DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-046, March 17, 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 NEXT SW AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1308: Sat 0900 WRN 15735 DRM Bulgaria Sat 1330 WRMI 7385 Sat 1700 WWCR 12160 Sun 0330 WWCR 5070 Sun 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0530 WRMI 9955 Sun 0730 WWCR 3215 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Wed 1030 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 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 ** ALGERIA. Hi Glenn, I am monitoring 1422 kHz from Algeria. I have listened after 0000 UT the service RTA CHAINE 3 in French on 1422 kHz in // 252 kHz --- this seems new to me. The signal on 1422 kHz is so strong it cover the signal from Germany. This may explain the past week report from a MW Dxer in US who heard a signal on 1422 kHz. Good 73's (Dario Monferini, Italy, March 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 26 FEB, 2312 UT, 2540 KHZ (1270 x 2), Radio Província de Buenos Aires. Castellano. Torneo Nacional de Acenso. Liga Nacional de Basquetbol. Fuerte. Calidad Excelente (Adán Mur, Ñemby, Paraguay, LOWE HF 150 ANT MULTIBAND T2FD, Conexión Digital March 12 via DXLD) ** BELARUS. Radio Belarus was heard on March 10 from 2030 to 21 hours on 7125 kHz with a program in English in which, however, only the frequencies of 1170, 7105 and 7210 kHz were announced (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program March 17 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [non]. Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal A-06 SW schedule. All Dutch (Flemish). South and Southeast Europe 0600-0700 UT 13685 (St. Petersburg) 1700-1800 UT 13685 (Moscow) South and Southwest Europe 0700-0800 UT 9590 (Rampisham) 1800-1900 UT 9590 (Skelton) From RVI brochure received in mail March 17 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non]. TDP SHORTWAVE TRANSMITTER AIRTIME SCHEDULE A06 [with bracketed registration comments from Wolfgang Büschel] PROGRAM TIME(UTC) FREQUENCY(kHz) AM/DRM DAYS(mtwtfss) LANGUAGE TARGET Denge Mezopotamya 0400-0800 11530 AM mtwtfss Kurdish M East Denge Mezopotamya 0800-1200 11530 AM mtwtfss Kurdish M East Denge Mezopotamya 1200-1600 11530 AM mtwtfss Kurdish M East [Different entries: 11530 0400-1600 39,40 KCH 500kW 115deg MDA TDP GFC 11530 0400-1600 39 KCH 300kW 116deg Kur MDA MEZ TDP KCH = 'veiled' location call of Soviet era, is really Maiac Grigoriopol Moldova] Que Huong Radio 1200-1300 15680 AM mtwtfs. Vietnamese Asia [via Dushanbe-Orzu, Tajikistan, 100 kW 117 deg] TDPradio 1400-1600 6015 DRM .....s. English Europe [6015 1400-1700 27 RMP 35 kW 85 deg Sat only N=DRM mode G TDP TDP 6015 1400-1700 27 WER 60 kW 315 deg Sat only N Dut D TDP TDP Different, either Rampisham-GB or Wertachtal-D] Tensae Ethiopia Voice of Unity 1500-1600 15660 AM mtwtfss Amharic Africa [15660 1500-1600 38,39,48 ARM 250kW 188deg RUS TDP GFC Armavir Krasnodar-RUS] Voice of Liberty - Eritrea 1600-1700 15260 AM ..w.f.s Tigrigna Africa Voice of Eritrea 1600-1700 15260 AM ...t... Tigrigna Africa [both the above: 15260 1600-1700 48 SAM 250 kW 188 deg 1456(Sun,We,Th,Fr) Tir RUS TDP GFC Samara-RUS] TDPradio 1600-1800 11900 DRM .....s. English America [11900 1600-1800 8 SAC 70kW 240deg 7=Sat N=DRM mode Eng CAN TDP TDP Sackville-CAN] Radio Voice of Oromo Liberation 1700-1730 12120 AM m..t... Oromo Africa Voice of Ethiopian People 1700-1800 12120 AM .t...s. Amharic Africa Dejen Radio 1700-1800 12120 AM ..w.... Tigrigna Africa Radio Voice of ENUF 1700-1800 12120 AM ....f.s Amharic Africa [12120 1700-1800 38,39,47,48 SAM 250 kW 188 deg various RUS TDP GFC Samara-RUS] Radio Horyaal 1730-1800 12130 AM mtwt.ss Somali Africa Voice of Delina 1800-1900 12130 AM ......s Tigrigna Africa [12130 1715-1900 48 ARM 200 kW 188 deg RUS TDP GFC Armavir Krasnodar- RUS] Radio Free Southern Cameroons 1800-1900 15695 AM ......s English Africa [15695 1800-1900 46,47 ARM 500kW 235deg 1=Sun only RUS TDP GFC] Source: TDP website (via Eric Zhou, China, dxldyg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 26 FEB, 2314 UT, 2490 KHZ, Radio Oito de Setembro, Brasil. Portugués. Identificación completa a las 2322 UT. Fuerte. Calidad Excelente (Adán Mur, Ñemby, Paraguay, LOWE HF 150 ANT MULTIBAND T2FD, Conexión Digital March 12 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 6150, Radio Record, f/d "Maroti" card and large sticker for an August 2005 reception and six weeks after Pedro MC de Castro's help from DXCB. The route went like this: mp3 file to Pedro along with file of the Maroti card. He created a CD with the mp3 and a card with the Maroti file and sent them to Jose Moura, a friend of his and fellow DXCB member. He brought it to the station, waited 2 1/2 hours to be received, got the QSL and sent it to Pedro who forwarded it to me. The v/s is Antonio Carlos Miranda but is known as Caca (accent on last "a"). I've seen that nickname before but forget where. Brazil #49 (John Sgrulletta, NY DXplorer Mar 11 via BCDX March 18 via DXLD) ** CAMEROON [non]. From A06 TDP schedule: Radio Free Southern Cameroons: 1800-1900 15695 AM ......s English Africa (TDP website, via Eric Zhou, China, dxld yg Mar 17 via DXLD) More details: 15695 1800-1900 46,47 ARM 500 kW 235deg 1=Sun only RUS TDP GFC --- registrations for A-06 season (by wb. wwdxc BC-DX Mar 17, via DXLD) ** CANADA. RCI's new schedules for the A06 broadcast season (26 March 2006 to 29 October 2006) have been posted on the "Schedules and Frequencies" page of our website at the following address: http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/horaires.shtml You will find not only our shortwave broadcast schedules, but also the schedules for our three 24-hour per day satellite channels. These channels can also be heard via our website. You will also find the schedules for the RCI Plus channel on Sirius. Please note that the schedules are posted in PDF format. If you do not have the Adobe Reader software to read PDF files, you may download it free of charge by following the link given on the "Schedules and Frequencies" page. Please also note that there is a separate schedule for the week of 26 March through 1 April, as certain times and frequencies only change as of 2 April, when Canada and the USA go to daylight saving time. We wish you good listening in the coming season. RADIO CANADA INTERNATIONAL (via Jim Renfrew, March 17, DXLD) Viz.: RCI`s A06 program and frequency schedules are now available as .pdf files at http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/horaires.shtml Here`s English: Radio Canada International English Programs March 26 (0700 UT) to October 29 (0700 UT), 2006 UTC \ TRANSMITTER SITE \ kW AZ TARGETS \ PROGRAMS 0000-0057 KUN 11700 100 225 South East Asia MON: The World This Weekend \ Maple Leaf Mailbag TUE: The World at Six \ Madly Off in All Directions WED: The World at Six \ C`est la Vie THU: The World at Six \ The Inside Track FRI: The World at Six \ Wire Tap SAT: The World at Six \ Dispatches SUN: The World This Weekend \ Media Zone 0000-0159:30 SAC 9755 100 240 United States \ Caribbean \ Mexico [250 kW 227 degrees March 26-April 2] MON: The World This Weekend \ Maple Leaf Mailbag \ Writers and Company TUE-SAT: The World at Six \ As It Happens Fri: Dispatches at 0130 SUN: The World This Weekend \ Madly Off In All Directions \ Global Village 0100-0159:30 SAC 13710 250 272 Central and Western United States NOTE: Begins April 2 MON: The World This Weekend \ Maple Leaf Mailbag TUE-SAT: The World At Six \ As It Happens SUN: The World This Weekend \ Madly Off In All Directions 1200-1259 YAM 9660 200 270 Asia \ China YAM 15170 300 290 Asia \ China MON: Writers & Company TUE-SAT: Ideas SUN: Quirks & Quarks 1300-1559:30 SAC 9515 100 268 Central & Eastern US \ Cuba \ Haiti SAC 13665 250 240 Central & Eastern US \ Cuba \ Haiti SAC 17800 100 189 Central & Eastern US \ Cuba \ Haiti NOTE: Begins April 2; 1400-1659:30 March 26-April 1 MON-THU: The Current \ Sounds Like Canada \ National Playlist FRI: The Current \ Sounds Like Canada \ Madly Off In All Directions \ National Playlist SAT: The House \ Vinyl Café \ Quirks and Quarks SUN: The Sunday Edition 1400-1659:30 see 1300-1559:30 1500-1557 KUN 11675 500 283 India WER 15360 250 090 India URU 17720 500 212 India MON: Canada Today \ Media Zone TUE: Canada Today \ The Mailbag WED: Canada Today \ Spotlight THU: Canada Today \ Business Sense FRI: Canada Today \ Scitech File SAT: Business Sense \ Scitech File SUN: The Maple Leaf Mailbag \ Spotlight 1800-1859 WER 9530 250 150 Sub-Saharan Africa KAS 11765 100 239 Sub-Saharan Africa WER 13730 250 165 Sub-Saharan Africa SKN 15255 250 180 Sub-Saharan Africa MON: Canada Today \ Media Zone TUE: Canada Today \ The Mailbag WED: Canada Today \ Spotlight THU: Canada Today \ Business Sense FRI: Canada Today \ Scitech File SAT: Business Sense \ Scitech File SUN: The Maple Leaf Mailbag \ Spotlight 2000-2059 HBY 5850 250 245 Europe SKN 7235 300 180 Europe WER 11765 299 120 Europe SAC 15325 250 060 Europe MON: Canada Today \ Media Zone TUE: Canada Today \ The Mailbag WED: Canada Today \ Spotlight THU: Canada Today \ Business Sense FRI: Canada Today \ Scitech File SAT: Business Sense \ Scitech File SUN: The Maple Leaf Mailbag \ Spotlight 2000-2159 SAC 17765 250 240 Southeast US \ Cuba \ Haiti NOTE: Begins April 2; 2100-2259 March 28-April 1 MON-FRI: Freestyle SAT: Definitely Not the Opera SUN: Cross Country Checkup 2100-2259 See 2000-2159 above 2200-2259:30 SAC 6100 100 212 Northeastern US NOTE: Begins April 2; 2300-2259:30 March 28-April 1 MON-FRI: The World at Six \ As It Happens SAT: The World This Weekend \ Madly Off In All Directions SUN: The World This Weekend \ Maple Leaf Mailbag 2230-2259 SOL 1179 300 MW Northern Europe MON-FRI: Canada Today SAT: Media Zone SUN: The Maple Leaf Mailbag 2300-2259:30 See 2200-2259:30 above A06 Digital Radio Mondial - DRM 1330-1400 FLE 7240 040 123 Central & Eastern Europe MON: Spotlight TUE: Media Zone WED: The Maple Leaf Mailbag THU: Spotlight FRI: Business Sense SAT: Scitech File SUN: Business Sense 2100-2200 SAC 9800 070 268 Northeast United States NOTE: Begins April 2; 2200-2300 March 26-April 1 MON-FRI: The World at Six \ As It Happens SAT: Vinyl Café SUN: Writers & Company FLE: FLEVO, THE NETHERLANDS HBY: HOERBY, SWEDEN KAS: KASHI, CHINA KUN: KUNMING, CHINA SAC: SACKVILLE, CANADA SKN: SKELTON, UNITED KINGDOM SOL: SÖLVESBORG, SWEDEN URU: URUMQI, CHINA WER: WERTACHTAL, GERMANY YAM: YAMATA, JAPAN (via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CANADA. NEW PARALLEL FM TRANSMITTERS APPROVED BY CRTC FOR CBC STATIONS IN WESTERN CANADA for the following AM stations in western Canada as detailed below: Originating station Location of transmitter Frequency (channel) Average effective radiated power CBK Regina Saskatoon 94.1 MHz (channel 231A) 4,100 watts CHFA Edmonton Edmonton 101.1 MHz (channel 266A) 3,931 watts CBX Edmonton Edmonton 93.9 MHz (channel 230A) 3,931 watts CKSB St-Boniface Winnipeg 90.5 MHz (channel 213A) 2,800 watts CBW Winnipeg Winnipeg 89.3 MHz (channel 207A) 2,800 watts CBR Calgary Calgary 99.1 MHz (channel 256B1L) 1,100 watts http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/db2006-84.htm Note that the associated AM stations with their extensive coverage areas will remain on the air. The FM stations will have limited coverage and are intended to serve the areas of the cities in question that are having problems receiving the AM signal due to electrical noise and so forth. In the application the CBC indicated that replacing the present AM transmitters (four of which are 50 kW clear channel stations) with the required multiple FM transmitters was pretty much a no-go:) Only took the CBC about 25 years to admit this :) 73, (Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. MAGIQUE ON THE AIRWAVES (an anglo discovers CJBC-860) I'm tickled by French radio's brainy giddiness and la-la singalongs By SHEILA GOSTICK In a cantina in Mexico city, I once received a note written to me in French. Mexicans are aware that Canada has two official languages. A Canadian who speaks only English is considered bewildering, if not wilfully stupid. I don't know how to explain to them that years of mandatory French classes have little impact on the stubbornly unilingual. Canadians' traditional assertion that they are different from Americans might carry more weight if the whole country plunged into French immersion. A major incentive for the learning of French can be found every Sunday night between 8 pm and midnight on CJBC, the only CBC station remaining on the AM band, at 860. I know of no English-speaking broadcaster who could come within a thousand kilometres of the awe- inspiring Jacques Languirand on his Par 4 Chemins. --- full article: http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-03-16/news_story8.php (for vintage radio collectors - note picture of Zenith clock radio on this page) 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, IRCA via DXLD) Does she perhaps mean the "only CBC station IN TORONTO remaining on the AM band?" Sheesh (Randy Stewart (who can hear CBC programming from Winnipeg on 990 virtually every night, and sometimes from Regina on 540 as well), Springfield MO, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CANADA. CKUT REFERENDUM PASSES --- MCGILL STUDENTS GIVE CAMPUS RADIO STATION CKUT A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE. Almost two-thirds agree in referendum to continue funding broadcasts through fees The Gazette, Friday, March 17, 2006 Link to original page: http://makeashorterlink.com/?P271140DC McGill University students have voted to continue paying fees to support CKUT Radio McGill, the campus station. In a referendum organized by the Students' Society of McGill University, 63 per cent of voters agreed to keep paying $4 per semester (graduate students pay $3) to keep the FM station on the air. "We're very happy with the results," Michael Zackon, chairperson of CKUT's board of directors, said yesterday. "The station is something students really care about." The fees represent about 40 per cent of CKUT's annual $400,000 operating budget, he said. The station depends on advertising and an annual fundraising campaign for the rest of its revenues. The 24-hour FM station, which features a mix of music and news, has about 100,000 listeners across the city. "People also hear us in the northern United States and in the Laurentians," Zackon noted. Fans abroad can pick up live broadcasts on the Internet. The students' society decided to poll students on their support for the radio station after taking over responsibility from the university administration in 2003 for collecting the CKUT fees. Voting took place Sunday through Wednesday. CKUT is now considering a new referendum question: Would you agree to pay more for the station? "We'd like to raise the (undergraduate) fee to $6," Zackon said, adding graduate fees would increase at a similar rate - about 50 per cent. Student fees for CKUT have been frozen since 1988, he noted. The radio station plans to approach the students' society's legislative council this year. © The Gazette (Montreal) 2006 (via Ricky Leong, AB, DXLD) ** CHINA. 26 FEB, 0010 UT, 17310 KHZ, Beijing Guangpo Tientai, RPC. Mandarino. Muchos anuncios comerciales. Música moderna. Producción de calidad superlativa. ID completa a las 0045. Fuerte. Calidad Superlativa (Adán Mur, Ñemby, Paraguay, LOWE HF 150 ANT MULTIBAND T2FD, Conexión Digital March 12 via DXLD) Jammer? See also CUBA ** CHINA. Re 18160 kHz: I also noted that they were off for 5 minutes from the top of the hour. This is for monitoring purposes - you will note this practice during the first 48 hours of the upcoming new schedule period on all currently jammed frequencies. For several days now I have failed to hear 18160 kHz, so it seems that their monitors are certain that now there is nothing more to jam. 17310 has also been gone for several weeks now. The programme on 18160 was \\ 17550 and other CNR-1 outlets, but I always heard them with a considerable delay compared to 17550 and other Beijing outlets (Olle Alm-SWE to Mauno Ritola-FIN, Mar 17, BCDX via DXLD) 18160 --- Hier noch eine Meldung zu dem unbekannten Dienst auf 18160 kHz. Mauno Ritola-FIN beobachtete, dass diese chines. Station mit dem CNR Programm die Nachrichten zur vollen Stunde ausblendet, d.h. stumm stellt. Weiterhin ein Puzzle. Darüber hinaus beobachtete Olle Alm in Schweden, dass neben dem CNR Programm oft auch ein zweiter, weiterer Firedrake-Stoersender die 18160 kHz benutzt. Unbekannt ist der Zweck der Aussendung und gegen wen sich die Stoerung richtet. (wb.) Zeitweise werden die Amateurfunkbaender durch private Funkpiraten und auch Rundfunkstationen gestoert. Das Ausfindigmachen dieser Eindringlinge ist Aufgabe der Bandwacht. Nachfolgend ein Auszug von Stoermeldungen aus dem Monat Maerz. Radio China International wurde bereits Ende des Jahres 2005 auf 18160 kHz gehoert. Die Bundesnetzagentur sandte damals eine Internationale Beschwerde nach China. Danach war der Rundfunksender in chinesischer Sprache fuer kurze Zeit verschwunden und ist nun vormittags mit grosser Feldstaerke wieder auf 18160 kHz zu hoeren. Ein-Buchstaben-Baken bei 7039 kHz in CW hoert man schon seit vielen Jahren. Sie gehoeren offensichtlich dem Militaer Russlands beziehungsweise der GUS-Staaten. Deshalb ist hier keine Besserung zu erwarten. Aus der IARU-Region 3 und selbst aus Region 2 treffen viele Beschwerden wegen eines Ueberhorizontradars der Chinesen ein. Das 40- und das 80-m-Band werden dort oft gestoert. Hier in DL wurde das China-Ueberhorizontradar bisher noch nicht gehoert. Weitere Informationen zur Bandwacht, aktuelle Nachrichten ueber Bandeindringlinge und auch Klangbeispiele gibt es auf der Webseite http://www.iarums-r1.org (DARC Deutschlandrundspruch, Nachrichten der DARC-Bandwacht, Mar 17 via BCDX via DXLD) ** CHINA. Jammers 17/3 (DE1103) 1006 11665.0 CNR1 -> CBS1 Taiwan. SF/BN 1011 11825.0 CNR1 x 2 txs -> ?? SF/BN 1014 11855.0 CNR1 x 2 txs -> VOA Mandarino. SF/BN 1015 11965.0 CNR1 x 2 txs -> VOA Mandarino. SF/BN 1016 12010.0 CNR1 -> ?? SF/BN 1020 13690.0 CNR1/mx cinese -> VOA Mandarino. SF/BN 1023 13765.0 CNR1/mx cinese -> VOA Mandarino. BN/MB (Luca Botto Fiora (SWL I1-0799/GE), Rapallo (Genova), playdx via DXLD) SF/BN/MB = F/G/VG ** CONGO [non?]. 9610, Radio Congo, Brazzaville, at 1925-1940 UT on March 11, French/Vernacular, "afropops", short annoouncement by male in French and others in vernacular, talk in vernacular, ID as: "Ici Radio Congo", 24442/34343 (Arnaldo Slaen in DX Camp-Chascomús, Argentina via BCDX via DXLD) The Congo items of Roland Schulze-D in dswci DX Window [BC-DX TopNews #751], and Arnaldo Slaen-ARG puzzle me up!!! Is that really CONGO station, or but what? Congo normally closes service at 1655 UT. But there is also co-channel IBRA R at 1900-2045 UT on very same channel. 9610 IBRA R scheduled exact at 1900-2045 UT, via DTK Juelich-D 100 kW 190 degrees, in French, Bambara, Tamajeq, Hausa, Von, Zarma, Wolof, Dyula, Songhai, Moore, Malinke, Fulfulde and Various. I asked Vashek in South Africa to check this channel on his location (Wolfgang Büschel, Mar 15, BCDX via DXLD) ** CUBA. 1 MAR, 0008 UT, 15010 KHZ, Radio Internacional de China. Castellano. Combinada con Radio Habana Cuba, en la misma frecuencia. Fuerte. 1 MAR, 0005 UT, 15120 KHZ, Radio Internacional de China. Castellano. Audio combinado con el programa castellano de Radio Habana Cuba. Dos programas, compartiendo la misma frecuencia. Fortísima. A pesar de la mezcla, Calidad Excelente (Adán Mur, Ñemby, Paraguay, LOWE HF 150 ANT MULTIBAND T2FD, Conexión Digital March 12 via DXLD) So the mix would be 15230 RHC Spanish leapfrogging 15120 to 15010 (gh, DXLD) ** EGYPT. 9990, R Cairo. 10 March at 2151-2157. First log in a while. Program featuring bits about the Egyptian-European interactions. Items included guide books, mentions of Alexandria, and a treaty between Italy and Egypt. YL announcer in English with lot of background noise including the sound of squeaking doors. Fair-good (Joe Wood, TN, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** GAMBIA. GRTS Home Service is active on 648 kHz and FM 96.0 & 98.6 MHz. Listed 747 kHz and 91.4 MHz are silent. No other stations on AM. Private FM Stations found: 89.0 RFI Afrique, also relay BBC WS at times 93.6 City Limits Radio 95.3 West Coast Radio 102.1 R One FM 107.6 R. KWT (Gerhard Werdin, touring in GMB, wwdxc BC-DX Feb. 22 - March 8 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. DRM-Sonder-Programme für Europa, A-06 ------------------------------------------------ EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1600-1000 3995 75 D WERTACHTAL EUROPA ENGL/DT. 2100-2200 5980 49 POR SINES EUROPA ENGL/DT. 0600-1000 6130 49 D WERTACHTAL EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1400-1600 6130 49 D WERTACHTAL EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1100-1300 6140 49 D JUELICH EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1600-1900 6140 49 D JUELICH EUROPA ENGL/DT. 0600-1200 7265 41 D WERTACHTAL EUROPA ENGL/DT. 0700-0900 7265 41 POR SINES EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1700-1800 7265 41 D WERTACHTAL EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1900-2100 7515 41 RUS MOSKAU EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1200-1400 9655 31 D WERTACHTAL EUROPA ENGL/DT. 0400-0600 9690 31 RUS MOSKAU EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1500-1800 13790 22 POR SINES EUROPA ENGL/DT. 0800-0900 13810 22 POR SINES EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1200-1600 15265 19 POR SINES EUROPA ENGL/DT. 1800-2000 15435 19 POR SINES EUROPA ENGL/DT. 0900-1500 15440 19 POR SINES EUROPA ENGL/DT. 0900-1200 15545 19 POR SINES (via Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GHANA. Despite several checks mornings and evenings nothing heard on 4915 kHz (Gerhard Werdin, touring in Gambia, wwdxc BC-DX Feb. 22 - March 8 via DXLD) ** GOA. QSL: 7250, AIR-Panaji, full data, nice looking ``Humayun`s Tomb, New Delhi`` card from New Delhi with usual v/s: Y.K. Sharma, Director (Spectrum Management & Synergy), in 13 months. This makes my 3rd Panaji QSL card via New Delhi (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Babis: Wonderful reception last might on the 0000-0400 UT broadcast to North America on Avlis 3 from 9420; SINPO 55555 at all times. It sounds as if you have either a new antenna hooked to it plus you have stepped up the power above 70 kW (John Babbis, MD, March 17 to ERA via DXLD) Glenn: Babis sent me this as a reply to my query in today's reception report to him. As I read it, 9420 is using 170 kW power. What is the "rms" abbreviation? What does he mean about the antennas at Avlis being better than Kavala's? What is the big secret about the modulation? Regards, (John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Dear John, I told you again, the new transmitter, working power is 170 KW rms. The antennas of Avlis are better than Kavalas. The modulation of new transmitter is a secret (Babis, ERT via John Babbis, DXLD) John, I wish I knew the answers. RMS stands for root mean square, but what that means in practice some engineer will have to explain (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** HUNGARY. HUNGRIA. Amanecía en Europa Central y yo por irme a la cama alredor de las 0430 este viernes 17 y resulté sorprendido por la movida antes de tiempo de Radio Budapest que ya puso en práctica su A- 06 pues ya anuncian en este horario en español su nueva 7285 // con la habitual 6025, aunque aún siguen operando en 3975. Creo que este cambio vendrá a la vuelta de dos semanas. Esperemos (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, March 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Lo de Hungria, veremos en que queda la cosa, su continuidad está en el aire, confiemos que se mantenga (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) Some Hungarian radio related web sites. see MW/FM table of Hungarian radio: http://www.fw.hu/enjoe/HNG.pdf http://www.ortt.hu/nyilvantartas.htm http://radio.lap.hu/ http://www.hullamvadasz.hu http://radioweb.atw.hu/ (Istvan Hegedues, Hungary, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 11 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. SENATE PROPOSES "LOCAL EMERGENCY RADIO SERVICE PRESERVATION ACT" March 16, 2006 http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=187198 A trio of United States Senators have introduced the "Local Emergency Radio Service Preservation Act of 2006," which would require the FCC to decide in the near future if satellite radio should allow locally- oriented information and programming on their national channels. The bill was introduced by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Max Baucus (R-MT) and Trent Lott (R-MS). The new legislation is basically the same as a House bill from last year that already has 111 co-sponsors. The type of localized programming in question that XM and Sirius carries includes local weather and traffic reports. This bill would basically prevent the satcasters from including `locally differentiated` content. The bill says that "because radio programming is supported by advertising, the ability of local stations to continue to provide local news and other services and to ensure communications during emergencies could be jeopardized by a diversion of the listening audience away from local radio programming." The NAB has come out in support of the bill, with President/CEO David Rehr saying in a statement that the organization "applauds Sens. Snowe, Baucus and Lott for introducing legislation designed to preserve the rich tradition of local broadcasting. It is crystal clear that both XM and Sirius – with nearly $1 billion in combined losses last year and having failed as a national programming service – are skirting the intent of their original FCC licenses. This bill holds satellite radio accountable to those licenses." He adds, "With introduction of today’s legislation – coupled with a companion bill in the House - NAB looks forward to educating lawmakers on the invaluable role played by free, local radio every day in communities all across America." (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Re 6-045: 5915 is a bi-directional antenna installation at 40 and 220 degrees, 25 kW. Main lobe directed to SYR, IRQ, and AZE Caspian sea, also towards EGY, TCE, CME and GAB. Minimum at Paris, London, Maine, Washington; and YEM and Diego Garcia at the other end. Kol 5915 kHz is a tiny signal in western Europe too (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. RUSSIA, 5890, Shiokaze. F/D blue and white card with COMJAN acronym, printed frequency, and handwritten "thank you" note with date and time; no site indicated. The card contains a lot of other printed text, all in Japanese, which I will try and get translated. Received in 11 days via WRTH address (John Wilkins-CO, DXplorer Mar 16 via BCDX via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. US TO FUND BROADCAST SERVICES FOR NORTH KOREANS --- Text of report in English by South Korean newspaper Chungang Ilbo website on 14 March Washington: The US State Department will provide 1m dollars to the National Endowment for Democracy, which will support North Korea human rights organizations around the world and fund broadcasting services for North Korean residents, an official with the group told the JoongAng Ilbo Monday. The endowment is a nonprofit organization that seeks to strengthen democratic institutions around the world. . . http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/2006_03_12_medianetwork_archive.html#114241683000102898 (via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. HLL4 (Seoul Meteo R.), 9165, QSL card (v/s: Hyo-Won Nam (Head of MRTS)), schedule, letter in 27d for English report with 1$ (Kenji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium March 17 via DXLD) ** LIBYA [non]. FRANCE: 7205, Radio Afrique/Jamahiriyah Libya, 2053- 2155+, 14-Mar; Scarce IDs; Radio Afrique heard during French segment & Jamahiriyah at 2152:30; English segments 2053-2057 & 2127-2129; French 2057-2104 & 2129-2132; Arabic other times. SIO=323- Just guessing it's via France. Noted off at 2219. 7320, Radio Africa/Jamahiriyah; 2222-2232+, 14-Mar; English segment 2224:45-2226:35; French 2226:35-2229:30; Arabic other times. ID as Radio Africa, Tripoli, Libya. SIO=4+3-3, clean in USB. Just guessing it's via France (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 6024.95, Voice of Islam (Suara Islam) (RTM), Mar 16, 1422-1437, in vernacular; light music, BoH news, clear ``Radio Suara Islam FM Kuala Lumpur`` ID, fair. 7295, Traxx FM (RTM), Mar 14 (Tue.), 1415-1442; severe transmitter problems, poor audio with periods of no audio, just an open carrier; heard a few Traxx FM and Jazz Selecta IDs and some jazz. Back in late January, Alan Davies, when visiting Kuala Lumpur, observed the same situation with their transmitter. Mar 16, transmitter back to normal; 1500-1510, news, followed by hard rock music, ``More rock, less talk``, ``T-R-A-X-X`` ID spelled out, fair. MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7130.0, Sarawak FM (RTM), Mar 15, 1002-1100, in vernacular; YL DJ, pop songs (Asian), several ``Sarawak FM`` singing jingles; reciting from the Koran; poor/fair with QRM from strong station on 7129.95 (which usually totally dominates this frequency); Sarawak not often heard, noted // 5030 (under a strong CNR). (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, RX340, with T2FD antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. SARAWAK(?) 5030, RTM Sarawak, Kuching. 1535 UT March 17. This is only a tentative logging. Under normal conditions I can hear only CNR 1 Beijing in Mandarin on 5030 kHz around 1530, local Finnish afternoon. This time I heard also an unID music playing station on same frequency. Reception at 1535 was equally good with CNR. Was this RTM Sarawak, Kuching? Isn´t their closing time 15 UT? (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, HCDX via DXLD) ** MALI. RTM Bamako was heard on 5995 (mornings and evenings) and 11960 (daytime). No other listed frequency (4783, 4835, 7285, 9635) was heard at a number of checks neither mornings nor evenings (Gerhard Werdin, touring in Gambia, wwdxc BC-DX Feb. 22 - March 8 via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 4810, XERTA in lsb after 1000 on 14 March with fair to poor signal for a station so close to here. Has been off and on for the last ten days (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach FL, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** MEXICO. MÉXICO: LA BORDER BLASTER DE PRISA por: Fernando Mejía Barquera, Publicado en la Revista: Etcétera Marzo 2006, Días de radio El 5 de febrero el Grupo Prisa de España, propietario de 51% de Televisa Radio, anunció a través del Grupo Latinoamericano de Radio (GLR Networks), su filial en Estados Unidos, el inicio de transmisiones de W Radio, XTRA 690, emisora ubicada en Baja California, México, pero con los radiadores de su antena apuntados hacia California, EU. La XETRA (conocida en ese país simplemente como XTRA) se coloca así como un eslabón más de la gran cadena panamericana cuya construcción Prisa anunció en 2002 y cada vez se extiende más. Constituye su entrada, por la puerta mexicana, a la costa sur [sic] de Estados Unidos, de igual manera que la WSUA Radio Caracol, en Miami, lo ha sido para la costa del Atlántico. Con esta frecuencia, Prisa espera cubrir 32% del total de la población hispana en EU, aproximadamente 11 millones de personas. Puerta mexicana En dos anteriores entregas (etcétera, julio y septiembre de 2005), nos referimos a la compra que Prisa hizo al consorcio estadounidense Clear Channel de los derechos para transmitir programación desde México a Estados Unidos a través de la frecuencia 690 kilohertz, ubicada en Rosarito, Baja California. En ambas oportunidades destacamos la peculiar situación de esa frecuencia, cuyo "indicativo de llamada" es XETRA y está concesionada a la empresa XETRA Comunicaciones, S.A. de C.V. con domicilio en la Carretera Libre Tijuana-Ensenada número 38. La peculiaridad consiste en que la empresa concesionaria rentó en 1980 a la estadounidense Clear Channel los derechos para utilizar esa frecuencia, cuya potencia es de 77 mil watts en el día y 50 mil por la noche, para transmitir hacia el estado de California en el país vecino. De hecho, la XETRA ha operado más bajo la regulación de la Comisión Federal de Comunicaciones (FCC) de Estados Unidos, que de la SCT de México. En abril de 2005, el grupo español Prisa informó que había adquirido de Clear Channel, a un costo de 28 millones de dólares, los derechos para operar la XETRA 690 AM y sólo esperaba autorización de la FCC para hacerse cargo de la programación. Prisa realizó la compra de esos derechos a través de GLR Networks, su filial en Estados Unidos, y debía esperar a que la FCC le autorizara difundir, desde México, programación en idioma español hacia ese territorio. Obtuvo el visto bueno de la autoridad estadounidense en junio de 2005 y todo quedó listo para que la empresa española empezara a programar y comercializar la frecuencia. Sólo faltaba ver cuál iba a ser el formato que Prisa utilizaría en XETRA: el de Radio Caracol, que opera en Miami, y está más vinculado a los estadounidenses de origen caribeño, o el de W Radio, más identificado con los de origen mexicano. Obviamente optó por el segundo. Onda expansiva La XETRA, ahora llamada W Radio 690 AM, forma parte de la veintena de emisoras fronterizas que operan del lado mexicano y en Estados Unidos se conocen como border blasters, debido a que funcionan con muy alta potencia y su entrada al espacio electromagnético estadounidense es identificado, metafóricamente, con la onda expansiva generada por el estallido de una bomba. Precisamente por su ubicación privilegiada, varias de las border blasters, cuya historia es apasionante (recuérdese a la XERA, de Acuña, Coahuila, operada por el estadounidense John Brinkley en los años 30 del siglo pasado), han sido y son programadas y comercializadas por entidades estadounidenses que, como explicamos en septiembre de 2005, obtienen la renta de esas frecuencias por parte de los concesionarios mexicanos. La XETRA, ahora operada por Prisa, es una típica border blaster. Comenzó a operar en 1961 con la sigla XEAK y el lema "The Mighty 690". Luego cambió a "Extra News" y adquirió la sigla XETRA para estar a tono con su nuevo nombre. En 1970, sus operadores le quitaron la "E", extraña para las estaciones que se escuchan en Estados Unidos, y quedó como XTRA; su formato era el de beatiful [sic] music, o sea de emisora "fresa" [strawberry??]. Hacia 1975 adoptó el formato de Top 40 para "adulto contemporáneo" y en 1980 modificó otra vez, ahora al formato oldies con el lema "60 XTRA Gold". Así la encontró Clear Channel, que en 1983 la convirtió en emisora "deportiva" con el nombre de "XTRA Sports" y más tarde la afilió a la cadena ESPN Radio. Desde febrero de 2006 repite la señal de la XEW de México DF y transmite programas producidos en Los Ángeles. XETRA 690 AM es una de las emisoras a las que, en 2004, la SCT autorizó el refrendó de su concesión por 12 años, según informamos en etcétera (noviembre de 2004). Su autorización para operar vence hasta el 3 de julio de 2016. --- Periodista (via Roberto Edgar Gómez Morales, Mexico, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. RADIO NETHERLANDS A06 FROM 26 MARCH, ENGLISH: 0000-0100 East North America 9845 0100-0200 Central North America 9845 0400-0500 West North America 9845 0600-0700 New Zealand 9700 0700-0800 Australia 9700 1000-1100 Far East \ East and Southeast Asia 12065 13710 13820 1100-1200 East North America 11675 1400-1600 South Asia 9345 9890 11835 1800-1900 Africa 6020 7120 11655 1900-2100 Africa 5905 7120 11655 17810 1900-2100 North America 15315 17735 17660 Sat-Sun DRM to Europe on 7240: 1000-1100, 1200-1330 (Radio Netherlands web site via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI's current schedule with another amendment, chiefly consisting of 13840 kHz and the 325º azimuth being dropped: UTC kHz Target Azimuth 0400-0759 15720 Pacific 0º 0800-1259 9885 Pacific 0º 1300-1850 9870 Pacific 0º 1851-1950 11980 NE Pac., Fiji, Samoa, Cook Is. 35º 1951-2235 15720 Pacific 0º 2236-0359 17675 Pacific 0º cf. http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php At the moment, 1248 UT of 17 Mar, 9885 kHz has no QRM, but the signal is rather fluttery & poor to fair only, but perfectly readable (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. A-06 schedule of Radio New Zealand International from March 26 0500-0705 9615 RAN 100 kW / 000 deg to All Pacific 0706-1059 9885 RAN 100 kW / 000 deg to All Pacific 1100-1305 9870 RAN 100 kW / 325 deg to NW Pacific, Bougainville, Timor, Asia 1306-1650 7145 RAN 100 kW / 000 deg to All Pacific 1651-1850 7145 RAN 100 kW / 035 deg to NE Pacific, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands 1851-1950 9630 RAN 100 kW / 000 deg to All Pacific 1951-2050 11725 RAN 100 kW / 000 deg to All Pacific 2051-0459 15720 RAN 100 kW / 000 deg to All Pacific (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 17 via DXLD) ** PERU. 3172.93, Radio Municipal, Panao, 1000 to 1115 most local mornings. Programme of music and om and yl. Radio Municipal a good band indicator. Seldom gives an ID (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach FL, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. Just received, the A06 scheduled of our RDPi - Rádio Portugal, which reads as follows. Effective as from 26 MAR'06, times are UT. >>>>>> Mo-Fri <<<<<<< Europe kHz kW azimuth 0500-0800 7240 300 45º 0645-0800 11850 250 55º 0800-1200 12020 300 45º 1600-1900 15555 300 45º 1900-2300# 9820 300 45º ME+India 1300-1500 15770 100 81.5º Africa, beam STP-AGL-MOZ-AFS 1000-1200 21830 100 142º 1600-1900 17680 300 144º 1900-2300# 11945 300 144º NAm 1200-1300# 15560 300 300º 2300-0200 9715 300 300º Venezuela (was dropped on the B05) 2300-0200 13700 100 261º Brazil; C. Verde + Guinea 1000-1200 15575 300 226º 1600-1900 21655 300 226º 1900-2000# 21655 300 226º 2000-2300# 15295 300 226º Brazil 2300-0200 15295 300 226º >>>>> Sats. + Suns.<<<<<<< Europe 0700-1355 12020 300 45º 0830-1000 11995 250 45º 1400-2000 15555 300 45º 1900-2000# 9820 300 45º Africa, beam STP-AGL-MOZ-AFS 0700-1000 15160 300 144º 1000-1700 21830 100 142º 1700-2000 17680 300 144º 1900-2300# 11945 300 144º NAm 1200-2000 15560 300 300º 2000-2300# 15560 300 300º Brazil; C. Verde + Guinea 0700-1000 12000 300 226º 1000-2000 21655 300 226º 2000-2300# 15295 300 226º #) reserved for extra broadcasts Sites used: RDP HF site, CEOC-Centro Emissor de Onda Curta, São Gabriel: 100 & 300 kW Pro-Funk GmbH (DW relay), Sines: 250 kW. According to the schedule, 100 kW is being used, just as printed on the B05, but then the CEOC confirmed to me only the 4 x 300 kW transmitters were put into service, with the remaining 5 x 100 kW transmitters kept as reserve --- again, an unusually high quantity of reserves as compared to similar stations. It will be only after the 26th inst. that I believe I'll able to ascertain with the CEOC whether that is not a mistake or, if not a mistake, something that will be dropped afterwards. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 1440, Damman, BSKSA at 1620 2/25 with man in Arabic, Muslim sermon // 1521 but not //9555. Very good. 1521, Duba, BSKSA, 2/25 1625, Muslim sermon // 1440, but not // to SW. Fair. New (RICHARD E. WOOD, Box 11087, HC 3, Keaau HI 96749, DXing with FRG 100 and LW 300' to the NE and 175 feet to the NNE, IRCA Soft DX Monitor via DXLD) ** SENEGAL [non]. WADR A-06 change: Dear all, Please note that the frequencies for the new shortwave season, starting Sunday 26 March 2006, have changed and will be as follows:- 0700-0900 UT: 17875 kHz 0900-1100 UT: 17875 kHz I am pleased to say that for this season we have been able to use the same frequency for both time slots. If you have any questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact me. Best Regards, Abdou. K. LÔ (via Manuel Méndez, Spain; Jean-Michel Aubier, France, March 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Bien, José Miguel, como que ese avance tuyo en dxld-6045 nos pone en ascuas de los inestables vientos de cambio que le soplan a Radio Slovakia con la partida de Marcela y María. Por lo menos nos dejaron a Laya, era lo menos que podía pasar, tener que irnos acostumbrando a otras voces, si es que llegan. Como que el mejor jardín radiofónico del mundo en castellano, empieza a perder sus flores. Triste, muy triste (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, March 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos Raúl, en Eslovaquia ya tienen nuevas voces, junto a Andres Bernate de Colombia que fue quien anunció la continuidad de RSI se a sumado Pedro de apellido complicado por que es eslovaco y Elizabeth, una dulce voz de Perú, que junto a Lada mantendrán esa calidez, muy propia que a caracterizado a RSI asta ahora. Atentamente (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) ** SPAIN. R. Liberty antenna photos, about to be destroyed: Encontrei na internet algumas fotos dessas antenas. Realmente impressionante. Seria interessante se alguma outra rádio utilizasse esse complexo de antenas. http://xaf.smugmug.com/gallery/510769/1/20968522 Então a partir do dia 22 acabarão as emissões da Rádio Liberty? 73's! (QRA: Thiago P. M. QTH: Riacho Fundo-DF, radioescutas via DXLD) Já acabadas há 5 anos de Espanha. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 16 March 2006 --- Thirteen radio towers that serviced a U.S. government shortwave facility in Spain for many years will be blown up next week, according to a local newspaper. Radio World readers are familiar with the Playa de Pals facility from a story published in 2003 by former managing director for Spain of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty David Hollyer. Now Hollyer passes along an account by a Catalan newspaper that Radio Liberty's antennas at Pals will be blown up on Wednesday, 22 March. "The days of Radio Liberty's antennas (at Pals) are numbered," the translated newspaper account states. "After years of speculation on the disappearance of the radio station's 13 towers, next Wednesday 16 kilos of explosives will put an end to one of the Costa Brava's most picturesque, characteristic and conflicting landscapes. All loads will explode at the same time, at 4 p.m., and after a few seconds the antennas will collapse towards the beach and the areas without vegetation, at a distance from the houses there." The cost of the project is about $1.68 million including the removal of electric installations and generators, underground gasoline deposits and concrete antenna guy foundations, the newspaper reported, adding that the Catalan government has discussed using the former radio station's main buildings as a telecommunication museum or offices for a future nature park. For a historical recollection about the site, see Hollyer's 2003 account at http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/01_Rwf_playa_3.shtml (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SPAIN. POR UNA RADIOTELEVISIÓN PÚBLICA INDEPENDIENTE AL SERVICIO DE LA SOCIEDAD La Plataforma ciudadana en defensa de la Radio y la Televisión Pública ha elaborado un Manifiesto al que puedes adherirte con tu firma en: http://defensa-rtv.publica.tv/firmar/addentry.php También puedes imprimirlo y mandarlo por fax + info: http://defensa-rtv.publica.tv/firmar/index.php Más información sobre la negociación en: http://rtve.publica.tv/ (via José Bueno, Spain, Noticias DX via DXLD) ** TURKEY. According to the program DX Corner of Radio Voice of Turkey, starting March 26 the broadcasts in English will be aired as follows: to Europe at 3 hours on 6140 kHz, at 1230 hours on 15225 kHz, at 1830 hours on 9785 kHz, at 22 hours on 9830 kHz; to America at 3 and at 22 hours on the same frequencies; to Australia at 2030 hours on 7170 kHz and at 1230 hours on 15535 kHz (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program March 17 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. In the last Private Eye we reported how BBC World Service commissioning editor Harriet Green had justified the axing of Off The Shelf, the station's literature programme, by assuring worried listeners that "all the information we have indicates that serendipity is not what people want". But do all Ms Green's colleagues agree with her? At least one does not. In a speech to the "Oxford Inspires" group last October, he opined that "one of the BBC's greatest strengths in culture has been the power of serendipity, the potential for a general audience to bump into something unexpected or intriguing, something which could be the start of a new journey, a new discovery." His name? Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC (Private Eye, March 17th via Mike Barraclough, swprograms via DXLD) Then would it be putting too fine a point on things to observe that this dissonance seems to typify planning and management at the World Service in its more recent "post-modern" era? Just musing a bit. On the larger point, however, I would argue that serendipity (or at least the opportunity medium offers for it) is one of radio's strongest attributes. If one lacks appreciation for serendipity, he or she lacks full understanding of the unique potentials for the medium itself. P.S.: Yes, I guess you could say that I've taken exception to Ms. Green's comment (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) ** U K [and non]. Hello again, Last July the BBC launched an interesting and worthwhile initiative - a radio amnesty. The idea was that listeners could hand in their old non-digital radio sets to high street retailers in exchange for a 10% reduction on any brand new digital radio. DAB manufacturers and over 1000 UK stores participated in this. The old returned sets were to be re-conditioned by the BBC then distributed in Somalia and South Sudan by the BBC World Service Trust and the African Educational Trust. A radio can make an enormous difference to a family in Somalia, where a shortage of teachers and volunteers means that radio can become the primary source for learning. I can now report that over 2000 radios were handed in, and out of those the BBC re-conditioned sets in the best working order. As a result 1,200 radios have been sent to Somalia and the Sudan, all with batteries kindly donated by Duracell. It's heartening to know that this is helping many entire communities to read and write through the wonderful medium of radio. We are considering launching a follow-up radio amnesty, and it would be interesting to hear your views on this and any other ideas you have to distribute radios to deserving communities (from the BBC 7 weekly newsletter 17 March 2006 via Fred Waterer, ON, dxldyg via DXLD) Great, and these radios no doubt have tuners! Instead of forcing victims to listen to a certain gospel-huxter. But what about replacement batteries? (gh, DXLD) ** U K [and non]. Profile: Neal Misell, FD of VT Communications Broadcasting is the name of VT Communications' game. FD Neal Misell explains how to make millions from helping the BBC and the Royal Navy be heard --- Rachel Fielding, Accountancy Age 16 Mar 2006 From warships to football scores on the radio, working for a business group like VT seems to tick all the boxes as far as boyhood- dream business interests go. But had the Cold War not ended, things could have been very different. The fall of the Iron Curtain forced the company's original incarnation, shipbuilder Vosper Thornycroft, to diversify. Neal Misell, finance director of the group's communications division, explains: `The company knew the bottom was going to fall out of the shipbuilding industry, so it had to look to exploit other areas.' Through a combination of acquisition and organic growth, VT took on its new remit. Today revenues from non-shipbuilding activities - including defence communications, facilities management and even careers guidance - represent around 80% of the group's -L-783m turnover. In hindsight, the decision proved a savvy one. Just last month, the Ministry of Defence unveiled a plan that could see British military ships built in foreign yards for the first time. The MoD has appointed a shortlist of three companies that will go head-to-head to come up with the best approach to building the next generation of military support ships. Despite being one of Britain's biggest naval ship builders, VT failed to make the list. The group made its move on the communications sector in 2001 with the -L-95m acquisition of Merlin Communications, where Misell had worked since 2000. Merlin was the result of a 3i-backed management buyout from the BBC World Service in 1997 to raise money for digital television - originally BBC3 and BBC Choice. Rebranded VT Communications, today the company provides services to customers in the broadcast, defence, space communications, security, emergency services and public sector markets. `Project work - designing and building equipment- represents about 10% of our business, and a further 10% is purely transmission where we take programming and transmit it around the world. We broadcast 1,000 hours a day in 54 different languages for 19 national broadcasters,' Misell says. Defence contracts VT Communications supplies the military with `beyond line of sight' communications. It is the main contractor for the Royal Navy Submarine Fleet Communications project, and in 2003 secured a 15-year public private partnership contract to provide the Defence Procurement Agency with high frequency defence communications facilities (see below). But reliance on the BBC for work is still huge. The World Service - funded by the government's foreign and commonwealth office - represents around one third of VT Communications' business, although the company boasts other broadcasters on its books including Radio China and Germany's Deutsche Welle. In June last year, VT's contract to distribute and transmit BBC World Service programming was extended to 2012 in a deal worth approximately -L-150m. Misell is adamant that the deal wasn't inevitable. `When the original contract was signed, it was all about short and medium-wave radio. Now there are new ways to distribute content such as pod casting and the internet. We've given the BBC flexibility to change the contract depending on how the environment changes and how consumers want to receive programmes going forward.' Short-band [sic] radio certainly hasn't had its day, but Misell admits the technology has limitations. `You can broadcast for hundreds of miles, but it's crackly and goes in and out of frequency, so it's only really suitable for the spoken word.' [sic] A consortium of broadcasters, including VT, is in the process of developing a new breed of digital short wave, known as DRM, which promises FM quality for music, as well as the spoken word, but with all the benefits of coverage of shortwave radio. Trials have been conducted with Virgin Radio and there are already four shortwave DRM transmitters around the UK. Take up will, of course, depend on the number of households that invest in the specialist DRM receivers, with the first devices due to hit the UK shops later this year. The question is whether DRM is in danger of missing out on the digital revolution as rival technology DAB becomes established in the UK. Misell thinks not. `DAB is digital FM. We see it as complementary to DRM, and the consortium has developed a device that can receive both. The secret is for the listener not to worry about how the signal reaches their radio. At the end of the day, it's about choice. `DRM opens up the prospect of a Europe-wide radio station, but it brings other benefits - it can carry other data, for example website information on the screen of the radio or `push the red button' opportunities. Radio is becoming more interactive and trying to get listeners to engage more in dialogue.' Digital boom The good news for VT Communications is that more people than ever before are tuning in to digital radio. Research published last month by Ipsos Mori shows that eight out of 10 adults are now aware of digital radio, and monthly reach for digital radio has increased from 29% to 35% over the last six months. Misell admits that adapting to new technology is one of the main challenges currently facing the sector. `The investment we're having to make is huge, but we can do that incrementally. We're not having to put everything at risk. Analogue will continue for many years to come.' IFRS, meanwhile, heads Misell's list of more specific financial challenges facing the company. `It's a challenge because it's so hard to explain to a non-accountant and the rules keep changing. The challenge is sitting down with the MDs and saying "here's a number that's better than last year but it's lower". That's hard.' On a positive note, the introduction of IFRS has led VT Group to publish a breakdown of figures by service line, and the increased transparency shows that the communications division is performing well. The flipside to the project is that it forced the group to recruited centrally to find IFRS expertise, a six-figure exercise that Misell is unconvinced has really benefited the business. When he's not working, Misell is busy ferrying his young children to and fro. He's also training for a triathlon, with a team from Misell's finance department. `It was someone's bright idea after the Christmas binge,' he complains. In true accountant style, he admits preparation to date for the 400 m swim, 5 km run and 20 km bike ride has so far focused more on costing equipment for the event rather than hard graft down the gym. `It takes me back to doing revision for exams at school - I seem to spend a lot of time planning.' Naval manoeuvres When VT Group acquired Merlin Communications in 2001, it inherited a share of a -L-280m PFI contract to provide a new digital communications service to the Royal Navy's submarine fleet. Private finance initiatives may have received a mixed response - just last week a report from Deloitte argued that current PFI structures are unlikely to address all of UK's future infrastructure requirements - but Misell believes the project has gone extremely well. `Because banks are involved, they make sure the business case is as watertight as possible. The planning is extremely intense and there's a lot of due diligence before you can proceed.' Admittedly, planning a 27-year project is not without its challenges. `It forces you to think about the project a lot more. The customer has to give you a complete description of what they want and be very unambiguous.' Misell sees PFI as good news for the defence sector. `Now you only get paid if you perform. Before, the customer would order an asset, you'd deliver it and pretty much walk away. Now you get paid by results and output.' PFI also forces more up-front financial planning than for traditional contracts. `You go on courses and learn how to operate a PFI financial model, but at the end of the day, it's a series of spreadsheets.' Permalink to this story http://www.itweek.co.uk/2152108 (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U K. LICENCE DEAL MAY KILL OFF UK STREAMS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES A clause in the PPL's new license for commercial UK broadcasters may result in the shutdown of those stations' Internet streams to listeners everywhere else in the world beginning April 1. The organization has informed broadcasters that it is only in a position to grant Internet broadcasting rights for streams within the UK. The BBC, with unique rights considerations, is not party, thus is not expected to be affected, to this PPL license. Nick Piggot, Digital Content Manager at GCap Media plc (which owns broadcasters like Capital Radio and Classic FM), told RAIN, "We're disappointed but we recognise the valid issues raised by the recent royalty negotiations, and we will be putting in place the agreed steps to restrict streaming to UK residents only from 1st April." Full story: http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/031706/index.asp Following a post by Sean Cooper in the ukonair.com forums I have found a way round Geolocking of streams. I went to the WPLJ website, clicked the listen live button and it told me "I'm sorry you have to be in the United States to listen". I then went to http://www.billsparks.org/ and looked up WPLJ. Clicking the link it launched Windows Media Player which connected to WPLJ and I am now listening to them. The following post is on Radiofeeds.co.uk dated 11th March: GCap Media have requested for RadioFeeds to link to their official pop-up players rather than to their direct streams. As we strive to provide and maintain compatibility for all platforms, we welcome reports of any player malfunction experienced on your particular system when listening to any of their webcasts (Mike Barraclough, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Now Christian Media Network is targeting Quebec in French (sort of); found a woman reading a text slowly and clearly, pretty good pronunciation, tho with American accent, and occasional `excuse me` when she flubbed. From 1423 UT March 17, she went from HAARP to LSD trips to Jesus. This was on 9330-CLSB so no doubt a further extension earlier of WBCQ, tho no station ID heard; wrapped up by 1430 with program title ``Prophécie Québec``, and would be back next mercredi; however at 1455 recheck she was still going in French. I expect this 9 MHz Monticello, Maine, signal skips over Montreal & vicinity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 6-045: Hi Jeff, Re not carrying WRN, I guess you meant as on 9955, or the moment has passed, since I was hearing RTE, DW before and after 15 UT Friday March 17 on 7385 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: Yes, sorry. We do have WRN on in the mornings on 7385 from 1300 to 1600 Monday-Friday (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. (non) [sic] Updated B-05 schedule for "DXing With Cumbre" from March 5: WHRI Angel 1: 1930 Sat on 15285; 1530 Sun on 11785; 0330 Mon on 5860. WHRI Angel 2: 2030 Sun on 9840. KWHR Angel 3: 0330 Sun on 17655; 1500 Sun on 9930. KWHR Angel 4: 0700 Sat on 11565; 0500 Sun on 11565. WHRA Angel 5: 0230 Sun on 5850. This week on air edition # 489 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 17 via DXLD) ** U S A. FAMILY VALUES ON FOX New York Times Editorial Published: January 22, 2006 The news that "American Idol" has started a new season with ratings even more enormous than last year's reminds us of an old query. In a nation with a disquieting surplus of moral arbiters, why isn't there a call to clean up television programs that specialize in humiliating the weak? People devote untold hours to worrying about the sexual orientation of cartoon characters, but nobody seems disturbed that more than 30 million American households watch a "family" show that picks out hapless, and frequently helpless, contestants solely for famous and powerful judges to make fun of them on national television. . . http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/opinion/22sun3.html?ex=1295586000&en=d479a5f0c6d84ffd&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss (via DXLD) ** U S A. HOW ANN COULTER GETS AWAY WITH DEFAMING LIBERALS by Ted Rall http://www.tedrall.com (February 21 2006) My utterances occasionally spark controversy but I've got nothing on Ann Coulter. The star Republican pundit, who has spewed more racist, offensive and defamatory slurs in a week than Louis Farrakhan and Pat Robertson have in their whole lives combined, has turned slander and threats of violence into a cottage industry. Coulter thinks the nation's top journalists deserve to die. "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh", Coulter sneered in reference to the Oklahoma City bomber, "is he did not go to the New York Times building". After 9/11, she validated radical Islamists' fear and hatred: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity". . . http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060227075715275 (via Oklahoma Observer March 10 via DXLD) ** U S A. THE REPUBLICAN TALK RADIO "BIG LIE" A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION February 24, 2006 by Stephen Crockett, co-host of Democratic Talk Radio It has always been known that more people will believe a lie, the bigger the lie is and the more often the lie is repeated. Talk radio as defined by the Republican Right mindset is completely based on lies. The entire way Republican Right talk show hosts present political events and issues are based on lies designed to deceive their listeners instead of educating them. . . http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/06/02/con06075.html (via Oklahoma Observer March 10 via DXLD) ** U S A. 1500 WASHINGTON DC IDENTIFICATION http://dxclips.philcobill.com/01500-20060316-2000-WTWP.mp3 For those who would like to hear the current identification of the station in Washington DC on 1500 please listen to the above clip. It is a multiple ID at the top of the hour. WTOP AM is in Frederick on 820 and WTWP AM is in Washington DC on 1500. During the rest of the hour, they ID as WTOP. They have been doing this since 17 February (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, IRCA via DXLD) Thanks for the clip, Bill. It's interesting to note that that legal ID is not actually legal (Paul Walker, ibid.) Phil [sic], I listened to the clip. You are right. The individual IDs were legal, if they were not simulcasting. FCC rules say that during periods when the same program is being simulcast over several channels, the originating station may make the ID announcements for all satellite stations as long as each ID includes the frequency. (47CFR73.1201) (Don Niccum, KCKN, Roswell NM, ibid.) ** U S A. Re IBB Marathon 1180 missing from FCC database now: Here is the data for R. Martí from the (converted to flat file format) FCC database of 6/22/04 --- this old version of the database just happens to be one of the old ones on my home computer. This is required to be protected domestically by US stations. I will check the international lists to see if it is notified internationally as well as domestically. Copyright 1998, Hatfield & Dawson, Inc. Version 4.06: Basic Station Data Station: NEW City: MARATHON Frequency: 1180 kHz State: FL Region 2 Class: B Country: US Domestic Class: 0B Coordinates: N 24 41 56 Antenna Mode: DA1 W 081 05 19 Power: 50.000 kW RMS: 2364.00 mV/m at 1 km Q Factor: 0.000 mV/m at 1 km Towers: 4 Augmentations: 0 Domestic Status: LIC License Operation Hours: UNL Unlimited Schedule: UNL Unlimited Time File Number: BL- Domestic Pattern: S Standard Last Update Date: 00000000 Last Update Time: Updating Agency: FCC AM Database Date: 20040622 Coordination/Notification Status Canada: Not Applicable Mexico: Not Applicable Region 2: Not Applicable Tower Parameters Field Phase Spac. Bear. TR TL HT TLA TLB TLC TLD ## Ratio (degs.) (degs.) (degs.) SW SW (degs.) (degs.) (degs.) (degs.) (degs.) 1 1.000 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0 103.7 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 2 2.389 108.1 110.0 5.0 0 0 103.7 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 3 2.389 220.9 220.0 5.0 0 0 103.7 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 4 1.000 329.0 330.0 5.0 0 0 103.7 0.0 0.00 0.00 0.00 Augmentation Parameters: No Augmentations. Assumed Parameters Key: No parameters are assumed. Glenn, Marathon 1180 is in the latest version I have of the ITU's BRIFIC database, too. ID # is 081014963. It has the wrong antenna parameters (the old 3 tower data, not the actual 4 tower data that has been in use for the last 10 or more years), but it's there (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. As far as we can determine, KXTO continues its nightly "inventory insert" format, but we'd love to have that verified by nearby DX'ers. We remain hopeful that a full power test may be done by KXTO before the Spring static levels rise, but they are waiting on some internal concerns before doing any transmitter maintenance. Stay tuned and Good DX! ================================== KXTO 1550 kHz, Reno, NV DX Test Date(s): January 22, 2006-March 2006 Time: 01:00 PST (0900 UT) & 04:00 PST (1200 UT) ** Program format varies. Test will run as close to TOH as possible. :60 Second long tests in duration. "Inventory Insert" format. Modes of Operation: Normal-"Inventory Insert" 94 Watts, Non-Directional Programming: Morse Code ID's, Sweep Tones, Voice ID. Notes: Test will continue for an undetermined amount of time, possibly several weeks so hopefully many DX'ers will find favorable propagation at least one or two nights prior to the end of the test. The station has also stated that they will be doing transmitter maintenance at some point within the next two months, and may be able to accommodate a full power (2.5 KW) test at that time. More details as they become available. Nevada is a rare state for many of us in the East, so enjoy this rare chance! Reception reports are desired via e-mail (first choice) and snail mail (only if e-mail is not available) Station would prefer to receive recordings of the test (MP3, CD, or cassette). Submit reports to: les @ highnoonfilm.com Please put "KXTO DX Test" in the subject line. All standard mail reports should go to: Les Rayburn High Noon Film 100 Centerview Drive Suite 111 Birmingham, AL 35216 Thanks to José Pacheco, General Manager and the staff of KXTO for this test! Special thanks to member Paul Walker, Jr. who helped to arrange this test and is working with us to set up many more to come. http://www.walkerbroadcasting.com (Les Rayburn, AL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** URUGUAY. 26 FEB, 2323 UT, 3020 KHZ (1510 x 2), Radio Ibirapitá, Uruguay. Castellano. Identificación completa a las 2329. Fuerte. Calidad Excelente. Desvanecimiento Propagacional (Adán Mur, Ñemby, Paraguay, LOWE HF 150 ANT MULTIBAND T2FD, Conexión Digital March 12 via DXLD) ** VANUATU. Radio Vanuatu was received in Sofia with a weak signal on March 5 on 7260 kHz between 0610 and 0630 hours in Vernaculars and a little English. The QSL address is: Vanuatu Broadcasting & TV Corporation, P.M.B. 049, Port Vila, Vanuatu, Pacific Ocean (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program March 17 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) Presumably long path at that hour (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Radio Samora Libre --- Not shortwave, but of interest nonetheless, I think: Via DX Tuners receiver in Caracas, I regularly hear a station on 101.9 MHz playing music interspersed with revolutionary slogans and identifications as "Radio Samora Libre". I'm not 100% sure about the ID, but the name makes sense: Samora Machel, a Marxist, was the first president of independent Mozambique and remains a hero of the left, and this year is the 20th anniversary year of his death. Possibly a pirate, and this just may be co-incidental, but interesting to note that 101.9 MHz has been allocated for future use to Venezuelan armed forces radio, La Voz de la FAN, according to a newsagency report here: http://www.aporrea.org/imprimir_noticia.php?docid=73702 You can hear a clip of Radio Samora Libre on the Interval Signal Online website http://www.intervalsignals.net or directly here: http://www.intervalsignals.net/files/ven-radio_samora_libre_170306.ram I get the gist of what they're saying, any Spanish speakers care to give a translation? Regards, (Dave Kernick, UK, March 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The 55 second clip, interspersed with music and applause, says: ``Radio Samora Libre, una emisora alternativa de los pueblos, de los revolucionarios de este continente y del mundo. Ahí vamos con todos los hierros. 101.9 FM, con el momento estelar que estamos viviendo, Radio Samora Libre. 101.9 FM, Radio Samora --- Libre! Y aquí vive el espíritu de Bolívar, Libertador de America`` RSL, an alternative station of the people, of the revolutionaries of this continent and of the world. Here we go with all our lances(?), 101.9 FM, in the stellar moment we are experiencing, RSL. 101.9 FM, Radio Free! Samora. And here lives on the spirit of Bolívar, Liberator of America! Sounds like one of the many neighborhood radio stations Chávez is setting up to counter the corporate media who oppose him. Could be Zamora, pronounced exactly the same, a common Spanish surname (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. VENEZUELAN ARMED FORCES RADIO GOES LIVE ON THE INTERNET Dave Kernick reports: La Voz de la FAN [Fuerza Armada Nacional], the Venezuelan armed forces radio, is this morning observed streaming live audio from its website at http://www.mindefensa.gov.ve/RadioTiunaFM/indexradio.htm The website has been accessible for several months, though lying dormant with unchanged content and mostly non-functioning links - the link to the audio stream has only become active some time in the last few days. The station is also known as "Tiuna FM", Fort Tiuna being the main barracks and military HQ in Caracas. According to the website, the station broadcasts on 106.1 MHz FM in the capital, though coverage seems to be limited as this could not be heard on DX Tuners.com Caracas receiver (only a strong signal from Emisora Cultural de los Altos was heard on that frequency). A Spanish-language report from newsagency Agencia Boliviarana de Noticias gives some background information, including plans to increase coverage with a new transmitter on 101.9 MHz. [same as above] # posted by Andy @ 11:37 UT March 17 (Media Network blog via DXLD) Since submitting this report a few hours ago, I've noticed the website has had a bit of a makeover! (Dave Kernick, 03.17.06 - 4:31 pm, ibid.) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 3230 SW Radio Africa. Tuning the tropical bands tonight I found a "new" signal on 3230 around 0305 UT on Mar 17 with accented English and frequent mentions of Zimbabwe. Talk in English discussing Zimbabwe elections, brief musical interludes between political discussions. Finally caught a couple of IDs around 0325 UT. A man began talking to political figure via a phone line around 0330 UT. Still there at 0350 while typing this. Fair signal but fairly noisy with moderate fading. Wonder how long this has been back on SW? (Rich D'Angelo-PA-USA, DXplorer Mar 16 via BCDX via DXLD) I'm hearing it here too at 0334. Singing definitely, bothered by lots of noise but not a bad signal. S7 (John Figliozzi-USA, DXplorer Mar 17 via BCDX via DXLD) 3230 0300-0500 57N,53NW MEY 100kW 005deg USA MNO MER 3230 1900-2100 53SW,57N MEY 100 000 USA YFR MER [so WYFR then] (Wolfgang Büschel, BCDX March 18 via DXLD) Nothing about this on http://www.swradioafrica.com/ but perhaps to fill in for the missing MW broadcast, not publicized (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. UNKNOWNISTAN: 6844/U, 2310-2313:03*, 16-Mar; VERY INTERESTING! M alternating in LL [unknown language? and] English about Somalia; "...the coalition forces are working with criminals...", "...the coalition forces will find you it is only a matter of time". All commentary; no 2-way. SIO=2+43- (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Must be Coalition Radio One, new frequency (gh) Interesting, this must be Coalition Maritime Forces broadcast to Somali pirates. Reported earlier on 9223U in HCDX. 73, (Jari Savolainen, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 27 FEB, 0010 UT, 10696 KHZ BLS, Música cubana, sin identificación, sin programación regular. Fuerte. Desvanecimiento propagacional (Adán Mur, Ñemby, Paraguay, LOWE HF 150 ANT MULTIBAND T2FD, Conexión Digital March 12 via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ There's lots out there but not much of it is worth listening to. Many times SW is in a foreign language I don't understand anyway. Or it's preaching --- which I don't care for. I'm more of a music listener. I can tell ya the longest I've ever listened to a station on shortwave was last summer when apparently I picked up a VOA station (their feed to Zimbabwe or somewhere in the east) and they were running the "American Gold" program, which is a syndicated oldies program. I enjoyed it. That's really the only time I found something worth (IMO) listening to. If I happen to be listening at the right time and would happen to catch Glenn Hauser's program I'd probably listen to that too (Michael n Wyo Richard, ABDX via DXLD) I'm sort of a bad ABDX citizen because I listen to hours and hours of SW broadcasting and honestly love it all - I love the bad preachers and strange political discussions, I understand most of the Western European languages and can identify the "important bits" in nearly every other major language so I LOVE the foreign broadcasts, BUT... I have never kept a SW log in my life. I have never written down anything about my SW listening. Yesterday, I spent four hours listening to SW, and Tuesday is my hardest work day with barely a gap in it. Today I will probably hear up to 7 hours of SW, but I will merely keep calling out to my disinterested family, "Hey - guess what? Try to guess who this is!!" and then will finally announce that this interesting voice / music is from Israel or Japan or Bulgaria, etc. while everyone mutters, "That's really nice. What are you making for dinner?" In my vague guilt, maybe this evening, I'll actually log some of what I hear and post it. I do write down my MW DX catches and unusual FM and TV things, but somehow, SW always seemed more a pure entertainment and not a "hobby", so I just listen to it to unwind, the way other folks probably watch CSI on TV (Emily Keene, KB3MKQ, Uniontown, PA, ABDX via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ HAINAN HFCC REPORT --- George Ross, Frequency Manager, KTWR Guam The HFCC conference for the A-06 season was held in Sanya, Hainan Island, China. The location at the Sanya Resort Hotel was spectacular, with beautifully groomed grounds, white sandy beaches, clear skies and plenty of sun. The staff at the Sanya Gloria Resort Hotel along with the RTPRC (Radio Television Peoples Republic of China) were very hospitable and gracious hosts to the 160 visiting frequency coordination delegates. This was the fourth Global Shortwave Coordination Conference. This includes HFCC, ASBU, and ABU. It was decided that there will be global conferences once a year now, taking place for the A season coordination meetings. There was a pre-conference workshop on Sunday afternoon by Geoff Spells of VT-Merlin. This workshop went over the usage of field plotting software VOACAP and FIELDPLOT. These software tools are used by many of the frequency coordinators. Welcome speech at the beginning of the conference As the conference began Monday morning, there was a welcome and introduction by RTPRC president/director Mr. Li Zhi, and Mr. Cao Yin, also of RTPRC. Jeff Lecureux and I were there to work through our collisions for KTWR and represent the NASB as well as avail ourselves for support to Tom Lucey for any collision work. Glen Tapley and Edward Mathis were also present at the conference representing EWTN. We were very pleased that we only had minor changes to make to our schedule that resulted in our collision list diminishing considerably by the end of the conference. Monday evening a banquet was hosted by RTPRC on the green of the hotel. A well-prepared 12 course meal was hosted right there on the lawn. The Director of RTPRC, Mr. Li Zhi, welcomed the international delegates. At the beginning of the conference there were 7355 requirements to the A-06 schedule. At the close of the conference there were 7327 requirements. (Today it is 7245 requirements) Occupation of the HF spectrum is very much congested. An indication of the congestion of shortwave spectrum was the 1837 out of band frequencies listed. Thursday evening a cultural show was presented as part of the farewell banquet, again on the green of the hotel. There were dances and singing by different ethnic groups, including the Miao ethnic group, and the Li ethnic group. A fashion show of the different ethnic colors and costumes was quite fascinating. The cultural show ended with a traditional bamboo dance. Three familiar faces were bid farewell to at this conference. Before the conference began, Doug Weber of HCJB contacted the delegates to bid farewell and to mention that his colleague Allen Graham would be taking his place. Peter Hsu announced during the Thursday Plenary that this was his final conference as well, as frequency coordinator for FEBC. He mentioned what a pleasure it has been to be a part of the coordination process for the last 8 years. Chris Cooper will be taking his place for the future conferences. And, of course, Dennis Thompson officially announced his retirement. Dennis was one of the original members of the HFCC. He started with BBC in 1956. He has been active 50 years in the shortwave industry. He retired from BBC in 1995. He has been a consultant for BBC and VT Merlin since then. Dennis has been to every HFCC conference since 1990-Bulgaria (the first one.) Dennis was presented with a gift and an announcement of appreciation by Richard Hurd of VT-Merlin. The only remaining original members are now Oldrich Cip and Jan Willem Drexhage. Oldrich proposed to elect Dennis as an honorary member of the HFCC steering board, which was unanimously confirmed. THE GROUP OF EXPERTS MEETING TOOK PLACE ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15. Participants: Ms. Sedef Somaltin, Mr. Navid Homayouni, Mr. Yousef Ghadaksaz, Mr. Sharad Sadhu, Mr. Mahmood AL REDHA, Mr. Geoff Spells, Mr. Erno Czuprák, Mr. Vladislav Cip, Mr. Anthony Knowles, Mr. Jan Willem Drexhage (Chairman). Collision identification method: Mr. Navid Homayouni, IRIB (ABU-HFC) demonstrated an improved method for collision identification he has developed. Instead of just absolute field strength values of 55 and 65 dB, the S/I (signal to interference) is calculated for each Ciraf zone quadrant. The following points were discussed in the meeting after the demonstration: 1. What protection ratios need to be used? It is necessary to experiment with the values to be used. If too stringent values are used the number of generated collisions might be too much to handle. The aim is again to produce two lists: one with the most urgent collisions with a low protection ratio (around 0 – 5 dB) and another with a slightly better protection ratio of around 10- 17 dB. Test points where E-min is not reached will be ignored and not be taken into account for collision identification. To assist members to identify requirements with errors, e.g. a wrongly entered bearing, the BSR (Basic Service Reliability) of each transmission will be calculated and printed in the collision list as well. 2. Higher protection ratios in the frequency ranges above 17 MHz? These bands are less congested, so higher protection ratios can probably be applied. This will also be tested and implemented. 3. Which months to calculate propagation? As a starting point, 2 months will be taken into account. For example in the A seasons, the 7th and 9th months. If there is the need this can later be changed to three months. 4. Should quadrants where E-min is not reached be taken into account for collision identification? They will be excluded for the identification. It is not possible to provide protection to a service which does not perform itself. 5. Minimum part of a target area affected as an additional requirement for collision identification? It will be tested if it is useful to identify a collision only when at least a certain minimum percentage of the target area is affected. This will eliminate those collisions for which only a very small part of the target area is effected. 6. What needs to be indicated in the printed collision lists: Worst case S/I in each quadrant and best S/I. For the average value there is probably no space. It might be that the average S/I in a quadrant will be used for the collision identification process though. Field strength values can probably not be indicated because of the lack of space. 7. Are separate information files with more collision details useful? Yes, this would be useful. It might be needed in the future to design special programs for members to access the details. Another option is that the propagation and collision identification is done on personal notebooks of members. 8. How to implement in the web application? The aim is automating the whole process on the HFCC website. Mr. Vladislav Cip and Mr. Navid Homayouni will contact each other to do this work. IRIB will kindly make more time available for the work. 9. Is it feasible to distribute the calculated propagation data files (or database) for use in stand-alone programs by members? The database that will be provided should be operable by various programs of users. The collision list will still be needed on paper. The extra data can be separately detailed and only electronically distributed. Another point mentioned was regarding out-of-band frequencies: Should we take the frequencies used for safety and distress frequencies used by countries out of the list? This was affirmed by vote. The frequencies are 2182 kHz, 3023 kHz, 6215 kHz, and 8364 kHz. HFCC Elections (4 year terms): Oldrich Cip accepted the nomination for chairman. Jan Willem Drexhage accepted nomination for software and systems. Geoff Spells accepted nomination for rapporteur (taking the place vacated by Dennis Thompson.) The next HFCC conference for the B-06 season will take place in Greece from August 28 to September 01, 2006. See the HFCC website for more photos taken at the Hainan HFCC: http://www.hfcc.org/hainan/photo1/ (March NASB NEWSLETTER http://www.shortwave.org via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ [DRM: see also BELGIUM, CANADA, GERMANY, NEW ZEALAND, UK] DRM at HFCC HAINAN The topic of DRM was covered by a discussion panel this time. The panel consisted of Burkard Beyer, T-Systems, Eugene Mueller - Tech. Director for TV and Radio RTL, Michel Penneroux – France, Horst Scholz - DWL (chairing), Sharad Sadhu - chairman of ABU, Rachel Staviskaya - Chief Engineer VOR, and Mrs. Fang Wang- Senior Engineer, RTC Sharad Sadhu, ABU (Asia Broadcast Union) speaking for the Asia Pacific region, said the region is following DRM development closely. At this point they are concentrating mostly on DRM for MW. He wants to leave DRM for SW to international broadcasters. The big issue is lack of DRM receivers. The Asia Region is seriously looking into single carrier simulcast. Michel Penneroux (France) is optimistic about receivers, and about global acceptance of DRM. There seems to be a rising interest in the US. There is a strong interest in SFN (Single Frequency Network), and DRM on 26 MHz. Brazil and Mexico are seriously looking into DRM on 26 MHz for major cities. That is currently their preferred technology to provide spectrum for more local stations. DRM on 26 MHz would complement analog FM. On the topic of receivers, he mentioned to expect higher quantities to appear in 4th quarter of 2006. Regarding price, he said they would be comparable to present receivers, but no price was given. Mrs. Fang Wang, (RTC) stated, ``DRM is still in experimental phase in China. Eighty percent of the population are peasants. Most people do not have enough money to pay current DRM receiver prices. It is not whether the audience is able to afford it but if it is able to buy it or not. Right now it is still uncertain if DRM will succeed in China.`` Rachel Staviskaya, (VOR): ``There is lots of interest in DRM. Lots of people try to develop specific programming to fit DRM. I am hoping that in the next two years we will see some development before national standards are applied for DRM. We use Russian transmitters that have been reconstructed. We are broadcasting on two transmitters and already have two more transmitters in St. Petersburg. The problem is the bands (spectrum) are too congested. Because of this the development is much weaker. People in the country wonder why they should spend so much money on this. For them it would be better to have domestic broadcasts.`` In Moscow, two weeks ago, plans were mentioned for two companies to produce inexpensive DRM receivers. Burkard Beyer, (T-Systems Germany): `` Most DRM broadcasts in the world are SW and MW. We have three DRM MW transmitters in Berlin. We have many programs on the air, but no receivers. We might get into problems if we aren`t able to produce inexpensive receivers.`` Eugene Mueller, (Luxembourg – RTL) ``We considered DRM as it was developing to be a new (ideal) tool for advertisement. This is our main interest in it. We are doing a full range of DRM broadcasts using MW & SW transmitters . We are also testing our LW transmissions for DRM. We are broadcasting in MW and SW. We own 26 radio stations in Europe. Our intent is to re-value our radio broadcasting. We are also very concerned about the availability of receivers – this is a problem. If the price doesn`t come down, DRM will be in trouble.`` Horst Scholtz (DWL): `` Why did DRM start in Europe? Because Europe was ready for the technology and willing to pay for the radios. (However figures of analog receivers continue to grow as opposed to DRM.) For frequency coordination, ``DRM`` broadcasts are a problem and harder to coordinate around. Is it practical to separate the SW bands with analog/DRM with two separate systems? It would narrow the band usage if we did this (especially in the lower bands.) Should the ITU decide, or will the HFCC-ABU?`` Horst noted that most complaints are from DX clubs. Rachel noted that one of the goals years ago was to work on the same frequencies. Sharad noted we would lose flexibility dealing with SSN activity. Note: The primary concern among the members at the HFCC conference is whether or not we will see affordable receivers for DRM. There are yet to be potential receivers for international usage (March NASB NEWSLETTER http://www.shortwave.org via DXLD) DRM AT THE NAB For those who will be attending the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas in April, there will be three talks by members of the DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) Consortium at the NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Room S227. On Monday, April 24, there will be a session entitled ``Digital Radio Worldwide`` from 10:30 am-12:00 noon local time. During that session, Don Messer, Chairman of the DRM Technical Committee and NASB Consultant, will give a talk entitled ``DRM Progress in Developing a Capability in Broadcasting Bands above 25 MHz`` from 10:30-11:00 am. Andy Giefer of Deutsche Welle will present ``Digital Shortwave Reliability Analysed with Deutsche Welle`s Monitoring`` from 11:30 am- 12:00 pm at the same session. On Tuesday, April 25, there will be a session called ``Emerging Technologies for Radio`` from 1:00-5:00 pm in the same location. As part of this event, John Sykes of the BBC World Service will talk about ``An AM Signalling System (AMSS)`` from 3:00-3:30 pm. ----- An AM Signalling System (AMSS) by John Sykes, Project Director Digital Radio, BBC World Service, U.K. SUMMARY This paper describes a simple signaling system designed for use with AM broadcasts on frequencies below 30 MHz. It is reasonable to ask right up front ``Why bother with AM signaling?`` and in particular, ``Why now?``, given that AM broadcasting has survived for upwards of 80 years without any form of signaling, and Digital broadcasting is currently rolling out across much of the developed world. Ironically, the answer is rooted not so much in a belated attempt to play catch up with our privileged FM friends (who`ve now benefited from the joys of RDS/RBDS for nearly two decades), but more in the realization that tuning a digital radio is a very different matter to what may be termed the ``analogue experience`` of finding radio stations. This listener-centered approach to radio design is explored more fully in Section 2, but in essence AMSS was developed in order to facilitate the search, identification and tuning of AM broadcasts on the next generation of digital radio receivers. The AM Signaling System (AMSS), now a published ETSI standard, uses low bit-rate phase modulation of the AM carrier to add a small amount of digital information to existing analogue AM broadcasts on both medium-and short-wave bands, and provides broadly similar (but constrained) functionality to that offered by the RBDS and European Radio Data System (RDS) on the FM bands. The additional digital information allows a receiver to positively identify the AM station, making it possible for the listener to select the station by name as well as offering the choice of switching over to a digital, AM or FM version of the same service, if available. The system development was triggered initially by a requirement within the Digital Radio Mondiale Consortium (DRM) to provide a mechanism for handing listeners between analogue and digital versions of a particular radio service. At least some of the first consumer DRM receivers, due to be available in 2006, will implement AMSS. This paper goes on to explore in more detail: The business rationale for AMSS Its main features A brief outline of how the system works, and The BBC`s initial deployment of the system. John adds that ``The application and implementation of AMSS is completely independent of DRM (or any other digital radio system). It`s just really easy to add AMSS to digital radios in the first instance, as it is only a matter of software.`` Those who would like a copy of John Sykes` complete paper need only send an e-mail message to Jeff White, Chairman of the USA DRM Group, at: radiomiami9@cs.com. (March NASB NEWSLETTER http://www.shortwave.org via DXLD) HD RADIO OBSERVATIONS Re 6-045: Interesting comments, Doug. It would seem (from a non- technical point of view) that the receiver is meant for reception of local stations, and not "DX," though I'm certain that one of our technical persons could whip the receiver into shape (Mike Hardester, NC, NRC-AM via DXLD) Well, I do think this is a decent radio for *analog* reception, including DX. With the built-in antennas it's pretty wimpy, but any radio with those antennas would be just as bad. The provided AM external loop is decent; I think you could have considerable DX success with this thing. Likewise on FM, where it seems to behave as well as my stereo tuner when the outdoor TV antenna is connected. (indeed, due to its surprising ability to reject IBOC sidebands when *not* listening to IBOC, it could be worth having one of these for DX even if you don't intend to DX the digital stations!) However, *digital* DX is not going to be common. ``Like your comment in the last paragraph, I would be curious to see how this, or any HD, receiver will perform in a large metropolitan area, e.g., San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, etc.`` What I meant by that was that regular (non-DXer) listeners in some of the outlying areas of many markets are going to have trouble receiving HD stations. In geographically small markets like Madison and Milwaukee I suppose HD will cover the entire market. In geographically larger markets like Chicago and Los Angeles, I have to think it won't (Doug Smith, TN, NRC-AM via DXLD) TUNE IN TO RADIO FUTURE --- By RICHARD MULLINS Published: Mar 17, 2006 TAMPA - Radio listeners in the Tampa Bay area are about to have a lot more options on their dial. More than half a dozen local radio stations are launching their answer to satellite radio - their own digital radio stations. And they're experimenting with new music, new news and new talk shows, many previously only heard in markets much larger than Tampa. Within just a couple of years, the dozens of existing radio stations that completely fill the existing radio lineup in the Bay area could each add two or three additional stations in this new digital band of radio. . . . http://www.tbo.com/news/scitech/MGBS43JVVKE.html (via Pete Kemp, NRC-AM via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GEOMAGNETIC INDICES - GEOI Phil Bytheway - Seattle WA - phil_tekno@yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary December 28 2005 through March 13 2006 Tabulated from daily email status Date Flux A K SA Forecast Aurora Index 12/28 92 14 4 minor 7 29 89 14 3 minor 8 30 90 10 1 no storms 6 12/31 90 7 x x x 1/ 1 87 13 1 no storms 8 2 87 4 x x 1 3 85 5 1 no storms 1 4 85 2 x x x 5 84 1 0 no storms 5 6 83 3 0 no storms 5 7 82 9 1 no storms 6 8 79 6 2 no storms 6 9 78 5 0 no storms 4 10 x x x x x 11 78 1 x x x 12 77 2 1 x 5 13 77 2 1 no storms x 14 77 2 2 no storms x 15 77 2 1 no storms x 16 81 4 2 no storms 6 17 84 14 2 no storms 4 18 83 8 1 no storms 6 19 86 10 0 no storms 6 20 89 5 1 no storms 5 21 91 5 2 no storms 7 22 94 4 1 no storms 3 23 93 9 2 no storms 3 24 92 16 3 no storms 3 25 93 8 1 no storms 3 26 89 6 3 no storms 5 27 87 24 4 moderate 6 28 84 15 2 no storms 5 29 80 8 2 no storms 7 30 80 7 0 no storms x 1/31 79 1 0 no storms 5 2/ 1 78 1 1 no storms 2 2 78 2 1 no storms x 3 77 4 1 no storms 7 4 79 4 2 no storms 8 5 77 4 1 no storms 3 6 76 3 2 no storms 4 7 75 11 2 no storms 3 8 74 6 2 no storms 3 9 74 4 1 no storms x 10 75 2 1 no storms 2 11 75 1 1 no storms x 12 76 8 2 no storms 5 13 76 7 1 no storms x 14 76 2 3 no storms x 15 77 0 0 no storms 3 16 79 12 4 no storms 7 17 79 7 0 no storms x 18 79 8 1 no storms x 19 79 5 1 no storms x 20 77 8 2 no storms 4 21 76 17 2 moderate 7 22 76 17 3 moderate x 23 76 16 2 no storms x 24 75 5 1 no storms 5 25 76 4 1 no storms 3 26 76 7 1 no storms x 27 77 4 1 no storms 5 28 77 5 0 no storms x 3/ 1 77 3 2 no storms x 2 77 5 2 no storms x 3 76 2 1 no storms 1 4 76 3 2 no storms x 5 75 2 0 no storms 2 6 74 2 0 no storms 4 7 74 1 3 no storms x 8 74 8 2 no storms x 9 72 3 1 no storms 4 10 73 2 2 no storms 8 11 72 8 2 no storms 6 12 74 13 2 no storms 6 3/13 73 2 0 no storms 4 ********************************************************************** (IRCA Soft DX Monitor March 18 via DXLD) ###