DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-206, November 15, 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 1207: WWCR: Sun 0330 5070, 0730 3210, Wed 1030 9475 WBCQ: Mon 0515 7415 WRN: Europe, Sun 0530; 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 1207 (high version is in two parts): Part I: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1207h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1207h.rm Part II: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1207i.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1207i.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1207.html WORLD OF RADIO 1207 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1207.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1207.rm WORLD OF RADIO ON RADIO OZONE. Plans to continue using 5925 for its Sunday morning transmissions, including WOR (Gary Stevens, UK, Radio Without Licence, Nov World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Seems to start on 6200 before switching down (Paul Watson, ed., ibid.) "OZONE RADIO INTERNATIONAL --- Previously known as Westside Radio International, shortwave Dublin pirate Ozone Radio operates every Sunday from the northside of the city. It is operated by Prince Terry, who usually relays Phantom FM's Anorak Hour, along with other station recordings, and new music from bands breaking into the scene" http://www.radiowaves.fm/database/index.html?http&&&www.radiowaves.fm/database/OzoneRadioInternational.html Currently on 5925 relaying WOR (Mike Terry, Sun Nov 9, shortwavelistening yahoogroup via DXLD) What`s ``currently`` mean? The time stamp on the message was 3:53 am, zone? ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. Re 3-200: 4760 now signs on at 2355 (not 2330) (Jose Jacob, Nov 11, dx_india via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. It`s Nov 17 in SE Australia, date when RA`s new B-03 schedule was belatedly to take effect. Maybe that explains why after 1500 UT Nov 16 I am hearing RA in English not only on 11650, but accompanied by a much weaker parallel on 11660 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. RA'S FEEDBACK CANCELLED Radio Australia has cancelled the run of Roger Broadbent's weekly program "Feedback", which discussed aspects of RA's operations, as well as developments in international broadcasting and telecommunications matters. The program, though popular with many listeners, apparently was most popular with the "wrong" ones -- specifically, listeners outside RA's primary target regions of Asia and the Pacific. It appears that management feels the resources used to produce this program can be put to better use producing programs of greater relevance and interest to those in Asia and the Pacific. The final program in this well-produced series airs on November 21-22. It will be missed (John Figliozzi, NY, Nov 12, swprograms via DXLD) Has been Fri 2105, Sat 0605, Sun 0305, unless that is changed ya (gh) FEEDBACK* - listener letters, features and news about RA. These days there's a myriad audio services competing for the hearts, ears and chequebooks of prospective listeners. There's the internet, digital terrestrial radio on both the domestic and international fronts, at least one company offering countless streams of audio to your mobile phone and then of course there's the network of satellites in orbit above our heads. In this latter category World Space has got Africa, the Middle East, a large portion of Europe and most of Asia covered. Meanwhile the United States is the preserve of Sirius and XM Satellite Radio. Both offer similar services however one now has over a million subscribers while the other has only 160,000. On the programme this week we hear from an independent observer of the US radio scene. Roger Broadbent asks can the US market sustain two satellite based services and if not what will determine which of the two will survive. We'll also be hearing from what would appear to be the underdog - Sirius Satellite Radio. Although it may not be as vocal as XM Radio about its subscriber base it's PR people tell us that Sirius is here to stay. [T;%] (Ed. Note: Feedback will have its final program next weekend. The series is being discontinued.) (RA Previews by John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) Sad news. I thought Roger did the best job of melding perspectives from both the broadcaster's and listener's points of view, in comparison to other communications programs. RA management should consider *why* we outsiders were the ones to communicate with the program -- a) it's because we can -- we have a very high penetration of Internet connectivity and usage, making it easier for us to interact with the program; b) Since access to the more basic news and current affairs really isn't an issue for us, we're drawn to Feedback because the program does not cover current affairs; c) [speculation] We Americans and Europeans, by our nature, are more apt to treat radio as a two-way medium. The almost-laughable paradox here is that the usual recommendation to communicate with a broadcaster -- in order to preserve a program -- was the wrong thing to do, since it exposed the fact that we in the non-target areas were paying attention and liking what we were hearing. Sometimes you just can't win (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) As I recall a similar argument was made for cancelling the Swiss SW Merry-Go-Round. BTW, RA manager Jean-Gabriel Manguy has been a frequent guest on Feedback (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So, if we are the "wrong" listeners, maybe RA should be the first to only broadcast on the internet to just its "target" areas and somehow block off the rest of the world., since, in their minds, we don't count (Bill KA2EMZ Bergadano, ibid.) What a shame --- RA has closed off another avenue of information to listeners. I wonder if any layoffs will happen as a result of this program being cancelled? (Maryanne Kehoe, GA, ibid.) The answer is yes. Apparently, at least one part-timer will be made "redundant". Further program schedule changes are likely as well, though these were not yet clarified at the time I asked (John Figliozzi, ibid.) Very sorry to hear this. Aside from losing yet another "listener" oriented program on shortwave, it's all the worse because the logic of the decision seems flawed. Shortwave is and will always be a "broadcasting" medium not a "narrowcasting" medium which means you get listeners where you don't expect them and didn't intend for them. This should not mean they are "less valuable" than any other listeners but increasingly that seems to be the case. It also belies the urgings to use the Internet to listen to broadcasts not available in your region --- you're not wanted anyway. (Sigh) I suppose the ABC/RA doesn't want any "feedback" on this decision? I hope we will continue to hear Roger on the air with other programs. He does a fine job (Rob de Santos, Columbus, Ohio USA, ibid.) ** CANADA. Miscellaneous Canadian broadcasting notes: http://www.milkmanunlimited.com (Nov CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** CHINA. Caros amigos, recebi um E-mail da Radio Internacional da China com informa?? es que julgo importantes, (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena - Minas Gerais) Viz.: Subject: pequena encuesta Estimado amigo: El Departamento de Español de nuestra emisora está considerando la posibilidad de retransmitir nuestros programas de la noche para América Latina y España. De esta manera, los oyentes de América Latina podrían escucharlos desde las 7 hasta las 9 am [¿en qué zona?!], mientras que los de España podrían hacerlo desde la 1 hasta las 3 pm en el invierno, o desde las 2 hasta las 4 pm en el verano. Nos gustaría saber qué les parece esta idea. Por favor, envíenos sus opiniones y sugerencias. Como siempre, deseamos lo mejor para ustedes. En espera de su respuesta, le saluda, Atentamente, Departamento de Español, Radio Internacional de China (via Adalberto, Nov 14, radioescutas via DXLD) Considering morning broadcasts in Spanish ** CHINA [and non]. Glenn: Here is the sked for CRI as received here yesterday in the mail. North America (East Coast) 2300-2400 13680-S and 6040-H 0100-0200 9790-S and 9580-H 0300-0400 9690-E 0400-0600 9755-G and 9560-S 1300-1400 9755-C and 9570-H (1120 via WUST Washington, D.C.) 1400-1500 9755-C 1500-1600 9755-C North America (West Coast) 2300-2400 13680-S 0100-0200 9790-S 0300-0400 9690-E and 9790-S 0400-0500 9755-G, 9560-S and 6190-S 0500-0600 9560-S and 6190-S 1300-1500 13675-S 1400-1600 17720-H Caribbean Sea 2300-2400 5990-H As with recent schedules there is no indication of which frequency is from which relay. The schedule does have a map showing azimuth used from each relay (presumed site as not names are indicated on the map). Mali, Lithuania?, Cuba, French Guiana, Sackville and of course Beijing (Mick Delmage, AB, Nov 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have inserted sites as best I know them, but cannot guarantee 100% accuracy. Don`t think they use Lithuania on SW. C=China itself, E= Spain, G=French Guiana, H=Habana, S=Sackville (gh) ** COLOMBIA. 2200.08 harmonic, Emisora Ideal, Planeta Rica, Córdoba, 1005Z Nov 15, weak but in clear, QRN'd, with cumbias, 1013 SPN M TC "en Colombia", 1027 chit-chat with ID, ads. Not 100% on ID (David E. Crawford, Titusville, Florida, 28.51N 80.83W, Nov 15, Cumbre DX via DXLD) What`s SPN? ** COLOMBIA. CADENA MELODIA COLOMBIA --- Saludos desde Venezuela, ¿qué tal? ¿Como está? Colega diexista, le escribo con el propósito de informarle de que el pasado martes 11 de noviembre a las 2000 TU desde acá de Pueblo Llano, Estado Mérida, Venezuela, pude captar a la emisora Radio Melodía en los 6140 transmitiendo desde Bogotá, Colombia, con una señal bastante nítida, es decir con un SINPO de 5 veces 5 y con programación habitual (HENRRI GONZALEZ SANTIAGO, PUEBLO LLANO, ESTADO MERIDA, VENEZUELA, Nov 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. RFPI, 7445, Sept 29 0130-0208 fadeout, discussion, SINPO 22222 (Malcolm Ziegelaar, Sri Lanka, AR 88D, Satellit 700, Nov World DX Club Contact via DXLD) I have been following the case of RFPI and just don't understand some aspects of it. 1) RFPI has done work in support of both the ADL and Southern Poverty Law Center. Aren't these organizations able to help out RFPI? 2) Why is RFPI pursuing a case through the Costa Rican legal system? I thought that by being on a UN facility they saw themselves as not subject to Costa Rican law. 3) Won't RFPI need a broadcast license to set up a station in a new location in Costa Rica? (Hans Johnson, FL, Nov 15, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Must reading now posted on the RFPI website is a point-by-point rebuttal of UFP`s position as expressed in a press release. Because of the formatting I will not attempt to reproduce it here: http://www.rfpi.org/UpazPR.pdf http://www.rfpi.org/UpazPR.doc I could not get the .doc version to open, but the .pdf was OK (via Glenn Hauser, Nov 15, DX LISTEING DIGEST) ** CUBA. UNIDENTIFIED. I mentioned that the strange noise on 1100 has returned, but it's even worse now. I'm not sure if it's conditions, or whoever is generating it is modifying it, but it is much wider than I have ever noticed before. It spans from somewhere around 1090 all the way to 1120 which suggests it may be centered on 1110 rather than 1100. There does seem to be a carrier on 1110, but it's hard to tell much. Last night, when I first noticed the signal returning, I also heard an ID from Radio Cadena Habana on 1100. Is anybody else noticing it being rather wide-banded like this? (Adam Myrow, Memphis TN, Nov 14, NRC-AM via DXLD) It's a complete mess here on 1100, and most certainly RCH, as you indicate (Gerry Bishop, Niceville, FL, ibid.) It was audible on 1100, 1110, 1120 here north of Dallas/Fort Worth (John Callarman, KA9SPA, Family Genealogist, Krum TX, ibid.) 14 Nov 03 2330 EST. I also hear that "noise" on 1110 kc. Have heard it on 1100 and 1120 kc in the past. I also hear CW at about 10 WPM on 1560 kc (Willis Monk, Old Fort, TN, ibid.) 1100v, CUBA, Radio Cadena Habana 15 Nov 0115Z; the usual dominant/ stable transmitter here is the source of the "noise" or "jammer" being reported on various lists. Carrier freq oscillating +/- 5 KHz or so very chaotically, with AM audio. Strong, // 1120 / 1140. Still malf'ing around 10Z recheck. Noted earlier in week with normal transmission. Not the same as the real wobble jammer on 1020, but that's been quiet the past week also (David E. Crawford, Titusville, Florida, 28.51N 80.83W, Nov 15, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CUBA. Re shortwave transmitter models: The Transmitter Documentation Project list for Cuba can be found at http://www.tdp.info/cub.html Years ago somebody reported that he managed to get to the door of the transmitter hall at Bauta, and from there he saw the BBC's, the Funkwerk Köpenick's and I think also the Soviet transmitters mentioned by TDP. I understand that the Funkwerk Köpenick and Siemens transmitters are utility units and were used for the SSB transmissions meanwhile cancelled by RHC. But, is this equipment list complete? If so there would be only four transmitters for 100 kW operation; any further transmission (including the CRI relays) would have to use substantially lower power, especially since I understand that the 30 and 20 kW of the utility transmitters are PEP, not AM carrier power. And I think RHC was also supposed to own a 250 kW transmitter from the USSR and to operate it on 6000, as far as I recall it was further said that it can be used only for transmissions to the USA while all they have for beams heading towards Europe are rhombics limited to 100 kW (that's because they could in the past rely on the relays via USSR sites). Anyway I wouldn't be surprised if there are more Soviet shortwave transmitters in Cuba than these two 100 kW units, especially in light of the reported existance of high power mediumwave transmitters (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems like Chinese-made transmitters --- no doubt copies of Continentals --- have recently been installed in fraternal comradeship (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Estimados Amigos Radioescuchas, Con motivo de las Navidades que se acercan, les enviamos un fraternal abrazo y queremos invitarlos a que nos envíen pensamientos o reflexiones acerca de lo que significa para cada uno de ustedes la Navidad y el Año Nuevo. Deberán ser frases breves (de máximo 10 líneas) que engloben el significado de estas temporadas. El texto más conmovedor y original se llevará un premio especial de Radio El Cairo en Español. Anunciaremos al ganador o ganadora el primer lunes de enero durante el programa concurso Papel y Lápiz. Así que anímense a participar y MUCHA SUERTE! RADIO EL CAIRO EN ESPANOL DIRECCION: SANAA MAKLED LOCUCION: VERONICA BALDERAS, ASSIA LAMARTY PREGRAB: MAHMOUD, MOHAMED SUPERVISION: Dr. AHMED, NAGLAA RED: NANCY, RANA (via Pedro Sedano, Spain, Nov 15, noticias DX via DXLD) ** FRANCE. CHANGES AT RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONALE WORRY JOURNALISTS | Excerpt from report by French news agency AFP Paris, 14 November: Jerôme Bouvier is stepping down as news and current affairs director of the French-language Service of Radio France Internationale (RFI), the state-owned radio announced on Friday in a communiqué that aroused the concern of the Radio Journalists' Association (SDJ). "RFI Chairman and Managing Director Jean-Paul Cluzel, and French Service Director Jerôme Bouvier, have decided by common agreement to end their collaboration," RFI said. In addition, RFI announced the departure of the same section's news and current affairs assistant director, and head of the radio's African Section, Alain Le Gouguec, who had "informed the general manager some time ago of his wish to join [the domestic radio] France Inter". In a communiqué, the SDJ says it is "amazed at the lack of an explanation for Jerôme Bouvier's departure". "Should we see in it a desire to tighten control, especially with regard to African coverage, following the killing of [correspondent] Jean Hélène [in Côte d'Ivoire] and the expulsion of [correspondent] Sophie Malibeaux [from Sénégal]?" the SDJ wonders, before asking for guaranties of "RFI's editorial freedom and independence". [Passage omitted] M. Bouvier is being replaced by RFI's Chief Political Editor Geneviève Goetzinger. M. Le Gouguec is to be succeeded by Henri Perilhou, the current publications director, following consultations with the staff committee. [Passage omitted] In addition to his new functions, M. Perilhou has been asked to "implement, at the earliest possible date and in effective consultation with all the staff directly concerned, a regionalization project for all the language newsrooms --- French, English and Portuguese --- dealing with African coverage", RFI added. "This regionalization will be carried out in application of the principles drawn up by the working groups which have been meeting since the summer of 2002," the radio said. Mr Perilhou is being replaced as director of publications by Vicky Sommet. [Passage omitted] Source: AFP news agency, Paris, in French 1958 gmt 14 Nov 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Now also pictures of the Wachenbrunn site finally appeared on the web, crammed amongst FM's at http://www.dxradio-ffm.de/THU.htm The first picture from the left shows the pair of pipe masts used for 882. At the left the new building housing the 1000 and 150 kW Kominterna transmitters; at the right the building where once the old transmitters could be found. In the meantime these transmitters were scrapped, and the picture reveals that the two 50 metre masts once used as antennas for the 20 and 5 kW Lorenz units are gone, too. I guess this applies also to a trideco antenna outside of the viewing angle. This trideco was once the backup antenna for the 250 kW transmitter otherwise using the two pipe masts. Today a container next to the masts houses a new 20 kW Thomcast [now Thales] transmitter. Once Wachenbrunn was also a relay of a microwave link; the trestle on the old building carried the antennas. Quite interesting that they are gone, too (I seem to recall that the microwave dishes were so large that they could be hardly missed in this picture). The other pictures feature the 1323 antenna, some hundred metres away from the original station grounds with the feeder crossing a public road. The pattern of this four tower antenna is switchable, and now, after a decade of always 220 degrees operation, indeed use of this feature is made by operating at a 310 degree beam heading during daytime instead. This antenna system originates like the transmitters from the USSR (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GIBRALTAR. Got in a nice full data letter verification from the Royal Navy Comm Center, GYU, Gibraltar, 12824.0 KHz, RTTY, plus a nice small pile of pix of the station and naval base. This makes another new ute country verified (Bob Combs, New Mexico, Nov 14, swl at qth.net via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. Re 3-205, Radio Tezulutlán: My friend, Father Bernadine Ness, who lives in Cobán, Guatemala, reports that Radio Tezulutlán has abandoned HF in favor of FM. I have not heard them in Minnesota for over a year. 73, (Mike Gorniak, Nov 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. [4052.5v] R. Verdad, While reviewing the recording I made from last week for a reception report, I was surprised to hear an English ID about a half hour after s/on [so, when?]. Here is what I could make out: ``This is educational and evangelical station, Radio Truth, on 4.05 megahertz, 75 meterband... Chiquimula, Guatemala, Central America ...for you. We ask you to report our signal. Address is educational and evangelical station Radio Truth, P.O. Box 5, Chiquimula, Guatemala, Central America. And don`t forget to write your name and address, and the names of our programs you listened to. And we will answer your letter and send to you our banner and QSL card. If you want to help us with ?? ministries, you can send your offering via post ?? Radio Truth, P.O. Box 5, Chiquimula, Guatemala, Central America. God bless you.`` Unfortunately due to the accent and some fading, I was unable to copy the entire announcement. I must point out that it is obviously the exact same announcement as that heard in Spanish at sign-on. Has anyone received the "banner" that they speak of?? (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** GUYANA. 3291.3, Voice of Guyana, 0945 Nov 15. Strong signal. Color commentary of sporting event with ads every few minutes for "Money Gram". This is not a rare catch, but I logged it because the signal sounds like it is 100% modulated once again after a couple of years of very weak audio. Solid copy, with the usual adjacent frequency interference (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI. POLICE CLOSE RADIO TÊTE-À-TÊTE IN SAINT-MARC; RADIO PYRAMIDE SET ON FIRE | Excerpt from report by Haitian Signal FM radio on 13 November Radio Tête-à-Tête stopped broadcasting yesterday. The Lavalas authorities decided to close this radio station while the station was broadcasting one of its most popular political talk shows. The host of the "Talks about my country" programme was on the air when the police, accompanied by a National Council of Telecommunications [Conatel] official and a justice of the peace, entered the radio station. Since then, the station has gone off the air. After this decision, as a reprisal, the people of Saint-Marc went out into the streets and set fire to another radio station belonging to Fritzon Aureaus, a former member of the news staff of Radio Haïti Inter. Radio Pyramide also stopped its programmes. In order to calm the population, the police led a brutal intervention into the crowd. Frantz Augustin, a correspondent for Radio Caraïbes FM, was struck several times. Nazaire Dupiton filed the following report: [Dupiton - recording] At the order of the Saint-Marc public prosecutor, attorney Freneau Cajuste, Saint-Marc Justice of the Peace Patrick Guirand and Police Superintendent Jacques Feder Bastien, who was at the head of a squad of heavily armed policemen, removed the transmitters and other devices [at Radio Tête-à-Tête]. Then they closed the doors of Radio Tête-à-Tête, because the radio station does not work on behalf of the Lavalas Family in Saint-Marc. Supporters and listeners who learnt about the incident gathered next to Radio Tête-à-Tête's offices and hurled stones at the police to show they do not agree with the Lavalas authorities' decision to close Radio Tête-à-Tête. After the police closed Radio Tête-à-Tête, the supporters of this radio station went to Radio Pyramide, which is located almost in front of Radio Tête-à-Tête, and set fire to the radio station. Radio Pyramide is headed by Aureaus, a former Radio Haïti Inter journalist. Augustin, a correspondent for Radio Caraïbes FM, a representative of the Haitian Journalists' Association [AJH] in Saint-Marc and the host of the "Talks about my country" programme, was struck several times by police officers. He explained what the situation was like the police raid. [Augustin] [passage omitted including previously filed material] Radio Tête-à-Tête is the only radio station, of all of the radio stations here, that they have decided to close. The reason is clear. They said it is because of the "Talks about my country" programme, which is hosted by me, Augustin, and Glemeau Dameus. [passage omitted] Source: Signal FM Radio, Port-au-Prince, in Creole 1230 gmt 13 Nov 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. COMPUTER VIRUSES NOW 20 YEARS OLD This week computer viruses celebrate 20 years of causing trouble and strife to all types of computer users. U.S. student Fred Cohen was behind the first documented virus that was created as an experiment in computer security. Now there are almost 60,000 viruses in existence and they have gone from being a nuisance to a permanent menace. BBC News, 11/10/03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3257165.stm?nl (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** IRAN. Re 3-205: Some clarification regarding Voice of Justice/Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on my monitoring of their satellite streams (Hotbird 13 east/12437 MHz/Horizontal) on 15th November: The 1030-1130 English broadcast is beamed to Azerbaijan and the Indian subcontinent and identifies as "Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran" throughout. Their website lists SW frequencies as 15480, 15550, 21470 kHz. This is followed at 1130-1230 by a separate English broadcast for North America (unlisted on IRIB's website), announcing just two frequencies, 6035 and 9835 kHz. This is quite early for that part of the world, but the time of this broadcast is announced as 0130-0230 UTC! Identification throughout this broadcast is "the Voice of Justice broadcast, from the Islamic Republic of Iran", but the gong, signature tune, incidental music by Vangelis, etc., are as used in other VIRI broadcasts. As for the Voice of Justice ID being heard on frequencies such as 15550 kHz, I think this can be explained by the engineers at VIRI often being very tardy in switching off or retuning their transmitters at the nominal end of transmission on a given frequency --- on occasion I've heard a VIRI World Service broadcast on an apparent "new" frequency, only to find it disappearing after the first 5-10 minutes. So I would suggest that the Voice of Justice ID heard on 15550 kHz around 1130 was in fact the start of the 1130 English transmission rather than the end of the 1030 one. You can hear a clip of Voice of Justice on the Interval Signals Online website at http://www.intervalsignalsonline.com (Dave Kernick, UK, Nov 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ. CZECHS LAUNCHING TELEVISION STATION IN SOUTH IRAQ - PRESS | Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 14 November: A Czech businessman, who does not want his name to be published, has launched a project of building a private television station in southern Iraq, the daily Lidove noviny writes today. "After the war I went to Iraq to learn what is needed there. Because it is my profession, I was interested mainly in television... [agency ellipsis]. I found a partner who is going to launch a joint project with me. We have agreed to establish a private television station called the Voice of the South, based in Basra," says the owner of the firm, whose name he keeps secret as well. He keeps the information secret for fear that rivals may make use of it, the paper notes. The Czech-Iraqi television station may start broadcasting in southern Iraq as early as February, three hours a day at the beginning. The broadcast will focus mainly on news but will also contain animated films for children. "We also want to give space to Czech firms which want to run business in Iraq. We will broadcast advertisement and teleshopping," the Czech businessman says. In the near future, an eight-member group of Czechs with equipment are to leave for Iraq and train their Iraqi colleagues. "I have found out that some people who were familiar with television work are no longer alive. It is necessary to train editors and cameramen," the businessman says. The project of a joint television station is supported not only by Czech officials but also by the British, in whose sector the broadcasting will take place, the paper writes. The television station is to be independent and should be supervised by both partners together. Interest in the project has also been shown by some Kuwaiti companies. The Voice of the South owners expect the station to be profit-making within two years. This also depends on whether the broadcasting will spread to the north as well, the paper adds. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 2306 gmt 13 Nov 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRELAND. LIMERICK: PIRATE RADIO WIPEOUT Wednesday 12th November 2003 Another large-scale Comreg operation has taken place today, this time in Limerick. In what is already being dubbed as 'Black Wednesday', most of the city's unlicensed stations have been removed from the air in a series of raids. Tonight, there are no pirate stations broadcasting - amongst the stations off the air are Galtee Radio, Radio Limerick One, Estuary Radio, and Easy FM. Last May, Dublin's FM band was cleared of unlicensed stations in an unprecedented swoop which became known as Black Tuesday. Most of those stations have since returned to air. http://www.radiowaves.fm/news/index.shtml (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** JAPAN. NHK World Radio Japan continues its live broadcast series with a transmission from the Jimmy Carter Civic Centre, Konyu Town, ``Hello from Hiroshima``, Sat Dec 6 at 1210-1259 Japan Time (via Arthur Ward, Nov World DX Club Contact via DXLD) A propitious date; that would be 0310-0359 UT Sat. Cark your malendars (gh, DXLD) ** JORDAN. Does anyone have a current program schedule or grid for English from R. Jordan, on 11690? Website linked from Media Network hitlist http://www.jrtv.jo/ is under construxion. The only link which is alive goes to Ramadan in Arabic, I think (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 2850.1, Korean Central BS, 0933 Nov 15, Awe inspiring patriotic hymns. Weak but audible at 0930. Short opening, down to inaudible level by 1000 (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. Radio Korea International B-03 Schedules Europe Korean 1 0900 - 1100 13670 1600 - 1800 7275 1700 - 1900 9515 Korean 2 0700 - 0800 9535 (Skelton) 0900 - 1000 15210 Russian 1600 - 1700 9515 1800 - 1900 7275 7235 (Skelton) 1900 - 2000 9515 2000 - 2100 7275 Indonesian 2200 - 2300 7275 English 1 0800 - 0900 13670 1900 - 2000 7275 English 2 2200 - 2230 3955 (Skelton) French 0800 - 0900 15210 2100 - 2200 6145 (Skelton) German 0700 - 0800 15210 2000 - 2100 3955 (Skelton) Spanish 0700 - 0800 13670 2000 - 2100 15575 Chinese 2300 - 2400 7275 North America Korean 2 0100 - 0200 15575 Korean News 1100 - 1130 9650 (Sackville) English 1 0200 - 0300 9560 (Sackville) 15575 1130 - 1230 9650 (Sackville) South America Korean 0300 - 0400 11810 English 0200 - 0300 11810 Spanish 1000 - 1100 9580 9760 (Sackville) 15210 0100 - 0200 11810 Southeast Asia Korean 1 0900 - 1100 9570 English 1 0800 - 0900 9570 1300 - 1400 9570 13670 Indonesian 1200 - 1300 9570 13670 1400 - 1500 9570 13670 2200 - 2300 9755 Chinese 2300 - 2400 9755 Middle East & Africa Korean 1 1700 - 1900 7150 1800 - 2000 9870 Arabic 1900 - 2000 6150 7150 15365 (Rampisham) English 1 1600 - 1700 7255 9870 French 1600 - 1700 7150 1800 - 1900 6150 1900 - 2000 7150 China Chinese 1130 - 1230 6065 2100 - 2200 6035 Japan Japanese 0000 - 0100 11810 0800 - 0900 5975 7275 1100 - 1200 7275 9570 1200 - 1300 5975 6135 1170 (MW) 1400 - 1500 5975 7275 2300 - 2400 15575 Non Direction Korean 1 0900 - 1100 5975 7275 9570 1700 - 1900 5975 2100 - 2300 5975 Korean 2 1000 - 1100 1170 (MW) 1200 - 1300 7275 Chinese 1300 - 1400 5975 6135 1170 (MW) 7275 2000 - 2100 5975 2300 - 2400 5975 Russian 1100 - 1200 5975 6135 1170 (MW) English 1 1600 - 1700 5975 1900 - 2000 5975 Glenn, Here is another schedule. This one taken off the RKI website (Bernie O`Shea, Ont., Nov 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) En el programa "Buzón del Radioescucha" del sábado 15 de noviembre, a través de KBS Radio Corea Internacional, sus conductores Cecilia Song y Francisco "Pacho" Bermúdez alertaron nuevamente a los oyentes sobre la necesidad de reactivar el envío de cartas a la emisora diciendo: "Amigos oyentes les tenemos un aviso muy importante, nada nuevo pero muy importante, ustedes saben que tenemos una casilla de correo en Argentina más específicamente en Rosario y les recomendamos a los amigos oyentes del cono sur que utilicen esta casilla ya que les ofrece seguridad en la recepción de sus cartas aquí en la redacción y esto, lo más importante, a un menor costo (Cecilia), a un costo muy bajo realmente y especialmente el llamado es para los oyentes de Argentina , Uruguay, Chile ya que incluso se reciben cartas de Centroamérica, el Caribe también de Venezuela, Colombia, Brasil pero, en menor medida de los más cercanos a la ubicación de la casilla de correo, lo cual es un poco extraño ¿No? ("Pacho"). Así es que si dudan en mandarnos alguna carta por el costo del correo pues amigos utilicen esta casilla de correo que tenemos en Rosario. Tienen que escribir a Radio Corea Internacional, Servicio en Español, Casilla de Correo 950, 2000 Rosario, Argentina ...(Pacho repite la dirección)... Muchos amigos oyentes nos habían solicitado la creación de una casilla de correo y así lo hicimos, así que le pedimos pues por favor utilícenla y por medio de esta casilla espero que recibamos muchas cartas de los amigos oyentes que últimamente nos están enviando no tantas como antes y me duele realmente estar comentándoles esta situación a los amigos oyentes (Cecilia dijo casi emocionada). Sí, además que si utilizan esta casilla de correo el dinero que van a ahorrar es mucho porque el costo se disminuye más de la mitad ¿No? ("Pacho"). Así es, por ejemplo en el caso de Argentina --- que me he enterado por varios canales --- el costo del correo es muy elevado y con ese dinero pueden comprar leche, varios litros, y muchas cosas más esenciales para la vida, diría yo, pero también es importante mantener el contacto con los amigos que vivimos aquí en Corea a pesar de que la leche también es importante (Cecilia), o con el mismo presupuesto pueden enviar una cantidad doble de cartas ("Pacho")..." El costo de un envío simple de hasta 20 gramos dentro del territorio de Argentina vale $ 0,75 en tanto que el valor de un envío similar vía aérea a la República de Corea es de $ 5,25, es decir, seis veces más! El oyente que utiliza la Casilla 950 de Rosario se ahorra $ 4,50 por cada carta enviada. El ejemplo de Cecilia es muy cierto, un saché de leche se consigue aquí a $ 0,99, de modo que si se utiliza la casilla con el ahorro resultante se puede comprar casi 5 litros de leche! ¿Se dan cuenta ustedes cómo el Correo Argentino contribuye a la globalización?... hi! (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Argentina, Nov 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. RADIO KUWAIT (SCHEDULE B-03) Amigos de la lista, He recibido carta de Rádio Kuwait, con schedule de la emisora informando los detalles de sus transmisiones. Rádio Kuwait presenta 2 (dos) emisiones en lengua inglésa, como sigue, para el período B03 (28/10/2003 hasta 31/03/2004): FRECUENCIA = HORARIO (UTC) = REGIÓN PRINCIPAL 15110 kHz (05:00-08:00 UTC) SOUTH & SOUTH EAST ASIA 11990 kHz (18:00-21:00 UTC) EUROPE & NORTH AMERICA Informo aún que Rádio Kuwait presenta un link donde los oyentes pueden obtener detalles de las transmisiones, que es lo seguinte: http://www.moinfo.gov.kw También hay una dirección eletrónica que es la seguinte: kwtfreq@m... [truncated by yahoogroups, never by gh] (Antônio Schuler, Recife-PE (Brasil), Conexión Digital via DXLD) Tried the above website, but the English button would not work. And it kept demanding to install Macromedia Flash Player, which I habitually reject. Maybe I haven`t visited enough Arabic sites, but I don`t recall finding the slide bar before on the left instead of the right. If someone can get their current English program grid, please send it on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. Family Radio (WYFR) via Madagascar -- As of Friday 14 November the Radio Netherlands Madagascar relay station has begun relays of WYFR at 1900-2100 UTC on 6020 kHz, 50 kW, bearing 255 degrees towards southern Africa. As of yesterday, prior to the first broadcast, my technical colleagues were not 100% sure what language(s) they are carrying, but we think it's Portuguese. This transmission is not listed in the online technical schedule yet. I did know it was planned, but not the starting date. Details will be added on Monday. # posted by Andy @ 12:16 UTC Nov 15 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** MEXICO. RADIO DIGITAL Y RETROCESO HISTÓRICO EN LA W Cambio de frecuencia - Fernando Mejía Barquera Publicado en Milenio Diario en 7 de Noviembre del 2003 Desde el pasado 3 de octubre las señales de radio digital surcan el espacio radioeléctrico del Distrito Federal, sin embargo, el escucha común no las percibe, circunstancia que, por el momento, carece de importancia: no es el público adicto a la radio, sino los especialistas en ingeniería, los expertos en cuestiones financieras y los políticos, quienes determinarán en el curso de 2004 cuál de los dos sistemas de radio digital que actualmente se disputan la supremacía en el mundo adoptará México: el Eureka 147, europeo (conocido también como Worl DAB), o el In Band on Channel (IBOC), estadunidense, cuya denominación comercial es HD Radio. La radio digital, como el lector seguramente recuerda, permite disfrutar de transmisiones con calidad de compact disc. CIRT, RADIO CENTRO, SCT... A partir del 3 de octubre, la Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Radio y Televisión (CIRT) lleva a cabo pruebas, en las que participan ingenieros de diversos grupos radiofónicos mexicanos, con el fin de hacer un análisis comparativo entre los sistemas IBOC FM y Eureka 147 en relación con los siguientes parámetros: alcance de las transmisiones, respuesta, inmunidad a interferencias y pruebas acústicas de escucha para determinar la calidad de su sonido. Las pruebas, coordinadas por el grupo de ingenieros de la CIRT, son observadas por elementos de la Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) y tienen como ``escenario auditivo`` las estaciones de FM que opera el Grupo Radio Centro en el Distrito Federal: Radio Red FM (88.1 megahertz —mhz—), Alfa Radio (91.3 mhz), Universal Stereo (92.1 mhz), Stereo Joya (93.7 mhz), Stereo 97.7 (97.7 mhz) y La Z (107.3 mhz). La programación de estas emisoras se transmite al Valle de México simultáneamente en el sistema normal o ``analógico`` --- o sea, el que escuchamos habitualmente en nuestros aparatos domésticos --- y en los dos sistemas digitales mencionados. En este último caso, el radioescucha ``normal`` no percibe las transmisiones, pues para hacerlo tendría que contar con equipo especial dotado con el dispositivo para captar las señales de radio digital; ese tipo de aparatos receptores aún no está a la venta en México, podrá estarlo cuando las autoridades definan qué sistema de radio digital adoptará nuestro país y las estaciones comiencen a transmitir cotidianamente señales de ese tipo, algo que sucede en Europa desde 1995 con el sistema Eureka y ha empezado a ocurrir apenas este año en Estados Unidos con el IBOC. A FAVOR DE IBOC Las transmisiones de prueba se realizan desde el cerro del Chiquihuite y para llevarlas a cabo dos empresas fabricantes de equipo radiofónico facilitaron los aparatos necesarios. Por supuesto no lo hicieron desinteresadamente: las empresas fabricantes de equipo transmisor apuestan a que si la tecnología que apoyan es aceptada en un país los pedidos de aparatos por parte de las emisoras que operan en él habrán de ser abundantes. La empresa Broadcast Electronics facilitó el transmisor para las pruebas en el sistema IBOC-FM (o HD Radio), mientras que la compañía Harris proporcionó el equipo para la transmisión en el Eureka 147 (o World DAB). Cabe recordar que mientras el primero se transmite en el rango de frecuencias que es usado actualmente por las emisoras de FM (88 a 108 megahertz), el segundo utiliza el segmento de frecuencias de 1452 a 1492 MHz. Las actuales pruebas para observar el comportamiento de ambos sistemas se extenderán por aproximadamente seis meses de acuerdo con el permiso que la SCT otorgó a la CIRT para realizarlas. Al término de ese plazo, los resultados serán entregados al Comité de Tecnologías Digitales para la Radiodifusión, instancia en donde están representados los industriales de la radio y el gobierno federal. Sin duda, el diagnóstico que entregue la CIRT será fundamental para tomar la decisión acerca de qué sistema adoptará México. En este espacio hemos insistido reiteradamente en que por el vínculo de subordinación económica y tecnológica que tiene México con respecto a Estados Unidos es altamente probable que la decisión se incline hacia el sistema de radio digital impulsado por el vecino país: el IBOC o HD Radio. Pero hay también otro factor: las simpatías de los radiodifusores mexicanos parecen inclinarse hacia ese sistema. Al respecto es interesante la encuesta que la CIRT realizó entre los asistentes a la LXV Semana de Radio y Televisión --- la mayoría de ellos concesionarios --- celebrada hace apenas un mes, entre el 7 y el 10 de octubre de este año. Al 42.6 por ciento de los asistentes le pareció que el sonido del sistema Eureka 147 es mejor, más nítido, mientras que el 36.7 opinó a favor del IBOC. No obstante la superioridad mostrada por el sistema europeo en este aspecto, el 57.3 por ciento se manifestó a favor de que México adopte como norma técnica para la radio digital el sistema IBOC, mientras que el 42.7 por ciento consideró que sería mejor el Eureka. Finalmente, el 92.6 por ciento de los asistentes opinó que la radio actual debe ceder su sitio a la radio digital. Tras casi ocho meses de pruebas, de mantener al aire cotidianamente una transmisión, es posible prever que, independientemente del sistema que se adopte, la radio digital llegó a México para quedarse y que probablemente el anuncio de los trabajos para incorporarla a la vida del país en el curso de la presente década se producirá a mediados del próximo año. Si todo sale bien, el inicio de la radio y de la TV digitales pasará a formar parte de los activos políticos del presidente Fox que, al final de su sexenio, podrá ostentarse como el gobernante en cuya administración México penetró al siglo XXI en materia de medios electrónicos. MICROONDA: RETROCESO EN LA W Y mientras se avanza hacia la modernidad tecnológica en la radio mexicana, se difunden versiones de que a partir del próximo lunes 10 de noviembre, las dos frecuencias que llevan el distintivo W (900 kHz en AM y 96.9 mhz en FM) difundirán simultáneamente la misma programación con el fin de bajar costos. De ocurrir así, estaríamos frente a la confirmación de la crisis en Televisa Radio bajo la administración del grupo español Prisa. Y también frente a un retroceso radiofónico: así operaban en México hace 40 años algunas de las empresas que tenían frecuencias de AM y FM, ``dobleteando la programación``, matando dos pájaros con una sola señal, desperdiciando un espacio que quizá podría tener mejor uso en otras manos. Fernando Mejía Barquera (via Héctor García Bojorge, DF, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. PEREGRINATIONS OF WOLFMAN JACK ACROSS THE BORDER I have a few mp3 file airchecks of Wolfman Jack, a.k.a Bob Smith from Brooklyn, NY, howlin' over "The Tower of Flower Power, XERF". (my speculation: He may of have been on the property, but on XERF via audio tape). Off the top of my head I think Wolf was on definitely in the 60s. I've forgotten if/for how long he was on in the 70s. I think by that time he was on XERB 1090 Rosarito, Baja California. Later on he hosted an oldies show on XETRA 690, Tijuana. I think this was in the 80s. I have some of this in my aircheck archives, but the list isn't handy at the moment. I enjoyed listening to Wolf from his Blues days as well as his golden oldies days. Most all of that is from airchecks. This is also documented on the website http://www.jinglefreaks.com --- the Wolfman Jack tribute webpage is tied to the site put up by broadcast historian Doug Allen of Brockton, Mass. (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast, FL (est. Dec 31, 1999), Nov 11, 2003, NRC-AM via DXLD) As a way of putting XERB [1090] into perspective, keep in mind that it changed to Spanish in the early 70's, somewhere around '73 if I am not mistaken. So The Wolfman on XERB was definitely late 60's, right after leaving XERF. XERB became XEPRS, with Spanish programming targeting LA in an era when a Tijuana signal was good enough to overcome the limited manmade interference of the day and be usable in LA. Today, many of LA's 50 kw stations don't cover the whole market well, due to interference. The Border Blasters book is a good reference. For a part of broadcasting that was not well documented, the authors have assembled something that is very close to being 100% accurate, and any errors are very small. A good part is how it documents the Wolfman from his early radio gigs in Norfolk to Del Rio and XERF (David Gleason, Burbank, NRC-AM via DXLD) As you will recall XERF was a preacher paradise. From the first time I ever heard them in 1952 until the Mexican government went communist in 1982 they were a regular visitor in north Texas where I grew up. 1982 was the year XERF cut their power and closed their studios in Del Rio, TX (Or maybe it was around that year) (Willis Monk, Old Fort, TN, ibid.) Wolfman was very definitely on XERF. I can recall listening to him myself. By the early 80's, the squabble between factions of the licensee had gotten so bad that a court appointed "intervener" (interventor in Spanish) was in the station. Losses were piling up, as most sponsors had evaporated with the decline in AM and night AM listening. The preachers no longer paid as much, and the cost of generating electricity and maintaining an aging transmitter overwhelmed the station. IMER, which originally was chartered to provide indigenous language programming, had just expanded to include "service to rural areas" in its charter, making rural and poor border areas a tight fit. They bought what was left of the XERF assets and converted the station into a commercially sustained local station. The reason the preachers were taken off is that the station decided to reduce power, run 6 AM to 10 PM and serve the local community only. It had nothing to do with Communism, the antichrist or anything but just a simple format change based on economics (David Gleason, Burbank CA, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** MOLDOVA. 5960, Maiac Grigoriopol Moldova Pridnestrovie transmitter, scheduled 1700-1742 UT on Fridays. Attached listen to recording, taken at home in Stuttgart Germany, using a Kenwood R1000. Friday 2003-Nov-14, 1730-1741:46 UTC program cut-off. Transmitter switched off eleven seconds later at 1741:57 UT. Very strong signal really 500 kW of power at 265 degrees, but 20% overmodulated. Excerpt recording is 3.47 minutes lasting. I didn't check the adjacent channels, but I think 5965 is CRI Beijing-CHN 300 kW 322 deg, and 5955 Flevo-HOL 500 kW 210 deg; as heard on previous days. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Nov 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. The website of Mongolian National Radio & TV / Voice of Mongolia with the address http://mongol.net/vom has been off since 1 November and is not going to return under this address, since the provider Micom (a subsidiary of Mongolian Telecom) has discontinued its webhosting services (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Nov 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Hi Glenn, Re your comment "Just a few days ago this was being downplayed." I realise it's confusing to outsiders, but the "few days ago" refers to a report in the mass circulation Dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf", which more or less predicted what was going to be decided in Friday's Cabinet meeting regarding public broadcasting. However, as matter of policy, Radio Netherlands does not officially comment on press speculation. The actual meeting was held on Friday, and so the details are now official. The Dutch media is always full of speculation. If we commented on everything that's published regarding Radio Netherlands, there would be a press release almost every day! [Later:] Hi Glenn, Re my previous E-mail: It has just occurred to me that you were probaby referring to an earlier item concerning a recommendation of the Dutch Council for Cultural Affairs, as mentioned in the Media Network Weblog of 6th Nov. Radio Netherlands did indeed comment on that, since it was in an official press release, and it was also mentioned in our news bulletins. But looking what Lodewijk Bouwens said, I don't agree that he "played it down", but merely put the matter into context. Whether or not the State Secretary was swayed by the Council's comments I don't know. It will be interesting to see how the proposals go down with parliament when the matter is debated. Informal soundings amongst MP's suggest that many would be opposed to cuts that alter the fundamental nature of Radio Netherlands. It's very difficult to predict what the Dutch parliament will do, given that we have a coalition government and numerous small parties. 73, (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, Nov 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Further checks of Enid`s new 1640 on its second day of operation, Nov 15: still no legal IDs or any call-letter IDs, and dead air at 1459 UT extended for 8 minutes, as they are no doubt tweaking stuff. After that mostly open carrier all day until 2153 UT when UF format suddenly resumed, and still no ID of any kind at hourtop 2200. And still a dead-air gap at 2242:30 to 2245:30. I am reminded in BCB Topics, Nov CIDX Messenger, that the call was recently changed from KMKZ to KMMZ, as the latter was no longer applicable to 96.9 The Bull. I`ll believe it if I ever hear it, and that`s my excuse for mentioning `KMKZ` previously, as in WRTH 2003, etc. The network`s website, http://www.unforgettablefavorites.com is quite uninformative. Asks for your zip code at the top, but Enid`s doesn`t get any specific station info, yet? At least they give you the option right at the start of accepting cookies or not! UF is part of ABC. Still going at 0237 UT Nov 16, OK Statehood Day (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1640 KMMZ presumed, OK Enid. 11/14 2341 [EST?]. DJ Chaz with 'unforgettable favorites' and 'playing the songs you know and remember'. Mostly soft rock from the 60s through 80s. Also heard Bose Wave Radio ad. Listened for 2 hours and no IDs heard. Thanks to Glenn Hauser for the tip. I wonder if this could be the 1640 UNID I reported on 11/11 with Coast to Coast AM? (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO, Drake R-8 and Kiwa loop, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** PERU. 4386.64, R. Imperio, 0925 Nov 15, Excellent reception, with the best signal I`ve heard from this one. Religious program. ID was given in passing by announcer at 0927. A postal address in Lima was given a couple of minutes later (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. RDP 21 MHz spurs --- Hi, usual/regular spurs of one of the RDP's 100 kW faulty units, 168 kHz both sides away, 3.8 kHz wide distorted signal, on 21486.9 and 21823.1 kHz, from 21655 kHz service to Brazil at 1100-1300 UT in Portuguese. \\ RDP Lisboa program on 15140 EUR 45 deg, 21830 AF 142 deg. 73 (wb df5sx, -- Nov 14, Germany, harmonics yahoogroup via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. ROMÊNIA -- Não poderia ser pior o resultado da mudança de freqüências implementada nas emissões, em português, da Rádio Romênia Internacional. Entre 0000 e 0056, o esquema mostra as seguintes freqüências: 9665, 11830, 11875 e 15250 kHz. Desde Jacutinga (RS), Oséias Fantinelli informa que ``continua difícil a recepção da emissora por aqui``. O colunista verificou a recepção no mesmo esquema e, como resultado, informa que, apenas 11830 kHz tem sintonia apenas razoável. Em 11875 kHz, o sinal aparece, mas é interferido por uma emissão em idioma asiático. Nas demais freqüências, nada do sinal. Conforme constata Fantinelli: ``uma pena``! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 9 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. THE VOICE OF RUSSIA WORLD SERVICE OFFERS LISTENERS THE FOLLOWING REGULAR FEATURES: NEWS AND VIEWS - Our views on news developments FOCUS ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC - News and comments on events in the region UPDATE -Comments on the latest developments in the CIS, in-depth analysis of current events and major issues of home policies THE RIVER OF TIME -Features some of the most significant events in world history MUSICAL TALES OF ST. PETERSBURG - A series about the past and present of the great city on the Neva, which is celebrating its 300th birthday. The program will feature a constellation of outstanding musicians who at various times lived in Russia's northern capital MUSICAL TREASURES OF ST. PETERSBURG - A series of 12 monthly programs within MUSIC AND MUSICIANS. It chronicles musical events covering three centuries. Famous musicians, prominent events, glorious premieres and utterly unknown music discovered in the city's archives ST. PETERSBURG: THREE GLORIOUS CENTURIES - A series within a weekly feature RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS, telling you about the city's rich history, cultural and spiritual life THIS IS RUSSIA - A program addressed to those who want to get to know Russia and the Russians better. Visit our cities and regions, hear more about our nature, culture,the arts, religion, and, of course, about Russians RUSSIA: PEOPLE AND EVENTS - Presents the history of Russia through events and personalities KALEIDOSCOPE - Information on the latest events in the Commonwealth of Independent States, economic, social and cultural, and also on the traditions and customs of its peoples MOSCOW YESTERDAY AND TODAY - A program recalling some of the most interesting events in the history of Moscow AUDIO BOOK CLUB - Offers you the best of Russian classic and contemporary literature MOSCOW MAILBAG - Answers 15-20 of your questions every week. For many years the top-rated program from Moscow NEWMARKET - An insider's analysis of the fast-growing Russian market. News about business legislation and various aspects of Russia's involvement in international business LADIES OF CHARACTER - Features glamorous personalities with original life philosophies YOU WRITE TO MOSCOW - A review of our latest mail THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FROM MOSCOW - Programs about Russian Orthodoxy, stories about the lives of Russian Saints and also church music and religious literature MUSIC AND MUSICIANS - World-famous performers and composers play for you MUSIC CALENDAR - A monthly program about musicians and musical events that have stood the test of time - the strictest and most objective judge ever. In each broadcast we'll be remembering the high points of the incoming month RUSSIAN TREASURES - A veritable encyclopedia of Russian classical music FOLK BOX - An indispensable program for lovers of folk music JAZZ SHOW - The world of jazz MUSIC AROUND US - Offers a wide range of music styles, features popular Russian performers and composers, new records and music trends in Russia MUSIC AT YOUR REQUEST - For 30 minutes we play music of your choice SONGS FROM RUSSIA -Presents melodies of the past and musical novelties MOSCOW CALLING – 30 minutes of sheer rock'n'roll drive for everyone, who feels respect for traditions and young blood of rock. Latest releases, interviews, guest speakers, and all you wanted to know about the Russian rock scene. TIMELINES - Estelle Winters giving you an insight into life in Moscow through foreign eyes every weekend with information,entertainment and a few laughs RUSSIAN BY RADIO -Russian-language lessons for foreigners Copyright © 2003 The Voice of Russia (via Maryanne Kehoe, swprograms via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. What`s New on Voice of Russia THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE FROM MOSCOW --- In July this year we met the request of a "Voice of Russia" listener in the United States and prepared a series of programs about St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, a Saint of Greek origin who is one the most revered in Russia. To add to what we've just said we offer you a story by an Orthodox Christian woman from Moscow about the role St. Nicholas played in her life and the life of her family. Tune in to the program on November 22 and 23, and, if you tune in on the 15 and 16, you will hear a story about the way the Guardian Angels serve people. You can hear "The Christian Message from Moscow" in the Voice of Russia World Service on Saturday at 0231, 0631, 0931, 1631, and 2031 UT and on Sunday at 1931 UT. We invite you to stay tuned. JAZZ SHOW --- The next edition of Jazz Show will focus on Anatoly Kroll, a prominent musician who could safely be called a Russian jazz vet. He's been writing jazz for more than 40 years, although conductor and composer Anatoly Kroll is only 60. The Moscow orchestra "Sovremennik" and other big bands under the baton of Kroll heavily contributed to the beauty of many jazz festivals, while the music he wrote for the film "We Are Jazzmen" became the acme of his composing effort. Tune in to our "Jazz Show" to learn more about jazz music jointly with the wonderful Russian musician Anatoly Kroll. The program will go on the air for the first time on Monday, November 10, at 1631 UT and will be repeated throughout the week. For details of our broadcasts in English please visit our web site at: http://www.vor.ru/ep.html Copyright © 2003 The Voice of Russia (via Maryanne Kehoe, Nov 13, ODXA via DXLD) ** SCOTLAND. There is a new VIP radio station launching soon in Glasgow! It will be the first radio station broadcasting in Europe, catering for blind listeners. The station will begin to broadcast on the Internet on the 20 NOV 2003. For anyone looking for more Information, can go to the website: http://www.viponline.com Thanks, Billy, Nov 7 (via Paul David, England, Nov 15, DXLD) ** SIKKIM. INDIA (SIKKIM), 3390, A.I.R. Gangtok. Full data 'Quib Minar Shrine' card via Delhi for my December 25th. 1999 report. This country was finally verified via the efforts of Joe Talbot from Red Deer, Alberta, which along with my reports and his, where able to finally get some communication dialogue with Delhi. This was done after numerous reports to this station went un-answered (postal and e-mail). I even went as so far as to get a local ethnic association to intercede for me, having one of their staff's relatives visit the station. Unfortunately, they could not get past the Indian Guards at the station's gates and my report went unanswered. v/s A.K. Bhatnagar, Director - Frequency Assignments. This make #247 countries verified out of #249 Heard to date (Edward Kusalik, VE6EFK, Coaldale AB, DX'er since 1965, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. Was really anything said about the transmitters at Rimavská Sobota? I guess what Karel gave was a summary of the statement by the SR chief engineer posted at http://www.slovakradio.sk/radioinet/iservis/indexVysielace.php He describes the plannings of SR concerning their transmitter usage at Rimavská Sobota, but it would be another story what the transmitter operator will do. The same story than at Litomysl: TDP claims that all other transmitters there were shut down when Radio Prague reduced its transmitter usage there to two units in 1994, but not so, a third transmitter was always on air simultaneously with RadioRopa programming on 5980/5975. Rimavská Sobota has four transmitters, and I think until October all four were on air simultaneously during the Radio Prague broadcast on 5990, the one now transferred to Tbilisskaya. I still wonder whether or not this marked a permanent drop of RSO by Radio Prague because they will have either to change the frequency or to move back to RSO (or another site in Central Europe) for the A04 season; 49 metres from Tbilisskaya will not work under daylight conditions. Just in case you missed the mediumwave changes: Rimavská Sobota 567 and Bratislava city 792 off and silent, Nitra-Jarok 927 now Hungarian programmes of Rádio Patria, Rádio Regina Bratislava now on 1098 instead. By April 1st 2004 also the remaining Rádio Slovensko mediumwave service on 702 will be terminated and the frequency from then used for Regina Banská Bystrica, certainly with substantially lower power than the current 200 kW. So by then no high power Mediumwave transmitters will be operational in Slovakia anymore, except perhaps for the almost forgotten BBC relays on 1521. Audio of Rádio Regina on 1098, with reception quality of course being only a far cry from the decomissioned Velke Zaluzie transmitter: http://www.radioeins.de/_/meta//sendungen/apparat/031108_a3.ram Best regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 15, DX LISENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. Escuchada por primera vez en mi QTH la emisora local de la SRI LANKA BROADCASTING CORP por la frecuencia de 4902, el dia 8-11- 2003 a las 2035 UT, con un programa de música local y entre canciones hablaba un hombre en idioma vernacular. El SINPO fue de 12222 (José Hernández Madrid, Spain, Japan Premium via DXLD) All night broadcast which occurs only at the full moon --- per my calendar Nov 9 (gh, OK, DXLD) ** SWEDEN. Vietnam jams: q.v. ** U K [and non]. British Airways, the operators of the last remaining flyable Concordes, have announced the final flights for their 2 remaining aircraft. Monday 17th Nov, London-Heathrow to Barbados, for preservation at Grantly Adams Airport. This is the last 'transatlantic' flight. I believe that the flight is due to depart from Heathrow at about 1500 UT, and it should be up on HF about 25-30 minutes after that. I don't know which frequencies, but I would hazard to guess at 5649 kHz, 8879 or possibly 8831. If the flight takes a slightly more southerly route across the Atlantic, try 5598/ 6622/ 8906 kHz. Wednesday 26th Nov, London-Heathrow to Bristol, for preservation at Bristol-Filton airport (where they were made). This flight is due to leave London at about 1130 UT for a supersonic flight around the Bay of Biscay (eastern Atlantic, off the coast of France, south of Ireland) before landing at Bristol at 1300 UT. And that's it! As Porky Pig would say "Th-th-th-that's all folks!" (Graham Tanner, WUN via Piet Postema, BDXC via DXLD) ** U K. UK TV LICENCE TO INCREASE AGAIN IN APRIL The cost of a British TV licence is to increase in April by 5 UKP to 121 UKP for a colour TV, and up 2 UKP to 40.5 UKP for black and white receiver. This is a part of a settlement by the Government and the BBC to raise 1.1 gigapounds through efficiency savings and increased income. The BBC run 10 national non commercial radio stations and 7 national TV networks using a combination of both digital and analogue transmission systems. They also run about 60 regional radio stations using FM or AM or in some cases both modes simultaneously. BBC World Service radio and TV is financed by the British Treasury from general taxation and not from the annual licence fee. Persons unable to afford paying the full fee in advance can use a quarterly payment budget (direct debit) scheme for which an extra 5 UKP is charged annually for administration (Andy Cadier, UK, Nov 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Don't You Believe (BBC listings in PWBR '04) see PUBLICATIONS You may have purchased the wrong publication. What you might consider if you are looking for a better schedule of programs for the beeb would be to subscribe to BBC Magazine. Yearly rate now is 22 pounds or about $37.50 US dollars. A bit more than you paid for the PWBR. The BBC has a product to sell and I am certain they are not about to give it away to anyone. Back in the day [sic], I subscribed to it and found it interesting that even they made mistakes, not that the magazine arrived on time each month. Needless to say, I dropped it because of continous problems with printers and ever rising prices. I have not seen the magazine in a number of years now; maybe that has changed (Bob Montgomery, Levittown, PA, swprograms via DXLD) "BBC On Air" does this for the World Service now -- I would guess the publication Bob is referring to is a domestic publication? "BBC On Air" arrives around the 10th to the 12th of the month ahead; I already have my December copy. It covers all programming in the World Service, and has schedules for all regions (except the all-news feed heard on Sirius and PRI-fed stations). The April and May issues turned out to be largely irrelevant due to the Iraq war. As we've been grumbling about here, the late October schedule changes were more far- reaching than had been developed at presstime for the November issue. The subscription rate is as Bob shows. Things have settled down somewhat; I believe most issues this year have arrived in time for me to prepare the NASWA Journal column each month. Keep in mind you can also get the free monthly e-mails I occasionally forward here; those list all programs by "theme", and also have air times for all regions. You can sign up for one or more of those at http://www.bbconair.com/email/ For a straightforward list of programs by airtime and day, the best place to go is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/worldservice/psims/ScheduleSDT.cgi or http://tinyurl.com/uzkf You have to enter a city name or region -- to get shortwave for us, pick the Caribbean or Central America. The BBC still prints out a semi-annual brochure, but these are no longer automatically mailed. If you were to provide address details to the folks at worldservice@bbc.co.uk I'd wager they would be happy to send you a hard copy brochure (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) ** U S A. VOA NEWS *NOT* NOW --- I tuned into the VOA News Now link on their website around 2130 UT on 15 November, expecting to hear Our World at 2133. Unfortunately, instead of News Now, I heard Jazz America from the Music Mix, although there were news headlines from News Now at 2130. I then checked all known frequencies, including 1197 kHz medium-wave, which was also carrying Jazz America. Most of the known short-wave frequencies could not be heard, but those which could, with extreme difficulty I might add, were I think also carrying the Music Mix (PAUL DAVID, UK, Nov 15, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. RFA SCHEDULE IN B-03, VALID EFFECTIVE OCT 26TH, 2003 TIL MARCH 27TH, 2004 [updated] RFA currently broadcasts from 1100 to 0700; there are no transmissions between 0700 and 1100. Daily programming includes Mandarin for 12 hours, Cantonese increase from two to four hours, Uighur for two hours, and Tibetan for eight hours. D-03 season = til March 6th, 2004. RFA uses IBB transmitters in HOL/H = Holzkirchen Germany, IRA/I = Iranawila Sri Lanka, SAI/S = Saipan, and TIN/T = Tinian, N Mariana Islands. And Merlin relays TWN/N = Taiwan and UAE = Al Dhabayya-UAE, as well as irk = Irkutsk, Russia and uss = Ussuriysk-RUS relays. Additional transmitter sites have been researched but deleted from this list upon request of RFA to suppress this info, to avoid pressure from China upon the host countries. Are we to assume that China has no way to find out this sensitive info except through DX publications? [gh] RFA B-03 tentative schedule. 0000-0100 LAO 11830I 13830 15545T 0030-0130 BURMESE 11535 13710S 13815I 15155T [delete 11570] 0100-0200 UIGHUR 7480 9365 9580UAE 9690UAE 15270T 17570T 0100-0300 TIBETAN 7470-D03 7560 9670H 11695UAE 15220T 17730 0300-0600 MANDARIN 13625T 13760T 15150T 15665T 17495 17525 17615S 17880S 21540T 0600-0700 MANDARIN 13625T 13760T 15150T 15665T 17495 17525 17615S 17880S 0600-0700 TIBETAN 17515 17540 17720 21570T 21715UAE break 1100-1200 LAO 9355S 9775T 15555I 15680 1100-1400 TIBETAN 7470 9365-D03 11540 13625T 15435UAE 15185H-(from 1200) 1230-1330 CAMBODIAN 11510 13725I 15395T 1300-1400 BURMESE 9355 11795T 12105I 15215T[ex15250] [delete 7550 D- 03] 1400-1500 CANTONESE 9825T 11950S 15255T 1400-1500 VIETNAMESE 9365 9455S 9930W 11535 11605N 11760T 13660I 13725P 15470T 21625I [delete 11520] 1400-1500 KOREAN 5855 7475 12000T 13625T 1500-1600 TIBETAN 7470 7495 11520 15385UAE 1500-1600 MANDARIN 7540 9905P 11945T 13670T 13745T 15510T 17565T 1500-1600 KOREAN 648uss 11870S 13625T 1600-1700 KOREAN 7210irk 11870S 13625T 1600-1700 UIGHUR 7515 7530 9865UAE 11720T 13725I 1600-1700 MANDARIN 7540 9455S 9905P 11945T 13670T 13745T 15510T 17565T 1700-1800 MANDARIN 7540 9455S 9905P 11850S 11945T 13670T 13745T 15510T 17565T 1800-1900 MANDARIN 7455 7540 9355S 9455S 11790T 11945T 13670T 13745T 15510T 17615T [delete 11745S] 1900-2000 MANDARIN 7455 7540 9355S 9455S 9875P 11790T 11945T 13625T 13670T 13745T 15510T [delete 11745S] 2000-2100 MANDARIN 7540 9355S 9455S 9875P 9885T 11900S 11950T 13625T 13745T 15510T 2100-2200 MANDARIN 7540 9455S 9875P 9885T 11900S 11950T 13625T 13745T 15510T 2200-2300 CANTONESE 9570S 9845P 11740T 11785T 2200-2300 KOREAN 7460 9455T 11775S 11905T 2230-2330 CAMBODIAN 7185I 9930P 15485T [delete 7530] 2300-2359 MANDARIN 7540 9905P 11785T 11995S 13800T 15430T 15550T 2300-2359 TIBETAN 6010UAE 7415 7470 7550 9875H 2330-0029 VIETNAMESE 7515 9490 9930P 11580 11605N 11965T 13720S 13865I (various sources, Nov 12, 2003, Wolfgang Büschel, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U S A. 7235, R. Martí (spur), 0800 Nov 5-15, Lower half of a set of symmetrical spurs 130 kHz above and below the 7365 fundamental. This frequency happens to be used by a late night Worked All States amateur radio net called The Triple H Net. I noticed they have recently been meeting off frequency due to the interference, so I informed their internet contact of the source of the QRM via e mail rather then interrupting the net in progress. The fellow I wrote resides on the West Coast and mentioned he could not hear the spur, which leads me to believe that the source is the Delano, rather then Greenville outlet (David Hodgson KG4TUY, Nashville, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note: I tend to place purely technical items about R. Martí under USA, but when programming is concerned undre CUBA non. Makes sense, right? (gh) ** U S A. Re WWRB`s `digital` broadcasts --- certainly not DRM; this is something hams are experimenting with, to improve the quality of SSB, I am told (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR`s Harris transmitters were a victims of the fire in 1993. Now they use Continental 418's: http://www.wwcr.com/wwcr_wnqm_photo_gallery/management/cr_ph02.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This came up in discussion of whistling transmitters, NOT a problem at WWCR (gh) ** U S A. I see 830 WCRN Worcester MA is approved to go U4 50000/50000. Does this mean it will bury WCCO and anything else on 830 for those of us in the northeast. Will it be as much of a pest as, say, WBZ? (Saul Chernos, Ontario, Nov 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) Tsk, tsk, if you are in Ontario, your are not in the northeast; you are in the southeast, unless you acquiesce to annexation of Canada. U4 means fulltime operation, different patterns day and night, per NRC AM Log 2003-04 (gh) I'd bet the night pattern will shoot mostly E and SE (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 15 mi NNW Philadelphia ), ibid.) ** U S A. WGN in Chicago 720 will be off the air this Saturday night- Sunday morning between 0700-1000 UT for transmitter maintenance (Ron Trotto, Waggoner, IL, WDX4KWI, Nov 14, ODXA via DXLD) NOT this week: FYI: I just saw this on WGN's website, maybe it's something to mark on the DX-ing calendar: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, November 29 SCHEDULE CHANGE 1:00-4:00 am OFF THE AIR: We'll be off the air for a few hours this Saturday night-Sunday morning so our engineers can do some work on our transmitter. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (via Brian Davis, Dubuque, IA, NRC-AM via DXLD) Webcast off too?? AND good news for DXers living anywhere within about a 500 mile range of Chicago. If there are ever instances where one of the 50 kW blowtorches from Chicago, Des Moines, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City, or Oklahoma City go off for maintenance (routine or otherwise), and someone on this list has enough advance notice about it, PLEASE feel free to post a note about it here and share the info with fellow hobbyists (Rick Dau, Omaha, Neb., ibid.) ** U S A. ONLY ONE PUBLIC RADIO STATION IN IOWA? PUBLIC RADIO MANAGERS DISAGREE ON STATEWIDE BROADCASTING UPDATED: 12:59 p.m. CST November 14, 2003 CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Managers of public radio stations at Iowa's three public universities are balking at a suggestion that they could be replaced by one statewide station. The Iowa Board of Regents raised the idea at its meeting this week in Cedar Falls as a way to reduce costs and avoid duplication. The stations are KSUI FM/WSUI AM at the University of Iowa; the WOI Group at Iowa State University; and KUNI/KHKE, both FM stations, at the University of Northern Iowa. John Hess of KUNI said centralized broadcasting worked in Minnesota, where university-owned stations were struggling. But he said the Iowa stations are all successful and they serve different niches of programming. The managers plan to discuss the issue with the regents when they present their operating plans in February (AP via Bill Smith, DXLD) ** U S A. ALL-SPANISH RADIO STATION HITS AIRWAVES IN CENTRAL OHIO `UNSERVED MARKET` Thursday, November 13, 2003 | TIM FERAN | COLUMBUS DISPATCH http://www.dispatch.com/print_template.php?story=dispatch/2003/11/13/20031113-C1-03.html Station manager Carlos Gutiérrez, left, and traffic and weather reporter Victoria Nunes get WDLR (1550 AM) on the air as central Ohio’s first all-Spanish-speaking station. [caption] Central Ohio radio now speaks Spanish 24 hours a day. At noon yesterday, WDLR (1550 AM) became the area`s first all-Spanish-speaking station. The first song: Enamorame by Papi Sánchez. Until local program hosts can be hired, the Delaware station is airing a format of Top 40 Latino songs provided by a satellite service based in Orlando, Fla., said station manager Carlos Gutiérrez. Victoria Nunes of WDLR will provide local traffic and weather reports in Spanish. CNN en Español, the cable news network`s Spanish-language service, will provide national news. "It`s an unserved market," said Robb Case, the WCMH-TV (Channel 4) helicopter pilot whose mother, Patricia Casagrande, is the station’s owner. "It`s like backing up 50 years ago when there were no black stations. We`ve got no competition. There are lawyers, mortgage brokers, you name it, all trying to reach this community." Two factors made the timing right for the change, sources inside and outside the station said. • A noncommercial, low-power station that will serve the Delaware community is in the process of getting on the air, eliminating the need for WDLR to perform the same function. • The number of Spanish-speaking immigrants in central Ohio has grown large enough that advertisers have begun looking for ways to reach them. With an eye toward experiments in Spanish-language programming that WVKO (1580 AM) has attempted and an awareness that AM stations need to find a special purpose in order to compete with more popular FM stations, Case and company decided to make the change and become the only game in town to focus specifically on the Latino population. The station reaches parts of Delaware and Franklin counties but is making technical upgrades, adding digital technology and a new transmitter within the next four months, which should give it a daytime signal on par with some more-powerful AM stations in the area. "Obviously he sees an opportunity," said Tom Taylor, editor of trade publication Inside Radio/M Street. "This is a national trend. About two hours ago, I was on a conference call with the Spanish Broadcasting System and they were saying this is the year they are going to stand up and demand parity. They want more respect and more dollars because Spanish broadcasting tends to get shortchanged by advertisers." There are 711 Spanish-language stations in the United States, more than 600 of which are commercial stations, according to Inside Radio. Ten years ago, there were 361 commercial Spanish stations. Formats vary and include newstalk, Top 40 and oldies. The Top 40 format on WDLR features such artists as Ricky Martin, Shakira and Enrique Iglesias. "It`s been a steady growth," Taylor said. "Last year was the first year they crossed the 600-station mark. But radio follows the changing demographics of America --- it always has. In Los Ángeles and Nueva York, there are Asian-language stations. In New York, you can hear NHL games in Russian; and also in New York the past season, you could hear some NBA games in Cantonese. "But certainly, the largest (of the non-English stations) is Spanish." Gutiérrez and Nunes spoke hopefully of adding programs that will serve various segments of the local Spanishspeaking population, which includes immigrants from México, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Perú. "This is something very much needed," said Nunes, who, like Gutiérrez, is a native of Venezuela. "It`s a gift, I think, to be able to communicate with people," Gutiérrez said. Their attitude is common to many Spanish-speaking stations, Taylor said. "Stations like that often see a special responsibility to do public-service announcements and focus on issues of special interest such as immigration and news from outside the United States." That kind of service is richly rewarded, Taylor said. Latino radio listeners often spend more time listening to their favorite station than the rest of the population. "They will tend to be very loyal," he said. "It connects them and gives them a sense of belonging when they`re in a strange land." (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. YOUR FCC AT WORK --- When the FCC approved CLEAR CHANNEL AC WFCB (MIX 93.3)/CHILLICOTHE, OH's move to new city of license ASHVILLE, OH, the Commission rejected the argument made by two competitors that the move, which did not immediately request a transmitter location change, was being used as a "pitstop" on the way to moving the station into the COLUMBUS market, and told the objectors to file an informal objection if WFCB were ever to try such a move. Less than a month after that ruling, the FCC has accepted for filing an application by CLEAR CHANNEL to move WFCB into the COLUMBUS market at a tower location south of downtown with 33 kw at 179 meters. The FCC has issued a Notice of Violation to JARAD BROADCASTING asking the company to explain why its Classic Rock WDRE (98.5 THE BONE)/ WESTHAMPTON, LONG ISLAND, NY and Dance WXXP (PARTY 105)/ CALVERTON, LI, NY have their antennae mounted at a significantly higher level than authorized. The Commission's inspectors went to the JARAD tower site at MANORVILLE, L.I. on OCTOBER 15 and noted WDRE's antenna radiation center at 114 meters above ground rather than the licensed 40 meters, and WXXP's antenna at 132 meters rather than the licensed 90 meters. The violation notices were issued on OCTOBER 29 but published later (http://www.allaccess.com via Brock Whaley, Nov. 14, 2003, DXLD) So they could reach some of Manhattan? (Brock) ** VENEZUELA. Le informo que acá en Pueblo Llano, Estado Mérida, desde hace dos años y medio seguimos sufriendo las consecuencias con el espectro radioeléctrico, ya que apenas dos emisoras que acá laboran para el área del municipio no están transmitiendo de una manera adecuada, la cual se interfieren entre si mismas e impiden la señal de entrada de otras (HENRRI GONZALEZ SANTIAGO, PUEBLO LLANO, ESTADO MERIDA, VENEZUELA, Nov 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ¿Detalles? ** VIETNAM. VIETNAM JAMS RADIO SWEDEN | Text of report in English by Radio Sweden text web site on 13 November Radio Sweden's mother company, Swedish Radio, is protesting to Vietnam over jamming of Radio Sweden broadcasts to Asia. Program Director Kerstin Brunnberg says the jamming, which began at the end of October, is unacceptable. Apparently the disturbances are not aimed at Radio Sweden, but at another station, but the Vietnamese continue to jam the channel after Radio Sweden takes over the frequency. The programs involved are in Swedish for Swedes living abroad, so presumably there's little there that would disturb the Vietnamese authorities. The situation is particularly upsetting since Swedish Radio has been training journalists and other radio personnel in Vietnam since 1996. Source: Radio Sweden text web site, Stockholm, in English 13 Nov 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK?? UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 1100 kHz, strange noise: see CUBA UNIDENTIFIED. 3510, presumed 3rd Harmonic, 1009 Nov 15, Central American music with male announcer speaking Spanish at the lower end of 80m amateur band. My guess is that this is a 3rd harmonic of a transmitter on 1170. I find no reference to a harmonic for this frequency on Mark Mohrmann`s excellent Latin American DXing website: http://www.sover.net/~hackmohr/sw.htm Strong audio on the peaks, but deep fades which reduced the signal to inaudible level. CW ops were pounding brass fast and furious over the signal at 1024 recheck (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4000, 0920 Nov 15, Chinese language program with both man and woman announcers. Good reception at tune in. Weak signal by 1030 mixing with RRI Kendari carrier on 4000.1 to produce a low pitch het (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 12150 kHz: RADIO DE NUMEROS: Día de la captación: Martes 11 de Noviembre. (Madrugada) Hora UTC: 02:15 a las 02:45. Descripción de la señal: 43344 Generalidades: Se trata de una emisora de NUMEROS!!!!! --- una locutora leía de a cinco números, el acento de ella era neutro, o sea no se podría decir que era una emisora del cono sur pues su acento no delataba origen alguno. Para terminar exclamó por 3 veces Final, final, final. Debo agregar que la voz era de una persona natural no de una computadora o de otra cosa similar pues hubo un momento que se detuvo para verificar lo dicho y luego prosiguió con la lectura de los números. Les envío una serie de números pues si alguíen puede descubrir algo: (¿?¿?) "09685, 76349, 24507, 15730, 06143, 85377, 59257, 34780, 77386, 25275, 60342, 29840, 66383, 80608, 54010, 01366, 63236, 95032, 95032, 95032, 95032, 95032, 11378, 44040... Me llama la atención que se repita el conjunto de números (95032) por cinco veces; será alguna clave?? Amigos DX, hace bastante tiempo que no tenía la ocasión de captar en el cono sur alguna de estas "raras emisoras"; ¿alguíen sabe algo más de esta clase de emisoras? Ciertamente son de las llamadas emisoras espías. Por lo demás les envío una hipótesis: desafortunadamente el día lunes estalló un escándalo diplomático entre Chile y Argentina; se acusó a tres personajes de espiar el consulado argentino de Punta Arenas. Esto junto con manchar la amistad que existe entre estos países hermanos, me plantea una buena pista. ¿Será que la señal venía de la Argentina, tendrán los servicios de inteligencia trasandinos este método de comunicación con los agentes que se encuentran en el territorio chileno? Recordemos que las ondas radiofónicas son el mejor método de comunicación y además una persona escuchando una radio pasa desapercibida como agente. Bien, espero sus comentarios queridos amigos. cordiales 73 dx`s (Alberto Silva Rebolledo, Concepción, Chile, Conexión Digial Nov 15 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Pessoal, alguém no Rio de Janeiro capital pode escutar a freqüência de 48.200 MHz em FM? Recebo uma portadora muito forte com audio de música clássica. E ainda não tive tempo de fazer uma escuta mais demorada, porém durante minha escuta tocou 5 músicas clássicas tipo piano bar, e não tem anúncio, comercial e etc. O que será essa portadora? 73´s (Sales, PY1IBM, Nov 14, radioescutas via DXLD) Provável, Chile, faixa especial para isto em Santiago, etc. (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Sales, Essa emissora é do Chile e transmite música ambiente para lojas, restaurantes, transporte coletivo etc. Tem em Santiago, Viña del Mar, Valparaíso entre outras. Ha outras freqüências e sempre escuto, aqui em Natal. 73 (de PS7KM, Karl Leite, ibid.) Hoje pela manhã chegui e não escutei mais nada. Hoje pela noite vou tentar escutar novamente. O sinal deles era final de scala. Meu equipo é um IC-706. O estranho é que não escutei nenhuma voz. OK, no tinha locutor (Sales, PY1IBM, Nov 15, ibid.) Assim é E-esporádica UNIDENTIFIED. Digital Sounds of shortwave.... Try the following link to help you identify the unusual sounds you may hear on shorwave. http://www.wunclub.com/sounds/index.html (Ralph, VE3XRM, aka: radiosparks.com, ODXA via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ DON'T YOU BELIEVE BBC LISTINGS IN PASSPORT TO WORLDBAND RADIO 04 [sic] I was looking thru my PWBR '04 "What's On Tonight" listings this morning when tuning the BBC Europe, East Asia, and Americas streams and discovered that a lot of the data for the non-US-evening entries is wrong or obsolete. Not just missing the latest Winter '03-'04 updates, but missing the changes and revisions for the last (and maybe even previous) seasons. Lots of long-gone program titles still listed, incorrect times for repeats that used to be on several days after the initial broadcast and now all on the same day, etc. I found it to be too much to put into an e-mail so am writing a hardcopy letter to the Passport people outlining the errors. Looks like old text got included with no review by an editor, or someone who doesn't listen to the BBC during the day was writing it based on old references and no one caught it beefore publication. If anyone notices similar errors/problems with other broadcasters' entries, let us know. These just jumped out at me since I listen to so much BBC. Regards (Will Martin, MO, Nov 12, swprograms via DXLD) While I obviously can't speak for the Passport folks, it is a bit of a mystery as to why the BBC information was wrong. Now I didn't look at other streams in detail, but the shift for the Americas that happened this time is the same shift as happend last year at the same time and also in 2001; conversely, the spring shift in 2003 mirrored that in 2002. This should have been predictable, though some programs have changed from the A-03 to the B-03 scheulde --- but not many. There WAS a substantial rework of scheules between B-02 and A-03, as repeat airings were changed (as Will mentioned) along with the time slot changes. However, these changes were locked down in March 2003 -- one hopes that the programming information in Passport is newer than 6 months. Hope this info helps - (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) Will: The BBC made major unannounced changes to all its stream schedules in late October. This was far too late to be included in Passport and since the BBC has made it a practice not to cooperate with people who try and publicize its schedules (apparently they view the information as proprietary) in advance, it would have been impossible for Passport to get the information in a timely way. (Also, to be fair to the BBC, that deadline may have been so far in advance of October that the BBC could not have been expected to have its plans completed or changes in place.) Furthermore, since I also monitor this activity for Monitoring Times and attempt to anticipate changes (made necessary by my inability to get information even six weeks in advance from the BBC), I can tell you that these seasonal changes are becoming more and more difficult to anticipate, owing to the fact that there is little pattern to how the BBC is going about this season to season in recent years. So, it will do no good for you to chronicle these "errors" or complain about them. I'm sure the editor is already aware of them and is gnashing his teeth and bitterly complaining to anyone who will listen about what the BBC has done to him. :-) (I know --- I've been there myself!) It's just the risk one takes when one uses printed paper to distribute information of this type that is increasingly becoming subject to late date change without much notice (John Figliozzi, ibid.) I must respectfully disagree with the comments made about the BBC info in PWBR '04. It is NOT that they didn't include the (relatively minor) changes made at the end of Oct. '03. It is that they did not include many changes made in MARCH '03! Actually, I think that they even did not include Oct. '02 changes in some cases! The majority of errors are in BBC listings for non-prime-NA-evening-times, in Americas and other area streams. They DID do a reasonable job of making the prime-time info correct. But I found repeated references to program names that were dropped long ago, and with much fanfare and discussion on "Write On"; things like "The Greenfield Collection". Any BBC SW features listener should know about this stuff. I admit that those who hear only news (or, worse yet, just newscasts carried on NPR or the like) wouldn't know much about feature-program changes. But I would expect Passport compilers would listen at least as extensively as I do. I finally did what I should have done first; I compared the BBC program listings in my PWBR '03 with those in PWBR '04 in both issues' "What's On Tonight?" sections. I was shocked ("Shocked, I tell you, shocked!") to discover that those I was critiquing were IDENTICAL, word for word, with the corresponding entries in the '03 edition. Don't take my word for it; check it yourself if you have both books. There are even the identical typos in both books! In one, the word that should be "by" is in there as "be". In another, "Pick of the World" is referred to as "Pick of the Week". Yes, those are trivial mistakes, not worthy of complaint -- LAST YEAR! Their continued presence proves that the Passport people either picked up obsolete text when doing a computerized text-compilation, or they actually deliberately neglected to update this text from last year! Either means inadequate editorial review, but the former is forgiveable, given how wretched computers and computerized work really is! (Before I retired, I was a computer-help-desk nerd my last few years, and that experience soured me on PCs and Microsoft software especially; it's the main reason I don't own a computer now.) Up till now, my attitude was one of concern that what I believed were their standards of accuracy were compromised by honest mistakes. Yes, I know that people have griped about their "creatively opined" guesses about frequencies over the years, but I always figured that they did the best they could. Now I have doubts and am feeling much less generous. I did send them a long list of what entries had errors, unfortunately before I did this '03-to-'04 comparison. We'll see if my efforts help anything. I suggested that they put out corrected text in a publically -accessible straight-text file on their web site, so purchasers could get a copy if they wanted. Doing it in such a typescript-style format wouldn't eat into the sales of the book, especially since this is a minor section, and would be good PR. We'll see if anything comes of that. If not, I can hope it'll mean they do better next year (Will Martin, Nov 13, ibid.) Just more evidence that PWBR is grossly overrated, by those who don`t check the listings in detail, or are overawed by its glossy heft. I`m amazed that people still like to be apologists for it. Of course, I may be biased, as PWBR has refused to recognize my existence on the SW scene in even the most minor way throughout its existence. But then it can`t possibly compete with the hoards of up-to-date info I provide. I would never buy PWBR myself, but someone usually gives me one (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO and DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM +++ To discuss digital shortwave: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/DRM-L (via Conexión Digital via DXLD) See also USA: WWRB RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC [Note: I am tending to put this topic under REF, rather than USA, tho it mainly concerns the USA; receptions may still be there --- gh] The Ibiquity saga has always had a late 1990s dot-com feel to it. Like the dot-coms, Ibiquity has seemed more intent on going public ASAP so its investors, and those holding cents-per-share options, can cash out than it has in building a sustainable, ongoing business. And, like most of the dot-coms, Ibiquity is pushing a technology for which there seems to be zero market demand. Radio is a content business, but Ibiquity and its boosters act as if content is irrelevant. I subscribe to XM not because it's digital, or via satellite, or any other technical reason; I do so because I can hear stuff you'll never hear on AM or FM. If the content on IBOC AM or FM is still the same as on analog AM and FM, then I'm still going to listen to XM almost exclusively. The fact that XM has over 1 million subscribers in its first two years shows there is a significant demand for something other than the homogenized, overly "consulted" programming of most AM and FM broadcasters (Harry Helms W7HLH, Las Vegas, NV DM26, NRC-AM via DXLD) see also MEXICO WHISTLING TRANSMITTERS Back in the old days the DT64 feed from Berlin to the southern GDR had for some time also a background whistle of about 12 kHz as well as some noise artifacts. This feed is another story: The postal office could not provide enough circuits, and so DT64 programming was for a period fed through the synch bar of TV pictures. Sounds interesting, but so far nobody could be found who knows how this system worked in detail. Regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA DXING - THE ART OF LISTENING TO DISTANT SIGNALS The Canadian Communications Foundation has added a section to their web site. It was written by ODXA member Brent Taylor. It is a wonderful look at the origins of our hobby complete with pictures. You can access the web site below. http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/index2.html and under [General directory, then] 'Engineering" (Brian Smith - ODXA Chair - http://www.odxa.on.ca/ ODXA via DXLD) Direct link, but lots of other interesting stuff at the site too: http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/engineering/DXing-The_Art_of_Listening_to_Distant_Signals.html (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ OUR FIRST CME HAS ARRIVED A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) arrived this morning at 0520 UT, epelled from huge sunspot group #10501 (old #10484) now located at N04E61. As the Bz component of the Earth's magnetic field was negative, the CME triggered inor Kp-5 to moderate Kp-6 geomagnetic storming. It is the first of what will be many CME's expelled from #10501 in future days, which already possesses a complicated beta-gamma magnetic signature. By the way Sunspot Group #'s 10486 and 10488 will rotate into view around the Sun's east limb on November 18, 2003 and promise to wreak further havoc. Here is a GONG acoustic image of them as of yesterday http://www.spaceweather.com/images2003/12nov03/midi_farside_strip.gif LF and high latitude MF and HF propagation paths still have not recovered from the two week bombardment in October 2003. As a matter of fact I have yet to log the LF broadcast band stations from Europe and Africa this season, very unusual. We should continue to see nonexistent to very poor propagation conditions on LF, poor high latitude propagation conditions on MF and poor to fair high latitude HF conditions, with good to fair mid and low latitude HF conditions. For those curious or interested in LF propagation check out this website from Alan Melia G3NYK at http://www.alan.melia.btinternet.co.uk/latest.htm Alan is conducting continuous propagation study on VLF/LF. Also check out the latest bulletin below from the SIDC in Belgium. :Issued: 2003 Nov 15 1147 UTC :Product: documentation at http://sidc.oma.be/products/xut #--------------------------------------------------------------------- # GEOALERT message from the SIDC (RWC-Belgium) #--------------------------------------------------------------------- PREDICTIONS FOR 15 Nov 2003 10CM FLUX: 103 / AP: 037 PREDICTIONS FOR 16 Nov 2003 10CM FLUX: 106 / AP: 061 PREDICTIONS FOR 17 Nov 2003 10CM FLUX: 106 / AP: 054 COMMENT: Signatures of a possible shock arrival are seen in ACE-data: the solar wind speed jumped from 600 to 750 km/s, the temperature increased suddenly from 2 105 to 8 105 K. The transversal component of the interplanetary magnetic field jumped to a higher positive value, while the horizontal component turned negative (-10nT). This event can trigger a magnetic storm. In the coming hours, the K index can possibly reach values as high as 5 and 6: minor to major storm conditions are expected. The Earth is still under the influence of an elevated coronal hole wind stream. 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Plant City, FL, USA, EL87WX, Nov 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MORE SOLAR FIREWORKS POSSIBLE SOON http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=10&u=/ap/20031115/ap_on_sc/solar_salvos (via Artie Bigley, Nov 15, DXLD) ###