DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-053, March 29, 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 later at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3c.html HTML version of February issues: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3b.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1175: RFPI: Sun 0600, Mon 0030, 0630, Wed 0100, 0700 on 7445 [may be pre-empted for Pacifica anti-war coverage; see C.R.] WWCR: Sun 0730 3210, Wed 1030 9475 WBCQ: Mon 0545 on 7415 WJIE: Mon & Tue 0700, M-F 1300 on 7490 WRN: Sun 1500 N. America WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1175.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1175.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1175h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1175h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1175.html [already] MARCH HTML FILE UPDATED now thru issue 3-052: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3c.html WORLD OF RADIO etc. SCHEDULES UPDATED FOR THE WEEK OF CONFUSION http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html http://www.worldofradio.com/wormast.html WORLD OF RADIO [not] ON WJIE. The new time we were informed of, 0300 UT Sunday, did not pan out: checking both 7490 and webcast at 0310, we hear music instead; maybe next week? Anyway, we were back on WWCR 5070 at 0330 (gh, DXLD) WORLD OF RADIO MP3 --- Hi Glenn, just to let you and your listeners know that a 16 kbps MP3 file is available at Dxerscalling Audiosend; WOR 1174 and 1175 are there, handy for those who miss the SW Broadcast and want a smaller downloadable file (3.28MB) http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/dxerscallingAudiosend/files/ Thanks as always, keep up the great work, 73 Tim Gaynor, Dxerscalling Australia and Audiosend http://nrin.hypermart.net/dxerscalling.html UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS Glenn, I read with great interest the comments in DXLD 3-051 regarding the opinions you express about matters both political and religious. As a member of the "vast right wing conspiracy" I would like to point out to those who take umbrage with your opinions that at the end of the day DXLD is still YOUR web site and you can say anything you damn well please on this web site. If others don't like it, perhaps they should create a site of their own. As someone who has been DXing for just over two years I am thankful for DXLD, HCDX, Cumbre and NASWA. I would be lost without the efforts of other DXers who share with me when and where to listen (Scott R Barbour Jr, NH USA) Glenn, have benefited from your radio related work since the 1970`s. I recall eagerly awaiting the next issue of ``Popular Electronics`` for the ``DX Listening`` column. I still have a ``DX Listening`` from March 1976 with ``Shortwave News From All Over``. Those were the days…``Turks & Caicos Islands. VSI`s afternoon show on 4.788 MHz``, ``Radio Swan de Honduras started out on 6.185 MHz``, ``Brazil has big plans for international broadcasting`` and ``Tirana`s tirades make it a station most Americans avoid with a passion``. Any possibility of republishing the old articles? These are fascinating history. I`ve enjoyed the recent historical items in DXLD. From ``Popular Electronics`` I recall hearing the DX items on RCI`s DX Program. I remember the excitement of hearing DX/SWL items on the show and then scanning the bands for the stations. From RCI`s show I recall hearing my first ``World of Radio`` on WRNO. I still have the WRNO certificate signed by Joseph Costello III. Shame WRNO didn`t live up to their plan. However, WRNO did have a major impact on private SW broadcasting from the U.S. Some in DXLD report receiving WRNO, but WRNO has become rare DX. The days of ``Review of International Broadcasting`` and ``DX Listening Digest`` were great time for a radio hobbyist. I had fun doing the ``DIAL`` column in RIB. In the early 1990`s I had too many other things going on at once. Unfortunately, radio took a back seat (a way, way back seat). Then, in late 1999, I was able to, once again, enjoy the hobby. I was glad to find gh was still active. With technology we`re fortunate to have DXLD online. We`ve gone from a monthly publication in the 1970`s to the weekly WOR to the, almost daily, DXLD. With work, family, etc I don`t always get the opportunity to listen to the broadcast WOR. However, having the real audio files available is a great convenience. The sound is very clear – I can even hear the script pages being turned! I`ve seemed to acquire, once again, an insatiable appetite for DX/SWL news and tips. However, the regular doses of DXLD feeds me the info I need. I know I`ve written a long letter and have not actually gotten to the point. The point is Thanks for everything you have done for the hobby, and me, throughout the years. I`ve enclosed a donation as a token of my gratitude (Kraig W. Krist, VA, March 15) ** ARGENTINA. 15820, AM910 La Red, Buenos Aires, // 910 kHz, 0310+, March 30. LSB mode. Talk about different artistic shows in Mar del Plata city. 34443 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** CANADA. Hard of Hearing radio: It's exactly what it sounds like Auditory Adam keeps bass deep, tones low on university station Chris Purdy, The Edmonton Journal, Friday, March 28, 2003 CREDIT: Larry Wong, The Journal Adam Ungstad produces Canada's first Hard of Hearing Radio show on CJSR for people with hearing loss…. http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/story.asp?id=AB6223B8-A598-4D06-B6C8-3DAAB5AA1B58 (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CHINESE AGENCY STARTS 24-HOUR AUDIO NEWS SERVICE ON IRAQ WAR | Text of report by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) In response to many requests from the broadcast media, beginning 12 March, Xinhua's international audio news feed service began offering continuous, 24-hour a day front-line audio reports gathered from Xinhua reporters in Baghdad, aboard the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, and in the countries surrounding Iraq. The reports are distributed over the Internet. Currently an average of about ten audio reports per day are being provided. The reports have been well received following broadcast on some radio and television stations. There are still some elements of the broadcast media which are not familiar with the audio report feed service which Xinhua is currently offering. Radio and television stations who are interested and who need these reports are invited to contact the Radio and Television News Editing Office of Xinhua's International Department, tel. 010- 63073650 or 63071906, e-mail AVSERVICE@XINHUANET.COM. Thank you. Xinhua International Department 29 March 2003 Source: BBC Monitoring research 29 Mar 03 (via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. 11690 USB+carrier, R. Okapi, 2300-0000 Mar 28. Lively music some with a Latin flavor. The only song I recognized was Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Miles". Brief talk by OM in French. Okapi jingles heard at 2348. SINPO peaked at 23432 and they were in the clear until the ToH (George Maroti, NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD)) ** COSTA RICA. Radio For Peace International's Weekly Program Update for the week of 30 March - 5 April, 2003 ======================================== (Frequencies/hours subject to change without notice) 40 meters: 7.445 MHz (AM): 24 hours, daytime to Central America, nighttime to the rest of the world. 19 meters: 15.040 MHz (AM): Off line for the moment for some necessary repairs. And streaming live on the Internet in MP3 at http://www.rfpi.org - off at the moment due to technical difficulties (via Alokesh Gupta, DXLD) However, they give program details as usual for the coming week, so perhaps WOR, COM et al. will be back on. Indeed, UT Sun 0540 COM started, so WOR at 0610? (gh, DXLD) ** CROATIA. Re: DXLD Zadar Croatia 1130 kHz off frequency. Die Frequenzabweichung bei dem HRT Mittelwellensender Zadar in Kroatien von 1134 auf 1130 kHz duerfte bereinigt sein. Um 1113 Uhr sandte Zelimir Klasan von HRT aus Zagreb folgende Meldung: Ein Synthesizer hatte die Frequenzkontrolle verloren. 73 wb From: "Wolfgang Bueschel To: "HRT Zelimir Klasan Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 9:13 PM Subject: Zadar 1130 kHz, 4 kHz off the registered frequency Hello dear Zelimir, for past few days now, in international broadcasting newsgroups there are reports of odd - mediumwave Zadar site on 1130.00 kHz (next whistle tone to Deanovec 1125). 4 kHz DOWN the ITU registered frequency of 1134 kHz. Measured the exact frequency right now, on March 27th at 2000 UT; Zadar is still on odd 1130 kHz. May you can explain this phenomenon ? Quarz crystal failure at Zadar ? kind regards de Wolfgang Bueschel DF5SX D-70597 Stuttgart Deutschland From: "Zelimir Klasan To: "Wolfgang Bueschel Sent: Friday, March 28, 2003 11:13 AM Subject: Re: Zadar 1130 kHz, 4 kHz off the registered frequency Dear Mr, Bueschel, thank you very much for your kind email and information. We have traced problem with one of synthesizer (lost of kHz control). Sorry for inconvenience. Best regards, Zelimir Klasan HRT hrtnet@hrt.hr (BC-DX Mar 28 via DXLD) ** FAROE ISLANDS. See 3-051; ham DXpedition has been delayed until early April: http://www.qsl.net/lldxt (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** FRANCE [non]. CYPRUS / MONACO http://www.ddm.gouv.fr/actualites/depeches_afp/index.html (in French) RADIO MONTE CARLO-MIDDLE EAST GOES UP RECEIVED IN BAGDAD PARIS, March 27, 03 ( AFP) - RMC Middle East, French radio of expression arabophone of the group RFI, is received in Bagdad in MW and in FM in Doha (Qatar), Manama (Bahrain), Khartum (Sudan), Amman (Jordan) and Damascus (Syria), indicates on Thursday (March 26) a communiqué of the radio. The radio set up a relay at Ajloun in Jordan what allows its programs to be received in FM in Damascus (Syria). Current event mobilized the editorial staffs of the group RFI, which for lack of measure of audience, underlines "the reproduction of auditors' appeals and the impressive jump of the number of visits of RFI's Internet sites (+35% in March) and RMC Middle East (+335% of connect supplementary from Jordan or +104% from Saudi Arabia. PS / Saddam Hussein would listen regularly to this station as well as the Arabic service of the BBC according to the French press (machine translation via Bernard Chenal, France, March 29, fixed up a bit by gh for DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. DW Frequency Report for NAm UT March 30 0400-0500 UT -- 7225 [Rwanda] is adequate (33343 --- some ham QRM and about an S5-6 signal, for the most part). 11945 is quite good (45444 --- a solid S9 on the meter). 15410 inaudible. (7225/11945 also audible in same relative signal strength on Sony SW- 07 with whip.) "Inside Europe" is the listed program, but this was not heard. Instead, a special edition of "Newslink" was followed by "Network Europe". 0500-0600 UT -- 9700 listenable at first. (SINPO-34333; S5/S6 signal on meter). Very weak, barely readable signals on 12045 and 13755. 11925 and 15410 inaudible. As hour goes on, QRM from Radio Rossii on same frequency increased, reducing SINPO to 33333 and at times to 32332. (9700 also readable on Sony SW-07 with whip.) (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY (near Albany), Lowe HF-150 stack, A/D Sloper antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. ERT relays by IBB from US Sites, A-03, languages ``various``: ERT ERA5 600 800 D 03 15190 296 ERT ERA5 600 800 DL 02 15190 296 ERT ERA5 1200 1500 DL 01 11730 075 ERT ERA5 1600 1900 DL 04 17705 075 ERT ERA5 2000 2200 DL 04 17705 075 ERT ERA5 2000 2200 GA 08 17565 164 ERT relays by IBB from sites in Greece, A-03: 0 400 KAV 12 15650 095 0 400 KAV 12 15630 095 0 400 KAV 11 9420 355 0 400 KAV 11 7475 240 400 800 KAV 12 21530 095 400 700 KAV 11 17520 095 900 1400 RHO A 1260 134 900 1300 KAV A 792 999 1100 1400 KAV 11 12110 355 1100 1300 KAV 05 12105 355 1200 1400 KAV 12 15650 095 1300 1700 KAV 05 9420 355 1300 1700 KAV A 792 330 1400 1900 KAV 12 12110 355 1400 2100 KAV 11 9420 355 1730 1800 KAV A 792 999 1900 2100 KAV 12 12105 355 2000 2130 KAV A 792 330 2100 2400 KAV 12 15650 095 2100 2300 KAV 12 12110 095 2100 2300 KAV 11 9425 105 2100 2300 KAV 11 9420 105 2200 2300 KAV A 792 330 2300 2400 KAV 11 12105 240 2300 2400 KAV 11 7475 240 (IBB March 29 via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** INDIA. The afternoon broadcast of AIR Vividh Bharathi on 10330 via Bangalore 500 kW transmitter is now at 0900-1200 (ex 0630-1200) Its full schedule is 0025-0435, 0900-1200, 1245-1740. ===== 73 (Jose Jacob, Mar 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 5040, 1437-, RRI Pekanbaru, Mar 29. Strong signal with typical RRI muddy audio fighting it out with Myanmar on 5040.57. Therefore use LSB. Though the het is loud, I'm finding it difficult to hear much of Myanmar. Good overall for the RRI with talk by man and woman (Walter Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. Re Christian Voice schedule, 3-051: the Asia portion, of course would be mostly via Darwin; previously used Tashkent as well (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. For some more 'first hand' information: Military Frequencies to monitor (all are in USB) include: 4709, 4724, 6712, 6739, 8992, 11176 (the one I hear most stuff on), 11271, 15038 (Ken Zichi, MI, MARE Mar 29 via DXLD) ** IRAN. A03 IRIB 12-Mar-2003 Version: 02 Total reqs: 228 [gh removed excess administrative data; all entries are days 1234567; all dated 3003303 to 261003 except the two Ebri entries on 9910 and 11925; asterisks by languages not explained. Strange spellings presumably influenced by Farsi; but some lang. abbrs. are unk. Azimuth 0 seemingly means non-direxional rather than due north; English, Ebri and Spanish also excerpted below] SITES: AHW = Ahwaz [SW near Basra, Iraq], KAM = Kamalabad [near Tehran], MAS = Mashhad [NE corner], SIR = Sirjan [central], ZAH = Zahedan [near Pakistan/Afghanistan tri-state area, per WRTH map, except does not list Ahwaz, but does list a site missing here, Mahshar] FREQ STRT STOP CIRAF ZONES LOC POWR AZIMUTH SLW ANT LANGUAGE 3945 1200 1500 30S,40E MAS 500 0 0 935 DARI* 3945 1730 1930 40E,41NW MAS 500 0 0 935 DARI* 3985 1630 0130 39,40 AHW 250 0 0 935 ARABIC 5945 1430 1700 29S,40NW SIR 500 346 0 218 TURKI-AZ* 5955 1500 1600 30,40NE MAS 500 0 0 935 UZBAKI* 5955 1600 1730 30S,40NE MAS 500 0 0 935 TADJIKI 5970 1900 1930 38E,39W KAM 500 250 0 145 EBRI 5985 1500 1600 30,40NE MAS 500 0 0 935 UZBAKI 5985 1700 1800 30,31 KAM 500 58 0 145 RUSSIAN 6010 0230 0300 7,8,10,11 SIR 500 328 0 218 EBRI* 6015 1630 1730 40E,41W SIR 500 65 0 156 PUSHTU 6025 1630 2130 38,39 KAM 500 250 0 145 ARABIC 6040 0030 0230 10-12 KAM 500 304 0 215 SPANISH* 6065 1800 1900 30,31 AHW 500 26 0 145 RUSSIAN* 6135 0030 0230 7-10 KAM 500 333 0 216 ENGLISH* 6135 0230 0300 7,8,10,11 KAM 500 333 0 217 EBRI* 6185 1630 1730 29SE,39NE,40NW SIR 500 320 0 156 ARMENIAN* 6200 1430 1700 29S,40NW SIR 500 338 0 218 TURKI-AZ 6205 1800 1900 29 SIR 500 328 0 218 RUSSIAN 6220 1430 1700 29S,40NW SIR 500 346 0 156 TURKI-AZ* 7120 0330 0530 39N AHW 250 0 0 935 S-A 7125 1930 2030 28NE,29,30 KAM 100 340 0 146 RUSSIAN 7130 0230 0330 40E,41W SIR 500 75 0 218 PUSHTU 7165 1430 1530 30,31 KAM 500 58 0 145 RUSSIAN 7165 1600 1730 28S,39N KAM 500 289 0 215 TURKI-ES 7175 0330 0530 39N KAM 500 250 0 145 S-A 7175 1900 1930 38E,39W SIR 500 282 0 146 EBRI 7175 1930 2030 28NE,29 SIR 500 340 0 146 RUSSIAN 7180 0100 0230 30S,40NE MAS 500 0 0 935 TADJIKI 7180 0230 0300 30,40NE MAS 500 0 0 935 UZBAKI 7180 1430 1530 30,31 KAM 500 58 0 145 RUSSIAN* 7180 1730 1830 28S SIR 500 313 0 218 BOSSNI* 7195 1630 1730 40E,41W AHW 250 84 0 145 PUSHTU 7210 1700 1800 30,31 SIR 500 18 0 146 RUSSIAN 7215 1630 1700 41 KAM 500 109 0 216 URDU* 7230 1630 1730 29SE,39NE,40NW SIR 500 320 0 146 ARMENIAN 7245 0330 0530 39N SIR 500 295 0 156 S-A 7245 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 KAM 500 100 0 216 ENGLISH 7260 1800 1900 29,30 KAM 100 340 0 146 RUSSIAN 7270 1430 1530 40E,41W ZAH 500 0 0 935 PUSHTU-m 7270 1530 1730 40E,41NW ZAH 500 0 0 935 URDU-m 7285 1530 0330 38,39,47,48 KAM 500 238 0 145 ARABIC 7295 1200 1500 30S,40E MAS 500 0 0 935 DARI 7295 1730 1830 28S KAM 500 298 0 146 BOSSNI 7295 1830 1930 28SE SIR 500 295 0 156 ALBANI* 7295 1930 2000 28 KAM 500 298 0 146 ITALY 7315 1900 1930 29 KAM 100 335 0 146 EBRI 7335 1930 2030 28NE,29 SIR 500 320 0 146 RUSSIAN* 9500 0230 0430 39 SIR 500 304 0 218 KORDI-SO* 9515 0030 0230 12S,13S,14N,15N KAM 500 259 0 215 SPANISH 9520 1430 1530 41NE SIR 500 90 0 218 BENGALI 9525 0130 0230 40E,41NW SIR 500 80 0 156 URDU 9535 2030 2130 28SE ZAH 500 289 0 145 ALBANI 9545 1730 1830 28S KAM 500 298 0 146 BOSSNI* 9545 1830 1930 28SE KAM 500 298 0 146 ALBANI 9550 1600 1730 28S,39N KAM 500 298 0 146 TURKI-ES 9560 2330 0030 8,10,11 KAM 500 333 0 216 FRENCH 9565 1330 1430 41 SIR 500 90 0 146 URDU* 9570 0030 0230 12S,13S,14N,15N KAM 500 259 0 215 SPANISH* 9570 0030 0130 41NE KAM 500 95 0 211 BENGALI 9570 1830 1930 28SE ZAH 500 289 0 145 ALBANI 9580 0300 0630 30S,40E MAS 500 0 0 935 DARI 9580 1430 1530 28E,29 SIR 500 330 0 218 RUSSIAN 9590 0030 0230 7-10 KAM 500 333 0 216 ENGLISH 9605 0230 0330 40E,41W KAM 500 94 0 216 PUSHTU 9610 0330 0430 38E,39NW KAM 500 250 0 145 S-F 9615 1430 1530 29-31 AHW 500 26 0 145 RUSSIAN 9625 1630 1730 40E,41W KAM 100 95 0 146 PUSHTU* 9630 1230 1330 40E,41W KAM 500 95 0 146 PUSHTU* 9635 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 SIR 500 105 0 218 ENGLISH 9645 1230 1330 40E,41W MAS 500 0 0 935 PUSHTU* 9655 0030 0230 11,12 SIR 500 304 0 218 SPANISH 9655 1730 1830 39S,47,48,52,53 KAM 500 205 0 211 SAWAHILI 9665 1330 1430 39S SIR 500 235 0 146 URDU 9685 2230 2330 49,50,54 SIR 500 115 0 216 MELAU 9705 1630 0330 39,48,53 MAS 500 210 0 145 ARABIC 9720 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 SIR 500 105 0 218 ENGLISH* 9725 1230 1330 40E,41W ZAH 500 0 0 935 PUSHTU* 9725 1630 1730 40E,41W KAM 100 95 0 146 PUSHTU 9730 2230 2330 49,50,54 SIR 500 115 0 216 MELAU* 9735 1630 1700 41 SIR 500 90 0 218 URDU* 9740 0130 0230 40E,41NW SIR 500 80 0 218 URDU* 9750 1600 1730 28S,39N KAM 500 298 0 146 TURKI-ES* 9750 2030 2130 37NW SIR 500 295 0 218 SPANISH* 9780 1630 1730 29SE,39NE,40NW SIR 500 322 0 211 ARMENIAN 9790 1230 1330 40E,41W ZAH 500 0 0 935 PUSHTU 9800 1930 2030 52S,53S,57 SIR 500 211 0 216 ENGLISH 9805 0300 0330 29E,30,31 SIR 500 18 0 146 RUSSIAN 9810 0030 0230 10-12 KAM 500 304 0 215 SPANISH* 9810 1430 1530 39S,40S KAM 500 190 0 146 BENGALI 9810 2130 2230 28S ZAH 500 289 0 145 BOSSNI 9835 0030 0230 7-10 KAM 500 333 0 216 ENGLISH* 9835 1730 1830 28S ZAH 500 289 0 145 BOSSNI 9870 2130 2230 54,55,59 SIR 500 115 0 218 ENGLISH 9875 0300 0330 29E,30,31 SIR 500 18 0 146 RUSSIAN* 9890 0030 0130 41NE SIR 500 90 0 145 BENGALI 9890 0230 0630 39S KAM 500 178 0 146 ARABIC 9900 1430 1530 31-33 SIR 500 43 0 216 RUSSIAN* 9910 0230 0300 7,8,10,11 KAM 500 333 0 217 300303 300803 EBRI 9935 1730 2230 27,28,37-39,46 SIR 500 302 0 211 ARABIC 11610 0030 0230 10-12 KAM 500 304 0 215 SPANISH 11640 1830 1930 28SE KAM 500 298 0 146 ALBANI* 11660 2030 2130 28SE KAM 500 298 0 146 ALBANI* 11665 0230 0430 39 ZAH 500 289 0 145 KORDI-SO 11665 1300 1400 30,31,40NE KAM 500 58 0 145 KAZAKI 11665 1430 1530 41NE KAM 500 95 0 216 BENGALI* 11670 1930 2030 27 KAM 500 304 0 215 ENGLISH 11680 0030 0130 41NE KAM 500 94 0 216 BENGALI* 11695 1330 1430 41 KAM 500 118 0 146 URDU 11695 1430 1530 41 KAM 500 118 0 146 HINDI 11700 0930 1000 29SE,39NE,40NW SIR 500 320 0 146 ARMENIAN 11705 0830 0930 39S,40S SIR 500 198 0 146 BENGALI 11710 1830 1930 27,28 SIR 500 310 0 211 FRENCH* 11710 2130 0130 4,7-10 SIR 500 340 0 218 ARABIC 11725 2030 2130 28SE KAM 500 298 0 146 ALBANI 11740 1630 0330 37-39 MAS 500 270 0 145 ARABIC 11750 1930 2030 52S,53S,57 SIR 500 216 0 216 ENGLISH 11750 2330 0030 42-44 KAM 500 64 0 216 CHINA 11765 1730 1830 27,28 KAM 500 304 0 215 GERMANY 11765 1930 2000 28 KAM 500 298 0 146 ITALY* 11765 2030 2130 37 KAM 500 289 0 215 SPANISH 11770 0230 0630 39S KAM 500 178 0 146 ARABIC* 11775 1430 1530 41 KAM 500 109 0 216 HINDI* 11775 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 KAM 500 109 0 216 ENGLISH 11790 0230 0330 40E,41W AHW 250 84 0 145 PUSHTU 11820 1430 1530 29,30 KAM 500 358 0 145 RUSSIAN 11830 0300 0330 30,31 KAM 500 58 0 145 RUSSIAN 11840 1630 2130 27,28 KAM 500 304 0 215 ARABIC* 11855 1730 1830 27,28 SIR 500 320 0 146 GERMANY 11855 2100 2130 45 SIR 500 60 0 218 JAPANESE 11860 0300 0330 29SE,39NE,40NW SIR 500 320 0 146 ARMENIAN 11860 1830 1930 27,28 KAM 500 304 0 215 FRENCH 11860 1930 2030 27 SIR 500 313 0 218 ENGLISH 11870 0500 0530 29,30 KAM 500 358 0 145 RUSSIAN 11870 1230 1330 40E,41W KAM 500 118 0 146 PUSHTU 11870 2130 2230 28S KAM 500 298 0 146 BOSSNI 11875 0330 0430 38E,39NW KAM 100 258 0 146 S-F 11880 0130 0230 40E,41NW KAM 500 94 0 216 URDU 11880 0830 1200 40E,41NW MAS 500 0 0 935 DARI 11880 1830 1930 46,47 SIR 500 258 0 218 FRENCH 11895 2130 2230 28S KAM 500 298 0 146 BOSSNI* 11905 1730 2230 37,38W,46NE SIR 500 278 0 218 ARABIC* 11920 0030 0230 8-11 SIR 500 328 0 218 ENGLISH 11925 0230 0300 7,8,10,11 SIR 500 330 0 218 300303 300803 EBRI 11925 0330 0430 38E,39NW KAM 100 258 0 146 S-F* 11930 1830 1930 46,47 KAM 500 255 0 216 HUSA 11935 0130 0230 30,31,40NE SIR 500 30 0 206 KAZAKI 11965 0030 0130 41NE SIR 500 90 0 145 BENGALI* 11965 2230 2330 49,50,54 KAM 500 109 0 216 MELAU 11970 2330 0030 8,9 SIR 500 328 0 218 FRENCH* 11995 1730 1830 39S,47,48,52,53 SIR 500 223 0 218 SAWAHILI 12005 2330 0030 8,9 SIR 500 328 0 218 FRENCH 12015 1430 1530 41NE KAM 500 95 0 216 BENGALI 12030 1430 1530 41 SIR 500 95 0 156 HINDI 13635 2100 2130 45 SIR 500 65 0 156 JAPANESE 13640 0130 0230 40E,41NW AHW 250 84 0 145 URDU 13650 1930 2000 28 ZAH 500 289 0 145 ITALY 13665 1730 1830 27,28 SIR 500 322 0 211 GERMANY* 13665 2130 2230 55,58,59 SIR 500 113 0 218 ENGLISH 13700 1830 1930 27,28 SIR 500 304 0 218 FRENCH* 13710 0330 0530 29S,40NW SIR 500 338 0 218 TURKI-AZ 13730 0230 0330 12,13 KAM 500 280 0 211 SPANISH 13730 1330 1430 41 KAM 500 109 0 216 URDU* 13730 1930 2030 27 SIR 500 313 0 218 ENGLISH* 13740 2330 0030 42-44 KAM 500 64 0 216 CHINA* 13755 1300 1400 30,31,40NE SIR 500 30 0 206 KAZAKI 13755 2030 2130 37NW SIR 500 295 0 218 SPANISH 13770 0130 0230 30,31,40NE SIR 500 18 0 146 KAZAKI 13770 0330 1530 38,39,47,48 KAM 500 238 0 146 ARABIC 13785 1230 1330 40E,41W AHW 250 84 0 145 PUSHTU 13785 1830 1930 27,28 SIR 500 310 0 211 FRENCH 13805 1330 1430 41 KAM 500 109 0 216 URDU 13805 1430 1530 41 KAM 500 109 0 216 HINDI 13820 1230 1630 39S,40S KAM 500 178 0 146 ARABIC 15125 0330 1630 39 MAS 500 210 0 145 ARABIC 15150 0330 1630 38,39 MAS 500 270 0 145 ARABIC 15165 0230 0300 41 SIR 500 102 0 146 HINDI 15200 1230 1330 49,54 SIR 500 115 0 218 MELAU 15215 0500 0530 29 SIR 500 322 0 211 RUSSIAN 15235 0530 0630 28S SIR 500 295 0 211 BOSSNI 15235 0630 0730 28SE KAM 500 298 0 146 ALBANI 15235 1200 1300 28 KAM 500 298 0 146 ITALY 15260 0430 0600 28S,39N KAM 500 289 0 215 TURKI-ES 15260 0930 1000 29SE,39NE,40NW SIR 500 322 0 211 ARMENIAN 15265 0330 0430 39S,47,48,52,53 SIR 500 235 0 146 SAWAHILI 15330 1300 1400 30,31,40NE SIR 500 40 0 211 KAZAKI 15365 0430 0600 28S,39N ZAH 500 289 0 145 TURKI-ES 15395 1430 1530 41NE SIR 500 102 0 146 BENGALI 15435 1830 1930 46,47 SIR 500 268 0 218 HUSA 15440 0730 0830 40E,41W AHW 250 84 0 145 PUSHTU 15450 1030 1130 40E,41N ZAH 500 0 0 935 ENGLISH 15490 1330 1430 41 AHW 250 84 0 145 URDU 15490 1430 1530 41 AHW 250 84 0 145 HINDI 15490 2330 0030 42-44 SIR 500 75 0 218 CHINA 15550 1030 1130 41,49,50,54 KAM 500 94 0 216 ENGLISH 15555 1300 1330 45 SIR 500 60 0 218 JAPANESE 15570 2330 0030 42-44 SIR 500 68 0 218 CHINA 15600 1030 1130 40E,41W AHW 250 84 0 145 ENGLISH 15610 1030 1330 39 ZAH 500 289 0 145 KORDI-SO 15610 1330 1530 39 ZAH 500 289 0 145 KORDI-SH 17535 1200 1300 42-44 SIR 500 76 0 216 CHINA 17555 1230 1330 49,54 KAM 500 109 0 216 MELAU 17560 0630 0730 28 KAM 500 295 0 217 ITALY 17570 0330 0430 39S,47,48,52,53 KAM 500 203 0 216 SAWAHILI 17590 0530 0630 27,28,37N KAM 500 304 0 215 SPANISH 17590 0630 0730 27,28 KAM 500 304 0 215 FRENCH 17590 0730 0830 27,28 KAM 500 310 0 218 GERMANY 17600 0600 0700 39,46,47,52 SIR 500 260 0 156 HUSA 17635 0230 0300 41 SIR 500 95 0 156 HINDI 17680 0530 0630 28S SIR 500 310 0 211 BOSSNI 17680 0630 0730 28SE KAM 500 289 0 215 ALBANI 17780 0630 0730 27 SIR 500 310 0 218 FRENCH 17785 0530 0630 27,28,37N KAM 500 289 0 215 SPANISH 17800 1130 1230 47,48,52,53 SIR 500 223 0 218 SAWAHILI 17810 1300 1330 45 KAM 500 60 0 217 JAPANESE 17825 0630 0730 28 SIR 500 295 0 211 ITALY 21460 1200 1300 42-44 SIR 500 65 0 156 CHINA 21470 1030 1130 41,49,50,54 SIR 500 100 0 218 ENGLISH 21480 0500 0530 31-34 SIR 500 46 0 216 RUSSIAN 21490 1200 1300 42-44 KAM 500 65 0 216 CHINA 21560 0700 0730 27W,28,29E SIR 500 320 0 156 EBRI 21610 0500 0530 31-34 SIR 500 46 0 218 RUSSIAN 21630 1200 1300 42-44 KAM 500 64 0 218 CHINA 21645 0630 0730 46,47 SIR 500 263 0 218 FRENCH 21730 1030 1130 41,49,50,54 SIR 500 107 0 216 ENGLISH 21745 1230 1330 49,54 SIR 500 113 0 218 MELAU 21810 0600 0700 39,46,47,52 SIR 500 270 0 156 HUSA 21810 1130 1230 47,48,52,53 SIR 500 231 0 158 SAWAHILI Now the ENGLISH section excerpted, and arranged into time order. The first one is toward North America: 6135 0030 0230 7-10 KAM 500 333 0 216 ENGLISH* 9590 0030 0230 7-10 KAM 500 333 0 216 ENGLISH 9835 0030 0230 7-10 KAM 500 333 0 216 ENGLISH* 11920 0030 0230 8-11 SIR 500 328 0 218 ENGLISH 15450 1030 1130 40E,41N ZAH 500 0 0 935 ENGLISH 15550 1030 1130 41,49,50,54 KAM 500 94 0 216 ENGLISH 15600 1030 1130 40E,41W AHW 250 84 0 145 ENGLISH 21470 1030 1130 41,49,50,54 SIR 500 100 0 218 ENGLISH 21730 1030 1130 41,49,50,54 SIR 500 107 0 216 ENGLISH 7245 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 KAM 500 100 0 216 ENGLISH 9635 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 SIR 500 105 0 218 ENGLISH 9720 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 SIR 500 105 0 218 ENGLISH* 11775 1530 1630 41,49,50,54 KAM 500 109 0 216 ENGLISH 9800 1930 2030 52S,53S,57 SIR 500 211 0 216 ENGLISH 11670 1930 2030 27 KAM 500 304 0 215 ENGLISH 11750 1930 2030 52S,53S,57 SIR 500 216 0 216 ENGLISH 11860 1930 2030 27 SIR 500 313 0 218 ENGLISH 13730 1930 2030 27 SIR 500 313 0 218 ENGLISH* 9870 2130 2230 54,55,59 SIR 500 115 0 218 ENGLISH 13665 2130 2230 55,58,59 SIR 500 113 0 218 ENGLISH Also excerpting a couple of other languages of interest: Ebri is that service in Hebrew, called `Voice of Davud``: 6010 0230 0300 7,8,10,11 SIR 500 328 0 218 EBRI* 6135 0230 0300 7,8,10,11 KAM 500 333 0 217 EBRI* 9910 0230 0300 7,8,10,11 KAM 500 333 0 217 300303 300803 EBRI 11925 0230 0300 7,8,10,11 SIR 500 330 0 218 300303 300803 EBRI 21560 0700 0730 27W,28,29E SIR 500 320 0 156 EBRI 5970 1900 1930 38E,39W KAM 500 250 0 145 EBRI 7175 1900 1930 38E,39W SIR 500 282 0 146 EBRI 7315 1900 1930 29 KAM 100 335 0 146 EBRI 6040 0030 0230 10-12 KAM 500 304 0 215 SPANISH* 9515 0030 0230 12S,13S,14N,15N KAM 500 259 0 215 SPANISH 9570 0030 0230 12S,13S,14N,15N KAM 500 259 0 215 SPANISH* 9655 0030 0230 11,12 SIR 500 304 0 218 SPANISH 9810 0030 0230 10-12 KAM 500 304 0 215 SPANISH* 11610 0030 0230 10-12 KAM 500 304 0 215 SPANISH 13730 0230 0330 12,13 KAM 500 280 0 211 SPANISH 17590 0530 0630 27,28,37N KAM 500 304 0 215 SPANISH 17785 0530 0630 27,28,37N KAM 500 289 0 215 SPANISH 9750 2030 2130 37NW SIR 500 295 0 218 SPANISH* 11765 2030 2130 37 KAM 500 289 0 215 SPANISH 13755 2030 2130 37NW SIR 500 295 0 218 SPANISH (from complete frequency schedule via Swopan Chakroborty, India, edited and excerpted by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. IRAQ-IRAN. The Voice of Mudjahidin of the People which spreads programs towards Iran has it seems stopped emitting. Main camps of this anti-Iranian movement of Marxist obedience Leninist was at Tawilah in Iraq where it possessed a broadcasting station medium waves which sprayed Iran. This political organisation was created in 1965 and already spread in the sixties ten [1970s?] one program in Farsi (at the time of the Shah) called Patriotic Radio since Lybie. The organization arranges also SW broadcasting stations which are probably mobile. From time to time the Iranians do not hesitate to make raids in Iraq to silence broadcasting stations. For want of anything better SW broadcasting station is very widely blurred for the years eighty. In 1981 the Voice of Moudjahiddin of the People used the SW broadcasting station of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. At the end of some weeks one quarrel burst between two formings (trainings), which had as a corollary to stop the programs of Moujahidines of the People from the station of the Democratic Party of the Kurdistan. In 1981 the leader of Moudjahidines of the People, Massud Radjavi settled down in France at Auvers on the Oise, near Paris. He was expelled from France in December, 1987 and lives since in Iraq. His wife Myriam Radjavi always lives in Auvers sur Oise as well as the brother of Massoud who lives also there. Movement arranges average important servicemen in Iraq and benefits from the support of Saddam Hussein's regime. It possesses about 10000 fighters and possesses heavy materiel such as tanks T-55 of Soviet manufacture and T-72. Americans put Mudjahiddin Khalq on their blacklist as terrorist organization. According to Le Monde of March 22 the Iranians would have received the assurance of the Americans that Massud Radjavi's organization would have no more its place in Iraq with the reversal of Saddam Hussein's regime. Adress : Secrétariat du CNRI, B.P. 18, 94430 Auvers-sur-Oise, France web: http://www.iran-e-azad.org/ (machine translation via Bernard Chenal, France, March 29, fixed up a bit by gh for DXLD) ** IRAQ. 756, Republic of Iraq Radio, Baghdad, March 24 2100-2200, good signal, Speech of President Saddam Husein followed by Iraqi national anthem. Many martial songs played. State radio and TV HQ in Baghdad bombed next day on March 25. No signal on the freq at the same time on March 27. Monitored in Turkey. (Oguma) 756 R.Romania Int., March 27 -2050-2105- 34333 Romanian, ID, IS, talk. Good reception due to Baghdad's QRT (Hiro Oguma, Turkey, Japan Premium via DXLD) Info Radio also uses 756 and see Eastern Radio item below ** IRAQ. According to Al-Jazeera's correspondent in the Iraqi capital, Iraqi TV transmissions were continuing, and Iraqi radio was also broadcasting normally. The US-run Information Radio was heard on 756 kHz from 0800 gmt today; however, it was unheard at 1500 gmt. Republic of Iraq Radio Main Service, the official radio station of the Iraqi government, has been confirmed broadcasting on mediumwave 603 kHz. It was monitorable on that frequency up to 1400 gmt. Voice of Youth radio, operated by Saddam Husayn's son Uday, remains unheard on all recently used frequencies. The following are BBC Monitoring's observations on Iraqi media monitored from 1200-1800 gmt on 29 March: Republic of Iraq Radio Main Service The station was monitored at 0700 gmt on 603 kHz (believed to be a transmitter at Ninawah near Mosul), broadcasting Iraqi patriotic songs and poetry. Republic of Iraq Radio Main Service was monitorable on that frequency up to 1400 gmt. Voice of Youth Radio Voice of Youth Radio continues to be unheard on all known frequencies since 0430 gmt on 25 March. Other radio broadcasts targeting Iraq US-run Information Radio continued to be heard on 756 kHz from 0800 gmt today. Information Radio is part of the US psychological operations aimed at Iraq. It commenced broadcasting on 12 December 2002. The broadcasts are transmitted from US military EC-130 aircraft flying over southern Iraq. US leaflets dropped over Iraq give the following frequencies for Information Radio broadcasts: 693 and 756 kHz mediumwave, 9715 and 11292 kHz shortwave and 100.4 MHz FM. Source: BBC Monitoring research 29 Mar 03 (via DXLD) ** IRAQ [and non]. US STARTS TV BROADCASTS TO IRAQ, SETS OUT POLICY ON TARGETING IRAQI TV | Excerpt from transcript of briefing on 28 March by Brig-Gen Vincent Brooks, Deputy Director of Operations; posted on the US Central Command web site; subheadings added editorially: General Brooks: Operation Iraqi Freedom continues this eighth day since the coalition ground forces entered Iraq. The coalition is setting the conditions for future operations, and we remain focused on the key objective of removing the regime and disarming Iraq. As always, we remember our fallen comrades and their families. In the past 24 hours, we continued combat operations against regime forces, conducted strikes against regime command and control, and took major steps forward in setting the foundation for the future of Iraq. In places where we encounter paramilitary forces and terrorist- like death squads, we are inflicting severe blows. With each engagement, the regime loses more of its ability to deny freedom to the Iraqi people... Information war On our information front, we have increased our broadcasts, and they now include television broadcasts covering all of southern Iraq, and we have also expanded that coverage to include Baghdad and the surrounding areas. This is in addition to our radio broadcasts, which, as I mentioned, continue on five different frequencies, 24 hours a day. The UK forces also have begun operating an AM radio station out of Umm Qasr. From each of these platforms, our messages continue to focus on providing encouragement and lifesaving information to the Iraqi people. Concurrent with our combat operations, our efforts to preserve Iraqi resources and our humanitarian efforts are picking up the pace... US policy on attacking Iraqi TV, jamming Question: Martha Brant with Newsweek magazine. I've got a couple of questions related to Iraqi state TV. Would you first give us a battle damage assessment of the attempts to hit that compound? Could you explain why that wasn't one of the first targets that coalition forces hit? Was it an attempt to maybe use that infrastructure later to communicate with the Iraqi people? And then lastly, sir, any attempts to jam Saddam Hussein's TV broadcasts? General Brooks: Well, there are several parts to the questions you asked, and I'll try to roll them really into one answer. First, the targeting we go through is designed to achieve a particular effect. And there are a number of parts to the command-and-control apparatus of this regime. It's very robust. It has many redundancies built into it. And it, in fact, has taken into account that it might indeed at some point be attacked. The timing of any attack, including the ones against television stations that broadcast and also support the regime in its decisionmaking, the timing of that is associated with when we want to achieve a particular effect. What we'll do in a number of cases is try to influence one layer and then another and then another of decision-making and degrade the capability of the regime to command and control, to issue instructions, to cause reinforcements, all the things that a headquarters or a command would need to do to make operations successful. And so that accounts for a bit of why the timing was done when it was. It was because we chose to attack it when we did and why it was attacked the way it was. There are, as I mentioned, some redundancies in the system. So what we might have, in effect, on one location, it might pop up somewhere else. And we'll find where that backup is and we may address it. And we'll peel that back, which degrades the capability again, and attack it. So as we see capability, we attack to remove the capability. And it's as simple as that. Q (Inaudible.) Is that also going on? Can you address that? General Brooks: Well, what I'll say on that is we have a number of methods of disrupting command and control. Jamming is only one of them, and we use that when we believe it's appropriate... Q (Inaudible) Chicago Tribune. If I can follow up on Martha's question, are you trying to take Saddam Husayn off the air, his television appearances? And also, we've seen some headlines throughout the region about casualty numbers - 3,000-4,000 civilian casualties from the bombing in Iraq. Can you comment on those figures and tell us if you have any calculations of civilian casualties from the bombing? General Brooks: Well, I'll go back to the answer I said earlier. In terms of the methods we use to disrupt command and control, there are a number of methods, and those are ongoing. It's not about broadcast. It's about command and control. And so that's where our influence is... Q (Inaudible) - KIRO in Seattle. Not to beat a dead horse here, but you've said you're trying to interrupt command and control, not broadcast. But don't these repeated broadcasts have the effect of boosting the morale of the outlying forces of the regime? Even if they don't give direct orders, don't they seem to reflect that somebody in Baghdad is still in charge and that they can still exert some influence? General Brooks: Well, I think they do reflect that in some cases, although I wouldn't want to speculate on what impact they actually have on people who are observing broadcasts, whether they're members of the regime, military forces or others. What I'm saying is the purpose of our operation is related to the military aspect of those broadcasts, the military aspect of the command-and-control facility that is joined with the broadcast areas. That's what we seek to disrupt. We want not to have the regime in control. And everything that we do is directed to prevent the regime having control... Source: US Central Command web site, Washington, in English 29 Mar 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. BRITISH FORCES OPERATING IRAQI RADIOS BRITISH FRIGATE BROADCASTING INFORMATION RADIO? Friday March 28 2003 via Fox News- CAMP AS SAYLIYAH Qatar - British forces have managed to take Iraqi television and radio off the air in Basra Sky News reported Thursday. Transmitters were destroyed on Wednesday night Sky reported which has isolated the city from communications with Baghdad. U.S. Central Command said Thursday night's bombing of Baghdad did hit a telecommunications center although it did not specify which one. Several frequencies in Iraq's second city have now been taken over by coalition forces who are reportedly broadcasting their own messages according to Sky reports. They also have radio broadcasts running regularly. British forces have begun operating an AM radio station out of Umm Qasr. The Associated Press contributed to this report. (My WRTH list a 693 kHz in Basra with 600 kW I see no listing for a station in Umm Qasr --- Johnson) http://www.navynews.co.uk/articles/2003/0303/0003032501.asp for a story that says that the British frigate Chatham is serving as a floating platform for 'Radio Free Iraq,' seemingly a reference to Information Radio. It isn't clear from the article if the broadcasts are coming from the ship. The ship has a website at http //www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/1571.html (Hans Johnson, Mar 28, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Some more info on the UK station: It is broadcasting a mix of messages and music. The messages are aimed at the Iraqi troops urging them to surrender as well as at civilians in the city of Basra, giving them safety instructions to avoid getting hurt during the sporadic fighting that takes place there. The content is partly produced by the US and partly by the British. The British troops have also dropped leaflets in the city. I am still waiting for the frequency... I am also trying to monitor it myself. The most obvious frequency choice would be 693 kHz, if the Iraqi station in Basra has indeed been destroyed, but here in Qatar that frequency is covered by a station broadcasting in Farsi. [Later:] From what I´ve now heard from the officers here at Camp as- Sayliyah, it seems likely that there isn´t any new UK-run radio transmitter in Umm Qasr, as previously announced by the coalition. Instead, it seems that some UK-produced programming, perhaps with a different station ID, is transmitted via Information Radio, and for Basra residents, 693 and 756 kHz would be the frequencies best audible. Neither one is heard here in Qatar. The FM station mentioned earlier presumably refers only to the FM broadcasts of Information Radio. I´m still trying to get an independent confirmation for this, but this is how it looks right now. Also, I can confirm Tarek`s excellent discovery of Information Radio on 4500 kHz. It is official, the transmissions on this frequency began a few days ago. The transmissions on 4500 kHz originate from a Commando Solo EC-130E aircraft (Mika Mäkeläinen, Qatar, Mar 29, dxing.info via DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. Al-Mustaqbal & Twin Rivers Radio The very tentative schedules of the broadcasts: al-Mustaqbal 2130-0030 on 1575 kHz; Twin Rivers Radio 1430-1832 on 1566 kHz. Note: the schedules were changed with the start of Radio Tikrit, not now (R. Petraitis, Lithuania, Mar 20, 2003 for CRW via DXLD) Twin Rivers Radio The schedule: the beginning of morning programme- without changes, starts from 0300 on 1566 kHz. I reported earlier about mainly musical format of Twin Rivers Radio (Radio Mesopotamia). The radio station has changed the format with the beginning of the strike on Iraq. About 60% of time are now devoted to information, 40% to Arabic music (R. Petraitis, Lithuania, Mar 26, 2003 for CRW via DXLD) ** IRAQ. Another new one... BBC Monitoring is reporting that an anti- Saddam radio station identifying itself as "Eastern Radio" [al- idha'ah al-Mashriqiyah] has been heard on mediumwave 756 kHz, a frequency that has been used by both Republic of Iraq Radio and the US-run Information Radio (Andy Sennitt, 1:48:11 PM Mar 29, Media Network weblog via DXLD) Eastern Radio It turns out that this station reported by BBC Monitoring on 756 kHz has been around for some time, and previously reported by Clandestine Radio Watch. Here's what Tarek found in the archives: Eastern Radio, Eastern Broadcasting House Organization: Carmel News Agency, which is a Washington-based Arabic news organization. Presumed to be a PSYOP operation by the Israel Defense Forces. Broadcasts from: Kfar Killa, southern Lebanon, or northern Israel Languages: Arabic Identification: (Arabic) al-idha'ah al-mashriqiyah, dar al-idha'ah al-mashriqiyah. (English) Eastern Radio, Eastern Broadcasting House. Active Since: December 23, 2000 Known as "Experimental Radio from the Mediterranean Basin" [(Arabic) al-idha'ah al-tajribiyah min hawd al-mutawassit] between December 2000 and January 2001. Formerly known as the Voice of the South and broadcast on behalf of the South Lebanese Army. Contact Address: Post Office Box No 52341, Limassol 4062, Cyprus Fax Washington, DC: 1-202-4680261 Fax London: 44-207-6917678 Monitored: Dec 00: Time? 756 kHz (BBCM via CRW 60) 1400 756 kHz (Zedian-Egypt via CRW 60) Jan 01: *0600-0800* 756 kHz Identifying as "Eastern Radio." (BBCM CRW 62) Nov 01: *0700-1630* 756 kHz (BBCM CRW 87) I see Dave Kernick also spotted this (Andy Sennitt, Media Network weblog 3/29/03; 10:48:30 AM via DXLD) ** IRAQ. IRAQ SATELLITE CHANNEL STILL ON THE AIR I just checked the DSL feed of the Iraq Satellite Channel and it's still on the air with excellent reception. As Tarek observed yesterday, the audio definitely has a boomy sound as if they're broadcasting from an empty warehouse or something. It's certainly not a studio. Bart Kuperus (who worked with me at WRTH) called last night and we we were discussing how amazing it is that they just keep coming back. Bart is of the opinion that they must have mobile uplinks. And if they have a number of them, they can operate from different locations seamlessly. That would also explain why they don't carry press conferences live. It could well be that the videos are delivered by despatch riders, and that the actual location they broadcast from is constantly changed. That would also explain why the playback quality of such recordings is markedly inferior to the live studio output. I bet they're still using analogue video tape (Andy Sennitt 8:18:42 AM Mar 29, Media Network Weblog via DXLD) More evidence of the makeshift nature of the production facilities they're using. The 1300 UTC news bulletin is on, and the announcer has no autocue. He hardly looks up. In between items he glanced to his left as if waiting for a cue, a sign that they don't have a conventional gallery set up. But the technical quality of the satellite signal continues to be excellent. The closing sequence had a globe with the word "news" in English scrolling across the screen, no Arabic text. All the presenters are wearing identical military style uniforms, but with no insignias, suggesting they're civilians. All the men I've seen so far seem to have incedibly hairy chests - I wonder if this is part of the macho image they're trying to get across? (Andy Sennitt. 2:11:35 PM Mar 29, ibid.) The picture and sound are breaking up again following more bombing. In case you haven't read the replies to earlier items, Ibrahim has a possible explanation for the audio quality: Hi, I have information from inside Iraq stating that the Iraqi regime is using mosques and Islamic Holy shrines like the those in Najaf and Karbala as broadcasting centers for Iraqi TV and radio in order to avoid them being bombed by the allies. Maybe this explains the boomy echo like sound you hear in when they speak due the domes and the large size of those shrines (Ibrahim 9:33:55 PM Mar 29, ibid.) Hi Andy, well, with all due respect....I think this idea is not right coz simply if they are on the air. And the call for the prayer started, it'd be like in the middle of jammed stadium. I think this is not the right place (Tarek Zeidan, Egypt, 3/29/03; 8:07:41 PM, ibid.) ** IRAQ. CPJ CONCERNED THAT IRAQIS ARE DEPLOYING JOURNALISTS AS SHIELDS... International journalists evacuated the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad on 20 March after receiving reports that the hotel was a likely target of a U.S. air strike because of the alleged presence of a military bunker beneath the hotel, the CPJ reported the same day. Due to this report, a large number of journalists had previously left the Al-Rashid Hotel and moved to the Palestine Hotel, which is further from government buildings. Journalists who went to the Palestine Hotel last week told CPJ the Iraqi authorities ordered them to return to the Al-Rashid Hotel on 19 March without explanation. While larger news organizations, such as CNN and the BBC, resisted and were allowed to stay put after threatening to leave the country, others reluctantly returned to the Al-Rashid. On 20 March, after learning of warnings from an unidentified Western government to leave the Al-Rashid immediately, the journalists rushed back to the Palestine Hotel. Some journalists suspect human shielding as the reason behind Iraq's orders. Pentagon spokespeople would neither confirm nor deny that the hotel was a target, saying only that Baghdad is a dangerous place for journalists. Reportedly, Iraqi officials ordered journalists to stay in their hotels during the attacks and instructed them not to leave their hotels unless accompanied by government escorts. CC ...AND LEAVING IRAQ IS MADE DIFFICULT. Many journalists have departed Baghdad in recent days, citing safety concerns, the CPJ reported on 20 March. Iraqi authorities allegedly delayed or prevented some reporters from leaving Iraq because they had not complied with proper exit procedures. A spokeswoman for "The New York Times" told CPJ that reporter John Burns and photographer Tyler Hicks could not secure a newly required "currency-clearance certificate" and, therefore, had not left for Jordan. Other U.S. news outlets encountered similar bureaucratic hurdles while trying to exit the country. Some were delayed for hours, while others were forced to return to Baghdad. CC (Catherine Cosman, RFE/RL Media Matters Mar 28 via DXLD) ** IRAQ [and non]. USEFUL SECRETS? The March-April issue of the "Columbia Journalism Review" ran an article entitled "In a Run-Up To War, How Do We Report Intelligently on Intelligence?" Viewing the protection of "sources and methods" as the "who and how" of intelligence, the article poses a series of key questions on how the media treats intelligence matters. For the full text, see http://www.cjr.org/year/03/2/gup.asp CC (Caherine Cosman, RFE/RL Media Matters Mar 28 via DXLD) ** IRAQ [and non]. A compendium of anti-war sentiment: http://www.sover.net/~hackmohr/sw.htm (via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** ISRAEL [and non]. This is an interesting note about the "Silent" radio broadcasts operated by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). I think it's a great concept, and I wish we could have something similar here. The basic idea is that you leave your radio on, tuned to the silent frequency. They simply broadcast an open carrier, so you don't have to sit around listening to the bubble-heads blather on about stuff that they don't know anything about. When there is an emergency message to be broadcast, then they turn on the audio. It's particularly useful for the Sabbath Observant population, who would normally not turn their radios on & off on the Sabbath. It allows them to leave the radio on for the whole Sabbath, and still be informed of any emergencies (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, Mar 20, NRC-AM via DXLD) WLW did something similar during WWII, left the transmitter on with a mike open and a clock ticking (Powell E. Way, ibid.) ** JAPAN [non]. 5985, R. Japan via Dhabayya, UAE, March 27 1730-1800, fair to poor, Japanese, Special transmission to the Middle East in the US led war on Iraq. Domestic service relay, basically. It seems to be no use for Japanese living there because of its poor contents and signal strength! (Hiro Oguma, Turkey, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** LAOS [non]. Clandestine, Hmong Lao R., 12070 kHz, very simple letter (v/s: Shoua Cha, Chairman) in 92 days for English report, audiocassette & 1$. Report sent to St. Paul office in MN, USA. Report sent on December 9, 2002. but this report returned to me for address mistake. Followup report sent on February 22, 2003. This QSL can be seen at http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~dxworld/index.htm/ (Kenji Hashimoto, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** LEBANON [non]. 11515, V. of Liberty, Mar 23 1634-1647* 35333-35322 Arabic, Talk and Arabic music. ID at 1646. 1647 s/off (Kouji Hashimoto, Yamanishi, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 5100, 2237-2325, R. Liberia International. Mar 28 Surprised to find them back on the air once again. I have always liked this station for some reason. The male announcer seems very friendly. More music, Touched by an Angel at 2240. Nice African tune at 2243. Liberian football scores given during music at 2246. Fairly nice copy. TOH, female announcer with news, same one as before. However it is possible the male announcer is not the same one as previously heard here. Still very friendly (Bob Montgomery, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LIBYA [non?]. 15220 Libya, Tripoli, fair with News in English from 1730 to 1737 UT 3/29. Then News in French. Nice ID at 1737 "You have been listening to the Voice of Africa broadcasting from the Great Jamahiriya". Drake R8 40' Vertical (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, hard- core-dx via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. RTM - V. of Malaysia A03 ----------------------- FREQ STRT STOP CIRAF LOC POWR AZI SLW ANT DAYS LANG 5965 0000 2400 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 1234567 Malay 5980 2200 1500 54NE TUA 10 0 0 751 1234567 Local 6025 0200 1700 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 1234567 Local 6050 2200 1500 54 SIB 10 0 0 751 1234567 Local 6060 0400 1500 54 MIR 10 0 0 751 1234567 Local 6100 1300 1530 49 KAJ 100 343 0 805 1234567 Thai/Bur 6175 0300 0830 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 1234567 Eng/Malay 6175 1000 1400 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 1234567 Indonesia 6175 1700 1900 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 1234567 Malay 7130 0400 0600 54NE STA 10 0 0 751 1234567 Local 7270 0800 1500 54 STA 10 045 0 216 1234567 Local 7295 0000 2400 54 KAJ 100 0 0 926 1234567 English 9665 0300 1230 55,58-60 KAJ 250 130 0 218 1234567 Eng/Chin 9750 0300 0830 54SE KAJ 100 150 0 145 1234567 Eng/Malay 9750 1000 1400 54SE KAJ 100 150 0 145 1234567 Indonesia 9750 1700 1900 54SE KAJ 100 150 0 145 1234567 Malay 11885 1030 1230 44N,45NW KAJ 100 025 0 216 1234567 Chinese 15295 0300 1230 55,58-60 KAJ 250 130 0 218 1234567 Eng/Chin 15295 1530 1900 39 KAJ 250 295 0 218 1234567 Arabic Regds, (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. In DXLD 3-052, someone using the name "M. Power" passes critical comments about RNZI reducing power to 50 kW, and SKY Australia not carrying an RNZI audio feed. RNZI 50 kW For well over 12 months, RNZI has reduced power to 50 kW for broadcasts outside the time critical breakfast session directed to Polynesia and parts of Melanesia. Monitoring of reception across the target areas reveals little or no reduction in service levels as a result. RNZI second transmitter RNZI is currently installing digital SW receivers at local radio stations in the South Pacific, in readiness for introducing its second SW transmitter which will broadcast in DRM and provide FM quality reception. This information has been public knowledge for over 12 months and was reported in the New Zealand DX Times http://www.radiodx.com early in 2002. Other SW NZ broadcasting law allows for RNZI SW facilities to be leased by other broadcasters (such as NZ Defence Forces Radio, BBC and others have done). It also permits special interest SW broadcasters such as the Radio Reading Service which operates with 1kW SW broadcasts from Levin, near Wellington. This is also common knowledge for many years, as can be found in the WRTH, Passport to WorldBand Radio and many DX publications. No demand for more SW Although it is an anachronism that other SW stations are not allowed to broadcast from NZ, equally no-one has exhibited any interest in committing the capital funds to establish such stations. Religious broadcaster Radio Rhema toyed with the idea about 30 years ago and discarded it. It now has 50+ AM/FM transmitters on air in NZ, over 100 AM/FM transmitters on air in Australia, and other stations in various Pacific island states and Russia and clearly sees its future in local programming to serve local audiences. Student Radio Student radio stations in NZ operate as quasi-commercial FM broadcasters with niche formats in highly competitive urban media markets. In other words, they exist to make money for their student owners. Likewise the foreign student market business exists as an export of services purely to make money for their private and state suppliers. To suggest they should partner RNZI to produce and broadcast a range of Asian language programs targeted at Asia ignores their reason for existence and radio market realities in Asia. Local FM in Asia In South Asia (such as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), new FM services are creating a new local radio environment. FM radio markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia (amongst others) are already very sophisticated. For RNZI to drop 30 minutes daily of Tamil or whatever into South India via SW and/or audio file is a complete waste of time and taxpayer resources. SKY Australia Compelling SKY Australia to carry an RNZI audio feed and SKY NZ to carry ABC NewsRadio and Radio Australia in return is a dangerous use of state power. If broadcasters in the two deregulated media markets of Australia and NZ choose to carry program feeds from each other as a commercial decision or one funded by taxpayers, that's fine. State Compulsion But state compulsion of carriage of program content on private broadcasters is something both countries generally eschew. The exceptions are Australian content rules and a voluntary NZ content code of practice, and special rules for community stations and niche broadcasters in both countries. Even the state broadcasters in both countries remain largely free of such political interference. Charters do guide broad principles for content in return for taxpayer funding. Hyperisolationist NZ? I'm not sure what 'hyperisolationist' means but it sounds the kind of accusatory comment which has no place in this radio column. (David Ricquish, Wellington, New Zealand, http://www.radiodx.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. PAKISTAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION HF BROADCAST SCHEDULE A'03 From March 30, 2003 to October 25, 2003 Language Freq UTC Target Area To : Far East Chinese 11570 1200 - 1230 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 Chinese 15070 1200 - 1230 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 To : South East Asia Urdu 15485 0045 - 0215 41,44,45,49,50,51,54,55,59 Urdu 17895 0045 - 0215 41,44,45,49,50,51,54,55,59 To: South Asia Assami 11650 0045 - 0115 41 [partly in English] Assami 15625 0045 - 0115 41 [partly in English] Bangla 11650 0115 - 0200 41 Bangla 15625 0115 - 0200 41 Bangla 15625 1200 - 1245 41 Bangla 17635 1200 - 1245 41 Hindi 9340 0215 - 0300 41 Hindi 11640 0215 - 0300 41 Hindi 11640 1100 - 1145 41 Hindi 15625 1100 - 1145 41 Tamil 15625 0315 - 0345 41 Tamil 17540 0315 - 0345 41 Tamil 15625 0945 - 1015 41 Tamil 17495 0945 - 1015 41 Sinhali 15625 1015 - 1045 41 Sinhali 17495 1015 - 1045 41 Nepali 15625 1245 - 1315 41 Nepali 17635 1245 - 1315 41 To : Middle East, Iran, Turkey & N/West Africa Turkish 9385 1630 - 1700 38, 39 Turkish 11550 1630 - 1700 38, 39 Irani 7550 1715 - 1800 40 Irani 9385 1715 - 1800 40 Arabic 9385 1815 - 1900 39 Arabic 11550 1815 - 1900 38, 39, 46, 47 Urdu 15100 0500 - 0700 37 - 39 Urdu 17835 0500 - 0700 37 - 39 Urdu 21460 0500 - 0700 38, 39, 46, 47 Urdu 11570 1330 - 1530 37 - 39 Urdu 15065 1330 - 1530 37 - 39 English 11570 1600 - 1615 37 - 39 English 15065 1600 - 1615 38, 39, 46, 47 Urdu 7550 1800 - 1900 40 Urdu 7570 1915 - 0045 38, 39, 46, 47 To: East/South East Africa Gujrati 15485 0400 - 0430 48s, 52, 53, 57 Gujrati 17825 0400 - 0430 48s, 52, 53, 57 English 15725 1600 - 1615 48s, 52, 53, 57 English 17820 1600 - 1615 48s, 52, 53, 57 To: West Europe Urdu 17835 0800 - 1104 17,18SE, 27 - 29 [incl. English news] Urdu 21465 0800 - 1104 17,18SE, 27 - 29 [incl. English news] Urdu 9400 1700 - 1900 17,18SE, 27 - 29 Urdu 11570 1700 - 1900 17,18SE, 27 - 29 To: CIS & Russia Turki 5860 1330 - 1400 39NE, 40 Turki 7375 1330 - 1400 39NE, 40 Dari 5860 1515 - 1545 39NE, 40 Dari 7375 1515 - 1545 39NE, 40 Russian 7375 1415 - 1500 29, 30E Russian 9385 1415 - 1500 29, 30E Iftikhar Malik. Senior Broadcast Engineer, PBC Headquarters, Islamabad, Pakistan ---------------- Regds, (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. PBS external transmissions via IBB Tinang, A-03: Filipino & English: FIEE PBS PBS 0200 0330 PHT 10 15270 283 03/30/2003 10/25/2003 FIEE PBS PBS 0200 0330 PHT 03 15120 315 03/30/2003 10/25/2003 FIEE PBS PBS 0200 0330 PHT 01 11885 283 03/30/2003 10/25/2003 FIEE PBS PBS 0200 0330 PHT 01 11885 283 03/30/2003 10/25/2003 English: ENGL PBS PBS 1730 1930 PHT 09 17720 283 03/30/2003 10/25/2003 ENGL PBS PBS 1730 1930 PHT 07 15190 283 03/30/2003 10/25/2003 ENGL PBS PBS 1730 1930 PHT 12 11720 283 03/30/2003 10/25/2003 (IBB A-03 via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** PUERTO RICO. The early WBMJ San Juan 1190 Dear list, I am Svenn Martinsen of Norway. Thank you for many interesting discussions on list. Maybe somebody will know something about this subject? I am seeking some info on the early WBMJ San Juan, Puerto Rico, especially the years 1968-1971. I know that the station then was owned by the Mid-Ocean Broadcasting Co, and had its studios in the Penthouse of the San Juan Darlington Hotel. Especially, I remember the dj "Charlie Brown" who was on the air evenings on 1190, and was frequently picked up over here in Norway. He made a great impression on fans of the former offshore station "Radio London"(I was one) over Christmas 1968, as the two stations seemed to sound very similar. "BIG L" having closed in August 1967. WBMJ and Brown was picked up out of nowhere, as a new station of 1968 it was not listed anywhere, but I found out by listening to the ads! It used Pams jingles, including the same newsjingle as London. WBMJ`s news was "20/20" though and the jingle went" WBMJ eleven.ninety: twenty twenty news is now!" And familiar morse bleeps between news items. Brown also used a "horn" effect, similar to many US top 40 DJs at the time. Of records played at the first occasion heard was "Stormy" by The Classics IV, "Back in the USSR" by The Beatles and "Stoned Soul Picnic" by the 5th Dimension. Of other material an ad for the Darlington. I reported the station after the December 28th, 1968 reception, but did not have a reply. I did get a QSL card later, however, for a reception of December 28th, 1970, posted in San Juan on Oct.8th, 1971. I have no notes of this in my log, but I clearly remember a reception on a "barefoot" (no external antenna) Tandberg transistor in 1970! Does anyone know: WBMJs start date? The identity of Brown Are tapes and/or pictures available of these early days? (Svenn Martinsen svennm@c2i.net near Bergen, Norway, NRC-AM Mar 22 via DXLD I received a verification letter from 1190 WBMJ in 1999 in which it states, "WBMJ - We Broadcast the Message of Jesus... WBMJ, with 10,000 watts of power, was purchased in 1985 and changed to an all- Christian format in English and Spanish on September 29, 1986." The station is owned by Calvary Evangelistic Mission (CEM), Inc. A brief history of CEM and 1370 WIVV is described; "WIVV - West Indies Voice of Victory... On December 8, 1956, WIVV went on the air with 1,000 watts of power (upgraded to 5,000, September, 1970)." The earliest reference to WBMJ that I have is in the NRC Domestic Log, 5th Edition, 1978-79, indicating location at the Penthouse, Borinquen Hotel, San Juan, with a Spanish pop format and slogan "Radio Rock." 1190 WBMJ is not listed in the Summer 1958 Jones station listings, so it's a relatively new AM station (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, ibid.) WBMJ signed on in 1968 under general manager Bob Bennett, who continued to manage the station through 1980 when Bob Hope's Mid Ocean sold to record impresario Jerry Masucci. From 1968 to roughly 1972, WBMJ was an English language Top 40 station, with all announcing and music in English. Spots were mostly in Spanish, though. In 1972, WBMJ switched to Spanish jocks and a mix of 90% English music with some Spanish pop hits, under the name of Radio Rock. Radio Rock became #1 very quickly, staying there through much of the rest of the 70's, challenged seriously only by WKAQ with its Spanish Top 40 and, later, WQII, with its Spanish Hot A/C format. The reasoning for the format was simple: all through Latin America, American music was popular. A really tightly done Top 40 with US hits would be an attractive proposition. However, all advertising in PR tended to be in Spanish, so the spots were in Spanish. Even in 1968, there were less than 100,000 "Continentals" living in PR; everyone Else was a Spanish speaker first... Many knew English, though. The station, however, never got into the top stations in ratings, usually registering around 7th or 8th. GM Bob Bennett was a veteran of US Top 40 radio when he moved to Puerto Rico and started building WBMJ. The station was simply another iteration of the proven Top 40 format from the mainland. Since the Island of Puerto Rico is a US territory, it was natural to use mainland announcers and jingles and, of course, follow religiously the Billboard record charts. Since the culture shock of living in PR was hard on the jocks, they seldom lasted more than a year. On the other hand, there were several totally bilingual Puerto Rican jocks who were there for a lengthy period, speaking English on a station in Puerto Rico! WBMJ was a sign on. It took nearly a year to get the directional pattern to work. Originally licensed at 10 kw day and night, they had to reduce power to 5 kw at night to get the system to proof, since the site, still in use, is surrounded by rocky small mountains to the West of the towers, which are in a riverbed. The studios, from sign on in 1968 to 1980 were in the Penthouse of the Darlington (which often went bankrupt becoming the Borinquen, and later, Gran Bahía Hotel) in the Miramar section of San Juan with an impressive view of the San Juan Bay and Old San Juan and the Condado hotel area. Beautiful. The ads for the Darlington were part of the ads for the rent trade the station had. The station only moved when the hotel finally closed down and was shuttered around 1980. The hotel was a tourist hotel, but it was not on the beach, not near restaurants, and across the street from the city's most famous bordello. I once interviewed Charly Brown to work at WUNO; he was feeling underpaid at WBMJ and was trying to learn Spanish. I found him to be extremely unpleasant, and he smelled bad. There have been so many Charly Browns in US radio I really doubt that anyone could figure out who he was now. Bennett died in the early 90's, and the local English language jocks like Héctor Ortiz are also now dead. WBMJ became a salsa oldies station in about 1981 as Exitos 1190 and then, eventually, became religious under the ownership of the operators of WIVV from Puerto Rico's Vieques Island. It is religious now, mostly in English. In the years I managed stations in San Juan, I considered Bob Bennett both a friend and a worthy competitor. WBMJ, especially as Radio Rock, was a good station and brought up the standards of radio on the Island (David Gleason, CA, NRC-AM via DXLD) Thank you, David, for an extremely interesting posting. I remember WUNO 1320 equally well, with many more receptions than WBMJ. This was actually as WNEL one of the big DX stations for Swedish DXers in the 40s. Also your WQII Guaynabo 1140 the "Once Q" on Dec. 24th, 1975 which you sent me a QSL letter for sometime after. Ah those memories! Many other PR stations did make it over here, WLUZ Radio Luz 1600, WXRF 1590, WRSJ 1560 as Radio San Juan in SS, WRAI R Aeropuerto 1520, WMDD R El Conquistador 1480, WVOZ R Voz 1400, WISA Isabela 1390, WIVV 1370, WBQN 1160 many times all. WOSO El Oso in EE 1030 just once, so WMIA R Mia 1070. Also WHOA 870, WAPA 680, WKAQ 580 and surely others I forget now.. Oh yes, WNEL 1430. Owing to the salt- water path often good strengths. As to WBMJ, I remember also The Radio Rock and the later REL format. (Heard only once late 80s with WLIB on the old pattern and CJMR on a sunset opening) But no reception made a greater impression than these great early non-directional nights. Thanks also to Bruce for the nice feedback. (Svenn Martinsen, ibid.) ** ROMANIA. Glenn, Found the following A03 sked at the Radio Romania International website March 30, 2003 around 0146 UT. 0641-0656 9690, 11840, 11940, 15270 W Europe 07-08 21480 NE Africa 14-15 15250, 17805 W Europe 17-18 11940, 15380 W Europe 17-18 9510, 11820 N Europe 21-22 7185, 9725 N Europe 21-22 9510, 11775 W Europe 23-00 9570, 11775 W Europe 23-00 11740, 15105 N America 02-03 15105, 17720 Japan 02-03 9510, 11940 N America 04-05 9510, 11940 N America 73, (-.. . Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, Annandale, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. VOICE OF RUSSIA WILL BROADCAST 24/7 FROM BERLIN Russian state radio's Voice of Russia (http://www.vor.ru) is expanding its broadcasting location in Berlin, pressetext.Europe reported on 24 March. The AM station will soon broadcast from the German capital 24 hours a day. The station will soon be broadcasting to the Near and Middle East via shortwave, and a new Internet broadcast-distribution system is under preparation. CC (RFE/RL Media Matters Mar 28 via DXLD) **. SAIPAN. 9465, 1624-, KFBS, Mar 29. Ukrainian program starting at 1602 and signing off at 1625. Targetted to young people, and giving an address in Ukraine at conclusion of program. Very good reception noted. Into Russian at 1630 (Walter Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO. RADIO JUGOSLAVIJA Program [sic] schedule Period: 1430 UTC March 30, 2003 to 1430 UTC April 7, 2003 [i.e. WEEK OF CONFUSION ONLY!!; after that, BELOW] Time(UTC) Language Target Freq.(KHz) 0000-0030 SPANISH S.AMERICA/w 9680 0030-0100 SERBIAN 1 (Except Sunday) N.AMERICA/ce EUROPA/w 9580 0100-0130 ENGLISH 1 (Except Sunday) N.AMERICA/ce EUROPA/w 9580 0030-0130 SERBIAN (spec.)(Sunday only) N.AMERICA/ce EUROPA/w 9580 0130-0200 SERBIAN (RTS) N.AMERICA/ce EUROPA/w 9580 0530-0600 ENGLISH 2 N.AMERICA/w EUROPA/w 9580 1430-1500 ARABIC 1 ARABIA 11800 1500-1530 RUSSIAN 1 RUSSIA/MOS. 11870 1530-1545 HUNGARIAN 1 HUNGARY 6100 1545-1600 GREEK 1 GREECE 6100 1600-1630 FRENCH 1 EUROPE/w 9620 1630-1700 GERMAN 1 EUROPE/w 9620 1700-1715 ALBANIAN 1 ALBANIA 6100 1715-1730 BULGARIAN 1 BULGARIA 6100 1730-1800 ITALIAN 1 EUROPA/w 9620 1800-1830 RUSSIAN 2 RUSSIA/MOS. 6100 1830-1900 ENGLISH 3 EUROPA/w 6100 1900-1930 SPANISH 2 SPAIN 7200 1930-2000 SERBIAN 2 (Except Saturday) EUROPE/w 6100 2000-2030 GERMAN 2 (Except Saturday) EUROPE/w 6100 1930-2030 SERBIAN (spec.) (Saturday only) EUROPE/w 6100 2030-2100 FRENCH 2 EUROPE/w 6100 2100-2130 ENGLISH 4 EUROPE/w 6100 2130-2200 SERBIAN 3 (Except Saturday)AUSTRALIA 7230 2130-2230 SERBIAN (spec.) (Saturday only) AUSTRALIA 7230 2200-2230 ENGLISH 5 (Except Saturday) AUSTRALIA 7230 2230-2300 CHINESE 1 CHINA 9580 Period: 1430 UTC April 7, 2003 to 1430 UTC October 26, 2003 Time(UTC) kHz Language Target 0000-0030 9580 ENGLISH 1 (Except Sunday) N.AMERICA/ce EUROPE/w 0030-0100 9580 SERBIAN (RTS) N.AMERICA/ce EUROPE/w 0430-0500 9580 ENGLISH 27 N.AMERICA/ce EUROPE/w 1430-1500 11800 ARABIC 1 ARABIA 1500-1530 11870 RUSSIAN 1 RUSSIA/MOS. 1530-1545 6100 HUNGARIAN 1 HUNGARY 1545-1600 6100 GREEK 1 GREECE 1600-1630 9620 FRENCH 1 EUROPE/w 1630-1700 9620 GERMAN 1 EUROPE/w 1700-1715 6100 ALBANIAN 1 ALBANIA 1715-1730 6100 BULGARIAN 1 BULGARIA 1730-1800 9620 ITALIAN 1 EUROPE/w 1800-1830 6100 RUSSIAN 2 RUSSIA/MOS. 1830-1900 6100 ENGLISH 3 EUROPE/w 1900-1930 7200 SPANISH 1 SPAIN 1930-2000 6100 SERBIAN 1 (Except Saturday) EUROPE/w 2000-2030 6100 GERMAN 2 (Except Saturday) EUROPE/w 1930-2030 6100 SERBIAN (Spec.) (Saturday only) EUROPE/w 2030-2100 6100 FRENCH 2 EUROPE/w 2100-2130 6100 ENGLISH 4 EUROPE/w 2130-2200 7230 SERBIAN 2 (Except Saturday) AUSTRALIA 2130-2230 7230 SERBIAN (Spec.) (Saturday only) AUSTRALIA 2200-2230 7230 ENGLISH 5 (Except Saturday) AUSTRALIA 2230-2300 9580 CHINESE 1 CHINA 2300-2330 9680 SPANISH 2 S.AMERICA/w 2330-2400 9580 SERBIAN 3 (Except Sunday) N.AMERICA/ce EUROPE/w 2330-0030 9580 SERBIAN (Spec.) (Sunday only) N.AMERICA/ce EUROPE/w (R. Yugoslavia website via Daniel Sampson, Prime Time Shortwave, http://www.primetimeshortwave.com via DXLD) ** SEYCHELLES. Final FEBA loggings 9484.96, 1418-, FEBA, Mar 29. Presumed logging in Urdu on reported last day. Telephone like audio with talk by man and woman. Box number and Pakistan heard at 1422. Really nice reception when rechecked at 1450 with regional vocals. Still tinny audio, but solid S5 to S7 signal no matter which antenna I chose (including T2FD, K9AY, 60 meter loop, or 25 MHz vertical! Interesting propagation indeed. Usually there's a big difference among them). ILG lists Hindko until 1455, then Balti. POB in Pakistan is heard at 1455, followed by a short music bridge, then a male takes over mentioning 'SW band', then FEBA IS, then into what sounds like a very different language and more central Asian music (presumably Balti?). 11599.95, 1459-, FEBA, Mar 29. Strong signal at 1559 with IS and into presumed Kannada (listed in ILG) with Christian sounding vocals. Last day of broadcasting from the Seychelles. Address given at 1512. FEBA Radio clearly heard several times. IS at 15:12:50 until 1514, then cut. I was expecting English to be broadcast at 1515, but this was not the case. Interesting, nothing at all on their other frequencies at this time either. Have they pulled the plug at 1515 UT? Will monitor later. Premature prediction as they were back in English at 1533 recheck. Remeasured at 11599.93. Program was called 'Abundant Life'. Went on until 1541, when they gave the following address: Abundant Life, FEBA Radio, POB 2526, Bangalore 560025, India. This was repeated twice. Followed by program 'Sound Words'. RCI IS spoiled reception at 1558, but they did mention major changes coming. 9484.96, 1829-, FEBA, Mar 29. Suspect this is the final transmission, according to the schedule. Just barely audible with IS and ID in French. Unable to decipher anything else. Sad to bid this wonderful DX target goodbye! (Walter Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Radio Exterior de España 30 de marzo - 25 de septiembre de 2003 English schedule 0000-0059 15385 America 2000-2059 15290 Monday-Friday Europe 2000-2059 9570 Monday-Friday Africa 2100-2159 9840 Saturday-Sunday Europe 2100-2159 9570 Saturday and Sunday Africa (REE website, via Daniel Sampson, http://www.primetimeshortwave.com DXLD) Radio Exterior de España A'03 30 de marzo - 25 de septiembre de 2003 To : África Árabe 1900-2059 7270 L-V 2000-2159 7270 S-D Français 1900-1959 9570 Lundi-Samedi 2000-2059 9570 Dimanche English 2000-2059 9570 Monday-Friday 2100-2159 9570 Saturday and Sunday To América English 0000-0059 15385 Français 2300-2359 15385 Sefardí (martes) 0115-0145 11795 (Sur) 0415-0445 9650 (Norte) To Europa Deutsch 1730-1800 9665 Mo und Do Français 1800-1859 9655 Lundi - Samerdi 2000-2059 15290 Dimanche 2300-2359 6055 kHz English 2000-2059 15290 Monday-Friday 2100-2159 9840 Saturday-Sunday HA PYCCKOM 1700-1730 15325 To Oriente Próximo y Medio Árabe 1700-1859 21610 1900-2059 17560 L-V 2000-2159 17560 S-D Français 1900-1959 7150 Lundi -Vendredi 1900-1959 17560 Samedi-Dimanche Sefardí 1825-1855 17770 Lunes (From REE website - http://www.ree.rne.es/LExt.htm via Alokesh Gupta New Delhi, India, DXLD) ** SUDAN. ST0RY Sudan operation continues apace: Despite dust storms, heat and nearby civil unrest, the ST0RY DXpedition continues in full swing on most intended bands with more than 17,000 QSOs now logged-- 6000 of them between 40 and 10 meters on March 25 alone. ST0RY plans to be on the air for the CQ World Wide WPX SSB Contest March 29-30 weekend. According to The Daily DX http://www.dailydx.com several West Coast DXers reported hearing big signals from ST0RY on 17 and 15 meters for several hours during the afternoon of March 25. ST0RY operator Chris Sauvageot, DL5NAM, says all the antennas now are up, and the operators are in good shape. ``We have to be careful about local demonstrations here in town (Khartoum) from students,`` he said. ``We have a safe place here at the River Nile; the hosts are great here.`` So far, 40 and 30 meters have yielded the most CW QSOs, with more than 2000 logged on each band. Op Dietmar Kasper, DL3DXX, says the team will attempt more 20-meter CW activity. ``It`s really hot during the day,`` he reports, with temperatures in the 100+F range. DL3DXX says it`s nearly impossible to get past the wall of East Coast stations on 40 and 80 meters to work stations further west, but the team has worked a number of W6 and W7 stations. The operators have been experiencing high noise levels on 160 meters. Six-meter activity also is planned. The team reports its getting used to living in the sand, but there was a dust storm all day on March 25. More information and an on-line log search engine is available on the ST0RY Web site http://www.df3cb.com/st0ry/ --some information provided by The Daily DX ARRL Letter Mar 28 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Glenn, R. Ukraine International, A03 quick check March 30, 2003 0000 and 0300 UT on 12040. Severe QRM from DW on 12045 kHz. RUI was not heard. Will check and report on 1100 and 2100 UT later. 73, (-.. . Kraig Krist, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. CRIGGION/RUGBY RADIO SITES TO CLOSE We reported three weeks ago that the BT radio site at Criggion, near Welshpool, was closing soon. It's emerged that this is part of a change to the communications arrangements for Royal Navy submarines that's likely to see the final closure of another historic radio site at Rugby. A consortium led by VT Merlin Communications has won a private finance initiative contract to modernise the VLF transmitter site at Anthorn in Cumbria. The consortium will also be responsible for providing new digital receivers. The contract is ultimately worth about 280 million pounds and will involve the close-down of the 16 kHz VLF transmitter at Rugby. It's understood that most of BT's HF services from Rugby have now ceased, and that the site is likely to close next year. The standard time and frequency station, MSF, which transmits on 60 kHz from the Rugby site, may be off the air for up to four hours this Tuesday, the 1st of April, on one of its regularly-scheduled maintenance periods. These take place between 1000 and 1400 UTC on the first Tuesdays of January, April, July and October. MSF will be closed down for a period of two weeks for maintenance purposes during July, August or September, although the precise dates are not yet known (RSGB 28/3 via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. Virginian-Pilot: The BBC World Service on short- wave radio is a news junkie's delight. It comes in best at night. The BBC.com Web site is updated every minute. . http://www.pilotonline.com/military/ml0329cam.html 73 (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) Article has a lot more on media impact of the war, also in US ** U K [and non]. (3/28/03, 10 a.m. ET) -- The Animals' 1960s hit "We've Got To Get Out Of This Place" and Thin Lizzy's 1976 hit "The Boys Are Back In Town" are among the top songs on BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) Radio, serving British troops stationed in the Persian Gulf during "Operation Iraqi Freedom." http://launch.yahoo.com/read/news.asp?contentID=212819 (via Jilly Dybka, TN, DXLD) ** U K [non] Anyone waiting for the special 'first year' QSL card from LaserRadio for their transmissions via Ulbroka, Latvia last summer? I got this e-mail reply from the station yesterday: "Hello! I was actually looking at your previous email earlier this week ! The cards were not printed due to delays in getting photographs of the Transmitter etc., We've been talking with a journalist who has some nice photos which we could use for the QSL series however it all comes down to Price! Hence the delay. I think we are about to print a few QSL CARDS with just a scene of Old Riga - it will make things easier and cheaper plus we can get the cards out. We have not forgotten you or the others - it`s just pressure of time and costing everything. Most of our time/effort goes into the programming and buying the VERY expensive airtime! With every good wish, Andrew" (via Lennart Weirell, Västerås, Sweden) ** U S A. R. Farda, A-03 03/30/2003 to 10/25/2003: PE FRD FRD 0 2400 KWT C 1593 005 PE FRD FRD 0 2400 DHA B 1539 010 PE FRD FRD 30 400 MOR 05 9805 075 PE FRD FRD 30 600 LAM 09 9795 104 PE FRD FRD 30 600 LAM 01 9795 104 PE FRD FRD 30 200 BIB 03 9615 085 PE FRD FRD 200 400 KAV 07 9775 095 PE FRD FRD 400 830 KAV 04 15290 095 PE FRD FRD 400 600 KAV 02 15185 100 PE FRD FRD 400 830 KAV 07 9510 092 PE FRD FRD 600 730 KAV 02 17835 100 PE FRD FRD 730 830 MOR 01 17835 075 PE FRD FRD 800 1400 IRA 07 21650 315 PE FRD FRD 800 1400 KAV 01 13680 100 PE FRD FRD 1400 1600 WOF 04 17750 105 PE FRD FRD 1400 1700 LAM 04 13680 108 PE FRD FRD 1400 1700 KAV 06 9435 088 PE FRD FRD 1600 1700 WOF 04 17670 105 PE FRD FRD 1700 1800 IRA 01 11845 315 PE FRD FRD 1700 1900 LAM 02 11705 108 PE FRD FRD 1800 1900 IRA 01 11845 324 PE FRD FRD 1900 2130 LAM 09 11985 104 PE FRD FRD 1900 2000 KAV 08 11670 095 PE FRD FRD 1900 2000 DB 07 6140 264 PE FRD FRD 1900 2100 DB 11 5860 264 PE FRD FRD 2000 2130 UDO 07 11960 300 PE FRD FRD 2000 2130 IRA 03 9960 318 (IBB A03 via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Glen[n]: We are aware of the 5.015 spur. What is interesting is that this spur is (we are pretty [99.9%] sure) from a neighbor`s barn! The tin roof is somehow mixing and re-radiating. The roof panels are galvanized tin with just amount of rust to enhance the spur! The tin panels are resonant at 5 MHz!! (figures!!) The other spur has been eliminated; this one was coming from the barb wire fence down the road, with the solid state fence charger that puts a charge on the fence to control livestock. FCC is aware of this and we have been given exceedingly wide latitude to resolve (Dave Frantz, WWRB, TN, March 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. Radio Tashkent tonight with excellent signal on 5040 kHz at 1935 UT with IS & Programme in German, IDing as 'Radio Tashkent International'. No sign of anything on 5025 kHz so obviously a freq switch (Graham Powell, Wales, Mar 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Editor - Online DX Logbook --- A full list of English Broadcasts from the Middle East is available Free at http://www.shortwave.org.uk ** VENEZUELA. 4830, YVOB, Radio Táchira, San Cristóbal (Táchira state) MAR 29 0155 - with up-beat announcer, samples of Spanish music and mention of "Alegría en Radio Táchira". Good, some QRM from a computer in the neighborhood (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** VIRGIN ISLANDS BRITISH [non]. Famous DXpeditioner Danny Weil, ex- VP2VB, reported ill: DXpeditioner Danny Weil, ex-VP2VB, of YASME fame, reportedly is in a nursing facility after suffering a stroke late last year. Now 84, Weil would welcome cards and notes from his friends and acquaintances around the world. He was active under a variety of call signs in the 1950s and early 1960s from various ports of call while sailing one of the three YASME yachts. His address is Danny Weil, Regency Care at Medical Center, Room 101, 3935 Medical, San Antonio, TX 78229. More information is available on the Danny Weil, VP2VB, Page http://www.qsl.at/common/weil.html ARRL soon will publish the book YASME: The Danny Weil and Colvin Radio Expeditions by Jim Cain, K1TN, which includes many tales of Weil`s DXing adventures (Jim Cain, K1TN, and The Daily DX http://www.dailydx.com via ARRL Letter Mar 28 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, Zambia National B.C., Mar 24, 1558-1608, 33432, Vernacular, Local pops music. 1558 with IS. 1600 ID. Drums. Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Yamanishi, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ PRIME TIME SW A-03 The first edition of the shortwave schedules for the A-03 schedule season is now posted at the Prime Time Shortwave website, http://www.primetimeshortwave.com The schedules are available in sorts by time, country or by frequency. The schedules are available in Excel, DBase, HTML and ASCII text file formats. There are still a few schedules missing. If you feel you have a more up-to-date schedule for any of the stations I would appreciate hearing from you. Good listening, (Dan Sampson, DXLD) CIA `FACT`BOOK I would recommend treating any information in the CA Factbook publication with a healthy dose of scepticism. One online edition, a few years ago, claimed there were no shortwave stations anywhere in the world! Every single entry I checked said 'shortwave 0'. I presume that they use a database program that defaults to zero when no information is entered, instead of the more appropriate n/a (Andy Sennitt (speaking for myself, not my employer), DX LISTENING DIGEST) HUGE AM DATABASE Thanks to Northwest Broadcasters website, I found a link to http://spectrum.ic.gc.ca/engineering/engdoc/baserade.html scroll down to Database extracts (WP format), and download the files -- there are 30 items to be unzipped. One of them is AMSTATION.DBF – this file has 8200 lines (one/station) and seems to include all stations on MW from US, Canada, and Mexico. It seems quite complete (CHMJ-730 calls are correct, and of the FM side, the new CKLG-FM calls are also included for Vancouver), but with some anomalies -- e.g., Vancouver-540 is shown. I don't think this has been viable for years, but there it is . . . anyway, for your amusement ef (Eric Floden, BC, Mar 25, NRC-AM via DXLD) DRM +++ Listen on 6010 at 0000 or 0400 and you'll hear RCI's relay of the BBC World service via Sackville in DRM mode. Don't forget, DRM is pure digital noise, there's no analog signal to be heard within it. As regards bandwidth of the noise, well it's kind of a Catch-22 - DRM requires a high signal level for good continuous audio decode and the bandwidth consumed is more or less proportional to the bandwidth of the audio signal encoded on it. (Higher fidelity analog audio output requires a wider bandwidth for the digital signal carrying it.) This means that you'll be hearing a certain amount of noise from an adjacent DRM signal if you're anywhere near its target area. It's not an overly messy encoding format but if you live in a target area you'll be getting a certain amount of slop from it. Conversely, an educated calculation on my part indicates that if you're out of a signal's target area you won't get much noise - but neither will you get good audio from it should you try to decode it (Lee Reynolds, Helena AL, NRC-AM via DXLD) Did you get the software package from DRM? How easy was it to install and set up. I've been thinking of dropping down the Visa card and getting the package as I would be interested in hearing some of the test transmission (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) Yes, Fred, I have the Fraunhofer package which I purchased from Merlin. (Should you buy it, tell James I sent you!) Installation and setup was (for a wonder, seeing as it's under Windows) problem-free. It *can* be a bit squirrely about sound cards but I can verify that it works just fine with the SoundBlaster Live. One caveat, though - you can't just feed baseband audio to the soundcard and expect it to be decoded. You need to have a 12 kHz IF/Audio signal to feed the card. This means either using a receiver that has a tappable 12 kHz IF or downconverting a more conventional IF. Incidentally, the April 2003 edition of Monitoring times contains a multi-page article on DRM written for the intelligent layman. (There's also a "Dummy's Guide" written by a fine fellow following on after it!) (Lee Reynolds, NRC-AM via DXLD) For anyone that's interested, check out http://www.drmrx.org/receiver_mods.html for 12 kHz downconverters. There are also some little kits available from MiniKits but I didn't find a web page for them when doing a search for "DRM downconverter" which does find some interesting things (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP012 ARLP012 Propagation de K7RA ZCZC AP12 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 12 ARLP012 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA March 21, 2003 To all radio amateurs [undated excerpts:] For an explanation of the relationship between K and A indices, check http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/GEOMAG/kp_ap.html The spring equinox begins today. Spring is a great time for HF propagation, with all points on the earth today getting about 12 hours of sunlight. There actually is some variation in day length on this day, dependent on the observer's latitude. This is explained by the U.S. Naval Observatory at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/equinoxes.html For more information about propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin see the Propagation page on the ARRL Web site at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html (via Bob Foxworth, NRC-AM via DXLD) ###