DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-050, March 19, 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 AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1224: 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 Sat 2200 on DKOS usually, http://www.live365.com/stations/steve_cole Sun 0030 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, Italy 1584 Sun 2100 on RNI webcast, http://www.11L-rni.com Mon 0200 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB [NEW] Mon 0430 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [last week`s 1223] 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: 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 1224 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1224h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1224h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1224.html WORLD OF RADIO 1224 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1224.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1224.rm ** AFGHANISTAN. A contact in Afghanistan has sent me the following information on Radio and Television Afghanistan as of February 2004 Credit - Reproduced from "Position Plan: Strategy for Radio-Television Afghanistan and Bakhtar Information Agency". (Ministry of Information and Culture. Kabul. February, 2004). via Mark Nicholls, Editor New Zealand DX Times magazine. http://www.radiodx.com/ The following table lists all of the known RTA transmitters in Afghanistan. The information has been obtained from RTA in Kabul and has been verified in about half of the locations. Some of the RTA provided information has been shown to be inaccurate however (listed above). Where sites have not been checked, this is shown in the 'Current status' column as 'Believed on air'. VHF/FM transmitters Programme Coverage area Frequency TX power Current status Funded Service (MHz) (kW) by Local (RTA) Taloqan 91.2 0.03 On air BBC RTA Greater Kabul 93.0 0.25 On air BBC Local (RTA) Jalalabad 93.0 0.25 On air BBC Local (RTA) Konduz 94.4 0.2 On air BBC Local (RTA) Herat 95.5 0.25 On air BBC Local (RTA) Mazar 101.0 1 On air BBC Local (RTA) Maimana 104.3 0.03 On air BBC Local (RTA) Gardez 104.6 0.03 On air BBC Local (RTA) Faizabad 105.1 0.03 On air BBC RTA Mostof Kabul 105.2 0.6 On air VOA Local (RTA) Pol-e Khomri 106.6 0.25 On air BBC MW transmitters RTA 300km radius 1278 50 On air Iran RTA 909 10 On air Afghanistan RTA 75% 400 On air VOA Local (RTA) Ghazni 1017 10 On air US Local (RTA) Kandahar 10 On air US Local (RTA) Kandahar 7 Believed On air Local (RTA) Helmand 0.1 Believed On air Local (RTA) Nemroze 7 Believed On air Local (RTA) Farah 7 Believed On air Local (RTA) Herat 1512/828 10 Faulty Local (RTA) Herat 1512/828 0.1 On air Local (RTA) Badghise 0.1 Believed On air Local (RTA) Faryab 7 Believed On air Local (RTA) Mazar e sharif 1584 2 On air Local (RTA) Mazar e sharif 909 50 Faulty Iran Local (RTA) Samangan 0.1 Believed On air Qundoze Local (RTA) (Konduz) 5 Does not exist Badakhshan/Fai Local (RTA) zabad 5 Off air for 8 years Local (RTA) Gardez 7 On air Local (RTA) Khost 1200 0.5 On air Local (RTA) Paktika 0.1 Believed On air Local (RTA) Jalalabad 0.4 On air Local (RTA) Maimana 1188/594 5 On air Local (RTA) Taloqan 0.5 Off air SW transmitters RTA Afghanistan+ Planned India TV transmitters Local (RTA) Faizabad 0.01 On air Iran Not used for 10 years Local (RTA) Gardez Local (RTA) Ghazni 221.0 1 On air US Local (RTA) Herat 189.2 0.01 On air Iran Local (RTA) Jalalabad On air RTA Kabul 217.2 0.2 On air Iran Local (RTA) Mazar 0.05 On air Iran Local (RTA) Pol-e Khomri 0.001? On air Local (RTA) Konduz 0.001 On air Local (RTA) Taloqan 0.01 On air Iran Local (RTA) Sheberghan 214.0 0.1 On air The list does not include the private stations now on the air. Several community and private FM's are on air in Kabul. Also, BFBS, RFA, VOA and so on. However, this is THE most up-to-date list of what we all think RTA has...it's hard to tell sometimes! (via Mark Nicholls, NZ DX Times for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. Radio Tirana A04 Tentative Schedule [note that many services, including English are not on air Sun/UT Mon] 5985 1400 1700 28SW CER 50 ND 925 1234567 ALBANIAN 7270 2300 0330 7,8 SHI 100 300 217 1234567 ALBANIAN 6130 1700 1715 39NW CER 50 ND 925 123456 TURKISH 6130 1715 1730 28SE CER 50 ND 925 123456 GREEK 6100 1800 1830 28SW SHI 100 ND 925 123456 ITALIAN 6115 0145 0200 7,8 CER 100 305 216 234567 ENGLISH 6115 0230 0300 7,8 CER 100 305 216 234567 ENGLISH 6135 2115 2130 28SE SHI 100 ND 925 123456 SER/CRO 7110 0800 0900 28 CER 100 ND 925 1234567 ALBANIAN 7110 2115 2130 28 CER 50 ND 925 123456 SER/CRO 7130 2130 2200 27 SHI 100 310 146 123456 ENGLISH 7160 0145 0200 7,8 CER 100 305 218 234567 ENGLISH 7160 0230 0300 7,8 CER 100 305 218 234567 ENGLISH 7185 1730 1800 28 SHI 100 350 141 123456 GERMAN 7210 1845 1900 27 SHI 100 310 146 123456 ENGLISH 7210 1900 1930 27 SHI 100 310 146 123456 FRENCH 7240 1800 1830 28SW CER 100 ND 925 123456 ITALIAN 7260 1700 1715 39NW CER 100 ND 925 123456 TURKISH 7260 1715 1730 28SE CER 100 ND 925 123456 GREEK 7270 1400 1700 28 CER 50 ND 925 1234567 ALBANIAN 7295 2030 2200 28 CER 100 350 141 1234567 ALBANIAN 9520 1845 1900 27 CER 50 310 217 123456 ENGLISH 9520 1900 1930 27 CER 50 310 146 123456 FRENCH 9540 2130 2200 27 CER 50 310 216 123456 ENGLISH 9570 1730 1800 28 CER 50 350 141 123456 GERMAN 9575 2030 2200 27,28 CER 100 310 146 1234567 ALBANIAN Drita Cico ARTV-Albanian Radiotelevision Head of Monitoring Center ALBANIAN RADIOTELEVISION RADIO TIRANA, Monitoring Center Tirana, A L B A N I A Tel: +355 4 222277 Fax: +355 4 223650/226203 ---------------- Regds, (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DXLD, WORLD OF RADIO 1224) ** ALBANIA. /CHINA Wasn`t 1089 also listed as "Tirana" at one time? I suppose the WRTH could only print the information that was obtained from the station. As far as my brain can recollect, I don't remember reading about Shijak and Cerrik until the post communist era - and particularly when TWR started to use these SW transmitters. In 1975, no location was given under country heading, but HS in Albanian used: 1088 0400-0700 & 1700-2200 1358 0700-1100 & 1700-2200 5057 0500-1700 Do you remember the last one - it usually gave good results here. In the freq list, 1358 was shown as Tirana and 1089 as Durres, while 5057 was listed Gjirokaster 50 kW. Under 'Country' was listed 'Stations': 50/100/120/240/500 kW and the list of freqs included 1088 1214 1358 1394 1457. In the freq list, 1214 & 1394 were listed as Lushnje 500 kW and 1457 Durres 500 kW. SW channels simply as Radio Tirana without location. These must have pleased the hams - 7065 7075 7080 & 7090. There were five regional stations on MW, and one of these was at Gjirokaster [1292 200 watts] If I looked back further in time I seem to recollect some were using OOB SW freqs - and 'Tirana' also. And re the backwards Beijing tape - yes, I also believe these were only in Russian. Did the Russians jam Chinese broadcasts in that era Olle? My memory will not access and download that information on my internal computer! I still possess a four track reel-to-reel [non- stereo] tape recorder and it would be no problem to play a recording "backwards" on it. I often did in error! (Noel R. Green-UK, BC-DX Mar 7) Re: Albania The "modern" (i.e. post communist era) co-ordinates of 1089 and Shijak SW seem to be the same, so apparently the sites are co-located. In the original GP 1089 was listed as Duerres with co- ordinates more to the west. The similar group of aeronautic obstacles denoted as smokestacks in Kai's map also includes the 1089 MW site. Are 1089 and Shijak SW actually the same site or different ones? Shijak is the real location of "Tirana" 1089. It was built by the Chinese in 1961. Since it is located between Tirana and Durres (closer to Durres) it covers both cities. 1359 was built by the Russians in 1952 and is located at Kashar, between Tirana and Shijak. See the enclosed map, where you will also find Cerrik near the southern border. In periods the Russians were jamming Radio Peking quite extensively, just as they were jamming Radio Tirana (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Mar 7) As far as I can remember the reverse tape transmissions were used only for the Russian lang programmes to escape jamming of the links to the countryside relay stations and possibly to enable Russian listeners with suitable tape recorders to pick up and restore the programmes. Word is that these "backwards transmissions" were done for being picked up at Moscow in order to allow the Kremlin to learn the opinion of Beijing? Olle, it seems to me that I am not the only one who is not really convinced about this kind of conspiracy theory? And "re 1458 - Albania would seem to have rented out the frequency/ transmitter to CRI for the whole evening": Quite true. The B03 schedule of Radio Tirana showed 1458 in use for Albanian 2130-2300 and for German (not on Sundays) 1830-1900, now there are instead CRI programmes in Italian 1800-1900, Polish 2130-2230 and Czech 2230-2330. The Albanian late night release still seems to be on 7295, if the talk that sounds like fed to the tx via a dial-up phone connection is not something else (Kai Ludwig, Germany, BC-DX Mar 5) It does seem that 1215 & 1395 are via the same transmitter. I don't see 1395 listed with 2 x 500 kW anywhere. Just one seems to cover the areas they are trying to reach. If there are three of 500 kW then it would make more sense to operate them on the three freqs 1215, 1395 & 1458 if they can. I don't think 1215 & 1458 would be heard well in northern Europe due to co-channel stations. TWR via 1395 is listed with 500 kW between 1910 and 2200. Most of the SW transmitters operate off frequency, and I noted TWR via 12070 putting out loud spurs again yesterday. TWR seems to be the only organisation which puts any faith in the reliability of the SW senders to deliver. CRI seems to have a 'mind-set' about getting MW signals into Europe currently - maybe they have looked at the SW sites and didn`t like what they saw! Maybe you noticed that Shijak is not used for TWR any longer, but is listed for R Tirana services. There was a 50 kW tx(s) listed in the info I sent last time, but no information about where it is/was located. Gjirokaster is off Olle's map in the south of the country, but whether it was the location for 5057 isn`t known. I would guess that it was intended to cover the whole country in daytime when the two MW transmitters probably didn`t do so. [WB: 5057 --- that`s a typical fountain like antenna service [near vertical incidence, ``shower``] in the 60 mb to cover the whole mountain area in Eastern Albania; similar service formerly at SRI on 3985 kHz from 1600 to 0800 UT approx.] Going back in time, a 50 kW unit was listed on 1358 in the 1953 WRHB plus a 500 watts on 6560 and 3 kW on 7850. 6 was used for HS and FS. 7 was only used for FS. Others were Korca 7595 100w, Shkodra 8215 200w and Vlore 8500 100w. I can only remember 7850 being heard. In 1963 the 50 kW unit was listed at Tirana on 1088 while 1358 now had a 1 kW unit. Korca was now 200w on 1349. The FS was via 1088, 7092 and 9677 (both 20 kW). By 1969 they had the transmitters I listed last time (50/100/120/240/500 kW). HS was using 1088 & 7065. No freqs were listed for their FS (only a list of what was used) which now had 17 langs. 1214 & 1395 were other MW's and one I hadn`t noted before was 557. Regional stations were at Kukes 6660 200w (varied up to 150 kHz in freq was added, so it must have been in good shape!), Shkoder 8215 & 1300 [both 200w], Korce 1349 and Gjirokaster 1275 200w. Kukes seems to stir a brain cell so may have been heard. Radio Peking had an extensive FS in 1969 and included Albanian relays. Of course, we don't know whether all of this information was completely correct or not, but must have been what O.Lund-Johansen & Jens Frost received. The very OOB freq which you mention - Kai - was not amongst those listed in 1969 so obviously came into use at a later date. There was at least one other in the 14 MHz range (Noel R. Green- UK, BC-DX Mar 9) I tried Albania 1215 today during the 1800-1900 period, and indeed Romanian was heard in the background of VOR and BBC. As usual the Albanian carrier was much below the nominal frequency. The buzz went off just after 1900, and a little more than one min later 1395 came on. After several mins of open carrier 1395 went off. The freq of 1395 was also much below nominal (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Mar 7) China Radio International via MW transmitters in Fllake 3 x 500 kW: 1214.8# 1600-1700 in Albanian, 1700-1800 in Esperanto, 1800-1900 in Romanian. 1394.8 0700-0900 in English --- no signal here in BUL 1458.0* 1700-1800 in Bulgarian, 1800-1900 in Italian, 2000-2100 in Hungarian, 2130-2230 in Polish, 2230-2330 in Czech. #co-ch Voice of Russia in German on nominal 1215.0. *co-ch Radio Romania Programma Satelor in Romanian (R BUL Observer, Ivo Ivanov and Angel Datzinov, via BC-DX Mar 12) CRI Serbian is on 1215 2200-2230 and probably onwards to 2300. I cannot find a schedule on the CRI Serbian website (Olle Alm-SWE, BC-DX Mar 10) 2000-2027 Serbian 9365B1 7180U2 2030-2057 Serbian 1548 (Moldova) 2100-2127 Serbian 7160U2 7110JI Today's Albanian observations: 1458: Before 2000 VOA Albanian. I got the impression that the transmitter then went off and after a short break returned with a stronger carrier. CRI Hungarian started at about 1 min 10 sec after the hour with the normal opening music (usually appearing at xx.00). 1395 went off at exactly 2200 and reappeared on 1215 at about 1 min 10 sec later. I could not confirm exactly when the CRI programme started. Virgin and the Russian were much stronger. The Serbian programme on 1215 ended at 2300 sharp and the tx left a second later (Olle Alm-SWE, BC-DX Mar 11) I have been tuning both 1215 and 1458 but have not positively been able to ID Albania's relays of CRI. The co-channel UK signals have been too strong, but I can hear other txions in the background (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Mar 13) TWR Europe in A-04: Cf.BC-DX 660 ALB - freq usage is 1810 (Sa Su 1825) - 2100 on 1395 kHz Fllake, ALB. In En 0715 (Sa Su 0645) - 0820 (Sa 0750) on 9870, 11865; 2215-2230 Sa Su and 2230-2245 Sun on 1467 F; 1610-1625 on 5855, 864 ARM; German: 0830-0845 (Su 0915); 1330 (Su 1300)-1400 on 6230[MCO], 7160; 0345-0415 and 1930-2030 (Sa Su 2000) on 1467 F. DX program in Russian on last Thursday (starting April 29) at 1400 0n 9725, 11615 and at 1945 on 999 Maiac-MDA (TWR via Rumen Pankov-BUL, BC-DX Mar 10 --- all BC-DX via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [non]. I looked into the various TDP sources, so my conclusion is this TENTATIVE schedule: 73 wb TDP RADIO. A04 planned schedule for TDP's own programming, and those brokered for other organisations, is: #3985 2000-2100 (DRM) Julich, Germany, English, TDP (Sat only) #5905 2000-2100 (DRM) Julich, Germany, English, TDP (Sat only) *6015 1400-1500 (DRM) Julich, Germany, English, TDP (Sat only) $6035 2100-2200 Samara Russia, Chinese, World Falun Dafa Radio, Fang Guang Ming Radio *7380 2000-2100 (DRM) Julich, Germany, English, TDP (Sat only) $7520 1830-1930 Samara Russia, Amharic, V. Of Ethiopian Salvation $7560 1700-1800 Samara Russia, Kurdish, Mezopotamian Radio, (Tue/Wed/Fri only) $7560 1700-1800 Samara Russia, Oromo, Voice of Oromiya (Mon only), see 12120 in A04 $7560 1700-1800 Samara Russia, Tigrigna, Dejen Radio (Sat only) $7560 1700-1800 Samara Russia, Persian, Voice of Komala, "Aira Dengi Komalah Radio" (Sun only) $7560 1730-1800 Samara Russia, Oromo, Raadiyoo Sagalee Quabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo Radio Voice of Oromo Liberation Front Program (Mon/Thur only), see 12120 in A04 #7560 2000-2100 Armavir Russia, English, TDP (Sat only) *7590 2000-2100 Armavir Russia, English, TDP (Sat only) *9815 (coordinated, move from 9850) 1000-1100 (DRM) Flevo, Netherlands, English, TDP (Sat only) *9930 1230-1300 KWHR USA, Vietnamese, Radio Free Vietnam (except Sat/Sun) *9930 1330-1400 KWHR USA, Vietnamese, Que Hong Radio (except Sun) *11530 0400-1600 Maiac Grigoriopol, Moldova, Kurdish, Voice of Mezopotamya *12120 1700-1730 Samara Russia, Oromo, Raadiyoo Sagalee Quabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo Voice of Oromo Liberation Radio Program (Mon/Thu only) http://www.oromoliberationfront.org/sbo.html http://www.oromia.org/rsqbo/rsqbo.htm *12120 1730-1800 Samara Russia, Oromo, Voice of Oromiya (Mon only) http://www.voiceoforomiyaa.com *12120 1700-1800 Samara Russia, Tigrigna, Dejen Radio (Sat only) *12120 1830-1930 Samara Russia, Amharic, Voice of Ethiopian Salvation Medhin (Sun only) *15660 1400-1500 Vladivostok, Khmere, Voice of Khmere-Kampuchea Krom (Tue only) *15675 0400-0500 Samara Russia, Tigrigna, Voice of Liberty, Eritrea. * on TDP website. # only reserve registrations. $ ceased TDP transmission service. (various sources; updated by TDP website, thanks to a tip of Bernd Trutenau-LTU, March 15 – Wolfang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. RÁDIO GUARUJÁ PAULISTA FAZENDO TESTES EM 5930 kHz - A Guarujá Paulista, Guarujá-SP, está reformulando seu parque de transmissores e está em fase de instalação, testes e homologação junto a Anatel de uma nova frequencia : 5.930 kHz. Testes em carater experimental são necessários para homologação, poderemos monitorar a qualidade do sinal e o seu alcance geográfico através de informes a emissora. Durante o jogo do Santos F.C. na última quinta-feira, pela Libertadores da América, foram feitos alguns testes, e o sinal chegou muito forte em alguns estados como Minas Gerais, Rio e Paraná. Por isso recomendo uma corujada nesta freqüência. Lembrando que na Rádio Guarujá Paulista temos o programa Nas Ondas Curtas da Guarujá. A filosofia do programa que tem a chancela DXCB é também integrar tudo que é de bom para a divulgação de nosso hobby ! Aos Sábados entre 2130 e 2200 Hora de Brasília (0030-0100 UT). Vale conferir também a futura ampliação da cobertura do sinal! (Sarmento F. Campos, Rio de Janeiro, @tividade DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DXLD) Atenção para o recado do Sarmento Campos, do Rio de Janeiro (RJ): a Rádio Guarujá Paulista, de Guarujá (SP), está reformulando seu parque transmissor e inicia fase de instalação, testes e homologação de nova freqüência: 5930 kHz, em 49 metros. Recomendamos uma corujada nesta freqüência! E não esqueça que a Guarujá Paulista, em parceria com o DX Clube do Brasil, leva ao ar, nos domingos universais, às 0030, o programa Nas Ondas Curtas da Guarujá Paulista, com tudo o que há de novidade no mundo do dexismo brasileiro e mundial! Freqüências? 3235 e 5045 kHz, por enquanto! BRASIL - A Rádio A Crítica, de Manaus (AM), teve que mudar o horário de funcionamento da sua estação de ondas tropicais, em 5055 kHz, tendo em vista problemas com um dos transmissores. Estão utilizando um de menor potência (1 KW), entre 1000 e 1200 e 2100 e 0100. A informação é do técnico Feitosa, responsável pelos transmissores da emissora. Com isto, está sendo possível sintonizar, em Tefé (AM), a Difusora, de Cáceres (MT), que transmite na mesma freqüência. Chega com um sinal regular. Recentemente, Paulo Roberto e Souza acompanhou a emissora entre 0930 e 0956, transmitindo um programa religioso de uma igreja evangélica de São Paulo. BRASIL - Ao que tudo indica, o sinal da Rádio Gazeta, de São Paulo (SP), voltou a ser irradiado pela freqüência de 5955 kHz. Retransmite a programação da Rádio Canção Nova, de Cachoeira Paulista (SP). (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. [2380?], R. Educadora, Limeira 2305 Feb 7. Programa religioso "Cristo para todas as nações", por dos pastores, mencionando Nr. tel.: 344 37 10. Este programa va hasta las 0100. QRK 5. 2420, R. São Carlos, sólo una débil portadora a las 2300 en Feb 8. Mejor escuchada a las 2309 en Feb 9 con charlas por hombre. También 0114 Feb 18 con promos por locutor sobre tabaquismo, anuncio horario, algún QSB, QRK 2/1. 2460, R. Alvorada, Rio Branco y 2470 Radio Cacique, Sorocaba no fueron escuchadas durante todo el período de escucha de mis vacaciones (23 dias). Están activas? (armónico) 2660h, R. Upacaraí, Dom Pedrito, 2333 Feb 8, U.S. pop music, ID a las 2330, pero sólo pude escuchar "Dom Pedrito". Siguieron baladas brasileras. Mucho QRN, algún QSB pero buena señal con picos 3/4 (Horacio Nigro, QTH "Barra de Valizas", Dept. de Rocha, Uruguay (300 km E de Montevideo, Uruguay, RX: Grundig Yacht Boy 400, ANT: longwire 100 m sin terminar en resistencia a tierra, hacia Europa/Medio Oriente, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. China Radio International via Brasília, 9668.21, March 13 0320-0356* Spanish talk, lite instrumental music, ID. Strong. Slightly off nominal 9665. \\ 9560 via Sackville. [Exactly same frequency back on an hour+ later:] 9668.21, R. Nacional do Brasil, March 13 *0501-0520+, sign-on with lite instrumental music, ID. Portuguese sign-on announcements, talk, local ballads. Strong (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. Summer A-04 schedule of RADIO BULGARIA from March 28 to October 31, 2004 MW: Petritch (G.C: 41N42/023E18): 747 kHz 500 kW / non-dir Vidin (G.C: 43N49/022E40): 1224 kHz 500 kW / 205 deg SW: P=Plovdiv (G.C: 42N10/024E42): 2 x 500 kW, 3 x 250 kW S=Sofia (G.C: 42N49/023E13): 2 x 100 kW, 2 x 050 kW V=Varna (G.C: 43N03/027E40): 2 x 100 kW ALBANIAN 0530-0600 Mon-Fri Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 0600-0700 Sat/Sun Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 1100-1130 -daily- Balkans 7200 P250/248 1600-1630 -daily- Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 1900-2000 -daily- Balkans 5900 P250/248, 1224, 747 BULGARIAN 0000-0100 -daily- South America 9500 P250/245, 11500 P250/258 0000-0100 -daily- North America 9700 P500/306, 11700 P500/306 0430-0500 Mon-Fri Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 0430-0500 Mon-Fri East Europe 7500 S100/030, 9400 S100/030 0430-0500 Mon-Fri West Europe 9500 P500/306, 11500 P500/306 0400-0500 Sat/Sun Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 0400-0500 Sat/Sun East Europe 7500 S100/030, 9400 S100/030 0400-0500 Sat/Sun West Europe 9500 P500/306, 11500 P500/306 1000-1030 -daily- Balkans 7200 P250/248 1000-1030 -daily- East Europe 11600 S100/030, 13600 S100/030 1000-1030 -daily- West Europe 11700 P500/306, 15700 P500/306 1200-1400 -daily- Balkans 1224 1200-1400 -daily- West Europe 11700 P500/306, 15700 P500/306 1500-1600 -daily- Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 1500-1600 -daily- East Europe 7500 S100/030, 9400 S100/030 1500-1600 -daily- Middle East 15700 P500/126 1500-1600 -daily- South Africa 17500 P500/185 1800-1900 -daily- Balkans 5900 P250/248, 1224, 747 1800-2000 -daily- West Europe 7200 P250/306 1800-2000 -daily- Middle East 7400 P250/140 ENGLISH 0200-0300 -daily- North America 9700 P500/306, 11700 P500/306 0630-0700 -daily- West Europe 11600 P500/306, 13600 P500/306 1130-1200 -daily- West Europe 11700 P500/306, 15700 P500/306 1730-1800 -daily- West Europe 9500 P500/306, 11500 P500/306 2100-2200 -daily- West Europe 5800 P500/295, 7500 P500/306 2300-2400 -daily- North America 9700 P500/306, 11700 P500/306 FRENCH 0100-0200 -daily- North America 9700 P500/306, 11700 P500/306 0600-0630 -daily- West Europe 11600 P500/306, 13600 P500/306 1100-1130 -daily- West Europe 11700 P500/306, 15700 P500/306 1700-1730 -daily- West Europe 9500 P500/306, 11500 P500/306 2000-2100 -daily- West Europe 5800 P500/295, 7500 P500/306 GERMAN 0500-0530 -daily- West Europe 9500 P500/306, 11500 P500/306 1030-1100 -daily- West Europe 11700 P500/306, 15700 P500/306 1630-1700 -daily- West Europe 9500 P500/306, 11500 P500/306 1900-2000 -daily- West Europe 5800 P500/295, 7500 P500/306 GREEK 0500-0530 Mon-Fri Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 0500-0600 Sat/Sin Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 1030-1100 -daily- Balkans 7200 P250/248 1630-1700 -daily- Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224, 747 2000-2100 -daily- Balkans 5900 P250/248, 1224, 747 RUSSIAN 0300-0400 -daily- East Europe 7500 S100/030, 9400 S100/030 1224 0500-0530 -daily- East Europe 7500 S100/030, 9400 S100/030 1030-1100 -daily- East Europe 11600 S100/030, 13600 S100/030 1400-1500 -daily- East Europe 7500 S100/030, 9400 S100/030 1224 1400-1500 -daily- Central Asia 13600 P250/045 1600-1630 -daily- East Europe 7500 S100/030, 9400 S100/030 1800-1900 -daily- East Europe 7500 S100/030, 9400 S100/030 2300-2400 -daily- Central Asia 13600 P250/045 SERBIAN 0600-0630 Mon-Fri Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 0700-0800 Sat/Sun Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224 1130-1200 -daily- Balkans 7200 P250/248 1700-1730 -daily- Balkans 7200 P250/248, 1224, 747 2100-2200 -daily- Balkans 5900 P250/248, 1224, 747 SPANISH 0100-0200 -daily- South America 9500 P250/245, 11500 P250/258 0100-0200 -daily- Central America 9400 P250/295 0600-0630 -daily- South Europe 13700 P250/292, 15700 P250/260 1100-1130 -daily- South Europe 13600 P250/292, 15600 P250/260 1630-1700 -daily- South Europe 15700 P250/260, 17500 P250/292 2100-2200 -daily- South Europe 11800 P250/292, 13800 P250/260 2300-2400 -daily- South America 9500 P250/245, 11500 P250/258 TURKISH 0500-0530 -daily- Middle East 6000 P250/115, 7400 P250/140 1000-1030 -daily- Middle East 7400 P250/140, 9400 P250/115 1730-1800 -daily- Middle East 7400 P250/140, 1224, 747 Radio Varna with programm "Hello Sea"/"Zdravei more" in Bulgarian will be on air 2100 Sun - 0300 Mon on 7400 V100/nd (Observer, Bulgaria, March 19 via DXLD) ** CHINA. Some frequency changes for China Radio International: 0500-0700 English NF 1215v ex 1395v via Flakke, Albania 1900-1957 Portuguese ADD 7335, co-ch VOIROI in Hausa till 1927 2000-2057 Mandarin ADD 7335 2000-2157 English NF 9855, co-ch R Kuwait in Ar, ex 9840 to avoid VOT in Tu 2200-2300 Serbian on 1215v new, addit via Flakke, Albania (Observer, Bulgaria, March 19 via DXLD) See also ALBANIA A tip from a DSWCI member pointed me to another freq - CRI using 17860 in \\ 15210 & 17690. This one is peaking 15dB over 9 so seems to be coming our way. Urumqi / Kashgar? Could it be a special programme - they are featuring the closing of the National People's Congress. I have done a quick scan of 13, 15 & 21 MHZ but don't find any others. (later) I noted that CRI 17860 had gone off air at 1100. I missed close down as I was busy with something else. It will be interesting to check tomorrow to see if this is a new broadcast or just one for today. (later) Just a brief mail - I found a station speaking English mixing with RKI Seoul on 15210 at 0745. I could not copy any ID "thro" the hour, but signal strength has now improved and it is either CRI or CNR English and is \\ 17690. I can only now understand something of what the programme is about, and it is a Question & Answer session with a professor, and they just gave a 'phone number "for listeners in China". Could it be the same programme as via ALB 1395? I cannot hear that. Note of course that 15210 & 17690 carry English to the PAC from 0900. An extension of this? I did'nt hear this Saturday when checking 15210. (later) I didn`t hear 17590 or the spur on 17320 but, as you say, it appears both were from the same site. Was the transmission taken from the Beijing English service - you say CPBS-1 - or audio from that station with "overlaid" comments in English? There is no transmission today, so it must have been a one off for the closing of the Congress. I could hear NHK YAM on 17860 - their Japanese sce at 240deg. And there is a good signal on 15210 at 0920 well over RKI but a weaker signal with echo on 17690 (Noel R. Green-UK, BC-DX Mar 13/14/15) The \\ transmission (press conference) with CNR ended at 1054 and then the four hour long special broadcast ended at 1059. 17860 and 17590 went off 30 seconds before 1100. A \\ spurious signal was heard on 17320, confirming that the two freqs were co-sited. 15210 and 17690 seem to have gone off at the usual xx.57 time. (later) 17590 is another extra outlet from the same site as 17860. Right now (1040 UT) the programme is in \\ with CNR (CPBS-1). 17860 well heard here too. The sharp audio points to Kashi. ... Must be a special as Noel suggests. (later) When CNR was in \\ with CRI English it was a full relay with the English translations on both programmes (Olle Alm-SWE, BC-DX Mar 14/15) Heard CRI English on 17860 0837 to 0900+ About National Peoples Republic of Chinas Congress. SIO 444. Also\\with 15210 and 17690. (Ray Browell-UK, hcdx Mar 15, all via BC-DX March 16 via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Unchanged CRI via Sitkunai 1557 --- LITHUANIA --- Contrary to recent speculations, there are no changes in the relay schedule of China Radio International via Sitkunai 1557 kHz 150 kW: 1800-2000 Russian 2000-2030 Polish 2030-2100 English 2100-2200 Chinese This is a 4h transmission block that is prepared by CRI exclusively for the Sitkunai relay station (by separate satellite feed). At the end of each language segment there is a special announcement for the next programme on 1557 kHz. The relay is provided by Radio Baltic Waves International (RBWI). (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, MW_DX via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 2979.99, HJAG Radio Garzón (2 x 1490), Mar 13, 1005-1039, Religious talk and hymn, 1014 canned ID over anthem "...Radio Garzón..." followed by vocal, 1018 announcer with talk and ID in passing "...Radio Garzón...la hora en Colombia..." into campo vocals, more ID's, fading with local sunrise. Also Mar 14, 1010 with campo ballad and announcer with ID. Very surprised to find this one here as this is also the 2nd harmonic of our local 1 kW broadcaster WIKE which is only about 5 miles north of here in Newport, and has until this DX season traditionally held forth on this frequency (Mark Mohrmann, Coventry VT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Steve Waldee has apparently taken down his SWLing webpages. Altho the audio files can`t be reached, you may still want to take a look at ``The Mysterious Erratic Squealing Cuban Transmissions`` which we found in a Google cache at: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:_Wa7IxlfYLcJ:home.earthlink.net/~srw-swling/RHC/+%22SRW+swling%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 Steve, if you`re reading this, please let us hear from you and stay in contact? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. A04 HCJB tentative schedule kHz UTC CIRAF ZONES SITE kW DEG LANG Relay info 3220 0000 0300 12 QUI 10 0 Que 3220 0830 1200 12 QUI 10 0 Que 5925 1700 1800 27,28 WER 125 0 D HCJ DTK [German] 6010 0930 1030 12,14-16 QUI 100 155 Ger 6015 1700 1800 27,28 WER 125 0 D HCJ DTK [German] 6050 1030 1100 12 QUI 25 172 6050 1030 1100 11,12 QUI 25 18 6050 1100 1500 11,12 QUI 25 18 Spa 6050 1100 1500 12 QUI 25 172 Spa 6050 1900 0500 11,12 QUI 25 18 Spa 6050 1900 0500 12 QUI 25 172 Spa 6080 0830 1400 12 QUI 10 0 Que 6080 2100 0300 12 QUI 10 0 Que 6125 0830 1000 12,14-16 QUI 100 155 Que 9745 0100 0500 6-8,10,11 QUI 100 325 Spa 9745 0800 0930 12,13 QUI 100 100 Por 9745 2130 2400 12,14-16 QUI 100 155 Que 9780 0500 0600 27-28,37N QUI 100 42 Ger 11710 2300 0100 12-16 QUI 50 160 Spa 11710 2300 0100 6-8,10,11 QUI 50 330 Spa 11760 1600 1700 19,29 RMP 500 62 EQA HCJ MER [Russianon] 11865 0330 0430 27-29,37N QUI 250 34 Rus 11890 2230 2300 6-8,10,11 QUI 50 330 Ger 11890 2230 2300 12-16 QUI 50 150 Ger 11890 2300 2400 12-16 QUI 100 131 Ger 11920 2300 0230 12-15 QUI 100 126 Por 11960 1100 1300 7,8,10,11 QUI 100 355 Spa 11960 2300 0100 6-8,10,11 QUI 50 330 Spa 11960 2300 0100 12-16 QUI 50 160 Spa 11980 2230 2300 6-8,10,11 QUI 50 330 Ger 11980 2230 2300 12-16 QUI 50 150 Ger 11980 2300 2400 12-16 QUI 100 131 Ger ============================================= 12005 1100 1330 12-15 QUI 50 128 Eng 12005 1100 1330 3,4,7,8,10,11 QUI 50 352 Eng ============================================= 12020 0000 0230 12-15 QUI 100 100 Por 12025 2100 2230 37E,38 SKN 250 165 EQA HCJ MER [Arabic] 15115 1300 1500 6,7,10,11 QUI 100 323 Spa 15140 1100 1500 12-16 QUI 100 150 Spa 15140 2100 2300 12-16 QUI 100 150 Spa 15140 2300 0100 6-8,10,11 QUI 50 330 Spa 15140 2300 0100 12-16 QUI 50 160 Spa 15295 1530 1800 12-15 QUI 100 139 Por 21455 0800 1500 11 QUI 1 35 21455 0800 1500 12 QUI 1 225 21455 2000 0600 11 QUI 1 35 21455 2000 0600 12 QUI 1 225 Der suedamerikanische Kultur- und Missionssender Radio HCJB Quito (Casilla 17-17-691, Quito, Ecuador, http://www.andenstimme.org hat folgenden Sendeplan im Sommer 2004. fuer Europa 0330-0400 97,2 MHz in Berlin 0500-0600 9780 kHz (100 kW Pifo, Ecuador) 21455-USB (1 kW) Deutsch, 0530 Plattdeutsch [low German] 1700-1800 6015 kHz (125 kW Wertachtal Germany) Plattdeutsch[lower German], 1730 Deutsch fuer Lateinamerika 0930-1030 6010 kHz 21455-USB (1 kW) Deutsch, 1000 Plattdeutsch [low German] 2230-2400 11980 kHz Plattdeutsch [low German], 2300 Deutsch Nach dem Sendeende von Radio HCJB Quito fuer Zielgebiete ausserhalb Lateinamerikas am 31. Mai 2003 bekam das deutsche Europa-Programm eine Schonfrist bis September 2004 fortgesetzt. Im Sendeplan ist jetzt aber die Zeit bis 30. Oktober angegeben (Volker Willschrey, Dr. Hansjoerg Biener; ntt Mar 13, English via WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DXLD) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo does it again. I thought their new A-04 frequency for English to North America at 0200-0330 looked iffy, and now I see that 11855 will again be in heavy use by WYFR, including the sesquihour Cairo will be on. When will they ever learn? Were they at HFCC Dubai, and if so, did they sleep through it? From WYFR schedule previously published here: 11855 0800-1200 160 100 11855 2000-0500 222 100 Yes, WYFR aiming at CAm, but hardly weakened enough in NAm to let Cairo thru except possibly in FL, GA, skip zone (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. SOUTH AFRICA: Summer A-04 schedule for EDC "Al- Mustaqbal"/"Future" in Somali: 0630-0700 Mon/Tue/Thu on 15370 MEY 250 kW / 210 deg 1200-1230 Mon/Tue/Thu on 15370 MEY 250 kW / 032 deg (Observer, Bulgaria, March 19 via DXLD) Meyerton at 210 degrees does not compute; probably still DHA, UAE site for the 0630 broadcast as in B-03 season; or both would be at 032 deg from RSA (gh) ** FALKLAND ISLANDS. o MALVINAS, 530, FIBS 0107 Feb 16, relay del Servicio Mundial de la BBC en inglés. Escuchada la mayoría de las noches (Horacio Nigro, QTH "Barra de Valizas", Dept. de Rocha, Uruguay, 300 km E de Montevideo, Uruguay, RX: Grundig Yacht Boy 400, ANT: longwire 100 m sin terminar en resistencia a tierra, hacia Europa/Medio Oriente, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Åland 603 project background --- Roy Sandgren has bought the 1539 kHz Arutz Sheva transmitter that is 25 kW, but of course he can run it 2.5 kW. I do not believe too much that he will be on the air for a longer time as financing is a big problem. I have personal contact with him and I have known him for more than 25 years since we both entered Radio Syd in Öresund! (Bengt Ericson, MWDX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Hello Mr. Hauser: Received a lengthy questionnaire from Deutsche Welle last week, asking about how often I listen, what programs, how I listen (satellite, internet, shortwave), etc. That's about all I can figure out, as the whole multi-page document is in GERMAN! Best Regards, (Ben Loveless, WB9FJO, ex-WPE9JLQ, Michigan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Naturlich! Kein mehr Englisch für Nord-Amerika, dazu alle hörer und hörerinnen müssen Deutsch sprechen (gh, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4698.09, R. Amistad (presumed), 0906-0922, March 16, Spanish, Pop like music and talks noted, very weak but steady signal under mild QRN, No chance for an ID (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4698.7, R Amistad (presumed), 1008, Mar 19. Good carrier strength, but very weak modulation. What audio I could hear was muffled and somewhat distorted. Reception steadliy improved until carrier was close to full quieting around 1050. Still unable to catch station ID, but did hear Latin American pop mx punctuated with what might have been canned IDs. Live announcer occasionally was on with bassy mic (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. Re 4-049, R. Pedar, 9740: 9740 may be used by IBB in A04. So should be changed from March 28 to tentative 17660? (wb) Contact Information: Address: 6203 B. Variel Avenue, Woodland Hills, CA 91367, USA. Website: http://www.channelonetv.com Email: info @ channelonetv.com feedback @ channelonetv.com (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DX LISTENING DIGEST) U.K.: New Radio Pedar/Father Radio/ in Persian with very good reception in Bulgaria: 1830-1930 Mon-Fri on 9740 WOF 300 kW / 128 deg 1730-1830 Mon-Fri on 17660 WOF 300 kW / 128 deg for Summer A-04 period (Observer, Bulgaria, March 19 via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]: Freq change for Voice of Iran in Persian from March 7: 1630-1830 NF 11520 (55555), ex 7580 (Observer, Bulgaria, March 19 via DXLD) ** ITALY. During a short break on the parking deck outside Stuttgart suburbs, I heard on my car radio with HIRSCHMANN antenna built in amplifier on 1584 strong Italian station. Radio Studio X with some 10 kW, and Herman Boel mentions an intention to upgrade to 50 kW. Er, actually this is a graveyard channel for stations of not less than 1 kW, but who cares? (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX March 16 via WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DXLD) WORLD OF RADIO affiliate ** ITALY. RAI International A04 Albanese 1335-1355 7190 9610 Amarico 0435-0455 11900 Arabo 0600-0620 11900 1330-1345 567 1330-1355 11800 1430-1455 11905 1630-1655 9645 11665 2025-2045 6130 7295 2135-2155 6130 7295 Bulgaro 1540 1600 9690 11775 Ceco 1810 1825 6130 7115 2135 2155 5970 7255 Croato 1435 1455 7190 9690 Danese 2000-2020 6110 9745 (MAR-GIO-DOM) Esperanto 2000 2020 6110 9745 (SAB) Francese 0115-0130 9675 11800 1530-1555 11885 1630-1655 9670 11815 Greco 1520 1540 9690 11775 ================================ Inglese 0055-0115 9675 11800 [NAm] 0445-0500 6110 7235 9875 1935-1955 5970 9605 2025-2045 6185 9670 11880 2205-2230 11895 [via WORLD OF RADIO 1224] ============================= Italiano 0130-0230 6110 11765 0130-0315 9675 9840 11800 12030 0435-0445 6110 7235 9875 0455-0530 11900 0630-1300 7180 9670 1000-1100 11920 1245 1630 9670 11775 17780 21535 21710 (DOM / Calcio) 1400-1425 17780 21520 1500-1525 9670 11795 11925 (DA LUN A SAB) 1555-1625 9670 11885 (DA LUN A SAB) 1700-1800 9670 9730 11670 11725 15320 17800 1830-1905 17780 21520 2200-0400 900 1332 6060 2240-0055 9675 11800 9840 12030 Lituano 0505-0525 9670 11795 Polacco 1840-1900 6130 7115 2210-2225 5970 7255 Portoghese 0115-0130 9840 12030 2050 2110 6130 7295 9670 11880 15240 Rumeno 0530-0550 9670 11795 2115-2135 5970 7255 Russo 0345-0405 7235 9670 11795 0600-0620 9670 11800 1605-1625 9845 11815 2000-2020 6185 9670 11800 Serbo 1910-1930 6130 7240 Slovacco 1825-1840 6130 7115 2155-2210 5970 7255 Sloveno 1400-1415 7190 9690 Somalo 0530-0550 11900 1910-1930 9605 11890 Spagnolo 0055-0115 9840 12030 0315-0335 9675 9840 11800 12030 2110-2130 6130 7295 Svedese 2000-2020 6110 9745 (LUN-MER-VEN) Tedesco 1805-1825 5990 9605 1415-1435 7190 9690 Turco 1500-1520 9690 11775 Ucraino 0405-0425 7230 9670 11795 Ungherese 1935-1955 6130 7240 tnx A. Borgnino via Roberto Scaglione, http://www.bclnews.it http://www.corad.net (BCLnews.it yahoogroup Mar 15 via WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DXLD) ** KAZAKHSTAN. A04 relay info was filed previously under RUSSIA A-A-KAZ, 2x500, 2x200, 1x100 kW --- These are in fact two different sites: 500 kW Karaturuk, 100/200 kW should be Dmitriyevka (north of A- A). (Kai Ludwig-D and Olle-Alm-SWE, BC-DX Mar 13 via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. U.K.: Summer A-04 freqs of Radio Korea International via Merlin Comm.: 2000-2100 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg in German 2100-2130 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg in English 1600-1700 on 7150 SKN 250 kW / 175 deg in French 0700-0800 on 9535 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg in Korean 1800-1900 on 15360 RMP 500 kW / 062 deg in Russian 1900-2000 on 15365 RMP 500 kW / 168 deg in Arabic (Observer, Bulgaria, March 19 via DXLD) ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio, fair 13 Mar 1137-1215 fade with Laotian dramas, 7 pips 1200, followed by ID and 5-minutes newscast. Drama 1205 past 1215 (Steve Kamp, Sacramento CA USA; Drake R8 and AOR WL-500 window antenna, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Para agendarse.... Este domingo 21 de marzo, por los 9290 khz, via Latvia estará en el aire a partir de las 1400 UT y por espacio de dos horas una transmisión especial de la EUROPEAN MUSIC RADIO. 73's (Arnaldo Slaen, March 15, Conexión Digital via DXLD) THIS SUNDAY THE 21st OF MARCH ON 9290 KHZ AT 1400 UTC IS THE EUROPEAN MUSIC RADIO BIRTHDAY PROGRAMME FOR 2 HOURS. GOOD LISTENING AND HAVE FUN 73s (TOM & STAFF, hard-core-dx via WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DXLD) ** LIBERIA. ELWA, 4759.98, March 12 2225-2231* --- tune-in to English religious music. 2229 closing English announcements, 2230 NA. Weak signal with poor, muddy audio. Also March 13 *0555-0605+, celeste IS, 0558 NA, 0559 English but modulation so low as to be unreadable (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. O sinal da Voz da Mongólia, na emissão em inglês, às 1030, em 12085 kHz, é excelente no Sudeste do Brasil. A constatação é do Anderson Assis de Oliveira, de Itaúna (MG). (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD) ** MOROCCO. 9575, R. Medi Un, 2104-2150, March 16, English/French, Diverse music program from power ballads by the Scorpions and Metallica to pop music by Alanis Morrisette and Oasis. OM in French between selections with talks and the occasional "Ici Médi Un, Radio Méditerranée Internationale" ID. Fair at best, needed LSB after 2125 due to signal loss and increasing QRM (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. SUEÑOS --- Dos noches tuve dos "ensueños" conectados con el tema radio. El primero: "soñé con una valija llena de tarjetas y papeles viejos amarillentos, y al comenzar a sacar su contenido, me encontré con una tarjeta postal que tenía las letras BBC y unos cuadrados en color rojo y verde." Otra noche, soñé que visitaba el edificio de Radio Nederland en Hilversum, y vi a la ex-productora Diana Janssen (que co-conducía el programa DX "Media Network" con Jonathan Marks. Ella escuchó mi saludo efusivo en inglés (nunca hablé mejor inglés! :), y con sus brazos hacia gestos desde su corazón, en signo de agradecimiento o reconocimiento, pero al mismo tiempo tuve una contradictoria sensación de que me decía: "Si está bien, tomátelas....!! :))) (Horacio Nigro, QTH "Barra de Valizas", Dept. de Rocha, Uruguay, 300 km E de Montevideo, Uruguay, RX: Grundig Yacht Boy 400, ANT: longwire 100 m sin terminar en resistencia a tierra, hacia Europa/Medio Oriente, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI - SHORT WAVES AND LONG MEMORIES Here's the trailer used on RNZ National Radio to promote the Spectrum documentary on the early days of RNZ's shortwave service, and the RNZI broadcast schedule for the special program: Radio New Zealand Short Waves and Long Memories. At one minute past seven on the evening of 27 September 1948, a recording of God Defend New Zealand beamed out on a new station. New Zealand's first short wave service was launched --- Radio New Zealand. Ulric Williams, its Manager, along with technical and other staff from those years, recently attended a reunion to recapture those heady days. Post war expansion saw the birth of the National Orchestra, a flood of new domestic stations as well as short wave penetration of Australasia and the Pacific. RNZ seized the opportunity in 1950 to put us on the map by broadcasting to the world from the Auckland Empire Games. Technical innovation marked the development of the fledgling service: RNZ designed battery receivers protected by army surplus saucepans were distributed throughout the Pacific and the voice of New Zealand began to play an important role in village life. Produced for Spectrum by Jack Perkins Plays National Radio Sunday 21 March at 1230 PM Plays RNZI Sunday 0030 UT, Monday 22 March 0830, 1130, 1330, 1530 UT Tue 23 March 0330 UT (Adrian Sainsbury, Technical Manager, Radio New Zealand International P O Box 123, Wellington, Web: http://www.rnzi.com via David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation, PO Box 14339, Wellington, New Zealand, WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 3326, R. Nigeria, Lagos, 2252-2306*, March 16, English, Continuous jazz-like organ music, OM at 2300 with ID, "This is the National Service of Radio Nigeria". News brief until 2303, talks over choral music, NA at s/off. Poor, noisy (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PARAGUAY. R. Nacional del Paraguay, 9736.85, March 12 2218-0256* March 13. Irregular; not hard every night. Tune-in to fútbol match with very excited announcer with the usual exaggerated G---O---A---L! R. Nacional jingles, sound FX, short music breaks. LA music after 0102 with many IDs after 0100. Sign-off with NA. Good, strong (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9736.85 --- Radio Nacional del Paraguay continues with its bad audio. For me, this is an old problem with them. It seems they have an unfiltered stage at the modulator that gives the signal a poor quality sound. I always thought that this distorted audio was unoticeable on long distance reception, but according to Arnaldo, this has reverted. Not for me. Powerful as ever though, when I got them last night with sport comments (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, DXplorer Mar 10) Rubén Guillermo Margenet, from Rosario, Argentina, heard at same frecuency to Radio Nacional Paraguay with strong signal and good audio with sports (football). (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, DXplorer Mar 9) Paraguay 9736.88 --- After Paraguay refurbished their installations and re-appearing on 31 mb some 1-2 weeks ago, I checked few times this channel here in Southern Germany, but negative so far, and heard DW Wertachtal 500 kW on 9735 only. Tried 9735/9737 many times in past week, but no trace here in Germany. But today March 16, PRG did fade in at about 2100 UT on 9736.88 kHz and could separate both signals, when switched to usb mode receiving (Wolfgang Büschel, Mar 16/17) Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2004 Mar 15 120 8 3 2004 Mar 16 120 8 3 (all via BC-DX via DXLD) 9736.8, R. Nacional, 0924-0948, March 16, Spanish, OM with talks re America, Paraguay and Colombia, Nice ID/ad block beginning at 0928 with solid, "Radio Nacional de Paraguay" IDs. Program at 0932 with references to President Luis Castenolie (sp?) and Santo Domingo and a field report. ID with SW frequencies at 0947. Very good signal with mild QRM chatter from 9735 DW and 9740 BBC (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST, WORLD OF RADIO 1224) New website for R. Nacional: http://www.dxworld.net/worldradio/samerica/R.N.Paraguay.htm Está aun en construccion. 73's (Arnaldo Slaen, ConDig Mar 17 via DXLD) Appears to be highly unofficial (gh) ** RUSSIA. VOR: What's New --- AUDIO BOOK CLUB Russian classical literature lovers are invited to a radio festival dedicated to the 100th death anniversary of the Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov. The jubilee is to be marked early in July. And in AUDIO BOOK CLUB you'll hear a wide range of Chekhov's works and will have every opportunity to get an idea of his creative work. The festival will be on for several weeks. Stay with us in AUDIO BOOK CLUB! The program can be heard at 0531 UT on Mondays with repeats throughout the week. Our program schedule can be found at: http://www.vor.ru/ep.html Copyright © 2003 The Voice of Russia (via Maryanne Kehoe, March 16, ODXA via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE Radio Singapore International A04 schedule. English 6080 and 6150 kHz, 1100-1400 UT Chinese 6185 and 6000 kHz, 1100-1400 UT Malay 6120 and 7235 kHz, 1700-2000 UT Bahasa Indonesia 6120 and 7235 kHz, 2000-2200 UT (Jan Nieuwenhuis, Holland, BC-DX Mar 9 via WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DXLD) ** SUDAN. I can confirm that the evening transmission from Radio Peace on 4750 is at 1600-1747. Regards, (Chris Greenway, Nairobi, Kenya, March 17, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** SYRIA. R. Damascus, 13609.99, March 12 2000-2035+, Tentative. Threshold signal with possible English talk. Local mid-east type pop music. Also heard at 2130 tune-in with somewhat stronger signal, but still weak, with local ME type pops, occasional English news items, 2210*. Just could not pull out an ID. Signal had constant adjacent channel splater, plus low modulation and hum in audio. Overall, just a pretty pathetic signal. Listed \\ 12085 not heard. Not even a weak het (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. Re Voice of Han, 9745: Voice of Kuanghua was merged into Voice of Han BC due to budget cut. Both are managed by Department of Defense. The callsign implies as "Han shen guan bo tien tai, Guan hua zhi shen"(Voice of Han, Voice of Kuanghua). Shortwave service was monitored since the beginning of March. Power output unknown. BTW, 801, 846, 711, 981, 1431 are current MW freqs. 1251, 1053 ceased. Most transmission is from Kuanyin, 1431 might be from Hsinfong, Hsinchu County. (at DXing.info http://www.dxing.info/community/viewtopic.php?t=1379 Miller Liu, Taiwan alerted by BDXC-UK, Mar 15 via BC-DX via DXLD) Voice of Han BC 9745 kHz - more More on this new (to shortwave) station from Taiwan on 9745 kHz (from Miller Liu in Taiwan via DXing.info Asia forum). He explains how name differs from that on page 367 of WRTH 2004 and confirms hours are 0655-0105 UT (although this is 1455-0905 local Taiwan time): [sure about this??? -gh] "Voice of Kuanghua was merged into Voice of Han BC due to budget cut. Both are managed by Department of Defense. The callsign implies as "Han shen guan bo tien tai, Guan hua zhi shen" (Voice of Han, Voice of Kuanghua). Shortwave service was monitored since the beginning of March. Power output unknown. BTW, 801, 846, 711, 981, 1431 are current MW freqs. 1251, 1053 ceased. Most transmission is from Kuanyin, 1431 might be from Hsinfong, Hsinchu County." "I refer in UTC times [0655-0105]. And you can watch the pic of antenna at http://www.x- net.idv.tw/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=12&forum=3&post_id=\48#forumpost48 Postal address is 5F, No 3, Hsin-Yi Rd., Sec 1, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, Tel: 886-2-23215053, FAX: 886-2-23930970" (Miller Liu, Taipei, Taiwan via DXing.info: Receiver: AOR AR7030plus, ICOM IC-R8500; Antenna: RF SYSTEM 40ft longwire, 100m random loop) I've heard this station a few times now and checked againgst the website streaming of their Mainland China service. eg 15 Mar at 1230 UT; 16 Mar at 1845-1930 UT. Usually weak to fair signal but clear if you pick a time when 9745 is clear of stronger CRI, R Sawa etc. (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK, Caversham, UK, AOR 7030plus, Wellbrook K9AY WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DXLD) This is most probably the Chinese unID I heard yesterday (March 16, from UT 1920 on), 9745 kHz, only on USB. Lots of splatter from +/- 5 kHz, hardly audible, SIO=112, Chinese talk by a male distinguished, though. At about 1928 CRI put the carrier on and started in Esperanto, covering the VoHan BC totally with a broad bandwidth. I could get no ID from VoHan BC, but I assume this is it (Matti Ponkamo, Naantali, Finland, Drake R4-C, 20m of wire, Naantali, Finland, March 17, dxing.info via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. Interesting that 15 minutes after AFP, and then AP reported the shooting of Taiwan's President, Radio Taipei International on 5950 at 0600 [via WYFR] mentioned absolutely nothing about it -- just more summaries, perhaps canned, of the last hours of campaigning for the election. Although it might be unreasonable to expect the latest news a la VOA or BBC, it is a sad commentary on immediacy from one of the last remaining international broadcasters, regardless of how the signal is getting to us (Dan Robinson, Maryland, March 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. U.K.: Summer A-04 freqs of Radio Taiwan International via Merlin Comm.: 1800-1900 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 175 deg in English 1900-2000 on 6045 SKN 250 kW / 175 deg in French 1900-2000 on 6185 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg in German 2000-2100 on 9635 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg in Spanish 1700-1800 on 13700 WOF 300 kW / 075 deg in Russian (Observer, Bulgaria, March 19 via DXLD) CBS/RTI via Jülich --- The A04 schedule for Radio Taiwan International shows also transmissions via Jülich, for the very first time if I do not miss something: 2000-2100 Spanish for Europe on 5960. I think they also considerably expanded the airtime at Issoudun: 1700-1800 Russian on 11635 (500 kW), 1800-1900 English on 3965 (250 kW), 2200-2300 Mandarin on 3965 (250 kW) and French on 9365 (500 kW to Africa). Skelton usage in A04: 1900-2000 French on 6045 and German on 6185. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi Glenn: You can remove Main Street from the DX program listings. My appearances, if any, will be so infrequent that it's not worth listing. I've been desperately trying to get VOA frequency and schedule information for the last two weeks, but key decisions continue to dangle. Unless there are some last-minute reprieves, the following News Now eliminated as of 28 March: 0000-0200 UT Tue-Sat to the Americas. (Special English remains at 0030-0100 Tue-Sat) 0300-0700 Sat-Sun to Africa 2200-2230 Mon-Fri to Africa 1900-2000 and 2100-2200 to the Pacific region 0600-0700 to Middle East/North Africa/Europe 2100-2200 to Middle East/North Africa/Europe Several frequencies will be dropped during surviving transmissions. I'll send the new schedule as soon as I have it. 73 (Kim Elliott, March 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WILL THERE BE A VOICE OF AMERICA? by John Figliozzi There are reports that the Voice of America in English, already reduced to 19 hours a day, will soon be further cut to 14 hours a day. Other languages are also being cut. In point of fact, the VOA has been undergoing something of a ``death of a thousand cuts`` for almost a decade. This is an incredible development given the international situation today. It is even more incredible given the reputation that the VOA holds internationally for integrity and reliability. Thanks to the Smith-Mundt Act, this is all taking place out of public view. Under the Act, a World War II-era relic, the VOA is statutorily prohibited from having contact with domestic U.S. listeners. So, unlike RCI in Canada, it is nearly impossible for the VOA to have or form a domestic grass-roots constituency to argue for its interests. Alan Heil, a former VOA deputy director, writes in his excellent current book, Voice of America: A History, about the many battles VOA has fought, virtually alone, for formal recognition of its journalistic independence -- a standard one would think the ``home of the free`` would have no problem saluting. As Heil documents, the VOA was often threatened over the years; but it won its Charter in 1976. It has been threatened since, but was able to weather the storm, due in large part to that Charter which afforded it the integrity and stature befitting a great media institution charged with representing the U.S. and U.S principles overseas. This time may be different, however. In the most recent instances, the primary culprits appear to be the Broadcasting Board of Governors itself, a somewhat recent assemblage of commercial broadcasting denizens and political patronage appointees who apparently favor lavishing resources on obscure commercial- sounding propaganda outlets at the expense of this nation`s longtime most identifiable and trusted international public broadcaster. (Could this be because the VOA has a Charter ensuring integrity and protecting it from governmental interference, which these new entities lack?) There are several points of conflict, some of which have existed for a long time, that appear to have come together in the current situation: Conflict Point #1. The VOA journalists who want the VOA to be run on the pure journalistic principles guaranteed by the Charter vs. government officials who want the VOA to reflect and support U.S. foreign policy objectives above all else. The journalists argue that it`s the VOA`s integrity and reputation that best serve U.S. foreign policy interests in the long run. The State Department often argues that the VOA should be required to coordinate its activities with them. The two positions are almost entirely mutually exclusive. Conflict Point #2. VOA and its English speaking, U.S-based management, which is protective of both the hard-won reputation for integrity the VOA holds and the traditionally preeminent position of the VOA within U.S. international broadcasting vs. the ``surrogate`` broadcasters (ie: the Radio Free [fill in the blank]s, Radio Marti, etc.) and their largely expatriate managements and staffs who favor a far less unitary approach (that, frankly, gives them more power). Conflict Point #3. The VOA, protected (or at least legally shielded) from direct government interference in its editorial decisions by its Charter (which has the force of law) vs. the surrogates who have no such protection or shield and can be much more easily manipulated by U.S. government officials to do the government`s bidding. Conflict Point #4. The Broadcasting Board of Governors -- the ``independent`` body which oversees all U.S. government-sponsored international broadcasting--which is populated by a combination of political appointees and U.S. commercial broadcasting types vs. VOA management, made up mostly of international public service broadcasting professionals and journalists. (The conflict between these two mindsets is, I think, a new, key point that has tipped the scales against the VOA.) So, at its base, part of this conflict is an old fashioned turf war and part of it is an ideological one -- and the VOA is losing both -- and badly. The majority within the BBG obviously are coming down on the side of the piecemeal approach and -- to put it bluntly -- the preference for propaganda over integrity. My opinion? Put simply, eliminating the VOA eliminates the strictures of its Charter, something the State Department would like to be rid of. Eliminating the VOA allows more money to go to outsourcing, an ideologically popular approach to the commercial broadcasting interests which dominate the BBG. The VOA feel they`ve got the proven track record, they`ve got the integrity and trust of the audience -- something that didn`t come easily and without a protracted battle -- and they feel they`ve earned the right and the responsibility to represent the U.S. to an overseas audience. They`re in the right on all counts; but they`re still losing the war. Why? Because, at bottom the BBG and its commercial interests represent the kind oframpant short term, ideologically-bound thinking in government and business that has put us all in the unenviable position we`re in now -- be it economically, politically or socially. I think the BBG is playing a profoundly losing hand and destroying a fine, fine institution as it does so. There is no chance whatsoever that Radio Free Asia, Radio Sawa or Radio Marti or any of these will ever achieve the stature of the VOA. And once the VOA is gone -- or so emasculated that it`s no longer a major player -- it can`t be rebuilt. Sadly, they don`t seem to care (John Figliozzi, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** U S A. WTJC will operate 24 hours on 9370 kHz. All programming will be in English except 10:00 PM-10:30 PM Eastern will be Arabic and from 10:30 PM to 11:00 PM Eastern will be Chinese (Jan Nieuwenhuis, Holland, BC-DX Mar 9 via DXLD) 0200-0300 UT in summer. I wonder if they expect to reach China at 0230 UT = 1030 in Beijing? (gh, DXLD) WBOH will operate 24 hours on 5920 kHz. All programming will be in English except 6:05-7:00 AM and 8:00-9:00 PM Eastern will be Spanish. (Jan Nieuwenhuis-HOL, BC-DX Mar 9 via DXLD) 1005-1100, 0000-0100 UT ** U S A. Re DXLD 4-045, John L. Sgrulletta's report on CFAV dated 2- 29-04, a small correction: WFLA is a major broadcaster in Orlando, FL (970 AM, TV Ch 8, etc.) The station that was giving John QRM troubles was probably WFLR, 1570 AM, 5 kW, based in Dundee, New York, not Penn Yan as reported. Penn Yan is the largest town near Dundee and probably gets more on-air mentions than Dundee itself in ads, community calendar announcements, and the like, so it's understandable that someone might ID WFLR as a Penn Yan station unless you catch a top-of- the-hour legal ID. Secularly yours, (Tom Flynn, Director, Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum, http://www.secularhumanism.org/ingersoll 77 Main St., Dresden NY, Operated by the Council for Secular Humanism, PO Box 664, Amherst NY 14226-0664, (716) 636-7571 ext 213, FAX (716) 636-1733 March 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FIRED L.A. RADIO PERFORMER REFUSES RETURN INVITE http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=peopleNews&storyID=4573463§ion=news LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A popular commentator who was fired from her job at a Los Angeles public radio station for uttering a four-letter word has rejected an invitation to return, saying she was no longer "comfortable" there. Sandra Tsing-Loh was dismissed from KCRW-FM after using the f-word in a prerecorded segment in what station general manager Ruth Seymour called "the equivalent of the Janet Jackson performance piece" -- a reference to Jackson's controversial breast-baring halftime show at the Super Bowl. On Monday Seymour said the station had reversed its decision and apologized for firing Tsing-Loh before having learned all of the facts. "I regret having jumped to conclusions about what happened and for erroneously accusing Sandra of an intentional breach of our broadcast standards," she said. But Tsing-Loh, 42, author of several books including "A Year in Van Nuys," said in a statement that she had decided not to return. "I appreciate the station's willingness to acknowledge that it was wrong to cancel my show as well as its invitation for me to return," she said. "And while I do wish KCRW well, I personally don't think I could be comfortable working there any more." Tsing-Loh, who was fired after the station aired her three-minute riff on a Bette Midler concert she attended and in which her musician husband played, is still an occasional commentator on Minnesota Public Radio's Marketplace, syndicated to about 300 U.S. stations. © Reuters 2004 Mar 15. All Rights Reserved (via RadioIntel via DXLD) I heard Loh say in an interview that her `new station` was KAZU, but can`t find anything about her there, and that`s way up in Monterey Bay (gh) ** U S A. WTBQ DX test --- Here's notice of an upcoming DX test... PLEASE NOTE: Even if you don't hear a test, be sure and drop a card, letter, or e-mail to the station personnel, thanking them for going to the trouble to run a test! Thursday, April 1, 2004 - WTBQ-1110, Warwick, NY will conduct a DX test from 5:15 to 6:00 am EST [1015-1100 UT]. The test will feature novelty music and Morse code IDs. Reception reports may be sent to: Mr. Rob McLean - Program Director WTBQ-AM 62 N. Main St. Florida, NY 10921 WWW: http://www.wtbq.com (Arranged by Rob McLean of WTBQ.) Also, if you hear a test, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know, via either e-mail or in rec.radio.shortwave! And if you send a reception report to a station, please remember to include return postage with your report... Lynn. (ircamember @ ircaonline.org) Visit the IRCA Web site at http://www.ircaonline.org (Lynn Hollerman, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ENFORCEMENT: 160 METER GATEWAY NET UNDER FCC SCRUTINY The FCC has written the operator of one of the nation`s leading news and information nets asking about how his station is controlled. The February 24th letter from FCC rules enforcer Riley Hollingsworth went to Vern Jackson, WA0RCR, of Wentzville Missouri. In it the Hollingsworth notes that Jackson operates the ``Gateway 160 Meter Net`` on 1.860 MHz from 1 PM Saturdays until 2 AM Sundays Central time. Hollingsworth asks Jackson to describe what methods of station control are utilized during this 13 hour period. He also asked that WA0RCR furnish the names and addresses of all control operators during the period. The letter gives no reason other than the FCC exercising its right to obtain information under Section 308(b) of the Communications Act for this request (FCC via Amateur Radio Newsline March 19 via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Gateway 160 did have a number of airings years ago, but all but the Saturday were finally dropped because WA0RCR could not find volunteers willing to be control operators during those times. He eventually dropped the Saturday airing as well in late May 2002 and went off the air completely, but eventually returned (without fanfare) a few months later. WA0RCR, who always transmits in the AM mode, also ran a directed net Wednesday nights years ago, with himself in AM while most check ins were LSB. Before his first demise he was on 1859.8 kHz instead of the advertised 1860, but on the few occasions I have heard him since his return (Gateway 160 is usually not audible at my QTH due to very high noise levels) he has been on 1860 (John Norfolk, OKCOK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. ATTACKS TO "COMMUNITY, ALTERNATIVE BROADCAST MEDIA" REPORTED | Text of report by Patrick J. O'Donoghue: "Community & alternative broadcast media under constant opposition attack", published in English by Venezuelan pro-government VENews web site on 14 March The Association of Alternative& Community Media (Amarc) has called on the Venezuela state and the international community to ensure the physical integrity of associated journalists. An attack on Radio Llovizna in Ciudad Guayana (Bolívar) on [between] 6-7 March is typical of several incidents that occurred between February and March. According to community reporter, Juan Martorana, a group of persons arrived at the station carrying shotguns and FAL assault rifles pointing them at people entering and leaving the building ...[ellipsis as published]" the threats continued till 0200 [2200 gmt]." {sic} Other incidents reported are: On 4 July, 2003; Radio Perijanera (Machiques) reported the theft of equipment during a commando-like operation followed by phone threats and beating up journalists. Amarc says minority sectors of the local teachers association and Acción Democrática (AD) are behind the threats. 10 July, 2003; Catia TV was closed and equipment requisitioned by the Metropolitan Mayor's Office on grounds that the station was occupying rooms needed by Lidice Hospital for private sector use. Parroquiana FM in San José de Perijá (Zulia) on 11 October, 2003 came under attack from a group of Machiques Mayor's Office employees and AD members, threatening journalists that they would burn the station down if they didn't close down. Radio Chuspa (Vargas) on 25 January, 2004 a group allegedly led by Vargas Mayor's Office invaded the building and sabotaged external electric sub-stations damaging the transmitter and equipment. Radio Perola (Caracas) on 27 February, 2004; Three journalists were beaten up, phone threats and e-mails threaten employees. According to a radio board member, Elida Polanco, 8 persons arrived at the station and kicked 2 teenage operators living in the area. Radio Máxima, Ciudad Ojeda (Zulia) on 2 March, 2004; Armed groups belonging to the opposition Gente de Petroleo tried to lynch radio station founder, Victor Yepez, as he was arriving home with his journalist wife, Adda Perez. 50 people set on the two and destroyed their vehicle. Venezuela's privately-owned print & broadcast media has not published any details of similar attacks on their installations. Source: VENews web site in English 14 Mar 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [and non]. Voice of Vietnam A04 [some relay sites included but not identified; we know 6175 is Sackville; Euro sites also used] English 0100-0130 6175 0230-0300 6175 0330-0400 6175 1000-1030 1242 1100-1130 1242 7285 1230-1300 9840 12020 1500-1530 1242 7285 9840 12020 1600-1630 7220 9550 11630 13740 1630-1700 1242 1700-1730 9725 1800-1830 11630 13740 1900-1930 13740 11630 2000-2030 7220 9550 2030-2100 9725 11630 13740 2330-0000 9840 12020 French 1200-1230 7285 1300-1330 7285 1830-1900 11630 13740 1930-2000 11630 13740 2100-2130 11630 13740 2100-2130 7220 9550 1630-1700 7220 9550 1200-1230 1242 1300-1330 1242 Russian 1130-1200 11630 1230-1300 11630 1630-1700 11630 13740 1900-1930 9725 2000-2030 11630 13740 Spanish 0300-0330 6175 0400-0430 6175 2130-2200 9725 11630 Japanese 1100-1130 9840 12020 1200-1230 9840 12020 1300-1330 9840 12020 1400-1430 9840 12020 2130-2200 9840 12020 Mandarin 1100-1130 7220 9550 1200-1230 7220 9550 1300-1330 7220 9550 2200-2230 7220 9550 9840 12020 1630-1700 7220 9550 Cantonese 1130-1200 9840 12020 1330-1400 9840 12020 1530-1600 9840 12020 2230-2300 9840 12020 Lao 1330-1400 1242 7285 2300-0000 1242 7285 Thai 1130-1200 1242 7285 1430-1500 7285 1530-1600 7285 2200-2230 1242 7285 Khmer 1030-1100 7285 1230-1300 1242 7285 2230-2300 1242 7285 Indonesian 1030-1100 1242 1300-1330 9840 12020 1430-1500 1242 9840 12020 2300-2330 9840 12020 Vietnamese 0000-0100 1224 7285 0130-0230 6175 0430-0530 6175 1500-1600 7220 9550 1530-1600 1242 1700-1800 11630 13740 1730-1800 9725 1930-2000 9725 2300-2400 9725 (via Roberto Scaglione http://www.bclnews.it Mar 17 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5700, Re 4-045: it just occurred to me that this unID at 0900 could be Korea North, 2 x 2850, which has previously been heard on this harmonic; so not necessarily Latin American, and that`s around sunset in Korea (Glenn Hauser, UT March 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ++++++++++++++++++++ COEXISTING YOUR COMPUTER AND YOUR SHORTWAVE RADIO Steve Waldee`s page about this has apparently been taken down, altho we mention it in our upcoming April MONITORING TIMES column. A Google cache exists, without the internal links at: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:gXl4SErbw1EJ:home.earthlink.net/~srw-swling/sw-comput.htm+%22SRW+swling%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 And another: OBSERVATIONS ABOUT OUR BEST RECEIVER: ICOM R-75 http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:PfkavQTlgz4J:www.home.earthlink.net/~srw-swling/icom.htm+%22SRW+swling%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 You may find caches of his other earthlink webpages by Google searching on ``SRW swling``, and be sure to have ``similar`` pages also displayed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) also see CUBA POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ FCC CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEES At the recent SWL Winterfest in Kulpsville, PA I was asked during my talk on BPL to identify the committees of the US Congress that have oversight responsibility over the FCC and the senators and representatives who head these committees. I could not do that off the top of my head but I have since researched the issue and list here the requested information. Senator John McCain, R-AZ, Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation Senator Ernest Hollings, D-SC, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation Senator Conrad Burns, R-MT, Chairman, Subcommittee on Communications Representative Joe Barton, R-TX, Chairman, Committee on Energy & Commerce Representative John Dingell, D-MI, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Energy & Commerce Representative Fred Upton, R-MI, Chairman, Subcommittee on Telecommunications & The Internet Representative Michael Bilirakis, R-FL, Co-Chairman, Subcommittee on Telecommunications & The Internet Representative Edward Markey, D-MA, Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Telecommunications & The Internet The following Representative is a licensed radio amateur and who has expressed his BPL concerns to the FCC recently in a public letter: Representative Greg Walden, R-OR ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ COMMENT DEADLINES SET FOR PROPOSED BPL RULES NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 18, 2004 --- Comments on the FCC Broadband over Power Line (BPL) Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-29A1.doc in ET Dockets 03-104 and 04-37 are due by Monday, May 3. The deadline for reply comments (comments on comments filed by others) is Tuesday, June 1. The NPRM text appeared March 17 in The Federal Register. The ARRL will comment by the deadline on the FCC`s proposals to amend its Part 15 rules to adopt new requirements and measurement guidelines for so-called ``Access BPL`` systems that provide broadband access via electric utility power lines. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, says the League recommends that members read the NPRM and develop their own thoughtful, considered comments that specifically address the FCC`s BPL proposals, reflect positively on the amateur community and, if possible, offer alternative recommendations. ``It`s important to remember four things,`` Sumner said. ``First, this is not a proceeding to `permit` or `authorize` BPL. BPL is already permitted under the existing Part 15 rules.`` ``Second, the NPRM reaffirms the important principle that licensed services must be protected from harmful interference and are not required to protect BPL systems; this is good, but we can`t take it for granted nor can we assume that the principle will be honored in practice.`` ``Third,`` Sumner continued, ``the NPRM proposes additional, new constraints on BPL to protect licensed services. The FCC did not go far enough, but at least the proposals aim in the right direction.`` ``Finally, while we continue to believe firmly that BPL is a very bad idea, arguing that the FCC should `ban BPL` will not get us anywhere.``Instead, Sumner said, amateurs must document beyond any doubt the levels of protection that must be given to over-the-air services, then leave it for others to decide whether BPL is feasible within those limits. ``We need to prove that the risk of interference is significantly greater than the BPL proponents say it is,`` he said. ``There is far more evidence of that now than there was when the FCC opened its Notice of Inquiry last April.`` Sumner also asserted that the FCC`s proposed ``interference mitigation`` requirements fall far short of providing real protection from harmful interference, and that the Commission is ignoring the practical problems that will arise when Amateur Radio transmissions disrupt BPL systems. 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. Carrier current systems are subject to the FCC`s Part 15 rules governing unlicensed devices, and the FCC has acknowledged that ``amateur operations are likely to present a difficult challenge`` to BPL deployment, especially in the case of hams--an estimated 150,000 of them --- who use high-gain antennas sited near power lines. The proposed rules remain silent on the issue of mitigating BPL interference to the estimated 70,000 Amateur Radio HF mobile stations. At the FCC open meeting where the NPRM was adopted, Commission staff spoke of requiring that the BPL industry maintain a database accessible to the public to assist in locating BPL system operators. However, the actual proposals contained in the NPRM do not mandate a publicly accessible database. ``These and other shortcomings must be resolved in order for interference mitigation to be an acceptable strategy in the case of fixed stations,`` Sumner said. The League also wants the FCC to establish performance standards for BPL interference mitigation. ``To offer any real protection to licensed services, the rules must require that interference be resolved immediately,`` he said. ``There must be severe enforcement penalties for failure to resolve a complaint in real time and for failure to maintain the database.`` Interference mitigation for mobile stations ``is clearly impractical,`` Sumner asserted. ``Since BPL systems operating at the present Part 15 limit cause harmful interference to mobiles, the only solution is an absolute limit on radiated emissions that is lower than the present limit. We are in the process of determining scientifically what that limit must be.`` The League especially encourages anyone, particularly radio amateurs, who has actually experienced BPL interference to file detailed comments documenting the interference. ``It is extremely important that anyone who has suffered interference that is confirmed to have been caused by BPL to get their experiences into the record, in detail,`` Sumner said. ``BPL proponents claim they are not getting interference complaints. If we let them claim their systems are `clean` when we know they aren`t, shame on us.`` Sumner said the League also will continue to encourage ``affected interests outside the amateur community`` to comment. The League urges anyone who opposes BPL to file comments, either supporting the ARRL`s comments or by offering their own arguments. Interested individuals and organizations may file comments via the Internet, using the FCC`s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/. In an unusual move, the FCC has added another docket number to the BPL proceeding. That could complicate filing comments and may lead to some confusion. Although the original FCC BPL Notice of Inquiry last April bore ET Docket 03-104, the recent BPL NPRM carries an additional docket number--ET Docket 04-37. Another 500 or so comments have shown up on ET 03-104 since the FCC issued its BPL NPRM, while some two dozen comments have been posted in response to ET Docket 04-37. The FCC`s ECFS Express system still provides for filing brief comments on ET Docket 03-104, but the ARRL advises those posting comments to use the main ECFS page and file their comments on both proceedings --- ET Docket 03-104 and ET Docket 04-37. When submitting a comment or viewing filed comments, ECFS users should type ``03-104`` or ``04-37`` (without quotation marks but including the hyphen) in the ``Proceeding`` field of the ECFS on-line form. Do not use the NPRM`s FCC document number when filing or searching for comments. The ECFS permits attaching a file containing detailed comments prepared off-line. Copyright © 2004, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BREAKING NEWS: BPL COMMENT DEADLINE SET BY FCC I`m Bill Pastenak, WA6ITF, with a late breaking story. Dateline Washington DC where CQ reports that the FCC`s Notice of Proposed Rule Making Broadband over Power Lines --- ET Docket 03-104 --- has been published in the Federal Register. This starts the clock on the comment deadline. Comments are due by May by 3rd. Reply comments due by June 1. Comments may be filed electronically via the FCC`s Electronic Comment Filing System at http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload More information on BPL and its potential impact on hams and other HF spectrum users is available on the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org Also see the ``VHF-Plus`` column in the April issue of CQ magazine. (CQ via Newsline March 19 via John Norfolk, DXLD) THE BPL FIGHT: ARRL`S W5JBP ON COAST TO COAST AM WITH ART BELL Also in breaking news, word that the general public will learn a lot more about the potential problems caused by Broadband over Powerlines, early Sunday morning the March 21st. This, when ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, appears as a guest on Art Bell`s Coast to Coast AM radio show. As previously reported, Bell is concerned with the interference BPL could cause to all sorts of communications in the range of 2 to 80 MHz. He`s already had others on the program to discuss the problem from a shortwave listeners point of view. Now it will be the ham radio perspective as the leader of the nations only recognized Amateur Radio society presents information that until now the general public has not been aware of. Coast to Coast AM airs at 1 a.m. Eastern time on the Premiere Radio Network. To find the station in your area take your web browser over to http://www.coasttocoastam.com And for those of you not aware, Art Bell is W6OBB (Amateur Radio Newsline March 19 via John Norfolk, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ TRANS-EQUATORIAL FM DX, CARIBBEAN TO SOUTHERN BRASIL Escutas de Célio Romais, Porto Alegre (RS); realizadas na praia de Lagoinha, Florianópolis (SC); receptor Sony ICF SW7600G, antenas Sony AN-71 e RGP3; FREQÜÊNCIA MODULADA BARBADOS 98.1 07/03 0149 Liberty FM, Bridgetown, identificação por vinheta: ``Liberty FM``, músicas em estilo rap, 23442 GUADALUPE 88.9 01/03 0108 Rádio Guadalupe (tentativo), locutor em francês, 24232 UNID 95.5 01/03 0125 Não Identificada, em inglês, programa sobre o comportamento de jovens e adolescentes, identificação da BBC World Service, 34232 (@tividadede DX via DXLD) MORE LONG-HAUL TRANSEQUATORIAL FM DX RECEIVED IN URUGUAY PUERTO RICO, 88.1, R. Revelación, 2344 Feb 19, programa religioso con anuncio comercial mencionando "Guayama", muchos por "Aguaviva en Concierto". PUERTO RICO, 92.5, WORO "Radio Oro", tentativo, jingle "Radio Oro, 92.5" por coro, Feb 20 [hora?] VENEZUELA, 90.1, UNID charlas por hombre mencionando "Continente, Maracay". Feb 19 [hora?] VENEZUELA, 90.5, Circuito X, Puerto la Cruz?, 0055 Feb 17, programa con temas de informática "Alta Densidad", breve ID, tanda de avisos: "Taller de Refrigeración... Óptica "El Faro". VENEZUELA, 91.1, "Super K", 2038 Feb 20, ID con slogan "La Estación de las Estrellas" y 91.1, por locutor, a las 2340 escuchada la palabra "bolívares". UNID, 93.1 con música clásica 0015 Feb 19. (Horacio Nigro, QTH "Barra de Valizas", Dept. de Rocha, Uruguay, 300 km E de Montevideo, Uruguay, RX: Grundig Yacht Boy 400, ANT: longwire 100 m sin terminar en resistencia a tierra, hacia Europa/Medio Oriente, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Pero monópolo en FM? BIGGEST EVER SOLAR FLARE WAS EVEN BIGGER THAN THOUGHT http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13844 (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) Much more detailed than previous item The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to major storm levels. Quiet to unsettled levels were observed from 08 March through midday on 09 March. Active to major storm conditions became prevalent from midday on 09 March through early on 12 March. Quiet to active levels were recorded for the remainder of the period. The geomagnetic storming was due to a coronal hole driven high-speed solar wind stream. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 17 MARCH - 12 APRIL 2004 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels throughout the forecast period. Isolated moderate activity is possible from Region 570 and also from old Region 564 that is due to return on 16 March. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected during the period. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels on 17 March, 22 – 23 March, 29 – 31 March and again on 06 – 11 April due to recurrent coronal holes. Geomagnetic activity is expected to range from quiet to minor storm levels. A weak coronal hole high-speed stream is due to return on 19 – 20 March and is expected to produce quiet to active conditions. From 26 to 27 March, activity levels are expected to increase to active to minor storm levels as a small coronal hole high-speed stream rotates into geoeffective position. A large, recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream is due to return on 05 – 09 April and is expected to produce active to minor storm conditions. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2004 Mar 16 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2004 Mar 16 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2004 Mar 17 120 5 2 2004 Mar 18 115 5 2 2004 Mar 19 110 15 3 2004 Mar 20 105 12 3 2004 Mar 21 100 10 3 2004 Mar 22 105 12 3 2004 Mar 23 105 10 3 2004 Mar 24 105 8 3 2004 Mar 25 105 10 3 2004 Mar 26 105 20 4 2004 Mar 27 100 20 4 2004 Mar 28 95 15 3 2004 Mar 29 90 12 3 2004 Mar 30 90 10 3 2004 Mar 31 100 8 3 2004 Apr 01 105 5 2 2004 Apr 02 110 5 2 2004 Apr 03 115 5 2 2004 Apr 04 110 5 2 2004 Apr 05 110 15 3 2004 Apr 06 110 25 5 2004 Apr 07 110 25 5 2004 Apr 08 110 20 4 2004 Apr 09 110 20 4 2004 Apr 10 115 12 3 2004 Apr 11 120 10 3 2004 Apr 12 120 8 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1224, DXLD) PROPAGATION NEWS FROM RSGB Solar data for the period from the 8th to the 14th of March, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS http://www.g0cas.demon.co.uk/main.htm Solar activity was very low to low. The largest solar flare of the Period was a C3/SF on the 12th. The solar flux averaged 108 units and Varied little day to day. The 90-day solar flux average on the 14th was 112 units, that`s up one unit on last week. X-ray flux levels declined from B2.4 units to B1.3 by the 14th and averaged B1.8. Geomagnetic activity was quiet on the 8th with an Ap index of 6 units but the effects of a coronal hole lasted for the remainder of the period. The most disturbed day was the 10th, with an Ap index of 40 units. The average was Ap 21 units. The ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds increase from 320 kilometres per second on the 8th to 820 by the 10th. Particle densities remained below 10 particles per cubic centimetre except for an increase on the 9th to 20 particles per cubic centimetre. Bz varied between minus 10 and plus 14 nanoTeslas on the 10th. 24 and 28 MHz were in particularly poor shape, although even 10 metres produced many contacts with the 5V7C expedition to Togo over several hours on the 11th and 12th. Auroral working was reported on 50 and 144 MHz during the afternoon and early evening of the 9th, 11th and 12th, but mainly benefited Scottish and Scandinavian operators, with only brief openings south of the border. And finally the solar forecast. This week the quiet side of the sun is expected to be rotating into view. Solar activity should be very low to low with only a small chance of a major flare taking place. Geomagnetic activity should be quiet at first but after midweek levels could increase due to a recurring coronal hole. MUFs during daylight hours at equal latitudes should be about 24 MHz for the south and 21 MHz for the north. The darkness hour lows should be around 10 MHz. By the time you are hearing this the 3B9C DXpedition to Rodrigues Island should have started, so this week`s propagation prediction is from the UK to Rodrigues Island. As we continue our decline in the sunspot cycle propagation on 24 and 28 MHz will be unreliable for most of the time, but watch out for some openings just before midday on those bands. However, 14, 18, and 21 MHz will be the best bands to work them on. For the more modest stations with omni-directional antennas, 18 MHz may be a good band to work them on first, due to the fact that not as many stations have beams for that band. They are scheduled to be there till the 20th of April, so try to work them later in the period when hopefully the pile-ups will have subsided somewhat, especially on 14 and 21 MHz. If possible try a weekday when more operators are at work. Their sunrise will be around 0210 UTC, so expect to start to hear them just before our sunrise here in the UK on 20 metres but after sunrise for the higher HF bands. Sunset takes place shortly after 1400 UTC so the higher bands will close around then but 17 and 20 metres will stay open after that. With Rodrigues Island about 20 degrees south of the equator the path will not be troubled too much with geomagnetic activity. So even later in the week when the coronal hole takes effect they should still be workable, although perhaps a couple of `S` points down. I am sure you would like to join me in wishing them good propagation and a safe and enjoyable time. Next week a forecast for the low bands to Rodrigues. 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 Main News script for March 21 posted March 17 on uk.radio.amateur by G4RGA via John Norfolk, DXLD) THE K7RA SOLAR UPDATE SEATTLE, WA, Mar 19, 2004 --- Average daily sunspot numbers rose nearly 13 points March 11-17 to 66.1. Average daily solar flux rose by a negligible amount from 106.3 to 106.8. A solar wind stream caused geomagnetic disturbance from the last reporting week into the early part of this week, but conditions quieted. Mildly unsettled conditions may return over the weekend, with Friday through Monday, March 19-22, planetary A index predicted at 8, 12, 15 and 10. Solar flux is expected to moderately peak this weekend around 120 on both March 19 and 20, then 115 and 110 on March 21 and 22. Sunspot 570, mentioned in last week`s update, split in two this week as it moved toward the sun`s western limb. About now it is disappearing from view. A holographic image showing the far side of the sun revealed a large sunspot group a few days ago, so perhaps we`ll see more activity soon. Last week`s bulletin mentioned polar cap absorption, but it turns out that strictly speaking, this doesn`t occur often --- just a couple of times a year on average. Polar cap absorption only applies to the polar cap, and it`s caused by protons from big solar flares. The phenomenon in Alaska that is most common is called auroral absorption --- in and near the auroral oval. Doug Gehring, WA2NPD, asks about a related topic: Poor conditions on 80 and 160 meters. He lives in Southern New Jersey and has been having trouble working DX on the lower frequencies over the past few years. No doubt, Doug will notice better conditions when there are fewer geomagnetic storms. Geomagnetic activity will be less frequent as the solar cycle declines over the next few years. The spring equinox begins March 21 at 0649 UTC. Spring conditions are here, a great time for HF DX if the geomagnetic conditions are stable. Regarding the time of the vernal equinox, an interesting article in National Geographic News http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0318_040318_equinox.html#main#main says that equinoxes migrate through a period that`s about six hours later from year to year. Due to the leap-year cycle, (2004 is a leap year), the system resets every four years. However, because the year is really 365.24219 days long, the vernal equinox slips over time. To resolve this, Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 instituted a new calendar wherein ``century`` years such as 1800 and 1900 are not leap years, except in century years divisible by 400, such as 1600 and 2000. This adjusted the average calendar year from 365.25 days to 365.2425, which is only about 26.8 seconds longer than the real 365.24219 days. This yields a gain (or error) of only one day over a period of about 3200 years. Remember that huge solar flare that occurred November 4, 2003, from 1929 and 1950 UTC on? It was so large it overloaded instruments and was estimated to be an X28 flare. This was much larger than previous record flares of April 2, 2001, and August 16, 1989 --- both rated as X20. It now appears that last fall`s flare was more than twice as large as the previous record, and it has been adjusted upward to X45. See the report ``Sun`s massive explosion updated`` on the BBC News Word Edition Web site http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3515788.stm Sunspot numbers for March 11 through 17 were 67, 71, 61, 61, 49, 53 and 101, with a mean of 66.1. The 10.7 cm flux was 113.2, 107.5, 103.8, 102.5, 101.4, 109.6 and 109.8, with a mean of 106.8. Estimated planetary A indices were 26, 23, 15, 16, 13, 8 and 6, with a mean of 15.3. Copyright © 2004, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved (via John Norfolk, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###