DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-130, August 4, 2005 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2005 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1283: Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream [repeated 2-hourly thru 2400] Fri 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours [stream has been down] Fri 2000 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru 1600 Sat] Fri 2105 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 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 & WPKM Montauk LINY 88.7 Sat 1200 WOR RFPI Sat 1600 WOR RFPI 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 1200 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 1300 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1730 WOR WRMI 7385 [from WRN] Sun 1730 WOR WRN1 to North America (including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 115) Sun 1900 WOR RNI Mon 0230 WOR WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0330 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 Mon 0415 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually closer to 0418-] Mon 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours [stream has been down] Mon 1800 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru 1400 Tue] Tue 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours [stream has been down] Tue 2330 WOR WBCQ 7415 [unscheduled, but several weeks lately] Wed 0930 WOR WWCR 9985 Wed 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours [stream has been down] Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ON DEMAND [from Fri]: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html WORLD OF RADIO 1283 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1283h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1283h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1283 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1283.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1283.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1283.html [from Thu] WORLD OF RADIO 1283 in true SW sound of Alex`s mp3: (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_08-03-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_08-03-05.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO 1283 downloads in studio-quality mp3: (high) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1283h.mp3 (low) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1283.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO PODCAST: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml (currently 1277, Extra 57, 1278, 1279, 1280, Extra 58, 1281, 1282, 1283) World of Radio 1283 is now available as a plain MP3 download via http://www.obriensweb.com/wor.htm or as a podcast by pasting http://www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml in your podcast software By the way, the podcast is now a 6 meg file and, on an average DSL connection, takes less than 60 seconds to download. Of course, listening to it on your favourite radio station is still a nice option (Andy O`Brien, NY, August 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) MUNDO RADIAL ON WRMI: I have found a time for Mundo Radial -- Sundays at 2345 on 9955. You should hear it this coming weekend (if you can hear 9955 out there). I don't know if we'll air it every week, since I gather it changes monthly (Jeff White, WRMI, Aug 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. ARGENTINA ANTARTIC TERRITORY. 15476, LRA36, 2022-2042, August 03, Spanish. Local songs selection (national rock). Complete ID by male at 2042 as: "Transmite LRA36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, en la frecuencia de 15476 kHz, desde la Base Esperanza". 25442 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, bclnews.it via DXLD) ** ASIA [non]. USA(non): Updated A-05 schedule for Radio Free Asia as August 1: 0000-0100 LAO 12015 13830 15545 0030-0130 BURMESE 11540 13680 13820 17835 0100-0200 UYGHUR 9350 11520 11895 11945 17640 21470 0100-0300 TIBETAN 9365 11695 11975 15225 15695 17730 0300-0600 MANDARIN 13670 13760 15130 15685 17495 17525 17615 17880 21690 0600-0700 MANDARIN 13670 13760 15165 15685 17495 17525 17615 17880 0600-0700 TIBETAN 17780 17510 17720 21500 21690 1100-1200 LAO 9355 9545 15560 1100-1200 TIBETAN 7470 13625 13830 15510 17855 1200-1400 TIBETAN 7470 11590 13625 13830 15510 17855 1230-1330 BURMESE 9455 11540 12030 13675 1230-1330 KHMER 13645 15525 15670 1400-1500 CANTONESE 9355 9780 11715 11850 1400-1500 VIETNAMESE 7380 9455 9635 11510 11535 11605 11680 13685 13775 1500-1700 KOREAN 7210 9385 13625 1500-1600 MANDARIN 7540 9455 9905 11765 12025 13675 13725 15495 1500-1600 TIBETAN 7470 11540 11705 11795 13825 1600-1700 MANDARIN 7540 9455 9905 11795 12025 13675 13715 15530 1600-1700 UYGHUR 7465 9350 9370 9555 11750 11780 1700-1800 MANDARIN 7280 7540 9355 9455 9540 9670 9905 11795 13625 13715 1800-1900 MANDARIN 7280 7530 7540 9355 9455 9540 9865 11700 13625 15510 1900-2000 MANDARIN 7260 7530 7540 9355 9455 9760 9865 9905 11700 11785 13625 15510 2000-2100 MANDARIN 7260 7530 7540 9355 9455 9850 9905 11700 11740 11785 13625 2100-2200 MANDARIN 7105 7540 9850 9910 9920 11740 11935 13625 2100-2300 KOREAN 7460 9385 9770 12075 2200-2300 CANTONESE 9355 9955 11785 13675 2230-2330 KHMER 9490 9930 13735 2300-2400 MANDARIN 7540 9910 11760 13670 13755 15430 15585 2300-2400 TIBETAN 7470 7550 9395 9805 9875 15695 2330-0030 VIETNAMESE 11540 11560 11580 11605 11670 12110 13735 15535 15560 (Observer, Bulgaria, Aug 4, via DXLD) ** BAHAMAS. 810, ZNS3 Bahamas, S9+20 still with very low audio. Great signal if you crank up the volume. Been like that for weeks now (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (Southeast) Florida, [JRC NRD-535D, LF Engineering H-800 & M-601, Quantum Phaser, ANC-4 noise canceler, MFJ- 784B DSP] http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/wobbler/ Aug 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** BELARUS [non]. GERMANY'S DEUTSCHE WELLE TO START BROADCASTING TO BELARUS AS PART OF EU PROJECT | Text of report in English by Belarusian news agency Belapan Minsk, 4 August: Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) has won a contract of the European Commission to start radio broadcasting to Belarus, the press office of the Commission has told Belapan. Deutsche Welle will produce a 30-minute daily programme in Russian that will focus on Belarusian and European news. The Commission plans to provide 138,000 euros annually for the project. The bidders also included the BBC World Service and Euronews. Deutsche Welle is expected to launch the programme after the summer vacation period. The creation of alternative and accessible information sources for Belarus is part of the European Union's draft action plan for promoting democracy in the country. The EU also considered resuming the operation of Radio Ratsyya in Lithuania or Poland, or establishing an information centre in one of those countries to run several media projects for Belarus. Stefaan de Rynck, a spokesman for the Commission, said that the EU can finance projects aimed at supporting the independent media in Belarus and providing free access to impartial information for the Belarusians. The EU earmarked funds for projects concerning Belarus in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy, he said. Source: Belapan news agency, Minsk, in English 1020 gmt 4 Aug 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Radio Pío XII: This network is in the western part of Bolivia and is a Catholic-run radio network http://www.radiopio12.org Click on Radio Pio XII (left hand side) and then click on Radio Pio XII: La red que se hace pueblo to get some background information and history of the network. The most interesting thing about this website is that some of it can be translated into Swedish! Radio Panamericana http://www.panamericana-bolivia.com consists of a network of FM, AM and shortwave stations in Bolivia. Not much information is mentioned except that the SW station broadcasts on 6105 (Dr John Barnard, Signals Unlimited, Aug CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC JOURNO TO BECOME GOVERNOR GENERAL http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/08/04/Jean-appointed-050804.html Prime Minister Paul Martin officially announced the appointment Thursday of journalist Michaëlle Jean as Canada's next governor general. (...) At 48 years old, the award-winning journalist will become one of the youngest governors general ever, the third woman in the job and the first black person to call Rideau Hall home. (...) Jean is probably best known to English-Canadians as the host of The Passionate Eye and Rough Cuts on CBC Newsworld. She was born in Port- au-Prince, Haïti. She left in 1968, her family fleeing the oppressive regime of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, settling in Québec with her family. Jean is fluent in five languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole. Her television career began in Québec, where she has worked as a journalist, producer and host for the CBC's French language services, SRC and RDI, since 1988. She has worked as a correspondent for Le Point, hosted Le Monde ce soir, L'Édition quebecoise, Horizons francophones, le Journal RDI and RDI à l'écoute. Currently she is host of the French-language documentary series Grands Reportages. (etc.) (via Ricky Leong, AB, Aug 4, DXLD) Does she get to keep her CBC job? G.G. is ceremonial. Illustrations of her at source, plus audio and video (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. Interesting CRTC application --- I haven't seen too many applications for on-channel radio repeaters in Canada. Are they as rare as I think they are? (Ricky Leong, AB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2005/pb2005-77.htm Toronto, Ontario Application No. 2005-0350-0 Application by Durham Radio Inc. to amend the licence of radio programming undertaking CJKX-FM Ajax, Ontario. The licensee proposes to add an FM transmitter at Toronto to broadcast the programming of CJKX-FM in order to adequately serve the population of downtown Toronto. The transmitter would operate on frequency 95.9 MHz (channel 240A) with an average effective radiated power of 85 watts (maximum effective radiated power of 220 watts/antenna height of 312.4 metres). This would be a synchronous repeater of CJKX-FM Ajax, using the same frequency as the mother station. Approval would entail one common signal distributed by both transmitters. The applicant advised that the synchronous repeater will correct the interference problems in downtown Toronto, an area which falls within the authorized 0.5mV/m contour of CJKX-FM Ajax (via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** CANADA. CRTC denies AM conversion to FM! http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/db2005-378.htm The Commission denies the application by Standard Radio Inc. to convert its radio programming undertaking CHOR Summerland to the FM band. (...) 2. The applicant proposed to operate the new FM station at 98.5 MHz (channel 253A1) with an effective radiated power of 250 watts. The antenna for the new station would be placed on the tower currently used for CHOR’s antenna. The applicant submitted that converting the existing AM station to the FM band would improve the signal quality and enable it to provide enhanced local programming options. (...) 12. Based on its examination of the record of this proceeding, the Commission considers that Standard’s application raises concerns that the coverage area of the proposed new FM station would expand beyond the existing contours of CHOR and extend the station’s signal significantly, particularly into the Penticton market. The Commission notes that CHOR, Summerland’s only local radio station, currently serves an estimated population of 11,156 within its existing 15 mV/m contour, while the 3 mV/m contour of the proposed FM radio station would serve an estimated population of 12,101. However, the expanded 0.5 mV/m contour of the proposed FM radio station would encompass a much larger area than the market currently served by CHOR, and extend the proposed station’s signal into the Penticton market and more than triple the station’s population coverage within its 0.5 mV/m contour. The proposed expanded coverage into Penticton is of particular concern to the Commission because that community and Summerland are located less than 20 kilometres apart. 13. Furthermore, the Commission notes that Standard currently operates two radio stations in Penticton, namely CJMG-FM and CKOR, and that the approval of this application would result in Standard operating three stations with effective coverage of the Penticton market. The Commission is concerned that this would increase the competitive imbalance in the marketplace and have a potential negative financial impact on CIGV-FM, Standard’s only local competitor in Penticton.(...) 15. In light of all of the above, the Commission determines that an FM station designed to replace CHOR should have a coverage area that more closely resembles that of CHOR’s existing signal. The Commission, therefore, denies Standard Radio Inc.’s application. (etc.) (via Ricky Leong, DXLD) Imagine the FCC ever making such a ruling (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. CULTURAL COMMUNITY CALL FOR REVERSAL OF SATELLITE RADIO LICENCING | Text of press release by Toronto-based Canadian Independent Record Production Association on 2 August The Canadian Independent Record Production Association (CIRPA), in concert with the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the American Federation of Musicians (Canada) (AFM), the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA), the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA), the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), the Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union (CEP), the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (FCB), the National Campus & Community Radio Association (NCRA/ANREC), the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers (SOCAN), the Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC), the United Steel Workers (USW) and the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC), today filed a Notice to Appeal to the Governor in Council asking to have Decision CRTC 2005-246 and Decision CRTC 2005-247 set aside. These decisions by the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted licences to operate satellite subscription radio undertakings to Canadian Satellite Radio Inc and Sirius Canada Inc. The petitioners represent the interests of songwriters, musical composers, radio dramatists, performing and recording artists, music publishers, producers of sound recordings, citizen watchdog groups, labour organizations and local community broadcasters. They represent a major component of the key cultural industry sector. As a group, they contribute significantly to the Canadian economy and its growth, as well as representing the interests of a very large number of Canadians. In the Notice of Appeal, the group requests that the decisions be set aside because they derogate from the attainment of the objectives of the broadcasting policy as set out in subsection 3(1) of the Broadcasting Act. The act states that the Canadian broadcasting system shall "through its programming and the employment opportunities arising out of its operations, serve the needs and interests, and reflect the circumstances and aspirations, of Canadian men, women and children, including equal rights, the linguistic duality and multi-cultural and multi-racial nature of Canadian society and the special place of aboriginal peoples within that society". It also states that the "Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians". CIRPA does not believe the objectives as set out in the Broadcasting Act have been met, necessitating the appeal. "If allowed to stand, these decisions set a dangerous precedent that is likely to have far reaching consequences to Canadian artists, companies producing Canadian sound recordings and Canadian broadcasting as a whole," remarked CIRPA's Executive Director Cori Ferguson. "The CRTC's sanctioning of the wholesale dumping of foreign cultural products and services into the Canadian market is an historic low point in Canadian content broadcasting regulation. With these decisions they have essentially licensed two subscription satellite radio services on which 90 per cent of the content will be produced by Americans, packaged in the United States and delivered by American satellite facilities directly to Canadians," she stated. "We don't believe that the business plans of two American companies should take precedence over long-established broadcast policy aimed at reflecting and celebrating the Canadian experience to and for Canadians," Ferguson said. "It's just too important to our culture and heritage for us not to speak out." CIRPA's concerns with the decisions lie in the deviation from established Canadian content regulations, the ghettoization of Canadian music within the services, the lack of commitment to French- language programming, the level of foreign control over Canadian broadcasting licensees, the lack of consideration of pressing technological issues including copy protection for intellectual property and the effects these decisions may have on future broadcast undertakings. The appellants in this petition join other already-filed appeals by a coalition of French-language cultural groups including ADISQ [Quebec- based record, entertainment and video industry organization], APEM [Professional Music Publishers Association], APFTQ [Association of Film and Television Producers], ARRQ [Quebec-based association of producers and directors], GMMQ [Quebec Musicians Guild], SARTEC [Society of Radio, Television and Cinema Writers], SOCAN [Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada], SODRAC [Society for the Reproduction Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers in Canada], SPACQ [Society of Professional Songwriters and Composers] and Uda [Artists' Union], as well as the Canadian Recording Industry Association and CHUM/Astral (a licensee for a land-based subscription radio service) in appealing the decisions. Source: Canadian Independent Record Production Association press release, Toronto, in English 2 Aug 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CHINA. ANALYSIS: CHINA CURBS FOREIGN TV CHANNELS | Text of editorial analysis by Peter Feuilherade of BBC Monitoring Media Services on 4 August China will bar new foreign television channels and step up censorship of imported programming, the Culture Ministry announced on 3 August. China "will not again allow a foreign satellite TV station to have landing rights in the country," the ministry said in a statement quoted by the official news agency Xinhua. And in an effort to "safeguard national cultural safety," the government also will tighten controls over the 31 foreign satellite TV broadcasters that hold licences to operate in China, the Culture Ministry statement added. According to Xinhua, regulators said the new rules were designed to strengthen oversight of the industry while the government "finds ways to regulate (existing foreign media in the market) to prevent harmful programmes from entering". Foreign players Foreign players who currently have broadcasting rights in China include Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, Viacom's MTV and News Corp-backed Phoenix Satellite Television, which all broadcast in Guangdong. Tom Group, controlled by Hong Kong's richest businessman, Li Ka-shing, also owns a station with broadcasting rights in Guangdong with Time Warner. Overseas players with limited broadcasting rights in the market include Time Warner's CNN and the BBC, as well as various channels owned by News Corp's Star TV subsidiary. The ban on new stations in the market is expected to have the most immediate impact on Disney, which applied for a limited broadcasting licence in 2003 and is one of the few major media companies without a channel in the market, Xinhua reported observers as saying. Viacom's Nickelodeon children's channel also applied for a limited broadcasting licence in 2003, and could also be affected. China's TV and film regulator announced in April that all media companies would be limited to a single programming joint venture, in a move that appeared directed at Viacom, which had announced several partnerships. In July, the regulator issued more regulations banning city and provincial broadcasters from cooperating with foreign media companies. Cultural control The government also will ban new licences for companies to import newspapers and magazines, electronic publications, audiovisual products and children's cartoons, the Culture Ministry said. It said new limits will be imposed on the number of foreign copyrighted products that Chinese companies are allowed to publish. The announcement also said the government will launch a new crackdown on illegal satellite dishes. Most private ownership of satellite receivers is banned in China, but millions of households own them illegally, despite repeated crackdowns. The ministry said authorities will try to stamp out the unlicensed broadcasting of foreign programming over telecommunications networks. The latest steps are meant to "strengthen management of imported cultural products, improve intellectual property protections and safeguard national cultural safety," the Culture Ministry explained. Media analysts described the 3 August ruling as the latest in a series of steps to tighten the government's controls over popular culture and keep out material that China's communist leaders fear is spreading politically and socially dangerous influences. The measure represents a setback for international media groups who had hoped to benefit from Beijing's steps in the last year to open up its media market by allowing foreign investment in joint-venture television, radio and film production companies. China has an estimated 1,000 radio stations and 200 TV stations. As these broadcasters have to compete in an increasingly crowded market and face the threat of losing government subsidies, they are keen to attract foreign investment and programming. But the accelerating expansion of foreign participation in local media poses political risks to maintaining official control over the media as a propaganda tool. Source: BBC Monitoring research 4 Aug 05 (via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Once again this week, we turn our attention to jamming: The great leap backward --- While the attention of many Western politicians is focused on the war against terrorism, China continues to conduct its own war on freedom of speech. One of its latest targets is the Sound of Hope Radio Network, a global, non- profit provider of radio news and cultural programming. . . http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/chn050804.html?view=Standard (Andy Sennitt, Media Network newsletter Aug 4 via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. QSL recibidas --- 5910, Marfil Estereo, preciosa tarjeta QSL, con datos completos, v/s Martin Stendal e inscripción en el anverso que dice "Marfil Stereo, Ondas de Paz, vía Lomalinda, Puerto Lleras, 5910 SW". También enviaron dos pegatinas, "stickers", una de Marfil Estéreo y otra de La Voz de tu Conciencia, banderín, "pennant" y carta de saludo y agradecimiento, firmada por Rafael Rodríguez R. Editor DX. Tardó en llegar 5 meses y junto al informe de recepción se adjuntó 1 US $. Dirección, address. Marfil Stereo Calle 44 No. 13-67, Bogotá D.C., Colombia e-mail: contacto @ fuerzadepaz.com libreria @ fuerzadepaz.com 6010, La Voz de tu Conciencia, bonita tarjeta QSL, con datos completos, v/s Martin Stendal e inscripción en el anverso que dice: "En la Onda Corta, 6010 kHz, HJDH, La Voz de tu Conciencia". Esta QSL llegó en la misma carta que la de Marfil Stereo, y corresponde a un informe de recepción enviado por e-mail al Sr. Martin Stendal, en relación con la interferencia a Radio Mil. Tardó en llegar 25 días. Dirección, address. La Voz de tu Conciencia Calle 44 No. 13-67, Bogotá D.C., Colombia e-mail: contacto @ fuerzadepaz.com libreria @ fuerzadepaz.com (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, August 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don`t recall seeing a callsign for 6010 before, HJDH, but I see it is shown in WRTH 2005, and the same call on 5910. Let`s see, what slogan can we come up with? Must start ``Hoy Jesús...`` Their MW 1530 is HJV82, harder to sloganize! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR [non]. SOUTH AFRICA(non): New evening transmission for Radio Okapi in French: morning 0400-0600 11690 MEY 500 kW / 342 deg. For B-05 on 11670 evening 1600-1700 11890 MEY 250 kW / 330 deg. For B-05 on 11890 (Observer, Bulgaria, Aug 4, via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. -KINSHASA(non)/SOUTH AFRICA. 11690, Radio Okapi via Sentech, Aug 2 & 4, 0459-0600*, programming in French and African language, many musical jingles for ``Okapi.`` Good signal (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. This morning between 0900 and 1000 EDT [1300-1400 UT], the programming on 590 Villa Clara, was not // 1180 R. Rebelde and sounded like what R. Musical would carry -- harp or harpsichord?, opera. The signal was very weak making it difficult to tell exactly what the music was. It wasn't accordion either; I had the melodies of Mexico from WAFC Clewiston, successfully squashed with the phaser. Could it be that Radio Musical National is back? Also noticed 930 was not R. Reloj as usual. It was also very weak and getting serious splatter from 940 WINZ Miami -- that even phasing could not fully defeat -- so only the missing tick-tock told that RR was not there. Don't know what network it was, but not R. Rebelde. I need to find some good signals in my location of the other networks to help in these situations. On the Wobbler front, very weak on 620, 750 (with 740 WSBR IBOC phased out) and 930; a medium one on 590; and the dreaded Woowoo was medium on a very weak 960 as always. Several Cubans still seem to be running at reduced power since hurricane Dennis: 1100, 1120, 1440, 1510, 1560. I can hear little more than carriers, if that (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (Southeast) Florida, [JRC NRD-535D, LF Engineering H-800 & M-601, Quantum Phaser, ANC-4 noise canceler, MFJ-784B DSP] http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/wobbler/ Aug 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** GABON [and non]. "Soul Vaccination" by Tower of Power caught my attention as it's part of that funk jazz you hardly hear on any regular station, whether F.M. (unless be a crazy guy like me in my show in Costa Rica's Super Radio 102.3) or short wave. Well, Africa #1 was playing it at 0730 Aug. 4 while I happened to pass around 9580 with weak but audible signal, half an hour before Radio Australia takes its place on that channel. No opening by that time on the 16 m for Gabon, altho 19 m was awakening and Nigeria was there with French and very weak signal (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, August 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Some DTK T-Systems changes: Bible Voice Broadcasting Network (BVBN): 0630-0815 5945 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg Sat to WeEu English, ex 0700-0815 0630-0830 5945 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg Sun to WeEu English, ex 0700-0845 1800-1830 11965 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg Wed to ME Persian, additional from Aug. 3 1800-1830 11965 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg Thu to ME Persian, additional from Aug. 4 Hamburger Local Radio: 0900-1000 6045 JUL 100 kW / non-dir Sat to CeEu German, deleted from Aug. 6 BCE Radio Luxembourg (August 1-31): 1000-1600 7145 JUL 040 kW / 290 deg Daily to Eu German DRM, ex 0600-1800 Brother Stair/The Overcomer Ministries (TOM): 1400-1600 6110 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg Daily to Eu English, deleted from Aug. 1 Pan American Broadcasting (PAB): 1400-1430 15650 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg Sat to ME Persian, deleted from Aug. 6 1430-1500 15650 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg Sat to ME English, ex 1430-1600 1600-1630 13820 JUL 100 kW / 100 deg Sat to ME English, additional from Aug. 6 (Observer, Bulgaria, Aug 4, via DXLD) Re Hamburger Local Radio deleted from 6045 above: This in accordance with their website http://www.hhlr.de where this note has been added: `` ! Die Kurzwellensendungen auf 6045 KHz wurden eingestellt ! Wir bedanken uns bei allen Hörern, die uns Empfangsberichte geschickt haben. Wir sind weiterhin weltweit über WRN zur hören.`` Here are some pictures of their studio: http://hhlr.homepage.t-online.de/bilder.htm (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DE-0720 and DE-0774 Germany (Northrhine-Westphalia): On the occasion of the RC World Youth Convention, the regional public broadcaster WDR Cologne will broadcast a special "Weltjugendtags- Radio". The program will be heard from 15 August 9.00 h CEST (0700 UT) until 21 August 20.00 h CEST (1800 UT) on the following frequencies: locally Cologne FM 87.6 MHz, all over Northrhine-Westphalia with an additional coverage of neighbouring states and countries on the mediumwave frequencies Langenberg 720 kHz and Bonn 774 kHz. The special program is carried 9.00-23.00 Uhr CEST (0700-2100 UT) while the rest is a relay from WDR 5 and WDR Funkhaus Europa. International QSL-hunters might appreciate the fact, that the special program will include service announcements in many different languages, including English at the half hour (:30). (Dr. Hj. Biener, 4 August 2005, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BELARUS [non] ** HONDURAS. KGEI?...3250 --- What would you think hearing Pastor José Holowaty with his Profecías Bíblicas? KGEI suddenly returned from the mist of time? The results of using old recordings teased me for a while as I tuned 3250 at 0340 Aug. 4. Fifteen minutes later Radio Luz y Vida was closing transmission and playing Honduras` National Anthem before signing-off. SINPO 34522 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. URUGUAY / TV POLÉMICA POR TELESUR El diputado nacionalista Jorge Gandini manifestó que algunas cosas no le cierran sobre el convenio firmado entre el Poder Ejecutivo y el gobierno venezolano sobre Telesur. El director del canal, Aram Aharonian dijo que el convenio "no se está cumpliendo" y que Uruguay no aporta dinero sino que debería enviar contenidos. El diputado del partido Nacional, Jorge Gandini realizó un pedido de informes al Ministerio de Educación y Cultura y _evalúa convocar al Parlamento al ministro de esa cartera, Jorge Brovetto y al de Relaciones Exteriores, Reinaldo Gargano, por la poca transparencia que a su entender tiene la participación uruguaya en Telesur. Para Gandini el gobierno uruguayo se comprometió a aportar el 10% del capital inicial del canal (US$ 250.000) según dijo a El Observador, sin embargo el director de Telesur, Aram Aharonian negó enfáticamente que Uruguay aporte dinero en efectivo. Aharonian, entrevistado el miércoles en el programa de radio Carve "La Palabra y el Poder" dijo que el acuerdo firmado entre el presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez y el uruguayo Tabaré Vázquez, "habla de un compromiso uruguayo para dotar a Telesur de una cantidad de horas mensuales de contenido y encargarse de la corresponsalía de Telesur en Montevideo y ayudar a lo que es la distribución de la señal en cables" Consultado sobre si el aporte uruguayo debe ser también en dinero, Arahonian contestó que "no" y agregó que "no es un aporte en dinero efectivo, cash, sino en servicios y en los contenidos". El director del canal multiestatal, que es uruguayo, señaló que este acuerdo "por ahora no se está cumpliendo". "Suponemos que podemos estar en Montevideo en los próximos días para conversar con el ministro Brovetto, con la gente de canal 5 (Tveo), con autoridades uruguayas para ver cuál ha sido ese impedimento que ha demorado esta marcha del convenio" afirmó Arahonian. El directivo aseguró que "no hay ninguna obligación del canal 5 (Tveo) de transmitir la señal, pongamos la cosa en claro. No hay ninguna obligación e incluso hay una cantidad de acuerdos que hemos firmado con televisoras estatales en Brasil que están pasando la señal durante 8 horas, no las 24 horas" (el diario El Observador de Uruguay via José Elías, Venezuela, August 4, DXLD) ** IRAQ. Besides SYRIA, q.v., a couple of clips of Iraqi Radio, one in English, are in the new STATION SOUNDS folder at dxld yg, recorded off satellite by Erik Køie, for members (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [and non]. IRRS-Shortwave B05 schedule (B05ANTXX) Dear Colleagues, I am forwarding you our IRRS-Shortwave's tentative schedule for the period B05 (301005-260306). IRRS-Shortwave - B05 tentative schedule from October 30, 2005 - March 26, 2006 as follows: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat: 5775 kHz at 2000-2130 UT [20 kW] to Europe, Africa and ME Fri, Sun: 5775 kHz at 2000-2300 UT [100 kW] to Europe, Africa and ME Sat: 15725 kHz at 0900-1300 UT [50 kW] to Europe, N Africa & ME Sat & Sun: 13840 kHz at 0800-1300 UT [20 kW] To Europe N Africa & ME IRRS-Shortwave is operated by NEXUS-International Broadcasting Association based in Milan, Italy http://www.nexus.org Our broadcasts can be heard in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East as a primary target area. Reception outside Europe is possible, and it is sometimes reported from as far away as the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. All broadcasts are in parallel with our streaming audio service at http://mp3.nexus.org The latest updates on our frequency and program schedules are available online at http://www.nexus.org/NEXUS-IBA/Schedules and http://www.egradio.org (for our religious broadcasts). Please notice that our association will not participate to the HFCC coordination meetings. If you need assistance in coordination with the frequencies listed above, please contact me directly at the numbers or email below. With best regards, 73, Alfredo E. Cotroneo, CEO, NEXUS-Int'l Broadcasting Association PO Box 11028, 20110, Milano, Italy email: alfredo@nexus.org ph: +39-335-214 614 (try first)/+39-02-266 6971 fax: +39-02-706 38151 (IRRS via Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg via DXLD) Note that the 50 and 100 kW broadcasts are thought to be from some site outside Italy, such as Bulgaria or Romania, never confirmed by IRRS. If they participated in HFCC, the true location of these transmitters might emerge (gh, DXLD) ** LIBERIA [non]. I wasn't looking for it but scanning on 31 m at 0735, suddenly I heard on 9525 that characteristic "English-like- patois" and as it couldn`t be coming from Puerto Limón, I said to myself this got to be Africa. O.K. it was Star Radio with an interview to an almost crying woman, complaining about milk and food. Later some sports issues were mention. SINPO 25442 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Aug 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) via Ascension 9525.0, Star Radio, Aug 3 & 4, 0756-0840, English programming about Liberia, fair-good. Indonesia has been off 9524.90 for about a week, which has helped Star Radio’s reception (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG [non]. Luxembourg/UK: RTL BEGINS DRM BROADCASTS TO UK Radio Television Luxembourg has started broadcasts in DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) mode to the United Kingdom. On 4 August BBC Monitoring heard the broadcasts on 7145 kHz from 0958 gmt throughout the day. Reception was excellent, with no dropouts in audio heard during regular checks. Programming consisted of a continuous selection of music, mainly in the English language with some songs in French. No announcements were heard during the broadcast. According to the data received with the audio broadcast, the station was titled "RTL Test" and was broadcasting in mono. According to the DRM software forum, the broadcasts will run from 1000 gmt to 1600 gmt daily until 31 August 2005. The transmissions originate in Juelich, in the west of Germany near the border with Belgium and the Netherlands. In May 2004, RTL released a promotional DVD which set out its strategy for using DRM technology. Part of this strategy included a possible revival of an English-language service to the UK on shortwave, although mediumwave and longwave were also being considered. Such a service previously existed, in the form of Radio Luxembourg, broadcasting on 1440 kHz until the early 1990s. Since then, the mediumwave frequency has been used for German-language RTL programmes and relays of international broadcasters, with DRM tests now also being conducted on this frequency. RTL also conduct other DRM tests on shortwave on a daily basis, although this is the first time these broadcasts have been specifically targeted at the UK. Source: BBC Monitoring research 4 Aug 05 (via DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, 2159, ORTV Mauritania, Al-cor`án, árabe, 43333 (Antonio Madrid, Barcelona?, Spain, Aug 3, Sony ICF2001D+LW 50mts, RUBI-BCN-ESPAÑA, Noticias DX via DXLD) I checked around 0630 Aug 4, but no sign of it, just ute pulsing. Per WRTH 2005, 4845 is supposed to run daily 0630-0830 and 1700-0100, and 7245 at 0830-1700. In practice, I seem to recall the switchover time in the morning varies, but at least in the winter from its far- westerly position, 4845 can be heard in North America all the way to 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7120, Wantok Radio Light, Aug 4, 0952-1007, announcements of events (time and location given), ``That was the Lighthouse Messenger,`` two phone numbers given and their e-mail address, frequency given for 105.9, ToH ``The time is 8 o’clock,`` mentions ``Radio Light .. FM,`` man talking about his show for 9:30 on Saturday. Pop Christian song in English. Weak, but about the best I have heard them (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6020.31v, R. Victoria, Aug 2, 0803-0825, usual preacher in Portuguese, fair. // 9719.97 (poor) and // to R. Tupi (BRAZIL) on 6060.05v (poor). Aug 4 noted on 6020.27v (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voz da Libertação / Voz de la Liberación, in Portuñol, Spanish with heavy Brazilian accent (gh) ** RUSSIA. VOICE OF RUSSIA WHAT`S NEW http://www.vor.ru/English/Exclusives/what_new.html PEOPLE OF UNCOMMON DESTINY (on the air as of August 9th). In the next edition of PEOPLE OF UNCOMMON DESTINY we`ll tell you about a Moscow- based writer and journalist Alexander Polyakov. He happened to travel a lot about the former Soviet Union, which secured him a wealth of invaluable experience. Tune in to PEOPLE OF UNCOMMON DESTINY on Tuesday, August 9, at 1645 and 1845 UTC. The program will be repeated on Wednesday, August 10, at 0345 UTC. We wish you all good listening. You can also read the text version of the program on our web site at http://www.vor.ru/English/People/index.phtml (via John Norfolk, dxldyg vi DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Russia/USA: JOURNALIST INTERVIEWED REBEL LEADER WHILE ON HOLIDAY - agency | Excerpt from report by Russian news agency RIA Warsaw, 3 August: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Andrey Babitskiy was on holiday when he interviewed terrorist Shamil Basayev, the Radio Liberty director for relations with the mass media, Donald Jensen, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday [3 August]. "Andrey Babitskiy is the radio station's staff member. In the second half of June, Babitskiy was officially on holiday," Jensen said by telephone from Washington, where the head office of Radio Liberty is situated. He said Babitskiy used his holiday as he thought fit. "He could have travelled to California to have a rest, stayed in Prague, but now we know that he travelled to Russia," Jensen said. "When an employee is on holiday, he chooses and decides himself where he should be. This is his private life," Jensen added. He also noted that Babitskiy is a citizen of the Russian Federation. Answering a question as to when Radio Liberty found out that their employee had interviewed Basayev, Jensen said: "We have received a call from ABC. Colleagues from that TV company told us that they have this video material." "As to whether it was moral or not moral to show the interview with Shamil Basayev, I can reply in the following way: this is a question for ABC. Radio Liberty has not used this material," Jensen said. [Passage omitted] Source: RIA news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1428 gmt 3 Aug 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SAIPAN. Saipan is the largest of the 14 islands comprising the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The CNMI is a commonwealth of the United States of America. Saipan has a land area of about 80 square kilometers. It is located at 15 16'N latitude and 145 47' E longitude, 2500 km south of Japan, 2500 km due east of the Philippines and 175 km north of the Island of Guam. The island of Saipan is one of the tips of a mountain range, which rises 12,000 meters above the deepest ocean floor in the world, the Marianas Trench. The population of Saipan is approximately 50,000. Temperature average 28 to 29 Celsius year round, with humidity ranging from 77% to 86%. Rainy season is July to December and Summer is from December to June. English is the official language, but Chamorro and Carolinian are the native tongues and are widely spoken. Other languages commonly spoken are Korean, Japanese and various Chinese dialects. U.S currency and postal rates are applicable here. The favourite pastimes include swimming, scuba diving, fishing, hiking, golfing etc. There are two shortwave transmitting stations located in this island. The transmitting station located at Agingan Point is owned by International Broadcasting Bureau and is known as IBB "Robert E. Kamosa" Transmitting Station. Formerly it was owned by Christian Science Publishing Society with the callsign "KHBI Saipan" and used to relay WSHB broadcasts to Asia and the Pacific. Few years back IBB took over the relay station from Christian Science and now IBB programs are relayed via the 3x100 kW transmitters located at this site. The Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) operates the second shortwave transmitting station in this island with the callsign "KFBS Saipan". The transmitting station is located at Marpi and consists of 4x100 kW units. KFBS transmits FEBC broadcasts in 18 languages to South East Asia, Indo China, Central Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. There was a medium wave station with the callsign "KSAI Radio" known as Family Radio with studios located in Susupe, endeavoured to serve the CNMI community with public affairs programmes, news and information, for more than 24 years, on 936 kHz. Closed with the final broadcast on April 30, 2002. It was also the first radio station on the island to offer ethnic programming in Tagalog, Korean and Chinese languages. KFBS verifies reception reports on transmissions originating from the Marpi transmitter site and they may be mailed to:- FEBC Radio International, Radio Station KFBS P.O. Box 500209, Saipan, MP 96950 CNMI, USA e-mail kfbsadmin @ febc.org ([via?] T. R. Rajeesh, Report from India, Making Contact, August World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. Have anybody noticed this: Sri Lanka BC has moved to 15747 for his English service from 0030 to 0430 (//9770) since last Aug. 1st. They have a nice selection of oldies, mainly from the 50s, which I enjoyed around 0100 Aug. 2nd with good signal till fading near 0400. The opening on 9770 lasts till 0300. Let's hope they don't cut this one as it happened with their evening schedule. It's my feeling that there's no other shortwave station playing such nostalgia at present. Or am I missing something? (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Raul, I think it has always been on 15747 (15748?) at 0030, but may not propagate as well as it did in our mornings. Certainly not to here, but you have a much lower-latitude path (Glenn, ibid.) ** SYRIA. I regret that I have not been including many clips lately on WORLD OF RADIO, but appreciate people sending them. To compensate for that, I have started posting them in the files section of the DXLD yahoogroup, STATION SOUNDS folder, for members. First is R. Damascus, nice English ID probably better than you`ve ever heard it, since I think Erik Køie recorded it off satellite, and then an earlier recording of his on SW 9330 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) + IRAQ ** TAHITI. 738, Radio Tahiti/RFO, Mahina, Jul 24 1218 - Noted here at good level with news/features in FF until 1220, then into traditional Tahitian drumming of the form that accompanies their famous high- speed hula. Ah, the mental picture! (John Bryant, Grayland WA, IRCA Soft DX Monitor Aug 6 via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. UZBEKISTAN(non): Frequency changes for Voice of Tibet in Tibetan and Chinese: 1100-1148 NF 17563 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg, ex 17522/17525/17528 1212-1300 NF 17563 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg, ex 17522/17525/17528 1302-1350 NF 17563 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg, ex 17522/17525/17528 1430-1518 NF 17563 TAC 100 kW / 131 deg, ex 17522/17525/17528 (Observer, Bulgaria, Aug 4, via DXLD) You mean they are going to stay on 17563 and only 17563 from now on? (gh, DXLD) ** TONGA. STATION PROFILE: Radio Tonga – from the web page Tonga on the Net at: http://www.tongatapu.net.to/tonga/news/media/a3z.htm A3Z - RADIO TONGA - THE CALL OF THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS Radio A3Z, a government agency, is the major radio broadcaster on the islands. A division of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission, the Radio A3Z banner is host to the AM radio channel providing most of the public news and information exchange for the country as well as an FM channel and the Radio Tonga shops in Tongatapu and Vava’u. A3Z Radio 1, AM 1017, is the sole broadcaster of radio programs that covers all of the Tonga Islands. Radio 1 broadcasts a mix of English and Tongan language programs with a very high community development focus. Broadcast time is available to most community groups and very popular are the church news programs, college programs, as well as the live broadcasts of festivities and sports programs. A3Z Radio 1 broadcasts out of Fasimoe-Afi and retransmits world news programs by Radio Australia, BBC, and Radio New Zealand. The retransmissions are often of very poor quality but open a vast window of exposure for locals to the events beyond their corridor. These international broadcasts are also translated into Tongan for rebroadcast giving the radio listener a very broad range of information. The only AM broadcaster in the nation, A3Z has excelled in many areas of its responsibility to the community, and has been slow to respond in others. With the only bandwidth capable of broadcasting much of the paid advertising the AM band is in need of modernising its approach to paying and listening customers. Frequencies: AM 1017 kHz., FM 97.2 MHz. Hours of operation: 6:00 am - 12:00 midnight [UT +10] Broadcast Office: Fasi-moe-afi Administration Office: Fasi-moe-Afi Administration: Tonga Broadcasting Commission Board of Directors Managing Director - `Ahongalu Fusimalohi (via August CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Dear Friends of the Voice of Turkey, The Voice of Turkey's third broadcasting term began on July 1, 2005. As the staff of the Voice of Turkey, we avail ourselves of this opportunity to renew to you our best wishes and our assurances of our highest consideration. It is indeed of crucial importance for us to have your feedback on our programming, which is designed to keep you abreast of what is happening in Turkey and in this part of the world. We consider It our duty to be impartial in our broadcasts, especially in issues of ticklish nature, regardless of whether they particularly concern Turkey or not. We try to concentrate on Turkey in its capacity as a candidate getting prepared to enter the EU and as a country boasting a dynamic young population and a rich potential in almost all fields. We presume that you have noticed the diversity of Turkish culture and the colorful texture of the climate making Turkey what it is through the feature programmes we have broadcast so far. Today, Yesterday and Forever, Turkish Sport in the Republican Era. Turkey: A Paradise of Health Spas and Turkey Through Their Eyes are some of these programmes and you have enjoyed them as far as your letters to us are concerned. We will continue to be with you in the forthcoming terms with these programmes and with some additional ones such as Identity in Iraq and Witnesses to the Past, which we hope will live up to our goal of making you genuinely acquainted with the culture of a land which was home to a multitude of civilizations. Your feedback tells us that Turkish music, as ever, is a favourite slot in our transmissions The forthcoming terms will see the music segments being the staple element of our broadcasts, which will also include some special features marking important days in Turkey's history and in that of the world, Tuesday nights' Live from Turkey are echoed by Thursday afternoons' Live from Turkey, the second all-live broadcast we introduced in 2005 in consideration of demands for more listener participation We preen ourselves on hosting these two live segments which highlight your participation and your contribution as a strong factor of enrichment. We want you to know that your ideas, your views and your criticisms of our broadcasts are precious. And they will unchangingly remain so for us as it is on you that we rely in terms or whatever we plan to do to render the VOT broadcasts more appealing. Sincerely Yours. Voice of Turkey internet address - http://www.trt.net.tr e-mail address - englishdesk @ trt.net.tr mailing address - TRT Voice of Turkey Radio PK 333 Yenisiehir 06443 Ankara, Turkey; TRT Voice of Turkey Radio, Turan Gunes, Bulvan, OR AN O6450 Ankara, Turkey (extract from recent VOT handout via CHRISTOPHER J WILLIAMS, Making Contact, August World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Mr G SKINNER mentioned about the Voice of Turkey envelopes with one corner cut off and asked that whether such things happen for anybody else. I do also received an envelope from VOT with its corners cut of. It seems to be a postal instruction to check whether printed matter is enclosed. Further it may help the Turkish post to inspect about dangerous mailings in this period (T. R. Rajeesh, India, ibid.) I too receive cards from the Voice of Turkey, and the envelope has one of the corners cut off. This envelope contains printed matter and enjoys a lower postage rate. The corner is cut off to enable postal officials to peek at the contents and verify they really are printed matter and not a letter. This way the contents can be inspected without anything falling out of the envelope (David Crystal, Israel, ibid.) I just got their new program folder in a regular business-sized envelope, and NO corner was cut off --- but it was unsealed with the flap intucked, also marked PRINTED | MATBUA, and AIR MAIL | UÇAK ÝLE even tho it was metermarked -1.7.05 and took over a month to arrive; a transposition in my PO Box number may have delayed it tho there were no markings indicating a redirect. Anyhow --- The folder starts with the above-transcribed text, and later on the DAILY PROGRAMME SCHEDULE, confusingly once again, shows an English I and an English II, and each of those is subdivided into III. Term and IV. Term. English I includes LIVE FROM TURKEY on Thursday, and English II includes LIVE FROM TURKEY on Tuesday, and are otherwise identical! Likewise, III. TERMs are identical to IV. TERMs except for one program change, on Sundays, BASKET OF NEWS replaced by WITNESSES TO THE PAST. It used to be that there were only two terms, half a year each, but now there are four, quarter-year each. Anyhow, simplifying for the current schedule --- DAILY NEWS, PRESS REVIEW; then --- MONDAY LAST WEEK, HUES & COLOURS OF ANATOLIA, MUSIC, TURKISH SPORTS IN THE REPUBLICAN ERA TUESDAY A STRANGER AT HOME, MUSIC, TURKEY, A PARADISE OF HEALTH SPAS [but on English II all replaced by LIVE FROM TURKEY, i.e. at 1830+ only] WEDNESDAY REVIEW OF THE FOREIGN MEDIA, IDENTITY IN IRAQ, LETTER BOX, MUSIC, A TRIP TO TURKEY THURSDAY THE BALKANS, MUSIC, TURKEY THROUGH THEIR EYES [but on English I all replaced by LIVE FROM TURKEY, i.e. the 1230 broadcast only as we know] FRIDAY IDENTITY IN IRAQ [again], THE EU AND TURKEY / MAGIC OF NATURE [the / presumably meaning alternating week to week tho also not stated], MUSIC, ANOTHER SPOT IN TURKEY SATURDAY OUTLOOK, ONC UP ON [sic] A TIME TRAVELER / DX [alternating], MUSIC, TURKISH MUSIC ON CDs SUNDAY BASKET OF NEWS, MUSIC, YESTERDAY, TODAY, FOREVER A reminder of the English times and frequencies; all are 500 kW from the Emirler site and are, surprise2, in DSB [plus carrier, axually]: 1230-1330 Eu 15225, Au/As 15535 1830-1930 Eu 9785 2030-2130 Au/As 7170 2200-2300 Eu/NAm 9830 [from 4 Sept replaced by 7300] 0300-0400 NAm 6140, As/Af 7270 As anyone who as actually listened knows, broadcasts axually end between 50 and 55 minutes at the latest into each hour. VOT Foreign Language stream is also on several satellites, including Intelsat 907, 332.5 east, 3732 MHz, RHCP, Symbol Ratio 14000, FEC ¾ but ``as this satellite is relay oriented, there is need for dishes with diameter of at least 2.4 meters to receive these transmissions``. Fortunatley, this is also on Intelsat Americas 5, 263 degrees east, 12177 MHz, V, 23000, 2/3 to USA and Canada, and only requires 71-120 cm dish The booklet now also includes a spread on TRT TOURISM RADIO, on satellite and several FM frequencies around Turkey, 24 hours with rotating music, Live Broadcasts in various European languages, and also news, including English (Glenn Hauser, OK, Aug 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. The Beeb decides whether to use the dreaded "T" word: see LANGUAGE LESSONS below ** U S A. Hi Glenn: WWRB will be filing with the FCC in the very near future for a construction permit to add another 100 KW transmitter, "DRM" broadcast capability and two or three additional antennas. Regards (Dave Frantz, WWRB, Aug 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I wish we had the return of the Fairness Doctrine. Left to their own devices, many radio and TV talk shows put forth partisan views but present them as objective facts. And the hosts do not even attempt to give the other side, except to hold it up for ridicule. As a result, many people fail to see the difference between OPINION and fact, and believe one side is totally right while the other is totally wrong. Live just ain't that simple, folks. We just saw an *opinion piece* by a biased conservative columnist presented as if it was NEWS- - oh and before you flame me, I would say the same thing is somebody quoted a left-wing opinion piece and treated it as if it was unbiased news. These days, the mainstream media (as well as the blog world) frequently blur opinion and fact -- the NY Times is accused of serving a liberal agenda (an untrue characterisation these days) but nobody mentions that the Wall Street Journal and Washington Times are 100% conservative. Newspapers have every right to slant their opinion pages; radio and TV talk hosts have every right to get off on whatever rants they want. But I find it very dangerous if these outlets also slant their news, whether it's for a right wing or a left wing bias-- in either case, it is manipulating facts to prove an agenda. That is not good for democracy. It's no wonder the public is confused and doesn't know what to believe about the news. [loud sigh from Donna who remembers when NEWS was considered a sacred obligation and reporters tried their best to be fair to both sides...] (Donna Halper, ABDX via DXLD) The Fairness Doctrine was idiotic. If I put on an editorial that says murder is bad, I'm required by law to provide equal time to somebody to argue the opposite? Please. Anything presented as news should be as uncolored by political leaning as is humanly possible. The rest is just opinion and there's no reason any yahoo who can string three words together should be given equal time to inflict his opinion on the public. With apologies to Shakespeare, I submit the fault lies not in our media, but in ourselves. If somebody listening to Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken can't figure out when they've crossed the line between reporting facts and commenting on those facts, the problem does not lie with Limbaugh or Franken. I've read dozens of people lambasting Fox News for being conservative. Does the editorial stance of Fox News lean strongly to the right? Absolutely. Does this influence the reporting of the news? I have to honestly say that it does from time to time, but not remotely close to the extent that is suggested by those who criticize Fox News, and this certainly doesn't distinguish Fox from any other news agency that I've seen. The editorial slant of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS has an impact on the reporting of the news at those outlets, even if it's as subtle as what makes the top of the news and what gets 10 seconds toward the end of the broadcast. Do we really want to sanitize all media outlets to accommodate those without the intelligence to tell the difference between hard news and editorial content? I certainly hope not. I'm not sure if this was your intent, but by mentioning the WSJ and WT in juxtaposition to (you claim) untrue accusations about the NYT you are clearly implying the WSJ and WT slant their news to fit their editorial agenda. I don't follow the WT, but I'm sure a lot of reporters at the WSJ would strenuously object to this characterization. I've heard the WSJ has a very tall and thick wall dividing the editorial staff from the news staff and they go far out of their way to avoid any influence of the news by the editorial view of the paper. And in almost 30 years of reading the WSJ I've seen precious little evidence that the news takes on any particular slant. Is the editorial page conservative? Without question. Does this influence the reporting of hard news? Not in my opinion (Jay Heyl, ibid.) Someone made the claim that Air America and the other syndicated liberal talk networks should be expected to do best in places like San Francisco and Boston and Madison, and that it would be a long time before an AA affiliate came on the air someplace like Montana. Guess what? As I was updating 100000watts.com tonight, one of the updates included the sign-on of KKNS 105.9 Missoula MT as, yup, "Progressive Talk 105.9." Here's my theory: with the exception of a very small number of old- line, full service talkers like WGN and KGO, most talk stations these days are politically charged on one side or another. Here in Rochester, WHAM used to be the station that everyone could listen to. Today, with the exception of a pretty straightforward morning show and two hours of sports talk in the evening, it's a nonstop diet of conservative talk - Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage and the local Bob Lonsberry. The move from ABC and CBS to Fox News Radio on WHAM and many of its Clear Channel sister stations is a tacit acknowledgement that the station now plays to a particular political base. There's nothing wrong with that, mind you. But it reflects a reality that the station no longer aims to be all things to all people, instead looking to draw a loyal and passionate audience from a particular subset of the community. (The Rochester market is divided pretty evenly down the middle; the city's heavily Democratic, as is my suburb, while most of the rest of the suburbs are Republican. The county has voted reliably for Democrats for U.S. Senate and for president; our congressional delegation is mixed.) That strategy works, by the way - WHAM is consistently the top-rated station in the market, drawing 10-11 shares 12+ with regularity. Now here's where it gets interesting. Look at the markets where conservative talk radio has had some of its biggest successes, and if anything, you'll find that the overall political leanings of those markets tend to be, if anything, to the left of Rochester. Two of the earliest successes with hard-right talk were KSFO San Francisco (where Michael Savage originated) and KVI Seattle, and to those we can add similarly ideological talkers like KFI Los Angeles, WABC New York, WMAL Washington and WRKO Boston. It's my contention that these stations thrive in these very blue markets precisely because they address a minority audience in a way that creates a strong feeling of identity and passion for the station. And it's my contention that a liberal talker might actually do better in a market like Omaha or Dallas, where there's a small niche of progressive listeners completely unserved and disenfranchised by the existing talk outlets, than in San Francisco or Boston, where there are already plenty of media outlets in every flavor from center-left (the high-rated NPR news stations and the daily newspapers) to extreme left-wing (Pacifica's flagship KPFA Berkeley). It's much harder to build a community identity around a radio station when it echoes the mainstream dialogue of the community than it is when it's speaking to a group that considers itself outnumbered and embattled. I'll be very interested to see how stations like the Missoula one do. I think that in the long run, their fortunes will be more telling of the format's prospects than the San Francisco or Boston or New York stations would be (Scott Fybush, NY, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn, J. Marvin is subbing for Jerry Springer this week and next. You can hear him on the 760 AM webstream. Click here: http://www.am760.net/talent/marvin.html (Artie Bigley, OH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Jay Fills In For Jerry Springer Jay Marvin is helping out an old friend. While Jerry Springer takes a couple of weeks off from his national talk show, Jay will be talking to his national audience as he continues to do his own show from Boulder. Jay was Jerry's first choice to fill-in and because the timing (7 to 10 AM [MDT = 1300-1600 UT]) worked out with Jay's regular show. We're glad to be helping out another progressive talk host. Jay's program will return to its local roots on Monday August 15th (AM 760 Denver website via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Never mentioned explicitly, but that means Jay Marvin is currently on Air America: Springer on the Radio • 9am-Noon edt Jerry Springer, The Voice of The Middle Class, is also a voice of reason in turbulent times. Thursday: Progressive talker Jay Marvin of AM 760, Boulder Co will take the mic for Jerry today. Guests: Rev. Barry Lynn, of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Donna Lieberman, of the New York Civil Liberties Union (http://www.airamericaradio.com Aug 4 via DXLD) ** U S A. Novak on CNN Live: "That's Bullshit" --- Apparently swearing, not treason, did the trick (Eric Hananoki`s blog via Al Franken`s page, http://www.airamericaradio.com via DXLD) CNN SUSPENDS NOVAK AFTER HE WALKS OFF SET By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer NEW YORK - CNN suspended commentator Robert Novak indefinitely after he swore and walked off the set Thursday during a debate with Democratic operative James Carville. . . http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050804/ap_en_tv/tv_cnn_novak_2 (via gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Starting next spring the Cardinals baseball team will no longer have their games covered over KMOX 1120; they will now be carried on KTRS on 550 as the Cardinals baseball team bought half the stock of KTRS. Also going from a 50,000 watt station to a 1,000 watt station will limit the coverage of there games. A press conference is scheduled noon CDT today to confirm the deal (Ron Trotto, IL, Aug 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Actually, KTRS is 5 kW day and night; non-direxional day, direxional night. Tnx to low-frequency advantage has groundwave coverage on a par with KMOX, if not better than. QRM-free skywave at night is a totally different story. 550 will always be KSD to me (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) Cards Dump KMOX! http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=228&p=2&c=418876 RADIO BREAKUP CONFIRMED --- KTRS` SIGNAL DOESN`T CARRY FAR By Brian Walton Date: Aug 3, 2005 After 52 years, the Cards dump old standard KMOX for weaker-signaled KTRS. KSDK Channel 5 in St. Louis is reporting that the long-rumored move of the St. Louis Cardinals flagship radio rights from KMOX radio (1120 AM) to KTRS (550 AM) has been finalized. The reported eight-year deal starting next season gives the team 50% ownership rights in KTRS, which was a key factor in the deal that KMOX apparently could not match. On-air personnel, including Mike Shannon and Wayne Hagin, are employees of the team, not the radio station, so they are expected to remain in their current roles. This decision is a loser for the Cardinals fans of the Midwest and South, who relied on KMOX` strong 50,000 watt signal to reach the far corners of the Cardinal Nation on hot summer nights. While there are 110 stations in the Cardinals network today, it is unclear whether more stations will be added in the future to help compensate in areas where coverage will be lost in the transition from KMOX to KTRS. The standard answer for those who are not in the Cardinals listening area will be to sign up for MLB.com¹s internet fee-based radio feeds or purchase XM Satellite Radio, which also makes available all team`s games for a fee. After all, that is what this is about. Driving more revenue from every aspect of the franchise is the name of the game, like it or not. To-date, messages from Cardinals executives have been consistent in stating that any deal would be done with the best interests of the fans in mind. Try telling that to the people who will soon lose their on-air access to their favorite team. Sooner or later, as the seating in ballparks continue to shrink and free access to radio and television erodes, but after it is too late, someone will realize that the next generation of baseball fans never fully materialized. Yeah, I know. Baseball isn`t like your father`s Oldsmobile. Or is it? (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** URUGUAY. Not financially supporting TeleSur as expected: see INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** UZBEKISTAN [and non]. 5060, 2145, R. Tashkent, Tashkent, comentario de Pakistan, inglés, 34333 --- OIDA HASTA AYER EN 5025 ¿? 5025, 2157, ABC-Northern Territory, Entrevista telefónica inglés, 23222 (Antonio Madrid, Barcelona?, Spain, Aug 3, Sony ICF2001D+LW 50mts, RUBI-BCN-ESPAÑA, Noticias DX via DXLD) One of those frequencies used to be a Kazakhstan relay, but WRTH now shows both as TAC. Guess they decided to avoid VL8 (gh, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. Helping others to jam --- China's jamming efforts don't stop at the country's borders, and it also assists other regimes with which it has friendly relations to suppress broadcasts they don't like. Media Network has reported on the problems encountered by SW Radio Africa, which has had to stop using shortwave to broadcast to Zimbabwe because of government jamming using equipment supplied by the Chinese. We have subsequently learned that there's clear evidence that members of Zimbabwe's intelligence services and military were sent to China to train in the use of the jamming equipment that was provided (Andy Sennitt, Media Network, http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/chn050804.html?view=Standard via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ Re the pronunciation of apartheid, 5-129: The explanation is correct as far as it goes, but should also have mentioned that in Dutch the letter 'd' is pronounced as the English 't' when it comes at the end of the word - which is why to American ears it sounds like 'hate'. Incidentally, the Dutch are not at all happy that one of the very few Dutch words that has come into general use worldwide should be this one - the Netherlands was always one of the fiercest critics of South Africa's apartheid policies (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) THE BEEB DECIDES WHETHER TO USE THE DREADED "T" WORD http://www.forward.com/articles/3779 August 5, 2005 At least no one can say that someone at the British Broadcasting Corporation, better known as the BBC, isn't consistent. After being criticized for years for its refusal to use the word "terrorists" to describe those folks who, generally of the Islamic persuasion, make a habit of doing things like flying airplanes into the Twin Towers or blowing up buses and cafés in Israel, the BBC is now in the throes of an inner debate over whether this also applies to the suicide bombers who killed more than 50 people in the London underground several weeks ago. The story was picked up first by the British Web site Harry's Place http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net which pointed out that on July 7, the day of the underground blasts, the BBC ran a news item with the following sentence: "A bus passenger says he may have seen one of those responsible for the terrorists' bomb attacks in London." By the following day, however, this had been amended to: "A bus passenger says he may have seen one of those responsible for the bomb attacks in London." Nor was this the only example of such a flip-flop. Again on July 8, a BBC journalist reporting on live television began by announcing: "Being stuck in a tunnel for 40 minutes is not an unusual occurrence in the London underground. But on the morning after the worst terrorist atrocity Britain has seen, even the most routine-sounding announcements took on a more sinister aspect." Yet when this was released four hours later as a print item it read: "Being stuck in a tunnel for 40 minutes is not an unusual occurrence on the London underground. But on the morning after the worst peacetime bomb attacks Britain has seen...." "Obviously," a blogger at Harry's Place wrote, "someone at Bush House [which is the BBC's London headquarters, not the residence of George W. Bush] sent down the word to stop using the dread 'T-word.'" It must have been a true man or woman of principle. In the past, the BBC has been joined by other media in the United Kingdom in referring to perpetrators of indiscriminate, politically motivated killings in various parts of the world as "militants," "activists," "guerrillas," "resistance fighters" and other euphemisms. Now that it's happened, however, not in benighted Americans or barbaric Israel, but in good old England, even the left-wing newspaper The Guardian — as Jerusalem Post columnist Tom Gross recently observed — "seemed suddenly to discover the words 'terrorism' and 'terrorist.'" There's nothing like getting it on your own chin to find out that it hurts. It even happened at the BBC — until that "someone at Bush house" thought better of it. That one man's "terrorist" can be another's "resistance fighter" or even "freedom fighter" is of course commonplace. Indeed, this is the reason given by media organizations like the BBC for avoiding the "T-word" entirely. Since using it in some cases and not in others, the argument goes, would mean playing political favorites and losing all objectivity, the only fair solution is to use it in no cases at all — even when the T-act occurs in your own backyard. "Well, then," the counterargument goes, "why not use the T-word in all cases? Let's have no more 'militants' or 'resistance fighters' when innocent lives are being deliberately targeted, whether it's in America, Israel, Chechnya, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Iraq or wherever. It doesn't matter if we're sympathetic to the causes involved or not. We may think that the Americans should leave Iraq, or that the Palestinians should have their own state, but if Iraqis randomly blow up other Iraqis, or Palestinians do the same to Israelis, they should be labeled terrorists, nonetheless." "Ah!" goes the counter-counterargument. "But what about the countries that these so-called terrorists are fighting against? When American airplanes bomb wedding parties in Iraq, or Israeli helicopters rocket innocent people in Gaza, shouldn't the Americans and the Israelis be called terrorists, too? And what about the British carpet-bombing of Dresden in World War II, or the U.S. nuking of Hiroshima, which caused tens of thousands of innocent deaths: Isn't that terrorism on a scale far dwarfing even the Twin Towers?" Indeed it is, which is why in the opinion of this language columnist there is nothing wrong in referring to the "terror bombing" of Dresden or Hiroshima, since sowing mass terror in Germany and Japan, however justified this may have been in terms of hastening the war's end and reducing Allied casualties, was what these attacks were calculated to achieve. Yet this was not the aim of the American pilots who mistakenly hit a wrong target in Iraq, or of Israeli attempts to kill Palestinian combatants in Gaza that resulted in the deaths of innocent bystanders. Surely in any definition of terrorism or terror, the question of intention is crucial. If I purposely set out to kill innocent non-combatants, I am a terrorist or a perpetrator of terror; if I don't, I am not. Even the BBC should be able to get that straight. Questions for Philologos can be sent to philologos @ forward.com (via Joel Rubin, NY, swprograms via DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ BOSTON AREA DXERS "CLAMS" DXPEDITION TO ROCKPORT, MA 28 JULY 2005 The report is now online at http://home.comcast.net/~dx_lab/dx_clams_2005.htm This includes DX site photographs and maps. So far loggings from only one of the four participants are available. When additional logs are received here, they will be added to the online article (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ ENCUENTRO DX MEXICANO, TAMPICO, FIN DE JULIO, 2005 Glenn: I just got a short report about the Encuentro DX in Tampico from Kathy Killian, wife of Virginia DXer John Killian, who attended the Encuentros every year until his death last fall. This year's event was dedicated to John, and Kathy attended and gave away a shortwave receiver and some of John's QSL collection. The meeting was very small this year, probably due to the rather remote location for many people and the rather expensive hotel for most Mexicans who normally attend these meetings. At the last minute, the locale was changed from the hotel to a local university. There was a welcome on Friday evening, followed by a night of DXing. Kathy said reports were that the DXing was good as long as the mosquitos didn't carry you away. (Tampico is very hot and humid in the summer.) Presentations on Saturday included Juan José Miroz on antennas, Rafael Grajeda with something about weather and DXing [fax reception per Dario --- gh], and Dario Monferini (probably about stickers). As usual, some of the most enjoyable events were the informal camaraderie, meals, sightseeing and shopping. It was decided that next year's Encuentro will be in Ascensión, Chihuahua -- just a short drive or bus ride from El Paso, Texas, so it will be a good opportunity for some U.S. DXers to take part. Meantime, César Fernández will try to organize a DX camp in the fall of this year somewhere near Puebla in central Mexico to encourage more participation and lower-priced activities (Jeff White, FL, August 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ GREAT PICTURES OF CBS CA. 1940 An eBay dealer (mostly of rare records) in Montevideo, Uruguay, Omar Facelli of Tiempos Viejos Vintage Records, is offering something really cool: a large-format spiral-bound picture book produced in 1940 by CBS and sent to affiliates-this one was sent to the director of CX16 R. Carve in Montevideo, signed personally by William S. Paley. I'm mentioning this because the eBay listing displays images of EACH PAGE of the book, with photos of the CBS Radio Theater no. 2 in New York, the huge KNX studios in Hollywood, the transmitter plant at KNX etc. etc. Note that he wants a pretty penny (or two) for it... (This was from the "78-L" 78rpm collectors listserv) Warning: LONG URL! http://cgi.ebay.com/1940-CBS-STUDIOS-LARGE-PHOTOGRAPHIC-ALBUM-UNIQUE_W0QQitemZ6516877276QQcategoryZ132QQcmdZViewItem (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, Aug 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ GRUNDIG S350 Hi Everyone, I just bought the S350 this afternoon. First impressions, I really like the radio. Is it an R8, no by all means. But for under $100, it is a bargain. I compared it to my SR 1 and The SR 1 is more sensitive. No doubt about that. But the loop stick on the Super Radios are huge. The S350 does out preform my old Sony 6500 I bought 25 years ago though. The FM on the S350 is fantastic. Sitting on my porch or in the living room tuning around I get a pretty decent signal for 94.9 KOOS FM Coos Bay, down the coast at 200 miles. It does very well. I have heard FM signals on it I have never heard. There is a new flea powered OPB broadcaster in Tillamook 50 miles South on 91.1 and I can hear that // 91.5. I could not even hear that on the van radio when I tried earlier. One on 88.1 playing rock/blues but I don't know what that is either. Excellent on FM. On a scale from 1 to 5 for a portable, I will give it a 5. On AM, still not bad. It gets a lot of Seattle, Portland, even Eugene stations pretty decent, but the Super Radio outdoes it. I think the S350 does have an edge on FM, though. As others have stated, you leave the selectivity in the narrow position. I would guess 10 kHz in wide and 4-5 in narrow. Not too shabby. After all we are talking about a $100 radio. On AM I will give it a 3.5. On SW, it does pretty well too. It is touchy to tune on SW, but once you land on a signal it handles the signal well. I don't really know the SW bands all that well, but there was a weak to moderate signal this evening on 9715 and the S350 got it about the same as I got it on the R8. I'll give the SW about a 4 out of 5 for a portable. I did notice one weak SW birdie on about 1485 khz, but so far that was it. The Bass and Treble sound pretty good too, but the Super Radio does have better audio, but for a 4 inch speaker in the S350, it isn't bad. I plugged in my EWE and vertical antenna into the antenna inputs. No overload. None at all. I was surprised, but I have no strong locals here either. Just three 1 KW locals in the whole county. The closest is 5.9 miles away (KAST 1370). I could easily turn the radio around to null KAST basically down to nothing and 1360 and 1380 being total clear. KUIK Hillsboro OR was quite listenable on 1360. I am quite happy with the radio. For under $100 you can't beat it. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) LIGHTNING GUARD re 5-129: So true Thomas, so true. There is nothing that can protect against a direct hit except to box up the rig and move it to another area! Something like lightning guard is a help, just like using a gas discharge device. But a help is not a 100% guarantee. The best is to disconnect everything, but the devices provide some protection for when one forgets. The more "official" devices, the happier the insurance company. They like things with UL and CSA logos all over them. I use it as my final line of defense. My first antenna line of defense is actual disconnection of the antenna lead and connection to ground using an alligator clip. But I have to remember to do this. Next is a 1/4 amp fast acting fuse. Since a fuse gap is so small, next is a 1/4 watt 10 ohm resistor - resistor blows and a weight drops the wire over one foot for a decent gap, next is the grounded isolation balun, then finally the lightning guard. AC wise I have 2 good powerbars in series with 3 way surge suppression in each [the first is a beefy metal cased unit] plus the lightning guard and I'll be adding an under the meter whole house surge suppressor in the not too distant future. I have a 300 foot tower in my neighbourhood, used by the local cablevision company - it is only say 500 feet away - I hope it will serve as the neighbourhood lightning rod and reduce my chances of a direct hit. But it probably increases my chances of a nearby hit and yes, it does get zapped on rare occasion. A good surge supressor power bar can really help - my in laws have had power line strikes on at least three occasions, each one taking out their power bar [melting the plastic housing] but the three MOVs doing their job and leaving their computer untouched while other devices in the house without the bar got zapped. They even had one wall outlet fried big time. After the in laws experience, I kept my APC powerbar, but added a metal cased rig from Home Depot as the first line of defence. It is the type which actually uses real standard wall sockets in a metal case, 3 MOVs, plus loads of EMI filtering. Intended for power tools. All a help, but never a guarantee that damage won't occur (Phil Rafuse, PEI Canada, ABDX via DXLD) ANOTHER EAS MISTAKE As if Florida didn't have enough to worry about this hurricane season, some residents of the Sunshine State were alerted to a nonexistent radiological emergency last Wednesday after a National Weather Service operator fat-fingered a routine test of the Emergency Alert System. The Florida gaffe occurred when an operator at the National Weather Service's Tallahassee forecast office inadvertently entered the code "RHW" instead of "RWT," keying a radiological hazard warning instead of a required weekly test. The warning was broadcast to the Florida panhandle and parts of southern Georgia, said National Weather Service warning-coordination meteorologist Walt Zaleski. Fortunately, it failed to cause panic, in part because the audio accompanying the message still identified it as "only a test," and the office moved rapidly to quash the false alarm (source? Via Paul Walker, FL, Aug 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) You're right, EAS is definitely a mistake. I know you didn't say that, but I sure do! Especially here in south Florida where the idiots at the weather service set the thing off every time there's a thunderstorm -- read that, nearly every day. And forget during something serious like a hurricane. There can be a half dozen alerts an hour for days, saying its going to rain. Gets to the point all you do when one goes off is dive for the mute button. The good thing is that local stations can at least ignore the mindless text screen and droning instructions for what to do when the wind blows, by putting up a scroll across the bottom of the screen instead. I won't even go into the nonsense of statewide Amber alerts -- without any pictures. Without the advantage of good sense of the operator, the system is less than useless. IMHO, (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (Southeast) Florida, ibid.) A similar glitch at a Las Vegas radio station a day earlier falsely alerted cable companies, radio and TV stations in five counties to a national crisis that didn't exist. That error occurred Tuesday afternoon when KXTE-FM tried to send out a message canceling an earlier Amber Alert, and instead transmitted an EAN, or emergency action notification -- a special code reserved for the president of the United States to use in the event of a nuclear war or similar extreme national emergency (Paul Walker, ibid.) Yikes. One would think EAS encoders would be designed to not allow you to originate EAN unless you're FEMA. (I was almost certain our TFT box indeed cannot originate EAN) – (Doug Smith, W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN, WSMV, ibid.) RHC WITH IBOC RADIO PLANS OK, OK, not what you think. Tonight on RHC (Radio Havana Cuba) 6000 at 2330 EDT, I heard the inimitable Arnie (the official Cuban transmitter repairman) describing what I term the IBOC Radio -- Itty Bitty Oldtime Crystal Radio. Something about an amazing quadruple something or another, crystal radio. We're all invited to write him for the plans at RHC. "Amaze your friends and family," he actually said that! Sorry for my obvious excitement, but I was intrigued. Do it yourself radio construction projects are not normal broadcast fare, not even on shortwaves. Unfortunately I didn't catch the mailing address from which to request the construction plans. Could be just what all the IBOC Radio fanatics have been waiting for (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (Southeast) Florida, Aug 3, NRC-AM via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING see also LUXEMBOURG [non] ++++++++++++++++++++ NATIONAL RESPONSE PLAN In searching the web I have recently become aware of the National Response Plan. This was created by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year, under authority of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Public Law 107-296, and HSPD-5. It is a public document and available on the web as a PDF and a summary of the Notice is in the Federal Register. No secrets here. It establishes a "unified and standardized approach within the United States for protecting citizens and managing homeland security incidents". The Plan "provides the structure and mechanisms for the coordination of Federal Support to state, local and tribal incident managers..." The purpose of the NRP is to "establish a comprehensive, national, all-hazards approach to domestic incident management across a spectrum of activities including prevention, preparedness, response and recovery." There are 32 agencies and departments involved, including the FCC. I have written the contact person at DHS about my sincere concerns that the availability of wide-area coverage of AM radio be maintained, to facilitate the potentiality of using distant AM skywave radio to get information to the population in the event of widespread, sustained local power loss, such as happened in the 2003 NorthEast blackout. I mentioned my belief that such an event is likely to happen again, as I previously have commented. I discussed the proposal to convert AM radio to digital, alluded to the well-known technical problems, and suggested that DHS consider filing a reply comment urging that the matter be stayed until such time as the impact on DHS interests be investigated, and that the longer term issues of AM digital be examined in the context of the NRP, and the interests of the national infrastructure security. I believe the usage of AM as it is presently configured is well within the scope and purpose of disaster mitigation as this plan addresses, and I have to believe that DHS has standing to be a replyer, if not an intervenor, in this matter. I am sure there will be comments that the risk is residual against the likelihood of the event, and that is valid to argue. I received a reply from my PoC at DHS which thanked me for my interest and promised to forward the comments to an appropriate person for evaluation. This is everything I would have hoped for at this stage. I mentioned the Reply Comments stage of the 99-325 proceeding, and the two-week window that remains. It is entirely possible that the Department may decide, or perhaps already decided, that this is not a concern for them. I just don't know. However I feel it is incumbent for any citizen who appreciates these issues to bring attention to them so that they may be properly evaluated. I am not giving further details as it would be counter-productive for DXers to send other communications to these people. The ball is in their court now. Those DXers who want to, will be able to locate these documents in any event. Or feel free to write me offlist. It would be interesting to hear comments from other list members, onlist, as it relates to use of AM in disaster recovery and information dispersal, and what role they see being played by wide- coverage radio, which apparently excludes IBOC. ---- Incidentally IBOC radio will be the topic of discussion at the next chapter meeting of SBE here, in a week. Should be interesting, and I expect to be there, quietly observing (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, Aug 4, ABDX and NRC-AM via DXLD) After I retired from USAF, became employed by Louisville-Jefferson County, KY as a Radiological Defense Officer. Not much radiological to defend against; I did a lot of other stuff including disaster/ emergency warning. I well remember the CONELRAD set up in the 1950s which became EBS and now EAS. AM radio is one of the warning systems that works the best. Unfortunately, if the radio isn`t on you don`t get the warning. It takes several systems to notify the most people. The loss of AM radio will be a great one. the FCC could care less, its main interest being health and welfare of "the industry.`` Regarding the NRP, it`s only as good as local preparedness and response. All I can say is pretty much, God help us! (ColonelDX, Aug 4, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) REAL-WORLD IBOC RECEIVER TEST REPORT Here's an interesting test report on a Kenwood IBOC/HD receiver: http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/iboc/02_rw_hd_alexander.shtml There are some interesting nuggets in there, especially about how the improvement over analog FM is not as significant as you might expect and IBOC/HD AM, while improved to a level comparable to analog FM, still suffers from processing artifacts (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Wimberley, TX EM00 http://futureofradio.typepad.com/ Aug 4, ABDX via DXLD) Radio Maria on 26 MHz --- All this current information on Radio Maria [ITALY] has got me thinking: where does one apply for a 26 MHz licence and in particular a DRM test and development one. Is it a European licence? if so, who issues them? I have not seen anything offered by Ofcom though there were some G9 call signs issued for test and development a few years ago from the Radio communication Agency if my memory`s correct. Are they still in place? Any answers, please (Paul Ewers, Brill, UK, BDXC-UK via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ OIRT FM BAND SKIPS RELIABLY INTO UK I can't be the only one during this period of weather we are having with its SpE and tropo ducting etc picking up Eastern Bloc FM stations, can I. It certainly is not being covered in PW-RA or SWM; maybe it should. Mike Barraclough answered my query way back in December 2004 regarding as to what I was picking up on my 4 metre (70 MHz) transceiver in that reply he gave me some interesting frequency as guidance, some of which I have heard. Thanks Mike. At the time I was using an Ascom SE550 4m transceiver (ex-PMR unit) with its restricted reception quality e.g. no WBFM demodulator just NBFM, since that time I won from e-bay an old AOR AR-2002 which has been put to good use, Question! Why do most of these old scanners stop at 550 kHz so that you can only pick up TV sound from channels 21-30 and then pick up again at 800 MHz? Most annoying. but handy for TV DXing. Anyway on to my Eastern Bloc FM loggings, not in any particular order dated 31st May to 17th of June 2005 being received on almost a daily basis starting at 16.10 till fade out at about 19.30 BST: [1510-1830 UT] 71.212, Hungarian (1610) 71.325 (1613) 71.680, (1615) 72.460 72.860, Hungarian (1622) 66.160 70.910, Music at 1657 70.400 66.140, Hungarian 70.100 67.400, Hungarian 68.600 66.290, Hungarian News Station Ident at 2100 all times BST [not clear to me how the frequencies to the right figure in --- gh] All the above frequencies I have not been able to identify but some of them are obviously commercial stations. One in particular 70.910 was talking about how to identify a cockney {as in East Londoner} and were playing the tune "With a Little Bit of Luck", most amusing, some of the above could be Poland or even Yugoslavian if this is the case then the distance is about 1750 kilometres. As I said I can't be the only one who could put their scanner to use why don't you key in the above frequencies as a starter and see what you can pick up and maybe we can have a seasonal regular column, of these loggings. Extra logs as of 6th July, 19.00 BST all possibly BULGARIA ref to WRTH 71.040; 71.240; 71.930; 69.680; 69.800; 69.320; 66.800; 66.26; 66.350 (running commercials); 69.32; 66.750 at 21.27 playing Latin dance music. As of 7th July, 18.15 BST all possibly Poland with ref WRTH. 67.700; 70.762.500; 72.980; 66.237.500. Former USSR. 73.000 MHz. Musical Identification on the hour, the infamously tune we all know from short wave, but a bit more up dated and more rhythmic. PLEASE NOTE; Not being a linguist but using my ears to pick up keys words I think the list is correct, only problem being that through the Eastern Block Area, most of these frequencies are shared on a non interference basis, just like Western VHF/FM band, so please understand the problem involved in station identification; of course you could go on line and listen to anyone of the outputs, I am yet to do this, so logs from YOU! (Mike Evans, UK, Making Contact, Aug World DX Club Contact via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ VOICE OF FREEDOM, JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE This is a seminal time in history, and you are uniquely poised to be a decisive factor in determining the outcome of a titanic struggle between good and evil. The opposition already has a stacked deck; won`t you please help the 4 billion poor and oppressed of the planet? By being our ``wild card`` and broadcast this: SELF-ORGANIZING, ADAPTIVE, GLOBAL MASS ACTION http://worldcantwait.org/ The ``Voice of Freedom`` comes to you from unlawful exile inside Green Haven Prison, USA, where it is broadcast locally on ``I Free Radio`` at http://www.wpkn.org --- ``Radio Erin`` at http://www.wbai.org --- ``The Real Majority Project`` at http://www.wvkr.org --- The planet is in grave peril, and only the united fiscal counteroffensives by the world`s 4 billion grassroots poor and workers, can rescue it from the destructive politics of IMF, WB, WTO and transnational corporations waging endless war on the world. We can`t do it without help from Shortwave Radio operators repeating your calls to join U.S. activists, in our Autumn [sic] ``Second Front`` offensives in Washington, DC. The next fiscal offensive begins on Aug. 13 in a ``Million Family`` march on Washington; join us by boycotting all spending, except for the necessities of food, etc., and buy those only from the poor and oppressed workers who sell them. Contact the ``Voice of Freedom`` at http://www.journeyforjustice.org and http://www.workers.org to express your support for the start of our ``Global Mass Action`` in a worldwide ``People`` movement. Remember Nelson Mandela! The ``Voice of Freedom`` (handwritten letter, July 29, with a Purple Heart 37c uncanceled stamp, next to imprint by PB Meter 2214536 for 00.00 August 1, from J. P. Royster, Sr., 89TO542, Green Haven Correctional Facility, P O Box 4000, Stormville NY 12582, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) I looked up the programs he mentioned. All the stations webcast, altho I could not get a Live365 connexion for WVKR. I Free Radio on WPKN: nothing found close to that name, unless it is Radio Free Bridgeport, which occupied the former WOR timeslot Saturdays at 1830-1900 UT. WVKR does not even have a program schedule, tho one is promised. Radio Free Eireann, IRA, deals with political prisoners, on WBAI Saturdays 1730-1900 UT. More at: http://www.wbai.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=354&Itemid=42 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###