DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-065, April 15, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser, ghauser@hotmail.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted later at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3d.html HTML version of late March issues: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3c.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1177: RFPI: Tue 1900, Wed 0100, 0700, 1300 on 7445 WJIE: M-F 0730 on 7490, 13595 [unconfirmed] WWCR: Wed 0930 9475 WRN ONDEMAND http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1177.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1177.ram [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1177h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1177h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1177.html ** ASIA [non]. RFA schedule in A-03, valid til Oct 26th, 2003. RFA currently broadcasts from 1100 to 0700; there are no transmissions between 0700 and 1100. Daily programming includes Mandarin for 12 hours, Cantonese for two hours, Uighur for two hours, and Tibetan for eight hours. J03 = till Sept 6. S03 = from Sept 7th, 2003. RFA uses IBB transmitters in HOL/H=Holzkirchen Germany, IRA/I=Iranawila Sri Lanka, SAI/S=Saipan & TIN/T=Tinian N Mariana Islands. And Merlin relays TWN/N=Taiwan and UAE=Al Dhabayya-UAE, as well as IRK=Irkutsk-RUS and USS=Ussuriysk-RUS relays. Additional transmitter sites have been researched but deleted from this list upon request of RFA to suppress this info, to avoid pressure from China upon the host countries. Are we to assume that China has no way to find out this sensitive info except through DX publications? [gh] RFA A-03 updated schedule of April 10th, 2003. 0000-0100 LAO 12015I 13830 15545T 0030-0130 BURMESE 11540-S03 13680T 13820I 15660 17525-J03 17835S 0100-0200 UIGHUR 9350 11520 11895UAE 11945UAE 15405T 0100-0300 TIBETAN 9365 11695UAE 11975H 15225T 15695 17730 0300-0600 MANDARIN 13670T 13760T 15150T 15665T 17495 17525 17615S 17880S 21690T 0600-0700 MANDARIN 13670T 13760T 15150T 15665T 17495 17525 17615S 17880S 0600-0700 TIBETAN 17485 17510 17720 21500T 21690UAE break 1100-1200 LAO 9355S 9545T 15560I 15635 1100-1400 TIBETAN 7470 11590 13570 13625T 13830-S03 15510UAE 15695-J03 17855H-(from 1200) 1230-1330 CAMBODIAN 13645T 15525I 15625 1300-1400 BURMESE 11540-S03 11765T 13745T 15680-J03 1400-1500 CANTONESE 9775T 11715S 13790T 1400-1500 VIETNAMESE 9455S 9635T 9930W 11510 11520 11535-S03 11605N 11765T 13775P 15705-J03 1400-1500 KOREAN 7380 11790T 13625T 15625 1500-1600 TIBETAN 7470 11510 11590 11705T 11780UAE 13835 1500-1600 MANDARIN 7540-S03 9905P 11765T 11945T 12025S 13690T 15510T 15680-J03 1500-1600 KOREAN 648uss 9385S 13625T 1600-1700 KOREAN 7210irk 9385S 13625T 1600-1700 UIGHUR 7465 9350I 9370 9555UAE 11780T 13715I 1600-1700 MANDARIN 7540-S03 9455S 9905P 11750T 11795T 11945T 12025S 13690T 15510T 15680-J03 1700-1800 MANDARIN 7540-S03 9355S 9455S 9540T 9905P 11750T 11795T 11945T 11995S 13690T 15510T 15680-J03 1800-1900 MANDARIN 7530-S03 7540-S03 9355S 9455S 9540T 11520-J03 11740T 11945T 11955T 11995S 13680T 15510T 15680-J03 1900-2000 MANDARIN 7530-S03 7540-S03 9355S 9455S 9905P 11520-J03 11740T 11785T 11945T 11955T 11995S 13625T 13680T 15510T 15680-J03 2000-2100 MANDARIN 7530-S03 7540-S03 9355S 9455S 9850T 9905P 11520-J03 11700T 11740T 11785T 11935T 11995S 13625T 15515T 15680-J03 2100-2200 MANDARIN 7540-S03 9455S 9850T 9910P 11700T 11740T 11935T 11995S 13625T 15515T 15680-J03 2200-2300 CANTONESE 9355S 9955P 11785T 13675T 2200-2300 KOREAN 7460 9455S 9850T 11670S 12080T 2230-2330 CAMBODIAN 7455-S03 9490I 9930P 11570-J03 13735T 2300-2359 MANDARIN 7315N 7540-S03 9910P 11785T 11935N 11995N 13640T 13800S 15430T 15550T 15680-J03 2300-2359 TIBETAN 7470 7550-S03 9365-J03 9395-S03 9805UAE 9875H 15695-J03 2330-0029 VIETNAMESE 9975-S03 11540-J03 11560 11580 11605N 11670T 12010I 13735S 15560P (various sources, updated on April 10th, 2003 by Wolfgang Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN [non]. Dear Glenn, Hi, hope everything is OK. It has been a while, but we are all standing still waiting of what's coming out of Baghdad! In the latest edition of DXLD I've noticed that piece of news about Bahrain via Malta!? wish I could have the sign of time. I'd really love to help in confirming that, as I remember R. Bahrain used to use the transmitters of R. Kuwait in the late 80s on 15505 kHz for one hour if I remember right it was from 1200 till 1300 UT! all the best from Cairo (TAREK ZEIDAN, April 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I still suspect there was some misunderstanding; what you refer to was the Gulf Coördination Council round-robin: they used to take turns relaying each others` broadcasts, but apparently not any more (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6105.51, Radio Panamericana, 1027 14 April, "clock like music" similar to Swiss clock, but with a Latin flavour, then quick "Panamericana" ID by OM at the end of music. Second selection of music followed by OM with quick "Bolivia". Back to music then "Panamericana... Panamericana programa en Bolivia ...en comunicación... en Bolivia presenta .... el pórtico... Panamericana..." 1030-1033 YL with "la música hoy....en Bolivia" mentions de "Santa Cruz". Music followed by quick announcement of "La Paz", followed high flutes till 1045 fade out. Can't complain about the number of IDs :-) (Bob Wilkner, FL, ICOM R-75 NRD 535D Noise Reducing Antenna 10 meter long wire unbalance dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAPE VERDE. Re TWR item: Hi Glenn, I too was incredulous that TWR thinks that the Cape Verde Islands are only 1% Christian. What audacity to conclude that the Roman Catholic Church is NOT Christian! While the RC Church is not my style of Christianity, statements like this suggest that as a Protestant I have more in common with the RC Church than with TWR! I ran into this some years ago when a well- meaning college student called my church to get himself invited to tell the story of his summer evangelism efforts in Turkey. He claimed that there were less than 400 Christians in the whole country. This was news to me, as the Orthodox Church has had its leading Patriarchate in Istanbul for centuries. It was amusing, but terribly tragic, to hear the young man try to explain that the Orthodox are not really Christians. One of the flash points in the World Council of Churches is that the Russian Orthodox Church (member of the WCC) is incensed that some American churches affiliated with the WCC are sending evangelists there to convert the Orthodox to Protestantism. I think I'll maintain my perfect record of not sending money to religious broadcasters (Rev. Jim Renfrew, NY, April 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. A lot of jammers popping up lately. Big one on 11775 at 0400. Also 9805. Quite a few numbers stations on lower 9 MHz USB and mid-13 MHz (Bob Thomas, CT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. Radio Prague broadcasting on new frequency of 13.580 with excellent signals, but noted at 21:30, not listed, as well as 22:30 in English. 22:30 broadcast also on 11.600 with good signal (Tom Sliva, NYC, April 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FIJI. MOSQUITO NETWORK IN FIJI In this edition of Wavescan, we wind up our mini-series on the radio broadcasting scene over the years in the islands of Fiji. In the three previous topics in this series, we have presented:- The early radio scene in Fiji Fiji on Shortwave; and Fiji on Mediumwave. Now for Topic 4. Back around half a century ago, two new varieties of mosquito were discovered in the islands of Fiji in the South Pacific. One important new variety of mosquito, which is found only in Fiji, was discovered in 1954 and given an identification name, using scientific Latin. Some ten years earlier, there was another variety of mosquito that was airborne in Fiji and this new variety was given a four letter identification. No, this other mosquito was not a biting insect, but rather an exotic new radio station. This is what happened. Some time during the month of May in the year 1945, this new radio station was launched in Nadi (NAHN-dee) [sic] which is located on the western edge of the main island, Viti Levu (VEE-TEE le-VOO). This coastal city lies some 50 miles across the island from the capital city, Suva. This new AFRS station was owned and operated at the time by I&E, the Information and Entertainment Service for American servicemen in the Pacific. It would be presumed that this station was located on or near the air field at Nadi. The first broadcast from this new AFRS station with the American callsign, WVUT, was noted in May 1945. The transmitter was a 50 watt unit, commercially made in the United States with the model number 191. The operating channel was 665 kHz. When station WVUT in Fiji first made its appearance on the radio dial, it was officially listed by AFRS headquarters in Los Angeles California as a member of the now famed Mosquito Network. This Mosquito Network was a a loose association of AFRS stations located on some of the smaller island groups in the Pacific during the latter part of the Pacific War. Other stations in the Mosquito Network were: WVUQ Solomon Islands WVUR New Hebrides (HEB-ri-DEEZ) WVUS Noumea WVUV American Samoa Navy American Samoa 1ZM Auckland New Zealand; and of course WVUT Fiji. In March 1946, station WVUT in Fiji left the Mpsquito Network when it was taken over by AACS, the American Army Communications System. Even though the station WVUT was low powered at only 50 watts, it was heard on many occasions in Australia and New Zealand. The last reported logging was in October 1946 in New Zealand, and it is presumed that the station closed soon afterwards. Just a few QSL letters were issued by the American station WVUT in British Fiji, and some of these are now lodged in the massive collection of Pacific Radio Heritage in the Hocken Library in Dunedin, south New Zealand (Adrian Michael Peterson, AWR Wavescan April 13 via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. Radio Verdad; Chiquimula; 4052 kHz; 0406-0504 UT April 12; Spanish; female announcer reading long passages mentioning Guatemala many times; a bit of marimba music, then various recorded old-style Protestant hymns (but sung in Spanish) from 0420 to 0504; positive ID at 0455. SINPO 34131; ICOM R71A with 114-foot inverted L (John Sandin, Merriam, KS, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. LAWSUITS BY AOL ESCALATE FIGHT AGAINST JUNK E-MAIL By Jonathan Krim, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, April 15, 2003; Page A01 America Online Inc. has launched an intensified legal assault on junk e-mail by filing five lawsuits against more than a dozen individuals and companies accused of being major purveyors of "spam." AOL, the nation's largest Internet service provider, with 27 million subscribers, said the targets of its suits were responsible for sending its members an estimated 1 billion pieces of spam that resulted in more than 8 million complaints. The unsolicited messages contained such things as pornographic images, body-enhancement offers, and diet and financial schemes. . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26420-2003Apr14.html (via Tom McNiff, Burke VA, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. ASIASAT 4 SATELLITE LAUNCHED From http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/cb_headline.cgi?&story_file=bw.041103/231015479&directory=/google&header_file=header.htm&footer_file= CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- April 11, 2003 – An Atlas III rocket lifted off at 8:47 p.m. EDT today and successfully delivered its AsiaSat 4 satellite payload into space, kicking off a busy year for International Launch Services (ILS). The Lockheed Martin-built rocket carried the high-power, multimedia satellite for 31 minutes before releasing it into geosynchronous transfer orbit. AsiaSat, which is the dominant satellite operator in the region, will use the spacecraft to provide communications, direct-to-home and broadband services to customers in Asia and Australia. The final operating position for the Boeing Satellite Systems-built 601 model spacecraft is 122 degrees East longitude. "We're off to a great start, with another perfect launch for Atlas," said ILS President Mark Albrecht. "This makes 64 successful launches in a row for Atlas over a decade, a tribute to the dedication to the team. We know our customers value reliability, and we're proud to have delivered that reliability to AsiaSat." Albrecht added that ILS could conduct as many as 10 launches this year on its full range of Atlas and Proton vehicles, depending on deliveries of the satellites. ILS is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) and two Russian companies, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia. ILS markets and manages the missions for the Atlas IIAS, Atlas III and Atlas V families and the Russian Proton launch vehicles. This mission marks ILS' third launch for AsiaSat and the 13th launch of a satellite for a member of the SES GLOBAL family of companies - AsiaSat, SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM (or its predecessor GE AMERICOM). In addition, ILS is scheduled to launch four more satellites for SES AMERICOM in the next few years. SES ASTRA was the first commercial customer on Proton, and has used Proton six times. ILS offers the broadest range of launch services in the world along with products with the highest reliability in the industry. ILS' Atlas rockets and their Centaur upper stages are built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. - Space & Strategic Missiles Operations, at facilities in Denver, Colo.; Harlingen, Texas; and San Diego, Calif. For more information, visit http://www.ilslaunch.com (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. SATELLITE RADIO CHANNEL WILL FOCUS ON INTERESTS OF GAYS AND LESBIANS, by BARNABY J. FEDER http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/14/technology/14RADI.html?ex=1051338776&ei=1&en=f959e6013fffa1da Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender radio listeners are getting a nationwide satellite radio channel focused on their interests starting today, thanks to Sirius Satellite Radio. Prominent gay and lesbian people described the new 24-hour-a-day news, music and talk service as a landmark development for minority groups that they say have been badly served by traditional radio and television broadcasters. "We have a community that has no focal point," said Harvey Fierstein, the playwright, star of the musical "Hairspray" and a commentator on the PBS's "In the Life" television series. "I don't know whether it will be incredible or not, but a place on radio to put gay thoughts can only produce positives." The new channel, called OutQ, is replacing the Outdoor Life Network on Sirius's 104-channel network, which is broadcast to subscribers for $12.95 a month. Sirius, based in New York, is hoping that the new channel will provide a lift in its competition with XM Satellite Radio, which began broadcasting in 2001. XM, based in Washington, is expected to announce today that it passed the 500,000-subscriber mark last week. Sirius did not finish rolling out its service until last summer and had just under 30,000 subscribers at the end of 2002. "The joke is that Sirius already has a gay channel, the one that plays all show tunes," said Paulie Sabol of Schererville, Ind., who recently became a subscriber after hearing that Sirius planned to start OutQ. "I do listen to that, but I'm expecting this to let me hear things I don't get in the straight media." (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** IRAQ. MORE AMATEUR RADIO OPERATION REPORTED FROM IRAQ (Apr 14, 2003) -- The Daily DX http://www.dailydx.com reports that several hams with the US military in Iraq have begun showing up on the amateur bands. Mark Smith, NG5L, of North Carolina, has been active from near Nasiriya as YI/NG5L on SSB, usually around 0500 UTC near 14.195 MHz, but he's been spotted during the past few days in Europe and North America on other 20-meter frequencies and at other times of the day. Smith's father, Tom, NG5S, who lives in Arkansas, confirms that his son, 26, is in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. As reported earlier, Jim Dunkerton, YI/KT4CK, has been QRV on 15-meter SSB between 1430 and 1600 UTC. He was last spotted by DL7JAN at 1541 UTC on April 14 on 21.260 MHz. YI/KT4CK has been seeking contacts with the US. Steve Toburen, KB0QHV, of Kansas is among other US amateurs deployed to Iraq, but it's not known if he's been on the air. The Daily DX reports that Bob Furzer, 9K2ZZ/K4CY, has apparently crossed into Iraq from Kuwait and has been on the air as K4CY/p or K4CY/m. ARRL Membership Services Manager Wayne Mills, N7NG, told The Daily DX that the DXCC Desk has made no decisions on whether any of these operations eventually will be approved for DXCC, especially since no civil authority is in place to authorize amateur operation. The amateurs apparently have permission from their commanding officers to operate, but some form of written authorization from a civil authority in Iraq likely would be required for DXCC credit. (ARRL April 14 via John Norfolk, OKCOK, DXLD) ** IRAQ [non]. Glenn, the minister of misinformation has a web site; it is slow to load at times. http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/ I`m hearing Radio Sawa at 01 UT on 7185 arm chair level. Cheers (Daryl Rocker, Herkimer, NY, mvswlc, April 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non?]. Dear Zac., Your unID on 6275.05 kHz is in reality a PIRATE RELAY of Radio 3 Network operating only on FM Band on 100.10 MHz from the pleasant town of Poggibonsi near Siena, in Italy. The signal is coming from an undisclosed place and operated by someone who is doing this relay look like a joke. The on/off problems are probably due to the link connection to the signal from FM which is taken to do the pirate relay. You may listen to Radio 3 Network in real audio from their WEB ... this may help to control if the program relayed is live or just a rebroadcast... till now always live programs has been reported by listeners in Italy and in the world. http://www.radio3.net/ Best regards and good listenings (Dario Monferini, Italy, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Hola Glenn... Según informes de la propia emisora, ubicada en Toscana, la reemisión de Radio Tre en frecuencias de onda corta no está autorizada. Primero fue captada en los 6955 kHz y luego en días recientes ha sido escuchada en los 6275. Radio Tre es una estación local de FM en Italia (Adán González Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, April 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JORDAN. Has been better lately on 11690, and via USB I`ve been able to null out the RTTY, reasonably well (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) English 1300-1630, I believe (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 6104.9, (Tent.) Candela FM, Yucatán, I'm pretty sure on this one reactivated with Mexican pops and canned IDs, pretty sure I've got "Candela" more than once, and they're definitely announcing as an FM station with frequency ending in ".6"-- anybody know what Su Pantera/Candela FM's frequency on FM would be --- would be nice confirmation if it ends in .6! Fair amount of QRM and poor modulation made this one tough. (Newman-IN 4/13) The internet listing I saw shows Candela FM as 95.3... I'm a lot more tentative on my ID now... let the record so reflect! PS, on Contributors section, I'm listed as "no equipment listed." I use a Sony ICF-2010 (remember that one?) with a 100' longwire (Newman-IN, NASWA Flashsheet April 14 via DXLD) But does Newman have a first name? Time?? See 3-064 where we had another report of this one reactivated. All Mexican FM frequencies end in an odd number, just like in US, but tres can sound a lot like seis (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. The Radio Tacna's Operations Manager, Mr. Alfonso Cáceres C., wrote to me and to Conexión Digital that the station is on the web two hours a day, from Monday to Friday, at 1200 to 1400 UT in the URL: http://www.rocksur.com Below, the complete message in Spanish sent from the station. 73's & 55's (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, hard- core-dx via DXLD) Amigos de Conexión Digital: Tal como se anunció en el mes de enero y con evidente retrazo por motivos de negociaciones con el servidor, Radio Tacna ha logrado llegar a un acuerdo con el sitio web http://www.rocksur.com para que nuestra emisora Radio Tacna pueda emitir por el momento dos horas diarias de noticias en vivo de nuestro programa noticioso de la mañana en cual saldrá en dicho portal por el momento dos horas de Lunes a Viernes en el horario de 7.00 a 9.00 horas de Perú (1200 a 1400 UT), con lo cual cumplimos en parte la misión a la que siempre quisimos llegar y tras diversas alternativas y presupuestos no fáciles de concordar, se pudo llegar a dicho acuerdo provisionalmente con la posibilidad que en un futuro cercano dichas horas se amplien de acuerdo al financiamiento que se pueda lograr en base a los auspiciadores que puedan ayudarnos a mantener nuestra señal en internet, el cual tiene características de poder ser captada nuestra transmisión en tiempo real con un número ilimitado de usuarios en cualquier parte del mundo, para lo cual también disponemos del e-mail: radiotacna@terra.com para las opiniones que serán bien recibidas por el departamento técnico. Para facilitar su uso, solo se exigirá disponer de un moden de no menos de 26 Kbits que es muy común en estos días. Las pruebas efectuadas el día 10 del presente mes fueron satisfactorias habiendo recibido comfirmación desde Arequipa-Perú; solo faltará recibir comfirmaciones desde Europa, Asia y cualquier país de América, etc. Desde ya agradecidos por la atención. Atentamente.- Ing. Alfonso Cáceres C. Gerente de Operaciones, Radio Tacna Tacna-Perú (via Slaen, hard-core- dx via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. RADIO ROMANIA INTERNATIONAL A'03 - FREQ SCHEDULE [but see note following] ENGLISH e-mail: engl@rri.ro 02 00 – 03 00 9550 11830 NORTH AMERICA 02 00 – 03 00 11740 15270 JAPAN O2 00 – 03 00 11940 15370 NEW ZEALAND 04 00 – 05 00 9550 11830 NORTH AMERICA 04 00 – 05 00 15335 17735 INDIA 06 00 – 07 00 9530 11830 N W AMERICA 06 36 – 06 56 9510 9570 9625 11790 11940 WESTERN EUROPE 07 00 – 08 00 17720 21480 N-E AFRICA 14 00 – 15 00 15365 17790 WESTERN EUROPE 17 00 – 18 00 9690 11940 WESTERN EUROPE 17 00 – 18 00 7155 9625 NORTHERN EUROPE 21 00 – 22 00 7105 9690 WESTERN EUROPE 21 00 – 22 00 5955 7215 NORTHERN EUROPE 23 00 – 24 00 7195 9570 WESTERN EUROPE 23 00 – 24 00 9510 11940 NORTH AMERICA FRANÇAIS e-mail: fran@rri.ro 05 00 – 06 00 6140 7295 9590 EUROPE OCCIDENTALE 06.00 – 06.19 9510 9570 9625 11790 11940 EUROPE OCCIDENTALE 11 00 – 12 00 15245 17745 EUROPE OCCIDENTALE 11 00 – 12 00 15380 17790 MAGHREB 15 00 – 16 00 15245 17805 EUROPE OCCIDENTALE 15 00 – 16 00 11940 15390 MAGHREB 20 00 – 21 00 7105 9690 EUROPE OCCIDENTALE 20 00 – 21 00 9510 11740 CANADA DEUTSCH e-mail germ@rri.ro 06 19 – 06 36 9510 9570 9625 11790 11940 West- u Mitteleuropa 12 00 – 13 00 15245 17745 West- u Mitteleuropa 16 00 – 17 00 7195 9570 11940 West- u Mitteleuropa 19 00 – 20 00 5960 7130 West- u Mitteleuropa PORTUGUÊS e-mail port@rri.ro 22 00 – 23 00 15365 17720 PORTUGAL 01 00 – 02 00 11875 15250 BRASIL ----------------------------------------- Radio Romania International --- Programmes Summer 2003 MONDAY Radio Newsreel (News + Commentary + Media Headlines / a second commentary) (news, current affairs and much more in only 13 minutes)Pro Memoria (The Romanians’ history) - Political Flash (politics and politicians under scrutiny) - Business Update ( the latest from the financial market, Stock Exchange trading and investment) - Pulse of Transition ( where do we stand after 13 post – communist years?) - Romanian Hits ( light, but not facile music) - Sports Round Up (how did our athletes fare?) - Calendar TUESDAY RADIO NEWSREEL (NEWS + COMMENTARY + MEDIA HEADLINES / A second commentary) (news, current affairs and much more in only 13 minutes) - Business Club (business opportunities; economics easy to understand by everybody) - European Horizons (destination: the European Union) - Tourist News - Performing Arts (the arts in the spotlight) - The Skylark (folk songs and performers) - The Athlete of the Week - Calendar WEDNESDAY Radio Newsreel (News + Commentary + Media Headlines / a second commentary) (news, current affairs and much more in only 13 minutes) Society Today (The Romanians’ mentalities, expectations, behaviour patterns, problems and difficulties) - Business Update (the latest from the financial market, Stock Exchange trading and investments) - Visit Romania! (come over and see for yourself!) - The Stage and Screen (first night performances, stars at the microphone) - Romanian Musicians (famous musicians and their music) - RRI Sports Club (moments from the history of sports) - Calendar THURSDAY Radio Newsreel (News + Commentary + Media Headlines / a second commentary) (news, current affairs and much more in only 13 minutes) Cards on the Table (a talk on matters of concern to all of us, without taboos and preconceived ideas) - IT News ( everything about computers, the Internet and the latest in information technology) - Guests at the Microphone - A Review of the Main Cultural Magazines - Football Flash ( the king-sport in the focus of attention) - Calendar FRIDAY RADIO NEWSREEL (NEWS + COMMENTARY + MEDIA HEADLINES /A second commentary) (news, current affairs and much more in only 13 minutes) - Challenge for the Future (three weeks per month) (the future starts right now!) - Terra 21 (once a month) - Business Update (the latest from the financial market, Stock Exchange trading and investment) - Practical Guide (all sorts of tips for people travelling to Romania) - Off-Bucharest (civic and local initiatives, business, culture) - The Folk Music Box - Sports Weekend - Calendar SATURDAY Radio Newsreel - News - The Week (in only 6 minute) - World of Culture (cultural personalities, ideas, trends, events) - RRI Encyclopaedia - Roots (traditions and customs) - Olympic Profile - Calendar SUNDAY Radio Newsreel - News - Focus (let’s look at the present together!) - Radio Tour (don’t miss a trip to Romania!) - Calendar Regds, (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DXLD) Alokesh, I realize the subject schedule posted on HCDX probably came direct from RRI, but I'm not sure how valid it is. The English part looks a lot like the B02 sked and bears little resemblance to their web site (which I also believe is lacking a few frequencies, BTW). (Mark J. Fine / mark.fine@fineware-swl.com Remington, Virginia, USA ** RUSSIA. Hi Glenn: Listening to Voice of Russia on 15455 from 2000 GMT on with exceptionally strong and clear signals. Is this a relay from Canada as believe that RCI was heard on this frequency after 2200? Hearing on parallel 12070, but with weaker, but still readable signal (Tom Sliva, NYC, April 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AFAIK, it`s direct on a Russian frequency in use for sesquidecades. No relays of VOR via RCI known, tho anything could happen and RCI would not confirm it (gh, DXLD) ** SWITZERLAND. Swiss Radio being heard in English with very good signals on new frequency of 13795 from 1930 to 2030 (Tom Sliva, NYC, April 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. Damascus at 2000 and 2100 [English] has been barely audible here on usual 12085 and 13610, both towards Europe (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Defective transmitters, noise interfering with itself, some report ** UKRAINE. They don`t make things easy!! Thinking back on last year, I tried and found `em: RUI, English hour fair with fade on 12040, 0000 with moderate static, 0300 poor! Not best choices this season with SWL frequencies. Co-channels, mixed up services, languages, late starts and propagation hasn`t helped either! (Bob Thomas, CT, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC DEALT ONLINE ULTIMATUM Owen Gibson, Monday April 14, 2003, The Guardian Culture secretary Tessa Jowell today told the BBC that it has until June to prepare a submission justifying the £112m it spends each year on its online and interactive services ahead of an independent government review. The BBC's online activities have long been a target for those who believe the corporation is extending its remit into areas that could be provided for by the commercial sector, and that it should be limited to providing sites with a public service remit and programme support. Ms Jowell said she would not appoint a team to lead the review - which comes in the wake of former Financial Times editor Richard Lambert's damning report into BBC News 24 - until the BBC had delivered its response in June. The investigation will also include a period of public consultation. "The BBC is preparing a full statement about the online approval and its own detailed assessment of performance against this," said Ms Jowell. She added that the report will be submitted to the department by the end of June 2003, and will then be available to the independent reviewer. The BBC has been asked to provide a detailed critique of its own online operations, measured against the objectives outlined by former director general John Birt when he originally secured approval for BBC Online in 1997. The BBC's rivals claim that Lord Birt promised to limit spending on the web to £21m a year at the time. The investigation comes at a time of intense external scrutiny for the BBC, in the run up to the process of charter renewal in 2006. As well as individual reviews of controversial areas such as News 24 and its online operation, the corporation will face a wholesale review of its public service role and licence fee funded status. Ms Jowell added that the series of individual independent probes would feed into the overall charter review process, as would the forthcoming public service broadcasting review by new telecoms and media regulator Ofcom. The Lambert Report concluded News 24 was not sufficiently different from its commercial rivals, and rival websites are hopeful that the online review will lead to a similar conclusion. According to the BBC annual report, the corporation spent £100.4m on the internet in the last financial year, compared with £54.2m the year before. It runs over 25,000 websites on a wide variety of subjects and the main BBC site is one of the most visited in Europe. If interactive television projects such as the successful split screen Wimbledon coverage and Walking With Dinosaurs are taken into account, the total expenditure rises to £111.6m. The overall amount is set to rise slightly again this year, but the BBC's director of new media, Ashley Highfield, has already taken what many believe amounts to pre-emptive action, cutting 100 jobs and putting a fresh emphasis on interactive television at the expense of the web. "I will set detailed terms of reference for the independent review, which will include a public consultation, once the appointment of a reviewer has been made," said Ms Jowell. "These will, however, include a review of the service against the approval given and, to contribute to the coming process of BBC charter review, an assessment of market impact together with an analysis of the role of BBC Online as part of the BBC's overall service," she added. MediaGuardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003 (via Daniel Say, DXLD) ** U S A. Mr. Hauser, could you give me the postal address of the radio station WJIE? I tuned to this station on 13595 at 0100-0200 UT and I'd like to send a reception report but I don't know the postal address. I tried to find it on the web site, but there is no information about it. Thanks (Márcio Roberto Polheim da Silva, from Jaraguá do Sul / SC - Brazil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, it used to be; but also on my website http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio :: WJIE Shortwave, P. O. Box 197309, Louisville, KY 40259. One can only wonder if entities not showing P-mail addresses on their websites are intentionally trying to discourage such contact. 13595 not bad here, Apr 15 at 1630, the time when WOR is supposed to air on Sundays, and \\ 7490 also audible. BTW, confirmation from any listener of the new times on WJIE will be most welcome; if you don`t hear the edition mentioned a couple of consecutive topics noted will enable me to determine that; tnx (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. En los 5070 se está escuchando una señal en ingles bastante fuerte, pero la cinta con el programa presentó problemas y se escuchaba muy lento. Tengo grabaciones a la orden de los colegas diexistas. Atte: (José Elías, Venezuela, 0325 UT Apr 14, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. WRMI BROADCASTS SPECIAL SWL WINTERFEST PROGRAMS ENGLISH On Sunday, April 20 (UT), WRMI will present two special editions of its "Viva Miami" program in English to North America about the SWL Winterfest that took place in Kulspville, Pennsylvania recently. Program 1 will be broadcast at 0330-0400 UT (this is Saturday night in North America) on 7385, and at 1200-1230 on 15725. Program 2 will air at 1230-1300 and at 2200-2230, both times on 15725. In addition, Program 2 will be broadcast at 0330-0400 UT Sunday, April 27 on 7385. The two programs will include interviews with Sheldon Harvey of the Canadian International DX Club about how to interest young people in shortwave, Tracy Wood about international satellite TV DXing, Kim Elliott of the Voice of America about DRM digital shortwave experiments, Pete Miller of the English Section of Radio Slovakia International, and Risto Vahakainu of the Finnish DX Association about the European DX Council conferences last year in Finland and this year in Germany. ESPAÑOL WRMI transmitirá un programa especial en español sobre el Festival del Invierno de la Onda Corta que tuvo lugar recientemente en Pensilvania, EEUU. El programa se puede escuchar el miércoles, Abril 16 a las 1130-1200 UT y el domingo, Abril 20 a las 0930-1000. Las dos transmisiones serán en 9955 kHz hacia el Caribe y Latinoamérica. En el programa habrán entrevistas con Sheldon Harvey del Club DX Internacional de Canadá sobre cómo interesar los jóvenes en la onda corta, Tracy Wood sobre el DXismo de la televisión internacional vía satélite, Kim Elliott de la Voz de América sobre los experimentos con la onda corta digital, Pete Miller de Radio Eslovaquia Internacional, y Risto Vahakainu de la Asociación DX de Finlandia sobre las conferencias del Consejo DXista Europeo el año pasado en Finlandia y este año en Alemania (Jeff White, WRMI, radiomiami9@cs.com April 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I already heard the Spanish version UT Sun Apr 13 at 0330 on 7385 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. In a double-barreled blast at the Federal Communications Commission, a bipartisan coalition of key lawmakers and another federal agency has asked the FCC to put its plans to revise the media ownership rules on indefinite hold. The coalition of lawmakers, including Sens. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., slammed the agency's plan on grounds that the FCC had failed to give public notice on the specific changes it is contemplating. "We believe it is virtually impossible to serve the public interest in this extremely important and highly complex proceeding without letting the public know about and comment on the changes you intend to make to these critical rules," the lawmakers said in an April 9 letter to the FCC. The Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration, meanwhile, alleged that the FCC's current plan to adopt final regulations on June 2 runs afoul of federal law intended to protect small businesses. "By not proposing rules, the commission is limiting the ability of small business to provide the agency with needed information on the impacts of the rule and possible alternatives that will lessen any impacts," the office said. http://www.tvweek.com (Via: Shoptalk Magazine via Fred Vobbe, NRC FMTV via DXLD) ** U S A. Products are released without patents all the time. I see it as no more than grandstanding. The Kahn press release with lack of follow-through almost makes iBiquity look like they know what their doing. By the way, if iBiquity didn't provide their report on nighttime AM operation during NAB, then maybe IBOC AM will fall flat on its face too. That wouldn't be a bad thing. I can't help but wonder after all the nighttime IBOC AM testing and revisions, if they don't have it working now, then will they ever? How much more time and money are they willing to sink into AM? Final thought; What's this analog talk combined with digital music on hybrid IBOC AM all about anyway? Has the coding been revised such that the listener can manually select analog or digital? So then what happens when the digital signal craps out due to fading, driving under a bridge, or some other temporary loss of signal? Does it switch back and forth between music and talk? Like that'll go over real well (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, NRC-AM via DXLD) Most of what I've seen applies to FM IBOC, not AM. NPR is pushing the concept of having two digital audio channels - one in sync with the analog program, probably at 64 kbps, and second one at 32 kbps or so that carries a different program. It's basically the digital version of the FM subcarrier services that NPR and others are already carrying (and which can be badly interfered with by IBOC). I think there's also some interest in having a different program (with AM or FM IBOC) when there's just one digital program, even though it means giving up the "blend to analog" feature and accepting a smaller coverage area for the digital service. When the digital signal is undecodable, the audio would simply mute. Despite that disadvantage, a new and different digital service might attract more people to IBOC than a digital simulcast of the analog program would (Barry McLarnon, Ont., Apr 13, NRC-AM via DXLD) I can see giving up the "blend to analog" on IBOC FM, since FM has much more bandwidth. I can't see it working for IBOC AM. I've heard the hybrid IBOC AM tests, and the analog really does sound much more inferior in hybrid mode than in normal all-analog operation. Would AM stations actually be willing to lose analog listenership due to audio limitations just to provide something different on the digital side? I'm not sure Rush, Imus, and other AM talkers would like it. Maybe AM stations should dump the hybrid mode and go straight to all-digital mode instead. I used to be a hopeful supporter of IBOC AM in some respects, but even I'm beginning to feel like it's doomed at this point. (Insert the Bob and Kevin laugh-track here.) The introduction of the Kahn miracle this late in the game ain't going to help either. DRM anyone? By the way, check out the Kenwood "audio keg" on their website. It's the system that's IBOC compatible, a high-end audio system, not your average car radio (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, ibid.) Unfortunately there's been so much money poured into this that there is nothing that can derail it short of being on the receiving end of a nuclear war. If you go through all the 99-325 comments, all the individuals said they didn't want it. All the corporations stated its the greatest thing in the history of the world. This only reinforced the idea for me that government is of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporation. IBOC is absolutely awful on AM and I still believe eventually the government will tell us that we will have IBOC whether the people want it or not. Time will tell all. (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) [Re McLarnon`s comments above:] This is the first argument for AM IBOC that could be translated into a customer benefit. The trick would be to enable listeners to lock their radios in either analog or digital mode instead of automatic default. The analog mode could be low fidelity stuff (like news and traffic or talk) and the digital could be music, etc. The IBOC proponents could pitch this as "two stations in one" or something else of appropriate cheesiness. In all seriousness, something like this might actually motivate consumers to upgrade to IBOC radios (Harry Helms AK6C/7, Las Vegas, NV DM26, April 14, NRC-AM via DXLD) Except that the very idea of music on AM is so long gone for anything other than oldies or religious or fringe formats that those listeners are gone from AM forever. Remember that the average person in the US under the age of 30 doesn't usually know that AM even exists. And at this point, commercial radio on FM is driving certain segments of listeners away as well. Sure, it's more than they've already got to promise, but I doubt it'll prove to be a meaningful incentive (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Except that: I don't think increasing the number of things being broadcast will really help AM. There's already more than enough stations. Much better fidelity and much better content are the only things I see as helping. And of course IBOC as it exists now isn't going to put AM in the high fidelity camp; everyone will still prefer FM for music and there will be interference. After thinking about it for a long time, I believe the best thing that could have happened was to devote the extended band to full digital IBOC (no hybrid) for a period of time. Too bad that didn't happen (Chuck Hutton, WA, ibid.) I had the opportunity to ask some pointed questions of the people delivering the white papers in the IBOC sessions at NAB. I brought up the recording I have made by Fred of WLW in Lima ,Ohio which is in our 2 MV field which is well within our .5 mv protected daytime contour BTW. At Sunrise when WOR switched in their IBOC, WLW became unlistenable. Which begs the critical hours question to be addressed. I also pointed out 1530 WSAI`s daytime .5mv signal completely envelopes the 1520 in Shelbyville, IN city of license. This will surely, severely impact that small market broadcaster. How many others expecting IBOC to save them might actually kill them for good? We are set to begin operation on 1530 WSAI as soon as we do the final tweaks on the already installed equipment. I also got out of Glen Clark that his night time studies did not really apply to Skywave operation. And of course the regional and local channel noise floor would go up in almost every case. But Local channels have such a high Noise limit already they would not be severely impacted. Regional channels however would suffer varying degrees based on adjacent channel issues. Also Pointed out was some research done on skywave listnership. Ibiquity claims no one will even listen to skywave anymore. However ratings research done showed it was actually determined that stations had varying degrees of skywave listership. 10 percent was the average for signals with skywave service. WSM had the highest at 66%! AM iboc was taken to task on its coding artifacts. Frankly that will get better with time. And for me is not near as big an issue as Skywave. Something else not mentioned is that the current IBOC radios seem to only work to the 5 mv contour or about the city grade limit. Maybe that will get better also. As I stated in the sessions I will continue to beat the skywave drum long and loud. I was approached by several other AM skywave stations after the session and it was interesting how many derive significant income from their signals at night. And they are ALL very concerned. I had the XM argument thrown out as a replacement for skywave. Which I countered, when it has even 10% of the analog base or about 50 million radios installed and when it is then free, let`s talk. I also talked up outside the sessions the service angle. I had the revenue issue brought up. Which I countered with the service to the public. Example was the DC sniper was caught by a trucker listening to Bozo on WLW in the DC area. A no go with iboc. Also during hurricane Hugo almost all the local signals were off the air in Charleston SC. WSB and WLW were a few of the signals servicing the area that night. I remember Bozo going almost non stop hurricane coverage that night. This is the case for almost every other significant event as well. As I said in the session. Don't get me wrong, My dog is in this hunt. I would be real happy if IBOC worked. But I don't want to shoot him in the process. So I got to be the IBOC skywave posterboy at the 2003 NAB. Or at least I felt like it (Paul Jellison, WLW Cincinnati, Clear Channel, April 14, NRC-AM via DXLD) Paul, thanks for the good points. I'm curious whether any corporate folks from Clear-Channel have told you you're "off the reservation" and ordered you to get back in the corral :-)) (Mark Durenberger, Vice President, Technical Operations, Victory Sports, LLC, ibid.) Not at all. In fact the person pointing out the ratings and skywave research issues was a SRVP with Clear Channel! (PJ, ibid.) Actually, as I see it you have dogs in both hunts - a vested interest in resolving the issues of reduced coverage and adjacent-channel interference for a station which has always had good skywave coverage, but also with a significant investment in IBOC. I still doubt that it will be possible to do both. But I also still believe that IBOC doesn't offer the current listeners much, nor does it offer much to attract listeners. Those stations on clear or regional channels which have remained successful have a strong technical presence in their signal/coverage and strong content to make people want to listen. (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Paul: A few little questions for you: (1) When you say "10 percent was the average for signals with skywave service", what stations would qualify as having skywave service? Class I, II and III but not IV? (2) by "his nighttime studies" did you mean the rules proposed in Glen Clark's petition to the FCC? (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) With the coming of IBOC I've been reading up and doing some of the math on what service area is truly protected from interference by FCC regulations. The answer is rather startling. It's easier to run the numbers on FM. FM stations are protected to their 60dBu contour. At my location, seventeen stations deliver 60dBu or better. Some of the stations in the area that *don't* reach 60dBu include WBUZ 102.9, WZZP 97.5, and WRLT 100.1 - three of the four stations I listen to most. All three deliver rock solid full quieting signals to my car radio despite predicted fields of as little as 47dBu. Truth be told, only one of the seventeen that *does* deliver 60dBu airs anything I'd listen to... Admittedly IBOC-FM is (supposed to be; I've not yet heard it..) a very different beast from IBOC-AM. But my point is that stations often provide useful service well outside their protected contours - service that will be missed if it's lost to new interference. (if I can't get WRLT at home due to IBOC interference from WVVR 100.3, my car radio is likely to be on some other frequency as I drive into work and enter WRLT's protected contour. In other words, interference outside the station's protected contour will diminish listenership *within* that contour.) (Doug Smith, W9WI, Nashville TN, ibid.) ** U S A. Hi Glen[n], The WSM radio and TV tower articles posted in DXLD a few days ago jogged my memory about this incident last fall and happened to find this recent article. TV STATION IS BUILDING NEW TOWER http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=710773 Published Saturday April 12, 2003 SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) - A smaller television transmission tower is being built to replace one that collapsed near Hemingford, Neb., killing two people. A 1,475-foot tower - about 500 feet smaller than the one that fell - will be erected between two existing towers in Angora, about 30 miles east of Scottsbluff. The tower will carry the signal throughout the Panhandle and into eastern Wyoming for Scottsbluff television station KDUH. Sections of the tower have already arrived on 10 acres of land purchased by Duhamel Broadcasting of Rapid City, S.D., the station's parent company. The main footings and center section of the tower have been poured, the company said Thursday. "It's all coming together, and we're looking forward to getting it back on the air," said Teddy Brown, the station's chief engineer. The tower will have two transmitters, one for the current signal and another for a future digital and eventual high-definition signal, said Scott Bruce, the station's general manager. The project is expected to be completed by mid-September. The original 1,965-foot tower collapsed Sept. 24 while a work crew was trying to strengthen it. The tower was 500 feet higher than the Sears Tower (via Ken Kopp - WØNXS, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COMMENTARY ++++++++++ QSLing, Bellabarba, CPRV, Preserving QSLs, tapes, County-hunting. . . UNPOLITE WAY TO DISCUSS A TOPIC BY MR. COTRONEO Dear Glenn, thanks very much to put the messages on the Bellabarba "topic" of the moment. Without your "service" I should not have been to know the opinion expressed by Mr. Rocco Cotroneo, recently sent to the NRC, April 11, NRC-AM, in fact I am not member of this club so I am not able to know this message or other message posted in the NRC- AM. I guess is not polite to do such attitude, accusing another SWL without giving the possibilities to let know to the other readers, if the accused has something to say.... but probably the respectable Mr. Cotroneo is used to do this already in his dayly activity as reporter of an Italian newspaper... where usually after something is printed the reader may only read it...and has no way to let know his opinion on the "topic". In fact I may assure Mr. Cotroneo has not sent to me a copy of his message sent to NRC-AM. Concerning what he said, I may only add the conclusion is quite an amazing mountain of silly hypothetical suggestions... I have a collection of 235000 different stickers printed by radio, collected in 27 years, and I am not able to get the one of Mr. Bellabarba, I surely will not sleep anymore.... So I support the Bellabarba faking reports and he "pay" this with precious stickers he receive together the fake replies.... I guess such theory need a psychiatric help... I leave you free to believe or not about such theoric fantasies.... The matter is the Mr. Bellabarba fake reports shows clearly many radio stations especially in the US are replying to the fake reports automatically, without controlling the details and the time of the listening. I have no doubts and I agree this is the wrong side of our beautiful hobby, but the solution is not the one suggested by some Scandinavian purists SWL : please stop this game.... so no one will talk any more about the fake reports of Mr. Bellabarba.... so eye will not see and the teeth will not cry. No folks...this will not solve the problem... Mr. Bellabarba is not the one doing this "wrong activity" in Italy.... but other guy exists ... in US, in Germany, Canada, United Kingdom.... and so on... don't expect I will tell you the names. Being QSL-Manager for years for different Pirate stations operating in Italy on SW I have seen and verified thousands of them... and believe me I have seen many terrific reports.... and usually I have replied to this fake reports explaining the station you have listened was a different one... or your report is not correct... rarely these fake reporters sent another one... So I agree totally to the Mr. Jim Solatie suggestion to write e-mails of protests directly to Mr. Bellabarba... to flood his computer... almost he will not change e-mail... Not messages saying "stop this fake reports bastard" as suggested by someone... this is the wrong way, but explain why his activity is not right.... after all is just an hobby... even if some one thinks to be the Best ... or to be First to have got a reply from a rare Peruvian... and after some months we may discover this rare Peruvian has replied also to a fake cloned report of Mr. Bellabarba... Our hobby must be an exchange of informations, a discussion of topics, even politics topics..... sorry to have keep so much precious space in the Glenn Hauser DXLD, I think is the only planetary place we may discuss such Topics, cause Glenn is not like other people proposing "stop this game". I claim only a worldwide cooperation may stop this problem... (Dario Monferini, Milano, Apr 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) COLLECTIBLE V PERSONALLY REPORTED QSLS Dear Glenn, The discussion concerning the QSL activities of Signore Bellabarba (DXLD 3-063) raises the need to differentiate between 'collectible QSLs' and 'personally reported QSLs'. The DX hobby is familiar with those who collect QSL cards and letters in return for their own report of reception of a radio signal. The classic 'personally reported QSL'. Collecting QSLs like collecting stamps More recently, some of us have also become familiar with those (either in the hobby or outside it), who buy, sell or trade QSLs for a variety of reasons. Some are building a collection (much like a stamp collector) for thematic or geographic reasons, for research, for preservation and conservation purposes, or merely for the fun of collecting.. Like postage stamps, many QSL cards are works of art in their own right. Many are rare. Many make a cross-over into the hobby of postcard collecting. Many QSLs have philatelic value for postmarks, postage stamps and other markings which interest philatelists. QSL de-linked from personal reception report Such reasons have nothing to do with sending a reception report. The QSL card is de-linked from the act of sending one's own reception report. They become a form of 'collectible QSL'. These are all genuine and valid reasons for collecting QSLs although I think many DXers have a lot of difficulty understanding or accepting them. QSLs become valuable collectibles The 'biggie' is that QSLs and other radio related items (stickers, Top 40 charts etc) have also become 'collectibles'. with a monetary value. Some people see them as items to be traded for profit and it has even become a business for them. I think DXers are totally unfamiliar with such people and currently have little tolerance for their activity.. DX community must tolerate other viewpoints The DX community could usefully accept and adapt to these changes and exercise tolerance when familiar items develop new meanings for others who may have little or no interest in reporting reception or the DX hobby itself. Some DXers like to collect both 'collectible QSLs' and 'personally reported QSLs' which confuses others even more. A letter to a radio station asking for a copy of their QSL card is not a faked report. However, it would be helpful if the collector made clear the fact they just want to have a QSL card and that the request is not linked to a report of reception. Misrepresenting QSLs Listing collectible QSLs in DX magazines as if they had been received for a personal reception report is unacceptable. Sending a fake reception report or misrepresenting the request to obtain a QSL is completely unacceptable. QSL collectibles may help DXers However, listing or discussing such QSLs in a separate 'radio collectibles' section within a DX magazine seems perfectly reasonable. Some of the information supplied (such as name of person who sent the QSL card) may even help those wanting to send reception reports to obtain a personal QSL. Personal innuendo and attacks unhelpful Some of the remarks made in this column recently about named DXers, QSL collectors and sticker collectors are unhelpful. We all enjoy our own world of radio, and should tolerate differences of opinion. How the DX community handles the 'collectible QSL' as opposed to the 'personally reported QSL' is clearly an issue only now being considered. Hopefully with maturity (David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Collection http://www.radiodx.com Wellington, New Zealand, April 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi David, I do hope it's all fault of my regrettably poor English. Surely I can't really get what you're saying. Should I "open my mind" such as to welcome within the "DX" community a guy who's been sending out thirty thousand ridiculously faked reception reports? Is that a legitimate "collection" according to your generous standard? When Mr. Bellabarba is not pretending having travelled nearby a station (he never ventures out of Bologna but, look!, from his "reports" one would think he treked every single US State, Alaska and Hawaii included, not to mention every single Southern Sea island...), he invariably writes: "I have heard you here in Bologna". And that happens with New Zealand stations on FM too. Or with mediumwave Pacific stations "heard" at 2 P.M., Bologna time. As for that "rather excitable Brazilian"... Please read again, David. Rocco's comment starts with "As a proud Italian and NRC member...", Rocco is an Italian national and a correspondent for the leading Italian daily paper, the Corriere della Sera (with a circulation of 700.000). He's been DX-ing for some 28 years and as far as I know him (in the last 28 years) he seldom loses his temper, notwithstanding his long term residence in an admittedly hotter Rio... As it happens with me, Rocco too is sick and tired of reading what the whole world, with very few exceptions, has to comment about Mr. Bellabarba and his achievements. Which fall upon the head of us Italians as s**t hitting the proverbial fan. Cheers, (Andrea Lawendel, Milano, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Whatever the demerits of BB, he is obviously an aberration, and no other Italians should be tarred because of him! (gh, DXLD) Hello Glenn, I think that in the present debate about Mr Bellabarba's QSLs there is a hidden but important misunderstanding. A common comment on the publication of his "QSLs" in Dario Monferini's Play DX is that indeed these verifications come from faked reports, *but* at least their publication provides useful information to DXers. This is not true. As Dario himself said, to produce his reports Mr BB spends most of his time searching for tips published by DXers on the net. This means that Mr BB isn't discovering new and hidden information, but perusing and cloning information *already* available to anybody. Mr BB isn't an explorer of unknown territories of the radio world, nor a psychic that can discover impossible-to-find information; he is actually providing old information that could easily have been found by a quick search on the net. So he is providing no useful data to DXers, while unfairly using information provided by DXers; he is damaging the whole DX community, giving nothing in return. There is nothing to be gained from the publication of his "QSLs"; a bulletin that publishes his information is providing only old information taken from other DXers, without proper credit. It's the original information that can be of help to the DX community, not Mr BB's cloning. 73 (Fabrizio Magrone, Forlì, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I would very much urge people like Jim Solatie not to "surrender" with the threat caused by Mr. Bellabarba. I'd still encourage people to share the information they get about the stations. There is a depressingly fast decline in the flow of information on all the mailing lists. (HCDX for example). The same with various DX bulletins. I don't think all of it can be caused Mr. B. In my mind Mr. B's action is more than anything a fine excuse for hiding the valuable information from others. It should be a "duty" of a DXer to share any information that helps another hobbyist to get a QSL or catch a rare station. Pat Martin for example has shown the way. The same guys that hide information shamelessly utilize the information that is revealed by the "bold" people who are not afraid of Mr. B. Besides, everybody can easily add in his automated Word document report form: "NB. There's a guy called BELLABARBA who may approach you with a fake reception report looking exactly like mine. He is a bastard trying to destroy my hobby. Don't respond to him. It is a kind of 'spam'". I think it should help a lot. It is not of too much trouble. If it doesn't work, then let's try to figure out something more effective together. Besides, if it is so easy to get a QSL for a fake report, what is the value of QSL nowadays as a proof of reception happened? Wouldn't it be better to just collect recordings instead of teasing the already exhausted employees at the stations with our reports? Instead of reports being interesting as in the olden days, stations find them nowadays being just irritating and causing extra work. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, April 12, MW-DX via DXLD) I strongly agree with Mauno that the main effect of this "game" is the fast decline in the flow of good and fresh information. You may see that many DXers in this and other forums only alert colleagues when a QSL of a new station is received. I am impressed, while DXing in Italy, how impossible is to find real time information on tips, what people are listening to, especially on mw. It reminds me of the pre-Internet era, when you were looking forward to receiving foreign publications just to check what had happened two weeks before the same day, say, in Scandinavia or UK. I haven't sent reports for years but I can understand people fully involved in this side of the hobby. The other effect is the gradual loss of credibility of some parts and bulletins, but this is "his" problem, not ours (Rocco Cotroneo, Rio de Janeiro, April 12, ibid.) |David H said: If I want to amass a huge QSL collection, I could always troll ebay for them.| David, although I'm sure that you didn't mean it that way, I find your comment to be offensive. I have been collecting AM QSL cards since about 1968. I have bought more than one rare, classic, unique, or antiquated AM QSL card on eBay for the purpose of preserving them in my collection. I proudly display many of them on my web sites as a public service so that people who may have never seen them can do so. When I do display them I clearly indicate if they were purchased by me rather than being received in response to a reception report. In many cases that is obvious because of the age of the cards. I'm not trying to pass these off as anything other than what they are - a valuable part of my collection of historical broadcasting items. By collecting these cards I feel that I am doing my part to preserve some of the history of AM radio and to pass it on to a younger generation. AM QSL cards are already the rarity with most stations today responding with a brief letter or less. I wonder how many of the cards that I have purchased might have ended up in the trash or otherwise lost to radio hobbyists if they weren't sold to a collector such as myself. Your comment is the equivalent of saying that it is wrong for a stamp collector to collect any stamp that wasn't mailed to him on the outside of an envelope (Patrick Griffith, CBT, Westminster, CO, USA NRC-AM, via DXLD) Patrick: I'm sure Dave will speak for himself, but I think you've missed his point. The point about buying eBay QSLs and amassing a "collection" is the same as Bellabarba collecting QSLs by grabbing program details from people's reports in DX magazines and the Internet. You just make some mouse clicks and a while later you have a QSL collection without hearing a station. No one said it was bad to buy QSL's to preserve them. Nobody said it was bad to preserve historical relics. I don't see the connection (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) Patrick, Very well said! I have done the same. I have purchased a few old QSLs cards like one from KEX in 1931 to protect them. Sometime down the road when I get old I will donate my collection. This is a piece of history as my whole collection is. I started QSLing in 1965 and have over 3,200 cards and letters on MW, SW, FM,TV, etc. There have always been people to cheat at the hobby and there always will be. As one DXer told me that these people are not DXers but collectors of cards as they never have heard the station. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) In my mind there is a sharp distinction between the collecting of historic QSL cards for preservation as artifacts of the hobby and what has been under discussion previously in this thread - where the collector makes either no disclaimer or a very hazy one with the intent of leaving the impression that their entire collection resulted from their personal receptions. David was referring to the former as practised by Bellabarba -- who so far as I know doesn't purchase them - only obtains them by something slightly less than mail fraud (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) The difference between what you do and what David decries is that you have no intention of passing off your collection as representing your loggings. It's unfortunate that it's necessary to decry that practice - it simply shouldn't happen - but it does. The ARRL has had to go to considerable lengths to verify the validity of QSLs submitted for their DXCC award; they've learned that if they don't, people *will* try to submit forged and otherwise invalid verifications. Bizarre. QSLs being tossed out by family members who don't understand the history are one risk. I wonder how many verifications will literally fade away? I've begun scanning in my ham QSL collection. (12,210 cards, it's going to take awhile!) Each .jpg is being saved with a filename derived from the date, time, and frequency of the station, and their callsign. (so hopefully I can retrieve them in the future...) The scans are going to end up on a bunch of CD/Rs. I've already had to use the brightness/contrast function in Gimp to make faded ink legible - sometimes, on cards only 10-15 years old. None of the cards are more than 30 years old. Computer-printed cards seem to be particularly susceptible to fading. While probably not relevant to BCB DX, cards where the information was printed on an adhesive label are beginning to lose their labels. (and hams have only been using adhesive labels for about 15 years) Moral is, even if your verifications are stored in a safe place, they may be deteriorating. More serious measures may be in order. And now, I read where CD/Rs have a limited lifetime too..... (Doug Smith, W9WI, ibid.) Patrick, Sorry that my remarks offended you. That certainly was not my intention. I don't disparage buying QSLs of historic or technical significance, for the purpose of collecting or preserving them. I'm a historian, after all, working on a project to preserve Thomas Edison's personal papers and to make them widely available in print and online to researchers and others interested in his life and significance. I feel the same way about QSLs; they are a window into the history of our odd but fascinating hobby. Trust me on this: some PhD student will come along someday and write a history of this hobby and the QSLs might be valuable sources. So please keep buying, preserving, and publishing them. It's amazing what you can learn from ephemera like QSLs. But, as others have pointed out, obtaining QSLs under false pretenses is dishonest and is bad for the hobby generally. I don't agree with the analogy you draw between QSLs and stamp collecting. Writing an honest reception report takes effort-- patience, skill, and meticulous record-keeping. On the other hand, anyone with the money can buy a certain stamp, and personal effort expended in acquiring a stamp has little to do with its value. I don't QSL much, but I do understand that the personal value of a QSL is that it validates one's skill as a DXer. And that's exactly what someone like Bellabarba demeans and cheapens (Dave Hochfelder, NJ, ibid.) For even more insight into this saga, especially the personality and lifestyle of Carlo Bellabarba, click the link below to see the latest edition of Glenn Hauser's "DX Listening Digest." Scroll to the bottom of the page to see Dario Monferini's comments about Bellabarba, and I defy you to read them all the way through without laughing out loud: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld3063.txt To call Dario's logic "convoluted" is an understatement, and he's being more than a little disingenuous when he expresses disdain toward people who sell QSLs on eBay --- Dario was a multiple unsuccessful bidder on some of my QSLs (like from Radio Euzkadi) that I auctioned on eBay last year. Maybe Dario's lack of success (also known as "parsimony") has altered his views somewhat. But his defense of Bellabarba "web searching for TIPS" is just too effing lame for words; It ranks right up there with yesterday's op ed in the New York Times by Eason Jordan of CNN in which he admitted CNN suppressed many accounts of torture by Saddam Hussein's regime in exchange for being allowed to keep the CNN Baghdad bureau open (the story is at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/opinion/11JORD.html and makes you wonder what "agreements" have been made to keep CNN bureaux in Damascus, Havana, etc.). Never underestimate the human capacity for self-deception! (Harry Helms AK6C/7 Las Vegas, NV DM26, ibid.) |Russ said: In my mind there is a sharp distinction between the collecting of historic QSL cards for preservation as artifacts of the hobby and what has been under discussion previously in this thread| I do understand the difference. I'm just not sure that every other reader of this list understands. David's statement didn't present that difference. To me his statement appeared to lump everyone buying QSLs on eBay together under a single derogatory umbrella. And that is why it rubbed me the wrong way (Patrick Griffith, CBT, Westminster, CO, USA, ibid.) I've been reading this thread with both interest and disgust and have had a couple of off the record discussions with a few of my close DX friends as well. Anyhow, I'll cut to the chase and try to avoid using language that is overly offensive. Anyhow, my rant begins. Bellabarba is simply a lying, cheating piece of crap. His antics do nothing but cheapen the entire hobby. Not all radio station personnel are clueless enough to realize when they get a false or, in his case, blatantly cheating report. As a result and over time, some radio station personel get put off due to cheating reports and end up with less interest in reading and QSLing any reports. Therefore, honest DXers like myself and the rest of us here find it more difficult to get QSLs. While I have almost no interest in QSLing due to the time and effort required, I certainly understand and respect my colleagues here who do love to QSL. I've always thought that one is supposed to only QSL stations that he DXed over the air. There is supposed to be some honor associated with QSLing and Bellabarba shows no honor and only lies. It is disgusting to think that Monferini's or any other publication would allow even the slightest implication from one of Bellabarba's QSL of stations he didn't actually hear. This cheapens the entire hobby, both from a QSL standpoint and from a logging standpoint. Even the slightest implication that he actually heard (when it is certain he didn't) the station he QSLed cheapens the hobby from a logging standpoint. Monferini should be totally ashamed of himself for not doing what it takes to try to drive Bellabarba totally out of the hobby. I'd never dream of publishing QSL info from a fraud. Bellabarba is not the bad little boy to be made fun of and enjoyed for his antics, but a disgusting, blatant fraud who should be driven from the hobby once and for all. QSLing a station you haven't heard is a bit like having sex with a prostitute. It feels good for a bit, but in the end, you haven't really accomplished anything. My apologies if my directness and language have offended anyone here, but I've been disgusted by Bellabarba and a couple others like him for nearly 30 years and I'm gagging anytime I open a post with his name in it which isn't condemning him. 73 and let`s DX....KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL, ibid.) Neil; I totally agree with you that someone like Bellabarba ruins the hobby of QSLing. I think as DXers and QSLers we should shun people like him. If he has no friends in the hobby, maybe he will go away. I really doubt it as he as been cheating for many years. He did not get 30,000 QSLs overnight! People like him has always made me sick. However we had them and always will. I had a friend who was an autograph collector for many years. With e bay and the forged autographs in recent years, it has ruined a lot of that hobby too. If there is a buck to be made, someone will do it. Morality means nothing to these types. 73s; Good DX to us all! (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) Bellabarba reminds me of the guy that gets a diploma for something from a Diploma Mill, (without actually going to school). Or better yet, the fellow that gets his 1st class (now General Class license) from a quickie school, and could not figure out if the braid or the center carries the signal on RG-8, or what a 4-400 is. While I'm not going to get mad at Bellabarba, (my dad always said ... choose your battles), I have warned a lot of stations about this gentleman's practice, and told them that this is NOT how a serious Dxer conducts business. I've also tried to tell my friends in engineering how much it means to those of us that WORK at mailing in a report. Personally, I think too many QSLs end up hidden from people that would get enjoyment from them. And I don't see any reason not to show them off. If someone is a big enough **** that they would print them and put them in their books (as their own), then so be it. It's no different than a record collector getting a copy in MP3 or a survey collector getting a photostat of a survey. There are those that collect for the genuine aspect, and then there are those that collect because it's something cool. The one thing that cheeses me about some of these QSL preservation groups is that a person like me does not have access to them unless I'm willing to invest a couple hundred dollars for a road trip. I wish we could all get our QSLs scanned and perhaps put them on one page/site for all to see, or at least have a page with links to each person's individual collection. It's interesting to look at QSLs, even someone else's WCFL QSL from October of 1970. I noted that they changed the color sometime between when I got mine, and one showed up on the net (Fred Vobbe, NRC-AM via DXLD) Bingo! It's nice that a place like the University of Maryland's library agrees to house a QSL collection, but exactly how many people have College Park, MD, on their vacation itinerary? It'd make more sense to donate those QSL collections to a place like the Museum of Television and Radio, which operates in both Los Angeles and New York, or to college libraries in locations like Las Vegas or Orlando that have substantial tourist traffic. The odds of someone eventually going to New York or Las Vegas for a vacation or business is much higher than College Park! (Harry Helms AK6C/7 Las Vegas, NV DM26, ibid.) Or, Harry... just scan the darn things and put them on a web page, or offer it as a volume in PDF form. Just give us some way of looking at them other than the pompous response of drive to Maryland, or come to my house to see them. Sometimes I get the feeling that these preservation committees think of these collections of deceased DXer's cards as their own property, as I've not seen any willingness to make any compromises in providing views to anyone else but the locals in their community (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) Ditto. I swapped emails with them and found them to be uninterested in listing whose collections were their property. I don't recall if we discussed it, but they've done nothing electronic to provide access. It's nice to know Ernie Cooper's veries are in our hands instead of a preservation committee. With the advent of cheap scanners and ubiquitous PC's, it makes more sense for collections to be scanned and archived digitally. The hide- them-in-a-library thing works fine for university people doing university work, but I also don't understand how it helps the hobbyists who'd like to see the QSL's. And amazingly, there seems to be no way to know what collections are in storage at the U of M. Perhaps the U of M could tell us, but that seems to be the only way. (Chuck Hutton, WA, ibid.) I don't believe that the Committee to Preserve Radio Verifications is helping as much as they could. Were those QSL's made available on the web, a lot more people could enjoy looking at them. I'd think a few volunteers could scan a bunch of QSL's rapidly and put quite a nice number of interesting old QSL's on the web, but it seems the CPRV doesn't want to even list whose collections they have much less scan some and put them on the web. And I bet you a buck there are a few NRC'ers that would have scanned some of the recently departed Roy Millar's incredible QSL collection. I'd hope some of Ernie Cooper's QSL's would get scanned too - just exactly where are they and what plans are there for them? (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) Ron Musco has them. Perhaps he could share them with the club and scan some. If someone knows Ron, put the bug in his ear. Meanwhile, if anyone has any QSLs that are digital, we should be making them available for folks. (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) That got me to thinking. . . . . I have a high res scanner, all sorts of image editing software, and a CD burner. My hand is raised as someone willing to scan some of the classic QSLs in the NRC's possession and saving them to .GIF, .JPEG, .TIFF, or any other popular image file format. Anybody else willing to volunteer? This could be a worthwhile club project and make the scanned QSLs available to a much wider audience (Harry Helms AK6C/7, Las Vegas, NV DM26, ibid.) Ditto for me. I'd love to scan a bunch of Ernie Cooper's QSL's - the foreign ones naturally. Pat Martin told me a few days ago that he now has a PC and scanner so in the future we'll see a few of his QSL's. So what other collections are available? My meager collection of maybe 1 dozen isn't worth talking about..... (Chuck Hutton, WA, ibid.) OK, this does sound like a top idea. Maybe they can be scanned and set up a Powerpoint Presentation of QSLs along with details of the reception. Just an idea. Regards (James Niven, ibid.) ================================================== James Niven, ex-Aussie http://www.angelfire.com/tx5/dxamtexas Location: Moody, Texas. (Where the mood for DXing is Great) Ya know...this is a topic worthy of some serious discussion at this year's NRC convention. Perhaps some of us can formulate a plan to make it a reality and present it. I'll help coordinate it. We'd want to standardize on resolution, file format etc. Another angle is creating a reference CD-Rom series of old veries for possible distribution/sale (Wally Wawro, WFAA-TV, Dallas, TX, NRC-2003-Big D, ibid.) While this thread is running its course, I still wanted to comment that I also feel this way. While UMd may be 'just 20 minutes from Washington DC', the reality of it is that you'll need to first get to Washington, then probably dedicate an entire day to the UMd trip -- assuming they are even open that day (these academic types like their holiday time, as I have personally seen). Then of course, with the lack of any publically known indexing, you just then walk into a room with no identified search target, rather, just "start in this corner and have at it", and maybe in 2 or 3 hours, you'll find what you were hoping to see, but never knowing if you missed something even more interesting because you ran out of time. (Assuming there is enough material on hand to take that long to see, or else it would not justify the trip.) I think my plans now are to scan everything I think is of any interest in my own collection, donate the .jpg files to NRC to post, and then sell the paper on eBay. This creates (1) unlimited access by anyone, in real-time, to the CONTENT of each QSL, (2) brings in some useful income and (3) relieves me of the responsibility of looking after all that paper, most of which has just small sentimental value to me any longer. Then when my own time comes, I have passed along this legacy without hoping someone retrieves that stack of paper from wherever it is stashed and goes to the effort to track down the repository. I don't think I know anyone I could depend on to do that, at this point. In my case, I am thinking of maybe 200 to 300 images, mainly my foreign, and sunset skip, and a few GY receptions. And I don't have to worry about it being crammed away in some inaccessible, in any real sense, place, where there is little enough interest that someone can't even be bothered indexing it and making that index public. How disappointing that is. I am sure there are those who will disapprove. Flame away. (don't forget to add " /dev/null " to your message, hi) On another topic ... I have a lot of tapes. Does anyone think of archiving tapes? (Bob Foxworth, FL, ibid.) Hi Bob: My tapes were approaching the point of being unusable as they dried up. It was a real pain to play them as the lubricant was gone from many, and it generated a screeching worse than nails on chalkboard. I happily converted them all to CD, like others. Just like I hope the club builds a jpg collection of QSL's, I hope others are converting to CD and that NRC can build some digital libraries of DXing history (Chuck Hutton, WA, ibid.) I currently have about 80 of my AM QSL cards displayed on-line for those who are interested in such things. They are grouped by year of issue. The easiest way to view them is to use the link address in my signature line (below) then select which series you wish to view. Enjoy! (Patrick Griffith, CBT, Westminster, CO, USA, ibid.) http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ It's far from a comprehensive QSL collection, but I have a few of my favorite QSL cards on my DX page http://webhome.idirect.com/~aum108/dx.html When I created that page in 1999, I decided to include only cards, not verie letters. For some reason, my scanner always gives upper case filename extensions (.GIF or . JPG) but I converted some of these to lowercase after saving them. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, ibid.) QSLs have "historic value" I guess. Maybe that is why people will pay money for QSLs. The value we DXers put on our collection is different. We have a story to tell on each QSL on how we got it. That is of interest to us. I have a 66 year old brother that does not know what a QSL is even though he knows about my hobby. Anything in radio seems to have some historic value today. Top 40 charts, stickers, pens, and other things from radio stations. If match book covers have value I guess about anything can. I, like most Dxers, would never sell my collection at any price. It shows what you have done in your life. I will donate my collection when I pass on as others have done. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) When I lived in Watuaga County, NC, in the early 70s, a ham friend talked me into checking into the County Hunters Net on 20 meters and activating this relatively rare county. I've been a faithful log keeper for all my 40 years as a ham and as far as I know have a record of every contact I've ever made. Not long after joining the County Hunters Net, the QSLs started coming in. County Hunters will send QSLs with your call on them and all contact information filled out, all you do is sign it and send it back. I almost never got one of their QSLs and that's very poor ham etiquette in my book. Those folks got nothing back. I finally started stating on the air that if you wanted my QSL, you'd better send me yours along with an SASE. You'd think most hams would have some common sense. Several individuals sent me QSLs for phantom QSOs. One YL was very insistent and sent several follow up cards. I finally sent her a letter letting her know she was not in my log and would not be getting a card. My friend in the net told me she was not held in very high regard and was considered a collector of phony QSLs in order to gather awards. She is not alone and evidently this practice is rather common. On the other hand, I see no problem with buying old QSLs from eBay. I'm a postcard collector and consider old QSLs a part of history worth preserving just like postcards. It's too bad the large QSL collections aren't being shared on line (Rick Robinson, KF4AR, Hendersonville, NC, NRC-AM via DXLD) But that's standard accepted operating procedure for county hunters! The mobile stations don't want cards from the stations they work, and they don't want to foot the bill for printing tons of QSLs for their mobile operations. What you received are known as "mobile response cards" (MRCs) and have been a part of county hunting for decades. See http://www.countyhunter.com/ for full information on county hunting QSLing practices. I plan to activate some of the rarer Nevada counties (like Esmeralda, White Pine, and Mineral, all with populations under 5000 people) this year, and I'll certainly want MRCs from anybody I work, and I won't particularly care to get a card from anyone I work --- what good would they do me? The real Bellabarba-type hams were guys like Don Miller, who falsely claimed to operate from various countries he never visited, and some of the more recent DXpeditions that apparently did not have legal authority to operate from certain DX "countries" (but I'm still counting my Kingman Reef card anyway --- they really were on Kingman, even if illegally!!). (Harry Helms AK6C/7 Las Vegas, NV DM26, NRC-AM via DXLD) Most county hunters use a QSL service which accumulates QSLs for one specific ham station and sends them in a group, enabling the mobile ham who worked the county to QSL by return to the county hunter bureau. It's been my experience as KA9SPA and a MARAC member that most county hunters will follow the tenets of county hunter courtesy and send their own QSL with the first contact. Some county hunters QSL direct when they particularly need the county you've worked from, and most who do that send an SASE. As in any group of hobbyists, there is an occasional participant who breaks the rules or the customs. County hunters, for the most part, try to make QSL'ing as easy and inexpensive as possible (John Callarman, Krum TX, ibid.) DRM QRM +++++++ Why does R. Sawa, 15445 disappear under some very strong noise around 0930 UT every morning? Is there a DRM transmitter on this channel? (someone asked, hard-core-dx via DXLD) I'm afraid to say there is. I just received the following update today. Perhaps the beam change has increased the strength of the Sines signal at your location, Sines changed to 40 degrees (was 20 degrees) for their daily transmission between 0930-1200 UT on 15440 (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) RECEIVER NEWS ++++++++++++++ GERMAN ELECTRONICS FIRM SEEKS BANKRUPTCY http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030414/ap_on_bi_ge/grundig_bankruptcy_1 By DAVID McHUGH, AP Business Writer, Mon Apr 14,11:52 AM ET FRANKFURT, Germany - Grundig AG, an electronics firm that sold many Germans their first television sets in the 1950s, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors Monday after rescue talks with foreign investors collapsed. Nuremberg-based Grundig was one of the stars of an earlier technology boom, riding Germany's post-World War II economic revival by selling what were then high-tech gadgets such as stereo record players and transistor radios. But it has struggled for years against competition from Asian producers and posted a record annual loss of 150 million euros in 2001. Rescue talks with Taiwanese electronics firm Sampo and Turkish television maker Beko failed in the last few weeks. The company's postwar growth began when radio dealer Max Grundig began making repair and testing equipment used to keep precious prewar radios going while production was impossible right after the war's end. Grundig then concocted a tubeless radio to evade restrictions imposed by occupying Allied authorities, on the pretext that a receiver without tubes didn't count as a radio. As Germany's economy began to revive, Grundig achieved a sales hit with one of the first portable consumer radios, the Grundig Boy, in 1949. The company was the largest producer of radio sets in Europe by the time television arrived in 1952, propelling further growth. Grundig also became a major maker of shortwave sets. A court in Nuremberg appointed lawyer Siegfried Beck as bankruptcy administrator to oversee the company's finances and help determine whether it can be restructured and kept in business or must be broken up or liquidated to repay creditors. Beck is to issue a report May 19, the court said. The company said production would continue for the moment. Grundig officials have maintained that the company's brand name still has considerable value and that the firm could be turned around by cutting costs and getting out of unprofitable lines of business. The company, which has slashed jobs in the past few years, has 3,800 workers, of which 1,800 are in Germany. Grundig was previously owned by electronics giant Philips, but the Dutch pulled out in 1996 after years of losses. Antenna producer Anton Kathrein now owns a majority stake, with several banks owning the rest (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) One wonders if somebody will be able to buy the rights to build the Grundig radios under another name. 73- (Bill Westenhaver, April 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Grundig *Boy*? No 'Yacht' where I found this: http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id=D188E096-332B-49B6-858EA91D2FC0F813 (Bruce Conti, NRC-AM via DXLD) Gezzz... and Philips is not doing well in the broadcast side, and Kathrein has not really been a major player. Trying to deal with both last year was a major pain. Seems like a lot of businesses are rolling out their tombstones. Any prediction on who is next? Gut hunch.... a tire maker in Ohio? (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) DIGITAL RADIO 'SHUNS' THE BLIND Digital broadcasters are ignoring the people who are among the heaviest consumers of radio, the blind and visually impaired, argues broadcast professional Ian Macrae. Digits matter a lot to visually impaired people. The ones attached to our hands, as well as those which carry crystal clear radio to our ears. Some of us use them for reading. Many of us use them for exploring what's around us. Even more of us, perhaps even enough of us to make the stereotype valid, use our digits for twiddling radio dials. But when it comes to the other sort, or rather to the people who design and manufacture the equipment for receiving DAB, (Digital Audio Broadcasting), they seem to have forgotten that the stereotype of the visually impaired radio fanatic even exists. They have come very close to designing something which is unusable, or at least very difficult for us, perhaps the most avid, hungry and, let's face it, needy group of radio listeners. Tuning lottery Take, for a start, what used to be called in my day cruising the dial. For some this might be the riches and adventure of short-wave offering the chance to pick up something you could barely hear, broadcasting in a language you didn't speak. It is impossible to read which stations you are passing through as you twist the tuning knob For others, it was the easier pickings on FM and the relative clarity of your favourite local or national station. Whatever, the process was quite simple. You gripped the dial gently but firmly between thumb and forefinger and slowly twisted it until you hit something which sooner or later you would identify or else know from memory what it was. But now on many sets, including the Videologic hi-fi tuners, the Pure Evoke model and the Ministry Of Sound new personal DAB receiver, finding and tuning stations has been turned into a complete lottery if you cannot see the visual display on the unit. Even if you have some sight, as many visually impaired people do, the print is so small on the displays and the contrast so poor that it is impossible to read which stations you are passing through as you twist the tuning knob. At her school, my six-year-old daughter does something called "Brain Gym" and I am thinking of asking if I can go along to a few of the sessions in order to help me with memorising the order in which the 20 or so digital stations appear on my various receivers. Name that tune Then there is the second part of the digital double whammy. When I worked as a radio D J, I accepted that it was a rather predictable and perhaps boring habit to say what a record was as you went into it, in a back announcement, or in some cases, at both ends of it. I was also required to identify the station frequently enough to embed its name and location into listeners' brains in the hope that they would come back to us. But now there are some stations which have done away with jocks and ident jingles completely. The only way you can find out which station and which song your listening to is to look at the visual display. Even on some of those stations which continue to offer gainful employment to presenters, it is noticeable that record titles are much less frequently announced or back announced, because the assumption is that anyone wanting to know can get that info from the screen. That is an assumption which is not just wrong, it is nonsensical. We are talking about a medium here where people are meant to talk to each other, where information is meant to be imparted and exchanged. After all, the logical conclusion to all of this is an edition of the Five Live phone-in 606 passing off in total silence with people simply texting and e-mailing the gifted Jonathan Pierce whose vocal talents go completely to waste as he texts and e-mails back. I am just a humble blind listener. It is not up to me to come up with solutions. This revolution is presumably being driven by some of the most brilliant technical minds in the radio business. What I am saying to them is that maybe they should start thinking about solutions, or at least start remembering that, if radio belongs to everyone, it belongs at least as much to those of us who need and prefer to listen to rather than look at it. For more than 20 years, Ian Macrae has been a broadcast professional working. For almost 50 years, he's also been a voracious consumer of radio. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/2938239.stm Published: 2003/04/12 08:05:56 © BBC MMIII (via Daniel Say, DXLD) ###