DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-060, April 7, 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. CONTINUED from DXLD 3-059: ** QATAR. "Al Jazeera is the most-watched Arab satellite station, partly because its journalism is highly professional and partly because viewers like the fact that its reporters and anchors give the news a pro-Arab spin." (By DAOUD KUTTAB… NY Times) Huh? That is truly a non-sequitur as Mr. Spock used to say. How can it be "highly professional" and simultaneously have a "pro-Arab spin"? A highly professional reporter or network would not spin a story. I guess The New York Times does not recognize this fine point. The only thing good about Al-Jazeera that I can point to is that they have been kicked out of both Baghdad for their biased reporting and kicked out of several other Middle Eastern countries for their criticism of their less-than-democratic governments. On balance Al Jazeera is a good thing for this region of the world but not because of its "highly professional" reporting. Al Jazeera simply provides a biased point of view that none of the local dictators can stomach or influence. It is precisely that freedom of expression that totalitarian regimes the world over fear. Go for it, Al. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, swprograms via DXLD) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ IN 24-HOUR NEWS TIMES, REAL-TIME TRANSLATION By JOHN MARKOFF April 7, 2003 Most Americans likely have difficulty understanding the broadcasts of Al Jazeera, the Arab news network, but several government agencies now can watch it while simultaneously receiving an English translation of the programming. Virage Inc., a San Mateo, Calif., a maker of Internet video technologies, has recently supplied several unnamed United States intelligence agencies with a system that will provide real-time voice recognition and English translation of foreign-language news broadcasts. The system, which was financed last year by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, can run on any fast personal computer, generating scrolling text displays of both Arabic and translated English text. DARPA is conducting a research project known as Translingual Information Detection, Extraction and Summarization, whose aim is to provide English speakers with working translations of languages like Arabic and Chinese. The voice-recognition technology for the Virage system is provided by BBN Technologies, a subsidiary of Verizon, that does research for government agencies. Under ideal conditions, the BBN recognition software can be 95 percent accurate in recognizing spoken English, said Bradley Horowitz, a Virage founder and its chief technology officer. However, in practice such a system would be most useful in spotting individual words rather than creating reliable transcripts, he said. "This is what I call `good enough' accuracy," said Mr. Horowitz. He said the company had supplied several systems to the government, but that he did not know where, or how, the systems were being used. In a demonstration the company recently conducted over the Web, the system produced somewhat cryptic English sentences that gave the viewer an extremely rough idea of what the Al Jazeera newscasters were describing. "It's more like poetry than prose," Mr. Horowitz said. "It evokes the right things, but it's hardly accurate." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** SEYCHELLES. FEBA SEYCHELLES CLOSURE IMPROVES TV RECEPTION FOR LOCALS The closure of another shortwave transmitting site - FEBA Seychelles - may be regretted by some, but for around 20 families living close to the station it has brought a bonus. Since Sunday, their TV reception has improved. A long-time resident of the area told the Seychelles Nation "I can now watch television and speak on the telephone without a lot of interference like everybody else." Work is now in progress to dismantle the eight antennas: the first has already been removed. The site is unusual in that it was constructed on an artificial platform on the sea bed. Local fishermen are reported to be unhappy at the dismantling work, as they've been warned to stay away from the area for several months. Despite the closure of the Seychelles site, FEBA itself continues a full schedule of shortwave broadcasts via transmitters elsewhere (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 4 April 2003 via DXLD) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. FEBA: The schedules I have seen of FEBA show 15580 as Chita at 0015-0200. However today no FEBA programs were broadcast. Instead the theme music as used by Dhabbaya station, UAE during their interruptions were only heard. It suggests that 15580 at 0015-0200 is from Dhabbaya, UAE (Jose Jacob, Apr 2, dx_india via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 15265 is the new frequency for Channel Africa from for their 1700 and 1800 broadcasts, ex-17870. Swiss Radio International is now using 17870 at these times (Mark Coady, ODXA April 6, via Daryl Rocker, Herkimer, NY, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Oh no, now on MW, too. On 7 Apr at 1925 on 1386 Brother Stair partly covered by VOR in English. Could this be via Lithuanian transmitter? He mentioned a 50.000 Watt transmitter covering Middle East and parts of Europe, but I guess was talking about some other frequency, not this one. I didn't stay on the frequency too long, 15 minutes of Brother and VOR simultaneously was enough :). (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes ** SUDAN [non]. TWO SUDANESE OPPOSITION RADIOS NOW HEARD REGULARLY Two opposition radio stations are currently being heard broadcasting to Sudan. Both broadcast in Arabic on shortwave. They are: 1. "Voice of Sudan, voice of democracy and peace, radio of the National Democratic Alliance" (Arabic: sawt al-sudan, sawt al- dimuqratiyah wa al-salam, itha'at al-tajamu al-watani al-dimuqrati). Affiliation: Mouthpiece of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Current observed schedule: 1530-1600 gmt daily on 8000 kHz. Background: Began broadcasting from Eritrea in August 1995 (there had been a previous series of broadcasts by the NDA from Ethiopia in 1990-91). Transmissions appeared to be suspended or at least reduced for a while when relations between Sudan and Eritrea improved in 1999 and 2000. The station is now being heard regularly once again. 2. "Voice of Freedom and Renewal, voice of new Sudan" (Arabic: sawt al-hurriyah wa al-tajdid, sawt sudan al-jadid). Other slogans are also used, such as "voice of the struggle of the Sudanese people". Affiliation: Mouthpiece of the Sudan Alliance Forces (SAF). Current observed schedule: 0400 gmt (not Fridays) on 6985 kHz. Background: Broadcasts from the SAF radio were first heard in April 1998. At that time it called itself "Voice of Freedom and Renewal, voice of the Sudan Alliance Forces, voice of the popular armed uprising" (Arabic: sawt al-hurriyah wa al-tajdid, sawt quwwat al- tahaluf al-sudaniyyah, sawt al-intifadah al-sha'biyyah al- musallahah). Over the years the transmissions have sometimes been intermittent, but the station is currently being heard regularly. Source: BBC Monitoring research Mar-Apr 03 Chris Greenway, Kenya (via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. 11550, 1706-, Radio Taipei International, Apr 5. Looking for Radio Ukraine listed hear for A03, but instead hear Radio Taipei in English with news. Fair to good. Comment on HFCC A03 which I'm using...........Crummy! Nowhere near as good as the ILG database, but who knows when A03 will be released! (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TANZANIA. R Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, 5050 on 6 Apr at 1645. In Swahili, 1659 Drums, 1700 time pips, ID and into news. Some QRM from a Chinese station, which signed off at 1700. I haven't heard Tanzania on 5050 for couple of months during UT evenings, maybe they've been inactive or irregular. Their transmitter is slightly above the nominal frequency. The 1700 news was also relayed by Zanzibar on 11734.1 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I also heard R Tanzania here in Denmark on 5 Apr at 1925-1935 in Swahili on 5050.1 kHz. It was off at retune 2005. SINPO 24333 with slight CWQRM. According to my notes it has been off the air on this frequency since the end of Nov 2002. Best 73 (Anker Petersen, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 7385, 25.3 1630, China Tibet Broadcast Co. med "Holy Tibet" på engelska. Nu man och kvinna som presenterar inslaget. Tyvärr inga lyssnarhälsningar hörda på ett tag. 3-4 CB (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin via DXLD) 7385, 25.3 1630, China Tibet Broadcast Co. with "Holy Tibet" in English. Now man and woman presenting the review. Unfortunately no greetings for listeners heard for a while. 3-4 CB (Christer Brunstrom, Sweden, SW Bulletin, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Iraq/UK: BBC ARABIC SERVICE LAUNCHES IRAQ LIFE LINE PROGRAMME | Text of press release by BBC World Service on 7 April The BBC Arabic Service launches Life Line - a programme to link people across the Middle East and the Arab diaspora around the world with their friends and relatives in Iraq. The programme invites people to leave voice messages to their relatives and friends by calling +44 207 5572535. The 10-minute daily programme will be broadcast at 1650 (repeated 0350), 1950 (repeated 0550) and 2150 (repeated 0750) gmt. Presenter Salwa al-Jarrah, well known to the BBC Arabic listeners through her popular programmes, says: " The BBC Arabic team felt a need for such a programme to give the Iraqi people around the world and within Iraq a chance to make contact with their relatives and friends. Because of the war situation, many families in Iraq have been divided and a lot of people have moved to different locations, and our programme will serve as a vital communication line." For more information contact: Kifah Arif, Publicity Coordinator, BBC Arabic +44(0)207557 2346; kifah.arif@bbc.co.uk Lala Najafova, International Publicist, BBC World Service +44(0)207557 2944; lala.najafova@bbc.co.uk Source: BBC World Service press release, London, in English 7 Apr 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U K. M PRICE TAG FOR JOHN PEEL'S LIFE STORY Mar 31 2003, By Laura Davis, Daily Post Staff VETERAN disc jockey John Peel is about to become a millionaire author. The Wirral-born radio presenter has been offered for his memoirs by two separate publishers. . . http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/page.cfm?objectid=12793377&method=full&siteid=50061 (via Jilly Dybka, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** U K. BBC SHAPES FIGHT FOR NEW CHARTER Dan Milmo and Maggie Brown, Monday April 7, 2003, The Guardian The BBC has begun a three-year battle to secure its future and retain the £2.5bn licence fee by appointing a team of 50 to work on a new royal charter. The director general, Greg Dyke, has engaged outside consultants to help convince the public and the government of the corporation's efficiency and effectiveness. The government will conduct a comprehensive review of the BBC's remit in the run-up to renewing its charter, which lays down the principles that govern the organisation, in 2006. Commercial rivals complain that under Mr Dyke's leadership the corporation is encroaching on their territory. Charles Constable, head of commercial affairs at the BBC, and Roly Keating, controller of the digital channel BBC4, were seconded to the renewal project for six months, and since the beginning of the year they have been joined by about 50 BBC employees. Mr Dyke has also revived one the most hated tactics of his predecessor John Birt by hiring two consultancy firms - Oliver & Ohlbaum and Spectrum Strategy - to help draft the BBC's case. In an attempt to control the debate about the future of the BBC the team is expected to publish a charter renewal manifesto later this year, when the government will also set out the terms of the review. The culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, said in January that the corporation could not take the licence fee for granted and the establishment of such a large renewal team at Broadcasting House reflects its growing concern that the corporation could have its wings clipped. The BBC is under attack on another front in Westminster, as the communications bill winds its way through the House of Lords. Peers are drafting amendments to the bill calling for the BBC to be subjected to an annual scrutiny by the national audit office, or to be fully regulated by the new communications industry watchdog Ofcom. One of Ms Jowell's advisers said last week: "We intend to take this [review] as seriously as the communications bill. "It will be absolutely comprehensive. We are more than happy to look at genuine, serious alternatives to the licence fee, provided that's not time wasting, but the real thing is the purpose of the BBC." The BBC's 10-year charter expires in December 2006, but it is expected that much of the new agreement will be thrashed out much sooner than that in case there is a general election in 2005. On top of government scrutiny, the BBC could be put under the Ofcom microscope as early as next year. The regulator, which comes into being in December, must review the provision of public service broadcasting every five years. MediaGuardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003 (via Daniel Say, DXLD) ** U K [non]. BFBS A-03 includes these two via Tashkent 256 degrees: 13860 1600-1700 15795 0600-0700 Other sites UK or not certain (Bob Padula, http://edxp.org EDXP World Broadcast Magazine April 5, used by permission in DXLD) 15245, 1606-, BFBS, Apr 5. Fair reception with sports scores easily over cochannel ?Channel Africa, though the latter is improving (in French). Parallel to much better 13860 (?Tashkent) in the clear. Actually 13860 is very slightly ahead of 15245, so I'm not positive of the sites (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Somebody reported a satirical show in the 1730 half-hour; that was probably from BBCR4`s comedy strip, now shifted an UT hour earlier, whilst BFBS originally carried the R4 news hour at 1700 (gh, DXLD) BFBS booms in here on 7260 kHz with one hour "Breakfast Show" transmission to Middle East deployed UK forces at 0300-0400 UT, completely shutting down a ham SSB net last night (7 APR UT). Parallel 15795 is weak, and 11975 opening at 0400 is swamped by adjacent channel QRM. War news items on the hour and half hour with British flavour (John Cobb, Roswell, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "ENGLAND." BFBS: Of their new frequencies, 7260 was heard well at *0300 Apr 5; 17895 was weak at *1400 Apr 5, 13860 was slightly better; 15245, poor-fair at *1600, slightly better than 13860 at the same time, but both improving quickly to good level, 15245 better than 13860 by 1630; 15150 very good at 1715 check (sked *1700). Also checked 13760 at 1830 (sked *1800); it was probably BFBS in the background with rock mx, but WHRI was powerful on the channel, and, interestingly, they were having "Soldier Salutes," call-ins with a religious slant for soldiers serving in the ME (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) See also KUWAIT ** U S A. GOVERNMENT-FUNDED STATION COVERS MIDEAST TO SHOW AMERICAN VIEWPOINT --- U.S. radio wooing Arabs --- By Jim Puzzanghera, Mercury News Washington Bureau, Posted on Fri, Apr. 04, 2003 WASHINGTON - In a weathered suite of offices near Capitol Hill, the staff of Radio Sawa scrambles 24 hours a day to give the Arab world a view of the war in Iraq that includes something often missing on Middle Eastern media outlets: the American government's perspective…. http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/5556689.htm (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) WAR TURNS SOME ARABS AWAY FROM RADIO SAWA http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46757-2003Apr7.html By JAMAL HALABY, The Associated Press, Monday, April 7, 2003; 7:58 AM AMMAN, Jordan - Customers at Mohammad Jassem's barbecue joint in bustling downtown Amman used to like to listen to Radio Sawa, the U.S. government station that reaches out to Arabs with a mixture of pop music and news. But since the outbreak of the U.S.-Iraq war, there has been a surge of resentment at the U.S. government across the region and what some hear as a shift by Radio Sawa toward the official U.S. version. "I don't dare switch to Radio Sawa," Jassem whispered as customers listening to an Amman Radio report of heavy airstrikes on Baghdad's suburbs responded with angry shouts of "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!" Radio Sawa, which began broadcasting from Washington via relay stations in Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates a year ago, has pledged to offer unbiased reporting. In the past, the station included surveys of anti-U.S. commentary, including editorials from the official Iraqi media. But since the outset of the war, the non-music airtime has been taken up by war reporting, some from news agencies and some from Radio Sawa's Baghdad correspondent, briefly outlining battle developments or the Iraqi position. Live coverage of speeches by President Bush, other U.S. officials in Washington or military officials in Doha is a regular feature, adding to the impression the station is a U.S. government mouthpiece. [really?] In Washington, Sawa spokeswoman Joan Mower said Sawa "hasn't received criticism along those lines." On the contrary, she said, listeners have asked for more news. "We are not a propaganda station," Mower said in a telephone interview. "We are a government-sponsored station ... and we provide accurate and objective news and information about the Middle East." Jordanians - whose geographic, social and cultural ties to Iraq are tighter than those of many other Arabs - strongly oppose a war they see as a U.S. attempt to gain a foothold in the Middle East to control Arab oil and rid the region of regimes critical of Washington. Azza Mahmoud Ibrahim, 32, an Egyptian television producer at an advertising agency in Dubai, said she heard a difference in Sawa's news two days into the war. "When they report Iraqi civilian casualties, they say that this is what Iraqi officials are claiming and there's no way to verify them," she said. "They portray it as if this is just the Iraqi way of getting people's sympathy and pity, as if there is a war without civilian casualties." In Kuwait, though, Majed Hussein, a 17-year-old high school student, said he was a Sawa admirer. He had only one complaint: "I'd like to see it cover Kuwait more. I'd like it to cover the humanitarian aid we're giving to the Iraqi people." Kuwait owes its 1991 liberation from Iraqi occupation to a U.S.-led coalition. Gratitude toward the United States as well as suspicion of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is strong in the emirate, despite an element that shares general Arab anger at what is seen as U.S. meddling in the region. Sawa - Arabic for "together" - tries to entice Arabs in the 15-to-30 age range with pop music, then provide them with a mix of news and information designed to counter often-venomous anti-Western prejudices of the local media. Before the war, many Arabs said they enjoyed Radio Sawa's music but disapproved of what they considered anti-Arab reporting. Still, in places like Jordan, Sawa blared from taxis and cars and was constantly heard in restaurants, shopping malls and coffee shops. But today, Arabic stations like the Middle East Broadcasting Center, based in the United Arab Emirates, and the London-based Arabic service of the British Broadcasting Corp. have become the main source of news for many Jordanians. Amman accountant Eva Iffat, 24, said she turned to MBC two weeks ago because "I felt disgusted with the lies of American officials and Sawa's reports." She said she was specifically irked by Sawa's way of labeling what she considered "martyrs" in Iraq and the Palestinian territories "suicide bombers." Sawa spokeswoman Mower said the station was making inroads despite the anti-war mood, citing a survey in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, conducted by Edison Media Research of Somerville, N.J., that showed that 90 percent of those questioned over a one-week period starting March 24 listened to Radio Sawa, up from 64 percent in January. © 2003 The Associated Press (via Ulis Fleming, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. Re Radio Marti not (?) answering reports. Received a letter in English from the Office of Cuba Broadcasting last week, dated March 13, 2003. It gives no data as to when and where, but I had sent them a report by ordinary mail in 2001 for 6030 kHz, and I wrote that letter in Spanish, I remember. A lot of letters and reports were lost here in a pc crash, so I can't recall the details. Anyway, the verification text is quite OK, and it is signed by Michael F. Pallone, Director, Engineering & Technical Operations. It gives the address Office of Cuba Broadcasting, 4201 N.W. 7th Avenue, Miami, FL 33166 and bears the logo of Radio Marti TV and the text Broadcasting Board of Govenors printed at the bottom. A card was enclosed, an old portait of José Martí. I had since long given up hope, yes almost forgotten the report, but now remember that I made some very nasty remarks about the jammers of Radio Marti [sic]. And hi also to Glenn, I know you will read this, so can you comment on the use or non-use of accents. Of course it's Martí in Spanish, like José Martí on the card, in the letter in English tho, it's Marti. I know some people just hate accents, and it becomes tricky when you write in English about people with Spanish names. It seems that habits are personal and change from time to time. And here's quite another thing, perhaps related. It brought me a smile when I read something about Iosif Vissarionovich Dzugashvili, better know as Joseph (Uncle Joe) Stalin in a Spanish weekly magazine. Of course it said José Stalin. He obviously escaped the fate to be known as José Estalin. As you know Stockholm is Estocolmo in Spanish... 73 (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, hard-core-dx via DXLD) What can I say? I am obviously in favor of accentuation. One major list, Conexión Digital, discourages it, presumably because some members have trouble with displaying them properly, so I am always having to re-accent Spanish texts. However, for quick E-mail items, you have to mess with alt-numbers to get the accents, so I usually don`t bother when composing directly. The Spanish speakers are more likely to put a tilde on the ñ even if they leave other accents off! Another style which I find jarring is to indicate ñ by a capital N even in the middle of a word. On the other hand, I am in disfavor of mangling names from their original language. When speaking Spanish I usually pronounce American names as in English. The accent should never be left off Martí, as too often I hear ignorant Americans pronounce it Márty (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Here`s a story demonstrating how extremely myopic the local press can be. I hate to break it to them, but numerous overseas relay sites are far more effective now that Bethany could possibly be (gh) Voice of America silent as Iraq war under way Bethany site broadcast for 6 decades By Michael D. Clark, The Cincinnati Enquirer WEST CHESTER TWP. - For the first time in almost six decades, America is fighting a ground war while the Voice of America radio station in this Butler County community stands silent. The former Bethany VOA station in West Chester Township pulsated with unending, pro-democracy broadcasts from the last years of World War II, through the Korean and Vietnam wars, until the end of the Cold War and during the last time America fought Iraq in 1991's Desert Storm conflict. When VOA broadcasts began in 1944 from a field covered with acres of high towers and miles of short-wave wires, the station, 25 miles north of Cincinnati, was the most powerful on the planet. No one had ever built such a single, large transmitting facility, and it immediately gave America an communications advantage over Nazi Germany's propaganda broadcasts that blanketed Europe and Northern Africa. Directed to the citizens of Nazi Germany, the World War II broadcast began with, "We shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or it may be bad, but we will tell you the truth." The Bethany broadcasts so vexed Nazi leader Adolf Hitler that he referred to its programming as "those Cincinnati liars" in several speeches. "It was the electronic front lines," explained West Chester Parks and Recreation Director Bill Zerkle, whose office is in the former VOA facility on 625 acres just off of Tylersville Road. "It gave oppressed people around the world hope when there was none, and no one will ever know how much of a role Bethany played in bringing down Nazi Germany or the fall of communism." Silent since 1994, when federal funding was cut along with other reductions in the still-active VOA program, Bethany has lost its broadcasting towers - removed in 1997 - and large slices of its grounds to commercial development. A guard tower still stands atop of Bethany, once used to monitor the grounds. In May 1950, a communist supporter cut through a security fence under cover of night and exploded a bomb that toppled a 165-foot radio tower and destroyed a battery shed. A former U.S. serviceman was arrested and confessed to the act of sabotage. Clyde Haehnel, a former vice president with Cincinnati's Crosley Broadcasting Corp. that contracted with federal government in World War II to build the Bethany VOA station, said communist Russia tried in other ways to damage or snuff out the VOA's global message of peace and democracy. "The Russians jammed us heavily during the Cold War. They understood that the VOA at Bethany was an integral part of psychological warfare," said Haehnel. West Chester officials now plan to restore the Bethany facility and create a Voice of America Park and Museum on the remaining grounds, and in June a state historical marker commemorating the site will be unveiled. http://enquirer.com/editions/2003/04/05/loc_voawar05.html (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** U S A. 7490, WJIE heard carrying a short BBCWS newscast in English at 1600. Not listed on their schedule, anyone have any idea if they carry this at other times or have other BBCWS programs? (Hans Johnson, LA, Apr 5, Cumbre DX via DXLD) If it were not for time of day, I would say, ``are you sure this wasn`t Norway?`` which does relay BBC on 7490 e.g. at 0400 and 0500. WJIE programming continues to be enigmatic, including extremely long periods of dead air, including another no-show for the supposed new time for WOR, UT Sun 0300 --- from next week, I expect we won`t be on at 0200 instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. (WEWN) EWTN Global Catholic Radio Shortwave Frequency Guide Effective March, 30,2003-October 26, 2003 UT North America Latin America Europe/Africa English/Spanish Spanish English 0000-0600 5825 7425/13615 5825* 0600-0800 5825 7425/13615 9385 0800-0900 5825 7425/11875 9385 0900-1000 5825 7425/11875 Off Air 1000-1200 7520 7425/11875 Off Air 1200-1400 7520 9355/15745 Off Air 1400-1600 9955 11530/15745 Off Air 1600-1700 13615 11530/15745 Off Air 1700-2200 13615 11530/15745 17595 2200-2400 9975 9355/13615 17595 *= * Secondary service to Europe during this time - signal strength marginal ** = Primary is Africa -- Secondary is Europe [NO ** above] (WEWN website via Dan Sampson, http://www.primetimeshortwave.com ) ** U S A. WSHB Herald Broadcasting Syndicate A-03 Shortwave Frequency Schedule 03/30/03 to 10/25/03 UTC Freq Region Freq Region 0000 7535 Ea No Am/Carib 9430 Cent & So America 0100 7535 Cent No America 9430 Cent & So America 0200 7535 W&C No America 9430 Mexico 0300 7535 Russia 9450 RUSSIA 0400 9450 Ea Eur/Russ 13720 East & Cent Afr 0500 9450 Central Europe 9840 South Africa 0600 9450 West & Cent Afr Off The Air 0700 9450 West & Cent Afr Off The Air 0800 9860 Europe 9845 Australia / NewZealand 0900 9860 Europe 9455 Brazil/So America 1000 6095 Ea No Am/Carib 9455 South America 1100 6095 Ea No Am/Carib 9455 Cent & So America 1200 9430 Ea No Am/Carib 11670 Cent & So America 1300 9430 No America 11670 Mexico 1400 Off The Air Off The Air 1500 Off The Air Off The Air 1600 Off The Air 18910 East Africa 1700 Off The Air 18910 Central Africa 1800 15665 Europe 18910 South Africa 1900 15665 Europe 18910 South Africa 2000 15665 Europe 18910 East & Cent Afr 2100 15665 Europe 18910 West & Cent Afr 2200 13770 West Europe 15285 Brazil 2300 13770 So Europe/W Afr 15285 South America (WSHB website via Dan Sampson, Prime Time Shortwave) ** U S A. WRMI Schedule/Horario Effective April/Abril 6, 2003. Days are local days in the Americas; times are UTC. Días son días locales en las Américas; horas son UTC. [gospel huxters and known far-right shows deleted by gh] MONDAY-FRIDAY/LUNES-VIERNES To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz/Hacia el Caribe y Latinoamérica en 9955 kHz: 1000-1030 La Voz de la Junta Patriótica Cubana (español) 1030-1130 Entre Cubanos (español) 1130-1200 Viva Miami (English/español; Wednesday/miércoles) Note: This transmission from 0900-1200 UTC is temporarily not aired on Tuesday and Thursday. To North America on 15725 kHz/Hacia Norteamérica en 15725 kHz: 1330-1500 Stock Talk Live (English) 7385 kHz to North America (except as noted)/7385 kHz hacia Norteamérica (excepto donde anotado): Note: The following are Tuesday-Saturday UTC. Los siguientes son martes-sábado UTC. 0200-0230 Radio Praga (español; hacia el Caribe y Latinoamérica) 0230-0300 Radio Praha (Czech) 0300-0330 Radio Prague (English) SATURDAY/SABADO To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz/Hacia el Caribe y Latinoamérica en 9955 kHz: 1000-1100 Foro Militar Cubano (español) To North America on 15725 kHz/Hacia Norteamérica en 15725 kHz: 1200-2200 Music 2230-2300 Wavescan (English) To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz/Hacia el Caribe y Latinoamérica en 9955 kHz: 2300-0000 Foro Militar Cubano (español) The following are Sunday UTC. Los siguientes son domingo UTC. 0000-0030 Conversando entre Cubanos (español) 0030-0045 La Hora de Chibás (español) 0045-0100 La Verdad Para el Mundo (español) 0100-0200 Radio Revista Lux (español) 7385 kHz to North America (except as noted)/7385 kHz para Norteamérica (excepto deonde anotado): 0200-0230 Radio Praga (español; hacia el Caribe y Latinoamérica) 0230-0300 Radio Praha (Czech) 0300-0330 Radio Prague (English) 0330-0400 Viva Miami (English/español) 0400-0900 Solid Rock Radio (English) SUNDAY/DOMINGO To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz/Hacia el Caribe y Latinoamerérica en 9955 kHz: 0900-0930 Radio Vaticano (español) 0930-1000 Viva Miami (español/English) To North America on 15725 kHz/Hacia Norteamérica en 15725 kHz: 1200-1300 Viva Miami (English) 1300-1330 Wavescan (English) 1400-2000 Solid Rock Radio (English) 2030-2100 Wavescan (English) 2100-2115 Dub Politico [sic] (English) [new: far-right?] 2200-2230 Viva Miami (English) To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz/Hacia el Caribe y Latinoamérica en 9955 kHz: 2300-0000 Radio Revista Lux (español) The following are UTC Monday. Los siguientes son UTC lunes. 0000-0015 Radio Vaticano (español) 0030-0130 Radio Oriente Libre (español) 0130-0200 Conversando entre Cubanos (español) 7385 kHz to North America (except as noted)/7385 kHz para Norteamérica (excepto donde anotado): 0200-0230 Radio Praga (español; hacia el Caribe y Latinoamérica) 0230-0300 Radio Praha (Czech) 0300-0330 Radio Prague (English) 0330-0400 Wavescan (English) 0400-0900 Jupiter 400 (English) For schedule updates, see our web page: http://www.wrmi.net (WRMI via DXLD) ** U S A. WAR WITH IRAQ --- Skeptics point to talk shows By Rich McKay, Sentinel Staff Writer, April 5, 2003 At Coachman Park in Clearwater today, thousands of patriotic folks are expected to gather at a Rally for America where they'll wave the flag, bash The Dixie Chicks and praise U.S. troops fighting in Iraq. Gov. Jeb Bush is scheduled to speak. There'll be speeches, food, a lot of red, white and blue, and T-shirts that say things like "Get Saddam." It will be the latest in a series of such patriotic events organized by talk-radio stations and held across the country. Two have been held in Orlando, the most recent one on March 29. While the rallies have sparked an outpouring of patriotism, they also have focused attention on the stations themselves and their parent company -- Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's largest radio company, with more than 1,200 stations. "It's a profit-obsessed corporation where patriotism is another easy marketing tool and democracy is a buzz word," said Normon Solomon, the executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and a nationally syndicated columnist who follows the media. Solomon and other media watchdogs say Clear Channel may be wrapping itself in the American flag to gain favor with the Bush administration, which could influence the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission. The company is asking the FCC to relax rules that limit how many radio stations a single company can own. Clear Channel is based in San Antonio, Texas. Its vice chairman, Tom Hicks, bought the Texas Rangers baseball team from George W. Bush in 1998, and Secretary of State Colin Powell's son, Michael, is the head of the FCC."They're cozying up to Bush for deregulation," Solomon said. Clear Channel corporate spokesmen and talk-radio hosts say that's not the case. They say the rallies are sponsored by the individual stations and are not part of a corporate campaign. In Orlando, the Shannon Burke Show on 540 AM (WFLF)), which bills itself on air as WFLA, has promoted the rallies, as has Clear Channel's national talk host Glenn Burke, whose show airs on more than 100 stations. "It's not a Clear Channel thing or anybody else's thing," said Colin Brady, producer of the Burke show. "We talked about it and got a lot of feedback from our listeners, so we went ahead with it," he said of the Orlando rallies. "That is the most ridiculous accusation I've heard," Burke said of the suggestion that his station was ordered to hold the rallies. Burke, who has been on the air locally for about three years, labels antiwar activists as anti-American. At the recent Orlando rally, Burke spurred about 400 bikers to roll through downtown and rev their engines to drown out a group protesting the war. Richard Whaley of Orlando took his daughter Sally, 12, and his hunting dog Vinnie -- wearing a red, white and blue kerchief -- to the rally. "We're here because the troops need our support," Whaley said. "They hear of the protesters and it demoralizes them. A couple of these will outdo the protests." Burke said the rally movement is pure American -- coming from the wishes of the majority. "It's not so much the radio doing this as people are doing this," said Burke, adding that the idea is popular because people want it, not because of marketing. Beck, whose syndicated show is based in Philadelphia, said the rallies have nothing to do with corporate schemes and everything to do with Americans wanting a venue to praise the troops. "The original idea for this actually came from my competition in Dallas," said Beck, who is scheduled to speak at today's rally in Clearwater. "I heard about it and thought it was a good idea." Jill Geisler a media expert at the Poynter Institute -- a media think tank in St. Petersburg -- has been following the issue of Clear Channel and the rallies. She finds a problem with what Clear Channel stations are doing even without a corporate edict. The size of the radio giant and its strident voice drowns out views from a very divided America, Geisler said. Jorge Meza, 50, of Orlando, who attended the recent Rally For America, doesn't think there is a radio station plot to control a message. "I'll tell you this: I served 26 years in the Army, and if they'd take me back, I'd be over there in Iraq right now alongside my brothers," Meza said. "I'm glad the radio station is doing this. They're reacting to what we the people want. If some of the people want to have a peace-protest rally, let them. And if we have more people here, too bad. This is America." Copyright (c) 2003, Orlando Sentinel (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. HAITIAN RADIO STATIONS EARN FANS, IRE OF FCC By Gariot Louima, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Sunday, April 6, 2003 BOYNTON BEACH -- On a recent afternoon, Phito Thelot sat in a small storage unit, home base for his fledging radio station. There isn't much there except for a stack of compact discs, a console and computer. With time, said Thelot, 106.9 FM could become an important tool to help Haitian immigrants as they adjust to life in South Florida. "The biggest problem with the Haitian community is communication," said Thelot, 39, speaking over the Haitian compas that played in the background. "We just want to get information to the people." But officials with the Federal Communications Commission said they can't verify that the station has a license. And Thelot -- who is preparing to ask Boynton Beach and Delray Beach city officials to give money to his new nonprofit group, the Haitian American Foundation Incorporation -- is breaking the law every time he goes on the air, said John Winston, deputy director of the FCC's enforcement bureau in Washington. "If they don't have a license, they're illegal," Winston said. "We know for a fact that many of those stations are operating illegally. We know of their existence. Those cases are already under investigation." Not affiliated with the Miami-based Haitian American Foundation Inc., Thelot's station can only be heard in Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Hypoluxo and Lantana. Thelot said its existence is an indication that Palm Beach County's growing Haitian community is finally coming into its own socially and politically. A Haitian native who graduated from Lake Worth High School, Thelot contends he got permission from the FCC to operate the station and is merely awaiting the official paperwork. "They said they have to listen to the kind of programming you have before they give you the license," he said, adding that he "registered" with the FCC on Dec. 12. If that's the case, Winston said, Thelot never completed the application process. Winston said station operators can't legally go on the air without a license. In January 2000, the FCC created a special class of radio licenses for low power FM radio, designed to create opportunities for governments, nonprofit organizations and schools to be heard on the radio. Thelot said he's working toward obtaining one of those licenses. Haitian activists estimate that about a dozen Creole-language pirate radio stations are operating in Palm Beach County. Both sides admit that despite their legal status, Creole-language pirate stations provide a much-needed service to a community that relies heavily on radio broadcasts for information. There are about 31,000 Haitians in the county, including 4,000 in Boynton Beach, according to the 2000 Census. A handful of licensed stations on the AM dial broadcast Creole-language programs. Most of the unlicensed stations are low-powered FM stations, said Philippe "Bob" Louis-Jeune, a disc jockey on WHFR-AM 980 in Boca Raton. Still, they provide a "really important service for the community," said Louis-Jeune, also the executive director of the Haitian Citizens United Task Force in Lake Worth. Like Thelot's station, pirate stations play Haitian music, conduct on-air discussions of current events and, in some cases, connect to stations in Haiti via the Internet for news programming. "It's the democratization of communication," said Delray Beach activist Joe Bernadel, who runs a charter school for Haitian-American teens. "But if they are illegal, no reputable group will associate itself with them." http://www.palmbeachpost.com/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/south_county_e3f85b0a5421c0db0099.html (via Artie Bigley, Andy Sennitt, DXLD) ** U S A. FAU STATION HEARD OUTSIDE FCC LIMIT By Jennifer Peltz Sun-Sentinel, April 5, 2003 BOCA RATON -- Florida Atlantic University's student radio station can be heard around the world online. But it can't be heard on a car radio on campus, at least for the moment. The station -- WOWL, FM 91.7 -- turned off its transmitter last month, after Federal Communications Commission representatives said the broadcast was drifting off FAU's Boca Raton campus, according to music director Nick Jennings. WOWL operates under federal rules that allow low-power FM broadcasting without a license. Its signal is supposed to be heard only within about 200 feet of its transmitter on the campus library. A Miami Christian music station licensed to use the same frequency, "The Call" (WMKL, FM 91.7), complained to the FCC in January about interference from FAU, said The Call's general manager, Rob Robbins. He said his station had received a complaint from a Broward County listener. FCC officials wouldn't talk about WOWL. But Jennings said station officials hadn't known it could be heard off campus. FAU installed devices several years ago to dampen WOWL's signal, Jennings said. Still, "it's hard to control a radio frequency," he said. "[So] we said, `Why don't we shut the transmitter off until we get this figured out?'" WOWL might try installing new equipment to rein in its signal or moving its antenna lower, Jennings said. For now, its 13-hour broadcast day -- which includes sports talk, funk, a cultural diversity forum, local bands, German hip-hop and an hour of selections from "the worst record collection ever" -- can be heard at wowl.fau.edu and through speakers in campus breezeways. The station started in 1993 on an AM frequency. It's financed by about $80,000 a year in student fees, Jennings said. Meanwhile, The Call is still on the lookout for unlicensed broadcasters, Robbins said. The station recently won a three-year fight with a Hollywood man who transmitted an Israeli radio show on The Call's frequency. Last month, a federal judge ordered Shlomo Malka to pay $35,000 in fines and stop broadcasting, according to FCC and court documents. http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/palm_beach_news/article/0,1651,TCP_1020_1867095,00.html (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** U S A. When 1380 in Tampa Bay area became WWMI they went from a smooth, clean sound with no sideband splash, to one with much splash and a highly compressed artifice to it. I suspect Disney's SOP is to introduce high level processing in all their stations. DXing on 1370 and 1390 went from "easy" to "unusable" in 24 hours. I suspect their net feed just makes it worse (Robert Foxworth, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) Depends on how they are processing the audio. There are two ways. First is using a processor that has NRSC-II brick filters, post compression, and just shove audio in and depend on the filter to reduce the content. This works... but IMHO it's like putting your thumb over the end of a hose and regulating water flow. Works, but not effective. The second, and better way, is to employ a filter pre-compression, so that the processor only sees a band of frequencies such as 30 to 9.5 kHz, rather than 30 to 20+ kHz. This way you're not processing something that won't be heard by the audience, and will likely cause artifacts in the audio. Another factor is how the transmitter reacts to non-symetrical audio. Some are content with a constant stream of 99% negative, and 125% positive, and they don't spatter. However, there are some transmitters and systems that will splatter 40 kHz or more if not set up right! Most station operators listen to the main carrier, and if it sounds good they don't bother checking the sidebands. (Fred Vobbe, Apr 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Who says IBOC won't be a boon to DXing? The night IBOC tests on KNXT-840 [Las Vegas NV] finally motivated me to unpack and set up my DXing gear! I used a Drake R8B, Palstar R30, Sony ICF-2010, and CC Radio (the latter two with Kiwa filters) to monitor KNXT and my antennas were the Quantum Loop with the R8B/R30C and Radio Shack passive AM loop with the 2010 and CCR. I listened around 1:30 pm Pacific today and the IBOC hiss/noise was clearly audible from 820 to 860 on all receivers, with 830 and 850 much worse than 820 and 860. An interesting effect I noted on all receivers was that going to a narrower bandwidth seemed to increase the noise/hiss. While that's probably an "aural illusion," it certainly is real and counterintuitive to what we as DXers normally do in QRM-laden situations. I tried the synchronous detection on the R8B/ICF-2010, the notch filter on the R8B, and USB/LSB modes and nothing made a significant dent in the IBOC hash. As I've noted before, it's like having a leaky power transformer of several kilowatts connected to an efficient antenna and ground system! I almost wish another local, KLSQ-870, was also running IBOC. It would be interesting to see what would happen with two locals 30 kHz apart running IBOC. A few months ago, I speculated about what would happen with the "search" function of auto radios with IBOC. I tested this about 2:00 pm today. My car radio is the factory-installed unit that came with my 2002 Toyota 4Runner. Starting at 870 (KLSQ), I sent it searching downward and about 50% of the time it stopped on the noise on 850. Tuning upward from 720, it stopped almost 100% of the time on 830. For some reason, the IBOC hash seemed louder/stronger on my car radio on the lower side. I did not notice a similar effect in daytime on my home DXing radios, so this might be a peculiarity of my Toyota's radio. I'll check further. I listened tonight around 7:00 pm Pacific and the hash was mainly noticeable on 830 and 850; there were traces on 820 and 860 but stations could be heard through the noise. KOA-850 was audible, but the IBOC noise was severe, almost like listening through some crude noise jammer such as those used back in the 1960s around 1160 against Radio Americas. 830 was a totally lost cause --- nothing could be heard there but the noise, so maybe there is more IBOC signal being pumped out below 840 for some reason. Loops were no real help. I was able to null about 90% of KNXT's 840 analog signal and all I could hear was IBOC hash. Some say phasing is the answer to IBOC QRM. I have my doubts, but I do have my Quantum Phaser and I'll set up a couple of wires tomorrow and see if phasing gives better results than looping. I'm more dubious than ever about this whole notion of combining analog and digital signals in the same broadcasting band. Maybe the FCC should just set a date for all analog AM broadcasting to cease and be replaced by IBOC, much like they've tried to do with HDTV. Forget Dxers --- I just don't see how "mixed use" on AM will benefit broadcasters or the general public. Oh well, maybe Siegfried and Roy can figure out a way to make IBOC magically disappear! (Harry Helms AK6C/7, Las Vegas, NV DM26, NRC- AM April 3 via DXLD) Did you get any junk from KNXT-840's night IBOC in Phoenix? (Harry Helms, NV to Kevin Reddig, AZ, ibid.) Yes, its louder on 830 than 850. Perhaps they are trying to get away from messing up KOA's signal (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) OK, that confirms my daytime observations that the hash is worse on 830 than 850 for some reason. Can anyone more familiar with IBOC offer an explanation of why this might be? (Harry Helms AK6C/7, ibid.) I wonder if that varies from IBOC station to IBOC station. When the KIXI-880 tests were going on during NAB 2002 in Seattle, the hash was worse on 890 than 870. KIXI-880 puts in about S9 here. The hash on 890 was S7 and it was about S5 on 870 (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) || Barry, what would be the advantages/disadvantages of this for broadcasters? I was under the impression the IBOC components had to be symmetrical above/below the analog frequency to get the full benefits of IBOC. || I can think of a couple of possibilities: 1. The primary digital sidebands could be 6 dB higher on the low side than on the low side. A 6 dB reduction in the digital power is allowed in the FCC IBOC Report & Order, but I don't have a copy in front of me to see if the wording might be interpreted as allowing different levels on the two sidebands. You may recall that this mode of operation was suggested by Glen Clark in his petition for nighttime IBOC operation. Or maybe they whipped up something special just for the NAB event. 2. KXNT's 4-tower DA may not be broadband enough to hold its pattern over a 30 kHz bandwidth. Especially if you happen to be near the direction of one of the nulls, it wouldn't surprise me if the field strength could be quite different between 825-830 and 850-855 (Barry McLarnon, Ont., ibid.) || it wouldn't surprise me if the field strength could be quite different between 825-830 and 850-855.|| That's quite possible. One thing I've noticed since moving here is how many transmitter sites in Las Vegas that were once in open desert are now surrounded by housing developments, shopping malls, etc. The situation with KDWN-720 is almost comical; their towers have homes, apartment complexes, 7-11 stores, etc. between them! I wonder if any of the Las Vegas directional patterns have any real-world resemblance to those on file with the FCC. Thanks for your comments! (Harry Helms, AK6C/7, Las Vegas, NV DM26, ibid.) The sidebands should be symmetrical to keep the normal AM detector happy. And as far as I know, the FCC didn't say anything about dropping the level of only one sideband. As for the Glen Clark idea, I later heard that there was a lot of concern that dropping one sideband's power would not work well in reality. The gotcha was that the lower powered sideband might get interfered with (or be dominated by) some other station's full power sideband and cause receivers in some areas to get the two sidebands from two different stations! I'm not sure why the sidebands would be so different. Barry's antenna array idea is good, but since KXNT has been through the IBOC tests before, I would assume they have a decent system to test with at this point. No one is biting on the independent sideband level thing at this point, so I'd bet against it. I'm mystified and might just call the guys to ask (Chuck Hutton, WA, ibid.) Well, yes and no. Don't forget that there are three sets of sidebands. The requirement for symmetry only applies to the tertiary sidebands at 0-5 kHz from the carrier. The claim is, of course, that most AM receivers don't have significant audio response beyond 5 kHz, so they won't respond to the other sidebands when tuned to the IBOC station. There is a large amount of redundancy in the IBOC signal, as only about 40% of the data carries information (i.e., digital audio and a bit of other data), and most of the remainder is redundant bits for error correction. I believe the system will still function with one of the primary sidebands (10-15 kHz from the carrier) completely absent - this was shown in the adjacent channel interference tests when the 1st-adjacent interference was just on one side. However, the remaining sideband would have to be virtually error-free, since nearly all of the error correction capability is gone. The system would not be robust and would perform very poorly under real world reception conditions. If one sideband were at normal power and the other were 6 dB down, then the penalty in performance would be less, but still significant. || And as far as I know, the FCC didn't say anything about dropping the level of only one sideband. I think you're right about that. The IBOC exciters are probably capable of doing it, but it's not a mode that is part of the IBOC specs. But maybe it will be after iBiquity's report on nighttime testing comes out. :-) || As for the Glen Clark idea, I later heard that there was a lot of concern that dropping one sideband's power would not work well in reality. The gotcha was that the lower powered sideband might get interfered with (or be dominated by) some other station's full power sideband and cause receivers in some areas to get the two sidebands from two different stations! || Do you mean co-channel or adjacent channel stations? I think the concern would be more with interference from analog signals, especially on 1st adjacents, where the analog signal falls right on top of your primary digital sideband. || I'm not sure why the sidebands would be so different. Barry's antenna array idea is good, but since KXNT has been through the IBOC tests before, I would assume they have a decent system to test with at this point. No one is biting on the independent sideband level thing at this point, so I'd bet against it. || I think the antenna explanation is the more likely one. They probably don't care if the DA is imperfect, as long as they get a signal they can work with in the vicinity of the convention center. || I'm mystified and might just call the guys to ask || Sure, why not? And I'm looking forward to reading Scott's reports from the NAB event about the buzz (a term which is appropriate in more ways than one!) and spin about IBOC there (Barry McLarnon, Ont, ibid.) The IBOC AM digital signal is allowed to be reduced by 6 dB to lessen interference to an adjacent signal. The way I read it, the digital signal can be reduced by 6 dB on one side or both. Since nothing that I know of has been published (or released to the public) regarding the A-to-D and D-to A conversion process, I don't know how an unbalanced signal will be received. Presumably only one side is needed to receive / decode IBOC digital (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, ibid.) Yep, the digital sidebands are said to be totally redundant (identical). Having only one sideband is fine for IBOC (assuming adequate signal strength) - it's the analog AM envelope detector that should complain about having different sidebands. I suppose - anybody know different? - that Glen Clark assumes that with the digital stuff being at a low level withrespect to the analog, that a bit of unbalance wouldn't make things much worse than they already are. Here's my guess: The "enhanced stream" (the one that carries the stereo info in the secondary sidebands) is totally redundant. The upper and lower sidebands have exactly the same information so that symmetry can be preserved that the AM detector requires. So kill one sideband and you would notice no difference if the other sideband is making it through OK. The thing iBiquity calls a data service is also in the secondary carriers, so is also carried in a totally redundant fashion. So again, if you lose a sideband (upper or lower) but the other is OK you still receive the data correctly. But with only 400 bits a second, who cares? They can;t so anything with that data stream except the equivalent of RDS, which has not set the world on fire in the FM arena. Only the primary sidebands are allowed to be non-redundant, according to iBiquity's document on AM IBOC waveforms. Interference on one sideband would cause total loss of IBOC audio in this case, and the system would fall back to the thrilling 5 KHz analog audio. How cleanly it falls back is anybody's guess - at least I have no idea. (Chuck Hutton, WA, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. AN ALTERNATIVE TO IBAC? Kahn Communications, Inc. (KCI), announced today the development of new technology that will restore AM Radio Broadcasting to 15 kHz stereo fidelity by use of digital processing. The system, Compatible AM Digital (Cam-D[tm]), unlike the pending proposal now before the FCC, will not increase adjacent or co-channel interference. Therefore, the system will be able to operate during the nighttime as well as during daytime hours. Furthermore, the system is fully compatible with the over a half billion radios presently used by the American Public every day of the year. Actually, listeners to such existing radios will hear noticeably improved sound. The new system provides 15 kHz stereo fidelity when received by special new receivers, by use of frequency compression and digital transmission and digital reception techniques. One of the main advantages of the Cam-D[tm] System is that it can provide improved fading performance over vast distances at night. Accordingly, special emphasis was placed upon convincing Midwestern stations to act as Test Stations. KCI is now negotiating with stations in other regions of the country to test the system in urban areas where reradiation from large buildings is prevalent to prove Cam-D's relative insensitivity to reradiation. As of this date, the first stations that have contracted to purchase and install the Cam-D[tm] system are located in the States of: Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin. Some of these groups are equipping more than one station in a state. The committed stations range from a 500 watt daytimer, to major 50 kw stations with highly directional antennas. KCI has assured each Test Station that Cam-D[tm] will perform properly with the station's (new or old) transmitter, and their existing antenna, without any modifications. These Test Stations will provide spectrum measurements as well as practical demonstrations that Cam-D[tm] does not increase interference with even first adjacent channel stations, proving its compatibility with present frequency assignments. The tests will also be performed day and night to prove that the system does not degrade station coverage, indeed, increases it. And, finally, these initial tests will prove full compatibility with radios in the hands of the American Public. Actually, listeners will not, in any way, hear degraded sound, but will enjoy the same full frequency response broadcasters presently provide their listeners. Special new digitally enhanced radios will be made available in small pre-production sample quantities to demonstrate to Broadcasters and the FCC that Cam-D[tm] provides 15 kHz fidelity, night and day, for much of the station's normal coverage and also that Cam-D[tm] provides Slow Speed Data over the full coverage of the Test Stations. The system is based upon a number of L.R. Kahn patents, as well as brand now inventions. A spokesman for KCI, the New York, N.Y. and Carle Place, Long Island firm, stated that its president, L. R. Kahn, acting individually, had filed a Petition for Rule Making on January 24, 2003, requesting the FCC to appoint a Blue Ribbon Panel of former FCC Commissioners, etc., to propose revised procedures for evaluating all new technology so as to avoid possible future control of industry FCC Advisory Committees by firms proposing Billion Dollar Rule Making Petitions. The Rule Making also requested a STAY of the present FCC Order on Digital Audio Broadcasting. This Rule Making will not be withdrawn, Kahn stated, but it was recently amended to, request the Commission to evaluate and compare the Cam-D[tm] System with the presently proposed Hybrid AM DAB system to determine which system will best serve the American Public (Kahn Communications via Fred Vobbe, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Temporary Authorization -- FCC must be notified within 10 Days The FCC has announced that AM and FM radio stations may begin broadcasting immediately with iBiquity's IBOC digital transmission system; however, the Commission must be notified by letter within 10 days of when IBOC operations commence. Until further notice, AM stations must restrict IBOC operations to daytime hours. This new notification procedure replaces the current requirement that radio stations obtain special temporary authority (STA) prior to the initiation of IBOC transmissions. Stations now operating under STAs should convert to the new "standard interim digital authority," which will not require renewal, by sending a digital notification letter to the FCC. For further info and a sample notification letter, see: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-03-831A1.doc (via Fred Vobbe, NRC DX Audio Service via DXLD) ** U S A. KPCC, the `other` (Minnesota-owned) Los Angeles public radio station, has belatedly started webcasting; mostly national shows, especially PRI, but a couple of local weekday talkshows. Schedule at http://www.kpcc.org/programming/m-f_broadcast.html must be slightly outdated since it still shows the defunct Rewind (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. TEXAS STATE NETWORK - TALK SHOWS Texas Overnight with Charley Jones Neil Sperry's Lawn & Garden Show Texas Fishing and Outdoor Show The Lost Tapes with George Gimarc TEXAS STATE NETWORKS - RADIO STATIONS 550 KCRS Midland 590 KLBJ Austin 600 KTBB Tyler 690 KPET Lamesa 710 KGNC Amarillo 860 KFST Fort Stockton 860 KPAN Hereford 900 KCLW Hamilton 910 KNAF Fredericksburg 930 KDET Center 950 KJTV Lubbock 960 KIMP Mt. Pleasant 990 KAML Karnes City 1000 KSTA Coleman 1080 KRLD Dallas 1120 KJSA Mineral Wells 1130 KFAN Fredericksburg 1140 KCLE Cleburne 1150 KZNE College Station 1200 WOAI San Antonio 1220 KMVL Madisonville 1220 KZEE Weatherford 1230 KSIX Corpus Christi 1230 KSST Sulphur Springs 1240 KPBL Hemphill 1240 KVLF Alpine 1240 KXIT Dalhart 1240 KXOX Sweetwater 1250 KIKZ Seminole 1260 KKSA San Angelo 1290 KIVY Crockett 1290 KWFS Wichita Falls 1300 KSET Silsbee 1320 KVMC Colorado City 1330 KSWA Graham 1340 KAND Corsicana 1340 KHLB Burnet 1340 KRBA Lufkin 1340 KRNX Victoria 1340 KWKC Abilene 1350 KCAR Clarksville 1370 KFRO Longview 1370 KJCE Rollingwood 1390 KBEC Waxahachie 1390 KULP El Campo 1400 KEBE Jacksonville 1400 KEYE Perryton 1400 KGVL Greenville 1400 KIUN Pecos 1400 KRUN Ballinger 1400 KTEM Temple 1400 KVRP Stamford 1410 KCUL Marshall 1420 KFYN Bonham 1450 KCTI Gonzales 1450 KCYL Lampasas 1450 KMBL Junction 1470 KDHN Dimmitt 1490 KBST Big Spring 1490 KVWC Vernon 1490 KZZN Littlefield 1510 KCTX Childress 1520 KHLT Hallettsville 1540 KGBC Galveston 1550 KCOM Comanche 1550 KWBC Navasota 1560 KEGG Daingerfield 1560 KHBR Hillsboro 1570 KVLG La Grange 1580 KGAF Gainesville 1580 KRZI Waco 1580 KTLU Rusk 1590 KEAS Eastland 1590 KELP El Paso 1590 KGAS Carthage 1600 KOGT Orange 88.5 KEOM Mesquite 92.1 KHOS Sonora 92.1 KTFW Glen Rose 92.5 KCUL Marshall 92.5 KYKM Yoakum 94.1 KULF Brenham 94.3 KSEY Seymour 94.7 KWKQ Graham 95.3 KNEL Brady 95.7 KBST Big Spring 95.9 KXIT Dalhart 96.7 KXOX Sweetwater 96.9 KXYL Brownwood 97.1 KVRP Haskell 97.7 KATX Eastland 97.7 KVCQ Cuero 97.7 KWRW Rusk 98.3 KBOC Bridgeport 98.3 KCUB Stephenville 98.3 KEEP Bandera 98.3 KFYZ Bonham 98.3 KRDF Spearman 98.3 KULM Columbus 98.3 KYYK Palestine 98.5 KRXT Rockdale 99.1 KNES Fairfield 99.9 KMOO Mineola 99.9 KSHN Liberty 99.9 KTXM Hallettsville 100.3 KOMX Pampa 100.9 KIXC Quanah 103.1 KVWC Vernon 104.1 KWOW Clifton 104.3 KGAS Carthage 104.7 KZAM Ganado 105.9 KTCJ Centerville 106.3 KPAN Hereford 106.3 KSEM Seminole 106.3 KPSO Falfurrias 106.9 KKYN Plainview 107.1 KAUM Colorado City 107.7 KPLT Paris (via Art Blair, Folsom, CA, IRCA April 7 via DXLD) ** VATICAN [and non]. VATICAN RADIO SCHEDULE APRIL TO OCTOBER 2003 0:30 PORTUGUESE AM 1260 7305 9605 0:40 HI-TA-MA-EN AS/AU/NZ 103.0 9650 12055 1:00 SPANISH AM 1260 7305 9605 11910 1:45 SPANISH AM 7305 9605 11910 2:10 ARMENIAN eEU 1260 6185 9645 2:30 FRENCH AF 103.0 9660 2:30 FRENCH AM 7305 9605 2:30 RUSSIAN eEU 1260 6185 7345 9645 2:30 SLOVENIAN EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 2:50 CROATIAN EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 2:50 ENGLISH AM 7305 9605 3:00 ENGLISH AF 103.0 9660 3:00 UKRAINIAN eEU 1260 6185 7345 3:10 CZECH EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 3:15 SPANISH AM 7305 9605 3:20 BYELORUSSIAN eEU 1260 6185 7345 3:25 SLOVAK EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 3:30 KISWAHILI AF 103.0 9660 11625 3:40 HUNGARIAN EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 3:40 LITHUANIAN eEU 1260 6185 7345 4:00 AMHARIC-TIGRI AF 103.0 9660 11625 4:00 ARABIC AF/AS/PA 1260 9645 11715 4:00 LATVIAN eEU 6185 7345 4:00 POLISH EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 7250 4:20 GERMAN EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 7250 4:20 RUMENIAN eEU 1611 6185 7345 4:30 FRENCH AF 103.0 9660 11625 4:40 BULGARIAN eEU 1611 6185 7345 4:40 FRENCH EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 7250 5:00 ENGLISH AF 103.0 9660 11625 15570 5:00 ENGLISH EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 7250 5:00 SCANDINAVIAN eEU 1260 1611 7345 9645 5:20 ALBANIAN eEU 1260 1611 5:20 ITALIAN EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 7250 5:30 MASS IN LATIN EU/AF/AS/PA 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 11740 15595 5:30 PORTUGUESE AF 103.0 11625 13765 15570 6:00 FRENCH AF 103.0 11625 13765 15570 6:00 IT-FR-EN W EU/AF/AS/PA 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 11740 15595 6:10 RUMANIAN LIT.7H EU/ME 93.3 7250 9645 6:15 UKRAINIANLIT.7H eEU 1260 1611 9850 11740 6:30 ENGLISH AF 103.0 11625 13765 15570 6:45 ARABIC W EU/AF/AS/PA 93.3 1530 5890 9645 11740 15595 7:30 MASS IN ITAL.7H EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 7250 8:00 SPANISH W EU/ME 105 585 5890 8:15 PAPAL AUD. 3 EU/ME 105 585 5890 8:30 ORIENTAL LIT.7H EU/ME 93.3 11740 15595 17515 9:00 ENGLISH 12456 EU/ME 105 585 5890 10:00 ANGELUS 7H EU/AF/AS/PA 93.3 105.0 585 1530 5890 9645 11740 15595 21850 10:00 ITALIAN W EU/ME 105 585 5890 10:30 ITALIAN 7H EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 5890 11:00 FRENCH W EU/ME 105 585 5890 11:00 PORTUGUESE W AM 1260 21850 11:30 MASS IN ENG.5 AF/AS/PA 103.0 15595 17515 11:30 SPANISH W AM 1260 21850 12:00 ITALIAN EU/AF/AS/PA 93.3 105.0 585 5890 9645 11740 15595 21850 12:30 CHINESE 123457 AS/AU/NZ 103.8 6020 17515 21770 12:30 MASS IN CHI. 6 AS/AU/NZ 103.0 6020 17515 21770 12:30 RUSSIAN eEU 1260 15595 17630 13:00 SPANISH EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 1260 9645 11740 13:15 PORTUGUESE EU/ME 93.3 1260 9645 11740 13:15 VIETNAMESE AS/AU/NZ 103.0 12055 17515 14:00 GERMAN-POLISH EU/ME 93.3 5890 9645 11740 14:30 HI-TA-MA-EN AS/AU/NZ 103.0 12065 13765 15235 14:30 ITALIAN 5 EU/ME 93.3 5890 7250 9645 14:30 MUSIC 123467 EU/ME 93.3 5890 7250 9645 15:00 VESPERS EU/ME 93.3 5890 7250 9645 15:30 ARABIC AF/AS/PA 1260 11625 15595 15:30 ITALIAN EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 1530 5890 7250 9645 15:30 MASS IN ENG. 6 AF/AS/PA 103.8 12065 13765 15235 15:50 ARMENIAN eEU 1611 11715 15185 16:00 FRENCH-ENGLISH EU/ME/AS/PA 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 15595 16:00 KISWAHILI AF 103.0 15570 17515 16:10 RUSSIAN eEU 1260 1611 6210 9585 11715 15185 16:15 SOMALI 6 AF 103.0 15570 17515 16:30 AMHARIC-TIGRI AF 103.8 15570 17515 16:30 SLOVENIAN EU/ME 93.3 1467 1530 4005 5890 7250 16:40 UKRAINIAN eEU 1260 1611 9585 11715 16:50 CROATIAN EU/ME 93.3 1467 1530 4005 5890 7250 17:00 BYELORUSSIAN eEU 1611 9585 11715 17:00 FRENCH AF 103.0 15570 17515 17:10 HUNGARIAN EU/ME 93.3 1467 1530 4005 5890 7250 17:20 LITHUANIAN eEU 1611 9585 11715 17:30 CZECH EU/ME 93.3 1467 1530 4005 5890 7250 17:30 ENGLISH AF 103.0 13765 15570 17515 17:40 LATVIAN eEU 1611 9585 11715 17:45 SLOVAK EU/ME 93.3 1467 1530 4005 5890 7250 18:00 POLISH EU/ME 93.3 1467 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 18:00 PORTUGUESE AF 103.0 13765 15570 17515 18:00 RUMENIAN eEU 1260 1611 6185 7365 18:20 BULGARIAN eEU 1260 1611 6185 7365 18:20 GERMAN EU/ME 93.3 1467 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 18:40 ROSARY EU/AF/AS/PA 93.3 103.0 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 6185 9660 11625 13765 18:40 SCANDINAVIAN eEU 1260 1611 7250 9645 19:00 ALBANIAN eEU 1260 1611 7250 9645 19:00 ITALIAN EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 19:00 SPANISH 6 AF 103.0 9660 11625 19:20 ESPERANTO 34 eEU 1260 1611 7250 9645 19:20 ESPERANTO 7H EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 19:20 ITAL.-ENGL. 1 eEU 1260 1611 9660 19:20 PHILIPPINE 5 eEU 1260 1611 19:30 FRENCH EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 19:50 ENGLISH EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 20:00 ENGLISH AF 103.0 9660 11625 13765 20:00 RUSSIAN eEU 1260 7305 9575 20:10 SPANISH EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 20:30 FRENCH AF 103.0 9660 11625 13765 20:30 PORTUGUESE EU/ME 93.3 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 20:45 ARABIC EU/ME/AF 93.3 1530 4005 5890 7250 9645 21:00 ITALIAN EU/ME/AF 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 21:30 ITALIAN 7 EU/ME 93.3 105.0 585 1530 4005 5890 22:00 CHINESE AS/AU/NZ 103.0 7305 9600 11830 23:15 VIETNAMESE AS/AU/NZ 103.0 7305 9600 HI-TA-MA-EN = HINDI-TAMIL-MALAY.-ENGLISH IT-FR-EN = ITALIAN-FRENCH-ENGLISH W = WEEKDAYS H = HOLY DAYS 1 = MON ..... 7 = SUN (Printed sked via Michael Beesley via Alan Roe, World DX Club and Vatican Radio website via Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, DXLD) As usual, Vatican refuses to publish the end times of its transmissions, nor to specify relay sites! We know e.g. 6020 is Philippines for Chinese at 1230, and there are probably some Russian sites mixed in too; see CIS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Glenn, unID April 6, 2003 1102-1205 UT on 1610 kHz playing different blocks of music. During the time I listened I did not hear an ID. Music blocks included several 50's oldies, then a zzzzt sound and switch to several C&W songs, then a zzzzt sound and switch to several 80's soft rock songs, then a zzzzt sound and a switch to several instrumental music pieces, then a zzzzt sound and a switch to several oldies songs, etc. Any idea? DX test? 73, (-.. . Kraig Krist, Annandale VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sounds like a pirate, rather than CJWI Montreal (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5728.43, unID LA, unknown QTH. April 3 2003 - 0000 UT. Heard the station only this date with decent signal at tops and semi distorted audio. On the hour ads plus an ID which I can`t hear. UT -5 and neutral, popular LA music. If we play with the thought that it might be a harmonic from MW 1430 kHz, I know of at least two UT -5 stations having serious problems with their transmitters --- both loggings presented in "mv eko" (Arctic Radio Club, Sverige). Those are: 1429-1432v O___, Radio Imperio, el distrito de Calamarca, la provincia de Julcán, el departamento de La Libertad (Perú). Jan 2003 - 0130 UT. This station is drifting heavily between 1429 and 1432 kHz, sometimes with good signal. Semi distorted audio and the DJ talks fast and untidy as well. The first time I listened I thought they were called "R. R. la frecuencia de amor", maybe a jingle, often repeated. Finally this ID was heard: "Nueva Radio Imperio" and also "Están escuchando Radio Imperio Laser (?)". I checked Radio Imperio, Chiclayo on 4389 kHz, also heard here in Quito on 1491.25 kHz, but you can immediately tell that it is two different stations. Most of the time typical Peruvian music and also typical Ecuadorian. In between Andean Cumbia which can be placed in both countries. 1430.74v OCX1H, Radio San José, el distrito de La Unión, la provincia de Piura, el departamento de Piura. Jan 2003 - 1110 UT. Also this station is drifting in frequency and at some occasions more or less "collided" with the above mentioned Radio Imperio on around 1431-1432 kHz. Have also earlier reported Radio San José on 1451.87 kHz but is listed in WRTH on 1420 kHz. Lots of talk by OM about communal matters in La Unión. Gave two telephone numbers to the station of which I noted one: 37 42 53. Sometimes very long blocks of ads (Björn Malm in Quito, Ecuador, SW Bulletin April 6, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A-03 CLASHES / FREQUENCY (MIS)MANAGEMENT ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Glenn, interesting to have some discussion about frequency clashes/mismanagement in DXLD; it should get people to write the technical department of shortwave stations and tell them: You've got interference, or you're co-channeling with another station, and we have an alternate frequency for you to try! Do some bandscanning, tell the technical people there's a clear frequency they can use! As to NHK's use of 11895 at 2200 (co-channel with VOA in Creole), as far as I know it's coming from the Montsinéry, French Guiana site... is 11705 from Sackville also in use at the same hour (btw language used is Japanese on both channels)? Also, in regard to Vietnam's use of 11630 in English at 1100 I heard them on April 4 with poor signal and unreadable audio, but no sign of a Chinese station QRMing it on this channel (Joe Hanlon in Philadelphia, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "There is some data in the public A03 HFCC schedule for "AUS", but those refer to Merlin stuff, which is not managed by the ABU-HFC, or by "BFM", such as SNG, TAIWAN, TINIAN, HCJB-AUS, VI. BFM is a person by the name of Bernd Friedewald, in Germany, who is responsible for frequency management of RA transmissions. That includes the Internal SW services from the NT. All ABU-HFC assignments have been deleted in the public schedule, such as PNG, KOR, VTN, PAK, J, BGD, MLA, IND, INS, NZ, LAO, CBG, THA, SNG, etc. All current frequency data for all Australian HF broadcasters can be found at the on-line database of the Australian Broadcasting Authority. The frequency problem on 9720 2200-2300 (DW-T BBC-SNG to same areas) has been examined by Merlin and SNG is now on 9730. However, disaster again, as 9730 is in use by VOIRI for Malay 2230-2330) I will be attending the HFCC meeting in Norway as an Independent Professional Engineering Consultant. Re HFCC: ITU certainly does offer its material to anyone who is prepared to pay/subscribe, much of it on CD-ROM. People who are currently condemning ITU for its "failure" to publish everything in the HFCC schedule might care to consider why they believe that this sort of material should be provided to them for free. It is my view that the schedule may be removed entirely from the general(free) domain should hobbyists persist in public criticism (Bob Padula, Australia, April 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) COMMENTARY ++++++++++ A RETURN TO GREGORIAN CHANT The idea is so simple, so right, so attractive, one wonders why only Radio Santa Famiglia of the Diocese of Bolzano and Bressanone does it: Return Gregorian Chant to the Catholic airwaves. Why don`t more Catholic stations do it? Now, I know, such a suggestion immediately provokes ridicule and disbelief from the avant-garde group of liturgical ``reformers`` who have wreaked havoc on the Liturgy in the Church in the United States for the last four decades. Last year, a group of these people, alarmed at the movements that are trying to return dignity and grace to the Latin Rite, formed an organization to, as they put it, halt the efforts to undo all the great changes made in the Liturgy over the last decades since Vatican II. Catholic News Service gave them coverage on their website, as they do for all such ilk. But there are great movements afoot. The fact is, everyone is tired of the disembowelment of the Liturgy by the aptly named liturgical terrorists. Even a liberal Catholic like Father Andrew Greeley publicly moaned in his column two years ago that the things that made us Catholics Catholic have been lost, and we now suffer a cultural identity loss. He specifically named —Are you listening, liturgical reformers?— Gregorian Chant. There used to be on the website of St Meinrad Abbey of Indiana a learned, lengthy essay by a monk who, after diligently studying the matter, found that the periods of spiritual stagnation and decline of the Church corresponded to periods of decline of the use of Gregorian Chant! Read that again! A monk, after diligently studying the matter, found that the periods of spiritual stagnation and decline of the Church throughout history corresponded to periods of decline of the use of Gregorian Chant! No, avant-gardes: It is not that the dropping of Gregorian causes the Church to decline in fervor and spirituality, it is the other way around. That essay had disappeared when I went looking for it two years ago. Why it was taken off, I do not know. But I have found websites and webpages where even Protestant pastors and church musicians are seeking to restore Gregorian Chant, or a variety of it. The Anglicans and Episcopalians are particularly active in this movement. (Why does it take outsiders to make us realize the value of what we have? Alas, human nature, I am afraid.) In an essay found at http://chant.freeservers.com, Henry Doktorski, director of music ``at a large Roman Catholic Church in Pittsburgh,`` writes at length about what clearly he loves, Gregorian Chant. ``...despite this high-intensity devotional experience, chant has little popularity in these modern times. Most people, including devout Catholics, prefer to listen to music which is more fast-paced. We have become accustomed to fast food, fast cars, fast computers and fast Internet access. We don`t like to take our time anymore. We rush to work, we rush to finish assignments, we rush home.`` He goes on: ``However, chant is not fast; it does not have a beat, and we cannot clap our hands to it. It seems boring and monotonous to most 21st-century Americans; it doesn`t hold our attention. Our minds wander; we want something more stimulating. Yet, perhaps, in addition to mending spiritual illness, change may also provide tangible medicinal relief for hypertension, migraine headaches, ulcers and heart attacks. Chant slows our metabolism, it steadies our pulse and our breathing, and it quiets the mind. Chant allows our soul to experience the inner stillness required to know God. `Be still and know that I am God.` (Psalms 46:10).`` Mr. Doktorski cites at length the work of French physician and researcher Dr. Alfred A. Tomitas on the neurophysiological effects of Gregorian Chant. Dr. Tomitas found that there are two kinds of sound. One he called ``discharge`` sounds, which tire, fatigue, and drain the listener; the other is ``charge`` sounds, which give energy, life and health. I am not doing justice to his research of Mr. Doktorski`s article, which originally appeared in the diocesan Pittsburgh Catholic on May 26, 2000. I am making it sound, unfortunately, like some wacko new therapy invented by New Agers. You must read the entire article. Essentially, Dr. Tomitas has accomplished ``seemingly miraculous recoveries and given new life to thousands of patients by his innovative treatments with sound.`` . One such case involved a French monastery that abandoned Chant for more ``relevant`` music at great cost to monastic serenity and the monks` psychological health. After a whole passel of doctors and investigators were not able to help the monks, who were showing severe neuropsychological and digestive problems, Dr. Tomitas was called in. After carefully investigating the matter, he told the young abbot who had thrown out the Chant and much monastic prayer to restore them. Within six months, almost all the monks had regained their energy and zest for their vocations and spiritual life. ``...Dr. Tomitas understood what no one else did at the time: that the monks had been chanting in order to `charge` themselves, but they hadn`t realized what they were doing. And gradually, as the days passed, they started to get bogged down; they became more and more tired.`` If you still do not believe this, consider: medical studies have shown certain kinds of music, particularly classical music, lower blood pressure, the pulse rate, anxiety levels, and ultimately improve the health of patients Why, then, do we not listen to the people in the pews, to the Andrew Greeleys and the Alfred A. Tomitas, and return Gregorian Chant to our churches and introduce it to our airwaves? I think it is because the liturgical reformers and their camp followers do not credit the Catholic people with much intelligence or love for solemn Chant and Liturgies. I think it is because a rather small but very powerful coterie of avant-gardes have seized the power controls of the Church in the United States and have imposed their own ideas of what the Vatican Council wanted. (If you think this an outrageous statement, go study sociology and see that every human organization of every kind has certain control centers, and every human organization has a certain group inside it that finds out where those controls are, learns to use them, and imposes itself on the group. Study the sociology, my friends.) It took the monks of Santo Domingo Abbey in Spain several years ago to show how popular Gregorian Chant has become, even with New Agers. Remember how a re-issued compact disc of their old recordings soared in the charts in Europe and America? Even the monks themselves were amazed, and two ex-monks actually sued the monastery because they were in the choir that had recorded the old tapes, and they wanted a piece of the royalties. A good twenty years ago, a struggling Class A noncommercial FM station belonging to a high school on San Francisco Bay was looking for some kind of automated programming to keep it on the air all night. The relatively low power, despite a recent power increase, and its position of one among the many dozens of AM and FM stations on the air around the Bay Area, from Vallejo in the north to San Jose in the south, gave KMAH 88.9 FM (now KCEA 89.1 FM) a severe disadvantage in attracting listeners. The young teacher in charge of the radio club that operated the little station at Menlo Atherton High School hit upon a novelty. He went out and recorded the various sounds of the bay— the lap of waves against the shore; the cry of gulls, terns, and the many other seabirds; the slow toll of buoy bells; the bleat of ship horns; the warning fog horns; the muffled background noises in this very populated bay area. After mixing the tapes down, he ran them all night by using what was, back then, state-of-the-art automation equipment. Immediately, enervated and weary listeners discovered it, and the word spread. The audience grew. The local press, then the trade press, then the national press picked up the story. Now, if a high school station sees the value in the extraordinarily pacific effects of seascapes in sound, why do we Catholics remain so dull as not to see the far greater value of our Gregorian Chant? Why do we not see it as exactly the music a tired, jaded, over- stimulated, high-anxiety world needs? Why do we not offer the world what is our own? Why do Protestants and New Agers see its value, but not us? Why do we let a cadre of liturgical avant-gardes who have misread and misinterpreted and misimplemented Vatican II get away with tossing centuries of music into the trash bin and imposing this awful stuff we are fed in our Latin Rite Churches? Why do we not listen to Father Andrew Greeley and Dr. Alfred Tomitas? Why do we not emulate RSF Radio Sacra Famiglia? Why? (Michael Dorner, editor, Catholic Radio Update via DXLD) QSLing BELLABARBA A terrible example of Bellabarba's work can be seen on Radio Nika's home page at http://www.nikafm.ru/dx.htm He has copied every detail (date, time, frequency and even programme details) into his report from a logging, made by Finnish dx-er Jorma Mäntylä. This is what happens to your loggings if you make them public ... The programme details in Jorma's logging are exactly what Bellabarba has in his own report. However, after relistening to his tape Jorma changed the details a little, thus resulting in a bit different wording in his report. This is not the only case unfortunately. Every year Bellabarba sends hundreds of fake reception reports based on other dx-ers loggings. Who is this Bellabarba actually? Does he really exist or is it just a cover name by some other dx-er? Comments please! How can we stop this? Best 73 despite all, (Jim Solatie, Finland, MW-DX via DXLD) Hi Jim, Well I don't think there is much anyone can do about it. It's not nice but what can you do? People like this only cheat themselves and really there is no gratification in getting verifications back for stations that others have heard. It's like collecting postcards. Nice view but never having been there. There is absolutely no satisfaction or emotional attachment to any of it. It's a bit like people swapping or selling QSL's. Why bother? I think the big worry is whether it ruins our chances (at some stations) of getting stuff back in the future (Dave Onley, ibid.) Hello Jim & all, Bellabarba does exist indeed. As far as I know, he lives in or near Bologna and enjoys this odd hobby of report faking together with his son. Don't ask me *why*, I am not a psychiatrist. How can this be stopped? Good question. Law does not deal with report faking, therefore one can't simply ask a judge for a (deserved) hanging sentence. One interpretation of this pathology is that it can be 'useful'. This is the view of Dario Monferini, who is in friendly terms with Mr. Bellabarba and regularly publishes his 'verifications' on 'PlayDX'. Dario says that Bellabarba's QSLs are useful sources of station manager's names, addresses and other informations. I strongly disagree with Dario: although I don't send reports or collect verifications, I think that Bellabarba is a shame for the whole DXing community and even more for Italian DXing. Dario's objection that 'Bellabarba never claimed to be a DXer, he simply collects verifications' is bull****: the guy sends 'reception reports', not simply sample QSL requests. I don't see any easy solution to the problem. Sending 'warnings' to every station on the planet would be ridiculous. Banning Bellabarba from the DXing community is useless, as he is not interested in any contact outside his own world. As far as I know, his 'stage' at present is just PlayDX where Dario, deaf to everybody's pleas, goes on publishing the Qsl's from 'Dxer Bellabarba' - and losing readers in the meantime. But I am not at all sure that exhibitionism is part of Bellabarba's pathology. Maybe a (snail) mail action from DXers around the world, writing Bellabarba how they feel about him? Good DX (Enrico Oliva, Milan, Italy, http://www.faiallo.org mwdx via DXLD) RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ From a much longer article: SLOW MAIL DELIVERY BUGS TROOPS News from home, needed goodies can take awhile By RON MARTZ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/news/iraq/0403/02martz.html . . .In greatest demand at the moment: cigarettes, baby wipes and shortwave radios. The radios keep troops in touch with what's going on in the outside world and give them news of the war effort they don't get from their superiors. The shortwave radios that several soldiers carried were long ago destroyed by the desert dust. The last one that came into the company two weeks ago is now falling apart. It has been kept together only through the skills of Capt. Jason Conroy, 30, of Apalachin, N.Y., the company commander and a former electrician. The baby wipes help soldiers maintain some semblance of cleanliness in an environment in which nothing is ever clean. . . (via Jilly Dybka, TN, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) GRUNDIG FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE AFTER TAKEOVER ABANDONED Consumer electronics giant Grundig says it is not ruling out insolvency after Turkish company Beko told the Istanbul stock exchange that it was abandoning plans to take over the ailing German company "following an in-depth examination and evaluation". It is the second time in just over a month that takeover talks for Grundig have failed. Discussions with Beko started in March after long-running discussions with Taiwanese company Sampo failed to produce an agreement. Grundig posted a loss of 150 million euro (164 million dollars) on sales of 1.28 billion euro in 2001, and has predicted a loss of 75 million euros for 2002 (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 7 April 2003 via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ IN IRAQ, SOLAR STORMS PLAY HAVOC WITH COMMUNICATION By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor On today's digital battlefield, where AA batteries are almost as critical as bullets, researchers are looking for ways to forecast "weather" conditions hundreds of miles up where satellites orbit. Over the past decade, scientists have focused much of their effort on forecasting the effects of large outbursts from the sun, which can fry satellite circuits and trigger surges in earthbound utility transmission lines. Now, military and civilian researchers are paying increased attention to turbulence in Earth's ionosphere, which can weaken navigation, intelligence, and other signals until they vanish under useless noise. While solar storms can aggravate these effects, they can appear almost daily with or without a major solar eruption. In Iraq, "all of our operations are very finely tuned" to minimize civilian casualties, notes US Air Force Capt. Kelly Doser, currently working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colo. Because today's weapons that rely on navigation satellites for guidance, "any little thing that creeps in could have a very heavy impact on how the mission is done." GPS: key to modern warfare By many accounts, the US-led conflict is more reliant on digital information than any in history. Encrypted voice communications, digital images of bomb and missile damage from remotely piloted aircraft and precision munitions, as well as search-and-rescue operations, all depend on satellites. Since the Gulf War in 1991, the military's demand for satellite services has grown tenfold, prompting the Pentagon to contract with commercial-satellite operators for the capacity it needs. Meanwhile, the military's global-positioning satellite (GPS) network has become its backbone for navigation and the key technology behind a new generation of precision-guided weapons. One potential source of error lies in the ionized portion of Earth's atmosphere, which begins about 30 miles up and through which GPS signals must pass, researchers say. Just as turbulence in the lower part of the atmosphere can give starlight its twinkle, turbulence in the ionosphere can cause GPS satellite signals to strengthen and fade - sometimes to the point where receivers lose the signals completely. "The problem usually occurs after sundown and doesn't clear up until after midnight," says Joseph Kunches, chief of space operations at the Space Environment Center. At sundown the lower ionosphere grows less dense than the overlying layers, triggering "bubbles" that rise and generate turbulences that move through the surrounding ionosphere. The US Air Force has established a global network of 12 ground-based sensors, which can detect the effect. One is located in the Gulf region. Each day, the Pentagon's Central Command gets a briefing on conditions the network observes, notes David Anderson, a research associate with the University of Colorado's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences. Minimizing ionosphere damage Dr. Anderson notes that the US Air Force Research Laboratory has developed a computer system that allows users to identify other satellites on orbit whose signal paths aren't affected, so that an operator can switch communications to a different satellite. But experts lack a means of forecasting these effects well in advance. One of the critical needs, researchers say, is more sensors on orbit to monitor changes in the ionosphere. Later this year, the Air Force is scheduled to launch a satellite dedicated to scintillation forecasting. In addition, the US and Taiwan are scheduled to launch a constellation of six microsatellites in 2005 that will gather more than 3,000 measurements a day of GPS signals as they pass through the atmosphere from various angles. Researchers say the measurements, which also will be used for weather and climate monitoring, will aid in forecasting the phenomenon and will be important for their understanding of ionospheric scintillation. from the March 31, 2003 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0331/p15s01-woiq.html (via Jilly Dybka, TN, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) GEOMAGNETIC INDICES phil bytheway - Seattle WA - phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary February 26 2003 through March 18 2003 Tabulated from email status daily Date Flux A K SA Forecast GM Forecast Etc. 2/26 102 5 2 no storms no storms 4 27 109 14 5 no storms no storms 9 2/28 118 23 3 no storms no storms 8 3/ 1 125 18 3 no storms no storms 9 2 138 13 3 no storms no storms 9 3 147 12 3 no storms no storms 6 4 149 16 3 no storms no storms 6 5 146 20 3 minor no storms 9 6 149 17 3 no storms no storms 7 7 150 18 3 minor no storms 8 8 150 13 2 no storms no storms 6 9 148 11 3 no storms no storms 9 10 153 13 1 no storms no storms 7 11 144 11 3 no storms no storms 7 12 no report 13 no report 14 134 15 2 no storms no storms 5 15 139 17 5 moderate minor 8 16 131 22 3 minor no storms 9 17 129 16 3 minor no storms 8 3/18 125 31 5 strong minor 8 ********************************************************************* (IRCA Soft DX Monitor March 22, delayed via DXLD) ###