DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-018, February 1, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [NOTE: these files will now contain one month each] For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1167: RFPI: Sun 0000, 0600, 1200, 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WWCR: Sun 0330 5070, 0730 3210, Wed 1030 9475 WBCQ: Mon 0545 7415 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WRN: Rest of world Sat 0900, Eu only Sun 0530, NAm Sun 1500 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1167.html ** AFGHANISTAN. AFGHAN RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES HOLD MEETING IN SUPPORT OF CABLE TV BAN | Text of report by Afghan Herat TV on 30 January The religious authorities' council have organized an extraordinary meeting to express its support for the decree of Mr Shinwari, the head of the Supreme Court of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan, on banning cable TV. The emergency meeting commenced with the recitation of some verses from the Holy Koran. Then some of the religious authorities made speeches expressing their full support for the decree issued by Mawlawi Shinwari, the head of the Supreme Court, on banning the cable TV system. In another part of this meeting the religious authorities issued a decree saying that: "Our people have suffered from 23 years of war and already lost everything, and the sustaining of all these losses was only to have the flag of Islam erected and to prove that Afghans are really devoted to their religion. Now we warn those inside or outside the country, for they are trying to mislead our people, in particular our young people; 99 per cent of our people are Muslim and follow the rules of the Holy Koran. As long as one of us is alive, we will not let anyone play with the destiny of our young people and our country. The ones who call our Mojahedin and devotees warlords or gunmen are the ones who are spreading other poisons. It is obvious to everyone that all their claims are untrue and baseless. We, the religious authorities, must stop spreading such nonsense and idle talk by preaching and passing on the facts to everyone so that they can shut them up. Once more we express our full support for the issued decree of Mr Shinwari the head of Supreme Court of Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan on banning cable TV, which is exactly based on the rules of Islam and the verses of the Holy Koran. The activities of the cable TV channels [audio and video] are contrary to the decrees of the Holy Koran and religious issues. Moreover, such deviationism and aberrance are regarded as paving the way for immorality and misleading society. The ones who asked the head of the Supreme Court of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan to resign, are on the wrong track and do not have the right to interfere in our country's internal affairs. Taking international principles into consideration, they must be courted. The mojahedin and the Muslim people of Afghanistan do no let anyone interfere in their country's internal affairs. The Religious Council of Herat supports the transitional Islamic administration of Afghanistan in all issues and urges the country's high-ranking officials to ban such immoral and misleading activities so that society, in particular the younger generation, will not become involved in such immorality and deterioration. Source: Herat TV in Dari 1630 gmt 30 Jan 02 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. AFGHAN PAPER CONSIDERS THE CASE FOR LETTING PEOPLE WATCH CABLE TV The main supporters of allowing cable TV in Afghanistan are expatriates, according to the Afghan newspaper Kabul Weekly. They see nothing wrong with the programmes and believe the networks may be educational. An editorial in the paper said the main opponents are clerics and traditionalists. The main watchers of TV are government officials and commanders, but they are afraid to oppose the clerics, the paper said. The following is the text of the English-language editorial, published on 30 January: There is a hot debate going on, at least in the media, about the permissibility of cable TV network in Afghanistan. On the one end, Chief Justice [Fazl Hadi] Shinwari believes uncensored and unbridled shows screened on the cable corrupt the morals of Afghan youth and therefore these ought to be banned. On the other end is Minister of Information and Culture Dr Sayed Makhdum Rahin, who argues that the law ruling media entitles any Afghan national who has been registered with the ministry and has got the official permit is allowed to operate. However, since the cable TV network is a new phenomenon, regulations about its operation have just been finalized and will soon be presented to the Council of Ministers for approval. This means, between the lines, that pending the approval or disapproval, the cable TV network, notably the Star TV, could continue but it should exercise enough caution not to screen anything objectionable. Then what is objectionable? Afghans in general and the clerics in particular deem anything objectionable which is considered against Islamic taboos or runs counter to national traditions. In some cases, when a tradition like paying for the hand of a girl is against Islam but has been accepted as a general practice, the clergy overlook it. At any rate, what counts more, at least to the broad-minded strata, is public opinion. Since there are no Gallup polls in this country, the only means to gauge the public opinion is the mass media. Most of the people have not yet any access to the cable TV network. Secondly, there is no dependable electricity, even if you have subscribed to the cable network. Therefore, the major subscribers are either senior government officials, who watch during the office hours or the former mojahedin commanders, who now comprise the bulk of high brass. But both categories arc scared to oppose the clerics, though they argue among themselves that the cable TV is less corrupting and more informative, if we overlook the entertainment aspects. The only category that raises its voice in favour of the cable network is the Afghan expatriates, who either participate in the VOA or Radio Liberty round-tables to answer the questions asked by the world-wide audience, or those who reflect their views if they get enough time. According to them, there is nothing wrong with the cable TV as it familiarizes the Afghans who have not been to Europe or America with the progress made by other people and how and to what extent they have raised their standards of living, the cable TV is not only harmful but it helps. If there appears a love scene exceeding kissing or necking, the parent changes the channel or sends children to their bedrooms. So the Afghan parents themselves are great censors and usually don't watch objectionable shows themselves. Meanwhile, the cable TV networks like the Star TV beaming to Muslim countries like Afghanistan usually show wild life, the life under the sea, travel, farming, fishing industry, etc, sugar-coated with Indian films which the Afghan public is so fond of. And these are normally screened in cinemas anyway but the cable network shows the new ones. That is the difference. When the Taleban had banned cinemas and audio/video cassettes, the general public used to rent blue films out of spite through underground channels. Source: Kabul Weekly in English 30 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 6000, Merlin via Al- Dhabbaya, 0200-0215, Jan 16, Continuous interval signal of "Afghan music", no announcement -- no satellite link from Kabul of R Afghanistan scheduled here 0130-0227, QRM R Habana Cuba. 44444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. CZECH REPUBLIC/USA: RFE CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF ITS AFGHAN BROADCASTING | Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 30 January: The US-financed Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) celebrated the first anniversary of broadcasts to Afghanistan today. The station broadcasts to Afghanistan in the Pashto and Dari languages 12 hours a day, compared to the original three hours a day. As part of today's celebrations, journalists Jaromir Stetina, Petra Prochazkova and their cameraman of Afghan origin Mohammad Yusuf Paikar, presented a half-hour documentary on the role of religion in Afghanistan and relations between Christianity and Islam. "Radio is of great importance, to a certain extent it substitutes television. People are hungry to receive news and information," Prochazkova said, describing the situation among people in Afghanistan. According to RFE/RL's data, about 5.8m people listen to the Afghan broadcasts. The station now has its office in Kabul and correspondents in eight other towns. The Prague desk comprises about 30 people, one third of them women. Andres Ilves, the head of the Afghan broadcasting, told CTK that the most difficult thing was to find qualified journalists. The broadcasting does not concern only politics, but also history, science, literature and other issues. The RFE/RL's broadcasting to Afghanistan was approved by the US Senate and House of Representatives in 2001, after the September terrorist attacks on the USA for which the Afghan Taleban movement was responsible. The broadcasting from Prague is considered part of Afghanistan's democratic renewal after the Taleban was supressed in the country. The RFE/RL already broadcast to Afghanistan from its then Munich seat in 1985-1993. Since the attacks, the RFE/RL building, located in the very centre of Prague, has been guarded by soldiers and police. Recently, the government has been trying to come to an agreement with the RFE/RL leadership about moving the radio out of the centre of Prague. RFE/RL was originally based in Munich and broadcast to the Eastern Bloc. After 1989, RFE/RL was almost cancelled because the US Congress thought it too expensive. The radio moved to Prague from Munich in 1995 in order to cut its expenditures and thus keep broadcasting. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1830 gmt 30 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 15480, HCJB Kununurra, 1205 Feb 1 with good signal S 9+10 but in LSB to avoid BBC 15485. Slow songs and music with some announcements giving address in Australia and e-mail. "This is HCJB Australia testing signal... Rx AOR AR5000 - Ant T2FD 15 meters long. Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Avvenire Milano, Italy, hard-core-dx via DXLD) As from Feb 2, HCJB Australia, Kununurra, will move to 11770 (ex 11755) for the English service to Australia/S. Pacific 0700-1200. This should clear co-channel Radio Finland. The alternative frequency of 11805 will not be used, due to its use by IBB(VOA) Kavalla with Arabic 0730-0830 which puts in a huge signal across Eastern Australia. HCA will issue its own specially designed QSLs from the Kilsyth (Melbourne) office. Note that antenna directivity is quite broad, with 11755/11805 notionally at 106 degrees (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia, EDXP via DXLD) Parts from the Africa antenna were used to repair the Asia antenna, so broadcasts to Ethiopia will be further delayed. However, tests in Oromo are most likely near the end of this week at 1730-1800 or 1200- 1230 (Dennis Adams, HCJB Australia, DX Partyline Feb 1, notes by gh for DXLD) Presumably on 15480, 11770 respectively ** BELARUS`. On Jan 15 I called the local Hrodna transmitter regarding your loggings in DX-Window no. 212 and got this information: BR-1: 6080: BR1 is broadcast for Ukraine with 150 kW, azimuth unknown to me. 6115: BR 1 is broadcast from Minsk with 75 kW, 252 degrees. 6010, 6070 - Brest (probably 5 kW), 6040, 7110 - Hrodna (5 kW), 6190, 7145 - Orsha (? kW) (transmitter at Mahilioú ? (Ed)), Low power transmitter in Hrodna s/on 0400 and s/off 2300. At 0440 - 0500, 1600 - 1640 - transmission of R. Hrodna (M-F), other times - relays BR-1 (till the end of that program). BR-2 is now called "Kanal Kultura" and broadcast on 7265 from Hrodna (2.5 kW), Brest (probably 10 kW) and Orsha (probably 5 kW). (Sergei Alekseichik, Hrodna, Belarus`...). So there are three transmitters! Sergei also sent us some photos of the Brest and Hrodna transmitter antennas which will be published on our website (Ed. Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Re: Maybe you can get it to open properly via: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=relampago (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For your info: The attached file is a Bolivian station's survey prepared by local-monitoring, realized from December 29, 2000 through January 6, 2001. When downloading the web system dumbly insists on adding a .BIN suffix, which then makes the downloaded file "unreadable" to yet another dumb piece of equipment, the PC. The file is still intact, and still readable if one removes the .BIN extension so that the PC's understands the file to be a Word document. Another way is simply to rename the file into any .DOC name. And yes, we are trying to figure out a proper solution, as attachments via a web server do have its merits (Hermod Pedersen, Web Editor http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, here`s some of it... ** BOLIVIA. POR LAS RUTAS DEL BOLIVIA (Much abbreviated by your Ed. See full report on our website) From Dec 29, 2000 through Jan 06, 2001, I made a brief journey to Bolivia. The primary objectives of the journey were to visit some stations which made their debut on shortwave in these recent years and to study the broadcasting circumstances in Bolivia. In search of novelty and variety in the radio world, I stayed in Cochabamba, Sucre, Potosí and La Paz, realizing radio-monitoring and visiting several stations to glean the latest information. The obvious movements of the radio broadcasting circumstances, which I noted during the DX journey in Bolivia, were as follows: new commercial broadcasting enterprises bristle on FM; commercial stations trend on transferring their operations from medium wave to FM; and the newly merging religious organizations buy up old commercial broadcasters. By the development of a satellite relay system, Grupo Fides 2001, R Panamericana and R Cadena Nacional, three powerful commercial broadcasting networks, have installed their relay stations on FM in several of Bolivia's big cities in order to expand the service areas. The provincial stations of Grupo Fides 2001 have their own studios and offices as well as transmitting plants in order to broadcast the locally produced programs in addition to the national relay service. For the commercial and religious broadcasters, which have big commercial sponsors and plentiful program production expenses, it is not so difficult to get audience in the country and challenge the position of small local broadcasters. The small, privately owned commercial broadcasters ceased existing, owing to the decrease in profits made by selling airtime for commercial advertisements and personal message services. The radio stations of the mine worker's unions have gradually lost their significance due to the social situation change and some of these mining broadcasters have ceased transmissions because of the mining crisis. The railroad federations' broadcasters have also lost initial significance in the process of privatization. These have faced many difficulties to maintain the transmissions and have eventually sold their facilities to wealthy religious groups in recent years. Moreover, a remarkable trend was that frequency reassignment of medium wave and shortwave stations has been performed by government authorities as part of a countermeasure against interference due to an increase in the number of broadcasting stations in recent years. By this frequency reassignment, R. Nacional de Bolivia and R Baha'i, which were widely heard in different places of Bolivia at night and also have been logged by DX enthusiasts in European countries, stopped being easily tunable due to interference of other stations. Although I did not have time to visit the Supervision of Communications to know exactly from when this frequency reassignment has been carried out by the government authorities, some frequency reassignments on shortwave were observed by DX enthusiasts in 2001. Some examples are R Juan XXIII on 6055 (ex-4965), Radiodifusoras Trópico on 6035 (ex-4775; however it was measured in the vicinity of 4552) and R Centenario "La Nueva" on 4865 (ex-4855). [COCHABAMBA] 3310.0 CP--- R Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba; broadcast at 0750-1140 and 2155-0200 from Mo to Sa and at 0800-1200 on Su. The station transmits with an "Omnitronix Inc." brand OMNI-10000UA model transmitter which rates 10 kW (maximum output power) and a H type antenna (12 meters high above the ground). The station was officially founded by Pablo Bentley, Eldon Porter and Cameron Hurest, on May 8, 1999. (The first experimental transmission was realized at 1200 local time, on Apr 12, 1999.) The transmitting plant is installed at Cotapachi, Provincia de Quillacollo, Departamento de Cochabamba, Bolivia. The studio and the transmitting plant are connected by FM link on 934.4 MHz. Studio: Calle Abaroa No. 254, Cochabamba, Bolivia. 5974.1 CP200 R Nacional de Cochabamba, Cochabamba; has been off the air for many years. 6094.6 CP216 R Cosmos, Cochabamba; has been out of service for several years. [SUCRE] 3372.3 CP231 R Nuevo Mundo, Sucre; has been off the air since 1988. 5995.1 CP41 R Loyola, Sucre; was inactive during my stay in Sucre. The shortwave outlet is equipped with a "Petrick" brand transmitter of 1 kW and a 1/2-wave dipole antenna (20 meters high above the ground). 9717.1 CP21 R La Plata, Sucre; broadcast at 1400-1900 from Monday to Saturday and 1400-2200 on Su. [LA PAZ] 4795.2 CP73 R Nueva América, La Paz; has been off the air for many years. 4815.0 CP144 R Nacional de Bolivia, La Paz; has been off the air for many years. 4845.1 CP72 R Fides, La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 4875.1 CP75 R La Cruz del Sur, La Paz; operated at 0930-1200 and 2130-0030 from Mo through Fr. The SW outlet was not in operation on Sa and Su. 4945.1 CP7 R Illimani, La Paz; has been off the air for a couple of years. 5004.7 CP265 R Libertad, La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 5044.9 CP38 R Altiplano, La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 6025.0 CP5 R Illimani, La Paz; broadcast at 0930-0300 simultaneously with MW transmissions on 1020. 6085.1 CP229 R San Gabriel, La Paz; broadcast at 0900-0200 from Monday to Sa and 1000-0200 on Su. 6105v CP92 R Panamericana, La Paz; broadcast at 1100-0400 from Mo to Sa and 1100-2400 on Su. 6122.9 CP263 Rdif. Integración, El Alto de La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 6155.0 CP12 R Fides, La Paz; broadcast at 1000-1800 and 2100-0200 from Mo to Th, at 1000-1800 and 2100-0500 on Fr and Sa, at 1100-1800 on Su. 6196.2 CP145 R Metropolitana, La Paz; has been off the air since the middle of the 1990's. 6185.0 CP9 R Batallón Colorados, La Paz; has been out of service for a long time. 9624.9 CP--- R Fides, La Paz; broadcast at 1000-1800 and 2100-0200 from Mo to Th, at 1000-1800 and 2100-0500 on Fr and Sa, at 1100-1800 on Su (Takayuki Inoue Nozaki, Japan, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** BOUGAINVILLE. CLANDESTINE, 3850, R Independent Mekamui, Bougainville, fade in 0925-1000, Dec 31 and Jan 06, local and international music, QRM from Indonesian radioamateurs (Roland Schulze, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC RADIO PERSONALITY BILL MCNEIL DIES WebPosted Thu Jan 30 13:56:37 2003 TORONTO --- Bill McNeil, a CBC radio personality who helped chronicle the lives of Canada's pioneers, has died. He was 78. Bill McNeil In 42 years at the CBC, McNeil worked as a reporter, on current affairs shows and as a host. He is best remembered as the voice of the weekend morning show Fresh Air , and Voice of the Pioneer. FROM CBC ARCHIVES: Remembering Bill McNeil: Those interviews with Canadians who remembered the early days of homesteading, gold rushes and world wars became the basis for some of McNeil's six books. In 1967, Centennial year, McNeil drove across the country recording conversations with Canadians. FROM FRESH AIR: A salute to Bill McNeil He retired in 1992. His fans filled Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall twice to hear his last shows. He died of kidney failure on Wednesday. Copyright © 2002 CBC All Rights Reserved (via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC RADIO HOST BILL MCNEIL DIES; KNOWN FOR FRESH AIR AND VOICE OF THE PIONEER MIKE FUHRMANN Canadian Press, Thursday, January 30, 2003 TORONTO (CP) - Bill McNeil, a veteran of CBC Radio best known for hosting the shows Fresh Air and Voice of the Pioneer, died Wednesday. He was 78. McNeil, also the author of six books, spent 42 years at the CBC before retiring in 1995. He died of kidney failure, the CBC said. Asked about his long car eer, the Sydney, N.S., native once said: "I didn't plan on staying this long. It's just that I was having too much fun to stop." Fresh Air, which catered to an older audience, drew up to a million listeners in Ontario and Quebec each Saturday and Sunday morning. When he took the job in 1968, McNeil recalled he was faced with an enormous challenge: "All they said was, 'Here's three hours, we want you to fill it.' We had no ratings at all in the beginning. I was just broadcasting to the birds and the worms." McNeil said he and co-host Cy Strange tried to make Fresh Air "an oasis in a mad world." It became a success because it "stirred the memory pot," said McNeil, whose gentle, resonant voice and quiet manner put both his subjects and listeners at ease. "People had a chance to talk about their youth, the Depression years, homesteading in the West." He hosted his final Fresh Air broadcast after 24 years in May 1992. For Voice of the Pioneer, carried on the national radio network, McNeil travelled across the country with a tape recorder to interview older Canadians about their life experiences. "These pioneers, as I like to call them, are closing out an era that is already almost gone," he said in a 1988 interview. "They are a generation that experienced changes . . . from the horse and buggy to the rocket ship and man walking on the moon. They are in a way reminders, all of them, of a much quieter, much softer time." The series led to four Voice of the Pioneer books. McNeil was also the author of Signing On: The Birth of Radio, and Mr. Canada: John Fisher. McNeil began his broadcasting career in Nova Scotia after lack of funds forced him out of university and into the coal mines of Glace Bay. Panicked at the thought of spending the rest of his life in the mines, McNeil would drive to Halifax or Sydney to apply for radio jobs, and finally he got on at the CBC affiliate in Sydney. He was later transferred to head office to work with Norman DePoe on News Roundup. McNeil subsequently took over that program as well as a news and current events show called Assignment. He stayed with Assignment for 15 years. Of his youth in Cape Breton, McNeil wrote in the book Bill McNeil Presents, Voice of the Pioneer: "The Depression left a mark on all of us who went through it, a mark that can never be erased. It shows most in the way we constantly attempt to instil the virtues of thrift and security into our children, much to their everlasting boredom." McNeil, whose wife of 52 years died in 1997, leaves two sons and a daughter. © Copyright 2003 The Canadian Press (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** CHECHNYA [non]. U.S.A. I found Radio Liberty on 7565, 1800-1900. Lots of Radio Svoboda IDs, items about Iraq, Dick Cheney etc... The IBB frequency list doesn't show this one, but it seems to be the Caucasus service in Russian, Avar, Chechen and Circassian. Couldn't check the parallel frequencies because of poor propagation (Silvain Domen, Belgium, 31 Jan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At c1827 I found RFE on 7565 with their program to Chechnya area - their sched lists 1800 Russian, 1815 Avari, 1830 Chechen and 1845 Cherkessi. None of the languages were recognised but I could hear the Prague ID given and announcement for Chechen 1830. It is // 9615, but I cannot hear listed 12130 or 11930 [Spanish on this frequency]. I suspect it's another IRA outlet [x 12130?] - signal very similar to 7585. I've checked today`s IBB sched, but 7565 is not listed - yet. Off with no ID 1900 (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Jan 27 via DXLD) [Later:] RFE service to Chechnya began using 7565 from a crash start c1800:15 just as the service had started - in Russian, accompanied by ME/Asian style music. The signal was very fluttery tonight --- as was the IRA[nawila, Sri Lanka] transmission on 7585 --- so I still think 7565 will be IRA when the IBB update their web site. It had not been included when last I looked this evening (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Jan 29 via DXLD) 7565 Maybe additional, or 12130 replaced by 7565. [was:] 12130 1800-1815 RFE RL-3 RU IRA 06 332 degr. 1815-1830 AV, 1830-1845 CH, 1845-1900 CI (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Jan 30 via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Dear Mr Hauser - I'm subscribed to MONITORING TIMES because of my interest in radio monitoring, SW, scanning, plus I'm an active ham. From time to time I see references to Voz de la Resistencia not being heard. I can assure you that they are on the air most days and are amazingly punctual. Their broadcast is at 1300 GMT every day. Normally, they play warm-up music about 10 min prior -- say 1150 onwards. Their broadcasts carry a sort of editorial and then they often air "war" bulletins and opinion pieces. The frequency I hear is 6.23980 MHz (LSB). They use AM but setting the radio to USB helps beat some of the interference. The nominal, announced frequency is 6.240 MHz. The station is usually jammed, except on Sundays when they carry mostly "cultural programming." The fellow hams I have asked have all heard the broadcasts. Seldom are signals very strong, but I've actually heard the station on a tiny Sony SW 20 radio, provided I am inductively close to any of my outside antennas. Reception in Panama City is usually not possible, but no so once out in the open or near the ocean. Yours truly, (Tony Conte/HP1KL, Feb 1, Panamá, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Hello to all; if you cannot find anything of interest in the tropical bands, have a look on 49m. On 6140.53 I could observe a new Colombian. Seems to be a local AM-station from Bogotá, which additionally opened a sw-outlet. A small sound file with ID (30 KB) is available in the audio clip section of my homepage: http://home.arcor.de/mschnitzer/ 6140.53, R. Melodía, Bogotá, January 31st, 2245-2400, Spanish, talks about sexual education, international news, sports talks, slogan: "Melodía, la radio líder", ID: "Aquí Bogotá, lider de ... Colombia desde moderno edificio de cristal (?) en la calle de 25, centro de la radio ... AM 730 kilociclos, HJCU onda larga, 11000 vatios de potencia en antena y en la banda internacional de 49 metros, HJQE, 6140 kilociclos, onda corta ..." SINPO 32422 vy 73 (Michael Schnitzer, Hassfurt, Germany, hard-core-dx via DXLD) 6140.57, R. Melodía, 0939, ID at 0940 Feb 1 with mentions of Bogotá and Melodía, then into ballad style music. Relatively noisy at this time (Don Nelson, Oregon, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 6140.6, Radio Melodia, 0130-0200, Jan 31, Nice romantic songs program with very strong signal with no interference till 0200. At 0157 "Últimas noticias" Announcements: "A toda hora y en todo lugar Cadena Melodía, la radio leader de Colombia". "Melodía presentò Otro Concierto Musical, gracias por seguir con Melodía". "Desde el moderno edificio de cristal en la calle 45, epicentro de la radio, le habla Melodia AM 730 ... Onda larga, ... En la banda internacional de 49 metros ... 6140 Kc en onda corta ... Melodía AM ... De la cadena Melodía de Colombia" (Giampiero Bernardini, Italy, hard-core-dx via DXLD) R. Melodía from Bogotá, is audible right now on 6140.63. The signal is fairly strong, but there is severe QRM from 6140 kHz. A sample ID can be found on http://www.dxing.info/audio/index_colombia.dx 73 (Mika Mäkeläinen http://www.DXing.info/ via DXLD) The reactivated Colombian, Radio Melodía was audible yesterday evening (31 Jan) here on 6140.5 around 2330-0000 with best reception on the quieter East-West short beverage (Alan Pennington, Caversham UK, AOR 7030+ / beverage, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Hola amigos, hago eco de esta noticia que publica el colega Adán González via DXLD, ya que hace algunos meses el amigo Martin Stendal de la Voz de tu Conciencia me comentó que conocía de otro proyecto para la onda corta y era precisamente Radio Melodía aunque tenían problemas con la antena. Como señala el colega desde Venezuela en la identificación mencionan la frecuencia de onda corta; pero ante una llamda que les hice, no quisieron informar nada. De todas formas sería una buena noticia que representaría el retorno de esta emisora luego de varios lustros (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Hola a todos. Ahora son las 0110 UT (01/02/2003) y les comento que esta estación, identificada como HJQE 6140 y HJCU Melodía 730, ha estado llegando muy bien por Caracas todos el día. Hoy la he estado escuchando desde las 1510 (31/01/2003) con muy buena señal, con algo de QRN a muy bajo nivel; en horas diurnas esta frecuencia está completamente libre de interferencias de otras estaciones y la recepción es excelente, SINPO 45444. Luego de las 2200 la señal va mejorando aún más hasta llegar a SINPO 55445; ya a esta hora la señal está interferida por otras estaciones. En los links de abajo encontrarán 3 archivos en Real Audio con la ID de esta estación y otros datos grabados a diferentes horas el dia de hoy. HJQE-6140-16:59-UTC http://www.venehost.com.ve/swl/hjqe_6140_id_31-01-2003_1659_utc.rm 31-01-2003 16:59 UTC 50 KB HJQE-6140-18:28-UTC http://www.venehost.com.ve/swl/hjqe_6140_31-01-2003_1828_utc.rm 31-01-2003 18:28 UTC 326 KB HJQE-6140-01:58-UTC http://www.venehost.com.ve/swl/hjqe_6140_01-02-2003_0159_utc.rm 01-02-2003 01:58 UTC 246 KB Espero los encuentren interesantes. 73/DX (José M. Valdés R. (Joe) YV5LIX 10 31 N 66 52 W Grid: FK60NM RX1: Sony ICF-2010 RX2: Icom IC- R8500-02 Antenna SWL: Sloper 120 meters long. P. O. Box 68195 Caracas 1062-A Edo. Miranda Venezuela, Jan 31, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. 7530, Voice of the Eritrean People, via Kvitsöy, *1700-1727*, Su Jan 19 and 26, Tigrinya talk mentioning Eritrea, Asmara and Somalia, Horn of Africa songs, abrupt s/off in the middle of a sentence. 44444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** GEORGIA. It has been confirmed from various official sources in the past years that the Radio Rossii/Sochinskaya GTRK/GTRK Kuban relays on 1350 & 9490 are originating from Suxum, Abkhazia. The signal of the Russian programs is apparently picked up by Ballempfang (off-air) at the border to Russia from the FM tx in Sochi on 71.93 MHz. That is the reason why there cannot be noted any time delay on 1089/1350/9490, because the transmitters in Tbilisskaya on 1089 and Sochi 71.93 receive the regional feed simultaneously by micro wave network (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, BC-DX Jan 23 via DXLD) ** GREENLAND. KNR: Not even a carrier was audible here on either frequency [3815 or 3947] on Jan 25, 2125-2225 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** ICELAND. 12120-U, Rikisutvarpid, 2302-2310 Feb 1. Music followed by talk by man. Very difficult copy due to persistent and loud utility station. Only in the clear for a minute or so. SINPO 32332. Parallel 13865 not heard (Jim Evans, TN, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR TO LENGTHEN LIFE OF SHORT WAVE RADIO http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=27042 Nivedita Mookerji New Delhi: At a time when short wave analogue radio is on its way out all over the world, All India Radio (AIR) is all set for a relaunch of its National Channel on short wave. Surprisingly, even the working group on the information and broadcasting sector for the Tenth Plan had recommended that short wave should be phased out, citing poor reception quality. According to Prasar Bharati CEO K S Sarma, AIR's National Channel, which has been available during the night hours so far, can now be heard all through the day. But, the service will be available throughout the day only on short wave frequency, admits another official. Result: Wide coverage, but poor reception quality. However, the channel would be available on other frequencies during night-through medium wave (MW) transmitters at Nagpur and Delhi each, and a frequency modulated (FM) transmitter at Kasauli. On short wave, the channel will be available through a 500-kw transmitter in Bangalore and a 250-kw one in Delhi. So far, listeners in India have been getting the National Channel on medium wave only. The external service catering to listeners abroad, a short wave transmitter at Bangalore was being used. Why the transition from MW to SW then for the National Channel in India, in stark contrast to the world trend? Digital short wave radio of course is a new concept in the international scenario. Giving reasons, a Prasar Bharati official says wide coverage up to 1000 km all through the day is what prompted the shift to short wave. So far, only a radius of about 100 to 150 km could be covered through the medium wave transmitter located at Nagpur during daytime. At night, however, the entire middle India was receiving the channel. The difference in coverage is due to the medium wave that can be propagated through the ionosphere at night. But the official agrees that short wave listening is down internationally. ''Even AIR is phasing out short wave because of poor reception quality,'' he adds. But, in this case, short wave is being better utilised, with the existing infrastructure, for wider coverage of the National channel, he says. According to the report of the working group on the Tenth Plan, shortwave radio broadcasting services in analogue mode should be phased out (via Artie Bigley, Mike Terry, Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. From the middle of December till Jan 06 I was only able to hear the following stations here in the Philippines. They are heard during local daytime or from 1000 onwards: 2899.1 RPDT2 Ngada, regular, very weak. 3266.4 RRI Gorontalo, regular. 3325 RRI Palangkaraya, regular, late fade in. 3344.8 RRI Ternate, regular. 3905 RRI Merauke, sporadic, but active at present. 3960v RRI Palu, regular. 3976 RRI Pontianak, irregular, but active at present. 4000.1 RRI Kendari, regular. 4606.5 RRI Serui, regular. 4753.3 RRI Makassar, regular. 4925 RRI Jambi, regular. 9524.9 Voice of Indonesia, irregular. 9743.7 RRI Sorong, regular, but weak. Signs off at 0758* 11784.9 Voice of Indonesia, irregular (Roland Schulze, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. If you are listening to WRN in the USA via Sirius Satellite Radio on Channel 111, from 3rd February WRN will be on Stream 115, so retune to keep listening to WRN, the world`s radio station (WRN Newsletter, Jan. 31, 2003 via Sergei Sosedkin, IL, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Columbia disaster: see USA ** IRAN. V. of David: see ISRAEL [non] ** IRAN [non]. Re V. of Southern Azerbaijan: The SANAM web site http://www.cehreganli.com mentions its being at 9375 kHz: Showed faulty 9573 instead! See also a background report via BBCM: http://www.cehreganli.com/bbcrep.txt and U.S. assistance support and Pres Bush's statement of July 12, 2002, in which he said the U.S. will no longer attempt to engage the "reformers" and will only work with dissidents. See: http://www.cehreganli.com/csiscixisi.pdf (Center of Strategic & International Studies, Washington DC; CIS Caucasus Project Meeting Notes) [what means Caucasus Project?? -- is it an action to destabilize Iran's government?, ed. WB] Observed on Jan 30th at 1650 UT with solid signal strength in Europe, freq is even xx.00 and fine audio modulation noted (Wolfgang Bueschel, BC-DX Jan 30 via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. 5896.8, Voice of Iraqi People, Voice of the Iraqi Communist Party, Iraqi Kurdistan, 0430-0530*, Jan 25, Arabic talks about Iraq, frequent ID's: "Huna sawt al-Shab al-Iraq, idha'atu al- Hizb al-Shuju'i al-Iraq", Arab songs and more talks, slosed with a short song, 34333 // 3899.9 (first 35444, but then fading out). No programme in Kurdish (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. unID: There was something on 7560 today [Jan 28] at tune in 1730, already on air with a good signal, and I heard part of an ID given in English --- but unfortunately more or less "drowned" by background music. An ID in Arabic --- also covered by the same music at 1743, and one in a unknown language at 1756, also covered by music. There was no other speech heard - just Middle East sounding music - NOT Horn of Africa style. I tuned out at 1800 and returned c1827, but the station was off then (Noel Green, England, Jan 27 [sic], BC-DX via DXLD) [Later:] The station using 7560 is Voice of Mesopotamia. The carrier heard at 1645 began sending "Russian" style tones at 1656 and then stopped doing so at 1700 as music started - the same as heard yesterday - and ID's were given in four languages including Arabic and English..."...you are now listening to The Voice of Mesopotamia...". Frequencies, days and times were heard, but these were very difficult to copy due to the loudness of the background music. Is coming via Russia or one of the former Republics. Music was played after the sequence of ID's. (Noel Green, England, Jan 29, BCDX via DXLD) ** ISRAEL [non]. Re CIDX Messenger Dec, IRAN IRIB 21745 0700-0727 in Hebrew: I agree the above is a transmission of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. It does not identify as Iran. It calls itself, Kol Dah- veed, the voice of David. They say they are on 31 meters and on 31. They do not give frequencies. They do give 0700-0730 UTC. I have heard them twice, the last time being today 20 January, 21745 kHz, SIO 555. They gave fax numbers which are in Teheran, 0098(21)204-7076 and 0098(21)204-6397 Address given: Iran, Teheran, PO Box 19395-6767 Syria, Damascus, P O Box 9731 Lebanon, Beirut, P O Box 113-718 Bahrain, Manama, P O Box 26273 All of the above have no postal ties with Israel. They gave a web-site where you can hear the program: http://www.iribworld.com This is different than that given in PWBR and WRTH for IRIB. I have no computer so do not know if it works or not. They announce as if it was yesterday evening. Well, there you have an opportunity to get a QSL of a clandestine. They did not mention reception reports in the programs. Best wishes. Yours, (David Crystal, Ramat Zvi, Israel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non]. [unID origin], 9890, "Kashmir" R. Sedaye Kashmir 0027-0300 01/30. Test-tone until *0231. OM with ID; Hindi style music and chorus. OM and YL with radio drama/soap opera program. Music break at 0235; program resumes briefly at 0240; music again from 0242 to 0247. Back to program; mostly talk by OM. Hindi dance music at 0257. Rough copy, fading at this time; completely overtaken by VOA 9885 s/on at 0300. Good at tune-in. Anyone else hearing this? Due to my work schedule I can monitor this Tue/Wed only (Scott Barbour, NH, DXplorer Jan 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 3975, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan /PDKI. Received an e-mail confirmation from Canadian Representative from this e-mail address pdkicanada@pdki.org This was an old report on 4065 which they verified for 1992. Reply in 26 days stating apologizes for the delay due to heavy mail reply's. v/s PDKI Canada (Ed Kusalik via Dxplorer, Jan 14). 4065 has now been replaced by 3975 (Ed Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 7560, Voice of Komala via Kvitsöy, *1700-1757*, Su Jan 19 & 26, Fanfare and Kurdish ID: ``Eira dengi Komala, Eira dengi Komala, dengi Komala... dengi azadi... dengi (revat) kommunisti...``, ann, music, political talks, 1730 same fanfare and Farsi ID: ``In sade-ye Komala, In seda-ye Komala, seda-ye Komalei, seda-ye... Kommunisti Kurdistana.``, political talks. Sundays only. At 1659:30 to 1700:20 was noted a jump-over 'Overload' program of just nine seconds from ISDN feed at Kvitsoe, from nearby Voice of the Eritrean People program [of 7530]. 35434 (Bueschel and Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) On Jan 20, I compared my recorded ID's from Jan 19 with the ID's on 3928.1 at *1656-1838* where the Voice of Komala can be heard daily. Both stations ID" Eira dengi Komala" in Kurdish and "In seda-ye Komala" in Farsi in the short version, but the long versions of their ID's are different. However, I think I recognized the Kurdish woman speaking on both frequencies as being the same. Two different stations were described by Robertas Petraitis in DXW no. 190 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. Voice of the People of Kurdistan in Al-Sulaymaniya, NE Iraq heard January 30th 1750 on 4415.8 ex 6995, parallel to 4025. What Now My Love tune 1756 then news 1800 in local (Mike Barraclough, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. 4050, unID via Krasnaya Rechka, Bishkek, *0225-0340, Jan 20, (Cf. DX-Window no. 212) Signed on with test tones and fade in of western pop sound ``Do you funk?``, non-stop pop songs from Europe and Central Asian (some similarities to Turkish folksongs). No announcements at all or Farsi talk this morning. At 0330 there was a 3 minute break and then another tape with similar pop songs was played. 34433. Same propagation characteristics as Bishkek on 4010. On Jan 25 the station was not heard at 0320. Also heard *1555-1750, Jan 22 and 27, mostly non-stop Central Asian songs with no announcement at all, 1742 song about Kurdistan! But at 1600-1606 Vernacular talk much disturbed. Shortly CWQRM and some QRM from Romanian (?) utility conversation, 24433 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 6100, R. Liberia International, 0650-0740, Jan 22 and 26, popular African style music. ID heard 0657 in English. News followed at 0701 then fire-and-brimstone preaching by African-accented minister to program closing announcement at 0740, with pastor giving church address of P.O. Box 4347, Monrovia, then full ID, including "You are tuned just right to the SW service of the Liberia Communications Network. This is Radio Liberia International, we broadcast live and direct . . . Africa." Then TC and into light religious vocals with some inspirational talkover. Good signal at first, but began to fade in England. Ruined by WYFR-6105 *0755 (Jerry Berg, MA and Noel Green, UK, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. At 0750 this morning I happened to come across a signal that might be interesting. On 5470, I was hearing what sounded at first like someone talking in low tones, then it went into music I can't quite classify. At the hour I heard a woman speaking in English and she identified the station as Radio Veritas. I have no idea where this is being broadcast from. My database says Liberia, but I thought that was no longer active. I did record this to a wav file and listened to the playback. She does say Radio Veritas. Maybe someone else can confirm this? Signal was 222 to 444 using RX320 and 23 ft vertical. Heard it best in USB mode (Chris DX'ing in Louisville KY, Drake R4A, R390, Ten Tec RX320, 90 ft dipole, 23 ft vertical, Feb 1, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Of course it`s Liberia, reported several times recently in DXLD (gh) Chris, Its Radio Veritas, Liberia. Has been on for about a few months or so. Was also reported this past summer. Best heard at 0600 sign-on, if nothing there wait a few minutes. I've noted them signing-on 15 minutes before or after 0600. I think they are on in the early evenings (EST) until 2200 also. 73 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. R. Dat for Kazkahstan, 9925, most likely is coming from Sitkunai, Lithuania facility. 1600-1700 UT. probably on their 79 degree antenna? Then transmitter to be switched from 9925 to 7.4 MHz, for R Barabari service in Persian language at 1701-1731 UT, probably on Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun only (Wolfgang Bueschel, Jan 25, BC-DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. 6010: No he sintonizado la interferncia de La Voz de tu Conciencia [COLOMBIA] el día de ayer y anteayer, pero entre las 0400 y las 0500 UT, escucho una interferencia, como jamming, que elimina a Radio Mil y a las emisoras que están 5 kHz de ambos lados (Héctor García Bojorge, DF, Jan 30, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Hector, En 6010 hay pruebas digitales DRM de la BBC através de Sackville, Canada, a las 00-01 y 04-05 como ya se informó en DX Listening Digest. He sugerido a la HFCC, pronto a reunirse en Sudáfrica, que reconozcan la existencia de Radio Mil en 6010! Desafortunadamente, no cuenta con la potencia para causar mucha interferencia a las otras emisoras; al contrario. Considero que las emisoras mayores internacionales deben proteger a los ocupantes de largo tiempo en tales frecuencias. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) El respeto a la frecuencia considero en opinión personal; debe darse en la medida que la estación mantenga emisiones permanentes que con lleven un continuo mejoramiento en la señal. Ya que por el hecho de haber obtenido una licencia hace muchos años no es suficiente; o si no se debería postular otras emisoras latinoamericanas para obtener este reconocimiento (Rafael Rodríguez, Colombia, ibid.) Estoy totalmente de acuerdo contigo, Rafael. XEOI, Radio Mil onda corta, tiene más de 50 años transmitiendo en onda corta continuamente, empezando con un transmisor de 250 watts, luego a 950 y hace 10 años que se consiguió un transmisor de 1000 watts; actualmente se irradia la señal las 24 horas del día, se han realizado mejoras técnicas en sus enlaces y antenas, se tiene planeado en un futuro subir la potencia a 10,000 watts. Nuestro destino es toda la República Mexicana y el sur de los EE.UU. saludos (Héctor García Bojorge, DF, ibid.) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI, 6095, surprisingly good signals here 1620 January 29th, I would expect this frequency will be used for extended broadcasts when New Zealand are competing in this months Cricket World Cup in South Africa (Mike Barraclough, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. 600, YNLD, La Nueva Ya, Managua, FEB 01 0432 - briefly got woman in SS with news // to the live 365.com stream which I was listening on my computer at the same time (with the sound of the computer speaker close to maximum as to keep the signal reach me up closer to my radio). Finally confirmed, nice ! Equipment: Sanyo MCD- S830 w/ ferrite bar antenna QTH: Pierrefonds-Est (Montreal), Quebec, Canada (Bogdan Chiochiu, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Have got an airmail letter from Roland Schulze, the Philippines. He tells me that he heard a 2nd channel from V. of Nigeria 11770 at around 2120-2245 UT. English news at 2245. Propagation varies from day to day, sometimes heard in // to 15120. Vernaculars. SINPO 24432 (Roland Schulze, Pangasinan, BC-DX Jan 9) Checked here in Stuttgart, but negative, wb (Wolfgang Bueschel, BCDX editor, Jan 30 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Just in case you haven't heard, KOMA-AM 1520 will be flipping format Monday morning to news-talk. This had been rumored for almost a year now with the addition of CBS news on the hour and the O'Reilly Factor. A retrospective saluting the top 40 years of KOMA will be aired tonight at 10 PM [UT Sun 0400] and Sunday evening at 6 PM [UT Mon 0000] -- all times are Central. In addition, historic clips from the KOMA jocks are being featured thru the weekend. If you're in the range of the 1520 signal tonight or tomorrow, you may want to listen and/or record this bit of history, and by all means try to hear the changeover Monday morning. Of course, this is all incidental given the tragic news regarding the space shuttle Columbia. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of all involved (Mark Erdman, Herington/Salina KS, Feb 1, NRC-AM via DXLD) No, KOMA does not stream due to the usual issues ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. On Dec 31 the following stations were audible from 1000: 2410, 3235, 3260, 3275, 3290, 3305, 3315, 3365, 3375, 3385 and 4890 (Roland Schulze, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** POLAND. The January 28th Media Magazine said that Radio Polonia would shortly hold an extensive conference with the TPSA transmitting company about problems with the quality of the shortwave broadcasts. They would present reception reports, articles they had found on the internet and radio magazines, and some MiniDisc recordings sent in by Erik Køie in Denmark and ask for the technical problems at the site to be quickly rectified (Mike Barraclough, UK, Feb World DX Club contact via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Pop goes St Petersburg. Radio Studio is one of the last 'independent' radio stations broadcasting from Russia on shortwave. Its sudden disappearance from the dial, only to reappear after a long pause in autumn 2002, puzzled many shortwave listeners. They've also been confused by on-air references to Radio Gardarika and Nevskaya volna, and the fact that the station doesn't seem to be on a regular schedule. So what's going on? Bernd Trutenau has the answers. http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/features/html/rus030131.html (Media Network Newsletter Jan 31 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. The VOICE OF RUSSIA has put out a radio series on Stalingrad. Joining forces with the city government there, it has also issued a CD with memories of Russian and German veterans of the great Stalingrad battle. See the details on our website (VoR's News Bulletin, Jan. 31, 2003) No details about the CD are found on the site. But one can still participate in the Battle of Stalingrad Quiz at: http://www.vor.ru/opros/v_st/index.php?lang=eng (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. ITAR-TASS NEWS AGENCY LAUNCHES NEW INTERNET PORTAL | Excerpt from report in English by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 1 February: ITAR-TASS has launched a new Internet portal at http://www.itar-tass.com Access to some of its products is free. As they created the web site, the developers sought to take into account all comments from ITAR-TASS Internet resources users and make their work as convenient and productive as possible... http://www.itar-tass.com carries online news, stories and reviews by the agency's own and special correspondents, analysis, on-site photos, a photo archive, up-to-date graphics information and vast databases... Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 0726 gmt 1 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. The Voice of Tibet is registered at: 1215-1300 on 15400 15615 15645 21495 21525 21635 21760, and 1430-1515 on 11550 11975 12025 12145. The station uses CIS transmitter sites as Almaty, Dushanbe and Tashkent. It is always object of strong jamming from China mainland. But it is always noted on two channels only at 1215 which on Jan 13-15 were 15645 and 21525; and a single frequency at 1430 which on Jan 13- 15 was 11975. On Jan 17 it was heard at 1215 on 15645 and 21635; at 1430 on 12025 (Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) On Jan 27 I heard it at *1215-1300* on 15615 and 21495 with Chinese music jamming on 21495 only. At 1430-1517:45* it was heard on 12025, but it was funny to note that the music jammer (QSA 3) started on the empty 11975 at *1430-1431* and then moved to 12025 *1432-1515* where it immediately drowned the QSA 2 signal the Voice of Tibet completely. However, this clandestine station somehow increased its power, so it could be heard from 1445 with 33443 through the jamming here in Denmark. The jamming station was not aware that the Voice of Tibet ran overtime 1515 after which it could be heard with 35444 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Jan 29 via DXLD) ** U K [non]. 9740, BIBLE VOICE, opening at 0030 with its English ID, then into Indian languages until closing at 0100. I am not sure of the transmitter site, but believe this to be Nauen, Germany. This service was listed for 7315 earlier in January, but the station is making many frequency and schedule changes and won't disclose the sites! Regards! (Bob Padula, Friday 31-Jan (Point Cook Coastal Park, Vic., Sangean ATS808A, 10 m random antenna) EDXP via DXLD) ** U K. I'm very sorry to have to tell you this but Charles "Gordon" Bennett Passed away this morning at 07:50. His Wife just phoned me. There'll be a private family only cremation. He'll be fondly remembered for his "Wavescan" programme on AWR but he was a kind generous man who greatly enhanced the lives of everyone he came into contact with. I personally owe him a lot for introducing me to the British FM & TV circle among many other things (Tim Bucknall, Feb 1, UK, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U K. The February edition of "Shortwave News" has been uploaded to the International Listener web site, featuring part two of A Visit to Bush House, our exclusive look inside the BBC World Service. Included are interviews with a senior producer from the African languages section, as well as Robin White, editor-in-chief of the quarterly BBC magazine Focus on Africa. And noting the BBC's interest in American news stories like Enron/Andersen, there are exclusive interviews with World Business Report presenter Roger White and business editor Martin Webber. http://www.internationallistener.com http://home.houston.rr.com/edmayberry (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U K. No kudos to BBC WS for covering the Columbia disaster. A sesquihour into the story around 1530 UT I checked the Americas stream, and they were still in the mandatory Saturday afternoon stupid ballgame coverage! Next stop, WBAP, which is again streaming with nothing but. BBC limited its coverage to news on the hour (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ASTRONAUTS PRESUMED LOST AS COLUMBIA BREAKS UP OVER TEXAS NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 1, 2003 --- All members of the seven-person crew of space shuttle Columbia are feared dead after the spacecraft broke up high over Texas today. Columbia was on its way to what had been considered an uneventful landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Three of the crew members on the scientific mission were Amateur Radio operators. NASA says communication was lost around 8 AM Central Time, and unconfirmed reports indicated that debris has been spotted on the ground in Texas. Aboard was the first Israeli to fly in space. ARRL Field and Educational Services Manager Rosalie White, K1STO, who's been closely associated with the Space Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) and Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) programs expressed shock and sadness over the Columbia disaster. "We sincerely regret this latest tragedy," she said. "We will be keeping the families of these astronauts in our minds and hearts." White is ARISS International Secretary and the primary liaison between ARRL and the ARISS program. No Amateur Radio gear was aboard the Columbia for this mission. The STS-107 crew, headed by Commander Rick D. Husband, also included Pilot William C. McCool and Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawlna, KD5ESI; David M. Brown, KC5ZTC; Laurel B. Clark, KC5ZSU, Michael P. Anderson, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon--a well-known Israeli Air Force pilot who had waited two years for a chance to go into space. Search-and-rescue crews have been deployed in Texas, although little hope exists that anyone survived the breakup. NASA has warned those on the ground to stay clear of any debris they might spot. NASA says shuttle debris may be contaminated with hyperbolic fuel, the fumes of which can be fatal if inhaled. "If you find debris, please do not touch it, and if you have photos or videos that you think will be helpful, please contact your local police authorities," NASA said in a statement. News video from Texas television stations --- now being replayed across the country --- apparently shows the Columbia disintegrating as it was approximately 207,000 feet (39 statute miles) above Earth. NASA said the first sign of trouble was a loss of radio and data (telemetry) contact with the shuttle. A surveillance satellite reportedly detected what's been called a "heat spike" in space as Columbia approached Earth which could indicate an explosion aboard Columbia. President George W. Bush has convened a crisis team that involves members of the military, but it was not believed there was any terrorist link to the Columbia disaster. STS-107 was NASA's 144th shuttle mission. Reminiscent of the 1986 Challenger disaster, which occurred as the spacecraft was going into space, the Columbia tragedy marked the first time a shuttle had encountered any problems during re-entry. The Columbia broke up while traveling 12,500 MPH and a mere 16 minutes from touchdown in Florida, where the crew members' families were awaiting their arrival back on Earth following a 16-day research mission. Their duty tour had been described as routine. The Columbia did not visit the International Space Station while in space. The mission had been subjected to heavy security, however. NASA has grounded all of its space shuttles, but there's no word yet that the Columbia tragedy will affect the current Expedition 7 crew's future aboard the International Space Station. More information may be available via the NASA Human Spaceflight Web page http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/ 11:58 AM, 01 Feb 2003 ET Page author: awextra@arrl.org (ARRL web via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO IN SPACE: EDUCATOR ASTRONAUT RECRUITMENT PROGRAM The National Aeronautics and Space Administration says that recruitment is currently underway for the Educator Astronaut Program. Applicants must be teachers who are U.S. citizens, certified to instruct Kindergarten through 12th grade with a minimum three years in-classroom teaching experience within the past four years. They must also hold at least a bachelor's degree in physical science, biological science, engineering or mathematics, or an education degree with a concentration in physical science, biological science, engineering or mathematics. An Amateur Radio license is not required. Applications are being accepted through April 30th. More information and the application package is available at http://edspace.nasa.gov (NASA via Amateur Radio Newsline Jan 31 via DXLD) ** U S A. NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 31, 2003 --- Utah's Amateur Radio antenna bill appears to be on the fast track. Just 11 days after its introduction, the bill has made it through the Utah House of Representatives. The vote today was 65 to 8 (with two members not voting). ARRL Utah Section Manager Mel Parkes, AC7CP, has been encouraging Utah amateurs to get behind the new measure, House Bill 79, which was introduced January 20. Sponsored by Rep Neal B. Hendrickson, HB 79, "Regulation of Amateur Radio Antennas," received a favorable recommendation from the House standing committee on political subdivisions earlier this month. HB 79 would prohibit municipalities and counties in Utah from enacting ordinances that fail to comply with the limited federal preemption known as PRB-1. The measure would require that local ordinances involving placement, screening or height of an Amateur Radio antenna that are based on health, safety or aesthetics "reasonably accommodate amateur radio communications" and "represent the minimal practicable regulation to accomplish the municipality's purpose." The bill now moves to the Utah Senate. A copy of the proposed legislation is available on the Utah State Legislature Web site. So far, 16 states have incorporated the essence of PRB-1 into their statutes. Bills are pending in several other states (ARRL via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. WBCQ is working on plans to add news to its schedule, from a non-corporate source, if the US goes to war. New on 9335-CUSB from Sun Feb 9 is Laser Radio, 2000-2400 UT (Allan Weiner, AWWW Feb 1, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, but news on the hour? would disrupt lots of existing programming which does not have a news hole built in (gh, DXLD) WBCQ-NEWS SERVICE - PLANET WORLD NEWS Dear Glenn: Some exciting happenings at WBCQ. We are pleased to announce that we are inaugurating our own news service to be known as Planet World News. This feature will be compiled by our staff as honest, sincerely presented, world news stories as truthful and as accurate as we can obtain. The service debuts on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 3:50 pm. EST [2050 UT] on 7.415. Planet World News will be broadcasted Monday thru Saturday at 3:50 p.m. EST on 7.415. As we get closer to a possible war and other unsettling events throughout the world, we feel it our responsibility to begin to establish a news department here at WBCQ. I am pleased to announce that a British group known as Laser Radio will be putting their highly popular music, information and variety program on our station beginning February 9, 2003 between 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM EST [2000-2400 UT] on 9.335. Everyone here at WBCQ - The Planet is dedicated to changing the face of shortwave radio. It is our goal to bring as much new and diverse programming to this very precious medium. As you may or may not know, the FCC is most likely going to deregulate all ownership restrictions on domestic radio and television stations in the United States. This will result in major corporate media coming in and buying up all of the media voices in all of the significant media markets in this country. Shortwave will become more of a trusted alternative voice for people wanting to get a non-corporate influenced view of the planet. Sincerely yours, (Allan H. Weiner, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI is still running classical music fill, at least on Saturdays, Copland around 1400 Feb 1 on 15725 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Winter B-02 VOA (with the exception of English). Updated on 30-01-2003 ALBANIAN 0600-0630 1215 6030 6125 9635 1700-1730 5970 9705 11905 1930-2000 1458 7115 9600 9850 AMHARIC 1800-1830 13675 15775 17640 ARABIC 0000-0400 981 1260 1548 0400-0600 981 1260 1548 5965 9665 11670 11815 11865 11875 0730-0800 981 1260 1548 6045 7170 9565 9615 11805 15140 15235 15440 17855 0800-0830 981 1548 6045 7170 9565 9615 11805 15140 15235 15440 17855 0830-1500 981 1548 1500-1700 981 1260 1548 1700-1800 981 1260 1548 7105 11855 1800-1900 981 1260 1548 7180 7280 9530 9770 11825 11905 11960 1900-2000 981 1260 1548 6040 7195 7280 9530 9615 11825 11905 17740 2000-2100 981 1260 1548 6040 6060 6150 6160 7195 7280 9530 9650 11825 11905 17740 2100-2400 981 1260 1548 ARMENIAN 1600-1630 11680 13865 (9815 deleted) AZERI 1830-1900 9750 9695 11770 BANGLA 0130-0200 11805 15210 17780 1600-1700 1575 7280 9855 15160 BOSNIAN 1600-1630 1197 Mon-Fri 2230-2300 792 1197 Mon-Fri BURMESE 1130-1200 1575 6140 9890 11850 15225 1430-1500 1575 5955 9720 11930 2330-2400 6135 7260 9865 CANTONESE 1300-1330 9705 11865 15160 1330-1500 1143 9705 11865 15160 CREOLE 1230-1300 9535 11890 15265 Mon-Fri 1730-1800 15385 17565 21540 2200-2230 9525 9670 21540 CROATIAN 0530-0600 756 792 1197 1395 6180 7165 9635 1930-2000 1197 6050 7245 7270 DARI 0130-0230 801 12140 15690 17595 1130-1200 15690 17595 19010 1200-1230 1143 15690 17595 19010 1530-1630 801 11770 15690 19010 FRENCH 0530-0630 1530 4960 5890 6120 7265 7370 9480 9505 11655 13695 15375 Mon-Fri 1830-2000 1530 9815 11775 12080 13735 15220 17580 21485 2000-2030 9815 11775 12080 13735 15220 21485 2030-2100 9780 9815 11775 12080 13735 15220 21485 Sat/Sun 2100-2130 5985 9780 9815 11775 12080 15220 17755 21485 Mon-Fri GEORGIAN 1530-1600 9770 11850 13645 HAUSA 0500-0530 1530 4960 6120 7105 9885 1500-1530 7135 9810 11680 2030-2100 4950 9780 9815 11775 12080 13735 15220 21485 Mon-Fri HINDI 0030-0100 5955 7135 11705 1600-1700 6060 9815 11730 INDONESIAN 1130-1200 7215 7255 9720 11930 15160 2200-2330 7130 9620 11805 15205 KHMER 1330-1430 1575 5955 9720 11930 2200-2230 1575 6060 7260 9535 13640 KINYARWANDA 0330-0400 7340 9785 11915 0400-0430 5995 7340 9785 11915 KOREAN 1200-1400 648 5985 7235 9555 11895 2100-2200 5995 7110 12065 KURDISH 1600-1700 7240 11875 15250 1800-1900 6115 11805 12030 LAOTIAN 1230-1300 1575 6030 7215 11930 MACEDONIAN 2030-2100 1197 Mon-Fri MANDARIN 0000-0100 6045 7190 9545 11925 15395 17765 21580 0100-0200 7190 9545 11925 15395 17765 21580 0200-0300 11925 15395 17765 21580 0700-0800 11855 11965 12010 13615 13650 13765 15515 0800-0900 11855 11965 12010 13650 13765 15515 0900-1000 9845 11855 11965 12010 13650 13765 15515 15665 1000-1100 9845 11855 11965 12010 13615 13650 13765 15515 15665 1100-1200 1143 6160 9530 9680 11785 11965 12040 15500 1200-1300 6160 9530 9680 11785 11965 11995 12040 15500 1300-1330 6160 7390 9680 9790 11785 11965 12040 15500 1330-1400 1143 6160 7390 9680 9790 11785 11965 12040 15500 1400-1500 6160 7390 9680 9790 11730 11965 15500 2200-2300 5905 6025 6045 7140 9545 11925 15395 OROMO 1845-1900 13675 15775 17640 Mon-Fri PASHTO 0030-0130 801 12140 15690 17595 1030-1130 15690 17595 19010 1430-1530 801 11770 15690 19010 1830-1930 801 PERSIAN 0300-0400 7200 9435 17855 1700-1800 6160 9680 12110 1800-1900 972 6160 9680 12110 1900-2000 6160 9680 12110 PORTUGUESE 0430-0500 1530 5890 5975 5995 6015 7145 7370 9480 9675 1700-1730 1530 7290 11775 13600 15545 1730-1800 909 1530 7290 9805 11775 13600 15545 17785 21485 1800-1830 1530 7290 9805 11775 13600 15545 17785 21485 Mon-Fri RUSSIAN 1400-1500 9615 11805 11895 11945 15130 15370 1800-1900 6105 7220 9520 9655 9725 11685 1900-2000 6105 7220 9505 9520 9655 11685 SERBIAN 0630-0700 1188 1197 1458 6035 6125 7115 1800-1830 792 1188 1197 6095 9695 11750 2030-2100 792 7180 9600 9810 2200-2230 756 1188 1197 7195 9540 9655 SPANISH 0100-0200 9480 9560 9885 11700 11990 1130-1200 9535 11890 15265 1200-1230 9480 9535 11890 13715 15265 15390 17875 SWAHILI 1630-1700 15580 17580 17705 21480 1700-1730 15580 17580 17705 21480 Mon-Fri TIBETAN 0000-0100 7200 7255 9555 12035 0400-0600 15585 17630 17770 21570 1400-1500 6015 7290 11790 12040 TIGRINA 1830-1845 13675 15775 17640 Mon-Fri TURKISH 1900-2000 792 6175 9770 11875 UKRAINIAN 0500-0600 6170 7190 7245 2100-2130 7190 9565 11875 URDU 0100-0200 6170 7175 9705 1330-1430 9510 11715 15320 1700-1800 11975 13680 15130 UZBEK 1230-1300 1143 15470 17555 17730 1500-1530 7295 9745 9890 15255 VIETNAMESE 1300-1330 1143 1575 9720 9890 15150 1500-1600 5955 7150 9725 9780 2230-2330 6060 7260 9535 13640 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 31 via DXLD) ** U S A. New VOA programme to Zimbabwe `Studio 7` heard January 29th; programme content consisted of a mix of Zimbabwean news and local music. Announced schedule as 1730-1800 on 17895 via Morocco and 13600 via Botswana, both of which I heard, plus 900 mediumwave. Email address studio7@voa.com (Michael Ford, Staffordshire, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO GIANT DEFENDS ITS SIZE AT SENATE PANEL HEARING January 31, 2003, By JENNIFER 8. LEE WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 - The chief executive of the nation's largest radio conglomerate faced pointed questions today about his company's business practices at a Senate committee hearing on the consolidation of media owners. L. Lowry Mays, the chairman and chief executive of Clear Channel Communications Inc., said that deregulation and economies of scale had allowed his company to make investments to offer more choices to listeners. "The industry is healthier and more robust than ever before," Mr. Mays said at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee. But several Democrats and Republicans and other witnesses, including Don Henley, a member of the Eagles who started the Recording Artists' Coalition, accused the company of using its size to intimidate competitors and coerce artists into promotional deals that benefit the company. They cited anecdotes they said illustrated advertising pricing policies that undermine competing stations, payment deals that skirt laws prohibiting payola, purchases of stations across the Mexican border to bypass domestic ownership caps and the strong-arming of artists to perform with Clear Channel's concert production arm. Mr. Mays denied that his company had pay-for-play practices or in any way coerced artists. He argued that his company was not anticompetitive. "The Justice Department has a lot of interaction with us, and they have approved every one of our applications," he said. Today's hearing was the first of several planned by Senator John McCain, the Republican chairman of the committee, on the radio, newspaper and television industries. Michael K. Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has indicated he wants to relax - or completely drop - several media- ownership regulations. Critics have said that the radio industry is a harbinger. Radio consolidation was spurred by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which significantly relaxed ownership limits to help the struggling industry achieve economies of scale. Since then, Clear Channel Communications, based in San Antonio, has grown to 1,240 stations from fewer than 40. The country's largest radio conglomerate and the largest concert promoter, it is one of the 250 largest publicly traded companies in the country with $8 billion in revenue. As a monolith in a formerly diffuse industry, the company has attracted increasing scrutiny. Senator Russell Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, has reintroduced legislation that is a thinly veiled attack on what some have called Clear Channel's practice of cross-leveraging its radio and concert division. Clear Channel has become acutely aware of its heightened profile in Washington. In November, it opened a Washington office and hired Andrew W. Levin, 40, as its top lobbyist. Mr. Levin had been the telecommunications counsel to Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, the ranking minority member of the House Commerce Committee. Just how big Clear Channel has become, or how concentrated the radio industry has become, was a subject of debate. Mr. Mays and Mr. Powell have argued that Clear Channel owns only about 10 percent of 11,000 stations nationwide, hardly a monopoly figure, they say. Clear Channel, however, takes in about 20 percent of the advertising revenue and attracts about 25 percent of total listeners nationwide - about a third of the population. Mr. Mays noted that radio was by far the least consolidated of any of the media industries, with the 10 largest companies taking in a smaller share of the revenue compared with movie studios, cable, television stations, newspapers or record studios. But Mr. Henley argued that comparing radio with other industries was misleading because airwaves are public domain. "The airwaves belong to the public, just like national forests belong to the public," he said. When examined market by market, the industry begins to resemble an oligopoly, said Jenny Toomey, executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, who also testified. In a recent report, the coalition said that four or fewer companies control 70 percent or more of market share in nearly all local markets. In New York City, the top four companies control 80 percent of the market. Media ownership has special resonance for all politicians because they depend on access to local media outlets to reach constituents through both advertising and news coverage. Two weeks ago at another Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Mr. Powell appeared to sympathize with the senators, saying he was troubled and concerned about the radio industry's consolidation. But in a meeting with reporters this week, Mr. Powell questioned the methods of measuring consolidation. He pointed out that the owner of the second-largest number of radio stations, Cumulus Media, is much smaller than Clear Channel, with fewer than 250 stations. In terms of revenue, Cumulus, which focuses on small and midsize markets, has only 1.5 percent of industry revenue, making it the ninth-largest radio company by this measure. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/31/business/media/31RADI.html?ex=1045032544&ei=1&en=e5371092a9ccefd5 Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company (via Bill Westenhaver, Mike Cooper, DXLD) Video of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the effect of deregulation and consolidation in the radio broadcasting industry, 30 January, is available at ... http://www.cspan.org/videoarchives.asp?Cat=&Code= 73 (Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HI-DEF LETTERMAN Steve McClellan, Broadcasting & Cable, 1/21/2003 11:50:00 AM The Late Show with David Letterman will go high-definition starting next September, CBS executives told stations at the affiliate-board meeting in New Orleans Monday. That was the good news. The bad news was that "March Madness" will wind up eating into station's access time periods this year. Letterman's studio is already in the process of being retrofitted for HD, CBS said. As for the long-term future of HD broadcasting on the network, that will depend on the programmers and tech types coming to some agreement on copy protection. Asked by one of the station executives whether Viacom Inc. president Mel Karmazin was serious about abandoning hi-def absent copy protection, CBS operations and engineering executive Bob Ross said Karmazin is "as serious as a heart attack." The Letterman news was well received. Less well received was word from the network that it was moving up the start times of four weekday "Road to the Final Four" NCAA basketball games to 7 p.m., pre-empting lucrative access time slots. When affiliates asked why, CBS responded that the network "needs the money" from the additional premium ad space. On the news front, the network made a pitch to work closely with the affiliates to create better transitions from local time into network news programming, capitalizing on that time as another cross- promotional opportunity. Bob Lee, head of the CBS affiliate board, said that all things considered, the meeting between network and stations was "quite positive." (via Tom Roche, DXLD) ** U S A. A poet of the airwaves (literally) From cnn.com MAN PROVIDES VERSE ON THE RADIO, Saturday, January 25, 2003 SPOKANE, Washington (AP) -- It was 7:50 on a Monday morning. Fog hung over the city and a drowsy voice sounding like a sleepy Winnie the Pooh crawled from the radio. It was poet Scott Poole reading his latest work. "I was at a bus stop "and suddenly wanted love. "But, there was only me "and the bus kiosk," the poem began. Poole is heard every Monday morning on Spokane Public Radio, and he may be the nation's only regularly scheduled radio poet. His poems are a sideways look at everyday life -- odes to garage door openers, naps and the Marvin Gardens square on Monopoly. His recitation is aired during a break in "Morning Edition." "As long as they'll have me, I'll keep doing them," said Poole, 32, associate director of the Eastern Washington University Press in nearby Cheney. Poole's poems have drawn strong reaction from listeners. "At first we got only compliments," said KPBX producer Marty Demarest. "But we've had a decent share of complaints. The fact that we regularly get commentary regarding poetry is a success." But the commonplace nature of his topics is the reason Poole will continue to get nearly two minutes of morning drive time every Monday, Demarest said. "He doesn't reference deities or philosophers or codes of belief," Demarest said. "It references garages and lawnmowers and everyday life. I love most of his poems, even when I don't understand them." A cuddly, comforting voice, Poole also wrote a couple of special poems to be read during public radio pledge drives, Demarest said, marking perhaps the first time "poetry made money for public radio." His poems air on Monday because "very little happens in the news on Monday," Demarest said. "Monday is the wasteland of the radio." But not generally a home for the likes of "The Waste Land," by T.S. Eliot. Radio is a rare venue for poetry, even though the two forms would seem to be made for each other. The only other poets Poole hears on the radio are cowboy poet Baxter Black, who does commentaries on NPR, and poets who appear on "The Writer's Almanac," a show hosted by Garrison Keillor. Poetry magazine in Chicago had no comment on the topic of radio poets. One of the most interesting aspects of the show is Poole's voice, which could be mistaken for a woman's or a child's. It's a cuddly, teddy bear kind of voice. "Scott's radio voice is unlike any voice in public radio," Demarest said. "It's disconcerting enough to know it is not 'Morning Edition' you are hearing." Poole is aware that his puckish voice is distinctive, and he calls it a blessing. "Everyone is trying to find their voice in poetry," he said. "I was forced into mine from the beginning." Poetry and marriage Poole, who was influenced by the imagistic poetry of Richard Hugo, William Stafford and James Wright, and by Eastern European poets, was drawn into writing poetry while trying to meet women as an undergraduate at Washington State University. Impressed by one coed, he took a piece of paper and burned the edges, then mounted it on black construction paper and "wrote a really terrible poem called 'Chambers of My Mind.' " Poole gave it to the young woman in the school library and she read it. "She burst into tears and gave me a big hug and said it was wonderful," he said. "It worked out really well because she ended up marrying me." He began writing short stories, but found they kept getting shorter until they evolved into poetry. When he went for his master's of fine arts at EWU, he decided to concentrate on poetry. A native of Vancouver, Washington, Poole moved to Spokane from Portland in 1996 to attend the creative writing program at EWU. After getting his master's, he became the only full-time employee of the EWU Press, which publishes six books a year. He also teaches some poetry courses. Now, he is on a mission to popularize poetry. He e-mails a new poem each week to 500 people who have registered on his Web site. He is creator of an annual literary festival in downtown Spokane called "Get Lit." "Spokane is becoming a poetry town," he said. His latest book, "Hiding From Salesmen," was recently printed in hardback, unusual for a poetry book. His first book was called "The Cheap Seats." It was Poole's weekly poems that came to the attention of Demarest, who decided to make him a regular fixture in August 2001. Poole records eight to 10 poems each time he's in the studio. "It's a nice experience," he said (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. SENATOR REINTRODUCES BILL ON COMPETITION IN RADIO From Billboard January 29, 2003, 11:00 AM Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) yesterday (Jan. 28) reintroduced his Competition in Radio and Concert Industries Act, which he says will help consumers, small and independent radio station owners, and indie concert promoters by prohibiting anti-competitive practices in the radio and concert industries, Billboard Bulletin reports. The bill's introduction comes as the Senate Commerce Committee prepares to hold a hearing tomorrow on the problems of radio consolidation. Insiders say committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R- Ariz.) is expected to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill soon. Feingold will be the lead witness at tomorrow's hearing. Others scheduled to appear include Clear Channel Communications chairman/CEO Lowry Mays, National Association of Broadcasters president/CEO Eddie Fritts, Recording Artists Coalition co-founder Don Henley, and Future of Music Coalition executive director Jenny Toomey. Says Feingold: "Since originally introducing this legislation in June 2002, I have seen a groundswell of interest both in Congress and among artists, consumers, independent radio stations, and local promoters in restoring fairness to radio. My legislation will reduce concentration and crack down on anti-competitive practices, such as the new 'pay to play' system." Feingold says the latter practice allows radio giants to "shake down the music industry." -- Bill Holland, Washington, D.C. (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. US APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS PIRATE RADIO LICENSE BAN WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld as constitutional a law that barred a pirate broadcaster from ever obtaining a license for a low-power FM radio station or from being involved with a station. The court, by a 7-1 vote, ruled the law and the government regulations implementing it do not violate free-speech rights under the First Amendment. The full court reversed a ruling last year by a three-judge panel of the appeals court that struck down the law. Acting on a mandate from Congress, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules in 2001 that banned anyone who had been a pirate broadcaster or currently was broadcasting illegally from obtaining a license for a new low-power station. No exceptions to the prohibition were made in the law. Greg Ruggiero, a former pirate broadcaster in New York City and elsewhere, challenged the FCC's rules because he was approached to be on the board of directors of a South Carolina low power station. The court, in a decision by Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg, ruled against Ruggiero and in favor of the FCC. He wrote that the law, "is a targeted response to the problem of pirate broadcasting, affects only those who violated the license requirement and does so utterly without regard to the content of, or any view expressed by, their unlicensed broadcasts." Ginsburg concluded there was a reasonable fit between the ban and the "government's substantial interests in deterring unlicensed broadcasting and further violations of its regulations." (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. The future of TA-MWDX acc. to WOR's CE This is what WOR's CE told about IBOC vs. TA-DXing to a Finnish DXer: "For the past several months we have been testing a new Digital transmission scheme by Ibiquity. This has reduced our analog bandwidth to 5khz, therefore we are much louder on the dial and now get out farther, which ends up helping far away listeners like yourself. We frequently get reports from the UK and as far away as Russia. This is due to the WOR directional antenna, which pushes about 250kw ERP, into the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. Our antenna is designed to cover the US eastern seaboard, and your reception is a by-product of the design of our antenna. With the internet, DX'ing is now becoming almost a thing of the past, and with the US getting into an In Band On Channel (IBOC) digital transmission scheme for AM broadcasters, you may have even more difficulty getting a lot of US stations. Right now we are not operating this system at night but we expect IBOC will eventually be on at night. There are digital carriers on each side of the analog signal, and sound like white noise, and presently go off at sunset and on at sunrise NY local time. Time will tell on this one. The new HD radio's will be out here in the US this summer, we are excited about it because it allows us to deliver a stereo digital signal to our listeners. The new radios we have tested make WOR sound like FM. You can keep in touch via our website www.wor710.com, thanks for your interest in WOR." 73, (via Mauno Ritola, Finland, NRC-AM via DXLD) This pretty well sums up the problem for ALL DXers doing ANY kind of (broadcast) DXing. It's only becoming "a thing of the past" because people like this in the broadcasting industry are *deliberately* marginalizing it, WANTING it to go away and leave them the hell alone. Shortwave listeners are also encountering major, grievous examples of this type of narrow-minded thinking: "Oh, we don't need to provide an over-the-air service anymore --- people can listen to us over the INTERNET"... bah! (Randy Stewart/Springfield MO, ibid.) Thank you for sharing this. I have rarely seen a more blatant claim that "the medium IS the message" than this one; there will be a printed copy in my files of things that went wrong and how they happened. It's about technology, no about delivering a service. The packaging matters, not the contents. I'll go out on my favorite limb about this: the unless WOR can cause their listeners to run out and buy new radios on the first day of conversion, it'll reflect in the next ratings. How do things go wrong, btw? Being rushed, misunderstood, and certain participants wearing blinders, others having tunnel vision by choice. Oddly, the blame is usually assessed of individuals who were not in the decision chain, but the execution chain. In Mr. Ray's case, history tells us that if he's just the voice of IBOC, and not one of the great thinkers behind it, he'll be held accountable for any failure. That`s just life (Gerry Bishop, Nicedayville, FL, ibid.) I can tell you from personal experience that Tom Ray does not take criticism of IBOC very well, nor does he tolerate the voices of opposition. And yet he's basically a nice guy who doesn't appreciate being spat upon (not in Gerry's comments, of course, but in another online forum, and via very personal telephoned threats). Keep that in mind, guys, and be careful that when you debate this threat to DX-as- we-know-it (as you should) that you focus upon the issues, not the personalities involved (Paul Swearingen, KS, NRC-AM via DXLD) I'll second that! The engineers are only doing there jobs, and that`s testing IBOC and if possible getting the "bugs" out of the system. Don`t shoot the messenger (in this case...the engineers). If IBOC comes to be --- yes, AM radio will be taking on a whole new look, but with what someone described to me, one of the new HD-AM radios in the field that is not part of iBiguity, has some pretty amazing performance. Performance in the order of knocking out a major amount of the digital hiss in the analog mode, an analog bandwidth of something like 5 kHz (very tight to kill a great majority of adjacent channel digital sputter) and automatic analog to digital blend and possibly the ability to still receive C-QUAM (the C-QUAM part hasn`t been confirmed yet). Keep in mind the good folks over at WOR, Kerry and Tom have an open door policy and will take you on a tour of the WOR plant just by simply asking. I haven`t been personally but knowing a few buddies of mine that live and work close to NYC that have taken Tom up on seeing first hand of what they are doing; certainly adds some wealth of knowledge. Have some heart and open minds on this folks. Things have been said in the past that shouldn`t have been said by both parties. When things get busy and, depending on which end of the IBOC debate your on, you get no answers and you`re constantly bombarded by people whipping out statements that would send anyone to a state of aggravation and close to blood pressure medication, that would have a direct bearing on how information is given. You can`t blame them --- WOR knows about as much as IBOC as most of us do in the general since, it`s a new "game" for them with something new coming almost weekly --- but there is one difference here. If IBOC isn`t tested on WOR and the IBOC system is allowed to go on 1000's of stations right now, then that would be a major disservice. One thing for sure, since the start of the IBOC test, IBOC has undergone several changes and with each change it gets a little better. Maybe IBOC will reach perfection and along with high performance receivers with tight IF stages and frontends that aren`t as wide as the Atlantic Ocean. Stay tuned and let`s see what happens. Let`s just be calm and civil about it in the meantime (Bob Carter, Operations/Engineering--Max Media Radio Group: WGAI-NewsRadio 560 AM Stereo, WCXL 104.1 Beach 104, WQDK 99.3 Q-Country, WWOC 94.5 WaterCountry 94.5, NRC-AM via DXLD) We already knew that most larger broadcasters had ceased to recognize the hobby as having either validity or value, so this isn't news. We also knew that there were lots of people in the industry and elsewhere who have this quaint notion that internet broadcasting is somehow going to instantly make terrestrial broadcasting obsolete, in much the same way I recall my father believed that TV would make radio obsolete. Tom Ray can believe whatever he wants to believe, and he can say whatever he wants to say. Most of us will never know how much of what he says is what he believes, or what he has to say as either a designated or self-appointed apologist for the IBOC community. Given his position and his employer, he is professionally on the line, and probably under sufficient stress that he can be forgiven at this point for not taking criticism well. Time will tell, however, not only as to whose view of the future will prevail, as well, perhaps, as to how much of what he is receiving is in fact self-created. Most people don't react well to the type of arrogance and condescension which has been present throughout much of his internet correspondence since the testing started (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) I would agree Tom is in a difficult position; he's exposed to the slings and arrows from the public and also is likely receiving his orders about IBOC from the top. But there's still a right way and a wrong way to do things. Blatant corporate spin and incomplete presentation of the important facts won't get you anywhere. Granted, Tom has not been over-the-top bad, but it's been out of line as if Madison Avenue scripted it (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) Just a heads up to our DX Audio Service subscribers.... an IBOC story will appear in the February 2003 tape. Since the tapes are duplicated, and some of the highs are lost, you can get the "full fidelity" file from.... http://www.nrcdxas.org/audio/IBOC_Story.mp3 (Fred Vobbe, Feb 1, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Hola Glenn... Gracias por la información sobre la 6797.5 kHz [PERU]. Acá te envío una rareza... Peculiar transmisión: el juego más popular en Venezuela, luego del béisbol, son las carreras de caballos o "5 y 6". En onda corta pueden escucharse las narraciones de estas carreras en 5593.95 kHz, en Upper Side Band. Al menos así lo capté el 30 y 31/01. La frecuencia generalmente está en silencio hasta el comienzo de la carrera y el segmento sólo dura un PAR de minutos. Las carreras son de miércoles a domingo y aquí van algunos horarios: 0035, 0100, 0127, 0156 UT. Talvez sea un enlace para otras emisoras que reemiten las carreras en el interior del país o puede ser una transmisión para locales ilegales de apuestas. ¿Quién sabe? Saludos... 73 y buen DX... (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. GOVERNMENT INITIATES LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST TELEVEN TV STATION | Text of report by Robert Rudnicki in English published by Venezuelan pro-government VENews web site on 31 January The Infrastructure (Minfra) Ministry has initiated legal proceedings against privately-owned national TV station Televen [Channel 10], which now joins Globovision [Channel 33] and RCTV [Channel 2] in a group of three stations currently under investigation. The only privately-owned station not being probed so far is Venevision [Channel 4]. The notice was served by the Ministry's legal representative Carmen Carillo, under orders from Minister Diosdado Cabello. Televen now has 15 days to take relevant measures to defend itself against the investigation. Action was also commenced against Televisora Regional del Táchira (TRT) as the government begins to expand the range of its fight back against media companies it accuses of inciting Venezuelans to support the opposition's work stoppage and of broadcasting unsuitable programming during times when children are likely to be watching. Confederation of Venezuelan Workers' (CTV) president Carlos Ortega called on Venezuelans to defend the media companies, while other opposition leaders announced plans to hold marches across Caracas and the country to protest the government's crackdown. Source: VENews web site in English 31 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. 15715 Chan Troi Moi or New Horizon, High Adventure V. of Hope, Vietnamese, 1330-1430 (17555 on Dec 8) 15715 Jülich. Chan Troi Moi on 15715 at 1330-1430 UT sure sounds like a clandestine to me. Their bc in Vietnamese on 20 January was typical (W. Craighead, KS, Jan 28, for CRW) Details see next CRW in coming week (Martin Schoech, CRW Jan 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Glenn, I have a weak Islamic signal on 15050 kHz. It's a man doing the Qur`an at 1450. Can't find any listing of that frequency, but I seem to remember it being mentioned a month or so ago? Have you any ideas? It went off the air at 1500. There were a few comments by a man then the signal went off. It was a threshold signal, so I couldn't hear any details except for the Islamic reciting or whatever (Chuck Bolland, FL, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, All India Radio uses 15050, but apparently not at this time, and would not expect them to be Qur`aning (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ FIND ALL PLC-INTERFERENCE VIDEOS HERE! See how Powerline-Modems are causing interference to HF-radio: you may download all sample videos and audio files of real PLC interference caused to HF-reception from following site: http://www.powerline-plc.info/video/ Please feel free to use the link above on your web-page! -Help to save shortwave-radio! (via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Since some activity from Jan 21-24 conditions have been relatively quiet on the solar flare front. A halo Coronal Mass Ejection on Jan 30 is expected to impact the earth late on Feb 1 with the geomagnetic field reaching possible minor storm levels. MUFs are forecast to be depressed by up to 15%. Coronal hole effects were also felt early in the week with elevated solar wind speed and disturbed conditions persisting until Jan 26/27. Another CME on Jan 27 caused aome disturbances here on Jan 30 & 31. Prepared using data from http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, Australia, Feb 1, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ###