DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-024, February 12, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted afterwards at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html [note change] HTML version of all January issues: 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 WORLD OF RADIO 1169: WBCQ: Wed 2300 7415, 17495-CUSB; Mon 0545 7415 WWCR: Thu 2130 9475, Sat 0700, Sun 0330 5070, 0730, 3210, Wed 1030 9475 RFPI: Fri 1930, Sat 0130, 0730, 1330, 1800, Sun 0000, 0600, 1200, 1830, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Tue 1900 Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 15039 and/or 7445 WJIE: M-F 1300 7490... WRN ONDEMAND from Fri: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 ONDEMAND AUDIO NOW: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1169.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1169.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1169h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1169h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1168.html [from Thu] ** AFGHANISTAN. LIST OF SHORTWAVE AND MEDIUMWAVE STATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN Thanks to extensive new information obtained by Internews and received from Bruce Girard, and thanks to a tip from Bernd Trutenau concerning a report on Afghan media, which lead me to this information in the first place, I was able to compile a frequency list, which is now available at http://www.dxing.info/lists/afghanistan.dx I'd greatly appreciate corrections and other type of feedback. I'm also looking for a volunteer to maintain the list in the future. If you're interested, please email me (Mika Mäkeläinen, Feb 11, DXing.info via DXLD) Well, the only two ``SW`` stations so far: 1680 R Helmand, Helmand 5 0530-0630, 1230-1515 Dari/Pashtu 20/80 (Internews 10/2002) 8700 Information R, Kabul 0030-1530 (CRW 11/2002) (via gh, DXLD) ** ANGOLA. Amigos, o jornal português "Público", na sua edição de 11 de Fevereiro, publicou uma notícia com o título em epígrafe e cujo conteúdo transcrevo abaixo http://jornal.publico.pt/2003/02/11/Media/R02.html ------------- GOVERNO ANGOLANO ACUSA RÁDIO ECCLESIA DE TER "EMISSÕES TERRORISTAS" Terça-feira, 11 de Fevereiro de 2003 O governo angolano acusou ontem a Rádio Ecclésia, estação independente de inspiração católica, de difundir "emissões terroristas" por ter colocado em antena algumas críticas a oficiais das forças armadas do país. O ministro responsável pela pasta da comunicação social, Hendrik Vaal Neto, afirmou que o conteúdo de um programa da rádio Ecclésia era "inaceitável". A antena da rádio em causa é usada "como um veículo de ofensa, difamação e propaganda falsa e destrutiva contra figuras e instituições públicas do país", disse, segundo a agência AFP, o ministro em entrevista à Rádio Nacional de Angola (pública), embora não tenha dado exemplos de programas que considera ofensivos. Alguns dos mais populares programa da Ecclésia são preenchidos por chamadas dos ouvintes, o que leva a que vão para o ar as mais diversas opiniões do público, pró e contra o governo. Há um ano, o governo acusou a Ecclésia de ser "subversiva", e a estação, em protesto, cancelou a sua programação durante 48 horas (via 73 Fernando de Sousa Ribeiro, Porto, Portugal, radioescutas via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. HCJB Australia's new frequency of 11770 generated some headaches within two days of it coming on line. This was a replacement for 11755, for the Australia/South Pacific service 0700-1200, where co-channel interference from Radio Finland was causing lots of difficulties. 11770 was taken into use on Feb-02, but on Feb-03, the Voice of Nigeria, at Lagos, chose to commence use of the same channel for its External Service in the period 0500-1200, which caused havoc with HCA between 0700 and 1000. The Nigerian signal propagates into South Eastern Australia via the classical long-path. It is thought that VON has commissioned a new high-powered transmitter, and 11770 is a registered channel which had been inactive for many years. By Feb-06, VON had vanished from 11770 in this time period, and was noted using its regular frequency of 7255, parallel with either 9690 or 15120. As of Feb-11, it had settled on 7255 and 15120, yielding good signals here in Melbourne from 0500 until as late as 1000 on 7255 via longpath, 15120 via shortpath! HCA's frequency planning has thus become complicated, due to the irregular nature of the Nigerian operation on 11770. HCA's other frequency - 15480 - intended for Asia, 1230-1700, continues to provide excellent reception as well across all of Australia, and target zone signals are reported to be reliable. I note that 11770 is not very useful in Asia, due to co-channel occupancy by the Xinjiang Peoples Broadcasting Station at Urumqi. To assist HCA in assessing the effectiveness of 11770, I would like to thank these following Australian members for their signal reports, which have been passed on to HCA's Frequency manager: Michael Stevenson (Port Macquarie, NSW), Barry Murray (Cairns, QLD), Tim Gaynor (Oxenford, QLD), Don Rhods (Yarra Glen, VIC) and Ken Anderson (Mitcham, NSW). (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. VOICE INTERNATIONAL, at Darwin, continues to make schedule changes, and its daily output is now: English 12 hours, Mandarin 12 hours, Indonesian 14 hours, and Hindi nine hours. Due to irregular propagation from the Darwin station into India for the morning Hindi service, the leased relay in Tashkent continues to be used for three hours daily. This is on 11850, 0100-0400. The overall daily broadcast span from Darwin is 19 hours: three hours during the morning, 15 hours afternoon and evening (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** BELARUS. Winter B-02 registered freqs for Belarussian Radio: 5970 0200-0400 MNS 250 kW / 250 deg to zone 27 not active 6010 0400-2300 BR 005 kW / non-dir to zone 29 registered 1600-2300 6040 0400-2300 MNS 010 kW / non-dir to zone 19 registered 1600-2300 6070 0400-2300 BR 005 kW / non-dir to zone 29 registered 1600-2300 6080 0400-2300 MNS 120 kW / 130 deg to zone 29s registered 1600-2300 6115 0400-2300 MNS 075 kW / 252 deg to zone 29 6190 0400-2300 MNS 005 kW / non-dir to zone 29 registered 1600-2300 7105 1400-1700 MNS 250 kW / 260 deg to zone 37n not active 7105 2000-2200 MNS 250 kW / 260 deg to zone 37n 7110 0400-2300 BR 005 kW / non-dir to zone 18 registered 1600-2300 7145 1600-2300 OR 005 kW / non-dir to zone 18 not active 7170 0500-0700 MNS 150 kW / 075 deg to zone 30,31 registered 0400-0600 7210 0200-0400 MNS 100 kW / 270 deg to zone 18 not active 7210 1600-1800 MNS 250 kW / 075 deg to zone 20,21 not active 7210 2000-2200 MNS 100 kW / 270 deg to zone 29n not active 7235 0500-2300 BR 020 kW / non-dir to zone 29 new frequency 7255 1700-1800 MNS 250 kW / 075 deg to zone 20,21 registered 1600-1800 7265 0400-2200 BR 020 kW / non-dir to zone 29 registered 1600-2300 11960 1000-1200 MNS 250 kW / 070 deg to zone 29-31 (Observer Feb 12 via Bernd Trutenau, DXLD) In reply to Observer #242, this is the actual frequency usage and location for the fulltime relays of Belaruskaje Radyjo according to available internal data: 6010 0400-2300 Brest 5 kW ND BR1 6040 0400-2300 Hrodna 5 kW ND BR1 & reg 6070 0400-2300 Brest 5 kW ND BR1 6080 0400-2300 Minsk 75 kW 130 BR1 6115 0400-2300 Minsk 150 kW 252 BR1 6190 0400-2300 Mahilioú 5 kW ND BR1 & reg 7110 0400-2300 Hrodna 5 kW ND BR1 & reg 7235 0400-2300 Mahilióu 5 kW ND BR1 & reg* 7265 0500-2200 Hrodna 2.5 kW ND BR2 *) not yet confirmed, would be ex-7145 BR1="Persy nacyjanalny kanal", BR2="Kanal Kultura" (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DGIEST) ** BENIN. I've been in Accra over the past week and can report the following from west Africa: Both 7210.2 and 5025.0 were heard regularly (more consistently than during my last visit in 2001). (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) continued below: BURKINA FASO, GHANA, GUINEA, MALI, NIGER, NIGERIA, TOGO ** BRAZIL. Hi Glenn, the Brazilian on 6020 kHz reported in DXLD 3-023 by Harold Frodge was, most likely, Radio Gaucha. I compared the programming between 6020 and 11915 during the window that Turkey is off at 2351 (on Feb 11) and before Sackville comes on at 2359 and it is identical. Although no ID was heard on 6020 due to the Sackville QRM, I stayed on 11915 and heard a clear Radio Gaucha ID. Up to the QRM, the various male announcers and the one piece of music I heard over the 8 minutes was the same on both frequencies. Regards (John Sgrulletta Mahopac, NY, USA, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. After over a year back on the air, the shortwave has once again gone inactive. Nothing was heard on 4815, 5030, 7230 or 9515 (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 3300.12H, Emisora Ideal, Planeta Rica. Feb 2003 - 1055 UT. In // with the frequency 2200.08H kHz with strong signal. Harmonic from 1100 kHz (3 x 1100.04). 4359.73H, CARACOL, unknown QTH (Colombia). Feb 2003 - 0000 UT. For sure the same Caracol I have earlier logged on 2179.87H kHz. Harmonic from 1090 kHz (4x 1089.93). (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6140.52, HJQE Cadena Melodía, Santa Fé de Bogotá. Jan 31 0300 UT. Hello Thomas and all you happy DXers! Have been sitting here at my radio and with deep sighs many times the last days. Nothing happens on SW! So it is extra nice to report about this Colombian, not new, they are on MW and listed as inactive on 6140 kHz. I have not heard this station earlier. A big ID at 0330 UT: "Aquí Bogotá, la bella capital de Colombia, desde el moderno edifício de Cristal en la calle 45 epicentro de la radio les habla Melodía AM, 730 kcs HJCU onda larga con 100.000 vatios de potencia en antena y en la banda internacional de 49 metros HJQE (does not match with WRTH who says HJPT) 6140 kcs onda corta". Then "Últimas noticias" followed and then music with Luís Miguel. Before the news a long block with the fantastic singer Rocío Durcal who, like Luís Miguel, sings the best music, that is of course the Mexican music. Heard at the same time on quite decent on MW 730.00 kHz. The above info was sent out by mail Jan 31. Unfortunately the station was only on air for a few days. Just now off air. Was heard in Germany and Italy with good strength (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ** CROATIA. Winter B-02 schedule of Croatian Radio HS-1 in Croatian: 0500-1000 7365 DEA 010 kW / non-dir to Eu/NAf 0500-1800 9830 DEA 100 kW / non-dir to Eu/NAf 0500-2400 6165 DEA 100 kW / non-dir to Eu/NAf 1000-2200 13830 DEA 010 kW / 310 deg to Eu/NAf (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** CUBA. La emisora cubana Radio Rebelde ha sido captada el 08/02, a las 1650 UT, en los 9600 kHz, con comentarios sobre el Dìa de los Enamorados y las actividades "danzoneras" en Matanzas y otros lugares de Cuba. SINPO 25422. Música del espacio: danzón. Nunca la había oído en esa frecuencia (Adán González, VENEZUELA, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. The first part of DR Radio's night show is live in RealAudio/video from 23 to 02 UT. Go to http://www.dr.dk/natradio/ and click out right on 'Folg natradio live' Good luck. PS: The girl (Tanja) is usual on air Monday/Tuesday night (Erik Køie, DR, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. BM Bandscan from Quito, Feb 08, 2003 includes: 2340.10H, Emisora Central, Riobamba. Feb 2003 1900 UT. Relay of a news cast from "Radio Sonorama", who has a domestic chain with newscasts. There is also a "Radio Sonoram" in Riobamba on 1240 kHz. During a long period this station has been heard quite steady on its harmonic 2480.28H kHz. I have not noted this harmonic for a while. Maybe this is caused by the enormous explosion in a military weapon depot ("Brigada Blindada Galápagos") in central Riobamba. The explosion more or less damaged 18.000 (!) buildings and of course injured or killed many people. One of the many cousins of my wife, he is salesman in a drugstore, was in the building there the explosion took place just 20 minutes before (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ** GEORGIA. Radio Georgia, Tbilisi in Russian/English/German noted on Feb. 8/9: 0600-0730 on 11805.2 strong signal, but very bad modulation (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Glenn, By chance I was at the DW website today and downloaded the Summer 2003 schedule. Here is the link. It is well hidden. I did not find it on the main DW menu. I had to go to DW TV, reception, DW Radio and then reception. http://www.dw-world.de/dwelle/cda/detail/dwelle.cda.detail.download/0,3830,495466_47589,00.pdf Looking at the schedule it's, painful, to see the lack of broadcasts to the Americas. 73, (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) crane your neck ** GERMANY. New transmission for Bible Voice Broadcasting Network /BVBN/ via DTK instead of V. of Hope: 1530-1615 15775 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Daily to SAs En/Hindi 1515-1530 9860 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat to ME English 1530-1730 9860 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Daily to ME En/Ar/Fa 1730-1800 9860 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sun to ME English (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** GERMANY. New transmission for IBRA Radio via DTK instead of V. of Hope: 1400-1530 15775 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Daily to SAs En/Urdu 1530-1630 11905 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Daily to ME En/Urdu (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** GHANA. Radio 1 still on 4915 and Radio 2 on 3366/6130. The Radio 2 transmitter is still sending out many strong spurious signals. The WRTH 2003 reference to a mediumwave frequency is wrong. As far I know, Ghana has never used mediumwave (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. Heard regularly on 7125 (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. EXTRA SERVICE TO AUSTRALIA FROM RADIO BUDAPEST Radio Budapest tells WBM that it plans to introduce an additional morning transmission to South Eastern Australia on Mar-30. This 30 minute English program will supplement the existing one hour evening and morning Hungarian services. These broadcasts are planned for 2100- 2200 9625 Hungarian, 1100-1200 21560 Hungarian, and (new) 2100-2130 11920 English (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Frecuencia exacta de La Voz de Indonesia en 19 metros: 15149.86 kHz. Así lo constaté los días 08 y 09/02. 73's y buen DX... (Adán González, VENEZUELA, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. AUTHORITIES ATTEMPT TO STOP RECEPTION OF KURDISH TV STATIONS [and of US radio by the military] | Text of report by Iraqi Communist Party newspaper Tariq al-Sha'b on 11 February Patrols of the [Iraqi] ruling [Ba'th] Party and security bodies during the past weeks have regularly been storming into people's houses in the city of Kirkuk, searching for specific models of TV aerials, which were dismantled and confiscated whenever they were found. The aerials they were looking for are made in Turkey, and enable people to have a break from the three government TV channels - Iraqi TV, Shabab TV [Youth TV] and Iraqi Satellite TV - and receive Kurdistan TV channels [which are broadcast in the Kurdish-administered region]. The leadership of the ruling party's Kirkuk section on 18 December [2002] sent instructions to the heads of its branches in the city regarding this matter. They were written, as usual, in a very caricatured way. They state: "In order to safeguard the principles of the party and the leader [Saddam Husayn], and on the basis of the document issued by the Socialist Arab Ba'th Party Ta'mim [Kirkuk] Section No 2133, dated 14 December 2002, and as the reception of hostile TV channels, which are broadcast in the northern governorates by subversive cliques, has recently increased in the city of Kirkuk by using booster aerials, would you please inform all the citizens within your sectors not to purchase such aerials. They should make a written promise to do so, otherwise legal measures will be taken against them." In another development, six days earlier, the command of the First Army Corps circulated a document within its units, No 12633, dated 12 December 2002, saying: "All military officers and soldiers should be informed that they should not have a radio set in their brigade because of the hostile information broadcast by the enemy of the nation, the United States, regarding the anticipated outbreak of war. This may lower the morale of the military personnel and cause defection". Source: Tariq al-Sha'b, Arbil, in Arabic 11 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Re: Longwave from Ireland. Glenn, re your comment in DXLD 3-023, I believe you may have overlooked this item that we published last week, as I do not remember seeing it in DXLD. The press release doesn't mention specifically what the assets are, but another press report I saw specifically said that they include the transmission site. Since no details of the buyer have so far been disclosed, this could be another broadcaster. But it almost certainly isn't RTE. It was never "RTE's transmitter" as RTE never held more than a 20% shareholding in Radio Tara. Here's the item we published. The story's a bit complicated: RADIO TARA ASSETS SOLD: IS THIS THE END OF LONGWAVE FROM IRELAND? Ukbetting plc, the online gaming and sports content provider, has disposed of non-core assets associated with Radio Tara Ltd for a total of 1.35 million euro. The 80% interest in Radio Tara Ltd had been acquired by TEAMtalk for UK£2 million in December 2001 from former shareholder RTL. The station had a 500kW transmitter on 252 kHz longwave on the east coast of Ireland. It had been broadcasting a pop music format under the name Atlantic 252. TEAMtalk relaunched the station with an all-sports format as TEAMtalk 252, but it had few commentary rights and it could not compete with established sports networks BBC Radio 5 Live and TalkSport. Audience figures released in March 2002 showed that since the format change the station had lost approximately 60% of its weekly reach, and it was making heavy losses. Once ukbetting plc acquired TEAMtalk, the writing was on the wall for TEAMtalk 252. In July 2002, the board of ukbetting plc agreed in principle to dispose of TEAMtalk Media Group plc's indirect 80% shareholding in Radio Tara Limited for a nominal sum to Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE), which owned the remaining 20% shareholding. As part of the agreement with RTE, TEAMtalk 252 ceased broadcasting after less than 6 months on the air. But yesterday (3 February) ukbetting plc instead disposed of Radio Tara's land and property holdings for UK£418,000 and terminated operations. The name of the purchaser has not been disclosed (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 4 February 2003 via Andy Sennitt, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. I confirmed with Moshe Oren that the curtain which was supposed to be fixed this month, has already been fixed. Therefore, 6280 is back on for the 2000 UTC English broadcast. I actually noticed this a week ago Sunday - the followup took a bit... The other two totally destroyed curtain antennas are, for now, being replaced by log-periodic antennas, fixed at 341 deg and will cover only Europe. 9435 They are waiting for funding to replace those two curtain antennas. From http://www.israelradio.org "UPDATE ON RADIO SATELLITE RECEPTION IN EUROPE: From Feb 12, 2003 Listeners in Europe to Hotbird will have to retune to IBA Arabic TV “ Audio 4 (all other details remain the same - frequency 12.220 GHz, Horiz, SR-6161, FEC=3/4) " (via Doni Rosenzweig, Feb 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. Tony Rogers of the BDXC-UK reported that he hears the Jammu station during the 0230 broadcast, albeit on 5990. So that sounds like API-8 is out. I'll rule out API-4 myself as I have heard 5080 and it is a mess. What I am hearing on 9790 [sic --- 9890] is much cleaner. Nor would it make much sense for Pakistan to air two services with their viewpoint at the same time. Given the report on program content we received, is there any chance this could be coming from India? Any comments from our AIR experts? (Hans Johnson, TX, Feb 12, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. Re 4050: Zacharias Liangas` informant might be right about Farsi. As I tried to explain, it seems that there are some missionary stations which broadcast in Farsi towards Afghanistan, because they expect that Farsi is understood there (which is quite correct), even though they ought to broadcast in Dari. These may be stations that have been broadcasting to Iran for some time and have a Farsi staff, and don't want to add a Dari department in this stage. Anyway it seems that there is quite a mix of programmes on 4050 now, with (at least) both Dari and Farsi in use. Now I have tried again my contacts in Kyrgyzstan, maybe I will get more details this time. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4050, Hit Shortwave, 11 Feb 1800. At the TOH there is a nasty RTTY- like ute on for several minutes, but there was a female announcer and then a song. Then a male with talk until 1822. Language was like Farsi or related to that. Easy talk, not like clandestine, could have been religious, tho no special key-words like "Amen" and "Hallelujah" were heard, neither could I pick up any contact address. I saw some DX report telling some programs over this station are religious, maybe this one too. Later there was gospel-like music. One local language song had "Hallelujah" words and also one song (at least part of it in English) was titled "What you gonna do when Jesus comes". One "Hit Shortwave" id was heard. Sign-off at 1900. Hopefully someone hears contact info during these religious (?) programs, so we could request about the location of this station (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZSTAN. OPPOSITION TAKES ITS BATTLE TO THE INTERNET Kyrgyzstan's opposition is making better use of the Internet than the official authorities, according to a report by Daniyar Karimov and published on the Kyrgyz newspaper, Vecherniy Bishkek, web site on 7 February. The report, entitled "Web agents", claims that modern dissidents use the web to disseminate their ideas and "meet" fellow- thinkers and there is little the authorities can do about it. What is happening, according to Vecherniy Bishkek, is "an information war ... without rules or propriety". The following is the text of the report; subheadings are the newspaper's own. Today's heroes are not wrapped in machine-gun cartridge belts and hand grenade cords. The weaponry of the new generation of fighters are personal computers. And the licence to kill is a modem for access to the world wide web... [ellipsis as published] More and more often now the future of mankind is connected with the development of electronic space. In Kyrgyzstan the future is murky and unpredictable. Anarchy rules in the national electronic network. Who will seize Kyrgyzstan's electronic space? Full matrix None of the experts can say for sure how many Internet sites there are in Kyrgyzstan. There are said to be more than 1,500. The reason for such "secrecy" is simple - a banal lack of information. According to information from the UNDP [United Nations Development Programme], roughly half the domestic sites have not been analysed and are therefore categorized as "varied". At the same time, experts are saying that domestic banks are the most advanced in terms of Internet use. Every single one of these financial organizations has free access to the world wide web. According to data from the Marketing Service Bureau, industry has fared much worse. The Internet is most used in the food industry - 22.5 per cent of all companies in this sector of the Kyrgyz economy have access to the Internet. Nevertheless, Kyrgyzstan is becoming ever more tightly entangled in the electronic web. The creation of the Public Administration Information System (PAIS) may be called a great achievement in the development of our republic's Internet space. It unites all the biggest ministries and departments of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan into a single computer network. And, as intended, it makes it considerably easier for citizens to access the resources of state organizations and to acquire information from them directly from the Internet or e-mail. About 50 ministries and departments in Bishkek and Osh are connected to PAIS. Almost all the remaining catalogues of Kyrgyz Internet resources are created, as a rule, by private Internet providers. The majority of Internet users (80.94 per cent) are residents of Bishkek. For the most part they are office workers or students. In the regions, with the exception of Osh Region, the Internet is a rare phenomenon, as are the miracles of electronic technology. According to the UNDP, there are 70 personal computers per 1,000 inhabitant of Kyrgyzstan! There are about four Internet access centres per 100,000 inhabitants. And only one in every 100 working persons in Kyrgyzstan uses e-mail. Far from everyone is able to have even an ordinary telephone. For example, according to the UNDP, two-thirds of Kyrgyz residents do not have access to this benefit of civilization. The underground Internet What is amazing is that until recently the political elite of Kyrgyzstan was very poorly represented in Kyrgyzstan's information space. The battleground for power began to be displaced to the Internet only at the end of the 1990s. Today, for example, the authorities' political opponents are represented in the Internet by official party sites. Either by electronic pages of the mass media or more often by pro-opposition sites. They contain a wealth of loud statements and exposes . Or by votes on political topics. It is interesting that materials which are displayed on opposition sites on the Kyrgyz Internet appear slightly later in Kazakhstan's electronic space. Indeed, and this is no surprise, they often appear on Kazakh opposition pages. Birds of a feather... [ellipsis as published] Incidentally, what is much more interesting is another phenomenon of domestic opposition on the Internet is the issue of "loners". These people specialize in forums, conferences and chat rooms. You can find the same signatures under messages on the most diverse Kyrgyz sites, where discussion of burning topics of the day takes place. "Loners" make use of tried and tested methods of the authorities' official political adversaries, criticizing the authorities and the government and appealing for other types of state order. There is only one aim - misinformation or the propagation of opposition ideas. The strategy of a typical "loner" is, it would seem, borrowed from manuals on the tactics of sabotage. He prefers, for example, to appear on enemy territory, in other words on the servers of the opposition's political opponents. Moreover, like experienced members of any underground movement, he always hides behind a pseudonym that he uses only on the web. "Internet saboteurs" leave no means of making contact. And can always unfailingly recognize like-minded people among other users of the Internet. It has been noted that many "loners" are linked by ties if not of friendship then of common values. It is not impossible, therefore, that several "sabotage" groups are at work on the Kyrgyz net. It is certain that some of the Internet opposition have an electronic meeting place - a "secret address" so to speak. The main way in which "loners" differ from the mass of Internet users is in the odd combination of a high level of education and - ill-bred vulgarity. There is no censorship on the Internet. As a result, it is often used for blatant mud-slinging that is not, as a rule, supported by argument or endorsed by facts. Basically, an information war has been unleashed on the Internet, without rules and without propriety. Sabotage or provocation? Kyrgyzstan's Internet is ideally suited to a war without rules since it is practically unprotected. The only threat to a member of the Internet opposition are the programmers who service the sites and forums of the "loners'" political opponents. True, the worst the natural enemy of the electronic "saboteur" can do is to destroy seditious articles. Even this harsh method, however, is no panacea. After a little while, a similar message will appear on Kyrgyzstan's Internet. For example, for more than a month now, several of the republic's electronic forums have been graced by a report of a plot against the president. The anonymous author of the message names well-known young politicians among those behind the coup that is allegedly being prepared. This "well-wisher" calls for support for the plotters and voices his own whole-hearted support for their ideas. It would seem to be disingenuous, however. The report can only be called an attempt at political provocation. Internet providers could be a tangible barrier in the war against Internet "saboteurs". According to some reports, these organizations have the technology to decipher the electronic address of any disturber of the Internet peace. Fighting dangerous political dissidence is not what they're about, however. For your interest According to some reports, in terms of Internet use Kyrgyzstan has outstripped neighbouring Kazakhstan and even Russia. More than a year ago, SGI CMA and the (?Public Foundation for IT Development) carried out a study of the country's electronic auditorium. This serious piece of research revealed that 10.6 per cent of the adult population of the republic's main cities could be said to be Internet users - that's 105,400 people. In Russia, for sample, maximum Internet use is only 10.3 per cent of the adult population and 9.5 per cent in Kazakhstan. Source: Vecherniy Bishkek web site, Bishkek, in Russian 7 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) What are the URLs, Kyrgyzstan? ** LIBERIA. Active on 6100 (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RLI ** MALI. Consistently heard on only two frequencies in the daytime - 7285v and 11960. Not heard on the other daytime channel of 9635. Heard in the evening on three frequencies - 4782.4, 4835.4 and 5995.0. So, it's not clear what the third transmitter is doing during the daytime (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCOS. Explanation of the four radio countries listed here: a) Morocco-French, includes Radio-TV Marocaine and VOA-Briech b) Morocco-Spanish, includes Radio Medi at Nador c) Morocco-Sahara, the station at Aaiun, on SW back about 1970-71 but short-lived d) Morocco-Tangier, VOA site prior to Briech, heard to the early 90s before close-down. This was in the International Zone, consisting of about 135 square miles. Transmitter was about one mile within the old boundary of this zone. Power ranged from 50 to 100 kW The Briech site is about 7 miles south of the former transmitter location (Tangiers) or several miles outside the boundary of the old Tangier I.Z. As a result, reception of the VOA Briech site would be counted as radio country Morocco-French. This from the Country List Committee Report by Don Jensen, NASWA. So unless you heard VOA in the early 50s to the late 80s then you can`t count this as Morocco-Tangier (Edward Kusalik, AB, QSL Album, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Buenos Aires, 5 de Febrero de 2003. Radio Nederland, la emisora pública holandesa que transmite al exterior vía onda corta, satélite e Internet, bien goza de independencia en su labor de contenidos, programas y editoriales. No es una emisora gubernamental según el modelo de medios que impera en ciertas regiones del mundo, se trata de una estación que funciona bajo el concepto de servicio público, es decir, es el Estado del Reino de los Países Bajos quien debe financiar a la estación pública sobre la base presupuestaria que se vota en el Parlamento. Pero, no hay intervención directa en el diseño de la programación. Tal vez el plan de reestructuración anunciado por la directiva de la emisora haya sido detenido pero no será detenido el anunciado recorte presupuestario que dispuso el gobierno neerlandés. Esa es una realidad incuestionable. Y es una indirecta intromisión en los asuntos de la emisora, porque al serle reducido el presupuesto no tendrá otro remedio RNW de achicarse. Y este es el punto. Si bien este tipo de medidas reciben un estudio antes de su implementación, nadie nos impide a los oyentes, radioescuchas y/o diexistas escribir a la emisora, a las autoridades de los Países Bajos en su país y en el exterior. No sólo no es malo expresarse sino que es un derecho que tenemos todos los ciudadanos de la aldea global, el derecho de peticionar a las autoridades cuando creamos que algo no está bien. Es un derecho constitucional de vieja data, no sólo en la Argentina sino en muchísimos países del mundo. Pero, también, es una garantía que nos otorgan pactos y tratados internacionales como el Pacto de San José de Costa Rica, la Carta Universal de los Derechos del Hombre, entre otros. Porque la peor opinión es el silencio no tengamos miedo de expresar nuestra voz de rechazo y defendamos a Radio Nederland en forma activa. NO se que va a suceder con esta historia pero, al menos, tendré la conciencia tranquila de haber hecho algo positivo para evitar algo que creo que es malo para mí, para su audiencia y básicamente para quienes trabajan en la emisora mundial holandesa. Nadie obliga a nadie a intervenir en esta movida de defensa de Radio Nederland, sólo que los que no quieran hacer nada que se corran del camino porque somos muchísimos más los que saldremos a correr en defensa de una de las emisoras más queridas de la onda corta. Por lo menos así lo veo. Suerte y adelante con la campaña. Atentamente (CLAUDIO MORALES, Feb 4, Conexión Digital via DXLD) A direção da Rádio Nederland informou que seus planos e prazos para o futuro não são definitivos e que toda pressão e protestos dos ouvintes devem ser enviados para a própria emissora. Informação, nesse sentido, foi enviada a Leônidas dos Santos Nascimento, de São João Evangelista (MG), por Martinus Felix Mertens, assessor da embaixada dos Países Baixos, em Brasília (DF). Acrescentou que a forma de resolver a situação "passa pelo diálogo com os funcionários", bem como Tarcísio Lage, que trabalhou na emissora, já havia anunciado para o Panorama (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 9 via DXLD) ** NIGER. No confirmed reception on 5020 or 9705 (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. The past two days at 2200-2300 UT English Voice of Nigeria has been back on the normal 7255 and 15120 (Harold Sellers, Newmarket, Ontario, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I was also monitoring Feb 11 before 2200 on 15120, large hummy carrier(s) and at 2200 weak RHC IS was mixing with weak VON re- opening, which was \\ 7255, and not heard on 11770-Mexico, 9690- Romania? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA: Transmissions from Lagos continue to be marred by interruptions presumably caused by power cuts. Radio Nigeria-Lagos was heard erratically on 3326. Radio Nigeria-Ibadan heard on 6050 kHz in the evening. Radio Nigeria-Kaduna heard with English service on 4770 and vernaculars' service on 6090. Voice of Nigeria heard at various times on 7255, 15120 and the recently reactivated 11770. However, only one or two channels were ever heard at once. The choice of frequencies was not consistent from day to day. For west African listeners it will be a great pity if 7255 is dropped in favour of the much less well heard higher frequencies. The schedule of language transmissions appears to be the same as that posted at http://www.voiceofnigeria.org i.e. NOT as given in DXLD 3- 020. If you can hear it, my recommendation is "Time for Highlife", Sundays at 1100-1130, which plays traditional Nigerian and Ghanaian highlife, rarely heard these days on the radio in west Africa (though still played widely by live bands in Accra) and not at all in east Africa. The many Accra FM stations are now mostly dominated by the more modern style known as hiplife (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Before KOMA in OKC dropped oldies for news talk, they were slowly morphing into being just another bland oldies station like the rest of them - last summer all the specialty program were cancelled and that signaled a change of the guard. The WSAI sound is courtesy of the premier oldies consultant E. Alvin Davis who had WGRR as a client before they were bought out by Infinity. I really do miss my KOMA, although WSAI is a pretty solid listen for a few hours around sunset before the Mexicans slop into the mix! (Mark Erdman, Herington/Salina KS, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. BROADCAST LICENCES AWARDED BY GOVERNMENT The Pakistani government has awarded licences to six private TV and 22 radio channels "to create an atmosphere of competitiveness in the field of media in public and private sectors," the Associated Press of Pakistan reported on 11 February Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad was reported by APP to say that the present government "believed in freedom of expression," and would "award a licence if some city, town or village wants to set up its own radio station". Source: Associated Press of Pakistan news agency, Islamabad, in English 1840 gmt 11 Feb 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK?? ** PERU. 5486.73, La Reina de la Selva, el distrito de Chachapoyas, la provincia de Chachapoyas, el departamento de Amazonas. Feb 2003 - 2320 UT. English program. Good to know that "the Queen of the Jungle" (what a nice name of a radio station) buys programme from VOA: "VOA Music Mix". Info from "Ventanaperú: provincia de Chachapoyas, cuya capital es Chachapoyas y cuenta con los distritos Balsas, Asunción, Chachapoyas, Chiliquín, La Jalca, Cheto, Chuquibamba, Granada, Huancas Leimebamba, Levanto, Magdalena, Mariscal Castilla, Molinopampa, Montevideo, Quinjalca, Olleros, San Francisco de Daguas, San Isidro de Maino, Soloco, Sonche; con una población total de 30,520 hab. (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Frequency change for Radio Romania International in Fr/Ge/En to WEu: 0603-0654 NF 7105 very bad modulation, ex 9625 \\ 756 9510 9570 11790 11940 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Frequency change for BSKSA Holy Kor`an Service in Arabic: 0300-0600 NF 9715*, ex 11820 and deleted 15435 \\ 15170 21495] * co-channel WYFR in English 0405-0500 and Radio Finland in Finnish 0530-0600 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [non]. NORWAY(non): Frequency change for Voice of Reform in Arabic via KVI 200 kW / 120 degrees: 1830-2127 NF 7590 (44333) + bubble jamming, ex 9925 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE TO CHANGE FREQUENCY From Mar-30, the weekly one-hour Sunday morning broadcasts of the South African Radio League via the Meyerton facility are proposed for the 16 metre band, 17815, vacating the long established 13 metre band occupancy of 21560. The program is also available in parallel on 9750, and repeated on Monday evenings in the 90 metre band, on the traditional frequency of 3215 (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** SPAIN [non]. 5845.05, Radio Nacional de España, unknown QTH. Feb 2003 - 1115 UT. I have heard this RNE-station several times but don’t know their QTH. Relatively weak signal. Situated in Latin America? (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) Need to calculate differences between various combinations of Costa Rica relay frequencies at that hour. Hmmm, another unID, on 5835 at about the same time below (gh) ** SWITZERLAND [non]. Passport shows SRI 11660 as via French Guiana. So does the paper B02 schedule that I recently received from SRI. It came along with a QSL that stated, "11660 Sottens." Can anyone shed some light on which transmitter site is actually used for the 2330 UT broadcast? (Dan Srebnick, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`d go with the majority here. Of course SOT could back up MSY if necessary (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA [non]. Feb. 10th, 2003, 14940, Voice of Homeland, Arabic talk, 2 x 7470, 1608 until close-down at 1630 UT. vy 73 de (Juergen Lohuis, Germany, harmonics yahoogroup via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ** TOGO. The transmitter on 5047 was heard in the early morning and during the evenings with strong signals. However, its extremely low audio level renders this an entirely pointless transmission. Regards, (Chris Greenway, Accra, Ghana, (now back in Nairobi), Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. In the current broadcasting period THE VOICE OF TURKEY are introducing some new feature programmes as follows: Selected Examples of Contemporary Turkish Stories, From Tale to Reality, Archaeology Settlements in Turkey, European Union and Turkey, Contemporary Turkish Thought, From Past to Present, Big Powers and the Armenian Issue, Culture Parade, Travel Itinerary of Anatolia, Road to Love, Turks in the Mirror of Centuries and the Hittite Sun are some of this years new programmes. In the Wake of a Contest is a programme in which we will enjoy together the essays sent in by the winners of 2002 as well as other entries. Such programmes as DX Corner, Lettterbox, Colours and Hues of Anatolia, Turkish Album, Turkey Bulletin, Republican Gallery and Pre- historic Addresses in Turkey will continue throughout 2003. VOT will also continue trying to keep abreast of whatever is taking place in all parts of the world in the news bulletins and commentaries. Feature programmes will again be sprinkled with Turkish music, which receives much acclaim from listeners and will broadcast a special programme titled Women in Turkish Music. The English section has a live programme on Tuesday nights with a view to having listeners participate in the phone-in segments as much as possible. [in the past 1st period has meant Jan-Jun, 2nd period Jul-Dec --- gh] VOICE OF TURKEY daily programme schedule. All transmissions start with a News bulletin and the Press Review followed by: 1st Period: Monday: Last Week, Hues and Colours of Anatolian Music, Selected Examples of Contemporary Turkish stories Tuesday: The Republican Gallery, Music, From Tale to Reality Wednesday: Review of the Foreign Media, Letterbox, Music, The Turkey Bulletin Thursday: Big Powers and the Armenian Problem, In the Wake of a Contest, The Culture Parade Friday: Archaeological Settlements in Turkey, Music, The Turkish Album Saturday: Outlook, The EU and Turkey/DX Corner, Music, Prehistoric Addresses in Turkey Sunday: Women in Turkish Music, Music, Contemporary Turkish Thought 2nd Period: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday as period 1 except for: Tuesday: The Hittite Sun replacing From Tale to Reality. Thursday: Music replaces In the Wake of a Contest. The second part of the schedule lists for 1st period the following: Monday: Last Week, Hues and Colours of Anato1ia, Music, From Past to Present Tuesday: Live from Turkey Wednesday: Review of the Foreign Media, Letterbox, Music, Turkey's Off the Beaten Track Sites Thursday: Big Powers and the Armenian Problem, In the Wake of a Contest, The Culture Parade Friday: Archaeological Settlements in Turkey, Music, The Travel Itinerary of Anatolia Saturday: Outlook, The Stream of Love/DX Corner, Music, Turkish Arts Sunday: Times Spanning Centuries, Music, Turks in the Mirror of Centuries The 2nd programme period is the sane as the first except for: Thursday: in which music replaces In the Wake of a Contest. English can be heard at the following times until 30th March 2003. To EU 0400-0425 on 6020. 1330-1325 on 17815. 1930-2025 on 9890. 2300- 2355 on 6020 and 9655. To NAm 0400-0455 on 6020. 2300-2355 on 6020 & 9655. To Au 1330-1425 on 17690. 2130-2225 on 9525. To Af 0400-0425 on 7240. To As 0400-0425 on 7240. 1330-1425 on 17690. 2130-2225 on 9525 (VOICE OF TURKEY SCHEDULE via Edwin Southwell, Feb World DX Club Contact, edited by Alan Roe for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. NEW SERVICES TO AUSTRALIA FROM RADIO UKRAINE INTERNATIONAL Radio Ukraine International advises that from Mar-30, the Lvov transmitting centre is to be used for proposed transmissions for Australia. A massive 1000 kW is planned, for 11 hours daily, in three distinct segments - morning (22 metres), late afternoon (13 mb), and evening (16 and 13 mbs). Proposed frequencies are: 13755 1700-2000, 17555 0800-1200, 17725 0800-1300, 21510 0500-1200 (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** U K. Some BBC previews later in February: MADE FOR LIFE Our planet may be just the third rock from the sun, but it's the only place in the universe that we can be certain harbours life as we know it. And it seems increasingly clear from modern research that it was no accident that life has colonized this particular rock. Events way back in our geological past - even at the birth of our planet nearly half a billion years ago - seem to have conspired to make life happen here. Science Writer Gabrielle Walker joins experts at some of the oldest parts of the globe, to see for herself the evidence that earth truly was Made For Life. From Feb 26th: Americas | Thu 0206 rpt 2106, Fri 1506 Europe | Wed 2006 rpt Thu 0206, 1506 Fri 1006 West Africa | Wed 2106 rpt Thu 0206, 1406, Fri 1006 EVERYWOMAN British model, Sofie Dahl, is used to adorning the pages of Vogue magazine, but now she's embarking on a new career - as an author. Sophie's book, The Man With The Dancing Eyes, is a fairytale for adults. It tells the story of a lonely young woman who falls in love with a seducer. The tale is partly based on experience and partly on fantasy. "Writing," says Dahl, "is very different to having your photo taken. You are exposing yourself more, not physically but emotionally." Dahl speaks to Everywoman about the very different skills of modeling and writing, and following in the footsteps of a literary giant -- her grandfather, the children's writer, Roald Dahl. [no specific dates given] Americas | Tue 0230 rpt 2130, Wed 1530 Europe | Mon 2030 rpt Tue 0230, 1530, Wed 1030 West Africa | Mon 2130 rpt Tue 0230, 1430, Wed 1030 ON SCREEN A new series, I LOVE TV, examines our endless fascination with the small screen. From the USA to Uttar Pradesh, Samoa to Timbuktu, Ed Butler finds TV addicts everywhere forming their opinion about the world through television. News and drama, as well as emerging genres like music television and reality TV have become central to our many worlds, but how real are those worlds? In the age of cable and satellite, how far is television defining our tastes, our ambitions and our lifestyles? Who really holds the power? From Feb 24th: Americas | Tue 1406 rpt Wed 0106, 2006, Thu 0606 Europe | Tue 0906 rpt 1906, Wed 0106, 1406 West Africa | Tue 0906 rpt 1606, Wed 0106, 1306 (via Ivan Grishin, BBC Programming, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** U K. ARCHERS FANS AT RISK The Guardian, Owen Gibson, Wednesday February 5, 2003 The BBC has risked disabling the computers of more than 10,000 fans of The Archers after inadvertently sending them a PC virus. Every fan who had signed up to a daily email update was sent the virus, known as the Sobig worm, despite the BBC's own strict anti-virus systems. The BBC believes it caught the virus in time after alerting 10,500 individuals who take the electronic newsletter. But the blunder has caused alarm bells to ring at the BBC, which spends hundreds of millions of pounds on its online and interactive services, and has more computing expertise than most public service organisations. It is also is case of life imitating art. A current storyline has bar manager Jolene showing Joe Grundy how to send emails in a new internet cafe that has been set up in The Bull, the local pub in the radio soap's fictional village of Ambridge. When recipients of The Archers' email newsletter clicked on the attached file, it immediately began searching their hard drive, attempted to extract a list of email addresses and forward itself to all these contacts. "The Sobig worm first appeared in mid January. It has had quite a big impact since then, indeed it was the fourth most prevalent virus during January 2003," said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at software company Sophos Anti-Virus. "Most anti-virus vendors released protection against the Sobig worm as soon as it was detected, so Archers fans who have recently updated their anti-virus software would have avoided infection," he added. However, for the non computer literate, the episode is likely to have proved more heart-stopping than the most dramatic Archers storyline. Listening figures have soared recently on the back of interest over an affair between Brian, one of the show's longest serving characters, and Siobhan. A BBC spokeswoman confirmed a virus was "erroneously sent out" on January 29 "despite the BBC's stringent anti-virus protocols". She said steps were taken straight away: "Immediately we knew this happened, an email was sent out to those on the list apologising for the error and offering advice on deleting the virus. An internal investigation is currently taking place to ensure a similar incident does not happen in the future." She said that executives responsible for anti-virus action believed that damage was limited to "the tens, rather than hundreds or thousands." (via Paul David and Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Hi Glenn, FYI: BFBS on 5945 kHz is relaying the PM programme (news and analysis) from BBC Radio 4 on weekdays at 1700 UT. A rare chance to hear BBC domestic radio live on shortwave. The online schedule for BFBS2 indicates that this is preceded by The Archers at 1645 UT. I can't imagine many of the young service personnel on duty in the Gulf are interested in that :-) (Andy Sennitt, Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nor am I 5945, BFBS 1545 11 Feb; with good signal also in Milano, North Italy, in English with pop song, some talks and news at 1600. Many announcements as "on BFBS Radio Two". Also mentioning Radio One. Rx: AOR AR5000 ant: t2fd 15 m long (Giampiero Bernardini, Avvenire, Milano, Italy, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Dear friends, This afternoon, Feb 12, the BFBS was heard very strongly here in Denmark on 5945 from audio sign on at *1501 (in the middle of a newscast) until cut off at 1759:22*, all with British English programming of news, interviews and pop music. ID's as "This is BFBS Radio Two". SINPO 45444 until 1559 when the Voice of Russia signed on on 5940 with QSA 5 and programmes in German and French caused severe sidesplashes to the broadcast. Then BFBS was pressed down to 43443 - 52442 ! From *1454:40-1457* there were test tones on 5945 with intervals of six seconds of a tone and six seconds of a pause. This was repeated at 1549-1551 together with the BFBS programming, so I am not sure that this was from the same transmitter. At 1759:24 the same transmitter (without drop in signal strength !!!) continued with the ordinary ORF programme in German with ID and news at 1800. So to me, there is no doubt that the BFBS has rented the Moosbrunn transmitter for the period 1500-1800 ! Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, Feb 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unfortunately the rebuttal below not received in time for WOR 1169, nor has there been time for Anker to reply. I hope I have identified the participants correctly, as this was not made clear (gh) Reception here in Germany and England is much different, compared to incoming reports in DEN and SWE. We looked at 5945 channel since Feb 9th and never had a strong signal here in southern Germany. 5945 BFBS is never broadcast via Moosbrunn. The signals from Moosbrunn are always S=9 +60 dB - some 800 km from Stuttgart away, that's the experience of four decades! But the BFBS signal is coming more from the East - like a UAE or Oman relay signal, starts at 1500 UT with S=1-2 signal level, and increases here around 1535-1545. We - Noel, Olle, and Kai discussed that matter in past four days. And also looked to the RMS audio signals from the NE/ME monitoring sites. I guess the Greyline from UAE, CYP or OMA is much earlier towards Northern Sweden and Denmark these days, than to westerly Germany and England. But even at around 1758 UT the signal is much weaker here at my place, than the upcoming ORF Moosbrunn signal then. I guess it's coming from BBC Zyyi Cyprus near Limassol, but bearing towards North-East, not the favorite angle towards Stuttgart Germany. Guess on the BFBS transmission towards the Malvinas/Falklands war, was an easy task: all transmissions were broadcast via ASCENSION Islands these days (Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wasn`t able to listen yesterday afternoon, but have tried BBC-CYP in Serbian on 5875 and BFBS on 5945 today. At 1500, both signals were more or less identical in signal strength - weak - and propagational characteristics. By 1515 [when 5875 went off] it had increased in strength and audibility, but 5945 had not. But I would guess this is actually what should happen - 5875 is via 314deg - 5945 would surely be in the opposite direction if meant for eastern Turkey and the Gulf? (Noel Green, England, via Bueschel...) At 70 degrees from Zyyi Cyprus ... ? Before I left today [Feb 12], I checked both the 5945 and 5875 [BBC Serbian via Zyyi CYP] kHz channels at 1500-1515 UT. As expected: BBC Serbian via 314d eg was loud and clear at my place. But 5945 BFBS outlet had the same suffering signal, as on previous days, increase here from about 1535-1545 UT onwards. Yes, I agree that 13720 and 5945 could be via different sites, but Wolfie`s discovery that 13720 was inaudible at 0200 does suggest that CYP is the site, and that the signal is 'skipping' over ISR at that time. 13720 was useless on ISR monitoring post til 0245 UTC, then increased in strength. The afternoon service on 5945 kHz was much fluttery though ... (Kai Ludwig? via Bueschel...) . . . new txers and would guess all could be accounted for doing other services. The current WRTVH says Zyggi has two x 250 and 8 x 300 kW which could mean capacity is available from there. I hadn`t considered Seychelles --- there are only two x 250 kW there and I guess both are in use. And maybe antennas are not available for the Gulf area? (Noel Green, ibid.) SEY - They had a service towards Iran recently ... but I don't think they use an old 75 kW reserve unit for such a sensitive matter. CYP and UAE have much units on their disposal. I guess the reserve 100 kW units at Cyprus dismantled in past decade, when new 250/300 kW units erected there (Kai Ludwig?, ibid.) But I see already, Merlin has 2 x 250, 1 x 100, 1 x 75 kW at their disposal, and full in use. And the main power access on the Mahe relay base is also very limited... Has been published around Feb 9th, is a MNO - Merlin brokered operation, according to IBB monitoring. Coming --- for safety reasons --- from a BBC site, like from Ascension Islands during the ARG-UK Malvinas-Falkland war, a decade ago. I guess from Zyyi-Cyprus, or from further Easterly site like Al Dhabbaya-UAE or new Oman site SLA A'Seela. The service should cover the target from southern Turkey - Northern Kurdistan to the ships off the coast of Kuwait and Bahrain harbours, and area between Cyprus and Lebanon too. I listened at 1500-1530 on 5945, the signal was poor, but increased from 1535 UT at Stuttgart. The more Northerly broadcasts like BBC Thailand relay on 49 mb was much stronger (5975 290 deg, --- 324 deg would be better towards EUR), and Singapore on 6195 kHz too, on latter frequency, Skelton was underneath in Pashto co-channel. In comparison, I missed to monitor the BBC Cyprus Serbian outlet at 324 degrees, at 1500-1515 UT today; I'll check it tomorrow [Feb 12]. BTW: Seychelles is much too far away, they have only few transmitters, and have no 22 mb capability. I heard never a 49 mb outlet from the SEY here in Europa at 1500 UT. Nothing heard at 0200 UT start of transmission on 13720, when I listened to the Tel Aviv RMS files yesterday, so I guess Israel is too close to Limassol, Cyprus, and propagation increased from 0245 UT. The BFBS service is for personnel in an area from Northern Kurdistan near Dyirbakir, Turkey to marines off the coast of Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and Oman. || From *1454:40-1457* there were test tones on 5945 with intervals of six seconds of a tone and six seconds of a pause. This was repeated at 1549-1551 together with the BFBS programming, so I am not sure that this was from the same transmitter. || Anker, that's WRONG: Deutsche Welle starts via a Russian site - co- channel, and has been noted here under BFBS with the usual test tones opening procedure. RUSSIAN 5945 1500-1900 100 IRKUTSK 263 degr CIS (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 12, who forwarded the entire above thread, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A/SRI LANKA. Frequency change for Radio Farda via IRA 250 kW / 334 degrees: 1630-1730 Pashto and 1730-1830 Dari NF 7585 (45544), ex 15690 (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. - RADIO FREE EUROPE/LIBERTY NOW USING 75 METRES FROM BIBLIS: As of Feb-10, RFE/RL moved on to 3980, via Biblis (Germany) for the Ukrainian service, replacing 6170. This is available at 1800- 2000, and 2000-2100 Su-Fr (ex 6170). Super strong signals as monitored by WBM here in Melbourne on Feb-11 (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Additional transmission for Voice of America in Kurdish: 0400-0500 on 7200 9705 15115. 73 from (Ivo and Angel! Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 12, via DXLD) ** U S A. Dear Glenn: Thanks for the story on WBCQ Radio's newly started Planet World News. Due to the overwhelming good response that we are getting about our news service, we are going to expand it. Planet World News will also be heard simultaneously Monday thru Friday at 3:50 p.m. EST [2050 UT] on 9.335, as well as on 7.415. Planet World News will also be heard Saturdays from 3:50 pm EST to 4:00 pm EST, but only on 7.415. In addition, beginning this Thursday, February 13, 2003, at 5:00 pm EST to 5:30 pm EST [2200-2230 UT] on 7.415, will be Planet World News Roundup featuring important stories of the week, plus other stories of interest contributed by our various news correspondents. This will include information on everything from new technology to preparations for the possible upcoming war and other unrests in the world. We are all very heartened here at WBCQ Radio to the wonderful positive reaction we are receiving from our listeners since we began Planet World News. We are doing our best to present the news in as clear and as unbiased as possible. Also, we have a brand new public affairs program known as The Last Roundup, which features news stories of interest, mainly focusing on public and governmental issues. The Last Roundup can be heard Tuesdays, 5:00 pm-6:00 pm EST [2200-2300 UT], Thursdays 5:30 pm-6:30 pm EST [2230-2330 UT] and Sundays 4:00 pm- 6:00 pm EST [2100-2300 UT]. Here at WBCQ Radio we have noticed the very significant increase in listenership and listener participation to this radio station. We are very happy to be able to bring unbiased news coverage to WBCQ. Sincerely yours, (Allan H. Weiner, WBCQ, Feb 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. From the "Internal Memos" web site: http://www.internalmemos.com/memos/memodetails.php?memo_id=1327 Clear Channel Communications COLUMBIA COVERAGE From: Mark Mays Hello CC Folks, CC Radio did an amazing job working together this weekend covering the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Despite email migration and WAN problems moving audio, they persevered, worked around it and blew away everyone (including the big networks) when it came to delivering a critically important information service coast to coast, from our largest markets all the way down to the smallest communities in our company. Our WireReady service became our consistent and reliable means of communication on Saturday, the system and team performed admirably. News was made available to al stations until midnight, we had reporters all over the country including at the press conferences. In fact, our CC coverage was a major element in ABC's coverage. Our AM stations were providing our FM stations with frequent, quality updates. We compiled a list of guest experts, sound bites, production elements, music beds, tribute songs and the material were used around the country. Stations across the country participate and individuals proved to be our heroes. Thank you to everyone! As Gabe Hobbs, SVP of Programming said, "Don't ever let anyone tell you that size is a bad thing. Thanks to our size we had access to incredible resources which allowed us to bring UNPRECEDENTED coverage to small communities and large cities all across the United States. We were still working hard and broadcasting to these communities long after the major networks had fallen silent.? Last week when I wrote, I promised you an update on our visit with the Senate Commerce Committee... it was an interesting experience. Lowry did a great job explaining our company and telling our story. You will be pleased how he masterfully stressed that we work hardest to please our local listeners, making their local CC stations better and better. Don Henley did his best to paint a tainted picture of our business, but ultimately everyone recognized that artists do set the ticket prices of concerts and are ultimately responsible for the marketing of their music product. Needless to say, the debate will go on. We are happy to participate. The more people learn the facts, the better off we are. Clearly we were most proud to tell of your hard work serving your communities. If you want to read more, please go to http://www.clearchannel.com and the CCRC where you can find Lowry's testimony and our press release. If your clients and customers are asking you about this event, please get these materials so you are informed about our position. A consistent external message is very important right now and we appreciate your help. We have received inquiries from employees and shareholders asking "what can we do?" and saying "we want to participate in this process!?. We always want to encourage you to weigh in with your own Senators and Representatives, as well as Chairmen and Ranking Members of the committees of jurisdiction (Commerce and Judiciary in both the House and the Senate). We're told the most effective method: letters personally written and sent to home state Senators and one's own Representative. Say Feingold is wrong -- urge them not to cosponsor. Tell them all the great things we do within our community; how we are live, local and engaged in our markets. If legislation pops up elsewhere we will keep you posted. You can find these contacts and contact information on the CCRC. Thank you for participating in the American political process! One of the exciting topics we covered at the hearing is the success CC Radio is having with the CC New Music Network. If you haven`t visited, please do: http://www.clearchannelnewmusicnetwork.com --- we have over 2000 bands and artists registered and we have only promoted the project in some 20 markets. This project along with our new music radio shows, the work CC Entertainment does to bring new artists into clubs and venues demonstrates Clear Channel is CLEARLY doing its part to grow the music business and bring new music to consumers. On another subject, I am proud to report a Florida judge DISMISSED the frivolous and false SBS lawsuit last week. You may recall last summer when we had a mountain of press alleging CC and HBC were involved in anti-competitive practices intended to drive SBS out of business. As Lowry says, "Folks are making inaccurate claims about our company that have no basis in reality. We have risen above the chatter and proven that we are a good company, with ethics, integrity and sound business practices. We`ll continue to stay focused on our business and work hard for our customers and our communities.? I am happy to report we were victorious. We expect appeals, but for now the court has ruled and we have prevailed. Be assured we will continue, along with your divisional leaders, to work to tell our CC story in court, in the press, in our industries and in Washington! Pinnacle Club winners joined us in San Antonio for food, fun and festivities last weekend. We were delighted to host this event and very proud to see this group of outstanding performers who represent dedication and commitment. Thank you to these folks and to all of you who help these folks succeed - behind every Pinnacle winner is a team of talented folks! Congrats to you too!! Later this month you will hear from me again, we will be releasing our 2002 final financial results. I look forward to that report. And finally, we have all experienced challenges with our email over the last months. I am very pleased CCIT has pulled us through a difficult period of migration, upgrading and we're almost finished. These improvements will increase our efficiency and speed and I appreciate your patience and CCIT's persistence. If you have continued problems contact the CCIT help desk. Folks, thank you again for the work you are doing! Stay the course! It's working! (via Harry Helms, AK6C, Feb 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. THE FRIENDLY BOGEYMAN OF LOS ANGELES RADIO By MIREYA NAVARRO February 9, 2003 [I`m not sure how he pronounces his real name but it is probably accented: Renán Almendárez --- gh] GLENDALE, Calif. ARRIBA arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba arriba!" For years, that's how the top-rated morning radio show in the Los Angeles area usually began: "Up up up up up up up up up up up up!" yelled in Spanish at the crack of dawn, while a rooster crowed in the background. "Good morning the housewives! Those in construction! The truck drivers! The ones delivering newspapers and magazines! Those of the grape, the lettuce, the onion! The bakers! Those who make doughnuts! Greetings!" Those were the early-morning listeners Renan Almendarez Coello urged out of bed on "El Cucuy de la Manana" ("The Morning Bogeyman") on the Spanish-language station KSCA-FM (101.9) here. They helped him dethrone the likes of Howard Stern in Los Angeles and become the closest thing to a national radio voice for immigrant Latinos. As the Mexican population that was once concentrated in the West and Southwest has spread east, so has Mr. Almendarez Coello's turf: over the last year, his syndicated show went on the air in Washington, South Carolina and New York City. A key question has followed him across the country: can Mr. Almendarez Coello's brand of humor, delivered in a Spanish drenched in Mexican slang, cross over from the Mexicans and Central Americans who are his core fans to the Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans and Colombians who dominate Eastern markets? Now another challenge looms. Mr. Almendarez Coello recently announced that after six years of early rising, he wants to sleep in. He cut his show by two hours and moved it, beginning last Monday, to the afternoon drive time of 3-7 p.m., gambling that his audience would follow him to "El Cucuy de la Tarde" ("The Afternoon Bogeyman") and perhaps even grow. "We've already made history in the morning," he told his audience in one of his last morning shows. "Now let's go to the afternoon." On his show and in an interview at his studio, Mr. Almendarez Coello, 49, said there were professional and personal reasons for the abrupt change. He said he was tired of getting up at 3 a.m. six days a week for the grueling morning schedule (the show was on from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m.), and he wanted to free himself up to entertain television and film offers and devote more time to his charity work. Taking such a gamble with a highly rated show is rare in radio, industry analysts said, and it has already cost "El Cucuy" its New York outlet. The show's ratings had suffered some erosion lately, but Mr. Almendarez Coello had held on to his No. 1 rank in Los Angeles, beating all competitors in both English and Spanish, and had a combined audience in syndication of several million listeners in a dozen markets. Valerie Geller, a consultant who has worked with both Spanish- and English-language radio companies, including Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation, the chain that owns KSCA, said "El Cucuy de la Tarde" had a good chance of success because of Mr. Almendarez Coello's personal drawing power. "Audiences are very, very loyal and Renan is very, very popular," she said. "He reveals who he is," she added. "He'd say the same thing to one person as he would to a million. All the great ones are like that. They all have this instant intimacy." Mr. Almendarez Coello arrived in the United States from his native Honduras in 1982 with a three-month visa he ended up overstaying. (He became an American citizen a few years ago.) A radio actor since his teens, he worked in construction alongside Mexican immigrants and picked up the accent that would become El Cucuy's. He found his way back to radio at stations in places like Fresno and Santa Ana, and came to KSCA in 1997. With "El Cucuy" he offers what he calls "a reality show" a mix of jokes, goofy contests, double-entendre humor, calls from listeners (which can develop into real-life dramas) and mobilizations to help hurricane victims and cancer patients. In his studio, glasses perched on his forehead, Mr. Almendarez Coello can be outrageous he was once host to an exorcism on the air but is more often mischievous, or even juvenile. He slaps buttons to produce canned laughter or the sounds of a toilet flushing (though his show is much tamer than the morning fare on stations like WSKQ-FM, the leader among New York's seven Spanish-language stations). He performs with a trio of sidekicks, La Tropa Loca, or the Crazy Troop, who sit across from him screaming, panting or speaking in child-like voices. But a recent week's worth of listening also yielded an exclusive interview with Laura Bozzo, the Peruvian talk show host who is ensnared in a political scandal and under house arrest. And in a long-winded drama, he kept a man in Mexico and a woman in Los Angeles on the line for more than an hour (with commercial interruptions), trying to get them to reunite. By the end of the show they agreed to do so, after El Cucuy found a buyer for her furniture among his listeners. Mr. Almendarez Coello's popularity is certainly tied to the large Hispanic population in Los Angeles, but also reflects the way he connects with his audience. This was in evidence when his car pulled up to the Libreria Martinez bookstore in Santa Ana, about 30 miles south of here, on a Saturday afternoon late last year and the waiting crowd of several hundred people erupted in screams and applause. He was promoting his book, "El Cucuy de la Manana: In the Pinnacle of Poverty" (2002, Rayo), written with his manager, Fernando Schiantarelli. In it he details his rise from poverty and describes battles with alcohol, drugs and womanizing. (Mr. Almendarez Coello says he has been married four times and has 20 children, 16 born out of wedlock; he has been married for 17 years to his current wife, Virginia, with whom he has three daughters.) Inside the store, mothers asked him to bless their children and a woman showed him the open sores in her legs, asking for help. Fan after fan, both men and women, dissolved in tears in his arms. Dina Rossano, 56, remembered finding El Cucuy crass and tasteless when she first heard him on a Santa Ana station years ago, but then being won over. "I'm a fan because he's a humanitarian and because of the happiness he brings to people," she said. "He's still crass but now we love him." Being a man of the people can backfire. Last year Mr. Almendarez Coello was in the news here when three people whose services he had recommended on the air were arrested. Two faith healers were charged with involuntary manslaughter (their cases are pending) and a man known as Dr. Mystery was sentenced last month to more than nine years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a series of sex crimes, some involving minors. Mr. Almendarez Coello said the three were among the many people who offer their services after hearing the plights of callers. To avoid such problems in the future, he set up a foundation in November to create assistance centers where listeners can get referrals to institutions rather than individuals. In New York where the Mexican population ranked third among Hispanic groups in the 2000 census, behind Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, but was the fastest growing "El Cucuy de la Manana" was starting to build on audience from 8 a.m. to noon on WLXE-AM (1380), where it began running in September. But WLXE will not be carrying the afternoon show. Juan Tapia, the station's programming director, said that it wanted to stick to its Mexican music format during the evening hours that the show would be on in the East. (Mr. Schiantarelli said efforts were under way to get the show back on in New York, with WXLE or a new station.) Juan Moreno, a radio columnist for the Spanish-language daily El Diario/La Prensa in New York, said that success there would be difficult for "El Cucuy" under any circumstances. "If the themes don't have anything to do with us, they are not going to work," he said. "When you bring someone who doesn't know New York's reality, it stands out like a sore thumb and turns people off." Eleazar Garcia, operations manager for the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation, said that New York was the only market so far that had dropped "El Cucuy." The company is replacing Mr. Almendarez Coello in the morning with the radio host Eddie Sotelo, known as Piolin, on KSCA and other stations it owns in California, Nevada and Arizona. "We expect huge ratings and more growth in the morning and more growth in the afternoon," Mr. Garcia said. In Los Angeles, where he does commercials for department stores and car dealers, records CD's of comedy and poetry over languid music and has his picture on a billboard in the heart of Hollywood, Mr. Almendarez Coello is ready to tackle other challenges. Producers have been calling with offers for his own cable television show and for a movie based on his book, he said. He would like to play himself. "More than a radio host, I'm an actor," he said. "I came to Hollywood dreaming of acting." He was also dreaming of taking his daughters to school for the first time and of watching the sun rise. But how would he open his show now that his audience would already be wide awake? "Arriba arriba arriba!" he insisted. "They're probably going back home or are in the middle of their shift, feeling tired and dozing off. So arriba arriba arriba!" http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/09/arts/09NAVA.html?pagewanted=print&position=bottom Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. When I was at KPDN, in Pampa, Texas, 62-66 minus half a year in 63 in Fort Worth, we played [Billy James] Hargis' "Christian Crusade" and "Lifeline." I can't remember who the voice of Lifeline was in the early days, but Melvin Munn, of Pampa, took over later. I had talked with him on occasion, nice enough fellow, but some strange ideas. They weren't strange in the Texas Panhandle, though, where the John Birch Society Blue Book was second in popularity to the Bible (or first, depending upon to whom you talked.) KPDN did try to live up to the Fairness Doctrine (any one else remember the Fairness Doctrine) and there was a most interesting weekly newspaper editor in Tulia, Texas, who taped a 15 minute show, "The Country Editor Speaks," that we carried as well. H.M. Baggarly was the "country editor" and he and another fellow who ran the weekly newspaper in Canadian, Texas, seemed to be the only liberals in the Panhandle in the early '60s. I had worked part-time at KTUE in Tulia in 1960-61 and got to know Baggarly, who did a daily 15-minute show on that station. One of my duties at KPDN was to write the editorials for the station owner/manager, Warren Hasse, one of the two best bosses I ever worked for. the other being Clint Formby at KPAN in Hereford, Texas, who's still going strong. Hasse leaned toward the conservative, but I wrote editorials with which I thought both he and I could agree. He never rejected an editorial I wrote. But I think both our viewpoints were a bit, uh, temporized. It was my time in the Panhandle that woke me up politically. Some of the things Panhandle conservatives believed were so outrageous, I studied a lot of material in search of "the truth" (if there is such a thing in political philosophy.) Later, of course, as I found myself in Cambridge, Mass., for three and a half years, I learned some of the things Yankee liberals believed were almost equally outrageous. It's a shame our public policy must swing from one side to the other instead of finding, like my editorials in Pampa, the middle ground. (The above is partly satire!) (John Callarman, Krum TX, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. ROY MILLAR Bruce Portzer reports: "From former NRC member Bart Cronin, I recently learned of the death of long time BCB DXer Roy Millar of Marysville, Washington. Roy passed away in September from an apparent heart attack. He had been a DXer since at least the mid 1950's, and had been a member of both the NRC and IRCA at various times. Roy had logged and verified all sorts of impressive DX, including some amazing Trans Atlantic catches during the low sunspot years of the mid-1960s From what I understand, he sent his large QSL collection off to the CPRV several years ago. I would have to rank him as one of all time greats in the hobby, especially from this part of the country." (IRCA Soft DX Monitor Feb 15 via DXLD) ** U S A. Dennis Gibson alerted us to a webpage that shows the geographical distribution of radio stations in the US; further, they are color coded as to K and W calls. The effect is quite striking, but it doesn't reproduce well in back and white. The best thing is to go to the site and see this for yourself. You'll find it at http://www.dobe.com/wts/uscallsigndist.htm (IRCA Soft DX Monitor Feb 15 via DXLD) ** U S A. This month's issue of QST arrived in the mailbox today. It features a four page article on IBOC called "Digital Audio Broadcasting Has Arrived- The Story of WOR". It's written by Steve Ford, WB8IMY. The article concentrates on explaining how IBOC works in a "Q&A" type format. It does provide some additional tests on skywave reception (receiver lock via skywave didn't work out on initial tests) They also reference the WOR IBOC test web site at: http://www.wor710.com/Engineering/iboc/hdindex.htm I love the clever marketing of calling the new service "HD" for High Definition. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, Helena, AL, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. LPFM site --- Check out this site: http://www.recnet.com Great LPFM info, and nice mapping of 'available' channels based on LP- 100 or LP-10, factoring in 2nd and 3rd channel adjacents. And how about the below application that the person who alerted me to this site first noted. (This is the same channel [96.7 MHz] that the current Old School soul pirate in St. Petersburg recently appeared on, operating Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays only.) FM Query ST. PETERSBURG FL US FCC Facility ID: 134194 Channel/Class: 244 L1 Frequency: 96.7 Coordinates: 27-42'57.60" 82-39'14.40" License Type: Low Power FM Status: Application Power: Horiz: 0.000 kW Vert: 0.000 kW Antenna Height: 0 m HAAT View location in FMMAP Additional Info from the FCC: Station Information | Application Details Application List Contour Shown on Map: 60 dBu (50,50) Default HAAT used for map - 30 m View Channel Report for this station Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html (Terry L. Krueger, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Aló Presidente volvió esta semana a las frecuencias de 17750, 15570 y 15230. Hasta hace dos semanas sólo podía ser escuchado en 11705 y 15230 [todas vía Habana] (Adán González, VENEZUELA, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. From Mar 30, the Voice of Vietnam plans the continuing use of leased overseas relays. Daily relay output will be Sackville (Canada) four hours, Moosbrunn (Austria) two hours, and Skelton (UK) 90 minutes. Planned frequencies are: 6175 Sackville 0100-0500 9725 Moosbrunn 1700-1900 9725 Skelton 1900-2030 (EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4498.78, unID LA, unknown QTH. Feb 2003 - 0140 UT. Andean station heard now and then during a few weeks. All the time music program and a DJ with weakly modulated telephone. The music I think comes from Bolivia but Perú is not excluded. A very tough one (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED: 4890: Amigos, La UNID de los 4890 kHz continua. Sintonizo la emissora todos los dias, aunque las condiciones de recepción no son buenas en estos dias. El amigo brasileño, vivendo en Bolivia, Rogildo F. Aragão también está oyendo la emisora y ha enviado algunas informaciones : "Recebi esta resposta abaixo do meu amigo TIN; esta pode ser uma possibilidade. No ultimo informe do Glenn Hauser, pensan que pode ser na Bolívia, mas acho que não, pelo sinal e no domingo eles passaram uma historia do San Martin de Porres; é um santo negro do Perú, mas uma história diferente da verdadeira, puxando para o negativo. Por estes motivos acho que é mesmo do Sul do Peru. TIN me disse desde o Japão - "En cuanto a la estación de 4890 kHz, anteriormente transmitia Difusora Radio Huanta en 4890.9 kHz o 4889V kHz, la cual es oficialmente asignada en 4890 kHz. Cuando la visité en 1995, estaba fuera del aire y funcionaba solamente con FM. Por eso muy posible que ha vendido su transmisor para otra estación del sur peruano" Un gran Saludo desde Brasil (Samuel Cássio Martins, São Carlos - SP, Conexión Digital via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) 4890.00, religious SS, unknown QTH. Feb 5 2003 - 0120 UT. I have fallen over a ``mystery`` with this logging and hope with mutual help we can solve this problem. If you have any info re this station it is important you send me a mail directly. Those special items are only meant for SWB members. This mail is sent to TN as usual but this time also directly from Quito to CB, who has a lot of knowledge about religious stations both in Latin America and in the rest of the world. Yesterday evening at 2020 local time I stopped at the frequency 4890.00 kHz. Radio Chota was strong on 4890.26 kHz but an interfering tone made me stay checking out the frequency. On 4890.00 kHz threw was a weak SS with religious programme and with very hard splash from Radio Chota, who thankfully closed down at 0136 UT. This religious station was stronger and stronger and finally reached QSA 3-4. A very professional and costly religious programme with prayers, religious music and a teaching programme about the catholic church and their habits followed. This just continued and continued without the smallest hint of an ID and after 3 hours I gave up. Neutral Latin American Spanish and no clue whatsoever from where the transmission came from. I get up most mornings, except for Saturdays/Sundays at about 0500 local time and this morning the station was still heard with religious programme, this time in the form of an act, "radio theatre" dramatized from a part in the Bible. Faded away at local sunrise. So after 4 hours listening I have not the faintest idea about the name or QTH of the station. Could it be a new Central American? This info was sent out as a "BM preview" Feb 6. The station can still be heard with the same type of programme totally without any ID and I can`t hear any geographical names. It is incredibly boring to listen to this type of programme hour after hour. Sometimes it seems to be a relay of a TV channel (?) when it seems like what is said above about ``dramatising our Bible`` is aid to be a movie. I received the following mail from our member CB/ Christer Brunström, thanks Christer! Exciting, I promise to check the bands carefully for the new station in Honduras. "Hello! It took me some days te answer. I returned from Germany Thursday evening. I have been in Berne outside of Bremen with some colleagues and pupils. Hectic days but very nice. There has been some talk about a new Evangelic station in Honduras and probably on shortwave. I have nor yet seen any information regarding frequencies, etc. The transmitter delivered by HCJB. But you write that the program content was Catholic and this does not match at all. 73/CB". (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Latin on 5835.60 varied to .48 with YL and OM, 1120 fair signal, some music at 1152, transmitter unstable 1155 still there 1200 no ID heard (Bob Wilkner, FL, Feb 12, NRD 535D ICOM R 75, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6760.15 UNID LA, unknown QTH. Feb 1 2003 UT. Listened for 5-6 minutes to Mexican music nonstop and then silent with only carrier. Only heard this date. [Guatemalan 2x harmonic? --gh] (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, translated by SWB-editor Thomas Nilsson, via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BROADCAST ENGINEERING PLANNING ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The new international season starts on Mar-30. This is the "long one" of seven months, and it will be interesting to see how the actual frequency allocations hold up, with the sunspot number predicted to fall to about 40 by October. This will virtually mark the conclusion of Solar Cycle 23. Recently, there have been very large excursions in the daily sunspot count, ranging from 150 in mid-January, to 75 on Feb-01, and up again to 180 on Feb-11! I would suggest that broadcasters would be very unwise to attempt to use 17, 18, and 21 MHz for long-haul transmissions across substantially darkness circuits during the A03 season, but operations in those bands would be reliable for shorter routes over totally daylight, or partially daylight paths. The High Frequency Coordination Conference has completed its work for the development of the A03 Master Schedule. Delegates met for a week in Sandton, South Africa, and the public (modified) schedule (about 100 A4 pages!) is expected to be available during the first week of April at http://www.hfcc.org You may see a selection of photos taken at the South African meeting at that Website (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) DIGITAL RADIO MONDIALE ++++++++++++++++++++++ With the assistance of DRM members the BBC and Voice of Nigeria, DRM was featured at Africast 2002 in Abuja, Nigeria in late 2002. The conference theme was Broadcasting and the Emerging African Union. The BBC World Service showcased DRM as part of its Africast 2002 exhibition stand. Various DRM members relayed live test transmissions to West Africa during the conference, which were picked up on DRM receivers at the booth. Andy Giefer of the BBC World Service presented a DRM paper titled "Digital Radio Mondiale: A Suitable System for Broadcasting in Africa". The presentation included information of particular relevance for African broadcasters - the DRM system provides Robustness Modes (C and D) that have been specially created for tropical conditions. The DRM system provides solutions for broadcasting in harsh propagation conditions, such as those that can occur with Near-Vertical- Incidence Skywave (NVIS) transmissions (Bob Padula, EDXP World Broadcast Monitor Feb 12 via DXLD) This is Radio Havana Cuba, broadcasting in English to the world... I am Arnie Coro and here is item one in detail... Johannesburg , South Africa was the venue for a radio conference where I had the opportunity to hear the tests of the DRM system DIGITAL RADIO MONDIALE, a very promising modulation technology that may prove to be that will make possible short wave broadcasts that sound like a local FM station !!! The tests were made on the little used 11 meter band, on the frequency of 25.800 kiloHertz, and anyone listening to that channel would only pick up what apparently sounded like computer noise, as in effect it was a digital signal. The transmitter was located at the Sines, Portugal, site of Deutsche Welle, the German international broadcast station, running a 250 kilowatt transmitter, that when operating on the digital mode should have produced an output of about 45 kilowatts or so. NOW look at a map, and see the distance between Portugal and South Africa... a 747 leaving Lisbon will land in Johannesburg about 10 hours later !!! But the DRM digital signal made it all the way to the distant location producing an amazingly clear audio; in fact the frequency response was much better than the one you can normally expect from the 4.5 kiloHertz bandwidth that short wave stations normally put on the air. BUT, let me add that in yours truly humble opinion, the DRM system is not ready yet ... there is still much work to do; among other things, there is the need to develop the integrated circuit chipset for DRM radio receivers.... because so far, until now, all the receiving tests are done using a receiver with a special adapter connected to a laptop computer that is equipped with a special software to decode the DRM, Digital Radio Mondiale short wave broadcasts. This receiving software is not freeware, and that's something that may prove to be another big stumbling block for the popularity of the system. So now you know that the DRM tests from Portugal to South Africa were successful, and that the engineers used a computer sound card with a special proprietary software to decode the signal and play it back through a pair of loudspeakers... I am sure that during the coming months, tests will continue, especially during the upcoming World Administrative Radio Conference that will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, during the month of June... Tests will continue from the United Kingdom, Canada, Bonaire and Sines, but reception will only be possible for those that buy the rather expensive software and the special decoders, or build their own adapters !!! (Arnie Coro, RHC DXers Unlimited Feb 11 via Bob Chandler, ODXA via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ RE: DAYTIME PROPAGATION INTO MELBOURNE Glenn, As I mentioned in my story, complex summer LF daytime propagation modes specific to transmission from Asia into South Eastern Australia have long been discussed in professional circles, of which I am part. The phenomenon, due to its irregular and unpredictable nature, is not considered as a reliable platform for the planning and delivery of duplex voice or data communications over the circuits involved. In fact, it is believed that transmission reciprocity does not apply. Care should be exercised in publicly postulating unusual propagation processes, particularly where accepted engineering practice is generally based on the need for reliable two-way communications. The lower range limit of usable frequencies for conventional two-way communication is of course affected by many factors, including environmental noise, received signal/noise ratio, transmitter power, receiver sensitivity, antenna gains, ionising EUV and Xray radiation, solar zenith angle, the empirical ALF obliquity factor, oblique propagation, elevation angle, antenna design, antenna characteristics, geophysical activity, modulation parameters, and transmitter efficiency. The generally accepted conclusion favous what is known as he F(Es)F mode, where two refractions occur off the F2 layer and an intermediate "bounce" (with no ground refraction) off the top surface of Es clouds. We are not talking about VHF bouncing off the bottoms of Es clouds, or VHF/UHF ducting, which are totally different processes. Es clouds appear to move from east to west, and in Eastern Australia the effect is maximum during summer, intensifying at around local noon. Es by definition is "sporadic", and unpredictable, coincident with our midday reception of Asian transmitters on 4, 5, and 6 MHz over long distances. Reflection off the top surfaces of Sporadic-E clouds, yielding complex combinational mode transmission is discussed in learned (engineering) literature, for propagation on frequencies beow 9 MHz. Several years ago, detailed engineering studies were undertaken in New South Wales on MF, using ABC transmitters, but the results of these tests are not in the public domain. I am putting together a detailed engineering research paper on this subject for peer review in due course, and I would be happy to make this available for comment to persons with suitable engineering backgrounds, as the material is necessarily highly mathematical in nature. Regards! (Bob Padula, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 12 FEBRUARY - 10 MARCH 2003 Solar activity is expected to be mostly low with occasional moderate levels during the period. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected during the forecast period. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux is expected to reach high levels on 15 – 19 February due to recurring coronal holes. The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet to isolated major storm levels during the period. Minor storming with isolated major storm conditions are possible on 15 -18 February due to a returning equatorial coronal hole. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2003 Feb 11 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2003 Feb 11 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2003 Feb 12 135 8 3 2003 Feb 13 135 8 3 2003 Feb 14 135 12 3 2003 Feb 15 130 15 3 2003 Feb 16 130 15 3 2003 Feb 17 125 15 3 2003 Feb 18 125 15 3 2003 Feb 19 120 20 4 2003 Feb 20 115 20 4 2003 Feb 21 115 15 3 2003 Feb 22 115 15 3 2003 Feb 23 120 12 3 2003 Feb 24 120 10 3 2003 Feb 25 125 8 3 2003 Feb 26 120 12 3 2003 Feb 27 120 12 3 2003 Feb 28 125 8 3 2003 Mar 01 125 8 3 2003 Mar 02 135 8 3 2003 Mar 03 135 10 3 2003 Mar 04 140 20 4 2003 Mar 05 145 20 4 2003 Mar 06 150 10 3 2003 Mar 07 150 10 3 2003 Mar 08 150 8 3 2003 Mar 09 145 10 3 2003 Mar 10 140 10 3 (http://www.sesc.noaa.gov/radio Feb 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1169, DXLD) ###