DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-010, January 14, 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 NEXT SW AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO EXTRA 64: Days, times strictly UT Sun 0330 WWCR 5070 [time varies] Sun 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0730 WWCR 3215 Sun 1400 WRMI 7385 Sun 2230 WRMI 7385 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 Full schedule, including AM, FM, satellite and internet, with hotlinks to station sites and audio: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WOR Extra 64 summary: http://www.worldofradio.com/com0510.html WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml NEW: CONTINENT OF MEDIA 06-01, Jan 12: (download) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0601.rm (stream) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0601.ram (summary) not yet available ** ALASKA. Now may be the time to try for KNOM in Nome, on 780, as KKOH in NV on the same frequency is being reported off the air intermittently, or apparently on low power, from several west coast DXers. At solar trough now high-latitude paths are hopping, e.g. Norway. Or anything else it would normally block on 780, such as the more prosaic WBBM (Glenn Hauser, OK, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. QSL, LRA36 - "ARCANGEL SAN GABRIEL" BASE ANTARTICA ESPERANZA, ANTARTIDA ARGENTINA, 15476 kHz "Cerificado de recepción", 113 days, V/S Marcos Ramírez, Director, LRA36. Address: LRA36 RADIO NACIONAL ARCANGEL SAN GABRIEL, BASE ANTARTICA ESPERANZA (CP 9411), ANTARTIDA ARGENTINA. SENT: MY SWL QSL CARD, CD WITH TAPED TRANSMISSION, SOME ITALIAN STICKERS, 1 US$. You can see the certificate pic at: http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com/ (Francesco Cecconi, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. RAE, 11710.82, 0150-0254 Jan 6. Tune-in to Spanish programming with local tango music. 0155 IS and multi-lingual ID announcements. 0201 into English with tango music; 0209-0214 news and more news again at 0221-0227. 0244 ``Science & Technology`` program. 0254 end of English and into IS/multi-lingual ID sequence. Very good (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Following the tip here in this group I tried it this Saturday morning at 01 UT and actually heard the Portuguese program with about O=3! Guess they are Mon-Fri Argentine time. Long time since I've heard them on 11710 (and 15345 for that matter...) 73, (Erik Køie in Copenhagen, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. See UNIDENTIFIED [non] 6155 ** BELGIUM. ROW OVER FM FREQUENCIES IN BELGIUM CAUSES CHAOS FM broadcasting in the Flemish part of Belgium is in disarray after the Belgian Council of State in December suspended 146 transmitter allocations from the new FM frequency plan that was introduced in Flanders in May 2004. The decision arises from a petition filed in 2003 by broadcasters in the Walloon (French-speaking) part of the country, on the basis that some of the new frequency allocations could cause interference to transmissions in their region. The Council of State judged that the Flemish government assigned some frequencies without completing all the the legally-required coordination procedures. Only those frequency allocations for which the coordination procedure was not completed are suspended. But the suspended transmitters include all those used by Q-music (27) as well as 4FM (16), some regional radio stations and many local radio stations. It is now up to the Flemish Commission for the Media and the Flemish government to decide if these transmitter should be taken off the air. Andy Sennitt comments: It seems ludicrous that a major new frequency plan can be implemented in one part of the country without close coordination with the other. This is, of course, not so much a technical issue as another political spat between the two main language communities in Belgium. But even if Belgium was divided into two countries, coordination would still be required. As far as we're aware, there are no problems in the south of the Netherlands where Flemish frequencies have to be coordinated with Dutch ones. # posted by Andy @ 12:33 UT Jan 13 (Media Network blog via DXLD) There has actually been coordinating work between the Flemish and Walloon government on frequencies. There were twelve frequencies left where further agreement was required on. The problem is also that while Flanders has an approved frequency plan, even if the new 2004 plan has now been ruled out, Wallonia does not have a single approved frequency plan. So, not only theoretically but also factual, none of the Walloon radio stations, including the public RTBF, is broadcasting legally. This is also the reason why Wallonia does not act against the many illegal uses of frequency and power outputs of various Walloon stations. They have nothing legal to base themselves on. Another problem is that the Walloon have produced their own guideline: they believe their stations should be able to be listened to in the whole of Belgium, with a lot of interference as a result. So the matter is much more complicated than stated here (Herman, location unknown, 01.13.06 - 4:01 pm, ibid.) ** BURKINA FASO. R. Burkina, 5030, *0600-0630+ Jan 8. Sign-on with NA, opening French announcements, 0605 Afro-pop music. Fair but some splatter from Cuba 5025. Sign-on time seems to vary (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Well, this weekend Stuart McLean ranted on about his un-magical problems with Disneyland as if no toilet in Canada produced as many problems as the one he was stuck with in his room as he visited the States. As indicated by the Red Green Show on PBS, Canadians have a preference for the root clogs and overflow of "honey" from septic tanks and only Winston Rothchild Triplesticks can successfully come to the rescue. This weekend Stuart McLean was under the mistaken impression that his snit don't stink. Sorry, Stuart, but it does (Clara Listensprechen, Jan 14, dxldyg via DXLD) I certainly hope you will write to the Vinyl Café and tell them of your dissatisfaction with their story telling. The people there probably haven't a clue how widely distributed their program really is -- through Internet, RCI, and now, Sirius (Ricky Leong, Calgary, AB, ibid.) Maybe so, but other CBC programs are quick to acknowledge additional platforms. Q&Q has mentioned RCI SW for a long time. Vinyl Café invites listener participation for the ``Story Exchange``, but I`ve never ever heard one from anyone outside Canada. I don`t really begrudge a Canada-only program, but if they routinely throw out any submissions from outsiders, they ought to be up front about it and announce that this is for Canadians (& residents?) only! OTOH, can one think of an American program which would treat Canadians that way? (Glenn Hauser, Elephantland, DXLD) ** CANADA. CHSM [1250 Steinbach, Manitoba] plays classical music overnight, and does ID, but only occasionally, usually within 10 minutes of the top of the hour. It's often heard in parallel with CFAM on 950 kHz, and they did QSL a few years ago. It's been very strong here recently, and seems to change from Classical music to its morning programming some time after 1100 UT. On Wednesday it was classical at 1101, but with morning programming at 1142. 73s, (Martin A. Hall, Clashmore, Scotland, MWC via DXLD) A look at their website failed to turn up anything resembling a program schedule, or anything about playing classical music, altho there were links to arts organisations (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 1028 I was tuning around and came across an ad for a window company said to be "The best place to buy your windows in Manitoba" at this I muttered an expletive! It was at good levels above another station, perhaps CJYE. A weather forecast followed the ad - a high of minus 3 (ouch) and then an ID: "This is "Classics Till Dawn" with Ron James on AM 1250 Radio, south eastern Manitoba's classical choice" Then an intro from Ron who sounded heavily sedated, and classics till about 1115. I kept checking back and didn`t hear any more speech. So, lucky to come across them at the right moment. Hope they QSL! Regards (Paul Logan, Fermanagh, Lisnaskea, N. Ireland, UK, MWC via DXLD) ** CHINA. Tianjin goes Digital with M2W mediumwave transmitters, to promote DRM on MW in China. The Yangliuqing transmitting station has recently taken five new Thales digital MW transmitters into operation, of 50 kW each. Located around 100 km southeast of Beijing. Yangliuqing transmitting station presently has a total of 11 Thales M2W digital transmitters on air (Thales - Radio News - Winter 2006, Jan 13 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. SITUACION DE LA FM EN BOGOTÁ Hola Amigos, Luego de la competencia generada por RCN y Caracol por el FM en Bogotá, el dial capitalino quedó así: 88.9 HJHR RADIO UNO Musical - Vallenato RCN 89.9 HJCK 40 PRINCIPALES Musical - Pop Español CARACOL 90.4 HJUD UNIV. DISTRITAL Universitaria - Cultural UNIV 90.9 HJYY LA MEGA Musical - Rock-Pop Español RCN 91.9 HJKZ JAVERIANA ESTEREO Universitaria - Cultural UNIV 92.4 HJL77 POLICIA NACIONAL Interés Público INT 92.9 HJST LA Z Musical - Tropical TODELAR 93.4 HJL78 COLOMBIA ESTEREO Interés Público INT 93.9 HJVC AMOR ESTEREO Musical - Baladas RCN 94.9 HJMO LA F.M. Musical - Adulto Contemporáneo RCN 95.9 HJIN NACIONAL - CLASICO Musical - Clásica RTVC 96.9 HJMD MELODIA FM ESTEREO Musical - Adulto Contemporáneo MELODIA 97.4 HJL80 LA VALLENATA Musical - Vallenato CARACOL 97.9 HJJK RADIOACTIVA Musical - Rock Inglés CARACOL 98.5 HJUN UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL Universitaria - Cultural UNIV 99.1 HJND NACIONAL CANAL JOVEN Musical - Cultural RTVC 99.9 HJLN W RADIO Musical - Adulto Contemporáneo CARACOL 100.4 HJL81 BESAME Musical - Baladas CARACOL 100.9 HJQL CARACOL RADIO Informativa CARACOL 101.9 HJPU CANDELA ESTEREO Musical - Tropical WV RADIO 102.9 HJRX TROPICANA ESTEREO Musical - Tropical CARACOL 103.9 HJVU LA X Musical - Rock-pop Inglés TODELAR 104.4 HJL82 EL SOL 104.4 FM Musical - Salsa RCN 104.9 HJVD VIBRA FM Musical - Rock-pop español WV RADIO 105.4 HJL83 RUMBA STEREO Musical - Tropical RCN 105.9 HJIT OLIMPICA F.M. ESTEREO Musical - Tropical mix OLIMPICA 106.9 HJUT UNIVERSIDAD JORGE TADEO Universitaria - Cultural UNIV 107.9 HJVV MINUTO DE DIOS ESTEREO Religiosa REL De esta forma Caracol lleva la ventaja ya que de los 28 canales autorizados para operar en el FM de Bogotá, esta cadena queda con 7 emisoras, y RCN con 6 estaciones. También quedan planteados "Duelos" por la sintonía en emisoras de las dos cadenas con estilos de programación igual, así: RADIO UNO vs LA VALLENATA LA MEGA vs 40 PRINCIPALES AMOR ESTEREO vs BESAME LA F.M. vs W RADIO RUMBA vs TROPICANA Un saludo (Rafael Rodríguez, Bogotá, Jan 14, condig list via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Radio República (RR): All observations 1/12-13/06 (UT date) 7160: On from my first chance to check at 2320 UT, with firm ID at 2324 SINPO of 34333. I was only able to do spot checks with programming on at each check 2340 (not the usual woman announcer with a talk), 2351 ("Informativa"), 0035 (male announcer interviewing another man), 0052 (ID sequence). Listened continually after 0337. Found the BBC dominating the frequency with English news (from Ascension), RR was far below with a man giving a strident talk. I checked for parallel on 7110, and these were different streams (at 0352 there was the same talk on 7160 and a woman on 7110, both for some time.) 0359 ID and off at 0400, in time for the BBC ToH time pips. 6010: Checked at 0052 with expected ID sequence; SINPO 43443. The Cuban government jammer was present, but not effective at my location. 7110: Listened from 0352 to 0359 sign-off. The Cuban government jammer was highly effective. SINPO 31441. RR was way under the bubbling, with talk by the usual woman announcer, several ID's, and sign-off at 0359. RR was quite usable on 7160 until after 0300 when the BBC dominated (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, UT Jan 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I started monitoring 7160 Jan 13 at 2256: nothing there, but carrier on at 2259:30, and at 2300 gave WRMI 9955 ID in Spanish! Then Radio República produced ID as just heard before hourtop on 6135, with the ``9955`` chopped out. But no mention yet of this actual frequency, 7160, and into ``Despierta Cuba`` program. Not // 6135. So this transmission, unlike 6135/6010/7110, is indeed under auspices of WRMI, and presumably by DTK/T-Systems as the earlier 7160 test December 10 at 0200 was for RMI. Apparently 7160 runs past 0300 as observed by Mark Taylor, until 0400, after which I have not heard it. No jamming heard yet on 7160: it seems to take the dentrocubanos about a week to catch on and even longer to catch off. But once it does, we will have an even bigger problem, as the 40-meter hamband is supposed to be off-limits for broadcasts not only within, but into, Region 2! Oh! This must be for Iceland, not Cuba! Perhaps RR will evaluate whether DTK/T-Systems on one frequency, or VT/Merlin on three different ones, gives them better results. Would it be too much to ask both of them to stay out of the hamband? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos Glenn, por Valencia (España), R. República en 7160 desde las 2324 a 2340, en español, con SINPO 55544, con antena telescópica, señal muy fuerte, programa de música, a las 2330 ID "Radio República, Voz del Directorio Democratico Cubado", locutor con programa "Entrevista a Fondo", con invitado hablando de "La lucha cívica no violenta". (José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 0030 UT check Jan 14, 7160 was certainly being bubble-jammed, so disregard my previous comment. RR/RMI was still atop the jamming here. 5965 RHC also had some detectable bubble jamming under it, still! 6010 on with separate RR program, which we are hoping will soon move somewhere else following XEOY complaints, but how long will it take the jammers to move off too? (Glenn, ibid.) ** CUBA [non]. PROFESSORS INDICTED FOR ESPIONAGE By: Ana Sanchez / News Editor Issue date: 1/12/06 Section: News Indicted: Carlos Álvarez and his wife Elsa Álvarez are suspected of being covert Cuban agents. courtesy photo [mugshots] Two FIU professors who are married were indicted as covert agents of the Cuban government and arrested by FBI agents Jan. 6 for failure to register with the federal government as foreign agents. . . http://www.beaconnewspaper.com/media/paper540/news/2006/01/12/News/Pro fessors.Indicted.For.Espionage-1340391.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.beaconnewspaper.com (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) FIU MENTAL-HEALTH COUNSELOR ACCUSED OF SPYING RESPONDS TO 1982 ALLEGATIONS --- BY OSCAR CORRAL AND JAY WEAVER The activities of a Florida International University mental-health counselor accused of spying for the Cuban government came to the attention of Congress as early as 1982 when she worked for the University of Miami, according to congressional records. Florida investigators warned the federal government that several Cuban exiles in Miami, among them Elsa Prieto Alvarez, were providing sensitive information to the Cuban government, just as Miami was struggling to absorb more than 125,000 Mariel refugees, including hundreds of prisoners with serious criminal backgrounds and patients with severe mental illnesses. . . http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13613217.htm (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Comms with Cuba involved SW, numbers (gh) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. On January 13 at 13:13:13 CET Ceský Rozhlas launched a new program called CRo 4 - Rádio Wave: http://www.rozhlas.cz/radiowave/ So far CRo 4 is carried via FM 100.7 in the Prague area and I understand also via the Czech Link satellite bouquet on Astra 3A and apparently at present still on Eurobird (TV services on Czech Link are encrypted but radio is FTA there). I understand that Ceský Rozhlas planned such a youth station for a long time; at least it is quite obvious how no CRo 4 existed until now. Actually a youth program from Prague existed already prior to 1990, called E+M and carried on lower powered FM transmitters (the first ones in the CCIR band I think), perhaps during certain hours also on some mediumwave outlets. But later E+M disappeared, hardly noticed in all the drastic changes related to the break-apart of Czechoslovakia. (There is a possibility that E+M actually originated from Bratislava, but I think it was indeed produced at Prague.) (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 2280 harmonic (2 x 1140), Radio Anacaona; San Juan, Jan 13., 0207, Almost non-stop bachata music. ID "Radio Anacaona... del sur" at 0213 UT. Fairly regular catch. Weak signal with QRM from SSB voice comm. on adjacent channel. Thanks Jay Novello in IRC #swl for help (Mark Veldhuis, Borne, the Netherlands. Icom IC- R75, Wellbrook ALA-1530, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. ``Apsua Radio`` or ``Abkhaz Radio`` was heard broadcasting on Sunday from 12 to 1245 UT on 9495 kHz with a program in Russian. It was announced that the station also broadcasts On 31 and 222 meters. The correspondence with the station is unsure, so it is recommended to send your reports via Russia to: Abkhaz Radio, Aydghylara Street 34, 384900 Soxum, via Russian Federation (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Jan 13 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. Rather surprised to hear the German national anthem on 11565, Jan 13 at 1536 --- wait a minute, that`s the melody but the lyrix are in English, and not a word about Germany. It`s now a Christian hymn on WYFR! How would we feel about the Star Spangled Banner being turned into a German drinking song?? Next time I`m in a church for an at least semi-secular concert, will have to search for enlightenment about this in the back pages of a hymnal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Sines: see PORTUGAL ** GREECE. There is really a pirate station on 1305 kHz (1750-1810 UT on Jan 7) playing native Greek songs. Seldom talking in Greek but no ID as usual of all Greek and Serbian pirates in range 1600-1800 kHz. In MW band there are four Greek pirates: on 1305, 1383, 1567 and 1603 kHz (Dec 2005-Jan 2006). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 13, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** GREECE [and non]. Dear Friends, Today is Saturday, January 14, 2006. I'm listening to Voice of Greece on 15630 in English, 1515 UT (1500-1600 broadcast). Frequencies during this transmission are 12105 9420 and 15630. 12105 was the best, with no fading, followed closely by 15630. 9420 is strong, but a little QRM (Christopher Lewis, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Those are audible here too, but Delano relay on 9775 is incomparably better, audible on dental fillings. I too noted that after a 3-week break, Hellenes Around the World was back, and that in her intro Katrina never mentions the four SW frequencies, which might be helpful to some listeners. Her guest in the second half would be the first Greek-Briton to be honoured by The Queen; was it an MBE? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII [and non]. One wonders if either organization is aware of the other, and how odd it is that both chose to operate 2 kHz away from each other in a far-out-of-band location: Jan 14 at 1530, Korean clandestine Echo of Hope in AM on 6348, and AFRTS Hawaii on 6350-USB. However, they were quite separable on the ICF-SW07, with LSB synch detexion for the former, and USB for the latter; neither signal very strong. AFRTS had a sports segment, so I would rather listen to the Korean. Both still audible at 1555 but weakening (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Re 6-009, SIKKIM, in reply to Bob Foxworth: Dear Bob, All the AIR 90 Meter Band frequencies are still on air viz. 3223 Shimla, 3315 Bhopal, 3365 Delhi, 3390 Gangtok in the local mornings/evening/night. They are expected to change to 60 meter band frequencies later. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Dear Glenn, Very strong open carrier on 15150 at 1510 UT 1/13. I assume it is Voice of Indonesia, as recognized familiar background transmitter noise. What service is meant at this time? Still, it's a lot of kilowatts. [Later:] In addition to the note previous regarding Indonesia. From 1529, Interval signal of Voice of Indonesia came over the transmitter "From Jakarta, you are listening to the Voice of Indonesia". Very interesting, and beautiful music (Christopher Lewis, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s the break when nothing is really scheduled, but they like to burn kW with open carriers, as formerly the case on 9525 as I frequently reported last summer. 15150 should be slightly low in frequency as a further clew it be VOI (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. ALL-NEWS TELEVISION SPREADING ITS WINGS --- By Doreen Carvajal, International Herald Tribune SUNDAY, JANUARY 8, 2006 PARIS --- The competition stares dead straight into Ulysse Gosset's eyes every moment he sits at his cluttered desk at temporary headquarters near the glassy Seine. Before him flickers a television tuned to Atlanta-based CNN, which 25 years ago created a powerful genre with a 24-hour all-news network that now reaches more than two billion people. For other countries, such global power is as tantalizing as new oil wells, inspiring fresh competition from India to Russia and Qatar to France, where all-news channels are emerging with different perspectives. But to sway the world, the messengers have settled on a lingua franca: English. Gosset, who is helping to lead a project to create an all-news French channel this year, is unabashed about why its breaking headlines will be delivered in French and English. "Today news channels are part of the global battle in the world," he said. "It's as important as traditional diplomacy and economic strength. If we have a real desire to communicate around the world, we need to do it with the right medium, and that's English." The hotly debated French project, which remains unnamed and is scheduled to start by December with E75 million, or $91 million, in government funding, is one of several all-news channels that are rushing headlong to television screens and Web sites this year. . . http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/08/business/tv09.php (via Gerald T. Pollard, NC, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. LIBYA JAMMING 'EXPOSED VULNERABILITY' An incident involving Libya blocking a dissident radio station late last year highlighted the potentially devastating consequences of relying too much on satellites, a British MP has warned. In September 2005, the London-based station began beaming into Libya via satellite. Almost immediately, it was jammed by the Libyan authorities - but in blocking that signal, several other broadcasters, amongst them CNN and BBC World, were also blocked out. . . http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4602674.stm (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. Stern Still On Terrestrial Radio (The Pirate Kind) The newest inadvertent programming provider to pirate FM stations is SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO, which means that listeners within range of some illegal transmitters are hearing HOWARD STERN live on terrestrial radio. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/382370p-324640c.html The NEW YORK DAILY NEWS reports that pirate FMs in BROOKLYN (which had been carrying other SIRIUS channels before HOWARD's debut) and NORTH JERSEY are rebroadcasting the STERN show; the pirate in NEWARK is using 101.5 FM, which is normally occupied by the fringe signal from FM Talk giant WKXW (NEW JERSEY 101.5)/TRENTON, whose PD ERIC JOHNSON told the NEWS had received no listener complaints, "so the pirate must have been working in a small area.... I don't know what you do about it. You'd like to catch them, but it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, they come and go." (allaccess.com via Brock Whaley, DXLD) Viz.: Stern's pirated, naughty bits air --- Brooklyn, N.J. get show free BY DAVID HINCKLEY, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/382539p-324640c.html Turns out Howard Stern isn't completely gone from terrestrial radio after all. Illegal pirate radio broadcasts of his Sirius Satellite program have been heard this week - for free - on broadcast radio, including 95.1 FM in Brooklyn and 101.5 FM in North Jersey. That presented a potentially startling situation yesterday for listeners in the Newark/Secaucus area who suddenly heard Stern replaying the obscenity-laced Pat O'Brien tapes and song parodies using words that can't be printed here. Such language is legal on Sirius, which has no Federal Communications Commission regulations on its content, but quite illegal on over-the- air broadcast radio. Sirius spokesman Patrick Reilly said yesterday that the company had heard nothing about Stern popping up on free radio, and said he would have no comment on it. FCC spokesman David Fiske, whose agency Stern accuses of driving him from terrestrial radio, said he didn't know of any complaints about the apparent pirate transmissions. "Pirate broadcasting is something we take very seriously," Fiske said, "although the content per se would be of no concern to us in the case of Howard Stern, since the FCC does not regulate satellite radio." Program director Eric Johnson of WKXW in Trenton, which broadcasts legally on 101.5 FM, said he had gotten no listener calls, "so the pirate must have been working in a small area." Johnson said unknown pirates used the 101.5 FM frequency in Brooklyn this summer. "I don't know what you do about it," he said. "You'd like to catch them, but it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, they come and go." The 95.1 FM frequency is vacant. Technologically, said Tom Taylor of the trade magazine Inside Radio, it's "very easy" to take Stern's satellite program and transmit it on a broadcast frequency. Anyone receiving the Sirius transmission could download it to a computer or other receiving device, then broadcast it through an inexpensive antenna. "You only need about $1,500 worth of equipment," Taylor said. "It's illegal, of course, but it's attractive to some people because even if you're caught, FCC enforcement can be a slow process." Several dozen pirate stations operate regularly if erratically around the New York area, many playing Caribbean and other genres of music that don't have a regular home on city radio. Fiske said the FCC doesn't comment on investigations or pending actions, though he suggested the country's largest pirate problem now is in Southern Florida. With Richard Huff Originally published on January 13, 2006 (NY Daily News via Sheldon Harvey, DXLD) 95.1 interferes with the family radio station in NYC; they aren't going to like that. 101.5 in NJ is NJ 101.5 one of the first money making FM talk stations in the US (Lou Josephs, 01.14.06 - 6:25 pm, Media Network blog via DXLD) You mean WFME 94.7 Newark? Not much if any, two channels away. NJ 101.5 is way over in Trenton (gh, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. NEW WEBSITE "THE RADIO CAROLINE STORY" LAUNCHED Offshore Echos have announced the opening of the website "The Radio Caroline Story." Radio Caroline is probably the most famous of all the offshore radio stations, and over the years become something of a broadcasting legend. However all good legends are a mix of fact and fiction, none more so than Caroline, and the story has many myths associated with it. This new site from Offshore Echos includes numerous photos, audio and video clips, as well as some previously unpublished items. The first part of the story looks at the start of Caroline, and the short lived Radio Atlanta, up to the time the two stations merged. More will be added in the coming months. Click here to start the Radio Caroline story http://www.offshoreechos.com [sic] If you want further information, or have any material you'd like to share for future web pages, then please send an E-mail to oem @ offshoreechos.com [sic] (Source: Offshore Echos) # posted by Andy @ 11:40 UT Jan 13 (Media Network blog via DXLD) When will they realise that the plural of Echo is Echoes, not Echos or Echo's? (Gerry, 01.13.06 - 10:08 pm, ibid.) Well, maybe you don't realise that Offshore Echos is a French organization that operates in English and French. The name is "Franglais", just like "Digital Radio Mondiale" (Andy, 01.13.06 - 10:47 pm, ibid.) But only in Dutch may you form plurals with apostrophes legally, right, Andy? (gh, ibid.) ** IRAN [and non]. IRAN PRESS: ARTICLE LISTS AIMS OF FOREIGN RADIO BROADCASTS | Text of Article by Vahid Aslani: "Foreign Radios, Agents of World Colonialism"in Iranian newspaper Siyasat-e Ruz on 5 January Do you know that foreign radios broadcast 2,460 minutes of Persian programs per day toward our country? Do you know this is equivalent to 42 hours [as received] per day? By reviewing the programs broadcast by foreign radios, whose producers are not friends of the Iranian people, regarding the content of their programs and their records, you will understand the reason for this. In their hopeless efforts, foreign radios try to present a gloomy picture of the Islamic Republic and cause the people to lose their hope for future. Though the hostility of these radios and their sponsors and the groups directing them toward the Islamic Republic is undeniable, it seems that discovering the profits and interests they are seeking is not so easily and simple. Through verbal communication, including reports and interviews, these persons are trying to obtain a foothold in the Islamic Republic by influencing their listeners in the long-term and plunging Iranians into disappointment and indifference about what may happen to their religion, their homeland and their fellow citizens. These are the major Persian-speaking broadcasting centers: Radio Farda broadcasting 24 hours per day; BBC broadcasting 6 hours per day; Voice of America broadcasting 6 hours per day; Cologne Radio broadcasting 2 hours per day; Radio France International broadcasting 1.5 hours per day; and Moscow Radio broadcasting 2 hours per day. In general, in can be said that the foreign radios pursue some main objectives in Iran, including political, domestic, cultural, social and economic objectives and foreign actions and reactions. The aims of the Western radios may be listed as follows: 1. Injuring the image of Islam; 2. Distorting the nature of the revolution; 3. Trying to show that Iranian leaders are incompetent; 4. Trying to separate the people from the leadership; 5. Fanning the flames of crises and sowing doubts among the people; 6. Making allegations against the leaders; 7. Trying to prove the absence of freedom in the country; 8. Presenting Iran as a threat to other countries of the world; 9. Trying to show that Iranian young people and women live in hard and intolerable conditions; 10. Trying to show that the country suffers from an economic crisis; 11. Aggrandizing external threats against Iran; and 12. Trying to show Iran's complicity in terrorist activities. By reviewing the programs broadcast by these radios, it is known that Radio Farda broadcast programs of the longest duration and BBC and the Voice and America rank second and third, respectively. Comparing the percentage of programs focused on Iranian issues, Radio Israel and Radio France rank first and second by allocating 90.6 per cent and 85.3 per cent of their time, respectively. These radios, by broadcasting numerous short news stories (relevant or irrelevant to Iranian issues) are trying to attract listeners and divert their attention from domestic media and direct their audiences to play their colonialist role. The subjects covered by these radios clearly show that they allocate most of their programs to domestic political issues. The programs broadcast by foreign media contain thousands of messages. These messages have been prepared with respect to large-scale strategies of these media and their special aims and are used by them in propaganda campaigns in due times. Foreign radios always try to persuade their listeners that a power struggle is going on in Iran; therefore they focus on the events that can convey this message. Foreign media use special methods to instill their propaganda into people's minds, and these methods are usually in harmony with the content of their programs. For instance, instilling political propaganda is usually done in the form of news, news reports, interviews and roundtables. Of course, this does not mean that other programs, including narratives, conversation with listeners, and..., are clear of political matters. Foreign media, which spend enormous funds, do not desire the good of the Islamic Republic. Listening to the news and material broadcast by these media requires alertness and having knowledge of their aims. The people listening to these media as sources of information must be acquainted with the professional delicacy of the methods of these media methods in order to avoid falling into the traps set by world imperialism. Source: Siyasat-e Ruz, Tehran, in Persian 5 Jan 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) I`ve had zero replies to my query a few weeks ago whether anyone was hearing any jamming on R. Farda SW frequencies (gh, DXLD) ** ITALY. Hi Glenn, I watched the Italian news anchor on the google video --- it was quite entertaining. From what I gathered, the man got quite irritated when the (studio?) door was left open, shouting for it to be closed, on some of the clips. That's all I could gather (Christopher Lewis, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There were lots of different outbursts edited together into the 3- minute segment: witness the changes in costume. From the text at the side, I gather he was named ``Man of the Year``. Perhaps some of our native Italian readers can give us their reaxions (gh, DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. Hi There, In addition to our regular broadcasts on 13840 and 5775 kHz, we are announcing some test transmissions to Europe, Middle East and North America on Sat-Sun Jan. 14-15, 2006. Saturday Jan. 14, 2006 AND Sunday Jan. 15, 2006 from IRRS-Shortwave / European Gospel Radio http://www.egradio.org 1. To Europe and NA: - 1300 to 1400 UT - 9385 kHz - 100 kW 2. To Middle East: - 1500 to 1600 UT - 9385 kHz - 100 kW 3. To Europe: - 1900 to 2000 UT - 5775 kHz - 100 kW 4. To NA (Saturday Jan 14 and Sunday Jan 15 evening local time in NA): - 0100 to 0200 UT Jan 15 & 16 - 9385 kHz - 250 kW Please check our regular schedules at: http://www.nexus.org/NEXUS-IBA/Schedules We will appreciate reception reports to: reports @ nexus.org - We will issue a QSL on request for these tests. Thank You. 73s, (Ron Norton, IRRS, via Roberto Scaglione, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sites never specified, but we are pretty sure there are no 100 kW, and certainly not 250 kW transmitters in Milano! Bulgaria, or some other arrangement? IRRS refuses to make this info public. Looks like 9385 is a popular new frequency, and part of the above schedule collides with Brother Stair via WWRB; see also SOUTH CAROLINA (gh) ** JAPAN. HELLO FROM TOKYO, RADIO JAPAN SPECIAL INTERVIEW: In this week (14 Jan, 2006) edition of Hello From Tokyo, Radio Japan, NHK World aired special interview of Mr. Sean D. Gilbert, International Editor of World Radio TV Handbook and Mr. Lawrence Magne, Editor in chief and publisher of Passport To World Band Radio. Best regards, (MD. AZIZUL ALAM AL-AMIN, BANGLADESH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JUAN FERNANDEZ. 21/01/2006: DXpedition to Juan Fernández Island (CE0Z), IOTA SA-005 - January 21st to 28th - All operators are confirmed: Guillermo/XQ3SA (Team Leader), Maite/CE3BYL, Gerard/F2JD, Pedro/CE3BFZ, Héctor/CE3VII, Dave/K4SV, Bill/N2WB, Bob/N6OX, Ignacio/CE3GFN, Sergio/CE3GL and Juan/CE3GRG. All the equipment and antennas are ready to go. Airplanes tickets and hostelling are confirmed. During the activity, look for the crew on the following frequencies: CW - 1.820, 3.540, 7.020, 10.110, 14.040, 18.080, 21.040, 24.890, 28.040 and 50.110 MHz; SSB - 1.840, 3.795, 7.060, 14.195, 18.145, 21.295, 24.945, 28.495 and 50.110 MHz. The log will be available at http://www.ce3bsq.cl/ce0z/log.html QSL Managers: for North America - N2OO, Robert W Schenck, PO Box 345, Tuckerton, NJ 08087 USA; For Europe - F6AJA, Jean Michel Duthilleul, 515 Rue du Petit Hem, 59870 Bouvignies, FRANCE; and for South America - CE3BSQ, Radioclub Manquehue, P.O. Box 27064, Santiago, CHILE. [Tnx F5NQL] (I.C.P.O. Calendar (January 12 - 20, 2006) Islands, Castles & Portable Operations via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) I wish everybody would give frequencies in kHz, not MHz. I tire of taking out all the decimals. But leaving them in makes it harder to search them out subsequently, unless you always try them both ways, doubling your work and time expended. At least hardly anybody uses metric wavelengths instead, except a few very backward stations. I may periodically retaliate by converting frequencies to MHs -- megaHausers (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** JORDAN. R. Jordan with a good but fluttery signal, almost overcoming the RTTY, 11690, Jan 14 at 1500 opening news in English about someone who died on Thursday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. It appears that Radio Echo of Hope has resumed its broadcasts from South to North Korea and was received in Sofia with a very weak signal on 6348 kHz between 1450 and 1705 UT (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Jan 6 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. While taking a break of my weekly cleaning duty, that´s dusting and vacuum-cleaning (this is Nordic equality) I tried some DX and heard Pyongyang Broadcasting Station with pretty good reception at 1425 UT on 3320.2 kHz. They played patriotic songs with signal strength of S5-6. Also noted R Myanmar on 5040.4 kHz and R New Zealand International 9870 kHz around 1420 UT. 73 and happy weekend! (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, DX LISTENING DIGEST) and see also HAWAII [and non] ** KOREA SOUTH. On 14 Jan while scanning the bands noted a song by male vocalist on 6215 at 1432 UT. Then announcement by female in Korean and she started to read five-digit groups. I've heard this earlier on the same frequency and I think I read somewhere it's from South Korea. Good signal strength, mode was AM (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. Iraq. Radio Voice of Iranian Kurdistan is now on the air from 1325 to 1525 UT on the varying frequencies of 3970 and 4860 kHz. Confirmations of reception reports are hardly obtainable but you can try: AFK, Boîte Postale 102, 75623 Paris, Cedex 13, France (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Jan 13 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** LATVIA. This weekend relays are: Sat January 14 Radio Six 0700-0800 UT Sun January 15 Radio Six 1200-1300 UT Good Listening (Tom Taylor, UK, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Started out weak (and lots of static due to a very unusual January thunderstorm) at 0700 UT until about 0720 when the S meter jumped from S-8 to 10/20 over S-9 with an equal improvement in modulation. The Latvians must have tweaked the transmitter! SINPO now (0740) of 44344 on 9290 kHz (Russell Lay, Nags Head, NC, HCDX via DXLD) Wow, that's what happened here, DX-ing near Lamont, Alberta. We were tuned in to marginal audio just past 0700 we just sat around chatting about some other catches of the evening when Don turns up his rig at around the same time (0725+- ) and mentions, "hey guys Latvia's at armchair copy" --- yeah, right says I. Well there they were booming in with pop music (only song I recognized was Van Halen's "Jump" --- must be getting old!). Sign-off announcements at 0800, Radio Six carried on to just past 0801+. Will have to check the tape to hear just what went on at 0720. 73 (Mick Delmage, Don Moman and Nigel Pimblett, Lamont Alberta, Canada Lots of rigs and antennas, ibid.) The 9290 transmissions are normally on an antenna aimed across WEu and into Brazil. If they are really trying to serve North America, perhaps they have another antenna they switched to in your direxion? Surely not in the middle of our nite, less so in AB. Maybe a sunrise skip enhancement phenomenon at their end (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DGIEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Re ``Listener mail to Radio Netherlands has dropped enormously in the past few years, and I suspect the same is true of other international broadcasters.`` That comment intrigues me. Andy, can you tell us if the listener-mail decrease at RN was on the way down already when the decision was made to terminate the "Sincerely Yours" mail-response program, or if it began after that change? If the former, did terminating "SY" cause the slope of the drop-off to steepen precipitously? I know that my personal mail to RN was far more frequent when I listened to "SY" every weekend, and has only been sporadic ever since then. So that change DID affect my personal likelihood to correspond; I would assume it would also so affect others. 73, (Will Martin, MO, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Will, The end of "Sincerely Yours" is one reason. But I am talking about listener mail generally, to individual programmes. All the different producers I speak to confirm the same trend. But the downward trend did indeed start well before that. You could say that it's due to dissatisfaction with the programmes, but the mail we do receive indicates quite a high level of listener appreciation. In any case, I do not buy the argument that it's healthy when one specific programme gets most of the listener mail. Media Network always got more listener mail than the other programmes, but it tended to be from the same group of people, some of whom never listened to any other programmes on Radio Netherlands. I'm not sure that the Media Network audience was any larger than the audience for the other feature programmes, but the programe actively encouraged feedback with competitions etc. Clearly you can't do that with a half hour documentary programme. We are planning significant changes to the on-air sound of the station in 2006. I can't tell you any more yet as the plans are still being developed, but hopefully some of the ideas that are being discussed will result in more enthusiasm to communicate with us (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) I hope it won`t be the ``BBC modelle`` of putting listener feedback inside every programme, including the news (other than the hourtop casts, I hope still). I find that most off-putting and a waste of airtime which should be spent on more good journalism (Glenn, ibid.) ** NIGERIA. The local Radio Kaduna was heard in Sofia on 4770 kHz from 2040 to 2255 UT with a program in English. The QSL address is: F.R.C.N. Kaduna, P.O.Box250, Kaduna, Kaduna State, Nigeria. It is desirable to make out your own verification card or letter for Radio Kaduna, which will be verified by the station (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Jan 6 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. QSL: Ragnar Radio; F/D Atlas sheet for Gun Play program on 6925/U, 15-Oct; presume for log posted somewhere. Also sent CD of show and letter stating he is retiring from broadcasting (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet Jan 13 via DXLD) ** NORWAY. 1314 kHz heard all over North America: See PROPAGATION ** OMAN. R. Sultanate of Oman, 15140, 1401-1501+ Jan 6. Tune-in to oldies US pop music with Mamas & Papas` California Dreamin` and others. 1414 English program about archaeological dig. 1429 back to US pop music by Barry Manilow, Beatles and others. 1500 chimes with English ID and brief English news bulletin before 1501 going into Arabic. Fair and in the clear; irregular. Not heard in some time. Also heard next day, Jan 7 at 1400-1430+ with 1400 chimes and into English with ID and news until 1407. 1408 US pop music with Cheryl Crowe and others (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7120 Wantok Radio Light --- Hi all, on 7120 I usually have Xinjiang with Kyrgyz until 1230 UT, but Wantok Radio Light has been well over the threshold many times lately, today Sat Jan 14, too. Christian songs, some of them with choirs singing in a South Pacific style. From 1300 Radio Romania. Their carrier seems to begin warming up at different times, e.g. 1253, as today, sometimes as late as 1259. 7120 is at times full of ham operators, today with a funny-sounding whistle concert when one of them was, I think, trying to start up a repeater. So there is a "window" to hear Wantok Radio Light between 1230 and 1300. 73/ (Johan Berglund, Trollhättan, Sweden, AOR AR7030 30 m LW, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. 4965.80, Radio Santa Mónica, 1030-1110 Jan 13. Noted a commotion here with promos and music all going on at the same time it seemed. Announcer with live ID, "...Radio Santa Mónica..." using the echo effect. Everything over music. Typical morning wakeup format for a Peruvian station. Signal was good for awhile, then faded to poor as the DX window closed (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DIPOLE, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PETER I [and non]. 3Y0 - The DXpedition to Peter I (3Y0X) has been given a substantial grant by the ARRL/Colvin Award, which is important to their overall DXpedition financing. The team has been assigned the special Chilean Antarctic call sign of XR9A for use to/from Peter I. They hope to be QRV from Punta Arenas for a few days and then maritime mobile to and from the island. There is a possibility that the team will also be QRV from the South Shetlands for a few days after the DXpedition is complete. The latest first hand news and updates on 3Y0X, as well as information on how to contribute to the DXpedition, can be found at http://www.peterone.com (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL [and non]. Re Glória and Sines: In the case of Holzkirchen, IBB also just took the transmitters away and left it to the German authorities to get rid of the transmitter plant; if I recall correctly, a considerable amount of money had been allocated for this purpose from the federal budget. However, the situation may be different insofar as the German authorities pushed IBB off Holzkirchen, something that Portugal apparently did not. The Glória site was in 1992 or 1993 also involved in a case of ``It`s rather bad form to put a SW broadcast to a country on a frequency occupied in that country, and this gets you a het to boot`` by carrying VOA German on 6030. Hearsay had it that the internal comments at Süddeutscher Rundfunk were quite harsh. Some notes on Sines: In the past they appeared on the market as ``Radio Trans Europe``, leasing airtime to various broadcasters, with RCI being the last one who moved out of Sines I think; earlier customers included AWR and IBRA Radio. This way they used the transmitter capacity allegedly not available for RDP. During the nineties the ``Radio Trans Europe`` brand disappeared, probably related to major investments (namely the replacement of the old Marconi transmitters by new Thomcast/Thalès gear). I think since then only Pro-Funk GmbH (once funded as ``Pro-Funk Gesellschaft zur Rundfunkförderung im In- und Ausland mbH``) is mentioned as operator of the Sines station. Of course Deutsche Welle is the sole owner of Pro-Funk, and it might be of interest that there is (or was) also a Pro-Funk Antigua Ltd., in addition to DW`s 55 percent share of The Caribbean Relay Company Ltd., the operator of the Antigua station (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. + CIS Additions and specifications Version 2.0 [I wonder how many/what changes to recently published Version 1? But I have dutifully once again removed all tabs and lined up columns -- gh] ----------------- 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 7460 1630-1700 200 VOO (Tue, Fri) 9415 1430-1530 200 DVB 11510 1000-1200 500 DWL 11510 1230-1330 200 RFA 13830 0000-0100 200 RFA Tajikistan / Yangiyul 6160 0200-0300 100 RFE 4760 0100-0200 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 5820 1800-1900 200 YFR 5850 1900-2000 100 SPR (Thu) 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 Version 2.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 0200-0300 250 FEB 7370 1900-2000 250 YFR 7425 1800-2000 250 YFR 7590 1700-1730 250 VOL (Mon, Thu) 7590 1700-1800 250 VOE (Fri, Sun) 7590 1700-1800 250 DER (Sat) 11655 0400-0530 250 FEB 13590 1200-1400 250 DWL 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) 7560 1800-1900 250 VOD (Sun) 12065 0500-0545 200 BVB 12115 1500-1600 250 VOU 13780 0400-0600 500 DWL 15145 0800-0850 250 DWL 15675 0600-0700 250 LBT (Wed, Sun) Novosibirsk 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 0100-0145 250 FEB 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 7580 1300-1700 250 YER 9450 0200-0300 250 FEB 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 9450 0900-1200 250 YFR 11980 0300-0700 500 RFA 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 (Thu, 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 13780 0000-0045 100 VAT * 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 15590 0000-0100 250 RFA * alternative 7550 and 7570 kHz [7330 is heavily jammed by China] 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 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) SPR - Spetsialjnoe 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 - Voice of Unity VRT - Radio Vlaanderen Int. YFR - WYFR Family Radio (Nikolay Rudnev, Belgorodskaya oblast, Rus-DX Jan 14 via DXLD) Voice of Russia. Russian World Service. [NOT meaning just Russian language] Relay via SW transmitters of Russia. 30/10/2005 - 25/03/2006 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Moscow 5810 1400-1800 035 DRM 5900 0000-0300 500 5985 1500-1900 250 6000 1630-1800 250 6130 1600-2100 250 6145 1600-2200 250 7230 1600-2100 500 7260 0200-0400 500 7290 1800-2100 250 7305 1800-2000 250 7320 1600-1900 250 7330 0000-0400 500 7330 1700-2200 250 7360 1500-1900 250 7365 1300-1600 250 7380 1600-1630 250 7390 1800-2200 250 7400 1700-2100 250 7420 1800-2100 250 9470* 1500-1800 250 11985** 1500-1800 250 12025 1200-1300 500 12025 1400-1600 500 12055 1300-1530 500 12060 0700-1300 035 DRM 15460* 1200-1500 250 17570** 1200-1500 250 Sankt-Petersburg 5860 1800-2000 200 5895 1500-1800 400 5910 1600-1700 200 5940 2100-2230 200 5950 1900-2100 400 6045 1700-2000 200 6060 1800-2000 400 6090 1600-1900 200 6195 0100-0300 500 (800) 7130 1700-1800 400 7340 1600-1800 200 Kaliningrad 5895 1800-2200 160 5920 1630-2000 160 7445 1500-2200 160 9720 1000-1100 160 Samara 5905 1700-1900 250 5920 2100-2200 250 5935 1500-1700 250 5940 1500-2000 250 6000 1800-2230 200 6185 1300-1700 200 7215 1600-1700 200 7315 1400-1700 250 7355 1900-2000 200 7370 1700-1900 200 7380 2000-2100 200 7390 0000-0300 500 (2 x 250) 7390 1600-1800 250 9900 1300-1500 250 Krasnodar 5925 1500-2000 100 5945 0100-0300 500 5950 1800-1900 250 (500) 6005 1500-1800 100 6175 1800-2000 100 7150 0200-0600 500 7240 0200-0400 500 7300 1700-1900 250 (500) 9800 1200-1600 500 11655 1300-1500 250 15540 1000-1100 250 Novosibirsk 5940 1200-1500 200 5945 1400-1800 500 7300 2000-2200 250 (500) 7305 1200-1400 200 7305 1400-1700 500 7310 1800-2100 500 9865 1200-1300 500 Irkutsk 5910 1700-1900 250 5920 1000-1400 100 5995 1500-1900 100 6095 1000-1100 100 6115 1200-1300 100 9770 1300-1500 500 17805 0600-0900 250 Chita 6205 1200-1300 500 6205 1400-1600 500 7335 1700-2000 500 7350 1200-1600 500 Vladivostok 3955 1000-1100 100 3955 1200-1300 100 3955 1400-1500 100 5930 1100-1500 100 7260 1300-1700 500 15425 0200-0600 500 Khabarovsk 6145 1100-1400 100 7220 1100-1500 100 Komsomolsk-na-Amure 6005 1300-1500 250 9495 1300-1500 250 12010 0200-0600 250 15475 0200-0500 250 17665 0600-1000 250 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy 5995 1200-1500 250 7415 1500-1900 250 9840* 0400-0600 250 13665 0200-0400 250 15595 0200-0400 200 15595** 0400-0600 200 * = Till 04/03/2006 ** = From 05/03/2006 (Nikolay Rudnev, Belgorodskaya oblast) Voice of Russia. Russian World Service. [NOT just Russian language] Relay via SW transmitters abroad Russia. 30/10/2005 - 25/03/2006 -------------------------------------------------------------- Armenia / Gavar 7250 0200-0400 500 11510 1700-2000 500 Moldova / Grigoriopol 6170 1900-2100 500 7125 0000-0600 500 7180 0100-0600 500 Tajikistan / Orzu 7510 1500-2000 200 7570 0000-0300 500 9945 0200-0300 500 11500 1200-1500 500 17495 0800-1000 500 Tajikistan / Yangiyul 4965 1300-1500 100 4965 1600-1700 100 4975 1300-1500 100 4975 1600-1700 100 9885 1300-1530 100 9885 1600-1700 100 China / Xian 9660 1500-1600 100 Vatican / S. Maria di Galeria 7170 2100-2130 250 7350 0200-0600 250 Germany / Juelich 5965 2000-2200 100 5975 2000-2200 100 5990 2100-2200 100 5995 0200-0400 100 6175 2300-2400 100 9555 1500-1600 100 (Nikolay Rudnev, Belgorodskaya oblast, Rus-DX Jan 14 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. VOICE OF RUSSIA DENIES IT OCCUPIES BBC FREQUENCIES IN MOSCOW | Text of report by Russian news agency RIA Novosti Moscow, 12 January: Russia's Golos Rossii [Voice of Russia] state radio broadcasting company has denied a newspaper report saying that the company allegedly occupied the mediumwave frequencies used in Moscow by the British BBC and French Radio France Internationale [RFI] radio stations. "The department of shortwave and mediumwave radio broadcast schedules of the main centre for radio frequencies confirms that Golos Rossii is not broadcasting on the frequencies used by the BBC and RFI," Yekaterina Yagunova, a public relations adviser to the chairman of the Golos Rossii state radio company, told a RIA-Novosti correspondent on Thursday [12 January]. Golos Rossii does not have a licence for these frequencies and it has not submitted a request to the federal tender commission for obtaining the right to operate on BBC and RFI frequencies. On the contrary, Golos Rossii and BBC World Service are now working on a joint project to launch FM broadcasts in Moscow," Yagunova quoted Rashel Staviska, deputy chairperson of the radio company, as saying. "The `legal collisions' which were mentioned in the press and which led to the BBC and RFI radio stations being switched off are in no way linked to the information policy of Golos Rossii," the Russian radio company said. Source: RIA Novosti, Moscow, in Russian 1515 gmt 12 Jan 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Service en français: 17785 kHz, 0900 TU, vendredi, 13 janvier. ``Radio Riyadh, le service de radiodiffusion du Royaume de l'Arabie Saoudite". Programmes included Le Club des Auditeurs or listener's club, to be featured later. Signal fair. Regards (Christopher Lewis, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 0800-1000 ** SIKKIM. Received an All India Radio QSL 3390 kHz via Gangtok, Sikkim. f/d "Jami Masjid" card in 13 months. v/s Y. K. Sharma (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, swl at qth.net via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE [non]. KSDA, Guam, UT Sat Jan 14 at 1600 was putting a nice signal in here on 12065, opening English segment with KSDA ID and mentioning 12065 only; music program to be interspersed with ``God`s word`` as they imagine it to be, but with no such disclaimer. Then I checked 9585, which was much weaker. It turned out to be running 2-3 seconds ahead of 12065. Anyhow, we now know that Wavescan is NOT on UT Sat at 1600, so must be UT Sun, and seems 12065 may be a best bet for hearing it back in the USA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. R. ESLOVAQUIA INTERNACIONAL PLANEA DEJAR LA O.C. Y TRANSMITIR SÓLO POR INTERNET Y SATELITE. Según informan en la web de RSI: http://www.slovakradio.sk/rsi/ Radio Eslovaquia prepara régimen de austeridad para transmisiones al exterior --- Radio Eslovaquia está planeando terminar su transmisión al exterior en onda corta y pasar a satélite e Internet Los programas de Radio Slovakia International podrían dejar de ser transmitidos en onda corta este primer trimestre del año en curso. Así lo confirmó para la agencia de noticias SITA la gerente económica y representante estatutaria de Radio Eslovaquia, Hilda Gajdošová. En sus palabras, la dirección de la radio no tiene otra alternativa, ya que en el presupuesto estatal para 2006 el parlamento no aprobó un subsidio para el sexto circuito de Radio Eslovaquia - Radio Slovakia International. ``El estado ha dejado de financiar esta transmisión a pesar de que se trata de un servicio que él mismo pidió,`` anotó. Como si fuera poco, la ley misma establece que la radio estatal está obligada a prestar este servicio. Es precisamente este el motivo por el cual la radio únicamente quiere dejar de transmitir en onda corta. Gajdošová declaró que se está negociando una deuda de alrededor de 182 millones de coronas que tiene con Slovak Telecom, el propietario de Radiocomunicaciones. El régimen de austeridad incluye el cierre de la sección en español, conservando únicamente los programas en francés, ruso, alemán e inglés. Radio Eslovaquia al mismo tiempo está preparando un nuevo proyecto de transmisión al exterior vía satélite e Internet. ``Nuestros compatriotas podrán escuchar todos los circuitos de Radio Eslovaquia en eslovaco en Internet,`` agregó Gajdošová. El nuevo proyecto nos permitirá ahorrar unos 35 millones. Únicamente la operación del sistema de onda corta le cuesta anualmente a Radio Eslovaquia alrededor de 32 millones de coronas, mientras que el coste total anual de la transmisión al exterior es de aproximadamente 55 millones de coronas. El nuevo proyecto costará apenas unos 20 millones de coronas, dinero que en opinión de Gajdosova debería salir del erario público. La dirección de Radio Eslovaquia planteará y discutirá esta posibilidad con las autoridades respectivas. A finales del año pasado el gobierno aprobó a la radio una subvención de diez millones para la transmisión al exterior, pero esta ayuda apenas alcanza a cubrir parte de los gastos. Radio Eslovaquia comenzó a transmitir al exterior en onda corta en enero de 1993 para los eslovacos residentes en el exterior y más adelante comenzó a transmitir en otros idiomas. Estos programas fueron pedidos y solventados por el estado (via José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It would be nice to get the English version of this but there isn`t any! The above was found at the bottom of the Noticias page of the Spanish section, but there is nothing equivalent under News, in the English section. Because of the budget shortage, austerity program, station will have no choice but to drop SW during the first quarter of this year, continue on satellite and internet only, and also have to close the Spanish department, leaving only French, Russian, German and English (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Do we know the date on which that item was published? Only two says ago we had the BBCM reporting the President of Slovakia as saying that he "personally wanted to take steps to ensure that the Slovak Radio foreign service is preserved" and that he is going to discuss this topic with the ministers of finance and foreign affairs, as well as the [statutory] representative of [public service] Slovak Radio. So I don't think we have heard the final word on the matter (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, this is ``El Tema del Dia`` at the bottom of the page, and at the top it is dated 13.01 (Glenn, ibid.) Saludos Glenn, en la edición francesa tampoco ponen nada, parece evidente que la sección en español quieren eliminarla, preservando el resto de servicios pero sólo en internet y satelite, el coste seria de 20 millones de coronas eslovacas. El coste total de las transmisiones de OC son de 32 millones de coronas, bien el ahorro total será de 12 millones, insuficiente para paliar la deuda de 35 millones. Simplemente no entiendo nada. Creo que es mas bien una decisión política mas que economica. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) Yesterday (on Thursday), the French service announced the "cancellation" of the Spanish section. In the meantime, they also mentioned Gasparovitch's support to the external services. Here is a part of the commentary: " ans aucune explication, il est également envisagé de fermer purement et simplement la rédaction espagnole" --- Please note "envisagé" : it's a possibility (Jean- Michel Aubier, France, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.slovakradio.sk/radioinet/spravy/news/nachrichteni.phtml Summary of item at bottom of this page: Slovak Radio will cancel its shortwave transmission during the coming months, perhaps already during the first quarter. Spanish will be discontinued altogether while English, German, French and Russian services are to continue via satellite and Internet. Slovak Radio sees no other possibility since in 2006 no subsidies for the foreign service were allocated. Meanwhile Slovak Radio owes Slovak Telecom 182 millions SVK of transmitter rents. At present the Radio Slovakia International operations costs 55 million SVK per year; 32 million SVK from the entire costs go into the transmitter rental. With the cancellation of the shortwave transmissions and further cuts they hope to reduce the costs to 20 million SVK. Addition: According to earlier reports Slovak Telecom threatens to switch off the mediumwave and shortwave transmitters if Slovak Radio not pays its debts soon. So the end could be imminent (Kai Ludwig, Jan 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Scare on a new frequency, 9385, Jan 13 at 1920 // 9320 and 15250, all in synch. Suspect WWRB is the source of 9385 as well as the others; they were also on 11915 with something else, making four transmitters actually simultaneously if so. Will it help to check the Overcomer and WWRB websites to clarify this? Well, sort of: from http://www.overcomerministry.org/content/blogcategory/22/42/ Radio Log Latest Frequency Changes Thursday, 12 January 2006 The following frequencies are about to change. Here are the latest updates: 6130 to North America. 9-10 pm EST. 0200-0300 UT. Every Evening originating from Germany. 3270 to North America. 6 pm-Midnight EST [2300-0500 UT] This changes 6890 from WWRB. 9385 to North America. Changing from 9320 WWRB. 9 am-6 pm EST. [1400- 2300 UT] Starting 1/14/06. Last Updated (Thursday, 12 January 2006) And this page also has a complete(?) SW schedule for B.S. which appears to be a bit closer to reality, with WWRB and DTK. As far as WWRB, B.S. will be on 24 hours from one transmitter, 3185/9385/3270, accompanied by 15250 at 17-24, and also 11915 Sabbaths at 15-17. But as I said, BOTH 9320 and 9385 were on at this hour Jan 13. Note previous report that WINB had been ordered off 9320 during its hours there. As long as Namibia stays off 3270, that should be clear. PWBR `2006` says it is a 24-hour alternate to 6060. As for WWRB, the Program Guide page at http://www.wwrb.org is far out of date with long-abandoned frequencies and none of the new ones Checked at 0030 UT Jan 14, both 6890 and 3270 are on with B.S. I suppose like 9385/9320 this is a transitional measure. But still Jan 14 at 1442 check, on both 9320 and 9385. Unfortunately, until 1500, 9385 is already occupied by VOA in Korean via Marianas, and there was a terrible collision even here, with a pronounced SAH to boot. To boot2, WWRB 11915 was NOT on the air at 1500 as it is supposed to be on Sabbath (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Brother Stair is on the air via 9385 kHz. He is announcing 9385 as a new frequency. This is what I gathered from this afternoon`s broadcasts: Saturday and Sunday Only ~9385 khz 1300~1400 ~9385 khz 1500~1600 For all of Europe. I recall this being via European Gospel Radio. Saturday and Sunday Only 1900~2000~~5775 kHz All of Europe (Christopher Lewis, England, Jan 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See info under ITALY [and non]. They are also using new 9385. Before and after 1500, as I reported above, 9385 as heard here is certainly WWRB and no European site. If ``European Gospel Radio`` is now renting time on WWRB, why don`t they say so? And if their new broadcasts consist of Brother Stair, why don`t they say that? If not, there is a big collision on 9385 at 1500, but all I hear is one copy of Brother Scare. Since BS is already a direct client of WWRB, it would hardly make sense for him also to be on WWRB thru the auspices of EGR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. A previously cited URL for the Spanish program from Sweden, Radio Panorama, doesn`t work, but I found one which does, at least for the moment: http://www.sr.se/rs/red/ind_spa.html Un enlace citado anteriormente para Radio Panorama, el programa en español, no funciona más, pero encontré otro que sí, por el momento: http://www.sr.se/rs/red/ind_spa.html (Glenn Hauser, UT Jan 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U A E. Just heard 15 UT, January 13, Radio Asia from Ras al-Khaimah on 1557 kHz with power of 100 kW. First newsbulletin in unidentified language, then 1505 positive Radio Asia-ID. Reception was not too good. Pretty strong QRM by WYFR Kouhu, Taiwan. 73 de (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRTH 2006 says it`s mainly Malayalam, also some Tamil and Telugu (gh, DXLD) ** U K. BBC THAI BROADCAST: Staunch fans bid farewell http://203.150.224.53/2006/01/13/national/index.php?news=national_19647334.html Published on January 13, 2006 Doctor’s last minute London visit fails to save radio service Today Dr Yongyud Wongpiromsarn will listen to his favourite radio programme for the last time. At least for a while. The staunch fan of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Thai Service is hoping the shutdown of the show will be only temporary. Yongyud, who heads the ``I Love BBC-Thai`` group, will not sit idly by as his cherished programme is pulled off the air. The doctor returned only yesterday from London, where he had appeared before some 100 British MPs during his campaign to petition the United Kingdom’s Parliament to reverse its decision to terminate the Thai- language broadcast. He achieved more in London than he had expected: The MPs promised to bring the issue to a debate in the House, he said. The BBC Thai-language radio service has served Thai listeners for more than six decades since its debut in 1941. Last October, however, management of the BBC World Service decided to include its Thai Service among the casualties of a cost-cutting initiative. Yet members of the House disagree with the government-run BBC`s decision to axe its Thai-language radio programme, Yongyud said. Several House members told him during his meeting with them that the BBC’s programmes were important mediums to keep British culture and opinion alive in countries like Thailand at a very low cost. Thai anglophiles and British Thailand-lovers certainly agree on that. Prof Philip Stott, president of the Association of Anglo-Thai Society, said the BBC Thai Service has served as a bridge between the peoples of the two kingdoms. Yongyud also stressed to British lawmakers that the BBC Thai Service provided its listeners invaluable access to independent sources of information. ``I told the meeting that in Thailand, there’s a political culture that keeps interfering with the media,`` he said. Unencumbered by government restrictions, the BBC Thai-language radio service was an alternative source of news for Thais, agreed Jeremy Dear, secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists in the UK. ``It is not too late for a change of heart,`` he said, calling on British lawmakers to intervene. The Thai service is just one of several being axed, including the native-language services in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Kazakhstan. Fans of the Thai-language service will gather at Chulalongkorn University’s Book Centre at Siam Square Branch to see off the service’s last programme (to be aired from 5.30 to 8.15 pm) in style. Even though this will be their last broadcast, staff said they would produce the programme in the routine, professional way. From the head office in London and its office in Bangkok, BBC staffers will join to recount the highlights of the Thai Service’s 64-year history. Yongyud and local BBC staffers hope the service will resume soon. Subhatra Bhumiprabhas, The Nation (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) BBC THAI SERVICE ENDS BROADCASTS http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4609860.stm By Clare Harkey, BBC East Asia editor The BBC's Thai language service made its final broadcast on Friday after more than 60 years on air. The BBC World Service announced three months ago that the operation was to be cut as part of a major restructuring exercise. The BBC said the money could be spent better, in part to set up a new Arabic-language television service. A BBC spokesman said the organisation was extremely proud of the Thai service's record of service. He stressed that the corporation was not abandoning Thailand. The BBC began broadcasting in Thailand in 1941. By 1973, when students rose up against the military dictatorship running the country, BBC Thai was the only independent broadcaster able to be heard in Thailand. The service brought news of the bloody suppression of the uprising. 'Low impact' Before the closure, 18 staff members in London and Bangkok were involved in broadcasting just over an hour of news and current affairs daily, as well as running the service's own website. According to the BBC, the programmes had a total listenership of 570,000 people weekly. But the BBC said the service had a low impact in an increasingly competitive domestic market. The BBC said it would now target opinion formers and decision makers through its English language programming instead. Since the closure plan was announced, some 5,000 people in Thailand have signed a protest petition which was delivered to the British embassy in Bangkok in December. Lobbying of British MPs is also taking place and the service's supporters have their own website, http://www.ilovebbcthai.com almost identical story within this: http://www.waveguide.co.uk/latest/news060113.htm#BBCStrikeThreatsDeferred (both via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) See also RUSSIA ** U K. RADIO TALKSHOW CALLER DIES ON AIR . . . http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/4587550.stm http://radiotoday.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Downloads&file=index&req=getit&lid=2 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re: WWCR DX Program changes Re: ``According to the pdf Jan 1 schedule, Cyberline is replaced by Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline, a technology show, which is on a lot of domestic stations too. WWCR sked says 0400-0600, while show page shows 0400-0500 only: http://www.graveline.com/ (gh)`` I tried to listen to "Into Tomorrow", but really couldn't due to conflicts. However I got the impression that the show was riddled with commercials and I couldn't really get any useful information from what I heard. Who is paying who for these kinds of "simulcast" programs that appear on SW at the same time as they are on local stations (either alone or via a satellite network) and which are supported by commercials? I would think that the advertisers wouldn't be impressed by the SW stations' audience figures or demographics, so it isn't much of a selling point for the programs. Personally, I am always irked by hearing commercials on SW; one reason I listen to SW is to get commercial-free radio, after all. The commercials on "Cyberline" were as annoying, but one thing in *that* program's favor was that they at least acknowledged that they were on WWCR shortwave and mentioned it now and then during the program. Far too many other "simulcast" programs (*especially* "Off The Hook"!) do not do so, insulting us SW listeners. 73, (Will Martin, MO, Jan 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Don`t you believe the logs of WWCR on 2315 and 4865 in the Jan NASWA Journal Tropical Band Loggings column. As we`ve already explained here, these are receiver-produced images of 3215 and 5765, 900 kHz below the true frequencies. No signals really exist on 2315 or 4865 (tho WWCR does also produce spurs elsewhere which do exist). When the same logs first appeared in the Flashsheet, we tried to explain the mistake, but this never appeared. It`s rather incredible that the tropical column editor, a very experienced DXer, published these logs without question; but some editors apparently feel their job is only to compile, not to ward off inaccuracies by explaining them or simply deleting such info when submitted. The RHC image from 6000 on 5100 was also published. In the International Band loggings, I spot a frequency typo, 6005 instead of 6055 for Spain; yet it was between 5970 and 6010 as if it really belonged there (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. === Site Unknown === 6220, V. of Joy Jan 07 *1400- 1441, 25232-35333 English, 1400 sign on with IS, ID, Talk and chorus music (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) All they say about the site is `Former Soviet Union`. So there was no QRM in Japan. Intended for ME, American servicepersons in Iraq especially, so likely not too far from there. One hour on Saturdays only (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. 1710, Presumed Lubivecher [sic] Radio, NY. Sounded like religious/Jewish long boring speech. 0700 seemed to have long web or phone numbers or some kind of contact details. Roughish audio. Wish this was a proper "pirate" with rock tracks and contact details. Poor, 0631/0703 12/1 KB (Ken Baird, Ayrshire, UK, MWC via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Check out the Coast to Coast program clock http://engineering.premiereradio.com/programming/clocks/2005/PRN-Clock-Coast_Art_eff12-27-2004.pdf You'll see 8 minutes of local stuff at top of hour and four minutes at bottom. It may be a pain but you know exactly when to listen. 73 (Steve Whitt, UK, MWC via DXLD) Also on some Canadian stations (gh) ** U S A. CA Desert Pirate Fined $10K --- Pirates in the HIGH DESERT. JOSE A. MOLLINEDO has been fined $10,000 by the FCC for running a pirate on 90.9 FM in VICTORVILLE, CA, rejecting his contention that his operation of the station without a license was due to bad advice from an associate (allaccess.com via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. 880, KGHT, AR, SHERIDAN, 2215-2300 [EST], 13/01/06. Ads for Conoco in Benton; Cannon Heating and AC; Ad for The Fashion Place in North Little Rock; this is Southern Gospel? Ad for buying gold. Lots of southern gospel music in between the ads. This station is blasting in over WCBS. But no positive ID, but lots of ads for North Little Rock, AR, so it must be the 50,000 watter in Arkansas (Willis Monk, Old Fort, TN, RCVR: Drake R-4C Antenna: 149' long wire, IRCA via DXLD) I checked at 2400 EST and there was no ID, just into ABC News, but according to NRC AM Log, that would more likely be KRVN in Nebraska. It had a heavy SAH of about 7 Hz on it (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 6-009: ``Also Mike Gideon, CC regional director of Engineering said when he was recently in DC someone was cheating there, clobbering WSM. Might see who that is (Powell E. Way, III, ibid.)`` I too have noted something under WSM a number of times in recent months -- when I rotate the GE (Superadio III) toward the southeast (WSM null) it's fairly strong with Talk. I'm thinking most likely WNMT Nashwauk, MN, which has made the trek in here on more than one occasion, especially after midnight. Take care (Eric Berger, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. STATION TUNING IN TO ISLAND COMMUNITY Check out 1700 AM on your car radio next month when you're in South Brevard. You could find the "Caribbean Voice of Palm Bay," a new station with call letters WCPB. A nonprofit corporation, CVP, has approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the city to build a 40-foot tower and begin broadcasting. . . http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060114/NEWS01/601140327/1006 (via Andy Sennitt, Jan 14, dxldyg via DXLD) Brevard County is around Melbourne, just south of the KSC. Isn`t this a bit too close to the Miami 1700? Just HOW low-powered? And if it has legal call letters WCPB, how can it be low-powered? If nothing else, surely WJCC will override it at night, not far from the 40-foot tower. FWIW, FCC AM query has nothing for ``WCPB`` on any AM frequency (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Station tuning in to island community BY LINDA JUMP, FLORIDA TODAY [sidebar:] Radio's reach --- According to the 2000 U.S. Census, people who claim West Indies ancestry, excluding Hispanic groups, in the proposed radio station's reach: 2785 in Palm Bay 504 in Melbourne 20 in West Melbourne 22 in Malabar PALM BAY - Check out 1700 AM on your car radio next month when you're in South Brevard. You could find the "Caribbean Voice of Palm Bay," a new station with call letters WCPB. A nonprofit corporation, CVP, has approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the city to build a 40-foot tower and begin broadcasting. The low-powered, 24-hour station would address what some call "a big need" in the area with a growing population of transplants from the western Caribbean. Spokesman Hiram Octave Grandiot said programs on the station will be in Creole, French, Spanish, Portuguese and English. CVP includes representatives of the Brevard Caribbean American Sport and Cultural Association, formed in 1989 to sponsor educational and sports activities, and the Caribbean religious community. Ella Austin, the treasurer of the BCASCA and a former Dominica resident, said there is a growing population in the Palm Bay area from the islands of the Caribbean, including Jamaica, Dominica, Haiti, Grenada and Barbados. The 2000 U.S. Census showed 2,700 people living in Palm Bay who claim the West Indies as their ancestry. "We're not getting much publicity - - or news about the Caribbean islands," Austin said. The Rev. Jean Hugues Desir at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Palm Bay confirmed a growing Haitian community. He said many, especially the elderly, don't read newspapers or go to the library because of language and other barriers. "A radio station is easier to listen to," he said. "They need to be informed and taught." The Rev. Jonas Philistin of Haiti, pastor of the New Birth Church of Palm Bay, said some people didn't get the basics they needed immediately after the hurricanes. The station would help, he said. "They didn't understand the news they heard." Grandoit said the station would be "committed to empower the multi- ethnic community of Palm Bay, Malabar, West Melbourne, Melbourne." He said organizers also plan health fairs, community forums, career development, cultural and social events. Grandoit said there will be advertising on the radio, paid for by donations, and volunteers will run the station. He said CVP will seek program sponsors (via DXLD) Certainly smells like a pirate. And if so, yet another fine example of journalist research prior to going to press. I'll post the article on FLPRS this afternoon and see if I get any bites (Terry Krueger, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Had not listened to the public radio quiz show Sez You! For ages, so having a spare semihour Sat Jan 14 at 1700 I brought up WRVO in Oswego NY to see if it is still there. No! NPR News. But the schedule at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wrvo/guide.guidemain claims Says You does start at 12:00 noon! OK, yet another case of ``rounding off`` show times, and ignoring the news on the hour. Yes, started at 1706 UT, and ``Then and Now``, the ``12:30`` program actually starts at 1736! Why is it too much trouble to publish correct program times? Is a 6 so much harder to find in the type box than a zero? What if station actually broadcast shows at incorrect but published times?? And if you have a half-hour program, and a 25-minute program, why not run the 25-minute one after the news so the other one can start on the half-hour sharp rather than an odd time? Sez U host identifies panelists by their stereo-right and stereo-left positions, which would be helpful if the stream were not in mono! And lofi. Well, per http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgi-bin/program.pl?programid=480 there are 41 other webcasts of it, the most popular time being one hour later at 1800 UT Saturdays on 7 stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. Tanzania, Voice of Tanzania, heard at 1800~1810 on 11735 kHz with news in English, relay of a local FM station. I wasn't expecting such a good reception (Christopher Lewis, England, Jan 13? DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ditto, except once again I tuned in more than an hour too late (Glenn Hauser, OK, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 12-Jan, 3480/U, 2316-2335*; Glenn Hauser's World of Radio; Mentioned Zeller hearing Radio Mosiach & Redemption on 1710. SIO=3+43-, QRN (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 3480 a new favorite pirate frequency (gh) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 6-009: 6155/creepy horror/suspense --- Dear Glenn, regarding the possible Pirate. I too have heard this weird music on 5945 kHz also, and the suggestion of Austria is correct (Christopher Lewis, England, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6155: I think it is possible that this report just describes a reception of the Österreich 1 programme aired at this time. http://oe1.orf.at/programm/20060111230500.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://oe1.orf.at/service/international_en --- Not a pirate, just Austrian Radio first programme, with a program titled "Zeit-Ton" - usually very "experimental" music, sounds, voices etc - weird, I agree. 73, (Günter Lorenz, Freising, Germany, HCDX via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Fun to still be contributing to material to you after maybe 25 years or so. I wish you good health and happiness in the coming year. Regards, (Mike Cooper, GA) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ 1959 ORR RADIO HANDBOOK FREE DOWNLOAD This notice has shown up on a number of ham newsgroups so I thought I'd post the info here in case anyone is interested. There is available for free download the 1959 edition of Bill Orr's Amateur Radio Handbook. Please note this is not the ARRL handbook, but it's just as good, if not better. It's huge .pdf file (60 megs). It contains the full 810 pages. Here's the link: http://www.tech-systems-labs.com/books.htm Scroll down to the bottom of section 1. There are also a lot of other interesting books and items to download from this site like "Theory and Application of Electron Tubes", or "Radio Laboratory Handbook". Check it out. I don't have any connection with these people. Just giving you folks a heads up. Cheers (John, VE3CXB, Hudak, Jan 13, ODXA via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ More DRM logs from one of the few [never say only] North American DX listeners reporting such: 6130, Germany, DW Wertachtal in English 0854 Dec 8, very occasional audio, S/N ratio around 12 dB on 14 kbps transmission, full ID plate plus messages, but little audio and not sustained for more than a fraction of a second. 7295, Germany, R. Luxembourg relay via Jülich in English at 0901 Dec 8, Dave Edmunds ``I Hear You Knocking``, INXS ``Suicide Blonde``, ID by DJ, Sally Carter with the Cappuchino [sic] show, TC, into Eric Burdon and the Animals ``San Francisco Nights``, Foreigner ``Urgent``, TC for quarter past nine, S/N 18 dB, solid audio from this 21 kbps transmission. 9655, Germany, DW Wertachtal in English 1301 Nov 26, news, Concert Hour, surprisingly strong, 21 dB S/N ratio, 100% audio for 20 kbps broadcast, multimedia also usable. 13750, Vatican Radio in Spanish 1242 Nov 26, news, ID, broadcasts twice a day to the Americas in Spanish on satellite, Internet and SW; sound quality kind of scratchy (poor production), but signal is solid. 21-22 db S/N ratio, no dropouts on 17 kbps stream. Test transmission to NAm. 15896, Germany, bit eXpress (campus Radio Nuremberg) in German? 1535 Nov 15, pop and rock music, cover song ``Give a Little Bit`` by Goo Goo Dolls, ``Jerk it Out`` by Caesars, surprisingly strong reception for first five minutes about 30% intelligible, with S/N ratio around 14 dB, but dropping to about 7 dB with periodic loss of lock and no audio by 1540, periodic breakthroughs for 5-10 seconds, then better again after 1600; 100 watts power per website (Ralph Brandi, NJ, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) DRM has been a pest on 1485 for at least a year. At night I cannot hear BBC Humberside any more which is SE of me by about 30 miles. Channel always dominated by DRM. I guess many broadcasters adversely affect by DRM won't complain because they want to use DRM. I'm still baffled why no one has attempted bandplanning DRM on the MW band. DRM clearly does not coexist with AM (from the AM listener's point of view) so why not assign a couple of channels as DRM only channels and let DRM transmitters congregate together. If DRM expands then add extra channels. At the moment with no bandplanning it justs makes MW a worse place to listen. Cynic mode on: Rotten noisy AM is a good reason to persuade people to switch to DRM, so could this be a deliberate policy of DRM jamming? Cynic mode off. 73s (Steve Whitt via Chris Brand, BDXC-UK via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ LF/VHF/uW Rx Equipment in Radio Astronomy Group Newsletter The latest issue of the BAA Radio Astronomy Group newsletter is now available for download. This issue is superb and contains information of receiving equipment for LF, VHF and the microwave bands. Full details at http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2006/baa_radio_circular.htm Daily Amateur Radio RSS News Service: http://www.southgatearc.org/ 73 (Trevor M5AKA, monitoring monthly yg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ EUROPEAN MW INTO DEEP NORTH AMERICA Checking out my own advice to try for Norway 1314 kHz NRK, Jan 14 at 0120 I stepped out into the yard away from the inhouse noise, with my portable ATS-909, and with nothing but the internal ferrite and almost dead batteries was able to detect a steady carrier on 1314 from the direxion of Norway, as well as one on 1215, which would be Virgin/UK or maybe Albania which is slightly off-frequency. With a decent MW setup of a loop or beverages, one could clean up on Trans-Atlantics now, even in deep North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Interesting. Checking it out here I'm getting a bit of audio on the frequency. Admittedly, I'm not much of a MW'er so don't really have much set up here for that, but nice to catch something different (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, dxldyg via DXLD) Thanks for the tip. As a result, I did some listening with a Drake R8B and a 130' inverted L from Central New Jersey, near the Raritan Bay: Spain, RNE 1 on 684 kHz, strong but lots of QRM @ 0345 UTC on 1/14. Man speaking in Spanish. France, Europe No. 1 on 183 kHz, fair with man in French @ 0349 1/14. France, France Inter, poor with pop mx on 162 kHz @0354 1/14. Morocco (tentative), 171 kHz, signoff with anthem at 0402. Possibly Medi Un. poor. Never ever had so much good TA MW/LW DX in one night. Ireland was also there on 252 as well as BBC 4 on 198. Thanks! (Dan Srebnick, NJ, ibid.) MW conditions have been very unusual on the US East Coast this week, too. Norway on 1314 is in every night with armchair copy, easily heard on my Kaito KA1103 with no external antenna. Virgin Radio on 1215 has been a regular lately as well. But I haven't heard any other Europeans. Some Europeans are almost turning into "pests" yet others remain unheard, by me anyway. While Norway and England have been booming in, I haven't heard any French or Spanish MW stations during this week. That's a bit odd (John Cereghin, Smyrna, Delaware, Jan 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Early TA`s again --- Over a sesquihour before sunset. Unlike yesterday when the strongest early action was at the very bottom of the band - which at the moment is dead - today it's in the middle with the strongest signals at the moment from Croatia-1134, Mix on 1215, Norway-1314 and Albania 1394.8. Other frequencies producing some audio but the ones listed are the best. Once again there is virtually nothing at the very top of the band as the only thing I can find is a weak carrier on 1521 likely from the Saudi powerhouse. 73, (Al Merriman, Chincoteague Island VA, Jan 13, MWC via DXLD) There might be some sort of sweet spot for propagation from that part of the world, and it's not great circle path: Tonight it's coming in at around 49 degrees: true bearing is 26. This seems fairly normal other times I've checked. If we ever get good reception again from further south, I'll see if it's any different. The site for the transmitter is rather incredible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Radio_masts_kvitsoy_Norway.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvitsoy-Tower It's a tribute to the absorptive power of the normal auroral zone that we don't hear this 1200 kW monster whenever there is a darkness path. Modulation has traditionally not been high for the high powered Euros --- don't know if that's still the case, but if so, would help explain the "no audio, good carrier" results we get. Finally, we're fighting lots of domestic splatter at this time. Those dawn TPs benefit from much of North America (including California), being in the sunshine at that time. Any other ideas? Frustrating, but, at least we're hearing something (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, B.C. Canada, IRCA via DXLD) Good morning from frosty Vojens [Denmark], Yes, still extreme conditions for MW dxing. At the DX 183-antenna park in Northern Jutland Wilhelm Herbst and his guests are working 'on shift' 24 hours a day, and what they hear is almost unbelievable. I am uploading their loggings to the http://www.mediumwave.info and have problems keeping up with them :-) Best 73 (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, Jan 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###