DX LISTENING DIGEST 5-216, December 17, 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 BROADCASTS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1297: Sun 0330 WOR WWCR 5070 Sun 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0600 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.2 Sun 0730 WOR WWCR 3215 Sun 0930 WOR WRN to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 0930 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0930 WOR WXPR Rhinelander WI 91.7 91.9 100.9 Sun 0930 WOR WDWN Auburn NY 89.1 [unconfirmed] Sun 0930 WOR KTRU Houston TX 91.7 [occasional] Sun 1400 WOR WRMI 7385 Sun 1400 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1830 WOR WRN1 to North America [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 2000 WOR RNI Sun 2230 WOR WRMI 7385 Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 Mon 0515 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 1900 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Tue 1500] Wed 0030 WOR WBCQ 7415 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 1297 (real high): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1297h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1297h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1297 (real low): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1297.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1297.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1297 (mp3 high): (download) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1297h.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO 1297 (mp3 low): (download) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1297.mp3 (lower download) http://www.piratedxer.com/worldofradio_12-14-05.mp3 (lower stream) http://www.piratedxer.com/worldofradio_12-14-05.m3u (WOR 1297 summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1297.html WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml MUNDO RADIAL, diciembre-enero: en el aire del 16 de diciembre: en WWCR 7465, viernes y lunes a las 2214 TU; en WRMI 9955, domingos a las 1130 (corriente) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0512.ram (descargar) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0512.rm (descargar mp3) http://www.obriensweb.com/mr0512.mp3 (texto) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0512.html ** AFGHANISTAN? Unidentified 400 kW mediumwave antenna system from an American manufacturer: I guess this is the new 1107/1296 kHz facility near Kabul. http://www.kintronic.com/site/systems/antsys.asp http://www.kintronic.com/site/systems/mwimu.asp (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN. On the MW of interest was a station from Afghanistan heard many times on the low power channel of 1602 kHz at sunrise and sunset, 8.00 pm local time etc. often parallel to Radio Afghanistan on 1107 kHz. They are playing lot of Hindi Film music and at first I mistook them for some AIR station. The VOA Medium Wave station in Afghanistan on 1296 kHz was also heard at excellent level with various programs at dark (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India) 1602, Khost Radio as QSLed by Mika Mäkeläinen in Finland (ARC Information Desk 12 Dec via editor Olle Alm, DXLD) I suspect the report from Jose was during his visit to the earthquake area of northern India several weeks ago (gh) ** ALBANIA. With the situation in Albania, we should check whether any or all of the CRI relays are still running on SW (Glenn) CHINA [non]. /ALBANIA: Winter B-05 for China Radio International via Cerrik 150 kW: 0000-0157 English *6020 / 305 deg to NoAm; *9570 / 305 deg to NoAm 0200-0357 Chinese *6020 / 305 deg to NoAm; *9570 / 305 deg to NoAm 0500-0557 English 7220 / 140 deg to EaAf; 9590 / 140 deg to EaAf 0500-0657 Arabic 5985 / 240 deg to NoAf; 7120 / 240 deg to NoAf 0600-0657 English 9590 / 140 deg to EaAf; 11750 / 140 deg to EaAf 0700-0857 Chinese 11855 / 310 deg to WeEu 0700-0857 English 11785 / 310 deg to WeEu 1100-1257 English 13665 / 310 deg to WeEu 1400-1557 French 11920 / 240 deg to NoAf; 13670 / 240 deg to NoAf 1500-1557 Turkish 7120 / non-dir to TURK; 9565 / non-dir to TURK 1600-1757 Arabic 9555 / 140 deg to EaAf; 11725 / 240 deg to NoAf 1600-1757 German 5970 / 330 deg to WeEu; 7155 / 330 deg to WeEu 1800-1957 French 5970 / 310 deg to WeEu; 6055 / 240 deg to NoAf 1800-1957 French 6180 / 310 deg to WeEu; 7385 / 240 deg to NoAf 2000-2157 Arabic 6185 / 193 deg to NoAf; 7215 / 193 deg to NoAf 2000-2157 English 5960 / 310 deg to WeEu; 7285 / 310 deg to WeEu 2200-2257 Portuguese 6175 / 280 deg to SoEu 2200-2357 Spanish 7210 / 280 deg to SoEu 2300-2357 Spanish 6175 / 280 deg to SoEu * 2 x 150 kW in parallel (Observer, Bulgaria, Nov 22 via DXLD 5-201 via DXLD 5-216) Zero responses 24 hours after that was posted on the yg. Well, UT Dec 18 at 0007, yes, CRI audible in English on 6020 (gh, OK, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. ANTARTIDA: Los interesados en poder contactar con las bases instaladas en el continente antártico, pueden intentar hacerlo a través de la "Red Antártica" que coordina Horacio Ledo (LU4DXU), los días sábados a las 19 hs UTC en la frecuencia de 14290 Khz en el modo banda laterial superior. Son habituales las bases Orcadas, Jubany, Esperanza, Belgrano II, General San Martín, Matienzo, etc. Horacio Ledo es el QSL Manager de estas estaciones. Sus datos son: Casilla de Correos 22, Código Postal 1640, Martínez, Buenos Aires, Argentina; o para consultas vía mail: lu4dxu @ hotmail.com (INFORME PARA RADIOAFICIONADOS POR DAVID IURESCIA, DICIEMBRE 2005, RN Radio Enlace Dec 16-18 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. R. Continental, 11133-LSB, 0920-0930+ Dec 11, Spanish talk, IDs, fair (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Re Informe DX de Glenn Hauser: La emisora que Glenn menciona en 1670 kHz, que salió del aire por dos semanas y retornó recientemente, se identifica como Estación Central. Por ahora, difunde sólo música del recuerdo en español e internacional. 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, Buenos Aires, Dec 17, condig list via DXLD) ** ARMENIA. V. of Armenia, 9965, 1926-1944* Dec 11, English, still announcing their old sked of 1825 UT on 9775. English news, weather followed by classical music. 1935 mailbag program, local folk music. Sign-off with address and e-mail address. Fair-good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Standard remark of incredulity (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Re 5-215, 2368 kHz licenses: G'Day, Yes it's Peter Tait here on the Gold Coast. He intends to put them on and I quote: "when funds permit" !! i.e. sometime in the never never. Peter Tait is a regular contributor with postings to the news group: 'aus.radio.broadcast'. Anyway isn't he a member of ARDXC?? Isn't he on this list also?? Come out Pete wherever you are. Cheers (Chris Martin, ARDXC via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ANALYSIS: AUSTRALIA'S ABC HOLDS ONTO INTERNATIONAL TV SERVICE | Editorial analysis by Steve Metcalf of BBC Monitoring Media Services on 15 December The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has been told that it will continue to provide the country's international television service, ABC Asia-Pacific. The publicly-funded broadcaster has, however, had to undergo a competitive tendering process and to fight off government attempts to control its programming. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) announced on 13 December that the ABC had been selected as "the preferred provider of Australia's television service to the Asia-Pacific region for the period 2006-2011". The contract, worth 20m Australian dollars (15m US dollars) a year, had been put out to tender in June this year. The corporation may have been surprised, or relieved, to have won a contest that was forced upon it by its commercial rivals. But it promptly responded by announcing that it would launch a new service in January specifically for its Pacific island viewers. ABC Asia-Pacific is currently available in 41 countries across the region. Although it can be received free-to-air off satellite, it mainly depends on a network of over 150 rebroadcast partners who incorporate it into their cable and satellite pay-TV packages. The ABC Asia-Pacific website says that the service is available in 10 million homes and over 200,000 hotel rooms. The viewing figures are somewhat more modest, having been measured at 630,000 a month. But the service has seen steady growth since its launch in December 2001. Chequered history Australia's international TV service has had a chequered history. It is presently in its third incarnation in 12 years. Australia TV International was launched in 1993. The then-Labor government provided the ABC with 6m Australian dollars to establish the service. By 1997 ATVI was costing 4m Australian dollars a year. The new Liberal government of John Howard, as well as imposing cuts to the external radio service Radio Australia, sold the channel to the commercial Seven Network, controlled by Kerry Stokes. ABC continued to supply news bulletins until 1999. But Seven was unable to make money out of the operation. It tried cutting costs by running repeats of soaps and children's programmes. Finally, in March 2001, it simply switched the service off. This had a knock-on effect on Radio Australia, which had been subleasing satellite capacity from Seven following the closure of its transmitters near Darwin. International image The Department of Foreign Affairs was keen for Australia to maintain an international TV presence. It persuaded the ABC to relaunch the service as ABC Asia Pacific. DFAT agreed to pay 90m Australian dollars over five years (until 2006), with a further five-year option. However, in June this year the Howard cabinet decided that the service should be put out to tender at the end of the first five years. Media analysts say this was the result of lobbying from Sky News Australia, which saw the contract as offering a way to tap into the lucrative Asian, particularly Chinese, market. Sky News Australia is a joint pay-TV venture between Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB, Kerry Packer's Nine Network and the Seven Network. It put in a counter bid to operate the service. The threat of Australia's international image being entrusted again to commercial interests was opposed by pressure groups such as the Friends of the ABC. In a call to action posted on its website, the group recalled the "wasteful and embarrassing saga" of Seven's last involvement in the project. It concluded: "We do not want to be portrayed to the world by old episodes of Neighbours." Other commentators pointed out the "hysterical" nature of commercial news coverage of the drug trials of young Australians in Bali and elsewhere. They contrasted this with the ABC's reputation for a balanced and even-handed approach, even if this sometimes irked the government. ABC Asia Pacific had also earned praise for its educational content, particularly the English-language learning programmes. They are said to be the stimulus for at least half the 200,000 weekly visits to its website. Threat to credibility In addition to the challenge from Sky News, the ABC also had to grapple with what it saw as a threat to its independence from the government. According to Mark Day, media columnist for The Australian newspaper, DFAT was obliged to make a late change to the tendering rules, two days before the closing date for submissions in October. This was because the ABC had said that it could not accept a clause requiring the operator to remove any programme that DFAT considered to be not in the best national interest. The ABC said that this went against both its code of ethics and its legal charter. It would also undermine its credibility with overseas audiences. Even so, DFAT will still have substantial influence over the revamped service. It will continue to own the brand name, even if it chooses to move to another provider in five years time. The department's announcement of the choice of ABC added that further discussions would be held to finalize an agreement for the operation of the service. These discussions "will include the move to a generic and timeless name for the service which will be phased in on commencement of the new contract". It is widely believed that this new name will be the Australia Channel. The Department of Foreign Affairs has already registered the domain name http://www.australiachannel.net Source: BBC Monitoring research 15 Dec 05 (via DXLD) ** BENIN. TWR new station --- According to TWR the shortwave tower is up and the transmitter building mostly complete. But judging by prayer requests there is quite a lot still to do before broadcasts on MW start! "Please pray for the Higher Authority of Audio-visual Communications (HAAC) and the Department of Communications in Benin to issue the medium wave and shortwave radio licenses. This is needed to put the Benin station on the air. Give thanks for the arrival of the heavy equipment needed for several aspects of the building project in Benin. Pray for the funding still needed to produce programmes for the various people groups in Niger. TWR-Ivory Coast is preparing to produce programmes for Benin. Pray that the producers may be moved by the Holy Spirit to produce programmes that will reach the people living in West Africa Give thanks for the team that spent two weeks at the building site setting up the tower for the antenna for the medium wave transmitter in Benin." 73 (Steve Whitt, Dec 16, MWC via DXLD) ?? Isn`t that antecarting the horse? Should they not get a license BEFORE building the facility? No such thing as a CP in Benin, I guess (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. Checking out the twice-weekly broadcast of VOBI, Sat Dec 17 at 2101 on 7380, opening, and then into ``Finlandia`` --- it`s hard to imagine two places with less in common than Biafra and Finland, but there you have it. The Biafrans may imagine it is a hymn by some other name. 2104 ID as Voice of Biafra International, from Washington DC, on 7.80 kHz, 41 meter band. I wondered if I misunderstood the three for a point, but the same error was repeated at 2106 after a YL sang what sounded like an anthem. It appears VOBI, or at least this announcer, does not comprehend shortwave frequencies. Fair reception from South Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Nuestro hermano y vecino país tendrá mañana elecciones nacionales por lo que será, indudablemente, una excelente ocasión para intentar escuchar en la onda corta emisoras que, eventualmente, pueden prolongar sus transmisiones en aras de cubrir las horas previas y posteriores al proceso electoral. No dejen de intentarlo y, cualquier inquietud o duda, no dejen de volcarlo en esta Lista. 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, 1.431 BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA, Dec 17, condiglist via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. R. Bandeirantes, São Paulo, 9645.04, 0415-0430+ Dec 11, Portuguese ballads/pops, announcements. Poor, weak; very weak // 11925 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5990, Rádio Senado, 0928-0937 Dec 17. Noted two women in conversation until 0929 when music presented. At 0935 woman in Portuguese comments again with many mentions of "Brasil and Brasília". At 0938 canned ID by man as "...Rádio Senado, Brasil..." Signal was good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD 545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Joy To The World 2005 - EBU (Euroradio) Christmas Music Day CBC Radio Two can also be heard online and the program may be available in the United States and abroad on other stations (Fred Waterer, ON, ODXA via DXLD) [Webcast from the ET zone only, so 1100-2300 UT; as I recall this traditionally appears in non parallel form on BBC Radio 3, but this year all time is gobbled up by A Bach Christmas --- see UK. No doubt it is on public broadcasters of a number of EBU member countries - gh] Joy To The World 2005 --- EBU (Euroradio) Christmas Music Day Broadcast time: Sunday December 18, 2005 starting at 6:00 a.m. (6:30 NT) on CBC Radio Two. It will run for 12 hours and it will run with the standard delay. Air Time [UT -5], Location : 6:00 Howard Dyck welcomes Canadian listeners to ‘JOY TO THE WORLD’ 6:05 Grand Hall, Slovenian Philharmonie Ljubljana RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Children’s and Youth Choruses Traditional songs and carols by Slovenian composers 7:00 St. Nicholas' Church Tallinn Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra Paul Hillier, conductor, Music of Arvo Part 8:00 Concert Hall, Vesna (Spring) Choral College, Moscow Vesna Chorus, Alexander Ponomarev, conductor Russian Christmas Choral tradition 9:00 News 9:05 Kallio Church, Helsinki Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Teppo Lampela, countertenor Markku Makinen, organ, Aapo Hakkinen, conductor Christmas Music of Dietrich Buxtehude 10:00 Hallgrim’s Church, Reykjavik Hallgrim Church Motet Choir, Isak Rikhardsson, boy soprano Sigudur Flosason, saxophone, Bjorn Steiner Solbergsson, organ Hordur Askelsson, conductor Icelandic Christmas Jazz 11:00 Library Hall, Rundetaarn (Round Tower), Copenhagen Susanne Ansorg, fiddle ESK Duo, Poul Hoxbroe, pipe and tabor Miriam Andersen, vocals, harp Medieval Christmas Songs from Scandinavia and England 12:00 Kreuzkirche, Dresden Dresden Kreuzchor, Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra Roderich Kreile, conductor Bach Christmas Oratorio: Cantatas 1 - 3 13:30 BBC Broadcasting House, London Compilation produced by the BBC from the Folk Music Group’s Christmas selections. 14:00 News 14:05 Basilica, Jasna Gora Monastery, Czestochowa, Poland Jasna Gora Ensemble, Jan Tomasz Adamus, conductor Christmas music from the Collections of Jasna Gora…premieres 15:00 Nybrokajen 11, Stockholm The Junior Academy, Bo Wannefors, Mark Tatlow, conductors Traditional Swedish Christmas Music for Santa Lucia 16:00 Aula Magna (Grand Hall), University Rectory Lisbon Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra Ricercare Choir, Brian Schembri, conductor Music of Portuguese composer Eurico Carrapatoso 17:00 Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh Symphony Brass Holiday Music for orchestral brass http://www.cbc.ca/choralconcert/featurechristmas.html (via Fred Waterer, ON, ODXA via DXLD) ** CANADA. The Shepherd on As It Happens --- Broadcast time: Weekdays at 6:30 p.m. (7:00 NT) on CBC Radio One Season's Readings! An As it Happens holiday tradition continues - Alan Maitland's annual reading of Frederick Forsyth's "The Shepherd" will be broadcast on Friday, December 23, 2005. http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/asithappens/ [Fred`s tagline:] To those of you who seek lost objects of history, I wish you the best of luck. They're out there, and they're whispering. - Clive Cussler (Fred Waterer, ON, ODXA via DXLD) On Sirius 137, those times will be UT 2230 Fri. and 0230 Sat. Fred, when are the greetings to and from Canadians overseas aired? (John Figliozzi, ibid.) Canadian military personnel will send their greetings, based on previous years, in the early part of Fridays show, before the Shepherd. RCI usually has greetings going the other way on Christmas Day (Fred Waterer, ibid.) ** CHINA. Interested in a glimpse of a Xi`an PBS control room? Scroll down at http://www.lawo.de (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. Re 5-215: Never mind: the next day, Dec 16 at 1452 check, CRI via Canada in English was back on 15230 colliding with RHC, and // 13675. And no mysterious open carrier on 15435 before or after 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Marfil Estéreo, 5910, 0405-0425+ Dec 10, Spanish romantic ballads, Spanish announcements, ID, Xmas music. Good-strong signal strength but mixing with co-channel R. Ukraine International in English, with Colombia slightly stronger (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR [and non]. UN RADIO TO BROADCAST LIVE 18 DECEMBER REFERENDUM | Excerpt from report by DRCongo's UN-sponsored Radio Okapi website on 17 December Radio Okapi has decided to go an extra mile to allow its millions of listeners follow the proceedings of the referendum. From Sunday [18 December], Radio Okapi will transmit live the event. For 36 hours, non-stop, Radio Okapi will transmit live the event to millions of its listeners. For this purpose, the peace radio will use all means. It has deployed throughout the DRCongo a vast human network as well as technical resources. Around 60 journalists have been deployed to 64 liaison offices of the CEI [Independent Electoral Commission] and polling stations. [Passage omitted] On the technical side, Several engineers and technicians will get down to work. Cellular and satellites phones will also be put at their disposal. [Passage omitted] About 20 FM stations, transmitting in shortwave, will cover the operation via satellite. Radio Okapi's web site, http://www.radiookapi.net will also be fully operational. The objective of Radio Okapi, through this mechanism, is to allow its journalists describe what they observe during the voting process: the participation of people, vote counting and especially the proclamation of results. Source: Radio Okapi website, Kinshasa, in French 17 Dec 05 (via BBCM via DXLD) FM stations transmitting on SW? What in the world does that mean? Will R. Okapi relays via RSA on SW increase temporarily from the usual three hours per day, and if so on what schedule? No, the French version of the communiqué via http://www.radiookapi.net/ mentions only 3 hours on SW (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. See enclosed message if not received yet. Note: 10 kW actual output, interference-wise equivalent to an AM signal with 7 db more power. Last evening the DRM noise on 594 was prominent here. Hessischer Rundfunk modulation was still readable, but actual listening hardly possible anymore. A just posted message indicates that last night a white noise in the background was present even at Wiesbaden, 45 km away from the 250 kW transmitter serving southern Hesse. I can hardly imagine that Hessischer Rundfunk will see no problem in this situation (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: DRM tests on 594 kHz --- As observed by DXers on the last days, the Croatian transmitter operator OIV started with DRM test transmissions on 594kHz. The newly purchased transmitter (made by RIZ) is located at the Deanovec site and provides a power of 10 kW in DRM mode. It is fed to the same antenna as the 100 kW AM transmitter (Glas Hrvatske) on 1125 kHz at the same site. The program feed for 594 is Croatian Radio's Hrvatski Radio 1 and Glas Hrvatske. This is a long-term DRM trial (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, December 15, MWDX yg via DXLD) The transmitter in Osijek on 594 was moved to 1143 earlier this autumn, in order to free this frequency in Croatia for the DRM test. The DRM transmitter is located in Deanovec. It is a new transmitter purchased from the Croatian manufacturer RIZ and provides a power of 10 kW in DRM mode. It is fed to the same antenna as the 100 kW AM transmitter (Glas Hrvatske) on 1125 kHz on the same site. The program feed for 594 is Croatian Radio's Hrvatski Radio 1 and Glas Hrvatske. This is a long-term DRM trial, conducted by the Croatian national transmitter operator OIV (Bernd Trutenau, Dec 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Das DRM Signal auf 594 kHz kommt nicht vom Hess. Rundfunk sondern tatsaechlich vom kroatischen Rundfunk. Im Label von Dream werden angezeigt: GLAS HRVATSKE (was GLAS ist weiss ich nicht) [Stimme --- gh] 1. Kanal AAC +P-Stereo 16.56 kBaud 2. Kanal HVXC+Mono 2.88 kbps Um 1706 UT konnte ich ein englisches Programm hoeren. Bei einem durchschnittlichen SNR von 12 konnte die Sendung doch ununterbrochen gehoert werden (Thomas Lindenthal-D DO3TL, A-DX Dec 15) 594, Hessischer Rundfunk / und-oder / Kroatien? Ich habe heute Nacht 13. Dez. gegen 00:30 Z auf 594 kHz ein DRM Signal empfangen. Es war derart breit, dass auch die schwachen Signale auf 585 kHz darin untergingen, und es war auch noch auf 603 kHz zu hoeren. Ganz zu schweigen davon, dass damit die Kanaele 590 und 600 blockiert sind. Heute Morgen um 06:45 Z war das Signal wieder verschwunden, und auf dem freien Kanal 590 wieder ein schwaches Signal zu hoeren. Weiss jemand der DRM Experten um welches Signal es sich handelt? (Christoph Mayer-D, A-DX Dec 13) Es handelt sich hierbei um Kroatien. Zum dekodieren des Signal reicht es im Moment nicht aus, aber die Informationen sind lesbar: Ausgestrahlt werden gleich 2. Programm, n"mlich der Auslandsdienst Glas Hrvatske (Bitrate:26.56 kbps; Stereo) und das 1.Inlandsprogramm HRT 1 (Bitarte: 3,84 kbps; Mono). (Patrick Robic-AUT, A-DX Dec 13) Wie wirken sich die DRM-Sendungen aus Kroatien eigentlich in Deutschland aus? Gibtïs abends/nachts St"rungen oder ist der Hessische Rundfunk in weiten Teilen Deutschlands doch st"rker. Wrde mich interessieren, da ich aus Schweden die INfo bekommen habe, daá die Frequenz dort nachts unbrauchbar ist (Patrick Robic-AUT, A-DX Dec 15; all via BCDX Dec 17 via DXLD) 590 spoiled by DRM --- Since a week or so 590 kHz is spoiled by DRM signals from Glas Hrvatske, Deanovec on 594 kHz. Even HR-Skyline from Germany on the same frequency is now almost inaudible. Once again another channel lost. Even when tuning to 590 in LSB the DRM signal is grumbling quite a bit so that the best TA channel is no more... 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, Dec 16, MWC via DXLD) ** CUBA. RADIOS CUBANAS EN INTERNET [Listado] --- Saludos amigos de la radio, el amigo Manolo De La Rosa del programa "En Contacto" de RHC me envía un listado de las emisoras Cubanas de radio en la Internet: Direcciones de las emisoras de la radio cubana en Internet, actualizado (10 de Diciembre del 2005) Nacional Radio Rebelde http://www.rrebelde.cu Radio Reloj http://www.radioreloj.cu Notinet del Cubaweb http://www.nnc.cubaweb.cu Radio Habana Cuba http://www.radiohc.cu/ Radio Progreso http://www.radioprogreso.cu Radio Enciclopedia http://www.radioenciclopedia.cu CMBF http://www.cmbfjazz.cu Radio Taíno http://www.radiotaino.cu Provincial Radio Guamá (Pinar del Río) http://www.rguama.co.cu Radio 26 (Matanzas) http://www.radio26.co.cu Radio Ciudad del Mar (Cienfuegos) http://www.rcm.cu Radio COCO (Ciudad de La Habana) http://www.radiococo.cu Habana Radio (Ciudad de La Habana) http://www.habanaradio.cu Radio Cadena Habana http://www.cadenahabana.cu Radio Ciudad de La Habana http://www.radiociudad.islagrande.cu Radio Metropolitana (Cd de La Habana) http://www.radiometropolitana.cu CMHW (Villa Clara) http://www.cmhw.co.cu Radio Sancti Spíritus http://www.radiosanctispiritus.islagrande.cu Radio Surco (Ciego de Ávila) http://www.radiosurco.cu Radio Cadena Agramonte (Camagüey) http://www.cadenagramonte.cubaweb.cu Radio Victoria (Las Tunas) http://www.tiempo21.islagrande.cu Radio Angùlo (Holguín) http://www.radioangulo.cu Radio Bayamo http://www.radiobayamo.islagrande.cu Radio Revolución (Santiago de Cuba) http://www.cmkc.co.cu Trinchera Antiimperialista (Guantánamo) http://www.cmksradio.islagrande.cu Municipal Radio Artemisa http://www.artemisaradioweb.cu Radio Caribe (Isla de la Juventud) http://www.radiocaribe.co.cu Radio Florida http://www.radioflorida.co.cu Radio Granma http://www.radiogranma.co.cu Radio Guáimaro http://www.radioguaimaro.co.cu Radio Guines http://www.mayaweb.cu Radio Jaruco http://www.jarucoradioweb.cu Radio Libertad (Puerto Padre, Las Tunas) http://www.radiolibertad.cu Radio Morón http://www.radiomoron.cu Radio Nuevitas http://www.radionuevitas.co.cu Radio Taíno Holguín http://www.891fm.cu/ Radio Camoa http://www.camoaradioweb.cu Radio Bahía Caimanera http://www.cmksradio.islagrande.cu/Sitios/caimanera/bahia.htm Via: Manolo De La Rosa / Cuba. 73. (Dino Bloise, FLORIDA, EEUU, Noticias DX via DXLD) ESTIMADO AMIGO DINO: Muchas gracias por la información sobre emisoras de CUBA en INTERNET. Pensé que todas las emisoras Provinciales estuvieran en internet (EN VIVO), pero lamentablemente no es así. Salvo las conocidas como ENCICLOPEDIA, REBELDE, PROGRESO Y RADIO HABANA CUBA. Las otras emisoras tienen la información, pero no acceso en VIVO como las indicadas en el primer párrafo. Cordiales 73 (Óscar de Céspedes, FL, condiglist via DXLD) ** DESECHEO. KP5. N3KS and K3LP are reportedly en route with landing permission from the Fish and Wildlife Service and are expected to be on the air Thursday evening. It will be a short operation, with a minimum of 48 hours but possibly through the weekend. This is a working trip and not a full-blown DXpedition. The ops will be on as much as possible. Look for N3KS/KP5 and K3LP/KP5 on 160 to 10 meters, using CW and SSB. QSL via W3ADC (ARRL DX news Dec 15 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Have you looked lately? HCJB has not updated their frequency sched. Happy holidays (Daryl Rocker, NY, Dec 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess you mean the ``International Shortwave`` link from this page http://www.hcjb.org/mass_media/radio/overview_2.html which does lead to: http://www.hcjb.org/docs/radio/HCJB_A05A_Sched.pdf (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. We wonder if Björn Malm is OK; nothing posted on his website http://www.malm-ecuador.com since Nov 26, and no reply to our e-mail; but no bounce either (Glenn Hauser, Dec 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Alguien sabe algo de Bjorn Malm???? Hace un rato que no aparece en la lista (Arnaldo Slaen, condiglist via DXLD) Ahora al menos hay un buzón telefónico; en días pasados timbraba y nadie levantaba el teléfono. Me parece un tanto extraño. Por no decir preocupante. Hubo fiestas locales el 9 de diciembre, pero ya estamos al 17 (Henrik Klemetz, Dec 17, condig list via DXLD) Quien quita que el colega Malm esté pasando unos dias por su querida Suecia, ojalá sea asi (José Elías, Venezuela, condiglist via DXLD) ** EGYPT. 15810, Radio Cairo produces an extremely terrible distorted audio signal towards South East Asia at present. Thai(Siami), BM, BI, 1115-1400 UT. Seems the same faulty transmitter which is used towards Africa on 19 mb in our evenings. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 9704.16, R. Ethiopia, at 1355 UT on Dec 11, HOA and Afro- pop music, large S6 het from 9705. Fair-poor, but deteriorating after 1415 UT (Jerry Strawman, IA, DXplorer Dec 11 via BCDX via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Pirate, Alfa Lima International, 15073.6, 1615-1645+ Dec 11 [Sun], rap and pop music, ID announcements. Weak with deep fades (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. My favourite personal log of the year! 6520 kHz, unID Greek Pirate (4 x 1630) 1944 UT 17/12/05, stronger than the fundamental on peaks! (Tim Bucknall, Congleton N/W England, Icom R75 + Wellbrooke ALA 1530, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** EUROPE. EMR Christmas programmes: 18th December 2005 1400-1600 UT. Happy Christmas and a great New Year to all the EMR Listeners. Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, Dec 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTFK? Usually he gives such previews concerning LATVIA 9290, but now outdoes himself in brevity (gh) ** FINLAND. Another outlet suffering from Squealing Transmitter Syndrome: YLE Radio Finland, 15400, around 1453 UT Dec 16. It`s a continuous hi-pitched squeal, counter-modulated slightly by the program audio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. PROF. BRETT O'BANNON TO APPEAR ON RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONALE http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=16776 December 15, 2005, Greencastle, Ind. - Brett O'Bannon, assistant professor of political science at DePauw University, will be featured on Radio France Internationale next Tuesday, December 20. O'Bannon was interviewed on the subject of "joking relationships" in October while in Paris making a presentation on that subject to an international colloquium. The segment will air at 7:10 a.m., 12:10 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (GMT) and runs 20 minutes. The broadcast will also be available most of the day Tuesday via Radio France Internationale's Web site. Once at the site, choose English from the list of language programs available on the top bar, then on the right hand side the page click on one of the following programs: "English to Africa 07h-08h", "12h-12.30 GMT", "English to Asia 14h-15h GMT", or "English to Africa 16h-17h GMT". The Web page also lists FM and short wave radio frequencies that will carry the program (via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 6055 kHz, Stimme des Trostes [Voice of Consolation - Most times called Missionshaus Arche, but that is the name of the *producer*] (Relay via DTK Jülich), partial data computer-written QSL- letter (transmitter site not mentioned), v/s unreadable (covered under a large rubber stamp). An additional QSL-card shows mountains and lists the relay sites. The letter also contained a personal letter from Herbert Skutzik, Secretary. In 14 days for a report in German with 1 USD to Missionshaus Arche, Stimme des Trostes, 9642 Ebnat- Kappel, Schweiz (MARTIN SCHOECH, Eisenach, Germany, Dec; RX: Sony ICF 2001D ANT: Sony AN 1, QSL Information Pages QIP: http://www.schoechi.de/qip.html GRDXC via DXLD) ** GERMANY. The advertisement on page 33 of WRTH 2006 was quite a surprise for me: Telefunken Sendersysteme has been renamed Transradio Sendersysteme. I wonder why, since I can hardly imagine that they scrapped the Telefunken brand (some say: that's amongst the transmitters what Mercedes is amongst the cars) without need. By the way, the photo in this ad shows the 2 x 400 kW transmitters for 756 kHz at the Braunschweig/Königslutter station. Out of view is another TRAM transmitter for 630 kHz (Voice of Russia). There is plenty of space in this transmitter hall after the large tube transmitters have been removed. During the last few days short DRM tests were noted on 1269, suggesting that the Neumünster-Arpsdorf site has been equipped with a new TRAM transmitter now as well. As already reported the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg mediumwave transmitter on 567 will be closed down by yearend. Now I have to add with sadness that this will happen the same way than the closure of SWR's shortwave transmitters a year ago: Without a special farewell program. There were already a rough concept and an idea which studio should be used, but . . . (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. Babis: I looked at Voice of Greece's web site with the Greek and English Program Schedules and saw that ERA 5 now has everything listed in UTC while Radio Filia in Athens shows their schedules in Local Greece Time. Bravo sou! Katerina: I enjoyed your Greeks Everywhere program from VOG-Delano on 9775 from 1500 to 1600 UT, especially the journalist interview about newspapers. My father subscribed for many years to the ATLANTIS newspaper which was published in New York City (John Babbis, MD, Dec 17, to VOG via DXLD) Katerina also said this would be the last show for 2005. So the next two Saturdays will be repeats, or default to Greek language something? (gh) ** GUATEMALA. Radio Stereo Samalà si era sempre distinta per la promozione e la difesa dei diritti umani GUATEMALA: IL GOVERNO CHIUDE UNA RADIO COMUNITARIA Proteste da parte della popolazione --- David Lifodi Fonte: http://www.agenciapulsar.org 8 dicembre 2005 Nel giorno in cui in Guatemala si celebra "el dia del locutor" (istituito dallo stato nel dicembre 1978), una sorta di omaggio al ruolo degli speaker radiofonici che si dedicano a intrattenere e informare la popolazione del Guatemala, la Sovrintendenza delle Telecomunicazioni ha deciso di chiudere una radio comunitaria. Le radio comunitarie in America Latina sono divenute uno strumento di controinformazione di primaria importanza, tanto da avere una crescita e un aumento di ascolto in questi ultimi anni. La chiusura di Radio Stereo Samalà, dietro la quale sembra nascondersi direttamente la regia del governo Berger, è stata considerata dalla popolazione come un affronto e una provocazione, oltre che come una violazione del diritto di espressione e di informazione. Il direttore della radio Javier Solís, a cui è stato imposto inoltre il pagamento di una multa di diecimila dollari, ha sottolineato che sebbene Stereo Samalà non avesse tutti i requisiti legali per andare in onda, era comunque nella situazione tante altre radio guatemalteche non sanzionate da simili provvedimenti ad opera del governo. La popolazione ritiene che la chiusura della radio sia dovuta principalmente alla sua vocazione sociale, non a caso Stereo Samalà si è sempre distinta per la promozione e la difesa dei diritti umani, oltre che essere stata una tra le poche emittenti radiofoniche ad informare i cittadini durante I giorni drammatici dell'uragano Stan. I guatemaltechi non si sono limitati alle semplici proteste, e si sono rivolti al Centro de Reportes Informativos sobre Guatemala (Cerigua) per chiedere alla Sit (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones) di riflettere sulla decisione presa e possibilmente tornare indietro proprio perché Stereo Samalà è una radio al servizio dei cittadini. In questo stesso giorno sembra quanto mai appropriata la denuncia del presidente della Camara de Locutores Profesionales de Guatemala (Clpg) Eduardo Mendoza, che prima di cedere il suo incarico al successore Jaime Archila ha ricordato la difficile situazione in cui devono operare i giornalisti in America latina, spesso fatti oggetto di minacce e intimidazioni in quanto "colpevoli" di fare informazione in modo onesto e indipendente. --- David Lifodi Note: Articolo realizzato da David Lifodi per http://www.peacelink.it Il testo è liberamente utilizzabile a scopi non commerciali citando la fonte e l'autore. http://italy.peacelink.org -> Google Alerts (via Radio & Media Dec 17 via DXLD) English version unfound; Sumario en español: http://www.agenciapulsar.org/nota.php?id=6546 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTFK? ** HONDURAS. R. Misiones Internacional[es?], 3339.99, 0545-0602* Dec 10, Spanish religious programming with talk and gospel music. 0602 sign-off announcements with ID and off. Fair to good signal strength but audio slightly distorted (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3340, HRMI, 0157-0204, Dec. 15, Spanish, Spanish pop/rap music. Nice ID at 0200. Poor/fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, MLB-1, 200' Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. 7950, HNG R Budapest, Jaszbereny 2x3975 harmonic, 2015 UT Dec 16 (Tim Bucknall, Englkand, Icom R75, harmonics yg via DXLD) That would be in English, not via Slovakia (gh) ** ICELAND. AFRTS Keflavik came in with armchair level on 9980-usb at 1100-1230. AFN signal from Iceland was two seconds ahead of local AFN Stuttgart German signal (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 15149.85, VOI noted with National Anthem at closing down SEAsia/FE block transmission at 1358-1359:35 UT, yesterday not readable but today Dec 17th at extreme good level. But surprisingly, transmitter carrier still on air when checked at 1410 and 1421 UT. VOI starts again on this channel at 1700 UT towards Eu, NE, ME (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. Japan Domestic Radio. This week I have been hearing Japanese on 9595 between 2100 and 2300 UT at fair strength of 5 or 6 over 3 at times. PWBR 2006 lists Radio Nikkei (ex Radio Tampa?), Tokyo-Nagara, DS-1, on this frequency. I presume that is what I am hearing (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Mongolia/North Korea, 981: The recently started transmissions of South Korea-based Free North Korea Radio can be heard 1500-1600 on 981 in addition to SW --- cf. http://www.freenk.net The transmissions appear to originate from a transmitter in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This 500 kW transmitter normally operates on 990, but was used for foreign relays to South East Asia (VOA) on 981 some years ago (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, ARC Information Desk 12 Dec via editor Olle Alm, DXLD) The Independent Lens show on PBS I mentioned, about NK refugees in China, mentioned Mongolia as a further, safer destination for them (gh) NEW BROADCAST IN "OPEN RADIO FOR NORTH KOREA" According to Asian Broadcasting Institute, since Dec. 13 ``Open Radio for North Korea`` (Yollin Pukhan Pangsong) on 5880 kHz has started to broadcast the program of ``Free Korean Central Broadcasting Station`` (Jayu Joson Jung-ang Pangsong) produced by the organization called ``Union for Korean Democratization`` in the latter half of the broadcast at 1530-1600. The first half (1501-1530) is the program of ``Freedom North Korea Broadcast`` (``Radio Free North Korea``) (Jayu Pukhan Pangsong). Since Dec. 16, the broadcasting on 5880 has been severely jammed by white jamming. The mailing address of ``Freedom North Korean Broadcasting`` is, Room 502, Sinjeong Building, Sinjeong 7 dong, Yengcheong-Gu, Seoul, Korea. TEL +82 2 2652 8350; FAX +82 2 2652 8349 (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, Dec 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. My QSLs from last week --- 9290 kHz, R 73 (Relay via Ulbroka), full data hand-written QSL-card (including transmitter site), card shows a lighthouse, v/s Matthias Krause. The letter also contained a personal letter, a Christmas card and a magnetic calendar. In 13 days for a report in German with 1,10 EUR in German stamps to Matthias Krause, Dorfstr. 36, 25474 Bönningstedt, Deutschland. LATVIA - 9290 kHz, Radio Waves International (Relay via Ulbroka), detailed computer generated QSL-letter with personal notes (including transmitter site), letter shows several fotos and texts, v/s Peter Hills/Philippe. Also contained a playlist and a CD. In 18 days for an E-mail-report in English to rwaves @ free.fr (MARTIN SCHOECH, Eisenach, Germany, Dec, Sony ICF 2001D ANT: Sony AN 1, QSL Information Pages QIP : http://www.schoechi.de/qip.html GRDXC via DXLD) see EUROPE ** MALAYSIA. Voice of Malaysia (Suara Malaysia) on 1475 kHz, RTM's external service in Tagalog for the Philippines, seems to have changed its schedule to 1300-1530 (formerly 1030-1300). I haven't been able to confirm that the new schedule is being followed regularly every day, but has been heard between these times on several occasions over the past couple of weeks including 16 December. Reception is surprisingly poor round here for a service supposed to be using 700 kW. The new timings would probably give new reception possibilities for Europe in the winter, but might make reception more difficult in N America. Thanks to Mauno Ritonen for the tip. Regards (Alan Davies, Surabaya, Indonesia, Dec 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 4830, (Altai 10 kW according to WRTH 05). Usually easy DX in my QTH, yet even stronger last night on Dec 10 at 2230-2300. SINPO 34333 weak China co-channel and sporadic dx static bursts. Concert of Mongolian symphonic music. Short announcement by M (2-3 sentences in Mongolian each time). Advertising in few minutess before ToH by M&W. Few IDs with key-words "tenger", "ulanbatras". Interesting that TS at 2300 6 equal (tone, length) bips (like in old URS HS Broadcasting). (Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, DXplorer Dec 11 via BCDX via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. Re 5986: This window towards South East Asia closed here in Europe this winter, due of broad band splash from RTL DRM test on 5990 kHz. Burma/Myanwar has been a daily guest in past two decades, during Nov-Feb winter season. Grrrrr - DRM inband (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BCDX Dec 17 via DXLD) ** NEPAL. The neighboring station Radio Nepal was heard on 576 648 792 810 and 5005 from sign on at 2315 but not on the listed 1143 kHz. WRTH 2005 and others lists sign on at 2345 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, ARC Information Desk 12 Dec via editor Olle Alm, DXLD) I suspect this report from Jose was during his visit to the earthquake area of northern India several weeks ago (gh) ** NIGERIA. V. of Nigeria, 7255, 0654-0858* Dec 11, tune-in to opening instrumental theme music and IDs. 0701 into regular English programming with local African music and opening English announcements, followed by unintelligible English programming. Long periods of their instrumental theme music. 0715 English news. Very strong but their usual muddy audio and some programs with very low modulation (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Used to open two hours earlier, much more convenient in this zone of time (Glenn Hauser, UT -6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Has anyone logged Nigeria's FRCN station at Abuja in the last couple of weeks? I've tried numerous times at their listed 0430 sign-on, and even as late as 0530, and all I hear is Tunisia on 7275. Are they currently silent? Changed frequency or broadcast schedule? 73, (J. D. Stephens, Hampton Cove, AL, USA, Dec 16, HCDX via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. New transmitters recently added: 1134 Quetta, 1170 Peshawar, 1332 Lahore. Powers not known (ARC correspondent, ARC Information Desk 12 Dec via editor Olle Alm, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. La Rosa de Tokyo para mañana domingo --- Recuerden que el Grupo Radioescucha Argentino está colaborando activamente con LA ROSA DE TOKIO, el programa de DX y comunicaciones que se irradia cada semana por LS11 Radio Provincia, La Plata, Argentina, con 56 kw en su horario habitual de 13 a 14 hora argentina (1600 a 1700 UT) y también en Internet, en http://www.radioprovincia.gba.gov.ar La edición correspondiente al domingo 18 de Diciembre estará dedicado a revisar el pasado y el presente de la radio en Pakistan y la región. Se difundirán grabaciones de estaciones regionales e históricas. Son imperdibles. No dejen de escucharlo!!! Via: (Arnaldo Slaen / Omar Somma, Argentina, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Part 2 on new mystery PNG Station --- OK, the mystery is not so much a mystery. Again I began monitoring 585 kHz at 0815 UT last night and only NBC Port Moresby (which is audible all day here) was there // 4890 as per usual. At 0824 the second station on 585 kHz began to appear under NBC Port Moresby and again it was // 3205. It clearly ID'd as Radio Sandaun during a fade up. Out of interest I checked 1593 kHz to hear a station which from the language is probably the Micronesian but there wasn't an ID and the signal was almost on the noise floor. It certainly wasn't // 585 or 3205. I couldn't get an ID on this because by 0905 UT the NHK2 outlet on this frequency carrying Portuguese [!] was causing interference. I heard enough of the songs to recognise 70's C&W song titles in English, but the talk was muffled and during fade outs - as usual! Later in the evening CNR wipes 1593 out totally. But back to 585. Again like previously evening they had their own programming until 0900 when they both carried NBC News with a slight echo delay. Then it was back to their own programming and Radio Sandaun on 585 and 3205 signed off at 1205. So I'm convinced that this is Radio Sandaun on new 585 kHz. cheers (Craig Edwards, Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia, Dec 16, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. 6173.80, Radio Tawantinsuyo, 1019-1030 Dec 17. Noted a woman in Spanish comments until 1023 when music is presented. At 1025, "5 en [la] mañana ..." and woman continues to comment. Tons of noise on this frequency making copy very difficult. Punched in the NR (Noise Reduction) function on the NRD545 and that help somewhat and have the Tracking on the Notch Filter activated too. Going barefoot with the dipole antenna, but have the preselector as backup if I need it? At 1030, program back to music and at 1032 woman comments again. Signal was poor (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD 545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Finalizamos con una información de César Pérez Dioses, de Chimbote, Perú, quien informa en Play DX del 14 Diciembre, sobre una nueva emisora en Perú con el nombre aparentemente entendible como Radio Mayabit, escuchada el pasado 14 Diciembre a las 01:30 enviando saludos a los oyentes de Ecuador y de todo el territorio peruano, irradiando avisos del Distrito Tabaconas, en la Provincia de San Ignacio, en Cajamarca (Gabriel Iván Barrera, Argentina, RN Radio Enlace Dec 16-18 via DXLD) WTFK?! Viz.: Dear Bjorn: After some months out of the DXing hobby I am back again. I have tune up a new radio station in Peru on 5800 kHz, identification is hard to understand, something like "Radio Mayabit" with music and several Ides "Radio Mayabit, la radio de tu sintonía". Greetings to listeners from Ecuador and to all the Peruvian republic; tonight at 01:30 [UT?] I heard an advertisement coming fron "Alcalde del Distrito de TABACONAS from Provincia de San Ignacio" so I presume it comes from a district near to or belonging to San Ignacio in Cajamarca department in the north of Peru; more music ecuadorian style, no QTH. So please try to tune it up. 73´s (CESAR PEREZ DIOSES, CHIMBOTE, PERU, Dec 8, playdxyg via DXLD) See ECUADOR. Harmonic of 580, 1160, 1450? (gh) ** PETER I. 3Y0X ---> According to the latest Status Report and Summary of the 3Y0X DXpedition to Peter I http://www.peterone.com the team will fly from Punta Arenas to King George Island 2 February, and will board the "Chinook" and sail for Peter I the same day. Arrival is scheduled for approximately 6 February and the team will have 16 days at the island (weather will dictate when they land and will influence their departure date). 3Y0X will have nine complete ICOM Pro III / Alpha 99 HF stations plus multiple antennas. There will be two operating sites separated by approximately 1000 feet to allow operation on SSB and CW/digital on the same band at the same time. They also plan to be QRV on 6m, 2m and 70cm EME. Logs, pictures and hopefully short video clips will be available on-line. The QSL manager will be N2OO. Logs will uploaded to LOTW in early 2007 (425 DX News Dec 17 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Re 5-215: Dear Glenn, Thanks for your comments under Portugal in your y/day's DXLD. Curiously, I know little about their programs, but the few I observed during frequency observations sure "look" dull, others lack taste, not to mention the "injections" of football match relays lasting hours instead of wasting the time and electricity money for better use. Glenn, as a native Portuguese speaker, I must only feel pleased with your interest - just allow me to correct one point here: in European Port., the diaeresis (trema) was dropped many decades ago, and even in Brazil many stopped using it; I disagree with many forms used in Brazilian Portuguese (because they look terrible, and sound terrible), but keeping the "trema" is a correct choice for it helps pronunciation. As to the Consultório Linguístico, I have listened to it on very few occasions; don't you find it rather boring, I mean not the program host, but the guest, the one who provides the linguistic explanations? It's also a considerably short feature, and it should be longer --- providing the style was new too! Concerning the program you heard, the 2nd word must be "rendível." Finally, "distinXtion" - what sort of spelling is this?! (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Dec 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s gh spelling, but not that way. Whenever there is a ct pronounced as ksh, I make it X. This is acceptable as in ``Connexion`` at least in British, so why not use it whenever applicable? As for C.L., it`s the first time I ran across it, and maybe the last. Far be it from me to criticise the style. Please don`t blame me, but what Portuguese I have learned is Brazilian-based, so Luso usage always seems to be a variation of the norm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 7330, R. Tikhiy Okean (R. St. Pacific Ocean), Dec 15, *0935-1000*, last day of testing here, usual Russian programming and music, 0959 phone number and full ID given, transmitter off at 1002, fair, //5960 which was also fair. Dec 16, *0935, only heard on 5960 (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 5960, Radiostantsiya Tikhy Okean, 0935-1000 Dec 17. Faint signal at 0935 with Russian comments from individuals. Same format continues for the half hour. Entire schedule was threshold this morning, showing how conditions can change over just a few days (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD 545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Tikhiy Okean verifies with QSL card; one can see it on station's webpage http://www.oceandx.narod.ru --- SAE & IRC for external reporters (for RUS SAE is enough). 7330 kHz test ends Dec 15. If one have sound recording of 7330 or 5960 Roman asks for copy into his address (+SINPO code): dx_monitor @ mail.ru (not clear from his message - if he'll send it further along to "Tikhiy Okean" or just keeping own file of those dx records...) (via Vlad Titarev, Ukraine, DXplorer Dec 14 via BCDX via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. We have got an information of some problems with receiving the Radio Rossii (Radio of Russia) program on 7310 kHz at 1330-1900 UT and on 6235 kHz at 1930-2200 UT in Germany last week. But we have no details of these problems, so may I ask you to help us in finding out these problems? (Radiocentr-3 Moscow-RUS, to Noel Green and W. Bueschel, Dec 15) Updated B-05 for Radio Rossii in Russian via MSK 250 kW / 260 deg: 0500-0800 on 9840 0820-1300 on 12075 1320-1800 on 7310, co-ch CNR in Chinese + VOIROI/IRIB in Turkish 1600-1727 UT 1820-2200 on 6235, co-ch R.Pakistan in Urdu till 1900 + VOA in En from 2130 UT (R BUL Observer, Ivo Ivanov and Angel Datzinov, via wwdxc BC-DX Nov 1) 7310 kHz channel suffers severe co-channel interference by VOIRIB Tehran in Turkish at 1557-1727 UT. 6235 kHz suffers by only fair signal level and fading from 1930 UT onwards, this depends on recent prop condition. Kaliningrad signal was much stronger than Moscow, Samara, Armavir signals yesterday. Deep buzz tone til 1900 UT, and some digital ship traffic from 6235.5 kHz on the upper flank. Kuwait couldn't be traced here (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 15, BCDX via DXLD) I believe VOA Kuwait does not start on 6235 until 2130 (gh, DXLD) 6265, VOR (mixing product between 6205 + 6235) 1937 UT 17/12/05 (Tim Bucknall, Congleton N/W England, Icom R75 + Wellbrooke ALA 1530, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Magadan Radio. May you can check Magadan/Arman Radio OCCASIONALLY, whether the station carries still REGIONAL programs, - or not. 1700-1300 5920 1900-1300 5940 1900-1300 7320 (wb, wwdxc BC-DX Nov 29) During last week I checked all these three frequencies at 2010 and 2300 UT. The result was no SW transmission at all on any of these frequencies both at 2010 and 2300. At other hours program of Radio Rossii was heard on these frequencies. It seems the transmission schedule has changed in B05. Some Japanese DXer confirmed that local program of Magadan was really heard at 2010-2100 on 234 kHz in December 2005 (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 10 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. 5850, Special Radio PROJECT (via Tashkent-UZB) Recording made by Christoph Ratzer-AUT OE2CRM on Thursday Dec 8th. Still unknown t h r e e Interval signals at closing of the broadcast. [some R Rossii Special radio project IS ? ] (wb, Dec 9) Dear Wolfgang: Those are the interval signals of Special Radio recorded at Alexei Vishnya's studio in Moscow. The station carries them in the beginning and in the end of every SW broadcast (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 11 via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [and non]. Re the verie signer for R. Hargeisa, 7530: Baldur Drobnica DJ6SI, the German ham operator, who escaped severe Vietnamese army fire on Amboyana Spratly Island, when erecting a Ham Radio expedition station on the disputed island in South Chinese Sea in 1983. DJ3NG along with his friends was on his way to Spratly DX Pedition. A night before arriving at Spratly, his boat was attacked and sunken by Vietnamese gunships. DJ6SI fortunately survived and issued this QSL to mourn DJ3NG, DJ4EI, and others killed by this incident. http://hamgallery.com/qsl/country/Fed_Rep_Germany/dj3ng.htm http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/4073/spratly.html Steve, I agree 100% with what you said. I NEVER have had any trouble getting cards from DJ6SI! I usually send 2 IRCs (Joe Reisert, USA, W1JR, DX News Feb 28, 2002) Nancy & Steve Lawrence wrote: I have worked Baldur from his many locations over the years. I have QSL'd direct and always received a response. I've always included sufficient return postage. I've included cards for different calls in a single envelope and gotten replies. I even got an unsolicited card for his Mt. Athos operation via the bureau! In short, I've never had a problem getting cards from Baldur. I will remind you that this is a man who almost died (one op did) in a Spratly operation of years past. And he still goes out there. It's only a hobby. 73, (Steve WB6RSE, Feb 27, 2002, BCDX Dec 16, 2005 via DXLD) Well, I hear Somalia is pretty dangerous (gh, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Heard Brother Scare on 15250, Dec 16 at 2213, and it was // and in synch with WWRB 9320, but 15250 was weak and fadey, about what one would expect from a signal skipping over, tho it could be something much further like Germany. Let`s check the Overcomer Ministry website to find out! Checking the redesigned ``radio log`` webpage of schedules, http://www.overcomerministry.org/content/blogcategory/22/42/ We find no mention of 15250 being used from anywhere, but this curious entry for 1500-1700 UT under ``Julich``: 11.125 MHz*– Sabbath North America WWRB I assume that means what most of us call Saturday. Last I heard, WWRB was not in Jülich, and never used 11125, but you never know, Dave might have come up with a far OOB frequency in defiance of FEMA. Maybe this is supposed to be 11915, where WWRB has actually been for some months, tho usually not with this kind of B.S. Nor has 15250 appeared in any of the recent DTK T-Systems schedules for the constantly-changing Brother Scare times. Surely we can pin this down by checking the WWRB website: No, 15250 is mentioned for the Africa Service at night, 16-22 UT, leased by Dove Media starting August 1, 2005 --- oops, that never happened. Would it be too much to ask to update your website to reflect something closer to reality, R. G., and Dave? I still suspect the 15250 broadcast of B.S. I heard was WWRB. FCC B-05 shows: 15250 1700 2300 WWRB 100 90 37,38,46-48 1234567 301005 260306 So WWRB is actually authorized for 15250 one hour later than the schedule on website which was no doubt for DST period. I had not actually heard WWRB using 15250 for many months. At least that`s a frequency FEMA can`t bump them off --- I think (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPRATLY ISLANDS. See SOMALIA ** SUDAN [non]. Surprise! A few weeks after abandoning 11665 for 15575, Sudan Radio Service website schedule finally gets updated, checked Dec 17: http://www.sudanradio.org/schedule.htm English is scheduled M-F: 0300-0345 on 7120 & 1500-1545 on 15575, except Wednesdays in both cases, only half an hour. And it also shows there is a Saturday broadcast, but only for half an hour at 0400 and 1600 in the Toposa language. So the latter would be the only clash with Portugal. Via UK sites (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. 4990, Radio Apintie, 1000-1020 Dec 17. Man in news using Dutch language. Noted occasional place name such as "Iraq", "Nederland". At 1010 canned ads continuing for over five minutes. Signal was fair to poor (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD 545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SVALBARD [and non]. A few interesting items: For no particular reason I tuned for Svalbard Radio and got them first try at 2303 UT tonight on 1731 kHz. They were weak and deteriorated as time progressed. 1710 Sandnessjeon was fair. Also heard Andenes on 1659 (initially swamped by Iceland). All in // with weather report in English then Norwegian. No trace of Vardoe 1713 kHz; Hammerfest 1635; Berlevag 1695; Jan Mayan 1743. If they were on they were too far north for me! 1659 kHz also had Iceland on at 2303 UT. 1680 had Rogaland R at 2315 mixing with back to back music from (presumed) New Jersey (Steve Whitt, UK, Dec 16, MWC via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. Within the next few days the Swedish government will formally decide that the expansion of DAB radio in Sweden will be put on hold indefinitely. The planned closure of the analogue FM networks will no longer take place. The costs for the households to renew the 20-30 millions of receivers currently in use is seen as an important factor in this decision. Instead Swedish Radio is encouraged to expand in alternative forms of distribution, like Internet and podcasting. The number of DAB receivers sold in Sweden amounts to a mere 7,000 (Olle Alm, Sweden, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** TURKMENISTAN. Turkmen Radio in English --- 16 Dec while passing the frequency 5015 at 1506 noted Turkmen Radio with news in English until 1510. On 3 Nov I heard them with English news at 1350. They have no ID in English, just phrases "that's the end of the news" and "thanks for listening". (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Common news in Vernacular reported on LW 279, 4930, 5015 kHz at 0200 UT, Nov 20th (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 2 via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Hard to believe RUI was on the air, when checked Dec 16 around 2220: a very slight carrier only on 5840, while there were quite strong signals from neighbors such as R. Bulgaria on 5800 in English, Vaticana on 5885 in Italian. Even less on 5830, former RUI frequency. Have they moved again, power shortage, or what? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE PROGRAMME PREVIEWS: PLAY OF THE WEEK Dec 17-19: The Pledge by Friedrich Durrenmatt Better known for his television portrayal P D James` Inspector Dalgleish, Roy Marsden stars as Inspector Matthai in this dark murder mystery/existential drama The Pledge on Saturday 17 December. Inspector Matthai discovers the horrific murder of an eight-year-old girl. When he tells the girl's mother, she makes him swear on his soul to find the killer - and so Matthai's obsession with the case and the dark world beneath the polite veneer of 1950s Swiss society begins. Dramatised by Steve Chambers, Jack Nicholson starred in the 2001 film of the same name which was directed by Sean Penn Director/David Hitchinson Play of the Week: 60 minutes Saturday 17 December, [European stream & webcast]: Sat 1830, Sun 0201 [American stream & webcast]: Sat 2201, Sun 0201, Mon 0601 Listen online http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/index.shtml (BBCWS Press via Rich Cuff, via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. The Lord Carter of Coles report on public diplomacy, which includes BBC World Service has just been published on the FCO website: Full report: http://www.fco.gov.uk/publicdiplomacyreview FCO Press release: http://tinyurl.com/co6hz BBC World Service Press Release: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/12_december/15/carter.shtml Kim Andrew Elliott was among those who made submissions (Mike Barraclough, Dec 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Linx to lotsa pdf files; which one is Kim in? (gh, DXLD) ** U K. A BACH CHRISTMAS is underway on BBC Radio 3, the COMPLETE works of Bach --- and that`s a lot!! pre-empting ALL other programming, it seems, from 1900 UT Dec 16 thru 1700 UT Dec 25. Details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/bach/ This means that Joy to the World, the round-robin of choral concerts from many different European countries, is not on BBC this year, nor the first two performances of the new Metropolitan Opera season! Might these have been bumped to another of BBC`s several non-broadcast networks? Not that we can find. Joy to the World is on CBC Radio 2 Sunday December 18, 1100-2300 UT (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. In 5-208, and subsequently on current WOR 1297, I mentioned that WWV was running leap second announcements at 4 past every hour (gh) No announcement yet on WWV, just a regular 4 minute tone; there is no tone at minute 3 announcement on WWVH (Sean Traverse, Dec 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWV has not announced the leap second at 4 past every hour (Sean Traverse, Dec 16, ibid.) Well, I heard it myself earlier in December and recorded it (Glenn to Sean, via DXLD) Still no announcement on WWV at 4 minutes past each hour (Sean Traverse, Dec 17, ibid.) Sure enough, no such announcement when checked at 1504 UT Dec 17 on 5000. So is there some doubt whether the leap second will indeed be inserted at 2359:60 UT Dec 31? I have my tape as evidence, almost put it on WOR already and may yet do so; unfortunately I did not bother to log the exact date and time I made it since I figured it would be there hourly for the duration (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Earlier in Dec, I heard WWV at 4 minutes past the hour announcing that there would be a leap second at the end of 2005. But now that announcement seems to have disappeared. Why? Is the leap second called off? Regards, Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO (to NIST, via DXLD) ** U S A. Re 5-214: But Allan Weiner told me during one of the recent Allan Weiner WorldWide programs in which I called in that George was *his* consultant and handled WBCQ's interactions with the FCC. So he has more than one client! (Allan praised him highly, by the way.) 73, (Will Martin, MO, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WEWN, 15785, Dec 16 at 1602 noted with a pronounced echo about one syllable apart. I think this is dual long/short path propagation, and since WEWN is so near, only about 1 megameter, it is also so far, some 39 megameters. The direct signal was not at full blasting strength as most of the signal is skipping over at this frequency, actually enhancing the longpath reception. Similar situation, tho not as pronounced, on WWCR 15825 at 1605 check, at about the same distance. Backscatter could also produce an echo, but I don`t think the delay would be that great; I have no way of measuring the exact interval, which would confirm the discrepancy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. U.S. Decommissioning of NDBs --- thought some might like this piece of depressing news. As if we don't have enough already in the radio hobby. I guess we will have to start DXing garage door openers pretty soon. Chris Black Hi All: I've been poking around the Web to see what can be learned about official plans for our beloved beacons. The online documents I have found so far are rather elderly (mid to late 1990s) but seem to be consistent with the AOPA "cancellation" list of NDBs posted recently. A 1998 memorandum from the Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General (DOT is the parent agency of the FAA) says, in part: "FAA's decommissioning schedule should be adjusted to ensure that adequate experience with the final phase of WAAS (Wide-Area Augumentation System, which relies on GPS and DGPS) is gained before decommissioning existing navigational aids. Currently, FAA plans to begin decommissioning existing ground-based navigation aids such as nondirectional beacon facilities and category I instrument landing systems in 2005... The 1996 Federal Radionavigation Plan states that the phaseout of category I instrument landing systems and nondirectional beacons will be completed by 2010." A separate DOT Powerpoint presentation found on the U.S. Coast Guard site says that there is a "separate transition plan for NDBs in Alaska" but does not elaborate. From the AOPA list it is clear that the FAA has begun the process of shutting down compass locator NDBs (the ones with two-letter idents) since they are federally operated and part of ILS systems which are also slated for the chop. This fits in with the timeline outlined in 1998. U.S. NDBs that are not federally maintained may soldier on a bit longer but without FAA support (check flights and certification) they will eventually switch off too. The odd thing is that there are still new beacons coming on the air (e.g. the recent TDN on 414 kHz). Even more curious, new compass locator beacons have gone on the air this year - the very year that kind of beacon is supposed to begin going dark (TT-338 in Arkansas is an example that comes to mind). Why is the FAA spending money installing these in one place while pulling the plug on others? Another interesting question: what will the FCC do with the 190-530 kHz spectrum not currently used by DGPS beacons once NDBs are gone? I doubt it is a "hot property" like that soon-to-be dark analog TV channels. Members Area/Info Page: http://www.beaconworld.org.uk/info.htm NDB List CLE Info Page: http://www.beaconworld.org.uk/cle.htm Beaconworld Solar Page: http://www.beaconworld.org.uk/solar.htm RNA/REU/RWW/WWSU Links: http://www.classaxe.com/dx/ DX Beaconlogger Site: http://dxworld.com/ndblog.html 73, (Andy Robins KB8QGF, Kalamazoo, Michigan USA, ndblist yg via Chris Black, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. I thought AM hams on 40m hung out up near 7300, but Dec 17 at 2058 I heard a contact discussing equipment on 7160, one of whom IDed at 2102 as W5JGI. Per ARRL callsign lookup, that would be HYDE, JAMES M, W5JGI (Extra), MANY, LA 71449. W5OMR may have been one of his contacts, but not certain of call. Also, one of them must have been slightly off frequency compared to a weak broadcast signal on 7160. Well, there is more evidence that AM occurs on 7160, as that is the only 7160 entry in Nets to You: 0000 2300 7160 WEST COAST AM Monday ST; Sunday DST (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. Re Uzbek radio started webcasting including R. Tashkent, http://www.teleradio.uz with English at 01, 12, 1330, 2030 and 2130 --- As far as I can find out, only two of their national programs are streamed, but they do not play here in Copenhagen. No sign of R Tashkent Int. in English. 73, (Erik Køie, Denmark, Dec 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, along the left margin of the webpage, there are links to four programs; I tested them at 1545 UT and they all play; don`t know if one of them is really the external service: Online Radio: "Yoshlar" "Ma'shal" "Do'stlik" "O'zbekiston" Kevin Kelly at http://www.publicradiofan.com who quickly picks up new info from DXLD, already has some of these listed, Uzbekistan=1, Yoshlar=2, plus the RTI external service, whose audio is linked as http://217.29.119.164:8001/listen.pls But with 1300 by mistake instead of 1330 for one of the English broadcasts, no doubt soon to be fixed, as in their English program grid: http://ino.uzpak.uz/eng/other_eng/radio_prog_eng.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The current streaming services provided are: 4 HS channels on the HS website http://www.teleradio.uz 2 FS channels on the FS website http://ino.uzpak.uz ("INO1" and "INO2", apparently not yet working) 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Those two URLs don`t match the PRF ones: ending in :3079 and :2129 resp., and I also find them unfound. And :8001 the same (gh, DXLD) ** VANUATU. 3944.77, (Presumed) R. Vanuatu, 1106-1118*, Dec. 17, Vernacular-?, Announcer with talk in presumed language, sounded religious, did hear mention of "Jesus" and "The Bible". Instrumental music (NA-?) at 1117 then off. Poor, battling with USB slop Good DX here in the White Mountains with the Winter Solstice fast approaching. Finally got my LDG DTS-4 antenna switch from Universal and I like it. I finally have my NE and NW Beverages, in addition to my RF Systems MLB-1, working side-by-side and it's interesting to observe the variance in signal strength and noise levels across the bands depending on which antenna is selected (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, MLB-1, 200' Beverage antennas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. R. Vaticana carries the Russian-language church service in accordance with the Roman Catholic rule, live every second and fourth Sunday 0930-1045 UT on 11740, 15595, 17515 and 93.3. On the great holidays of the Russian Orthodox liturgical year the liturgy is in the Church Slavonic language. I guess the Ge'ez liturgy is carried every first and third Sunday. I wonder what they broadcast when there are five Sundays in a month? (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, Dec 12, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 17 via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. R. Amazonas, 4939.66, 0245-0258* Dec 9, Spanish talk, LA music, ID, sign-off with NA; fair-good. Not heard next two nights, Dec 10, 11 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Whenever missing from 4940v, could have jumped anywhere up to 5.6 MHz per previous logs (gh, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. ZIMBABWE POLICE RAID BROADCASTER http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4534116.stm Zimbabwe police have raided the offices of an independent radio station in Harare and arrested three journalists. The station, Voice of the People, broadcasts via Radio Netherlands. Independent stations not are permitted to transmit from inside Zimbabwe. Police also seized computers during Thursday's raid. "They had a search warrant on which it said they were going to search for broadcasting equipment," managing editor Shorai Kariwa said. Lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe said three staff members had been arrested in an "unprocedural" manner. The three were still being held by police late on Thursday evening. The raid comes two days after Information Minister Tichaona Jokonya threatened to take action against the independent media, which he accused of representing Western interests (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ZIMBABWE POLICE RAID INDEPENDENT RADIO STATION http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa&articleid=259406 Harare, Zimbabwe 16 December 2005 01:02 Police raided the offices of an independent radio station on Thursday in Harare and arrested three reporters, a senior staff member said. More than a dozen police offices conducted the raid at the central Harare offices of Voice of the People (VOP) and also seized documents and computers, said managing editor Shorai Kariwa. "They had a search warrant on which it said they were going to search for broadcasting equipment," said Kariwa, who was not at the offices at the time of the raid. VOP, which operates in the Southern African country as a trust, broadcasts news and information into the country via Radio Netherlands. No independent radio stations are allowed to broadcast from inside Zimbabwe. Lawyer Tafadzwa Mugabe confirmed the arrest of three VOP staff members but said their detention was "unprocedural". In a telephone interivew late on Thursday, he charged that police were holding the three reporters as "ransom" to coerce the VOP director "to come to the police station". He said those arrested were being charged under Zimbabwe's broadcasting laws. In 2002, VOP's offices were bombed by unknown attackers. There were no injuries, but all of the station's equipment was destroyed. Thursday's raid came two days after Information Minister Tichaona Jokonya told a gathering in Harare that independent journalists in Zimbabwe were "weapons of mass destruction", according to a report in the independent Financial Gazette newspaper. "In their service to the foreign interests, they apply strategies of blending half-truths and outright lies," he was quoted as saying. "These deliberate acts of disinformation create perceptions which are neither helpful to the customers and indeed the generality of our people." - Sapa-DPA (both via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) Andy, Following the raid on their studios, is VOP still managing to transmit somehow on schedule via Madagascar? (Glenn to Andy Sennitt, Dec 17, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, The VOP transmissions will continue on the normal schedule, but we are not receiving any new programmes, so our technicians have been instructed to replay old programmes that are still in our Dalet audio system, and ensure that they are not deleted. We don't know any more at the moment, as my colleagues haven't heard back in reply to our latest enquiry. My understanding from reading press reports is that some of the staff are still under arrest. I did have the pleasure of meeting three of them when they were on a course at our Training Centre last year, but I don't know if any of the ones I met are in custody. They have 10 people altogether, I believe. BTW we have been told that the jamming has intensified, but I don't know any more details than that (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, Dec 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Slightly later]: Hi Glenn, This is the current situation at VOP: http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=13427 ZIMBABWE POLICE SAY WON'T RELEASE JOURNALISTS UNTIL BOSS TURNS HIMSELF IN --- HOLDING THREE JOURNALISTS AS "RANSOM" author/source: Zim Online (SA) published: Sat 17-Dec-2005 Harare - Zimbabwe police were by late last night still holding three journalists of the private Voice of the People (VOP) broadcasting company as "ransom" until the director of the company hands himself over to the law enforcement agency, according to the journalists' lawyer. The journalists, Maria Nyanyiwa, Nyasha Bosha and Kundai Mugwanda were arrested earlier on Thursday when police and officials of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) raided the VOP offices in Harare. They are being held at Harare Central police station and are most likely to spend the weekend at the station known for its filthy cells. In an urgent application to the High Court on Friday seeking the journalists' release, their lawyer, Jacob Mafume, said the police had told him that they would not free his clients until VOP director David Masunda turns himself in. "The respondents (police) are holding the applicants as ransom as they have already stated in no uncertain terms that they will only release them after their director hands himself over to the police," Mafume said in a court affidavit. He added: "The respondents have thus acted and continue to act outside the law and look set to continue to do so." Mafume also said in his court papers that the police officers had indicated during the Thursday raid that they were acting on orders from Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and that they would not let legal niceties obstruct them. "The . . . respondents arrogantly boasted that they were not going to be bogged down by the objections of lawyers, whether lawful or otherwise . . . They said they were doing what they were doing as "Minister akamirira" (the Minister is waiting for a report), giving a hint that they were operating under instruction from above," Mafume said. Several police officers, Mohadi and Attorney General Sobuza Gula-Ndebele are cited as respondents in the application that however appears unlikely to be heard in court before next Monday. It was not possible to get comment on the matter last night from Ndebele, who is the government's chief legal officer, or from Mohadi and police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena. Meanwhile, armed police were maintaining a tight guard on VOP offices barring people access to the office. During the raid on Thursday, the police said they were looking for transmitters and other broadcasting equipment. Under the government's draconian Broadcasting Act, it is illegal for radio and television firms to broadcast from the country without first obtaining a licence from the BAZ. But VOP does not broadcast from Zimbabwe although it maintains offices and reporters in the country. The station broadcasts into the southern African country using a Radio Netherlands transmitter in the Indian ocean island of Madagascar. VOP, which was once bombed three years ago by unknown people, is one of several foreign-based radio stations set up by Zimbabwean broadcasters unable to broadcast from home because of the stringent conditions under the Broadcasting Act. The crackdown on VOP comes days after a vitriolic attack by government Information Minister Tichaona Jokonya against the privately-owned media which he accused of being paid by Western countries to tarnish the image of President Robert Mugabe and his government. Jokonya threatened to take unspecified but tough measures against the small but vibrant privately-owned media (via Andy Sennitt, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Whenever I check 6855 between 21 and 22, I hear YL 5- digit Spanish numbers overriding WYFR, and that was again the case Sat Dec 17 at 2109 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15809-SSB, Spanish two-way at 1604 Dec 17; one of them had engine noise(?) in background, suspected aircraft, and was referring to something worth 50,000 pesos (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ There have been many moments when Glenn Hauser was able to fill us in on DX information and related DX questions. I remember Glenn when he was a member of NASWA and lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, then moved to Florida and eventually settled in Enid, Oklahoma. (I remember getting stuck in Enid during the WW 2 days while hitch hiking to San Francisco from Washington, DC with the US Army Air Force and then thumbing a ride on the highway which was formerly the Chisholm cattle trail [US 81] to get to the big airbase in Oklahoma City [Tinker]), Glenn has been a real friend of the World Band DXers and is a dedicated member of the World DX Enthusiasts. His DX Listener's Digest is a must among shortwave listeners (George J. Poppin, San Francisco CA, copy of a letter to a relative named Joseph, via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2006 SWL WINTERFEST CASTING CALL It's that time of year. It's time to do the planning for the coming March. Consequently, we are taking this opportunity to invite one and all to be a part of the program on March 3-4 at the Inn at Towamencin. [near Philadelphia PA] As you know, one of the centerpieces of the Fest weekend is our line- up of informative and entertaining forums. These excellent sessions are put together and presented by people just like you -- people with a deep and abiding interest in radio and a willingness to share what they've experienced, learned and know. So, how about it? Have you a topic that you think Fest participants will find interesting and would like to present? Tell us about it. And as a gesture of appreciation (and perhaps some measure of small compensation for your efforts), the Fest will comp your registration fees if your proposal is accepted by the Organizing Committee for inclusion in the 2006 program. Make your suggestion/proposal to John Figliozzi at jfiglio1 @ nycap.rr.com If you have any questions, we'll be happy to discuss them with you. And don't hesitate --- from personal experience we've learned that people tend to unfairly minimize their own abilities in this area. We know you'll be great --- but you have to let us in on what you're thinking! Be a part of the 2006 SWL Winterfest! 73 (Richard Cuff, John Figliozzi, 2006 SWL Winterfest Co- Chairs, Dec 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING [DRM: see CROATIA; GERMANY] ++++++++++++++++++++ RE: HD Radio for sale at J&R Another mass market IBOC receiver that I've had for the last 4 months or so is the Yamaha RX-V4600 which is a very fine home-theatre receiver that also has FM/AM IBOC. They cost about $1300 mail order, about $1600 at authorized Yamaha dealers. I have found that it performs very well in both IBOC and analogue modes on both FM and AM. I really don't think that the over-hyped nonsense about "superior digital sound" is going to make-or-break IBOC. The big feature of IBOC for me is the fact that here in Detroit, MI we have 7 FM stations with alternate IBOC programming. One station (105.1) broadcasts classical music on its second IBOC channel (something that Detroit is sorely in need of). Another (94.7) broadcasts "70's rock & roll deep album cuts". In all cases, it seems that what's on the second IBOC channel is much more interesting program-wise than what's on the "main" channel. The sound fidelity is okay for background or automobile listening, somewhat like a well-done 256K MP3 file. The point is that most FM stations nowadays sound horrible (unless you live in Chicago and can get WFMT, etc.). So, the IBOC on FM is acceptable for non-critical listening. On AM, I have a Kiwa Air-Core Loop hooked to the receiver. The sound on the two "talk radio" IBOC channels (at 950 and 1270 AM) are much better than the analogue -- when they first went on the air they suffered from extreme digital artifacts but the situation has improved immensely and they sound pretty good -- kind of like a mediocre AM stereo CQUAM signal. The big problem is, that due to sideband interference, the IBOC is turned off at sunset on ALL AM IBOC stations. In addition, the IBOC is only receivable on strong local stations. Thus, I don't think that AM IBOC has much of a future (Fred J. Einstein, Detroit, MI, [with a Ford e-mail address], amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) It's stereo --- it says it "includes a second speaker module for stereo". Crutchfield.com is also selling the Boston Acoustics unit, as well as several Kenwood car-stereo models, both complete radios and converter modules. According to the Ibiquity website there are several more home and car radios that are supposed to be coming along, including one from a new company that appears to have been formed just for the purpose of producing digital/HD radios, Radiosophy. Their table-model rig is to be priced at $269, I think, nearly half the cost of the Boston Acoustics. I've had to get myself "up" on all this because I've been producing a feature to air next week here on KSMU about HDTV and digital/"HD" radio in the Springfield market. Currently we have only one station in the market actually airing an HD signal, KTXR 101.3FM (we're probably about a year away from it here at KSMU-FM). Sorry to say my feature WON'T really mention mediumwave AM broadcast band IBOC, mainly because nobody I talked to for the report really had much to say about it! The two guys who did talk about it, KTXR owner Ken Meyer (who also owns KWTO-560) and Rick McCoy of Midwest Family Broadcast Group (which has *NO* AM's in this market, but does have a couple in Wisconsin), were both pretty skeptical about it in its current form-though neither has any qualms about IBOC/HD Radio on the FM band. Both are well aware of the digital-hash QRM problems among other things with AM IBOC. Meyer said he has no intention of putting a digital/IBOC transmitter on KWTO-560 any time soon, unless or until Ibiquity can get the "problems" ironed out... he seems to think they will. By the way, the folks at the local Clear Channel office (which operates five stations in Springfield including KGMY-AM, "ESPN-1400") dodged me for two weeks, never returning my phone calls, always in "meetings," etc. So they get a brief "wouldn't return KSMU's phone calls" mention. (Nor would the local Journal Broadcast Group operations manager...) The features will be available for downloading from http://ksmu.org (on our "Sense of Community" page) by Thursday of next week (12/23), the air date, if anybody wants to hear them (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, NRC-AM via DXLD) Many of us have been hit hard by IBOC this year and I suspect it'll even be worse in 2006. Some of you will still the lucky ones. The people in the AM clubs have seen this coming and some are affected by it, but let's face it, we FM DXers are taking the brunt of it while those on the AM side are still mostly digital-free. What's your take? (Mike Bugaj, WTFDA via DXLD) This will be a make-or-break year for IBOC. By this time in 2006, we will have a very good sense if it will be viable and growing, or stagnant and fading. FM IBOC does seem to work somewhat, though coverage is (to me) half the radius of listenable analog signal. That would change if/when it went to all digital. In a 50kw FM signal, the IBOC sidebands are a kW or so. No wonder it is inferior coverage. AM will affect this quite a bit. Right now iBiquity and the associated groups are unwilling to separate AM from FM. Night use of IBOC will be problematic, as will many AM directional arrays. Some will never be able to be made broadband enough to pass an IBOC signal and maintain their monitor point readings. I can see the FCC requiring that these measurements be made on the adjacent frequencies used by IBOC, and possibly issuing separate limits for each sideband. It's the only real way to ensure the protections required. If AM IBOC fails, or cannot be implemented by a significant number of stations, the FCC will be forced to either sever AM from FM requirements, or make the whole thing voluntary. That would permanently lock in the so-called interim period with combined analog and digital transmissions. I doubt anyone would find that acceptable on a permanent basis. Were that to happen, I can see the receiver manufacturers bailing out en masse. That would kill IBOC. Antenna and receiver research and improvements by the DX community will be crucial, especially being able to null interfering signals to a greater depth than happens now. The need to drop interference below the noise threshold is critical to being able to hear DX. One area that seems to be under-researched is the ability to null groundwave while allowing skywave to be heard. Nulling in a vertical plane, as well as the horizontal. Aiming antennas upwards at some angle, or perhaps vertically stacking yagi antennas and using something like the Bolin phase box may work (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) (EXCELLENT comments by Craig.) How quickly can the industry swing to all-digital? It looks like TV will take 13-14 years (1996-2009/2010). But TV has the advantage of cable and satellite operators downconverting digital signals for us. People own fewer TVs and since they're rarely used portable, cable/satellite/external STBs are practical. You won't use an external converter with your Walkman or the radio in your 2002 Ford. (even in TV we have yet to see what kind of ruckus we raise when we turn off the analog transmitters!) I would think it would take *at least* 15 years for radio to transition to all-digital and quite likely much longer. I think the FCC is going to have to make a decision **real soon now** about nighttime AM IBOC. Either they're going to have to acknowledge that nighttime AM IBOC causes too much adjacent-channel interference to be authorized... or... they're going to simply authorize it and let the chips fall where they may. Most of the stations running AM IBOC right now have significant engineering resources and relatively simple antenna systems. As a station owner I sure wouldn't make a large investment in an IBOC exciter and antenna refurbishment if I knew there was a 50/50 chance I wouldn't be able to use it during lucrative drive time half the year and a fair chance I'd find myself prohibited from using it altogether. – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66, ibid.) HD RADIO SELF-NOISE HD Radio (IBOC) adds digital sidebands to an FM broadcast signal. A stereo decoder may respond to these noiselike sidebands as if they were part of the stereo subcarrier. What is the resulting background noise level? I calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) for IBOC service mode MP1 (one program channel), MP3 (two channels), and MP4 (second channel at higher bit rate). . . . http://users.tns.net/~bb/iboc.htm (via Bill Nollman, WTFDA via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ TELEFUNKEN BECOMES TRANSRADIO The advertisement on page 33 of WRTH 2006 was quite a surprise for me: Telefunken Sendersysteme has been renamed Transradio Sendersysteme. I wonder why, since I can hardly imagine that they scrapped the Telefunken brand (some say: that's amongst the transmitters what Mercedes is amongst the cars) without need (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More under GERMANY RADIO SHAFT VS. SOURCE OF JUNK Here's my two cents on the topic. You have to remember that my affiliation with Radio Shack, as a customer, goes back to the pre- Tandy days when they were originally known as Allied Radio Shack. Back then they were mainly an electronic and radio experimenter's store with tons and tons of parts, kits, and radios like the DX150 and 160. I remember assembling a number of their radio kits including two shortwave radios - one of them a simple kit built on their red plastic P-Box chassis (remember them?). You would insert different lengths of a small coil of wire between two posts to change the band. The other was the Science Fair Globe Patrol - a nice looking kit that really worked. Their store managers knew their products and could offer advice. It seems like it was the mid-70's before they really got into consumer electronics. Even into the early 90's most Radio Shacks would carry a number of parts and some half-decent shortwave receivers. Over the years, I owned the Realistic DX-302 and 400. But, about ten years ago, I started to notice that a lot of the stores were dumping parts from their stores in favour of gizmos and junk. With a lot of stores, you had to order parts or go to one of their independent sales agencies who would stock them. Regardless of the name, it's not the same store and hasn't been for quite a while. I know we can't turn back the clock to those days but, if I could, I would strip the "Radio Shack" name from both of them and give it out to someone who really wanted to run a store deserving of the name (Mark Coady, Editor, Your Reports/Listening In Magazine, Co-Moderator, ODXA Yahoogroup, Ontario DX Association, ODXA via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ IT`S DAYTIME DX TIME ON MEDIUMWAVE The Winter Solstice is approaching, now less than a week away. During this time of short daylight, with low sunspot activity can provide some great daytime receptions. Some of my best receptions at high noon around the solstice are on 1030 kHz. During the last sunspot minimum I had KTWO, WBZ and WWGB fading in and out with each other at noon with semilocal WNVR nulled! Also in the past on 870, WWL has been heard with armchair levels at high noon. So, during the next two weeks do a few day time bandscans and see what you can hear. For the last two hours I have had WMQM 1600 with gospel music clobbering WCGO, while not earth shattering, is a sign of good daytime skip. The further north you are located the better your chances of some good daytime activity (Tom Jasinski, Shorewood, IL, Dec 17, IRCA via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Sirius: if Howard Stern gets $500,000,000 for appearing on Sirius, could I have, maybe, $5 million? I could start talking dirty and discussing the breasts of various SW broadcasters, if that would help! (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO) ###