DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-142, August 20, 2005 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2005 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1284: Sat 2100 WOR WRMI 7385 [NEW, only airing on this station now] Sun 0230 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB [maybe not this week] 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 1300 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1400 WOR WRMI 7385 [perhaps from Aug 28] Sun 1730 WOR WRN1 to North America (including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 115) Sun 1900 WOR RNI 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 Tue 1400] Tue 1600 WOR WBCQ after hours [stream has been down] Tue 2330 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually 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: 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 1284 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1284h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1284h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1284 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1284.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1284.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1284.html WORLD OF RADIO 1284 in true SW sound of Alex`s mp3: (stream) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_08-17-05.m3u (download) http://www.dxprograms.net/worldofradio_08-17-05.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO 1284 downloads in studio-quality mp3: (high) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1284h.mp3 (low) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1284.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO PODCAST: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml (1277, Extra 57, 1278, 1279, 1280, Extra 58, 1281, 1282, 1283, Extra 59, 1284) ** AFGHANISTAN. AFGHAN PAPER CONDEMNS UN-ISLAMIC, IMMORAL TV PROGRAMMES An editorial in the independent weekly Payam-e Mojahed has said that the entertainment programmes of commercial television channels are un- Islamic and corrupting the young, adding that since President Karzai took power, the state television has also followed suit. It condemns state television's "indecent films and corrupt music" and poor quality education programmes, and for allowing state censorship. The paper singles out private Tolu TV, often called the Afghan MTV, for exceptionally severe criticism by saying that its "popularity cannot be given as the proof for its usefulness" and blames it for promoting alcoholism, drugs and homosexuality, thus inviting "impoliteness, extravagance and indiscipline". It warns that broadcasting immoral and corrupt programmes could be used by the Taleban and Al-Qa'ida as a pretext for further attacks and will have "tragic consequences". The following is text of article titled "Television entertainment immoral", published by Afghan newspaper Payam-e Mojahed on 10 August: The Tolu TV started its broadcasts in Kandahar city and during its news bulletin it announced that its broadcasts are compatible with the needs of the new Afghanistan. Whether Tolu and other televisions have a negative or positive impact on the Afghan events is debatable. The Ministry of Information and Culture, that is the director of state television and provider of permits for private TVs, believes the more television stations there are, the more the people can acquire information, and competition among them can enhance the quality of their programmes and improve the standards of the electronic media. Television programmes can be divided into three types: Informative, educational and entertainment. The people welcome the improvement of the informative and educational programmes. It is governments, powerful foreign governments and influential figures of society which, one way or another, may prevent the dissemination of information by the mass media. Private TVs have more freedom than state television channels to publish information. This has brought them some popularity. But all of them act conservatively when they want to publish critical news about the performance of the government, foreign countries and influential persons. The state television is much weaker than the private TVs. A so-called independent commission has been formed to supervise the broadcasts of the state television, but the television is not independent at all in the dissemination of information. It receives its news through Bakhtar Information Agency and the directors consult with the minister of information and culture and the Mr Karzai's office before they publish any criticism of government departments and foreign countries. Because of this very reason, news of the demonstration staged by people in Bagram was not published on state television. It should be noted that educational programmes are not only literacy and school programmes but all programmes that enhance the knowledge of people. The education programmes of state television are not of good quality and the private TVs, that are mostly inclined towards commercial gain, pay less attention to such programmes. The most sensitive group of programmes is the entertaining one. Some limitations have been set forth for such programmes by the Islamic principles and cultural sensitivities of society. Afghan TV and Tolu TV have been acting destructively in this regard. Most of the entertainment aired by those two TVs are against Islamic principles and Afghan culture. They promote corruption among people especially the young. I even heard many foreigners saying they do not want their children to watch the films screened by those two TV stations. Most of the actors are half naked or say things that are not modest and polite. Most of such films show wine-drinking and dance parties in an attractive colourful way. Whenever a complaint is raised by the religious scholars and prominent figures of society, the minister of information and culture silences those objections by forming a new commission of his favourite ones and making some ambiguous remarks. That emboldens the televisions more than before. Unfortunately, the state television is following suit. With the apparent entrenchment of Karzai's government, the indecent films and corrupt music have increased on state television, too. Private TV stations claim that their high popularity shows that they are beneficial for society. But the benefit of television programmes in the modern world is not measured by the number of viewers. The programmes are evaluated by the advantages they bring for the people. Branded Afghan MTV by foreigners, Tolu TV broadcasts entertainment programmes that are detrimental to Afghan society. The popularity of Tolu programmes cannot be given as the proof for its usefulness. The younger generation of some societies may be interested in hashish and cigarettes and others may be interest in homosexuality. Everybody knows that the impact of such bad habits on mankind is tragic. Even if they have viewers, the films and music that invites people to impoliteness, extravagance and indiscipline are detrimental to society. Films and programmes are graded even in Western society, and only programmes that are acceptable to society are shown on public televisions. Other films are shown on cable TVs. Even public television channels only show violent and pornographic scenes only when children are in bed. The criteria of measuring the scale of violence and nakedness is different from one society to the other. Corrupt and immoral programmes are very unpleasant in an Islamic country like Afghanistan that has fought more than a decade of war to defend its religious values. Broadcasting immoral and corrupt programmes will have tragic consequences. Like some other negative phenomena, the programmes that are against Islamic values and morality, and are broadcast by certain TV channels, are financially supported by foreign countries. Afghan and Tolu TVs are financed by the reconstruction money paid to the country. Some foreigners and their Afghan friends think that one of the ways of weakening their political opponents vis-a-vis the coalition forces is to weaken their young people's religious devotion. The youth that drink wine and watch porno movies will lose their patriotic zeal to defend their land against the aliens. This policy is like a double- edged sword. Some may be courted by such a policy, but it may alienate the devout and patriotic people from the government. The Muslim nation might then consider the countries involved as their enemies. Karzai's government and the Americans might come to realize the disadvantages of such a policy. The irresponsible broadcasts of state and private TVs have prevented the people's praying for Mr Karzai on Fridays. To please the foreigners and a few Afghans who are alienated from a religious life, Mr Karzai permits immoral broadcasts on the pretext of freedom of speech. Getting Karzai's name omitted from the list of the prayers of devout people was the only service the minister of information and culture did for him. Therefore, the increase in the number of private TVs means more detrimental entertainment shows. That is not a positive development in our country. It will be a good propaganda tool used against the government and the coalition forces by the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah groups that are active in and around Kandahar. The immoral programmes of TV channels that target our youth will prompt more Al-Qa'idah and Taleban bomb explosions that will lead to the death of more Afghans. Source: Payam-e Mojahed, Kabul, in Dari 10 Aug 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. An RA program relayed by RRI: see INDONESIA ** CANADA. Checking RCI, Sat Aug 20 at 1322 on 17800, 13655 and 9515, found the substitute CBC program was Grooveshinny, then at 1330 O`Reilly on Advertising on usual schedule, but it was a repeat of a recently aired show about commercials that go too far. At 1406, instead of Quirks & Quarks, it was Simply Séan, mentioning that it was Saturday morning at 10, but surely another repeat as Séan must be locked out. Had not listened to this one before; soon discovered that as the title implies, it`s all about Séan, not the music he keeps singing along with, interrupting and truncating. No, tnx. Why bother with S.S. instead of Q&Q which was already in summer repeats? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. CBC Lockout --- Ori et al: I am sure this labour disruption will have the potential of causing far more damage to the CBC's image than any other mainly due to the fact that, for the first time, all unionized employees outside of Quebec are with one union. Before that you had the CEP (formerly NABET) and the on air personalities (were they with ACTRA?). As well as having to fill in for the on air personalities, now management has to fill in for the studio technicians, as well. Perhaps they have to fill in for transmitter people, as well. I can see a few transmitters getting fried by lightning and management flailing away to get it back on the air - it could get interesting. I wonder if AM 740 has any plans should the Hornby site go down? (Mark Coady, ON, Editor, Your Reports/Listening In Magazine Co-Moderator, ODXA Yahoogroup, Aug 17, Ontario DX Association via DXLD) That commercial station in Toronto uses CBC-owned transmitter, ex-CBL (gh) Thanks for the comments, Mark. I think you're right in saying that the consequences of this will probably be more far-reaching than previous lockouts/strikes. The on-air hosts may be members of ACTRA (many, if not most, are) but for the purposes of the CBC, they are members of CMG. That's everyone in the newsroom from the lowliest E/A (editorial assistant) to Peter Mansbridge. The CBC, under now long-expired contracts, has a fair bit of leeway in hiring casuals and temporary employees. My department, the apparently insignificant one that runs the English television networks, has a stack of casuals and temps. They come here fresh out of college (we used to be the ultimate point of a rising career, not the entry level), get training, get exposure, get experience, get everything except a job. And when, finally, they decide they really ought to be working on building a pension, they go out and get jobs elsewhere. One hell of a way to encourage staff loyalty, eh? So now, for some reason known only to the hierarchy of the CBC corporate offices, it is imperative to have the entire creative and technical staff of the corporation out on the street. This will show everyone who is boss, I guess. Meanwhile, back in the buildings, there are a whole slew of cds for radio and reruns for television. The media buyers haven't asked for rebates yet because the shows they bought time for are not being aired, so let's not count the losses there. And let's ignore the fact that the management types who are doing our jobs are getting some pretty hefty bonuses to do it. It is believed that after working their own phoney-baloney, eight-hour shifts, they can then pull fink*-duty work at the whopping rate of, are you sitting down? $84/hour. Nice work if you can get it. There is some speculation that the corp will make an acceptable offer just in time to get ready for HNIC (and if you are Canadian and don't know what THAT stands for, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!!!!). There is a certain amount of feeling amongst the picketers that we should say "no" at that point and see where the NHL goes to get their games on the air. I work for a company whose president, shortly after his appointment, came out with the howler that "no one wants to sit at home on Saturday night watching hockey." Speaking of sports, you know, the department that not only pays its own freight but a lot of the freight from less sponsored programming, take a look what's happened during this guy's presidency. We've lost baseball. We've lost the Olympics. I am told, though it is unconfirmed, that we've lost the Commonwealth Games. We've recently lost curling. (The CBC says it's going to sue the Canadian Curling Association for tearing up the contract with three years to go on it, but I have a feeling that nobody at the CCA is losing sleep over that threat). There is one year left, I believe, on the HNIC contract before renegotiation and I can see us losing that one, too. All that will be left is the CFL and I wouldn't be surprised... I've been with the CBC for over 24 years, including my first stint as a temp, in 1981, when I was not renewed due to the NABET strike of that summer. Following several months at CFTO, I returned to the CBC where from 1985 to 1987, we spent 22 months with the threat of a strike looming over our heads. We hit the pavement for seven weeks in 1999, and we were locked out in December 2002. Merry Christmas. This is the second lockout in 2.5 years and the third time I've been on the street in 6.5 years. I will not feel particularly charitable towards the people (APS, the managers' and supervisors' "association" members, who don't have the cajones to stand up and refuse to do struck work) as I have in the past. Oddly enough, several former APS members who did our work the last couple of times were arbitrarily kicked out of management and into unionized positions a few years ago and are now on the picket line. Hope they feel good about their former positions... Enough of my carping. Someone else chime in (Ori Siegel, ibid.) I`m from south of the border and live in the Sonoran Desert and even I know that stands for Hockey Night in Canada. Good luck to the CBC workers from one ex-union worker [Machinist Union Local 1871] to another. I haven`t listened to the CBC online since the strike started. Sorry guys, wish I could do more (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) I'll just show my age here for fun. I remember around 1972 approx. when CBC went on strike and each and every Saturday night during HNIC they would never know what was going to happen. HNIC would start at the usual 8 PM EST and a few minutes into a game from Maple Leaf Gardens the cameramen would turn all cameras to the crowd leaving the announcers off guard. CBC would soon have to switch to a US feed on the fly for a game from Boston, Detroit etc. I loved it as I was not a big fan of the Leafs or Habs so we got a chance to see two US based team play each other. Something that you never saw back then. It will be interesting to see what happens Saturday night when the CBC CFL game from Commonwealth Stadium is to be broadcast. I'll be at the game so I'll have to read about what happens the next day. They say there will not be any play-by-play of the game on CBC --- which might not be so bad after all. 73 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, AB, ibid.) I'm guessing that's why the Corp locked out the workers this time, so things like that wouldn't happen. I'm a Habs fan so what I'll likely do is catch the Radio Canada feed of the games and watch them en français. Or, I'll pick up the CJAD play-by-play off the air or the ExpressVu dish and use it to augment the video from wherever. I'll make do (Brent Taylor, VE1JH Doaktown, NB, ibid.) Indeed, the choices now are much different than in days gone by, so these issues seem less effect than in the past. When was the last time there was a beer strike in Canada???, once a regular occurrence in the 70's and 80's. '73 (Mick Delmage, AB, ibid.) Ori, I am picketing with you guys in spirit. When I was in Singapore, I was talking to a UK friend of mine and one of the first things she said was "isn't it a shame about CBC losing the Olympics." A *lot* of people were talking about this over the bottles of Tiger (local beer.) It seems management is h*** bent on breaking the unions, just my observation. Power to the people! (Maryanne Kehoe, GA, ibid.) The main problem, as I see it, is that public service corporations like this one are no longer run by people dedicated to the traditional goals of public broadcasting. They do not see themselves as custodians of the public trust and of a tradition of service that --- quite frankly --- transcends the ordinary bean-counting commercial entity. They are simply "managers". It doesn't matter whether what they are managing. To them, whether it is a gas station, a department store or a public radio network matters not at all. Sadly, as a society we have lost sight of the core distinctions between a commercial enterprise and a public service entity. These faceless, often soulless managers now shuttle between the two and manage both in exactly the same way. Is there any wonder that once proud institutions like the CBC are in such mortal jeopardy? (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) I agree but only so far. "Society" has lost sight of the core distinctions between public & commercial institutions because public institutions have done a lousy job justifying their distinctiveness in current context. You mention the "tradition" of public broadcasting and the CBC --- to a 25-year old, what does that mean? Tradition tends to mean something only to someone who remembers when the "tradition" was current. External managers were likely brought in because they were trained and experienced in wrestling with branding and positioning challenges that internal managers were ill-equipped to address. The CBC's role in a 500-channel universe, by necessity, is far different from what it was in a 1-channel or 2-channel universe. Veering slightly off-topic -- why does the CBC even bid for HNIC rights, anyways? What unique, distinctive public-service advantages does CBC bring to hockey coverage that CTV couldn't provide? Yes, it's a "tradition" thing --- but if I were a Canadian taxpayer I'd question the CBC bothering with the NHL. I frankly haven't been following the labor issues themselves enough to take sides --- but it seems to me that every hour lost to regular programming further damages the institution that is the CBC and destroys whatever goodwill it has (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ODXA via DXLD) Hi team, Can I thow a bean into the pot. Richard, while I respect your position, it seems underlined by the corollary that public institutions don't work as efficiently as those produced by private enterprise. Please correct me if I am wrong, for I don't wish to attribute you to something you didn't intend to say. If my interpretation of your premise is correct, you may be right, in some or many cases on an economic level. (The Canadian government has no plans to offer public shares in Canada Post. Canada Post works well and it is a huge money earner for our federal government). There is something different about broadcasting. And it has more to do with culture than economic principles. Particularly in Canada. I won't speak for America, because I am not American. As one who has watched the CBC throughout all my adult life, (I am over 60 years of age) the CBC brings to the Canadian broadcast milieu, a distinctiveness which CTV has failed to fill. Because it is cheaper, in many cases to purchase out of country television programs - CTV has made a practice throughout its existence of plugging as much of its key viewing times with programs they are unable to produce, or unable to afford to produce. CTV's boasts of its news being the most viewed in Canada, and that may be, but I can unequivocally say that CTV doesn't have foreign correspondents around the world and I find their news internationally lean and lacking in coverage and film footage from around the world. I have no memory of any significant artistic, educational, or cultural programming ever produced by the CTV network. That doesn't mean that they haven't done so. I just have no imprinted memory of such programming. In this sense, CTV is, in my opinion, a lightweight in interpreting Canadian culture and Canadian history. From what I can see, the CBC has done an amazing job in producing what national programs it has, while operating on a budget which has been sliced by each successive government over the past 25 years. When we look at radio, CBC is a bastion of cultural value in Canada. Bill Bryson (an American writer) in his book The Lost Continent, 'Travels in Small Town America,' wrote of hearing that there was a major political upheaval in Washington while he was journeying across America. As he drove along he rotated his radio dial, through the evening, searching for an in-depth analysis of events. He eventually came upon a comprehensive report and he settled back to listen to it. When the program ended, he was stunned to discover that he was listening to the CBC. Bryson was disappointed that he was unable to hear any in-depth analysis, from any radio stations within his own country. CBC radio is a Canadian lighthouse. When you drive across Canada from province to province, it is like hearing the same radio station, with the same familiar voices. It gives Canada's culturally varied areas a sense of unity. We all have different needs in life. Some people's needs are filled by listening to country music or Rock music, on their local radio station. Others place economic values above cultural values. And still others place cultural values above economics. I guess I fit into the latter category (Winston Seeney, VE3WFS, Belmont Lake, Ontario., ibid.) Excellent points all; but a bit of a "chicken-egg" aspect to it all, I think. For example, I think the changes in management have prompted (perhaps even engineered) the fuzziness of mission. Witness what is going on with PBS/NPR and Tomlinson. All surveys point to very high marks for PBS/NPR from the public it serves, yet... You understand where I'm going (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) No argument --- the problem is compounded by multiple stakeholders and fuzzy metrics, too. If you can't agree on the metrics, you can't agree on the goals (Richard Cuff philosophizing in Allentown, PA, ibid.) I think that we should take some time to consider the "fact" that private enterprise is automatically more "efficient" than the public sector. It seems to me that this may be one of those truisms that needs to be proved before accepted. It`s been an unquestioned assumption for many years. Given recent reports of excess among some corporate leaders and other reports of misguided corporate investments, I'm not willing to automatically make the assumption that the private sector is as lean, mean and rationally led as they would have us believe. I have a budget that I can't exceed --- just like the private sector. I can't arbitrarily raise my budget --- just like the corporate sector. If I don't perform, I'm out --- just like the corporate sector. One of the differences is that I can't advertise in hopes of expanding my market segment. On the other hand, I can't go to the government and get tax breaks and incentives to help my business. We, in the public sector must meet many of the same real world tests as those firms in the private sector (Mike Wolfson, OH?, ibid.) Hi Winston, No implied corollary regarding efficiency. You raise a good point -- what is "efficiency", anyway? How do you measure it? Commercial, for-profit enterprises have it easier than public service organizations because of the role of the "almighty dollar" -- without a profit, and without cash, a business is kaput. Cash flow provides a metric -- a yardstick -- to measure performance, right or wrong. That is my point. Nor do I argue with anything else you say -- I've listened to the CBC since the mid-1960s. Your last point, though, highlights this quandary: What you might consider a "cultural value" someone else might not. Neither is right nor wrong. However, an "economic value" has a quantitative component that can be measured, so its value isn't as subjective. Your mention of the "lighthouse" analogy is interesting – because that's how satellite radio is being promoted Stateside. Your points are well taken, and I frankly don't have the answers --- but I can help frame the questions! (Richard Cuff, PA, ibid.) Hopefully my other comments have nipped this controversy in the bud. Anyone who has seen my waist line knows I'm not "lean" --- Nor can I afford to advertise... Yes, I am taxed, and yes, we manage our business to minimize taxes when we can. I'll wager most Americans and Canadians manage their personal affairs to minimize their taxes too. Besides, we run our business to be effective -- that's more important than being efficient (Richard Cuff, being effective in Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) I can't agree with you more. CTV is just a sensational spinoff of a US Network, similar to FOX. And watching their National News is no different that another CNN Feed. As for CBC radio, one just has to listen to CBC Radio One during any of the many programs that takes calls from listeners and you will hear people of all ages from all across this country phoning in with their opinions and stories from across this vast country. What other radio station would let its callers voice their opinions pro or con on a topic without the fear of being cut off (Cross Canada Check Up - Sundays)? 73 (Mick VE6IDX Delmage, AB, ibid.) Some intelligent talk ideas: ABC Radio National's "Australia Talks Back" comes to mind; also NPR's "Talk of the Nation". I think the BBC's "Talking Point" (WS / Radio 4) tries, but they only have an hour and cram that hour full of diverse opinions -- giving the program a rushed feeling (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) Risking getting too far off topic here, but that never stopped me before. |g| I would submit that the decision to make "economic value" the standard in a given test is, indeed, a subjective decision. And no less so than the decision to make "cultural value" the standard. Either dazzling you with my logic or, more likely, baffling you with my you-know-what, I remain (John Figliozzi, ibid.) ** CANADA. CALGARY CBC STAFF TO BROADCAST SHOW ON UNIVERSITY RADIO STATION The National Post reports that about a dozen reporters and producers of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Calgary who are currently locked out in a national dispute, will begin weekly radio broadcasts on the University of Calgary student radio station CJSW on Monday. The programme is tentatively called Eyepatch Radio and will be on the air from 11 a.m. to noon local time. It will also be available as a podcast from a website that will be announced later. # posted by Andy @ 12:56 UT Aug 20 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** CANADA. ** CAYMAN ISLANDS. MW matters: see USA [and non] below ** CUBA. RHC, Sat Aug 20 at 1343 on 9550, 11760, 11800, 12000 with eco-talk show Agenda 21, partly about glacier in SE Greenland melting at an increased rate, and raising sea level (bad news for island nations). Several times the audio suddenly started echoing and stopped just as abruptly, on one occasion when there was a change of voice. So instead of long-path kicking in and out, I think it was in the studio production, like the play head a few cm away being potted up while recording on the record head and mixed back in with the original audio at a slight delay. Possibly this was intentional for effect, but it was quite a distraxion. Rechecked at 1352, playing what sounded like an old cylinder, a song called ``Santa Bárbara`` -- or so I thought, until it started to crap out digitally, tho the original might have been cylindrical. These were all sub-programs in Despertar con Cuba, which Manolo de la Rosa was wrapping up at 1357 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. JÚBILO EN CIENFUEGOS (CUBA) POR RECEPCIÓN DE TV MARTÍ COPIADO DE LA EDICION ELECTRONICA "CUBANET" SOCIEDAD / Júbilo en Cienfuegos por recepción de TV Martí - CubaNet News - Noticias de Cuba / Cuba News_ http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y05/ago05/17a3.htm ================================================================= CIENFUEGOS, Cuba - 16 de agosto, Alejandro Tur Valladares, Cubanacán Press / http://www.cubanet.org - El júbilo se hizo patente entre los cienfuegueros al prender sus televisores el pasado 6 de agosto y descubrir que la señal de TV Martí superaba la interferencia del gobierno, haciendo posible su recepción por el canal 13. Los primeros en percatarse del evento fueron los oyentes de Radio Martí (proyecto paralelo al de la televisora), quienes al escuchar el llamado de atención que la emisora radial emitía anunciando la salida al aire del canal, corrieron a sintonizarlo a las 6 de la tarde. Asombrados quedaron al confirmar que la señal se captaba con gran nitidez. Esto provocó que la voz se corriera y que en poco tiempo la tele audiencia aumentara significativamente, alcanzando niveles insospechados. A los pocos minutos de comenzada la transmisión, las autoridades cubanas activaron su sistema de interferencia. Esta vez no emplearon el patrón tradicional, sino que se optó por sacar a la frecuencia del canal 13 la señal del canal 1, Tele Rebelde, provocando con ello imágenes fantasmas de fondo. Fue a las 9 de la noche que la interferencia se impuso, bloqueando con efectividad las imágenes animadas, al ser cubierta la pantalla con un fondo carmelita. Esto fue posible gracias a un helicóptero que, dotado con un pequeño transmisor de interferencia, comenzó a sobrevolar la ciudad, bombardeándola con sus ondas. Esta es la tercera ocasión en que la señal de TV Martí burla el cerco radio electrónico que el gobierno cubano ha establecido a lo largo de toda la isla, gastando para ello recursos millonarios. La programación con que cuenta TV Martí goza de gran aceptación dada la calidad y diversidad de cada uno de los segmentos. El más comentado de todos fue el humorístico conocido como "La oficina del jefe". ____________________________________ Esta información ha sido transmitida por teléfono, ya que el gobierno de Cuba controla el acceso a Internet. CubaNet no reclama exclusividad de sus colaboradores, y autoriza la reproducción de este material, siempre que se le reconozca como fuente. CORDIALES 73 (via Oscar de Céspedes (Miami, FL), condiglist via DXLD) Note that this story says TV jamming was done from helicopter above the city; I suppose with TV Martí`s very limited and predictable hours, that could be more cost-effective than more permanent jamming transmitters and towers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. US TV BROADCASTS TO CUBA REDUCED BY HURRICANE DENNIS US government officials have confirmed that the $3 million blimps that hovered over the lower Florida Keys and carried broadcasts of TV Martí to Cuba were torn apart by Hurricane Dennis on 9 July. As a result, TV Martí's 31.5 hours of weekly programming have been slashed to eight hours a week, broadcast by satellite and Commando Solo C-130s. Critics of the money spent on TV Martí say that the fact it took the US media more than five weeks to notice the blimps were missing proves the station has no impact. A spokesman for the Office of Cuba Broadcasting confirmed that the station is currently broadcasting eight hours a week: four hours by satellite, which requires a special dish for reception not widely available in Cuba, and another four broadcast on Saturday evenings by the C130. Radio Martí has not been affected because its signal is broadcast from other locations. (Source: Miami Herald) Read the full story (free registration required) http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12430124.htm # posted by Andy @ 10:45 UT Aug 10 (Media Network blog via DXLD) We already had a story in 5-121 July 24 from the Key West Citizen about this happening July 9. So it`s only news when the Herald catches up? (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Re 5-138, WKAT protects Cuba? See U S A [and non] below ** INDIA. 9425, AIR Bangalore, Aug 18, 1459-1530, in vernacular, sub- continent music, ads, 1530: ``Good evening. This is All India Radio and now --- the news at 9,`` world, national, sports and financial news in English, news website given http://www.newsonair.com --- ID for A.I.R. National Service, 1600: BBCWS program ``Sports International.`` Fair-Good (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Message from Sunil Bhatia, AIR --- Dear Sh. Mukesh, Thanks for the mail and report. We will certainly acknowledge your reception report. Besides, we have started test transmission on 9425 (Bangalore) & 9470 kHz (Aligarh) at 0130-0530 & 0830-1230 UT to analyse their reach across the country. Though we have requested several AIR stations to monitor these frequencies. We shall be happy to receive your valuable reports. In addition, you may also spread our request for monitoring to your colleagues across the country. With best regards, Yours Sincerely, (Sunil Bhatia) Dy. Director (Engg.), Spectrum Management & Synergy Division, Directorate General: All India Radio, # 207, Akashvani Bhawan, New Delhi-01 Website: http://www.allindiaradio.org Email: spectrum-manager @ air.org.in Regards & 73 (Mukesh Kumar, MUZAFFARPUR, INDIA, Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. RADIO REPUBLIK INDONESIA TO RELAY RADIO AUSTRALIA State-owned Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) has signed a cooperation agreement with Radio Australia. Under the agreement, Indonesian audiences will have access to the daily broadcast of Radio Australia's regional current affairs program, Asia Pacific, at 0630-0700 UT. "I am very delighted to be able to cooperate with RRI. This is a breakthrough in media relations between Australia and Indonesia," said Radio Australia head Jean Gabriel Manguy. "Until recent years, international broadcasters have faced significant barriers in reaching Indonesian audiences. The new agreement will open a new era between Indonesia's and Australia's public broadcasters. We have signed agreements with several private stations in Indonesia, but the deal with RRI is very significant." (Source: The Jakarta Post) # posted by Andy @ 10:59 UT Aug 20 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ``Asia Pacific`` in English?? Or is there an Indonesian version of it? WTFK? On one of their entire networks, including some SW outlets? Which? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Clear Channel 3rd Of 5 In June Online Radio Ratings --- Aug. 16, 2005 By Katy Bachman, Mediaweek.com Clear Channel Radio¹s online music and radio network of 400 radio stations, debuted third among the five-rated online radio networks measured by the comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings service for the month of June. According to the ratings released Monday (August 15), CC¹s online network drew 860,900 weekly listeners, up 177 percent since the network¹s launch in January. Yahoo! Music was in first place with 2.6 million weekly listeners, followed by America Online¹s AOL Radio Network at 1.6 million. Microsoft¹s MSN Radio and WindowsMedia.com were fourth in the ratings with 702,800 weekly listeners and Live365 was fifth with 535,900 listeners. Across all five networks, more than 6.4 million consumers are tuning- in to online radio every week, with more than half of them or 3.9 million, tuning-in during weekdays between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. As Clear Channel adds from its portfolio of 1,200 radio stations to its online network, ratings are expected to increase. To draw online listeners, the company¹s strategy includes online and on-demand music programming, videos of in-studio performances, live concerts and podcasts of top-rated radio segments. The comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings service is based on a panel of 200,000 consumers. (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) see also RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER - ELECTRA SDR POST-LAUNCH CHECKOUT --- Advance information, subject to change: Post-launch checkout of the Electra software-defined UHF radio aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will be conducted on or about 26 September 2005. These tests will include CW transmissions during spacecraft turns to verify the UHF quadrifilar helix antenna pattern. Interested radio amateurs and amateur and professional radio- astronomers in North America with sensitive receiving capabilities at 437.1 MHz can attempt to receive the UHF signal from MRO during this test. More details will follow. Jan, WB6VRN Electra Integration and Test Engineer Flight Communications Systems Section NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory ---- (via AMSAT-UK via Chelmsford Amataeur Radio Society via Trevor M5AKA, Aug 12, SWM_readers yg via DXLD) At this point it is not clear whether the transmissions in the Amateur 70 cms band will be receivable in the British Isles at any time (Trevor, M5AKA, ibid.) My thoughts at the present time are to provide Right Ascension and Declination, nominal frequency, expected power flux density back at Earth, and a link to one web tool to convert these into AZ/EL and Doppler shift for a given observer's latitude and longitude and another for the expected receiver input signal level given the user's antenna gain. That is about as simple as I can think to make it for the amateur community. With a good OSCAR station and Argo (or similar) software, one should be able to see the sweep of the CW line stand out from the background noise. The tests are optimized for us in North America, but there may be some opportunities at lower elevation angles for stations elsewhere around the world. 73, (Jan, WB6VRN, ibid.) How far away will it be then? (gh) ** JAMAICA. See U S A [and non] below ** KENYA. Re 5-141, question about KENYA: see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld2174.txt (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Aug 20, 2005, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: EAST AFRICAN REPORT with Chris Greenway in Nairobi EXPEDITION TO KOMA ROCK One of the radio-related web sites I find impressive is Ludo Maes's Transmitter Documentation Project (TDP) at http://www.tdp.info Among other things, it attempts to list all of the world's known transmitter sites ever used by shortwave broadcasters, with some information going back many decades. The Kenyan section lists four shortwave transmitter sites: Kisumu, Mombasa, Langata and Koma Rock. I know that both Kisumu and Mombasa closed at least 20 years ago (if not much further back), but what about Langata and Koma Rock? The Langata station is relatively familiar to me, being located about seven miles southwest of Nairobi city centre, and just three or four miles from where I work. The TDP listing says that six shortwave transmitters have been installed at Langata at various times over the years (2 x 5 kW, 2 x 10 kW and 2 x 100 kW). I know that at present the station is only used to carry the KBC's Eastern Service on a single frequency (4915 kHz). According to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation's own web site, this is from a 10 kW unit. If the TDP information is correct, this would be a Marconi transmitter installed at Langata in 1959. And what of the fourth site, Koma Rock? TDP says that one 20kW transmitter and two 250kW senders were installed there (in 1976 and 1984 respectively). I know that the 250 kW units were originally intended for use by a Kenyan external service that in the end never got on the air. But is the Koma Rock site still in existence? This was the question I set out to answer one Sunday back in August. Koma Rock is now a housing estate on the eastern outskirts of Nairobi and so, equipped with map and compass, I headed out there. I had noticed adverts in a local paper promoting the sale of plots of land in Koma Rock, saying they were "adjacent to the KBC", so I was hopeful of finding at least something. In the end, and to cut quite a long story short, I discovered that the KBC site no longer exists. Local residents were able to point me towards roughly where it used to be, and I'm fairly confident that I can now say where it was to within about half-a-mile. But I discovered no remnants of it: no signboards, no buildings and certainly no antenna masts or towers. The area is now in the process of being built up with residential and industrial premises. It seems to have been quite a good choice for a transmitting site: flat, open ground adjacent to a main road. I wonder what happened to the transmitters, in particular those two 250 kW ones? Incidentally, the TDP web site gives the coordinates of the Koma Rock site as 37.09 degrees east, 1.16 degrees south. On my map, that places it well over 20 miles to the east of Nairobi, in fact outside the boundaries of Nairobi Province. My own estimate is that the site is (or, rather, was) at 36.55 east, 1.16 south. That's about seven miles east-northeast of Nairobi city centre (Chris Greenway, Kenya, Nov 2002 BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD 2-174, Nov 7, 2002 via 5-142) ** KOREA NORTH. VOK, 9335, Aug 20 at 1325 in English, marred by continuous motor-boating sound, which we associate with some kind of generator problem. Checked // 11710 at 1336, as they mentioned being Land of the Morning Calm, and that had it too, tho the pitch seemed a bit higher. Did not hear it on 11735, scheduled in Chinese at that hour, tho it had a lot of QRM including VOA Korean on 11740 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. VON missing on the usual frequencies since Friday Aug 19th, at 1000 including this morning (Saturday), but heard in the early morning yesterday. Weak modulation (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Aug 20, 2005, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7275, R. Nigeria, Abuja, Aug 19, open carrier on at 0425, at 0431 African music (flute & drums) and singing, into what seemed to be English, clear mention of Nigeria, 0434-0440 reciting from the Kor`an. Surprised at the decent signal under Tunisia. Checked again on Aug 20, Nigeria could not be heard (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. On 15560 at 1408 Sat Aug 20, RDPI was giving a thorough frequency schedule, including this one for NAm, plus satellite and FM. But the audio was very distorted, clipped and overmodulated, very unpleasant, and even worse with music and sound effects. Audio processing gone wild. 1409 went into sports talk, so who cares? Checked 17615 // which tho weaker sounded better (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. VOICE OF RUSSIA: RUSSIAN RADIO STATION TO HOLD BESLAN COMMEMORATIVE MARATHON From: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050818/41181610.html 18/08/2005 14:50 MOSCOW, August 18 (RIA Novosti) - The Voice of Russia, a state-run radio station, will hold a marathon, Let's Help the Children of Beslan, on September 3 to remember the victims of the Beslan tragedy that took place a year ago. All Voice of Russia programs will end with information about the Beslan children and their families' urgent need for financial aid. The organizers of the marathon said donations should be made individually. The Voice of Russia has been cooperating with a special commission in Beslan, whose members include former hostages. The North Ossetian government has also provided support to the marathon. The Voice of Russia Web site offers detailed information in 17 languages about the marathon and the accounts where donors can transfer money. People in over 160 countries will be able to hear the broadcasts live or online. The radio station's correspondents will also report from Beslan about how the charity donations will be used. At the end of the marathon, further details will be available on http://www.vor.ru Last September, gunmen seized school number one in Beslan, North Ossetia (Russia's North Caucasus republic). The attack left 331 people dead, including 186 children (via Ulis Fleming, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SENEGAL [non]. Re WADR: fair signal today, Sat Aug 20th, on 17555, 0800-0900, said they will air 2 hours in French and 4(?) in English per day (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Aug 20, 2005, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "West Africa Democracy Radio - WADR" heard today (Saturday 20 August) with a good signal on 17555 from tune-in at 0845. Continuous announcements about the station in English and French. Mentions of Sénégal, Libéria, Sierra Leone. Scheduled 0800-0900 on this frequency from an unknown site. See Mike Terry's posting of 18th for further details (Dave Kenny, Caversham, England, Lowe HF225, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Bernd Trutenau already put site at nearby Rampisham, UK, in 5-141 (gh) Organization --- Open Society Initiative for West Africa, which is part of the Soros Foundation. Group has received US$800,000 in funding to set up its operations from the U.S. Government, according to US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Robert Perry. Broadcasts will also be directed at Guinea, which is the only West African nation without a private and independent media. The station is also part of an effort to democratize Liberia in advance of Oct 2003 elections. Location Not applicable. Station applied for a license to broadcast from Sierra Leone but was denied the permit in August 2002 (from http://clandestineradio.com/intel/station.php?id=77&stn=632 via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) This item may be 2+ years old (gh) Here OSIWA`s May 27, 2004 item about WADR: http://www.osiwa.org/en/programs/special/radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. Inspired by a logging of Japanese DX-er Kouji Hashimoto (DX Listening Digest) also I was able to hear the Voice of Sudan on 7999.34 kHz closing down at 1600 UT. I´ve heard this genuine clandestine station, not a target broadcast a couple of times before. Nice reception with signal level S6-7. Where is the transmitter located, maybe in Eritrea? That was just a wild guess or memory. 73 (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. 4990, Radio Apintie, 1002-1015 Aug 20. Noted a man in Dutch language comments. At 1003 short burst of promos or ads and then back to same man commenting. The signal was good at tune in, but immediately dropped a after a couple of minutes (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. EDITORIAL SAYS TV SPORT PLAN TO REDUCE UNREST "OUT OF TOUCH" | Text of editorial titled "Football as a Southern Panacea?", published by Thai newspaper The Nation web site on 17 August Now it can be told. The government expects to turn the tide against the Islamic militancy and separatist insurgency that has savaged the strife-torn Muslim South by getting local youths glued to television screens with cable TV access, featuring mostly English Premiership football matches. More than 800 people have been killed since the beginning of 2004 in the southernmost region. According to Interior Minister Kongsak Vantana, the government's latest initiative to bring peace to this troubled region will likely involve private cable TV operator United Broadcasting Corp [UBC], which may be commissioned to produce original programmes or dubbed pre-existing programmes in Yawi, a Malay dialect widely spoken by southern Thai Muslims of Malay descent. Between 500 and 1,000 television sets with cable TV receivers will be set up at community centres and shops in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. After an initial test run, a viewership survey will be conducted to find out what kinds of programmes local people prefer so that programming can be adjusted and expanded to suit their requirements. Kongsak said the rationale behind the idea was to get local youths so absorbed in sports and exercise so that they have no time to engage in radicalism or perversion of Islamic teachings. The interior minister rejected outright concern that the airing of daily football matches also had its downside, including encouraging youths to dabble in gambling as is the case in most other areas in Thailand. He said he did not expect football gambling to proliferate there because the locals are so poor they cannot even afford to buy their own television sets. If such an innovative idea reflects the depth and breadth of ACM Kongsak's understanding of the situation in the Muslim-majority South, the former Air Force commander-in-chief is seriously in need of a crash course on Muslim southerners and their way of life. Such an initiative reveals how out of touch the newly appointed interior minister is. What's more, it was not all that much better than Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's bungling of the origami bird operation. First, it was a gross misconception that life in the Muslim South is so drab and puritanical that people have become so miserable and bored that they badly need such handouts of free television sets and access to cable TV to "add colour to their lives", as Kongsak put it. Like people in other parts of the country, Muslims do know how to enjoy life. Second, most people in the three southern provinces are not so poor that they cannot afford television sets. And it is a wrong assumption that most of them shun Thai-language TV programmes or cannot enjoy Thai-language programmes unless they are dubbed in Yawi. Indeed, most southern Muslim households do watch a wide variety of Thai television programmes as well as those broadcast from Malaysian television networks in Bahasa Melayu, which they understand. Third, people in the region already watch Premier League football matches on Malaysia's terrestrial television networks or via satellite dishes, although perhaps not as many matches as are available on UBC. There is no doubt that the free TV sets - preferably those with larger screen sizes - and the additional football matches will be well received by Muslim football fans. But don't expect them to help quell the insurgency. Fourth, Islamic militancy and the love of football are not mutually exclusive. Impressionable youths can be both avid football fans and players and subscribe to perverse forms of Islamic teachings, as was evident in the almost 20 football players who were killed along with dozens of others after they staged coordinated armed uprisings against security forces in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat on 28 April 2004. Kongsak's strategy is reminiscent of anti-communism strategies and tactics employed by the government, which used, among other things, psychological warfare techniques to spread government propaganda through the mass media, including television and radio broadcasts carrying messages designed to win the hearts and minds of "brainwashed" communist sympathisers. But Islamic militancy and separatist insurgency are totally different beasts. And dealing with them requires totally different approaches. Source: The Nation web site, Bangkok, in English 17 Aug 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS. See U S A [and non] below ** U S A. 1610, WPVW207, Kettering OH. Heard "Kettering" on 1610 the other night. Heard "Kettering Ohio" around 6:15 am [EDT = UT -4] 8/6. Also heard W--- 207 call, which matches web info for station: The WPVW207 station tower is located in Kettering, Ohio, central to the listening area in a 3-5 mile radius or 25-75 square miles. Information Radio 1610: http://www.bearcat1.com/study.htm Kettering Ohio Case Study: http://www.theradiosource.com/articles-case-study-kettering.htm Alert Stations across America: http://www.theradiosource.com/articles-news-ears-across-america.htm (Larry Russell, MI, MARE Tipsheet Aug 20 via DXLD) ** U S A. RE: QUESTION ABOUT REPORTING ILLEGAL BROADCASTERS This is a topic I've addressed several times with members of both the NRC and IRCA. My opinions are formed strictly from the standpoint of having to deal with station managers and engineers, asking for DX Tests to be conducted. Twice in the last year, I had conversations where engineers mentioned past bad experiences with DX'ers who had quote "turned us in because they thought we were on daytime power at night". The engineers felt wronged by the actions of the hobbyists and their attitude towards all hobbyists had been colored by those experiences. In one other case, I was told that Clear Channel's legal department had become concerned about stations conducting DX tests based on hobbyists lodging complaints with the FCC. Personally, I think there is almost nothing to be gained by having DX'ers "play cop". I have a local Spanish language station that almost never reduces their power at night, making that channel nearly impossible for me to DX on. It's a pain in the butt for me, and I'd love to have enforcement action against them, but I know that in time lots of things can happen to change that situation. New ownership, new management, the station could just go off the air, etc. So instead, I try to patient and wait for the day when that channel will be available. The only alternative is to turn them into the FCC or contact the station to complain. I think the potential damage that could be caused to the hobby is too great, and so I put my personal desires aside for now. Obviously, it's a free country and folks can do as they wish. But I strongly discourage this type of action. Anyone who thinks otherwise is welcome to take over broadcast test coordinator (CPC) duties and try dealing with engineers who have been "burned" by hobbyists in the past. One of my conversations lasted over 30 minutes, all of it with the engineer blasting me, the NRC and hobbyists in general. It goes without saying that we won't be getting a DX test from him anytime soon. The sad truth is that commercial concerns and the NAB have a much larger voice at the FCC than do ordinary citizens. It isn't right, but it's reality. Complaining probably won't help, but it almost certainly will hurt the hobby. Now, you can huff and puff about exercising your rights, letter of the law, etc. but me, I want to hear distant radio stations, not change the world. And complaining to the FCC makes that harder to do. My two cents worth, as a private citizen, not a representative of either club. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, NRC/IRCA Broadcast Test Coordinator, Birmingham, AL 35216, ABDX via DXLD) I agree with Les 100%, especially about the futility of average listener complaints having any impact with the FCC. Perhaps if the complaint is filed by another broadcaster (such as a station whose coverage is being impaired by another station's illegal operation) there could be some action. . . . maybe. And I appreciate Les's "CPC" work in today's broadcasting environment. It's a tough job, requiring a lot of effort for minimal return. Those Monday mornings of 30+ years ago with several tests on wide-open frequencies seem like a dream now! (Harry Helms, TX, ibid.) Les, I understand what you're saying. This is my basis for wanting to report the operation... 1. The operator has 2 FM's and two translators, both translators associated to one of the FM's. I have only once heard content on the translators matching the FM station they are associated with. 2. Illegal IDs at the top of the hour, mentioning non-existent call letters (legacy calls for the area his station covers), with no reference to the station the translators are associated with. 3. At other times, the same illegal ID and the calls of the translators, with no reference to the station the translators are associated with. 3 [sic]. One translator (140-watt) was audible Monday at a distance of 91 miles, during a typical day with no tropospheric enhancement. It is directional and the receiving location was NOT in the main lobe of the antenna...closer to a null. At a distance of 72 miles (my home), it completely owns the frequency and nearly overdrives the receiver. Either the pattern is wrong or he is using higher power. 4. Clear signal with moderate strength from the other translator (250- watt) at 72 miles distance, with the translator being directional AND my receiving location was in a null on the pattern. I think the pattern is off. 5. After hearing several days of extremely distorted audio on these translators, I decided to find out who they were. There were brief periods that the microwave link to the translators was working, and I was able to find enough information that I could trace them to their origin. I spoke to the owner of the station. He was aware of the non- existent call letters being used --- he said that using those calls were acceptable, and said that because he owned two stations, he could broadcast either of them on the translators or originate programming on the translators. I told him that according to my understanding, he could only rebroadcast the station that was the parent of the translator as recorded in FCC files, and that he could not originate content specifically for the translators --- that could only be done for regular FM stations and low-power FMs. 6. All of this began occurring one day after another station in the area switched from Christian contemporary to Spanish. I think he's jockeying for ratings. Do you still feel this is an exercise in futility? My point in mentioning the above is because I think its a blatant disregard, not to argue (Mike Hawkins, CA, ibid.) In my case, I have been asked by the FCC about pirates and cheaters. I have been asked to listen and report only when something is wrong. In many cases the FCC will just call them and tell them something is wrong. The 1200 in Atlantic Beach SC got caught cheating. They were doing it deliberately. They said they were EXPERIMENTING. They got a fine. The mention of the 1130 in Gainesville GA always would get a scowl from Fred Broce, the Atlanta FCC chief. He also DX'es so he catches them himself. When he retires maybe I can get him on this list. Another scowl would come when you would mention the 810 in the Nashville area or the world famous WBCA 1110. They even asked ME one time if I had a better address than they did as one of their NAL letters got returned! The owner of WEBS moved from 1110 to 1030 and thought he didn't have to lower power at night. Now this even caused problems with WBZ in the local area. When I talked to Fred in Atlanta, I told him that Mark Manulian of WBZ was going to have a special talk with the guy. I think words were said to the WEBS owner that the FCC doesn't normally use. Years ago a 560 in Kentucky stayed on their NEW 2500 watt day power. A friend of mine was chief there and he asked ME to take care of it. I told Fred at the FCC that after I talked to them, there WOULD be instant compliance. There was. I called at night and left a message. I told them of their problem, and in addition to a FCC complaint by WVOC, the #1 award winning morning show would give out their phone number and ask the listeners to call in. I hinted their phone would be tied up for many hours. If necessary I can get a FIM to measure field strength! And I know how to use it. I wonder how many engineers have DX'ed with a Field Intensity Meter AND logged the results? In most cases Clear Channel rarely has a problem. When I find a distant one (KWKH has had problems) I just called Paul Jellison. One night he was listening to his Denver 760 and it was an hour past local sunset. IBOC was decoding perfectly fine on skywave some hundreds of miles away. HMMMMMMM! He says. He dials back to the station where they'd been doing some testing. They said OOOOOPS. Remote control was left in standby mode. And momentarily POOOOOF! Signal was gone! (Powell E. Way III, W4OPW, ibid.) I find reporting ANYTHING to the FCC as completely useless. They move with the speed of a glacier. I reported lights out on a tower and it took 4 months for someone to look into it. A fine was given. I report stuff like lights out on towers if it goes for a long time because people can be put in jeopardy over it. The rest of the stuff will NEVER get acted upon. Don't waste your time. Consider how many YEARS it took for the FCC to act on Bishop Willis before you decide to send anything to the FCC. They are pretty much a vestigial organ of the government (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) NEVER report tower lights to the FCC. It needs to be reported to the FAA. And if you tell them it's a navigation hazard --- whoooo eeeeeeee boy! The REV Willis had lawyers and an inside mole taking care of things. Once this person left the FCC things moved along rather quickly and forcefully. The local folks had their hands tied. Just ask the Atlanta office (Powell E. Way III W4OPW, ibid.) Kevin, You're probably right in most cases, though my complaints about KRXR and KAPL have caused them to stop blasting away on their respective frequencies. Maybe I actually had nothing to do with that after all (Mike Hawkins, ibid.) Since 1994 the FCC has been a direct extension of the U.S. Congress. Most of the engineers and technicians are gone, replaced by lawyers. The FCC's main role now is to make decisions that facilitate money making operations for corporate America. The recent BPL fiasco, multiple ownership in the same market of stations like the Clear Channel beast, spectrum auctions, levying large fines with no statutory authorization as examples. But having said that I personally too feel it a mistake to rat out AM stations that break the rules. As Les said there can be a backlash towards we DXers when it comes to DX tests and even QSL card requests. Besides one man's annoying pest AM broadcast station breaking the rules is another man's opportunity to log that same station. Over the years as I've come across a station with a rules violation or especially technical problem I've talked to the Chief Engineer only. But of course nowadays many stations have a roving CE that is contracted and the end result is no CE at most stations. 73 & GUD DX, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Plant City, FL, USA, ibid.) I think the best policy is that if you do feel the need to complain, either to the station itself, the station they're interfering with, or to Law Enforcement, you should make an effort to do so as a private citizen. As much as possible, you should try not to identify yourself as a DXer, because even if a station is blatantly, knowingly cheating, they WILL resent you for reporting them. If they're going to hate someone, let it be an individual, and not the entire hobby. Given that the FCC isn't very interested in actually enforcing any rules anymore, the net effect is to only create bad feelings. Remember - one person's pest is another's DX. So look at it as an opportunity for someone to add one to the log. If the cheater is affecting the coverage of another station, it's probably best to complain to the victim - again, as a listener - and let them deal with it. They'll probably have a lot more success than you anyhow (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, ibid.) ** U S A [and non]. Re 5-138, WKAT protects Cuba? Odd that the FCC would be concerned about protecting a Cuban station from interference, extant or not. Yet they show no similar concern about protecting US stations from 1st and 2nd adjacent channel interference from each other, even at great distances. It seems so Orwellian (Gerry Bishop, Niceville, FL, ('Analog bad! Digital better!' bleated the sheep.), Aug 15, NRC-AM via DXLD) According to the FCC database there is a CMHW on 1360 (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (Southeast) Florida, ibid.) [It said CMHZ, not CMHW -- gh] I thought CMHW was on 840. At least, that's what I logged them as when WHAS had their silent period last year. Or, is CMHW the name of the network? I thought it was the station's call sign (Adam Myrow, TN, ibid.) That's what is in the FCC database, call sign, not network. Many Cuban call signs appear on multiple frequencies -- at least according to the WRTH, 840, 1290, 1310 are all CMHW. FCC database lists CMOB and CMLB on 840, and at locations different from any listed by WRTH. Things change, stations and networks come and go, nothing is clear as regards Cuban radio. Could be neither are accurate since info about Cuba must come from them. The purpose of my post was only to note that WRTH is only one source a MW DXer could consult (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Raton, (Southeast) Florida, ibid.) When the 1190 goes to HD, then Don Papa Viejo will take notice, hi, as 1180 becomes noisier than ever. (just kidding ?) ``On a parallel subject the VOA/IBB should have a contest to see if anyone is Cuba has ever seen TV Marti (Jerry Kiefer)`` First prize? a Get Out of Jail Free Card! Helicopter pickups at 0930 and 1530 on the Malecon for the lucky prize winners. Air-dropped flak jackets 15 minutes ahead of pick-up (Bob Foxworth, FL, ibid.) That 1000 W night power of WKAT has been heard surprisingly good here in the Nordic countries in Europe for the last years (Andersson Sigvard / Sig in Sweden, ibid.) There really is no authoritative source for Cuban station info. WRTH has been unreliable for years, although supposedly the 2005 was better than in past years. The accuracy of the FCC info for Cuba has historically been far worse. It wouldn't surprise me if they were attempting to protect a station which exists only on their database. And some 20+ years ago WKAT was frequently heard all up the East coast (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 15 mi NNW Philadelphia ), ibid.) As I understand it --- The USA is signatory to treaties with other countries including Cuba covering their use of the radio spectrum (not just broadcasting). Countries that signed these treaties are to notify the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) when they have established a station on a given frequency, providing the ITU details about the station's location, power, etc. Other signatories are then to protect that station from interference - to not authorize any new stations that would interfere with it. The FCC AM database includes such "notified" foreign stations. As does the Canadian AM DB (for stations that are in neither Canada nor the U.S., the two countries' AM databases are quite similar). As we've noted before, Canada doesn't seem to be in any hurry to "de- notify" when an AM station goes silent or changes frequency. For that matter, neither is the U.S.: WVMI-570 Biloxi, MS and WAZI-1370 Sussex, WI are still notified and in the Canadian AM DB (I'm certain there are dozens if not hundreds of other examples). If the U.S. and Canada can't (or won't?) keep their notifications accurate then I suppose it's not reasonable to expect Cuba to. Of course, a number of Cuban operations appear to be in violation of the treaties. The situation is not entirely unique - I recall a Colombian station on 650 giving WSM a run for its money (at my location barely 60 miles from the WSM tower!) and there are some disputes in progress about a couple of Mexican stations near Tijuana (and some might argue that IBOC constitutes a violation on the part of the U.S.). Cuba does seem to be the *first* North American country to engage in extensive violations. Maybe – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, http://www.w9wi.com August 16, ibid.) While the station is off the air the allocation record is likely still there. The only way an allocation goes away is by commission action. So even if a particular license might be cancelled the "hole in the air" remains reserved. And likely someone would take the slot even if it moves to a new city. And those can turn into international bargaining chips not to be given away lightly. I know that stations come and go, like the Canadian stations, and I recall the 700 in Jamaica was off the air for some time in the early 90's only to reappear in a different configuration (Paul Jellison, Clear Channel Denver, ibid.) The 5 kW JBC 750 in Port Maria, Jamaica has been off ten years but still appears in the FCC database and will until the IFRB in Geneva, Switzerland deletes it. Same thing with Radio Caymans' 1555 kHz 10 kW facility at Gun Bluff, Grand Cayman, it's been shut down almost 20 years but never deleted. My favorite is 50 kW at 1320 kHz on Grand Turk in the Turks & Caicos Islands. It's been in the FCC database for years. Its existence came to light several years ago when a consultant from Jacksonville tried to get a power increase for WLQY 1320 in Hollywood, FL. No can do, had to protect a phantom allocation in the Turks. Turns out it doesn't exist nor has it ever; in fact nobody in the T & C Ministry of Communications has any record of it ever being proposed. Maybe somebody submitted a request to the IFRB years back and it was construed as an existing facility (Jerry Kiefer, Puerto Plata, Dom Rep, ibid.) Turks don't get protection, though. I was associated for much of the last 35 years with 1320 in San Juan, including doing a power increase until the station was sold 2 years ago. The T&C station was not required to be protected, as it was not part of a treaty (David Eduardo Gleason, CA, ibid.) ** U S A. NEW INDUCTEES INTO TEXAS RADIO HALL OF FAME http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2005/08/15/daily27.html?t=printable Dallas Business Journal - 1:57 PM CDT Wednesday Former D-FW radio personalities to join hall of fame Several radio personalities who worked at Dallas-Fort Worth stations are among the inductees for the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in November. Among the inductees are George Carlin, who was an on-air personality at KXOL Fort Worth in the late 1950s, and the late Ken Knox, the on- air personality at KLIF 1190, KBOX 1480, KMEZ and KCNC in Dallas-Fort Worth beginning in the 1960s. Additional inductees include the late Hugh Lampman, who was host of the KRLD 1080 "Music 'til Dawn" program in the 1960s and worked on KVIL FM in the 1970s; Wes Wise was a newsman at KLIF 1190, KRLD 1080 and KVIL 103.7 in the 1960s and 1970s in Dallas-Fort Worth. He also is a former Dallas mayor. Sam Donaldson, former ABC White House correspondent and ABC This Week co-host, also will be inducted. He began his broadcasting career in El Paso. Texas Radio Hall of Fame inductees will receive a wallet-sized membership card and certificate of membership. The hall of fame banquet will take place Nov. 5 at the Dallas/Marriott Quorum in Dallas. Web site: http://www.texasradiohalloffame.com (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) And that [wallet-sized] proves beyond any doubt things REALLY are bigger in Texas!! (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ibid.) On this list of in-duck-tees, I knew Ken Knox. I would go by the KMEZ/KOAX-FM studio from time to time and while he was on the air. While the music played, we talked. Knew Hugh Lampman's wife VERY well!!! Met Wes Wise a few times when he did sports for WFAA channel 8. Nice to see a few up-scale people get in Hall of Fame (Willis Monk, Old Fort TN, ibid.) ** U S A. NAACP UPSET WITH CCU 106.5 DA BEAT IN RICHMOND http://www.wric.com/Global/story.asp?S=3730713&nav=0RcxdPbs The NAACP is calling for a boycott of the Star and Buc Wild Show. The New York based morning show has now hit Richmond's airwaves on 106.5 Da Beat, but some would rather tune the show out. "The n-word constantly, the b-word referring to our women," says Virginia NAACP President Salim Khalfani. Khalfani and other community leaders want the shock jock crew off the Richmond airwaves, and they're urging a boycott. "I just don't know how any human being of good conscience could support that filth," he says. The show's main host, Star, takes aim at all cultures, there's even a character on the show called White Trash. We tried to get in contact with the Program Manager of 106.5 Da Beat at Clear Channel, but he had no comment, meanwhile managers at the station are expected to meet with members of the NAACP. What impact it will have remains to be seen. At a news conference Tuesday, some business leaders threatened to go after advertisers if the show is not taken off the air. "It's all negative, there's nothing positive in it at all," says Business Leader, Ken Johnson. It seems what some are calling the new face of talk radio, may be hitting a sour note with Richmond listeners (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 3885. Date: 08/20/05. Time: 0053-0111. 2 OM in English with right wing rhetoric. Mentions of profiling and terrorists. Didn`t sound like a ham broadcast. Very strong AM mode signal (Joe Wood, Greenback TN, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ETON E1XM My regular Radio HF http://www.radiohf.ca selling price for the Eton E1XM receiver is $649 Canadian. Also selling for the same price in Toronto from Radioworld http://www.radioworld.ca Have not confirmed what the regular sales price of the unit will be from "The Source by Circuit City" (the new name in Canada by the way for the bought out Radio Shack chain), once their sale at $599 Canadian is complete. There is already a Yahoo Group set up for the Eton E1-XM radio. It is at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ETON-E1-XM-Radio/ (Sheldon Harvey, Radio H.F. - Canada's specialist in radio communications; See the new Nature Books Division as well! http://www.radiohf.ca Aug 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GRUNDIG S350 REVIEW I picked up a Grundig S350 today at Radio Shack and I'll post a review on it after I put it through the paces. Tom, its a good $100 radio. Its real squirrely when you first get it but it actually gets better with age. FM shines on the thing as far as I am concerned (Kevin Redding, AZ, Aug 18, ABDX via DXLD) My review of the S350 will be in depth but initially I can tell you that it's surprisingly good on AM and FM with the built in antennas and horrible on SW. More later. 73 & GUD DX, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Plant City, FL, USA, ibid.) [Shortly later]: The Grundig S350 reminds me a lot of the old Sony ICF-6500W, an analog portable radio with digital readout from the early 1980's and my first receiver with a digital readout! My memory may be failing me but I'm pretty sure that the ICF-6500W was a single conversion IF receiver too. Good Features- 1.) No VCO phase noise as it's an analog receiver. 2.) No discernible noise from digital readout circuitry. 3.) No hash noise from included outboard switching power supply wall wart. 4.) Excellent audio. 5.) Has FM AGC off position. 6.) Very Sensitive. 7.) Dual bandwidth feature, though only moderately effective. 8.) Large internal loopstick antenna with sharp null on AM. 9.) RF gain control. 10.) Accurate clock. 11.) Dial light that will stay on indefinitely. Bad Features- 1.) Made In China at near slave wages. (personal opinion) 2.) Lousy carrying handle. (personal opinion) 3.) Tuning knob backlash. 4.) Poor dynamic range allows for intermodulation on AM and SW, even with built in antennas but remediable with RF gain control. 5.) Unstable but it is an analog receiver and stabilizes pretty good on AM after a one hour warm up. 6.) Poor image rejection on AM and SW due to single IF frequency. (455 kc) 7.) Whip antenna doesn't lock in place when retracted and placed horizontal. 8.) Shafts on potentiometers are flimsy and will probably break easily with rough handling. 9.) RF gain control potentiometer is not linear. Observation/Comments- Using the whip antenna on SW the radio is terrible. It is very unstable and much more so than on FM and AM. It is full of images and suffers from front end overload. Geez, I even had signal overload on 31 meters at day time! As we used to say in the 1970's and 1980's a real howling dog. Using the whip antenna on FM the radio is good. Mind you I haven't DXed the FM band since the 1970's (that's going to change soon though) and I can only compare it to my only other FM radio, an old Panasonic solid state analog from the 1970's. Sensitivity is very good and the AGC off position allows for copy of weak adjacent signals. I was able to copy many stations further then 75 miles from their transmitter site, many past the fringe reception area. Examples: 92.1 mc WFNK Perry, FL, 166 mi. 6 kw, HAAT 328 ft. Had to be intermittent tropo. and meteor/lightning ionization trail propagation. 96.1 mc WTMP Dade City, FL, 33 mi., 2.8 kw, HAAT 483 ft. Full quieting stereo reception. 99.9 mc WGNE Palatka, FL, 115 mi., 100 kw, HAAT 1202 ft. Stereo reception! 101.1 mc WJRR Cocoa Beach, FL, 75 mi., 95 kw, HAAT 1599 ft. Stereo reception! Using the internal loopstick antenna on AM the radio is darned good but I did hear a few weak images at daytime. I also had a little intermodulation from nearby stations but the RF gain control took care of it. The nearby flame throwers are 910 kc, 5 kw, 4 miles and 1010 kc, 50 kw, 6 miles. Today I copied: WWL 870 kc 50 kw New Orleans, LA WQAM 560 kc 5 kw Miami, FL WJCC 1700 kc 10 kw Miami Springs, FL WKII 1070 kc 3.1 kw (Solano) Port Charlotte, FL WOKV 690 kc 50 kw Jacksonville, FL WCNZ 1660 kc 10 kw Marco Island, FL All stations were at least 100 miles away and good copy through lightning QRN. Last night: Some recoverable audio from Saudi Arabia on 1521 kc but actually had to use the narrower bandwidth filter and tune up to 1523 kc. KOA 850 kc Denver, CO was strong like a single hop station KTNN 660 kc Window Rock, AZ with deep QSB. KSL 1160 kc SLC, UT with deep QSB. These day and night time catches are comparable to my Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V Field transceiver using my inside two foot box loop. Note though, propagation last night was unusually good! BTW reception did not improve using my two foot box loop, as far as signal strength and nulling capability. But the high Q LC circuit that makes up the loop did removed daytime intermodulation of the two above mentioned powerhouses and allowed me to run the RF gain control wide open. In my personal opinion the radio is well worth $100 for AM and FM listening and semi serious DXing. On SW it's a dog and should be avoided for something with modern PLL circuitry and dual IF frequencies. I hope that someone finds this review useful. 73 & GUD DX, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Plant City, FL, Aug 18, ABDX via DXLD) NEED ADVICE ON DX-FRIENDLY CAR RADIOS I need advice on good DXing car radios - specifically ones anyone has come across that are built-in radio systems with cars at time of manufacturing. If you've found any really good ones that pick up stations well... please let me know. My current Delco car radio in my 1995 Chevy Cavalier is top notch. That radio is where I do ALL of my FM DXing... and with my car possibly having to go soon, I've realized not only will my entire radio DX hobby disappear (which means I'll disappear from here too ;)), but I've checked the radios of other people I know when my car is parked beside them... and while I receive one station at full power, there is no sign of it on their radios. So please help if you know of some good ones out there! (Chris Kadlec, Fremont MI, AMFMTVDX mailing list via DXLD) Chris, If you would consider aftermarket, try any Blaupunkt unit with the "DigiCiver" tuner having "Sharx." I've had one of these for the past five years, and while some other branded tuners may have better sensitivity, none can come close to this tuner for it's selectivity. The DigiCiver tuner works by sending the 10.7 MHz output of the mixer into an analog to digital converter, and after that point the IF, RDS decoding and audio detection all occur in the digital domain. The Sharx part of the tuner is an infinitely variable IF bandpass in the digital domain that responds instantly to changing signal conditions, attempting to narrow in on the desired station while rejecting adjacent stations at the same time. The result is an IF bandpass that has a flatter top and much more vertical sides than any analog filter could produce, and the results are nothing short of amazing. The tuner was evaluated by Audio magazine in their May '99 issue. I still have that issue, here's their measured specs: 50dB Mono Quieting Sens: 24.5 dBf (Sharx on); 19.4 dBf (Sharx off). S/N Ratio @ 65 dBf: Mono, 69.1 dB w/Sharx on, 68.9 dB w/Sharx off; Stereo, 66 dB w/Sharx on, 65.7 dB w/Sharx off. Freq Resp, Stereo: 30 Hz to 15 kHz: +0.2, -0.9 dB. Channel Separation: >51 dB, 100 Hz to 10 kHz. Capture Ratio: 1.6 dB at 45 dBf. Adjacent-Channel Selectivity: Sharx on, GREATER THAN 95 dB; Sharx off, 16 dB. Alternate-Channel Selectivity: Sharx on OR off, GREATER THAN 95 dB. Image Rejection: 45.2 dB. AM Rejection: 78.6 dB. As seen here, the DigiCiver really shines when it comes to selectivity, and I can confirm the tuner's selectivity specs are true to form in the real world. There have been many, many instances in the past during tropo or Es where signals have come in on channels that are first adjacent to the local full power Class B stations here, and the Blaupunkt easily rejected the locals, pulling in the distant signals with little or no adjacent "bleed over." I've modified many Pioneer SuperTuner III's in the past with narrower IF filters to try to get results like these, but the best I was ever able to accomplish was about 38 dB adjacent channel rejection, when tested on the bench. And this came at the expense of capture ratio, which seemed to get worse as selectivity increased. Note that THD [total harmonic distortion] isn't listed. In the text of the Audio article, the reviewer said that the THD curves were "the strangest I've seen." He encountered spikes of much higher distortion at certain frequencies and at different modulation levels, possibly the result of the digital processing. I bought my Blaupunkt one year after the article was printed, so mine likely would have the same results if tested. If there are "high" levels of THD relative to the standard run-of-the-mill tuners, I can't hear it. Apologies for the long ramble, but thought you might like to know! (Eric Nelson, Harrisburg, PA, ibid.) I have a 2004 Chevy Trail Blazer and the Delco radio is terrific. When I go fishing at the ocean I always take a DXing spin on it. But I think a big part of the good reception is the linear loaded vertical whip on the outside, versus the dismal in glass antennas most cars have today. 73 & GUD DX, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Plant City, FL, ibid.) But the bad thing is most GM radios on MW are a chore to listen to. The bandwidth is so restricted as to make it a traffic hazard to pay attention to talk. In addition to being restricted the audio is distorted. Some Chrysler radios are not like this, and ANY line noise causes the radio to freak out. It's amazing how well the's radios work with their couple of dollars circuitry. The amazing thing is that the radio in the 1982 FULL size Olds wagon is about as sensitive as current radios EVEN with the windshield antenna! (Powell E. Way III, ibid.) CHRYSLER CORP RADIO Hello gang. Just got a new (to me) car last night. It's a 2002 Dodge Stratus R/T. I could go into how much I love the car (5 spd, V6, etc) but this is ABDX. So I'll just talk about the radio. The Stratus R/T is actually a re-branded Mitsubishi Eclipse GT. But it does indeed have a Chrysler Corp radio. This radio has a 4-disc CD-Changer (yes you stick all 4 discs right into the front of the thing. Cool!). I would like to give huge kudos to Chrysler for still caring about the AM section. This is pretty nice. Here on ABDX we always talk about the selectivity thing and the "trade-off" between bandwidth and selectivity. And I think Chrysler found the perfect balance there. On the AM side when you step from frequency to frequency, it's like each one is its own station. It is awesome at not picking up interference from the next frequency over. Now of course on locals, yes you'll get some splatter on either side of them. But selectivity is marvelous. I'd have to say bandwidth is probably in the neighborhood of about 6 khz maybe 7 on local stations. As some Chrysler radios have had in the past, this one seems to squelch down the bandwidth somewhat on weaker signals and it sings quite nicely on locals. Oh by the way did I mention it also includes AM STEREO!?!?!? So once again I say "WHO THE HELL SAYS YOU CAN'T STILL GET AM STEREO!!!?? (really big grin) I was shakin` in my seat when I finally saw a stereo indicator light up on AM. I bought the car in Rock Springs, which is about 100 miles from here --- so I had 100 miles of night-time reception to play as I drove home. First time I saw the stereo indicator was on 820 when WBAP came in good enough to light it. Until that point I wasn't sure it had it or not, but I had a feeling it did. Next I found a stereo pilot light at 1650 --- I know that KFOX is AM Stereo but I don't think it was them. KFOX is Korean, and this was an old-time radio show that was coming in. Then I got a stereo indicator on 1690 KDDZ the Radio Disney affiliate from Denver. And then of course once I got back to Evanston I got to really see the indicator shine and the radio really come to life when I tuned in KEVA and heard George Strait in beautiful AM Stereo. DX-wise this radio seems to be pretty DX-friendly. Like I said the selectivity in my opinion is exceptional. Last night seemed sort-of auroral as I wasn't picking up a lot to the north, although I heard 1260 KPOW in Powell, WY coming in pretty good --- that's one that I have had a hard time catching over the years. Meanwhile I had 1120 KMOX St Louis coming in nicely. Usually at 1100 and 1110 KNZZ and KFAB interfere with each other and you get splatter from the other when you listen to one. On this radio the interference was hardly there. Kudos to Chrysler. You'd almost think they still care about the AM section in their radios. AND, in this car anyway, there's still a good old rod sticking up from the back fender acting as an antenna, unlike the newer cars these days that combine the antenna with the rear defroster and it's just some traces on the back windows. I've test driven a few other cars in the last week or two as I've been looking and I have to say that the GM's I drove sucked so badly. Today's Delco's are horrible on bandwidth and I think GM really oesn't care any more about the AM section. Sucky bandwidth --- and engine noise. That wonderful buzzing that varies with the speed of the engine. I have to say that a 2002 Saturn that I test-drove was not too bad on the bandwidth. The radio had the "Saturn" badge right on it. And it DID have a stereo indicator for FM --- unlike most of the Chevy radios that are out there that don't even have that anymore. And the AM's bandwidth was actually not too bad. But the thing was full of engine buzzing. One more time before I go: "Who says you can't find AM Stereo anymore!!??" :) (Michael n WYO Richard, ABDX Aug 19 via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ WIDE IBOC FROM KSL, CAM-D FROM KDYL, SALT LAKE CITY Howdy folks. Got to do something I hadn't done in a long time. DX! Had a service call in Logan, UT yesterday which is 130 miles away. Was heading home between 7 and 9 so I got some good late-day DX. Here are some of significance that I remember. Heard on a Mitsubishi car radio modified for AM Stereo. Thought I would also not that the [IBOC, ``HD``] hash from KSL is ridiculous. KSL is at 1160. 1140 and 1180 were actually WORSE than 1170 and 1150. Absolute total white noise. And because it was so loud on 1140 and 1180, it was spilling over splattering some hiss onto 1130 and 1190. Now engineers might argue that this MAY be my wideband radio. Yes, that is true --- it could be. I have a nice ceramic filter on it that I installed when I installed the AM Stereo decoder. So yes, it is wider than most and sounds great on AM. But still ABSOLUTELY rendering 5 frequencies USELESS --- and I guarantee you that is no matter WHAT radio you're listening on. 1140, 1150, 1160, 1170, 1180 all useless except of course for 1160 where the main signal is. Man, I hate that crap. On another note of digital --- I brought my Sony SRF-A1 walkman with me to check on KDYL 1060, who is running Leonard Kahn's CAM-D system. When I had last checked (and Tony Simon can confirm this) there was no separation. This we know. However, in Motorola mode, you'd hear audio that seemed "mostly to the right" and in Kahn mode you'd hear a normal mono signal. That is reversed now so I can only guess they are probably running true Kahn stereo now with the CAM-D system, they just don't have stereo audio going out to the transmitter. In Motorola mode, the signal is clean and mono. In Kahn mode the signal is only on the right channel. So I'm guessing the one line of audio that they DO have going to the transmitter is probably only being fed into the right channel of the CAM-D exciter. Reporting from Interstate 80 / 84 in Utah, MJR - ABDX News :) (Michael J. Richard, Aug 18, ABDX via DXLD) I am thinking that some stations radiate the digital sidebands farther out than other stations. It MAY have something to do with the flatness of the antenna frequency response. I'd think that all the non-DA single stick stations will be the ones with the widest noise band. I read on the Utah section on Radio-Info.com that KSL "fixed" the Nauvoo Bell problem by stopping the 7 sec delay of the analog "fallback" that a HD radio would hear if it loses digital lock. This means that the fallback would have a 7 sec gap in the audio the listener hears, as it "catches up" and a repeat of 7 seconds of audio when it regains lock. In a fringe area this could make a station essentially unlistenable, I'd think. This could be really inspiring for the fellow who just got done plunking major money for a set. But don't worry. I have learned that the JVC car set (yours for a paltry $350) has a flip-down front panel that swings down on command to reveal -- what else? but a CD PLAYER. Now there's a REAL fall-back option for the frustrated listener (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ COMMENTS ON THE 2005 SPORADIC-E SEASON My experience is quite a but different from others, as this was both the first season I've had a real tuner and only the second I've actively DX'ed FM in over 25 years. So I'd actually have to rate the season an "A", as I was able to add over 420 stations to my log. Notable highlights that make it an "A" include: - Adding Arkansas, Missouri, Nevada, Wyoming, Manitoba, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Baja California to my Es log (several were there for Ms previously). - 2xEs to Monterrey and Alabama/Georgia - A 17 hour FM opening on May 31 to everywhere from Mexico to Missouri to Saskatchewan. - Very short skip to the Bay Area of California on June 13 with FM Es down to 385 miles and TV Es to 441. Notable lowlights: - No FM skip at all in July. - No substantial FM openings in August. Onesies and twosies. - The Perseids were a real bust, with only 3 new loggings. (Dave Williams, OR, WTFDA via DXLD) Dave, you really ought to include the pirate you logged via Es. Cool, and at less than 500 miles, awesome (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) While I'm convinced I had "Free Radio Santa Cruz", my repeated attempts at confirmation via e-mail and phone got me nowhere. I'm guessing that paranoia is still running deep as they only recently came back on the air after having their entire rig confiscated in late 2004 by the FCC. So, it's not technically in my logbook. Maybe some day.... :-) (Dave Williams, OR, ibid.) With this being my first year of "hard core" FM band DXing using new equipment and antennas I can't accurately rate this E season to previous years but it was good from this end. Going by intensity of Es openings and number of times Es reached 144 MHz this season would rate below last year or 2003. 2002 was worse though. I did observe many days this season with Es openings into the FM band but most were under 2 hours or very spotty and weak and did not climb above about 96 MHz for long if at all. Between May 1 and August 15, 2005 sporadic E above 88 MHz was observed from my location in northwest Florida on May 12, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31, June 5, 6, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 28, 30, July 4, 7, 9, 10, 18, 19, 24, 25, 28, 31, Aug 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 14 for a total of 38 days. I know I missed several openings too but other responsibilities called. Only one day did I observe Es reach 144 MHz this season which was July 31 for one single contact into Nebraska from N0WF whose signal lasted only 2 minutes. Last year I had 3 days when Es reached 144 MHz with July 6 being the main event with over 3 hours solid! This year`s notable highlights: May 30 with over 7 hours of FM band Es from the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico including 1400+ miles to Costa Rica. May 31 was the 3-4:00 am [CDT = UT -5] surprise opening to MA, NJ, NY, ME spotty but to the top of the band that luckily I was still awake to participate in. Thanks to Jim K. in Vermont reporting the first signal :) Then again in the late morning for a couple hours of spotty FM. June 15 had an intense 2.5 hour opening to Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico with FM Es as short as 652 miles and as high as 117 MHz with several aircraft beacons heard. Then later in the evening 4 hours of long distance spotty Es to the west including reception of 92.3 KKRY Miles City, MT for my longest distance record of 1499 miles. June 21 had a good strong solid 4 hour opening to the north and northwest with many new loggings. July 31 with 9 hours of FM Es in 3 separate openings the best being in the evening to the north and northwest with nearly every South Dakota FM station in that wasn't on a locally occupied frequency + the 144 MHz contact to Nebraska. Many new stations logged. Aug 2, good 4 hours of fairly strong FM Es to the top of the band to most of the northeast and also to the north and Nebraska at the same time. Finally snagged not one but 2 Vermont FM's + new short Es distance record of 596 miles from 99.1 WSLQ Roanoke, VA. Many new stations logged. Perseids was not as productive as I had hoped with a total of 4 FM stations IDed after listening to recordings over and over. 2 solid signals heard on 144 MHz from Ohio and Virginia but no 2-way contact. Thanks for all the reports on this list that alerted the openings and I hope my reports were of value to others. 73, Good DX (Randy KW4RZ, Fort Walton Beach, Florida EM60qk, http://www.geocities.com/kw4rz ibid.) ###