DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-155, August 28, 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 DX LISTENING DIGEST JULY HTML ARCHIVE IS NOW COMPLETE: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3g.html NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1197: WWCR: Thu 2030 15825, Sat 1030, Sun 0230 5070, 0630 3210, Wed 0930 on 9475 RFPI: Sat 0130, 0800, 2330, Sun 0530, 1130, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Wed 0100, 0730, 1330 on 7445 [nominal times subject to delay or pre- emption] WRMI: Sat & Sun 1800+ on 15725 WINB: Sun 0031 on 12160 [for last time] WRN: Rest of world Sat 0800, Europe Sun 0430, N America Sun1 1400 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 [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1197.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197.ram WORLD OF RADIO WATCH WMQM 1600 Memphis: no longer carried after August 23; had been Sat 1530 UT since the station went on last November. WINB 12160 Red Lion: the UT Sun 0031 time is cancelled after August 31. A replacement time is being considered. SOLICITED TESTIMONIALS Re: Listening to WOR. I always run a tape of WOR on its first airing on WBCQ at 2200Z Wednesdays. Typically I'll tune the Satellit 800 to 7415 at 2030Z, pop in a 120-minute cassette into an auto-reverse deck, and let it go. I then listen to the last 30 minutes of the cassette later in the evening. The 800 has 'line out' jacks that allows very good tape recordings to be made. An alternate is to program a VCR I have set up in the shack (an old model that doesn't require a TV screen to program). I often listen to the WWCR "DX hour" 0200Z Saturday nights, and notice the audio quality on both DX Partyline and WOR is better that the respective HCJB/WBCQ broadcasts; there is a slight 'resonance' to the audio and seems to enhance the listening quality. Don't know exactly what they do it but it is better. 73s (Ben Loveless, WB9FJO, Michigan) As to when I listen to WOR, my most common time to listen is the Sunday 0230 UT (0330 UT in winter) on WWCR-5070. I occasionally listen to the first run on WBCQ-7415 (2200 UT summer/2300 UT winter), but don't always get home from work in time to do so. Yesterday (27 Aug.) I did get home in time, but 7415 wasn't in at all, and I'm wondering if the transmitter was even on the air (The 17 MHz frequency almost always skips over us here). 73- (Bill Westenhaver, Montréal) I was barely able to confirm 7415 was on then, but not 17495 (gh) ** ANTARCTICA. LRA-36 DX Special, UT Aug 28 on 15476 at 0100: Let the fun begin! Sign on at 0100 with ballad by OM, then IDs at 0104. SINPO 34343. 15475.9 kHz. Lots of IDs up till 0111 when there is extended talk in Spanish by YL. Her voice sounds distorted, possible microphone problems? [Later:] 15475.95, LRA36 R. Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, *0100-0205. At 0100, opened with a ballad by a male, then alternating IDs by a man and woman at 0104. Brief pop music, then more IDs. SINPO during the first 10 minutes was 34343. Long talk in Spanish by a female at 0111, however her voice was distorted. More ID's and pop music excerpts. By 0116 the signal had degraded to SINPO 24332. Another program or feature by a male at 0142. Although I couldn't hear any audio after 0200, their carrier was still on at 0205. The signal was consistently best on my 150 foot longwire pointed south. Thanks to Gabriel Iván Barrera and Arnaldo Slaen for making this special transmission possible (George Maroti, Mt. Kisco NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) No joy on the west coast, nothing but static (Don Nelson, OR, Cumbre DX via DXLD) No joy in Wyoming either (Hans Johnson, Cody, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Nothing heard from LRA36 on 15476 0100-0200Z last night, band was pretty dead anyway. Used a Grundig Satellit 800 & Kenwood TS450 ham rig with multiband ham dipole 30' elevation, to no avail (Ben Loveless, WB9FJO, Michigan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing in central Illinois but static (Ron Trotto, Waggoner, Illinois, wdx4kwi, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Had a very weak carrier from tune-in slightly after 0100 to well past 0200 UT Aug 28, with occasional bits of audio, but it was on 15475, not 15476, so must have been something else, such as R. Rossii, Irkutsk, beamed 60 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I'm getting a het and the Lowe sync whine indicates a signal is there, but I don't seem to be getting any audio. Sometimes I think I hear voices, but that's another problem entirely. :-) Seriously, it sounds like a woman's voice at times. Signal (if that's what it is) is weakening with time. Barely there at 0140 (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY (halfway between NYC and Montreal) Lowe HF-150 "stack" A/D sloper oriented west to east, hard-core-dx via DXLD) I heard some first traces of the audio (woman's voice as well!) at about 0113, but at once it became clear that the station is not LRA36. The carrier was on 15475 kHz sharp (not several hundred Hz above as typical for ARG). Well, it turned to be Radio Rossii via Irkutsk, scheduled on 15475 kHz at 2230-1000, 100 kW. Signal was gradually strengthening, leaving no chance to find a weak Argentinian. I'm located in Kazan, Russia, 49 E / 56 N 73's, (Dmitry Mezin, hard-core- dx via DXLD) LRA36, Radio Nacional Arcángel, 15476. The special transmission was mostly a bust here in Maryland, USA. The signal was barely over the noise floor S1. I heard bits and pieces of a man and a woman talking and a couple of times, possible music. 0100-0200 28 Aug 2003. I appreciate the effort to put this special transmission on and hope we can have another chance in the future (Bill Harms, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15474.90, LRA36, *0100 past 0128 (recheck) Aug. 28. Noted at 0100 with instrumental ballad sign-on, followed with announcements by male speaker at 0101, with long talks. Signal was just above the noise level and best heard on the sloper pointed due south. Rechecked at 0128 and heard a female with talks in Spanish (?) but audio was either distorted or they had a bad audio feed or something else. Signal was poor to marginal at best (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada. Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) The exact frequency you give contradicts all the others, and LRA36`s usual position close to 15476, leading me to believe you were actually listening to Irkutsk, like me (gh, DXLD) I confirm that LRA36 was on the air on 28 August from *0100-0223*, according to personal communications with Base Esperanza. 73's GIB (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, DXing.info via DXLD) Perhaps you also need to confirm the exact frequency actually used on this occasion (gh, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Ich bekam soeben von Gabriel Ivan Barrera die folgenden Zeilen, nachdem ich ihm mitgeteilt hatte, dass die deutsche Sendung von RAE Buenos Aires z. Zt. nicht gehoert werden kann. Hier die deutsche Uebersetzung: "Rayen Braun hat zur Zeit gesundheitliche Probleme, durch (aphonia) hat sie ihre Stimme verloren, und sie wird zu der deutschen Sendung von R.A.E. zurueck kehren. Deswegen wird voruebergehend Spanisch statt Deutsch ausgestrahlt. Es ist sehr schwer, (in Buenos Aires) jemanden zu finden, der die deutsche Sprache sehr gut spricht, z. Zt. ist kein Ersatz fuer Rayen in Sicht." Currently Rayen Braun is with some health problems, she is having lost one's voice (aphonia), and she will return ASAP to German transmissions in RAE. Currently RAE is relaying Spanish programs in the meantime. And as final comments, here in Argentina is very difficult meet some people that speak very well the German language and Rayen currently have not replacement (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, via Uwe Volk, Germany, A-DX Aug 27 via BC-DX via DXLD) Strange; I thought the place was replete with German immigrants (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. NEW VOICE SPANS CULTURAL CHASM By Nicolas Rothwell, August 28, 2003 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,7063442%255E7582,00.html When Richard Trudgen, a bushy bearded self-taught development expert, first arrived in north-east Arnhem Land he began to realise he was witness to the unfolding of a social crisis. It took two decades, though, before he came to his latest idea. He has just set up Australia's most shoestring media empire in a bid to change the pattern of turbulence in the indigenous communities around him. Trudgen, a driven figure who prefers results to theories, achieved fame three years ago when he published Why Warriors Lie Down and Die, an unsparing account of dysfunction in Arnhem Land, backed up by concrete proposals for remedies. On August 1, the most dramatic of his schemes to change remote communities fired into life: a short-wave radio station beamed across the vast eastern Top End, and covering with its footprint five communities and 90 outstations, or "homelands". "I said once," remembers Trudgen, "that I would crawl backwards naked down Pitt Street to get this radio service up – and that's almost what it took." The group Trudgen works with, Aboriginal Resource and Development Services, raised funds wherever it could, eventually securing some $280,000 for the basic operation, which sends out an exiguous signal, at one wavelength around the clock, from a transmitter station on Darwin's fringes, at Humpty Doo. The key to the idea, in keeping with Trudgen's arguments about development, is language. What's different about this station is that it provides its programs in the local Aboriginal language, Yolngu-matha. Its name, Djawarrkmirr Radio, comes from a word that once meant "town crier" in the dialects of Arnhem Land. Initial programs consist of detailed explanations of the diseases afflicting the Yolngu people of the region, discussions of economic topics, even local news. The aim is to turn the programming into a full-scale, language-based information network, with intensive participation from remote communities. "Our potential studio is as big as the telephone network," insists Trudgen. "People can participate from their homelands – everything said in English is translated at once into Yolngu-matha." For the team at ARDS, which has effectively turned itself into an independent media operator, radio is the way to unblock the failures of the system -- to empower and educate Aboriginal communities, not just in Arnhem Land but across the remote Centre and North. Trudgen's analysis of the crisis in traditional communities is still contentious, even though Why Warriors was enthusiastically circulated to the federal Cabinet when it first appeared. His view is that remote-area people are held back in great part because their language and conceptual schemes hinder them from grasping Western ideas and information: translation into their language is, then, the key to practical education, training and development. His book is a manifesto of his convictions: the radio network is a means to test them in practice. There are, unsurprisingly, teething problems. Broadcast systems have been allowed to decay in some areas, so relays are impossible; the short-wave signal is not ideal, since short-wave radio ownership is far from universal, and word the system is on air has yet to reach all target areas. Trudgen, though, believes he has the future in his grasp, if only he can spread his gospel: "Our aim is this: To educate the adult population to understand the world. If we can turn the adults, whose training has been neglected, into effective teachers of contemporary knowledge, then we will have 2000 informal instructors in the Yolngu world." For such teaching to be effective, it needs to be conducted in the special academic version of Yolngu-matha, which Trudgen does not speak well. Help from his partner in the project, Uniting Church minister Djiniyini Gondarra, is critical. But support from circles which might be expected to be supportive has yet to eventuate. The federal and Northern Territory governments pay lip service, but appear to regard the radio network as an alarming freelance intrusion into their spheres of operation: Trudgen, after all, envisages the creation of a vast "virtual classroom" with an alternative syllabus, and is scathing about current service delivery to the remote world. Trudgen's dream first took shape in a conversation with an old Yolngu friend 20 years ago, and has been expanding ever since. The game-plan now is to turn the signal into an AM/FM one, and to be ready for upgrade to satellite-to-digital-radio transfer, which would allow crystal-clear reception anywhere, and cost some $750,000 to establish. A high price tag for a shoestring operation, but next to nothing set against the vast sums poured into official development schemes in Arnhem Land. And Trudgen has more in store: an 1800 number for listener call-backs, even an expansion of the venture to other language groups in remote Australia. "If Aboriginal people across Australia whose second language is English could hear this signal now," he insists, "they'd be jumping up with joy and glee." (via Andy Sennitt, WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ABC RADIO STAFF THREATEN ACTION OVER RIGHT TO PUBLISH By Barney Zwartz August 27, 2003 URL: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/26/1061663794344.html I'm not sure what times "The Religion Report" is broadcast on RA. However, I believe it's still on CBC Overnight Thursdays at 2:30 AM (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. HCJB WORLD RADIO-AUSTRALIA LAUNCHES URDU BROADCASTS Posted by: newsdesk on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 12:56 PM For the first time, HCJB World Radio began airing programs in the Urdu language July 21, making additional Christian broadcasts available to more than 80 million speakers across South Asia. Urdu speakers live mostly in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Malaysia. The programs air from HCJB World Radio-Australia`s new shortwave site in Kununurra, ``The Voice of the Great Southland.`` Director of Ministries Dennis Adams says initial response to the half- hour programs, which air each morning and evening Monday-Saturday, has been positive. ``Since we started the Urdu broadcasts we have heard from Lahore, Pakistan, that various groups have been formed to listen to the broadcasts, followed by a time of discussion. That`s exciting news!`` The programs complement longtime Urdu broadcasts to the region from Christian organizations such as FEBA Radio and Trans World Radio. Urdu is the first language other than English to air from the Kununurra site. The Urdu program, called ``Danish Kadah,`` was commissioned by partner ministry Asia Aflame Network and produced by Pakistan Christian Radio Ministries. ``The program content is arranged into modules designed to teach Christian doctrines to believers and help in church planting,`` Adams says. Asia Aflame has organized an extensive follow-up network to respond to listeners` needs. The Urdu broadcasts began about six months after the Kununurra station went on the air in January in English. The English programs have attracted a loyal audience across the region with hundreds of listeners responding via letters and e-mails from throughout the South Pacific and South Asia. ``Our English programming is designed to provide a balance that moves between pre-evangelism, evangelism and Bible teaching,`` says Adams. ``There are programs that focus on the various cultures such as the music of Asia, the Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. We also have an Australian country music program, a tourism program called `Destinations,` and special programming for teenagers and younger children.`` ``The next language to go on the air is most likely Hindi, probably in April 2004,`` Adams says. ``Other languages will probably not go on the air until we have a second transmitter. Hopefully this will be sooner rather than later! We`re hoping to begin 2.5 hours of morning broadcasts to East Asia before the end of this year, subject to the completion of a new antenna.`` (HCJB World Radio, press release Aug 27 via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Emisora andina en 4905.56 kHz, a las 0239 UT, el 23/08. Locutor en evento público --- música de fondo --- menciones de la comunidad de Candelaria. Later: No había identificado: Radio San Miguel, en los 4905.56 kHz, captada el 23/08 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Riberalta (gh) 4906, Radio San Miguel, 0915-0930 Aug 27. Noted a man in Spanish comments, IDing and presenting musical selections. It looks like the station has settled on 4906 kHz rather than the 4905.50 frequency they were using the other day. Hopefully, the station will not slowly creep up the band to their old frequency over time? Signal here was fair (Bolland, Chuck, Clewiston Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Desde la mañana del 18 de agosto 2003 es audible en la nf de 4905.4 variable a 4906.4 hasta hoy día 28 de agosto, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta, Bolivia, que había estado en los 4930.0 hasta la mañana del 16 de agosto 2003. Con ésta son 33 las variaciones de frecuencia que RSM tuvo hasta ahora y que se ubican en el rango de 4905 a 4930 kcs desde septiembre 1992 en que es audible en la banda de 60 metros (ex- 3310 hasta agosto 1992), siendo 2003 el año de la variación de mayor magnitud (4905v a 4930) = 25 kcs. Anteriormente el año de la mayor variación había sido 1998 con 5 kcs. Supera como saltarina del dial y en magnitud de rango de frecuencias a la otra muy variable Radio Huanta 2000 del Perú. Glenn, deseche mi info si hay otra con más datos estadísticos y precisiones. Chau (Emilio Pedro Povrzenic (pronúnciese Povéryenich, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Re Guarujá log on 5054: Mark, do you mean 5045 on this one, as reported by others previously?? (Glenn to Mark Mohrmann, via DXLD) Yes Glenn, it is a typo. 5045 is correct. Thanks (Mark Mohrmann, VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. ¿Por qué se repetirá la peruana de 6020.34 kHz, en 6060.19 kHz, a eso de las 0530 UT? (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Already discussed recently as a Brazilian, carrying the ubiquitous Voz de la Liberación gospel huxter program in Portuñol; or did you check on two receivers to confirm they were synchronized, in parallel? (gh) ** CAMBODIA. 11939.4-11940.1, National R, Phnom Penh, *1155 open carrier, *1200-1235v*, Aug 05-14, reactivated with programs in Khmer, maybe only for tests. Also heard with open carrier *2355 and program from *0000. They start with a national hymn, ID and pieces of an instrumental National Anthem. The program length varies - the longest lasted 35 minutes. There are still modulation problems and drift in frequency. Weak signal with splatters from 11945 (Roland Schulze, Mangaldan Pangasinan, Philippines, direct, BC-DX Aug 11; and DSWCI DXW via BC-DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. China Radio International 0900-1100 Pacific broadcast in English was heard August 27th on 15210, not moved to 15250 as reported last month (Mike Barraclough, UK, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** CONGO. Radio Congo en francés, a las 0534 UT, el 26/08, en los 4765 kHz. Tenía mucho tiempo sin oírla en esa frecuenca. "Golpeaba" bastante a Radio Kaduna en 4770 kHz. Llevo varios días sin poder escucharla en 5985 kHz, luego de que Family Radio deja el canal libre por unos minutos entre las 0445-0455 UT (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF BROADCASTING IN CUBA Manolo de la Rosa Hernández, Radio Havana Cuba Emma Almeda and Manolo de la Rosa from Radio Havana Cuba [caption] In 1922, in the month of October, station PWX was officially inaugurated by the Cuban Telephone Company, subsidiary of ITT. So began the first radio transmissions in Cuba. Since its beginning, this station and the others that came later were modeled after U.S. stations; that is, they were created as private entities without government participation. In 1934, with the penetration of great amounts of U.S. capital, radio achieved a high degree of development, and stations of considerably high powers began to be installed. This was necessary because commercial announcements filled the stations, almost all from the United States, because the large consortiums had sufficiently penetrated the economy of our country and took the place of any local advertisers. This occurred from 1930 to 1940 -- the commercial era. The decade of 1940-1950 was characterized by the appearance of large national radio networks, commercial competition between production companies and broadcasting plants, as well as the appearance of advertising agencies. This period was known as the monopoly, and it lasted from 1940 to 1959, when the Revolution took place. In the decade of the 1950s, a new phenomenon appeared that strengthened the development of the radio monopoly: television. This, without doubt, reduced the radio audience, especially in the nighttime hours. Nevertheless, by that time Cuba had reached a considerable development of radio broadcasting in comparison with the rest of Latin America. By the date that I mentioned -- 1950-1959 -- only two countries in Latin America had more stations (including repeaters of the national networks) than Cuba. These were Mexico and Brazil, which of course are much larger countries, geographically, than ours. Cuba had 156 stations, while Brazil had 630 and Mexico had 417. An interesting piece of information is that before the Revolution, 30 percent of the stations in the country were located in the capital, Havana. There were 31 stations in the city of Havana, and only one on the Island of Pines, now known as the Isle of Youth. There were four national networks: CMQ, CNC (Circuito Nacional Cubano), Unión Radio and Cadena Oriental de Radio. These four national networks, along with the rest of the local stations that operated in Havana, made up 64 percent of the country`s stations, principally in the provinces of Oriente and Las Villas. The mountainous areas of the country did not receive signals from these national networks because they were not fundamentally interested in that population, which did not have the economic power to buy products that were advertised in the capital. From the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959 until May of 1962, radio and TV went through a brief transitional stage in which the media were transferred from private to state ownership. On May 24, 1962, law number 1030 of the Council of Ministers of Cuba created the Cuban Institute of Radio Broadcasting (ICR) an organization whose object was to control and operate all radio and TV broadcasts in Cuba. In 1976, as a consequence of acts by the First Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, a new political-administrative structure was applied to the country, and the radio and television stations gained a new administrator called the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT). On May 1, 1961, the shortwave station Radio Havana Cuba was created. Today, Cuban radio has six national networks: Radio Rebelde, Radio Progreso, CMBF Radio Musical Nacional, Radio Reloj, Radio Enciclopedia and Radio Taíno. Altogether, there are 71 stations. There are 18 provincial stations, and the rest are in the cities. There are 104 municipal studios, which are like stations without a transmitter. There are 1,130 hours of transmissions daily. Each day 3,011 programs are aired. Thirty-eight percent of the programming is news; 38.3% is music; 14.4% is varied programming; and 9.1% is radio drama. All national stations have their own web pages. They broadcast on AM and FM. Radio Rebelde also broadcasts some hours in the morning and at night on shortwave for Central America. Radio Havana Cuba broadcasts to the world on shortwave in nine languages. The AM and FM transmitters in the country are able to cover 98% of the nation`s territory. Television, for its part, has two national channels -- one called Cubavisión, and the other Channel 2 Telerebelde. There is a third channel which is educational, and very shortly a fourth channel -- also educational -- will be inaugurated (presentation at Mexican DX Encuentro via Jeff White, Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) Party line ** CUBA [and non]. Radio Martí only exists because wealthy Cubans have bought several congressmen over the past couple of decades in the US. Radio Martí is probably the worst possible example of how to engage in international broadcasting. It has hateful and racist overtones that a member of the US KKK can only explain (Max Power, WA, hard-core-dx via DXLD) I haven`t listened that closely. How is it racist? Cubans, whether dentro or fuera are multi-racial (gh, DXLD) Yawn..... We can only hope the Church of Fidel doesn't last any longer than its pontiff.... Here in Florida, the jammers of the most enlightened regime's Operación Titano seem to be winning on HF, mostly obliterating Martí, plus everything +/- 50 kHz, not to mention empty harmonics of Martí frequencies. Their MW counterparts stay busy also. One curious blobmitter blasts away at 820 kHz, and has for a few years now, with no evident clue as to what the target station might possibly be. The 1160 Radio Swan/ Americas jammer stayed on the air 15 years after that particular racist KKK station left the air, so targetless jamming might simply be a sign of utter centrally-planned incompetence on the part of the operators. All that notwithstanding, I'm curious as to which race Radio Martí might be overtoning against (David Crawford, Titusville FL, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Super Q (4959.86) también se escucha hasta bien entrada las 0430 UT; lo malo es que un emisor de la VOA también está en ese mismo canal a partir de las 0400 UT, si no me equivoco (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) São Tomé ** ECUADOR. Radio Quito ha estado ausente de su frecuencia por un largo tiempo. A menos por acá no se le pude captar en 4919 kHz. Hace un año envié un reporte de recepción a radioquito@elcomercio.com y todavía espero por la QSL (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Continued under KOREA SOUTH ** ERITREA [non]. Voix of Democratic Eritrea, le 25-08-2003 de 1700 à 1800 UT sur 15670 kHz, SINPO 43334. Des informations en langues locales et à 1725 de la musique régionale et à 1830 changement de langue (Mohamed Kallel, Sfax, Tunisia, FRG-7700 + 20M, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. According to the homepage http://www.cielradio.com/ the French private radio broadcaster Ciel AM will open the mediumwave service on Paris 981 kHz, 5 kW already in August 2003. The Paris suburb/region transmtiter location of Alfortville has not been used for any mediumwave service in the past. In September 2003 the common transmission wave of 1161 kHz will follow: Strasbourg Selestat ([maximum usable power of] 1000 kW, screening of 63 kW towards 90-130 degrees Bulgasria/Egypt. ITU plan shows maximum power radiation towards 20 degrees at 28-30 dB, minimum reduction of 14dB to Bulgaria/Egypt at 120 degrees, and of 10 dB towards UK at 300 degrees). And Toulouse 1161 kHz, 160 kW, will follow soon. [maximum power radiation at 22.1 dB] The given power figures are REGISTERED maximum usable carrier power in kilowatt, but don't reflect the present situation at the site. Instead TDF uses the transmtiter installations at Selestat with 200 [300, wb] kW and Toulouse with 100 kW of power. Until Dec 31, 1996 TDF did spread out the France Inter program from both sites (Dr. Hansjoerg Biener, Germany, Kai Ludwig, Germany, ntt Aug 15 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Among the few changes asterisked in an 8/19 revision of the T-Systems = DTK schedule is something called AWH = Allerweltshaus Köln e.V. – another gospel huxter? Maybe not, unless a front; appears to be some kind of inter-cultural organisation as the name implies (gh) 17555 1500 1530 48 106 145 217 3456 030903 261003 JUL 100 AWH * 17555 1500 1559 48 106 145 217 17 030903 261003 JUL 100 AWH * (via Alokesh Gupta, India, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So it`s Tue-Fri for half an hour, Sat and Sun for a full hour, silent on Mon, Starting Sept 3. Here`s their website I found: http://www.allerweltshaus.de/ where one thinks one is led to a welcome statement in English, but only gets this for a starter, nothing found about imminent brodcasts: Das Allerweltshaus Köln e.V. gibt es seit 1987. Als private Initiative von engagierten Einzelpersonen gegründet betreiben wir seit 13 Jahren ein interkulturelles Begegnungszentrum in Köln-Ehrenfeld und machen entwicklungspolitische Bildungs- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit. Schwerpunkte unserer Arbeit sind die Bekämpfung von Rassismus und einer Politik der sozialen Ausgrenzung. . . (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 177 AM/DRM simulcast Today I finally had time to listen to 177 while running AM/DRM simulcast mode and to compare it with the AM-only 177 reverted back to around 1400. The digital component was obvious when tuning to 175 and 179, and also when tuning to 177 some background hiss remained audible. I also found the AM audio more muffled than otherwise, just as it was described from preliminary tests done on 855 in spring. In general the signal was weaker than in AM-only. Klaus Schneider gives on his http://www.drm-dx.de page 125 kW with a question mark; well, I would say this figure as AM carrier power would indeed fit to the observed signal level. Altogether the degradation of reception quality with this mode is quite obvious, and in general I got a feeling that the lively disputed IBOC in the USA must be of a quite similar appearance, although I guess the digital component of an IBOC signal is much more aggressive than the rather mild one on 177. A picture of the longwave transmitter inaugurated at Zehlendorf in 1999 can be seen at http://www.telefunken-sendersysteme.de/Produkte/AM_Sender/am_sender.html Behind the new transmitter what appears to be one of the three 250 kW PA stages of the old beast from 1956/1958 (which I understand is kept as a stand-by), in the left of the picture some pre-stages of the old rig. Also 693 was on in DRM today, as was Berlin-Britz 855. 603 is too weak here to say whether or not the simulcast mode was tested there, too. By the way, I couldn't detect any signal on 171. No more Radio Rossii from Bolshakovo? Bitrate of the DRM component on 177 today was a mere 13.2 kbps (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. Hondureña reactivada en 3340 kHz, la cual capté el 22/08, a las 0004 UT, con un sermón religioso. SINPO 2/2 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Misiones Internacionales as just reported here, 2/3 x 5010 ** INDIA. AIR Bangalore Home Service on 10330 kHz in Hindi. For those listeners that enjoy music from India, listen to this frequency from 0030 UT (6:00 am local India time). Reception has been excellent here recently during the first half hour to one hour of transmission with delightful music. For example on Thursday August 28, carrier was on at 0015 UT. IS (same haunting melody as on External Service) was on at 0024 UT. A song at 0026 UT (is it the national anthem?). Spoken word at 0027 UT in Hindi; kilohertz was mentioned. Music at 0028 UT and man reading the news (I presume) at 0030 to 0035 UT. The rest of the broadcast audible here was music. No English was heard. Initially the signal was like a local at S20 to S30. By 0120 UT it was S9 and by 0140 UT it was very poor and soon faded out after that. The same quality of reception has been heard on previous nights this week. According to "The Shortwave Guide" Volume 2 the power is 500 kW, and it certainly sounded like it during the first hour. This out of band frequency is probably overlooked by many DXers, but it is worth listening to at present, at least here in Ottawa (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4870.90, RRI Sorong, 0938-1015. Noted program of music with a woman in Indonesian comments. At 1000 news, then back to music etc. Signal was fair to poor. This was on while RRI Wamena was also broadcasting - see below. 4869.95, RRI Wamena, 1000-1015. Tuned in at 1000 and noted steady music. As time passed, the signal improved, Using two receivers for this logging and hearing Sorong from one and Wamena the other. Signal was fair (Chuck Bolland, August 27, 2003, Clewiston Florida, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Hi Glenn, just received via the NDB list... Hi All: Got this item from our local amateur radio reflector. If anyone hears it, a one-watt beacon from Mars would be "serious DX," even if that planet is now exceptionally close to ours (I observed Mars last night and could easily see its disc in 16x80 binoculars). 73, Andy Robins KB8QGF, Kalamazoo, Michigan USA MARS RELAY TRANSMITTER TEST SET (AUG 27, 2003) -- UNTIL AUGUST 29 NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) -- in cooperation with the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) -- will conduct a test of the Mars Relay transmitter aboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft now orbiting Mars. During the test, the spacecraft will transmitting a 1 W CW signal on 437.1 MHz for reception by the 46 meter dish at SRI. Amateurs with 70 cm EME-class stations using DSP techniques also may be able to detect this signal. ARRL member Andrew Bachler, N9AB, in Illinois was able to detect a similar transmitter aboard Mars Odyssey while it was on its way to Mars in June 2001 (see also, "New solar system record set"). This test will be somewhat more challenging as MGS will be 3 times further away. "MGS will be entering and exiting occultation--blockage by Mars with respect to Earth -- with each 118-minute orbit," says John Callas of JPL. "Furthermore, its UHF antenna -- with about 0 dBi of gain, EIRP ~30 dBm -- will only be viewable from Earth for a few minutes just before ingress and just after egress as it orbits." Callas says the viewing window is between five and 15 minutes. Details of the test timeline are available on the KM1P Welcome Page. Antenna pointing information can be generated with JPL's HORIZONS system. Announcements and discussions are available on the mars-net e-mail reflector. To join the list, send a message to majordomo@alum.wpi.edu with the words "subscribe mars-net" in the body of the message. The SETI League will issue a special extraterrestrial QSL card for documented successful reception of either Mars spacecraft beacon. _______________________________________________ Ndblist mailing list http://beaconworld.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/ndblist_beaconworld.org.uk 73, (via Eike Bierwirth, 04317 Leipzig, DL, DXLD) Find the current overall shortwave schedule on http://www.eibi.de.vu/ ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. The one-hour Mars Special was on KUNM Wed Aug 27 at 1400 UT, not 1500, sorry: anyhow, I, for one, could not get KUNM stream to work at 1500; has format really changed? I got it on WHYY at 0100 UT 28th while keeping another ear on 15476 and an eye on the southeast horizon, where Mars did brill later in the eve. Here it is again, on WUOT, Knoxville, as on their website Aug 27 --- we can only hope that the Friday referred to is the one coming up, Aug 29, as this is nowhere clarified; anyhow at 1600 --- or 1606 UT: SPECIAL -- SkyTour: Mars Close Up, Friday at 12 noon on 91.9FM. SkyTour is a one hour special on the science and the adventure of Mars, the obsession about life on Mars and the scientific expectations. Science and culture, facts and technology, commentaries, features, the latest from NASA, the ethics of exploring life on Mars, and much more. SkyTour is a joint production of WHYY and The Franklin Institute Science Museum (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. NEW IRAQI RADIO STATION BROADCAST FROM BAGHDAD | Text of report by Iraqi independent newspaper Al-Zaman on 28 August A new Iraqi radio station called the Voice of Iraq, was launched in Baghdad yesterday [27 August]. It broadcasts on 1179 kHz medium-wave and covers the capital, Baghdad, and cities close by reaching Al- Mahawil, Ba'qubah and Al-Fallujah. Al-Zaman has learnt that the station is supervised by the International Agency for Free Media, a media institution that was active abroad during the previous regime and was run by Iraqis and covered Iraqi news and domestic developments via the Internet. After completing a one-month trial period, the station now presents two in-depth newscasts and domestic reports in addition to a daily review of the press. Source: Al-Zaman, Baghdad, in Arabic 28 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 6070.4, V. of Korea 1233 Aug 28. Japanese talk; typical choral music at 1235. Fair signal, // 7580, which was good (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) More QRM to CFRX ** KOREAS. POLICE PREVENT RELEASE OF BALLOONS CARRYING RADIOS TO NORTH KOREA Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) called on South Korea today to explain why riot police prevented human rights activists releasing balloons that were to drop radio sets over North Korea. . . http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=7847 (via Jill Dybka, DXLD) RSF WANTS EXPLANATION FOR BAN ON BALLOON RADIO SCHEME Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has asked South Korea to explain why riot police prevented human rights activists releasing balloons that were to drop radio sets over North Korea. "The government's job is of course to maintain law and order on its territory but how does sending tiny radio sets to North Koreans threaten South Korea's security?" asked RSF in a letter to South Korean Administration and Home Affairs Minister Kim Doo-kwan. Police prevented a score of activists releasing about 200 balloons carrying more than 600 radio sets on 22 August at Chulwon, near the North Korean border. A German doctor, Norbert Vollertsen, was roughed up by the police and hospitalised with a foot injury and bruises. He was trying to fill the balloons with helium despite the police ban. The project was launched by Korean-born American pastor Douglas Shin and Dr Vollertsen, who was deported from North Korea in 2001 for criticising the human rights situation there, and aimed to give hundreds of people in the north a chance to pick up Korean-language broadcasts by foreign stations, including Radio Free Asia, on the solar-powered sets. Radio and TV sets sold in North Korea can only receive the state-controlled media. According to the scheme's organisers, the South Korean foreign ministry had been told about the launch and had not formally objected. However, no official request for permission to stage it had been made. The law allows demonstrations to be banned if the organisers have already been involved in a violent demonstration or if the site of the protest is considered unsuitable (© Radio Netherlands Media Network 27 August 2003 via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. [Continued from ECUADOR] En cambio, la KBS, desde Corea, me envió un CD e información sobre las frecuencias en tiempo récord. El paquete salió de Seúl el 22/07 y llegó a mis manos el 1ero. de agosto. ¡Insólito! Tan lejos y tan cerca (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. Voix of Kurdistan, le 25-08-2003 de 1700 à 1714 UT sur 8170 kHz, SINPO 35222. Les news en arabe et de la music kurde (Mohamed Kallel, Sfax, Tunisia, FRG-7700 + 20M, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) harmonique, 2 par 4085 (gh) ** MEXICO. For many many years I have enjoyed DXing the Mexican shortwave domestic stations at day on 49 meters, especially in winter when the D layer is weaker. A band scan today turned up nothing at all from Central Florida. Are they all gone now? 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster Website Designer 4208 Thackery Way Plant City, FL, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Almost. This was discussed by Héctor García Bojorge on the Aug 22 RN Radio-Enlace, audio previously referenced here. 6045 R. Universidad de SLP was reactivated this summer; haven`t you heard?? 6010 R. Mil is supposedly active, but may be very low power. 6185 R. Educación is well heard, but only on air during the night 2300-1100 UT (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. The transformation of the website of The Voice of Mongolia (resp. Mongolian National Radio) is continuing. A new English section was created http://mongol.net/vom/mnr2.htm containing an updated presentation of Mongolian Radio & TV. Among other things, the text is referring to the installation of new SW transmitters in 2003 (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Aug 27, WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Radio Transmission Central Station: The history and development years of the Radio and Television Technical Center of Broadcasting Systems /RTVTCBS/ begins with the date of first Radio program was aired and broadcast throughout the country for the first time on 1 September, 1934. The central radio transmission station Khonkhor of Ulaanbaatar municipal area, and local transmission stations in Bayan-Ulgii, Gobi- Altai, Khubsgul, Umnugobi, Dornod and Dornogobi provinces are the structural parts of the RTVTCBS. The central radio transmission center was established in 1960, with short wave stations of 5, 25 and 50 kWt and a long wave station of 150 kWt followed by an expansion in 1978 with 100 and 250 kWt short wave stations, in 1984 a 500 kWt medium and long wave station which enabled the program no.1 of the Mongolian national radio to be broadcast in the central area of the country, and the programs of the "Voice of Mongolia" radio station to be broadcast internationally in English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Mongolian. In 1978-1979 local radio stations of large capacity were built through USSR technical and economical grant aid, providing the current broadcasting network which covers approximately 90 per cent of the total territory of the country at present. In 1967, when television was being evolved, the Television Central Station in Ulaanbaatar was established and the major channel programs of the Mongolian National Television are broadcast in Ulaanbaatar city and its districts through a 5 kWt capacity station, but for the broadcasting in the outskirts, municipal areas of Ulaanbaatar a 300 kWt station is installed on the mountain Chingeltei. The short wave radio network project provided by Japan grant aid is being implemented in 2003 at the RTVTCBS, shall enable modern technical facilities of 50kWt short wave station in Ulaanbaatar, and 10kWt short wave stations in Altai and Murun available to broadcast the programs of the National Radio on two channels. At present RTVTCBS has more than 200 employers, within 70 percent are professional engineers (via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. VOICE OF NIGERIA heard in English from 2200 to 2300* UT on a possibly new frequency of 17800. Signal was good but the audio was low, heard female with ID, into news (Ron Trotto, wdx4kwi, Waggoner, Illinois, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ex-, or plus-15120? Yes, new! (gh) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. PROVINCIAL RADIO STATIONS GO OFF-AIR THROUGH LACK OF FUNDING | Text of report by Papua New Guinea newspaper The National web site on 28 August Three National Broadcasting Corporation [NBC] radio stations in the Highlands are off -the-air and one is likely to follow suit due to non-payment of electricity bills. Radio stations at Mt Hagen, Wabag and Chimbu. Chimbu and Wabag were off-air for almost a year and Hagen has been out for two months. Reports yesterday indicate that very soon, Radio Southern Highlands will go off-air. This was after PNG [Papua New Guinea] Power gave two days notice to the management of Radio Southern Highlands for a bill of more than 15,000 kina [4,400 dollars]. NBC staff from the affected provinces said that they encountered funding problems since the responsibility for funding of the radio stations were transferred to provincial governments. Radio Enga has been off air for the last eight months because the provincial administration was confused as to who should fund its operations. This station owes PNG Power 15,000 kina in electricity bills. Anna Pundia, the manager of Radio Western Highlands yesterday said the Western Highlands provincial government would meet their electricity bill of 29,853.59 kina which was owed since 17 July. Mrs Pundai said that the provincial executive council and the acting administrator, Michael Wandil, have approved a submission for this bill and they expect to be back on air by the end of this week. An announcer with the Radio Southern Highlands said they were still on air but received red light from PNG Power on Monday [26 August] to disconnect the power supply due to non-payment of 15,000-kina outstanding bills. Radio Chimbu has been off air since the beginning of this year but The National could not reach them due to communication problems. Source: The National web site, Port Moresby, in English 28 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) PAPUA NEW GUINEA, JAPAN SIGN AGREEMENT TO UPGRADE RADIO STATIONS | Excerpt from report by Papua New Guinea newspaper The National web site on 28 August Five of the National Broadcasting Corporation's provincial radio stations in the country will benefit from a 24.81m-kina aid project from the Japanese government. The five stations earmarked to undergo refurbishment and upgrading are Vanimo, Mt Hagen, Goroka, Lae and Kimbe. The Vanimo, Lae and Kimbe stations will be facilitated with modern medium wave transmitter equipment while the other two will be upgraded to modern FM radio stations. These stations are under NBC's Kundu Broadcasting Service. The Kundu service aims to promote the development and welfare of rural people through local programs. Yesterday, the PNG and Japanese governments signed and exchanged papers to improve radio equipment and facilities for these stations. [Passage omitted] Source: The National web site, Port Moresby, in English 28 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** PERU. Peruana en 5009.63, a las 0236 UT, el 23/08, con música autóctona, locutor de guardia (audio opaco) y demasiado "fade". Indentificándose como "Nuestra radio...". (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Presumably R. Horizonte (gh) ** PERU. Radio Los Andes has replied to a congratulatory message sent to radiolosandes@starmedia.com by way of Program Manager Padre Antonio Campos Castillo of the Prelature "Virgen de la Alta Gracia", who says he will be happy to receive my reports (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. FIRST ELEVATOR TO BE RESTARTED AT OSTANKINO TV TOWER BY YEAR'S END | Text of report in English by Russian news agency ITAR- TASS on 27 August Moscow, 27 August: The first elevator will be restarted at Moscow's Ostankino television tower by the end of this year. A strong fire inside the tower three years ago claimed three lives and destroyed most of the equipment. "The world's second tallest television tower is returning to full- scale operation," the deputy director of the federal state unitary enterprise Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network, Irina Maslova told TASS on Wednesday. All electric equipment has been restored and the first elevator will be back in operation soon. Those who work at the 524-metre altitude from where the signal is broadcast, have to climb a narrow spiral stairway for at least two hours, Maslova said. All elevators will begin to function next year. The observation floor at an altitude of 350 meters above the surface will reopen. It will be equipped with mini-telescopes and screens providing a bird's eye view of the city. The once-famous restaurant, "seventh Heaven" will host the first customers. Federal budget spending on repairing the television tower will total 180m roubles [6m dollars]. Over the three years since the fire the tower's look has not changed at all. The fire that occurred inside the building on 27 August 2000, for a long time disrupted the normal broadcasting of five main television channels. It took twenty-four hours to eliminate the fire. The 51,000-tonne Ostankino television tower was built in 1967. For a long time it remained the tallest man-made structure in the world. Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English 1440 gmt 27 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. RADIO SWEDEN -- Coming up on Radio Sweden: Thursday: "S-Files" (repeat) Friday: Our weekly review Saturday: Special on food and culture Sunday: In "Sounds Nordic" Aeysha and the new (SCDX/MediaScan Aug 27 via DXLD) ** SYRIA. Radio Damascus. La radio da la république de Syrie a été entendue le 17-08-2003 à 1330 UT sur 13610 kHz avec une émission dirigée vers la population syrienne qui reste sur la valée du Jourdan ocupée par les Israéliens. L`émission s`appelle ``Terre et racine dirigée à notre frère en Joulan [sic] la chère.`` Le signale est 55454 (Mohamed Kallel, Sfax, Tunisia, FRG-7700 + 20M, Aug 27, WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DX LISTENING DIGEST) En français? Surely Arabic. WRTH 2003 does not show any external service on 13610 before 1700 in Russian, and the only French is at 1905-2005. SW Guide, however, shows 13610 in use at 0100-0300 to NAm --- anyone ever noticed that? And 0500-1600 to NAf, both in the green language, which would be Arabic, presumably domestic service relay? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA [non]. Arab radio, le 24-08-2003 de 1500 à 1530 UT sur 12120 kHz, SINPO 55555. Les émissions commencent avec du Kor`an; la première émission est `Parole des gens` (kalem el nes) et de la musique arabe avec une préférence pour le chanteur Abd Halim; la deuxième émission `entre nous avec les amitiés` (bini ou binek ma kales el hob). (Mohamed Kallel, Sfax, Tunisia, FRG-7700 + 20M, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Voice of Turkey, English 0300-0400 [to NAm] changes from 11655 to 9650 August 31st per their programme schedule (Mike Barraclough, Sept World DX Club Contact via WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DXLD) Didn`t they fail to make that switch on time a year ago? (gh, DXLD) ** UGANDA. Radio Rebelde estuvo fuera del aire por un largo rato y por tal razón Radio Uganda pudo oírse en inglés desde las 0353 UT, en los 5026 kHz, el 22/08, con SINPO 2/1 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE [non]. Even though RUI doesn't begin using 9810 until September 1, 2003, I thought I'd check the frequency. RUI 9810 August 27, 2003 at 0000 UT = we have problems! 0000 UT 9805 what sounds like a jammer; 9810 hear a station, but I can not get ID; 9815 hear a station, maybe Arabic?; 9820 carrier, but no modulation. 0015 UT same as 0000 UT 0030 UT 9805 jammer and R. Farda?; other frequencies same as 0000 UT 0045 UT same as 0030 UT. Main problem is the broadcaster and jammer on 9805. I don't believe the broadcaster on 9810 will cause too much QRM to RUI. We were having terrible local thunderstorms so I can check again August 28, 2003 (Kraig Krist, VA, WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DX LISTENING DIGEST) From 1 September RUI will change 12040 kHz to 9810 kHz for its North American transmissions 2300-0400. Transmitter and azimuth remain the same: Mykolaiv, 1000 (500?) kW, 314 degrees (Alexander Yegorov, Ukraine, Aug 22, via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) ** U K. Great show tonight [BBC Radio 2, Tue 1930-2030 UT, continued next week at same time]. Wonderful to hear the Caroline theme on the Beeb. Thanks to this programme, Radio London and Radio Caroline both received two mentions in the Radio Times dated 23-29th August, on pages 24 and 114. The following is what Susan Jeffreys has written about it in the current edition of Weekend - the television and radio guide in the Saturday edition of the Daily Mail. "Radio Caroline and Radio London both broadcast from stations off the British coast. While grey seas slapped away outside, a new breed of DJ`s - titans such such as Simon Dee (pictured in magazine article), Kenny Everett, and Tony Blackburn - brought a stream of pop music to young, grateful British ears. Before this happy dawn, you had to listen to Radio Luxembourg through a storm of static, or put up with the dreary outpourings of Sing Something Simple, pop arrangements by the Northern Dance Orchestra or Uncle Mac playing The Runaway Train and Big Rock Candy Mountain week after week. In the first of a two- parter, Pete Drummond looks at the beginnings of independent radio in the 1930s, with the gloriously named Captain Leanord Plugge." The Sunday Telegraph TV & Radio Guide previews the programme as follows. "In the 1930`s, only the BBC was authorised to use the British airwaves - until Captain Leanord Plugge, an unlikely broadcasting pirate, spotted a commercial opportunity. A radio transmitter in Normandy could reach England, allowing him to beam dance tunes and face-cream ads to Brittish citizens without fear of prosecution. Pete Drummond`s jolly two-part history names Plugge as the grandfather of radios London and Caroline, Kenny Everett and Tony Blackburn. And which BBC station epitomised the middle-aged easy listening these 1960s rebels scorned? The Light Programme, now Radio 2". MP. Also much in the press this morning. In the Daily Mail today, Martin Kelner had the following to say about the new pirate radio show. "The history of radio in Britain would have been very different without "pirate" broadcasters. They challenged the hegemony of the BBC, first from mainland Europe through stations like Radio Normandy and Radio Luxembourg, and later, in true pirate style, from ships moored in international waters off the coast. Radio`s 1 and 2, in fact, were born in response to Radio`s Caroline and London, which had 16 million listeners between them in the mid-sixties. The programme was also previewed in today`s edition of The Daily Telegraph, by Alexander Reynolds. "Pete Drummond sails into pirate radio history in the first of two parts on the phenomenon. Pirate "Euro-stations" of the Thirties matured into licensed giants like Radio Luxembourg. Tonight`s instalment focuses on the clash of the Titans: Caroline versus London. The Daily Telegraph preview has a photograph of the manager of the current UK land based version of Radio Caroline, sitting at the microphone in the station`s hired studios in Maidstone, Kent. The caption to the picture reads; "Pirate pioneer: Peter Moore of Radio Caroline, which is now enjoying a digital revival". Press extracts courtesy of http://usa.internations.net/pirategold/pirategoldnews.html (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn: As the retired program director, chief engineer, and sometime manager for five classical stations, I have been reading about LPFM in general, and this in particular, with some interest -- || WCNH-LP (94.7 Concord) ...Highland has struck a deal with New Hampshire Public Radio to provide access to NHPR's music library and other forms of support to the station, which will broadcast a 24-hour classical format to Concord and vicinity when it signs on, perhaps as early as October. That's what LPFM is supposed to be all about, we say ...|| I couldn't agree less. LPFM is NOT "all about" broadcasting classical music, which REQUIRES, demands, and is utterly dependent on wide dynamic range and frequency response. When you have squeezed a 100 w station in the sidebands of two high powered ones, you get neither one. So what will happen? The LPFM station trying to broadcast classical music must compress the signal to a 15 dB dynamic range. Then, the hiss from the original recordings will be oppressive, and somebody will get the bright idea to install a filter --- and the end result will be audio that is worse than a web stream. Now, add multipath. Far worse than a web stream. And add the sideband interference from adjacent high powered carriers. Infinitely worse than a web stream. Finally, TRY -- just try! -- to listen in a car, or on a portable set. Useless! LPFM will probably work for about two blocks around the transmitter and antenna site. I know whereof I speak: for five years I tried to put classical music on my university station, back in the early sixties. We had 80 watts from the top of a library building of 7 stories. Even with 20 dB of compression from the Gates limiter, you couldn't hear the signal two miles away. And that was in an unpopulated educational band with almost no stations; today the entire FM spectrum from one end to the other is just mush: the equivalent to driving from Santa Bárbara to Tijuana, wall-to-wall "town" without end. Even web streams are compressed to hell. For instance: WCPE. They have pleasant music, but the dynamic range is about 10 dB. It's worse than AM radio. When I was the CE and PD of classical KIBE, Palo Alto (back in the seventies) I tried to maintain a dynamic range on our AM signal of at least 27 dB, and a range of more than 35 to 40 dB on our FM transmission. We got top ratings and audience approval with wide dynamics, clean audio, brilliant highs, full, responsive bass. That was just before CDs hit the scene. A classical CD of orchestral music will have a dynamic range of 40 to 55 dB, typically; you simply cannot transmit that on LPFM and hear it clearly, cleanly, and intelligibly outside of the station's own CONTROL ROOM. After 27 futile years broadcasting classical music, I am extremely happy to enjoy it as it SHOULD be heard: from CDs, right on my own car or home players. No compression; no compromises; no dumbing-down to fit in to somebody's "concept" of programming or demographics, and no destruction of the audio. Classical music on FM is just about as obsolete as buggy whip technology. In fact, MONO FM transmission was actually better -- more honest -- for classical music than the lousy multiplex system we've been burdened with since 1961. Yours, (Steve Waldee - former radio CE and for twelve years, consultant to Orban Associates on the development of the AM and FM Optimod [tr] processing systems, DX LISTENING DIGEST) !! (gh) ** U S A. WBJX 1460 RACINE WI TOWER TOPPLED BY VANDALS Thanks to Tim Noonan for posting this on his excellent web site "Radio/DX Information from Wisconsin http://www.angelfire.com/wi/dxing/index.html "* WI Racine WBJX 1460 is silent as a result of vandals knocking down its tower. The station hopes to be back on from a temporary facility by the end of this week (Tim Cuprisin/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)" Here is the news story from Tim Cuprisin's 8/26/03 column: WBJX GOES SILENT Racine's WBJX-AM (1460), southeast Wisconsin's only 24-hour Spanish- language radio outlet, is out of commission after vandals knocked down its tower. Owner Robert Jeffers tells Inside TV & Radio that he hopes to have a temporary tower up and the station back on the air by the end of the week. Jeffers discovered that the tower had been toppled Monday morning when he noticed WBJX wasn't broadcasting. "In the last month, we've been having several cases of vandalism, and I've reported each one of them to police," he says. He doesn't have any idea who's targeting the station. "Usually, if it's kids, they try once or twice and they give it up," he says. (via Bill Dvorak, Madison WI, NRC-AM via DXLD) VANDALS DRIVE OFF RACINE STATION SPANISH STATION TO MOVE AFTER ITS TOWER IS TOPPLED By ALLISON L. SMITH Last Updated: Aug. 28, 2003 Original URL: http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/aug03/165386.asp After vandals damaged the only 24-hour all-Spanish radio station in southeastern Wisconsin for the fourth time in less than a month, the station's owner said Wednesday that he will move operations from Racine to Milwaukee. Guy wires that stabilized the 200-foot transmission tower for Racine's WBJX-AM (1460) were cut Monday, causing the tower to topple and knocking the station off the air, said owner Robert Jeffers. "Where we're located now, we just don't feel comfortable or safe anymore," Jeffers said. "We've been considering moving to Milwaukee anyway to be closer to our advertisers, but this just makes our decision clear." This summer, vandals have waged an escalating war on the Latino station. First they cut its phone lines, then the electric cables, and recently sawed off the station's satellite dish, Jeffers said. Sheriff's deputies were called on each of the incidents but have yet to make any arrests or tell Jeffers of any leads, he said. "They said it's like finding a needle in a haystack," Jeffers said. Lt. Connie Mallwitz of the Racine County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday her agency has record of four reports of vandalism at the station since Aug. 6. She deferred further comment to the lead investigator on the case, who could not be reached. Jeffers said he has no idea of the perpetrators' identities, ages or motives. The station has not received any threatening calls or letters, he added. "I don't know if someone has a grudge against the station, or me, or doesn't like Spanish music," Jeffers said. Under a licensing requirement, the station's tower must remain in Racine. Only the studio and sales offices will shift to Milwaukee next month. The impending move is the second time vandals factored into Jeffers' decision to relocate, he said. In April 2001, a group of 12-year-old boys started a fire adjacent to the station's radio tower, then in Mount Pleasant. Several other vandalism incidents in 2000 and 2001 at its Racine offices and the tower site persuaded Jeffers to move a couple of miles north to the current location, 1661 Douglas Ave. Even after he moved to Douglas Ave., Jeffers said, vandals attacked the former location, smashing out all its windows and damaging the walls. "I don't know if the people now are the same people, but they seem pretty determined," Jeffers said. Jeffers describes the station he has owned since 1996 as a "ma-and-pa" business he runs with his wife, Patricia Martinez, who doubles as an afternoon on-air personality. "We're a small operation and don't have a lot of extra resources," Jeffers said. A temporary tower was being installed Wednesday, and Jeffers said he expects the station to resume broadcasting by Saturday. "This has been very challenging, because this is our livelihood," Martinez said. "But my husband and I are very optimistic people. You just keep fighting back tooth and nail and don't let anyone stop your dream." From the Aug. 28, 2003 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Meanwhile DXers in the area are going after all the other stations on 1460 (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Las transmisiones de Radio Amazonas (4939.66) ahora sobrepasan la barrera de la 0130 UT. Se puede captar hasta incluso las 0300 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4940, VENEZUELA, R. Amazonas, 0342-0408*, 27/08, Spanish, continuous pop music and ballads, OM at 0403 over music, sounding like NA, positive ID. Fair music, weak voice audio (Scott Barbour, NH, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. Degar Voice (via Atamanovka, Russia) changed from 7115 to 7380 kHz 1300-1400 (Tue/Thu/Sat). (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Aug 27, WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Atamanovka? Where`s that, a.k.a.? (gh, DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. ALGERIA, 7460.31, Polisario Radio "El Idaha el watania lljoumouria elarabia elsahrawia el watania". Yesterday night [Aug 18] around 2100-2130 I checked Polisario Sahara Radio on 7460.31 kHz, but thiny, very weak at this time of the year. No jamming from Morocco noticed so far. (later) On past three nights [Aug 18-20] I heard the Polisario Front Radio from probably Tindouf, Algeria on 7460.31 kHz, but very thiny poor S=1-2. Readable only few fragments of French language phrases. Always around 2100-2130 UT. This morning (Thur 21) the channel was empty at 0600 UT, but at 0700 UTC I noted a very weak signal, and a carrier on according measurement of my USB/LSB receiver settings (Wolfgang Bueschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Aug 21, BC-DX via DXLD) Yes, it has to be the Sahara station you are hearing around 7460, but signal strength here is also very much lower than it used to be, so something has altered. Perhaps lower power - re-directed aerials - or just a different location? (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Aug 21 all via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4335.2-5, LA Station, 1040 Aug 27, Sounded like Peruvian. Andean folk music, with male announcer. 300 Hz upward drift over 10 minute period. Ute on top, best heard listening to LSB. Fair strength, but S9 static crashes (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Naylamp reactivated as in previous issues UNIDENTIFIED. Emisora en portugués ¿brasilera?, en 5134 kHz, a las 0310 UT, el 23/08. Música y comentarios. Techno, rock y pop. Demasiada estática. En Lower Side Band (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are you positive it was Portuguese? Belarus` relay of Russia reported on this distinctive frequency as recently as 3-143, 3-134 (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. Transmisor de efecto "burbuja", cambiaba de frecuencia con relativa constancia: 5660-5650-5640 kHz, a las 0224, el 23/08. ¿Será la radio zapatista interferida? (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More likely jamming against V. of Mojahed, Iranian clandestine (gh) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ NASWA FILES REPLY COMMENTS ON BPL On August 20, 2003, NASWA filed reply comments with the FCC on docket ET 03-104 concerning the interference which deployment of Broadband PowerLine technology will cause. The full text of the filing will appear in the September issue (with any luck at all) of the NASWA Journal in the Tech Topics Column. The response says in part: "There are several common threads that have been expressed by multiple BPL proponents that deserve further comment. Many of the proponents of using HF frequencies for BPL transmissions have made the point that their systems work at currently authorized Part 15 signal levels and should, therefore, be immediately authorized for commercial deployment. They assert that interference, if it occurs, can be mitigated by providing notches in the spectral mask for frequencies that are used for amateur radio. Many proudly proclaim that no complaints of interference from their technology have resulted from their test demonstrations. NASWA addresses each of these assertions in this response. (snip) "BPL must not be deployed commercially unless and until the industry clearly shows in open demonstrations that their systems will not interfere with shortwave radios operating on self-contained whip antennas in close proximity to home power wiring. Only after successfully demonstrating that BPL will not interfere with shortwave reception on ITU and FCC-allocated international broadcasting frequency bands, at existing Part 15 levels, can any prudent consideration be given to increasing the authorized levels. The test demonstration setups should be used to directly measure the available interference-free margin of a particular BPL implementation and those results used to guide establishment of any relaxed limits." ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, Aug 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ Here is an excerpt from a filing with the FCC by a SWL who lives in that area from the FCC web site. He used a Sangean-909/Radio Shack DX- 398: Dear Sirs, In the matter of Docket Number 03-104 (Broadband over Power Line) Reply to comments. In an earlier submission to this NOI (ref.1), the United Power Line Council, proponents of Broadband over Power Line (BPL), made the following (excerpted) statement: (snip) (1) A Field Study In order to garner a real feel for BPL’s radiation effects, on August 15th. 2003 an expedition was made to Emmaus, near Allentown Pennsylvania, one of the current test sites for BPL, administered by Pennsylvania Power and Light (PP&L). Being reasonably certain that this controlled limited test environment was actually operating within the terms of Part 15, the endeavour was not to measure the actual amount of radiation, but to realistically establish its effects in context on very common, normal and expected usages of the spectrum the BPL scheme employs. With no advance information as to the exact whereabouts within Emmaus of the tests, the intention was to methodically cruise the town searching for noises not attributable to normal and known interference sources, using a portable short-wave receiver of good and known performance (ref.2); to that end, a fairly elaborate route had been mapped out. It proved entirely unnecessary. The noise took no finding. On arrival and on the very first pass down Main St., at the intersection with Second St. (pretty much in the centre of the town) strong interference attributable to BPL was heard. It took the form of irrythmic clicks, scratches and noise bursts, discernible between 3 MHz and 18 MHz, 'peaking' at around 6 MHz. Within those very broad constraints, it was completely broadband in character; there was no frequency checked free of the noise. It was very easy to track which power lines were carrying the BPL, and which weren't, and to easily scope out the limited 'service area' downtown. A small regimen of common, normal and expected uses of the radio spectrum was attempted at various locations within and just outside the BPL 'service area', varying from being parked directly under the power lines, on the opposite side of the road, in driveways of properties served, adjacent roads etc. Results in summary, for anywhere within the 'service area': Reception of typical amateur single-sideband and CW (Morse) transmissions on the heavily utilized HF bands at 3.5 MHz, 7 MHz, 10 MHz and 14 MHz was rendered almost completely impossible. Aeronautical service transmissions at around 6.6 MHz, 10 MHz and 13 MHz were inaudible. Reception of all but the strongest shortwave broadcast transmissions was seriously impaired. Those which were unimpaired were extremely strong (propagationally ‘single-hop’) signals from within North America, with intended target areas (with the exception of Radio Canada International) outside of the US. A few blocks away from the 'service area' the above common, normal and expected usage of the spectrum was unimpaired except for the usual radio noises found in an urban environment such as power-line noise, TV line frequency harmonics and computer/monitor products; amateur signals and normal to weaker broadcast stations were readily copiable, and the aeronautical stations which had propagation at that time of day were plainly audible. It is to be emphasized here that the deterioration in availability to the spectrum for these common, normal and expected uses was not subtle; it was not a matter of a 'worsened noise floor'; it was not 'a bit of interference'; it was almost complete obliteration. The BPL made *BAD* interference. (snip) Respectfully submitted, Stephen H. Dove Aug. 19th. 2003, DSP, P.O. Box One, Elm, PA 17521, USA ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (via Joe Buch, swprograms via DXLD) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~ DRM +++ A cat is jumping out of the bag: http://www.drm-national.de/html/ifa_2003.html The HECA conditional access and encryption system. Quite interesting. During the recent days 693 was already fired up shortly, and indeed a DRM freak reports that he was unable to decode audio. Otherwise not only 177 will be used for analogue/digital mixed mode transmissions but also 603. By the way, I think they run 177 in the simulcast mode today for some time, there was some noise that probably was no local noise and the modulation itself appeared to be fainter and more muffled than usual. I am not sure about this observation because I was listening indoors only, but in just a couple of days we will know anyway (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 23-25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CONVENTIONS, next: CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ NATIONAL RADIO CLUB, DALLAS TX, LABOR DAY WEEKEND, WEBCAST Glenn: A heads up to the N.R.C. Convention's live broadcast starting around 2 PM [CDT?] on Friday from Dallas TX. The link to the audio is at http://www.nrcdxas.org right at the top left column (Fred Vobbe, OH, NRC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CLANDESTINE RADIO SYMPOSIUM 12 SEPT - BOURNEMOUTH UNI Anyone with a special interest in clandestine radio may be interested in attending the DEHS (Defence Electronics History Society) Symposium on Clandestine Radio to be held on Friday 12th September (9.30 am-4.30 pm [BST]) at the Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus. Registration fee (for non DEHS members) is £16 - but you need to send in your remittance very quickly (by Aug 29 or not long afterwards according to the lady I spoke to at the University). Speakers will talk about: Polish Clandestine Radio in WWII German Clandestine Radio in WWII The Romney Marsh Clandestine Station Clandestine Radio in the Cold War Period Radio Surveillance in Modern Times. Full programme details at: http://histru.bournemouth.ac.uk/CHiDE/Events/Symposium.htm Registration/remittance form can be printed from: http://histru.bournemouth.ac.uk/CHiDE/Events/Symposium_registration.htm (via Dave Kenny, Aug 27, BDXC-UK via WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DXLD) EUROPEAN DX COUNCIL PHOTOS EDXC Hallo zusammen, Fotos von der EDXC-Konferenz sind auf der Homepage des RMRC, http://www.rmrc.de zu finden (Rubrik RMRC- Fotogallerie, oder direkter Link http://www.rmrc.de/gallery (Markus Weidner-D, A-DX Aug 19 via BC-DX via DXLD) 2003 MEETING OF MEXICAN DXERS AND RADIO LISTENERS --- by Jeff White NASB Exhibit Very Popular at Mexican Shortwave Meeting [caption] As the first part of a three-continent publicity campaign, the NASB inaugurated a major exhibit at the 2003 Meeting of Mexican DXers and Radio Listeners in Tizayuca, Hidalgo State, July 31-August 3. Assisted by my wife, I took the NASB exhibit from Miami to Mexico City on July 31, where a minibus met us to make the two-hour journey north to the town of Tizayuca. The exhibit, which is on loan to the NASB from member station WSHB, consists of five large interconnected panels which were laid out in a zig-zag pattern across the tops of two tables. On the panels were photos and posters from all of our member stations, plus many of our associate members and two organizations to which we belong -- DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) and AIB (the Association for International Broadcasting). The space on the tables in front of the panels was filled with dozens of program schedules and other brochures from our members and associate members. Many NASB members sent promotional materials such as pens, pins, keychains, stickers, T-shirts, bags, programs on cassettes and CDs, books, etc. Depending on the quantity of the items on hand, we either placed them on the tables for people to pick up, or we put them in one of two (free) raffles that were held during the meeting. We also placed some of the items in small gift bags which were given to everyone who filled out one of our NASB listener survey forms. (More about that later.) Some of our associate members such as Thales, TDP and Merlin sent limited quantities of certain brochures about their transmitters and other services, and we tried to distribute these mainly to the radio station representatives and others who would likely be potential users of their services. (Thales` credit-card-size mint boxes were popular, and there were enough for everyone!) Altogether we took nearly 200 pounds of brochures and promotional items to the event, for which we have to thank all of our members and associate members for their tremendous cooperation. Many items were completely exhausted. Those that were leftover were stored for use at the next NASB exhibit at the SWL Winterfest in Pennsylvania next March, or in some cases were given to the organizers of next year`s Mexican DX Meeting for distribution there. Time-sensitive items like program schedules and calendars were given to leaders of Mexican DX clubs to take back to share with their members in various parts of the country. Purposes of NASB exhibit The primary purpose of taking the exhibit to this four-day event was to tell shortwave listeners in Mexico about NASB and its member stations and associate member organizations. It`s safe to say that few, if any, of the listeners were aware of NASB`s existence beforehand, although many of them were familiar with some of our member stations which broadcast to Mexico and Latin America. Another major purpose of our presence there was to make contacts with the representatives of Mexican DX clubs, publications and DX programs on Mexican radio stations to make them aware of NASB`s existence so that we can provide them with press releases, articles and other items in the future in order to receive free publicity for our members within their publications and programs that reach shortwave listeners throughout Mexico. This was the ninth annual meeting of Mexican DXers and DX clubs. These meetings in Mexico are the largest and best-organized of their kind in Latin America, which is one of the three primary target areas of our NASB member stations. There are some regional meetings of this type in countries like Brazil and Argentina, but no annual national meetings that we are aware of. Over the years, the ``Encuentros`` as they are called in Spanish (meaning ``meeting`` or ``gathering``) have become more well-known, and despite the long travel distances and difficult economic conditions in Mexico, as many as 80-100 DXers often sacrifice as much as a month`s salary to attend these meetings. This year`s meeting was a bit smaller, with 60 or so attendees, perhaps because it was held in a relatively small town with only one hotel that was largely already full with a bakers` convention, so many of the shortwave listeners had to stay in hotels in Pachuca -- the capital of Hidalgo state -- about a half-hour`s drive north of Tizayuca. Nevertheless, listeners travelled to the Encuentro from as far as Chihuahua state in the north (near the Texas border) to Chiapas in the south (bordering Guatemala), and from Nayarit along the Pacific coast to Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. And many of the attendees are club leaders, publication editors or radio program producers, so they will be sharing their experiences with other shortwave listeners throughout the country who were unable to attend the meeting. Also in attendance were several shortwave stations. Besides the NASB, representing 18 shortwave stations plus our associate members, there were representatives from China Radio International, Radio Educación (a shortwave station belonging to the Mexican Ministry of Education), Radio Mil (a well-known commercial station from Mexico City which has a shortwave outlet), two program producers from Radio Havana Cuba, the recently-replaced ex-director of Radio Mexico International (the government`s official shortwave station), and my wife Thaïs who was representing Radio Miami International. All of the shortwave broadcasters sat together in a Broadcasters Forum session where they were able to give updates on their station programming and plans, and listeners could ask questions of all the broadcasters. It might have seemed like rather strange bedfellows at the head table, but it was remarkable how well everyone got along together because of our shared passion for shortwave radio. There was a large exhibit -- even larger than ours -- from the folks at Radio Shack in Mexico City, who now have more than 70 stores throughout Mexico and sell a full line of affordable shortwave receivers under the Radio Shack and Grundig brand names -- the same as in the States. There were various seminars at the Encuentro, beginning with a basic introduction to shortwave radio (by the meeting organizer himself, Martín Herrera) for those new to the medium -- an explanation of frequencies, propagation, DXing, etc. John Killian, a biology professor from Virginia, talked about shortwave radio as a medium for learning languages (having just spent two weeks with his wife Kathy at a language school in Oaxaca prior to the Encuentro). Manolo de la Rosa and Emma Almeda from Radio Havana Cuba presented an overview of broadcasting in Cuba and the history of Radio Havana Cuba. (You`ll find the text of part of that presentation elsewhere in this Newsletter. [CUBA above]) Manolo and Emma are very popular among Mexican shortwave listeners, as they are the hosts of RHC`s weekly DX and listeners` mailbag programs, respectively. Emma also produces the daily morning news program in Spanish. Personally, Manolo is an old friend of my wife and myself since the first time we met at the European DX Council Conference in Barcelona in 1991, while he was ``on loan`` to Radio Moscow`s Spanish-language service. On Saturday, August 2, the Mexican listeners celebrated both ``Mexican DXers` Day`` and Manolo`s 61st birthday with a birthday cake and local pastries called ``pastes`` filled with meat, beans or pineapple sauce. Manolo had produced a special edition of his DX program ``En Contacto`` dedicated to the Mexican DX Meeting, which was played on loudspeakers in the meeting hall during the festivities. I was also asked by the meeting organizers to give a presentation about NASB and our participation in the recent HFCC (High Frequency Coordinating Committee) Conference in Johannesburg. I first explained a bit about the history of the NASB, its activities, and a brief profile of each member station and associate member. Then we presented a half-hour video of our trip to the HFCC in South Africa in February, another short video in Spanish provided by member station WEWN, and finally a raffle of some of the station souvenirs that members had provided us for this event. Everyone seemed to enjoy the presentation quite a bit. We saved the T-shirts from WEWN and VT Merlin Communications, as well as some of the other souvenirs, for a separate raffle the next day, where there were also items from the other stations present, plus the BBC, Radio Taiwan International and Radio Netherlands. DRM exhibition a PR success; listeners very impressed Perhaps the most ``newsworthy`` event at the Encuentro was the first- ever demonstration in Mexico of DRM digital shortwave radio. From a public relations standpoint, I think the DRM presentation was a great success. Engineers César Fernández and Rafael Grajeda of the Society of Radio Listener Engineers of Veracruz gave a very complete talk about DRM, covering the technical aspects of how it works as well as the practical aspects of what it means to shortwave listeners and how they can pick up and decode DRM transmissions. The general message was that DRM has the ability to revolutionize shortwave broadcasting and listening during the coming years. Engineer César Fernández demonstrates Ten-Tec DRM Receiver [caption] Unfortunately, the live special transmissions from Radio Netherlands in Bonaire and Deutsche Telekom in Jülich were not quite as successful as we would have liked, since we were only able to get short bits of audio intermittently, although the audio quality of what we did hear was excellent. César Fernández has been in touch with Jan Peter Werkman of Radio Nederland to try to determine if the difficulties were due to antenna azimuth, power levels, software problems or other causes, and we left the Ten-Tec RX-320D receiver with the engineers from Veracruz so they can continue to experiment with DRM reception from various sites. Ten-Tec provided the receiver to the event free of charge in exchange for the publicity they received. (See http://www.tentec.com for more info on their DRM-ready RX-320D receiver.) César was planning to travel to Holland and Germany shortly after the Encuentro, and he hoped to be able to meet personally with Jan Peter and with Guenter Hirte of Deutsch Telekom T-Systems to discuss the results in further detail. Incidentally, Veracruz was chosen as the site for next year`s Mexican National DX Meeting (in August of 2004), so the engineers will have plenty of time now to prepare another live demonstration for next year`s meeting with the same equipment. In spite of the limited success of the live audio demonstration, César and Rafael presented excerpts from the audio field tests on a DRM promotional CD-ROM so that participants could hear comparisons between analog and digital shortwave signal quality, and the listeners were extremely impressed. The basic reaction was: ``Shortwave has never sounded so good.`` Incidentally, Ms. Ana Cristina del Razo, ex-Director of Radio Mexico International (the government-owned shortwave broadcaster), was in attendance, and she indicated that she is planning to do a chapter about DRM in a university thesis she is working on about shortwave radio in Mexico. We were able to provide her with publicity materials on hand from DRM, Merlin, etc. We also provided DRM publicity materials to a reporter from the press office of the Municipality of Tizayuca, who was planning to distribute an article about the event to many newspapers and media outlets throughout the region. The President of the Municipality was present to officially inaugurate the meeting. NASB and the Encuentro organizers would like to thank everyone from DRM, VT Merlin, Radio Netherlands, T-Systems, Ten-Tec, VOA, etc. who helped make this DRM demonstration possible. I mentioned earlier that NASB distributed a shortwave listener survey to everyone at the event in Tizayuca. Forty-seven persons completed the surveys and returned them to us. This isn`t an extremely large sample by any means, but it was large enough to see some definite trends and tendencies, and I think you`ll find the results fascinating. This should certainly give some important audience background information and perhaps some programming and other ideas to our NASB stations that are broadcasting to Mexico and Latin America. An English translation of the survey and results, along with analysis and explanation, follows this article. It will be very interesting to compare these results with those at the SWL Winterfest in North America and at the European DX Council Conference in Europe if we conduct similar listener surveys at those events next year. Cultural aspects of the meeting Of course the meeting was not all business and hard work. A local orchestral group performed Mexican folk music at the meeting hall on Thursday afternoon during registration. A trio of musicians went from table to table at a welcoming party at a nearby restaurant on Thursday night, as participants sampled regional food specialties from Hidalgo. At the official inauguration on Friday morning, a local folkloric dance group called Hueyhueycoytl (that`s ``old coyote`` in the indigenous Náhuatl language) led by Professor Mariano Sánchez Ruíz performed regional folk dances in brightly colored costumes. Many participants took a side trip to a new fruit drink bottling plant in Tizayuca -- just one of many important industrial concerns in the area -- and on Sunday morning a large group from the conference took a bus trip to the nearby Teotihuácan archaeological zone to see some spectacular pre-Columbian pyramids. At the official closing of the meeting on Sunday afternoon, a vote was taken and next year`s meeting site was chosen. The 2004 Encuentro DX will be in the port city of Veracruz, on Mexico`s Gulf coast, probably the first weekend in August. As soon as details are announced, they will be posted on the website: http://www.aer-dx.org/encuentro Survey of Shortwave Listeners in Mexico --- by Jeff White This survey form (translated into Spanish) was given to participants in the 2003 Mexican National Meeting of DXers and Radio Listeners in Tizayuca, Hidalgo State, from July 31-August 3. The survey was completely confidential. Participants were asked to not put their name on the form. A small bag of souvenirs from NASB members was given to those who filled out and returned the survey to us during the event. Approximately 60 persons were at the meeting, and 47 returned the survey. This is obviously a rather small sample, but even so, some definite trends and tendencies can be seen. The analysis and explanatory comments in italics below are those of the survey`s author, Jeff White. . . (Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) Those interested in the survey, as well as the illustrations accompanying this article, should check the NASB website later at http://www.shortwave.org/news/NEWSLETTER_0309.PDF (gh, DXLD) ### QSLing and CONTESTS +++++++++++++++++++ AWR WAVESCAN September DX Contest, full details: http://english.awr.org/wavescan/scripts/ws452.htm (via gh, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ POSSIBLE EXTENDED TROPO PROPAGATION? Walter Blanchard, G3JKV, writes that the weather forecast for this weekend indicates that a large warm anticyclone is building over the eastern Atlantic, with strong ridging to Newfoundland. ``By Monday, the 1st of September,`` Walter writes, ``the airmass could be tolerably homogenous over the Great Circle path Ireland to Newfoundland. There is of course absolutely no guarantee that it will produce abnormal refraction or ducting, but if anyone is looking for trans-Atlantic possibilities and has the right gear ready it could be worth switching on. It might just be this year`s only opportunity judging by previous years - this type of situation has never before occurred later than late August.`` (Radio Society of Great Britain GB2RS Main News script for August 31, posted August 27 on uk.radio.amateur by G4RGA, via John Norfolk, DXLD) SOLAR DATA FOR THE PERIOD FROM THE 18TH TO THE 24TH OF AUGUST compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS. http://www.g0cas.demon.co.uk/main.htm Solar activity was `very low` on the 20th and 23rd. It was `low` on the remaining days, except the 19th, when two small M-class solar flares occurred. The largest solar flare of the period was an M2/2F on the 19th. Solar flux started and ended the period at 116 but in between increased to 121 on the 22nd. The average was 117 and the 90- day solar flux average on the 24th was 127, the same level as last week. X-ray flux levels varied little day to day and averaged B3 units. Geomagnetic activity started at severe storm levels, with an Ap index of 86 units on the 18th. This activity would appear to be the result of a solar flare that took place on the 14th. Activity hardly had time to return to quieter levels when activity increased to sub-storm levels due to a coronal hole, with Ap indexes of 53, 43 and 44 on the 21st, 22nd and the 23rd respectively. The average was Ap 41 units, which makes it the most disturbed week so far this year. The ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds increase from 380 kilometres Per second on the 20th to 830 by the 22nd and 23rd. Particle densities were high, varying between 15 and 30 particles per cubic centimetre until the 23rd, when they declined to 3 particles per cubic centimetre. On the 18th Bz varied between minus 25 and plus 8 nanoTeslas, but the following day varied between minus 8 and plus 20 nanoTeslas. Those high geomagnetic figures obviously spelled trouble for HF Propagation and, from the 18th onwards, bands above 14 MHz were of little use for long periods and even 14 MHz was somewhat depressed. However, the HF operator`s loss was the VHF fraternity`s gain. Widespread auroral working at 50 and 144 MHz occurred on the evening of the 17th, most of the 18th and the afternoon and evening of the 21st. Also on the 18th an auroral E opening to Scandinavia took place with good signals on both 28 and 50 MHz. The 50 MHz beacon, JW8SIX, on Svalbard Island, in locator JQ94 was heard at good strength in northern England. This was an excellent opportunity to work well above the Arctic Circle on 50MHz. Also heard from the UK were beacons on the Faroes and in Greenland. A few stations on the east coast of North America were also worked. Visual auroral displays were reported in North America as far south as California. And finally the solar forecast. This week solar activity is expected to be mostly low. Solar flux is expected to be around the 130s. Geomagnetic activity is expected to be mostly unsettled but could become more disturbed around midweek due to a recurring coronal hole. MUFs during daylight hours at equal latitudes should be around 21 MHz for the south and 18MHz for the north. The darkness hour lows should be about 11 MHz. Paths this week to Australia should have a maximum usable frequency, with a 50 per cent success rate, of around 19 MHz. The optimum working frequency, with a 90 per cent success rate, should be about 14 MHz. The best time to try this path should be between 0800 and 1100 UTC. Sporadic E can now only be expected on the occasional day, with virtually no chance of an opening at 144 MHz. The RSGB propagation news is also available in a Saturday update, Posted every Saturday evening and for more on propagation generally, See http://www.rsgb.org/society/psc.htm Radio Society of Great Britain GB2RS Main News script for August 31, posted August 27 on uk.radio.amateur by G4RGA, via John Norfolk, DXLD) FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 27 AUGUST - 22 SEPTEMBER Solar activity is expected to range from very low to low levels during the period. There is a slight chance of isolated moderate activity from returning Region 424 after 28 August. No greater than 10 MeV proton events at geosynchronous orbit are expected during the period. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux is expected to reach high levels on 05 – 07 September, 10 – 12 September and again on 20 – 22 September. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to major storm levels. A returning coronal hole high speed stream is expected to produce active to major storm conditions on 02 – 05 September. Minor storm levels are possible from a smaller high speed stream on 08 – 09 September. Toward the end of the period a third coronal hole high speed stream is expected to return with active to major storm levels possible on 17 – 21 September. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2003 Aug 26 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2003 Aug 26 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2003 Aug 27 120 12 3 2003 Aug 28 120 12 3 2003 Aug 29 125 12 3 2003 Aug 30 130 12 3 2003 Aug 31 130 12 3 2003 Sep 01 130 15 3 2003 Sep 02 130 30 5 2003 Sep 03 135 30 5 2003 Sep 04 135 25 5 2003 Sep 05 130 15 3 2003 Sep 06 130 15 3 2003 Sep 07 130 15 3 2003 Sep 08 130 25 5 2003 Sep 09 130 20 4 2003 Sep 10 130 20 4 2003 Sep 11 130 15 3 2003 Sep 12 125 15 3 2003 Sep 13 120 12 3 2003 Sep 14 115 12 3 2003 Sep 15 115 12 3 2003 Sep 16 115 12 3 2003 Sep 17 120 40 6 2003 Sep 18 120 30 5 2003 Sep 19 120 30 5 2003 Sep 20 118 25 5 2003 Sep 21 118 20 4 2003 Sep 22 118 15 3 (from http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1197, DXLD) ###