DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-038, March 1, 2006 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2006 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html 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 WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL BROADCAST SCHEDULE EFFECTIVE MARCH 1, 2006 Days and times here are strictly UT. Wed 2300 WOR WBCQ 7415 [first airing of each edition] Thu 0000 WOR WBCQ 18910-CLSB Thu 0905 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.5 Thu 2130 WOR WWCR 15825 [ex-7465 Dec-Feb] Thu 2200 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.5 Fri 0030 WOR R. Veronica 106.5 Fri 0100 WOR WTND-LP 106.3 Macomb IL Fri 0200 WOR ACBRadio Mainstream [repeated 2-hourly thru 2400] Fri 2005 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.5 Fri 2100 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Sat 1700] Fri 2215 MR WWCR 7465 Sat 0500 WOR VoiceCorps Reading Service, WOSU-FM subcarrier, cable Sat 0900 WOR WRN to Eu, Au, NZ, WorldSpace AfriStar, AsiaStar Sat 0900 WOR WRN 15735-DRM via Bulgaria Sat 0955 WOR WNQM Nashville TN 1300 Sat 1100 WOR WPKN Bridgeport CT 89.5 & WPKM Montauk LINY 88.7 Sat 1530 WOR R. Veronica 106.5 Sat 1700 WOR WWCR 12160 Sat 1830 WOR WRN to North America [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sat 1830 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.5 [from WRN] Sun 0000 WOR Radio Studio X 1584 http://www.radiostudiox.it/ Sun 0330 WOR WWCR 5070 [start varies 0325-0335] Sun 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0630 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.5 Sun 0730 WOR WWCR 3215 Sun 0930 WOR WRN to North America, also WLIO-TV Lima OH SAP [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 0930 WOR KSFC Spokane WA 91.9 Sun 0930 WOR WXPR Rhinelander WI 91.7 91.9 100.9 Sun 1130 MR WRMI 9955 [maybe not every week; likely jammed] Sun 1400 WOR KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 Sun 1500 COM KRFP-LP Moscow ID 92.5 [monthly] Sun 1830 WOR WRN1 to North America [including Sirius Satellite Radio channel 140] Sun 1830 WOR World FM, Tawa, Wellington, New Zealand 88.5 [from WRN] Sun 2000 WOR RNI Sun 2229 WOR WRMI 7385 [temporarily] Mon 0400 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0430 WOR WSUI Iowa City IA 910 Mon 0515 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 1900 WOR RFPI [repeated 4-hourly thru Tue 1500] Mon 2215 MR WWCR 7465 Wed 0030 WOR WBCQ 7415 Wed 1030 WOR WWCR 9985 Full schedule, including AM, FM, satellite and internet, with hotlinks to station sites and audio: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For latest updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO 1306 is now available: OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: www.obriensweb.com/wor.xml CONTINENT OF MEDIA 06-02: (stream) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0602.ram (download) http://www.dxing.com/com/com0602.rm NETS TO YOU March: http://www.w4uvh.net/nets2you.html DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS Feb 28: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ARGENTINA. 530, AM530 (R. República), San Justo, SS, 26/02 0412, canção por OM, poesia declamada por YL ao som de um violão, referendando as ‘madres de Plaza de Mayo’. 35443 JAR 1620, R. Tropicana, Buenos Aires, SS, 26/02 0542, programa religioso, apresentação de mensagem apresentada em local público. 25222 JAR 1630, R. Restauración, Hurlingham, Spanish, 26/02 0426, programa cristão, OM: talks, canção por OM. 25432 JAR 1690, R. Apocalipsis II, San Justo, Spanish, 0432, programa cristão, OM: talks, música cristã, time checking por OM. 25422 JAR 6215, R. Baluarte, Puerto Iguazú, PP, 25/02 2321, OM: talks. Canção religiosa por dupla masculina. 35553 JAR 15820 usb, 103.1 FM, Buenos Aires, SS, 26/02 1532, retransmissão da 103.1 FM por ondas curtas USB. 35533 JAR (Rudolf Grimm, DX-Camp in Jarinu City, 75 km from São Paulo, with Valdemar Scaquetti, Martim Jenny, Adiel Nunes Ferreira, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [non]. EU BEGINS RADIO BROADCASTS INTO BELARUS By VOA News 27 February 2006 http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-02-27-voa6.cfm The European Union has launched a new radio service into Belarus, where the opposition hopes to topple hardline President Alexander Lukashenko in an upcoming election. The new service is staffed by Belarusian and Polish broadcasters. It beams news and music by shortwave from just across the Belarusian border in Vilnius, Lithuania. The broadcasts include a daily hour-long series called "Window to Europe," and a series of election specials. EU officials say the new radio station is not propaganda. But they say tight government controls on the media make it hard for Belarusians to find independent sources of information. President Lukashenko is hoping to win a third term in the March 19 election. He accuses the West of interfering in Belarusian affairs. The United States has called Mr. Lukashenko Europe's last dictator because of his suppression of human rights and free speech. Some information for this report was provided by AFP (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece; Mike Cooper, GA, DXLD) !!! VOA too fell for the ``shortwave`` misinformation. But then we know that shortwave is no longer considered the prime medium at IBB, so why should they know the difference? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) FM = ultra short wave is also short wave ... SW would only reach Belarus from long distance like Western Europe [ISS, JUL, RMP, SKN, WER, WOF etc.] on 6 or 7 MHz during winter season. 105.5 FM along the border with Belarus, also 103.8 from Lithuania. so wait, and see. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Same old story. UKW is not the same as KW. Ultra shortwave is an order of magnitude shorter in wavelength than shortwave, in German or English. Sloppy, ignorant journalism. The coverage and propagation characteristics of FM and SW are totally different, and there is no excuse for confusing or merging them (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. 5025, R. Parakou, Feb. 27 noted at 0605 UT, in French, under R. Rebelde until 0615 when Parakou improved signal and stayed on top of Rebelde. Clear ID at 0620, and changed to vernacular until 0625 tune-out (José Turner, Gondomar, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 5744.2, Radio Virgen del Remedio, Tupiza, 2353 2358, Feb 23, Spanish, Religious program ID by female announcer ``Están ustedes en sintonía de Radio Virgen del Remedio, La Voz Católica en tu casa, desde Tupiza, Bolivia``, 34433 (Nicolás Eramo, DX Camp in Chascomus, 120 km South West from Buenos Aires, RECEIVER: Sony ICF 2010, ANTENNA: Long Wire 15 mts, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 2490, R. 8 de setembro, Descalvado-SP, PP, 26/02 2346, música pop internacional, OM: identificação do programa de domingo. 35322 JAR 4845, R. Cultura, Manaus-AM, PP, 26/02 0114, transmissão de carnaval de rua, cânticos carnavalescos com público ao fundo. 25332 JAR 4905, R. Anhanguera, Araguaina-TO, PP, 26/02 0218, seqüência de músicas sertanejas. Identificação da estação de FM (já verificado anteriormente, o que faz supor que a R. Anhanguera opta por retransmitir a emissora de FM e não a de ondas médias). 35543 JAR 4915, R. Difusora, Macapá-AP, PP, 26/02 0226, transmissão de desfile de carnaval de rua (‘escolas de Macapá’). 35443 JAR (Rudolf Grimm, DX- Camp in Jarinu City, 75 km from São Paulo, with Valdemar Scaquetti, Martim Jenny, Adiel Nunes Ferreira, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 3330, CHU, Time Signal, Ottawa, noted Feb. 27 at 0600-0610 UT, with time-pips and ID. in English and French every minute. SINPO 34443 (José Turner, Gondomar, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Additional CBC DRM for Fest Hi Glenn, CBC Transmission will add some special DRM transmissions for the SWL Fest, where we will be listening on a Ten-Tec 320D (ultimately to be a lottery prize).... Times are UTC but dates EST: Fri March 3rd, 2006: - 1600-2000: 11735 (CBC/RCI English): additional transmission - 2045-0000: 9800 (Various English transmissions: Vatican, RNW, CBC, DW, Sweden): regular transmission - 0000-0100: 9800 (CBC English): additional transmission Sat March 4th, 2006: - 1600-1800: 11900 TDP (techno music): regular transmission - 1805-2000: 11735 (CBC/RCI English): additional transmission - 2045-0000: 9800 (Various English transmissions: Vatican, RNW, CBC, DW, Sweden): regular transmission - 0000-0100: 9800 (CBC English): additional transmission 73 (Kim Elliott, Feb 28, WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. Frequency change for CVC / Voz Cristã in Portuguese: 1100-1700 NF 15525*SGO 100 kW / 060 deg, ex 15485 to avoid BBC WS in English * co-channel 1130-1145 Fri Eternal Good News in English via DHA 250 kW / 100 deg (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, DX MIX NEWS #405, March 1, via DXLD) Evidently Observer has been renamed as above, since the previous issue was called Observer #404. BTW, unlike some other DX editors, I see no point in including the edition number of other publications quoted, but instead the date (gh, DXLD) ** CHILE. 6089.7, Radio Esperanza, Temuco, 1247-1252, Feb 24, Spanish, man announcer, TC and ID ``doce minutos para las diez de la mañana, Radio Esperanza, Temuco...``, 24442 (Nicolás Eramo, DX Camp in Chascomus, 120 km South West from Buenos Aires, RECEIVER: Sony ICF 2010, ANTENNA: Long Wire 15 mts, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** CHINA. I received an email recently from China Radio International (CRI), which I find has been pretty good over the past year in responding to reception reports. They have even dropped me a few lines out of the blue saying ``we have not heard from you in a long time, we would love to know what you think of our programmes.`` This time, it's an invitation to not only participate in a contest and win an award, but to volunteer oneself for listener interviews. I've done that with the Iranians, who called me seven times over the past two years just to chat with ``their listener in Canada`` (guess they don't have too many) so I am considering being the Chinese guinea pig. But for anyone interested in participating in CRI's newest contest, here it is: ``March is the best time to learn about China. The National People`s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, is in session from March 5th to 15th. At the same time, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country’s top thinktank, also meets. Delegates to the two gather in Beijing to discuss major issues that affect the Chinese people politically, economically, and culturally. ``Following are the 10 issues that we believe are most likely to arise during the NPC and CPPCC sessions. 1. The high cost of medical care in urban and rural areas alike. 2. Farmers being insufficiently compensated for losing their farmland to industrial development or urban construction. 3. China's attempts to build a new socialist countryside as a means of improving the livelihood of the rural population. 4. China's aspiration to maintain fast economic growth without using excessive amounts of resources. 5. Is China posing a threat to other countries, politically or economically? 6. China's need to improve coal mine safety, in the context of a continuing series of fatal local mine accidents. 7. China's plans to deal with epidemics and terrorist attacks that threaten public safety. 8. Corruption. 9. Rapidly rising housing prices in China. What can the government do to help average people buy their own homes? 10. The national drive to stimulate the creativity of the people and build China into an innovation-oriented society. ``Which issues do you already know about? Which ones are you concerned about, but still want to know more about? Please select the five topics that are of most concern and interest to you. More importantly, send us your COMMENTS and QUESTIONS, which make you eligible to win a prize from CRI. Your quick feedback will help us report in a way that truly suits you. Thank you. ``By the way, we plan to do telephone interviews with some of our listeners on the above issues. Do you mind being called? If you don't mind, please give us your telephone number at crieng @ cri.com.cn and tell us when is convenient for you.`` Anyway, that's it for the month; if anyone goes for the CRI contest and interview, let me know how it turns out. I'll be doing the same. Till next month, 73s, (Sue Hickey, NL, CIDX Forum, March CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Re: [dxld] Why is China jamming 7105? 7105 is in use for BBC English 2200-2300, and Vietnamese 2300-2330, via Seela Oman, 250 kW. Has something to do: But BBC / MERLIN managed some anti-spam test series against China's Mandarin jamming in past six weeks. So seemingly BBC reshuffled English-WS channels by Mandarin language programmes? Who knows? - - - In coming A06 season, US-RFA will use 7105 kHz in 2100-2200 UT slot from Tinian site, in Mandarin of course, ... and accompanied by some Chinese firedrakes too. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Already explained otherwise in 6-037 ** CUBA. Why is Cuba jamming 6010? Nuevamente jamming en 6010 kHz Desde hace unos díez días dejó de percibirse el intenso "jamming" proveniente de Cuba en los 6010 kHz. Semanas atrás me comuniqué con los colegas cubanos haciéndoles notar que dicho "jamming" solo perjudicaba a XEOI Radio Mil de México. Hace un par de días el buen amigo José Elías de Venezuela hacia notar que escuchaba un zumbido en los 6010 kHz a partir de las 0000 UT sin precisar su procedencia. Hoy a partir de las 0000 UT nuevamente apareció el "jamming" en los 6010 kHz sumamente intenso mismo que causa una gran interferencia a XEOI Radio Mil incluso aquí en la Ciudad de México. Desconozco los motivos, si es que este "jamming" proviene de Cuba, para que los amigos cubanos nuevamente envíen este artificio, que solo, como lo dije, perjudica a Radio Mil ..... Sinceramente no lo entiendo (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, Encargado, Proyecto de Onda Corta, Radio Mil, México, UT March 1, WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They have multiple jamming sites, and all it takes is one of them out of contact, adhering to outdated instruxions. Simple incompetence will do it as we have seen numerous other instances of jamming long after there is nothing left on a frequency to jam. And maybe, just maybe, the dentroCuban Directorate of Suppression of Counterrevolutionary Thought aren`t `friends` (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) La verdad es que lamento mucho esta noticia que estás pasando sobre la interferencia que afecta a Radio Mil en los 6010 kHz. Todas las noches me ponía a esperar a ver si entraba por un huequito Radio Mil a pesar del zumbido que escuchaba en la frecuencia, pero ahora resulta que la Voz de Tu Conciencia se está escuchando muy fuerte esta noche y a pesar de todo todavía se oye el zumbido por debajo de su señal; ese zumbido que estoy escuchando es el que venía reportando días atrás como lo indicas en tu correo. Veremos qué sucede más adelante, querido amigo, y esperemos que esa interferencia cese de una vez por todas en los 6010 kHz. Recibe un fuerte abrazo, querido amigo Julián. Atte: (José Elías, Venezuela, UT March 1, condig list via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. R. Martí puts out spurs escaping jamming: see U S A ** FINLAND. Re YLE Radio Finland music -- Hi Dave, I asked Radio Finland and they told me the following: the melody was "Kaupungin valot" (City Lights) by a Finnish jazz composer Rauno Lehtinen. hth (Mauno Ritola, Finland, HCDX via DXLD) ** GEORGIA. MASSIVE LAYOFFS AT GEORGIAN PUBLIC BROADCASTING Under the title "SOS-Democracy is under the threat and Human Rights undergo violation in the Georgian Public Broadcasting", the website of Georgian Tele Radio carries the following announcement: Today the massive laid off has taken place in the Georgian Public Broadcasting, among them are the translators of our web site Magda Guruli and Eter Chavleishvili that were working on the English language information during the last three years and became the victims of bad management, absence of clear structure and abuse of human rights coming in contradiction with the Georgia labor code. They got fired without any kind of beforehand explanations or warning. It came unexpectedly at the start of a new working day. Director General Tamar Kintsurashvili and the Head of Informational programs Khatuna Kveselava are responsible for the massive unreasonable dismissal of the employees, the members of their own team among them, who got also fired or left the posts by their own wills. Thank you for cooperation and being with us for the last three years. 09:00 28-02-2006 # posted by Andy @ 14:32 UT Feb 28 (Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DXLD) However, the above item was not to be found on the website when checked at 1730 UT March 1 --- in fact nothing dated 28 February, just 27 Feb (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Indeed, the item has now been removed. There were no other items on the page when I checked it yesterday. It appears to have survived one night. I regret that I didn't save a copy of the page, but I did make a printout. Clearly there were some hours of total confusion following yesterday's layoffs. I hope they haven't found out who was responsible (Andy Sennitt, 03.01.06 - 6:42 pm, ibid.) ** GERMANY. 1431 kHz to Voice of Russia The media authority of Saxonia allocated Wilsdruff 1431 to Voice of Russia, following an unanimous recommendation by the authority's committee for programming matters. Voice of Russia promises to produce special programmes for Saxonia (programmes dedicated to Berlin, aired via 603/630/693 only and not via shortwave or Bolshakovo/Wachenbrunn mediumwave, exists already for some years). http://www.slm-online.de/psk/slm/slm_content/powerslave,id,668,nodeid,11.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Re UNIDENTIFIED/YEMEN 6005: They pulled the plug at 2202 on 6005 while the program seemed to still be in progress. That left the German on the frequency, supposedly out of Berlin. My question is, is that via the same site that used to carry RIAS? My recollection is that the site was moved at some point and would no longer be considered as being in West Berlin as it was once known. (Steve Lare, MI, Feb 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6005 RIAS. They started with Telefunken 20 kW unit at Berlin Britz in 1951. Quadrant Dipole antenna, non-dir with 20 degr preferential direction. In about 1964/65 RIAS did rent a VOA Munich Ismaning Bavaria 100 kW unit at 0355-1800 UT during daytime as headlight on long distance to overcome GDR jamming on that channel. At 1800-0355 UT the Britz unit was still in use like a fountain signal in surrounding GDR target. 100 kW specification was a little bit optimistic, because these units of Radioslavia-Tesla Prague and CFR/CFT Paris (formerly erected by Deutsche Reichspost at Ismaning in 1941-1943 war era) had only a capacity of optimistically 67 to 75 kW, depending of the used antenna band. In 1983 RIAS Berlin Britz has got an additional Telefunken S4001 beast with 100 kW. Used 24 hrs. After Germany's re-unification VOA/RIAS Berlin branch became obsolete. So - Germany's public broadcaster DLF/DLR Cologne-Berlin (Deutschlandfunk) has got access to the former RIAS site at Britz. At present DLR Deutschlandradio - more classical program - uses 6005 kHz with the 100 kW Telefunken unit, 24 hrs. Ancient 20 kW unit of 1951 refurbished by the technicians and bcast Deutschlandfunk Cologne program from Britz site with max. 17 kW at same dipole antenna like in the 50ties (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Comment on Voice of Greece schedule --- So the situation is quite obvious: ERA has the ex-Glória transmitters but no antennas to run them were constructed until today. Apparently they just took one of the donated 250 kW beasts and connected it somehow, i.e. probably not through the existing switching matrix, to either an existing or makeshift antenna, creating a system which is not frequency-agile and good for 70 kW only. I guess the costs of high power antennas prevented them to establish any further use of the donated equipment so far. It is also obvious now that at present indeed no operational shortwave equipment exists at the old VOA station near Thessaloniki, despite all the THE registrations. So only the ancient 150 kW mediumwave transmitter (ex-791, now 1044) or perhaps a new mediumwave rig is still on air there. It seems to be an educated guess that the antennas of the decommissioned 35 kW shortwave transmitters are of no use for the ex-Glória equipment. By the way, 7430 from Kavála is such a poor signal here in Central Europe that one has to doubt the 355 degrees azimuth. Sounds like beaming to somewhere else, despite the programming being meant for Europe (Germany, etc). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. Glenn: Back in July 3, 1992, ``I had a letter from the former frequency manager of VOG: "According to the bilateral agreement between Greece and USA, we can transmit our programs for 12 hours. The agreement was ratified by the Greek parliament at the end of January. Since that day the agreement was effective. But, there were some problems . . . ``Greenville and Delano cannot cover areas such as Australia and Pacific, Japan, coast of China because it seems that they have removed the antennas . . . I need frequencies in the l5 MHz. band (272 azimuth) which they do not have. VOA has only 7 and 9 MHz. band antennas . . . From USA, we can cover Latin America and Canada only." Now for the present problem about the closing of Kavala and Rhodes relay stations. It has been quite a while since I last heard from Babis, but I know that he is busy sending out QSL cards and getting his A-06 schedule put together after the recent HFCC meeting. Dear Friend Babis: I am listening to the 0000-0400 UT service of the Voice of Greece to North America, and reception is only fair on 7475; nothing on the other frequencies. In an effort to improve reception, what do you think of the idea of taking away the last 2 hours (2000- 2200 UT) of Delano to North America on 15485 MHz., and the 2 hours (2000-2200 UT) of Greenville to South America on 17565, and opening up the Delano transmitter for 4 hours (0000-0400 UT) to North America on 9420 (already assigned by HFCC to Avlis 3). Avlis 3 could then move to 11645 MHz, which is assigned at that time to Kavala. Reception at 2000-2200 UT is quite good in this area on 7475. You could then use 9420 to South America at 2000-2200 UT. Regards, John Babbis, Silver Spring, MD, USA Below is my last communication from Babis in answer to my message about beefing up service to North America at 0000-0400 UTC: ----- Original Message ----- From: Babis Charalampopoulos To: John Babbis Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 11:53 PM Subject: POSSIBLE USE OF DELANO FOR 0000-0400 UTC TO NORTH AMERICA Hi Gianni (Hi John), THA TA DO STIN ATHENS (I will see about it when I return to Athens) TI VLEPIS GIA TO A06 15485 H 17705, 1500-2200 GMT ??? (What do you see for A06, 15485 or 17705, 1500-2200 GMT?) Babis Glenn: Also in my reply I made a strong case about staying away from 15485 because of its proximity to LRA-36 in Antarctica on 15476 citing the possible need for its use in case of a disaster and the need for emergency assistance. No word since then, but I have copied and pasted your worldofradio.com items pertaining to Greece into special E-mails. Right now at 0245, there is good reception on Avlis 2 on 7474 and Avlis 3 on 9420. Earlier, I had what sounded like Avlis 1 on 5865. No reception here on the 2 Kavala stations, but they are not beamed my way. Personally, I don't think that there will be any problems right now and believe that the 3 Avlis and 2 Kavala transmitters will be in operation tor the A06 broadcasting season. But, come October 29 for the B06 season, I am sure that will be the beginning of the end for VOG's 2 Kavala transmitters. As for Delano and Greenville, I look for the end of transmissions from the USA. Perhaps the agreement for those 12 hours was based on "we will give you use of Delano and Greenville in return for using Greek soil to operate our Kavala and Rhodes transmitters." Will VOG now put those Portugal transmitters into use in Avlis and Thessaloniki? Will VOG take over the Kavala facility for VOG's operation? They will need those Kavala transmitters if they want to get a good signal to Australia, etc. if they intend to continue short-wave operation. I believe that, for Greece, short wave exists to further information about Greece and its tourist attractions plus nostalgia about the homeland for the diaspora. Unfortunately my crystal ball is very cloudy about the future of short wave; but, personally I cannot see myself sitting around listening to VOG on the Internet, even if that is one option. Short wave direct from the homeland has that extra feeling of being closer to the motherland. Regards, (John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. RADIO BUDAPEST ESTÁ EN PELIGRO --- 27 de febrero de 2006 Hoy he recibido un mensaje preocupante remitido por Sergio Pérez, uno de los colaboradores de la Redacción Española de Radio Budapest de Hungría. La Radio Húngara tiene programas al exterior desde 1934 y las emisiones en español comenzaron en 1951, diez años después salió al aire el primer programa DX de Radio Budapest y en 1965 se creó el Club DX (Radio Budapest Short Wave Club) que supo difundir y fomentar esta afición durante décadas y agrupar a más de diez mil socios. Pero el 30 de junio de 1991, por decisión de la Radio Nacional Húngara que argumentó problemas económicos, las emisiones en idioma español -junto a otros seis departamentos- dejaron de existir. La entonces Jefa del Departamento de Español -Agnes Koroncz- fue entrevistada el 7 de junio de aquel año por Radio-Enlace de Radio Nederland, ella dijo "... Dentro de unos años seguro que Hungría se dará cuenta que es necesario transmitir para América Latina y España porque no se puede negar su existencia". Sin dudas, Agnes ya estaba anticipando lo que posteriormente habría de ocurrir. El 2 de abril de 2002, en un contexto político e histórico distinto, Radio Budapest volvió a transmitir en español, francés e italiano por onda corta. Sin embargo, la noticia recibida de Sergio Pérez indica la amenaza de un nuevo cierre de las emisiones que Radio Budapest había recuperado en nuestro idioma después de diez año de silencio. A continuación se transcribe textualmente el mensaje: ``Estimado Rubén Margenet: Soy Sergio Pérez, responsable de las emisiones en español de Radio Budapest. Considerando su antiguo vínculo con Radio Budapest, me dirijo a Ud. con el fin de solicitar su ayuda. Debido a un programa de ahorro implementado por la actual dirección de la Radio Húngara, las emisiones en lenguas extranjeras han sido incluidas entre las redacciones condenadas al cierre definitivo. Es decir, nos amenaza un peligro inminente de desaparecer del éter. Por lo tanto, le solicitamos que Ud. a través de sus conocidos en el mundo de la onda corta, desplieguen una especie de solidaridad con Radio Budapest y, en especial, con las emisiones en español. Al mismo tiempo, queremos pedirle que nos envíe algunos datos con respecto al tipo de financiamiento que tienen las radios europeas, para mantener emisiones en otros idiomas. Ya hemos recibido los datos de Radio Nederland, quienes además nos han ofrecido toda su ayuda y solidaridad. Sin otro particular, y en espera de una pronta respuesta. Le saluda cordialmente, Sergio Pérez Spanyol szerkesztoség Espanol @ radio.hu `` Por lo expuesto es que solicito de la solidaridad de los radioescuchas y diexistas, en especial de aquellos que han convivido con las voces y el silencio de Radio Budapest, como así también de las emisoras internacionales a través de sus espacios DX y de contacto con los oyentes, para reaccionar a tiempo contra la amenaza de su cierre definitivo por onda corta enviando vuestras críticas y sugerencias a las siguientes direcciones: Magyar Rádió (Radio Budapest), Programas en Español, Bródy Sándor utca 5-7, 1800 Budapest - Hungría. E-mail: Espanol @ radio.hu (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Rosario, ARGENTINA, WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ICELAND. 7590U, AFN, Keflavik (or Grindavik?), noted Feb. 27 at 1955-2015 UT, with Jeff Holman of "Fortune Magazine", ID ("You're listening to AFN"), news, followed by sports news flash with Jim Calamante, and a little later I had the chance to hear a few statements by Arnold Schwarzenegger (!!!) around 2010 (José Turner, Gondomar, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Updated B-05 schedule for Kol Israel with some frequency changes: ARABIC 0345-2215 5915 AMHARIC 1900-1930 9345 11590 ENGLISH 0430-0445 9345 17600 1030-1045 15640 1830-1845 7545 9345 11590 2000-2025 6280 7545 15640 FRENCH 0445-0500 9345 1100-1115 15640 1800-1815 7545 9345 11590 2030-2045 7545 9345 11590 HEBREW 0600-0755 15760 0800-1455 17535 1900-2000 7545 2100-2215 15640 2100-0555 7545 HUNGARIAN 1745-1755 9345 11590 13855 1945-1955 9345 11590 LADINO 1045-1100 15640 1600-1625 11605 13855 17535 Sat MUSIC 1630-1645 11605 13855 17535 >>>>> not in FRENCH!!! PERSIAN 1500-1625 7420 9985 13855 Sun-Thu 1500-1600 7420 9985 13855 Fri/Sat ROMANIAN 1730-1745 9345 11590 13855 1845-1900 7545 9345 11590 RUSSIAN 1600-1625 11605 13855 17535 Fri 2100-2200 7520 irreg. SPANISH 1645-1655 11605 13855 17535 1815-1830 7545 9345 11590 2045-2100 7545 9345 11590 TIGRINA 1930-1945 9345 11590 YIDDISH 1700-1725 9345 11590 13855 (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, DX MIX NEWS #405, March 1, via WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DXLD) But Kol Israel already going on 13855 in Hebrew, March 1 at 1457 with adstring, 1500 time signal and into Persian with ID and Beethoven theme (I think); fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. QSL RAI Notturno Italiano --- 6060, RAI (Notturno Italiano), recibida, vía e-mail link a página web con tarjeta QSL lista para imprimir, con datos completos en 40 días. No v/s. La tarjeta QSL es una reproducción de una tarjeta enviada por corredo ordinario, incluso tiene sello de salida, con fecha 27-02-2006. El informe de recepción se envió cubriendo un formulario en la siguiente página web: http://www.international.rai.it/radio/qsl/qslform.php (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Feb 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. Re 6-035: ``Who says 21 MHz is useless here at solar min? NHK Warido in English with music break, nice signal on 21670 // 17825 Feb 24 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Time?? Circa 2130 UT. I must have read over this item 3 or 4 times and never noticed I was only thinking the time, not writing it. Sigh (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Re 6-037, not only is RJ`s ``44 Minutes`` program ending: At about 4 minutes into the Feb 25 ``Hello from Tokyo``, the hosts announced that one of the upcoming spring changes will be the elimination of that show after the final March 25 edition --- so get your letters in soon. It will be replaced by some other new show (a mailbag?) in April. To hear this and the rest of it for another few days from the weekly archive, select ENGLISH and then Saturday at http://www.nhk.or.jp/rjweekly/index_e.html (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 3925, Nikkei Radio Broadcasting Corporation, Nagar, Chiba, Tokyo, 2105-2115, Feb 24, Japanese, Musical Program, Female announcer, ID ``Nikkei Radio...``, 24222 (Nicolás Eramo, DX Camp in Chascomus, 120 km South West from Buenos Aires, RECEIVER: Sony ICF 2010, ANTENNA: Long Wire 15 mts, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** LAOS [non]. 15105, Hmong Lao Radio, 1304-1311, Feb 25, Hmong, Comments or news by female announcer, ID ``...Hmong Lao Radio``, 24442 (Nicolás Eramo, DX Camp in Chascomus, 120 km South West from Buenos Aires, RECEIVER: Sony ICF 2010, ANTENNA: Long Wire 15 mts, Conexión Digital via DXLD) For the last few months this has been Sat & Sun 1400-1500 on 11785 via WHRI. I believe they once used 15105 at this hour. Current WHR online schedule still shows HLR only as above on 11785, and 15105 only used at 16-19. Looking at EiBi 15105 listings, all we find at this hour is Romania in English, tho he also has WHRI at 14-15 Sat/Sun in English, contrary to the WHR website. Also, BBC Ascension to WAf, but not until 1330 in English, 1345 in Hausa (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA [and non]. AMAL AND THE AFTERNOON VISITORS, Feb 28: Checked first at 1355: 17670 had Arabic music plus noise jamming on the low side around 17667. Weak carrier on 17660. 17690 with similar noise jamming, or slightly above that. At 1400, 17670 played TOH chimes and went off, so that was Libyan service, presumably via France. 17680 CVC was weaker than usual, but nothing audible under it. 17675 at 1355 I at first thought was also Arab music, but at 1403 I decided it was African music, along with machine-gun jamming. At that time the noise was still running around 17667 and 17690+. Enough of that! Time for La Bañera de Ulises on REE 17595 at 1405- 1455, mainly Turkish and Greek music, the former accompanied by diggery do. At 1525 recheck all I heard in the Amal area was African music on 17675, off by 1530 as customary. Meanwhile, 17630 was active before 1400, presumably ANO tho I did not try to ID it. Have not actually been able to hear Saut al Amel itself here for weeks. Hope they are doing better in Libya against all this QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 27 February follow. Solar flux 77 and mid-latitude A-index 3. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 28 February was 2 (11 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) See SUDAN [non] for next day`s figures Saludos cordiales, parece clara la estrategia de Sawt Al-amal, emitir la primera hora en una frecuencia y la segunda en otra, el 28 de febrero desde las 1250 a 1303 por la frecuencia de 17670; a las 1302 se inicia señal de burbuja en esa frecuencia y a las 1303 Sawt Al-amal cambia a la frecuencia de 17675. Sin embargo no se aprecia la emisión de música afro-pop por ninguna frecuencia y sí en 17660 la emisora de música árabe. Un chequeo posterior en 17675, cuando había terminado la emisión de Sawt Al-amal puede escucharse a la emisora musical. Hoy 1 de marzo la emisora Sawt Al-amal estaba en 17680 con señal muy fuerte, desde las 1241 hasta 1300; sin embargo la emisora afro-pop estaba ausente y a las 1300 Sawt Al-amal ha cambiado a la frecuencia de 17685. Hasta las 1332 no se aprecia señal alguna de Jammer; entonces aparece señal de burbuja de fondo, prácticamente inaudible y sin producir interferencia seria para Sawt Al-amal. Sin embargo a las 1353 se aprecia la emisora de música afro-pop; ésta produce mayor interferencia y la acompaña hasta el final de la emisión a las 1400. entonces termina la emisión en 17660 de música árabe y en 17685 la emisión de Sawt Al-amal queda sola con mucha potencia y sin interferencias llegando a ocupar en 17680 y 17690 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, March 1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not much going on here as monitored March 1, under sub-par propagation at 1355; just CVC audible on 17680 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6185, R. Educación, Mexico City, heard Feb. 27 from tune- in at 0610 UT until 0630 when Vatican started on QRG, with Latin Mass, crushing Mexico´s signal (José Turner, Gondomar, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Pretty much the same story even here (gh) ** NEPAL. Re 6-037: 5005, R. Nepal, 2322-2328, Feb 25, Vernacular, man announcer, comments and music, mention Nepal, 24232 (Nicolás Eramo, DX Camp in Chascomus, 120 km South West from Buenos Aires, RECEIVER: Sony ICF 2010, ANTENNA: Long Wire 15 mts, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Mouth of Mohammed Radio: 6925.1-.6/U, *2129:45- 2145+, 22-Feb; Pop tunes & mentions of Mohammed, Islam, Muslims, Infidels, etc. I've seen this also reported as the Mount of Mohammed. He never said what he was mounting, but I did hear a sheep baaing. Real mess but copyable; finally settled at about 6925.1 (Harold Frodge, MI, FRW via DXLD) Mouth of Muhammed, 6925U, 2140-2156* SIO=242. Some syrupy pop music. The rest of the show was an explanation of about how Islamics love everybody, but that they will kill you. The prophet loves everybody except for the infidels, and the infidels must die. No address announced (George Zeller, OH, ibid.) ** PAKISTAN. Updated B-05 schedule for Radio Pakistan with some frequency changes: ASSAMESE 0045-0115 7445.0 9340.4 URDU 0045-0215 11580.0 15485.0 BANGLA 0115-0200 7445.0 9340.4 HINDI 0215-0300 7445.0 9340.4 TAMIL 0315-0345 15620.4 17490.0 GUJARATI 0400-0430 9345.4 11565.0 URDU 0500-0700 11565.0 15100.0 17835.0 URDU# 0800-1105 15100.0 17835.0 TAMIL 0945-1015 15625.4 17480.0 SINHALA 1015-1045 15625.4 17480.0 HINDI 1100-1145 7465.0 9340.4 CHINESE 1200-1230 9385.0 11570.0 BANGLA 1200-1245 9340.4 11550.0 NEPALI 1245-1315 9340.4 11550.0 TURKI 1330-1400 4835.4 URDU 1330-1530 9375.0 11570.0 RUSSIAN 1415-1445 7550.4 9300.0 PASHTO 1500-1545 5095.0 DARI 1515-1545 4835.4 ENGLISH 1600-1615 6215.4 9375.0 11570.0 15725.0 TURKISH 1630-1700 6215.4 7600.0 URDU 1700-1900 7530.0 9365.0 PERSIAN 1715-1800 5095.0 6235.4 URDU* 1800-1900 5095.0 Islamabad px ARABIC 1815-1900 6235.4 7600.0 URDU 1915-0045 5835.4 # English 0800-0805/1100-1105 * Islamabad program (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, DX MIX NEWS #405, March 1, via WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DXLD) ** PALESTINE [non]. CLANDESTINE FOR PALESTINE, 7205, Voice of Islamic Palestinian Revolution via IRIB, 0332-0336, February 26, Arabic, news bulletin by male, 34433 //9505 with 22432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** PERU. 6519, R. Paucartambo, Paucartambo, SS, 25/02 2314, locução por OM, intercalado por execução de trechos musicais de canções peruanas. ID: ``Radio Paucartambo``. 25542 JAR (Rudolf Grimm, DX-Camp in Jarinu City, 75 km from São Paulo, with Valdemar Scaquetti, Martim Jenny, Adiel Nunes Ferreira, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE [non]. I taped AWR Wavescan again this UT Sunday, Feb 26 at 2230 on 11655 via KSDA Guam. After a feature on Bangladesh, the Bangladesh DX news segment followed. To my surprise, Mr Dolar thanked me by name for my comments on his first report a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, reception was rather poor this time, and I could not make out exactly what he said, but he took my advice to deal with secular stations, Bangladesh Betar, RTI and DW. Reception deteriorated further as the semihour progressed into the God ad, and mailbag (Glenn Hauser, OK DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. 17660, Waaberi Radio, 1338-1350, Feb 24, Somali, comments by man announcer mention several cities of Somalia, ID ``Waaberi Radio``, 34443 (Nicolás Eramo, DX Camp in Chascomus, 120 km South West from Buenos Aires, RECEIVER: Sony ICF 2010, ANTENNA: Long Wire 15 mts, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Not much Libyan QRM, seems ** SPAIN. Re 6-037: COMIENZA LA REFORMA EN RADIO TELEVISIÓN ESPAÑOLA Tras conocer el primer informe de la SEPI, los sindicatos dicen que se cumplen los peores presagios, porque se va a desmantelar territorialmente la radio televisión pública, ya que la información y producción tienden a concentrarse para su realización desde los servicios centrales, sobre todo de Madrid. Así en televisión, además del cierre como centro de producción de Canarias y la concentración sólo en Sant Cugat en Barcelona y en Madrid, tanto la televisión como la radio pública emitirán solo a nivel regional una programación diaria de treinta minutos. Radio 5 Todo Noticias desaparece también en todas sus desconexiones regionales y locales y se harán todas desde Madrid. Los centros emisoras territoriales si servirán informaciones puntuales, así mismo desaparece Radio 4 por su baja audiencia. No se sabe, dicen los sindicatos, a que afectará este plan en cuanto a cierre de emisoras o rebaja de plantillas, se habla de que en conjunto a nivel territorial hay unos 3000 trabajadores entre radio y televisión. Lo que si creen los sindicatos es que con esta desaparición de la información regional y local se rompe el instrumento para la cohesión del estado. Lo decía por el sindicato CCOO Marcel Camacho: "Tememos que con esta posición lo que hay es un abandono por parte de RTV y de la SEPI de su función social de carácter territorial. RTVE y la SEPI en la corporación no atenderán una función social, que nosotros hemos calificado de fundamental, que es la garantía de la cohesión territorial". Se abre un escenario grave, dicen los sindicados, no obstante, insisten también, que es el primer paso, hay que negociar y si que estarán firmes en la defensa del servicio público. Se puede ver el video y escuchar el audio en la página: http://www.rtve.es/ Información en su web: SEPI Y RTVE PRESENTAN A LOS SINDICATOS LOS PRINCIPIOS BÁSICOS DEL PLAN DE SANEAMIENTO Y FUTURO El vicepresidente de la Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), Federico Moreno, y el secretario general de RTVE, Jaime Gaiteiro, han expuesto hoy a los representantes de los sindicatos mayoritarios en RTVE - CC.OO y UGT - el nuevo modelo organizativo para la radio y la televisión públicas de ámbito estatal. El objetivo de este nuevo modelo es la prestación de un servicio público de calidad hecho con criterios de eficiencia. En la misma reunión, celebrada en la sede de SEPI en Madrid, también se ha adelantado a los representantes de los trabajadores, algunas características de la nueva estructura territorial, que mantiene la presencia y la actividad de RTVE en toda España. La próxima reunión con los representantes sindicales está convocada para el próximo 10 de marzo. En Conferencia de Prensa, la Directora General de RTVE y el Presidente de la SEPI han explicado a la opinión pública las líneas de este Plan. Posteriormente, Carmen Caffarel ha informado también a los Directores de los Centros Territoriales y de Producción de TVE y a los Directores de las emisoras de RNE. El nuevo modelo de RTVE garantiza la prestación de un servicio público de calidad bajo criterios de eficiencia. La nueva programación de TVE y RNE incrementará la oferta de servicio público, con más informativos y programas culturales e infantiles. Los aspectos básicos del Plan de Saneamiento y Futuro serán negociados con los representantes sindicales. Los derechos de los trabajadores están garantizados. RTVE mantiene su presencia y actividad en todas las Comunidades Autónomas, con Centros Territoriales de TVE y emisoras de RNE que dependerán de los Servicios Informativos. En las Comunidades Autónomas habrá información territorial diaria (via José Bueno, Spain, playdx yg via DXLD) Hola Amigo y Colega Josè, es una comunicacion IMPRESIONANTE. (Casi parece un invento de Carnaval ????) La destruccion del Servicio Público en España puede favorecer las Cadenas Privadas. Pero a nivel de Diexismo es mucho lamentable la pérdida de muchas emisiones locales de las emisoras RNE R.5 que operan en la onda media. La única esperanza es que los trabajores de RNE saben reaccionar contre esta decisión realmente inpopular. Gracias, José por adelantar la noticia al grupo. Muy buenos deseos (Dario Monferini, Italy, ibid.) Web en defensa de la RadioTelevisión Pública http://defensa-rtv.publica.tv/firmar/ (Asociación DX Barcelona, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. March 1 at 1503 check, only a trace of a signal on 15575 between BBC 15565 and REE 15585; due to change of transmitter site in UK, Skelton instead of Woofferton, cf 6-037, with less back- radiation, and/or sub-par propagation? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 28 February follow. Solar flux 77 and mid-latitude A-index 5. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 01 March was 3 (26 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) ** TIBET. 4820, Xizang PBS, Lhasa, 2025 2039, Feb 24, Chinese, female announcer, ID ``...Guanbo Dientai`` in // with 7240 and 5935, 34343 (Nicolás Eramo, DX Camp in Chascomus, 120 km South West from Buenos Aires, RECEIVER: Sony ICF 2010, ANTENNA: Long Wire 15 mts, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** U K. Private Eye on BBCWS 'rationalising' its programmes As BBC1 prepares for the imminent return of Jackanory, another series featuring literary readings by actors is quietly disappearing: this month will see the last edition of the World Service's Off the Shelf which for more than a decade has featured great works of literature from around the globe abridged in 15-minute chunks and broadcast to around 40 million listeners. The show -which at the time of writing is broadcasting J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace read by Sir Derek Jacobi - will disappear from the schedules along with much of the station's music programming and drama in April, as part of what commissioning editor Harriet Green terms the English language World Service's attempt to "rationalise" its programmes in favour of, yes you've guessed it, rolling news. "Instead of being a channel where it can be unpredictable what you tune in and find - it might be a concert, it might be a news programme, it might be a religious affairs programme - we want to make it more predictable," Green explained to outraged listeners on the World Service's feedback programme Write On last week. "All the information we have indicates that serendipity is not what people want. We have to ask do they expect a reading, or do they expect something which is going to help them make sense of what's happening in the world?" That daily readings from literature might just do that does not seem to have crossed Green and her colleagues' minds (Private Eye, 3rd March via Mike Barraclough, WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DXLD) ** U K. LINDA SMITH, THE FIRST LADY OF RADIO COMEDY, DIES OF CANCER AGED 48 --- By Louise Jury, Arts Correspondent Published: 1 March 2006 http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article348402.ece The broadcaster Linda Smith, one of the small band of women to make it to the top of the male-dominated world of comedy, has died of cancer. She was 48. A stalwart of Radio 4 quiz shows, notably the News Quiz, she was regarded with warm affection and admiration by listeners who named her the wittiest living person in one poll. She also wrote and starred in two radio series of her own situation comedy, Linda Smith's A Brief History of Time Wasting, about life in a tower block. The veteran of the Edinburgh fringe circuit also appeared on shows including Have I Got News For You?, QI, and Mock the Week. She died on Monday, three years after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Jeremy Hardy, fellow comedian and News Quiz regular, said he was so lucky to have had such a wonderful friend and that she had been "the wittiest and brightest person working on TV or radio panel games". "Working with someone so funny always reminded me of what comedy is all about. Her banter and flights of fancy were amazing," he said. "In a second, she could summon up the perfect word, the daftest English expression, the most appropriate literary quotation or line of movie dialogue, or the most savage putdown of any fraud, bully or tyrant in the news." Even when she was ill, she had made friends laugh and feel uplifted despite their sadness. "It was impossible to be in her company for more than a few minutes without laughing. I loved her very much." Mark Damazar, the controller of Radio 4, said it was a terrible loss. "Linda Smith was a Radio 4 giant. She was incredibly funny. She generated an energy and warmth in every programme she ever did that made her fellow comedians and millions of listeners love her." Her blend of the personal, the political and the downright silly appealed to audiences across all spectrums. The Daily Mail lauded her "fertile, slightly unhinged imagination". Outside comedy, her interests included humanism. She was president of the British Humanist Association two years ago. She said at the time: "I only found out that the beliefs I hold are 'humanistic' when the BHA kindly invited me to be its president. I am sure that I'm typical of many unconscious humanists. "With fundamentalism of many kinds on the rise, the rational voice of humanism needs to be heard. I see publicising humanism in order that other people might identify themselves not just negatively as atheists, but positively as humanists, as a vital part of my role." The BHA's executive director Hanne Stinson said: "She was a wonderful president and we are desperately sorry to hear of her death. We will miss her terribly. "Until recently she continued to do great work for us." Linda Smith grew up in Kent and became an early fan of Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and the Monty Python team. From Bexleyheath comprehensive, she went on to study English with drama at Sheffield University. She once said careers advice at school involved girls becoming typists and boys going into the Army and that they had laughed when she said she wanted to be an actress. After Shef-field, she joined a local theatre company where she met her partner, Warren Lakin, and, in the 1980s, began stand-up. Only in the 1990s, did her broadcasting career take off and she carried on performing even after cancer was diagnosed. Few people were aware of her illness. There will be a special tribute edition of the News Quiz on Friday presented by her friend and fellow panellist, Andy Hamilton. In her own words * On Jesus: "We know he wasn't English, because he wore sandals - but never with socks." * When it was mooted the Duchess of York might be taken off the Civil List, she imagined her on a council estate: "I can't afford shoes for the kids: I've had to send Eugenie to school in skis." * On her hometown, Erith: "They had a competition to find a new name for the Erith Leisure Centre. The winning name was 'The Erith Leisure Centre'." * On WMD: "I sympathise with people trying to find them. I'm like that with scissors - I put them down, then search all over the house and never find them." * On the tennis player, Tim Henman: "He's the human equivalent of beige." --- Stephanie Calman (via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. Sneaky: R. Martí putting out unjammed spurs on 15192 and 15468, plus and minus 138 kHz from 15330 Delano, March 1 at 1506 when I first noticed weak talk in Spanish on 15192, quickly found // to 15330, which was strong, but not super-strong, and cutting thru the jamming well. Then at 1510 I was able to detect // audio on 15468v, frequency wobbling a bit (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi Glenn. I'm troubled by the frequent reports of people hearing a KOA auxiliary transmitter on 25950 kHz as mentioned again in the March issue. Here in the Denver area I have never managed to hear anything on this frequency. And when I research the license for this frequency in the FCC database, I find that KOA is only licensed for a 75 watt mobile transmitter on this frequency under the very outdated Jacor Broadcasting name. There is no license for a base station. It seems unlikely that these folks are actually hearing a mobile unit on this frequency at that distance. This whole thing seems rather odd to me. How about you? (Patrick Griffith, Westminster, CO, Feb 28 to gh at Monitoring Times, via DXLD) Patrick, Does not seem at all odd to me. I have confidence in the people reporting this. 75 watts is plenty for a mobile unit on 26 MHz when there is a band opening, these days most likely sporadic E rather than F2. Look at the CB full of signals on such occasions, supposedly less powerful. It may be on only sporadically, or maybe it doesn`t carry very far from wherever it is to you on groundwave. And I think there have only been a few reports. When I see one, I do tend to pick it up, since such openings are rather noteworthy now at solar min. As to the licensing situation of the unit, I don`t know anything about that. No doubt somebody at KOA could fill you in, and that would be of interest to me too, if they are willing to talk about it and you can find the right person. I am not sure if anyone has reported the actual callsign for this unit, at least not recently. Since you`ve looked it up, perhaps you could supply that. 73, (Glenn to Patrick, via DXLD) Be careful comparing this to 27 MHz Glenn. I think everyone there runs far more then 75 watts. :-) There are seven licensees on 25950 in the U.S. Four are licensed for mobile only operation. The other three are licensed for both base and mobile operations. The call sign for the Denver 25950 is KB99696. It is actually licensed to Jacor in Tulsa. Jacor, of course, became part of Clear Channel which owns KOA. This license also authorizes operations on 26090, 26130, 26190, 26290, 26390, and 26470. All of the frequencies are authorized for mobile only at 75 watts ERP within an 80 mile radius of a coordinate centered on Denver. The specified emission type is 40K0F3E (analog FM). I presume that KOA is using this frequency to transmit live audio for cueing reporters in the field. Since these are mobile transmitters they are probably only on the air for a limited period of time serving live remotes during newscasts. I'll try to monitor this frequency a little more during the newscasts and see if I can catch something. Unfortunately the only receiver I have that will do this frequency is my Drake R-8. None of my scanners will tune that low. Fortunately the Drake will do FM (Patrick Griffith, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Off-frequency Navajo --- Tuning to 960 kHz at 1943 PST 02/27/06, I found that KQKE was airing a Bulldogs vs USF basketball game. Underneath them was a growl, so I tuned around and locked onto a carrier on 960.0421 kHz. I heard Navajo drums and singing, so I assume that it was KNDN in Farmington, New Mexico (Albert Lehr - Livermore, CA, Allied A-2515 receiver, Homebrew external sync detector, frequency measurement system, Two 35 ft. Ewe antennas at 218 and 293 degrees, 6 ft. outdoor loop, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Daytime buccaneer riding the air waves. 1620, WKQV pirate radio is on the air! Unusual at 3:43 pm ET [2043 UT], Mar 1 2006, mid- week, daytime. Standard fare of nostalgia coming in loud and clear, S9+15 (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) FL [Ten-Tec RX-320D; LFE H-800], IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Re Hisslessness no more. Estimado C. Now that you mention it, 560 QAM does sound poxy since succumbing to iBLOC. But then again, I 'have no business listening to out of contour' stations, do I? Not to worry, will self-report my violation to NscABies & Team Fooble tomorrow dawn. Isn't this 'crystal clear HD' hyperbole symptomatic of iKWAQ's underlying inadequacy? Does QAM's management really believe Mr. Rogers' devotees spend their lives dreaming of hearing Nasty Neil's gaseous emissions in 'crystal clear HD'? HD's overstated case sounds more and more like a Nigerian 419 'investment' opportunity. =Z.= pvz mk fl manatambo-419 key, fl bt (Paul Vincent Zecchino, IRCA via DXLD) Paul, While trying to catch a recording of the "crystal clear" assertion -- so far not successfully -- I heard a promo that Mr. Rogers` thirtieth anniversary of defying decency is lurking. Having accidentally heard a couple snippets of his show in the past, I didn't listen closely enough to know just how soon the celebration should begin (W. Curt Deegan, Boca Ratón, (southeast) FL, ibid.) ** U S A. PIPER HIGH CAN KEEP RADIO STATION FOR 2 YEARS BY MICHAEL HIBBLEN, Miami Herald http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13969968.htm Walk into the control room at WKPX-FM 88.5 and it's clear why the station needs new facilities. Beside the control board is a record player. Mounted in a rack is a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Both were once staples of any broadcast operation, but most radio stations phased them out more than a decade ago. The student-run station at Piper High in Sunrise was slated to move out this fall, into existing space at McFatter Technical Center in Davie, where it would be available to all public high school students in Broward. While they do have computerized editing capabilities and digital automation programs, those in charge of the class say they need much more to effectively prepare students for a future in broadcasting. The move has been delayed at least two more years, however, to allow for construction of a new building with state-of-the-art facilities at the McFatter campus. The new building will put all of the school district's broadcast operations under one roof, including its TV station and closed-circuit programming for schools. All will be under the umbrella of the Broward Education Communications Network, or BECON. ''Nothing has been architecturally completed, but we're looking at probably a two-year time frame before the station actually moves over,'' said BECON director Phyllis Schiffer-Simon. The transmitter for WKPX would also be moved and placed on a much taller tower at its new home. That would increase the coverage area of the 3,000-watt station, more thoroughly blanketing the county. ''It's sad in a way because it's always been here, but it's kind of exciting in a way, too,'' said Piper station manager Jon Farley. ``For the radio station, it's like it's growing up and graduating. It has a chance to become bigger and better than it is now.'' MIX OF MUSIC The station already has a loyal audience that appreciates the eclectic mix of alternative, punk, metal and hip-hop played by students. Farley said Arbitron ratings reports show that at any given time, WKPX has 10,000 to 30,000 listeners. ''It's run totally by the students and is just faculty-guided and directed,'' Farley said. ''Once they experience it, they love it here, because they can pick pretty much the music they like.'' The only limitations are district rules designed to keep obscene material off the air. ''It's a lot of fun,'' said 11th-grader Justin González, 16. ``You get to hang out with your friends, get to show music to each other, get to play people music they've never heard of. It's good stuff.'' Piper High's cramped classroom cannot accommodate new equipment. In addition, district officials have long said they want to expand the radio opportunities for more students. Those in the radio class get real-world training in how a radio station operates. ''It's been exclusively an opportunity for students who attend that one high school,'' said Schiffer-Simon. That's been a concern since the radio station signed on 23 years ago, on Feb. 14, 1983. Schiffer-Simon said WKPX will retain ``as much of the current format as possible, perhaps adding more community programming, creating additional partnerships and continuing our partnership with Nova Southeastern University.'' COLLEGE CROWD At 7 each night, the university takes over the station, with college students broadcasting as WNSU until 2 a.m. The station also would continue broadcasting live Broward County School Board meetings and is looking at adding programming for different ethnic groups. There also could be simulcasting of programs produced for the TV station, such as ''Teen Talk,'' which tackles issues such as drugs and teen pregnancy. Broward officials would like to make WKPX the official emergency station when hurricanes are bearing down or other crises loom. ''We don't have a dedicated station during disasters,'' Broward County Mayor Ben Graber said. ``We often have complaints from residents that during hurricanes they see much more of Dade County officials than Broward. So we want to have a better way to get information out to residents who may be without power, listening on radios.'' Graber said the county is in discussions with BECON officials to help ''partner on the costs,'' but no deal has been cut. A key goal is to broadcast live briefings directly from the Broward Emergency Operations Center. There are still regrets at Piper High, even though most of the current students will have graduated before the move. ''I understand because the station's getting bigger, but it's sad to see it go,'' said junior Luigi Evalle, 17. Assistant Principal Margaret Neely agreed. ''We love our radio station,'' she said. ``We've had it for a long time and Piper's known for the radio station. We would be happy to keep it here.'' (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) Sunrise Two-Faced: ``WNSU`` after 7 pm??? Apparently an imaginary call, not a real share-time (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As I gather, "WNSU" are would-be calls for the nighttime operation. It must still ID on the hour as WKPX. I think a station in Muncie IN has operated like that, using high school calls during the day and some fake calls at night. Ralph Strobel told me about that. Now, WNSU, go to this link and you will find nothing. No WNSU calls registered with the FCC on FM: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/fmq.html Type in WNSU for the FM query (BRVCE Elving, FM Atlas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. More reports flow in on the WDAB DX test: The DX Test of WDAB-1580 Travelers Rest, SC came across very good here in Detroit, on my GE Superadio III with ferrite rod antenna. The one person who reported the phonetic ID was wrong, though -- the woman actually said "This is Whiskey Dog Alpha Bravo, conducting transmitter testing." (I listened to the tape I made of it over and over, making sure that was what she said.) I also noted a 'Chirp' at the end of the sweep tones. The routine seemed to go sweep tones, one pulsing sweep tone, phonetic ID, Morse. After repeating the cycle a few times, there would be a bilingual ID (English and Spanish, mentioning "Five thousand watts of power" -- the Spanish ID also seemed to give a telephone number,) then they'd play an AC record, followed again by the bilingual ID, and then they'd go back to the tones. The test conclusion message was given at 0103, then there was one final bilingual ID, and then the carrier seemed to cut. During the conclusion message, the signal became very unstable. Please send my thanks to the Engineer of WDAB, and tell him that they did a great job on the test; the signal had a few shaky points, but was very easily copiable for much of the duration. I managed to get about 45 minutes of it captured on tape. Yesterday (Monday) I got a QSL card from WJTO-730 Bath, ME for their DX Test on 12 February; very nice card! Signed by Bob Bittner, Owner, and had in purple "No. 033." Take care. (Eric Berger, Detroit, MI, Feb 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surprisingly poor here given how far away it's been heard! Checked on the car radio in downtown Nashville on my way home from work. Bilingual ID, two types of sweep tones*, Morse IDs. Competing with unID all-sports station, probably WEAM, among others. Feeling like crap (for reasons having nothing to do with radio so didn't listen for long. Thanks to Les for arranging the test, WDAB for running it, and Glenn for the reminder without which I wouldn't have tried... one "normal sweep", one sounded like a kind of "stairstep" (-- Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com NRC AM via DXLD) Also heard here in Central Florida. Not as well as I expected. I have not listened to the entire test log yet. Lots of tones, & code during the first 15 minutes. Will check the rest of the autolog tonight. Regards (Lee Freshwater, Ocala FL, ibid.) Just uploaded the WDAB log to my computer. Decent signal with station id in English and Spanish, Morse, swept tone, music, thank you message from Paul Walker to listeners at the end of the hour and then end of test announcement (Dave Pyatt, Burlington, ON N 43 18 W 079 48, Feb 27, NRC-AM via DXLD) Heard with very good signal at 0023. Code IDs, sweep tones and voice ID by female announcer. ID in SS heard later. Thanks for the test (Christos Rigas, Wood Dale, Illinois, ibid.) Nice to see how well this 5 KW highbander got out !! These guys are a frequent sunset skip visitor here about 25 miles N of you so I followed my policy of not losing any sleep on work nights for DX tests from unneeded stations. 73 KAZ thanking those who made the test possible !! (Neil Kazaross, IL, ibid.) Thanks to those who arranged this. The voice IDs in English & Spanish were partially readable, but the code IDs & sweep tones seemed so loud & easy to copy, my first thought was this will be heard on the West Coast. There was slight to moderate QRM. Heard the song "Baby Come Back" by Player (a #1 hit in early '78) about 12:10 EST. Another MN DXer who heard the test told me the QRM with black gospel IDed as St. Johns, MI. 73 & good DX, (George Sherman, MN, IRCA via DXLD) Really tough competition from KMIK, Phoenix (strong signal & "busy" programming), but short swatches of code snuck in from 0030 to 0100 EST. First new "W" call logged in a while. The first half hour was a total washout due to the QRM (Art Peterson, Richmond, CA, Winradio G313i, R. West ferrite loop, IRCA via DXLD) Finally had a chance after work this evening to review the first few minutes of my overnite recording on 1580 and found WDAB code IDs and sweep tones cutting thru the frequency without any trouble here in Tulsa 2302-2305 CST 26FEB06. I'll go thru the balance of the hour later this evening looking for other IDs or music. WDAB is the first SC station logged in 26+ years of DXing in Tulsa Thanks to all the folks that arranged and conducted the test (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO, Tulsa, OK R8, Quantum Phaser 2 - 50 ft wires/baluns, ibid.) WDAB 1580 DX Test was heard very well here with Morse Code, Sweep Tones, staircase waves, female voice with Phonetic ID, finishing up with a summary by Paul Walker and SS ID at 1:04 AM. Thanks to all that were involved (Tom Jasinski, Shorewood, IL, ibid.) I'm not acting on behalf of the NRC/IRCA, just myself. Yes, I did help arrange the test. And Yes, that was me you heard during the DX test, twice saying hello to everyone. I was on the phone with The engineer during the enbtire test! Yes, I did hear the test as well. But I had a leg up, I could verify what I heard on the radio by listening on the phone. I'm sure I can speak on behalf of Les for this, and for The WDAB Chief Engineer (God bless him, I forget his name).... THANKS for all your reports and participation Happy DX'ing! (Paul B. Walker, Jr., http://www.walkerbroadcasting.com ibid.) WDAB DX Test Report From Wilmington, DE: 27-Feb-06 || 0001 local || 1580 khz. || WDAB || 5 kw test power || Traveler's Rest, SC || Details provided below. || New. A 498 mile catch and my first from SC. A great test that was well heard at my QTH. The test started about 0001 east coast local time with a male in heavily accented English speaking the following: "This is WDAB, 1580 AM, 5000 watts of power". He then quickly switched over to Spanish: "Esta es WDAB quince ochenta ?." which was followed by additional commentary that clearly mentioned Traveler's Rest, South Carolina. MP3 clip of the above can be found here: http://21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1580-khz_WDAB-DX-Test_2-27-06_0001-Local.mp3 About 40 seconds later, a rising pitch warbling was heard followed by a female speaking the following: "This is Whiskey-Dog-Alpha-Bravo conducting transmitter testing" followed by 6 Morse code Vs, Morse code 'de' (from), then three Morse Code W-D-A-B IDs followed by about 30 seconds of sweep tones. The female spoken verbal ID and Morse code/sweep tone sequence was then repeated 4 more times. MP3 clip of the first verbal ID and Morse code/sweep tone sequence can be found here: http://21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1580-khz_WDAB-DX-Test_2-27-06_0002-Local.mp3 About 12 seconds after the last set of sweep tones, there was a repetition of the first male spoken ID which was then followed by Player's "Baby Come Back". MP3 clip of the beginning of the above song can be found here: http://21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1580-khz_WDAB-DX-Test_2-27-06_0008-Local.mp3 All of the above was then repeated for the next 30 or so minutes with different (and great!) songs being played (Robert John's "Sad Eyes", Doobie Brothers' "What A Fool Believes', Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street"). At 33 minutes into the test, heard Paul Walker's test ID with mentions of test reception by Scott Fybush and Patrick Martin. Also mention of Les Rayburn's e-mail address for those looking for QSL cards. MP3 clip of Paul's commentary can be found here: http://21centimeter.com/21centimeter/Recordings/1580-khz_WDAB-DX-Test_2-27-06_0033-Local.mp3 Many thanks to all who participated in getting this test scheduled and on the air!! 73, (Peter Jernakoff, K3KMS, Wilmington, Delaware http://www.21centimeter.com ibid.) Glenn, A huge "Thank you" for reposting the test announcement to the various lists. It was a huge factor in the success of the tests. I made it back to the dials after 11 days on the road in Houston, Kansas City and DC with literally moments to spare. The test was armchair copy here in Alabama, and was well heard throughout the US. Glad to hear that you logged it as well. Easily the most successful test during my tenure as BTC (Les Rayburn, Birmingham, AL, Feb 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Broadcast Test Coordinator ** VATICAN. Before heading out to Italy, I checked with both Vatican Radio and Radiotelevisione Italiana (Rai) to see if I could head over for a visit. Citing security reasons due to the upcoming elections, RAI was unable to allow me to visit until early April. Vatican Radio was more than gracious to allow me to tour their facilities and as the day that I visited was rainy and misty I was more than glad to be inside for a tour. A few facts about Vatican City (Holy See). It is the smallest independent state in the world encompassing approximately 0.44 square kilometres and the state came into existence as a result of the 3 Lateran Treaties of 1929 which were signed with Italy. Population of the Holy See is estimated to be 921 people and the Pope is the spiritual head of nearly 1 billion professed Catholics. Radio Vaticana came into existence in 1931. The website for Vatican Radio is http://www.vaticanradio.org/ Choose the language of your choice to learn more about Vatican Radio. As a result of the visit, I was given a booklet about Radio past, present and future of Radio Vaticana and in the booklet there is information which isn`t on the website. The Programme Production Center is a short distance away from St. Peter's Square on Palazzo Pio (very close to the Castel Sant'Angelo). Since 1970, Palazzo Pio has been the headquarters of Vatican Radio. It is surprisingly spacious and didn't fi t my mindset of a few priests and nuns in cramped ``hole-in-the-wall``. Vatican Radio broadcasts in 40 different languages plus 7 other languages on occasion. Total weekly broadcast time is approximately 480 hours and the annual budget is an impressive Euro 20 million. Associated with the Production Center are 3 VR recording stations (Audience Hall, St. Longinus Loggia and the Hall of Benedictions), the Leo XIII Palazina (technical headquarters), Nicholas V tower and the Marconi Transmitter. The mission of Radio Vaticana is a simple one: it serves to link the Holy See with the different countries of the world. This is accomplished by broadcasting the teachings of the Pontiff, giving information on activities at the Holy See, representing Catholic life throughout the world and represents the Roman Catholic Church's current point of view. Within 10 years of the inauguration of Radio Vaticana, the station found itself playing an important role in World War II. The station was one of the first to condemn Nazi concentration camps and an Information Office was set up to broadcast contact messages from families to prisoners of war. Over 1.2 million messages were delivered between 1941-1946. The technical headquarters of Radio Vaticana is known as the Palazzina Leo XIII (former summer home of Pope Leo XIII) and is located in the Vatican Gardens and includes the Nicholas V tower topped with FM equipment (50 kW power and a 10-level antenna of 4-Yagi antennas per level). Parabolic antennas serve as a point-to-point contact with the Santa Maria di Galeria transmission centre. Radio Vaticana has a total of 4 FM transmitters, 9, mediumwave transmitters and 12 shortwave transmitters. This leads to a total of 40 FM directional antennas, 4 mediumwave antennas, 28 stationary shortwave antennas, 2 rotating shortwave curtain antennas and 3 shortwave rotating logarithmic antennas. Radio Vaticana has certainly kept up with the times in its use of digital technologies to edit and assemble programs, program distribution and archival, Internet broadcasting and satellite broadcasting. News agencies, Internet, e-mail, information and multimedia sources are available to station personnel. E-mail is an important medium for maintaining contact with some listeners. Regular mail can be sent to some regional offices of Radio Vaticana for subsequent transport via Vatican diplomatic mail to the Holy See. It was astonishing to learn that in some countries, the cost of mailing a letter could buy a meal for a family. My thanks go to Sister Janet Fearns (Web outreach and development) and Sean-Patrick Lovett (Head of English and Italian programs) who were gracious to give me a tour of Radio Vaticana and to supply me with much of the information presented here. It was a very enjoyable tour of a station that most certainly wasn't a ``hole-in-the-wall`` operation! Until next month, good DX! I hope to have developed my photos from this trip and perhaps some of Radio Vatican will work their way into this column (Dr. John Barnard, Edmonton, AB CANADA T6J 4M6, Signals Unlimited [illustrated], Mar CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. 15680, Que Huong Radio, 1222-1230, Feb 24, Vietnamese, comments by man and female announcer, give an address and ID ``..Que Huong Radio...``, 24442 (Nicolás Eramo, DX Camp in Chascomus, 120 km South West from Buenos Aires, RECEIVER: Sony ICF 2010, ANTENNA: Long Wire 15 mts, Conexión Digital via DXLD) Site? ** YEMEN. Re 6-037, UNIDENTIFIED: Had a quick check 28 Feb at 2031 UT on 6005 and the Arabic station ID sounded like Libya. Not sure, "Idhaa Jumhuriya... Ozma" it sounded to my ears. Anyone else checking this? 73 (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It sounded like that to me as well, but like you, I'm really not sure (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, ibid.) Yes to me too, I did hear Jamahiriya mentioned but too weak here (Ron Trotto, IL, ibid.) 6005 and 11915. 2000-2100 UT: The recently listed (in DXLD) frequencies for Algeria at this time (from Feb. 15) have not been heard. 6005 BBC SEY. 11915 WRBC S= 1-2 - and some PLC distortion on groundwave in Germany. 73 wb Feb 28 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) What do you mean by that? Not WRBC but WWRB (gh) QRM by local powerline communication from local private networks in Stuttgart capital and area around (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) I listened again (and again) to my recording of this unID 6005 Arabic speaking station. Now it sounds pretty much like the Yemen ID "Idhaa'tl Jumhuriya l'Yamaniya min Sana'a". But not sure about it yet. Can't make a soundfile of the recording at the moment. Today 1 March I checked Yemen 6135 and they were rather nicely audible in parallel with 9779.5. 6135 signed off around 1500. I wonder if they are again on the air later in the evening on 6005. Must check again today for possible 9780 parallel or better ID on 6005. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Finland, March 1, ibid.) We must remember that ``Jumhuriya`` or its variants merely mean Republic, not necessarily referring to Libya (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) 6005 heard in // with 9779.6 kHz at 2000 UT with a good signal on both frequencies (JM Aubier, France, March 1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DX LISTENING DIGEST). I.e., YEMEN Yes indeed! I was just getting ready to post that myself. I finally got enough of a signal on 6005 to check that out, and even though 6005 is quite weak here it is definitely // 9779.6 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, 2009 UT March 1, ibid.) Hello DXers, Jari was right --- it was Yemen. 2015 an ID by an OM reading the news, Idhaat al Jamhuriya al yamaneya min San'aa with local Yemeni news and mentioning the name of the Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh a lot. 2020 another ID and introduction for a song. //9779.6 kHz. All the best, DXers (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, ibid.) They even had a lengthy news item about Finland in their 2000 news :-] (Jari Savolainen, ibid.) Solar-terrestrial indices for 01 March follow. Solar flux 77 and estimated mid-latitude A-Index 7. The mid-latitude K-index at 2100 UTC on 01 March was 0 (3 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) The frequency 6005 was used many years ago by the Democratic Yemen Broadcasting Service (Aden). The 1983 WRTH shows 5970, 6005, 7190 and 11770 being used. All at 100 kW. Here is the station ID from the 1983 WRTH: Idha'at al Jumhuriyah Al-Yemen Al-Dimucratia Ash-Shabeya Min Aden. 6005 was QSL'd here in 1984 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I thought that frequency was familiar; maybe actually Aden reactivated rather than Sana`a site. BTW, Current Saudi Aramco World magazine has some good articles on Sana`a, i.a. (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 6612, Zimbabwe, Gweru, Vernacular, 25/02 2302, OM: talks. Canções intercaladas por locução por YL. Nenhum sinal em 3306, a freqüência oficial da Radio Zimbabwe. 35543 JAR (Rudolf Grimm, DX-Camp in Jarinu City, 75 km from São Paulo, with Valdemar Scaquetti, Martim Jenny, Adiel Nunes Ferreira, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [and non]. "EXPERT WITNESS" SAYS HE DOESN'T KNOW WHERE VOP TRANSMITS FROM Yesterday's court case in Harare of six trustees of Voice of the People, which broadcasts into Zimbabwe from the Radio Netherlands Madagascar relay station, revealed the low level of competence of those presenting the government's case. Their lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, told journalists that the state's expert witness revealed that he did not know how the station broadcasts its programmes. "He says he doesn't know where the transmission takes place from," she said. This is despite the fact that the location of the transmitter is routinely mentioned in press reports, and in the past has even been the subject of an official protest to the Dutch government. Presumably the "expert witness" is hoping that the court will believe the transmitter is located inside Zimbabwe, otherwise the case will surely collapse. Closing arguments will be presented today, and the judgement will be delivered on Friday. # posted by Andy @ 09:15 UT March 1 (Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DXLD) FARCICAL START TO VOP TRIAL By Tererai Karimakwenda 28 February 2006 http://www.swradioafrica.com/news280206/voptrial280206.htm Tuesday was the first day of trial for the six directors of Voice of the People radio, and by most accounts, the proceedings seemed like a joke. The VOP directors were on trial at the Harare Magistrates Court, charged with contravening sections of the draconian Broadcasting Act. The state claims the 6 directors are guilty of running a station that is broadcasting without a license. And yet, as the only 2 witnesses called today testified, VOP does not and cannot broadcast from Zimbabwe because they do not have a transmitter or a booster. In other words, the state’s witness agreed with the defense. Those facing charges are David Masunda, Arnold Tsumba, Lawrence Chibwe, Nhlanhla Ngwenya, Millie Phiri and Isabella Matambanadzo. The Penalty for breaching the Broadcasting Act can be $5 million dollar or a two years in jail. The directors were arrested after police used illegal tactics to force them to turn themselves in. First, they raided the VOP offices in Harare and arrested reporters Maria Nyanyiwa, Takunda Chigwanda and Nyasha Bosha. Then they returned on December 15 and arrested other staff members. They were all later released without charge after the directors reported to police. Itai Zimunya of The Crisis Coalition was in the magistrate court on Tuesday for the first day of trial. He said the experts were asked rather silly questions like whether or not a microphone or a computer can broadcast. The idea of sending e-mails as a means to broadcast was also questioned. But Zimunya said he sees a method to this seemingly pointless questioning. He thinks the government knows they will not succeed should they pursue the original charges. He believes the expert witnesses on Tuesday pretty much destroyed that possibility. Zimunya said the prosecution appears to be already building a case centered around the production-end of the VOP broadcasts. He believes the charge will most likely change from contravening the Broadcast Act, tp will They [sic] be building original charge will not using or whether computers can send broadcast signals eithtrial began [sic] The reporters were held in filthy cells for four days. This was not the first time that VOP has been targeted. In August 2002, its offices were petrol bombed by assailants suspected to be government agents. In an effort to circumvent, Zimbabwe`s laws, VOP broadcasts on shortwave from its transmitter in Madagascar (via Artie Bigley, WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DXLD) VOP TRUSTEES APPEAR IN COURT --- February 28, 2006 Five trustees of a Netherlands-based radio station, who have been charged with illegally possessing transmitting equipment, appeared in court in Harare Today as their lawyer tried to get the case against them thrown out. . . http://www.inkundla.net/indaba/2006/Nhlolanja/vop1.php (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 6005: see YEMEN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Glenn, Thanks to Uncle Sam, I am able to send you a contribution again this year. Please use it where needed most. I very much admire the work you do, and enjoy your program on both WBCQ and WWCR. Keep up the good work. Sincerely, (Donna Ring, Baltimore MD, Feb 20) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ AM-DX WestList Updated I've updated the WestList on the AM-DX site today. This list is derived from the FCC Database, but can be searched by frequency, state/province/country, or call sign. New feature is a link to the antenna pattern PDF file from the FCC web site. This seems to load very quickly. I used to create the pattern as a graphic file and keep it right on the web site. This is too clumsy to do frequently. I hope it's useful! Right now the update process is 90% automated, and I hope to complete that process soon. The goal is to update it monthly. It takes about eight or so hours start to finish. Most of that is downloading the information, and processing it. If automated, that can run overnight (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, Feb 28, IRCA via DXLD) http://www.am-dx.com/fcclist.htm RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SOMETHING DIRECTLY RELATED TO NUMBER STATIONS Hi Glenn, I'm sure number stations buffs will appreciate a recent Slashdot item original on http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/26/0646215 Stereo writes: "The Enigma Machine was cracked in Poland in 1932, but three messages remain unbroken, despite having been intercepted in the North Atlantic in 1942. The M4 Project, named after the four rotor Enigma M4 used for encryption, is a distributed computing effort to break them. One message has already been deciphered successfully!" M4 Project Web site, http://www.bytereef.org.nyud.net:8080/m4_project.html are filled up with external references. Also, don't miss Wikipedia's article on Enigma: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine I'm providing further links on this topic on my blog, http://www.radiopassioni.it (in Italian). (Andy Lawendel, Italy, March 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ QUALCHE ASCOLTO SERALE IN DRM Rx: CiaoRadio H101 + Dream Ant: T2FD 1296 19/02 2205 BBC, Orfordness, 70 Kw, World Service EE reports, discreto 1440 dopo le 0000, RTL, stereo, ottimo, nelle notti giuste 1530 19/02 2330 Radio Vaticana, EE, buono 1611 19/02 2235 Radio Vaticana, 25 KW, IT, buono 3965 19/02 2240 TDF Issoudun, F, discreto 3995 19/02 2220 DW Wertachtal 200 KW, G, buono 5810 20/02 2135 DW, Taldom, Russia 40 Kw, class. Mx, ottimo 5820 20/02 2140 Voice of Russia WS, Taldom, Russia, EE, 40 Kw ottimo 5910 19/02 2223 DW Taldom 40 Kw, G, buono 5990 18/02 2228 RTL Junglinster 50 Kw, nice music, buono 6095 19/02 2247 RTL Junglinster, male! 9800 20/02 2135 R Netherland via CBC, Sackville, Canada, EE, a tratti buono, 70 Kw 11845 20/02 2200 R Netherland, Bonaire, Antille Olandesi, EE, buono Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) + CANADA ANOTHER BOSTON ACOUSTICS RECEPTOR HD RADIO REVIEW Hi all, I've had my HD Receptor now for about a week and wanted to give it some time before I sat down and wrote a review. Let me begin by saying that this is a good radio, for what it is. The emphasis is on sound and not on "dx-ability;" meaning that it is not extremely sensitive (either on FM or AM), although the selectivity is acceptable for most situations. The sound quality, however, is very good - even with the small albeit somewhat bassy internal speakers. When connected to a stereo, however, it's true audio performance comes out. Let's look first at the FM side. This is where I first noticed that sensitivity is lacking. Even with an outside antenna it is difficult to pull in anything but local stations. For instance, there are several rim shot FM's near Philadelphia that put respectable signals over my location in Lafayette Hill at the WFIL/WNTP transmitter site. I tried two outside antennas: a standard crossed FM dipole, and a Diamond DX-130 discone antenna. It worked slightly better on the discone, but even at that, it was difficult to pull in rim shots like WPST, WBYN, and WJBR. The Receptor also had difficulty pulling in the second HD multicast channel on local WRTI, which runs less power than most of the major FM's in town, but whose transmitter is located with most others at the Roxborough antenna farm, about four miles away. Likewise, when using the radio an my home QTH in Lansdale, about 15 miles from Roxborough, reception of IBOC even on high power FMs was iffy with an outside antenna. At home I used a Winegard crossed-dipole and a Dressler ARA-2000 to test the Receptor. On the whole, however, I have to say that the FM Iboc is indeed superior sounding to analog FM. When switching between the main FM analog channel and its IBOC counterpart, there is a marked difference in audio quality. The high end is largely much brighter and cleaner. There is also none of the "swishy" artifacts associated with analog's 75 microsecond preemphasis. On the AM side, I was very disappointed. I have several AM IBOC stations nearby that I used for testing: WIP, WPEN, WDAS, and WOR. What disappointed me the most is that "static" and other noise is still an issue on AM, even with IBOC. (I would be curious if Scott Fybush had the same experience with his). The audio on AM IBOC, as on the FM side, tends to be cleaner than analog, but I am not sure if that is a function of the IBOC itself, or merely the difference in audio processing between analog and IBOC components. As in FM, the high end is also much cleaner in digital. These gains, however, seem to be negated by the noise and static that still exists. I will say this about the Receptor's AM section. It is fairly well immune from problems in high RF environments. Here in my office I am 5 feet from WNTP's 50 kw transmitter, 15 feet from WFIL's 8 kw, and about 75 feet from our directional array`s closest tower. Despite this intense "RF-bashing" I was able to pick up all of the local Philly stations with no problem, with the occasional exception of some bleed- over from WNTP in the background. I have found no other radio - even some of my more expensive DX receivers - that are as immune to a dense RF environment as the Receptor. Listening at home, where RF levels are much less intense, the receiver was able to pull IBOC from WOR in New York with no problem, as well as locals WIP, WDAS (albeit weakly) and WPEN. I did not experience the problems differentiating between 1480 WDAS' IBOC and WBCB (1490) and WKAP (1470) analog. The radio differentiated between the adjacent signals well. I was also able to DX WCKY 1530's IBOC signal before they went to night pattern. It was fairly consistent that night, with little or no fading --- which actually was disappointing because I was interested in what poor propagation would do. Overall, I would rate the radio as being adequate for local FM IBOC reception with an outside antenna, and ok for AM IBOC as well. I would be interested if anyone else who has had experience with AM IBOC has had the same experience as I with the continuing static and noise. I thought that digital was supposed to eliminate most of this, but it is being demodulated along with the digital audio. My gut feeling about AM IBOC, now having experienced it, is that AM stereo was much better. I tried three antennas - the internal, the supplied external loop, and a long wire (at home). There were, of course, better results with the long wire but not that much. WOR's IBOC was about the same with the external loop as the long wire. And the noise was less. 73, René (Rene' F. Tetro, Chief Engineer, Salem Communications - Philadelphia, WNTP-AM/WFIL-AM, 117 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill, PA 19444, Voice: 610-941-9560 Extension 41, Fax: 610-828-8879 Email: rtetro @ pobox.com ABDX via DXLD) Rene, This was the one hope I had for IBOC on MW. I hoped that we could get away from the electrical noise issues. This has me very disappointed. I had strong hopes that IBOC could get around the noise. I am very sorry to hear this. AM stereo may have been killed for a product that can be worse. It may be that I was right when I said IBOC might be ok on the VHF bands but would probably not be the answer for MW. I really am disappointed in the inability to reject noise. It was the one thing that I was hoping would work (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) I have to go out on a limb and guess that one of the issues with static being a problem on AM is the possibility that long duration impulse noise, which is wide with respect to the digital bit stream, is punching holes in the digital data stream, and causing momentary dropouts. I have no idea how the receiver would behaves in this circumstance. I would guess that the impulse noise is somewhat stronger than the desired bit stream. I am pretty sure that the receiver is not sophisticated enough to replace the missing bit stream with an analogue of the recovered data that came just before it, and that which was cleanly decoded. In TV, this can be done because it is only done once, in a studio setting, when rebroadcasting a link from somewhere else that is noisy. But I doubt it is cost effective to do in each receiver. My best guess is that the receiver "mutes" during a loss of data due to masking by noise, and this would punch a momentary "hole" in the audio you hear. Or perhaps it just outputs the actual noise pulse for that momentary period. I'd guess this is worth trying to get a handle on, as obviously the marketing claim of "noise free" HD reception - on AM - is suspect. Scope traces of the recovered analog (HD) audio during noise-filled HD reception, and similar traces of the same frequency, on a standard analog set, are called for, I would think. Unfortunately, no hardware here for me to try it, or else I'd be doing it now. My home QTH is certainly noisy enough !! (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, ibid.) There's a decent chance the codec does indeed try to plug the hole with the last good sample or an extrapolation. Lots of common audio codecs now do this, including the venerable G.711 of telephone networks, G.729 of VoIP fame, G.728, etc. The usual trigger for this is when the error correction sees a frame that is so bad it can't correct it and throws up its hands. It's then a simple matter to copy the last good frame and apply any tailoring you wish. I don't have direct knowledge of whether iBiquity is using this so-called "error concealment". End of engineering gobbledygook (Chuck Hutton, IRCA via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to active at middle latitudes, while high latitudes observed quiet to severe storm levels. The period began with the solar wind speed at about 400 km/s, while the IMF Bz was weak, not varying much beyond +/- 5 nT. Wind speed gradually increased to 500 km/s by early on 20 February, and then rose sharply to near 600 km/s by midday on the 20th. This sharp increase was due to the onset of a coronal hole high speed stream. Beginning midday on the 20th, and for the next 12 hours, the IMF Bz fluctuated between +/- 10 nT. By late on 21 February, wind speed peaked to near 700 km/s. From midday on 20 February through midday on 22 February, the geomagnetic field responded with quiet to active conditions at middle latitudes, while quiet to severe storm conditions were observed at high latitudes. Thereafter, and through the end of the summary period, wind speed gradually decayed and ended the period at near 400 km/s. The IMF Bz remained weak, not varying much beyond +/- 5 nT, while the geomagnetic field was generally quiet to unsettled at all latitudes. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 01 - 27 MARCH 2006 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels during the forecast period. No greater than 10 MeV proton events are expected. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high levels on 20 – 25 March. The geomagnetic field is expected to range from quiet to minor storm levels. Active to minor storm periods are possible on 19 - 22 March due to effects from a recurrent coronal hole wind stream. Otherwise, quiet to unsettled conditions are expected. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2006 Feb 28 2123 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2006 Feb 28 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2006 Mar 01 80 5 2 2006 Mar 02 80 5 2 2006 Mar 03 80 5 2 2006 Mar 04 80 5 2 2006 Mar 05 80 8 3 2006 Mar 06 80 5 2 2006 Mar 07 80 5 2 2006 Mar 08 80 5 2 2006 Mar 09 80 5 2 2006 Mar 10 80 5 2 2006 Mar 11 75 5 2 2006 Mar 12 75 5 2 2006 Mar 13 75 5 2 2006 Mar 14 75 8 3 2006 Mar 15 75 8 3 2006 Mar 16 75 5 2 2006 Mar 17 75 5 2 2006 Mar 18 75 8 3 2006 Mar 19 75 12 3 2006 Mar 20 75 15 3 2006 Mar 21 75 15 3 2006 Mar 22 75 10 3 2006 Mar 23 75 8 3 2006 Mar 24 75 5 2 2006 Mar 25 80 5 2 2006 Mar 26 80 5 2 2006 Mar 27 80 5 2 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via WORLD OF RADIO 1306, DXLD) ###