DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-092, June 13, 2004 edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2004 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1233: Mon 0100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [previous 1232] Mon 0430 on WBCQ 7415, webcast http://wbcq.us Mon 1600 on WBCQ after-hours http://wbcq.com repeated weekdaily Wed 0930 on WWCR 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html WORLD OF RADIO 1233 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1233h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1233h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1233.html [soon] WORLD OF RADIO 1233 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1233.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1233.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1233 in MP3, the true shortwave sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_06-09-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_06-09-04.mp3 New CONTINENT OF MEDIA 04-04 from DXing.com: (stream) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0404.ram (download) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0404.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0404.html WORLD OF RADIO ON RADIO LAVALAMP WEBCAST Ralph Famularo has invited WOR back on Radio Lavalamp, now that he can download WOR in mp3 via Alex Draper`s pirate archive, we hope on a timely basis, altho these files are recorded off WBCQ or WWCR SW. Thanks, Ralph! (gh) Here's the schedule as of this weekend (June 12-13-14, depending on locale). Sunday (JST) 8-8:30 PM (EDT) 7-7:30 AM (UT) 1100-1130 Monday (JST) 12-1230 AM Sunday (EDT) 11-1130 AM (UT) 1500-1530 Monday (JST) 6-6:30 PM (EDT) 5-5:30 AM (UT) 0900-0930 (the last one just in case there is an interested Japan-based audience tuning-in in the early evening, or for NAm insomniacs) I'm also considering (JST) Sunday 5-5:30 AM, but Saturday afternoon across North America (EDT) 4-4:30 PM, (UT) 2000-2030. I'm trying to find another 30 minute program to put in the time slot to fill-up an empty hour in the current schedule. Hopefully by next weekend the decision will be finalized. http://www.radiolavalamp.org Schedule grid can be seen at: http://www.live365.com/broadcast/scheduler/?stationname=otisowl Ironically, the "Community Internet Radio, Japan" gets most of its listeners from overseas, mostly North America, and Europe to a lesser extent. There is a small Japanese audience -- or rather, expatriates here in Japan, but the ones who listen (some are also R. LavaLamp volunteers or program contributors) are probably not interested in shortwave radio (Ralph Famularo, Osaka, June 11) ** AFRICA. CATHOLIC RADIO STATIONS IN AFRICA listing: http://www.cameco.org/english/radios.html (Catholic Radio Update June 14 via DXLD) ** ANGOLA. Following the note seen in DXLD concerning the new Maritza Paulo's E-mail address for reports to Radio Nacional de Angola Departamento133 @ hotmail.com I sent my old one dated December 2003 (already sent without results to two other E-addresses) and finally the reply came in just 24 hrs -:) (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, June 12, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ASIA [non]. RFA schedule in A-04, valid til Oct 30th, 2004. RFA currently broadcasts at 1100-0700; there are no transmissions between 0700 and 1100. Daily programming including Mandarin for 12 hours, Cantonese for two hours, Uyghur for two hours, and Tibetan for eight hours. J04 = till Sept 4th. S04 = from Sept 5th, 2004. RFA uses IBB transmitters in IRA/I=Iranawila Sri Lanka, SAI/S=Saipan, TIN/T=Tinian N Mariana Islands. And relays in HBN/P=KHBN Palau Isl, IRK=Irkutsk-RUS, TWN/N=Taiwan, UAE=Al Dhabayya-UAE, WER=Wertachtal Germany. Additional transmitter sites have been researched but deleted from this list upon request of RFA to suppress this info, to avoid pressure from China upon the host countries. Are we to assume that China has no way to find out this sensitive info except through DX publications? [gh] RFA A-04 updated schedule of June 12th, 2004. # changes during A04 season. 0000-0100 LAO 12015I 13830 15545T 0030-0130 BURMESE 11540 13680T 13820I 17835S 0100-0200 UYGHUR 9350 11520 11895UAE 11945UAE 15405T 17640T 21470T 0100-0300 TIBETAN 9365 11695UAE 11975WER 15225T 15695 17730 0300-0600 MANDARIN 13670T 13760T 15130T# 15685T# 17495 17525 17615S 17880S 21690T 0600-0700 MANDARIN 13670T 13760T 15165T# 15685T# 17495 17525 17615S 17880S 0600-0700 TIBETAN 17485 17510 17720 21500T 21690UAE break 1100-1200 LAO 9355S 9545T 15560I 15635 1100-1400 TIBETAN 7470 11590 13625T 15510UAE 15695 17855S-(from 1200) 1230-1330 CAMBODIAN 13645T 15525I 15670 1300-1400 BURMESE 9455I 11540-S04 11765T 13745T 15680-J04 1400-1500 CANTONESE 9780T 11715S 13790T 1400-1500 VIETNAMESE 9455S 9635T 11510 11535-S04 11605N 11680I 13775P 15705-J04 1500-1600 TIBETAN 7470 11510 11705T 11780UAE 13825 1500-1600 MANDARIN 7540-S04 9455T 9905P 11765T 12025S 13675T# 13725T 15495T# 15680-J04 1500-1700 KOREAN 7210IRK 9385S 13625T 1600-1700 UYGHUR 7465 9350I 9370 9555UAE 11750I 11780T 1600-1700 MANDARIN 7540-S04 9455S 9905P 11795T 12025S 13675T# 13715T 15530T# 15680-J04 1700-1800 MANDARIN 7540-S04 9355S 9455S 9540T 9905P 11795T 13625T del13680T# 13715T 15510T 15680-J04 1800-1900 MANDARIN 7530-S04 7540-S04 9355S 9455S 9540T 11520-J04 11665N 11700T 11740T 11995S 13625T del13680T# 15510T 15680-J04 1900-2000 MANDARIN 7530-S04 7540-S04 9355S 9455S 9905P 11520-J04 11700T 11740T 11785T 13625T del13680T# 15510T 15680-J04 2000-2100 MANDARIN 7530-S04 7540-S04 9355S 9455S 9850T 9905P 11520-J04 11700T 11740T 11785T 13625T 15680-J04 2100-2200 MANDARIN 7540-S04 7105T 9850T 9910P 9920N# 11700T 11740T 11935T 13625T 15680-J04 2100-2300 KOREAN 7460 9385S 9770T 12075T [new time] 2200-2300 CANTONESE 9355S 9955P 11785T 13675T 2230-2330 CAMBODIAN 9490I 9930P 13735T 2300-2359 MANDARIN 7540-S04 9910P 11760T# 13670T# 13775S# 15430T 15585T# 15680-J04 2300-2359 TIBETAN 7470 7550Y--S04 9365 9395-J04 9805UAE 9875T 2330-0029 VIETNAMESE 9975-S04 11540-J04 11560 11580 11605N 11670T 12110I 13735S 15560P Korean 1400-1500 UT has been deleted, and replaced by an extended 2100-2300 UT morning transmission (various sources, updated on June 12th, 2004). (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note that RFA no longer is leasing air time via KWHR Hawaii this season (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Radio Australia on 15515 at 2100 UT Thursday, 10 June 2004 with strong clear signal. AM ended at 2130 followed by brief RA News and then as part of the Pacific Radio Network, RNZI's Pacific Regional News and Dateline Pacific were broadcast. According to RNZI's Mailbox and the RNZI website, this arrangement with RA began on Monday, 31 May. I have heard 15515 for about two weeks with varying reception quality at 2100 and 2200 UT. This appears to be a new time slot for this frequency that I have not seen mentioned on any RA schedules. Nothing heard on 21740 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Effective May 28, the new schedule for HCJB-AUS is: 11750 0700-1000, 50 kW, 120 degrees, evening service for SPac 15425 1000-1200, 100 kW, 307 degrees, evening service for EAs 15560 0100-0230, 100 kW, 307 degrees, morning service for India, SAs 15435 1200-1430, 100 kW, 340 degrees, evening service to SEA 15525 2230-0100, 100 kW, 340 degrees, morning service to SEA The SPac service has been retimed, and is now one hour earlier. This is advised as suffering interference in New Zealand from China National Radio, using 100 kW from Shiziashuang, carrying CNR programming (operational usage is 2330-1530). There are no services between 1430 and 2230, due to unreliable propagation, and antenna limitations. Higher power may be used on 11750 soon, possibly via a narrower beamwidth (higher gain) antenna, and the target area for this broadcast is under discussion. It is proposed to commence new services to Asia on August 29 at 1230-1500 on 15405, and 1500-1730 on 15390. Regards! (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Victoria Australia, EDXP via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 15435, 1234-, HCJB Australia, Jun 12. Poor reception of DXPL. At the same time direct from Quito on 12005 is excellent, though not exactly in parallel (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. 7185.0, 1252-, Bangladesh Betar, Jun 12. English programming at good level with decent modulation today. This station is often heard with poor modulation (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. R. Minsk, 7105, hand-written, f/d verie with station seal, on back of blue and white "Radio Minsk-Senderplan für Deustchsprachige Programme" paper with notation that, "Actually, a report should contain more details" (!!!). Also received stickers, boys choir Russian [?] pocket calendar and large card with picture of Belarus studio building with "Best wishes from Belarus" and "DX-Radio Minsk" ink stamp inside. This in 80 days for 1 IRC. V/S, Stas Lokinsk, Editor (sp?) (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Latest (1 SW) Recordings" 13/6 Recordings and comments at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com Amigos DXistas! The new Bolivian station on 5500 kHz found by Rogildo Aragão (Bolivia) is transmitting from Tupiza. Read Rogildo`s comments and listen to his recording with QTH. 13/Jun/2004 13:40 73s from "La Mitad del Mundo"! (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Rogildo Aragão: "Hola Malm, Hoy finalmente consegui identificar la localidad de transmision de R.Virgen de Remedios, esta en la ciudad de Tupiza en el departamento de Potosi, queda bien al sul, cerca de la frontera con Argentina, hay alla un gran Santuario a la Virgen de Remedios. Sigue la grabación adjunto (387kb)". Tupiza: [illustration] Tupiza is the capital of Potosí`s Sud Chichas province. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the biggest mining companies operating in southern Bolivia (such as the Compañía Aramayo) built their headquarters in this beautiful town. Around 1906, Butch Cassidy's gang arrived to Tupiza. After weeks of careful planning, the gang robbed a minerals trading house and escaped in the direction of San Vicente. 5500.00 R. Virgen de Remedios, Tupiza, Dpto de Potosí. 2140 UT 12/6 2200 relay Radio Católica Mundial, ID OM "Radio Virgen de Remedios, frecuencia modulada y onda corta, la voz católica en su casa, con la cadena Radio Católica Mundial" 2230 ID OM "Radio Virgen de Remedios, Tupiza, frecuencia modulada y onda corta, la voz católica en su casa, con la cadena Radio Católica Mundial" 2233 sign-off (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragão, Quillacollo- Bolivia, Rx Lowe HF-225E/Sony 2001D Ant. LW 20m / 50m, via Björn Malm`s site via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6025, 4.6 2345, La Voz de Bolivia (no sign of hearing "Illimani"). Telegramme/information and parts of music in a never ending stream. As a matter fact very boring. The new (new renovated?) transmitter can be heard with excellent signal. QSA 3-4 after closedown of Budapest (2330?) until sign on from Japan at 0100. JE/RFK (Jan Edh, Ronny Forslund, Sweden, SW Bulletin June 13, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Estimado Glenn, Sobre el artículo del periódico La Razón, enviado por nuestro amigo Arnaldo Slaen, el artículo fue demasiado preciso en hablar en segundos; yo diría que la variación verdadera es en minutos. Si preguntas a unas 10 personas en la calle la hora, todas tienen sus relojes con diferentes horas, pero para que se nada lleva tan serio la hora. Cuando hablas para algunas las 10, esto comprende de las 10 a las 11 horas, como dicen ``la hora boliviana``. 73 (Rogildo Aragão, Bolivia, June 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Faz dez anos que o rádio de ondas curtas é aliado do Instituto Mamirauá no objetivo de levar a mensagem de preservação da Amazônia para as comunidades distantes. Ligado no Mamirauá é o programa que vai ao ar, nas terças e quintas-feiras, às 0000, pela Rádio Educação Rural, de Tefé (AM), em 1270 e 4925 kHz. ``É uma importante forma de divulgação dos trabalhos do Instituto Mamirauá http://www.mamiraua.org.br nas reservas Mamirauá e Amanã``, escreve o Paulo Roberto e Souza, nosso correspondente naquela cidade. As duas reservas têm mais de três milhões de hectares. Quem cobre toda a extensão? Somente o rádio de ondas curtas! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX June 7 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 11735, R. Trans Mundial (tentative), *1200-1220, June 11, Portuguese, OM with sign-on and tentative IDs over music, numerous mentions of "Brasil", music bridge and OM talks, Kenny G-like music at 1207, long talk beginning at 1210, possibly with field report. Very poor, overmodulated with severe transmitter hum and co-channel V. of Korea (DPR). Best in LSB though still barely audible (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) They were supposed to be testing 50 kW transmitter at certain hours (gh) ** BURMA [non]. 17625, NF, DVB via Malagasy, 1438 June 11. Heard talks by OM and YL in Bamar. Marginal signal, S1 at max on R75 using the 16 m inverted V dipole. Thanks to tip of Media Network blog via DXLD (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki, THS Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 9625, 0505-, CBC North Quebec Service, Jun 7. Superb 5-5-5 reception in English until TOH, then into indigenous language, then sign-off announcement in French with frequency, studio location and transmitter locations, phone number (they accept collect calls), and off with National Anthem until 0508, and then a single tone and into open carrier (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CN Tower work? Keep an eye out on CN Tower frequencies for the next two weeks. I heard an announcement on CHIN 100.7 that it will go off air starting Monday morning for perhaps a couple weeks, for a few hours every night. I don't know what the deal is, but I also heard an announcement on CJRT 91.1 that it wants donors to pledge money in part to help pay for something new for the transmitter, so something is up. From previous experience, when the tower stations go off, it usually happens a few minutes after the 1 am news, and can last for up to 4 hours. On the tower, 100.7 and 91.1 seem to always go right off, so they may not have auxiliary facilities to transmit. The others usually go to a low power auxiliary: 90.3, 94.1, 98.1, 97.3, 98.1, 99.9, 102.1, 104.5, 107.1. I'd be curious to know what people get on all frequencies, including those frequencies where locals are operating at lower powers (Saul Chernos, Ont., June 11, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) Jazz-FM is looking for donations to help pay their cost towards a new/replacement standby generator in case we have any more interruptions like last year. They said all stations on the CN Tower were off air during the blackout and this standby generator will eliminate that (John ve3sjv Lindsay, ODXA via DXLD) ** CANADA. RICHMOND HILL FM PIRATE WITH NO NAME: 104.9 FM, June 6 1700+ Not IDing, and running non-stop mixture of 1970s music (Thin Lizzy, Abba, Steve Miller Bank, Orleans, Ohio Players, Peter Frampton, Queen, Maxine Nightingale, K.C. & The Sunshine Band, etc.). Have heard this particular mixture of music before. At other times they`ve been relaying tapes of old radio (history of rock `n roll) documentaries. I am told that this station is in Richmond Hill. If so they were putting in a good signal (in stereo) about 10 miles away (Niel Wolfish, Ont., Free Radio Weekly via DXLD) ** CHINA. Re: CRI English proliferation, updated monitoring Re: 0900-1100 15210, 17690 (to 1200? - my notes are unclear) This 0900-1100 broadcast is already shown in WRTH 2004, with sites given as Kunming for 15210 and Beijing for 17690. However, the latter one appears to originate rather from new facilities like 17490 which is right now booming in here; Kashi? Interesting to note the ID's referring to 91.5 FM as if the programming department is not prepared for shortwave transmissions at this time. Recently also various reports about DRM tests from China pop up: On June 9 13610 (co-channel Syria) with ID label "Thales VL Radio" and two independent English programs instead of stereo audio, language labelled as "German"; on June 10 on 17590 with label "Kashi 2022"; today from 0900 on 17510 with CRI English (apparently // the AM's); just to mention a few. If you want to read more, starting with a schedule announcement from an apparent Thales engineer: http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showthread.php?s=15102c05f1c506f830bcada57acf2f15&threadid=690 All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. CRI has now joined the DRM throng, with its new 500 kW facility, using 12080 for Europe, 1700-2200, alternating between analog and DRM every 15 mins. This is causing a big mess with Radio Australia Brandon, co-channel, during the overlap 2000-2200, also to VOA-Botswana using the same channel 1700-2130!! Remember, every one of those new 500 kW transmitters at the new Sashi (and other) sites in China are DRM capable! Good listening to China...! (Bob Padula, June 10, EDXP via DXLD) I tuned in to 12080 at 2000 this morning and just heard RA Brandon operating here. Began to think that CRI had packed up their DRM and gone home. Alas, no! Tuned back in at 2020 and heard both stations competing in AM mode. Tuned in again at 2031 and heard nothing but wall-to-wall DRM noise between 12070 and 12095. Then, at 2043 we were back to AM again. No mention of tests in the programming either. At 2059, back to DRM, and with RA just breaking through the noise. The average "Joe Shortwave- Listener" without any idea of what is going on, must surely be scratching his/her head while trying to listen to all this. Interesting to read Bob's comments on this "new technology", that there appears to be a growing number who feel DRM is a lemon. I guess my thoughts on this have been pretty well documented over the past 12 months. Nice to see that some in the broadcasting industry are realising this, too. The reality that it is only a "single-hop" technology makes DRM useless for worldwide communications. How is it that CRI and DRM broadcast users can get away with this sort of nonsense on the shortwave spectrum? Whatever happened to regulations and regulatory bodies. Wouldn't the DRM consortium think that it would be in their interests to do their tests away from the recognised band allocations? Shouldn't they be trying to enlist support for their new toy, rather than alienate "Joe SWL" and other broadcasters? BTW, as a postscript: CRI should fix up their internet web site and give us current frequency schedules! But that's another story (Rob Wagner VK3BVW, Melbourne, Australia, ibid.) ** COLOMBIA. Recordings and comments at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com Quito 10/6 2004 --- *** Recording of LV de la Resistencia with ID Amigos DXistas! On 1 June I had a recording of FARC`s radiostation but without ID. I now have a new recording with FARC`s "nationalanthem" + "La Voz de la Resistencia" IDs. 6239.83 // 6120 LV de la Resistencia, unknown QTH (probably Colombia) 0000 UT 10/6 2004. 10/Jun/2004 20:18 73s from "La Mitad del Mundo"! (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6339.8, 8.6 0037, unID here with talk, music and a jammer! CD with a revolutionary type of march, so I presume the FARC-station Voz de la Resistencia in Colombia! S 2. BEFF (Björn Fransson, Sweden, SW Bulletin June 13, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Should that be 6239.8, as Björn Malm reports? {Yes} ** CONGO DR. DR CONGO SAYS RENEGADES SEIZE RADIO, ORDER RESTORED Fri Jun 11, 2004 12:50 AM ET KINSHASA (Reuters) - Renegade presidential guards in the Democratic Republic of Congo seized control of state radio early on Friday, but troops loyal to the government retook the station soon afterwards, the government said. "The situation is now calm," government spokesman Vital Kamerhe said. He did not specify if there had been a battle for the radio station. "Some officers in the presidential guard took control of the state radio at 2:30 this morning (9:30 p.m. EDT Thursday), but loyalist soldiers retook control two and a half hours later," he said. He said the guards were led by Major Eric Lenge of the elite unit which guards Congo's President Joseph Kabila, but that it was unclear how many guards were involved. The incident comes days after government troops recaptured the eastern town of Bukavu from dissident soldiers after a week-long occupation launched in protest at what they said was the persecution of their ethnic group. The revolt exposed the weakness of Kabila's transitional government installed a year ago, which is still struggling to restore central authority across Africa's third-largest country after five years of war. The clashes in the mineral-rich east also raised fears of a wider regional conflict involving Congo and its tiny neighbor Rwanda, which invaded the former Zaire in 1996 and 1998 (via Robert Wilkner, DXLD) ** EL SALVADOR. R. Imperial, 17834.82, June 5 1855-2058* Spanish talk, ballads, 2058 abruptly pulled plug mid-song. Fair signal at times but also with deep fades. Irregular; not heard next day (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6249.8, RN-Malabo, 2227-2307*, June 8, Spanish, Logging this one on a regular basis as of late. This day with continuous light Spanish ballads until OM with sign-off announcements at 2304, NA. Poor with a few peaks, spot on 6251 at tune-in, eventually drifting down to 6249.8 by sign-off Again at 2254-2304*, June 10, with nice, clear signal and Spanish ballads, OM with sign-off announcements and ID as "Radio Malabo", NA (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 5500, V. of Peace and Democracy, 0317-0338, June 8, Tigryna, YL and OM with talks and Horn of Africa music. Fair. // 6250 fair under ute QRM (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. 15400, 1632-, Radio Finland, Jun 13. Rarely reported anymore. Very strong reception in Finnish with what I assume is a sermon with slight reverb/hollow sound like in a large church/ cathedral. Too bad no English :( At 1644:30 went into organ music and choir (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`m really sorry, if YLE R Finland is closing down their foreign service on SW and MW. It has always been a pleasure to hear news, including ice-hockey results, from home while on vacation abroad. My opinion is, it will be a deadly wrong decision against all their listeners. The options are the satellite and chargeable (!) Internet programs. I can only laugh at such plans. Their budget is only 3,4 million euros. Why do they follow Norway and Denmark, the two other Nordic nations?! Please shut down the nationwide Swedish FM network, if it´s up to money. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. AM 603, RADIO SCANDINAVIA, ON ITS WAY -- Thursday, June 10 On our way -- pirate radio entrepreneurs Mike Spenser, Klaus Hansen and Roy Sandgren. [Click for photo by Johan Wessman] http://www.hard-core-dx.com/images/hcdx/scandinavia.jpg The adventure of Radio Scandinavia has started. Radio aficionados Mike Spenser, Klaus Hansen and Roy Sandgren left the harbour of Malmö, Sweden, late Thursday night, 10 June 2004. The long awaited radio adventure has started. The selected "pirate" ship St Paul, once supposed to become a tuna fishing vessel for the Pacific Ocean, is about to be transformed into a new age version of Radio Veronica, Radio Caroline or, to name two from Sweden's pirate radio history, Radio Syd and Radio Nord. "This is a dream come true", says Roy Sandgren, the owner of a smaller Swedish transport company turned radio entrepreneur. "Not really", counters Mike Spenser, British radio adventurer. "This is radio for today's teenagers." The ship's owner, Klaus Hansen, is just happy that his vessel St Paul is finally being called into service, after having been moored at various Swedish piers for several years "It did cost a lot of money. Now we might start to earn money." That remain to be seen. First of all, the radio entrepreneurs still have to get their station on air. The first try recently ended up in blue smoke. The transmitter somehow didn't like the antenna, and blew up. "Hello, hello, this is Mike Spenser. I just want to know: has the transmitter arrived?" Ever active Mike Spenser is calling once more to the United States on his mobile phone, trying to find out whether DHL's express delivery has brought one damaged shortwave radio transmitter to the US repair shop. "Not yet? Could you please call back when it does?" While the American company is repairing the transmitter, the international radio team is on their three day long journey up trhough the Baltic Sea. Towed. "Well, it is an old ship", says Roy Sandgren, 57. The forces willing, it will soon be the adventure of the future, giving all listeners a taste of the pirate radio era of 60's and 70's. Not so, says Mike Spenser, 57. "This is not one big nostalgic trip. This is radio for today's youth, while adding some of the aura of pirate radio." It should also be, the audience willing, a new way of living for the diverse trio Hansen, Sandgren, and Spenser. Hermod Pedersen (text) and Johan Wessman (photo), (hcdx news desk, 10 June 2004 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. USA, Radio Joystick via WRMI, 9955, f/d English/ German card, stickers, info sheet and friendly, personal letter, in 13 days for $2 and English report. Both state my report was the first for a WRMI broadcast. V/S, Charlie Prince (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. Re 4-091: HRMI has in fact been inactive on both frequencies (3340 and 5010 kHz). A few months ago the station reactivated and I spoke with the director, who even talked about producing a short program (with yours truly) in English, destined specifically for DXers and SWLs abroad. But the station went off the air again a few days after that, and has been off the air ever since. I have tried talking to the director again, but the cellular number he was using at that time has been assigned to someone else. The failure seemed to be a faulty tube, from what he said at that time. Their antenna was a simple dipole. "See" you soon (Elmer Escoto, San Pedro Sula, HONDURAS, June 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. RÚV Reykjavík noted with with strong signal on 13865 kHz closing down at 1824 UT. Language was Icelandic, the only language RUV broadcasts (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And then no FriendShipRadio? But see I.W. below ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. Re 6200-6525 range: This seems to be a misunderstanding: you are listing B03 coordinations which were coordinated in the August 2003 HFCC conference. The A04 HFCC schedule (coordinated in the February 2004 conference) only shows a single Russian registration in this range, directed towards Cirafs 31,32 which is Siberia. 6210 1225-1300 31,32 NVS 100 78 RUS VAT GFC (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The real question is whether the 6200+ usage is merely off for the summer, and will be back as usual in the winter. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Yes, and the B03 schedule will be copied by 80% at least, the DW in B03 had five registrations above 6200. The B03 list consists of at least 28 registrations, amongst them Kol Israel since decades (6280), the Vatican and TWR (beware of culture war, and the Muslims too). In A04 the DW in Chinese and Urdu looks out for higher frequencies in summer as usually. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) That is quite correct. The HFCC has always coordinated frequencies in this range, with many "prominent" stations as users, as an example these are coordinations from W94: 6200 0100 1200 30 EKB 100 ND 25 1234567 250994 260395 RUS 6200 1800 1600 34 OKH 20 ND 25 1234567 250994 260395 RUS 6200 0000 0100 12-15 HB 500 275 15 3 1234567 250994 250395 S 6200 0200 0300 8-11 HB 500 290 3 1234567 250994 250395 S 6200 0300 0400 8-11 HB 500 290 3 1234567 250994 250395 S 6200 2300 0200 7-11 POD 80 300 28 1234567 250994 260395 TCH 6205 1700 1845 38E,39 SBG 150 110 4 1234567 250994 260395 SUI 6205 2215 2400 13-16 SBG 150 230 4 1234567 250994 260395 SUI 6230 0830 1035 28 MC 100 13 13 1234567 250994 260395 TWR 6230 1105 1125 28 MC 100 13 13 234567 250994 260395 TWR 6230 1430 1505 28 MC 100 13 13 1234567 250994 260395 TWR 6230 1730 1750 28,29 MC 100 44 5 34 250994 260395 TWR 6245 0445 0800 28 SMG 100 010 19 1234567 250994 260395 VAT 6245 0930 1100 28 SMG 100 010 19 1 250994 260395 VAT 6245 1100 2030 28 SMG 100 010 19 1234567 250994 260395 VAT 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, ibid.) The following East African stations are currently active in this "band": 6209.75, Radio Kahuzi (eastern DR Congo - easy to distinguish from the next station by its frequency offset) 6209.9, Radio Fana (Ethiopia - in parallel with 6940.0) 6350.0, Voice of the Tigray Revolution (Ethiopia - in parallel with 5500.0) (Chris in Nairobi Greenway, June 12, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS (or not). 13865, 2146-2210. I have been picking up some bits of 60-ies music: 'Johnny Remember Me', 'Leader Of The Pack', very weak and under a lot of static. Was this the announced Friendship Radio? (Silvain Domen, Antwerpen, Belgium, June 12, dxldyg via DXLD) There was also a signal on about 13864.6 at 0730 June 13, but very weak [not moving the S meter] and only 'music' and some speech could be detected on peaks. There were still traces of "something" at re- check 0950 (Noel R. Green [NW England], ibid.) I saw this reply to my message on SRSnews Web [sic:]. ""Posted: 12-Jun-04 23:24 Dear Silvain, You have definately picced up our testtransmission signal. Congratulations! You mentioned only music you heard... no id's??? We played mostly music from 60's and only couple ones from 70's... So, not many listeners.... Address for reports is: FriendShipRadio, P.O.Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten Maynard"" (via Silvain Domen, Belgium, ibid.) ... The Netherlands. This is a wellknown maildrop for Dutch pirate radios. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, ibid.) Actually heard around 0800 on 13865 with a faint signal: (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) On June 13? Hallo, auf 13865 kHz sendet Friendship Radio (angeblich mal wieder eine Station vom Schiff). Hier gegen 0800 UT schwach zu empfangen. Sendungen sind für den ganzen Tag angekündigt. Grüße (Rudolf Sonntag, Gilching, Germany, http://Rudolf.Sonntag.bei.t-online.de A-DX via Kai Ludwig, June 13, DXLD) May be of interest. 13865.15, Friendship Radio active now and for the rest of the day. A pirate said to be located on a ship ;-) Quite weak here in Germany with pop music. vy73 (Harald Kuhl, DXplorer June 13 via Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK via DXLD) I heard Friendship Radio 1002-1059 UT this morning (Sun 13 June) on 13865.11 kHz. Weak noisy signal with moderate fading made copying DJ in English (with Italian accent?) difficult, though copying lots of 60s records and offshore-related tunes easier (e.g. Beatles Twist and Shout, London - My Home Town etc). SINPO 14331. DJ did mention North Sea (transmitter location??). Also address at 1059, but could not copy (anyone else hear postal address?). Reception best on active antenna in roof (Alan Pennington, AOR 7030+ + active antenna, Caversham, UK, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Looks like those who were so sure this is a hoax were mistaken, but did anyone actually hear an ID? (gh) ** ISRAEL. IBA ENGLISH NEWS WORKERS TAKE THEIR GRIEVANCES TO THE LABOR COURT --- By Daphna Berman --- Last update - 02:25 11/06/2004 http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=437945 Employees in the English news department of the Israel Broadcasting Authority are taking the IBA to Labor Court in a case that may determine the future of English-language news programs in Israel. The case, which will be heard on June 14th, is an appeal on behalf of the IBA employees and the National Federation of Israeli Journalists, and will demand that the court prevent the IBA from making any further changes to the English programming. "Workers are being harmed by the IBA management board's decisions, and what we're asking is that the IBA restore us to the status quo," Steve Leibowitz, IBA English news department head and signatory of the petition told Anglo File. Programming for the IBA English news has been volatile in recent months, following a decision to render television's Channel One an exclusively Hebrew language station. The IBA's news program, which boasts an estimated 100,000 viewers a day, was taken off Channel One on May 2, after nearly 14 years on the station. The IBA, meanwhile, is broadcasting an extended English-language news program on Channel 33 - a station that is accessible in most parts of the country only to cable or satellite TV subscribers. Staff at the IBA English news desk say that work conditions have deteriorated along with the recent changes. They also say that the IBA's decision to absorb the English desk into the Hebrew desk will negatively affect the quality of the programming, as well as lead to a series of layoffs. Among other things, the English news department has been informed that under the restructure they will no longer be allowed to send their own reporters out into the field. "They want us to disband our desk and take away our independence, so that we are directly under control of Mabat [Channel One's main evening news broadcast], which has always treated us like a bastard child," Leibowitz said. "It's completely incomprehensible." Under the new plan, a 17-minute soft-news program in English will be broadcast on Channel 33 weekdays at 4:30 P.M. A seven-minute bulletin news program would then follow both Channel 33 and Channel One. This means that someone watching channel 33 will only get the day's news stories at the end of the program - something that "doesn't make any sense" to Leibowitz. A spokesperson for the IBA said that the issue was an internal matter and was therefore unavailable for comment (via Daniel Rosenzweig, June 11, DXLD) And how does this affect radio, especially SW? (gh) ** KOREA NORTH. VOICE OF KOREA, Splattering 19 Meters Having a tune around this morning at 2100 UT or 7.00 am Eastern Australian time in the 19 meter band, I heard with fair signal strength the Voice of Korea, P`yongyang in English on 15173 (or 15172.8 to be precise) which I thought was very odd. At first I thought my Icom R75 receiver was having a stroke so I checked with my Sangean ATS-909 and it was the same with both of my 15 and 17 meter longwires. I then checked 15245 which is the frequency listed for North Korea at this time and signal was quite strong at +10 db over S9 but not really strong enough to cause image or harmonic problems in any receiver except for cheap single conversion types. Tuning a little higher also revealed North Korea on 15345 or thereabouts with a slightly weaker signal strength causing a heterodyne with R. Diffusion - TV Marocaine. I presume that P`yongyang's transmitter is causing spurrs or harmonics from it's transmitter. Maybe they have turned the wick up and are trying to increase power output which is causing these harmonics all over the 19 meter band. Has anyone else noticed this problem with P`yongyang and the 19 meter band? If so then we should all write to them and inform them of the situation or the problem could get worse especially if their transmitter is developing faults. Best regards! (Michael Stevenson, Port Macquarie, N.S.W., Australia, June 7, EDXP via DXLD) ** MEXICO. IMER: LOS RIESGOS DEL SILENCIO Cambio de frecuencia - Fernando Mejía Barquera Publicado en Milenio Diario el día 11 de junio del 2004 A la habitual situación crítica con que opera desde hace lustros, lo mismo en lo económico que en lo técnico y lo radiofónico, el Instituto Mexicano de la Radio (IMER) está añadiendo a su balance negativo otro elemento: el silencio de sus funcionarios, la escasa disposición a informar a la sociedad acerca de las decisiones que se toman en esa entidad y los objetivos que se pretende alcanzar con ellas. Se trata de un silencio injustificado en tanto el IMER maneja recursos públicos. Y se trata también de un silencio que se puede tornar peligroso para esa entidad, pues el vacío informativo creado por el silencio se llena rápidamente con trascendidos, rumores, filtraciones, versiones y especulaciones --- falsos o verdaderos --- que el IMER deja crecer sin aclarar, desmentir, explicar o precisar. Con ello, los frentes de crítica e impugnación hacia sus decisiones crecen también. RADIO MÉXICO En los dos últimos años, los casos relativos a decisiones tomadas en el IMER y no explicadas públicamente son numerosos y siguen incrementándose. El más reciente (y vendrán otros) es la desaparición de la emisora de onda corta XERMX OC ``Radio México Internacional``, la cual dejó de transmitir el pasado 1 de junio, luego de 35 años de existencia. ¿Por qué salió del aire?, ¿qué beneficio espera obtener el IMER con esa decisión? Como dicha entidad no cumplió con su obligación de explicar las razones, surgieron de inmediato, y se publicaron en los medios, versiones que dan respuesta ``informal`` a esas preguntas. Según tales versiones, las causas para sacar del aire a la emisora, considerada durante varios lustros principal representante de nuestro país en el ámbito de la radiodifusión de onda corta, habrían sido las siguientes: 1) en el IMER se considera que la onda corta es obsoleta; 2) ``lo de hoy``, se piensa en las oficinas de la calle de Mayorazgo, es internet, y si se quiere tener cobertura internacional es mejor intentarlo por esa vía; 3) con la desaparición de Radio México se ahorrarán dos millones de pesos al año. El IMER no ha aceptado ni desmentido esas versiones. Si tales fueran, en efecto, las razones para sacar del aire a Radio México, ¿por qué no exponerlas abiertamente?, ¿por qué actuar como si se estuviera cometiendo un pecado que obligara a los directivos del IMER a actuar en secreto y a callar? ¿RECURSOS DESPERDICIADOS? Según nos ha comentado el doctor Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, uno de los diexistas más reconocidos en México (los diexistas son los aficionados a la onda corta, tanto a escucharla como a producir programas para su difusión por esas frecuencias), varios escuchas de onda corta se han dirigido a la dirección del IMER para obtener una explicación acerca de las razones para sacar del aire a Radio México, pero no han obtenido respuesta. A los diexistas mexicanos les duele la desaparición de la emisora, pero también les preocupa el futuro de las dos frecuencias en que Radio México Internacional transmitía (9 705 Khz y 11 770 Khz) y el destino que tendrá el equipo transmisor ahora inactivo. Se trata de recursos públicos que corren el riesgo de ser desperdiciados. No se sabe si el IMER renunciará en definitiva al uso de las frecuencias y tampoco si mandará a una bodega los transmisores. Si renunciara a las frecuencias, éstas serían susceptibles de ser ocupadas por otro país, pues la utilización de esos espacios en el espectro radioeléctrico mundial está regulado por la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (UIT) y es solicitado ante ella por cada país. México perdería así el uso de las mencionadas frecuencias que a los actuales directivos del IMER les parecen inútiles, pero quizá al gobierno que sustituya al régimen foxista, no: qué tal si al próximo gobierno le interesa tener difusión, entre otros medios, por radio de onda corta, y, al tomar posesión, se encuentra con que parte de los recursos que México tenía para ese fin se dejaron perder por la administración saliente. Por lo que se refiere al equipo transmisor, sería triste que se pudriera en alguna bodega carcomido por el óxido y el olvido. Por ello, el doctor Díez de Bonilla propone dos cosas: 1) que el IMER no declare ``desaparecida`` a Radio México Internacional y no renuncie al derecho a utilizar sus frecuencias, sino que solicite permiso ante la SCT y la UIT para que la estación permanezca inactiva; la idea de esto es no desperdiciar un recurso y evitar que el gobierno, cuyas funciones inicien el año 2006, esté condenado a no poder emplear un recurso que quizá a él sí le interese; 2) que los dos transmisores de 10 mil watts con que operaba Radio México (uno para cada frecuencia) sean donados a estaciones de onda corta dependientes de instituciones a las que sí interesa transmitir por esa banda, pero suelen tener problemas para hacerlo por falta de recursos: Radio UNAM O.C. (9 600 kilohertz, banda de 31 metros), cuyo transmisor data de 1948; y Radio Universidad de San Luis Potosí (6 045 khz, banda de 49 metros), cuyos ingenieros hacen maravillas para salir al aire y lograr que la estación se escuche con un transmisor de 250 watts de potencia. Así, por lo menos, no se tirarían recursos a la basura. Fernando Mejía Barquera (via Héctor García Bojorge, DF, June 11, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Above questions IMER`s secrecy about why it closed XERMX, and suggests its transmitters and frequencies be turned over to XEYU and XEXQ. BTW, there are a couple of clips of XERMX on this week`s WOR 1233 (gh) ** MEXICO. 4810, 0301-, XERTA, Jun 13. Presumed on this frequency. A very difficult catch due to the very noisy ute on both USB and LSB. Lots of Spanish talking and piano music in between. The only way I could monitor is to use a Timewave 599zx with a narrowed bandwidth. The signal would be quite good if not for the unwanted utility noise (no CODAR, but a very loud buzz on both USB/LSB heard widely, it seems). (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. MAOIST REGIONAL RADIO SERVICE HIT BY TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES | Excerpt from report by Nepalese newspaper Spacetime on 12 June Kathmandu: 11 June, The regional radio service operated by the Maoists in their self declared special region of Rukum and Rolpa [mid-west Nepal] has been off the air for a month. A Maoist leader has acknowledged that the regional radio service has been hit by technical difficulties. During their various search operations the security forces have made special efforts to locate the radio service in "the declared special region". The Maoist are using their Bheri-Karnali [mid-west Nepal] radio service for the Rolpa Rukum region. The Maoists have released information that they are operating six FM radio stations nationwide, one each for the Seti-Mahakali region [far west Nepal], the Bheri-Karnali region, the Rukum-Rolpa region, the Gandak region [west Nepal], the Kathmandu Valley and the eastern region. The Maoists are known to carry their entire radio broadcast equipment in two baskets. One basket contains the generator and the other the radio equipment, said a member of the group. The Bheri Karnali radio broadcasts a special news bulletin after the "Ghatna ra Bichar" [current affairs] programme of Radio Nepal. The chief of the "Magarat autonomous province" declared by the Maoists, Santosh Buda Magar, said the FM radio operated in the special region was the most powerful but because it is not operational they are having a problem with their news broadcasts. [passage omitted] The Maoist radio denies nearly all the news items broadcast the state radio - Radio Nepal. [passage omitted] The Maoist radio is on the air for an hour in the morning and two hours in the evening every day. A Maoist leader said they were experimenting jamming the broadcast of state radio. He also said they were trying to use a more powerful radio service from the special region. [passage omitted] The leader of the Magarat autonomous province, Santosh Budamagar, said the BBC Nepali Service is regarded by the Maoist cadres as the most reliable. Nearly all Maoist leaders make it a point to listen to the BBC Nepali service programme broadcast at 2045 Nepal time [1500 gmt]. One member of the group said some recorded the programme and played it back the next morning to them. Source: Spacetime, Kathmandu, in English 12 Jun 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** NEPAL [non]. RUSSIA-BASED NEPALESE LAUNCH ON-LINE RADIO Text of report entitled: "Online radio starting in Moscow", published by Nepalese newspaper Kantipur on 11 June Kathmandu: Nepalese students, businessmen and others living in Moscow are starting an on-line radio service from the Russian capital. Nepalese literature, art and culture will be the basis of the programmes on radio http://www.freenepal.com Programmes in Nepali, Russian, Hindi, Newari and Tamang languages are to be broadcast on the on-line radio. Earlier this site was used for Nepalese literature. According to the Nepal representative of the web site, information manager Dinesh Basnet, Dr Madhukrishna Shrestha "Mayurth" is based in Moscow as the founder editor. Source: Kantipur, Kathmandu, in Nepali 11 Jun 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. 15070, R. Alfa Lima International, 0400-0630 Jun 13, Excellent summer evening DX conditions on 19 meters persist despite our midway descent to the solar minimum. Alfa Lima International was heard here with a very respectable solid S8 signal with occasional S9 peaks. The program consisted of a prerecorded show from the 29th of June 2001. It is explained that this program is played so the operator can get some sleep. Modulation, as usual, was excellent with nice wide bandwidth. The solar flux is only in the upper 80s but the geomagnetic field has remained very quiet recently, allowing an efficient propagation path between Europe and the Southeast USA on 19 meters especially in the window around 0400-0600, or during the West European dawn (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) QSL REPORT: ALFA LIMA INTERNATIONAL: Two f/d QSL cards and info sheet about station with short message from Alfred. Arrive in about 2 weeks for report mailed to Hoogeveen, The Netherlands and $1 US. Thanks, Alfred! (John Sedlacek, NE, Free Radio Weekly via DXLD) ** NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR. RAC Bulletin 04-17E - VO1MRC Experiments on 60 metres --- The Marconi Radio Club of Newfoundland (MRCN) station VO1MRC will be conducting an experiment from 0000 to 2400 UT on the 19th and 20th of June 2004. During this period, a CW beacon will be in operation on 5269.5 kHz to determine the relative performance of high and low radiation angles. The aerial in use will be identified by a code in each transmission. Signal reports from local and distant stations will be gratefully received. VO1MRC will be open briefly for 2 way contacts with stations authorized to transmit on 60 metres starting 0000 UT each of these days and will operate simplex on 5260.5 kHz CW. Following this it will transmit on 5327.5 USB and receive 5346.5 USB and 3807.5 kHz LSB. The experiment was proposed by MRCN, endorsed by Radio amateurs of Canada and authorized by Industry Canada. For further information, please check the MRCN web site by searching for VO1MRC. .............................................................. For more information, please read TCA and/or QST. RAC does not necessarily endorse, support or vouch for the accuracy of the information provided (via Don Moman, VE6JY, WORLD OF RADIO 1233, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. NASWAn Gary Rose of Springdale, AR sent me a note to express concern regarding RNZI`s focus on digital technology for a region unlikely to see a large influx of DRM radios for a number of years; while Gary has a point, the key thing to remember is that the anticipated service life of this new transmitter will likely be 30 years or thereabouts, and installing the *capability* to transmit in DRM mode is really a prediction (some might say a crapshoot) regarding the likely future technologies to be used on SW. While RNZI might launch an experimental DRM transmission using this new equipment, I feel pretty comfortable predicting that most RNZI SW transmissions will be in good ol` analog for the rest of this decade at least. Gary also comments that he can pick up RNZI pretty well in Arkansas from 0200 all the way through to 1100 UT thanks to favorable frequency selection (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, June NASWA Journal via DXLD) See also DRM section below ** OKLAHOMA. TALLEST BROADCSTING TOWER IN STATE NEAR COMPLETION WEATHERFORD (AP) --- The tallest broadcasting tower in Oklahoma is nearing completion north of Alfalfa in Caddo County. The 2,000-foot tower, owned by Perry Publishing and Broadcasting, will house three FM radio stations, two television stations and 18 cell phone installations, said company president Russell Perry,. Perry, who spent five years as secretary of commerce under former Gov. Frank Keating, said he was pleased to bring the project to largely rural western Oklahoma. ``We used every ounce of labor and materials from that area that we could,`` he said (Enid News & Eagle June 11 via DXLD) WTFK?? I was not aware there are any TV stations in Weatherford (gh) ** PAKISTAN. 15627.6, R. Pakistan, 0315-0344*, June 12, Tamil, Flute music and Kor`an like chants, OM with talks and music. ID at 0329, news, YL with commentary, music until OM with sign-off announcements, NA. Fair, best in AM synchro. // 17485 poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. 15100, 1602-, Radio Pakistan, Jun 13. English news at fair+ level on exact frequency. End of the news and transmission at 1615. I did not hear any // today (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA AND NEW GUINEA. 4960, 1231-, Catholic Radio Network (CRN), Jun 12. I wonder whether CRN has made antenna adjustments to minimize radiation beyond PNG, or are they off again? Last weekend reception was at times almost good here in Victoria, but since then it has been virtually non-existent, whereas 4890 continues at a good level. I'm glad I've heard them when I did! I'm sceptical that it's just poor propagation (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4995.57, 5.6 0025, Radio Andina. Speech by female, fanfare, etc. Only in LSB (the time signal too strong in USB). QSA 3 JE/RFK (Jan Edh, Ronny Forslund, Sweden, SW Bulletin June 13, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4995.57, 10.6 0040, Radio Andina, Huancayo with nice LA-music, ID, ann., only in LSB due to heavy utility-QRM. 22222 BV (Bjarke Vestesen, Denmark, SW Bulletin June 13, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4995.6, 8.6 0035, Radio Andina, lots of talk, but disturbed by the usual noise around 5000 kHz. S 2-3 BEFF (Björn Fransson, Sweden, SW Bulletin June 13, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. R. Andina, 4995.58, June 6 0145-0257* OA folk music, ID, Spanish announcements; 0245 religious talks. Weak-fair; abrupt sign- off. R. Ilucán, 5677.97, June 6 0135-0237* OA folk muisic, Spanish pops, announcements, promos, jingles, ads, IDs. 0237 sign-off announcements and off. R. Melodía, Arequipa, 5996.64, June 6 0635-0730+ LA and OA music, IDs, Spanish announcements. Poor, weak with adjacent channel splatter at tune-in but slowly improving in strength (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 15120, R. Pilipinas, 0255-0310, June 12, Tagalog/ English, Ballads with talks between songs, Fanfare with full English ID, frequency schedule at 0300 and 0309. Weak/poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 11795, 1544-, Radio Blagovest, Jun 13. Excellent reception in Russian, with Protestant type programming in Russian, with organ music (foreign to the Russian church), then ID 'Vy sluyshayte Radio Blagovest', followed by Moscow address, and finally 'Radio Blag'. (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ! But that`s via facilities of Radio Veritas, the Catholic station; indeed, WRTH 2004 shows it as merely an RVA Russian broadcast. Stealth Protestant evangelism with non-Russian-speaking Filipinos none the wiser? (gh, DXLD) {4-093: it really is Catholic} ** PORTUGAL. 13770, 11.6 1647, Rádio Portugal med programmet "DXismo". Det innehöll en rapport om DX-mötet i Kulpsville tidigare i år samt diverse lyssnarbrev. Programmet presenteras av Isabel Saraiva. Tidigare sändes det enbart till Brasilien men sänds numera också till Europa runt 16.40 UTC på fredagar. Allt på português förstås. 4 CB (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Spurious 11798.33 signal. Heard two spurious signals again today. RRI Bucarest in English via Galbeni 11830 kHz 0700-0726 UT. Symmetrical 31.67 kHz away on 11798.33 and 11861.67 kHz. QRM to Wertachtal-D 11795 and TWR Cerrik-ALB 11865 kHz. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Shortwaves. Regional programmes + Radio Rossii kHz / kW / Call / UT / Transmitter 4795 / 50 / RW-44 / 2100-1700 / Selenginsk 5930 / 50 / RW-790 / 0100-2100 / Monchegorsk 5935* / 100 / RW-1001 / 2000-0900 / Arman 5940** / 100 / RW-1001 / 1900-1300 / Arman 6030* / 5 / RW-1095 / 0100-1600 / Perm 6060** / 50 / RW-726 / 1900-1500 / Yakutsk 6075* / 100 / RW-1001 / 0930-1400 / Arman 6085 / 50 / RW-98 / 2100-1700 / Krasnoyarsk 6100 / 5? / ? / 2100-1700 / Kyzyl 6150** / 5 / RW-1095 / 0000-1500 / Perm 6150* / 50 / RW-726 / 2000-1600 / Yakutsk 6160 / 40 / RW-297 / 0100-2100 / Arkhangelsk 7140 / 50 / RW-727 / 1900-1500 / Yakutsk 7200 / 100 / RW-729 / 1900-1500 / Yakutsk 7320 / 100 / RW-647 / 1900-1300 / Arman 7345 / 50 / RW-725 / 1900-1500 / Yakutsk 11650 / 5 / RW-1095 / 1505-1900 / Perm 11840 / 15 / RW-677 / 1700-1400 / Yzhno-Sakhalinsk * = Only Winter ** = Only Summer (Nikolay Rudnev, Belgorodskaya oblast, Rus-DX June via DXLD) ** SUDAN. 4750, R. Peace, 0302-0315, June 8, Vernacular/English, Choral music and talks in language, full ID at 0313, "This is Radio Peace broadcasting on 4750 in the 60m band", brief choral music and quick "This is Radio Peace" ID. Fair with USB chatter (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. CBS/RTI schedule updated June 13 [page down]: http://www.dxing.info/community/viewtopic.php?t=1408 (via Miller Liu, dxing.info via DXLD) ** U A E. R. Dubai, 21605, June 6 1330-1410+, looking for English at 1330 but only heard continuous local Arabic music. Good, clean signal. \\ 15395.23 in at good strength but had hum in audio (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Merlin test program on 15755 from tuning in at 1233 till 1259 on 13/6. Loop with soft music and announcement of website. 43443 (Silvain Domen, Antwerpen, Belgium, June 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) How can you be sure the site is UK? ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE HIGHLIGHTS [Americas stream times only] TIGER TALES, Mondays from June 7 at 1405, repeated Tue 0006, Sun 2306: a new 4-part documentary with former Asia correspondent Chris Gunness examining a single historical phenomenon. First: the USA takeover of the Philippines in 1902 after defeating Spain in the Sp-Am War. HEARING VOICES, Weds from June 16, 1545, repeated Thu 0145: a new 3- part series in the HEART & SOUL block, investigating links between religion and mental health. First: demon possession. Presenter Clare Catford had her own experience of mental illness and claims her faith has helped her navigate the trials of divorce and an eating disorder (Richard Cuff, Easy Listening, June NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** U K. ACCENTS IN RADIO PROGRAMS Greetings! I'm writing in order to ask that you give greater consideration to the understandibility of the programs you (and others at the BBC) produce. All too often, a program about some quite interesting topic is spoiled by the producer insisting on using audio from "live" sources, people who may be intimately involved with the subject, but who speak English with a strong accent. For example, today I tried to listen to an "Assignment" program on French government corruption. I would have really liked to glean the information you presented, but it became impossible because far too much of the program consisted of audio recordings of people speaking English with a strong accent which became basically incomprehensible when I received it via shortwave. You must remember that something the reporter understands there on- site, especially if he/she speaks the native language of the interviewee (who might speak quite good English, but still has an accent) becomes much harder to understand at the ear of the ultimate listener, after all the audio processing stages and the transmission over whatever medium is used (not just shortwave, but also Internet audio or even local FM relays). We listeners really want clarity. We'd prefer that every "live" quote be transcribed and then read in a studio by a professional announcer or actor. We don't want "local color" background noise, we don't want musical "enhancements"; we just want clear text spoken by understandable voices. Considering that the BBC Worldservice is addressing an audience which contains a vast number of people who are NOT native English speakers, but have English as a secondary language, one would think that this would be a primary consideration. If I, as an American speaker of English as my primary language, have a hard time understanding the English spoken by someone with a strong accent, how much harder to understand would that be for someone who is straining to cope with basic un-accented English itself? While this example is based on French-accented (and North-African variants in some segments) English, I have had the same problem in many, many BBC programmes that use South-Asian-accented English speakers. I think that you there are so used to hearing these types of accents and speech cadences that you understand them readily, and don't even think of how odd and often incomprehensible those words and sentences sound to audiences in other parts of the world. There was a reason that the BBC used to be listened to as a source of the standard "Queen's English"; that standard of pronunciation unified all the world's English speakers. Even if they *spoke* with different accents, they could all *understand* that standard. I wish that the BBC would return to that approach. Thank you (William Martin, Saint Louis, MO, June 11, to Assignment, cc to DXLD) ** U K [non]. BBC WORLD SERVICE FROM BONAIRE Over the next couple of days the Radio Netherlands Relay station in Bonaire is carrying out some tests with BBC World Service by feeding the BBC studio output from Bush House via the Internet to Bonaire, from where it will be broadcast on the Bonaire DRM frequencies. There was also a DRM transmission on 11910 between 0400-0800 from Bonaire on June 11 carrying the same BBC studio output. Target area was SW Europe. Later on there will be experiments with an SFN (Single Frequency Network) from Rampisham and Bonaire. More information and feedback can be seen on the forum at http://www.drmrx.org (Bob Padula, MANAGER EDXP, June 12 via DXLD) {Really taken from Media Network verbatim: 4-093} ** U K [non]. Radio Ezra heard on 17590 0900-0930 June 13th, Introduction and What is Karaism feature, ended with music from the Ashdod Community Choir in Israel. The broadcasts will run for 13 weeks and the station now has a postal address of Radio Ezra, P.O. Box 674, Stockton on Tees TS18 3WR, United Kingdom. They can also be contacted via the website http://www.radioezra.com Strong signal on clear channel (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) ex-17490 blocked by China ** U K [non]. ASIATIC RUSSIA & GERMANY, Bible Voice Broadcasting via Krasnodar and Juelich, 12065, 15680, f/d, "Map and Logo" card, with sites, in 63 days from the Canadian address for a report sent to the UK address. This is the first BVB QSL received with transmitter sites written in (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) By you or by anyone? Bible Voice Broadcasting 5905 (via Jülich) QSL-kort från Canada. Adressen för rapporter är mail @ biblevoice.org (Christer Brunström, Sweden, SW Bulletin June 13 via DXLD) ** U S A. 7535, 0559-, WHRI Jun 10 Using WHSB's former transmitters, now carrying WHRI programming. Sign off at 0558, then at 0600 sign to eastern Canada at 25 degrees. 'This is WHRI International, broadcasting over WHSB Cypress Creek, South Carolina.' Excellent reception (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) When I heard them, they did NOT use the WHRI calls on WSHB frequency, but the name ``World Harvest Radio International`` (gh, DXLD) BIG SHORTWAVE STATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA SOLD TO LESEA There's a $2 million price tag for one of the largest privately owned shortwave radio station in the United States, WSHB in South Carolina, on the block for some time. The $2 million figure is about a third of the asking price two years ago. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, plans to sell WSHB in South Carolina to LeSea Broadcasting Corp., which airs non- denominational Christian programming. Church officials said LeSea has agreed to keep most of WSHB's staff. The Christian Science Publishing Society has used the station near Savannah, Ga., for shortwave broadcasts since 1989; it was one of several such stations it had owned at one time. Officials say they now realize they don't need to own broadcast facilities in order to distribute programs. Station officials told Radio World in 2002 that WSHB cost $19 million to build but that the asking price at that time was $6.5 million. WSHB has two 500-kilowatt transmitters, operating independently into high-gain curtain antennas that serve audiences worldwide. The deal is subject to regulatory approval (Radio World Newsbytes, June 11 via Bob Padula, EDXP via DXLD) ** U S A. Today 6/10 I happened to hear the opening announcement for Joyce Riley & Dave Van Kleist at 08 EDT (12 UT). He mentioned new 7535 and I thought 11760 (but the PH & Genesis websites show 11670). Neither site shows 7535 (not on the World Harvest site either) which was very strong here. They also mention or are on 7315, 17560 and WWCR-9985 for various times within those 3 hours (Wells Perkins, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7535 = WHR via WSHB. Remember that WSHB (and WCSN/WVHA/WHRA) were originally 500 kW transmitters. I`ll bet WSHB is not being run anywhere near that now, and WHRA sounds like about 100 kW; the old WHRI would be lucky to put out 25 kW, difficult to hear in Europe. Just what WHR needs to keep from fading into oblivion --- until WSHB breaks down. Then it would probably be too expensive to fix (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7505, 1309-, KTBN, Jun 12. 5-5-5 reception of KTBN with TV feed, so still on the air, at least for now (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7505, KTBN: Adrian Peterson passed along that while listening to KTBN at 1230 Jun 8 on 7505, he heard an announcement to the effect that they are in danger of going off the air, and were requesting contact by E-mail, phone or postal mail from listeners in any part of the world, otherwise, as they announce, they will leave the air due to lack of listeners. I checked them out on Jun 9 and found this at 1000 and 1230: "This station is in danger of going off the air for lack of response. If you are listening to this SW radio station anywhere in the world, please write TBN or call today. We have to hear from you now or we'll go dark. Write to TBN, P. O. Box "A," Santa Ana, CA 92711, E-mail tbn.org [sic] or call 888/731-1000. Please do it now or we'll be gone." (Jerry Berg, MA, USA, DXplorer June 9 via BC-DX via DXLD) Shhhh, don`t pretend you really want them to stay on with TBN. Either silence or sale to almost any other broadcaster would be an improvement. Hey, which not bring back a rock station like KUSW? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn, Tonight Radio Timtron Worldwide played Brother Stair's Way to Heaven again. It's in the last ten minutes of the program. At the opening Tim says that he just got there an hour or so before and unloaded the car. He brought his computer with him for a better selection of music. He says that Michael Ketter and Captain Ganja are there with him and Captain Ganja does make an on air appearance later in the show. Maybe the above information will help you find a viable repeat (John H. Carver Jr., Mid-North Indiana, June 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There are none, per John Norfolk`s latest edition June 13 of DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html --- but you never know when WBCQ may throw it in when there be time to fill. Original airing would have been Sat 2200 on 7415 (gh, DXLD) {actually, there are: 4-093} ** U S A. Is it my imagination that the translator floodgates have indeed broken wide open? You`ve got about 200 listed [in May]. Never remember this before (Frank Merrill, June FMedia! via DXLD) Yes, the FCC has become very efficient in granting translators. They come from the recent window, where some 13,000 were filed. One day last month 115 were granted; another day, 41, and earlier 48. I have to analyze the data, research who each station`s primary will be, typeset the material, and add it to the FM Atlas maps. I think this is the only publication to devote such attention to translators. I think the FCC is on track to grant 10,000 FM translators in 2004 (Bruce F. Elving, Ph.D., FMedia! editor, ibid.) ** U S A. NASHVILLE: NEW COMMUNITY RADIO STATION GEARING UP TO GET ON- THE-AIR http://reviewappeal.midsouthnews.com/news.ez?viewStory=22500 Ginny Welsch A new voice for the community is coming to life in Pasquo, TN. Radio Free Nashville has been granted it's FCC construction permit, and is in the process of fundraising and outreach to begin broadcasting. 98.9 WRFN-LPFM is a 100-watt non-profit radio station licensed to Pasquo, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. At a minimum, WRFN`s signal will reach a seven to ten mile radius from its tower. According to the professionals, depending on the topography, the signal could reach significantly further. The primary broadcast area will extend from Bellevue (west of Nashville) westward to Fairview, to Pegram in the north and parts of Brentwood and Franklin in the south. The broadcast range will extend throughout the world through the use of the Internet. WRFN`s basic idea is simple. Since the airwaves belong by law to the public, the public should have access to them, and have, as basic a right, access to speak on the radio as well as to listen. WRFN presents a unique opportunity. Thousands of LPFM licenses were granted around the country, but virtually all of them went either to government departments-of- transportation or small rural churches. WRFN is one of very few progressive organizations to receive an LPFM broadcast license. WRFN will program a 60-40 mix of news (information, talk and call-in shows) and music, consistent with its mission statement: Believing that democracy cannot function is only a few have access to the media, Radio Free Nashville intends to be a community forum for the music, voices, and viewpoints generally ignored or misrepresented by the corporate media. Though each day will have some consistent elements, no two days will be exactly alike. All the broadcast elements will be complementary. Some of the programming will be of national origin. Free Speech Radio, Democracy Now, Counterspin and other like shows will enter into the Nashville marketplace for the first time. But the bulk of programming will be locally produced by members of the Nashville community. Program proposals are already coming in from a widely diverse arena: labor organizations, peace groups, groups working for economic and social justice, ethnic communities, students, advocates for the elderly and mentally infirm, alternative health practitioners, women’s organizations, local musicians and songwriters, environmentalists, grassroots organizers and more. WRFN invites interested parties to submit program proposals through its web site, http://www.radiofreenashville.org Since each "programmer" will have a different level of skills (and some no skills at all) WRFN will teach programmers how to do their particular job, as well as the other jobs required to run a radio station. WRFN will give programmers a three-pronged forum: to speak up and speak out; to give voice to issues, ideas and music that have been ignored by mainstream media; and to offer insight into diverse arenas of culture and life. WRFN will also provide a space for students and other young people to work with professionals to learn radio technology and produce their own programming. But above all, WRFN wants young people to understand through direct experience that the public airwaves belong to all of us - including them. WRFN's goal is to promote young people's intellectual, creative, and professional growth through training and access to media, through hands-on practice, working relationships with industry professionals, and production of programming. And in the process, WRFN will bring youth perspectives to the airwaves, shedding light on the concerns and interests of young people. Radio Free Nashville is in the middle of a major month of raising money and awareness. Three major events are scheduled. JUNE 19 - GARAGE SALE - 8:00am-5:00pm Trinity Presbyterian Church, 3201 Hillsboro Pike at Sharondale, just up from 440. Vintage radio equipment, furniture, appliances, kitch, books, videos and CDs, clothing and more - plus live music, food and local artisans. And introducing the Radio Free Nashville t-shirt - be one of the first to buy. JUNE 19 - HAIR OF THE DOG - 7:00pm with The Dirt Farm, Juan Prophet Organization and others. Tickets are $5 JUNE 24 - A "BENEFIT WITHIN A BENEFIT" at THE MUSE - 7:00pm with Bombing Adam, Vesta Rose, Fade, Rich Creamy Paint, Casio Casanova and Mostly robot. Tickets are $7: $5 with a toiletry item or art supply for St. Luke's Community House. All the money raised will go toward getting Radio Free Nashville on the air. For more information about Radio Free Nashville and how people can get involved, contact Ginny Welsch at 293-3365. RADIO FREE NASHVILLE - LOW POWER FOR THE PEOPLE (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. SMALL PLAYERS WANT THEIR SHARE OF AIR WAVES -- Michael B. Farrell Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor 06/11/2004 (FLORENCE, MASS.) Surrounded by machine parts and cobwebs, Jackie Scalzo and David Gowler stand on the loose floorboards of the old sewing-machine factory turned warehouse here, where they intend to build a nonprofit low-power radio station. [caption] After waiting three years, their group - known as Valley Free Radio - heard that its application for a 100-watt station was approved by the FCC. Now they must cobble together enough equipment and money to convert a section of this dank warehouse near Northampton, Mass., into a working radio station. . . http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0611/p11s01-ussc.html (via Jim Moats, DXLD) ** U S A. FCC APPROVES REORGANIZATION PLAN FOR WIRELESS BAND Thu Jun 10, 2004 04:01 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved a plan to reorganize a band of airwaves in hopes of promoting further deployment of wireless high-speed Internet access. The band, which includes more than 190 megahertz of valuable spectrum, is primarily used by education institutions for programs like distance learning and by companies including Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. The agency approved a plan that would allow greater flexibility for using the airwaves and continue to allow education organizations to lease their spectrum in the band for commercial services, like wireless high-speed Internet services, known as broadband. The agency refused to allow the education organizations to sell their licenses and said they must still keep 5 percent of the airwaves for educational purposes. The band to be reorganized over the next three years stretches from 2495 to 2690 MHz. [there! --- gh] Additionally, the agency lifted limits that had previously prevented certain industries, like the cable providers, from using the airwaves. But the pay television industry will still be barred from offering video service using that spectrum. Sprint, the No. 4 U.S. long-distance and wireless carrier, had tried to use a slice of the airwaves for fixed broadband services but was unable to make a profit. Nonetheless, the company was pleased with the new flexibility granted by the FCC. "We haven't made any final decisions on the direction we're going to take," said Sprint spokesman James Fisher. He declined to detail the possibilities. Nextel acquired a chunk of airwaves in the band from MCI Inc. when that company was in bankruptcy protection and has indicated it may use the spectrum for wireless broadband service (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. AIR AMERICA ADJUSTS ITS ADVERTISING-REVENUE APPROACH Posted on Thu, Jun. 10, 2004 -- By Elizabeth Jensen, Los Angeles Times When Air America's Al Franken discusses his fellow talk-radio hosts, he's almost always baiting them for their conservative stances. But during a recent speech to a convention of skeptical radio hosts and executives, the liberal Franken struck a different tone. He was not only self-deprecating but even gave grudging respect to archrival Rush Limbaugh. The move gained Franken and Air America a few new friends in the business, and these days, the struggling liberal radio network needs all the friends it can get. Two months after its ballyhooed launch, Air America finally has some encouraging ratings to show but no tested business plan. Almost all of the top executives have left or been pushed out. The network has developed programs but failed to find stations to air them. Promises of imminent replacement affiliates were quietly dropped. Now, those few executives who remain from the start-up have done an about-face. Rather than lease airtime on stations and keep ad money for themselves, Air America Radio is adopting the traditional approach to the business: soliciting deals with station groups to carry shows in exchange for shared advertising revenue. The switch has put the management team in the awkward position of courting the industry, the same people who think that Air America shunned them at the beginning. Talkers magazine Publisher Michael Harrison, who organized the New Media Seminar in late May, said Franken's more humble keynote speech was a smart move. ``He could have had a disastrous encounter face to face with the powers that be in the business. Instead, he very cleverly and skillfully won a lot of friends,'' Harrison said. Franken forged common ground by talking about such dear-to-radio issues as the First Amendment and the Federal Communications Commission and insisted that liberal radio hosts aren't anti-American. ``This is the first time he conducted himself like a member of the broadcasting community rather than a politician,'' Harrison said. Franken, in an interview, said the speech was ``probably the most I've acted like a politician instead of the least. And that's why it worked, because it was a very carefully crafted speech. I didn't think there was any percentage in being confrontational. . . . They didn't want to hear my politics.'' He has received good feedback from some of the 550 broadcasters who were there, he said. ``It was a home run, if I do say so myself.'' Survival uncertain Whether such steps will be enough to keep the network on the air for the long term, or even through the November election, remains to be seen. The network is heard in 15 markets but not in cities including San José, San Francisco, Los Ángeles or Chicago. However, it can be picked up at http://www.airamericaradio.com Air America President Jon Sinton said the network is negotiating with a station group that would bring Air America to several more markets, and ``a number of major broadcasters have expressed interest.'' He declined to be specific. Despite what some people see as a chastened attitude at the network, Sinton, one of the few survivors from the start-up, has retained a touch of the defiance that has marked Air America from the beginning. ``We've got a great business plan,'' he said. ``It helps that the trend numbers serve as proof of concept and we certainly have attracted a lot of investor interest since they came out.'' The ``trend numbers'' he referred to -- which Franken also loudly touted in public appearances in New York last month -- are an extrapolation from listener data collected by the ratings firm Arbitron, although not Arbitron's official twice-yearly audience survey. In New York during April, its first month on the air, Air America attracted more listeners in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. than did WABC, where the popular Limbaugh is heard. Air America also beat WABC among the 18-to-34-year-old group. That's specifically intriguing to many in the business because talk radio draws an older audience. Air America had encouraging ratings in the evenings as well, when Janeane Garofalo is the host. But the morning drive-time numbers -- a particularly lucrative time period for radio stations -- weren't as strong. The network had similarly encouraging results in Chicago, but it's no longer heard there after a dispute with the station group it leased time from. Internet listening also has been heavy. `A viable business' ``People understand that this is a viable business,'' Sinton said. ``It satisfies a gaping hole in the talk radio market. It's good for the radio business because it expands the potential audience and revenue pie. And it's good for our country, because it expands and balances the political dialogue.'' What went wrong at the beginning? One senior executive involved in the start-up pinned the blame on ousted chairman and investor Evan Cohen, who ``overstated the case'' by saying the network had $20 million, enough to keep it afloat for two years. Cohen has declined to comment on his tenure. Mark Walsh, the network's former chief executive, also declined to comment. Many people in the radio industry said Air America's business model was simply wrong, noting that the plan to buy stations or lease airtime wasn't practical because there aren't enough outlets available. One program syndicator said Air America's absence from a major industry convention in February, held by the trade publication Radio & Records, was arrogant. They alleged that they had the remedy to everything wrong with the radio business, said Harrison, the Talkers publisher. ``They would buy stations, buy time. But they subsequently learned that the broadcast industry is self-contained and idiosyncratic. The new management has come to realize that in order to be broadcasters they have to work within the industry.'' Does the network have enough money to make it to November's election? ``I sure hope so,'' Sinton said. Franken gleefully announced last week that he had gotten a paycheck, after forgoing pay for a few weeks as finances got sorted out. ``I have confidence that it definitely will make it,'' he said, ``because we have an audience.'' This full article will be available on the Web for a limited time: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/8887365.htm (c) 2004 MercuryNews.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved (via Don Thornton, DXLD) ** U S A. Your advance printed TV listings for PBS may be wrong Monday night June 14: per the OETA website, at least, due to the bumping of last week`s American Experience part I about Jimmy Carter, this week both parts will air for 4 hours straight about JEC. (CDT): 7 pm part I, 8;30 interview part I, 9 pm part II, 10:30 pm interview part II (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** URUGUAY. 9620.75, 4.6 2205, SODRE, Montevideo with a string concerto. Not a spoken word and in therefore only tentative. "Out of competition by RNE" 2300. QSA 2 JE/RFK (Jan Edh, Ronny Forslund, Sweden, SW Bulletin June 13, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. R. Tashkent Int`l, 11905, June 5 *2130-2140+ sign-on with IS and opening English IDs and into music; poor with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. CUBA, 11760, 2309-, Radio Nacional de Venezuela, Jun 11. Very good reception with ID and address in Spanish, and Venezuelan music. Many mentions of Venezuela. Full ID at 2311, and mentions of Simon Bolivar. 'República Bolivariana de Venezuela'. // to 9820 but not in sync. Wonder why? (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Different program feed lines, I guess, each with its own copy of the program (gh, DXLD) RN de Venezuela via Cuba, 12/6 2320 on 9820 11760. ID at 2330 and a speech by president Chávez. 11760 had a delay of nearly 2 minutes. At time of monitoring both frequencies are also in use by CNR-2 (Silvain Domen, Antwerpen, Belgium, June 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. 9550, 1251-, Voice of Vietnam, Jun 12. Very strong reception of VOV's Russian service with talk of Russian-Vietnamese relations. Way over Cuba, and no sign of Bangladesh at this time (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 2305 kHz, OM in language, 1010 to 1032 with deep fades, 12 June [Bob Wilkner, FL, hard-core-dx via SW Bulletin via DXLD] 2305.00, unID OM with vocals in language, 0905 to 0930 again noted on 13 June [Wilkner-FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD] Not likely to be a MW harmonic (gh) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 4-091: In the log below the frequency and station name were erroneously typed. Please read as follows: Cland, 3912, Voice of the People, 1805 June 6. Talks by OM and YL . Signal S9 strong QRM in both bands 32322 (Zacharias Liangas, Retziki, THS Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. I caught AFRTS at 4815 USB on June 9, 0930 UT. The signal was strong, same level as AFRTS-Guam in Japan. But Guam regular freq. 5765 USB was active, not move from this. AFRTS-Pearl Harbor 6350 USB was active too. I don't know and I don't find the location of this freq. Do you have any information about this? This station was not active in June 10 and 11. Many thanks, (Satoru S. from Japan, June 12, hard-core-dx via DXLD) I heard in Brazil too on June 9 at 0911 UT; the signal was good. (Samuel Cassio Martins, São Carlos, Brazil, ibid.) LOCATION? 4815 AFRTS - Have not heard the AFRTS station on this frequency since the logging of 9 June. A one-day punch-up error? (John Wilkins, CO, 12 June, Cumbre DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. I have heard a station on 5025 starting at 0800 UT twice now, that I think is Radio Vale do Xingu in Brazil. Can anyone hear this and confirm? If it is the broadcast is in Portuguese. The databases in shortwave Log don't have anything else that fits. (Ross Snoeyenbos, KA9NPS, June 10, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Ross, are you sure this isn`t Radio Rebelde, Cuba? They really dominate 5025 since their new transmitter was installed. I`m rarely up at 0800, but I believe they operate all night, but in Spanish, of course. For Latin Americans, check http://www.sover.net/~hackmohr/sw.htm for the latest info. This does show Cuba 24h; there is a Brazilian also on the frequency, but not this one. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) The problem is that I can't tell the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, but the fact that ILG lists it as 1 KW ND makes me think it can't be Brazil. It does come on at 0800 UT, though; before that I don't hear anything. Of course, I listened tonight, and did not hear anything (we have some storms around). (Ross Snoeyenbos, ibid.) Hi Glenn and all, I checked 5025 here this morning just prior to and after 0900. Not even a het heard here at that time, though in rechecking at 0915 I do get a het (lots of static here this morning). My guess is that it's the Brazilian, and not Rebelde. The Latin American list mentioned shows Radio Jornal Transamazônica, Altamira (Brazil), which is indicated as possibly being ex-FM Vale do Xingu using the frequency at a 0900 s/on. June 11, 2004 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, June 11, ibid.) Glenn, Sometimes Cuba [5025] comes up late like on Monday Morning at 0900 UT. I was able to hear SIBC [5020v] last week because of that. I checked the next day at the same time and Cuba covered 20 kHz here (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ MISSED THE BOAT ON SHORTWAVE CAR RADIOS [In the mornings I listen to R. Australia in the car on 9580, and sometimes Serbia & Montenegro in the evenings on the same after 0000] When the SWBC stations started losing their reason for being, I still think that they missed a big opportunity when they failed to get behind the concept of SWBC listening via car radios. Both the equipment manufacturers and the stations poorly marketed the concept. As a result, there can`t be more than a tiny handful of people in Ohio who have SWBC in-dash car radios like I do. It is a shame, in fact it is a disgrace, showing gross mismanagement on the part of both the stations and the manufacturers. Of course the concept is being tried again, this time by the satellite radio people who want you to purchase access to the programming. We he a woman down at work who just bought a car, and who got a short-term subscription to the satellite service from the car manufacturer as part of the purchase. I have no idea if she will actually continue the subscription when the free period runs out, but we shall see. The SWBC stations and manufacturers never worked with each other at all on the concept of SWBC radios in the car, such as the satellite radio people are now doing with the car manufacturers. This is because both the SWBC radio manufacturers and the stations were run by people who could not see a market if it stared them right in the face. Their inaction ended up dooming SWBC. It is sad. We need a villain, and I have just nominated two (George Zeller, Cleveland OH, Musings, June NASWA Journal via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ NASWA JOURNAL The June issue of the Journal of the North American Shortwave Association is an excellent one, slightly larger than usual at 64 pages, packed with info including an expanded Listeners Notebook section, NASWA`s FCC filing on BPL, John Figliozzi`s SW Program Listings for the current season, and much more. A good one to sample and then consider joining (gh) A sample copy of the Journal is $2.00 in the U.S. and Canada; $3.00 overseas. Requests should be sent to NASWA at 45 Wildflower Road, Levittown, PA 19057 (Bill Oliver, Publisher & Business Manager, DX LISTENING DIGEST) THE NEW ELECTRONIC DX PRESS RADIO MONITORING ASSOCIATION Membership of the Australian-based Electronic DX Press Radio Monitoring Association is now FREE, giving full access to everything at the brand-new EDXP INVISION POWER BOARD, which includes direct E-mailed copies of replies to chosen topics, and direct E-mail alerts of new postings into selected forums. Membership includes a personal messenger service (very neat!), E-mailing to members direct from the Board, full searching routines and statistics, a SHORTWAVE NEWSPLUS alert on visiting the site, new posts, daily post summary, personal profile page, and a personal assistant. Plenty of quality professionally researched international engineering schedules, (many unavailable elsewhere!), lots of monitoring notes (loggings), propagation news, new transmission technology, receivers, antennas, programming, QSLs, digital broadcasting, Australian domestic FM and MW broadcasting news, and a special area for Australian members. ---|| And, no banners, no pop-ups, no pop-unders, no pop-downs, no spam, no trojan ingress, no commercial messaging, encrypted password access, full control by members of privacy and security features, photos, many avatars and emoticons! Yes, no charge for all that! Anyone, individuals or organisations, are welcome to join (even GH!). Registration is quick and simple, at http://engradio.org/invisionboard Many other details are available at that site about this new no- charge, no donation service to the global radio monitoring community (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Vic, Australia, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM +++ There is interesting discussion and comments on DRM in the new INVISION POWER BOARD of the EDXP RADIO MONITORING ASSOCIATION. Here is an extract... This is the current DRM usage on 49 mb: 5955 1700-1730 Radio Sweden via Flevo 5990 0600-2359 RTL via Junglinster 6015 1500-1600 TDP Belgium via Julich 6095 0600-2359 RTL via Junglinster 6140 1100-1300 and 1600-1900 DW via Julich 6180 1400-1600 DW via Wertachtal The spectrum mask for DRM transmissions is supposed to allow a total bandwidth usage of 20 kHz at the -50 dB point. Bandwidth usage expands outwards to a total of 40 kHz at the -60 dB point, and to a massive total 60 kHz at -70 db! This means that a DRM transmission "nominally" on 5990 will occupy a solid spectrum block from 5985 to 5995 at the -50 db point. At the -60 dB point, this becomes a block extending from 5970 to 6010. At -70 dB the spectrum usage will be 5960 to 6020!!! The actual DRM signal is supposed to be 10 kHz "wide". In places where signal strength is high, a 250 kW DRM transmitter with a directional hi-gain curtain antenna will put out huge energy levels up to 20 kHz either side of the centre frequency. Here in Melbourne, as Rob Wagner has pointed out, the 5990 Luxembourg transmitter destroys everything from 5975 to 6015, around our sunrise period 2000-2100, shortpath. The same thing is observed for the second Luxembourg transmitter on "6095", with spectrum blocked at 2000-2100 extending from 6080 to 6010. {make that 6110} Remember, these Lux transmitters are operating at "low power" of nominal 50 kW - consider what might occur if full nominal power of 500 kW is used on each, into hi-gain slewed antennas? My contacts across the industry are now suggesting that SW DRM is a lemon, where multi-hop, multi-path, long-haul transmission is attempted. Signals on such modes are prone to sudden drop-out (like your digital mobile phones or digital TV out-of-area) due to ionospheric changes - with DRM there is no concept of "weak" or "strong" , or anything in between - the signal is either there or it isn't! That's why most of the current SW DRM tests are on single hop circuits, minimal fading, servicing Europe (out of Germany, Lux, Netherlands and the UK), or North America (out of Canada or Netherlands Antilles) The perceived benefits of DRM quickly fade into nothing when drop-outs occur! DRM is also running tests on longwave and mediumwave from Europe, but that's a different story. As we say in Australia, "put up or shut up" - nothing that listeners can do about the spectrum disruption! No receivers either, which doesn't help. Remember also that DRM SW receivers will have to be individually programmed with scripts for each station, so that the receiver knows where to look for the chosen broadcaster. There is no equivalent of "frequency tuning" a DRM receiver, as there are no dials or frequency keypads. Similar to the factory-installed frequency settings which come pre-installed with some portable SW receivers. Any change of frequency for any station using DRM has to be loaded into the receiver. If you have problems in programming your VCR, microwave oven, or mobile phone, then you will have even bigger problems with DRM scripting! Have a happy day (Bob Padula, Mont Albert, Vic, Australia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHINA, NEW ZEALAND, UK TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ "SNEAK" PROVISION IN JOBS BILL ALLOWS FREE PASS FROM IRS REGS, PULPIT POLITICKING BY CLERGY Letters, Faxes, E-Mails, Calls Needed NOW To Stop "Safe Harbor For Churches" Provision! A measure added to a jobs funding bill now in the U.S. House of Representatives would encourages churches to support political candidates and establish penalties for up to three "unintentional" endorsements made by clerics. This would permit religious leaders and houses of worship to engage in partisan electioneering with no danger of loosing their special tax exempt status. Known as the "Safe Harbor for Churches' provision, the proposal was smuggled into a 379-page appropriations bill known as the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (HR 4520). This comes after repeated failures to pass legislation that would allow houses of worship to become actively involved in partisan political campaigns and even raise money for candidates. The measure was introduced following revelations that the Bush-Cheney campaign has been reaching out to 1,600 "friendly" congregations in Pennsylvania as part of a national strategy to mobilize conservative Christians. Critic says that this effort is design to encourage religious groups and leaders to sign-on to the Bush White House social and political agenda. CONGRESS NEEDS TO HEAR FROM US NOW! HR 4520 could come to the House floor next week. We need to flood Capitol Hill NOW with letters, faxes, e-mail and phone calls urging Representatives to vote "NO" on this bill unless the "Safe Harbor for Churches' provision is removed. Visit our Action Alert page at http://www.atheists.org/action/alert-06-jun-2004.html for TIPS ON CONTACTING CONGRESS and to locate your Representative! (AA Newsletter June 12 via DXLD) RAMTHA`S SCHOOL OF ENLIGHTENMENT Just returned from the Dead Center Film Festival in OKC; one of the screenings was ``Where Angels Fear to Tread``, about JZ Knight and her channeling (tho I think that term was never used) of an ancient being called Ramtha. Not a cult, they assert, and God is inside us rather than an external being. I don`t know much about it beyond that, but if you get past the trappings, s/he has some excellent and progressive ideas. The movie is a marvel of editing, with Ramtha making pronouncements in countless different settings and costumes; yet if you only listened to the soundtrack you would never guess it was not one continuous speech, which is not really about oldies music. Here`s the program`s synopsis of the 40-minute video: ``Drawing inspiration from he music of the sixties, seventies and eighties, ``Angels`` is a riveting, rapid-fire rockumentary that crucifies acceptable social oppression and takes to task the lies propagated by world religions and multinational corporations. This film deals with the three things one is never supposed to talk about in polite company: Politics, Religion and Sex.`` Here`s the website: http://www.ramtha.com FALUN GONG Another movie we saw at Dead Center was SHA CHEN BAO (SANDSTORM), to expose Chinese government persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. This one is a 76-minute feature made in Canada, in Chinese with subtitles. Falun Gong is not a cult either, but simply a harmless movement promoting ethics --- Truthfulness, Benevolence, Forbearance, and all the bad things you`ve heard about them, such as self- immolation are lies by the Chicom dictators who fear that their grip over people will be loosened by FG. This is the movement which has had SW broadcasts; main website is http://www.falundafa.org The directors of both movies were present, and admittedly involved with their respective movements, so the movies are both totally one- sided, but they sure give one food for thought, and might motivate one to reform her life (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###