DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-075, May 4, 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 CONTINENT OF MEDIA 04-03 [low version only], available from 0440 UT May 5: (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0403.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0403.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0403.html [not yet available] NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO EXTRA 47 [= COM 04-02]: Wed 0930 on WWCR 9475 Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, http://wsui.uiowa.edu WORLD OF RADIO EXTRA 47 = CONTINENT OF MEDIA 04-02 in MP3: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/continentofmedia_05-01-04.m3u (download) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/continentofmedia_05-01-04.mp3 FIRST AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1229: Wed 2200 on WBCQ 7415, 17495-CUSB Thu 2030 on WWCR 15825 WRN ONDEMAND [from Fri]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html from early UT Thursday: WORLD OF RADIO 1229 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1229h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1229h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1229.html WORLD OF RADIO 1229 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1229.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1229.rm DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Here`s where to sign up. There may be a delay in approval if I do not recognize your name and / or e-mail address. If your yahoo profile does not give this info, please send me a separate e-mail with your true name, location and brief reason for wishing to join the group --- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ (Glenn Hauser, May 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Some changes of Radio Australia in English: 0600-1057 NF 13630 (43343) unregistered frequency, co-channel Voice International in Hindi 0500-0757 NF 15160 (44444) unregistered frequency, co-channel VOA in Mandarin Ch from 0700 (Observer, Bulgaria, May 4, via DXLD) ?? Why in the world would R. Australia not coördinate with a fellow Australian SW station, whose facility it also shares, not to mention IBB! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non]. With TDP Radio reported on DRM via Sackville 11900 Saturdays at 1600-1700, I checked Tuesday May 4 before and after 1700 and 11885-11915 was also DRMing, with what? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. 7400, R. Varna, 2144-2224, May 2, Bulgarian, OM with talk between pop music and ballads, presumed news bulletin at 2200. Several IDs. Weak at tune-in but improving. Nice to log this one (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s Sun into UT Mon only (gh) ** BULGARIA. Radio New Europe is new name for Radio Free Europe in Bulgarian. Sked: Mon-Fri 0430-0630; 0800-0900; 1000-1100; 1300-1500 Sat/Sun 0500-0700; 1000-1100; 1300-1600 on FM frequencies Pleven 87.9 MHz Stara Zagora 100.1 MHz Sofia 89.1 MHz Rousse 101.6 MHz Montana 90.0 MHz Haskovo 102.1 MHz Varna 95.9 MHz Povdiv 103.7 MHz Vidin 97.8 MHz Bourgas 105.1 MHz Veliko Tarnovo 105.7 MHz (Observer, Bulgaria, May 4, via DXLD) {No, it isn`t: 4-076} ** CANADA. CJPG Mix 96.5 --- Today marks an milestone for Golden West Broadcasting. This Morning at 7:15 CJPG MIX 96.5 FM went on the Air with an ERP 24,000 Watts. Mike Nagle is the new Morning Man while Leigh Anne Cameron Reads the news. Sandra Dee is the Drive Home DJ And Program Director. Sometimes you will hear this station in Winnipeg. Golden West has 3 FM Stations in Manitoba CJPG (96.5) Portage La Prairie, CILT Steinbach (96.7), And CJEL (93.5). Plus CFRY 920/93.1, CFAM 950, CHSM 1250, CJRB 1220, CKMW 1570. Here is the Direct Link to the Stations Website http://mix.v2.goldenwestradio.ca/ (Sean Traverse, a.k.a. Ray Hammy, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC [non]. 15470, UNITED KINGDOM, R. Ndeke Luka, 1832-1849, May 3, French, YL at tune-in with news re Saddam Hussein, items re Congo between Afropop instrumental bits. Several IDs with FM and SW frequencies. Fair/Good (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re ```What is this ``Radio Beijing``???``` Glenn, I think this is a local FM station in Beijing. I seem to recall that confusion with this station was one of the reasons why the other Radio Beijing, ie the external service, changed its name to China Radio International. 73s (Dave Kenny, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. A new Chinese Clandestine Radio --- 1600-1700 UT, 11765 KHz. A new Chinese Clandestine Radio IDed as "Voice of Hope Radio International", heavily jammed, all political talks. Who knows any other details? My email address is: 2883752 @ 163.com Please visit the Chinese largest SWL forum http://dxman.126.com (Qiao Xiaoli, China, May 4, dxing.info via DXLD) not just a gospel huxter? ** CROATIA [and non]. English monitored here 0600-0603 1134 9470 13820, 1500-1530 1125 1134, 1800-1803 1134 and 2215-2230 1125 1134 9925. Eike also says English is at 0200-0230 on 9925 (Mike Barraclough, England, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** CUBA. CUBA/VENEZUELA --- Actual RHC, Radio Nacional de Venezuela, R Rebelde and CRI relay frequencies via La Habana Bauta site: 5025 6000 6040 9550 9570 9580 9600 9655 9820 11760 11875 11895 11970 13650 13680 13740 13750 15230 17705 17720 17750. Have you noted that the Granma article about the reconstruction of transmission facilities mentions two further SW sites not known so far, Bejucal and Quivican (both south from Havana)? A few years ago a (nominal) power of 250 kW was mentioned specifically for the 6000 frequency. If so these would be the possible sites for (a) 250 kW transmitter(s) that could well have been delivered to Cuba by the USSR. Anyway the USSR delivered an uplink station to Cuba. It is pictured in a book published in the GDR in 1983. There Jaruco (that's some 40 km east of Havana) is mentioned as location of the facility: http://kailudwig.bei.t-online.de/Jaruco.jpg This is an Orbita 2 design as it was used by all Intersputnik participants, including the GDR (current pictures of the uplink station at Neu Golm near Fuerstenwalde, closed down in 1996: http://www.mapavision.de/html/seminarort.html The Cubavision program was still carried on a Russian Gorizont satellite (11 degrees West I think) in the nineties, years after the exchange of SW airtime came to an end. Of course Cubavision was in NTSC, and earlier feeds from Cuba caused some trouble to the GDR's Orbita station: They had no NTSC-capable monitors, so where unable to control the picture quality. Apparently this is history now and Cubavision gone from Gorizont/Express (Kai Ludwig, Germany, BC-DX May 4 via DXLD) The three SW sites have been referred to previously as Bauta, Bejucal and Titán (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. R. Martí on 1620 --- Definite Radio Martí ID on 1620 kHz 2331 EDT in between 2 discussion programs on Cuba - all in Spanish of course. WDHP-USVI seems conspicuous by its absence tonight. So, might WDHP be relaying R. Martí? (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, April 25, NRC-AM via DXLD) They are doing a test for Radio Marti, to gauge coverage in Cuba. Now if they'll run their licensed power for a change (Jerry, Daytona Beach, FL, ibid.) Could be, but what a signal! It's much stronger than I've ever heard WDHP (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) Barry, Do you have any other ideas? If it is a new Martí outlet, they shouldn't be sending so much signal to the north (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, ibid.) They IDed as WDHP at 0007 [EDT], so that settles that. Gotta be running 10 kW day power for the test (McLarnon, ibid.) ** DJIBOUTI. I returned to 1431 kHz at 0034 UT (8:34 p.m.) and my jaw dropped as the slop parted and a crisp "www.radiosawa.com" Web address came through. After the Web mention, 1431 had a typical Radio Sawa music melange: "Get Busy" by Sean Paul, then an Arabic female vocal, and then "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" by Shania Twain. This thing had a pretty good signal at times! I know not everybody has the chance to DX out of a salt-marsh but I think this high-powered station has "legs" and could reach DXers farther away from TA's and farther inland (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, Rowley, MA mini-DXpedition, salt-marsh site, April 21, NRC-AM via DXLD) Great job, Mark, congrats! That's around 6,800 miles! (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, ibid.) Just past 2030 EDST tonight I was tuning the dial and suddenly noticed Norway-1314 coming in nicely. Having read Mark's post on 1431 I decided I would look there as well. To my surprise there was at 2040 EDST a strong het on 1431 and for the next few minutes definite audio with pop music and at 2044 a man speaking. Couldn't tell what language but I think it was Radio Sawa with its 600 kW. Faded shortly thereafter but on rereading Mark's post noted his ID was around the same time. Also a weak het on 1341 and there had been an earlier het on 1512. 600 kW rings a bell. Isn't that the power used by the Kuwait station that sometimes comes in so well on 1548? Dijbouti reception isn't too unlikely. In 1998 I had clear reception of Yemen-1008 which is just across the bay from Dijbouti and I verified it. Funny thing then was that this was almost the only TA on the band at that time, the others being 1521 and 1548. But that was back before the rise in solar activity. So 1431 definitely bears watching, especially before say 2100 EDST [0100 UT] (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford, Pa. [SE corner PA], ibid.) Thanks to everyone for their comments about my recent log of Djibouti- 1431. Though I didn't get the best part of the catch (the "www.radiosawa.com" mention) on tape, I have uploaded a part of it and a few other clips from Wednesday night's outing to the Web. Links to the following are available at http://hometown.aol.com/wa1ion/real_aud.htm Files may also be downloadable directly. http://home.comcast.net/~markwa1ion/dx_audio/r_sawa_djibouti_1431.mp3 Radio Sawa, Djibouti - 1431 (heard 22 APR 2004 at 0040 UTC from Rowley, MA, USA) Arabic female vocal, Arabic talk, then 'I'm Gonna Getcha Good' by Shania Twain. http://home.comcast.net/~markwa1ion/dx_audio/cope_spain_999.mp3 COPE, Spain - 999 (heard 22 APR 2004 at 0006 UTC from Rowley, MA, USA) Several COPE network ID's. Almost no QRM from 1000 kHz stations. http://home.comcast.net/~markwa1ion/dx_audio/bbc5live_uk_909.mp3 BBC 5 Live, UK - 909 (heard 21 APR 2004 at 2359 UTC from Rowley, MA, USA) Talk including Five Live ID, into top of hour 1 a.m. British Summer Time (0000 UTC). http://home.comcast.net/~markwa1ion/dx_audio/virgin_uk_1215.mp3 Virgin Radio, UK - 1215 (heard 21 APR 2004 at 2257 UTC from Rowley, MA, USA) End of 'Kiss from a Rose' by Seal, then talk mentioning telephone number, Web address, and postal mailing address. Now a few comments to other DXers` comments: Neil Kazaross wrote ``Great catch, Mark ! Does anyone know what power they are using ? I'm glad that you like the 500 foot BOG and are finding it to enhance your DX. For even better results you may wish to use a Phased BOG System like I do here in Barringon IL. Simply run about 325 feet // the 500 footer and hook both up to the phaser. For a mini-DXped don't worry about termination, of course. I use these lengths here and via phasing I get very good F/B., i.e. the combined pattern is like a very well terminated Bev. 73 KAZ`` Power is 600 kW as noted by others. According to Bill Whitacre, the beam is 320 degrees, which does throw some RF this way. BOG phased against active whip worked great for me. Re termination, only slight differences between unterminated, directly terminated to 6 ft. ground rod in salt water, and resistively coupled to ground rod. 150 ohms seems best. Any way you slice it, the BOG is far more directive than the active whip --- no surprise there. I'd be more apt to run out 2 wires if I didn't have to worry about geting kicked out of the site by the cops. It hasn't happened to me, but it did happen to Bruce Conti once. (Connelly) Craig Healy stated ``Hi Mark, Congrats on hearing Djibouti! I can't remember that country ever showing up as heard in North America. Craig Healy, Providence, RI I think this is the first North American log. Many more will follow I'm sure. The station has been on for a few months now. It's been heard widely in Europe and by Rocco Cotroneo in Brazil. So much DX was blasting into the Rowley salt-marsh at the time, I wish I'd had that VCR band-recorder scheme up and running in the car (Connelly) Mike Brooker wrote ``melange: "Get Busy" by Sean Paul, then an Arabic female vocal, and then "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" by Shania Twain. The pride of Timmins, ON. http://www.shaniatwaincentre.com/ There's no escaping the Canadian content!! But did you hear the NHL playoff scores on Radio Sawa?`` Sawa played 2 Canadian Content songs: Shania Twain's hit and, a bit earlier, Bryan Adams doing "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?". Now if they'd only cut loose and play some Rankins, Great Big Sea, Loreena McKennitt, and Natalie MacMaster then I would be one happy camper! My spreadsheet agrees on 6800 miles (within 40 miles). Bearing is 65 degrees. Longest haul for me was Lesotho-1197 to Billerica, MA at about 7986 miles (vs. 7970 to Rowley, 7908 to Orleans). Other long- hauls include Nagpur, India - 1566 to Rowley, MA; Urumqi, China - 1525 to W. Yarmouth, MA; and Duba, Saudi Arabia - 1521 to El Paso, TX. This is "kid stuff" compared to some of the Grayland, WA TP "hauls" and stuff Pat Martin's heard over the years from Seaside, OR (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, Billerica, MA, USA, 15 miles / 24 km NW of Boston, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. O primeiro de maio marcou os 40 anos de atividades ininterruptas da Rádio HCJB – A Voz dos Andes, em português, para o Brasil. A data foi lembrada durante os diversos espaços da emissora, principalmente por que a emissora ainda conta com dois pioneiros que permanecem até os dias atuais na emissora: o casal Victor e Helena. Quarenta anos não são 40 dias! As novidades na emissora são: a freqüência de 12020 kHz passou a irradiar a programação noturna a partir de 2300. Já a freqüência de 11920 kHz conta com potência de 250 kw (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX May 3 via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. Radio Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, heard on 6250.35 kHz on 1 May 2004 from tune-in 2145 UT. Hi-life music until news headlines in Spanish at 2201, then mostly uninterrupted English and Spanish pop music through to closing announcement at 2257. ID as "Radio Malabo" and mention of "Guinea Ecuatorial". Sign-off at 2300 with National Anthem. Best on USB and fair reception when clear of bursts of utility QRM (Tony Rogers, Birmingham - UK, AOR 7030+ / LW, May 2, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 5500, V. of Tigray Revolution, strong signal 03/05 1815- 1830 with local music, no // 6350 signal. Radio Fana 6210, 6940 not heard, Radio Ethiopia on 9705v quite regular now in the afternoons around 1530-1900, various language services, IS at 1557, 1657, bells as time signal at 1800. http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Be aware that if you send a reception report to the Voice of Ethiopia, it is liable to be published on the Web site of the organisation that runs the station. Apart from anything else, it shows fellow DXers how good - or bad - are your reception reporting techniques :-) Currently they have, amongst others, the FULL reports from Anker Petersen, Raymond J Crawford, Christian Ghibaudo, James Parker, Thomas Drescher, Richard D'Angelo, Patrick Robic, Jerry Berg, Artur Fernández Llorella, Christer Brunström and Björn Fransson. http://www.democracyfrontiers.org/fullstory.php?id=11 (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) This of course was a clandestine via Russia or Norway, a.k.a. V. of Ethiopian Salvation, Medhin, not the official Ethiopian station. All the reports date from early 2003 on 7520 or 7560; apparently no longer active (Glenn, ibid.) Oops, sorry, I didn't realise it was inactive. Should have checked the dates. Even so, it was a bit surprising to see peoples' reports quoted verbatim! That's one thing we won't do at Radio Netherlands :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) ** GERMANY [non]. /PORTUGAL: Frequency change of Deutsche Welle in Arabic effective from May 1: 2000-2130 NF 13690 (55444) SIN 250 kW / 095 degrees, ex 11695 \\ 9495 (Observer, Bulgaria, May 4, via DXLD) ** GREECE [and non]. Hellenes Around the World [Sat 1600-1700] is often replaced by sports commentary. It`s All Greek to Me noted 0805-0900 with good reception on 9420 15630 15650 April 25th and May 2nd [Sundays] but they ran the same programme on both days. The presenter asked for emails to giorgosfrantzeskakis@yahoo.gr (Mike Barraclough, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) spelt out?! ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. MARLO 15500 USB On 4 May at 1556 noted an USB station with Middle East/Subcontinent style non-stop music on 15500. Weakish signal with lot of splatters from 15505. At 1603 announcement in Urdu/Hindi or similar language mentioning "Radio..." and a telephone number in English. Again music but seems there are short station id's at times, I guess they announce also the frequency as one word sounds like "kilohertz". I believe this is the reported MARLO/Coalition station. See http://www.dxing.info/news/index.dx#coalition 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [later:] Re: MARLO 15500 USB Well, the subject line of my previous message was misleading. I mentioned MARLO, who was only delivering the info received from the Coalition. This seems to be a psyop transmission (onboard a navy vessel or whatever). I listened to my recording of that transmission on 15500 and it sounds like they are talking about a reward of (million) and then surely announce the telephone number 001 800 877 3727. That's for the Coalition Rewards for Justice Program. The actual ID of the station still puzzles me, the word after "Radio" seems varying (maybe another language), once it sounded just like the former Afghanistan/Iraqi version of "Maulumat". Maybe someone has a contact e-mail address to this station; I failed with: webmaster @ nsa.bahrain.navy.mil marlo @ batelco.com.bh 73 (Jari Savolainen, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran English transmission to South Africa 1930-2030 is now on 9800 11750 (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. KRSI-Radio Voice Of Iran 'Radio Seday-e Iran' 1530-1730 is on 17525 now, ex-11520. The bubblejammer that's already there to spoil Kol Israel's 1400-1525 Farsi program just continues. Radio Pedar on 15585 1730-1830 (ex-17735). Sidesplatter from VOA 15580 (Silvain Domen, Belgium, May 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. Ozone Radio scheduled tests --- Some info received from Gary Stevans: Ozone is contemplating some Thursday evening tests at my suggestion. As you may know he has to duck and dive a TVI hi-fi and telephone problem but reckons that he can do a semi-regular schedule on this evening starting at 21.30 BST [2030 UT] on my suggested frequency of 5785. A bit of a compromise channel due to the splatter from the powerhouse on 5800 [Bulgaria] and some occupancy on 5775 [IRRS?]. We have decided to open up this band as it hasn't been used for quite some time and upon monitoring LHH [Laser Hot Hits] it would seem that the lower frequencies are doing better than the higher ones. Ozone has a new e-mail address of: ozone43radio@g.. [truncated] (Tom Read M1EYP, Macclesfield, England, http://tomread.co.uk May 4, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. May 3rd, around 0900 UT: Kol Israel in Hebrew on 15760 and 17535, as usually noted the Telefunken 300 kW powerhouses, on Likud matters and happy music program. And also fine propagation this morning of Galei Zahal army station program also in Hebrew on usual split 15785.03 kHz. KI's Persian language section on May 3rd: 1400-1515 UT scheduled, heard at 1400 UT on 15640, 17525, and 17535 kHz. Not heard on autumn reserve frequencies of 11605 and 13850 kHz. Suffered by Iranian BUBBLE jamming on 15640 and 17525, but jamming free on 17535 kHz. 15640 kHz jammer heard already around 1335 UT onwards. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DXLD) I am checking Kol Israel at this moment (1630): Romanian 1630-1645 11605 17535 is on air, Hebrew 15760 also on air, Kol Israel. Galei Zahal 15785, also on air 1637 now (Silvain Domen, Belgium, ibid.) Usual weather capsule in English noted at 1713 May 3 on 17535, wrapping up quarter-hour broadcast, so at least in this case, nothing has changed. Lower frequencies not audible. And better opening English again at 1900 on 17535 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17535, Kol Israel, 1913-1931, May 3, English/French, English service with news of Likud vote and weekend violence, Middle East and International news items, stock report and weather. "Shalom" at 1924 then 6 minute IS loop until French service at 1930. Fair as was // 15640. Nothing on 11605 at this time (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Found new frequency for KI in English at 0400, ex-17600, and it is very good: 15640 (Chris Hambly, Victoria, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have been hearing the 0400 English on 11590, varies from SIO 333 to 444 (Steve Cross, Del City, OK, May 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checked it at 0415 and only poor and fluttery here (Glenn Hauser, Enid, ibid.) ** ITALY. MW RAI ciao RAI 2 & RAI 3 --- Comunicato ufficiale della RAI WAY. A partire dal 15 maggio, RAI razionalizza i propri mezzi di diffusione. Le trasmissioni in Onde Medie saranno unificate ad una sola rete. L'ascolto dei tradizionali programmi Radio 1, Radio 2 e Radio 3, potrà continuare sulle reti a Modulazione di Frequenza. Le frequenze MF ricevibili nella propria zona sono disponibili anche alla pagina 377 del Televideo Regionale (Rai 3). In vista dell'attuazione del piano di riassetto complessivo delle trasmissioni radiofoniche in onda media RAI approvato dal Ministero delle Comunicazioni, è stata sospesa la ritrasmissione dei programmi di Radio2 sulla frequenza di 702 kHz, ricevibile su parte della costa tirrenica. La diffusione della programmazione di Radio2 è garantita dalle stazioni in modulazione di frequenza. Onde medie RAI ciao ciao, il sito l'ho preso da Radiorama: http://www.raiway.it/frequenze.htm#OndeMedie Ciaooo (Giampiero Bernardini, Avvenire, Milano, Italy, via Monferini, DXLD) Opinione personale: il DUCE Mussolini negli anni 20 aveva cominciato nello stesso modo ... meditate gente.... meditate (Dario Monferini, May 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ciao! Next 15 May will be the REVOLUTION of the MW frequencies in Italy; thanks to the detective work of my friend Enrico Callerio, this is a TENTATIVE list of the situation "THE DAY AFTER". Being a tentative list, naturally you are kindly invited to monitorate the situation and if you wish you may contact me for your suggestions or corrections. Best regards, Dario Monferini, Italy Caltanissetta (St. Anna) 189 10 R1 Caltanissetta (St. Anna) 567 20 R1 Bolzano (Monticolo) 657 25 R1 Napoli (Marcianise) 657 120 R1 Torino (Eremo) 657 50 R1 Potenza 693 20 R1 Trieste (Monte Radio) 819 20 R1 Taranto 873 1 R1 Milano (Siziano) 900 600 R1 Trapani 936 10 R1 Venezia 936 20 R1 Vibo Valentia (Capo Vaticano) 999 2 R1 Perugia (Torgiano) 999 20 R1 Rimini (Viserba) 999 20 R1 Pescara (San Silvestro) 1035 10 R1 Ancona (Montagnolo) 1062 10 R1 Cagliari (Sestu) 1062 25 R1 Catania (Barrieradel Bosco) 1062 2 R1 Pisa (Coltano) 1062 10 R1 Trento (Villazzano) 1062 2 R1 Roma (Monte Ciocci) 1107 100 R1 Aosta (Gerdaz) 1116 2 R1 Bari (Ceglie Messapico) 1116 2 R1 Bologna (Budrio) 1116 60 R1 Cuneo (Tetti Pesio) 1116 20 R1 Palermo (Monte Pellegrino) 1116 10 R1 Messina (Monte Piselli) 1143 10 R1 Sassari (La Crucca) 1143 10 R1 Imperia (San Remo) 1188 10 R1 LaSpezia (Valdellora) 1296 5 R1 Matera 1314 2 R1 Firenze (Terrarossa) 1368 20 R1 Foggia 1431 2 R1 Biella (S. Paolo) 1449 2 R1 Bolzano (Bressanone) 1449 2 R1 Bolzano (Brunico) 1449 2 R1 Trento (Cortina Villazzano) 1449 2 R1 Siena 1449 2 R1 Sondrio 1449 2 R1 Squinzano 1449 50 R1 Vicenza 1485 2 R1 Campobasso 1575 2 R1 Genova (Portofino) 1575 50 R1 Gorizia (Piuma) 1575 2 R1 Nuoro (S. Onofrio) 1575 1 R1 Terni (S. Lorenzo) 1584 2 R1 (via Dario Monferini, Milano, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. D.P.R. 3025.55, presumed Frontline Soldiers Radio, 1815-1835, Korean radio drama or play, poor on Apr 25 (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer May 3 via BC-DX via DXLD) Starting today the Voice of Korea switched to "their" A04 plan which is almost the same as A03, but 6575 for the broadcasts in German and Russian is replaced now with new 11845, for example, and !!! 1700-1800 UT in Russian is together / co-channel with BBC in Russian ! Details after monitoring (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, May 4, BC-DX via DXLD) ** KUWAIT. 9880, R. Kuwait, 1856-1908, May 3, Arabic, "Breathless" OM over vocal music, ID/news bulletin at 1900, more music and talk. Good. No sign of 11990. Has Kuwait abandoned that frequency? Do they still have an English Service? (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Kuwait in Arabic noted from April 1: 1515-1800 (ex 1615-1800) on 11990. English transmission 1800-2100 on 11990 is cancelled (Observer, Bulgaria, May 4, via DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. Short English news bulletins monitored here at 1140, 1730, 1820, 1920, 2030 and 2120 (Mike Barraclough, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Frequency sked via France was in DXLD 4-062 ** LUXEMBOURG. DRM - I did note that LUX was missing off 5990 some mornings this week. No programme or has someone been complaining I wonder? I could clearly hear such as Marti 5980 and WYFR 5985, both of which are obliterated when DRM is on 5990. Kai - I think you intimated that LUX may be using a lot of bites, which may be the reason for it's wide bandwidth (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX May 1 via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, Radio Malagasy, heard 01/05 1810-1915 + 03/05 1815-1903*, surprisingly strong signal, local and other music, few announcements. http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. RTM Radio Malaysia Sarawak continues to change its SW schedule every few weeks. 4895 was reactivated in late March or early April, and not long afterwards 7130 extended its hours to all-day operation, with all three frequencies in \\ carrying programming from Kuching in Iban and Bidayuh except that 7130 broke away for schools programming on weekdays at 0100-0300. However, I noted 4 May that 7130 was carrying Radio Malaysia Sarawak Rangkaian Nasional in Malay from first check at around 0700 until past 1100. When 4895 faded in around 1000, it was in \\ with 7130 in Malay. The Malay network has not been on SW for many years, and should be quite easy to ID as it often relays news in Malay from Kuala Lumpur on the hour, as 5965v kHz via Kajang. The Kuching Iban/Bidayuh network was still on 7270 kHz as usual (Alan Davies, Bogor, Indoneisa, WWDXC BC-DX May 4 via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. English from Voice of Mongolia is now at 1000-1030 on 12085 for South Asia and at 1500-1530 and 2000-2030 on 12015 both intended for Europe (Allen Dean, UK, May World DX Club Contact via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) Voice of Mongolia uses 12085 and 12015 kHz in this summer season. The best reception in Irkutsk is at 0830-1100 and 1130-1230 on 12085 kHz, S=3...4, but it suffers from severe splash produced by Chinese station on 12080. Broadcast in Russian is heard daily at 1100-1130 on 990 kHz MW. Unfortunately there is no trace of Mongolia on 12015 kHz at 1330, frequency is occupied by other stations. Sometimes I can hear broadcast in English at 2000-2030 on 12015 kHz, but it comes too weak. (open_dx - Feodor Brazhnikov, Irkutsk, Russia, via Signal May 1 [welcome back, fornightly!] via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Rudi Hill 1921 - 2004 It is with regret that we note the passing of William Dennis Roodhouse-Hill, aka Rudi Hill, who died in Auckland on Friday 30 April, 2004 aged 83. In the years before RNZ International was relaunched in 1990, Rudi was the sole employee and sent out tapes of programmes to stations throughout the Pacific. His Pacific Link was the only news exchange programme that took news about the Pacific Islands to the people of the South Pacific. On the March, a band music programme he started during this time continued on RNZI until 1998. The obituary his family placed in Monday’s paper said it all: ``Great friend to many, and respected colleague to the good people at Radio New Zealand International.`` (RNZI website May 4 via gh, DXLD) We had contact with him, and especially enjoyed On the March! (gh) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. ORGANIZED RELIGION --- Re Comments about Dr. Gene Scott, 4-074: Glenn: -- I'm sure you see the irony in all this. At least Gene Scott is HONEST enough to let viewers in on what he's all about. I have more respect for someone such as Scott, who will not attempt to hide his love for cigars, young attractive ladies, or similar ilk. Does this not prove a moral superiority over someone such as Jimmy Swaggart, who veiled his affinity for hookers, or that over an entire cadre of Catholic priests who espouse their version of the word, while molesting young defenseless children? If I had to choose a vendor of manmade organized religion, I'd take a cigar-chomper over a child molester any and every day! (GREG HARDISON, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [non]. KJON-850 Carrollton, TX has finally signed on from new facilities (ex: Anadarko, OK). They are listed as D1 5000/0. I am 35 miles SSW of the transmitter site and they are putting in a good signal here. All I've heard this morning (5/3/04) is SS music, although other sources have reported it will be a SS talk format. The pattern favors 059 degrees (away from me). It might be a good SSS target for those of you northeast of Dallas. I listened to 4 over-the-top-of-the hours yesterday and heard no IDs. BUT --- at 2:18 PM CDT I heard (what sounded to my EE-only ears) a full ID which included the slogan "Brava" or "Bravada". Other sources have reported "La Brava", which it may be, but I couldn't pick a "La" out. 73, (BILL HALE, Fort Worth, May 3-4, NRC-AM via DXLD) KJON-850 easily heard during the daytime this weekend here in Tulsa with SS music (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO Tulsa, OK, R8, Quantum Phaser, 2- 130 foot wires, ibid.) ** PORTUGAL. RDPi-R.Portugal_A04_-_alterações. Segundo informação da RDP, esta suprimirá as frequências ss. para a Europa a partir da próxima 5ª-fª, 6 de Maio p.f.: Acc. do an RDP info., the stn will drop the following freqs. beamed to Europe as of next Thursday, the 6th May: Según informo la RDP, las seguientes frecuencias hacia Europa serán suprimidas a partir del próximo jueves, 6 de mayo: 0800-1200 HUC 11960 kHz 100 kW 52º e / and / y 1600-1900 HUC 15445 kHz 300 kW 45º 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA [non?]. RRI on 9590 --- Noted with clear, very strong signal (SINPO-55555) with excellent modulation, in English with the DX Mailbag program at 2345 UT May 3. Could this be via Sackville or Bonaire? (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, Drake R8A, A/D Sloper, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This station has never used external relay sites; it`s about time. But making a point of checking this the next day, at 2259 UT May 4, from this vantage point, 9590 was only a fair European-like signal, not a nearby relay, so I think you just had a good path, and it is fortunate to be in the clear. 9590 was announced as for WEu, whilst 9645 for NAm had heavy co-channel, 11940 inaudible, and did not check the 7 MHz channel (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. RUSSIA/SEYCHELLES: Frequency changes for FEBA Radio, NF 7365, ex 7350 via IRK 250 kW / 224 degrees to South India, Maldives, Sri Lanka: 1400-1430 Mon-Wed Malayalam 1430-1500 Mon-Wed Telugu 1400-1445 Thu-Sun Malayalam 1445-1500 Thu-Sun Telugu 1500-1600 Daily English 1600-1615 Sun-Tue Sinhala 1600-1615 Wed/Fri/Sat Dhivehi 1600-1615 Thu Malay NF 9850, ex 9875 via ARM 100 kW / 147 degrees to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran: 1630-1730 Daily Persian 1730-1745 Sat/Sun Baluchi 1730-1745 Mon-Wed Turkmen 1730-1745 Thu Azeri 1730-1745 Fri Luri UZBEKISTAN/SEYCHELLES: Frequency change for FEBA Radio NF 7375, ex 7365 via TAC 100 kW / 131 degrees to North India, Nepal, Tibet: 0030-0115 Sun Hindi 0030-0045 Mon-Thu Bangla 0030-0045 Fri/Sat Bhojpuri 0045-0115 Mon/Wed-Sat Hindi 0045-0100 Tue Oriya 0100-0115 Tue Hindi (Observer, Bulgaria, May 4, via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. RVI Radio World: Slovakia to continue? RADIO WORLD - Sunday 2 May 2004 On Thursday we received news from Slovakia that the shortwave transmissions of Radio Slovakia International might be continued. Earlier it had been decided to stop as of July 1. Now members of the Parliamentary Media Committee have expressed their disagreement with the plan to stop shortwave broadcasts. The statement on the slovakian information site "Slovensko.com" says, quote: "MPs active in the Media Committee are now asking the Culture and the Finance Ministers to secure financing to the international service of the Slovak Radio. According to the director of the Slovak Radio (Jaroslav Reznik), short wave broadcasting is the most effective way to promote Slovakia abroad. That is why it should be retained." I called Martina Grenova of the English service of RSI and asked her whether she could confirm the news: SOUND: Martina Grenova (listen to the programme via audio link on this page) http://www.rvi.be/rvi_master/uk/radio_world/index.html The vice chairman of the Media Committee defined the possible cancellation of the international service as absurd during the time of Slovakia's EU entry, the statement says. But not all members agree. One MP thinks there are many other ways to promote Slovakia abroad. Another member of the same party says that Slovak ex-pats consider the shortwave service of importance to them. Anyway, the editor of the English service was not available for comment. If anything happens I will call Mr. Kubisch or Martina to get the details. (FRANS VOSSEN, RVi Radio World May 2 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. I just heard 1420 UTC Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation on 15748,00 kHz instead of nominal 15745 kHz with "Back to God Hour"- programme. 1430 back to normal programming, that´s familiar oldies. Reception was really nice. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. Radio Ondurman, l'emittente governativa dello stato africano del Sudan, ha confermato la sua schedala di trasmissione in onda corta. Dovrebbe essere in aria, il condizionale purtroppo è d'obbligo, ogni giorno dalle 0200 alle 0830 e dalle 1100 alle 2200 (orari UT) sui 7200 kHz. Per eventuali rapporti d'ascolto, l'indirizzo da utilizzare è P.O.Box 572 - Omdurman - Sudan. E' possibile contattarli anche per email all'indirizzo snrc@s... [troncatto] e dispongono pure di un sito internet raggiungibile all'URL http://www.sudanradio.net (Roberto Scaglione, http://www.bclnews.it May 3 via DXLD) ** TATARSTAN. Program "On the Tatarstan Wave" (former Voice of Tatarstan) has a new series of 4 QSL cards, which carry a set of comics on radio themes. Address your reports to: QSL Manager, P. O. Box 134, Kazan 420136, Russia 2 IRCs are needed to cover postage outside Russia/CIS (Ildus Ibatullin, Kazan, Russia, Signal May 1 via DXLD) ** THAILAND. Re comment in 04-074: "Direct 15395 not audible at this time" --- I think 15395 was dropped. I found this on the Web site of the Thai Government Public Relations Department: "Since 18 April 2004, Radio Thailand has broadcast its shortwave programs in English between 00.30 and 01.00 hr. GMT or 07.30-08.00 Bangkok time and between 03.00 and 03.30 hr. GMT or 10.00-10.30 Bangkok time on the new frequency of 5890 kilohertz. Between 00.30 and 01.00 hr. GMT, Radio Thailand's English language service is broadcasting to the east coast of the United States. And between 03.00 and 03.30 hr. GMT, Radio Thailand is broadcasting its English program to the west coast of the USA. Listeners in the east coast and in the west coast of the USA can listen to our English programs on the frequency of 5890 kilohertz from 18 April 2004." It's a rather long-winded way of putting it...hope they don't announce it like that :-) (Andy Sennitt, May 3, dxldyg via DXLD) Actually started 5890 March 29; overlapped with old directness a while (gh) Yes. The short version is that it was dropped on Apr 18th in favor of 5890 via Greenville at 0100, and Delano at 0300 (Mark J. Fine, Remington, Virginia, USA, ibid.) Starting from 18/04, Radio Thailand broadcasts beamed to North America are relayed via Delano and Greenville, USA, on 5890 kHz. Due to this, station cancelled its broadcasts from Udorn, which were on the air at 0030-0200 and 0300-0430 on 15395 kHz. (open_dx - Feodor Brazhnikov, Irkutsk, Russia, via Signal May 1 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Please note the following amendments in TRT A04 sked. DELETE 17630 kHz 1000-1500 UTC North Africa 37,38,46N EMR 500 Turkish ADD 17705 kHz 1000-1500 UTC North Africa 37,38,46N EMR 500 Turkish --------------------------------------- DELETE 15405 kHz 1230-1330 UTC Asia, Australia 30S,40,41,49,54,55,58N,59N EMR 500 English ADD 15535 kHz 1230-1330 UTC Asia, Australia 30S,40,41,49,54,55,58N,59N EMR 500 English --------------------------------------- DELETE 15425 kHz 0400-0700 UTC Asia 30,40,42 EMR 500 Turkish ADD 15225 kHz 0400-0700 UTC Asia 30,40,42 EMR 500 Turkish Best regards. (via Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, May 3, DXLD) ** UGANDA. Radio Uganda, 4976 and 5027, both heard with strong signals 01/05 + 03/05 1800-2100*, mixed programming, 4976 very clear, 5027 with a het. http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Kerch Radio heard 22/04 on 4151 kHz (SSB) at 2240-2244, SIO 434, with navigation warnings related to the military shooting practice in the area (open_dx - Vyacheslav Oleinik, Chisinau, Moldova, via Signal May 1 via DXLD) ** U K. 15495 Merlin Communications, presumed Rampisham, 1710-1720, test loop with instrumental music and English announcements (ID and web site), good on Apr 24 (Vashek Korinek, RSA, DXplorer May 3 via BC- DX via DXLD) 15495 1700-1730 Tue/Fri MNO Rampisham 500 kW 95 deg LEADING THE WAY WeAsia HR 4/4/0.5 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** UNITED KINGDOM. NEW HEAD OF BBC ARABIC APPOINTED | Text of press release by BBC World Service on 4 May BBC World Service has announced the appointment of a new Head of BBC Arabic, the oldest and largest of its 43 language services. Hosam El Sokkari, the current Head of BBC Arabic Online, will take up the post of Head of BBC Arabic. He is the first Arab to run the service since it began in 1938. He will start his appointment with a secondment to BBC News. While he is away Liliane Landor, current Acting Head of BBC World Service News and Current Affairs, will be seconded from BBC News as interim Head to run the Arabic service. "These appointments are key to implementing current BBC Arabic strategy, one of the aims of which is to greatly strengthen the ties between BBC News and the Arabic service. Hosam and Liliane will do this brilliantly," said Nigel Chapman, Acting Director of BBC World Service. "Hosam El Sokkari has a strong track record of innovation in the Arabic service. He has led Arabic Online (bbcarabic.com) with great imagination and success. He recently introduced interactive radio programming, which caught the imagination of many in the Arab world. He played a vital role during the Iraq war in generating vibrant debate on radio and online and involving our audiences in the heart of our output. "Liliane Landor, with her strong track record as a leader and wide experience of editing the BBC's flagship international news programmes, will bring flair and drive to the job of developing a contemporary news and information channel in Arabic. "She is brilliantly positioned to do this, with her understanding of the Arab world and her broad editorial experience at the heart of the world's leading news organisation," continued Nigel Chapman. Hosam El Sokkari was born and educated in Egypt. He worked in Finland and Germany as a cartoonist and newspaper journalist before joining Deutsche Welle as a correspondent in 1988. He joined the Arabic service in 1994 and in 1999 he was appointed Head of BBC Arabic Online. Liliane Landor was born in Lebanon and is a fluent Arabic speaker. She joined the BBC 14 years ago after first working as an interpreter and a print journalist. BBC Arabic has reporters across the Arab world and broadcasts around the clock. Soon after the start of the Iraq war in March 2003 it opened a new production centre in Cairo and now produces five hours of programming from Cairo each day. The award winning BBC Arabic Online is the leading news site in Arabic on the web and attracts around six million page impressions each month. Source: BBC World Service press release, London, in English 4 May 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. /Middle East: US-FUNDED RADIO AND TV GAIN GROUND - SURVEY | Text of report by US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) web site on 30 April After just six weeks on the air, the new US-funded Arabic language TV channel Alhurra (Arabic for "The Free One") has established itself as an important source of news and information for adults over the age of 15 in major cities across the Middle East, according to recent telephone surveys conducted by Ipsos-Stat, the well-respected French research company. The surveys were conducted in Lebanon (Beirut), Syria (Damascus, & Aleppo), United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi and Dubai), Egypt (Cairo and Alexandria), Kuwait (Kuwait City), Jordan (Amman, Irbid and Zarka) and Saudi Arabia (Riyadh and Jeddah) in early April and show that an average of 29 per cent of adults had watched Alhurra in the previous week. Past week viewing in Lebanon was 40 per cent; Syria 29 per cent; UAE 19 per cent; Egypt 18 per cent; Kuwait 44 per cent; Jordan 37 per cent and Saudi Arabia 19 per cent. In the surveys, randomly selected adults (15+) who live in houses with telephone and satellite dishes were questioned about their TV viewing. The survey also reported that in spite of increasing anti-American attitudes and suspicion of the motives of the United States in the region, 53 per cent of Alhurra viewers consider its news "very or somewhat reliable." Reliability figures were 70 per cent for Saudi Arabia; 54 per cent for Lebanon; 40 per cent for Egypt; 44 per cent for Jordan; 61 per cent for Kuwait; 65 per cent for UAE and 37 per cent for Syria. Additionally, the US-funded Radio Sawa has proven once again to be the most successful network of radio stations in the Middle East with 38 per cent of adults in five key countries tuning in to Radio Sawa, according to surveys conducted by ACNielsen in February 2004. Radio Sawa provides listeners an upbeat mix of Arabic and western pop music and comprehensive up-to-the-minute news. Surveys conducted in Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan, come on the heels of the survey out earlier this month that showed 73 per cent of Moroccans aged 15 and older were listening to Radio Sawa on a weekly basis. The latest survey reveals that 42 per cent of adults (15 and older) in Kuwait, 35 per cent in UAE and 27 per cent in Jordan are listening to Radio Sawa on a weekly basis on FM. In Egypt, where Radio Sawa is only available by mediumwave, 11 per cent of the adults were tuning in on a weekly basis. Qatar, which was surveyed in August of 2003, reported that 41 per cent of adults tune in on a weekly basis. The news credibility on Radio Sawa was also surveyed, with an average of 80 per cent of the listeners saying that Radio Sawa's news is "very or somewhat reliable." In individual countries, the numbers were 88 per cent in Egypt; 70 per cent in Jordan; 77 per cent in Qatar; 84 per cent in UAE; 83 per cent in Kuwait and 77 per cent in Morocco. "We are very encouraged by the preliminary results that we just received, but realize that many hurdles still exist. This job will not be easy, but with this research in hand we are much more confident that Alhurra can replicate the success that Radio Sawa has achieved in just two years," said Norman J Pattiz, Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governor's Middle East Committee. "These preliminary results are a wonderful indication that we are succeeding in the Broadcasting Board of Governors mission to bring reliable and credible news to the people in the Middle East," stated Kenneth Y Tomlinson, Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. "We are seeing progress everyday and are in it for the long-term." Alhurra, launched on 14 February 2004, is the latest and most technologically advanced television organization to enter the crowded Middle East satellite television market. The satellite channel is a 24-hour news and information network broadcast in Arabic. It can be seen in 22 countries throughout the region via Arabsat and Nilesat, the same satellites used by all major Arabic channels. Radio Sawa broadcasts over five hours of news daily and 300 newscasts per week - newscasts whose goal is to present accurate and balanced information about events in the Middle East and the world. News, along with its unique 50/50 mix of the biggest western and Arabic pop hits, has proven to be popular throughout the region. Surveys were conducted by Ipsos-Stat during the first two weeks of April. Ipsos-Stat is one of the leading research companies in the Middle East region, covering seven major Arab countries: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, United Arabs Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The ACNielsen surveys on Radio Sawa were face-to-face interviews conducted in Arabic February 2004, (Qatar July-August 2003). The sample size of 5737 adults, 15 years and older. There is a 2.9 per cent margin of error. Alhurra and Radio Sawa are operated by a non-profit corporation called "The Middle East Television Network, Inc." (MTN). MTN is financed by the American people through the US Congress. MTN receives this funding through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent federal agency. The BBG serves as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters. Source: Broadcasting Board of Governors web site, Washington, in English 30 Apr 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. New schedule for IBB (VOA and RFA) in Korean: 1300-1500 (ex 1200-1400) VOA on 7215 7235 9545 plus 648 MW till 1400 1500-1700 (ex 1400-1700) RFA on 7210 9385 13625 2000-2100 (ex 2100-2200) VOA on 6060 7125 15470 2100-2300 (ex 2200-2300) RFA on 7460 9385 12075 (Observer, Bulgaria, May 4, via DXLD) ** U S A. New schedule of DX-ing with Cumbre effective from April 9: 2100 Fri on 17650 Angel # 5 0030 Sun on 7315 Angel # 1 0500 Sat on 5745 Angel # 2 0430 Sun on 17780 Angel # 3 0500 Sat on 7315 Angel # 1 0630 Sun on 5745 Angel # 2 0600 Sat on 17780 Angel # 3 0730 Sun on 11730 Angel # 5 0730 Sat on 5745 Angel # 2 1200 Sun on 11565 Angel # 4 0730 Sat on 7315 Angel # 1 1430*Sun on 17560 Angel # 5 0800 Sat on 11565 Angel # 4 1530 Sun on 15105 Angel # 1 1000 Sat on 11565 Angel # 4 1600 Sun on 9930 Angel # 3 1230 Sat on 9495 Angel # 1 2030 Sun on 5745 Angel # 2 1500 Sat on 13760 Angel # 2 0330 Mon on 7315 Angel # 1 1930 Sat on 9495 Angel # 1 *not announced, but heard in BUL (Observer, Bulgaria, May 4, via DXLD) Did you confirm all the others by monitoring? ** U S A [non]. In his latest DX report, Dr. Floyd Layer of Terre Haute (TER-ah HOTE) in Indiana gives details of many QSLs he has received in recent time. Among these QSLs are the following cards:- VOA-NASB broadcast via WRMI Miami VOA card from Washington DC; also calendar, world map and 3 pins Radio Sweden, WRN relay via WRMI Miami - QSL card from Radio Sweden QSL card from Vatican Radio for their WRN relay via WRMI in Florida And also a card from Radio Netherlands for their WRN-WRMI relay In addition, a QSL letter from World Radio Network confirming these downlink relays from WRMI in Florida. However, both Radio Canada International and China Radio International state that they are unable to issue QSL cards for their downlink relays from the shortwave station in Florida (AWR Wavescan May 2 via DXLD) Why unable? Do they not believe they exist? (gh) ** U S A. Hi Glenn, WBCQ - "The Planet", Monticello, Maine is seldom heard station in my QTH. Today I managed to pick up their signal at 1225 UT with program "Christian Media News Network" from Oregon. Frequency was a bit off nominal: 17494.8-9 kHz and audio surprisingly somewhat distorted. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I gave the DX block hour after WOR another listen UT Sun May 2 at 0300-0400 on WWCR 5070: ``Radio Weather`` was as annoying as before, the host still pushing creationism; and glorying in Faraday allegedly having been a believer. Mentioned that show is not only on WBCQ and WWCR but now also on WHRI and WJIE. Again much more palatable was the following semihour, DX Radio School, in which Bill Lauterbach talked at length about K1MAN. WWCR`s printed schedule as of 01 May has been received. A quick glance thru it showed no changes for WORLD OF RADIO, but I couldn`t help noticing that Ragam is gone, the Tamil music show which ran since January, Sundays at 1300-1500 on 9985, tsk. Now filling those two hours is yet another pseudoshow from creationist Rod Hembree, ``Quick Study Radio``. However http://www.ragamradio.com/ still claims to exist on 9985 as of May 4 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Air America is purchasing the block time for every outlet they are on. It is analogous to the station that sells time to the local colon cleanser quack that buys his time by the hour. This is the only way this organization can get any airtime. They have to be on the secondary stations or bottom feeder type stations in order to find their outlet. They have not been able to find any commercial stations to take their programming in the normal way syndicated or network programming is sold. If, they provide the kind of programming that can attract advertisers, then commercial stations will take a chance. Advertisers want sales. The only bias an advertiser has is for the color of money --- that's all. They could care less about the political ideology of the people. Provide an audience and they will attract advertisers (Paul Smith, W4KNX, Sarasota, FL, April 22, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Radio Log-540 is loud and clear at my agency's office in Dorchester near Upham's Corner. I have not yet heard an ID but just the music previously described - laid back R&B with female lead vocalists. I've heard them around 8:30 am before work and 4:30 pm after work (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, April 18, NRC-AM via DXLD) CNN feature had them pronouncing it L-O-G ** U S A. RADIO PIRATES CHALLENGE FCC EQUIPMENT SEIZURE By The Associated Press 3 May 2004 SAN FRANCISCO - An unlicensed pirate station booted from the airwaves in October challenged the Federal Communications Commission on April 30 in federal court, where it sought the return of its seized equipment and the community's underground voice. Mark Vermeulen, a lawyer for San Francisco Liberation Radio, argued before U.S. District Judge Susan Illston that the seizure of the station's equipment in the October raid came without proper notice and violated constitutional protections of due process and the First Amendment. "It's a bedrock principle that parties have a right to pre-seizure notice and a right to be heard," Vermeulen said in court. . . http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=13270 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Subject: KXNT-840 IBOC/Las Vegas pirate I was in my car a good bit today and had the opportunity to check KXNT's IBOC signal at various locations in the Las Vegas valley. One thing that seems "improved" over last year's demonstration is the absence of "digihash" on 820 and 860. Last year there were some traces on those frequencies, but this year those channels are clean--- maybe due to the new IBOC codec? 830 and 850 are still useless for any DX while IBOC is running, the same as last year. I checked my local pirate "Phat Rock 1650" today for the first time in a few weeks and the signal is much improved---I had a solid signal all the way from the downtown Las Vegas exit on Highway 95 to past the Charleston/I-215 intersection to the west. They are even running spots now for Jim Beam whiskey, local night spots, and local ISPs! I checked their web site upon arriving home and discovered they now have streaming audio (Windows Media) of their signal: http://www.phatrockradio.com You have to admit it's really ballsy to be so blatant an operation during NAB week! What's really funny is that they claim (on their web site) to be a 100 mW station. That's nonsense; I'd bet they're running well over 100 watts. It's normally audible along Highway 95 north from the Interstate 15/Highway 95 intersection near downtown all the way up to the Centennial Hills exit, a distance of about 10 miles. You can also hear it on Sahara and Charleston all the way from those exits on Interstate 15 west to Red Rock Canyon. And the stock radio in my 4Runner is nothing to brag about (Harry Helms, W7HLH, Las Vegas, NV DM26, April 21, NRC-AM via DXLD) I'd doubt the new codec makes any difference at all. That's because the codec doesn't affect the number or spacing of the IBOC subcarriers that cause the interference. I'm just guessing here, but perhaps they are transmitting the subcarriers at a low level as they don't care about trying to cover a normal radius. If they cover the convention area, that's all they need to worry about (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) Ibiquity to offer stations incentive to adopt IBOC: http://www.radioworld.com/dailynews/one.php?id=5111 More mainstream listeners subscribing to satellite radio: http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/petrovik042204.html Sirius subscriber base increases 35% in quarter: http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=121425&pt=todaysnews NPR experiments with "Tomorrow Radio" (scroll down toward end for comments about NPR seeing itself in competition with XM and Sirius; gee, I thought "public" radio wasn't interested in $$$ like those filthy capitalists!): http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/8493124.htm Clear Channel owes $25 million in back taxes: http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=121428&pt=todaysnews Powell opposed to license revocations for "indecency" (truly remarkable quotes; contrast his words with the FCC's actions --- maybe it's just election year posturing plus revenue generation, like a highway speed trap???): http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=121430&pt=todaysnews (all via Harry Helms W7HLH, Las Vegas, NV DM26, NRC-AM) ** U S A. This past Sunday on the CBS Sunday Morning Show they had a segment called "On The Radio" which will be a repeating segment for the month of May. In the first segment they covered such things as: brief history of WGN and WLS, current radio personalities, corporate buy out of small AM stations, FCC indecency matters and more. Not sure how long the segment was maybe 10 minutes or so but still I found it interesting even though it just skimmed the topics. In any event I thought I'd mention it here in case it is of interest to others. 73, (Tom Kenny NJ2DX, May 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Glenn: This evening, KKGM 1630 kHz Fort Worth is testing on the air. The station announced that programming (English Lang) will consist of southern gospel music, ministry and sports. Full time programming could begin this weekend. 73, (Mike Beu, KD5DSQ, Austin, Texas, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Had been KNAX with Alfa y Omega religion in Spanish, // some lower MW frequency (gh) ** VIETNAM. 13740, Voice of Vietnam in English. P-F at peaks. 1913 4/25/04. (W) re recent visits to Vietnam by US servicemen for first time since V's "war of independence." "Radio Voice of Vietnam" ID's. The signal was completely wiped out at 1920 by the sudden (re-) emergence of R. Nacional de Venezuela on the same frequency (probably a Cuba relay). Assume that RNV had technical Problems and their signal was off the air for some reason. Vietnam emerged co-channel in their absence but was obliterated when they returned?? (Jim Clar, NY, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Another ad-hoc Cuban relay? 13740 also used for Venezuela relay later, China earlier UNIDENTIFIED. "Latest (1 SW) Recordings" 4/5 --- Listen to this recording(s) at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 5954.98 unID religious station 0120 UTC 121kb 05/2004. Last night between 0120 - 0200 UTC I listened to a religious station with good signal on 5954.98 kHz. The program was called "Impacto" with talk and religious music. My guess is Radio Cultural, Guatemala City but I´m not sure. Is it a reactivation of Cultural on this frequency or another station? From 0200 UTC heavy interference from nearby channel. 4/May/2004 12:17 Saludos Cordiales desde "La Mitad del Mundo"! (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WRTH A04 schedules Hello Glenn, there is a new file available for download from the WRTH website http://www.wrth.com/WRTHA04WEB.pdf which contains over 200 A04 broadcasting schedules for International, Foreign service and Target broadcasters. At the end of the main schedules listing is a complete 'By Frequency' list. The file is just under 300k and is 87 pages long. The file is also available on my personal web site at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/g4ucj Regards, Sean D. Gilbert International Editor - WRTH (World Radio TV Handbook) Email: sean.gilbert @ wrth.com Fax: +44 (0) 709 2332287 WRTH - THE Directory of Global Broadcasting (May 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) X-BAND LIST Can anyone provide the source of an up-to-date expansion band list? (Steve McDonald, NRC-AM via DXLD) Try this: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?freq=1610&fre2=1700 (Mike Westfall, N6KUY, WDX6O, Los Alamos, New Mexico (DM65uv) NRC AM via DXLD) I like this list as it contains formats and slogans. It seems to be up to date. http://www.dxing.info/lists/x_na.dx (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ THE PERFECT RECEIVER For nigh onto 50 years I've been in search of the perfect receiver, and while I've had many of the world`s best (and worst) receivers I've yet to find the perfect one. That is why I've gone through so many, looking for that one "magical" set (comment, Mr Magician?) that I know must exist somewhere! I once wrote a "tongue in cheek" paper about "the perfect receiver" and it's long lost, but some of the basic characteristics were. 1. Tune DC to Daylight (any RF frequency you can imagine). 2. Tune any MODE (AM, FM, SSB, ISB, you name it). 3. Fully user controllable by thought, no front panel or computer needed. You think of a station anywhere (even outer space), the receiver would automatically tune to the correct frequency, mode etc. 4. Have sensitivity such, that if a station is on the air, regardless of frequency/band conditions it would sniff out the signal and pick it up, even when propagation wasn't there. If you lived in Salt Lake City and wanted to listen to Radio Nepal on 3495 KHz (station/frequency made up for an example) at high noon, you would hear it. 5. Interference rejection. With such great sensitivity there is bound to be more than one station on frequency. The set would automatically select the ONE signal you want to hear, reject all others and reject all noise, atmospheric or man made as well. No intervention on the part of the listener would be required. 6. Neighborhood friendly. The set would not require any ugly towers, outside wires or other apparatus that the most sophisticated neighbor might find objectionable. All it would use would be a short, stubby, unbreakable 6 inch antenna. 7. And finally, it would then log the station you heard, write the reception report to the station and send the station 15 minute reminders to QSL till they got so buried in paper that they'd be glad to QSL. The perfect radio, NOT!! For me the magic of Radio is just that, the magic. All the uncertainty, waiting, searching and looking for the right combination of propagation, frequency, time, etc., to come together to make logging that RARE one something special. In other words, PATIENCE! You can throw all the money in the world into antennas, receivers, etc.; if you don't have that one item, PATIENCE, to listen, listen, listen, tweak tweak tweak the (often) secondary controls of your receiver, then you'll never be a great DXer. LEARN TO USE WHAT YOU HAVE TO ITS MAXIMUM CAPABILITY! (Look who's talking --- I've probably gone through more receivers than anyone else out there). It is all in knowing how to get the most out of your equipment. Right now I'm using a 1955 Hallicrafters SX-71 receiver, a double conversion, general coverage set that I've modified some for HIGH performance. MOST people, if they sat down to use it would throw up their hands in disgust at trying to determine what frequency they are actually tuned to! Oh, they could ascertain that they had WWV on 2.5, 5.0, 10.0 or 15.0 MHz etc. But what about something on 9885 or whatever? I can do it, I've learned how. I've made up calibration charts every 25 KHz in the SWL bands, I can interpolate to 10 KHz and "usually" within 5 KHz using the outboard Xtal calibrator. For those times that I can't get closer than 10 kHz, I "cheat" and use a digital spotting set tied to the same antenna. HOWEVER, often what is a nice reasonably strong signal on the SX-71 is often inaudible on the spotting set and I have to "wait" for it to rise above the sets noise floor. SO MUCH FOR MODERN SETS (though I must be honest and admit that the "spotter set" is a Grundig YB-300, often overloaded by the regular outdoor antennas and having terrible image rejection). Again, PATIENCE is the key word! 73 from the "Beaconeers Lair". (Phil, KO6BB, Atchley, DX begins at the noise floor! Merced, Central California, 37.18N 120.29W CM97sh, May 3, swl at qth.net via DXLD) O Gormans/Purley O Gormans, mentioned by Arthur last month, are certainly still in business and have been established for over 40 years selling all major makes of shortwave radios and shortwave antennas. Their two shops are at 69 Sheep Street, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX26 6JW and 42 High Street, Kidlington, Oxfordshire OX5 2DN. Mail order sales numbers are 0845 330 3655 and 0845 330 6406. Their website is http://www.ogormans.co.uk Another long established UK firm stocking a wide range of radios, including shortwave, is Purley Radio which has been trading for 55 years. Their shop is at 5 Purley Parade, High Street, Purley, Surrey and they have an excellent website at http://www.simplyradios.com Phone number is 0208 668 0908 (Mike Barraclough, May World DX Club Contact via Alan Roe, DXLD) A "groovy" story --- By MAY WONG The Associated Press Thursday, April 29, 2004; 10:58 AM SAN JOSE, Calif. - Two physicists have discovered a way to digitally map old, archived audio recordings and reconstruct the sound. Four years after hearing a radio report on the challenge of preserving aging audio recordings, particle physicist Carl Haber's newfound method of rescuing the classics is music to archivists' ears. Haber and a fellow physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Vitaliy Fadeyev, have found a way to digitally map the grooves in warped or damaged shellac records and wax cylinders - and play them back using a sort of virtual needle. To do so, they use the same optical scanning method - powered by a microscope and computer technology - that physicists employ for measuring the journeys of subatomic particles. The technique detects and filters any scratches, as well as clicks and pops from dust. It works with vinyl too, though such records aren't as fragile to need it. Roughly 2.5 million music and spoken-word recordings are stored in the Library of Congress - the project's sponsor - but some are more than a century old and very delicate. Archivists risk further damage if they use a real stylus to play and re-record them. © 2004 The Associated Press (via Mark Durengerger, CO, NRC-AM via DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ NASWA FILES TO PROTECT US PROGRAM LISTENERS FROM BPL QRM NASWA today filed the following comment on the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on BPL. Thanks to the NASWA team that helped make it something we can all be proud of. A link to the .pdf version will be forwarded when it pops up from the FCC swamp. In the meantime here it is in text format. Use a fixed space font like Courier to view the Table C-11 from the NTIA study report. Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of Amendment of Part 15 regarding new requirements and measurement guidelines for Access Broadband over Power Line Systems )))) ET Docket No. 04-37 COMMENTS ON NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING (NPRM) May 3, 2004 The North American Shortwave Association (NASWA) represents the interests of people in the United States who rely on free access to international news and cultural programming via short-wave radio broadcasts. NASWA UNDERSTANDS FCC OBJECTIVES NASWA understands the FCC's desire to allow market forces to provide price competition to broadband services like BPL, DSL and broadband cable TV. NASWA also understands that the FCC recognizes its obligations under existing regulations to protect licensed services from harmful interference by Part 15 devices and systems such as BPL. INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS The FCC is required to observe the rights of other nations to broadcast without interference to listeners in the United States on frequencies allocated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) exclusively for this purpose. The United States is a member of the ITU, an international organization within the United Nations system. The USA is a signatory to the most recent International Radio Regulations convention. ITU Radio Regulation 4.11 reads: ``Member States recognize that among frequencies which have long-distance propagation characteristics, those in the bands between 5 and 30 MHz are particularly useful for long-distance communications; they agree to make every possible effort to reserve these bands for such communications. Whenever frequencies in these bands are used for short-range or medium-distance communications, the minimum power necessary shall be employed.`` ITU Radio Regulation 15.12 reads, ``Administrations shall take all practicable and necessary steps to ensure that the operation of electrical apparatus or installations of any kind, including power and telecommunication distribution networks, but excluding equipment used for industrial, scientific and medical applications, does not cause harmful interference to a radiocommunication service and, in particular, to a radionavigation or any other safety service operating in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations.`` ITU regulations allocate certain frequency bands between 5.9 and 26.1 megahertz for the exclusive use of international broadcasters. Early testing by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) has shown some BPL systems will interfere with international broadcast transmissions. The ITU regulations require the FCC to prevent harmful interference from Part 15 devices and systems, not just ``mitigate`` interference. (Mitigate: vt 1. to cause to become less harsh or hostile; 2. to make less severe or painful. -- Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.) NASWA supports the NTIA position that international broadcasting must be protected from harmful BPL interference. The USA expects other countries, targeted by Voice of America (VOA), Radio Marti, and other Radio Free (insert name of target) services, will protect such broadcasts from interference. The USA is obliged to provide reciprocal protection. NTIA recognizes this need as evidenced by this excerpt from their BPL Phase 1 study report, (Appendix C, Para. C.2.6): ``While the intended receivers of the VOA's transmissions generally are abroad, there are numerous broadcasting receivers owned and operated by foreign citizens and government personnel in the United States that could be susceptible to BPL interference because of proximity to power lines. Protecting other administrations' broadcasting is critical because of reciprocity. The current ITU-R B-03, Seasonal Broadcasting Schedule, shows multiple administrations broadcasting to the United States for every timeframe within a 24- hour period. ``The 18 bands allocated to the Federal Government for broadcasting service in the HF portion of the spectrum are listed in Table C-11. Because of frequency reuse capabilities inherent in HF broadcasting, one should expect that broadcast receivers located in the United States are tuned within these bands.`` Table C-11: Frequency Bands Allocated to the Federal Government for Broadcasting Service in the 1.7-80 MHz Band Frequency BW (kHz) Frequency BW (kHz) Frequency BW (kHz) 5900-5950 50 11650-12050 400 15600-15800 200 5950-6200 250 12050-12100 50 17480-17550 70 7300-7350 50 13570-13600 30 17550-17900 350 9400-9500 100 13600-13800 200 18900-19020 120 9500-9900 400 13800-13870 70 21450-21850 400 11600-11650 50 15100-15600 500 25670-26100 430 Total Bandwidth (BW) = 3,720 kHz THE FCC PROPOSAL IS IMPRACTICAL In its NPRM the FCC acknowledges that the present Part 15 emission limits will often be inadequate to protect listeners to the International Broadcast Service from BPL interference. The FCC's expectation of interference is supported by test evidence submitted by the NTIA and ARRL in filings in this and the NOI Docket 03-104 proceeding. Instead of addressing the interference issue directly by adopting either of NASWA's previous recommendations in response to the NOI Docket 03-104, the FCC proposes a complex and, what NASWA considers to be, impractical procedure to hopefully minimize the impact of the interference. (NASWA previously recommended that Part 15 radiation limits be tightened to avoid interference to the International Broadcast Service or BPL transmissions be relocated to frequencies outside the HF range.) The FCC's failure to address the root problem will eventually result in the failure of BPL as a viable competitor for DSL and cable TV broadband. That is not what NASWA, the BPL industry, nor the FCC desire. The FCC's proposed procedure is impractical for the following reasons: The FCC proposes to impose on the victim the burden of identifying, reporting, proving and following up on complaints of interference. In this case the victim is the largely non-technical international broadcast listener. In theory, once notified, the BPL service provider must quickly activate dynamic frequency agility in order to move the energy to a frequency that does not cause interference to the entity that complained. Of course the energy may now be interfering with another user of the HF spectrum who will then complain. An endless feedback loop could thus be formed. Each complaint will result in a change to the energy-density spectrum and each change could result in a new complaint. As a class, international broadcast listeners are not technically astute. Most listeners know only how to pull up the whip antenna on their radio, activate the ``on`` switch, select the frequency they want to listen to, and adjust the volume. Unlike amateur radio or professional operators, who are required to demonstrate a certain level of technical competency in order to obtain an FCC license or employment, international broadcast listeners are not licensed (nor should they be) and cannot be expected to know the interference they are receiving has the identifying signature of a BPL signal. If such technically naïve persons are able to figure out to whom to complain, it is inevitable that their complaints will often be in error. The result will be skepticism, disbelief, and denial by the BPL industry. The cost to investigate erroneous interference reports will be borne by either the BPL industry or the FCC or both. The burden of proof will be on the unskilled listener to demonstrate to the BPL provider or the FCC enforcement function that the interference claim is valid. To expect unskilled listeners to prove that BPL is the cause of their interference problem is unreasonable and makes the FCC proposal impractical. A better solution must be found. International broadcasters change frequencies as a function of time of day, season of the year, and time within the eleven-year solar sunspot cycle. If the FCC insists on implementing its proposed approach, BPL providers will incur significant costs as they react to these changes in real time. If BPL is ever to become a viable alternative to cable and DSL broadband access, operating costs must be minimized. The FCC's proposal has the opposite effect. To be effective, the FCC's proposed rules must require BPL operators to incur increased costs by mandating near-real-time response to interference complaints and a staff standing by the telephone to receive and act upon such complaints. If the FCC insists on implementing its proposed approach, the FCC must mandate a specific response time for interference complaints to be resolved. In the NPRM the FCC proposes no particular response time for the BPL provider to react. Any interference to international broadcasting is illegal under both international radio regulations and the FCC's own Part 15 regulations. The BPL provider could delay its response indefinitely as they tell the victim that the problem is being investigated or that the interference is not coming from their BPL signals. The response time should be as fast as possible. Ten minutes is suggested as a reasonable time delay for correction of a problem. If the problem is not corrected within the specified time, the BPL service must cease operation, as required by the FCC Part 15 regulations, until the problem can be corrected or a third party arbitrator can make a responsibility determination. If the FCC insists on implementing its proposed approach, fines must be prescribed in the FCC Part 15 regulations to enforce timely response to interference complaints. NASWA suggests fines up to $10,000 per day per complaint not resolved within the prescribed time limit would be sufficient incentive to the BPL industry to respond in a timely way. This suggested fine amount is consistent with fines levied upon licensed services that violate FCC regulations. If the FCC insists on implementing its proposed approach, the FCC must mandate that industry ``customer service`` representatives and technicians be on duty 24 hours per day and 7 days per week to take interference complaints and be able to quickly activate frequency agile technology to eliminate the interference. BPL industry ``customer service`` representatives must be fluent in major foreign languages as many who rely on international radio broadcasts in the USA are not fluent in English. The cost to the BPL providers of such overhead and the general lack of foreign language fluency in the USA labor pool makes the FCC's proposed procedure impractical. The FCC does not propose any third party entity to arbitrate disputes. If the FCC insists on implementing its proposed approach, it is likely that the enforcement function of the FCC will become that de facto arbitrator. The FCC will become burdened with such complaints when BPL systems proliferate and BPL providers, themselves overloaded with complaints, fail to respond in a timely manner. The additional burden on the FCC enforcement function will raise the cost to the taxpayer and possibly raise FCC user fees to the BPL industry as the cost of enforcement is transferred to the industry that is causing the added expense. Such disputes will make implementation of the proposed procedure burdensome to all concerned, impractical and expensive. Many international broadcast listeners are tourists, foreign students or immigrants to this country with limited English language ability. These people use short-wave radios to keep in touch with events in their country of origin by listening to foreign broadcasts in their native language. These victims of BPL interference cannot be expected to arm themselves with knowledge about BPL interference signatures, industry data base(s), identities of local BPL providers, where to call to register a complaint, or to whom to appeal when no action results from their complaint. NASWA believes that is asking too much of people who are not proficient in BPL technology, the English language, or FCC procedures. The FCC has elected not to standardize the modulation format for BPL transmission. The spectral signature of BPL interference will be different for each type of modulation. There will likely be as many interference signatures as there are BPL equipment standards. Even if international broadcast listeners could be reached with instructive material to teach them what BPL interference sounds like, the many different BPL interference signatures will make it impossible to conduct such training on anything other than a local level. It is likely that power companies or third party BPL service providers will not be particularly interested in conducting such training for the general public in their service areas. Many international broadcast listeners use portable receivers when traveling around the USA. Such listeners cannot be expected to know the contact information for reporting BPL interference in each area they travel through. The proposed procedure is impractical. CAN BPL BROADBAND ACCESS REPLACE INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING? Some may argue that the broadband access provided by wide deployment of BPL will allow listeners to access overseas media via the Internet so they will not need international broadcasting to provide a link. Today, access to foreign broadcasts is free for the price of a portable short-wave radio selling in the neighborhood of $100 or less. The suggestion that students or immigrants, often living at or near the poverty level, should be forced to subscribe to an Internet service to receive programming they now get for free is unfair and discriminates against many of the poorest people in our society. The suggestion that tourists need to lug a computer with them to listen to the news in their native language is also unrealistic. Some listeners prefer to listen to international broadcasts while traveling in their cars. There is presently no way to access such broadcasts via broadband services including BPL from a moving automobile. THE BEST SOLUTION In view of the impracticality of the procedure proposed by the FCC in the NPRM, NASWA suggests that the FCC withdraw the subject NPRM, revisit the issue, and address the actual problem. The problem is that current Part 15 radiation limits are insufficient to prevent BPL interference to duly authorized international broadcasters operating on ITU-protected frequencies between 5.9 and 26.1 MHz on receivers of a type normally used and marketed in the USA for in-home or mobile reception. There are two possible technical solutions. One possible solution is for the FCC to mandate that BPL systems permanently suppress the use of all frequencies that are allocated by the ITU for international broadcasting. Because every user of the HF spectrum will likely request similar protection, few frequencies would remain below 30 MHz for use by BPL services. The second possible solution, and the one which NASWA prefers, would be to confine BPL emissions to frequencies above 30 MHz with appropriate notches in the spectrum to protect specific local public safety and broadcast allocations. Entire bands covering aeronautical, amateur radio, space research, marine, government, industrial, and radio astronomy allocations must also be protected with broadband notches. For example, in a given area only about half the VHF television channels are occupied at most. In the 1940's when the current VHF allocation table was devised, TV sets had poor adjacent channel selectivity. Thus many VHF TV channels lie vacant, a waste of precious spectrum. Modern TVs must reject adjacent channel signals in order to be compatible with cable TV systems that use all VHF channels. Modern TVs are tolerant of BPL signals radiating on these vacant channels. Five vacant 6 MHz channels, out of the 12 VHF channels available, would allow a BPL provider a bandwidth of 30 MHz and largely obviate the need to use any HF frequencies. Even in the crowded Washington DC - Baltimore, Los Angeles, or New York City TV markets, channels 3, 6, 8, 10 and 12 are available for BPL. That is 30 MHz of wasted available bandwidth that could be used for interference- free BPL signals. Unlike HF users, who change frequencies often, frequencies of VHF services are stable over time. Because VHF allocations do not shift with time of day, season of the year, or state of the eleven-year solar sunspot cycle, there would be no need for the BPL provider to establish a costly system of dealing with interference complaints in near-real time. Once notches are established for a specific local area, there should be little need to change them for years. BPL providers could then avoid most of the cost of dedicating personnel to operating dynamic, frequency-agile systems in real time in response to telephone complaints and international broadcaster frequency changes. By minimizing operating costs the BPL industry will be more likely to achieve the FCC's desired result by becoming economically viable competitors to broadband cable and DSL services. Respectfully submitted, Richard A. D'Angelo Executive Director North American Shortwave Association 45 Wildflower Road Levittown, PA 19057 ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (via Joe Buch, DE, May 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ The NASWA filing and that of all 1011 others who filed comments on the NPRM are now available for download from the FCC web site. I commend for your attention comments from the ARRL, Gary Pearce KN4AQ, Click on this link and then scroll down to the comment you want to download. Click on "COMMENT" under the address for the organization or person submitting: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/websql/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.hts?ws_mode=retrieve_list&id_proceeding=04-37 ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ At present it`s the third item, 20 pages pdf, and yes, also very well done (gh) BPL IN SAULT STE MARIE - A REPORT Hi, For those who responded to previous comments I had made about BPL in the Soo, I have posted a report , sound files and photos of the BPL installation in the Soo in the Files area of the Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nobplcanada/ The group is moderated by Bob Chandler VE3SRE. Get your membership, and then have a look at the files. The mpg files play fine in MS Media Player. They seem to go a bit off in Quicktime Player. The photos are all standard jpeg. The report is a pdf file. It contains a few photos, a map of the test installation, analysis of the noise levels and an extensive pertinent bibliography. The situation in the Soo has reached a complete impass between the local Soo Industry Canada office, PUC Telecom and local hams. Discussion is almost dead and ham radio is being shut out of the process. If we don't start acting soon, we will have high noise levels in affected reas and no recourse. The sound files cover several of the SWL bands. The BPL noise levels in the Soo were able at times to obliterate WWV at 15 and 20 MHz, as well as many of the weaker short wave atations. The Soo installation has the potential to damage or eliminate short wave listening in any of the bands from 9 MHz up. Have a look and post comments on the NoBPLCanada group. This area is still for the ODXA. 73 (Bob Hawkins VE3AGC, May 3, ODXA via DXLD) UTILITY EXPERIMENTS WITH INTERNET OVER POWER LINES The Associated Press 5/2/04 6:38 PM http://wizzer.advance.net/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?d0330_BC_PA--PPL-Internet&&news&newsflash-financial ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- An electric utility in eastern Pennsylvania has launched its fourth marketplace trial of a technology that allows customers to get high-speed Internet access over their power lines. Allentown's PPL Corp. is one of more than a dozen electric companies nationwide that are experimenting with using power lines to deliver broadband Internet. Most people who get high-speed Internet now receive it through their telephone jack or cable television line. PPL started testing the service about a year ago in Whitehall Township and Emmanaus in the Lehigh Valley. Some customers in a third township in Northampton County got the service in the fall. The fourth test recently began in Upper Macungie Township. The utility said that for now, it is selling the service for a base price of about $40 a month. Customers can expect speeds equivalent to DSL service, carried over phone lines, but a little slower than cable Internet. All three broadband modes are several times faster than traditional access through a modem. Like other utilities, PPL isn't quite ready for a full-scale deployment of the technology. "We're meeting with very good results, and that's the reason we're expanding," said David Kelley, president of PPL TelCom, a subsidiary of PPL Corp. The company's goal is to perfect a system that would allow customers to get on the Net by plugging into an electrical outlet, or using an antenna to pick up a wireless signal from a transmitter. The company is now testing both transmission methods. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell said a year ago that power companies were "within striking distance" of making electrical lines the third major way to get broadband Internet into people's homes. The prospect of piggybacking Internet data onto power lines has raised some complaints from shortwave radio operators, who worry that it could disrupt radio signals. Other groups, citing concern about radio interference, have also urged the government to take a cautious approach to approving the technology. They include the National Academy of Sciences, Aeronautical Radio Inc., and the National Telecommunications and Information Agency, which represents federal agencies that use high-frequency radio channels. PPL said it has received only four complaints about shortwave radio interference since it began its trials. The company sells electricity to 1.3 million customers in Pennsylvania. ------ Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) COMMENTARY ++++++++++ ``EASTERN LOCAL TIME`` So, back to that ELT thing. While I'm still the new guy and can genuinely plead ignorance, what exactly is the logic behind having people in "the West" ("West", here, apparently defined as it was circa 1800) report their loggings in Eastern time? I could understand UTC. After all, it's the standard used for all other radio loggings I'm aware of and would inconvenience everyone pretty much equally (even those in the UK during the summer time). But Eastern time? I don't log in Eastern time. None of the logging programs I've seen have any provision for logging in Eastern time. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my logging program to spit out a log report in Eastern time so I don't have to manually edit all the times before submitting the log (which I probably won't submit anyway now that I'm so confused about what DX actually is, so I guess that sorts itself out rather nicely). Sure, I could fudge the times and enter Eastern time as UT, but then my loggings would be incompatible with the rest of the radio world and my MW loggings would be inconsistent with my SW loggings. I'd bet many of the people in the Eastern time zone don't log in Eastern time. I'm obviously missing something here. I don't mean to be presumptuous about this, but I've been pondering this ELT thing for several weeks and can honestly see no logic to it other than convenience for those in the Eastern time zone, somewhat at the expense of those not in the Eastern time zone (particularly those in the portions of Indiana in the Eastern time zone that do not adopt daylight saving time, and probably the folks in Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and American Samoa). If this has been beaten to death previously, please just say so and ignore my ramblings. My understanding of the why's and wherefore's of ELT are hardly essential. I'm willing to accept that this is just the way it is, though I do feel compelled to at least ask why before being beaten into submission. :-) (Jay Heyl, Orange, CA, NRC-AM via DXLD) Jay, Some of us out west have asked this question many times. Some things are carried over as obsolete ideas from the far distant past. Whether it makes sense or not is not at question. This is just traditional. I could say lots of stuff but its not necessary other than to say, I would not hold my breath expecting things to change. (Kevin Redding, Mesa, Arizona, ibid.) GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) was based on the concept of using the daily rotation of the earth to mark exactly one day. This was done my measuring the time that certain stars were observed to transit the zenith, or pass directly "overhead" (discounting the slant angle). A few decades ago, scientists developed the rubidium clock and the cesium clock, which measure the vibrations per second of atoms of these elements, when excited by externally-applied energy. When these non-varying signals were compared to the astronomical day, it was discovered that the rotation of the earth varied, mainly slow, but sometimes fast, compared to the atomic clocks. The drift rate was about one second per year, generally, and this gave rise to the "leap second" which kept the two time scales in reasonably close agreement. In the past few years the rotation has stabilized and the leap seconds have not been needed. The base time scale was then called UT0 (U - T - zero) and small corrections for the precession and spin wobble of the earth`s axis, when applied, gave UT1 and UT2. The synthesis of all these corrected values then is called UTC (Universal Time, Coordinated) (or, temps universel coordiné, if you listen to CHU). I believe that GPS time is keyed to the original time scale when the GPS satellites were placed in service and the offset is somewhere near 15 seconds, but this is corrected in the receivers. GPS receivers need to synthesize the exact time, in the receiver, to know the travel time (and thus the distance) to each satellite, three being needed to get a 2-d fix on the earth's surface. GPS time is quite exact therefore. Most SW DXers keep time in UTC which is nice because the idea of daylight-shifting-time* is totally absent. Imagine cutting off your head, then standing on it, to gain height. *(credit Glenn Hauser). I believe the use of Eastern Tine in Musings was the preference of ERC [Ernie Cooper] when he did Musings. As such he got 100% of the votes, since he did 100% of the editing work. It was just an accepted thing, back then. Hope this is of some interest (Bob Foxworth, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 05 - 31 MAY 2004 Solar activity levels are expected to range from very low to moderate for the forecast period. Isolated moderate activity is possible from Region 601 and from returning old Region 597. 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 15 – 16, 21 – 24 and 30 - 31 May due to recurrent coronal hole high-speed streams. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to minor storm levels. Unsettled to active conditions are possible beginning late on 05 May through 07 May due to effects from a weak coronal hole high- speed stream. Unsettled to active conditions are also possible on 20 - 22 May due to recurrent coronal hole effects. The remainder of the interval is expected to be quiet to unsettled. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2004 May 04 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 May 04 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2004 May 05 95 20 4 2004 May 06 95 15 3 2004 May 07 90 15 3 2004 May 08 90 10 3 2004 May 09 90 8 3 2004 May 10 90 8 3 2004 May 11 90 8 3 2004 May 12 95 8 3 2004 May 13 95 10 3 2004 May 14 95 10 3 2004 May 15 95 10 3 2004 May 16 95 8 3 2004 May 17 95 8 3 2004 May 18 100 10 3 2004 May 19 100 12 3 2004 May 20 100 20 4 2004 May 21 100 15 3 2004 May 22 100 12 3 2004 May 23 100 10 3 2004 May 24 100 8 3 2004 May 25 100 8 3 2004 May 26 95 8 3 2004 May 27 90 10 3 2004 May 28 90 12 3 2004 May 29 85 10 3 2004 May 30 85 10 3 2004 May 31 85 12 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1229, DXLD) ###