DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-020, February 2, 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 2005 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 1262: Wed 2300 WOR WBCQ 7415 [first airing of each edition] Thu 0000 WOR WBCQ 17495-CUSB Thu 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Thu 2130 WOR WWCR 9985 Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream [repeated 2-hourly thru 2400] Fri 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Sat 0000 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sat 0900 WOR WRN1 to Eu, Af, As, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar, Telstar 12 SAm Sat 0955 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1130 WOR WWCR 5070 Sat 2030 WOR R. Lavalamp 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 WXPN Rhinelander WI 91.7 91.9 100.9 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 [1261] Mon 0530 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0900 WOR R. Lavalamp Mon 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 0700 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 Tue 1000 WOR WRMI 9955 Tue 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ONDEMAND [from Friday]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] [from early UT Thursday] WORLD OF RADIO 1262 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1262h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1262h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1262 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1262.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1262.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1262.html [from Thursday] WORLD OF RADIO 1262 in the true shortwave sound of 7415 [projected!]: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_02-02-05.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_02-02-05.mp3 NETS TO YOU: new February edition by John Norfolk: http://www.w4uvh.net/nets2you.html GOOGLE RUNNING BEHIND. I`ve noticed thru most of January that Google- searching for items in DXLD never turned up any hits for 2005 issues. So on Feb 2 I searched: 5-019 site:worldofradio.com and got no hits as I diminished the issue numbers one by one until I got to 5-009, the January 15 issue, more than two weeks ago. BTW, when you do get a hit on such a search, please go to the cache rather than the webpage (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN. INDEPENDENT RADIO STATION FOR WOMEN GOES ON AIR IN NORTHERN AFGHAN TOWN | Text of report by Afghan radio on 31 January The first independent women's radio station, called Qoyash [The Sun in Uzbek language], was inaugurated by Sayed Hosayn Fazel Sancharaki, the deputy information and culture minister in charge of publication and broadcasting, and Abdol Latif Ebrahimi, the governor of Fariab, in Maymana, the capital of Fariab, today. According to a Bakhtar Information Agency correspondent in Maymana, Radio Qoyash has been set up with the Canadian government's technical and financial assistance. It broadcasts programmes on 89.0 FM covering a radius of 25 kilometres. Speaking at a meeting attended by government officials, women and young people in the capital of Fariab, the head of Radio Qoyash, Rana Sherzai, shed light on the radio's programmes and stressed that the station would carry programmes reflecting social realities. Afterwards, the Canadian ambassador in Kabul briefed participants of the meeting on the setting up of the radio station and pledged Canadian government's cooperation with the people of Afghanistan. I In turn, the governor of Fariab expressed gratitude for Canada's assistance in installing the radio. He said that the installation of this radio station would play a significant role in reflecting the realities and educating people, particularly women. Afterwards, Mr Fazel Sancharaki spoke on the activities of Radio Qoyash and the importance of mass media. He said that the Information and Culture Ministry was committed to extending the central television's programmes to all the provinces and installing local television stations in the provinces. The director of the US Agency for International Development and the head of Women's Affairs Department of Fariab also spoke on the setting up of the radio. At the end, the governor of Fariab and deputy information and culture minister inaugurated the radio station. Source: Radio Afghanistan, Kabul, in Pashto 1430 gmt 31 Jan 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) TFK! ** ALASKA. Amendments to Applications for Pending Facilities: 1450, NEW, Unalaska --- original application was for U1 1000/1000. This amendment requests U1 5000/5000. This may be the first US ``superpower`` on a [graveyard] channel, but who are they going to interfere with? Unalaska is wa-a-ay out in the Aleutian chain about 1000 miles west of Anchorage (Bill Hale, TX, AM Switch, NRC DX News Jan 31 via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. Bangladesh Betar, 7185, 1230-1300* Jan 29, surprisingly good signal with English news, 1238 commentary, 1243 local music, 1250 ID. Sign-off with ID and address for reception reports. Listed \\ 9550 not heard (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. Trans World Radio-Africa building mediumwave station in Benin Trans World Radio–Africa is about to begin construction of a mediumwave broadcasting station in Benin. The station says it has been investigating the possibility of building a transmitting site in West Africa for more than five years. Licences for broadcasts on mediumwave and shortwave had been applied for in Burkina Faso, Mali and Ghana without success throughout this period. But an application for a licence was made in Benin, and a mediumwave licence was granted. An ideal transmitting site has been found near Parakou. This month, preparations for the building phase of the project begin. Once completed, the mediumwave transmitter site will reach Benin, Togo, parts of Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritania, Algeria, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Programmes will be provided through TWR`s studios in Côte d`Ivoire and through several of TWR`s partner ministries in West Africa. TWR hopes to be broadcasting from this new transmitting site as early as November 2005. Currently, TWR broadcasts in 20 languages to West Africa from Johannesburg, South Africa on shortwave. TWR says that not only will the new broadcasting station provide an opportunity for broadcasting in other new languages within five years of start up, but the signal quality will also be much improved. # posted by Andy @ 11:56 UT Feb 2 (Media Network blog via DXLD) WTFK??? ** BERMUDA. Glenn, Here's [what it says on] the paper QSL from ZBM, a prepared card with the info filled in: Station ZBM Location Hamilton, Bermuda Frequency/Channel: 94.9 MHz Power 2 kw / 10 kw ERP Time: 4:12 PM EDT Date: July 5, 2004 Signature Delano Ingham, CE Comments: Tx was just retired (CCA 10 kw) new tx is Harris Z2CI 2.5 kw At least the frequency is correct here! FM Country heard/verified #3 (Jim Renfrew, NY, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. R. San Miguel, Riberalta, 4901.92, 0950-1020* Jan 29, local romantic ballads, Spanish announcements, talk, ID. Fair-good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOTSWANA. Heard already at 0400 Z (on Feb 1, 2005) very clear signal on 4930 kHz, SIO=443, in parallel with Sao Tome 4960 kHz. I was not aware of this new VOA frequency starting at this date, so I first thought the calibration of my receiver was offset (to 4960) - thanks to several Finnish DXers I could write the right QTH on my logbook. Had to hurry to work, so I was able to listen to any more than news in English (Matti Ponkamo, OH1GPU, Naantali, Finland, Drake R4-C, SONY 2010D, Kenwood TH-F7, 20m Dipole, dxing.info via DXLD) On 1 Feb at 1600 VOA Botswana 4930 signing on with English. Rather weak signal, mixing with Turkmenistan who had mainly lower side band of AM in use, so I could get VOA on upper (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4930, 1615-1622, VOA, Feb 1 on their new 60mb frequency. Interview with a NASA official discussing the upcoming space shuttle flight, and the issues with the heat shield tiles and integrity of the insulation on the booster fuel tanks; questions from phone callers in Kuwait and elsewhere. VOA ID at 1630 and into news. Good signal at one hour past local sunrise. A short MP3 with VOA ID can be heard here: http://www.guyatkins.com/files/voa_botswana_4930.mp3 (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, mod. ICOM IC-756Pro & mod. ICOM R-75 Kiwa MAP / ERGO / DSP-59+ 450 & 700 ft. Beverage Antennas, HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. R. Guaíba, 5999.96, 0825-0840+ Jan 29, Portuguese talk, ID, local pop music. Weak, poor; \\ 11785: very weak (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Inconfidência [6010] voltou a operar uma misteriosa transmissão paralela em 5910. 5910, 31/01 1253, R. Inconfidência-BH, Comentário about reunião do COPON, ID. 43333. Tal como já foi constatado anteriormente a R. Inconfidência voltou a transmitir em paralelo nesta frequência não incluida em sua ortoga (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Latitude 21º 13' 21" S, Longitude 43º 47' 16" W, Altitude: 1.108 metros (Morro de Sta. Cecília), Noticias DX via DXLD) That could be the het we hear against the new Colombian after Ukraine closes; or maybe DW (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Gente! Será que ninguém ouviu por aí uma emissora pirata brasileira em OC? Tenho ouvido, e isso já faz dois finais de semana, uma pirata nos 7842 kHz!!! Não consigo identificar por nada nesse mundo porque a modulação é horrivel quando o cidadão diz o nome da rádio! Dêem uma expiadinha, por favor! (Marcelo Xavier Vieira, Itambé, Jan 31 via Carlos Felipe, radioescutas via DXLD) More details? ** BRAZIL. XEPPM, which can put in a beautiful signal on 6185 if left alone, was buried by R. Nacional da Amazônia, Feb 2 at 0706 with a sign-on announcement claiming to be on 11780 and 6180! Is RNA in a state of denial or deniability about their blockage of Mexico`s main SW station from so far away? Presumably will move sign-on an hour later with the end of DST Feb 20 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also MEXICO ** BRAZIL. A Radio Universo não existe mais já faz tempo; agora é Radio Tupi. (Programação religiosa evangélica da Igreja "Deus é Amor" do pastor David Miranda). Pretendo assim que folgar por aqui fazer uma visita pessoal na radio pois eles recebem as correspondências e arquivam, não sabendo que tem que retornar. A pessoa que conversei por telefone nem sabia o que é um cartão QSL. Acho que vai ser difícil doutrina-los a responder informes mas não custa nada tentar. Radio TUPI - 1210 Khz (20/5) - 6060 Khz (10/10) - 9565 Khz (20/20) - 11765 Khz (20/20) Rua João Negrão, 595 - Centro - Curitiba-PR - Brasil - 80.010-200 Fone : 41-323-1353 E-mail : não tem Eng. Latuf Aurani (radicado em S. Paulo ) (Marcelo Vilela Bedene, Corretor de Seguros - Curitiba-PR, Membro do DX Clube do Brasil, via Grimm, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Says R. Tupi files away DX correspondence, not understanding that they are supposed to reply to it; it may be difficult to indoctrinate them into the needs of DXers (gh, DXLD) Hello friends, Marcelo Bedene (Curitiba/PR, Brasil/DX Clube do Brasil) phoned today morning to Radio Tupi/Curitiba (ex-Radio Universo), and obtained following information from a Technical Department collaborator: Radio TUPI - 1210 kHz (20 kW-day/5 kW-night) - 6060 kHz (10 kW/10 kW) - 9565 Khz (20 kW/20 kW) - 11765 Khz (20 kW/20 kW) Rua João Negrão, 595 - Centro - Curitiba-PR - Brasil - 80010-200 Fone : +55 41 323-1353 Eng. Latuf Aurani (works in S. Paulo) 73s, (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo, SP, Brazil, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAMBODIA [and non?]. Northwest Cambodia TV/FM scan info This is being sent from a coin operated computer in the lobby of the Narita, Japan Holiday Inn where I'm staying for 3 days (the hotel, not the lobby...) I spent almost a month in Cambodia (country #40 since starting "independent solo travel" back in 1982) and so far do not appear to have Malaria, Typhoid Fever, or Dengue Fever (for which there is no preventive medication). FM bandscan from Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat, which I think is the largest "temple-church-synagog-whatever" building in the world. It obviously took more labor to build it than it took to build the Giza pyramids. 92.0 French 93.0 foreign language, probably Korean 97.5 English Rock 98.0 Cambodian 100.5 Cambodian (or perhaps something else, lol) Cambodia is another country over here that has its own language with its own written characters. Others are Thailand, Laos, Burma, India, Nepal. It looks a bit like Hindi but the "straight line" is missing. Khmer is the oldest surviving language in south Asia. TV --- Another 80 channel cable system but no Australian, Philippines, or Indonesian TV like in Phnom Penh), but it did have a lot more Korean, Indian, and Thai stations. This machine wants another 100 yen coin and I got a ton of email to read, after deleting the 95% of it which will be Spam, so hasta la vista for now. 73, (Jeff Kadet, Feb 1, WTFDA via DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Dear Bill Thorkoldsen, We hope everything is going well. We would like to inform you that from February 1, 2004, one or two more hours of our programs could also reach our United Kingdom listeners on medium wave we rent from London. Our technical department would like to know about the reception conditions of the frequency in your area. We hope you could monitor it and give us some feedback as soon as possible. Here is the timetable for your listening convenience. Date UTC Frequency (kHz) Monday-Friday 1500-1600 558 Saturday-Sunday 1600-1800 558 Thanks for your time and effort over the year, and we are looking forward to hearing from you soon. Best wishes. Sincerely yours, YingLian [collective name], English Service, China Radio International http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/ (via Thorkoldsen, BDXC-UK via DXLD) i.e. Spectrum 558, which already carries CRI later at night (gh) ** COLOMBIA. Someone else out there is hearing the same "mixing product" I have here in Quito on 5810.75 kHz? On this frequency exactly on the same zero beat Hz I´m hearing, 0130 UTC, a quite strong "La Voz de Tu Conciencia" (// 6010.14) together with a weaker "Marfíl Estéreo 88.8 F.M" (// 5910.47). Can anyone figure out this? Glenn Hauser? http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, yes, formula 2A minus B, or as I like to say, ``leapfrogging`` one signal over the other, in this case roughly 100 kHz apart, and there is likely another around 6110, masked by other stations. Checked at 0709 UT Feb 2, and nothing but WYFR here on 5810, as to be expected. 5910.6 or so was pretty good with music, not overtly evangelical, marred by something on 5912 which part of the time would beep exactly once per second (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. AN AMERICAN PUBLIC LIBRARY VERSUS CASTRO Nat Hentoff http://www.newsandopinion.com In the small town of Vermillion, S.D., the century-old Vermillion Public Library has become the first, and only, American public library to stand up to Fidel Castro who, in 2003, imprisoned for at least 20- year terms a dozen independent librarians in Cuba — part of his crackdown on 75 dissenters to his ruthless dictatorship. On Nov. 18, the Vermillion Public Library Board of Trustees voted to sponsor the Dulce María Loynaz Library in Havana, Cuba, which, like other imperiled independent libraries in that country, offers public access to books not obtainable in Cuba's censored "public" library system. . . http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff012705.asp (via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) His latest column no doubt available elsewhere if this disappear ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, 0626 Jan 24, R. Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial, SINPO 24333 (QRM from time signals on 5 MHz). Incredible, but this station was propagating better than many Latin American stations! 0030 [sic] time check and world news, 0035 report on upcoming presidential elections, 0037 music (Robertas Pogorelis, Belgium, visiting Tulum, México, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I assume you slipped into local time of UT -6 after the initial 0626 UT, right? (gh) ** FRANCE. Some news of MW in France: PARIS: According to a mail from Jean-Michel Bross (member of the station), Radio de la Mer on 1080 kHz, will start broadcast on February 7th at 0600 UT. The station will be on the air, daytime. I guess Paris Live Radio, will also start this day [at night]. MONACO/FRANCE: Radio Vaticana use the two Monte Carlo Radiodiffusion's MW outlets in parallel with 1530 kHz. Relay of Vatican as follows: On 702 kHz, 400 kW from Col de la Madone 1810-1940 UT. On 1467 kHz, 1000 kW from Roumoules 1730-1940 UT. Best 73's (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, France, Feb 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also VATICAN, but not MONACO ** GABON. RTV Gabon, 4777, *0532-0610+ Jan 29, abrupt sign-on with French talk, Afro-pop music. 0600 & 0604 ``Radio Gabon`` IDs. Good signal (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GOA. Yet another report of ``very poor audio`` from AIR SW transmitters here, 11715 kHz, and illustrated with a recording by John Durham, on the DX Report in the current RNZI Mailbox. Which makes us wonder, surely the new engineer there must be aware of this situation (and apparently not in a position to fix it), yet he is soliciting reception reports. Perhaps he is trying to build a case to convince the lethargic AIR bureaucracy to authorize a repair? Increasingly unlikely with AIR`s budgetary problems, as in last issue, and the external SW service being the poor stepchild of the domestic service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. VOICE OF GREECE (ERA-5) B-04 Short-wave Schedule (Effective from October 30, 2004 to March 26, 2005) UTC Avlis 1 Avlis 2 Avlis 3 VOA 1 VOA 2 0000-0100 5865/292º 7475/285* 9420/323* 9375/105* 12105/240* 0100-0200 5865/292º 7475/285* 9420/323* 9375/105* 12105/240* 0200-0300 5865/292º 7475/285* 9420/323* SILENT SILENT 0300-0400 5865/292º 7475/285* 9420/323* SILENT SILENT 0400-0500 5865/292º 7475/285* 9420/323* 15650/095* 12105/095* 0500-0600 5865/292º 7475/285* 9420/323* 15650/095* 12105/095* 0600-0700 5865/292* 15630/285* 9420/323* 15650/095* 21530/095* 0700-0800 11645/226º 15630/285* 9420/323* 15650/095* 21530/095* 0800-0900 11645/226º 15630/285* 9420/323* 15650/095* 21530/095* 0900-1000 11645/226º 15630/285* 9420/323* 9375/355* 21530/095* 1000-1100 SILENT SILENT SILENT SILENT SILENT 1100-1200 9935/285º 15630/285* SILENT 9375/355* 15650/095* 1200-1300 9935/285º 15630/285* SILENT 9375/355* 15650/095* 1300-1400 9935/285º 15630/285* 9420/323* 9375/355* 15650/095* 1400-1500 9935/285º 15630/285* 9420/323* 9375/355* 7430/240* 1500-1600 9935/285º 15630/285* 9420/323* 7475/355* 7430/240* 1600-1700 7450/323º 15630/285* 9420/323* 7475/355* 7430/240* 1700-1800 7450/323* 15630/285* 9420/323* 7475/355* 7430/240* 1800-1900 7450/323º 15630/285* 9420/323* 7475/355* 7430/240* 1900-2000 7450/323º 15630/285* 9420/323* 7475/355* 7430/240* 2000-2100 7450/323º 7475/285* 9420/323* 9375/355* 12105/095* 2100-2200 7450/323º 7475/285* 9420/323* 9375/105* 12105/095* 2200-2300 7450/323º 7475/285* 9420/323* 9375/105* 12105/095* 2300-2400 5865/292º 7475/285* 9420/323* 9375/240* 12105/095* VOICE OF GREECE (Non) UTC Delano 0700-0800 9770/296* (Mon-Fri) 0800-0900 9770/296* (Mon-Fri) 1200-1300 9775/075* 1300-1400 9775/075* 1400-1500 9775/075* 1500-1600 15485/075* (Sat Sun) 1600-1700 15485/075* 1700-1800 15485/075* 1800-1900 15485/075* 1900-2000 15485/075* Greenville 2000-2100 15485/075* 17565/164* 2100-2200 15485/075* 17565/164* (John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. Greenland on 3815? Could Martin or anyone who pulls in Greenland on MW please check this out? I don`t know how your beverages would funxion on 75m, but it would be nice to have this confirmed from overseas, and would be quite a catch! Thanks, (Glenn Hauser, Jan 14, MWC via DXLD) Reception of Greenland on MW was reasonably good on the morning of 28 Jan, so I decided to check 3815 kHz USB later in the day. Nothing heard at either 1500 or 2100 UT --- only the odd utility station coming up on the frequency. However, I'll keep an eye on the channel in the future, when conditions seem appropriate. I note from the February edition of Communication, the monthly journal of the British DX Club, that this station was heard on 11 January in northern Finland at a Lemmenjoki DXpedition. A report can be read on- line at http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem206rep.dx and http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/lem206log.dx 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, ibid.) ** GUINEA. RTV Guinéenne, 7125, 2340-0001* Jan 28-29, French talk, Afro-pop music, local folk music. 2359 sign-off with instrumental NA. VG signal until 0000 when covered by Russian International Radio sign- on (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. 650, KRTR, Honolulu, Jan 3 at 2202 EST: automated MOR oldies from 60s to now using liner ``This is Hawaii`s Place for Great Music, The New 6-50 AM.`` Finally ID at 2304, ``Continuous Relaxing Favorites on the All New 6-50, KRTR AM``. Ex-KHNR, which migrated to FM. Callsign last used on 1460 before it went Korean. Station was sold by Salem Media to Cox Radio. First day with new format. 870, KAIM, Honolulu, Jan 3 at 2217 EST. Randy Travis tune, drop-in ID ``AM 8-70 KAIM, Hawaii`s Classic Country``, back to satellite DJ, ``Your Brand of Country``. Drop-in ID ``AM 8-70, Hawaii`s Classic Country Station``, dead air for SIX minutes, then Kenny Rogers. Traffic and surf reports at 2239. Apparently the format is syndicated by Waitt Radio Networks. Also using slogan ``Bringing Classic Country to Paradise.`` New format, ex-Protestant teaching and praise music. 940, KJPN, Waipahu, Jan 3 at 2343 EST. Automated Hawaiian AC oldies music, using slogan ``All Traditional Hawaiian All the Time, AM 9- 40``. ID at 2403 ``KHCM Waipahu, Hawaii`s All Traditional Hawaiian Music Station.`` Actually, the KHCM callsign moved to 1170 along with the satellite country format; not using the callsign listed with the FCC. Second time KJPN calls on 940. Format change, previously was a Japanese station. Was sold by Salem Media to Cox. 940, KKNE, Waipahu, Jan 14 at 1800 EST. Noted with new calls KKNE, replacing KJPN, and announcing the time in Hawaiian, using the old KCCN-1420 time checks. 1170, KHCM, Honolulu, Jan 4 at 0258 EST. Country music off satellite; ID at 0301 ``KHCM AM 11-70, Hawaii`s Country Music``, and ``The New AM 11-70``. Format and callsign moved from 940. Ex-KJPN, which simulcast KAIM-FM`s contemporary Christian format. Per Honolulu Star-Bulletin, morning drive show is simulcast over similarly-formatted KAIM-870 (Dale Park, Honolulu, Domestic DX Digest, NRC DX News Jan 31 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Jeff Cohen, Director of Development of WRN, notes that the international audience, tho difficult to measure, certainly does exist. For example, Alan Greenspan of the USA state bank, the Federal Reserve, is a keen listener. ``Greenspan told the Australian ambassador to the US that he listened to Australian radio on WRN, saying that it was one of the only ways [sic] to get news of the Asia-Pacific region if you were in the USA``. (from WRN – Global Perspectives article by Jason Walsh in Feb Short Wave Magazine [UK] via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Caribbean Weather Centre nets hosted by professional meteorologist Chris Parker, broadcasting [sic] from his sloop the Bel Ami, while he cruises the area, a 1966 Morgan 34-footer. Currently the USB nets are active as follows: 1100 UT on 8137, 1130 on 4045, 1230 on 8104, 1300 on 13259, 1330 on 16351 kHz. No nets operate on Sundays unless there is a threat of severe weather. When any bad weather is expected an additional schedule is established at midnight [UT -4???], the frequency being announced on all the morning nets. These transmissions are not the easiest to monitor, but CWC is a successful enterprise and their frequencies are often quite busy with many check-ins. Reception in northern Europe is dependent on the location of participating vessels as well as the vagaries of propagation. The sloop Bel Ami should be in the Bahamas throughout February 2005. The Caribbean Weather Centre`s Managing Director is Mary Finlay-Jones (widow of David Jones, weatherman previously running the net), and CWC are contactable at: P O Box 3069, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. The lure of the sea has a hold on various land-based operators. One being Herb Hilgenberg of Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Herb uses the callsign ``South Bound 2`` and provides a daily ship routing and weather forecasting service on a hobby basis. He can be found on 12359 kHz starting at 1940 for check-ins, concluding at 2200 or when all the traffic has been passed. His coverage area is the North Atlantic between the Eastern Seaboard of North America and Europe. He also includes the Caribbean, the Bahama Islands and the Gulf of Mexico. If propagation allows, he also broadcasts to the South Atlantic and Eastern Pacific. Herb uses 8294 and 16531 if 12359 is out of commission and vessels are asked to call in with their name and position and are encouraged to check in daily until their voyage is completed (Ben Hogan, SSB Utilities, Feb Short Wave Magazine [UK] via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. THE IRAN CHANNEL FROM MCLEAN, STATION HOPES TO BROADCAST CHANGE --- By Darragh Johnson Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, February 1, 2005; Page C01 The next Iranian revolution is starting here, in a strip mall in McLean, next to the Jazzercise Fitness Center. "We are going to change the regime!" pronounces the oracular Ahura Pirouz Khaleghi Yazdi. "This is going to happen very fast." (So very fast, he adds with an insistent waggle of his heavy black eyebrows, that he worries about this article's timing. If too many days pass before publishing, it could be too late. The story may change: Mere days after the vote in neighboring Iraq, the new Iranian revolution may already have begun. Launched from McLean.) Later this week, Yazdi persists, "I have a very important announcement to make." On the worldwide broadcast of his satellite TV show, "Dr. Yazdi," as he calls himself, will establish how to set up an "interim government" in Iran -- a country where he has never had a home. . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A52897-2005Jan31?language=printer (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Long article, illustrated, also mentions stream over the Internet at http://www.rang-a-rang.com (gh, DXLD) THE IRANIAN EXILE SATELLITE CHANNEL RANG-A-RANG. "Is it crazy? Effective? A political front? An exile's folly?" Whatever, it costs $40,000 a month in satellite fees. Washington Post, 1 February 2005. It's on Intelsat Americas 5 with other Iranian channels, per Lyngsat (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** IRAQ. 1/17/2005, 1915-1920, 11787.0, Radio Baghdad, Unknown, Iraq, Unknown, AM, 22222, poor audio OM speaking, Unknown, Shortwave, YAESU FT.920 (Radio Logbook of Dale Haseley, N2YJJ, Generated by Shortwave Log v3 http://bfn.org/~cf769/appweb.html Middleport, NY USA, swbasics via DXLD) I assume this was based on a very outdated list, as we have had no other info that Iraq has resumed any SW service; OTOH, who else would be on such an off-frequency? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. Reflections Europe, 3910, with religious programmes, at 1602 UT Dec 26, Jan 2, 9 and 16; also on 6295 at 1601 UT Dec 26, Jan 9 and 16; on 12255 at 1616 // 6295 on Jan 16 [all Sundays] (Stuart Dobson, Stone, Staffordshire, Alternative Airwaves, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Strangely, PWBR ``2005`` mentions this only on 6290/6295, not in the vicinity of 3910 or 12255, and says it is a European pirate in Ireland (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Winter B-04 schedule of Kol Israel (updated on Jan. 29): ARABIC 0345-2215 5915 AMHARIC 1900-1935 9390 11585 11605 ENGLISH 0430-0445 6280 7545 17600 1030-1045 15640 17535 1830-1845 9390 11585 11605 2000-2025 6280 9390 15615 FRENCH 0445-0500 6280 7545 1100-1115 15640 17535 1800-1815 9390 11585 11605 2030-2045 6280 7520 9390 HEBREW 0000-0430 7545 0500-0555 7545 and deleted 15760 0600-0755 15760 and deleted 17535 0800-1030 17535 0800-1655 15760 deleted 1115-1455 17535 1700-0455 9345 deleted 2100-2215 7520 deleted 2100-2355 6280 HUNGARIAN 1745-1755 9390 11605 15760 1945-1955 9390 11585 11605 LADINO 1045-1100 15640 17535 1600-1625 7420 9985 15760 Sat MUSIC 1630-1645 11605 15640 15760 PERSIAN 1500-1625 7420 9985 15760 Sun-Thu 1500-1600 7420 9985 15760 Fri/Sat ROMANIAN 1725-1745 9390 11605 15760 1845-1900 9390 11585 11605 RUSSIAN 1600-1625 7420 9985 15760 Fri 2100-2200 7520 9390 SPANISH 1645-1655 11605 15640 15760 1815-1830 9390 11585 11605 2045-2100 6280 7520 9390 TIGRINA 1935-1945 9390 11585 11605 YIDDISH 1700-1725 9390 11605 15760 Shortwave transmission is due to cease on March 31, 2005! (Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 1 via DXLD) ** JAPAN. Hello PC Dxers: For all listeners of Radio Japan NHK WORLD, 70th wallpaper with February calendar is available for free download at the following address: http://www.nhk.or.jp/rj/wall_e.htm February calendar theme is: "On a Tobacco Farm" by Yoshimori Ogimoto Ono County, in Oita Prefecture, Kyushu, known for its tobacco production. The planting of cuttings is a two-person job and is generally performed, as seen here, by a husband and wife working together. Long rows of soil-protective vinyl sheets shine whitely under an early- spring sun. Enjoy whatever you are listening! 73' s http://web.tiscali.it/ondecorte (Nino Marabello, Italy, Swprograms mailing list, via DXLD) O, how romantic (cough, cough), and idyllic (cough, cough) (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. R. Korea International wallpaper is available --- Hello PC Dxers: For all listeners of Radio Korea International wallpaper with February calendar is available for free download at the following address: http://rki.kbs.co.kr/src/images/akorea_calendar/calendar_1024_0502.zip (file size 544 KB) (Source: RKI web site) Enjoy whatever you are listening! 73's (Nino http://web.tiscali.it/ondecorte/ Marabello, Feb 1, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. R. Educación ought to get something out of co- sponsoring the imminent HFCC meeting in the DF --- like getting other stations off its only SW frequency, 6185. This means Brazil, q.v., and VATICAN, primarily, as well as China-via-Canada on 6190 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. La W, with XEW as the key station, has numerous new affiliates all over Mexico in addition to the traditional ones at Veracruz, San Luis Potosí and Monterrey. The info was found at http://www.esmas.com/wradio/noticias/370476.html Acapulco 1030 AM Chihuahua 680 AM Ciudad Obregón 1070 AM Coatzacoalcos 960 AM Cuernavaca 1190 AM Culiacán 1200 AM Durango 820 AM El Paso Tex 1060 AM [KXPL, 10 kW daytimer per NRC AM Log ---gh] Guadalajara 1190 AM Oaxaca 1200 AM (sólo Hoy por Hoy) Mexicali 89.9 FM Mexicali 1050 AM México, D.F. 900 AM México, D.F. 96.9 FM [\\ MW now??? Used to be separate --- gh] Monterrey 540 AM Nogales 1240 AM Nuevo Laredo 1090 AM Puerto Vallarta 910 AM Salamanca 1040 AM San Luis Potosí 540 AM Tampico 1030 AM Tepic 620 AM Torreón 790 AM Veracruz 900 AM Villahermosa 940 AM (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Jan 31, dxing.info via DXLD) Necessary now that 900v is no longer a 250 kW clear channel covering most of the country (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO [non]. See FRANCE ** NEPAL. REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS CALLS ON UN TO INTERVENE IN NEPAL Reporters Without Borders has called on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to intervene in Nepal where King Gyanendra has imposed a state of emergency, taken over direct power and cut the country off from the outside world. All communications, including email, have been cut and privately-owned FM radio forced to cancel news programmes. In its appeal to the UN, the worldwide press freedom organisation said, "This is not the first time that the king has tried to impose himself by force, depriving the Nepalese people of their freedom of expression. The international community has failed to respond to a deteriorating human rights situation in the country. It is now urgent that the UN reacts firmly." Earlier today King Gyanendra sacked the government and took control himself, putting many opposition figures under house arrest. The Royal Army has been deployed in the streets and Kathmandu international airport has been closed. All communications have been cut with the outside world, telephone, email and websites hosted in Nepal are inaccessible, including nepalnews.com. Privately-owned FM radios have been ordered to drop their news bulletins. But TV and state-owned radio programmes are unaffected. This coup by the king is seemingly linked to the failure of the coalition government of Sher Bahadur Deuba to bring Maoist rebels to the negotiating table and to organise parliamentary elections next spring. In a speech put out by the state-owned media the king said, "In the framework of rights invested in the crown by the current constitution, I have dissolved the government in the interests of the people, the country and the defence of sovereignty." King Gyanendra previously declared a state of emergency, on the advice of Sher Bahadur Deuba's government, on 26 November 2001. Within four months security forces had arrested more than 100 hundred journalists and the majority of them had been tortured. Nepal was in 2004, for the third consecutive year, the country with the largest number of journalists arrested in the world. Media Network adds: The Website of Radio Nepal is online, but the audio files have not been updated and are still carrying material broadcast yesterday. # posted by Andy @ 16:43 UT Feb 1 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. On Friday, 4 February, I will again be on VOA's Talk to America, with special guest Jan Hoek, new director of Radio Netherlands. Schedule information: Talk to America is broadcast 1600-1700 UT. [actually 1605-1655 UT] Frequencies: To Asia on 6160, 7125, 9645, and 9760 kHz shortwave plus 1170 kHz medium wave. To Europe/Middle East/North Africa on 9685, 11835, and 15255 kHz shortwave; and via Hot Bird 3, transponder 76, HB15. To Africa on 4930, 15240, 17715 and 17895 kHz shortwave, plus 909 and 1530 kHz medium wave. And worldwide via the live audio stream at http://www.voanews.com/english/Webcasts.cfm (kimandrewelliott.com Feb 1 via DXLD) And later archived (gh, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. R. Nigeria [Kaduna], 4770, 2225-2300* Jan 29, mostly a variety of pop, hip-hop music. Some English talk. Sign-off with NA. Weak, poor with muffled audio. Also on 4769.98, *0431-0503+ Jan 29, sign-on with talking drums, 0432 NA, 0433 English sign-on announcements with ID, English religious program with religious music. 0500 local drums, 0501 ID and news. Weak, poor with muffled audio (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Voice of Nigeria in French heard on 7255 from 2100 to 2200 UT, Tuesday Feb.1, with an excellent clear signal of s20 or more. French was on 15120 earlier in the B-04 season. Into Hausa(?) at 2200. Signal strength now even better, almost to s40 at times. Off air at about 2302 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. In every MW DX bulletin I vainly check reports on the X-band for anyone having heard my local station KFNY, 1640, Enid OK. So this is just a reminder that it still exists, going strong (well, if you are in a main lobe like I am), with All Comedy Radio. Virtually all the other North American X-banders make it to Scandinavia and New Zealand on a regular basis. As I pointed out before, the problem is that KFNY, unlike almost all the other US X- banders, is direxional, in this case roughly NNW/SSE to favor Oklahoma City and Enid, meaning little of the 1 kW nighttime signal goes toward Europe or the South Pacific. It does go toward the Caribbean and Latin America, but WTNI in Mississippi normally blocks it. So this is just a reminder to overseas (and domestic!) DXers to dig hard on 1640 to try to pull out something comedic, and be sure to report it. Owner Hiram Champlin has been issuing verification letters to the few who have heard it. Not to be confused in Europe with a Dutch pirate also on 1640 inexplicably named ``Radio Oklahoma``! Reported at 2010 UT Jan 7 with schlagers, pop in Dutch and German, by Robert Petraitis, Klaipeda, Lithuania, in Alternative Airwaves, Feb BDXC-UK Communication (Glenn Hauser, Enid, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ahh, I see KFNY IS reported in the delayed LEM 204 DX-pedition: 1640 12.12 0140 KFNY Enid OK [but no details are ever published] (LEM204 DXpedition, December 11-19, 2004, Participants: Juha Ignatius (JPI), Helsinki & Yrjö Kainulainen (YK), Palokka. Location: Lemmenjoki, northern Finland. Equipment: JPI: NRD 535 & NRD 525 (Tnx TRE) YK: 2 x AOR 7030 (Tnx Simo Isopuro), dxing.info via DXLD) I was fortunate enough to log KFNY 1640 back on October the 22nd, 2004 from 0502 to 0532 UT with a Rodney Dangerfield skit and two good solid ID's for 'KFNY-All Comedy-all-the-Time'. Sent my report to the station, the Owner Hiram Champlin was gracious enough to send several nice decals and a nice verification letter. To put it in perspective, one of the better X-banders that verifies reports --- wish others would be that responsive! (Edward Kusalik, Coaldale AB, ODXA via DXLD) Glenn, I submitted this entry to both the NRC list and the WTFDA-AM list on Mon 29-Mar-2004 at 9:34 PM --- KFNY-1640 OK Enid - Personal letter from Hiram Champlin, Owner, Chisholm Trail Broadcasting, in 16 days for letter report, return postage (which they used), and one of my ham radio "eye-ball QSO" cards. Address is: Chisholm Trail Broadcasting, P O Box 952, Enid OK 73702. Letterhead also had KXLS-95.7 FM, KCRC-1390, and KNID-99.7 FM logos on it. The verie letter stated "KFNY operates with a power of 10,000 watts in the daytime and 1,000 watts at night. Both day and night are directional with a simple two-tower pattern that orients the signal 160 - 340." 73, (Steve Ponder, N5WBI, Houston TX USA, NRC-AM via DXLD) Yes, I think I remember your report, Steve. I did not mean to say that no one had ever heard it, just that reports are few and far between, not seen in the last few months, I think, until tonight I found the Lapland report. Listeners from Texas to Alberta, and those elsewhere with huge beverages are obviously at an advantage (Glenn to Steve, ibid.) KFNY comes in fairly well in Topeka - but it is not always the dominant station on 1640. I never thought to report it to DDXD because it's not really "DX" to me, hi (Paul Swearingen, Cap City, AMFMTVDX mailing list via DXLD) I believe KFNY too makes it to Europe on a regular basis - check the KONG10 log for instance http://www.kongsfjord.no and although I haven't checked, I am sure that the Swedish and Finnish expedition sites also have heard this. They respond to reports too. Regards, (Bjarne Mjelde, http://www.kongsfjord.no weblog: http://mjelde.blogspot.com HCDX via DXLD) Viz.: 1640 16.10 0022 KFNY Enid OK Comedy Radio KONG10 (Results from the KONG10 DX-pedition to Kongsfjord, October 15 –19 2004 http://www.kongsfjord.no/logs/KONG10_log.pdf Note: Dates listed in dd.mm format. Times are UTC. The "KONG10" signature comprises of Tore- Johnny Bråtveit, Ole Forr and Bjarne Mjelde, via DXLD) KFNY was heard well in Kongsfjord, Northern Norway in October 2004. Take a look at www.kongsfjord.no (OLE FORR, FRYA, N-2647 SOR-FRON, NORWAY, dxing.info via DXLD) And with a steady decent signal in southern Finland on January 7th (Jone Nuutinen, Vantaa, Finland, ibid.) And received with excellent signals in March 2004 in Lemmenjoki, Finland. Report and f/up has not resulted in any verification (Jan- Erik Österholm (JEÖ), Östravägen 18, FIN-06100 Porvoo, Finland, ibid.) Glenn, KFNY 1640 at least not a problem in Fergus Falls, MN last spring! Here in Norway I hardly have time to DX anymore. Hope for better times though (Svenn Martinsen, HCDX via DXLD) Glenn, Just to let you know that I picked it once this winter, but all I got was "All Comedy R" and not a proper local ID, which is why it was not logged. 73 (Mika Mäkeläinen, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heard in Parkalompolo, northern Sweden, in March last year. Details at http://www.algonet.se/%7elhu/pax.htm Check the full Excel-log at http://www.algonet.se/%7elhu/PAX_NA.xls or the specific PAX41 Word-log at http://w1.912.telia.com/~u91202464/PAX/pax41.rtf (Hermod Pedersen, HCDX Web Editor http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. B-04 schedule for Radio Pakistan (updated Jan. 29): ASSAMI 0045-0115 9340 11565 [still partly in English??? gh] URDU 0045-0215 11580* 15485 * ex 17895 for B-03 BANGLA 0115-0200 9340 11565 HINDI 0215-0300 9340 11565 TAMIL 0315-0345 15625 17485* * ex 17495 for B-03 GUJARATI 0400-0430 9340* 11565* * ex 15485 & 17825 for B-03 URDU 0500-0700 11570 15100 17835 URDU+EN nx 0800-1105 15100* 17835 * ex 21465 for B-03 TAMIL 0945-1015 15625 17495* * ex 17485 for B-03 SINHALA 1015-1045 15625 17495* * ex 17485 for B-03 HINDI 1100-1145 9340 11570* * ex 11565 for B-03 CHINESE 1200-1230 9585* 11570 * ex 15070 for B-03 BANGLA 1200-1245 11550* 15625 * ex 11565 for B-03 NEPALI 1245-1315 11550* 15625 * ex 11565 for B-03 TURKI 1330-1400 4850* 6060* * ex 5860 & 7570 for B-03 URDU 1330-1530 9390* 11570 * ex 15065 for B-03 RUSSIAN 1415-1500 7375 9340* * ex 9385 for B-03 PASHTO 1445-1515 4955 * ex 5865 for B-03 DARI 1515-1545 4955 5860* * ex 5865 for B-03 ENGLISH 1600-1615 9390* 11570 11850 15725 * ex 9395 for B-03 TURKISH 1630-1700 9340* 11565* * ex 7550 & 11540 for B-03 URDU 1700-1900 7530* 9400* * ex 9395 & 11570 for B-03 PERSIAN 1715-1800 5840* 7570* * ex 5850 & 7550 for B-03 URDU# 1800-1900 7575* * ex 6785 for B-03 ARABIC 1815-1900 7465* 9340* * ex 6220 & 7550 for B-03 URDU 1915-0045 7575 # Islamabad program (Observer, Bulgaria, Feb 1 via DXLD) ** PERU. R. Altura, 5014.54, 0310-0322* Jan 29, Spanish talk, OA folk music, Spanish pops, adstring, ID. Abrupt sign-off; weak, poor in noise. Also heard at 1038 on 5014.61 with a good signal. R. Santa Mónica, Cusco, 4964.98, 0940-1030+ Jan 29 Spanish talk, ID, OA folk music, ads, echo announcements. 1025 canned ID. Fair. R. Huanta 2000, 4746.81, 1000-1050+ Jan 29, Spanish and Quechua talk, 1001 ID, local rustic OA music. Weak, poor at tune-in but improved to a good quality signal by 1050 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. QSL letter from Radio Melodía, Arequipa, Perú PERÚ, 5940, Radio Melodía, recibida carta QSL con datos completos, que se copia abajo, firmada, V/S por la Manager de la emisora Dña. Elba Álvarez Delgado, tarjeta postal de la ciudad de Arequipa, dedicada y firmada por el equipo de la emisora y pegatina de Radio Melodía. La carta tardó en llegar 2 meses y junto al informe de recepción se envió 1 US $. La carta dice lo siguiente: "Radio Melodía A.M. 1220 Khz. F.M. 103.3 Mhz. Onda Corta 5940 Khz. 49 mts. San Camilo nº 501-A Cercado Teléfonos A.M. 205811 - 223661, F.M. 285152 - 206095 Telefax 054-204420 Arequipa - Perú Sr. Manuel Méndez Novo Estimado oyente: Hemos recibido su amable carta y confirmamos positivamente su reporte de haber captado la señal de Radio Melodía, el mismo que se ajusta a nuestra programación emitida el 22 de noviembre de 2004 en los 5940 KHz. La comunicación que ha enviado nos ha llenado de alegría y nos complace su interés en Melodía y emisoras de América Latina." Continúa dando datos de la emisora: "Radio Melodía salió al aire un 21 de Octubre de 1972, en la ciudad de Arequipa, gracias a su fundador y actual Director Gerente, el Sr. Hermógenes Delgado Torres. Se transmiten dos diferentes programaciones, tanto en FM, como en AM y Onda Corta." Y a continuación reseña datos de la ciudad y de la región Arequipa: "La ciudad de Arequipa ubicada en la Región del mismo nombre, y sede de nuestra emisora, es la segunda ciudad más importante del Perú, Con más de 862.747 habitantes, y una altitud de 2.335 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Arequipa está situada a orillas del Río Chili, y rodeada de tres majestuosos volcanes: el aún activo "Misti" de 5.825 metros sobre el nivel del mar, "Chachani", 6075 metros y "Pichu Pichu" con 5664 metros. El clima es seco y agradable, con 300 días soleados al año. Considerada como Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad por la UNESCO, nuestra ciudad cuenta con cuatro universidades y es también el centro comercial de la Macro-Región sur del Perú. Arequipa es conocida como la "Ciudad Blanca" por las construcciones de tipo colonial, hechas de "sillar" piedra de lava volcánica, de una textura única en el mundo. La Región Arequipa cuenta con 8 provincias: Arequipa, Camaná, Caravelí, Castilla (Aplao), Cayllona(Chivay), Condesuyos (Chuquibamaba), Islay (Mollendo) y La Unión (Cotahuasi). Está situada al suroeste del país con una extensión de 63.345 Km2 y una población de 1.140.000 habitantes. Desde el mar hasta los Andes, la región cuenta con una biodiversidad enorme y climas muy variados, cabe destacar "El Valle y Cañon del Colca", de gran atractivo turístico, y en verano, las playas de Mollendo y Camaná. En el aspecto culinario, cabe mencionar a los deliciosos camarones de río en diferentes preparaciones y gran cantidad de variedad de pescados y mariscos. Estimado amigo, gracias por habernos escuchado y tenga la seguridad que en Arequipa contará con sus amigos que hacen Radio Melodía. Cordialmente un abrazo en la distancia. Elba Alvarez Delgado Manager" (via Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PETER I. Roger Bixley, from a snowy Wuppertal in Germany, suggests this interesting ham website, from the Jan ADDX Kurier. In English and Japanese, it includes details of a Dxpedition in 2005 to Antarctica: http://www.peterone.com (Communication Webwatch, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** POLAND. R. Polonia`s ``Multimedia Show`` is now back to being every week instead of alternate weeks, Tue 1830, Thu8 1330 (Sheila Hughes, Morden, Surrey, DX News, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** ROMANIA [and non]. It might be of interest in the light of my recent speculation about 855, 1053 and 1152 still being operated with the old transmitters that the carriers of Berlin-Britz and Tâncâbeshti on 855 are some 5 Hz apart, obvious from a terrible SAH. And while we are at it: http://www.radioeins.de/_/meta/sendungen/apparat/050129_a2.ram This is a recording of 855 on New Year's Eve 1999 at 2200, i.e. midnight in Romania (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. VOR: Vis-à-Vis With the World Our audience is more than 100 million in 160 countries. Is broadcast all over the world in 32 languages. Is available on the Internet If you want to become a permanent participant in the program "Vis-à- vis", please - click here! February 3. The guest of our studio – His Eminence Clement, Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsk Dear visitors of the Voice of Russia's Web-site! We again invite you to take part in our "Vis-à-vis with the World" program hosted by Armen Oganesyan. This time the guest of our studio will be His Eminence Clement, Metropolitan of Kaluga and Borovsk. Call us with your questions: 950-69-11. You may put your questions via e-mail - letters @ vor.ru or by fax: 095-950-67-31. The video version and the transcript of the program will be placed on our Web-site. Programme archive The participants in the program - Russian well-known politicians, economists, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, actors and artists answer questions from Russian and foreign listeners. You may put your questions by fax: +7-095-950-67-31, or send us an E-mail message - letters @ vor.ru You may put your questions by telephone now: +7-095-950-69-11 and your questions will be recorded on an answering machine. The programs can be heard on Real Audio. Copyright © 2004 The Voice of Russia (via Maryanne Kehoe, GA, Feb 1, swprograms via DXLD) Maryanne, Could you include a direct link to this page you have forwarded. I can`t find it on the VOR website, nor any mention of Vis- a-vis in the program list, nor any program by that title on their schedule grid. Oops, I was just looking in English. Is this program really presented in Russian only? (Or French!) When? 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Certainly! The direct link is as follows: http://www.vor.ru/vis_a_vis/index_eng.phtml (Maryanne Kehoe, ibid.) O yeah, it sez in 32 languages, referring to the program, not just the station? Fine, but, again, WHEN can we hear it in English? Or is it just for the audio archives. I suppose it takes a while to get it all translated after the ``live`` Feb 3 appearance (gh) ** SOMALIA. Help to Radio Shabelle --- DX-friends, As a reply to an e- mailed listener's report to Radio Shabelle in Mogadishu, I received a phone call and the following e-mail. Obviously, they need help with equipment and technical advice. Since I cannot provide either, I forward their e-mail to all of you, hoping that somebody might be of assistance. 73, (Ulf Palmenfelt, Sweden, HCDX via DXLD) Viz.: As you know we are based in Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, we are a media network called Shabelle Media Network. We work on F.M and SW, our SW transmitter is 1,000 watt. It is Yeasu it is made in Japan. Professor, since you have been experiencing in this field we want you to help us with anything we can improve signal better than how it is now, let it be a technical advice or equipments. We have a great problem in knowing more about Radio technology because we are confined in a devastated country, our Somali passports are not valid in the world so that we can't travel so much. Hence, we want you to establish any communication between us and Radio stations in Finland, it is possible that Radio or TV Stations in Finland may change old equipments which are outdated compared with the new digital equipments which are now emerging in the world. In fact, we are so glad with communication we have made with you and we hope that you will help us in many ways; we can improve our standard of signal. We wish you and your family all the best. We look forward your urgent reply, Thank you. Cheers, By: Abdi Maalik Yusuf Mohamud, Chairman of Shabelle Media Network. (via Ulf Palmenfelt, Prefekt Inst. för kultur och samhälle, Professor i etnologi, Högskolan på Gotland, SE-621 67 Visby, Sweden, HCDX via DXLD) ** SOUTH AMERICA. Hola amigos de Radio Cochiguaz, Hoy celebramos nuestro octavo aniversario, y saludamos al mundo de las radios libres. Radio Cochiguaz, exactamente ahora con 8 años de actividades piratas en la onda corta libre sudamericana, emitiendo desde algún lugar de los Andes sudamericanos. Hi friends of Cochiguaz, Today is the eighth anniversary of our station, and we saluted to the world of the free radio stations. Radio Cochiguaz, exactly now, 8 years of pirate activities on the free short wave frequencies from somewhere in the South American Andes. 73 & FFFR, (Cachito, Radio Cochiguaz, Casilla 159, Santiago 14, CHILE, Feb 1, HCDX via DXLD) ** SWAZILAND. 4760, 1609-1615, TWR, Mpangela Ranch, Feb 1. Presumed, with male in unID African language (listed as Tshwa in WRTH). The pace and tone of the talk sounded like a sermon; hymn or religious song at 1615. Best on SW antenna during near-grayline condition. Fair-good level, and strengthening slowly. Slight co-channel interference from presumed AIR Port Blair (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, mod. ICOM IC- 756Pro & mod. ICOM R-75 Kiwa MAP / ERGO / DSP-59+ 450 & 700 ft. Beverage Antennas, HCDX via DXLD) ** SYRIA. FIRST SYRIAN PRIVATE RADIO STATION TESTING AHEAD OF MARCH LAUNCH | Text of Razuk Al-Ghawi report from London-based newspaper Al- Sharq al-Awsat web site on 2 February Syria yesterday [1 February] launched its first private radio station called "Al-Madina FM" on a frequency of 101.5 FM by transmitting music. The station's transmission will cover all the Syrian governorates. The city of Aleppo in the north of Syria was chosen for the launch of the test transmission due on 20 February. The official launch will take place at the start of March 2005. Al-Sharq al-Awsat was informed that the programming on the station will include a variety of entertainment, cultural and health programmes to suit the interests of the listeners. The station will also produce programmes and commercials using modern technology and trained Syrian resources through its five studios, in addition to its live 24-hour transmission. Three months after its launch, the station will transmit via satellite to the rest of the world as well as through its web site. This launch comes within the directives of the presidential decree issued by President Bashar Assad, more than a year ago, allowing the launch of non-political private radio and television channels in Syria. Source: Al-Sharq al-Awsat web site, London, in Arabic 2 Feb 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) TFK! ** U A E. "So Dhabbaya has antennas suitable for Europe? I thought they were all aimed out toward Asia and Africa. (gh, dxld Jan 29)" Glenn, see the azimuth entries in an earlier Voice of UAE Abu Dhabi schedule of Oct 1999, like 315 degree entries towards zones 18, 27, 28 in Europe. See below. 73 wb - - - - B-99 Al Dhabbaya, Voice of UAE, Abu Dhabi - 31 Oct 1999 - 26 Mar 2000 6180 0200 0400 38NE,39NE,39SW DHA 500 300 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 9605 1300 2200 38NE,39NE,39SW DHA 500 300 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 11710 1800 2200 18,27,28 DHA 500 315 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 11770 0200 0400 44,45 DHA 500 060 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 11945 0400 0600 38NE,39NE,39SW DHA 500 300 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 13755 1600 2000 37N,38NW DHA 500 285 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 15255 1000 1800 18,27,28 DHA 500 315 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 15310 0600 1300 38NE,39NE,39SW DHA 500 300 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 15315 1300 1600 55,58,59 DHA 500 120 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 17760 0900 1300 44,45 DHA 500 060 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 17760 2000 2200 37N,38NW DHA 500 285 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 21630 0200 0600 55,58,59 DHA 500 120 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 21630 0600 1000 18,27,28 DHA 500 315 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 21735 0200 0700 44,45 DHA 500 060 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC 21735 0700 1600 37N,38NW DHA 500 285 311099 260300 UAE EBC EBC (HFCC Oct 1999 via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, I`m convinced! (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Glenn, I will be on VOA's Talk to America every first Friday of the month. This Friday, 4 February, I will interview Jan Hoek, new director of Radio Netherlands. 1600-1700 UT. Schedule information at http://kimandrewelliott.com 73 (Kim Elliott, Feb 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More under NETHERLANDS [non] ** U S A. A curiosity: some of WWRB`s web pages, such as http://www.wwrb.org/buytime.htm bear copyright dates as early as 1995, as checked Jan 26, 2005. It this just a typo, or have they learned how to bend time and space? With an on-air license date of Jan 1996, how can someone have an `on the web` date of 1995? Inquiring minds want to know. It was originally WGTG, of course, and FCC records show that was granted on 01/26/96. Furthermore, the Wayback Machine http://web.archive.org/web does not find any WGTG website before Nov 1998. Perhaps the ``1995`` date will allow a tenth-anniversary celebration a bit early, this year? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The task of the FAA is to keep skies safe. They have an HF net on the first and third Wednesday of each month at about 1730 UT (12:30 EST) on 13457-USB. Callsigns heard have included KMR96 and KPC63 (Ben Hogan, SSB Utilities, Feb Short Wave Magazine [UK] via DXLD) Just in time for us to check Feb 2: too much TVI from the neighbors here, but at 1733 did manage to hear a couple callsigns mentioned, KCP63 and WHS44 -- or something like that, neither given phonetically. One of us is wrong about KPC63/KCP63 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Ah, memories. I worked at WPTR back in the late 1970s (my first 50K), and that DA pattern was wicked. I remember that as I traveled down the Thruway I would lose the signal by the time I got about 5 miles south of Selkirk. But, the signal to the NW and E/SE was great. The pattern was soooo tight to the south to protect ZNS (1540 is a Bahamas Clear Channel) that at night I could sit in my car in Guilderland, look at WPTR's towers, and listen to KXEL! Of course the other side of the coin was that at night we covered pretty much all of upstate NY, New England, and eastern Canada. And we would regularly get QSLs from northern Europe. An interesting side note to WPTR. When they first signed on in the late 40s they were originally 10 KW. However, the ground conductivity in Colonie (where the transmitter is located) is so sandy and bad that the signal could barely be heard in downtown Albany. So, rather than move the transmitter, they upped the power to 50 KW. The logic of the transmitter site was a good one given their pattern -- halfway between Albany and Schenectady. But, we can thank the poor ground conductivity of the site for making the station a 50kw'er (René F. Tetro, Chief Engineer, WNTP - 990 kHz / WFIL - 560 kHz, Feb 1, NRC-AM via DXLD) Thanks for the look back. A very interesting read for me!! So, whatever happened to 'Shotgun Johnny Ringo'? I remember hearing him on WPTR in the late 70's or early 80's when I was in college in Boston. He used to scream - literally - between songs. He was pretty much unlistenable (if that's a word). By the way, the WPTR antennas (as you no doubt know) are in the Pine Barrens area of Colonie which was, I believe, sea shore hundreds of millions of years ago so that explains the sand. Regards, (Pete Jernakoff, DE, ibid.) ** U S A. NASHUA'S LONGEST-SURVIVING AM RADIO STATION WENT SILENT THIS WEEK. [New Hampshire] WSMN 1590-AM, which has been broadcasting from Nashua for nearly 47 years, was finally evicted from its West Hollis Street offices this week. The station shut down with virtually no fanfare at 6 p.m. Monday, as producer Bill Piacitelli announced on air that WSMN was signing off. . . http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=50360 (via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. A HAITIAN STATION - IF YOU KNOW HOW TO PICK IT UP Radio By DAVID HINCKLEY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/276488p-236843c.html You won't find Radio Soleil on your regular radio dial. But if you visit any of the area's half-million Haitians, odds are good you'll find it on theirs. "We tie the Haitian community together," says Ricot Dupuy, station manager and co-owner of Radio Soleil, which has offices on Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn. Radio Soleil is one of many stations, most of which carry ethnic programming, that are known as "subcarriers." They broadcast from the transmitters of regular stations - in this case, WSKQ - but picking up their signal requires a special receiver. Happily, those receivers are inexpensive, so they are common in immigrant homes. "On regular radio, you might get an occasional program for Haitians," says Dupuy. "We have Haitian programs 24/7." That includes a full-service mix of music, news and talk. From 6:30 to 8:30 a.m., for instance, it links with Melody-FM in Haiti to carry news from the island. "Haitians are hungry for news," says Dupuy. "Unfortunately, Haiti is marked by a lot of instability, so it is important to have a direct, immediate connection." On the other end of the scale, Radio Soleil also acknowledges that its listeners are living in the U.S. It follows immigration issues closely and broadcasts some of its programming in English. "We are about 40% French, 40% Creole and the rest English," says Dupuy. "Some of our listeners, particularly the younger one who have grown up here, are more comfortable with English." Like regular broadcast stations, of course, subcarriers must make enough money to stay in business. Some do this by selling receivers, but Dupuy says Radio Soleil has reached the point where it is a valuable advertising vehicle. "We reach the whole Haitian community," he says. "And these are hardworking people. They hold jobs. They buy things." Radio Soleil recently launched a project that is both classic and unique. It is sponsoring its own orchestra, a radio tradition that goes back to the old NBC days of Arturo Toscanini. The 12-piece Charanga Soleil recently played a well-attended dance at Satalla, on W. 26th St., and it's scheduled to play another one there next month. "It's ambitious," says Al Angeloro, who with DJ Neva does a music show at midnight on Fridays and was the primary force behind organizing the orchestra. "The only other active radio orchestra today is in Finland. But we think it can succeed here." Besides appealing to the station's audience, Charanga Soleil gives the musicians artistic possibilities it's hard to find elsewhere, says Angeloro. "They can play merengue, zouk, rumba, danzon, son, racine, whatever they want," he says. "And the association with the station gives them the exposure." "In many Haitian homes," says Dupuy, "we are on 24 hours a day." (via Joel Rubin, swprograms via DXLD) WTFK???? Geez, never gets around to the significant details. Per FM Atlas XIX, it`s the 67 kHz subcarrier of 97.9 MHz, which is part- Haitian, part-Oriental (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I believe there is or was a Colombian SCA station affiliated with Caracol in Corona, Queens. There's a Haitian creole program on WUNR, Brookline, MA (1600) at 0130 (0030 Summer) GMT Thursday after Das Yiddishe Kol (yv.org) (Joel Rubin, NY, swprograms via DXLD) There are also many Haitian FM pirates in Flatbush, where I live. On the weekends, I can usually count on hearing at least half a dozen. They tend to plunk down right next to, or on top of powerful local stations creating interference. Some of the programming is quite interesting musically, but there's also lots of distortion and endlessly skipping cd's (David Goren, NY, ibid.) Relative to the articles on SCA radio, I wonder if there are any comprehensive guides to SCA programming out there? Although not international broadcasting per se, there certainly is a lot of non- English programming available. In the Seattle area, there are a couple of different Chinese stations, a Korean station, and one local AM broadcaster that simulcasts its normal programming via SCA. The receivers, although a bit obscure, are fairly inexpensive. I've picked up a couple on eBay for $20-30 bucks that work well enough. Nice to listen to the newspaper being read via a radio reading service while working on other things. Hmmm... I wonder how hard it would be to convince a local FM station to SCA-cast WRN or some other international broadcaster? (Jim Tedford, Bothell, Washington, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. There is a new format starting on KXYZ 1320 Houston, TX on Tuesday, February 1st, 2005 at 0600 CST with live and local Business New-Talk format until 1800 CST. BIZradio1320 will be on the air seven days a week from 0600 to 1800 CST. [1200-2400 UT] The purpose of this email is to let you all know that BIZradio1320 will be a DXer friendly station and will verify all correct reception reports received. I know that the nighttime hours are getting short now, but hopefully you will be able to receive BIZradio1320 in the next couple of months. We welcome all reports from Houston to Hollywood to Hoboken and all points in between. BIZradio1320 will have a special verification letter for all correct reports received on the first day of broadcasting on Tuesday, February 1st, 2005. If you live in Houston we welcome your report as well. If you live or work in a high rise building please let us know how the reception of BIZradio1320 is received in the high rise that you live or work in. The report does not have to be from the high rise, BIZradio1320 is trying to find out how well are signal is received in the high rise buildings that are spread around the city. It will help in future plans for a power increase if necessary to better penetrate high rise buildings in the city. The address to send reports is: BizRadio1320 3050 Post Oak Blvd Suite 1680 Houston, TX 77056 Attn: QSL Dept. We hope to in the near future set up an email address were you can send your report and we will verify via email. This could be a month or two away however. In the time being please send your report the old fashioned way via regular mail. Please DO NOT send reports to Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, Inc as they will not verify reception reports. BIZradio1320 also cannot verify any programming from 1800 to 0600 CST as the programming is done by other companies and BIZradio1320 does not have any record of their programming. BIZradio1320 is looking forward to hearing from you! Sincerely & 73 BIZradio1320 3050 Post Oak Blvd. Suite 1680 Houston, TX 77056 Attn: QSL Dept (via Mike Oswald via Bill Dvorak, NRC-AM via DXLD) KXYZ-1320 heard with man and woman in oriental language (Chinese?/ Vietnamese?) this evening 1/31/05 2258 CST, clear ID in English "KXYZ Houston" by man at 2300 CST to more oriental language talk (Bruce Winkelman, AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, R8, Quantum Phaser 2-130ft (+/-) wires, NRC-AM via DXLD) KXYZ-1320 will be BIZradio1320 from 0600 to 1800 hours CST sevens days a week. From 1800 to 0600 hours will be Asian-language programming, most likely Vietnamese. To the best of my knowledge Chinese is on KCHN 1050. The BIZradio1320 Business News-Talk format started this morning at 0600 (Mike Oswald / Houston, ibid.) ** U S A. "What is the most unique [sic] station you've ever visited?" After reading some of the fascinating accounts - submarine included - I decided maybe my radio station visits, though not U.S. commercial broadcast sites, were still appropriate amongst the others related here. I have to include two, because they are both rather unique. I've separated the two sites to fit the list size limit. SUGAR GROVE, WEST VIRGINIA - In the late '60s, as a part of my responsibilities as a Naval Electronic Projects Officer in Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to ride a Marine helicopter from the fleet which serves the White House, to the site of the Naval Receiving Station under construction at Sugar Grove, W.Va. The site, originally intended for a radio telescope which was cancelled, had been redefined when Congressional pressure demanded that the cancellation of the project must not stop the funds expenditure in the state. The then chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee was from W.Va., and threatened holding up military appropriations across the board if that, or some project was not built in his state. The site had been selected for a radio telescope because the area was a radio quiet zone, surrounded by higher mountains that blocked line- of-sight signals. The lower, enclosed mountain had its top removed to mount the radio telescope and a multi-story underground building already constructed before cancellation, because of the duplication of purpose with the Arecibo, P.R., radio telescope. In response to the demand to build something, it had been decided this quiet zone site would be turned into a Navy receiving station! The immense power used by the Navy transmitting site at Annapolis, MD., required that the communications center which controlled sending and receiving, and the receiving site be physically many miles removed in Cheltenham, MD. This new project would further isolate the receiving site from both the transmitter and communications sites, putting it in the remote mountains of West Virginia. The only problem was the quiet zone nature of the site which would now become the receiving station. Word was that recordings of received signals would be on hand during the grand opening with dignitaries present, should there be no live signals received. Pathetic a government blunder as this seemed at the time, it was years later I learned the truth of the radio site I had both visited and been somewhat involved in its construction. Thanks to a book by James Bamford, titled Body of Secrets" about the National Security Agency, and later revelations, the true national intelligence nature of this receiving site eventually became generally known. The entire Navy Receiving Station story had been a ruse, even to most in the Navy. Or maybe, when reception proved inadequate, the NSA took it over? I was gone by that time and have no direct knowledge. Either way, who would have thunk? Last I heard, those facilities were part of the Echelon surveillance operation for monitoring transatlantic telephone traffic. Of course, there could be a lot more than one operation, since when I was involved (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, Florida, NRC-AM via DXLD) continued under VIETNAM Given the recent discussion of the Navy's WV facility, I happened to run across these old notes in one of my electronic files today - thought they might be of some interest. _________ There are actually multiple National Radio Quiet Zones. The big one near DC is described here: http://www.gb.nrao.edu/nrqz.html "The National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) was established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Docket No. 11745 (November 19, 1958) and by the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) in Document 3867/2 (March 26, 1958) to minimize possible harmful interference to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, WV and the radio receiving facilities for the United States Navy in Sugar Grove, WV." The Table Mountain National Radio Quiet Zone is located near Boulder, CO. That is the site of the Dept of Commerce lab, where they had (and maybe still have?) ionosondes and other propagation related studies taking place. I think that's where the Boulder A and K indices are measured, as well. Their website is here: http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/home/programs/tm_quiet_zone/ (Russ Edmunds, PA, ibid.) ** U S A. Tests with WB3XNN pretty much concluded Monday 1/17; results of the measurements have now gone to our consulting engineer for conductivity studies. It was interesting to note the skywave conditions at about 40 miles away, especially worse on the colder days. We received a great report form Kermit Geary who had another experimental station testing at the same time. Yes, that was my voice on the ID. Bill Alisauskas also sent us a tape with the IDs recorded at various spots in the area of the station. And our sports guy Bob Galerstein reported picking up 1620 in Morris County NJ. Custom- produced verifications will be going out by the time this is printed (Dave Schmidt, Scranton PA, Musings, NRC DX News Jan 31 via DXLD) So much for the projected QRT of 1/31, and plans for a formal DX test (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Applications for Existing Facilities Dismissed: 1490, KRSN, NM, Los Álamos --- application was to relocate the transmitter in order to share the tower of KSWV 810 Santa Fe and change city of license to Santa Fe (Bill Hale, TX, AM Switch, NRC DX News Jan 31 via DXLD) ** VATICAN [and non]. I can confirm the 1467 kHz program block of Radio Vatican being carried also via Col de la Madonne 702 at present. A recording from this evening at 1920: http://www.radioeins.de/_/meta/sendungen/apparat/050129_a1.ram Here you can hear one after another 702, 1467 and 1530. 702 is too weak for reception with local noise present but still the best frequency, Roumoules on 1467 is almost obliterated by co-channel Grigoriopol, 1530 is again quite weak and disturbed by the co-channel Romanian transmitters. According an ORF report from 2001 http://religion.orf.at/tv/news/ne010829_radio_vatikan.htm 1530 is now operated with 150 kW (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Vaticana via Montecarlo --- Il secondo programma della Radio Vaticana, quello destinato al centro Europa, è ora diffuso pure attraverso i due trasmettitori ad onda media del Principato di Monaco. Le trasmissioni, che sono state notate sulle frequenze di 702 e 1467 khz, soffrono comunque di numerose interferenze provenienti da Turchia e Slovacchia. L'emittente richiede espressamente rapporti d'ascolto per valutare la qualità del servizio (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Feb 1, bclnews.it via DXLD) see also FRANCE ** VENEZUELA. R. Amazonas, 4939.67, *1025-1050+ Jan 29, sign-on with NA, 1028 state anthem, 1031 ID, local romantic ballads. Good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. Here is my second favorite site visit. VIETNAMESE RADIO NETWORK - On another assignment while in the Navy, I had project management responsibility for design and construction of what would have been a new Vietnamese Radio Network in then South Vietnam. Replacing old radio broadcast installations in four South Vietnamese cities, the new facilities would each have dual transmitters on different broadcast band frequencies, one for civilian radio, the other for the ARVN - Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Network programming would originate from new studios in Saigon. Early in that assignment I, along with survey teams, visited all of the existing and proposed sites. Our technical team was accompanied to some sites by U.S. Army psychological operations officers who were the people behind half of the funding of the facilities, plus armed troops for protection. The up-country rice paddies where existing towers stood and new sites where towers would be raised, were spiced up by sniper fire, not something an electrical engineer expects to have to deal with on a site visit. The Saigon transmitter site, while more secure was rather exciting in its own right, what with the open water puddles - formed during the daily monsoon season rains - encircling the live transmitters. Small cement berms held back the water which blew into the largely open sided building, little more than a roof on partial walls. With multi- KW transmitter power buzzing about, not your typical installation. Our planned new facilities would definitely have improved on those current ones, remnants of the French occupation before they split, that time. The whole story of this project is quite fascinating I think, from mortar and satchel charge explosion proofed buildings, dual transmitters into a shared tower - not common at the time - and other special design and construction considerations. Playing disc jockey way back in the 50s when in junior high school, at my local KTTN - still there [in Trenton MO] on 1600 today - was rather exciting to me too, but not quite so interesting a read for others, as my two most interesting visits (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, Florida, Jan 31, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** VIRGIN ISLANDS BRITISH. Does anyone know if ZBTV [5] (Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands) is still operating? I was on a cruise ship that docked in Road Town for a few hours on Friday and didn't get a peep of anything on low V other than something on 2 which I thought might be San Juan. 8 and 10 from St. Croix had fair signals. The reception was on a hand-held RCA with a monopole. Checks of various Caribbean sources (including Bill Hepburn's site) were inconclusive, with some indicating the station was operating, but probably no longer as ZBTV; and others showing NO TV station in the British Virgin Islands. Additionally, the ZBTV radio site made no reference to a co- owned TV station (Tom Bryant / Nashville, TN, Jan 31, WTFDA via DXLD) Well, WRTH 2005 has it as ZBVI on ch A5 with 30/3 kW, but the website http://www.zbvi.com is gone. What about http://www.zbtv.com ? That forwards to something in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Make it ZBVI, not ZBTV. More dead brain cells! (Tom Bryant, Feb 1, WTFDA via DXLD) Christopher S. Dunne told me last year that the station has gone off the air (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. National Radio of the SADR has reactivated 7460. Reported in early Jan //; MW 1550 mornings around 0600-0800 and evenings approx. 1700-2400 (Dave Kenny, DX News, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Goes & comes ** ZAMBIA. 4910, 1558-1605, ZNBC Radio 1, Feb 1. Best reception so far this winter of Zambia on longpath. Nice fish eagle IS at 1558, drums at 1600, and announcer with 'ZNBC' and mentions of Zambia in unID language. Into a tribal chant or similar by male, followed by a choral hymn, and into possible news items 1605. Fair to good signal at tune- in, and still fair at 1635 recheck -- 1 hour past local SR and 1/4 hour past Lusaka SS. Best on Southwest Beverage (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA, mod. ICOM IC-756Pro & mod. ICOM R-75 Kiwa MAP / ERGO / DSP-59+ 450 & 700 ft. Beverage Antennas, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Thanks to everyone who has reported hearing the Wobbler and offering ideas of its origin. I will welcome any and all in the future. I don't have a loop, so can offer no info on direction. With Cuba spanning the south from me and almost everything else to the north, I might only be able to eliminate a direction at best; though that would be progress. This is one more point in my rationalization to pick up a loop. The two frequencies I've heard the signal on most often 910 and 930, as well as 920, have no strong or dominant station on them. Signals come in and out and change as the evening goes by. The Wobbler, when it's there, seems to go on regardless, though it does increase in intensity at times, and remain strong over an extended period. This is when it can be heard above the other stations without special signal processing to pull it out. Other times I can only hear it when using the DSP to lock it in. I will spend more time on 920 to see if there is anything there I've not noticed, that might be behind this thing. I also tune around looking for other instances, but so far it seems to be in the 900s that I find it down here in FL. Others report hearing it elsewhere on the band, but not recently, so maybe whatever it is, moves along the band from time to time. Since there are a bunch of Cubans on 910 and 930, and the Cuban stations on 920 are lower power, if it's jamming, I'm not sure who is jamming whom. Let me know if you hear it. I'll post a note if it is coming in especially loud here, right now is detectable on 910, but only using the DSP (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (South East) Florida, [JRC NRD-535D, LF Engineering H-800 & M-601, Quantum Phaser, ANC-4 noise canceler, GAP DSP], Jan 31, NRC-AM via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4825, 0551 Jan 24, SINPO 25222. DX program in Spanish, mention of Radio Centroamericana. WHAT COULD THIS BE? (Robertas Pogorelis, visiting Tulum, Mexico, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Stumped on this one. Nothing on 5735 to produce an image in this case (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 12145: kept checking this open carrier and at 2209 Jan 31 heard it running RTTY; also a very similar-sounding RTTY transmission on 12120. It`s not unusual, but seemingly very wasteful, for RTTY stations to leave the carrier on long hours between actual traffic. The only ute on 12145 in Klingenfuss 2002 Frequency Guide is GYU, Royal Navy, Gibraltar, but steadiness and strength of this signal indicates something closer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ SHORT WAVE MAGAZINE How long does it take to get something into print in a slick mass- circulation monthly magazine? The February issue received here Feb 1, dispatch date unknown from Sweden, and presumably received even earlier in the UK, includes on page 11 a one-column story, ``Amateur Radio & The Tsunami Disaster``, which means of course it was put together after Dec 26, but the now-familiar story of ham radio involvement in Andamans and Sri Lanka did not emerge until a few days to a week later, as I recall. Of course, this was probably a last- minute insertion, but it speaks well for SWM`s possible turnaround time (but don`t you believe page 13 that Burkina Faso is on 4230). Let`s see how many months go by before PopComm is capable of mentioning the tsunami? No, a Dec 26 event was a bit too late to make it into the Feb issue of MONITORING TIMES, but will certainly be in the March issue, available in about three weeks (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ JAPAN SUPER DX WEB RECEIVER DXTuners web receivers network has now a new super DX site in northern Japan. It features an Icom R75 receiver with an inverted L antenna. They also have added a new United kingdom FM DX site in North Devon, using a Triax 8-element FM antenna pointed at Ireland. DXTuners url is http://www.dxtuners.com/ (Brad Wall, ODXA via DXLD) DRM +++ I think that shortwave has a good future and that DRM broadcasts for some time will be minimised by the analogue output. Digital radio shoots itself in the foot every time it comes to fringe area reception --- fading on AM or hiss on FM is superior to digital burbling! I hope the ITU or whoever allocates frequencies ensures that there will be frequencies on SW which are totally digital and others analogue for many years to come. I feel that once again it will be the countries or broadcasters with money that dictate progress unless properly regulated. Finance and investment, unfortunately, always leads to bland and predictable radio (Keith Knight, Ruislip, Open to Discussion, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Quite frankly, I think that, after we`ve been digitalised in every way, radio can`t stay behind and must be digitalised as well, even if it is obvious that no one really needs it (the same is true of most digital gadgets, but like the atomic bomb and TV, once they`ve been invented they cannot be disinvented.) But either they change all MW/LW/SW to DRM in a very short time or at least they allocate some segments of the spectrum exclusively to DRM: on shortwave it should be easy; a couple of bands might be taken away from AM broadcasting, and still there would be plenty of room for the stations which are still operating. I understand things are a bit more complicated on MW/LW, but a solution must be found as soon as possible, as coexistence between analogue and DRM has not worked well, and the worst is yet to come (Stefano Valianti, Italy, Southern European Report, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SPACEWEATHER CANADA Altho based in Canada, conditions should be much the same in Europe. When the graph at the site is green, then MW propagation should be at its best: http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/forecastgraph_e.shtml (Dave Kenny, Communication Webwatch, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Best for what? Also see these: http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/forecastmap_e.shtml http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/forecast27days_e.shtml http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/myservlet/geomag/forecast/main_e.jsp (Glenn Hauser, Baja Cánada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to active levels with isolated minor to major storming at high latitudes. Quiet conditions were observed at middle latitudes through early on 29 January. A couple of isolated active periods were observed at higher latitudes midday on the 24th and 25th. By midday on 29 January, levels increased to mostly unsettled to active as a coronal hole high speed wind stream rotated into a geoeffective position. Isolated minor to major storming was observed at higher latitudes midday on 29 and 30 January. The period ended with quiet to unsettled conditions. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 02 - 28 FEBRUARY 2005 Solar activity is expected to very low to low through 05 February. Based on MDI far-side imagery and backside CME activity, old Region 720 (N13, L=178) appears to have maintained its considerable size and magnetic structure. Therefore, a chance of M-class activity is possible after the return of old Region 720 after 05 February. A greater than 10 MeV proton event is not expected through early February. Thereafter, a proton event is possible following the return of old Region 720 on 05 February. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 02 - 03 February, 08 – 10 February, and 26 – 28 February. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to minor storm levels. Coronal hole high speed wind streams are expected to produce unsettled to active with occasional minor storm periods on 07 – 08 February, 17 – 19 February, and 25 – 28 February. Otherwise, expect quiet to unsettled conditions. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2005 Feb 01 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 Feb 01 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2005 Feb 02 85 12 3 2005 Feb 03 85 8 3 2005 Feb 04 85 8 3 2005 Feb 05 100 5 2 2005 Feb 06 115 5 2 2005 Feb 07 130 15 3 2005 Feb 08 135 20 4 2005 Feb 09 135 12 3 2005 Feb 10 135 8 3 2005 Feb 11 135 8 3 2005 Feb 12 135 8 3 2005 Feb 13 135 8 3 2005 Feb 14 130 8 3 2005 Feb 15 130 8 3 2005 Feb 16 125 8 3 2005 Feb 17 115 15 3 2005 Feb 18 105 20 4 2005 Feb 19 95 15 3 2005 Feb 20 90 8 3 2005 Feb 21 85 8 3 2005 Feb 22 85 8 3 2005 Feb 23 80 8 3 2005 Feb 24 80 12 3 2005 Feb 25 80 25 5 2005 Feb 26 80 20 4 2005 Feb 27 80 20 4 2005 Feb 28 80 20 4 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1262, DXLD) LUXEMBOURG EFFECT IN ACTION The other morning (0745 29 Jan) I tuned to 900 kHz and heard French talk. A quick [?] revealed this was not Canada. Instead I was receiving a distorted mix of what could be two signals over Italy. I tried to determine what the French was // to but ran out of time. In doing so I noticed that 216 kHz sounded similarly distorted. This morning (30 Jan) I noticed French again on 900. Can anyone else hear this? Any thoughts? 73 (Steve Whitt, UK, Jan 30, MWC via DXLD) I don't hear French on 900 kHz. Maybe, it is gone at your side too in the mean time. But if somebody is putting out a blank carrier somewhere in the south, it is quite likely that the signal will be 'contaminated' with the Luxembourg effect. This will result in a muffled audio signal. 216 kHz is a good candidate for this. 73, (Guido Schotmans, Antwerp-Belgium, ibid.) I can hear French here - under 909 splatter (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, ibid.) I can now hear a French voice very weakly --- seems to be a football commentary (Dave G8SZX Towers, 1428 UT Jan 30, ibid.) BTW: at this moment on MC's 216 kHz I can hear R Luxembourg and another station weakly in the background. 73, (Guido Schotmans, Antwerp-Belgium, 1434 UT Jan 30, ibid.) Hi Steve, I can confirm it`s the Luxemburg effect. I've also heard the audio from 216 kHz on Algeria 891/981! (Tim Bucknall, UK, Jan 31, ibid.) QUIRKS & QUARKS & THE SUN FEB 5 Hello, This Week on Quirks & Quarks we Uncrate the Sun with Solar Science. As part of CBC Radio's celebration of the sun all day Saturday, we'll take a look at the hottest developments in solar science. First, we'll get the latest results from SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. This amazing satellite has been sending us magnificent images of the sun for the past decade, and continues to astound and intrigue solar scientists. Then we'll hear about the next generation of solar observatories - a telescope to be built in Hawaii that will give us our closest view ever of the sun's surface. And finally, we'll learn about a new picture book of solar images, designed for blind people. Plus - primates pay for a peek at porn. All this and more, on Quirks & Quarks, Saturday right after the noon news on Radio One. (Bob McDonald, Host, Q&Q mailing list via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ OK folks, here's the lowdown from a columnist for a Sydney, Australia paper. Amazing how the foreign journalists are able to spot the flaws that 58 million people were too blind to see (or willing to acknowledge as they voted selfish personal interests over national betterment). Anyhow, I really don't need to be saying anything, because this guy lets loose with a barrage that doesn't stop...and, to our shame and disgrace, he's right! Tom Bryant / Nashville ------------------------------------------------------- Published on Friday, January 21, 2005 by the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) THE EMPIRE OF VULGARITY --- by Mike Carlton George Bush's second inaugural extravaganza was every bit as repugnant as I had expected, a vulgar orgy of triumphalism probably unmatched since Napoleon crowned himself emperor of the French in Notre Dame in 1804. The little Corsican corporal had a few decent victories to his escutcheon. Lodi, Marengo, that sort of thing. Not so this strutting Texan mountebank, with his chimpanzee smirk and his born-again banalities delivered in that constipated syntax that sounds the way cold cheeseburgers look, and his grinning plastic wife, and his scheming junta of neo-con spivs, shamans, flatterers and armchair warmongers, and his sinuous evasions and his brazen lies, and his sleight of hand theft from the American poor, and his rape of the environment, and his lethal conviction that the world must submit to his Pax Americana or be bombed into charcoal. Difficult to know what was more repellent: the estimated $US40 million cost of this jamboree (most of it stumped up by Republican fat-cats buying future presidential favours), or the sheer crassness of its excess when American boys are dying in the quagmire of Bush's very own Iraq war. Other wartime presidents sought restraint. Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address in 1865 - "with malice toward none, with charity for all" - is the shortest ever. And he had pretty much won the Civil War by that time. In 1944 [1945], Franklin Delano Roosevelt opened his fourth-term speech with the "wish that the form of this inauguration be simple and its words brief". He spoke for a couple of eloquent minutes, then went off to a light lunch, his wartime victory almost complete as well. But restraint is not a Dubya word. Learning nothing, the dumbest and nastiest president since the scandalous Warren Harding died in 1923, Bush is now intent on expanding the Iraq war to neighbouring Iran. Condoleezza Rice did admit to the US Senate this week that there had been some "not so good" decisions. But the more I see of her gleaming teeth and her fibreglass helmet of hair and her perky confidence, the more I am convinced that back in the '60s she used to be Cindy Birdsong, up there beside Diana Ross as one of the Supremes of Motown fame. I don't think it's a good idea to let her make a comeback as Secretary of State. The war in Iran is under way already, if we believe Seymour Hersh, the distinguished investigative writer for The New Yorker magazine. Hersh reported this week that clandestine US special forces have been on the ground there, targeting nuclear facilities to be bombed whenever Bush feels the time is ripe. "The immediate goals of the attacks would be to destroy, or at least temporarily derail, Iran's ability to go nuclear," he wrote, quoting reliable intelligence sources. "But there are other, equally purposeful, motives at work. The government consultant told me that the hawks in the Pentagon, in private discussions, have been urging a limited attack on Iran because they believe it could lead to a toppling of the religious leadership." Naturally, Pentagon flacks rushed out to deny all. But then they did that when Hersh broke the story of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968, and again when he revealed the torture of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. A tussle for the truth between Hersh and the Pentagon is no contest. What terrifies me most is the people planning this new war. The CIA professionals have been frozen out: too weak and wimpy for the Bushies. The Defence Secretary, the incompetent Donald Rumsfeld, has seized control, aided by two Pentagon under-secretaries. One is Douglas Feith, a mad-eyed Zionist largely responsible for the post-invasion collapse of order in Iraq, a civilian bureaucrat memorably described by the former Centcom commander, General Tommy Franks, as "the f---ing stupidest guy on the face of the Earth". The other is army Lieutenant General William G. (Jerry) Boykin, whose name also rings a bell. Jerry is a born-again Christian evangelical, a three-star bigot who, in his spare time, stumps the country in full uniform, preaching that America's enemy is Satan, Allah is a false idol, and that George Bush has been ordained by the Lord to rout evil. "He's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this," Jerry told a prayer meetin' in Oregon just a while back. Be very afraid (via Tom Bryant, TN, WTFDA Soundoff via DXLD) Speaking of acting presidential speeches, my OK edition of TV Guide shows the SOTU Tuesday night on CNN and Wednesday night on all the other networks! Now, CNN may have submitted the wrong date when planning their schedule weeks ahead, but obviously there is no rational human being checking the TV Guide listings before printing. Just wondering, did other editions of TV Guide do the same? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) I must admit I sometimes have trouble explaining to the XYL that websites I have bookmarked with titles such as ``Hard Core DX`` and now ``DX Passion`` are really radio sites and nothing to do with the sleazier side of the Internet! (Chris Brand, Communication Webwatch, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) DX Passion, which I believe was linked here sometime back, has apparently quickly vanished (gh) ###