DX LISTENING DIGEST 4-188, December 21, 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 1258: 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 [1257] 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 early UT Thursday]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: WORLD OF RADIO 1258 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1258h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1258.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1258 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1258.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1258.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1258.html [from Thursday] WORLD OF RADIO 1258, mp3 in the true SW sound of 7415 [from UT Thu?]: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_12-22-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_12-22-04.mp3 MUNDO RADIAL, Diciembre-Enero: en WWCR 9985, desde el 24 de diciembre, viernes 2215, martes 2230, miércoles 2200, y: (descargable) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0412.rm (corriente) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0412.ram (texto) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0412.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]. 17720, Salaam Watandar Internews program in Dari/Pashto, much AFG type music observed at 1330-1500 UT, 33333, but audio was a little bit overmodulated. Morning broadcast scheduled at 0130-0300 on 7230 kHz via Al Dhabbaya-UAE (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. UAE, 17720, Internews Radio (SALAAM WATANDAR), David Trilling david.trilling @ internews.org, QSL with full data, via Afghanistan, NO IRC, time of delay 28 days. Language verified Pashto and Dari (JOSÉ HERNANDEZ MADRID, Cartagena-Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 17710, R. Solh: I was listening to this on Dec 15 and was surprised to hear a woman announcer say at 1822, "This is AFB 193 DEHH-ree [phonetic]." Maybe "DEH-ree" is "Dari"? Thoughts? (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** ANGUILLA. There have been plenty of new radio developments in the Caribbean recently. Mostly on FM - and the situation is reflected in the new 2005 edition of the World Radio TV Handbook. Here are some details for the MW situation in the Caribbean [more at ANTIGUA, BERMUDA, DOMINICA, JAMAICA, ST LUCIA, ST VINCENT]: Radio Anguilla left 1505 kHz in November 1999 (as far as I remember) and up till 2003 the station still had plans about reactivating this frequency. These plans have now been given up, and the station has no plans of using medium wave again (Stig Hartvig Nielsen for WRTH 2005, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTIGUA & BARBUDA. The island of Barbuda now has its own radio station. It`s called `Abundant Life Radio` and operates on FM in Barbuda as well as the main island Antigua. The station originally had plans for a medium wave transmitter in Barbuda, but chose satellite instead which – according to station mgr. Clifton François ``is much better``. However he stresses that the station has not fully given up on MW. Caribbean Radio Lighthouse has a new schedule on 1160: 0925-0145 UT. Radio ZDK is still inactive on 1100 kHz (Stig Hartvig Nielsen for WRTH 2005, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. Radio World still exists, heard at 2200 UT December 19 on 11730, but it was another collection of air checks of Caribbean stations, so it could have been recorded at any time, or even be a repeat for all I know (John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** BERMUDA. VSB2 on 1280 kHz is carrying Bible Broadcasting Network 24h a day. The frequency of 1160 kHz is used for special events and otherwise relay BBC World Service. On 1450 kHz is `1450 AM Gold` to be found. Power is 1 kW on these 3 frequencies run by De Fontes Broadcasting Co. Ltd. (Stig Hartvig Nielsen for WRTH 2005, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Cada edição do programa Memória, emitido pela Rádio Bandeirantes, de São Paulo (SP), é uma verdadeira aula da história das comunicações no Brasil. Em 18 de dezembro, Milton Parron conversou com o noticiarista Muíbo César Cury, que trabalha há 52 anos na emissora. Entre outros temas, Muíbo disse que começou, no rádio, bem jovem, na Rádio Clube, de Marília (SP), ao lado de nomes como Doalcei Bueno de Camargo, Omar Cardoso, Raul Brunini, Amaro César, Geraldo Tassinari e Dalmácio Jordão. Na Bandeirantes, Muíbo fez de tudo: radioteatro, policiais e principalmente programas de músicas de raiz sertaneja. Atualmente, pode ser ouvido, ao lado de Luciano Dorin, no Jornal em Três Tempos, a partir de 1800. Em resumo: quem gosta da história do rádio tem encontro marcado com o Memória, aos sábados, às 1330, em 6090, 9645 e 11925. Há uma reprise, nas segundas-feiras universais, às 0100 (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Dec 19 via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. Christian Vision towards Africa heard now daily on 9680 kHz at 1800-2000 UT via Sofia Kostinbrod site. Address in Dar-es- salaam, East Africa given. Similar registration noted for 15650 kHz at 1600-1800 UT in direction of West Africa, but nothing heard here in CEu (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hi Glenn, I noticed in the last couple of weeks that CBC Newsworld has an RCI promo at 9 PM just before the main newscast The National. It's well done and includes a contest with, I believe, 10K in prizes (Vincent Ferme, Ottawa, ON, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. SPECIAL HOLIDAY PROGRAMMING ON RADIO CANADA INTERNATIONAL Courtesy of Steve Lemay via Bill Westenhaver: Tune in to Radio Canada International to hear special programming on short wave, via satellite and on the Internet during the Holidays. RCI’s Montreal Sing-In on Saturday, December 25th: On December 25th, RCI will present the Montreal Christmas Sing-In on short wave, via satellite and on Internet. This year marks the 25th anniversary of this Montreal tradition and the first year that RCI has participated in this event. 15:00 UTC – Broadcast to India via short wave on 5985, 9635, 11730 and 11975 kHz and on RCI-3 (multilingual) 18:00 UTC – Broadcast to sub-Saharan Africa via short wave on 5850, 7185, 9770, 11875 and 15140 kHz and on RCI-3 (multilingual) 21:00 UTC – Broadcast to Europe via short wave on 5850 and 9770 kHz and on RCI-1 (English) 22:00 UTC – Broadcast to the United States via short wave on 9800 kHz in DRM mode During the holidays, RCI will present special programs produced by our national networks CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two. • Alain Maitland`s annual reading of Frederick Forsyth`s The Shepherd will air during As It Happens and can be heard at the following times: December 24th at 22:30 UTC on RCI-1 (English) December 25th at 01:30 UTC on short wave frequencies 6190, 9755 and 9810 kHz to the United States, to Haiti and to Cuba December 25th at 01:30 and 11:00 UTC on RCI-3 (Multilingual) On December 25th, the following special programming will be presented on Radio Canada International: • At 02:00 UTC, a Northern Lights Christmas Eve on RCI-1 (English) • At 05:00 UTC, Holly and Maple on RCI-1 (English) • At 10:00 UTC, After Hours Cool Yule on RCI-1 (English) • At 16:00 UTC, The Messiah on RCI-1 (English) • At 19:00 UTC, Winter Tales on RCI-1 (English) • At 20:00 UTC, I Hear Christmas Music, followed by Vinyl Café`s Christmas Concert will be broadcast on short wave to the United States, to Haiti and to Cuba on 15180 kHz • At 22:00 UTC, Canadian Christmas Voices on RCI-1 (English). • At 23:00 UTC, a Roots & Wings Christmas on RCI-1 (English). On December 26th, the following special programming will be presented on Radio Canada International: • At 00:00 UTC, a Roots & Wings Christmas will broadcast on short wave to Asia and to China on 9880 kHz. • At 00:00 UTC, Joy to the World on RCI-1 (English) • At 01:00 UTC Joy to the World on RCI-3 (Multilingual) and on short wave to the United States, to the Caribbean, to Mexico and to South America on 6190, 9755 and 9810 kHz • At 02:00 UTC, Pearls of Christmas on RCI-1 (English) • At 05:00 UTC, Holly and Maple on RCI-1 (English) • At 05:00 UTC, the Montreal Sing-In on RCI-3 (Multilingual) • At 09:00 UTC, a Candlelight Wassail on RCI-1 (English) and at 11:00 UTC on RCI-3 (Multilingual) • At 12:00 UTC, a Candlelight Wassail will be heard on short wave to China and to Asia on 9670 and 11730 kHz • At 14:00 UTC, the Montreal Sing-In on RCI-1 (English) • At 21:00 UTC, La Grande Fête – 400 Years of l’Acadie will be broadcast on short wave to the United States, to Haiti and to Cuba on 15180 kHz On January 1st, the following special programming will be presented on Radio Canada International: • At 01:00 UTC, In with the New: New Year’s Eve with Radio 3 on RCI-1 (English) • At 19:00 UTC, 50 Tracks will be broadcast on short wave to the United States, to Haiti and to Cuba on 15180 kHz On January 2nd, the following special programming will be presented on Radio Canada International: • At 06:00 UTC, 50 Tracks on RCI-1 (English) (via Richard Cuff, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Newest Edition: KVTO - Sound of Hope B04 1600-1700 11765 kHz Taipei 100 kW 2200-2300 9635 kHz Taipei 100 kW 2300-2400 7310 kHz Irkutsk(?) (Eric Zhou, China, Dec 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) KVTO?? ** CHINA [non]. VT Communications, part of VT Group plc has signed a significant broadcast contract with China Radio International (CRI) to deliver nine hours of daily programming into Southern Africa, Mexico and Brazil, providing CRI with the network coverage they require for new services. VT Communications are able to provide CRI with the additional network coverage required by utilising its strategic relationships with other international broadcasters. Under the terms of the agreement VT Communications will deliver English and Chinese programming into Southern Africa, English and Portuguese into South America and Spanish programming into Mexico and Central America [see below, wb.]. CRI`s language programming will be delivered via satellite to the tx sites. The award of this one year contract reflects VT Communications commitment to developing high quality end to end solutions for complex sce delivery for customers. It also underpins their increasing cooperation with other international broadcasting partners. Mr Xia Jixuan, CRIs Deputy Director General speaks highly of the project and commented: This contract with VTC will ensure stronger, clearer signals and a better service for CRIs listeners. VTC`s Managing Director, Doug Umbers commented: We are proud to announce our first services for CRI, a very prestigious customer. We look forward to building on this initial contract and developing a broader relationship with CRI (via Mike Barraclough, Dec 20, dxldyg via DXLD) Refers to Santiago, Bonaire, Meyerton relays (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. B-04 China Radio International via Santiago (SGO) [CHILE]: 2100-2157 on 11720 100 kW / 045 deg Portuguese 1100-1157 on 17625 100 kW / 045 deg Portuguese 1200-1257 on 17625 100 kW / 045 deg Chinese 1300-1357 on 17625 100 kW / 045 deg English B-04 for China Radio International via Urumchi (URU): 1800-1857 on 6010 500 kW / 308 deg Chaozhou 1600-1757 on 6040 500 kW / 308 deg Russian 1900-1957 on 6145 500 kW / 308 deg Romanian 1500-1557 on 6165 500 kW / 258 deg Persian 1600-1657 on 6165 500 kW / 270 deg Turkish 1500-1557 on 6180 500 kW / 308 deg Russian 1500-1557 on 7115 500 kW / 212 deg Hindi 1730-1827 on 7120 500 kW / 308 deg Chinese 2130-2157 on 7120 500 kW / 308 deg Hungarian 2200-2257 on 7120 500 kW / 308 deg Spanish 1900-1957 on 7150 500 kW / 308 deg Czech 2000-2057 on 7150 500 kW / 308 deg Polish 1500-1557 on 7160 500 kW / 212 deg English 1730-1827 on 7160 500 kW / 270 deg Chinese 2000-2027 on 7180 500 kW / 308 deg Serbian 1800-1857 on 7190 500 kW / 308 deg Russian 2030-2227 on 7200 500 kW / 308 deg French 1300-1357 on 7265 500 kW / 212 deg Hindi 1600-1757 on 7265 500 kW / 308 deg Russian 1830-1857 on 7265 500 kW / 308 deg Bulgarian 1900-1927 on 7265 500 kW / 308 deg Albanian 1930-2027 on 7265 500 kW / 308 deg Esperanto 2030-2127 on 7265 500 kW / 308 deg Italian 0000-0157 on 7345 500 kW / 308 deg English 1830-2027 on 7350 500 kW / 270 deg French 0300-0357 on 9590 500 kW / 308 deg Chinese 1800-1957 on 9615 500 kW / 308 deg German 1800-1857 on 9670 500 kW / 258 deg Persian 1730-1827 on 9685 500 kW / 308 deg Chinese 1600-1657 on 9690 500 kW / 212 deg Hindi 2100-2157 on 9725 500 kW / 270 deg Arabic 1930-2027 on 9745 500 kW / 308 deg Esperanto 1600-1657 on 9770 500 kW / 212 deg Hakka 1700-1757 on 9770 500 kW / 212 deg Cantonese 1400-1457 on 9795 500 kW / 308 deg English 1700-1757 on 9795 500 kW / 308 deg Russian 2000-2157 on 9855 500 kW / 308 deg English 1900-1927 on 9860 500 kW / 308 deg Hungaraian 1400-1457 on 11765 500 kW / 212 deg English 1200-1357 on 13790 500 kW / 308 deg English 0600-0757 on 15245 500 kW / 308 deg German 0600-0757 on 17720 500 kW / 308 deg German B-04 China Radio International via Qiqighar (QIQ): 1700-2057 on 6100 500 kW / 304 deg English (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 20 via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. Re 4-187: Hi Glenn, unfortunately 6105 was not heard in Italy last year, that time Cerveglieri said he listened to "reactivated" R. Universidad de Costa Rica when he was in Honduras. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!! (Roberto Scaglione, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. Re 4-187: TIRWR was back on 9725 already around 2230 UT check Dec 19 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA [and non]. Remembering what's important this holiday season --- An E-post from Radio For Peace International By James Latham, General Manager Many of you remember the almost roller coaster-like ups and downs of our international voice since we debuted in 1987. People have often asked, ``How do you cope with such difficulties?``, and ``Have you ever wanted to give up?`` Usually I respond with something like ``Well it has not been easy at times but....`` then insert the positive actions taking place at the station. To answer that question, yes there was a time when it seemed that giving up might not be such a bad idea. Let me take you back. . . The year was 1997. The station was ten years old and had been well supported by listeners and grant donations. We had just finished the construction of two new high-powered shortwave transmitters and times were good. At that point, my family and I were living in Ciudad Colón. Across the street was a good-hearted Costa Rican family of very modest means. The husband made a living doing some construction work when available, but what put food on their table was the milk cows. Every day, with a smile on his face, the father would head miles away to the countryside where he owned a few milk cows. He had no car so he would walk part of the way and take a bus the other half, returning hours later with 3 or 4 gallons of milk to sell to his neighbors. They were a hard-working, proud family that never asked for help and always lived life to its fullest. They exemplified the Costa Rica way of life with its ``Pura Vida`` (Pure Life) philosophy. We started to socialize with our new neighbors, or rather my kids did, as they had three daughters and naturally my own three daughters were keen to meet new friends (particularly Amelia Rose my youngest who was four and bilingual). For Amelia, the family across the street became her adopted Aunt and Uncle and the surrogate family for Mom and Dad who were always so busy with that radio station. A few days before Christmas that year, Amelia informed us that Aunt and Uncle didn`t have a tree nor gifts for Christmas. This was a sobering thought for a four-year-old. Times were good for us and we hatched a plot. Knowing that the family would not accept help, we bought extra presents for Aunt and Uncle and their kids, wrapped them up, and late Christmas night placed them on their porch without tags informing as to who sent the gifts. An extra feeling of good cheer was with us that year knowing that we had included other members into our family. I`ll return to the family across the street in a moment. The next year the station took a downturn when one of our major benefactors announced that they did not have the funds to continue supporting the station. Things started getting difficult, as this donation was 75 percent of our budget. The staff rallied and took cuts in pay and sometimes we went for months without it. We kept the station on the air, working for better days. It was at this time that I had my doubts about being able to continue on. Then one day, I was picking up some parts for the station in an area I didn`t know very well. As I was driving along, I started thinking about my financial condition. The 10-year-old car I was driving had four bald tires and no spare, in my pocket was a total of 100 Colones (about 75 cents), I had no credit card or cell phone and the cars gas gage was on empty. I remember thinking I had never seen the needle go that far into the red before. Adding to the gloom was a wild rain and lightning storm. Inside the car things were not going so well either as I was drowning in self-pity. How did I get into this situation? Why didn`t I just stick to my career back home in Oregon? Doubts filled my head, making it hard to focus on the road. I decided I would have to take a shortcut or run out of gas. Into new territory I drove, still feeling depressed by what was happening and that I had so little control over it all. I became hopelessly lost. With the poor visibility, torrential rain and now driving in darkness, I had wandered into an unfamiliar barrio. Streetlights seemed to be missing here and the only sights I could see in the darkness came when lightning shot across the sky. When I could see my surroundings, the view was not a pleasant one. High-tension power cables drooped 20 feet over the tops of plywood and tin shanties that seemed to go on forever into the darkness on streets now made of mud. The storm`s water carried down the dangerously sloping roads raw sewage from thousands of simple homes clustered together. Most of the shacks seemed to be without lights. When the lightning flickered I could see a vast number of people making their way through the maze of muddy streets -- one or two parked cars seemed to be the only other occupants. From my view taken in lightning flashes, it seemed I had entered hell. I stopped and rolled my window down and asked a man walking by where I was and how do I get out of there. He leaned into the car`s open window so I could hear over the crashing thunder and in broken English calmly said that I was in La Carpio and that there was only one way out, that being the way I had come in, pointing in the direction I had come from. I thanked him and started turning the car around remembering the dwindling gas. I thought ``La Carpio, the Nicaraguan squatters camp.`` I had heard some talk of the dangers of La Carpio, how one shouldn`t enter there even in full light of day. Bald tires slid around on the muddy road as I attempted to turn around, watchful not to hit the many drenched Nicaraguans making their way through the crowded street. The car became stuck for a moment. As it did, I looked up to see if I could pull forward and was struck with a view that has been burned into my memory. Directly in front of me was a home aglow from several candles. At first I thought the door to the simple plywood house was open but I was mistaken -- the home had only three sides -- the missing wall was facing me. Inside was an elderly woman preparing the family dinner, her house glowing with candlelight in the darkness -- the only real light in the whole area. I remember in exacting detail the woman`s look. She had a big smile on her face as she intently stirred the food inside the bowl. I stopped moving the car for a second, taking in the epiphany of the view before me. Here was this immigrant Nicaraguan women, living in a three-sided house precariously setting on a muddy slope in the middle of a squatters camp virtually holding onto the lowest rung of the social economic ladder and yet holding on to life with courage and determination as she cooked her family`s dinner with a satisfying smile. As I drove out of the camp that night I was brought back again and again to that view, thinking of the woman`s smile and about my own doubts. I considered what I had in life and what I had been given, about the stranger who stopped to give me directions in the middle of the downpour and the people holding on to life in La Carpio. That night as I drove home, I was humbled by the thought of an immigrant woman cooking a meal. I had been given a gift of remembering why we struggle to give a voice to the world. For Christmas that year we told the kids it would be a very simple affair due to our family`s economic situation. No presents or trees were planned but a nice dinner was in the works. In the morning we woke to find presents on our porch, nice gifts mostly handmade practical things like clothes for the kids and a shirt for me. There was no tag that told who sent them. A few months after my visit to La Carpio I returned to look up the three-sided house. I brought along some donated building materials, some supplies that had been left over from the construction of the radio station and a few other simple items needed for everyday life. I wanted to thank the people of La Carpio for reminding me what was important in the world. 2005 is the year RFPI will take back to the shortwave airwaves. If what is important in your world is RFPI, your support is needed now. Please help us keep Peace Journalism alive and well with a donation. Check the RFPI web site and click on the PayPal icon to give an electronic donation. Or send check or money order to: RFPI Takes To the Air PO Box 3165 Newberg, Oregon 97132-5165, USA As we start the New Year, a big thank you goes out to all who stood by the dream and supported Peace Journalism at RFPI. Happy Holidays from the staff of RFPI (James Latham, Rfpi-announce mailing list via DXLD) ** CROATIA [non]. CROÁCIA via ALEMANHA – Há dois equívocos dos responsáveis pela transmissão, em espanhol, da Voz da Croácia para a América do Sul: 1) a faixa de 41 metros não é muito monitorada pelos ouvintes na América Latina. Tanto é assim que alguns receptores não possuem esta faixa. 2) Entre 2330 e 2400, em 7285 kHz, a emissora sofre fortes interferências de outra emissão, provavelmente de emissora asiática, tornando ininteligível para o ouvinte o que vai ao ar (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Dec 19 via DXLD) and 3) It`s a hamband, in the western hemisphere (gh) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. USA: RADIO STATION TO CONTINUE USE OF BUILDING UP TO 2007 | Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Prague, 20 December: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), will probably use the building of the former Czechoslovak parliament in the centre of Prague till the end of 2007, after which it is expected to move to another building, according to a Finance Ministry's proposal. The proposal extending the lease contract between RFE/RL and the Czech state is to be discussed by the Czech government on Wednesday [22 December]. It has not yet been decided where precisely the radio station will be located after 2007. "Several locations within Prague are under discussion," RFE/RL spokeswoman Anna Rausova told CTK, adding that it was not yet known when the final decision on the new location would be made. The station, financed by the USA, broadcasts in several languages to countries in which the freedom of the press is not observed. Its resettlement from the centre of Prague has started to be discussed following terrorist attacks on the USA in September 2001. Since that time, increased security measures around the building have been in force, and it was even guarded by several armoured vehicles for some time. "The US government is looking for a secure location for the RFE/RL headquarters and it has asked through its embassy in Prague to extend the lease contract until the time when its move to another building is completed," the Finance Ministry says in its proposal. The contract on the lease of the former Federal Assembly (Czechoslovak parliament) building to the station was signed in 1994 for five years with the possibility of its extension till the end of this year. Although the rent is a symbolic one crown per day [one US dollar equals 22.74 crowns], the station is covering the operational and repair costs of the building, Finance Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said at the end of November during question time in the Chamber of Deputies. The new contract will not change these conditions. The operation costs about 54 million crowns [2m US dollars] a year. According to Sobotka, RFE/RL has accomplished further repairs of the building, modernizing, for instance, toilets, lifts and doors which was outside the framework of the lease contract. Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1546 gmt 20 Dec 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. Nuevas QSL de RADIO PRAHA # 2005 -- Radio Praga ha anunciado la nueva serie de QSL para 2005. Podéis ver las reproducciones de las ocho nuevas QSL sobre ciudades balneario checas en: http://www.radio.cz/es/html/qsl2005.html '73 (Eduard Boada I Aragonés, Spain, Dec 20, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** DOMINICA. Voice of Life – run be Gospel Broadcasting Corporation – stopped broadcasting on 740 kHz in the spring of 2004. On September 4th 2004, Voice of Life also left their FM frequencies and closed down the entire station after 28 years of operation (Stig Hartvig Nielsen for WRTH 2005, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [and non]. ECUADOR/AUSTRALIA. HCJB Japanese Xmas Special via Ecuador and Australia, details below. HCJB Christmas Special. Dear radio friends, Mr. Ozaki of HCJB Japanese Program informed us the special transmission in Japanese language will be made for this Christmas. Time in UTC: December 24, 2200-2300 17640 kHz from Ecuador with 250 kW TX. December 25, 0000-0100 15525 kHz from Australia with 100 kW TX. Reception report will be verified by specially designed QSL card. Your report should be sent to transmitted country with 1 IRC. Ecuador: HCJB, Casilla 17-17-691, Quito, Ecuador Australia: HCJB, P.O. Box 691, Melbourne, Vic., Australia 3001. Wishing you good DXing and Merry Christmas (Toshi Ohtake, Japan, Japan Short Wave Club via DXplorer Dec 20 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** ERITREA [non]. 13690, Voice of Eritrean People [Ezi Demtsi Hazbi Eritrea] via Rampisham noted in Tigre language and Eritrean music heard at 1735 UT. 23222, due of dead zone at this wintertime propagation. Scheduled 1730-1830 UT Suns only? (Wolfgang Büschel, BC- DX Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. RUSSIA, 15675, V. of Liberty Eritrea, from Samara site, scheduled 0600-0700 UT noted today playing typical EAf music at 0610 UT, language is Tigrinya. 34433 (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA [nons]. U A E. 21460 UNMEE Al Dhabbaya noted in progress at 0910 UT. UN mission radio to ETH/ERI, Suns only 0900-1000, vernacular talks in [presumed] Oromo, Amharic, and Tigrinya. 34333. Similar transmission on Tues only DHA 21550 kHz at 1030-1130 (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. At 0830 UT Radio Orient, Nice 1350 kHz (?10 kW) again on equal level like France 603 792 1206, and 1242 kHz. I don't believe that low power registration entry for 1350 kHz. At least 150 kW according to signal level in Southern Germany. Olle, is that coming from RMC Fontbonne mountain site now? Cape Antibes site closed some two years ago. (wb, BC-DX Dec 19) Yes, Fontbonne, just like 1557. See http://perso.wanadoo.fr/tvignaud/galerie/am/06fontbonne.htm with pictures of the new mediumwave antenna there under construction. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, BC-DX Dec 19 [?antenna combination 1350/1557 kHz? wb.] (all BC-DX via DXLD) ** GABON. 4777, R. Gabon, carrier popped on at 0528 Dec 18 followed at 0530 by pretty inauspicious start of prgmg as man just started some animated talk, no mx, no ID, just talk. Then they went into a prgm of upbeat African vocals hosted by hearty-voiced man who made occasional mentions of Gabon. Animated talk from 0559, ments. of Gabon and "democracie," signal deteriorating. Signal was pretty good overall, though not as good as armchair level hrd to 2300* Dec 11 (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Zehlendorf 693 is tonight on with Voice of Russia in DRM simulcast mode. I can confirm it now at 2210 as audible in ordinary AM reception mode. The program feed is presumably the same than on 603, but that's impossible to verify from my location. See http://forum.myphorum.de/read.php?f=8773&i=156258&t=156258 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Zehlendorf 693 is still on with Voice of Russia, apparently // 603. Nothing had been reported about the purpose of this test so far, or is it already kind of a regular service? During the evening I checked with ordinary AM outlets and found 693 to have a delay of not less than 13 seconds. A quite distinctive hiss from the digital component is present and the audio itself sounds quite muffled, resulting in a really poorish appearance, especially when comparing with at times // Bolshakovo 1215 and its rich, full sound (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 693 Voice of Russia Zehlendorf near Berlin (Oranienburg Rehmate) on simulcast DRM/AM this morning, heard even here in Stuttgart, 700 kilometers south of Zehlendorf around 0700-1000 UT. \\ VOR 1323 Wachenbrunn. Unfortunately VOR low power transmission on 603 kHz for greater Berlin area can't be heard here at this long distance. With an ordinary SONY ICF 2010 receiver I noted disturbed audio when AM reception mode used, containing a whistle tone. BUT when I switch to SSB mode, I can hear VOR in LSB mode loud and clear, but nothing is heard on USB mode. Thanks Kai Ludwig reported that transmission yesterday night. Telefunken transmitter includes DRM-performing Modulator Computer, i.e. three working modes AM, AM/DRM-Simulcast, and DRM mode (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 21, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. Special shortwave programmes of Hamburger Lokalradio --- Hamburger Lokalradio announces additional shortwave transmissions as follows: On Christmas Day (Dec 25) and New Years Day (Jan 1) 1000-1600 on 5925 via Jülich; on Jan 2 1300-1500 on 9290 via Riga-Ulbroka. The transmission via Ulbroka will be probably the first 9290 kHz transmission from a broadcaster not belonging to the anorak scene... -----Original Message----- Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 00:50:03 +0100 Subject: [A-DX] kommende Kurzwellensendungen des Hamburger Lokalradios Am kommenden Samstag, 25.12.04 senden wir von 11.00 bis 17.00 Uhr MEZ auf der Kurzwelle 5925 KHz. Diese Frequenz benutzt das HLR auch am Samstag, 1. Januar 2005 zur gleichen Zeit. Auch dann gibt es eine sechstündige Sondersendung. Ausgestrahlt werden diese Sendungen über T-Systems in Jülich mit einer Sendeleistung von 100 kW. Alle Berichte werden mit einer Sonder-QSL- Karte bestätigt, wenn Rückporto beigefügt wird. Ein weiteres Testprogramm läuft über Riga auf KW 9290 KHz am Sonntag, 2. Januar 2005 von 14.00 bis 16.00 Uhr MEZ. Auch über diese Sendung sind Empfangsberichte erwünscht. Das HLR erreicht man per Post unter Hamburger Lokalradio - Kulturzemtrum LOLA in D 21031 Hamburg E-Mail: redaktion @ hamburger-lokalradio.de Bitte an alle DX Zeitschriften weiterleiten, soweit bekannt. Lieben Gruß Michael Das Hamburger Lokalradio sendet seit November 2004 jeden Samstag von 11:00 bis 12:00 Uhr auf 6045 KHz, also auf Kurzwelle. Bis bald! (Carsten Albrecht, A-DX via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) I.e.: SW transmissions of "Hamburg Local Radio". 5925 kHz JUL-D 100 kW Sat Dec 25th 2004 1000-1600 UT. 5925 kHz JUL-D 100 kW Sat Jan 1st 2005 1000-1600 UT. 9290 kHz ULB-LVA 100 kW Sun Jan 2nd 2005 1300-1500 UT. 6045 kHz JUL-D 100 kW every Sat 1000-1100 UT. (via Wolfgang Büschel, HCDX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. The English Service has no Christmas specials as such this year (because of the way Christmas falls). Of course the normal weekend programmes will all have seasonal themes. Thanks again as always for your interest and help in publicising our programmes though, All the best, Dr. Irene Quaile-Kersken Head of Magazine Programming Leiterin der Magazin-Redaktion DW-Radio English Service Kurt Schumacher-Str. 3, 53113 Bonn Tel: 0228 429 4571 Fax: 0228 429 4556 http://www.dw-world.de/english (via Rich Cuff, PA, DXLD) ** GREENLAND. Although it apparently never has been reported outside Greenland, KNR continues to use short wave from Tasiilaq on the Greenlandic east coast. The frequency is 3815 kHz (USB) and the current schedule is: 1500-1615 and 2100-2215 UT. The power is 200 W and the aerial used in an omni-directional cage (Stig Hartvig Nielsen for WRTH 2005, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3249.68, R. Luz y Vida, opening at *1104 Dec 16, ID with frequencies (AM, SW and I thought FM), then long NA and into religious program. Audio very muddy at first, then improved a bit. Also pretty good at 0346 Dec 18 with Spanish ID, light religious vocals, closing announcement with frequency at 0356, then long Honduras NA to 0401 close. Better at *1104 Dec 18 with same opening as Dec 16 and into a program of English preaching translated into Spanish; still there at 1200. And so-so in English at 0325 Dec 19, preaching, Xmas carols, full "classic Central American missionary station ID in English" by Don Moore at 0353, giving SW and MW frequencies, station name as "HRPC, R. Light & Life" and inviting reports to P. O. Box 303, San Pedro Sula. Prgmng ended 0357+, carrier went off at 0359 (Jerry Berg, MA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** HUNGARY. 20/12/04, 1905 UT, 7950 kHz, R. Budapest, 2 x 3975 (Tim Bucknall, UK, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 4925, RRI Jambi very regular. Started as extended coverage for Indo evenings, but didn't stop with end of Ramadan. Heard it yesterday. Hold on a moment. It is 1210 UT, I'll check it. Yes, it`s up and running. 1300 UT nice time check Pukul Dua Puloh Waktu Indonesia Barat, into Radio Business, and still on at 1315 UT (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, 4S7VK, DXplorer Dec 15 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. 2004 Clandestine Activity Survey Mathias Kropf December 19, 2004 Maehr.-Schoenberger-Str. 9, 36251 Bad Hersfeld, Germany Fax +49 6621 965830 Press-Release During the year 2004 the activity of political clandestine stations broadcasting on shortwave has decreased by 28.5 % to 1229 Weekly Broadcasting Hours (WBHs). This is the lowest level of activity since 1999 and the second lowest ever since this survey has first been compiled in 1986. Activity by clandestine stations on the Asian continent has decreased by 35 % or 495 WBHs to now 920 WBHs with the five most active target areas (countries) all in a declining trend. Clandestine activity to target areas on the American, African and Oceanian continents has remained more or less unchanged from last year at 166, 127 and 16 WBHs respectively. The three most active target areas worldwide remain exactly in the same ranking as one year ago: Iraq with 332 WBHs (-416 when compared with one year ago), North Korea with 168 (-49) WBHs and Afghanistan with 165 (-24) WBHs. Despite the declining trend that is obvious in all of the figures above, it should also be noted that the number of different target areas active worldwide has increased by three to 24. So, the trend towards more diverse, but also mostly low-budget operations, is apparently still intact, and has been only temporarily overshadowed by operations on the Afghanistan/Iraq scenes (via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel Shortwave Update --- Here is an update regarding the Israel Radio shortwave situation. The IBA has ruled that that the Director General did not have the authority on his own to end shortwave transmission. At a meeting it was decided to continue SW for one more quarter year (hence the anomaly of March 31 as the persons involved do not know about HF frequency schedules). During these weeks the matter of SW transmission will be referred to a meeting of the Members of the Broadcasting Authority. So, SW will continue unchanged for the next 3 months. The two antennas recently damaged in a storm will be repaired this week. The 2000 UT transmission on 6280 kHz has been affected and instead of a curtain antenna at 315 degrees (to Paris, London, New York) it has been on a low gain Rhombic at 324 degrees (Scandinavia). (Doni Rosenzweig, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAMAICA. RJR94 now on reduced power: 1.5 kW on 550, 580, 700 and 770 kHz – while 720 kHz remains on full power 10 kW. All transmitters are on the air 24 hours a day (Stig Hartvig Nielsen for WRTH 2005, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. NHK AIRS SHOW AIMED AT RESTORING PUBLIC TRUST --- Program responds to recent scandals, includes rare appearance by broadcaster's president --- The Japan Times Monday, December 20, 2004 NHK broadcast a special show Sunday night aimed at restoring public trust following a series of embezzlement scandals involving its employees. NHK President Katsuji Ebisawa appeared live on the program, which aired from 9 p.m. to 11:15 p.m., to respond to criticism and comments from viewers about the public broadcaster's role and fee system, as well as other issues. "I would like to reiterate my sincere apologies for damaging public trust" in the broadcaster, Ebisawa said at the start of the program. "I am involved in this matter with the resolve to start over from scratch," he said, adding he would like to have viewers' comments reflected in ongoing reforms of NHK. It is rare for NHK's president to appear on a program to respond directly to viewers. Although many viewers said one reason for the public anger toward NHK was none of its top executives have resigned to take responsibility for the scandals, Ebisawa indicated that he would remain at the helm for the time being. "I would like to make a decision (on the issue of resignation) after first making sure that the reforms are all firmly on course," he said. The show also featured a debate moderated by economist Naoki Tanaka with participants such as journalist Shuntaro Torigoe and Kiyoshi Sasamori, president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo. As of the end of November, viewers in about 113,000 households nationwide had refused to pay their fees, at least for the time being, as a result of the scandals, according to NHK officials. NHK asks each household with a color TV to pay monthly fees of some 1,400 yen for a general contract and around 2,300 yen for a satellite broadcasting contract to support its operations. Residents are obliged by law to pay the fee, but there is no punishment for violators. The Japan Broadcasting Workers Union, made up of about 8,500 NHK employees, had demanded that NHK broadcast a special program to address public concerns and anger over the scandals. In one of the scandals, a former producer was arrested earlier this month for allegedly conspiring with the head of an entertaining company to defraud the broadcaster out of 2.7 million yen, which he allegedly used to cover personal expenses such as overseas trips (via Asia-Pacific Media Network via Dan Say, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Frequency changes for Voice of Korea: 1500-1755 in Ar/En/Sp NF 9990.1* ex 9975.1 to ME 1500-1755 in Ar/En/Sp NF 11545.1, ex 11535.1 to NAf * strong co-channel Radio Cairo in Albanian from 1600 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 20 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Close-down time for Frontline Soldiers Radio on 3025.5 kHz is approx. +/- 1030 UT sign-off (Roland Schulze, Philippines via Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 15 via DXLD) ** LIBYA. I received a registered package from "The Great Socialist People Libyan Arab Jamahira, Voice of Africa." The package contained a brief note thanking me for my letter welcoming "opinions and contributions." There was a reception report form and a CD from the General People's Committee for Tourism. The CD was a rather amateurish affair and there appears to be some compatibility problems. The letter was signed by someone at Researches and Studies Section, Listeners Affairs (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet Dec 19 via DXLD) Received, via Registered Mail, a CD from Voice of Africa, entitled "Welcome to Libya," from the General People's Committee for Tourism. CD player is down so have not played it yet, but the package is worthwhile for the stamps, if nothing else. The envelope was plastered with 'em. Return address on envelope is P. O. Box 4677 or P. O. Box 4396, Tripoli (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer Dec 16 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** LUXEMBOURG. DRM on 1440 kHz. Just had a phone call from David Duckworth in Salisbury to say that he is hearing DRM noise on 1440 kHz from RTL this morning. Also confirmed here from tune-in at 1030 UT. It`s quite weak at the moment so not causing too much interference to adjacent channels, but I suspect this could be a problem when the skywave signal starts to increase (Dave Kenny, UK, BDXC-UK Dec 20 via DXLD) Heard tests on 1440 kHz during nighttime last week. This morning I intercepted RTL 1440 with a 2 kHz tone at 0200. At 0205 the signal switched to digital and this went on until 0220, when there was a 5 min break, apparently without carrier, before the digital signal continued. No RTL ID, but who else could it be? So it seems the new TRAM transmitter is already in place and testing. The worst situation now would be if the owners decide to fill hitherto unused night hours with DRM (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Dec 18 via DXLD) I have tuned to 1440 from time to time today, including such times as 0200, 0330, and not heard any DRM. Obviously they are still in a testing stage, but considering their activities on 49 mb I fear the worst for 1440, that is DRM at all times when not needed for AM (Olle Alm, Sweden, BC-DX Dec 20 via DXLD) Telefunken transmitter deliveries. Telefunken will provide BCE's Marnach site (1440 kHz) with a new TRAM/P 600 unit, consisting of two 300 kW. The system can be easily switched between DRM and AM operation. Press release (in German): http://www.telefunken-sendersysteme.de/News_Presse/RTL_digital_MW/rtl_digital_mw.html Meanwhile WRN stated on enquiry that for the time being no changes for the AM transmissions of CRI on 1440 are planned (Kai Ludwig, Germany, BC-DX Nov 29 via DXLD) Telefunken transmitter includes DRM-performing Modulator Computer, i.e. three working modes AM, AM/DRM-Simulcast, and DRM mode (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 20 via DXLD)) Today Dec 20th, during daytime was delivery check on RTL 1440 kHz, active in DRM mode for few hours. DRM mode power is 240 kW (Klaus Schneider, Germany, A-DX Dec 20 via BC-DX via DXLD) Herr Junk[Jung?] vom BCE schrieb mir vor wenigen Tagen zur Ausstattung in Marnach dieses: Hier stehen jetzt 2 Telefunken-Pantel-Sender mit jeweils 600 kW, sowie 2 NEUE Telefunken TRAM-Sender mit je 300 kW. Die maximale HF-Leistung zur Antenne betraegt 1200 kW. Die Antennenkonfiguration hat sich nicht geaendert (Peter Beck, Germany, BC-DX Dec 20 via DXLD) Today the new TRAM transmitters at Marnach were inspected by BCE. For this purpose 1440 was during the late morning run in DRM (240 kW) for several hours. Right now (1630) 1440 is in AM again, probably again through one of the old S4006 units, at least I note no change in audio/modulation characteristics (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Hallo, heute war Senderabnahme bei RTL. Die 1440 kHz war mehrere Stunden in DRM aktiv. Die Sendeleistung betrug 240 kW. 73, Klaus Schneider, Germany, Dec 20, A-DX via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) ** MYANMAR. Defense Forces Broadcasting Unit, Taunggyi, Myanmar (5770 kHz) sent me an E-mail QSL after 75 days for my S-mail reception report. They attached the jpeg file of my Prepared Form QSL Card, filled and completed in English. There is a signature on the card, but I cannot read the exact name of the singer. Probably from a military official of the broadcasting unit. The message says, ``I appreciate your exact study. Please keep in touch again. Warmly welcome your visit our country.`` The mail was from: sny @ mandalay.net.mm (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ST. LUCIA. Radio St. Lucia is inactive on 660 kHz (Stig Hartvig Nielsen for WRTH 2005, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ST. VINCENT. NBC Radio stopped broadcasting on 705 kHz in April 2002 – but is now planning to return to medium wave from the beginning of 2005 from a new transmitter site. The frequency will be changed to either 700 or 710 kHz due to the fact that many receivers will not tune to a split channel like 705 kHz (Stig Hartvig Nielsen for WRTH 2005, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Logs Dec 19: 1400, 21600, 55534, BS OF THE KINGDOM SAUDI ARABIA, Male speaking in French, alternating with KORANIC chants in Arabic. 1413, 21505, 55524, BS OF THE KINGDOM, SAUDI ARABIA, Soft speaking female in Arabic, Peruvian quena music in the background (Alvin Mirabal, Puerto Rico, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. I was alerted by a DX friend to 17785 around 0945. This should, of course, be ARS in French. But it was broadcasting in Arabic and identifying as Bahrain Radio! There was much talk about other Gulf countries as well as Oman with music in between. I suspect it was one of the Gulf "combined" programmes produced by the various broadcasters in that area. The carrier dropped at 0957 in mid transmission. I had time to check KWT, OMA and UAE but they were not broadcasting it on SW (Noel R. Green, UK, BC-DX Dec 18 via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. PILGRIMAGE BROADCASTING ADDS SERVICES IN BENGALI, PASHTO The Broadcasting Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has launched its seasonal pilgrimage enlightenment broadcasts, the Saudi News Agency SPA reported on 20 December. Programmes of the "Pilgrimage Enlightenment Radio" went on the air on 13 December and will continue until 9 February. Transmissions will be in 10 languages: Arabic, English, French, Persian, Turkish, Hausa, Indonesian, Urdu, Bengali and Pashto. The last two languages are new additions to the service, SPA noted. The report added: "The radio transmits on two mediumwaves [frequencies]: 594 kHz is directed at listeners in Makkah, the pilgrimage sites and Jedda. The other is on 1017 kHz and is directed at listeners in Madinah and its vicinity. It also transmits on two FM waves: one, 94 MHz, covers the entire area where the holy sites are located. The other, 101 MHz, covers Mina and its vicinity. The radio will initially broadcast for 18 hours daily which will be extended to 24 hours a day at the beginning of the month of Dhul Hijjah.] Source: Saudi News Agency SPA, Riyadh, in English 20 Dec 04 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. SOS from Slovakia --- Time may be running out for R. Slovakia International on SW; you may recall that their last reprieve was supposed to expire at yearend. On the Noticias DX list, Julio Martínez reports hearing them again on their Dec 6 broadcast asking for listener support by e-mail to RSI_spanish@slovakradio.sk So presumably the equivalent would be RSI_english@slovakradio.sk The full item in Spanish will be in the next DXLD. If anyone hears anything from RSI about this in English, let us know (Glenn, Dec 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: CIERRE DE RADIO ESLOVAQUIA Estimados amigos y colegas diexistas: Como muy bien sabéis, el futuro de Radio Eslovaquia está en el aire. Después anunciar el cierre de las emisiones en Español para el 1 de mayo, la avalancha de cartas y emails recibidos lograron salvar a esta emisora in extremis y lograr que sus emisiones prosiguieran hasta final de año. Pues bien, el plazo dado se va a cumplir y negros nubarrones se avecinan sobre esta emisora amiga. En el programa de R. Eslovaquia del día 6/12/04 a las 15:30 por los 11.600 KHz. informaron de la delicada situación económica que atraviesa la estación. Según la última intervención del director de la radio pública Sr. Resnik, ante la comisión del parlamento Eslovaco, las pérdidas globales de la radio pública en este último año se acercan a los 3,9 millones de euros. A pesar de que estas pérdidas no corresponden en su totalidad a las transmisiones en onda corta, si ponen en riesgo su futuro. De las tres partidas previstas correspondientes a las subvenciones a la radio, la única que no se ha traspasado corresponde a la radio internacional. Las emisiones exteriores de la República Checa se han convertido en una patata caliente que se van pasando los ministerios de Cultura, Exteriores y Finanzas. El Ministerio de Cultura pide al de Finanzas presupuesto, este responde de que no hay fondos y que tiene que ser el propio Ministerio de cultura el que aporte la partida. El Ministerio de Exteriores dice que no corresponde a sus partidas. El presupuesto de este año para la radio internacional es de 1.350.000 euros, de ellos 750.000 euros corresponden a las emisiones en onda corta. como podemos ver por 750.000 míseros euros, que cualquier ministerio Eslovaco invertirá en gastos de representación, las emisiones exteriores Eslovacas van a ser suprimidas. Este domingo pasado, Radio Eslovaquia volvió a lanzar un SOS, nos dicen que es muy importante que escribamos al director de la emisora Sr. Resnik, lo podemos hacer al email de la redacción española, no importa el idioma, pues ellos lo traducen antes de pasárselo, la dirección es RSI_spanish@slovakradio.sk, también podríamos escribir por correo ordinario, pero creo que sería muy poco efectivo pues a las fechas que estamos las cartas llegarían tarde, por tanto es prioritario mandar emails, cuantos más mejor. Desde el Club S500 os pedimos que escribáis email protestando por el cierre y dando ánimos a todos los componentes de la emisora. No tenemos que esperar a que lo inevitable suceda y luego lamentarnos, ahora estamos aun a tiempo de hacer algo, no dejemos escapar esta oportunidad de evitar que cierren otra emisora de onda corta, ya lo conseguimos en mayo y también lo podemos hacer hoy. Saludos y felices fiestas para todos (Julio Martínez, Club S500, (c) Notici@sDX via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. Radio Galkayo Somalia good level 6980 kHz with Somali talks. ID at 1900, then short Kor`an chant and off, no National Anthem (suppose first they have to get the nation going). Heard 344 on my Moxen 2 El Wire beam for 40m. {Anyone tried a Moxen wire beam for 7 MHz? very good. Will have a recording of Galkayo in my next RKI program (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, 4S7VK, DXplorer Dec 15 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 15285, Channel Africa at 1700, man with news in English about Mozambique, Liberia, and the Congo. Familiar music/theme after news with ID. Sounded better on 15284 (Eric Bryan, WA, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably means there is not enough treble, too much bass in their audio (gh) ** SUDAN [non]. Re: ``R. Peace, southern Sudan, unexpectedly strong, on 4750, 0323-0346+ with English ID at 0345 heard in Michigan; also heard for first time in Sofia 0245-0415; could they have started a relay via a higher-powered transmitter site? (Glenn Hauser-USA, WoR Dec 17)`` Scheduled 0330-0400, 1630-1700, 1900-1930 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Merlin running tests from somewhere (gh) ** THAILAND. Rasom (Bangkok) 1575 patterns --- Glenn, Apropos the discussion about reception of IBB's 1575 kHz facility on very long paths, given the right conditions it's not surprising, but the antenna certainly doesn't have anything like 10 dB gain! IBB's Rasom (near Ayutthaya, ~60 km NNE of Bangkok) antenna operates in three modes: non-DA; a 2 element "bent peanut"; and a three element cardioid. The non-DA is 185 degrees tall, and has a gain of ~2.25 dB over the ITU reference monopole value, a CMF of 300 V. (In Region II terms that is an inverse distance field of 300 mV/m/kW/km.) The "bent-peanut" has maxima at ~ 145 and 355 deg. true, and a gain of about 5.3 dB in those maxima. The cardioid has a maximum at ~45 of slightly less gain, about 5.1 dB. It also has a significant minor lobe "tail" at 225 degrees true, with a gain of close to 0 dB. These figures referenced to the ITU value, of course. The transmitter is a Harris DX-1000 which is operated with controlled carrier at least some of the time, but which has very substantial positive modulation peak capability. The feed system is about to be rebuilt because the original open-wire quasi-coaxial line won't handle the Harris transmitter's ability to produce positive peak modulation well over 100% (Ben Dawson, WA, Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. From Dec 22nd: 0000-0500 5910 (x7440) Mykolaiv 314 N America (caused by unstable propagation near by MUF 8 MHz). 0100-0600 7420 Kharkiv 055 Russia (Tyumen) 0600-0900 7490 Kharkiv 262 W. Europe 0900-1400 15675 (x15620) Kharkiv 277 W Europe (caused by QRM from 15615 "Voice of America"). 1400-1800 7400 Kharkiv 055 Russia (Tyumen) 1800-2200 5840 (x7555) Kharkiv 290 W Europe (caused by QRM from 7557 utility station and 7550 "Radio Farda"). 2200-0100 5840 Kharkiv 290 W.Europe (via Dietrich Hommel, Germany, BC- DX Dec 18 via DXLD) Frequency change for Radio Ukraine International effective Dec. 22: 0000-0500 5910, ex 7440 NAm (En 01-02 & 04-05) otherwise in Ukrainian 0900-1400 15675, ex 15620 WEu (En 12-13) otherwise in Ukrainian 1800-2200 5840, ex 7555 WEu (Ge 18-19 & 21-22) otherwise Ukrainian (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 20 via DXLD) ** U K. H M the Queen's Christmas Message to the Commonwealth -- 10 mins | Sat 25 --- The annual reflection and address from Her Majesty The Queen to the Commonwealth. Produced by David Stead Australasia | Sat 0805 rpt 1505; East Asia | Sat 0805 rpt 1505;South Asia | Sat 1505; East and South Africa | Sat 1505; West Africa | Sat 1505; Middle East | Sat 1505; Europe | Sat 1505; Americas | Sat 1505 (via Rich Cuff, DXLD) ** U K. Some BBC Proms 2004 from last summer are being repeated in late Dec and early Jan. Checking the BBC Radio 3 weekly grids, I find the times to be: Fri Dec 24 1930-2130 Sun Dec 26 1830-2000 Mon Dec 27 2305-2400 Tue Dec 28 2230-2400 Wed Dec 29 1930-2055 Thu Dec 30 1930-2240 Fri Dec 31 1930-2110, 2150-2400 Sun Jan 2 1830-2015 Mon Jan 3 1930-2120, 2300-2400 Tue Jan 4 1930-2130, 2255-2400 Wed Jan 5 1930-2110 Thu Jan 6 1930-2110, 2250-2400 Fri Jan 7 1930-2130, 2130-2330 I have found no single page listing all the content, so check daily listings. Dec 24 will be Humperdinck`s Hansel & Gretel (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Further details of the massive job cuts at the BBC were unveiled on Friday. They come after last week's announcement by director-general Mark Thompson that 1,900 posts would be axed from support services and the factual and learning department. It was revealed most of the first wave of support cuts will come from BBC People - the human resources division. Half of its personnel staff will go - 550 out of 1,100. But 350 of those will be outsourced. More than 540 jobs will go in finance and property, which has a workforce of 1,100. Out of 500 marketing jobs, 119 will be ditched. In policy and legal, 60 out of 120 jobs are to be culled. And in strategy and distribution, 20 jobs have been earmarked out of a total 60 staff. About 65 posts will go from learning, 112 from specialist factual and 230 from documentaries. Individual staff, however, still have to wait until after Christmas to find out if they are to lose their jobs. http://www.waveguide.co.uk/latest/news041217.htm#BBC%20Job%20Cuts (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. GREATER US PUBLIC DIPLOMACY EFFORT URGED IN HORN OF AFRICA Former US Ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn, speaking to faculty and students at the American University of Beirut December 20 on "Islam and Conflict in the Horn of Africa," said it is vital to reorient US approaches to the region. He called for greater public diplomacy (people-to-people) efforts and radio broadcasts in more languages that will reach a wider audience. With Arabic the principal language in Sudan and spoken widely along the Red Sea and Indian Ocean coasts, Shinn said, "it is inexplicable" that the US government's principal overseas radio broadcaster, the Voice of America (VOA), no longer broadcasts in the language. Instead, VOA's Arabic language service has been supplanted by "Radio Sawa," a VOA commercial enterprise that "focuses on the Middle East and reportedly does not even reach the Horn of Africa," he explained. Given the interests of the United States in dealing with terrorism in the region, Shinn said, "it is equally inexplicable that the Voice of America has not yet established a service in Somali, a language spoken throughout Somalia/Somaliland and parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti." Although VOA offers limited programming in Amharic, Oromo and Tigrinya, Shinn said, the services should be expanded, and he commented, "As the world's only superpower, one would think that the US could [also] afford to broadcast in a language like Afar that has listeners in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea." (Source: The Washington File, US Department of State) # posted by Andy @ 16:54 UT Dec 21 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Additional frequency changes for Voice of America: 1400-1500 Russian NF 15320, ex 15450 1500-1600 English ADD 13600 "Border Crossings" Mon-Fri 1700-1800 Kurdish NF 9815, ex 7145 1900-2000 Kurdish NF 7195, ex 7255 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 20 via DXLD) I reported 13600 some weeks ago (gh) ** U S A. No Bells for the New Year --- The "liberty" bell logo used for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty will disappear from corporate websites starting January 1st 2005. In many of the new target areas for Radio Liberty/RFE the bells are too closely associated with Christianity. In order not to be labelled as part of any "Crusade", the Prague based station is introducing a new corporate style in a few days time. Although not confirmed during my visit to Prague this past week, the colour orange seems to figure in the new style somehow. I wonder if that will please the opposition in Ukraine, caught in a political battle in Kiev this Christmas? Only a few more days to wait....and a major marketing change for this US broadcaster into Eastern Europe and Central Asia. # posted by Jonathan Marks @ 19:25 UT Dec 20 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Plus a number of other illustrated items by JM visiting Praha ** U S A. WEWN`s spurs are back; around 1530 UT Dec 21, 9955 was accompanied by signals around 9947, etc., probably the 8.32 kHz separation someone previous measured. WUOT 9985 was far enough away to be safe; at 2200 when WEWN is on 9975 instead, fortunately the spurs did not seem to be present, tho fundamental was extremely strong compared to WWCR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. UK [to RUS/CIS] 9800, "Leading the Way" program via Merlin-Rampisham site. Tuned in today Sunday Dec 19th at 1705 UT, heard two men preaching. Religious program with alternate sermon in English and Russian translation. This lasted on till 1723 UT. Modern Russian religious music program till 1729:30, but the carrier remained till 1730 UT. No station ID information noted during the broadcast and at the close. Strong signal quality, but heavily interfered by adjacent 9795 kHz, CRI URU in Russian too! 9800 1700-1730 29 RMP 500 62 0 17 USA MNO MER Russian 9800 1700-1730 40 RMP 500 95 -10 36 USA MNO MER Persian 9800 Russian Religious Sa/Su. 9800 Persian Religious Tu/Fr only. In A-04 summer on 15495 kHz. US-based radio ministry, see http://www.leadingtheway.org Click on "About Us," Leading The Way, Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, GA 30325 USA From their website: "Though started as a ministry for the Arab world, it meanwhile has created a number of services in other languages as well: The international radio ministry was launched in 1996 with a dual- language, English-Arabic program broadcast on two high-powered AM stations in Monte Carlo and Cyprus. This program now airs three times each week and is designed to help Non-Christians in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe understand who Jesus is." (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRTH 2005 lists this under USA, only with the 1700 broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. GERMANY: Frequency change for Gospel For Asia via WER 250 kW / 090 deg to SE Asia, 1530-1630 NF 9460 (55555), ex 13590 (Observer, Bulgaria, Dec 20 via DXLD) Listed under USA in WRTH 2005: 56 languages, including two dialects each of Bengali and Tibetan, making it a rather major broadcaster (gh) ** U S A. I was at the Bronx Zoo on Friday night. I heard three pirates. 1620 WMLR or something like that with Eastern African music and distorted audio. Interesting to listen to. 1630 is the gospel pirate in Yonkers that has been on forever. 1680 was another religious pirate screaming away. TIS stations on 1640 (NYC Traffic) and 1690 (Bronx Zoo) made this a very active band (Karl Zuk N2KZ, Dec 20, HCDX via DXLD) ** U S A. There is a definitely a Haitian French pirate on 1710 in Boston (probably Dorchester). Not sure about the (English speaking) Christian station but I'll check the frequency as time permits. BTW, R. Nouveauté-1640 Boston is back on and is probably the French station heard recently (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, NRC-AM via DXLD) I took a look at this "channel" on SpecLab this afternoon and found at least 6 different carriers. I normally hear Lubavitcher here in Elkridge. I have heard at the least one other station here at various times and dates. This looks like a channel to watch. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/billqsl/sounds/capt0412201633_1710_sunset.jpg (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, ibid.) ** U S A. Something nuevo in the X Band. --- I found something new on 1660 kHz last night, the Latino Radio Service of La Casa Cultural Latina at the University of Illinois. Station announcements were in English right before the top of the hour, with mentions given of the transmitting equipment being located at Bevier Hall (which is in Urbana), also that these broadcasts were being done with the approval of the Chancellor, and a partial website given for more information (www.odos.uiuc), which more properly would be http://www.odos.uiuc.edu According to this site (after some searching) it was mentioned that this was a Part 15 radio service. Signal strength was quite good on a cheap table radio I used a mile and a half from the announced transmitter site, so I'm having my doubts about that. Programming is varied; I noted the following things that apparently were lifted off the internet: a program of Mexican Christmas music by someone announcing themselves as "Radio Domínguez"; this show ended with our own Miss LeAnn (What a set of pipes!) Rimes belting out a Spanish/ English version of Silent Night; various shows from the Spanish and Portuguese services of Radio Netherlands; a Spanglish (I ain't kidding, folks!) news broadcast of unknown origin, which ended with a commentary on the heroics of a soldier named López killed in Iraq; Spanish language news shows from the Voice of America (with the usual VOA announcements in English preceding the shows); and finally, a call in show of unknown origin, which was in some sort of Spanish dialect I couldn't understand. I'm a bit limited in my Spanish; my teacher at college was an elderly Cuban who had once had Fidel as his student back when Castro was a spoiled college boy (El Jefe's college nickname was "El Loco") and who wisely decided when his student assumed power to flee. Cuban Spanish I can well deal with (more or less) but some of that stuff from Mexico and Central America is beyond me. ANYWAY, the useful station range seemed to be about five miles; reception was completely lost by the time I reached Leverett Road North of Urbana (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, Dec 21, WTFDA-AM vai DXLD) ** U S A. I have been following the bidding process of a 1930 TV station - W2XCR - QSL card [2800 kHz] placed for auction on eBay. After 57 bids and with the final bid at $470.00, the card was still not sold because it didn't reach the minimum Reserve Price placed on it by the seller. Still, the photo/reproduction of the card on eBay holds something of a unique historical interest that should be viewed. . . http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2293240673&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT#ebayphotohosting de Pete, N8PB (via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, DXLD) And for those who never read it before, several years ago, I wrote a detailed history of greater Boston's first mechanical TV station (lots of illustrations on this site, btw), W1XAY-- it too used the Jenkins system. http://www.tvhistory.tv/W1XAY.htm The founder of this little station was Jack Dodge, one of Boston's early ham radio operators, who worked in both commercial radio and experimental television in the 1920s and early 30s (someone on ham-radio-history yg via Nigro, ibid.) ** U S A. Is there is a list of AM stations using IBOC? Probably many of you know off the top of your head what stations are using IBOC but I'm just curious if this is a consolidated short list of IBOC station (Tom Kenny, NRC-AM via DXLD) This isn't completely current, but it probably as godd as you'll find: http://www.ibiquity.com/hdradio/hdradio_hdstations.htm (Russ Edmunds, ibid.) Here's another alternative: go to http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_sear.htm Under Service, select "AM Digital". Leave the other fields blank. Then click the "Submit Application Search" button. The stations listed with a "BDN" have notified the FCC of IBOC operation (notification is required within 10 days of commencing operation). Even those stations that previously had an STA for digital operation should show a BDN if they're continuing to use it. A few provisos: 1. Some stations listed have turned off IBOC (e.g., WIND). 2. Some stations only had temporary IBOC operation for a special event (e.g., KXNT). WLAC doesn't seem to be in the database yet. BTW, I noticed WHAM running IBOC earlier today. Clear Channel is really rolling out the crud generators these days (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. KTNS 1060 California DX test: I will test at our low power 23 watts for the first hour, Pacific time 11 PM - midnight; then from midnight to 1 AM, full power, 5,000 watts (Larry Gamble, KTNS, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So UT Wed Dec 22, 0700-0800 low power, 0800-0900 full power (gh) KTNS 1060 kHz Oakhurst, CA TEST Date: December 21-22, 2004 (Late Tuesday Night into Wednesday morning) Time: 23:00 PST-01:00 PST (2 Hour Test) [0700-0900 UT Wed Dec 22] Modes of Operation: 23:00-00:01 PST 23 Watts/Nighttime Pattern 00:01-01:00AM 5 KW Daytime Non-Directional Programming: Morse IDs, Voice IDs, Sweep Tones, Old Television Theme songs. Morse Code ID's are at both 10 WPM and 5 WPM, 1000 Hz. Test is being conducted by Mr. Larry Gamble, station owner/operator who will be retiring soon. He has done several DX Tests over the years. Mr. Gamble would prefer to verify reception reports via e-mail only. Written reports or short MP3 clips are sufficient for verification. Send e-mail reports to: Larry W. Gamble mtkaat @ sierratel.com Tests Notes: Oakhurst is located in Central California near the Yosemite National Park. Past DX tests have resulted in reports from most of the Western US. Note too the use of television theme songs as program material. Hopefully these will be easier to pull out of the noise. An example might be the theme from the Addams Family, etc. (Les Rayburn, NRC-AM via DXLD) Les, I see where there has been a key change in this test. The 5 kW ND portion of this test is only at 0001-0100 PST (0301-0400 EST), with the previous hour run at the regular 23-watt night power and pattern. This differs from what is said in both this week's DXN and in your "Upcoming DX Tests" posting of a week ago. That information said that both hours of the test would be run at 5 kW non-directional. I assume this change is meant to bring KTNS in compliance with FCC day facilities test rules, which limit testing to midnight-to-6 AM local time. Of course what this means for DXers is that the best chance of hearing this test will be in the second hour, and that one should not give up if you don't hear it in the first hour. What it probably means to me is that I won't even start listening until the second hour, thus conserving an hour of sleep. 73 (Bill Dvorak, Madison WI, who has to put up with a local adjacent on 1070, ibid.) ** U S A. PLANE STRIKES KFI RADIO TOWER, KILLING 2 The Associated Press Sunday, December 19, 2004 A small plane crashed this morning into a radio station tower in La Mirada, killing two people aboard and temporarily knocking the station off the air, officials said. The single-engine Cessna plane struck the KFI Radio tower about 9:49 a.m. and the tower tumbled to the ground, said Andrea Hawkins, a dispatch supervisor with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Television footage showed the 900-foot tall red-and-white tower in pieces on the ground surrounded by plane wreckage. A man and woman were pronounced dead, Hawkins said. A small fire also was extinguished. KFI, a talk and news station, was off the air for about an hour following the accident, said Leslie Lotto, an editor at the station. A telephone call to the Federal Aviation Administration was not immediately returned. http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/regstate/articles/1154417.html (via Mike Terry, dxldyg, also via Joe Buch, Brock Whaley, DXLD) The rest of the story? Back on the air in an hour, obviously must be from some other tower. Did they have a standby backup site ready to go in just such an emergency, or quickly string up a longwire? (gh, DXLD) KFI's main 900 foot tower went down after a small plane hit it today. The station is back on the air with low power from their backup tower. As tragic as this is, there may be some DX opportunity tonite (Paul Smith, W4KNX, [a private pilot], Sarasota, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) Plane Heading to Fullerton Airport Crashes --- LA MIRADA http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/121904_nw_plane_crash.html The Cessna went down in a commercial area near Firestone Boulevard and Trojan Way, according to Los Angeles County fire Inspector Ed Osorio. The crash was reported to the fire department at 9:49 a.m., Osorio said. Arriving fire crews put out a small blaze at the scene, said Osorio. He said debris was scattered over a hundred yards. A nearby building sustained a hole in the roof when a cable used to anchor the tower snapped loose, said Osorio. The cable had been attached to the building. The pilot was en route to the Fullerton airport when the plane struck the tower, said Bruce Nelson of the FAA (via Blaine Thompson, ibid.) KFI still seems to be getting out well on low power and the shorter antenna although they are noticeably weaker. Here at 842 miles from their transmitter I'm still getting a good copy with my indoor loop. I found it interesting to listen to Matt Drudge on KFI inferring that the loss of the KFI main tower was something more than an accident. I did log a new station in the KFI null. KTIB in Louisiana was in well for over an hour with Fox Sports and then also into the Drudge Report running about 15 seconds ahead of KFI. Caught several "6-40 AM, KTIB" IDs and I heard them repeat the same Lysol commercial 5 times within 4 minutes. Not bad for 1 kW at 1,062 miles. There are also several strong SS stations on the channel and someone with pop oldies all unidentified as yet (Drake R-8 and Kiwa loop, Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, ibid.) By the way I was looking on the KFI web site tonight and I noticed under the "contacts" tab that they maintain an e-mail address for Jesus Christ. It is JesusChrist@kfi640.com Clear Channel apparently has some very high level connections! (Patrick Griffith, NØNNK, Westminster, CO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I won`t protect him from spam It sure does - Mr. Christ actually hosts Sunday mornings from 6-8! You'd think He, or perhaps His agent (it being L.A.), would have been able to negotiate for at least PM drive, if not mornings. They did at least get Him a very flattering headshot on the site. http://www.kfi640.com/hosts/jesuschrist.html I shall have to remember to aircheck Mr. Christ's show the next time I'm within KFI range early on a Sunday morning... s, headed straight to you-know-where now... The aux is at the same location (Trojan Way off I-5 in La Mirada CA, on the LA/Orange county line) as the big stick was. Much shorter tower - 62 meters. They're authorized to run up to 25 kW into it, but they went back on yesterday with 5 kW and are now at 20 kW. Don't know when or if they'll go to a full 25. The little tower's not really beefy enough to handle the full 50. 760 feet! 760!!! That "900 foot" number showed up in the initial AP report yesterday and is going to be making the rounds long after we're all dead, I'm afraid. I wonder what they'll have to do to get a replacement tower put up. It's a rather congested area now, right along I-5 - and of course we now "know" that a tower of that height is a proven hazard to navigation, don't we? OTOH, I'm pretty sure that KFI is the EAS LP-1 primary station for LA, so perhaps some higher authorities will be able to intervene to get around any local objections (Scott Fybush, NRC-AM via DXLD) It's not just the power reduction, it is a combination of the power reduction and the shorter tower that is going to be the problem. At 640, 25 KW into their now collapsed 750 (?) foot tower would have given them about 1/3 less coverage than 50 kW. This is figuring that given the same antenna, to double your coverage you must quadruple your power, since coverage is a logarithmic function, not linear. That same 25 kW signal fed into a 200 foot tower is going to provide even less coverage than when fed into the 750 foot tower, because the shorter tower is so much more inefficient at 640 kHz. So, if in fact they are running 25 KW into 200 feet, KFI is lucky if they have 35-50% of their normal coverage (off the top of my head). I guess my question would be, why can't they run full power into the short stick? Excessive RF potential at the base for OSHA guidelines? Or, perhaps, they just did not design the backup tower for 50 kW operation -- which would seem a little foolish for such a powerhouse station (René F. Tetro, Chief Engineer, WNTP - 990 kHz / WFIL - 560 kHz, ibid.) The base impedence is probably ten ohms. The current at 50 kW may exceed practical components. 70+ amps is a lot. I doubt they ever expected it to be used for any great length of time. Probably only for tower work, etc. Were I to build a 200 foot tower at 640, you can bet it would be a folded monopole. Probably top-load it for good measure as well (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) Well, all things considered, I don't notice much difference here in the Valley, about 35 miles north. My car radio has a fried front-end, so I really expected not to hear them at all, but I was surprised to hear them at roughly the same level as before. Maybe I was getting some high-angle skywave to augment the groundwave? Here with the DX-398, I'm able to drop the signal down a couple of bars (which was generally impossible before) by turning the radio around, and when the signal is minimized there is a bit of fading, but they're still very listenable (as I would expect). (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, ibid.) My bet is that KFI will have a hard time getting a building permit to put up a new tower. Today, governments want to be sure if a tower collapses it won`t fall on anyone. If you've seen aerial pics of the KFI site, there are trucks, warehouses and all kinds of buildings within the fall zone. The only thing really going for them is the luck that the tower didn`t fall on a building. I bet that short tower will send out a LOT of skywave (Paul Smith, Sarasota, FL, W4KNX, ibid.) Thanks. I did not think they were going to be operating with low power very long. 20-25 KW is not going to make much difference in the signal. I did notice a few S units down, but cx to the East were poor up here, so I really did not hear anything much of interest except for Cuba which I hear often anyway. I knew KFI would have a quick back up system. A 200 foot tower is still enough to put in a good signal into So Cal. I wonder how long it will be until they get the 900 foot one back in order? Paul, If they can get a new huge tower they may, but maybe they will refit the aux tower to handle 50 kW too. But of course they can move it out in the sticks farther, if you can find any "sticks" in So Cal these days. 73s, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) The 750 length is the tower itself. The 760 refers to the tower, base, and lights at the top (Barry Mishkind, ibid.) Pictures of the KFI transmitter site: I have included a link to http://www.earthsignals.com that will show the facility before the accident. There is a lot of history here. http://www.earthsignals.com/Collins/0020/index.htm (Dan Ramos, Huntington Beach, CA, amfmtvdx via DXLD) For those interested, some pix from the KFI tower collapse are on http://www.oldradio.com/archives/warstories/ (Barry Mishkind, Tucson, AZ, Dec 20, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. KOTS, 1230, Deming NM, sent a full-data letter in 12 days. Verie signer Candi Sweetster, managing Partner (Wayne Heinen, CO, Confirmed DXer, NRC DX News Dec 21 via DXLD) Home of duck race too ** U S A. Some more selected holiday music specials on webcasting public radio stations; I have omitted more repeats of widely syndicated shows, especially those I have already heard; see separate previous post for schedule of Paul Winter Solstice Celebration. Times and dates/days here are strictly UT. UT Wed Dec 22 1810-1910 WPLN Vermont Xmas UT Thu Dec 23 0100-0200 KBYU Western Wind 0100- KHCC Reno Festival of Lessons & Carols 0100-0300 VPR Xmas Revels 0100-0300 WAMC Albany SO & jazz Xmas 0200- WPLN Vermont Xmas 0300- WQED Candlelight Xmas at Heinz Hall 0400- KHCC Mannheim Steamroller Xmas 0400-0500 KPBS Vermont Xmas A couple of stations which are running a lot of the syndicated specials in the local morning, 1400/1800 UT period are KUMR and KMUW, see below. Special Holiday programming pages --- several more have been added since last post. You can reach audio links through them too: *MPBN [UT -5] 12/ 6- 1/2 : http://www.mainepublicradio.org/holiday04.htm *VPR [UT -5] 12/12- 1/1 : http://www.vpr.net/music/holiday.shtml *WAER [UT -5] 12/ 7- 1/1 : http://www.waer.org/holiday2004a.html *WAMC [UT -5] 12/ 8-12/31: http://www.wamc.org/whatsnew.html#gal *WNYC [UT -5] 12/ 8-12/31: http://www.wnyc.org/music/articles/41159 *WHYY [UT -5] 12 /9- 1/1 : http://www.whyy.org/publications/Holiday91FM.html *WHYY [UT -5] 12/ 6- 1/1 : http://www.whyy.org/publications/91fmholidayexpanded.html *WDIY [UT -5] 12/21-12/26: http://www.wdiyfm.org/ *WQED [UT -5] 12/17-12/31: http://www.wqed.org/fm/sched/2004_holidays.shtml *WETA [UT -5] 12/10- 1/1 : http://www.weta.org/fm/holiday2004.php *WAMU [UT =5] 12/13- 1/1 : http://www.wamu.org/calendar/ *WCPE [UT -5] 12/ 7-12/31: http://theclassicalstation.org/press/2004_holiday.shtml *WUGA [UT -5] 12/ 6- 1/1 : http://www.wuga.org/monthly.html *WUOT [UT -5] 12/ 1-12/24: http://wuot.org/h/programming/airnotes1204.html *WUOL [UT -5] 12/18- 1/1 : http://www.wuol.org/2004_holiday_programming.htm *WKSU [UT -5] 12/ 1- 1/1 : http://www.wksu.org/features/holidayschedule2004/ *WYSU [UT -5] 12/12-12/27: http://www.wysu.org/holiday.htm *WYSO [UT -5] 12/24-12/25: http://www.wyso.org/ *WMUB [UT -5] 12/ 5- 1/2 : http://www.wmub.org/special/ *WUOM [UT -5] 12/24-12/25: http://michiganradio.org/xmas.asp *WBOI [UT -5] 12/ 1- 1/6 : http://www.wboi.org/wbni/holiday_2004.htm *WFIU [UT -5] 12/12-12/26: http://www.indiana.edu/~wfiu/artdec_2004.htm *WBHM [UT -6] 12/ 6- 1/1 : http://www.wbhm.org/Programs/Specials/Holidays.html *WPLN [UT -6] 12/14- 1/1 : http://www.wpln.org/holiday/index.html *WBEZ [UT -6] 12/12-12/26: http://www.wbez.org/programs/specials/holiday04.asp *WPR [UT -6] 12/10- 1/1 : http://www.wpr.org/music/special/holiday_04.cfm *KUNI [UT -6] 12/19- 1/1 : http://www.kuniradio.org/xmasprogramming.html *WOIa [UT -6] 12/24 : http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/woi-am/guide.guidemain *WOIf [UT -6] 12/20- : http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/woi/guide.guidemain *KUMR [UT -6] 11/25- 1/1 : http://www.kumr.org/Holiday%20Specials%202004.htm *KVLU [UT -6] 12/18-12/25: http://dept.lamar.edu/kvlu/christmas2004.html *KWTU [UT -6] 12/21- 1/1 : http://www.kwgs.org/kwtu-holiday.html *KWGS [UT -6] 12/19- 1/1 : http://www.kwgs.org/kwgs-holiday.html *KGOU [UT -6] 11/28- 1/1 : http://www.kgou.org/limited_programming.php *KCSC [UT -6] 12/ 8- 1/1 : http://www.kcscfm.com/programming/specials/program_specials.asp *KMUW [UT -6] 12/ 8-12/28: http://www.kmuw.org/programming/specialprograms/index.html *KHCC [UT -6] 12/17-12/31: http://www.radiokansas.org/ *KANU [UT -6] 12/ 3-12/25: http://kpr.ku.edu/KPRchristmas.shtml *SDPB [UT -6/7] 12/24 -25: http://www.sdpb.org/Archives/ProgramDetail_press.asp?ProgID=2929 *KUAT [UT -7] 12/21- : http://kuatfm.org/classical.cfm *KBAQ [UT -7] 12/ 4-12/25: http://www.kbaq.org/programs/specials/holiday/ *KJZZ [UT -7] 12/25- 1/1 : http://kjzz.org/programs/specials/holiday/ *KNAU [UT -7] 12/12- 1/1 : http://www.knauradio.org/Issues/Issues.cfm?ID=810&c=8 *CPR [UT -7] 12/ 6-12/25: http://cpr.org/cgi-bin/cprframe.cgi?url=/html/holidaymusic04.htm *KUNC [UT -7] 12/24-12/25: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kunc/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=719339 *KUWR [UT -7] 12/ 8- 1/1 : http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/wpr/HolidayProgramming.html *KBYU [UT -7[ 12/ 4-12/31: http://www.kbyufm.org/specials/ *KPBS [UT -8] 12/ 3- 1/1 : http://www.kpbs.org/Radio/DynPage.php?id=1426 *KCRW [UT -8] 12/10- 1/1 : http://www.kcrw.com/about/pressreleases/041201DecemberHighlights.html#wspecs *NWPR [UT -8] 11/25- 1/2 : http://www.nwpr.org/HolidayProgramming/HolidayProgramming.aspx (Glenn Hauser, Dec 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Radio airs sounds of the season [WSAI, et al., Cincinnati] By Rick Bird Post staff reporter 'Tis the season for holiday music on the radio, and when it comes to Christmas Eve/Christmas Day programming, many of your favorite FM stations will be in full holiday mode. Here are some highlights of what have traditionally been the best bets for holiday week radio programming: • For a remarkable 45th year in a row, Dusty Rhodes will be hosting his Christmas specials on WSAI-AM (1530), which started when he was a jock on top-40 station WSAI in the early 1960s. The programming features Rhodes' "Christmas Countdown" from noon-6 p.m. Friday of the top-50 holiday tunes, followed by his "Christmas Eve Spectacular" complete with Santa sightings. His hosting continues throughout Christmas day with holiday classics. . . http://www.cincypost.com/2004/12/21/broad122104.html (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. A joint statement from the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa regarding the Iowa Public Radio Final Report to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa : Our three universities support the goals set forth in the Iowa Public Radio Final Report. We are dedicated to improving programming, services and statewide coverage through more coordination and cooperation, while strengthening local identity and relationships. Listener support and engagement have always been key to the success of our fine public radio stations and that will continue to be the case as we move into the future. If you would like to see the report prepared by consultants Bornstein and Associates for review by the Iowa Board of Regents, please click here. The report is item 7 on the agenda and requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. Iowa State Board of Regents audio of the discussion on the Public Radio Study. Recorded 10:00 am, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004, at the Memorial Union, Iowa State University, Ames. pdf and audio links at : http://ksui.uiowa.edu/ (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) IOWA PUBLIC RADIO FINAL REPORT TO THE BOARD OF REGENTS, STATE OF IOWA WOI Radio Group comments on the merging of Iowa's public radio services in 2005. You can read the regents full report as well as listen to WOI station manger Bill McGinley discussing the implications of this report from an on air conversation with Rob Dillard. The WOI Radio Group supports the goals set forth in the Iowa Public Radio Final Report. In summary we are committed to --- Improving programming, services, and statewide coverage through more coordination and cooperation. Strengthening local identity and relationships. Our goal is to contribute to the best possible public radio for Iowa. The national, local and technological environments in which we achieve that are changing. These changes include the imminent launching of our newest public radio station in Lamoni and several proposals to build new public radio stations to offer programming to unserved or underserved regions of the state. We are cautiously optimistic about the approval of these new stations. Those and other such developments will be part of the mix as we implement changes to coordinate and strengthen Iowa public radio efforts. WOI has established a significant listener and member base. As changes are proposed and implemented, we will need ideas and involvement from these important constituents. WOI General Manager Bill McGinley discussed the Iowa Regents report with WOI’s Rob Dillard Tuesday afternoon. You can hear a Real Audio stream of this conversation here. The Iowa Board of Regents released the consultant's report on the merging of Iowa State University, University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa’s public radio stations. The full report can be accessed through this link [htm, not pdf]. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/woi/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=11&id=715197&pid=303 © Copyright 2004, WOI (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. BILL MOYERS GETS IN THE LAST WORD By Tom Shales, Saturday, December 18, 2004; Page C01 Bill Moyers has always taken the high road, but it got a little lonely up there. In a country where political discourse grows ever more shrill, his voice was more and more easily drowned out. Last night, at the age of 70 and on the eve of his 50th wedding anniversary, Bill Moyers took the high road home. . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A9627-2004Dec18?language=printer (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. CLANDESTINA: 15385 Radio Que-Me via Tashkent, 1200- 1210, Diciembre 18, Vietnamita, tops horarios, musica y apertura de transmisiones. ID muy clara por locutora. Luego, noticias o comentario por la misma locutora. A 1205 larga charla por OM, 25432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Noticias DX via DXLD) R. Quê Me is Saturdays only. Alternate 15235, 15695 and/or 15755 also via Tashkent, Uzbekistan. From Que Me website: Que Me, B. P. 63, 94472 Boissy Saint Leger cedex, France Tel. +33 1 45 98 30 85 Fax +33 1 45 98 32 61 queme @ free.fr (wb, BC-DX Dec 18 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Glenn, Have you heard that transmission on 3700 kHz which keeps repeating in AM: "I'm going to blow your head off ..." It is a clip from a Bugs Bunny cartoon they say. It's 1130 UT here and it's coming in clear (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, Dec 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, but what a pleasant thought (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 21/12/04, 1812 UT, 6355 kHz, unID mixing product, English news about Iraq. Regards and season`s greetings, (Tim Bucknall, UK, harmonics yg via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you so very much [for reply about the 13200 uniD]. I'm an avid SW Listener. Also I download your WOR broadcasts from the internet and listen to those. You always do a great job. I'll send a gift to help with your work, after Christmas. I'll get the address from the web site. Hope you have a great time over the next couple of weeks (Jim Clardy, Murfreesboro TN) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ WIRELESS INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA BPL LINK G'day, here's some further information at the WIA BPL about various trials etc. http://www.wia.org.au/BPL/ 73 (Tim Gaynor, SEQ, Australia, Dec 21, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ WEBSITE WANDERINGS Raymond Bauernhuber – 151-64 18th Ave – Whitestone NY 11357-3102 E-mail: DXRADIO @ Webtv.net Hi everyone and welcome to another website column and the first one under it's new heading. If anyone comes across a radio related website please forward it to me at: DXRADIO@webtv.net. I will be most grateful. Don't forget to access and enjoy IRCA's own excellent website at: http://www.ircaonline.org/irca1.htm With this issue I feature a very interesting topic, PROPAGATION. These conditions govern what we do and do not hear and the subject isn't always easily understood. The solar index and A & K indexes tell us what reception conditions are on a daily basis. Here's a few websites that I hope will guide you and help you to understand 'propagation': 1. http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/greyline.html This is a straightforward greyline map that refreshes itself every 5 minutes. It is briefly and sufficiently explained at the top of the page. Used mostly by hams, it is useful for MWers too. 2. http://dx.qsl.net/propagation/ The current solar indices (including the A and K indexes) are prominently displayed in a box at the top of the page. The indices originate from WWV in Boulder, Colorado. If you scroll down the page, much more detailed information is available to you, should you desire it. But if not, the indices at the top of the page are invaluable for ascertaining reception conditions on a day to day basis. 3. http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/practical/solar.html Titled "The Solar Guide" NOAA provided the information for most of this site that helps you to more easily understand the solar indices shown in the 2nd website this week. Hopefully everyone can learn more about propagation from these websites, I know that I did. Until the next column I wish everyone good health and the very best of DX! I also wish all of our members and their loved ones a most Healthy and Merry Christmas and Holiday Season! 73 de DX de NY, Ray (IRCA Soft DX Monitor Dec 18 [sic, means Dec 25?] via DXLD) The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to active levels with isolated minor storm periods at high latitudes. The period began at mostly quiet to unsettled levels with isolated high latitude active conditions. The disturbed periods were due to a CME that impacted the geomagnetic field on 12 December. Predominantly quiet to unsettled conditions persisted on 14 - 16 December, although the high latitudes experienced isolated active to minor storm levels. The onset of a high speed coronal hole stream on 16 December resulted in more disturbed geomagnetic conditions. Several periods of active to minor storm conditions were observed at high latitudes on 17 and 18 December. As the high speed stream subsided, the geomagnetic field settled to mostly quiet levels on 19 December. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 22 DECEMBER 2004 - 17 JANUARY 2005 Solar activity is expected to be very low to low through the forecast period. There is a slight chance for an M-class flare. 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 22 – 29 December, 03 - 06 January, and 13 - 15 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 22 – 29 December, 03 - 06 January, and 13 – 16 January. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2004 Dec 21 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 21 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2004 Dec 22 100 20 4 2004 Dec 23 105 15 3 2004 Dec 24 105 10 3 2004 Dec 25 105 12 3 2004 Dec 26 105 20 4 2004 Dec 27 105 15 3 2004 Dec 28 105 15 3 2004 Dec 29 100 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 85 15 3 2005 Jan 04 85 12 3 2005 Jan 05 85 8 3 2005 Jan 06 85 8 3 2005 Jan 07 90 10 3 2005 Jan 08 90 15 3 2005 Jan 09 90 10 3 2005 Jan 10 90 8 3 2005 Jan 11 90 5 2 2005 Jan 12 90 12 3 2005 Jan 13 90 20 4 2005 Jan 14 90 15 3 2005 Jan 15 95 8 3 2005 Jan 16 95 5 2 2005 Jan 17 95 5 2 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1258, DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ PAGANS AND REASON AND SOLSTICE, OH, MY! Speaking during Saturday's Winter Solstice Meet 'n Greet (who would come to an event early Tuesday morning?), Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists made a cogent observation. She cited the debate in Atheist-Freethought-Humanist circles over whether or not it was appropriate to recognize Solstice rather than some other event, even one contrived at this time of year. Some object to the Winter Solstice pagan rituals, prayers to an Earth Goddess or unseen supernatural forces that, it is claimed, permeate this time of year. We certainly don't seek to tell other groups and individuals what they should/should not celebrate. But, she pointed out, "People make too much out of the Winter Solstice. "It's not about the supernatural; it's about a very natural event in our world. "The Winter Solstice is what it is," Johnson concluded. "Let's keep it as such, a time to celebrate and connect with the natural world." If anything, Solstice should remind us of this fact -- our place in the natural world as beings who evolved here and are linked to the rhythmic oscillations of the year, hours and days and whole seasons. It can be a time for recognizing all of this, and the equally important rituals of meeting old friends, making new ones and celebrating the journey of our lives. With that, let us wish you the best of this time of year! From the Staff, Officers and Directors of American Atheists, Happy Winter Solstice! (AA Newsletter Dec 20 via DXLD) See 4-184 for links ###