DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-129, August 27, 2004 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING 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 1243: Fri 0200 on ACBRadio Mainstream repeated 2-hourly thru 0000 UT Sat http://www.acbradio.org/mainstream.html Fri 2300 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sat 0000 on SIUE Web Radio http://webradio.siue.edu/ Sat 0800 on WRN1 to Europe, Africa, Asia, Pacific Sat 0855 on WNQM Nashville 1300 Sat 1030 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1830 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, http://www.wpkn.org Sat 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sat 2030 on WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sat 2030 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sat 2300 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sun 0230 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 on WBCQ 9330 Sun 0630 on WWCR 3210 Sun 1000 on WRN1 to North America, webcast; also KSFC 91.9 Spokane WA, and WDWN 89.1 Auburn NY; maybe KTRU 91.7 Houston TX, each with webcasts Sun 1100 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sun 1500 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sun 1900 on Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 Sun 1930 on WWCR 12160 [NEW, ex-Sat 2030] Sun 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sun 2000 on RNI webcast, http://www.11L-rni.com Sun 2300 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Mon 0100 on WBCQ 9330 Mon 0230 on WRMI 6870 Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [previous 1242] Mon 0430 on WBCQ 7415, webcast http://wbcq.us Mon 0900 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org 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]: WORLD OF RADIO 1243 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1243h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1243h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1243.html WORLD OF RADIO 1243 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1243.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1243.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1243 in the true SW sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_08-25-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_08-25-04.mp3 ** AFGHANISTAN. WOMEN'S RADIO IN WESTERN AFGHAN PROVINCE IS EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS | Text of report by Afghan news agency Herat News Centre Herat, 26 August: Sahar Radio [local radio station catering for women] has been dealing with numerous problems over the past three months, including administrative ones. Several people were appointed to head the radio but they could not manage to resolve the problems. Now, Ms Taiba Zahidi, former deputy principal of Amir Ali Shir Nawahi high school, was appointed as the head this radio. Source: Herat News Centre, Herat, in Dari 0001 gmt 26 Aug 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. COMMERCIAL RADIO PILOT PROJECT GETS UNDER WAY IN NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN | Text of report by Afghan Jowzjan Aina television on 23 August [Presenter] Aina Radio has launched a pilot programme produced in Aina TV studio. [Correspondent] Aina Radio has launched this [pilot] programme on 88.0 MHz frequency, in FM band. It is like a shining star on the country's media sky. Its mission is to deal with the demands and wishes of esteemed countrymen. It will fulfill its task in the field of informing people, maintaining everlasting peace and national unity and forming a civil society. This radio is an effective and useful source for the spiritual development of the people. It will provide informative, educational and entertaining programmes. It will carry advertisements of individual people and, in particular, of businessmen. Our respectful countrymen can put forward their viewpoints and proposals aimed at improving the quality of its broadcasting. Source: Jowzjan Aina television, Sheberghan, in Dari 1605 gmt 23 Aug 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. New schedule for HCJB Australia from August 29: 0100-0230 English 15560 KNX 075 kW / 307 deg to SoAs 0230-0300 Urdu 15560 KNX 075 kW / 307 deg to SoAs 0700-1000 English(&) 11750 KNX 050 kW / 120 deg to SoPac till Oct. 2 0800-1100 English(&) 11750 KNX 050 kW / 120 deg to SoPac from Oct. 3 1100-1230 English(&) 15425 KNX 100 kW / 307 deg to SoEaAs 1230-1330 English 15405 KNX 100 kW / 307 deg to SoEaAs 1330-1400 Urdu 15405 KNX 075 kW / 307 deg to SoAs 1400-1430 Indian langs 15405 KNX 075 kW / 307 deg to SoAs 1430-1600 English(&) 15390 KNX 075 kW / 307 deg to SoAs 2230-0100 English 15525 KNX 100 kW / 340 deg to EaAs (&) DXPL on Sat 0730 (0830 from Oct. 3), 1200 and 1500 (Observer, Bulgaria, Aug 27 via DXLD) Not 1430 as I misspoke on WOR 1243 (gh) ** BOLIVIA. R. Santa Cruz, 6134.79, 0953-1005+ Aug 20, Spanish announcements, IDs, ads, promos, jingles, local music, good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Nacional da Amazônia changed again its frequency from 6190 to 6170. So R. Cultura de S. Paulo is covered by Amazônia. First noted on 18th Aug (Kenji Takasaki, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) But such changes are not to be considered permanent (gh, DXLD) 6170.0, R Nacional da Amazônia, 0930, Aug 22, IDs and phone in program // 11780.0. Ex 6190 - one of these days maybe they will settle on one frequency (Ron Howard, Monterey CA, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4885, Rádio Clube do Pará, Recibida carta de confirmación y agradecimiento, en inglés, firmada por el Director General de la emisora, Camilo Centeno, tarjeta portal [postal?] con vista de la emisora y de la ciudad de Belém y datos técnicos de la estación, también en inglés, en la que se indica que transmiten en onda corta en 4885 kHz con un transmisor EASA de 10 kW y una antena Full wave dipole dirección 03 degrees north, y en onda media, 690 con un transmisor Nautel XI12 de 12 kW y una antena 1/4 wave dipole. En la carta también dicen que envían, por correo aparte, pegatinas y una camiseta de la emisora. Junto al informe de recepción se envió un I.R.C. y tardaron encontestar 37 días. Dirección: Radio Clube do Pará Av. Almirante Barroso, 2190, 1º andar Marco. CEP 66095-000 Belém, Pará, Brasil (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DXer-friendly station, replying in English even to a report in Spanish (or Portuguese?), and sending stickers, T-shirt separately (gh, DXLD) ** BULGARIA [non]. Ivo Ivanov of R. Bulgaria denies that the 11525 test of Minivan Radio was via Bulgaria; our only source for this was BBC Monitoring, which was quite explicit about their DF fix: see MALDIVES (gh, DXLD) ** BULGARIA. Re: There is a well maintained website will full technical info on all Bulgarian transmitters: http://www.radio.dir.bg The complete LW/MW list from this website: ... 684 150 Blagoevgrad Radio Blagoevgrad (via Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As I explained and corrected in my original postings via MWDX, I made a typo regarding Blagoevgrad here: this transmitter is on 864. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Aug 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. New Toronto 1610 soon --- Article in today's Toronto Star about the predominantly Spanish-language community station that was licenced by the CRTC last year. It's aiming to be on air in October at 1610 AM with 1,000 watts day & night: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1093385410982&call_pageid=968350130169&col=969483202845 If that rather long link doesn't work for you, just go to http://www.thestar.com hit the "GTA" tab and scroll about half-way down for the story "Radio Station a Miracle in the Works". 73, (Greg Schatzmann, Belleville, ON, Aug 25, ODXA via DXLD) Then; viz.: RADIO STATION A MIRACLE IN THE WORKS --- SPANISH BROADCASTS BEGIN IN OCTOBER --- Aug. 25, 2004. 01:00 AM JOE FIORITO The radio antenna is whippy, tapered, white and graceful, hollow, made of fibreglass and fitted with brass; it measures 23 metres from base to tip; if whales were trout you could use it as a fly rod. [WOW, what a lead!! --- gh] It belongs to the first and only Spanish-language community radio station in the country, Voces Latinas. It pierces the air proudly above Dufferin St., a couple of blocks south of Lawrence. The licence for the station is so new it is still wet. The antenna arrived at the station the other day. Before it could be used for broadcasting it had to be unpacked, screwed together and hoisted into place. The work of assembly was done by a band of volunteers --- Latinos for the most part --- in the parking lot of the Anglican Church of San Lorenzo. You may not know much about the radio station --- it has yet to broadcast a word --- but you may recall the church. Every year the parish priest, Father Hernán Astudillo, takes a fleet of used school buses, fills them with donated supplies, leads a convoy to El Salvador, distributes the supplies and leaves the buses behind. Father Hernán, the driving force behind the licence application, was not on hand for the antenna raising. He was in México, at the head of this year's convoy, somewhere near the Guatemalan border. He always gets a deal on the buses. You can bet he got a deal on the antenna. It was made by a Guelph firm that specializes in communications towers. Tom Melançon of Valcom came along to see that it went up properly. The crate the antenna came in was big enough to hold half a dozen mummies laid end to end. In the crate, along with various nuts and bolts, a bag of set screws, a tube of glue and an Allen key --- shades of Ikea! --- was an instruction booklet. "I don't need that," said Tom. "I've been doing this for 23 years." He said, "This antenna is made of pure fibreglass strand. We wrap it around a steel mandrel. It gets baked at about 700 degrees, then we cool it down and pull the mandrel out. It's hollow. There are copper straps inside for conductivity." And he would have told me how radio signals are broadcast if I'd let him; however, on a good day all I really need to know is that, when I plug my radio in and turn it on, sound comes out. Among the antenna assemblers was Rodrigo Briones, originally from Argentina; he's in charge of the radio station, which is located in the manse of the church. He watched Tom working and said, with a smile of approval, "Hombre prevenido vale por dos." Roughly translated: The man who thinks ahead is worth two men. And so Rodrigo pitched in along with Álvaro Ayarce, the Chilean choir director, and several other members of the parish, and there were many cameras on hand and everything was photographed many times. They had the antenna screwed together and readied for bolting to the broadcast tower by lunchtime. Lunch was beans, rice, roast chicken legs and plates of salad set out on trestle tables in the church basement, along with bottles of soft drinks. Álvaro poured a glass of orange pop and said, "In Chile, we mix C-plus with draught beer; it's very refreshing." Alas, there was no draught beer in the church. The crane arrived soon after lunch. A problem, right off the bat: The tower the antenna is supposed to sit on is hinged and can be folded down; ordinarily you would attach the antenna to the hinge plate, winch the whole thing up and then bolt everything in place; not possible in this case, because there was not enough room in the parking lot to accommodate the length of the antenna. And so there was no choice but to hoist it up, swing it around and set it down on the tower. Easier said than done. The antenna is tapered from base to tip, and it is too smooth to grip with a rope or a strap, and there are no hooks or handles at the bottom. And so there were long deliberations about what to do and how to do it, and all the guys stared and pointed and stepped back to reconsider. In the end, Mike Snider, the crane operator, secured a strap to the bolts on the base of the antenna. This solved the larger problem --- i.e., how to lift --- by creating a smaller one. The question now: How do you cut the strap off the base, once the base is set in place? The answer: You set the antenna down, very carefully; you put in a few bolts, sort of; and then you cut the strap and put in the rest of the bolts in a hurry, and you tighten the nuts like mad, and you pray to San Lorenzo all the while. In the end, the antenna went up and it stayed up. Now comes the really hard part. Voces Latinas will begin to broadcast to Toronto's Spanish- speaking community sometime in early October, at 1610 on the AM dial (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) CRTC grants four in Toronto --- By SCOTT FYBUSH Radio listeners in Toronto, who already have more choices on the dial than any other city in CANADA, are about to get still more listening options. The CRTC last week granted four new licenses in the nation's largest city, though only three of them will be available to listeners using analog radios. On the AM dial, the San Lorenzo Latin American Community Centre gets 1000 watts day and night on 1610 for a non-commercial service that will broadcast primarily in Spanish, with some additional programming in Italian, Portuguese and Tagalog. The grant displaces dormant CHEV, a mobile station that broadcast community hockey games and other events in and around Etobicoke; it hasn't been heard in several years, and if it does return it will have to find a new frequency (NE Radio Watch, April 21 *2003* via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** CANADA. CHOI-FM TO STAY ALIVE AT LEAST UNTIL SPRING By RHÉAL SÉGUIN Thursday, August 26, 2004 - Page A6 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040826/CHOI26/TPNational/Canada QUEBEC -- CHOI-FM, Quebec City's top-rated radio station, won an important first battle yesterday in its fight for what it calls the right to exercise its freedom of speech. In a last-minute agreement, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission agreed to postpone closing the controversial station at least until next spring. That is when the Federal Court of Canada is expected to rule on an appeal of the commission's decision in July not to renew CHOI-FM's licence, which expires Aug. 31. Should the case make its way to the Supreme Court of Canada, CHOI-FM may be on the air past next spring. The CRTC and the Justice Department announced yesterday they had reached an agreement with CHOI-FM's parent company, Genex Communications Inc., proposing that the Federal Court approve a request for an injunction to delay the station's closing until the appeal is heard. "The CRTC and the Attorney-General of Canada . . . confirm that they will not oppose the granting by this court the authorization to appeal," the CRTC's lawyers said in a letter yesterday to the Federal Court of Appeal. Genex Communications is appealing the CRTC's decision to close the station after complaints of offensive comments by its morning-show hosts. Chief Justice John Richard of the Federal Court of Appeal is expected to ratify the agreement granting an injunction today and to set the timetable for court hearings on CHOI-FM's appeal. "This is a proposal that will be submitted to the court, which has the authority to modify if it so desires," Genex Communications president Patrice Demers said yesterday in an interview. "That is why I'm withholding any further comment until . . . the court renders a decision" today. Mr. Demers, whose station generates approximately $3-million a year in profit, knows that while he is on the verge of winning an important battle, his fight against the CRTC is far from over. In recent weeks, the radio station has used the airwaves to rally massive public support, saying the CRTC was abusing its power by imposing censorship and violating freedom of speech by ordering a station closed for the first time in Canada solely because of what its hosts were saying. Mounting public pressure in Quebec City in support of the city's top- rated radio station may have been a factor in the decision by the federal government and the CRTC to reach an agreement with the station. The proposal includes a timetable for court hearings to run from September to March of 2005. During that time, the company will ask the Federal Court to rule on key issues involving the CRTC's powers. Genex Communications contends the federal broadcast regulator does not have the authority to act as a censor of the content of radio programs. The company also says that the CRTC's decision to close the station violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and is unconstitutional. It calls the CRTC's actions abusive and arbitrary, and argues that they violate the principles of natural justice and the rules of procedural equity (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CHILE. 6010, R Minería, Putre, 0215 agosto 23, baladas en español, incl. a Silvio Rodríguez. Mayormente QSA 0-12 en 20 minutos de escucha, pero con picos de señal 3/4 por breves segundos. Afortunado, en uno de ellos pude escuchar a las 0225 ``Putre, Onda Corta``. Así que ellos mencionan la OC en la ID. Logging un poco viejo, pero vale (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, August 27, Grundig YB400, longwire 25 m, Conexión Digital via DXLD) That would be Radio Parinacota, relaying R. Minería (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. NUEVO CONCURSO DE RADIO INTERNACIONAL DE CHINA Saludos cordiales, amigos radioescuchas: Paralelamente al concurso "55 aniversario de la Nueva China", organizaremos en agosto y septiembre otro concurso "Viajando a Zhejiang" y transmitiremos por onda corta e internet 12 artículos sobre los esfuerzos realizados por esta provincia ubicada al este de China. El concurso se cerrará el 31 de octubre de este año. Aparte de utilizar el correo ordinario, los oyentes también pueden enviar antes del primero de noviembre sus respuestas a nuestro correo electrónico y cualquier de ustedes tendrá la oportunidad de ganar el premio especial y ser invitado a visitar esa bella provincia. http://espanol.chinabroadcast.cn/1/2004/08/11/Zt1@31920.htm Nuestra Dirección Postal: C.P. 100040 Beijing, China 16 A Av. Shijigshan Departamento de Español de Radio Internacional de China Sobre los programas de la Radio E-mail: spa @ cri.com.cn Fax: 0086-10-68891909 Tel: 0086-10-68891963 Sobre el sitio web, E-mail: spanet @ cri.com.cn Fax: 0086-10-68891909 Tel: 0086-10-68892989 Muy atentamente 73´s (via José Bueno - Córdoba - España, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. Additional frequencies for China Radio International effective July 15, 2004: 2300-0057 5905 KAS 100 kW / non-dir Russian 0100-0157 7240 KAS 100 kW / 209 deg Urdu 1300-1357 9610 KUN 150 kW / 270 deg Bengali co-ch RAI Albanian 1335+ 0200-0257 9655 KUN 150 kW / 270 deg Bengali 0100-0157 9695 KAS 100 kW / 209 deg Urdu 0200-0227 9765 KAS 100 kW / 239 deg Pashto 0200-0257 11640 KUN 150 kW / 270 deg Bengali 1300-1357 11640 KUN 150 kW / 270 deg Bengali 0600-0657 11740 KAS 100 kW / 239 deg English co-ch Vatican It/Fr/En/Ar 0100-0357 11770 KAS 100 kW / 174 deg English 1400-1557 11775 KAS 100 kW / 209 deg Urdu 1500-1557 11800 KAS 100 kW / 173 deg Tamil 0200-0227 11860 KAS 100 kW / 209 deg Pashto 1500-1557 11965 URU 500 kW / 308 deg Chinese 1600-1657 11965 URU 500 kW / 308 deg English 0000-0057 13600 URU 500 kW / 308 deg Chinese 0300-0357 13600 URU 500 kW / 308 deg Chinese 0600-0657 13620 KAS 100 kW / 239 deg English 1500-1557 13620 KAS 100 kW / 174 deg Tamil 0100-0157 13640 KAS 100 kW / 174 deg Chinese 0300-0857 13720 KAS 100 kW / 209 deg English co-ch REE Sp from 0700 1400-1557 13775 KAS 100 kW / 209 deg Urdu 0300-0357 15110 KAS 100 kW / 174 deg English 0300-0357 15350 KAS 100 kW / 174 deg Hindi 0400-0457 15350 KAS 100 kW / 174 deg Chinese co-ch RL CeAs langs 0500-0657 15350 KAS 100 kW / 174 deg English co-ch RL Tatar Bashkir 0700-0857 15350 KAS 100 kW / 174 deg English co-ch TRT/VOT Turkish 0300-0357 15465 KAS 100 kW / 209 deg Hindi 0600-0857 15465 KAS 100 kW / 209 deg English 0300-0357 17500 KAS 100 kW / 173 deg English 0400-0457 17540 KAS 100 kW / 173 deg Chinese 0500-0857 17540 KAS 100 kW / 173 deg English 0200-0227 17890 KUN 150 kW / 234 deg Pashto (Observer, Bulgaria, Aug 27 via DXLD) ** CUBA. Hola: Texto sobre Radio Habana encontrado en su página Web: ********************************************************************** Nota Informativa de Radio Habana Cuba --- A todos nuestros oyentes: Los serios daños causados por el huracán Charley a nuestros transmisores han impedido que esta emisora cumpla con sus transmisiones de onda corta. Les ofrecemos disculpas y les informamos que cuando esté solucionada esta situación se lo haremos conocer de inmediato. Dirección de Radio Habana Cuba ********************************************************************** Esto supone, como es lógico, que tanto los programas de RHC como RN de Venezuela están fuera del aire vía onda corta. En Internet hay emisión en formato Windows media en: mms://tvinternet.icrt.cu/rc4 Saludos cordiales, (Tomás Méndez, Aug 25, Noticias DX via DXLD) It`s about time they said something, almost two weeks after the hurricane! (gh, DXLD) 11760, Radio Habana Cuba, Recibí carta con tarjeta QSL, boletín de programación y folletos en 75 días. El informe de recepción se envió a través de un formulario en la siguiente página web: http://www.radiohc/espanol/diexismo.htm (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. This is a day or two late and dollar short, but wanted to pass this along - dates/times are UT. Tuesday, 8/24 - 0100 +/- returning home from Greenville, NC, I noticed two distinctly different stations in Spanish on 530 kHz. Only ID noted was for Radio Visión Cristiana (plus ID for 1330 outlet in the States). The dominant station, primarily with male announcer with near-continuous talk, would occasionally go off briefly with a SEVERE "hum"-like sound replacing the audio. Under that station was, presumed Radio Visión Cristiana with some talk, but mostly music. I was in a rural (low RF) area during reception, so the signal was fairly good. If there was mention of Martí or Rebelde, such was not heard. Wednesday, 8/25 - 1650 to 1710 (times are correct, onboard Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base (Eastern North Carolina), Radio Visión Cristiana at fair level with positive ID at 1701 (Mike Hardester, On The Road in Eastern North Carolina, Camry Car Radio and Imbedded Antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 530, CUBA, Radio Rebelde, fade in and out, 0230-0240, "rotating and tilting" Sony ICF 5900w to null Radio Visión Cristiana. 5900 seemed better than 2010 for nulling Cristiana last night. 73 (Bob Wilkner, FL, Aug 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Como había escrito en horas de la mañana, acabo de chequear la frecuencia de los 530 kHz y no encuentro rastros de Radio Martí ni de Radio Rebelde, solo se escucha con poderosa señal a Radio Visión Cristiana Internacional. Este chequeo de frecuencia lo acabo de hacer a las 9 de la noche hora local de Venezuela, correspondiendo a la 01:00 UTC. Atte: (José Elías, Venezuela, UT Aug 26, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Hola Jose Elias: Es que no están transmitiendo a diario; es sólo una vez a la semana tengo entendido. Me imagino que la próxima emisión será el próximo sábado por el Canal 13 en paralelo con los 530 kHz. 73's de: (Dino Bloise, Hollywood, Florida, USA, ibid.) ¿Paralelo? ¿No hay programas distintos en TV y radio? Anoten que la programación radial de los sábados por la noche consta de pelota (gh, DXLD) HOLA DINO: Efectivamente es así. La señal de Radio Martí en los 530 AM, sale únicamente el día de la semana que el avión C-130 esté en el aire desde aguas territoriales de Estados Unidos reforzando la frecuencia de 1180 AM. Según explicó el Dr. Pedro Roig, director de Radio y TV Martó, esa frecuencia se activará en las mismas horas que el avión esté enviando la señal de TV Martí. Entre esas cuatro o seis horas (no se exactamente el tiempo) el avión C-130 lanzará a Cuba la señal de TV por el canal 13 y la de Radio por los 530 AM. Reportes desde Cuba indican haber visto TV Martí en Ciudad de la Habana, Provincias de Matanzas y Villa Clara y un reporte desde Morón en la Provincia Ciego de Avila. 73's (Oscar de Céspedes, FL, ibid.) ** DENMARK. World Music Radio, 5815, 2330-2350+ Aug 19, pop music, 2350 multi-lingual ID announcements; ``WMR`` and ``World Music Radio`` IDs. Poor-fair with noise and T-storm static (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 6025, R Amanecer Internatcional, 0254-0324, Aug 14 and 15, religious songs and music, noted several program IDs: ``La Voz de la Esperanza... Santo Domingo, República Dominicana`` and ``Programa la Voz de la Esperanza``, station ID and frequency, more religious music and songs. Fair-poor both days, QRM from 6030. Also heard at 1002, Aug 22, religious songs. This week noted the "Internacional" in the ID. Fair-good, with no sign of R. Illimani recently reported here (Ron Howard, Monterey CA, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. U.K.: New schedule for Voice of Eritrean People in Tigrina: 1730-1830 Sun on 15595 SKN 300 kW / 125 deg to EaAf, ex 1730-1800 1800-1830 Sun on 7125 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg to WeEu, cancelled (Observer, Bulgaria, Aug 27 via DXLD) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA [nons]. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES --- 21790, R UNMEE, 0915-1000*, Su Aug 22, 0915 and 0930 local language programs; at 0945 an English program followed. At 1000 sudden sign-off in the middle of a sentence. Good reception (Max Van Arnhem, Huissen, Netherlands, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. 603 MW, R Scandinavia, planned to broadcast with 1 kW since Jun 01, 2004, from a boat ``St. Paul`` at Mariehamn, Aaland Islands, seems to be off the air until further notice. The reason is a dispute between the owner of the boat, the British Mike Spenser, and Swedish Roy Sandgren who was granted the licence to broadcast by the Finnish authorities. The cause seems to be that it has only been on the air for a few hours with tests since Jun 01 due to technical problems. Roy Sandgren now insists to find another transmitter for the project (Summary from Nya Åland, Aug 03 via Lars-Olof Hansson, Uppsala, Sweden, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) I have tried many times to hear it here in Riistina, Finland, but in vain. My recent visitor, Swedish DX-er Bengt Ericsson told me that while sailing with the ferry from Stockholm via Mariehamn to Turku, he was only able to catch it in the harbour of Mariehamn! (Torre Ekblom, Aug 12, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. DEUTSCHE WELLE DEMOLISHES 75 METER BAND I have sent this message to DW's frequency manager via their website: Dear Sirs: Your choice of 3995 kHz to conduct DRM tests is a disaster for the amateur radio service. American hams have learned to live with broadcasters and utilities in this part of the band, but demolishing a solid 10 kHz of bandwidth is totally inexcusable. Please consider ceasing these transmissions or retiming them so that they will not propagate to North America. Destroying a major portion of a busy band is no way to win fans for DRM or for Deutsche Welle. Sincerely, (Al Quaglieri, Amateur radio NN2U and shortwave listener, NY, Aug 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It seems that these transmissions are not tests any longer. The DW frequency schedule dated Aug. 10 lists 3995 kHz 1800-0559 UT Wertachtal 200 kW non-directional. Another address to write to is [EMAIL PROTECTED]. This department compiles the frequency schedules and they also verify reports. Best wishes, (Uwe Volk, Germany, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** ICELAND. 7590 and 9980, AFRTS, Grindavik, both have been off air since about Aug 13. No replacement, e.g. 13855 has been heard so far (Noel Green, Blackpool UK, Aug 23 and Anker Petersen, Denmark, Aug 24, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** INDIA. 9425, AIR Bangalore, frequency only letter from R. Narasimha Swamy, Superintending Engineer at Bangalore, along with a frequency schedule, nice map of Karnataka and a large city map of Bangalore. He requests I send him an audio recording of their broadcast. He also forwarded my report to New Delhi, for them to send me a QSL card. In 50 days, for mint stamps (not used), but envelope did have some nice stamps. 17 days later I received from Y. K. Sharma, New Delhi a F/D QSL-card of AIR Bangalore showing the red sandstone tower of Qutb Minar (Ron Howard, Monterey CA, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 4869.96, RRI Wamena (presumed) 8/27 1134-1229+. Seguéd Indo vocals with no announcements; joined Jak program "Dinamica" in progress at 1200:30; lost the audio feed several times; back to music at 1229. VG signal; this is Wamena's usual freq, although they are on only sporadically. Have not heard 4870.9v Sorong for a long time (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, CO, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 4869.9, RRI-Wamena was monitored from 0930 on 19th Aug after long absence since early March. Olympic games relay, Indonesian music and Jakarta news relay at 1200 (Kenji Takasaki, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Hello Everyone, Today, the Iran transmission on 15670 was much better than yesterday and peaking 10dB over 9 at times! It sure sounds like 'Sedaye Milati Iran' to my ears - as announced by the man. The woman always says 'Iran-a'. I don't know what the significance of this is (Noel Green, UK, Aug 26 via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes I took a 26 minutes recording on MP3 file. Signal was fair at my place today. ID like 'Sedaye Melatiii Iran'a'. After 42 seconds you may hear two seconds of 'wide filter mode' of the Sony ICF 2010, but always suffers the upper flank by a 2-3 kHz whistle tone. So, the total recording made in small filter selection mode, and additional Synchronous detection. # # # # I asked a man in the neighbourhood; he is a Persian national and will listen to the recording overnight, and I'll meet him tomorrow, to get a [hopefully a positive] reply. BUT he is not very keen in monitoring tapes with crackle sound, despite he listens to the IRIB National service in Persian every day. He listened quickly to the very first announcement minute and told me, the language is really Persian, not Dari. 73 de (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOICE OF THE IRANIAN NATION RADIO OBSERVED ON SHORTWAVE BBC Monitoring has observed a station broadcasting in Persian and identifying as Voice of the Iranian Nation [Seda-ye Melat-e Iran] broadcasting on 15670 kHz shortwave at 1325-1355 gmt on 26 August. A clandestine radio of this name was on the air in the 1964-1970 period, using shortwave frequencies in the 7040-7110 kHz range, according to BBC Monitoring records. Programming content was anti-Shah and Iranian government, and attacked countries hostile to the then United Arab Republic [Egypt]. It was last heard on 30 August 1970. Source: David Kernick, BBC Monitoring research in English 26 Aug 04 (via DXLD) That would be the 15670 UNIDENTIFIED in 4-127, 4-128. We would have had info about this long before, but it was held up by delays in publishing Clandestine Radio Watch (gh): New station : Radio Melate Dear compatriot, We are a group of young people, who love their homeland, and wish, with the help of our compatriots, to turn Iran into a free and flourishing land, and desire to establish the rule of people in our country. We are happy to inform you that we have started --- from a certain corner of the homeland, and welcoming every kind of danger entailed --- to broadcast a daily 30-minutes radio program. Our program began broadcasting few days before Tir 18th (July 9th), in order to be able to do our share in awakening the nation and encouraging and supporting the students. "Radio Seda-ye Mellat-e Iran" (Voice of the Iranian Nation Radio) broadcasts daily at 6 p.m. (Tehran time), [1330 UT] for 30 minutes, on short waves, 19 meter band, equaling 15,670 kilo-hertz Please inform all your acquaintances that they could listen to our voice every afternoon at this hour. "Radio Seda-ye Mellat-e Iran" is my voice, your voice, and our voice (Radio Melate Jul 29, 2004 for CRC) [Ed. Note : I did not check this station or info. M. Schöch, Germany for CRW (Clandestine Radio Watch 163, July 31, via DXLD) ** IRELAND [and non]. MW in Ireland --- Have just returned from a week in Ireland and the MW band there is desolate. We were in three locations: Limerick, Dublin and Killarney, and the only daytime reception was in Dublin. The high-powered station on 567 is off the air, [temporarily I think], and the 2nd most powerful, 612, is also off. 729 was weak but I could not find anything on 1278. In Dublin there is a near local, a 50 kW station in Dundalk, but it is of a religious format. I did get good signals day and night in Dublin from Manx Radio-1368 and N. Ireland-1341 while some of the bigger UK stations could be heard. But at night reception is good. The loudest in Ireland included Luxemburg-1440, Belgium-1512, France-1377, Norway-1314 and Sweden- 1179. Germany and Netherlands were also strong as were of course most of the UK stations. Southern Europe seemed weak although on previous trips Spain and Italy were pounding in. Incidentally, Manx Radio-1368 has an interesting music format including oldies and traditional jazz. At 20 kW it seems to dominate the frequency and may be possible over here (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford, PA, Aug 24, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. KI - English Network changes - take 2 The IBA website mentions that the move of Kol Israel English from Reshet Alef to REKA will be taking place September 1: ----- http://bet.iba.org.il/index.asp?classto=betLanguage&lang=23 Announcement of radio changes --- This is an announcement for local and overseas radio listeners: Starting Wednesday, September 1st, Kol Israel English news broadcasts are being moved to the Reka network at the following times: 6:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 8:30 p.m, local Israel time. These broadcasts will be transmitted in the AM band at 954 and 1575. And in the FM band at 88.2, 93.7, 94.4, 101.2, 101.3, and 107.3 Starting Wednesday, September 1st, Kol Israel shortwave broadcasts will be heard at 3:30, 9:3[0], 17:30 and 19 hours UTC. 27.08.2004 11:20 ------- That's the following times EDT: 11:30 PM, 5:30 AM, 1:30 PM domestic REKA relay and 3 PM Reshet Hey International Service (Doni Rosenzweig, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But a few days later, Israel goes off DST, from UT+3 to UT+2, and everything should move one hour later by UT (and EDT). So UT would be 0430, 1030, 1830, 2000, but WTFK? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KI - Network changes - continued --- As previously mentioned, the English / French / Spanish network movement, is related to the merging of Reshet Moreshet and Reshet Alef. http://aleph.iba.org.il/ On Reshet Alef's website they mention, in Hebrew, that as of Wed, Sep 1, the two networks are merging. Reshet Moreshet will be on Reshet Alef's frequencies. (It was also mentioned at the end of the Reshet Moreshet broadcast day, today.) They list the programming updates, which include Reshet Moreshet at the following times: Sun - Thurs 4 PM - Midnight (Israel Time) Fri 8 AM - 5 PM Sat night - 9 PM - Midnight. This seems to be the same schedule as Reshet Moreshet had when it had its own network. Reshet Moreshet broadcast Reshet Bet other times, besides Friday night and Saturday when it was off the air. It seems ironic how they started a separate Reshet Moreshet webstream this week and next week you'd listen to the Reshet Alef stream to hear Reshet Moreshet (Doni Rosenzweig, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JORDAN. R. Jordan, 11690, 1530-1630* Aug 21. Very, very weak at tune-in but slowly improving to fair level by 1600. Pop music, 1600 English news, 1630 off. In the clear when using ECSS-USB. RTTY signal only on low side. Usually reception is difficult with RTTY right on top of Jordan (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. INFORME N 161 "Antena de la Amistad" KBS - Radio Corea Internacional El próximo sábado 28 de Agosto, a través del programa "Antena de la Amistad" de Radio Corea Internacional será emitido el Informe N 161 con una reseña especialmente dedicada a los 84 años de la Radiodifusión en Argentina. Se podrán escuchar las voces de Alicia Arderius viuda de Susini y de su esposo, el pionero Dr. Enrique Telémaco Susini. También será emitido un breve registro sonoro de Parsifal, la opera de Richard Wagner que inauguró la primera transmisión radiofónica en Argentina y --- según muchos historiadores --- de la humanidad. Finalmente podrán escuchar la última identificación de LR2 Radio Argentina (1110 kHz) antes que la indiferencia política de los funcionarios de turno (Carlos Menem a la cabeza) dejaran morir a la emisora más vieja del planeta. El informe de aproximadamente 6 minutos podrá ser escuchado por onda corta e Internet dentro del programa conducido por Sonia Cho y Ramiro Trost. El esquema de KBS Radio Corea Internacional es el siguiente: Para Europa: De 07.00 a 08.00 UTC por los 13.670 De 10.00 a 11.00 UTC por los 15.210 De 20.00 a 21.00 UTC por los 9.515 Y también de 20.00 a 20.30 UTC por los 11.775 vía Sackville, Canadá (*) Para Latinoamérica De 01.00 a 02.00 UTC por los 11.810 De 10.00 a 11.00 UTC por los 11.795 vía Sackville, Canadá De 10.00 a 11.00 UTC por los 9.580 (*) Para los oyentes latinoamericanos esta emisión vía Sackville puede ser igualmente audible por lo que serán bienvenidos los informes de recepción también en este horario y frecuencia. El programa se transmite a los 10' de comenzada cada emisión, después del boletín informativo. En real audio por Internet entrando a http://rki.kbs.co.kr en los siguientes horarios UTC y canales: 2000-2100 - CH1 2100-2200 - CH2 0100-0200 - CH1 1300-1400 - CH2 También en audio por demanda entrando en http://rki.kbs.co.kr haciendo click en Select Language, optando por Spanish, luego Antena-Buzón y elegir la fecha Agosto 28). El programa se carga uno o dos días después de su emisión por onda corta. Están disponibles los 7 últimos programas emitidos. Agradeceré su difusión. Un cordial saludo y hasta la próxima (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Casilla de Correo 950, S 2000 WAJ - Rosario, ARGENTINA, Tel.: +54 (0)341 4558952, margenet @ arnet.com.ar Aug 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. 9290 kHz 1200 UT 29 Aug Medienservice + Q103 (Tom Taylor, European Music Radio, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This entire item was in the subject line only ** LIBYA [non]. V. of Africa, 11635, 2125-2128 Aug 21 English news, ID, 2130 sign-off, good. No \\s heard (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [non]. GERMANY: Minivan (Independent) Radio in Dhivehi via JUL 100 kW / 105 deg eff. Aug. 25 --- 1600-1700 Daily NF 13855 (55544), ex 1630-1730 Wed Aug. 18 on 11525 (not via BUL tx) (Observer, Bulgaria, Aug 27 via DXLD) as BBCM claims; see BULGARIA ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [and non]. I had a check at 1640 on 13855 and also here the signal was only fair with strong splatters from 13860. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Aug 25, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Radio Minivan (Presumed) was heard on 13855 at fair level till sign off at 1658 UT on 25 Aug 2004. Heavy splatter from Morse Code like signals (Short on off of carrier) (jamming?) noted continuously from 13853.3 kHz which also disappeared at 1700 UT (Jose Jacob, Hyderabad, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Actually, 13855 cut off at exactly 1659 (gh) Heard here in Delhi also with QRM from morse code beeps and heavy splatter from 13860. Signed on with R. Miami International ID by OM and continued with local language (Dhivehi??? Any clues?). From 1630 another weak station was observed in background. Repeated ID and website URL announcement by YL/OM at 1640. Regds, (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DISSIDENT RADIO CONFIRMED BACK ON AIR ON NEW FREQUENCY BBC Monitoring observed dissident Maldives broadcaster Minivan Radio on 13855 kHz at 1600-1700 gmt, as previously announced on the Dhivehi Observer web site. The transmission commenced with the following announcement in English: "This is Radio Miami International. The following programme is directed to the Maldive islands" [Radio Miami International is the airtime broker]. Then followed the Minivan Radio programme in Dhivehi. Reception was very poor in the UK, mainly due to interference from adjacent channels. The broadcast was sandwiched between a moderate signal from Russian International Radio on 13850 kHz and a strong signal from China Radio International on 13860 kHz, both in Russian. Source: David Kernick, BBC Monitoring research in English 25 Aug 04 (via DXLD) Checked the second day, Aug 26, noted Chinese music on 13860 before 1600 and signal continued there, at first at about equal level to 13855 but 13860 became less of a problem as the hour progressed. This time caught a clear Radio Miami International ID at the outset, for the Maldeeve Islands, in a non-Jeff White voice. Conch shell and SFX as previously heard, but I have yet to hear a clear ``Minivan`` ID and still don`t know exactly how it be pronounced; may have to wait for them to put up the audio files on FOM website as planned. Rechecked before closing, again with theme music, and cut off at 1659*. Minivan signal level remained about the same thruout. Checked on Aug 26, the Dhivehi Observer website has a wm file of the entire broadcast, only 44 minutes: http://www.e-maldives.com/mimiwanradio/MiniwanRadio1.WMA I still haven`t heard anything resembling an ID. Listened again Fri Aug 27 to 13855, and got a decent tape of the Miami opener, which is not on the wma file, but it does not mention the name of the station, which as you will note just above is spelt with a W by Dhivehi Observer, but probably pronounced as V anyway (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Minivan heard quite well here in South-West of Finland (Maidenhead locator KP10AK), date Aug 25 2004 at 1616-1658. I was not able to catch the beginning of the broadcast, due to family reasons (argue about mopeds with a teenager). Signal was at its best at 9 (+deciBels!), even listening with the tiny Kenwood TH-F7E with its 16 cm antenna. Almost no QRN or QRM, only slight splatter from adjacent channels, some occasional fading. But then again, how was the situation around the target area? 73 de (Matti Ponkamo, Naantali, Finland, Drake R-4C, Sony 2001D, 20 m dipole east-west, hard-core-dx via DXLD) 13855, Minivan Radio, at 1640 mentioning ID in English with their email and website (unfortunately I can't hear it clearly and haven't much time to write it) by OM and cont. with news in local language. Signal was quite strong in Jakarta. At 1655 two traditional songs was heard and sign off at 1700 (August 26). (Lim Kwet Hian, Jakarta, hard- core-dx via DXLD) MALDIVES PRESIDENT SUSPENDS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS In a speech delivered to the Citizen’s Majlis yesterday (26th August), Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom announced the suspension of basic human rights for those detained following the disturbances in Malé on 13th August. They include the right not to be held in detention for a period of more than seven days, the right to access to legal representation and the right to private correspondence. . . http://www.friendsofmaldives.co.uk/pressrelease27august04.htm (FOM 27th August 2004 11:15 GMT via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 4810, R Transcontinental de América, Mexico D. F., During the weekend Aug 21-22 I noted open carrier but never heard any audio. (Ron Howard, Monterey CA, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. During a recent visit to the Mongolian Radio Transmitting Centre at Khonkhor, 30 km east of Ulan Bator, the director, Mr. Gantumur Tumurbataar, told me that the domestic SW transmitter upgrading project, funded by the Government of Japan, has been completed. New antennas and NEC transmitters were installed at Ulan Bator-Khonkhor 7260 (50 kW), Altay 4830 (10 kW) and Murun (or Moron, but not ``Mörön``) on 4895 (10 kW). Sainshand (4865) will be switched off for good in September after which the three mentioned SW stations will be the only ones to cover the country. [The Ulan Bator transmitter on 4850 has not been reported heard since Dec 2003, so it seems to have been phased out already! DSWCI Ed] Incidentally, 7260`s modulation is quite superior to the 4 MHz outlets for which different audio lines are apparently used. Mr. Tumurbataar would appreciate any reports from abroad on 7260 and would also welcome suggestions from experienced DXers to find better frequencies for the FS programmes in English and Russian beamed to Europe. His e- mail address is: rnts @ mongol.net The English Section of the Voice of Mongolia was established 40 years ago. I was the first foreign listener ever to visit them and was presented with some nice gifts. An interview followed with Mrs. Oyunchimeg Alagsai, Head of the English Section. The English programmes are now on the air to South Asia on 12085 at 1000-1030¤, and to Europe on 12015 at 1500-1530¤¤ and 2000-2030. Russian to Europe is on 12015 at 1330-1400 (Maarten Van Delft, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) More information about the Mongolian Radio and Television (MRTV) from phamplets given to Van Delft: In addition to the external service schedule mentioned above, this is the current SW schedule of the Voice of Mongolia all on 12085: Japanese 0830-0900¤ and 1200-1230¤¤, Mongolian 0900-0930¤ and 1030- 1100¤¤, and Chinese 0930-1000¤ and 1130-1200¤¤. Broadcasts marked ¤ were audible in Denmark on Aug 21-22 with 25333. Broadcasts marked ¤¤ were heard very weak with QRK 1. The other broadcasts were not audible. New website: http://www.mongoliatoday.mn/Mongolian Radio (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) The history and development years of the broadcasting in Mongolia begins with the date of the first Radio program on 01 Sep 1934. The MRTV Technical Center was established at Khonkhor, Ulaanbaatar City in 1960, with SW stations of 5, 25 and 50 kW and a LW station of 150 kW, followed by an expansion in 1978 with 100 and 250 kW SW stations, in 1984 a 500 kW MW and LW station which enabled the programme no. 1 of MRTV to be broadcast in the central area of the country, and the ``Voice of Mongolia`` to be broadcast internationally in English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Mongolian. In 1978-1979 local radio stations of large capacity were built through USSR technical and economical grant aid, providing the current broadcasting network which covers approximately 90 percent of the total territory of the country at present. Right now the domestic network is as follows: The central Radio Broadcast Station at Khonkhor (164 kHz 500 kW and 7260 kHz 50 kW, ex 4850 kHz), and Radio Broadcast Stations each located in the following provinces: Bayan-Ulgii (Ulgii 209 kHz 30 kW), Gobi-Altay (Altay 227 kHz 75 kW and 4830 kHz 10 kW), Khuvsgul (Murun 882 kHz 75 kW and 4895 kHz 10 kW), Umnugobi (Dalanzadgad 209 kHz 75 kW), Dornod (Choibalsan 209 kHz 75 kW) and Dornogobi (Sainshand, ex 1233 and 4865 kHz). The 1st program of Mongolian Radio is broadcast through those stations throughout the country for 18 hours per day, i.e. 2200-1600 (One hour earlier during March-September). The three new SW NEC transmitting systems were designed and manufactured in accordance of the requirements of the contract between MRTV and the Contractor (Sumitomo Corporation of Japan). The manufacturing of the transmitting systems was completed in March 2003. The transportation and construction at site took place during the period of April to August 2003. Acceptance test and test transmission as well as staff training for operation and maintenance skills followed at each station on a step-by-step basis. All these activities finished early in September 2003. The completion of this project has made a great contribution to fulfilling one of the objectives of the Government in the broadcast sector, that is: ``To increase the number of radio program listeners in remote areas, in particular where radios are the only means of obtaining essential information, thereby contributing to reduce the gap in access to the information between urban and country people.`` Thanks to the increased service area made possible by the implementation of the project, a great number of people in Mongolia can now have opportunity to enjoy a wide range of programs, such as political, social-economic, educational and weather news. In 1967 the first TV station was established broadcasting with 5 kW to Ulaanbaatar city and its districts, but later on a 300 kW transmitter has been installed on the mountain Chingeltei to cover the outskirts, municipal area of Ulaanbaatar. At present there are more than 200 technical employees at the MRTV Stations out of which 70 percent are professional engineers (Via Editor Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) [and non]. DX-ing in Mongolia and Siberia In some ger camps in the Gobi desert, I checked 4 MHz several times during local early evenings and I logged the following on my Sony ICF-7600DS (with built-in telescopic whip only): 4000 // 4620 Hohhot, Chinese programme 4785 // 4525 Hohhot, Mongolian programme 4557 PBNDFSK, Haeju 4750 Qinhai, Qining, Chinese programme 4775 AIR Imphal 5100 Voice of Jammu-Kashmir 4450 PBNDFFSK, Pyongyang 4405 VOK in English // to a 19 m.b. freq. which I forgot to write down: 15280? (Maarten Van Delft, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) More under TANNU TUVA ** MYANMAR. 5040.4, R. Myanmar, 8/27 1240-1310+. Presumed with mellow vocal music to 1250, then YL announcer past 1300 with no ToH break (ToH is actually BoH in Myanmar); more music at 1310. Good at tune-in but fading after 1300. 5985.82, R. Myanmar, 8/27 1308-1335+. Burmese vocal numbers, YL after each song; 1329 usual IS, 1330 chimes, then YL with apparent news, VG signal today (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, CO, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. KOMA TO CHANGE CALL LETTERS, ALTER NEWS FORMAT By Mel Bracht, staff writer, The Oklahoman, Aug 27, 2004 A sesquiyear after becoming a news/talk station, KOMA-AM 1520 is altering its format to become more talk-oriented and changing its call letters to KOKC, Renda Broadcasting market manager Jim Williston said Thursday. ``People like news. The Problem is they listen for 10 minutes, get it and go,`` Williston said. ``If you`re going to build your station, you have to have people hang around longer than 10 minutes.`` In the spring Arbitron ratings for listeners 12 and older, KOMA-AM ranked 17th in the market with a 1.0 share. It finished well behind news-talk competitor KTOK-AM 1000, which had a 5.3 and slightly ahead of WKY-AM 930`s 0.7. KOKC plans to replace its 6 to 8 am [CDT = UT -5] news morning show, hosted by the husband-and-wife team of Jim Palmer and Billie Rodely, with a local talk show after their contract, which expires in January, is bought out, Williston said. Program director Garth Maier and Steve Summers will co-host the talk show, he said. The rest of the day will be filled with syndicated talk shows and local news updates at the top and bottom of the hour, Williston said. The schedule will be Laura Ingraham, 8-11 am; Tammy Bruce, 11am-1 pm; Neal Boortz, 1-4 pm; and Bill O`Reilly, 4-6 pm. Williston said the call letters are being changed to eliminate any confusion listeners --- especially those who fill out Arbitron listener diaries --- might have with oldies station KOMA-FM 92.5, also owned by Renda. The new call letters, which go into effect at 12:01 am Saturday, had been held by a Guthrie radio station in recent years [1490]. (The Oklahoman, Aug 27 via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Altho I once caught the KFOR-TV 4-second 4-translator ID a few minutes after 2100 UT, as a rule it appears reliably at least on weekdays just before 2100, as well as just before 1400. I suspect there is one more time, in the middle of the night (Glenn Hauser, Enid, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 15140 kHz, Radio Oman, from 1432 UT Aug 26, with English news, SINPO 22222, occasionally several words intelligible, "hunger strike of 21", ID ``This news is coming to you from _____ _____ _____ , Muscat." "...A Pakistani Soldier killed ..." "To end the news, the main points once again" with a brief fanfare between headlines; then into talk by female. Mixing with HCJB in Spanish and at least one other station, HCJB becoming more dominant from 1450 UT, when Oman signal was lost in the mix; presumed the same with Mideast string music at 1505. Drake SW 8 with 40 ft. long wire (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, ODXA via DXLD) ** PERU. R. Santa Mónica, Cusco, 4964.98, 0947-1005+ Aug 20, OA folk music, Spanish announcements, talk, ID, ads, bird chirps, poor-fair (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4855.86v, R. La Hora, 8/25 1012-1033. Presumed with M&W announcers in Spanish, I think. Rather weak signal; drifted slightly upwards (4855.92) by 1033. 5014.68, R. Altura, 8/25 1042-1104. M announcer, many mentions of Pasco/Cerro de Pasco; occasional ID and occasional folklórico song; seemed to be area announcements with several place names heard; UT -5 TC's. Good at tune-in but fading after 1100 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, CO, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. USA/SAUDI ARABIA: US-BASED OPPOSITION PLAN SATELLITE RADIO LAUNCH TO KINGDOM | Text of report from London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi on 20 August The Saudi Institute in Washington (one of several opposition organizations against the Saudi Government) has launched a campaign to finance a satellite radio station, the Voice of Freedom, to broadcast to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The station will offer educational programmes about participation in popular politics. Other programmes will instruct in human rights issues and the establishment of civil social organizations. It is also expected that the station will present news broadcasts, an open forum for discussions and a variety of entertainment programmes. Ali Ahmad, the institute's director and founder, said that "it is still too early to set a date for when broadcast will begin but it will most likely be at the end of the year." He stated that they were now discussing financing for the project. He added that "among our goals for the project is to promote understanding for political participation and highlighting the roles of women." He explained that there would be a variety of programmes and that a team of Saudis from London and Washington would be participating in their design and development. Ahmad stated that the institute, which was founded in 2002 and has its headquarters in Washington, is an independent organization concerned with analysing Saudi news. Its financing depends on contributions from various people, including Saudi citizens, in addition to some American donations. The Saudi Movement for Islamic Reform, which has its headquarters in London (one wing of the Saudi opposition), opened a radio station at the end of 2002. According to its claims, it is trying to broadcast winds of change in the kingdom. The official spokesman for the Movement for Islamic Reform, Sa'd al- Faqih, stated that the Voice of Reform station will attempt to motivate Saudi citizens to demand political, economic and social reforms in the oil-rich kingdom. The ruling Saudi family controls diverse media sources in the kingdom. Source: Al-Quds al-Arabi, London, in Arabic 20 Aug 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE. Radio Gabrah * (*state of anxiety) by Mak Mun San FIRST, it was UnionWorks' WKRZ 91.3FM which landed in the soup in July last year. Part-time DJ Pete Leung had asked a female listener to simulate a sex act for him on air during a morning show. He was sacked and the station was fined $15,000 by the Media Development Authority (MDA). Now, it's MediaCorp Radio's Perfect 10 which is feeling the heat. It fired two DJs and suspended one recently after listeners complained about their lewd comments on the Morning Madness show. The MDA is investigating and the station faces a fine of up to $50,000. Is local English radio getting too raunchy for its own good, or were these just isolated incidents? . . . http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/life/story/0,4386,268756,00.html? (Straits Times Interactive via Gerald T. Pollard, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. LITHUANIA --- Since 25 August, the Overcomer Ministry is carried via Sitkunai 1557 (150 kW ND) daily at 1600-1800 UT (1900-2100 LT). This is an 1-month trial transmission; reception reports are requested at rgstair @ overcomerministry.org (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, MWDX yg via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. SLBC, still on 15748, *0029-0100+ Aug 21, very weak at sign-on but slowly improving. 0030 time pips, possible English news. Local and oldies music (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. Today August 26 I heard the Sudanese Opposition Station, Voice of Sudan by the National Democratic Alliance, NDA. Poor to fair reception noted on 7999.34 kHz at 1535 UT. Scheduled 1530-1600 UT. Transmitter is said to be located in Eritrea. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku FINLAND, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA [non]. 12085, The Arabic Radio, *1500-1530*, Aug 22, fairly strong with IDs and even mentioning http://www.arabicsyradio.org Arabic throughout and long sign off procedure with many IDs as both ``Al-Idha'at al-Arabiyyah`` and ``Hureeya Hur-Al-Arabeeya``. Off with very short march by choir. Their site states this schedule: 0330-0400 UTC 7510 kHz 0700-0630 Local time 1500-1530 UTC 12085 kHz 1830-1800 Local time 1500-1530 UTC 7470 kHz 1830-1800 Local time. Funny to have to read the local times backwards (Finn Krone in Dxplorer, Aug 22, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) One hour later at winter (DSWCI Ed Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** TANNU TUVA. RUSSIA --- During a recent visit to RTV Tuva, in Kyzyl, capital of the Autonomous Republic of Tuva, in Southern Central Siberia, I was interviewed by 2 journalists in one of their programmes in Tuvinian. They hardly knew about their 5 kW transmitter on 6100 kHz and said they never receive any reports from outside Russia. So here is a challenge for you all! In Tuva, 6100 is only received poorly, while Krasnoyarsk with 50 kW on 6085 comes in much stronger. These 2 stations are the only ones heard in the 49 m.b. during daytime in the region. I was given the following schedule for RTV Tuva`s own programmes in Tuvinian and Russian: 2210-2300, 0410-0500 and 1010- 1100. The rest of the time (between 2050-1915) they relay R. Rossii, also on MW 567 with 150 kW. I might add that the only station heard on 4 MHz during local daytime was Mongolian Radio (Altay) on 4830 (Maarten Van Delft, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) [non]. Let me give you a quick rundown of what I heard in Tuva: 9560 // 7275 Urumqi, Uighur program 7340 // 9470 Urumqi, Kirghiz program (Kazakh is scheduled (DSWCI Ed)) 9885 RNZI, relay of National Radio, excellent reception during local late afternoon and early evening. At the same time R. Veritas on 9520 [Philippines], though not as good as RNZI. 7155 // 9600 and 9835 Urumqi, Chinese program 7230 // 9510 Urumqi, Mongolian program During local sunrise I logged Christian Voice 4965 [Zambia] and a Brazilian on 4795, supposedly R Dif Aquiduana. The latter must have travelled all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, Africa and Asia! (This reminded me of receiving a Peruvian 60 m.b. station in Malaysia at sunrise a few years ago). (Maarten Van Delft, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** UGANDA. I got a word from my sources that there is a Christian shortwave station planned in Uganda. They are waiting for a final approval from the authorities. If approved, it will be a 1 kW tropical band station, located near Entebbe. No further info received about the organization(s) behind this project (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Aug 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Then there is the WJIE project with the ex-FEBA 100 kW transmitter, about which we have heard absolutely nothing further, but judging from how sporadic WJIE itself is, I`m not holding my breath (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA [non]. R. Rhino International, via Germany, 17870, 1506- 1529* Fri Aug 20. Tune-in to English talk about Uganda government. Afro pops, but mostly talk about government corruption in Uganda. Weak but in the clear. *1529 VOA sign-on, same transmitter? Rhino on the air Mon-Fri only (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. A new entry on the BBC WS web page Subject: Audiences' Week | BBC World Service http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/us/audienceweek.shtml Audiences' Week --- My BBC - send us your stories You are one of 146 million listeners to the BBC World Service's news and current affairs programmes every day. Your life and experiences enrich and inform our output. But we want to get closer. We want to understand more about our listeners, so we can make better programmes - and ones more tailored to what you want to hear. We want to hear when you listen and why. What do you love about our programmes - and what do you hate? And what could you not live without? Do you have a story that sums up your relationship with the World Service? Whatever you think, we want to hear from you. We also want to get a real picture of our listeners - so if you have a photo, please send it in with your story to audiences.week @ bbc.co.uk (via Dan Say, swprograms via DXLD) ** U K. BBC Three Counties Radio is now promoting its online listening availability at http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties Members might be particularly interested in the Keith Skues programme 10 p.m to 1 a.m local weekday evenings particularly on Mondays when it is now called "Pirate Radio Skues" as a result of the positive reaction to Pirate Radio Essex. All records on the programme are pre 14/8/67. That is assuming they stream the FM service as medium wave 3 Counties carries the BBC Asian Network in the evening. Keith Skues programme is carried by other BBC Eastern region stations. Have all the other BBC local stations now gone online? (Mike Barraclough, England, Aug 26, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Assuming you mean audio streaming, off the top of my head only Berkshire, Three Counties and Southern Counties are steaming online at this moment, with the rest of the English regions to follow suit in the coming few weeks (Stephen Howie, Reading, Berkshire, UK, Personal Blog: www.stephenhowie.blogspot.com DX Blog: www.ukdx.blogspot.com ibid.) At the moment the BBC Local stations available 24/7 apparently happen to be those which can be picked up on FM at the BBC Internet HQ near Maidenhead. The intention is make available audio streaming from all stations sometime this year, though I don't know of a timetable for what when. BBC R Cornwall is "live" on stream each Sunday afternoon for the "Cornwall Connected" programme which is then replayable during the following week. Many listeners in Australia and the US for that one! (Mark Hattam, Aug 27, ibid.) Add Radio Oxford to the list --- they keep saying they are getting listeners worldwide (Paul Ewers, ibid.) ** U S A [and non]. AMERICAN FORCES NETWORK TO BROADCAST NEW TV CHANNELS OVERSEAS | Text of report by Gerry J. Gilmore of the American Forces Press Service published on the US Defense Department web site on 26 August Washington, 26 August 2004: The Defense Department's American Forces Network television system will start broadcasting new movie and family channels to overseas audiences [on] 3 September. The new channels - made possible by new satellite technology - will enhance choices for servicemembers and their families stationed overseas, said Air Force Lt-Col Doug Smith, operations officer at American Forces Radio and Television Service headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. "The Family Channel is something we've been wanting to do for a very long time," Smith said, noting that programming content will be targeted to children ages 2-17. The Movie Channel, he continued, will offer "the best of Hollywood" films, with behind-the-scenes specials detailing how some popular movies were made. For years, Smith noted, the American Forces Radio and Television Service has provided news, sports and entertainment - as well as Defense Department-specific programming - to troops and families stationed overseas. The new channels, he said, will fill "a couple of niches" previously unavailable to audiences. AFRTS, Smith said, provides policy guidance for American Forces Network, DoD's television and radio broadcasting programmer. The overseas audience, he noted, currently numbers about 850,000 people. Larry Sichter, AFN's affiliate relations chief at the Defense Media Center at March Air Reserve Base near Riverside, California, noted that AFN provides 10 television services and 12 radio services to 180 ships at sea and to servicemembers and families stationed in 177 countries. "Our audience get the most popular programming that's in the States, and, they have a lot of choice," Sichter said. This spring the Pentagon Channel began broadcasting military news programmes, Pentagon news conferences and congressional hearings featuring senior DoD leaders to servicemembers stationed overseas 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Pentagon Channel also is available to stateside military bases for airing on installation cable systems or to anyone wishing to receive it via satellite. To request Pentagon Channel service, visit the channel's web site. Source: US Defense Department web site, Washington, in English 26 Aug 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** U S A. Some frequency changes for Voice of America: Hausa 1800-1830 Sat 1530, 4950, 9830,11955, 17785 additional transmission Indonesian 1400-1500 Thu-Sat 13620, 15105, 15490, ex 1430-1500 Fri on 9585, 15105 Persian 1900-2000 Daily NF 9680 and NF 12020, ex 11815 and 12030 \\ 1593, 7465 Uzbek 1500-1530 Daily 7135, 13795, 15295, 17685 cancelled from Aug. 1 (Observer, Bulgaria, Aug 27 via DXLD) ** U S A. Jeff, I am wondering how well your groundwave signals, especially on 9955, cover the Miami area. Have you done any studies of that, or any informal promotion locally as a station people in Miami could listen to? (Glenn to Jeff White, Aug 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Locally, 9955 comes in pretty well in most of Dade County, since the transmitter site is in north Dade beaming south on that freq. 7385 used to do quite well in Broward and to the north. I suspect the same is true with 6870 now. In fact, unless it is just current propagation conditions, I would say 6870 comes in better than 7385 in Dade County as well. Around 2 or 3 am ET, it sort of fades out for a few hours though -- at least where I am in central Dade County. 15725 is just too high to provide local service, although it can be heard with low level in areas. We have had several potential programmers ask about local coverage, some of them wanting to replace FM SCA transmissions. But no one has ever really done any progamming seriously geared to a local audience from WRMI. I think the idea has potential though (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re WILM: I don't trust Clear Channel at all. When they roared into Atlanta and bought up several stations, the formats changed and some long-time air personalities were given the boot. They aren't called Crap Channel here for nothing! (Maryanne Kehoe, GA, Aug 25, swprograms via DXLD) Re WILM Sale: From DX News 3/1/04, reprinted from the Baltimore Sun: Radio station brokers representing potential corporate buyers keep calling. "What they really want is the cash flow so that they're in a better position to go public or to produce a return to shareholders," E.B. Hawkins said. "They certainly don't have an interest in the news. None." "The brokers say, 'I'm not sure you understand how much they'll pay.' And I say, 'I'm not sure you understand how much I'll turn down.' " Looks as if Clear Channel MHAOHCR? (Steve Francis, Alcoa, Tennessee, NRC-AM via DXLD) One of the great independent DXer-friendly stations has been sold to CC. The owner was really getting up there in years, and being a 1 kW graveyard operation with a full-blown local news format, pretty much operated at "break-even" I think. It was a labor of love for them. I seriously doubt the local programming will be around long if CC can't make the desired profit with it. 73, (Bruce WB3HVV, York, PA, ibid.) CLEAR CHANNEL is "merging" the operation of independent News-Talk WILM-A/WILMINGTON, DE into its existing statewide cluster. WILM owner E.B. HAWKINS told the station's midday audience that the station's live and local programming will be preserved. The WILMINGTON NEWS-JOURNAL is terming the deal a sale to CLEAR CHANNEL subsidiary CITICASTERS, although the parties called it a merger. The nearly $4 million deal will see WILM move in with CLEAR CHANNEL's other DELAWARE properties, including Talk WDOV-A/DOVER, Sports WWTX-A (1290 THE TICKET)/WILMINGTON, Country WDSD, and Rock WRDX (RIVER 94.7), at the cluster's CLAYMONT studios and offices. (from Allaccess.com, shouting sic, via Bruce, ibid.) Sad. WILM (as we know it) is dead. If not now, then soon. I have no trust in Clear Channel (John Figliozzi, NY, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. CLASSICAL 1360 TO ABANDON BACH FOR BASKETBALL By Lawrence A. Johnson, Classical Music Writer August 25, 2004 Classical 1360 announced Monday that it has begun to sell brokered programming, clearing the way for South Florida's only full-time classical radio outlet to abandon Bach and Brahms for diet supplements and collegiate basketball. Citing a 20 percent drop in advertising revenue from last year, WKAT General Manager Andrew Korge said that the Miami station was forced to rent air time to remain viable as a classical outlet. "Most days you'll still hear classical 17 to 18 hours," Korge said. "We're still providing as much music as we can." Those tuning in Monday morning heard not Mozart and Debussy but Health Connection Radio with Jay Foster. An ad on the station's Web site provides a link to Foster's company, which promises to "guide you along a path to achieve a personalized therapeutic lifestyle." The site also promotes a new show at 11 a.m., Mainlining Miami, an advertiser friendly program aiming to "keep you informed and entertained with topics about pets, culture, cuisine, real estate, fashion and travel." WKAT's morning host, Bonnie Berman, left the station four weeks ago, Korge said, when she was told of the format change. The general manager said that the renting of airtime also reflected a conscious business decision to grab former advertisers of WAXY-AM, which ceased brokered programming earlier this month. "The reality of it is that it would make more sense for us to be entirely brokered," said Korge. "But that's not what I or the other owners want to do." Though the written announcement indicated that WKAT would drop classical only in the morning hours, Korge said that in September the station would start broadcasting Florida Atlantic University football games and Florida International University basketball games in the evening. Last month the station began airing live Temple Israel services on Monday nights, another paid program. Korge said he knew the move away from Mozart would not be popular with listeners. He said he thinks advertisers who bought time under the all-classical format would continue to benefit. Korge added that although he and the other owners want to continue to keep the AM station primarily classical, he could not guarantee its format would not change further in the future. "Only time will tell," Korge said. Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cmu25radioaug25,0,3428997,print.story?coll=sfla-news-broward (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cmu25radioaug25,0,5697395.story?coll=sfla-news-broward (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. New MW QSL and IBOC INFO --- 1150, KNRC Englewood/Denver CO, Very nice QSL package for my report of their first day s/on with the "Indie Five-0" (Independent rock) format. Received in 28 days for report and $1 (returned). Letter says mine is the first report they have received. Also mentions that KNRC did operate with IBOC for only 5 days before turning it off because of interference with the 2nd adjacent channel station in Windsor CO. Mentions that there are no IBOC receivers in town anyway! Package includes 8 1/2 x 11 Indie Five- 0 logo, bumper stickers from several of their other stations, and map of CO that shows coverage for all 12 of the stations in their group. Also included an invitation for a studio tour. V/s: Rodger Tighe, CE. Add: 1201 18th St, Suite 250, Denver, CO 80202 (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, Aug 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KJME 1390 [Denver CO] --- Kind of hard to tell at this close range but KJME sounds extra loud tonight. Could be cheating for their last few days on the air. Frequent "La Jota Mexicana" IDs (Pat Griffith, Westminster, CO, Aug 25, NRC-AM via DXLD) Considering they only have 139W nightpower they are an unusually frequent guest in North Scandinavia. Do you think they cheat often? Got a nice verie from them last Spring with T-shirt, two beautiful pens, stickers and verie-letter. 73's (Håkan Sundman, Helsinki, Finland, ibid.) I rarely listen to them but it wouldn't surprise me to find them cheating. They are a small local operation with studios and offices in a turn of the century store front in an urban renewal district a short distance from downtown Denver. I'm surprised they have managed to survive as long as they have in the very dense Denver radio market. The fact that they just sold for over $4 million says a lot about Denver radio. The new owners take over this Sunday at 9:00 AM local time. So watch for a programming change. The new programming will be a wide variety of independent community radio venues. The web site for the new owners is http://www.kgnu.org and you will notice that they are heavily promoting the addition of the 1390 signal to their line-up. They are "listener supported" so expect a lot of begging for donations to pay for the purchase. KGNU is the call of their Boulder Colorado based flagship station on 88.5 FM (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, ibid.) The seller has paid a few hefty fines in the past for his "automation" failing. Wouldn't surprise me if it has failed again recently. 73 (Wayne Heinen, NØPOH, Editor NRC AM Radio Log, ibid.) WTMJ 620 WI had been running IBOC daytime for several weeks, blanketing the band here in Madison WI from about 605 to 635 kHz. Last Saturday while we were on our way to the GTG in Milwaukee, fellow Madison NRCer Glen Schroeder revealed that WTMJ had shut off their IBOC about two weeks ago. A quick check in the car confirmed this. Milwaukee DXer Tim Noonan tells me that he can again hear WMT 600 IA and WMFN 640 MI in the daytime, something that was impossible when WTMJ had IBOC on. 73 (Bill Dvorak, Madison WI, Aug 26, ibid.) I am wondering if stations running IBOC are getting complaints. I know KCBS in San Francisco did. Lots of them and their audio sounded bad while in IBOC mode. I wonder if this is going to be the "handwriting on the wall". We can hope so. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) ** U S A. RADIO STATIONS ASK JEWS FOR JESUS TO ALTER CONTROVERSIAL COMMERCIAL --- By David Cho Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 26, 2004; Page C05 A radio commercial for the evangelical group Jews for Jesus has been dropped by classical music station WGMS, while the general manager of all-news WTOP and modern-rock Z104 said he would continue to air the ad only if it is altered. All three stations said they received numerous letters and complaints from Jewish listeners. Jews for Jesus leaders said WASH and classic-rock WARW also informed them late yesterday that the commercial would be pulled unless the group comes up with another one. WJFK and WMAL are running the spot unchanged, according to the group. . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34093-2004Aug25?language=printer (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. INTERVIEWS SHOW BUSH TUNED IN TO RIGHT-WING RADIO By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | August 26, 2004 Scott Hennen has had quite a summer, with an on-air guest list that's a conservative talk-show host's dream: Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush, two Bush cabinet secretaries, four other key administration officials, and at least five heavy hitters from the re- election campaign of President Bush. That's quite a lineup for the host of "Hot Talk," which airs on a pair of 5,000-watt AM radio stations in easternmost North Dakota. Hennen objects mildly when a reporter asks whether his success at landing big-name Republicans has something to do with the fact that much of his audience is across the Red River in northwestern Minnesota, a Bush stronghold within a state that could go either way in this presidential election. . . http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/08/26/interviews_show_bush_tuned_in_to_right_wing_radio?mode=PF (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. This morning, Aug 26, 1400+ UT, KOOD-9 Bunker Hill KS is totally overriding KWTV-9. I leave the audio on optional SAP, and found this station is running a radio reading service. Judging from the local news included, it originates in Kansas City. Found this page explaining what SHPTV does with its SAP: http://www.pbs.org/shptv/audiovisual.html Which makes me wonder, is anyone keeping track of what all TV stations do on their SAPs? I can`t think of any such reference, tho it would seem just as pertinent as DTV programming or RDS details. I expect DXer observations would be the best if not only source of this info. Meanwhile, KPTS-8 Wichita was merely doing DVS on another kidvid. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, WTFDA via DXLD) Signal began to fade and lose SAP lock by 1515; the Kansas Audio Reading service website also provides an internet feed, but password protected, only for those registering as visually impaired. Guess they`d restrict it on SAP too if they could (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WGTE-30's runs the Ohio statewide "talking book" and reads the Blade newspaper. Besides the "live SAP" segments PBS offers (still not very many after ?? years). WOOD-8/WOTV-41's run the Grand Rapids weather station in tandem. 41 **can** switch to the DVS that ABC is offering on any show; however, this is not guaranteed. WKAR-23's just relays any DVS that PBS is offering. NOTE: when the 8PM offering is rerun at 11 PM, it may or may not include any DVS audio present at the 8 PM hour. [EDT] WLAJ-53's runs the recently-added Lansing weather station and lottery info --- at least it's supposed to; on more than one occasion the lottery info was replaced by a nasty "BZZZZZZ" or other annoyance. And I say "recently" because in Eaton Rapids (smack dab in heavy Farm 'n' Cow country, though not that far from Lansing) in 2002, all I could hear on the Westinghouse scanner was the G.R. one. When I logged WANE-15 [Fort Wayne IN], all I heard on their SAP was an "echo" of normal audio. (Kind of like what I hear between our "two in one" sports stations, on 92.5!) WXMI-17's is relatively useless also. WTVG-13 is known to turn theirs on during Monday Night Football and run Spanish audio QUIETLY. Remember to turn your TV **down** during commercial breaks! Before WTVS-56 was taken off our cable here. SAP response was about the same as WKAR's (Keith K. Smith, Lansing, MI, 42 44' 39" N, 84 32' 39" W, In the Good Old US of A! DX LISTENING DIGEST) [re the echo audio:] Listen during a newscast; I'll bet they're using their SAP audio as a cheapie way of doing IFB ("interruptible foldback," the audio channel that allows producers to whisper in the ears of reporters and crews out in the field to give them cues and timing and whatnot.) Bigger stations tend to do IFB over 2-way radio channels or cell phone links. Here in Rochester, WXXI-TV 21 recently took WXXI 1370 audio off its SAP; it was being interrupted too often for DVS, and now it's DVS- only. I've never noted any useful content on any of the other SAPs in town. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 7460, National R of SADR, 2000-2020, Aug 19, Arabic news and clear IDs. Quite strong and no interference (Finn Krone, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) 7460, R. Nacional de la República Árabe Saharaui Democrática, postal report returned to me unanswered, marked "non récramé." [sic] I unsuccessfully used the B. P. 10, El-Mouradia, 16000 Algiers address. Anyone have something more current? (Rich D`Angelo, PA in Dxplorer, Aug 15 via DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) Please note that this address (though it worked as contact address in the past) is actually not the address to the radio station, but the address of the Mission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Algiers. "non réclamé" means "not claimed", thus this letter was not picked up, and that can have any kind of reason, it must [may] not be a permanent refusal. It is advised though to use a full recipient name like: Radio Nacional de la RASD, c/o Mission de la RASD, BP 10, El Mouradia, 16000 Alger, Algeria. The studios of Radio RASD are not clandestine; they are located in Rabouni near Tindouf in Western Algeria, and it could be worth to try a direct address, preferably in French, like "Radio Nationale de la République arabe sahraouie démocratique", 37000 Tindouf-Rabouni, Algeria. There is also the option to contact the station by email: rasdradio @ yahoo.es (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania in Dxplorer, Aug 15 via DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 3302.78, 0320-0340, Aug 17, a man was talking, but I was unable to recognise the language. At 0332 there was some music and weak CWQRM. Very weak with a very distorted audio. There was a lot of hum, so it sounded mostly like a faulty transmitter. Could it be R. Cultural, Guatemala on 3300 having problems? Nothing was heard on 3300, but Zimbabwe was good on 3306. 24331 (Anker Petersen. Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) I checked at 1000-1130, Aug 19, and found the Colombian harmonic 3300.20 Emisora Ideal, Planeta Rica with weak signal // 2200v. I seem to recall hearing a signal near 3302v, but can not find it in my log book. I do not recall Radio Cultural broadcasting off their normal frequency, so I would imagine this would be another station. I will continue to monitor this frequency and let you know any results (Bob Wilkner, FL, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 14570, 1530 27/8 ? UnID African French, Poor, not the usual Uzbek/Polish stuff on this frequency (Tim Bucknall, Congleton NW England, Icom R75 + Wellbrooke ala 1530 (below 30 MHz), harmonics yg via DXLD) That would be 2 x 7285, so ORTM Bamako, Mali? (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 15670, as in last two issues: see IRAN [non] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE BPL FIGHT: ARRL ASKS FCC TO CLOSE DOWN ARIZONA BPL TEST Some important developments on the BPL front. First to Arizona where the ARRL is calling on the FCC to immediately shut down a Broadband Over Powerline field trial in the Cottonwood, because it is causing severe interference to Amateur Radio communication in the area. The ARRL Letter says that Electric Broadband LLC and utility APS have been operating the BPL experiment at two sites since June under a Special Temporary Authorization the FCC granted Electric Broadband in March. Michael Kinney, KU7W, filed the first Amateur Radio complaint in June. It cited testing by the Verde Valley Amateur Radio Association in the 1.8-30 MHz range to show that BPL interference made attempts at ham radio communication useless. The interference on typical Amateur Radio equipment shows received undesired signal levels in excess of 60 dB over S9. According to the ARRL, both the utility and Electric Broadband were contacted, and no response was received. The ARRL says that both companies are aware that the BPL field trial has been causing harmful interference and neither has taken any steps to either resolve it or terminate the test (ARRL via ARNewsline(tm) August 27 via John Norfolk, dxldyahoogroup via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FM AND TV RF HARMFUL Even though the industry says high power FM & TV are not harmful, I still would not want to live near a 5 megawatt transmitter. I know of too many engineers that have died of cancer through the years. Studies are not always 100% correct. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) Re: ``That's not always true. Here in the Denver area many of the TV and FM stations are located on mountaintop sites in the foothills just west of the metro area.`` Correct. It depends on the installation and configuration. On WLIO's antenna, if you're on the ladder in the middle of the tower, the field does not exceed safe values till you're within 64 feet of the base of the tower. From ground that leaves 436 feet of comfort zone, and all the measurements I made in the yard and adjacent streets suggest that the RF field is less intense that it would be at 3 miles from the site. Probably justifies some of the complaints from people in the neighborhood saying their off air picture of channel 35 has some ghosts in it. See http://www.nrcdxas.org/articles/FlytimeAug2001/wlio35e.jpg However, at one of our other stations, (Boise ID channel 12), the RF level at the door to the transmitter building is well in excess of limits. How much RF is on the mountain in Boise? A 28" dipole was made from #10 wire with a 12 volt light bulb connected to the wire. The bulb lit. In all fairness, it was not just KTRV Channel 12, but the combination of them, some other TV transmitters, a bunch of Class C FMs, and some other transmitters of various power levels. What does RF do to you? A quick story. Just after I started at WLIO we had a tower company that was previously contracted, and it turned out to be a one man band operated by some goof-ball based out of N.W. OH. Around 10 AM the fellow stopped and said he was in the area and wanted to know if I wanted the bulbs changed. I agreed, but said that he had to come back after 2 AM when we would be off the air. As I'm coming back from lunch I see his truck in the parking lot, and he is leaning up against the gate vomiting. It seems that our impatient friend decided he didn't want to wait, so he waited down an alley till I left for lunch, then drove in, scaled the fence (including three strings of barbed wire), and climbed our tower. He climbed over our pylon which was radiating 661,000 watts at the time. He told me that he felt like he had a severe case of the flu, and every joint in his body ached, he was dizzy, and his vision was blurry. He was fired by our company for that trick, but tales of him doing stuff like that surfaced for the next five years from other facilities. I think common sense plays into your health. I would not mind living near our 5 megawatt station located on Floyds Knob KY. The RF levels are way too low given the beam of the antenna toward the horizon. I think more engineers die from lung cancer from cigarettes than damage from RF. Some people are foolish, just as the chap in the story I just told in another message. But most people, especially knowing what RF can do, are safe. I liken the safety factor in RF to those in the storm watching profession. I think for as many cases as can be sited for health problems from RF, you could easily find the same number of deaths from weather enthusiasts driving into tornadoes or being struck by lightning while photographing storms (Fred Vobbe, Lima OH, Aug 21, ibid.) I used to work on the UHF ham bands a man with a Ph.D. in physics who has studied this extensively. He stated the biggest risk was damage to the eyes, as the eyes are resonant at frequencies just above the FM band. I seem to recall 112 MHz, but that was more than five years ago. He felt UHF and microwave radiations (and presumably MW radio) to be much less harmful (Allan Dunn, K1UCY, Aug 22, ibid.) True, but being near that much RF power day after day just is not safe (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) RF exposure and new tower The ongoing saga of the proposed new HDTV tower on Lookout Mountain to serve the Denver area continues. The tower is a consortium of 4 Denver TV stations that will move to it when built. The county approved the 730 foot tower about a year ago but it was blocked by an injunction from the residents on the mountain, and the City of Golden directly below the mountain, who fear increased RF exposure and electronic interference. After another year of hearings the county again approved the tower on August 17. So we will see what happens next. The setup is to include a 20,000 square foot equipment building. The facility is designed to occupy about 8 acres of an 81 acre site. The remaining land will be maintained as open space. The new tower will replace 3 large existing towers and several smaller ones. The stations involved in the consortium are KCNC, KMGH, KUSA, and KTVD. Those familiar with Lookout Mountain will be aware that it has been the home of the majority of Denver TV and FM stations since the 1950s. As you might suspect there were virtually no homes there when the TV stations originally moved in. Now the mountain is covered with homes. (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, Aug 26, NRC-AM via DXLD) Let's see. The TV towers were there first when they moved into their homes, and _now_ their concerned about RF? Seems backward to me. Kinda like moving to Florida and then later saying: "Oh no ... a hurricane!", or California: "Oh no ... earthquake! ". A little forethought reduces stress in ones life, IMHO. :^] (John K9RZZ, Milwaukee (Oh no ... a blizzard! .... COOL ! ), ibid.) John KA9SPA adds: Or building a home next to an airport and complaining about the noise of the jet engines. (One of the stories I covered during the time I was at KFJZ-1270 in 1963 involved the ongoing hearings that eventually resulted in building D-FW Airport way out in the country.) (John Callarman, Krum TX, ibid.) FIGHT OVER ULTRAWIDEBAND STANDARDS TURNS INTO TUG OF WAR --- COMPANIES ARGUE OVER HOW TO YANK WIRES CONNECTING YOUR ELECTRONICS By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, 08/24/2004 - Updated 09:37 PM ET In February 2002, federal regulators approved a breakthrough wireless technology called ultrawideband (UWB) that was heralded as the next big thing in consumer electronics. UWB would wirelessly connect myriad home products, including the TV, cable box, DVD player, digital camera, camcorder, MP3 player, digital video recorder and computer. Say goodbye to messy tangles of wires. Instead, for example: You sit on your sofa, press a button on your camcorder and play home videos on the TV. But UWB remains lost in a black hole known as standard-setting, the process by which the industry agrees on a common standard so devices from different makers work with each other. For nearly a year, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has been locked in a debate over which of two technologies should be the standard for UWB. . . http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20040825/uwb.art.htm (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) HOME TECHNOLOGY --- Tips for tweaking your AM radio reception http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/109351285615492.xml (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) NEW PAN-AMERICAN DX AUDIO FILES ONLINE I've recently uploaded audio files from a car DX session on (UTC) 5 AUG 2004 at Granite Pier - Rockport, MA, USA. These include a couple of phasing demonstrations. (I'm waiting for Kaz to put some of his phasing demo's online sometime.) Receiver: Drake R8A with Superphaser-2. Antennas: 1.8 m active whip and 2 x 2 m broadband loop on car roof. Links to all the following are available at http://hometown.aol.com/wa1ion/real_aud.htm Files may also be downloadable directly. http://home.comcast.net/~markwa1ion/dx_audio/wapa_v_wrko_680.mp3 WAPA, San Juan, Puerto Rico - 680 (heard 5 AUG 2004 at 0005 UTC) Phasing demonstration with local WRKO-680 in null, allowing reception of WAPA with "Poderosa" slogan and "WAPA" ID. Null depth illustrated by taking the Superphaser-2 out of null twice, showing WRKO with talkshow. http://home.comcast.net/~markwa1ion/dx_audio/fortaleza_brazil_760.mp3 R. Uirapuru, ZYH588, Fortaleza, Brazil - 760 (heard 5 AUG 2004 at 0037 UTC) booming in with Uirapuru ID and Fortaleza mentions in Portuguese talk. http://home.comcast.net/~markwa1ion/dx_audio/saopaulo_brazil_840.mp3 R. Bandeirantes, ZYK687, Sao Paulo, Brazil - 840 (heard 5 AUG 2004 at 0042 UTC) Sao Paulo mention in reverberated Portuguese talk. http://home.comcast.net/~markwa1ion/dx_audio/anaco_venezuela_v_wfan_660.mp3 R. Anaco, Anaco, Venezuela - 660 (heard 5 AUG 2004 at 0027 UTC) Phasing demonstration with WFAN-660 NYC in null, allowing reception of Radio Anaco from Venezuela with "Anaco" ID. Null depth illustrated by taking the Superphaser-2 out of null a few times, showing WFAN with baseball game. http://home.comcast.net/~markwa1ion/dx_audio/r_venezuela_880.mp3 R. Venezuela, YVYM, Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela - 880 (heard 5 AUG 2004 at 0044 UTC) Radio Venezuela ID; WCBS phased to nil. (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, Billerica, MA, USA, NRC-AM via DXLD) All I can say is, "oh... my... gosh!" I'm not sure which is more impressive... the virtually ABSOLUTE nulling capabilities of your phasing setup, or the Brazilians alone on their respective channels!! Utterly mind-blowing to a landlocked Missourian (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ MORE LONG- AND MEDIUM-WAVE TRANS-ATLANTICS INTO ALBERTA [MDT = UT -6] Another fairly good opening into Europe this evening. It was already underway when I turned the radio on at 21:30 MDT. By 23:00 (approaching local sunrise in the UK) carriers were barely audible over the noise. In total I heard carriers on 27 frequencies with 5 of them producing audio. The carriers that did not produce any audio were 153, 198, 837, 909, 999, 1044, 1053, 1071, 1089, 1107, 1116, 1125, 1134, 1206, 1224, 1296, 1305, 1314, 1341, 1377, 1584 and 1602. The frequencies producing audio were 162, 189, 1053, 1215 and 1296. I was able to ID two of them by program content and language alone, and a third gave several ID's. The remaining two I was unable to ID. Nothing new heard, but intriguing nevertheless. 162 France with man reading news in the French language. Poor signal at best. 189 Faint music heard here at 21:40 so probably Iceland. 1053 With sports programming and male talking with a typical English accent so it can only be "Talksport" from the United Kingdom. Strangely it's parallel on 1089 was not audible. Other years if one was in, so was the other. Poor signal at best. 1215 United Kingdom with oldies music like the Beatles and the Eurythmics. Male DJ with a typical English accent gave several "Virgin Radio" ID's, including one at TOH. Fair signal at times. 1296 Man and woman talking at 22:38. Too much noise to get the language. At times it sounded like it could have been Spanish, but nothing listed. (Mike Stonebridge in St Isidore AB with AOR 7030 & 150' EWE, UT Aug 26, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) Conditions here much worse tonight, with only 8 frequencies producing carriers, and only one of those producing audio. They appeared much later than last night, not until almost 22:00 MDT, with one appearing just prior to local sunrise in Europe. The frequencies producing carriers were 162, 189, 198, 1044, 1053, 1314 and 1377, and 1215 producing faint audio. It sounded very much like Virgin Radio from the UK (Mike Stonebridge in St Isidore AB with AOR 7030 & 150' EWE, UT Aug 27, ibid.) ###