DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-066, April 20, 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 1271: Thu 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Thu 2030 WOR WWCR 15825 Fri 0000 WOR WTND-LP 106.3 Macomb IL Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream [repeated 2-hourly thru 2400] Fri 1030 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Fri 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Fri 2300 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sat 0000 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Sat 0800 WOR WRN1 to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar, Telstar 12 SAm Sat 0855 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1030 WOR WWCR 5070 Sat 1130 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Sat 2030 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 0230 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0330 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 0630 WOR WWCR 3210 Sun 0830 WOR WRN1 to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP Sun 0830 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0830 WOR WXPR Rhinelander WI 91.7 91.9 100.9 Sun 0830 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0830 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1100 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 1200 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 1300 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1500 WOR R. Lavalamp Sun 1730 WOR WRMI 7385 [from WRN] Sun 1730 WOR WRN1 to North America Sun 1900 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sun 2000 WOR RNI Mon 0230 WOR WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 [Extra 55] Mon 0430 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0900 WOR R. Lavalamp Mon 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Tue 0600 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5, WPKM Montauk NY 88.7 Tue 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 0930 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours MORE info including audio links: http://worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ON DEMAND [from Friday]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] WORLD OF RADIO 1271 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1271h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1271h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1271 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1271.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1271.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1271.html WORLD OF RADIO 1271 in true shortwave sound of Alex`s mp3 [expected]: (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_04-20-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_04-20-05.mp3 DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS April 21 edition soon at: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html ** AFGHANISTAN. TALIBAN LAUNCHES PIRATE RADIO STATION IN AFGHANISTAN (Filed: 18/04/2005) Afghanistan's ousted Taliban, which banned entertainment and football when in power, has launched a clandestine pirate radio station. The station broadcasts anti-US and anti-government propaganda as well as Islamic hymns from a mobile transmitter. Called "Shariat Shagh", or Voice of Shariat, after the station the Taliban ran while in power between 1996 and 2001, the broadcast can be heard in five southern provinces, including the former regime's old power base of Kandahar. Abdul Latif Hakimi, Taliban spokesman, was quoted by the Pakistan- based private Afghan Islamic Press news agency as saying: "The radios of the world which are apparently free, are in fact slaves of others. That is why we have launched the radio, to make people aware about the Taliban's thoughts and objectives." It goes on the air between six and seven o'clock in the mornings and same time in the evenings. A bloody insurgency during the past two years has claimed more than 1,000 lives. US-led forces toppled the Taliban government after it refused to hand over al-Qa'eda chief, Osama bin Laden, the architect of the September 11 attacks on New York's twin towers and the Pentagon (London Daily Telegraph, via Max White 2E0RGO / England, April 18, DXLD) WTFK?? UT would be 0130-0230 and 1330-1430 (gh) http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=2984340 (via Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO 1271, DXLD) TALEBAN RADIO RESTARTS BROADCASTING IN AFGHANISTAN | Excerpt from report by Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency Peshawar, 18 April: The Taleban say that Radio Shariat Zhagh [Voice of Shari'ah] has resumed broadcasting recently. The Taleban spokesman Mofti Latifollah Hakimi told the Afghan Islamic Press this afternoon: "After a six-month break, Radio Shari'ah Zhagh broadcast for one hour this morning from 0600 to 0700 local time in Dari and Pashto languages." Hakimi added: "It will also broadcast for one hour this evening from 1800 to 1900 local time and the bulletin will carry the message of Amir al-Momenin Mullah Omar." Giving details about this radio station, Hakimi said: "The Taleban own three radio stations. One is now reopened and the others will start functioning soon." He said the radio could be heard at FM 100.8 and 100.9 and also at AM and SW waves. Hakimi also elaborated on the objectives of the source and explained: "Foreign radios claim independence and freedom, but they are not actually free. Therefore, we established this radio station, through which we could report to people on the realities and facts in all the cities and villages of the country and introduce them the goals and objectives of the Islamic Movement of Taleban." In reply to a question how they managed to set up these radio stations, Hakimi said: "We imported the equipment from abroad and Afghan engineers here set up the stations." In response to another question, he replied: "Shari'ah Zhagh broadcast from an unidentified location within Afghanistan and the other three radio stations will hopefully begin broadcasting in the foreseeable future." It is worth mentioning that Radio Afghanistan, based in Kabul, was renamed as Shari'ah Zhagh under the Taleban rule. [Passage omitted on radio broadcast under the Taleban regime] Source: Afghan Islamic Press news agency, Peshawar, in Pashto 1115 gmt 18 Apr 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) A later report from the Afghan Islamic Press news agency via BBC Monitoring quotes Hakimi as saying "The Taleban own three radio stations. One is now reopened and the others will start functioning soon." He said the radio could be heard at FM 100.8 and 100.9 and also at AM and SW waves." (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1271, DXLD) Another version, from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4459121.stm (via Thomas Roth, Nepal, HCDX via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. April 20 at 1313 when checking Voz Cristã frequencies (see CHINA [non]), 15475 was stronger than usual but definitely a het from a carrier around 15476. Makes me wonder if LRA-36 has decided to expand its hours from only 1800 to 2100, to protest VC`s usurpation of its frequency. Hearing the het is about the closest we can come to logging Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. UNA NUEVA XBAND EN ARGENTINA QUE SALE POR ONDA CORTA Una de las escuchas más interesantes del fin de semana en Chascomus lo constituyó la captación de una nueva Xband que opera en los 1670 khz. No tiene anuncio ni identificaciones. Llega con muy buena recepción en la noche y está en el aire las 24 horas. Durante las horas de día su recepción es más baja por lo que la deducción lógica es que no transmite desde Chascomus aunque podría ser de la zona ¿La Plata? Lo curioso es que su señal puede recibirse también en onda corta, en 5010.2 Khz!!!!! por lo que quizás puede ser captada allende las fronteras. La sintonía fue hecha por Nicolas Eramo, Enrique Wembagher y este servidor. [Later:] no creo que la señal llegue mas allá de Brasil o Paraguay y siendo optimista. Lo curioso es que esta Xband no puedo captarla en su QRG original desde Buenos Aires. Ni hablemos de la onda corta. Un abrazo (Arnaldo Slaen, 1.431 BUENOS AIRES, April 18, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. The latest Radio Australia English guides are available from the RA web site http://www.abc.net.au/ra Frequency Guide: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pdf/frequency.pdf Programme Guide: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pdf/universal.pdf The frequency guide is now accurate but for one error: 0600-0800 11880 does not exist for RA as China Radio Int' has this slot. This is entirely my fault - I made a bit of heat and noise about the badly inaccurate frequency guide and was assisted by Nigel Holmes and Johno to get it right except for this error that I missed; not once but twice (mea culpa). Regards (Ian Johnson, ARDXC via DXLD) ?? I thought Bob Padula had an exclusive monopoly on such info (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. ABORIGINAL RADIO STATION LAUNCHES WORLDWIDE WEB STREAM The Townsville Aboriginal & Island Media Association (TAIMA), which operates radio station 4K1G serving Aboriginal communities in Queensland, Australia, has launched a 24 hour web streaming service that can be heard worldwide. "4K1G is the first Indigenous radio station that we know of who has accomplished this," TAIMA 4K1G FM Manager Nathan Goodwin said. "It was quite a simple process and did not cost a lot of money to establish". In just two weeks 4K1G received emails from all over Australia, New York, New Zealand, Vancouver British Columbia, Fiji, Canada, Jamaica and Africa. http://www.4k1g.org # posted by Andy @ 12:49 UTC April 18 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Warning: music launches automatically. No, 4K1G is not a typo; what kind of callsign is that? (gh, DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non]. Voice of Biafra International, 7380, Apr 13 from tune-in 2145-2200* with political program in English. Short religion before close, "May God bless you all - the sovereign republic of Biafra and all those fighting for her freedom." Usual announcement: "This has been (a) Voice of Biafra International broadcast coming to you from Washington D.C... on 7380 kHz frequency equivalent to the 41 metre band. Thank you for listening to our broadcast." (Finn Krone, Denmark, in DXplorer-ML via CRW via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6030, CFVP 0400-0435 Apr 11, Cuban jammer covering frequency until 0400 when it shut down enabling this to sneak through with a very poor signal but audible especially on peaks. Noted with news followed by sports report of Tiger Woods winning the Masters golf tournament. ID as "This is AM 1060, CKMX" heard on numerous occasions. Played a bunch of oldies tunes with frequent IDs. Last time I had audio from this one I couldn't get an ID and Südwestrundfunk opened at 0400 blocking channel (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Jammer must have been operating on std time; in DST Martí closes at 0300 UT (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. April 20 the K-index was rather hi and TE signals such as Calera de Tango, Chile were booming in from VC on 17680 in Spanish, 15475 in Portuguese, at 1308 --- and CRI in English was very strong on 17625, which HFCC A-05 confirms is still Santiago relay, tho I bet the casual listener in N or S America would never guess that a ``Christian`` missionary broadcaster is doing this. 17625 was running at least one second behind the Sackville CRI relays on 9650 // 15260 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. Noted in this press release at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/4/emw230502.htm About Sound of Hope Radio Network Established in U.S., the Sound of Hope Radio Network (SOH) is a news-and-entertainment broadcast service offering a unique and broad perspective on Chinese culture and its people. With local radio programs in more than 30 cities and a rich pool of webradio news and programs, Sound of Hope Radio network has been able to reach millions of Chinese people in Europe, North America Australia and some Asia countries. Currently, SOH also produces weekly English, French and Spanish programs to introduce Asia culture to more people. SOH is the only independent radio network that could provide daily 4 hour broadcast in shortwave to mainland China. This daily shortwave airtime slots are 6 am to 7 am at 9.635 MHz; 7 am to 8 am at 7.310 MHz; 9 pm to 10 pm at 7.310 MHz and 12 am to 1 am at 11.765 MHz. Pls visit http://www.soundofhope.net for more info (via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) presumably Hangzhou time; subtract 8 hours for UT (gh) ** COLOMBIA. Radio Líder de Colombia en frecuencia de: 6140 -- hora 0130 a 0200; sinpo 223; detalle: música romántica y las noticias de las 9 pm hora de Colombia --- con ruidos y desvanecimientos. Fecha: sábado 16 de abril 2005. 73 dx (Roman Morales de Costa Rica, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. RADIO IS BLAMED FOR UNREST IN ECUADOR SMALL FM STATION IS FOMENTING PROTESTS, OFFICIALS CONTEND By Monte Reel Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, April 20, 2005; Page A18 QUITO, Ecuador, April 19 -- Military police used tear gas and high-pressure water hoses to restrain tens of thousands of protesters Tuesday night during the fiercest confrontation yet between the government and those demanding the ouster of president Lucio Gutiérrez. [hereafter: Gutierrez] As police tried to quell the escalating unrest, in which several people were reportedly injured, officials today cast the blame on an unusual source: a local radio station that has directed the public to an estimated 200 demonstrations in the past six days. "The radio station is the one that is calling all of the protests -- not the people," charged Ivan Ona Velez, communication secretary for Gutierrez. Massive street demonstrations have swept the capital since Gutierrez disbanded the country's 31-member Supreme Court on Friday for the second time in five months. He first removed the justices in December, saying they were politically aligned with parties opposing his rule. They were replaced with justices who the opposition says are allies of the president. After Gutierrez declared a brief state of emergency last Friday, thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand his impeachment. Throughout the crisis, a local FM station -- Radio La Luna -- has regularly informed listeners where and when demonstrations would occur. During the height of tonight's chaotic demonstrations, the station provided directions for protesters wishing to navigate street closures and avert police blockades to reach the presidential palace. The station's signal was cut for several hours Monday, during the evening, when most street actions have been organized. The government blamed the outage on an electrical failure at a transmission tower and said several stations were affected, including a state-run television station. But many Ecuadorans who oppose the president said they believed the government was targeting La Luna, a small station that has adamantly criticized the government's handling of the crisis and has called for the dismissal of Gutierrez. The station's director said his family had received death threats that prompted him to move his wife and children out of Quito, the capital. "It's the government of Lucio Gutierrez that is doing this, of that I'm absolutely certain," Paco Velasco, the director of La Luna, said Tuesday "On Sunday, they interfered with our signal. . . . Six different times we've been cut off." The public outcry against the government reached a fever pitch this month when the newly appointed Supreme Court absolved several politicians of corruption charges, including an exiled former president, Abdala Bucaram. Many demonstrators said they believed the court change was part of a presidential and congressional alliance with Bucaram, under whom Gutierrez served as a military aide. Congress voted Sunday to begin the process of replacing the court, but opposition party members said they would try to impeach the president for carrying out what they called an unconstitutional manipulation of the judicial system. It remained unclear whether the impeachment drive had gained sufficient congressional support to succeed. Hearings must be supported by a majority of the 100-member body, and a two-thirds majority is needed to oust the president. In the streets, many of the protesters continued to call for a complete overhaul of the political system -- including the dissolution of Congress and the holding of new elections. "It's the people in the streets who have the power to be vigilant and make sure stability can be retained," said Ernesto Alban Gomez, one of the Supreme Court justices who was dismissed in December. "We must be the only country in the world right now without a Supreme Court, but it is worth it if it results in changes that help the country." Before he joined a protest this morning against Gutierrez, Stalin Coronel, 23, listened to Radio La Luna for information on upcoming street actions. Then he and about 150 other demonstrators -- mostly college students -- marched to the radio station's modest offices in northern Quito to show support for the broadcasts. "The station has been loyal to the desires of the people," Coronel said, his hands stained with ink from constructing anti-government placards. "We want to return constitutionality to the government. We don't want them to sell our country." In the one-room studio at the station, which has been broadcasting since 1998, the telephone lines lit up as residents called in to vent their frustrations. "I'm 87 years old, and I want to die defending my country!" screamed one caller. "Two of my relatives were officials, and both retired because they couldn't take the corruption anymore!" The caller's comments were met with applause from announcers in the studio, where employees had hung anti-Gutierrez banners like those seen throughout the capital. "I am just trying to respect the dynamic that is out there among the people," explained Velasco, 46. "The people want the government to leave, and we're just providing them with a place to be heard. We simply opened our microphones to the public." Velasco said his station had not organized any protests, but instead had relayed information from helpful callers. He said cell phones had been the instruments behind the widespread demonstrations. Radio La Luna is part of a nongovernmental organization called the Popular Education Center, which maintains offices above the studio. A line of security guards guarded the building Tuesday morning -- a precaution Velasco said was taken after government supporters attempted to storm the studio and halt programming last week. The government denied interfering with the station. "Every day, they call the president a dictator and say he is incapable -- what don't they call him?" Velez, the presidential spokesman, said of the station. "Is there one journalist in prison here? Is there one journalist being persecuted? Is there one who's received an order from the president of the republic to be shut down? Not one. They can claim 1,000 things, but they have no proof." Congress planned to continue debating the future of the court and of Gutierrez on Wednesday, and the government's future seemed far from certain. "Gutierrez has had majority support in Congress, but I think at any moment he could lose that majority," said Michael Shifter, an analyst with the Inter-American Dialogue, a nonprofit group in Washington. "The situation is very fluid." (c) 2005 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Radio La Luna manager accuses government of power outage. Will resume broadcasting via other stations. The police acknowledge that they have been jamming Radio La Luna FM from three different sites in Quito with `equipment designed for international conflicts`. More details in this item published by La Hora newspaper April 19 http://www.lahora.com.ec/noticiacompleta.asp?noid=333367 Interferencias en la señal de La Luna El Gerente de la radio responsabilizó al gobierno. Corte de energía deja a radio La Luna sin señal desde las cinco de la terde de ayer. El corte dejó fuera del aire a varias estaciones radiales; sin embargo todas retornaron con su señal en pocos minutos, pero La Luna no. Según Ataulfo Tobar, no existía ningún desperfecto interno. "Es un boicot del Gobierno", dijo. Ante la falta de salida se conectaron con el satélite Alred y anunciaron que en caso de continuar sin señal, hoy se conectarán con radio Visión y Añoranza. El domingo, en los exteriores de la emisora se congregaron alrededor de 200 personas que con banderas, tambores, ollas, pancartas, pitos y botellas, exigían la salida del presidente Lucio Gutiérrez. Los manifestantes gritaban consignas contra el gobierno y se organizaban en grupos para entrar a las instalaciones de la emisora y emitir públicamente su descontento. Con carteles en la espalda que decían "Yo también soy forajido", la gente se sumaba a las protestas contra el Gobierno. La Luna permanece resguardada desde el miércoles anterior por 30 policías metropolitanos. Ataulfo Tobar, gerente de la radio, manifestó que ante la oposición que la emisora presenta al Gobierno éste ha tomado represalias. Señaló que durante el decreto de emergencia se les indicó que la estación se iba a cerrar, pero como se levantó el estado de emergencia esto no sucedió; sin embargo desde el domingo a las 16h30, empezaron una serie de interrupciones en la señal de la radio, de las que se responsabilizó directamente al Gobierno Nacional. Radio La Luna, ante las interrupciones, recibió el apoyo de otras emisoras como: Añoranza, Genial, Corape con una frecuencia a nivel nacional e internacional. "Esta interrupción es un acto de debilidad de Lucio Gutiérrez que está caído, pero vamos a continuar en esta emisora o en otras a las que estamos conectados", dijo Tobar. El Coronel Jorge Brito manifestó que la interferencia en la señal de la emisora se realizó con aparatos diseñados para conflictos internacionales en la Defensa Nacional. Denunció que tres unidades móviles obstruyeron la señal de La Luna, desde diferentes puntos de la ciudad, uno de ellos, el Colegio Militar Eloy Alfaro. Radio La Luna fine Apr 19 1600 utc in streaming audio with violent attacks against the Ecuadorian president Lucio Gutiérrez. http://www.radiolaluna.com (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder how HCJB is covering this. Anyone listening to their Spanish news? (gh) [Later:] I hear from Jose Elias Diaz Gomez that the government of Lucio Gutiérrez in Ecuador fell at 1842 UT April 20, following lots of demonstrations. HCJB`s online newscast of 15 minutes appears to be from yesterday, tho they don`t announce exactly when it was recorded. It mentions the Radio Luna situation. This page previously linked in DXLD goes to a number of online radio stations. http://www.interactive.net.ec/contenid/cont_rad.htm Radio Quito, linked from the El Comercio page, is unavailable when checked at 1940 UT. Probably overloaded with everyone trying to get the latest news from Ecuador (Glenn Hauser, April 20, dxldyg via DXLD) A las 2230 UT estoy escuchando dos emisiones diferentes por las frecuencias de HCJB. A través de los 6050 kHz se está informando al momento de los acontecimientos que suceden en el querido país, mientras que por los 21455 kHz en usb, hay programación religiosa normal. Atte: (José Elías, Venezuela, Noticias DX via DXLD) I think this is normal, one being domestic service and the other external (gh) Agrego que por onda corta HCJB en 15140 kHz también informa sobre lo sucedido en Ecuador (José Elías, condiglist via DXLD) I thought they abandoned that frequency for 11710; anyhow at 0000 they are still on 11710 (gh, OK, DXLD) Pues como la HCJB no propaga para Europa en esa frecuencia a estas horas, me vi obligado a seguir el desarrollo de los acontecimientos por internet. Y el caso de Radio La Luna es además muy particular, no fue un espectador más sino ha sido arte y parte en la cadena de eventos que terminó con la destitución del Pte. Gutiérrez (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, condig list via DXLD) Jaja, Pte. = Presidente o Poniente? (gh) Amigos, repasso, para conhecimento o E-mail recebido da Eunice Carbajal (HCJB) sobre a situação no Equador. Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena - MG - Brasil Subject: Caiu o ditador Imagino que já o sabem porque os noticiários internacionais já o informaram. Aqui fiquei novamente sem e-mail até este momento. O povo quitenho se enfrentou aos grupos que o governo trouxe desde outros províncias para defende-lo, todo o dia as pessoas que não participavam nas manifestações faziam barulho com panelas ou com seus carros. Pouco a pouco mais pessoas começaram a sair nas ruas, até meu marido foi numa estrada para fechar o caminho com seu carro junto com outros centenas de carros para evitar que continuem chegando os partidários do regime. Mas depois teve que ir pegar os filhos dos colégios porque os omnibuses não queriam se fazer responsáveis pela seguridade dos jovens. Pouco a pouco mais pessoas saiam nas ruas, saíram dos escritórios e foram para as ruas. O exercito e a policia reprimiu duramente ao povo mas hoje renunciou primeiro o comandante da polícia e depois um grupo dos deputados saiam da sala onde estavam sesionando e se reuniram em outro lugar, desconheceram ao presidente do Congresso e depois declararam "vacante" a presidência da República e nomearam ao Vice-presidente como Presidente encarregado. O exercito lhe retirou o apoio ao Ing. Lucio e os policiais e o exercitou voltou aos quartéis, deixando a cidade em mãos do povo. Um grupo dos que estavão nas ruas incendiaram o Ministério de Bienestar Social desde onde, com dinheiros que deviam ter sido destinados para as creches das crianças pobres o governo pagava aos grupos que lhe apoiavam. Mas se pensa que foram os mesmos empregados de lá porque desde suas janelas, durante as greves, pessoas do governo atiravam (disparavam) aos que protestavam nas ruas. Ainda estão lutando os bombeiros para apagar o fogo. Se posesionou o Vice-presidente e agora o povo esta aguardando por ele na frente do Palácio de Governo. Entre estes minha família. Lamentavelmente hoje ouve mortos, além do jornalista chileno que morreu ontem. O ex-presidente fugiu mas ainda esta no país, A Fiscal Geral "subrrogante" solicitou agora uma ordem de prisão para: O ex- presidente (Lucio), o ex-presidente da Corte Suprema de Justiça (Castro), ao ex-presidente que foi trazido por esse pessoal (o Abdalá), Também para o ex-sub ministro de bienestar Social. Bom as coisas seguem acontecendo e na medida do possível vou tentar lhes escrever (Eunice Carbajal, HCJB Portuguese Department, April 20, via Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Brasil, radioescutas via DXLD) ** FRANCE. RADIO FRANCE STAFF EXTEND STRIKE UNTIL 18 APRIL | Excerpt from report by French news agency AFP Paris, 15 April: The workers and administrative staff of Radio France, who have been on strike for nearly two weeks now, extended their strike until Monday [18 April] in a general assembly, in spite of a meeting with their chairman and managing director, Jean-Paul Cluzel, at which both sides stuck to their positions. The strikers are still demanding a pay increase for the lowest-paid staff in the context of collective bargaining, whereas the management is still keen to negotiate a "new payment mechanism". [passage omitted] Source: AFP news agency, Paris, in French 1723 gmt 15 Apr 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Bayerischer Rundfunk now confirms in his teletext service that 6085 kHz will be operated in DRM as of May 2nd: http://www.br-online.de/news/bayerntext/live-daten/464_08.html The teletext page mentions that the airtime will remain 0400-2205 (= 0500-2305 [UT] in winter). I bet they will keep their bad habit to just remove the audio in order to not relay MDR Info on shortwave, but leave the transmitter on air. Just in future with the blaring DRM noise instead of a silent carrier (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Dear Glenn (Happy 60th Birthday): I just went on Voice of Greece's web site for Program Schedules in English: http://www.voiceofgreece.gr/en/program.asp?id+7 and printed out 3 pages each of the Voice of Greece's A05 Saturday and Sunday Program Schedules in English. The Daily Program Schedule came up with an unexpected problem (my computer said) and it was not available. Note that on the Saturday Schedule they have Greeks Everywhere in English listed for 1700-1800 Greek Time (1400-1500 UTC) followed closely by Connection With ERA Sport 1800-1900 Greek Time (1500-1600 UTC). Maybe Connection With ERA Sport needed the preceding time period last Saturday with an important balo game. I'm still looking for the detailed Program Schedules in Greek. [Later:] I looked for the A05 Program Schedule of The Voice of Greece today. I put this in the address web slot on my computer: http://www.voiceofgreece.gr/program.asp The Analytical Spreadsheet Daily and Sunday Program Schedules in Greek seem to be O.K. with the 3-hour time difference from UTC. However, the Saturday Program Schedule seems to be the old B04 Schedule with the old 2-hour time difference from UTC and the old frequency of 15.485 MHz is listed instead of 17.705 MHz from 1600 to 2200 UTC. Have they set up the other detailed Program Schedules in Greek and in English yet? Regards (JOHN BABBIS, Silver Spring, MD, USA, April 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. Hola Glen[n]. Aquí he recogido informes de Radio Verdad de Chiquimula, Guatemala. Con anuncios y música espiritual y dando la dirección de la emisora. con sinpo de :223; hora 0030 a 0100; frecuencia de: 4050 kHz -- Con señal débil y ruidos – Lugar: Heredia, San José, Costa Rica. El dia: viernes 15 de abril 2005 (Román Morales de Costa Rica, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4052.5, Radio Verdad, 0315-0340 Apr 14, soft instrumental music. Man with Spanish religious talk over music. Another man with English ID requesting reception reports to Box 5, Chiquimula for QSL cards. Fair to good signal (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 3340, La Voz de Misiones Internacional, 0234-0316 Apr 14, non-stop religious music to man and woman with brief Spanish announcements. More music with ID at 0301 by a man. Talk segment from 0308. Poor (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Not reported recently; was inactive? (gh) ** INDONESIA. I continue to enjoy the final hour of VOI`s broadcast on 9525, which comes in very well here, tho not intended for NAm, until 1400* April 19, a nice variety of Indonesian music and talk, and on this day the English ID and contact info appeared at 1316. Still, it`s a great pity their daily English hour is not broadcast during such an hour when we could easily hear it (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1271, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. IRAN OF TOMORROW MOVEMENT LAUNCHES RADIO PROGRAM By Nick Grace, CRW Washington April 15, 2005 Radio monitors report the appearance of a new opposition program targeting the Iranian regime. Announced as "Seda-ye Jambushi Iran e Farda" in Farsi the program broadcasts daily on 7490 kHz between 1600 and 1645 GMT. Discovered on April 8 by Danish monitor Finn Krone the station supports the Iran of Tomorrow Movement (IOTM), a new 501c(4) non- profit organization based in California that seeks to build a coalition movement of secular and pro-democracy groups under the "S.O.S. Iran" banner. The group has already launched a 24-hour satellite TV network, XTV, and claims to support a network of over 2,000 resistance cells within Iran. http://www.sosiran.com The group seeks regime change through peaceful means and, according to documents published on its Web site, encourages regular Iranians living under the brutal control of the regime's internal security apparatus to participate in "Thursday Night Black Outs" and "Friday Afternoon Walk-Abouts." Developing... (CRW via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Radio Sedaye Iran, from BULGARIA? to IRAN, 11575, KRSI --- following up on the Observer report, this is KRSI (Sedeye Iran) reactivated. Looks like they wanted SW after all, they had reported before that they had dropped SW in favor of the Internet. April 7, 1528 with singing chorus. 1530 formal sign on with ID by man and mentioning their website, their Hotbird feed, and what I think was their SW frequency as there was a mention of "kilohertz." Then talk by the same man which continued till I tuned out at 1545. Fair to Fairly good signal in Europe. No jamming, wonder if the Iranians don't know they are back yet? This one was always jammed before. There was another station underneath them, quite weak, not sure who this was. 7490, Seda-ye Jambushi Iran e Farda --- Open carrier popped on at 1557 April 13. One tone at 1600, a short delay and then the same tone again. Program then started with chorus sung and ID by man. Then talk by man at 1601 with a low growl in the background. Retuned at 1617, same sort of talk was still going. No sign of any jamming. Voice of the Iranian Nation (c.2004) from BULGARIA? FRANCE? to IRAN, 11630, Sedaye Melate Iran --- Not sure where this is from I have seen claims for both sites. Searching around and found it here at 1333, real pile up. Chinese on the channel, bubble jammer, and these guys with music. 1336 talk by woman who gave ID as above in Farsi. Poor/Fair signal with the various signals on this channel all fading in and out. Right into another song until 1341 when there was another ID by the same woman. A few words by a man and then into another song. They have tried a number of frequencies in this range, I wonder how long they will stay here, they were up on 19 mb last summer season. (heard via DX Tuner Europe) [and the others too] (H. Johnson, FL, Jihad-DX, via CRW via DXLD) ** ISLE OF MAN. Waiting for the Isle of Man man --- We wait with baited breath for the launch of the much promised radio programmes from the Isle of Man. Until they start, your Radio Critic is unable to give you the low-down. We have been promised they will start in about 6 weeks from now. What's that you're saying, it's not going to happen? http://radiocritic.blogspot.com/2005/04/waiting-for-isle-of-man-man.html#comments (Radio Critic blog via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. HOW ELECTRONICS ARE PENETRATING NORTH KOREA'S ISOLATION --- Chinese cellphones and South Korean soap operas are contributing to the collapse of social, political and economic controls in North Korea By James Brooke, New York Times, March 15, 2005 SEOUL, South Korea - Halfway through a video from North Korea, the camera pans to a propaganda portrait of Kim Jong-il, North Korea's leader, magnificent in his general's dress uniform with gold epaulets. Scribbled in black ink across his smooth face is a demand for "freedom and democracy." If genuine, the graffiti speaks of political opponents willing to risk execution to get their message out. If staged, the video means that a North Korean hustler was willing to deface a picture of the "Dear Leader" to earn a quick profit by selling it to a South Korean human rights group . . . Article originally posted at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/15/international/asia/15north.html (via Nick Grace, CRW via DXLD) & complete article is now For Sale (gh) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Echo of Hope --- 0400-0600* 6348 kHz Mar 20 Echo of Hope (tentative) very weak on DXTuners.com Japan receiver with heavy noise and static. Scheduled 0300-0600 per Asian Broadcasting Institute site. Pop music and female announcer from 0400 to 0458. Western classical music at 0458. Male and woman voices heard over the classical music at 0500 but signal barely audible under the noise. Pansori and other traditional music from approximately 0520 until 0550 with occasional announcements by male DJ. 0550 to 0557 long talk by male announcer. Different male announcer at 0557, followed by "Eastern Love Song (Arirang)" by Paul Mauriat. Off immediately at 0600 (Nick Grace, Japan DXTuners.com Mar 20 for CRW) Voice of the People --- 1759-1815+ 3912, 6600 kHz Mar 20 Voice of the People (tentative) on DXTuners.com Japan receiver. Scheduled 1100-1500 and repeated at 1500-1900 per Asian Broadcasting Institute site. Western classical music into announcement by woman in Korean at 1800. Classical music bridge at 1812 then program with male announcer began. ID unknown (Nick Grace, Japan DXTuners.com Mar 20 for Clandestine Radio Watch via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. Radio Roj (Sun), 6315.31, R. Roj, Lively repetitive Arabic instrumental opening music at 0251, program start at 0258 with March song by male chorus, into instrumental music with M and W voice- over ID anmnts. First ID sounded like "Azad R. Rojette", but others were R. Roj. 0302 into vocal music. Very nice strong clear signal, however audio sounds like a US pirate!! (3 April) (Dave Valko, PA for CRW via DXLD) ** LATVIA. EMR 29th Birthday show THIS SUNDAY 24TH OF APRIL AT 1600 UT ON 9290 KHZ WITH MIKE AND TOM TAYLOR GOING BACK IN TIME. GOOD LISTENING TOM AND STAFF (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Until? ** MEXICO. JOURNALIST DIES OF HER INJURIES FROM SHOOTING | Text of press release by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on 18 April New York, 18 April: The Committee to Protect Journalists [CPJ] mourns the loss of Mexican crime reporter Dolores Guadalupe García Escamilla, who died Saturday [16 April] from injuries she suffered in an 5 April shooting in front of her radio station in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. García Escamilla had been hospitalized in critical condition since she was struck by nine shots to the abdomen, pelvis, arms, and legs as she arrived at work, Stereo 91 News Director Roberto Galvez Martínez told CPJ. She hosted the programme "Punto Rojo" for Stereo 91 XHNOE in Nuevo Laredo, a violence-plagued city of 500,000 in the state of Tamaulipas. Federal authorities announced last week that they had taken over the investigation. Although state prosecutors usually investigate murder cases in Mexico, federal authorities may take control of a case if they believe the killing is related to organized crime. The attack occurred about a half hour after the station aired a report by García Escamilla on the slaying of a Nuevo Laredo defence lawyer, Galvez said. An unidentified assailant approached García Escamilla after she parked her car in front of the station on the morning of 5 April, firing 14 times in all, the Mexican press reported. García Escamilla, an experienced reporter who had worked for several media outlets in the city, had covered crime for Stereo 91 since 2001. Galvez told CPJ that García Escamilla's car was torched in early January [2005] in front of her house. He said no motive was established, although press reports speculated that it stemmed from her crime reporting. García Escamilla filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office but no action was taken. The federal government has also taken over the investigation into the slaying of Raul Gibb Guerrero, owner of the Poza Rica-based daily La Opinión, in the eastern state of Veracruz. Gibb Guerrero was ambushed and killed near his home on 8 April. Source: Committee to Protect Journalists press release, New York, in English 18 Apr 05 (via BBCm via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. 1520.12 kHz, KOKC, Oklahoma City, April 6 at 1307 UT: Laura Ingram show; ID and traffic during the break. Much weaker than usual and a bit off-frequency, so an obvious transmitter problem. KVTA was dominating 1520.00 with a fair signal, with KMAV fair also on N-S loop bearing. Also heard that evening, but at their usual strong level. The only stations heard in KOKC`s null in the evening were KSIB IA and KMAV ND. Strong the next morning as well, but still off frequency (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, Domestic DX Digest, NRC DX News April 18 via DXLD) 1640, KFXY, Enid, April 7 UT 0149, fair signals fading in and out with Fox Sports radio. Full ID on the top of the hour. New calls and format (Shawn Axelrod, Winnipeg, MB, ibid.) ** OKLAHOMA. Can we really blame them, since TV Guide HQ moved out of Tulsa? Yes! Tho the page wasted on actually listing all the stations and networks covered has been eliminated, the OK edition still has to explain which 3 applies to Wichita Falls TX and which 3 to the only OK station on that channel -- ``KOET Tulsa``. This will come a great surprise to Tulsans, who can`t pick up any such channel 3 with a local channel 2, and wouldn`t want or need to anyway, since it is OETA, 100% duplicated on KOED-11 which really is in Tulsa. KOET is in EUFAULA, OK; apparently TVG can`t countenance a TV station serving a largely rural audience in SE OK, from such an unknown location, so has unilaterally moved it to Tulsa. This has been going on for months. Are there equivalent nonsensicals in other editions? (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. SOMALILAND'S RADIO HARGEYSA NOW ON FM | Excerpt from report by Somaliland independent daily newspaper Haatuf on 20 April Government-owned Radio Hargeysa can now be heard on FM. The manager of the radio department, Muhammad Said Muhummad, last night brought us an announcement that read that Radio Hargeysa could now be heard on 98.2 MHz, covering Hargeysa and its environs. The manager also said that they would soon launch another 25 kW frequency and a television that will be viewed throughout the country [Somaliland]. [Passage omitted] Source: Haatuf, Hargeysa, in Somali 20 Apr 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) So does this bode ill for any further use of SW? (gh, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Checking the Overcomer website for any news about dropping WWCR as threatened, http://www.overcomerministry.org under Outreach I found a sexy new display of the SW schedule at http://www.overcomerministry.org/SW/ Trouble is, it thinks WRMI is still on 6870. I haven`t bothered to check the rest to see if it really matches WWCR currently. Whew, BS must be confident the Last Days are not really imminent because there is a 3-month calendar wherefrom you may pick any certain day to see what the SW schedule will be (even tho it`s obviously just the current one, minus 6870, and who knows what changes will have been made next week, let alone next month). Furthermore, if you click on the end of the third month, you get another three months to play with! I got all the way to the end of 2005 before losing interest. WWCR still on it and WRMI still on 6870. Oops, had another look. Today`s schedule claims he`s on WWCR 9975 all the way from 4 to 11 pm! That`s not right. Bottom line: if he can`t even convey his own schedule correctly, why should anyone believe him as a ``prophet of God``? (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [non]. On April 20 I checked the exact times and order of REE`s Co-Official Language newscasts; first on 11815 via Costa Rica which had collateral-damage bubble jamming, then to much better 15170. Basque was first at 1242, notably incomprehensible except for the occasional Spanish name; 1248 went to Gallego (the double-L is pronounced like a single-L), and 1253-1258 Catalan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. Riad Sharaf Al-Din, Supervisor de Programa de la Radioemisora de la República Árabe Siria me dice en su amable contacto que ``En lo concerniente al equipo de trabajo aquí pues, habíamos tenido un supervisor del programa, un argentino de origen sirio, se llamaba Zakaraía Sarme de la ciudad de Rosario la cual había abandonado hace más de treinta años, pero él aun tiene a sus hermanos allá y algunos de ellos son médicos creo. También sus suegros de origen italiano son de Rosario. Bueno yo asumí la responsabilidad a principios del 2003. algunos traductores se han jubilado y otros nuevos hemos contratado. En resumen tenemos aquí a cinco traductores y cuatro locutoras: Marián Galindo, Amelia Puga y Adelina Morales, las tres son de nacionalidad española, y la cuarta: Patricia Flores es peruana. las cuatro están casadas aquí con sirios que habían conocido en España y otros países europeos mientras estudiaban.`` En cuanto a la TV Siria, Riad me comenta ``Bueno, quisiera señalar que la TV siria por satélite transmite un noticiero en español por la madrugada acá lo que equivale a primeras horas de la noche en Argentina. también se transmiten telenovelas traducidas al español pegadas al boletín informativo.`` Pero más aún interesante resulta sus informaciones acerca de la nueva frecuencia de 9330 Khz acotando que ``En cuanto a la frecuencia 9330 se va a fijar y de hecho ha reemplazado la 13610, aunque todavía no nos referimos a esto al inicio y final de la programación.`` Es decir concretamente que 9330 Khz ha pasado a reemplazar la frecuencia de 13610 (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Rosario, ARGENTINA, April 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1271, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA [non]. US-BASED OPPOSITION GROUP STARTS WEB-BASED "RADIO FREE SYRIA MAGAZINE" | Text of press release by US-based opposition group Reform Party of Syria (RPS) dated 17 April 2005 Washington DC, 17 April 2005: RPS [Reform Party of Syria] announced today the inauguration of our newest internet asset, "Radio Free Syria Magazine", to spread freedom and democracy in Syria. RFS Magazine's mission is to allow all Syrian intellectuals, writers and democracy advocates to express their opinion in a free environment dealing with a democratic Syria based on Syrian culture and heritage. The editor- in-chief of RFS Magazine is Mr Malek Assaf. The magazine will publish in Arabic only and can be found at http://www.radiofreesyria.net/news RPS intends to "push" the magazine to its email-based subscribers after a test period of about one month. If you wish to subscribe, please do so using the yellow subscription window on our English-based web site at http://www.reformsyria.org RPS encourages all writers who wish to write for RFS Magazine to do so by sending their articles to Mr Malek Assaf either via email at assaf@radiofreesyria.net or by faxing your article directly to: +359 (2) 980-0829. Writers can also publish directly on the internet via the web site. Reform Party of Syria, PO Box 59730, Potomac (Maryland), MD 20859 Source: RPS press release, Potomic (Maryland), in English 17 Apr 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** UGANDA [non]. UGANDA VIA REINO UNIDO – A Rádio Rhino International foi reativada, em 12 de abril, pela freqüência de 17870 kHz, às 1500. Quem ouviu a emissora, neste dia e horário foi o Hans Johnson, de Naples, na Flórida, Estados Unidos. As informações foram publicadas na lista de discussão Jihad-DX. A programação da Rádio Rhino International é destinada ao público ouvinte de Uganda (Célio Romais, Brasil, Panorama, @tividade DX April 17 via DXLD) ?? had been via DTK/T-Systems Jülich, Germany. Are you saying they switched to VT/Merlin? (gh, DXLD) ** U A E. 12005, Emirates Radio 1620-1705, Apr 12th. Arabic program of ME music, news and commentary on Iraq. Poor (Turnick, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ID? Tunisia also uses this frequency, and in HFCC A-05, only Tunisia at this hour, or rather repeating year-old info for both stations, but all 1234567 270305 301005 D: 12005 0200 0500 38,39 SFA 500 100 TUN RTT ONT 6568 1 OLD-A04 12005 1600 2100 38,39 SFA 500 100 TUN RTT ONT 6574 1 OLD-A04 12005 0000 0400 7-11 DBA 300 325 Ar/Eng UAE RTD RTD 6595 1 OLD-A04 We also had a report that UAE Radio had closed down its own SW operation recently (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1271, DXLD) ** U K. Just another shortwave listener expressing my dis-satisfaction with Auntie Beeb's shortwave cutbacks, Glenn! 73s from Sactown-n-Ed Gardner!!! To: worldservice.letters@bbc.co.uk Sorry y'all! Your alternative delivery systems to shortwave just aint hittin'! Spent damn near an hour tryin' to listen to Mark Goodyear's Music Biz Report via internet. All them damn dropouts do a sufficient job usurping continuity. Even with recent lousy propogation, your Americas' shortwave feeds still offered cleaner & clearer reception! Have read on hi-fi & shortwave blogs that your satellite feeds aren't what you advertise, either! Programming is different than listed; so catching familiar shows @ familiar times is as big a crap shoot as prophesizing who will be the next Pope! Your legendary audio fidelity falls short of B.B.C. standards on both internet-n-satellite, also. Via shortwave, that robust midrange-centric tonality was a given, even via modded ICOMs R-71A & R-75! Your WYFR relays on 9.525 & 11.825mhz were especially crisp! On internet, audio sounds like it's processed through a hollow tube! Then it drops out completely, for minutes @ a time! Those who got Serius & XM satellite service mainly for B.B.C. World Service programming are less than thrilled to pay monthly fees for lo-fi quality audio! Hardly that positive listening panacea you folks promised when you euthanized America's-streamed shortwave service! You'd be better served gettin' rid of all them worthless programming streams, which were prone of problematic erratic confusion! Go back to two feeds: One for the world in general, & one for Africa! Give the Americas a decent five or six hour feed on one frequency mornings & evenings. 9.525mhz & 11.835mhz are likely candidates for their clear reception & outstanding fidelity! Here's also hoping you dump them chumps currently running B.B.C. into the grave! They're as clueless as some of our current Potomic potentates! Really miss Deutsche Welle & Swiss Radio International! B.B.C. World Service is just as crucial to Americas' listeners. Please reverse your continuing travesty! Otherwise, B.B.C. will become another major broadcaster who descended to footnote status with Americas' audiences! (cc to DXLD) ** U K. Hi, Glenn! I got the following note from Penny Vine in response to a thank-you note I had sent her and in regard to the BBC website schedule access. There's no redistribution restriction on this so here it is for DXLD's group info: From: "Penny Vine" To: "William Martin" Subject: RE: Website issues Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 10:23:33 +0100 Dear William, Many thanks. Here's the response I received on Friday from the World Service about the schedules: "Sorry it's take a while to investigate this one. When we were working on the new schedules we fell a bit behind so asked for the forthcoming weeks to be suppressed until we could guarantee that the data was in place and accurate. Although we subsequently asked for the suppress to be lifted it obviously didn't happen - hence the message that there were no schedules available. The suppress has definitely now been lifted so from the next download of data (tonight - it happens once every 24 hours) the correct info. Should be displayed for all the weeks that are normally available. Will monitor on Monday that this is the case." I hope this one problem at least has been sorted out. All best wishes, Penny Vine -----Original Message----- From: William Martin Sent: 14 April 2005 20:04 To: Penny Vine Subject: RE: Website issues Dear Penny, Thanks for the response! I appreciate the feedback and also the proof that my comments are getting seen! Hope things go well for you and your colleagues in all those BBC staffing cuts we hear about, and keep up the good fight when you talk to those managers! :-) Regards, Will Martin (St. Louis, MO USA) (cc to DXLD) Reference my message to Write On that gh had in a recent DXLD and what you might have noticed yourselves. The future-week BBC Worldservice online schedule weekly grids are back up and available again. I just looked at a couple stream's mid-May layouts and they display OK. However, response time on the machine where these reside is even slower than normal right now. It's always been annoyingly slow just to display the grid or to switch over to the "printable" version, and now when I tested it the time lag was abysmal. But at least the data is accessible again. 73, (Will Martin, April 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Glenn, FYI, I have been listening to BBC on 17830 since 1300 with a pretty good signal. The newest HFCC says they'll be here until 2100. It also says they start transmitting here at 0800, but I am still sleeping at that time. The zones that this broadcast is beamed to, according to HFCC, are in West Africa (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, April 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) From Ascension; yes, 17830 is often a good option for BBC here if you can put up with the African cutaways (gh, DXLD) ** U K. BBCWS this Wednesday morning has been promoting a Talking Point special call-in --- what do you think about the new pope? at ``11:30 Eastern`` -- now, do they mean EDT = 1530 UT or EST = 1630 UT? Checked three versions of the online schedules and no sign of it at either time. And since BBCWS is not broadcasting to NAm on SW, what do all those Latin Americans make of times in ``Eastern``?? Later: At 1459 UT they said it would be in half an hour, so that clinches it. 73, (Glenn Hauser, April 20, swprograms via DXLD) Glenn: Were you listening on shortwave at the time, or via another "delivery method"? I forwarded your past note about their incorrect references to "Eastern Time" as UTC-5 to the Audience Relations folks. Everyone listening on shortwave knows GMT or UTC, of course; people listening on Sirius / XM / PRI would probably be better served by "Eastern Time / Pacific Time " (EDT/PDT) since that is how most live sports/news cable channels manage time references. Of course, to the annoyance of some here, this would require the BBCWS to use different continuity announcements for these different feeds and add another level of complexity to the process (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) The first promo I heard was at 1259 on 11865, but the going-off Guiana French relay was masked by overlapping much stronger open carrier from the going-on WYFR and I could not get all the details. Quickly switched to 15190 which was also making a site switch from Bonaire to Guiana French, but the latter failed to modulate at 1300 and soon went off at 1301, and a weak carrier returned at 1303 past 1308, not back on with full strength until about 1314. The next promo I heard was at 1359 on 15190 just before it vanished. After 1430 I was listening to the Americas webstream for Charlie Gillett and that is where I heard the 1459 promo. All that said, I had far more important things to do at 1530 than listen to what Joe Blow BBC listener thinks of the sixteenth Ben, who at least by definition has good things to say. As for timezones, besides the confusion between ST and DST, I strongly object to the Great Center of the Continent being forced to convert from Eastern (or Pacific). We`ve got four timezones in the Conterminous US, and if GMT/UT won`t do even for the BBC, promos using ALL our zones should be rotated so everyone has a chance to convert (and a sesquihour later in Newfoundland). I lived a number of years in the ET zone, and felt the same. It`s just not fair on the part of BBC or American networks to force ET on the rest of us (who are, after all, the majority). (Glenn, ibid.) ** U K [non]. Risks of using local retransmission and not shortwave... BBC WORLD SERVICE NEWS PROGRAMMES BLOCKED IN NEPAL AND PAKISTAN Reporters without borders - France expressed serious concern at the recent blocking of BBC World Service FM news programmes to Nepal and Pakistan and urged governments ... URL for article: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13317 (via Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) Another example of the pitfalls in relying on local placement. Not the best example because the BBC maintains significant presence on shortwave (and presumably satellite) in this particular region. But not entirely apposite either, as in a crisis when independent outside information presumably would be the most necessary, the local placement option is the easiest of all the delivery modes to interdict. (In fact, I would go further and say that --- in this example --- ANY wired delivery system is by definition inferior to wireless.) Unfortunately, decisions about what delivery method to emphasize are not made with an eye on the most extreme circumstances. On the contrary, they are made on the basis of "everyday usage". That seems the superior way to go at first blush; but as we see here, it isn't. In line with this, which comes first (chicken/egg argument)? Is the BBC cutting back on shortwave because listeners are not buying radios...OR are listeners not buying radios because the BBC is cutting back on shortwave? (Hint: Don't be so sure that it is entirely one or the other...) (John Figliozzi, NY, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. TRACKING THE LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER --- Next Saturday BBC Radio 4 is broadcasting a programme about shortwave Number stations. Details according to the BBC website are: Tracking the Lincolnshire Poacher Sat 23 Apr, 1030-1100 BST (0930-1000 UT) (Duration 30 mins) A wild journey to the outer limits of radio cryptography and espionage as Simon Fanshawe enters the clandestine world of shortwave Number stations. Are they the mad aural daubings of pirate DJs, an extraordinary and elaborate hoax or are they, as many believe, coded messages broadcast by intelligence services and governments to their agents in the field? Simon Mason says on the UKRadio.com forum: "I was interviewed for the show by Simon Fanshawe (sitting in photo): http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/studio.htm # posted by Andy @ 16:48 UT April 16 (Media Network blog via DXLD) I expect this programme will be available on Listen Again at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. VOA TO OUTSOURCE WASHINGTON OVERNIGHT NEWS TO HONG KONG The Voice of America (VOA), the US government-funded external broadcaster, plans to transfer much of its overnight operation from Washington DC to China, the American domestic National Public Radio reported on 16 April. The report said that VOA will hire eight news writers and editors to work in Hong Kong and two editors in Washington will supervise them. Union officials objected, the report continued, saying the jobs should stay in the USA. VOA Director David Jackson told NPR that the move to Hong Kong would expand the station's presence in a region which it sees as key. The director told NPR that the move was an endeavour to expand existing operations in Hong Kong, and also to save at least 300,000 US dollars per year, emphasizing that this would be a continuing saving in costs and not just a one-off move. VOA has been expelled from the region in the past, after the Tiananmen Square clashes of 1989, and continues to be regularly jammed by China. The director noted that a VOA bureau had been in place in Hong Kong intermittently for many decades, and that VOA has a bureau in Beijing which has not been objected to. Though Hong Kong is no longer under British rule, VOA has had little problems; what problems there are with China have been present for a long time and VOA is used to them, Jackson told NPR. The following is an excerpt from the NPR interview with VOA Director David Jackson: [Presenter] Are you concerned though that China, which now controls Hong Kong might, for instance expel some of the VOA journalists? I mean, they have done that in the past after the Tiananmen Square massacre happened. [Jackson] We've never had any problem out of our news operation in Hong Kong. We've had a bureau in Hong Kong off and on for decades. [Presenter] Although it was under British rule at that point - [Jackson] Sure, but it hasn't changed. If we or any other journalistic organization were to see any hindrances to our doing business in Hong Kong, we would be gone the next day. We've got a bureau in Beijing, we work from there. I don't see anybody saying: Oh, how can you do business out of Beijing? [Presenter] Although hasn't the government there at times jammed VOA's web site and broadcasts? [Jackson] They do. China is the only country that regularly jams our broadcasts now. [Presenter] And you're not worried that they are going to extend that power to Hong Kong? [Jackson] No, I'm really not. Because we have had an operation there before. This is not new. We've been working there just fine. [Presenter] David Jackson is the director of Voice of America. Thank you. [Jackson] Thank you. [Passage omitted] Source: BBC Monitoring research 18 Apr 05 (via DXLD) Here`s the ATC story with audio link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4603928 The Final ``passage omitted`` was the other side of the story, from Sanford Ungar (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. PITCH IMPERFECT By Sanford J. Ungar, from Foreign Affairs, May/June 2005 Of the various ironies besetting U.S. foreign policy at the moment, one is both particularly acute and little recognized: even as the realization grows that the international image of the United States is in steep decline, the country's best instrument of public diplomacy, the Voice of America (VOA) broadcast service, is being systematically diminished. . . This Comment is from Foreign Affairs Magazine. Read it online at: http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050501facomment84302/sanford-j-ungar/pitch-imperfect.html (via Rich Cuff, swprograms via DXLD) More but not all of it there. For the whole article you have to buy it (gh) Meanwhile, AFGE Local 1812 has been tracking the outsourcing story with more new entries: THE SUN SHEDS LIGHT ON THE OUTSOURCING STORY Dateline: Washington, 04/19/05. The news just keeps getting worse for the BBG and the upper management of the VOA. In an opinion piece, about the outsourcing of United States government jobs to communist China, in today's edition of the Baltimore Sun, the paper calls on Congress to either "increase the VOA's $160 million budget so that it can expand in China without shrinking its Washington base, or lawmakers should restrict the move." Meanwhile the advice circulating throughout the building is to "follow the money". We are being told that the idea is to take the savings realized by substituting cheap foreign labor in communist China for American citizens and use that to pay for a newly created SES position, an increase in grade for a person currently in Hong Kong and possibly cash awards for others involved in the plan. THE STORY ABOUT THE JOBS ON A SLOW BOAT TO CHINA MAKES MORE NEWS Dateline: Washington, 04/19/05. The story of outsourcing VOA English Newswriter jobs to communist China hit several other news services late last week. Lou Dobbs at CNN used the story. NPR picked up the story on All Things Considered. Reuters also ran a piece on it. This week the story should continue to grow and spread. The spin coming from the front office is that this move is an "expansion". According to Jackson this an effort to get more people on the ground in Asia to help cover that part of the world. Using that excuse, all that is really needed are stringers. The "expansion" twist does not justify offshoring English newswriting positions. There are two main problems with this move. 1. The communist Chinese government could shut down the operation at any time. Security is a major concern. And since all the newswriting for the entire VOA for those hours will be coming out of Hong Kong, the entire broadcasts of VOA could be effected by this security problem. The newswriters prepare stories for all of VOA. The stories prepared by the overnight writers are potentially used by all 44 languages. So why would it be more conducive to have the writers located in Hong Kong as opposed to Washington? There is no advantage to the Spanish Branch in having a story written by a non-citizen in Hong Kong. There is no advantage to the French to Africa Service in having a story written by a non-citizen in Hong Kong. There is no advantage to the Bosnian Service in having..., etc. And there is the problem of what kind of stories will be written by non-citizens in a foreign country. Will they truly reflect American thought and policy. 2. These are Federal positions created with United States taxpayers' money. Every United States citizen has a right to compete for these positions. These duties can be performed right here at home. By moving them to communist China, Jackson is preventing countless American citizens from getting these positions. The front office has even stated that they may hire non-citizens in Hong Kong. If these are positions being paid for using taxpayers' money and they can be performed here in the United States, then they should stay right here at home and every taxpayer should have the right to compete for them. FEDERAL JOBS BEING SHANGHAIED TO CHINA HITS THE WASHINGTON POST Dateline: Washington, 04/15/05. The outsourcing story is building as news of the outrage hit the Washington Post today. In Al Kamen's "In The Loop", David Jackson is quoted as saying that the story is "a tempest in a teapot". Is that Chinese tea? And will Jackson be serving fortune cookies filled with Maoist sayings with that tea. Let's read those tea leaves for him - do not use taxpayers' money to fund jobs in communist China. If you are going to be providing jobs for United States government work it better be for American citizens and if the jobs can be done here at home then they better stay here at home. THE CHINA SYNDROME REACHES GOVEXEC.COM Dateline: Washington, 04/14/05. Shane Harris of govexec.com has picked up the incredible story of the BBG outsourcing jobs to China. In the story Harris quotes Ted Iliff as saying "Outsourcing means a loss of jobs". This was Iliff's explanation as to why this was not really outsourcing. Oh really. In the private sector they have been outsourcing jobs to other parts of the country or the world while offering those employees who currently hold the jobs an opportunity to relocate to the new area for years. It is outsourcing. It is taking jobs being performed in one area and moving it to another. Whether they move those employees to other areas or other parts of the globe or not, the jobs have still been outsourced. Maybe we should refer to Iliff's plan as "offshoring" instead? The current positions are located in Washington, D.C. Those positions will now be located in China. If the positions were open here in Washington, D.C. we seriously doubt that there would be a shortage of journalists willing to take these Federal jobs. In fact all the overnight writers we spoke to preferred the overnight shift so there was no need to fill overnight positions until the need was created by Iliff himself. Since these jobs are funded by United States taxpayers should government money be used to provide jobs for people in China? Shouldn't that money be used to provide jobs for Americans right here in this country? Are there really too many jobs in this country that we need to use taxpayers' money to provide jobs for people living in China? BBG'S PLAN TO OUTSOURCE JOBS HITS THE INTERNET Dateline: Washington, 04/11/05. The news of the outsourcing of the shifts of the overnight English newswriter positions has reached the Internet. The story reached the Washington/Baltimore radio and television site. The story can be found at http://www.dcrtv.com There are a total of eight full time government positions that are being outsourced to Hong Kong, China. These positions provide news for the Voice of America which broadcasts in 44 languages including English. The Voice of America has a responsibility of fulfilling its Charter which states in part: ``VOA will represent America...and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions. ``VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussions and opinion on these policies.`` In light of all the misunderstanding throughout the world about the United States these days, should the BBG be outsourcing these duties to noncitizens overseas? (all AFGE Local 1812 via WORLD OF RADIO 1271, DXLD) ** U S A. Re 5-050, Agency Issues Deceptive Press Release, from AFGE Local 1812: The union press release fails to acknowledge the context of BBG's challenge in attracting an audience in Syria, where ownership of a satellite dish is punishable with imprisonment. The press release also fails to disclose the nature of AFGE Local 1812's relationship with the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). AFGE Local 1812 represents Voice of America employees and has long criticized BBG for "managing to convince" Congress to establish Radio Sawa and Al-Hurra as broadcast entities independent of VOA control (Nick Grace-USA, CRW Editor, March 14, CRW via DXLD) ** U S A. WRMI has finally been able to update their online program schedule; besides the DST shift there have been several other changes. Note 7385 instead of 9955 when you would expect it M-F at 0900-1100; no more WOR on 9955; Fuerza Democratica, the Peruvian political program has changed time to UT Mon 0000-0015. And we`re still 5 days from this going into effect. 73, Glenn WRMI SCHEDULE/HORARIO EFFECTIVE APRIL 25, 2005 Days are local days in the Americas; times are UTC. Días son días locales en las Américas; horas son UTC. MONDAY-FRIDAY/LUNES-VIERNES To North America on 7385 kHz/Hacia Norteamerica en 7385 kHz: 0900-1100 Radio Logos Network (espanol) 1100-2000 World Radio Network (English) 2000-0000 Christian Media Network (English) Note: The following are Tuesday-Saturday UTC. Los siguientes son martes-sabado UTC: 0000-0400 Christian Media Network (English) 0400-0900 The Overcomer Ministry (English) SATURDAY/SABADO To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz/Hacia el Caribe y Latinoamerica en 9955 kHz: 0900-0945 Radio Logos Network (espanol) 0945-1000 Hijos de Bayamo (espanol) 1000-1045 Radio Logos (espanol) 1045-1100 Hijos de Bayamo (espanol) 1100-1115 Parole de Vie (Creole) 1115-1130 Truth for the World (English) 1130-1200 Reality in Jesus (English) To North America on 7385 kHz/Hacia Norteamerica en 7385 kHz: 1200-2230 World Radio Network (English) To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz/Hacia el Caribe y Latinoamerica en 9955 kHz: 2230-2300 La Voz del Escambray (espanol) 2300-0000 Foro Militar Cubano (espanol) The following are Sunday UTC. Los siguientes son domingo UTC: 0000-0030 Conversando entre Cubanos (espanol) 0030-0045 Radio Fuerza Democratica (espanol) 0045-0100 La Verdad Para el Mundo (espanol) 0100-0200 Prophecy Talk (English) 0200-0300 Radio Logos Network (espanol) 7385 kHz to North America/7385 kHz para Norteamerica: 0300-0330 DX Party Line (English) 0330-0400 World of Radio (English) 0400-0900 The Overcomer Ministry (English) SUNDAY/DOMINGO To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz/Hacia el Caribe y Latinoamerica en 9955 kHz: 0900-0930 Jack Van Impe (English) 1030-1045 Parole de Vie (Creole) 0945-1000 Hijos de Bayamo (espanol) 1000-1015 Church of Christ (English) 1015-1030 Anointed Connection (English) 1030-1045 JDL Gospel Ministry (English) 1045-1100 Hijos de Bayamo (espanol) 1100-1130 Creciendo en Gracia (espanol) 1130-1200 Carter Report (English) To North America on 7385 kHz/Hacia Norteamerica en 7385 kHz: 1200-1230 World of Radio (English) 1230-1300 DX Party Line (English) 1300-1315 Banner of Truth (English) 1315-1330 Anointed Connection (English) 1330-2000 World Radio Network (English) 2000-2030 Jack Van Impe (English) 2030-2045 Church of Christ (English) 2045-2100 JDL Gospel Ministries (English) 2100-2145 The Holy Story (English) 2145-2200 Amazing Grace (English) To the Caribbean and Latin America on 9955 kHz/Hacia el Caribe y Latinoamerica en 9955 kHz: 2200-2300 Radio Logos Network (espanol) 2300-2330 Trova Libre (espanol) 2330-2345 Banner of Truth (English) 2345-0000 Amazing Grace (English) The following are UTC Monday/Los siguientes son UTC lunes: 0000-0015 Radio Fuerza Democratica (espanol) 0015-0030 World Radio Network (English) 0030-0130 Radio Oriente Libre (espanol) 0130-0200 Conversando entre Cubanos (espanol) 7385 kHz to North America /7385 kHz para Norteamerica: 0200-0230 Carter Report (English) 0230-0300 World of Radio (English) 0300-0330 World Radio Network (English) 0330-0400 DX Party Line (English) 0400-0900 The Overcomer Ministry (English) (WRMI website April 19 via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. I've noticed that several programs on WBCQ end with the statement that they are a product of the Becker Broadcast System. I've noticed that Dr. Becker has been spending a lot of time at the station of late. Just got the new Popular Communications today and they had a snip about the new This Week in Amateur Radio show on WBCQ. Among other things the article said: "will air on Becker Broadcast Systems' shortwave station WBCQ. Becker Broadcast Systems, based in Monticello, Maine...". "WBCQ's Dr. Scott Becker, KB5MDH, and radio host Alan Weiner, have joined station's on-air talent as news anchor and segment producers." So, does Alan own the station or not? Have also noticed that Alan has moved up to the transmitter site and they've changed the billing and contact information to the transmitter site. Is Elaine out of the picture now? I missed a few AWW back when propagation was bad, so if these questions were answered then, my apologies (John H. Carver Jr., Mid-North Indiana, dxldyg via DXLD) I questioned Allan Weiner publicly about this "ownership issue" a couple of years ago, and Allan categorically denied that anyone other than him has a financial stake or ownership in WBCQ. That said, Allan repeatedly has been heard over the years to refer to Scott Becker as his "partner". Elaine never thought the business end of WBCQ was much fun and she took much abuse from the listenership in the form of harassing email. I would not be surprised if she diminished her involvement, although I have no direct contact with her or Allan these days (Daniel Srebnick, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A [and non?]. Hearing some OTH radar on WHRI 15310 from 1400 to 1500. Now this frequency is totally in the 19 mtr band so there should be no military operations there. Besides I would think WHRI's AM signal would interfere with their display's results (LOU JOHNSON KF4EON, April 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Lou, What does this OTH radar sound like, and does it spread beyond 15310? Heard on more than one date? (Glenn to Lou via DXLD) It sounds a lot faster than the Russian OTH radar of the Eighties. A very rapid popping sound, with three groups of pulses. Usually the first and third group is weaker than the middle. I've heard it over WBCQ 7415 also. I usually hear it late at night 0400 till 1400 or 1500 in the morning. You'll know it when you hear it! (Lou Johnson, ibid.) ** U S A. Glenn: This story mentions a shortwave station in Memphis that never came to be. I think I remember some discussion about this, probably in DXLD (Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: COMMENTARY: THE NOT-SO-GREAT AMERICAN PYRAMID SHERMAN WILLMOTT | 4/18/2005 Has anyone seen the shovel from the Big Dig? Memphis sure could use it right now to help dig the Great American Pyramid out of its debt and its no-compete clause The Pyramid was a great idea, poorly implemented. Since it could not be done right, it should have been shelved. Political (and many other) compromises conspired to make John Tigrett’s vision for a river-city symbol abjectly fail at every turn. Memphis needed a symbolic civic boost after the decades-long pain of the post-MLK assassination, the depressed economy of the ‘70s, and the poorly thought-out public projects like the Main Street mall and Mud Island. Things did not go smoothly from jump. Perhaps this negativity was a harbinger of things to come. Rain postponed the festivities of the Big Dig the first night. On opening night, the toilets of the Pyramid overflowed at the Judds’ concert. Sidney Schlenker, the impresario who just months earlier had been crowned `Memphian of the Year` by Memphis Magazine declared bankruptcy (not personally, just for his Rakapolis development companies) and sent the Pyramid into amenity limbo for eternity. The following is a list of promised attractions and amenities that never arrived in the Pyramid: a glass inclinator leading to an observation deck; Dick Clark’s American Music Awards Hall of Fame; a Stax Recording studio reproduction; the Grammy Awards Hall of Fame; the College Football Hall of Fame (with a statue of Red Grange as focal point!); Rakapolis Egyptian theme park on Mud Island; a Hard Rock Café; Omnimax Theater; Island Earth Ecopark; and a shortwave radio station broadcasting Memphis music internationally 24/7. These were the ideas publicly promised, not ones bandied about. . . [MORE] http://www.memphisflyer.com/content.asp?ID=3217&onthefly=1 (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** U S A. 1230, KFUN, NM, Las Vegas, March 28 at 1342 UT. Program note for ``Over the Back Fence`` on Mondays with live remotes from Mora and news and features from the Mora Valley; ``Remember, here today, gone to Mora``; also simulcast on KLDF-FM (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge CO, Domestic DX Digest, NRC DX News April 18 via DXLD) ** U S A. WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY RADIO Radio Free Urbana is a new community radio station in Urbana, Illinois. We have a license from the FCC to broadcast on the 104.5 FM frequency at low power and are currently in the process of building the station and getting on the air. We are dedicated to providing a new voice for the people in our community. To find out more about WRFU, visit our information page or find out more about getting involved. Those interested are also encouraged to join the e-mail list we run. . . http://www.radiofreeurbana.org/ Soon-to-be New LPFM in Urbana, IL --- From the website: "The official license holder for WRFU is the Socialist Forum of Champaign County, a non-sectarian discussion and advocacy group." (via Eric Loy, Champaign, IL, DXLD) ** U S A. In New York City, we now know the parameters of the new facility WFUV (90.7 New York) wants to build to replace that ill-fated uncompleted tower next to the Fordham University stadium that created so much controversy with the neighboring Botanical Garden. WFUV has been granted a CP to move to the roof of an apartment building at 3450 Wayne Avenue in the Bronx, where it will run 45.8 kW at 155 meters from a directional antenna, a considerable increase in height over its old licensed facility, which was 50 kW/66 meters atop a Fordham campus building (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch April 18 via DXLD) ** U S A. LIBERAL AIRWAVES BLOWING INTO CLEVELAND'S EARSHOT Wednesday, April 20, 2005 Clint O'Connor, Plain Dealer Reporter Air America Radio is finally coming to Greater Cleveland. WJMP AM/1520 in Akron will start airing the liberal talk-humor network Monday, May 2. . . http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1113989569144550.xml (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** VIETNAM. VOICE OF VIETNAM MAIN DOMESTIC SERVICE AVAILABLE LIVE ONLINE BBC Monitoring observes Network 1, the main domestic service of the Voice of Vietnam, available streamed live online from its web site at http://www.vov.org.vn The stream can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlink marked in Vietnamese as "Nghe VOV1" on the top left of the home page. The web site is in Vietnamese and English, and also features archived audio files of news bulletins and other Network 1 programming available on demand, and archived audio files of their English "Mailbag" programme broadcast on Network 6, the overseas service. The Network 6 broadcast in English at 1600-1630 gmt is streamed live online at that time. The government-owned Voice of Vietnam was established on 7 September 1945, in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese surrender. With the main studios in Hanoi, it currently operates six networks: Network 1 is on the air 2145-1700 gmt with mainly news and current affairs in Vietnamese. Network 2 is on the air 2155-1700 gmt with economic, social, cultural and educational programmes in Vietnamese. Network 3 is on the air round the clock with music and news in Vietnamese. Network 4 broadcasts to ethnic minorities in Khmer, Hmong, Ede, Giaria Bana, Xedang and Vietnamese languages. Network 5 broadcasts multilingual and Vietnamese programmes on FM, for foreigners living in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Network 6 broadcasts multilingual and Vietnamese programmes on mediumwave and shortwave for an overseas audience. According to information on the web site, Voice of Vietnam also operates 64 provincial radio stations, 528 district stations, and, at village level, 5000 public address systems. Source: BBC Monitoring research in English 19 Apr 05 (via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. Que Huong Radio, 15680 kHz (Russia) verified with a det.[ailed?] card in 17 days. 1 US-$ for RP. QTH: 2670 S. White Road, Suite 165, San Jose, CA 95148, USA. e-mail: qhradio @ aol.com (P. Robic, Austria, Mar 18, 2005 for CRW via DXLD) 15680, Radio Que Huong (Presumed), 1205 April 5 with man and woman in Vietnamese. 1210 patriotic song that many of the exile stations use as a theme and then mention of San José, California, the location of Que Huong. More talk by same couple followed with many mentions of Vietnam. Fair reception. Same theme again at 1217 and man again with mention of San José, sounded like he gave a telephone number. Perhaps he was saying Que Huong in this, but if so, I missed it. Reception improving by this time. Been trying for this one for a while, so I am pleased to finally hear it on this new frequency. It was a lot easier to hear when they were on KWHR. No joy in hearing 15680 from Florida. (heard via DX Tuner Japan) (Hans Johnson, FL, Jihad-DX via CRW via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. V. of the People is now scheduled per Media Network: 1659-1757 Madagascar 7120 265 50 V of the People, Zimbabwe And here is MN`s dossier on it: http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/dossiers/zimbabwe-vop.html But does VOP have its own website? None such linked (gh, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Just to update your release DXLD 5-065 makes mention of, 7120, Radio VOP (Voice of the People) transmitting from RN facilities, Madagascar to Zimbabwe, in local vernacular and English 1700-1800, English mainly heard in the last 30 mins. This station has been active on this frequency for quite some time and is heard well here in Zimbabwe. VOA-Voice of America, Studio 7 programming is heard well here, on its numerous frequencies and relay sites 1700-1800 and also in the morning 0330-0400. [not so numerous, I thought --- gh] SW Radio Africa, which broadcasts to Zimbabwe is still being severely jammed by the Zimbabwean government. SW Radio Africa is heard in Zimbabwe, or it is either jammed during its 1600-1900 broadcast periods on as many of the following frequencies and during these times with regular intermittency by the jammers. 4880 , 1600-1900 12145, 1600-1900 15145, 1600-1800 11770, 1800-1900 1197 (MW), 0300-0400 from Lesotho is heard well in Zimbabwe, without jamming 73 (David Pringle-Wood, Harare, Zimbabqwe, April 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MUGABE UNLEASHES WRATH ON PRIVATE RADIO STATIONS --- Wed 20 April 2005 BULAWAYO - Thabani Moyo frantically turns on the knob on his small radio. Frustration is slowly building up as the minutes tick away. The 36-year old Moyo, who lives in Zimbabwe's second biggest city of Bulawayo, is battling with his radio to get the signal on his favourite radio station that he relies on as a source of news on Zimbabwe for the 7 o'clock evening programme. But all he gets is an indecipherable, highly distorted reception. "I wonder what the hell is happening?," Moyo mumbles to himself as he quickly turns the tune-in knob, switching from one frequency to the other but without success. All his efforts to access the channel come to nought. It finally dawns on him that he has missed the two-hour broadcast from his favourite channel, a private radio station operating from abroad. Moyo also realises that there is more to his failure to access the SW Radio Africa channel than what meets the eye - the station is being deliberately jammed. Moyo quickly switches onto another radio channel which also broadcasts news about Zimbabwe. "This one is called Studio 7," explains Moyo, "and it's another reliable source of credible news that has become my alternative. Even my relatives in rural Nkayi listen to it," he says. The two private radio stations, SW Radio and Studio 7, are run by exiled Zimbabweans after an increasingly panicky President Robert Mugabe, through his former information minister Jonathan Moyo went on the offensive and shut down all private radio stations which were operating in the country. Moyo went on to purge the state media of all journalists who were suspected of backing the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party during his four-year grip on the state media. The former information tsar fought a bruising propaganda war against Zimbabweans on behalf of the government and deliberately sought to close all democratic space by shutting down divergent voices in the face of a stiff challenge from the MDC. But he lost his post in government late last year after seeking to block the rise of Joyce Mujuru to the country's vice-presidency, a key post in ZANU PF's succession war. About four private newspapers, including the country's biggest daily The Daily News, were also shut down by Moyo for breaching the country's tough media legislation, condemned internationally as an affront to democratic ideals. Up to now, there are no private broadcasting stations in Zimbabwe. Moves to open up the sector to more players hit a brick wall as the government maintained a tight monopoly on the broadcasting sector. The state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings is notorious for its sycophancy in churning out virulent government propaganda against anyone who dares to challenge Mugabe and his ZANU PF party. SW Radio Africa was founded in 2000 and now broadcasts from London after the Harare authorities shut down the "pirate" radio station. Its jamming has rekindled the spectre of its clampdown that has returned to haunt its founder and director, Jerry Jackson, who says the station is paying for its criticism of Mugabe's wayward policies. An independent probe by local media watchdog, the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ), the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) a United States federal entity and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Monitoring have revealed that the station's signal is being deliberately drowned by a powerful transmitter and they suspect the government, which has a record of clamping down on the private media, is behind the jamming. "We don't know anything about that. It's just a lie," said government information boss Nathan Shamuyarira. Although Harare authorities have denied the allegations that they are jamming the network, the MMPZ and ordinary Zimbabweans seem not to be convinced by the government's feeble denial. "The government now wants to deal with the electronic media that does not toe its line. They have totally won the war with the print," says Enoch Dube a journalism lecturer at a local college. Critics accuse Mugabe of presiding over the collapse of the country's once vibrant economy which has seen inflation hovering above the 123 percent mark. Seventy percent of Zimbabwe's labour force is out of employment. The health delivery system has virtually collapsed and the country has survived on food handouts from the international community after Mugabe seized large swathes of commercial farms for redistribution to landless blacks. "The blocking is part of the government's onslaught on the independent minded media that are not supportive of President Mugabe and his policies," Jackson said (ZimOnline via David Pringle-Wood, ibid.) Since when is Studio 7 ``private``, from IBB facilities? (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ A05 Shortwave Frequency list from Bi Newsletter Hello Dxers, A05 Shortwave Frequency list is available at the following URL: http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/ink.htm A zip file (839 kb)is available for download at: http://210.132.112.4/~ndxc/a05fq.zip 73's (Nino Marabello, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MATT SITTEL`S DX SITE http://www.mcsittel.com/ My new web site - now packed with more DX! While it's still under construction, most of my new, self-titled web page is available for viewing. I've added a bunch of statistics on the frequency of various skip and tropo loggings, if you're curious as to how often things are seen. I'm using C++ to generate the HTML for the reports, which are ingested using CSV versions of my Excel logs. Also you can see the current antenna setup as well as over 300 TV screen grabs of stations logged from Bellevue. I've also added over 100 screen grabs from the Tallahassee years, 1992-1994, some 'classic' trops if you will. Take a look around, and let me know what you think. I'll be adding more stuff, including hopefully some DX audio files from my favorite catches of the past 20 years, as time allows. I also plan on adding a South Padre trip report too. I will be migrating almost everything from my cox.net site to this one, so if you link to my page I'd appreciate a redirect to the below URL (although I'll be adding forward notifications to the old pages soon). I'm buying from Fortune City so I now have 1GB of space to play with and put all sorts of files out there! (Matthew C. Sittel, Bellevue, NE, WTFDA via DXLD RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ TOUCH LAMPS DEGRADE FM RECEPTION Interference question I recently noticed a deterioration of tropo scatter across the FM band. At first I was blaming it on IBOC, but its across the whole FM band. Last year I discovered that my "touch on- off" lamp that I bought at Walmart emits a lot of RF that interferes with FM signals....more of a hum and dead carrier type sounds even from a distant room, but this is different...everything just seems weaker and open frequencies show a slight signal on my signal meter even though nothing is there. I noticed that my neighbors below me recently got wireless internet. Can this cause harmful interference to FM radio? The FM band sounds like what you would experience when you turn on a computer near the antenna. Any ideas? (Dan Oetting-Elkton, MD, April 18, WTFDA via DXLD) GO DIGITAL, LOSE ANALOG Digital Only? An amusing report that correctly identifies the problems faced by a TV station that elects to turn off their analog 'too soon': ... - KCSM (San Mateo, California) went digital-only last May. They did everything right: contacting cable and satellite companies to ensure carriage, contacting retailers to ensure availability of receivers, frequently announcing the change to viewers, etc. But, after they made the switch, in an area with over-80% cable penetration and 9% satellite local-to-local broadcast-station carriage, they lost 38% of their viewers (though their income went up). They were deluged with calls, of which 45% seemed interested in doing what they had to do to ensure continued viewing, another 45% were not interested in going to cable or satellite or getting more equipment, and 10% "would not be consoled." And, after a while, Good Guys, a local retailer, told them to stop referring viewers to them because they had nothing to sell them (via Bob Cooper, NZ, WTFDA via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ LYRID METEOR SHOWER PEAKS APRIL 22 ATTENTION TV DXERS AND FM BROADCAST BAND DXERS... AND OF COURSE, THE FOLLOWING ITEM IS ALSO VALUABLE INFORMATION FOR AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS. Listen carefully to this news item: LYRID METEORS: The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks this Friday morning, April 22nd, when Earth glides through a stream of debris trailing Comet Thatcher. Go outside two hours before dawn and watch the sky near the bright star Vega. You might see a dozen or more shooting stars before sunrise, and keeping your TV set tuned to the lowest frequency empty channel at your location, while keeping a VCR in recording mode, that will very probably bring in some good examples of meteor scatter propagation. For the FM band, the technique is similar, tune your digital receiver to an empty channel, and leave the tape recorder rolling. You will then review the tape later to try to locate the station or stations heard and the callsigns. Two meter band amateur operators have a meteor scatter calling frequency. It`s 144.200 and if activity gets really heavy, tune up plus or minus ten kilohertz for meteor scatter contacts. Meteor scatter propagation one of the more than 78 ways you and I enjoy this wonderful hobby, amigos! HF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Item two: A solar wind stream flowing from solar coronal hole could hit Earth's magnetic field on April 22nd or 23rd. The SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Telescope provided scientists with a very nice view of the large are of lower coronal temperatures from where matter is expelled into space. SO, again, be prepared for more geomagnetic disturbances starting very probably by Friday UTC day. Solar activity will remain from very low to low; the solar flux is barely ten units above baseline activity, that is its very near 80 units, and the A index will be moving down during the next two to three days, before it takes another turn for the worse by Friday due to the possible arrival of a high speed solar wind gust from a coronal hole that was located using the SOHO extreme ultraviolet telescope. As we approach the month of May, chances for sporadic E openings will increase, so be on the lookout for the tell-tale signs of suddenly rising maximum useable frequencies indicating the presence of high free electron densities at the altitude of around 100 to 120 kilometers above the Earth (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited April 19 via ODXA via DXLD) The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to major storm levels with one isolated period of severe storming observed at higher latitudes midday on 13 April. The period began with the geomagnetic field at quiet to unsettled levels with one isolated active period observed at middle latitudes late on the 11th. Early on the 12th, activity levels increased to minor to major storming as a recurrent coronal hole high speed wind stream rotated into a geoeffective position. These levels persisted through midday on the 14th. Thereafter, through midday on 15 April, activity levels were generally quiet to active with some minor storm periods observed at high latitudes midday on the 15th. For the remainder of the summary period, the field was quiet to unsettled as the coronal hole had rotated out of a geoeffective position. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 20 APRIL - 16 MAY 2005 Solar activity is expected be at very low to low levels. A greater than 10 MeV proton event is not expected. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 22 - 29 April, 02 – 08 May, and 10 – 14 May. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to major storm levels. Recurrent coronal hole high speed wind streams are expected to produce unsettled to active conditions on 22 – 23 April; unsettled to major storm levels on 01 – 03 May; and unsettled to minor storm levels on 09 – 11 May. Otherwise, expect quiet to unsettled conditions. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2005 Apr 19 2215 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2005 Apr 19 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2005 Apr 20 80 12 3 2005 Apr 21 80 10 3 2005 Apr 22 80 15 3 2005 Apr 23 80 15 3 2005 Apr 24 85 10 3 2005 Apr 25 85 5 2 2005 Apr 26 80 5 2 2005 Apr 27 80 8 3 2005 Apr 28 80 8 3 2005 Apr 29 80 5 2 2005 Apr 30 80 8 3 2005 May 01 80 20 4 2005 May 02 80 30 5 2005 May 03 85 15 3 2005 May 04 85 10 3 2005 May 05 85 5 2 2005 May 06 85 8 3 2005 May 07 85 8 3 2005 May 08 85 8 3 2005 May 09 85 20 4 2005 May 10 85 25 5 2005 May 11 85 18 4 2005 May 12 85 12 3 2005 May 13 85 8 3 2005 May 14 85 8 3 2005 May 15 85 5 2 2005 May 16 85 5 2 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1271, DXLD) ###