DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-028, February 13, 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 NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1263: Sun 2100 WOR RNI Mon 0330 WOR WRMI 6870 Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 [week delay] Mon 0530 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0900 WOR R. Lavalamp Mon 1100 WOR RNI [archive] 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 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Wed 1700 WOR WBCQ after hours MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] WORLD OF RADIO 1263 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1263h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1263h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1263 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1263.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1263.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1263.html WORLD OF RADIO 1263 in the true shortwave sound of 7415: (stream) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_02-09-05.m3u (d`load) http://www.piratearchive.com/media/worldofradio_02-09-05.mp3 ** ARGENTINA, 15820.2 LSB, Radio Continental, 1018 Feb 13, Locutor, programa "Naturalmente". "Naturalmente por Continental, estamos en la mañana de Contiental, naturalmente, gracias por su compañía a Marcelo Luque". Entrevista con una doctora dermatóloga de guardia en un hospital de Buenos Aires, sobre la psoriasis. Dra. Andrea.... "Siete de la mañana y treinta minutos en todo el país, en Buenos Aires 22 grados, servicio informativo Continental, un informativo confiable". Noticias y el tiempo en la Argentina. 24222 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hi Glen[n]: The ANIK Satellites are part of Telesat of which Bell Canada, the telco serving Ontario and Quebec and part of the Northwest Territories, is a major owner. Perhaps this is what they meant by saying "Bell Circuits are down". Then again, if they had terrestrial microwave backup they would be dealing with Bell Canada and Alint, which serves Atlantic Canada, which is still a Bell Canada subsidiary, so "Bell Circuits are down" would still apply (Mark Coady, Editor, Your Reports, Listening In - Ontario DX Association, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hi, Today the mailman brought me an envelope containing 3 QSL's from RCI (Radio Canada International) for broadcasts heard on 1, 3 and 13 January. The reception reports were all sent as one Email and the signer was Bill Westenhaver, who if I recall correctly has been a LONG TIME signer of QSL's from RCI. Also in the envelope was a variety of bumper stickers, pennants, radio schedules etc. Incidentally, the 1 January 2005 Logging was for a 1830 UT broadcast on 13790. After sending the report I received an Email from Bill asking for confirmation of the frequency as that one wasn't in use. A later reply indicated that the engineers were running it as an unannounced "test" frequency. Could that be read as a "boo boo" ? He sent a "different" QSL showing the Sackville "antenna farm" for that logging. This is the second "special" QSL that I've received from Canada. The other one was way back on 22 Feb 1996 for a broadcast on an unannounced frequency of the "Canadian Forces Network" for the first day of its use. I got a "First Day" QSL for that one. By the way, all three of these loggings were heard on a Grundig S350 Portable, a "backup" radio here. Of course it's no great feat to hear Sackville here. Looking at them closer I just noticed that all three of the RCI QSL's are different. There is the one of the Sackville antenna farm. I thought the other two were the same, but they're not. They both have the same picture in Red/White with a World Globe centered on NA. But one has a "60" logo on the front while the other does not. On the back one says "For 60 Years RCI has been increasing International Awareness of Canada" while the other has different text saying that they've been in operation for over 50 Years. 73 de (Phil, KO6BB 991 Different NDB's heard to date. http://www.geocities.com/ko6bb/ Atchley, Feb 12, Merced, Central California, 37.3N 120.48W CM97sh, swl at qth.net via DXLD) 13790 has been in use for the 1800 transmission whenever I checked; I figured the studio had not updated their ID tape (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. People are protesting against proposed changes to CKAC 730; Corus purchase should lead to new format, gutted newsroom. Demonstration today at 1 p.m. [1800 UT Sun Feb 13], corner Peel/Ste. Catherine; http://www.sosmaradio.com (CKUT International Radio Report Feb 13, notes by Ricky Leong, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Received a registered package from CRI English service containing a certificate for 3rd prize in the Zhejiang China Quiz contest and the prize of a nice silk scarf, a "fine product of Dujinsheng". Nice! (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverage antennas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Friends, Until Yesterday, I'd not gotten any QSLs since right after Christmas and I've been getting ready to send out follow- ups. This past summer/fall, I'd sent out 19 reports from Grayland and our home on Orcas Island and I'd received 11 QSLs without follow-ups. That is a little better than average reply rate for me; lately, I've been getting about 50% on the first report and another 40% on my single follow-up. Anyway, yesterday, I walked in from class and there, in the middle of the dining table, was this business envelope with large, beautiful commemorative stamps almost covering the front surface. WOWEE! It was from the relatively new Beijing News Station that I caught almost by chance while sitting on 828 kHz. as Japan signed off in mid-October. Was the first time I'd heard Japan leave the air --- whadda reward! The text was "Dear Professor Bryant, Thank you for your letter of OCT 28, 04 which said that our station had been heard on OCT 17, 2005 so far away. We know that our program "News Time" was broadcasting on 828 kHz every evening and after receiving your letter, we have inquired the matter of our technical department and now we can confirm that you heard Beijing News Station indeed. And we are also pleased to know our station has been heard by an old friend of the Chinese people so far away. Thank you for your letter again. Best wishes, Yours Sincerely, Beijing News Radio" The letter was typed and there was a red station seal affixed, rather than a signature. Return address: Beijing News Radio 14 Jian Guomen wai Avenue Chaoyang District Beijing, 100022, Peoples Republic of China This is an entirely different address than listed in the 2004 WRTH which just uses the standard China National Radio address. Here are my soon-to-be-follow-ups: 540 4QL Longreach, QSLD 936 7ZR Hobart, Tasmania (a long-term non-verifier for me) 666 Radio Nouvelle Caledonie (a long-term non-verifier for me) 873 8AL Alice Springs 963 CNR Russian Service 1071 JOFK Hiroshima 1575 Armed Forces Network, Misawa 675 and 1458 Nei Menggu RGD I tell ya what, getting a foreign QSL is still just like Christmas morning for me! Good DX, (John Bryant, Stillwater OK, Feb 12, MWC via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Not a lot of DXing Thursday or Friday with 2 feet of wet, heavy snow here in the White Mountains creating havoc with the electricity and my Beverage antennas! Didn't loose any antennas but one was almost touching the ground Thursday eve. 6140, CUBA, R. Lidre/Libre-? via R. Rebelde, 1102-1118, Feb. 12, Spanish, Anthem at tune-in, chimes followed by ID announcement for "Radio Lidre (or Libre-?) and mentions of "Bogota, Colombia". Brief talks by various announcers with musical bits and several more IDs with mentions of Colombia. Booming signal. A quick Google search only turned up R. Libre stations in France and I can`t find anything in WRTH-'05. Rebelde's web page no help either. What is this? (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverage antennas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As just reported in DXLD 5-027, this is actually R. Melodía, Colombia, relaying R. Lider. Líder is simply a rendering of ``Leader``, for which sense true Spanish words such as jefe, conductor, director or guía are inadequate (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6139.8, R. Melodía/R. Líder, Feb 13, 0637-0707, program of Spanish ballads, choral anthem(?), tones, ID ``En Bogotá, Colombia, ésta es Radio Líder``, poor-fair, but much better than reception on Feb 12 (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Re: DXLD 5-027 --- FM channel separation in Colombia used to be 1 MHz, Bogotá channels ranging from 88.9 to 107.9 MHz. By virtue of a new frequency regulation in 1995, channel separation was changed to .6 MHz in order to allow more stations to operate on the band. In Bogotá a few stations started to operate on new even channels almost immediately. Most of the imported digital car radios at the time were preset to tune in to uneven frequencies only, and so many of the new stations were inaudible unless you purchased a car radio where you could tune even as well as uneven frequencies. From actual frequency lists you can see that the .6 channel separation has not been implemented too rigorously. In some cases the actual separation is .5 which has made it possible for some oldtimers to stay where they have always been, and for some newcomers to be audible on oldtime car radios (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ex-Colombia, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. If I understand this right, what the DJ said last night and this morning: "Cadena Melodía": 730 kHz //6139.77 kHz HJCU Radio Líder, Bogotá. The ID 0100 UTC was "....HJCU Radio Líder ...." Meaning new name for R. Melodía AM. Melodía FM Estéreo 96.9 MHz. I have a very fine ID and I´m going to present it on my web ID-site. I can not understand the ID in any other way. http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quito 13/2 2005 *** Sunday edition: *** Recording of 6139.77 kHz Radio Líder, Bogotá --- Radio Líder is the new name for "Radio Melodía", Bogotá. "Cadena Melodía" also has a FM transmitter 96.9 MHz, "Melodía FM Estéreo". Comments, photos and recordings at: http://www.malm-ecuador.com 73s (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, ibid.) ** CUBA. ``Primer territorio libre de tabaco. Patria o muerte de cáncer, venceremos!`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED on The Wobbler ** ECUADOR. HCJB, the Voice of the Andes, will be conducting some special DRM transmissions between Feb 14th and Feb 25th on the following schedule: 3220 1000 1300 12-15 QUI 6 0 0 755 Quichua 6095 1000 1300 12-15 QUI 6 0 0 755 Quichua 3220 2200 0100 12-15 QUI 6 0 0 755 Quichua 6095 2200 0100 12-15 QUI 6 0 0 755 Quichua The transmissions will be irregular in nature, not constant throughout the hours indicated since we only have one DRM transmitter (via George McClintock, DF, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Radio East Africa, 1445 Sun Feb 13. Varios programas religiosos con diversas direcciones de Estados Unidos. A las 1500 identificación por locutor: "Radio East Africa, 20410 Town Center Lane, Cupertino, California 95014 USA". Interferencia de la BBC World Service en la misma frecuencia. 32322. Se identificó claramente como Radio East Africa (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. PIRATE (Euro). 6265.5, Black Arrow, 0134-0141* Feb 13, Heard bits and pieces of audio when they were on 6258.9 kHz around 0008 UT. Just happened to catch them before sign-off on this frequency, with a pop/dance song, then closing announcement. 70 watts. SINPO 13331. PIRATE (Euro). 6275.8, Crazy Wave Radio, 0210-0330 Feb 13, Very interesting propagation. Was tuned to them since 0000 UT after Israel signed off. Signal was too weak to copy anything, then at 0210 it just faded up. At one point the signal strength was S7. Heard many IDs, and songs by the Stones, Clash, Cozy Powell, David Bowie and Steve Miller. 18 watts. SINPO 24332 (George Maroti, NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4052.44, R. Verdad, Chiquimula, English, end of program with ``mail to post Office Box 4 ...`` at 0330, into Spanish language with YL. 13 Feb. (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, EE. UU. de Norteamerica, NRD 535D ~ Drake R7 ~ Icom R 75 ~ Sony 2010, HCDX via DXLD) ** HUNGARY. 6025, R. Budapest, f/d "ADXB-OE/R. Budapest Special QSL 2004" #147 with site (Szekesfehervar) and ADXB info sheet in 115 days for 1 IRC and English report sent to ADXB-Austria. QSL received from Hungary (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverage antennas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 5010, AIR Thiruvananthapuram, *0018-0037, Feb. 12, Vernacular/English, IS, ID, familiar choral-like music, announcer with talks between flutes and percussion, YL at 0035 with AIR ID and English news tho too weak to do much with. Poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverage antennas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have been correcting the spelling of this, taking out the second N, and there is a difference of opinion, but it appears that I am in the minority. A Google search gets 303,000 hits for Thiruvananthapuram and only 10,300 for Thiruvanathapuram. O, for the good ole days of ``Trivandrum`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. PRASAR BHARATI CEO UNVEILS AMBITIOUS GLOBAL PLANS By Dipankar De Sarkar, Indo-Asian News Service London, Feb 13 (IANS) The head of India's public service broadcaster - one of the largest anywhere - is planning to take his television and radio channels to the vast Indian diaspora. K. S. Sarma, CEO of the Prasar Bharati Corporation, is here to publicise a global tender for the worldwide distribution of Doordarshan television and All India Radio (AIR) channels. "I expect a very good response," Sarma told IANS at the end of a tour of America and Britain. "I want to take our channels to wherever there is an Indian population." Sarma's ambitious plan is to deliver 13 television and 12 radio channels in national and regional languages through local carriers that will have to bid for the contract by March 1. Sarma says the plan is aimed at meeting a long-standing demand for Doordarshan and AIR programmes by the Indian diaspora that currently only has access to private Indian television and radio channels. [WHAT ABOUT AIR`S EXTENSIVE BUT INADEQUATE EXTERNAL SW SERVICE?? GH] According to the Indian government, the diaspora is over 20 million strong and found in almost every part of the world. There are a million ethnic Indians in 11 countries and at least 100,000 in 22 others. The Prasar Bharati tender comes after an abortive attempt to provide two free Doordarshan channels to the diaspora through a private career that Sarma said proved too expensive. The tender covers 49 countries in North America, Asia (including the Middle East and central Asia), Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Africa. Refundable deposits for bids for the television channels range from around $40,000 (for North America) down to $5,000 for some of the smaller countries and $2,000-$3,000 for radio channels. For Sarma, who took over as CEO three-and-a-half years ago, the bid to reach the global Indian comes after the successful penetration of some of the more remote and inaccessible regions within India - something he felt fell squarely within the mandate of a modern public service broadcaster. "If we are rally a public broadcaster worth our salt, I must reach everyone," Sarma said. He said the Direct-To-Home (DTH) service, providing 33 free channels through set tops and dishes that have to be purchased, had marked a "real revolution" in public service broadcasting, benefiting 20 million households that are in remote areas with no television signal and another 45 million who had no cable access. "This will change the broadcasting landscape in India," Sarma added. According to Sarma, of the estimated 202 million households in India, at least 90 million own a television set, which gives a rough minimum viewership of 450 million. Indo-Asian News Service http://www.eians.com/stories/2005/02/13/13sop.shtml (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INDIA [and non]. "RADIO INDIA: THE ETERNAL DREAM OF SOUND" BY Sublime Frequencies Edited down from hours of raw tapes of radio broadcasts recorded from 1989 to 1996 from New Delhi to Bengal to Calcutta and every point between, Radio India is the newest addition to Sublime Frequencies' growing library of ethnic radio collage. It's a massive two-disc set of low-fidelity radio transmissions that encompass Indian classical ragas, Bollywood pop music, psychedelic rock, lush orchestrals, folk music, electronic dance music and a variety of Indian divas. The patter of on-air DJs, commercials and radio dramas have all been left intact, along with a generous helping of hiss, distortion, sound dropouts and vinyl pops and skips. This compilation immediately distinguishes itself from the endless parade of Nonesuch Explorer and Smithsonian Ethnic Folkways collections of Indian music by capturing Indian music as Indian people hear it - unmediated by Western anthropologists and archivists. This isn't a collection comprised of rehearsed, self-conscious musicians performing the music of their traditional heritage in a studio at the behest of Western producers who may or may not be paying them. Rather, because of the de-emphasis on "tradition" and "heritage," much of the music on Radio India is a delightful cultural crossbreed - combining traditional Indian instrumentation with newer studio techniques and effects, freely borrowing from Western pop music, Broadway songs, European classical and baroque styles and Arabic orchestral traditions. It's a jumbled mass of sounds and influences that forms a tangible continuum of sound, the Eternal Dream of the album's subtitle. Hypnotic bedrocks of rhythmic tabla form a backdrop for dramatic swoops and curls of viola and chenai. Though it has certainly been observed before, I never fail to be amazed by the intrinsically psychedelic nature of Indian music; the expressive, reverberating character of instruments such as the sitar and sarongi, the effortless and natural swarms of incense-billowing sound. It's a tradition defined by trance and transcendentalism, by improvisation and de- intellectualization, by drones and repetition. Indian spirituality is defined by limitless concepts like Krishna and Kali, rather than the restrictive paternalistic concepts of Western spirituality. Indian music's structure is defined by open-ended, improvisatory interplay between musicians, rather than the rigid, virtuosic displays of Western musicians. It is precisely these differences that make this music so intoxicating to our ears, and Radio India allowed me to live inside this vast museum of sound for over two hours. (Jonathan Dean) This 2 cd compilation is available for $ 16.00 plus shipping from : Sublime Frequencies PO BOX 17971 SEATTLE, WA 98127 USA info @ sublimefrequencies.com Some of the other titles from Sublime Frequencies are : Radio Sumatra: The Indonesian FM Experience CD SF021 Radio Phnom Pehn CD SF020 MOLAM: THAI Country Groove From ISAN CD SF019 Folk and Pop Sounds of Sumatra Vol. 2 CD SF018 Harmika Yab Yum: Folk Sounds From Nepal CD SF017 Streets of Lhasa CD SF016 Leaf Music, Drunks, Distant Drums CD ANOM26 ISAN: Folk and Pop Music of Northeast Thailand DVD SF015 RADIO INDIA: The Eternal Dream of Sound 2-CD SF014 Brokenhearted Dragonflies: Insect Electronica from Southeast Asia CD SF013 BUSH TAXI MALI: Field Recordings From Mali CD SF012 Cambodian Cassette Archives: Khmer Folk & Pop music Vol. 1 CD SF011 Folk Music of the Sahara: Among the Tuareg of Libya DVD SF010 I Remember Syria 2-CD SF009 Radio Palestine: Sounds of the Eastern Mediterranean CD SF008 Radio Morocco CD SF007 Princess Nicotine: Folk and Pop Music of Myanmar (Burma) CD SF006 Jemaa El Fna: Morocco's Rendezvous of the Dead DVD SF005 Nat Pwe: Burma's Carnival of Spirit Soul DVD SF004 Night Recordings from BALI CD SF003 Radio Java CD SF002 Folk and Pop Sounds of Sumatra Vol.1 CD SF001 ------------------------------ (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Re: 7289.9 (RRI Nabire) on Jan 31 at 0748-0751* 25332, Music. 0751 sign off (Kouji Hashimoto-JPN, JPNpremium Feb 11) But Roland Schulze has his doubts on this item. He assumes that RRI Seuri (ex-7173.3) is here regularly, but very seldom reported (Roland Schulze, Philippines, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 27) Still a puzzle ? (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Voice of Indonesia, 9525 at tune in 2030 UT in English with Listeners Mailbag. At 2045 after giving their address for reception reports they went into their program "This Is Jakarta". Sign off announcements at 2100 then off. (233 Feb 13/05) (Mick Delmage, AB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Re 5-027: The highly elliptical orbit is called Molniya, not Molynia. My spell-checker redlined it, but also Sirius! So I ignored it. It didn`t recognize Molniya either, but now it does. It means relámpago (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. News --- XM CHIP POSES THREAT TO DELPHI; AM/FM RECEIVERS COULD PICK UP SATELLITE RADIO, TOO GREG BOWENS | Automotive News Posted Date: 2/12/05 XM Satellite Radio Inc. has developed technology that lets radio makers sell AM/FM home units that double as satellite receivers. And it is working to adapt the system to vehicle radios. The microprocessor and antenna technology, called Connect-and-Play, will show up in home units next month in such brands as Pioneer, Harman Kardon and Boston Acoustics. XM says Connect-and-Play will lower the price of a home satellite radio from several hundred dollars to $50. . . http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=101766 (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** KENYA. Re 4915: I'm afraid I returned to the UK on 11 February and so I can't at present give any on-the-spot reports from Nairobi. I noted that 4915 was on the air, but erratically, on the evening of 10 February, relaying the Eastern Service. But it was off the air the following morning, even though the Eastern Service was still on FM at that time. My guess is that, earlier, the 4915 transmitter had been having problems, and that the KBC decided that there was no point in producing Eastern Service programmes until it was fixed. That would explain why I heard 4915 relaying the Swahili Service on 9 February - they'd managed to get the SW transmitter back on the air but the Eastern Service programme makers had been stood down and so another service had to be used as an audio source. If you have access to a WorldSpace receiver, the KBC Swahili service is one of the very few unencoded African sources still available on it, and so could be used as an aid to what you hear on 4915 (allowing for the fact that the WorldSpace signal is delayed by about 6 seconds relative to terrestrial transmissions). Two other aids to IDing the KBC: the distinctive ToH time signal, in which the final "pip" is on a higher note (similar to China's time signal), and the fact that the main news bulletins start and end with patriotic music played by a military band (Chris Greenway, UK, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chris, thanks for the information. Yes, it is KBC in Swahili. On 13 Feb (Sunday) at 1900 I heard twice "KBC Nairobi" ID and also that specific time signal, you mentioned. Yesterday they were audible past 2100. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) ** KURDISTAN. IRAN: VOICE OF IRANIAN KURDISTAN OBSERVED ON SATELLITE, INTERNET, SHORTWAVE BBC Monitoring observed Voice of Iranian Kurdistan on the Hotbird 6 satellite at 13 degrees East, frequency 12597 MHz, vertical polarization, symbol rate 27500, FEC 3/4, at 1300-1400 gmt on 13 February 2005. The programme was in Kurdish for the first 40 minutes, identifying as "Aira Dengi Kordestani Irana", then in Persian for the remainder of the broadcast, identifying as "Seda-ye Kordestan-e Iran". The broadcast is also available in the form of on-demand audio files from the station's web site at http://www.rdki.com. The files are dated in accordance with the Iranian calendar, a conversion chart for the Gregorian equivalent can be found on the internet at http://alavi.us/jcal The station was also observed with a Persian programme in progress on the same day at 1510 gmt on 3960 kHz shortwave. Reception was poor due to jamming interference. Voice of Iranian Kurdistan broadcasts in support of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, which advocates independence for the Kurdish region of Iran. The party has a multilingual web site at http://www.pdk-iran.org Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 13 Feb 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. Malaysia`s Voice --- Air Raves --- By ANTHONY THANASAYAN http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2005/2/13/tvnradio/10120697&sec=tvnradio THIS Tuesday is the birthday of a radio broadcast that is very special to our nation. The Voice of Malaysia, Radio Television Malaysia’s overseas radio service, first went on air 42 years ago on Feb 15, 1963. Broadcasting initially in English, Mandarin and Indonesian, the Voice of Malaysia today can be heard in five additional tongues: Thai, Arabic, Tagalog, Myanmar and Bahasa Malaysia. The broadcast’s main task was, and still is, to present a true and accurate picture of Malaysia to overseas listeners, which includes Malaysians studying abroad. In April 1995, the broadcast achieved a milestone when it began airing a programme called Voice of Islam (Suara Islam) to promote ``the universality of Islam and its relevance to contemporary issues``. This programme, aired in both English and Bahasa Malaysia, is aimed at listeners in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, and Asean regions. The broadcast also reaches out with other programmes to Australia, Japan, the Philippines and to countries in North Africa and the Middle East. Here are some highlights of the anniversary specials on Tuesday (frequencies: 6025 kHz, 49 metres, 6157, 49m; 9750, 31m & 15295, 19m): Indonesian service (8.45 am [0045 UT]): A report on the role that Malaysia played in providing assistance for the victims of the Dec 26 tsunami in Aceh. Voice of Islam (11.30 am [0330 UT], Bahasa Malaysia; for Klang Valley listeners, FM 91.10 MHz): DJs Reezleen Roslan and Kamaruddin Mat Zein will take local song requests at 03-2282 3567 during the show. English service (3 pm [0700 UT]): A report on the Voice of Malaysia`s history as well as an interview with RTM`s Deputy Director of Broadcasting, Adilah Sheik Omar (via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) [6157 looks a rather odd frequency to me -- AS][should be 6175 -gh] ** NIGERIA. Re "V. of Nigeria, 15120, 1700-1950+ Feb 4" "Frequency change for V. of Nigeria in English: 1700-2100 NF 15120, ex 7255, re- ex 9690" No, no, that doesn't fit reality nor announced schedule. Announced (on "This week on VON" since some time in January): 1700-1900 15120, 1900- 2100 7255. I definitely heard them signing off at 1900 several times + found traces on 7255 after 2000. But the freq. switch is somewhat unofficial with no announcement or IS. And it's obviously varying. More English announced 0500-0700, 1000-1500 15120, French 0700-0800 15120, 2100-2200 7255. All heard. Kiswahili announced for 1500 on 11770 for the Caribbean (!) (or without destination area), not heard. Arabic is definitely 1630-1700 on 11770, Hausa 0800-0900, 2200-2300 on 7255. Another African language 1600-1630 on 9690 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://africa.coolfreepage.com Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND. 11850, R. Polonia, 1305-1318, Feb. 8, English, News re preventing child exploitation, Polish PM vistiing Washington, DC, Polish participation in NATO. Several IDs. Poor/fair, need LSB to separate from 11855-WYFR slop. // 9525-poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverage antennas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 7201, R. Rossii-Yakutsk, 1034-1047, Feb. 12, Russian, Off- frequency, as reported earlier by Noel Green-UK, with continuous radio drama thru tune-out. Very emotional train station scene. Fair/good. // 7345-poor, // 7140-very poor under static (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R75, 200' Beverage antennas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. 5015, Turkmen Radio (Tentative). The good news on this side of the ocean is that you don't have a WWRB spur to contend with on the channel. The bad news is that it is still very tough. Listening at 0055 Feb 9 and every word that they said was echoed again and again after a slight delay, making it very hard to understand what was being said. This effect didn't seem to occur on the music. Their signal is pretty good and clear, just maddening. Anyone have any idea what would cause this? (Hans Johnson, via DX Tuner Europe, Jihad-DX via Rus-DX via DXLD) Hi Hans, I noted the same echoing voice this afternoon when passing the frequency. And now rechecking at 1803 same thing, but the echo is not very loud. Hard to say if it occurs also with music. They've had some audio problems the last few days, at times it was very distorted, sounded the same it was years ago before they got it fixed. I think 4930L is rather good (fighting with VOA Botswana). 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) ** U S A. 20000, Time Signal Station WWV Fort Collins, 1615 Feb 13, Señales horarias, a las 1618, condiciones de propagación y predicción (propagation conditions and forecast). 34333. En paralelo con 15000 con peor señal, 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RE: [NRC-AM] What 1710 Lubavitcher does [and what did Mark hear in the desert?] --- Every time I have heard the station, it's usually a kind of religious teaching more than preaching. They will take some aspect of Jewish religion and discuss and expand on it. The talk seems to be more prevalent than music (Chris Black, Cape Cod, Feb 11, NRC-AM via DXLD) What kind of music or instruments are used? I may have heard them and just not realized it was them. If someone has a clip of them, it would be helpful. I've not heard the speaking, but I have heard traces of music. If I'm able to get a recording of them the next time I hear it, does anyone have a valid address for a reception report. I would love to get a QSL from them (Fred Vobbe, OH, ibid.) I'm pretty sure that's what I heard on the Utah Beverage. I'll go back to the Minidisks over the weekend (Mark Durenberger, ibid.) Getting a QSL is a good question. I know a couple of people got veries from postings in the logging sections of DX News, though my logging was never replied to and reports to the Lubavitcher HQ in NY all went unanswered. So I guess it's just the luck of the draw... who knows (Greg Myers, Largo, FL, ibid.) Yes, this was one of the more delightful QSL's I have received, because I never requested it! You'd think that if someone connected to the station was reading DX News, where my report appeared, they might be aware all the subsequent questions many of us have had about it. But in this case - silence! (Jim Renfrew, NY, ibid.) Well, I doubt they would want to tip their hand. After all, they are technically illegal, and may not want the notoriety of being cast into having to deal with e-mail. You never know who is lurking in DX News, DXAS, or in the list. I can't speak for Paul's side of the club, but there have been some pretty big names on the DXAS side at times. They never contributed or participated, but they must have been listening as error in content, or problems with mailings were brought to my attention quick. Same could be said for this list. (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) I thought this had been mentioned a long time ago, but I see that it hasn't been in this thread. Radio Moshiach has a website, and a streaming feed of the live broadcast. I'm assuming it's indeed live, since I can't get them over the air here in California. Maybe someone else can confirm if they're //. Even if not, it will still give you an idea of what the content is like. I checked it just now, and they were playing a room full of people singing a "niggun", or melody. To the untrained ear it sounds kind of like a Gregorian chant where everyone's stoned. http://www.radiomoshiach.org/ You know, I just noticed something really interesting on that website. I don't think it was there the last time I saw the site. If you look on the home page, there is a picture of the founder of Radio Moshiach, Moshe Ezagui. Remember the whole controversy over the NAL [FCC Notice of Apparent Liability] that was issued against "Hip Hop City, Inc.", the building's owner? You'll see that the NAL was later dismissed, because "Hip Hop City" claimed that they were not the operator of the station. http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2003/DOC-237849A1.html http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2004/DA-04-2888A1.html Well, who was the CEO of "Hip Hop City"? Some guy named Eliyahu Ezagui, who I had earlier identified as a major supporter of Lubavitch, and owner of a number of buildings in the vicinity of Lubavitch World HQ in Crown Heights. Coincidence? (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, ibid.) Here's 1710 on the Utah Beverage, using a Sony 2010, recorded early evening February 4 2005. http://www.durenberger.com/1710.mp3 What can you make of it? (Mark Durenberger, ibid.) Inconclusive. The music doesn't really sound like what I'd expect the Lubavitcher would play, but I'm not so confident that I'd exclude them completely for that reason. About 39 seconds in, I hear "Why don't you consider dropping a note to Dr. Stan, at Radio ???" - sounds like "Liberty" to me, but not sure. That would point me at a religious station, but probably not the Lubavitcher. At around 49 seconds, I hear a jumble, but it sounds like something "WTA" to me. KWTA and KWPA are both non-existent. W prefixes are similarly useless. There's another bit of voice near the end of the clip that sounds like 2 stations together. I wonder if you have some sort of mixing product that's somehow getting radiated out to a distance on 1710. Is that possible? Interestingly, the music seems to appear by itself, but much of the voice sounds like a combination of multiple stations (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, ibid.) No question - I hear mentions of Radio Liberty and, later, World Harvest Radio. I strongly suspect either WNRC or, more likely, an image from shortwave. That's the talk, clearly in English. Definitely NOT the Haitian culture pirate which is all or mostly French, or the Lubavitcher. As far as the music goes, that is clearly a second station, and it sounds close to the some of the music I have heard on 1710 when I knew the Lubavitcher wasn't broadcasting (from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, for the Jewish sabbath). Besides, not their kind of sound. I'd say this second signal, with the music, is an inconclusive unID. It could also be a second image. You need to eliminate SW images. I know I get them at Burnt River above 1610 when I incorrectly stick the wire in the wrong way. But that can be adjusted (Saul Chernos, ibid.) At 50 seconds into the track, I could swear that I hear "E.W.T.N." Does anyone else hear that. And the music is kind of interesting too. I can't place it (Fred Vobbe, ibid.) We need to look for WHR, EWTN and other SW stations which were 1710 kHz apart at that time (gh, DXLD) It's two signals, at least. I am able to pick out "Radio Liberty," "EW??," and something that sounds like a call beginning with W. Right at the end, I heard something about "Harvest Radio." It almost sounds like bits and pieces of shortwave recordings pasted together. I recall when others have heard various shortwave signals on 1710. The general consensus is that it's some kind of mixing product, but given the remote location, it seems less likely to me. I've heard spurs from broadcasters on 1710, like that one that was widely heard for awhile from a Texas station. I wonder if it's something like that? (Adam Myrow, TN, ibid.) These also sound like shortwave mixing products to me. We've heard them on the TA bevs in Newfoundland at times as well. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL, ibid.) I'd suggest buying, somehow, or making a bandpass or lowpass LC filter with a 3 dB cutoff around 2000 kHz. I realize this is not a COTS-type item. Some years ago I made one when I had access to a H-P network analyzer. It was a 7-pole Chebyshev with 50 ohm in and out. I used three homemade inductors and the four sets of caps were silver-mica, tuned by adding padders while watching the response trace, measuring the total on a capacitance bridge and then replacing each with a fixed value. If this is an artifact from SW (and I am a bit suspicious of that as a possibility, given my experience with the DX-375 type of receiver, at the very top end of the band) then I think the way to treat this is to make sure that 100% of the input (antenna) signal enters the set through 50-ohm coax, and then you just bandstop everything above 1800 or so kHz (corner) so that by the time you are up to 49 meters, everything is down at least 40 or 50 dB. The response curve should be basically flat thru the MW band then have a steep dropoff, and then some weak "ripples" in the curve. I don't think phase delay is at all a problem because of the narrow b/w of the AM signal in the filter passband. I think the question of how many volts of RF a Bev might deliver to a Rx at 5.9 MHz is worth looking into. I'd think they act just like a very long longwire and probably have little or no directivity up there, but lots of "gain". Perhaps someone like Mark C could make a one-off for you. I sure don't have access to these kind of toys any more. My filters had to be abandoned when I left my LI house in the 1998 time period and I had to pick and choose what to bring here. PS the H- P was made well before Carly Fiorina ruined that unfortunate company. All the good test equipment mfg went to Agilent (Bob Foxworth, FL, ibid.) The RF Preamp is from Kiwa; 3rd-order intercept performance and image rejection are fabulous. The pre-amp feeds the antenna input jack of the 2010 via a pot, to ensure there's no overloading. The Kiwa has the narrow IF filters (though that probably wouldn't help if it were a 3rd-order problem or some other mechanism in the very front-end of the Sony). I made two other passes at 1710 at different times of the evening, using different receivers. I'll see what else I can spit out for your observations (Mark Durenberger, ibid.) ** U S A. KDYL-1060 Salt Lake City UT is now said to be running CAM-D full time. For those who might not have heard of CAM-D yet, it is Leonard Kahn's challenger to IBOC. I've never heard real live CAM-D. It would be wonderful if someone who gets a good signal from them could make a high quality clip for us to hear, plus a clip of adjacent channels. This should really be interesting to listen to. It's about time CAM-D got off of paper and into real live broadcast electrons (Chuck Hutton, WA, NRC-AM via DXLD) I just visited the KDYL web page . . . http://www.kdylam.com/index.htm and, unfortunately they don't stream, OR mention the technology. There was quite a bit of info on the CAM-D system on the FCC's site a while back (that I stumbled upon). It's supposed to be better than IBOC and no spatter (Bill in Fort Worth Hale, ibid.) Chuck, you cannot hear the actual CAM-D without the decoder. But you can listen to KDYL from a remote receiver on the internet. Tune 1050, 1060 and 1070 and you will notice No interference to the first adjacents 1050 and 1070. Here is the Link http://www.smeter.net/slc/slc.php Have fun. The station is 30 over s9, so it`s fairly close to this receiver. If there was interference on the First adjacent Frequency you would hear it. Not like IBOC where you can hear it almost 100+ miles away Neal Newman, ibid.) I can't understand how CAM-D can generate no interference or noise. That digital signal has to go somewhere. Is it using some kind of sub- audible tones or something? (Adam Myrow, TN, ibid.) I can't see any real reason why just because IBOC has the hiss on an analog receiver that all other types of digital broadcast would necessarily have to also. But I'm not a broadcast engineer, so --- (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) IBOC recording, Part II --- Recording of 1020 kHz at about 5:58-6:02 pm [EST = UT -5] today with station inaudible until IBOC hash is switched off. KDKA ID heard after IBOC shut down. This is the companion to the morning recording I posted earlier. Equipment used: Sloper antenna from 80' height to ground, approximately 100' long aimed NNW. 9:1 balun, RG6 cable, about 20db attenuation used. R8B AM sync detector, 4.0 KHz bandwidth, slow AGC. Timewave DSP-599zx audio filter, 250-2500 bandwidth, AGC on. No tone or random noise filtering employed. Total Recorder set to 96kbps, 22.05 sample rate, monaural. File size about 300k at: http://www.chowdanet.com/wbz_iboc1.mp3 (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, Feb 11, NRC-AM via DXLD) Headline from Inside Radio News - Friday, February 11, 2005 --- iBiquity extends the "early adopters discount" for conversion to HD Radio. COO Jeffrey Jury says 2,500 stations have now committed to digital AM and FM (via Fred Vobbe, OH, Feb 11, NRC-AM via DXLD) See also CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES ** U S A. HERB JEPKO AND THE NITECAP RADIO NETWORK I haven't thought of Herb Jepko in a long time. I started listening to Herb in the mid 60s in Seward AK. There were some interesting people that called in. Anyone remember a guy who talked about UFOs called "44"? (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) No, but for some reason I do remember some older lady who would call in an play organ music over the phone! Organ music over the phone? I worked for only one station that carried the Mutual feed. But I can remember DXing the program on KSL back before its network days. I got to meet Jepko once, in main floor hallway of a hotel in Chicago at the 1976 NAB Convention. He seemed just as mellow in person as he was on the air (René F. Tetro, Chief Engineer, WNTP/ WFIL, PA, ibid.) Back in the late 60's Herb Jepko had a GTG with other Nightcaps on the Long Beach Pen in SW Washington. I did not attend, but others around here did. I was told he was quiet and mellow and a very nice guy. Too bad he is gone. I remember the early days of talk radio, Les Crane at KGO, Ira Blue also at KGO (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) And if anyone on this list ever listened to Jim White's late night talk show on KMOX, he may remember Irene "Renie" Frick, who would call periodically and play ragtime piano over the telephone on his show. Renie Frick lived three houses east of me in Mt. Vernon, Ill., and I had one of my reporters on the Register-News do a feature story on her. She was a minister's wife, but they divorced, and she moved to Kentucky, but still would call White and "perform." White, if the callers got a little out of hand, would occasionally cry out, "Where's Renie Frick when we need her." (John Callarman, Krum, TX, ibid.) I listened to the Nitecap show quite a bit back in 1976-77, on WHAS- 840, WBAL-1090 and a Buffalo FM station (think it was WDCX-99.5). Very tame by today's standards of talk radio - no verbal abuse of callers like Jim Rome, and of course Herb Jepko didn't allow any political or religious rants. I called in a few times, and talked about broadcast band DXing. I used to get the "Wick" magazine, and even had a number of Nitecap pen pals after I listed my name in the "Herbie's Pen Pals" section of the Wick. I am still corresponding with one of them, though it's moved from snail mail to e-mail. I wish I had saved my old copies of the Wick. I still have a "Herbie" metal lapel pin in my collection, and perhaps a Nitecaps membership card as well. I had heard that Jepko passed away a number of years ago. Thanks for keeping the memories alive on the http://www.nitecaps.org site! 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, NRC-AM via DXLD) When Jepko's Mutual run ended, was it Long John Knebel & Candy Jones who replaced him on the all-night shift? And then Larry King after they got cancelled? When Jepko first started on WHAS, I remember how strange it sounded to have two U.S. stations (KSL and WHAS) carrying the *same* audio at the *same* time. I'd observed the phenomenon before on Cuban and Colombian networks, and the CBC, but not on U.S. stations, except during the hourly network news. I'd say the idea caught on (Steve Francis, Alcoa, Tennessee, ibid.) ** U S A. BROADCASTERS WANT NEW TOWERS ON MOUNT MANSFIELD The Associated Press February 11, 2005 MONTPELIER, Vt. --A coalition of Vermont broadcasters wants to build three new towers on Mount Mansfield as part of the transition to digital television. The group has filed for an Act 250 permit for the project. The plans call for the existing three towers on the mountain to be removed within four or five years. "So three new towers go up, three towers come down," said Peter Martin, the general manager of WCAX television and a member of the association that is overseeing the project. The complex tower construction plan includes an expanded equipment building. It will cost about $4 million. The local Fox affiliate and WPTZ from Plattsburgh, N.Y., will move their digital facilities to Mount Mansfield, and will join WCAX, Vermont Public Television and WVNY on the mountain. Mount Mansfield is Vermont's highest peak. The summit contains both a rare natural area and a work-zone used by TV and radio companies. Its high elevation makes it a coveted spot for broadcasters to beam their signals over northern Vermont. TV companies are under a federal mandate to roll out digital service. So Vermont broadcasters want to start work this summer on new towers that would host the new equipment. Martin says the plan calls for two narrow monopole towers, and a third that has a wider base with a monopole on top. With their digital antennas, the three structures would range from about 165 feet to 173 feet. "If it goes above 200 feet, the towers have to be lit, and that is something nobody wants," Martin said. "And playing against that is the need to avoid putting radio frequency energy on the Nose, or on the ground around the Nose, so that the Nose could continue to be accessible to the public." The Nose is a popular hiking area on the summit. Several years ago, part of a hiking trail there had to be closed because of the potential microwave hazard. Martin says that during the three to four year transition period to digital TV, the three existing towers would remain on the mountain. But afterward, he says there should be less visual impact. ------ Information from: Vermont Public Radio (c) Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company (via Boston.com via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. ZETA GIVING UP ROCK FOR HISPANIC URBAN SOUNDS --- Urban music replaced rock on WZTA-FM 94.9 as Clear Channel aims to capture young, bilingual Hispanic listeners. Posted on Sat, Feb. 12, 2005 RADIO INDUSTRY --- BY CHRISTINA HOAG It was out with Pearl Jam and in with Tego Calderón at WZTA 94.9 FM on Friday when Clear Channel Communications abruptly flipped its Zeta alternative rock station to a Hispanic urban format. Rebranded as ''Mega, Latino and proud,'' the station started pumping out a funky mix of reggaeton, Spanish hip-hop and dance tunes aimed at the bilingual 18-to-34 crowd. The switch is part of Clear Channel's strategy announced last September to aggressively expand its portfolio in the booming Spanish- language radio market. The San Antonio-based radio giant said it would convert up to 25 stations to Hispanic formats across the country. Counting South Florida, it's done seven so far. . . [registration required] http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10881574.htm?1c (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. SUPPORT HIGH IN CONGRESS FOR INCREASING FCC FINES By Genaro C. Armas, Associated Press WASHINGTON – Whether there’s a "wardrobe malfunction" at this weekend’s Super Bowl, the new Congress appears ready to dramatically boost fines for indecency on the airwaves. Bills in the House and Senate call for raising the maximum fine from $32,500 to as much as $500,000 an incident. There is strong bipartisan support in both chambers, with lawmakers saying their constituents have grown tired of coarse programming on radio and television. "My sense is we`re not going to have any problems," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee. "With passage of this legislation, I am confident that broadcasters will think twice about pushing the envelope." A similar effort gained momentum and passed the House and Senate after singer Janet Jackson’s breast was bared at last year’s Super Bowl. But the legislation fizzled after unrelated issues were attached to the Senate bill and lawmakers couldn’t agree on a compromise. Outgoing FCC Chairman Michael Powell and all four fellow commissioners – two Republicans and two Democrats – strongly support harsher penalties for indecency violations. The FCC began stepping up enforcement of indecency rules even before the Jackson incident, which fellow performer Justin Timberlake famously blamed on a "wardrobe malfunction." But the Super Bowl focused public attention like nothing before. More than half of the 1 million indecency complaints filed with the FCC last year were related to the incident. Fines for indecent programming exceeded $7.7 million last year, including a total of $550,000 against 20 CBS-owned stations for the Super Bowl show. CBS is contesting the fine. Four years ago, FCC fines totaled just $48,000. The FCC has wide latitude in imposing fines. For purposes of the Jackson case, the airing of the halftime show by each of the network- owned stations was considered a separate incident and each was fined the then-maximum $27,500. The FCC did not fine CBS stations that were network affiliates. If Congress approves the huge jump in the maximum fine, it’s possible that incidents such as Jackson’s could lead to fines in the millions or tens of millions of dollars. The NFL is taking no chances at this weekend’s Super Bowl. Former Beatle Paul McCartney highlights the halftime show, and his every word and move will be reviewed by the league. President Bush has indicated support for continued FCC enforcement but also alluded to the difficulty in determining what should be considered a violation. In an interview on C-SPAN last week, the president said parents are "the first line of responsibility" when it came to what their children listen to and watch. But the president said government should "at times, not censor, but call to account programming that gets over the line. The problem of course, is the definition `over the line.`" (via Pete Kemp, FL, NRC-AM via DXLD) Howard Stern did a very long monologue on this subject this morning. Regardless of what you think of Stern's show, he can be extremely lucid and intellectual about this subject; he's passionate about it. The article fails to mention, but Stern pointed out, that if the FCC and Congress get their way, individual on-air personalities can be fined, not just the station(s). The idea that an individual citizen can be punished by their government for saying something to an audience, whatever the medium, is draconian and sets the clock back to Puritanical times. Which is exactly what an increasingly large and vocal group of religious neocons in this country want. Stern said that if this bill passes, he will play records for the remainder of his radio contract and I believe him. He urged other talk and variety show hosts to do the same (Damon Cassell, Feb 10, ibid.) I certainly appreciate the concerns about puritanical censorship, but I also appreciate the concerns of a very large segment of the adult population which deplores the gratuitous obscenity that Stern is heavily involved with along with Bubba, Opie & Anthony, Grease and their various imitators. As with many things, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground. The concept of free speech as Stern and his followers would have it means the absolute freedom to say anything, anytime, anywhere. Like many other issues which I tend to lump together as behavior issues, that school of thought holds that the right of the individual to do or say whatever they want somehow trumps the rights of others who might somehow be harmed by their doing so (and the latter more clearly applies to 'doings' rather than 'sayings'). Well, Stern will soon be joining O & A on satellite and many of the others will follow. Then the FCC will have to try to find something else to bark at (Russ Edmunds Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) "Gratuitous obscenity" is your characterization, and not fact. I simply find Stern funny and entertaining (and even intelligent) as do millions of others. Some people and groups believe that their views are fact. These people are now in leadership positions at places like the FCC, and the Whitehouse. Don't argue with these people, or they will invoke things like their "morals" or God or "think of the children!" to back up their "facts". There is no scientific evidence to suggest that something you find obscene but I find funny will hurt children or old people or cause criminal behavior. You can turn the dial and listen to something else, but if what I find entertaining is OUTLAWED, something has been stolen from me. And radio will be reduced to a jukebox for the same tired old formats and withering advertising revenue. There are plenty of neo-conservative special-interest groups lined up, ready and able to direct the FCC agenda. See as an example: http://www.parentstv.org/ (Damon Cassell, ibid.) But --- How does a terrestrial station, subject to content regulation, compete with satellite, internet, and cable broadcasters immune to such rules? - In the long run, does it accomplish anything to regulate only free-to-air broadcasters if it drives listeners to unregulated services? (Doug Smith, W9WI, Pleasant View, (Nashville), TN, ibid.) The understanding of what freedom of speech means has changed a lot if it means that someone getting millions of dollars for obscene and scatological humor of the fifth grade level has a right to corrupt what I hear on any radio that I own. Before he becomes our favorite elder statesman pontificating on various other actions that are sins according to Howard Stern, let him go to Sirius, get more millions of bucks, and wallow in his own product. In America, he can do that. At least now he has the freedom of speech to go on the radio and say he isn't getting enough freedom of speech. He could not do that in countries that actually have no freedom of speech (Andy Ooms, Pine, AZ, ibid.) You have Stern, for a highly commanding price, making worn-out, stale jokes that sounded funny in third grade but don't cut it anymore. Stern has remained perpetually a child. Wild ironies surrounding issues of race, wealth, sex and celebrity are dying to be addressed, mocked, in truly avant-garde fashion. Stern and other entertainers are not up to the job. It's hard to support rails against censorship and social prudishness from unsophisticates who are there only for the money. I loathe the forces of censorship, yet I find myself mildly sympathetic to some concerns raised by social conservatives, because I decry fast-food junk-media. (Note: I do not support the FCC fines for 'obscenity'). Janet Jackson's naked breast was the most untitillating breast I've ever seen; There was no statement - it was a wardrobe malfunction. At best, Jackson and Timberlake exposed themselves as meaningless boobies. Zap, next channel... When someone with visibility has the guts to truly expose that which needs to be exposed - including that the FCC and the forces of moral decency are naked as a jaybird, which I believe they are -- then I can dig it. In the meantime, all I can do is log stations, sigh at the puerile crap, imagine a world with better programming, and move on to bigger, better DX. That is, if the A and K Index behave decently and don't censor my reception (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) Forgive my naivety, never having been a station owner. Humbly presented, is it possible that if AM and FM terrestrial broadcasting cannot compete with convenience and price that the only area left is content? Perhaps a product unique on some level or other is the answer. Perhaps not. I hope that unlimited unmuzzled Stern is not the only way to save terrestrial broadcasting. If so, I'm not sure that I care if it saved or not, in spite of Stern's intellectual inspiration to many (Andy Ooms, Pine, AZ, ibid.) Isn't it ironic that some / many (I haven't polled for precise percentages) of us love DXing AM and yet generally hate almost all the content. (TV is even worse, IMO). I'm in that boat. I DX both those bands. Of course, I realize that's the price I pay, and so be it. Like urban joggers who protest pollution but run downtown. There ARE other forms of exercise, and there are other bands to DX. There are also other hobbies. It comes down to compromise. I hate the programming, but I love getting AM from 1000 miles away, or TV from Nebraska. I agree that anyone who is truly suffering can easily turn the dial in order to stop the pain! However, it's reasonable for DXers to lament aspects of the hobby that they do not particularly enjoy. That said, I do prefer digital tuning knobs over the old analog ones. Ah, the irony of using a tuning knob to get rid of the knob on the radio! My favourite channel changers happen to be remote clickers. You sit in a comfy chair, feet on the ottoman, and zap on whim. Dr. Saul also prescribes good company for your DXpedition, a favourite drink, and plenty of double-smoked grill to relieve the pain. Howard who? (Saul Chernos, ibid.) You make some common sense, reasonable arguments. Let me add to the (off-topic) discussion by taking a step back for a moment & looking at the practical side of things. I am a member of a religious community. Now, many in my community simply don't have televisions, rarely listen to the radio, and I suppose that for them, that makes things quite simple (well, except for the billboards and signs on the way to school, but that's a different story). But many of us do have TV's & radios, and we do use them. At the same time, we wish to protect our children from the "moral cesspool" that is out there. So we try to be selective about what we allow our kids to watch. First we have the V-Chip. My TV doesn't have one, being 16 years old, but my DirecTV box does, and I tried to use it at first. So I set up a profile for Josh, my now 14 year-old son. I went through and deleted the channels I didn't want him watching from his profile (Aw, c'mon Dad, I like watching "Cribs" & "Pimp my Ride", so you can't block MTV!). So now we need to get a bit more granular. What about setting the rating limits you ask? Well here's the problem. A huge percentage of shows simply aren't rated. I can choose not to allow any non-rated shows, but that group can include anything from a Discovery Channel documentary to some pretty racy stuff. So the technology is useless. I'd like to be able to simply limit what he watches, but being a teenager, and considering that my wife & I both work, it's impossible to control what he watches when he's home alone (or up in the middle of the night - as we've occasionally discovered). Oh, and by the way, those 4-digit security codes are useless. Only 1000 combinations? He can hack that in a few minutes! By the way, I'm only talking about "basic" channels here - we don't get any movie channels. That's only TV. Getting back to radio, do I take away his clock-radio? After all he listens to "Loveline" on it every night. You can threaten, cajole and plead, but at the end of the day, he's able to do whatever he wants. If I'm going to get tough, then I'd have to take away his boom-box and MP-3 player too, since it also has an FM tuner. Do you see my dilemma? I don't want him to be so sheltered that he has no clue about the outside world, but how can I limit what he's exposed to? The idea that "Loveline" can air after 10:00 PM, because kids supposedly aren't up at that hour is completely ridiculous. I don't want to get into an argument about whether "Loveline" (or any other) is a good show or not - personally, my wife & I found it quite entertaining when it used to be on cable a few years ago. But what's appropriate for a married couple to watch together is not necessarily appropriate for a 14 year-old. Particularly one who is supposed to be growing up with the values WE want to teach him, and not the ones held by the callers to "Loveline". Teenage hormones & what's on the media today are simply a dangerous combination. Now my 8 year-old wants to know why Josh can listen to Power 106, but he can't... Does this help put things into a different perspective? (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, ibid.) It's not easy. The world is a big, complicated place. You can opt out and move to an isolated region or live within a fairly closed, like- minded community. And that works well for some people. Or, you can do what you can within the society you live in: nurture your kids with your values, lead by example, maintain a certain standard at home, and maintain an open, honest, loving and trusting relationship with them. I work as a journalist and just interviewed a 21 year old who was incarcerated and has now returned to high school. He's in a really neat, unique music program at a Toronto high school, and is in the early stages of learning that he has a positive, creative, side and can do well in the world. Special school programs like this won't work for everybody. And, some kids will rebel against parents who they feel are too strict. And, v-chip technology is the easy way out. My girlfriend and I do not have children, in part because we know we're too busy with our everyday lives to raise them properly (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) As for the discussion on Stern, I would protect his right of opinion as long as he respects mine. I think what a lot of people have a problem with is that Howard's voice is louder by numbers than all of us collectively. I think everyone has a right to make an ass out of themselves, and personally I find Howard a bore. And as Saul said, the tuning dial cures that. I do, however, feel that fines should be bumped up, not just for what is said, but all infractions. Again I cite the CEO who said it was the cost of doing business. Penalties should hurt, and not factor to a spread sheet in the promotion line. My problem with obscenity is that what is one mans filth, is another's comedy. I fear if the word-cops start looking to fine stations for every word they deem inappropriate, then I might have to surrender my Three Stooges videos because someone could claim it supports domestic violence. Sigh (Fred Vobbe, OH, ibid.) When I fire up my RF-2200 or YB-400 it's not because I want to hear the right wing nutbars (or in the case of Air America, left wing nutbars), bible-thumpers, Disney-mongers and sports talkers. Other than local sports - and the NHL of course is not an option - there are very few programs that I actually bother listening to, other than Imus on WFAN-660 and Rome on WGR-550, and these in only small amounts, i.e. about a half hour of Rome during my lunch break; Imus only when conditions permit reception of WFAN. Love the DX, hate the content... it's sorta like the far-right "patriot", who claims to love America, but hates 99% of the people who live in it! 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, ibid.) That's exactly my point. As an adult, if I don't find Howard Stern entertaining, then I can simply switch stations. But we all know that teenage boys will absolutely want to listen to this stuff. There's no way in the world that they will tune away to listen to something more wholesome. It's not really a matter of causing permanent trauma, it's simply that the stuff that Howard Stern or Loveline covers is exactly what I DON'T want him spending his time thinking about. When he's older, fine. But does a 14 year-old really need to be hearing about everyone's sexual experiences? Somehow I need to find a way to protect him from it, but it's really tough to find a way to do that without inciting rebellion. I mean - do I let him listen all he wants, hoping it will eventually bore him? Yeah, right... or do I lay down the law, which will then cause him to take his allowance & buy another radio that he can secretly listen to without my knowledge? I can't really win here (Brian Leyton, CA, ibid.) And that, my friend, is the essence of parenthood. The only way you win is in the long haul, and you usually not only can't see that from wherever you are at the time, you have no idea what's working and what's not (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) It comes down to building and maintaining a relationship, so that you're the person your kid comes to when he has a question or problem, knowing and trusting you will be looking out for his best interests. That's why I asked the radio hobby parent-child question. Not that a DXer should push their hobby down their kid's throat, but that they should share some kind of quality 'down' time. My dad listened to shortwave a lot but was not at all a DXer. In fact, he never could understand why I liked flipping the dials, particularly TV without watching (I never was much of a TV watcher). But we did lots of stuff together - he took me camping, taught me how to swim and sail, etc., and was always around. So was my mother. I grew up trusting them. I had my own life, but knew that if $#%$ ever hit the fan, I could talk with them about it, and they'd respect my opinions and love me at the end of the day. And I did in fact go to them with typical teenage stuff, yet I have many friends who would never go anywhere near their parents to discuss topics such as drugs or sex (Saul Chernos, ibid.) I hear you. I hope that my kids feel that way. I certainly try to get that message across as much as possible. Funny thing - when you asked the radio/hobby question, I could only think of the incident the other night when I had KSFN-1140 tuned in, and they had "Loveline" on. My son walked in, and asked what I was listening to. I told him, and he stood there for a minute or so. He heard the word "orgasm" and kind of shuddered, as if he was shocked to hear such a word on the radio. I said to him - "it's not like you've never heard that word before" (knowing that he listens to that show all the time). His immediate reply was - "yeah, but not with you in the room" (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Wobbler, more weirder... I've been reporting on the Wobbler signal - the one that sounds like wobbling sheet steel - most often heard by me on 930 and by others on other BCB frequencies, generally 1100 and below. As I shut down my receiver late last night I noticed something strange about what is already strange. The Wobbler seems to come in strong, even with the most minimal antenna. Where other signals fade away as the antenna is reduced, the Wobbler really doesn't. I've found I get it like gangbusters with a small whip. Even a 6-inch piece of wire stuck in the center contact of the receiver coax connector brought the Wobbler in. The S-meter is laying on the right stop with RF gain full up, only slight background signals down in the noise, and the Wobbler is wobbling away. The more I crack up the active antenna gain, the more other signals come in, and the less overpowering is the Wobbler, staying pretty much at the same level it seems. I've been listening to it like this all afternoon and evening so far, and the signal never seems to fade. It isn't always there, but when it is, it always seems to be at the same strength. The violence of the wobbling rises and falls, but the loudness of the signal does not, to any substantial degree. Nor is there any appreciable difference between mid day reception and late night. I admit I'm using some tuning tricks that enhance hearing the Wobbler - USB, narrow filter, detuning, even DSP - but still, it does not act like normal signals would, day or night. To me, this argues against the notion of jamming. Especially when you consider the only stations I hear during the day are Cuban, so what is there to jam? Just thought I'd report these latest observations, for those who have an interest. And as always, I welcome any thoughts, suggestions, or theories anyone would care to offer. (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (South East) Florida, [JRC NRD-535D, LF Engineering H-800 & M-601, Quantum Phaser, ANC-4 noise canceler, GAP DSP] ---------- See more about the Wobbler at this web site: http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/wobbler/ NRC-AM via DXLD) To me this argues strongly in favor of one of two possibilities 1) a source so local to you that an antenna doesn't much matter and/or 2) something emanating from your equipment. That the noise remains strong and becomes comparatively stronger as you reduce antenna while 'real' stations do just the opposite is very telling (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) Two possibilities come to mind. One, as Russ Edmunds believes, it's some sort of local interference or noise in the radio. I'd go with this, except I've heard similar noises. Two, it's somebody jamming Cuban stations from somewhere very near your location (Adam Myrow, TN, ibid.) Russ, What you say could certainly be the case if I were the only one hearing the signal. But it has been heard many states away from my location, at the same time, on the same frequency. As to equipment induced, I hear it on different receivers physically and electrically removed from each other. I may have mislead in my description of the signal and antenna relationship. The signal does get less as the antenna is reduced, but is more easily heard than other signals. Since it is in effect a CW signal with a audible frequency wobble, it would make sense that it would come through better than AM signals. I would not presume to discount any suggestions at this point, but I do feel it is more than something local. None the less, I will take all feedback and keep it in mind as I continue to chase my white whale, or possibly wind mill. Thanks for your thoughts, (Curt, ibid.) Indeed I've noticed this for quite a few weeks. I slightly suspected it could be a malfing transmitter in the Tampa Bay area (based on lots of spurious stuff in the 1000-1200-ish range, daytime, or else just a malfing Cuban transmitter). Bottom line is I haven't helped you any, except to say that yes, it's there. Going strong right now as a matter of fact (Terry Krueger, Clearwater, Feb 8, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Curt, I don't remember everything you've posted thus far about the wobbler, but have you been able to determine the direction it's coming from or have you been able to detect it perhaps out of town? The others that have heard it, how close by are they? Or perhaps how far away? I had a pirate on 1630 for just a few days and I was trying to figure out where they might be, but they stopped broadcasting before I could. I think the wobbler would make me crack, hi. Is a satellite transmission possible? Any government facilities near by? Beacons? Have you contacted the FCC, i.e. interference? The power company?? How doe's the phaser and noise canceler deal with it? Doe's it appear to be centered right on frequency? (if that's possible to tell) It's all very interesting. Good luck with your continued investigation (Doug Pifer, IRCA, ibid.) Doug, Your email raises several good points/questions. Earlier I took the Basset for his walk - if you can call his pace that - and used the considerable free time to try something I probably should have already. Using a couple simple AM portables I tried to narrow down direction. One seemed especially directional but still, the best I can say is N/S of me. But in south Florida, that doesn't narrow it down much - ocean to the east and Everglades to the west, then the gulf. But it's something. It is clearly not caused by something in the house though, since others have heard it as far away as SC, GA, NM, IL, TN, PA, and ON. But if it is in the house, I have bigger problems than I thought. There are government facilities, military bases in the south FL area as well as all over the state. There are also beacons in the area along the coastline and the many airports, but this would be a pretty strange beacon. Funny thing is, I've thought of it as sounding like some sort of ocean wave signal, wobbling in response to wave action. I can just see that buoy wobbling as the waves smack into it, and the Wobbler emanating in response. But it would be a pretty low tech way to communicate that sort of information, unless it was intended to be used audibly rather than by instrumentality. Not to mention the far reaching nature of the signal. Just my crazed mind working overtime. Nothing has been done regarding the FCC. I can't really claim anything is being interfered with, since hearing it is sometimes a challenge. Nor do I have any evidence of power company involvement. Again, the wide area over which it has been heard would rule that out, most likely. (I could tell you about a timing problem in the Bell System, when it was the only long distance phone company in town, that affected data transmissions across the entire country, but that's not a radio story.) Unfortunately I have nothing so nice as a spectrum analyzer that would let me see the signal and where it sits in the spectrum relative to normal broadcast channels. I'm sure that is a picture that would be worth those thousand words. Your question about the Quantum Phaser and ANC-4 noise canceler are quite timely. I was playing with antenna variations today that involved those devices. I have two vertical active antennas feeding the phaser and a whip as the noise source for the ANC-4. When twiddling the knobs I discovered I could suppress the usual Cuban SS and easily hear an EE sports talk program. I haven't yet determined where the EE was coming from, but it might be I stumbled upon a method of some degree of directionality. There is still more experimenting to be done on that. Otherwise, I have found this combination is very effective at eliminating what is often times horrendous noise from light dimmers, TVs, computers, and things that come and go that I've not even identified. For this I have been very impressed, and it isn't just the ANC-4. Without it and the Quantum Phaser together, I can get no where nearly as complete nose suppression. As I say, your questions and suggestions were right on target and will spark further investigation in the future. Thanks a lot, (Curt, ibid.) Hi Curt, From here in Rossville GA the wobblers come in better when I'm looping towards Cuba\Florida. I can null them easily but they can be very strong here and as you said they are always on frequencies also occupied by Cubans, RR mostly but I have heard it on another outlet too. They can be surprisingly loud here even on the ATS-909. What puzzles me is that I can plainly hear the FL station on 930 right thought it without any apparent carrier interference like you would normally hear. What I'm trying to say is that the wobbler sound seems to be "transparent" ie kind of like if a radio station was running the wobbler audio into the board and running the volume slider up and down over what was already playing. So you have one carrier and 2 audio sources playing at the same time. Could you send me a long clip of what you have? I'm rambling now so I'll shut up! 73's and great DX, (John Hunter, Rossville GA, ibid.) John, You're not rambling at all. You are in fact, putting into words the very same thing I have tried and been unable to accomplish. The notion of transparency and lack of any carrier is exactly what I have had on my mind. Tonight I heard a very strong Wobbler on 930 - all day long actually - less vigorous ones on 910 and 870. What I will do is select as good a representation as I have recorded and put it on the web site. That will up/download a lot easier than an email attachment, and make it available if anyone else is interested. As soon as I have it ready in the next day or two, I'll send you a note. Thanks for your thoughts, (Curt, ibid.) Since the signal has been heard on several frequencies, I don't believe it is a single source, unless it turns out to be some kind of atmospheric phenomenon. I'm afraid I badly stated what I was trying to say, and have given the impression that the signal is extremely strong. As best I can tell, it is not appreciably stronger than any other signals being heard. My use of USB, detuning by a few hundred Hertz, and filtering with DSP makes the CW-like signal very easy to detect. My statements about hearing it with minimal antenna was probably more the result of the nature of the signal than an indication of proximity, power, or propagation, and quite probably should not have been described as it was. Since it is not especially powerful and has been heard by people in multiple locations - as far from me as Ontario and New Mexico - at the same time and frequency, if it were local there would have to be sources near dispersed listeners. I am open to any possible answer, do you have any ideas what sort of local sources there might be, that would produce the Wobbler signal we have been hearing? (Curt, Feb 9, NRC-AM via DXLD) I've been seeing reports of 'wobblers' in recent weeks, but have yet to hear one.... until tonight. Trying to listen to CtoCAm on WTAM [1100 Cleveland] right now, hearing a wobbler in the background. (Andrew MacKenzie, Greenville NY, Kenwood R-2000 - 190' longwire NNE- SSW 0533 UT Feb 11, ibid.) Moderately strong here. Noted both upper and lower sideband on 1100. Got an audio clip at: http://www.chowdanet.com/wobbler_1100.mp3 Clip is about 2mb, so dial up folks beware. Can't say as I've noticed it before. It sounds very much like somebody shaking a large piece of sheet metal (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) I've heard that on 1100 before, Craig. I also heard that sound on 1080 one night, but wrote it off to someone having a transmitter problem. Perhaps when this signal surfaces again, we should all report to the list the vector of the signal. If we have enough ears and reports, we might be able to find the location (Fred Vobbe, OH, ibid.) I have it here too at 0254 [EST] really strong equal to the Cuban station and WTAM at times. It really sounds like the Cuban is running the wobbler through their board as I hear no carrier interference to the Cuban other than that from WTAM. Weird! 73's and great DX (John Hunter, Rossville GA, ibid.) Got a better recording of this. At one point it seems as loud as WTAM. http://www.chowdanet.com/wobbler1_1100.mp3 Also about 2mb, so dial up people will need patience (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) On listening to this clip over again, something interesting happens at the one minute mark. The wobble sound stops, and Spanish music seems to begin. Perhaps the Golden Ears among us can pick more out of this. (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) I seem to recall hearing that same Wobbler sound on 910 not too long ago. At times it sounded like Curly from the Three Stooges with his trademark "whoop whoop whoop" sound! Check out http://www.threestooges.com/sounds (Niel Wolfish, Toronto, NRC-AM via DXLD) Craig & Andrew, The 1100 Wobbler you both report is the same type signal I have been hearing and was listening to last night on 930. From the recordings the 1100 signal is just as loud and vigorous in the New England area as the 930 Wobbler is here in South Florida. To me it seems unlikely the same source would produce these signals on two different frequencies and so far removed in location. Not to say it could not happen, but the odds seem long. I want to spend some time listening and looking at the signal recording, and comparing it to the ones I have. I will also be listening to 1100 to see if I can hear it from here. As luck would have it, last night I was not following my email and did not see your posts. Thanks for adding to my collection of reports, especially the recording which confirms we are hearing the same type signal (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (South East) Florida, Feb 11, NRC-AM via DXLD) John, Your report is interesting because of your location relative to Andrew and Craig. It seems the Wobbler sounds as loud to everyone. Sure wish I had been listening on 1100 to add a third area to the equation. I was listening on 930 and the Wobbler was going crazy all night long. The usual Cuban station was coming in strong too, but the Wobbler was holding its own. I'll add 1100 to my frequencies to check. (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], ibid.) I have it here too at 0254 really strong equal to the Cuban station and WTAM at times. It really sounds like the Cuban is running the wobbler through their board as I hear no carrier interference to the Cuban other than that from WTAM. Weird! 73's and great DX (John Hunter, Rossville GA, ibid.) Sounds like the kind of noises I used to hear on the old tubve-type radios of the 1940's and 1950's when I first started DX'ing. My understanding of what I heard then was that something in the receiver was unstable and creating an irregular beat. Given what's been reported, that's not an option here. I think each of the frequencies where this has been reported also has a widely-heard resident Cuban station. I have to wonder if this isn't either some sort of transmitter malfunction or indeed an intentional emission from there (Russ Edmunds, PA, ibid.) With what seems to be growing appearances of the Wobbler, I thought what I have found while listening for it might be of some use to others. It is on 930 here at my location in South Florida, almost all the time, day or night. I've heard it on 820 and 870 on occasion. It has also been on 910, but not lately. Most recently it was heard up and down the east coast on 1100. It has been heard in SC, GA, NM, IL, TN, PA, NY, and ON. Should you actually want to hear the Wobbler, rather than just having it intrude on what you really are listening to, there are some ways to enhance the audio. If your receiver has CW mode, switching to it will change the low, zero to several hundred Hertz audio signal to a higher range and make it easier to hear, especially when the Wobbler is less vigorous. The same is true for other modes like RTTY and FAX, though both, and especially RTTY may be pretty screeching. SSB works the best I think. Other modes produce a much louder heterodyne against any other signal carrier. SSB gives an easy to hear signal that's easier on your ears. You need to de-tune to produce the pitch you like. For USB I de-tune down by 700 Hz, and for LSB, up by the same. The side band to choose is whichever one produces the best results under the circumstances. This is especially true if there is adjacent channel splatter on the Wobbler frequency. Setting a narrower band width will help reduce other signals when using any of these methods. I use a 1.0 KHz filter setting. If your receiver has a passband control, this can also help remove the normal signal while not affecting reception of the Wobbler, or it can be used to reduce adjacent channel splatter. All of these techniques introduce a heterodyne against any other signal, like the station you were trying to hear. This is more or less annoying based on the strength of that signal, and as a result, the volume of the resulting whistle. Using an audio filter or DSP can do wonders in removing this extraneous whine, making the Wobbler much more apparent. DSP is very good because at a high setting, it will remove the heterodyne and most of any other signal, but because of the nature of the Wobbler signal, it will cut through largely unimpeded. One way to think of the Wobbler when tuning to hear it is that it acts like a frequency modulation of the same carrier as the dominant station you're listening to. Tuning accordingly produces the best results. This may also be a clue as to just what the Wobbler is. Now if I only understood the clue (W. Curt Deegan, ibid.) Are any of you who are hearing the wobbler able to get a bearing on it? ------ I still don't hear it on 930 but I may have had it on 1100 last night. If that is what I heard it's extremely weak here. It did sound somewhat similar to the recording that was posted a couple days ago but was far less metallic sounding. What I was hearing last night looped precisely east-west from my location 20 miles north of Denver. I could not hear it when I aimed the loop SE-NW which would favor Cuba (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO, NRC-AM via DXLD) Patrick, Your observation would seem to be consistent with other reports on 1100 from NY, RI, and GA, a couple nights ago. Something east of you could reasonably account for the other reports. The weaker the signal, the less obvious is the wobble effect, so that too would be consistent. Yours is the first reported direction from a location off the N/S axis of the east coast, where a Cuba possibility would have to be considered. I've heard only the slightest trace of the signal on 1100, and only then using the tuning method I described. Not something that could be heard while using normal listening methods. While not proof, it would seem less likely that the 1100 Wobbler is coming from Cuba if I can not hear it and listeners well to the north can. But then there is always skip. I'll keep listening. Could you make out any other signal under or over the Wobbler? If not well enough to identify, then at least if there were SS programming. That would add to the Cuba or not picture. All part of the puzzle. Thanks for your input (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (South East) Florida, ibid.) Some folks seem to think this is a deep, dark mystery, but I am completely convinced from my observations that the wobbler emanates from Cuba. I hear it on at least one frequency virtually every night, and it is almost always clearly associated with an existing Cuban transmitter. Last night I heard it on 870, and it was obviously coming from the Reloj outlet. The wobbling noise was clearly associated with the modulation on their transmitter: when a "wobble" occurred, the regular audio FM'ed. A wobble during a time pip or Morse RR caused a very noticeable frequency shift in the tone frequency. This wouldn't happen if the wobbler were coming from a different transmitter. I should note that I always use SSB mode when AM DXing, so I'm not sure whether it is the carrier or just the audio that shifts frequency. The only mystery is: why is it happening, and why on at least half a dozen different transmitters? Some possibilities: 1. It's some kind of deliberate jamming tactic. This seems unlikely - why would they impair the audio of their own service? 2. A number of aging transmitters have somehow developed the same fault simultaneously. This also seems unlikely. 3. The fault is not in the transmitters themselves, but in one or more of the audio distribution networks, thus affecting multiple transmitters. This sounds a bit more plausible, but I don't think anyone has observed any correlation between the wobbling happening on different frequencies. 4. The wobbler is caused by a problem in the power source: the line voltage dips, the regulation in the transmitter's power supply can't handle it, so the transmitter FM's. Perhaps all of the offending transmitters are in a part of Cuba where the electrical grid is particularly unstable. I lean towards theory #4, or a variation thereof... comments? (Barry McLarnon VE3JF Ottawa, ON Feb 12, ibid.) I had noted and posted yesterday that all of the reported instances were on frequencies where Cubans were also reported. I agree with your analysis and potential conclusion. It actually may be that the instability of the power service may be producing the same effect in all of those aging transmitters (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (15 mi NNW Philadelphia), ibid.) I never thought the wobble sounded like an FM'ing transmitter. From hearing my share of FM'ing Latin American stations over the years, I would expect the FM to be fairly random sounding and the audio to be a bit unclear. The wobbles would also have some correlation to the modulation. The wobble clips I've heard sounded much more "intentional" and un- random. My theory is that Cuba is messing around, on purpose. So here's a way to know: someone with a good signal from them uses their BFO to see whether the carrier is truly FM'ing. Hopefully the selectivity is so narrow (a CW filter) that the sidebands are chopped off. I bet there's a steady carrier, and what we are hearing is audio being used as the modulation. If so, it's gotta be on purpose given the various frequencies being used and the fact it's been around for months. What I can't begin to understand is why? Why would anyone care about 930 in Cuba? (Chuck Hutton, WA, ibid.) There doesn't seem to be anything common about the frequencies on which it's been heard - 870, 930, 1100, did I see 910 ? And there also doesn't seem to be anything common to US stations on those frequencies which would be readily audible in Cuba ? 870 could only be WWL, and 1100 would probably only be WWWE-GA. That line of reasoning doesn't seem to pan out either (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. I finally heard Yosemite Sam on these two frequencies, 3700 and 4300, but reception much noisier and weaker than the two frequencies previously reported (6500 and 10500). Both 3700 and 4300 were barely discernible. I could only make out part of the voice transmission on both frequencies. Heard between 0307-0317 UT, Feb. 13. Neither 6500 nor 10500 was noted at this time. Did I read somewhere that the FCC had DFed this and said it was in New Mexico? Perhaps that was in a previous post (Carl DeWhitt, KI5SF, Ponca City, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, see 4-190 in the unID section, where we are also linked to a website about this http://www.spynumbers.com/YosemiteSam.html Unfortunately, it has not been updated since the December burst of activity (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I confirm YS is audible (barely) on 4300 and 3700 at 2240 to 2243 UTC. Anybody got a clue what this is all about? It seems rather pointless unless the burst preceding the voice does contain a data burst that is useful to someone. 73, de (Nate Bargmann, KS, UT Feb 13, ibid.) 3700, 1130-1135. Noted the unident Yosemite Sam transmission here. Signal was fair during listening period. Previous DF by FCC puts this near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Although this item has been getting attention just recently, I recall this guy transmitting few years ago on the same frequency. It's all reminiscent to the movie "On The Beach" (Chuck Bolland, February 13, 2005, Clewiston FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ HD MINI-SEMINAR IN DENVER DATE: FEBRUARY 23, 2005 - WEDNESDAY Subject: Hands On HD Radio: Description, Implementation and Operation When: Doors open / refreshments served 6:15 PM, Meeting at 7 PM Where: Rocky Mountain PBS (KRMA), 1089 Bannock Street, Denver, CO 80204 (two blocks west of Broadway at 11th Street; parking available in KRMA lot on Bannock) Presenter: Russ Mundschenk, Field Test and Implementation Manager, iBiquity Digital Corporation For the past five years Russ has been collecting data and submitting reports to the FCC, NAB, and NSRC on the HD Radio system's performance and compatibility. Prior to joining iBiquity, Russ spent 17 years as Chief Engineer of WBEB in Philadelphia, building the first all-digital studios in the country. He also organized a complete rebuild of the WFIL AM transmitter plant. Additional Presenters: Mike Pappas, Chief Engineer of KUVO-FM, Denver's jazz station, Jim Paluzzi, VP of Applied Technology, Colorado Public Radio, Bob Hensler, VP of Engineering, Colorado Public Radio, and Al Stewart, Director of RF Engineering, Colorado Public Radio. The four will talk about the local implementation of HD Radio on KUVO FM and KCFR AM. The meeting will also feature a live demonstration of HD radio reception and a look at the first digital modulation monitor for HD radio (via Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO, NRC-AM via DXLD) DRM / CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++ ROMANIA/USA: HARRIS CORPORATION ANNOUNCES DRM SYMPOSIUM IN ROMANIA | Text of press release by Harris Corporation on 11 February Harris Corporation today announced the agenda for a two-day DRM Symposium 1 - 2 March at the Marriott Hotel in Bucharest, Romania. The event is designed to inform and educate radio broadcasters from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East on how they can prepare for a digital future with DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) technology, and will focus on Romania's countrywide upgrade and expansion of its national broadcast infrastructure. Representatives from Harris and S.N. Radiocomunicatsii S.A., Romania's state-owned broadcast organization, will provide insight into the strategies behind the modernization program that is establishing 100 per cent radio and television coverage throughout the country. Day one of the symposium will begin with introductory comments from John Hall, manager of Radio Programs and High-Power Products for Harris Broadcast Communications Division's Radio Broadcast Systems business, and a keynote speech from Gabriel Grecu, president of S.N. Radiocomunicatsii. Mr. Grecu will discuss the advantages of upgrading the entire country's broadcast infrastructure in two years, as well as his vision for a digital future in radio and television. Several presentations on DRM will follow, culminating with a DRM demonstration at a nearby 400 kW high-power AM transmitter site, the Tancabeshti High-Power Radio station. Once at the site, Harris engineers will install a DRM exciter package inside the transmitter. The DRM exciter package will feature a content server for transmission of a multiplexed, bandwidth-efficient audio/data stream and a modulator to drive the digitally prepared signal to a DRM-ready receiver. Attendees will be able to listen to the results. Day two will focus on Romania's overall modernization program and cover all aspects from finance to technology and installation. Broadcasters from countries still relying on tube transmitters will learn how Harris' television, radio, microwave and networking divisions worked together to provide a cost-effective, turnkey system that brought Romania 's antiquated system up to date with the solid- state analogue technology favoured throughout Western Europe. Discussions also will point to how Romania is now fully prepared for a digital future. Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Israel, Syria, Nigeria, Algeria, Turkey, Poland and the Ukraine are among the many countries expected to be represented during this conference. "Now that we've established 100 per cent national radio coverage, we feel it's important to get the message out to our broadcasting peers faced with the same challenges that we've successfully addressed," said Mr. Grecu. "Not only have we boosted our signal quality and coverage areas, but we were able to complete the installation in a span of two short years. It's clear that our plan to upgrade the entire infrastructure at once was correct. It provides a clear return on investment and establishes a digital-ready infrastructure featuring the best in today's solid-state analogue technology." "The fact that Romania was able to boost its national coverage from 70 to 100 per cent in a two-year period is impressive," said Mr. Hall. "The overall goal of the DRM Symposium is to educate broadcasters on developing digital formats and inform attendees who are still relying on outdated technology that now is the time to upgrade. As Western Europe and other countries migrate to digital technology in the coming years, it's important that others follow Romania's lead and reap the immediate, significant benefits of solid-state analogue technology and its seamless, cost-effective upgrade path." Between presentations and roundtable discussions, broadcasters will be able to observe a continuous demonstration of DRM and DAB receivers with live audio in the Marriott lobby. A separate DAB transmitter demonstration and related DAB discussions also will be on the Wednesday schedule for attendees interested in learning more about this growing digital format. Source: Harris Corporation press release, Cincinnati, in English 11 Feb 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ###