DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-134, September 4, 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 1244: 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 Sun 2000 on RNI webcast, http://www.11L-rni.com Mon 0100 on WBCQ 9330 Mon 0230 on WRMI 6870 Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [previous 1243] 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 1244 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1244h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1244h.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1244.html WORLD OF RADIO 1244 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1244.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1244.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1244 in the true SW sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_09-01-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_09-01-04.mp3 ** ARGENTINA. 1650 kHz, FM FUEGO (Monte Chingolo, Partido de Lanus, Pcia. de Buenos Aires), es una nueva emisora de FM que transmite en AM, reportada por primera vez en el dia de ayer, 26-08-2004. La emisora tiene su QTH en la calle Victor Hugo 647 (B1825FBI) Monte Chingolo, Tel: (011) 4220-6822. Su director es el Sr. Hugo Villarreal. (Marcelo A. Cornachioni, Lomas de Zamora, Argentina, Conexión Digital Sept 4 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Glenn, noticed an item on ARDS 5050 by Hans Johnson. I was in Queensland and about 1600 miles from Humpty Doo, and it wasn`t heard either, so they might have had a few problems or have cut back on the hours of transmission, but that would seem odd for early evening, and like Hans can only hear the Chinese. Regards (John Wright, Australia, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. DaBahamianTing.com is streaming ZNS television and radio reports live. Once electricity in Nassau goes off, though, you'll have to head to BahamasIssues.com and catch the DaBahamianTing radio coverage from there. Their weather reports are the best that we have found that are specific to the islands of the Bahamas (Kimberly King- Burns, Eleuthera, Sept 2, stormcarib.com via DXLD) ** BAHAMAS. Re: 1540 ZNS1 Nassau, in the action --- ZNS is running non directional tonight (Jerry Kiefer, Sept 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) Hi Ron, I hit 1540 as soon as I saw your post and heard about 15 minutes of hurricane reporting until 0638 [zone?] when the frequency was covered by a loud hiss. 1520 had the hiss too so I assume WSAI 1530 decided to turn on their IBOC. I never got an ID on file :( Hope you all down there in the path of Frances get through safe and sound (John Hunter, location unknown, ibid.) ZNS-1 1540 kHz was audible all night long until past 6 am EDT this morning with continuous phone-in reports on the progress of the hurricane and announcements (including one from the US ambassador to US citizens on the islands). At times it dominated the channel (Brett Saylor, PA, Sept 3, ibid.) You're welcome, Brett. And thanks, I am expecting 80 mph sustained winds, specifically for my location in Palm Coast assuming no postion chages from the model. And if that holds through the next 12 hours on the forecasts, then I'm staying put. If not I'm bailing with my kids. My XYL, a nurse, is chained to the hospital, a reversal of roles with mine being a Navy Sailor having to go to sea with approaching hurricanes --- no longer so being on shore duty! I heard a little of the US Ambassador's remarks over ZNS1 and can review the tapes to hear what specifically he said. I was gassing up my cars at the local Citgo at the moment, ear to the car stereo on 1540 while pumping. The gas station was like a rest area crowded with refugees. We're located on US 1 (and near I-95). Thank goodness I know all the county routes out of here. It's wall to wall traffic with cars vans and pickups chock-a-block with belongings (Ron Gitschier, Action Central, FL, 1533 UT Sept 3, ibid.) Bahamas loud and clear here, 0300+ [EDT?] 9/3, with reports on the storm track, how houses would fare with the storm, etc. Faded down about every 10 minutes to a poor level. UNID u/with opera? music. Roughly same loop bearing of approximately 0/180. In sync with audio online http://www.znsbahamas.com (Mike Hardester, Jacksonville, NC, 34.47.05 N, 77.23.24 W, ICOM R-70 and Radio West 22" Ferrite Loop, NRC-AM via DXLD) ZNS-1 is back tonight (Friday 9/3) under KXEL and CHIN at 8:45 pm EDT with talk of the hurricane. Not as strong as last night (Brett Saylor, Central PA, ibid.) 1540, ZNS1 Nassau --- With hurricane Frances stalled over these islands it is inspirational to listen to the dignified manner in which ZNS informs their citizens of the changing dangers. "With power lines down the general public is restricted from this area. We have power at the moment and are doing our best to restore power elsewhere. If anyone needs to move call us and we will move you out.... How are you and where are you calling from. I think we have lost some service... How are things going there. We have offices restored and call us and give us information and we will come. By and large we can make things a little easier taking turns at the microphone. In this type of scenario it is important that customers [. . .] the danger of moving about because of power lines in the water. People with small generator, who are in isolated areas ...use these with caution. Danger of using these improperly ....caution until the hurricane has passed. Water is the major challenge for Grand Bahama, with the major challenges facing electricity. The airport may have sustained substantial damage. Once again we must say it again, people with small generator, walking about in the water with power lines down is an extreme danger. You can call us at 359xxx 351xxx. Until power is restored we caution movement. When power is restored exercise extreme caution because of falling branches. Do not get in water to repair small damage. Should south Bahamian ....get ready to evacuate. If water is not at your door, do not venture out. If water is already in your home sill do not go out walking about in the water. We want to thank Mr. Johnson from Grand Bahama power." Program at 1245 has moved to orchestral music (via Bob Wilkner, FL, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ZNS3 810 KHz Freeport, Sept 4 0426 UT: News coverage of Hurricane Frances including interviews and damage reports; Parallel to 1540 ZNS1; Excellent signal peaks; 1540 was very strong well into the early morning hours (Mike Beu, KD5DSQ, Austin, Texas - Drake R8B, 70ft Terminated Delta Antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Aparecida, 6135, full-data "R. Aparecida Studio" QSL card with English, Portuguese and Spanish verie statement on reverse, in 34 days for $1, English report and a ppc (used). (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PPC = prepared card, but you say they sent their own full-data QSL card, too? (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. Be VERY careful about data on foreign stations in the FCC database. Many have been notified but have been gone for years - in other cases, callsigns are very wrong. http://spectrum.ic.gc.ca/infoback/dgse/english/baserade.html (tonight it seems to be broken - with the link you want just below where the page ends in mid-stream - keep trying...) is a good source for the "real dope" from Canada. You can download a .ZIP file which will extract into a bunch of .DBFs which Excel (and other spreadsheets including Open Office) can read. Or, buy an NRC Log. The Log contains the accurate Canadian data (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, (Nashville), TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com Sept 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CHESTERFIELD ISLANDS. TX0 --- The operators for the DXpedition to the Chesterfield Islands [425DXN 688] will be Jan/DJ8NK, Dieter/DJ9ON, Heye/DJ9RR, Hawa/DK9KX, Dieter/DL3KDV, Chris/DL5NAM, and Hans/DL6JGN. They will leave Germany on 8 October and expect to be QRV (on 160-6 metres CW, SSB and RTTY) on the 15th or the 16th for eight days. The callsign will not be made public before the operation starts. QSL via DL5NAM (for SSB and RTTY) or DL4XS (for CW and 6 metres), direct or bureau. Details on their QSLing policy can be found at http://www.df3cb.com/chesterfield/; contributions are welcome (please contact Chris, DL5NAM at dl5nam@arrl.net). (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** COOK ISLANDS. COOK ISLANDS TO GET GOVERNMENT-RUN RADIO --- THE COOK ISLANDS HAS APPROVED A NEW PUBLICLY FUNDED RADIO STATION Pacific Media Watch, Wednesday, September 1, 2004 http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=14178 AVARUA, Rarotonga (RNZI Online/Pacific Media Watch): The Cook Islands has approved a new publicly funded radio station. The deputy chair of the Cook Island Broadcasting Corporation has confirmed reports that the cabinet has approved the project. Flo Syme- Buchanan says a grant of US33,000 is funding the start of the operation, which has been in the pipeline for a month. At present, both Cook Islands radio and television are privately owned by the Pitt Media group. Ms Syme-Buchanan says the new station will provide a service which the market would not have if left to itself: "What we will be doing, the public broadcaster will be doing, that¹s not currently provided by either commercial station. It¹ll provide educational programmes that`ll be geared to the outer islands, cultural programmes; a whole diverse range of programmes - eventually - once you know, stage three is completed, to the Cook Islands people." Flo Syme-Buchanan says the station will provide a warning service to the outer islands during the cyclone season (PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH via Artie Bigley, DXLD) A SERVICE NOT MOTIVATED BY DOLLARS --- The Cook Islands Broadcasting Corporation (CIBC) will not be in competition with privately owned radio stations as it won¹t be seeking advertising dollars Pacific Media Watch, Wednesday, September 1, 2004 http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=14179 AVARUA, Rarotonga (CIBC/Pacific Media Watch): An essential public service, not a business. That¹s what the proposed state broadcasting station will operate as, confirmed Cook Islands Broadcasting Corporation (CIBC) chairman Andrew Turua. Turua says the public broadcaster will not be in competition with privately owned radio stations as it won¹t be seeking advertising dollars. "The whole essence of the proposed national station is that it will be providing a credible and diverse information service to the Cook Islands and it will not be motivated by advertising dollars. "Advances in technology, sensible management and efficient use of resources all contribute to reducing operational costs. The idea is to streamline the operation of the radio station so that its outputs far outweigh its operational costs. "There are absolutely no plans to become a commercial station," stated Turua. Being planned for broadcast are educational programmes for communities and schools, health programmes, children`s stories, music and cultural programmes, talk-radio, weather bulletins, shipping and aviation, business news, current affairs, hourly international news, national news and regional magazine programmes. Turua says it will be a truly national station in which all Cook Islanders will be shareholders and the driving force behind it is giving the whole of the Cook Islands a service that people deserve and are entitled to. Comments made by CIP Opposition leader Sir Geoffrey Henry in response to a report he was provided with have been welcomed by the board, says Turua. "We`re pleased that the Cook Islands Party is placing enough importance to make public comment on a concerted move to improve media standards, provide the Cook Islands especially the northern islands with quality informative and educational radio and bring our country on a par with developed nations in terms of media legislation." Turua says Sir Geoffrey has made numerous positive comments about the CINBC report, but was incorrect in stating that the national radio station would be in direct competition with privately owned broadcasters. Turua says it is easy to criticize the establishment of a state- broadcaster from the comfort of an armchair in Rarotonga. "Politicians opposed to a state-owned broadcaster must remember that someone in Pukapuka does not have the privilege of picking up a newspaper, listening to international or national news or linking up to the internet to find out for instance, the weather before going out fishing, shipping and aviation, let alone what is happening in the world." "And what about our people in the outer islands, particularly in the northern group during cyclone season? "They too are entitled to ample forewarning that bad weather is on the way so they can prepare themselves ­ sadly, we all know the consequences when our people aren¹t given enough warning, it cost 20 lives in 1997 and we must take all steps necessary to ensure this never happens again." According to Turua, providing such an essential and diverse broadcasting service to the entire Cook Islands can¹t be labelled "regressive and unacceptable" as has been done by Sir Geoffrey. "It would be unacceptable if we did not make sure all the islands have a quality radio service, one that informs, educates, entertains and has a signal that can be received by all. Surely, providing that kind of service can`t be described as regressive." Turua also pointed out that complaints by Sir Geoffrey that the broadcasting policy had not been discussed with CIP were unfounded, as the CIBC board had attempted to meet with the Opposition leader for sometime without success. "That`s why the report was prepared for Sir Geoffrey, as a matter of transparency, accountability and of course, courtesy. We also remind Sir Geoffrey that there are two Cook Islands Party representatives on the CINBC Board, MPs Wilkie Rasmussen and Albert Nicholas." (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) COOK ISLANDS OPPOSITION PLEDGES TO AXE GOVERNMENT RADIO | Text of report by Radio New Zealand International audio web site on 3 Sept [Newsreader] The opposition in the Cook Islands says a new taxpayer- funded radio station is intended to be a government propaganda machine. The leader of the Cook Islands Party, Sir Geoffrey Henry, is vowing to ditch the new state-run service if it wins next week's [7 September] general election. The government has approved a grant of 33,000 US dollars to set up the facility. Sir [Geoffrey] Henry says the government has no business competing with the private broadcasting sector. [Henry] My guess is that somewhere along the line, long before the campaigning began, the government had made up its mind that one way to get to the people to make sure that its message and its message alone got to the people was to have its own radio station. [Newsreader] The prime minister, Dr Robert Woonton, has denied any such suggestion and says there is a desperate need for improved radio communications to the outer islands. He says there is an unhealthy monopoly in the country's broadcasting sector. [Woonton "says Sir Geoffrey approved the government purchase of a 60,000 US dollar radio transmitter when he was his finance minister", RNZI text web site adds]. Source: Radio New Zealand International audio web site, Wellington, in English 0426 gmt 3 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CUBA. RHC is indeed back, but not at full force. Around 1400 UT Sept 4, only 6000 and 15230 were announced and heard, in Spanish. Top story on the late 1404 news, what else: something about the five Cuban political prisoners in the US (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 6000, 4/9 0536-0558, R. HABANA CUBA, Spanish; 0535 open carrier, 0554-0557 RN de Venezuela (speech of the Minister of the Telecommunications), 0558 ID RHC, 0559 QRM sign-on DRM 5990 kHz, Fair- Good (R7) (LUCA BOTTO FIORA, QTH: Rapallo (Genova), Italy, RXs: R7 Drake - Satellit 500 Grundig, ANTs: Ferrite 85cm amplified LW-MW - Dipole 49m - Longwire 20m - MFJ1026, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Certainly not a scheduled time for RNV relay; maybe just testing. No signal 24 hours later (gh, OK, DXLD) Y volviendo al aire también RHC, captada esta noche con una señal en 15230 kHz sobre las 2120 UT. Las reparaciones parece que han supuesto una mejora en la calidad de la señal (Tomás Méndez, Spain, Sept 4, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** DENMARK. 5815, World Music Radio Nice signal via DX Tuner in Sweden at 1144 Sept 4. Pop music from the 80's. WMR ID at 1145 (Hans Johnson, WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) World Music Radio forte a Milano adesso su 5815 - Sept 4 2100 UT. Canzoni e annunci. Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, Rx: Drake SPR-4 + folded dipole, BCLNEWS.IT, the only italian updated DX web site!!! Click on http://www.bclnews.it via DXLD) Considerato che sono circa 6 kW, direi fortissima --- almeno qui a Palermo. Ciao (Roberto Scaglione, Palermo, Sicilia, ibid.) Ya está de nuevo en el aire WMR en 5815 kHz (captada sobre las 2110 UT), con mejor modulación que anteriormente. Las reparaciones parece que han supuesto una mejora en la calidad de la señal. Saludos cordiales, (Tomás Méndez, Spain, Sept 4, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. I am sad to report the receipt of an E-mail from Ana Objío informing me of the death of her father César yesterday - September 3rd at 6 PM --- a wonderful person and great friend. He will be missed (George W. Jensen, via Mike Bugaj, WTFDA via DXLD) I had the good fortune to have met César on a number of occasions, and to correspond with him intermittently since the mid-1960's. César was a kind and gentle man, and avid DX'er of SW & MW, and a tireless chronicler of broadcasting in his native Dominican Republic. He will be greatly missed in the hobby. RIP, amigo! (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Likewise, I had the good fortune to have met César in 1978 at the NRC Convention in Atlanta. I rode from the Atlanta airport to the convention motel with him, Ron Schatz and John Clement....all excellent BCB DXers who have now passed on (John Zondlo, Yukon, OK, ibid.) Although I never met César, I remember his name from my MW and SW DXing days. The first time I ever saw César's name was in the 1969 WRTH (the first one I bought). He was listed as one of the "cooperators and monitors." (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) I also had the pleasure to meet Cesar, when I visited the Dominican Republic, must have been in the late 70s or early 80s. He was kind to show me around Santo Domingo and other places, and gave me a piece of Dominican amber (with insect). He had been working (with Teo Veras) on a book about the history of broadcasting in the DR. I wonder where this stands. RIP. (Glenn Hauser, Enid, OK, ibid.) ** ERITREA [and non]. Today, September 3, VoBME2, 7180 was much stronger at 1730-1832*, Arabic and certainly the Eritrean. Nice and clear signal. VoBME1 7100 also quite strong from 1730-1830* (Tigrigna?), but much splatter. (Both same strength as Ethiopia 7165 and Sudan 7200 (weak modulation); 7110 from Ethiopia much weaker but better modulated than // 9705). (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. EBU CALLS FOR DYNAMIC AND EVOLVING REMIT FOR PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTERS The European Broadcasting Union today called on the European Union's 25 Member States to support the EU's Lisbon Strategy by ensuring that public broadcasters have a clear mandate and sufficient funding to offer a full and evolving range of services in the new media. Senior officials of the EBU, the professional association of Europe's public service broadcasters, were attending a conference organized by the Dutch government - current holder of the EU Presidency – entitled The key role of public service broadcasting in the 21st century http://www.omroep.nl/eu2004 The Lisbon Strategy sees a decisive role for the audiovisual sector in making Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. EBU President Arne Wessberg, who is director general of the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation YLE, said it was the responsibility of public broadcasters to serve the diversity of publics and cultures within their country, through the new electronic media as well as on television and radio. "Public service broadcasters must be given proper possibilities, by the societies in which they operate, to serve citizens with all media technologies they choose to use, and under adequate and predictable economic conditions," he said. The EBU submitted a substantial written contribution to the conference which called on Member States (which are primarily competent in the area) and on the European Union, within its areas of responsibility, to take a series of actions to enable public service broadcasting to play its key role in European society in the 21st century. Among the actions sought, was to "ensure that the remit of public broadcasting, as referred to in the Amsterdam Protocol, is dynamic and evolutionary, particularly in view of new digital platforms which provide additional means for distributing electronic media content". Ruth Hieronymi, a German MEP who gave the conference's keynote speech, said MEPs would fight for the dual public-private system of broadcasting – "We don't want the US system" - but that to do so effectively they needed governments to establish clear remits for public broadcasters. # posted by Andy @ 13:33 UT Sept 3 (Media Network blog via DXLD) REFLECTIONS ON THAT AMSTERDAM MEETING It is worth having a closer look at the EU Broadcasting Conference website that is mentioned in yesterday's blog. I spent an interesting day and a half wandering around the conference talking to the people who advise the policy makers for major European ministeries and public service broadcasters (PSBs). Some points were crystal clear. Many EBU members are in trouble with the government, the EU and/or the general public. Commercial competitors are accusing them of unfair competition, especially when it comes to the variety of services being offered on the web. Problem is that many of the EBU broadcasters have not sat down to make a strong public statement on why they are doing what they do. And the EU departments monitoring unfair competition are sending out more and more warnings that some public service broadcasters are not transparent in their operations. Some countries have reacted well to this challenge. VRT, the Flemish pubcaster, was even complimented by (highly) commercial RTL Group that it has laid out its charter and mission in a clear way (look at the English language presentations of Fons van Westerloo of RTL and Tony Mary, Director General VRT - Belgium). More importantly, Belgium and Denmark are able to come up with concrete examples of what they are doing in the public good and how they are providing services that commercial stations either cannor or do not want to provide. You can also see that the concept of national heritage is firmly in the PSB camp. Educational broadcasting is not hidden away in a forgotten corner, it is mixed in high profile programmes designed to entertain. The BBC presented its case for charter renewal. It is a slick package of promises and measurable goals, in preparation for public debates coming soon. But then with an annual income of 4 billion Euro, you could argue that it should be. Holland, on the other hand, just pleaded that the EU should not regard PSB as market driven, but is clearly suffering from a huge lack of transparency, both to the government and EU Comission. Although there are cases where Dutch broadcasting is doing interesting work with the public, these were not mentioned in the speeches. Delegates I spoke to simply wondered when Dutch domestic broadcasting will finally collapse into its own circular discussions. Once the broadcasters in Holland lose their exclusivity on the publication of schedule information, perhaps people will wake up. In the meantime, one Swedish colleague suggested there is a top management problem termed AAMR - Action After My Retirement. Without a clear direction, the only way forward is downward. Phil Laven, Technical Director at the EBU, gave his entertaining talk on how technology always takes longer than predicted. Worth a few minutes of your time. # posted by Jonathan Marks @ 09:11 UT Sept 4 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** FINLAND. SWR, 6170 --- had a weak, unidentified signal when checking at 1150 Sept 4 via DX Tuner/Sweden. 11690 had two guys talking in a language (Finnish?) and then the song ?Saturday Night Special? (I think that is the title) at 1157. Lots of interference on the channel with the signal fading up and down. Rapid talk at 1202 that may have included an ID, but too fast for me. English ID at 1205, "This . . . comes to you from studios in . . . Finland. This is Scandinavian Weekend Radio." Their website lists what they say is a new address: P.O. Box 99, 34801 VIRRAT, FINLAND (Hans Johnson, WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** FRANCE. NOW YOU SEE IT --- NOW YOU DON`T. France`s plan to launch a French-language international TV network to rival existing channels such as Aljazeera, CNN and the BBC have been put on indefinite ho9ld. ``There is no money for the project,`` France`s new foreign minister Michel Barnier has told the French Foreign Affairs Commission. The plan, announced by President Jacques Chirac in March 2003, was to develop CII [Chaîne d`Information Internationale], with France Télévisions and TF1 running the channel. The French foreign ministry announced an annual budget of 70 megaeuros for CII and said that the net would launch in late 2004. However, as Barnier told his inquisitors, there is no money in this year`s budget, nor in that of 2005 --- even tho the French daily Libération describes the proposed sum as ``peanuts``. French politicians seem convinced that the plan is now doomed. Patrick Le Lay, the chairman of TF1, is quoted in Libération as having said ``categorically CII is finished``. French parliamentarian Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres was equally unenthusiastic, saying ``all the players in international broadcasting are already on the field. This includes AFP, RFI, EuroNews, TV5``. Essentially, thinks de Vabres, there is no room for another French international broadcaster (Global Brief, The Channel, AIB, Sep 2004 via DXLD) ** GEORGIA. Update on Radio Georgia's future --- Ralf Bessler reports on the Austrian A-DX mailing list, that according to Mrs. Lia Mumladse of the German section, the operation of Radio Georgia has been ensured for another month. Mrs. Mumladse is determined to continue with her rescue campaign and is urging further support messages to her email address lia_mumladse @ yahoo.de with copies to the following addresses: gege @ geotvr.ge Mr. Zaza Shengelia, Chairman of Georgian Radio & TV; dodo.shonava @ geotvr.ge Mrs. Dodo Shonava, General Director of Georgian Radio; media @ presidpress.gov.ge Office of President Mikheil Saakashvili; lali @ parliament.ge Office of Mrs. Nino Burjanadze, president of Georgian parliament, and inform @ mfa.gov.ge Office of Mrs. Salome Surabashvili, Foreign Ministry (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Effective from 10th Sep '04 DW will change the following frequency: German 1000-1400 UT Old: 17485 kHz New: 17635 kHz 73, (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, Sept 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 6015, Maeva FM International (Presumed), 1216 Sept 4 with Euro dance music via DX Tuner/Sweden. No ID, just one song after another and I gave up at 1232. Good signal, but I prefer WMR's format (Hans Johnson, WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) not DRM ** GERMANY. Power 612 is now definitely a thing of the past; the licence has been officially returned. The frequency will be put on tender soon. Press release by the media authority ULR: http://www.ulr.de/index2.html?/ULR_Akt_Presse04/einzelausgabe_D1_34.html The website of the now gone station is still online: http://www.powerradionord.de Last day of official Power 612 operations was January 24. However, postings in a webforum indicate some further activity during the first week of February. Here is a recording of the cut-off on January 24 at 7 PM (1800 UT): http://www.radioeins.de/_/meta//sendungen/apparat/040124_a1.ram Power 612 always closed this way, although the cable net distribution at Kiel had been discontinued already a while ago, leaving the mediumwave daytimer as only distribution platform, i.e. nothing went out anymore during its 9 PM to 6 AM silence period. The cable net distribution ceased when Power 612 left the previously used studio facilities. Probably no actual studio existed afterwards anymore and the canned programming Power 612 repeated again and again was played out directly at the transmitter (still owned and operated by Norddeutscher Rundfunk, by the way). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. The Olympics, and August, are well over, but VOG still hasn`t resumed one of its few English broadcasts, Hellenes Around the World. Checked during the 1600 UT hour Sat Sept 4 on 17705 via Delano, VOG was still in Greek; but then, Greek often preëmpted English anyway, perhaps for non-Olympic sports (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND, 9980U (Presumed), AFN. Thanks Noel's tip [see USA], nice signal via DX Tuner/Sweden with a music countdown that I couldn't stand. Quick tuneout at 1212 Sept 4 (Hans Johnson, WY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. DXing ET --- Shortwave listeners will identify with this puzzle. Is it real or just an artifact of the radio? How does one QSL? MYSTERIOUS SIGNALS FROM 1000 LIGHT YEARS AWAY [but see follow-up] 19:00 01 September 04 Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996341 In February 2003, astronomers involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) pointed the massive radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, at around 200 sections of the sky. The same telescope had previously detected unexplained radio signals at least twice from each of these regions, and the astronomers were trying to reconfirm the findings. The team has now finished analysing the data, and all the signals seem to have disappeared. Except one, which has got stronger. This radio signal, now seen on three separate occasions, is an enigma. It could be generated by a previously unknown astronomical phenomenon. Or it could be something much more mundane, maybe an artefact of the telescope itself. But it also happens to be the best candidate yet for a contact by intelligent aliens in the nearly six-year history of the SETI@home project, which uses programs running as screensavers on millions of personal computers worldwide to sift through signals picked up by the Arecibo telescope. It’s the most interesting signal from SETI@home," says Dan Werthimer, a radio astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) and the chief scientist for SETI@home. "We’re not jumping up and down, but we are continuing to observe it." Named SHGb02+14a, the signal has a frequency of about 1420 megahertz. This happens to be one of the main frequencies at which hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, readily absorbs and emits energy. Some astronomers have argued that extraterrestrials trying to advertise their presence would be likely to transmit at this frequency, and SETI researchers conventionally scan this part of the radio spectrum. SHGb02+14a seems to be coming from a point between the constellations Pisces and Aries, where there is no obvious star or planetary system within 1000 light years. And the transmission is very weak. "We are looking for something that screams out ‘artificial’," says UCB researcher Eric Korpela, who completed the analysis of the signal in April. "This just doesn’t do that, but it could be because it is distant." Unknown signature The telescope has only observed the signal for about a minute in total, which is not long enough for astronomers to analyse it thoroughly. But, Korpela thinks it unlikely SHGb02+14a is the result of any obvious radio interference or noise, and it does not bear the signature of any known astronomical object. That does not mean that only aliens could have produced it. "It may be a natural phenomenon of a previously undreamed-of kind like I stumbled over," says Jocelyn Bell Burnell of the University of Bath, UK. It was Bell Burnell who in 1967 noticed a pulsed radio signal which the research team at the time thought was from extraterrestrials but which turned out to be the first ever sighting of a pulsar. There are other oddities. For instance, the signal’s frequency is drifting by between eight to 37 hertz per second. "The signal is moving rapidly in frequency and you would expect that to happen if you are looking at a transmitter on a planet that’s rotating very rapidly and where the civilisation is not correcting the transmission for the motion of the planet," Korpela says. This does not, however, convince Paul Horowitz, a Harvard University astronomer who looks for alien signals using optical telescopes. He points out that the SETI@home software corrects for any drift in frequency. Fishy and puzzling The fact that the signal continues to drift after this correction is "fishy", he says. "If [the aliens] are so smart, they’ll adjust their signal for their planet’s motion." The relatively rapid drift of the signal is also puzzling for other reasons. A planet would have to be rotating nearly 40 times faster than Earth to have produced the observed drift; a transmitter on Earth would produce a signal with a drift of about 1.5 hertz per second. What is more, if telescopes are observing a signal that is drifting in frequency, then each time they look for it they should most likely encounter it at a slightly different frequency. But in the case of SHGb02+14a, every observation has first been made at 1420 megahertz, before it starts drifting. "It just boggles my mind," Korpela says. The signal could be an artefact that, for some reason, always appears to be coming from the same point in the sky. The Arecibo telescope has a fixed dish reflector and scans the skies by changing the position of its receiver relative to the dish. When the receiver reaches a certain position, it might just be able to reflect waves from the ground onto the dish and then back to itself, making it seem as if the signal was coming from space. "Perhaps there is an object on the ground near the telescope emitting at about this frequency," Korpela says. This could be confirmed by using a different telescope to listen for SHGb02+14a. Possible fraud There is also the possibility of fraud by someone hacking the SETI@home software to make it return evidence for an extraterrestrial transmission. However, SHGb02+14a was seen on two different occasions by different SETI@home users, and those calculations were confirmed by others. Then the signal was seen a third time by the SETI@home researchers. The unusual characteristics of the signal also make it unlikely that someone is playing a prank, Korpela says. "As I can’t think of any way to make a signal like this, I can’t think of any way to fake it." David Anderson, director of SETI@home, remains sceptical but curious about the signal. "It’s unlikely to be real but we will definitely be re-observing it." Bell Burnell agrees that it is worth persisting with. "If they can see it four, five or six times it really begins to get exciting," she says. It is already exciting for IT engineers Oliver Voelker of Logpoint in Nuremberg, Germany and Nate Collins of Farin and Associates in Madison, Wisconsin, who found the signal. Collins wonders how his bosses will react to company computers finding aliens. "I might have to explain a little further about just how much I was using [the computers]," he says. Eugenie Samuel Reich © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd. (New Scientist via Joe Buch, DE, DXLD) SETI SAYS NEW SCIENTIST HAS MISREPORTED ITS FINDINGS The SETI Institute is distancing itself from a story in New Scientist magazine that has grabbed the attention of the popular press. The article, called "Mysterious signals from 1000 light years away," implies that the UC Berkeley SETI@home project has uncovered a very convincing candidate signal that might be the first strong evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence. SETI, however, says this story is misleading. Its Web site quotes the Head of the UC Berkeley SERENDIP SETI project, Dan Werthimer, as saying that this is a case of a reporter failing to understand the workings of their search. He says that misquotes and statements taken out of context give the impression that his team is exceptionally impressed with one of the many candidate signals uncovered using the popular SETI@home software. They are not. SETI points out that SETI@home produces 15 million signal reports each day. So, says the Web site, how can one possibly sort through this enormous flood of data to sift out signals that might be truly extraterrestrial, rather than merely noise artifacts or man-made interference? SETI says that the New Scientist, while it implies that a detection of an extraterrestrial signal is imminent, has inadvertently wandered into a sticky vat of hyperbole. # posted by Andy @ 07:55 UT Sept 4 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Re Sedaye Mellat-e Iran on 15670 - their signal was again observed Saturday [Sept. 4] at the same strength as Friday. But today it did not go off air until c1557:15 [must mean 1357:15 --- gh] in mid sentence after CRI had appeared. Are they also on 'air' somewhere else? Israel had by this time come up via 15640 at c1556 [1356] carrying Reshet Bet, so obviously these transmitters are not one and the same. The Israel outlet was about two S points weaker than 15670 (Noel Green, UK, Sept 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) another version: 15670 today did not go off air until about 1557:15 [sic] by which time the ISR transmitter on 15640 had come up. So they are not the same transmitter --- or not today they aren`t! Signals Friday were identical --- but today the Israel one is two S points less. 15670 = peak S9 / ISR = peak 7. It might be worth monitoring Kostinbrod when not beaming into WESTERN Europe. Currently, their sched does not include a 15 MHz channel for this station - the highest frequency is 13600 (at 1030-1100 in Russian via 030 degrees). Most unusual that "Observer" did not know about this transmission (Noel Green, UK, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15670, CLANDESTINE-IRAN, Sedaye Melate Iran, *1325-1355*, August 30, Persian?, Sign-on noted at 1325, even with unID co-channel station which signed off at 1330 (China?). YL with mentions of Iran, anthem- like music and more talks between musical breaks. Talks by OM at 1342 between ballads. Orchestral music at 1353 with sign-off announcement and full ID. Fair after unID co-channel sign-off at 1330, then gradual propagation fading and QRN until poor by sign-off (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISLE OF MAN [and non]. The BBC say the service to the Island could and should be better. Talks with the Corporation and the Manx Government finished yesterday on good terms. No information has been released on what was discussed in the meeting, but the Chief Minister, Richard Corkill, does say the BBC's representatives have agreed to return to the Island before Christmas. He hopes real progress can be made into the Corporation`s coverage of the Island. http://www.manxradio.com/ (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) [Moderator note: What an ambiguous report: are they talking about news/journalistic coverage of IOM or transmission coverage? And is this concerning TV or radio or both?] (Dave Kenny, ibid.) Moderator comment about the BBC visit to IOM asked if it was coverage or output. It`s the latter. There has been a lot of resistance on the Island to paying the licence fee when programme / output coverage of Island life is minimal, plus moves to have some of the licence fee given to Manx Radio, which DOES cover island life, as the BBC have no local radio station on IOM. Transmission coverage on the Island is fine, except on UHF we get only 4 channels, no C5 due to no spare frequencies being available. All new spectrum use needs to be coordinated with Ireland. Also, the regional news coverage depends where one lives on the island - in the south you can watch regional TV from Manchester, or Dublin, on the West coast (Peel) its Northern Ireland), in Ramsey it`s from Cumbria, or in the case of the BBC regional output, we see look north from Newcastle (which serves the Borders area). There has been talk about changing the feeds a bit so all BBC regional comes from Manchester, but the ITV area is certainly Border, which comes from Carlisle for the last 4 years now, an offshoot of Granada, Manchester!). I get my TV from Sky, so don`t have this problem. There is no digital TV on IOM as yet by the way --- I think that will be the solution. Switch off the analogue and cram in some more muxes (Paul Rusling, IOM, Sept 4, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** JAPAN [and non]. Talking about spellings --- The location of the Radio Japan SW transmitters near Tokyo is commonly known as "Yamata", but it is officially spelled in Latin "Yamato". This is the form in Japanese and international online sources and on maps; the city's website is http://www.city.yamato.kanagawa.jp Apparently the form "Yamata" originates in the HFCC reference table "Global HF Transmitter Sites": "YAM Tokyo Yamata". This HFCC table contains quite a few misspellings, like the Russian "Iujnsakhalinsry" (for Yuzhnyy Sakhalinsk), "Petropavlo Kam." (for Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy) or "Nishii Novgorod" (for Nizhnyy Novgorod). (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {wrong: see 4-135} ** KOREA SOUTH. QSL received from Seoul --- Hello DXers, On August 31, 2004 I received two Radio Korea International QSL cards: 2 August 2004, 15210, 1000-1030 UT in Spanish, in 29 days for an e- mail report, without V/S. QTH: Radio Korea International, KBS P. O. Box 150-790, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Web page of QSL of R. Korea International at: http://web.tiscali.it/ondecorte/corea04.html Enjoy whatever you are listening! Best 73's (Nino Marabello, Treviso, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURE ISLAND. KH7K --- The DXpedition to Kure Atoll [425DXN 691], originally planned for mid to late October, has been postponed. The Pacific DX Group will continue to work towards going at the next possible window of opportunity. This could be as soon as late winter or early spring 2005. They ask that all groups or people who have contributed towards this trip or are thinking of contributing, to please continue to support them as they work to raise the necessary funding. Regional fundraisers can be contacted at funds-na-sa-kure @ inix.com (North & South America), funds-eu-kure @ inix.com (Europe), funds-ja-kure @ inix.com (Japan), funds-kure @ inix.com (all other areas). General inquiries should be sent to pdxg-kure @ inix.com [TNX KH7U] (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** LAOS [non]. CLANDESTINE from ? to USA, 9515, ULMD pounding into Wyoming on a Kaito portable with just the whip. 555 with woman talking at 0110 (Hans Johnson, UT Sep 3, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Unlike the only other broadcast of the week 48 hours earlier, when I checked and nothing was audible. Could it be that on UT Wed 9515 is via Taiwan, and UT Fri 9515 is via North America? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Contrary to Bulgarian Observer, the Hmong Lao Radio website http://www.hmonglaoradio.org states that 9515 is supposed to be a replacement of 11725. The 15260 transmission via Taiwan could still heard in the IBB RMS audio files http://realmonitor.com/rms/queryaccess/index.mgi of Wed 1 September and Fri 3 September. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Cumbre DX via DXLD) OK Bernd, so UMLD is on air via two transmitters on 9515 & 15260. As Hans comments, ``Sounds like 9515 needs more monitoring.`` 0100 is a time when I only dream about DX --- and occasionally other things! 73s (Noel Green, UK, Sept 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LUXEMBOURG [and non]. ZAPPING AWAY FROM THE ADS --- The company that came up with a software solution called Tivion that automatically switches to other channels, radio stations or the Internet the instant it detects a commercial, has been taken to court by RTL. Germany`s private TV nets which rely on ads see their livelihood being threatened by the company`s products. Members of the Federal Court of Justice ruled that the sale of the advertising blocker by the defendant does indeed make it more difficult for commercial TV stations to do business, but it does not threaten their existence. RTL said it is considering an appeal (Global Brief, The Channel, AIB, Sep 2004 via DXLD) ** MALDIVE ISLANDS [non]. 13855, CLANDESTINE, Minivan Radio via DTK- Juelich, *1600-1636, Vernacular/English, August 31. As previously reported, sign-on with "This is RMI [actually not abbr`d --- gh], the following program is directed to the Maldive Islands" in English, conch/horn blasts, ID then lengthy talks between 2 OM with mentions of BBC, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. YL at 1625 with quick "Minivan Radio" ID, then talks with several mentions of "Mohammed", music at 1630 with another ID at 1634. Good signal (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4810.00, XERTA, México City, 1100 to 1130, excellent signal, news items ID by OM. Hurricane Frances is sending bands of rain into Pompano Beach; moving northwest, very slowly. 73 de (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Flórida, NRD 535D - Icom R75 - improvised antenna, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 7260, Mongolian R. (presumed), 1026-1043, Sept. 3, Mongolian? Thanks to recent Maarten Van Delft info at DXLD and Guy Atkins info, I gave my prior 7260 unID another look. Ballad-like music at tune-in, followed by OM over music at 1030, followed by YL between musical bits until 1034. Then talks by both between musical break consisting of some sort of fanfare/horn blasts, similar to something I logged last winter on 4850. Starting to fade out around 1035, unusable by tune-out. Looking forward to this when the sun rises later in the mornings here in northern N.H. (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, MLB-1, RS longwire with RBA balun, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Our Cox high-speed internet service has been pretty reliable lately, but Saturday afternoon, Sept 4 there were several annoying outages, which proved to correlate exactly with disappearance (black screen) of the OKC TV channels which arrive via satellite! We were thinking our internet service might be routed thru Florida, until that correlation was noticed, so it must be via the same satellite. All the other cable channels, including three from OKC which come direct off the air to Cox`s headend (what`s left of it in Enid), were unaffected. After another outage of half an hour or more, Cox brought back all but KOCB-34 on 7 with antenna pickups, of inferior quality, especially on ch 4 with ghosts and weak on ch 5, as they obviously don`t have a decent backup low-band VHF antenna installed, as can still be found on many Enid rooftops, including mine. This was no help for the internet outage, obviously a lower priority. This faked me out at first, as I had been using a TV monitor to cue me when internet would come back up, and I was going to hustle to post this incomplete issue preliminarily when I had a chance. The public library is not an alternative, as it is closed until Tuesday. Finally came back at 0200 UT Sept 5 and at some point the OKC TV feeds switched back to satellite (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Future Events: Sep. 5, 2004 V. of Russia makes schedule changes (Primetime SW via DXLD) VOR: What's New --- PEOPLE AND EVENTS --- The next edition of our weekly feature Russia: people and events which will be on the air as of Monday, September 6th will be devoted to the great Russian battle- scene painter Vasily Vereshchagin. You can tune in to the program on Monday at 0200, Wednesday at 0230 and 2030, Thursday at 0130 and 1730 and Sunday at 1400, all times UT. [and all wrong, really 0210, 0231:30, 2031:30, 0131:30, 1731:30, 1410. I think I noticed recently the news on the hour lasting 10 minutes instead of 11 --- gh] *** October 29, 2004, will mark 75 years since the first regular broadcast from Moscow directed to audiences abroad went on the air. To mark the anniversary we're conducting a listeners' poll and invite you to answer the following questions: 1. When did you first listen to the Voice of Russia/Radio Moscow? 2. When did you write to us for the first time and why? 3. What do you think is positive and negative in our programming? 4. What features do you like most of all? Thank you for your cooperation. Copyright © 2003 The Voice of Russia (via Maryanne Kehoe, ODXA via DXLD) A battle-scene painter. So that's what the bottom of a barrel sounds like when you scrape it. Look, if they've run out of ideas, then maybe they could just play some music or something for a half-hour? 73 - (Ken, VE3HLS, ibid.) Or digital utility sounds ** SENEGAL. OFRECEN ARROZ POR LANGOSTAS PARA CONTROLAR PLAGA DAKAR (Reuters) -- Una emisora de radio de Sénégal está ofreciendo a sus oyentes un saco de arroz de 50 kilos si cazan y matan 50 kilos de langostas, una nueva táctica en la batalla contra la invasión de estos insectos en el oeste de África. "Lanzamos esta idea para conseguir que más gente se involucrase en la guerra contra las langostas", dijo Abdoulaye Ba, un director de la emisora Sud-FM en la ciudad de Saint-Louis, en el norte del país, capital de una de las regiones de Sénégal más afectadas por la plaga. [remember when Mauritania`s radio operated from here across the border? --- gh] La primera plaga de langostas que asola el oeste de África en 15 años está destruyendo vastas zonas de cultivos en comunidades donde muchos son granjeros de subsistencia y donde la autoridad carece de los medios para utilizar pesticidas suficientemente rápido para detener la propagación de las hordas de insectos. Los tradicionales adivinos de Sénégal han instado a la gente a hacer sacrificios de cereales hervidos y leche cuajada para luchar contra la plaga, mientras que en la vecina Mali, han dicho a los oyentes de radio que quemen, ahoguen o aplasten a los insectos. Cuando le preguntaron qué haría la emisora con sacos llenos de langostas, Ba dijo: "Están llenas de proteínas. Tal vez podrían convertirse en comida para el ganado". (Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. Derechos Reservados. (de http://www.cnnenespanol.com/2004/mundo/08/29/plaga.reut/ ago 29 via Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** SIERRA LEONE. RADIO STATIONS FACE CHALLENGES AFTER CIVIL WAR Andrew Jeneke Kromah, founder of two independent radio stations in Sierra Leone, says private commercial broadcasters face many challenges there after a decade of civil war that ended in 2002. He was delivering this year's Commonwealth Broadcasting Lecture, at a ceremony in London on 2 September during which he also received the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association's 2004 Elizabeth R Award for an Exceptional Contribution to Public Service Broadcasting. Kromah is managing director of Skyy 106.6 Freetown and Kiss 104 in Bo. He launched his first station, Kiss 104, in 1993 as an alternative to government and political dominance of radio broadcasting in Sierra Leone. He trained his own journalists and broadcasters. The station was located in Bo to reach isolated rural communities, He ensured that voices from all sides of the conflict were heard: rebels, government forces and civilians. His programmes on "Democracy Now" aimed to provide illiterate people with the knowledge to vote. In his lecture, Kromah said: "There was a great need of a radio station in rural areas. People were affected by war but were not informed of developments. The government was not broadcasting to rural areas and people were deprived of an opportunity to express their views on radio. This situation motivated me. The idea behind Kiss was to give a public forum for people to speak on issues happening in their own back yards". Attacked The programming on Kiss was designed to raise listeners' awareness. A public health nurse would tell the audience about preventive medicine to combat diarrhoea and other illnesses. The station broadcast appeals to warlords to stop recruiting child soldiers. And it called on fighters to demobilize and reintegrate into society. "We got many threats from the fighters. Our producers were attacked frequently," Kromah recalled. He started his second station, Skyy 106.6, in 1996. It is located in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, where it has expanded from eight hours of daily programming at its launch to 21 hours in English and Krio. Both of Kromah's stations have worked to provide health information, provide a forum for discussion of the war and solutions for peace, promote voter education and encourage the development of broadcasting skills in young people. He has also helped to establish a number of community radio stations in Sierra Leone. "In his 10 years in radio broadcasting he has promoted free speech and democracy and he is presently investing in recruiting young journalists to expose corruption in government and investigate violations of the rights of rural people," the CBA noted. Kromah has also had to overcome the difficulties that affect all war- torn countries: a lack of electricity, no commercial or advertising revenue, and shortages of funds. He has had very little external support, with the exception of the UK-based Westminster Foundation for Democracy, which supplied a transmitter, and the Thomson Foundation which offered training. Radio scene Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) is the national broadcaster. The UN Mission in Sierra Leone (Unmasil) operates a number of radio services, broadcasting news of UN activities and human rights information, as well as music and news. Other broadcasters include Radio Democracy 98.1 FM, a Freetown station originally set up as the voice of the exiled Kabbah government, and regarded as pro-government; Believers Broadcasting Network, a Christian FM station in the capital; and Voice of the Handicapped, founded as an FM station for disabled citizens, but attracting a wider audience. FM relays of BBC World Service and Radio France Internationale are on the air in Freetown. Source: BBC Monitoring research 3 Sept (via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. QSL: AMATEUR RADIO MIRROR INTERNATIONAL, Meyerton 17780 kHz, QSL letter and schedule in 18 days. Follow-up sent to: ottok @ sentech.co.za QTH: SENTECH PTY. LYD - Private Bag X06 - Honeydew 2040. V/s: Kathy Otto. The original report and a follow up sent directly to the South African Radio League got no replies (LUCA BOTTO FIORA, QTH: Rapallo (Genova), Italy, RXs: R7 Drake - Satellit 500 Grundig, ANTs: Ferrite 85cm amplified LW-MW - Dipole 49m - Longwire 20m - MFJ1026, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH GEORGIA. VP8sg_ --- One of the staff at the British Antarctic Survey Base of Bird Island (South Georgia, AN-007) is active as VP8SGB. He generally operates (SSB only, usually on 20 metres) for about an hour, most days sometime between 1730 and 2000, and for about an hour on Sunday mornings between 1000 and 1200. QSL via GM0HCQ. Further information will be posted at http://www.gm0hcq.com [TNX GM0HCQ] (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** TURKS & CAICOS. RVC will be off another day or so as Atlantic Power lost a few poles in the hurricane (Jerry Kiefer, Sept 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) One can read a lot more about the situation there earlier, as well as all other islands, via http://www.stormcarib.com (gh, DXLD) Radio Visión Cristiana on 530 with an 80's sounding soft-rock gospel Spanish ballad (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, 0210 UT Sept 5, LatinMWDX yg via DXLD) I assume you were sure this was not CIAO (gh, DXLD) ** U K [non?]. Tho WYFR was missing from all its known frequencies, see USA, including the relays of Taiwan, around 0030 UT Sept 5, nevertheless, BBCWS was still audible on 11835, which is normally a WYFR relay at 0000-0300. BBC must have learnt their lesson from Charley, as I suggested, and set up a contingency backup relay from some other site, but which? Good signal here, but quite a bit of fading. Might be Ascension or Antigua. Did not seem strong enough for Delano, which normally comes up on same frequency at 0300. In fact, well before 0300 the DL carrier overrode the previous BBCWS signal, and DL modulation started at 0300 sharp, as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBCWS noted closing Talking Point UT Sat Sept 4 on 15565. Yes, Saturday, contrary to schedule for part of a docu series on France and the Arab World, and People & Politics during the 1300 hour. Apparently they blew those shows away for a call-in about the massacre in Russia. Safe to say that everyone was against it except the terrorists and their sympathizers. A regular Talking Point about something else would ensue at the regular time of 1400 UT Sunday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Re: The annual open day at Bush House is September 18, 2004 Address: Aldwych WC2, Opening Times Sat 10 am-4.30 pm, Tours every 10- 20 mins. NB studios not included. Security checks will take place before each tour. Last entry 4 pm (DXLD) This is one of the Heritage Open Days - see http://www.heritagedays.net/ for all buildings open. BBC Monitoring in Caversham, Reading is also open on the Sunday but pre-booking is essential! See under Berkshire http://www.heritageopendays.org/ed/berkshire/reading.shtml (Dave Kenny, BDXC-UK Moderator via DXLD) i.e. Sept 19 ** U K. VT MERLIN COMMUNICATIONS RENAMED VT Merlin Communications and Vosper Mantech, two separate companies owned by Vosper Thorneycroft, are now called VT Communications. Together, VT Merlin Communications and Vosper Mantech form the Communications Division of VT Group plc. Significant integration of the two businesses had already taken place with a unified management structure and co-location of certain key functions. The new name and brand allows the presentation of a clearer offering for all its customers (Global Brief, The Channel, AIB, Sept 2004 via DXLD) So it looks like we should refer to VT rather than Merlin as the SW transmitter operator (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. CIVIL SERVANT AIDS BBC GOVERNORS --- Matt Wells, media correspondent, Saturday September 4, 2004, The Guardian The BBC's governors have appointed a senior civil servant as the head of a new powerbase intended to underpin their independence from the corporation's managers. Nicholas Kroll, the deputy permanent secretary at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will take up the position of director of governance on October 1. Michael Grade, the BBC chairman, announced in June that a governance department would help to ensure the governors were seen to act separately of the management, providing independent advice and analysis of executives' proposals and decisions. There was widespread criticism that the governors had been too quick to support the BBC's management during the David Kelly affair last year, which led to the departure of the former chairman Gavyn Davies and the then director, general, Greg Dyke. . . http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1297161,00.html (via Gerald T. Pollard, NC, DXLD) This page has links to MANY other Guardian stories on BBC (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Joybubbles, who is allegedly responsible for the phone line providing World of Radio by telephone, is featured in this BBC Radio 3 programme on Saturday, September 4 at 2100-2130 UT, evidently not available later on demand, so get it now: 22:00 Between the Ears Connecting Go where only your ears can take you. This is the story behind the first computer hackers, told in their own words, and featuring the voices of such legendary figures as Captain Crunch, Joy Bubbles, Mark Bernay and cofounder of Apple computers Steve Wozniak. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, big changes were taking place in the US phone network: armed only with a telephone, a little technical knowledge and a lot of curiosity, kids across America were exploring the phone system, discovering how it worked and what else it could be made to do. The first and original hackers, these 'phone phreaks' now talk candidly about the early days of hacking: the highs and lows, the clashes with the law, and how their early experiments contributed directly to the phenomenal rise of the home computer during the 1980s. Connecting makes extensive use of archive recordings made by the actual phreaks themselves to document party lines, long distance conversations and prank calls. Hear what it was like to be one of the original phone phreaks, working your way around the telephone system back in the early 1970s - hear intercept messages and system noises from the time. Written and presented by Ken Hollings, with music by Simon James. (BBC Radio 3 whatson Sept 3 via gh, dxldyg via DXLD) Later: Very interesting programmme, actually aired about 10 minutes late, and they claimed it would be ondemandable later (Glenn, ibid.) ** U K. PIRATES PREPARE FOR NEW BATTLE OF AIRWAVES ILLEGAL STATIONS SEEN AS MAGNET FOR DRUGS AND CRIME Hugh Muir, Saturday September 4, 2004, The Guardian To listeners, they are the buccaneers of the airwaves. More than 40 years after the first wave of pirate DJs challenged the hegemony of mainstream radio, illegal broadcasters have again seized the initiative. Broadcasting from secret studios in offices and flats with aerials and transmitters concealed elsewhere, stations such as Flava FM, Y2K, Rinse FM and Flames FM have built a devoted following by playing cutting edge garage, ragga, hip-hop and drum'n'bass. Estimates suggest that at least 133 illegal stations are operating in London; another 42 are broadcasting from other cities. But as from this week, the battle to force the pirates off the air is going to be waged as never before. Amid concerns that some of the illicit operations have become a magnet for drugs, crime, vandalism and anti social behaviour, local authorities in London are planning a joint strategy, implementing laws and regulations that may see station owners and even the DJs themselves sent to jail. . . (via Mike Terry, Paul David, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. WJIE 7490 does seem to have "off days" for reasons other than Hurricanes. 73s (Noel R. Green, UK, Sept. 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. No transmissions heard today [Saturday Sept. 4] at 0600 from AFN/AFRTS via Roosevelt Roads on 7507. It MIGHT have gone off during the week --- last heard Sept. 1 --- but the channel suffers severe ute QRM on M-F. 5446.5 via Key West was on air today. The two transmissions on 7590 & 9980 were heard back on air at tune in 0650 on Sept. 1 and are continuing. I assume still via Iceland. They have been carrying a different program to that on 7507 & 5446.5 at this time, rock music and various promos instead of ESPN. Also today, there are no transmissions audible from WRMI 6870 at 0600+ or from WYFR on their usually heard frequencies 7355, 7520 & 9355 (RTI), 9680, 9715, 9930, 9985 & 11580. So I assume that Hurricane Frances may be the probable cause. 73s from (Noel R. Green [Blackpool, NW England], Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WYFR sounds off this morning as I type this at 1120. WRMI I suspect is off, but there is Cuban jamming alive and well on 9955 right now (Hans Johnson, WY, Sept 4, Cumbre DX via DXLD) WRMI 15725 --- Nothing heard at 1200. Key West 5446.5 at 1200 operating with good strength signal. Family at 1200 5850 and 5950 - Nothing heard. 73's de (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach FL, Sept 4, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. So far it looks like Miami will avoid a direct hit, but there will be a lot of rain. Yes, it's theoretically possible to take the LP antenna off the tower, but that would be a pretty big job and is expensive (Jeff White, FL, Sept 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRMI missing Sept 4, both from 6870 around 0315, and from 15725 around 1400; hopefully just off as a precaution with Frances` fringe impending. Made a thorough check of listed WYFR frequencies at 0030 UT Sept 5, and found all these were silent: 5950, 5985, 6065, 9505, 11855, 15130, 15215, 15255, 15440, 17725, 17750, 17805, 17845 --- but BBC 11835 was on! Must be from some other site; see UK. Hmm, with BBC that would make 14 transmitters at Okeechobee, tho WRTH 2004 only gives WYFR 12 - -- 10 x 100 kW and 2 x 50 kW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Dear Glenn, This week Larry Will and Dr. Scott Becker will be in Boston MA getting our radioboat the motorsailer Katie ready for broadcasting. Hopefully within the next two weeks live radio programs shall commence from the ship via the transmitters of WBCQ radio. Frequencies to watch for are: 5105 evenings, 7415 and 9330 afternoons. A special QSL card will be issued for all shipboard radio broadcasts. Special programs will include music, commentary, fun and frolic, maybe even a WOR program or two. The whole goal of thi project is to have some fun and promote shortwave radio while sailing the New England area. Cheers, (Allan Weiner, WBCQ, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBCQ Anomalies and Recent Observations - September 4, 2004 9330 on testing with music at 1952, ZZ Top "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" at 1954. Strong signal with outstanding modulation and sound. ID at 2000 and into Radio Weather per schedule. From Allan: Christian Media Network has expanded programming on 9330, and are now on 8 PM to midnight ET Monday through Friday (0000 to 0400 UT Tuesday through Saturday). They were on 9 PM-midnight ET. Allan Weiner Worldwide repeats and other fill programming Monday through Thursday at 7 PM ET; last night heard The RMF Show at 7 M ET and a "filling a pothole in the schedule" episode of Radio Timtron Worldwide at 7:30 PM ET (via Larry Will, dxldyahoogroups and the WBCQ Program Guide, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WOR started more than 5 minutes after the Full Gospel shouter ended late, as usual, around 0303 UT Sun Sept 5 on 9330-CLSB; so don`t give up if you hear a lot of dead air (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. LUBAVITCHER/CHASSIDIC RADIO: 1710 Brooklyn NY .----..----. | V | __|__________|__ '--/// \\\--' (|/ 6 6 \|) \\ _,)._ // \\\ == /// \\)\//(/ ))))))) (((((( )))) (non-proportional art presumably by Harold Frodge, Free Radio Weekly via DXLD) ** U S A. Adventist World Radio --- Main Script for Wavescan, Edition number 505 airing on Sunday 9/5/2004 (excerpts) So let`s start in with our Wavescan topic for this week and the story of old Forgotten Callsigns. Here`s Steve Hamstra. Back in the 1920s when shortwave stations were first established in the United States, each transmitter was given a callsign that indicated an experimental unit. In actual fact, these callsigns looked a lot like amateur radio callsigns and the only way to differentiate was the letter ``X`` in the middle of the callsign. The letter ``X`` indicated ``experimental``. For example, the Westinghouse station in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania was allocated the experimental callsign W8XK; the Crosley station in Cincinnati Ohio was W8XAL; the educational station in Boston was W1XAL; and the General Electric station in San Francisco was W6XBE. This system of callsign allocations continued in regular usage for nearly 20 years, from November 1920 till August 1939. At this stage, there were fourteen shortwave transmitters on the air that were considered to be in regular broadcast usage. With the political events in Europe building up towards a continental crisis, the FCC in the United States determined that it was time for the American shortwave stations to change their callsigns from the experimental style to the regular four letter style beginning with either ``W`` or ``K.`` During this era, some of the shortwave stations were aware that changes were coming and they had already filed a request with the FCC for meaningful new callsigns. The official FCC date for the change- over of all experimental callsigns was September 1, 1939, though some stations made an earlier change, and a few were just a little tardy. Among the stations that made a change-over a few days early were the following: Company Location State Old New Westinghouse Pittsburgh Pennsylvania W8XK WPIT Westinghouse Hull Massachusetts W1XK WBOS General Electric Schenectady New York W2XAD WGEA General Electric San Francisco California W6XBE KGEI Now, according to the available information, there were a few stations that made the change-over on the appointed date, September 1, 1939. Among these stations were the following: Company Location State Old New RCA-NBC Bound Brook New Jersey W3XAL WRCA RCA-NBC Bound Brook New Jersey W3XL WNBI Isle of Dreams Miami Florida W4XB WDJM Labor Federation Chicago Illinois W9XAA WCBI At the time when these callsign changes were taking place, there was a delay on the part of one station, and when the FCC issued an amended list one week later, that is on September 8, 1939, this change was made: Company Location State Old New CBS Wayne New Jersey W2XE WCBX However, most interesting is the fact that five of these American shortwave stations actually made a double change in their callsigns. The first change was made at around the time required by the FCC, and then another change was made just a few days later. These five stations were: Company Location State Old 1st New 2nd New GE Schenectady NY W2XAF WGEU WGEO CBS Philadelphia PA W3XAU WCAI WCAB Crosley Mason OH W8XAL WLWU WLWO World Wide Boston MA W1XAL WSLA WRUL World Wide Boston MA W1XAR WSLR WRUW Thus the title of our topic for today; ``The Story of old Forgotten Callsigns``. Indeed, the early experimental callsigns of these revered old shortwave stations are almost forgotten. In addition, it is very little known these days that there were five old shortwave callsigns on the air for just a few days each, and these were, as we mentioned earlier:- WGEU, WCAI, WLWU, WSLA & WSLR. We are holding nearly 100 QSL cards from these stations during this particular era and they all confirm the interesting transitions mentioned in today`s program. However, it would be almost certain that no QSL cards exist for the five temporary callsigns that were in use on the air for no more than just a few days. Whow! Thank you Steve. You`d never imagine that life was so complicated from the early days of radio. (via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** U S A. The First Convention Broadcast: Radio at the 1924 Conventions --- When Nelson Poynter attended his first convention the new medium of the time was radio-- this year it's weblogs. By David Shedden, Library Director, Poynter Institute Posted, September 1, 2004 Eighty years ago this summer, Nelson Poynter, a 20-year-old reporter for the Indianapolis Star, attended his first presidential convention. As he covered the 1924 Democratic convention at New York City's old Madison Square Garden, Poynter, along with most of the reporters there, probably noticed an announcer sitting in a small glass booth broadcasting stories for a new medium called radio. If 2004 is the year of the weblog, 1924 is remembered as the year radio and broadcasting first came to the conventions. . . http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=70880 (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** U S A. PURDUE STUDENT-RUN AM RADIO STATION TO BEGIN SOON By Julie Glaser Features Editor [West Lafayette, Indiana] http://www.purdueexponent.org/interface/bebop/showstory.php?date=2004/09/02§ion=features&storyid=index Beginning Oct. 23, Purdue students will have an AM radio station to call their own. After more than a year of sorting through funding, licensing and facilities obstacles, Purdue Student Radio — run by students for students — will begin broadcasting on AM 1610. Programming for the station is still up in the air, but Paul Roales, president of Purdue Student Radio, said it will be diverse and might include anything from hip-hop and punk to underground and international programming. "The majority of students should be able to find something they like to listen to," said Roales, a senior in the School of Technology. The idea is that students will be able to listen to music they can’t hear on other local radio stations, he said. The low-frequency [sic] AM station will reach for about a mile around campus and will include the residence halls, fraternities, sororities and co-ops. Those who are outside of the station’s listening area will be able to tune in online at www.purdue.edu/radio. Both high and low bitrate connections will be available soon after the station’s launch of Oct. 23. Roales, who has no interest in a career in radio, started working on this project from scratch in August 2003 because he saw a need for a student-run radio station at Purdue. "Nine of the 11 Big Ten universities have student-run radio stations," said Roales. "It is something that has been missing at Purdue." Roales began reading books about radio; he visited college radio stations and began talking to university administrators about his idea. In August 2003, he registered Purdue Student Radio as an official Purdue student organization and began recruiting people to help him. But organizing the radio station turned out to be anything but easy. Purdue Student Radio will begin as an AM station because FM licenses are limited, expensive and require a long application process. Since Purdue Student Radio is a student organization, Roales received studio space and music licensing from Purdue. In addition, Purdue Student Radio has received $8,000 in grants from various departments and associations at Purdue and $8,000 worth of donated equipment from Purdue’s public radio station, WBAA. Dan Skinner, general manager for WBAA, is also Purdue Student Radio’s adviser, and he said he is excited about what Purdue Student Radio could mean for the Purdue community. "I think it`s a great way for students to get experience in radio as well as having a great creative outlet on campus for music and views," said Skinner. To date, Purdue Student Radio has 146 members with around 50 active members. Students will do everything from on-air talent to the business, advertising, programming and engineering. Roales said he hopes that one day Purdue will be able to have its own FM radio station like some of the other universities that he visited. "I didn`t know if this would happen while I am still at Purdue," he said of the station’s launch. "But it is." (The Exponent, Sept 2, via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn, Re WFAN at 35 kW, it's an aux license on a short tower: see http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=609251 (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. There has been a lot of interest in Progressive Talk 1360 KLSD. Daytime, the signal reaches the four corners of the county. It's the nightime coverage that cuts into the listening habits of die-hard fans of alternative, progress talk of Stacy Taylor and the Air America lineup. SDR wishes Stacy and the programming well -- and as one engineer described it to me, it's a station for the I-8 corridor. KPXQ-AM from Glendale/Phoenix has a daytime coverage of 50,000 watts - - and pummels the 1360 signal into submission during sunrise and sunset time on the 78-corridor in North County. It's a tough sale in San Diego's northern part during these times ..... It's not a tough sale for Air America across the country: Clear Channel has flipped at least five other stations to alternative talk featuring AAR including CCU stations in Madison, Wisconsin; Columbus, Ohio; Santa Bárbara, and Denver, Colorado; Stay Tuned (SDRadio.net Aug 31 via DXLD) ** U S A. GOTTA LOVE IT --- Heard on WHO Des Moines: "I THINK, THEREFORE A-M. WELCOME TO AMPLITUDE MODULATION...THE BAND FOR THINKING PEOPLE." (Mark Durenberger, CO, Sept 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) I don't believe this originated with WHO. As early as a couple of ears ago (maybe longer -- I'd have to check), John Sylvester, morning talk show host ("Sly in the Morning") on WTDY 1670 Madison WI, was using the phrase "I Think, Therefore I A-M.", In fact, the station even printed up and distributed T-shirts saying this. I don't have one, but a friend of mine does. 73 (Bill Dvorak, Madison WI, ibid.) ** WALES [non]. 7150, 3/9, 2029-2059, WALES R. INTERNATIONAL, [via] Moosbrunn, Austria, English, "Celtic Notes" presented by Jenny O' Brien, QRM co-ch RKI in Arabic, Good (S500) (LUCA BOTTO FIORA, QTH: Rapallo (Genova), Italy, RXs: R7 Drake - Satellit 500 Grundig, ANTs: Ferrite 85cm amplified LW-MW - Dipole 49m - Longwire 20m - MFJ1026, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Now that all the conventioners have left my house I am hearing slow religious music on 1712.00, best in AM mode, 2.3 filter. There is a man speaking, but I can't figure the language. Anyone else hearing this? Now, at 0055 edt, it is clearly a Spanish language religious service. Hallelujah! (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, SEP 4 0045 [EDT = 0445 UT], NRC-AM via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4845.04, unID LA Spanish speaking. 113 kb. 0100 UT 3/9 2004. Good signal strength, good sound quality and perhaps(?) an ID between the two songs on this new recording I made this Friday evening. Listen and tell me your opinion! Comments and Recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Somebody asks about the transmitter site shown in these pictures, no details available. Any ideas? http://www.gumo.de/sonstiges/ablage/unk_qth1.JPG http://www.gumo.de/sonstiges/ablage/unk_qth2.JPG (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for the various sites to look at, Kai. I will be doing so later. I have already looked at the photos of the unknown site(s) but it/they are unknown to me. The masts seem too small for a high power SW station - and perhaps too many for a MW station? It is positively a TRANSmitting station? (Noel Green, UK, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL +++++++++++++++++++++++ FROM THE EDITOR`S DESK If it were not for the international DX community, men and women who are fascinated by radio and are avid listeners and scanners of the radio spectrum, who send me information, reports, articles, and websites, directly or through their club bulletins, this newsletter would have been a very short one week after week, and some weeks may not have appeared at all. I am particularly grateful to Arnaldo Slaen in Buenos Aires, Henrik Klemetz in Sweden, Horacio Nigro in Uruguay, Rafael Rodríguez of Colombia, Luciano Gentile of Argentina, the AER members in Spain who publish El Dial, the fellows in Buenos Aires who publish Conexion-Digital, the men at UKW-TV Arbeitskreis in Germany; Tore Larson in Sweden, and Tore B. Vik, his successor at the Latin American desk for World Radio-TV Handbook; Giampero Bernadini of Avvenire in Milano, and Nicola Franceschini of FM World in Italy. These folks have made this newsletter possible and have taken to it with an interest exhibited by comparatively few in Catholic radio. Particularly do I want to acknowledge the extraordinary interest and help exhibited by Glenn Hauser, an internationally respected DXer and publisher of the DX Listening Digest and World of Radio, who has made sure that I missed nothing on Catholic radio that appears in his bulletins. I am greatly indebted, too, to Dr. Hansjörg Biener, a Lutheran pastor, theologian, and publisher of the fine Medien-Aktuell each month, who has also gone to great lengths to make sure I miss nothing and has given me permission to use his material. Mark Riedenauer of the Catholic Radio-Television Network in Germany, and Dr. Daniella Frank and Michel Philippart of the Catholic Media Council also in Germany, have been wonderful. In particular do I want to acknowledge their putting my directories and sometimes my newsletter on their websites, as have Esglesia.org and ACI Prensa. M. Philippart has been an assiduous collaborator, sharing information on Third World Catholic radio, particularly in Africa. From Catholic Radio Update #1, the folks at EWTN have never failed to be interested, supportive, responsive, and kind, beginning with Bernard Lockhart and continuing to this very day. May I express my deepest thanks to the often disparaged crew at EWTN. To everyone at EWTN, English and Spanish markets, radio and television, my profound thank you. Without their encouragement, this newsletter would have died a long time ago (Michael Dorner, editor, Catholic Radio Update Sept 6 via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ NEW BEACON/SWL WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION Hi All, This is just to let you know that I have a new website under construction. While it is primarily oriented towards longwave Non Directional Beacons (NDB's), there 'will' eventually be pages dedicated to SWLing (the "on topic" part of this post) as well as boatanchors and anything else I can fit in the allocated space. What I DON'T intend to use this site for is a logging site, a depository of dead links (there are plenty of those sites) though it may eventually contain a complete list of all NDB's that I've heard as well as "favorite links". Be patient and expect dead links to succeeding pages. Right now it only contains the homepage with a brief introduction and a 19 month old mugshot of yours truly sitting in "The Beaconeers Lair". This is the first time that I've ever done something like this, done any html programming etc. I am attempting to have the site contain some interesting graphics, yet be easy to read (no black on black etc) and quick to download. No slow Java scripts or other items that may cause ADA screen readers to have a heart attack, just straight html. If anyone has suggestions on improving it, I'm open to them, though the site will have to be somewhat limited in size. It's at http://users.mercednet.com/beaconeer/ 73 de Phil, KO6BB, Atchley http://users.mercednet.com/beaconeer/ DXing from the "Beaconeers Lair", where DX begins at the noise floor, and only 938 different LF beacons have been heard since June/99. Merced, Central California, 37.3N 120.48W CM97sh (via swl at qth.net via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ 4º ATLANTICO-SUL DX-CAMP, 9-12 OUTUBRO, ILHA COMPRIDA, BRASIL Imperdível!!! O que foi ótimo até aqui ficará ainda melhor!! Durante anos seguidos o DXCB patrocinou com sucesso os 1º, 2º e 3º Ilha Comprida DX-Camp com objetivos de intercâmbio técnico-tecnológico entre os participantes, num ambiente à beira do Oceano Atlântico mais do que favorável para a prática do dexismo em ondas médias, ondas longas e FM. Em síntese, um encontro muito especial para os que buscam pesquisar tecnicamente o que há de bom nas ondas do rádio. Dado ao encerramento definitivo das atividades da Pousada del Sol/Ilha Comprida (que abrigou os eventos anteriores), e aproveitando-se do momento de algumas mudanças estratégicas, abre-se um novo evento em proporção de soma aos eventos anteriores (este será portanto o 4º evento de DX prático no litoral sul brasileiro). Aproveita-se também a ocasião para mudar a denominação do evento, para uma maior flexibilização de realização de eventos similares em outras localidades na orla marítima brasileira. Com isto, o 'Ilha Comprida DX-Camp' se fosse novamente realizado este ano, passaria a se chamar de ‘Atlântico-Sul DX-Camp’. A ênfase, objetivo, estratégia e logística permanecem os mesmos aos dos eventos anteriores. Surge a excelente oportunidade da realização de um novo evento desta natureza em 2004, desta vez junto ao extremo sul da própria Ilha Comprida, mais precisamente do outro lado do canal marítimo, na ilha de Cananéia. Sondado o local previamente, e encontrada a plena favorabilidade técnica e na logística de realização do evento, lança- se o presente Projeto, que seguidos os passos de uma DX-Camp tradicional (daquelas anteriormente realizadas em Ilha Comprida), faz com que anunciemos e divulguemos com muita satisfação o 4º ATLÂNTICO- SUL DX-CAMP. Porque a ilha de Cananéia? Inicialmente porque Cananéia situa-se no litoral (sul do estado de São Paulo) mostrando trazer boas perspectivas nas pesquisas de sintonia de emissoras de rádio de distâncias maiores (ondas médias, ondas longas e freqüência modulada). Não existem emissoras de rádio de ondas médias estabelecidas no local, e nem dentro de um raio de 80 km de Cananéia. Emissoras mais potentes que se situam em Curitiba, São Paulo, Vale do Paraíba e Rio de Janeiro não trazem problemas de sobrepor os sinais das emissoras de interesse para os participantes durante o dia e à noite. Em outras palavras, bandas abertas para novas possibilidades. A infra-estrutura do Hotel Sol a Sol é de excelente qualidade, muito superior à encontrada em Ilha Comprida. Existem ambientes externos com mesas e cadeiras cobertas com toldos (dentro da própria constituição do hotel) à beira da piscina, para escutas externas, protegido das intempéries. Também existe um espaço físico mais do que apropriado para a instalação de uma antena K9AY e para a utilização de outras antenas monofilares nos terrenos limítrofes. A grande sensação do evento, porém, deverá ser uma pequena viagem marítima (escuna) à ilha do Cardoso quando os motores do barco poderão ser desligados em alto mar para a verificação da performance de recepção em ondas médias num ambiente sem ruído elétrico (já pré- discutido com a empresa de aluguel de barcos em Cananéia). A própria Ilha do Cardoso não possui rede elétrica o que também pressupõe ausência de ruído elétrico. Oportunidade impar! Enfim, uma grande chance para um grande evento. Um evento nos padrões do DX Clube do Brasil. Dando seqüência ao que foi o Brasil DX2004 em Lorena-SP em 9 de julho último, no objetivo acima de tudo de fortalecermos ainda mais as amizades existentes, e para estabelecermos novas amizades, está portanto lançado o que novamente será um marco na história do rádio brasileiro (no âmbito da radioescuta / DX): o 4º ATLÂNTICO-SUL DX- CAMP. Informações, adesões, reservas, contatos adicionais, com Marcelo Bedene e/ou Rudolf Grimm por meio do seguinte endereço eletronico: carlos@ondascurtas.com . Decida-se já, envie o seu email solicitando mais informações, e estaremos todos juntos em Cananéia, litoral sul do Estado de São Paulo em 9 de outubro próximo às 12h00, para 4 dias de muitas novidades no rádio. E lembre-se: O dexista é a pessoa que sempre precisa de uma nova oportunidade!!!!!! Rudolf W. Grimm / Marcelo Bedene COORDENAÇÃO DETALHAMENTO Evento: 4º Atlântico-Sul DX-Camp Data: 9 a 12 de outubro de 2004 (sábado a terça-feira) – Aproveitando- se o feriado-ponte com base no dia 12 de outubro, feriado nacional. Local: Hotel Sol a Sol, ilha de Cananéia-SP (hotel com excelente padrão de atendimento e estado de conservação), a 100 metros da orla marítima (canal de saída para o Oceano Atlântico). Capacidade: Hospedagem para 54 pessoas em apartamento compartilhado. Ambiente extremamente aprazível. Para consultar informações sobre o Hotel, acessar www.hotelsolasol.cananeia.net . Contato no Hotel: Mario Bernardini, proprietário. Também recomendamos pesquisar pelo http://www.google.com diversos sites sobre Cananéia e região. Sensacional! Valor da diária do Hotel Sol a Sol: R$ 20,00 / dia (!!!!) em apartamento compartilhado, incluindo-se o bom café-da-manhã. Demais refeições serão feitas por conta dos participantes nos diversos restaurantes próximos ao hotel. Reservas antecipadas com o próprio hotel, pelo telefone 0xx 13 3851-1851, aos cuidados de Mario Bernardini. Refeições (afora o café da manhã): Em restaurantes nas proximidades do Hotel Sol a Sol. Existem restaurantes que oferecem comida por quilo, e outros que oferecem pratos a la carte mais refinados, especialmente frutos do mar. Eventos paralelos: Passeio pela cidade com visita ao museu de Cananéia e à Rua do Artesanato, visita à emissora de FM da cidade e o deslocamento de barco até à Ilha do Cardoso (local totalmente desprovido de energia elétrica, excelente para rádio-recepção) . PROGRAMAÇÃO SUGERIDA Sábado, 9 de outubro: 11h00: Recepção aos participantes. Alojamento em hotel. Almoço de confraternização. 14h00: Visita à emissora de FM da cidade. Visita ao museu de Cananéia. 16h00: Início de período de pesquisas 19h30: Jantar. 21h30: Continuação do período de pesquisas (escutas até o sol raiar!!) Domingo, 10 de outubro: 08h00: Café da manhã. 09h00: Visita à cidade. Rua do Artesanato, passeio pela cidade. 11h00: Intercâmbio técnico. Programação de palestra/demonstração técnica de antenas. 12h30: Almoço. 15h00: Visita à Ilha do Cardoso (deslocamento marítimo, com ênfase a possíveis escutas em alto-mar por um período de algumas horas). 22h00: Retorno à Cananéia. Pesquisas de sintonia (escutas até o sol raiar!!!!!). Segunda-feira, 11 de outubro 08h00: Café-da-manhã. 09h00: Intercâmbio técnico. Programação de palestra/demonstração técnica de antenas. 12h30: Almoço. 14h00: Intercâmbio técnico. Pesquisas de sintonia. 20h30: Jantar. 21h30: Continuação do Intercâmbio Técnico e pesquisas de sintonia (escutas até o sol raiar!!!!!). Terça-feira, 12 de outubro: 08h00: Café-da-manhã. 09h00: Intercâmbio técnico. Avaliação de resultados. 1 2h30: Almoço de encerramento. 14h00: Viagem de retorno. Boas vindas a todos!!!!!!! Esperamos os amigos em Cananéia em 9 de outubro!!!!! Contacte-nos (via Marcelo Bedene, Brasil, Aug 27, DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ DX 183 - EUROPE'S LARGEST ANTENNA PARK The antenna park "DX 183", 12 kms from Jammerbugten/Skagerrak in Denmark, is open for everyone, who is interested in listening to distant radio stations on long wave, medium wave, in tropical bands, on short wave or even on FM. A lot of beverage antennas are useable. They pick up signals in those directions they are constructed. Degrees Area Length Notices 65 China/Philipp./Indonesia/Australia 80 m 95 India/Pakistan 80 m 110 Iran 80 m 130 Israel/Saudi Ariabia/Somalia 110 m 150 Egypt/East Africa 160 m 180 Central North- and West Africa 140 m 180 South 120 m longwire on ground, used for phasing 195 West Africa-South 160 m 210 West Africa-West 160 m 220 West Africa-West/East Brasil 120 m 230 East Brasil/Argentina 90 m (290 m during winter season) 240 Central Brasil/Paraguay/Chile 80 m 250 North Brasil/Bolivia 80 m (275 m during winter season) 260 Venezuela/Peru 80 m 270 Caribbean/Colombia 75 m (270 m during winter season) 280 Caribbean/central America/Newfoundland 75 m 290 East Canada/East-YSA/Florida 80 m (270 m during winter season) 300 Quebec/East-USA/Mexico 90 m 315 Midwest/California/Mexico 110 m 330 Southwest Canada 180 m (550 m during winter season) 345 Northwest Canada/Alaska 340 m (460 m during winter season 360 Alaska/Hawaii 330 m 110 /290 Iran 25 m L-Antenna ca 4 m high Circumpolar reception 6 m vertical antenna Height of Beverage-Antennas are ca 1,5 m. They are mounted on sticks and poles. All are connected with coaxcable (RG 213 or RG 58) at a distance to the house between 50 m and 100 m. FM: 8-element Antenna (horizontal in ca 7 m height) and 4-element Antenna (vertical in ca 5 m height). Both on one rotor. TV: Band-I-Channel 2 (directed to SE 130 ) and -Channel 4 (directed to SW 220 ) Antennas, ca 6 m height, no rotor. Reception by satellite (digital): More than 20 TV-satellites are available. It is a kind of low noise system. Beside that, the area is free of heavy QRM. Only some electrical fences are a little audible, mostly during day time. Take your own receiver to DX 183! And if possible bring along your own coaxial cable (with PL connection) and antenna switch. For information about accommodation and how to reach the antenna park see http://www.wilhelm-herbst-verlag.de/DX183/DXer/index.htm (in German only) or contact the owner Wilhelm Herbst on phone/fax +45 98215191. (Ydun Ritz (29/8-2004 via DXLD) ###