DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-022, February 9, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [note change] HTML version of all January issues are now at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3a.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2002 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid2.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1168: RFPI: Sun 0000, 0600, 1200, 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WBCQ; Mon 0545 on 7415 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WWCR: Wed 1030 on 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 ONDEMAND AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1167h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1167.html ** AFGHANISTAN. AFGHAN OFFICIAL ASKS FOR MORE FOREIGN HELP FOR MEDIA | Text of report by Afghan radio on 8 February The acting minister [of information and culture] and deputy minister for publications, Abdol Hamid Mobarez, today asked the countries and associations of the world to increase their assistance to the Ministry of Information and Culture this coming year. A correspondent of Bakhtar Information Agency reported that a meeting on the press was held in the hall of the Ministry of Information and Culture today. The meeting was attended by the chairman of UNESCO, an adviser of the Finance Ministry, representatives of the French, Italian and Japanese embassies dealing with press affairs and the representatives of some donor countries and NGOs that deal with the press and mass media.... The French representative said his country was interested in projects for the national museum and Radio Afghanistan. The Italian embassy's representative said his country would allocate 4m dollars to Radio Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Japanese representative vowed to repair the Afghan television equipment soon.... Source: Radio Afghanistan, Kabul, in Pashto 1430 gmt 8 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]/KYRGYZSTAN. Hi Glenn, the placement of 4050 under "Afghanistan" [non] with very little doubt was and is correct. First of all, if we presume that it is the Bishkek transmitter in question (which monitoring suggests), this transmitter does not propagate properly into Iran; there is no sense to use it for programs beamed to Iran (unless you have different antennas). Second, the identification of "Dari" I reported was referring to a specific spoken word segment; of course it does not exclude the possibility that other languages are used at other times, especially since new programme segments seem to be added all the time. Third, and that is especially interesting: if you look at the websites of missionary broadcasting stations, you will see that Afghanistan has become a very important target. Unlike Iran, Afghanistan is on the way to an open society with promising prospects for missionary works. But for some reason, these websites are very often referring to FARSI programs when they are talking about broadcasts to Afghanistan. May it be that they have problems to find speakers in Dari. Have a look for example at http://members.truepath.com/start which discusses missionary broadcasting in Farsi (and Dari/Pashto) towards Afghanistan. Some quotes (here about The Bible Radio, but other projects are mentioned also): "Thru The Bible Radio, http://www.ttb.org to feed your soul the Word of God, all 66 Books of the Bible and almost every chapter in a simple manner; on the radio in over 85 languages; many languages on the internet also; [...] A great missionary outreach the M-F program, 30 minutes a day, for the 5 year program, in over 85 languages. A dozen or so languages in India; in Farsi in Afghanistan, etc.. [...] "Thru The Bible Radio is super --- all 66 books and almost every chapter of the Bible in 5 years in a simple manner, and in over 80 languages, http://www.ttb.org many languages on the net, including Arabic, Farsi (Afghanistan, Iran, ect.), Cantonese, Mandarin(China); the Farsi or Persian broadcast is understood by many people in Afghanistan, I believe..." A fourth point which speaks against Iran as target area is the music selection of "Hit Shortwave": especially the Indian film music is a genre which is extremely popular in Afghanistan, while it is very little known in Iran. All indications so far speak in favour of Afghanistan as target for the programme mix on 4050 kHz (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA [+non]. RADIO ECCLESIA SET TO EXPAND COVERAGE IN ANGOLA | Excerpt from report by Angolan Rádio Ecclésia web site on 6 January Father José Paulo, Deputy Director-General for Rádio Ecclésia, today became the executive director for this radio station. Sister Fátima Kavate, the new administrative director and Sister Ana de Carvalho Meneses as financial director, were also sworn into office. These changes to the management of the Catholic radio occurred because Father Antonio Jaka, the former director-general resigned following his appointment some months ago, to the position of provincial superior for the Missionaries of the Divine Word in Angola, that would clash with the work he does for the radio. Father Jaka, will however, continue to work for Ecclésia, but only in the project of expanding the radio to the provinces. At the moment Rádio Ecclésia already has offices in the dioceses of Malanje, Huambo, Benguela and Uije, where satellite broadcasts are received from Luanda and rebroadcast locally with some local transmission. Some technical obstacles delayed the start of broadcasts from these dioceses. The second phase of the project planned for this year will see Rádio Ecclésia branches opening in the other dioceses in the country... Rádio Ecclésia, which belongs to the Episcopal Conference in Angola, was founded in 1953. In 1977 the political regime closed down the radio that broadcast on FM, short wave and medium wave. In 1992, changes to the political situation allowed the radio to resume coverage, which was only possible in March 1997. Rádio Ecclésia broadcasts on FM to Luanda, and through the Internet, but will shortly be heard throughout Angola. Source: Rádio Ecclésia web site, Luanda, in Portuguese 6 Jan 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Listening to HCJB on 11770 from before 0700 did not reveal any QRM in this neck of the woods, in fact, from 0500 to 0700 there was no sign of any other stations on this frequency, HCJB gives 454 at 0700 and 0800 was 554, I shall keep listening as the evening progresses but so far they are loud, strong and clear (Michael Stevenson, Port Macquarie, N.S.W., Australia. Feb 8, EDXP via DXLD) as long as Nigeria begone, q.v. It's 0815 GMT. I've just tuned into 11770. HCJB has a good, QRM-free signal here in Cairns. I'm listening on my small portable with telescopic antenna (Barry Murray, Feb 8, ibid.) HCJB continues with a very good QRM free signal here in Port Macquarie, from 0700 on 11770; I cannot hear any other station occupying this frequency be it Nigeria or China, I guess propagation is completely different here in this part of Australia compared to Melbourne or in New Zealand (Michael Stevenson, NSW, Feb 9, EDXP via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. G'day Glenn. some items extracted off the Voice International website http://www.vil.com.au that may not have made it into DXLD FIRSTLY : Keep the Text Message coming to VOICE from your mobile/cell phone!!! posted Fri 07 Feb 2003 No matter where you are, you can contact us via your Mobile/Cell phone with text messages direct to your favorite On Air presenter or to the VOICE language department you listen to. Here is what you do: Start your message with the FIRST NAME of the On Air presenter, or Language Department code word you want to make contact with followed by your message. The Language Department code words are... CHINESE=SHENG ENGLISH=VOICE INDONESIAN=SUARA Once you finish your short message, send it to this number +61(0)416905877. (Note; the + is the call out number within your country. Also note that the +61 is not needed within Australia, but the (0) is needed if calling us within Australia, but not if your dialing us from another country.) Look forward to getting your Text Message. SECONDLY: NOW you can phone VOICE for free !!!! posted Fri 03 Jan 2003 VOICE offers listeners an international toll FREE number for you to chat with your favorite presenters and announcers in person. We love talking to you and now we are offering you the opportunity to talk to us! Feel free to tell us your thoughts, because as you know we love a friendly chat. The VOICE on air team would love to hear from you. If you are in China or the Phillipines call +800 5477 5477. If you are in Indonesia call 001 803 61 555. All other countries can call +61 7 5477 1555. (note that this call is at your own expense) THIRDLY : New Broadcast Times and Frequencies posted Thu 02 Jan 2003 Good news from Voice International. As you know, we broadcast live to greater Asia every day from Queensland Australia. We have just increased and are changing broadcast times and frequencies!!! Our Chinese broadcast starts at 06:00 Hong Kong time or 22:00 hours UTC on 15165 kHz, then later in the day we recommence at 17:00 hours Hong Kong time or 09:00 hours UTC on 17635 kHz, then continues from 14:00 till 18:00 hours UTC on 15150 kHz. Our English broadcast to China and the Philippines starts at 17:00 hours Hong Kong time, or 09:00 hours UTC on 13685 kHz. The English service for India and Indonesia will then continue on till 21:00 hours UTC on 13690, 11685 & 13770 kHz. Our Indonesian broadcast commences at 12:30 Indo west time or 04:30 UTC on 21680 kHz, then continues on till 01:00 hours Indo West time or 18:00 UTC on 17820, 15365 and 13660 kHz. FOURTHLY : Up-linking to Asia posted Thu 02 Jan 2003 A new $500,000 AUS satellite dish has been cemented down at VOICE International, confirming their long term commitment to broadcasting top quality programs into Asia. VOICE is set to become one of the largest radio networks in Asia and multi-lingual program providers in Australia. With the 6 metre dish VOICE can broadcast to a potential listening audience of 2.8 billion people living in the Asia Pacific region. Our broadcast footprint has expanded to cover one third of the globe and with the help of affiliate FM stations, VOICE has the potential to broadcast worldwide! FIFTHLY : Broadcast Schedule click here to use http://www.timezoneconverter.com Chinese 17635 0900-1400 15150 1400-1800 15165 2200-0100 English 13685 0900-1300 13690 1300-1700 11685 1700-1900 13770 1900-2100 Hindi 11850 0100-0400 13635 1100-1400 11750 1400-1700 Indonesian 21680 0030-0100 21680 0430-0500 21680 0530-0600 17820 0600-0900 15365 0900-1300 13660 1300-1800 11935 2330-0000 73s gd dx de (Sam Dellit VK4ZSS, Tamborine, Australia, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. A Rádio Caiari, de Porto Velho (RO), transmite, todos os dias, a partir das 0900, o programa Alvorada do Sertão, com apresentação de Jonas Felizardo. A Caiari está em ondas tropicais, na freqüência de 4785 kHz. A dica é do Saulo Gomes, de Porto Velho (RO). BRASIL - Atrasou a chegada do novo transmissor da Rádio Transmundial, que vai ser utilizado pela emissora em suas freqüências de ondas curtas. A Transmundial enfrentou problemas com a Receita Federal na liberação dos equipamentos. A informação foi repassada a Adalberto Marques, de Barbacena (MG), por Andrea Pavel, daquela emissora. BRASIL - Mais do que ouvir uma emissora de rádio, é preciso que o dexista faça leitura crítica do que recebe. Nesse sentido, é preciso denunciar a péssima programação que alguns concessionários de emissoras levam ao ar. É o caso de um programa apresentado pela Rádio Itatiaia, de Belo Horizonte (MG), após às 0200. Em 3 de fevereiro, sintonizei a freqüência de 5970 kHz, às 0255, e fiquei impressionado com o que a emissora transmitia. Um apresentador conversava com uma ouvinte, por telefone, e a todo momento baixava o nível da conversa. Diversas vezes ele insistiu que a ouvinte comentasse o fato de que "faltava perereca em Minas Gerais!". Se não bastasse isso, eram apresentadas gravações de sapos coaxando. Logo da Itatiaia! Que feio! BRASIL - A Rádio Educadora Seis de Agosto, de Xapuri (AC), foi sintonizada, em Porto Velho (RO), por Saulo Gomes de Souza, em 6 de fevereiro, no período noturno, pela freqüência de 3355 kHz. De acordo com ele, a emissora transmitia o programa Boa noite interior, que consiste na apresentação de músicas pedidas pelos ouvintes através de cartas (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** CANADA. MT-ROYAL TOWER: A HEALTH HAZARD Here are some translated excerpts from an article found in "La Presse" today: ||| There are too many radiofrequencies on Mount Royal, reports "La Presse" newspaper today. The broadcast tower of Radio-Canada/CBC which hosts most of the Montreal FM and Television transmitters, exceeds Health Canada norms on electromagnetic radiofrequencies. Until a solution is found, the CBC has hired security guards to patrol Mount- Royal park and advise people to stay away from the tower site. According to Gilbert Paquin of Industry Canada, electro-magnetic fields in the vicinity of the tower are too high, as stated by Security Code 6, which provides guidelines on human exposure to radiofrequency fields. The overloading might be explained by the growing number of broadcasters using the tower and their increase of radiated power. (No kidding!) For example, Radio-Canada's "La Première Chaine" on 95.1 has increased its power from 17 000 watts to 100 000 watts in may 2001. Health Canada has also modified its application of the Code after some related incident happened in the US (???). There are two solutions that could be used by the CBC in order to solve the problem: decrease power of transmitters (yes, please do!) or change the angle of transmission so that radiofrequencies will travel towards the sky instead of towards the ground. (??!!!) The CRTC is holding hearings this week in Montreal for applicants for new FM stations. Apparently, some of the applicants already aware of the problem are thinking of other transmitting sites. Such is the case with TVA which applied for an oldies format and would be looking at transmitting from the mast of the Olympic Stadium. ||| I will add that there are 8 TV stations and about 15 FM using the Mont-Royal tower site plus a bunch of public services as well. The example of 95.1 given in the article reflects one of the stupidest decision Radio-Canada/CBC has ever made, leaving the 690 and 940 kHz on AM and move to FM. On the English side, 88.5 is doing so poorly as far as coverage, that they have asked a licence to operate an LPFM on 104.7 to serve certain neighbourhoods that can't receive the signal on 88.5 at all! There were NO problem of that nature when they used AM. In any case, I don't know how serious this situation can be healthwise but it would be a blessing for this DXer if they implement what is said above: Decrease power and find new transmitting sites in Montreal. The original article in French can be found here (plus a picture of the tower): http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/article/1,63,0,022003,196552.shtml Soixante-Treize, (Charles Gauthier, St-Lambert, PQ, Feb 6, WTFDA via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Re Alan Johnson's comment in DXLD 3-019 about 9755 being missing for the 3 Feb RCI 0200 transmission, large sections of southeastern New Brunswick, including the Sackville area, were hit by severe ice storms beginning on Sunday 2 Feb. Tens of thousands of subscribers lost electricity, and some still are without power as of Friday 7 Feb. I would presume that the missing frequency was either because of electrical problems, of because of de-icing procedures for the curtain arrays. I had, a few hours earlier, noted that all the Sackville frequencies were missing for the 2 Feb. 2000 French and 2100 English transmissions. (Incidentally, the only frequency I was logging for the 2100 English transmission was 5995 via Skelton.) (Bill Westenhaver, Montréal, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RCI has now added a new frequency in French for Africa via Ascension, 11835 at 2200-2259 (on a 65 degree azimuth). This frequency takes the same feed as the 2200-2259 transmission to Asia (on 9810 Kimjae + 11705 Yamata), and does not include the same feed as the 2230-2259 French transmission to Europe/Africa + the Americas. Incidentally, I logged 11835 on 4 Feb at 2228, with a clear but not terribly strong signal. (Bill Westenhaver, Montréal, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. China Radio International has made its breakthrough in terms of its communication with listeners. Mr. Guo Shizhi, the Director of CRI Audience Liaison Department said, "In 2002, the numbers of mails we (CRI) received from our listeners was the highest in CRI's 61-year history. By last November it had exceeded 1-million". CRI English Service has received 1,68,000 letters alone. Here's a figure [sics] In 1993 CRI received 5,00,000 letters In 1995 CRI received 6,00,000 letters In 2001 CRI received 9,00,000 letters In 2002 CRI received 10,00,000 letters (Source: Listeners' Garden of CRI English Service via Al-Amin...) In order to get the real picture of reception condition China Radio International has appointed 23 Volunteer Monitor worldwide. Last year CRI asked the listeners to apply for the post. They received about 50 applications from all over the globe. These monitors asked to send their reports at least twice in a month. Regards, (Md. Azizul Alam Al-Amin, CRI Monitor, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 6009.84, LV de tu Conciencia, did not get ID but sounded like their programming, slipped down to this frequency --- religious talk, some HJ music; good signal at 0845-0930 Feb 1, but battered by dominant Mil-6010, and both under HCJB-6010 from their 0930 s/on with German kids program (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** CUBA. See COMMENTARY below: QSLs ** ECUADOR. 3380.07, C.R.I. Centro Radiofónico de Imbabura, Ibarra (Ecuador). Jan 3 2003 - 2320 UT. Idol hysteria may be nothing for the 55-year old BM but I have to admit that I still get "chicken skin" when listening to the Mexican group "Los Bukis" and their leading singer Marco Antonio Solís. In 1993 when I was staying in Guatemala I listened every day to a "Radio Galaxia", an FM-station whose programs were at least to 50% devoted to two artists: Vicente Fernández and my big favourites "Los Bukis". Nowadays I think Vicente is quite OK but back then I switched off immediately when he sang and turned on max volume when "Los Bukis" sang. One of my Spanish teachers, Álvaro, accompanied me in Guatemala City where we "vacuum cleaned" the record stores for CDs with Los Bukis. What in the whole world has this to do with "Centro Radiofónico de Imbabura"? Oh yes, at 2320 UT when I landed on the frequency 3380.07 kHz I got "chicken skin"! [goosebumps] They ran 7-8 tunes in a row with "Los Bukis", just the ones popular back then in Central America in 1993. In December 2001 C.R.I. very surprisingly started transmissions on shortwave and the SWB members received a special mail with info. Unfortunately the station was only broadcasting for a few weeks. I telephoned the station but the lady I talked to couldn`t help me but we agreed that I should telephone Sra. Rocío the next morning at 1000. Rocio is the same very nice lady I talked to in December 2001. She asked me about my favourite music and naturally I answered "Los Bukis"! Just imagine if she had remembered and deliberately put in my favourites ...... The station gives ID just as last time, for example "C.R.I. Radio - la diferencia en radiocomunicación" or "Superradio C.R.I.". After 0000 UT they changed to religious programming. You can read more about the previous reception of "C.R.I." in SWB issues 1474 and 1476. Regards Bjorn Malm in Quito (Translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Something in Spanish tonight at 0420 around 4781.35 Anybody know what this is? (Ryan Ellegood, Northwest Tennessee, Feb 8, SWLtalk mailing list via DXLD) R. Oriental in Ecuador. Nice ID "Ésta es Radio Oriental..." By OM at 0808 (Don Nelson, OR, Feb 9, ibid.) ** ECUADOR. O programa Aventura DX-ista vai ao ar em diversos horários e dias. Pode ser conferido, também, às 0230, das segundas-feiras, pela freqüência de [HCJB] 6050 kHz. O programa apresenta notícias do mundo das ondas curtas, no idioma espanhol (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. BAD RECEPTION AS A PR HAZARD (from YLE JNiinisto) Bad frequencies and bad reception are a tremendous public relations problem to an external service that has to compete with pay services available with mobile phones. The competitive edge of SW radio is the fact that listening does not cost anything. However, if the advertised signal is not there, the listener may rather pay for a mobile phone service than tolerate the non-availability of the signal. From the next schedule YLE will not include transmissions that are predicted to be risky in their main target area. And in an early application of the policy YLE asked (Jan 13) its SW service provider Digita Ltd to take off the air, for the time being, the 100 kW service on 6120 kHz between 18 and 23 UT. The service for 240 and 60 degrees is was running parallel to a 500 kW service for 220 deg. While the 500 kW service was being received in Spain and further, the 100 kW appeared to getting nowhere in the winter propagation conditions and strong interference from TRT. Listeners to 6120, if any, were advised to use 963 kHz (312m) that is widely available in Northern Europe during winter evenings. 6120/100 kW continues to be available between 05 and 18 UT (Juhani Niinistö, YLE Radio Finland, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. Georgian Radio 11805.10, on FEB 8 tuned in at 0650 to choral music, IS at 0700 (fits the IS on the web "Interval Signals Archive"), mention of Tblisi (not sure how they say "Georgia" in German), news program in German with woman announcer, then music at 0709. Fair to pair in strength, but steady and no QRM. Although I have an old QSL from Radio Moscow with a Georgia transmitter site, this is more definitely from Georgia! (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, Drake R8, longwires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11805, R. Georgia 0605-0640 Feb 8. Talk by man in presumed Russian. Signal disappeared for a few minutes at one point. It returned quite strong and then deteriorated until change to English after IS at 0630. ID by woman, some talk, and carrier disappeared again for a brief period. Upon its return, signal was good for a short time with talk by woman, then faded down and out. This erratic signal behavior appears to be due to more than propagation, and it has been noted for the last couple of years (Evans, TN, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. If my memory serves me right, the WDR high power transmitter on 1593 had to be scrapped because it contained a lot of PCB, which is a big environment hazard, especially if there is an exlosion or a fire. PCB was popular as a liquid isolator. The WDR replaced 1593 by 720. For European DXers it was a day of rejoice when WDR left 1593. An April Fools joke in NRC's DX News had it that the Finnish DXers with their long Beverage antennas could use the power of the WDR signal to make their coffee. And yes ... it was on 1586 before the Geneva Plan (Olle Alm, Sweden, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, you remember correctly, Langenberg used to be on 1586 and moved to 1593 when the Génève schedule came into force, designating 1485, 1584 and 1602 as low power channels. By the end of 1993 the 2 x 600 kW transmitter at Langenberg had to be shut down due to PCB and asbestos contamination, leaving WDR only with a single 200 kW unit anymore. They decided to keep the 720 frequency already used by this transmitter because the groundwave coverage of 1593 was very poor, only 80 km even at 800 kW they said. Until then, WDR shared 720 with RFE, Langenberg used this frequency during daytime, Holzkirchen during the evenings. Now WDR and RFE (or the then responsible US agency, I think IBB was created later) arranged a frequency swap: WDR left 1593 to RFE, Holzkirchen moved from 720 to 1593, in return WDR got 720 exclusively, allowing them to use it 24 hours. However, there were some coordination problems and also trouble with the remaining mediumwave facilities, not allowing them to use full 200 kW; the last I heard about Langenberg 720 was that it churns out some 85 kW now, but this information could be obsolete. As well-known the mediumwave transmitter at Holzkirchen was shut down in the meantime, indeed leaving 1593 empty here in Germany. The rig was moved to Kuwait, but there should be hardly doubts that it is just coincidence that it settled down on 1593 again there. I do not know whether or not IBB returned 1593 officially to the German authorities in the meantime; anyway the Kuwait operation would not affect a use of this frequency here in Germany. From gossip there is indeed a commercial broadcaster who would like to use this frequency again at Langenberg, of course the one who already occupied most vacant mediumwave channels here in Germany. However, again 800 kW from Langenberg while WDR got the notorious Elektrosmog trouble already with 1/10 of this power? Time will tell (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re UK [and non], DXLD 3-021: And regarding Deutsche Welle 6075 which is still well audible within Central Europe when all other 49 metres outlets skip: It is not a mystery, it is a trick. At certain times 6075 goes out not only from Wertachtal but also from Sines. One can note the hollow sound typical for synchronized networks at times, and with Sines being the only signal while Wertachtal skips the skilled ear can still note the different modulation characteristics. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And see RUSSIA [non] ** GERMANY [non]. Pressemitteilung vom 10.02.2003 / Press release from the 10.02.2003 ********************************************************* During February and March we will test the shortwave outlet of Laser Radio based in Lithuania [sic – LATVIA] with 100 kw of power with own Marabu programs. Reception reports are highly appreciated and will be verified by a special QSL card. Also every person will get a free CD from our collection. Im Februar und März testen wir mit eigenen Programmen den angemieteten Kurzwellensender von Laser Radio in Litauen [sic – Latvia, not Lithuania --- Bernd Trutenau] mit 100 kW. Empafngsbeobachtungen sind sehr willkommen und werden mit einer speziellen QSL-Karte bestätigt werden. Darüber hinaus erhält jeder, der uns anschreibt, eine Gratis CD. Dates and Times are as follows: 16.02.2003 -- 02.03.2003 -- 16.03.2003 -- 30.03.2003 each day from 16.00 up to 17.00 hours UT with the Gittare X Radioshow Frequency for this special broadcasts is: 5 9 3 5 kHz ********************************************************* RADIO MARABU e.V. - Postfach 1166 - D 49187 Belm - Germany Tel.: 05406/899484 -- Fax: 05406/899485 E-mail: marabu@radiomarabu.de -- Homepage: http://www.radiomarabu.de Europe´s radio station for alternative music (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** HUNGARY. A língua espanhola ganhou mais um programa sobre o dexismo e as ondas curtas! É a Revista de DX-ismo, apresentada, aos domingos, pela Rádio Budapest, a partir de 2230. Confira em 7215 kHz. A dica é do Leônidas dos Santos Nascimento, de São João Evangelista (MG), e do Oséias Fantinelli, de Jacutinga (RS). (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD) ** INDIA. The Program Staff Association of AIR & Doordarshan TV has said that it would go ahead with mass casual leave program on Monday February 10, 2003 as part of its stir demanding filling up vacancies. ===== 73 (Jose Jacob, India, Feb 8, dx_india via DXLD) AIR will have extended broadcasts to cover the World Cup Cricket matches. These special broadcasts will also be available on 11620 kHz. Normal programs on this frequency will be cancelled then. According to advertisements given by AIR in the sports pages of Deccan Chronicle Newspaper, all stations of AIR will relay the live commentary of World Cup Cricket matches held in Southern Africa in Hindi amd English as follows: From 0750 UT on February 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 23, 26, and March 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 23. From 1220 UT on February 9, 22, 28 and March 20. From 0720 UT on February 19, 2003. So the schedules of AIR stations will be extended then. On SW look out on 11620 for the running commentaries (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS/AT0J National Institute of Amateur Radio Box 1555, Somajiguda Hyderabad 500082, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7410 to Europe at 1745-2230 in English and Hindi which was cancelled for some time is now noted back on air. The Haj service to Saudi Arabia at 0530-0600 in Urdu is noted on 11730 rather than on 15770 as reported by me earlier. This is in parallel to 13620. AIR noted with running commentary of the Tennis match between India and Japan just now (0500 UT Sunday) on 15075. his replaces the External service at this time and is via Bangalore with 500 kw ===== 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS/AT0J, dx_india via DXLD) language? Nice opening to India on 25 meters tonight. Great subcontinental music on 11735 at 0305 UT. 11620 also strong --- both 500 kW out of Bangalore, but beamed to Asia. Reception is long path over the north pole. 11620 will be carrying the big cricket matches from South Africa Unfortunately I don't know whether any of the coverage will be in English. I am located in Halfmoon, NY using a Lowe HF-150/PR-150/AP- 150 combo connected to an A/D sloper antenna oriented west to east (John Figliozzi, UT Feb 9, EDXP via DXLD) ** IRAQ [and non]. Now that it appears war in the Gulf is inevitable, and coming within 2 or 3 weeks, I'd like to start getting prepped with some probable frequencies for military and clandestine operations you might be aware of. Didn't someone on the list already post some intercepts for US intelligence psy-ops already being broadcast in Iraq? Anyway, I'd like to start putting some frequency lists together if anyone would like to offer. Webmaster: * ARP Odyssey Information Resource Page http://www.overacker.com/ody/index.html * Kenwood R-2000 Information Resource Page http://www.qsl.net/kc7bum/ Regards, (Rob Williams Portland, Oregon, Feb 8, hard-core-dx via DXLD) With the buildup to the Gulf lots of traffic being reported in other groups, 8122 and 11300 are some frequencies mentioned (Richard Jary, Feb 9, ARDXC via DXLD) A full list of English transmissions from the Middle Eastern area is available at http://www.shortwave.org.uk (Graham Powell, Wales, Editor of the Online DX Logbook, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. Just let you know, I heard R Tikris [sic] with s/on 19 UTC. Signal strength was S8 with my indoor loop. No doubt reception must be excellent in target area. Any ideas about transmitter location? 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku FINLAND, RX: AOR 7030+ ANT: Wellbrook ALA 1530P-active loop Feb 7 hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. TRAFFIC REPORTS ON SHORTWAVE English language international broadcasts generally fall into two camps: 1) Broadcasts created specifically for consumption by an international audience (for example), and 2) Relays of domestic services. Claiming that one type is better than the other is, frankly, not relevant -- they serve different purposes. I personally enjoy both types --- because one gets a feel for current events impacting a country`s residents by listening to domestically oriented programming. Often domestic current affairs are not emphasized in broadcasts produced specifically for an international audience. This can get mundane --- as some domestic relays include weather and traffic information clearly intended for a domestic audience. Frankly, I get a kick out of traffic reports for Dublin and Auckland --- makes me feel like I live there! Following are two examples of domestic programs that are nonetheless interesting internationally: Five Seven Live, from Ireland`s RTE Radio 1: Anchoring the Irish evening with news from home and abroad is Five Seven Live - a solid selection of stories, features and reports from around the globe as well as around the country. Rachael English drives the show, responding as much to listeners requirements like drive time traffic as well as to stories that are breaking while the program is on air. The first half hour of Five Seven Live is aired to North America at 1830 UT on 13640 kHz; another half hour targeting Central America airs at 0130 UT on 6155 kHz and should be readily audible in North America (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, Feb NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** ITALY. Re UNIDENTIFIED. 4875, chirping bird (like Rai IS) at 0529, DXLD 3-021: It`s 11985 (in Somali) minus 7110 (in Romanian) from Roma Prato Smeraldo; I listened to it some times (Roberto Scaglione, http://www.bclnews.it DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Subject: Reception Reports/Rapporti D'Ascolti Dear Sirs, we're writing to inform you that all the QSL cards sent by Mr. Monferini c/ Radio Studio X were not authorized by our station. They have to be considered fakes because we have never had any job intercourse with him. The only original replies are those signed by Massimiliano Marchi or Luca Betti and posted from Firenze or Montecatini Terme. Following this unpleasant situation, we reserve the right to institute legal proceedings. Those who would like to get a QSL/reply from Radio Studio X, are invited to send their reception reports (along with a piece of recording of our broadcast) via e-mail to: studio.x@lycos.com or by ordinary mail to : RADIO STUDIO X Via Mammianese 687 51030 MOMIGNO (PT) ITALY P.S. We would be glad if you could forward this e- mail to other DXers for their knowledge (via David Hochfelder, NJ, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** JAPAN. NHK INTERNET PROJECT INTRODUCTION The 'Internet Project,' which is in charge of all of NHK WORLD's Internet services, is a unit of the International Planning and Broadcasting Department. Here is a brief introduction of the project. Beginning with NHK WORLD's PR Website, we take care of all sites concerned with public relations, news and education. Some examples include 'Radio Japan Online,' where you can listen to Radio Japan news in 22 languages on the Internet http://www.nhk.or.jp/rj/ --- 'Daily News,' where you can read news manuscripts in English (with video), Spanish and 4 other languages http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/ and 'Japanese Lessons,' where you can learn Japanese in 20 languages http://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/ At the project we have four staff members in the office at all times, surrounded by several computers used to update, manage and develop these websites. Please take this opportunity to check out our Internet services. By the way, starting Feb. 3, 'Daily News' has also been available in Korean (Hangul). We hope you enjoy it! (Source : NHK WORLD e-GUIDE- Feb.7, 2003, No.43) Last year Radio Japan NHK-world has received nearly 8,000 letters and e-mails from its listeners (Source: Hello From Tokyo, Radio Japan) Regards, (Md. Azizul Alam Al-Amin, Technical Monitor of NHK World, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR [non]. Radio Sadaye Kashmir [9890]: Last few holidays I had opportunity to listen to this station. Understand little bit Urdu. The programme contents are not anti-India. Only Urdu songs and easy discussions between OM+YL. Every day at 0300 UT there is a commentary mostly about the Pakistani affairs. Initially I presumed it is originating from Pakistan itself but surprised when heard a commentary on nuclear weapons of both India and Pakistan on last Sunday. It was mentioned in the commentary that in Pakistan, nuclear weapons may go to the hand of Islamic fundamentalist while in India there is a democratic government. It caused more confusion. Any latest news regarding this unidentified station??? 73s (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9890, Radio Sadaye Kashmir, Feb. 4 & 8 *0230-0330*. Noted on both days as early as 0208 with test tones modulated. Sign-on by female announcer with clear ID for 'Radio Sadaye Kashmir' with references to 'amerika programa' followed with music and dialogues by two female speakers. Initially the signal at this location very strong, with a full s7-s9 signal, but by 0300 hours the signal was going and by 0230 [sic] was just audible at best. The music varied from light instrumental to vocals by singers with the distinctive sound of the violas and plucked strings. Interesting on what transpires from this as the program seems to be quite laid back in nature (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Hi Glenn, there are some phonetical misunderstandings here. TESUG (not DESUG) stands for (The) European Satellite User Group (TESUG), a "satellite information service" in the UK; you find a presentation at: http://www.mediazoo.co.uk/tesug/ Raimonds Kreicbergs, the man behind Radio Gold 945AM in Riga, is the representative of this information service in Latvia. The email address in question is tesug@parks.lv --- not desug@barks.lv (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UK [non] ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, R. Malagasy, 0301-0336 fade out, missed opening but caught man with brief news in Malagasy followed by continuous vocals. At 0319 familiar whistling tune played before a man began talking. The feature ended five minutes later with more whistling by a man. I recall this interesting feature from prior logging. Programming returned to continuous music at 0323. Fair signal tonight (Rich D`Angelo, PA, date unknown, NASWA Flashsheet Feb 8 via DXLD) ** MANCHURIA [non]. Hi Joe, Saw your thread with Glenn Hauser regarding the Voice of Jinling in China. I was recently in Jilin in Manchuria for work and when scanning the SW bands I did not detect the Voice of Jinling on its usual freqs (if it was a local I would have expected to hear some groundwave), so you are correct in concluding that it is not from the Manchurian region. Regards, (John Fisher, Kingston, Ontario, Feb 8 via Joe Talbot, Alberta, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 1630, Tijuana, BCN, XEUT, 1/27 0602 UT. Good. About equal with KKWY. Radio Universidad slogans and call letters heard several times. Transmitter power and addresses were also given. Comments were slow by both man and woman with violin and orchestra music in between. Interesting (DOUG PIFER, Albany OR, DXing with Drake R8B, KIWA Loop, IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Checking VON on new 9690: Feb 8 before 0600 it was overshadowed by R. Free Iraq, Kavala on 9695, and even more so by RTI via WYFR 9680. Then DW came on 9690 as usual from 0559 with IS; 0600 an intriguing mélange of DW news theme and VON drumming. Hardly an ideal frequency for VON, but then they are relying on really old and long unused outlets, regardless of how they have been used by other stations in the past two sesquidecades. Then Feb 9 check at 0640, VON was back on 7255 and 15120, not on 11770 and nothing besides DW audible on 9690. Clearly it is pointless to assume the usage on any particular day is a permanent new schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, V. of Nigeria is there on 9690 // 15120, both weak here in central Ukraine at 1910-1940+ UT. Moreover, 9690 co-chanel VOA/English from Kavala (fortunately S=2 today, giving Nigeria some chances into my QTH). If I recall correctly they used this QRG many years ago (I guess somewhere in late 70s or early 80s). No trace on 11770 - clear channel. (I`d wish Mexico be there, hi..., tough catch here) 7255? CRI is blocking it. No way to say more. 73, (Vlad Titarev, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, R399, 80m, Feb 7, DX-plorer via DXLD) I have a VON QSL from 1966; guess what the frequency was? 9690 kHz! (Chris Lobdell, MA, DX-plorer via DXLD) 9690, Voice of Nigeria, Lagos 0458-0506 02/08. Tuned in to broadcast already in progress with day's program schedule. ID and GMT at 0500, News summary, program re Nigerian civil war museum. As was the case last night, a strong, clear signal. No sign of 7255, 15120 or 11770. Perhaps VON has settled in on this frequency? I assume they are on well before my listed time of 0458. I hope to check tomorrow evening if I get out of work at a decent hour (Scott R Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chris, after reading your message I forced myself to take out my earliest WRTH-65 from remote shelf; they were there already: 7275/9690 (10 kw) and 11900/15255 (100 kW) so 11900 corrected with pencil as 11915 (I could hardly do that in 65-66, most likely later, as I hardly understood what term 'dx' meant at all in those years; understanding came few years later, hi...) What I can say to the point, for sure, those early WRTHs were really masterpieces. Especially those IS musics. They look magic... Btw, 15120 is fairly strong now (-0800- UT), occasionally heard 11770 at around 0530-06, very weak comparing previous days (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, DX-plorer via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Re: gh`s noticing satellite delay on some OKC TV stations via cable in Enid: The Oklahoma City stations are not on C-Band, but they are on DirecTV and DISH Network (Jeff Kitsko, Feb 2, WTFDA via DXLD) ** OMAN. Good signals received today from Radio Sultanate of Oman on 15140 kHz at 1400 UT in English. Programme contained Pop Music and at 1430 Chimes, ID, Time Check and a bulletin of English News (Graham Powell, Wales, Feb 8, Editor of the Online DX Logbook http://www.shortwave.org.uk DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. El Asesor técnico de Radiodifusión América, Dom Mur anunció que momentáneamente la planta transmisora de Villeta está inactiva mientras se están realizando trabajos de mejoramiento en los equipos. Se espera aumentar la potencia en todas las frecuencias para regresar al aire las 24 horas. La emisora utiliza la onda corta a través de 7370, 7737 y 15185 kHz con una capacidad de 2.4 kW de potencia. Entretanto, Dom Mur aconseja a los oyentes captar la onda media de Radio América 1480 que emite desde sus estudios ubicados en Ñemby. Una QSL especial será remitida por cada reporte enviado a la Casilla 2220, Asunción ? Paraguay o a ramerica@r... [truncated] (Rubén Guillermo Margenet a través de "Antena de la Amistad" de R. Corea Internacional -8/02/03- via Conexión Digital via DXLD) As of? ** RUSSIA. A programação em língua espanhola da Voz da Rússia apresenta, nas quartas-feiras, às 0230, o programa Frecuencia RM. São levadas ao ar informações sobre as ondas curtas. A dica é de Oséias Fantinelli, de Jacutinga (RS). Confira! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. RUSSIAN STATE-OWNED RADIO STATIONS AGREE JOINT EXPANSION ABROAD | Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS Moscow, 7 February: Russia's largest state radio company, Voice of Russia, and the FM radio station Radio Russia have decided to join forces in pushing the nation's radio product outside the borders of Russia. The radio stations have signed an agreement defining the directions of their strategic partnership, an ITAR-TASS correspondent was told today at the press service of Voice of Russia. In particular, the two largest radio companies are planning to make joint programmes for foreign listeners and for Russian nationals abroad. The music and entertainment part of the programme projects will be mainly provided by Radio Russia, while the political and current affairs content will be provided by Voice of Russia. In addition, the radio companies intend, by joint efforts, to create the conditions for transmission in digital format in CIS and non-CIS countries. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1319 gmt 7 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK? ** RUSSIA [non]. Concerning Voice of Russia, a more detailed statement included an explicit mention of Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg as the body who issued the licence in question. In Germany broadcast supervision is exclusively in the responsibility of the individual states (you would have to go to the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation at Düsseldorf to apply for transmissions from Langenberg), so this statement leaves no any doubt that all the fuss indeed referred to the established 603 outlet. By the way, the 210 metres tall mast of the formerly used site within Berlin was blowN up a few weeks ago. I just received this information from a guy who searched for pages about Abriß and found http://kailudwig.bei.t-online.de/dam.htm So it was really a good idea to walk out to the site last October, continuing an extended stroll which led me also to the Nalepastraße radiohouse as you can see at http://kailudwig.bei.t-online.de/nal.htm (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAO TOME. I thought you might like this sequence of photographs http://www.ydunritz.com/photosto.htm The antenna is the IBB/VOA two- tower 1530 kHz 600 kW array at Pinheira, São Tomé. The original towers were lightweight because of time constraints. They are being replaced with heavy duty new ones, but the old ones are not safe to climb, so are being toppled rather than dismantled. We will install a temporary mondirectional feed to the new, replacement NE tower and then the second one will be toppled and replaced, whereupon the directional operation will be re-established. These photographs were taken by Charles Lewis, who is IBB's station manager, and he gave me permission to pass them on to you. Both Charles and his wife Leslie are active amateur operators and so SWL's and other amateurs probably recognize the names (Ben Dawson in an email (7/2-2003), Ydun`s MW News via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Re Rota antenna, 3-021: "Its purpose is still a mystery to most people. What the antenna has accomplished and how exactly it works remain carefully guarded secrets." While some of the techniques, developed to implement the technology, may be classified, there is nothing classified about the theory. The antenna being described is called a Wullenweber Array. It is capable of forming multiple, independently-steered beams using computer controlled phase and amplitude weighting of the signal from each element. The number of beams that can be formed is one less than the number of elements. The theory is well known and is applied to unclassified programs such as NASA's Applications Technology Satellite program back in the late 1960's. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ ** TAIWAN. Os relatórios de recepção são valorizados pela Rádio Taipei Internacional. A remessa de dois ou mais informes, no mesmo envelope, para a emissora, são compensados com o envio de um brinde especial (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. TAIWAN TO ESTABLISH ENGLISH-LANGUAGE TV STATION BEFORE END OF JUNE | Text of report in English by Taiwan Government Information Office web site on 6 February Taiwan's first all English-language television channel is expected to begin transmission before the end of June. In an effort to promote an English-language environment here, the government plans to spend about NT dollars 100m (US dollars 2.9m) annually in an effort to provide funding for an English-language TV network. Existing television stations will make bids to produce programming for the channel. Minister without portfolio Huang Hwei- chen is heading the project. Premier Yu Shyi-kun said that in the next six-to-ten years, English will become the language used in Taiwan's official circles. He said that the establishment of a 24-hour English-language TV channel here is one measure necessary to help realize this goal. Officials at the Government Information Office (GIO) confirmed the urgency of the plan. Officials said that to avoid the long process in amending various laws, the GIO has decided to establish the English- language TV channel. Various government bodies are pooling nearly NT dollars 100m in resources, and programming will be awarded on the basis of bids by television channels already in existence. The channel will focus on real-time news. It will also have segments on the local economy and finance, tourism, human-interest stories, and culture. The GIO has already commissioned the Chinese Television System to produce English-language news, which began airing on 1 February. Several other channels have also begun to air English-language news, and more channels plan to follow their lead. Given current viewing habits and manpower resources, the inauguration of an English-only television channel should not be difficult, a GIO official said. Source: Government Information Office, Taipei, in English 6 Feb 03 (via DXLD) Note the incredible statement in the third paragraph above! (gh, DXLD) ** UKRAINE [and non]. Really nasty jammer on 7365 trying to mask R. Martí; sometimes it`s successful or marginal. In either case it severely affects RUI English to NAm on 7375 at 0100, due to splash. I`ve noticed increased jamming of R. Martí since the [acting] presidential SOTU address. There also seems to be a jammer co-channel 7345 behind R. Prague English to NAm. Now and then, I heard Dr. Gene Scott [Costa Rica] behind Ukraine 7375 (Bob Thomas, CT, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. UAE Radio from Dubai has moved frequency again for its English Broadcasts at 1030, 1330 and 1600 UT. The off channel frequency of 21597.64 that it has been using for some time now has moved to 21605.27 kHz (Graham Powell, Wales, Editor of the Online DX Logbook, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. A statistic: In 2002 the Radiocommunications Agency successfully carried out 1042 operations against 209 pirate radio broadcasters and successfully prosecuted 49 people arising from their involvement in pirate radio broadcasting. (from http://www.radio.gov.uk/ via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U K [non?]. OP TELIC GETS BFBS RADIO LIVE AND DIRECT To support our troops on Operation Telic, SSVC has supplied hundreds of portable radios to help keep them in touch with home. BFBS Radio are already broadcasting to the region and will be rolling out several new FM transmitters as more troops arrive. Already they can pick up BFBS on short wave from 5 til 8 in the morning on 13720khz and from 6 til 9 in the evening on 5945 kHz, their time (From http://www.ssvc.com/popup.htm via Kai Ludwig, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Their time? UT +3? So 0200-0500 on 13720, 1500-1800 on 5945. Those frequencies smack of Moosbrunn, Austria; or maybe UAE? HFCC has: 5945 1800 2315 18,27-29,37-39 MOS 100 0 1234567 271002 300303 D AUT ORF ORF 334 6155 --- But no current usage of 13720 at 0200-0500. So what IS Operation Telic? Another webpage never answers that question: http://www.ssvc.com/telic.htm Press release Saturday, February 08, 2003 SSVC SENDS TROOPS A TASTE OF HOME ToUK [sic] based charity, The Services Sound and Vision Corporation has boosted the morale of thousands of British service men and women, currently on deployment in the gulf by distributing over 1000 entertainment DVD's, a selection DVD Players, television sets and over 800 portable radios. Top feature films such as Lord Of The Rings, Austin Powers Goldmember and Spiderman through to popular TV shows and comedies including; The Office, Ali G, Footballers Wives and Sex In The City as well as a mixture of sport and football programmes will keep troops entertained whilst on operational deployment in the Middle East. The 800 portable radio sets have been donated through the SSVC's Operational Welfare Fund which finances recreational and welfare amenities for members of the Armed Forces who are serving on operational deployments. As well as providing the bumper entertainment supply, the main role of the SSVC over the coming weeks will be to provide the Armed Forces with entertainment and information through the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS Radio and Television). BFBS is currently preparing to provide BFBS Radios and the BFBS Television service to the deployment area as well as providing broadcasts to some Royal Navy ships. Preparations are underway to set up a mobile BFBS radio station within the deployment area that will broadcast news, dedications, messages and requests, music and special programmes for the troops based around Kuwait with links to families and friends back home. David Cryws-Williams, Managing Director of SSVC is spearheading the BFBS operation to keep the troops entertained and informed: "SSVC comes into its own at this time. Not only do we provide a vital welfare link by providing BFBS radio and television tailored for the forces audience, but along with our Combined Services Entertainment and video services, plus the grants from our Operational Welfare Fund, we hope we will make a significant contribution in boosting the morale and efficiency of the Armed Forces and their families. I have no doubt that this contribution will raise the spirits of a great number of service men and women and we are ready to give the Armed Forces the welfare and entertainment support they richly deserve." Ends For further PR Information on SSVC and BFBS Radio And Television please contact: Pearl Mina PR & Media Officer SSVC Tel: 01494 878 290 Mob : 07736 740 743 Email: pearl.mina@ssvc.com (via gh, DXLD) But from http://www.operations.mod.uk/telic/ we learn: UK military contingency preparations in relation to Iraq are being conducted under the name of Operation Telic. The Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon MP, announced on 6 February 2003 the deployment of an air package comprising some 100 aircraft. The Defence Secretary had previously outlined on 7 January the augmentation of Naval Task Group 2003 to provide it with a significant amphibious capability, to provide an effective maritime option. He also announced the mobilisation of a number of Reservists to support the operation. The deployment of a substantial land package was announced on 20 January (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) But what does Telic stand for??????? The European light information contingent? (gh) I assume "their time" is UT + 3? So 0200-0500 on 13720 and 1500-1800 on 5945? There is pop / rock music with announcements by a (British) English voice at 1650 on 5945. Side splash from VoR in German [then French from 1700] on 5940 and splatter from HOL 5955. Signal strength is increasing from about S5 now to 9+15dB, but fluttery. At 1700 came "This is BFBS the Forces station. Radio One." TC then news presented by a female voice until c1705 when more music. Best 73s (Noel Green, UK, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. Another week has passed - very quickly in my opinion - and here we are again with more new programmes from Laser Radio. Currently, on the net, we are repeating last week's shows up to 1300 UT, and then from 1500 our new set of shows goes out on the net and on short wave 5935 kHz [LATVIA]. Additionally, this week, we are very excited as our North American relay, via our friends at WBCQ on 9335 kHz, takes to the air from 2000 UT for 4 hours and will feature the best of our European programming and a *live* hour from 2100 to 2200 from London presented by Stewart Ross and myself. (All this is on our net feed as well, of course) We are also hosting the first of our paid relay customers with EMR - European Music Radio - returning for the first time since the 80s - this time as a non-pirate! Other highlights this week include the Media Show with part 2 of our interview with Radio Caroline's Peter Moore and our new presenter, Paul Goodwin, who has a fantastic taste in music. Don't miss any of it : European Schedule (5935 kHz) - 9th February 2003 (Times UT) 15h00 EMR - European Music Radio (Laserradio.net RELAY service) 17h00 Stewart Ross - with fine music and chat 18h00 Paul Goodwin - with the first of his eclectic musical journeys 19h00 England's England, a surreal experience with Christopher England (repeat) 20h00 The Media Show - featuring Part 2 of an interview with Radio Caroline's Peter Moore and more, with Julian Clover 21h00 Closedown ---------------------------------------------------------- USA Schedule (9335 kHz) - 9th February 2003 (Times UT) 20h00 The Media Show - featuring Part 2 of an interview with Radio Caroline's Peter Moore and more, with Julian Clover [we started listening, but there were numerous lengthy dropouts in audio feed --- internet? gh] 21h00 Welcome to LaserRadio.net - LIVE from London with Geoff Rogers and Stewart Ross 22h00 Paul Goodwin - with the first of his eclectic musical journeys 23h00 England's England, a surreal experience with Christopher England. 00h00 Closedown Programmes continue repeated on the web until 01h00 Tuesday next. ----------------------------------------- Happy listening, Geoff Rogers and the LaserRadio.net team ----------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this group, send a blank email to: laserradio-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com For a list of other commands, send a blank email to: laserradio-help@yahoogroups.com If all else fails, send a non-blank email to: laserradio-owner@yahoogroups.com (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. US STEPS UP MEDIA WAR FOR ARAB "HEARTS AND MINDS" - LONDON- BASED PAPER | Text of report by Ziyad al-Khuza'i in London headlined "Radio Sawa's success encouraged the administration to complete its media offensive; US television channel to attract Arab youths and confront hatred"; published by London-based newspaper Al-Hayat on 5 February; all quotation marks as published: Washington so far is fighting three wars in the Middle East: the war on terrorism that has entered a tunnel longer than the US administration wished for; the war on Iraq - whose drums are being beaten while one waits for its dust to cover everyone; and finally the war to win the hearts and minds of the region's youths - its weapon is the media, brainwashing and the targeting of moods and tastes. After the 11 September [2001] shock, the Americans asked: Why do they hate us? The administration's intellectuals answered: Because we have not talked to them enough. The relief came a year later when giant media structures were set up to broadcast the largest volume of "showbiz". Following the hasty arrangements for "Radio Sawa", which broadcasts its entertainment programmes from Amman [as published; Radio Sawa is relayed on FM in Amman and some other Arab capitals, but programming is produced primarily in Washington], the US government revealed its ambitious plan to allocate 30m dollars to finance the "Middle East Television Network" in the new financial year budget announced by President George Bush yesterday. We will probably wait only few months before the logo of this channel (METN) appears on TV screens in the lounges of Arab families, as American media figure Norman G. Pattiz has promised. He is the mastermind who fought ferociously to convince the US Congress of the importance firstly of the radio station and secondly of the new satellite channel. He is chairman of the Middle East committee in the US agency charged with broadcasting radio and TV programmes and known as the BBG [Broadcasting Board of Governors]. One of its tasks is to give media advice to the American "world" radio stations of a non-military nature, including the "Voice of America" and "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty". He was the person who established "Westwood One", the largest radio network in the United States. Pattiz told Al-Hayat: "The inclusion of METN financing in the president's budget indicates that this project is not just a good idea but is being implemented." He expressed his belief that Congress would approve this project "and we are ready to start our research as soon as it is approved in order to determine the type of programmes that we will broadcast". He added that this project would also depend on the success of "Radio Sawa, that has attracted a large number of listeners. We are hoping to achieve the same result and we will not disappoint the viewers in this important region." He went on to say that he personally started contacts several months ago with leaders of the media and entertainment sector in the United States and felt they were willing to provide this project with expertise and creative programmes. Asked about the reduction in the budget from 60m to 30m dollars, he said: "This allocation is in the year 2004 budget. We are still seeking to obtain a budget for this year from the supplementary budget. We know how much this project costs and believe that we will get the necessary and sufficient funding." Pattiz is seeking to remove the "traditional and onerous politicized networks" and establish a media consortium fortified by the preventive laws that were born after the New York and Washington attacks and the generous financial grants he succeeded in guaranteeing after "playing" on the "fears" of Congress and the administration in Washington when he referred to the Arab information ministers' resolution of June 2002 to organize a comprehensive media strategy and establish an Arab media centre "to monitor the Western campaigns of distortion against the Arabs and reply to them," and their allocation of 22.5m dollars for that purpose. On 8 October 2002, the agency [BBG] invited the leaders of "Paramount", "NBC", "FX", "Fox", "CAA", and "WMA" to a meeting in Los Angeles to discuss and support Pattiz's project. He was bolstered by the figures on "Radio Sawa's" brilliant success that were provided for him by the "Edison Media Consultations Office". The latter reported that 86 per cent of Arab youths aged between 17 and 28 listen to its programmes, 23 per cent of them consider its programmes modern and youthful and 19 per cent consider its news trustworthy. The White House took this seriously and backed Pattiz's project with half the amount he had proposed, that is, 60m dollars. Pattiz stressed in his statement to this publication: "There is a media war in the Middle East and its weapons include deception, incitement to violence, hostile propaganda campaigns and government censorship, in addition to the self-censorship that people in the media practise." He said: "The United States did not have a horse in this race before `Radio Sawa'." He expressed his confidence that these figures prove the loyalty to the radio and that will be the case with the satellite channel and its spread "because local governments will be unable to hamper its transmission if they disagree with its message," according to him. This media official believes that the United States needs to tempt Arab youths with whatever it has that attracts them. Source: Al- Hayat, London, in Arabic 5 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. ESTADOS UNIDOS: La Voz de América, Washington DC 20237. 2 tarjetas QSL con datos completos pero sin firmar. Una de las tarjetas muestra la estación retransmisora de Marruecos y la otra, antenas de satélite en Saipán. Demoró 269 días. Incluyó un bonito calendario de pared 2003-2004 con pinturas de museos de Wáshington (Ernesto Hernández, México, Conexión Digital Feb 9 via DXLD) ** U S A. VOA SITE RESTORATION A MAJOR HAM RADIO PROJECT FAIRFIELD, OH, Feb 5, 2003 --- Ham Radio operators north of Cincinnati, Ohio, are playing a key role in preserving a landmark element in the development in radio communications -- the main transmitter relay station for The Voice of America (VOA). For 52 years, until it was decommissioned in 1994, the major VOA relay station was located in Bethany (now West Chester Township). Hams traveling Interstate 75 to the Dayton Hamvention often found themselves distracted by the site`s vast antenna farm as they passed by. Plans are under way for the transmitter building, now owned by the township, to become a major radio technology museum that will key on the VOA`s mission to broadcast the truth to those living in countries that tried to suppress it. ``The VOA Bethany station represents a key time in the advancement of radio technology,`` said Gary West, K8DEV, of the West Chester Amateur Radio Association. ``We believe we are in a unique position to support the building restoration as well as the technical expertise to create museum displays.`` Plans call for more than $6 million in restoration and development-- funds now being raised through the work of township officials, ham radio club members, historical societies and veterans` organizations. In the meantime, Amateur Radio operators are making use of the building and the station there to promote ham radio and to spread the word about the project. The club`s membership is regularly on the air from WC8VOA (``West Chester Eight Voice of America``), an HF station at the site. ``We need to rag chew about the VOA—to talk up the facility and answer questions,`` said West. ``This helps direct people to the West Chester VOA Web site and other information on the Internet.`` Its regular use of the former VOA location has evolved into a major ham radio recruiting tool for the club. Recently, five Cub Scouts and their parents visited the VOA site where they received a brief background of the installation and a presentation on the future museum, built crystal sets and made QSOs from WC8VOA. ``It was a great recruiting experience,`` said West Chester ARA President Warren Reihs, WB6QKA. More Scout visits are in the works. The amateurs involved in the project also have put their technical skills and expertise to use to save the restoration project a huge amount of money. Under the leadership of Tom Baas, KD8C, two of the three remaining transmitters were removed and the remaining unit repositioned and restored for eventual display in the museum. ``These hams have invested hundreds of volunteer hours in restoring the transmitter,`` said Charlie Stinger, W8GFA, former VOA plant supervisor who was carrying out cables, amps, and power transformers as a member of the cleanup crew. ``They are committed to the project and came each day prepared to work hard.`` Club officials estimated that doing the work themselves has saved the project almost $600,000 that now can be spent elsewhere in the museum`s development. ``The remaining transmitter will not function, but museum visitors will have an idea of what these looked like and how the transmitters operated when we first opened the Bethany station in 1944,`` said Stinger. And it is a history worth the restoration effort. ``When I was serving in Italy at the beginning of World War II, I would listen to the VOA broadcasts,`` Stinger added. ``When I returned home it meant a great deal to be asked to work at the Bethany station. I knew many of my buddies were still listening to and relying on the broadcasts overseas.`` For more information, visit the West Chester Amateur Radio Association Web site. http://www.wc8voa.org/ --Joe Phillips, K8QOE Page last modified: 10:33 AM, 05 Feb 2003 ET Page author: awextra@arrl.org Copyright 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (ARRL web via John Norfolk, OKCOK, Bill Smith, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry, but Bethany was no longer ``the major`` VOA station once Greenville came on line, nevermind all the overseas relays. Well and good all the activity to preserve and remember Bethany, but historical accuracy should be maintained (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. The BBG budget calling for cutting several VOA and RFE/RL languages is not final; subject to debate, and Congress could exempt some of the proposed cuts. This has happened in the past (Kim Elliott, VOA Main Street Feb 9, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. NEWSMAN LARRY LESUEUR DIES By Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, February 7, 2003; Page B06 Larry LeSueur, 93, one of the pioneering CBS Radio newsmen who covered World War II with Edward R. Murrow and later became White House correspondent for the Voice of America radio service, died Feb. 5 at his home in Washington. He had Parkinson's disease. Mr. LeSueur, a third-generation journalist, joined CBS in 1939 and was a recognizable voice on the home front through his reports from Normandy on D-Day, the liberation of Paris and the Soviet side of the Eastern Front. He was one of the Murrow Boys, reporters known for their close association with the famed European news director. Considered one of the finest news teams ever assembled, it included Eric Sevareid, William Shirer, Howard K. Smith, Winston Burdett and Charles Collingwood. Of that crowd, Mr. LeSueur was closest to Murrow, said Stanley Cloud, co-author with Lynne Olson of "The Murrow Boys." Both were unpretentious, soft-spoken men who thrived in the war years on daredevil reporting followed by an evening of dining, drinking and female company, he said. After disagreements with CBS brass, Murrow became head of the U.S. Information Agency in 1961 and invited Mr. LeSueur, also languishing at the network, to work for Voice of America. Mr. LeSueur retired from VOA in 1984. In his long career, he considered one of his greatest moments landing with U.S. troops on Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He reportedly was the first correspondent to broadcast from the American beachhead. In the descriptive tone Murrow taught him, he told The Washington Post in 1984: "We were huddled in the prow of our assault craft. German shells landed in the water, but you didn't hear any noise -- just white geysers of water going up alongside. Other small ships were swamped, and several of the tanks that accompanied us foundered. There were quite a few helmets floating around in the water nearby, which increased our apprehension. "The Germans were firing from the ridge. I saw the first Americans killed by rifle fire crossing the inundated area. We knew Americans could get wounded, but we didn't know that they could actually expire. We thought that was only going to happen to the enemy. It was rather a sobering sight." He was made an honorary member of the 4th Infantry Division. Lawrence Edward Lesueur was born in New York; the "S" was not capitalized until he became a personality at CBS. After graduating from New York University, he was a private investigator's assistant, a department store floorwalker and a reporter for Women's Wear Daily and the United Press news service. In the 1950s, Mr. LeSueur contributed to the seminal magazine-format program "See It Now," which Murrow hosted. His main job was covering the United Nations, which he found increasingly dull. Mr. LeSueur wrote of his wartime experiences in the 1943 book "Twelve Months that Changed the World." His marriages to Joan Phelps and Priscilla Bruce ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 46 years, Dorothy Hawkins LeSueur, former fashion editor at the New York Times and The Washington Post, of Washington; a daughter from the second marriage, Lorna Vliet of Morris Plains, N.J.; a daughter from the third marriage, Amy Herrick of Washington; and three grandchildren. (c) 2003 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) See also VOICES OF WORLD WAR II, below ** U S A. Now and then VOA`s English on 7410/7415 gets jammed and this also affects WBCQ`s 7415. Sometimes VOA and the jammer takes BCQ totally out (Bob Thomas, CT, Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Times? It`s real news if VOA in English is really being deliberately jammed. Current IBB schedule shows no usage of 7410, and 7415 is only the usual Botswana to Africa: 7415 0300 0500 VOA B ENGL BOT 03 010 7415 1900 2100 VOA B ENGL BOT 04 010 7415 2100 2200 VOA B ENGL BOT 04 010 7415 2200 2230 VOA B ENGL BOT 04 010 12345 We keep hearing Allan Weiner explaining that we have to live with the VOA clash, since no station has an exclusive worldwide right to any frequency. No we don`t --- only if both stations adamantly refuse to move! (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 700 WLW in Stereo with a steady pilot which has been missing the last couple of times I've done a band scan. 0428 5/Feb (Ken Zichi, MI, MARE via DXLD) I need to do some AM stereo bandscans to see what if anything be left (gh, OK, DXLD) ** U S A. 1530 WSAI Cincinnati OH 1/24/03 Echo-machine on during overnight religion shows, did not used to be that way. Heard one show end, echo continued during WSAI taped ann., then continued on next religion program. They should not be adding echo to the pre-produced shows. I suspect they did this when they switched from Nostalgia mx to oldies mx. So everything must run through an echo-box. Bleah! (Larry Russell, MI, MARE via DXLD) ** U S A. This is great to hear, Paul, but I trust you'll consider and respect my request to check if KWKH [Shreveport] 1130 's night pattern is functioning as it is supposed to. In general, over the past couple of months, KWKH seems clearly too strong up here 35 miles NW of Chicago where I am supposed to be in their deep null which protects WISN. Thank You for your consideration (Neil Kazaross Barrington IL -- --to Paul Jellison, Clear Channel Engineering, NRC-AM via DXLD) Neil is right, Paul, KWKH is bad about leaving up non DA for substantial periods of times. Once for over 2 weeks @ high power. This is not uncommon for them. Something there needs fixing, or if they have to do it manually like WVOC did until I embarrassed the hell out of them ( and pissed Gary Robison off!) as someone had to manually dial up the TX site and do it. It's automated now...at WVOC though (Powell E. Way, ibid.) Something is amiss at KWKH. I'm 194 miles west of them and according to the MW Viewer, their night signal is supposed to throw ~75000 Watts my way. Until, I'd say, about a month ago they would dominate 1130 with a little fading. But were always there. Now, they are barely audible, with an SS station dominating. I can't tell if a domestic or an XE. Wasn't KWKH's night pattern in effect before WISN's change to 1130? What was that . . . 1964? Early 1965? I remember sitting in my car in the parking lot at work in Elkhorn, Wisconsin listening to the changeover, but can't remember the date (Bill Hale in Fort Worth, ibid.) ** U S A. The FCC site shows NO PSSA or PSRA listings. IN FACT THE FCC LOST ALL OF THIS INFORMATION SOME TIME BACK AND DOESN'T HAVE THOSE RECORDS. As the Church Lady would say. Now isn't that just SPECIAL! (Powell E. Way, NRC-AM via DXLD) Post-sunset, pre-sunrise So far as I know, you can't find anything labelled as a PSRA or PSSA anywhere in the FCC info on the web. My last discussion with the person at FCC who would be ultimately responsible for such told me at the time (1-2 years ago) that it was something he wanted to do, but there were a lot of priorities ahead of it.... Actually the FCC records of this have been lost, so he can't. Only the stations that have their own authorization has it. I don't know, but I bet the FCC just buries their government heads in the sand! (Powell E. Way, ibid) I wrote to the FCC asking about PSRA's and PSSA's a while back. Here is what I received in response: From: "Dale Bickel" DBICKEL@fcc.gov Subject: Re: Pre-Sunrise/Post Sunset Authority Date: Monday, December 09, 2002 6:04 AM Unfortunately there is no database of these values. For many years the PSRA power or PSSA power was just authorized by telegram on a case-by- case basis, or added as a condition on the station's construction permit or license. There is no plan to collect all these various authorizations and put them into a database. If the station was recently granted a license, you can pull up the station authorization from CDBS. It these powers were authorized, it will be shown on the license. Dale Bickel dbickel@fcc.gov (via Bill Hale in Fort Worth, NRC-AM via DXLD) TEE HEE! They just CAN'T admit they lost the records (Powell, ibid.) ** U S A. Just back from a trip from West palm to Miami Beach. There were so many pirates on practically every open channel, that it is truly difficult to determine the real stations from the pirates. They must run several hundred watts or on high antennas. They come in for miles and miles. Some are professional sounding and are in stereo. Others are terrible in mono with distorted or MP3 sounding audio. It's sick. Now is when we really need the FCC!! (Steve Solomon, Cape Cod, Feb 8, WTFDA via DXLD) Yes, we need the FCC to protect the public interest and quality programming provided to us by corporate radio. Heaven forbid someone actually program unique, independent radio to their community. This is America, why should we act like we have a first amendment? The above is not endorsing illegal activity, merely pointing out the hypocrisy of the FCC in regards to selling public airwaves far out of reach of normal Americans who therefore have little chance to use the powerful tool of radio for good. Use it for profit all you want, use it for creativity and public service at low power and we'll SWAT team you (D. Luke Steele, ibid.) And rightfully so. The corporations paid a lot of money to make things go their way. We have great politicians because when you buy them, they stay bought. The FCC is totally and absolutely worthless. They are truly the most useless and vestigial organ of the government that ever existed (Kevin Redding, Mesa, Arizona, ibid.) ** U S A. PROTESTS MOUNT AGAINST WJOB SALE TO STARBOARD; LOCAL MAYOR TAKES CAMPAIGN TO WASHINGTON Hammond, Feb 6 (CRU) --- The local opposition to the purchase of 75- year-old WJOB 1230 AM Hammond, Indiana, by Starboard Broadcasting from the bankrupt St George Broadcasting continues to mount, with the announcement that local Mayor Duane Dedelow Jr. is in Washington to attempt to block that purchase. According to an article written by Christine Harvey in the Northwest Indiana Times, the mayor’s trip to speak to FCC officials followed his letter to the FCC last week. Mayor Dedelow is unhappy over the loss of the station`s community service, especially its emphasis on local news and sports. Most stations in northwestern Indiana in face operate as Chicago stations, aiming for a Chicago audience. The mayor argues that the sale of WJOB to Starboard for a 24-hour Catholic operation is not in the best interests of Hammond, that WJOB is the only station that provides listeners with news of school and road closings, weather, and local traffic reports. Mayor Dedelow also buys time on WJOB on Saturday mornings for a call-in show in which residents can speak directly to the mayor. News about the mayor`s trip to Washington and crescendoing local opposition made the national radio trade press this week, items appearing on the M Street Journal Online, Radio Daily News, and Radio Business Report Online. According to the Northwest Indiana Times article, St George Broadcasting is owned by George W. Stevens, who bought WJOB and WIMS 1420 AM in Michigan City, Indiana in July 1999 for $4 million from M&M Broadcasting, owned by Northwest Indiana Forum head and former mayor Thomas McDermott Sr. and his partner Marty Wielgos. They had bought the station from Julian Colby`s Colby Broadcasting Co., which had bought the station in 1960, the same time the FM station, now WYCA 92.3 FM, was spun off and sold to Crawford Broadcasting, a religious operator. The previous owner had been North Shore Broadcasting Co. WJOB is not the original call sign; that was WWAE, but the station became WJOB not long after going on the air in 1928 (Catholic Radio Update #210, January 20, 2003). (Catholic Radio Update Feb 10 via DXLD) ** U S A. I finally got around to updating my home page (see URL below). Western DXers will find a ton of TIS/HAR info now; I've posted all my 2002-2003 TIS/HAR updates covering a good chunk of CA, NV, OR, UT, and AZ. Karen and I are hoping to return to Tombstone, AZ in April. DX was pretty good there last year. Also hoping to drive to Yellowstone NP sometime in May-June, this time with the full-size Kiwa Loop! (I just had the pocket loop last time). 73, (Tim Hall Chula Vista, CA http://www.inetworld.net/halls/dx/index.html amfmtvdx Feb 8 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. NO IDENTIFICADA: 4890 29/01 0725-0900. Programa religioso en español, sin ninguna identificación durante todo el tiempo de la escucha. 33422 (Samuel Cassio M., Brasil, Conexi’on Digital via DXLD) Siguiendo la sugerencia del querido amigo brasileño Samuel Cassio M. (quien la reportó varios días atrás), me puse a escuchar la emisora no identificada que opera en los 4890.19 kHz. Llegaba a Buenos Aires con señal 2 y QRK 2/3 con una larguísima charla religiosa por OM en español, sin identificaciones ni anuncios. Con Samuel nos preguntamos qué puede ser, ya que sería difícil de creer que Radio Chota, Chota, Perú, haya prolongado su emisión y ocupado todo el tiempo con programas religiosos, aunque no podríamos descartar esta posibilidad. Alguien tiene alguna idea?? (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Feb 8, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Amigos, otra fuente, cuya identidad no estoy autorizado a revelar, afirma que la mencionada emisora de programación religiosa se ha escuchado en los 4890.00 mientras que Radio Chota se oía, simultáneamente, en los 4890.26. Sería, por tanto, interesante dar con la identidad de la emisora, y que, desde esta lista, por ejemplo, salga a la luz pública, y para beneficio de todos, la identidad de la emisora en cuestión. Supongo que me castigarán por soplón los de la camarilla que todo lo quieren guisar y comer solitos, y cuya fuente cito sin permiso, pero como en este caso ni siquiera fueron los primeros, y ya que únicamente me anima la intención de contribuir al esclarecimiento de un enigma, me aventuro a pasarles este dato por el que, en todo caso, se puede descartar que se trate de Radio Chota... (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) [He knows, but can`t tell] Muchísimas gracias por el dato, Henrik! De a poco, y paso a paso comenzamos a develar el misterio. Recuerdo que a mediados del año pasado se habia conformado una investigación interesantisima por parte de un puñado importante de participantes de la Lista y que había facilitado la identificación de La Voz del Campesino, de Sipe Sipe. En todo caso, deberemos quedarnos en la frecuencia hasta que se identifique o bien podamos tomar datos que nos lleven a descubrir de qué emisora se trata. Saludos (Arnaldo Slaen, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMMENTARY ++++++++++ SO MUCH FOR QSLs I recently received a QSL from Radio Habana, even tho I didn't request one, in my correspondence. It was interesting to compare the rather plain card, however, to the one I received in 1963, titled "1963 The Year of Planification". I was in high school, and that was the first - and last - time I ever saw this word, planification. That card had an interesting design of the works of some kind of refinery, and was on regular postcard stock. Wish I still had it, along with the pennants and stuff I tossed since, including some of the booklets from Radio Peking excoriating China's capitalist roaders. Getting the QSL with no work reminded me of other QSLs I received, by merely writing and asking for a song title. No answer ever on the song title, and it seemed the station did not even understand my request. Some years back, I read an article, I believe in FRENDX, about D. X. King's unique approach, which didn't yield 100% results but did snag a few rare QSLs nevertheless: he simply wrote a "follow-up" reminder letter to the station, when in fact he had neither heard the station nor written a reception report in the first place. Nowadays, of course, if you really need a QSL, you can fly to the place, get the info, fly home, and mail the reception report from there. Let's rack up that QSL score, gang! (Hue Miller, WA, Feb 8, swprograms via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ VOICES OF WORLD WAR II: EXPERIENCES FROM THE FRONT AND AT HOME Have come across an interesting site that has a lot of old war broadcasts, some on SW from Europe to New York where correspondents would report to CBS listeners. The main site is: http://www.umkc.edu/lib/spec-col/ww2/main_txt.htm Here is an example of what is on one of the pages: We Interrupt This Program Caught between the lingering Great Depression and newfound international responsibilities, the late 1940s found America quickly and awkwardly developing into a genuine world power. Similarly, the nation's broadcasters evolved from what were essentially domestic news gatherers into true global journalists. However, even in the face of this maturation, not to mention the grim world events being reported, sensationalism and exploitation remained broadcasting basics. The five radio broadcasts presented here come from original studio transcription disc recordings in the Arthur B. Church - KMBC Radio collection and the J. David Goldin collection in the Marr Sound Archives. Broadcast #1 William Paley fell in love with broadcasting when his family began advertising cigars on a local radio station. In 1929 Paley bought the young 22-affiliate Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting Company for $400,000, changed the name to the Columbia Broadcasting System, and began building a radio powerhouse. Wanting to construct a solid news team, Paley hired former New York Times editor Edward Klauber and veteran United Press reporter Paul White in 1931. When world events interceded, Columbia's young news division found itself witnessing history in action. As a result Columbia developed an extensive international news bureau almost overnight, and pioneered broadcast journalism. On March 7, 1936, Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, beginning the Anschluss, Germany's expansion to its pre-World War I boundaries. That same year a young reporter named Edward R. Murrow moved to London and became Columbia's European news director. As the war unfolded Murrow, along with ex-newspaperman William L. Shirer, assembled one of the finest news teams in radio. The crew became known as "Murrow's Boys," and included Howard K. Smith, Eric Sevareid, Richard C. Hottelet, Larry LeSueur, Charles Collingwood, and others. Witnessing the war firsthand from the frontlines, the reporters then sent transcribed reports to Columbia's New York headquarters via shortwave transmission. To many Americans, these dispatches were the definitive eyewitness accounts of the world at war. One of Columbia's groundbreaking news programs was "The World Today," which debuted in 1940. In this January 31, 1941 broadcast, with America just a year from war, correspondent Harry W. Flannery reports on developments from Berlin (via David Onley, ARDXC via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ HARVEYTOWN MUSEUM HOSTS ONE OF NATION`S BEST COLLECTIONS By DAVE LAVENDER - The Herald-Dispatch HUNTINGTON [WV]-- Ask Bill Flowers if he has some radios, and he just laughs. "I got a few," said the Sissonville resident, smiling as he stood in the doorway of the Museum of Radio and Technology, 1640 Florence Ave.... http://www.heralddispatch.com/2003/January/05/LFlist1.htm I went to Marshall and most of my family still lives in this area. Believe it or not, I have never been to this museum. My loss (David Austin, KF4NDW, Columbia SC, WTFDA via DXLD) THIS DAY`S ARABIC LESSON -- War & Pronunciation ++++++++++++++++++++++++ It appears that the Iraqi leader's very name has become a weapon. During the special address to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, Mr. Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, pronounced it repeatedly in a way that rhymes with bottom and sounded very much like Sodom. The leader's full name is Saddam Hussein al-Majd al-Takriti, but he prefers his people call him Saddam; a name that has only one pronunciation: Sah-Dahm. ef dove-land (Eric Flodén, BC, NRC-AM via DXLD) Here's something on the considerably small amount I know about this subject. Arabic has about a half dozen sounds of letters that really have no direct cognate with Western letters; included are the emphatic forms of K (qaaf), H, S and T. Also are :ayn and ghayn, and the hamza (a glottal stop, viz. cockney saying of 'bottle' (bo'le)). There are 29 consonant sounds and three vowel sounds, ahh, ooh and ii, roughly (a, u and i) and each vowel can have a short form and long form. Yet there generally is no "p" and "v" with words using "b" and "f" as substitutes. The short form vowels are customarily not written out (except in children's readers, where they need to learn the words, and in the Qur'aan, where custom dictates that the words be exactly and unambiguously rendered; therefore in the Koran the short vowels are always fully rendered). Fortunately in Arabic each consonant has a standard way of being voiced. There is none of the nonsense we have in English where "..ough" can be said in multiple ways, e.g. bough, through, rough (remember "ghoti" who was really "fish" (Fischer in Nebraska)). As far as I have yet seen, the reference for pronunciation, if you ignore some regionalisms (the soft "j" is a hard "g" in Egypt, and so on) is to see the word in Arabic script. The transliteration of S.H.'s name appears as "Sdaam Hsyn" (emphatic S "saad", dal, long form of "a" shown by the alif, mim, emphatic H "haah", soft s "sin", yaa, nuun). (normally the reader is expected to have learned the short form vowelization of words, shown when needed by the tiny kasra, fatHa and dhamma marks). Therefore I would say that suh-daam (not saah-dum) is a good rendering of the name. (To be consistent, the English renderings _should_ spell it as "sadaam" and not as saddam). This agrees with what Eric said. But I have never seen "sadaam" used here. This would confirm the voicing of the visible long-A form, seen in the script. The reason that "Al-Qaeda" is sometimes spelled "Al-Qaida" is because of the presence of the letter ":ayn" (it looks like a backwards figure three when written in its free-standing form). The word, which just means "the base" (probably, as "the foundation") would properly be transliterated as "al-qaa:da" which would be value only to one who knows the meaning of the : character. Since few here do, it is just fudged, with some news organization stylebooks rendering it as an "a" and others as an "e". In truth it is strictly, untranslatable. Unfortunately, (for us) this letter :ayn is a common one, and is voiced deep from the throat. Remember also, there is no concept of capitalization or upper/lower case in Arabic for proper names. You will see capitalization of the H,S,T etc. forms to differentiate which exact letter is being used. From here on I am speculating that al-majd is a reference to his tribal affiliation, and I know that Tikrit is a reference to his hometown, both ancestral indications that often appear in full forms of names of individuals in Arab lands. It is probably "at-tikriti" since both T forms are so-called "sun letters" in which the definite article assimilates the first consonant of the noun, e.g. "ash-shams" (the sun) but "al-qamar" (the moon; no assimilation) Fourteen consonants are "sun letters". Another example, ad-dawha (the grove of trees, in one source I read) (Doha, the capital of Qatar), NOT al- dawha. Hmmm. Now you want to know how to pronounce "qatar". It is written simply as "qTr" (qaaf, Taa, ra) with the q and the T about evenly voiced. The qaaf, also, is voiced deeply from the throat with the tongue down. The similar-seeming letter k "kaf" is voiced normally e.g. al-kitaab, the book. In some pleces they use a "g" sound for the qaaf, these lead to the use of "gutter" as a transliteration instead of "qotter". None of these seem exact and I doubt very much I could say it nearly correctly. I hear Arabs on call-in shows with different versions of this word. Trying to learn this language is a great way to fill the otherwise many idle hours in your day you could waste watching television :-) Soon with any luck he will be in jail or under a deuce-and-a-half and you can forget all this (Bob Foxworth, Tampa Bay FL, Feb 7, NRC-AM via DXLD) Thanks for the Arabic mini-lesson. It's similar to Hebrew, and not just because Arabic also reads from right to left. In Hebrew the wowels are indicated by little dots or lines placed below the letters, but these vowel markers are usually not printed except in children's books, language learning texts and the Siddur (Jewish prayer book). I believe Hebrew has only 22 consonants. Don't know if there was a glottal stop, but there's not much I remember from my Hebrew school days, except parts of my Torah and Haftarah portions from my Bar Mitzvah 30 years ago. Saying "the al-Qaeda" is redundant, since the "al-" prefix means "the" (definite article) in Arabic. How different are the regional varieties of Arabic? i.e. would Arabic speakers from, say, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have as much difficulty understanding each other as Spanish speakers from Spain, Argentina and Mexico? If you think Bush mangles the pronunciation of Saddam, you should have heard him botch the name of the Indian-born astronaut killed aboard Columbia (Kalpana Chawla). 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ A small M class flare on 6 Feb is all to report on the solar flare front. The geomagnetic field was disturbed Feb 1-3 from an earlier CME. A coronal hole then began to affect us from Feb 4-6. All this made from pretty poor conditions with MUFs depressed up to 30%. Isolated M class flares remain possible, and the earth's geomagnetic field is expected to remain quiet to unsettled for the next few days. Propagation conditions should slowly return to normal over the next few days. Prepared using data from http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, Australia, Feb 8, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ASIA RECEPTION ON 6 MHZ AT NOON IN MELBOURNE The spectacular midday opening on Feb-02 noted here in Melbourne was represented by incredible signals between 0000 and 0400 UT from Asia and Africa, on frequencies in the 6, 7, and 9 MHz bands. This pattern is similar to what we had been accustomed to in earlier year during the bottoms of sunspot activity, such as occurred in January 1972, December 1984, and January 1998. Those years corresponded to the bottom parts of Solar Cycles 20, 21, and 22, with the Smoothed Sunspot Indices noted as between 20 and 40. On February 1 this year, the day day on which this magnificent propagation happened, the daily sunspot number had fallen to 75, the lowest for several years. It had been steadily decreasing for several days prior to them, from a level of around 120. Thus, after observing this midsummer phenomenon for some 40 years, the hypothesis survives, in that this form of propagation is directly associated with low sunspot activity, causing much lower absorption, in turn allowing refraction of signals not otherwise possible. I do not believe that sunspot activity is the sole cause: the hypothesis is that the effect is also linked to reduced ground- bouncing, causing considerable less absorption off the earth's surface, due to the presence of Sporadic E clouds over the southern Hemisphere with refraction off the top surfaces of those moving clouds. Since Feb 1, there has not been any further exotic propagation effects noted (apart from my neighbour's computers, motion sensors and light dimmers!). Predicted SS count for the remainder of February ranges from a low of 58.5 to a maximum of 84.5, average 74.5, so anything's possible! In review, some short-path distances may be useful, over which those daytime signals were propagated into Melbourne around our local mid-summer noon: Kuching (Malaysia) 5630 km Singapore 6061 km Hanoi (Vietnam) 7700 km Yangon (Myanmar) 7600 km Delhi (India) 10020 km Meyerton (S. Africa) 10287 km Al Dhabiyya (UAE) 11677 km Trincomalee (Sri Lanka) 8359 km Luanda (Angola) 11600 km São Tomé 14042 km A lot of fun! (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia Feb 7, EDXP via DXLD ###