DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-076, May 19, 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 1315: Sat 0400 WOR WRMI 9955 Sat 1430 WOR WRMI 7385 Sat 1600 WOR WWCR 12160 Sun 0230 WOR WWCR 5070 [start varies 0225-0235] Sun 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Sun 0530 WOR WRMI 9955 Sun 0630 WOR WWCR 3215 Mon 0300 WOR WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WOR WBCQ 7415 Mon 0500 WOR WRMI 9955 Wed 0930 WOR WWCR 9985 Complete schedule including non-SW stations and audio links: 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 MUNDO RADIAL Mayo-Junio: Viernes y lunes 2115v en WWCR 15825; domingos 1030 en WRMI 9955; A pedido: (corriente) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0605.ram (descargar) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0605.rm (descargar mp3) http://www.obriensweb.com/mr0605.mp3 (texto) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0605.html ** ALASKA. Alaska from the Lower 48, Season Three --- The work on hearing Alaska from the lower 48 states [on MW] continues for year three. The article can be found here. 05 May 2006 http://www.am-dx.com/geo_alas.htm (Craig Healy, RI, via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Re 6-075: I tried out the Tango station stream, May 17 at 1745 UT, but it was talk, talk, talk, for more than 10 minutes. Mostly music after 1800, but rather tinny-sounding, unfortunately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA [and non]. Non-mainstsream radio --- For some radio listening with a difference, try the Armenian portal at http://www.hayastan.com/radio/ You are just a click away from Radio Van, from the town around Lake Van in the eastern reaches of Turkey and once part of Armenia. Also other Armenian stations such as Yerevan Nights. There are also facts about Armenia and the local news in English. There is even a selexion of E-cards featuring traditional animal and landscapes right through to Armenian heroes (Chris Brand, radio websites, May Radio User [UK] via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Australian & NZ DRM MW trials 1386, Wollongong NSW, Australia. DRM trials licensed recently to South Australian radio engineering company on this ex-Sydney frequency. More details available soon. Be interesting to see if Auckland [NZ] Radio Tarana signal [10kW] is degraded. Trials must cease if interference caused to neighboring countries. 1440, Canberra ACT, Australia. SBS [Special Broadcasting Service] is conducting DRM trials with transmission gear supplied by Broadcast Australia. Alternates 2kW AM daytime and 500w DRM nighttime. DRM 'hash' reported from Victoria, South Australia, NSW during night trials. SBS now granted callsign 1SBS and begins fulltime AM service here in July. Pacific Asian Log lists Mediumwave and Shortwave stations and broadcasting information from throughout the region - freely available at http://www.radioheritage.net (Radio Heritage Foundation, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also NEW ZEALAND ** BELARUS? Family Radio relay on 7340: see USA [non] ** BHUTAN. BBS Enhances National Shortwave Coverage. "Radio News", Spring 2006, published by THOMSON Broadcast and Multimedia, Issue 22 (jpg scan of the article via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Thomson has been awarded contract for a new 100 kW DRM-ready SW transmitter, model TSW 2100D, associated equipment, and a new Quadrant antenna, HQ 1/0.3 for 5/6 MHz. BBS will broadcast on 5035, 6035 and 7500 kHz. The old 1988y 50 kW Thomson is still in use at the same transmitter site, Sangaygang, 2600m ASL near Thimpu. To be on the air at the beginning of 2007y (gh synopsis of it for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7500 would of course be new and hopefully a bit more DXable than the others (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4409.9, (Presumed) R. Ecos, 0108-0135, May 18, Spanish, Ballads and YL announcer, poor under static. No ID noted. 4845, R. Norteño, 0148-0200*, May 18, Spanish, Ballads, announcer at 0154 then choral/anthem-like music (NA-?) until sign-off. Poor. 5580.3, (Presumed) R. San José, 0040-0103, May.18, Spanish, Pop-like music and ballads, a few brief talks by announcer. "Canned" sounding announcement at 0059 but no definitive ID I could make out. Poor under static (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Bandeirantes, São Paulo, 6089.96, 0545-0600+ May 14, Portuguese/US pops, ballads, Portuguese announcements. // 9645.11 and 11925.19, all fair. R. Marumby, 9665, 0620-0630+ May 14, Portuguese religious programming with talk and religious music. // 11749.85, both very weak (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. RADIO BULGARIA EN SU 70 ANIVERSARIO Apreciado amigo Dino: Le adjunto nueva información acerca de otra idea en ocasión del aniversario 70 de Radio Bulgaria que podría ser interesante para Ud. Cordiales saludos, Ludmila Petra, Radio Bulgaria en espanol Estimados amigos: Este año Radio Bulgaria – que agrupa los servicios exteriores de Radio Nacional de Bulgaria – cumple su 70 aniversario. Las emisiones para el exterior desde esta capital Sofía, se iniciaron en 1936, un solo año después de inaugurada la emisora nacional. Desde 1992 los servicios exteriores de Radio Nacional llevan el nombre de Radio Bulgaria. En ocasión de tan importante fecha nos dirigimos a todos Uds. para invitarles a participar, si lo desean, en nuestros programas especiales inspirados en la efeméride. Dada la afición de la mayoría de nuestra audiencia al mundo de la onda corta, invitamos a todos a enviarnos, en fotocopia, la QSL de Radio Sofía más antigua que hayan obtenido. Para aquellos de Uds. que nos envíen la QSL de mayor antigüedad de esta Emisora tenemos reservados premios especiales. Además, como ya habíamos anunciado, recibiremos con sumo agrado sus mensajes grabados en casete que radiaremos en un programa dedicado a la audiencia de este Servicio Hispánico. Recordamos que hoy Radio Bulgaria transmite en onda media y corta en diez lenguas para todo el mundo: albanés, alemán, búlgaro, español, francés, griego, inglés, ruso, serbio y turco. En mayo de 2004 se estrenó la página de Radio Bulgaria en Internet, presentada en todas las lenguas citadas más el árabe, con textos, material gráfico y programas de audio. Esperamos sus QSLs y sus mensajes grabados, amigos de Radio Bulgaria en español. Todos los envíos deben llegar a Radio Bulgaria antes del 1 de septiembre de 2006. Radio Bulgaria (4, Dragan Tsankov Blvd., 1040 Sofia, Bulgaria, fax (359 2) 8650 560 Tel: (359 2) 9336 678; http://www.bnr.bg E-mail: spanish @ bnr.bg spanish @ nationalradio.bg (via Dino Bloise, dxldyg via DXLD) QRM from HCJB: see ECUADOR ** BURKINA FASO. NEW TRANSMITTER INSTALLED EXPANDS RADIO COVERAGE Excerpt of report by Joel Zoundi entitled; "Radio Taiwan International-RTB: Chinese technology in order to reduce distances", published by Burkina newspaper Sidwaya website on 12 May The transmitter at the Radio Burkina Broadcasting Centre in Gounghin has gone into operation. A formal ceremony celebrating the event, sponsored by the Burkinabe Ministry of Information and the Republic of China's embassy in Burkina Faso, was held on Tuesday, 9 May 2006, at the Centre. Cooperation between Radio Taiwan International (RTI) and Radio Burkina, instituted in 2002, has unceasingly borne fruit. [Passage omitted] The 100 kW transmitter was installed in Sector 9, Gounghin Ouagadougou. Having a range of 150 km, broadcasting on mediumwave frequency of 747 kHz. RTI President Feng-Jeng Lin spoke at the ceremony to praise the excellent cooperation between the two institutions. [Passage omitted] Source: Sidwaya website, Ouagadougou, in French 12 May 06 (via BBCM via DXLD) Can an RTI SW relay site be far behind? Cf PRC via MALI (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. 13775, ORF via Sackville. Full data (with site) 'Bregenz Festival Vorarlberg' paper QSL letter, with schedule in 27 days (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. R. Líder, 6139.79, 0045-0110+ May 14, reactivated with romantic Spanish ballads, some US [sic] pop music including ABBA`s Dancing Queen. Spanish announcements, IDs. F-G strength but with slight adjacent channel splatter. Best on ECSS-LSB to avoid QRM from unID station on 6140 [probably Cuba]. VG at 0530 check without all the QRM (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was on for 2 or 3 nites, then gone again as subsequently observed (gh, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. (Re: 6-074 and 6-075) 6140 kHz, Radio Líder very well heard in Spanish at 0916 UT with weather and temperature reports of Colombian cities, talk and music, UT -5 time checks, good solid signal up to nearly 1000 on May 15, Absent again on May 17 (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, May 17, ODXA via WORLD OF RADIO 1315, DXLD) 6139.8, R Lider, Santa Fé de Bogota, 0950-1034, May 14, 15 and 16, ballads, 1000 clear, canned ID, poor. Very strong signal but modulation low and just a little distorted. Has been off for a while, back on for Mother's Day? (Ron Howard, CA and Dave Valko, PA, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) I used to enjoy this one around 0500-0600, but I notice the recent reports are all around 0900-1000. Anyhow, UT May 18, nothing there at 0515 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. ``The Week in Review`` on Radio Havana this past weekend was rather curious. Regular announcer Ed Newman began with comments that he was alone in the studio today, ``because we are operating with a skeleton crew, and I am the head skeleton.`` One of the items featured was about the recent 18 page letter that the leader of Iran had written to President Bush, and this had been basically rejected by the US as nothing new. Then, ``It is not clear if the President had read the letter, if he can actually read.`` Then, in apparently ``off the cuff`` remarks, he related had how the US and Iran have not had diplomatic relations since 1979, as the US embassy in Iran was overrun after the Shah was welcomed to Hawaii by President Carter. That information was not correct. President Carter did not ``welcome`` the Shah to the Hawaii. The Shah did come to New York for medical care, which did precipitate the crisis, but it was not to Hawaii, and he certainly was not ``welcomed`` by President Carter. In fact, this episode caused quite a bit of controversy in upper levels of government, as Henry Kissinger (and others) were in favor of strong support and welcoming the Shah to the US, while most in government were opposed to his coming to the US at all. The news programs from Havana, though with an obvious anti-US slant, are usually factual. While his comments on Bush`s reading ability were a humorous slap at reports of the President having dyslexia, the other remarks on the Shah coming to Hawaii were simply inaccurate and I found all this both curious and amusing (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, May 17, ODXA via DXLD) ** CUBA. Radio Habana Cuba confrontando problemas con la señal en 11875 kHz a las 0130 UT, la señal cortando a cada rato (José Elías, Venezuela, UT May 18, Noticias DX via DXLD) RHC, 9550, 1340 May 18 in Spanish, audio breaking up, unlike // 6000 and 12000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. CZECHS PAY FOR RELOCATION OF RADIO FREE EUROPE AND RADIO LIBERTY --- Text of report in English by Czech news agency CTK Washington, 16 May: Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda handed a cheque for 1.17m dollars to representatives of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Washington today. The money is the Czech government's contribution to the moving of RFE/RL from the centre of Prague to Hagibor outside the centre. . . http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/2006_05_14_medianetwork_archive.html#114781317340974405 (via BBCM via Media Network blog via DXLD) ** DJIBOUTI. R. Djibouti, 4780, *0300-0330+ May 13: 0300 sign-on with local Horn of Africa music and vernacular talk. 0302 Kor`an; 0308 vernacular talk. 0321 HOA music. Good signal strength but some ute QRM (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [and non]. UNIDENTIFIED. Queridos amigos, a esta hora 0155 UT, estoy escuchando dos emisones en 11700 kHz; una es Radio Bulgaria en búlgaro, eso creo, y la otra es en español con programación religiosa. ¿De qué emisora se tratará? Las dos se interfieren mutuamente (José Elías, Venezuela, UT May 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Must be HCJB, heard previously on 11700 in the 00 hour; A-06 schedule shows 11720 instead until 01, then 9745. I thought they were coordinating with Bulgaria (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Muchas gracias, Glenn, por tu respuesta a mi pregunta. OK, tendré entonces en cuenta que se trata de HCJB, la verdad es que no sé porqué en esta querida emisora no están pendientes de informar estas frecuencias que son vitales para la recepción de sus programas. Recibe un fuerte abrazo, querido amigo (José Elías, condig list via DXLD) HCJB, 11700, 2317, SPANISH, 433, May 7, YL and OM with comments plus vocal hymns. Also some comments by some children (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, Japan Premium via DXLD) So that would also collide with Bulgaria in English at 23, which I keep intending to check here. Have notified HCJB of problem (gh, DXLD) At 2310, 11700 with blasting signal from HCJB in Spanish about the nearby volcano erupting. Music bed under I at first thought was Bulgaria as scheduled in English. Really no trace of Bulgaria there, but it ought to be propagating better, if unimpeded, than on // 9700 where I get only a weak signal. How are things further east on 11700? (Glenn, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 2340 I'm hearing what is probably HCJB in Spanish on 11700 with some music underneath which is // 9700 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, ibid.) Este correo es para confirmar lo que me dijo el colega Glenn Hauser y el colega Dmitry; acabo de escuchar en 11700 kHz la identificación de HCJB conjuntamente con la de Radio Bulgaria a las 0000 UT. Debo decir que en esta pelea de ondas y transmisores, Radio Bulgaria saca la mejor parte por los lados de Venezuela. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Degen 1103, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 18 May follow. Solar flux 73 and mid- latitude A-index 18. The mid-latitude K-index at 0000 UTC on 19 May was 2 (17 nT). Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor. Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred (SEC via DXLD) 11700 quite strong even in a hotel room just off I-495 on Long Island (NY) using a Sony SW07 with the AN-LP2 plastered to the first floor room window. HCJB ID in Spanish at 2358. SINPO estimate - 45444 (John Figliozzi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Special HCJB QSL - Not --- I emailed HCJB concerning availability of special QSL for their final analog broadcast from Ecuador. Emails follow. Thanks for writing, Kraig. No, there was not a special "last broadcast" QSL offered, but I will send you the May 2006 QSL. Karen Pedersen, English Language Service, HCJB World Radio, Casilla 17-17-691, Quito, Ecuador -----Original Message----- From: Kraig, KG4LAC Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 6:58 AM To: info@hcjb.org Subject: Final English broadcast from Quito Dear HCJB, Is a special QSL card available for the final HCJB analog broadcast from Quito, Ecuador? Unsure if this was mentioned during the final special program at 1300 UTC due to severe interference from Cuba on 12000 kHz. Please reply. 73, Kraig, KG4LAC **************** Oh, well, I tried. 73, (Kraig Krist, KG4LAC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Could not expect them to print a special QSL for the occasion. Could expect to annotate QSLs regarding the event if requested (gh, DXLD) ** FAROE ISLANDS. 531 MW, Utvarp Foroya, Tórshavn, 1353-1412, May 04, DJ in English until 1400, then language became in Faroese and report, English song could be heard. 45444 the signal was fairly strong even in the daytime (Nobuya Kato/DXV, Vejrs Strand, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Radio Bremen 936 kHz - off air temporarily Hi! Radio Bremen 936 kHz is and will be off the air from Mo. to Fr. until the beginning of the football world cup due to painting works at the transmitter. Timetable: 0500 to about 1600 UT (depends on weather conditions). Source: Radio Bremen/Sendertechnik (Telephone call of me) 73´s (Olaf C. Haenssler, Germany, May 17, MWC via DXLD) I guess this means it is still on the air at night, and even day when weather is bad. Might have been useful opportunity to DX the new Afghan 936 of unknown potency. So when does the FWC begin? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DW changes from 25th May 2006. Urdu 1430-1515 UT (cancelled: 17595) new: 15705 Hindi 1515-1600 UT (cancelled: 17595) new: 15705 English 1600-1700 UT (cancelled: 17595) new: 15705 (DW via Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, May 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s about time; has been colliding with Spain on 17595, even tho to CAm, apparently causing a problem in SAs; DW sites are? [non] Whilst checking for R. Bulgaria on 9700, May 19 at 0030, found VG signal in English from DW on 9695. You`d almost think it was a NAm service, but it is listed as Rwanda to South Asia at 00-01, 30 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GHANA. 4915, GBC, Accra, *0529-0533, May 07, sign-on with rooster crowing, drum IS, then choral NA. Sign-on announcement, schedule. Religious choral singing. 0529 Ghana pledge of allegiance, drum IS again, 3+1 time ticks, "The time is 6 o'clock. The Radio Ghana ??, here is ?? with the news", then said news. Fair strength but a lot of congestion on the frequency at the beginning by 2 Brazilians; at 0533 Anhanguera went off, leaving Macapá the only QRMing station and Ghana much clearer (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) See also KENYA ** GOA. 11715, INDIA-GOA, AIR Panaji, 2147-2207, May 16, English, Hindi music program at tune-in, "India Ahead" program re TB vaccinations and prevention. More music until news at 2200 re Indian med student protests. Several GOS-AIR ID's. Fair; a regular catch here lately (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. ERA-5 today from 1150 UT onwards on 15630(not 12105) and 9420 kHz. 15630 seems 285 degrees, 9420 usual 323 degrees, latter audio is much more 'piercing'. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, May 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Pirate harmonics: 1745 UT, 4698 kHz (May 13). 0018 UT, 3252 kHz (May 14) (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, by p-mail, wwdxc BC-DX May 19 via harmonics yg via DXLD) ** GREENLAND. 3815 USB, KNR, Tasiilaq, 2100, May 02, news in Danish, 23222 (Simon-Peter Liehr, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) In 12 days I received a full data letter for my Mar 02 log via Ilfracombe, UK. 2 IRC enclosed. V/S: Ms. Ivalu Sovndahl Pedersen, Communications Asst. (as promised via email). Gave URL of http://www.knr.gl/english for KNR info and http://www.knr.gl/pictures for Greenland photos. Also gave SW schedule as 1200-1315 and 1800-1915 West Greenlandic Time (GMT -3). (Bruce Churchill, CA, in Dxplorer, May 14 via DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) Cf previous QSL report not specifying location of reception: not in California! But was he in UK or is this a DX Tuner? (gh, DXLD) ** GUIANA FRENCH. Brother Scare testing 13770: see UNIDENTIFIED [non] ** HAWAII. Medium wave frequency separation --- Glenn, Re the item on 1170/1180 Honolulu: When the FCC modified the AM allocation rules to require only 5 mV/m coverage of the "principal community to be served" (otherwise known as "community or city of license"), 47CFR73.24(i), it became possible to license two stations separated by only 30 kHz to the same community, since the allocation rule, 47CFR73.37(a), only requires that the 25 mV/m contours not overlap. The two stations in question (1210 and 1170/1180) are both licensed to Honolulu, but then again the whole island of Oahu is the City and County of Honolulu, so as is the case with Alaska boroughs it's the "urbanized" area that is considered to be the area that is required to be covered with the minimum signal. I'll give a listen - I will be in Honolulu next week to tune up the new Navtex antenna at Lualualei. It runs 2.5 kW (518 kHz) so it might be observable on the west coast (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Monday 15 May 1510 to 1517 noted all four 90 meter band All India Radio stations in parallel with alternating om and yl news? Signal strength was strong except for 3223 AIR Shimla, 3315 AIR Bhopal, 3365 AIR Delhi, 3390 AIR Gangtok, Sikkim (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach FL, Japan Premium via DXLD) At 11 am in Florida in May? I assume there is some mistake here? (gh to Bob, via DXLD) No reply. Using DX tuner somewhere, maybe? Really someone from Asia reporting? (gh) AIR Cricket match on 90 and 60 mb --- Dear DX-friends, This evening (May 18) at 2050-2220 UT I heard a live report in Hindi from the first test match in the India-West Indies Cricket series via AIR Bhopal 3315 (SINPO 35333), AIR Lucknow 4880 (33343), AIR Jaipur 4910 (33433), AIR Ranchi 4960 (45333) and AIR Jeypore 5040 (45333). The Indian transmitters normally are closed at this late night hour local time. Thank you to Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi for announcing this event which lasts until July 04. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, HCDX via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 15149.8, VOI, 2040-2100*, May 17, English, Full ID at tune-in, YL with program re preparing bamboo for use as a musical instrument; nice xylophone-like music in background. Familiar ID/URL announcement at 2044, local music until Indo news at 2055 then sign- off announcement. Poor with 15155-WYFR slop near ToH (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3987.04, RRI Manokwari, heard 1006-1141, daily since May 03, older C&W tunes from 50's and 60's, heavy on fiddle and steel guitar, 1100 OM with news[?] on hour, back to music 1109. Fair, about even with the band noise and HAM QRM (Dave Valko, PA, John Wilkins, CO in Dxplorer and Robert Wilkner, FL, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) This station has not been reported heard since February 2002 (DSWCI Ed. Anker Petersen, ibid.) 4869.94, RRI Wamena (presumed), 1200-1300, May 14, vocal music to 1201, announcement, joined Jakarta program in progress at 1201:40- 1225, followed by announcement, then music. 1300 SCI and another relay of Jakarta news. Fair at best, not nearly as strong as its Papuan neighbors. Not heard in several months - another reactivation?? Let's hope so! (John Wilkins, CO, in Dxplorer, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) RRI Sorong is on 4870.9 these days! (DSWCI Ed) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Worldspace did satellite maintenance on Afristar last Wednesday, according to a post on the worldspace-radio Yahoo group they have altered the frequencies to Earth slightly, on the Sanyo Carrier is now 76 left hand polarization and 81 right hand polarization. I got no beam on Thursday on my Hitachi, same when I tried pressing mode then beam seek. Yesterday I went outside, where the signal is stronger, and was able to get the set locked onto the beam again without much difficulty. The position of the antenna, and the strength of the signal required, seems to be more critical when you are getting the set to lock onto a beam. It's now working fine inside, with the antenna in more or less the same position as I was trying to get it to lock onto the beam last Thursday, but the signal strength is 3 bars as opposed to the 4 or 5 bars I was getting outside yesterday. There is more at the Worldspace Europe website with instructions for each set, if it comes up in French there is a Union Jack symbol which will translate it into English: http://www.worldspace.fr/PBCPPlayer.asp?ID=113216 (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, England, UK, May 17, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** IRAN. RICHIESTA e SONDAGGIO IRIB http://italian.irib.ir Caro/a amico/a, Considerando la cattiva qualita` dell'ascolto e le interferenze notevoli sulle frequenze serali di 7355 e 6100 kHz, abbiamo deciso di sostituirle con quelle di nuove che riporto qui sotto. Ma, prima, vi prego di controllare e di comunicarci al piu` presto possibile se c`e' la possibilita` per la trasmissione su queste nuove frequenze? O se c'e` una emittente che trasmette su queste due frequenze? Orari e nuove frequenze: ORA UTC FREQUENZA(KHZ) 1930-2000 7380/5910 Con la presente ti chiediamo di darci una mano partecipando al nostro sondaggio che lo troverai sul sito della Radio http://italian.irib.ir Il tuo contributo sara` essenziale per il proseguimento del nostro lavoro. Ti ricordiamo che abbiamo il tempo fino a 15 Giugno. Ringraziando anticipatamente colgo l'occasione per porgere i miei piu` cordiali e distinti saluti e a presto! Carissimi saluti e a presto! Ali (via Dario Monferini, May 17, playdx yg via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. Dear Sir, I hope this e-mail finds you well. I am writing to you on behalf of the Voice of Islamic Republic of Iran's Broadcasting, English Radio. As a matter of fact, we are looking for companies which relay or rebroadcast foreign radios on FM. We would be very pleased to help us in this regard. We thank you in advance. Best Regards (IRIB English Service, M. B. Khoshnevisan, May 16, to gh, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry, can`t help ** IRAN [non]. 4375.6V, V. of Iranian Revolution, May 12, *1523-1543, 35343-33443, Kurdish, 1523 sign on with IS, ID in an interval, Opening music, Opening announce, Jamming from 1426, // 3880.06. 4375.85, V. of Iranian Revolution, May 13, *1523-1533, 35333-22442, Kurdish, 1523 sign on with IS, ID in an interval, Opening music, Opening announce, Jamming from 1429, // 3880.09 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** IRELAND. A reminder that Sligo European Radio planned to have another go at a monthly pirate transmission on 9330, Sunday morning May 21 between 0655 and 10 UT (via Oscar the Engineer, Off the Record, May Radio User [UK] via DXLD) The April attempt fracased. And then received this a few hours later:! (gh) SLIGO EUROPEAN RADIO - BROADCAST THIS SUNDAY Hello Anoraks. After the disastrous non-appearance due to severe technical problems on April 26th 2006. Sligo European Radio has the pleasure of announcing our next transmission, which will be this Sunday, May 21st between 0700 GMT (0800 BST) and 1200 GMT (1300 BST). This transmission, from our new transmitter site, will be on 9330 on the 32 Metre short-wave band. The programme schedule for this transmission is as follows: 06.45 GMT Transmitter switch-on. 07.00 GMT Steven McCloud 08.00 GMT Jon Seabrook. 09.00 GMT Musical Memories with Elvis. 10.00 GMT Mike Cullen. 11.00 GMT Chris Jensen. 12.00 GMT Station Closedown All reception reports are invited at our e-mail address: sligoeuropeanradio @ hotmail.com and if you can include a 2 or 3 minute, good quality recording, of our output as an attachment to your reception report, be would be delighted to hear from you. Looking forward to hearing from you, hearing from us. Yours sincerely, Chris Jensen - Owner - Sligo European Radio (SER May 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. NHK World in English to Europe --- I am hearing RAI in Italian at 1700 on 11970 on top of NHK in English intended for Europe. RAI´s transmission is intended for Africa and so at NHK HQ they do not think the back lobe will bother me. Yet it does. I wonder what UK listeners have to say (Henrik Klemetz, Luleå, Sweden, May 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BTW, this 11970 is direct from Japan, whilst the morning broadcasts to Europe in various languages at 0430-07 on 11970 are via Gabon, and well heard even here. I find it rather odd to be hearing Tokyo in Russian, Italian or Swedish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KENYA. 4915, KBC, Langata, 1900-1921v*, May 03, religious program in vernacular, closed down with typical interval signal. Take care of Ghana which also is active on this frequency (Roland Schulze, Stuttgart, Germany, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) Previous report had this closing at 1916* whilst Ghana continues later. How about in the mornings? Kenya could be on as early as 0200, three hours before Ghana; however WRTH 2006 shows Kenya 4915 with 10 kW, only at 0900-1905 relaying the Northeastern Service, so that makes it virtually impossible in NAm, except by longpath on west coast. Kenya sunset approx. 1500 UT (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZSTAN. Kyrgyz Radio was received again in Sofia from 0000 to 0027 hours on 4010 and 4795 kHz with an Orthodox religious program in Russian (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX program May 19 via John Norfolk, dxlydg via DXLD) ** LAOS [non]. Reminder that the new Hmong clandestine, Moj Them is coming up at 02-0230 UT Friday on 15260 via Taiwan; and Hmong Lao Radio should already be on there at 01-02. These are on UT Wed & Fri only. Any jamming? But first, any propagation? 73, (Glenn, 0130 UT May 19, dxldyg via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Was checking May 19, 0200 to 0217, on 15260, but not a trace, not even jamming. Also nothing heard here before ToH. Had some splatter from WYFR on 15255 (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, ibid.) ** LATVIA. Due to additional antenna works, the start of the foreign relays via a 150 kW transmitter in Ulbroka (Riga) on 945 kHz, originally scheduled for May, will be delayed until at least July (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, May 18, mwdx yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SCOTLAND [non] ** LIBYA [non]. 17725 V. of Africa, May 11, 1418-1434, 45444, English, Talk and news, ID at 1419, etc, // 17850 (45444) (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) V. of Africa, 7320 via France, 2225-2227 May 13, two minutes of English news, ID, 2227 French news; strong (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 7295, Traxx FM (RTM), May 17, 1415-1445, Wednesday program of ``Whatever Latin`` with DJ ``Lady Kay``, mentioned my name several times and read a portion of the e-mail I sent her a few days ago, played my request ("Que Mas Da" by Ricky Martin), many IDs for ``Traxx FM, experience the excitement``, weak. Her blog is: http://whateverlatin.blogspot.com/ (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. Today May 19 I heard RTV DU MALI, Bamako re-activated on approximately on 4834.9 kHz at 1920 UT. Signal level was even S9 and overall reception very good. Station played nice local music and frequency wandered between 4784.89-92 kHz. Earlier reported by Jarmo Patala in the Finnish HCDX-list. 73 de (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, Rx: AOR 7030+, Ant: 95 m lw to E, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Now we have RN`s own English version: Makeover on Bonaire --- The Radio Netherlands relay station on Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles is almost 40 years old. The existing shortwave transmitters have been in service since the station opened, and are overdue for replacement. The Board of Governors of Radio Netherlands recently approved an investment of some four million euros in the station, which delivers shortwave broadcasts to the Americas, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/bon060518 (Media Network newsletter May 18 via DXLD) Since this is important news we are running it here entirely, with the permission of Radio Netherlands, but please go to the link above to register a page view, and see the illustrations (gh, DXLD) MAKEOVER ON BONAIRE --- RADIO NETHERLANDS RELAY STATION BEING REFURBISHED by Andy Sennitt 18-05-2006 The Radio Netherlands relay station on Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles is almost 40 years old. The existing shortwave transmitters have been in service since the station opened, and are overdue for replacement. The Board of Governors of Radio Netherlands recently approved an investment of some four million euros in the station, which delivers shortwave broadcasts to the Americas, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. At the end of April, the Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands Antilles, Burney El Hage, laid the first stone for the rebuilding project, which is scheduled to be completed in around 18 months. The refurbishment includes the replacement of the old Philips transmitters with two new AM/DRM senders. These new transmitters will not only be ready for the age of digital shortwave, but will also be much more energy-efficient when used in analogue mode. The identity of the company that will supply the new transmitters is not yet known. A detailed technical specification has been prepared, and tenders are being invited from three or four manufacturers. The winner will be announced in due course, and a period of 14 months is being allowed from the date of the order to the completion of testing on site. Benefit to local economy Obviously, the transmitters have to be imported from elsewhere, but as much of the work as possible is being contracted to local companies on Bonaire, so that the local economy benefits from the reinvestment. A new office is being constructed at the transmitter site, and replaces the office that has been located in Kralendijk, 10 km from the transmitter site, since the station opened in 1969. The office was originally located away from the transmitters as in the early years it was used as a receiving station to pick up news bulletins that were broadcast from the Netherlands on a Single Side Band link. Nowadays, everything is fed by satellite, so there's no reason to have the office in a separate location. Less staff The modernisation of the Bonaire facility means that less manpower will be needed to operate it in the future. Currently, there are well over 30 employees. When the refurbishment is completed, this will be reduced to 27. But there will be no compulsory redundancies. Some of the employees have been with the station since it opened, and are due to retire shortly anyway, so this will take care of the reduction in numbers. Dedicated staff The dedication of the staff in Bonaire was tested to its limits six years ago. On Sunday, 23 April 2000, a major fire broke out in the generator room. The fire totally destroyed the generators, silencing the station. Initially, it was expected that the station would be off the air for several months, but an incredible effort by the staff saw the station get back on the air with a reduced service on 2 May. Some members of staff worked so hard that they had to be ordered home to rest. Local people who had no direct connection with Radio Netherlands helped by bringing food and drink to the workers. I visited the station in the 1980s, and came away full of admiration for the staff, who would later become colleagues. They were eager to show off "their" station to visitors, and were proud that their little island was playing such an important role in delivering Radio Netherlands programmes to listeners thousands of miles away. Warm feeling In recent years, budget cuts have reduced the amount of shortwave airtime needed by Radio Netherlands itself, but this has made it possible for other international broadcasters to avail themselves of the opportunity to get strong signals into the Americas. Currently, Bonaire relays some programmes of China Radio International, Deutsche Welle, Adventist World Radio and NHK Japan. As some broadcasters reduce their commitment to shortwave, Radio Netherlands is keeping its options open, and Bonaire will once again become a state-of-the-art international shortwave broadcasting facility. As someone who grew up in the era when international broadcasting and shortwave were synonymous, that gives me a warm feeling (Media Network via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI observations: 9870 kHz, 1102-fade-out 1125, 17 May, English, news; 15421, almost inaudible by 1130. 15720 kHz, 0634-0655, 18 May, English, Checkpoint program, with talks on several topics; 25432; couldn't observe the scheduled sign-off time at 0700 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, May 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Yet another anomaly at RNZI. Current schedule shows 7145 changing to 9870 at 1259/1300, but May 19 at 1332 they were still on 9870, nothing on 7145, with talk show about medical problems with someone from Dunedin; better reception here on the higher frequency, of course, so I am not complaining (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Australian & NZ DRM MW trials --- 657 kHz, Wellington, NZ. AM Network/Southern Star continues with DRM trials from time to time. DRM 'hash' clearly heard either side of 657 around midnight local [1200 UT] past few days (Radio Heritage Foundation http://www.radioheritage.net DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AUSTRALIA ** NIGERIA. V. of Nigeria, 15120, 1629-2105+ May 13: 1629 opening theme music. 1630-1636 Arabic talk and Kor`an, Arabic talk, Afro-pops. 1659 English opening with ID, mentioning frequency and upcoming programs. 1700 English news, commentary, Afro-pops. [nothing but that until 2000?]. 2000 `Africa Hour` news magazine, 2055 news headlines. 2058 closing English, and 2059 into French, staying on 15120 past 2105, but eventually switched to 7255 by 2125. Good strength but audio quality varied from VG to very muffled, depending on program (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. The corner is dark tonight. In the corner there are echoes of concerns of citizens who, over the years have been ripped off. Our friend, our advocate, our corner, who for so many years, was on our side, is silenced. A major part of our community is gone, but never to be forgotten. We grieve and say our thanks for Brad Edwards, the man who devoted a great deal of his life for us. A hero to most. A rare man. A dedicated man. The corner may light again some day, but it will never be the same. I know of no person who can fulfill the shoes of Brad Edwards in the way Brad served us. He had strength, guts, and the will to stand up to the largest company. The con artist who would have gotten away clean without Brad Edwards. We thank you. Brad, for all the many times you have helped us. It was your "calling." The plan God intended for you. I know God met you upon arrival with his open arms and welcomed you because you were a fighter. We pray for you, for your family, for the many friends. Many who you may have never met in person. Our sympathy is with your family and everyone. Brad Edwards 1947-2006 May he rest in peace. The corner is dark tonight (Mranderson, okctalk.com via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN [and non]. A popular Pakistani music genre is qawali, which can also be heard in countries such as Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. The BBC definition of qawali is `a form of music which was practised by the Sufis. It was designed to inspire religious devotion. Since then, Qawalis have been used in many forms; Bhangra artists and Bollywood movies have also adopted the popular form to create powerful and passionate music. The songs have an underlying theme of spirituality and have the power to hypnotise their audience`. So try tuning in but beware being hypnotised! (Chris Brand, LM&S Broadcast Matters, May, Radio User [UK] via DXLD) This column usually quotes some items from DXLD ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3345, R Northern, 0917-1010, May 11, talk in Pidgin with clear mention of the National Broadcasting Corporation. People`s names mentioned. Sounded like Public Service Announcement. 0920 island pop music almost Reggae-like. 0923 more PSA with mention of "today", "mother and father", "listeners", "greetings", "province", "Monday", etc. Clear mention of R Northern near the end of the announcement at 0928. Back to lively pleasant island music at 0929. 0932 ID sounding like "...You're listening to... R. Northern ?? Papua New Guinea... station...". Gradually fading, static QRN, but best signal yet from this reactivation (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) ** PERU. 4620.44, R Espacial, Otuzco, 0957-1005, May 07, usual rapid- paced male announcer over Peruvian campesino music with possible mentions of onda corta, 1000 Man again announcing so fast as to slur the words. Began with ID, mention of música, and TC. Followed by canned announcement with mention of radio. Then a nice canned echo promo/ID starting with "Espacial" over "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits!! Also mention of Otuzco. Another canned announcement with a lot of laser shooting SFX and 13 stuttering/repeating of words. Then yet another canned announcement with mentions of Unión, and a beautiful canned ID: "Radio Espacial ...Otuzco... Perú" ending with laser shooting SFX again. One more canned announcement and live announcement at 1004 and music. Strength a little better than usual. Really slick production. Glad to finally get an ID on this (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) ?? I was not aware that lasers made any noise (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. RADIO MAKES WAVES IN THE ANDES --- Radio Sicuani broadcasts to remote communities in the Southern Andes Where we work: Latin America: Peru: Radio in the Andes In the Southern Andes, an award-winning community radio station is working in favour of the disadvantaged, broadcasting programmes over the mountains in the indigenous language, Quechua, and in Spanish Radio Sicuani plays an important role in educating its listeners on issues as varied as human rights, the environment, politics, and health... [illustrated] http://www.cafod.org.uk/where_we_work/latin_america/peru/radio_in_the_andes (via Chris Brand, radio websites, May Radio User [UK] via DXLD) 4826v CAFOD = Catholic Agency For Overseas Development. A quick check of the other LAm countries listed found items about radio in El Salvador and Paraguay, but not SW (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. Re 6-075: Well, I could hardly believe it. I've just heard "Radio Portugal" on 1035 which is the same frequency as my local pest "West Sound" which is located just a couple of miles behind my EWE. In fact North Sound, Aberdeen is of equal strength with Radio Portugal and West Sound is way down in the mush! (Paul Crankshaw, UK, May 17, MWC via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 11825, Radio Praha German Broadcast via Krasnodar, full data (including site) Josef Bozek Inventor QSL card with schedule in German & English, table coaster in 19 days (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. Here are the major technical details about the planned shortwave transmitting facility for R. St. Helena: Power Amplifier running at 1000 Watts in USB mode. Transmitter running 40 Watts driving the Power Amplifier. 3-element mono-band BEAM antenna for 11092.5 kHz with about 5 dBi forward gain and good front-to-back-ratio. Tower and mast putting the antenna 13.5 meters above ground. This will be just about one-half wavelength over ground. This will give us a fairly good take-off angle for the main lobe from the antenna. A very strong rotor to turn and brake the large beam antenna. High quality professional coaxial cable from the Power Amplifier to the antenna. This combination will give us the best solution for DX communications that we can (hopefully) afford and are allowed to construct at RSH (Robert Kipp, May 10, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA, 15170, 0334, Arabic, 333, May 15, OM with the Kor`an (Stewart MacKenzie, WDX6AA Huntington Beach, California, USA, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Ah yes, the summer soporific, quite pleasant, I recall, as long as you don`t understand Arabic; now I am usually watching Nightline or The Colbert Report at that hour. 15170 span is 03-06 (gh, DXLD) ** SCOTLAND [non]. A last-minute reminder that DX-tra, the new monthly DX program on R. Six International, Scotland, is about to repeat for the last time at 1945 UT Thursday on 5775, and webcast via http://www.radiosix.com/ Preceding it at 1940 is Letter from America, by Judy Gruber --- or are these times 5 minutes later? Schedule is self-contradictory (Glenn Hauser, in advance, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It started at 1943 (and I don't like her "smart way of talking"...) - before the DX. Am listening on 5775 kHz, S9 + 20 dB, but unstable. 73, (Erik in Copenhagen Køie, Denmark, ibid.) Didn`t bother me. I had a closer look at the program schedule, and found some other attractive programmes, such as just before this on Thursday, from 1904 was playing some classical music by a Palestinian Israeli on ``Perfect Harmony`` but seems the usual show at that time is ``College of Piping``, as in Scottish bagpipes. Apparently the schedule varies from week to week so it`s hard to be sure of any regular weekly appearances. Axually it was not the last time for DXtra, next shown at 0245 UT Sunday May 21. There was no SW DX news. Tony Currie plugged the new WRTH summer supplement, the BDXC-UK Broadcasts in English booklet, interviewed Kevin Nice of Monitoring Monthly; added in a brief mailbag segment that the last 9290 transmission will be on June 3. The Latvian unit is being refurbished, and to resume in Sept. Still looking at possibility of going back on WBCQ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Re: ``5930, RSI in English, Slovak, 0128-0203 April 1, IS, IDs in English, Slovak, 0200 into Slovak, NA, presumably news; only audible with narrow filters due to WWCR splatter at 5935 (Mark Taylor, WI, International Band Loggings, May NASWA Journal via DXLD)`` Actually the English semi-hour is at 01-0130. Look forward to June, July and August when DGS via WWCR does not switch from 13845 to 5935 until 0200! If Slovakia can still make it thru anyway with worst propagation season of the year, T-storm static, lack of full darkness path. // 9440 for SAm might do better even here (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SLOVENIA. 918 MW, Radiotelevizija Slovenia, Domzale (300 kW), 2036- 2130, May 4, Slovene announcement including ``Radio Slovenia`` and frequency announcement. DJ program consisted mainly of jazz songs. Time signal at 2100, ID ``Radio Slovenia... program...``, then news. 2130 news in English and German, ID, new service! 45444 (Nobuya Kato/DXV and Dario Monferini/DXV, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) No, it`s not; in WRTH 2006 domestic pages, and I think has run for some time (gh) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Bro. Scare testing new 13770 from secret site: see UNIDENTIFIED [non] ** SUDAN [non]. 9735, Darfur Salaam, *0500-0530* (Ex 0500-0516), May 06 // 11820, this station has expanded its schedule. The programme format has also been changed slightly to include some local songs and music, otherwise it remains as before. 15515, Darfur Salaam, *1700-1730* (Ex 1700-1716), May 06 // 17585, this station has expanded its schedule. Ck 9735 (Michael L. Ford, Newcastle UK, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) 17585, Darfur Salaam is more time in the air! *1710-1730*, May 07, Arabic, long talk, short music, announcement, different, very nice songs 1717-1730*, ID 1730, 45444 // 15515 with 14431 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, ibid.) 17585, Darfur Salaam, May 12, *1700-1720, 45444-35433, Arabic, 1700 sign on with opening announce, Talk and Sudan pop music, // 15515 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. R. Nile, via Madagascar, 9905, 0403-0457* May 13, tune-in to local African folk music; 0407 ID and into English programming with talk about international aid services; some local African music, talk about managing stress. Abrupt sign-off. // 12060, both very good. Sat-Tue only (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME [non]. No lo confirmé aun, pero siendo las 10 y algo UT, Radio Boskopoe entra como "cañón" en los 6020, en dutch [sic], con noticias y actualidades. Tapa totalmente a Rádio Gaúcha, Porto Alegre y Radio Victoria, Lima (Arnaldo Slaen, May 17, condiglist via DXLD) [slightly later:] 6020, Radio Boskopoe, 1002-1015, May 17, Dutch, transmission for Surinam via RNW-Bonaire transmitter relay station, news by female, at 1005 short music and more news. Report by female. Short talks by male and female. Short music at 1015 and identification by male, 44444 at 1003 and 23422 at 1015 UT (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Noticias DX via DXLD) Unsure exactly how to pronounce this unfamiliar name, I listened carefully to the opening on 15540 May 18 at 1400; yes, as in Dutch, ``bos-KOH-poo`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Subject: Boskopoe Number One --- Hi Andy, Might be an interesting story why R. Boskopoe, of all the stations in Suriname, was chosen to be relayed by RN. And how long will this last? 73, (Glenn to Andy Sennitt, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, I have no idea, but I assume it's because the station is located in the worst-affected area, and is non-commercial. Apart from the national public station in Paramaribo, I think it's the only other non-commercial station in the country. As to how long it will last, this depends how quickly the region gets back to normal. Enough money has been collected in the Netherlands to fund the relief operation, and some Dutch soldiers have already arrived. But I guess it will be some days, probably weeks. That part of Surinam is isolated from the rest of the country, and I suppose some of the roads and bridges have been cut. I will let you know if I find out any additional information. 73, (Andy Sennitt, May 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Further to what I wrote yesterday, there is nothing to add except that I found out that Radio Boskopoe is one of our partner stations (we have 6000, so I can't remember every one). Our partner desk contacted them to find out what we could do to help, and since they only have a 65 watt FM transmitter they wanted extended coverage. The audio is being fed via ISDN, direct to Bonaire as far as I know. We have no end date for this project; it will continue for as long as they need it. 73, (Andy Sennitt, May 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. Received SAQ successfully on Hilton Head Island, SC on 05/17/06 at 1015 UT. SAQ also plainly visible on several WorldWide Lightning Location Network remote receiver displays! I could see them at Moscow, Sodankyla, Lisbon and Sheffield. Sheffield, U.K. seemed to have best copy and the backwave was plainly visible. Also I was able to copy them here well aurally at Hilton Head Island, SC using the FRG-100 + Converter + Hagan Large Ferrite Core Loop Antenna. Copy was RST 369 around 1015 - good copy except for static levels were running S9 - S9+10. SAQ sending VVV VVV VVV DE SAQ SAQ SAQ. Signals stronger than when heard on 02/19/06. I was able to capture several screenshots of SAQ on the WWLLN spectrogram displays. Will be listening again tomorrow morning 05/18 between 0930-1030 UT. Good luck! 73 (Todd WD4NGG Roberts, LW Messageboard via DXLD) 17.2 kHz VLF ** SWEDEN [non]. La Rosa de Tokyo para este domingo "LA ROSA DE TOKIO" (( LS11 RADIO PROVINCIA )) El Grupo Radioescucha Argentino está colaborando con LA ROSA DE TOKIO, el programa de DX y comunicaciones que se irradia por LS11 Radio Provincia, La Plata, Argentina, con 56 kW!! En su horario habitual de 13 a 14 hora argentina (1600 a 1700 UT) y también en Internet, en http://www.radioprovincia.gba.gov.ar Este domingo 21 de Mayo de 2006 se dedicará el programa a la radiodifusión en Suecia, poniéndose especial énfasis en el análisis de su emisora más representativa: Radio Suecia Internacional. Se irradiará una entrevista a Carlos Decker Molina, quien fuera Jefe del Servicio en Español de la emisora escandinava, realizada recientemente, en ocasión de la preparación de este programa, Y, como siempre, interesantísimos archivos y registros sonoros harán más ameno e ilustrativo nuestro espacio. Además, a las 18 Hs. Argentina, 21 UT, comenzamos con el nuevo horario para la retransmisión del programa para todos aquellos que no puedan escucharlo en el horario habitual de transmisión. Les recuerdo, que la retransmisión se realizará en la siguiente dirección: http://www.frecuencia9.com.ar La temática que se desarrolla cada domingo consiste en la investigación y análisis de la situación radiofónica en un país. Se revisa su historia, su actualidad política y social y, por supuesto, se revisan y analizan sus emisoras de radio y TV más representativas. También pueden escuchar su grabación a cualquier hora, cualquier día desde Programas DX: http://es.geocities.com/programasdx/ No dejen de escucharlo!!! Via: (Arnaldo Slaen / Omar Somma / Argentina, playdx yg via DXLD) Apparently the repeat at 21 is on Sundays now, since they don`t say it is on Saturdays, as previously. WTFK? MW frequency is 1270 plus harmonics on 2540, 3810 heard in the region. Wouldn`t hurt to look for higher ones too (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SYRIA. Helmut Matt sent out the enclosed appeal to German shortwave listeners: Write to Radio Damascus because their German service is in urgent need to provide evidence of a sufficient audience, otherwise they will close it down. No idea if this applies to English as well or perhaps even to the foreign service in its entirety (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: -----Original Message----- Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 21:10:23 +0200 Subject: Radio Damaskus bittet dringend um Empfangsberichte From: "Helmut Matt" To: "Helmut Matt" Liebe Freunde, in der heutigen Briefkastensendung von Radio Damaskus beklagte Frau Turschuman die geringe Zahl an Empfangsberichten. Offensichtlich droht den deutschen Sendungen aus der syrischen Hauptstadt aufgrund geringer Resonanz akut das "Aus" - zumindest, wenn nicht nachgewiesen werden kann, dass genügend Hörer erreicht werden können. Ich bin der Ansicht, dass die Station ein wirklich hörenswertes und abwechslungsreiches Programm anbietet und dass eine Einstellung überaus bedauerlich wäre. Also, liebe Radio-Freunde, schreibt doch mal wieder (mindestens) einen Empfangsbericht nach Syrien. Als Dank gibt es sehr schöne QSL-Karten, wunderschöne Ansichtskarten und treue Hörer erhalten auch einen Wimpel. Die deutschen Sendungen kommen von 1805 Uhr bis 1905 UT auf 12085 und 9330 kHz. Auf einer der beiden Frequenzen ist fast immer zumindest verständlicher Empfang möglich, sogar mit einem kleinen Reiseempfänger. Mittwochs ist Hörerbriefkastenzeit. Die E-Mail-Adresse lautet: mmhrez @ shuf.com Postanschrift: Radio Damaskus German Language Department, P. O. Box 4702, Damaskus, Syrien. Radio Damaskus freut sich auf möglichst viele Briefe Wenn Ihr könnt, dann gebt bitte diese Nachricht an Eure Radio-Hörerfreunde, Dxer usw. weiter. Schöne Grüße aus dem Breisgau, Helmut (via Kai Ludwig, ibid.) Desperdicio de kW de parte de Radio Damasco. Potente portadora en su servicio de las 2215, pero no me digan que ustedes escuchan más allá del hilo de audio que nos obliga a adivinar de qué están hablando. Con RD yo no me he comunicado, pero siento que es hora de que la inundemos de protestas a ver si se ponen las pilas. Cordiales saludos (desde Costa Rica, Raúl Saavedra, condiglist via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [and non]. Re 6-075: TAIWAN [?]. 15285, RTI - program in Mandarin 1110-1200 -------- (Jim Renfrew, Byron NY, May 16, Drake R8B, 100' wire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, SINGAPORE. 15285, BBC, May 17, IS at 1027, BoH into English program about difficulties of learning English, 1059:30 changed to Chinese and also TAIWAN *1059:30, two sets of time pips, both with Chinese programming, RTI dominant. RTI clearly // 6085 // 6150 // 9780 // 11665. May have been // 9680 but Jakarta too strong to be sure. BTW, KGRE program (Wed.) again not heard on RRI at their usual 1000- 1020 UT time slot, which is disappointing, as the reception here has recently been good (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So are you saying there is definitely no Chicom jammer on any or all of these Taiwan frequencies? Can you get a definite ID for RTI which distinguishes it from China Business Radio or whatever mainland network might be used as jammer? I still think basing an ID only on parallels is risky when it comes to China vs Taiwan. On 15285 just BBC and RTI? Later around 1330 I still get a huge two-way collision here which I have always thought was BBC Mandarin vs one of the mainland networks as jammer (Glenn, ibid.) Hi Glenn, Let me see if I can attempt to answer some of your concerns. To start with, it was only after reading your interesting exchange with Jim Renfrew in DXLD 6-075, that I decided to tune in to these frequencies. So today was my first attempt to decipher what is happening here and most of my time was just spent confirming the parallel frequencies. Yes, 15285 only had the BBC and then I believe RTI signed on. RTI was stronger than the BBC, with no sign of any other station/jammer. Constantly scanning between all the frequencies, I did note some light QRM on some frequencies (sorry I did not take note of exactly which ones) but I did notice that 9780 and 11665 were the strongest and seemed to be in the clear. It is this fact that leads me to believe it may be RTI. I can well understand and appreciate you reservations about distinguishing between China and Taiwan stations and I am certainly not an expert at ID'ing Chinese language stations. Spending more time just listening to the stronger frequencies may in fact prove to be more productive in establishing a positive ID for RTI. Thanks for your input! (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, ibid.) 1030, 1100 is way too early for me, but I checked 15285 again May 19 before 1400 with the usual Chinese/Chinese clash, one station much stronger than the other. The weaker was no doubt BBC. After two out- of-synch timesignals, listening very carefully for the ID at hourtop 1400, first I heard ``Beijing`` mentioned, then some theme music, and then the CJKT ID. The key to separating Taiwan from PRC is the J = ``Jenmin``, sometimes rendered Renmin, meaning Peoples. Taiwan IDs do not use this nasty commie word. So at this hour, anyway, it is NOT Taiwan, but Chicom dominating 15285, doubtless here just to jam BBC (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 4820, Xizang PBS, Lhasa, Tibet, 2230-0005, May 14 and 15/16, Mandarin programs except for English language lessons daily 2330-2400: "This is the Tibet Broadcasting Company. Would you like to join our English Class?". Lesson about "the global language of English with 400 million speakers in contrary to the regional Mandarin with one billion speakers... Original English is a hybrid of Scandinavian and German tongues", closed with the song for children "Are you sleepy?", 0000 ID: "Xizang Renmin Guangbo Dientai", 35233 heard // 5935 (33232), 6050 (43443), 7170 (22322) and 7240 (44444). (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. MADAGASCAR, 17560V, V. of Tibet via Madagascar, May 13 *1430-1440 45444-35443 Tibetan, 1430 sign on with opening music, Opening announce, Talk, move to 17564 at 1435 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) Cf 6-063 schedule: the 1430 transmission is via Dushanbe, Tajikistan, which jumps frequency around to avoid jamming. Before 1430 and after 1530 it`s Madagascar site, which AFAIK stays on 17550 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. 7440, Radio Ukraine Int'l. Full data 'Nezalezhosti (Independence) Square' card, no site per my request for Mykolaiv (Mikolayiv), with Easter card & schedule, in 42 days. Nice stamps on the envelope (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UNITED KINGDOM. 7205, Radio República (via Woofferton). A 'thank you for your report' letter, along with hand written statement thanking me for the CD, and that my report was correct. Also returned my PPC, signed, along with newsletter information. Reply in 60 days for a CD Report to Miami address. v/s illegible. This is the first station that has replied since I started to send out audio CDs (mp3 form). (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I bet they did not specify Woofferton, did they? This was a big secret as far as they were concerned. Edward`s QSL items in this issue are filed under transmitter site country instead of [non] countries (gh) ** U S A. SEE VOA DIRECTOR DAVID S. JACKSON ON KIDZ ONLINE --- Just noticed this on the VOA website though not yet posted for online streaming: Joel Holland interviews Director Jackson about Voice of America's work, the new VOA Studio Tour, and what it takes to be a journalist. The interview is part of Streaming Futures, a free web-based show dedicated to helping teenagers choose the right career path. To view the interview live at 1330 UTC (9:30 a.m. EDT), go to http://www.kzowebcasting.com/live/ To view later, on demand, check the KIDZ Online Streaming Futures page at http://www.streamingfutures.org KIDZ Online (KOL) is based in Herndon, Virginia, and has its principal digital studio in Los Angeles, California. KOL is a leading provider of comprehensive online communications and training solutions and services for global youth, the federal government, and commercial customers (via Mike Barraclough, May 19, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. ALWYN JAMES, 77, WAS HOST OF VOICE OF AMERICA 'DAYBREAK AFRICA' SHOW http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1147595903110161.xml&coll= (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) Viz.: Sunday, May 14, 2006, Richard M. Peery Plain Dealer Reporter Al James, a Lakewood native whose calm voice and delivery made him a favorite among local and inter national radio audiences, died May 2 in Rockville, Md. His modest and low-key broadcast persona attracted a following on daytime radio in Cleveland before so many AM stations became venues for raucous rants. He did not even change his demeanor when he helped introduce the Beatles to thousands of screaming teenagers in Cleveland's Public Hall in 1964. In 1984 James moved to the Washington area, where his relaxed radio style qualified him for a job with Voice of America. He was the editor and host of "Daybreak Africa" for many years for VOA's the English to Africa Service. James, 77, was born in Cleveland and grew up in Lakewood. He attended Lakewood High School and Western Reserve University for a year, then did a hitch in the Air Force, where he took flight training. He enrolled in the National Radio School on Euclid Avenue, then worked as an engineer at radio stations in Columbus and Canton. That was where he was told to do double duty by signing the station on the air each morning. Although he had not planned to be a broadcaster, the sign-on stretched to four hours of news and music. James also worked weekends for the old KYW until he switched to WHK in Cleveland in 1963. For the next 20 years he was a daytime fixture on both rock and "beautiful-music" programs on WWWE, WQAL and WBBG. When James joined VOA he was a scriptwriter before landing the "Daybreak Africa" assignment. The audience for the show numbered in the millions. In addition to news reports, his duties included forecasting the local weather for 23 cities. In 1991 he received a letter from a VOA fan club in Cameroon in which its announcers were rated against those on European stations that targeted Africa. James was ranked No. 1. James also recorded many commercials and appeared in industrial films. He retired in 2003. He and his wife, Bernadette, were married 54 years. Alwyn W. James, 1929 - 2006 Survivors: wife, Bernadette; daughters Patricia Briggs of Rockville, Md., and Susan of Derwood, Md. Services: Services were in Rockville, Md. Contributions: American Cancer Society, 11331 Amherst Ave., Silver Spring, Md. 20902. Arrangements: Pumphrey's Colonial Funeral Home, Rockville MD (via DXLD) ** U S A. NEW: VOA obits. James Keogh, VOA director in Nixon era. "In explaining what is happening in this country as a result of the Watergate affair, we try to make the point to our overseas audiences that what they are seeing and hearing is this free and open society working out a problem." AP, 15 May 2006. http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_3823134 KEOGH, FORMER TIME EDITOR AND NIXON AIDE, DIES The Associated Press GREENWICH, Conn. - James Keogh, a former executive editor of Time magazine who served in communication roles through the troubled years of the Nixon administration, has died. He was 89. He died Wednesday of respiratory failure, his granddaughter, Sara Crouse, said Sunday. Keogh, who lived in Greenwich, joined the Nixon administration in 1969 as a special assistant to the president and became head speechwriter about a year later. He also was director of the U.S. Information Agency, which advocates U.S. interests abroad. Keogh used the information agency's "Voice of America" broadcasts to explain the Watergate scandal and Nixon's resignation, The New York Times reported Sunday. "In explaining what is happening in this country as a result of the Watergate affair, we try to make the point to our overseas audiences that what they are seeing and hearing is this free and open society working out a problem," he said in a speech in 1973. Keogh began his journalism career in 1938 at the Omaha World-Herald. He was national affairs reporter at Time magazine in 1951 and eventually rose to executive editor. He was credited with design changes to the cover that continue to the present. Before retiring in 1986, Keogh was executive director of the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executives, for 10 years. He wrote two books about Nixon, "This is Nixon" and "President Nixon and the Press." Born in Nebraska in 1916, he earned a bachelor's degree from Creighton University in Omaha (via http://www.kimandrewelliott.com which has been updated May 18 with lots of new entries, via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. At the DSWCI Jubilee Camp, Andrew Janitschek (A. J.), Director of Production Support R Free Asia in Washington, announced that RFA has taken the extraordinary decision to issue a special RFA QSL-card commemorating the 50 years of the DSWCI! It will be issued to all correct reception reports received by RFA during the months of April, May and June, 2006. Their current broadcast schedule can be found at http://www.rfa.org We are highly honored! (Anker Petersen, Ed., DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. US WANTS PSYOPS TV TO PROVIDE DIGITAL TRANSMISSIONS The US government is interested in extending the capability of the EC- 130J Airborne Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) aircraft to support the broadcast of digital TV signals in addition to, or instead of, the existing 10 kW analogue broadcasts. The US Naval Air Systems Command, Aircraft Division, is seeking vendors to provide options for achieving this. Read the whole text of the announcement http://www.fbodaily.com/archive/2006/05-May/05-May-2006/FBO-01040228.htm # posted by Andy @ 13:01 UT May 17 (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 15720 V. of Joy, May 13, 1327-1357*, 45444, English, Music, ID at 1352, 1357 sign off (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) 15720, Voice of Joy via Krasnodar, Russia. May 13 [Sat only] at *1300- 1358*. SINPO 45444. New service to Asia, Australia and Middle East. Sign-on with ID as "You are listening to the Voice of Joy." followed by address announcement and fanfare. Program was consist of Christian message in English and pops (Iwao Nagatani, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) How do you know it`s via Krasnodar? I doubt it (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. SOUTH AFRICA --- Still on the UNID on 4990 some thought might be some Brazilian station: well, it is indeed Christian Voice and you can be sure it's in Brazilian Portuguese. The people behind this operation don't seem to realize the style of the programs and the kind of Portuguese used don't fit the targeted audiences; I mean they don't really match. Those people are much more used to the sort of European Portuguese than something "odd" coming out of Brazil. To put forward a tiny example, yesterday 18/5 at nearly 2205 for instance, a presenter mentioned the word "gringa" when referring to a certain N. American music & artist. Now, I happen to know this is, in theory, a contemptuous (Mexican) name for either an N. American or even a Briton, and that for some reason its use extended far beyond, thence the Brazilian also including it. Nowadays, I suppose "gringo(a)" is no longer that heavy. So, this along with many other terms, not to mention slightly different lexical structure of Brazilian Portuguese simply make it inadequate for an African audience which is closer to the European standard. Here's another example: go and tell the Africans to "pegar um ônibus"*, and they may imagine you're pulling their leg. *) take a bus (omnibus, Lat. "for all"); "pegar num ônibus" doesn't work either, for it means you're holding one... nah, too bulky & heavy, hi, so this is really confusing unless you know the language. Oh, by way, you can "pegar um touro" though, and that's a correct piece of sentence - meaning (in Portuguese bullfights only) you're facing the bull and then hold it by the horns --- if the beast isn't smarter and kick you in the air! Conversely, the same applies to what R. Sweden and Swiss R.I. did in the past vis-à-vis their Brazilian-filled Portuguese services which had programs to Europe, Africa & South America. Must dash, sorry for the long speech, but it won't work without examples (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, May 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn, Regarding KTMI, mentioned previously on one of your programs, here's what I found out from the FCC. The licensee is Transformation Media International. The studio and transmitter site is at Mt. Hope Drive and Totem Pole Road in Linn County, 5.5 miles northeast of Lebanon OR. The site will include four 50 kW transmitters with three rhombic antennas and one log-periodic. The station's programming statement is minimal, as I was told is typical of FCC HF broadcast license applicants nowadays. KTMI told the FCC only that "news, religious teaching, educational, comedy and music will be included in the program format." The target areas are northeast Asia (mixed language, bearing 309 degrees), Canada (English and French, 70 degrees), Cuba (Spanish and some English, 110 degrees), Mexico (Spanish and some English, 130 degrees). Separately however, the station also said it will broadcast to Russia, China and Korea. I haven't been able to find contact information for this licensee other than their office address at 240 2nd Ave. SW, Albany OR 97321 (Benn Kobb, DC, May 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, Benn! Can one of our Oregonians or summer visitors check out the site and see how construxion, if any, is going? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. ``Prophécie Québec`` in Oregon French, altho not heard last Friday, is still on Christian Media Network via WBCQ, at its other timing, Wednesday May 17 checked 9330-CLSB at 1357. Wrapped up at 1401 and into English with ad for a $50 insulated custom SW dipole made of wire! Then Friday May 19 checked 9330-CLSB at 1347 and it was in English, awful audio with big hum, as is often the case with CMN, which obviously has low technical standards. It should be a simple matter to filter this out at the source, or anywhere before transmitted (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Certainly not heard every day, but for those wondering, KJES was active on Thursday May 18 on 11715 at 1404 with usual catechism responses in English; recheck 1459 with English ID by child --- isn`t it about time they went to ZIP+4? 1500 minute of dead air; 1501 Spanish ID by child and into singing. I thought the modulation was OK until I compared it to the booming Chinese on 11765. Propagation may have had some help from sporadic E, as WWCR was inbooming on 15825. The lower the frequency below VHF, the broader the Es-affected areas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 17 May follow. Solar flux 72 and mid- latitude A-index 6. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 18 May was 3 (20 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SEC via DXLD) Again Friday May 19 at 1345, good signal with singing on 11715 but modulation definitely way down compared to yesterday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KJES 11715 QSL, prayer card, picture in 188 days. KJES, The Lord´s Ranch, 230 High Valley Rd. Vado, NM 88072. Phone: 505-233 2090 Fax: 505-233 3019 Email: kjes @ family.net 73, (Sergey Kolesov, Russia, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Saludos cordiales, hoy 19 de Mayo desde las 1900 estoy escuchando en 7340 a Family Radio en español; se trata de algún servicio nuevo? emisión accidental? En su web no consta esta frecuencia (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is a relay via Belarus (unless they have moved it to another CIS site), launched in July 2004. To my knowledge Family Radio was the first and is still the only non-CIS broadcaster using the shortwave transmitters near Minsk (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) This is not in any of the usual online or print references, but there is a YFR Spanish at 19-20 on 7440 via Russia-Moscow, at least per EiBi (gh, DXLD) Saludos Glenn, hace días que no se escucha en esa frecuencia; yo mismo lo he comprobado, no transmiten en 7440, un radioescucha de Valencia, en Onda Corta PR ya preguntó dónde se había metido ésta emisora. Por casualidad hace dos días la encontré en 7340, pero fué al cierre; hoy he podido verificar que transmitía por segundo día en esa frecuencia, nuevo servicio?? accidental?? Estaré al tanto en los próximos días por si se mantiene en esa frecuencia o regresa a 7440, pero no consta en los últimos días que esté presente en 7440. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Fwd: [Doo Wop Café] HEARTBREAKING NEWS ~ BARBARA ANN (CIRCE) I just received a phone call from Paul. With heavy heart I must relay the devastating news that our beloved Barbara Ann (Circe) has passed away (at 2:30 AM) after a courageous battle with cancer. She was loved by all and will be deeply missed. I will post the arrangements later today. I'm totally devastated and can't stop shaking. My life was blessed by knowing Barbara Ann.. She made an indelible mark on everyone she met. Her presence will be missed, but her spirit will remain alive in our hearts forever. Rest in Peace My Dear Friend ...you are no longer in pain. Love always, Renée (Doowopcafe yg May 17, via Clara Listensprechen, DXLD) This group has open message archive, so you can read much more at: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/doowopcafe/messages (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Checked the WMKV stream again May 17 for the barbershop show at 1500 UT Wednesdays, and found it working fine; but back to non-BBS music after 1530, so apparently it`s only half an hour long tho if you believed the grid it looks like two hours, and the show page does not specify any length. Such imprecision is really annoying (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Any progress at KRTS, 93.5, the much-ballyhooed new public radio station for West Texas? Last mentioned here in 6-036 Feb 26. Looks like nothing has changed at http://www.marfapublicradio.org (don`t try http://www.krts.org unless you have Korean language pack installed). Still only generalities, no program schedule, no listen link. I re-entered my e-mail address to be sent updates, and was notified that I was already signed up. But NEVER in the past 3 months have I received anything from them. And the GM never answered my personal e-mail back then. Vaporware? Were Willie Nelson and Dan Rather snookered? I have written to KUT Austin, which was involved in the project, about this, and also to the author of the NY Times story last Feb, who apparently lives in the area, but no replies yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. It`s about time!!! The NewsHour on PBS has changed its bumper music between segments --- slightly, first noticed May 17. It`s more or less the same tune but with new instruments or arrangement. I must say the old one was really getting grating, and would have preferred something completely different for a change. Animated grafix also renovated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. In my experience, Radio Disney stations are actually very good about doing one legal ID an hour. It comes +/- 2 minutes from TOH, after a network promo. Listen for "I'm (insert name of Disney Channel teen star), and Radio Disney is back," followed by the local legal ID. The rest of the hour, the most you'll hear is "Radio Disney AM 1020, Omaha." s (Scott Fybush, NY, dxhub yg via DXLD) ** U S A. FCC FINES WTMR/CAMDEN-PHILLY FOR POWER-DOWN VIOLATION BEASLEY gets nailed with a $4,000 FCC fine for exceeding its authorized 500 watt nighttime power at Religion WTMR-A/CAMDEN- PHILADELPHIA. The fine arose from the FCC's allegations that the station failed to power down at local sunset on JULY 15 and 29, 2004, staying at its daytime power of 5,000 watts at 9:29p and 9:32p ET, respectively, an hour later than authorized. The station did not dispute the violation but objected that the violation did not merit a fine as large as $4,000 (allaccess.com via Brock Whaley, DXLD) 800 kHz ** U S A. How local IS WBZ? David Gleason (whose comments I miss) said that they simply don't care about coverage outside their core market. For WBZ, that's within the Rt 128 circle, maybe a 15 or so mile radius of Boston (Craig Healy, RI, IRCA via DXLD) I beg to differ. WBZ/CBS management care only about areas to which WBZ's sales force and reps sell time. That surely includes A LOT less than those fabled 38 states, but it includes A LOT more than the area inside Route 128! WBZ competes with the Boston FM's as well as the major Boston AMs. All of the full B FMs that transmit from Newton towers plus WGBH-FM put city-grade signals into Marlborough, which is just inside of Route 495 and probably a dozen miles outside of 128. The full B FMs that transmit from the Pru deliver to Marlborough signals about 6 dBu less, that is, around 67 dBu. According to the V-Soft Web site, WBZ's signal in Marlborough is about 3.5 mV/m, which is less than WRKO's and WEEI's signal strength by day but a lot more by night because WRKO and WEEI send very little signal to the west at night. Marlborough and even Worcester, where WBZ delivers only about 1 mV/m, are part of the Boston radio market and WBZ's sales force has to care about those areas. WBZ is considered the only full-market AM signal in Boston -- and at night at least, it comes the closest to being the only such. But even WBZ doesn't deliver 2.5 mV/m to Worcester and 2.5 mV/m is the lower limit of what FCC regs define as a usable signal in communities with a population of (I think) 25,000 or more. If analog AM is ever put to death and IBOC is allowed to use what is now the AM-channel's analog bandwidth to transmit digitally encoded program material, WBZ's signal may again meet the signal-strength requirements for serving Worcester and Providence at night. If the signal is nevertheless unusable that far out, IBOC will have proven to be the disappointment that so many of us believe it will be. Unfortunately, a lot of time and money will have been wasted long before we reach that point -- assuming that this nonsense continues that long (Dan Strassberg, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. WWJZ 640 is now running IBOC and is bothering WMAL [630] here in Elkridge. It is so bad that it is making listening difficult at times. To make matters worse, WWJZ turned on their full power and IBOC early this morning 5/19. Also, the IBOC now makes reception of WSM [650] very difficult unless I fiddle with my antenna setup and only in a narrow range. Another one bites the dust (Bill Harms, Elkridge, Maryland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WMAL clear here in Manassas, VA on the morning of May 19th. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, ibid.) Not everyone knows where every MW station is. WWJZ is in Mt Holly NJ. Day and night patterns are about the same, mostly going SSE into the Atlantic, with DC area pretty much on the edge, so not getting the brunt. Night power only 950 watts; day 50 kW with a CP for only 39, per NRC AM Log and Pattern Book (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kraig: WMAL is generally okay here on their daytime pattern. I can still hear the IBOC hash under WMAL, but it is not terrible. This morning when WMAL was on their nighttime pattern it was a different story (Bill Harms, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re: Acting presidential address fore- and aftermath The whole incident of the too-soon glitch was explained and illustrated later on-air -- I think it was on Nightline. Leno used the glitch as a joke the next night with some video manipulation. Just what did ABC do? All the other networks ran 20 minutes late due to the delay, but ABC did something odd -- they replaced the scheduled 7 PM Central program with a repeat of Sunday-night's first hour of the 3-hour "Grey's Anatomy" finale, and the two-hour Monday program started on time at 8 PM Central. So did they join the first hour "in progress" after the speech or what? I wasn't looking at that channel here until sometime after the address ended. Here in St. Louis, the PBS station (ch 9, KETC) didn't even carry the address at all, even though that half-hour was a scheduled locally- produced program ("Living St. Louis") that is often repeated and could have easily been pre-empted with no effect on the schedule. So I was surprised when gh mentioned what PBS did. Does PBS nationally carry all the special-event stuff the networks do? We only see some here. 73, (Will Martin, MO, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PBS the network availablizes a lot of stuff, but it is always up to the local stations when and whether to schedule anything (gh, ibid.) We ran this on WDWS, the coverage was one hour long and was scheduled as such earlier in the day by ABC. Thanks! (Eric Loy, Champaign IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** URUGUAY. 9650, 17/05, 1635-1702* Emisora Ciudad de Montevideo, música popular, anuncios , ID a las 1700 "En su receptor, CX 42, Emisora Ciudad de Montevideo, Uruguay, transmitiendo em 1370 kHz, la frecuencia... con mayor frecuencia..." música con Rolling Stones, pero sign off abrupto a las 1702. 35433 73 (Samuel Cássio Martins, São Carlos, SP, Brasil, May 19, condig list via DXLD) Why is it that Uruguayan SW stations insist on operating only in the daytime? (gh, DXLD) ** YEMEN. Comment to the transmitter theory in DX-Window no. 295: A few years ago during a visit to Yemen, I learned from radio officials both in Sana`a and Aden that the only SW transmitters in the country are at Sana`a. Those in Aden were bombed and destroyed during the War of Unification. Al Hiswah near Aden is now only a MW transmitter site! (Maarten Van Delft, Holland, May 07, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) But by now there could be a new one (gh, DXLD) ** YEMEN. 9780.2, YRTV, 2118-2135, May 15, Arabic, OM talk between Arabic music bits, tentative ID in passing at 2127, music thru tune- out. Fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R75, 200' Beverages, MLB-1, DTS-4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7325, *1800-1858*, Sundays only, presumed Caucasian language like Adygean, Abkhaz, Chechen etc., under BBC in Russian. From 1833 the BBC Russian program to Asia is different from BBC in Russian to Europe on 9635, 11845 and 13745 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, May 09, DSWCI DX Window May 17 via DXLD) GTRK "Adygeya", Maykop and GTRK "Kabbalkteradio", Nalchik, was broadcasting to Circassian minority via Tbilisskaya (100 kW) on this frequency last summer at *1800-1900*, but on Mo-Fr only (DSWCI Ed. Anker Petersen, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 12455, Defunct Gene Scott audio mixing with something else (not Brother Scare), fading in and out, 1350 UT May 18. Not sure of exact frequency as I could not hear it on the YB-400, only on the FRG-7. Can`t figure out a mixing product if not really receiver- produced; WWCR 13845 minus WNQM 1300 would be 12545 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. A VT Communications test is under way now, 2200 May 18 on 13640 with a tape loop repeating on and on the same words. Good signal for a SIO 353 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DXLD) Nothing heard by several checking after 2230 May 18 (gh, DXLD) Maybe someone believed I was joking yesterday with that tape loop of VT Communications on 13640 at 2200. First there was an open carrier, followed by an ID by WHRI and what now sound is the test tape (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, May 19, ibid.) Not at all; we just didn`t tune in quickly enough. Today I got to 13640 in time to hear Merlin music at 2214, and it went off at 2215. Not very strong here. Surprising that it`s WHRI. Did they give those calls or just World Harvest Radio which could have been one of their other stations? Worth continued checking to hear what develop (Glenn, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Brother Scare heard on 13770 at 0014 on 17 May. Not listed in PWBR or his website. He says it's 50,000 watts from South America. Does anyone know? The transmission bent my ear and S-meter at a clear S8. 73/Liz (Cameron, dxldyg via DXLD) Certainly mysterious. Offhand can`t think of any site in SAm with 50 kW and 13 MHz capability for hire. Of course, BS may have only a vague idea of what constitutes ``South America``. Let`s monitor and look for propagational and other clews, starting with what is the timespan? Sure it`s not TO South America, such as from Germany? But no less than 100 kW there. Nominal 50 kW ISWBC sites are hard to find these days except in US; WYFR has a couple; WINB, KVOH, WBCQ, WTJC/WBOH, KJES, WRMI; inactive? KTMI, WRNO, WWBS (gh, DXLD) As Liz reported yesterday, Bro. Scare is on 13770, checked UT May 19 at 0020, found loud and clear signal with some fading. Excellent audio, unlike what we get from WWRB with satellite feed, and this was NOT // 5745 WWRB Scare. So I expect he shipped a CD to whatever site for these tests. His website says he`s testing on WINB earlier in the day, 13570, but I hear a weak signal now on 9265 which is presumably WINB`s one transmitter, and 13770 is better modulated than they ever manage. Let`s listen at hourtop in case there are any clues as to site, or if it`s a US site, a legal ID. Yeah, sure. [Later:] Generic show, keeps wanting listeners to tell him what station they are listening to, but never IDs this station or talks about frequencies, at least when I was half-listening during the 0030 semihour. Cut off in mid-sentence about 5 seconds before 0100 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I forgot to mention that Brother Scare says he's using an internet feed on 13770. WWRB is very good about IDing, so the QTH must be from elsewhere. I definitely heard him say FROM South America, not TO. However, I can safely assume he doesn't know which end is up. All the US stations are good about IDing, as I said in an earlier e-mail, so I wonder about the true location. I didn't get a chance to monitor at 0000 on 18 May --- I'll tune in on 19 May. Thanks and 73/Liz (Cameron, ibid.) Means 19 and 20 May UT resp. (gh) Let`s be on 13770 from before 0000 UT to see if there are any clews about Brother Stair`s site. I kind of suspect Sackville, but hope it can`t be true (Glenn, dxldyg, 2223 UT May 19 via DXLD) 13770 cut on a few seconds before 0000 UT May 20, amateur piano music in progress. Switching to 5745, I was also hearing that and at first thought it // but a few minutes later checking on two receivers, clearly they were not //. BS referred to ``13-77`` during the first few minutes, acknowledging reports from Canada, US, Central America; and put on a caller from Nova Scotia who said 13770 was good there (so that rules out Sackville unless she was close enough for groundwave; there was no RCI IS fragment either). The 13770 audio was pretty bad during the music, but soon improved. More phone calls and frequency discussion around 0020-0030: Caller from NS replayed, named Tricia. Caller from S. Ontario, Bro. John, said reception was better tonight. Confusion about powers: BS now says the first night was at 500 kW, the following night at 250 kW to compare them, and 250 seems to do just as well and costs less. But how much this time? Half power again. Last nite`s broadcast was not live, but this one is. Will be on again tomorrow nite, with 500 kW. Next week plans to test from same facility, careful not to name it, instead at noon [1600 UT]. Plans on keeping WWRB channels 5745, 6890, 9385 and 15250 but augment them with this additional service. Also on Sat at 10 am [1400 UT] will be on additional 11915 [which is also WWRB, Sabbaths only]. Reports from Mississippi, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Minnesota also gave good results on 13770. These calls came in one after another without prompting and smacked of having been edited together rather than live. Sometimes the audio got choppy, as if the internet feed were cutting to a lower rate. 500 kW points to French Guiana, if it is really South America. Yes! Finally at 0034 he admits this is the site, to fill in some gaps in coverage. They are giving him free tests for seven days (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ SHORTWAVE RADIO AND HOLLYWOOD Hey Glenn, Just posted a survey on my madridkid blog about films where shortwave radio, or something alluding to it, is featured. My movie list is incomplete, I am sure, but I think you will find those that I have chosen somewhat interesting . http://madridkid.blogspot.com/2006/05/shortwave-radio-and-hollywood-just.html (Marty Delfin, Madrid, Spain, May 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) GOOGLE'S BLOG SEARCH SIDEBAR (USEFUL FOR RADIO DISCUSSION?) Google's offering a Blog Search Side Bar -- While not all finds are useful (& the definition of a blog is whatever it's owner says it is), the results can be serendipitous. BBC World Service http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=bbc+world+service&spell=1&oi=spell&sa=X BBC Radio 4 http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&spell=1&oi=spell&q=BBC+RADIO+4 "World of Radio" http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&spell=1&oi=spell&q=%22World+of+Radio%22&btnG=Search+Blogs [still hits a lot of such phrases nothing to do with us] One of the results from WOR above was an Blog called HEAVEN TREE by a cultured woman in Thailand: The entry is: "The Best Radio In The World" http://heaventree.blogspot.com/2006/05/best-radio-in-world.html She writes: What a wonderful discovery. Now that I have a computer at home, I can use it to all sorts of purposes which were not possible earlier (when I slapped together my posts in crowded internet cafes full of people, noise and stink). Now I can do things, like -- listening to internet radio. After checking out the obvious suspects --- NPR, BBC (and being glad for it, but a severely bored by the current affairs and breaking news format) --- I ventured further afield. And what I discovered was this: Program Drugi Polskiego Radia, that is: Program 2 of the Polish Radio. I think it is safe to say that there is no other such radio anywhere in the world. This is uniformly high-quality programming on topics of culture -- and exclusively high culture. To give you a flavor of what kind of radio this is: I discovered the program's internet feed only 2 days ago. The following is a list of a few of the items which have delighted me since. A poetry program late at night (that`s 3 A.M. for me) Last night they read -- and discussed Petrarch. The thing I remembered best from it was the discussion of the structure of the Canzoni, which are Petrarch`s love poems addressed to a ``Laura`` (who may have existed, or may simply be a symbol of ``laurels``, that is Petrarch`s ambition for literary fame). There are 366 canzoni, one for each day of the year, and the cycle begins on Good Friday, that is the day of Christ`s death, the day on which Petrarch sees Laura in church in Avignon, and falls in love. Counting forward form this day, Laura`s death is announced in the poem corresponding to Christmas Day, the Day on which Christ is reborn. Thus, Petrarch`s love for Laura is seen as contrary or opposed to the salvation of one's soul, and something from which Christ`s coming liberates him....... (It goes on for a ways more here) http://heaventree.blogspot.com/2006/05/best-radio-in-world.html Alas...it's in Polish or I might be tuning in myself! Info about Google Blog was from Googleblogoscoped http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-05-17.html#n46 (Chet Copeland, swprograms via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ WELCOME TO THE 12TH NATIONAL MEXICAN DX MEETING The DX clubs of Mexico are pleased to welcome DXers from all over Mexico, the United States and worldwide to the 12th National DX Meeting "Ascension 2006," which will take place July 28, 29 and 30 in the city of Ascension, state of Chihuahua. . . http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AM-SW-DXing/message/789 (via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SWSCAN SHORTWAVE RADIO BROADCAST PREDICTION Freeware: Complete Short Wave Frequency Database Tool with graphical frequency analysis signal strength prediction for any place in the world date/time filters filters for language/programme propagation prediction based on the International Listening Guide (ILG) Shortwave Database. On shortwave, radio stations have complex schedules. And propagation changes every hour. Which station is active right now? And what signal can I expect? These are key questions. This tool will guide you through the short wave jungle. The software will create a time- and day-specific bandscan of any shortwave segment including a signal strength prediction (the dB column) looking like this: http://radiovibrations.com/swbrowse.htm (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) The above was linked from this: http://www.myradiobase.de/fmscan/index.php (via Paul Logan, skywaves, via Paul Crankshaw, MWC, via DXLD) OPERATING BANDWIDTH OR RELATED EMISSION SPECIFICATIONS NEW YORK (Reuters) - Audiovox Corp. (VOXX.O) on Tuesday said it was suspending shipments of its Xpress Model XMCK10 XM satellite radio receiver after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said the unit did not comply with either operating bandwidth or related emission specifications. The wireless communications equipment company said it was conducting an internal review and that shipments would be suspended until it is determined that it operates within FCC specifications. Must be all the signals I hear on 87.9 on the highway (Brock Whaley DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM ON 26 MHZ I recently attended a few sessions of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters conference, held at the vast Adventist World Headquarters near Washington, D.C. Among the presentations from broadcasters, audience researchers and equipment suppliers, I was intrigued by discussions about the use of the 26 MHz band for non- skywave, local and regional broadcasting in DRM. Thomson Broadcast and Multimedia, the latest incarnation of the venerable transmitter manufacturer, has an article about this in the Spring 2006 issue of their Radio News promotional publication, which was distributed at the conference. Propagation of this system is apparently comparable to VHF, provided that the antenna is designed to minimize radiation into the sky. Depending on topography, the company said, a 26 MHz digital transmitter can cover 3000 to 10000 square kilometers with only 10 kW of transmission power (Benn Kobb, DC, May 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) more DRM: AUSTRALIA; BHUTAN; NETHERLANDS ANTILLES; NEW ZEALAND. IBOC: USA PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The KN4LF Daily LF/MF/HF Radio Propagation Outlook #2006-003 has been published on 1500 UTC Thursday May 18, 2006 at http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf6.htm This propagation outlook is very large and it might run into trouble getting posted on eLists/Groups, so I direct you to my website above where it has been published. --... ...--, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Retired Meteorologist & Space Plasma Physicist, Lakeland, FL, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thomas, Glad your health is better and you have resumed. BTW, FYI, an annoying iLead pop-up gets past my blocking when I go to your site. It may come from your counter, as someone else found out by removing his. 73, (Glenn to Thomas, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Very nice to hear back from you. Thanks for the tip on the iLead pop up page. My pop up blocker software was catching it so I didn't know it was there. Anyway I removed the Nedstat counter for all of my websites and that took care of the problem. --... ...--, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, ibid.) Another one bites dust; beware counters (gh) SPORADIC E SEASON WELL UNDERWAY There have been lots of Es reports the past few days on TV and into the FM band, so be on the lookout for stations in the 800-2000 km range to skip in. One open source for quick tips about openings: http://dxworld.com/tvfmlog.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ Dear Gringo Alta Californians, the Y in San Ysidro is pronounced just like an I, that is ``ee``, not ``yee``. Gee! (Guillermo Glenn Hauser, Oclajoma, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ If it is not sung, it is not a ``song`` (Glenn Hauser) ###