DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-150, October 1, 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 1247: Sat 0800 on WRN1 to Europe, Africa, Asia, Pacific Sat 0855 on WNQM Nashville 1300 Sat 1030 on WWCR 5070 Sat 1830 on WPKN Bridgeport, 89.5, http://www.wpkn.org Sat 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sat 2030 on WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sat 2030 on R. Lavalamp http://www.radiolavalamp.org Sat 2300 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Sun 0230 on WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB 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 Sun 2000 on RFPI http://www.rfpi.org repeated 8-hourly [maybe] Mon 0100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0230 on WRMI 6870 Mon 0330 on WSUI 910, webcast http://wsui.uiowa.edu [previous X-50] 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 Mon 2100 on WBCQ 9330-CLSB repeated thru Wed 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 1247 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1247h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1247.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1247 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1247.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1247.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1247.html WORLD OF RADIO 1247 in the true SW sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_09-29-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_09-29-04.mp3 ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. AIR Port Blair, 4760, has been heard in the UK during the winter late afternoons and channel seems clear of utility interference but beware of Trans World Radio with a service to Mozambique in various languages on 4760 1600-1700 (Mike Barraclough, Oct World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** ARMENIA. Voice of Armenia observed Sundays 20th and 27th September 1825 to 1845 on 4810 9960 with the Letterbox programme in English. This service used to be Mondays to Saturdays and was still announced as such at the end of the programme (Edwin Southwell, England, Oct World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. THE MEDIUM VERSUS THE MESSAGE . . .The once clear lines between ``international`` and ``domestic`` are blurring. In addition, as far flung and seemingly chaotic as shortwave has been over the years, the phrase ``you ain`t seen nothin` yet`` aptly applies today. Any effort to logically organize in some relevant way the vast program content available across all these platforms begins to resemble the experience of herding cats. . . Clive Alexander Robertson, an accomplished veteran Australian broadcaster, brings an inimitable style to Classic FM five mornings a week with a delightful mix of music expertly programmed, as it has been for many years, by Felix Hayman. I say ``expertly`` because so much of classical music radio seems both haphazard in its preparation and stuffy in its presentation. On ``Breakfast with Clive,`` the pieces all seem to fit together beautifully and Robertson`s commentary is always friendly and conversational --- perfect for a workday morning. In fact, on many mornings, this is the program I have streaming on my computer at work. It may have been broadcast half a day earlier or more in Australia, but it always sounds fresh to me. And you and I can hear it only via the internet. On balance, my favorite radio network bar none is Radio National. Apart from the stunning diversity of topics covered, RN (perhaps inevitably) holds up a mirror to American society, almost as much as it does to Australia. It challenges its listeners; it refuses to pander to them. I really like that. . . Keep in mind that all of the times given at http://abc.net.au/radio are in Australian Eastern Time. New York is 14 hours behind AET (Los Ángeles, 17) until the seasonal clock changes when it falls 16 hours behind (Los Ángeles, 19). [i.e. UT +10 now, UT + 11 at Octend --- gh] Next month, we`ll continue this series with the CBC. Until then, good listening – wherever you find it! (John Figliozzi, NY, Programming Spotlight, Global Forum, Oct MONITORING TIMES via DXLD) These are only a few excerpts of a full-page article on page 43, q.v. (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY PLEDGES RADIO AUSTRALIA FUNDING BOOST With the Australian General Election approaching, the Labor Party has announced that, if elected, it will lift Radio Australia's budget by $6 million. It says the extra funding for the ABC's international radio service will restore Australia's voice in the region. The $6 million, to be provided over two years, would be added to Radio Australia's current budget of $11 million. Labor says the Howard Government was wrong to halve the size of Radio Australia in 1997 by cutting $11 million from its annual funding. A policy statement released by Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd also promises an extra $3.5 million over two years for ABC Asia Pacific, the international television service. (Source: ABC via Mike Bird) # posted by Andy @ 10:56 UT Oct 1 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** BELARUS. A letter I received from the English section 25th September said ``We are on the air every day except Wednesday and Friday 2300-2330, replays next day 0400-0430.`` (Richard Read, Sussex, Oct World DX Club Contact via DXLD) I checked 7105 and 7210 at 2200 and 2300 on 30th September and the station was not heard (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) Further contradicting last issue ** BELARUS. 12020 12140 12230 Belarus orgy --- heard a strong harmonic of fundamental 6010 on 12020 kHz this morning around 0600-0630 at about S=3 level, and checked then all known Belarus frequencies. Also noted two harmonics on 12140 and 12230, S=2 level. Fundamentals as usual 6010 6040weak 6070 6080 6115 7110 7145, and 2nd program on 7265. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Oct 1, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. Was hearing CBC on 6160, Sept 30 as late as 1326 with local morning magazine; when `St. John`s Highway` was mentioned, in a traffic report? I had visions of CKZN at this very late hour instead of CKZU, but then followed a PDT timecheck; fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also FRANCE [non] ** CHINA. CCTV International CCTV-9 --- I accidentally stumbled across a new TV service on the Echostar Dish Network today. I have no idea how long CCTV has been up on Dish or how long they will be there. CCTV-9 is a very well produced channel. They are all in excellent English and ran promos this morning for an equivalent services in French and Spanish. The programming is quite diversified with on-the- hour newscasts and cultural programs. In a cultural review program this morning they featured ballet and musical performances currently happening in Beijing. CCTV-9 seems pretty open minded about program content as they showed an all male ballet troupe visiting Beijing with guys in drag dancing the female parts complete with tutus and hairy legs. The weather forecast for China was interesting. As they showed temperature and weather conditions for each of the major Chinese cities, I noticed they included Taipeh. Coverage of Asian news was very good and included coverage of the Asian stock markets. The transmissions are on the Echostar satellite located at 110 degrees on transponder 26. In the electronic channel guide you will find it on channel 265. I subscribe to the "Top 120" service from Dish so I do not know if CCTV-9 is available on the lower level program tier. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ Joe, I seem to recall about a couple of years ago, CCTV had an announcement that they wanted to get a channel on cable systems in the US, either their domestic CCTV-1 channel or one more international. I do recall writing my cable company at the time (I was living in a different apartment) that I did not want CCTV and laid out some very convincing reasons and facts why. I think I first read about this on the Media Network newsletter (Maryanne Kehoe, GA, swprograms via DXLD) There was a quid pro quo with Viacom wanting an outlet in China, so there is a Mainland broadcast in the U.S. CCTV-9 is their international channel, i.e. English, but there are pockets of French and German on weekends. Culturally they find old variety concerts, patriotic folklore parts, and the old standby, New Years marathon broadcasts (equivalent to the national Christmas stuff in the Anglo TV). Nature series can be dubbed and are popular. A friend was running their cultural section and found that it wasn't easy getting things contextual for foreign audiences. If you are watching just the news, you are getting the new style seen in Hunan and Shanghai provinces on the new private stations. The state, and provincial stations are more stultifying. There is no other outlet for foreign language news in China other than a few satellite channels and our old favourite, shortwave. They don't yet allow foreign stations to broadcast to air in China, much as the U.S. doesn't. Cable sets are another matter in both countries. So there it is Chinese or nothing. Some of you might have heard the Real-Time Beijing twaddle that is sent out to all the provincial capitals as a sop to foreigners, now extended, badly, as the second hour of China Radio International. It was said that the deal was made when the vain Jiang Zemin visited the U.S. and couldn't find any Chinese channels on his TV there in the 1000-channel universe. October 01 is their national day and being on that side of the date- line they are on it already and many regulations or declarations are made then. For example they are going to start having the bloody March of the Volunteers national anthem and scenes of the 5 star flag and a few recent sports, astronaut heroes on Hong Kong TV news from 01 October. That will turn many HK people off. From the major English newspaper in Hong Kong last month: (Daniel Say, BC, swprograms via DXLD) --------------- CHINA: CCTV SEALS DEAL FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE US Cultural and news programs will be carried over Echostar satellite network --- South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) Wednesday, September 15, 2004 By Andrew K. Collier China Central Television (CCTV) will make a giant step into the American market next month, when a deal will be unveiled for the distribution of 17 mainland channels over the Echostar satellite network, media sources say. The agreement will introduce mainland Putonghua programming into more than 8.5 million American homes. "It's an unprecedented entry from China [in terms of] the number of channels," a media executive said. News Corp's DirecTV had also been interested in carrying the CCTV programming but backed out of the bidding, sources said. A group of CCTV executives, led by vice-president Zhang Chang-ming, would visit Los Ángeles for a launch ceremony on September 25, to be followed by a formal announcement on October 1. Echostar already carries Hong Kong's ATV Home in Cantonese, CCTV-4 in Putonghua and the Phoenix North America Chinese Channel, along with several channels from Taiwan's ETTV. The new agreement will give Echostar six CCTV channels, seven provincial channels, three channels from Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television and one from ATV. American viewers will be able to watch CCTV-4 and the English-language CCTV-9, along with new CCTV channels dedicated to Chinese opera, culture and entertainment, and cross-cultural programming in Spanish and French that is not aired in China. The contract is unusual because it appears to be a strictly commercial deal rather than one based on getting access to homes. Additional reporting by Vivian Wu --- Date Posted: 9/15/2004 http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=14624 (via Dan Say, swprograms via DXLD) Dish Network posted the following press release on their web site yesterday: EchoStar Communications Corp. (ticker: DISH, exchange: NASDAQ) News Release - 9/30/2004 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DISH Network Introduces Great Wall TV Package Featuring 17 Chinese Television Channels; Customers Can Receive the Package with Equipment and Installation at No Cost ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Sept. 30, 2004 -- EchoStar Communications Corporation's (NASDAQ: DISH) DISH Network(TM) satellite television service will add an additional 14 Chinese television channels to its Chinese programming line-up to create its new Great Wall TV Package featuring 17 channels available Sept. 30. DISH Network subscribers can receive installation and equipment at no cost when signing up for the Great Wall TV Package for the monthly fee of $29.99... (via Joe Buch, ibid.) I can`t find the press release at http://www.dishnetwork.com but here is their page about all the different Chinese packages: http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/international/packages/indexpackage.asp?languageType=Chinese (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I will raise hell with Comcast if they start offering CCTV (Maryanne Kehoe, GA, swprograms via DXLD) Isn't this a totalitarian approach to media -- a quid pro quo? Shouldn't the "free markets" concept for ideas -- meaning TV channels -- hold sway in the USA even if it doesn't over there? Should the US government block our access to RHC and CRI because Radio Martí and RFA are jammed? We shortwave listeners would howl in protest. TV should be no exception. If CCTV-9 shows up on Comcast in Atlanta (or anywhere else for that matter) one should contact the local newspaper's TV editor and politely tell them how a viewer should critically evaluate what they're seeing. My two cents (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) The FCC is doing exactly that. They are trying to get private industry to operate a broadband, geographically dispersed series of jamming transmitters mounted on telephone poles all over the country. The jammers will use the power lines to conduct and radiate the jamming signals into shortwave receivers at no cost to the government. As the Brits would say, "brilliant". They call it BPL. We did howl. On October 14 I am afraid we will see that our howls have been ignored. That is when the draft proposed BPL rules will be presented to the full Commission for adoption. The scuttlebutt from Washington is they will only protect Coast Guard and air traffic control frequencies. I guess we will all have to become utility DXers. I agree with you Richard. Anyone who does not want to watch CCTV or does not want it coming into their homes can just not watch it or even set up channel blocking to prevent it. Maryanne, please do not allow your private war with the Chinese government to deprive others of the opportunity to learn more about a people who will soon become either our major ally or major opponent. I would prefer they become an ally but that will require that we understand what they believe in and how they think. There are always two sides to any dispute and the only way we can expect to resolve such disputes peacefully is to engage in open communications. That is what CCTV is attempting to do in my opinion. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, ibid.) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ Well put and I heartily concur. Censorship there does not justify censorship here. Another 2c (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) Joe, many thanks for your response. Will all due respect, I must differ. It's not a "private war" as you have put it, but it's a communication rights issue that affects all of us as hobbyists. I have diligently worked hard for the past 3 years on my platform of journalists' freedoms to report, and China is one of the countries that does *not* give its radio people that freedom to disseminate info out of the country as they see fit. *That* is the objection that I have to CCTV coming into the US and setting up shop. Various organisations such as Reporters Without Borders, and the Asia Desk of Human Rights Watch, plus the International Sports Press Association have acknowledged the problems that are _still_ happening on the Mainland. At the conclusion of the 2004 Olympics, there was a call *again* for the Chinese government to "keep to the promises they made in Moscow" 3 years ago. This request was made by many human rights organisations all over the world including Amnesty International in London. Also various rights groups in Hong Kong have also acknowledged the Amnesty request. At the 2001 Fest, Rich and John graciously accommodated my request to place literature on the "free table' about the communications-related issues in regards to the 2008 Olympic bid (this was also the year we had several CRI reps attend the Fest.) They could have easily said no, said something like "we would not want to offend or make these people uncomfortable", but I presented reasons why I thought this info should be available to hobbyists *to make up their own mind one way or another*, (along with a disclaimer that this was not related to the Fest in any way, which I agreed to do.) My point being, is we can *not* trust the Chinese.....period. Ever since the Communists took over the mainland, every successive US President has tried and tried to get the government over there to open up to no avail. Despite what the Chinese say about having open lines of communication, I bet one of my friends who would go to the mainland and try to do a story about, say, the Falung Gong (among other concerns) would get quite a cold reception --- or worse. I would much rather have BBC World, or DW TV or some other network on the system that I know would give me a balanced view of things. CCTV is no different. It's not a "private war" --- it's a _human rights issue_ that will only get *worse* until we as hobbyists step up to the plate and hold China accountable. Respectfully, (Maryanne Kehoe, ibid.) How about the US jam most but *not all* CRI frequencies, strictly in reprisal for what they do to RFA, VOA, etc. But leave one or two open so this is not censorship, and Americans may still listen to CRI freely if they really want to. This would surely serve China right, and cause them to waste their watts like we are in trying to broadcast into China on SW. It would also be a wake-up call to Cuba (!) and even Canada for coöperating in this way with the ChiComs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. CRI relay via Cuba back on 13740, Sept 30 at 1411 check, in English with usual muffled modulation. Believe this is the first date this transmissions has been back since H. Charley August 13 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CRI La Habana winter schedule: 5990 2300-0100 8S,10E,11 250 000 930 CUB CRI RTC [English, Spanish] 9570 1200-1400 4,8,9 250 010 206 CUB CRI RTC [Mandarin, English] 9580 0100-0300 4,8,9 250 010 206 CUB CRI RTC [English, Mandarin] 9790 0300-0500 6,7 250 305 216 CUB CRI RTC [English, Mandarin] 13650 2300-2400 12,13 250 135 218 CUB CRI RTC [Portuguese] 15120 0000-0100 12 250 160 218 CUB CRI RTC [Spanish] 17730 1400-1600 6,7 250 305 216 CUB CRI RTC [ex-13740 ---gh] (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. TINIAN: RFA Mandarin has returned at least on 13670 and 15685, but not on 17880, during the 0300-0700 period, so repairs of the hurricane damage are coming to a close. Apparently this caused the Chinese monitors to have a look at all RFA frequencies, and when they could not confirm 17495/17525 (Orzu, Tajikistan) due to poor propagation they took the jammers off on these two channels for some 10 minutes (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX 26 Sep via DXLD) ** CUBA. See CHINA [non] and VENEZUELA [non] ** DENMARK. World Music Radio (WMR) is now back on the air on 5815 kHz (6 kW) from a transmitter in Denmark until Monday morning 0600 UT (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, WMR, via Mike Terry 2225 UT Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [and non]. HCJB WORLD RADIO B04 BROADCAST SCHEDULE (31 October 2004 - March 26, 2005) UTC UTC Freq. Power Ant.Azi. Target Days Begin End kHz kW (Degrees) Region SMTWTFS ENGLISH 1100 1330 12005 250 330/124 N/S America 1111111 1100 1330 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pacific 1111111 GERMAN (High) 0230 0300 9785 100 324 Mexico 1111111 0700 0730 9765 100 42 Europe 1111111 0700 0730 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pacific 1111111 2300 2400 12040 100 150 S. America 1111111 GERMAN (Low) 0200 0230 9785 100 324 Mexico 1111111 0730 0800 9765 100 42 Europe 1111111 0730 0800 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pacific 1111111 2230 2300 12040 100 150 S. America 1111111 HUARANI 1030 1100 6050 50 18/172 S. America 1111111 PORTUGUESE 0800 0930 9745 100 100 N. Brazil 1111111 0800 0930 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S.Pacific 1111111 1530 1800 15295 100 139 Brazil 1111111 2300 0230 11920 250 126 Brazil 1111111 2300 0230 12020 100 100 Brazil 1111111 QUICHUA 0830 1000 6125 100 155 S. America 1111111 0830 1030 690 50 000/180 Ecuador 1111111 0830 1200 3220 8 90 (Vert.) S.America 1111111 0830 1400 6080 8 90 (Vert.) S.America 1111111 0930 1100 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S.Pac 1111111 2100 0300 6080 8 90 (Vert.) S.America 1111111 2130 2400 9745 100 155 S.America 1111111 0000 0300 3220 8 90 (Vert.) S.America 1111111 SPANISH 0100 0500 9745 100 325 Mexico 1111111 1030 0500 690 50 000/180 Ecuador 1111111 1100 1500 6050 50 18/172 S.America 1111111 1100 1300 11960 100 355 Cuba 1111111 1100 1500 15140 100 150 S.America 1111111 1300 1500 11960 100 323 Mexico 1111111 1330 1500 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pacific 1111111 1900 0500 6050 50 18/172 Ecuador 1111111 2000 0500 21455 1 35/225 Eur./S. Pacific 1111111 2100 2300 15140 100 150 S.America 1111111 2300 0100 11700 100 157/330 N/S America 1111111 Note: HCJB's shortwave broadcast schedule also includes these programs transmitted from these locations. English 0000 0100 15525 100 340 East Asia 1111111 Australia 0100 0230 15560 100 307 South Asia 1111111 Australia 0230 0300 15560 100 307 South Asia 1______ Australia 0800 1100 11750 50 120 South Pacific 1111111 Australia 1100 1230 15425 100 307 SE Asia 1111111 Australia 1230 1300 15405 100 307 SE Asia 1111111 Australia 1330 1400 15405 100 307 South Asia 1______ Australia 1430 1800 15390 100 307 South Asia 1111111 Australia 2230 2400 15525 100 340 East Asia 1_____1 Australia Bahasa Indonesian 1300 1330 15405 100 307 SE Asia 1111111 Australia Chinese (Mandarin) 2230 2400 15525 100 340 East Asia _11111_ Australia Hindi 1400 1415 15405 100 307 South Asia 1111111 Australia 1415 1430 15405 100 307 South Asia 1______ Australia Punjabi 1415 1430 15405 100 307 South Asia _1_____ Australia Nepali 1415 1430 15405 100 307 South Asia __1____ Australia Malayalam 1415 1430 15405 100 307 South Asia ___1___ Australia Chhattisgarhi 1415 1430 15405 100 307 South Asia ____1__ Australia Hmar 1415 1430 15405 100 307 South Asia _____1_ Australia Meetei 1415 1430 15405 100 307 South Asia ______1 Australia Urdu 0230 0300 15560 100 307 South Asia _111111 Australia 1330 1400 15405 100 307 South Asia _111111 Australia Former Soviet Union Languages [such as????] 1700 1730 11760 500 62 Central Asia 1111111 U.K. Southern Uzbek 1645 1700 1251 100 Central Asia 11___11 [SITE? ND?] Uzbek 1645 1700 1251 100 Central Asia __111__ [SITE? ND?] Turkmen 1700 1715 1251 100 Central Asia 1111111 [SITE? ND?] Arabic 2100 2230 12025 250 150 N. Africa 1111111 U.K. Low German 1600 1630 3955 100 Omni West/Central Europe 1111111 Germany High German 1630 1700 3955 100 Omni West/Central Europe 1111111 Germany Mailing Address: HCJB World Radio, 17-17-691, Quito, Ecuador S. America. FAX: +593 2 226 4765 Frequency Manager: Douglas Weber E-Mail: dweber @ hcjb.org.ec --------------------------------------- (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DXLD) ** FRANCE [non]. An interesting piece of news which came out today: RFI SUR LES ONDES DE RADIO-CANADA Radio France Internationale (RFI) et la radio de Radio-Canada viennent de signer un accord de partenariat. Celui-ci porte sur la reprise par la Première Chaîne d`émissions d`information et culturelles de RFI. Dès le 4 octobre, les auditeurs canadiens pourront écouter des journaux d`information de RFI diffusés sept jours sur sept à 23 h (HE), à la Première Chaîne, sur l`ensemble de son réseau. Des extraits d`émissions culturelles seront également diffusés sur la Première Chaîne, dans le cadre de l`émission Porte ouverte, en semaine à 20 h. De plus, grâce au vaste réseau de correspondants de RFI à l`étranger, la radio de Radio-Canada pourra enrichir son équipe de collaborateurs internationaux, particulièrement dans les pays d`Afrique et du Maghreb, en permettant à ceux-ci de participer à des émissions d`information sur les ondes canadiennes. Un contenu plus diversifié Ce partenariat entre RFI et la radio de Radio-Canada offre à un nombre accru d`auditeurs francophones l`accès à une information internationale et à des émissions culturelles de grande qualité. Radio France Internationale, c`est une rédaction en français et 19 rédactions en langues étrangères qui proposent quotidiennement une couverture en continu de l`actualité internationale. Elle conçoit des émissions différentes pour chaque continent ou chaque région, en fonction des attentes de ses auditeurs. You can find this on the Radio-Canada website at: http://radio-canada.ca/radio/quoideneuf/4207.html CKAC-730 used to have a sort of partnership agreement with RFI, but I would presume that is now history. RFI would get a cross-country reach with Radio-Canada rather than being limited to just Québec. As far as I know, this has nothing to do with RCI. 73 (Bill Westenhaver, QC, Sept 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. GABONESE NATIONAL RADIO RESUMES BROADCASTING AT WEEKEND The national radio station of Gabon is due to resume broadcasting this weekend after being off the air for nine months. An official ceremony will be held tomorrow, at which Minister of the Communication Mehdi Teale will preside. Created in the colonial era, Radio Gabon suspended broadcasts on 6 January for restructuring. The first channel of the National Television service (RTG 1), which operates inside the same building, will be able to resume its programmes in a month's time, having also been suspended in January. (Source: AngolaPress) # posted by Andy @ 11:06 UT Oct 1 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Does that include 4777 and 7270? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. 11805v, Georgia Radio is still on SW 11805 mornings, 0600 Russian, 0630 English, 0700 German. Programm was due to close down forever; see discussions in August. Today we had fine propagation conditions from all corners, except Africa (poor signal from NHK Gabon 11970 S=2, even RNZI was much, much stronger). Transmission from Dusheti noted usually on small odd frequency, 0600- 0700 on 11805.21 kHz, then German on 11805.11 kHz. I guess there is an 'influence' of the antenna array into the transmitter unit, or a different antenna [direction] is in use for German and French service. Readibility is - as usual - a little over THRESHOLD. S=1 at best. QRM of poor RAI Rome Ru 11800, and Jordan Radio Amman, latter powerhouse (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Sept 30 via DXLD) I have been checking for GEO most days and, as Wolfie says, it regularly operates offset from 11805, and is not on air every day. It seems to be off at weekends but does vary. Currently the signal is better than it was, but the audio level is poor to non-existent. I cannot copy much of what is being said, and even the various languages I find difficult to identify. Unless this improves, I don't see any practical reason why they should continue. Has anyone heard their evening broadcasts? RAI has been leaving a carrier on 11800 some mornings after the Russian broadcast finishes (Noel R. Green, UK, BC- DX Sep 30, via DXLD) Hier ein Auszug von der WorldClock Webseite. http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/full.html also hat am 21. Juni ein Zeitzonenwechsel stattgefunden. 73 wb Tbilisi, Georgia Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia The native name of Georgia is Sak'art'velo Current time Freitag, 1. Oktober 2004, 01:37:46 UTC/GMT Offset Standard time zone: UTC/GMT +3 hours Daylight saving time: +1 hour Current time zone offset: UTC/GMT +4 hours Time zone change Time zone change: - From Sonntag, 27. Juni 2004, 01:00:00 UTC/GMT +4 hours - To Sonntag, 27. Juni 2004, 00:00:00 UTC/GMT +3 hours Daylight Saving [sic] Time DST started on Sonntag, 28. März 2004, 00:00 local standard time DST ends on Sonntag, 31. Oktober 2004, 00:00 local daylight time Sun Sunrise at 06:57 Sunset at 18:44 Dialing codes International country code: + 995 (Georgia) Area code: 32 Coordinates Latitude: 41 43' North Longitude: 44 48' East (via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 4790, presumably RRI Fak2 is the best 60m signal from Indonesia these mornings, better than 4750, such as Oct. 1 at 1300 when there was no break at hourtop, but a song continued. Unfortunately, an SSB MARS net (army?) starts up then on 4789.5, and there is also a Spanish (Mexico?) net a kHz or two below that. For better enjoyment, one should intune an hour or more earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. ADVENTIST WORLD RADIO. Dear Radio Colleague, Please find attached an official news release from the head office of Adventist World Radio in Silver Spring, Maryland. This news release was prepared by Shelley Nolan Freesland, the Communication Director for Adventist World Radio, and it tells of important programming changes that will become effective at the end of the year. Greetings! (Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Sept 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: September 30, 2004 AWR`S ENGLISH LANGUAGE SERVICE MOVES TO REGIONAL MODEL Adventist World Radio`s English language service will be converted from a centralized global service to a local regionalized service beginning January, 2005. The production of English programs currently takes place at AWR`s Europe region office in England. Under the new plan, local studios --- primarily in Africa and Asia/Pacific --- will produce their own English programs in areas where there is a satisfactory level of listener interest. This change is consistent with the rest of AWR`s operations, where programs in all other languages are produced locally. ``AWR is primarily supported by the members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and giving has continued to increase year by year,`` says AWR president Ben Schoun. ``However, many organizations need to sharpen their focus from time to time in relation to their core business. This move is a result of a re-examination of AWR`s priorities. It will make us be more consistent with our mission, which is to reach people groups in their own languages. In examining our need/cost ratio, we realized that regional studios are capable of producing English programs where needed and can do it quite economically. It is our goal to add broadcasts for our areas of highest need, in languages such as Arabic and Turkish. As well, we feel that our English programs will contain more cultural flavor and meaning when created by local producers.`` Some experts indicate that the growth of English as the global language may be slowing, while other major languages are becoming more widely used. Other global broadcasters such as the BBC and Voice of America moved to a regionalized model some years ago. This regionalization trend also takes into account the fact that English usage and pronunciation are different in various areas of the world. AWR`s English language service in England will be phased out by the end of 2004, and resources will be shifted to a broader base of broadcast needs. AWR`s Africa region already airs a substantial number of locally-produced English programs, and this service will be enhanced in 2005. New services will also be developed in the Asia/Pacific region. Beginning January 1, 2005, listeners will be invited to write to their local studio at the address given on the broadcast, instead of the central listener mail address in London, England. Schoun says, ``While local studios have produced English programs in the past, AWR decided to add a global service in 1993. During this time, our staff has done an outstanding job producing some favorite programs, such as Network 7 News, Wavescan, and Bible Answers. We appreciate the dedication and leadership that our English producers have demonstrated and the excellent contributions from our international correspondents around the world.`` ``Wavescan,`` the English program produced for shortwave radio hobbyists, will be shifted to a studio location in the Asia/Pacific region, where the largest DX communities are found [sic]. The international DX program will continue with the participation of AWR`s DX editor, Dr. Adrian Peterson. Contributions from large radio listener clubs in Japan, India, Bangladesh and other locations will be added to the regular content. The final edition of ``Wavescan`` produced in England will be aired at all usual times and frequencies on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The first program produced in Asia will be broadcast on Sunday, January 2, 2005. Listeners sending reception reports and requesting QSL cards will be invited to write to the new address given in Wavescan. In the new year, ``Wavescan`` will be broadcast from AWR`s station KSDA on the island of Guam; the specific schedule will be announced in advance. Shelley Nolan Freesland, Communication Director, Adventist World Radio (via Adrian Peterson, DXLD) ONLY from KSDA, it seems (gh) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. The latest issue of Wired magazine has a story about XM Radio and its start-up leader, Lee Abrams. Available online: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/xmradio.html (Matt Francis, DC, Sept 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non]. MOOD SWING --- It was fascinating to observe what happened recently when a land-based pirate (not in the UK) began circulating rumours that it was operating from a boat in the North Sea on short wave only. Even Glen[n] Hauser in the USA was reporting the story of Friend Ship Radio for a while, though there were always aspects of it which looked questionable. He later reported having traced the source of the station`s E-mails to a certain country. A few people noticed similarities to a certain other station, and although the station was heard by SW listeners, the frequencies used were far too high (13 and 17 MHz) to give signals into the UK from the North Sea. There have been several cases throughout the years of land- based pirates claiming to be broadcasting from ships for various reasons, including trying to make it sound more fun and attention- grabbing. I reckon this had been the plan, but it backfired this time. The anoraks reacted with anger and hostility when it became clear that the offshore claims were false. I am sure the station manager was taken aback by this reaction to his publicity stunt/joke or whatever it was, but there have been so many false rumours about offshore projects lately, and it seems it will be tolerated no longer. In 2004 mister, if you say you have a boat, you had jolly well better make sure you do really have a boat, or else! (Oscar, Off the Record, Short Wave Magazine [UK], Oct, via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Sept 30 I checked for Sedaye Mellat-e Iran, not at the 1330 time, but at the new 1430 time, on 15660. Nothing on frequency earlier but at 1429 carrier was on, and at 1431 some music and talk; too weak and fadey to make anything out other than the intonation sounded Persian. Very likely the time shift was to compensate for Iran`s shift from summer to winter time ten days ago, as reported here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CLANDESTINE TO IRAN Radio Sedaye Mellat-e Iran checked September 30th following Luca Botto Fiora's tip. Nothing on 15670 at 1350 check, carrier on 15660 at 1428, Radio Sedaye Mellat-e Iran started 1430, fair strength but modulation slightly low and telephone like audio quality (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And 15670 is in use by Egyptian R. Cairo at Abis on new time slot 1430-1500: 15670 1430-1600 40NE ABS 250 70 Pashto EGY ERU (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) 15660, R Seday-e Melat-e Iran, 1432-1459*, new frequency and time Sep 29. On tip from Fiora in HC-DX checked this and found at 1432 in progress. Before this I checked old 15670 kHz between 1330-1400 and found nothing. No interference until 1447 when strong Arabic station came up mid-program and only about one min without ID, then left. But afterwards I noted the Iranian being jammed. Both jammer and Melat-e left 1459 (Finn Krone, Denmark, BC-DX Sep 29, via DXLD) This afternoon, Sep 30, I heard the same as Finn did yesterday: R Seda-ye Mellat-e Irana had left 15670 at 1325-1355 and only a weak signal from CRI in English was heard. Instead it came in strongly with up to S9 +20 dB on 15660 at *1430:35 - 1500:25* in Farsi. ID's by woman and man at the start and end: "In Seda-ye Mellat-e Irana" and "Radio Seda-ye Mellat-e Irana". Mostly talks, but also a few short vocals. At least two Iranian jammers were hunting this station on 15660. A weak bubble jammer already signed on at *1420 and a stronger jammer with a whistling tone at *1423. Both ceased jamming at 1427*, but began again at *1433 and *1435 respectively deteriorating the reception of the broadcast to 53544 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, BC-DX Sep 30 via DXLD) ** IRAQ. IRAQ RETURNS TO STANDARD TIME OVER 30 SEP-1 OCT | Text of report by Iraqi Al-Diyar TV on 29 September --- It was decided to switch back to winter time at midnight tomorrow, Thursday, 30 Sept. At that time, clocks should be turned back one hour. Source: Al-Diyar TV, Baghdad, in Arabic 1530 gmt 29 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) Now UT +3 ** LUXEMBOURG. Das Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE, Luxembourg) hat sein online-Formular offenbar repariert. Es koennen somit wieder Empfangsberichte ueber die Lang- und Kurzwellensendungen online entgegengenommen werden. Die URL lautet: http://www.bce.lu/transmission/lwsw/report/ (Daniel Moeller, Germany, A-DX Sep 30 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. Re DXLD 4-148, What`s become of R. Educación? They have been noted most mornings here lately on 6185, noted with fair strength on clear channel September 30th 0720 with jazz piano music, full identification and frequency announcement in Spanish 0735 followed by jazz saxophone music (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6185, Radio Educación, 0655, música instrumental. SINPO 25322, e incluso por momentos 35333. A partir de las 0730 la señal empezó a debilitarse a medida que cada vez se iba haciendo más de día en mi lugar de escucha, desapareciendo sobre las 0815 Septiembre 30 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe they don`t come on now until around local midnight? (gh, DXLD) Glenn, Probably old news for you, but welcome news for me. R. Educación was heard 10/01/04 with music programming and an English ID at 0417 with mention of address and phone number. Good signal strength, best in LSB due to CRI on 6190. 73, (Alan Johnson, N4LUS Reno, NV, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO [non]. Re 4-148, 4-149, SOUTH CAROLINA [non]: "They" are "Monte Carlo Radiodiffusion" (MCR) which is a telecommunications carrier and should not be confused with the broadcaster "Société Radio Monte Carlo" (RMC). MCR is a subsidiary of TDF, but actually runs a.o. this transmitter site Col de la Madonne in France (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here are all the addresses to contact Monte Carlo Radiodiffusion. - Monte Carlo Radiodiffusion 10-12 Quai Antoine 1 MC- 98000 MONACO Tél. 377 97 97 47 00 Fax. 377 97 97 47 07 - Fontbonne Site (for MW & SW) Centre de diffusion de Fontbonne Route du Mont Agel FR- 06320 LA TURBIE Tél. 33 4 93 41 95 95 - Roumoules Site (for MW & LW) Centre de diffusion de Roumoules FR- 04500 ROUMOULES Tél. 33 4 92 70 17 90 web site: http://www.mcr.mc MCR is part of TDF France, the MCR logo is the same as TDF. Best 73's (Christian Ghibaudo, France, Oct 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SOUTH CAROLINA [non] ** NAMIBIA/ZIMBABWE. JOINT TV STATION "AFRICA WORLD" GEARED TO COMBAT "DEGRADING" IMAGES A 24-hour regional TV channel planned by the governments of Zimbabwe and Namibia is meant to combat what officials from the two countries say are "negative" and "degrading" images of Africa by Western media, the Namibian newspaper reported on 29 September. The paper cited a February statement signed by officials from the two governments saying the channel known as `Africa World' will seek to tell the "African story in its proper context". Read part of the statement: "It will tell the African story in its proper context, from an African perspective and by Africans to help counter the negative and degrading perspective currently being projected by the dominant Western and Eurocentric media." The memorandum was signed between the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) and Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). According to The Namibian newspaper, preparations for the channel to be based at Namibia's Walvis Bay, "are well on course". NBC Director- General Gerry Munyama is cited denying that the channel will be launched early November. He said he was still waiting for the report from the technical committee. "Only after that will we be able to proceed," Munyama said. The TV venture is the second media project between the two southern Africa countries. Early this month they launched a regional newspaper, The Southern Times, which will be published on Sundays. Source: BBC Monitoring research 30 Sep 04 (via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. In case you don't know, summer time in New Zealand starts next Sunday. It sure doesn't feel like summer here yet, it is still quite cool and cold in the South Island with snow! (Barry Hartley, NZ, BC-DX Sep 29 via DXLD) Sat 2nd October in UT, seems around 1400 UT / 0200 LT (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) Then will absurdly be UT +13 but still west of the Dateline! (gh) ** NIGERIA. Radio Nigeria, Kaduna heard 1st October on 4770.08 kHz with both English and Hausa streams running at the same time. At 2250 UT tune-in, English service heard with African pop music, ID, news summary and closing announcements, before sign-off with anthem at 2259. The Hausa service was heard with Kor`an and closing announcements, with clear ID heard just after the English service went silent, and off itself at 2300 without anthem (Tony Rogers, Birmingham - UK, AOR7030+/LW, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. Radio Pakistan was received in Sofia September 4 in English, announced to be on the air only on Saturday from 1530 to 1600 UT on 4790 kHz. The regular broadcasts in English are carried out daily from 1600 to 1615 on 4790, 11570 and 15100 kHz. Five-minute news can be heard also at 0800 and at 1100 on 17735 kHz (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Program Oct 1, via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4790 would be the domestic service, where there are ill-defined English segments. 17835 and 15100 are the 0800 & 1100 frequencies, per EiBi (gh, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Radio Fly swots airwaves Papua New Guinea mining giant Ok Tedi Mining opened a new community FM station in the town of Tabubil in the Western Province on September 20. Known as Radio Fly, the station uses 103.8 FM in Tabubil and 95.3 in Kiunga, both service towns for the big Ok Tedi copper mine. Mine management says the station "will help people of the region understand the changes taking place in their world" such as, no doubt, the planned closure of the mine in a few years. The mine generates 18% of total foreign exchange earnings for Papua New Guinea and considerable social unrest can be expected when it closes. Radio Fly will cover 'the Star Mountains and Fly River right down to Daru, over to Nomad and Morehead and even down to the Telefomin District of Saundaun' says Ok Tedi (The National via Pacific Islands Report via David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation, Wellington, New Zealand, DXLD) ** PERU. Friday edition: Recording of 6819.46, Radio La Voz de Las Huarinjas, Huancabamba; has now fixed their sound after years with distorted signal. Listen to the result! Comments and Recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Oct 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PITCAIRN ISLANDS [and non]. SEX SCANDAL GRIPS REMOTE ISLAND The mayor of tiny Pitcairn Island --- home to the descendants of the 18th-century Bounty mutineers --- is among seven men accused in a string of sexual assaults in the isolated community dating back decades. Steve Christian, one of the island’s most prominent members, along with his son, Randy, and five other men face 55 charges, including rape, indecent assault and gross indecency. The names were unveiled yesterday after a court rejected an eleventh- hour application by the defence to halt the trials because of alleged judicial bias. It was the latest legal challenge to the trial of the men --- who account for half the island`s adult male population --- over allegations of sex abuse dating back 40 years. The charges stem from 1999, when an islander told a visiting British policewoman she had been sexually abused. The size and complexity of the case is unprecedented on Pitcairn Island, where descendants of the mutineers on the British navy ship HMS Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian, arrived in 1790. The inhabitants eke out a living by selling postage stamps to collectors and handicrafts to tourists on cruise liners. The Pitcairn Islands are a group of five rocky volcanic outcrops --- only the largest of which is inhabited --- with an area of 47 square kilometres (The Province Newspaper Vancouver, BC 9/30/2004, via Bruce MacGibbon, DXLD) The sexual abuse trial is making world news, an item on BBCWS at 1400 UT Sept 30; first person tried is Steve Christian, 53, mayor of Pitcairn. He is not among those listed with ham calls at http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/pitcairn/contact.shtml To keep track of who`s related to whom, this is convenient: http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/pitcairn/population.shtml ``Steven (Steve) Raymond Christian, 50, Son of Dobrey. Husband of Olive. Father of Randy. Grandfather of Bradley and Emily. Island Magistrate and Engineer.`` I happened to catch this on 17640; at 1400, one could hear right next to each other, with their distinctive accents and modulations, three major stations with English news: 17640 BBCWS, 17645 VOR, 17650 CRI; how convenient. Later VOR found \\ on better 15605. We don`t plan to cover all the gory details here, but keep track of the story because of general interest in this extremely remote community, and the fact that many of the people are hams. Of course, we presume innocence until proven otherwise. Such as this from the Sydney Morning Herald and other stories there which may require registration: (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PITCAIRN MAYOR ACCUSED AS PACK LEADER IN SEX TRIALS http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/30/1096527869697.html?oneclick=true . . .The seven accused are among only 12 adult males on the island. The other accused are Steve Christian's son Randy, 30; Len Brown, 78, and his son [VP6DB] David, 49; the island's postmaster [VP6DR] Dennis Christian, 49; [VP6TY] Terry Young, 45, and the island's chairman [VP6JC] Jay Warren, 48. All except Warren, a former magistrate, trace their descent to the mutineers from the Bounty. . . (Sydney Morning Herald via Bruce MacGibbon, DXLD) We inserted the ham calls, where applicable, from the page above. The fourth half-hour of Oct 1 NPR All Things Considered, 2350 UT, also had a report on this, interview with RNZ reporter, penultimate item in entire show, and will be demandable. No mention of ham radio! (gh) ** RUSSIA. LEADING BROADCASTER RESIGNS FROM RUSSIAN BODY ALLOCATING FREQUENCIES | Text of report by Russian Ekho Moskvy radio on 30 September Vladimir Pozner [prominent TV anchorman, president of the Russian TV Academy] has resigned from the Federal Commission on Tenders [which allocates TV and radio frequencies]. The journalist said there were two reasons for his resignation: in the new makeup of the commission, he had been the only remaining member not representing the state, which meant that "the state had expressed its mistrust in the work of my colleagues, which made me feel embarrassed", Pozner told the Kommersant daily. The second reason, the journalist said, was a conflict of interests: Pozner is a shareholder in Radio 7, so he had to miss out on voting when radio frequencies were discussed. Let me remind you that the first meeting of the new makeup of the Commission on Tenders was held yesterday [29 September]. Source: Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, in Russian 0700 gmt 30 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Radio Pacific Ocean Test --- Radio station "Pacific ocean" again leaves to sea of Okhotsk 01.10.2004 | 11:51 4 and October, 5 state teleradiokomopaniya Vladivostok together with administration of Vladivostok and branch of the Russian teleradio networks will carry out (spend) experimental translation Programs of radio station Pacific Ocean. Translation will conduct in a range of short waves (SW) on frequency 9480 [garble] from 0640 till 0700 UT. In parallel the radio station Pacific Ocean can be heard and in a range of average waves on frequency 810 kHz. In case of successful reception of the program of radio station Pacific Ocean on short waves in a zone Sea of Okhotsk where the basic part of seaside fishermen works, an announcement of radio station Pacific Ocean will be carried out on a regular basis. Once again we remind, listen Radio station Pacific Ocean, 4 and October, 5 at 17.20 on frequency 9480 [garble] (short waves). Source: News service of Seaside TV and Radio ([garble]) (Igor Ashikhmin, Vladovostok / "open_dx" via Klepov RUS-DX via Hans Johnson, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Garbles may be some Cyrillic which slid thru (gh) Something might have been lost in translation here as the times don't seem to match (Johnson, ibid.) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 1521, BSKSA Duba, 0323 UT Oct 1, Arabic programming including talk by man and vocals (singing) by woman. Good signal peaks. The low level of geomagnetic activity is producing excellent medium wave propagation. Last night also noted fragments of music on 1314 (maybe Norway). Many TA carriers also detected (Mike Beu, KD5DSQ, Austin, Texas, Drake R8B, 70ft. Terminated Delta, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA & MONTENEGRO [+non]. Re: ``The shortwave transmitter on 7200 kHz is situated at RTS facilities in Bijeljina`` --- Really RTS? I understand that Radio Srbija i Crna Gora is a completely different body, not a subsidiary of RTS. At least they are housed in another promise at Belgrade. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` I guess Kai refers to "INTERNATIONAL Radio of Serbia & Montenegro" (Medunarodni Radio Srbije i Crna Gore), and he is very correct: RTS and International Radio of Serbia & Montenegro are different institutions. They have been separate all the time since 1978, as the website http://www.radioyu.org explains: RADIO YUGOSLAVIA was established by a resolution of the Federative People's Republic of Yugoslavia, and was working in that status until January 1954, when Radio Belgrade took over the broadcasting of the program for foreign listeners, again. A Decree on the establishment of the informative working organization of RADIO YUGOSLAVIA was rendered on January 26, 1977, and the radio started broadcasting on February 2, 1978, as a separate institution. As mentioned before, the transmitter site in Bijeljina was built and owned by Radio Yugoslavia (now Int'l Radio of Serbia & Montenegro), not Radio Belgrade (now part of RTS). As for the studios of both broadcasters, RTS has studios spread over different locations, including Hilendarska 2 where also Int'l Radio of Serbia & Montenegro is located (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Sept 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. Feba Radio - Broadcast Schedule 31 October 2004 to 27 March 2005 (B04) [NOTE: NOT YET IN EFFECT] ENGLISH MARKED BY ++++++++ Transmitter Site Codes - ARM Armavir Russia MEY Meyerton South Africa ASC Ascension Island MOS Moosbrunn Austria DHA Dhabayya MSK Moscow Russia ERV Yerevan Armenia NVS Novosibirsk Russia IRK Irkutsk Russia SAM Samara Russia KIG Kigali Rwanda TAC Tashkent Uzbekistan Day 1 = Sunday (ITU Convention) NORTH INDIA, NEPAL, TIBET Days Frequency Metre Site Time UTC 1234567 Languages kHz band code ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0030-0100 s...... HINDI 7265 41 TAC 0030-0045 .mtwt.. BANGLA 7265 41 TAC 0030-0045 .....fs BHOJPURI 7265 41 TAC 0045-0100 .m.w.fs HINDI 7265 41 TAC 0045-0100 ..t.... ORIYA 7265 41 TAC 0045-0100 ....t.. MAGAHI 7265 41 TAC 0100-0130 smtwtfs HINDI 9820 31 MOS 0130-0145 smtwtfs MARATHI 9820 31 MOS 0115-0130 .....f. URDU 9820 31 MOS 0115-0130 ......s PUNJABI India 9820 31 MOS 1200-1230 smtwtfs TIBETAN 15205 19 DHA 1230-1300 s.t.... NEPALI 9485 31 TAC 1230-1300 ......s CHATTISGARHI 9485 31 TAC 1230-1245 .m.w... MUNDARI 9485 31 TAC 1230-1245 ....t.. CHATTISGARHI 9485 31 TAC 1230-1315 .....f. BANGLA 9485 31 TAC 1245-1300 .m.wt.. ORIYA 9485 31 TAC 1300-1315 smtwt.s BANGLA 9485 31 TAC 1315-1345 ......s KUMAUNI 11675 25 DHA 1315-1345 ...w... PUNJABI India 11675 25 DHA 1315-1330 .mt.tf. PUNJABI India 11675 25 DHA 1315-1330 s...... KANGRI 11675 25 DHA 1330-1345 .m..... BHILI 11675 25 DHA 1330-1345 ....t.. MARWARI 11675 25 DHA 1330-1345 ..t.... BRIJ 11675 25 DHA 1330-1400 s....f. GUJARATI 11675 25 DHA 1345-1400 .mtwt.s GUJARATI 11675 25 DHA 1400-1415 smtw... URDU India 9530 31 DHA 1400-1445 ....t.. URDU India 9530 31 DHA 1400-1500 .....fs HINDI 9530 31 DHA 1415-1500 smtw... HINDI 9530 31 DHA 1445-1500 ....t.. HINDI 9530 31 DHA SOUTH INDIA, MALDIVES, SRI LANKA ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0030-0100 s...tfs TAMIL 7365 41 ERV 0030-0115 .mtw... TAMIL 7365 41 ERV 0100-0115 .....fs BADAGA 7365 41 ERV 0100-0130 s...t.. KANNADA 7365 41 ERV 0115-0130 .m.w.fs KANNADA 7365 41 ERV 0115-0130 ..t.... TULU 7365 41 ERV 0130-0200 smtwtfs TELUGU 7365 41 ERV 1400-1430 smtw... MALAYALAM 7340 41 IRK 1400-1445 ....tfs MALAYALAM 7340 41 IRK 1430-1445 smt.... TELUGU 7340 41 IRK 1445-1500 ..t.t.. TAMIL 7340 41 IRK 1445-1500 .....fs KANNADA 7340 41 IRK 1430-1500 ...w... TELUGU 7340 41 IRK 1445-1500 sm..... LAMBADI 7340 41 IRK 1500-1515 smtwtfs ENGLISH - Spotlight 7340 41 IRK +++++++ 1515-1600 smtwtfs ENGLISH 7340 41 IRK +++++++ 1600-1615 smt.... SINHALA 7340 41 IRK 1600-1615 ...w.fs DHIVEHI 7340 41 IRK 1600-1615 ....t.. MALAY 7340 41 IRK PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN, IRAN ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0200-0215 .m...fs URDU Pakistan 9450 31 NVS 0215-0230 .m...fs PUNJABI Pakistan 9450 31 NVS 0200-0230 s.t.... PUNJABI Pakistan 9450 31 NVS 0200-0230 ...wt.. URDU Pakistan 9450 31 NVS 0230-0245 s...... URDU Pakistan 9450 31 NVS 0230-0245 ....t.. POTHWARI 9450 31 NVS 0230-0245 .mtw.fs HINDKO 9450 31 NVS 0200-0215 s.....s SINDHI 5985 49 DHA 0200-0215 .mtwtf. SIRAIKI 5985 49 DHA 0215-0230 s..wtfs BALUCHI 5985 49 DHA 0230-0245 smtwtfs PASHTO 5985 49 DHA 0200-0215 smtwtfs PASHTO 7370+9860 41/31 SAM 0215-0245 smtwtfs DARI 7370+9860 41/31 SAM 0245-0300 smtwtfs HAZARAGI 7370+9860 41/31 SAM 0630-0800 .....f. PERSIAN 9660 31 DHA 1630-1730 smtwtfs PERSIAN 9840 31 MSK 1730-1745 s.....s BALUCHI 9840 31 MSK 1730-1745 .mtw... TURKMEN 9840 31 MSK 1730-1745 ....t.. AZERI 9840 31 MSK 1730-1745 .....f. LURI 9840 31 MSK 1400-1415 smtwtfs ENGLISH - Spotlight 9445 31 NVS +++++++ 1415-1500 sm..tf. URDU Pakistan 9445 31 NVS 1415-1515 ..tw..s URDU Pakistan 9445 31 NVS 1500-1515 sm..tf. BALTI 9445 31 NVS 1530-1600 smtwtfs PASHTO 7460 41 ARM 1600-1630 smtwtfs DARI 7460 41 ARM 1630-1645 smtwtfs HAZARAGI 7460 41 ARM 1645-1700 smtwtfs UZBEK 7460 41 ARM MIDDLE EAST ------------------------------------------------------------------- 0400-0500 smtwt.. ARABIC 15525 19 SAM 0400-0530 .....fs ARABIC 15525 19 SAM 0500-0530 .....f. SINHALA 6125 49 DHA 0530-0630 .....f. MALAYALAM 6125 49 DHA 1903-2030 smtwtfs ARABIC 9550 31 KIG AFRICA, ETHIOPIA, SUDAN ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1515-1530 smtwtfs NUER 12125 25 MEY 1530-1545 smtwtfs DINKA 12125 25 MEY 1545-1600 smtwtfs MAKONDE 12125 25 MEY 1600-1630 s...tfs AMHARIC 12125 25 MEY 1600-1630 .mtw... GURAGENA 12125 25 MEY 1630-1700 smtwtfs AMHARIC 12125 25 MEY 1700-1730 smtwtfs OROMO 6180 49 DHA 1633-1700 smtwtfs AMHARIC 9885 31 KIG 1700-1730 smtwtfs SOMALI 9885 31 KIG 1730-1757 smtwtfs TIGRINYA 9885 31 KIG 1830-1900 smtwtfs FRENCH (Cent+West Af) 15125 19 ASC 2145-2215 ....tf. HASSINYA/PULAAR (WAf) 11985 25 ASC Schedule Engineer, FEBA Radio, Ivy Arch Road, WORTHING BN14 8BX, UK. WEBSITE: http://www.feba.org.uk (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. I wonder where 702 via RMC is aiming for. It will be difficult in the UK for anyone without a very selective receiver due to BBC 693. Perhaps it's for English speaking holidaymakers down south --- some of them are very much in need of a religious education! (Noel R. Green-UK, BC-DX Sep 30 via DXLD) Now2 ** SRI LANKA. Friends, Sri Lanka B.C. Home Service has not completely dropped MW. It is still heard in Tamil on 855 kHz with sign on just before 2300 UT. The only other MW channels from Sri Lanka are Trans World Radio on 882 kHz and Deutsche Welle on 1548 kHz. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. U.K. [Clandestine to Sudan] 17660 [via Woofferton-UK], Sudan Radio Service, Sept. 29, thanks to Finn Krone, tuned in at 1521 to hear interview with some member of a Board of Directors (English), some mx ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight"), e-mail address given srs @ edc.org), into vernacular (Juba-Arabic listed at their web site, http://www.sudanradio.org/ --- could only make out one ID for "Sudan Radio", poor (Ron Howard, CA, DXplorer Sep 29 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** U K [non]. BBC IS FIRST INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTER WITH A BILLBOARD IN BAGHDAD – PROMOTING ITS ARABIC SERVICE ON FM PRESS RELEASE 27 September 2004 The BBC is the first international broadcaster to win permission for a billboard in Baghdad. After months of negotiation with pre- and post- handover Iraqi authorities, the 14x4 meter billboard, promoting BBC Arabic radio and online, has been erected on top of a large office building in the commercial Al Mansour district. Promoting the BBC`s 89FM frequency with the strapline, The World, Your News in Arabic, the campaign reinforces the importance Iraqi people place on impartial and objective news from the BBC. Over 3.3m people in Iraq are now listening to the BBC Arabic, many of them tuning into the seven new FMs the BBC has launched across the country. The billboard is sited above an optician and is the latest stage in the BBC’s ongoing marketing campaign in Iraq. Other activity includes a map/ calendar for Baghdad residents and print advertising to promote the new FM frequencies in the Iraq national daily Azzaman and a range of pan-Arab newspapers. Jane Futrell, Head of BBC World Service International Marketing, says: ``It has been a real challenge for the team getting a billboard into Iraq, the timing and location took months to negotiate but research proves our audience is growing rapidly on FM. There is a need for impartial international news and it is important people know how to access us.`` The UK based company, Virtuality designed the artwork, the site was sourced and negotiated by Creative Media in the UK and the Lebanon- based contractor, Picasso. Images of the billboard are available on request. Ends For more information contact: Lala Najafova, International Publicist, BBC World Service +44(0)207557 2944; lala.najafova @ bbc.co.uk Note to editors: The BBC’s seven FMs in Iraq are: Baghdad 89FM, Mosul & Irbil 96FM, Kirkuk 92.6FM, Al-Nasirya 100FM, Basra 90FM, Al-Kut 89FM and Al-Amara 89FM. BBC Arabic – BBC Al Arabia – launched in 1938 and has weekly audiences of around 12m in 14 countries (BBC press release via DXLD) This item begs for a spin-off publication dealing exclusively with the placement of radio station billboards around the world! (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Capital/GWR merger --- Some key facts: - The merger will create the UK's biggest radio group, with a market value of about £700m. - GWR owns more than 30 analogue stations in the UK, covering areas such as Milton Keynes and Cambridge, including national station Classic FM and London News Radio. - Capital has a portfolio of 21 analogue stations, including London- based stations Capital FM and Capital Gold. - The Communications Act, which came into force this year, paved the way for consolidation in radio by allowing a single radio broadcaster to hold more than one national licence. see detailed article by Raymond Snoddy at http://www.brandrepublic.com/mediabulletin/news_story.cfm?articleID=223536&Origin=MB29092004 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. US SENATOR CALLS FOR MORE BROADCASTS TO MUSLIMS US Senator Joe Biden, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has called for an expansion in US radio and TV broadcasts around the Muslim world to help improve America's worsening "image problem." "I'm proposing an ambitious ... and substantial increase in our international broadcasting to countries with significant Muslim populations," he said. "The plan that I put forward ... calls for a significant expansion of radio and television broadcasts to the Muslim world outside the Middle East - in Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia and East and West Africa." Biden said such broadcasts would help correct "a fundamental misunderstanding of our motives, a fundamental understanding of our intentions, and a bastardization of our views by Al-Jazeera and many other Arab networks. "If we do not make that effort," he continued, "we will have ceded the field to those who do not have our interests at heart, who misrepresent our motives, misrepresent the facts and misrepresent our intentions," he said. Biden said his proposal dovetails with recent recommendations by the September 11 Commission, which probed the causes for the 2001 terror attacks on the United States, calling for greater media outreach to Arab and Muslim countries. The senator estimated that the startup cost of his proposal would be some 220 million dollars, with an additional 345 million dollars per year to keep the program going. He said similar initiatives have been "a gigantic success" - including the seven-month old Radio Sawa, which Biden claims is now a leading international broadcasting entity now in the Middle East. "A survey conducted in Morocco earlier this year shows that in Casablanca and Rabat, Radio Sawa is the number one station among all listeners over the age of 15," he said. Biden also called for extending the Alhurra satellite television channel to Europe, where there are significant minority populations from Islamic nations. Such programs do not traffic in US propaganda, but offer "hard, honest news," Biden said. "They report our situation, warts and all. They report the mistakes the United States makes. They report them - but they also report the truth about what's happening on the ground as they see it," said Biden. # posted by Andy @ 07:50 UT Sept 30 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. Re: US website access --- Not that I particularly care, but all this stuff about access/non-access to a specific US site made me curious. So I clicked on the URL, and presto! Got access in a split second. Now you got two Swedes getting access and one who doesn't. The obvious conclusion ought to be that all of this is a web related thing, less than a freedom of information item (Hermod Pedersen, HCDX Web Editor, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It was possible for me to access the webpage from my work (a state- sponsored institution) but it was not possible to access the page from my home. A friend of mine could access one of the pages mentioned from home, but not the other (Sven Ohlsson, Sweden, ibid.) The usual way on the host side of blocking access to a website is by "locking out" certain blocks (rows) of IP numbers that are assigned to a specific ISP or to a group of ISPs (e.g. ISPs in certain countries). However, because of the complexity of IP assignments it can indeed happen that some IP numbers (which a PC is using online) might not be included in these rows that are to be blocked, and in such a case the access will be possible. If indeed both website servers we are discussing block access by locking out certain IP numbers, the difference in accessibility (in the same online session: one site can be accessed, the other not) can be explained by different groups of IP numbers (to be blocked) that were programmed on each of the servers. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, ibid.) ** U S A. KJES: Having not heard them for a while, I called them to see why they are off. They explained that their station has a broken transformer (not further identified). They removed it from their building and it has been sent to El Paso, Texas, for repairs. While they have a back up Gates transmitter, operating this transmitter is complicated and difficult and simply beyond the capability of their volunteer board operators. As soon as they have the transmitter fixed, they will be back on (Hans Johnson, WY? Sep 30, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Okeechobee may still be silent, but thanks to a few overseas relays, Family Radio can still be heard, in case you can`t get enough Creation Moments from HCJB or other ilk; that`s what I ran across Sept 30 at 2046 on 15195, then giving addresses in Oakland and Andra Pradesh. Very good reception, could be mistaken for Okeechobee, but this one is for Africa, only at 2000-2100 per the schedule at http://www.familyradio.com/international/ where sites are not specified, but we know it is Ascension. Listed \\ 17845 would have been WYFR, while the other two frequencies, 3230 and 6020 must be in or around Africa. EiBi has 3230 as South Africa, but does not list 6020. Or is it -2045 as per Eibi? It went a little past then, anyway before I tuned out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: WYFR hurricane damage. Glenn, also the WYFR / RTI outlets via Merlin Skelton are missing their live program; instead emergency programs are fed. According to a report of Bernhard Walle in A-DX newsgroup. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Subject: Re: [A-DX] Was ist den heute los? Wenn das Programmzentrum noch arbeitet, könnte aber die Merlin Skelton 3955 Aussendung funktionieren (wb) ... bei RTI Taipei läuft gerade das Notband. Da die Skelton-Sendungen AFAIK über WYFR überspielt werden, deutet das darauf hin, dass dort alles ausgefallen ist (Bernhard Walle, Germany, A-DX Oct 1 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Now that it`s a few days later, I wonder if you have made a damage assessment and have any news about 1) when power will be back, 2) when WYFR can start coming back on air. I recall that after Frances you did get back to full strength quite a bit quicker than the two weeks at first expected. Are all the transmitters OK, at least? (gh to Dan Elyea, WYFR, Sept 30, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Glenn, The short answer is that electrical power is not restored yet; phones came back into service today. We're hoping that power may be restored by sometime this weekend, though there is no certainty of that. Damage in the field is extensive. As far as we can tell (with no power yet), only two transmitters were damaged. We would hope to start returning to the air in a few days, but that is contingent on restoration of electrical power. Best regards, (Dan Elyea, WYFR Okeechobee, Oct 1, ibid.) ** U S A. WBCQ Webcast Status, October 1, 2004 --- Allan tells us that because of some reconstruction activities at the station, our webcast service is offline. Please be assured that everything is being done to get the 7415 webcast back online for you as soon as possible! On a more positive note, the 5105 wbecast system is now en route to Maine. We hope to have this new service online in a few days now (via Larry Will, dxldyahoogroups and the WBCQ Program Guide via DXLD) The ``reconstruxion activities`` may also account for exacerbating operational errors lately (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. New York Radio is indeed back in business with VOLMET, run across at 1310 UT Oct 1 on 6604-USB, and quickly // better 10051-USB, with NE corridor VOLMET, ID around 1314, then SE weather, ``out`` at 1320, immediately replaced by a weaker station, presumably Gander. When did they resume? Kudos to their announcer, who speaks quite distinctly but does not sound robotic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) New York Radio returns to the air --- Volmet broadcasts from New York are once again being heard after about a year`s absence, all frequencies heard --- 3485, 6604, 10051, and 13270 at 2300 G.M.T. October 1, 2004, followed at 2320 by Gander Radio. Thought you may be interested after all the losses we had on SW in the past several years (Paul McCabe, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. DXLD ran an article from the Purdue Exponent in edition 4- 134 describing a new AM radio service operated by students on the West Lafayette Indiana campus. It was unclear from the article whether the station would operate under FCC Part 15 rules. A comment in the article said that they had licensing problems which in turn raised the question of why if they were using Part 15 transmitters did they have to bother with a license. I asked the faculty advisor and got the following response: "The students are making use of low power AM transmitters that do not require a license. The article may have been in reference to the students` earlier thought of obtaining a low power FM license. Since Purdue already holds two regular broadcast licenses, it is ineligible to hold a low power FM license. That, I think, is where the notion of a licensing problem found its way into print." It sounds like they are linking multiple part 15 transmitters in order to cover the campus. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, Sept 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ ** U S A. FEDS RAID SANTA CRUZ PIRATE RADIO STATION Wed, Sep. 29, 2004 By David Beck Mercury News U.S. Marshal Service served a warrant on a tiny Santa Cruz pirate radio station early Wednesday, rousting and frisking the pajama-clad residents of the co-op house from which the station has been broadcasting. No one was arrested. ``This is not a criminal action against people,'' said Supervising Deputy Cheryl Koel. The object of the federal action was Free Radio Santa Cruz, an FM micro-station boasting from 35 to 40 watts of power and offering round-the-clock music, activism and other local programming, in addition to such national programming as Radio Pacifica's ``Democracy Now.'' The blue-jacketed marshals and agents of the Federal Communications Commission dismantled the station's equipment and carried it to a waiting pickup with a camper shell as the crowd yelled ``Shame! Shame!'' and ``Go home!'' But despite Koel's assurances, the people who lived in the house on Laurel Street did feel acted-against. ``They got me out of bed,'' said Erin Calentine, 21. ``They were yelling, `Federal marshals! We have a warrant! Come down! We're here for the radio,' '' she said. After being frisked, the residents were kept outside for about half an hour while the marshals ``secured the location,'' said Calentine, quoting the marshals' cop-speak. Hours later residents, programmers, friends of alternative radio and enemies of corporate media, joined by two city council members, one council candidate and two congressional candidates, milled around on the sidewalk and in the street, being careful to avoid traffic. . . http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/central_coast/9792789.htm?1c (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Re Jim Bohannon Show, 4-149: WNTK is an odd duck - rather than doing music on the FM and news-talk on the AM, they do news-talk on their 99.7 FM (WNTK-FM New London NH). The AM is effectively a daytimer, and with very limited coverage. It does "Americana" - classic country and such. The website and webcast are pretty much exclusively the FM signal; the AM has almost no web presence. 1050 New York: The ownership changed, but the new owners weren't keeping the calls and had no interest in acquiring the domain name or the website, and the old owners took their $78 million and ran, so there it sits until the hosting contract runs out... s (Scott Fybush, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. BIG time-sharing arrangement? Today's FCC Public Notices indicate permits have been granted for LPFM stations on 99.1 MHz in my hometown of Madison, Wis. Yes, permit*s* and station*s*, both plural. As in SEVEN PERMITS FOR THE SAME FREQUENCY! They have indicated in situations where no settlement agreements can be reached, they might issue multiple LPFM permits and impose time sharing. It kinda looks like that might be what's going to happen here. I don't *think* there's ever been a seven-way timesharing arrangement before. (the largest arrangement in my time has been three, on 1240 kHz in Chicago. I believe there were larger sharing groups in the 1930s.) A number of two-way - and IIRC one three-way - multiple LPFM groups have been granted in the last few weeks (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, Sept 29, WTFDA via DXLD) Here in Bend, OR, the 7 applicants for 106.7 just gave up and got behind a single application (the other 6 were dismissed) - they are going to timeshare between the nonprofits, but with a single licensee and call letters (KPOV-LP). Thank goodness they are popping onto a frequency with limited DXability here :-). There's an article about the application process at their website: http://getthepointradio.org/ (Dave Williams, OR, ibid.) Several of the NYC/Brooklyn low-power frequencies (notably 1400 and 1500) came pretty close in that era. I'd have to dig out my copy of Airwaves of New York to be certain, but it must have been at least five or six stations on each of those channels at one point. They were mostly consolidated by the end of WWII, with the 1400 share-timers merging into WBYN 1430, which then got moved to NJ as WNJR, now WNSW Newark, and the 1500s splitting up, with one batch merging into WCNW, which moved to 1190 as WLIB, and another batch becoming today's WWRL 1600. Those stations at least had the benefit of some devoted ethnic audiences that were interested enough in the unique programming being offered in order to seek out weak signals with weird schedules. I have no idea at all what kind of programming a 100-watt FM station in Madison might offer that would cause a listener to tune in for what would amount to three hours and change of airtime daily, especially given the likelihood that the operators will range from religious to religious to religious to obscure community groups to... s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) Several posts have already been made about the FCC granting seven LPFM construction permits for the same frequency in Madison, WI. Several of you indicated that "time sharing" is very unusual but has occurred before. What has happened in Madison is not time sharing, but "successive licenses." Each of the seven permittees gets the right to operate 24-hours-a-day for a year and then must sign off permanently. Whoever is ready to go on first notifies the FCC and gets the first year and so on. These rules for successive LPFM licenses were established in 2000. Is this the first time in FCC history that successive licenses have been issued? (John Broomall, GA, Christian Community Broadcasters, ibid.) I'd forgotten all about that. There were a few grants for two or three on the same frequency last week, so if any of them were also successive they would have beat Madison to the punch by a few days |grin| (Doug Smith W9WI, ibid.) So what happens the eighth year? (Lenny Goldberg, ibid.) ** UZBEKISTAN. A day later, Sept 30 at 1330 on 17775, RTI did not have the extraneous noises reported before, tho modulation still not very crisp, for English; musical bit at 1352 before closing could have had some Celtic influence (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VANUATU. NEW 'TOKTOK HAUS' IN VANUATU Crest FM 104 is the new community radio station or 'toktok haus' (house of talk) at Isangel, Tafea Province in Vanuatu. Opened on September 24, the station currently broadcasts from 4 to 8 pm local time daily and a big UNICEF delegation turned up for the opening speeches and bunfight [?]. The station will be 'mainly educational' which means programs about agriculture, police awareness, custom (or local) stories, education, health, religion and social programs such as local string bands and community feedback. You can just tell this is not a private commercial radio station can't you! (Vanuatu Daily Post via Pacific Islands Report via David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation, Wellington, New Zealand, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Antena Internacional de Radio Nacional de Venezuela, relays via Cuba: On Sept 30 for the first time I was hearing all four frequencies on the 2000 UT broadcast, except I found them first on 17750, not the announced 17705! Lysdexia seems to be another problem among the Cubazuelans, a drawback when frequencies need to be conveyed accurately. This is the one which would be totally blocked by Greece-via-Delano if it were really on 17705. And 17750 will be buried by WYFR once it comes back! Just as I tuned in at 2011, they were announcing the full schedule, same as I have quoted before so I won`t repeat it in every detail. But I did check the other 2000 UT channels, and found RNV also on 15230, but it was not \\ to 17750. Could be same program but a duplicate recording played back a few seconds or minutes apart. I have better things to do than try to figure this out, especially since it may be different the next day. This time 13680 and 9550 were also heard, and these two were synchronized with each other, but not with 15230 nor 17750. So three different versions of the show are going out at the same time, on four frequencies. Audio was most distorted on 17750, and signal the weakest there; the others were good. At 2014, 17750 went into yet another program about El Libertador, Simón Bolívar. Now, I have nothing against Bolívar, but he is over 200 years old. Isn`t there something a bit more current they might be dealing with? This obsession with the past would be like VOA constantly harping on Wáshington or Jéfferson; Martí or RHC about José Martí --- hmm, the latter a bad example. Hey, why not rename the USA the ``Jeffersonian States of America``? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hamiltonian would be more apt, sez Clay Jenkinson ** ZIMBABWE. See NAMIBIA; why are these two countries cooperating? ** ZIMBABWE [non]. ZIMBABWE/US/UK: FOREIGN MINISTER ACCUSES US, UK OF "POISONOUS" BROADCASTS Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge has warned the UK, US and Netherlands to desist from supporting radio stations that are airing "daily poisonous anti-Zimbabwe propaganda" from their bases in neighbouring countries and Europe, reported the Zimbabwean state-owned The Herald paper on its web site on 30 September. He dismissed as "wicked" the broadcasts saying they are meant to destabilize Zimbabwe. Mudenge's ire was directed at programmes produced by three stations, Netherlands-backed Voice of the People, VOA-affiliated Studio 7 and London-based ShortWave Radio Africa. He said: "These three countries are destabilizing my country through these radio programmes targeted at my country. I say to the Netherlands, stop your wicked broadcasts against my country through your so-called `Voice of the People' station'". Mudenge dismissed both Studio 7 and ShortWave Radio Africa as "weapons of mass deception" that "have been unleashed against my country" by the US and UK governments respectively. He also warned the three countries against supporting the "puppet" opposition and some local NGOs saying this amounted to a "blatant interference" in Zimbabwe's internal affairs. Source: The Herald Online web site, Harare in English 30 Sep 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) see also NAMIBIA! UNIDENTIFIED. In my bandscans of 16m, I have been keeping a close watch on 17835v in case R. Imperial, El Salvador make another of its increasingly rare and brief appearances. So far, no luck, but Sept 30 at 2010 I did find a carrier on about 17837.7. This is higher than Imperial used to appear, and there was once another unidentified carrier in this area, which I think has shown up again. It`s very weak and could be a third harmonic of some Latin American around 5945v; or a spur of something on 16m --- KVOH 17775 is known to get spurry upon occasion, but when 17847.7 faded up slightly at 2023 I caught a bit of music, whilst KVOH was talking. There was also a constant tone, which might have been a beat against an even weaker but probably unremarkable signal on 17835, unless that was really Imperial, but I could not pin a carrier down there. BBC splash from 17830 is a problem. 17837.7 might also have been a receiver birdie, except I was getting it on two unrelated receivers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ UNUSUAL QSL CARDS Just recently, we received two QSL cards that are very different indeed. They are made out of shiny tin-plate. This got us thinking, and we began a search to discover what other materials have been used for the production of QSL cards. You will be quite surprised at the variety that we discovered, and that is our opening topic in Wavescan today. Now, we are all well aware of what we would call a standard QSL card. These are printed QSL cards, and they are printed on what we would call a thin cardboard. This style of QSL card is so numerous that it is hardly necessary to give an example. However, at random, we did pull out a QSL of this style and it is from Radio Lara YVMO in Barquisimento in Venezuela, a shortwave station with 10 kW on 4800 kHz, as it was back in the year 1975. Less common is a QSL card that is printed on thick cardboard. A QSL card in this style comes from station 4XD in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1960, with 250 watts on 1430 kHz. Station 4XD lays a valid claim as the oldest independent radio station in the British Commonwealth. A few other stations in Australia and the United States also printed their QSLs on thick cardboard and this was somewhat of a necessity during the war years due to the fact that standard thin cardboard was not readily available. Going to the other extreme is a QSL card printed on paper, an oxymoron if you please. Several well known examples come from Radio Tirana in Albania. Our example is dated in 1995 with Radio Tirana on the air with 100 kW from their shortwave base located in Cerrik. A very unusual QSL card comes from a station with a very appropriate callsign, station KICY in Nome, Alaska. This QSL card is dated in 1992 with KICY on 850 kHz with 10 kW, and the QSL text is actually stamped onto a three ply tourist postcard. This wooden QSL postcard came through the post in a damaged condition and it is contained in a small plastic bag on which is printed an apology from the postal system. It is understood that there have been a few QSL cards printed on plastic, soft thin plastic sheeting, and hard ribbed plastic. Memory would suggest that QSL cards of this nature have been manufactured in Japan, though we don't hold any of this style in our collection. At least three different mediumwave stations in the United Sates have issued QSL cards that are embossed into sheet copper. The stations that we know about are all in Montana, which must be a copper producing state, and they are:- KGIR Butte 1 kW 1340 kHz KPFA Helena .25 1210 KRBM Bozeman .25 1420 All three of these copper plate QSL cards show an embossed tourist picture in relief and they are all dated in the early 1940s. Several mediumwave DXers in New Zealand heard these stations some 60 years ago and added a very unusual QSL card into their collections. These three examples are all lodged with the large QSL collection in the Hocken Library in Dunedin, New Zealand. The noted Arthur Cushen in New Zealand also received one of these copper QSL cards from station KGIR back around that era and this QSL was listed as one of the items in his entry into our 1995 annual DX contest. At that time, we were searching for the Five Best QSL Cards and Arthur's entry was the world winner for that year. In our QSL collection, we do not have a copper QSL card, though we do have a copper QSL stamp. Back in 1940, station KMOX in St Louis Missouri was issuing a QSL letter to verify listener's reception reports. Attached to the letter is a QSL stamp made out of copper that was somewhat similar in design and size to the old EKKO QSL stamps that we have referred to on several occasions here in Wavescan. The copper QSL stamp on the letter from KMOX is now quite dark from age. Now for the tin plate QSL. Recently, several tin plate QSLs were offered for sale on e-bay, so we procured a couple. This card is more than twice the size of a regular postcard; it is printed in red and black on both sides; and it advertises the products of the manufacturer, National Steel Corporation in Weirton, West Virginia. This company is now out of business. However, it is indeed a genuine QSL card. On the side with a map of the continental United States is a radio antenna and the QSL text, left blank, to be filled in by an amateur radio operator after he has completed his QSO contact with another amateur radio operator. The question we would like to ask is this: How ever do you write on a tin plate to fill in the QSL details? Unusual QSL Cards - Materials ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Style Station City Country kW kHz Year Date Holder ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thin cardboard YVMO-Lara Barquisimento Venezuela 10 4800 1975 Feb 18 AMP Thick cardboard 4XD Dunedin N Zealand .25 1430 1960 Feb 27 AWR Paper R Tirana Cerrik Albania 100 6100 1995 Jun 20 AMP Three ply wood KICY Nome Alaska 10 850 1992 Jul 12 AMP Plastic-Soft sheet Japan ? Plastic-Hard ribbed Japan ? Copper KGIR Butte Montana 1 1340 1940 Sep 21 FW Copper KPFA Helena Montana .25 1210 1940 Oct 12 FW Copper KRBM Bozeman Montana .25 1420 1941 Jan 5 FW Copper - Ekko KMOX St Louis Missouri 50 1120 1940 Jul 7 AWR Tin plate Amateur Weirton W Virginia SW AWR ================================================ (Adrian Michael Peterson, AWR Wavescan Oct 3 via DXLD) FREQUENCY MANAGEMENT ++++++++++++++++++++ B-04 SCHEDULES I see portions of the B04 schedules appearing in my email every day. I was wondering, is the entire B04 schedule available somewhere at this moment? Thanks (Chuck Bolland, FL, Oct 1, dxldyg via DXLD) No, these are drafts of tentative schedules that could still have changes. Officially, those taking part in the HFCC Conference are not supposed to issue this stuff ahead of time, as the coördination procedure continues right up to the start of the B04 period. Usually a few days after that, the public version of the schedule is published at http://www.hfcc.org/ Subsequent changes are not usually published. At Radio Netherlands, we do not publish tentative versions of our schedule, but we do try to be as quick as possible in publishing actual changes once the schedule has commenced (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) If I may say so this is a ridiculous state of affairs. How on earth do international broadcasters expect listeners to know what frequencies to tune in on in if they don't publicise schedules before they take effect? By taking this action the HFCC is completely disregarding the interests of listeners, clubs and indeed publishers who need this information in advance. They should ensure that their "coordination procedures" are completed in sufficient time to enable stations to publicise their schedules well BEFORE they take effect. SW listening is decling enough as it is without HFCC procedures getting in the way of providing this essential information to listeners (Dave Kenny, UK, ibid.) PROTECTING AN "EXCLUSIVE" FREQUENCY Closing Comments --- By Glenn Hauser [This is about DW via Russia on 6225 interfering with Antarctic ship communications on 6224 last southern summer, as discussed a few months ago in DXLD, and with additional material. It will be online only during October until replaced by the November Closing Comments --- gh] http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/mtclosing.html (Monitoring Times - October 2004 via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ NAVY SHUTS DOWN PROJECT ELF THIS WEEK By Robert Imrie/Associated Press WAUSAU, Wis. - With terrorism the new global threat, a network of antennas strung atop 40-foot poles in northern Wisconsin that lets the Navy signal submarines prowling the oceans has become another Cold War relic. The Navy will shut off its extremely low frequency (ELF) radio transmitters Thursday - 15 years after they were turned on and decades after they were first proposed as a way for missile-packed submarines to stay hidden, giving the United States an edge over the Soviet Union. For years, peace activists and environmentalists targeted the transmitters in the Chequamegon National Forest near Clam Lake and in Upper Michigan's Escanaba State Forest near Republic. The network's closure will bring an end to the demonstrations that led to hundreds of arrests in acts of civil disobedience, some for trespassing onto the site and sawing down poles. It also means the loss of dozens of jobs. "It is definitely going to hurt the economy," said Roger Anderson, co-owner of Deb's Y-Go-By, a bar, grill and bait shop in Clam Lake, a quiet tourist wayside about 40 miles from Lake Superior. "Eventually, we knew this was going to be obsolete. It is just coming a little sooner than we thought," Anderson said. "Maybe they need the money for the Iraq war or the war on terrorism." Project ELF is outdated and can be replaced by other communications technology, the Navy said in announcing Sept. 17 it will dismantle the facilities within the next three years. U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who has wanted to shut down Project ELF since 1993, said the Navy for years had a "bunker mentality" in trying to pretend the facility had a purpose. Clearly, a system designed to deal with Soviet submarines isn't a military priority, Feingold said. "I do think the war on terror had something to do with this," Feingold said. "I think people are finally realizing we need to equip our military and everything we do toward the real threats." Steven Davis, spokesman for the Navy's Space and Navy Warfare Systems Command in San Diego, said closing ELF comes after a "re-evaluation" of the Navy's priorities. "Even as recently as three years ago, the world has changed considerably," he said. The Navy spent $13 million a year, including about $400,000 for electricity, to run both ELF transmitters, Davis said. Each site has one Navy worker and 27 civilian contractors. The government has not yet determined the cost of dismantling the sites, Davis said. The Navy began using the $400 million system in 1989. Its radio waves, sent from antennas strung on hundreds of poles across miles of forest, permitted submarines to roam undetected by radar while receiving basic messages (via Bill Hale, NRC-AM via DXLD) I wonder if one of us could get permission to hook onto those miles of long wires to DX with before they tear them down??? (Paul Smith, Hurricane Central, Florida, ibid.) Yeah, I heard it, not just that, I worked with it beginning in 1980 while on a submarine which was homeported in Pearl Harbor in the very earliest days (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) Yep, I remember the project; never personally knew anyone involved with it, and never logged it. If I recall correctly, the theory/fact was that signals transmitted via ELF (300 Hz or less) would penetrate and carry under water better than any other mode of transmission at the time. Maybe I'm dreaming, but I seem to recall hearing of similar ELF use in Australia. Of a more practical application, can you imagine what type of - true - longwire/Beverage that son of a gun would be?! Wonder if I'm too old to be reconsidered for recall to active duty for assignment to a decommissioning crew, hi! (Mike Hardester, NC, ibid.) Sign me up. I'll need to hook up some receivers to those longwires before they're dismantled, though. Just to check for continuity, of course. ;-) If I don't get picked up for that project, I retire November 12th from the US Navy and will have to get a real job like the rest of you blokes (Ron Gitschier, FL, ibid.) My recollection of this project was that it operated at 76 Hertz. No, not kiloHertz. Hertz. The antenna wires were something like 12 miles long. Clam Lake was chosen due to being on some sort of extensive granite underground rock structure that had some benefit, which, I don't know.* The radiated power was very low, but subs could pick it up 300 feet below the surface, with a bit rate so slow that it would take minutes to deliver much info. This, as you old timers could surmise, was one of those arcane subjects that Gordon Nelson loved. I think he claimed to have "heard" it, though more accurately it would show up best on a chart recorder as changes in the noise level. I'd think a "whistler" receiver would be worth trying. *(I'm guessing, the granite kept the e-field from dissipating locally?) In the early days this was known as either Project Sanguine or Project Seafarer, and although I haven't tried it, a google might dig up something. It was written up in Science magazine in the 1970's. So I believe the "15 years" referred to above is either a typo, or this is not the same project I am thinking of. Or else, it worked in a test mode for a long time before being commissioned. Not a lot of info about it that I ever saw. Most of what I DID see was in Krasnaya Zvezda. (Joke, son!!) Ron, my advice is to stay in Florida. These Wisconsin winters can be downright chilly (Bob Foxworth, Tampa, ibid.) Mike Hardester asked just how long the ELF wires are; a report on NPR "Morning Edition" this morning mentioned one set of wires is SEVEN miles long, and another one is FOURTEEN miles! (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) Glenn, Here's a link to NPR's page featuring a brief story that aired on Morning Edition, Sept. 29th, dealing with closure of an ELF navy communications system that's been the target of antiwar demonstrations for many years. http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4052249 (John Wesley Smith, KC0HSB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS [non] ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re: ``Anticipated response: SWL = Amateur`` Hello Glenn, Regarding the last line, I can tell you that of all my friends, family and co-workers that know I am an SWL, since entering the hobby 4 years ago, I have had to explain to every one of them that I don't "talk" to anyone while listening to my radio. They all assume it's ham radio. Why the assumption is beyond me. It has provided an opportunity to explain what SW radio is and is not. All are amazed when I list some of the countries I hear or pull out a QSL album. There have been no takers on entering the hobby, although my wife has donned the headphones on occasion to listen to an exotic SE Asian or African station. She loves the hobby; she knows where I am at night! (and in the early AM too) (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non non]: See also CHINA ###