DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-169, September 21, 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/dxldtd3i.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1199: RFPI: Mon 0630, 1230 [maybe], Wed 0100, 0730 on 7445 [nominal times may be delayed] WBCQ: Mon 0415 7415, maybe 5105 WWCR: Wed 0930 9475 WINB: Thu 0130 9320 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 WORLD OF RADIO 1199 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1199h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1199h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1199.html WORLD OF RADIO 1199 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1199.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1199.rm MUNDO RADIAL, para setiembre-octubre en WWCR 15825: todos los viernes 2115, martes 2130, miércoles 2100. Además: (corriente) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0309.ram (bajable) http://www.w3uvh.net/mr0309.rm (texto) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0309.html ** ARGENTINA. 2760, harmonic 0100-0130*, UNID música sin parar, ningún anuncio, baladas, románticos. S/off alrededor de 0130, ayer 0134 con himno nacional argentino e ID por mujer, pero el máximo QSB coincide con el momento de la ID. Armonica de 1380, ¿pero cual?. Llama la atención la temprana hora para el s/off. QRK 1/3, 2 la mayoría del tiempo (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, set 17/18, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4600.30, R. Perla del Acre, 0922 Sept 20 in Spanish, fair despite static, OM with ID 0923, then jingle ID right afterwards, into series of local ads. Finally a break in our local thunderstorms so hopefully I can keep my equipment plugged in for more than one hour at a time. 73's (Phil Marshall, Bradenton, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Hola, Emisora NO Identificada en 4902.6 escuchada a las 0130 UT y con cierre de emisión a las 0200 el pasado 20/09 en idioma español con música y comerciales, con un SINPO=23232 , captada desde Cercs (Barcelona) España, en la DX Camp organizada por la ADXB. (ADXB, Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I told them about this: 4902.6, R. San Miguel, 0159-0204* Sept 19. Caught their sign-off routine with ID by YL at 0200, followed by their NA. Surprisingly strong for a Bolivian; SINPO 34333 (George Maroti, NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI is testing 15115 again, presumably in time for their Open House on Sunday Sept 21. Tuned in HCJB DX Partyline about 1250 Sat Sept 20, as Ken MacHarg was somehow turning sliced bread into evangelism, but there was heavy QRM, somewhat distorted, from something in Spanish. At first I was stumped, as was not expecting RFPI to be in Spanish; could it be an internal audio mix at HCJB? No, not parallel 11960. No other parallels found on 15 MHz or even some other bands scanned. But at 1302, switched to English, Voices of Our World, so pretty clear it was RFPI. I then checked 7445 for a parallel, and could almost make it, but Taiwan was on top by then. HCJB is now on 15115 until 1330, so I have again advised RFPI not to use it before that hour! RFPI was in the clear after 1330, and proved to be in USB --- so HCJB was serving as the BFO. Attempted to play WOR 1199 at 1341, but something went wrong so played some other show; and about 1412 a new Mailbag after some months, apparently recorded Tuesday, but cut off at 1428 and nothing further heard until rechecked after 2000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was not supposed to be on when HCJB is; we plan to run 15115-USB at 1800-0800 only (James Latham, RFPI, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) On the Fiesta call-in at 0136 Sept 22, James guessed 1800-1100 instead. 15115 was not on Sun/UT Mon because of a blown fuse, but James said they would get it up and running in next few days. There were lots of calls, and James seems optimistic about the future of RFPI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I discovered RFPI on 15115-USB at about 0145 UT Sept 21. At 0300, after WOR on WWCR, they were gone. At 0145, reception was good, perfectly in the clear, maybe 4, 5, 4. If it were me, I would have used a little less speech compression, but, that is just a personal preference (Tim Hendel, AL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. CLANDESTINE from USA to CUBA, 9955: La Hora de Chibás - -- I noticed that the jamming wasn't quite blocking these guys out so I was able to hear their program. Mostly talk, but two ID's at 0038 Sept 21. WRMI ID when program ended at 0045. Per Jeff White, their contact details are: Mario Jiménez, La Hora de Chibás P. O. Box 451132 Miami, Florida 33245-1132 USA. Radio Revista Lux --- the jamming remained low, so I got this one at 0100. ID's at program sign on and a number of short talks in Spanish followed. Quite readable for about 9 minutes then faded quite quickly and pretty hard to read by 0115. Per the Cubapolidata website, the address for this one is PO Box 451132, Miami, FL 33245-1132 (Hans Johnson, WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. PAIR HOPE TO AIR CUBAN PROGRAMS FROM NAPLES-BASED TV NETWORK Friday, September 19, 2003, Naples Daily News By THERESA STAHL, tmstahl@naplesnews.com URL: http://www.naplesnews.com/03/09/business/e6831a.htm A new Naples-based Cuban television network wants to herd the scattered flock of Cuban documentaries and dish them up to a satellite that transmits around the world. "We have a ton of programming, but no venue," said Kevin Adell, who hopes to launch the Cubana One Network with Pedro Prado, a Cuban exile. Adell, a broadcaster, and Prado claim the network will be the first Cuban-only, English-language television station in America. More than half of the programs will be historical documentaries and the rest will include news, sports, cooking shows and music videos. "(It's) a mixture of today and tomorrow," Prado said. The two entrepreneurs don't know yet when or where the network will air. This month, they're meeting with three of the six cable carriers in Florida to pitch Cubana One. Prado collected thousands of signatures from people who want to see Cuban television. He is delivering them to people such as Larry Schweber, general manager for Comcast Cable in Southwest Florida. Schweber, who recently met with Adell and Prado, said he needs to see more information before he makes a decision, but he is intrigued by the concept. "We as a company ... (have) refocused on the Hispanic population to meet the demand from both a service and product perspective," Schweber said. The components of the station - including editing, audio tags, promotions and voice-overs - will be put together at Cubana One Network's offices on Fifth Avenue South. From Naples, the content will be sent to Detroit where it will be uplinked to a satellite from which cable companies worldwide can pull down the signal. Adell, 36, said many organizations, such as Cuban-American associations and the University of Miami, are producing documentaries that only see the front of a TV screen for a few minutes on news programs. "We feel like we're not being heard," he said. The documentaries they want to show on Cubana One will be about Cuban music, cars, cigar making, agriculture and baseball. The station, which will be broadcast entirely in English, is very important to Cuban-Americans, Adell said. "It's a celebration of Cuban life, a way to satisfy the needs of the community," he said. For Prado, it's more personal. "My grandkids are here, and I would like for them to know their heritage," he said. Operation Peter Pan Prado came to the U.S. in 1962 when he was 18 years old. He was one of 14,000 unaccompanied children between 6 and 18 years old to leave Cuba over a two-year period. The exodus, coded Operation Peter Pan, was fueled by parents' fears that the Fidel Castro government would take possession of their children and indoctrinate them. Miami was "Never-Never Land." On American soil, Prado joined a Catholic program that aimed to disperse Cuban refugees from Miami and provide airfare and an apartment in "a decent part of the country," Prado said. He was sent to Dallas and worked at an electronic shop making television sets, earning $1.25 hour. He later got a job in hospitality. Working his way up to management, Prado build his resume with some of the biggest names in the hotel industry. In 1987, Prado moved to Naples to manage The Registry Hotel. Today, at 60, he is owner and president of Prado Hospitality Consulting Inc., but he's making a transition to go full time with Cubana One. A bigger audience The network's name comes from the words "Cuba" and "Havana." Cubana One will be nonprofit, like PBS, where companies sponsor the programming. Prado and Adell say they are not concerned about the network's financing. Actually, Adell doesn't worry much about Cubana One's future because this is his sophomore attempt at a nonprofit television network for a niche market. The first one flourished. Three years ago in Detroit, he started The Word Network, an "urban religious channel" geared toward African-Americans. Adell moved to Naples a few months ago and met Prado soon after. Almost immediately they started laying groundwork for a Cuban television network. They decided the network would be broadcast in English because it would give them a bigger market. Plus, two Spanish stations already exist: Telemundo and Univision. Hilda Luisa Diaz-Perera, president of the newly formed Cuban Cultural Center of Collier County, said broadcasting Cubana One in English was the right decision. "That's the best thing about it," she said. "We have no other way to reach the American audience." Diaz-Perera said Americans don't hear the entire truth about what's going on in Cuba because Castro controls what airs on CNN, the only U.S. station in Havana. "Cubana One is going to be a source to get to the American public and (will) let them know the other side of the story." Copyright © 2000 Naples Daily News. All rights reserved. A Scripps Howard newspaper. (via David E. Crawford, Titusville, Florida, DXLD) ** DIEGO GARCIA. Had not heard this from home for a while, but AFRTS is still active, heard at 1630 UT on 1485 kHz (Victor Goonetilleke, on an island DXpedition off Sri Lanka, RKI Worldwide Friendship Aug 30, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Some additions re DRM transmitters in Germany: 531 is indeed 24 hours, most likely also 729. The transmitter in use for 729 at Putbus is a Telefunken TRAM-10, installed in a container on the antenna, a 51 metres tall mast of a standard design used on many ex- GDR mediumwave stations for powers up to 20 kW. In the past a mobile transmitter was used at Putbus, later two FM transmitters were added in the actual station building. Meanwhile FM from Putbus was replaced by two new sites on the Rügen island, Sassnitz for Deutschlandradio and Garz for NDR and commercial broadcasters. In the old days Putbus- 729 carried during the summer season Ferienwelle, a program for holidaymakers produced at Rostock. A recording is posted at http://www.dxing.info/audio/germany_east/729_Ferienwelle.rm and quite interesting for those who understand German. 855: This transmitter appears to be on air every day, but more often in AM than in DRM. Earlier this year no DRM tests whatsoever were observed over a longer period, a couple of months if memory serves right, and I again found 855 to be always in AM on my seldom checks since the IFA fair is over (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Loral reports that Telstar 4 appears to have suffered a short on the main DC bus. It was insured for $1.4 million (Lou Johnson, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. STATEMENT BY NEW IRAQI BROADCAST CORPORATION STRESSES INDEPENDENCE | Text of report by Nidal al-Asadi in Baghdad entitled: "First Iraqi independent TV channel to be launched soon", published by London-based newspaper Al-Zaman on 16 September The creation of an Iraqi television and radio corporation has been announced in Baghdad and London. It will be called IBC [Iraqi Broadcast Corporation]. This new organization, registered in Iraq, Great Britain and around the world, will have full rights to exploit the IBC name and to use it for television broadcasting purposes. A number of Iraqi businessmen and media experts are behind this project. Shahlah Husayn, the corporation spokeswoman, said in a statement handed to Al-Zaman yesterday, that IBC was targeting Iraqi viewers and listeners through round-the-clock local and satellite television broadcasts. The statement mentions a number of principles adopted by the corporation, such as the principle of staying above any political obedience to a group, party, category, faction, religion or individual. The corporation will be open to all prevailing cultures and religions. It will also endeavour to "introduce cheerfulness after years of gloom and isolation", Shahlah Husayn went on to say that bureaus in Iraqi cities, in Europe and in the Arab world, would join forces to launch the first professional television broadcast which will be independent from any government or authority. She indicated "the door is open for additional investors". The corporation's initial capital is 10m dollars, which can be increased to 30m dollars. She also stressed that in terms of recruitment, priority would be given to Iraqis of both sexes. She also called on artists and programme makers to join this television project which will start experimental broadcasts within the next six months. As for radio broadcasts, these will begin with the official launch of television broadcasts. [WTFK???] The administration of the corporation will be made up of a board of governors, including a chairman and five members. An executive administration will emanate from this body. It will work under the supervision of a council of trustees. The corporation will devise work regulations and the method of recruiting staff members through advertisements that will be published in the media at a later stage. The spokeswoman did not reveal the place from which the broadcasts will be launched, but said that "the broadcast will simultaneously start from various places". She also underlined "the independence of the new television channels and their freedom to deal with Iraqi and Arab issues". Shahlah Husayn concluded her statement by saying, "the [IBC] channels will not only be dealing with news and current affairs, but will also broadcast a variety of programmes and will target viewers of all ages". Source: Al-Zaman, London, in Arabic 16 Sep 03 p 1 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Glenn, RTÉ's Radio 2 FM mediumwave Transmitter in Athlone is back on air. It is a 100 kW transmitter purchased in 1979 replacing the old Radio Éireann's (the forerunner of RTE) 100 kW transmitter that was used from the 1930's or thereabouts! This transmitter must be saved as it allows 2FM to be picked up in large areas of Britain. Athlone (a town right in the middle of the Country) was also the venue of Ireland's short lived shortwave transmitted in the early years of the State! The Athlone frequency is 612 MW while two 10 kW transmitters exist also in Dublin and Cork cities. The original Athlone transmitter closed down around 1975/76 when the Tullamore 500 kW transmitter commenced broadcasting - there was only one station at the time with FM opt outs. The new 100 kW transmitter (2 x 50 kW) opened in 1979 when the then RTE Radio 2 came on air (now branded as 2FM). (Paul Guckian, Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland, Sept 20-21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 612 is the one reported off-frequency causing a heterodyne with something (gh, DXLD) I understand this to be the Old '566' Athlone transmitter, it goes back to the days of a part-time Radio Eireann, there were only two other transmitters at that time, for the whole country. Phoenix Park Dublin 1250 kHz 5 kW and same frequency 2 kW Cork. Nothing else!!! and NO Television until 1961. Transmitting times were mostly 1.00 to 2.30 pm and 5.30 to 11.00 pm, with a little extra at week-ends. It must have been commissioned about 1950, I reckon (Ken Fletcher, 2120 UTC = 2220 UTC+1, September 19th 2003, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Nothing new to say on the Kol Israel front, but: The Jewish New Year is on Saturday and Sunday. It starts Friday night. Therefore, there may be some special programming. A Happy and Healthy New Year to all! (Doni Rosenzweig, Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Dear EMR listener, EMR is on the air this Sunday night via the IRRS on 5775 at 1900 to 2030 UT. The IRRS transmits in reduced carrier SSB mode, which is OK for normal AM Reception in Europe. YOU MAY NEED TO USE A BFO FOR LONG DISTANCE RECEPTION EMR ON AIR DATES on 5775 kHz 2003 Repeat Programmes 21st September 2003 -- to be confirmed 19th October 2003 -- to be confirmed 16th November 2003 -- to be confirmed From November 2003 onwards EMR will be on 5775 and 13840 via the IRRS. All dates and times will be available in October. 73s (TOM Taylor, Cumbre DX via DXLD) DEAR ALL, we just signed off a 30 min test with 100 kW. We will repeat the test again tonight (Sunday) at 1800 UT (1900 BST) on 5775. If you can hear something please let me know. Thanks. THE IRRS 73s (Sept 20, playdx via DXLD) So they have a 100 kW in Milano now?? Or another secret relay site? (gh, DXLD) ** JUAN FERNANDEZ. CHILE: 8900 KHz (USB) es la frecuencia donde es posible reportar a la estación costera chilena CBF, JUAN FERNANDEZ RADIO, que transmite desde la Isla Robinson Crusoe (Archipiélago Juan Fernández), en el Océano Pacífico. La emisora es habitualmente escuchada alrededor de las 1200 UT, cuando se encuentra recibiendo reportes de posición de parte de numerosos buques pesqueros chilenos que navegan por la zona próxima a este conjunto de islas. Cabe agregar que esta banda en realidad pertenece al Servicio Móvil Aeronáutico (Banda de 8 MHz, 8815-9040 KHz), razón por la cual resulta extraño escuchar este tipo de estación costera fuera de las bandas marítimas. Además la escucha ofrece la posibilidad de reportar un "raro" radiopaís ITU, difícil de lograr por otros medios de recepción (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Argentina, Conexión Digital Sept 20 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. VOK, usually heard in English at 2100 on 7505, and 11335, was inaudible on Sept 19; earlier also missing from one of the frequencies I checked at 1000 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 3249.530, 14.9 1700, Pyongyang Broadcasting Station // med 3320.015, tidpip och anrop "Pyongyang - - imnida". 2-3 SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Sept 21 via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Riga-Ulbroka 9290 is on tonight but here in eastern Germany hardly more than a faint carrier. Best regards, (Kai Ludwig, Sat Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PIRATE? 9290, Radio Seagull, NL with nice signal S9_10 , 44434 with nice rock program past 1800. At 1815 with 'Gone to be wild' and following every song with IS, mail address and web, email. Has given these info: http://www.radioseagull.nl (working) and studio@radioseagull.nl Signal and audio is a bit unstable after 1830 with gaps. Nice song selection. R75 as usually used (Zacharias Liangas, Sept 20, Retziki, Greece http://www.geocities.com/zliangas/kchibo.pdf DX LISTENING DIGEST) I tuned to 9.290 MHz at the end of the Monitoring Service Feature on Radio 4. Signal was about SIO 444, at 2000 UT, although audio cut out for about 7 minutes at 2003. Audio restored at approx 2010; however signal started deteriorating sharply after 2020 and is only barely audible, fading out altogether at times, at 2040. I have no doubt that disturbed conditions are partially to blame, although the 'K' Index has been down to 4 for the last 9 hours or so. Signal now slightly improved at 2042; this sometimes happens for a short while before complete fadeout. I am afraid the authorities in Latvia will need to do some homework. This frequency, in the main will be too high, for most of the B03 Period at this time, more suitable for an afternoon transmission, say 1300-1600. 2048, Radio Seagull now almost faded out (Ken Fletcher, UK, September 20th 2003, BDXC-UK via DXLD) The Radio Seagull transmissions on 9290 kHz 20 September were a commercial relay by Laser Radio UK, which is regularly renting airtime at the Ulbroka shortwave station (owned by Latvian State Radio & Television Centre, Latvia's national transmitter operator) via a Latvian broker. More details about the relay service can be found at http://www.laserradio.net --- Get HEARD - with LASER RADIO's SHORT-WAVE RELAY SERVICE Now your radio programmes can reach across Europe and beyond with a POWERFUL Shortwave signal. The Laser Radio Relay Service can broadcast your radio programme via a 100,000 watt transmitter to your listeners at an extremely reasonable charge per hour. Why bother with low power when you can broadcast with HIGH POWER from a fully authorised transmitter that delivers a Strong signal where its needed. Laser Radio continues to feature several music streams, whilst we await the launch of our various AM outlets. On Saturday 20th September our shortwave service will carry Radio Seagull on 9290 kHz from 1800 until 2200. Further broadcasts are planned (via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But not every Saturday?? (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. Glenn: XERTA is perplexing. I was able to hear them pretty well around 0100Z UT Friday, with ID in English and something about being 'on the 37th floor' of a certain building (a little hard to make out clearly) so the signal has some RF punch. But at the moment today - Saturday at 0901 - they are coming in with a strong cx but, as has happened several times in the past two days, there is a heavy interfering ute signal at somewhere between 4810 and 4815, which more- or-less obliterates it with envelope detection. Furthermore, the sound is simply HIDEOUS. It is much worse than any tropical band LA station -- and I can get dozens and dozens of them, all over the continent. Generally they don't sound very bright (I suspect most don't use multiband processing, except the Brazilians, who obviously *do* - and adore their echo chambers!) But they aren't too bad either, and I often just listen to them for the pleasant music, which is not at all like the Latino music played on American radio. However, XERTA is so terrible sounding that if they don't change it, there's no point in being on the air. The first time I heard them the sound was clear but extraordinarily thin on the bottom end, with no distortion whatsoever. Now they have much, much more distortion: a sort of roaring clipping. And the lack of bass just makes them sound like SSB. How can a station that has supposedly - according to the blurb in your DXLD - "un nuevo transmisor y antena" - sound this bad? I still think that they are using basically a dialup phone type circuit (300 to 3k) for the audio; and now there is a horrible hum or perhaps an RF-induced buzz in the audio signal, ahead of a limiter which sucks it WAY up when the music fades out. It is just pitiful. I went to their website, which is incomplete though they have a RealAudio link. Surprisingly, their RA feed sounds great! Heck, they could just connect THAT into the transmitter and get better results than what they're doing now. Is this typical of XERTA in the days when it was on the air? Is this another case of shameful stupidity and tin-eared foolishness redolent of a lack of knowledge of contemporary engineering practices? I shouldn't think so considering how OTHER stations from the LA region sound. If they can make tiny little teapots in Ecuador and Peru sound pretty decent, then why can't some guys in Mexico City do it right? FWIW, I was the c. e. of a prominent SF bay area Spanish language station (KOFY) for 14 years, though I don't speak Spanish well myself, and had many friends who came to the San Mateo area from Guatemala, Mexico, and other LA countries. Some of them were fine broadcasters who moved on to more powerful and successful stations; and we had a pretty darned good sounding, professional station that sounded much "bigger" than its 1kw. So I'm sympathetic to the genre (Steve Waldee, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, when I checked the XERTA web stream at 1627 UT Sept 20, there was throbbing bass and not much else, awful. Seems they have quality control issues, to say the least. Station has never amounted to anything more than a curiosity (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checked out the website, under construction, but has a live audio feed which was // to the shortwave when I checked. The contact details are as follows: Geoline Communications, S.A. de C.V. Joseph Berardi icampos@geoline.net Telephone 525-683-5055 Orizaba #32 San Jeronimo Aculco, Mexico City, NA 10400, Mexico (via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX Sep 20 via DXLD) 4810, XERTA, R. Intercontinental, 0045-0145 20 Sept. Various styles of LA music and occasional canned IDs by M. ID by M over music at 0115 as: "XERTA, radio emisora ?? internacional, la ?? onda corta radial México, transmite 4810 kilohertz la banda de 60 metros...ciudad de México. XERTA, la voz comercial de Mexico ??". At 0120, ID seemed to mention US and Canada. The next morning, heard again with usual music program and IDs at 1132 by M as "Desde ?? ciudad de México, la voz de XERTA, R. emisora internacional en onda corta comercial(?) en la banda de 60 metros, 4810 kilohertz", followed by another canned ID by W over an instrumental version of "Michelle" by the Beatles as: "En nosotro(?) México ??, XETRA, R. Internacionales...". I'm sure others will have heard these IDs and copied them word for word. Nice signal but audio sounds as though an open mic is placed up next the speaker of an old cassette player!! There's a noticeable buzzing and occasional drop-outs was well (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Later: 4810, XERTA, while listening to the MD recording, caught this canned English ID by M at 0208 "You're listening to XERTA Radio... tuned to our shortwave frequency, 50,000 watts, on 4,810 kilohertz". Unfortunately due to the poor audio quality, I couldn't copy the entire announcement, 20 Sept. 73's (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 4810, XERTA, 1136-1210 Sept 20. Presumed with instrumental and vocal music, religious-sounding. M announcer spoke at 1149 but local electrical noise prevented good copy. Past 1210 with no ToH break (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 4810, XERTA, 1026-1037 Sept 17. Thanks to Chuck Bolland tip, I tuned in to hear rap music in Spanish, then a ballad with OM vocals. IDs in English and Spanish at 1035, followed by more music. SINPO 33333 once I switched to LSB (George Maroti, NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Decent audio but heavy QRN at 0055-0200 Sep 18, mostly what seemed to be "popular" religious vocals. IDs after every few songs, varying in language -- SP, EG and FR. I followed them for several recent mornings at roughly 0830-1100 and found strong carrier but no audio. However, they were there at 0630 Sep 20 with upbeat SP vocals, IDs -- one in SP at 0634, next one FR at 0727, then SP and EG 0732, then what seemed to be a PSA or religious message (one of a couple I have heard them carry), SP ID again, etc. Still on after 0800, Mexican music, also Andean; also there at 1100 check. But carrier-only during checks at 0800-1000 on Sep 21. Middle of the night LT is the best time to hear them here, as they have a stronger signal and less QRN than in earlier hours. Overmodulated/telco audio makes them tough on the ears, and the audio during the recorded IDs is worse than during the music. Has "live" internet RealAudio while they are on the air, and that audio is fine. English E-mail to them seeking their postal address brought quick Spanish reply from giving QTH as: XERTA, R. Transcontinental de America [presumably the "RTA" in XERTA--JB], Plaza San Juan No. 5, Despacho No. 2, Col. Centro, Centro Histórico, C.P. 6050, México D.F. Tel. 55184938 (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet Sept 21 via DXLD) 4810, XERTA, Nothing but steady mechanical-like noise here this AM 21 Sept. Wonder if they're having transmitter trouble (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) XERTA, 2330-0005 with excellent signal strength ID slogans by OM, "ciudad de México", vocals and instrumental music. Signal suffers from distortion and seemly total USB hash. Reports of interference from another signal appear false. This seems a USB, self inflicted wound, from their transmitter (Bob Wilkner, FL, Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non]. Re Radio Free Cascadia International --- Hi Glenn, the debate about the Radio Free Cascadia transmissions is quite interesting. Actually not the transmissions itself are a story from a European point of view; instead "the medium is the message" one more time. First, I am somewhat surprised about Nick Grace and Martin Schöch issuing a joint statement with RNW. I wonder why, completely aside from the question whether or not they are entitled to speak for RNW at all? How are editorial decisions at RNW connected with the CRW project? Martin Schöch argues that this was some kind of Veranstaltungsrundfunk (that's what is known in the UK as RSL stations). I think this comparison not really fits because such stations are operated by people favouring the respective events and organizations, but this was obviously not the case here. And temporary FM licences are issued to Veranstaltungsrundfunk stations; they are no pirates like this one. But the debate focused on the term "clandestine": I think this is a problematic issue in general since it implies a judgment to brand a broadcast operation as a clandestine. An obvious example is the VoR-produced Radiostantsiya Chechnya Svobodnaya, I remember how VoR's Pavel Mikhailov distributed a sharp reaction (like: some people with no any idea about these things are searching for a sensation) after these transmissions were labeled as a clandestine. Or to mention the most recent example: I guess the people at the FLoK citizen radio association at Cologne would be quite surprised if they would be told that their Radio Rhino International project is labelled as "clandestine". [see UGANDA] Just 0,02 EUR from somebody who was told that the broadcasting world would be a soap opera and he the mean reviewer of the TV magazine. This referring to what can be seen obviously, of course. Good night! (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15045.05, 13.9 1915, unID: OID med ändlöst tal på EE. Piratstationen från WTO i Cancún, Mexico? 1 CB (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin via DXLD) 15045, MEXICO, Clandestine, R. Free Cascadia, Sep 13 0200 - Interesting catch. Male announcer in English and female announcer in Spanish which was over modulated and difficult to get much from her comments. At top of the hour, station ID a few comments by female announcer in Spanish, then cheering and lots of applause and then to male announcer with this speech. Good Afternoon young people. Good afternoon to everyone here. Brothers and Sisters of the world and from Mexico. Especially for the young people and for all those not here and those who are not here listening to us close by and far away. We find ourselves in this place today where just a few hours ago as you all know the resistance in the rebellion for humanity for ?? was born. Revolution greetings to you all and we hope you all are fine but tired from the dance at this rate. This is great as this is a very important fiesta. So that the trial doesn't matter. It does make me daunt though because I can't win. Young students, young people from this planet earth in this country, Mexico, who are trying to continue studying in our universities and they don't accept you. But you don't get discouraged, you look for work and they don't give it to you. And if they do give you a job, they pay you a pittance. And so there is no opportunities in education or in work. And they don't expect you to weight in on your youth. They persecute you for being different. They want us to be already old so that they won't have to worry. They don't want us, they hate us. But they are afraid of us because we are young people who are capable of organizing our values and that's where they are wrong, because we won't be old. Because some die and others take their place so they ??? will stay young. But the government their ease of ventures which has worked all the different kinds of businessmen there are. With our youth is to offer you work behind the condition that you obey them. If you unit you remain in their service. And they pay you just a crumb. And that is how they take advantage of our youthful (via Montgomery, PA, Sept 13, 2003 0200) This is one speech that I managed to get fairly clear in English. After ID and intro in both English and Spanish then went to speeches. First in Spanish and then in English and then another speech at 0236 in Spanish by a female announcer. I transcribed what I heard during the English broadcast of this 5.5 minute speech by one male announcer. This male announcer did not have the monotone that some did. It sort of sounded as if he was translating the speech. Where you see ??? is where the signal faded a bit and was unable to get the exact word at that time. Overall fairly good copy during this time frame. Spelling of Spanish words may not be correct. I don't speak the language (Bob Montgomery, PA, NASWA Flashsheet Sept 21 via DXLD) ** NAMIBIA. Logs of Sep. 20: unID 6060, 1801 telephone talk program presumed in African language. And many African pop music. Fair to weak signal. 1900 R. Rossii signed on co-channel and heavy QRM. Namibian BC?? Thanks Johnson's tips (Nobuo Takeno, Japan, Cumbre DX via DXLD ** NEPAL. Janusz, SP9FIH, informs OPDX that he will probably be in Nepal from November 15th to December 5th. He expects to only be active on the bands between 20-12 meters because the cost of the amateur radio license is rather high (about $50 US per band and 100W transmitter). He will try to concentrate on U.S. propagation as he knows it is a difficult area for U.S. amateurs. Janusz is looking for any advice on what bands and at what times he should operate from during this time of the year (Is there a long path route?). Suggestions are welcome, E-mail to: sp9fih@poczta.onet.pl (KB8NW/OPDX September 22/BARF-80 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Alfa Lima International: Yes. we are back again. It has been a while and the change was that we also would not make it this week but after some hard work we will start to test audio around 2230 today (20-sept) or just a bit later. I do not know if I will stay there for a long time as I do not know how modulation will behave. One thing that we did test was Power.. and we have some in stock for you, most likely on two frequency's on 15070 kHz and somewhere between 6250 and 6300 kHz. During program we will keep an eyeball on this place (FRN) Greetings from Alfred Zoer ( Alfa Lima Int ) ------------------------------------- reception reports can be send to the maildrop Alfa Lima Int, Pobox 663, 7900AR Hoogeveen, The Netherlands please enclose one US$ for reply; also Emails are of course very welcome. We will reply with email on email ASAP. Our email address info@alfalima.net Surf to Alfa Lima web --- You'll find our Hobby's --- Chevy's, Motor Bikes, 11 MB Dxing, And of course Short-wave Pirate Radio http://www.alfalima.net _____________________________________ SW pirates group!!! Receive the latest SW-Pirates info Simply subscribe by sending a blanc email to: SWpirates-subscribe@egroups.com More info at: http://www.egroups.com/group/SWpirates _____________________________________ The group on internet related to building and repairing your own transmitters and radio's. join up!! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Radio_and_Transmitter_Electronics/ (Alfa Lima International via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND [non]. On Sept 21 I rechecked http://www.rnzi.com and found the SW relay schedule had been refined (gh) RNZI will lease time on Radio Australia. Listen on 9580 kHz at these times-: Sunday 1900-2115 UT, [Monday 0700-0915 NZST] Monday to Thursday 1700-2115 UT, [Tuesday-Friday 0500-0915 NZST] Friday 1700-2015 UT [Saturday 0500-0815 NZST] RNZI's transmitter is off the air with a serious fault - we regret this interruption to our short-wave service to the Pacific . Our Internet feed is not affected and programmes are available via the real audio live stream and Pacific News is also available for download (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Dear Glenn, Checking on Chuck Bolland's mystery station, it is definitely R. Santa Mónica in Cuzco. Heard 09.20 at 1020 with ads, ID at 1025 with "Radio Santa Mooooooonica" by OM. Very good at my location (Phil Marshall, Bradenton, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Amigo DXista Charles! I have not heard "San Miguel" IDs here for a very, very long time. What I´m hearing almost every night on 4965.00 kHz is "Radio Santa Mónica" (Cusco). 73 (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 4964.98, R. Santa Mónica, 1027 Sept 21, Andean music, 1031 ID, weak. (Nobuo Takeno, Japan, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PERU. 5940.14 Radio Bethel, Arequipa, 0448 - 0510, Sep 16, Spanish, Musical program, religious program "Impacto Evangelístico", man announcer, ads, 34333 (Nicolás Eramo, Argentina, Villa Lynch, Prov. Buenos Aires, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 12 (Kyodo) Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, living in self-imposed exile in Japan, will host a weekly talk show on a Lima radio station, his office in Lima was quoted by local media as saying Thursday. Fujimori will challenge criticism against him and deliver critiques on Peruvian politics, the local media reported. The show is scheduled for broadcast every Saturday morning. The criticism relates to a massacre in Lima in 1991, while he was president, when a military "death squad" allegedly killed 15 people in a poor neighborhood, and to the killing of nine students and a professor in 1992, also in Lima. Fujimori is alleged to have had full knowledge of the existence of the death squad but he denies all the allegations against him. Experts said they believe the radio show is an attempt to gather support for the 2006 presidential election in which Fujimori has indicated he would like to run. There are rumors of slowly growing support for him among the Peruvian public. Born in Peru to Japanese immigrants, Fujimori fled to Japan in November 2000 as his decade-long government crumbled under a corruption scandal and the Japanese government confirmed him as a Japanese citizen shortly afterward. He has remained in self-imposed exile ever since. Peru is demanding the Japanese government extradite Fujimori for trial but Tokyo has refused to do so, citing his Japanese citizenship and noting Japan has no extradition treaty with Peru (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** PERU. RADIO QUE TRANSMITE EL PROGRAMA DE FUJIMORI BATE SU RECORD DE AUDIENCIA LIMA (AP) -- Una radioemisora local logró la mayor sintonía de su historia cuando transmitió "La hora del Chino", el primer programa de Alberto Fujimori, donde el ex presidente criticó la orden de prisión contra uno de sus ex ministros. El gerente de radio Miraflores, Ricardo Palma, dijo el martes que "el sábado, cuando la estación transmitió el programa de Fujimori, aumentó su sintonía en un 85 por ciento, que no se dió en toda su historia, según encuestas de varias empresas particulares. Ojalá sea verdad". Fujimori, apodado "El Chino", [¿porqué no ``El Japonés``??] además de criticar una orden judicial de detención efectiva de su ex ministro de Economía, Jorge Camet, rindió homenaje a militares y policias que combatieron a los guerrilleros de Sendero Luminoso. Palma dijo que "la transmisión de ´La hora del Chino´ es una inversión en publicidad que no me ha costado nada, por la gran audiencia que tuvo". El conductor de "La Hora del Chino", Carlos Raffo, jefe de prensa de Fujimori, dijo que pagó a radio Miraflores 500 dólares por el espacio. (extraido del Boletín Patagónico del 17 de setiembre via Arnaldo L. Slaen, Argentina, lista ConDig, set 18 via DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. Radio Maryja: Received a very nice surprise reply from them. Enclosed some religious picture cards all in Polish, an info sheet about the station and a confirmation letter for report of 23rd of July 2003, on 15445. Verie by Malgorzata Zaniewska (Emmanuel Ezeani, P.O. Box 1633, Sokotom Sokoto state, Nigeria, Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. R. Romania 3 is now on 15015 in Narrow FM! 1206 gpks! Any ideas? All the best (Tim Bucknall, UK, Sept 21, harmonics yahoogroup via DXLD) ``Meaning good on peaks``? That's a regular transmission (0700-1800 for Europe, partly Romanian FS, partly Romanian HS). They are using an old 120 kW transmitter which is known for "unexpected audio results". 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, ibid.) But what frequency is it supposed to be on? Or did you mean 15105? ** RUSSIA. La Voz de Rusia celebra el 3 de octubre el Dia Mundial de la Radio de conjunto con las emisoras nacionales Mayak, Mayak 24, Iunost, Radio Rusia y Orfeo, con el respaldo de la Unión Europea de Radiodifusión. El 3 de octubre, La Voz de Rusia presentará programas de nuestra emisora, los colegas de la Unión Europea de Radiodifusión y de las emisoras mundiales líderes. Ustedes serán quienes elijan a los personajes de estos programas. Pues, estamos dispuestos a entrevistar a la persona que los oyentes de La Voz de Rusia indiquen su. [sic] Formule su pregunta a un político, artista, músico famosos, a un historiador o al Santo Padre si lo desea. Y el 3 de octubre, los europeos y los rusos más famosos estarán con ustedes a trav’es de las ondas de La Voz de Rusia (Tomado de http://www.radiomayak.ru/ via Elmer Escoto, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, via Arnaldo Slaen, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** TIBET. 20/09, 1648, 5240 kHz, Tibet People BS, English program (YL talks), 1651 Chinese music, 1658 schedule and ID. 35343. ICOM-775DSP antenna - Inverted V -- 73! (Dmitriy Puzanov, UN9LEZ, Kazakhstan, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** UGANDA [non]. RRIA: Two German-language reports aired on their FM slot on Sep. 3 and 12, respectively, are posted together with some of the stuff transmitted on shortwave at http://www.radiorhino.org/htm_material/listen_to.htm (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also MEXICO non ** UKRAINE. SPECIAL EVENT. The special event station, EM225G, is celebrating the 225th anniversary of Kherson City, Ukraine (CQ zone 16, KH66hp), from September 19-30th. Activity over the past weekend was on 40/20 meters. Watch around 7076 and between 14200-210 kHz between 0900-1330z. QSL via UR3GM, by the bureau (Box 56, Kiev 01001, Ukraine), or direct to: Igor Pulin, Box 23, Kherson 73022, Ukraine. Bureau QSLs can be requested by sending an E-mail to: itel@ukrincom.net (KB8NW/OPDX September 22/BARF-80 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Hi Glenn, please allow two remarks on your addition in 3- 168:: a) it has been published many times in the DX press over the last years (including DXLD!) that the transmitting site "Simferopol" (on the Crimean peninsula) does not exist. The code "SMF" is one of the "fake" site registrations from Soviet times. In the HFCC frequency table "SMF" stands for the site Kopani aka Mykolaiv. b) state language in the Ukraine is Ukrainian. In Ukrainian, the name "Kharkiv" has no soft sign. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for the reminder; well, why do the Ukrainians and Bulgarians keep using ``SMF``?? I was explaining what the letters stand for (gh) ** U K. "THE ARCHIVE HOUR: LISTENING TO THE WAR: THE BIRTH OF BBC MONITORING The Archive Hour Listening To The War - The Birth Of BBC Monitoring. Lesley Chamberlain explores the origins and birth of the BBC's monitoring service based on the rich archive of documentary materials, concentrating on the remarkable personal stories of those who listened. Featuring interviews with ex-monitors Sir Ernst Gombrich, Professor of Art History, author of 'The Story of Art', ladimir Rubinstein, broadcaster and political analyst, Lord George Weidenfeld, publisher, Ewald Osers, translator and BBC archives of wartime broadcasts. With the outbreak of war, the BBC hastily set up a Monitoring Service to listen to domestic radio broadcasts in Germany and Russia. It was realised that radio as never before was a vital tool in understanding the enemy's strategy and movements. Oliver Whitley, a bright BBC recruit, duly commandeered a double-decker bus to take a skeleton team to a secret location - a country house near Evesham owned by a Mrs Smith. The human situation in particular was a triumph of duty over personal anxiety. Many of this first team had fled from Hitler so listening to crackly reports of explosions, troop movements and speeches by the Fuhrer certainly was an unenviable task. Rapidly the service became indispensable, producing huge digests of news for London every day, and an expanded typing pool. What the team had to offset their gloom is the unexpected camaraderie of life at Mrs Smith's: the make-do technology (earphones with leads long enough for them to play table-tennis on the floor below), fruit and vegetables from the Vale of Evesham, snow, bicycles, strange billets in surrounding villages, friendship and love. Thus when the BBC decided to move Monitoring to another location they were in uproar! (BBCR4 website via Wolfgang Bueschel, DXLD) Still available via http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/rams/sat2002.ram Or on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 go to "Listen Again", on Left hand Side, click this and then "Listening to the War", left hand column, under letter L, click "Listen". 73 de wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC 'IN DEEP TROUBLE' OVER LICENCE RENEWAL Lisa O'Carroll, Friday September 19, 2003, The Guardian The BBC is in "deep trouble" and faces a tough battle to get its licence fee renewed in the wake of the Hutton inquiry, the head of the independent television commission warned today. And the head of one of Britain's biggest independent TV companies declared that the "game is up" for the board of governors because of the hasty way they handled the row over Andrew Gilligan's controversial Today programme report. Patricia Hodgson, who was one of former BBC director general Lord Birt's closest aides and was instrumental in winning the last licence fee settlement from the government, said she feared the corporation's case was "substantially worse" than last time round. She is a staunch supporter of the BBC but warned that neither management nor the governors can be complacent in their battle to have licence fee funding renewed when the current royal charter expires in 2006. "The BBC position is very substantially worse this time round. We have had seven years of a united and competitive attack on the last settlement [licence fee]. "That's combined with the fact the two major parties are probably feeling pretty sore - the BBC is in deep trouble when it comes to the next charter." The BBC has this week been left increasingly vulnerable to attack after two of its most senior managers - the director general, Greg Dyke, and head of news Richard Sambrook - both admitted to a series of mistakes in the wake of Gilligan's report. Mr Dyke promised a review of BBC journalistic practices while Mr Sambrook admitted further checks should have been carried out on Gilligan's story before it went out. Gilligan, who reported that the government had "sexed up" the Iraq intelligence dossier, also admitted to a catalogue of mistakes, confessing to the Hutton inquiry this week that he had not "carefully and accurately" reported what the dead weapons inspector David Kelly told him. Today, in a heated debate at the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge, Ms Hodgson warned the BBC could no longer "assume" that Labour would just go along and "tick the box" for licence fee renewal. "I think it has got to look very closely at every single element of the licence fee contract. It has to look at the balance of programmes; the standard of journalism and its commercial activities," she warned. Ms Hodgson's remarks come less than 24 hours after the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, announced a "root and branch" review of the corporation. The BBC fears at worst that there the licence fee will either not be renewed or will be renewed at a level below inflation - causing an effective drop in income. Others believe it will get its licence fee renewed but it will emerge far from unscathed from the review process, with the board of governors losing some regulatory powers to Ofcom or abolished altogether. Peter Bazalgette, the head of Endemol Television, called for the current system of regulation to be scrapped. He said the Hutton inquiry had shown the governors were management poodles, echoing one governor who in private correspondence during the Gilligan row warned that the board should not be seen to be a management "patsy". Mr Bazalgette said: "This is all about the Hutton inquiry. Can the BBC governors be both cheerleaders and regulators? That up to now has been an esoteric argument that most people didn't understand. After Hutton everyone understands the issue. "Everyone understands that the BBC [board] has long been captured by the people they are supposed to regulate." In reference to a psychological syndrome whereby a kidnap victim becomes sympathetic with their captor, he added: "In fact, they've not been so much captured, they've gone for the full Stockholm Syndrome." Mr Bazalgette defended the BBC's right to do the Gilligan story and said management were right to back the report, but added that the governors were wrong to rush into judgment. "Post Hutton, for the governors the game is up - the system has been exposed as a sham. This has not just been an isolated mistake, it was an accident waiting to happen. "The governors are delivering the BBC into government control." The BBC also came under fire from the former head of ITV, David Liddiment. He described the system of BBC regulation as "dysfunctional", pointing to occasions when the board of governors ordered one thing - such as improved arts coverage on BBC1 - and management did another, in this case scrap Omnibus. The corporation was defended by Professor Stephen Barnet from the University of Westminster, who said the governors couldn't be crucified for doing something they knew instinctively to be right. He said that a time when the corporation was coming under relentless attack by Alastair Campbell and Tony Blair over its war coverage the BBC governors were "merely protecting the institution from an intimidating and bullying government". MediaGuardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003 (via Dan Say, DXLD) ** U S A. WINB: No damage from Hurricane Isabel and the station has been able to operate as normal as the power has remained on (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX Sep 20 via DXLD) ** U S A. Noted the following on a quick car radio band pass between 6:55 and 7:10 p.m. [EDT] Sept. 20th local at Ft. DeSoto, south Pinellas County, as massive rainbands and 40+ m.p.h. wind gusts moved in. 1690, GEORGIA, WSWK, Adel, 6:55 p.m.+, much like the old 1680 WTIR format; nonstop canned/recycling promos for Wild Adventures theme park. "Welcome to Wild Adventures Radio..." by man. Also mentioned http://www.wildadventures.net concerts (Dwight Yokum the next one) and canned/generic Interstate traffic construction update. Closest thing to a legal ID ToH was "92.1 Wild Adventures Radio." Pure waste of energy. 96.7 MHz, FLORIDA (PIRATE) "Flavor FM 96.7", St. Petersburg; the sole regularly-active Pinellas County pirate. Usual urban format with live jock, noted 6:30+ p.m. Most if not all Tampa pirates appear to have been raided/closed over the past few weeks, as not a single one was detected last Saturday (Sept. 13th) on a quick FM bandscan, late afternoon near Busch Blvd. and I-275. (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Staying tuned after Schickele Mix on WAMC Albany NY webstream, I found an apparently reliable time for the hard-to-find Acting Presidential Weekly Radio Address, followed by the Democratic Response: 1608 UT Saturday (Glenn Hauser, OK, Sept 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO AND HURRICANE ISABEL Her name is Isabel. She is a hurricane that slammed into the United States East coast with gale force winds. Emergency services including ham radio were ready and waiting as we hear in this report: Roaring ashore with winds of more than 100 miles an hour, Isabel made landfall along North Carolina`s Ocracoke Island, crossing the Outer Banks around midday September 18th. On the west end of Ocracoke Island, sustained winds were measured at 80 miles an hour. Storm surge of 12 feet was reported. Bernard Nobles, WA4MOK, is a Section Emergency Coordinator in North Carolina. He says hams mobilized over a large part of the state. . . http://www.arnewsline.org/quincy A NOTE TO THOSE WHO ONLY ``READ`` AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE As you are aware, Amateur Radio Newsline is, primarily, an audio news service and this weeks newscast is very audio intensive. While reading gives the basic facts, we advise you to download the audio file to get the most out of the newscast in relation to our coverage of Hurricane Isabel and the role Amateur Radio played and continues to play in storm communications efforts. This is a story told in ``sound`` from the scene that really cannot be reported in any other way (via John Noroflk, DXLD) ** U S A. AMATEUR RADIO RESPONDS EFFECTIVELY TO HURRICANE ISABEL Downgraded to a tropical storm by week`s end, Isabel vented much of her fury on North Carolina and Virginia after coming ashore on North Carolina`s Outer Banks the afternoon of September 18. The flooding it spawned in the Washington, DC, area also meant a two-day holiday for federal workers. Amateur Radio volunteers had been keeping an eye on the storm for several days prior to its arrival, however, and they were ready to assist in providing communication support and weather spotting. The Hurricane Watch Net http://www.hwn.org/ secured its operation September 18 after two full days and nights of dealing with Isabel. ``Many thanks to the dozens of dedicated reporting stations in the path of the storm for their support,`` said HWN Manager Mike Pilgrim, K5MP, ``and most of all to all Amateur Radio operators who patiently stood on the sidelines while helping to maintain a clear frequency on 14.325 MHz during this high-priority operation.`` The HWN worked with WX4NHC http://www.wx4nhc.org/ at the National Hurricane Center to provide ground-level weather information for hurricane forecasters. In North Carolina, ARES member Mike Langley, KD4MTT, spent three days at ARES station NC4EB at the North Carolina Emergency Management`s Eastern Branch headquarters in Kinston -- the primary emergency operation center (EOC) for Isabel. ``Ham radio has been very busy throughout the storm,`` Langley said. He noted that the Eastern Branch EOC operated with a staff of six, with two on duty for two days or more and the others taking turns. ``It`s been a pretty busy process.`` NC4EB participated in the statewide Tarheel Net on 75 meters, which backed up logistical communication between the state and county and local EOCs, and sometimes provided a primary link when government communication systems went down. Langley said telephone and power were ``spotty at best`` in many areas of Eastern North Carolina. ``Right now in the after-action, we`re still maintaining vigilance here passing information back and forth from the different EOCs to Emergency Management and the Red Cross,`` Langley said. Other communication has involved helping state agencies to deploy needed resources, such as chainsaw crews to remove downed trees. The Eastern Branch also monitored the Hurricane Watch Net as well as several VHF and one HF frequency plus e-mail and telephones, he said. In Virginia, Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Gregory, N4NW, said he had plenty of volunteers in the early going but could have used more as the emergency wore on. ``A few did a lot,`` he summed up. The Virginia Beach Hamfest http://www.vahamfest.com/ set for September 20-21 was among the storm`s first victims. Sponsors called off the annual event September 18. Power outages were widespread in Virginia, and Gregory himself was running an emergency generator. Ground already wet from previous rainfall caused trees to topple, too, and that included several that uprooted and landed across Gregory`s driveway. He urged all involved in Amateur Radio emergency communication to install emergency power systems in their homes and on their repeaters. The Old Dominion Emergency Net/Virginia Emergency Net Alpha activated on HF to help support communication between the state EOC and local EOCs. Gregory said the net had checkins from about half of the Commonwealth`s localities. ``Our role was to provide a backup for their landline or whatever communications, but very few of those lost that capability,`` he said of the local EOCs. Areas most drastically affected, including Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia, did need Amateur Radio support and had plenty of volunteers, he said. Amateurs also supported American Red Cross and Salvation Army relief operations in Virginia. Virginia SM Carl Clements, W4CAC, in the Tidewater Area lost commercial power shortly after the storm struck and was powering his equipment with an emergency generator. While he also has no telephone service, his cell phone continues to operate. Clements also lost his HF antennas. Many trees were down in his area, he said, in some cases blocking access. Tidewater Area amateurs deployed at Red Cross shelters set up in schools. ``Amateur Radio is the only way for the shelters to get in touch with one another,`` Clements said. Hams were handling some health-and-welfare traffic for shelter clients. ``It`s a true disaster,`` Clements said. In West Virginia, ARRL Section Manager Hal Turley, KC8FS, said ARES/RACES support of the West Virginia EOC ended September 19. ``All in all, Isabel was kind to us,`` he said. ``As anticipated, the Eastern Panhandle sustained the brunt of the storm.`` Heavy rain caused some flooding, and the state also suffered power outages. The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN), handled health-and-welfare inquiries via its SATERN Net on 14.265 MHz and via its Web site http://www.satern.org/ ARES teams in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey also activated for Isabel. The storm made itself known as far north as Southern New England and as far west as Eastern Ohio (ARRL Letter Sept 19 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** U S A. RADIO FILLS INFORMATION GAP FOR PEOPLE WITHOUT POWER By LARRY BONKO, The Virginian-Pilot © September 19, 2003 | Last updated 8:29 PM Sep. 18 http://www.hamptonroads.com/stories/nw0919rad.html Thank heaven for good old-fashioned radio. With the approach of Hurricane Isabel on Thursday morning, power was lost in thousands of homes in Hampton Roads -- thousands of television-owning households. That meant no Triple Doppler TV forecasts and no updates from The Weather Channel, which had dispatched Mike Seidel to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront as early as Wednesday evening. How did TV-deprived Hampton Roads keep up with the storm and the damage it was inflicting? R-A-D-I-O. As early as 4 a.m. Thursday morning, AM radio station WNIS was on the air with reports of the storm's approach. Later on Thursday morning, when the electricity cut off, local radio stations joined with the three Hampton Roads television stations (WAVY, WVEC and WTKR) to get the story out to residents with battery-equipped radios. WVEC's storm coverage was heard on WCMS-FM and WWSO-FM. ``Let's go now to Channel 13's coverage . . .'' WAVY's live team reporting was fed to WNOR-FM and four other stations. WTKR had hooked up with WKOC-FM. About 2 p.m., WAVY weather reporter Don Slater, aware that he was speaking to a large radio audience, began to provide talking pictures of windswept scenes that residents could not see. ``I realize that a lot of you are listening to us on the radio,'' he said. Jeff Lawson on WVEC also became a TV meteorologist-turned-radio- reporter. ``Don't forget that we're under a tornado watch . . .'' Channel 10 reporter Patty Culhane was heard by radio listeners describing the stormy scene at the Oceanfront as ``getting uglier and uglier.'' Most of us had to picture it. It was theater of the mind. At WWDE-FM, program director Don London said the staff was aware that TV signals might be lost and radio would become the eyes and ears of storm coverage. ``Led by our old warhorse, Dick Lamb, we were prepared to pass along updates and information with no hype,'' London said. On WAVY late Wednesday night, Slater had outlined the projected path of Isabel, saying, ``Tomorrow will not be a fun day.'' It was indeed a horrid day, but made less so by the merging of radio and television (via Mike Terry, Jilly Dybka, DXLD) A rather obvious story ** U S A [and non]. JAMBOREE ON THE AIR 2003 IS OCTOBER 18-19 NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 21, 2003 -- The annual Jamboree On The Air, which combines Amateur Radio and scouting, takes place this year on October 18-19. JOTA offers amateurs an opportunity to offer Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts (Cub Scouts, Brownies and Girl Guides are welcome) a chance to participate in this worldwide scouting tradition --- now in its 46th year --- and share experiences over the air with other scouts. Maxim Memorial Station W1AW will be on the air for at least part of this year`s JOTA. ``W1AW will be active in JOTA on Saturday, October 18, during the afternoon and early evening,`` said ARRL Educational Programs Coordinator Jean Wolfgang, WB3IOS. ``ARRL `Big Project` Coordinator Mark Spencer, WA8SME, will be operating and has already scheduled two groups of scouts to come by during that time.`` Reports to ARRL following JOTA 2002 showed that more than 10,000 Scouts from around the US took part. Wolfgang urges participants to complete a JOTA survey, available on the ARRL Web site`s JOTA Survey for USA Participants page. http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/jotalog Begun in 1958 through the efforts of Les Mitchell, G3BHK, the event has spread around the world and includes participation by approximately 500,000 Scouts and Guides in more than 100 countries. Because JOTA is an international event, participating stations must abide by FCC third-party traffic rules. As ARRL Regulatory Information Specialist John Hennessee, N1KB, explains, anytime an unlicensed -- or under-licensed -- individual (the ``third party`` here) participates in a contact with a foreign station, the US must have a third-party traffic agreement in place with that country or the contact may not take place. A list of countries with which the US shares third-party agreements is available on the ARRL Web site http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/io/3rdparty.html Some countries make exceptions for events like JOTA, but the US does not, Hennessee notes. Additionally, during third-party contacts, both the call sign of the foreign station and that of the US station must be exchanged at the end of the contact. Participants may want to register their JOTA events on the Youth Skeds Database site http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/youthskeds This helps scouting groups to locate JOTA events in their vicinity. JOTA begins Saturday, October 18, at 0001 local time and ends Sunday, October 19, at 2359 local time. Details also appear on page 46 of the September issue of QST. For additional information, contact Jean Wolfgang, WB3IOS jwolfgang@arrl.org While JOTA activity can and does occur anywhere on the bands, these suggested frequencies are offered as a starting point for locating JOTA participants: SSB (Voice) CW (Morse code) 80 meters 3.740*/3.940 MHz 3.590 MHz 40 meters 7.270 MHz 7.030 MHz 20 meters 14.290 MHz 14.070 MHz** 17 meters 18.140 MHz 18.080 MHz 15 meters 21.360 MHz 21.140 MHz 12 meters 24.960 MHz 24.910 MHz 10 meters 28.390 MHz 28.190 MHz * 3.740 MHz is not in the US phone allocation but is available to some countries outside the US. ** 14.070 MHz is generally used for PSK31. Consider operating CW below this frequency to avoid QRMing. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) JOTA: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/#scout [note: this is not where the above story was posted] The International JOTA site at http://www.scouting.org/international/jota.html gives 7290 (the so- called ``official`` scouting calling frequency) instead of 7270 but ARRL recommends that 7290 not be used as it is a favorite hangout for AM hams (John Norfolk, DXLD) ** U S A. A question from someone who knows zero about the broadcasting industry: Are ratings the only factor that makes conservative talk radio more profitable than liberal talk radio? Listening to some of the ads that one hears on conservative talk programs while DX'ing, I get the impression some of these advertisers would be willing to pay higher rates than the ratings might otherwise dictate in order to subsidize certain programs for their own personal political reasons. Or, some of them are selling products that would appeal more to a particular demographic -- survivalist gear on the Genesis network on my local WPLC-1050, for example -- that might not have parallels on the liberal talk side regardless of ratings. There may just happen to be more "niche" programs (like Genesis) that can make money on low ratings on the right than on the left. I don't doubt that conservative talk radio has higher ratings, for all the reasons people have mentioned. And someone like Rush Limbaugh, agree with him or not (and I usually don't), is a great radio talent - - basically an old-style Top 40 DJ (which he was on KQV among others if memory serves) with the same shtick but a different type of playlist. But sometimes I wonder whether ratings as such are the whole story. (David Yocis, Sept 17, NRC-AM via DXLD) Listenership, whether proven by ratings in big markets, or sales results, in smaller ones, are the measure of the effectiveness of a radio station to its advertisers. Since radio is a bimodal market model where the listeners get the product for free and accept advertising in return, there is a direct relationship at every level. Talk stations tend to outperform economically... That means they get more of the revenue pie than their ratings percentage would justify. This is due to tow things: talk is a foreground format, so adds are heard. And talk stations run more spots per hour. In fact, many large advertisers have "no controversy" or "no talk" dictates and will not buy on such stations or programs. Others know that listeners hear the spots because there is no "background" listening. Also, the age range that talk appeals to would dictate the type of advertiser, as it does in every format type on radio. Ratings depend on how entertaining the host is. There are essentially no entertaining, ratings-generating liberal hosts on a national basis. The few that exist, like Ronn Owens in San Francisco, are very market- specific (David Gleason, CA, NRC-AM via DXLD) Dave, here is my take. Anyone who has studied entertainment history can see trends. What killed vaudeville, or the drive in, drama on network radio in the evening, etc. You can pick at minute details, but the root cause was that people's lifestyles changed and their interests were tweaked in other areas. That said, I don't think Liberal, Progressive, Conservative, Right Wing, whatever ... is a selling factor. It's how interested people are in the content and the presentation. That said, I've heard some god awful oldies stations, automation from hell, etc. On the other hand, I've heard some very well programmed and decent sounding station. Those are the ones that attract people because they don't come off as sounding like college carrier current stations. Along with the content comes the transmission. If you have the best programming, yet the station sounds like crap, that is one reason for people not to listen. As I told a friend who was having a problem like this, "when you go into a restaurant you expect it to be clean. Same with the doctor's office, or even a lawyers office. Mess and turmoil turn people off and breed negative perceptions. So why think that although you have a lot of to offer you still impress people?" The thing that I tell clients when they say that their AM is dying is, what do you offer? If you have nothing to offer, then why would you expect people to stay? On the other hand, give them what they want, and you can build a very profitable and loyal listenership (Fred Vobbe, OH, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. For anyone interested, here's a reminder of upcoming DX tests; if anyone has any additions or corrections, please contact me. (BE SURE TO NOTE THE TIME OF THE TEST; THEY ARE IN THE LOCAL TIME OF THE STATION) Saturday, October 4, 2003 - WJTO-730, Bath, ME 12:00-1:00 am ELT. [= EDT = 0400-0500 UT] Please remember, what's listed as being on, say, Monday *may* be what you think of as Sunday night! If you try for (or hear) any of these tests, PLEASE post a message letting me know, and please, drop the station personnel a note, via e-mail or snail mail, thanking them for running the test! Also, for brevity's sake, I didn't post the QSL addresses; if you need these, let me know! Lynn. ircamember@ircaonline.org Visit the IRCA Web Site at http://www.ircaonline.org (Lynn Hollerman, LA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RADIO LAW FOLLOW-UP: NEVADA TOLD TO SCRAP NEW RADIO SYSTEM Here`s a follow up on a story we brought to you several months ago regarding a new state wide radio system in Nevada and an oversight by the regulators planning it. As previously reported, the Nevada Highway Patrol had spent $14 million on a contract with Motorola to build a computerized radio system. It was activated back in 2000 but nobody from the state ever applied to the FCC for licenses for the frequencies. As a result, the FCC had told the Nevada Highway Patrol and other state agencies to stop using the 140 frequencies by last June. To comply with the federal order, Nevada has had to scrap a costly radio system that`s less than two yeas old. So on Tuesday, September 9th the Nevada state Board of Examiners voted to spend $16.1 million on new radio gear for the Nevada Highway Patrol (Published news reports via Amateur Radio Newsline Sept 19 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** URUGUAY. 6140.1, R. Monte Carlo. Sept 21, 0943 News program about Uruguay and S. American situation. 0958 "Monte Carlo" station jingle then clear ID. Fair (Nobuo Takeno, Yamagata, JAPAN, NRD-535D with 10 meters wire, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** VATICAN [?] SPECIAL EVENT. During the month of October, look for special event station, HF8JP, to be active to celebrate the 25 years of Pope John Paul II pontificate. The station will be active on 80-2 meters CW/SSB and the digital modes. A special QSL will be available via SP8QED (direct or via the bureau). (KB8NW/OPDX September 22/BARF- 80 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. 4830.00, el 20 de Septiembre 2003 2330 UT. Bienvenida Radio Táchira! 73s de (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Sporadically active (gh) 4830, R. Táchira, 20 Sept. 2332-2345, End of LA romantic ballad, mentions of onda corta, IDs, TCs, another ID, and possible. phone number. Then live romantic ballad. 2341 M again with at least 4 more IDs. Every station should ID as often!! Very strong but very weak modulation (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. CLANDESTINE from RUSSIA to VIETNAM, 7380, Degar Voice (Presumed). Still can't catch anything sounding like an ID. 1324 talk by man, 1327 instrumental music till 1330*. Thanks to Bernd's tip, I had a look at their website at http://www.montagnard-foundation.org which is pretty informative and includes contact details (Hans Johnson, Cody WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. HDL 15545 from Woofferton to West Africa, 1900-2000 UT. Test from Merlin, strong: "You are listening to a test transmission by VT Merlin Communications, a leading provider of international broadcast services. If you would like to find out more about us, please visit http://www.vtplc.com/merlin." What's "HDL"? I don't know. GOOGLE entries show only the HDL and LDL cholesterols, lipoprotein, triglyceride blood tests etc. and of course Hardware Description Language. CRW had no entries in the past yet... Sheryl from Wisconsin was the first person who reported that last Sunday 14th. IBB Accra shows monitor entries daily[!], 7 days a week, though not a Sunday only transmission, various languages in future. Brokered by Merlin towards West Africa. Maybe one of these mysterious Biafran, Nigerian, or Ghanaian oil state movements ??? 73 wolfy 15545 usage: 1600 VoA Kurdish Kavalla-GRC 1700 VoA Urdu Tinang-PHL 1800 VoA Kurdish Holzkirchen-GER 1900 HDL Various Woofferton-G 2000 HCJB German Pifo-EQA (73 Wolfgang df5sx Bueschel, Sept 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ INTEL DETAILS RADIO ROADMAP September 15, 2003, By Mark Hachman http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1268971,00.asp SAN JOSE, Calif.-Intel Corp.'s dreams of a "radio free Intel" are still alive, although company officials acknowledged the path to that goal will be an arduous one. In a preview of this week's Intel Developer Forum here, officials with Intel's R&D team briefed reporters on its plans to develop radios that are intelligent enough to reconfigure themselves to take advantage of the available spectrum. In fact, Intel has developed a working array of processors that can process whatever wireless algorithms the company can throw at it, Steve Pawlowski, an Intel fellow and co-director of Intel's Communications and Interconnect Labs, said in a presentation Monday morning. But to put it into production will require a team of lawyers as well as scientists. Pushing new products to market in the wireless space requires first jumping over a series of technological and legal hurdles. Before a product can be developed, a company or industry must negotiate spectrum with the Federal Communications Commission and similar bodies around the world. Only then may products be developed, refined and eventually sold into the marketplace. "Spectrum policy is on the threshold of fundamental change," Pawlowski said, noting that the current format hasn't changed "since Marconi." Current regulations forbid new technologies from using unallocated or unlicensed wireless spectra, Pawlowski said. On the other hand, regulatory committees are considering permitting wireless devices to use unlicensed spectrum if they don't radiate over 41 dB of signal strength. In another scenario, devices might be granted access to frequencies normally allocated for emergency services, which could kick off the wireless services if an emergency arose. But the device would need to "know" the available spectrum, Pawlowski pointed out. One risk was that the device could be used near a country's border, where it might trample on the frequency used by another country. In that case, the device would either have to have GPS services installed or be able to sniff the physical IPs of the access points, he said. Intel is currently working on both the 802.15 standards as well as "UWB" or ultrawideband technologies, which uses a broad swath of frequency to communicate data. While UWB holds the promise of high data rates-from 100 Mbps upward to 200 Mbps and above-the bandwidth drops dramatically as a function of distance. At 10 meters, for example, data rates can be a fifth or a sixth of what they might be at close proximity, Pawlowski said. The 802.15 technology is a more immediate goal. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel and other companies are meeting in Singapore this week to hammer out the proposed frequencies the technology will use: frequencies of 3.1 to 4.9 GHz for first-generation products, with 4.9 to 6.0 GHz designated for second-generation devices. An additional range of spectrum, from 6.1 to 10.6 GHz, would be allocated for third- generation devices or other purposes. Building the devices will pose its own set of challenges, according to Pawlowski. Wireless devices typically contain digital-signal processors, which process and reprocess the small number of lines of code that embody the wireless algorithms. However, while flexible, DSPs consume much more power than a fixed-function device such as an embedded microprocessor. For testing purposes, Intel developed a scalable mesh of heterogeneous, reconfigurable 486 processors, Pawlowski said. The problem, however, is that the technology still needs three separate radios, which is too expensive, he said. Eventually, Intel will have to develop a radio that can recognize what protocols and frequencies it can access, and have the ability to reconfigure itself to access them-the "Radio Free Intel" vision. Intel's next step will be moving the analog-to-digital conversion, or converting the analog signal to a digital one for processing, as far out of the chip as possible, close to the antenna. The last step? Manufacturing it cheaply enough to succeed in the marketplace, which at Intel means developing the technology in CMOS silicon. Pawlowski said he expects the industry's first 802.15 announcements in two to three years, which means that a reconfigurable radio may be even farther into the future. "If we want to use processes of scale, we can't go changing the recipe in the fab," Pawlowskoi said, referring to the CMOS "recipe" used by Intel's chipsets and microprocessors. Integrating the radios means exactly matching the CMOS process Intel uses in its other products, he said. Copyright (c) 2003 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. (via David E. Crawford, Titusville, Florida, DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ PACIFIC ASIAN LOG [mediumwave] I've recently updated the Pacific Asian Log. Now in its fifth edition, the PAL lists some 3800 medium and long wave broadcast stations throughout Asia and the Pacific. This latest version includes many changes up through August 2003. As with previous editions, it is free of charge, and can be downloaded as a pdf file sorted by location or frequency. You can find it at http://www.qsl.net/n7ecj My thanks to everyone who has sent updates for this latest edition. Comments, additions and corrections are always welcome, and can only add to the completeness and accuracy of the list (Bruce Portzer, Seattle, WA USA, Sept 20, hard-core-dx via DXLD) THIS DAY`S ENGLISH LESSON +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hi Glenn, Will Martin is correct about the speed of delivery of spoken English by Australians. It's generally faster than most standard British or American accents. New Zealanders tend to speak even faster than most Australians and often roll words into one another. When I worked in Los Angeles, I had to consciously slow my speech down to be understood over the telephone, when giving speeches or at restaurants and in stores. I've kept the slower speech pattern since returning to NZ, and have several times been asked about my 'American' accent! In the UK, the British think I have a 'regional' accent from somewhere very rural in the UK! However, these are all generalisations. To my ears, there are many regional accents across the USA, across Australia (Queenslanders have a distinct accent), certainly across the UK, and even within NZ (from the deep south of the South Island they roll their 'R's' betraying a Scottish heritage), not to mention the South African accents which are increasingly heard here and sit somewhere between South Carolina and Australia in tone:) and the soft Canadian English which is very distinctive. Add 'Indian' English, Caribbean English, Irish English, the fact that many new immigrants to Australia, UK, Canada and NZ have Asian and African inflections to their English, plus Asian English lah, and so many non native English speakers being taught English by Americans, British, Australian and NZ teachers to give so many more inflections and accents, and Will is going to have a lot of fun with different delivery speeds, accents and styles as he explores the radio dial. 'English blong many place' (David Ricquish, Wellington, New Zealand, DX LISTENING DIGEST) COMMENTARY ++++++++++ SWL CALL SIGNS / DYING HOBBY Question... I have always considered callsigns to be identifiers when a transmission was made. Is this correct? What is a SWL call? How do I get one? Are they still issued? 73 de (KD5KWS Kenny Daniel, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Kenny, a call sign is issued by the FCC to licensed Amateur Radio operators, a.k.a. Hams. It is indeed an identifier and is published in a variety of sources. The short-wave call sign is not issued by the FCC and is not to be construed as any sort of radio identifier. They were issued by publications like the now defunct Popular Electronics to subscribers who wrote in for one. They had a prefix of WPE, the "PE" for Popular Electronics, and then the number of the corresponding Amateur Radio call zone. Such as '8' for Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia. This was followed by three letters. Such as, WPE8CXO. The call was for personal ego, it served no other purpose. A sort of PR gimmick by publications to make short-wave listeners feel special by giving them their own personal identifier. Not a bad thing, but not to be confused with an official call sign issued by the FCC. I am not sure if anyone is now issuing them or not. I investigated this topic eighteen months ago and found the records for the former WPE and WDX calls, but the man who formerly worked for Popular Electronics [Hank Bennett] is elderly and is determined to take his set of 3X5 cards to the grave with him. He is unable to issue or keep track of them any more, nor has he in nearly twenty years, but it is his right to do with them as he pleases. There is nothing to stop somebody else from getting legal permission to issue a new call, not using the old prefix, but I doubt the venture would be cost effective. My interest was in trying to recover the original calls because many former holders who are now fifty+ have lost their certificate, or forgotten their call, and I hoped to put together a data base to help them and to reprint a new certificate with their original call. This does not violate any legalities. It turned out to be more work than worth, unfortunately. If you really want a call sign, get busy and earn one by getting your Amateur Radio ticket, Kenny. It is not that difficult and there are plenty of helpful study programs available for little or nothing. A worthwhile effort, a sense of accomplishment and privileges you can not get just by listening. However, not everybody wants to be on the air and transmit, some are very happy just listening, which is perfectly fine (Duane B. Fischer, swl at qth.net via DXLD) If I recall correctly, Popular Electronics would publish this list of SWL callsigns with names and locations in their magazine periodically. For those of us who have forgotten our callsign, it might be possible to dig that up at a library. It's also possible of course, that some collector somewhere has a complete set of these magazines from the fifties and sixties -- and they might be willing to help create a database (Spence Carter, ibid.) There is a place in the USA that gives out SWL calls. CRB Research. They advertise in both Monitoring magazines and they have a web page as well. For $10 they give you a call. They have been around for at least 15 years now. http://www.crbbooks.com The call is generally made up of K or W, followed by your two letter state abbreviation, followed by the call zone number, followed by two letters. Hence my call, then I lived in CA was: KCA6RC Yes, the good old federal boys have no hand in this (thank God), but it does allow the SWL to obtain a unique call to use on his/her QSL cards. Even the ARRL has there collective heads in some anal cavity when it comes to SWL's; they do have a SWL incoming bureau for cards that come in through them. So a call is rather imperative when it comes to Ham QSLing. I obtained my first SWL call (and second) from Popular Electronics back when they were issuing them. But to keep up with the times I obtained new SWL call from CRB. So have many hams and SWLs that I know. Someday maybe someone will wake up in this country and start offering an "official" call service to SWL's, but until then, we gotta do what we gotta do (Bob Combs, KCA6RC (WPE2PJU, WDX6RTC, WN6FOF), New Mexico, ibid.) Spencer, No, that is incorrect. The monthly short-wave report did use the WPE call sign of the person who submitted the log. Popular Electronics never published a subscriber list. I know of over fifty thousand calls, only a handful appeared in the issues from January 1957 until its dissolution in about 1968. DBF (Duane Fischer, ibid.) I don't understand what purpose an SWL call serves, aside from being some way a dying electronics hobby magazine can make a few extra bucks from people interested in a dying hobby (Damon Cassell, ibid.) Truthfully they do not serve any purpose, as purposes go. Other than to make a short-wave listener feel important having a call assigned to their name. Which is fine, nothing wrong with a little ego boost now and then. If they ever did help get a QSL card from an international short-wave station, I suspect those days are long departed. As a Ham with an Extra class license, I QSL anyone who sends me a valid reception report. If from overseas, I do expect a SASE, however. Most who have a QSL card send their card along with a SASE nowadays. Not a requirement, but a nice gesture that often times will evoke a response when just a reception report or QSL card with no SASE goes unattended to DBF (Duane B. Fischer, MI, ibid.) Joe, Yes, SWL callsigns are still issued by several sources. One in particular is CRB Books last I recall out of Commack, NY. Received one from them years ago. You check with them. Also their is a website of Shortwave Amateur Radio Listeners which also issues callsigns. Check the sites below: http://members.shaw.ca/SWARL/ http://users.skynet.be/ONL4299/SWL%20Callsigns.htm http://www.pg7v.net/english/swlreport.asp 73's (Bruce, Valrico, FL, ibid.) What would "Official" do that CRB is not? There is no compelling need for it. It's kinda like vanity license plates --- they are more of a personal desire than a functional necessity. I have nothing against vanity plates nor SWL call signs but see no real reason why anything more than what CRB is doing would ever be necessary. Also the ARRL really does not have to offer any services to the SWL community --- it is a plus that they do --- I don't understand what is "anal" about that?? (Cecil Acuff, WB5VCE, ibid.) See if this helps a little: http://www.qsl.net/wb1gfh/gab.html (Rich. Line, WPE8FLZ, ibid.) I guess the "value" of a SWL call can be taken as to exactly what one plans to do with it if and when one gets it. If all you want out of Short Wave Listening is to listen to the International Short Wave Stations or Utility stations, then the call is meaningless. If you want to only send out QSL requests from the International broadcasters, then a SWL call is meaningless. If you want to participate in SWLing the Ham Bands, then some form of identification to differentiate you from someone else is really helpful. I suppose I could have cards printed that say "Bob Combs, USA" on them. As mentioned in my post a LOT of overseas hams seem to like to take your money and send your card via the "bureau". What do you suppose the ARRL would do if they started getting cards in addressed to individuals? Probably chuck them. I have been SWLing for a long time and find that I still get cards with my old call(s) on them through the bureaus. The 6 bureau (current manager) never even heard of a SWL (even though he has been a ham for 30 years) in "all his years" of transmitting! I suppose if all you ever talk on is 2 meters, that is probably an accurate statement. EQSLs. One cannot participate in the EQSL game without a call of some kind; the servers just aren't set up to take names. Awards. Some paper chasers find that having a call on the medal (DUF4 for example) or on a hugh wall plaque (CISL or Maple Leaf Award) essential. Membership in Amateur Radio Organizations seem to require a "call" even if you are a SWL to participate. Access to some Amateur Radio web sites require a "call: to obtain access to the group. Need I go on? Foreign SWL's in many countries are issued calls as a prerequisite to obtaining a Ham call. I would also take offense at the "dying hobby" statement. While it is true that the FCC in this country seems to have sold out to the American public by selling the bands to the highest bidder, other countries haven't jumped on the bandwagon as of yet. Perhaps International broadcasting will die as a transmitted entity of the short-wave bands, but there are many other groups waiting in the wings to hop on board (Hams included). So the hobby of Short Wave Listening will not die as you seem to think, it will just change its direction. The military cannot and will not give up the HF bands, and if you think they will you had better think again. I could piss all of you off by mentioning that the Amateur Radio Call is nothing more than a government assigned "vanity call" but I won't. Actually CRB is serving their purpose. Those that want calls can obtain them. Those that don't obviously won't participate. My comments on the "anal' qualities of the ARRL are that they are lamenting about the decline in the hobby and not getting any "new blood" to participate. They tend to alienate a lot of people by NOT recognizing openly that most or at least a good number of hams stared as SWL's and many still practice the hobby in addition to being able to transmit. If the mother organization would mellow out and admit that SWL's exist and offer services and membership at some level to them, then perhaps more people would become interested in obtaining the required license, and continue to keep the ARRL coffers full of money. No, the ARRL is not under any commitment to offer the SWL anything, and guess what? They don't. In my long years of SWLing the ham bands and chasing Ham countries, awards and the like, ARRL has offered ONE award that SWL's could get, the "Diamond Jubilee Award", which mind you has a place for the SWL call sign to be affixed! RSGB goes out of their way to include SWL's in their activities and awards (IOTA, etc.) The ARRL counterpart in Canada offers SWL's the use of their outgoing and incoming card bureau. I guess that one could sum up with the comment, that having a call of any kind is a "Wizard of Oz" thing. If you have a diploma you must have a brain. If you hear a clock ticking you must have a heart. Etc. Maybe this helped to understand what a SWL call is all about, maybe not. It really depends on what you plan on doing with it, doesn't it (Bob Combs, KCA6RC, New Mexico, ibid.) Frankly, if we as radio hobbyists and Ham radio operators do NOT get off our butts and get the broadband proposed by the power companies stopped we won't be able to hear what remains on HF! This is serious! We must NOT depend of the ARRL to do this for us, they may, they may not. We can not afford to take that risk! If it goes as planned, HF as we know it will be unusable for the most part. Next year is an election year, politicians do listen! Write them via regular mail, NOT by e-mail. A stack of letters on his/her desk means much much more than e-mail they never see. We must generte public awareness of the massive interference and disruption this broadband through the power lines is going to cause. As far as beacons or utility stations, well most of us could care less about listening to or for them. Remember, just to ID them requires a working knowledge of CW and most hobbyists do not know it. A very small specialized group of listeners love them, but that is a very small percentage of the total radio listeners. Just having 'something' to listen to is not sufficient motivation for most radio buffs to turn on their rx. They need to have something that appeals to them before they warm up the tubes or light up the digital display. I mean, if nothing else, we can always listen to Jupiter. Well, maybe. If the broadband goes through the powerlines we won't be able to hear Jupiter either! DBF (Duane B. Fischer, MI, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GEOMAGNETIC INDICES Phil Bytheway - Seattle WA - phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary August 20 2003 through September 16 2003 Tabulated from daily email status Date Flux A K SA Forecast GM Forecast Etc. 8/20 117 20 3 moderate no storms 4 21 112 17 4 no storms no storms 6 22 119 51 6 strong minor 8 23 121 35 5 moderate minor 7 24 120 42 4 strong minor 9 25 116 25 3 minor no storms 8 26 117 22 3 minor no storms 6 27 121 21 3 no storms no storms 7 28 126 16 3 no storms no storms 6 29 119 21 4 no storms no storms 6 30 116 16 4 no storms no storms 10 8/31 114 21 2 minor no storms 5 9/ 1 110 9 2 no storms no storms 6 2 108 14 2 no storms no storms 7 3 106 12 3 no storms no storms 7 4 111 19 3 no storms no storms 7 5 112 21 4 no storms no storms 9 6 108 14 2 no storms no storms 8 7 105 13 2 no storms no storms 6 8 108 7 1 no storms no storms 2 9 99 11 4 no storms no storms 7 10 96 22 5 minor minor 10 11 99 19 3 no storms no storms 8 12 97 18 3 minor no storms 7 13 94 8 1 no storms no storms 4 14 96 11 1 no storms no storms 8 15 95 7 2 no storms no storms 5 9/16 97 4 5 minor minor 9 ********************************************************** (IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) CUMBRE PROPAGATION REPORT One M1 flare during the week to report, occurring on the 16th around 22 UT. Solar wind speed declined early in the week allowing the geomagnetic field to calm down after Sep 14. However from Sep 16 we entered another wind stream with the geomagnetic field reaching storm levels on Sep 17 & 18. Solar wind speed is gradually declining but still expected to be elevated for the next 1-2 days, coupled with a southward bias this is causing the geomagnetic field to vary between unsettled and minor storm levels. Planetary A-index is still at 40 meaning poor conditions for the MW DXers among us. MUFs have varied between predicted values and being quite elevated at different locations. Degraded conditions are again forecast Sep 23-24 and Sep 29-Oct 1. Prepared using data from http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, SA, Sept 20, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ###