DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-065, April 23, 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 SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1312: Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Wed 0930 WWCR 9985 Latest edition of the above: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For 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 ** ALBANIA. [dialog between Noel Green, UK, and Drita Cico of R. Tirana] [cf. RT schedule in BC-DX #755] (NG) The new frequency schedule did come into effect last night and operated successfully. Here's what I heard ... 1800 UT Serbian - new 6225 kHz was heard with a good signal peaking over 9+10dB on my meter. There was some slight interference from the non-broadcast station using about 6229 kHz and I could also hear a unidentified pop mx station using 6220.9 kHz. This was almost certainly a pirate station and it does not seem to operate on a daily basis at this time. There was continuous fading resulting in some distortion. In SINPO I estimate the Tirana transmission to be 44533+. I felt that audio level was a little low and slightly distorted too. My guess is that reception will have been good within the target area. And by the way, I also heard about five minutes of the German programme on 6225 before the transmitter was finally switched off at about 1819 UT! (DC) Yes, this Monday in evening time, I went to Central Apparatus of Radio Tirana to verify the studio schedule and in my office asking also Shijak to pay attention in executing the changed A06ALR schedule. And by the way, like you, I also heard about five minutes of the German programme on 6225 kHz (ground wave) before the transmitter was finally switched off at about 1819 UT. I immediately called up to my monitoring staff on service to cease the transmission as scheduled. After this incident, I also observed home all transmissions and all the evening contacting on the phone with my staff. (NG) 1845 UT English - 7465 kHz was heard at good strength peaking to 9+30dB at times but with continuous fading - more so than on the beamed transmission via 9920. There was no interference from any other station. The audio quality feed was not good. In SINPO I estimate 55534. On 9920 kHz I had a very strong signal peaking to over 9+40dB. There was slight interference from BBC Cyprus using 9915 in Arabic - mostly when they were playing music. I guess this comes via their 280 degree beam as suggested by Wolfgang. In SINPO I estimate 55+544. Audio feed quality not good on this frequency either. 1901 UT French - 9920 kHz exactly the same as at 1845. Perhaps in France they don't hear 9915? (DC) In my home again blocked in Arabian. I do not have any reception report from France. I should ask our French program if they have received letters from France. (NG) 1900 UT Italian - 6225 kHz was stronger now (than at 1800) and peaking to 9+20dB with moderate fading. The music station previously heard on 6220.9 was off air. Slight interference came from the non- broadcast transmission on about 6229. In SINPO I estimate reception as 4+5+534 and I think within the target area the signal should be well heard. (DC) I heard Italian well on 6225 home, without interference. That's good. (NG) 1930 UT German - 7465 kHz was heard at good strength peaking over 9+20dB with no interference. There was moderate and continuous fading. What happened to the audio level? This was much lower than heard on other previous transmissions. In SINPO I estimate the signal as 4+5533. (DC) Yes, Radio Tirana suffers in audio quality, sometimes from studio sites, and more often from radio/relays tract. (NG) 2000 UT English - Reception was the same as at 1930 but the audio quality and level was now back to normal level although not very good quality. In SINPO I estimate 4+5534. (DC) So, the audio problem should have been in registration [recording] that might is done in different studios. (NG) Two points to mention - 1 ) the audio feed quality really does need some attention. And why is the German feed less strong than others? And 2 ) there is an obvious difference between the beamed and non- directional transmissions. The non-directional appear to suffer from more "fading" characteristics than do the beamed services via 9920. Perhaps this is to be expected due to random radiation of the signal? It would be preferable - I think - if 7465 could be sent using a directional antenna. (DC) Thanks for two remarks. I shall again warn the responsible Directors at Radio Tirana. As for your point 2, I met this morning our translator of German, Svetllana. She told me much thankfully that since Radio Tirana is broadcasting with omnidirectional antenna in A06, they are receiving too many letters from listeners around... This enjoyed us very much, indeed! Much more we pretend to have achieved with our English Program with omnidirectional antenna with listeners through Europe, maybe in parts of Africa, Middle-East, Atlantic etc. (Noel R. Green-UK to/and Drita Cico ARTV-R Tirana, Apr 17/18/19, via wwdxc BC-DX Apr 19 via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. ANTÁRTIDA, 15476, LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, a pesar de informar el Sargento encargado de la emisora, a Gabriel Iván Barrera, de que la emisora estaría de nuevo en el aire a partir del lunes día 17, no parece estar activa de nuevo. Intenté escucharla los días 18 y 19, entre las 1930 y 2100, sin resultando positivo, ni siquiera se detecta su portadora en SSB, a pesar de que por aquí solía escucharse con relativa facilidad. Lo que parece cierto es que, LRA 36 lleva todo lo que va de año fuera del aire y sigue así (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, April 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ANTÁRTIDA, 15476, LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, respecto a la inactividad de esta emisora, acabo de recibir el siguiente mail de Gabriel Iván Barrera, ofreciéndonos más información al respecto: "Estimado Manuel: Recién acabo de hablar con mi contacto allí en la LRA36. En efecto, no salieron al aire porque tuvieron un problema con el transmisor auxiliar alternativo de 3 kiW, un problema con las válvulas. El otro transmisor, el CCA de 10 kW, están tratando de repararlo y a fin del mes desde Buenos Aires les estarían enviando desde General Pacheco los repuestos como para ponerlo en condiciones. Este lunes 24 de Abril, van a salir con un transmisor de 1 KW, que es el mismo que utilizan para las comunicaciones de enlace del personal de la Base con Buenos Aires. Como este transmisor tiene banda lateral única, les sugerí que más adelante hagan una prueba en banda lateral única; quedaron en avisarme sobre este tema, para yo avisarle a los oyentes y ojalá así sea. Te avisaré en cuando disponga de esa información. Hay que tener en cuenta la distancia a la que está ubicada la Base Esperanza, y la dificultad a veces para poder obtener los medios y equipos necesarios para solucionar estos imprevistos técnicos, razón por la que a veces uno planea situaciones, pero por fuerza mayor, no se logran o surgen inconvenientes. Espero puedas intentar nuevamente la próxima semana en los 15476 kHz. Saludos, Gabriel Ivan Barrera" Muchas gracias a Gabriel, por su valiosa información (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, April 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I thought they were always USB + reduced carrier, whatever the transmitter. Do you mean you are proposing they run it on USB with no carrier? This question will no doubt go unanswered since GIB never replies to anything in DXLD and probably doesn`t read it (gh, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 6214.3v, R. Baluarte, Puerto Iguazú, Misiones is off air in the last weeks (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, April 23, HCDX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. I just finished monitoring 11650 from 2100 to 2200, with a fine S7 signal, yet no mention of the Far North Service or even anything cyclone-related. Radio Australia IDs, closing announcements and "Waltzing Matilda" at 2200 s/off, yet sked indicates it should be on for 8 more hours on this frequency. This is the 2nd time today I have monitored one of these frequencies (I listened to 6020 from 12 to 13 UT), and heard nothing but the usual Radio Australia/ABC fare. Am I missing something here? Did these relays end almost as quickly as they appeared? 73 (J. D. Stephens, Hampton Cove, Alabama, USA, April 21, HCDX via DXLD) Hi J. D., Yes 6020 and 11650 is back on Radio Australia programming. This was only to serve Queensland residents while the cyclone was threatening them. Now that the cyclone is threatening the Northern Territory they are relying on the ABC SW services. Our best bet is Katherine 5025 and 2485. The NT broadcasts over this and MW originates from Darwin and so unfortunately they don't dedicate as much time to the cyclone emergency we are facing like ABC Far North did because they had the studios in Cairns. To see the current cyclone position go to http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDD65011.shtml To the forecast over the next 24 hours, which is REALLY BAD, go to http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDD65811.shtml I'm not sure how much longer we'll have basic power services. I'm doing this email at home at 12 noon local time; the cyclone should be here within 12-24 hours. Cheers (Craig Edwards, Nhulunbuy (Gove), Northern Territory, Australia, April 21, HCDX via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. 9870, ORF, 0141-0159*, Apr. 18, English, ID loop, "Report from Austria" re museum exhibit celebrating 250th birthday of Mozart. Fair listening in USB. Fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R75, 200' Beverages' MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But not transmitted on USB only, I assume; why listen on USB? Was there QRM on 9865? (gh, DXLD) ** AVES ISLAND. YX0A & YX0LIX --- José Manuel Valdés Rodríguez, YV5LIX suffered a massive heart attack while on Aves Island with the YX0A team and passed away at 57 years of age. The operation is continuing under a new call - YX0LIX - as a tribute to his memory. Our thoughts and prayers are with José's family and friends (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA via DXLD) See VENEZUELA for much more ** BELARUS. Re: Some changes for A-06 of Radio Belarus Minsk HS-1: 0400-0700 NF 11930 MNS 100 kW / 075 deg, ex 0400-0600 on 11735 for A- 05 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria) A service I had missed until this morning was coming in very well on 11930 kHz. I thought it was in Russian (I'm not so sure now!) and with lots of mentions about things Belarussian so it must have been this 11930 0400-0700 29,30 MNS 100kW 75deg BLR RBL GFC I recently read about poor signals/propagation of some of their services but this one was good. I think there used to be a morning sce later than 0700? (Noel R. Green-UK, wwdxc BC-DX Apr 13 via DXLD) ** BELARUS [non]. Bernd Trutenau meanwhile identified the site of 105.3 as Dibrowica (Polish) a.k.a. Dubrovytsia (Ukrainian) a.k.a. Dubrovitsa (Russian), cf. http://www.proradio.org.ua/regions/dubr-fm2.html Radio Melodiya specifies for this frequency a range of 90 km (referring to stationary reception I guess) and a potential audience of 16,585 inhabitants (cf. http://www.melodiya.ua/net/ and Flash page under Set Vechaniye link), presumably referring to Ukrainian territory only. Pinsk as a larger town in Belarus should be on the fringe of the 105.3 range (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 22, DX LISTNEING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. Re 6-064, upcoming tests: OK, the new Thalès transmitter is also DRM capable. This mode will be tested too? I know South Brazil is not the target of RTBFi, but analog reception can be very good. The 31m band opens around 2100 UT, the time RTBFi ends the transmissions. Hope there will be a 24h00 test. Ready to stay all night in front of receiver. Regards, (Denis, Brazil, April 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now that Belgium is trying to figure again on SW, I remember, fellas, their nice IS that frankly after all these years became my favorite one, that African type of xylophone or marimba, inherited maybe after their colonialism in Congo soil. Why not to mention, as was at the beginning of 2006 with SW voices, your top five IS. Here go mine: 1. RTB 2. AIR 3. RNZI 4. R. RSA 5. R. Pakistan Regards (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DXLD) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, R. Burkina, 0018-0042, Apr. 21, French, Apparently running past listed 0000* with continuous banter between 2 OM and occasional YL with a few mentions of "Ougaudougou". Fair with occasional 5025-Rebelde slop (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH- USA, R75, 200' Beverages' MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. 6165, RNT, 2218-2300*, Apr. 22, French, OM with French talk and hi-life music at tune-in; battling with co-channel Croatia. Chad begins to dominate shortly after 2230 with music and announcer with horribly distorted audio between selections. Different OM at 2240 with improved audio between music. Format continues until brief talk and orchestral NA at sign-off. Poor tho improving (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R75, 200' Beverages' MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So any Logos, Bolivia signal is blocked (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. Re DRM tests to Nevada, 6-064: Including ---- What`s this?? 1300-1500 24-27 April 7255 West USA ABRS China 1500-1600 24-27 April 7255 West USA ABRS China (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Found the following, think it may explain: http://www.thalesgroup.com.cn/singleactivitynews_English.jsp?newsid=169 (Andy Lawendel, Italy, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ``Cannot be found``. Can you forward or explain what it says? (gh to Andy, via DXLD) Here it is from Google's cache, Glenn. News goes back to 2003 but an Administrative Bureau of Radio Stations is mentioned, selecting Thalès Broadcast as a supplier of DRM-enabled SW equipment. Apparently the announcement wasn't simply public relations hype. Ciao, A. (Andy Lawendel, ibid.) Viz.: THALES AWARDED A MAJOR SHORT-WAVE CONTRACT BY PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA January 28, 2003 The Administrative Bureau of Radio Stations (ABRS) and China Radio and TV Co. (CRTV) of the People's Republic of China have selected Thalès Broadcast & Multimedia to supply new short-wave transmitters and a complete rotatable ALLISS antenna broadcasting system. Following the highly satisfactory delivery and record time commissioning of two 500 kW short-wave transmitters type TSW 2500 ordered in December 2001, ABRS has now contracted Thalès for the delivery of a total of thirteen high-power transmitters of the same power class, bringing the total number of Thalès 500 kW SW transmitters installed in China up to 19 units. Since their introduction on the market, both the TSW 2500 and the powerful Thalès ALLISS antenna system have become legends in their own time. All equipment is scheduled to be delivered and taken into operation in 2003. As 2002 was a successful year for short-wave worldwide (field tests, launch of the first consumer world band receiver) 2003 will mark a milestone for Digital AM with the beginning of DRM transmissions. Although the short-wave resurgence is occurring only months before the introduction of regular DRM, Thalès already confirmed in 2002 its committed involvement in AM broadcasting with a world première showing a DRM-compliant transmitter in live exhibition at IBC 2002 and also with the launch of a DRM Starter Kit. ``We are pleased to partner with ABRS on their short-wave program,`` said Willi Tschol, Director of the Radio Broadcasting Business Unit within the Thales Broadcast & Multimedia Group. ``With the introduction of digital AM in 2003, it is important to set milestones and have the commitment of large broadcasters. This historical contract documents the importance of short-wave for major nations in times of increasing needs in terms of global communications. Leaders at ABRS have confirmed their belief in the future of short-wave broadcasting.`` . . . (via Andy Lawendel, DXLD) O yeah, this is old news, but the ABRS abbr. isn`t very familiar. DRM have this annoying habit of attributing programming only to some transmission provider in the burocratic chain. So what PROGRAMMING, what STATION, what language other than binary, is carried on these DRM tests? You can bet it is something from the Chicom government, The World`s Greatest Jammer (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. Only 10-minute broadcasts: "Voice of China Reborn" in Chinese. via Taiwan 0300-0310 9660 kHz heavy QRMed China Jam. 1400-1410 9780 kHz QRMed RFA. (Nagoya DX Circle HQ, Japan, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmm, that`s rather counterproductive, not to say incompetent, to collide with RFA (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. Since yesterday Sound of Hope is back on 17330. All Wednesday they ran open carrier only, and the jammer got a day off. Today I heard Chinese briefly in one of the monitoring pauses (Olle Alm, Sweden, April 13, wwdxc BC-DX Apr 22 via DXLD) "Sound of Hope" via Taiwan 2200-2300 9635 2200-0000 6280 (Sat. Sun. only) 2300-0000 7310 2300-1600 17310-17350 or 18160-18200 1100-1300 7280 1300-1400 7310 1400-1600 9450 1600-1700 11765 via KWHR Hawaii 1400-1700 9930 (Mon to Fri only) (Shigenori Aoki : ndxc @ mediacat.ne.jp or aoki @ ndxc.org de NDXC HQ, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 1180, Radio Villa María, Villa María, Cuba, 4/15/06, 0520, Spanish music with woman announcer and several station IDs, no sign of WHAM, an incredible SIO 455 (Joe Miller, Troy MI, MARE Tipsheet April 21 via DXLD) ?? Actually that is supposed to be R. Rebelde, as a jammer to R. Martí, per WRTH located at Villa María, 50 kW, surely with no local programming or ID as above? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA. 99.1, CMBF Radio Musical Nacional, Havana is coming in strong enough to be received even on the car radio from 570 miles. Anyone know the power level? 90.3, CMBC Radio Progreso is slightly weaker. 96.7 is a clear frequency here but I can't pull out Radio Rebelde due to 100 kW 96.5 WZNS 3 miles away in the same direction as Cuba. The receiver is desensitized even with 110 kHz IF filter and attenuator on. Gerry, you checking? (Randy Zerr, KW4RZ, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, grid EM60qk, Denon TU-1500RD tuner with 150/110kHz filter mod & or Onkyo T-450RDS with 150 kHz IF filter mod, 8 element log periodic yagi in attic at 15 ft. http://www.geocities.com/kw4rz 0313 UT April 22, WTFDA via DXLD) Gulf tropo loggings (gh) ** DENMARK [non]. THE DANISH SHORTWAVE CLUB INTERNATIONAL --- DSWCI 50 years - the DX Club that had global membership 30 years before ``Globalization`` --- Special Radioprogrammes The first special radio programme celebrating the 50 years of the DSWCI will be broadcast over Radio Japan several times during our DX Camp on the weekend May 06-08 as a part of the weekly English programme ``World Interactive`` hosted by Ms. Kay Fujimoto and Mr. Ryan Drees. The full schedule of ``World Interactive`` is published below with frequencies underlined that can be heard in Europe. During their ordinary 50 minutes programme, there will be seven minutes of Phone interview with the Chairman of the DSWCI. The second special radio programme will also be broadcast over Radio Japan in ``World Interactive``. During the weekend May 27-29 Japan SW Club is airing ``DX Information`` compiled by our member Toshimichi Ohtake who reports from our jubilee celebrations in Vejers. Correct reception reports on the interview and/or the ``JSWC DX Information`` broadcasts on these two weekends are going to be verified later on with a new Special QSL-card from the DSWCI. You can send your reports to: Anker Petersen, Udbyvej 11, DK 2740 Skovlunde, Denmark, or to the DSWCI HQ`s. Please include one IRC, one Euro or one U.S. $ to cover our postage. Schedule of Radio Japan ``World Interactive`` programme: http://www.dswci.org/dswci50/radioprogrammes.html (DSWCI via DXLD) Or see 6-059 JAPAN; or see DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS ** ECUADOR [and non]. DX Partyline continues after May 6, 2006, but... While listening to today's DX Partyline (which featured a talk about HCJB's interest in DRM), I heard Allen Graham announce that he looked forward to hearing another "Asian DX News" next month. I was hoping that that remark foreshadowed some good news regarding the show remaining on the air after the May 6th, English language shut-down at HCJB/Quito. It in fact did just that. Allen apologized for any confusion regarding a possible imminent demise of the show. The show will continue to be broadcast from HCJB/Australia, WWCR and WRMI. Allen then stated that the final decision of the long term future of DXPL has NOT been made. He hopes that he will know soon about that decision; and will let us know, via the program. Lastly, he thanked listeners for their support by emails dxpl@hcjb.org which will be forwarded to the radio administration at HCJB. P.S. Allen also mentioned that the May 6th broadcast of DXPL would be the final ANALOG version of the show from Quito. With all of the HCJB's interest in DRM, are we looking at future broadcasts of DXPL (or perhaps other English programs) from Quito via DRM? More foreshadowing? Time will tell. 73, (Mark Vosmeier, N9IWF, April 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Bata, R. East Africa, 1137-1154*, Apr. 22, English, OM preaching the gospel, URL for ovbaptist.com and CA-USA address at 1150, then two Radio East Africa IDs --- one with Turtino- CA address [Cupertino?]; the other with Uganda address. OC at 1152 then pulled the plug at 1154. Poor-fair at best (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R75, 200' Beverages' MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. YLE in English: Listened today to their satellite relay called 'Yelesat 1', and at 1255 UT a man announced the "YLE News", but only "Good After..." was heard, then a switch to Finnish. So my guess is that the SW transmitting station picks up the satellite broadcast, and at a couple of occasions this switch hasn't been made by YLE in Helsinki? 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Denmark, April 23, dxldyg via DXLD) God forbid that a few words of English should go out on SW, contrary to YLE`s isolationist policy (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. Re 5972: I forgot to point out a particular aspect of the strange data transmission from Jülich: It uses a bandwidth of just 5 kHz instead of the usual 10 kHz. Apparently the center frequency of 5972 is meant to mimic an analogue USB transmission on 5970 where in fact 5970 would be the place of the suppressed carrier while the actual, radiated HF signal spreads from 5970.2 to 5974.5 (assuming an audio cut-off at 4.5 kHz). I suspect this mode is indeed meant for broadcast use but for now they hesitated from putting on audio with 5.5 kbps, poorer than a cell-phone (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also LATVIA; SAAR ** GERMANY. Postings at http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,396906 say that DRM on 6140 (ex. 1100-1300 and 1600-1900) has been moved from Jülich to Wertachtal and cut back to 1700-1800 only. Vague mentions of the AM service on 6140 "being weak as always" before 1400. Schedule for AM on 6140 used to be 0600-1000 and 1300-1600; it appears that monitoring will have to reveal whether this is still the case. 6140 is an old test frequency of Deutsche Welle, first used as such during the eighties from Elmshorn near Hamburg, a utility site no longer used for broadcasting since the fifties. Back then it was a test for SSB broadcasting (however, reportedly at times they ran the frequency in AM instead) in the responsibility of the postal office; Deutsche Welle made a bureaucratic fuss about it by stating in letters that they will QSL it but without noting down any engineering details. After 1990 this frequency was on air from Nauen, using the same 100 kW Funkwerk Köpenick transmitter as RNW for its noon broadcast in English. 6140 finally went to Jülich when the 100 kW transmitter at Nauen closed down around 2000 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA [and non]. MORE NEWLY INTRODUCED CHANGES IN LOCAL TIME - GUATEMALA: will change to DST (UT -5h) on 30 Apr (until 1 Oct) HAITI: changed to DST (UT -5h) on 2 Apr (until 29 Oct) DST = Daylight Saving [sic] Time (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, April 22, mwdx yg via DXLD) A small typo: for Haiti it should be UT -4h, shouldn't it? 73, (Mauno Ritola, ibid.) Yes; DST is nothing new on Haiti; they have been shifting on US dates for years, more obvious to us by the timeshifts in VOA`s Creole service still on SW. I think Guatemala can`t make up its mind from year to year. Will be interesting to see if the few remaining SW stations start signing on and off an hour earlier, shift all programming one UT hour earlier (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI. See GUATEMALA just above ** HAWAII [non]. WXNU 106.5 FM still at it. Testing continues, now with Polynesian music tossed into the mix. I'm not sure if the music's by everyone's favorite Ho, but I wouldn't be surprised. Still no voice announcements, but they finally broadcast a song in English, an island guitar version of 'Come Sail Away'. They ought to toss a station announcement in there. I think "WXNU, Kankakee's home for Hawaiian Hits" would probably be distinctive enough (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, April 22, WTFDA via DXLD) See also CHINA [non] ** INDIA. COMMENTS ABOUT INDIA AND QSL'ING Hi Glenn, Was interesting to read some of the comments reflected in DXLD this past week about AIR and QSL’ing. Everyone has different experiences and it seems there are some that are frustrated, but I want to say that has not been my experience. It is possible with a little bit of effort to show AIR that we actually have an interest not only in their QSL’s, but also in their country. My few e-mailed reception reports have had positive results, either by return e-mail or snail mail. When I first e-mailed a report to Mr. Sunil Bhatia at New Delhi, I thought it was appropriate that I use the popular Hindu form of salutation as the ``subject`` of my e-mail. In one day I received from him a nice confirmation for my reception of a test transmission of FM Rainbow via AIR Bangalore. At about that same period of time I also had good reception of the North Eastern Service of AIR from Shillong, so I sent off another e- mail report to Mr. Bhatia, mentioning that I understood that Shillong was known as the ``Scotland of the East`` due to the striking similarity with the Scottish highlands. In 30 minutes I had a positive response and he indicated: ``It was really nice to see your trademark.`` What secret trademark had I used for both reports that had caught his attention? Not a secret at all, just a simple ``namaste``, which is a common greeting used in India. Also had good results when I e-mailed a report directly to Bangalore, in which I indicated my interest in several of the scenic attractions of the city, that I had read about on-line. Mr. R. Narasimha Swamy, the Superintending Engineer at AIR Bangalore, very kindly sent me two large maps of both Bangalore and the surrounding Karnataka area. So it is possible to get the prized AIR QSL and at the same time show an appreciation of their county. Maybe this will assist others and get people to think of even better ways to interact with them (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, April 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Received via New Delhi, the current Home Services & External Services Frequency Schedules, along with letter from S. C. Pachauri, Asstt. Director (SMS). It is always nice to receive any mail from India, but I am not sure that I understand why they send these out, as the cover letter indicates that both frequency schedules are on-line and requests that reception reports be submitted on-line at their website http://allindiaradio.gov.in/ Plus they ask for an acknowledgment of the receipt of the schedules and comments be sent via e-mailed to spectrum-manager @ air.org.in (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. RRI-Kendari (4000 kHz) QSYed to 3995 kHz on 15 Apr. heard at +1000-1300+, QRMed Nei Menggu PBS on 4000 kHz. de NDXC HQ (Nagoya DX Circle HQ, Japan, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [non?]. Leafing thru the map pages in the 2002 World Almanac, it dawns on me that there is something strange about the Pacific on page 512. Unlike other oceans, this one is divided up into large blocks of territory surrounding each tiny island country. It is as if each country owns huge portions of the ocean as its territorial waters. But the outlines obviously are not equivalent to a 300-mile limit or whatever is in force elsewhere. Is this really the case? From Palau in the NW to New Caledonia in the SW to French Polynesia in the SE and Kiribati in the NE, there is apparently no such thing as International Waters. If you sail from Palau to Papeete you would always be ``in`` some country, such as, depending on the precise route: FSM, PNG, Solomons, Fiji, Tonga, Cook in between those two countries. And some of these are ``big countries`` --- Kiribati is about as wide as Australia, tho not as broad; French Polynesia is almost half the size of Australia. If these boxes outlined in red around the islands do not indicate national boundaries, what is their purpose? Some other islands slightly outside this area do not have the boxes around them, notably US territory such as Hawaii, Palmyra, Howland & Baker, Guam (the NMI just north of Guam do have a box, the only one not contiguous to the others). Outlying Australian and NZ islands do not, either. However, American Samoa does, perhaps because it is boxed in by five other countries. Almost buried in the spine is the source of these maps: Mapquest.com But I seem to recall seeing similar outlines on National Geographic maps (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. ISRAELI INTERIM PM'S ADVISORS "WANT TO LIQUIDATE THE IBA" A report in the Haaretz newspaper says that Advisers to interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have recommended closing down Channel 1 and creating a new public television station. Their plan calls for the liquidation of the Israel Broadcast Authority (IBA) in its current form. The plan would involve the loss of 1,000 IBA jobs and cost of hundreds of millions of shekels. Olmert has not yet approved the plan, but his aides told Haaretz that he "has not ruled out any ideas that would strengthen public broadcasting." The newspaper says that the issue of what to do about Israel Radio, which operates several radio stations, has not been thoroughly addressed. The radio division helps to finance the IBA's television operations, and does not need major reforms. Observers fear that closing down IBA could drive away radio listeners and deal a mortal blow to Israel Radio. (Source: Haaretz via Mike Brand) # posted by Andy @ 10:14 UT April 23 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. ITALIA, 13840, European Music Radio vía IRRS, 0700- 0720, programa conmemorativo del 30 aniversario de EMR, EMR 30th birthday relay, inicio de la transmsión a las 0700: locutor: "This is IRRS transmitting from Milano, Italy". Locutor: "This is European Music Radio, EMR, commencing transmission to Europe". Música pop en inglés. "EMR for Europe". 34333 variando a 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España Grundig Satellit 500 Escucha realiza en el casco urbano de Lugo, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What reason do you have to believe this was actually transmitted from Italy, rather than Bulgaria? (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN. See DENMARK [non] ** KOREA NORTH. D.P.R. of Korea. In its emission in English Radio Voice of Korea has announced that starting May 1 some schedule changes will be introduced. The broadcasts in English will be on the air as follows: To Europe from 13, from 15, from 18 and from 21 hours on 4405, 13760 and 15245 kHz; to North America from 13 and from 15 hours on 9335 and 11710 kHz; to Central and South America from 10 hours on 11710 and 15180 kHz, from 1 hour on 11735, 13760 and 15180 kHz; to Northeast Asia from 1 and from 3 hours on 3560, 7140, 9345 and 9730 kHz; to Southeast Asia from 2 hours on 4405, 13650 and 15100 kHz and from 10 hours on 3560, 11735 and 13650 kHz (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX April 22 via John Norfolk, dxldyg via DXLD) Looks about the same to me without comparing it line by line (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. "Free North Korea Radio", 5880 kHz 1500-1600, QRT on 14 April (Shigenori Aoki : ndxc @ mediacat.ne.jp or aoki @ ndxc.org de NDXC HQ, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. 9290, Hamburger Lokalradio mit Sonderprogramm auf Kurzwelle RIGA 9290 kHz. Das nichtkommerzielle Hamburger Lokalradio wird an drei weiteren Tagen auf der Kurzwellenfrequenz RIGA 9290 KHz zu hoeren sein. Zu empfangen sind die Kulturprogramme am Samstag, 29. April; Sonntag, 30. April sowie am Montag, 1. Mai. Von 09.00 bis 10.00 UTC ist europaweiter Empfang moeglich. Kontakt zum Hamburger Lokalradio: redaktion @ hamburger-lokalradio.de Hamburger Lokalradio Kulturzentrum LOLA 21031 Hamburg Deutschland (Michael Kittner-D, Stationsleiter HLR, wwdxc BC-DX Apr 21 via DXLD) ** LIBYA [and non]. Libyen: Das Katz-und-Maus-Spiel gegen den libyischen Oppositionssender Stimme der Hoffnung bewegt immer noch das 17-MHz-Band. Die längeren Vorlaufzeiten für den Sendebeginn um 12.00 Uhr lassen den Monitoren, die die Störsendungen koordinieren, offenbar genug Zeit, die jeweilige Frequenz zu suchen. Als Standardprozedur wechselt die Stimme der Hoffnung gegen 13.00 Uhr um 5 kHz nach oben oder unten. Natürlich sind die Standorte der Störsender nicht bekannt. Erfahrene DXer korrelieren aber die Signale von zwei Störsendern mit denen von Radio France Internationale auf 17620 kHz. Hier lässt sich in der Regel eine parallele Entwicklung der Empfangsqualität beobachten. Auf wechselnden Frequenzen senden 12.00-14.00 Uhr Idhaat al Jamahiriya al Ozma / Radio of The Great Jamahiriya in Arabisch und / oder Saut Afrikia - Voice of Africa in Arabisch, Englisch, Französisch und Kiswahili. Libyen sendet seit geraumer Weile regulär aus Issoudun, so dass dieser Einsatz nicht verwundert. Durch die Beobachtung von Fehlschaltungen (21.3. laut Bernie O'Shea via Gl. Hauser DXLD) wurde bewiesen, was durch Ausbreitungsbeobachtungen schon nahelag: Auch die Sendeanlagen von Moyabi, das an sich Africa Numero Uno 07.00-15.00 Uhr auf 17630 kHz (250 kW, 307 ) für Westafrika überträgt, ist an den Gegensendungen beteiligt. Hier wird ein unmoderiertes Programm mit afrikanischer Musik ausgestrahlt, das offenbar nach Einweisung erst später ins Geschehen eingreift. Dazu kommen Störprogramme mit Brummen und Blubbern, die offenbar durch Bodenwelle den Empfang an Libyen verhindern sollen. Jüngere Spekulationen gehen darauf, dass auch russische Sendeanlagen beteiligt sind. Dass würde aber bedeuten, dass sich GTK Moskau von beiden Seiten bezahlen ließe. Auf jeden Fall stellt der massive Störsendereinsatz gegen zwei Stunden Oppositionsprogramm einen erheblichen Aufwand dar (N. R. Green 23.3., 1.4., O. Alm 31.3., Wg. Büschel BCDX, via NTT Aktuell April 2006 - 2. Ausgabe, http://www.kwrs.de/aktuell.html via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. 9875, R. Vilnius, 2330-2358*, Apr. 17, English, ID/IS loop at tune-in, "Easter Monday" program with reports on disabled persons in Lithuania, children`s rights, Lithuanian opera. Schedule/contact info at sign-off. Fair listening in USB (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R75, 200' Beverages' MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEXQ-OC, 6045, SLP, active again, Sat April 22 at 1250 check with well-modulated violin music, usual SAH QRM; 1305 ID as R. Universidad and talk segment, interview about Israel & Palestine; some music interspersed resumed after 1317; fading out by 1330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. RADIO FREE MEXICO EYED TO PREVENT MIGRATION By Jennifer Harper, The Washington Times, Published April 19, 2006 http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20060419-103139-7295r WASHINGTON -- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Voice of America -- and Radio Free Mexico? If Jack Wheeler gets his way, airwaves south of the border will be filled with reasons for potential illegal aliens to stay in their country and prosper. "This is ultimately the only way to end the invasion of Mexican illegals into America," Mr. Wheeler said. "Create a successful Mexico." He announced plans yesterday to privately raise $500,000 in start-up funds for Radio Free Mexico (RFM), a new broadcast system featuring Spanish-language programming with a Yankee capitalist slant. The former Reagan administration geopolitical analyst is convinced he has a ready audience among frustrated Mexicans eager to undo the poverty that drives them north. "The goal of RFM is to change the culture of Mexico from corrupt poverty to lawful wealth. Some Mexicans already realize they can't blame their situation on 'El Norte' and the gringos all the time. They know they must fix the problem themselves, and are desperate to do so," Mr. Wheeler said. RFM programming will showcase "Mexican free-market intellectuals and the anti-socialist intelligentsia" who can speak plainly to listeners about the social, political and economic factors behind a productive, well-heeled population. Mr. Wheeler also intends to play hardball by "naming names" of corrupt officials, businessmen and politicians. With an eventual 24-hour broadcast in mind, Mr. Wheeler plans to buy radio airtime in Mexico City, Monterrey and other cities for specials or one-time broadcasts. He has competition for immigrant ears, though. Popular Spanish-language broadcasters in the U.S. already have rallied illegals to take a stand against stricter immigration policies. "Spanish DJs kept up the crowd's spirits, giving nonstop information and advice," according to a Pacific News Service account of the Los Angeles protest, which drew an estimated 500,000 participants on March 27. "The DJs were part of a campaign in which California's Spanish media outlets played a pivotal role," said the news service, noting that announcers urged protestors to raise their native flags high. Still, U.S.-based media have cachet among foreign-based audiences. The Broadcasting Board of Governors -- the federal agency that oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio Sawa, Radio Farda, Alhurra and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting -- caters to 100 million listeners and viewers a week in 74 languages. Meanwhile, several contributors to fledgling RFM already have stepped forward with "six figures," Mr. Wheeler said. He will post information about the project on his conservative news Web site http://www.tothepointnews.com A future site also is being developed for RFM. "Winning the war of illegal invasion requires liberating Mexico," Mr. Wheeler said. "That's the lesson Ronald Reagan would have us learn. That's the promise of a Radio Free Mexico." (via Jilly Dybka, TN, DXLD) Welcome back! I find it difficult to take this RFM idea seriously. For one thing, the name is hardly appropriate; shows a serious lack of imagination. ¿How about R. Benito Juárez? (gh, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. 17935.0, 1100-1107* 03.04.06, Radio Pakistan, Islamabad English + Urdu RS-D (Roland Schulze, Germany, April DSWCI SW News via DXLD) This was either a punch-up error by the station, should be 17835, or a typo by the reporter; the editor should question it (gh, DXLD) ** SAAR [and non]. A posting at http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,401869 quotes an interview with Saarländischer Rundfunk director Fritz Raff: The results of first audience research for SR Antenne Saar are disappointing, especially for the French-language content, listeners always asked for FM but that's not possible at present. Summary of further discussion in this thread: So it appears that in fact nobody is listening, but mediumwave is hardly the only culprit for this disaster, although 1179 is a poor frequency and modulation leaves quite a lot to be desired. There are also other aspects: SR Antenne Saar is run by terrible automation with lots of slip-ups and switching errors, programming gets persistently chopped up inmidst sentence. No surprise at all that the relays of RFI in French are a flop since the close relationship to France is rather wishful thinking by the elites than reality, when it comes to the ordinary people. By the way, the noon programme of RFI German service got included in the SR Antenne Saar program line-up only after rather intense lobbying by shortwave listeners. The original plans of Saarländischer Rundfunk ignored RFI's German-language programming entirely. All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAN MARINO. FINE DI UNA EMITTENTE FAMOSA ?? R. San Marino 98.90 MHz Hi! The only alternative station operating from San Marino Republic, seems it has been closed, a local listener in Rimini area reports from April on 98.90 MHz you can hear LOVE FM an internet on line radio station. This change the situation in San Marino Republic --- again to a MONOPOLY situation owned by Radio San Marino RTV on 102.70 MHz (and sister station San Marino Classic 103.20 MHz). Thanks information from : http://guide.supereva.com/radio/interventi/2006/03/246622.shtml (Andrea Lombardo, San Marino - 03/04/2006) Cambio di modulazione sui 98.900 per San Marino e la provincia di Rimini. L`emissione non diffonde più il segnale di RADIO SAN MARINO, bensì quello di LOVE FM. La sottoportante rds riporta l`identificativo `` FM`` quasi completamente spostato a destra (via Dario Monferini, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. New chairlady of Slovak Radio says that it is a priority to repay the debts to Slovak Telecom. Mass redundancies, especially of engineering personnel, are planned to facilitate this. Original item in German (can't find an English version): http://www.slovakradio.sk/inetportal/rsi/core.php?page=showSprava&id=1638&lang=3 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. SPAIN NOT HEARD WELL IN SUMMER SEASON For a long time, REE, Spain, has been a favorite station (in English and Spanish). Their English broadcast has a nice mix of news, sports, weather, and very nice short features on Spain and Latin America (American Chronicles), and of course, their long-standing Spanish course. This short program, daily on Monday to Friday is quite informative, and though a Spanish student for years, I always pick up something new or in a nice review. HOWEVER, while many stations have cut back broadcasts and are not heard as much (or at all), REE's summer frequency of 15385 kHz does not propagate well at all in the spring or fall at 0000 UT. This has been a problem for several years when they make the switch from winter frequency of 6055 kHz. I have tried to hear this broadcast many times since the time change in late March, and only heard them one time, with a whopping SINPO of 11111, the IS and sign-on themes barely audible and announcements totally unreadable. Surely they could find an alternate frequency for this service (perhaps in 31 meters) that would propagate better. I suspect that this is even more of a problem for listeners farther west in North America. [Yes! gh] As to 6055 kHz, used for several hours in evening in Spanish (0100- 0500 UT), I note that this is often poor as well, with Cuba on 6060 kHz causing a lot of interference, and often Spain is heard better on 6054 (on my Grundig YB 400PE) and I wonder if this a just a tuning quirk or if indeed they are moved down 1 kHz to compensate for this interference. And, this past winter especially, even the 0000-0100 transmission here in English in the winter was often almost worthless for the same reason. As transmitter time is expensive, one would think that stations such as Spain would try to find and use frequencies that are at least sometimes audible in their supposed target areas (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, ODXA via DXLD) Hi Roger: Considering the fact that you are a constant listener and correspondent with them and have even visited them on at least one occasion that I recall, it makes you wonder a few things: Do they really care about putting the best signal into North America for their English program? Do they listen to or care about the feedback from listeners like yourself? Their 90 meter band Spanish transmissions in the evening, via Costa Rica, make a better trip here than those direct from Spain. Perhaps trying to convince them to use some time for their English programming via that relay might be in order (Mark Coady, ibid.) Hi Roger, In addition to the frequencies you mention, the various databases I'm looking at here show REE from Noblejas with targets of North and South America also on 9535, 15110, 17595, 9690, 9650 and 11795. In fact, as I type this, I'm listening their very strong signal on 17595. It's Sunday morning here in eastern NY state, 4/23 at 1430 zulu (David Griffin N2CHI, ibid.) Roger, Agree totally with your evaluation, and this has been said over and over by myself and others, but the message is not getting to REE`s frequency management, or if it is, they do not accept it and obviously have no understanding of basic SW propagation, nor are they really interested in getting the best possible signal into the target area. Does REE have any ``official monitors`` who know how to reach the decision-makers? There are countless REE frequencies in Spanish, both direct and via Costa Rica, all day and evening long, which provide excellent signals into CNAm. An hour of any one of these converted to English would also do the trick, but NO --- English is of the lowest possible priority, and we are lucky to have one hour left to NAm instead of three just a few years ago. I seriously doubt they have moved to 6054. Side-tuning to avoid QRM is quite another thing, and merely because the readout says 6054 and it sounds better does not necessarily mean the frequency has actually been changed. This is easily checked on the YB 400 by switching on the BFO, zero- beating it on any known frequency, not necessarily WWV, and then punching in 6055. If you do not hear a tone, then the station is on 6055. If you do hear a tone, the station is not really on 6055. If you step up and down one kHz, you can determine which frequency it is really on. I am really surprised that an experienced listener would not be aware of this technique, but perhaps there are others so I explain it here. Also, if you were careful to zero-beat the BFO exactly, using the thumbwheel, to a known station, i.e. listening for the subaudible heterodyne and get it down to nothing --- doing so can be very touchy on this rx, especially an aged one like mine --- then you can also estimate split-kHz off-frequencies by the pitch of the het. E.g. if it were on 6054.4, you would get a slightly lower pitch when tuned to 6054, 400 Hz, than you would tuned to 6055, 600 Hz. Even if you don`t have perfect pitch, you may be able to recognize Middle C, which is close to 250 Hz, another convenient marker, one quarter of a kHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Re 6-064, DYB: since the thrust of the story about Columbine HS in Colorado, was the arrest of teens in Kansas planning a replay, perhaps the wording of the story was correct. All I caught was Columbine combined with Kansas; impossible to recheck now (gh, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. Re 6-064, ``UNITED KINGDOM. Darfur Salaam, the 15- minute humanitarian radio programme for Darfur in Sudan (Re: DXW 294) changed and expanded its schedule on Apr 03..... ``In the January Update to WRTH 2006 this was classified as a "Clandestine and other Target Broadcaster", so in the future this station will be placed under "Clandestines" in DBS-8, DX-Windows and DX-Mirrors (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window April 19 via DXLD)`` On what basis? The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary defines clandestine as surreptitious, secret, underhand. The broadcast does not fit any of these definitions. It's a BBC World Service Trust broadcast and announced as such in a BBC World Service press release on the 23rd January. To put this humanitarian BBC World Service broadcast, which has followed similar efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Rwanda and Burundi, as Clandestines, the same category as broadcasts seeking regime change by violent and non-violent means, is absurd and insulting to the journalists and other staff working on it. With China and Russia, who have extensive trade links with the Sudanese regime, currently blocking UN action against four Sudanese officials involved in the Darfur violence, I am quite proud that the UK is involved in this work, and as a BBC World Service broadcast will continue to list it under United Kingdom in my World DX Club news column (Mike Barraclough, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9735, Darfur Salaam via Cyprus transmitter, 0500-0516, April 23, Arabic, Music, announcement by male, Identification: "Darfur Salaam... ", announcement by male & female, news by male in Arabic; at 0507 announcement by male, talk by male, announcement and ID by male, music & sign-off at 0516. SINPO: 44444. Impossible on 11820 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, HCDX via DXLD) ** TURKEY. Checking out VOT`s new frequency for English to NAm, 5975, on its first date, April 23, ex-6140: Tune in at 0340, signal is poor but audible with no certain co-channel QRM. But quite weak and subject to T-storm QRN and to overload from many much stronger signals on the band. Also at 0342-0345 there were Rai chirps from adjacent 5970 tuning up for Russian service at 0345; and a bit of splatter from Spain via Costa Rica on 5965. Nothing on the high side, fortunately far enough away from the DRM on 5980+. Off after IS at 0350. No comparison to some direct European signals such as Spain on 6055. Best SINPO I could give TRT would be 22242. I could not help but remember the big signal BBC had until March 26 on the same frequency at the same time via Delano, a relay TRT ought to arrange. Lacking that, I suppose 5975 direct is about the best we can expect under the circumstances. We usually have better results on the 1230 UT broadcast, even tho it is not aimed at NAm. I shall be checking out its new frequency too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 22 April follow. Solar flux 82 and mid- latitude A-index 16. The mid-latitude K-index at 0300 UTC on 23 April was 1 (09 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) Their new frequency at 1230 UT, 15450 kHz: Yesterday (Saturday) they were still heard on 15225 (SIO 555), but announced 15450. Today (Sunday) they are on 15450 (SIO 555), but at the start at 1230 they announced 15225... // 15535. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Denmark, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9955, WRMI, Radio Miami Internacional, 1030-1045, April 23, English/Spanish, Complete identification in English, after "Mundo Radial" in Spanish, with DX informations by Glenn Hauser, 25432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, HCDX via DXLD) Sundays only. So no dentrocuban jamming audible, at least in Argentina, tho weak. Yay! (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Re 6-064: V. of Joy Music Hour was scheduled Sat April 22 at 13-14 on 15720, but no trace of it here at several chex during the hour. Trans-Atlantic conditions were poor, with RDPI 15560 fair, 15620 DW Wertachtal weak, and YLE 15400 fluttery. Site for this presumably somewhere in Russia or CIS. Might have put a good signal into Europe, tho (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 21 April follow. Solar flux 79 and mid- latitude A-index 9. The mid-latitude K-index at 1200 UTC on 22 April was 4 (64 nT). The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 22 April was 3 (26 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) ** U S A. Please note the following change (effective 20 April 06) in the WYFR A-2006 broadcast schedule: Delete 13695 kHz 1700-2200 UTC 100 kw 355 degrees zones 4,5,9 Add 13690 kHz 1700-2200 UTC 100 kw 355 degrees zones 4,5,9 (WYFR via DXLD) ** U S A. Chicago: WBEZ, less music and more talk SUCKS Now hear this: WBEZ, you stink Chicago Public Radio disses jazz aficionados By Cory Franklin, Published April 18, 2006 Every generation suffers the same painful experience. One morning they wake up to discover the music they have always enjoyed has suddenly turned unfashionable and is now replaced by something they regard as coarse and inferior. This happened recently when Chicago Public Radio announced it will drop all jazz programming in favor of a coarser, inferior alternative --- more talk shows. According to station brass, it is an effort to attract younger listeners, ``a mission-based, rather than a market-driven decision.`` Quick questions for station brass about that mission. Isn`t there enough talk on the radio already? Do the younger listeners, and the rest of us for that matter, really need more talk shows? There`s right-wing talk, left-wing talk, sports talk, girl talk, health talk, sex talk, legal talk, real estate talk, money talk, car talk. And 95 percent is pure bloviation. Wouldn`t the next generation be better off knowing and appreciating Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Count Basie? To their credit, the satellite-based radio stations will still play jazz, but those stations are aimed more at aficionados who already understand the medium. It`s not the way to introduce young listeners to jazz. It`s like when a 6-year-old asks how to spell a word and she`s told to look it up in the dictionary: Without some guidance, she`s lost. (The last refuge of jazz for beginners may be the College of DuPage radio station). Jazz has often been called an authentic American art form, and the mission-based decision by Chicago Public Radio to drop it is another painful reminder of the reluctance we have to remember our history, whether it`s political, military or social. On the cultural side, classical music is already on the critical list in America. If the current move by Chicago Public Radio is any indication, jazz is going down that road. And for those younger listeners out there, be forewarned, the next victim might soon be another American art form, rock `n` roll. To see it happening, consider a name familiar to all of a certain age, Gene Pitney, who died recently. His plaintive, stirring voice was once a hallmark of rock, far superior to anything you will hear today on ``American Idol.`` He had hits as a singer and wrote rock classics (including ``Hello Mary Lou`` and ``He`s a Rebel``), won a Golden Globe and was the first pop artist invited to perform at the Academy Awards. After the Beatles came to America, like other U.S. rock singers, he suffered a career downturn. Ironically, he remained a huge star in England, and when he died after receiving a standing ovation at a concert in Wales, the British press was replete with tributes and remembrances. Here in America? A couple of oldies stations paid tribute by reshuffling the computer playlist between commercials to play ``Town Without Pity`` or ``24 Hours from Tulsa.`` Then, hasty retreat to the computerized format. Nice knowing you, Gene; don`t let the door hit you on the way out. In a recent speech at a Hillsdale College seminar titled ``America`s History and America`s Future,`` the eminent historian David McCullough said the institutions that we take for granted—especially those we should never take for granted—are all the result of hard work by other people who went before us. And to be indifferent to that isn`t just to be ignorant, it`s to be rude. And ingratitude is a shabby failing. Well put, and to apply his thought, when we treat an institution such as jazz so frivolously, it`s more than just a shabby failure, it`s a loss of an aesthetic pleasure difficult to recover. That was explained quite simply by Betty Carter, one of the great female jazz voices of the 20th Century, who performed with Charlie Parker, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis (none of whom will be coming to your WBEZ airwaves in the near future). Near the end of her life, she helped start the Jazz Ahead program for young musicians. Reflecting on her career she said, ``Putting happy smiles on peoples` faces. When I was coming up, that`s what jazz was about. It wasn`t about money. It was about how happy you could make people.`` Memo to Chicago Public Radio: We need more happy smiles on peoples` faces. More jazz would do that. More talk shows won`t. ---------- Cory Franklin lives in Wilmette. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0604180224apr18,1,6753477.story?coll=chi-opinionfront-hed (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. QUAD CITIES PIRATE --- I have to give these kids credit. -JG FCC GIVES PIRATE RADIO STATION LIST OF VIOLATIONS By Darla M. Wiese, QC online A representative from the Federal Communications Commission paid a visit to pirate radio DJs Jason Duncan and Matthew Britcher of Power 103.3, Tuesday afternoon, according to Mr. Duncan. Mr. Duncan and Mr. Britcher have been operating the station since last week under an FCC code they believe warrants them operation without a license in times of war. ``He asked to see the studio but once we found out he didn`t have a warrant, we said no,`` Mr. Duncan said. They presented the FCC representative with a copy of the FCC`s Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, Section 3542: Application for emergency authorization. Mr. Duncan and Mr. Britcher believe the regulation, which grants an emergency broadcast on a temporary basis under extraordinary circumstances, such as the continuance of war, gives them the right to operate their station without a license. ``He said he`d never heard of it before and that he`d let their attorneys look at it, but he basically said it wasn`t going to matter much to them,`` Mr. Duncan said. Mr. Duncan and Mr. Britcher then were given a Notice of Unlicensed Radio Operation with the following reasons checked on the list: Refusal to allow inspection of radio equipment; A lack of evidence of a proper FCC radio station license; Field measurements of Power 103.3`s transmitter exceed the allowable limits for operating without a license. Mr. Duncan said the FCC representative showed up about 2 p.m. and stayed for 45 minutes. Mr. Duncan was prepared for the visit and captured it all on videotape. Mr. Duncan and Mr. Britcher hope to file a motion in federal court Wednesday, and are hoping to be granted an injunction on the basis of their First and Fourth Amendment rights and their freedom of speech. A motion guaranteeing the FCC cannot meet with a judge in a private court session, without Mr. Duncan or Mr. Britcher, also has been filed. Mr. Duncan estimates this ``no seizure order`` could buy them up to five or ten years on the air. ``If that doesn`t work, we will probably move the station to buy more time,`` he added. ``Then they have to start all over and come inspect that property and serve us another notice. We have back-up plans.`` Mr. Duncan said it is unlikely either he or Mr. Britcher will serve any jail time, though the maximum penalty for operating a radio station without a license is a $10,000 fine and up to one year in jail. Mr. Duncan said he`s researched it, and that in the numerous cases like his, only one person has ever served any time and it was only 9 months. Mr. Britcher said he is fully prepared to take this all the way, though Mr. Duncan has a family and said he`d have to step back if it goes that far. In the meantime, Mr. Duncan said the community has overwhelmed them with hundreds of phone calls in support of their plight. In return, Power 103.3 is planning a listener-appreciation event at the end of May, tentatively scheduled at Middle Park, Bettendorf. The event will be free to the public and will include live bands, live broadcasting and Happy Joe`s pizza. Mr. Duncan hopes the event will provide a good opportunity to educate people about their stand. ``We have the freedom of speech, but you have to pay $1 million dollars to speak it (on the radio)?`` he asked. ``It`s a shame.`` Power 103.3 can be reached at (309) 740-1650 (via Juan Gualda, IA, ABDX via DXLD) I fully support these guys. In a day and age where broadcast professionals incessantly complain about Part 15 emissions from iPods and unlicensed LP stations (when there are bigger glaring issues to deal with - see all the CGC issues and you`ll see what I mean), the little guy seems to be the one shoved to the side as some dangerous, immoral criminal. It is the FCC`s fault for not designating a portion of the AM and FM bands for LP community broadcasting, as is actually done in other countries, and making it exorbitantly expensive to even get an LP license (and then their idea of LP is 100 W - 3 kW to serve a 3-8 mile radius, when you only wish to put out 10 watts to do the same job). Broadcasters are simply running scared because of how the tide has turned against the industry the past 5 years with satellite, internet and podcasting. I hope these two lads make it, because THEY are serving the community actively, getting them involved, unlike your local satellite-fed AM talker or FM translator (Darwin Long, Thousand Oaks, CA, ibid.) ** U S A. 1110, KLIB Roseville, CA has been missing for the last three days. Maybe their five years have expired and they signed off to allow KFSG-1690 to continue on the air (Albert Lehr - Livermore, CA, ABDX via DXLD) Indeed so. But note that KLIB`s owner, Multicultural, is one of several broadcasters who have petitioned the FCC for a waiver of the five-year rule to allow them to sell their existing-band signal to a ``small`` owner. So KLIB, along with WJCC, WHWH, KYDZ and a few others, may yet be back. s (Scott Fybush, NY, IRCA via DXLD) Scott, Why in the world did the FCC allow such a loophole? Everything I read in the beginning was that when the 5 year period was up, one of the two stations would have to sign off forever. Why even adopt of X Band if this is the case? I have talked to several X Band CEs and they stated, that this was a wonderful thing, the X Band, as we can not just have one station, but two. So many had no plans to lose either station from the beginning. So what did we end up with, more stations. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) The FCC hasn`t allowed it - yet. Anybody can file a petition with the FCC asking for pretty much anything, and at this point this is still in the petition stage. The argument that the petitioners are making is that the FCC has effectively (if not efficiently) given up on the X band. Since the initial window for X-band migration, which was more than a decade ago, there have been no more filing windows for new X-banders, and large parts of the country still have no local service on the X-band. Some of the stations given the opportunity to move (940 Fresno, for instance) decided to stay put on the existing band, and others (1700 Miami) tried the X-band but decided they were better off keeping their old facility and returning the X-band. So the conclusion they come to is that the original purpose of the X-band migration - reducing interference on the existing band - was not fulfilled. Working from that premise, they argue that the public interest is better served by allowing the handful of existing band stations that would have to go silent to stay on the air instead. I think the best case they`ll have is in places like Madison, where the move of WTDY 1480 to 1670 freed up 1480 to become the city`s first and only Spanish station. Remember, this - like everything at the FCC - is all about politics in the end, and it doesn`t look good for the FCC to be ``silencing`` the city`s only Spanish radio voice. And even if these stations are silenced, at the next major change window someone`s bound to apply for similar facilities anyway. (It already happened in the 2004 window for the very few frequencies - 1370 Sussex WI and 1390 in Des Moines, for instance - that had already been vacated during the transition.) So that`s another nail in the ``interference reduction`` argument. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) ** U S A. CATHOLIC RADIO STATION GOES SILENT TO REORGANIZE, RESTRUCTURE - FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION Fri, April 14 By Doug Pullen OWOSSO - Today will be ``Silent Friday`` for Owosso radio station WOAP-AM (1080). But it might be temporary. The station was to go off the air at 8 p.m. today, according to Wayne Milks, a board operator at the station, which broadcasts religious programming. . . . http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1145028043176750.xml&coll=5 (via Larry Russell, MARE Tipsheet April 21 via DXLD) ** VANUATU. Was on 7260, 21 April, fading in from 06 on. Mostly under the noise, but the flute IS was clear at 0701. Sony 2010 and SW100, lanai antennas (David Norcross, Kahalu`u HI US, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. Ayer viernes escuchando Radio Enlace de Radio Nederland, disfruté mucho las informaciones del colega radioafcionado David Iurescia (LW4 DAF); sobre todo me llamó la atención la que informaba sobre la expedición de radioafcionados venezolanos a Isla de Aves. Pero cual no sería mi sorpresa al enterarme hoy sabado 22 de Abril, que la misma se había enlutado por el fallecimiento en Isla de Aves del colega radioaficionado José M. Valdés (YV5LIX) de un infarto cuando junto a otros colegas se encontraba instalando una antena para los comunicados. Esta noticia viene a entristecer a los radioaficionados de Venezuela y el mundo ya que el colega José Valdes era muy conocido por su gran actividad en la radioafición. En la lista de Conexión Digital tambien participaba con sus informaciones. Atte: José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [ex. below] José was also a contributor to DXLD, tho we had not heard from him in quite a while. His website in English (watch out for popups); RIP. http://www.yv5lix.org.ve/index.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos amigos. Les reporto la escucha de Radio Thailand en 5890 Khz. . . RADIO: Yaesu FT-1000MP MARK-V Antenna: Sloper de 40 metros de largo. http://yv5lix.org.ve/hamradio/antenna160.html 73/DX Jose M. Valdes R. (Joe) YV5LIX eQSL.cc Advisory Board, QSL manager EA7FTR, SYSOP YV5LIX DX Cluster telnet://yv5lix.org.ve:7300 VHF Packet: 145.430 using C YV5LIX http://www.yv5lix.org.ve The site has an online log search. (via José Elía Díaz Gómez, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Me sorprende y entristece la noticia del fallecimiento de Joe Valdés. Tuve contacto con él en varias ocasiones. Fue un diexista serio y responsable. Paz en su tumba (Henrik Klemetz, Suecia, condig list via DXLD) José, YV5LIX, passed away at the YV0 DX-pedition site night before last from a sudden stroke. He loved all digimodes, especially psk63. For the remainder of the DX-pedition the call will be YV0LIX. 73 Jose. Condolences to family and friends. Rich k2tft (via Andy O`Brien, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AVES ISLAND The DXpedition appears to be using the call YXØLIX, heard here on 21294.9 at 1853. RIP Jose (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, ibid.) ** VIETNAM. Of the 17 sentenced Party members, several held important positions – like former Deputy Minister of Public Security Bui Quoc Huy, former deputy head of the People's Supreme Procuracy, Pham Si Chien, and former director of the Voice of Vietnam radio station, Tran Mai Hanh... http://www.thanhniennews.com/politics/?catid=1&newsid=14707 (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) But doesn`t say what the VOV guy did (gh) ** YEMEN. 6135, Rep. of Yemen Radio, at 2042 on Apr 10 with regional news inAR, into ME vocal at 2050, \\ 9779.5. Mixing with, but mostly atop, station in Portuguese (presumed BBC). On Apr 12, observed back on 6005 at 2115 UT with ME vocal and mixing with someone else (Bob Hill-MA-USA, DXplorer Apr 16 via BCDX April 22 via DXLD) 6005, RYR Sana'a um 2155 UT in Arabisch mit arabischer Musik, ID und s/off um 2201. SINPO: 44444. Auf der \\ - Frequenz 9779.8 kHz war das Signal schwaecher, dafuer war man aber dort auch noch nach 2201 UT zu hoeren (Patrick Robic, Austria, A-DX Apr 15 via BCDX April 22 via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ UTILITY DX FORUM Hi all, The UDXF website is online now. More files and info will be added in the near future. http://www.udxf.nl Cheers, (Ary Boender, BDXC via DXLD) LOGO GALLERY UPDATE #6 It's time again for me to visit the websites of every channel 2 - 6 in the US to update the logo maps. This year (to commemorate my return to the DXing scene), I've redesigned the maps... there is now a screen version and a printable version (though it's still kinda big). You'll notice that the Caribbean is now included, those stations will be added once I become more familiar with Latin American TV. Also and by popular demand, offsets are now included in the maps. Overall legibility is improved, too. Right now, channel 2 is up. I'll go up to channel 6 over the next few weeks... not sure if 7 will be updated. Lemme know what you think! http://www.egrabow.com/gallery/ (Ryan Grabow, April 20, WTFDA via DXLD) EMISORAS DE FM --- YOUR GUIDE TO FM RADIO SOUTH OF THE BORDER For those of you chomping at the bit to order the 2006 edition, it`s right here.... http://fmdx.usclargo.com/emisorasdefm/ Keep in mind, Mike Bugaj might be still tweaking the page, but the information is now on the worldwide web. Check it out! Jim Thomas, Editor & Publisher, ``Emisoras de FM`` --------------------------------- It`s the all-new ``Emisoras de FM`` - Your Guide to FM Radio South of the Border. Emisoras de FM is the 2006 edition of where The Mexico FM Directory left off. Translated, Emisoras de FM means ``emissions or signals of FM``. Emisoras de FM includes México, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panamá. The ALL NEW 102 page directory is designed on a horizontal (landscape) format - 8.5`` high by 11`` wide, bound by a flexible coil, so that it`s an easy-to-use, lay-flat book! It even has a chipboard back for greater durability. What do you get in the 2006 Emisoras de FM directory? A handy `how-to-use` on the inside cover. An overview of tuning into Mexico and Central American fm radio stations. A guide to the Spanish alphabet and other useful tools for Spanish on the FM radio dial. Radio news from `south of the border`. Additional information, such as official abbreviation keys, government radio networks, and a guide to the `big players` in radio and television advertising `south of the border`. Most importantly, there`s the complete map section for each of the countries. In some cases, where there is a concentration of fm radio stations, the specific country has been broken apart by `district`, for ease of reference. Finally, the `directory section`, the listings by frequency, give you the information you really need - geographical information, call letter assignments, wattage, the slogan of the radio station, and their program format. Emisoras de FM is priced at an affordable $16.50, which includes shipping & handling. Hot off the presses; order one for yourself and your in-laws today! (Jim Thomas, WTFDA via DXLD) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ POST CARD WITH AD OF BBC HINDI Recently India Post released a meghdoot post card with advertisement of British Broadcasting Corp, Hindi service. Have a look at : http://www.geocities.com/alokeshgupta/bbc_hindi_pc.jpg Background : India Post introduced Meghdoot Post Card on September 2, 2002. Meghdoot is priced at 25 paise that is half the cost of the regular post card. The writing space available on the address side of the regular post card is made available for advertising in multicolor in case of Meghdoot. The rate of the advertisement is Rs. 2 per card and the minimum order for print is 100,000 cards. Meghdoot is printed by Security Printing Press at Hyderabad in sheets of 8 cards, although some have been supplied to post offices by the press in sheets of 4 and pairs of 2 cards. Being a postal stationery article with an advertisement, its area of distribution is determined by the advertiser, as its design and copy. In addition to the post offices in the area of its distribution the Meghdoot is also made available in limited quantity of 2000 cards at select 8 philatelic bureaus that handle postal stationery, namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Mumbai (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, radiostamps yg via DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ LISTENERS DO HAVE STANDING Glenn, I wanted to respond to comments in a recent World of Radio regarding BPL and the SW listener. I believe you commented, in effect, that a listener impacted by BPL would have no standing to complain because the listener may operate a receiver only and have no transmitter or license. The responsibility to correct harmful interference does not disappear if the victim has no license. International broadcasting is an authorized radio service, regardless of the location of the transmitter. Unlicensed devices, a category that includes BPL, must avoid harmful interference to authorized services, period. Consider radio astronomers. They monitor celestial objects and energy sources that are obviously not radio stations. Yet radio astronomy is an authorized radio service. Astronomers strive to protect their bands and receiving facilities from interference through vigilance and lobbying when necessary. Any suggestion that radio astronomy is not entitled to interference protection would be immediately rejected by this scientific community. Shortwave listeners should take a similar position if they identify a genuine threat from BPL, even though as a group they do not wag the political dog in Washington. It would be a spurious and regrettable result if BPL providers and the FCC cooperate with licensed hams but turn deaf ears to complaints of interference to HF broadcasts. You are doing a great job as always (Benn Kobb, http://www.kobb.us April 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BPL IN THE HUDSON VALLEY AREA, COURTESY ARRL HUDSON DIVISION 'BEACON' Just received my email issue of the latest ARRL Hudson Division 'Beacon' with a report on BPL. 73s (Bill KA2EMZ Bergadano, swprograms via DXLD) Viz.: Yes it is here! NNJ is lucky. No BPL tests there, yet. But it is a different story in New York. Briarcliff Manor continues to be a problem as the small test site there remains out of compliance despite constant and repeated complaints from ARRL. (You did ask your congressman to co sponsor H. Res. 230.?) That may be our sole chance to get the FCC to revisit their flawed BPL regulations and implementation of them.) There is supposed to be a test site in Manhattan at one apartment site. We are not sure if it has yet gone active. Freeport is reported to have filed for a test. Then there is the planned LIPA test in Commack/Hauppague involving some 105 business and residences. LIPA will shortly announce who they will award the contract to for the test. A BIG THANKS to all the LI ARRL members who became involved and wrote letters to LIPA officials and others. It paid off! We have had a very positive response from LIPA chairman, Richard Kessel, who I am told was a ham while in high school. We are in the process of arranging a meeting with LIPA technical staff and our BPL team and Ed Hare, W1RFI. As a result of those letters and some behind the scenes work on the part of five LI hams who knew LIPA board members we have made contact with LIPA technical staff and are in the process of setting up a meeting with them before May 15th. Your letters proved to LIPA that there was a lot of concern among hams who are also LIPA rate payers. We might not have been successful in getting a meeting without those letters. I have asked ARRL Assistant Director, Richard Rosner, N2STU, to chair our Division BPL effort. Rich is a PE, an electrical engineer and a master electrician who will coordinate the effort to monitor the various test sites in the division and lead the teams which will work with the various utilities to make sure they deploy systems that are ham friendly. While we are not out to stop BPL in its tracks, we do want utilities to employ a technology that is not going to pollute our precious RF spectrum. If you are not sure what BPL is please visit the ARRL web site where there is a wealth of information - http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/ Ed Hare, W1RFI, ARRL's Lab Director has organized a massive amount of information there. It's actually "BPL 101" and you should get college credit if you read all the technical information there. The video and recording are very interesting (via Bill Bergadano, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ GUGGENHEIM SCHOLAR TO STUDY IMPLICATIONS OF 'ATMOSPHERIC RADIO' By: UC Davis Published: Apr 18, 2006 at 08:43 http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_34568.shtml A UC Davis scholar plans to use the freedom afforded by a Guggenheim Fellowship to explore how the line is blurred between nature and technology when people listen to sounds from the cosmos. Douglas Kahn, who directs the 4-year-old Technocultural Studies Program and is a scholar of the cultural history of sound and technology in the arts, is among 187 artists, scholars and scientists in United States and Canada recognized with Guggenheim Fellowships this spring. Fellows are appointed by recommendations from expert advisers on the basis of distinguished past achievement and the promise of future accomplishment. Awards this year total $7.5 million; fellowships are expected to average about $40,000 per fellow. Rather than use the funds to travel abroad for research, Kahn will use the material he has been gathering for the past several years to stay at UC Davis during the 2006-07 school year and write a book titled "Radio Was Discovered Before It Was Invented." He will also be working on the project as a fellow at the Davis Humanities Institute during the same period. He is focusing on events that began in 1876 when Thomas Watson, the engineer who fashioned the first telephone for Alexander Graham Bell, accidentally heard electromagnetic signals coming from the Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere. "At nighttime Watson would sit listening for hours on end to a telephone earpiece hooked up to an iron test line that ran over the rooftops of Boston," Kahn says. "The first telephone line had become an unwitting antenna through which he heard strange and beautiful sounds." Those sounds are now commonly known as atmospheric or natural radio, auroral chorus and VLF ("very low frequency" phenomena). The sounds range from fragile glissandi called whistlers to noise that have been described as the sounds of "electronic bacon frying," Kahn says. They are generated by lightning, solar winds and auroral activity, among other sources. Natural radio sounds became better known during the 1990s when avid amateur Stephen McGreevy issued CDs of his field recordings, Kahn said. Kahn, who wrote "Noise, Water, Meat: A History of Sound in the Arts" (1999), plans to start with the Watson story and follow it through the next 130 years, including the scientific investigation of natural radio beginning after World War I and the advent of composers and artists using these very low frequency sounds from the atmosphere to make music and sound art in the second-half of the 20th century. Experimental music composer Alvin Lucier, one of the pioneers of natural music, was a mentor to Kahn when he pursued a master's degree in music composition at Wesleyan University in Middleton, Conn. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the Guggenheim project will come when Kahn tries to answer bigger questions regarding sound, music, philosophy and cosmology that the history of natural radio raises. He plans to challenge conventional wisdom that technology is separate from nature. "That is, no one wants to listen to 'noise,' " Kahn says. "I also plan to ask what happens in the history of Western culture once the cosmos is understood to be electromagnetic. "The radio is a sign of modern technology, and has been studied as a 'communication device,' but here we encounter an entirely different notion of radio, as sounds coming from the heavens, a veritable soundtrack of astronomy," Kahn says. (via Jilly Dybka, TN, DXLD) ANOTHER HIGH-END AM/FM RADIO PRICING TRICK Noticed something interesting: Just received a catalog from a mail- order audio-gear dealer, ``Audio Advisor``, in which they listed a new high-end AM/FM radio, this one with RDS, and named ``Music Hall RDR-1 Radio`` at a $199.99 price. It looked rather familiar, and so it was— it is really the Sangean WR-2 radio, reviewed in the February 2006 issue of Monitoring Times (page 68) and, in that review, is priced at ``approximately $150``. According to the descriptions in both the magazine and catalog, these appear identical, each coming with a remote control and in a choice of finishes (though the Sangean-labelled one has a white-finish option NOT listed for the RDR). So I am guessing that you pay an extra $50 for the ``Music Hall RDR-1`` printed on the front panel. Caveat Emptor! Regards & 73, (Will Martin, April 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) A follow-up: The price difference between the Sangean WR-2 and the Music Hall RDR-1 just *might* be justified. I found a note on-line from the people that make the Music Hall that says that the product is ``based on`` the WR-2 but has been modified in the audio circuits to improve the sound. 73, (Will Martin, April 21, ibid.) TRAVELS WITH SCOTT: BY SCOTT FYBUSH FIRST STOP: RADIO IN LOS ANGELES [captions:] Mount Wilson at sunset. The tower is KCBS(TV/FM). Art Deco tilework around the front door at KFI. KFI Chief Engineer Tony Dinkel with the base of the tower after the plane crash. KTNQ/KTLK`s towers rise above the industrial park. A screen of wires extends over the parking lot between warehouse buildings and serves as part of the grounding system; it ties into chicken wire that lines the walls and roofs of the buildings. In the RF jungle at Mount Wilson. In the studio at KNX, Columbia Square, before the big move. Interesting broadcast history lurks in less conspicuous corners of LA From the time I was in middle school, visiting what was then WRTK(AM) at its four-tower directional array next door, no vacation has been complete without at least a few stops at broadcast facilities. But when Paul McLane invited me to share some of those journeys in a new Radio World column, one destination rose to the top of the pack. Just like Randy Newman sang, ``I Love L.A.`` Wired up At least on the surface, the nation`s second-largest radio market isn`t the place to go if you`re looking for much of a sense of history. Where studios are concerned, Los Angeles doesn`t spend much time looking back. NBC`s historic West Coast headquarters at Hollywood and Vine? Long gone. KFI`s Art Deco studio plant on Vermont Avenue? A parking lot. Even the Columbia Square facility on Sunset Boulevard, a West Coast hub for CBS since 1938, has a date with the wrecking ball soon; KNX Radio has moved out, as RW reported in the Nov. 23, 2005 issue, and ground has been broken for a new studio for KCBS(TV)/KCAL(TV) as well. Look beneath the surface, though, and there`s some neat radio history lurking in some less conspicuous corners of the City of Angels. . . http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/travels-with-scott/2006.04.12-03_rwf_travels.shtml (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) CROSSED FIELD ANTENNA An IEEE paper from the USA has been published with a very detailed technical report on the Crossed Field Antenna. http://www.fi.uba.ar/materias/6654/download/CFAantenna.pdf (David Thorpe, BDXC-UK via DXLD) I believe we already referenced this very technical article here some months ago. You may want to skip to the Conclusions on page 16. Bottom line is: it is no better than other antennas, and in some ways, inferior (gh, DXLD) There's a response from Dr Khabbary of Crossed Field Antennas here: http://www.crossedfieldantenna.com/pages/Trainotti.htm (Mike Barraclough, BDXC-UK via DXLD) O dear, whom to believe? (gh) Hello, I have read this very technical piece. In a nutshell, does it really work? Any answers, please? I am confused (Paul Ewers, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Well, Paul and all, that's the million dollar question. Personally I feel overwhelmed by all this conflicting rhetoric. The proof of the pudding, etc. Are there any stations that use CFA's that can be received by any of our members, here in the UK or overseas? If CFA's are either producing some decent DX or providing a nation with a reliable high powered broadcasting service, perhaps we could make an assessment ourselves, without the need of a slide-rule or some mind boggling mathematical equation. Another aside is if contractors can build an 600 ft TV tower in just a few weeks, how long does it take to construct and erect a comparatively small CFA? (Andy Cadier, UK, ibid.) It certainly does work; almost every major broadcaster and transmitter manufacturer has visited them and seen (heard?) it working. the debate and controversy is the how and why --- something that only interests mathematicians and academics. But at the end of the day, the main question for radio station operators is "does it put millivolts into the far field?". The answer is a plain and emphatic YES. I would leave the "why?" and "how?" to others (Paul Rusling, ibid.) Rusling, of the long-delayed Isle of Man LW station on 279 kHz, committed to using a CFA (gh, DXLD) HHRP Has New Link - Take A Squint! The goal of the Historic Halligan Radio Project is to present a picture of radio that encompasses much more than just Hallicrafters. A chance to see, and hear, how an infant named Radio affected an infant named Bill Halligan, how he affected radio and how together they changed the world forever. Additionally, the ways in which those first radio waves from KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA ultimately touched all of our lives in ways not even the imaginative Jules Verne could conceive. Greetings All, Thanks to some excellent work by W5JT, Jim Thayer, the HHRP (Historic Halligan Radio Project) now has a new link and location. Check it out! If you want the one with photos, use: http://homepage.mac.com/jthayer13/W9WZE/ Otherwise use: http://homepage.mac.com/jthayer13/W8DBF/ When the HCI web master finishes doing whatever it is that he is doing to the web site, the link may, or may not, be back where it is supposed to be. Meanwhile, perhaps forever, you can not miss with the beautiful work done by Jim. Take a squint! Stayed tuned in; a new HHRP release coming in two weeks (Duane Fischer, W8DBF, April 21, swl at qth.net via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING +++++++++++++++++++++ DRM in this issue: See BELGIUM; CHINA; ECUADOR; GERMANY; TURKEY FULL DIGITAL IS THE WAY TO GO Full Digital Modes of HD Radio, DRM Are Good Neighbors for First- Adjacents --- by Edward ``Ted`` Schober There has been much teeth gnashing over IBOC and adjacent-channel interference. I believe everyone has completely missed the point. The hybrid IBOC system is a nasty compromise designed to bridge the gap from analog to digital and was never intended as a permanent solution. Full digital medium-wave broadcasting, without hybrid analog compatibility, whether HD Radio or Digital Radio Mondiale, fits easily in the +/- 5 kHz channel we have in the United States, and also can fit in the +/- 4.5 kHz European channel. Only the hybrid system is troublesome; the full digital modes of HD Radio and all modes of Digital Radio Mondiale are excellent neighbors to first-adjacent-channel stations. Adjacent-channel interference between non-hybrid digital stations is negligible, and between a non-hybrid digital station and an analog AM station is low - lower than analog-to-analog. Interference from IBOC hybrid digital signals results from the fact that you cannot squeeze the digital carriers under the analog AM signal; you have to put them on your neighbor`s turf. The bottom line is the transition to non-hybrid digital must be accomplished in the shortest time possible. Hybrid digital operation is only a stopgap measure, with no improvement in coverage and troublesome adjacent-channel interference. I propose we overcome the poor interference performance of the hybrid system by leapfrogging to full digital medium-wave broadcasting. Full article: http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/iboc/2006.04.20-05_rwrf_april_20_part_2.shtml (via Mike Barraclough, DXLD) MUSEA +++++ MAJOR NEW MARCONI EXHIBITION OPENS Marconi's grandson Guglielmo and his daughter Princess Elettra will attend the opening of a major new Marconi exhibition at the Museum of History of Science in Oxford on 24 April. The exhibition - called Wireless World: Marconi and the making of radio - covers the history of radio from Marconi's early demonstrations in the 1880s to the beginning of regular public broadcasts in the 1920s. Original equipment and documents from those pioneering days of radio will be on display, including apparatus from Marconi's very first demonstrations, Marconigram messages sent by the stricken Titanic just before it sank and the microphone used by Nellie Melba to deliver the first ever life public entertainment broadcast on 15 June 1920. The exhibition will be run from 25 April to 1 October. For further details, contact Jim Bennett at e-mail address jim.bennett@mhs.ox.ac.uk To mark the opening of the exhibition, the Oxford and District Amateur Radio Society will operate special event station GB4MHS from the museum on 25 to 29 April. The club will operate from 1100 to 1500UTC on 2m, 20m, 40m and 80m. http://www.rsgb.org/news/gb2rs.htm (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Re: Major new Marconi exhibition in Oxford Thanks Mike for alerting us to this. On checking the Museum's website at http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk there are also the following events linked with this exhibition ... [q.v., 6 May thru 24 June] More details from: Museum of the History of Science, Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3AZ; tel: 01865 277280 fax: 01865 277288 e-mail: museum@mhs.ox.ac.uk web: http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk Public opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 12 noon to 4 pm, Sunday 2 pm to 5 pm; Admission free (via Alan Roe, BDXC-UK via DXLD) BST = UT +1 PROPAGATION +++++++++++ THE LYRID METEOR SHOWER - APRIL 16-25 There may be increased atmospheric ionization produced by the Lyrids, producing Sporadic-E radio radio propagation effects. This from Space Weather News for April 20, 2006: Earth is about to pass through the dusty tail of Comet Thatcher, and this will cause the annual Lyrid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on April 22nd, producing about 10 meteors per hour - modest, but pretty. The best time to look is during the hours before sunrise on Saturday morning. Go to a dark site away from city lights, if possible. The Moon will also encounter the comet's tail on April 22nd, which raises an interesting possibility: Amateur astronomers may be able to spot flashes of light on the Moon when comet debris hits the lunar surface and explodes. All that's required is a backyard telescope and lots of patience. Visit Spaceweather.com for details, sky maps and observing tips. Note: This is a Northern Hemisphere shower. South of the equator, observers will see very few Lyrids. Southerners are, however, in an excellent position to observe Lyrid impacts on the Moon. The Moon rises high in southern skies on April 22nd, in plain view of backyard telescopes. http://spaceweather.com For a detailed listing of these meteors and much more, visit: http://www.imo.net/calendar/2006 Best radio frequencies for leonids "observing" http://www.meteorobs.org/maillist/msg23423.html (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re PARTING THE RED SEA, 6-063: Glenn, Re ``No big deal for the Deity, but: wouldn`t the seabed be really, really, muddy, impossible to trek thru? And how about chasms, etc.? Pretty handy that there was a clear path from one side to the other.`` If you`re an all-powerful deity, I should imagine that you would make Arrangements for this kind of thing. Best, (Alistair Coleman, UK, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Another plausible theory is that the escaping Hebrew slaves traversed the swampy area north of the Gulf of Suez. I`ve seen this area referred to as the ``Sea of Reeds``. It would not be a stretch of the imagination that chariots would bog down in that environment, or that slaves would have already known their way through the bogs (a way to stay below Pharoah`s ``radar``). The Bible I received in 3rd grade, - around 1962, actually shows a map of that area showing a ``probable route`` through that swampy area. However, this version would not lend itself to the needs of a blockbuster movie, or fundamentalists! Movies are tricky - they can help visualize these events, but the scriptwriters often alter the story to fit contemporary purposes. More than a few children have told me that they know the story of the Exodus, but the details they relate are obviously from the animated account that came out some years ago. A nice story, exploring the relationship between Moses and his half-brother, but thoroughly unBiblical! Traversing the Red Sea would have been a real challenge in the way you describe - crevasses and mud, and a long distance on foot (and don`t forget that according to the story the numbers of people and animals were in the hundreds of thousands!). It would be hard to imagine a wind blowing long and steady enough to push the water aside for that length of time, if looking for a natural explanation. But to a fundamentalist - no problem - as surely as God pushed the sea aside, God could also provide a nice smooth trail on the sea bed. Those who accept the ``wall of water`` special effects would probably locate the event on the Gulf of Suez, not the Red Sea. There are plenty of other supernatural events for skeptics to dismiss in the story - burning bush, 10 plagues, manna in the desert, water from the rock, pillars of fire and cloud, etc. What is important to me is not the movie special effects, but that a people experienced a miraculous escape from slavery. Although the story may have been edited and embellished as it was told and retold, the escape and God`s role are the core of the account. The Exodus story was not intended to be a scientific treatise, but an expression of thankfulness to God to whom they attributed their freedom. In fact the most moving part of the Passover meal is the explanation that this didn`t just happen to people long ago, it includes those at the table too (Rev. Jim Renfrew [Presbyterian], Byron NY, April 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###