DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-111, July 7, 2005 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2005 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1280: Days and times here strictly UT. See below 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 1280 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1280h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1280h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1280 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1280.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1280.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1280.html WORLD OF RADIO 1280 in true shortwave sound of Alex`s mp3 (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_07-06-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_07-06-05.mp3 NEW! WORLD OF RADIO 1280 downloads in studio-quality mp3: (high) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1280h.mp3 (low) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1280.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO PODCAST: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml (currently available: 1277, Extra 57, 1278, 1279, 1280) For once, we reproduce here, our entire page http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html --- WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE EFFECTIVE JULY 7, 2005 For latest updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html Days and times here are strictly UT. Wed 2200 WOR WBCQ 7415 [first airing of each edition] Wed 2300 WOR WBCQ 17495-CUSB [ex-2200] Thu 1000 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Thu 1000 WOR RNI [archive] Thu 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Thu 2030 WOR WWCR 15825 Thu 2300 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Fri 0000 WOR WTND-LP 106.3 Macomb IL Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 0400 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 0600 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 0800 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1000 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1100 WOR RNI [archive] Fri 1200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1400 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1600 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Fri 1800 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 2000 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 2000 WOR RFPI Fri 2105 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Fri 2115 MR WWCR 15825 Fri 2200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Fri 2300 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sat 0000 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream Sat 0000 WOR RFPI Sat 0400 WOR RFPI Sat 0800 WOR RFPI Sat 0800 WOR WRN to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar Sat 0855 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1000 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 [also WPKM Montauk LINY 88.7] Sat 1000 WOR RNI [archive] Sat 1030 WOR WWCR 5070 Sat 1200 WOR RFPI Sat 1600 WOR RFPI Sat 1600 COM WBCQ after hours Sat 1730 WOR WRN to North America (including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 115) Sat 1730 WOR WRMI 7385 [from WRN] Sun 0230 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0330 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 0630 WOR WWCR 3210 Sun 0730 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Sun 0830 WOR WRN to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP (including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 115) 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 1000 WOR RNI [archive] Sun 1200 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 1300 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1400 COM KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 [monthly] Sun 1600 COM WBCQ after hours Sun 1730 WOR WRMI 7385 [from WRN] Sun 1730 WOR WRN1 to North America (including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 115) Sun 1900 WOR Studio X, Momigno, Italy 1584 87.35 96.55 105.55 Sun 1900 WOR RNI Mon 0230 WOR WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 [week delay] Mon 0415 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually closer to 0420-] Mon 1000 WOR RNI [archive] Mon 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Mon 1800 WOR RFPI Mon 2115 MR WWCR 15825 Mon 2200 WOR RFPI Tue 0200 WOR RFPI Tue 0600 WOR RFPI Tue 1000 WOR RFPI Tue 1000 WOR RNI [archive] Tue 1400 WOR RFPI Tue 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Wed 0930 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1000 WOR RNI [archive] Wed 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html Internet on demand: see Our Current Audio page for availability: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html Studio-quality mp3 files of the latest WORLD OF RADIO are now available thanks to Andy O`Brien, 26 meg for broadcasters or 13 meg lower version, via http://www.obriensweb.com/wor.htm WOR podcast now available, tnx to Andy O`Brien, via: http://www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml MP3 files of WOR and some other programs recorded off SW (WBCQ or WWCR in our case): Alex`s Radio DX Programs Page http://www.dxprograms.net WORLD OF RADIO BY TELEPHONE: usually available from Sunday mornings via Laser Box, 1-206-333-5096. Toll charges apply outside Seattle. Thank you, Joybubbles. Webcasts at times shown are available from all stations except WWCR, WNQM, Studio X, WBCQ-9330, 17495, KRFP. WRMI down. WRN times also relayed by cable systems, FM and satellite stations. Visible audio links: ACB Radio: http://www.acbradio.org/mainstream.html KSFC: http://www.kpbx.org/audio/listenonline/ksfc.m3u KTRU: http://www.ktru.org/realaudio.html RFPI: http://mp3server.taifun.ch:8004/listen.pls RNI: http://www.11L-rni.com R. Lavalamp: http://www.radiolavalamp.org [WOR suspended] WBCQ: http://www.scottbecker.net/modules.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=visit&lid=1 WDWN: http://www.cayuga-cc.edu/telcom/wdwn.ram World FM: http://www.worldfm.co.nz:8000/worldfm.ogg.m3u WPKN: http://www.wpkn.org/live.ram WRMI: http://www.wrminet.us:8000 [stream suspended] WRN: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/schedules/popup_player_live.php?stationID=50 WSUI: http://128.255.60.46:8080/ramgen/encoder/wsuilive.rm WXPR: http://wxpr.dwave.net:8005/wxpr24k.m3u http://wxpr.dwave.net:8005/wxpr64k.m3u Station Locations: KRFP ----- Moscow, Idaho, USA KSFC ----- Spokane, Washington, USA KTRU ----- Houston, Texas, USA Lavalamp - Osaka, Japan RFPI ----- San José, Costa Rica? Radio for Peace International RN ------- Hilversum, Holland, Radio Nederland RNI ------ Radio Newyork International Studio X - Momigno, Italy WBCQ ----- Monticello, Maine, USA WDWN ----- Auburn, New York, USA WNQM ----- Nashville, Tennessee, USA World FM - Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand WPKM ----- Montauk, Long Island, New York, USA WPKN ----- Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA WRMI ----- Miami, Florida, USA WRN1 ----- London, UK WSUI ----- Iowa City, Iowa, USA WTND ----- Macomb, Illinois, USA WWCR ----- Nashville, Tennessee, USA WXPR ----- Rhinelander, Wisconsin, USA YVQO ----- Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela NOTE: WOR is weekly; COM and MR approximately monthly but aired weekly Continent of Media is also available on demand from DXing.com: http://www.DXing.com Segments of Mundo Radial appear first almost weekly as part of Radio Enlace on Radio Nederland, Fridays and Sundays, on shortwave, internet and satellites PanAmSat 3, Telstar 12, Astra 1G. Scripts and audio links for latest edition only: http://www.rnw.nl/sp/toolbar/radioenlace.html Audio links to RN Spanish programs including Radio Enlace: http://www.rnw.nl/distrib/realaudio/html/espa_ol_.html Mundo Radial or Radio Enlace reports also appear at times on YVQO, 640, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, during 2-hour program Sintonía DX from Unión Radio Porteñas, UT Sun 0000, and maybe also UT Mon 0000. Try webcast via: http://intranet.unionradio.com.ve/intranet/audio/audio_principal_select.asp ** ALASKA. Carl Mann fans lucked out July 6 at 1429, as KNLS was in the clear on 9555, Habana missing from 9550, as he delivered a 2- minute introduction to solar storms; 1432 RHC cut back on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA. Re: BDXC-UK Africa on Shortwave survey, PUBLICATIONS, 5- 110: I do notice that under Algeria it states that there is "no current shortwave broadcasting from Algeria". However if one looks under the entry for Western Sahara one will find that that broadcast [7466] originates from Tindouf, Algeria (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks to Steve for spotting this anomaly, we have now uploaded a revised version which includes the Polisario station under both Algeria and Western Sahara, as well a couple of other updates. See the Africa by Country list on the Articles index at http://www.bdxc.org.uk (Dave Kenny, British DX Club, July 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA. I know BC-DX 718 already has my 05 JUL report on this --- I have recently brought to discussion so to speak RTA's 198 kHz Ouargla & 153 kHz Béchar, and tried both on the SW coast during the day on 03 JUL at 1341 when airing the normal Arabic program, with phone-ins, modern Arabic songs, few talks: 153 kHz Béchar, closer to Portugal, rated at 55454 mainly via the back of the 250 m Central America unterminated Beverage. 198 kHz Ouargla, away to the east, into the desert, rated at 25342 via a K9AY loop to avoid co-channel BBC R4 Droitwich which does dominate the frequency. I compared those two signals against RTA 549 kHz, and found a ± 2" delay on Béchar & Ouargla which almost denotes a satellite feed (Carlos Gonçalves, SW coast of Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 6214.4 kHz, R. Baluarte, Puerto Iguazú, noted on 03 JUL 2157-2214, Spanish, songs, IDs, announcements for some religious gathering at Sán Vicente on 17 JUL, Portuguese at 2212, Brazilian songs; 34432 - best rating on this station so far (Carlos Gonçalves, SW coast of Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. 9775 kHz, Voice of Armenia. July 2 at 1822-1848*. SINPO 34333. Program in German till 1825, then in English started with news report (Iwao Nagatani, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Hi Glenn, Radio 2000 FM broadcasts on 98.5 from Burwood in Sydney. It is multilingual. Have checked their program listings, but nothing from CRI in English for 8.00 to 8.30 pm. The listing may not be up to date. Will have a listen tonight, if I remember, between 8 and 9 pm, and will let you know one way or the other. Also I have a DXTuner site set up and running, but the R75 only covers approx 400 kHz to 30 MHz. Regards (Tony Magon, VK2IC, Sydney, July 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER INVESTIGATING SETTING UP RADIO SERVICE TO BELARUS Dr Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood policy, has told the European Parliament that she is investigating the possibility of the Commission being involved in setting up a radio service for Belarus. In a speech addressing the political situation and the independence of the media in Belarus, she said: "The idea of supporting independent radio broadcasting to Belarus has been raised as a possible effective and useful response to the lack of alternative and independent information in Belarus. The Commission services have carefully studied the possibility for the Commission to contribute to such an endeavour. As things stand now, there is no straight forward funding solution for radio broadcasting under the rules and procedures that bind the Commission. But I assure you that I am doing the utmost to find a solution." (Source: European Commission) # posted by Andy @ 11:08 UT July 6 (Media Network blog via DXLD) er, how about RFE/RL? (gh) ** BELGIUM. RTBF, Wavre, 9970 at 1125 June 12, relay of Vivacité, music, French, SIO 444; while the RTBF relay via Jülich on 17545 was La Première rather than Vivacité (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Para informação dos mais antigos na radioescuta, o senador de Minas Hélio Costa, que por muito tempo foi locutor da Voz da América nos anos sessentas e setentas, foi designado ontem, dia 5/7/2005, para ministro das comunicações do conturbado governo Lula. Taí a pessoa certa no lugar certo. Espero que não se corrompa (Luiz Chaine, Limeira -sp-, radioescutas via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 3235 kHz, R. Guarujá Paulista, Marília SP, being noted with a huge feed delay (± 12" I'd say) relative to // 5045 (R. Presidente Prudente facility), e.g. on 29 JUN 2215-2224, no Voz do Brasil, just talks on futebol; 25342. 3385 kHz, R. Guarujá Paulista, Marília SP, 01 JUL 2133-2152, talks on "campeonato brasileiro" (of football, what else?!...); // 3235 (3235 & 3385 both Marília site?) and both with some 12" delay relative to // 5045; QRM; 32342 and better on LSB due to utility QRM. 5940.3 kHz, UNID or then simply R. Guarujá Paulista, Marília SP, ex- 5930 which is most probably the case (!), 29 JUN 2231-2242, talks on f/ball in program "(...) Desportivo"; // R. Guarujá Paulista 5045, 3235; 15221. 9615 kHz, R. Cultura, São Paulo SP, 29 JUN 2310-2325, cultural program "Língua Portuguesa", in which the host replies to language queries sent by listeners; inaudible on // 17815; 33442, but very good audio. Best catch: 30 JUN 0954-f/out 1120, talks, RC address, ballads; 13431, adjcacent QRM only. 9675 kHz, R. Canção Nova, Cachoeira Paulista SP, 29 JUN 2150-2202, frequencies plus postal & e-mail addresses + webpage, slogan "RCN - ele* está no meio de nós", Voz do Brasil relay at 2200; modulation splatter over several adjacent frequencies.; 55444. *) I believe I got it right, i.e. they say "ele" (=he), but if referring to Rádio CN, then it would be "ela" (she) for "radio" as a concept or means is feminine while "radio" as an apparatus is masculine; I've noted several Brazilian stations making the same mistake; on the other hand, maybe they implicitly refer to what people call 'God.' [surely the latter --- gh] The best catch on this one was on 30 JUN 0945-f/out 1200 (!), religious songs within some religious program; 25432 (Carlos Gonçalves, SW coast of Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. I wanted to check actual azimuths used by Brazil's national broadcaster on 9665, and all I could find under version 01, sub- version 00, [HFCC], applies to the B relay for China RI, not a single entry on R. Nacional do Brasil itself: 9665 0100-0200 zones 14/16 215º, ditto 0300-0400 zones 10 to 12 314º. Truly enlightening. Does anyone know the actual beams for B 9665 to Afr+Eur? On http://www.radiobras.gov.br no mention of R.Senado (now defunct?) whatsoever (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, July 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5990, Rádio Senado. July 6 at 1008-1035. SINPO 34333. Talk by a man and a woman in Portuguese. Brazilian popular songs at 1012, followed by ID. 6134.77, Rádio Aparecida. July 6 at 0955-1005. SINPO 34332. Brazilian song and talk by a man and a woman in Portuguese. ID at 1000 (Iwao Nagatani, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Duas coisas: minha apresentação e arquivos sonoros da Rádio Relógio federal Caros amigo(a)s, Meu nome é Carlos Latuff, tenho 36 anos, moro no Rio de Janeiro e sou cartunista de profissão. Essa comunidade me foi indicada por um simpático DXista sueco de nome Henrik Klemetz. Há anos que sempre tive como passatempo sintonizar ondas curtas. Quando era garoto, numa época em que não havia a Internet como a conhecemos, o rádio de ondas curtas era minha janela para o mundo. E quando não estava ouvindo rádios estrangeiras, passava horas a fio escutando a Rádio Relógio Federal. E é justamente esta emissora que me trouxe até aqui. Dias atrás estive tentando achar referências sobre a história da Rádio Relógio Federal na Internet e tudo o que encontrei foram pequenas citações em blogs. Achei também alusões ao filme nacional "A hora da estrela", em que a personagem principal é assídua ouvinte da emissora. E só. Nem mesmo no Orkut, onde existem comunidades sobre as coisas mais "sui generis", tive qualquer informação. É como se a Rádio Relógio Federal nunca tivesse existido, talvez fruto de minha imaginação. Fui até a sede da Rádio Relógio Federal, atualmente no bairro Ribeira, na Ilha do Governador (RJ). Para minha tristeza, além de não existir nada escrito sobre a história da rádio, também não havíam arquivos sonoros de antigas transmissões. Isso por conta de dois fatores. Primeiro, um incêndio nos anos 90 que destruiu boa parte do material da Rádio Relógio em sua antiga sede, na Av. Presidente Vargas, centro do Rio. E segundo, que muita coisa foi queimada por ordem de um antigo diretor. O gerente da emissora conseguiu salvar algumas poucas pastas com cartas de ouvintes do mundo todo, algumas delas cheguei a fotografar. Fora o indefectível "tic tac" e a hora certa, não existe mais nada na programação que lembre o perfil que caracterizou a Rádio Relógio Federal. A emissora hoje dedica-se quase que exclusivamente a pregação dioturna do "missionário" RR Soares. Tentei encontrar alguma gravação antiga junto ao Museu da Imagem e do Som e o Museu do Rádio. Nada. Sabe onde fui encontrar duas gravações de pouco mais de 1 minuto cada? Na Internet, por obra e graça de dois DXistas estrangeiros, um da Finlândia de nome Mika Mäkeläinen e Henrik Klemetz da Suécia. Portanto cheguei a conclusão que somente DXistas poderão me ajudar nessa busca. Se algum de voces, amigos DXistas, possui gravações de antigas transmissões da Rádio Relógio Federal (ou conhece alguem que as tenha), no período entre 1977 e 1987, por favor, entre em contato. Meu interesse é resgatar a memória dessa emissora, que faz parte da história da radiodifusão no Brasil. Deixo aqui meu email e meus telefones. Email: latuff@... [truncated] Telefones: (21) 2589 3487 - Residência / (21) 93636169 - Celular Desde já agradeço a força de todos voces. Um grande abraço! (Carlos Latuff, July 6, radioescutas via DXLD) ** CANADA. New Interesting RCI Program --- I usually listen to "Madly Off" on RCI Saturday evenings here. But this past weekend it was replaced by a new program, announced as having a 10-week run. This is a Canadian aboriginal-arts program called "Red Edge". Sounded rather interesting; it does include native comics, so those who liked the stand-up comics on "Madly Off" will get some of that sort of material. This is at 0030 UT Sundays on 13710, 9755, and 11990 kHz. (By the way, something I've meant to ask for months and always forgot: Did RCI send out mailed printed program guides for this SW-broadcast season? I never got one, and have been on the mailing list for some years. I never knew if it was just that my copy got lost or trashed in the mail or if RCI cut back on expenses and discontinued the print version starting with this season, or maybe now sends them out only upon specific request, no longer having a postal mailing list (like the BBC did some years back). I suppose the on-line info suffices for many listeners now.) 73, (Will Martin, MO, July 6, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1280, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE [and non]. Returned after a few days' stay on the SW coast (Wed 29 Jun~Mon 3 Jul) where - among many other things to be put on a proper message - I found this: 15485 kHz, Voz Cristã (*), Santiago, 03 JUL 1431-..., Portuguese to Brasil, listeners' mail; 44544, co-channel QRM de BBC UK. Sorry, I forgot to write down the antenna I used - the 300 m SoAm Beverage perhaps - but do recall both stations were audible via another aerial, possibly the 25 m sloper, even if the BBC kept getting QRM de CHL (I sometimes write down the type of antenna for a particular log when it's the sort of antenna one wouldn't expect to use at all for that QRG, like the elevated K9AY here often being my best tool for Mali 9635v!). So reception of Chile is possible in Europe after lunch time despite all odds. It's simply not the kind of stations that interest me the least, but remembered this mail of yours and wanted to try it at a critical hour, so there you have it. Now, whether the same goes for the reception over here in the capital I still don't know as I keep forgetting to try. That did surprise me as I would expect to hear the BBC ONLY and, well, possibly Santiago far on the background at best. *) approximate pronunciation Vohsh Krishtã (nasaled vowel); "cristã" is feminine Of "cristão" (Christian), but "crista" also exists as a word, only the meaning is completely different; among other things, it can mean 'crest', e.g. "a crista do monte" = the crest of the hill (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, July 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. CRI in English at 0100: 6020 and 9570 run same programming. At same time, 9580 and 9790 run same programming, but different from the first two (Bob Thomas, CT, July 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6020 and 9570 are Albanian relay; 9580 is Cuba and 9790 is Canada; I assume the last two are not in synch tho otherwise the same (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Rebelde 'Ficticioso 530"; 06 1415Z JUL 05; PVZ 530 Rebelde back, with a twist or two. Sig fluctuating between 25 - 35 on Beckman 51J-4. Running 40+ well over a month previously. Audio sounds telco, shaved & flat, almost honking. Air Supply "love outa nothing at all" as this is typed, 1020L [= 1420 UT July 6]. Third, is hapless Batista era oncologist now working as board operator inadvertently mixing in popping geiger counter sounds? Is DGI performing radioactivity scan in studio with Conelrad surplus geiger counters? 30's vintage finals cage arcing? Switchcraft phone jack connecting transmitter to Farfisa studio organ evincing signs of corrosion? Loose? Almost sounds like USN RATT 850/75 as heard in AM mode as background to program. Maybe it is. Couple years ago, 6 meg numbers broadcast heard under Sunday night festivities on RHC 6 megs. How could any suggest listening to Don Max's beacons of bullshale is less than a wonderment? Perpetual mysteries defined. Other Rebelde's sound OK, relatively speaking. -Z.- PS - What is going on with 640? As T. Krueger reported last week, audio lacks former warm tube quality. Telco/power hum also back with renewed vigor (Paul Vincent Zecchino, Manchatka Peninsula, FL, BT, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. INTERESSANTE CONFERMA DALL'ECUADOR - INTERESTING REPLY FROM ECUADOR Ciao! Riccardo Borelli segnala una risposta personale dalla emittente Ecuadorena LA VOZ DEL NAPO che ripete sovente RADIO MARIA ECUADOR.... ecco i dettagli Ciao Dario, Volevo informarti che mi ha risposto "LA VOZ DEL NAPO" che avevo ascoltato sui 90 metri con px di Radio Maria !!! Dopo neanche trenta giorni dal giorno in cui ho scritto a padre Humberto DORIGATTI una lettera inviata per posta prioritaria accompagnata da Euro 5 como rembolso postal. La busta intestata a nome della radio da TENA - Ecuador reca il timbro di Brescia !!!!!!!!! ed è stata affrancata con un francobollo delle poste italiane !!!!!! Incredibile !!!!! Padre Humberto mi ha risposto in Italiano !!! con una bellissima e commovente lettera di due pagine in cui mi invita a provare ad ascoltarlo durante il suo programma in "quechoa" che viene messo in onda quando da loro è mezzogiorno !!!!! e per finire mi invita a telefonare alla sorella di ottantanni che abita a Riva del Garda e della quale mi fornisce il telefono. Dice inoltre che è stato colpito dalla mia lettera e dai santini di Beato Pampuri che gli ho inviato e che sta cercando circa 30.ooo $ per portare avanti la sua missione. Mi racconta inoltre di essere partito 59 anni orsono da Genova (ora ne ha 77) e di essere arrivato a Tena dopo due mesi di nave e alcuni giorni a dorso di un mulo. Infine mi invia la splendida bandierina de "la Voz del Napo" che io gli ho proposto in scambio con una realizzata da me a colori con la stampante a getto d'inchiostro. Dispiace ed allieta allo stesso tempo compredere che mentre noi ci compiaciamo di ascoltarli da così lontano solo per il gusto di accendere la radio ci sia ancora gente che a stento riesca ancora a dedicare il proprio tempo per fare del bene a costo di enormi sacrifici e praticamente senza risorse economiche. Padre Humberto è una di queste persone ! Ciao a presto, Riccardo Borelli The V/s Padre Humberto Dorigatti is searching for help 30.000 US $ for the station. He has a program in Quechoa at noon local time every day (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Not only is Latvia using 9290, but some pirates at unknown locations have also used it, as best I can determine, from following logs, which I don`t recall having been relayed by Ulbroka, right? This is confused by including Latvian transmissions in the same section. 9290, R. Venus International, 1626 19 May, moved from 9305, pop, rk 9290, R. Spaceshuttle International, 1140 on 21, 22, 28, 29 May, 18, 19 June with pop in English, WRL [?] 9305, R. Venus International, 1600 19 May, pop, rock, first transmission 13580, R. Spaceshuttle International, 1206 21 May, English, short test 13810-LSB, R. Spaceshuttle International, 1343 22 May, 18, 19 June, Finnish music, English 13810-USB, R. Venus International, 1905 18, 19 May, rock, English 13870, R. Spaceshuttle International, 1250 21, 22, 28 May, seems not closed! (Robert Petraitis, Klaipeda, Lithuania, Alternative Airwaves, July BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Laser Hot Hits has QRM from Mystery Radio on 6220 [as previously reported here]. 6210 offers a reliable alternative for UK listeners, and 4025, 7465 and 9385 are also in regular use. Further frequencies such as 6380/6385 and 6240/6245 are hard at weekends but with different taped programmes (Dave Kenny, July BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** GAMBIA. 648 kHz. GRTS ("R. Gambia"), Bonto, very strong evenings, e.g. 02 JUL 2114-2225, Vernacular, talks (news?), tribal songs; 44443, QRM de Spain but hardly noticed at times (Carlos Gonçalves, SW coast of Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUYANA. RADIO IN GUYANA REVISITED - RADIO DEMERARA by Paul Beaumont I read with interest the piece `Early Broadcasting in Guyana` in June`s Communication. The piece brought some very pleasant memories back for me. I had occasion to be in Guyana in 1978. At that time the country was led by Linden Forbes Samson Burnham and the political situation was very terse, as was tolerance between the two main ethnic groups. The Republic of Guyana boasts a diversity of six races, the main ethnic divide being Afro-Caribbean and Indo-Caribbean. Politically the Afro-Caribbean mainly vote PNC (People`s National Congress) whilst the Indo-Caribbean community vote PPP (Peoples Political Party). At the time of my 1978 visit the Country was in a poor state. The railway system had long gone and a rudimentary bus system, based on Tata Buses existed. Private cars were available but were memorable ancient pieces, some in pristine condition. To cross the Demerara River it was necessary to either use the Harbour Bridge (Over a mile long – in effect a Bailey Bridge, donated by Great Britain) or use the ferry. The ferry between Georgetown and Vreed-en-Hoop was built in Glasgow as was that crossing the Berbice River, Rosignol to New Amsterdam. On leaving the ferry at Georgetown you were faced with a board listing President Burnham`s Prescription. Ten points intended to guide those who wished to help themselves. You also get to see the Stabroek Market and the Georgetown Harbour clock. On all my visits each face has always told a different time, the clock stopped. Guyana has a plethora of religion, Islam, Hindu and Christian. Amongst the Nation differing religious practice is tolerated, and, in some cases, `cross- pollination` occurs and those of different belief enjoy the celebrations of other religions. (Christmas is one such example, another is Holi where coloured powders are thrown on others). The antenna located south of the Timheri airport (now Cheddi Jagan International) that apparently belongs to the Guyanese Telecom Company. Note the C Band dish at the bottom of the mast, Note the dilapidated fence where persons have climbed over. I think the mast had more to do with the Guyanase Defence Force as their barracks are nearby. [caption] Whilst staying in a West Bank Demerara village `La Grange` I listened to the radio. At the time there was no television. I enjoyed hearing such classics as `The Clitheroe Kid` and I think `The Navy Lark.` After asking a few questions of my hosts I was lucky enough to secure a trip to the premises of Radio Demerara. Having taken the ferry across the Demerara I walked the distance from the stelling to Radio Demerara. The majority of buildings then were; based on wood, indeed Guyana boasts the world`s largest wooden Cathedral: http://www.stgeorges.org.gy/views.html and its Parliament Building and Law Courts are built likewise. I had occasion to attend the Law Courts and marvelled at the buildings facilities. On reaching Radio Demerara I was met by one of the engineers and conducted to a waiting room from which you could see into the studio and the now legendary female broadcaster Pat Cameron at work. I was conducted into the studio whilst a record was playing and introduced to Miss Pat Cameron with whom I swapped a few words. Pat said that it was unusual to see Englishmen around Guyana and said that she wanted to interview me on her programme. We would start, she indicated, as soon as the record was done and one caller had been answered. All too soon the interview took place. Nervous is not the word to describe how I felt. It was an experience but Pat Cameron was forever asking why I was in the country – tourism was not the answer she wanted and she pushed the matter, mentioning correctly that Guyana did not have tourism. I thought that I would change the subject and mentioned that I had lived in the Yemen for a few years. That was a mistake. Luckily Pat Cameron assumed I was working on the Harbour Bridge and when I said I was not she brushed the remark aside. She was interested in my short wave interest and mentioned that. After the interview was finished we shook hands and I was swiftly removed from the waiting room poste haste. A visit to the maintenance department then followed. I met a few engineers who pointed out their facilities and what was quite possibly the world`s largest collection of BC109 transistors. I noticed a few domestic receivers undergoing repairs also. I mentioned that I had never heard Radio Demerara in the UK and the engineer surprised me by showing a drawer full of QSL cards, many from the UK. Now, 27 years on I have yet to hear any commercial broadcast from Guyana. I have had many successes with transmissions from the Aeradio Service of Guyana. That is another story – like Radio Demerara I managed to secure a visit to the control tower at Timheri International Airport (now Cheddi Jagan International), but that was in 1992. On my return from Radio Demerara, via a Rum Shop, to steady my nerves – Guyana boasts some good rums – I arrived back in La Grange Village only to be asked for my autograph by a neighbour. He had heard the interview and I suffered the vitalising Guyanese wit accordingly. Even my wife had heard the interview and ribbed me accordingly. No QSL card – but an experience that I recall with relish (July BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. VOI was coming strong yesterday [July 1] on 15136 (mistuned 15150 I guess). Brought a lot of troubles to 1700-1800 UT 15135 RFE/RL Ukrainian (mostly by strong H+). VOI IDs etc in German minute(s) before 1700 ToH. 44544 (LSB to avoid AIR Russian on 15140 kHz). At 2000 UT English with 25322 rating. Their 9525 as always regularly weak here at the same hours (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, DXplorer July 2 via BCDX via DXLD) On July 3: 15149.95 kHz, wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL. PODCASTING STATION LAUNCHED; NEW SEARCHABLE PODCAST DIRECTORY Podcasting Station is a new categorized directory of podcasts. The new site at http://www.podcasting-station.com makes it easy for individuals or businesses curious about podcasts, to find the latest podcast feeds in a single convenient and easy to navigate location. Similar podcasts are grouped under general topic headings. Each topic contains podcast titles and descriptions. A search feature allows web surfers to search for podcasts using keywords and phrases. The flexible search options gives web surfers the ability to search for specific podcasts of interest. Information contained in the Podcasting Station directory covers a huge range of audio content, from humor and news to foreign language instruction and sports interviews. The intention of Podcasting Station is to provide a convenient resource that unites the podcasting community making it easy for consumers and industry professionals to locate podcasts and information that they are seeking. Podcasters are encouraged to add their podcast feeds to the database. All listings are currently free of charge and, the information is freely available to consumers and related industries. * Radio Netherlands will launch a podcast service later this summer. # posted by Andy @ 15:41 UT July 6 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Some more notes on the Moon story --- First, elevation was meant to simply describe the position of the Moon in the sky in degrees over the horizon, similar to the practice with radiation patterns of transmission antennas. And this story is about the position of the full Moon at midnight. ``Apparently that the angle at which the Moon rises is lowest (and thus its zenith will also be lowest), at least in mid-Northern latitudes. Why is this opposite to what the Sun does seasonally?`` --- Simply because the full Moon is on the opposite side of the earth. The seasons are caused by the Earth`s 23.5 degrees tilt against the orbit around the Sun, the ecliptic. Hence the full Moon is in winter high in the sky and the other way round in summer. ``There must be other factors involved, such as the fact that, besides being elliptical, the Moon`s orbit about the Earth is at a different inclination to the Earth`s orbit about the Sun.`` --- And that`s the key of the whole story. The node of the Moon`s orbit is not fixed but rotates, making a full circuit in 18.6 years. And now we again approach the same extreme we had in 1987: The 5.2 degree tilt of the Moon`s orbit fully adds to the 23.5 degrees tilt of the Earth against the ecliptic. The results should be basically the same as given for Germany in 1987: The full Moon reaches just 11 degrees above the horizon in summer but climbs up to more than 68 degrees, quite close to the Zenith, in winter. Here is how it looked on June 20, as seen from my balcony at 22:20 and 23:00 local time: http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2006a8tq.jpg http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2006c6gl.jpg And here the corresponding looks at the other side. No white nights, but it doesn't get dark before 11 PM at present (on the other hand we have daylight between 8 AM and 4 PM only in late autumn and early winter): http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2006b0eu.jpg http://img295.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2006d0bm.jpg Apparently hardly anybody minds about satellite dishes here anymore. Trouble is, here on the ground a dish mounted this way could be reached by any passer-by. So this is no option for me. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Current plans are for the Hurricane Watch Net to activate for Hurricane Dennis on 14325 at 9:00 a.m. EDT - 1300 UT on Thursday morning. http://www.hwn.org/ (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, 2211 UT July 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Motivado a posibles coletazos de la tormenta tropical Dennis, a través de la frecuencia 6810 kHz en modo USB, se están haciendo llamados a las aeronaves que vuelan por territorio venezolano y específicamente por toda la parte norte del país para que tengan mucho cuidado. Atte: (José Elías, Venezuela, 1957 UT July 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Re 5-109: ``From DX Editor of DX Program "Onde Radio" -- You can hear the news on Tuesday from 0630 to 0730 UT`` 0630-0730 ? Uhm... I assume Onde Radio is only 6-8 minutes long (Roberto Scaglione, http://www.bclnews.it DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Dear sir, it gives me immense pleasure to inform you that former Radio P`yongyang was again heard with very very strong signals with sign on at 1900 UT on 11910. They have a one hour programme in English; programming contents are of the same style they used to have 15 years back. Hope this information shall be of some use to you, regards (Tarun Sethi in New Delhi, India, July 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. V. of Iranian Kurdistan heard 1600-1727 in Kurdish and Persian in the ranges 3930-3975 and 4850-4875 kHz, jumping to avoid Iranian jammers (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, 22 May, DX News, July BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) V. of Kurdistan, Iraq, 91.50, 1011 June 11 ID in Kurdish, SIO 555. V. of Kurdistan, Iraq, 91.60, 1000 June 11 news in Kurdish, SIO 353, both FM by sporadic E with Chinese Nakiwa receiver (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Beyond the Horizon, ibid.) ** LATVIA. This weekend on 9290 kHz: Sat July 9 0600-0700 UT Radio Six Sun July 10 0700-2100 UT Radio Tatras International Good Listening (Tom Taylor, July 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. London`s ``legendary album station``, former FM pirate, Alice`s Restaurant Rock Radio, returns on Sunday 14th August 2005! However, this time Alice`s isn`t just aiming for London and suburbs with a small 50 watt pirate radio transmitter, but will be heard Europe-wide via the powerful shortwave transmitter in Latvia, as used by several other programmers. The presenters confirmed so far, all rock radio veterans, are Bear, Nigel Grant, Scare and Dave Robbie. Programmes will be produced in studios at the heart of Alice`s old stomping ground, the north-eastern borders of London. Outside SWBC hours, Alice`s will be available 24/7 as a webstream via http://www.rockradio.eu.com (Mike Terry, Classic Rock Radio Society, July BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) See also EUROPE ** MAURITANIA. 4845 RADIO MAURITANIA ¿ESTA FUERA DEL AIRE? Hola compañer@s, voy con una pregunta a ver si alguien sabe contestarla: ¿alguno de vosotros estais captando RADIO MAURITANIA por los 4845? Es que no sé si es la propagación que lo dudo ya que en períodos de baja propagación la he captado sin problemas o es que ha salido fuera del aire por la frecuencia tropical de 4845. Sin nada más, se despide desde el sureste de España, vuestro colega y amigo (JOSE HERNANDEZ MADRID, 2207 UT July 5, Noticias DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1280, DXLD) Hola Pepe, Radio Mauritania es una emisora que, cuando está en el aire entra por aquí como un cañón; yo creo que es la emisora que mejor se escucha en las bandas tropicales. En estos últimos días no he estado escuchando, pero hace una o dos semanas, creo que no la observé en su frecuencia habitual, y en otras ocasiones comprobé que por días está inactiva, así que seguro que cuando tu "pasaste" por los 4845 no transmitía, y seguro, también que en unos días vuelve al aire (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, ibid.) Acá tampoco se escucha desde hace algún buen tiempo atrás y su recepción era muy fuerte y clara entre las 2100 y 22 y algo UT. Un abrazo (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, July 6, condiglist via WORLD OF RADIO 1280, DXLD) 4845 & 7245 kHz have been silent for quite some days, while 783 remains regular (Carlos Gonçalves, SW coast of Portugal, WORLD OF RADIO 1280, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Amigos Manuel e José, Aqui, no Sul do Brasil, também chega como um canhão. No entanto, nos últimos dias, não está presente em 4845 kHz. Ontem mesmo escutava Guiné Equatorial, Burkina e Zâmbia, mas nada de Mauritânia (Célio Romais, Porto Alegre, Brasil, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 6044.95, R. Universidad at 1300-1339 on July 1. Bit of music, then M and W announcers in Spanish; heard "México" and "Universidad" among other words; then YL spoke from 1303 to 1330 UT, with an occasional sentence from M announcer; classical music followed after 1330 UT. Not very strong but partly readable. Same format next day (2 July) at same time; not heard on Sunday 3 July (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer July 3 via BCDX via DXLD) XEXQ is one of my favorite DX stations; when I first heard it many years ago I wound up on the mailing list for their monthly program magazine, with lots of interesting articles as well as complete music listings. I also visited the station once, but that was during a lengthy absence from SW, and I saw where that transmitter was not. Now I have managed to hear it again, July 7 from 1315 on 6045, during an apparent world newscast with a woman announcer frequently interrupted by SFX --- at first I thought that could be some kind of utility burst QRM, but the SFX coincided with her pauses. High T-storm noise level made it impossible to understand, but who else would be in Spanish on 6045 audible at this hour? Unfortunately, my longwire favors E-W rather than N-S. Peaking at 10 over 9 on the meter, but that includes the noise level; 1323 went to music and by 1330 it seems to be an oboe concerto. Need to try this earlier, from 1200 or so when the MW at least supposedly signs on; NDXC frequency list shows the 6045 schedule as 1100-0400 as one might expect during the DST period; but attempts must be late enough for co-channel Hohhot, Inner Mongolia to have faded out. Here`s the rudimentary webpage of XEXQ with a few photos: http://www.uaslp.mx/Plantilla.aspx?padre=1912 Nothing about AM/SW programming, but this grid for FM: http://www.uaslp.mx/Plantilla.aspx?padre=1915 Yes, they do have an FM station with different calls, XHUSP on 88.5, per the WTFDA directory, 3 kW. I suppose the programming on XEXQ 1460 and XEXQ-OC 6045, both 250 watts, may be different. However, the grid does show at 8-8:30 am Tue-Fri Noticiario la Universidad al Día, and from 8:30 on Thursdays Música Infantil, the latter not really fitting what I heard. It seems there is no playlist and no streaming. Publicradiofan.com has some 25 other Mexican stations streaming, see http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgi-bin/statsearch.pl?country=Mexico but only one of them with a classical format; ``variety/student`` no doubt includes some classical on many of them (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. NO FCC DECISION YET IN THE BONILLA CASE Last week's second Communicator (CGC #694) stated the following about Quetzal's (Jaime Bonilla's) Section 325(c) STA authority to send audio program material across the U.S. / Mexican border to XHBCE-FM: "The authority is set to expire on or about July 1, so the Commission must reach a determination [on whether to renew that authority] soon." A communications attorney has advised our office that this statement is incorrect. He maintains that STAs automatically continue in force absent FCC action, a point we have asked the Commission to verify (no response yet). One way or the other, the evidence already on record indicates that XHBCE-FM is broadcasting from an improper transmitter site (as explained in CGC #694), and that in itself poses a major problem for Mr. Bonilla. In the AM arena, an engineering expert comments that while slant wires can be used to create impressive directional radiation patterns in the horizontal plane, their performance often fails at the vertical angles needed to protect distant stations at night. Sounds like Mr. Bonilla has a steep engineering hill to climb. In other news, XHBCE program provider "BCA" (John Lynch) has just filed comments with the FCC in favor of XHBCE-FM, but the first document received by our office was woefully incomplete. We are in the process of reviewing BCA's second (late filed) comments to see if they are reasonably complete. If so, they should be web posted in time for our next newsletter (CGC Communicator July 6, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** MONACO [non]. In May this year, the chronology of the 702 kHz/428 metres transmitter usage was published in S.E.R. I`ve thought that also the story of the other glorious MW wavelength of Radio Monte Carlo, 205 metres, might be of interest to some of us. So I`ve unearthed my dusty logbooks – however, while the 702 story published in May was complete, since I logged the first transmission in November 1973, the 1467 story may be in need of your contributions, especially between 1948 and 1966! THE 1466/1467 STORY 1948 – According to some sources, the 1466 MW transmitter of RMC comes to the air on July 3rd with 120 kW. Early `60s - My first memories are not recorded in any of my logbooks (by the way, my first entry is for Radio Nordsee International on the 29th of June, 1970). But they are quite vivid: at the seaside in Tuscany, in the early `60s, where every boys and girls had their ``trannies`` tuned to 205 metres, where a lively programme in French had much more pop music in a single day than could be heard on RAI during a whole week! Radio Monte Carlo was then ``la radio du soleil`` and ``le juke-box d`Europe``. 1966 – While the French service gradually moves to the new long wave transmitter on 218 kHz, in order to improve reception throughout almost all of France, on March 6th the Italian-French transmission starts on 1466 at 1400-1600 local, with bilingual announcements every three records (one Italian, one French, one British/American) and announcements in French inviting French listeners to retune to ``1400 mètres ondes longues``. Great days when a very popular programme could be shifted to a lower frequency! The official name of the programme was ``La trasmissione italo-francese di Noël Coutisson``, who was the director of the programme. While usually listening to this programme on short waves (6035 and 7135 kHz), in Autumn/Winter it was exciting for me to listen to the 1466 signal coming into life, sometimes as early as 1500 local, but surely in time for a fabulous programme in French at 1700 which was called ``Pop variétés`` (and I still seem to hear that jingle again, ``Pop variétés sur Radio Monte Carlo``!). 1970 – Rock music beamed to the U.K. past midnight from Radio Geronimo (until October). December 2nd, 1970 – First day of broadcasting for MCI – Monte Carlo International – with Tommy Vance and Dave Cash, and later also Kenny Everett. Scheduled daily at midnight till 3 o`clock local. November 1973 – The new 701 kHz transmitter comes to the air with the Italian service, but 1466 remains in parallel. February 1974 – Trans World Radio on the air on 1466 after closedown of Italian programme at 2000. December 1979 – 1466 now relays LW French service from s/on at 0656 until 2000 local. July 1980 – TW Radio in English with the Radio Bible Class until midnight followed by Arabic. October 1982 – 1467 relays long waves until 1945, followed by special programme ``Dialogue`` beamed to Africa and Middle East, and by Radio Evangile at 2000/2030. May 1983 – RMC Mediterranée appears on 1467 as an opt-out, Mondays to Fridays at 1330/1600, with talk and pop/rock music. IDs also as ``RMC 205 metres`` and ``RMC ondes moyennes``. Special programmes from the Cannes Film Festival are broadcast. RMC Mediterranée continues till the summer of 1986, then 1467 returns to all-day relay of the main LW programme, except for Trans World Radio after 2000. October 1986 – At 0630/0700, Radio Evangile, followed by this announcement: ``Radio Monte Carlo ondes moyennes vous propose maintenant son programme ondes longues``. January 1988 - TWR broadcasts Radio Bible Class followed by ``Rendez vous`` in English at midnight. Excellent reception with new 1000 kW transmitter. February 1988 – Reception check in the morning shows full power with Radio Evangile until 0700, then reduced power with relay of LW (note that the LW transmitter switched from 218 to 216 kHz as late as March 23rd). July 1989 – Arabic Service on 205 metres until 1930, followed by TWR. January 1992 – Daytime transmissions revert to French in parallel with 216. September 1999 – Relay of LW service ends as usual at 1930 with invitation to retune to 216 ``grandes ondes``, and religious programme in French follows. September 2001 – In order to improve audibility of the Central European Service, while forced to reduce power on 1530 kHz from Santa Maria Galeria for ``electrosmog`` reasons, Radio Vaticana hires the Monte Carlo transmitter from 1630 to 1840 gmt for Slovene, Croat, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Polish and German services. January 2003 – Juvenile station Superloustic heard all day on 1467, but soon moves to 675 from Marseille and 999 from Paris. March 15th, 2004 – First day of broadcasts for MC One, very good here in Bologna at 0630 signing on, but slightly fading away past 0700. Quite mysterious station to me, but with nice easy rock music. Only lasts for a couple of months on MW, but continues in Monaco with 0,5 kW on 98.2 FM according to WRTH. Nov. 1st, 2004 – Italian heard again on 205 metres when Trans World Radio resumes Italian broadcast at 2045/2115 Mondays to Fridays (Stefano Valianti, Southern European Report, July BDXC-UK Communication via DXD) ** NEPAL. NEPAL FM RADIO STATION TO DEFY BAN ON NEWS BROADCASTS | Text of report by Nepalese Kantipuronline.com web site on 7 July Kathmandu, 7 July: Rainbow FM 91.8 is airing news twice a day from Kathmandu Thursday [7 July] onwards, a statement said Wednesday. The FM station was established with the aim of broadcasting news, opinions and current developments. It was airing news and views of people under its programme named Kathmandu Khabar every hour, while all other FM stations across the country have not been able to air news due to government ban on them. Source: Kantipuronline.com web site, Kathmandu, in English 7 Jul 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) PRIVATE FM STATION TO DEFY GOVERNMENT BAN ON BROADCAST OF NEWS | Text of report by Nepalese daily newspaper Rajdhani on 7 July Kathmandu: Despite government ban on the broadcast of news on private FM radio stations remaining in force, Nepal FM is to broadcast Kathmandu Khabar [Kathmandu News] from Thursday [7 July]. The station aired hourly news before the ban was imposed on 1 February 2005. Rainbow FM Private Limited said the news would be broadcast at 8 in the morning and five in the afternoon. The government imposed a ban on the broadcast of news and current affairs programme following the royal take-over on 1 February and still remains in force. Radio journalists are currently protesting the ban. Source: Rajdhani, Kathmandu, in Nepali 7 Jul 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RN glitch on July 4 --- Was awake early July 4 and tuned in RN on 9790 kHz for the 1000 UT hour program. It started normally, then lost audio at 1015. Dead air until music fill began at 1034, then the program audio in progress (Research File) started in mid-word at 1045 UT. I switched over to 11675 kHz for the 1100 UT hour program, which proceeded normally. 73, (Will Martin, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bonaire both ** NIGERIA. 15250, 3 July, V. of Nigeria, 1030-1045, Inglés, locutora con comentarios y música de fondo, africana, SINPO 44433 (José Miguel Romero Burjasot, (Valencia), España, SANGEAN ATS 909, Antena activa Radio MASTER A-108, Noticias DX via DXLD) If confirmed that would be a brand-new frequency, ex-15120? EiBi has nothing in English, but during this hour 15250 has China clashing with VOA Mandarin, and on Sundays Romania is also on (gh, DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. (Pirate) The Crystal Ship offers e-mail notification of their upcoming transmissions to those who request it. Just send an e-mail to tcsshortwave at yahoo dot com if you`d like to be added to their list. Given their propensity to use unusual frequencies, it`s probably a good idea (John T. Arthur, Veried Response, The Monthly A*C*E, July via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Re 5-110: Rechecked at 2309 UT July 5, KOKB 1580 Blackwell was back on the air but only with open carrier. Left a rx on that all evening, and the OC did not go off until 0357 July 6. KOKB is supposed to have 49 watts at night, but seemed a lot more like day power of 1000, some 60 miles away. Still off July 6 at 1345; by early UT July 7 again with programming, but signal seemed weaker than usual (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checked after 2300 UT July 5, KOPX-62 was indeed showing the ``i`` bug in the lower right, but the ``Pax`` bug in the lower left. All day long it was nothing but infomercials as usual. That`s what ``i`` really stands for (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [non]. R. Oklahoma, 1635 kHz, 2020 UT 28 May, schlagers, pop, Dutch (Robert Petraitis, Klaipeda, Lithuania, Alternative Airwaves, July BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA [and non]. SPOTLIGHT ON A FREQUENCY: 7120 kHz This month we take a look at 7120 kHz in the 41 metre-band, which has just recently become host to a new radio station in Papua New Guinea, Wantok Radio Light (see DX News for further details). Here is a list of stations known to be using this frequency throughout the day for the A-05 season: Time UTC Station name, Location, country Power Language, target area 24 hours Wantok R Light, Port Moresby, PNG 1 kW English - domestic 0200-0300 CNR-8, Beijing, China 50 kW Korean - domestic 0300-0400 BBC WS, Meyerton, S Africa 500 kW English - West Africa 0400-0500 BBC WS, Meyerton, S Africa 250 kW English - West Africa 0420-0600 All India R, Jaipur, India 50 kW Indian langs - dom sce (Su) 0630-0930 All India R, Jaipur, India 50 kW Indian langs - dom sce (Su) 0700-0930 All India R, Jaipur, India 50 kW Indian langs - dom sce (Mo-Sa) 1000-1100 CNR-8, Beijing, China 50 kW Korean - domestic sce 1030-1120 All India R, Jaipur, India 50 kW Indian langs - dom sce (Su) 1400-1500 CNR-8, Beijing, China 50 kW Kyrgyz - domestic sce 1500-1600 CNR-8, Beijing, China 50 kW Uighur - domestic sce 1600-1700 CNR-8, Beijing, China 50 kW Mongolian - domestic 1600-1700 R Romania Int, Tiganesti 250 kW Russian - to Russia 1700-1800 R V of People, Madagascar 50 kW English - to Zimbabwe 1800-1900 R Cairo, Abis, Egypt 250 kW Russian - to Russia 1900-2100 R Netherlands, Madagascar 250 kW English - C&S Africa 2000-2100 China R Int, Jinhua, China 500 kW Mandarin - to Europe 2100-2200 R Netherlands, Madagascar 250 kW Dutch - to C Africa 2130-2200 China R Int, Urumqi, China 500 kW Hungarian - to C Europe 2130-2200 R Tirana, Shijak, Albania 100 kW English - to W Europe (Mo-Sa) 2300-0100 RFE/RL, Biblis, Germany 100 kW Russian - to Russia So what chances of being able to hear Wantok Radio Light here in the UK? As Dave Kenny points out, there is not really a suitable propagation path in the morning at this time of year; in theory it should propagate late afternoons, but the band is likely to be cluttered then. Our best chance for hearing the station might be early morning in the new year/early spring. But you never know! (compiled by Tony Rogers, July BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) I listened to Wantok Radio Light in English on 7120 from 0807 to 0900 UT on June 15, 2005. Mainly songs and religious program. ID at 0821, 0857 and 0900. SINPO-35332-35333 (Yasuhiro Shiozaki, Japan Premium via DXLD) I.e. no interference at all during that hour; Jaipur lost in daytime absorption? (gh) ** POLAND. The latest photos of the fallen mast at Konstantynow show well that it could never be re-erected! It certainly must have been quite a sight to see it 'descending'. I am intrigued at the largest of the two photos of the mast when upright - on the right of the page. The top section appears to have many "somethings" attached to it. Is this an optical illusion or what could they be if not? Was it to, in some way, cause the mast to radiate directionally - or maybe radiate better in one direction than another? (Noel R. Green, UK, wwdxc BC-DX July 5 via DXLD) ** SAO TOME. SÃO TOMÉ --- Monitoreando esta noche la banda tropical, me encuentro con la reactivación de VOA 4950; también he testeado la frecuencia de 4940 y en esta frecuencia estaba en blanco. Parece ser que la VOA ha vuelto a emitir por la frecuencia habitual de los últimos años; estaremos atentos por si vuelven mañana otra vez a 4940. Un saludo desde (Cartagena, España de vuestro colega y amigo, JOSE HERNANDEZ MADRID, July 6, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** SENEGAL. 765 kHz, RTS. Is it really off? In the country section, the WRTH '05 lists Matam 965 [sic] kHz 1 kW only, while its MW list still includes Dakar 300/10 kW [on 765] which could easily be traced, for Switzerland is easily nulled with the K9AY (Carlos Gonçalves, SW coast of Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. BBC AND MEDIACORP RENEW AGREEMENT ON TRANSMISSION IN SINGAPORE --- PRESS RELEASE 6 July 2005 The BBC has renewed its transmission agreement with the Singapore- based MediaCorp Technologies. The contract signed on Tuesday, 5 July in Singapore will see the BBC World Service remain on Singapore's airwaves indefinitely. The BBC World Service 88.9 FM has been transmitting in Singapore since 1976 and it reaches an audience of 300,000 people every week. For the last 10 years, MediaCorp Technologies has been the company responsible for the transmission of the BBC World Service in Singapore. This facility receives the BBC programmes live from London via satellite and simultaneously relays it on FM to all parts of Singapore. With the agreement, MediaCorp Technologies will continue to provide technical services to the BBC indefinitely. Michael Grade, BBC Chairman attending the signing ceremony in Singapore, said: "BBC World Service has a long association with Singapore, spanning more than 30 years. I am delighted that, by renewing this contract today, this deep-rooted association will continue long into the future." Ernest Wong, Group CEO of MediaCorp, said: "We are delighted that the chairman of the BBC, Mr Michael Grade, himself is here to witness the signing, and it attests to the quality of the technical transmission that we are providing from our MediaCorp Technologies. We hope to do more collaboration with the BBC.`` Pictures from the signing ceremony are available on request. Ends For more information contact: Lala Najafova, International Publicist, BBC World Service +44(0)207557 2944; lala.najafova @ bbc.co.uk (BBCWS Press via DXLD) not to mention Kranji SW site ** U K. BBC R4 local MW transmitters still continue but are never - ever - mentioned on air. Only once did I hear them being discussed - and this was during a cricket commentary when some listeners were complaining that they "didn't have LW" on their radio. The comment was interesting if very ill informed until finally the technical people joined in with a list of them and their correct frequencies. Now 198 LW commentary is also carried via DAB, satellite, Freeview and the Internet and MW is once again forgotten (Noel R. Green, UK, wwdxc BC- DX July 5 via DXLD) ** U K [non]. Just had a phone call from Chris Hambly in Victoria, Australia, about a test message from VT/Merlin on 12095, at 2023 UT July 5. And I heard it over his phone. BBC WS via Ascension is supposed to be on at this time, so what gives? 73, (Glenn, dxldyg via DXLD) Hearing BBC's Newshour here now on 12095. Fair signal (Don Hosmer, 2033 UT, ibid.) ** U K [non?]. Just a note of observation. This morning 0700-0800 gmt (05-07-05) I was listening to a VT-MERLIN test transmission on 9525. It was a continuous "loop" type announcement "You are listening to a test transmission by VT-Merlin Communications, a media provider of international broadcast services...`` etc. In an effort to establish transmitter site, power, beam heading I phoned Merlin, only to be told that this information is confidential we cannot give it out; that was after first denying the existence of the broadcast & implying it didn't come from them! Can anyone throw some light on this for me? 73 (Brian Mulleady - GM0KWL, July 5, HCDX via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. I would like to point out again the remarkable signal we get from BBCWS via Thailand on 17760 in the mornings. July 6 and 7 it was absolutely booming in, tho with a bit of flutter. This is aimed at East Asia, and so carries on in more or less the same direxion toward us. I wonder if MUF predictions would support this reality? If the BBC were interested in serving CNAm, this ought to be on the published schedule. It was on 17760 that I first learned about the blasts in London, but toward the end of the hour it was about reaction rather than the basic facts, and since BBCWS was going to abandon us at 1400 anyway, I was forced to turn on CNN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello, in case you have not noted yet: The BBC website is disconnected at present. Not the behaviour of a server under heavy load, instead no connection whatsoever (Kai Ludwig, Germany, 1133 UT July 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TROUBLE GETTING ONLINE AUDIO FROM BBC WORLDSERVICE There is nothing like a tragedy to show how quickly the Internet services can be deluged. I've been trying for awhile now at work to pull up the Internet audio feeds from the BBC Worldservice, with messages of service down for maintenance or due to capacity. Access to the online news sites of the BBC are also moving very, very slow. Unfortunately shortwave reception is not possible for me at work, as I work in a stone building that is hard on all but local MW and FM stations (Kevin Anderson, Dubuque, Iowa, 1237 UT July 7, swprograms via DXLD) When I first tried at 1537, no problem getting the BBCWS infent feed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UK sites are now accessible, though the BBC is using its alternative low bandwidth Home Page due to the heavy traffic. Other parts of the BBC site are normal, though they can't all be accessed directly from the Home Page (Andy Sennitt, 1541 UT July 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD'S BROADCASTERS VIEW LONDON BLASTS Television channels worldwide carried news of explosions on London's public transport. Many TV networks such as Germany's N-TV, Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, Iranian Al-Alam and the Beirut-based LBC offered rolling news coverage of events in the English capital, while others screened messages below their scheduled programmes to give viewers regular updates as more details of fatalities and injuries became known. Much of the footage appeared to be from pooled resources, while some images appeared to be unique. Moscow's Channel One television devoted its entire 1400 news bulletin to the events in London, while the Prague-based CZ.24 channel carried a live discussion between the Czech Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan and Vaclav Moravec of the BBC World Service's Czech service. Additionally, channels such as the Budapest-based Duna TV carried British Prime Minister Tony Blair's live statement from the G8 conference venue at Gleneagles. The BBC took the decision to combine television news coverage on terrestrial and digital platforms, with BBC One, BBC News 24 and BBC World all broadcasting the same programming for some time. BBC radio services also joined forces to provide news and emergency information, with BBC Five Live, BBC Asian Network and BBC World Service all carrying rolling news. The Asian Network carried a relay of Five Live throughout the afternoon, before switching to its own rolling news service in English, Hindi and Urdu. BBC Radio Four's FM service carried a number of extended news programmes, including a simulcast with Five Live at 1100 gmt, but mainly continued to broadcast its scheduled programming. Radio Four's LW service carried commentary of the England versus Australia cricket international throughout the day. BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra and Radio Three carried scheduled programming. The BBC News website experienced heavy traffic throughout the day, but continued to provide a full service. Source: BBC Monitoring research 7 Jul 05 (via DXLD) ** U S A. This e-mail was distributed yesterday to everyone at VOA/IBB. Jurgis processed reception reports and sent QSL cards.... "It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of one of our longtime staff - Jurgis Bradunas - yesterday morning (July 4). Jurgis had been ill and in the hospital at the time of his passing. Other details are not currently known but any additional information will be forwarded once available. Some of you may remember Jurgis from the Lithuanian Service where he started in 1976. He was most recently a valued member of the VOA Audience Mail Team in the Language Programming Directorate." 73 (Kim Elliott, July 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 5-110: Allan Weiner Worldwide UT July 2 at 0000 on 7415: I have not heard it it yet, but the Al Weiner show form last Friday IS available as a steam/download from http://www.dxprograms.net (George (Skip) Thurman, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Archives start here: http://www.11l-rni.net/ (Ken Kopp, KS, dxldyg via DXLD) Yes, it was a remarkable broadcast. And a recording is up already in the on-demand archive at http://11l-rni.net/aww/ (Larry Will, Mt Airy, MD, dxldyg via DXLD) I have now listened to it; Allan is quite concerned about recent SCOTUS decisions, our liberties being lost, and God is the answer (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmph! The one time in Lord knows how many weeks I *don't* listen live and something interesting happens. Anyway, I just went to the link shown and clicked on the applicable program, found the appropriate entry for this program and told it to use real player, and that little screen came up and said it had the file, and then nothing. What do I have to do to make it start? (Will Martin, MO, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Press the play button? (gh) Re WBCQ interval signal: Yes, I saw the cart in the studio when we visited Maine recently, and I've recently noticed the interval signal used as 7415 signs on. This is the interval signal that Michael used for Planet World News, a finely produced 15 minute news program that used to run on weekday afternoons. Tom Barna ran a music show early Monday Morning, July 4, from 0445 to 0530 or so after World of Radio completed. He came on air at around 0515 thanking listeners and sending greetings to fans and station management. This is the first time I've ever heard Tom do a show on WBCQ (Larry Will, Mt Airy, MD, dxldyg via DXLD) Larry`s tagline: The radio craze...will die out in time. -- Thomas A. Edison (1922) ** U S A. Since Good Friends (a.k.a. Rod Hembree) has bought up 2100- 2300 UT daily on WBCQ 17495, WORLD OF RADIO has shifted again to 2300 Wednesdays instead of 2200, i.e. one hour after the first broadcast, on 7415. Confirmed July 6; 17495 seems to be CLSB rather than CUSB, wonder why? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WASHINGTON, DC, EMERGENCY TIS ON THE 4TH The Associated Press reported, on 7/1, that Washington, DC, would be testing their emergency evacuation plan by using the city's Highway Advisory Radio (HAR). After the fireworks on the Mall ended, both drivers and pedestrians were to be directed to the evacuation routes through the use of the city's HAR operating on 1650 kHz. {The station is WQAJ522 and there are six (6) transmitters licensed for operation on 1650 kHz. mh} The test was to have lasted about 45 minutes. A fine plan....if pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, etc happened to have an AM radio handy. Just a thought, DC (Mike Hardester, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. A "W" call --- in western Nebraska? Just going through the changes today in the FCC database, and I see that K13VO North Platte NE has changed calls to WSWS-CA. There's an ownership connection there (Pappas) to the previous use of the WSWS calls, in Opelika AL, but still...a W call, probably 600 miles west of the Mississippi. Go figure! s (Scott Fybush, WTFDA via DXLD) Egad! Is nothing sacred ?? (Russ Edmunds, PA, ibid.) Not in the studios of KTGG, Spring Arbor, Michigan, certainly. Legend has it that that call assignment in 1995 stemmed from someone at the FCC thinking "MI" was Minnesota or Missouri. Maybe they thought this one was North Platte, NEw Jersey! s (Fybush, ibid.) The FCC seems to be having a lot more trouble with the location of the Mississippi River these days. This is hardly the first error of this type in recent years, even ignoring the KTGG incident. LPTVs seem to be especially susceptible, though usually the culprits are letter- number LPTVs, not all-letter ones. – (Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, ibid.) ** U S A. PUBLIC INVITED TO REVIEW DRAFT FCC "STRATEGIC PLAN" In large part, it is as if the Federal Communications Commission is becoming the Federal Broadband Commission --- not necessarily a bad thing and a trend that we've certainly seen coming, but a trend worth fully contemplating: http://tinyurl.com/766yo (CGC Communicator July 6 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Pirate FM in Urbana IL --- Heard it today at about 2:30 PM Central Time on 99.7 while driving about a half mile South of Champaign. Double audio at times, one an interview program about the G8 protests in Scotland, another featuring rap music with raunchy lyrics, and a female announcer with a decided Indian-subcontinent-ish accent. Later tunein at 3:05 PM had the announcer and music alone, with the woman occasionally reading what she called "BBC News"; my guess she was reading off their website. Fair-good signal. Thank you! (Eric Loy, Champaign IL, July 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. PORTLAND, OREGON, PIRATE - AND A SORT OF PIRATE Spent the day in Portland. No DX, so I was checking out the dial for interesting local stuff. "PRA 96.7" is another one of those way-out-in-the-open pirates, with a website and all - http://www.praradio.com/wholeframe.htm I have to say that if they were available in Bend, I'd listen to 'em (yeah they stream, but I haven't managed to hook up with the stream yet). The transmitter appears to be in SE Portland and from my guess they're running between 50-100 watts (signal fades at about 15-20 miles). KPSU 98.3 is... well, I don't know what it is. KPSU doesn't show up in the FCC database on 98.3, but their website http://www.kpsu.org/ shows them on that frequency and they are clearly listenable all over downtown Portland. They originally were on 1450 AM as a licensed station, and now share that frequency with KBPS. I'm guessing that they are running 10w or less as their signal only gets out a mile or two. Scott, or others - how does a station in the middle of a metro area owned by a state university broadcast without any apparent sort of license? Any ideas? Anyway, kinda fun listening, especially "The Pra". (Dave Williams -- Redmond, OR, July 6, WTFDA via DXLD) ``KPSU``: not to be confused with the REAL KPSU, 91.7 Goodwell OK. Some months ago looking for the OK station website, I landed in OR tho the location was not clear at first (gh) I'll start with the AM. There's only KBPS licensed on 1450 - but KBPS leases/donates its evening and overnight hours (5 PM-2 AM, it would appear) to simulcast "KPSU" programming. There'd better be "KBPS, Portland" legals every hour, even during KPSU programs. The 98.3 appears to be severely stretching the Part 15 rules, which allow for coverage of a campus but impose strict limits on the field strength a few yards from the edge of campus. I believe the phrase one might use would be "pirate." "Unlicensed" might be kinder. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) From an article last fall in "Willamette Week," Portland's alternative weekly http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=5591 --- "The future of KPSU, a rare outpost of eclecticism on Portland's radio dial, is in doubt this week, as the Portland State University station and Portland Public Schools can't seem to tune in to the same frequency. For the past 10 years, KPSU has leased 73 hours of airtime each week on KBPS 1450 AM, the frequency run by Benson High School's communication-studies program. KPSU pays Portland's biggest school district $46,000 a year to rent the station on evenings and weekends. At midnight on Oct. 15, the current contract ends, and Benson might kick KPSU off its airwaves. That would reduce Portland State's station to a weak FM signal barely audible beyond its downtown campus. Will KPSU go mute? Depends on whom you talk to. Ava Hegedus, KPSU's station manager, claims her station is still in negotiations to sign a new contract. But Bill Cooper, KBPS's station manager and Benson alum, disagrees, saying that negotiations are definitely off. "We decided it's time for all of the airtime on KBPS to be devoted to students," Cooper says. "Basically the sticking point has always been that we wanted to have time to broadcast live sports, and they've always been hesitant to do that." --- Clearly, the negotiations were successful :-) s (Fybush, ibid.) ** U S A. CHRISTIAN STATION BACK ON AIR AFTER FENDING OFF ONSLAUGHT FROM 'PIRATE' --- BY STEVE GIBBS Citizen Staff KEY LARGO - A Christian radio station with a transmission tower in Key Largo can again be picked up by nighttime listeners north of Miami International Airport, thanks to a new Florida law that puts teeth in the Federal Communications Commission's licensing laws. Listeners in North Miami-Dade and Broward counties can again hear adult rock music that reflects Christian values as broadcast from WMKL, known as "The Call," at 91.7 FM. With the June 23 arrest of an illegal radio station operator in Miami- Dade County who was jamming the relatively weak WMKL signal, the station is again being heard loud and clear within its entire broadcast range. Rob Robbins, president and general manager of the Cutler Ridge-based WMKL, said only two FCC agents serve all of South Florida, and jammed radio frequencies are a major problem here. "The new state law, spurred on by the Florida Association of Broadcasters, gives local police the teeth to enforce the law," Robbins said. "This is profound. We've never seen any action this fast before. This is, like, lightning speed." Robbins, fresh out of the University of Miami where he earned his undergraduate degree in marine biology, teamed up with friends to start a Christian station. They eventually purchased WMKL on Feb. 9, 2000, and went on the air as a licensed station. Because the station's transmission tower is south of Miami-Dade County and not as powerful as some of the larger stations, a pirate station had been using the frequency to illegally transmit. Now listeners in the Keys down to about Mile Marker 10, and in Miami-Dade County up into Broward County, can receive the station clearly at night. According to the North Miami Beach police report, "The pirate station operated a KA-1000 FM transmitter feeding a high-grain [sic], 4-bay FM antenna attached to a tower on top of a two-story commercial office building. "The pirate station operated unattended using Windows Media Player running on a PC with a DSL connection. The pirate station's transmitter was turned on every evening using a hot-water-heater type timing switch, which would turn off each morning. The pirate station's transmission completely eliminated WMKL's signal throughout northern Miami-Dade County." After hearing complaints from listeners, Robbins and his staff found the pirate station using a pocket radio. They filed a complaint with the FCC, then contacted detectives with the North Miami Beach Police Department, who responded immediately. Detectives obtained a search warrant, procured a judge's signature, and waited at the illegal station for transmission to begin. When they entered the office and found the unattended equipment operating, they lowered the volume on the audio mixer and verified that the signal disappeared from their vehicle radios. "The detectives then began surveillance on the illegal station to see if anybody would come by to fix the audio," the report stated. "Approximately 90 minutes later an individual arrived to unlock the office and was arrested." The man was taken to jail, and the equipment was seized and impounded by police. Robbins is thankful for the quick police work, but said he is not optimistic that his station is home free. "There are at least 20 pirate stations in South Florida," he told The Citizen. "I fully expect to be jammed again. I'm sure there's someone out there with a transmitter looking for a weaker signal. "South Florida is the radio pirate capital of the world," he added. (via Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, DXLD) ** U S A. 1090 unID - "Victor Camacho" show --- From Duluth, Minnesota, USA: I have a strong Spanish unID on 1090 that I'd like to resolve. The station, late-at-night, airs the "Victor Camacho" show. If you're not familiar with him, he's kind of the Spanish-language equivalent of Art Bell. I listened to the station (against some noise and an opposing English-language station) during two TOH's and was able to resolve nothing but "Diez Noventa" - no English-language callsign, unless the played it really low. I can understand Spanish fairly well, but there seemed to be very little in the way of an ID. I visited his website but did not seem to find any information related to what stations play him, other than that stations in the Southwest air his show. I searched Google otherwise, but was not able to find anything. This Camacho guy is kind of interesting - I think he called the segment of his programming I was listening to "Universo" or something (or maybe that's his show name?). A lady did a little segment on astronomy speaking of "ventanas oscuras" and telescopes, a "punto de hora" (if I heard it right) from Victor. Heck, I think I even heard the same Coast-to-Coast music on his show! If anybody could be of help I would really appreciate it. [Later:] Wow, what a bit of late-night research can do. The show (Victor Camacho's Los Desvelados) is carried on the Radiovisa network http://www.radiovisa.com KMXA 1090 in Aurora, CO is an affiliate of Radiovisa, according to TVRadioWorld. The only Spanish-speaking 1090 station in the WRTH is KNCR in California, which is a daytime-only station. So, KMXA then. Not far (only about 1,300 km or 800 mi), but not too powerful either at 500 watts (Jacob Norland, July 6, HCDX via DXLD) Hi Jacob, A friend of mine expeditioning in northern Sweden last winter had an unid SS on 830. Listening to the tape, I realized he was hearing Victor Camacho´s Los Desvelados show. The station was KMXE, Radiovisa, in LA. They had been on the air with their new call and network affiliation only for a few days when it all happened. My friend received a big package of goodies in return for his report (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) ** U S A. ARIZONA MAYOR WORKING TO BROADEN PENTAGON CHANNEL'S AUDIENCE The state of Arizona broke the mold in May by becoming the first US state to join "America Supports You," the Defense Department's program that highlights Americans' efforts to support the troops. Now Arizona is again making news, this time by broadcasting the Pentagon Channel, a military news and information TV channel, over the public airwaves. John Keegan, mayor of Peoria, Arizona, is spearheading the efforts to broadcast the Pentagon Channel statewide on cable TV. Keegan said he feels the Pentagon Channel would be beneficial to the state because there are so many military communities in Arizona. The Pentagon Channel would also benefit the civilian community, he said, because not as many families today have members in the military, and therefore have less of an appreciation for what servicemembers go through. "It's easy for Americans to be introspective and not think about the realities of the rest of the world," he said. "But our sons and daughters are facing it on a daily basis. It's important for all of America, in a time of war, to have an appreciation for the military." The intermediate goal is to broadcast the Pentagon Channel 24 hours a day in Peoria on local channels, Keegan said. The ultimate goal is for the Pentagon Channel to be broadcast statewide, he said. Peoria will be broadcasting the Pentagon Channel a few hours a day on available channels by the end of July or early August, Keegan said. He estimated it would be at least a year before the state reaches its goal of 24 hour-a-day broadcasting statewide. Programming on the Pentagon Channel includes DoD news briefings, military news, interviews with top defense officials and information and features about the work of the armed forces. (Source: DefenseLINK News) # posted by Andy @ 09:15 UT July 6 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ?? If it`s on cable only, it is not ``broadcasting on public airwaves``! Incredible that some can`t grasp the distinxion (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WSMR TRINITY SITE SPECIAL EVENT STATION July 16, 2005 NM Gang, I am attaching below the official announcement for the July 16, 2005 Trinity Site Special Event Station. You'll notice a good number of the ops are NM QRPers, and yes, we'll be operating a QRP CW station as well as the QRO SSB primary station. Many of us operated a SES at Trinity in 1995 for the 50th as well. With KOB, NBC, CNN, etc. there again, hopefully we'll get a little ham radio exposure like we did last time. This station is by permission of DoD and White Sands Missile Proving Grounds, and we'll be escorted in along with the network news media at 4 am, before the gates are opened to the public at 5 am. Hope to work you SSB/CW/cell phone/smoke signals, etc. 73, Paul NA5N (via Jay Miller, NM, DXLD) Viz.: ------------------------ TRINITY SITE SPECIAL EVENT STATION (W5MPZ) Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb July 16, 1945 - July 16, 2005 Various New Mexico hams, sponsored by the Sandia National Laboratories ARC (W5MPZ) will be operating a special event station from the Trinity Site as part of the 60th anniversary activities. The world's first atomic bomb was detonated before sunrise in the New Mexico desert 35 miles east of Socorro, N.M., on July 16, 1945 at 5:29:18 am. Located on the McDonald Ranch, the Trinity Site is now part of the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). A shallow crater about 200 yards across still remains from the explosion. The stations will be operating, by special permission of WSMR, from "ground zero" on Saturday, July 16, 2005 at 1100-2100 UT (0500-1500 MDT) as follows: SSB: 14.330 and 21.330 (if open) CW: 14.060 and 7.040 (QRP) A special event certificate will be available for a #10 or 6x9 envelope SASE to: (callbook address): Sandia National Laboratories ARC, W5MPZ Attn: Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT 1021 Dakota SE Albuquerque, NM 87108 Ops will be: Dave KQ5M, Ed KA8JMW, Jim K5QQ, Jay WA5WHN, Paul NA5N, Jan N0QT, Bob W9YA and Gary W5BI. Additional information is available from NA5N @ zianet.com or http://www.zianet.com/QRP The official Trinity website is: http://www.wsmr.army.mil/pao/TrinitySite/trinst.htm The Trinity Site is closed to the public except the first Saturday in April and October. Be a part of history and work W5MPZ from the Trinity Site ... the "blast that was felt around the world." ---------------------- ARRL (short) Format: JULY 16, 1100-2100 UT Trinity Site, 35 mi. E. of Socorro, NM. Sandia National Labs ARC, W5MPZ. From ground zero at the 60th Anniversary of the Trinity Site Test - world's first atomic bomb. SSB: 14.330, 21.330 CW: 14.060, 7.040 (QRP). QSL W5PMZ. Info: NA5N @ zianet.com or http://www.zianet.com/QRP ---------------------- This Special Event Station Press Release may be distributed to other amateur radio related services without express permission (via Jay Miller, WA5WHN, one of the participants, WORLD OF RADIO 1280, DXLD) ** U S A. Dear Listener, Thank you for your report of reception of the Armstrong 70th Anniversary Broadcast from WA2XMN via the webcast. The attached file contains an electronic QSL card. If you print it out, it will be a good fit for a 5-by-7-inch frame. The second file contains all of the reports received. Keep an eye on the website for information about possible future transmissions. Best regards, (Al Klase - N3FRQ WA2XMN I.T. Department http://www.wa2xmn.ar88.net/ skywaves @ webex.net (via Ken Kopp, KS, DXLD) Tnx, Ken, for forwarding the QSL (color, no-data), and report file (34 pages) One needs to go thru it all to find out if anyone at all heard 42.8 ionospherically (gh, DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. R. Tashkent, fair and fluttery on 17775, but better than usual July 6 at 1355 in some exotic pop music; 1358 quick ID in English and closing, to open carrier; 1359 RAI 17780 chirps were modulated against 17775, being mostly in the 5 kHz audio range anyway; 1400 as Rome`s theme played, RTI resumed with IS, then some other language. Meanwhile, until 1400* BBCWS Thailand was inbooming on 17760. Next day, July 7 tuned 17775 in earlier at 1337 during apparent news; it would help a lot if they could boost the modulation or do some audio processing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. 7380, Little Saigon Radio via Taiwan. July 3 at *1500-1530*. SINPO 44444. Started with Vietnamese song and ID as "Dai la Little Saigon Radio...California..." Program consisted of interview with short music breaks. Audio was sometimes interrupted (Iwao Nagatani, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. Hello from Hilversum, What a difference a day makes! Yesterday, all eyes were on London as the British capital celebrated winning the rights to stage the 2012 Summer Olympics. This morning, many people woke up with a smile on their face and an aching head after a night of celebration. All that was cruelly cut short when news came through of the terrorist attacks. Like many Brits, I have a personal reason for closely following this story. My niece lives and works in London. And I know all the parts of the underground where these explosions occurred. So at the moment I'm finding it harder than usual to concentrate on other things. But life must go on, so here are details of this week's commentary: A sticky problem As shortwave jamming becomes a growing problem again, it's the politicians and not engineers who ultimately have the power to stop it. But there are no signs that the world's political leaders are planning to discuss the issue any time soon. http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/jam050707.html?view=Standard (Andy Sennitt, Media Network newsletter July 7 via DXLD) This says SWRA is no longer on SW. Could we have some more checks to confirm whether SW Radio Africa is still on SW, 1700-1800 on 15145? Thanks, (Glenn, dxldyg via DXLD) Yes, they are signing on (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) Yep, still there at 1700 on 7 July although interfered by a noise signal, possibly Mugabe jammer (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) They have just launched an appeal for individual donations, and say "If there was additional funding it could go back onto multiple shortwave frequencies. See http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/2005_07_03_medianetwork_archive.html#112075405693623872 (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DX PSYCHOLOGY +++++++++++++ ``An even better question is why have we attracted so few women`` Because most of us are nerds? My first convention (Louisville '76), I remember lotsa long-sleeved flannel shirts (in the heat of summer) - some with white undershirts under them (straight-cut over the throat, of course), horn-rimmed glasses, Brylcreem-saturated hair (in the mid- 1970's), longshoremen's beards, etc. etc. Face it, Brad Pitt we ain't. Seriously, I've often wondered myself why DXing is almost exclusively a male hobby (Steve Francis, Alcoa, Tennessee, NRC-AM via DXLD) My wife says that DX'ing is a male hobby because women need conversation, not just listening! Over the years, she has often said she cannot understand why I would listen to the radio or talk to complete strangers when she is just a few feet away and available for conversation at all times! 73 de (Gary WA1TJB Smith, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1280) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ INTERNATIONAL RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA, whenever in August Greetings - To update progress on our upcoming convention, if anybody experiences a problem making room reservations (there was a change in management at the hotel), contact the new manager Erik Garrido directly by phone at 714-533-8830 in the daytime hours. The room rate did get raised to $59 a night, but we do have a block of rooms on hold until late July - and I'll to extend that a couple more weeks. The hotel does serve a complimentary breakfast every morning until 10am. After they clean that room out, it's ours for the rest of the day. We have a Taco Bell and convenience store across the street. Local restaurants include Sizzler and Cuban Petes. For information on earning frequent flyer miles at these locations, visit http://www.rewardsnetwork.com Also participating in that program is our banquet restaurant Jagerhaus. They are located east of the hotel where Ball Road meets the 57 Freeway. We've decided on a family style dinner consisting of beef rouladen, pork roast, chicken schnitzel, side dishes, salad, soft drinks, and desert. The cost per person will be $20 and change (gratuity included). If you're coming, let me know a couple days ahead so we'll have an accurate guest count. I'm inviting a special guest speaker too!! Working on the Thursday station tours in the Inland Empire. Caravan should depart around noon. Hope to have a couple more local ones Friday. Ham operators can communicate on the 2-meter Disneyland repeater 146.940 MHz (minus) 1361.8 pl. Folks arriving by Amtrak or Metrolink train at the Fullerton Station can take a taxi or Orange County Bus southbound on Harbor Boulevard until they hit Ball Road. Hotel is on the northwest corner, close to Interstate 5. Ball Road is where the old KEZY-1190 studios used to be for years. Calls are now KXMX. Sunday was left wide open for people to visit local attractions --- don't forget the nightly fireworks show at 2130 at Disneyland. Maybe you'll even catch one of our world famous earthquakes. (I did this afternoon.) Bring veries, photos, AM radios for show and tell! I'll see everyone in August. 73 (Mike Sanburn, KG6LJU, P.O. Box 1256, Bellflower, California 90707-1256 Mikesanburn @ hotmail.com IRCA Soft DX Monitor July 9 via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ MILLE VOCI, MILLE SUONI, BOLOGNA Bologna, where Guglielmo Marconi was born in 1874, is the right place for a museum dedicated to radio-video-audio-computer communication. Named ``Mille voci --- mille suoni`` (A thousand voices, a thousand sounds), the museum has about 2000 square metres of display areas, and there are over 1300 original and fully working items to be seen. To name a few of the sections: The history of radio – The Marconi Gallery – The history of television – Computer story – The Ducati Gallery (It’s interesting that this Bologna firm that today is known only for their motorcycles used to produce also high quality radio receivers and cameras) - Library. The library has an important collection of books, vintage magazines, stamps and coins, all related to ``voices and sounds``. Find more at http://www.marconimuseomagic.com (SOUTHERN EUROPEAN REPORT with Stefano Valianti, July BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ UPDATED AFRICA ON SHORTWAVE SURVEYS FROM BDXC-UK Re 5-110: They are not in PDF, though I suppose someone could convert them --- Linkname: Africa on Shortwave - by Country URL: http://www.users.waitrose.com/~bdxc/africa.rtf Linkname: Africa on Shortwave - by Frequency URL: http://www.users.waitrose.com/~bdxc/africafreq.rtf They are on the web site in rtf (Rich Text Format) a low level coding that many editors can import and view. I just downloaded them using Linux and they opened well in Kword, OpenOffice and other graphic word processors on the Knoppix CDrom bootable Collection. RTF is not particularly proprietry unlike DOC, PDF, Articles Index URL: http://www.users.waitrose.com/~bdxc/articles.html "Rich Text Files: Rich Text is a word processing format that will open in most available word processing programs. Simply click on the link above and your computer should select the most appropriate program in which to view the document." (Dan Say, BC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ALGERIA NEW YGROUP: DOMESTICAS Y TROPICALES Hola compañeros, acabo de crear este grupo que se llama domesticasytropicales@yahoogroups.com si alguno de vosotros quiere pertenecer al mismo solo tiene que mandar un mensaje a domesticasytropicales-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Este grupo va a tener la finalidad de congregar y compartir todo lo referente a emisoras nacionales y domésticas que estén en la onda corta y también todo lo referente a la banda tropical. Espero que sea un grupo en el cual los que os agreguéis al mismo os encontréis cómodos y compartáis información sobre la banda tropical y las emisoras de ámbito doméstico. Espero que os guste. Un saludo desde el Sureste de España de vuestro colega y amigo. En el grupo os rogaría que no se hable de política ni de religión ya que esto puede dar pie a enemistades de colegas por esos motivos; el idioma del grupo es preferentemente español, pero también está abierto a los demás idiomas (JOSE HERNANDEZ MADRID, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The geomagnetic field ranged from mostly quiet to active levels. The IMF Bz was very weak from the beginning of the period to midday on the 1st, not varying much beyond +/- 3 nT. During this period, the geomagnetic field was quiet, with an isolated unsettled period late on 30 June. By midday on 01 July, solar wind data indicated the onset of a co-rotating interaction region followed by a high speed stream from a coronal hole. The Bz component of the IMF responded with north/south oscillations of between +/- 13 nT, while the geomagnetic field recorded unsettled to active conditions through mid-day on 03 July. By about 02/0900 UTC, wind speed indicated a slow decay and the IMF Bz relaxed, and did not vary much beyond +/- 5 nT. The geomagnetic field ended the period at quiet levels. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 06 JULY - 01 AUGUST 2005 Solar activity is expected be at very low to low levels with a chance for isolated M-class activity from Regions 783 through 11 July and 786 through 14 July. From 14 to 22 July, very low to low levels are expected. Isolated M-class activity is possible after 22 July due to the return of old Regions 783 (S03, L=150) and 786 (N12, L=057). 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 06 - 19 July, 23 – 27 July, and 31 July – 01 August. 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 levels on 10 - 11 July, 13 – 14 July, and 28 – 30 July, while unsettled to major storm levels are possible from 20 – 22 July. Otherwise, expect quiet to unsettled conditions. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2005 Jul 05 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 Jul 05 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2005 Jul 06 120 7 2 2005 Jul 07 115 7 2 2005 Jul 08 115 7 2 2005 Jul 09 115 10 3 2005 Jul 10 110 15 3 2005 Jul 11 100 12 3 2005 Jul 12 95 10 3 2005 Jul 13 95 15 3 2005 Jul 14 85 15 3 2005 Jul 15 85 8 3 2005 Jul 16 80 8 3 2005 Jul 17 80 5 2 2005 Jul 18 80 5 2 2005 Jul 19 80 5 2 2005 Jul 20 80 40 6 2005 Jul 21 85 20 4 2005 Jul 22 90 15 3 2005 Jul 23 95 10 3 2005 Jul 24 105 8 3 2005 Jul 25 105 5 2 2005 Jul 26 105 5 2 2005 Jul 27 105 8 3 2005 Jul 28 110 15 3 2005 Jul 29 110 15 3 2005 Jul 30 110 12 3 2005 Jul 31 110 10 3 2005 Aug 01 110 8 3 (http://www.sec.noaa/gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1280, DXLD) ###