DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-004, January 4, 2005 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2004 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO Extra 52: Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Mon 0430 WOR WSUI 910 http://wsui.uiowa.edu MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: WORLD OF RADIO Extra 52 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx52h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx52h.rm WORLD OF RADIO Extra 52 (low version, without the WOR opening): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0407.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0407.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0407.html WORLD OF RADIO Extra 52 mp3 in the true shortwave sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_12-29-04.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_12-29-04.mp3 NEXT WORLD OF RADIO?? An ice storm is threatening Enid, and we may lose power as we did 35 months ago for almost a week. Ice is bringing down powerlines already a couple counties away. If power remains, we may produce a new WOR 1259, but our audio-producing computer is down anyway, so we would have to phone it in to WBCQ, WWCR, WRMI, while other stations run another Extra, 53, which is already available on our website (gh) TSUNAMI ITEMS: INDONESIA, INTERNATIONAL, SRI LANKA, UK, USA ** ALASKA. Grants for New Stations: 1110, KAGV, Big Lake, CP issued for U1 10000/10000 at N61-38-03, W149-47-36. This renews an OLD grant for this station from back in 3/2002 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Jan 3 via DXLD) ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. AIR Port Blair, 4760, 1205-1219, Dec. 28, Vernacular, Continuous Hindi ballads with brief YL between selections. Poor/fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 2310, VL8A Alice Springs, 1053-1107, Dec. 27, English, Interview and music by artist Leslie Morgan, ID, news re tsunami and phone numbers for Red Cross donations, "You are listening to ABC news" ID. Fair, // 2325 VL8T Tenant Creek-poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. ROBERT CHESTER PASSING --- We have just received news that Robert Chester in Adelaide has passed away. In reality, politics aside, (please no comments), the chap was a foundation member of the ARDXC, and Robert would have been in his late 50's and leaves behind his family and grandchildren. Robert, I can say was a devoted family man, family first --- we often had phone calls in 2001/2 and he talked about his family a lot. Robert was a medium wave buff and for many years devoted time to the medium wave section (John Wright, ARDXC list Jan 4 via DXLD) ** BELARUS. Radio Belarus External Service effective from January 1: 2000-2300 on additional 7440 MNS [Minsk] 150 kW / 270 deg \\ 7105 and 7340 (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. New sked for Voice Africa, English via SOF 100 kW / 215 degrees: 1600-1800 NF 13820* (55555), ex 11560, re-ex 15650 additional txion 1800-2000 NF 11560 (55555), ex 15650, re-ex 9680 to avoid VOA Persian *co-channel Pan American Broadcasting in English 1600-1630 Sun only! (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) ** CANADA. Short Wave Numbers Documentary Greetings, this item was on the Current today, and I only heard bits of it. I am hoping it will be one of the items they play back in the 8 to 9 pm slot (best of the Current & Sounds Like Canada), local time, on CBC Radio One (Eric Flodén, Vancouver, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For the rest of the program, we're going to take a bit of a break from talking about the tsunami disaster. But we do want to mention the fact that in some parts of Southeast Asia, the only information about survivors is coming over short wave radios. Short wave radio fans are a passionate lot. So we`re going to venture a guess that some of you might have come across the strange subject of our documentary. It's about those ghostly lists of numbers that you might have heard on your short wave. They broadcast every once in a while, and they're read in different languages by an assortment of oddly dispassionate voices. These lists of numbers have found their way into songs and movies such as Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky. And amongst short wave radios fans these numbers are attracting a cult following, and generating a few conspiracy theories. They've also become an obsession for a man named Akin Fernandez. Matt Cowan is a freelance journalist and he has produced a documentary about the numbers and the man. He joined us from our London, England studio (via Eric Flodén, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It is NOT in the audio archive for the segment (probably ineligible), http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/media/200501/20050104thecurrent_sec3.ram and I think I already heard it somewhere else (gh) ** CHINA. Some frequency changes for China Radio International: 0800-0857 Chinese on 17650# ex in French 1300-1357 Bengali NF 9490, ex 9610 1400-1457 Tamil NF 9490, ex 11685 1930-1957 Romanian NF 7200* ex 7110 2200-2257 Portuguese NF 7245, additional # co-channel R. Japan NHK in Japanese * co-channel R. Bulgaria in Bulgarian (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) ** CHINA. 5860, V. of Jinling, 1140-1203, Jan. 3, Mandarin, 2 YLs with talks, music at 1154 followed by various ads/promos with R&B ballad in presumed English at 1157-1159, pips and (presumed) ID at 1200 by YL and OM. Various talks and music bits thru tune-out. Fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Radio Martí captada el 02/01/2005, a las 0541 UT, en los 1180 kHz. SINPO 4/3. Transmisión del programa "Punto sobre vista". Conversación entre dos cubanoamericanos, quienes despotricaban de Chávez y Fidel. ¡Qué raro! Uno de los participantes tildaba a Venezuela de "paisito" que "sólo tiene petróleo" (¿?). Con semejante comentario podemos inferir la "profundidad" de análisis del infortunado dúo exiliado. Según estudios científicos, se ha comprobado que un roedor tiene más masa encefálica que un exiliado histérico y derechista. ¿Radio "basura" Martí? Sin duda. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Jan 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7110, (presumed) R. Ethiopia, 1907-1925, Dec. 28, Ahmaric, OM with rapid-fire talks, "techno" musical bits and talks by various announcers, Horn of Africa vocal music at 1923. Weak but clear, (presumed) // 9704.2 buried under het (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [non]. 11725, RFI Gabon, 0700-0800 UT, weak signal for WAf target, in English! 24322 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON [and non]. I guess our German friend Thorsten Hallman must be suffering a propagation problem with Africa No. 1 after 1700 on 15475: I heard it with fair signal Jan 1 and 2, that's around afternoon here in Costa Rica (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Jan 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And I heard it yesterday, Jan 3, here in south Italy (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) ** GUINEA. The best signal from West Africa is now arriving from Conakry after 2230 on 7125. Regards (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Jan 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7125, RTG Conakry, 25322, French announcement, guitar and flute local music (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. Applications from Existing Facilities Dismissed: 1130, KRUD, Honolulu --- new station, not yet on the air, has a CP for U1 10000/5000. They then submitted an amendment asking for U1 750/750 and another for U1 6000/500, and yet another for U1 500/500. The only actions remaining are the CP and the amendment for U1 500/500. 1570, KUAU, Haiku --- application was for U1 50000/2000 from a new transmitter site (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Jan 3 via DXLD) ** HAWAII. I am KH6MO but there remains a soft spot for MW DXing. By profession I am a surgeon and I`ve practiced in Honolulu for 24 years. Honolulu, which should be a DXing paradise, is actually a DX hell if you live in the city, There are 17 AM radio stations between 5 and 10 kW, often sharing towers on shoestring budgets and all within line of sight from my house. This precluded serious MW DXing from the house, in that antennas capable of picking up weak signals would overload just about any receiver including an R390A or an IC-756 Pro II. DXing on Oahu was best done on the windward side away from the city. I haven`t had a lot of time for that (Albert J. Mariani, MD, Honolulu HI, Musings of the Members, NRC DX News Jan 3 via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4850, AIR Kohima, 1142-1205, Dec. 28, Vernacular, Choral- like music with announcer between selections, ID at 1200 followed by OM with news. Poor/fair with varying audio levels. Not noted at earlier 1140 check (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. RADIO NETHERLANDS HELPS PARTNER RADIO STATIONS IN ACEH Many staff of radio stations in Aceh, journalistic colleagues of the Radio Netherlands Indonesian department, people with whom Radio Netherlands had regular contact, are missing. Some stations in Aceh with which Radio Netherlands had worked for many years have been totally destroyed. Radio Netherlands is starting an action program to set up a number of emergency radio stations, which will in due course be built up into permanent stations. One of the stations that was destroyed is Radio Nikoya FM in Banda Aceh, that used to broadcast news in Indonesian from Radio Netherlands on a daily basis. The Head of the Indonesian department of Radio Netherlands, Indra Titus, said "We want to help to get the radio stations back on the air, because radio is a very important means of communication in the stricken areas. As help is beginning to flow, communications must be restored to help the search for family members and make information accessible. Even under normal circumstances, radio in Indonesia is a vital means of communication that people cannot be without." The Indonesian transmissions of Radio Netherlands will pay attention to the fundraising by the Dutch domestic broadcasters on Thursday 6 January. Also, Radio Netherlands will appeal to its 6000 partner stations around the world to collect money and equipment. # posted by Andy @ 14:55 UT Jan 4 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. ARRL January 4: POST-TSUNAMI NEWS COVERAGE RAISES HAM RADIO`S GLOBAL VISIBILITY ``Angel of the Seas``: News coverage about Amateur Radio`s role in the tsunami relief effort have been widespread and positive. High-profile articles in the past few days have appeared in The Washington Post and the Orlando Sentinel in the US as well as in several South Asian news sources, including The Times of India and The Hindu. Other media, including Agence France Presse, the Wall Street Journal and MSNBC, also have run reports on the value of Amateur Radio in helping to open lines of communication cut off when the earthquake and tsunami struck December 26. Full Story at http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/01/04/2/?nc=1 (ARRL via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. It almost slipped by - that is the reference in Glenn's latest DXLD about Radio Cairo reducing its language coverage as reported by Kim Andrew Elliott (at least it wasn't an outright shutdown of external broadcasting) down to just two [make that eleven] for the external service. What popped in my mind was once again something that I've been studying (and worrying about, to be honest) for sometime now - the changes coming as we have reached peak oil production and the slippery slope that is ahead. I've written a few comments on this on my Hamblog site --- e.g., see http://www.hamblog.com/blog_k9iua.php?p=494&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 followed by http://www.hamblog.com/blog_k9iua.php?p=511&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 (In short, anticipate oil and petroleum products to get very expensive quickly and less available, followed quickly by natural gas, with the production of electricity to become unstable with blackouts, problems with transportation and other production, particularly food production (as food production = oil these days) and in short a major change in how life as we know won't be able to continue, including major loss of life everywhere as we need to adjust back closer to the carrying capacity of the earth without petroleum and technology.) The point of my post now (hence the title) is that this is a future where, if we want global news, we will need to rely on radio and not the computer or internet. The simpler technology will be what survives and is maintainable. I just hope the major international broadcasters will be able to step back up to the plate, refurbish transmitters (senders) and antenna arrays, and give us the news we will need. Sorry if I strayed too far off the general topic of this list for most of your liking --- (but actually the BBC World Service has had a number of programmes lately that have focused on oil production and many of the aspects of my post). (Kevin Anderson, Dubuque, Iowa, USA, Jan 4, swprograms via DXLD) There is a counter-argument to this trend -- and that is the innovative capacity of economies / societies to develop solutions that mitigate the effects you predict. With petroleum costs at $60 / barrel or more on a regular basis, alternate energy sources that were infeasible before (e.g. biomass) become more economically feasible. Will societies be willing to accept collective risks (e.g. nuclear power) when the downside is unstable electricity generation? With business and social transactions becoming increasingly dependent on the availability of digital communication networks, the need to build in redundancy to those networks -- making them more stable -- increases. They won't be allowed to fail. It's abruptness versus adaptive capacity at work -- how quick will tectonic shifts occur, vs. how adaptive are those who develop the technologies that address these tectonic shifts. I am, for better or worse, a futurist -- and an optimistic one -- in profession and confession. If these alternative communications networks fail us, we'll be able to fall back to more basic technologies (e.g. analog shortwave) because we haven't forgotten how to make them work. It will make sense to own shares in Harris, Thomson, and other transmitter manufacturers at that time. So it still makes sense to keep that '2010 tuned up --- but I will also, for now, make sure to pay my monthly fee for my Sirius subscription and Internet access -- simply because they offer me convenience and choice (Richard Cuff / happy-faced in Allentown, PA, swprograms via DXLD) You offer an excellent counter to what I found to be a pessimistic and myopic post. The nature of Man is to move forward, not backward. History teaches this. The outcome of expensive oil is easy to predict. The high price will drive and actually fund alternatives (Scott Royall, ibid.) There is a theory that so called fossil fuels are actually not the product of dead dinosaurs but rather the result of chemical processes happening under extremely high heat many miles below the surface of the earth. We only find the stuff when it oozes to the surface through fissures in the earth's crust. The theory mostly belongs to Thomas Gold, a Cornell University Astrophysicist who also happens to be the first guy to figure out how pulsars work. So, if correct, the earth is continuously making more "fossil fuel". Gold first published his ideas in a series of papers beginning in 1979. I first ran across the theory in the February 1986 issue of The Atlantic in an article by David Osborne entitled "The Origin of Petroleum". See if you can find a copy. It may brighten your outlook on the future. Here is a similar paper written more recently by Thomas Gold for those interested in delving further into this theory: http://people.cornell.edu/pages/tg21/usgs.html For the sake of this discussion, I will assume your dire prediction is actually going to happen. The first question then arises - why would anyone want to listen to the news in such a dark world as you paint? I will also ignore that question by assuming that we would be so hungry for good news that we would still listen to news on the radio or TV. But I fail to see how thousands of high-powered radio and TV transmitters, each consuming hundreds kilowatts of scarce electrical energy, are the answer to your hypothesized doomsday. I would like to suggest a truly eco-friendly technology to spread the word worldwide. Satellite uplink stations, even at power levels associated with TV transmission and low gain satellite receive antennas, consume less than 10 kW with a 10 meter dish at C-Band. Voice transmissions using simple SCPC analog signals can be uplinked with powers measured in watts depending on the uplink antenna size. Satellites themselves only consume energy from earth during the manufacturing and launch phases. Satellites have reliably used solar power for almost half a century. Solid-state satellite radios can be easily powered by solar cells or windmills which charge a battery or by hand cranks ala today's emergency SW radios. If your energy cost prediction proves correct, shortwave, VHF, UHF broadcasting as we know it will no longer be economical because of the huge power demands of the transmitters. A solar powered satellite communications technology will be the most energy-efficient method to send information or propaganda from the central information control authority to the masses. I still don't think I would want to listen. ~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-., (Joe Buch, DE, swprograms via DXLD) -*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^'~*-.,_,.-*~'^ Richard, Joe, and Scott: Thanks for reading and commenting on my post, even though I'm sure you all think I'm off my rocker (a fourth person told me as such in a direct reply). Maybe I am, but only time will tell. |grin| Let me provide a few more comments, starting with those more on topic. I would agree with Joe, should economics go the negative way I suggest, that thousands of local AM (MW) and FM (VHF) radio stations don't make sense. The combined used of electricity for transmitters alone, as you point out, plus all the energy use for programming, just doesn't seem sustainable. Satellite distribution (which Richard also acknowledged) does certainly make sense (I may someday indeed get Sirius so I can get BBC, WRN, and CBC from one source), although I don't believe the private or corporate use of satellites will likely continue. (I think space will once again become the domain of only governments trying to protect their interests.) And while I will hope that the Internet (or its future replacement) might remain viable (providing all the news and "radio" we need), and indeed the governments may step in to do so for their own security, I am doubtful that individuals in great numbers will remain computer users. If electricity becomes unreliable, or the availability of computers becomes more scarce, I doubt they/we will have the time or priority to use computers. So I come back to the idea of shortwave being a viable broadcasting means for most people. And if it remains analog, then all the more who can receive it, including with simple solar-powered or wind-up radios. To me, any further "erosion" now of international broadcasters and open sources of information will mean much less available to us later when times get tough. Now onto the oil future (stop reading now for those who don't want to go off topic): Joe, I've heard of that research by Gold as well. It has been commented on by lots of people in regard to Peak Oil discussions. While I don't discount that oil can be made this way, my reading of the research suggests the rate of production is no where sufficient to generate enough, or to have created the volume of oil in the earth except over a long period of time. That is the crux of the matter - no matter how oil is first produced (by compression of organic matter or by other methods), we are pumping too much of it. Richard and Scott, I don't doubt that more alternative energy sources are here and coming, and higher oil and transportation prices will certainly help in making them happen. The more the better - alternatives, as well as more conservation of energy use, will soften the blow and postpone the worst times. But my reading is that there isn't enough time left, nor are the replacements as viable as oil, for meeting all the transportation, energy, and production needs that are currently met by oil. Plus the population of the earth is just too large. (The carrying capacity of the earth, which is long term, sustainable use, suggests that between 1 and 2 billion can be comfortably supported globally. At 6 billion on the Earth, this suggests we are 4 to 5 billion too populated. We passed 2 billion people just before 1930, which is also when the oil-based economy of today really took off, suggesting that the extra population is only here because oil had provided the means. Some would say that the gains we experienced in our lifestyle weren't supportable to begin. And our dependence on oil to produce food means all the more problems for people to get food later, so things go as I interpret will happen.) I hope you take the time to actually read the books and webpages that are mentioned in the blog articles I referenced. I used to be optimistic and positive thinking as you folks are. But I guess all the reading I've been doing in earnest since 1990, and particularly in the last two years, has convinced me otherwise. I can certainly respect where each of you are coming from (as I was there once too), and all others wanting to ignore what I say. It is hard to accept this kind of news. Now I apologize to the group as this took things too far astray, and return you to our regular programming. I'll gladly talk with folks offline. And I will be on topic the next time I might post again. Cheers/73, (Kevin Anderson, Dubuque, IA, ibid.) We are getting dangerously off-topic, but let me say this. I just re- watched "Three Days of the Condor", and it's the same tired mantra now being chanted. Even if your scenario came to past, shortwave would be just as dead as the wire telegraph. It is a technology that, in its current form anyway, has no future. Satellites are just too easy to lob up, and they don't want constant TLC. Transmitter farms do. Shortwave exists today because tubes had to come before LNAs on chips. Now, LNAs are kid stuff. Sirius and XM are just baby steps compared to what's coming. If I were a government and I wanted to get my word to a specific region, shortwave would rank just above carrier pigeons on my list of choices (Scott Royall, ibid.) ** KALININGRAD. Just IDed that unID from 1629 I have heard a lot in recent months. Usually weak, but regularly there around the 1600/ 1700 time frame. Thought it sounded eastern, but found a // SW 7300. It seems to be V. of Russia in German, sounding like Radio Moscow type mic. How do they do that, I wonder?? Is this a real outlet or something of a mixing product at the transmitter site? Bang on 1629.0, as best as I can measure anyway. Messing around with frequencies for VOR in the 2005 WRTH, brings up no mixing products on 1629. Heard on 2 separate receivers and separate aerials. There is a 2nd option. Maybe some kind of a relay from somewhere else, authorised / unauthorised (Ken Baird, UK, Jan 2, MWC via DXLD) Hi Ken, it`s a mixing product from Kaliningrad. I can't remember the math but it involves 1386 and either 1143 or 1215. Have a look in the archives of my harmonics group at Yahoo ;-) All the best (Tim Bucknall, ibid.) That would be a leapfrog from 1143 over 1386 to 1629 (gh, DXLD) 2x 1386) - (1x 1143) = 1629 3rd order intermodulation at the transmitter. If you listen to 1629 carefully you should hear two different streams of audio - modulation from each of 1386 and 1143 kHz. 73 (Steve Whitt, MWC via DXLD) Another way of putting it ** KOREA NORTH. VOK, odd frequencies at 0750 UT: 15246.34, 13760.10, 9345.16, 9975.09 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG [and non]. Hi Martin, Can you tell me if the 1440 DRM racket is an issue with your beverages up there in Sutherland or is CKJR still feasible? I would like to think there is some hope rather than simple bankruptcy hi! 73's (Barry Davies, MWC via DXLD) Hi Barry, Since I was out late last night at a party I didn't get up until 0940 this morning, by which time only 590 VOCM remained on the band, with W/F [weak to fair?] signals. So this was a chance to listen to the DRM on 1440 kHz. Using the S-meter on the NRD-545 as a rough measure of the problem, here are the signal strengths on each beverage: 240 degree - S8 290 degree - S9 315 degree - S9+10dB 360 degree - S9+20dB So, very strong at this time, and no chance of any DX. Just for comparison, at this location I can hear DX when signals are so weak that they don't move the S-meter and are at receiver noise level, and even the strongest wouldn't cut through this. The good news, however, is that it doesn't appear to spill over into adjacent channels. 1430 kHz was fairly quiet this morning, and there was no trace of the DRM noise, and although 1450 kHz had regular AM splatter at S4-S6 I didn't detect any DRM noise here either. Most of the DX I've heard on 1440 kHz here has been before 0800, so hopefully it won't be too much of a pest - time will tell. It could be that we will just have to catch CKJR before DRM goes full-time! Also, European signals often dip markedly here at times (e.g. around the dawn period) to let the DX through, so we'll have to see to what extent this happens when carrying DRM. And who knows - maybe DRM won't take off in popularity. I must download the "DREAM" software Martin Elbe mentioned and have a listen. We might not like it as DXers, but the band is going to change (DRM or not), and I'm afraid we're just going to have to deal with it. 73s (Martin A. Hall, Clashmore, Scotland. NRD-545, beverages: 513m at 240 degrees, unterminated; 506m at 290 degrees, terminated; 588m at 315 degrees, terminated; 362 m at 360 degrees, unterminated. http://www.gorrell.supanet.com/index.html Jan 4, MWC via DXLD) ** MALI. 4783, RTV Malienne, 2226-2240, Jan. 3, French, Ballads and instrumentals, two announcers at 2232 thru tune-out. Very weak but clear, // 5995-improving, nothing on // 4835 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Los Cuarenta Principales" on 1530 --- note in checking Fred Cantú's website that XESD, León GTO now is shown as a "Las Cuarenta Principales" affiliate. It has been "La Ley" and has not been heard here before in mix of XEUR, KZNX and, in the past, the Cristiana affiliate that gave consistently unusual reception (a euphemism, if I've ever coined one.) XESD is listed as 10,000 watts day, 100 night --- but if this is indeed XESD, it's sending more than 100 watts this way, because it's now dominant. With XEUR now using "Mariachi Estéreo" slogan well behind L40P, it now dominates the frequency. The only ID I've heard is for XEX-FM, the key station for the growing L40P net. Tonight, at 0311 and beyond, it's playing juvenil-oriented music and at 0313, lady DJ did telephone interview with young male listener. León's powerful stations on 1300 and 1390 often break atop here. If it's XESD with 10 kW, it has less competition on 1530, and should be a good target for those not dominated by KFBK or WSAI. As I listen to the frequency, hoping to find a local ID on "XEX-FM," XEUR broke well atop for near perfect full ID at 0328 UTC. XEUR plays old-style mariachi cuts, slower-paced than the more modern, northern style. Now, at 0331, Los 40 back atop with another telephone interview. Increasing number of stations "enlace" with México City stations giving key station's ID will make finding local IDs and commercials from México harder (John Callarman, Krum TX, Jan 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5040.83, R. Myanmar, 1243-1304, Jan. 3, Burmese, Ballads, piercing wind instrument at 1245 and brief YL, (presumed) ID over music at 1300 then talks continuing thru tune-out. Poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Can somebody tell me where's the Voice of Nigeria. Good signals in recent past months, but somebody has to tell them about that muffled audio in their recorded shows (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Jan 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11770, Voice of Nigeria, Ikorodu, 1641 UT 12/27/2004, 34433 Arabic, Presumed. African music, YL mentioned what sounded like V. of Nigeria. African music with OM singer. More mentions of Nigeria followed by African vocal music. Off the air at 1658 (Phil KO6BB Atchley, Merced CA, swl at qth.net via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. VOA ex 1143: On 1170 - using my K9AY towards north - I get a Russian speaking station identifying as 'Radio Kanal Sabrosana" or something like that. I don't speak any Russian. Several IDs around 1545 UT Jan 3. No sign of Vietnamese from VoA and at 1600 no sign of E ID from VoA. [Later:] VoA Philippines heard with clear ID and sign-off announcement at 1700 UT. The Russian station seems to have gone. Best 73s (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Denmark, MWC via DXLD) ** POLAND. 9525, R. Polonia, 1246-1304, Dec. 28, German/English, German service until 1255, dead air until IS at 1259 and English ID loop. English service at 1300 with news re tsunami and Polish victims with mention of R. Polonia website. Poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Conforming with the agreement signed in 2003 between Lithuanian and Russian authorities, the transmission time of the Bolshakovo transmitter (Kaliningrad oblast) on 1386 was reduced from 8h to 4h/d on 1 January. The new operational time (with Voice of Russia relays), valid throughout 2005, is 1600-2000 UT (one hour earlier during summer months due to DST). On 1 January 2006, the time will be reduced to 2h/daily; this schedule will be valid until 1 November 2007 when this transmitter is required to close down (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And presumably Lithuania immediately takes up the vacated time (gh, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Voice of Russia / Russian International Radio in Russian: 0000-0200 on additional 6045 (55555) \\ 1170, 7125 (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) ** SERBIA & MONTENEGRO [non]. B-04 for International Radio of Serbia & Montenegro via BEO 250 kW [actually Bijeljina, Bosnia & Hercegovina] 1330-1358 Mon-Fri 11835#100 deg English to AUS unregistered freq 1400-1458 Mon-Fri 7200 310 deg Serbian to WeEu relay HS-1 Beograde 1400-1528 Sat/Sun 7200 310 deg Serbian to WeEu relay HS-1 Beograde 1500-1528 Mon-Fri 11835@100 deg Serbian to AUS unregistered freq 1530-1558 Daily 11800 130 deg Arabic to ME 1600-1628 Daily 6100 040 deg Russian to RUS 1630-1643 Daily 6100 non-dir Hungarian to Eu 1645-1658 Daily 6100 130 deg Greek to SoEaEu 1700-1728 Daily 6100^310 deg French to WeEu 1730-1758 Daily 6100^310 deg German to WeEu 1800-1813 Daily 6100^180 deg Albanian to SoEaEu 1815-1828 Daily 6100^130 deg Bulgarian to SoEaEu 1830-1858 Daily 6100^310 deg Italian to WeEu 1900-1928 Daily 6100^040 deg Russian to RUS 1930-1958 Daily 6100^310 deg English to WeEu 2000-2028 Daily 7200*250 deg Spanish to SoEu but registered 7220 2030-2058 Sun-Fri 6100^310 deg Serbian to WeEu 2030-2128 Sat 6100^310 deg Serbian to WeEu 2100-2128 Sun-Fri 6100 310 deg German to WeEu 2130-2158 Daily 6100 310 deg French to WeEu 2200-2228 Daily 6100 310 deg Englidh to WeEu 2330-2358 Daily 9580!055 deg Chinese to SoEaAs 0000-0028 Daily 9680 265 deg Spanish to SoAmWe 0030-0058 Mon-Sat 7115 310 deg Serbian to NoAmEa 0030-0128 Sun 7115 310 deg Serbian to NoAmEa 0100-0128 Mon-Sat 7115 310 deg English to NoAmEa 0130-0158 Daily 7115 310 deg Serbian to NoAmEa 0200-0228 Daily 7130 325 deg English to NoAmWe # totally blocked by BBC in Bengali @ totally blocked by VOA in English ^ totally blocked by CRI in English + VOIROI Albanian 1830-1927 & 2030-2127 * totally blocked by Radio Bulgaria in Bulgarian ! totally blocked by BBC in Chinese All transmissions are irregularly on air!!! (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) Estimados amigos, durante mucho tiempo se habia comentado el posible cierre de R. Serbia y Montenegro por cuestiones económicas, hoy dia 4- 1-2005 a las 20:00-20:24 en los 7200 KHz con mucha dificultad pero con un SINPO 32222. Solo e podido escucharlo en esos cuatro minutos, pero han sido suficientes para constatar que siguen emitiendo en español. Por otra parte en su web, en la sección de noticias y en español estan al dia. Un saludo cordial desde Burjasot en Valencia (José Miguel Romero, Spain, Jan 4, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 9770, SLBC, *1227-1243, Dec. 28, English, IS/pips, YL with ID over music, children's music program, SLBC promo at 1240. Weaker than usual and still so on subsequent checks over the past week. I assume running at reduced power due to tsunami? (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA [non]. GERMANY: IBC Tamil Service in Tamil to SAs via DTK T-systems effective Dec. 30: 0000-0100 on 6055 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg, ex 7450 via NVS 100 kW / 180 deg (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) ** SYRIA. Caros amigos, A Rádio Damasco da Syria, transmite diariamente uma emissão em lingua espanhola para as Américas. Esta emissão é feita de 2315 às 0030 UT, nas frequências de 12085 e 13610 KHz. Esta programação diária em espanhol, em emissão de 01 hora e 15 minutos, é muito interessante e a emissora tem uma particular atenção com todos os seus ouvintes. Se você entrar em contato com a emissora por E-mail, passará a receber E-Mails pessoais com as informações mais recentes de sua programação. Nesta 01 hora e 15 minutos diários a Rádio Damasco apresenta, todos os dias uma programação fixa composta por: Abertura da emissão, Imprensa Local, Notícias, A Notícia e seu Comentário, Boletim Sintético, Derspedida e encerramento da Emissão. Dentro desta programação fixa é colocado um programa a mais e diferente a cada dia, ou seja: 2º Feira "Nós e o Mundo" 3º Feira "Os Árabes de Al-Andalus" 4º Feira "Através da Imprensa Árabe" 5º Feira "Sucessos da semana / O Islan através da arte e da arqueologia" 6º Feira "Os Árabes de Al-Andalus" Sábado "A Civilização Árabe" Domingo "Através da Imprensa Árabe". A programação da Rádio Damasco em espanhol é muito atrativa e por se tratar da Civilização Árabe, sempre tem a faculdade de atrair nossa adimiração pela cultura deste povo. É uma boa pedida se fazer esta sintonia. O Endereço postal da emissora é: P. O. Box 4702, Damasco, Syria E-Mail pode ser enviado a locutora Maria Galindo, em: mmhrez@s... [truncated] Um abraço a todos, (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Jan 4, condiglist via DXLD) Caro Adalberto, Sempre lembrando que a programação é entremeada com muita música típica. Também que, recentemente, foi ventilado um possível encerramento das emissões em espanhol da emissora. Portanto, é preciso entrar em contato com a emissora. Aproveito para publicar meu log mais recente: 13610, 03/01 2355, Rádio Damasco, Adhra, programação em espanhol; espaço "Nosotros y el mundo" com a apresentação de Marian Galindo; "neste primero programa de 2005 queremos agradecer a todos los oyentes por sus correos eletrónicos de amor y paz ..."; menção aos e-mails de Eduardo Boada, da Catalunha-Espanha, Sandra Fernandes, de Belo Horizonte (MG), entre outros, 45232. 73s! (Célio Romais, Porto Alegre, Brasil, radioescutas via DXLD) ** U A E. Frequency change for UAE Radio Dubai in Arabic only: 0600- 1500 NF 12005*, ex 21605, no English program 1030-1050 and 1330-1350: * co-channel VOR in English 0700-0900 (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. Glenn, I understand that BBC WS in English (but not necessarily all or any other WS language services) will observe the UK government's decreed three-minute silence at 1200 tomorrow (Wednesday 5 January). Some technical aspects are being worked out, relating to the fact that many WS transmitters may interpret the silence as a failure of the audio feed, and automatically cut to "filler" music. Arrangements will also have to be made with the many non-BBC stations that rebroadcast WS, to see if they will "relay" the silence. Presumably this has to be done every year on Remembrance Sunday, and so there should be established procedures in place. I believe that all BBC domestic outlets will be silent on Wednesday at 1200-1203. [Later:] Further to this, I've now seen a number of media reports indicating that many European countries (and their broadcasters) will be observing a three-minute silence at midday local time on Wednesday (i.e. 1100 GMT in most but not all cases). Although some reports have called this an "EU silence", non-EU members Albania, Norway and Switzerland will also be participating. Denmark will not be observing the silence on Wednesday, as they had a two-minute silence last Sunday. One report I saw confirmed that TV and radio networks in Italy and the Netherlands would be silent at the appropriate time. No doubt there will be many others (Chris Greenway, UK, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY REVIEW INCLUDING BBCWS From The Times, January 4th Lord Carter of Coles is conducting an Independent Review of Public Diplomacy carried out on behalf of the UK. It will look at how a range of partners, including the UK's network of overseas Posts, the British Council and the BBC World Service, build esteem for the UK overseas. This review will consider the key issues for Public Diplomacy in the light of technological, cultural and political changes. If you have views on the issues or organisations involved in Public Diplomacy please forward them by 18 February to The Public Diplomacy Review Team, K.4.418, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH or by email to PDReview @ fco.gov.uk (via Mike Barraclough, Jan 4, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K [non]. BBC in Uzbek on additional frequency: 1600-1700 Mon-Fri & 1600-1630# Sat/Sun on 9740 via SNG \\ 7325*, 7435, 9635 --- * co-ch Chinese Music Jammer + CRI Turkish via CER + RFI Arabic via ISS --- # 1630-1700 Sat/Sun in Russian (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) ** U K. In a "Guardian" piece today, Maggie Brown supports Ofcom's efforts to increase the amount of local news on our radio stations. She points out that: "Eighty seven per cent of 272 local licensees broadcast adult mainstream, easy listening and gold services. Only 1% are speech and news - another way of putting it is that 80% of the population have no commercial local news and speech service." http://www.rogerdarlington.co.uk/commswatch/index.php?id=P1161 WHY OFCOM'S ON THE RIGHT WAVELENGTH Maggie Brown, Monday January 3, 2005, The Guardian Imagine being stuck on a motorway when a blizzard strikes, bringing cars to a frozen standstill for hours. Stranded in the dark and cold for up to 12 hours, where would you turn for news? The local radio station? Overnight on January 30, 2003, just such a misfortune befell thousands of motorists on the M11 in Cambridgeshire. The event became a cause célèbre in regulatory circles, because it exposed a serious gap in commercial radio's service to the public, just as the Communications Act was being finalised. Several local commercial radio stations, one owned by GWR, were unable to report and react to the news, or offer any live traffic updates. None of them had a single journalist on duty. The honourable exception was one small station, Star, in Cambridge. The fallout from that night is strewn across Ofcom's proposed policy for radio, Preparing for the Future, its first major document on regulating the sector, which is published just before Christmas. Ofcom has applied the same standard of rigorous research it earlier brought to bear on public-service television, causing the BBC to squirm. Despite lobbying from commercial radio, the Communications Act contains a clause requiring a test of "localness" to be devised and applied by Ofcom across the sector. The test is also seen as part of a defence against foreign (that is to say American) takeovers... [more] http://media.guardian.co.uk/radio/comment/0,,1382532,00.html (via Mike Terry, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Frequency changes for VOA in Ukrainian: 1615-1630 & 1645-1700 NF 9665, ex 5970 to avoid CRI German \\ 7190, 9735 (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) Sites? ** U S A [non]. CZECH REP. (non): Frequency change for Radio Liberty in Belorussian: 1600-1800 NF 11925, ex 15460 \\ 612, 9865 [site?] Frequency changes for Radio Farda in Persian: 1700-1800 NF 7520, ex 11705 \\ 1170, 1593, 7580, 11845 1800-1900 NF 11530, ex 11705 \\ 1170, 1593, 7580, 11845 (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) Sites?? ** U S A. Frequency change for WYFR Family Radio in English effective from Dec. 19: 2005-2200 NF 5810 YFR 100 kW / 044 deg to WeEu, ex 5820 (Observer, Bulgaria, Jan 4 via DXLD) ** U S A. WMLK, is scheduled on new 9265, 0500-1000 and 1800-2300 UTC from Sunday to Friday, to Europe and ME with old 50 kW unit. They still haven`t got the old 250 kW SW transmitter on the air (Christer Brunström, Sweden, Christian DX Report, HCJB DX Partyline Jan 1, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Times don`t match previous info, e.g. 1600-2100 (gh) ** U S A. WWRB update --- Greetings: We are pleased to announce WWRB's new broadcasting services. WWRB transmission facilities have been Realigned into various Global broadcasting outreaches. The following listing is our new broadcasting services: North American service - 1 North American service - 2 North American service - 3 South, Central, & Caribbean service European, Middle East & Africa service South East Asia service Australia, New Zealand & Western pacific service WWRB has MAIN LOBE coverage to the above regions listed above. The WWRB web site has been updated to reflect the above. The WWRB web site is found at http://www.wwrb.org We have updated the FAQ section with emphasis on educating existing and up-start [startup?] shortwave broadcasters as to the inner workings of shortwave broadcasting. We have been receiving exceedingly positive feedback from our web site visitors as they had no real 'clue' how shortwave broadcasting worked. An Educated broadcaster is our best client (SM) (Dave Frantz, WWRB, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. World Microscope has been replaced by Christian Media Network as of January 4 (WBCQ Annotated program guide via DXLD) O, no! Michael Ketter had such big plans for W.M., to build up over a year or more, and it was really being promoted at the outset. But he wasn`t getting many call-ins one night I listened, except from Allan Weiner (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 5-003 INTERNATIONAL [non]. Glenn: The Fatima Radio Network and the Servants of Jesus and Mary are headed by, as you report, Father Nicholas Gruner. He is NOT a priest in good standing; in fact, he has been suspended for willful disobedience to his bishop by not returning to his diocese. What all this is rooted in is the apparition of Our Lady and her messages to the three children at Fatima in 1917. Since you are not a believer, I'll let the matter stand there. What Fr Gruner and his group have done is take these messages and run them to absurdity. There is a monomania to his approach and he refuses to see that he is exceeding all bounds. He takes counsel from no one, not ever the last surviving of the Fatima children, who is now a very old nun in Portugal, and who disputes his contentions and says he is wrong. This is the classic instance of someone who is so blinded by his opinions that he is beyond reclaiming, convinced that he is right and everyone else wrong. Involved in this is a sense of martyrdom, persecution, etc. He has not a few followers who are convinced the priest's distortions are right on the mark. The fact that they are apparently being misled about these broadcasts is sad; people like them are often taken advantage of, since they abandon all caution and prudence, convinced that they are special emissaries of God. History is filled with such. There are a number of webpages on Fr Nicholas Gruner; here is one such from a very conservative Catholic publication, The Wandered, which makes it doubly damning. Probably only first few paragraphs interest you. http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/fatima/ngruner/wanderer.html (Mike Dorner, LA, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I dug out an old copy of BLANDX and scanned the article about WWV; it's at http://users.adelphia.net/~bdsaylor/radiodxing/images/WWV.gif if anyone cares to read it (it's about 500 kB in size), (Brett Saylor, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Dear Glen[n], Just In Case you might be interested: A number of individual hams have been rising up on their own, without any prompting by either the AMERICAN RADIO RELAY LEAGUE (ARRL) or the NATIONAL ANTENNA CONSORTIUM (NAC), in response to a perceived slur against ham radio in TIME Magazine. ATTACHED is an article, including the complete text of my own Open Letter to TIME, which I have just submitted to EHAM at http://www.eham.net Sincerely, Don Schellhardt, Esquire, SCHELLHARDT ADVOCACY SERVICES, pioneerpath @ hotmail.com 45 Bracewood Road, Waterbury, CT 06706, 203/757-1790; Relocating To San Francisco: On Or Before January 24 Hams around the U.S.A., and in other nations as well, have been writing to TIME Magazine. They are demanding an apology from TIME for failing to edit out a slur against ham radio in TIME’s December 31, 2004 issue. That edition featured an article by Lev Grossman about Internet blogging. At one point, Mr. Grossman wrote this: ``Before this year, blogs were a curiosity, a cult phenomenon, *a faintly embarrassing hobby on the order of ham radio and stamp collecting.``* [NOTE: Underlining {changed by gh to * *} has been added.] KEN LINDER KC7RAD was apparently the first to spot this statement and started a discussion thread about it on http://www.qrz.com -- urging all hams to send ``Letters To The Editor`` via letters@time.com If you are interested in reading what others have said to TIME, there are numerous ``writing samples`` available: 1. KC7RAD’s thread is dated December 29, 2004 and is entitled: ``Ham Radio Is ‘Faintly Embarrassing’?`` As of this writing -- on the afternoon of January 3, 2005 -- the discussion thread is 30 pages long and contains 299 comments, including the text of many letters that have been E-Mailed to TIME. 2. LARRY SALIS K0DOC alerted me to the situation and persuaded me to write my own ``Letter To The Editor``. This Open Letter was E-Mailed today to letters @ time.com with hard copies being snail mailed to TIME itself and also to Lev Grossman C/O TIME. The text of my letter to TIME is set forth below. 3. A second thread on http://www.qrz.com, started today (January 3) by FRED LLOYD AA7BQ, who founded QRZ.COM, begins with the text of a letter to TIME from BOB HEIL K9EID, President of HEIL SOUND. AA7BQ’s discussion thread is entitled ``Open Letter To TIME Magazine``. SCHELLHARDT ADVOCACY SERVICES Don Schellhardt, Esquire, President 45 Bracewood Road Waterbury, CT 06706 pioneerpath@hotmail.com 203/757-1790 January 1, 2004 Letters To The Editor TIME Magazine To the Editor: TIME owes an apology to the worldwide Amateur Radio community for failing to edit out Lev Grossman’s statement, in his December 31, 2004 article on Internet blogging, that referred to ham radio as ``a faintly embarrassing hobby``. Both of halves of Mr. Grossman`s statement are inaccurate. First, if Amateur Radio were truly an ``embarrassing`` activity, it would have impeded the careers of such active hams as Walter Cronkite, Barry Goldwater, Marlon Brando and Queen Noor of Jordan (not to mention most astronauts). Second, if Amateur Radio were only a ``hobby``, hams would not have played such prominent roles, over several decades, as the first people to bring information in and out of major disaster areas around the world. Nor would efforts by hams have yielded so many innovations, including walkie-talkies, pagers, cordless telephones, 2- way ground-to-air communications, micro-satellites, various digital communications systems (notably, phase shift keying) and time-saving Morse Code abbreviations (such as ``CQ``). I am, personally, in the process of becoming a ham -- not because it appeals to me much as a ``hobby``, but because my work as a Government Relations attorney, with Communications Law as a specialty, has convinced me that ham radio is vital as a public service. President Bush is evidently also convinced, since in 2002 he said: ``I salute Amateur Radio operators for your work on behalf of public safety officials.`` From 9/11 to the tsunamis of South Asia, evidence is mounting that the world needs more hams -- to handle emergency communications when electricity is down. Thus, TIME has committed a public disservice by spreading false information that discourages the recruitment of new hams. For this, TIME should apologize. Sincerely, Don Schellhardt, Esquire; CC: Lev Grossman (via DXLD) ** U S A. The digital transition in broadcasting may have some tax benefits for broadcasters, thanks to some smart maneuvering. TV stations in particular, who are being forced to abandon analog for DTV. Their analog equipment normally depreciates to the point where they only have to pay 20% of the original rate in residual taxes --- but with all this analog equipment soon to become worthless, a figure as low as 1/10 of that is being pushed for. Something equivalent could be in store for radio stations going IBOC, oops ``HD``, and even SW stations with DRM looming (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DGIEST) ** U S A. BREAST ENLARGEMENT CONTEST DRAWS FIRE By VICKIE CHACHERE, Associated Press Writer TAMPA, Fla. - Radio giant Clear Channel Communications has come under fire from women's health advocates over a Christmas contest in which stations granted breast enlargement surgeries to women in four cities. In the "Breast Christmas Ever" contest, 13 women were awarded the procedure after writing essays to the stations explaining why they wanted larger breasts. A Tampa station claimed to receive more than 91,000 entries. Clear Channel said it had nothing to do with the contest and that it was a decision by local station managers to hold the promotion. The contest was aired on Clear Channel stations in Tampa, Jacksonville, St. Louis and Detroit. The contest has drawn the ire of both the National Research Center for Women & Families and the National Organization for Women. NOW has urged its supporters to file complaints with the Federal Communications Commission against Clear Channel and its stations. The controversy comes within months of Clear Channel paying a record $1.75 million fine to resolve indecency complaints against New York- based shock jock Howard Stern, Tampa radio personality "Bubba the Love Sponge" and others. The station formally agreed to "clean up its act," FCC Chairman Michael Powell said in June. While neither women's group is alleging the breast surgery contest violated decency standards, they are complaining the contest promotes potentially dangerous surgery and leaves its winners with no legal remedies should the surgery go awry. Under the rules, winners must be at least 18 and sign a waiver protecting the company from all liability claims. "I try not to be judgmental about whether a large radio station should be giving away free toys to children instead of free breast augmentation," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families, a health advocacy organization. NOW is urging the public to send e-mails to Clear Channel and the FCC to complain about what it considers a "degrading and unethical contest." About 3,400 messages have been sent to the FCC and Clear Channel, NOW said Monday. Jennifer Gery, a spokeswoman for Clear Channel, said the company had no oversight of the contests and didn't sponsor them. "There is no reason to be concerned because it's not a Clear Channel-sponsored contest, Gery said. "We empower our local manager to make programming decisions." David Fiske, a spokesman for the FCC, said the agency does not regulate the content of radio station contests unless it violates decency standards. The FCC only requires radio stations to conduct contests exactly by the stated rules and to fully disclose the terms of the contest. NOW has been active in lobbying the Food and Drug Administration against the marketing of silicone breast implants and has an ongoing "Love Your Body" campaign aimed at countering what it says are unrealistic body images promoted in the entertainment industry (via Bill Hale, Jan 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. IBOC --- the BPL of AM DXers. In WOI Radio Group`s [public radio in Iowa] program schedule last spring, General Manager Bill McGinley painted a cautionary picture of AM IBOC. He had just returned from a conference. ``There are claims that once all AM stations are operating HD transmitters, daytime interference from adjacent stations will significantly reduce each station`s coverage area.`` In subsequent correspondence with WOI`s CE, another claim made was that the average daytime coverage would be 40 miles. That may not sound bad to New Englanders of Canadians on the Shield, but here on the prairie even the Class Cs (locals) do better than that. WSUI 910 was playing with their IBOC 12-21. Towers are 37 miles from here. No matter how I oriented my DX machine (my wife`s 1969 Motorola portable), I could not null out the hash under WLS-890 without detuning WLS a couple of kHz. I must be contributing too much to WSUI. Does anyone know a source for a ground conductivity map of Canada, similar to the FCC`s M3? Has anyone heard any recent news about Industry Canada`s intention to raise Cain with the FCC over AM IBOC? As if our government would ever listen to Canadians or anybody else (Doug Beard, KF0VE, Springville IA, Musings of the Members, NRC DX News Jan 3 via DXLD) ** U S A. Applications from Existing Facilities: 1560, KKAA, SD, Aberdeen --- this FCC-listed silent station has applied to be classified as a non-commercial, educational station, as the pending new owner is a religious organization. A report had stated they were back on, but telephone attempts to contact them have failed. Do we have any readers in the Aberdeen vicinity who can verify one way or the other? (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Jan 3 via DXLD) 1560, KKAA, SD, Aberdeen, 12/15 1718 EST, religious music uninterrupted until 1728 when man says ``We`re glad you`re listening to KKAA in Aberdeen, South Dakota, your place for Christian music and Bible teaching 24 ours a day``. So is ex-NewsTalk (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, Domestic DX Digest, NRC DX News Jan 3 via DXLD) Gets out Amendments to Construxion Permits: 1380, KMUL, TX, Muleshoe --- licensed for U1 1000/148, KMUL has a CP to move to 830 kHz and change the city of license to Farwell from a new transmitter site of N34-29- 37, W103-23-38 with U13 50000/9 watts, CH 14000. This amendment requests U1 1100/10 from the new site, on 830 and with Farwell as COL Applications Reinstated: 850, WFTL, FL, West Palm Beach --- licensed foir U4 5000/1000, WFTL applied to increase their power levesl to become U4 50000/24000 from a new 6-tower site. Then they applied toi amend the CP with altered daytime direxional parameters, which was dismissed by the FCC. This action returns the application to `pending` status. Applications for New Stations: 1340, NM, Taos, applies for U1 1000/1000 (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Jan 3 via DXLD) Was long occupied by KKIT, as in Kit Carson, then vacated for FM (gh, DXLD) Formerly silent, KCPW 1010, Tooele, UT is reported to be back on with NPR \\ KCPW-FM (Bill Hale, AM Switch, NRC DX News Jan 3 via DXLD) ** U S A. KOA reduces commercials by 30% --- Here's an interesting e- mail I received today from KOA. ----- Dear Patrick, At Newsradio 850 KOA we always ask the question, 'What's Next?' when it comes to the major issues and news stories of the day. Now, "What's Next?" is something special for you. As we start the New Year, we are reducing the number of commercials by 30 percent so we can bring you more in-depth news coverage, detailed traffic and weather reports, and more time to discuss the key issues of the day. Why? Because you've told us what is important to you! We want to celebrate our move to shorter commercial breaks by rewarding you for listening to Newsradio 850 KOA. We have entered you in a special off air contest for $1,000 cash. You will not hear us talk about this on the radio. Only a select group of listeners like you will know about it. Here's how it works! 1. Tune all of your radios to Newsradio 850 KOA 2. Listen weekdays (Monday through Friday) starting this Thursday during these winning hours: 7 AM and 4 PM. 3. When you hear your name, call (303) 713-8484 within one hour and you will win $1,000 cash! Remember, only select listeners like you are eligible, so your chances of winning are great. What does this all mean? It means fewer commercials; more comprehensive news, weather, and traffic coverage, more time to talk about the issues, and this special contest are all rewards for your loyalty. This is our pledge to you for 2005 and beyond. Thanks for listening to Newsradio 850 KOA! Good luck, The Newsradio 850 KOA Staff, Morning and Afternoon Hosts No purchase necessary. Complete contest rules available at station during regular business hours ----- Of course I'm in MD for 2 weeks and will miss the contest! (Pat Griffith, N0NNK, Emmitsburg, MD, Jan 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) It's January and they probably don't have the inventory. Give `em time; the spot load will be back to normal (Jerry Kiefer, FL, ibid.) IIRC, Clear Channel is reducing their spot load nationwide. Not sure how they will pull it off because agencies are not going to pay 30% or more for spots. Might be a slight of hand (Paul Smith, Sarasota, FL, ibid.) Neato, but it doesn't say they will be reduced 30% in every time period. If they knock off all ads between midnight and 5 am, they could say commercials are down 30% in a 24 hour time period - but you wouldn't notice it in drive time. Not that any station would dare to do this (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, ibid.) ** U S A. NYC DTV: WPIX DT is currently on both channels 12 and 33. Both have virtual channels 11-1 and 11-2 with the picture content pre- zoomed for full 16x9 screen size. Audio on 11-1 is English with Spanish on audio 2. Audio on 11-2 is Spanish only. Both 12 and 33 seem to be a reduced power right now. A couple of weeks ago, right before Christmas, the Channel 33 signal was at good strength. WWOR DT is now on on 38-3 and 38-4. WWOR in HD on 38-3 and sister station WNYW in SD on 38-4. This is the opposite of WNYW DT with WNYW in HD on 5-1 and WWOR on 5-2 in SD on Channel 44. WNBC DT now has WX_PLUS on 4-2. The all news with out-of-sync audio feed is gone for good on 4-2. WNBC DT still has poor signal strength. This leaves WNET 13, WNYE 25, and WNJU 47 as the only remaining major NYC stations without DTV on the air. I know WNET is supposed to be active, but I have never seen the slightest signal from them. Their digital feed is being relayed by many cable systems in the area (Karl Zuk N2KZ near NYC, Jan 4, WTFDA via DXLD) WNET holds a STA for 2.66 kW at 94 meters from 40-45-11N/73-59-56W. I've heard this is the roof of Madison Square Garden (a quick glance at the map suggests these coordinates do map to something pretty close to that location). Anyway, only 94m means their antenna is lower than many adjacent buildings, and 2.66 kW is obviously not very much on channel 61. My guess is the cable headend isn't very far from there, and the sole purpose is to get their digital signal to that location (Doug Smith, TN, ibid.) Doug: According to sources here in NYC, WNET is on 61 with only an exciter and the antenna is on top of their broadcast center at 450 West 33rd Street which is very close to Madison Square Garden. Their power is in the watts not kilowatts. I think I heard something like 10 watts. It's enough for them to say to the FCC that they are on the air (Karl N2KZ, ibid.) Welcome to the wonderful world of special temporary authorization |grin|. I'm surprised they're posting STA information on the FCC site at all, I guess it's too much to expect to expect it to be accurate! -- (Doug Smith W9WI, ibid.) ** U S A. Final part of the San Francisco radio dial, AM (some were mentioned as // in the FM part) KSFO 560 AM http://www.ksfo.com Once "The World's Greatest Radio Station," when Don Sherwood, Jim Lange, Carter B. Smith, Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins, Dan Sorkin and Jack Carney roamed its Fairmont Hotel studios, KSFO is now the home of "hot talk." Hot, conservative, issues-driven talk, begun in 1995 and kicked off in the morning by Lee Rodgers, working out of his home in Arizona, with opinionated news-reading sidekick Melanie Morgan. (On Mondays, Rodgers is off, and Brian Sussman takes his slot. ) Three syndicated shows follow: Rush Limbaugh (at 9 a.m.), Dr. Laura Schlessinger (noon) and, at 3 p.m., Sean Hannity, who replaced Michael Savage in July 2003 after Savage jumped over to KNEW. Evenings star Sussman at 6, followed by Laura Ingraham and George Noory. On weekends, radio fixture Art Bell hosts the all-night, "Coast to Coast" show, and on Saturday mornings, hot talk becomes house talk with the Carey Brothers. _________________________________________________________________ KNBR 680 AM http://www.knbr.com For years, under whatever format, KNBR was KNBR, 680, simple as that. In these days of consolidation and the need to bunch up stations so owners can offer bigger audiences and exact higher ad dollars, simplicity is passé. So, now KNBR is at two locations, "KNBR 680" and "KNBR 1050." The sports mother ship is 680, home to the Giants, the afternoon team of Ralph Barbieri ("The Razor") and Tom Tolbert ("Mr. T."), Gary Radnich, Rick Barry and Rod Brooks, who moves over from the 1050 team. For a couple of years, KNBR tried to go beyond sports with former Top 40 DJ John London in the morning. When that idea proved to be an air ball, KNBR turned to former Chronicle sports writer Brian Murphy. Nights and weekends include Larry Krueger's "Sports Phone" and Bruce McGowan's "Weekend Insiders," noon to 2 p.m. _________________________________________________________________ KCBS 740 AM http://www.kcbs.com KCBS has been the Bay Area's all-news station since 1968. Yes, there've been attempted encroachments -- remember KFYI? KPIX-FM? And, for a time in the '80s, KCBS added several talk shows (Ruby Petersen, "Mayor Art" Finley, Lila Peterson). Now it's all news, all the time -- except for features on food, entertainment, health, high- tech and ecology. John Madden does his rambling, phoned-in bits in drive times, and CBS' Charles Osgood and Dave Ross chip in commentaries. The news is crisp and straightforward. Jim Taylor anchors from 5 to 6 a.m. Then it's Stan Bunger and Susan Leigh Taylor until 10 a.m. Rebecca Corral takes the controls until 2 p.m., and Mike Pulsipher and Patti Reising cover the afternoon drive. Night anchors are Jeff Bell, Dave McQueen and Larry Chiaroni. Kim Wonderley leads a crack traffic team, and weather is reported and forecast by CBS 5's Roberta Gonzales and Samantha Mohr. _________________________________________________________________ KGO 810 AM http://www.kgo.com The overall No. 1 station in the Bay Area for 26 years, KGO, at age 80, is finding the talk format getting awfully crowded, with sister station KSFO, Clear Channel's double punch of KQKE ("The Quake") and KNEW, and Infinity's KYCY. KQKE, in fact, could take away just enough liberal-minded listeners to allow another station -- say, Clear Channel's KMEL -- to dethrone KGO. But KGO offers strong drive-time newscasts, delivered with personality (some would say too much of it) by Ed Baxter and Jennifer Jones in the morning and Rosie Allen and Greg Jarrett on the drive home. But the talk lineup is equally powerful, led by Rush-beater Ronn Owens, along with Dr. Dean Edell, Pete Wilson, Gene Burns (who also does a dining-out show Saturday mornings), Bernie Ward and Ray Taliaferro. Weekenders include comic Brian Copeland, science and tech expert Dr. Bill Wattenburg, healthy Joanie Greggains and consumer reporter Michael Finney. _________________________________________________________________ KNEW 910 AM http://www.910knew.com After years of stumbling around from one format to another, from country to talk to technology (as CNET Radio), KNEW, now owned by Clear Channel, trumpets itself as a younger, hipper approach to conservative talk radio, and as the Bay Area's "New Talk Leader," with Michael Savage as its big star. Actually, KNEW trails KGO and KSFO, and is outpointed by KQED as well. The station doesn't rely on any local talent. The morning show, "Armstrong and Getty," is simulcast with a Sacramento station where Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty are based, and all other programming is piped in from syndicates: Bill O'Reilly from 9 to 11 a.m., Court TV's Nancy Grace until noon, Glenn Beck until 3 p.m. and then "Savage Nation," which sounds stronger than "Weiner (his real name) Nation." Satirist Phil Hendrie is on at 7 p.m., and Lars Larson, who used to do fill-in work for Savage, goes from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Weekends are more canned features and "paid programming." _________________________________________________________________ KQKE 960 AM http://www.quakeradio.com One of the newest stations in the Bay Area, KQKE ("The Quake") replaced one of the oldest: KABL had been dispensing beautiful music, then standards, since the late '50s. But many listeners had been waiting for the arrival of Air America, comedian Al Franken's stable of liberal talkers. Making its debut in the spring, Air America had a fitful start -- financially, at least -- and announced a radio affiliate in the Bay Area that ultimately fell through. In October, on the eve of the elections, Clear Channel signed it up. Now, KQKE offers Franken in the morning, followed by Ed Schultz (who's not part of Air America) at noon and the Randi Rhodes show at 3 p.m. Other Air America shows include "Majority Report" with Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder, "Ecotalk" with longtime KCBS reporter Betsy Rosenberg, singer Steve Earle (Sunday nights), Mike Malloy and weekender Laura Flanders, who's also co-host of "Your Call" daily on KALW. _________________________________________________________________ KNBR 1050 AM http://www.knbr.com "KNBR 1050" is legally still KTCT, licensed to San Mateo (remember when James Gabbert owned it and called it "the nifty ten-fifty"?) and originally called "The Ticket." Bob Agnew, program director of the two-headed KNBR, likens the call letters legerdemain to stations like "Alice" (KLLC) and "KISS" (KISQ). Anyway, he likes to think of his conjoined twins as "one station with plenty of choices." The basic difference between the two is that the nifty station carries mostly nationally syndicated shows, except for the Razor and Mr. T., who are simulcast. They're followed at 7 p.m. by J.T. the Brick. Agnew also calls 1050 "the flagship station for end-of-the-season sports coverage," of playoff games in baseball, basketball, football and other sports, courtesy of ESPN, Westwood One and other networks. Like 680, 1050 had an opening in its lineup -- for the morning show, when Tony Bruno left. Now, it's a Fox show anchored by Van Earl Wright. _________________________________________________________________ KYCY 1550 AM A talk station now, the 1550 spot on the AM dial has a storied history, one well-documented by radio historian Fred Krock. It dates back to 1947 in San Mateo and includes ownership by the San Mateo Times and a classical music format with the call letters KEAR. The station moved into the Mark Hopkins Hotel, and, after a sale and another move, became the first Top 40 station in San Francisco in 1957, as KOBY. In 1963, it became KKHI, home of classical music. Now, it's KYCY, which once stood for "Young Country" on the FM side, and it's a talk station (with infomercials, repeats and USF sports on weekends). Most of the programming is syndicated, including Don Imus in the morning and Tom Leykis and Don & Mike running from 5 p.m. to midnight. Workday hours are filled with financial advice shows hosted by Ray Lucia, Tom Martino, Moe Ansari and Rob Black, who also appears on KRON-TV. The station has no Web site. _________________________________________________________________ MISCELLANY: KDYA 1190 AM: A 24-hour gospel station, "The Light" shines out of Vallejo with music and other programming aimed at "serving the African American communities of Northern California." KEST 1450 AM: Once co-owned by Les Malloy, KEST now offers "personal growth programming," but only from 5 to 11 a.m. Monday through Friday. KFAX 1100 AM: KFAX has programmed Christian talk radio for 40 years. Hosts include Randy Brady ("Bay Area Mornings"), Craig Roberts, Dawn O'Day and Harold Rosas. KIQI 1010 AM: Long-time Spanish-language station. At press time, the station could not be reached for additional information. KMKY 1310 AM: Home of Radio Disney, with "American Idol" types dominating the playlist and lots of features for kids -- even a talk show, "Kid Talk" with Dr. Mary, at 7 p.m. KMZT 1510 AM: Oldies, the way Alan Freed intended: restricted to the '50s and '60s, but, for now, piped in from sister stations in Southern California. Live DJs have been promised. KVTO 1400 AM: Owned by Inner City Broadcasting (KBLX), this station airs Asian programming. Air America Radio almost landed here this year, before taking over a stronger signal at 960. URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/12/19/PKG1FA8U9K1.DTL (c)2004 San Francisco Chronicle (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) KVTO is the station apparently originating the Chinese clandestine (gh) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. After a fairly lengthy absence they seem to be back: 7460, Radio Nacional de la RASD via Algeria tentatively Jan 2 at 2108 with a series of talk by a woman with brief Arabic music between items broken by Arabic songs at 2110, 2116, 2125, then brief chanting by a male at 2132 then a man with talk in Arabic from 2133 - became too noisy to listen after 2137. Noted also Jan 3 from 2133 with Arabic music (Mark Coady, Editor, Your Reports, Listening In - Ontario DX Association, Chair, Light Pollution Awareness Committee, Peterborough Astronomical Association, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7460, RASD, now regularly back, at least since Dec 25th, 35333, drums with local song, good audio quality today. Fair signal at 0715 UT. But suffers co-channel QRM by RFA Korean Ulan Bataar + jamming at 2100- 2300 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 4500, ZBC/Radio 2, 0405-0420, Jan. 4, Vernacular, Nice mix of Afropops with OM between selections, several IDs. Booming signal much better than 4910 which was NOT in // (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' NE & NW Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 3910: unID German. On (Saturday) 1st Jan I tuned into a German religious programme on 3910 kHz at 1807 which was there until close at 1858 UT. Sign-off tune sounded a bit like AWR's theme tune but AWR doesn't broadcast in German. Didn't catch any ID. Signal was fairly weak but clear. (Not nearly as strong as Reflections Europe from Ireland which uses this frequency on Sundays and only carries English religious programmes as far as I know). And again at 1630 this afternoon (Monday 3rd Jan) on 3910 there was a weak station with light music then German talk (presumably the same station?). Anyone help with IDing this one? Thanks, (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, AOR7030+ / longwire, BDXC-UK via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Quito 4/1 2005 *** Tuesday edition: *** Recording of unID LA 4864.96 kHz I need help with the ID! Some years ago I logged "Centenario La Nueva", Santa Cruz (Bolivia) on 4864.95 kHz. 3-4 weeks ago I heard a Spanish speaking religious station on 4864.96 kHz but with very weak signal. This Tuesday morning the station was there again with better signal and with religious program. It sounds like 4 call-letters at second "44": "HJK_" but I´m not sure. Colombia? You can listen to the ID between second "31" and second "50". Is it Bolivia or is it Colombia? Comments and recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Agree it sounds like HJK - something, maybe V or B, and then maybe ``Radio Internacional``. There is an HJKB on 1580, R. Zulima in WRTH 2005, but that does not fit for an harmonic (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re unID 6310.2 --- On 3 Jan at 1358 UT there was a brief announcement with male and female voices alternating. I don't know the language, but the beginning sounded to my ears like "Asad Radio Rusha", then female "dengi hi...". Male repeating "Radio Rusha". There was also words "kurt" and "kilohertz". Apparently they gave transmission time and frequency. The format of the program seems similar to that of Hit Shortwave from Kyrgyzstan months ago. The beginning of the announcement may of course be something like "Dear radio listeners" etc., and not referring to the station name. I heard this station also on 4 Jan at around 0600 UT on 6310.2 with weak signal. The mentioned announcement is available as (non-HiFi) .wav file at http://personal.inet.fi/koti/jsa 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9511.31, Whistle tone every day, noted at 0730 UT again (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ WANT TO SAVE $10 AT RADIO SHACK? Pretend you're moving. The new US Postal Service "Mover's Guide" includes a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $40 or more at Radio Shack through May 31, 2005. It's almost like getting a free battery every month (Mike Cooper, Jan 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RDS pi codes Some of us use RDS pi codes to determine the call letters of a station that was briefly in. The software usually doesn't decode enough of the RDS packet information (i.e., weak or unstable RDS signal), other than the PI code. I have been reading a lot of the RDS documentation from the various RDS encoder manufacturers and generally the problem is not with the receiving software. The problem starts at one of two places - either at the source (RDS encoder software not programmed correctly at the radio station) or, the decoding with the receiver set was of such short duration that all information necessary was not collected to give an accurate PI reading. RDS encoding packets run at 1187.5 bits per second, meaning that an RDS receiver can read that information 2 to 3 times PER SECOND. A SOLID one second meteor scatter burst of an FM radio station signal, using RDS encoding, if programmed correctly, WILL give you an accurate PI code. If you experience one of those fleeting one half of a second bursts, the RDS receiver may receive only half or three/fourths of the PI code and throw up one (or two) character that is in error of the accurate PI code. In short, an RDS receiver DOES NOT throw up random PI codes for no reason. RDS packets were present with the PI code in error - either there wasn't enough time to collect the necessary data, or, the incoming signal was too weak, thus causing unstable packet decoding. Remember, just one character 'off' in the PI code can completely change the resultant translation of the call letters. If you feel industrious in typing various permutations of the possibilities in Doug Smith's RDS Callsign Identifier, knock yourself out. At this point you're only guessing - just as if you didn't HEAR an announcer clearly say the call letters and presume what he said. Enough from the mad world of mrradiohead --- (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, 40 mi N of Denver, 40.19.230'N 104.51.510'W, Yamaha TX-900/APS 13 @ 20'/RDS mgr., Total Recorder V5.0 & MP3 Wav Editor V4.4, WTFDA via DXLD) This becomes a matter of 'what are the odds?' It might be instructive, rather than to try all of the permutations on Doug's database to go to either the list on http://www.fxdxweb.com or the one at http://www.rdslist.com (or both) and scan that frequency to see if there's anything substantially close that has any possibility. That would narrow it down, and, in the event you also have some snippets of unID audio, the combination of the two might be enough on occasion to be convincing (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ EARTHQUAKE AFFECTED SW PROPAGATION? The tragic Indian Ocean Earthquake has been associated with irregularities and instability with the Earth`s magnetic field, linked to the massive shift, lifting, and sudden movement of the Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates. It`s been revealed by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that the Earth`s axis has been wobbling, and the NW tip of Sumatra may have shifted to the SW by as much as 36 meters according to the US Geological Survey. The exact nature of the shift will be determined by scientists using hand-held GPS devices. It is conjectured that the land mass may have moved up or down, and not sideways. The tilt of the axis is believed to be about 2.5 cm, and the rotation rate increased by a few microseconds. Here in Melbourne, high frequency propagation has been exhibiting some peculiar behavior since the event, believed to be the result of changes to the Earth`s magnetic field caused by these enormous seismic variations. These perturbations may be sustained for weeks, or months, until tectonic stability is restored. I have been compiling some high frequency propagation research during the local Melbourne daytime, on 7, 9, and 11 MHz, in the days following the tragic event on Dec 28, 29 and 30, from these monitoring locations: Mont Albert, 15 km east of Melbourne, which is home; Point Cooke Coastal Park, 35 km SW of Melbourne, mobile, and Sylvan Ranges – 50 km east of Melbourne, also mobile. Long path signals from Europe become audible on 9 MHz at approximately 0130. Prior to 0130, the dominant transmission route is short path. 7 MHz signals between 0000 and 0200 have been propagating from Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, believed to be multi-mode, multi-hop. At this stage, results have not as yet yielded sufficient data for meaningful professional analysis, being complicated by erratic solar disturbances as we move into the low period of solar cycle 23. Further research will be undertaken over the next week. Extensive summary of monitoring research may be viewed and downloaded at http://www.rvjp.blogspot.com (Bob Padula, Melbourne, HCJB DX Partyline Jan 1, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to minor storm levels with isolated severe storm periods at high latitudes. The period began with quiet to unsettled levels on 27 December. Quiet to active levels were experienced on 28 December due to sustained periods of southward Bz around 5nT. On 29 December, quiet to active levels were seen with an isolated minor storm period at mid-latitudes. Increased activity continued into 30 December due to the effects of a transequatorial high speed coronal hole stream. On 31 December, conditions were quiet to unsettled. On 01 January, quiet to active conditions were experienced as geomagnetic activity started to increase due to the onset of a geoeffective coronal hole high speed stream. On 02 January, Quiet to minor storm levels were observed, with severe storm periods at high latitudes, due to the high speed stream, possibly combined with a weak transient flow. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 05 - 31 JANUARY 2005 Solar activity is expected to be very low to low with a chance of M- class activity from Region 715. Region 715 will be departing on 10 January. Expect very low to low conditions after 10 January. Expect very low to low with a chance of M-class activity from old Region 715 again as it rotates back on the visible disk on 23 January. 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 14-15, 18-19, 25-27, and 30-31 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 13-14, 17- 18, 24-26, and 29-30 January. Otherwise, expect quiet to unsettled conditions. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2005 Jan 04 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 2005 Jan 04 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2005 Jan 05 90 15 3 2005 Jan 06 90 10 3 2005 Jan 07 90 8 3 2005 Jan 08 90 8 3 2005 Jan 09 90 8 3 2005 Jan 10 85 8 3 2005 Jan 11 85 8 3 2005 Jan 12 90 10 3 2005 Jan 13 95 15 3 2005 Jan 14 95 12 3 2005 Jan 15 95 5 2 2005 Jan 16 95 5 2 2005 Jan 17 95 12 3 2005 Jan 18 95 20 4 2005 Jan 19 95 10 3 2005 Jan 20 95 8 3 2005 Jan 21 95 10 3 2005 Jan 22 95 10 3 2005 Jan 23 100 10 3 2005 Jan 24 100 15 3 2005 Jan 25 100 15 3 2005 Jan 26 95 15 3 2005 Jan 27 90 8 3 2005 Jan 28 90 15 3 2005 Jan 29 90 20 4 2005 Jan 30 90 20 4 2005 Jan 31 90 10 3 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via DXLD) ###