DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-152, August 23, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser 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/dxldtd3h.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 1196: RFPI: Sat 2330, Sun 0530, 1130, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Wed 0100, 0730, 1330 on 7445 [nominal times subject to delay or pre-emption] WINB: Sun 0031 on 12160 WWCR: Sun 0230 on 5070, 0630 on 3210, Wed 0930 on 9475 WRMI: Sun 1800+ on 15725 WBCQ: Mon 0415 on 7415 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [NO LOW VERSION THIS WEEK; SORRY] [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1196h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1196h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1196.html WORLD OF RADIO ON SIUE WEB RADIO Here are the CONFIRMED times for WOR and COM on SIUE Web Radio: WORLD OF RADIO: Friday 10:30 p.m. (UT Saturday 0330) Tuesday 10:00 p.m. (UT Wednesday 0300) CONTINENT OF MEDIA: Friday 10:00 p.m. (UT Saturday 0300) U times will be one hour later when the United States returns to Standard Time on the last Sunday in October (E. B. Stevenson, SIUE Web Radio, Aug 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. RADIO STATION BROUGHT WORLD TO INTERIOR By MARY BETH SMETZER, Staff Writer http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~1581596,00.html The inaugural broadcast of Fairbanks' first radio station -- KFAR, "From the Top of the World to You" -- had all the trappings of a Hollywood premiere -- hoopla interspersed with music, speakers and self-congratulatory recognition. Fifteen minutes before its scheduled startup, Oct. 1, 1939, radio listeners tuning in early heard an organ prelude over the airwaves provided by Don Adler playing a Kimball organ keyboard in the Empress Theater. The "prelude broadcast," according to a Fairbanks Daily News-Miner article, was to aid faraway listeners across the territory in locating the KFAR frequency "to a hair" before the broadcast proper began. The music also provided a warmup to the historic Sunday evening event for excited Fairbanksans. The same article reported: "Hundreds filed into the Empress Theater where the program was released over the theater's amplifying system, and groups were clustered around radios in hotels, shops, and private homes to hear Interior Alaska's first "homemade" broadcast. "Thousands, too, crowded to the station's transmitter site on the Farm Road (today known as Farmers Loop) where engineers Stanton Bennett and August Hiebert showed old-timers and youngsters alike the "innards" of a modern broadcasting unit." At 7 p.m. sharp, station manager Jack Winston intoned, "KFAR is on the air!" Not surprisingly, the first airwave address from KFAR's penthouse atop the Lathrop Building was from Capt. Austin E. Lathrop, president of the Midnight Sun Broadcasting Co., proclaiming, "I can only say this is the happiest day of my life." Among the speakers during the first sesquihour live broadcast were Fairbanks Mayor Leslie Nerland; Leslie Baker, general manager of the Alaska Steamship company; Sgt. Leon Harper, officer in charge, U.S. Signal Corps and Alaska Communications System Fairbanks station; Ralph J. Rivers, district attorney; and Dr. Charles E. Bunnell, University of Alaska president. Bunnell lauded Lathrop's many accomplishments, calling him the "drive- on spirit of the pioneer" in his address. The 1,000-watt station on the dial at 610 kilocycles [per second] initially was on the air 12 hours a day, Monday through Saturday. Broadcasts ran from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 5 p.m. to midnight. Sunday air time was 2 to 10 p.m. Fairbanksans were hungry for timely news, which KFAR provided despite being unable to link up with teletype news services like The Associated Press or United Press International. The station subscribed to Trans Radio Press, which transmitted news in high speed code of 40 to 50 words per minute that was manually copied by the station's engineers, Stanton and Hiebert. The station also provided local news and special features. Irene Richards, head of the KFAR continuity department, initially carried the microphone moniker of "Story Lady." At 5 o'clock every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Richards read children's favorites over the airwaves for 15 minutes. Her lead-in was: "If you like to hear a story, The kind that isn't borey, Sit back; listen to the lady tell Of the doggies, bears, and bunnies That you don't find in the funnies. For, it's these the Story Lady knows so well." Richards also aired a half-hour daily morning women's program with features on food, interior decorating, fashions, book reviews, music, club news and church socials. The KFAR offices and studios were housed on the fourth and uppermost floor of the Lathrop Building, which was completed in 1933. Lathrop had a four-room penthouse apartment gutted for the studio. The wall panels were knocked out and replaced with plate glass and soundproofed, and the room was "trimmed in decorative mahogany and finished in acoustic cork of a modernistic cut ... thickly carpeted and fitted with chromium and leather furniture." (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** ALGERIA. Re: [BDXC-UK] DXLD 3-150; WOR 1195 - Algeria on SW? I'm surprised this question is still being asked as all Algerian shortwave transmissions were dropped at least 2 years ago! Guido is right to note a large number of new FM transmitters in Algeria, many of which have been confirmed in the UK this summer during several Sporadic E openings. I believe these new FM outlets replace lower powered mediumwave transmitters which have presumably been decommissioned. The only AM outlets listed now on the RTA web site (I believe this list is correct) are the high powered transmitters: 153 kHz Bechar 2 x 1000 kW - Chaine 1 in Arabic 198 kHz Ouargal 2 x 1000 kW - Chaine 1 in Arabic 252 kHz Tipaza 2 x 750 kW - Chaine 2 in French 531 kHz Ain Beida 2 x 300 kW - Chaine 1 in Arabic 549 kHz S. Hamadouche 2 x 300 kW - Chaine 1 in Arabic 891 kHz O. Fayet 2 x 300 kW - Chaine 1 in Arabic 981 kHz O. Fayet 2 x 300 kW - Chaine 2 in Berber dialects. (Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. Gabriel, Y ¿cuál de la emisión especial diexista proyectada para el 28 de agosto, que mencionó el 20 de julio? Si permitan los vientos, ¿se puede confirmar? Para quedarme antes del evento, lo menciono en la emisióm actual 1196 de World of Radio, como posibilidad... 73, (Glenn to Gabriel, Aug 22, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Sí, Glenn, la posibilidad sigue latente; el tema es que quiero la confirmación 100% desde Base Esperanza. Sólo espero comunicarme hoy con el operador para 'afinar' detalles. Todo está en manos de ellos, y..... del viento..... De todas maneras, puedes mencionarlo como altamente probable el 28/8/03 a 0100+ en 15476 khz. Ya he enviado todo el material realizado integramente en colaboración junto con Arnaldo Slaen. 73's GIB (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, Aug 22, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. Can't really imagine that I can find something of interest in the radio world that you may not have checked out, but: Western Australia Community Broadcasting Association is a vast website about the 200 + non- profit and largely nonprofessional stations in Australia. If you haven't looked, do peek and mourn for N America! http://wacba.com/ and the national site http://www.cbaa.org.au/ It also offered a chance to go to "our" alternativeradio.org – which I didn't know about, but which has some of my non- favorite liberals! And I'm a liberal. - HB (Howard Box, TN, Aug 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. 1540: I heard them exactly twice, once very faintly during an aurora with little usable copy, and then again in Nov. 2001 during an extremely fortunate combination of circumstances. There was a really strong aurora which wiped out WPTR and KXEL and ZNS1 was on emergency facilities to give out hurricane information. They were alone on the channel and armchair copy. I haven't heard them since then (Dave Hochfelder, Highland Park, NJ, Sony ICF-2010 and Quantum QX Pro, Aug 22, IRCA via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Radio Tacana, Iturralde 4780.96 kHz Hola, Amigos DXistas en la lista! En esta dirección se puede leer sobre los diferentes pueblos indígenas en Bolivia, ``Tacana`` y otros: http://www.bolivia.com/empresas/cultura/Pueblos_Indigenas/Tacana.asp Nuestro amigo Rogildo de Bolivia nos ha informado que la provincia de ``Iturralde`` está ubicada en el departamento de ``La Paz``, no en el departamento de ``Pando`` como yo he dicho. A partir de Domingo se puede escuchr una grabación de Radio Tacana, Iturralde en esta dirección: http://homepage.sverige.net/~a-0901/ Es muy difícil captar el nombre del departamento pero seguramente Rogildo tiene razón. 73 de (Björn Malm. Quito, Ecuador, 22/Ago/2003 21:20, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Bolivia, 4905.45, Radio San Miguel, 0905-1030 Aug 23. Noted the first hour being just news and a few promos. A woman did the presenting of the news generally, heard a few men there too. At 1010 the programming changed to music. Additionally at that time, the signal began to improve here. My DX edge suggested it was sunrise in Bolivia while about a half hour prior to sunrise here in Clewiston. At 1023 a man gave TC followed by a short ID "... Radio San Miguel" and back to music. So the signal started out as poor and improved to good by 1030 (Bolland, Chuck, Clewiston, Florida, DX LSITENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Hola Amigos DXistas ! Una nueva: ayer (21 de agosto) capté en 4905.3 kHz una emisora que al parecer era de Bolivia a eso de las 1040 UT, sin identificarse, y en efecto, HOY 22 de agosto les confirmo... 4905.2 (si, se movió...) 1040 UT, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta, Bolivia, Transmitiendo el programa "LOCRITO SAN MIGUEL", SINPO 44444. Estén atentos a la protesta de Radio La Oroya del Perú. 73 (Alfredo Cañote, Perú) Hi DXers ! A Bolivian station "moved" the frequency... I heard yesterday (August 21) but today i heard the name of the station. 4905.2 kHz, 1040 UT, Radio San Miguel, from Riberalta, Bolivia Program called "LOCRITO SAN MIGUEL", SINPO 44444. They use the same "channel" of Radio La Oroya (Perú). Greetings (SPACEMASTER, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Caros amigos, Há pouco recebi um telefonema do diretor da Rádio Gaurujá, Orivaldo Rampazzo, informando que a QRG de 5045 kHz, onda tropical de 60 metros, cujo transmissor está em Presidente Prudente, começou a operar em fase experimental. Tentei captá-la aqui em Itajubá mas por enquanto nada... 73 (Caio Fernandes Lopes, Itajubá- MG, Aug 22, radioescutas via DXLD) Caio, Ontem a noite, 2350 hBr, escutei R. Guarujá Paulista em 5045 com bom sinal. Não ouvi em 3235 e 1550, talvez pela propagação. Esta manhã às 0720 hBr, estava presente com sinal fraco. Neste caso seria R. Guarujá Paulista, Guarujá, via Presidente Prudente? 73 (Rogildo Aragão, Bolivia, Aug 23, ibid.) Oi Rogildo, Sim, R. Gaurujá Pta via Presidente Prudente. Estou ouvindo-a neste momento. 73 (Caio, ibid.) ** CAMBODIA. [presumably] 11940.00 plus few +/- Hertz. National Radio from CBG is active again, maybe testing equipment, noted signing-on around *1200, and *2355 ... 0000 UT. But heard ONLY in local language, Khmer dialects? From first day observation on August 5th onwards (Roland Schulze, Mangaldan Pangasinan, Philippines, Aug 11, BC-DX via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** CANADA. Canada. CHU. I checked at 1620 UT Friday August 22. All three CHU frequencies are operating. Everything seems back to normal (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hearing all three outlets of CHU at 1930, 22 August. 3330, 7335 and 14670 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Glenn, I came across this article on the Native radio station in Fredericton. CKTP radio creates cultural bridge. CKTP is the first Maliseet radio station in the Maritimes. From: http://nb.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nb_maliseetradio20030822 The CKTP website is http://www.thebeat957.tk/ (Wade Smith, New Brunswick, Aug 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. 6010, Radio Parinacota, Putre Aug 22, 2224-2235 - followed this one for over 10 minutes; woman talked and mentioned "dia", "diez" and "Putre" followed by a man announcer who talked and mentioned "Parinacota". Very weak signal with some very minor RHC-6000 splatter too, but occasionally readable. New! (Bogdan Chiochiu, Île-Bizard, QC DXpedition, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 15245 and 17720 kHz: CRI German new morning service at 0500- 0700 UT. I took a listen to the two new CRI freqs this morning. 15245 had some splash from 15250 - AWR via AUT I think - but was otherwise a good signal. 17720 was also good but is co-channel RFA via ULA in Tibetan plus CNR-1 jammer[s!!]. These were not very strong today, so not causing much disturbance, but can be fairly good when propagation allows. Obviously, someone is monitoring CRI! (later) Re CRI - it looks like "left hand" and "right hand" not knowing what`s going on on 17720. But, they are partly responsible for causing the QRM. This morning, reception was very weak and unusable on 17720 at 0635 and not much better on 15245 - usable with a communications receiver, but would be difficult using a portable, I think (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Aug 20) Dear Noel, I didn't check this CRI morning service due to other commitments. 17720 -- CHN jammers, that's a pity to select such a channel. This morning [22nd] I checked the CRI German morning outlet. 15245 0500-0514 only fragments of IBB HOL Tatar-Bashkirian co-channel heard. 0514-0517 fade-in of Urumchi signal. 0520-0657 only S=7 signal level, poor signal on telescopic antenna, only fair level, when the outdoor longwire connected inductive to SONY 2010 set. 17720 0500-0640 no propagation from URU into Europe. At same time the various ISR and IRN sces came in with fair, up to S=8- 9+ level. 0640-0657 poor CRI signal, of about S=5 level (Wolfgang Bueschel, Aug 22) I also monitored CRI today [Friday] like Wolfie. I found 15245 only peaking to about S3 here, with deep fades, and difficult to copy. I think I could trace something on 17720 but couldn`t tell what it was. I would guess that many stations have been surprised this summer by the difficult propagation conditions around 0500 to 0900. It's a very interesting period to study, propagationally, and you can never be sure what you are going to hear. Another problem is that the frequency "window" available, for International broadcasters, is a narrow one - far less than later in the day. And the recurrent CME's etc. have caused havoc this summer to long distance propagation at this time of day - but may have been responsible for the appearance of some other interesting signals! (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Aug 22 via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** CHINA. CNR Music Jammers: This rainy afternoon I managed to hear CNR Music Jammer on two frequencies: 13690- and 11945 kHz with sign on at 1458 UT. According to ILG, transmitter site is Xi`an. Scheduled 15- 20 UT. Are they trying to make reception of R Free Asia difficult as possible in mainland China? However, music was nice, Chinese Opera. Sri to see this kind of stupid action these days. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, Aug 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO. [freq? 4765 or 5985, ed] R. Congo verified my RR after 100 days with a numbered blanco card and a letter. My card is Nr. 2! Address: Direction Générale de Télédiffusion du Congo, B.P. 2912, Brazzaville, Congo. v/s Jean Medard Bokatola, Tel. +242 81 06 08. (Klaus-Peter Hilger, Germany, BC-DX Aug 19 via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. Glenn, I have a web page containing some of the hard to find recent developments at RFPI ... http://copyexchange.com/_wsn/page3.html The reason I know this information is through the weekly online chats with the people at RFPI and a small group of supporters, and, in addition, am in frequent contact with the station by phone. It should be made clear that I am not directly associated with RFPI, other than the fact that I am a listener and supporter (Franklin Seiberling {sigh' bur-ling} KC0ISV, Iowa City, Aug 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: RADIO FOR PEACE INTERNATIONAL MAY BE FORCED TO RELOCATE August 17, 2003 - Exclusive to The Copy Exchange - In a meeting held on the University for Peace (UPaz) campus on August 11th between UPaz and RFPI officials, an agreement was made to hold talks in the coming months regarding RFPI's fate. The deadline for reaching agreement was set at October 31, 2003, and no statements are to be made to the public by either side regarding these talks until after that deadline. In the past RFPI management has expressed a concern that a forced relocation could run into millions of dollars. It is unclear how much UPaz would offer in compensation for existing structures, lost air time, and other costs associated with the move. RFPI would be required to purchase land, construct studios, transmission facilities and towers, as well as deal with the red tape of Costa Rican licensing procedures. Station staff told The Copy Exchange that of late UPaz guards at the RFPI gate have been allowing some vehicles through the gate to park next to the studio, avoiding the staff humiliation of climbing through the locked gate. Guards, who no longer carry firearms and are generally business-like but cooperative, reportedly are not present at the gate at all times to allow vehicles in. The station gate was chained and locked by UPaz on July 21st when the action against the station was initiated. Station staff also reported that the lockdown has drastically reduced enrollment in the RFPI-run Institute for Progressive Communications (IPC) courses, causing a shortfall in an important income source. The station must now support itself almost entirely on listener and supporter contributions. The small RFPI staff speak of exhaustion from working overtime. Members must be at the studio 24 hours a day to insure proper station operation and prevent damage from occurring (from http://copyexchange.com/_wsn/page3.html via DXLD) WHAT IS MAURICE STRONG'S AGENDA FOR SHUTTING DOWN RADIO FOR PEACE INTERNATIONAL (RFPI)? http://www.saverfpi.org/article.php?story=20030822142447673 (Save RFPI posting via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. RADIO, TV MARTÍ TO BE BROADCAST VIA SATELLITE, OFFICIALS SAY http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-dmarti22aug22,1,1163747.story?coll=sfla-news-miami (via Mike Terry, DXLD) REFUERZAN LAS TRANSMISIONES DE RADIO Y TV MARTÍ RUI FERREIRA, El Nuevo Herald http://www.miami.com/mld/elnuevo/news/world/cuba/6588738.htm El Nuevo Herald | 08/22/2003 | Posted on Fri, Aug. 22, 2003 TOMADO DE LA SECCION [CUBA] (via Óscar de Céspedes, FL, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** CZECHOSLOVAKIA. CZECH RADIO MARKS 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF BATTLE FOR RADIO STATION A military band played outside the Czech Radio building on Thursday morning, as politicians lined up to lay wreaths at the plaque to those who lost their lives defending the station in August 1968. It's thirty-five years to the day since the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia, a day of reflection and remembrance for the Czech people. Czechoslovak Radio played a particularly important role in the hours that followed the invasion, as besieged reporters broadcast desperate appeals for help to the outside world. Representing the Senate at Thursday's ceremony was Jaroslava Moserova, then a doctor working at a hospital a few minutes from the radio station. She shared her memories of that time with Rob Cameron. "I was in Prague, and we live on a hill, on the sixth floor, with a good view of the whole city. I remember the planes coming in, just over our roof. I remember what somehow felt was very frightening, that suddenly the hum of the city - which one doesn't normally register - stopped. Suddenly it was silent. One heard only the shots, and saw the shots, but the silence was frightening. Then of course the next day I went to work because it was obvious that there would be wounded here, by the broadcasting station, and our hospital is just around the corner. So we were getting the wounded, being the nearest hospital to the radio building. I remember how impressed I was how everyone ignored the Soviet tanks. The soldiers were shooting and people simply walked along, they didn't take shelter, they ignored them. It was marvellous. Of course what came after was the worst." Is the memory of those days still as strong in your mind as it was ten or twenty years ago? Is it something which is slowly fading from your mind? "No. This will never fade. Never. Never - mainly the way our people behaved, how marvellous they were. How - without any instructions - they took down the street signs, changed the road signs. They were marvellous, and they didn't fire a single shot. It was only the Soviets who were shooting." Many young people today have little or no idea what happened outside this building 35 years ago. That's rather sad isn't it. "Well, they have no idea what the whole regime was like. What happened afterwards, how people were forced to lie, forced into hypocrisy, how they taught their children to be two-faced. The mediocrity of all the people in top positions who had no professional merit, only political. They just don't know. That's why I started this project 'the Absurdities of Totalitarianism', where I collect personal experiences and documents of what it was like. The extent of the lies, of the falsehood, of the suppression of facts. It was amazing." (source? via ASWLC yahoogroup via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** DENMARK. Thanks for your interest in WMR - World Music Radio. Finally we’ve got some news to report: After several months of waiting, we have today received the license to commence broadcasting on two different short wave frequencies from the authorities here in Denmark - and so low power test-transmissions can be expected soon on 5815 and 15810 kHz. News will follow shortly. The power is 400 Watt and the transmitter site is near Karup in Central Jutland, Denmark. WMR is planning to commence regular transmissions within a few months – probably late November. We will be on the air 24 hours a day --- 7 days a week --- with our own very special, unique blend of current chart music, oldies from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s as well as popular tunes from countries all over the world. The power on short wave will be 10 kW on each frequency. Our programmes will be available not only on short wave but also via the Internet and hopefully also FM, medium wave as well as satellite. At a later stage --- when digital receivers become available --- we are planning on broadcasting in the DRM mode on a third short wave outlet. Reception reports for our programmes are welcomed and will be acknowledged by a new QSL-card. The address of WMR remains: WMR, PO Box 112, DK-8900 Randers, Denmark. Best regards, (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, http://www.wmr.dk Aug 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DW changes to CIRAF 42, 49, 50, 54 from August 1st: German 1000-1355 cancelled 21790 NAU 500 kW 90 degr Chinese 1030-1055 cancelled 17835 WER 500 kW 60 degr 1300-1350 Cancelled 15535 TRI 250 kW 45 degr 1300-1350 Cancelled 17845 WER 500 kW 60 degr 2300-2350 Cancelled 9560 NAU 250 kW 70 degr (x9470) (Roland Schulze, Mangaldan Pangasinan, Philippines, BC-DX Aug 11 via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. One of the reports on this week`s Common Ground (see USA) is about this: ProPetén through its resident agronomist sponsors a daily radio show called "Mi Amigo, El Agrónomo" (My Friend, the Agronomist). On the air since 2000, this variety program gives advice on organic alternatives to farmers across Petén interspersed with country music, jokes, and stories. Within the year, the program gained an audience of 100,000 listeners, making it the #2 radio show in the region. ProPetén also sponsors a weekly environmental radio show called "Connection with Nature" in conjunction with the local university. More at http://www.propeten.org --- Unfortunately, I have found nothing about the stations carrying such a popular show (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUYANA. Voice of Guyana, 3290, 0348-0402, August 21, English, Announcer with schedule, "..returning at (0900?) GMT.." and positive ID, "This is the Voice of Guyana". Instrumental music until 0355, news bulletin mentioning Israel, Palestine and Islamic Jihad, pips at 0400 into BBCWS relay with a big drop in already poor aduio quality. Poor under static crashes (Scott R. Barbour Jr., NH, August 21, DXLD) ** HUNGARY. HUNGARIAN RADIO, TV BROADCAST ON THE INTERNET COULD END FOR LACK OF FUNDS | Excerpt from report by Hungarian TV on 22 August [Presenter] The VilagRadio and VilagTV [WorldRadio, WorldTV], available on the Internet, could cease within a month. So far 8-10,000 people were listening and watching regularly the free Hungarian language broadcasts, but because of the company's serious financial problems, those beyond the borders can soon only listen to Hungarian news or music for eight dollars per month. [Reporter] Farewell to the Vilag Radio, mainly this kind of emails are arriving to the company which, through a special programme, made Hungarian radio and TV programmes available for anyone, free of charge. [passage omitted] The company, which was founded more than two years ago, is struggling with financial problems. According to their calculations, unless they will get at least 600 subscribers, the computers of the Hungarians abroad will go silent. [Representative of MAVIP Kft] We are asking eight dollars per month for listening to the radio, the television will remain free of charge. We need to cover the costs of operating the system from these subscription fees. [Reporter] Up till now only 114 people paid the subscription fee. According to statistics, the number of those listening to the radio via the Internet from the so far regular 8,000 has dropped to 600. Source: Hungarian TV2 satellite service, Budapest, in Hungarian 1810 gmt 22 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** INDIA. NEW DELHI: India's pubcaster Doordarshan director-general S.Y. Quraishi may be staying put for the moment. His new posting orders have not come but the official hunt for a DG for DD's sister organization, All India Radio, has been set in motion. . . http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k3/aug/aug173.htm (via Jill Dybka, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 4896.96, RRI Wamena (presumed) 1152 Aug 18. English songs "Angel of the Morning" (strange version) and "Proud Mary". VG signal but tuned out before ID time (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. From: Charles H. Riggs, III Subject: OperaCast Weather Report For Weekend Of 8/23-5 Newsgroups: rec.music.opera Date: 2003-08-22 19:14:25 PST Dear fellow opera lovers, Here is our weekend Weather Report, intended as a guide for those planning to listen to some opera on the Web this weekend, but who would prefer not to experience the nasty and unsettling surprise of coming across an audio stream which is in less than tip-top technical condition. In the following discussion we use GMT time as a reference. For those of you in the United States remember that early in the morning GMT time means, in general, the previous evening in the States, that the evening GMT time is, in general, afternoon in the US, etc. etc. The following paragraphs will make most sense to those of you who have already taken a look at the schedule for this week, which has now been posted on the Opera On The Internet section of http://operacast.com . Saturday Morning: Some of you probably plan to listen to Haydn's Seasons on Hector this afternoon. If you do, be aware that this station intermittently suffers both from clicking and very low-level beeping in the background. We have contacted the managers of this stream repeatedly on these matters. However, while always polite, they have failed completely to correct the problem in any way. If you should notice it, and if the problem should bother you a lot, let us know and we will furnish to you the appropriate email addresses. . . (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) He then goes into great detail about the audible deficiencies of many webcasters, which info ought to be equally applicable to non-operatic broadcasts. I didn`t spot a link to this rec.music group on the operacast site itself, which also has a great deal of info. With these magna opera, one never need be deprived of opera, especially on weekends (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. SOUTH KOREA/USA: HYUNDAI MOBIS DEVELOPS NEW INBOARD SATELLITE RADIO | Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap on 20 August SEOUL, 20 Aug: (Yonhap) - Hyundai Mobis said Wednesday [20 Aug] that it has developed a new inboard digital satellite radio that is more affordable and easier to install in a car than existing products. Mobis, which is one of the largest auto-tech and parts manufacturers in Korea, said the new product can provide clear digital sound quality music, news and sports from over 100 satellite stations in the United States, as well as pick up regular radio broadcasts. The company added that the radio took two years to develop and held a distinct advantage over rival products in the United States, Japan and Europe because there was no need for an outboard set-top box. Mobis said Hyundai Motor Co. plans to install the new satellite radio in its Santa Fe and Grandeur XG models next year, as well as aims to target car owners who do not have this option. The auto-part company said it is aiming to sell 100,000 units worth 100bn won (85m dollars) in the US market by 2005. Source: Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 0510 gmt 20 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Following the reports about RTE Radio 1 on 252 kHz in the weblog, reproduced in DXLD3151, there was a report on the UKK-radio- listeners email list that when RTE Radio 1 split its service on Wednesday night to allow for soccer coverage on medium-wave and normal programmes on FM, LW carried the FM service. A later report from the same contributor indicated that RTE left LW on Thursday afternoon (time not given). Checking here in Wembley Park at 21:45 UTC 22 August suggests that RTE is still off the air on LW (PAUL DAVID, Chairman, Brent Visually-Handicapped Group, Registered Charity No.: 272955, Aug 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. PIRATE BLAMED FOR BLOCKING AIR TO GROUND COMMUNICATIONS 22/08/2003 22:40 By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent An El Al aircraft with 420 passengers on board was delayed two-and-a- half hours from landing Friday afternoon at Ben Gurion Airport due to disturbances in the plane's communication with the control tower. The plane, which took off from New York, landed safely at 5:30 P.M. after it was discovered that a pirate radio station operated by settlers was the source of the interference. The station was broadcasting from the roof of a synagogue at the Bat Ayin settlement, north of Ramallah. Security forces, including police and Israel Defense Forces troops, pinpointed the location of the transmission and shut down the station. Only then was the plane able to reestablish communication with the control tower at the airport and land. . . http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=332401&contrassID=1&subContrassID=7&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y (via Mike Terry, DXLD) WTFK? Something doesn`t ring true about this; a set-up? Geez, don`t they have any emergency back-up channels??? Ought to have those regardless of any `pirate threat` (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. MINISTER PLANS TO DROP RADIOS ON NORTH KOREA By Jeremy Kirk, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Saturday, August 23, 2003 SEOUL --- If the wind is just right this weekend, Douglas Shin’s hopes for a unified Korea will go lofting over barbed wire and land mines and into North Korean airspace. . . http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=17165 (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, DXLD) RADIO AIR-DROP INTO N KOREA THWARTED --- From BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3173541.stm South Korea police have blocked a group of human rights activists from sending balloons attached with radios into North Korea. The activists said they wanted to help the people of the secretive communist state find out what was happening in the outside world. Veteran German activist Norbert Vollertsen was reportedly injured in the ensuing scuffle. Douglas Shin, a Korean-American rights campaigner who took part in the attempted launch, told the BBC that the activists were not aware they were acting against the South Korean authorities. They "cheated us into believing this was OK to do", Mr Shin told the East Asia Today programme. "But when we got there it was a different story," he said. Asked if he thought the alleged about-face was related to upcoming six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear arsenal, Mr Shin said: "It's all politically connected". It is hoped that the talks, which start in Beijing next week, will help break the political deadlock on the Korean peninsula. The activists were aiming to launch more than 20 helium-filled balloons across the Korean border. Each balloon was carrying about 20-25 small transistor radios. Officers stopped the activists' truck as they approached the border town of Cholwon, saying the air-drop was not authorised by the South Korean Government. "Norbert tried to fill up just one balloon as a token, and they pre-empted it by... swarming over him," Mr Shin said. Mr Vollertsen was later taken to a nearby hospital, complaining of a leg injury. The campaign was aimed at overcoming North Korea's strict ban on outside broadcasts. North Korean radios and televisions can only tuned in to government channels, which feature mostly army music or gushing praise for leader Kim Jong-il. "We are doing this because North Korean media is awful. There is no news at all - only propaganda," Norbert Vollertsen told the BBC's World Today programme on Thursday, before the attempted launch took place. "The ordinary people are thirsty for information because... silence is killing North Korea," he said. Mr Vollertsen is a 45-year-old German doctor, who was once honoured in North Korea for his humanitarian work there, but was expelled in 2000 after condemning the country's human rights record (Aug 22 via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** LESOTHO, Radio Lesotho, 4800, August 21, 0419-0433, announcer speaking with several different persons, presumed phone-in program with several mentions of "Botswana". Poor, battling with "sweeper" and data bursts (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., NH, August 21, DXLD) ** LIBERIA. IMPROVING SITUATION IN LIBERIA RENEWS HOPE AS AID SUPPLIES ARRIVE --- Posted by: newsdesk on Friday, August 22, 2003 - 01:19 PM The situation in the Liberian capital city of Monrovia is finally improving, said Rick Sacra, associated director for SIM Liberia, in an e-mail report that arrived today. ``Monrovia is at last a basically peaceful city and people are beginning to move around freely,`` he said. ``The peace process and the deployment of the ECOMIL (peacekeeping) troops are reported to be moving on slowly but surely. Displaced people on the eastern side of Monrovia at the Sports Complex and the Kendeja Culture Center (both sites close to the ELWA radio campus of SIM/HCJB World Radio) have not yet received any food distribution,`` but these are expected to begin next week. Fuel continues to be a concern in the city with gasoline selling at ``anywhere from $5 to $10 a Gallon,`` Sacra said. However, ELWA was able to obtain 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel for its generators and vehicles at the price of US$2.80 earlier this week. . . [from a much longer story about the situation there:] http://www.hcjb.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=741&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 . . .ELWA is broadcasting a message of hope on a limited schedule as diesel fuel is available to operate its generators (HCJB World Radio/SIM/Reuters/AP/Mission Network News, via HCJB press via DXLD) ** MEXICO. As he is working with the HFCC, Jeff White has been trying to add some Latin American stations to the listings, which should result in less interference to them from the major broadcasters --- at least their existence becomes officially recognized (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Subject: Radio Mil record HFCC Estimados Julián y Héctor: Aquí, como prometido, está el record que acaba de aparecer hoy en la base de datos del HFCC para Radio Mil por la temporada B03. Muestra Radio Mil las 24 horas diarias, 7 días por semana, hacia Zona 10 (CIRAF), desde Ciudad de México, con 1 kilovatio y antena omnidireccional. Muchos 73. Jeff [spreadsheet wrapping] ; B03 NEW 19-aug-2003 NEW ; upload time: 19-aug-2003 16:07:55 ; Version:00 Total reqs:1 ; Subversion:00 ; Radio Mil Mexico ;----+----+----+------------------------------+---+----+-------+---+-- ;FREQ STRT STOP CIRAF ZONES LOC POWR AZIMUTH SLW ANT DAYS FDATE TDATE MOD AFRQ LANGUAGE ADM BRC FMO REQ# OLD ALT1 ALT2 ALT3 NOTES ;----+----+----+------------------------------+---+----+-------+---+-- 6010 0000 2400 10 MEX 1 0 0 926 1234567 261003 280304 D MEX NEW NEW 10028 R. Mil (via Jeff White, Aug 19, cc to DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6045, XEXQ, *1200-1210 Aug 18. XE anthem, a few bars of march music, then YL with opening announcement at 1203:40. Mentioned freqs 1460 AM and "Seis punto cero cuatro cinco MegaHertz (sic) de la onda corta". More chat, including program lineup, to 1209, when the first classical piece was presented. Occasional good peak, but frequent signal dropouts, as noted by others. Very disturbed band condx today - A=65 and K=7 ! (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3290. Radio Central. 0845 Aug 22. Excellent strength with news in English at 0900 (Ian Cattermole, New Zealand, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PERU. 5029.97, R. Los Andes, 1003. Listened again to the tape of Aug 17 log and came up with this for opening anouncement at 1003: "Desde Huamachuco, capital(?) de los Andes, en la cumbre de la libertad(?), para el oriente, norte y centro del Perú, Radio Los Andes presenta 'Cantaré(?) de Mi Pueblo'..." (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Re: [BDXC-UK] RDP spurious signals on 19 mb. Also heard on 22/8/2003 on 13554.1 kHz at 1950-2005 UT with a very FM- y AM signal. ID on the hour (Mark Hattam, London, England, Aug 22 via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) Hi Mark, same transmitter I guess, spur signals 166 kHz away from both sides of fundamental 13720: at 2020 UT football transmission in progress, also disturbed signal on 13554 and 13886 kHz. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Aug 22, DX LISTENING DGIEST) ** SLOVENIA. Last night 8/21 was great! I`ve never known a night like it for MW harmonics! Although later the aurora hit and it did blow out. E.g.: 1854 kHz, Slovensko R, (2 x 927), 2017 UT (Tim Bucknall, UK, harmonics yahoogroup via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Pals radio station Hi! It's Antoni Bernabe, the "owner" of the web about the closed radio station in Spain. I found your page, http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld3042.txt and it's very interesting; have not read all, but I was surprised of seeing my name :) From your txt I copied what follows: ------------------------------------- You can also view another interesting story about Pals, compiled by Antoni Bernabe, Spain, who tells us that it's at http://www.arbe-inc.com/ralib/radio-liberty.html (Bob Padula, Australia, EDXP March 13 via DXLD) Beware: MIDI launches automatically (gh, DXLD) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd like if you could make some corrections (if you are in Alcatraz, may be I'll join you too when IBB's team see my site :D:D :) ). First I modified the problem with the midis; I'm very sorry for the inconveniences, but this www world is new for me, and some visitors (one) asked me to correct it, as not all the people have ADSL (256K internet). Last June I did a lot of improvements in the page, and currently I'm doing more, as well as new pics, and the most important, now it's necessary to download the files, they are not automatic, audio and the videos I uploaded (videos have not good quality, but it was too big the size for the best quality). The page is being improved, not as quick as I'd like, but I have to work too to eat, you understand, are'nt you? :). I'd appreciate very much your criticizes, the bad and the worses, just remember that some improvements are being done. In update 13, at end of September (I hope) will be on the net. The other news is the domain, now I have a paid server, not the best (the best is too expensive for me), but much better which I had before (free server), and new domain, the other redirects to the new, which is http://www.radioliberty.org The server you have the link to is from my "entrerprise", but the space was finally not enough (14 Mb), currently I have uploaded about 30 Mb between pics (23 Mb) and video and audio files (6). (I know, 30-6=24, but +/- one Mb it's for the html files) The last news is that the land will be kept green, is what people here want, but my black future sees houses and more houses there, very sad :( I do not steal more time to you, Only wanted you to know this. Thanks, (Antoni Bernabe, Spain, Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 7302.5 [new crystal, ex-7300 even]. SLBC Ekala. Roland in the PHL noted this station at 1320-1420 in Hindi and 24332, best in usb mode. Strong splatter from 7295 RTM Kajang, Malaysia (Roland Schulze, Mangaldan Pangasinan, Philippines, BC-DX Aug 3 via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** THAILAND. Reuters.com - BANNING SAUCY SONGS FROM THE AIRWAVES http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=3322119&fromEmail=true Another case of censoring playlists, this time in Thailand. 73- (Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** UGANDA. LEGISLATORS SAID OPPOSED TO 200M-SHILLING ARMY RADIO PROJECT | Text of report by Ugandan newspaper The New Vision web site on 23 August Members of the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee have opposed the army's plan of setting up a 200m-shilling radio when the ordinary soldiers' welfare remains inadequate. They said although the radio was necessary to inform, educate and entertain the officers, it was not a priority as one cannot entertain hungry and demoralized people. "When you look at that suggestion of the 200m-shilling army radio, considering the relationship between the army and the people in the north, who will listen to the radio? Why isn't this money put on soldiers' welfare instead," asked Nyombi Tembo (Kassanda south). The MPs were on Tuesday [19 August] meeting over the Ministry of Defence policy statement. They proposed that since the radio project can be deferred, the money should instead be re-allocated to improving ordinary soldiers' welfare, buying descent uniforms and on food. "The army is at liberty to use Radio Uganda and other existing radios. The way I understand it is that the radio was going to target the ordinary soldier. If it is an army radio, what additional values is it going to contribute? The money should go to welfare," said chairman Simon Mayende. The MPs also questioned the army's request for 21bn shillings under classified expenditure. Source: The New Vision web site, Kampala, in English 23 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U K. BBC IS BIGGEST BULLY, SAYS NUJ SURVEY Ciar Byrne Friday August 22, 2003 Broadcast journalists suffer more bullying than any other sector of the media and the BBC is the worst culprit by far, according to research by the National Union of Journalists. . . http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1027658,00.html (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, DXLD) ** U K. DATE SET FOR TOWERS' DEMOLITION Two radio towers left over from the Cold War are due to be felled once and for all next week when a second attempt is made to blow them up. The 600-ft tall masts and towers of the former British Intelligence radio station at Criggion, ten miles from Welshpool, were due to be demolished last weekend. But the explosive action was only partially successful because people coming to watch the blast stood too close to the site. Contractors Alan Campbell Group had considered toppling the remaining two towers over the Bank Holiday weekend but have now decided to carry out the demolition on Wednesday. Spy station's heyday British Telecom decided to demolish all the masts - used to eavesdrop on Soviet radio signals during the Cold War - after a contract by the government to use the station ended in March. Criggion was built during World War II and its heyday was in the 1960s but after the fall of Communism in the 1990s the station became surplus to requirements. Three masts have already been demolished and another tower toppled over on Tuesday. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/wales/mid/3176253.stm Published: 2003/08/23 14:17:11 GMT (c) BBC MMIII (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** UNITED NATIONS. AHEAD OF INFORMATION SUMMIT, U.N. SHOULD EXAMINE ITSELF by Barbara Crossette, U.N. Notebook | July 21, 2003 from UN Wire UNITED NATIONS --- In December, a grandly titled World Summit on the Information Society will confront the technical (and, hopefully, political) gaps that keep so many of the world's people in perpetual darkness, deprived of the basic knowledge they need to change the course of nations, or just their own lives. A good place for member countries to start fixing things might be in the United Nations itself. … Now, about those radio programs. The enormous U.N. system in all its diversity and activity has the resources to offer only one 15-minute news-and-features program from Monday to Friday, at about midday (5:30 p.m. GMT), which stations around the world may air then or later, free of charge. Other special programs in a range of languages are produced when possible, though the radio section has no travel budget or money to do field reporting, unless it can piggyback on someone else's trip. Yet radio remains the main source of information for several billion people in the developing world, and the use of radio in peacekeeping missions (paid for by other budgets) has proved to be very popular as a calming, credible source of information in disturbed areas. The daily U.N. radio program, in the six official U.N. languages, can cover some but not all of the day's news, given its early release time. Who hears it? Well, because shift work is not allowed at U.N. radio, Asians generally don't, because the news is too late the first day and stale the next. African stations cannot always use the news broadcasts because their slow Internet systems make downloading too time-consuming, if there is any Internet access at all. In some cases, radio engineers must telephone African stations to deliver programs manually over phone lines. On the other hand, Spanish-language programs are apparently more successful in reaching their target audiences, and are reported to have a wide following in Latin America. U.N. radio has had problems with its software, which it cannot afford to replace. Its staff has to commute between eighth floor offices and basement studios to create and record programs. It has been estimated that it would cost about $1 million to upgrade to an effective contemporary radio service. That much money will never materialize at current budget levels and no large international corporation has stepped up to donate new equipment. The entire public information division—including the radio operation, a talented video team reduced mostly to making archival footage and the very busy office of the secretary general's spokesman, which also monitors the Security Council and all other aspects of U.N. work for daily briefings and press statements—operates on a current budget of $146 million spread over two years. Most of that, about $110 million, goes to pay a staff of 754 people, a large number of whom are in jobs protected against layoffs, officials say. That leaves $18 million a year for everything else, from buying new equipment and to meeting crisis needs, like promoting the voice of the United Nations in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. .. . http://www.theatlantic.com/foreign/unwire/crossette2003-07-28.htm (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, DXLD) ** U S A. Re: 9495, jamming WHRI: It`s a whine like sound. Might be digital. But it`s unusual that it closed shortly after WHRI (LOU Johnson, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A {and non]. This week`s Common Ground (heard Fri 22nd at 1706 UT on KWGS) starts off with two reports, first on Radio/TV Martí and second on VOA`s Zimbabwe service. Later on, Guatemala Eco Radio (a program --- did they ever mention the station, let alone the frequency? See GUATEMALA), Beijing Talk Radio (a farang does a personal-advice call-in), and China Internet. Segments may be listened to in mp3 or real, and transcripts available later. Here`s the Public Radio Fan page about the show: http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgi-bin/program.pl?programid=487 And the shows`s own site: http://www.commongroundradio.org/ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. As we drove through St Louis, enjoyed WEW-770; they have a very impressive live-local format of nostalgia, honoring requests, warm and person to person. They even called me on the air to say they were having trouble finding my request. Per web it`s daytime only, but heard at 9 pm, and on air 24 hours? (George S. Thurman, MO, Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NRC AM log 2002y says they stay on until sunset in New York, and also have pre-sunrise authority (gh) ** U S A. A MESSAGE LOUD AND CLEAR --- Today`s editorial . . .The Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 2000 contains provisions that would prevent the FCC from considering applications from organizations who had previously been unlicensed broadcasters. Radio free brattleboro, therefore, has little choice but to either allow itself to be muzzled, or take its mandate from the people who own the airwaves. It has made the right choice, and its 10-watt signal today sends the message loud and clear. . . http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8854~1585118,00.html (Aug 22 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) rfb --- they`re baaack By Daniel Barlow, Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- With the flick of a few switches, the Ramones' "We Want the Airwaves" blasted out across the 107.9 FM frequency Friday evening and radio free brattleboro returned to the local airwaves. . . http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8860~1587124,00.html (Aug 23 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. FCC TO EXAMINE LOCAL BROADCAST PRESENCE Commissioner says study should have come before changes JONATHAN D. SALANT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission will begin looking at how television and radio stations can best serve their communities, the agency's chairman said Wednesday. Michael Powell's announcement follows intense criticism by lawmakers and others of the FCC's decision to loosen broadcast ownership rules. Powell, the driving force behind the new rules that take effect next month, sought to play down concerns the changes would promote mergers and leave a few big companies controlling the vast majority of stations. "We heard the voice of public concern loud and clear, that localism remains a core concern of our public," Powell said. "And thus, I think it's time the commission address it head on." He plans to appoint a task force to study the issue, hold public hearings and report back within a year. In addition, the commission will ask for comments on rules designed to promote local programming, including looking at the practice of making a newscast sound local despite being aired from another city. Powell said the FCC would speed the licensing of noncommercial, low- power FM radio stations, which are designed to feature local programming. Commissioner Michael Copps, one of two Democrats on the five-member FCC, said the study should have been done before the FCC approved the rules. "You cannot use a blanket of study to quell the fire of public outrage about increasing control of the public's airwaves by fewer and fewer conglomerates," Copps said. "What if we complete these studies and find out that localism is not served by consolidation? It will be too late." The FCC voted 3-2 along party lines in June to overhaul ownership rules for newspapers and television and radio stations. The changes would allow a single company to own television stations reaching 45 percent of the nation's viewers -- compared with 35 percent before -- and to own newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same city. Smaller broadcasters, network affiliates, consumer groups and others are concerned the new limit will allow the networks to gobble up more stations and limit local control of programming. Lawmakers from both parties are pushing to roll back some or all the changes. Over Bush administration objections, the House voted 400-21 last month to roll back the rules. Powell said the question of how to best serve communities is best addressed separately rather than in the ownership rules. "Ownership rules are actually a very clumsy way to get at some of the things that consumers are actually concerned about," Powell said. Critics said Powell's proposal was disingenuous. "This is absurd on the face of it," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, an advocacy group. "This is a man who spent 18 months looking at the issue. Only now, after there's a unanimous uproar, does he decide to re-examine the issue. He is trying to shore up his support in Congress." But Powell said he was not responding to criticism of the new ownership rules. "It is not a political strategy," he said. "It is an effort to be responsive to consumers." But a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters said the trade group welcomes "a review of the public service performed day in and day out by free, over-the-air broadcasters." Over the years the FCC has rolled back requirements that broadcast owners said handcuffed them. In the 1980s, the FCC said radio and television stations no longer had to air a certain amount of nonentertainment shows, such as news, public affairs or educational programming. The commission also abolished the Fairness Doctrine, which required broadcasters to air both sides of controversial issues. Powell pledged to speed up licensing of low-power FM stations, which broadcast with 100 watts of power and measure their listening audience by blocks rather than regions. While consumer advocacy groups praised the effort, they said the low- power stations serve neighborhoods, schools, and local groups, and can't compete with 50,000 watt commercial broadcasters. "Powell is giving away the store and offering the public some crumbs," Chester said. ©2003 The Olympian, Olympia WA (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** U S A. FCC LAUNCHES INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE LOCAL BROADCASTING By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell announced Wednesday a series of initiatives aimed at ensuring broadcasters serve the communities in which they operate. The move comes amid intense criticism of the FCC's decision in June to revamp media ownership rules, which opponents said would promote more mergers and limit local programming. "We've heard the voice of public concern loud and clear," Powell said in a statement. "Many fear the effect that large, out-of-state media conglomerates have on the media landscape." Powell said the FCC will form a task force that will make recommendations to the commission within a year on promoting localism in broadcasting. The FCC also will speed up the licensing of hundreds of low-powered radio stations, often run by churches, community groups and schools. And Powell directed his agency's staff to begin an inquiry seeking comment on FCC rules aimed at promoting localism. Powell, a champion of deregulation who critics say is too pro-big business, led the Republican dominated FCC's effort to ease decades- old rules governing ownership of newspapers and television and radio stations. The 3-2 party-line vote on June 2 approved changes that allow individual companies to own TV stations reaching nearly half the nation's viewers and combinations of newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same area. The vote prompted criticism from a wide range of groups and legal challenges. Opponents say the relaxed rules could lead to a handful of big companies controlling the majority of what people see, hear and read. Lawmakers from both parties are pushing to roll back some or all of the changes, a fight that's expected to heat up when Congress returns from its August recess. Powell said the new initiative is "an honest attempt to address the concerns raised by the public about localism during the media ownership proceeding. It is neither hollow nor political." The FCC review leading up to the ownership rules vote divided the commission, with Powell rejecting repeated requests from Democratic commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein to delay the vote to allow for more public comment on the impact of media concentration. Reaching out to his fellow commissioners, Powell said his colleagues "have consistently shown a deep and unwavering commitment" to advancing local views in broadcasting. He said, "I am optimistic that we will reach consensus on how the FCC can promote localism." Powell said the localism task force will hold its first meeting in September and the public may attend. Powell first discussed his new initiative Monday in Aspen, Colo. with a surprise announcement at a summit for technology and telecommunications leaders from industry and government. Mel Karmazin, president of media giant Viacom Inc., said at the summit's final event on Tuesday that broadcasters already do a good job of presenting viewpoints and that "to be successful you have to serve the local community." Major media companies said changes to the ownership rules were needed because the old regulations hindered their ability to grow and compete in a market altered by cable television, satellite broadcasts and the Internet. The government adopted the ownership rules between 1941 and 1975 to encourage competition and prevent monopoly control of the media. In 1996, Congress required the FCC to review the rules every two years and repeal or modify any regulation determined no longer in the public interest. John Rethorst (New York Times, August 20, 2003 via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. LATE NIGHT SHOWS FORCED TO FACE FACTS By Lisa de Moraes. Saturday, August 23, 2003; Page C01 "The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn" did a very funny bit this week in which they closed-captioned Arnold Schwarzenegger's first campaign ad for those of us who have trouble understanding the Austrian native: "Dis hysterical erection his come bout becuz deres a tree men dos dis connect between da peep hole of Cauliflower and da readers of Cauliflower. . . ." http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34642-2003Aug22?language=printer (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. CLASSICAL MUSIC INTEREST IS LOSING STEAM BUT NOT AT SEATTLE'S KING-FM Radio Beat: By BILL VIRGIN, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER If you were trying to pick a radio format with which to snare a piece of the market, you might choose some flavor of contemporary pop or rock, perhaps country, or you might opt for talk. Classical would seem to be the ticket to distant also-ran. Classical record sales, never a big portion of the overall market to start with, have slipped further. Fewer orchestras syndicate their concerts for broadcast. The industry publication M Street Database counts 32 commercial classical stations, down from 45 10 years ago. Non-commercial stations have dropped from 267 a decade ago to 126. But then there's Seattle's KING-FM (98.1), never the top-rated station in this market but certainly no straggler either; in the spring Arbitron book it ranked 12th out of 31 stations (it was eighth in the winter book). Peter Newman, who is retiring at the end of this month after 26 years at the station, including the job of program director since 1985, says those classical stations that remain "are around for very specific reasons, because they make sense financially or they fulfill the goals of the ownership." In KING's case that means distributing profits to its owners, the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera and Artsfund (the former Corporate Council for the Arts), nearly $4.8 million since the station was spun off by the Bullitt family in 1994. Of course, that role wouldn't be of much value if KING's audience was dwindling. Newman says that doesn't appear to be happening. The average age of listenership, at 50, hasn't increased during the last decade, Newman says. "People don't come to classical music generally until they get into their 30s." KING-FM has been trying to make sure it attracts and retains classical music fans. One is through balancing the playlist between the standard repertoire and less familiar composers and pieces. "Our station and others are programmed more deliberately," he says. "In the past, everyone came in, did their shift, and if the same piece of music played twice in a day, no one cared. We're more careful in controlling the rotation." KING's other trademark is its heavy promotion of local classical music organizations. "Partly it's strategic; those groups form a lot of the support in our community," Newman says. In addition, "We get a lot of good programming." KING also has been aggressive in developing Internet broadcasting and often shows up on national surveys of top Webcasting stations. "I think the station is in pretty stable shape," Newman says (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. DANA M. RAYMOND, PATENT LAWYER, DIES AT 89 By DOUGLAS MARTIN, The New York Times, August 20, 2003 Dana Merriam Raymond, a patent lawyer who won or achieved settlements in 21 lawsuits filed by the inventor of FM radio against companies that had denied him credit and compensation, died on Aug. 3 at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. He was 89. Mr. Raymond represented Edwin Howard Armstrong, an electrical engineer who invented the basic electronic circuits underlying modern radio, television and radar, including wideband frequency modulation, known as FM radio. Though Mr. Armstrong's breakthroughs are sometimes said to have exceeded Edison's, the Radio Corporation of America and its broadcasting subsidiary, the National Broadcasting Company, challenged his claim to having invented FM in a court case filed in 1948. The case was one factor that drove Mr. Armstrong to commit suicide in January 1954. The next January, Mr. Armstrong's estate, under the control of his wife, Marion, settled with RCA and NBC for a payment of $1 million. Mr. Raymond worked on that case as a young assistant to Alfred McCormack at the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Mr. Raymond left to join what was then Brumbaugh, Graves, Free & Donahue, which later became Brumbaugh, Graves, Donahue & Raymond. It merged into the firm of Baker Botts in 1997. Though they were then in different firms, Mr. Raymond and Mr. McCormack together prepared and filed suits on behalf of the Armstrong estate against 21 other companies that they contended had refused to give Mr. Armstrong proper credit for FM radio. Two years later, Mr. McCormack died. Mrs. Armstrong wanted Mr. Raymond to continue the battle. Cravath remained as co-counsel. According to a biography of Mr. Armstrong by Lawrence Lessing, "Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard Armstrong," Mr. Raymond brought a strong background in scientific issues, particularly physics, to the case. Mr. Lessing described him as "soft spoken and studious" and "a shrewd counselor." Mr. Raymond's first priority, according to the book, was not to reveal how close to insolvency Mr. Armstrong had left his estate, knowing that this knowledge would weaken his position in any settlement talks. Second, he wanted to make a show of strength to bolster negotiations. He knew that the RCA settlement could be seen as "a paternalistic gesture, designed to paper over a messy situation." Though they could legally have asked for triple royalties on all FM apparatus manufactured and sold from 1940 to 1950, Mr. Raymond and Mrs. Armstrong decided that the smarter course of action was to pursue only reasonable claims based on the standard royalty paid by other companies that had acknowledged Mr. Armstrong's claims and paid him for licensing the technology. They settled with some smaller companies. The Emerson Radio and Phonograph Corporation decided to fight in court rather than settle. Mr. Raymond made a risky decision: he asked for a trial before a judge. The conventional legal wisdom was that an individual suing a large corporation should seek a jury trial. Catherine Flickinger, Mr. Raymond's daughter and a lawyer, said there were two reasons for asking for a judge. First, the science was difficult to understand. More important, the legal reasoning of a judge would set a precedent for the cases to come, while a jury verdict is considered a unique occurrence with scant future relevance. In September 1959, Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of Federal District Dourt in Manhattan found for Mr. Armstrong on all counts. An important factor was Mr. Raymond's argument that for all the years at issue, many other radio companies, including General Electric and Westinghouse, had settled and paid the same uniform royalties that Emerson was ultimately forced to pay. All but one of the remaining companies then settled, but Motorola demanded a separate trial. Mr. Raymond won in Federal District Court in Chicago in 1963 and on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1967. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Dana Merriam Raymond was born in Manhattan on July 28, 1914, and grew up in Berkeley, Calif. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and from Columbia Law School. He went to work for what is now Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and was drafted into the United States Army in 1940. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and assigned to the Royal Air Force in Scotland, where he worked on the top-secret development of radar. Mr. Raymond, a chess enthusiast, specialized in the law of patents and intellectual property. He represented Dr. Charles H. Townes, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose work helped lead to development of the laser. He was secretary of the Armstrong Memorial Research Foundation at Columbia, which is dedicated to continuing Mr. Armstrong's work, and was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Mr. Raymond's wife, the former Josephine Sheehan, died in 2000. His survivors, in addition to his daughter Ms. Flickinger, who lives in Manhattan, include two sons, Peter, of Bronxville, and John, of San Francisco, also lawyers, and seven grandchildren. Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company (via Dan Say, DXLD) ** U S A. A FINAL 73 TO K6DUE At the beginning of our newscast, we told you about the passing of a member of the Amateur Radio Newsline family. Roy Neal, K6DUE, died August 15th following heart surgery. One of the people who knew Roy best is Alan Kaul, W6RCL. Roy and Alan worked together at NBC News, and on projects benefiting amateur radio. Alan looks at the life of a man who was an institution in American broadcast journalism, as well as a driving force in amateur radio`s conquest of space: When Roy Neal, K6DUE, died last week, he was possibly the best-known ham in America. He left an indelible imprint on Amateur Radio. Roy, more than anyone else, was responsible for getting ham radio aboard manned space craft and each new mission is testament to his legacy. His efforts earned Roy awards from the Dayton Hamvention, they designated him Ham of the Year and from CQ-Magazine, which this year named Roy to the Amateur Radio Hall of Fame. He also received honors from The American Radio Relay League, and other groups and served as chairman of two key AMSAT committees. Roy was a good guy. He was my friend and colleague at NBC News. I met Roy in the 1960`s when I was working in Seattle and he came to town to report on aerospace giant Boeing. After I moved to Los Angeles and joined NBC News in the 70`s, Roy and I collaborated on a lot of news reports. As a correspondent Roy was best known for his coverage of the US Space program (he was a friend of the original astronauts) and often reported from both the launch site at Cape Canaveral and NASA Mission Control in Houston. Not many people know this but Roy was also the author of a book about America`s missile system, called The Ace In The Hole. It was written at the height of the Cold War. In the 1970`s, Roy teamed with television producer Dave Bell, W6AQ, to launch the first of several documentaries about amateur radio. Number One was a 16-minute film, Moving Up to Amateur Radio, followed a few years later by The World of Amateur Radio. Dave Bell remembers Roy as the ultimate professional: Dave Bell W6AQ: ``Of all the on-camera talent that I have known, Roy was the most assured and had the smallest ego of all of them. He was a true professional when it came to the news. Everything was always true. Everything was straight from the shoulder and there was no compromise. Roy was one of the old-school news guy. He grew up in the television business and he understood it better than anybody who is working in it today. `` In the 1980`s Roy helped convince NASA to put ham radio in Space aboard a manned flight of the Shuttle. That first ham-astronaut was Owen Garriott, W5LFL, on board STS-9. Garriott`s story of the first DXpedition in Orbit was told by Roy in the television documentary Amateur Radio`s Newest Frontier. Audio from ARNF: ``This is the story of an expedition. The story of STS-9. The Columbia. And these are the explorers: John Young - the commander. Brewster Shaw the shuttle pilot. And the scientists Dr. Ulf Merbold, Byron Lichtenberg, Robert Parker and Dr. Owen Garriott -- an Astronaut who is also Amateur Radio operator W5LFL. This is an expedition to probe the outer limits of science and Amateur Radio`s newest frontier. Roy`s next project was called SAREX - Shuttle Amateur Radio EX- periment, followed by the New World of Amateur Radio which profiled a new ham, teen-ager Kelly Howard, N6PNY. She`s now all grown up, married and has kids of her own. She fondly remembers working with Roy Neal. Kelly Lenhert (née Howard) N6PNY: It was all so exciting, but it was also overwhelming. But working with Roy made me feel so comfortable. He made me feel competent in what I could do. He took me under his wing and he was really supportive and he got me to do what I needed to do to make the film and bring out the best in me. `` Roy`s last documentary was called Ham Radio in Space. Roy`s interest was a natural fit with AMSAT. Roy`s close friend AMSAT Vice President Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, thinks of K6DUE as his mentor. Frank Bauer KA3HDO: ``One of the things that Roy taught me was how to distill information into basically sound bites, if you will. I remember one time where we had to give a presentation - at Dayton - and we had 20 minutes. I told him that I did no know how he could so that, and he said: `Frank, if I can do the whole world on the news in 30 seconds, you can do this in 20 minutes.` So Roy taught me a whole lot from an executive perspective because he was a true executive. `` Another AMSAT officer who worked closely with Roy is Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, the President of AMSAT North America. Robin Haighton VE3FRH: ``The space program itself is in good hands, but there is no doubt about it that we will miss that leveling confidence that Roy always brought to the meetings and the discussions. He made friends with everybody. The moment you met him you felt that here was a man you could trust. `` Other comments have come in from all over the world From New Zealand, the past president of NZART, Jim Meechen ZL2BHF sent his condolences. As have numerous other Newsline listeners. Another of Roy`s friends, Bob Heil, K9EID, had this to say. Bob Heil K9EID: ``I`m going to miss his spirit. He had a spirit about him that when you heard him on the air, you stopped tuning. This was something special you were listening to. And it wasn`t always the tone of his great broadcast voice. It was his spirit. He was always in an up-mode about this hobby. `` Roy was in the first generation of television newsmen who began their craft after World War Two. He started in Philadelphia and then moved to the West Coast where he helped found the NBC News bureau in Los Angeles. That was during the days of the old John Cameron Swayzee Camel News Caravan. Roy was at ease in front of a microphone, and could talk to millions of television viewers as easily as he could talk to the ham across town. On camera, he had the uncanny ability to read to time, precisely to time. When I produced updates for NBC Nightly News and Roy was the on-camera talent, I would time the newscast and tell Roy how long he would have to report the story. I`d say something like this: ``Roy, can you do it in 19 seconds?`` And Roy would always reply, ``You know I can old buddy.`` Roy liked that phrase ``old buddy. ``He used the phrase to address friends and co-workers for some time. As for the updates, Roy always got them right. He would stop talking just an instant before we`d have to switch back to the network. By the time he retired in 1986, Roy had worked out of the Los Angeles news bureau for almost 35-years. He`d probably written millions of words, and brought his audience uncountable hours of news and information. But even in retirement, Roy Neal didn`t stop doing what he did best. He was no stranger to listeners of Amateur Radio Newsline who knew him as a tireless volunteer giving freely of his own time to report the latest information, always signing off in his own stylized way. ``This is Roy Neal, K6DUE. Thanks for listening and 73.`` 73, Old Buddy _ I really hate to see you go. I`m Alan Kaul, W6RCL, reporting for Amateur Radio Newsline. Roy leaves his wife Pat, and sons Mark and David. Services were held August 19th at the Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in High Point, North Carolina. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations in Roy`s name be made to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation at the Astronaut Hall of Fame. The mailing address is 6225 Vectorspace Blvd, Titusville, Florida, 32780. Please mark your envelope to the attention of Linn Le Blanc. And this final thought. Yes, we at Newsline have lost a very dear friend. More important, so has all of Amateur Radio. 73, Roy. None of us will ever forget you. (ARNewsline, W6RCL) Additional on-line reading: The Roy Neal Story: http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/broadcastpioneers/neal/neal.html ARRL: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/08/18/101/?nc=1 ARISS: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/ CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/08/19/neal.obit JSC Amateur Radio Club: http://www.w5rrr.org/sta-pix.html NEWSCAST CLOSE For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editor`s desk, I`m Don Wilbanks, AE5DW. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2003. All rights reserved (via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO LAW: FCC DECLINES TO RECONSIDER ITS HUMAN EXPOSURE TO RF RULES The FCC has declined to open an Inquiry into updating its human exposure to RF signals rules. In particular, the petitioner in this case wanted the Commission to consider possible health hazards not covered by the current rules, including non-thermal effects and the effects of long-term low-level RF exposure. According to the CGC Communicator the FCC dismissed the petition, arguing that any such evidence should be presented to other, more appropriate expert agencies. The Commission also noted that its current human exposure rules have recently been upheld by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. This, in the face of similar arguments by other petitioners. The complete story is in cyberspace at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-03-191A1.doc (CGC) (ARRL Letter Aug 22 via John Norfolk, DXLD) see also RECEIVER NEWS ** U S A. AMERICA TRIES TO CUT TOLL OF 50M MIGRATING BIRDS KILLED BY PHONE MASTS --- Paul Brown, environment correspondent Friday August 22, 2003 The Guardian A federal investigation has been launched into the plight of up to 50 million migratory birds killed each year by mobile phone and broadcast masts strung across the US. . . http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1027336,00.html (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, DXLD) ** URUGUAY. INFO Y RELACION SOBRE ONDAS CORTAS EN URUGUAY Amigos y colegas, Con cierta tardanza, seguramente debido a razones burocráticas, he recibido contestación por (correo certificado y aviso de retorno) de parte de URSEC, autoridad de las radiocomunicaciones en el Uruguay a mis preguntas sobre la situación oficial de algunas emisoras operando en Onda Corta en mi país, (Expediente. Nº 2003/1/1059.-Inf. RDF 167/2003.) Montevideo, 24 de julio de 2003.- La primera nota reza de la siguiente manera: "U R S E C Unidad Reguladora de Servicios de Comunicaciones DIVISIÓN TÉCNICA.- DEPARTAMENTO RADIODIFUSIÓN.- Exp. Nº 2003/1/1059.-Inf. RDF 167/2003. Montevideo, 24 de julio de 2003.- Con referencia a emisora CXA61, 6,045 MHz. R. Sarandí Sport corresponde informar que se encuentra coordinada con 2,5 kw y operando con menor potencia por el momento.– La emisora Ciudad de Montevideo, coordinado con 10 kw y operando con menor potencia.– Con referencia a 31 metros para operar desde Artigas, La Voz de Artigas, hasta el momento no se han adjudicado frecuencias en esa banda.– Se adjunta listados de emisoras y potencias.– Notifíquese a interesado.–" FIRMAS Y SELLO, Sr. Alain Núñez González, Director División Técnica y otra persona de apellido Iglesias, demás ilegible. Se recuerda que LV de Artigas menciona en su sitio web, el canal de 31m. Y R. Sarandí Sport dijo tener algo menos de 8 KW. Voy a hablar de nuevo con el técnico en los próximos días. -- Adjunto otra hoja con la lista de frecuencias, potencias y azimuth de antena, son los canales registrados a emisoras de onda corta en Uruguay. Téngase presente que sólo algunas operan/operaron efectivamente. Algunas nunca salieron al aire. Y que las potencias son las coordinadas. URUGUAY POTENCIAS DE EMISORAS ONDA CORTA FRECUENCIA ESTACION POTENCIA AZIMUTH 6000.0 MONTEVIDEO 5.0 40 6010.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 ND 6035.0 MONTEVIDEO 1.0 ND 6045.0 MONTEVIDEO 2.5 ND 6055.0 MONTEVIDEO 5.0 40 6075.0 ARTIGAS 2.5 ND 6115.0 MONTEVIDEO 5.0 10 6125.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 320 6125.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 320 6140.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 ND 6155.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 10 6170.0 MONTEVIDEO 1.0 ND 9515.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 ND 9515.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 38 9595.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 349 9620.0 MONTEVIDEO 20.0 320 9620.0 MONTEVIDEO 20.0 38 9620.0 MONTEVIDEO 20.0 38 9640.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 330 9650.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 ND 9670.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 210 9670.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 50 9680.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 280 9770.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 38 11735.0 MONTEVIDEO 5.0 ND 11835.0 MONTEVIDEO 5.0 348 11835.0 MONTEVIDEO 5.0 ND 11835.0 MONTEVIDEO 5.0 348 11845.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 330 11860.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 50 11885.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 320 11885.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 38 11900.0 MONTEVIDEO 20.0 320 11900.0 MONTEVIDEO 20.0 20 11900.0 MONTEVIDEO 20.0 38 11955.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 325 15230.0 MONTEVIDEO 5.0 348 15275.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 340 15275.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 38 15275.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 340 15355.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 340 15355.0 MONTEVIDEO 10.0 50 17870.0 MONTEVIDEO 25.0 ND La última nota es una RELACIÓN DE ONDAS CORTAS DE URUGUAY (vale la misma observación que en el caso anterior, muchas de ellas están inactivas; otras nunca salieron al aire.) Repito: esta **NO ES UNA LISTA de TODAS LAS EMISORAS EN EL AIRE, SON LAS QUE ALGUNA VEZ SOLICITARON PERMISO, O SON ASIGNADAS PARA EL SODRE**. FREC. kHz. NOMBRE 49 Mts 1. 6000.00 CXA2 RADIOMUNDO 2. 6010.00 CXA142 EM. CIUDAD DE MONTEVIDEO 3. 6035.00 CXA30 RADIO NACIONAL 4. 6045.00 CXA61 RADIO SARANDÍ SPORT 5. 6055.00 CWA148 UNIVERSO 6. 6075.00 CXA3 LA VOZ DE ARTIGAS 7. 6115.00 CXA73 CLARÍN 8. 6125.00 CXA4 SODRE 9. 6140.00 CXA20 MONTECARLO 10. 6155.00 CWA155 BANDA ORIENTAL 11. 6170.00 CXA21 RADIO FÉNIX 31 Metros 12. 9515.00 CXA71 SODRE l3. 9595.00 CXA72 MONTECARLO 14. 9620.00 CXA6 SODRE 15. 9640.00 CXA8 SODRE 16. 9650.00 CXA42 EM. CIUDAD DE MONTEVIDEO 17. 9670.00 CXA24 SODRE 18. 9680.00 CXA18 SODRE 19. 9770.00 CXA9 SODRE 25 Metros 20. ll735.00 CXA7 RADIO ORIENTAL 21. ll835.00 CXA19 RADIO EL ESPECTADOR 22. 11845.00 CXA11 SODRE 23. l1860.00 CXA16 SOBRE 24. 11885.00 CXA68 SODRE 25. 11900.00 CXA10 SODRE 26. l1955.00 CXA22 SODRE 19 Metros 27. 15230.00 CXA- SODRE 28. 15275.00 CXA14 SODRE 29. 15355.00 CXA10 (23) SODRE 16 Metros 30. 17870.00 CXA54 SODRE 73 de (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo - URUGUAY, Aug 18, Conexión Digital via DXLD) NOTE: Most of these are NOT on the air, but it`s nice to know that if they were, all frequencies would be correct to one or to decimal places! (gh) ** VENEZUELA. Hola Glenn, Saludos desde Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. En días recientes me he enterado de que la popular estación juvenil Cosmos 94 (94.1 San Juan, 94.7 Isla), ha cambiado de nombre y de formato. El grupo estadounidense de medios SBC adquirió un lote de emisoras en Puerto Rico y Cosmos fue una de ellas. Ahora la estación se llama Onda 94 y transmite sólo hits del trillado TOP 40, o lo que llamamos algunos locutores independientes, "Radio Payola". Es lamentable, debido a que Cosmos 94 estaba dedicada al rock en español y a las bandas locales, las cuales carecen de algún apoyo por parte de las radiodifusoras de la Isla del Encanto. 73's y buen DX... (Adán González, Aug 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. ZNBC, 4910, 0405-0417, August 21, Afropops at tune-in, presumed PSA/announcement mentioning "Commission", "Zambia", "20 August" and a tentative web address, crc.(zm?).com. Announcer with local time (6:14 AM) and back to music. Strong, clear signal. I tried the "tentative" web address listed above, but I must have heard incorrectly, as it leads nowhere. A quick check at allafrica.com under "Zambia" shows a news article, posted August 20, regarding the CRC, Constitution Review Commission. No web address though (Scott R. Barbour Jr, NH, August 21, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5006: I think that unID carrier on 5006.0 kHz which appeared on DXLD 3-139 might be JG2XA. It was reported by Mr. Akabayashi in DXLD 1-108. JG2XA is still on the air and I have noticed steady carrier on 5006.0 kHz (Takeshi Sejimo, Overseas Charge Secretary, Radio Nuevo Mundo, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ A friend gave me an unsolicited subscription to Maxim, and I`ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what it has to do with DX, as I feverishly leaf through it every month vainly searching for interesting and relevant articles, among all the skinny nippleless nymphs and perfume pages, but now I finally know: --- HOW TO BUILD A RADIO 1. Get Loopy --- In addition to carcinogens and B.O., the air in your house is full of radio waves. ``All you need is an antenna to capture them, a coil to resonate them, and a rectifier to translate them,`` promises Rebecca the Crystal Queen ruler of the 1,000 member Xtal Set Society. Polish off some delicious Quaker Oats, then punch four holes in the cylinder: one in the lid, one in the base, one on the side an inch from the top, and one on the opposite side an inch from the bottom. String plastic-coated 24-gauge wire through the lid and out the top hole (fig. 1), then loop the wire around the container (fig. 2). Every five turns, strip an inch of insulation and twist it into an eyelet (fig. 3). Feed the last 25 feet into the can and out the base (fig. 4). The sound waves [sic!] are energy enough, so unlike your girlfriend`s orgasm, it requires no batteries! 2. Get Wired --- For the rectifier, get your hands on some high- impedance crystal earplugs. (This and other parts are available at http://midnightscience.com or any geek-friendly electronics store.) Cut off the metal plug, separate the two wires, and strip off an inch of insulation. Solder a 47,000-ohm resistor between the wires to regular energy flow. Clip a 1N34a germanium diode to one end to insulate the audible part of the sound wave from the useless inaudible parts. Strip off a section of the wire where it exists the container - -- that`s your ground wire --- and attach one end of the resistor to that section with another alligator clip. Warn the neighbors --- you`re about to rock the hizzouse! [?] 3. Get Down --- String your antenna --- about 50 feet of wire coming from the top of the cylinder --- out a window and tie it up high, far away from power lines. Connect the 25 feet of ground wire to a cold- water pipe --- your bong won`t do the trick, Cheech. If you didn`t screw things up, you should be jamming to the works of Bach and Limbaugh in no time. Tune your unit by attaching the tip of the diode to the eyelets with a clip (fig. 7) and repositioning the antenna. Reception will vary according to the position of the radio and the time of day, and there`s no way to guarantee which waves you`ll catch. ``You can usually get one to three stations,`` Her Royal Majesty says. ``The longer your antenna, the more you`ll pick up.`` Ain`t that just always the way! Very Technical Specifications: Total Cost: $10-$15 Tools: Utility knife, wire cutters, soldeirng iron, solder, wire strippers, strippers Difficulty: easy listening out of hard rock (Maxim, Sept 2003, page 62, q.v. for the missing figures 5 and 6, via gh DXLD) NEW SANGEAN WOODEN RADIO For everyone`s information, just found this new review. It`s only two days old! It looks like Sangean is coming out with a new radio. It looks pretty good too. Something unique is that there is a user feedback form so you can send a message to the CEO of Sangean. This is a must read for everyone intersted [sic] in radio. The radio won`t even be released for another 2 months. http://www.radiolabs.com/Articles/woodradio.html Just thought I would let everyone know! Ciao! Lee (Lee Marcus, rec.radio.shortwave August 22 via John Norfolk, DXLD) It appears to be a small analog AM/FM radio, although one photograph shows it with longwave! (John Norfolk, DXLD) BLACKOUT RUN ON GRUNDIGS Eton Corporation, the leading developer and distributor of shortwave radios under the Grundig brand name, today announced an immediate surge in demand for its products due to yesterday's blackout in parts of the Northeast region, the largest power outage in North American history. A rush on retailers for disaster preparedness supplies has prompted the company to arrange immediate shipments of its self- powered shortwave radio to retailers in the affected states. . . http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030815/sff044_1.html (via Jilly Dybka, KF4ZEO, DXLD) BLOOD FLOW TO BRAIN CHANGES WITH RADIO-WAVE EXPOSURE TOKYO, Aug. 19 (Kyodo) -- Japanese researchers said Tuesday they have found that blood flow in the brains of people who complain of irritation from electromagnetic waves changes when they are exposed to such waves from appliances such as cell phones and power lines. The research group measured the changes in the amount of blood flow in 10 people, five of whom have symptoms of hypersensitivity to electromagnetic waves. They found that the brain's blood flow in those with the hypersensitivity fluctuated with exposure to the waves. The findings are expected to contribute to understanding the symptoms, such as headaches and fatigue, for which the causal relationship with electromagnetic waves remains unknown. The researchers believe the symptoms were caused either because the electromagnetic waves disrupted the nerve system and thus caused changes in the blood flow, or that the ability to maintain the brain's blood flow at a certain level was reduced. The research involved Ko Sakabe of the Kitasato Institute Hospital and the nongovernmental environment organization Japan Offspring Fund. Many people with irritations linked to electromagnetic waves also have problems moving their eyeballs and abnormality in their pupils' reaction to light. "We want to conduct further research with more cases and higher precision," Sakabe said. There has so far been no method to test for hypersensitivity to electromagnetic waves. One indicator is that symptoms disappear or improve as patients distance themselves from the environment affected by the waves. In some cases, factors other than electromagnetic waves were said to be the cause of the illnesses (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) See also USA DRM +++ DIGITAL RADIO MONDIALE Christian Vision will be conducting special DRM transmissions to HFCC in Tromso, Norway on 25th, 26th, 27th August. The transmission parameters are as follows: Time 1300-1400 UT Freq 11675 kHz Site Rampisham Azimuth 33 deg Antenna 4/4/.8 ? Power 33kW Target northern Norway Language English ("The Voice"). The regular Monday transmission to Europe 1000-1100 will be suspended next week. Don't forget that the latest DRM schedule is always available at http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/html/drm_schedule.html DRM AND WORLD DAB FORUM TO MAKE JOINT ANNOUNCEMENT AT IFA 2003 The leaders of digital radio organisations Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) and the World DAB Forum will make a joint announcement at IFA 2003, the world's largest consumer electronics event. World DAB Forum President Annika Nyberg will join DRM Chairman Peter Senger during a portion of DRM's August 30th press conference in the Technisch- Wissenschaftliches-Forum (TWF) for a special announcement. The press conference begins at 1300 local time in the TWF at IFA 2003 in the Messe Berlin. [I have no idea what the announcement is about, but we will publish details as soon as possible after the event.] (Andy Sennitt, Media Network newsletter Aug 22, Radio Netherlands via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ [CUMBRE DX] PROPAGATION REPORT One M class flare to note this week on Aug 19 causing a fadeout over Central Africa. Otherwise the sun has been fairly quiet. Solar wind speed declined on Aug 16 before a shock in the solar wind at 1342 Aug 17 due to a Coronal Mass Ejection. This caused brief active/storm levels in the geomagnetic field followed by a predominantly southward bias to the solar wind which kept levels active through until Aug 19. This led to significant depressions in the MUF at mid-high latitudes. Another coronal hole windstream started to impact the earth yesterday leading to further increased geomagnetic activity. IPS Geomagnetic Warning 39 was issued on 21 August and is current for interval 21-23 August. A rise in geomagnetic activity to minor storm, with some stations recording isolated major storm periods, today was due to a slightly earlier than expected start of the predicted coronal hole effect. The geomagnetic activity is expected to remain enhanced to 'active to minor storm' levels during the next two days. Conditions are expected to remain disturbed through until Aug 30. Prepared using data from http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, SA, Aug 22, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) QST de W1AW To all radio amateurs PROPAGATION FORECAST BULLETIN 34 ARLP034 From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA August 22, 2003 Sunspot numbers down 19%, solar flux down 7%, and the planetary A index up 42%; Could it be any worse for HF operators? Well yes, it could, but those percentages reflect the change in average daily indices from last week to this week. What could be worse of course are zero sunspots with solar flux around 70 or lower, which is what we were seeing about seven years ago at the bottom of the solar cycle. For an example of this, look back to Propagation Forecast Bulletin ARLP042 dated October 11, 1996 at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/1996-arlp042.html The sunspot number was a flat 0 for every day of that week, and average solar flux was 68.6. What does that mean for HF propagation? Run the free W6ELprop software available from http://www.qsl.net/w6elprop/ Run one copy for August 22 with a solar flux of 68.6, and another copy with a flux value of 121.7. In my comparison, in each instance I ran a path from Dallas to Germany. The signal strength on the path with the lower values showed about the same signal levels for 40 meters, but the path reliability rating was much lower. Looking at 20 meters, the path seems to close about 90 minutes earlier on the one using the lower flux value. It is fun to run these comparisons over different paths and seasons. Without any doubt the day most disturbed by geomagnetic storms this week was Monday, August 18, when the planetary A index was 86 and the planetary K index was 8 during one three-hour period, 7 during another, and 6 during three other periods. This indicates a severe geomagnetic storm. This kind of thing gets worse as one goes toward either pole, and in Fairbanks, Alaska the College A index was 132. The College K index was 8 during two periods, 7 during three periods, and 4, 5 and 6 in the other three. This is why many Alaskan amateur radio operators complain of long periods when they can`t seem to hear or work anyone or anything. The Monday storm began around 0100z when the interplanetary magnetic field tipped to the south near earth. This makes the earth vulnerable to the effects of any solar wind or flare activity. A solar flare erupted on the sun on August 19 at 2005z, and this pushed a strong coronal mass ejection toward earth. The forecast from the U.S. Air Force for planetary A index was adjusted upward on Thursday, August 21 after the initial one at 2104z. That earlier one predicted a planetary A index of 30 for Friday, which is quite high. Six hours and twenty minutes later a new forecast was released which predicts Friday`s planetary A index at 50. Saturday is predicted at 30, and Sunday, Monday and Tuesday all show the same planetary A index of 25. Predicted solar flux for Friday, August 22 is 115, and 110 is the value for Saturday through Tuesday, after which the number is expected to head higher. I received several emails last week asking about any correlation between the widespread power blackout and space weather. This seems unlikely because conditions were actually rather mild during that time. But a solar flare is a natural thing to consider during a massive power outage, since a big flare on March 6, 1989 brought down an electric power grid in Canada. One who wrote to ask about this was Tim Anderson, AG4XM of Covington, Kentucky. He sent this article about space weather and the effects upon power grids: http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/eiskappenman.html David Moore of Morro Bay, California sent an article about an 11-year cycle in which the sun`s magnetic poles reverse. Read all about it at http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=12383 For more information on propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin see the Propagation page on the ARRL Web site at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html Sunspot numbers for August 14 through 20 were 108, 86, 92, 113, 104, 77, and 62, with a mean of 91.7. 10.7 cm flux was 129.7, 131.4, 126.9, 119.3, 115.9, 116.7, and 111.8, with a mean of 121.7. Estimated planetary A indices were 18, 14, 11, 15, 86, 21, and 15, with a mean of 25.7. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (ARRL via John Norfolk, DXLD) ###