DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-001, January 1, 2006 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 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2005 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid5.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn For latest updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html Latest edition of this schedule version, with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1299: Days and times here strictly UT Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 Mon 1900 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Tue 1500] Wed 0030 WOR WBCQ 7415 [usually but temporary] Wed 0100 WOR CJOY INTERNET RADIO plug-in required Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO 1299 (real high): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1299h.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1299h.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1299 (real low): (stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1299.ram (download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1299.rm WORLD OF RADIO 1299 (mp3 high): (download) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1299h.mp3 WORLD OF RADIO 1299 (mp3 low): (download) http://www.obriensweb.com/wor1299.mp3 (lower download) http://www.piratedxer.com/worldofradio_12-28-05.mp3 (lower stream) http://www.piratedxer.com/worldofradio_12-28-05.m3u WOR 1299 summary: http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1299.html [not yet] WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml NETS TO YOU JANUARY by JOHN NORFOLK http://www.w4uvh.net/nets2you.html ** AFGHANISTAN. Radio Afghanistan: Well-informed sources tell Cumbre DX that the station has installed its 100 kW shortwave transmitter, but that there has been a delay in getting the unit hooked up to the local power grid (Hans Johnson, Jihad-DX, 17/12 via Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** AFRICA. The BDXC 'Africa on Shortwave' list has been updated (Jan. 2006): http://www.bdxc.org.uk/ Click on the Articles Index Page (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Dec 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. Radio Tirana was noted back on the air December 20th at 2230 on 7110, reception was fair at best, their modulation seems a bit thin. I had emailed Drita Cico to ask why they were off the air, no reply so I phoned using the number in the new WRTH and was passed to a man who spoke reasonable English, he said medium wave and short wave were off the air due to ``technical problem`` (Ian Wadman, Berkshire, Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. Re 5-226, LRA36 QSL: Enhorabuena por la QSL amigo José. Simplemente recordar que, ahora con el cambio de año, se produce también el relevo en Base Esperanza y es posible que, en unos días, o incluso semanas, y mientras el nuevo personal no tome contacto con la emisora, esta emita sólo música con identificaciones grabadas, o incluso algunos días no emita, y para enviar informes de recepción, es mejor esperar unos meses a que las nuevas locutoras y operador, que no tienen experiencia en este trabajo, se vayan familiarizando con el mismo. Los que firman esa QSL, en unos días, como el resto del personal de la base y que han pasado el año 2005 en la Antártida, estarán ya de regreso en Argentina. Un abrazo y feliz Año Nuevo (Manuel Méndez Lugo, España, Dec 31, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 11880, ABC, Jan 1, 1737-1755, ``Early Mornings`` show, pop song ``Shelter``, TC ``22 to 5 or 22 to 4 if you are in Queensland,`` ID ``2 is not 1, ABC Local Radio,`` lengthy phone call from a traveling contributor, calling from Rome (5-6 degrees and snowing) with detailed tourist information about Madrid. Reception was good to very good. Brought back many fond memories of my trip to Madrid a few years back (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DXLD) This should now be R. Australia on 11880, just relaying Radio National(?) as it does more and more, and not the NT service special transmission, which is presumably over. Are all 3 NT stations now back on the air on 2 and 4/5 MHz? (gh, DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. 6110.8, 1400, R Azerbaijan International. Here in Denmark the station is covered by the Overcomer Ministry via Juelich and VOA Tinang both in English and on 6110.0, but it causes a strong heterodyne from 6110.8 (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** BHUTAN. 6035, BBS, Thimpu, 0125-0200, Dec 22, Dzongkha talk, choir of Buddhist monks, 21322 QRM 6030 and 6040. Nothing heard on Dec 26 when Romania on 6040 also was off! (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4409.9, R. Reyes, Reyes, Beni Department, 0005, Dec 08, Spanish TC and ID as: ``20 horas con 5 minutos; Radio Reyes, atiende la lectura de los mensajes``, messages in Spanish, music, 35443 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) New name replacing R. Eco? (DSWCI Ed., ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Mr. Tetsuya Hirahara, a famous Japanese LA DXer, who is a main member of LA DX club ``Radio Nuevo Mundo``, contributed ``Visiting Radio Stations in Brazilian Paraná State`` in English and Japanese for my home page ``Monthly Shortwave``. He visited many stations in Paraná state in August last year. The article includes photographs and recording of the stations he visited. Take a look at http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~BCLSWL/BRAZIL2006.html Rádio Boa Vontade verified my reception report in Portuguese with $1 after 10 days by E-mail and after 54 days by PFC QSL in Portuguese. QSL signer was Sr. José Joaquim Martins Rodrigues, Gerente da Rádio. Frequencies: 1300 6160 9550 11895 (shortwave 10 kW) Broadcast Hours: 24H Address: Av. São Paulo, 722 Bairro São Geral, 90230-160 Porto Alegre, Brasil E-mail: rbv1300 @ yahoo.com.br URL: http://www.lbv.org.br Telephone: +55 51 3325 7019 QSL’s are shown in my home page at http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~BCLSWL/QSL0601.html (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo, Japan, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. Re: Varna antenna: non-direxional vertical. Hi Glenn, found this in R. Bulgaria B-05 schedule of October 26th: RADIO VARNA on SW with programm "Hello Sea" in Bulgarian: 2200 Sun-0400 Mon Black Sea 7600 kHz V100 kW/ND 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. [5030] gets my vote for the best shortwave party as they had non-stop afropops Dec 31 from 2311 until 0000 when a man wished everyone a "Bonne Année!" and they played some song with "Bonne Année!" repeated as the refrain and the music and well wishes continued well beyond their normal midnight sign-off (Mark Coady, Editor, Your Reports/Listening In Magazine, Co-Moderator, ODXA Yahoogroup. Ontario DX Association, Bridgenorth, ON K0L 1H0 http://geocities.com/luckywimpy ODXA via DXLD) 5030, R. Burkina, 0217-0225, escuchada el 1 de enero en francés a locutor con comentarios y música pop africana, SINPO 55444 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GABON ** CAMBODIA. In 2001, German DX-er Uwe Volk did pass the SW transmitter site of the National Radio of Cambodia at Steung Meanchey in the SW corner of Phnom Penh and I passed the same site on Nov 21 this year. When comparing our photos, it is evident to me that the SW antennas have been dismantled in the meantime (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** CHINA. Re 5-226: Voice of the Golden Bridge A Google translation of Sichuan PBS 2nd programme (Life, Travel & City service, per WRTH) schedule http://www.sc.cninfo.net/tanfo/radio/radio06.htm lists a programme translated as "Golden Bridge" on daily at 0730-0800 & 1200-1230 local time (0400-0430 & 2330-2400 UT). However, neither of these times fit in with the times observed and reported in DXLD. Incidentally, I initially thought that WRTH had left out broadcasting info for Sichuan province as finding it was quite tricky - it's orphaned at the top of the righthand column of Page 182, with the "SICHUAN PROVINCE" heading widowed at the foot of the lefthand column! Regards, (Dave Kernick, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I noticed that too ** CHINA [and non]. 7260, China Radio International, Urümqi; 2110- 2157* 28 December. Tune-in to a mash-up of stations -- a weak unidentified Russian or similar; Radio Romania International in French (2126 interval signal X 1 and off); and this -- then in the clear -- with Arabic programming. Mostly talk by man & woman, Chinese central Asian fill music, lots of mentions of "Mongolia" for whatever reason; a fine day in Mongolia, I can only guess. Chinese language lessons from 2153 -- Arabic to Chinese -- apparently phone lesson etiquette, as there were lots of cheap ChiCom phone ringer SFX scattered throughout. How odd to hear this language lesson combo. Very good by abrupt plug-pull 2157. Parallel even better 9695 (listed Kashi site). (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 6139.8, Radio Lider, 0830-0855, 01-01, programa especial de fin de año con mucha música, especialmente canciones colombianas, cumbia, salsa, etc. Identificación: "Feliz año nuevo en compañía de Radio Lider, 730 AM", locutor. Interferencia de la Deutsche Welle con programa en inglés en 6140 kHz, pero durante un buen rato, Radio Lider se escuchaba por encima de la emisora internacional alemana, luego, a partir de las 0855 la Deutsche Welle se escuchaba más fuerte que la colombiana. 22222 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en el casco urbano de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500, antena telescópica, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. R. Rebelde, 5025, was playing ``Wake Up, Little Susie`` at 2203 UT Dec 31, then 6:04 time check. Still seems strange to hear Cubans playing old American tunes, tho they do it a lot --- is this one pre-revolutionary? And to be running on DST in deadwinter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wake Up, Little Susie was released as a 45 on Cadence Records in September 1957 http://www.everlybrothers.com/html/disc.html (Fred Waterer, ON, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sunday morning Jan 1, just spot checking as this always conflicts with CBS Sunday Morning: 11670 for the Venezuela relay was on, but with songs in Portuguese! at 1510 but suddenly cut off at 1512* uncovering something in a Slavic language. That would be RFI in Serbian, per EiBi. Meanwhile I had checked the other usual ``Aló, Presidente`` channels and found: nothing on 11875, nothing on 13680 or 13750 (tho both the latter are in skirts of CRI relays); 17750 was on but with RHC Esperanto! Which is Sundays only and supposed to be on 11760 only, to which this was //. At 1522 recheck, 11875 was on with an RHC show in Spanish about Jobim, which explains the songs in Portuguese. At 1629 recheck, 11875 was gone again. Apparently Hugo Chávez coldly failed to show up this week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5965, 0130 Dec 31, R. HABANA-CUBA, news +JAMMING, Suff (MAURO GIROLETTI, IK2 GFT - SWL1510, 45 25 ' N - 9 6 ' E, rx- JRC 525 NRD / LOWE HF 150 - Filare 10 mt, bclnews.it via DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. Radio República observations --- I have not had much time to do anything except very casual listening for the last several days, until tonight, but here are a couple of observations about Radio Republica (RR). On 12/30/05 RR was back on 5965 with R. Habana dominating the frequency. The Cuban bubble jammer was a remote third ­ about 0110. At about 0230, RR was getting buried by the Cuban jammer on 7110. At the same time my European reference stations on the easily checkable frequencies of 7125 (Russian International Radio from Grigoripol, MDA) and 7150 (Voice of Russia from Simferopol) were weak. At the same time, WBCQ, which was inaudible earlier, was weak, but audible. I think this lends credence to the European origin for the RR signal. On 12/31/05 RR was dominating on 7110 about 0205­0228. I went to put my daughter to bed, and returned just before 0300, only to hear the bubble jammer seemingly alone. Eventually audio came up enough to identify the RR programming, then faded back down. A quick check of 7125 and 7150 showed a similar drop out of signals which were coming in at a reasonable level before 0230. Tonight (UT 1/1/06) RR was present and dominating on 6010 from tune in at 0055 with a recitation by a woman, then an ID to a program including some nice Cuban music. SINPO 53343 with occasional fade up of another Spanish speaking station (which I suspect to be Radio Mil, although I never heard an ID). There was a bubble jammer (presumably Cuban) blocking the subversive Radio Habana Cuba in Spanish on 5965 :-) One would think someone in the Cuban radio or intelligence community would be listening. The best to all in this new year (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, UT Jan 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010, CLANDESTINE, Radio República; 0115-0120 31 December. Strong and no trace of jamming on this new channel with the usual Spanish editorials. The Cuba jammer blowing away on 5965. Takes Don Gordo awhile to catch on to the moves (Terry Krueger, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And still UT Jan 1 at 0112 check, jamming & RHC still on 5965, República unjammed on 6010 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Estas transmisiones no se originan de Radio Miami y no tenemos nada que ver con ellas (Jeff White, WRMI, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Don, Don`t know if you`ve been following this, but one of the great current mysteries is where the Cuban clandestine Radio República is transmitting from. Perhaps you could get some idea of a bearing with your rotatable LP? Of course you have to separate it from the co- channel, especially jamming. Current schedule is: 22-24 6135 (heavily jammed) 00-02 6010 (not jammed so far as of last night; Mexico and Colombia also on channel) 02-04 7110 (heavily jammed) The hamband intruder watchers also ought to be interested in that last one; have you heard any rumblings? Tnx and 73, and HNY, (Glenn to Don Moman, near Edmonton AB, Jan 1, via DXLD) At 2145 check 6135 has a jumble of weak signals here --- 6140 next door is perfectly clear BTW --- but the log is pointed into Asia. Moving it to Europe didn't change much, 6140 is still clear. 49m is packed with signals, it's 2:45pm local, so the conditions must be decent. Checking 60m --- 4915 [Ghana] is S9+10 and sounds local, tuning off the station the S meter doesn't move. 2152 back and a weak carrier is now on 6140. 2159:42 --- 6135 came on in mid word about S9 and equal to many of the other signals on the band (the spectrum display on the ICOM 756PROIII is very handy for this). Frequency seems spot on, to the limits of what I can measure. Turning the log: 2202 UT as it rotates, almost inaudible as it swings over the pole and into Asia, S 3 to S5 from west to south, coming up a bit to the SE and pretty good to the east, peaking to the ENE. I'd estimate 60 degree area from here covering southern Europe and further into Africa, the log isn't that sharp in pattern. No sign of any jamming signal pointed ENE but the running water sounding jammer comes up considerably when I point ESE. 2357 --- 6135 hearing sign-off with IDs, jammer there but not too bad when log is at Europe. Conditions have really fallen off from the excellent conditions 2 hours ago. Came on 2359:42 on 6010 a few seconds after audio finished on 6135. As a note, DW on 6135 came on about 20 db stronger a few seconds later. However the carrier for this transmitter was at 6135.0025, not the 6135.000 I measured earlier at 2200 s/on. However I did not check the frequency before sign-off so one can't draw the conclusion that they are from different transmitters. 6010 is fair when using USB and with the help of the directional antenna. Rotating the log, the signal is pretty well lost until one gets back to the ENE. Don't hear any jammer but there are 3 carriers around 6010. I measure carriers on 6010.002, 6010.142 (weakest) and 6010.235. 6010.002 is República, clear enough when pointing ENE. When antenna is ESE, the 6010.235 comes up and makes both pretty tough. And I also see a fourth carrier at 6009.969 that is quite weak and isn't visible when beaming to Europe (ENE). Didn't notice it earlier but I just may have missed it. By "visible" I mean I can see it on Spectran, http://www.qsl.net/padan/spectran.html --- a versatile sound card audio spectrum analyzer program. I just tune to 6009.000 and center the program around 1000 Hz and view the carriers. I have checked the accuracy against the audio tones on WWV and it is accurate to about 0.1 Hz. Will watch the change over at 0200 to 7110 and report in. 73 (Don Moman, VE6JY, near Edmonton AB, UT Jan 1-2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx for excellent monitoring! See the yg for follow-up before the next DXLD issue (gh, DXLD) ** DEUTSCHES REICH [non]. RHYTHM OF THE REICH ON BBC RADIO 2 BBC Radio 2 has a three part series Rhythm of the Reich starting on Tuesday 2130-2200. It recalls Charlie and his Orchestra, a jazz ensemble created by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, whose mission was to feed UK and US listeners of the notorious Germany Calling radio broadcasts with American and British swing tunes reworked with English-language pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic lyrics. Online listening: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/ If you want more information the whole story is covered in Hitler's Airwaves by Horst J.P. Bergmeier and Rainer E. Lotz, the inside story of Nazi radio broadcasting and propaganda swing, published by Yale University Press in New Haven and London, ISBN 0-300-06709-7, which includes a CD of Charlie and His Orchestra songs as well as some William Joyce broadcasts. There was a preview of the series in the Belfast Telegraph yesterday: THE ULSTER LOG: LORD HAW-HAW ON RADIO AGAIN By Eddie McIlwaine 31 December 2005 I USED to have nightmares about Lord Haw-Haw. It was illegal to listen to his broadcasts from Germany during the war - but William Joyce, to give this traitor his real name, had as many listeners as the BBC in the blackout evenings of World War II. I must have been one of the youngest. I was only an infant, yet I can still hear that chilling nasal voice to this day. "Germany calling, Germany calling," was the way Haw-Haw introduced himself on the air with his Nazi propaganda from his studio in Berlin. The task of this Irish-American was to sow fear and despondency in the hearts of the people of the UK and to warn them of the Nazi wrath that was to come. He appeared to know so much about what was going on in UK cities, sometimes even telling which public clocks were slow or had stopped. The point is that next Tuesday, January 3, it will be 60 years since Joyce, still only 39, was hanged in Wandsworth Prison after being found guilty of treason. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the grounds of the jail. Joyce was captured in a wood near Hamburg in the summer of 1945. He had moved to Hamburg and continued to broadcast from there as the Allies advanced. His final broadcast was on April 30, 1945, when he signed off with his last Heil Hitler. Joyce was born in New York in 1906, but his family moved to Co Mayo when he was three and he was educated at a convent school in Galway. By the time he was 15, after an unhappy childhood, Joyce had moved to England and joined Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists who, like him, loved Hitler and abhorred Jews. He fled to Germany in 1939, with war and his internment imminent, and was appointed speaker for German transmitters for Europe. "His broadcasts from Berlin were infamous," says Graham Pass, producer of Rhythm of the Reich, a documentary series which is being launched on BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday night (9.30) and which will include the story of Joyce. Right until the moment he went to the gallows Joyce was unrepentant. He had scratched a Nazi Swastika on the wall of his cell and he remained defiant even as the noose was being placed around his neck (Mike Barraclough, Jan 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DIEGO GARCIA. Cf. USA in DX-Window no. 287 regarding transmitter sites. Furthermore professional direction finding indicates that 4319 transmitter is located in the Indian Ocean! (Editor Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) ** ECUADOR [and non]. Wonder how many of us thrilled at hearing Joe Adamov answer our questions on the air? To my mind, losing Adamov is like watching another chunk of this struggling, still-great hobby falling into the sea. Likewise for Björn Malm, whose news and diligent reportage have kept alive the dwindling flame of Latin American shortwave DX. Sadly, I doubt there other Björn Malms ready to take up the reins in that part of the world, and this loss belongs to all of us. They will both be missed. -AQ (Al Quaglieri, Jan NASWA Listeners Notebook via DXLD) ** EUROPE. 15073.83, NETHERLANDS (PIRATE) Alfa Lima Radio; 1204-1220 31 December. Tune-in to the Doobie Brothers "Listen To the Music" played twice (accidentally?), then Elvin Bishop "Fooled Around & Fell In Love" followed by man with "Alfa Lima, Fooled Around & Fell In Love, Alfa Lima Radio...", address, phone number, back to music. Clear and Very good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I am very pleased to announce that propagation improved about 11 PM last night here in Australia [1200 UT] and than as 2006 came, Alfa Lima came in stronger. So very pleased to be listening to new year with Alfa Lima. I have a recording of Alfa Lima as well for QSL purposes. 31st Dec 2005 15074 1253 UT Alfa Lima - English; Trance Music weak only peaked thru. 4 Mins to midnight (end of 2005) signal started to improve and at 1327 UT (27 mins in 2006) the signal came thru well. Currently covering the tape into mp3. -- Cheers, (Rob Wise, Hobart Radio International - 1 Year Old!! Http://www.hobartradiointernational.co.nr Rosny 7018 Tasmania, Australia, ARDXC via DXLD) ** GABON. Afro-ka-pop live --- Africa No 1, local FM in Gabon, on air with half hour to go before new year. Serious inebriated live broadcast --- http://www.africa1.com/# & click écoutez (Tom Roche, GA, 2230 UT Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BURKINA FASO ** GERMANY. What to pick for 2300 UT NYE monitoring Dec 31? I finally landed on 6075 DW, tho signal not very good; the usual routine: wishing everyone a good new year, in German, then about a minute of bells and into news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Revised DW English schedule: [sic --- watch out for the l after frequencies, meaning Sri Lanka, an ell, not a one] GERMANY D WELLE 0000-0100 sAs 1548l 6030l 7290w GERMANY D WELLE 0400-0500 Af 6180k 9710w 15445l GERMANY D WELLE 0500-0600 Af 7285w 9565k 12035k 15410d GERMANY D WELLE 0600-0700 Af 7225s 7225w 11785w 15410k GERMANY D WELLE 0600-1600 Eu 6140j (1000-1300 DRM) GERMANY D WELLE 1600-1700 As 1548l 6170l 7225l 11695w GERMANY D WELLE 1900-2000 Af 11865s 12025w 15470s GERMANY D WELLE 2000-2100 Af 5960k 9660k 9675w 12025w 15410l GERMANY D WELLE 2100-2200 Af 7345w 9615l 11690k GERMANY D WELLE 2200-2300 As 6180l 6225 Alma Ata GERMANY D WELLE 2300-0000 As 6070l 9815l 9865k (via David Crystal, Israel, Jan 1, World DX Club via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 2320 kHz harmonic, Radio Izabel 1160 x 2. This one is signing on at 1130 with full canned ID including frequency and their callsign of TGRI. The canned ID had "Onward Christian Soldiers" playing in the background. They have a nice signal and are also heard in the evenings till 0000*. In addition to the above ID, they often use the slogan "La Voz Evangelica." (Hans Johnson, Naples? FL, Dec 19, Jihad DX via NASWA LN via DXLD) Believe I heard this one many years ago, or was it on the fundamental (gh, DXLD) ** ICELAND. (presumed) Tuned into 13865 at 2040 UT, Saturday December 31 to hear operetta(?) music to 2100 with little talk in Danish/ Icelandic (presumed) and one mention of Strauss. A different program soon after 2100 with mostly talk and a few odd sounding musical items played in part only. Heard said in English "the world's worst records". Another program with more music at 2200. Good clear reception at 7 over 4 [?] and even better at times. Began to fade at about 2210 and gone a few minutes later. This is on an Iceland frequency (and was not SSB) but it is not scheduled for this time, so I think it was a special New Year's Eve transmission (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or a pirate? 13855: see ISRAEL ** INDIA. 11620, AIR, Bangalore; 1656-1715* 28 December. Excellent with Russian programming (absolutely horrid Russian -- sounded like Spanish at first!), female "Govorit Delhi, All India Radio" at 1657, babble by same lady, oddball 'Hindi-Country' song and others till closing ID, address and abruptly off at 1715 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, FL, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4000.1, RRI Kendari sent me a QSL letter signed by Drs. M. Hasir Kasrah, Manajer Seksi Siaran five weeks after sending a follow up reception report to the station. I was very happy with this QSL, the 21st local RRI station verified (Max Van Arnhem, Netherlands, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. The leap second file I recorded from WWV 10 MHz: http://www.chowdanet.com/WWV_Leap_Second.mp3 (Craig Healy Providence, RI, UT Jan 1, IRCA via DXLD) seems awfully big and gave up on downloading it; think he said it would be plus and minus 5 minutes (gh) ** INTERNATIONAL. New Year's Eve 2005 --- I guess it's becoming a bit of a tradition but, as with other years, I spent a good part of the day monitoring New Year's Eve around the globe. Nothing replaces the stirring chimes of Big Ben at midnight UTC but here's what I noted: Solomon Islands on 5020 and Papua New Guinea on 4890, who in the past have had some pretty good New Year's parties, were basically buried in the mud. I did notice Port Moresby at 1117 with "welcome to our New Year's Eve party here in our studios", but the signal was too weak to continue monitoring and never got any better. Radio Australia had the countdown from one of those telephone time announcements ("at the end of the third tone it will be 11:59 and 50 seconds", etc). They did have reports on fireworks and other parties going on. The Voice of America's Africa service had some nice year ending programs. "Music Time Africa" at 2032 (on 6035 via São Tomé) had a string of African high life tunes with no announcements until the program closing announcements at 2053. "Jazz Music USA" at 2212 (on 13710 via Botswana) played Grammy nominated tracks or favourite new releases from this past year. Included with this was a new release by Canada's own Dave Brubeck. A lot of the Africans that had put out good parties in the past, like Botswana were either missing, buried in the mud, or not deviating from their programming, but there were a couple of exceptions: Equatorial Guinea (on 5005 via Bata) started at 2058 with a children's chorus singing an African version of "Jingle Bells" followed by ID and brief news at 2100. Then it was into a program of African high life music until 2251 when a long anthem was played and they went off at 2255 (5 minutes before local midnight). But Burkina Faso [5030] gets my vote for the best shortwave party as they had non-stop afropops from 2311 until 0000 when a man wished everyone a "Bonne Annee!" and they played some song with "Bonne Année!" repeated as the refrain and the music and well wishes continued well beyond their normal midnight sign-off. (Mark Coady, Editor, Your Reports/Listening In Magazine Co-Moderator, ODXA Yahoogroup. Ontario DX Association Bridgenorth, ON K0L 1H0 http://geocities.com/luckywimpy ODXA via DXLD) Other NYE monitoring is scattered thruout this issue (gh, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel, Hebrew, 7545, was busy running commercials Dec 31 at 2159, but up to 2200 came a 6-pip timesignal; however, it ended about a second late (as compared to WWV a minute later). Surely Israel didn`t jump the gun with leap second, and was just inaccurate, tho better than a lot of countries do with misleading time pips (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel. Heard on what appears to be a new frequency of 13855, Sunday January 1 from shortly after 1600 UT. A phone in program in Hebrew (presumed) to 1655. Hebrew is not listed at this time in their schedule. Kol Israel's IS from 1655 to 1700, time pips at 1700 then into Yiddish and at 1730 Romanian to 1745 as per schedule. Time pips at 1745 and in Hungarian to 1800. Also heard on parallel 11590 and 9345 from 1700 to 1800. Listed 15760 not heard. 13855 had faded out by shortly before 1800 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13865: see ICELAND ** ITALY. 26000 kHz, 0240 Dec 31, R. MARIA-ERBA, px mx religioso, Suff (MAURO GIROLETTI, IK2 GFT - SWL1510, 45 25 ' N - 9 6 ' E, rx- JRC 525 NRD / LOWE HF 150 - Filare 10 mt, bclnews.it via DXLD) So how far is that from the 26000 site? (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN [and non]. Re: NHK The 56th Red and White Year-End song competition festival. DRM and NHK --- no consultation on HFCC conference such, transmitting side by side or even on top of each other: 6090, Of course a totally waste channel due of neighbours Bayerischer Rundfunk Ismaning and Luxembourg, both in DRM mode. 9750, Rampisham service noted on broad band DRM signal underneath, -- at approximate 9744 to 9756 kHz, - from very same location[!], NHK with 500 kW and Digital outlet with 30 kW. On Saturdays 1400-1500 UT DRM transmissions of RNZI and Radio Australia. And two more NHK hits have been traced: 17875, from supposedly Sackville? at 1340 UT on proper 454 Rating, mutate later at 1550 UT to tiny 111 rating, due of 30 kW DRM outlet via Montsinery GUF on the very same channel, not from adjacent 17880 kHz channel, Glenn! [see below for response] 21600, from Montsinery-GUF relay and lovely adjacent BSKSA Riyadh in French typically on very odd 21602 kHz, generate a lovely interferency whistle tone. At same time span, there are lots of free and unused channels in 13 mb. 9575 kHz is covered by Medi I Morocco in NAf, NE&ME, the 'old bull' on this channel. Fair signal on 6175 kHz. And also fine signal here on 9860 much better, but slight QRM by Kuwait on the 9855 lower flank. 7195 signal skipped over my head, and had tremendous adjacent QRM by super signal 500 kW CRI Xi`an in Russian. And great signal from Kranji Singapore on 9795 kHz via 11 thousand kilometers distance. At 1030 UT NHK started with powerful signal in the clear on 9750 kHz from Yamata via northern Siberia path. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: 17875 from supposedly Sackville? at 1340 UT on proper 454 Rating, mutate later at 1550 UT at tiny 111 rating, due of 30 kW DRM outlet via Montsinery-GUF on the very same channel, not from adjacent 17880 kHz channel, Glenn! (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DXLD) As for the QRDRM to NHK special frequency 17875 in the 1500 hour, I believe we have been thru this before. When I first found DRM here months ago, I thought it was GUF based on listing, but now we find both that on 17875, and RCI listed on 17880, as in http://www.hfcc.org/data/B05drm.html --- 17875 1100 2100 7S,8S For new organization TDF Various Montsinery 04N54 052W36 168 30 1234567 2005-10-30 00:00:00 2006-03-26 00:00:00 17880 1500 1600 27,28 Radio Canada International RCI DRM to UK Sackville 45N53 064W19 60 70 1234567 2005-11-13 00:00:00 2005-11-27 00:00:00 [note that in this version this expired Nov 27] However, the DRM schedule I referred to earlier today was this one, http://www.baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/drmdx/main&sort=kHz,UTC which shows nothing on 17875, just: 1502-1558 daily 17880 60 Europe 70 Radio Sweden S English Sackville and this one http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/media/dossiers/drm_schedule.html also shows no 17875, just: 1502-1558 daily 17880 60 Europe 70 Radio Sweden English Sackville So is the multi-hour GUF DRM transmission actually on the air now? I have really not paid much attention at other times (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 3960, Voice of Korea, Kanggye verified after 45 days with a QSL-card, letter, pennant, pin, schedule, info about North Korean stamps! My report was sent to: KCBS Kanggye, Joson Jung-ang Pansong, Joensung-dong, Maranbong District, Pyongyang, The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. I did not expect that, so it was a nice surprise! (Torre Ekblom, Espoo/Ristiina, Finland, Dec 19, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. KBS - Programa de fin de año --- Estimados colegas y amigos: Les informo que el programa especial de fin de año emitido hoy por KBS World Radio no ha incluido a "Antena de la Amistad" ni al "Buzón del Radioescucha", en su lugar se sucedieron comentarios muy risueños con saludos y gazapos de los integrantes de la Sección de Español de KBS, muy recomendable para la distensión y la alegría que debe reinar en este último día de 2005. Después de las 10 noticias más importantes del año emitidas al inicio de la emisión y durante más de 45' escucharán las voces de todos los integrantes de la sección festejando con los oyentes y riendo de sus propios bloopers radiofónicos ¡Para grabar! Feliz año nuevo para todos! (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Argentina, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 4407.04 and 4405.05, Voice of the Struggle of Iranian Kurdistan, 0410-0430, Dec 26 and 27, heavily jammed, announcement in Kurdish, Kurdistan mentioned several times, but no real ID heard. Audio suddenly disappeared at 0421 on 4407 kHz - found again five minutes later on 4405 kHz apparently to avoid jamming, Arabic-inspired pop-music. 21331 (Anker Petersen and Bjarke Vestesen, Denmarks, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. STATE BROADCASTER STREAMS LIVE ON THE INTERNET Kyrgyz National Radio, the main domestic radio programme of the State National Broadcasting Corporation, is available on a live audio stream accessible from the broadcaster's website at http://www.ktr.kg The site also has links to live streams of the second programme, Radio 21st Century, and Kyrgyz state television, although these were not working when checked by BBC Monitoring on 1 January 2006. Kyrgyz National Radio broadcasts mainly in Kyrgyz and Russian, and has daily news bulletins in English at approximately 0115-0120 and 0210- 0215 gmt. The station also airs programming from Osh Radio and other regional state radios - the times of these broadcasts can be ascertained from the programme guide on the website, which is available in English, Kyrgyz and Russian. Source: BBC Monitoring research 1 Jan 06 (via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. 9710, Radio Vilnius, 0857-0905, 01-01, Identificación en inglés por locutor: "This is Radio Vilnius from Lithuania", repetida hasta las 0900. A las 0900 programa en lituano, locutor, comentarios. 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Escuchas realizadas en el casco urbano de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500, antena telescópica, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR? Dec. 31, 5010, 1845-2048, after sign-off AIR: a fair signal with a wide variety of music and few announcements in unknown language. Quite stable and well-modulated signal. Possibly the old-new German ex-SWR-transmitter. Not heard Radio Madagascar for quite a while. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Jan 1, http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 7295, Traxx FM (RTM-4), Kajang; 1220-1240 31 December. Tentatively the one, pop ballads, UK-ish accented man with "... Sunday... concludes this edition of the Top 40 Countdown... Goodbye 2005" into another song till 1231 jingle of some sort, man brief talk, signal pretty much gone by tune-out (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7295, Traxx FM (RTM), Dec 31, 1529-1601, reactivated after being off since about mid-to-late September(?), thanks to Alan Davies for the tip. Male DJ in English, pop music (songs in English and a lot of repetitive pop instrumentals), man and woman singing station jingle, strong echo effect (sounded like ``T-T-T, R-R-R, A-A-A, XX-XX-XX, FM- FM-FM,`` TC ``44 minutes past 11,`` ``16 minutes till a brand new year,`` joined on air with ``DJ Bling, who is in the studio. Put on a headphone and get a mike.`` DJ Bling had an upcoming program that started at midnight (1600 UT). The two DJs talk about New Year resolutions (``It`s the same thing over and over again, to quit smoking.``). Fair, but from 1459-1529 covered by a strong station (Russian sounding language). Very nice to be able to hear them again, as I have checked on this one 3-4 times a week hoping for their return. They have a good web site: http://www.traxxfm.net/ (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 4782.4, R Mali, Kati, 0613-0620, Dec 15, French talk and Afropop, 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Spain, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) Also observed same evening 1924-1940, tribal tunes; 45443 (this reflects the bare signal, not the content of the carrier or the actual info), but a terribly low, useless audio; // 5995 also with weak audio (+ adjacent QRM). [no credit, probably Anker Petersen, ibid.] ** MOLDOVA. 5960, 1700 29/12, R. DMR - Tiraspol, English ID and news, very good (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli - Italia, bclnews.it via DXLD) So that still exists; not seen reported in quite a while (gh, DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5770, Defence Forces BC, Taunggyi, 1400, Dec 18, very weak signal, USB prefered (LSB teletype station). They have a late close down at 1630, however I was more lucky around 1400 (Uwe Volk, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) Also heard 1355-1405, Dec 19, Bamar talk, pop music, 1408 nice Burmese songs, best in LSB due to pulsating utility station, 23322 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, ibid.) ** NICARAGUA. 2139.7, Radio La Chontalena (2 x 1070v kHz harmonic). I have been hearing this one for a number of days now during both the local morning and evening hours. I finally heard a complete ID today at sign on, "1070 AM, La Chontalena, la radio (1 word missed) en Chontales." This was by a woman and it sounded like it was recorded. This station is located in the town of Santo Tomás, Chontales, Nicaragua. Chontales is on the east side of Lake Nicaragua. I'm not sure of their call or power. Formal sign on this Saturday was 1200 and it is just after 1100 during the week. They did play about 20 minutes of music today before signing on. Sign off is at 0000. The national anthem is heard at both sign on and sign off. Programming is in Spanish and I have heard a number of ads for businesses in Santo Tomás. They ID quite often but simply with a canned "Chontalena" announcement by a man in between songs. The programs are mostly music with a variety of types played. I have even heard one song in English. The station's signal and modulation are good here in SW Florida. Given the apparent demise of Radio Miskut on SW, this is the only Nicaraguan station currently heard on the SW bands, at least for those who count AM harmonics (Hans Johnson, Naples? FL, Dec 6-10/Jihad DX via NASWA LN via DXLD) Excellent catch! Not listed on 1070 or any other frequency in WRTH 2006 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Re 5-226: Voice of Nigeria seems to have disappeared again off 15120 kHz. --- No, VON was definitely on every day since about Dec. 20th. But the pattern has changed around Dec. 23rd, observed as follows: 0500 nominal sign-on, but not on those days I got up in time, but: 0600/0625v-0800 15120: English, 0700 French 0800-1630 7255: Beginning with Hausa, announcing English for 1000 (certainly not audible in Central Europe), later more vernaculars, old 9690/11770 not heard any more 1630-1905 (change to 7255) or 2100: 15120: Arabic, 1700 English 2100-2300 7255: French, Hausa. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, Jan 1, http://africa.coolfreepage.com/africalist DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Presumed V. of the Islands, pirate, on 13888, Jan 1 at 1631 with oldies; deep fades and modulation not commensurate with strength; also, too much bass, so I use the narrow filter on the FRG- 7. 1640 Nothin` But a Heartache; 1648 ``You are tuned to...`` (fade); 1657 ``Hanky Panky``; 1659 Merlin maildrop address (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing here in Copenhagen at 1715 UT. 73, (Erik Køie, Denmark, ibid.) ** OMAN. Radio Oman noted 0340-0355 December 15th on 15355, it was in Arabic not English as listed (David Crystal, Israel, Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. 4790, R Pakistan, Rawalpindi III (10 kW), 0250-0335 fade out, Dec 19 and 21, Urdu announcement, Pakistani instrumental music and songs, 0300 ID, jingle, TS, National news in English about Pakistan, 0305 ID: "This is Radio Pakistan bringing you the news", 0310 folksongs, 25333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA I am continuing to provide professional engineering support to Wantok Radio Light, Port Moresby. It is proposed that the existing frequency of 7120 be changed to 7325. This will eliminate interference from/to the amateur radio service in the Asia-Pacific Region. The use of the new frequency is subject to approval from the PNG Telecom Regulatory Authority (PANGTEL). Spectrum studies of 7325 show that this frequency is clear of co- channel interference from other broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region during most of the nighttime period, confirmed by on-site monitoring in Port Moresby. We are aware that China Radio International also uses 7325, from Xi`an, carrying Turkish programming 1600-1700, which is not considered to be a major constraint. In the longer term, it is planned to move night-time operations to 3 MHz, and retain 7 MHz for daytime transmissions. Present operations on 7 MHz are not satisfactory for night-time coverage, due to signal drop-out in the primary service area after about 1000, until around 2000. The existing transmitter and antenna are design-limited to operate only on 7 MHz, and operations on 3 MHz would require new facilities, and additional funding will need to be obtained (Bob Padula, Australia/EDXP via Jan NASWA LN via DXLD) ** PERU. QSL Recibida: Radio Cultural Amauta --- Para finalizar el año no podía recibir mejor regalo el día de hoy que esta confirmacion : 4955 kHz. Radio Cultural Amauta, Jr. Cahuide Nº 278, Huanta, Ayacucho. Certificado de Sintonía firmada por Administrador Pelagio Ñaupa Galvez y Miriam Gavilan, locutora. Almanaque y Calendario 2006, y polo (T- shirt) de la radio. Además de carta personal de Miriam Gavilan. Demoro 12 días (César Rojas Gordillo, Chimbote - PERU, Dec 31, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** PERU. Re 6047.2, R Santa Rosa, Lima, 0120, Dec 8: I have not been able to hear this station for many years (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina) It was last reported heard by another DX-er in May 2005 (Ed. Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) 6047.15, R. Santa Rosa, Jan 1, 1050-1120, Spanish programming, clear ID, ads, nice flute music, 1115 male soloists singing ``Ave Maria,`` fair-poor (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340 + T2FD antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND. Page about Polish radio history, including Hacerska, RFE: I http://www.trawniki.hg.pl/traw/radio.html (Marek Kosmala, Lublin, Poland, HCDX via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. FOREIGN RELAY VIA SHORT WAVE TRANSMITTERS OF THE COUNTRIES OF CIS. 30/10/2005 - 25/03/2006 -------------------------------------------------- kHz UTC kW Radiostation Armenia / Gavar 5855 1710-1840 100 TWR 5855 1910-1940 100 TWR 5885 0030-0200 100 FEB Moldova / Grigoriopol 7460 0230-0315 500 RRD 7480 1800-1845 500 RPD 7490 1730-1815 500 RIN 7590 1500-1700 500 MEZ 11530 0500-1500 500 MEZ 15660 1000-1200 500 VBL (Sun) Kazakhstan / Almaty 6225 2200-2350 500 DWL 7395 2200-2400 500 DWL 7405 0000-0045 200 TWR 9355 1630-1700 200 VOO (Tue, Fri) 9395 1200-1400 500 DWL 9415 1430-1530 200 DVB 11510 1000-1200 500 DWL 11510 1230-1330 200 RFA 13830 0000-0100 200 RFA Tajikistan / Yangiyul 4760 0100-0200 100 RFE 4760 1630-1700 100 RFE 4995 1500-1600 100 RFE Belarus / Kolodishchi 7440 1900-2000 150 YFR Tajikistan / Orzu 6010 1600-1630 200 RFI 6140 1900-2100 200 RFE 7415 2300-2400 200 RFA 7455 1800-2000 500 RFA 7480 0100-0200 200 RFA 7495 1500-1600 200 RFA 7515 1600-1700 200 RFA 7515 2330-0030 200 RFA 7530 1600-1700 200 RFA 7540 2300-2400 500 RFA 7540 1500-2200 500 RFA 9365 0100-0200 200 RFA 9365 1230-1330 200 RFA 9365 1400-1500 200 RFA 11535 0030-0130 200 RFA 11540 1100-1400 200 RFA 15660 0100-0300 200 RFA 17495 0300-0700 500 RFA 17515 0600-0700 200 RFA 17525 0300-0700 500 RFA Ukraine / Nikolaev 7520 1600-1700 250 YFR 9915 0500-0600 500 BBC 11820 0800-1500 500 BBC (Mon-Sat) 13660 0600-1200 250 BBC (Mon-Sat) Uzbekistan / Tashkent 5995 1800-1900 100 RFI 7110 0100-0130 200 BBC 7145 1400-1500 100 FEB 7225 0100-0115 200 BBC 7265 0030-0100 100 FEB 7355 0100-0300 100 CVC 7430 1330-1445 200 BBC 7430 1500-1530 200 BBC 7435 1700-1900 200 YFR 7485 1330-1530 100 BVB 7510 1400-1500 100 YFR 9310 1300-1400 100 YFR 9310 1430-1600 100 VAT 9345 1400-1600 100 RNW 9500 1100-1400 100 CVC 9570 0100-0400 100 CVC 9855 1400-1700 100 CVC 12070 1300-1400 100 RNW 13630 0400-1100 100 CVC 13685 0300-0600 100 CVC 16 mb* 1056-1144 100 VOT 16 mb* 1212-1300 100 VOT 25 mb* 1304-1352 100 VOT 41 mb* 1430-1518 100 VOT * various frequencies in the specified range FOREIGN RELAY VIA SHORT WAVE TRANSMITTERS OF RUSSIA. 30/10/2005 - 25/03/2006 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kHz UTC kW Radiostation Moscow 5820 1900-2300 035 DWL DRM 5955 0600-0700 250 RNW 6205 1900-2000 250 YFR 7170 2200-2300 250 CRI 7200 1830-1930 250 CRI 7220 1930-2000 250 CRI 7345 1630-1745 250 FEB 7435 1600-1700 250 BBC 15575 0600-1500 250 BBC (Mon-Sat) Sankt-Peterburg 6205 1700-1730 200 TWR 6205 1800-1900 400 VRT 7130 1600-1700 400 CRI 7130 1800-1830 400 CRI 13740 0700-0800 400 VRT Kaliningrad 6015 0600-0700 160 RNW Samara 5895 1330-1400 250 VAT 5935 1800-1900 250 IBR 7175 0230-0400 250 INA 7215 2030-2130 250 CRI 7370 1900-2000 250 YFR 7425 1800-2000 250 YFR 7580 1300-1700 250 YFR 7590 1700-1730 250 VOL (Mon, Thu) 7590 1700-1800 250 VOE (Fri, Sun) 7590 1700-1800 250 DER (Sat) 7590 1800-1900 250 VOD (Sat) 11655 0400-0530 250 FEB 13590 1200-1400 250 DWL 15660 1500-1600 250 VOU Krasnodar 5840 1730-1800 250 RPR 6225 1730-1930 200 DWL 6245 1545-1730 100 TWR 7360 2000-2200 250 YFR 7395 1530-1645 100 FEB 7430 0000-0200 500 DWL 7475 1400-1500 250 YFR 7490 1600-1645 250 TWR 7520 1900-2000 250 YFR 7560 1730-1800 250 RHR (Sat-Thu) 7590 2000-2100 100 TDP (Sat) 12065 0500-0545 200 BVB 13780 0400-0600 500 DWL 15145 0800-0850 250 DWL 15675 0600-0700 250 LBT (Wed, Sun) N0v0sibirsk [sic] 5830 1900-1930 200 RPR 5895 2200-2400 200 DWL 6225 1300-1350 200 DWL 6245 1730-1930 250 DWL 7305 2315-2400 250 VAT 7370 1400-1515 250 FEB 7390 1300-1500 200 VOA 7430 1200-1300 500 RFI 7430 2200-2300 200 RFI 7560 1300-1545 200 TWR 9450 0200-0300 250 FEB 9450 0900-1200 250 YFR 12070 0200-0330 250 VAT Irkutsk 5890 1400-1500 100 SHI 5890 1900-1930 100 SHI 5900 0930-1030 500 RFI 5905 2200-2300 250 VOA 5915 2300-2350 250 DWL 7210 1500-1700 250 RFA 7315 1100-1300 500 RFI 7340 1500-1545 250 FEB 7400 1000-1200 250 DWL 7535 1230-1530 250 TWR 9445 0015-0145 250 TWR 12065 1000-1100 250 RNW 15510 0230-0300 250 BBC Chita 5920 1400-1500 500 RFI 6205 1315-1400 500 VAT 7125* 1300-1330 250 DEG (Tue, Thu, Sat) * alternative 7180 and 7480 kHz Khabarovsk 5950 1130-1250 100 BVB 9600* 2200-2245 100 VAT 9795 1000-1100 100 RNW 9940 1300-1400 100 RNW * Till 03/12/2005 and from 05/02/2006 Komsomolsk-na-Amure 6205 1030-1055 250 DWL 7480 1000-1100 250 YFR Vladivostok 7115 1230-1300 250 IBR 7315 2200-2300 500 RFI 7330* 1100-1530 500 BBC 12075 2300-2400 250 RFI 15335 0100-0200 200 DWL 15565 2330-0030 250 RFA * alternative 7550 and 7570 kHz Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy 5885 1300-1400 250 RNW 5895 1200-1300 200 IBR 5895 1030-1145 200 BVB (Sat) 5910 1000-1200 250 DWL 7315 1000-1100 250 RNW 9600* 2200-2245 250 VAT 9770 2030-2100 250 VOA 13780 0000-0045 250 VAT 15145 0100-0200 250 DWL * 04/12/2005 - 04/02/2006 BBC - British Broadcasting Corp. BVB - Bible Voice Broadcasting Network CRI - China Radio Int. CVC - CVC Int. DEG - Degar Voice DER - Dejen Radio DVB - Democratic Voice of Burma DWL - Deutsche Welle FEB - FEBA Radio IBR - IBRA Radio INA - Internews Afghanistan / Salaam Watandar LBT - Voice of Liberty MEZ - Voice of Mesopotamia RFA - Radio Free Asia RFE - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty RFI - Radio France Internationale RHR - Radio Horyaal RIN - R. Anternacional RNW - Radio Nederland Wereldompoep RPD - Radio Payam-e Doost RPR - Radio Prague SHI - Shiokaze (Radio Sea Breeze) TDP - TDP Radio TWR - Trans World Radio VAT - Radio Vaticana VBL - Vlaamsbelang VOA - Voice of America VOD - Voice of Delina VOE - VO Ethiopian National United Front VOL - Voice Voice of Oromo Liberation VOO - "çÏÌÏÓ ðÒÁ×ÏÓÌÁ×ÉÑ" / Voice of Orthodoxy VOT - Voice of Tibet VOU - VO Unity VRT - Radio Vlaanderen Int. YFR - WYFR Family Radio (Nikolay Rudnev, Belgorodskaya oblast, Rus DX Jan 1 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Wonder how many of us thrilled at hearing Joe Adamov answer our questions on the air? To my mind, losing Adamov is like watching another chunk of this struggling, still-great hobby falling into the sea. Likewise for Björn Malm, whose news and diligent reportage have kept alive the dwindling flame of Latin American shortwave DX. Sadly, I doubt there other Björn Malms ready to take up the reins in that part of the world, and this loss belongs to all of us. They will both be missed. -AQ (Al Quaglieri, Jan NASWA Listeners Notebook via DXLD) ** SENEGAL [non]. 12000, West Africa Democracy R, via Woofferton (?), *0700-0810, Dec 25, sign-on with fine IDs in English and French, followed by English program and at 0800 by French program. "Good Morning to you, from all of us here at West Africa Democracy Radio - W.A.D.R.". 34333 (Bjarke Vestesen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) The transmitter is rather on Ascension Island! (DSWCI Ed, ibid.) Who I think is the only one who says so, but who knows? WRTH 2006 says there are 6 x 250 kW at Ascension, so are six accounted for otherwise during these hours? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SINGAPORE [non]. Tried listening to the new AWR Wavescan on Jan 1, and it was rubbish; no DX news, so turned it off after 10 minutes (Chris Hambly, Victoria, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I meant to check it out, but by the time Chris reminded me, it was 2230 UT Sunday, the last scheduled weekly broadcast, on 11855, which is totally blocked here by WYFR in Spanish. Christians vs Christians! Meanwhile, there was some loud and clear Firedrake on 11945. Furthermore, if you go to http://english.awr.org/els.swf you can indeed access `this week` and `last week` shows` audio, but they are really the last ones from 2004y, as confirmed by the former British hosts, and some DX news involving Antigua on 6100 which was still on the air then. Will they ever get around to availablizing audio from new shows? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. I wanted to listen to REE welcome the new year, but was stymied by their frequency scheduling. 9630 signed off a few minutes before so I looked around. After 2300 I found 9535 in French // 6055, with some NY greeting and the hour to have some special programming. Is that the European service? No, at 2304, 9535 suddenly cut to IS, while 6055 continued in French, and then at 2307, 9535 was opening Spanish transmission to Americas announcing this and 6125, 9620, 11945. I guess they were too busy celebrating at Noblejas to make the switchover on time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA [non]. 7115, IBC Tamil, via Wertachtal, 0022-0038, Dec 23, phone ins, ID at 0028, news, mentioning names which possibly are encoded message (?), 55555 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) Scheduled on 7110! (DSWCI Ed) And was first reported to be on 7105; I guess they are flexible, jammed? (gh, DXLD) The relay of IBC Tamil via Werchatal is regularly heard here 0000-0100 on 7110, address is IBC, Unit 3, College Fields, Prince Georges Road, Colliers Wood, London SW19 2PT (Allen Dean, UK, Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. SUECIA: Como ha sido anunciado en la web de Radio Suecia http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/programsidor/index.asp?ProgramID=2202 el cierre del programa Panorama se concretará con su última emisión del domingo 15 de enero de 2006. El equipo de trabajo está integrado por los periodistas Cecilia Mora y Alberico Lechini en tanto Néstor Céspedes se acaba de pensionar. He logrado contactarme con Cecilia, en especial, para solidarizarme con Panorama y hacerle algunas preguntas. Su amable respuesta fue rápida e interesante. ``Panorama fue como el hermano menor de Radio Suecia Internacional (Servicio Español que cerró el 2 de julio de 1993), siempre se ha emitido por FM 89.6 MHz en Estocolmo desde que se fundó el 16 de agosto de 1980; en Internet apareció en el 2000. En un comienzo se emitían noticieros diarios de 15 minutos y en los últimos dos años se comenzó a emitir tipo Magacín los domingos y jueves``, dijo Cecilia Mora. La causa del cierre ha sido claramente expuesta por Cecilia en su emisión del pasado jueves 22 de diciembre de 2005 que aún puede escucharse a través de audio por demanda en dicha página. ``La dirección de la radio considera que este es un programa que ya tiene muchos años, fue creado para los nuevos hispanohablantes que llegaban a Suecia en la época de las dictaduras y estima que ellos ya están muy integrados a la sociedad sueca, ahora nosotros debemos dar espacio a nuevas poblaciones (albano, árabe, kurdo y somalí) que necesitan un programa en su propia lengua para tener una especie de guía en la sociedad sueca`` dijo Cecilia Mora iniciando el debate en el que participan Carlos Vidales, catedrático de la Facultad de Español de la Universidad de Estocolmo, Carlos Décker Molina ex jefe de redacción de Panorama y la escritora Ana Valdés. Ahora bien, mi última pregunta a Cecilia refiere a las posibilidades que podrían existir de una reconsideración de la medida por parte de la Dirección de Radio Suecia. Al respecto, ella me dijo que la persona más indicada para tratar el tema es KERSTIN BRUNNBERG, Directora de Programación. ``Escríbanle a esta señora una carta en inglés diciéndole por qué no han dejado el programa en español por lo menos en la red siendo el español el segundo idioma en importancia en el web, que nuestros programas eran súper informativos para todo el mundo sobre lo que sucede en Suecia, que Suecia es un guardián de los derechos humanos en América Latina y que es un error que hayan cerrado ese canal``, dijo Cecilia. Su dirección electrónica es: kerstin.brunnberg @ sr.se Finalmente Cecilia me recomienda anunciar que si las cartas son firmadas por varias organizaciones, mejor! Agradeceré la mayor difusión al presente informe. Feliz Año 2006 (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, S 2000 WAJ - Rosario, ARGENTINA, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TANZANIA. 5050 is now back on the air, noted here fading in around 1730 (Mike Barraclough, England, Jan World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 5050, R. Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, 1810-2100*, Dec 16, 17 and 18, back on the air. Swahili talks and African music, 24332 (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka; Mauno Ritola, Finland and Vlad Titarev, Ukraine in Dxplorer via DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 and also Max Van Arnhem, Netherlands, and Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 8743 (USB), Bangkok Meteorological R, 1616, Dec 03 and 11, ``Music box`` interval signal to 1616 then synthesised male voice identifying in English as ``Bangkok Meteorological Radio``. Transmission frequencies and times follow then shipping and meteorological reports. At the end of the English section, ID and frequencies are repeated (but not times) then off. After a few moments the interval signal re-starts and the whole procedure is repeated in Thai. English seems to come in irregular 2 minute slots and has been heard, on various days, at 1225-1227, 1543-1545, 1616-1618, 1635-1637 and 1648-1650. The announced Schedule is 0000-0200, 0300-0500, 0600-0800, 0900-0110, 1200-1400, 1500-1700, 1800-2000, 2100-2300 on 6755.1 [sic: used to be on 6765.1; typo here? --- gh] kHz and 8743 kHz, both USB. Both the 1200-1400 and 1500-1700 transmissions seems to give reasonable reception in the UK. Signals generally weak but readable on a clear channel. SINPO was typically 35532 (Michael L. Ford, Newcastle UK, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. VOT`s brand new Italian service, and what frequency do they pick? Same one as Vatican Radio! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Voce della Turchia --- 6185, 01/01 1730, Voce della Turchia, in Italiano, forte ma alle 1738 QRM da Radio Vaticana. Con tutte le frequenza che ci sono proprio qui dovevamo piazzarsi?! (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, bclnews.it via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Maybe of interest: VOT --- Voice of Turkey B(2005) High Frequency Broadcasting Schedule Mode of Operation: DSB 01 January-26 March 2006 [showing the changes as already published] NEW(?) Italian for Europe 6185 1730-1800 UT EMR 500 kW NEW Croatian-Serbian 7155 1700-1730 UT EMR 250 kW EX-Serbian 9510 1430-1500(- 31.12.) EX-Croatian 7155 1700-1730(- 31.12.) New for Europe: Spanish 9780 NEW 1730-1830 (Ex -1800) EMR 500 kW Turkish 5980 NEW 1500-2300 (Ex 1700-2200) EMR 500 kW Turkish 15350 NEW 0800-1500 (Ex 0800-1700) CAK 500 kW Turkish 7300 NEW 2300-0200 (Ex 2200-0800) EMR 500 kW Turkish 9460 0500-0800 UT CAK 500 kW NEW QRG New for North America: Turkish 7300 NEW 2300-0200 (Ex 0200-0800) EMR 500 kW Turkish 9460 NEW 0500-0800 CAK 500 kW New for Australia Turkish 17720 NEW 0900-1200 (Ex 1000-1300) EMR 500kW Ex Turkish 9625 1300-1700 Ex Turkish 9560 1700-2300 New for Asia Tatar NEW 6140 (Ex 5980) NEW 1530-1630(Ex 1600-1700) CAK 250 kW Turkish 17720 NEW 0900-1200 (Ex 1000-1300) EMR 500 kW Ex Turkish 9625 1300-1700 Ex Turkish 9560 1700-2300 Uzbek NEW 11865 1330-1430 EMR 500 kW Ex Uzbek 7115 0200- 0300 Ex Uzbek 5955 1800- 1900 73, (Paul Gager, Austria, Dec 31, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** TURKMENISTAN. Re: 5015, Türkmen R, Asgabat, 1506-1510, Fr Dec 16, news in English. On Nov 03, 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 via DXLD) Checked 1450-1605, Tu Dec 20, Turkmen talks, native music, feature program. No news that day in English or German as reported! 24333. (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 28 via DXLD) ** U K. Johnnie Walker has been awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours List for services to broadcasting. The Times reports that Johnnie said he was pleased that he had been forgiven for being a pirate radio disc jockey in the 1960's. "Having defied Her Majesty's Government in 1967 with the pirate radio ship Radio Caroline, I never expected to see my name in the Honours," he said. "Her Majesty obviously has a forgiving nature and I'm most grateful and honoured. It's a wonderful start to my 40th year on the radio." One of Johnnie Walker's most memorable broadcasts was on Radio Caroline South at midnight on August 14th 1967 when the Marine Offences Act came in and only the two Radio Caroline ships continued broadcasting in defiance of the law (Mike Barraclough, Dec 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BBCR2 show on Lord Haw Haw: see DEUTSCHES REICH ** U K. G - Two special callsigns will be aired from various locations around the UK throughout 2006 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the International Shortwave League http://www.iswl.org.uk GB60SWL will be used one day per month during twelve public events (the first one will be on 22 January from the RAF Montrose Heritage Centre, in Angus, Scotland); GB6SWL will be used during the weekends and on every UK public holiday. QSL for both calls direct to Alan Loveridge, 29 Courtiers Drive, Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham, Glos. GL52 8NU, England, UK, or via the RSGB bureau. [TNX BRS-96106] (425 DX News Dec 31 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** U K [non]. While I was monitoring WWV on one radio at 2359 UT Dec 31 for the leap second, I was also listening to BBC on 5975, with the full peal, etc., but rather poor reception as I was taping the same off the KALW webcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ``I'm looking for some recordings of Willis Conover to use in a radio program about Russian jazz musicians.`` Look at my home site http://www.trawniki.hg.pl/traw/radio.html There is mp3 with Willis. Happy New Year to all of you!!! (Marek Kosmala, Lublin, Poland, HCDX via DXLD) VOA featured Willis in a Special English programme in September 2005. You can hear the 15 minute programme at http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2005-09/2005-09-24-voa1.cfm It has clips of some of his shows. Incidentally, Willis Conover was the first voice I ever heard on SW. Happy New Year to all, (Stephen Howie, UK, ibid.) ** U S A. WYFR, 6855, in Portuguese, Dec 31 at 2206, seemed abnormally undermodulated, but in fact I think it was the exactly zero-beat numbers station carrier still overriding them after the numbers were over, because when the carrier faded a bit, the WYFR audio would get stronger; WYFR sounded normal at recheck 2244 just before closing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRNO estimates that it may be April of May of 2006 before they are on the air. This estimate is based on the amount of time needed to completely determine the damage to the station from Hurricane Katrina and to make repairs. They do know that both the antenna system and transmitter building sustained damage in the storm (Hans Johnson, FL, Dec 6/Jihad DX via Jan NASWA LN via DXLD) I`ll believe it when I hear it. And then I won`t want to hear it because it will be just another gospel huxter (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WCRB 102.5 may flip format --- CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK AT-RISK CLASSICAL RADIO HAS VALUE, DESPITE FLAWS By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff | January 1, 2006 http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2006/01/01/at_risk_classical_radio_has_value_despite_flaws/?page=full The news that Boston may soon be losing its only full-time commercial classical-music radio station has not put the musical community up in arms as you might expect. WCRB-FM hasn't been sold yet, and the prospective buyer, Greater Media, Inc., of Braintree, hasn't announced its intentions for the station. It can't actually be sold until April 1, when the FCC process of renewing its license is complete. But after April 1, it seems likely that people who tune in will be listening to WCRB Country Music, 102.5 on your dial. The prospect has not created the huge clamor you might imagine for a station that reaches a weekly audience of 400,000 listeners. Many music lovers -- this writer included -- don't listen to WCRB at all because its broadcast formula of Classical Music Lite, incessantly interrupted by commercials, doesn't appeal. It is easy to poke fun at WCRB. Large works are rarely played on the air, except in broadcasts from the Boston Symphony Orchestra; sometimes such works are represented by only a single movement of the whole piece. The music is most often delivered in 10- to 15-minute segments, usually one short work or a series of short works. The emphasis is either on the extremely familiar (''Pie Jesu" from the Faure Requiem, but played on the saxophone) or works in familiar styles by obscure figures from Avison through Wranitzky. Background information is in short supply, and when it is offered, it comes as happy talk; Schubert is introduced the way an anchorperson welcomes the weatherman or the sportscaster. Each segment of music is framed by several badly acted commercials in a row, and those commercials are often underpinned by jarring pop music, or rock, or worse, as on one recent occasion: a Mozart piano sonata that most listeners would probably rather hear than the commercial that was heedlessly talking over it. The commercials interfere with the primary mission of the playlist, which seems to be to provide a pleasant, nonthreatening sonic environment for people who want to have relaxing classical music playing in the background while they are doing something else; announcers frequently urge listeners to tune in to WCRB when they are working in the office. You don't have to go far to find musical people who are bored by WCRB. Periodically the station has also been engulfed by controversy, as it was in 1999, when it dropped the weekly broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera in order to increase revenue. Defenders of the station argue that it provides an attractive entryway to the world of classical music, like the Boston Pops. But it's unclear whether nonstop baroque concerti grossi would awaken an appetite for Mahler or Schoenberg; it could just create a craving for more of the same. Even so, WCRB remains valuable to Boston's committed and curious concertgoing public because of its weekly broadcasts of the BSO's Saturday night concerts and its function as an audio bulletin board for the city's performing arts organizations. It has also provided a valuable service in promoting and subsidizing free summer concerts at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade and during the summer and fall in Copley Square by numerous local groups. Losing WCRB as a resource will be a serious blow to music lovers, whether they listen regularly to the station or not. No one can say that the station's formula hasn't been successful. There are all those listeners, for one thing, and revenues estimated at $9 million annually. (The station potentially commands a purchase price estimated at somewhere between $90 million and $100 million.) And the station has important defenders in the musical community, such as Mark Volpe, managing director of the BSO, and conductor Jonathan McPhee of the Boston Ballet, Symphony by the Sea, and the Longwood Symphony. The loss to the BSO and its public would be incalculable. Saturday night is the orchestra's most prestigious subscription series, and more often than not, Saturday night brings the best performance of a program. If the sale goes through, the BSO will have to shop its Saturday night concerts around. (WBGH-FM broadcasts the Friday matinees, but not the Friday night concerts. If WGBH were the only source for BSO broadcasts, the radio public would never hear six of this season's programs, including such hot tickets as James Levine conducting Beethoven's ''Missa Solemnis" and Schoenberg's ''Gurrelieder," and Bernard Haitink leading Mahler's Sixth Symphony.) The BSO is a minority shareholder in WCRB and stands to make money from the sale, but Volpe is worried about it. ''Of course we will benefit financially," he says, ''but we are also concerned about the greater good of the whole Boston arts community. The station has been a critical conduit for communication. The station has a broad audience, and we have a broad audience, and it has been a terrific partner for us. They represent a desirable and important format -- after all, it is fourth or fifth in the Boston market -- and this is something we want to see preserved." Two of McPhee's orchestras are community-based and have appeared in WCRB's Hatch Shell series. McPhee says WCRB does pick up ''a substantial tab" to produce these concerts, as well as the programs of vintage cartoons in Symphony Hall that introduce children to the classical music standards used on the soundtracks. A survey of the Symphony by the Sea audience also reported that WCRB was that public's main source of arts news and schedules. McPhee observes, ''The more local something is, the more people care about it. Anyone can turn to the other sources for the music WCRB plays, but it's the other part that really matters. Radio is all about communicating with your audience, and radio at its best is the voice of the community it serves. WCRB has been the community voice for the arts." David Elliott, chairman of the trustees of WHRB-FM, the Harvard radio station that broadcasts far more adventurous classical-music programming says, ''WCRB is the only place where classical music is a presence on the radio dial for 24 hours a day, and that makes an assertion to the community that classical music is important. The potential sale is a significant blow to the stature of classical music in the community; it is a good thing that people can hear the kind of music they enjoy any time they want to." © Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. On a broadcasting industry e-list, there's quite a discussion going on about DX tests for AM stations. (!) {KBJD 1650} Here's an interesting story about a "DX" test: http://sujan.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/violations/2001/pdf/kbjd.pdf It's a lucky thing that the station in question was able to avoid a fine (Chuck Hutton, WA, IRCA via DXLD) While there may well be a current discussion going on, this item is very much 'old news', and has been beaten almost to death in a number of forums. Frankly speaking, I don't believe that the FCC should have even pursued this from a third party anonymous complainant, and furthermore without any evidence of interference. Wonder if I could complain about the waste of my tax dollars on this given how many other things the FCC ought to be doing but isn't? (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (360' ASL) [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], ibid.) It's a total waste of their [FCC] time to go after stations doing tests, and inconsistent with the fact that they ignore frequent non- test usage of day power at night. But that being what it is, this subject hadn't come up before on the NRC or IRCA lists as best I know. I think the club members ought to know about this. Anyone scheduling a test in the Denver area ought to be extra careful, right? (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) Chuck, I produced the 2001 Denver DX tests that are the subject of this discussion. I also produced the QSLs and acted as the QSL manager for those tests. And I was present in the studio during the broadcasts. I had no idea that this incident with the FCC had ever transpired until I read about it the same place that you did yesterday. I am overwhelmed and completely surprised by this news. I was also very surprised to see that the FCC complaint contained, as evidence, several excerpts from the web site that I created to commemorate those tests. The folks at Salem here in Denver abruptly severed all communications with me a few weeks after the 2001 tests without explanation. I never knew the reason until now (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/ http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ ibid.) The current FCC is a total waste of time anyway. Stations get away with all sorts of stuff that is illegal like operating for months at full daytime power 24/7, skipping IDs, you name it. Going after a station for a test is crazy. Considering especially the FCC does not do their job anyway. They should be dissolved and a new agency should be started. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, IRCA via DXLD) A major part of my point (although not to dispute the above) was that there was no 'real' complainant, no evidence of interference. This was either a purely political complaint, a complaint by someone with an ax to grind against the stations. The way this was handled initially should have killed it right there. There's a basic right in the US to be able to face your accuser. Didn't happen in this case. And Pat G, I'm amazed you weren't aware of this - it's been flying around the DX community for some time - I think this is at least the third time I've seen it referenced (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (360' ASL) [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], ibid.) Patrick, For a hundred bucks a year, a little authority and a certificate (hi) I'd be a regional, independent AM band agent for them. I'll send a recording of the violator and they can send them a bill. Offend twice, get twice the bill. etc. So, what does F.C.C. stand for anyways? Boy, I'd sure like to set some rules... 73- (Doug Pifer, KE6GMM, ibid.) Doug, In talking with several FCC officials in the past several years, the big problem that they just do not have enough workers to take care of the problems. Not like the old FCC before the 80s. Congress cut and cut and they just don't have any manpower left. I also learned that going to NAB conventions. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) But that doesn't justify what happened in the Denver case one bit - rather it's another good reason why it should never have happened. I'd love to know who the 'anonymous complainant' was and what the real motivation was (Russ Edmunds Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) The FCC works on complaints. They generally do nothing unless someone makes a complaint I have been told. Yes, someone had it in for Salem and made an issue and then the FCC has to investagate. Fortunately everything did work out. But having a station defend itself does not help either. Especially on something this innocent. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) ** U S A. There is some talk on bc or RT [mailing lists] that the NTSB has released a report on the accident a year ago that knocked down the KFI tower, and apparently, in addition to blaming the pilot, they are saying that KFI was part of the problem even though the tower was not in the approach zone (Bob Foxworth, FL, Jan 1, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. KUSP`s Sunday Morning Classical Foglift webcast was rudely interrupted Jan 1 at 1915 UT for a NWS warning, which from the days mentioned, appeared to be outdated anyway, and the otherwise almost convincing mechanical voice pronounced ``last-minute`` as ``last migh- NUTE``. This happens on numerous other webcasting public radio stations. Is there a law that their webcasts have to carry these? And I believe except in the case of imminent life & death emergencies, the announcements can be configured to wait for the next normal break in programming, but hardly any stations bother. Whatever happened to the integrity of a piece of classical music? Do not fade it in or out, do not talk over it, and above all, do not interrupt it! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. See CUBA ** WESTERN SAHARA [non non]. S0 - A group of operators associated with Radio-Noticias magazine http://www.radionoticias.com will be active from various locations in Western Sahara on 7-13 January. They plan to operate SSB on 3675, 7085, 14310, 21175 and 28975 kHz (425 DX News Dec 31 via Dave Raycfroft, ODXA via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Unsolicited Testimonial and Happy New Year As the Irish say, Glenn, "May the best you experienced this past year, be the worst you experience this next year." With my (non-paying) job editing the "Your Reports" column in "Listening In", the monthly publication of the Ontario DX Association, quite often I have to check one or more of the loggings submitted by particular members - especially if something new has appeared on the bands. There are many resources, both printed and on the internet, but the best resource is your DXLD website. It's easy to search with everything listed under individual countries and easy to navigate. I can be in and out in a matter of minutes - a the most, with the information I need, where I might have to spend quite some time google searching a suspect logging. I know it's a lot of work and a labour of love for you and I just want you to know that the hard work and dedication is appreciated. (Mark Coady, Editor, Your Reports/Listening In Magazine Co-Moderator, ODXA Yahoogroup, Ontario DX Association 1038 Ward Street, Bridgenorth, ON K0L 1H0 (705) 292-0458 mark.coady @ sympatico.ca http://geocities.com/luckywimpy Jan 1) Happy New Year --- and Thank You (another unsolicited testimonial) Just wanted to wish you a Happy New Year, gh, and thank you for another year of your superb dedication to the hobby. No one has provided such a huge volume of detailed information over the years --- Thank You for that. Thinking about that, I pulled my copy of the November 1982 issue of your Review of International Broadcasting out of the drawer. On page 17, under the feature, "DX Listening Digest," you wrote: "Note: This is an experiment, and reader reaction will be most welcomed..." I would say the experiment has been a resounding success! (But I must admit, I still do miss the paper RIB! Maybe I'm just nostalgic.) On Radio Exterior de España's RadioWaves show this evening, the announcer urged, "Turn off the TV and turn on the radio!" That advice sounds better and better every day (Ed Stone, New York, Dec 31) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ CURRENT INTERVAL SIGNALS --- UWE'S SOUND LIBRARY Googling for something else, I came upon this nice collexion of sounds by German DXer Uwe Volk; tho not updated since 2001, a spot check of several of the .ram files found them still available: http://home.arcor.de/uvolk/curis.htm (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ CANADA POSTAL RATES INCREASE Effective 16 January 2006, the postal rates for standard letters up to 30 grams will change as follows: within Canada = 0.51 cents, to the US = 0.89 cents, to other destinations = 1.49 Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to a tax of 7%. One US dollar brings only 1.22 Canadian dollars. [TNX VE3HO] (425 DX News Dec 31 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) EKKO FROM KFI I have a verie letter from KFI-640 (yes, I said, letter) and it has a non-conforming "EKKO" stamp they had included, a in-house produced deal. I wound up attaching it to the letter itself so it wouldn't become lost. (Yes I know today that, to a stamp collector, "original gum" and "never hinged" are value increasers.) I got this in or about 1964 for reception from New Jersey, a common event then, for those willing to stay up until about 1 or 2 AM.. Though once I heard them around 8 or 9 pm est in wintertime. Back then, Ernie Cooper's DXer neighbor (either Bernie Duffy or Peter Clarius, not sure which) had an album with a couple hundred of those stamps. These DXers lived in Brooklyn NY (Bob Foxworth, FL, Jan 1, IRCA via DXLD) KFI is the only station I got an EKKO stamp from, or rather their knock-off. Unexpectedly as I was just expecting a QSL card. Must have been in the sixties, long after the custom had died out elsewhere (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also end of Fessenden story below, for a special cancellation. These may or may not be available after the fact from the PO; it`s too late now to send a SASE ahead of time (gh, DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ BLAW-KNOX TOWERS Readers may recall my musings a few months ago in DXLD about the Blaw- Knox twin towers on the Gandy causeway span, virtually in Tampa Bay, between Tampa and St. Petersburg, built in the early 1950's (and omitted from the list in 5-226). These towers are still used by WDAE, 620 kHz. They are scheduled to be replaced with new towers (in the coming months?). Anyone who wants a recent .jpg photo or two of these via e-mail, which I took, e-mail me tocobagadx @ earthlink.net with BLAW-KNOX in the Subject line so as to not be mistaken for unsolicited and thus deleted mail (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Jan 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO DAYS AT BRANT ROCK --- 100 YEARS AGO, A MARSHFIELD STATION CREATED A BUZZ THAT'S STILL IN THE AIR: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/01/01/radio_days_at_brant_rock/ 73, (Ken Kopp - KKØHF, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff | January 1, 2006 A lonely transmission pole rises from the roof of a modest building nestled among trailer homes in Brant Rock, bleating out the forgotten pulse of radio history -- long, short, short, short; long, long, long -- or ''B.O." in Morse code. The radio beacon, the call letters of a radio station that once broadcast from this corner of Marshfield a century ago, is a radio wave monument to an inventor who pioneered a year of radio ''firsts" in Brant Rock in 1906. Reginald A. Fessenden, a Canadian-born engineer and inventor who came to Marshfield to work at the radio station, was then forgotten by history, even as his legacy spread into homes, cars, and ships across the world. Tomorrow, radio hams worldwide will kick off the centennial of Fessenden's big year in radio, when they will meet on the airwaves, establishing contact with the revived Brant Rock station, and exchange postcards with a special cancellation mark from the seaside neighborhood that pushed radio forward so long ago. ''The whole idea . . . is to seize the year -- carpe annum," said Edward Perry, head of WATD, a commercial radio station in Marshfield, and a Fessenden admirer. ''What we have here is, this 2006, we have a centennial that is really important to the industry, marks the first time people actually saw a demonstration of radio as an entertainment medium instead of just a replacement of a telegraph wire." The breakthroughs began on Jan. 2, 1906, when the Brant Rock station, owned by the National Electric Signaling Co., began sending wireless Morse code communications to its sister tower in Machrihanish, Scotland. Eight days later, the 420-foot-high radio tower that once swayed high above Brant Rock picked up the first transatlantic reply: ''Condensers working very satisfactorily" buzzed over the airwaves from Scotland, according to a book by Fessenden's wife, Helen. ''To another generation . . . all this may seem very tame, but then it was HISTORY -- news from the mould of Time," she wrote in ''Fessenden: Builder of Tomorrows." Other successes followed quickly. By fall that year, the Scottish station heard voices for the first time, when the station overheard a conversation between radio operators in Brant Rock and Plymouth. On Christmas Eve the same year, Fessenden broadcast the first radio program. US Navy ships, as well as United Fruit Co. ships from Norfolk, Va., to the West Indies, heard Fessenden give a short speech followed by Handel's ''Largo" played on a phonograph. Fessenden then played and sang ''O, Holy Night" -- ''though the singing of course was not very good," according to an excerpt from Fessenden's papers quoted in the book. That broadcast broke the mold: ''Suddenly, what Fessenden saw was, you can use radio to transmit not only voice, but to entertain people," Perry said. ''It wasn't to communicate as you might with a telephone or a telegraph; it was entertainment. . . . It was stupendous." Even so, most people today associate radio with Guglielmo Marconi rather than Fessenden. While Marconi was the first to send transatlantic wireless messages one way and was awarded the 1909 Nobel Prize in physics, Fessenden has been largely forgotten, even though his work represented a significant step toward modern-day radio. ''The technology used by Marconi bears no resemblance to the technology used today," John S. Belrose, an emeritus radio scientist researcher at the Communications Research Centre in Canada, wrote in an e-mail. To transmit messages, Marconi used a ''spark gap transmitter," a technology that created short pulses of radio waves that could not easily carry voice. Fessenden developed a way to use continuous radio waves that could carry not just messages in code, but also voices and music -- a precursor to AM radio. Fessenden's work, Belrose argues, were pioneering steps toward modern- day radio. ''Fessenden, a genius and a mathematician, was the inventor of radio as we know it today," he wrote in a piece presented to the International Conference on 100 Years of Radio in 1995. Today, the remnants of the original radio signal tower -- bare slabs of reinforced concrete, conical porcelain insulators sandwiched in between, and a huge bell-shaped pivot point on top -- are nestled behind homes in Blackman's Point trailer park, far from view. The transmitter and pole sending out the modern-day ''B.O." beacon sit nearby. Every once in a while, a fanatical visitor will come to Brant Rock in search of the tower to pay homage to Fessenden, said Maureen Blackman, whose husband's family has long owned the land on which the monument sits. But the Fessenden name and his accomplishments are known mostly just to the radio hams who fondly refer to him as ''Reggie" or ''Fesse." ''I call him Reggie because we're soul mates -- I love this guy," said Dave ''Sparks" Riley, a ham-radio fanatic from Marshfield who has worked to revive Fessenden's story and raise appreciation for the man's contributions, not only as a radio man but also as an inventor and entrepreneur. This summer, the town will attempt to save this hero of radio from obscurity, with plans for a radio-themed festival, a 42-foot-tall scale replica of the original tower that was torn down in 1917, and an annual reprisal of the original Christmas Eve broadcast. Perry is also looking forward to settling an issue that has long been contentious among radio historians -- proving that Fessenden really was the first radio broadcaster, rather than Nathan Stubblefield, a Kentucky farmer who reportedly invented and demonstrated a wireless telephone in 1902. ''We contend he never broadcast on the radio," Perry said. The ''B.O." signal has been broadcasting for months now, and it has already been copied in Los Angeles and Germany. And Carl Russell, master of the Daniel Webster Masonic Lodge, led efforts to refurbish the stonework around the remnants of the old tower, largely neglected since World War I. Across the Atlantic, Duncan McArthur, a Scottish radio ham, said that Machrihanish will reactivate its station this month and dedicate a small memorial on the site next summer. The town is also considering a commemorative event for next winter, he said. ''Seems a shame he is not remembered more, as he was way ahead of Marconi," McArthur wrote in a telegraph-like e-mail. ''Fessenden not known about at all here. But will change this." For more information on2006 events and Fessenden's history, visit http://www.radiocom.net/Fessenden (Boston.com via DXLD) Beginning 2-Jan-06 and for the month there will be commemoration QSOs for the remembrance of the first trans oceanic radio communications which were between Brant Rock, Massachusetts and Machrihanish, Scotland during the month of January, 1906. This will be a CW only event as voice was also pioneered by station 'BO' @ Brant Rock and will be commemorated later in the year. Please call / monitor 7055-10115-14055-18075 daily @ 18Z starting on 2-Jan. Stations will identify themselves with the suffix /BO. Also available with be a first day event stamp cancellation service. You can receive this special cancellation stamp by sending a return SASE or letter to: Postmaster, Brant Rock Station, 35 Dyke Road, Brant Rock, MA 02020 --- attn: Fessenden Commemoration QSL info for AA1A/BO is RAF.NESCO BOX 686 BRANT ROCK, MA 02020 Also listen for GM3TNT at the Eastern Tower... 73s de Dave - AA1A from Society of Wireless Pioneers Website http://www.sowp.org/ The Beacon mentioned in the article submitted by Ken is transmitting very slow cw QRSS3 on 13.555275 MHz with an ID as BO according to the Amateur Radio in Scotland website http://radio.intco.biz/ 73 and Happy New Year to all, (Wade Smith, VE9WGS, New Brunswick, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) GM - To celebrate the centenary of the first trans-atlantic voice transmission and to mark Reginald Fessenden's pioneering work with the Machrihanish station, the special event callsign GB1FVT will be activated during the first week in January from the Machrihanish transmitting site. Operation will be on all HF bands, CW and SSB. QSL via operators' instructions. [TNX GB2RS] (425 DX News Dec 31 via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) HISTORY OF TV STANDARDS IN BRITAIN Does anyone know the history of this? Was there much VHF when television started in Great Britain? From my two visits to England in 1970 and 1984, I recall that television sets had push buttons for channel selection. I also recall hearing that most people rented a television set; and that people were content to pay the yearly license fee to the government for commercial free BBC 1 and BBC 2. Best wishes to all for 2006. 73. Good DXing (Dave Sinclair Vancouver, B.C., WTFDA via DXLD) Hello Dave, I know a slight bit about this. TV in the UK was all Band I VHF when introduced in 1936. Later on, perhaps in the early fifties, Band III came into use (mostly for ITV I think), necessitating converters for sets made prior to that time. In the late fifties, testing was done to adapt the 405 line system to color, which from films I've seen, worked fairly well. I have no idea why it wasn't adopted, but a new 625-line UHF only system was adopted instead, initally in black and white, but with the understanding that color would be added. I think that was around 1964. If you look on Ebay UK, you can sometimes find dual standard sets on offer, with a button to switch it from the VHF 405 -line system to the 625-line UHF system. Sets from the seventies are UHF only, so the transmitter net for the new standard must have been in place by that time. From there on, it's all UHF, with the old VHF transmitters going dark in the early 1980's. It's my understanding that terrestrial television in Britain consists of five channels, so fixed-tune TVs would be adequate for all that a viewer would likely want to see, from local transmitters, of course. (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, ibid.) There's quite a lot of good information on this website http://tx.mb21.co.uk/info/ As well as links for the current status of the UK terrestrial analogue & digital networks, there's also information about the obsolete 405 line networks. The BBC broadcast on Band 1 (lo-vhf) from the mid-1930's. When the Government decided to allow a commercial network onto the air in the 1950's, they had to use Band 3 (hi-vhf) as there was no space available in Band 1. The first TV sets I can remember Mum & Dad having were 405 line only, fed with a V-aerial sat on the top of the TV. BBC-1 was channel 1 and ITV was channel 9 as we were usually receiving the signal from Crystal Palace. Sometimes we tuned to channel 3 and channel 11 when co-channel interference became intolerable in the summer. These TVs had a rotary tuning dial with click presets for channel 1, channel 2 etc up to whatever was the top end of Band 3, with a "fine tune" collar around the rotary switch. We got out first 625 line set sometime around 1969 or 1970 ... that was black and white only ... and had (I think) 6 push buttons for selecting presettable channels. Much the same way as car radios used to have push button selection of presets. I think this set was 625 line only, which of course didn't matter to us as we had BBC-1, BBC-2 and ITV all on 625 line. We got our first colour set sometime in the mid-late 1970's ... the licence fee for colour is higher than for black & white, and by then we'd moved to Hereford which is a lot more out in the sticks. Channel 4 came along in the early 1980's as a second commercial tv channel. It differed from ITV in that Channel 4 was a "national" commercial channel albeit national coverage had to be built up in stages. Whereas ITV was a network of separate local stations. ITV now has merged into one network. Channel 5 is the fifth (and last) analogue network in the UK. Mostly they use channels around channel 35, 36 etc, and they still don't (and never will on analogue) cover the whole of the UK. When I started some TV DX-ing back in the early 1980's, I bought a dual-standard black and white TV that had a little pull/push lever to change standards from 405 to 625. But as the rest of Europe used 625 it never got used. I just wanted 625 line picture reception on vhf. When VHS/Betamax etc came along, there was usually a last preset button with a different setup to better correct the "hooking" at the top of the picture for tape playback. Although 405 line stopped in the 1980s, there are still a lot of Band 1 crossed dipoles and Band 3 arrays still to be seen on chimney tops. The current impetus on terrestrial tv is to phase out all analogue transmitters, replacing them with up to 6 digital multiplexes. That gives about 30 TV channels to choose from. That's still using 625 line format, either in standard 4x3 aspect ratio or more usually in 16x9 aspect ratio. The bandwidth remains the same, just the pixel shape is different. And sometime in 2006 there will be "high definition" trials using terrestrial digital. As for renting vs buying, there used to be a market for rental. But that died out sometime ago. And the licence fee --- people have always grumbled about paying it. Whether they are "content" is one of the unanswerable questions. As you have to pay it if you want to watch tv at all, content or otherwise you buy a licence. One licence covers all the tv sets in the house. The licence fee funds all the BBC TV channels (BBC-1, BBC-2, BBC-3, BBC-4, CBBC, Cbeebies, BBC News24, the local/regional TV stations, the five national radio networks, the regional & local radio stations, the BBC Internet sites including http://news.bbc.co.uk (Mark Hattam, UK, ibid.) I was a 4-year old lad in Scotland before we emigrated in 1967. Our family never paid the licence fee. The government had a truck that drove around with an antenna checking to see who had TVs on that weren't licenced. We got fined once because the neighbours failed to tell us the truck was there (usually the neighbours kept a vigil and phoned around to warn others, who quickly turned off their TVs). I guess they either tried to detect the video buzz or the video IF. I do remember watching Gilligan's Island, Jonny Quest & Doctor Who, all in black & white. I didn't DX though; didn't play with the TV dials until I was 7 (William Hepburn, WTFDA Grimsby, ON, CANADA, Dec 30, WTFDA via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ BRINGING BACK CHANNEL B1 Hello Everyone, I stumbled on to something. For the 70th anniversary of British TV, antique television enthusiasts in London are trying to get permission to reactivate 405-line television transmissions from Alexandra Palace in London. OK, I know you're thinking that's kind of interesting, here's the kicker --- they're trying to do it on the old UK channel 1. That's right, 41.5 MHz/45.0 MHz. From a cursory glance at their forum, it seems they're caught up in red tape. There's another eleven months for them to get it done, so there is some hope of some really exotic TV DX for us if they can pull it off. Details can be found at http://www.405-line.tv/ (Curtis Sadowski, IL, WTFDA via DXLD) actually continuing the thread just above Wow! That's neat stuff, and very reminiscent of the WA2XMN Alpine low- band FM commemorative broadcasts earlier this year. I hope they can pull this off. Unfortunately for trans-Atlantic DX hopes, the anniversary date in question would be 2 Nov 2006, which would be a lousy time to hope for Es across the ocean! (As for WA2XMN, now that it has an experimental license good through 2009, I'm going to talk to Steve about trying to do some "DX specials" at the peak of the summer 2006 Es season. On a good day, that 42.8 MHz signal should go and go and go...) s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) ###