DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-215, December 1, 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/dxldtd3l.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 1209: WWCR: Wed 1030 9475 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 1209 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1209h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1209h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1209.html WORLD OF RADIO 1209 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1209.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1209.rm WORLD OF RADIO ON WBCQ: See USA WORLD OF RADIO ON IBC VIA WRMI: WOR was missing from 15725 Sat Nov 30 at 1900, due to an operational mistake. We were then given an additional time of Sun 1600, but that didn`t come thru either this week. Perhaps they will have a more reliable internet feed by Dec 6? ** ALASKA. A great morning for Alaskans. One of the best I have heard in a long time. The regular ones were heard along with less common ones like KNOM and KVOK. 560 KVOK AK, Kodiak, fair with C&W music "Kiss An Angel Good Morning-Charlie Pride" at 1020 EST (1520 UTC) "It's 6:20 here at KVOK, Good morning". CKNL QRM 12/1. (PM-OR) 580 KRSA AK, Petersburg, good and dominant with Christmas mx, woman announcer "Christmas music on KRSA at 6:15. AM 580 and 90.9 FM, KRSA" at 1015 EST (1515 UTC) 12/1 (PM-OR) t640 KYUK AK, Bethel, alone on the freq (presumed) with NPR News pgm at 1010 EST (1510 UTC) 12/1 (PM-OR) 650 KENI AK, Anchorage, above the jumble with promo for local talk show from 4-6 on 650-KENI, followed by Rush Limbaugh minute at 1027 EST (1527 UTC) 12/1, lots of CISL QRM at times. (PM-OR) t670 KDLG AK, Dillingham, prob. the one with NPR talk AT 1012 EST (1512 UTC) in the jumble of KPUA, etc 12/1 (PM-OR) t700 KBYR AK, Anchorage, presume the talk in passing at 1017 EST (1517 UTC) 12/1. (PM-OR) 750 KFQD AK, Anchorage, at 1014 EST (1514 UTC), weather for Anchorage, High of 15, 12/1 (PM-OR) 780 KNOM AK, Nome, a very long weather forecast for parts of Northern Alaska and the Interior, the Yukjon Delta, Seward Penn, etc. at 1003 EST (1503 UTC), including Nome. Blowing snow at -9 at the time. Alone on the freq, about S7. (PM-OR) 800 KINY AK, Juneau, fair above KPDQ-Portland, with wx for SE Alaska, talking about another storm coming their way, small craft advisories at 1030 EST (1530 UTC), slogan "Hometown Radio" 12/1 (PM- OR) 890 KBBI AK, Homer alone on 890 with NPR News at 1036 12/1. (PM-OR) 930 KTKN AK, Ketchikan, totally dominant with C&W tune and ID at 1039 EST (1539 UTC) "on 930 KTKN" 12/1 (PM-OR) Nothing new, but still the best AK morning in a long time. Drake R8, 400' NNW mini-beverage, MFJ 1026, 40' vertical (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. 4760, AIR Port Blair, 1123-1137, Dec. 1, Hindi music at tune-in, brief talks, Sitar music and talks at 1128 into (listed) Tamil service at 1130 with what sounded like a radio drama. Booming at tune-in (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 7185, Bangladesh Betar, 1852 Nov 30 with Hindi type songs. Man with talks in English about 1858, talking that transmission is over at 1859, Bangladesh Betar and P O Box address, closing with 'Bangladesh Wunderbad?', immediately signed off without playing the anthem. Signal about S7, QRMed by both sides (32432) so necessary to listen with Narrow band. First time to log this station! (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4944.9 22/11 2315, Em. Rural Petrolina (Voz de São Francisco), Petrolina, live OM rel. and other items show, Q=3 (Giampaolo Galassi, Italy, SW Bulletin Nov 30 via DXLD) 4944.92, 21.11 2335, Em. Rural, Petrolina, med phone-in-px. Försvann abrupt efter ID kl 0002! Även 23.11 kl 0035 med fotboll. Q2-3 (Hans Östnell, Enköping, Sweden, ibid.) ** CANADA. I have been enjoying Vinyl Cafe often these days --- great stories and music. Why do Canadian radio folks (more so, it seems to me, than Americans) like Stuart McLean or Michael Enright or some female CBC announcers use that certain "head voice" that is slightly annoying to me? It's almost as if they are trying to "project" their voice unnecessarily (Saul Broudy, swprograms via DXLD) In my opinion their styles are similar but for different reasons. Stuart McLean is usually in front of a live audience so there is a natural tendency to "project" rather than talk in a calm, conversational style. Enright is a pompous sort who seems to enjoy talking down to his audience in a preachy style. To me he tends to project an all-knowing image which I find rather off putting. (Joe Buch, ibid.) Guess you're right about McLean, though he really doesn't have to try that hard. Garrison Keillor pulls off the conversational tone before a live audience, doesn't he? Agree with you completely on Enright. Cheers, (Saul Broudy, ibid.) see also INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** CANADA. CHU still appears to be missing from some frequencies. Nov 30 around 0700, not a trace on 7335, tho other NAm signals were propagating well on that band; audible, tho on 3330. Checked 14670 around 1800 UT Nov 30 and not heard either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6030, CFVP, Calgary, Alberta 1336-1343 Nov 30. ID as "AM 1060 CKMX"; mellow Christmas vocals; Calgary ads at 1340; at 1342 announcer says "You're listening to 'A Family Christmas' on AM 1060 CKMX," followed by more music. Good on peaks but some fading and no significant QRM (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100- foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CANADA. AS IT HAPPENED: A MOTHERCORP [sic] OF MUSINGS FROM CBC'S MOVE DOWNTOWN [Edmonton] --- That's funny: We're humouring you Kevin Baker Freelance Saturday, November 22, 2003 http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=e14ff930-30dc-418f-8237-f3a36503a84f (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. Michel Mathieu: technical problems at CJMS 1040 kHz, sub- harmonic showing up on 520 kHz (CKUT International Radio Report Nov 30 via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** CANARY ISLANDS. On 30 Nov [Sun] at 1950 noted the Full Gospel Church in Las Palmas, Canary Islands on 6719U with Korean preaching. Their usual frequency 6715 was covered by strong digital-like ute station, so possibly a move to avoid interference (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Quito 30/Nov/2003 6:38 Amigos DXistas! 6113.02 kHz, La Voz del Llano, Villavicencio, 30/Nov/2003 - 1040 UT. Reactivated! First time for many years I have noted LV del Llano on the listed frequency of 6115 kHz. Stable signal with good sound quality but very weak. Colombian "llanero" music and clear IDs. 1100 UT the Colombian anthem followed by some advertisments and religious talk. "LV del Llano, orgullosamente colombiana". You can within 24 hours listen to a recording at SWB: http://homepage.sverige.net/~a-0901/ 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. About the RFPI situation - but I can't speak for RFPI core group: 1) The stated time line for reviving the station is not carved in stone. 2) Everything depends on: a) Obtaining partners who will make a long-term commitment. b) Obtaining a steady income that will sustain RFPI during and after reconstruction. 3) The ten thousand dollars called for as needed for reviving the station is the cost of buildings and equipment only. It does not include income needed for RFPI staff salaries, and other expenses, such as licensing (Franklin Seiberling, Iowa City, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [and non]. Voice of Croatia, English has been heard 1900- 1903 on 1125 1134 and 2315-2330 on 1125 1134 7285[= Germany] as well as the broadcasts mentioned last month (Mike Barraclough, England, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** CUBA. I don`t usually have anything to listen to on WRMI 7385 in the evening, but checked Radio NASB at 0330 UT Nov 30, just long enough to find out it was WEWN`s turn and tune out. But before I did, listened for any jamming on that frequency as has been reported. There did seem to be a little bit, but I suspected that to be bleedover or mix between the Cuban commie jammers on 7405 and 7365 against Martí, which are equidistant from 7385. Apparently Lou Johnson has been hearing the jamming 5 or so hours later than that, tho this is not clear to me (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Since there is no such thing as a program schedule at R. Martí, I did a Google search on Cubanola Radio Marti, and the top hit was the recent DXLD/WOR mentions! It did dredge up one other logging of it from the DXLC Norway, at 0218 31/12 on 6030 --- apparently the year was 2001. Checking back, that was UT Monday, so I plan to check this Sunday night in case it is still on at that additional time to Sat 1400+, which I missed this week. Another music show: ``Cuba Es Su Música`` featuring Celia Cruz, at 0700 UT Sun Nov 30, on 7365 and 7405. However, the audio processing on R. Martí is very excessive and harsh, with higher frequencies clipped --- are they using a cheap phone line feed? Not well suited to music. Perhaps this is a counterproductive measure to cut thru the jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Later: UT Mon Dec 1 at 0207 after the news, it was not Cubanola, but ``Las 20 Calientes de la Semana``, about as far as you could get from scratchy old 78s, best on 13820 (gh, DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. A picture of the DRM transmitter recently put in service at the Hradec Králové site (774): http://209.68.42.62/sender/tschechien2.jpg (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. RFE/RL MAY LEAVE CURRENT HQ | Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 1 December: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is taking into account the alternative that it will move from the Czech Republic, but it hopes that it will be able to stay in Prague, its spokeswoman Sonia Winterova told CTK today. The radio station has a number of promising Prague sites for its new headquarters, but it is not hurrying with the choice, Winterova said. From 1995, RFE/RL has been broadcasting from the building of the former Federal Assembly in Prague's centre. Its removal for security reasons started being considered after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the USA. The contract for its current headquarters expires at the end of next year and is very likely to be extended, Winterova added. RFE/RL said on Friday [28 November] that it would cancel broadcasts to seven countries of eastern and central Europe. Winterova said that the closure would not affect the debate about the Prague headquarters. The centre is now being guarded by security officers. Radio Free Europe, founded in 1949 by the American government, started its first broadcasts from Munich to the Soviet bloc in 1950 with a broadcast to Czechoslovakia. In the following years, it added Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish and Romanian services, and Russian ones after 1953. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1408 gmt 1 Dec 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) See also U S A [non] ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 5009.78 - I wonder what the program is that may be on Sundays local. Noted 2206+ November 30, gravelly-voiced Spanish man, who occasionally dropped in a few quick English phrases (not quite a bilingual show), and all-English Motown/soul/60's oldies R&R singles (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. Re HCJB new service via Germany: Hi Everyone, even if 5970 kHz would be relatively free of co-channel interference, Wertachtal location for such a service to cover large parts of GER --- or in total-; also Austria and Switzerland, is a very bad selection, due to dead zone propagation gap up to 1500 kilometers around Wertachtal till first week in March 2004. 6 MHz relay services at this time of the day to Europe should be handled from sites more distant like at Sines, Portugal, Moscow/ Yekaterinburg, Russia, Armavir/Krasnodar, Russia, or Sofia, Bulgaria. Or to use the 3955-4005 kHz portion of the 75 mb from either DTK Germany, Hungary, France, or Skelton, UK. 73 de (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmmm, and 9765 is already in use from Pifo towards Europe between 0600 and 0700. And of course 49 metres from Pifo to Europe is indeed not new; perhaps you will remember 6205 they had to leave back in the nineties after somebody complained to the Ecuadorian authorities. But from Pifo it would be interesting either, since these would be the first Russian broadcasts from there after a break of some years I think. Of course, there should be no doubt about 11760 originating from the UK (with 500 kW towards 62 degrees as shown in the HCJB schedule). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HCJB via Wertachtal on 5970 skipped over my location altogether. Nothing else than China (apparently still the old Beijing transmitter once used on 6950, judging from the audio characteristics) was heard when checked at 1840. 75 metres would be certainly a better idea, at least propagation-wise; the band occupation at this time is another story (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EL SALVADOR. Saludos Glenn. Espero te encuentres muy bien. He leído la información sobre Radio El Salvador y el anexo que has agregado. Lo cierto del caso es que he tratado de volver a compusintonizarla y no he podido; la página no aparece. ¿Sería que estaban haciendo alguna prueba? ¿algún otro colega pudo escucharla? La grabación de 20 minutos que dejé guardada para mí, es una muestra de que en verdad la escuché, incluso hay un anuncio para un espectáculo que se iba a llevar efecto el dia de ayer 29 de Noviembre. De todas maneras te anexo algo de lo escuchado por la dirección de los sonidos. Recibe un fuerte abrazo (José Elías, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R El Salvador link -- Try this: http://www.radionacional.com.sv/index2.htm Where you click on the appropriate sign. Overtime this Sunday morning, still live at 0740 (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 9560 nominal is audible at 1600 with the English service, often blank carrier 10-15 minutes before. Quite regular catch now, 7165 is more difficult (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Nov 30, http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. AFN Bavaria is now using 1386 (Karel Honzik, Czech Republic, Hard Core DX) Heard in York 2127 identifying as AFN Bavaria The Big Gun (Steve Whitt, Medium Wave Circle, Dec World DX Club Contact via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) How big? Kaliningrad/Lithuania megawatts could be a problem; actually 1200 and 750 kW resp. per WRTH 2003 (gh, DXLD) ** GHANA. 4915, R. Ghana, *0526-0542, Nov. 29, English/Vernacular, Guitar instrumental, crowing rooster at 0528, OM in Vernacular with "Radio Ghana" sign-on announcement, choral music then ID in English, "This is Radio Ghana broadcasting on 4915 MHz [sic] shortwave, Good Morning...". Up-beat YL with morning devotional, more choral music and IDs, Afropops in vernacular. Fair/good (Scott Barbour, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. All Greek To Me programme, Sundays 1105-1200 on 11645 15630, both well heard here 23rd November (Mike Barraclough, England, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 680, HRN synchros NOV 22 0300-0504 - Talk show format with "HRN" ID approximately every 30 minutes, sign-off at 0504. Occasionally peaking to good signal level and dominating the channel. You might find the following link concerning the La Voz de Honduras (HRN) network interesting: http://www.radiohrn.hn The WRTH lists 10 kW outlets on 670 and 680 kHz (Mike Beu, KD5DSQ, Austin TX; Drake R8B, 70-ft terminated delta loop, NRC IDXD via DXLD) ** HUNGARY. Don`t you believe the R. Budapest English schedule on Luigi Cobisi`s EDXC report on HCJB DXPL this week --- it was obviously the old A-03 version, all the times and frequencies now wrong. BTW, reader Jay Ingram pronounced it mag-YAR. He`s one who doesn`t think it`s necessary to know the basics of foreign language pronunciation in order to be an international radio announcer! First of all, all Hungarian words are stressed on the first syllable. That should be easy to remember. Secondly, the digraph GY is pronounced DY, and is not divided between the letters. Elsewhere on the same show, we were accosted with `F`riends` for Firenze and Jaws for Jose. If you can`t pronounce Firenze, why in the world don`t you just call it Florence? Answer: because you don`t know you can`t pronounce Firenze and/or don`t know it has an English version already (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE INTERNET http://www.wbglinks.net/pages/history/ (Robert Thompson, TX, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. RCI ON SATELLITE Did you know that since October 26th, listeners in North America can listen to Radio Canada International 24-hours-a-day via a free satellite service via the Telstar-12 satellite? Telstar-12 - 15.0 degrees West Frequency 11.974 Ghz Polarization vertical SR: 3400 Msym/s FEC: 3/4 PID: 31520 Channel 75 The programming is multilingual on this service but nevertheless they carry more English language programming from CBC Radio one than RCI carries on shortwave beamed to North America. Excellent CBC Radio One programs like Tapestry and Ideas are unhearable in the eastern USA on shortwave but are available daily on the RCI-3 stream. The satellite is so far to the east that only listeners east of the Mississippi will get sufficient signal with normal sized Ku Bad antennas. West of a line extending from East Texas to East Minnesota the satellite is below the horizon and cannot be received. You can view the satellite antenna pattern footprint at: http://www.loralskynet.com/fleet/telstar12/t12ft_us.asp.html You can see the schedule for the RCI-3 stream on Telstar 12 at: http://www.rcinet.ca/horaires/B03_RCI-3_ML_24h.pdf You can find approximate look angles from your area at: http://www.loralskynet.com/fleet/telstar12/t12la_us.asp.html ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, swprograms via DXLD) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ For a little more information about a few other radio services in the same transponder look at:- http://www.lyngsat.com/t12.shtml The other services are European so I guess that the RCI service crosses the Atlantic twice. Looking at the footprint it seems that the primary target of services on this beam is South America with a useful spill into North America. Somehow I doubt there will be many people with fixed dishes on this satellite but those with steerable dishes would find it a relatively easy catch (Mark Hawkins, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. After having a conversation this afternoon with Yoel Tzur, one of the managers of Arutz 7, and one of the Arutz 7 10, awaiting their sentences at the end of this year for illegal broadcasting, he informed me that the Arutz 7 ship has been broken up. He told me that the deal was brokered through a company in Piraeus [Greece], and the station got a very good deal. I myself informed the station of two people who wanted to use the ship (for legal purposes!), but my inquiry came too late, as the deal had already been finalized. He also went on to tell me, that the station will, in future, operate only within the framework of the law, and are awaiting for the Knesset to introduce legislation for the station to be legalized. If what Yoel Tzur told me is true, then this is really the end of offshore radio broadcasting from the high seas (Mike Brand, Israel, Nov 30 via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** IRAQ. RADIO/TV BROADCASTING IN IRAQ NEEDS COALITION'S PERMISSION | Text of report in English by Iranian news agency IRNA Baghdad, 29 November: Existing radio and television stations in Iraq and the new ones intending to broadcast their programmes should obtain permission from the US-led occupying coalition forces. All the radio and television stations which are broadcasting or scheduled to begin activity in Iraq should apply for permission to the centres of coalition forces throughout the country by the end of this year, a statement issued by the coalition forces here on Saturday [29 November] said. The coalition forces warned that broadcasting stations would be prevented from carrying out their activities in Iraq if they do not obtain permission in time. Some radio and television stations are now active in Iraq without any permission, the statement added. Source: IRNA news agency, Tehran, in English 1122 gmt 29 Nov 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Glenn, Reply from RTE about RTE survey. I hereby give GH permission to publish this info. 73, (Kraig Krist, Annandale, VA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Thank you for responding to RTE's SW survey. This survey will continue till the 12th of DEC. 2003. All correspondence is viewed on a daily basis and the messages will inform our future SW strategy (Lennie Kaye, Technical Operations Manager, Radio, RTE, Ireland, Nov 30, via Krist, DXLD) ** IRELAND. PHOTOS OF RTE ATHLONE TRANSMITTER SITE Spotted on http://www.anoraknation.com --- My colleague Andy Green and I paid a spontaneous visit to the world- famous Athlone transmitting site in Ireland midlands the other day. We just happened to be passing, called them up and invited ourselves in. The site currently carries RTE 2FM on 612kHz at 100kW. Until 1979 it carried Radio Eireann, and had done so since the site was commissioned in 1933. We took some pictures in the building, as the original 100kW Marconi transmitter is still there, as is the second rig used there, a Brown-Boveri 100 kW unit. Andy Linton. The photos are on this page: http://homepage.eircom.net/~totalbroadcast/athlone2.html # posted by Andy @ 13:05 UT Nov 30 (Media Network blog via DXLD) This is fascinating stuff. I'm just working on a video of the SLBC "Radio Ceylon" site (visited a few weeks ago) and the Marconi 100 is almost identical. Controls look like what we imagine must be at a nuclear power station. It probably costs too much to dispose of all this stuff than just to let it sit there in Althlone (there's mercury and all kinds of nice PCBs in those transformers and rectifiers!!) (Jonathan Marks, ibid.) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. Glenn, Tuned over to 9560 tonight after listening to DXers Unlimited at about 0150. Listened to VOA Spanish in the clear, no jammer. Thought to myself that SOMEONE must have been reading DXLD. Korean broadcast started at 0200 and at 0202 the jammer came up! You tell me (John H. Carver Jr., Mid-North Indiana, UT Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. European Music Radio noted on 9290 November 30th 1400-1600 with very strong signals and announcing a new mailing address of EMR, c/o T. Taylor, 32 Briscoe Road, Colliers Wood, London SW19 2AR. Next transmissions will be on December 28th and January 18th (Mike Barraclough, England, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. 7560, Radio Ezra relay, *1859-1929, Nov. 30, CIS tones until 1859 sign-on. Rough copy of opening announcement, instrumental music followed by mention of 7560 and Radio Ezra. John Hill with talks on start of new series, explanation of Karaites later in program. Testimony, followed with full ID at 1915, with much improved reception, "You are listening to Radio Ezra, the voice of the World Karaites Movement"; mentioned weekly broadcasts, web address and 10 minute broadcasts to Baltic States on 612 kHz, Wednesdays, 1450-1500. Explanation of Karaites with emphasis on Hebrew scriptures, contact info with request for reports via e-mail only, no POB this time around, signed off with opera music. Fair with tolerable propagation noise and fading (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re "CIS tones": this is a small misunderstanding --- Lithuania is not part of the CIS and the Sitkunai site does not use Soviet SW equipment which would involve the specific sign-on procedure like it is known from CIS transmitter sites. The SW transmitter in Sitkunai is a US- made 100 kW by Continental Electronics, installed in 1999. However, Sitkunai does use its own test tones until sign-on if the programme producer does not supply an Interval signal (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNITED KINGDOM Radio Ezra heard with an excellent signal 1900-1930 on 7560 via Lithuania November 30th with the first of 13 Sunday broadcasts. Station operator John Hill was dismissive of shortwave evangelists he used to listen to, particularly Brother Stair. Reports requested to info@radioezra.com (Mike Barraclough, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Hallelujah. He seen de lite! [7560], 1902 Sun Nov 30, man with schedule, about the broadcasting itself and much monologue. S7, SINPO 32443 QRM from digital on 7557 at steady S6; better at 7562 remainder of program seems more religious. At 1915 OM refers to the 'Program Weekly concentration' and web site http://www.radioezra.com then about Moses (Zacharias Liangas, http://www.geocities.com/zliangas/kchibo.pdf Dec 1, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALTA [and non]. VOM SW English continues as scheduled? According to Victoria Gallia, announcer on the V of Mediterranean (9630 kHz at 0900 this morning) there would be some reduction in some services the station had been offering, especially with regard to the foreign language broadcasts and VOMi [internet] streaming. However the website remains open for the moment, and the daily English language shortwave broadcasts continue as scheduled. She apologised for the situation which "we have no control over". She also mentioned regular programme presenters would record [farewell?] messages in the next few days, that some programmes would be repeats and [VOMi] internet streaming had now ceased (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK, Caversham, UK AOR 7030+ / longwire, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO? Quito 30/Nov/2003 22:39 Hello Glenn Hauser! 10359 kHz, XERMX(??) México 30th of November 2003 - 0300 UT. After reading your last DXLD and your own logging/comments [COLOMBIA] I this evening checked the frequency. On 10359 kHz I found a quite strong and very distorted signal, impossible to listen to in SSB. Before 0300 UT classical piano music. 0300 ID "Radio..." but I had not switched my recorder on. One minute later a program called "Jazz en R.M.X(??)" followed by modern jazz music. Also ID by OM: R.M.X.(???)". First I noted "R.N.I" but after listening to my recording it can be "R.M.X" but I´m not 100% sure. Off air without talk/ID at 0309 UT. Has anyone a 00% ID on this spur?? You can listen to my short recording at SWB and give your opinion: http://homepage.sverige.net/~a-0901/ 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [non]. Glenn: -- Just got back from a few days of pure gluttony in Phoenix, where I notice XEKTT gives KFYI-550 quite a run for the money. In the northwest Valley area near Peoria and Sun City, the XE pretty much wipes out any KFYI listenability after 9 PM local. The irony: KFYI is by rights "grandfathered" as Arizona's oldest signal, first signing on as KOY in 1922, I believe. (The KOY calls have been switched off to Clear Channel's co-owned 1230 kHz facility). (GREG HARDISON, CA, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RN is still running timesignals at odd minutes, e.g. 1227 UT Nov 30 on 5965 via Canada. Unfortunately I did not have WWV running on another receiver to check whether it was really accurate. I`ll bet it had a satellite delay, and thus should not have been broadcast at any minute (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND/AUSTRALIA. INTERNATIONAL - NEW ZEALAND: A PROPOSAL TO REPLACE VNG Still down-under, word that well known ``Digital Modes`` Amateur, Murray Greenman, ZL1BPU, has proposed that New Zealand and Australian hams put together a network of simple and inexpensive transmitters. This, to provide a high accuracy Standard Frequency Service to replace the VNG standards station that has now gone QRT. Amateur Radio Newsline`s Jim Meachen ZL2BHF is in Auckland with the details: Amateurs in the South Pacific have for many years relied on VNG transmissions as a prime source of accurate frequency reference. With the closure of VNG in December 2002, the sole remaining precision signal source in our area is WWVH, in Hawaii. Unfortunately the WWVH signal quality in the South Pacific is generally too poor for reliable use, either to zero beat a simple calibrator, or using more sophisticated computer based techniques. ZL1BPU says that a series of tests over the last two years has shown that simple low power carrier transmissions on the 80m band would fulfill most of the requirements of a Standard Frequency Service: Greenman: ``Using simple HF transmitters that I`ve designed, we have confirmed that low power transmissions are very useful, for both calibration and propagation study, up to at least 3000 km range. Anyone can monitor these signals, using a stable receiver and freely available software to look for small frequency shifts that accompany each propagation path. Classic effects such as multiple paths with different refractive indices for different signal polarization`s are easily observable. Doppler shift is particularly marked around sunrise and sunset. Observing these signals gives a better understanding of propagation, which is the key to accurate on-air frequency measurement.`` The Service now operates on a test basis with transmissions from a high precision local reference on an exact kHz point 80m frequency using a carrier power of 1-5 W. The Transmissions are identified in Morse every 30 minutes. Operation is from a different geographical location each weekend. Transmission times are announced and coordinated beforehand by e-mail. Reporting from Auckland, New Zealand, I`m Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, for Newsline. ZL1BPU adds that these are privately owned, operated and attended test transmissions, not beacons. Establishing a Standard Frequency Service formally, perhaps under the auspices of the NZART, might be considered in the future (NZART News via Amateur Radio Newsline November 28 via John Norfolk, and Mike Terry, DXLD) WTFK?? ** NIGERIA. VON Lagos seems to be on 15120 in English all day (0500- 2300, as usual). It seems that times of antenna changes vary, and sometimes they are possibly off for a day. A few weeks ago, modulation was improved, but now it's worse than before. A good possibility to listen to this was around 1700 recently. 11770 in Arabic and French is heard again from 1600-2000. Modulation is better, but much QRM on the channel. 7255 I heard signing on(!) at 2200 recently (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Nov 30, http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voice of Nigeria has returned to 15120, morning English broadcasts well heard here. Mailbag programme heard 0820 November 30th reading reception reports. In answer to a question from a German listener they said that they would be beginning German broadcasts very shortly. They announced a repeat of the Mailbag programme on Monday at 1305 (Mike Barraclough, UK, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** PARAGUAY. Notice this station profile mentions a SW frequency, apparently for two-way contact (gh, DXLD) ZP30 La Voz del Chaco Paraguayo Estudio central en Filadelfia. Teléfonos: (595) 491 32031, 0491 32330 Fax: 0491 32501 Estudios en Loma Plata. Teléfono: 0492 52282 Estudios en Yalve Sanga. Teléfono 0491 32736. Oficinas con acceso por Radio VHF en Neu-Halbstadt, Para Todo, Lolita, Campo León y Buena Vista. También accesible en la frequencia (HF) 6.884 USB. Somos una emisora cristiana/cultural. Transmitimos en 610 kHz, en onda media con 10 KW de potencia. Nuestra área de transmision se extiende por todo Chaco paraguayo, partes de Paraguay oriental, periferias de Argentina, Bolivia y Brasil. Nuestros estudios centrales se hallan en Filadelfia. Estamos transmitiendo 17 horas al dia en 9 idiomas: español, alemán, lengua, nivacle, guaraní, portugués, dialecto alemán, inglés y ayoreo. Nuestros productores de programas vienen los diferentes grupos de idioma y cultura. Hace algunos años se fundó la Asociacion Civil Radio ZP-30 con personería juridíca propia. Los titulares de la emisora son las iglesias y administraciones de las colonias mennonitas del Chaco Central. El 95 % de los gastos operativos son cubiertos de estos titulares y de patrocinadores. Inversiones grandes se hace a través de donaciones especiales. Queremos transmitir la palabra de Dios a nuestros oyentes en forma clara y comprensible. La proclamación bíblica, la enseñanza y el trabajo pastoral para los diferentes grupos étnicos es nuestro objetivo principal. Además estamos dispuestos para aconsejar acerca de temas del trabajo agropecuario, de enseñaza domiciliaria, de la vida comunitaria y de salud; por eso ofrecemos enseñanza para adultos. Queremos informar a nuestros oyentes con noticias locales, nacionales e internacionales. Cinco veces por día estamos ofreciendo un servicio gratuito de avisos locales, para ayudar a vencer las condiciones difíciles de infraestructura en el Chaco. Queremos hacer conocer a los diferentes grupos étnicos entre si y guiarles a una unidad nacional. Por eso el idioma castellano toma dos tercios de la oferta de programas. Con música cristiana y popular queremos entretener a nuestra audiencia y ganar nuevos amigos. http://www.zp30.com.py/zp30/Espanol1.htm (via Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Conexión Digital Nov 22 via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Rádio Renascença is the largest radio station in Portugal; they own the two most popular radio stations in Portugal --- equivalent to RTE in Ireland. It was founded in 1936 by a priest from Lisbon and now operates as a totally independent company. The station is owned by the diocese of Lisbon and a chairperson is appointed by the Archbishop. They have recently launched a young people’s music station for the 15-25 year olds playing all types of popular music with some values and religious slots (A REPORT ON CERC, OCTOBER 23-26 IN BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA by Thomas Declan, Solas AM, Dublin, Ireland, Catholic Radio Update Dec 1 via DXLD) The largest? By what measure? Is this correct? Even `larger` than RTP? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** QATAR. CRUNCH-TIME FOR AL-JAZEERA --- by John R. Bradley This message was forwarded to you from Straits Times Interactive http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg JEDDAH - Even for a news organisation which frequently makes world headlines, the past two months have been a roller-coaster ride for Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based, Arabic-language satellite station famous for airing exclusive video and audio messages from Al-Qa`eda leader Osama Bin Laden. Its best-known Arab reporter, Tayssir Allouni, was arrested in Spain in September for his alleged membership of a Syrian-dominated Al- Qa`eda group suspected of close links to the cell responsible for the Sept 11 attacks. He has since been charged. The US-backed Iraqi National Congress, meanwhile, slapped a two-week ban on Al-Jazeera's Baghdad reporters in the same month, following accusations that they had encouraged 'anti-coalition attacks' within Iraq by airing calls for suicide attacks by what the station invariably calls 'resistance groups'. Then, in October, US forces detained two Al-Jazeera employees covering a suicide bombing at a police station in Baghdad suspected of having had prior knowledge of the attack. They had arrived at the scene and started to film before the bomb went off. Last week, Al-Jazeera was in the headlines again, this time for dumping its star Western journalist, Yvonne Ridley, as the senior editor of the recently launched English-language website, http://english.aljazeera.net. Ridley is reportedly the ninth journalist to leave the struggling website since it was launched just three months ago, but it is her departure that has caught the attention of the Western media. Ridley, for decades a Fleet Street hack, shot to fame in 2001, shortly before the US bombing campaign against Afghanistan, when she sneaked into the country disguised as an Afghan woman riding a donkey. The Taleban jailed her for 10 days. In a book, Ridley claimed the CIA leaked false documents to the Taleban saying she was a spy for Mossad, the Israeli secret service. The CIA had hoped, she argued, that her captors would be persuaded to execute her, and thus give the pro-war lobby in the West a powerful boost on the eve of the planned bombing campaign. Ridley became not the martyr to radical Islam she claims the West had planned for, but a convert to Islam - and then, as a journalist with Al-Jazeera, a thorn in the West's side in the build-up and aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq, most notably with a series of powerful articles attacking the war's assumed justification. Ridley was also upset that Al-Jazeera website editors quietly bowed to pressure from the Bush administration in September by pulling from its website two cartoons deemed 'inflammatory' by Washington. One cartoon was of so-called 'green-card soldiers': young Latino men shown going through an immigration tunnel to emerge from the other side as US soldiers, ready to leave for military service in Iraq. The other was of New York's twin towers imploding, and two giant fuel pumps rising to replace them from the ashes. Just before the decision to pull the cartoons was taken, an article had appeared in a respected Kuwaiti newspaper which quoted an American Gulf-based diplomat as saying Congress had secretly proposed to US President George W. Bush that he should 'put all possible pressure' on the Qatari government to close Al-Jazeera. The article, published in the Arabic-language daily Al-Siyasa, sent shockwaves through Al-Jazeera, according to insiders, despite the fact that its journalists were not able to verify its accuracy. Translated into English by an Al-Jazeera journalist, it was even forwarded by e-mail to all staff members of the English-language website. The e-mail said Al-Siyasa quoted a US diplomat as saying that a series of meetings was held in late August and early September at the headquarters of the Security Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives. The subject of the meetings, the translator said, was 'US-Qatari relations in the light of the role Al-Jazeera has played in inciting anti-US sentiment'. The US diplomat said the meetings of key members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA and the FBI reached a unanimous proposal on the second anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks: to advise Mr Bush to warn the Qatari government to close Al-Jazeera or, as a first step, to replace its journalists with others who are 'moderate and neutral'. If Al-Jazeera failed to relook its news content, the committee was said to have concluded, the US would in turn have to reconsider its relations with Qatar - from where the US-led war on Iraq had been supervised. Al-Siyasa said committee members had accused Al-Jazeera of being against both US foreign and domestic political interests and its armed forces, particularly those in Iraq and Afghanistan; of having become a platform for Al-Qa`eda and the ousted Iraqi regime; and of promoting other 'fundamentalist and terrorist' Islamist groups. There is no doubt that, under all this pressure, Al-Jazeera is toning down its anti-US rhetoric. There is evidently little room for the likes of Ridley, eager to promote anti-US and pro-Arab agendas. The writer is the managing editor of the Jeddah-based Arab News. He contributed this article to The Straits Times (via Gerald T. Pollard, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. 5975, 2210-2241, R. ROMANIA INT., Nov 29 ID in English heard at 1723 [sic; must mean 2223 UT] by female announcer. Actually doing fairly well with the Beeb stronger on same frequency. I had noticed this one day last week also so must be a late change from R. Romania. Scheduled 2200-2256 in English (Bob Montgomery, Levittown, PA USA, Cumbredx mailing list, via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA [non]. Re Voice of Reform, Al-islah shortwave broadcasts are no longer listed on the TDP website (Silvain Domen, Belgium, DXLD): There are HFCC registrations for them 1800-2000 on 12130 15705 from Kvitsøy, nothing heard when checked November 28th (Mike Barraclough, UK, World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** SERBIA & MONTENEGRO. International Radio of Serbia/Montenegro heard on 6100 1930-2000 in English, previously unheard in B-03. They suffer interference from the DRM transmissions from Luxembourg on 6095 but can be heard clearly in USB (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, UK, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. Good morning Glenn, This message from Nigel Holmes, Radio Australia, may be of interest to your radio listeners. All is well, Best regards (George J. Poppin, Technical Monitor, Radio Australia, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello George, I've just returned from two weeks in the Solomon Islands --- Guadalcanal --- I've been helping the local broadcaster repair their 10 kW MF transmitter [1035 kHz?] and getting 9545 kHz back on- air. The transmitter site is about 12 km out of Honiara on an old military air field about half-mile from Bloody Ridge. Still signs of the war all about. (Honiara's international airport is the same main strip used once Guadalcanal had been secured --- it is named Henderson after a U.S. pilot) (I came back via Port Vila in Vanuatu/New Hebrides about 600 miles to the southeast --- its airport is called Bauerfield after Bauer, a USMC pilot who flew from Port Vila to Guadcalcanal to aid a US ship under attack --- Bauer engaged 12 enemy planes and accounted for four of them before an emergency landing after running out of petrol. Big plaque and photograph in Bauerfield terminal) Kind regards, (Nigel Holmes, R. Australia, via George Poppin, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA [and non]. Re 46664: Glenn, I've heard Mandela himself give his prison number, and he says it "four double-six six four". Regards, (Chris Greenway, Kenya, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) He de man ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Glenn, If you have a chance to catch one of the repeats of TimTron's show on WBCQ this week, do listen. Second or third song of the show is a very well done parody of Led Zepplin's Stairway to Heaven called Brother Stair's Way to Heaven. A real hoot (John H. Carver Jr., Mid-North Indiana, Nov 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems I missed the 0400 repeat; maybe next Saturday at 1900? From http://www.zappahead.net/wbcq/main.php?fn=show_program&id=42 (gh) Annotated WBCQ Program Guide Radio Timtron Worldwide E-mail: timtron @ hotmail.com Sa 17495 02:00PM 03:00PM 1900 2000 Sa 7415 06:00PM 07:00PM 2300 0000 Sa 9330 11:00PM 12:00AM 0400 0500 One of the most entertaining programs on WBCQ, Radio Timtron Worldwide combines rock music, comedy, and the occasional skit into a show always worth tuning in to. Occasionally live on Saturday afternoons at 6 PM ET. Recorded episodes on Saturday afternoons at 2 PM ET on 17495. Happily, this show is also used as "filler material" at other random times (via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 9770, SLBC, 1437-1500, Nov. 28, English, Pop music/ ballads, Wham, "Wake me up (before you Go-Go), Captain and Tenille, "Do that to me one more time", presumed "This is SLBC" ID between songs on a few occasions. Pips, YL with "This is Sri Lanka" ID/drums? at 1500 followed by news. Fair/poor with "muddy" audio (Scott Barbour, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. RADIO SUFFERS AS COLOMBO BOSSES CALL THE SHOTS By Nalaka Gunawardene Volume 12, No. 63 - Friday, November 28, 2003 http://www.ghanaian-chronicle.com/231128/page4b.htm Soon after conquering Mount Everest half a century ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay turned on their transistor radio --- and the first thing they heard was an overseas broadcast of Radio Ceylon, from more than 3,000 kilometres away. They joined millions of people across the Indian subcontinent who regularly tuned in to these broadcasts. A pioneer in broadcasting in Asia, Radio Ceylon for decades informed and entertained an overseas audience, many times the population of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. How times have changed. The once influential, popular and monopolistic state-owned radio in Sri Lanka has been completely sidelined in the past decade. A cacophony of privately-owned channels now crowd the airwaves --- albeit only in the FM band --- competing with each other to inform, entertain and sell consumer goods to the island nation`s 19 million people. The product of media and economic liberalisation, these channels are operated by half a dozen companies, each struggling to make money in a market that until recently was depressed by a protracted civil war. Loss of audience and advertising revenue are not the only problems that plague the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), successor to Radio Ceylon. Over the years, successive governments have misused the station for political and state propaganda. Inconsequential and boring speeches of politicians were broadcast in full. Not that the private commercial channels have completely fulfilled their expectations: after the initial novelty had worn off, discerning listeners found that they could take only so much of the popular culture dished out by young announcers endlessly chattering in a mix of Sinhala or Tamil with English. Yet, on balance, many have come to the conclusion that even bad FM radio is better than SLBC. Private channels moved closer to their audiences by presenting news in colloquial and friendly Sinhala. Not so SLBC, which insists on using an imperious and archaic version of the language. ``Our listeners immediately welcomed news in spoken Sinhala, and only a few pundits raised objections,`` recalls Asoka Dias, news director at Sirasa FM which pioneered this innovation. ``Now everybody does it --- at least in selected news formats.`` It was Sirasa FM — the first private channel started in 1992 --- that turned broadcasting in Sri Lanka upside down. Nimal Lakshapathiarachchi, its founder director, recognised the critical need for new formats to make radio more engaging and relevant in the multimedia age. Arguably, some of these were in the `tabloid` mould, but Sirasa --- and other FM channels --- have lured back a whole new generation of listeners. Major gaps remain. Most FM signals can only be picked up in urban areas, and their profit-oriented owners are unlikely to invest further to achieve rural coverage. SLBC is the only station broadcasting on medium wave, short wave and FM bands --- and, in spite of considerable media freedom granted by the current government, it remains `His Master`s Voice` on all key political, social and economic matters. And in spite of having more choices than ever before, many Sri Lankans regularly listen to foreign broadcasts. By far, the biggest gap concerns community radio. SLBC broadcasts from all corners of the country, including stations located in remote areas. The channel involves local people in programme production, and it maintains a strongly agrarian audience. But listeners have no say in running the stations --- these are managed by a tight bureaucracy in the capital Colombo, whose rigid guidelines control content: strictly no politics, and nothing remotely against the government in office. But, although touted as such, SLBC is not community radio, which is supposed to promote access, public participation in production and decision-making and listener-financing --- where each listener contributes a small amount towards the running of the radio station. In Sri Lanka, ironically, only armed rebels have challenged this state dominance by running clandestine channels. The Marxist People`s Liberation Front ran Rana Handa (Sound of Victory) in the 1980s when it spearheaded a youth insurgency. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) --- the guerrilla group now talking peace with the government after two decades of war --- ran Voice of Tigers which made a mockery of Colombo`s broadcast regulations. In November 2002, the government granted a license for LYLE to continue its broadcasts legally, a move that has since been contested in courts by other citizen groups. But that`s the first --- and so far only --- time the state has accommodated such a request. Four successive governments since 1992 have refused to grant broadcast license to non-profit, nongovernmental or cooperative groups. Organisations such as Sarvodaya --- the country`s largest development NGO --- are keen to use the airwaves for public benefit, but their requests have been ignored. A major bottleneck is the discretionary broadcast licensing system that lacks transparency, accountability and consistency. As a result, the electro magnetic spectrum --- a public property --- has been plundered by officials and politicians who have granted licenses to relatives and business cronies. Some licenses have been traded for huge sums of money. The FM band is now saturated. Governments have never explained why community groups are not given broadcast licenses. Senior officials have sometimes cited fears of media misuse for `anti-social` or political purposes. Strangely, such concerns don`t seem to extend to profit-making companies, some of whose channels are openly aligned with political parties. Meanwhile, the smokescreen of so-called `community radio` has been used by bureaucrats hand-in-glove with commercial interests to block the evolution of broadcasting to the next stage --- where community media are owned, managed and sustained by the people. `Colombo Calling` was the station call in the early days of radio broadcasting in colonial Ceylon. Eight decades on, Colombo is still calling the shots. A few token rural transmissions of the state cannot redress this huge imbalance, no matter how they are dressed up. The first step towards truly community media is to demand the real liberation of the airwaves. CREDIT: PANOS (Ghanaian Chronicle Nov 28 via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. Voice of Hope broadcasts via Radio Netherlands Madagascar are now 0430-0530 Saturday to Tuesday on 12060 15320 (RN Website via Mike Barraclough, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Sudan Radio Service 1500-1700 on 15530 is announcing address of P.O. Box 4392, Nairobi 00100, Kenya (Allen Dean, ibid.) ** SYRIA. 13610, 17.11 2045, R. Damascus, nonstop Arabian music interrupted by a short news cast in English among others about President Bashar al-Assad, ID as "Damascus Broadcasting Service", National Anthem and then Arabian music, later English news again. 33222 BV (Bjarke Vestesen, Denmark, SW Bulletin Nov 30, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TANGANYIKA. 5050, TANZANIA, R. Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, 2031-2101*, Dec. 1, Swahili?, OM at tune-in with fair signal of talks and music. YL at 2144 with passing mention of "Radio Tanzania", signal began to gradually fade as noise level increased, 2 different OM with talks and brief music bits until (tentative) ID at 2058 followed by national anthem at sign-off. Real pleased to log this one! (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4976, R. Uganda, Kampala, 2010-2030, Dec. 1, Swahili?, OM with Afropops and talks between songs, long talk at 2019 with several mentions of "Uganda". Surprisingly good signal (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA [non]. GERMANY - 17870 R. Rhino Int'l Africa *1500-1559* 11/29. Sign-on and usual "If I Had a Hammer" theme; then interviews with various individuals about the situation in Uganda. Interviewees and phone callers included a priest in Uganda, a soldier, and a European expert on African affairs. Off with no announcements at 1559*. Good signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U K [non]. R. Ezra: see LITHUANIA ** U K. BBC RADIO 4 SILENCE PUTS UK SUBS ON ALERT http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/stories/Detail_LinkStory=74411.html THE captains of Britain`s nuclear submarines had a bit of a wake up call today - when the BBC mysteriously went off air for 15 minutes. The Today programme, which is popular with government ministers, went silent just before the 8 o`clock news because of a fire alarm at BBC HQ. Culture Minister Tessa Jowell was speaking when the programme was cut off and the main news was replaced by classical music. The unusual event was a crucial test for Britain’s four Trident nuclear submarines, patrolling in secret locations around the world and cut off from base. On board are handwritten letters from Prime Minister Tony Blair, bearing his instructions for nuclear retaliation. They are locked in the submarines' safes. Secret orders to the captains say that these deadly instructions are to be opened and acted upon only if the submarine cannot tune in to Radio 4`s Today programme for a given number of consecutive days. That is a reliable sign that Britain has been hit by a nuclear attack. Smoke Reports suggest that the Prime Minister`s letter, written just days after he won the 1997 election, offers the submarines four options: to put the vessels under US command, to make their way to Australia, to launch a nuclear strike against the enemy or to use their own judgement. There are reports that Tony Blair "went white" when told he must write such letters after his election victory. The submarine captains will have been alerted when the Today programme mysteriously went off air, even for just 15 minutes. The Ministry of Defence today refused to discuss details of instructions given to the nuclear submarines for security reasons. After smoke was spotted at BBC TV Centre the system was shut down and Today staff rushed to another part of the building to continue the programme. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell who was cut off mid-sentence when the problems struck the flagship news show joked that it was the first time she was allowed to answer questions without being interrupted. She was followed by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who was interviewed when the show was moved to another studio. He joked: "Perhaps it`s a not so subtle bid by the BBC to increase the licence fee to pay the electricity bill." The suspected powercut hit both Radio 4 and Radio 5 and TV`s BBC News 24 was also cut off for a short period of time (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) Why Radio 4, and WTFK? Presumably longwave 198, as submerged subs can monitor LW better than higher bands (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UNITED KINGDOM. The Government claimed to have won a skirmish against the BBC over the Kelly affair after the Corporation accepted November 27th that it had made false allegations against a minister. Ben Bradshaw, the Fisheries Minister and a former BBC journalist, repeatedly attacked the journalistic standards of his former employers last summer after the claims that Downing Street had "sexed up" the intelligence dossier. Mr Bradshaw has been outraged by the disclosure to the Hutton inquiry of an email from Kevin Marsh, editor of the Today programme, which suggested taking revenge on the minister by dredging up his record at the BBC. In the message sent to Stephen Whittle, the corporations editorial policy controller, Mr Marsh said "Depending on how strong you feel, you might want to add that we're reluctant to take lessons in BBC procedure from a man who was an active member of the Labour Party and nursed a constituency for many months in 1996/7 without informing his line manager (er..me) in a clear breach of (a) producer guidelines and (b) his contract. Mr Bradshaw has now released a letter he has received from Stephen Mitchell, head of radio news, which acknowledged that the allegations were wrong. He said Mr Bradshaw had informed him and Mr Whittle about his selection as a Labour Parliamentary candidate. "I do not recall that you were in breach of the producer guidelines as they stood in 1996, or your contract of employment," the letter added. The BBC, which has agreed to pay Mr. Bradshaw's legal costs amounting to several hundred thousand pounds, also wrote to the Hutton inquiry asking for the removal of Mr Marsh's email from the evidence published on its website. Mr Bradshaw said "I'm relieved that this is all over and this smear has been retracted. Getting the BBC to admit it is wrong is like squeezing blood from a stone." (The Times, November 28th via Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, UK, DXLD) ** U K [and non]. BBCWS to the Caribbean had a special broadcast for World AIDS Day, a discussion of AIDS in the Caribbean, which I happened across quite by chance on 6110 from before 2330 until 2359 on Dec 1. Signal was quite good, probably Antigua, and much better than \\ 5975. At 2359, 6110 shifted to the BBC Spanish service as usual. I then tried to find any listing of such an unusually timed Caribbean cutaway, and could not, neither in the December BBC On Air nor online at the page forwarded to from http://worldservice.com/aids Once again, good work, but lousy publicity (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re KSL on 26190: Seemed as though it was just their ordinary programming vs. anything special such as a remote (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Spot checked WWCR 12160 at 1450 UT Sun Nov 30: country music rather than Tamil, so maybe the Ragam show starts next week at 1300- 1500. Google searching on Ragam and the name of the host/sponsor, Arasu Bala, I find nothing specific, but music seems to be the underlying theme rather than politics. As I recall, WWCR some years ago got involved with another Tamil broadcast, of suspicious political motives (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5105.2, 21.11 2145. WBCQ ought not to be here, but surely was! Religious for a while and then a long story about the work of the station. S 3 (Björn Fransson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 30, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not having heard 5105 for some time, presumably still QRP, I checked UT Mon Dec 1 at 0515 just in case they were keeping it on for WORLD OF RADIO. It was still on with Amos & Andy wrapping up, but then closed. By the time I tuned over to 7415 it was also off, apparently by mistake. WBCQ was kind enough to bring 7415 back up at 0522-0552 just for WORLD OF RADIO. So even if a station has signed off when WOR is scheduled, stay tuned! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. AAP KI DUNYA Hello Glenn, According to my friend Rod Moag, professor of Indian languages at UT Austin, and sometime shortwave listener: "aap ki dunya" means "your world." "aap" is "you" (formal, as in 'usted'.) "ki" possessive particle, as apostrophe s, or "your" from "you." I can remember, when VOA Hindi was broadcast from Greenville, and very easy to hear, hearing them start the transmission with: "voice of America ki Hindi Karikum." "Dunya" or "dunia" is "world." In Hindi/Urdu, stress is on the last syllable. This word, of Arabic origin, occurs even in such far-flung languages as Indonesian, where you will hear, at the beginning of a world newscast: "Inilah warta berita dunia." That's probably more than you really wanted to know, huh? (Tim Hendel, AL, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nullo modo ** U S A [non]. CROATIAN DEPARTMENT AT RADIO FREE EUROPE TO BE DISSOLVED 31 DECEMBER | Text of report in English by Croatian news agency HINA Zagreb, 1 December: The Croatian-language department of Radio Free Europe (RFE) will be dissolved on 31 December this year after American financiers decided to direct funds to other areas where this kind of radio programming is more necessary. The Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Slovakian departments will also be closed on the same date following a decision by the US Congress to divert funds to volatile areas of the Near East and Central Asia. Czech, Hungarian and Polish departments were closed for the same reason in the 1990s. The Croatian department will be dissolved after a full ten years of broadcasting. RFE was established at the start of the Cold War by the US National Board for a Free Europe with the secret funding of the Central Intelligence Agency. Its purpose was to serve as a substitute for the suppressed media in territories under the control of the Soviet Union. RFE will continue broadcasting in Albanian, Belarussian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Moldovan, Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian. Source: HINA news agency, Zagreb, in English 1452 gmt 1 Dec 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) USA/CZECH REPUBLIC. In connection with the announced reduction of RFE/RL's language services per 31 December 2003, a misunderstanding has appeared in many press reports: RFE will cease its broadcasts for Romania, but not the Romanian language service as such. RFE will continue producing programmes in Romanian - for listeners in Moldova (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CZECH ** U S A. SOUTHERN RADIO FORMAT TAKES HOLD IN MOULTON [Alabama] Article published Nov 29, 2003 David Norwood turned a music hobby into a "Southern radio" format for his Moulton station. WALW debuted Aug. 8 with about 50 songs to fill 24 hours of airtime, a time period that realistically requires 428 songs. A lot of that time now is filled with public service announcements, promotional spots, and with material from record labels at a rate of 15 new songs per week... http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20031129&Category=APN&ArtNo=311290671&SectionCat=&Template=printart (via Brock Whaley for DXLD Nov. 30) ** U S A. FCC Actions: Jones College, Licensee Of Noncommercial Educational Station, WKTZ-FM, Jacksonville, FL. Admonished Jones College for broadcasting advertisements in violation of Section 399B of the Act and Section 73.503 of our Rules. Action by: Deputy Chief, Investigations and Hearings Division, Enforcement Bureau. Adopted: 11/26/2003 by MO&O. (DA No. 03-3819). EB http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-03-3819A1.doc http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-03-3819A1.pdf http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-03-3819A1.txt (via Fred Vobbe, NRC FMTV via DXLD) ** U S A. From NEW YORK comes an explanation of just what experimental station WV2XOA (700) was doing when we heard it on the air south of Syracuse a few months back. The radial measurements taken on its signal - and on WDOS (730 Oneonta) - were the basis for an application filed last week by unbuilt WVOA (720 DeWitt), which now hopes to boost its daytime power from 2500 watts to a full 10 kilowatts. What's more, the new 720 signal would use that WV2XOA site alongside I-81 near US 20 for both daytime and nighttime use. (WVOA's current construction permit calls for the WOLF 1490 site in Syracuse to be the daytime home of 720, with the WV2XOA site used only at night.) The new plan calls for a total of six towers, with three being used by day and during critical hours with 10 kilowatts aimed mostly north, and five towers in a line being used for the 390-watt night signal. (And we can now guess why WV2XOA showed up on 700 instead of 720 - that way, it didn't interfere with the radial measurements being taken on WDOS to make sure WVOA won't interfere when it finally makes it to air...) (Scott Fybush, NY, NE Radio Watch Dec 1 via DXLD) ** VANUATU. 7260.05, 25.11 0640, Radio Vanuatu. Finally! Extremely weak audio. You can hear some talk and also some music. Anyhow the carrier is pretty strong and the interval signal definitely of "kokko- type", probably from someone managing a shell), also with decent strength. The interval signal was heard both at 0700 and 0710 this day. Also noted Nov 24 with interval signal at 0700 and Nov 26 with the signal at 0710. Nov 23 only, the USA radio-amateurs Billy-Bob and Bobby-Brett were heard discussing everything from Al Qa`ida to condenser microphones. Just want to mention that the 40 m Amateur band in NA is ranging from 7000 to 7300 kHz, instead of 7100 kHz in the rest of the world. Thus the amateurs in NA have all the rights to be right on 7260 and "talk". Nothing we can do about it. Well, well. I have been hunting Vanuatu for more than 20 years, without hearing a single peep! And now suddenly the legendary pause signal was heard not less than 4 times in 2 days. Catsup effect? Q0-2. HR (Hans Ostnell, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 30, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. Someone mentioned South America having the worst QSLers, and I've found that to be true especially of Venezuela. It's considered quite an accomplishment to get anything out of Venezuela these days (Larry N4SEA Fravel, Shinnston, WV, Nov 30, NRC-AM via DXLD) Venezuela used to be the best Latin American country for verifications. Since it is not [sic] difficult to get out of Venezuela with one`s own life intact, I imagine few stations care much about reception reports; life is dangerous, stressful and uncertain there now. As a courtesy, I would not send reception reports to them at this time as even apparent friendliness with the US could be misinterpreted (David Gleason, CA, ibid.) ** VENEZUELA. VENEZUELA'S CHAVEZ WARNS MEDIA THEY MUST BROADCAST By JORGE RUEDA. Associated Press Writer CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Facing a recall campaign, President Hugo Chávez [hereafter without the mandatory accent: does AP expect us to pronounce it shuh-VEZZZZ?] warned Venezuela's news media he could take over the airwaves if they don't start broadcasting pro-government political ads. In speeches late Tuesday and on Wednesday, Chavez claimed that Venezuela's private television stations were refusing to broadcast paid government advertising in the run-up to an opposition petition drive this weekend to demand a presidential recall vote. Any vote on his presidency would be held next year. Opposition-aligned television media were violating electoral law, Chavez said in a speech Wednesday to armed forces leaders. He threatened to use his authority as president to interrupt private programming any time he chooses unless the National Elections Council forces the stations to air government ads. "If they don't begin broadcasting publicity by (pro-government) parties, I will have to make a decision," Chavez said late Tuesday at a meeting of regional activists who support his leftist government. Marcel Granier, general director of RCTV television, told El Nacional newspaper in remarks published Wednesday that his station had not been asked to broadcast a pro-government ad. Granier accused Chavez of breaking election rules by forcing media to broadcast his Tuesday speech. Opposition groups are trying to drum up support for the Nov. 28-Dec. 1 petition drive, claiming Chavez is trying to impose a socialist state in Venezuela. More than 2.4 million signatures must be collected to force a presidential recall. Chavez's term runs to 2007. Chavez allies said Tuesday they had collected enough signatures during their own petition drive last weekend to force recall votes against 37 opposition lawmakers and so increase their majority in congress. Official results won't be known for weeks. Chavez says opposition media outlets continue to conspire against what he calls his "revolution" for Venezuela's majority poor. Media executives deny the accusation, and claim Chavez has abused his authority to issue "cadenas," or presidential broadcasts, that by law must be transmitted by all radio and TV stations. Many stations suppressed coverage of Chavez's dramatic return to power after a short-lived 2002 coup. They also openly supported an opposition general strike that failed to oust Chavez earlier this year (APws 11/26 1301 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. [11734.1] Not heard for a while. Usually I can hear at least a trace of it, even if the channel is blocked by a stronger station (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Nov 30, http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. On 30 Nov at 1817 noted a very weak station in French on 2311.5 with AM modulation. The format sounded like "news/talk". I started looking for parallels and am pretty sure the program was from Europe 1 (// 183 longwave). 2311.5 was cut off at 1903. After some calculating I couldn't figure out the formula how this mixture (?) is produced. It might be the receiver internal mix, but the 183 transmitter is no powerhouse here. And at 1903 the transmission on 2311.5 went off at once, not fading out. Well, this may be one of those spookies never coming back again. The receiver used was Icom R71E. Any ideas/observations? (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4246, 28.11 1455, with Russian and hysteric techno music. Maybe the Belarus "Radio FM" reported at Hard Core on 5256 kHz with this music format? Turned off the transmitter and disappeared at 1459, exactly when I expected some form of ID. Q4. HR (Hans Ostnell, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 30, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Quito 30/Nov/2003 19:25 Amigo DXista Dave Valko! 5392 unID LA = 6728(??) = 9565.06 kHz R. Tupi(??) I have been checking the unID religious LA you found on 5392 kHz the last week. I´m sure it is Spanish or Portuguese and it could be a program called "La Voz de la Liberación". This night I had a station with perhaps the same(???) program and same heavy distorted signal. I hope you can check the Brazilian station on 9565.06 kHz Radio Tupi, Curitiba. I think it´s the same(???) program in // but I´m not sure. 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, SWB América Latina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. In DXLD #03-209, Martien Groot, Holland wrote this: "UNIDENTIFIED. 7220, *1400-1428*, Nov 15, carrier on 1357, into Chinese 1400 to 1428 carrier off, same speaker throughout, not one single note of music, believe I could hear occasional mention of Jesus?, seems Sat only, as I had also heard this on Nov 01 and 08, clear frequency, fairly strong, 25332" I have looked in WRTH 2003 and this advises that CNR2 Beijing is on air using 7220 between 1230 - 1605 and 2100 - 2330 UT. This is the only Chinese station listed on 7220 in the whole book (DXDave, Bristol, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, I`m afraid that`s still far from conclusive, especially in view of the program content. More likely from the listings, HFCC B-03 is Chita, as VOR, but we know that Russian sites often sell time to gospel huxters. GFC is General Radio Frequency Centre (in Moscow): 7220 1200 1600 43,49W,54W TCH 250 200 1234567 261003 280304 D RUS VOR GFC (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ INSIDE THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT By Harry Helms http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/mtwhatsnew.html Monitoring Times readers have heard of Harry Helms, who was given the Don Jensen Award as DXer of the year by the Association of North American Radio Clubs last year. Helms' name is familiar from his many DX books and for his work as immediate past publisher of The ACE. Harry still is one of the editors for the medium wave National Radio Club hobby bulletin. Terry Provance reported that Helms suddenly made an appearance on the nationally syndicated Art Bell program in October, plugging his new book, Inside the Shadow Government: National Emergencies and the Cult of Secrecy. Harry Helms' book is a tremendous resource work that will have enormous appeal both to clandestine DXers and the general public. As Harry says on the cover of his book, he finds that the "Shadow Government" is "one of the most closely-held secrets of the U.S. Government." Harry reveals the location of many secret facilities operated by the government, originally designed for the operation of the government in the event of a nuclear attack. The now-famous Area 51 in Nevada which often makes its way into pirate radio broadcasts is one of many such locations that Harry discusses in surprising detail. He meticulously outlines the procedures by which the government could morph into a dictatorship, where civilians could be rounded up and detained while normal constitutional protections could be suspended by executive orders. A helpful 73 page reference Appendix lists a variety of executive orders that permit numerous federal government departments to operate the federal government on a secret and clandestine basis. Helms's book traces the evolution of this problem all the way from Roosevelt to Clinton and even the current Washington administration. Harry's well researched book could once have been written off as a paranoid collection of anti-government propaganda. But, given recent turns in world events and the political responses of the US government, this book is now essential reading for everybody in the United States, whether they be radio hobbyists or not. But, pirate and clandestine DXers, as well as radio hobbyists who monitor the military, will find the book to be unusually helpful. The fact that Helms' book can be published at all in the United States is a measure of the healthy state of democracy and freedom in the USA. It is listed at a price of $12.95 from Feral House in Los Angeles. It is available from them at their http://www.feralhouse.com web site, and will also be available from many MT advertisers. A book of this importance will also be found in bookstores on a nationwide basis. You should go buy one at once, while you still have the chance. (Reviewed by George Zeller, Dec MONITORING TIMES via DXLD) CLUELESS CLUELESS IN CYBERSPACE Glenn, In response to the "Clueless in Cyberspace" item at the end of DXLD 3-214, it's obvious the good folks at SCDX/MediaScan are themselves clueless about Amazon's new search engine. Their statement "the system doesn't just search among book titles and authors, it searches through every word in every book in the system" is totally false. The system only scans through sample pages supplied to Amazon by participating publishers; many publishers do not participate, and those who do mainly provide pages for new "frontlist" titles instead of for previously published books. The Amazon system is similar to Google and other search engines, with results returned in order of relevance. After reading the item, I tried searching for Passport for World Band Radio, and the first listing I received was for the 2004 edition, then previous editions, and then for other titles mentioning PWBR and some combination of those words, all in decreasing order of relevance. Did the SCDX/MediaScan author of those remarks not realize this? It's certainly obvious to me. I personally find Amazon's new search engine and the ability to see sample pages from a book to be big improvements. Amazon's customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive as well. 73, (Harry Helms, Dec 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ TONGUE-IN-CHEEK GRUNDIG REVIEW Glenn: FYI, I just posted a somewhat satirically-flavored review of the Grundig Mini 100 PE shortwave receiver (in which, at one point, I took your name in vain.) If you care, it is found at: http://home.earthlink.net/~srw-swling/grundig-100.htm Best, (Steve Waldee, CA, Nov 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WHY DOES MOVING YOUR HANDS IN FRONT OF THE TV OR RADIO ANTENNA INFLUENCE THE RECEPTION? Scientific American: Physics: Nov 27, 2003 12:57 PST http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?chanID=sa005&articleID=000118DA-9CA1-1FA6-9CA183414B7F0000&topic_id=13 Anticipating the blizzard of new shortwave radios (and the money from Grundig adverts), the U.S. magazine features waving hands on radios this month in their ask the experts features (page 5), along with more important technology such as 2 second beer stein fillers [**]Two-Second Drafts -- Faster beer taps for those who just can't wait URL: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=5&articleID=0009D5A8-191E-1FA8-97F983414B7F0000 Ask The Experts --- Moshi in Kampala, Uganda David Hysell, an associate professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Cornell University, explains. This phenomenon can be especially frustrating when maintaining good reception requires the listener or viewer to remain posed in an awkward position. It is not limited to hands but can involve the entire body as well as other objects located nearby. In fact, even an airplane flying overhead can influence the reception of radio and TV signals, giving rise to a sort of raspy interference. In general, the locations and properties of materials in the vicinity of an antenna influence its performance, a property which is readily noticed when those materials are in motion. Antennas are made of electrical conductors and, although they come in a wide variety of configurations, they often take the form of straight metal wires or wire coils. Examples are the "rabbit ears" and wire loops found on the backs of television sets (at least before cable came along), which are antennas tuned for VHF and UHF operation, respectively. When a transmitter drives an oscillating current in an antenna electromagnetic radiation--which carries both power and signals away from the source--is emitted. Anything that can carry a current can act like an antenna, although engineers work to design antennas that are optimized for efficiency, directionality, and steerability, among other things. A glance at an urban skyline reveals the wide range of designs engineers have developed for different applications. When an antenna picks up electromagnetic radiation emitted elsewhere, an electrical current is induced in it. This current can be tapped and amplified by the radio or television receiver, allowing power and information to be communicated over large distances without direct electrical connection. In addition, the current in the receiving antenna is itself a secondary source of radiation. Not all of the received power is transferred to the receiving apparatus and the remainder is mainly emitted back into space. If no receiving apparatus is connected to the antenna, then most of the power intercepted will be re-radiated, with a small portion dissipated as heat. This entire reception and radiation process is termed "scattering" and the details depend on the size and shape of the antenna and the wavelength of the radiation in a complicated manner that is beyond the scope of this discussion. Currents are also induced in tissue (as well as any other conducting or dielectric materials) upon exposure to electromagnetic fields. Although hands and bodies are not particularly efficient radiators, they will scatter a fraction of the power incident on them, depending on the RF frequency involved. Back at the receiver, the scattered signal will compete with the original signal from the transmitter, combining either constructively or destructively depending on the relative distances to the two signal sources. At the same time, the proximity of the scatterer to the antenna can influence how efficiently it transfers power to the receiver. Thus reception can be either improved or degraded, depending on the placement of one's body. The effect the reader asked about will be most noticeable when the hands are close to the receiver, although very good scatterers (such as aircraft) can exert an effect at great distances. It will be most obvious when the size of the scatterer is at least comparable to the wavelength of the signal. For example, hand movements may influence the reception of VHF and UHF signals, but they will do little to AM radio signals having wavelengths of hundreds of meters, for example. Finally, it is worth noting that all of the bodies near the antenna will scatter the radiation that was already scattered by the others. The coupling between all the bodies involved can quickly become very complicated, and if there are many bodies present, the influence of any one is unlikely to be very great. Antenna engineers make use of this coupling effect by placing parasitic antenna elements in close proximity to the part of the antenna, known as the driven element, that is attached to the appliance. All but one of the dipole wire elements in a television aerial, for example, are parasitic. They are intended to scatter incident radiation in such a way that all the contributions add constructively at the site of the driven element when the antenna is pointed toward the transmitter. The design of such antennas can still be a largely trial-and-error affair, with technicians moving elements from place to place in the laboratory as you might move your own body in order to pull in a weak broadcast. Answer posted on November 10, 2003 (via Dan Say, swprograms via DXLD) RADIO COFFEE CUPS Anyone in the South that has BI-LO grocery stores --- scavenge the coffee section. They have coffee cups with names on them of "old" coffee companies, maybe fake. I have a "Radio Coffee" coffee cup. VERY neat!! I think I cleaned out all the Bi-Lo stores within 100 miles of me that I have stopped at (Powell E. Way III, W4OPW, Nov 30, NRC-AM via DXLD) SW CRYSTAL SET CHALLENGE Hi All, (listen up Glenn Hauser) I have the working prototype of a short-wave crystal radio ready to put into actual reception test operation. This is a modified design with an rf stage added in to improve the selectivity. These sets tend to pick up strong local MW stations, even though the coil sets are not wound for those frequencies. The key to any crystal radio working, is a lot of antenna! The result is local MW stations make their unwanted presence known, unless it is MW you are building the set to hear, of course. This design offers a jack to permit the audio signal to be connected directly to an audio amplifier and a headphone jack for high impedence phones. The old crystal earphones will work the best. It is set up to allow for two band selections, roughly from 7.8 - 10.6 Mhz and 9.0 - 15.0 Mhz. Switch selectable. You know it HAD to have Duane's favorite 31 meter band! Is there any other one? (grin) It has a number of unusual features for a crystal set, but I wanted to make it as versatile and selective as possible, without altering the fact of it being a simple set. It can be built from parts found in most any radio hobbyists junk box, drawer or combination thereof. I would like to challenge Phil KO6BB, who I know has the technical skills to build a far better set than I can, to join me in having a little non-serious DX'ing fun this Winter seeing what we can hear and verify with our xtal SW sets. I would also like to challenge any of you to build a set and join us in our for fun competition here. I would be willing to share my design plans with anyone who needs them. Except Phil! He can design his own. That rascal would take my plans, improve upon them and hear three times more stations than I do, so he is on his own! Ha Ha. Can you just imagine the stupefied look on the face of one of the powerful international broadcasters engineers when they get a report telling them they were heard on a crystal radio in 2003? Now there is a QSL card to treasure, people! While the world is talking things digital, we are listening on something that does not even need a battery or solar cell or any physical power source! There are several designs available on the Internet for such a short- wave crystal receiver. I know there are several web sites that specialize in MW crystal radios, but I am not sure if there are any that deal with short-wave sets. I am asking Glenn Hauser, Arnie Coro, and Marie Lamb to put this challenge out over the air during their radio programs. Perhaps Radio Havana or Radio For Peace International would like to donate a prize? If any of you come up with a design that you would like to share with us, please feel free to post it here, discuss it here or offer it to anyone who wishes to contact you by announcing it here. We need to come up with some sort of prize for the top three SW crystal set station logging DX'ers. Does anyone have any suggestions or items you would care to donate to the fun cause? No ex-wives or ex- husbands, please! We don't need the added QRM! Perhaps one of you who is good with graphic designs could create a certificate awarded to each person who participates? How about letting it run until the new Spring short-wave schedules come out? So come on people, let's have some fun and do some short- wave listening the old fashioned way. Thanks to one and all for reading this and I hope that many of you will join in the good natured fun (Duane Fischer, W8DBF/W9WZE/WPE8CXO, Nov 27, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Duane et al. Think I'll take a pass on this challenge. (Yeah, guess I'm a wuss 8^) Probably don't have enough antenna here to hear anything but the local BCB stuff and I know I don't have any high impedance headphones (a must on Xtal sets). I built a number of them when I was a kid, usually winding the coil on an old toilet paper roll (they were sturdier then). I do remember listening to some local hams ragchewing in the late evening. They were probably on 160M phone, just above the broadcast band. 73 from the "Beaconeers Lair". (Phil, KO6BB Atchley, ibid.) Interesting, at a glance, crystal radio pages found with google: http://members.aol.com/stevef88/radioloo.htm http://www.techlib.com/electronics/crystal.html http://www.visi.com/~dwinker/ddd_xtal_radio/ http://www.schmarder.com/radios/ http://www.angelfire.com/ma2/AdamVon/crystal1.html 73 de (George Maurer, ibid.) RADIO IS BACK IN FASHION AND DIGITAL IS THE WAY FORWARD TECH'N BIZ by NIVEDITA MOOKERJI http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=47324 NEW DELHI: It`s hardly a secret that radio is back in fashion. In line with the trend, even the government is talking of bringing a radio revolution in India soon. Industry is already there, with the privatisation of FM radio, and is now set for growth in a more liberalised regime. But, FM is just a part of the big radio story. Digital technology, some say, is the key to completing this story board. This is despite digital terrestrial radio not taking off in a big way anywhere yet. BBC, for instance, introduced digital radio in the UK several years ago, but the listener response is still quite mixed to the offering. However, a three-day seminar on digital radio, which was organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in New Delhi recently, focused on how digital was the way forward. Whether its Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) or In-Band-On-Channel (IBOC), there’s no way that one can escape the digital wave, participants at the ABU meet opined. From Malaysia to Iran to Australia to New Zealand, speakers from each country shared their varied country experiences on digital radio. India is also in the process of introducing digital radio in terrestrial format. Digital satellite radio is already there, with WorldSpace offering the service in India. According to officials in the information and broadcasting ministry, once medium wave goes on to the DAB platform, clarity of reception will be many times more. The only hurdle would be the receiver cost, which is expected to be much higher than that of traditional radio sets. All India Radio (AIR) is in talks with four receiver manufacturers from abroad before finalising the deal for digital radio. UK-based BBC is among the first to have introduced digital terrestrial radio. Others, including the public broadcaster of India, are using the BBC case as a lesson to fall back on for their respective experiments. According to a report in The Guardian recently, BBC spent 15 million pounds last year alone developing and marketing a range of digital channels broadcast on digital radio, satellite, and cable. "BBC argues that the new stations are aimed at communities traditionally under-served by the BBC and that listening figures are less important than reaching new audiences," says the report. "But despite the huge outlay and copious amounts of radio and television promotion, none of the new stations managed to attract average weekly audiences of more than 500,000," according to BBC digital radio figures. At the ABU meet in New Delhi a few days ago, John Sykes of BBC World Service said that a number of initiatives are currently underway on DRM receiver development. The Corporation is also investigating various reception options for optimum performance in portable radio, said Mr Sykes. Among the initiatives on DRM chipsets, BBC is into collaborative projects with organisations in France and Germany, among others. After all, chips are getting smaller and smaller every other day. Interestingly, according to Mr Sykes, several competitive DRM chipsets would be available soon. He added that receiver manufacturers would integrate DRM with other technologies such as DAB. Another important point that he made was that "don’t assume the radio market is the same everywhere". Speaking on the various technologies in digital radio, Mr Alan Untersee of Harris Broadcast said DAB Eureka 147 has been accepted as the standard in many countries worldwide, including the UK. "It’s a proven technology, and more than 1,200 transmitters are already on air," he said. On IBOC, he said, receivers would be introduced this December in the US. And in the case of DRM, receivers are expected late next year. While making a comparison between the technologies, Mr Untersee said, DAB and DRM adhere to open standard, while IBOC-AM and IBOC-FM are proprietary in nature. Also for DAB, new frequency band is needed, while for IBOC and DRM, the existing ones would do. Talking of availability of receivers, he said, DAB sets are already there. IBOC receivers would be available sometime this month, and DRM late next year, he added. From a wider perspective, broadcasting services in the traditional mode have been used to the point of saturation, said ABU head of transmission technology and spectrum Sharad Sadhu. "Maximum possible use has been made of service transmission in the lower frequencies, the medium and short waves....Getting into the digital broadcasting environment will change the situation forever. The digital domain does not only alter the way we transmit signals, it completely transforms the manner in which the content is conceived, produced and dished out to the consumers," Mr Sadhu added. But for digital transmission, use of frequency spectrum is a critical issue, according to Mr Sadhu. And his presentation at the ABU dealt with the regulations related to spectrum use for digital radio. For example, to pave the way for seamless introduction of shortwave digital radio broadcasting services in the allocated spectrum using the ITU (International Telecommunication Union)-approved DRM digital system, the 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference adopted new regulatory provisions and also modified some of the existing ones, Mr Sadhu said. The conference also revised radio regulations relating to allocation of additional short wave bands and confirmed the date of availability of these bands as April 1, 2007. [WTFK????] Also, there are three ITU agreements governing the use of medium and long-wave band. According to Mr Sadhu, one way forward to use these bands for digital radio emissions would be by amending these agreements, which can be accomplished by holding ITU conferences. Even as there’s a severe scarcity of spectrum in several bands, there’s no doubt that digital is the way forward. One of the reasons why digital is being encouraged the world over is that it enables data broadcasting. On the other hand, "data broadcasting is vital for the success of digital radio," said AIR director engineering A Shamugam. (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ QST DE W1AW -- PROPAGATION FORECAST BULLETIN 49 ARLP049 From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA December 1, 2003 To all radio amateurs At the end of this bulletin are the numbers for last week, as promised in Propagation Forecast ARLP048, issued on November 26. This reporting period (through last Wednesday, November 26) had average daily sunspot numbers over twice the value for the previous week, and average daily solar flux nearly 60 points higher. The big upset during the last reporting period was the planetary A index of 117 on November 20. This happened when the energy from a coronal mass ejection swept over earth while the interplanetary magnetic field pointed south, leaving the earth's magnetic field vulnerable. The coronal mass ejection causing all the havoc was from sunspot 484, and occurred on November 18 around 0800z. The recent recurrence of large sunspots has subsided with sunspots 484, 486 and 488 rotating off the visible solar disk. The sunspot number remains relatively high due to a number of smaller sunspots scattered across the solar surface. Solar flux should decline over the next few days to 145, 130, 130, 125 and 120 for Monday through Friday, December 1-5. Solar flux and sunspot numbers may reach a minimum for the short term around December 8 before rising again to current levels after the middle of the month. This last weekend's CQ Worldwide CW DX Contest experienced some nice conditions. Geomagnetic indices were very quiet, with the mid-latitude A index at 4 and 7, and K indices as low as 1, and even 0 on the two days prior. Geomagnetic conditions should remain moderate through this week, but could rise again around December 7-15. Average daily solar flux and sunspot numbers for November were a bit lower than October, but October's numbers were higher than recent months. Average daily sunspot numbers for November 2002 through November 2003 were 159.8, 144.8, 150.0, 87.9, 119.7, 114.3, 89.6, 118.4, 132.8, 114.3, 82.6, 118.9 and 103. Average daily solar flux values for the same months were 168.7, 157.2, 144, 124.5, 133.5, 126.8, 116.6, 129.4, 127.7, 122.1, 112.2, 155.5, and 140.8. For more information about propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin see the Propagation page on the ARRL Web site at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. Sunspot numbers for November 20 through 26 were 118, 131, 123, 158, 149, 202 and 209 with a mean of 155.7. 10.7 cm flux was 175.2, 177, 176.2, 178.2, 177.3, 170.7 and 170.9, with a mean of 175.1. Estimated planetary A indices were 117, 39, 22, 21, 12, 13 and 9, with a mean of 33.3 (ARRL via John Norfolk, DXLD) SOLAR WIND AND SPACE WEATHER --- NASA PRESENTS NEW SOLAR FINDINGS Scientists using NASA's IMAGE mission and the joint ESA/NASA Cluster mission will present new findings that resolve a long-standing controversy into how the solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetosphere and how this interaction affects space weather. The findings will be presented during a Space Science Update (SSU) at 1:00 p.m. EST, Dec. 3, 2003. The SSU is in NASA's Webb Auditorium, 300 E Street S.W., Washington. The briefing will be carried live on NASA Television with two-way question-and-answer capability from participating NASA centers. Panelists: Dr. Harald Frey, associate research physicist, University of California at Berkeley Dr. Tai Phan, associate research physicist, University of California at Berkeley Dr. Nancy Crooker, research professor, Boston University, Mass. Dr. Janet Kozyra, research professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Dr. Richard Fisher, director, Sun-Earth Connection division, NASA HQ, Washington NASA Television is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. For information about NASA TV on the Internet, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html -end- (via Joe Buch, DXLD) ###