DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-185, December 15, 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 AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1257: Wed 2300 WOR WBCQ 7415 Thu 0000 WOR WBCQ 17495-CUSB Thu 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Thu 2130 WOR WWCR 9985 Thu 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream [repeated 2-hourly thru 2400] Fri 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Fri 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Fri 2200 WOR WBCQ 7415 Sat 0000 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sat 0030 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sat 0900 WOR WRN1 to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar, Telstar 12 SAm Sat 0955 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1130 WOR WWCR 5070 Sat 1928 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 Sat 2030 WOR R. Lavalamp Sat 2130 WOR WBCQ 17495-CUSB Sun 0330 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0430 WOR WRMI 6870 Sun 0730 WOR WWCR 3210 Sun 0930 WOR WRN1 to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP Sun 0930 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0930 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0930 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1030 WOR WRMI 9955 Sun 1100 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 1400 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1500 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 2000 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sun 2030 WOR WWCR 12160 Sun 2100 WOR RNI Mon 0330 WOR WRMI 6870 Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 [1256] Mon 0530 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0900 WOR R. Lavalamp Mon 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Mon 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Tue 1000 WOR WRMI 9955 Tue 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 2200 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ONDEMAND [from Friday]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: WORLD OF RADIO 1257 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1257h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1257.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1257 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1257.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1257.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1257.html [from Thursday] WORLD OF RADIO 1257, mp3 in the true SW sound of 7415 [from UT Thu?]: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_12-15-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_12-15-04.mp3 GH ON HCJB DX PARTYLINE For anyone interested, the brief interview with me by Jeff White at the DRM Symposium in Dallas, Nov 12, on HCJB DX Partyline Dec 11, can be heard at 14:30 into the audio archives at: http://audio.hcjb.org/english/dxpl/dxpl1211.rm - DOWNLOAD http://audio.hcjb.org/english/dxpl/dxpl1211.ram - STREAM Currently there are 13 months worth of programs, so these links should remain good for another 13 months or so. They are also linked at http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html#gh DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS John Norfolk continues to update frequently, as needed: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. SURVEY SHOWS HIGH LISTENING RATE FOR US-FUNDED RADIO | Text of press release by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on 10 December Washington DC, 10 December: Nearly two-thirds of Afghan radio listeners are tuning in to Radio Free Afghanistan, according to the results of a new survey conducted for RFE/RL by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The survey showed a nationwide weekly listening rate of 61.6 per cent to RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan broadcasts in Dari and Pashto, a rate that rises to 70 per cent in the capital city of Kabul. "This kind of penetration demonstrates the importance of support for US international broadcasting," said BBG chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson. "Through their listening habits, the people are demonstrating that US radios are critical to their future - to Afghanistan's future." RFE/RL president Thomas A. Dine noted especially Radio Free Afghanistan's reputation for objectivity, professionalism and its attention to overcoming ethnic differences: "We are proud of what Radio Free Afghanistan has achieved in the past three years. Our emphasis on helping the entire country rise from the chaos of a quarter century of war is clearly appreciated by our listeners." RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan and the Voice of America (VOA) broadcast on a 24-hour single stream in Afghanistan. RFA provides local news and VOA supplies news about events around the world. The US Congress appropriated funding to create Radio Free Afghanistan in December 2001, as part of an effort to build a peaceful and democratic Afghanistan following the successful US-led strike against the Taleban. When asked about the reliability of the news and information broadcast, strong majorities in the survey considered RFA and VOA to be trustworthy. Asked about general issues, 54 per cent said they are favourable inclined toward the USA, 64 per cent say things in Afghanistan are headed in the right direction, and, when asked to name the first thing that comes to mind when speaking of the USA, 40 per cent said US support for reconstruction of Afghanistan. InterMedia Survey Institute conducted the survey for the BBG from 17 August to 2 October 2004, interviewing 3,169 adults 15 and older in Kabul, Herat, Balkh, Nangarhar and Kandahar Provinces in Afghanistan. The margin of error was plus/minus 1.7 per cent. Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty press release, Prague, in English 10 Dec 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** ALASKA. KNLS has finally updated its website, with schedule effective Nov 28, including 9615 for both English broadcasts at 0800 and 1300, which we had to find out on a timely basis, by monitoring. But still nothing on the `next season` presumably from late December. The home page has been redesigned, and I also see an extensive staff list at http://www.knls.org/English/kstaff.htm including Fred Osterman of Universal Radio and DXing.com who I suppose is recording some DX features for them: `` Fred helps KNLS keep an eye on the DXing (distance listening) world.`` Has anyone heard these? It would probably be impossible to predict exactly when this or any features appear during their magazine-format broadcasts. Another recognizable name is Doug Poling, ex-CBS News, who has forsaken journalism for evangelism (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, For the last few years I have just done a short monthly radio interview for Mike Osborne. This usually covered a new radio product or radio publication, or sometimes an item or two from DXLD (... with full credit of course!). I don't think the audio has been archived anywhere. I will likely continue with Mike's successor (Fred Osterman, OH, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. AIR Port Blair was noted back on 4760 this morning (12 Dec 2004) after being on 4765 last night (Jose Jacob, dx_india via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) Some other AIR stations have done that; why? ** ANTIGUA. BBC harmonic heard in NE USA Monday 13 December 2004, 30.38 MHz AM - 1356 UT - BBC World Service via Antigua, FK97, 2nd harmonic S5+ OM, YL talk ref Iraq war news - good audio quality (Jack Sullivan, Central New Jersey, FN20, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 6214.2, Radio Baluarte, Puerto Iguazú, 0015+, Diciembre 12, Español, programa religioso, charla por OM: "...sea bendito nuestro señor Jesucristo", 35443. La emisora no transmite toda la noche local (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF-2010, LW, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** BELGIUM. Also missed RVI English DX program on Sundays at 0800 UT 1512/5965{latter DTK Juelich site relay] for the second time; maybe editor Frans Vossen is ill again? Only Flemish music played {as a program filler}. (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 12 via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) Glenn, As Radio World was being introduced, Colin Clapson mentioned ``the last edition of Radio World``. What happened to Frans Vossen? 73 (Larry Nebron, CA, Dec 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, there is a script for the Dec 12 program on the website, http://www.rvi.be/rvi_master/uk/radio_world/index.html consisting of ADXB-OE airchecks of Anguilla and Bahamas, but since they changed the archiving, demanding a WM 9 player, I cannot hear them. He`s done shows like this before; could be an old repeat? I posted an enquiry in their guestbook, but one seldom sees a response from station there (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 2380, Rádio Educadora, Limeira, SP, 0510+, Diciembre 12, portugués, programa religioso conducido por OM, 35322 (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF-2010, LW, Noticias DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) 24 hours? ** BRAZIL. Há poucos relatos de sintonia da Rádio Nossa Voz, de São Paulo (SP), que emite em 3325 kHz. Pois o Rubens Ferraz Pedroso, captou a estação, em Bandeirantes (PR), em 11 de dezembro, ás 0540, com programa evangélico (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Dec 12 via DXLD) ** CHAD. 6165, Radiodiff. Nat. Tchadienne, 0502+, Diciembre 12, francés, pops africanos, breve anuncio por OM e YL, algunas menciones a: "N'djamena", 34443 (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF-2010, LW, Noticias DX via DXLD) 6165, 4.12 0457, Radio Tchadienne with identification in the French music. QSA 4-5, but drowned behind a foreign program starting at 05. JE (Jan Edh, SW Bulletin Dec 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Croatia? 6165, R. Chad, back here and heard in the window between Bonaire's close circa 0457 and its reopening an hour later. Pretty good on Dec 12 with African music in progress when I tuned in at 0504, then French talk to a segment of really wild music at 0521. Program at 0525 with animated M&W voices, talk of "democracie," "liberté," "electorale," then singing by kids at 0529, drums, ID by man, into news with several direct reports and mentions of Chad. Chad far dominant over co-channel Croatia at the start, but the two were about even after 0535. In a way the bigger story here is the variability of the Croatia QRM; one day Croatia was not heard at all, on another it was stronger than Chad (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 12 via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Hi all, Yesterday I got a B04 frequency schedule of the clandestine radio station called "Sound of Hope" beaming to Mainland China. May these frequencies be helpful: Sound of Hope B04 2200-2300 9635 kHz 1600-1700 11765 kHz Happy DXing and Merry Christmas! (Eric Zhou, China, Dec 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Site still unclear; Pacific island? ** CHINA [non]. /ALBANIA: Frequency change for China Radio International in English via CER 0500-0557: NF 7220, strong co-channel Radio Liberty in Russian, ex 11750 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 14 via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. On 14 Dec at 1545 noted a station on 5066.4 with talks in local African language. At 1557 the language for a moment sounded like African accented French. Around 1602 some African music and mentions of Bunia and Congo. Then into a local language program which sounded religious, many mentions of Maria and Jesus with short music bridges. The signal was best around 1610, then gradually decreasing. At 1630 a bit of music and pulled the plug. I guess this was the Bunia, Congo DR transmitter. Last time I've heard them here was December 2003. On 15 Dec the reception was better and yes, they ID as "Radio Candip". Mainly in French and sign-off was today at 1604 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Dec 14-15, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. Just after 1400 I am hearing both 1125 and 1134 from Croatia, so in one way or other they have managed to return both transmitters to the air on their usual frequencies (Olle Alm-SWE, BC- DX Dec 12 via DXLD) See also CHAD ** CUBA. This Sunday Dec 12, I was monitoring both 9550 and 11760 at 1500 to see what RHC would do with its Esperanto broadcast. 9550 cut off this time after Esperanto had barely begun, while 11760 continued (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. RADIO MARTI EN FRECUENCIA MODULADA Radio Martí está informando a sus oyentes, durante el horario de noticias cada una hora, que podrán sintonizar a la emisora entre las 2300 y las 1200 UT en la frecuencia de los 102.5 de Frecuencia Modulada desde la Florida. Supongo que la antena para dicha frecuencia debe de estar localizada en alguno de los Cayos de la Florida, para tener alcance hasta la región occidental de Cuba. [Luego:] Como se anunció en un correo previo, Radio Martí está operando entre las 2300 y las 1200 UT en Frecuencia Modulada 102.5. Precisando su fuente de origen, la emisora se identifica con las siglas W I P K desde SUMMERLAND KEY en el Condado Monroe con potencia de 50 kW. Su posición geográfica es en los Cayos de la Florida. Reitero que apoyará la frecuencia de 1180 AM desde Cayo Marathon en región occidental de Cuba (Oscar de Céspedes, FL, Dec 12, condig list via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) So OCB is buying time on an existing commercial station, in FM Atlas XIX as 50 kW ERP, antenna height only 126 meters, ``Pickin` 102.5``. Summerland Key is between Marathon and Key West (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS TURKISH. QSL: R. Bayrak, 6150, with letter in Swedish!! The reply was from B Wedin who is a Swede working on the station. He was also a Dx-er in younger days. Today he is 64 years old and maybe some of the older SWB members know him. Bayrak was my no 204 verified country. Merry Christmas to all SWB members (Dan Olsson, SW Bulletin Dec 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. RADIO PRAGUE CONSIDERING USING LONGWAVE FOR ENGLISH & GERMAN Radio Prague may carry its programmes in English and German on longwave in the future. In answer to a listener's question on Sunday's Mailbox programme, Radio Prague Director Miroslav Krupicka said: "It is not reality at this moment but we are considering going on longwave in English and German. It's a longwave that is used by a domestic channel of Czech Radio, Czech Radio 1 - Radiozurnal, which broadcasts on the FM network and on longwave [270 kHz, 750 kW]. We are in talks with this station to give us a certain space on longwave in order for us to be heard beyond the border of the Czech Republic in, say, Germany, Austria and Poland because longwave travels further than medium wave, for instance, or FM, so we would be heard in Central and Eastern Europe on longwave quite well. Of course, this is an addition to shortwave broadcasting. We are always on shortwave, we will stay on shortwave, but in addition we are looking for tools in order to be heard both in the Czech Republic and in Central Europe. In the Czech Republic we are currently on FM in Prague in English, this is a service for tourists, people visiting the Czech Republic, businessmen and so on. It's quite appreciated by the audience from what I have heard. And to expand on longwave would be quite nice, so we are working on it, but it is not yet reality." # posted by Andy @ 15:01 UT Dec 15 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC [non?]. Very strong signal of Radio Prague Russian service noted between 1230-1300 UT on 5820 kHz. Is it a new frequency? Not good news for WMR... 1310 UT: German is on 6055 as per schedule, I wonder if it was only frequency error during Russian broadcast? WMR is heard again with fair signal on 5815. Best Regards, (Wojtek Zaremba, Legionowo, Central Poland, Dec 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe it was a test from Novosibirsk which I see uses 5830 and 5840 for a couple R. Prague relay broadcasts in the evening. Another thought was that somebody punched up 5820 by mistake instead of 5930 even tho the latter is not supposed to be used for the 1230 and 1300 broadcasts. Does not seem to work out as a mixing product with another 49m frequency. Did you check whether the 1230 was on both 5820 and 6055? (Glenn to Wojtek, via DXLD) No, Russian at 1230 was not on 6055 (Wojtek, ibid.) ** ECUADOR. 5999.3, Apparently LV del Upano, from newly installed Lago Agrio transmitter per Björn Malm: After days of strong open carrier, finally got some audio from before 1000 Dec 11 to past 1100. Except for a couple of words spoken at 1000, it was all non-stop Spanish ballads until talking started at 1035. Talking was fairly upbeat. Signal was S9+ on peaks, but the audio level was not as good as the signal level would seem to have warranted, and had an odd pulsating quality to it. The talking was overmodulated and hard to understand. I heard what I think were many mentions of "Voz del Upano," but I can't say for sure. Still going at 1100; no sign of expected Cuba at 1100, but it was there at 1132 re-check; and no sign of Upano-4870 to check //. Nothing heard at the same time on Dec 12 (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 12 via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Bata, Bata, reactivada!!!! 0526- 0547, Diciembre 12, Español!!! "Es Radio Bata, estación de la región continental... saludamos a don Julián Venda por cumplir 92 años de vida... y para todos los que cumplen años les deseamos buena mañana". Canciones internacionales y piezas del pop africano. Anuncio por locutora: estimada audiencia, tengan ustedes muy buen día... Radio Bata". Noticias en español a las 0600 UTC, 45444 (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF-2010, LW, Noticias DX via DXLD) 5005, R. Nacional, heard from 0543 tune-in Dec 12 with African music; a minute of talk by a lady at 0546, then more African music (plus a silent minute at 0549). Two romantic female vocals at 0554, into news by man at 0603 introduced with TC, date; several mentions of Eq. Guinea and Bata, some drums between items. A mediocre signal, but it's good to hear them again (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 12 via DXLD) So do they ID as R. Bata, R. Nacional, or both? (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. RFI, good tho echoey on 17620, the only usable frequency for English at 1400, tuned in at 1435 Sun Dec 12 to David Page mentioning that new frequency would be 17625. Did not say what time, what date, or why, but if he was talking about the 1400 broadcast, it was still on 17620. After RFI closed about 1456, I found out the likely reason: CRI in English on 17615, which was not a problem here while RFI was on, but likely would be in Asia (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. 4777, 0513-0533, RTV Gabonaise, Libreville, Dec 12. I tuned in at 0513 which is a half hour past Libreville sunrise, but Gabon was still coming in fairly well. Selections of African highlife music were heard, with frequent remarks by a hyper announcer in French, including mentions of Libreville and Gabon. The signal became much tougher copy at 0530 as the terminator moved further west. This should definitely be stronger on the West Coast prior to 0445 or so. Good to hear this one back on the air! Thanks to Mike Barraclough for tip (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, ICOM IC-756Pro & mod. ICOM R-75, Kiwa MAP / ERGO / DSP-59+, 450 & 700 ft. Beverage Antennas, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) Ancora Gabon --- Vi ricordo che la radio nazionale era tornata ad operare alla fine di settembre dopo nove mesi di totale inattività dovuta alla totale ristrutturazione tecnica dell'emittente. Allora ci si era chiesti se sarebbero state riattivate anche le onde corte e oggi è arrivata la risposta (Roberto Scaglione http://www.radioascolto.net Dec 11, playdx via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) 4777, Radiodif. TV Gabonaise, Libreville, 0518+, Diciembre 12, francés, muy lindas piezas del cancionero local y pops africanos. Muchas identificaciones en francés por locutora y anuncios: "Ici Libreville", 45444 (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF-2010, LW, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 26000 KHz AM at 1120z, Deutsche Telekom test transmission. Seems to be beating with another carrier so hard to make out the contents of the test tape. Seems to be a dual language (German/ English) tape loop giving station contact details. Regards (Alan Lennon, Near Belfast, Northern Ireland, Dec 14, WUN mailing list via Harald Kuhl, A-DX, via Rudolf Grimm, radioescutas yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) ** GREECE [non]. Frequency change for Voice of Greece in Greek via DL 250 kW / 075 deg: 1200-1500 NF 9775, ex 11750 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 14 via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 3249.7, Presumed R. Luz y Vida, Spanish religious talking, brief religious music at 1111 Dec 11, into English preaching by man, translated into Spanish by YL. Decent signal, though audio a little muffled. Also heard in English at 0255 Dec 12 saying they were about to start their English program, but not heard circa 1100-1200 on Dec 12 (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 12 via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 3340, 4.12 0455, HRMI with up tempo religious programming (in "American".) Presentation and announcing in Spanish. QSA 3 for a short while, but a lot of crap on the frequency. Seems to have been gone for a longer period? JE (Jan Edh, SW Bulletin Dec 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. TRANSMISSÕES EM ESPANHOL: UTC DESTINO M. FREQUÊNCIA 2030/2130 ESPAÑA 41 M 7130 KHZ 31 M 9750 KHZ 0030/0130 AMÉRICA CENTRAL Y AMÉRICA DE SUR 31 M 9555 KHZ 31 M 9905 KHZ 0230/0330 AMÉRICA DEL SUR 31 M 9905 KHZ 0130/0230 AMÉRICA DEL SUR 31 M 9955 KHZ 31 M 9905 KHZ 0530/0630 EUROPA 19 M 15320 KHZ 16 M 17590 KHZ E. MAIL: spanishradio @ irib.com [¿why is this in English?] PAGINA WEB: http://www.irib.ir/worldservice/spanishRADIO/ [ditto] Atentamente, La Redacción Española de la Voz de la República Islámica de Irán (via Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena - MG - Brasil, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. George Poppin, who has filed 1008 weekly reception reports for Kol Israel, heard from Moshe Oren, of Bezeq, that closing SW has been postponed to 30 March 2005, instead of 31 December 2004 (Glenn Hauser, Dec 12, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder if they've ever heard of the story, "The Boy Who Cried 'Wolf'" (John Figliozzi, ibid.) ** JORDAN. R. Jordan relay of domestic service in English, much better than usual Dec 12 on 11690 at 1514; it was way over the RTTY on the low side instead of under it, and all I had to do was tune 1 or 2 kHz high with wide selectivity to avoid it. In the midst of a request show for teeny-boppers. Put some of them on the air; no e-mail funxioning this week so only gave phone number 47-47-22 (I think, given so fast and at least twice in a row). Including Cristina Aguilera with Super- Fly backing; jingles by someone who lost his larynx, as ``FM 96.3``. Seemed oblivious of its worldwide audience, and lost a chance to convey the least bit of Jordanian culture (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 6185, as if this frequency was not popular enough already with China, Mexico, Singapore and Brazil sharing this spot, on Dec 15 at 1012 thought I heard English down in the mix of things. At 1048 could make out an English talk on ``developing harmoniously with ones neighbors`` and ID for Radio Pyongyang, DPR Korea, the Voice of Korea (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, NRD545, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Some frequency changes for Voice of Korea (B-04 vs B- 03) eff. Dec. 1: 0000-0255 Ch/Fr/En NF 15100@ ex 11335 to SoEaAs 0700-1255 Japanese NF 9650, ex 6520 to JPN 1000-1255 En/Fr/Ko NF 6285, ex 9850 to SoEaAs 1000-1455 En/Fr/Ko/Ch/Ko NF 6185# ex 11735 to SoEaAs 1300-2055 Ko/Ru/Ru/Ge/Ru/Ge/Ge/Ko NF 6285, ex 7505 to WeEu 1300-2055 Ko/Ru/Ru/Ge/Ru/Ge/Ge/Ko NF 9325* ex 6575 to WeEu 1300-2355 En/Fr/En/Fr/Ko/Sp/En/Fr/En/Sp/Ko NF 7570$ ex 9325 to WeEu 1300-2355 En/Fr/En/Fr/Ko/Sp/En/Fr/En/Sp/Ko NF 12015& ex 11335 to WeEu 1500-2055 Ar/En/Sp/Fr/Ar/Ko NF 11535, ex 11735 to NoAf 1800-2055 Fr/Ar/Ko NF 7100, ex 6520 to SoAf 2100-2355 Japanese NF 9650, ex 6520 to JPN 2100-2355 Ch/Ch/Ko NF 11535, ex 11335 to NoEaAs co-channels: @ CRI Hakka and Amoy till 0157 # VOR "Commonwealth" from 1300 $ VOA Kurdish 1700-1800 * VOA Vietnamese/Khmer/Burmese 1300-1500, RL Georgian 1500-1600 and VOA Kurdish 1900-2000 & Voice of Dem. Eritrea Amharic 1500-1600 Sat only, RFI Portuguese 1700-1800 DW Hausa 1800-1900, VOA English 1900-2000, RCI Arabic 2015- 2045 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 14 via DXLD) Needs some touching up ** KURDISTAN [non]. 6420.8, 26.11 1630, Voice of Iranian Revolution in Kurdish, the workers anthem ``The Internationale``, announcement, ID, heard // to 3880.8 kHz (jammed by a noise transmitter). 22322 BV (Bjarke Vestesen, Denmark, SW Bulletin Dec 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZSTAN. 4010, Kyrgyz Radio. For those who may trying for this one, now is the time! There is an interesting web site with daily programs for the current week (including the 4010 outlet) for the State National Broadcasting Corporation (SNBC) of the Kyrgyz Republic at http://www.ktr.kg/cgi-bin/program/program.pl?radio_en and a picture/bio of the current VP of Radio, Myrzakul Mambetaliev at http://www.ktr.kg/about/en/ The web site also contains an interesting decree of the President of Kyrgyzstan regarding the SNBC. I don't know if Mr. Mambetaliev speaks English but that's who I sent my mid-Nov report to - an earlier VP for Radio had responded to a reception report in EE in 2000, I believe. Has anyone heard the supposed Kyrgyz all-music outlet on 4050? There were several reports in April 2002 of this station and some confusion as to its ID. Listed in PWBR but not mentioned on the ktr.kg web site. Can't imagine a 100 kW station broadcasting supposedly 24 hours not being under the control of the SNBC (Bruce Churchill-USA, DXplorer Dec 8 via BC-DX via DXLD) Kyrgyzstan has a complex broadcasting structure, with both state radio (KTR) and a considerable private radio sector. There is a regulatory authority and dozens of independent radio stations (you find them listed e.g. in WRTH). The music programs on 4050 ceased about a year ago. The people behind this project are still running a 75 kW MW station in Bishkek on 1467 kHz ("Radio Extol") which is rebroadcasting religious programs like TWR. As for state radio KTR: they do not own transmitters but are renting them from the Ministry of Communications. When they stopped renting 4050 some years ago (ex Kyrgyz Radio 2), this transmitter became therefore available for private broadcasters (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DXplorer Dec 9, via BC-DX via DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. Libya's radio service programs. Using a B-04 schedule published by the Observer-BUL as a starting point, I then monitored them from Florida over a number of days in late November and early December. Below is a monitored scheduled that is also based on ID's and other schedule announcements made by the station. Programming is mostly in Arabic with other foreign language segments noted below; there may be others I didn't monitor. There may also be additional transmissions by them, either via France or Libya itself. For instance, this report does not cover the Libyan transmissions to Iraq that have been monitored in the 11 MHz range. They are running two services, Voice of Africa, in the early afternoon and evening, and their domestic service Voice of the Great Homeland program from mid- afternoon till early evening. In addition to SW, they also announce that Voice of Africa is carried on 711 and 1251 kHz, but no times are given; perhaps this is just for the evening transmissions starting at 1645 UT. They also announce that Voice of Africa is on Eutelsat. Voice of Africa (Sowt Afrikiyia) 1000-1100 21695 too early for Florida, untraced. (I cannot completely understand the announcement for this frequency, but the start of this transmission is given as XX:45, doesn't sound like 0945.) 1100-1230 17695 21485 21695 all channels heard in Florida towards end of transmission. Not heard on announced 15435. (Announcement at end of this that this is end of day transmissions, said they would resume Voice of Africa in the evening.) 1115-1230 21675 too early to check this start, but there at end. 1645-1700 15220 15615 15 minutes of IS, ID, and schedule, programs start at 1700. 1700-1800 15220 15615 15660 17880. Not heard on listed, but unannounced, 11860. Not heard on announced on 17880. 15660 comes on just before 1700. English and French news starting at 1733. 1800-1900 9485 11635 11715 11860 15615 difficult to monitor all but 19 mb, but doesn't seem to be on announced 9715 1900-2030 11635 11715 2030-2130 11635 English news starting at 2123, then French. Off in mid-sentence at 2130. Voice of the Great Homeland (Itha'a al-Jamahir al-uthma') 1230-1400 21675 21695 (these channels are announced in schedule as breaking away from Voice of Africa at 1225.) 1400-1500 21675 (ends in mid-sentence) 1600-1630 15220 17840 (goes into steady tone from 1630-1645; they don't turn off the transmitters.) {Nov-Dec span} (Hans Johnson-USA, Cumbre Dec 7 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** MALI. 4784, Radiodif. TV Malienne, Bamako, 0556+, Diciembre 12, francés. IS + Himno Nacional, a/t [¿?]. Identificación y anuncio por locutora. Selección de música local. No pudimos escuchar la emisora en la frecuencia de 4835 (la cual suponemos se encuentra fuera de servicio), 25332. En 5995 la emisora llega con 35343. A 0620 notamos que la frecuencia se "corría" desde 4784 hacia 4783 para pasar luego a los 4782.8 kHz!!!! (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF-2010, LW, Noticias DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) ORTM Bamako (Kati) seems to be drifting up from 4783 kHz. Noted December 13 at 2230 with programming in French on 4786,9 kHz with nice reception. Weak on 5995 kHz and not heard on 4835 kHz at all. 73´s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, Dec 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4810, Radio Transcontinental, México, 0625+, Diciembre 12, español. Charla religiosa por OM. Reportamos esta emisora mexicana durante toda la noche local, con similar recepción aunque nunca pudimos escuchar algún anuncio de la estación y menos aún una identificacion. 25332 (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF-2010, LW, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** MONACO [non]. Les salariés votent la fin de la grève à RMC Moyen- Orient – LE MONDE | 13.12.04 | 15h33 http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3236,36-390776,0.html La radio française diffusant en langue arabe RMC-Moyen-Orient (RMC-MO) a recommencé à émettre normalement, samedi 11 décembre. La grève, qui avait débuté le 2 décembre, a été suspendue vendredi 10 à la suite de la signature d'un accord entre l'intersyndicale et la direction. La décision d'arrêter la grève a été adoptée à l'unanimité en assemblée générale, au siège de RMC-MO, à la Maison de la Radio à Paris. RMC-MO, qui émet en ondes moyennes dans la plupart des pays du Proche- Orient, est une filiale à 100 % Radio France internationale (RFI) et compte 74 salariés. La grève a mis en évidence le malaise qui existe au sein de la station. L'éviction du rédacteur en chef, Sammy Kleib, a servi de catalyseur. Les grévistes dénonçaient une "mauvaise gestion", qui contribuait, selon eux, "au gaspillage de l'argent public", protestaient contre "les dérives éditoriales" de la radio et demandaient un changement de fonctions pour le directeur de l'antenne, Béchara El-Bonn. Selon l'accord conclu vendredi, une période de transition d'une durée estimée à trois mois s'ouvre. Pendant ce laps de temps, un comité stratégique "décidera des orientations générales en matière de programmes, de définition de grille et de développement", précise le texte. Durant la période d'intérim, les mesures de nomination seront gelées et reportées en 2005. M. Kleib, dont les grévistes avaient demandé un temps la réintégration, se verra proposer un autre poste au sein du groupe RFI. - (AFP.) (ARTICLE PARU DANS L'EDITION DU 14.12.04 via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. And have you seen the story about the high power pirate on the Dutch-German border? I only wonder how they could believe that the authorities would allow this spectacle to continue through the whole weekend. 10 kW Rohde & Schwarz transmitter, eight- bay antenna at 100 metres height, producing an ERP of at least 100 kW. Many pictures on the web, just to mention one page: http://www.etherpiraten.com/bestanden/KKA/KKA.asp (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HIGH POWER FM PIRATE BROADCASTING TO THE NETHERLANDS SILENCED This weekend, the pirate radio station Koning, Keizer, Admiraal has been broadcasting a high power FM signal into the Netherlands on 97.0 MHz. The broadcasts were coming from a 100 metre mast just over the border in Gildehaus, Germany, with a power of 11 kW, and the intention was to broadcast continuously for the whole weekend. However, the station's Website http://www.klompenboer.nl reports that it was taken off the air at 1355 UTC today, after 15 German police cars and some Dutch police arrived at the transmitter site. # posted by Andy @ 14:13 UT Dec 11 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Pictures of the raid at this link: http://www.etherpirateninfo.nl/user/news/kka/kkauit.php (Kai Ludwig, 12.11.04 - 8:57 pm, ibid.) Seems like an awful waste of police resources just to take one station off air. They should be out catching real criminals. http://www.radioxanadu.tk (Steve Martin, 12.12.04 - 3:59 pm, ibid.) With the crowd that was present at the "site" I am not surprised that RegTP found it necessary to do their job with appropriate police force. I wonder if they were really so naïve to believe that RegTP would allow them to continue through the whole weekend? I further wonder how it was possible to put a 101 metre mast into the countryside with the authorities not taking notice? And here I am not speaking about RegTP but the municipality and the responsible building control department. But in the first place I wonder how this show has been financed. Some people must have quite a lot of money to waste (Kai Ludwig, Germany, 12.12.04 - 7:06 pm, ibid.) Reports here suggest that the fine will be 40,000 euro. The operation was coördinated by four different pirate radio groups from Drenthe. I agree, these people seem to have more money than sense. I saw one report that their signal was blocking reception of the regional public broadcaster. If that's true, they are irresponsible as well as stupid. (Andy Sennitt, 12.12.04 - 10:36 pm, ibid.) They sure noticed, at the moment they got all kind of whining about interference, read about it on the Internet, heard it themselves. The Dutch police was there Friday already; the Agentschap Telecom probably asked the German authorities to bring this thing down and they said 'okay, Saturday'. I think they hoped they wouldn't be able to get it arranged Saturday, and would not do it on Sunday, so it'd be Monday -- or so. I guess it`s a form of passion. The passion to DJ, the passion to DIY, the passion to pleasant listeners, to create a nice atmosphere, to DJ music which is censored from the commie radio. To understand a pirate, some say you have to be one. But I think you have never spoken to a pirate otherwise you'd understand their point of view. Right now you only appear to see them as 'noise'. So you haven't heard the other side of the story --- besides all of this, they've setted a record. Something which has was not done before. Anyway, see URL hereunder for more pictures, more stories, details, etc. (most in Dutch). http://www.indymedia.nl/nl/2004/12/23779.shtml (Jeroen, 12.12.04 - 10:49 pm, ibid.) Btw, about the money. They claim they paid it all themselves. One paid for the truck of beer, the other for mast, etc. If you buy a lot of volume, you get a discount (no secret, basic economics) so they paid less than you'd pay for 1 beer or a squat of 24. Besides, if you have connections, you're able to get stuff cheap too. One can hire a generator too, you don't have to buy one. So your view of the costs can be heavily skewed and you don't know how many people paid exactly for what. This besides the passion/hobby aspect. At scouting, in which I used to be in, we builded a mast of wood for World Jamboree basically for ~ 0 guilders using mostly wood. Granted, thats 27 mc and legal, but it was very cheap because we sought for all kind of workable, cheap solutions. Its doable if you want to (Jeroen, 12.12.04 - 10:59 pm, ibid.) ** NEW ZEALAND. HERITAGE NEW ZEALAND RADIO CALLS AND BRANDS DISAPPEAR OVERNIGHT In a short media release, a large part of the regional radio landscape in New Zealand has gone west. The fifteen individual regional AM and FM stations of Local Radioworks have all been rebranded as MORE FM. The stations all started off with individual ownership since 1970 and their local branding had remained intact through ownership changes and eventual acquisition by Canadian media conglomerate CanWest. Familiar stations such as KCC-FM in Northland, Fifeshire FM in Nelson and Foveaux Radio in Invercargill are amongst the stations finally losing their own identity to become part of the growing MORE FM network. The move follows the November demise of Radio Otago in Dunedin, XS-FM in Palmerston North and Lite-FM (descendent of Radio Avon) in Christchurch. In just a couple of weeks, over 30 years of New Zealand radio heritage has been swept aside as the newly listed CanWest moves to strengthen its ability to deliver dividends to shareholders, including its Canadian parent in Winnipeg, Manitoba. For the record, the following regional radio stations are understood to disappear from the dial between now and January 2005: KCC-FM Northland, Coastline 93.4 Tauranga, Lakes 96FM Rotorua, KIS-FM Taupo, Energy FM Taranaki, Hot 93 Hawkes Bay, 92.8 STAR FM Wanganui, HITZ 89.3 Wairarapa, 95FM Levin, 2XX Kapiti, Fifeshire 93 FM (+ 990 AM) Nelson, Resort 99 FM (+ 1359 AM) Queenstown, Radio Central (+ 531 AM) Alexandra, Big River Radio Balclutha and 89.2 Foveaux FM (+ 1224 AM) Invercargill. Whether the AM outlets will carry MORE FM isn't clear. They may flip to The Breeze brand instead. CanWest says 'Aside from the name change, listeners will notice minimal differences, except they will have greater opportunities to participate in even better contests and see their local station involved in national sponsorships such as the Super 12' Daytime broadcasts continue to originate locally, at least for now. However, the new MORE FM stations now join a nationwide nighttime program hosted by NZ Idol's Dominic Bowden. The Radio Heritage Foundation's on-line archive project will bring you as much of these individual station stories as we're able to collect, preserve and protect with the help of listeners and radio heritage partners throughout New Zealand. Warm regards (David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation, Wellington, New Zealand, http://www.radioheritage.net Dec 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST ** PARAGUAY. See TAIWAN [non] ** PERU. 6520.4, Radio Paucartambo, Paucartambo, 0008+, Diciembre 12, Español/Quechua, huaynos, anuncio e ID: "...buenas noches... con lo mejor de nuestra musica... por Radio Paucartambo", 35343. 6536.1, Radio La Poderosa, Huancabamba, 0013+, Diciembre 12, español, charla sobre diferentes actividades culturales que se desarrollan en la region. 25342. 6819.4, la Voz de las Huarinjas, Huancabamba, 0016+, Diciembre 12, música andina, 25342 (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF-2010, LW, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** PERU. You can write to 5544.65 khz Radio San Andrés using this address: Radio San Andrés La Municipalidad Distrito de San Andrés Provincia de Cutervo Dpto de Cajamarca, Perú Comments and recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Dec 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 7370, FEBC Radio International in Chinese 1615-1759*, patter between two YL's mixed with constant laughter, long silent pauses after 1642 followed by guitar string music to 1645, songs in Chinese lang, ID's? (dientai) at TOH and BOH, brief Xmas carols at 1757, full ID in English at 1759 s/off, S-9+ signal in the clear from 100 kW transmitter at Bocaue (Wallace Treibel, WA, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 12 via DXLD) Date? ** PHILIPPINES. Frequency change for FEBC in Khmer: 1200-1300 NF 7325 IBA 050 kW / 270 deg, ex 7375 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 14 via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. [non]. Re: ``Radio Armonia was reported on the new frequencies of 6245 and 7175 kHz from 1700 to 1730 UT. It is on the air on Saturday only from a transmitter in Russia (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Program Dec 10 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) What`s this?`` This is Trans World Radio in Romanian via Ekaterinburg-RUS. (DXA375-Silvain Domen / Antwerpen-Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is TWR Europe programming in Romanian (ex 5945/7180). (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Trans World Radio via Yekaterinburg, using this site now for various services, including Romanian (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Some frequency changes for Voice of Russia: 0200-0400 Russian NF 12010, ex 12110 0400-0600 English NF 12010, ex 12110 1000-1100 German NF 9720, ex 12010 \\ 15540 1100-1200 RIR NF 12025, additional RIR=Russian International Radio 1500-1700 Persian NF 5895, ex 9840 \\ 5925, 5935, 7510 1600-1700 Arabic NF 6270, unregistered \\ 5910, 9480, 9830 1700-1800 Arabic NF 5895, ex 9840 1900-2000 French NF 7215, additional 1800-1900 Italian NF 7390, ex 7380 \\ 6000 1800-2000 Arabic NF 6060, NF 7305, ex 6170 and 5935 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 14 via DXLD) Spurious mixture? Formula 2 x 6090 minus 5910 = 6270 kHz. 2 x 5910 minus 6090 = 5730 kHz. Also on symmetrical 5730 kHz ??? 5910 1600-1700 40 S.P 400 145 RUS VOR GFC 6090 1600-1900 37 S.P 200 215 RUS VOR GFC (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SCOTLAND [non]. RECORD OF THE YEAR 2004 WORLDWIDE! The annual radio six international RECORD OF THE YEAR award, voted for entirely by the station’s listeners, will be announced in a special programme to be broadcast on December 25/26. This year the show will be broadcast several times from different transmitters on different frequencies in order to reach the maximum audience worldwide. Details as follows: SATURDAY December 25th: 0830 – 0930 on 13,840kHz (100 kW) from Milan, Italy [sic] SUNDAY December 26th: 0000 – 0200 on 5,105kHz (50 kW) from Monticello, Maine, USA SUNDAY December 26th: 2030 – 2130 on 5,775kHz (100 kW) from Milan, Italy [sic] The programme will also be carried at these times on http://www.radiosix.com Further details: (TONY CURRIE, Programme Director, radio six international tony @ radiosix.com Dec 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SIKKIM. 3390.0, 2.12 1535, INDIA, AIR Gangtok with news, disturbed by various signals. [QSA] 2 LRH. Also 3390.0, 5.12 1450, Gangtok with quiet and soft music, 2 LRH (Leif Rahall, SW Bulletin Dec 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR Gangtok 3390 in Sikkim finally making it through good enough for me to finally count this one as being definitely heard this morning at 1240. Very pleased to hear it this well, and it's my 235th NASWA country heard. I've been chasing this one for some time, and the past number of days have offered up some good reception, most notably prior to today on the 4th of December at approximately the same time. Signal seems to still be building slightly at 1310. 12 December 2004 (Steven R. Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) ** SOMALIA. Hi All: Again another change in the Radio Galkayo SW/FM sked: 0400-0600 and 0900 to 1900 GMT, FM 87.9 and SW 6980 (AM Mode). Radio Mogadishu is currently on SW: 6960 [see below], I have asked if one of the Radio Galkayo staff will call down to Mog and get the sked and E Mail address for you all. Perhaps we may help with QSL from Mog? Please we would love to receive your correct reception reports. I have completed repairs to the SW amp and transmitter, listeners are reporting very good signals across Somalia, into Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen. FM antenna repairs are now also complete; the 20 watts FM covers Galkayo town very well. Radio Galkayo is the most popular station in the Horn of Africa, the "new" sked: 0400-0600 and 0900-1900, this change per the Asst. Director. I have reminded him that the aging transmitter and amp may not handle the new work load, the people have spoken "We Want Our Radio Galkayo. Please tune in, we would be happy to hear from you. We have no mail service, but I will arrange that full data QSL letters be mailed by travellers going abroad. 73 (Joe Talbot, Somalia, Dec 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Joe. Radio Shabele in Mogadishu has been on 6960 lately. Is this the one you refer as "Radio Mogadishu" or has there been a recent change? Best regards, (Jari Savolainen, ibid.) ** SUDAN [non]. 12060, 0427, Radio Nile from RN/Madagascar with African drums and program in English ``Women liberty training``. S 3- 4. 12060 // 15320 BEFF. Radio Nile via RN, Madagascar, 15320. E-mail from v/s: Former program producer Annemarie Sweeris in Utrecht, Holland, who sent my report to the new address in Uganda. 1 week (Björn Fransson, SW Bulletin Dec 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN [non]. RUSSIA: New transmissions for IBRA Radio on 7395 ARM [``Armavir``] 200 kW / 104 deg eff. Dec. 3: 1530-1600 in Pashto "Radio Payom-e-Hayat" 1600-1630 in Dari "Radio Sedoye Dzendegi" 1630-1700 in Persian "Radio Peyom-e-Hoyot" (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 14 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. RE: CHINA: RADIO STATION SET TO ADD TAIWAN TO TITLE --- THE RADIO STATION WOULD BE FIRST TO FOLLOW TAIWANESE PRESIDENT'S "NAME RECTIFICATION" PLAN ``But, but, but, but, the station has already been named Radio Taiwan International for months, if not a year, and before that Radio Taibei International. Don`t they know that???? Or have the Chicoms just noticed? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` The point is also the transmissions for mainland China (in Chinese dialects and minority languages) are to be called "Radio Taiwan International" in future. These have been broadcast under the label "Central Broadcasting System" (CBS) in the past (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Dec 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. RTI is looking for new monitors for 2005! ----------------------------------------- RTI's English Service will be selecting nine new monitors for 2005. Each monitor will be given an official certificate and gift as an expression of our appreciation. Monitors for 2004 received a silk scarf from the renowned National Palace Museum. Responsibilities: Monitors will be responsible for writing three comprehensive and clearly-written reception reports each month for one year from January 1-December 31. Qualificiations: Monitors will be selected based upon quality of reception reports, dedication, and geographical location. The final qualification is to assure that we have monitors in different locations. Application: All interested applicants should email as soon as possible to paula @ cbs.org.tw or send us a letter at: English Service P.O. Box 24-38, Taipei, TAIWAN ROC Monitors will be announced: on the Internet and in "Mailbag Time" in early January, 2005. (RTI Website via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DXLD) I guess that means RTI don`t really need random reception reports from anyone else. Must official monitors be online? If so, why give a postal address (gh, DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. RADIO TAIWÁN TRANSMITIRÁ PROGRAMA EN PARAGUAY Radio Nacional del Paraguay emitirá todos los días, por espacio de una hora, de 7 a 8 de la mañana, el programa denominado Radio Taiwán. El mismo es una producción internacional de emisión en castellano de la República de China para América Latina. El acto de presentación de la programación fue realizado ayer en la Secretaría Nacional de Turismo, (Senatur) con la presencia del embajador chino, Bing F. Yen, el director de la emisora estatal Flaviano Díaz y el director general de Comunicación Social de la Presidencia de la República, José Duarte. La programación de Radio Taiwán Internacional incluye resumen informativo diario, Mirador de Taipei, Ojos en el mundo, Cosas de Taiwán, La hora del Té, entre otros. El citado medio internacional inició su trasmisión de sección española en 1967; desde ese tiempo ha firmado contratos con Radio Nacional del Paraguay, El sistema de Radio y Televisión Cultural de Costa Rica y Radio Nacional de El Salvador. Trasmiten las 24 horas en 18 idiomas en redes clasificadas en cadena de variedades, de noticias, de dialectos, lenguas extranjeras europeas, lenguas asiáticas y cadena de músicas. R.P. Autoridades de Radio Nacional del Paraguay y representantes del Gobierno chino estuvieron presentes durante la firma del contrato para la transmisión del programa taiwanés. Extraído del diario asunceno "Diario Noticias" 11 de dic. 2004 (via Levi P. Iversen, Paraguay, Dec 12, condiglist via DXLD) WTFK? Aunque sobre el mismo tema aunque con algunos otros detalles, esta extraída del diario "ABC Color" de la misma fecha es decir, del 11 de dic. 2004: ENLACE RADIAL DE PARAGUAY Y CHINA En un acto llevado a cabo ayer en el local de la Secretaría Nacional de Turismo, se firmó un acuerdo entre Radio Nacional del Paraguay y Radio Taiwán de la República de China, para el lanzamiento de un programa conjunto que consistirá en la emisión diaria de un espacio de una hora (de 7:00 a 8:00), en el cual la radio estatal de nuestro país difundirá mediante un enlace directo la programación de Radio Taiwán emitida en idioma español para toda América Latina. La ministra de Turismo Evahny de Gallegos, el embajador de China Bing F. Yen, Flaviano Díaz, director de Radio Nacional, y Lic. José Duarte, director de Comunicaciones de la Presidencia de la República. En forma recíproca, Radio Taiwán emitirá programas de Radio Nacional del Paraguay. En el acto de referencia, que se hizo en Turista Róga, el director general de Radio Nacional del Paraguay Flaviano Díaz manifestó su satisfacción por la distinción del Gobierno chino y ponderó el interés que pone esta "varias veces milenaria cultura hacia nuestro país". Finalmente, aprovechando la brillante oportunidad, sugirió la donación de equipos de alta tecnología "muy necesarios en estos tiempos para la óptima comunicación, que se inaugura de forma muy auspiciosa". A su turno, el embajador de China Bing F. Yen se refirió a la trascendencia de este enlace, que se hará muy fluido entre ambos pueblos y prometió todo el apoyo a la iniciativa. Estuvieron también presentes el director general de Comunicación Social de la Presidencia de la República Lic. José Duarte y la ministra de Turismo Evahny de Gallegos (via Levi Iversen, ibid.) So RN Paraguay programs will be broadcast via Taiwan too! Does any of this involve SW? If so, hearing Paraguay via Taiwan may be easier than direct (gh) ** THAILAND. QSL: IBB via Thailand Transmitting Station, Thailand, 9645. E-mail + attached QSL-file direct from Udonthani, v/s: Adisak Pattanajakr. 3 weeks (Björn Fransson, SW Bulletin Dec 12, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 6765U, Bangkok Meteorological Svc, 0928-0945+, Diciembre 12, Thai. Reporte meteorológico por OM. Señal de intervalo a 0933 y reporte por YL a continuación. Señal de intervalo a 0943 y reporte meteorológico a 0945 UT. 25342. En paralelo con 8743U donde llega con 34443 (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF-2010, LW, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** TUNISIA. I am sorry, but I see that I made a mistake in my report in DXLD 4-184: "...and 1903-2000 Italian". At this time the language is Spanish. Also this Sunday evening, Dec. 12, the whole hour was in Spanish (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Denmark, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, no more quarter-hours of four different languages; this info is correct but 1903-2000 is in Spanish (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) ** U K. Here is an item from my BBCWS listings that might be of interest. I`m Sorry I Haven`t A Clue, 1 x 30 mins | from 26 Dec A Christmas special edition of the comedy panel game. Americas | Mon 1532 rpt 2232, Tue 0232, Mon 0032 Europe | Mon 1032 rpt 1532, 2032, Tue 0232, Sun 1932, Mon 0032; -------------------- I covered others in the NASWA Journal (Rich Cuff, PA, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More to follow closer to date ** U S A [non]. Some frequency changes for Voice of America: 0600-0900 English NF 9695, ex 6080 1700-1800 Kurdish NF 9310, ex 9325 1800-1815 Ukrainian on 6020 7260 11720 deleted [temp for elexions] 2100-2200 Ukrainian on 7295, NF 7595, NF 9570, ex 2100-2130 on 9650, 11875 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 14 via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) ** U S A. B-04 "DXing With Cumbre" Fri 2200 9455 Angel 5 Sat 1330 15105 Angel 1 Sat 0130 7315 Angel 1 1600 9840 Angel 2 0430 15220 Angel 3 2030 15665 Angel 1 0600 7315 Angel 1 Sun 0330 7580 Angel 5 7535 Angel 2 0430 7315 Angel 1 0800 11565 Angel 4 0600 11565 Angel 4 0830 7315 Angel 1 1600 9930 Angel 3 5860 Angel 2 1630 15105 Angel 1 1000 11565 Angel 4 2130 9840 Angel 2 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 14 via DXLD) This version has the first entry almost right --- 2205, but were all confirmed by monitoring? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Glenn: Note that Wavescan goes on hiatus for three months after the end of this month (Jeff White, WRMI, Dec 13, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Jeff, We have appreciated your continuous usage of the AWR DX program "Wavescan" in the programming schedule from your station over the past many years. Please note that the AWR unit in the Far East has requested a three month break so that they can prepare adequately for the production of the new Asian edition of "Wavescan". They intend to re-introduce the program at the beginning of the new transmission period at the end of March 2005. I trust that it will be possible for your station to re-introduce "Wavescan" into your scheduling when it again becomes available. Christmas Greetings! AMP (Adrian M. Peterson, AWR, Dec 13 via Jeff White, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KOA - AM 80th anniversary --- I just realized that this Wednesday [Dec 15] is the 80th anniversary of KOA-AM. I haven't heard that they are doing anything special on the air but I wouldn't be surprised if they do. They do make mention of the anniversary on their web site. They have a photo album with a collection of items at http://www.koaradio.com or http://www.850koa.com For anyone interested I also still have quite a few items from my personal KOA collection posted on the KOA tribute page on my N0NNK web site http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/ (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, Dec 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is anyone still hearing the relay on 25950? Seems last report of it I had was Nov 30 (Glenn Hauser, December 15, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1690, WRLL Chicago, 1740 Dec 14, I've noted daytime skywave propagation again several days this fall from WRLL Chicago. The distance is 400+ miles from Nashville. Today there was very slow rolling QSB with no signal on the fades and good copy on the peaks. Logged at 1140 CST with oldies music and live announcer IDing "real oldies 1690." There must be a sharp lobe my direction because the daytime signal is often fairly good here. Received with a Ten Tec Argonaut 516 transceiver and 40 m delta loop (David Hodgson KG4TUY, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Per NRC AM Log 2004-2005 is non direxional, as almost all X-banders are (gh) ** U S A. 1680, FLORIDA, City of Sanibel, Sanibel Island; while checking up on some TIS entries on 1680 in the FCC dB, I noticed this one is listed as application pending status (not yet active and no calls assigned). (Terry Krueger, FL, Tocobaga DX Dec 12 via DXLD) ** U S A. Central New York radio stations: http://cnyradio.com/ (via Daryl Rocker, NY, DXLD) ** U S A. WNTP and WXCT December 10-11 DX Test Results Last Friday night generated one of the most exciting DX Tests in recent memory, including an impromptu second test by WXCT in Southington, CT during the "silent period" of the WNTP test! While unannounced, this second test period was most welcome by alert listeners. Fortunately, many were closely monitoring the flow of e- mail on the list servers and were alerted to the new test by this method. Look for a complete test from WXCT on January 9th. Here is a summary of the test results for both stations: ====================================================================== WNTP 990khz Philadelphia, PA TEST Date: December 10, 2004 (Late Friday night into Saturday morning) Time: 00:01 - 01:30 EST Modes of Operation: 00:01 - 00:30 50KW Daytime Directional Pattern 00:31 - 01:00 5KW Non-Directional 01:00 - 01:30 Off Air to allow DXers in our region of the country to DX other stations on 990 kHz. Programming: Morse IDs, Voice IDs, Tones, Marching Band Music - Stars and Stripes Forever, Washington Post March, Liberty Bell March (the old Monty Python Theme) Among those who heard the test were Bill Harms in Elkridge, Maryland who was the first to report that the test was running. Tom Janinski reported that the sweep tones used in the test cut through the clutter at his QTH in Shorewood, IL. Les Rayburn in Central Alabama heard the station with code and March music in Central Alabama, while J.D. Stevens pulled them out from the northern part of the state. Bill Dvorak in Madison, WI heard fragments of the code along with Steve Francis in Tennessee. Neil Kazaross was deprived of his normal weapon of choice, the beverage on the ground (BOG) array and instead logged the WNTP code ID's on a TRF portable near Chicago! Kaz reported that it was an easy logging after the switch to the non-directional pattern. WNTP was another good catch for Robert Ross in London, Ontario Canada who had a detailed log of the test. After the station switched to lower power (7KW) but a non-directional pattern some listeners saw their luck improve. Among those loggings were Jim Renfrew in Byron, NY, Scott Fybush in Rochester, NY and Barry McLarnon in Ottawa, Ontario (who can hear everything it seems!). Another spectacular logging was that of Patrick Martin in Seaside, OR who logged the test with those amazing beverage antenna's of his. Closer in Ray Bauernhuber caught the test on a CC Radio from his home in NY. As did Jim Hunter in Rossville, Georgia. Another Southerner who heard the test was Col. RC Watts in Kentucky, who dug the signal out of the classical music sounds of CBW, which dominated the frequency. David Hochfelder in Highland Park, NJ heard them as did Tom Jones in Mason, NH. Tom reported that the sweep tones seemed to cut through the noise best -- we'll try to encourage more stations to use these in the future. Tom Kenny in Toms River, NJ reported, "Holy Cow! My first real DX test". His excitement grew later as he also logged the test from WXCT. Others who tried for the test without success or still have some reviewing of recordings to do included Gerry Bishop in Niceville, FL who battled strong signals from Texas and Tennessee, Willis in Old Fort, TN heard sweep tones, but wasn't confident enough to call it a logging. Mike Booker in Toronto heard bits of code and sweeps, but was uncertain about calling it a success. He's got them in the logs already from when they were still WZZD. Tim Hall in San Diego tried for the test, but found the distance and the clutter too much for success. Patrick Griffith near Denver shared that fate. Blaine Thompson was also disappointed in Fort Wayne, IN, along with Nick Hall-Patch who tried for the test. Powell Way forgot about the test until late, only to find the frequency clobbered by WEEB in North Carolina...no joy in South Carolina. Phil Greenspan tried for the test in MA, but got too much grief from WALE to pull it in. Greg Myers and Robert Foxworth suffered a similar fate, listening to kids tunes from Radio Disney in nearby Miami rather than the hoped for test signals. Even an AOR 7030 and a 150' EWE antenna couldn't help Mike Stonebridge pull out the test from his home in St Isidore AB. Eric in St. Louis also failed to pull in an ID. Bruce Portzer had similar bad luck in Seattle. ====================================================================== WXCT 990 kHz Southington, CT TEST Date: December 10, 2004 Time: 01:00AM EST to 01:30AM EST (30 Minutes) Programming: Morse Code, Sweep Tones, Voice IDs, and unusual music. Any reception reports should be sent to... WXCT AM 990 440 Old Turnpike Road Plantsville, CT 06479 ATTN: Ron Barnes CE Test Results: CE Ron Barnes powered up the WXCT 990 khz transmitter during the WNTP "Silent Period"...so total duration was about 30 minutes. Despite no publicity for this test, it was caught by several listeners including Bill Harms in Maryland, Rene Tetro from the transmitter site of WNTP in Philadelphia, Jim Renfrew in Western NY, and Les Rayburn in Alabama. Neil Kazaross also logged this station from his home in Barrington, IL near Chicago. Two for one! Robert Ross in London, Ontario Canada,Scott Fybush in NY, and David Hochfelder in Highland Park, NJ also managed to hear both tests. Bill Whitacre heard fast code followed by what he termed "Dragon Dance Music" (actually a tune called "The Sabre Dance") Bill Dvorak tried for WXCT in Madison, WI but couldn't pull them out during the short duration. He's hoping for better results in January. A very enjoyable evening of DXing which resulted in Santa bringing an early gift of a second test for alert DX'ers. Thanks to Mr. Rene Tetro and Mr. Ron Barnes for the tests. Also special Christmas cheer to DX'er Scott Fybush who suggested the impromptu test to WXCT. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, IRCA CPC Chairman, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WGBB (1240 AM) is a modest station broadcasting out of an old house off Route 109 in Babylon. But you can't talk about heritage radio in this area without about WGBB (1240 AM), and tonight the station will mark its 80th birthday by talking about itself. . . http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/261404p-223877c.html (via Andy Sennitt, Dec 13, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. There is a new station in the Washington, DC area - WFED on 1050 AM. It is the formerly all-internet station programmed for federal government workers which originially started online. This is from the station's website, announcing its December 13 start-up: On Monday morning we launch a new radio station, WFED AM 1050. Listeners will be able to hear this new station clearly in Washington, D.C. and much of Montgomery, Arlington, and Fairfax counties from 6am to local sunset; it operates on lower power after sunset. FederalNewsRadio.com made history 2/22/2000 as the first internet-only all-news radio station. It was a success story during the dot-com bust and it makes history again as the first internet radio station to migrate to broadcast airwaves. "It's a bit ironic that we started out as an Internet product and now have grown to a terrestrial signal - typically the reverse is true," says VP and General Manager Joel Oxley. "But with such rapid growth of the online product, it was the next logical step to add distribution via an AM signal. With such a large local federal community we need to be accessible whether one is sitting at their desk or in their car." Federal News Radio will continue to broadcast world wide online at FederalNewsRadio.com. Federal News Radio covers both the Federal Government and those who do business with the government concentrating on management, procurement, technology, security, policy and pay & benefits. Federal News Radio is also the only place to read and hear federal icon Mike Causey everyday." I heard it on air here in the northern Virginia suburbs with a reasonable signal around 7 am local time. According to the DCRTV website, the new WFED 'Federal News Radio' on 1050 replaces the former business news and Spanish language WPLC. Based in Silver Spring, MD the station operates with 1000 watts during daylight hours and 44 watts after sunset. Claims to be the first internet station to migrate to broadcast (Matt Francis, DC, Dec 13, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hey, it beats having another Spanish language station on the AM (medium wave) dial here. Now, I have two AM buttons I can set on my car radio. All news WTOP and the new WFED (Tom McNiff, Burke, Virginia, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WFED, RADIO FREE BUREAUCRAT --- By Paul Farhi There are no "six-song super-sets," no shock jocks, no traffic and weather together on the eights. WFED-AM, which went on the air in Washington for the first time yesterday, does, however offer a bold new broadcasting concept: radio for federal bureaucrats. If you can't get enough CSPAN-2, if you devour every issue of the Federal Register, if you know your FEC from your FERC, WFED (1050) could be your one-stop spot on the dial. It's all about the federal government -- its management, pay and personnel policy, "procurement" and people -- from morning till quitting time. The architects of WFED are the first to say this may not be everyone's cup of USDA-inspected tea. As a matter of fact, WFED can be tough going for listeners who don't work for the federal government. Take yesterday's live mid-morning discussion about the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program with two senior officials from the Office of Personnel Management. The OPM guys really got going about the FEHBP, detailing its FSA and HSA features, plus the HMO component, and its relationship to FERS. They also warned people to stay away from HDHP programs (although, c'mon, who doesn't already know that?). The ads on WFED are rather specialized, too. Are you in the market for "enterprise Linux?" Is your "ERP/CRM" letting you down? Well, according to their commercial, Unisys and EMC apparently have just what you're looking for (whatever they have, it has "scalability"). Another company, Computer Associates, touted its "asset optimization solutions." WFED is the brainchild of Jim Farley and Joel Oxley, the top newsman and business manager, respectively, of Bonneville International Corp.'s local radio stations, including all-news station WTOP. The two men became convinced last year that there might be a niche for broadcast news GS-12s can use. Their optimism was fueled by the growth of FederalNewsRadio.com, a Web site WTOP launched in 2000 to cover fed-specific topics. Based on the Web site's success (it's profitable!), Oxley persuaded Salt Lake City-based Bonneville to sink $4 million into buying a Silver Spring business-news station, WPLC-AM, and to relaunch it as WFED. The station's marquee attraction is Mike Causey, whom Farley describes as "a rock star" among the 750,000 or so civilian, military and government contracting employees in the area. We're biased on this subject because we know Causey, who worked for The Post for 36 years before leaving four years ago (to work, in part, for FederalNewsRadio.com). During his time at the newspaper, Causey wrote more than 11,000 Federal Diary columns, so we figure he knows a bit about what he's talking about twice every hour on WFED. The station is also optimizing its assets by using material from FederalNewsRadio.com and reporting by some of WTOP's stars, such as Chas Henry, Dave McConnell, Judlyne Lilly and Amy Morris. It's not clear how big a crowd WFED drew on opening day, or what its potential audience might be. WFED didn't get a very big promotional send-off (actually, outside of a mention on the Web site, it didn't get any). What's more, WFED has to turn the power down after sunset to avoid interfering with other stations' signals. During the day, however, WFED has enough power to reach Montgomery, Fairfax and Prince George's counties and the District, where most feds can be found. But as Farley explains, the station doesn't really need to capture all of Planet Gov to succeed. "Our advertisers don't care about the clerks and the typists," he says. "They want to reach the people making the buying decisions, the chief information officers" and the personnel chiefs inside federal agencies. "We're programming this for all levels of federal employees, but as long as that top tier is included, the advertisers are willing to pay," Farley says. Apart from that, WFED's debut raises an interesting cultural- geographical issue: If an all-government station can succeed in a government town like Washington, why can't the same concept be exported to other one-industry towns? We eagerly await, for example: WDBT: Proudly serving the credit-card industry of Wilmington, Del. KRPS: All-gambling news, all the time, in Las Vegas. WBRW in Milwaukee: "Beer Never Sounded This Good." KORN: The agriculture (and heavy-metal) station in Des Moines. WAVE: Norfolk's naval-news leader. WUAW: Detroit's all-auto station. KOIL: Broadcaster to Houston's petroleum industry. WRED and WBLU: Fair and balanced across America. And, of course, WWWW: The radio station covering all things Internet. Maybe they just don't know what they're not hearing (Washington Post via Jim Moats, Tom McNiff, Artie Bigley, Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) If the writer only realised, some of those calls are really in use, elsewhere. WFED was also featured in a 2:28 segment at the very end of NPR Morning Edition Dec 15, audible via http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=15-Dec-2004&prgId=3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Are you following the Delaware soap-opera, involving the civil suit against Disney? This one was filed by shareholders, in response to the huge ($140-million) severance package paid to ex-Eisner buddy Michael Ovitz, after some 14 months of service. Nice to see public revelations about the way this evil company conducts its business --- the sad part is that Americans will continue to eat up the crap Disney dishes out at exorbitant prices, as if we're all hooked on some kind of Heroin habit. Disney is dealing with yet one more labor dispute, this latest involving Security personnel at Florida's Disney World ---the same place the Mausers were getting away with paying African-American workers mere percentages of what their White counterparts were making, as late as 1995. The best thing Parents can do for their kids is NOT to expose them to Disney bile --- and/or possibly, to explain to them (once they're old enough to grasp) the methods used for generations by Disney to wipe out the careers and productive lives of once-loyal employees who dare to think for themselves. The Los Angeles area is full of such stories. Showtime is planning a movie depicting the events surrounding the current Court proceedings in Delaware, by the way. Also, Disney has struck a deal with the Chinese Communist Youth League (I am NOT making this up!), to promote Mickey Rat and his overpriced pals to the youth in the Planet's most populous nation. Seems like a match made in heaven, given China's persecution of dissidents and Tibetans. No kidding, regional diplomats are referring to the entire arrangement as, "Mickey Mao". (Greg Hardison, Broadcast Band Update Dec 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tell us how you really feel! Full UPDATE in the dxld yg ** U S A. SPRINGER FOR GOVERNOR? By Rick Bird Post staff reporter . . .Local Clear Channel officials say they still have many decisions to make about the shape of their new liberal-voice radio station. Among those to be made or that have been decided: • Will Springer have a sidekick? Clear Channel AM Operations Manager Darryl Parks said there will be another local component to the new liberal station, but would not be specific. One name frequently mentioned to team with Springer is Gene Galvin, a lifelong Springer friend and Democratic Party worker, who hosted his own liberal talk show on WDBZ-AM. • WSAI will be airing the Ed Schultz show in afternoon drive. Schultz has been among the talk radio "great liberal hopes" in the last couple years with a syndicated show based out of Fargo, N.D., that features his folksy, but hard-hitting, brand of populist progressive talk. • WSAI will carry Al Franken, the political satirist and star of the Air America lineup airing from noon- 3 p.m. (opposite Rush Limbaugh). • It's not known whether WSAI will carry Air America's other rising star, Randi Rhodes, the afternoon drive host and a veteran of south Florida talk radio. Many Air America fans think she has been more aggressive and entertaining than Franken, perhaps because she is a radio veteran, unlike Franken. • Clear Channel officials will likely launch the station by bringing back the call letters WCKY to the 1530 dial position, where they historically were for decades. Sports station Homer 1360 technically has the WCKY call letters, although they are not used on the station. . . http://www.cincypost.com/2004/12/11/spring121104.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. Saunders: Air America earning its wings -- December 13, 2004 http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/entertainment_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_84_3394366,00.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. REMEMBERING DAVID BRUDNOY – a longer eulogy by Scott Fybush than previously published here: http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2004/041213/nerw.html (via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) ** U S A. GLITCHES SILENCE RADIO STATION By Ellen G. Lahr, Berkshire Eagle Staff, Wednesday, December 15, 2004 http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~7516~2598706,00.html GREAT BARRINGTON -- Berkshire Community Radio Alliance's signal for its new radio station is still off the air, a month after being sidelined by technical trouble. Organizers for WBCR 97.7 FM, which began broadcasting in late October, shut down their transmission Nov. 11, after learning that the new signal was interfering with National Public Radio WAMC's 90.3 signal in parts of Great Barrington. The Albany, N.Y.-based public radio station has offered to pay for repairs that were causing the transmission problem and work began promptly. However, the signal is still static. "Due to spurious emissions which were causing interference with WAMC, we had to shut down our transmitter temporarily," the radio station's Web site states. "At the moment, we are working with engineers to ... purchase equipment necessary to get on the air." WBCR's president, Nick Ring, said Monday that it's possible the necessary work will be completed by the end of this week, but not a certainty. Meanwhile, the radio station's membership has voted to repay WAMC for costs associated with the repairs, even though WAMC has requested no such reimbursement. "We really appreciate their generosity," said Ring, "and we'd like to repay them. It's about moving onward and upward." Although both radio stations are community-based nonprofit organizations, Ring said he doesn't consider the two entities as competitors, between which a financial gift might appear awkward. "It was them helping us to get on our feet and making a go of it," said Ring. "Repaying it is part of walking." Repayment also will clarify any potential questions over future responsibility for the transmission equipment, said Ring. Ring said filters have been installed on the WBCR antenna at Fairview Hospital, and that WBCR is awaiting some additional equipment needed to complete the signal adjustments. The final bills for the repair work, initially estimated to be several thousand dollars, are not in yet, said Alan S. Chartock, president and CEO of WAMC. Good-faith gesture Chartock said WAMC's willingness to pay for the WBCR repairs is a good-faith gesture and in the interest of supporting choice for radio listeners. Repayment is not necessary, he said. "We're ready to meet our commitment and we'll do it. If they say, 'You have to take our money,' I won't argue with them." He said WAMC's engineers have been working with WBCR's engineers to solve the transmission interference issues. WBCR has now found temporary studio space on Main Street, and is seeking furnishings and fixtures to equip the offices. The station's wish list is on its Web site. The organization also is attempting to meet a March deadline to raise an additional $9,000, which will trigger release of a $25,000 federal matching grant for the station. The station's budget for the first year of operation is around $50,000, of which just under $40,000 has been raised. WBCR will hold its next meeting tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at the Friends Meeting House on Route 23. On the Web: http://www.berkshireradio.org (via Ken Kopp, KS, Pete Costello, Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. I rarely know of anything I want to watch on Court TV, but a reminder that the Sundance Channel`s First Amendment Project is now running, two episodes each, first at 9-10 pm CT Tuesdays (UT Wed 0300), at least on the feed I get. Check listings, and for repeats later that night, plus Sunday nights. A must for anyone concerned about Freedom of Speech (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN [non]. CZECH REP.: Frequency change for Radio Liberty in Uzbek: 1600-1800 NF 7555, ex 17610 \\ 9835q 12020 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 14 via DXLD) What`s `q` or was that spurious (gh) ** VIETNAM [non]. 15385, CLANDESTINE (Vietnam). R. Que Me (via Tashkent), a new one, per Bulgarian "Observer" via Ritola-Finland, HCDX, apparently the one here at 1200 Dec 11 (Saturday). Opened with sad-sounding Vietnamese vocal music and announcement; the rest of the program was Vietnamese talk by a man with occasional very brief questions or comments by a woman. There was a female vocal at 1221, probably what was a closing announcement at 1227, then another female vocal to 1230*. "Fair minus" at the start, "fair plus" by close, but not good enough to get an ID, and music came through better than voice. Some splash from 15380, so USB helpful. No mention of radio on their website http://www.queme.net This may be Saturday only, as it was first reported heard on Dec 4, and I did not hear it at 1200 checks on various days Dec 5-10 (Jerry Berg, MA, R8 receiver; 19, 41 & 90 mb dipoles, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 12 via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. Re Bernd Trutenau`s comments on RASD 1550 power: Rather estimated as poor 5 to 20 kW MW transmitter according my direction finding observation on various Canary Isls, Agadir and on southern Portugal/Spain coast using famous MARTENS MW frame aerial in past decade (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 15 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 10081.2, UNID, 0737+, Diciembre 12, Coreano, canciones y marchas, fuerte señal pero audio totalmente distorsionado, 45444 (Norberto Pugliese & Arnaldo Slaen, DX Camp Chascomus, Argentina, ICF- 2010, LW, Noticias DX via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Have I thanked you recently for all the fine work you do each day for the DX community? Well if I haven't, then much thanks. You make the art of DXing more enjoyable for me and I am sure others feel the same (Chuck Bolland, FL, Dec 15) I am more than sure that this has been his lifetime career. I am amazed at where he finds the time and effort to do this work (JOHN BABBIS, Silver Spring, MD, USA, to Voice of Greece) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ EiBi B-04 SCHEDULES I have finally completed the shortwave schedules of all international broadcasters which are now available at my website http://www.eibi.de.vu/ Go to "DX pages". For those in need of it, the direct links are: The time-sorted schedule bc-b04.txt is at http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/dx/bc-b04.txt The frequency-sorted schedule freq-b04.txt is at http://www.susi-und-strolch.de/eibi/dx/freq-b04.txt As always, hints, comments and corrections are welcome. I apologize for the delay, but having started to work (after finishing university) has limited the free time available. But it's ready for the holiday season; enjoy it! PDF, DOC, and ZIP versions of the above files are not yet online, but will be in the near future. Best wishes, (Eike Bierwirth, 04317 Leipzig, Germany, Dec 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM +++ The US DRM site is up, sponsored by Continental in Dallas: http://www.usdrm.com (Jeff White, USDRM, Dec 13, WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ MONITORING IBOC WITH THE Kenwood KTC-HR100 tuner This is from the broadcast list ... some hands-on with AM HD in true HD mode ... from an obviously qualified listener ... - Bob IBOC Listener report --- by Michael D. Brown N7AXC CSRE We spent the Thanksgiving holiday driving to and from the LA area for family gatherings, and monitoring HD radio stations along the way. Monitoring was done with the popular Kenwood KTC-HR100 tuner controlled by a Kenwood KDC-MP6025 head. Total hardware price: $600. The 6025 is, in reality, a full blown AM/FM/CD unit, but the HR100 tuner takes over all analog and HD duties, when installed. We listened at length to San Francisco and LA area HD stations, and overall, I'd have to say that I'm somewhat disappointed. But first, the good news: With most program material, HD radio with HDC ("High Definition Coding") sounds pretty good, without the gross artifacts that plagued the PAC codec. At 96 kb/s, FM HD seems at least as good as a 128 kb/s MP3, and significantly better than satellite radio. Other that some perceived "harshness", I didn't find myself cringing. Without the need for aggressive high-frequency limiting due to pre-emphasis, high frequency material in FM HD sounds more open and has more detail, than its analog counterpart. With the same processing EQ, it sounds brighter - perhaps too much so. I suspect some processor fine-tuning can cure this minor complaint. The "segue" transition between FM HD and analog is very smooth in the Kenwood radio - usually not noticeable on properly balanced and synchronized stations. The sound improvement gained with AM HD is truly striking. In several hours of listening, we only heard a couple of brief "squeaks" or other artifacts. As for the bad news: HD radio will not improve usable coverage. It peters out pretty close to the edge of the primary service areas (roughly 60 DBu for FM, 2 mv/m for AM). The problem, of course, is that there are millions of daily listeners to thousands of stations far beyond these contours. There are eight San Francisco FM stations listed by Ibiquity as currently operating with HD. About half were clearly and cleanly listenable in analog in portions of the I-5 corridor from Sacramento to Stockton. NONE were decodable at all in HD, with the Kenwood, in this corridor. Not even once. SFO's 50 kW 740 KCBS, on the other hand, was HD decodable over a wide range. In LA, the HD coverage of the several stations we monitored was also disappointing. In general, for both AM and FM, light noise or "bacon fry" heard in analog, or even passing under a bridge on the freeway (when 20+ miles from 50 kW 640 KFI), was enough to frustrate the HD and send it back to analog. Where HD was most needed (i.e.: moderate to heavy multipath), it was unlikely to be available. On AM, with the major audio quality difference between analog and HD, this frequent switching back and forth was annoying. I found myself wanting to just force the radio the analog-only, which on the Kenwood radio requires navigating three menus deep on the LCD screen. At the very least, a simple single-function button should be included on all radios, to switch between analog, HD, and auto modes. With AM HD at night, the ever-changing skywave conditions could make this problem even worse. With FM HD, the quality differences are more subtle, so the annoyance factor is minimal. But I fear that the proposed second audio channel on FM HD, without an analog signal to fold back to, may be very problematic for car radio reception. This second channel is just the "killer" app that, IMHO, has the potential to be IBOC's strongest selling point. It had better work right, or else... My guess is that a more aggressive data interleaving regime in the time domain (with a resultant longer delay), might improve these problems. I hope it can be done (Portland SBE Newsletter, via BC List via Bob Foxworth, NRC-AM via DXLD) CHRISTMAS 2004 DXTuner newsletter Hi Fellow Member, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Welcome to our Christmas 2004 DXTuner newsletter. The BIG news this season at DXTuners is our Live Transceiver in southern Sweden. Kelly has set up a live ham rig with transmitting and receiving capability. Use of this site will be for licensed ham or amateur radio operators only. The rig is an Icom-718 transceiver, using 80/40/20/15/10 meter loop antenna, putting out 100 watts. Lots more info on the Live Transceiver is at our webpage: Our link is as usual http://www.dxtuners.com Now for other radio site news: Broome: An EWE super antenna, pointing due east to Oceania and South America (long-path to Africa) will be installed here very soon. This will be temporarily hooked up to the current Icom PCR-1000 along with the discone. Later Kai plans to bring another rig online for a new Broome super DX site. Broome is very near Indonesia, and a favorite already with many of our members. Hungary: New Radio site. The receiver used is the Icom PCR-1000, with an x-dipole for an antenna. And, as a bonus, the site-op plans to set up an additional site soon, Hungary FM DX. North Devon: This FM DX site will soon be using a Triax 8-element pointed at Ireland. The Icom R-10 and an FM-dipole antenna are currently in use. We are told that when skip is good sometimes you can hear Spain from here. New Orleans: Site-op here is working on a rotator project for a Super FM site. Southern Louisiana is a hot-spot for long-distance tropo FM skip. Chicago 2: A new PCR-1000 is going to be launched on another location in Wheaton Illinois. More info on this upcoming node later. Pennsylvania: Another new planned site is central Pennsylvania, USA with Icom 718 or TenTec RX-320. East Taunton, Massachusetts (MA): Planned new rig TS-570D. We have not yet developed the driver for this rig yet, but will be in the near future. Kennett, Missouri: Planned PCR-1000. DX Beacon/LW- Sweden- This is a test project, and preliminary tests on the new antenna are very encouraging.The NDB Beacon DX-Tuner is now up and operational with an Inverted L + 10:1 balun. DXTuners would appreciate input on this project, including antennas. Please keep in mind that not only can you listen to far-away beacons here, you can also listen to longwave commercial broadcasts. The low stream audio feature is for the DSP filter, very helpful with the beacons, and the medium stream audio works best for longwave broadcasts 153-279 KHz. Demo HF Professional- This receiver site is now using the Icom R-75 with DSP unit connected to a 20 meter quad. This site is a favorite with ham ops. North Europe VHF- This site was formerly Oresund. One reason this one is in the "special" category is the discone antenna is very high, 20 meters. The antenna reaches far on any band, but especially on HF, FM, TV audio etc. London West- Radio here now features a slow stream audio which will be helpful to those members with slower connections. We also have possible upcoming receivers in Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Denmark, as well as the Hungary FM Supersite and New Orleans FM supersite. Kathmandu - This is a very remote site, and the 2 site-ops are working to resolve some technical issues. They ask for our patience while they work to get things fixed. On a serious note, we would like to ask all of our fine members to please ask before tuning the radios, and use the chat box. Please respect other listeners. DXTuners has a worldwide network of close to 60 radio locations, and with only 2 sites offline at time of writing, reliability of radio sites is very good. Our site-ops are upgrading all the time. And now DXTuners has a live ham transceiver. It is fun to imagine what 2005 has in store for our DXTuner listeners. DXTuners would like to wish all of our members a joyful holiday season. Have fun and stay tuned (Brad Wall / Editor via HCDX via SW Bulletin via DXLD) US-SPONSORED HF OVER THE HORIZON RADAR IN SOUTH AMERICA Hola a todos. Efectivamente, en los últimos tiempos se ve un aumento de la actividad OTHR en todas las bandas. Peguntando he obtenido la siguiente información. Parece ser que los militares Norteamericanos han instalado una red de OTHR en algunos países Sudamericanos. A saber: Tres radares fijos en Perú Tres radares fijos en Colombia Varios radares móviles en países de Sudamérica y el Caribe Un radar re-localizable en Puerto Rico Posiblemente dos radares fijos en USA En total serían 17 OTHR cuya función es detectar vuelos de contrabandistas de droga en Sudamérica y Caribe. Creo que esto es lo que nosotros estamos escuchandoL sin embargo hay quienes creen que se trata de una red de ionosondas para el estudio de la propagación. Lo escuchado hasta el momento: Algunas señales son muy fuertes aquí en S.A. y otras son más débiles. Algunas señales tienen CW (—) y otras no. Régimen de PPS (pulsos por segundo) Normalmente de 26, 42 y 53 PPS. A veces también escuchado de 8, 9, 9.5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 20, 21, (26), 31, (42), (53) y 62 PPS. Posiblemente en una transmisión de prueba. También se observa que la frecuencia puede variar en unos pocos Khz. Por ejemplo el OTHR de 22668 también fue escuchado en 22665. Otros OTHR también presentan esta variación de freq. Dispongo de algunas grabaciones interesante para el que esté interesado escucharlas. Para leer: http://www.ciponline.org/facts/radar.htm y en Google se puede encontrar más info. Saludos y buenas escuchas (Tony Paredes - Mar Del Plata - Argentina, @tividade DX Dec 12 via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GEOMAGNETIC INDICES Phil Bytheway - Seattle WA - phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary October 29 2004 through December 15 2004 Tabulated from daily email status Date Flux A K SA Forecast GM Forecast Aurora Index 10/28 130 2 1 no storms no storms 4 29 133 3 1 no storms no storms 2 30 129 8 2 no storms no storms 7 10/31 136 16 2 strong moderate 5 11/ 1 139 10 2 minor minor 4 2 136 7 2 minor minor 5 3 133 6 2 no storms no storms 6 4 136 8 2 moderate minor 6 5 x x x x x x 6 141 3 1 moderate moderate 5 7 129 x 1 moderate moderste 3 8 130 19 5 strong moderate 9 9 124 120 3 extreme moderate 9 10 141 90 7 severe strong 9 11 105 120 5 extreme strong 10 12 95 21 3 moderate moderate 6 13 97 x 2 moderate minor 9 14 96 10 2 minor no storms 5 15 100 10 2 no storms no storms 8 16 106 4 2 no storms no storms 6 17 108 6 2 no storms no storms 7 18 105 8 2 no storms no storms 4 19 104 2 1 no storms no storms 6 20 102 5 2 no storms no storms 8 21 99 17 3 no storms no storms 9 22 101 16 2 minor no storms 6 23 106 11 2 no storms no storms 4 24 107 4 1 no storms no storms 7 25 x x x x x x 26 109 15 2 minor no storms 7 27 111 16 2 no storms no storms 6 28 110 11 2 no storms no storms 10 29 113 15 3 minor no storms 8 11/30 111 17 3 no storms no storms 6 12/ 1 x x x x x x 2 x x x x x x 3 106 4 2 no storms no storms 5 4 101 4 2 minor no storms 3 5 97 1 0 no storms moderate 4 6 96 96 2 no storms no storms 5 7 93 17 3 no storms no storms 8 8 90 15 3 minor no storms 6 9 97 11 3 no storms no storms 7 10 87 8 1 no storms no storms 7 11 85 8 2 no storms no storms 9 12 90 18 9 no storms no storms 9 13 91 29 3 minor no storms 5 14 90 14 1 no storms no storms 4 12/15 89 10 2 no storms no storms 5 (IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to minor storming with isolated high latitude major to severe storming early and late in the summary period. The period began with mostly unsettled to active levels as Earth’s geomagnetic field was under the influence of a geoeffective, high speed coronal hole wind stream. One isolated period of minor storming was observed early on 07 December. By 0900 UTC on the 7th, and through midday on the 11th, mostly quiet to unsettled levels were observed with isolated periods of minor storming at higher latitudes. Thereafter, and through to the end of the summary period, unsettled to minor storming was observed as effects from the 08 December CME arrived. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 15 DECEMBER 2004 - 10 JANUARY 2005 Solar activity is expected to be very low to low through the forecast period. A greater than 10 MeV proton event is not expected. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 18 – 20 December, 23 - 29 December, and 03 - 05 January. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from mostly quiet to active levels with isolated minor storm periods. High speed coronal hole streams are expected to produce occasional storm periods on 17 – 18 December, 22 - 27 December, and 02 – 03 January. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2004 Dec 14 2211 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2004 Dec 14 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2004 Dec 15 90 5 2 2004 Dec 16 85 12 3 2004 Dec 17 85 20 4 2004 Dec 18 85 15 3 2004 Dec 19 85 8 3 2004 Dec 20 95 5 2 2004 Dec 21 100 5 2 2004 Dec 22 100 15 3 2004 Dec 23 95 12 3 2004 Dec 24 95 10 3 2004 Dec 25 90 12 3 2004 Dec 26 90 15 3 2004 Dec 27 85 15 3 2004 Dec 28 85 10 3 2004 Dec 29 90 5 2 2004 Dec 30 95 5 2 2004 Dec 31 95 5 2 2005 Jan 01 90 8 3 2005 Jan 02 90 15 3 2005 Jan 03 80 15 3 2005 Jan 04 85 12 3 2005 Jan 05 85 8 3 2005 Jan 06 80 8 3 2005 Jan 07 80 10 3 2005 Jan 08 80 15 3 2005 Jan 09 80 10 3 2005 Jan 10 80 8 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1257, DXLD) ###