wireless messages with laptop or palmtops and communicate with walkie-talkies. Yet another benefit is to be able to incorporate technical improvements by downloading software, rather than replacing hardware. "Why build a system to do one thing when you can build it with software to do many things and be upgradable to boot" Vanu asks. Experts in the field share Vanu's optimistim about the software radio's potential. Vanu got into the world of FM radio signals while typesetting a research paper for his father as a MIT undergraduate. "That solidified my interest in the field and the math behind it," he is quoted as saying in NYT. For awhile, Vanu appeared to be heading for a career in medical technology. He did graduate research on using skin patches as alternatives to needles or pills and spent two-years with a flying eyecare hospital for third world countries. But he was lured back into signal processing by Professor David Tennenhouse who persuaded him to lead a software radio study financed by the Pentagon, which wants software radio to allow all its military arms to talk with each other. The result of the four-year project produced an early software radio format, a PhD for Vanu and the core technology used to found his firm. Vanu swears by common processors, open-source products like Linux and reusable software. The industry, meanwhile, is waiting with bated breath for further developments. Says consultant Peter Cook: "If a company like Vanu can break through with one big customer, the market could come tumbling after them." (via Mike Terry, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ January 4 saw the geomagnetic field reach overall active levels with severe storm at south polar monitoring stations. This was due to a coronal hole earlier in the week. At this time high latitude propagation was only fair. The effects were only short lived with conditions almost back to normal the following day. Another coronal hole started affecting us on Jan 9 but the effects from this one are only mild. Solar activity has also been fairly low with only a few small M class flares happening later in the week. Currently on Jan 11 degraded propagation conditions are in effect around the Australian region however this should only last today. Over coming days solar activity may start to pick up with the return of some previously flaring areas. Prepared using data from http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, Jan 11, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ###