DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-202, November 8, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser IMPORTANT NOTE: our hotmail accounts are being phased out. Please do not use them any further, but instead woradio at yahoo.com or wghauser at yahoo.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits HTML version of this issue will be posted later at http://www.w4uvh.net/dxldtd3k.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 1206: WWCR: Sun 0730 3210, Wed 1030 9475 WBCQ: Mon 0515 7415 WRN: North America Sun 1500 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 1206 (high version is in two parts): Part I: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206h.rm Part II: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206i.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206i.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1206.html WORLD OF RADIO 1206 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1206.rm UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL Glenn, I have respected you as the authority on SWL for a long time. Glad you are with these enthusiasts and myself included (Everett, hard-core-dx) ** ALBANIA. IARU, ARRL SUPPORT AMATEUR RADIO COURSE AT ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY Beginning November 9, an International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 supported course in Albania will commence under the sponsorship of Spartak Poci, the Minister of Telecommunications, and in cooperation with the Polytechnic University of Tirana. Thirty-four third and fourth year students will begin a five-week course of study, culminating in a CEPT license examination. A unique part of this program is that Amateur Radio is being integrated into the regular university course offerings using an advanced Radio Society of Great Britain study package as a reference. Each week of this program in Tirana will benefit from the efforts of invited professional educators from the Amateur Radio community from Albania, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Macedonia, Spain, Sweden and the United States. In total, some 50 Amateur Radio operators, drawn mainly the DX and contesting communities, will travel to Albania to teach. The core organizing team consists of Joseph Obstfeld, 4X6KJ; Carsten Esch, DL6LAU; Angel Padin, EA1QF; Roger Brown, G3LQP; Pietro Mario Ambrosi, I2MQP; Warren Hill, K7WX; Pertti Simovaara, OH2PM; Marenglen Geni Mema, ZA1B, and Martti Laine, OH2BH. Professor Giorgio Goggi, I2KMG, and Professor John Share, G3OKA, representing the University of Pavia and the Associazione Radioamatori Italiani, and the University of Liverpool and RSGB, respectively, will teach the first week. Share will serve as a lead teacher for the first three weeks and be succeeded by Uli Weiss, DJ2YA. The second week segment of the course will be lead by Hill and taught under the supervision of Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA. Representing the ARRL, team members Dan Brown, N7DB; Rich Chatelain, K7ZV; Robin Critchel, WA6CDR; Paul Rubenfeld, WF5T, and Don Wilson, K6RKE, will demonstrate hands-on operating practices and cover the topics of the Earth`s magnetic field, the mysteries of radio propagation, practical antennas, the role of Amateur Radio in society, FCC/CEPT examinations, transmitter interference, QSL practices and successful DXpeditioning. During this five-week period, ZA1A --- the station of the Albanian Amateur Radio Association --- will be active on many bands and in a variety of modes while demonstrating Amateur Radio to local telecommunications and education administrators, as well as to the students. Multiple locations will be used and several stations may be active at the same time. All QSL request should be sent via OH2BH. After the course, all equipment used will be put to serving the Albanian amateur community. The progress of the entire project can be followed on the Internet at http://www.za1a.com. This educational program is supported by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 with additional support from the ARI, ARRL, RSGB, IARC, URE, the Northern California DX Foundation, Vertex Standard Co Ltd (Yaesu), Fluidmotion Inc (SteppIR beams), Malev Airlines and Rogner Europark Hotel in Tirana (Martti Laine, OH2BH, ARRL Letter Nov 7 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** ANGOLA. 4950.10, Radio Nacional, 0150-0200 Nov 9. Noted a couple of guys in Portuguese conversation. Checked this earlier at 0140 and could only hear the carrier. Now at 0158, signal is at a fair level (Bolland, Chuck, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. PIRATE: Moved to 6153.25, Radio Bosques, 0340-0347 Nov 9, Spanish, DX program, musical program, Special program anniversary four years the air, ID "Amigos, están escuchando a Radio Bosques, La Voz del Pueblo, 44343 (Nicolás Eramo, Villa Lynch, Prov. Buenos Aires, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. Glenn, I heard the RCI I/S at 0558 on 6190. CRI did not have their usual sign off that I always remembered. The program just cut off and into the RCI I/S. For the 0400 broadcast it was quite strong here and with 0500 being Canada, it appeared to me that 0400 must from Canada also (Bruce MacGibbon in Gresham, OR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) O yes, UT Nov 8 at 0410 check I see that 6190 and 9560 are both on in sync, so likely both Canada; 9755 quite delayed, multiple hops beyond to French Guiana. At 0500, 6190 and 9560 continued while 9755 was off. Now CRI has a brief Chinese language lesson starting at 0555-0559, after which 9560 went off with no RCI IS/ID, but clearing the way for RRI in French, whose IS had been audible underneath for a few minutes. 6190 cut to the RCI IS at 0559 and went off at 0600* I wanted to see what the official CRI website says about all this, but when I clicked on the Media Network hotlink, the site demanded that I download Chinese text support, and would not take no for an answer! Freezing the computer. Beware! Furthermore, we have CRI (via Sackville) to thank for slopping up four channels, 6135, 6140, 6145 and 6150 with DRM during the 0100 hour, noted at 0144 Nov 9, blending nicely with bubble-jamming on 6130 --- or was that part of the DRM signal too, making five channels? During this period you would never know that stations such as TIDGS existed on 6150, or R. Melodía on 6140, both audible after 0200, as well as DW on 6145, all analog. At the same time, what sounded like DRM buzz was on 6200, but unlisted in the DRM schedule. Further2more, CRI in Chinese at 0205 on 9690, extremely strong and overmodulated, presumably via Spain, whose own broadcasts are never so deficient, e.g. on 9620 at the same time. The 9690 audio was running at least a second ahead of 9580, presumably via Cuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. Found a very strong signal in Mandarin at 0250 UT Nov 8 on 17510, obviously KWHR Hawaii --- and could it be Falun Dafa? Yes, mentioned several times at wrapup 0255-0257, segué into Onward Christian Soldiers --- so is FD a Christian cult? I think not, but apparently doesn`t matter to LeSEA. BTW, of the two other Pacific signals on the band, R Australia was next in strength on 17580, and RNZI remarkably weaker (all being 100 kW), especially considering KWHR is supposedly aimed at China. I then checked the WHR website for Angel 3 schedule, and find NO mention of Falun Dafa at 0250 – but instead, UT Tue-Sat 0200-0300 just MUSIC! Dafa Hao (as they prefer to call it, to obscure its provenance), is still on the schedule daily at 1500- 1600 on 9930, now blocked here by WINB. See HAWAII for the rest of KWHR`s alleged foreign-language schedule. I also checked the TDP B-03 schedule, which does show Fang Guang Ming Radio, a.k.a. Falun Dafa, daily at 2100-2200 on 6035, but this is from Europe, not KWHR. Altho TDP does list RFV and Que Huong on 9930, which is KWHR, it does not list any other time for FGMR, i.e. daily 1500-1600. So KWHR has snuk in another Falun Dafa broadcast at 10 am China time, if it starts at 0200 UT, at least on Saturdays. Knowing how much FD really pisses off the Chicoms, perhaps the next Pearl Harbor will be known as Naalehu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI update 11/07/2003 --- At noon CST Friday I called James on his cell phone. Seven people are at the station. James negotiated with the guard, who opened the gate, and presumably moved the barbed wire, so that equipment could be moved out of the station. James has mentioned to me before that moving all equipment would be a 7-day process (Franklin Seiberling, Iowa City, Nov 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Authored by: sstocker on Saturday, November 08 2003 @ 12:43 PM EST I was able to find out that the staff of RFPI is OK for now, and that we should hear more sometime today. That's really all I know, but it was a huge relief! Maybe we'll know the best ways to help soon. I just thought I'd pass this along, for those who may be concerned about the welfare of these very special, dedicated people. Peace to all, (Steve Stocker, Nov 8, saverfpi website via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. While in Andaluzia in southern Spain off the Moroccan coast, came across Voice of Ethiopia's fine modulated signal in French on Tue/Wed 4th and 5th, on odd 9561.00 kHz, but today Sat 8th started on 9559.7 kHz at 1600 UT in English, wandering down to 9559.5 at 1625 UT, ID in En at 1629, news at 1630. QRM by TRT in Turkish starting at 1658. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Andalucía, Nov 8, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** FRANCE. I can confirm English on RFI at 1400 on 17620, quite good, and at 1600 on 17850, fair with co-channel Spanish. Propagation hasn`t been good at 1200 UT to check (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 4, DX LISTNEING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE RADIO STATION STARTS BROADCASTING IN BERLIN | Text of report by Russian external TV service NTV Mir on 8 November [Presenter] Russkiy Berlin [Russian Berlin] has appeared in the German capital. That's the name of a private radio station broadcasting in Russian. The station earned the right to do so in a contest against strong German competitors. Our correspondent in Germany, Dmitriy Pogorzhelskiy, reports from Berlin. [Correspondent] Yesterday evening, the Russian embassy put on a ball. The people who gathered at the "Russian palace" on Unter den Linden [a major Berlin thoroughfare] were a refined crowd. There were plenty of reasons for that, including the Year of Russian Culture in Germany, which is drawing to a close. It's entirely logical that another birthday was timed to coincide with these events. This is the first time in Western Europe that a radio station will be broadcasting programmes in Russian on the FM dial. Obtaining a frequency on the Berlin airwaves, which are saturated enough as it is, wasn't so easy. The Russkaya Germaniya [Russian Germany] publishing group took part in contests on more than one or two occasions, but all its previous attempts had been in vain. And then, at last, its efforts met with success. Time will tell whether the project as a whole is a success. The potential audience is an impressive one - according to official information alone, more than 200,000 of our compatriots live in the German capital. There are slightly more men than women. Almost two- thirds of Russians in Berlin are aged between 30 and 50. And they will be the ones to make up the main target group of listeners. Meanwhile, today, early in the morning, in a small studio just off Alexanderplatz [a Berlin square], the final preparations for the first programme were under way. [Dmitriy Feldman, publishing group manager] Music will be the main ingredient on our radio station - it will be music radio. And there'll be news, of course - Berlin news, German news and news from the former Soviet Union. [Correspondent] As is customary, the start of broadcasting was rehearsed over and over. And here, at last, was the premiere. [Unidentified female radio presenter] Hello! [Unidentified male radio presenter] Hello! This is a truly historic moment on the Berlin airwaves. Russkiy Berlin no longer simply reads and writes. [Female presenter] Russkiy Berlin now speaks and listens. [Male presenter] We're pleased to welcome you to the Russkiy Berlin radio frequency, 97.2 FM. From today, we will be broadcasting in full. [Female presenter] Every day, from seven in the morning, we'll have the very latest news, the best Russian performers, up-to-date reports and lots more. Source: NTV Mir, Moscow, in Russian 1300 gmt 8 Nov 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** HAWAII. See also CHINA [non] for Dafa Hao == Falun Dafa broadcasts discovered on KWHR AT 0250. While I was at the grid, I copied all the foreign language programming on Angel 3, religious or not, FWIW, FYI: 2300-2400 Sat 17510 Preparing for Jesus - Japanese 0005-0100 Sat 17510 Preparing for Jesus - Japanese [note: according to the listings, these are really 22 hours apart, not a continuous 2-hour broadcast] 0530-0600 Sat 17780 Gospel Treasure - Japanese 0900-1000 Sat 9930 Preparing for Jesus - Japanese 1000-1030 Sat 9930 Gospel Treasure - Japanese 1030-1130 Dly 9930 Revival Sounds - Mandarin 1230-1300 M-Sa 9930 Radio Free Vietnam - Vietnamese 1300-1330 M-F 9930 Live in the Lord - Mandarin 1330-1400 M-Sa 9930 Que Huong Radio - Vietnamese 1400-1500 Dly 9930 Radio Free Asia - Vietnamese 1500-1600 Dly 9930 Dafa Hao - Mandarin [Falun Dafa] 1600-1700 M-F 9930 Sounds of Praise - Mandarin 1630-1700 S/S 9930 Heavenly Life - Mandarin (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY [and non]. Glenn, Trying to listen to Radio Budapest tonight, 0200 on 9835. Really lousy signal. At 0214 AIR came up over the top of it. Signed on with a long interval signal. No mistake what it was. Went directly into music and is completely drowning out Hungary. Why would AIR sign on at 0214 and why on that frequency? I'll admit I haven't looked everywhere yet, but a quick check didn't list this frequency for AIR (John H. Carver Jr., Mid-North Indiana, UT Nov 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) John, the schedule in 3-192 shows this for AIR: 0215-0300 Pushtu 9835 9910(A) 11735(A) Pakistan, Afghanistan So it`s no accident. No doubt it was thought India to Afghanistan would not conflict with Hungary to NAm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. "NON-OFFICIAL" BROADCASTS VIA RELAYS B03 Updated 08/11/2003 -- Free to copy and distribute. Compiled from monitoring and info distibuted via BC-DX, CRW, DXLD, HFCC Thanks for updates: Mauno Ritola, Finland Thanks for adding this list to their website: Martin Schoech, http://www.schoechi.de/crw.html Italian DX website, http://www.bclnews.it CIS: Russian or other Commonwealth Of Independent States site CIS relays on Nagoya DXC http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/ DTK: Deutsche Telekom G: Skelton HWI: KWHR MNO: Merlin NOR: Kvitsöy RNW: Radio Netherlands - Madagascar site TDP: http://www.airtime.be/schedule.html TWN: Taipei WRN: World Radio Network 0000-0100 7460 IBC-Tamil Tamil-WRN-CIS- 0100-0200 15260 Hmong Lao R. Lao(Wed/Fri)-MNO-TWN- 0226-0315 7460 R. Payem E Doost Farsi(Tue-Fri/Sun)-MNO-CIS- 0230-0330 6100 R. Sadaye Kashmir Urdu/Kashmiri-CIS- 0430-0500 7510 Arabic R. Arabic-CIS- 0500-1700 11530 V. Of Mesopotamia Kurdish-TDP-CIS- 0700-0800 17655 V. Of Dem. Path To Ethiopian Unity Amharic(Sun)-DTK- 0730-0830 9890 R. Sadaye Kashmir Urdu/Kashmiri-CIS- 0900-1000 6180 R. Rainbow - Kestedamena Amharic(Sat)-DTK- 1200-1300 9875 V. Of Burma Burmese(Mon-Fri)-MNO-CIS- 1215-1300 15400 or 21560 Tashkent V. Of Tibet-WRN-CIS 1215-1300 15615 or 15660 Almaty V. Of Tibet-WRN-CIS- 1215-1300 11640 or 15645 Dushanbe V. Of Tibet-WRN-CIS- 1230-1300 9930 R. Free Vietnam Vietnamese(Mon-Sat)-TDP-HWI 1300-1330 7180 Degar V.- R. Montagnard Vietn. dialect(Tue/Thu/Sat)- MNO-CIS- 1330-1400 9930 Que Huong R. Vietnamese(Mon-Sat)-TDP-HWI- 1330-1430 9585 New Horizon R. - Chan Troi Moi Vietnamese(via HAR px)-DTK- 1400-1500 11560 V. Of Khmer Kampuchea Krom Khmer(Tue)-TDP-CIS- 1430-1515 11975 or 12025 or 12145 Tashkent V. Of Tibet-WRN-CIS- 1429-1526 17495 Democratic V. Of Burma Burmese-RNW- 1430-1530 5905 Democratic V. Of Burma Burmese-WRN-CIS- 1430-1530 6100 R. Sadaye Kashmir Urdu/Kashmiri-CIS- 1500-1530 17870 R. Rhino Int. English(Tue-Fri)(Sat/Sun -1600)-DTK- 1500-1600 5925 V. Of Democratic Eritrea Tigrigna(Sat)-DTK- 1600-1630 7470 // 12085 Arabic R. Arabic-WRN-CIS- 1600-1659 9820 V. Of Ethiopian Salvation Amharic(Sun/Thu)-DTK- 1600-1900 4880 R. Africa English/local African 1630-1659 9820 R. Huriyo - V. Of The Ogadeni People Somali(Tue/Fri)- DTK- 1630-1730 7350 R. Amani - Afghanistan Peace Pashto/Dari (Fri)-CIS- 1630-1830 11520 R. Sedaye Iran - Los Angeles Farsi 1657-1755 7120 V. Of The People English/local African languages-RNW- 1700-1730 12120 R. V. Of Oromo Liberation Oromo(Mon/Thu)-TDP-CIS- 1700-1800 7560 Mesopotamian RTV Kurdish(Tue/Wed/Fri)-TDP-CIS- 1700-1800 12120 Dejen R. Tigrigna(Sat)-TDP-CIS- 1700-1800 12120 R. Solidarity Tigrigna(Sun)-TDP-CIS- (temporarily off air) 1700-1800 9820 V. Of Democratic Eritrea Tigrigna(Mon/Thu)-DTK- 1700-1800 9820 V. Of Oromo Liberation Oromo(Sun/Tue/Wed/Fri)-DTK- 1700-1800 7560 V. Of Komala Farsi(Sun)-TDP-NOR- 1730-1800 12120 V. Of Oromia Oromo(Mon/Thu)-TDP-CIS- (temporarily off air) 1730-1800 7490 R. International Farsi(Tue/Thu/Sat 1815)-MNO-CIS- 1730-1800 13690 (ex 9990) V. Of The Eritrean People Tigrigna(Sun)-MNO- G/NOR?- 1800-1830 7130 V. Of The Eritrean People Tigrigna(Sun)-MNO-G- 1800-1845 7480 R. Payem E Doost Farsi(Tue-Fri/Sun)-MNO-CIS- 1800-2000 15705 or 12130 V. Of Reform - Al Islah Arabic-TDP-NOR- 1830-1930 12120 V. Of Ethiopian Salvation Amharic(Sun)-TDP-CIS- 1830-1930 7220 V. Of Dem.Path To Ethiopian Unity Amharic(Wed)-DTK- 1900-2000 11840 R. Rainbow - Kestedamena Amharic(Fri)-DTK- 2100-2200 6035 World Falun Dafa R. - Fang Guang Ming Chinese-TDP- CIS- 2330-0030 5945 Democratic V. Of Burma Burmese-DTK- 2330-0030 12055 Democratic V. Of Burma Burmese-RNW- (Silvain Domen, Belgium, Nov 8 for DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHINA ** ITALY. FINE DELLE ONDE CORTE ANCHE IN ITALIA? Da uno degli ultimi comunicati stampa della Rai: RAI - 04/11/2003 - 18:47 Informazione RAI: LE DECISIONI DEL CDA Il Consiglio di Amministrazione della Rai, su proposta del Direttore Generale, ha approvato l’offerta presentata dalle emittenti Telegrosseto e Emilia Tv per le loro frequenze che coprono rispettivamente la Toscana e l’Emilia Romagna. Con questa decisione, la Rai è in grado di mettere in funzione due multiplex del digitale terrestre, in grado ciascuno di servire oltre il 50% della popolazione, secondo quanto previsto dall’Accordo di programma firmato a luglio con il Ministero delle Comunicazioni. L’obiettivo del progetto è stato così raggiunto e la spesa complessiva per la Rai è nettamente inferiore a quella preventivata e lontanissima da quella di oltre 120 milioni di euro ipotizzata da alcuni giornali. [last graf emphasized:] Il Consiglio ha inoltre approvato il Progetto di ristrutturazione delle tecniche trasmissive in onda corta per le trasmissioni per l’estero, necessario per superare una serie di criticità e garantire un miglioramento qualitativo delle missioni. (TNX Stefan Pittracher)(via BCLNews.it Nov 7 via DXLD) Looks to me like this is about improving SW, not abolishing it (gh) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. Am trying again to listen to the mailbag show on the Canadian relay of South Korea, 9560 at 0200. Sure sounds like a jammer to me. Cuba is in the clear on 9550. Sounds like a bubble jammer to me; `course, the only thing I know about bubble jammers is what I`ve read and assumed. Never heard one and had someone say "Now that's a bubble jammer!" (John H. Carver Jr., IN, UT Nov 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALTA. Re VOM: ``The VOM was established in 1988 to spread information about the Mediterranean countries, but particularly about Malta. It does not have its own transmitter, but has always been renting airtime from transmitters abroad.`` Ooops, have they already forgotten that they once used the Deutsche Welle transmitters on Malta, both mediumwave 1557 and shortwave? I saw a report years ago where this (DW transmitters airing a station co- owned by Libya) was described as a widely but not entirely straight matter. The report also indicated that they had never an STL to the DW site; instead tapes were brought in and replayed there. There was even a photo of the tape recorders; Telefunken M15's I seem to recall (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO? 5799.95 kHz, unID LA, 8/Nov/2003 2330 UT, "Los Zapatistas"? OM-DJ talking in Spanish about "México", "Zapatistas" etc., etc., followed by Mexican(?) music nonstop. I stopped listening 0020 UT to send this message. 73s from (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Watch out for wandering Marti spurs In August, Radio Insurgente was reported on 5800 kHz, 1000-1300, 2300- 0100 UT; Op: Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional. Vy 73, (Willi Passmann, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But never really confirmed ** MEXICO. XEPPM, R. Educación, 6185, is still there, but no longer dominant, so it really seems their power has been reduced significantly, e.g. 0603 UT Nov 8, with subaudible het and co-channel QRM from something, probably Vatican. CRI via Canada on new 6190 at 0400-0600 is no help, either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Radio Mexico Int`l, 11770, 2223 GMT, Spanish, SIO 322, Nov 8th, Spanish music vocals // 9705 222 (Stewart MacKenzie, Huntington Beach CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Would be reactivated after several weeks. How long till the blobmitter is back? (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. XEN-690 FIRST MEXICAN IBOC STATION So it says in this link: http://beradio.com/ar/radio_currents_44/index.htm#grupo (Harry Helms W7HLH, Las Vegas, NV DM26, Nov 7, NRC-AM via DXLD) Viz.: MORE IBOC TESTS IN MEXICO Cincinnati - Oct 9, 2003 - Grupo Radio Centro hosted a demonstration on AM and FM IBOC and DAB broadcasting at Mexico's first broadcast convention, CIRT. Attendance at the convention was reported to be more than 1,000. During the convention, Harris demonstrated AM IBOC and Eureka 147. The AM IBOC demo was installed at the Grupo Radio Centro located in Santa Catarina, Ixtapalapa, Mexico City. The station was XEN on 690 kHz. This station already has three Harris transmitters: one DX-25U, one 3DX-50 and one DX-100. The antenna system is an omnidirectional antenna that is 108 meters tall. Harris installed two audio processors - one for analog AM and the other for IBOC - a Harris Dextar Epal and Harris Dextar AM exciter. The system was first installed the stations DX-25U and later moved to the DX-100. This marks the first installation of IBOC in a DX-100. (via DXLD) I'm actually hoping that one of the big ones tests IBOC for a while. If a 100,000 watt Mexican station like XEX were to start running IBOC, I can imagine what it would do to WGN and KDWN on 720. Considering the racket that WSAI was producing on 1520 and 1540 while they were running IBOC, there would be a lot of complaints. Maybe that would be what would finally get the FCC to rethink the idea. IBOC would be fine if a station ran it with no analog audio and put it on frequency, but the way they squeeze the analog down and shove the IBOC noise into the sidebands just isn't a good way to transition (Adam Myrow, TN, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** MOLDOVA. Hi, greetings from Andaluzia in southern Spain, off the Moroccan coast. Heard English from Pridnestrovye, Maiac Grigoriopol transmitter, 100 kW on 5960 kHz at around 1700-1742 UT, then only open carrier to at least 1748 UT, S=8-9 diodes of then shining on Sony ICF 2010 reciever, strong signal, beam towards SW Europe at 245 degrees, I guess. That means English language section only on Fridays. I guess combined German 1700-1730, and then English on Wednesdays (Wolfgang Büschel, Andalucía, Nov 8, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** MOROCCO. Longwave 207 kHz from Morocco. Transmissions seemingly irregular during Ramadan season, Heard on Nov 3rd and 4th, but missed 5th and 6th. Also transmission closed down at 2200 UT already when checked late night, on other days still on air at 0445-0515 UT. When off, the co-channel DLF Regensburg Aholming on air with thiny S = 2-3 signal. Nador 171 kHz longwave suffers by an unknown co-channel whistle on upper flank like on 173 kHz. Tbilissi Azerbaidjan hetting ??? 73 mucho saludos de wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Andalucía, Nov 8, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. RRI Bucharest North American service at 0100 and 0300 not making it (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, Nov 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. See GERMANY ** SAUDI ARABIA. Observed on extended schedules for Ramadan (presumed operating 24 hours); 1440, 1467, and 1521 kHz (Steve Whitt, MWC E-Mail News, via NRC IDXD Nov 7 via DXLD) ** SERBIA & MONTENEGRO. Found it! It took a while to confirm due to poor propagation and at least two co-channel stations, one being Deutsche Welle. At 0100 UT on 7115 for half an hour in English, North American Service of International Radio Serbia-Montenegro. It`s good with co-channel QRM. Unfortunately they announce old sked/time and frequency: 0000 and 0430 on 9580. That`s at the end of transmission. However, in opening, service areas given and frequencies 6110 [sic – should be 6100 earlier to Europe --- gh], 7115 and 7130. Still runs Radio Yugoslavia jingle after news. Trying to confirm repeat (Bob Thomas, CT, Nov 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heard here at 0225-0230 on 7130 Nov 8 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA [and non]. Hi Glenn, re the report about changes in Slovakia: Was the comment dealing with ALLISS units really written by Karel Honzik? I can find it only in the DX news section of the HCDX website, not in the mail archive, but obviously it is a reply. Anyway: Telefunken SenderSysteme, the predecessor of the extinct Telefunken Sendertechnik, did not continue the line of Telefunken shortwave transmitters. So also the German T-Systems had to search for another supplier of new transmitters for the Wertachtal site, and they choose RIZ in Croatia. It is another matter that I guess it will be a more realistic option for Slovensky Rozhlas to engage a transmission provider abroad if one day the responsible company declares itself being no longer able to continue the operation of the Rimavská Sobota facilities. Hmmmm, Radio Prague already left Rimavská Sobota finally by moving the last transmission they had there to Russia --- or will they return in A04 instead of replacing 5990 at Tbilisskaya by a higher frequency? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. South Africans Launch Telescope Special Event Nov 21: A group from the South African Boland Amateur Radio Club will operate a special event station November 21-23 from the Sutherland Observatory in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. ``The purpose is to make amateurs aware of the largest Telescope in the Southern Hemisphere,`` noted Dennis Green, ZS4BS. Using the call sign ZS1SALT (``South African Large Telescope``), the station will operate from 1100 UT November 21 until 1000 November 23. All HF frequencies will be used and the station can be worked on phone, CW and digital modes. A special QSL card will be sent to all amateurs who make contact and send direct QSL cards. Cards should be sent to Borland ARC, PO Box 273, STRAND, 7140, Republic of South Africa. For additional information on the project, please visit site http://www.salt.ac.za as well as Boland Amateur Radio Club website http://www.qsl.net/zs1bak (ARRL Letter Nov 7 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** TAIWAN [and non]. The Radio Taiwan International B03 schedule in English: Hour One transmissions 0200-0300 9680W North America, 5950W North America (West Coast), 15320 Southeast Asia, 11875 Philippines 0300-0400 15125 South America 0700-0800 5950W North America 0800-0900 9610 Australia, New Zeal., Phil., Indonesia 1200-1300 7130 Japan & Korea 1400-1500 15265 Southeast Asia 1600-1700 11550 South Asia 2200-2300 9355W Europe Hour Two transmissions 0200-0300 15465 Japan & Korea 0300-0400 9680W North America, 5950W North America, 15320 Southeast Asia, 11875 Philippines 1100-1200 7445 Southeast Asia 1700-1800 11550 South Asia 1800-1900 3955 Europe [via UK] [W = gh added this to frequencies known to be WYFR relays] http://www.cbs.org.tw/english/programs.htm (via Dave Kenny, Nov 5, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: 1476 observed on extended schedule for Ramadan (Steve Whitt, MWC E-Mail News, via NRC IDXD Nov 7 via DXLD) ** U K. A last minute reminder that BBCWS will as usual broadacst live coverage of the special Service of Remembrance from the Cenotaph at 1030-1120 UT Sun Nov 9, on all streams. That`s like Veterans / Armistice Day to us, but scheduled at an ungodly hour for North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. CRCA CIVIL ACTION AGAINST PIRATES from http://www.thisislondon.co.uk STORMY SEAS FOR PIRATES OF AIRWAVES James Rossiter, Evening Standard -1 November 2003 THE shock can be too much to bear when you tune into your favourite radio programme - perhaps a spot of Mozart on Classic FM - only for it to be rudely interrupted by the thumping beat of drum & bass or hip- hop. But all that is set to change with a batch of successful crackdowns on Britain's plague of pirate radio broadcasters, which came to a head this week ahead of a court showdown next Monday. Two stations, including Groove FM, based in Dudley, West Midlands, have agreed to stop unlicensed broadcasts of house and garage tracks. Its operators Dene Claridge and Anthony Deleon risk going to jail if they renege on this pact under an innovative use of the civil courts. Leading the purge is the Commercial Radio Companies Association, the umbrella trade body for licensed private stations. It is preparing charges against 'a pipeline of other pirate stations', says Paddy Gardiner, one of the association's external lawyers from Eversheds. The actions could end forever the plethora of illegal, small-time radio stations, many manned by DJs as flamboyant as comedian Lenny Henry's character, Delbert Wilkins - Brixton's 'Prince of Cool'. The clampdown could also give a commercial boost to legal radio operators who depend on uninterrupted transmission of their programmes to keep advertisers happy. 'Advertisers cannot hear the programmes for which they pay if the illegals interfere,' says CRCA chief executive Paul Brown, whose members include London's Capital FM and Virgin Radio. In real life, the illegals are not confined to Brixton, but peppered around the country. 'There are around 85 just in London, mostly dance-based - with the transmissions of Londonbased, legal operators such as LBC badly affected, as well as Thames FM [sic] in Kingston,' Brown adds. Eversheds' Gardiner says many pirate operators have been convicted in criminal courts for unlicensed broadcasting, but continue to go on air, interfering with authorised stations. The CRCA is therefore serving repeat criminal offenders with civil injunctions under public nuisance rules, if they continue to broadcast. Breaking those civil injunctions is punishable with a hefty prison sentence. Brown adds: 'We are confident the civil courts will act as a more effective deterrent than the criminal court.' (via Alan Pennington, Nov 7, BDXC-UK via DXLD) The incidence of interference by pirates to existing broadcasters within their coverage area is minimal. I fail to see how drum & bass or hip-hop stations impact on the audience of MoR or hit commercial stations. Funny how its the black music pirate stations that get hit by the CRCA but it is the same black community which is most poorly served by CRCA members (Chris McWhinnie, ibid.) Sorry - beg to differ. Interference to legitimate stations is *very* common in and around London. It particularly hits the smaller stations who only run 1 or 200 watts and certainly do impact on reception in the TSA. No sooner do the DTI raid a pirate station that it's back on - often louder and with a worse tuned transmitter. So something has to be done. Having said which I'd only really agree with injunctions where actual interference is being caused - rather than just being audible in a ILR's TSA - but the situation with interference has got so bad I can see it being used for both. (And actually for reasons I won't go into here, the injunctions probably won't work after a while...) And I think it's irrelavant whether the stations are 'black' or 'white'. Interference is interference. Just a footnote - when many of my compatriots in the 70s/80s operated as pirates, they strove to use properly tuned rigs, chose frequencies carefully so as not to cause interference and if they had a complaint would do all they could to eliminate the problem. These days, with some of these stations, if you ring them up and ask nicely for them to check their interference, more often than not you get told to 'go forth and multiply'. Great shame the way it's gone (Geoff, ibid.) I am in no way supporting the cause of pirate radio stations, but I must say where what you have said above may happen in some cases, my experience is that the majority of pirate radio stations will do their upmost to reduce any interference to other stations. It makes sense really - the DTI are likely to act quicker if the pirates are causing a direct nuisance to legal broadcasters, and the pirates don't want to get raided! Indeed, in the last 2 years I - and others - have informed a few pirates from the Birmingham/Wolverhampton area that their broadcasts were disrupting legal stations. The stations in question immediately pulled off the air, and returned usually within a few days with their equipment either replaced or modified appropriately. These tend to be the stations who display the most staying power, and strive to offer a real community service in their area (as opposed to the many, amateur "let get our mates round to mix, drink beer and swear down the mic" pirates that do exist). Take care, (Stephen Howie, ibid.) This interference and nuisance angle being taken by the CRCA is a new approach to the same old problem. Previously they tried to sue FM pirates for STEALING their listeners, suggesting they caused a loss in advertising revenue. One is left to presume that they had difficulty in seriously suggesting that the drum and bass or hip-hop broadcasters were really robbing an audience from the plethora of Britain's best music-mix stations. I would suggest you can only be charged with stealing something (or someone?) if you could prove you had it (them) in the first place. The difficulty with the CRCA's civil action idea would surely be one of cost; they would have to bring a case against every single operator the DTI prosecutes to be even half effective. There is also the question of all the CRCA's members stations having to jointly foot the bill for a problem only affecting a small number of stations in the inner cities. The DTI's RadComAgcy, soon to be Ofcom, are responsible for policing the airwaves and this should be left to them. Soon anyone caught participating in pirate broadcasting will become subject to an on-the- spot arrest by the police, which will surely be a better deterent that the Commercial Radio Companies Association's feeble threats of an injunction. In future the regulatory authority will be able to raid a station with the police in attendance and take away all equipment and personnel caught at the scene (Andy Cadier, ibid.) Yes, but it comes back to the fact that these law-breakers actually get listened to and the 'powers that be' should do real research into why a legit' station is often thought boring - often because of the very adverts that finance it - whilst an often distorted drifting 'pirate' has a strong following. I would never defend illegal broadcasting of the type we get today, but surely it's high time a complete reappraisal of what passes in the minds of commercial station managers and directors as worthwhile interesting radio was carried out so that the modern day 'pirates' are yawned out of existence rather than tax payers money was used to indirectly, by use of public courts, support and promote a legal but dumbed-down broadcast industry (Rog Parsons. (BDXC 782) Hinckley, Leics., ibid.) ** U S A. Has anyone heard the New York VOLMET station lately? I have not heard them at all for at least a month of casual tuning, day and evening. Weekdays and weekends. All four frequencies attempted. Gander received at :20 and :50 as expected on the same shared frequencies, but no New York. 3.485, 6.604, 10.051, 13.270 all USB. New York at :00 and :30 (Brock Whaley, Lilburn, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. A US station has the dubious distinxion of putting out a whistle like that heard on a Cuban transmitter mostly relaying CRI. It`s KAIJ, with Dr. Gene Scott on 5755, noted Nov 9 at 0141 with those screeches slightly varying in pitch, more audible by side-tuning slightly, but not with the muffled low modulation also bedeviling Cuba. Can someone familiar with SW transmitters explain in a not too technical way what causes the whistle, and the proper name for it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I'd like to assure everyone I would never publicly post a request for help unless I was absolutely positive the station had a real problem and was causing illegal interference. I'd like to get: 1.) SWL reports from anyone who hears WWRB's spurious on 1805 kHz in the evenings. This is an AM modulated mix radiating from a Manchester TN SWBC station. 2.) Help from anyone in south GA or N Fla can help locate the Spanish language BC station with a parasitic that drifts between 1815 and 1840 kHz, please e-mail me. There is also a VOA transmitter mix on 14025 kHz or so (that is not from my receiver). Over the past 5 years, over two dozen SW and AM BC transmitter problems have been corrected. Working as a team, 160 ops have gotten rid of several problem NDB's also. Please help with these two! (Tom, W8JI, Topband mailing list) Tom, I can hear the spur from WWRB on 1805 kc in the evenings here in west central Florida. It creates problems for me when I work PSK31 on 1807 kc. I visited the WWRB station in Copper Hill, TN a long time ago and they were running homebrew transmitters at that time. I also hear the Spanish language broadcast station with a parasitic that drifts between 1815 and 1840 kHz. I will cc: other Topband operators here in Florida about the problem. 73, Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Plant City, FL, USA, EL87WX KN4LF 160 Meter Amateur Radio Resources & More: http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf.htm (both via John H. Carver, Jr., IN, DXLD) 1805 is obviously the difference between two WWRB frequencies, 6890 minus 5085 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Article about pirate "Phat Rock 1650" --- Thanks to Google and some astute web surfing, I managed to locate the web page from a community newspaper that carried a story about my favorite Las Vegas pirate station: http://www.viewnews.com/2003/VIEW-Oct-29-Wed-2003/Summerlin/22419207.html Note the operator's claim to be a legal "Class 15" station running 100 watts! IMO, that's probably the output power he's using, as his signal is good throughout northwest Las Vegas---it can be heard well from Sahara all the way past Ann Road, an area equal to about 20% of LV. I've been able to hear it as far away as Henderson and as far north as the Mount Charleston exit off Highway 95, so he's putting out some serious wattage. Those of you who plan to visit LV for Comdex, CES, NAB, or whatever should listen for this one! (Harry Helms W7HLH, Las Vegas, NV DM26, Nov 7, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. From Radio FCC/melvinmalfunction@yahoo.com: We'll be relaying some shows on November 9th after 2000 UT on 13913 usb. Listen for Radio FCC, WMOE, Shortly Longwire, Border Radio and maybe some more? (Free Radio Weekly via DXLD) ** U S A. CRONKITE FEARS MEDIA MERGERS THREATEN DEMOCRACY By John Nichols November 8, 2003 The most trusted name in news is worried about what is happening to the news media in America. "I think it is absolutely essential in a democracy to have competition in the media, a lot of competition, and we seem to be moving away from that," said Walter Cronkite, the former CBS News anchorman, whose name remains synonymous with American journalism. "The way that works is to have multiple owners, with the hope that the owners will have different viewpoints, and with the hope that the debate will help to air all sides, or at least most sides of the issues. But right now I think we're moving away from that approach." Speaking to The Capital Times before this weekend's National Conference on Media Reform, Cronkite said he is particularly concerned by the decision of the Federal Communications Commission to relax media ownership rules. By a 3-2 vote in June, the commission approved proposals that would permit a single media company to own television stations that reach up to 45 percent of American households, and that would permit a single media company to own the daily newspaper, several television stations and up to eight radio stations in the same community. "I think they made a mistake, I do indeed," Cronkite said of the FCC. "It seems to me that the rule change was negotiated and promulgated with the goal of creating even larger monopolies in the news-gathering business." With or without the FCC's ownership rule changes, the veteran television journalist says he sees monopolies developing at the local level. "We are coming closer to that (monopoly situations) today, even without the relaxation of the rules," Cronkite said. "In many communities, we have seen a lot of mergers already and that is disturbing. We have more and more one-newspaper towns, and that troubles me. I think that the failure of newspaper competition in a community is a very serious handicap to the dissemination of the knowledge that the citizens need to participate in a democracy." Cronkite stepped down as the CBS anchor in 1981. But he remains active as a journalist, writing a nationally syndicated column that appears weekly in The Capital Times and other newspapers. Much has changed since his days at the anchor desk, Cronkite said. And while he shies away from suggesting that everything was better in the good old days, he will say that he is troubled by the timidity of broadcast media when it comes to questioning those in power. In 1968, Cronkite stunned the nation when, after reporting from Vietnam on the Tet offensive and events that followed it, he went on air and openly questioned whether the U.S. military would ever prevail in that conflict. "It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is a stalemate," Cronkite told his national audience. The anchorman went on to call for the government to open negotiations with the North Vietnamese. Bill Moyers, who was President Lyndon Johnson's press secretary, has speculated that Cronkite's blunt assessment of the war contributed significantly to Johnson's decision to propose negotiations and to drop out of the 1968 presidential race. Moyers, who shares Cronkite's concerns about media consolidation and monopoly, will be the keynote speaker at tonight's plenary session of the National Conference on Media Reform in the Orpheum Theatre. Would a network anchorman dare speak out in the same way today? "I think it could happen, yes. I don't think it's likely to happen," Cronkite said. "I think the three networks are still hewing pretty much to that theory. They don't even do analysis anymore, which I think is a shame. They don't even do background. They just seem to do headlines, and the less important it seems the more likely they are to get on the air." In an era of increasing globalization and speed of communications, Cronkite said he thinks the networks should be airing hourlong evening news programs. "For a country this big and this powerful and this diverse, a full hour is necessary," he said. "To try to cover that in 19 minutes is simply impossible." Cronkite also thinks the networks should get more comfortable with criticism. He believes that, after years of battering by conservative media critics, the networks are increasingly averse to taking risks. During the discussion about whether a network anchor might question the wisdom of the Iraq war, he said, "If they (the networks) didn't do it, I think it would be because they are afraid to get in an ideological fight - or that doing so might lose them some viewers. ... I think that is a bad thing, a bad way to decide how to approach a story." But what about Cronkite? Does he think that, if he were an anchorman today, he would try to speak out on the Iraq war? "Yes, yes I do. I think that right now it would be critical to do so," he said. "I think that right now we are in one of the most dangerous periods in our existence. Not since the Civil War has the state of our democracy been so doubtful. Our foreign policy has taken a very strange turn. And I do think I would try to say something about that." What exactly would he say? Cronkite said he would suggest that the Bush administration has "confused" other nations about the approach of the United States to foreign policy. "The policy we're following has involved us in a very expensive set of projects trying to export democracy at the end of a bayonet," he said. "That has caused a great deal of concern around the world and I think Americans need to understand this." In particular, Cronkite said, he would bluntly discuss his concerns about Bush's view of when it is appropriate to make war. "Preventive war is a theory, a policy, that was put forth by the president in his policy address," Cronkite observed. "It upsets all of our previous concepts about the use of power. It is particularly worrying when our power is almost unchallenged around the world. It seems to me that this preventive action is a terrible policy to put forth to other nations. If we are viewed as a pacesetter by other nations, this is a policy that could lead to eternal war around the world. If every small nation with a border dispute believes they can go ahead and launch a pre-emptive war and that it will be approved by the greatest power, that is a very dangerous thing." To Cronkite's view, Bush is a distinctly aggressive president. "I actually knew Herbert Hoover, believe it or not. And my time as a journalist goes back to Franklin Roosevelt. In my time, I don't think we have had any president as aggressive, except possibly Roosevelt. With Roosevelt, there was in his time a call for leadership, which he gave us. With this White House, they are aggressive on all fronts, whether there is a call for leadership or not." At the same time, Cronkite said, the Congress is pliant. Asked about the congressional debate on the Iraq war, he asked rhetorically, "What debate?" Cronkite still holds out hope, however, that Congress might wake up to an issue that concerns him. After the FCC voted to loosen the media ownership rules, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to block implementation of the commission's decision. Now more than 200 members of the House have signed a letter urging that chamber to do the same. So far, the House leadership is blocking a vote. "I don't know if I am in a position to encourage Congress one way or another," Cronkite said. "However, if I were going to offer my opinion on the thing, I would certainly express my feeling that it would be better to have multiple ownership." John Nichols, the editorial page editor of TheCapital Times, is one of the principal organizers of this weekend's National Conference on Media Reform. Published: 1:30 PM 11/07/03 All contents Copyright (c), Capital Newspapers. All rights reserved (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. ARCHES REALLY ARE GOLDEN FOR NPR Bo Emerson - Staff Friday, November 7, 2003 The mood was giddy Thursday at the offices of National Public Radio as President Kevin Klose announced a $200 million gift from the estate of Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc. "I'm changing my name to McStamberg," joked Susan Stamberg at a 1 p.m. news conference in Washington. Stamberg, whose voice has been heard on public radio since 1971, is a self-described "founding mother" of NPR. Ken Stern, executive vice president of the Washington-based nonprofit corporation, said it was believed to be the largest monetary gift to a cultural institution in American history. Joan Kroc died of brain cancer on Oct. 12 in San Diego at age 75. Forbes magazine recently estimated the value of her estate at $1.7 billion. About 22 million listeners tune in NPR programming through its 750 member stations every week. The effect on local public radio stations, which purchase programming from NPR, has yet to be determined. "We're still basking in the glow," said Earl Johnson, vice president and general manager of Atlanta's WABE (90.1-FM). "For public radio, period, it's a great honor. It validates the importance of what we do." The nonprofit corporation's annual budget is $104 million. About half comes from member stations, 25 percent from foundations and grants and most of the rest from corporate underwriting. Federal sources account for about 2 percent, including grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts, Klose said. Under terms of the will, $175 million will go into the NPR endowment, instantly tripling its value. The remaining $25 million will go into operating reserves. The exact value will be based on the "resolution of Mrs. Kroc's estate and the final value of her investments," according to an NPR press release. WABE's Johnson cautioned, however, that "This doesn't diminish the fact that local stations still need the support of their local communities." WABE spends about $500,000 a year on NPR programming out of a yearly budget of around $2 million. Local station managers will advise NPR about how to use the money, said Stern, who added that a reduction in costs to local stations was possible. Johnson and others expressed concern that the grant would stifle giving from other institutions. "I think it will have the opposite effect," said U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), chairman of the Congressional Public Broadcasting Caucus, at the Washington news conference. "It is an affirmation of the value of public broadcasting. I think it will lead to hundreds of people this week changing their wills." (c) 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) MAGNANIMITY & MCMUFFINS: NPR'S ARCH-ANGEL JOAN KROC'S LARGESS CAME AS NO SURPRISE TO THOSE WHO KNEW HER By Reilly Capps and Paul Farhi Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, November 7, 2003; Page C01 For Joan Kroc, most mornings started with two things: an Egg McMuffin and the headlines. The McDonald's heiress was up at 4:30 and on the Internet checking the headlines, reading newspapers, watching cable news. More than anything, she loved listening to San Diego's KPBS, her local public radio station. "She was a bit of a news nut," said Dick Starmann, Kroc's longtime friend and spokesman. "She loved NPR and its unfiltered presentation of the news. . . . It wasn't liberal and it wasn't conservative. It was as objective as you're going to find." The depth of Kroc's appreciation of public broadcasting became clear yesterday. NPR officials formally announced that Kroc had bequeathed the Washington-based organization about $200 million, by far the largest single contribution in NPR's 33-year history. Kroc also left KPBS $5 million. Before her death last month at 75, Kroc, widow of McDonald's mastermind Ray Kroc, had committed her attention and some of her $1.7 billion fortune to charity, such as creating the San Diego Hospice, a 12-acre Salvation Army community center and a shelter for the homeless. Kroc also helped establish two institutes dedicated to the study of peace, at the University of San Diego and at Notre Dame. In her will, she left an additional $50 million to each of those universities. Stephanie Bergsma, who knew Kroc for 20 years, said she and Kroc would often talk about current events over lunch. Kroc was especially horrified by the war in Iraq. "She understood the human damage that this war was doing," Bergsma said. "She really had hope that by communicating with each other we could avoid these conflicts." It was Bergsma, the associate general manager of KPBS, who introduced Kroc to Kevin Klose, NPR's president. One afternoon in mid-2002, Bergsma called Klose in Washington and suggested he meet her "extraordinary friend." After a series of polite but maddeningly unspecific meetings with Kroc, Klose heard from Kroc again around Christmas last year. In her holiday card, she included a check for NPR -- for $500,000. But Kroc was just warming up. A week after Kroc's death, Starmann called Klose with a piece of news: Kroc had remembered NPR in her will, to the tune of $200 million. "I was stunned," Klose said yesterday. NPR employees celebrated the news by eating takeout McDonald's for lunch yesterday. "When I heard about the scope of it, I was almost speechless -- a dangerous state in my line of work," said longtime NPR host Susan Stamberg. "This was totally unexpected." She joked that she was changing her name to "McStamberg." Klose said yesterday that NPR was more likely to invest Kroc's donation than spend it. When Kroc's estate settles in the next few months, the gift -- a combination of cash and marketable securities -- will be deposited primarily in a trust fund operated by the NPR Foundation. NPR will receive income from the trust fund, which currently has assets of about $35 million. Based on a 5 percent return, the donation will spin off roughly $10 million a year in cash, said John Hermann Jr., chairman of the NPR Foundation. NPR officials were vague about how that new income stream -- which amounts to about 10 percent of NPR's yearly operating budget -- would be spent. But Klose was adamant that the money came with no strings attached. "There are no restrictions on it," he said. "No reporting requirements." Joan Beverly Mansfield of St. Paul, Minn., was 28 when she met Ray Kroc in 1957. He was 53 and still married to his first wife. By the time they married 12 years later, McDonald's had grown into an international giant with more than 1,000 outlets. After Ray Kroc died in 1984, Joan Kroc took control of her husband's fortune, estimated at $525 million at the time. The NPR donation was in keeping with Kroc's penchant for showering money on surprised and grateful recipients. Joe Carroll, the priest who is president at the St. Vincent de Paul Joan Kroc Center for the homeless in San Diego, recalled the time Kroc told him she had an article she wanted him to read. When Carroll opened the envelope he thought contained the article, he found a check for $1 million. Another night, Kroc came over to Carroll's house for dinner and noticed an empty spot in his living room. "Father, you don't have a piano," said Kroc, who met her husband while playing piano in a St. Paul restaurant. "Why not?" The next day, a baby grand was delivered to his house. She also gave money to those she never met, often anonymously. When the Red River flooded Grand Forks, N.D., in 1997, Kroc toured the damaged area incognito and wound up writing a $15 million check for relief efforts. In the late '80s, she anonymously gave $7 million to build an AIDS wing at Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. "There were so many you didn't know about," Carroll said. "When you hear she did one gift there were probably 30 others." Bergsma remembered a "warm, funny, genuine person" who loved her little King Charles spaniels. Even on her last birthday in August, with the brain cancer that was to claim her progressing rapidly, Bergsma said, "she was still able to enjoy it, she still got great joy being around her daughter and granddaughters." Carroll recalled taking a trip with Kroc to London in 1988 (after a stop in Newfoundland for a lobster breakfast). On their way to separate events in the city, Kroc rode in one limousine while Carroll was in another. Carroll soon heard the car phone ring. It was Kroc. "Pardon me, Father," she said. "Do you have any Grey Poupon?" (c) 2003 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. OBITUARIES: ATLANTA: Bill Estes, 83, former radio station manager --- J.E. Geshwiler - Staff Friday, November 7, 2003 No matter how bitter the constant struggle for supremacy among Atlanta's radio stations got to be, former WGST station manager Bill Estes didn't take it personally. "I'd venture to say Bill never had an enemy in a business that fosters dog-eat-dog competition," said Dick Yarborough of Vinings, a retired BellSouth executive. "He could wrestle with a rival for advantage one day and happily join him for lunch the next. "Years ago when I was in sales at WSB, our two stations would compete Saturday after Saturday to carry the best Southeast football game, and Bill always managed to broadcast the better one. "WGST didn't have the resources the bigger stations had, but that didn't slow Bill down. He kept WGST competitive by being smarter and more innovative than most station managers." The funeral for William Estes Jr., 83, of Atlanta is 11 a.m. today at Grace United Methodist Church in Atlanta. He died Tuesday of pneumonia at Meadowbrook Nursing Home. A.S. Turner & Sons is in charge of arrangements. When Mr. Estes went to work for WGST in 1958, its studios were on the Georgia Tech campus and it operated under the auspices of the state Board of Regents. "Dad loved working there, since he had gone to Tech on football and track scholarships." said his son Bob Estes of Atlanta. After graduating in 1939, Mr. Estes spent four years in the U.S. Army. "He wanted to go overseas, but he was assigned to a base in New Jersey, a captain at age 22 training recruits for the Signal Corps," said his daughter-in-law, Sarah Estes of Atlanta. While at WGST, he helped set up a Georgia network of radio stations that shared news reports, and he introduced weather reports that were more extensive than the customary current temperature and conditions, said his son. In retirement, Mr. Estes played golf and bridge and enjoyed regular lunches with friends, especially the late Al Ciraldo, the longtime voice of Georgia Tech sports. Survivors include his wife, Ruth Estes; another son, William Estes III of Atlanta; and three grand-children. (c) 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. GRANBURY MINISTRY'S NEWSCAST MAKES BIG SPLASH Saturday, November 08, 2003 Pete Kendall Shifting seamlessly from radio to television was simple enough in theory. In practice, it was almost a disaster for Granbury-based Christian News Channel. But two months later, founder Rick Wiles’ weekday, 30-minute newscast is attracting the attention of stations and viewers nation-wide. Part of the reason is the contribution of an international heavyweight, Reuters, which supplies the show’s video news feed. The program, titled TruNews with Wiles at the anchor desk, is produced and taped at the ministry’s headquarters, 827 W. Pearl, and beamed to the world on Telstar 7 satellite... http://www.hcnews.com/news/get-news.asp?id=6752&catid=3&cpg=get-news.asp (Hood County News [TX] via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Was on WWCR (Bigley) ** VATICAN. VATICAN RADIO B-03 SW SCHEDULES From web site Nov. 8, 2003. Daily except where indicated. W = Weekdays; H= Holydays; 1 = Mon.; 2 = Tues.; 3 = Wed.; 4 = Thu.; 5 = Fri.; 6 = Sat.; 7 = Sun. [as always, VR does not think it important to reveal the length or end-time of broadcasts, not always apparent] Africa 0230 FRENCH 9660 0300 ENGLISH 9660 0330 KISWAHILI 7360 9660 0345 SOMALI 7 7360 9660 0400 AMHARIC, TIGR. 7360 9660 0430 FRENCH 7360 9660 0500 ARABIC 9645 11715 0500 ENGLISH 7360 9660 11625 0530 PORTUGUESE 9660 11625 13765 0600 FRENCH 9660 11625 13765 0630 ENGLISH 9660 11625 13765 0630 MASS IN LATIN 9645 15595 0700 ITALIAN - FRENCH - ENGLISH W 9645 15595 0745 ARABIC W 7250 9645 15595 1100 ANGELUS 7 H 15595 21850 1130 MASS IN ENGLISH 5 15595 17515 1300 ITALIAN 15595 21850 1530 MASS IN ENGLISH 6 9865 13765 15235 1600 KISWAHILI 15570 17515 1615 SOMALI 6 15570 17515 1630 AMHARIC, TIGR. 15570 17515 1630 ARABIC 11625 15595 1700 FRENCH 15570 17515 1730 ENGLISH 13765 15570 17515 1800 PORTUGUESE 13765 15570 17515 1900 SPANISH 6 9660 11625 1940 ROSARY 7365 9660 11625 2000 ENGLISH 7365 9660 11625 2030 FRENCH 7365 9660 11625 2145 ARABIC 5890 7250 Americas 0030 PORTUGUESE 7305 9605 0100 SPANISH 7305 9605 11910 0145 SPANISH 7305 9605 11910 0230 FRENCH 7305 9605 0250 ENGLISH 7305 9605 0315 SPANISH 7305 9605 1000 PORTUGUESE W 21850 1130 SPANISH W 21850 Asia, Australia and New Zealand 0025 URDU 1,4 7335 9865 0040 HINDI/TAMIL/MAL./ENGLISH 7335 9865 0200 HINDI/TAMIL/MAL./ENGLISH 17665 0500 ARABIC 9645 11715 0630 MASS IN LATIN 15595 0700 ITALIAN - FRENCH - ENGLISH W 15595 0745 ARABIC W 15595 1100 ANGELUS 7 H 15595 21850 1130 MASS IN ENGLISH 5 15595 17515 1230 CHINESE 1,2,3,4,5,7 6020 15235 17515 1230 MASS IN CHINESE 6 6020 15235 17515 1300 ITALIAN 15595 1315 VIETNAMESE 6205 17515 1415 URDU 3,7 13765 15235 1430 HINDI/TAMIL/MAL./ENGLISH 9865 13765 15235 1530 MASS IN ENGLISH 6 9865 13765 15235 1630 ARABIC 11625 15595 1700 FRENCH - ENGLISH 15595 1940 ROSARY 11625 2200 CHINESE 6205 7305 9600 2200 CHINESE 07/03/2004 - 27/03/2004 7305 9600 11830 2315 VIETNAMESE 7305 9600 Western and Central Europe and Middle East 0330 SLOVENIAN 4005 0350 CROATIAN 4005 0410 CZECH 4005 5890 0425 SLOVAK 4005 5890 0440 HUNGARIAN 4005 5890 0500 POLISH 4005 5890 7250 0520 GERMAN 4005 5890 7250 0540 FRENCH 4005 5890 7250 0600 ENGLISH 4005 5890 7250 0620 ITALIAN 4005 5890 6185 7250 0630 MASS IN LATIN 4005 5890 6185 7250 9645 11740 15595 0700 ITALIAN - FRENCH – ENGLISH W 4005 5890 6185 7250 9645 11740 15595 0710 RUMANIAN LITURGY 7 H 7250 9645 0745 ARABIC W 5890 7250 9645 15595 0830 MASS IN ITALIAN 7 H 7250 0910 SPANISH W 5890 0915 PAPAL AUDIENCE 3 5890 0930 ORIENTAL LITURGY 7 H 11740 15595 17515 1030 ENGLISH 1,2,4,5,6 5890 1100 ITALIAN W 5890 1100 ANGELUS 7 H 5890 9645 11740 15595 21850 1130 ITALIAN 7 H 5890 1200 FRENCH W 5890 1300 ITALIAN 5890 9645 11740 15595 21850 1400 SPANISH 9645 11740 1415 PORTUGUESE 9645 11740 1500 GERMAN - POLISH 5890 7250 9645 1530 MUSIC 1,2,3,4,6,7 5890 7250 9645 1530 ITALIAN 5 5890 7250 9645 1600 VESPERS 5890 7250 9645 1630 ITALIAN 5890 7250 9645 1700 FRENCH - ENGLISH 4005 5890 7250 9645 15595 1730 SLOVENIAN 4005 5890 7250 1750 CROATIAN 4005 5890 7250 1810 HUNGARIAN 4005 5890 7250 1830 CZECH 4005 5890 7250 1845 SLOVAK 4005 5890 7250 1900 POLISH 4005 5890 7250 1920 GERMAN 4005 5890 7250 1940 ROSARY 4005 5890 11625 2000 ITALIAN 4005 5890 2020 ESPERANTO 7 H 4005 5890 2030 FRENCH 4005 5890 7250 2050 ENGLISH 4005 5890 7250 2110 SPANISH 4005 5890 7250 2130 PORTUGUESE 4005 5890 7250 2145 ARABIC 4005 5890 7250 2200 ITALIAN 4005 5890 2230 ITALIAN 4005 5890 2250 ESPERANTO 7 H 4005 5890 Eastern Europe 0310 ARMENIAN 6185 9645 0330 RUSSIAN 6185 7335 9645 0400 UKRAINIAN 6185 7335 0420 BYELORUSSIAN 6185 7335 0440 LITHUANIAN 6185 7335 0500 LATVIAN 6185 7335 0520 RUMANIAN 6185 7335 0540 BULGARIAN 6185 7335 0600 SCANDINAVIAN 6185 7335 0715 UKRAINIAN LITURGY 7 H 9850 11740 1330 RUSSIAN 27/10/2003 - 06/12/2003 13645 15595 1330 RUSSIAN 07/12/2003 - 06/03/2004 11805 13645 1330 RUSSIAN 07/03/2004 - 27/03/2004 13645 15595 1650 ARMENIAN 9585 11715 1710 RUSSIAN 6210 7365 9585 11715 1740 UKRAINIAN 7365 9585 1800 BYELORUSSIAN 7365 9585 1820 LITHUANIAN 7365 9585 1840 LATVIAN 7365 9585 1900 RUMANIAN 6185 7365 1920 BULGARIAN 6185 7365 1940 ROSARY 7365 11625 1940 SCANDINAVIAN 6185 7250 2000 ALBANIAN 6185 7250 2020 ITALIAN/ENGLISH 1 6185 2020 ESPERANTO 3,4 6185 7250 (via Bernie O`Shea, Ottawa, Canada, DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. CLANDESTINE from ALGERIA to MOROCCO. 7460, National Radio of the RASD, Rabuni Site (presumed) 2220-2300 Nov 8. Talk by man in Arabic or related vernacular. 2230 Talk by woman in Arabic with a couple of short selections traditional music. Possible news by woman at 2254. May have switched to Spanish after 2300. Good signal on peaks (2240-2255) with brutal interference from WWCR 7465. SINPO 32333 at best (Jim Evans, TN, Nov 8, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 4965, Radio Christian Voice, 0040-0125 Nov 9. Noted a program of music (rap) and English comments from a woman and gents. Heard ID at 0117 as "..Radio Christian Voice..." PWBR says this is "Voice of Africa", but tonight they are IDing as Radio Christian Voice as listed in the WRTH. Signal was poor, but improved to good by 0123. (Bolland, Chuck, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. Hello Glenn, Thank you for your explanation regarding carrier frequency vs. frequency readout via tuning around interference. At first I thought the DXer who questioned my log was being a bit "anal", but you shed a lot of light on the subject. Victor Goonetellike recently wrote at DXplorer about logs with frequencies ending with .XX and even .XXX. To paraphrase, he didn't put too much stock in frequencies reported as .XX unless it was done with a professional grade frequency counter. He felt it was too subjective to one's "DX ear". I think I am falling into that "trap" too, with my new Icom R75, (which is an awesome radio for the money spent.) PS: You won't see any logs from me, Nov. 10-17. The wife and I are going to Florida for a long overdue vacation. We celebrated 5 years of matrimony, Nov.7 73, (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Congratulations! As to whether to put stock into kHz frequencies to two or even three decimal places, this is certainly possible depending on the receiver. But you have to be sure you know what you are doing and not report a carrier frequency to greater degree of accuracy than warranted. Some elder DXers weaned in the analog-readout age have never quite accepted digital frequency readout which is now commonplace (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 3204.99 kHz Radio Mía, unknown QTH 7/Nov/2003 Yesterday Thursday I sent information about an unID religious Spanish speaking station with nonstop religious music. This night I heard the station again, now with ID: "Radio Mía.... esperanza por un mundo...". Exiting! The male DJ said they were going to transmit to "2300". Religious music nonstop, more than one hour with the same artist. You can listen to that artist and ID on my recording. One of the songs were presented as "bachata" so I´m wondering if it´s a station from República Dominicana? El Caribe, México or Central América? That`s what I think it is. You can listen to a recording here(SWB) within 24 hours: http://homepage.sverige.net/~a-0901/ 73s from (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hallo Bjorn, From a visit to Panama in 1986, I remember the Radio Mia network in this country. 73 (Max van Arnhem, hard-core-dx via DXLD) Hello Arnhem! There are many "Radio Mía" in Central América most of them in Panamá but you can also find them in El Salvador and Mexico. In Southamérica I know just one: in Manta here in Ecuador. The station on 3204.99 kHz gave a timecheck but I do not remember what time it was here in Quito. I will try again this night! 73s from (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 4875, briefly noted some music here around 0600 UT Nov 8, couldn`t decide whether Latin or African, as I tuned from Mauritania 4845 to find if anything else was coming in. Nothing listed looks likely at this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4995, Sounded like a state broadcaster. Broadcasting in Spanish, strong and good modulation with music at 0253 Nov 8. Looking for //'s when they went off at 0258* (Hans Johnson, Naples FL, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. I am getting a modulated tone with a very wide bandwidth. Low end 17435.0 to high end 17465.0 with what appears to be a center of 17450.5. Signal strength on my meter is around S4 (Bob Combs, New Mexico, 2303 UT Nov 8, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Here we go again (gh) I've got it here, centered perhaps about 17448. It's very broadband so you can't get a good reading on its center frequency. I wouldn't really call it a carrier so much as a "Pulsed" signal at a PRF of perhaps 800-1200 Hz (I haven't measured it's pulse rate), kind of like a radar of some sort. Not even registering on the "S meter" it's taking fades that indicate it's a good distance off. 73 from the "Beaconeers Lair". (Phil, KO6BB, Atchley, Merced, Central California, 37.18N 120.29W CM97sh, ibid.) The signal on 17540 [sic] approximately is back strong as ever. No fading. 0100Z. Will do some direction nulling see which way it is coming from (Bob Combs, New Mexico, ibid.) Later: OK here are what I measure. It seems to be on a north or south bearing. Much wider than previously observed. Low end at 17419 null at 17428 s3 peak at 17431 null at 17433 s7 peak at 17450ish null at 17463 s3 peak at 17470 high end at 17476 While listening they did stop transmitting for a 30 second time span, then back on (Bob Combs, New Mexico, ibid.) I have it with deep QSB as a steady audio tone in the southwest using a directional antenna (Duane B. Fischer, MI, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVETNIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIA REFORM: See USA above PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ CATHOLIC & ORTHODOX RADIO IN EUROPE -- Fourth Edition November 3, 2003 Catholic Radio Update ~ Radio Católica al Día Introduction Third Revision ~ May 5, 2003 This is the final version of the directory of Catholic Radio stations in Europe, unlike its predecessors, which were working drafts. It is as final as any directory can be. This fourth edition follows by a few months the third edition, the reason being that I have completed the year-long task of tracking down every Catholic radio station in Italy, a task in which I hope to have succeeded. There is no one complete directory of all Catholic stations in Italy. The InBlu network lists are fairly accurate, but the economic trials undergone by all the private FM stations in Italy these past few years have taken a big toll on many Italian stations, many of them Catholic. One radio website in northern Italy reports that only 1,000 of the one-time 4,000 Italian FM stations survive. My review of directories available online from Monitor-RadioTV, PagineRadio, NonSoloMusic, Broadcast & Production, and others, shows the loss of stations to be staggering. While the greatest loss has been that in the parochial stations category, at least two diocesan stations have succumbed, and others seem to be walking on wobbly legs. At the same time, an intriguing network of Catholic stations in Hungary has appeared online, and thanks to the invauable work done by German radio fans who belong to the UKW-TV Arbeitskreis der DX, I have been able to discover a growing number of Orthodox radio stations in countries in which that Church prevails. The Orthodox, so close to us and yet so far, have discovered radio only in recent years, but they are beginning to develop it, particularly in Greece. Radio Maria España continues to show remarkable growth, and is being steadily introduced into new provinces. The radio enthusiasts in Spain in the EDX Club have also furnished update material in their club bulletin. I particularly want to thank the dedicated and diligent members of the German UKW-TV DX Arbeitskraft whose compilations on European stations is a great source of technical information on transmitter powers and antenna heights. To all those indefatigable radio listeners, as well as to those European Catholic stations that have sent in information, my gratitude. This directory is for you, and I hope that you can put it to good use. It has taken me four years to do it, this last year one of particularly intense work. Thank you and may the good Lord richly reward all of you (Michael Dorner, Catholic Radio Update, Nov 6, via DXLD) This is truly a magnum opus, the result of tremendous original research, and should be a valuable reference to those interested in the subject matter. The overwhelming majority of such stations are on FM, many of low power; the only SW references above are under POLAND and VATICAN. The MS Word 6.0 file is of some 300K. You may request it from editor Mike Dorner, miked509 @ aol.com (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) COMMENTARY ++++++++++ MORREU RACHEL DE QUEIROZ !!!! Caros amigos, Hoje perdemos a maior escritora da lingua portuguesa... Rachel de Queiroz e numa homenagem a ela eu apresento aqui um pequeno texto de sua autoria que demonstra um pouco o espírito de escuta que ela possuía. Ela era radioamadora, mas não possuía equipamento de transmissão e ficava somente escutando, na coruja, como dizemos, ouvindo as transmissões em AM na faixa radioamadorística de 40 metros. Veja que texto magnífico ela escreveu sobre este tema. Adalberto, Barbacena-MG CORUJA BEM, é o que sou. Não a propriamente dita, mas em linguagem de radioamador. Pois coruja é o radioamador ouvinte, o que não tem transmissor e liga o receptor em casa, para ficar ouvindo as conversas dos outros. Divertimento barato, aliás. Não precisa sequer ter-se um receptor de alta categoria: basta um pequeno transistor desses japoneses, de contrabando, acrescentado de uma antena de nove metros de fio de aço de pescador. O importante, além disso, é que o transistor tenha faixa de onda de 40 metros, que é por onde se manifestam os radioamadores da rede local. O mais é constância e paciência. E penetra-se, num mundo de que não suspeita o simples cidadão acostumado a escutar apenas as emissões comerciais de TV e "broadcasting"; pululando a nosso redor, insuspeita, mas permanente o ativa, funciona em volta do mundo todo, uma imensa rede de estações de rádio, manipuladas por radioamadores que estabelecem pela Terra inteira uma cadeia de comunicações, muito mais eficiente que os serviços públicos, oficiais ou particulares. A boa vontade é o seu lema, a solidariedade humana a sua obrigação Quem viu aquele filme francês "Se todos os Homens do Mundo", pode fazer uma idéia do fenômeno. E não se trata de conversa de fita de cinema, não; é assim mesmo daquele jeito que eles se comportam, da Noruega ao Congo, de Ver-o-Pêso o Vigário Geral. Um radioamador é assim uma espécie de cruza entre escoteiro e "santo" de sessão espírita; do escoteiro tem a mania de bem servir, de não deixar passar um dia sem realizar um ato de bondade, muitos atos de bondade. Do espírito tem a faculdade de baixar no terneiro da gente a uma simples evocação, e ainda por cima servir de "cavalo" para qualquer mensagem de importância grande ou pequena, que você queira transmitir ou receber. Pois, para que a mensagem seja transmitida, não, precisa sequer que o interessado escute o apelo de quem chamou: há sempre um colega serviçal que escuta, toma nota e passa adiante, - feito atleta, com fogo simbólico. Os radioamadores que se encontram diariamente a uma hora certa, em grupo, formam o que se chama na gíria deles uma "rodada". Pode ser das cinco às sete da manhã, de uma às três da tarde, de dez à meia-noite, a rodada não deixa de funcionar nunca. É só procurá-la na freqüência habitual e lá estarão eles, os com os companheiros do éter, a "assinar o ponto", a bater papo, a comentar as marcas as excelências e os defeitos técnicos das respectivas transmissões, - enchendo lingüiça até que apareça o que eles consideram "serviço sério": recados de urgência, mensagens, comunicados de falecimento, de doença de nascimento, de viagens, de mudanças; promoção de encontros de famílias ou amigos separados; um de Pará de Minas outro de Barra do Corda, trocando comunicados afetuosos ou urgentes, que "Mamãe foi operada. e esta passando bem", que "a festa 'das bodas de ouro é terça-feira, sem falta, veja se vem mesmo!" E o dono da estação de rádio é o médio. Num país onde os telégrafos tão, pouco funcionam o os correios ainda menos, calcule-se o valor dessa comunicação. O que uma troca de telegramas pediria, no mínimo, alguns dias e isso em lugar onde haja telégrafo - o radioamador resolve num quarto de hora. Creio que a rodada mais famosa do Nordeste é o chamado o "Cafezinho da Manhã", que funciona diariamente das cinco e meia. as sete e engloba uma rede de radio-amadores que vai ,da Bahia ao Maranhão, com incursões por Minas, Pará ou até onde for a onda de 40 metros. Seu criador e animador é o "Caboclo Xavante" das tabas ao "Quixeramobim", que em gera: dirige a rodada, dá a palavra a quem de direito, mantém a disciplina da reunião, faz, como eles dizem, "a roda rodar". É homem extremamente cortês, que pode estar apressadíssimo para "dar o pirulito", mas não dispensa os cumprimentos à Labre, à escuta oficial, aos colegas de um em um, incluindo os "familiares", sem esquecer a "rede regional de corujas, da qual faço parte. Mas, sendo assim disciplinador e comandante da rodada, responsável peIo seu tom permanente de cortesia e boa camaradagem, deixa de ser o seu tanto galhofeiro, e es sempre pronto a zombar das conhecidas franquesa ou estrepolias de uns e outros da submissão dos "barrigas brancas", das indiscrições de algum "cavalo de cão" e insinuar maliciosamente às esposas na "coruja" as possíveis peraltagem dos maridos em viagem ... Nunca o vi em carne e ossos, mas é pessoa que trago no coração; conheço lhe a voz entre dezenas, é realmente espírito familiar e benéfico, desses que, nos terreiros, são chamados de "guias "... O outro comandante do cafezinho o é mesmo mandante do seu direito, alta patente Militar e importante função oficial; mas para nós, é simplesmente "o Chaguinha". Esse conheço de longe, é um velho amigo dos tempos em que a gente pensava que podia consertar o mundo com discursos e boletins. um dos mais eficientes e prestativos da rodada. Perde horas do seu tempo precioso importante para um recado, tranqüilizar uma mãe aflita, conseguir um avião que traga um enfermo de algum lugarejo distante, obter a vacina. Dantes era mestre em broncas, especialmente contra os mal educados que invadem a freqüência, abafando a voz dos colegas e atrapalhando as rodadas: agora, não sei o que he deu, está muito manso. Os anos de cidade e as funções oficiais não lhe alteraram a fala típica de sertanejo e a sua sertaneja paixão por saber notícias de chuva. Ah, se soldado pode ser flor está, ali uma. Outros membros do cafézinho são da mais variada procedência, padre e juiz dona-de-casa, general, moço rico, pequeno funcionário, comerciante, fazendeiro, até bispo! Tem de tudo ali, reunidos todos numa só fraternidade, tratando-se por você ninguém querendo ser melhor do que os demais. Com o truque mnemônico, usam uma espécie de pseudônimo tirado das iniciais dos seus prefixos: é o "velho fazendeiro" "cabloco serrano "(não falei que eles parecem gente de terreiro? Até essa mania de se chamarem ' caboclos". , ) Um mais lírico, diz-se "Viva o nosso lar". Outro se chama xadrez "xadrez lamparina". E tem o, Zé calado", e um meio maldizente a quem os colegas apelidam de "língua danada". Usa além disso uma gíria particular em que expressões técnicas e jargão familiar se misturam. Tratam-se entre si por macanudos; um recado é torpedo do automóvel é pé de borracha, mulher é cristal; dar sinal no meio da conversa dos outros é dar uma bicorada; falar ao microfone e modular, e ter estação forte que abafa todo o mundo é ser tubarão etc. etc. Mas parece que, em conversa de radioamador, é proibido falar em negócios, em política e em dinheiro, regra a que eles obedecem com fidelidade. Exceção feita em casos e que aludir a dinheiro é indispensável - preço de material de rádio, de premente necessidade de alguém distante que lembra a mesada ao pai ou o numerário para uma emergência; eles , então, usam metáforas mais ou menos transparentes, como quilociclagem, "combustível", "manteiga". E assim servem e alegrar o mundo, "fazendo a roda rodar" benza-os Deus. (Transcrito de O CRUZEIRO. 21/6/1962.) (via Adalberto, radioescutas via DXLD) Says nice things about hams RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ CHINESE WORLD BAND RADIOS Recent comments about the Degen DE-1101 interested me so I emailed Degen to enquire about purchasing one. They replied promptly to tell me that for the time being it is only exported to the USA where it is renumbered KA-1101 and sometimes called a Kaito. Following through via Google I found that Universal Radio has them but seems to have blinkers on when it comes to sending them to Australia. Two emails to the contact address on http://www.univeral-radio.com have gone un-answered. One fact I have not established is whether the channel step on the Medium Wave (US-speak calls it the AM band) is selectable to 9 kHz used everywhere except the Americas or fixed at 10 kHz. I now find that what appears to be an equally good alternative from Shanghai is the Tecsun PL-200 covering 520-29999 kHz plus FM with 200 presets and there is a 9/10 kHz switch on this one. It is currently on eBay for US$52.90. Any reports from users would be appreciated (Morrison Hoyle, VK3BCY, Nov 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TECHNOBUDDY: SHORTWAVE LETS YOU TOUR THE WORLD FROM HOME By Bill Husted, Cox News Service, September 30, 2003 We all have a few dirty little secrets. I know a chest surgeon who sneaks a cigarette now and then. I have a friend on the police force who drops too much money at casinos. My dirty little secret - appropriately enough - is acted out down in my basement. Sometimes, late at night when the rest of the house is asleep, I'll go down there and settle into a chair that has seen better days. Then I flip on a master switch, and seconds later I start pushing other switches to the on position. Pretty soon there is a low hum in the room. And there's a glow of vacuum tubes beginning to warm up. Next there are squawks and hisses, unearthly sounds that are perfectly comfortable - as I am - in a basement room at 1 a.m. While I earn a living in the digital world, my secret vice is that I'm an analog guy. I can draw a diagram that shows the difference between a NPN and PNP transistor, but I feel more at home around vacuum tubes. These particular vacuum tubes are part of a shortwave receiver that is danged near as old as I am. And that's old. I have newer, better receivers, but there's something about the glow of a tube that makes me feel happy. Despite the obvious advantages of most forms of digital electronics, there are analog moments that I can't give up. Glowing tubes and shortwave radio would be high on my list of those moments. To me, there's nothing like the sound of a shortwave radio station - often barely plowing through old-fashioned static. Many a night I'll listen to music from a country whose name I cannot spell or pronounce, or a news broadcast from one of the way-too-many hot spots around the globe. You can listen in, too. Since there's no reason your dirty little secret has to be the same as mine, you can do your listening on a modern shortwave radio. You don't need to spend a fortune to listen in to the world. Nor do you need the eyesore of aluminum tubing I use for an antenna. Even a $100 battery-powered portable receiver from Radio Shack with a whip antenna will pull the world into your living room, or basement. Radios from Sony, Grundig and Sangean are affordable and easy to find. If they're not available locally, you can do a search for those brand names on the Web and find hundreds of merchants who sell shortwave portables. But why should you look? I think I have some explaining to do there. After all, satellites and the Internet have shrunk the world like a wool sweater left too long in the clothes dryer. Traveling the word in milliseconds is old hat now, no radio needed to do it. Instead you can click your computer's mouse, and you're anywhere, using the Web. You can even find sites that let you tune in to some radio stations and listen on the computer speakers. Those Web broadcasts can be crystal-clear. So why should you spend even $100 for a radio receiver that will tune in static crashes and stations that fade in and out? I could tell you about the satisfaction I feel hunting through the crowded shortwave bands to find a new and rare station. Or I could try to explain the thrill of piecing together the sense of a news broadcast that fades in and out like a ghost. I could even talk about the connection I feel with my childhood as I listen to the strange mixture of squawks and static. All that is true. But reasons like that wouldn't fly in my own home. I can picture it: ``Dear, I want to buy a shortwave radio because there is great satisfaction in listening to static. Besides, we won't be able to pick up stations very clearly at times. Doesn't that sound like fun?'' Luckily there are more tangible reasons for tuning in to the shortwave bands. You'll travel to places the Internet does not yet reach. Servers and high-speed Internet connections aren't yet available in every part of the globe. But putting a shortwave radio transmitter on the air is old-tech. With little more than a generator and a transmitter, even the smallest country can reach the world using the shortwave. If you buy a portable shortwave receiver, you can take it along with you, no matter where you travel. Some of the receivers are tiny. Sony makes several that can literally fit into your shirt pocket. Taking the radio along on trips can provide more entertainment than dozens of cable TV channels. Maybe you think that you understand the world because you watch the nightly news or read the newspaper. Both are good ideas. But you're getting an edited view of the world if that's all you do. Instead of getting a few moments of news from the TV, a shortwave broadcast offers a more complete picture of a country. Tune in for a couple of hours and you'll hear local music, drama and political commentary. No matter how well-informed you are now, I promise you that it won't take much listening to realize how little you really know (Atlanta Journal Constitution via Artie Bigley, DXLD) DISTANT STATIONS, DIE-HARD RADIO FANS By Nisha Lahiri Saturday September 27, 2:55 AM http://in.news.yahoo.com/030926/58/281uq.html Ever thought of listening to remote radio stations in far-flung places? It's a hobby of many a radio enthusiast, right here in Calcutta. A band of loyal shortwave frequency listeners tunes into broadcasting stations worldwide. So, a person in Purulia can frequently be found tuning in to a programme in Peru. Thousands of radio DX-ers ("technical jargon for distant stations listeners") exchange information and signal strength reports, and participate in contests of international radio stations. It involves listening in to stations across the world, be it Voice of America or German radio. All one needs are good-quality receivers with high selectivity and sensitivity. This, say DX-ers, is lacking in Calcutta. "There are nearly 2,000 radio DX-ers in West Bengal," says Arya Ghosh, assistant secretary, Calcutta VHF Amateur Radio Society, life member, Amateur Radio Society of India and an enthusiastic DX-er. "Every time I listen to a foreign radio station, there is usually a letter from someone in Bengal. But, the receivers available are not adequate." Cheap Chinese radios, for around Rs 350, flood the local market, but lack the power of sensitivity, enabling one to intercept the weak stations, and selectivity, which means the quality to tune in to the desired station and discard the unwanted ones. International sets, sold in the grey market are priced too high, there is no guarantee and no way to repair them, says Ghosh. "I face a lot of trouble listening to the weak stations, and there is chaos as one station arrives on the other. What the radio-hobbyists need are world-class radio receivers with digital frequency readout, which are phase-locked loop (PLL) synthesised and have frequency stability. For this, the multinationals manufacturing the receivers have to come forward," he adds. Saibal Banerjee of JDS Technologies, a franchisee of electronics giant Grundig, explains that while they do get the worldband radio sets on order, stocking them in Calcutta is not financially viable. "There isn't enough demand. Also, they cost several times more than the Chinese radios, at around Rs 3,500." But according to Ghosh, DX-ing is a hobby that needs the right equipment before people can get into it. "With the arrival of FM channels, radios are very popular. A radio still bridges the communication gap. If someone tunes into a station abroad and likes it, he'll continue to do so. But you won't know till you've tried it. The equipment has to be available first. They might be expensive, but the consumer should have the choice," he sums up (Via Artie Bigley, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ QST DE W1AW PROPAGATION FORECAST BULLETIN 45 ARLP045 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA November 7, 2003 To all radio amateurs The opening line to last week`s propagation bulletin read, ``Solar excitement continued this week``. Last week`s events caused excitement, but this week was positively historic. The largest explosion ever recorded in our solar system occurred Tuesday, November 4 when an X28 class flare exploded from sunspot 486. See data for this on http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_11_04/ from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The flare erupted as the giant sunspot 486 was about to rotate from the visible disk. This means the blast wasn`t aimed at earth, but was in a great position for taking images. The eruption saturated X-ray detectors on NOAA`s GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, --- see http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/ and was so strong that the X28 measurement had to be estimated, as did the solar flux for November 4. The solar flux for that day (taken from the daily 2000 UTC reading) was measured at the observatory in British Columbia at 560.9, which is way off the scale. It was adjusted downward to an estimated 168 by NOAA`s Space Environment Center. The flare saturated observing satellites for about 13 minutes during the peak of the event, according to Christopher Balch of NOAA SEC, who spoke with Tomas Hood, NW7US --- Tomas` web site is http://prop.hfradio.org/ The measurements stopped at X17.4. The level of the flare was estimated by analyzing data from HESSI, the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager --- see http://hessi.ssl.berkeley.edu/ An explanation of the X classes for rating solar flares is at http://spaceweather.com/glossary/flareclasses.html Also, see http://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/sftheory/flare.htm The last time a huge flare saturated X-ray detectors was in April, 2001, and that one was X-20, the biggest recorded at that time. Keep in mind that there aren`t any accurate records of flare intensity before about 30 years ago. Roger Bonuchi, WB9JXE of Plainfield, Illinois wrote to say that his astronomy calendar for November 5 noted that on that day in 2001 there was a ``huge red aurora visible for hours over North America.`` Looking back to our bulletin that covered that time at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/2001-arlp046.html we see that indeed there was a large geomagnetic storm. The bulletin reported that frightened Midwest residents, unfamiliar with aurora borealis, called 911 to report a ``nuclear death cloud``. Roger also said he picked up the N9RET CW beacon, which runs 2 watts on 28.2335 MHz. He found it odd that N9RET is about 25-30 miles from him and he was copying it for the first time at around S6. He called Tim Lanners, N9RET who told him he rarely gets reports from Illinois. Tim is in Broadview, Illinois in the Chicagoland area. This bulletin is running late past deadline on Friday, so it is time to end it. Today the solar disk is completely blank with no visible spots. Mark Downing, WM7D of Reno, reported another notable event. He wrote that 298.3 was a new solar flux high for cycle 23. The previous high was 282.6 set on September 26, 2001. The Japan International DX Phone Contest is this weekend, as well as the Worked All Europe DX RTTY Contest. We can hope for lower geomagnetic activity, and the planetary A index for Saturday through Wednesday, November 12 is predicted at 15, 15, 20, 30 and 35. Sunspot numbers and solar flux are way down, and the predicted solar flux for the same days is 90, 90, 95, 100 and 115. For more information about propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin see the Propagation page on the ARRL Web site at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html Sunspot numbers for October 30 through November 5 were 293, 266, 277, 174, 76, 79 and 32, with a mean of 171. 10.7 cm flux was 271.4, 248.9, 210.4, 190.4, 166.9, 168 and 114, with a mean of 195.7. Estimated planetary A indices were 162, 93, 21, 18, 10, 31 and 9, with a mean of 49.1. Copyright © 2003, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NW7US PROPAGATION UPDATE: 8-XI-2003 A weak shockwave from the glancing blow of the coronal mass ejection from the X28-class flare of 4-XI-2003 was recorded at about 1900Z 6- XI-2003. It only produced minor to major storm conditions that passed after a few hours. As I write this update, the geomagnetic activity is slightly active due to the influence of a small coronal hole. The IMF (Interplanetary Magnetic Field) has been somewhat orientated toward the south (with a Bz reading that is negative), so this has elevated the geomagnetic activity. This geomagnetic activity will continue for a few days. It will mostly degrade over-the-pole and very high-latitude propagation paths, and slightly degrade the lower HF frequencies. The proton event that we've been having is pretty much over, though, so the polar paths are better than they've been for many days, even with the elevated geomagnetic activity. Here's an interesting note: on 6-XI-2003, two B-class flares were recorded. These unusually long flares are indirect echoes caused by giant flares still occurring from those two huge sunspots, but from the other side of the sun! This is an indication that we'll want to watch for the return of these sunspot groups and their possible continuation of high intensity flaring, when they rotate back into view in about 10 days. Propagation this weekend should be fair to good for most paths, on low HF all the way up to about 21 MHz. Frequencies above 21 MHz will have weaker propagation on many paths, as the 10.7-cm flux has decreased again to below 100. Predicted average flux is 90 and 86 for today and tomorrow. More at http://prop.hfradio.org 73 de Tomas, NW7US (AAR0JA/AAM0EWA)(via swl at qth.net via DXLD) ###