DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-204, November 28, 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 For latest updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO Extra 63: Mon 1900 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Tue 1500] Wed 0030 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually but temporary] Wed 0100 WOR CJOY INTERNET RADIO plug-in required Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 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 or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO Extra 63 (high version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx63h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/worx63h.rm [Extra 63 is the same as COM 05-09; high version adds WOR opening] WORLD OF RADIO Extra 63 (low version): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0509.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/com0509.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0509.html WORLD OF RADIO Extra 63 downloads in studio-quality mp3: (high) http://www.obriensweb.com/worx63h.mp3 (low) http://www.obriensweb.com/worx63.mp3 CONTINENT OF MEDIA 05-10 November 25: (stream) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0510.ram (download) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0510.rm (summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/com0510.html [not yet] MUNDO RADIAL NOVIEMBRE-DICIEMBRE: Lunes y viernes 2215 en WWCR 7465 y: (corriente) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0511.ram (descargar) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0511.rm (descargar mp3 para difusoras) http://www.obriensweb.com/mr0511.mp3 (guión) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0511.html ** ARGENTINA. 6214.06, R. Armonía, 2317 Nov 26, Spanish and Portuguese language pop, male and female announcers in both languages. Drifting slowly upwards. 2353 ID "Transmite R Armonia, en 100.7 MHz FM, onda corta 49m 6215 kHz, ...Misiones, Argentina... la radio que ???" Tnx Arnaldo Slaen for FM frequency clarification. Perhaps an occasional relay on R Balauarte? (Jay Novello, Wake Forest NC, R8A, various wires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Log at exactly the same time: 6214.1 (TENTATIVE), Radio Baluarte, 2250-2340, Nov 26, Spanish, R. Baluarte, Tentative as in Portuguese with lots of pop music and adverts. Mostly Portuguese tunes but a few English tunes. S5 with some slight fades. 2312. Heard Spanish several times but never had an ID. ID is strictly tentative. Started to fade down by 2330 making it difficult to [get?] anything from the announcer comments. Music came thru nicely. Switching from Portuguese to Spanish on several occasions during the broadcast. ID finally heard at 2352 as R. Armonía by male announcer. Second ID at 2357 by same male announcer (Bob Montgomery, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** ARMENIA. RADIO LIBERTY OFF THE AIR IN ARMENIAN CAPITAL | Text of report by Armenian news agency Arminfo Yerevan, 27 November: The transmission of Radio Liberty to Yerevan ended unexpectedly at about 1935 [1535 gmt] today. The director of the radio station's Yerevan office, Grach Melkumyan, told an Arminfo correspondent that the delivery of signals from Prague to Yerevan had been and was normal, but the broadcasts of the radio station in Yerevan had ended on all frequencies all at once. "This gives us grounds to believe that our radio has deliberately been taken off the air," Melkumyan said. Source: Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian 1630 gmt 27 Nov 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) WTFK? ** AUSTRALIA. Hello group, Currently experiencing decent-to-good reception of Radio Australia on 11880 in Calgary. The hour started with the news, followed by the program Innovations on some kind of cancer treatment. There is a slight jammer-like pulse detectable on the upper side band. SINPO: 44434 using Sony 7600GR, 26-inch dipole with random wire clipped to the tip, active antenna bypassed. No audible improvement when active antenna is used (Ricky Leong, Calgary, Alta., CANADA, 1736 UT Nov 28 via dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [non]. Nov 28 at 1502 on 15680, heavily echoed news in English by YL with pronounced Oz accent, including Saddam`s lawyers will ask for trial to be adjourned. Hmmm, just a minute before, BBCWS news on 15565 had said it was already adjourned! So much for the timeliness of this news source, but what is it? On into sports including cricket, finally closing at 1505 as ``CVC News, your global link``, and into Q&A show which will deal with What is Christmas? Opening with some music. At 1515 they were giving P O Boxes in RSA and Nigeria. This is the ex-Christian Voice, scheduled here per EiBi B-05: 1500 1800 AUS CVC International E WAf 15680/D-w --- That is, via Wertachtal, Germany. But does this African service actually originate in Australia? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS [non]. Re ZNS-3 to be blocked on 810: FLORIDA --- Florida corporate records indicate Star Over Orlando is registered to a Carl Tutera in Ormond Beach. Tutera's name shows up in applications for stations in many states. Earlier this year, the FCC denied his request for a translator in Virginia Beach to relay an Oasis Network religious station in Yorktown. He was involved in putting on a station in Palm City a few years ago and has also owned stations in Palm Beach. Tutera has more than two dozen corporations registered in Florida, including Prospero Broadcasting, Fantastic Radio and Star Of The Palm Beaches (Mike Cooper, GA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. STOP, HEY, WHAT'S THAT SOUND? Nov. 27, 2005. 09:41 AM ASHANTE INFANTRY, ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER XM Radio Canada's Toronto headquarters is a mess: Electrical wires, insulation and dust define the former Scotiabank building where more than two dozen tradespeople are hustling 14 hours everyday to turn it into a shiny, ultramodern satellite radio storefront by Dec. 16. . . http://makeashorterlink.com/?O15321A3C (Toronto Star via Harry van Vugt, Ont, and Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** CANADA. The calls they put on Fredericton are CBZF, if memory serves. It was the move to FM of CBZ 970 - but the CBZ-FM calls were already in use, having been put on the Radio Two outlet on 101.5. That couldn't have been CBD-FM, since THOSE calls were already in use on 91.3, from when CBD Saint John moved to FM from 1110. For something that doesn't matter at all (the calls are never used on the air), there seems to have been a remarkable amount of thought given to making as inconsistent as possible a transition as the CBC moved services from AM to FM. In Ottawa, when CBO and CBOF moved from 920 and 1250 to 91.5 and 90.7, the calls came with them. The existing CBO-FM 103.3 and CBOF-FM 102.5, which were on the "FM" networks in English and French, became CBOQ and CBOX. In Halifax, CBH 860 became CBHA 90.5, with CBH-FM 102.7 keeping its calls. In Montreal a few years later, CBF 690 became CBF-FM 95.1 and CBF-FM 100.7 became CBFX. Likewise, CBV 980 Quebec City became CBV-FM 106.3 while CBV-FM 95.3 became CBVX. But CBM 940 Montreal became CBME 88.5, while CBM-FM 93.5 kept its calls, and CBL 740 Toronto became CBLA 99.1, with CBL-FM 94.1 keeping its calls. Confused yet? :-) Most of the CB- three-letters began as CNR- four-letters. The CBC itself had its roots in the Canadian National Railways' radio network, including such forgotten outlets as CNRO Ottawa and CNRT Toronto. In some cases (notably Toronto), the CNR stations were really "phantom stations," leasing airtime from other commercial broadcasters to operate. The CBC didn't get a facility of its own in Toronto until 1937, when CBL was built. The Newfoundland stations, of course, were never CNR-anything. CBN was VONF, the provincially-owned Voice of Newfoundland, until CBC took over when Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ABDX via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re ID on Moncton stream, 5-203: The station might be cycling through its various local IDs, playing them on CBA and all its rebroadcasting transmitters (Ricky Leong, Calgary, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This clip also gives the 90.5 ID, coincidentally? (gh, DXLD) 25-Nov-05 || 1904 local || 1070 khz. || CBA || 50 kw || Moncton, NB || End of CBC Radio One News then into weather report for Moncton and south east and northern New Brunswick. || New. A 705 mile catch. MP3 clip available here: http://21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1070-khz_1904-Local_11-25-05_CBA_Moncton_NB.mp3 (Peter Jernakoff- K3KMS Wilmington, Delaware http://www.21centimeter.com IRCA via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Regarding the ID you hear on the CBCR1 Moncton stream. CBA is still on the air on 1070. I have noticed CBD 91.3 Saint John will occasionally ID one of their relay transmitters instead of their primary frequency, e.g. '103.7 Grand Manan' may be one I've heard (Wade Smith, New Brunswick, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Hi Glenn, With the current Liberal government in Canada expected to lose a no confidence vote tomorrow night, there may be special coverage on CBC Radio 1 around 2330 UT November 28, 2005 (Wade Smith, NB, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. 6090, Radio Esperanza, 2130-2136 CLT, 12-Nov; W Bible thumper to Esperanza Singing ID at 2132 then EZL religious music. All in Spanish (Harold Frodge, visiting Puerto Varras, Chile, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) CLT?? Guess he means Chilean local time, which is currently DST, UT -3, so UT above would be 0030-0036 Nov 13 (gh, DXLD) ** CHILE. Voz Cristiana is testing DRM-2 from Santiago 18-23 on 15585 (DW DX Meeting Nov 27 via DXLD) I have not run across this, and it is not in the HFCC DRM B-05 schedule http://www.hfcc.org/data/B05drm.html nor at http://baseportal.com/baseportal/drmdx/main nor in the version via http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/dossiers/drm_schedule.html Checked at 2000 UT Nov 28, no sign of it on 15585, which is fortunate for VOA 15580 which already has enough QRM from KTBN 15590. This DW DX show also gave outdated HCJB DRM transmission on 15370 which has now stopped, and claimed WADR is at 08-09 on 17555. Not a reliable source of DX tips, so why do they do it? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. Experiencia de satélite de Aficionados Hy Glenn: Federachi Informa: ENLACE SATELITAL DE AMSAT-CE EN FASE EXPERIMENTAL Desde hace varias semanas, AMSAT-CE tiene habilitado en forma experimental, en sus instalaciones ubicadas en el Centro de Estudios Espaciales en Peldehue, CHILE, un acceso a los satélites AO-51 y SO- 50, cuando estos operan en modo analógico. El enlace permite que estaciones de Santiago y alrededores puedan acceder a los satélites mediante el repetidor de VHF/FM ubicado en Peldehue, en la frecuencia 147.150 MHz +600 kHz, con el subtono 67 Hz. El enlace también presta un valioso apoyo a lo colegas que no poseen una adecuada recepción en UHF de los satélites, y de esta manera, las estaciones pueden transmitir directo al satélite y escuchar el retorno mediante el repetidor. A la fecha, el enlace satelital ha permitido que varios colegas hayan podido escuchar o contactar con estaciones de otras regiones y países, como son Argentina, Brasil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana Francesa y Antártica. La habilitación del enlace ha reactivado notoriamente la actividad satelital de estaciones de Santiago, y también de otras ciudades del país, y ya se hace habitual escuchar varias estaciones chilenas en cada pasada (San Javier, Villa Alegre, Talca, Peñaflor, Puente Alto, Quilicura, Viña del Mar) y móviles desde Puente Alto, Constitución y Pichilemu. Debido a que por el momento la antena del repetidor está a baja altura, también se está retransmitiendo la señal mediante el repetidor de UHFdel radio club El Bosque, en frecuencia 433.800 MHz. Últimamente también se esta experimentando retransmitir la señal vía Echolink, mediante la estación CE3BSK-L. En este link http://www.amsat.cl/espanol/satelites/prediccion.htm se podrá ver un breve instructivo para operar con los satélites AO-51 y SO-50 en modo analógico. Invitamos a los colegas a participar y difundir esta modalidad, como también a colaborar con AMSAT-CE, para poder concluir la construcción de los primeros satélites de radioaficionados hechos en CHILE (via Hector Frias, Chile, DXLD) Hy Glenn: Desde mediado de Noviembre la Federación de clubes de radioaficionados de Chile Federachi, ha puesto en etapa experimental, un sistema de alerta temprana, denominado "SAI" [sic], con un software que automatiza una estación de radio. Dos radioaficionados chilenos han captado sus señales, informando de alertas metereológicas en la frecuencia de los 7299 LSB, con señal bastante aceptable, según me informan Juan CE3NZ y Aquiles CE3JRP, quienes permanecieron a la escucha desde las 1835 UT, un reporte de explicación sobre naturaleza y consecuencias de los tsumanis y la típica clasificación de sismos. En el mensaje, se invitaba a reportar las señales a Federachi, Casilla 9570 Correo Central, Santiago de Chile (Héctor Frías J., CE3FZL, Comisión de Radioescuchas Federachi, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) La abreviatura debe ser SAT? (gh, DXLD) Hola Glenn, SAI, es sistema Automático de Información, es automático y se emite por HF, 7299 LSB. Gracias por la atención, Atte, (Héctor, ibid.) ** CHINA. Hi All, Correction to 18160: seems it is not a harmonic, but a spur; continued monitoring on November 24 2005, and still nothing appeared on 9080, so immediately obvious it wasn`t that. So tuned down the band on November 25 and found // on 17890 CRI One which was at 0838z a 5 x 8 signal and, 18160 5 x 6, noted by local unhappy amateurs at 5 x 9!! Noted again on November 27 at 0038z // 17765 and 17645. Have no PWBR 2006 and haven't downloaded EIBI from Germany yet, so I'm a bit in the dark; was leaving it off till things settle down a bit from the recent new seasons frequency changes. These Chinese transmitters are putting spurii all over the place in Oceania, and are really a bit of a pest here, very strong and seemingly on at all hours! on all bands. Please VOA and BBC make a comeback, your missed. 73 (Dave Vitek, SA, harmonics yg via DXLD) 17625 0000-1000 44S BEI 100 163 CHN CRI RTC 17890 0130-1000 43SE,44SW BEI 100 222 CHN CRI RTC Formula: 17890 + 265 kHz = 18155 kHz, something like that? You can hear something near 17360 kHz too, on the other symmetrical side? 100 kW units located on the old Beijing SW site. All 17 MHz Beijing entries in B05: 17485 0300 0400 29S,30S BEI 500 288 CHN CRI RTC 17495 0000 0100 49,54W BEI 500 193 CHN CRI RTC 17495 0100 0300 49,54W BEI 500 193 CHN CRI RTC 17540 0300 0400 41 BEI 500 257 CHN CRI RTC 17550 0100 1030 42S,43S BEI 100 251 CHN CRI RTC 17565 0100 0730 44S BEI 100 175 CHN CRI RTC 17605 0130 1000 42W,43N BEI 100 285 CHN CRI RTC 17625 0000 1000 44S BEI 100 163 CHN CRI RTC 17710 0400 0500 49,54W BEI 500 193 CHN CRI RTC 17710 0600 0800 49,54W BEI 500 193 CHN CRI RTC 17855 0400 0600 29S,30S BEI 500 288 CHN CRI RTC 17890 0130 1000 43SE,44 BEI 100 222 CHN CRI RTC 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** CHINA. 9605, China National Radio, V. of Economy (Tentative) 1059- 1130+ Nov 26. On the 1100 hour a canned ID by a man and woman in Chinese, mentioning a long list of "FM" and "AM" affiliates. Could not catch the affiliates' IDs, only the word 'FM' and AM'. The program consisted of comments only. No music or other types noted. Also on this frequency from 1100 is WYFR and the BBC from 0900 mixing in with China. China is at a good level this morning if this is China? (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida NRD545 dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AFAIK this is China Business radio, i.e. the formerly 2nd National Program 73s from Greece (Zacharias Liangas, HCDX via DXLD) Chuck, From your description I figured it was China Business Radio too --- but I still think it`s being used as a jammer and thus does not appear in the schedules on this frequency. This network includes some English segments which could also confuse things (Glenn to Chuck, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I looked up 9605 in WRTH and Passport and noticed that the BBC out of Japan starts broadcasting in Mandarin from 1100 to 1530 on 9605, so that would explain to me why China is jamming it. I often wonder why they don't just use a regular jammer instead of a broadcast? I suppose they don't want to give the world a reason to stop purchasing their goods? Tomorrow morning I am going to check the other frequencies that the BBC broadcasts on at that hour and language to see if there's any jamming there too (Chuck Bolland, FL, ibid.) Deniability, as if listeners are too stupid to figure out what is really going on. If it`s BBC in Mandarin, it`s very likely jammed in one way or another (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9605, Chinese Business Radio, (presumed), 1115-1130 Nov 28. Noted Chinese comments from a woman here. This is supposedly a transmission meant to interfere with the BBC's Mandarin Service from Japan. I checked other frequencies used by the BBC for their Mandarin broadcast just to see if there was a parallel Chinese broadcast on them too. On 7330 where BBC is supposed to be broadcasting Mandarin now, there was a weak signal that sounded like China. All the other frequencies listed for BBC's Mandarin service were too high for this early; even so, I could hear the BBC on 11945 with a weak signal. There was a second station there, but couldn't make out if it was Chinese or not (Chuck Bolland, FL http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/WilmaDamage.html NRD545 - DIPOLE, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 1620H, HJCY Caracol, Santa Fe de Bogotá NOV 26 0114 - Tentative (this would be second harmonic of HJCY-810) ! Tune-in to an ID I partially deciphrated "...Cadena Nacional..." and "Hache-Jota..." Colombian call letters. The last letter sounded like "Jie" [ye] and they are many hispanofonic areas where instead of "I Grécá"; Colombia is one of them. This was followed by some kind of tropical Andean music; difficult to tell as they were mixed with a second weaker station from which I couldn't tell much (probably previously logged WDHP which is very widely heard). I was in the car in Pointe-Clerc, fortunately, since where I live 1620 is useless because of the awful CFAV Radio Boomer (1570) pest in Laval that makes 1620 extremely tiring and quite useless even when I null the 1610 Haitian local. Bjorn, can you hear this one down in Quito? (Bogdan Chiochiu, QC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quito 27/Nov/2005 5:26. The LA station you are hearing on 1620 kHz suspecting harmonic from Colombia on 810 kHz can might well be the same station I have noted some times on 1620 but "my" station is some hertz high around 1620.05 kHz. I think the Bogotá station on 810 is right on channel but I´m not sure so I will check it out. The signal I have been hearing is very weak and I have no clue about the QTH. NA stations I hear just a few on the X band (Björn Malm, Ecuador, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. THE BIZARRE SHUTDOWN OF RFPI IN 2003 I now have the most important stories of this on one page: http://copyexchange.org/radio_for_peace_international/news_&_archives/ I welcome feedback (Franklin Seiberling, Iowa City, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In reverse chrono order (gh) ** CUBA. Cuba National Network List and Map --- An article about Cuba mediumwave signals commonly received by DXers has been released on BAMLog. It includes a map, and list with coordinates for direction- finding and distance calculations. BAMLog URL is below (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH http://members.aol.com/baconti/bamlog.htm ABDX via DXLD) An updated Cuba list is now available at BAMLog. I wasn't expecting to turn around a revision so quickly, but some of the input I've received was worth it. Based on the response so far, I guess this will be a long term project. 73 (Bruce Conti, NH, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Escuchas realizadas en Friol entre la noche del viernes y la mañana del sábado. Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, antena de cable, 10 m. orientada WSW. 5025, Radio Rebelde, 0901-0930, 26-11. Sin duda la emisora latinoamericana que más fuerte entra por aquí en los 60 metros, muchas veces casi como una emisora local. Radio Rebelde tiene interesantes programas, uno de ellos es "Haciendo Radio", que comienza todos los días a las 0900 y finaliza a las 1300. Este programa tiene un poco de todo, noticias, el tiempo, deportes, entrevistas, etc. Ahora en otoño y al principio del invierno, debido que amanece tan tarde en Europa, se puede escuchar su inicio en 5025 kHz, y más tarde, a las 1000 se puede seguir por 9505 y por 11655 kHz. Escuchado el inicio por 5025, 0901-0930, 26-11: "Cubanos, cubanas, muy buenos días aquí en Radio Rebelde, desde las 5 y hasta las 9 de la mañana, estamos juntos Haciendo Radio". "Estos son los titulares de las noticias en Haciendo Radio", noticias. "Las 5 con 7minutos, el primer contacto con las noticias deportivas, temperatura 17 grados,más frío que ayer". SINPO 45444 A las 1001 se inicia la transmisión de "Haciendo Radio" por 9505: "A partir de esta hora abrimos todos nuestros canales internacionales, estamos juntos Haciendo Radio, muchas gracias por acompañarnos en Radio Rebelde". SINPO 24322. También por 11655 (Manuel Méndez, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5025, Rebelde, 0627 Nov 27, lively songs, IS clip and songs continue. 34343, S7 max. Best LA signal for the time (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. El programa diexista "En Contacto" de Radio Habana Cuba, con Manolo de la Rosa y Malena Negrín, se emite con el siguiente esquema: domingos a las 1335 por 6000, 9550, 11760, 11805, 12000 y 15230 kHz, y lunes a las 0135 por 5965, 6060, 6140, 9600, 11760 y 15230 (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, RN Radio Enlace Nov 25-27 via DXLD) Ignorando aún otra vez la tercera emisión de este programa, confirmada por monitoreo mío el domingo 27 de noviembre entre las 2150 y 2210 más o menos, en 9550, 11800 y 15230. Parece que RHC no alista esta emisión por formar parte de otra programación, pero En Contacto se emana a esta hora desde hace muchos años, como ya he informado varias veces (G. Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK [non]. Copenhagen Calling is again available on SW thanks to WRMI`s relay of WRN: see schedule under USA (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Re 87.9 MHz in Berlin --- RADIO-KRIEG --- Amerikaner streiten um Berliner Frequenz http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/0,1518,386615,00.html Says there is apparent pressure on Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (MABB) by US government officials to get 87.9 allocated to VOA again, despite the low priority VOA has for the BBG now. Critics say that the US government behaves as if they would own the frequency. MABB will continue the allocation procedures for 87.9, 100.6 and 104.1 with hearings of the applicants from Nov 30 to Dec 2. Wonder if BBG officials will appear there or if they will only sent their German trustee (Helmut Drück, who was the last RIAS director)? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [non]. Glenn, VOG was on 9775 in English Saturday Nov. 26 when I tuned at about 1540 UT. Maybe it was late starting (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I went back-and-forth on "Greeks Everywhere" on Delano and direct from Greece after they threw the switch on 9775 at 1500 UT. The engineer finally woke up about 5 minutes later after realizing that it was Saturday and put 9775 back on the air. Regards (John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Katerina: I enjoyed your program "Greeks Everywhere" today at 1500- 1600 UTC on VOG-Delano on 9775 (we lost 5 minutes at the beginning of your program). Your guests always have subjects that are interesting to Greeks everywhere. Babis: The engineer at Delano pulled the switch at 1500 UT and the program was off for about 5 minutes. Fortunately only the music was playing and I switched over to 15630 direct from Greece which was on the weak side. Then, I went back to 9775 (John Babbis, MD, Nov 26, to VOG, cc to DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. Had not noticed DRM before Nov 28 at 1509 on 17875- 17890, and it is not to be found at http://baseportal.com/baseportal/drmdx/main nor at http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/dossiers/drm_schedule.html but this cryptic entry is in the HFCC DRM B-05 schedule http://www.hfcc.org/data/B05drm.html: 17875 1100 2100 7S,8S For new organization TDF Various Montsinery 04N54 052W36 168 30 1234567 2005-10-30 00:00:00 2006-03-26 00:00:00 So what is this new organization gobbling up 10 hours a day of DRM??? I would have guessed the center frequency was higher than 17875 since it bled up to 17890 but not down to 17870 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s really something else: see SWEDEN [non] ** HONDURAS [and non]. Re 5-202: Radio Perla Honduras 1590 Nov 19 Hi all, I have now heard that two more Swedes logged the station the same morning, one of them Gert Nilsson, who says that their signal was noted at a poor level from about 0600 and peaking between 0640-0700, and then it rather suddenly went dead in the midst of the transmission. I have now been listening carefully to Odd Påg´s tape and indeed the signal, which was fair at the time, vanishes just after 0700. So this does not dispute the accuracy of the two mwc logs of Mexican Radio Reloj at 0700 and 0730 the same morning. I thought I wanted to get this sorted out right now before someone jumps to some other conclusions (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Nov 26, MWC via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR-Shillong, Nov 26, 1332-1504; ads, folk songs in English, sub-continent music and songs, 1430-1500 YL in English with music program ``Golden Classics,`` with songs by Elvis (``Hound Dog,`` ``Love Me Tender`` and ``Too Much``), Andy Williams (``Moon River`` and ``Spooky``), several IDs: ``This is the North Eastern Service of All India Radio broadcasting from Shillong on 60.36 meters, corresponding to 4970 kHz.`` ToH: ``Listeners we welcome you to our program of Western instrumental music entitled Light Jazz.`` Fair. Very pleasant listening (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9425, AIR-Bangalore National Channel poor at 2236 with man in Hindi; several mentions of India and into distinctive sub- continental vocals; man speaking in English at 2252 and back to music; English ID at 2257; chimes at 2300 11/20. Much clearer between 2157 and 2219 with similar programming on 11/21 (Jim Ronda, Tulsa OK, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) BTW, Prof. James Ronda of the University of Tulsa is a major contributor to the excellent 13-week public radio series ``Unfinished Journey: the Lewis & Clark Expedition``. A number of webcast times for it are in my MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. On the birth-date of Shri JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE, 30/11/2005, VU2DSI is operating with special call-sign AT0JCB for 24 hours on the following frequencies -- 28510 & 28490, 21310 & 21270, 14250 & 14200, 7090 & 7035, 3780 kHz. THE DEMONSTRATION OF SHRI JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION IN 1895 PREDATES ALL OTHERS IN THE WORLD. The address & info of VU2DSI is good on http://www.qrz.com (Ray, VU3ORN, dx_india via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. There really does seem to be too much lack of coordination of frequencies and I thought the HFCC was supposed to prevent this occurring? I've noted that changes are already taking place by various broadcasters. Of course, the situation on 41 & 49m will be very "desperate" due to a shortage of clear frequencies and to DRM noise. But broadcasters should surely have realised this and planned for it. 15485/15475 are frequencies that Glenn Hauser often writes about and I can well understand the point he is trying to make." (Noel Green, via Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wrong coordination policy on 15485 kHz, at least on Sundays, when ERT Delano is on air too. At 1600-1700 UT Nov 27th, I noted different 3 sender programmes in different targets, like fighting CVC Santiago, BBCWS Skelton, and - Sundays - ERT Delano CA-USA. Under specific PHYSICAL conditions, signals will never stop on the various meant target boundaries. There are lots of free channels in 19 mb at this time slot. Similar conflicts in Europe noted on 9460 2100 UT RSO/LIS, or 17650 0800-1000 UT KAS-CHN in Mandarin/French, and NHK-ASC in Japanese. The frequency coordination process is seriously flawed. Surely FMO's in HFCC can get their acts together better than this? (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) They certainly should; I suppose one rationale for moving only 10 kHz, in the case of ERT from 15475 to 15485 is that casual listeners will still be able to find it around the same place on the dial, rather than moving to some much better open frequency further away in the same band. OTOH, this was ex-17705 in the previous season but 15475 had already been publicized for B-05. Actually, ERT Delano is on 15485 at 1600+ every day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. See CANADA; CHILE ** JAPAN. THE EAGLE STILL SOARS 60 YEARS AFTER TAKEOFF Weekend Beat / 11/19/2005 By LOUIS TEMPLADO, Staff Writer http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200511190101.html Staff Sgt. Dominique Dickens, front, and Tech. Sgt. Norris Agnew inside the DJ booth at AFN [caption] It's an anniversary that's gone practically unnoticed even by those who should be celebrating it. So don't feel left out of the loop if you didn't know that the one of the longest running English-language media in Japan this fall marked its 60th year of operation. That media is none other than Eagle 810, the radio arm of American Forces Network in Japan. Located at Yokota Air Base in Tokyo's western Fussa area, the station is housed in a large building still marked by the broadcaster's old name --- FEN (Far East Network). Its technicians and DJs come to work in camouflage fatigues and polished boots. Most of its listeners do so as well: The station's main target audience is military personnel and their families living on or near U.S. bases in the Kanto region. But from the start, the station has had an outsize influence far beyond the base gates. If you're a foreigner newly arrived in Japan, chances are you've turned your AM dial to the "Eagle" at least once, either for news, weather, or a dose of banter in a familiar language. If you're a local, chances are you've also tuned in, too --- although for different reasons. Over the past six decades, the station has been an outpost of American culture --- offering music ranging from country and blues to jazz and hip-hop to studious Japanese audiences. Back in the day, in fact, the station was practically the only source of American sounds. Now, though, we've seen the arrival of Tower Records and iTunes stores, internet streaming audio and CNN. Have these ruffled feathers at the venerable Eagle? Not really, says Air Force Tech. Sgt. Norris Agnew, one of the personalities behind the American Forces Network. "The mission remains essentially unchanged --- nothing has shifted," says Agnew, whose nine-year stint in Japan is exceptional --- most members at the station are rotated every two or three years. "I've spoken to people who worked here back in the 1960s, and they say the same exact thing --- nothing has changed." "Our purpose is to provide command information to members of the military and their families. Our secondary mission is to entertain-- because that's how you get people to listen." But there's also a diplomatic element to consider: Listeners could be judging American values based on what they hear. In the military view, there are three ranks of listeners to consider. In addition to military personnel, there are civilian expats out there, as well as the "shadow audience" of Japanese. The challenge isn't just "couching information in entertainment," as Sgt. Agnew puts it, but to also give the local broadcasts the sound and feel of the stuff back home. Big Brother-style broadcasts would be bad for troop morale and alienate civilian audiences. "We're never told to censor," explains the sergeant. "We don't do that because whatever it is, they can can get it (the news) when they go back to the U.S." Still, adds Staff Sgt. Dominique Dickens, the suave morning voice on Eagle 810, DJs have to keep local considerations in mind when they speak or choosing tracks. "You don't want to offend your hosts," says Dickens. "There are certain songs you have to be sensitive about --- you don't want to play the Gap Band's 'You Dropped a Bomb on Me,' for example, on the anniversary of Hiroshima. Now that would be wrong." Certain words as well, such as "nuclear," are also avoided on the Japanese airwaves. For a shadow audience, Japanese listeners tend to be a vocal group. They call in; they write e-mails; one fan even tapes Sgt. Dickens every day and plays it back to him by phone with grammar questions. After all, say the sergeants, the station is a 24-hour full-immersion English course. Music-wise, though, the station is no longer the only game in town. For Toru Oki, 53, a base broadcast was the spark that started a 37- year career as blues singer and music producer traveling between Tokyo and New York. "When I was a little boy I used to stutter --- no one would wait for me to finish speaking" says Oki, who has sung on stage with the likes of Muddy Waters and Albert King. He has also sung at the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival. "One day I heard this music on the radio I'd never heard before --- American soul. I felt something special --- I started to sing, and when I did, my stutter went away. What I am now I really owe to FEN." Back then, says Oki, soul and blues were hard to find and he bought records off servicemen. Nowadays it's the other way around. "Young Japanese people are really up on everything new," says Sgt. Dickens, speaking of his forays into Tokyo's clubs. "I've got over 2,000 CDs but there are kids that have more than me. They probably know more about our music then we do --- especially about hip-hop. CDs are out in Japanese shops even before we have them on base --- except that they're a lot more expensive." Yet, that's not necessarily sad news at AFN. On the culture front, it may mean that after 60 years, it's mission accomplished (IHT/Asahi: November 19, 2005 via Hiro Oguma, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Cland, 5890, Shiokaze 1426 Nov 25 with music followed by talks in Korean over it from man after 1430. Buzzing audio, QRM from both sides, 22232, max S7. 5890 `Shiokaze' today Nov 27 at 1445 with talks in Japanese instead of Korean. Piano background. S7 max with ICOM R75/ 16 m inv (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [non]. 15220, FRANCE, R. Jamahiriya-Libya via Issoudun, Voice of Africa fair-good at 1729 11/24 with full Arabic ID and into news in Arabic; then upbeat Afro-pop vocals at 1739 (Jim Ronda, Tulsa OK, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7269.7, Wai FM (RTM), Nov 25, 1352-1435, pop music, 1401 start of a strong open carrier, *1427 Fire Dragon jamming, with assume Taiwan under it at 1430. Sarawak totally covered after 1401. In the past the open carrier didn`t start till closer to the BoH (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 4810, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de America, Plaza San Juan No. 5, Int. 2, Col. Centro, Mexico D.F., C.P. 06050, Mexico. Very nice QSL card with many small flags in the front. No V/S. Station information and short personal letter. Delay: 37 days (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, HCDX via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RADIO NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL TE REO IRIRANGI O AOTEAROA, O TE MOANA-NUI-A-KIWA P O Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand Phone: +(64 4) 4741 437 Facsimile +(64 4) 4741 433 E-mail address: info @ rnzi.com Web Address: http://www.rnzi.com Monday, November 28, 2005 FREQUENCY SCHEDULE ANALOGUE SERVICE UTC kHz 30 November 2005 – 26 March 2006 Primary Target 1651 - 1750 11980 NE Pacific, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands 1751 - 2235 15720 All Pacific, also heard in Europe 2236 - 0358 17675 All Pacific, also heard on the USA west coast 0400 - 0759 15720 All Pacific, also heard Europe, and mid-west USA 0800 - 1059 9885 All Pacific, also heard mid-west USA 1100 - 1300 15530 NW Pacific, Bougainville, PNG, Timor, Asia 1300 - 1650 9870 All Pacific [Changes from original Oct 30 schedule are in the 1651-1851 period, which had been: 1651 9870, 1751-1850 11980, 1851-2235 15720 ---gh] DRM SERVICE Begins 22 January 2006 UTC kHz January 2006 – 26 March 2006 Primary Target 1651 - 1750 11610 NE Pacific, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands 1751 - 2235 13595 All Pacific 2236 - 0358 15720 All Pacific 0400 - 0759 13690 All Pacific 0800 - 1059 9460 All Pacific 1100 - 1300 13840 NW Pacific, Bougainville, PNGuinea, Timor, Asia 1300 - 1650 7230 All Pacific (via Wolfgang Büschel, Nov 28, DXLD) But some testing earlier? (gh) ** OKLAHOMA. Mike McCarville, talk show host at OKC`s No. 1 hate peddler, KTOK(AM), is retiring at the end of the year. It will help clean up the airwaves, but not much (Frosty Troy, Observerscope, Oklahoma Observer Nov 25 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. KXOK-TV ch 32, Enid`s only TV station, has managed to keep running America 1 instead of black screen for 2.5 weeks as happened in October. A major improvement to this miserable operation was the addition of a ``KXOK`` bug at the lower-left. Now that has been replaced by a continuous crawler, ``KXOK is for Sale --- Contact KXOK@COX.NET``. Noticed at 1940 UT Monday Nov 28 during Cisco Kid --- is that colorized, or is the real color just lousy on this network/station? Does the crawler go off during commercials full of less ghostly graphics at the bottom of the screen? Of course not! That would require an actual human being operator paying attention to the programming! As for purchasing KXOK, prospects should be aware that it is destined to be knocked off for KETA-DT-32 from OKC. It prevents Enidiots from getting PBS in HDTV off the air (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. EMERGENCY FM RADIOS BROADCASTING IN EARTHQUAKE REGION The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority decided on 22 October to grant temporary FM licences for six areas in the North-West Frontier Province and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. These licences were to help meet the information needs of people affected by the earthquake of 8 October. The Internews Pakistan website http://www.internews.org.pk has published the following list of emergency FM radio stations operating in the earthquake-affected areas: Power FM-99, Abbottabad; FM-99, Muzaffarabad; Power FM-99.8, Bagh; Ravi FM 88 (approved frequency) temporary transmission on FM 100 frequency; Sachal FM 104.6 (approved frequency), Rawalakot; Buraq Relief Radio FM 104.4, Thandiaani, Abbottabad; Buraq Relief Radio FM 104, Mirpur; Mast FM 103, Balakot; and Punjab University, Muzaffarabad. In addition, a licence has been granted for Awaz FM 105 in the Neelam valley and an application was being processed for the Chakothi area. The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation's Radio Muzaffarabad is broadcasting on FM 101 using a 2-kW transmitter. Source: BBC Monitoring research 28 Nov 05 (via DXLD) WTFK? Looks like some of those are rounded off, so I can`t say TFK! (gh) Don`t you believe Cokie Roberts, in her newspaper column as printed in the Enid Eagle Nov 27, writing about the quake from Bana, Pakistan, headlined LIFE IN OSAMA`S BACK YARD --- ``The devastation from this earthquake covers more than 11.5 million square miles`` ! As I just e- mailed her at a gmail account, that is equivalent to the area of the entire continent of Africa, or 2/3 of Asia. Unless some editor screwed up the figure, she evidently does not have a good grasp of geography or is it mathematics? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Logré captar en los 4060.2 kHz (20:0 UTC [sic, Nov 27?]) a una emisora transmitiendo desde el Dpto de Ancash (Perú). La senhal llegaba muy débil. Lamentablemente NO pude identificarla. 73 (Alfredo [Cañote]. DXSPACEMASTER, Chaclacayo, Perú, 10:08 am [PST?] Nov 28, condig list via DXLD) Not a likely MW harmonic (gh) ** PERU [and non]. Another harmonic: I`m trying to once again hear the new(?) Radio Centinela del Norte on 4654.96. Doing this I logged a very weak spur/harmonic from Radio Martí on 4655.00 kHz (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mixing product (gh) ** RUSSIA. 5960, R. Tikhiy Okean (R. Station Pacific Ocean), Nov 27, *0935-1000*; slight change in their sign-on, which starts with: ``Moscow Radio-Radio-Radio`` (echo sound affect), followed by pop instrumental music, then into the usual "Govorit Vladivostok," chimes IS and Russian programming, still with many IDs for ``Radiostantsiya Tikhiy Okean.`` Good (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. RUSSIAN TV PRESENTER TOLD TO STAY AWAY FROM WORK FOR THREE MONTHS | Text of report by Russian Ekho Moskvy radio on 28 November Olga Romanova [RenTV journalist taken off the air a week ago over her critical approach to political coverage] has today finally received a written order from the leadership of RenTV saying that she has been taken off the air for three months. It is proposed that during this time Romanova should work out a concept for a new information and analysis programme. Romanova will carry out the leadership's instructions. The journalist has said this herself on Ekho Moskvy radio. Now that she has received the order, she will not try to gain access today to the RenTV broadcasting studio from which she was barred on Thursday [24 Nov] by personnel of a private security enterprise. Source: Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, in Russian 1700 gmt 28 Nov 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SENEGAL [non]. Cland, 12000, WADR 09?? Nov 26, a political commentary followed by Spanish like song about orthodoxy, ID WADR transmitting from Dakar on 12000 and 17860, a speech of Mr Mashari Said with mentions about national anthem. S9 43444 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I thought this currently signs off at 0900, is not really using 17860, and is not really clandestine (gh, DXLD) See also CHILE ** SERBIA & MONTENEGRO [non]. SÉRVIA E MONTENEGRO – Não é impossível ouvir, aqui na América do Sul, a emissão em espanhol da Rádio Internacional da Sérvia e Montenegro que é irradiada para a Europa. Em São João Evangelista (MG), Leônidas dos Santos Nascimento ouviu a emissora, recentemente, às 2010, pela freqüência de 7200 kHz (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 27 via DXLD) ** SIKKIM. 4980, 12.11 1640, AIR/Gangtok med prat om Pakistan och Indien. Q 4. DO (Dan Olsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 27 via DXLD) Definite ID? We have not had any other confirmation that the changes from 3 to 4 MHz have actually been made (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. ESPANHA – Um bom horário para acompanhar o programa Amigos de la Onda Curta da Rádio Exterior da Espanha é às 1600, aos domingos, em 21600 kHz. Tem regular sintonia no Sul do Brasil. Na sua última edição, o programa dedicou matéria ressaltando o trabalho de Glenn Hauser e Gabriel Barrera em favor da divulgação das ondas curtas (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Nov 27 via DXLD) That would be 21610, intended for MidEast Sun at 1605; also on 21570 to SAm at that time, but maybe with separate programming. Unfortunately I missed it and there seems to be no audio archive of this show, tho there are of some others. I suppose they were mentioning us because of the program exchange agreement they have with RN`s Radio Enlace. AFAIK, my DX news does not actually transfer to the REE program. Did anybody hear or record it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Radio and its part in the Spanish Civil War --- Interesting article in an English-language newspaper from the Costa Blanca: http://www.roundtownnews.com/articles.asp?ID=4139&fecha_pub=25/11/2005 (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) Not including R. España Independiente ** SUDAN. 5895, 12.11, 1710, R Peace pratade om bombattentaten i Amman. Q 3. DO (Dan Olsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 27 via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 15575, SRS, 1530 Nov 24 [Thu]: a song; ``You are listening to SRS, listen to Sudan with ... Elizabeth ... Eribil Sudan Twatsabeta Sudan .. in Cukudum``, references to education. Again short program description with ID Elizabeth, etc. Strong signal S20-30; nothing on 11665 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SRS Mon Nov 28 at 1500 opening on 15575 with schedule, which no longer mentions 11665, just 15575 at 1500. They seemed to say schedule was different on Saturdays, starting at ``8 am and 8 pm`` = 0500 & 1700? Did not quite catch it. Website http://www.sudanradio.org/schedule.htm still shows 11665! Altho at the top it says Mon-Sat, no programs at any time are shown for Sat (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN [non]. NEW TIME/FREQUENCY FOR RADIO SWEDEN DRM TESTS FROM SACKVILLE Radio Sweden has announced that, beginning today, there will be a new frequency and a new starting time for its DRM tests to Europe from Radio Canada International's transmitters in Sackville. The transmissions will be at 1502-1558 UT, on 17880 kHz. This arrangement provides a daylight path from Sackville to Europe and Radio Sweden hopes it might improve DRM coverage in western Europe. (Source: MediaScan/Sweden Calling DXers) # posted by Andy @ 13:33 Nov 28 (Media Network blog via DXLD) See also GUIANA FRENCH: a transmission listed instead of this (gh) ** TAIWAN. Dear Glenn, In 5-203 you questioned; Phonetic? Meaning artificial speech perhaps? (gh, DXLD) "Meteorological Phonetic Broadcasting" --- this is the formal name in English of the broadcast fixed by Central Weather Bureau themselves. The original word in Chinese is "yuyin", which means "aural voice" or "pronunciation". Then "phonetic" in this name really means "voice", which is opposed to fax or CW. The broadcast is done by live female human voice, not artificial! (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. XIZANG, 5240, Xizang PBS, 2136 Nov 24 with Tibetan pop songs played with electric piano Songs interrupted by short descriptions by YL. S8 43433, QRM S5 carrier on 5243.4 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Pirate Radio / John Peel artifact --- Hello Glenn... Two pieces of news for your journal. One is about the John Peel obituary/tribute piece I wrote for a freebie magazine but which actually first appeared in DXLD 5-006 at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld5006.txt Well it got picked up by the annual literary anthology "The DACAPO BEST MUSIC WRITING 2005" along with 15 other notable works. Yep I couldn't believe it either, lil' ol' me along side the New Yorker and the Washington Post writers. Well eventually they will sober up and realize their mistake but I will have already cashed my check! Still, Glenn, thank you for originally posting my piece. And curiously, another article which the "BEST MUSIC WRITING" editors selected was the Washington Post piece about the London music experimentalist who put out a CD of numbers stations transmissions. The original piece is here, very interesting. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35647-2004Aug2.html Secondly, pirate radio historians will be interested in a restoration project using tapes of the final transmissions by Radio London from their last day Aug 14, 1967. John Peel's last pirate show, aka "The Perfumed Garden," all 5 1/2 hours worth, has been painstakingly rebuilt. Some UK collectors located 90% of all of Peel's original low-fi (and very quaint hippie-esque) intros and outros from various reel to reel home-recorded sources. Then over time they located clean copies of every song he played that night. This new and old material was then seamlessly cut together, and a 5-CD set has been making the trading rounds. Info on the restoration project can be found at http://members.aol.com/VelvetFogg/HTML/PEEL.html Now a Peel tribute site has the whole thing available for download in 5 parts at http://www.jonhorne.co.uk/jptapes/perfumedgarden.html It is one of those download situations where you can only download one thing every few hours, so it takes some time to get all 5 parts but it is worth it. A great piece of off-sea pirate history, a great musical time capsule too (Tom Roche, GA, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Further info in final Radio London broadcast: JOHN PEEL'S PERFUMED GARDEN --- August 14, 1967 On August 14, 1967 at 5:30 AM, John Peel signed off for the final broadcast of his psychedelic radio show, "The Perfumed Garden". Ten hours later, Radio London, the pirate radio station that broadcast The Perfumed Garden, would sign off the air for good. Radio London was one of a handful of rogue radio stations that attempted to thwart conventional U.K. radio programming being broadcast on the BBC by paying for advertisers and thus having the freedom to play ANYTHING they wanted. The signal from the boat was fairly weak and depending where you were in greater England, you would inevitably pick up a frequency "whine" while listening on the AM band. John Peel's contribution to Rock & Roll is incredible and his knowledge and insights are arguably unsurpassed. By the summer of 1967, Peel had already been to America for months on end, so his U.K. radio broadcasts included amazing selections of (then) obscure acts from both the U.K. and U.S. of A. Most of the 45's of bands he played during 1967 are now insanely rare and sought out by collectors throughout the world. Although Peel leaned highly on the psychedelic genre for his playlists, he also included many critical blues and folk staples to round out the sound. The playlist for his final 5 - hour show is staggering. Definitely the stuff of legend for psychedelic music enthusiasts. John Peel may have been cursed with a monotone voice, but his insights into the music of this period are truly amazing and riveting. In numerous instances, Peel referred to the contemporary music he was playing with the same insights that only "music historians" were to obtain 35 years later. He recognized that his "here and now" was unique, important and ground-breaking. He was cutting edge in the truest sense of the phrase and the world should be tremendously thankful that the BBC gave him a chance to further his career a few months later in 1968. Although they "watered him down" a bit, even his Top Gear Sessions were still mind boggling regarding what he played on the air. Top Gear spawned the "Peel Sessions" which brought countless bands into the limelight for decades to come (via Tom Roche, who appends a list of all the tracks on all 5 CDs, DXLD) ** U K. BBCWS Monday+ Previews from week of Nov 28: Health Matters – HIV/AIDS - What Works? --- The slogan for World AIDS Day this year is Stop AIDS. Keep the promise. To mark World AIDS day, Health Matter reports on how far the world has kept this promise to some of the world’s poorest countries, in a new two-part series, HIV/AIDS – What Works? from Monday 28 November. Health Matters focuses on AIDS in women on Monday 28 November. The disease is typically pictured as one that mainly affects men but in Africa it is more common in women. Three quarters of the new cases on the African continent in young people are in women. The virus passes more easily from men to women than vice versa. For women the burden can be huge as they are likely to pass the virus onto their babies during childbirth unless they are given treatment. HIV can also be transmitted through breast milk. Health Matters discovers how women can protect themselves from infection through the use of the female condom. Producer, Deborah Cohen, says "There’s a great deal of research going on into the development of microbicides, a class of products that can prevent transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in women. We find out how far these products are from the market and look at the latest thinking on the use of the drug, nevirapine, to prevent mother to child transmission." Research carried out in Uganda late last year, that showed the drug stopped babies getting HIV has come under a great deal of criticism from the international community and new test are now being carried out. On Monday 5 December, Health Matters focuses on prevention and treatment, meeting the scientists who are developing vaccines and discovering how many of them are in clinical trials. The ABC approach ‘abstinence, being faithful and condom use’ is favoured by some of the big donors, particularly in the US. Health Matters asks where in the world this approach is making an impact and looks at the thorny issue of getting the latest drugs to those who need it most. Producer/Deborah Cohen Health Matters: 2 programmes x 25 minutes Mondays 28 November and 5 December [European stream, webcast] Mon 1006, 1506, 2006, Tue 0206 [Americas stream, webcast] Mon 1506, 2206, Tue 0206 World Book Club – Vikram Seth Famous authors from around the world discuss one of their best-known books with a global audience in World Book Club. In monthly sessions chaired by Harriett Gilbert, writers talk about the chosen work, give a reading from it, then throw themselves open to questions and feedback from a studio audience and letters, phone calls and e-mails from readers worldwide. On Monday 28 November, Vikram Seth discusses his 1993 novel A Suitable Boy. This acclaimed epic of Indian life won the WH Smith Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book). Opening and closing with a wedding, the book is ostensibly the story of a Hindu family trying to find a suitable husband for their younger daughter, Lata. The interwoven stories of four families linked by marriage form the background for this marital quest. The setting, 1950’s India, is vividly realised: the enormity of the subcontinent, its overpowering heat, lush gardens, colourful festivals, and exotic foods. Memorable characters abound; not since Dickens has there been such a lively and idiosyncratic cast crowded into one novel. Drama is provided by the simmering conflict between Hindu and Muslim, which breaks out unexpectedly throughout the novel. Vikram Seth was born in India in 1952. He took his undergraduate degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University and was a graduate student at Stanford and Nanjing Universities. During 1977-1978 he was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing at Stanford. Presenter/Harriett Gilbert, Producer/Nick Rankin World Book Club: 1 programme x 25 minutes Monday 28 November [European stream, webcast] Mon 1032, 1532, 2032, Tue 0232 [American stream, webcast] Mon 1532, 2232, Tue 0232 Listen online http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/index.shtml (BBC Press Office via Rich Cuff via Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC MONITORING JOB CUTS MAY DOUBLE Staff at the BBC's global listening service, used by the government in its fight against terrorism, fear job losses could double because of the corporation's plans to relocate a significant part of its operations overseas. Workers at BBC Monitoring's Caversham headquarters, already facing around 50 jobs cuts after a Cabinet Office review cut funding in August, fear the number of redundancies could leap to at least 100 if the BBC moves listening from Berkshire to centres in Delhi, Belgrade and Moscow. Under the plans, insiders say coverage of Europe and the Balkans will switch to Belgrade, Asia Pacific listening to Delhi or new offices in Islamabad, Dhaka or Jakarta, and Russia to new offices in Moscow or the Ukraine. BBC Monitoring, which scrutinises more than 3,000 sources from TV, radio, news agencies, press and the internet, is also planning to strengthen its small office in Egypt while cutting back on its team of Middle East specialists in Caversham. Insiders say the move to put greater reliance on outside staff threatens the quality of the intelligence gathered, particularly in the former Soviet Union, where editors can be at risk if they speak out. Last month the BBC World Service temporarily closed its office in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, because of concerns over security. "We are worried that freelances from countries where press freedom is non-existent might self-censor their selection of material to stay in with their governments," said a BBC Monitoring insider. The BBC said it was discussing ways to increase efficiency at the service, but said no decision had yet been taken on overseas outsourcing. "When we made the announcement we said there could be a loss of around 50 jobs and that assessment has not changed," said a spokesman. "We are now looking at detailed proposals, many of which have come from staff, before embarking on a further round of feedback." Set up on the eve of the second world war to help Britain track foreign propaganda, BBC Monitoring employs about 500 staff, most of them based at Caversham. The rest are distributed in six bureaux around the world and it also employs a few hundred freelance monitors. It provides news transcripts, including audio and video clips, to the Ministry of Defence, Foreign Office and British intelligence agencies, as well as the BBC. In August the BBC admitted it faced "tough choices" after the Foreign and Commonwealth Office cut its funding for BBC Monitoring by £4.5m a year. The FCO is one of four stakeholders in the service, alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office and the BBC. A review, led by Sir Quentin Thomas - formerly head of broadcasting at the Home Office - reported in August, recommending a new funding structure. The unit will get £24.6m a year in 2006-07 and 2007-08, falling to £23.4m before 2011 (Dominic Timms, Media Guardian, Monday November 28, 2005 via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) ** U S A. Bethany, Greenville --- Found this debate about the possible demolition of the Bethany station building, confirming that one Greenville site is off now: http://www.eham.net/articles/12541 And here is a brochure about Greenville's inauguration, transcribed and scanned: http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/historyfiction/document/voa/entire.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It appears to me that IBB would like to avoid an impression that Greenville Site A has been closed by describing the current situation as ``not on air 24 hours`` (yeah, sure, zero hours are indeed ``not 24 hours``). I assume the discussed two technicians keep the transmitters operational, as Telenor/Norkring engineers did with the Kvitsøy and Sveio facilities after yearend. So presumably GA could be fired up again, in theory and for the time being (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GERMANY ** U S A. Our website has been completely updated in terms of programming and schedules. Manufacturer tells us the repaired North American antenna may be ready by next weekend (Jeff White, WRMI, Nov 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still no program schedule by time on the site. Under WRN, I see that now ends at 0900 UT on 7385 instead of 1000, so that eliminates a WORLD OF RADIO airing at 0930 Sunday. I will insert the presumed WRN content, not given by WRMI; Jeff sent a jpg of the WRMI program schedule effective Nov 20, reworked here. 7 = 7385 to NAm [except 13- 16 to Carib]; 9 = 9955 to Carib & SAm. Note that there are now some programs in English on 9955 and some in Spanish on 7385: UT Monday-Friday 0500-0900 7 WRN [0500 RN, 0600 Israel, Earth & Sky, 0630 Channel Africa, 0700 CRI, 0730 Sweden, 0800 RA --- gh] 0900-1300 9 Radio República 1300-1330 7 R. Praga 1330-1555 7 WRN [1330 RN JIP, 1400 RTE, 1500 DW, 1530 Sweden --- gh] 1555-1600 7 End Times Coming 1600-2200 9 Radio República 2200-0500 7 Christian Media Network into UT Tue-Sat UT Saturday 0500-0900 7 WRN [same as M-F above] 0900-1100 9 Radio República 1100-1115 9 Church of Christ 1115-1130 9 Hijos de Bayamo 1130-1200 9 Entérate 1200-1215 9 Paroles de Vie 1215-1230 9 Banner of Truth 1230-1300 9 Reality in Jesus 1300-1330 7 Radio Praga 1330-1600 7 WRN [same as M-F above] 1600-2200 9 Radio República 2200-2300 7 Christian Media Network 2300-2330 9 Reflexiones del Alma 2330-2400 9 Voz del Escambray UT Sunday 0000-0030 9 Entérate 0030-0045 9 End Times Coming 0045-0100 9 Hijos de Bayamo 0100-0130 9 Conversando entre Cubanos 0130-0145 9 Radio VIP Perú 0145-0200 9 Verdad para el Mundo 0200-0300 9 Prophecy Talk 0300-0500 9 Radio República 0500-0530 7 DX Partyline 0530-0900 7 WRN [0530 RN JIP, 0600 Israel, Earth & Sky, 0630 Banns Radio International = Copenhagen Calling, 0700 CRI, 0730 Sweden, 0800 RA --- gh] 0900-1100 9 Radio República 1100-1115 9 Church of Christ 1115-1130 9 Fountain of Truth 1130-1145 9 MUNDO RADIAL 1145-1200 9 Hijos de Bayamo 1200-1230 9 Creciendo en Gracia 1230-1300 9 Entérate 1300-1330 7 Radio Praga 1330-1400 7 Jack van Impe 1400-1430 7 WORLD OF RADIO 1430-1500 7 DX Partyline 1500-1600 7 Viva Miami 1600-2200 9 Radio República 2200-2230 7 Jack van Impe 2230-2300 7 WORLD OF RADIO 2300-2315 9 Fountain of Truth 2315-2330 9 Hijos de Bayamo 2330-2400 9 Entérate UT Monday 0000-0030 9 Trova Libre 0030-0045 9 Banner of Truth 0045-0100 9 End Times Coming 0100-0115 9 Harvest Time 0115-0130 9 Truth for the World 0130-0230 9 Radio Oriente Libre 0230-0300 9 Conversando Entre Cubanos 0300-0500 9 Radio República For more info on programs by title, and links to their websites, check the left margin of http://www.wrmi.net The WRN stations have not always appeared as scheduled, but instead others by tape-delay. I was listening Sunday November 27 at 2145 on 9955, surprisingly without jamming! Around 2155 some pulsing began, and built up to full jamming by 2200 when, of course, WRMI went to 7385! And the jamming continued that hour on 9955; WRMI could not be detected after 2300 when it returned to 9955. WORLD OF RADIO on 7385 ended about 2257:40 so must have started at 2229. I noticed that WRMI modulation level is rather low on both frequencies. Some (better?) audio processing would seem to be called for. Nov 28 at 1430 and 1530 chex, could not detect any signal on 7385; off the air? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 27 November follow. Solar flux 81 and mid-latitude A-index 3. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 28 November was 3 (35 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn, 4440, WZFB, Fair Bluff NC, 0045 Nov 24, preacher with "th'bahble says..." and a couple of IDs, 3 x 1480 and listed as 48w night power, but who knows. Tnx to Bill Harms for assistance with ID (Jay Novello, Wake Forest NC, R8A, various wires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ``says``? You mean ``say-uzz``? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. The announcer on WWVA [1170 Wheeling WV] just asked listeners from other states and Canada to phone in or to send emails if they are listening to their Jamboree on the Air program. It looks like at least one station is still trying to server distant listeners (via skywave) at night (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, 0243 UT Nov 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWKB-1520 Buffalo frequently acknowledges distant listeners, especially on their Saturday night all request oldies show. They commonly take requests from listeners 300 or more miles away. A while back I also heard them acknowledge some European reception. Brings back some good memories of AM DXing 40 years ago (Joe Fela, amfmtfdx at qth.net via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Re 5-203, 1190 Atlanta now Spanish: Several of these are Spanish language, but not Mexican targeted, given the significant population of Caribbean origin Hispanics in Atlanta. In fact, Viva FM, the leading station in Spanish, is targeted at all national origins, from Puerto Rican to Mexican. Is 1190 Spanish gospel and Christian? Several of the Salem associated stations are, using the name of Radio Nueva Vida (David Gleason, Nov 25, NRC-AM via DXLD) I'll listen and find out. 1100 is Spanish religion. I hear no Salsa or Son on all the AM's, hence my assumption they were serving our growing Mexican population (Brock Whaley, ibid.) I’m glad I mentioned this, then. Most people from the Caribbean do not like salsa. There is no salsa station in the top 5 in Puerto Rico, and the biggest shares go to forms of AC, in other words, pop and ballads and oldies. Second biggest format is reggaetón. Same in the rest of the Caribbean basin, where salsa is even less popular. Salsa is basically dead except among older listeners. It was never as big outside PR as inside PR, and has declined for 10 years or more. So don`t think that all Caribbean stations will play Caribbean music, any more than US stations will all play country (David Gleason, ibid.) It was never as big outside PR as inside PR, Not even in Cuba? (Brock Whaley, ibid.) No. Salsa developed after about 1967, when all media was state controlled. Very popular, but not the way it was in PR (Gleason, ibid.) Thank you for the history. I assumed it was a popular for of Cuban music, as WSOL in Tampa played it in the mid 60's, and later it dominated the playlist of the late, "we lost our license" WFAB 990 in Miami. I also heard some rip roaring live jams on Radio Liberación 640, Habana, every Sunday afternoon when I grew up in Tampa. And, allow me to amend my list. 1420 is brokered ethnic with plenty of Spanish, and I forgot that 1340 Atlanta, is now ESPN Spanish. Still ads up to ten (Brock Whaley, ibid.) 1190 calls still WAFS? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. BTW, I was still hearing the het on 1600 caused by an off- frequency station around 1600.2v until 2300 UT Nov 26. Yes, the het pitch was wavering, indicating the off-frequency one is also slightly unstable (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Who is the Spanish station on 1670 that I am hearing right now at 1720 EST [2220 UT] 11/26? They are playing music and announcements. I have not yet identified the type of music (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) What about KHPY, Moreno Valley CA on 1670 kHz? This station has Spanish programming. Logged in Denmark at the DX 183 January 2005. (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, ibid.) Ydun: I thought about that too. However, it was as not quite sunset in Moreno Valley for the station to reach here (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, ibid.) I have it, too, from 1845-1900 EST [2345-2400 UT], mixing with WNWR in Warner Robins GA. The Spanish station faded and became unstable around 1900, so no ID. I wonder if I heard a mention of "Moreno", but not enough for an ID (John Cereghin KB3LYP, Smyrna DE, DX150B with 300' longwire, ibid.) This is an audio clip from 1830 EST [2330 UT]. http://dxclips.philcobill.com/01670-20051126-1830-UNID.mp3 (Bill Harms, MD, ibid.) I've also heard two stations --- the unID Spanish one (seems to have a religious format) and WMWR in English. I'm hearing English and Spanish on 1670 and the English station is WMWR (John Cereghin, DE, ibid.) Okay, I heard several Spanish language spots between 1900 and 2000 [EST presumably] for locations in Georgia. This according to their web site via Scott Fybush is a Spanish language block for Saturday. Of interest, they played network news in English at the top of the hour (Bill Harms, MD, ibid.) The clip in Spanish refers to Macon, with a 478 area code, temp in Fahrenheit. So a format change for WNWR? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) No change at their website! http://www.1670wmwr.com/main.html (Barry Davies, UK, ibid.) I believe it's WMWR, not WNWR, and I have heard them with occasional Spanish programming in the evening. I believe they broker time, maybe weekends only!! 73 (Chris K4CME, IRCA via DXLD) No doubt at typo but here's some additional info. MWR undoubtedly stands for Macon-Warner Robins. Warner Robins, the 8th largest city in Georgia and the home of Robins AFB, is located 18 miles south of Macon. I lived in Warner Robins and worked at Robins AFB from 1986 until 1989. Now why the city of license was changed to the tiny community of Dry Branch is beyond me!! (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, ibid.) Radio Latino in Macon, GA. Very clear. The show name is ?variedades.? Fahrenheit temp check confirms as a domestic, unless it gets really hot somewhere (David Gleason, ibid.) Okay, I will settle for a format change on WNWR, but who is the other Spanish station I am hearing (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) According to WMWR`S website http://www.1670wmwr.com/main.html they have Spanish programming after 2000 EST on Saturday. That's not a format change as they are Fox Sports Radio the rest of the time. But as Bill noted, there are 2 Spanish stations on 1670 being noted (John Cereghin, DE, ibid.) From WMWR's web site - this is not a format change, just a Saturday night block of Spanish programming under the title "Variedades." It runs from 8 to midnight, ET: http://www.1670wmwr.com/weekendshows.html s (Scott Fybush, IRCA via DXLD) The slogan per Bill´s clip is "Orgullo Latino" (Latin Pride), and the phone number in Macon, GA, is 478 471 1670. Music by groups El Poder del Norte and Los Alacranes (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos Bill: Px "Variedades" QTH Las Chichas de Mecan [sic] Tlf 478 47116 Mx " Ranchera Mexicana" 73 y Buen DX, (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) Pienso que dice "la ciudad de Macon", no? El programa se llama "Variedades" y el eslógan (lema) que usan es "Orgullo Latino" (Henrik Klemetz, ibid.) Saludos cordiales Henrik, fíjate bien, pero se entiende "Las Chichas de Mecan", da incluso la temperatura y hace referencia al norte. El Programa "Variedades el orgullo latino". No se escucha la ID de la emisora, probablemente sea de México, ¿que crees tú? (Romero, ibid.) Sin duda es la emisora de Macon, Georgia, USA, WMWR 1670 con un programa semanal en español. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Hola José Miguel, lo que espero es que alguna persona se anime a llamar al teléfono en cuestión (estamos de acuerdo que el número es el 478 471 1670) a desentramar el asunto. Para mi "Orgullo latino" es el eslógan de la emisora. El DJ se identifica, si no me equivoco, como "su dee-jay mágico Moisés". En algunas partes, en Colombia en todo caso, "mágico" es un eufemisimo. Quiere decir "destacado miembro de la mafia", o "tipo que se ha enriquecido con el comercio de la droga". Si lo usan en ese sentido en Macon, GA, o en México no lo sé. Cordialmente, Henrik In English: Hopefully someone over there will give them a phone call to find out if this is a new format or a casual program. We are all agreed on the number. It is 478 471 1670. The DJ calls himself "su dee-jay mágico Moisés" (your wizard DJ Moses). I am also saying that "mágico" has a special connotation in certain areas, at least in Colombia, where it generally refers to a mafioso involved in the drugs business (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Nov 27, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since Bill`s clip was a sesquihour earlier than the scheduled 0100 start of WMWR`s Spanish block, that has obviously expanded. BTW, I was also stationed at Warner Robins AFB briefly in 1969y, long before the X-band! The question remains about the second Spanish station on 1670; anything more monitored the next night? The time seemed too early for the Californian, altho it`s low-solar-angle season and a transcontinental X-band catch from a station before local sunset is conceivable. Official SS at Moreno Valley per http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/srsstime?dlat=33&mlat=00&slat=42&dlon=117&mlon=11&slon=03&tzone=A is 0045 UT both in Nov and Dec; an hour earlier it could still propagate to the east, and would still be on day power of 10 kW instead of 1 kW. Also conceivable is the new pirate x-bander in Argentina reported recently in DXLD 5-193 and 5-195, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Greetings from the Central Coast of California, Almost certain that the Spanish language station I am hearing on 1670, that is mixing with the English language ESPN sports station (KNRO, Redding, CA), is located in Moreno Valley, CA. Nov 28, 0522-0701 UT, religious services in Spanish, 0600 singing station jingle, almost positive I noted a clear "Moreno Valley" at the very end of the jingle. After 0600 Ranchero music and songs. Ad for the Bank of America at 0625. Could not make out an ID. Fair reception at times (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn, I was monitoring 1670 the same time Bill was and I did clearly hear an English ID of WMWR plus CBS network news at 0200 UT Sunday Nov 27 and the unID Spanish station mixing in. There is no doubt one Spanish station was WMWR from their sked on their website but the other Spanish station I could not ID. Both battled it out with about equal strength. I doubt it could have been the presumed Californian. Argentina? Possibly. I just put up a new 300-foot longwire that same day and my old reliable DX150B is doing quite well with the new antenna! (John Cereghin KB3LYP, Smyrna, Delaware, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is a follow-up to my previous postings of a Spanish station heard on 1670 --- I am now hearing a station with Spanish on 1670. The program before 11/28 0400 UT appeared to be a call in show and a music program after 0400. Also on 1670 was WTDY with a Cigar Convention show before 0400 which is nulled and a sports show from WMWR (identified at the top of the hour) with presumed Fox Sports which is mixing and mostly on top of the Spanish station. I am still trying to identify the Spanish station. I have three strong carriers on the channel. The Spanish is on 1669.975, and WTDY and WMWR are on 1670.010 and 1670.025 (All relative because of the lack of calibration and I have not differentiated the frequencies for WTDY and WMWR.) There are also at least 10 other smaller carriers. (The smaller carriers are probably TISs and the West Coast stations.) Anyone else hearing this? (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, R8B, Homebrew K9AY, 300 foot longwire, Quantum Phaser, ibid.) 1670 Spanish Audio Clip --- My mystery station on 1670 is playing light music this morning, very similar to what I have heard on Radio Juventus Don Bosco last winter and late last night. The following is a clip which contains a possible identification. http://dxclips.philcobill.com/01670-20051128-0547-UNID.mp3 (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, ibid.) I may be wrong, but there seems to be a French or Creole ID which sounds like "Radio Voix Divine". I guess there is or was a Haitian station in Boston on 1670. Radio Voix Divine homepage: http://www.radiovoixdivine.com/ 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) Yes, that`s it. Beware, audio launches automatically. Claims it is WRVD 1670 in Mattapan MA, just as if it were legal. FCC AM query shows that callsign is not in use by a real station, but it is in use by an FM on 90.3 in Syracuse NY. Can they sue? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRVD, Radio Voix Divine 1670 AM, 668, Morton Street, Mattapan, MA 02126. Tél : 617 282 6399 / 617 201 0259. Fax : 617 282 8331 contactus @ radiovoixdivine.com (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, dxldyg via DXLD) Hi Jari: I am leaning that direction too after receiving correspondence from another DXer on another list (Bill Harms, ibid.) I'm willing to think that the second UNID I heard on 1670 may have been in Creole not Spanish. The audio quality was not the best but I like to think I can tell the difference between Creole and Spanish! But the programming of my UNID was religious, with presumed preaching and religious music. The observed signal strength (about equal to WMWR) would make more sense if this was a Boston station as opposed to either Californnia or Argentina. :( (John Cereghin, Smyrna DE, ibid.) Are there any DXers in the Boston area who can run this and possibly other stations to the ground? Could we find out exact locations of the transmitters and studios? How about the names of the stations? 1670 is not the only channel to look at. I have seen at least two other carriers on 1710 almost ever time I look on SpecLab (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, ibid.) Bill, Here is a list of low-power AM stations in Metro Boston. It was compiled by Bruce Conti and can be found on his site, BAMLOG: http://members.aol.com/baconti/bostonLP.htm (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, IRCA via DXLD) Not including this one! But two other French ones on 1670. Also links to other sites about this subject which do not mention it either! http://www.hauinc.org/html/community/Media/Radio/RadioStations.asp http://www.anselme.homestead.com/radioboston.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MA, Waltham, WCRB, 102.5 --- longtime classical operator Woody Tanger is interested in buying Boston`s WCRB. Tanger tried to acquire the full Class B signal years ago and was rebuffed, but now the board of Charles River Broadcasting is exploring options for WCRB plus its other New England stations and tower operations (Nov FMedia! via CONTINENT OF MEDIA 05-10, DXLD) ** U S A. VA, Manassas, WJFK-FM, 106.7 tr [talk & rock format], ``106.7 Free FM``. Infinity`s ``Free FM`` stations will feature an eclectic mix of personalities, whose distinct creativity, perspective, sense of humor, intellect and unpredictability do not fall under the guiding principles of any particular narrowcast theme or ideology,`` said Joel Hollander, chairman and CEO. ``An entertaining hybrid of provocative, political, pop culture, news, music and lifestyle formats, our next generation of FM stations will be personified by their conviction, passion, originality, fearlessness and innovation which is not heard anywhere else on the radio.`` (Nov FMedia! via DXLD) ** U S A. INDIANAPOLIS RADIO --- Three articles that look at Indianapolis radio, that ran in Sunday's Indianapolis star. One looks at all of the format changes that have happened here in town this year (add to that list now 1590 is now SS Mexicana, was religious. This must have happened in the past week or two). The second is about corporate ownership of 17 of Indy's top 20 stations (a few call letter / frequency errors) and another one about 101.9 WKLU and their anti- establishment station. It's very good reading material. http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051127/ENTERTAINMENT05/511270368&SearchID=73227837082031 http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051127/ENTERTAINMENT05/511270369&SearchID=73227837082031 http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051127/ENTERTAINMENT05/511270371&SearchID=73227837082031 73 (Dave Hascall, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. Nebraska Tower Collapse --- A plane crashed into the KLNE- TV/FM tower near Atlanta, NE today. Unfortunately all 3 on board died. This also was home to weather radio WXL-75 Holdrege, NE which is also off the air. Lexington NE has their own transmitter which is parallel to Holdrege-so not all of the area will be without coverage (noteworthy since there's a blizzard warning out right now for that area). (Matthew C. Sittel, Bellevue, NE, Nov 27, WTFDA via DXLD) NET TOWER SERVING SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA OFF-AIR FOLLOWING PLANE CRASH LINCOLN, Neb. (Nov. 27, 2005) -- The Sunday morning crash of a single engine plane into a broadcast tower serving south central Nebraska has caused a disruption of public radio and television service to that area, according to officials at NET (Nebraska Educational Telecommunications). Counties affected include Adams, Buffalo, Custer, Dawson, Franklin, Frontier, Furnas, Gosper, Hall, Harlan, Kearney, Lincoln, Phelps, Red Willow, Sherman and Webster. "We deeply regret the loss of life we understand resulted from this terrible accident," said NET General Manager Rod Bates. "Although more information is still coming in, we understand that this morning at 10:44 a.m. a single engine airplane crashed into the NET transmission tower near Lexington. We have since been informed that three fatalities resulted from that crash. Any disruption of service caused by this accident pales in comparison to that loss of life." The 1,065 foot-high tower provided service to NET Television's channel (KLNE channel 3) and NET Radio's channel 88.7 FM as well as the National Weather Service and the local EMS (Emergency Management System) service. Those services are currently off the air. Our crews are working to assess the level of damage and will develop a plan to provide at least limited service as soon as possible. We will let our listeners and viewers know more as soon as we have additional information." (via Scott Fybush, ibid.) Remember, they may not want to spend the money to rebuild a full-power analog TV facility that has only two or three years left to operate. They may restore analog service with just a low-power facility and rebuild only the DTV (on 26) as a high-power outlet. Many of the public TV networks in the Midwest are poorly funded, at best - wasn't it Grand Forks, North Dakota that's been operating at flea power for several years now after losing its tower? (I think Doug Smith was following that one more closely than I...) I've never had the FM here, but the TV is one of my usual Es pests every summer. In a way, I'd be more interested to see what it looks like next summer without them on the air. (The FM will certainly be rebuilt at full power, anyway.) s (Scott Fybush, Rochester NY, ibid.) Yes, KGFE-2 is running a few hundred watts ERP at best right now. They didn't lose their tower (they were renting from WDAZ-8 which is still operating) but icefall destroyed their antenna and transmitter. They hung a temporary antenna and low-power antenna on a microwave antenna in town. Now, in the KLNE case it will be necessary to rebuild the tower anyway, if they're to retain their DTV coverage. (in KGFE's case most of the lost DTV coverage will be filled by new DTV stations KCGE- 16 and KMDE-25) (Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN, ibid.) ** U S A. WHEN MEDIOCRE IS GOOD ENOUGH --- HOW NOT TO RUN A RADIO STATION --- By Emily Esterson, 11-27-05 Public radio fans in Albuquerque / Santa Fe may by now be all but immune to the myriad weaknesses of 89.9 KUNM, the public radio station housed on the University of New Mexico campus. We have perhaps gotten used to the shoddy delivery, the mispronounced words, the increasingly thin line between sponsorships and advertising, the overly-lefty programming. We’ve heard the excuses: ``it`s run by students``, ``that`s the way public radio is``, and many variations thereof. Many of us have written our check and hoped for improvement. But now evidence is emerging that the dysfunctional nature of the station, which serves nearly 100,000 listeners, is far worse than even pessimistic critics might have thought. The problems appear to be rooted in both a bureaucratic university culture that's accepting of a certain level of mediocrity, and in an entrenched management team that has few incentives to change its ways and offers little to motivate the rank-and-file. Indeed, KUNM's troubles show that a seemingly innocuous arrangement in which the non-profit organization is managed for the public good by a public university can in fact be a recipe for lack of accountability. The ills of KUNM touch every department. - The newsroom appears to be deteriorating, with employees rebelling, morning host Tom Trowbridge departing, and students and volunteers refusing to work with news director Renee Blake. - An engineer has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the station, and also alleges that a studio renovation project ran far over budget and was all-but-unsupervised. - A former employee of the fundraising department paints a picture of a lackadaisical, leaderless organization, one where even checks aren't handled with care and where Development Director Mary Bokuniewicz asked a new employee to cover her personal debts from his own bank account. . . [much more:] http://www.newwest.net/index.php/main/article/4476/ (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) This eye-opener is very disheartening; in light of all this, it`s amazing that KUNM is as good as it is, one of the primary stations I listen to on webcasts (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. PUBLIC TV STATION BATTLES CHRISTIAN NETWORK By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer, Fri Nov 25, 5:07 PM ET SANTA ANA, Calif. - For more than 30 years, public television station KOCE has dedicated coverage to Orange County in a media market otherwise dominated by the news and glitz of nearby Los Angeles. But the small station is now battling in court to prevent Daystar, one of the nation's largest Christian networks, from taking over its airwaves. . . http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051125/ap_on_re_us/pbs_station_fight (via Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. Low power AM is being considered, with the FCC allowing public comments on the scheme or schemes. Colorado engineer Fred Baumgartner proposed this as a complement to low power FM, and the cause has been taken up by Don Schellhardt of the Amherst Alliance. LPAMs would have commercials, unlike LPFM, with an owner allowed 12 stations in each of 12 markets, with existing full-powered licensees banned. The petitioners want the FCC to exempt commercial LPAMs from the auction rules, but it is not known if this is legal. They also don`t want the medium dominated by religious stations, so they encourage the FCC to award grants to those whose programming would provide `marketable innovations.`` They can`t agree among themselves about technical standards, but would like 100 to 250 watt power, but at spacing allowing for 1000 watts to reduce interference. Rural stations would be allowed higher power, but some urban stations only 1 watt, which makes me ask ``why bother?`` (Bruce F. Elving, Nov FMedia! via DXLD) Seems to me that if the FCC really wanted to clean up the interference problems, it has better places to start. And if their argument revolved around too many stations, well, just who created that? But on the other hand, if LPFM is any indication, diversity in programming won't be the result either. Nor will originality. Far too many LPFM's so far are either simply vanity stations and/or run formats all too common. Too bad more of them aren't like Rene' Tetro`s "Radio Veronica", which does program a format otherwise unavailable (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, NRC-AM via DXLD) Oh, how I wish! I'll have to dig out my article that I wrote 15-20 years ago for MT (and reprinted in DXN) calling for community radio stations to be established on 1610 and 1620 kHz (before the X-band was created), which called for many of the same provisions as the LPAM proposal calls for. One part of it, which might have been a little quirky but addressed the vanity/jukebox/canned programming issue was a provision that banned any pre-recorded programming longer than a minute or two, except for locally-originated events like council meetings, concerts, sporting events, whatever, thus ensuring true local programming. Wouldn't it be poetic justice if a penny-whistle station broadcasting a bluegrass concert attracted more listeners than the network station programming Rush Limbaugh? Ha! (Paul Swearingen, Topeka, ibid.) It's not exactly a well-kept secret that the NAB is more and more controlled by the larger group owners. The small local owners who are left of course have little to fear from LPAM because they're already providing local service (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) I got a big kick out of reading the comments from many of the broadcasters opposed to LPAM citing the possibility that nite skywave service would be lost to stations like WWL in New Orleans, which provided terrific valuable skywave service. Isn`t this the same group that in 99-325 says that IBOC should not be stopped because no one other than a few DXers listen to skywave and that skywave is no longer relevant? Also IBOC will create hundreds of times more interference than LPAM could ever dream, unless those LPAM's go IBOC. LOL. Hypocrites, I say (Paul Smith, W4KNX, Sarasota, FL, ibid.) Actually, it is the opposite. The small operators depend on NAB as they get legal advice, rules updates, and a lot of other benefits, starting with the lowest rate libel and slander insurance. And the local stations, as 80/90 proved, are the ones that most fear LPAM stations, which would cover entirely the local markets, but not the big ones. Some FM on Mt. Wilson in LA or on the ESB in NY has no concern with LPAM. It's the little stations that are scared of this one (David Gleason, CA, ibid.) I don't at all disagree that the smaller stations depend on the NAB for all of those things. But that's a different thing entirely from who controls the NAB. Nor did I mean to imply that the big guys have anything to fear from LPAM either, again using LPFM as a bit of a guide. Satellite radio and streaming audio present far bigger threats (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) It's hardly just NAB filing comments against the LPAM petition. Before forming an opinion, pro or con, I'd urge anyone interested in the issue to read both the original petition and the reply comments. You can find all of them by going here: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgi and entering "RM-11287" in the top search box. The original petition is here: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518152004 The NAB comments are here: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518181655 There's an even more biting set of comments from the various state broadcasting associations here: http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6518181707 Whatever you may think of the NAB, it's worth noting that the various state broadcasting associations are, for the most part, made up of and supported by the "little guys." When they're in complete agreement with the NAB, as they are on this issue, it's worth listening to. From the perspective of DXers, it's worth noting the engineering report that's appended to the state broadcasters' comments. They appreciate, as we do, just how well a low-power signal can propagate at night and the extent to which it can cause interference to a wide area while providing usable interference-free service to a much smaller area. There are, in any event, some flaws in the current LPAM proposal that may be impossible to overcome. It's extraordinarily vague on engineering details, to the extent that I'm amazed the FCC even opened it to comments. It asks the FCC to take some steps that are barred to it by federal law - in particular, granting new commercial licenses through any process other than an auction. It also asks the FCC to do something it's long been hesitant to do, which is to again involve itself in deciding among competing applicants on the basis of content. Should some of those things be changed? Probably yes. But this isn't the way to go about doing it, and on balance, I'm inclined to think that the LPAM petition at hand, which is certain to be rejected by the FCC (and to set precedent that will be cited against any future petition for low-power operation), may actually set things back substantially for the small community broadcasters it's supposed to be helping. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) ** URUGUAY [non]. SPAIN: 9620, Radio Exterior de España, 2137-2148 CLT, 12-Nov; South American features in Spanish; ID at 2148. // 6125. This is very very sneaky as both frequencies have been reported recently for SODRE Uruguay (Harold Frodge, visiting Puerto Varras, Chile, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) CLT?? Guess he means Chilean local time, which is currently DST, UT -3, so UT above would be 0037-0048 Nov 13 (gh, DXLD) ** VIETNAM. Dien Bien on 6316.8? Hi Jari; I've received Dien Bien B.S. still on 6317V kHz, but also interfered by RTTY/CW signal. This station gives some announcements at 1200 UT, or news? At 1230 with theme music. I think listening it is easiest way to confirm this station. Each audio samples are uploaded on my website; http://tomsk-7.hp.infoseek.co.jp/index_e.html 73 & FB DXing! -- (Kenji Takasaki in Mie pref, JAPAN, w/JRC NRD- 545/535D/525/515, HCDX via DXLD) ** YEMEN. 9780, Rep. of Yemen Radio - Sana'a, end of news in English by man "from Sana'a"; ballad in English, at fair level. Better at 1913 recheck carrying news by woman in Arabic, Nov. 20 (Victor Jaar, QUEBEC, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, RZ, Nov 25, 1733-1810, in language and English, 1745 & 1758 ``Goooooooal`` and mentions soccer Zanzibar, 1759 drums, into news in English (first the main stories, then the news in detail and main stories again), 1809 ``end of the news.`` Poor-fair, but could not make out much of the news. Back in 1983, when I received my QSL and hand written letter from Yusuf Omar Chunda (Director of the Department of Information at Zanzibar), he indicated: ``Concerning the External Service in the English Language, things are in the pipe line. Will inform you when everything will be O.K.`` Twenty-two years later we have it! (Ron Howard, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 6612, ZBC-2, 0059 Nov 27, big signal on 2nd harmonic of 3306 with fundamental inaudible. African music mix, great sound through stereo speakers providing dinnertime entertainment past 0250 tuneout. 2252 Nov 27, Alf Ardahl in Norway says 3306 and 6612 carrying different programming, so who knows (Jay Novello, Wake Forest NC, R8A, various wires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6612, ZBC Harare, 0125-0155, Nov 27, Shona/Ndebele/..., Slight het on base frequency, 3306 but 2 x 3306 = 6612 audible at S5 with some fading. Some exceptional African music. Exceptionally long tunes with male announcer finally at 0141 with brief announcements and back to more great music. S6 at times with fades (Bob Montgomery, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Quito 26/Nov/2005, 19:24. 5680.69, unID LA: Thanks Glenn, to be honest I´m not sure of the Indian language - too weak signal. Haven´t you said that one of your favorites is Ilucán, Cutervo (Perú)? I have noted a very weak MW harmonic on 5680.54 kHz from Ilucán (both signals -,54 ,69 - at the same time). (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Nov 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Quito 27/Nov/2005 22:08 [EST], 5801.22 kHz: I have been listening almost two hours, 01-0300 UT Nov 28, to non stop LA music without any talk/ID. Can it be the only(?) existing Colombian shortwave pirate "Radio Juventud"? I haven´t logged them for several years, a station very difficult to ID. Still on air when I left my radio some minutes ago (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador http://www.malm- ecuador.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9270.105, 23.11 1625, OID, som hörs ibland och mycket svagt. Bred amerikansk dialekt, inga nyheter på heltimmen, mycket 60- 70 tals musik non-stop. Har hört dem annonsera en FM-frekvens och nätadress. Blandningsprodukt?? Pirat?? Eller vad?? Frekvensen något instabil. SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 27 via DXLD) 9270.105, 23.11, 1625. UnID sometimes heard and always very weak. Broad American dialect, no news on the hour, lots of non stop music from the 60-ies and 70-ies. Heard announcement of one FM-frequency and a web address. Mixing product?? Pirate?? Or what?? Somewhat unstable frequency. SA (Stig Adolfsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Nov 27, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PROPAGATION +++++++++++ EVEN MORE LONG-HAUL TRANS-EQUATORIAL FM DX, CARIBBEAN TO PARANÁ BRAZIL [usual clarifications: in time order despite frequencies being first; no explanation of why even-MHz channels are given to 2 decimal places; ITU country abbrs.; SINPO codes; times presumably UT] 94.00, 21/11 0038 MRT RFO, Trinité, OM, nxs, FF 34333 [Martinique] 97.3, 21/11 0043 LCA R. St Lucia, Castries, YL/OM, talks, EE 43343 91.9, 21/11 0046 ATG Hitz FM, mx rapp ou hip hop, EE 44333 [Antigua] 97.00, 21/11 0049 GDL RFO, Basse-Terre, OM nxs, FF 45344 [Guadeloupe] 90.9, 21/11 0053 ?? Unid, OM, pregação, relg, EE 34333 91.1, 21/11 0134 ATG Observer FM, St. John’s, mx pop EE, EE 33333 96.5, 21/11 0136 LCA Radio Caribbean International, Castries, mx pop EE, EE 44344 [Saint Lucia] 103.8, 21/11 0137 GDL R. Contact, Basse-Terre, OM, FF 33233 95.7, 21/11 0142 SCN Praise FM, Kingstown, OM/YL, talks, relg, EE 43333 [St. Kitts & Nevis] 106.6, 21/11 0155 GDL RCI, Point-à-Pitre, mx, FF 35333 107.00, 21/11 0157 ?? Unid, OM, nxs, EE 35333 ESCUTAS DE RUBENS FERRAZ PEDROSO, BANDEIRANTES-PR, BRASIL, RECEPTOR: KCHIBO KK-C37, SONY 7600 G E GR, ANTENA DE TV PARA FM, @tividade DX Nov 27 via DXLD) ###