DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-035, February 26, 2004 edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.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 For restrixions and searchable 2004 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 AIRING OF WORLD OF RADIO 1220: Mon 0430 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1221: Sat 0000 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy, 1584 Sat 0900 on WRN1 to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, webcast Sat 0955 on WNQM, Nashville, 1300 Sat 1130 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1930 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, webcast http://www.wpkn.org Sat 2130 on WWCR 12160 Sat 2130 on WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sun 0130 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0330 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0730 on WWCR 3210 Sun 1100 on WRN1 to North America, webcast; also KSFC 91.9 Spokane WA, and WDWN 89.1 Auburn NY; maybe KTRU 91.7 Houston TX, each with webcasts Sun 2000 on Studio X, Momigno, 1584 Sun 2100 on RNI webcast, http://www.11L-rni.com Mon 0430 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [last week`s 1220] Mon 0515 on WBCQ 7415, webcast http://wbcq.us Tue 0400 on SIUE Web Radio http://www.siue.edu/WEBRADIO/ Wed 1030 on WWCR 9475 WRN ONDEMAND [from Fri]: 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 1221 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1221h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1221h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1221.html WORLD OF RADIO 1221 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1221.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1221.rm ** ARGENTINA. Glenn, I am a DX'er in upstate NY. I heard RAE on this past Friday (UT Sat 2/21) at 0213 on their usual 11710 in English, music into news 0215, about visit of German Minister of Finance to Argentina. When was the fire you are talking about in the latest DXLD? (I couldn't pick it up from the text). Anyhow, it must have been early this week and not this past weekend. Thanks for all your hard work (Jim Clar, Rochester, NY, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jim, The fire was just this Tuesday afternoon. RAE is in English on M- F only, i.e. UT Tue-Sat. Now Argentina is back on (tho I didn`t check myself the last two nights). At 0015 UT Feb 27 on 11710, Portuguese news about Argentina, as scheduled (Glenn to Jim, via DXLD) Re DXLD 4-034: RAE noted in Italian 1935 February 26th on 15344.8, poor signal, better at 2015 recheck when in French (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIA'S HF OVER THE HORIZON RADAR TO BE ENHANCED Australia’s border protection agencies will be equipped with an enhanced ability to detect the illegal movement of people and goods with an upgrade of the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN), Defence Minister Robert Hill announced today. Senator Hill said the $62 million upgrade would improve the sensitivity of the operational radars and significantly improve their ability to conduct national surveillance of the northern and western approaches to Australia. It will also ensure that Australia remains a world leader in over-the-horizon radar technology. "After the enhancement program, the radars will have a greater range and will be able to detect even smaller aircraft and ships," Senator Hill said. "The enhancement program will also support research and development designed to meet emerging national security requirements – making the project potentially a key component of Australia’s contribution to the United States missile defence program." The JORN was activated in May last year, providing wide-area surveillance of air and sea approaches up to 2000 km away from Australia`s coastline. Since then the network has detected and tracked hundreds of surface vessels and aircraft beyond the horizon along a 15 million square kilometre stretch from Geraldton in Western Australia to Cairns in Queensland. The information provided has been used by other national agencies such as Coastwatch, Customs and Immigration to assist them in the detection and prevention of illegal entry, smuggling and unlicensed fishing. JORN consists of two radars located in Laverton, WA, and Longreach in Queensland. The radars are controlled from the JORN coordination centre in Salisbury in South Australia. They are operational versions of the Australian-designed Jindalee research and development radar located near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The enhancement program will also improve the integration of all three radars to allow a more complete coverage of the surveillance area. "Australia is the world leader in high-frequency, skywave over-the- horizon radar technology," Senator Hill said. "This project will not only significantly improve our capabilities but also ensure our radar specialists can continue to make advances in this technology." # posted by Andy @ 09:34 UT Feb 24 (Media Network blog via DXLD) For the uninitiated, OTH radar operates on HF = shortwave and can cause interference to broadcasts. WTFK for this??? (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. RADIO 2 NETWORK (X BAND) This is Radio 2's parent company. Radio 2 are establishing an X Band network throughout Australia. Many stations are planned & most capital Cities are already on air. Thanks to Tim Gaynor for pointing this out. WORLDAUDIO NETS HARVEY $1M AS INVESTORS FOLLOW Jeff Turnbull 18feb04 RETAILING tycoon Gerry Harvey (Harvey Normans) picked up another easy million dollars yesterday in the space of a telephone conversation as investors backed his judgment in buying shares in fledgling media group WorldAudio Ltd. Shares in WorldAudio shot up more than 65 per cent after the news broke late yesterday that Mr Harvey, boss of Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd, bought 10 million shares, a 12 per cent stake, at 15¢ per share. Mr Harvey sat stunned as WorldAudio shares soared 10¢, a massive 66.67 per cent, to 25¢ earning him $1 million on paper in the space of a few minutes. He admitted with some unease that he was aware investors sometimes followed his moves into different stocks. "I said that if I buy this stock some people might look at that and think 'he's bought it, I'll buy it' – that can happen and I'm always conscious of it," Mr Harvey said. "You really put yourself in a rather difficult position because I don't like to think I'm that smart. "I buy shares and sometimes the story is not a happy one but, mind you, it more often is than it isn't." Mr Harvey said media stocks were not alien to him because his stores were heavy dealers in media through computer sales. Mr Harvey said WorldAudio was a similar story to another media group he had bought into – Unwired Group Ltd – which intends establishing a fixed wireless access network across Australia delivering broadband and voice services. "Unwired has huge potential in my book – they are the sort of shares you can buy for 10¢ and they might be worth $10.00," Mr Harvey said. Shares in Unwired firmed 1¢ to 79¢ yesterday. He said WorldAudio, through a radio network that would be fully rolled out by August with 31 stations, had a capacity to reach 12 million Australians. Mr Harvey said he did not seek any advice from his business partner and Sydney radio station owner John Singleton (via David Onley, Myrtleford, Victoria, Australia, Feb 25, dxing.info via DXLD) The WorldAudio story gets more interesting all the time. Yes, they struggled during their early days, with some financial stumbles, but have made some astute decisions here. They will have 31 stations which have cost them $74,400 in total to get licences for - very cheap compared to finding commercial AM outlets which are almost impossible. It then costs another $100k or so per site to organise a transmitter, a tower (often shared), satellite delivery, engineering costs etc, and another $100k or so per site to cover fixed network expansion costs of on-air personalities, studios, sales, marketing and other costs - but these costs are so unbelievably low to operate a full commercial station in a metro area. Could 2GB or 2CH operate on $3500 per week?! So they raised $7m late last year very quickly, and NZ's BCL is rolling out the transmitters as fast as possible to beat the September deadline - use it or lose it. It's not just about piddly 400 watt transmitters in an outcast part of the band. Much as the other players try and play this down, the real story is in digital streaming of data and digital broadcasting. Radio 2 will have a satellite based delivery system covering Australia with one program (as is common in NZ, UK, USA) and will be able to use digital technology associated with those satellite links and 31 transmitters to earn revenue far beyond what it will ever make from 30 sec ads on the AM network. As time passes, the push will come to boost the 400 watt transmitters. All use omni-directional antenna systems. Look for a move to DA, then an increase to 1kW, then, after a careful 'review' of the band, watch for a deal whereby some licences are surrendered in exchange for 5 kW in the metro areas - in association with digital broadcasting. Remember, anyone with one of these $2400 licences will have some form of 'grandfathered' right of access to digital radio broadcasting in the future - that's the real prize. Which is why it's a smart move for Harvey to buy into WorldAudio. Harvey Norman has a vested interest in selling the means to hear digital radio, and puts some retailer grunt into making manufacturers include 1611-1701 on radio receivers whether packed with stereo systems or multi-media. Then, 1611-1701 will become part of the standard BCB with responsibility moving to the ABA. How long before 1702-1800 becomes the next part of the BCB and undergoes a similar settlement pattern? Connect the Radio 2 deal with his investment in a broadband wireless operator nationwide, and the dots start to come together. And, every good investor (like the guys at WorldAudio) have an exit strategy, and I'd bet a dollar that Virgin Radio and Clear Channel must be sniffing this one out, but will wait until all the infrastructure costs are spent, the network is settled and digital licences are in place before making a play. All for the cost of about one FM channel in Sydney:) Stay tuned, for DXers, plenty of new stations and more to come. Australia is still grossly under radioed per head of population by US and NZ comparisons and digital radio = income from 'communications' with entertainment and advertising streams just a bonus (David Ricquish, Wellington, NZ, ibid.) David well said on World Audio... The figures for the licences are a bit light to my knowledge --- 74,000 etc. However the only thing I can think of with Harvey Norman is a big advert deal and maybe some deal with the sub carriers on the FM stations to broadcast in store. This World audio has usually live soccer from Europe. They have a range of so called personalities unless these people were given stock in lieu of cash. Still the bottom line is 1620 kHz. You have to convince the people to tune to this level on the band. Still, good luck to them. If they survive, say, 5 years, well, that`s good. But, gee, they are about half way with the network being constructed from what I know. Cheers (Johno Wright, Sydney via David Onley, ibid.) ** BOLIVIA. 4763.3, Rádio y Televisión Chicha, Tocla, Nor-Chichas Province, Potosí Dept., 2240-2400*, Feb 21 and 22, New station broadcasting since Feb 20. The station was not heard on Feb 23 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 6010.25, R Inconfidência, Belo Horizonte, MG, 0250, Feb 24, Carnival program, 45444 (Samuel Cássio, Brasil, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) I believe the Colombian and the Mexican are also slightly off- frequency producing a variety of hets (gh, DXLD) 9530, R. Nova Visão, Stª Mª, RS, 2334-2346, Feb 22, folk songs in program ``A Hora da Avó`` (I think I got the name correctly) which includes cooking recipes; 44433 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) Avó means grandmother, cognate to Spanish abuela --- but in Portuguese here`s an example where the accent makes all the difference, because avô means grandfather: short versus long o (Guilherme Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6069.9, CFRX, Toronto ON, relaying CFRB, 2332-2340, Feb 21, English, IDs, talks, advs; 33442 with adjacent QRM from Deutsche Welle 6075. I didin`t log CFRX for a very long time at this hour (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) I guess they are drifting; don`t recall anything but 6070 being reported before (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. Hi Glenn, This week RCI management officially told our union that two of the four positions in the Ukrainian service have been abolished. It's been almost a year the two jobs have been temporarily filled after two people retired. Now we know why. Details on the RCI Action Committee website at: http://www.geocities.com/rciaction/Weblog.html ===== RCI Action Committee - Comité d'action de RCI http://www.geocities.com/rciaction Thanks for your coverage, (Wojtek Gwiazda, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: 24 February 2004 --- TWO (OF 4) UKRAINIAN ANNOUNCER-PRODUCER POSITIONS ABOLISHED --- ONE ENGLISH NEWSROOM EDITOR POSITION ABOLISHED Today RCI Management officially informed our union that two of the four announcer-producer positions in the Ukrainian service have been abolished. Both had been filled temporarily since last year, with no clear explanation why they had not been filled. Now, with this announcement following the "repositioning", it's clear. What is still not clear, is what the last two people in the service will be doing when the new programming starts on March 29. The sense of dread and disbelief has haunted the service for months. Last autumn, some members of the Ukrainian-Canadian community became concerned about the future of the service and started writing both to RCI management and to the government. Now, in the past, whenever RCI, or an entire service has been threatened, listener and community support often saved the day. But, with the abolition of the two jobs, the section will only be able to do some kind of weekly program. It's still not clear what. And, hold on to your disbelief: there will no longer be any newscasts in Ukrainian. This new approach would appear to be a more subtle way of reducing the service. RCI doesn't announce the service will be eliminated. We "reposition" it out of relevance, then existence. Surely anyone can see that taking a daily news and current affairs program, and turning it into a weekly program without any newscast, will not keep listeners tuned to RCI in Ukraine. "The show is absolutely necessary, " says Kiev radio host Vasyl Marusyk. In an article by Roman Zakaluzny, published in the Kyiv Post on February 12, 2004, Marusyk said he, his wife and two children have listened to the broadcast for the past six years. A program, Marusyk points out, that was already scaled back two years ago from one hour a day, to just 30 minutes. Now, with the Ukrainian presidential elections in October, RCI's Ukrainian service is being scaled back even more, he says. "The show brings Canadian values to a developing democracy," says Ostap Skrypnyk in the Kyiv article. Skrypnyk is the executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, and knows how important such a program is. That's something the new RCI management appears not to understand, nor the government departments it advises. In 1991, when a number of services to Eastern Europe were eliminated, part of the rational was that they didn't need us anymore since the Cold War was over. But our listeners said otherwise. They told us they needed RCI even more: they wanted to know how our Canadian democracy dealt with minority language rights, cultural differences, and living beside a superpower. And what they liked about RCI was we weren't seen as a propaganda tool of some great power, but an interesting country that was trying to deal with problems peacefully. Ironically, on the same day that RCI management made the official announcement to the union, came a statement from Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The federal agency oversees all U.S. international broadcasting, including the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Here's what he said: "We are committed to seeing that millions of Ukrainians continue to receive trusted news and information that is vital to helping them make decisions about their lives and their country." English News Editor Position Cut It was not unexpected that an unfilled editor's job has now been abolished in the newsroom, but it is frustrating to see what's happening. The new "repositioning" continues a trend to cut down on the number of newscasts that the English and French newsrooms are responsible for. What concerns everyone is how far RCI management is willing to go in whittling down our services. 26 February 2004 LETTER FROM A FRIEND: "WHO REALLY GIVES A CRAP ANYMORE?!" We got a passionate e-mail from RCI friend and supporter Sheldon Harvey this week. For those of you who might not know, Sheldon is the president of the Canadian International DX Club (CIDX) and has been supporting radio listening, and RCI for years. He was one of a small group of key people who came with us to Ottawa to fight for the survival of RCI when we were faced with elimination. As I read his letter, I could feel the ebb and flow of the tiredness we have all felt over the last 13 years, faced with one crisis after another: "I've been reading the information on the recent developments at RCI and, to be perfectly honest, I've just about reached the point of simply saying "Who really gives a crap anymore?!" But, after sitting back and digesting things a little more, I've come to the conclusion that this might be just what RCI's new management was hoping for." As anyone who knows Sheldon can tell you, he didn't stop there. Sheldon has fought a lot of battles for RCI, and in the rest of his e- mail he lays it all out: How consecutive RCI administrations have tried to reduce RCI, to make it go away. But he, and we, wouldn't let that happen. We've upset a lot of RCI and CBC/Radio-Canada administrators because we refuse to give up on the idea that international broadcasting matters. And here we're talking about international broadcasting that is done for a foreign audience, not one that just rebroadcasts domestic programming on the international airwaves, and to hell with it if the listeners understand or not. One of the favourite approaches of these new administrators, whether they're at the BBC or RCI, is to say shortwave listening is down, don't be afraid of change, and everyone has access to the Internet. Well, not everyone has access to the Internet. And even if they do, most people prefer to listen to the radio, on the radio. Sure, if you've missed a program, it's great to have the program available on the website. But radio is now, is immediate, is live. When bureaucratic minds start playing with justifications to cut down on employees or investment, they get dazzled by new toys, and start to call shortwave an obsolete technology, then they seem to confirm what we fear most: that they don't know what they're talking about. By the way, when's the last time you called the telephone, an obsolete technology? Getting back to Sheldon, he's an equal opportunity critic. Not only is he upset with RCI and CBC/Radio-Canada management, he also wants those of us working at RCI to get out of our self pity and fight for RCI: "...if you all choose to sit back calmly and think that you can weather the storm and that everything will come out for the best in the end, stop and think again. Revisit the past, and look seriously at the present, because the future, from my point of view, looks very, very bleak." You can find Sheldon's entire e-mail here. http://www.geocities.com/rciaction/SheldonHarvey20040224.html You know, sometimes it takes someone from the outside to see the forest we can't see, because of that huge tree in front of us. Thanks Sheldon (RCI Action Committee via DXLD) Viz.: RCI's New Repositioning -- "Who really gives a crap anymore?!" by Sheldon Harvey I've been reading the information on the recent developments at RCI and, to be perfectly honest, I've just about reached the point of simply saying "Who really gives a crap anymore?!" But, after sitting back and digesting things a little more, I've come to the conclusion that this might be just what RCI's new management was hoping for. It was all the way back in 1990/1991 that the Coalition to Restore Full RCI Funding was formed. For years that group fought and struggled to bring RCI back from the brink on several occasions, with the help of an army of supporters. It was clear that new RCI directors were consistently put in place by the CBC to make RCI go away, once and for all, and if not for the efforts for a small band of merry men and women, RCI would have been just a chapter in the past history of international broadcasting. Whether the majority of current staff, directors and management at RCI know it or not, they have that merry little band to thank for there even being an RCI for them to screw around with today, plain and simple! So much of the media focus in Canada right now revolves around scandal, misuse and misappropriation of funds. No big news there. Misuse, misappropriation, and mismanagement has been a staple at RCI since the current regime was put into place, and nobody is saying anything about it. A $15.2 million budget for RCI is stated, clear and distinctly wherever one was to look. Now, all of a sudden, how does an $11 million figure suddenly surface? I have stated it publicly, and if anyone were to take the time to research it out, it would be blatantly apparent that since CBC, more specifically Radio-Canada was presented with the task of managing and, ultimately, restructuring RCI, RCI has become nothing more than a cash cow for Radio-Canada/CBC. The work of the Coalition, and subsequently the RCI Action Committee, has clearly shown over the years that RCI was nothing more than a burden to the CBC. When RCI finally received secure and stable funding, something which the CBC has never had, and then the task of operating and managing RCI was turned back to the CBC, CBC was fit to be tied. How many times had CBC tried to make RCI disappear, but couldn't succeed. Now it was back again, with stable funding and falling once again under the wing of the CBC. I believe, at this point, the CBC said "fine". If we have to take care of RCI, then we are going to get as much back out of that $15.2 million as we possibly can. So, the procedure began. A new home, state of the art office and studio facilities were constructed for RCI --- but where? In the CBC headquarters building. RCI was always, for the most part, self sufficient. Their humble facilities outside the Maison de Radio Canada were outdated, disorganized and sub-standard, but RCI always got the job done. They required only a limited amount of administrative services from CBC, which they easily covered with funds from their budget. With the move to the Maison, and the switch of management over to the ranks of Radio-Canada, many of the in-house resources of RCI were pulled from them, and replaced with services to be supplied by the parent firm, at a cost of course. In other words, although the $15.2 million budget was tagged for RCI, their dependency on Radio-Canada to supply them with administrative, technical and other services meant that Radio-Canada was now able to claw back huge chunks of RCI's funds into the Radio-Canada/CBC coffers --- and nobody is saying anything about it. Now suddenly, Radio-Canada released info is referring to an RCI $11 million budget? Gee, just guess where the other $4.2 million has gone. I would like someone to be able to compare the cost of CBC supplied services to RCI in the past to what RCI is have to dole out today. Want to talk about mismanagement of funds? I think we have a classic case right in front of our eyes. If the heads of Via Rail, Business Development Bank, etc. are being called up on the carpet to answer allegations of mismanagement and misappropriation of funds, I think there should be a session scheduled for the heads of CBC/Radio-Canada to answer questions about --- let's call it irregularities, in management of the $15.2 million annual RCI budget. Finally, I'd like to issue one challenge to the rank and file of RCI. Some of you are probably fully aware of the history of RCI over the past decade plus; others may be unaware. But, I challenge all of you to look back on the past, at the actions of a small group of people, whose actions and achievements are the reason that any of you are sitting where you are today. It's easy to be followers, but it takes special qualities to be leaders. I'm sure that many of you who know about the actions of the past, and who have opinions of the current developments, find it simpler and easier to just sit by and let whatever happens happen. It's just easier and requires less effort than rocking the boat. Well, don't say you haven't been warned. The writing has been on the wall for a very long time. That small group of people who accomplished so much cannot be expected to carry the torch alone for ever. We proved that with clear minds, an organized approach and, most of all, the desire to right a truckload full of wrongs, that David truly can defeat Goliath. The problem is that Goliath keeps returning for another battle. I'm just afraid that there just aren't enough Davids out there any longer. The Coalition members are still out there and we're open to share our thoughts, experiences and skills with others, if you have the desire to stand up and fight for what you truly believe in. You know who we are and how to reach us. Instead, if you all choose to sit back calmly and think that you can weather the storm and that everything will come out for the best in the end, stop and think again. Revisit the past, and look seriously at the present, because the future, from my point of view, looks very, very bleak. Sheldon Harvey (via RCI Action Committee via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re International Radio Report program file names : What`s the point of having a different date in the URL for each one instead of a constant URL? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Believe it or not, I did think about this some time ago when I was forced to phase out multi-week, publicly accessible archives. I keep copies of old IRRs on my computer or on CD backups, so giving every show the same name would not help me in any way. This way, I only have to convert the show into RealPlayer format once, with its unique date- stamp file name, instead of twice for two file names. But you are quite right, it would be much simpler for the listener if the audio file has a constant name. 73s, (Ricky Leong, QC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Kashi 1422 heard 24 Feb at 1645 underneath Germany with CRI Urdu in parallel with 7175. They must be spilling quite a number of kilowatts in my direction. CRI English noted 25 Feb on new (?) frequencies 7140 2000-2100 and 7190 2000-2200. Both are from the same site and I wouldn't be surprised if the site is Kashi. The audio was rather much processed and the delay compared to Beijing 9440 was very large (Olle Alm, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. ALBANIA They phoned me from the Bulgarian Service of CRI to tell me that a new broadcast in Bulgarian will be starting from March 1st at 1700-1800 on 1458 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, BC-DX Feb 25 via DXLD) Bulgarian local time? (wb) [present schedule:] 1830-1857 Bulgarian 9860B1 7265U1 6020Z6. 2030-2057 Bulgarian 7160X1 6145F (Nagoya DX Circle, Nov 30, 2003 via Büschel, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Hello Glenn, The CRI QSL which I mentioned as 9700 is a typo on the verifier`s part. It should read 9790. My mistake for not double checking my logbook with the QSL (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. REACTIVADA RADIO MELODÍA CON NUEVO NOMBRE Hola Glenn, Saludos desde Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. El 21/02, a las 2042 UT, en los 6139.77 kHz, ha sido reactivada Radio Melodía de Colombia, ahora identificándose como "La 730AM". Identificaciones como "Esta es la nueva radio AM, 730", "La 730, la radio que usted esperaba". Ricardo Montaner "Yo que te amé", avance "Ultimas Noticias" a las 2058 UT, Julio Iglesias "De niña a mujer". SINPO 43433 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 6105, R. Universidad, 1156-1240, Feb 11, easy instrumental music past the top of the hour making me think Latin station. At 1202 Spanish talk and ID, then non-stop classical music. Fair with some Chinese station QRM (Rich D`Angelo, French Creek State Park PA DX-pedition, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) Heard again at home 0225-0402, Feb 13, the usual long blocks non-stop classical music with announcements at 0232, 0300 (nice ID in Spanish), 0333 (introducing a selection by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra) and 0400. Fair signal but modulation a little off making speech recognition a little bit of a problem. Swamped by RFE/RL Kavala, Greece sign on at 0400. Checked around 0300 next two nights noting them with usual classical music and Spanish announcements and ID. Seems to be regular at the moment (Rich D`Angelo, ibid.) Also presumed heard 0545-0600, Feb 14, classical music; seeming ID at 0555, then instrumental ``Theme from Titanic,`` another apparent ID at 0600, then brief ``graduation march`` melody [Elgar?] which I know they have used as part of their ID in the past; program ended but they left the carrier on. Voice audio was so overmodulated as to be useless, music was okay; co-channel VOA QRM, but ``Universidad`` dominant (Jerry Berg, MA, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) ** CUBA. Hola Glenn, Saludos desde Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA. Radio Rebelde ha sido escuchada este 24/02, a las 1734 UT, en los 15570 kHz, con SINPO 4/3. Comentarios sobre la fecha patria cubana, 24 de febrero. 73's y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. New offices and a new on-air studio has been completed in February 2004 preparing for the relaunch of WMR in March 2004. A new 10 kW short wave transmitter was expected to be delivered January 2004 from Canada but has been delayed a couple of times and is now expected early March 2004. Frequencies will be 5815 and 15810 kHz - and WMR will also be available on the Internet (WMR website checked Feb 25 by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST, updating WORLD OF RADIO 1221) ** DENMARK. For those interested in the old LW/MW transmitter station at Kalundborg, please have a look on my website which also includes links to some nice postcards: http://www.qsl.net/oz3yi/Kalundborg.htm (Erik Køie, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. 15675, V. of Liberty, Feb 22 *0400-0425 44433, Tigrigna, 0400 s/on with opening music. Opening announce. Talk and Eritrean pop music (Kouji Hashimoto, JAPAN, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 7560, R. V. of Oromo Liberation, Feb 19 *1700-1730* 35433 Oromo, 1700 s/on with opening music and ID and frequency announce. Talk. 1729 ID and address announce. 1730 s/off. Mon and Thu only. 7560, R. V. of Oromiyaa, Feb 23 *1730-1740, 34433 Oromo, 1730 s/on with opening music. ID. Talk and local music. Mon only (Kouji Hashimoto, JAPAN, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Re the two OLF Oromo clandestines: Radio Voice of Oromo Liberation Front (Oromo: Radiyoo Segalee Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo - RSQBO) http://www.oromia.org/rsqbo/rsqbo.htm Present schedule: On 7560 via Samara Mo/Th 1700-1730 Oromo, 1730-1759 Amharic. Voice of Oromo Liberation (Oromo: Sagalee Bilisummaa Oromoo - SBO) http://www.oromoliberationfront.org/sbo.html Present schedule: On 9820 via Jülich Tu/We/Fr/Su 1700-1730 Oromo, 1730-1759 Amharic (Ed. Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. ÅLAND ISLANDS is the actual QTH of this: (Bernd Trutenau, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SWEDEN [non]. News updated Feb 25 2004; We have purchased a used 25 kW AM transmitter and mast. It has to be tuned to 603 kHz, which will take a few months. The ship will be equipped with the transmitter and mast. The estimated radius will be daytime 300 km and more, at night, more than 1000 km. Estimated AM- receivers in the area, daytime 5 million or more. At night, 15 million. The most powerful AM radio in Scandinavia and the best of offshore-music. Special pre-booked prices: Normally fee 100 euro single spot of 30 sec. Special offer; 50 euro, and a minimum of 100 spots = 5000 euro This offer pre-booked, only. 50%, pre-paid. We need an agency, able to recording spots and sell at Uand. - Selling, installation and service of community radio and commercial radio at long- and medium wave. Installation in whole Scandinavia. AMRADIO, Box 14006, 200 24 Malmö, Sweden phone: ++46 (0)40 49 50 00 fax: ++46 (0)70 383 86 68 fax to Head office in U.S.A. 1-425-795-95 03 mobile: 010-200 00 00 and 073-091 75 99 mail: roy.sandgren @ telia.com http://www.amradio.se/index-e.html Roy Sandgren adds: Hello Friends of free radio, due to expected interference in the area of population, 100 m, from the ship at the pier, with 25 kW, we have to decrease the power to a low power. This is temporary, only. Anyway, you are welcome to listen to us and visit our ship. Special offers of advertising........... Best's from Roy Sandgren, Radio Scandinavia 603 (via Mike Terry, DXLD) Does this mean it is actually on the air yet? Has anyone heard it? (gh, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. Radio Maya, de Guatemala, en los 3324.8 kHz, con SINPO 3/2. Comentarios religiosos. 25/02 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA [non]. A message from Robert Wilkner also warned of the Colombian harmonic on 3300v. I'm sure it was mentioned in a past DXLD but what is it a harmonic of? I am still flummoxed as to determining harmonics as math has never been my strong suit. 73, (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Figuring out mixing products may require some math, but with harmonics you are only dealing with integral multiples (well, sometimes 0.5), nothing more complicated than that. 3 x 1100. HJMK, Emisora Ideal, Planeta Rica, actually on 3300.12 (Glenn, DXLD) ** HAITI. "As Cap-Haïtien is in the hands of the rebel forces, Christian radio still operating on a schedule of 8 hours, cut from 9 hours, using diesel powered transmitter. Rebel forces are not interfering with Christian non political programming. Second transmitter site has be occupied by squatters" Assume the station mentioned is 4VEH. [Per] Local radio in South Florida (Bob Wilkner. FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI. Since its last broadcasters left shortwaves 13-15 years ago, this Caribbean country has been very difficult to catch for DX-ers. Nowadays, they still have many stations on MW and FM, but they are all intended for local listening only. The highest power on MW is 20 kW (1080 kHz). In case that some of our MW-enthusiasts would give them a try, the present stations of 10 kW or more are, according to WRTH 2004: 570 Vision 2000, Port-au-Prince 690 Voix des Lumières, Port-au-Prince 780 Eben-Ezer, Mirebalais 820 R. Tropicale, Port-au-Prince 840 R. 4VEH, Cap-Haïtien. (They verified my log from Denmark of 4VEC on 6000 kHz (500 W) in 1959) 1080 R. Nationale, Port-au-Prince 1120 R. Magic, Port-au-Prince 1170 R. Soleil, Port-au-Prince 1500 Haïti Flambeau Caraïbes, Port-au-Prince 1560 Voix de l`Espérance, Port-au-Prince. In 1995 I was on a two week DXpedition to Oracabessa on the north coast of Jamaica, but even though the distance to Port-au-Prince was only 270 kilometres, I was unable to hear any broadcasting stations from that country! (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. Radio Luz y Vida, captada a las 0241 UT, el 25/02. Tenor con música religiosa. Frecuencia: 3250.03 kHz, con SINPO 4/3. Radio M.I., bastante fuerte en la frecuencia de 3339.99 kHz, con charla religiosa. Hora: 0237 UT. SINPO 3/3. 73's y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Dear Friends, AIR is conducting test transmission as it is planning to start 24 hours News Channel on Short wave. In this regard, I have got request from Spectrum Manager (SUNIL BHATIA) to send detailed reports on the reception quality of following frequencies with a normal short wave receiver: Time (IST) Frequency (kHz) 0555-1000, 1230-1900 & 2000-2310 7420, 7360, 7270 & 7220 You can also send the reports. The email address for sending the report is: - spectrum-manager @ air.org.in Regards & 73’s (Mukesh Kumar, THE COSMOS CLUB, MISCOT-3, R-8, RAMNA, MUZAFFARPUR – 842002, BIHAR, INDIA, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For domestic consumption, apparently; UT would be 0025-0430, 0700- 1330, 1430-1740 (gh, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 3960.86, RRI Palu, 1145-1235, Feb 06, Bahasa Indonesia, 1200-1232 relay of RRI Jakarta ``Dynamika Indonesia``, 1235 local ID. Transmitter problems noted. 23332/35442 (Roland Schulze, Mangaldan, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) 4790, RRI Fak Fak, Steadily heard here on what seems to be a new transmitter, because I haven`t heard them this regularly at this strength in many years. Fair at 1200 but swamped by Azad Kashmir Radio at 1430. Feb 14 (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) 4925, RRI Jambi, 2235-0005 when it starts to fade out with local sun rise, Feb 11 and 18, Bahasa Indonesia talk, time pips, South Sea music, 2300 ID. Fair to good signal. However, not heard in the Asian evenings (Jim Edwards, UK and Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) Heard 1030-1105, Feb 5, with very low signal and transmitter problems until 1105 when SINPO raised to 35543. 9552.3, RRI Makassar, -0758*, Feb 4, Bahasa Indonesia, ID, 44544! 9743.2, RRI Sorong, -0754*, Feb 4, Bahasa Indonesia, ID, 35543 (Roland Schulze, Mangaldan, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) ** JAPAN. Radio Japan, Italian service, sent reception report via e- mail and received new full data QSL card in 7 days. You can see QSL card again at the following URL: http://web.tiscali.it/ondecorte/rj.html (Nino Marabello, ITALY, Japan Premium Feb 27 via DXLD) Beautiful winter scene. Page also links to more lovely NHK QSLs: http://web.tiscali.it/ondecorte/rj.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [and non]. CLANDESTINES 3915.1, Voice of Komala, 0350-0430*, Feb 16, drift from usual 3928! Political talks in Farsi mentioning Kurdistan and the state of the Democracy in Iran, Komala also mentioned. Jammed by Iran, martial song, ID, 43433, heard // 4610: 33332. 3970.0, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan, Al-Sulaymaniyah, Northern Iraq, 1550-1603*, Feb 18, Farsi talk, Kurdish folksong, closing ann; jump from 3975, 34333. 4158.5, Voice of the Conservative Party of Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, 1605-1700*, Feb 18, Kurdish (tentative) talk and songs, 1630 Arabic talks, martial music, ID 1656, signed off with a song, 24232 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) 4250, Voice of the Strugglers of Iranian Kurdistan, 1625-1645, Feb 18, Farsi, ann., almost completely blocked by jamming on same frequency. Best audible in LSB. 21321 (Bjarke Vestesen, Radby, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) New schedule! (DSWCI Ed.) ** LAOS. 15260, Hmong Lao Radio, 0100 UT Feb. 20, IS s/on with YL and news? in Lao. 32333, using Icom PCR 1000 web receiver Beppu, Japan (Bradford Wall, U.S.A., Japan Premium via DXLD) 15260, Hmong Lao R. Feb 20 *0100-0106 33443 Lao, 0100 s/on with IS. Opening announce. Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, JAPAN, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** LATVIA. ``On Saturday 14th February 2004 Radio Mi Amigo, once one of Europe`s most popular music stations returned to the air as a shortwave broadcaster with a 2 hour test transmission from Riga in Latvia. This test transmission will be repeated at 1600 on Sunday 29th February 2004. Broadcasting on 9290 khz Radio Mi Amigo hopes to broadcast every weekend with music programmes for all of Europe presented by ex offshore radio presenters. For further information about the all New Radio Mi Amigo contact radiomiamigo @ amserve.com Kind regards. Neil Gates, programme director, Radio Mi Amigo`` (via Noel Green, Blackpool, UK, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. Continues to be heard strong with signals on 5965 Malay and 7295 English. Usual signals here in Sri Lanka and doubt any reduction in power. Appears to be on the 24 hour schedule though not heard here in Sri Lanka during daytime 0200-0900a. (Victor Goonetilleke, Feb 19/20, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) 7130.1, RTM Kuching-Stapok, Sarawak, 0120-0300*, Feb 06, still active with their School program. Each block is 15 minutes of duration: 0120-0130 Bidayuh (?) – English lesson, talk about the Bible 0130-0145 Chinese program 0145-0200 ``Program Islamic empat`` – religious program about Islam 0200-0215 Bahasa Malaysia (?) program 0215-0230 Iban religious program about Islam ``Programa Iban tiga`` 0230-0245 ID: ``Inilah Radio Malaysia`` and English program teaching children about the world, songs. 0245-0258 Bahasa Indonesia or Bahasa Malaysia – English lesson. 0259-0300* ID: ``Inilah Radio Malaysia, Kuching``; 25542. 9750, ``Voice of Islam``, Kajang, is now active again, but they also have a program called ``Voice of Malaysia``, both in English. I do not have their schedule (Roland Schulze, Mangaldan, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) These are their external services (DSWCI Ed) 15294.9, Voice of Malaysia, Kajang, *0500-1005*, Feb 06, Back here with external service in English with ID`s ``The Voice of Islam, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia`` at 0500 + 0510 and ``The Voice of Malaysia, English Services`` at 0635?, ann on 6175, 9750 and 15295. Bahasa Malaysia heard at 0910-1005*, but not // 9750. 24542 (Roland Schulze, ibid.) ** NEPAL [non?]. Voice of the Himalayas --- I was looking through the 1962 edition of WRTH and was interested to see a half-page advertisement for a station called Voice of the Himalayas, projected to start broadcasting in 1963/1964 in 10 Asian and European languages. I've never heard of this station, does anyone know if it ever really existed, or was it just pie in the sky? You can see the advert at http://www.intervalsignalsonline.com/countries/hbs.htm (Dave Kernick, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Address was in Switzerland; I vaguely recall hearing about it at the time, but not hearing it. There was another more recent Nepali service out of Europe, Everest Radio, which closed 5 Feb 2002 (gh, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. G3RKL`s ZL South Island ``Stroll`` Tony Whitaker, G3RKL, has begun his 750-kilometre long `stroll` along the length of New Zealand`s South Island. He has an FT-817 transceiver with him and is operating as ZL6SHS on 7080 kHz on HF as well as on Internet-linked repeaters along the route. News on his progress, and pictures of Tony en route, are being posted on Ian Abel`s, G3ZHI, website (Radio Society of Great Britain GB2RS News Script for February 29 via G4RGA on uk.radio.amateur February 25 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** PALESTINE [and non]. JOINT ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN RADIO LAUNCHED IN RAMALLAH --- Feb. 25, 2004, By KHALED ABU TOAMEH http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1077712322580&p=1006688055060 The Palestinian Authority denied on Wednesday that it had granted permission to a joint Israeli-Palestinian radio station to broadcast from Ramallah. The new station, called the Voice of Peace, is funded by the European Union and is expected to start its broadcasts in the next few weeks. The station was inaugurated in Ramallah on Tuesday. The PA Ministry of Information said that it was the only body authorized to issue a license to radio and TV stations and that it did not grant a permit to the joint radio station. The ministry said, however, that a Palestinian radio station carrying the same name had asked for a license to broadcast from Ramallah. A three-month temporary license was granted to the station, but it expired on February 22, the ministry said. Hani al-Masri, a senior official with the ministry, said that any station that is co-owned or funded by non-Palestinians needs permission from the Palestinian political leadership, as well as the PA ministries of interior and communications. The Palestinian director of the Voice of Peace, Mayssa Siniora, said the broadcasts would focus on issues of coexistence between the Palestinians and Israelis and promote peace. Mossi Raz, deputy director-general of Givat Haviva and former Meretz MK, said the radio would broadcast in Arabic, English and Hebrew. The radio station would receive the musical library and the jingles of peace activist Abie Nathan's Voice of Peace radio station, which used to broadcast from a ship until it closed in 1993. Hanna Siniora, publisher of The Jerusalem Times and one of the founders of the station, said PA Chairman Yasser Arafat has given his blessing to the new station. The station's birth is due to the generous contribution by the European Union, which approved the donation. "The EU's donation represents 79.5% of the 600,000 budget and we will contact other donors to raise the rest of the amount," said Siniora (Jerusalem Post via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 11840, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Far East, heard in USB on Feb 01- 06: *0000-0100*, *0300-0400 (AIR QRM) and *0900-1000* in Russian with news, reports, weather forecasts, phone-in programs and frequent ID`s: ``Radio Sakhalinsk``. At 0940-0958 a local language (Tchukchen ?) was heard (Korean is scheduled! DSWCI Ed). Best as 23432 (Schulze) 15105, ``On the Tatarstan Wave``, Samara, *0650-0800*, Feb 06, I/S, Tatar ID by male and female, news, reports, folkmusic, ex R Tatarstan. 24432 (Roland Schulze, Philippines, DSWCI DX Window Feb 25 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Hi Glenn, just in a hurry re Voice of Russia: My remark was a hint at the communications between VOR main control in Moscow (no editorial staff) and T-Systems in Germany in the described matter (feed went silent). I must add that it is another question if the reaction would have been much different in the case of an alert from within Russia since the Russian bureaucracy appears to be unbelievable even for a German, and it is also without any doubt that a lot of prejudice about Russians is around. Just one example: I found that Deutsche Welle first had to overcome their own inclinations when airtime on transmitters in what was at this time still the USSR was offered to them. By the way, for Germans it might be quite a difference in this regard from which part of the country they come. It is widely felt that the ban of the Soviet magazine Sputnik in November 1988 was the last nail in the coffin of "the system" in the GDR. So much about this... (Kai Ludwig, Germany East, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. Radio Shabelle, Mogadishu, Somalia. Thanks to a tip by Chris Greenway in DXLD, on 25 Feb I checked 6961 at 2020 and heard HOA music and apparently Somali talks. Signal was good, but strong utes both sides made it difficult to copy. At that time I had no time to await the utes` sign-off, so no positive ID (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6961.0, R. Shabeelle, Mogadishu (Tentative), 2015-2100*, Feb 26, talks in what could be Somali, African pop songs, 2058 a song which mostly sounded like a Muslim call to prayer. Heavily disturbed and only audible in LSB mode. It is squeezed here in Denmark between a strong English speaking number station in USB-mode on 6959.0 and a strong telegraphy station on 6961.55. Strong carrier tone *2048-2053*, then the number station signed off for a few minutes. Until then SINPO 22332, after 2053: 23333. The instrumental interval signal from the number station began again at *2100 with more instructions for spies! (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Shabelle has a website with archived audio and an "About Us" page in English - click on the PROFILE button at http://www.shabele.com (Dave Kernick, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6961, Radio Shabelle [sic] (Tentative) 1910 via Javoradio Europe. Hammered in both sidebands as noted by Jari, but very Somali sounding audio (telco quality and narrow) and talk by man. An OK signal if the utes ever go away. Found a website and background info on them, see below (Hans Johnson Cumbre DX Feb 26 via DXLD) http://www.shabele.com/Profile.htm --- Shabele Media Network was aired on 06/5/02 on the F.M of 101.5 MHZ. But the Radio construction was started on 01/02/02. The Head quarter of the Radio is in Mogadishu town and it also sub Head quarter is in Merca town, the Regional Capital of Lower Shabele Region and it covers about 400 km. Shabele Media Network is a free, Neutral unbiased Media intended for Orientation mobilization and awareness of the public towards the good Mutual understanding and Coexistence and Development. On the other hand, the Radio shabele is a privet Company, which is going to take part the revitalization of free Marketing System in Somalia. A country, which was stalled by civil strife and Anarchy during the past 12 years. Besides the Inter-clan fighting and Unrest, The country is paving the way towards the Economic Privatisation. In this respect, the Radio shabele is among . . . (via Hans Johnson, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) As you can see there is no rhyme or reason to doubling letters in Somali (Now someone will explain that there is.) (gh, DXLD) ** SYRIA. After checking Syria for a while here is my report about the MW frequencies of Both networks coming from Syria: 1- program one (Radio Syria) ``Idha`at aljamhouria Alarabia alsourya min Dimashq``, IS starts at 0315 UT; around 0325 the program starts with the national anthem of Syria, followed by the list of frequencies as follows : 567 KHz to southern Syria and Palestine 666 KHz to southern Syria 1485 KHz to central Syria 747 KHz to central, Northern and coastal Syria 783 KHz to coastal Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt 918 KHz to eastern and Northern Syria 997 KHz to Damascus 936 KHz to central Syria 828 KHz to eastern Syria followed by the holy Qur`an. According to that announced list I can see no mention of 612 KHz mentioned in WRTH 2004. Will keep tuning in; maybe it was forgotten but they will announce it some day later on. I checked the list of the frequency and here in Cairo I can confirm 783, 666, 936 KHz. 2 - Program 2 (V. of the People) ``Sout Al sha'ab min Dimashq``, sign on at 0400 UT with the national anthem as well, followed by the following frequency list: FM band on 92.1, 97.1 MHz MW: 873 KHz to Damascus 1071 KHz coastal Syria 954 KHz to eastern Syria 1125 KHz to eastern, northern Syria 1314 KHz to northern Syria 594 KHz to northern Syria (needs double checking) followed by the holy Qur`an as well. I checked these frequencies mentioned and can confirm 783, 1071 with QRM from greater Cairo radio on the same freq., 1125, 1314. All my best wishes from cairo, Egypt, (Tarek Zeidan, http://www.tarekzeidan.tk Feb 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 6765U, Bangkok Meteorological Radio, Feb. 20 1305-1325 33333. Weather information in English and Thai (ISHIZAKI Kyoshiro, JAPAN, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** TURKMENISTAN. DAILY DIGEST http://www.eurasianet.org From: Justin Burke (Jburke @ sorosny.org) Date: Fri Feb 13 2004 - 08:50:56 EST TURKMEN LEADER ORDERS LAUNCH OF NEW TV CHANNEL The world should have a better understanding of what is going on in present-day Turkmenistan. This was stated by President Saparmyrat Nyyazow during his meeting with the staff of a newly founded Turkmen cultural heritage centre inaugurated on 12 February in Asgabat. "So far the world is not aware of what is going on here in Turkmenistan," he said. Listing the changes and achievements made in the country in recent years, Nyyazow pointed to the prestigious buildings, streets and a giant lake known as Lake Turkmen, and he insisted these be shown to the outside world. Addressing Resulberdi Hojagurbanow, the communications minister, he said: "I commission you with the task of conducting, within some 20 days, a tender to launch another TV channel. You should get everything necessary for it - transmitters and other equipment - so that there will be another TV channel in addition to the already existing three channels The fourth TV channel should broadcast worldwide news about Turkmenistan in six languages via satellite". Nyyazow mentioned the broadcast languages as Russian, English, French, Chinese, Persian and Arabic. "We should launch such programmes in foreign languages, otherwise nobody in the world will understand the content of our other three programmes already being broadcast via satellite because they are in Turkmen", Nyyazow added. Apart from this, Nyyazow also touched upon the issue of Turkmenistan's historical and cultural heritage and recommended that researchers to "work earnestly" on this. Nyyazow's remarks were made at the above-mentioned meeting and also during his visit of Asgabat's reconstructed silk factory. They lasted for about an hour and were broadcast on Turkmen TV Golden Age channel the same day. (BBC Monitoring plans to process excerpts from Nyyazow's remarks by 1800 gmt on 13 February). Source: Turkmen TV first channel, Asgabat, in Turkmen 1600 gmt 12 Feb 04 -- BBC Mon CAU MD1 Media 120204 cb/mn (via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. KUCHMA: Removal Of Radio Svoboda Damaged Ukraine's Image Radio Free Europe - Prague, Czech Republic ... Listeners can hear the broadcasts on the much harder-to-access shortwave band, as well as on the AM band in some parts of the country. . . http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/02/90dd1be4-d01d-49d2-9a7e-f58c09ffab89.html (via Larry Nebron, DXLD) ** U K. BBC 'SHOULD BE SPLIT UP SO INDEPENDENTS CAN FLOURISH' NATIONAL NEWS By Carlos Grande and Tim Burt, Financial Times; Feb 24, 2004 The BBC should be broken up and its television making and commercial sales wings sold off to allow independent programme-makers to flourish, a radical Tory-initiated report will urge today. The report - by a group of industry experts led by David Elstein, former chief executive of channel Five - calls for the BBC to adopt Channel 4's model and spend its -L-1.1bn-a-year network programming budget solely with external producers. Publication of the report comes ahead of a meeting this week of the BBC board of governors, which is expected to initiate the search for a new director-general following the resignation last month of Greg Dyke. The board hopes to appoint a director-general shortly after the government names a chairman this spring to replace Gavyn Davies, who also quit in the wake of the Hutton report. Although unrelated to the Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly, the government scientist, today's study questions the role of the governors and the BBC's funding structure. BBC officials declined to comment on the findings, which coincide with continued work by the corporation on its own submission to a government consultation on the future shape and structure of the publicly-funded broadcaster. The recommendations from the Broadcasting Policy Group, led by Mr Elstein, would involve job upheavals for many of the BBC's 20,000- strong staff. The BBC's programme-making arm and BBC Worldwide, which licenses BBC shows to subscription, overseas or merchandising companies, should be sold off, it says, to create a more transparent market in supplying shows to the corporation. The authors say the current system - where independents and BBC staff vie for 25 per cent of BBC network commissions and BBC Worldwide is a big buyer of independents' programme rights - is rife with "opaque cost allocation" and loaded against the independents. They claim independents are often forced to accept unviably low production fees or sell other commercial rights to their shows at below full value in order to secure BBC funding. A clean break is the only way to provide transparency, encourage the fragmented independent production sector and ensure the best ideas make it to screen, they say. The report also suggests reforms of the BBC's licence fee, governance and public service role. The idea of breaking up the BBC might prove too radical for the Tories but it taps into a revival of interest in independent production companies such as RDF, makers of Faking It for Channel 4. This has included a new code of practice published by Ofcom, the media regulator, to strengthen independents' hand in negotiations with broadcasters, and City optimism towards the prospects for businesses built on the exploitation of programme rights (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U K. TORIES CONSIDER BREAKING UP BBC (Filed: 24/02/2004) The Conservatives will consider scrapping the television licence fee and dismantling the BBC, abolishing the corporation's board of governors. Debate: Shadow Culture Secretary Julie Kirkbride says the Tories will not jump to conclusions An independent report commissioned by the Tories suggests the BBC should be split into separate units. The licence fee should be gradually replaced by subscription charges and possibly even supplemented by advertising to stop the BBC falling behind its rivals and to distance the corporation from the Government. And the board of governors for the corporation, recently rocked by the Hutton report, should be dumped altogether. The report envisages transferring the assets of the BBC to a new public corporation modelled on Channel 4, rather than renewing the BBC's Royal Charter. The findings are not binding on the Conservatives, but the party has promised to consider them. . . http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/24/ubeeb.xml (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) MEDIA EXPERTS URGE RADICAL OVERHAUL FOR 'FAILING' BBC By Tom Leonard, Media Editor (Filed: 24/02/2004) The BBC is failing in its public service remit and should be radically overhauled, a panel of media experts will say today. A report commissioned by the Conservative Party to consider the corporation's future has concluded that the over-reliance on the BBC to provide public service programmes is unhealthy for democracy. It attacks the current system of a statutory licence fee and calls instead for rival broadcasters to compete with each other for money to make programmes on subjects such as the arts, education and current affairs. . . http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/24/nbbc24.xml (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** U K. Mayday, mayday ... turn off Radio 4 immediately Martin Wainwright Thursday February 26, 2004 The Guardian Ships in distress have always welcomed the power of prayer but the situation off Britain's North Sea coast yesterday took things a bit too far. Coastguards found themselves tuned inescapably into the BBC's Thought for the Day - along with Farming Today, Book of the Week and other soothing material - when a clumsy crewman on a cargo ship jammed the emergency frequency with Radio 4 for five hours. Nudging a handset button to "on" without noticing, the freighter Victress served up the whole of yesterday's Today programme as well as features on Sierra Leone and an underground bunker in the north London suburb of Dollis Hill. To make matters worse, the ship's watch - whose desultory chitchat could also be heard on the frequency - were apparently not listening themselves: appeals to them to switch the set off, put out by Radio 4 at the coastguard's request, were ignored. "This sort of thing has happened occasionally before, but never for this long," said Colin Tomlinson, district operations manager for Great Yarmouth coastguard, who finally had to launch a lifeboat to intervene. The RNLI crew from Wells-next-the-Sea tracked the radio signals to the Victress, 10 miles off Norfolk, arriving just as a reading of Gabriel García Márquez's autobiography was getting into its stride. "The signal was being carried on four of our aerials, effectively blocking any other emergency call," said Mr Tomlinson, whose only slight relief came when the programme's shipping forecast was helpfully broadcast at 5.36 am. "The problem started shortly after 5am and went on until just after 9.50 am when the lifeboat found the vessel and alerted the crew." (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U S A. Al Hurra --- Hi Guys, well, before the kick off of Al Hurra TV to the Middle East there has been a heated national debate about the station, its policy, the reason behind it, and why now??? After watching it for a while, I think criticism is more than appreciation but lately a cartoon has been published in Al Akhbar news paper, one of the main three semi governmental news papers. It's a very well known spot for a cartoon drawer and he's known for criticizing the government sometimes and of course the US policy in the Middle East. He's considered as #1 in that field. The title was ``A New TV station called Alhurra`` The cartoon shows a vice squad policeman checking the flat of a prostitute and she's standing there wearing almost nothing and saying "I'm HURRA to do whatever I want to do!! "Hurra as we know means the free one! In the background in the flat you can see two naked men. One of them is G W Bush and the other one is A. Sharon!! I think this cartoon says a lot about the image of the station here in Egypt and of course it's affected by the US foreign policy in the Middle East which is not accepted by the people in the Middle East. The common thread is that the station's main aim is to Americanize the minds by having sort of brain wash to the audience by stating certain facts that may lead to for instance calling those who fight the US occupation of Iraq terrorists and the same applies for the Jihad and Hamas in Palestine. Attached is a copy of the cartoon. http://www.w4uvh.net/hurra.jpg All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOA WILL NOT CUT UKRAINIAN BROADCASTING AFTER ALL http://www.uanews.tv/news/wire/04/02/040225-03.htm I will seek confirmation within the building later today. 73 (Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: UAN Staff Writer, United Kingdom, 25 February 2004 Voice of America (VOA) yesterday announced that its Ukrainian radio broadcasts will not be halved after all. The service originally announced that Ukrainian radio broadcasts would be cut from two hours to one hour, daily, commencing in March, but the Governing board has now reappraised its original decision. VOA's Broadcasting Board of Governors Chairman, Kenneth Tomlinson said that VOA are ready to take care of matters ensuring that "millions of Ukrainians will continue to receive reliable news and information." VOA Director, David Jackson added that "access to information broadcast by the station will continue to be available to Ukrainians by all the usual means, including radio, TV and Internet." A wide-ranging and significant number of Ukrainian Media representatives and politicians are known to have expressed grave concern concerning VOA's intial proposed cutbacks. See: 'Open Letter to The Broadcasting Board of Governors, Washington' http://www.uanews.tv/archives/protest/voa.php and 'Lev Lukianenko concerned about the fate of VOA and RFE/RL' http://www.uanews.tv/archives/politics/lukianenko02.php [Source: http://www.voanews.com/ukrainian] (via DXLD) ** U S A. Armed Forces Radio on MBN --- Armed Forces Radio is now available via Cellphone on the MBN free service. http://www.mymbn.com *Armed Forces Radio* Armed Forces Radio Network........2519 Instructions on how to dial into the service, or to use a WAP browser to access the service is available at: http://www.mymbn.com/mbnsupport.jsp (Doni Rosenzweig, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Thu Feb 26 at 2300 I ran across WBCQ 7415 with a show presenting a number of vintage IDs from Los Angeles radio and TV stations which must have been 50+ years old, so naturally I paused to listen. This was followed by a stinging critique of Fox `News`, among other things. Not quite sure where the unidentified speaker (or reader of articles) is coming from politically, as ranged from anti-Marxist to anti-neocon. Show is ``The Last Roundup,`` about which not much is known; ended at 2330 without any formal closing. But the zap schedule shows it in EST and UT: Annotated WBCQ Program Guide --- The Last Roundup Su 7415 04:00PM 05:00PM 2100 2200 Tu 7415 05:00PM 06:00PM 2200 2300 Th 7415 05:30PM 06:30PM 2230 2330 Sa 7415 04:00PM 05:00PM 2100 2200 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. NTIA INITIATES SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT INQUIRY NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 26, 2004--Apparently not to be outdone by the FCC`s Spectrum Policy Task Force (SPTF) http://www.fcc.gov/sptf and resulting proceedings, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ has initiated its own spectrum management Notice of Inquiry http://spectrumreform.ntia.doc.gov/notice.htm The NTIA administers spectrum used by the federal government and advises the White House in telecommunications matters. Comments on the NOI --- which carries the somewhat unwieldy Docket No 040127027-4027-01 --- are due by March 18. Some in the amateur community believe the NOI represents a threat to Amateur Radio. ARRL Chief Technology Officer Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, says the League is taking a hard look at the NTIA NOI and its potential impact on the Amateur Radio Service and will comment formally by the filing deadline. ``A number of members have been indicated concern about this NOI as a potential threat to the Amateur Radio Service and have asked the League`s views,`` Rinaldo said this week. ``In a nutshell, there is no specific threat to the Amateur Radio Service in this proceeding unless one considers opening spectrum management to scrutiny as the US government does every so often.`` As it did with the FCC`s SPTF, the League`s Washington office is participating in meetings related to the NOI. On February 12 Rinaldo delivered a presentation on Amateur Radio spectrum management at an NTIA Forum on Spectrum Management Policy Reform, sponsored by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of The National Academies. Among other things, Rinaldo told the forum that, in general, there is no conflict between Amateur Radio and federal government uses of shared bands. ``There is a longstanding complementary sharing record, which is rooted in geographical, time and frequency separation (including dynamic frequency selection -- the normal method in the Amateur Services),`` he told the gathering. ``These are enhanced by interference mitigation techniques including digital signal processing.`` Rinaldo noted that amateurs are concerned about potential interference from unlicensed Part 15 devices, ``particularly those that are broadband and distributed throughout residential areas.`` He asserted in his presentation that such devices should have ``globally harmonized bands and standards`` designed to preserve a low-noise environment needed for scientific uses and to avoid power escalation in radio services as the noise level rises. The NTIA released the NOI February 2 in response to a May 29, 2003, executive memorandum from President George W. Bush called ``United States Spectrum Policy for the 21st Century.`` The NTIA NOI now is being viewed as a counterweight to the FCC`s SPTF. FCC Chairman Michael Powell established the SPTF in June 2002 to seek ways to open the spectrum to new uses by moving away from the so- called ``command and control`` model for spectrum management and toward more unlicensed devices. Since the issuance of the SPTF, the Commission has taken steps to consider receiver immunity standards, cognitive radio, and a new ``interference temperature`` metric. Rinaldo says the NTIA has been reviewing the results of the SPTF with a view to possible effects on federal spectrum. The NTIA proceeding is broader than the FCC`s SPTF initiative, however, and it poses some fundamental questions--including whether the FCC and NTIA spectrum management functions should be combined in a single entity. ``The League sees this NOI as a healthy opportunity for the airing of views on spectrum management and not a threat aimed at the Amateur Radio Service,`` Rinaldo concluded. The NTIA already has turned down a request by ARRL member Nick Leggett, N3NL, to extend the filing deadline. ARRL is developing its own response to the NTIA NOI in time for consideration by the League`s Executive Committee and the March 18 filing deadline. ``Meanwhile, we appreciate an opportunity to hear members` views,`` Rinaldo said. The NTIA is posting comments on its spectrum reform Web site http://spectrumreform.ntia.doc.gov/responses/index.htm Copyright © 2004, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. DC local TIS/HAR on 1640 --- Thanks to a tip by my friend Larry Vogt of CBS-TV's Washington plant, I took advantage of a trip to Dulles Airport yesterday to monitor 1640 kHz, and found the following TIS/HAR outlets: KJI955 at CIA HQ in Langley, VA. Instructions for visitors to the facility by vehicle. ID by MCW. KFP942 in Reston, VA. Reston road alerts. ID by MCW. Unfortunately the MCW tone used by both stations is exactly the same pitch, so they tend to blend together when you are receiving them at some distance. But the MCW ID's are given about every minute or two and are not coordinated with each other, so they drift in and out of sync. Regards, (Fred Laun, Temple Hills, MD, Feb 25, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. CLEAR CHANNEL has suspended the broadcast of VIACOM's "HOWARD STERN SHOW," from WBGG/MIAMI-FORT LAUDERDALE, WNVE/ROCHESTER, WTKS/ORLANDO, KIOZ/SAN DIEGO, WXDX/PITTSBURGH, and WTFX/LOUISVILLE, KY, which is consistent with its newly-announced "RESPONSIBLE BROADCASTING INITIATIVE". After assessing the content of yesterday's STERN show, CLEAR CHANNEL, in conjunction with its local market managers, decided to make this "swift and decisive action." Said CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO Pres. & CEO JOHN HOGAN, "CLEAR CHANNEL drew a line in the sand today with regard to protecting our listeners from indecent content and HOWARD STERN's show blew right through it. It was vulgar, offensive, and insulting, not just to women and African Americans but to anyone with a sense of common decency. We will not air HOWARD STERN on CLEAR CHANNEL stations until we are assured that his show will conform to acceptable standards of responsible broadcasting," HOGAN said. This news, of course, comes on the heels of CLEAR CHANNEL's adoption of a "RESPONSIBLE BROADCASTING INITIATIVE" this morning. The initiative has been put in place to make sure the material aired by its radio stations conforms to the standards and sensibilities of the local communities they serve for its talent under a new zero-tolerance policy. The new standards, in the wake of the firing of WXTB (98 ROCK)/TAMPA and syndicated morning host BUBBA THE LOVE SPONGE, include training and suspensions for any talent alleged by the FCC to have violated indecency rules. CLEAR CHANNEL's "RESPONSIBLE BROADCASTING INITIATIVE" says "that all of its contracts with on-air performers are being modified to ensure that DJs share financial responsibility if they utter indecent material on the air." Word is that may be up to half of the fine. In a memo, CLEAR CHANNEL COMMUNICATION President/COO MARK MAYS said, "CLEAR CHANNEL is serious about helping address the rising tide of indecency on the airwaves. As broadcast licensees, we are fully responsible for what our stations air, and we intend to make sure all our DJs and programmers understand what is and what is not appropriate on CLEAR CHANNEL radio shows. "If the FCC accuses us of wrongdoing by issuing a proposed fine, we will take immediate action. We will suspend the DJ in question, and perform a swift investigation. If we or the government ultimately determine the offending broadcast is indecent, the DJ will be terminated without delay," MAYS said. CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO President & CEO JOHN HOGAN added, "If a DJ is found to be in violation of FCC rules, there will be no appeals and no intermediate steps. If they break the law by broadcasting indecent material, they will not work for CLEAR CHANNEL. From now on, every contract that CLEAR CHANNEL enters into with on-air talent will include this provision. While that won't relieve CLEAR CHANNEL from our responsibility as a broadcast licensee, we believe it will have a significant deterrent effect on indecent content." HOGAN went on to reiterate CLEAR CHANNEL's call for a "DECENCY TASK FORCE," noting that CLEAR CHANNEL also has volunteered to fully participate with other representatives of the broadcast, cable and satellite industries to develop an industry-wide response to indecency and violence in the media. "In our view, industry-developed guidelines should be as effective as Government-imposed regulations without running afoul of the First Amendment protections that we all respect. The announcement precedes JOHN HOGAN's testimony before the HOUSE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE on THURSDAY (2/26). (via allaccess.com via Brock Whaley, Feb 25, DXLD) I`m exhausted; caps as published (gh) ** U S A. Re IBC Radio`s Philadelphia project: Hello Daryn, I`ve looked at your latest press release, and have some questions for you, since you don`t go into any detail: What is the station? What is the frequency? What is the power? What is the alternative power source? How far away has it been heard? May I see the reception reports? Thanks, (Glenn Hauser to Daryn Fleming, IBC Radio, via DXLD) Hi Glenn: We can't release more information than what the releases say. This is because we are a public company. Keep watching the wires. Thanks (Daryn Fleming, IBC Radio to gh, via DXLD) ?? I really don`t understand this. Has any DX listener in the Philadelphia area noted any Part 15 activity associated with IBC? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. To quote an old band... ..."Too Much Paranoias?" You know, if you were to introduce IBOC everywhere, make it a 24-hour thing and then significantly reduce anyone's ability to hear signals below a certain strength by having a high BPL noise floor introduced (again, everywhere) - Why, that'd sell a heck of a lot of hardware to broadcasters, be a shot in the arm for power utilities and, oddly enough, create a need for a very large increase in the number of AMers throughout the country because the broadcasters would be able to prove to the FCC that X number of additional stations were necessary to provide continuously decodable IBOC coverage of a given area due to the vastly increased noise floor everywhere. It'd be a corporate goldmine, in other words. Of course, I'm just paranoid and nobody in their right mind could ever think that those possibilities had ever crossed the minds of those right-thinking Captains of Industry.... Makes you think, though. (Lee [NLN], NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. WNRI, 1380, Woonsocket RI blasting in at times at 2015 [EST] in downtown Toronto --- noted while driving home. No way in hades it's using its 18 watts night power. Relog for me, but been awhile... (Saul Chernos, Ont., Feb 25, NRC-AM via DXLD) After listening to Bruce Williams for a while, got to hear enough local ads for liquor stores and lingerie stores (no kidding) at both BOH and TOH that I could confirm this one via the online feed. Fought with CKPC for a while then virtually alone for 40 minutes from 2225 to 2305. Thanks for the tip (Eric Breon, Middletown PA, ibid.) ** VENEZUELA. Dia Importante para Venezuela el viernes – FRIDAY Important day for Venezuela. Estimados Amigos, Mañana Viernes 26 [sic] de Febrero, habrá una masiva manifestacion "pacífica y democrática" por parte de toda la oposición venezolana en la ciudad de Caracas, llamando la atención a toda la comunidad internacional, para que se respete mayoritaria voluntad popular por el respeto de las 2 millones de firmas recolectadas el pasado mes de Noviembre, para - así lograr el referedum revocatorio en contra del actual presidente de la República de Venezuela, establecido en nuestra constitución. El Consejo Nacional Electoral que es el organismo encargado de facilitar el establecimiento de las elecciones y sus reglas, compuesto por 5 rectores: 3 del gobierno y 2 independientes. Los 3 primeros desean eliminar de facto esas 2 millones de rúbricas con base a unas nuevas normas que no fueron establecidas en la gaceta electoral, con lo cual se dejaría sin efecto el Revocatorio Presidencial. Por ello mañana se reunirá en el teatro Teresa Carreño, La Cumbre de los 15. Donde en teoría deberian asistir 15 mandatarios de América Latina, Asia y Africa. La marcha de ciudadanos, pretende dejar un documento a los presidentes y cancilleres de la cumbre donde desean manifestar su preocupación por el corte de la libertades de expresión en Venezuela, que están siendo violados sistemáticamente. Ya el gobierno estableció un cordón de seguridad armado con tanquetas y fusiles, para impedir que la masiva marcha llegue hasta el teatro. Me temo que habrá graves problemas, y es por ello que los invito a que sigan de cerca los acontecimientos en mi país a través de las siguientes páginas web: Television: http://www.globovision.com http://www.venevision.net http://www.televen.com http://www.rctv.net Radios: Circuito Nacional CNB: http://www.cnb.com.ve Union Radio: http://www.unionradio.com.ve Circuito Radio Venezuela: http://www.radiovenezuela.com.ve Hora de Comienzo de la Marcha: 14:00 Horas UT. ---------------------------------------------------- Dear Friends, Tomorrow Friday 26 of February, there will be a massive protest "peaceful and democratic" on the part of all the Venezuelan opposition in Caracas, calling the attention to all the community international, so that will be respected the majority popular will of the 2 million signatures collected the last November, thus to achieve the referendum recalling the president of the Republic of Venezuela, as provided for in our constitution. The Electoral National Counsel that is the agency responsible to implement the elections and its rules, composed of 5 rectors: 3 of the government and 2 independent; the first three desire to eliminate de facto those 2 million of signatures based on some new norms that were not established in the electoral gazette, with which would leave Presidential Revocation without effect. Because of it tomorrow will meet in the Theater Teresa Carreño, The Summit of the 15. Where in theory they were to attend 15 leaders of Latin America, Asia and Africa. The march of citizens, intends to leave a document with the presidents and chancellors of the summit declaring their concern about the abridgement of the liberties of expression in Venezuela, that are being violated. Already the government established an armed cord of security with tanks and armed men with rifles, to prevent the massive march from reaching the theater. I fear myself that there will be serious problems, and it is because of it that I invite those that follow closely the events in my country through the following pages web: [links as above] Beginning of the March: 1400 hours UT. Note: Excuse me for my bad English! (Jorge García Rangel, Barinas, Venezuela, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. I am hearing a fairly strong signal in Arabic on 7200 -- news, Kor`an and ME music. It was so good last night around 0000 and beyond that it was overpowering VOA on that frequency. Maybe Omdurman --- I thought I read something about them getting new transmitters??? (Jim Clar, Rochester, NY, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jim, Just checked 7200 at 0010 UT Fri, and nothing much there now, except hams. I wouldn`t expect Sudan to be on all night, but maybe it was a special occasion. Let`s check further (Glenn to Jim, via DXLD) Do check 7200 again, though, the signal was quite strong last night at 0115. Definitely in Arabic (Jim Clar, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ GERMAN-ENGINEERED (?) SHORTWAVE RADIOS One feedback to the recent DW 'Can "Made in Germany" Be Trusted?" story... Telefunken radios were manufactured in India, and I am one of those thousands who purchased the radio. I bought the radio because I was sure of the quality. I still have the radio with me (since the last thirty-odd years) but not in good working condition. I still value German made products. So, when my son in United States volunteered to buy me a shortwave radio, we were initially confused with his suggestions of Sony and other brands. I came across a Web site which sold radios and the advertisement compared the product with Grundig. I stopped at that and immediately opened the Web site that was selling Grundig radios. The next e-mail was to my daughter-in-law to buy a Grundig as my new shortwave world band radio. However, I now learn that Grundig is being manufactured in China. But my son has assured me that the product is extremely good, because it is German-engineered. I am glad that I could keep the faith in products "Made in Germany". -- M. Joevalan Vaz, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,7882_A_1122497_1_A,00.html 73 (via Kim Elliott, DC, DXLD) YET ANOTHER CHEAPY SW RADIO IN THE MARKETPLACE, COBY CX-CB91 This one is from Coby, a brand of low-cost electronics that I often find at Big Lots stores here; I've bought cassette boom boxes and a lot of headphones with that brand on them, and have always been satisfied with what I got for the money. I saw this radio in the new Heartland America catalog; you can find it on-line by going to http://www.heartlandamerica.com and searching for "Coby" under their electronics option. It is also findable at http://www.cobyusa.com This is an AM/FM/SW (7 sw bands) digital display radio that Heartland is selling for only $19.99 with free shipping (but a $2.99 per-order "processing fee"). But I cannot find the SW frequency coverage in either of the online pages' specifications listings. It DOES have a knob on the side, but I cannot see if that is a frequency-tuning knob or a volume control; if it is actually tuned by knob, instead of up/down slewing buttons only, that would be a breakthrough at this low price, I believe. Coby's model # is CX-CB91, and Heartland's stock number is A3-36027. (Heartland is at 1-800-229-2901.) The specs and picture show that it has an alarm clock, and also that the digital display shows both the time and the frequency (the latter pictured is an FM one). Uses 2 AA batteries, comes with stereo earphones but the Heartland catalog does NOT say it is stereo FM. 5" X 3" X 1" dimensions. It would be so nice if the specs said just what those 7 SW bands are; I'm surprised that Coby's own site doesn't give that data. I suppose I'll get one, just because I'm a sucker for cheap radios, even if they disappoint when I actually try to use them. Guess I'm hoping for a nice surprise. The ad copy for radios like these always mentions the BBC, but they just about never actually receive BBC broadcasts here in the US these days; you're usually lucky to hear Scott or Stair! (Will Martin, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ FCC PROPOSES RULES FOR BPL SYSTEMS NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 25, 2004 --- The FCC this week released its Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) on Broadband over Power Line (BPL) systems. The 38-page NPRM --- in ET Dockets 03-104 and 04-37 --- proposes amendments to FCC Part 15 rules to define so-called ``access BPL,`` make rules specific to BPL systems and provide measurement guidelines for BPL devices and systems. It would make no changes to Part 15 emission limits for unintentional radiators, however. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, says that while Part 15`s current limits on unintentional radiators on HF may be appropriate for short-duration, narrowband emissions, they are inappropriate for the sort of long- duration, broadband emissions BPL would employ. He compared short- duration, narrowband emissions at the Part 15 radiated emission limit to a helicopter flying overhead. ``The noise is deafening, but is tolerable because it doesn`t happen very often nor last very long,`` he observed. ``To a radio user, having BPL in the neighborhood would be like having the helicopter hovering constantly overhead.`` ARRL Lab Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, offered an example that most hams can relate to. ``The limit for an unintentional emitter on HF is 30 uV/m at 30 meters from the source,`` he said. ``If you take a dipole cut for 3.5 MHz and put it in a 30 uV/m field, you`ll have a noise reading of S9 plus 16 dB at your transceiver.`` Access BPL, a form of carrier current or power line carrier (PLC) communication, would apply RF in the HF to low-VHF range to existing low and medium-voltage exterior power lines to distribute Internet and broadband services. It was the aspect of feeding RF signals into outdoor power lines that initially raised Amateur Radio concerns regarding potential interference. Such carrier current or PLC systems are subject to the FCC`s Part 15 rules governing unlicensed devices. In its proposal, the FCC took a broader view of interference issues.`` There is significant disagreement among the commenting parties regarding the interference potential of Access BPL,`` the NPRM declares. ``Amateur operators and amateur organizations in general are opposed to Access BPL and advocate emission limits that are lower than the existing Part 15 limits.`` In a statement attached to the NPRM, however, FCC Chairman Michael Powell expressed confidence that the new requirements it spells out balance BPL`s potential benefits with concerns of potential interference ``by establishing new requirements that will help minimize harmful interference that may occur and guidelines for measurement of radio frequency emissions from carrier current systems.`` Still, the NPRM concedes, Amateur Radio operations ``are likely to present a difficult challenge in the deployment of Access BPL in cases where amateurs use high-gain outdoor antennas that are located near power lines.`` Noting that power line noise already presents a significant problem for hams, the FCC said, ``we therefore would expect that, in practice, many amateurs already orient their antennas to minimize the reception of emissions from nearby electric power lines.`` The NPRM goes on to point out that because BPL has the capability to stay clear of specific frequencies, BPL providers can simply ``avoid the use of amateur frequencies when in close proximity to amateur outdoor antennas.`` The NPRM also briefly mentions the possibility of interference to BPL systems from Amateur Radio, an issue ARRL and others raised in their comments on last April`s Notice of Inquiry on BPL. The NPRM emphasizes that under the proposed rules, operators of Access BPL systems would be responsible for eliminating any harmful interference that may occur. ``Furthermore, we believe that the current Part 15 emission limits for carrier current systems in conjunction with certain additional requirements specific to Access BPL operations will be adequate to ensure that existing radio operations are protected against harmful interference from such operations,`` the FCC said. The NPRM proposes changes to Part 15 that would ``facilitate the deployment of Access BPL technology while protecting licensed users of the spectrum.`` If ultimately adopted as proposed, the NPRM would: define Access BPL for the purposes of its rules maintain the existing Part 15 emission limits for BPL require that Access BPL devices employ ``adaptive interference- mitigation techniques`` require that Access BPL providers maintain a database of installation locations and technical information adopt specific measurement guidelines for both Access BPL and other carrier current systems to ensure that measurements are made in a consistent manner and provide for repeatable results in determining compliance with its rules. Sumner suggested that, with licensed services and government users taking up large portions of the HF spectrum, protecting all licensed HF users could prove to be a nightmare for BPL providers. He noted, too, that while the FCC maintains that licensed services must be protected, the proposed rules place the burden of initiating corrective action on the shoulders of the licensed services. ``And as a practical matter, the FCC`s proposed rules offer no protection at all to mobile and portable stations,`` he added. Sumner further stated that ARRL would continue to combat the ``misconception`` that BPL systems are viable as a ``last mile`` broadband technology for rural dwellers. ``In low-density areas, the economics just don`t work,`` he said. ``A potential investor who understands the constraints under which BPL must operate won`t touch such an investment.`` While conceding ``significant concerns`` from HF users --- including the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which regulates federal government radio use --- and the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the Commission said it believes the NPRM adequately addresses interference concerns. The FCC was unanimous in its approval of the BPL proposal. Commissioner Michael Copps offered a partial dissent that had more to do with competition protections and the potential for cross- subsidization between regulated power companies and unregulated communications businesses, not with interference issues. The NPRM can be viewed on the FCC web site http://www.fcc.gov/ and is available in Microsoft Word format http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-29A1.doc or as an Adobe Acrobat file http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-29A1.pdf More than 5000 comments were filed in the wake of the FCC`s Notice of Inquiry on BPL. Interested parties may file detailed comments on the NPRM via the main FCC`s Electronic Comment Filing System ECFS http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/ The comment deadline is 45 days after the NPRM has been published in The Federal Register, and that is not expected to happen for another week or two. The FCC also is accepting brief comments on the NPRM via its ECFS Express page http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/ecfs/Upload/ Additional information about BPL and Amateur Radio is on the ARRL Web site http://www.arr;.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/BPL To support the League`s efforts in this area, visit the ARRL`s secure BPL Web site https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/bpl/ Copyright © 2004, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ PROPAGATION NEWS FROM RSGB Solar data for the period from the 16th to the 22nd of February, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS. [http://www.g0cas.demon.co.uk/main.htm] Solar activity was low on the 16th and the 22nd and very low on the remaining days. The largest solar flare of the period was a C2/SF on the 22nd. The solar flux declined to 95 by the 20th but increased to 104 by the 22nd. The average was 116. The 90-day solar flux average on the 22nd was 116, that`s four units down on last week. X-ray flux levels increased from A8.3 units to B1.6 by the 22nd. The average was A8.9. Geomagnetic activity was low, with the Ap index in single figures every day. The average was Ap 6 units. The ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds decrease from 620 kilometres per second to 320 by the 21st. Particle densities remained low throughout. Bz varied between minus 7 and plus 7 nanoTeslas. The HF bands responded well to the quieter geomagnetic conditions and all continents were workable, even on 28 MHz at some stage during the period. No matter at what stage the sunspot cycle is, the HF bands will improve when we have several days of quiet geomagnetic activity. It just goes to prove it`s not only the solar flux you must keep an eye on but also magnetic activity. Going on this theory, conditions during the ARRL CW contest last weekend were very good. And finally the solar forecast. This week solar activity is expected to be very low to low. An isolated small M-class solar flare cannot be ruled out. The solar flux should increase and by next weekend be around 110. Geomagnetic activity may start at unsettled levels due to a small coronal hole but by mid week activity should be at quiet levels. MUFs during daylight hours at equal latitudes should be around 29 MHz for the south and 26 MHz for the north. The darkness hour lows are expected to be about 8 MHz. Paths this week to South Africa should have a maximum usable frequency, with a 50 per cent success rate, of about 31 MHz. The optimum working frequency, with a 90 per cent success rate, should be around 22 MHz. The best time to try this path should be between 0800 and 1500 UT. The RSGB propagation news is also available in a Saturday update, posted every Saturday evening and for more on propagation generally, see http://www.rsgb.org/society/psc.htm (Radio Society of Great Britain GB2RS News Script for February 29 via G4RGA on uk.radio.amateur February 25 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ASTROALERT: MAJOR X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE ALERT - 26 FEBRUARY ================================================================= This Is SKY & TELESCOPE's AstroAlert for Sun-Earth Interactions ================================================================= A s t r o A l e r t Sun-Earth Alert Solar Terrestrial Dispatch http://www.spacew.com 26 February 2004 MAJOR X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE ALERT A major solar flare has been observed from the sunspot complex known as Region 564. This sunspot complex is large enough to be seen with the unaided (but protected!) eye. It is currently slightly west of the central solar meridian and will not rotate behind the western limb of the Sun and out of view for approximately another 6 days. It's persisting growth also bodes well for possible periods of enhanced northern lights activity over the coming week. Today's major class X1.1 solar flare occurred at 02:03 UTC on 26 February. It was not a particularly spectacular event, but its position is excellent for ejecting mass toward the Earth. The Earth stands a good chance to see a minor coronal mass ejection impact within the next 2 to 4 days. An accurate assessment is not yet possible due to an inadequate amount of available data. Once additional data has been received, forecasts will start appearing on the various web sites http://www.sec.noaa.gov --- http://www.spacew.com etc). The likelihood of a large impact capable of producing significant auroral activity is fairly low. Nevertheless, a middle latitude aurora watch will probably be issued within the next 24 hours (don't expect any enhanced auroral activity from this event within the next 36 to 48 hours). If a watch is issued, another Astroalert will likewise be sent out. Sunspot complex 564 may be capable of supporting an additional major solar flare. ** End of the AstroAlert Bulletin ** ================================================================== AstroAlert is a free service of SKY & TELESCOPE, the Essential Magazine of Astronomy (http://SkyandTelescope.com/). (Cary Oler via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) TIP FOR RATIONAL LIVING +++++++++++++++++++++++ BRITAIN IS ONE OF THE MOST SECULAR NATIONS IN THE WORLD, A NEW POLL IN 10 COUNTRIES FINDS Levels of religious belief and activity in the UK are far lower than in almost all other countries surveyed across the globe in a special poll undertaken for the BBC. The ICM poll of 10,000 people in the USA, UK, Israel, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Mexico and Lebanon was carried out for What the World Thinks of God - BBC TWO, Thursday 26 February, 9.00 pm. http://www.bbc.co.uk/whattheworldthinksofgod [This article is full of interesting poll statistics showing how backward the USA is, etc.:] http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/02_february/26/world_god.shtml (via Andy Sennitt, DXLD) ###